Chapter 67 Banquet

Ye Yunlan bowed his head and coughed while Shen Shu stood in front to look after him. He turned his head when he heard Qiyun Jun’s voice.

Unlike in the past, when Shen Shu saw Qiyun Jun, he did not stand up and call him “Sect Master.” Instead, he raised his eyebrows slightly and slowly uttered the name, “..Ji Suyue?”

Qiyun Jun’s expression changed slightly.

Ji Suyue was his taboo name.

It was just that since he became enlightened, no one had dared to call him that for a long time.

He looked at Ye Yunlan’s only personal disciple in front of him. Seeing the other party still blocking the way to Ye Yunlan, he repeated it.

“Get out of the way.”

After speaking, he flicked his fingers.

He didn’t touch anything. However, there was an inexplicable force based on the “dao.” He wanted to push Shen Shu away.

The difference between the cultivation levels of the Six Realms of the Mortal Body and the Three Realms of Ascension into Immortality was worlds apart. A Nascent Soul cultivator couldn’t touch a cultivator in the transcendence realm.

It was just that these cultivators didn’t include Shen Shu.

When he was in a high position in the Demon Sect, the world once compared Ji Suyue with him, arguing over the real number one.

The result was inconclusive.

Shen Shu took a step forward, stepping onto the spiritual energy junction. He stood still and looked directly at Qiyun Jun with cold eyes.

“Why are you looking for my Master?”

Qiyun Jun would never pay attention to unrelated people, but Shen Shu’s move was somewhat unexpected.

He frowned. In the end, he didn’t do anything again. He said indifferently, “He is injured, and I need to heal him.”

Shen Shu looked at him for a moment. He didn’t want to expose his Master to this person for some reason.

This reluctance was hundreds of times stronger than before.

It was as if letting the other party contact Ye Yunlan would cause more serious injuries than Ye Yunlan’s body injury. However, Ye Yunlan’s coughing slowly stopped, and a hoarse voice came.

“Shen Shu, let.. the Sect Master come over.”

When he heard this, hostility and irritability filled Shen Shu’s eyebrows. In the end, he reluctantly turned sideways and gave up his position.

Qiyun Jun didn’t look at him. He strode to Ye Yunlan’s side and moved icy blue spiritual power from his palms onto Ye Yunlan’s back.

Ye Yunlan seemed to be extremely tired. His upper body leaned on the guqin, his long eyelashes trembling slightly. He didn’t know if it was because of pain, but the moment Qiyun Jun’s palm imprinted that thin back, he instinctively curled up.

The energy was transferred for the length of an incense stick. Only then did Ye Yunlan’s eyebrows unfold, his eyelashes no longer fluttering.

With another incense stick, Qiyun Jun moved his palm away. Then Shen Shu stepped forward. He found that Ye Yunlan had fallen into a coma, asleep.

Shen Shu walked over first and said, “Thank you for your help. Next time, I will take care of my Master.”

Qiyun Jun stood aside. His gaze fixed on Ye Yunlan and said nothing.

Shen Shu lifted Ye Yunlan, then took out a piece of clean silk cloth to dry the blood on his lips and hands. He put his arms under Ye Yunlan’s upper body and legs, picked up the entire person, and walked back into the bedroom.

So light, he thought.

His Master didn’t just look thin. He was like a hollowed-out jade, only left with a white jade shell that could break after a small collision.

Shen Shu carried Ye Yunlan carefully to the carved bed. He took off the other party’s blood-stained robe and helped the person lie down on the bed.

For a long while, he stared at the person’s pale face that was on the bed. He got up, went out, and got a bucket of water back to carefully wipe the blood from Ye Yunlan’s hands and cheeks.

As soon as he stepped out of the house, he saw Qiyun Jun was still in the house and did not leave. He stood by the door with his eyes closed.

“Why is Sect Master not leaving?” Shen Shu asked.

Qiyun Jun opened his eyes. His eyes that couldn’t see any emotions looked sideways, then said indifferently: “Ye Yunlan’s injuries, this is not the first time that it has happened in these two years.”

Shen Shu was silent for a moment: “I was wondering about this. Two years ago, I asked my Master to take the ancient xinzhi. With the power of a rank nine elixir, Master’s injury should not erupt so quickly.”

Qiyun Jun: “He used his spiritual consciousness to temper the sword.”

Shen Shu’s expression changed.

Spiritual consciousness was different from spiritual power. Spiritual power was the qi that ran in a cultivator’s body. This kind of qi can interfere with the heavens and the earth so that the cultivator can call on the wind and rain, ignite a fire, and attract thunder. It was an external manifestation of the cultivator’s “power.”

Spiritual consciousness was the extension of the cultivator’s consciousness. It can accