Mu Lianchun, “Should I apologize?”

Chu Hanjin seriously said, “Yes, you should. Although it’s just a fruit, it’s very intelligent. If it remembers this, it might not get along well with you in the future.”

Mu Lianchun, “…”

Mu Lianchun, “Junior brother, stop teasing me, I’m really worried now!”

Chu Hanjin sighed, wishing he could pinch his ears.

Mu Lianchun paced around the chair, “You know, the Six Sects are at serious odds now, nothing like the unity of old. Some rely on their seniority, some isolate themselves, and others are just arrogant… If it weren’t for the incident at the Celestial Burial Pit, Xing Jiangxin might have still spoken a few good words for you. But now he’s suffered losses and is still furious, looking for someone to blame!”

Chu Hanjin nodded slightly, “I understand.”

Mu Lianchun burst out, “What do you understand? Do you know what they suspect?”

But he caught himself, not continuing.

Chu Hanjin looked up, nonchalantly, “Suspect what?”

“They suspect,” Mu Lianchun lamented, “that the Demon of the Celestial Burial Pit, the one who threatened everyone’s unburied deaths, was summoned by you in collusion with the Demon Lord. If this isn’t clarified, the Far Mountain Sect might have to oppose the Six Sects for your sake!”

Cold sweat climbed up Chu Hanjin’s back.

He paused his finger on the fruit’s shell, looked up unusually calm, and said, “Alright.”

“Alright what!?”

“Alright to the scheme of setting someone up and using others to kill.”

Realizing the danger of his situation, Chu Hanjin thought for a moment and then looked up, “Senior brother, do you believe me?”

Mu Lianchun, “You still have time for such nonsense? I believe, of course, I believe. Even if everyone else in the world were gone, I’d never believe you were the culprit!”

Though the senior brother was somewhat frivolous and impulsive, he was always sincere and warm-hearted. Chu Hanjin stroked the fruit shell, recalling old times.

“Back at the Rongku Sect refuge, when we were all kids, some of the inner disciples were hostile to us outsiders. Back then, senior brother always stood up for me.”

Mu Lianchun shook his head, “You still remember that?”

At that time, Chu Hanjin, with his elegant and handsome appearance and outstanding spirit root, was the center of attention among the boys, unattainably attractive. The countless girls who came to see him after school, praising him loudly, naturally aroused jealousy among his fellow disciples.

The discussions became harsher.

“He may have good looks and spirit roots, but he’s an outsider. Rongku Sect practices benevolence and has given them from Far Mountain Sect, who are orphaned by war, a chance to cultivate. He should be grateful, not overstep his bounds like a sparrow claiming the dove’s nest!”

Chu Hanjin, in his sect’s proper uniform, stood at the doorway, hearing the conversation.

“Don’t say that, their parents died fighting demons…”

“So what! Didn’t people from Rongku Sect also die? Didn’t our parents die too?!”

The young voice roared.

Why was he so furious?

It seemed that Chu Hanjin’s arrival had taken away his first place. He had planned to win first place and make his mother proud. His father, like many cultivators, had died in battle, and he wanted to bring honor to her. But Chu Hanjin had taken his first place. These orphans from other sects, not just from Far Mountain but also from Yin-Yang Sect, Mo Fa Sect, and Wu Ji Sect, overwhelmed the Rongku Sect’s youngsters, making their lives harder.

As Chu Hanjin listened to the raging voice, he pressed the white mourning cloth he wore for his parents, staying silent.

The boy came over and pushed him hard, “You invaders, get out!”

Chu Hanjin stepped back, adjusted his mourning cloth, and remained silent.

Mu Lianchun stood behind him, unable to contain his anger, “We are the invaders? Who are the invaders?! It’s the demons! They are the invaders! Far Mountain Sect is the strongest defense against the demons, every inch of land and every drop of blood, even if all cultivators die, we haven’t retreated an inch! It’s because of us that your Rongku Sect can live peacefully and unharmed! And you, ungrateful, dare to call us invaders! You at least still have a mother, but we, we don’t even have mothers, all our families are dead!”

The refuge only sheltered children.

Adults without self-defense stayed on the battlefield, life and death by fate.

Chu Hanjin didn’t listen to the argument anymore and left quietly, holding his books.

Since then, rumors about him persisted, saying that some instructors from Rongku Sect, knowing he was the junior lord of Far Mountain Sect and would inherit its leadership, curried favor with him. They always gave Chu Hanjin extra lessons, secretly taught him the unique techniques of Rongku Sect, hoping once he returned to Far Mountain Sect and took over, they could be appointed as temple masters and live well.

These baseless rumors spread wildly.

Even Xing Jiangxin personally intervened. Mu Lianchun, unable to contain his anger, quarreled with him, provoking Xing Jiangxin to scold him for being disrespectful.

This was also why Xing Jiangxin had always disliked the junior Mu Lianchun.

But Mu Lianchun defended Chu Hanjin, fulfilling his duty as a senior brother without fail.

Chu Hanjin pulled himself out of his memories and after a while, said, “Senior brother, I’m afraid the world is about to fall into chaos.”

Mu Lianchun, “What do you mean?”

“It’s been just over a decade since the Battle of Hate Green, and though there’s been peace, recent disturbances seem like the prelude to a major conflict.”

Mu Lianchun shuddered, “Did you find any clues?”

Chu Hanjin, “Still investigating.”

Mu Lianchun sighed, “Ah, troubled times ahead!”

A knock at the door interrupted them.

A cultivator entered and reported, “Master Mu, Master Xing requests your presence.”

Chu Hanjin pressed his fingers, lifting his gaze, “Master Xing?”

“Off to argue with that old geezer again,” Mu Lianchun straightened his sleeves, “They’ve recently brought boys and girls to the salt lake, he came along and arranged to meet me here.”

He walked towards the door, stepped out, then came back in, “Don’t go anywhere, I still have questions for you.”

He checked repeatedly, “Don’t go anywhere, and don’t meet with that demon for now.”

Chu Hanjin was noncommittal, pulled out a chair, and lifted the tea lid.

Outside, through the window, the sky was deep and dark; it had unknowingly turned night. Chu Hanjin sipped his tea, habitually checked the fruit in the basket, but noticed that it seemed as if it had been smashed, the shell cracked in two.

Chu Hanjin frowned.

Was it… angry?

He examined the fruit in his palm; there were no signs of injury, like an eggshell chiseled apart, barely revealing the tender body inside, translucent like jade.

A narrow crack.

But Chu Hanjin caught a glimpse of a tiny hand, pale and delicate, clenched into a fist, and he felt a great weight lift from his heart.

—Thank goodness it’s not a monster.

It’s human-shaped.

He turned the shell over and over, thinking the shell might completely fall off, and the child would be born.

But now, with the shell entirely cracked, the child probably couldn’t soak in water anymore.

Chu Hanjin’s lips curved into a gentle smile, placing the child near the candlelight, inspecting it again and again. Not only the delicate little hands were visible but also tiny feet, the nails like grains of rice, small and round, very clever.

Chu Hanjin sat waiting for Mu Lianchun to return.

Unexpectedly, the wait turned lengthy, and the entire inn was eerily quiet, as if no one else was there.

Chu Hanjin stood up, walked to the door, planning to ask the doorman when Mu Lianchun would return.

His hand touched the door, “Someone—”

Silence. His fingers were burned by a spell, triggered, the whole door shimmered with a massive restraining formation.

Someone was preventing him from going out.

Chu Hanjin’s brows furrowed, instantly understanding… it was Mu Lianchun’s doing.

Why?

Linking everything about Mu Lianchun, encountering him near the salt lake, being sent away from Yue Lin… Xing Jiangxin’s sudden visit… forbidding Chu Hanjin from leaving…

The pieces in his mind clicked together, and Chu Hanjin suddenly realized.

It was an ambush!

And the target of the ambush was Yue Lin!

•

In the dusky inn, Yue Lin held a cup of wine, while Bai Gu obediently filled it, “Ninth brother, drink less.”

Yue Lin was annoyed at the sight of him, “Go away, it’s none of your business.”

Bai Gu was calm and unhurried, “Ninth brother, where has Lord Yue Zhao gone?”

“What’s it to you?”

“It’s nothing, just that I saw people from Far Mountain Sect today, worried that now that he’s given birth to the little prince, he might go back with Far Mountain Sect. I see that Ninth brother cares deeply for him, just a reminder to keep a close watch, it won’t be easy to chase him down if he runs away…”

He observed the crowded inn; Yue Lin wouldn’t really punch him for these words. As expected, Yue Lin’s expression was cold as he said, “Don’t hover in front of me, go find out how to enter the misty ridges’ barrier.”

Bai Gu put down the wine pot, “I’m on it.”

He adjusted his hooded cloak, looked up at the sky, and walked into the deepening darkness.

Yue Lin put down his wine cup.

He glanced at the platform where Chu Hanjin and Mu Lianchun had departed, remained silent over his clear wine for a long moment, then stood up with his sword. He approached the inn’s counter, “If that white-clothed gentleman comes looking for me, tell him to wait here. Tell him I’ll be back and he doesn’t need to come looking.”

Then, he stepped outside the inn, his figure vanishing into the darkness.

As with his prediction, the first thing was to see if the barrier could be undone.

Bai Gu arrived at the foot of the misty ridges, pacing back and forth at the edge of the barrier, squatting down to gently touch it, trying to discern the barrier’s pattern.

After a flash of golden light, the barrier returned to tranquility. This seemed to stump him, and he circled back and forth, reaching his hand into the edge of the formation again.

The formation’s weakening effect on him was still severe.

When he stepped into the formation, even breathing became difficult, his bones seemed covered by immense pressure, making creaking sounds as if they would be crushed, his flesh squeezed thin.

Bai Gu came out again, standing and sighing.

…Just as Yue Lin had predicted, useless.

Among his siblings, Bai Gu’s origins were not noble; born in a stable, trampled by a horse right after birth, leaving him physically weak, chest pains often plagued him, and he couldn’t practice physical martial arts at all. Just climbing a slope required him to catch his breath for a long time.

In cultivation, where internal and external training are essential, a weak physique means external skills can’t be cultivated well, unable to withstand the spirit energy of an inner pill, which is almost equivalent to being useless. Yet, this could be compensated by consuming spirit fruits and expensive elixirs to improve his condition. But as a dependent, he was lucky even to have soup when his master ate meat, so his physical condition remained unmanaged, weak and incompatible with the path of cultivation.

…If not for his malicious nature, Yue Lin might tolerate him, but this pitiable person indeed had detestable aspects.

Contemplating past events, Bai Gu no longer lingered and walked towards the mountain path.

He was headed to a place Yue Lin knew well.

Unable to overcome the formation, the only option was to find a Rongku Sect cultivator and extract the method to break the formation. He was headed to the entrance to the misty ridges, also a Rongku Sect outpost, a necessary pass to enter the ridges.

Typically, the guards here knew how to disarm the formation, but they were also Rongku Sect experts, closely connected. If one were captured, support would immediately come; if they couldn’t escape and didn’t receive support, they would choose to commit suicide to protect the secret.

Given Bai Gu’s spiritual energy, he likely couldn’t defeat a single guard.

As expected, Bai Gu, hands behind his back, sighed regretfully.

…

After standing for a long time, he turned to walk back.

Yue Lin’s brows furrowed.

At that moment, the outpost’s door suddenly opened.

A figure in Rongku Sect uniform emerged, thin shoulders, a stern face, and a weary look in his eyes.

He looked at Bai Gu and said, “Come in.”

Yue Lin’s slightly sunken spirits lifted.

It was Chen Yang.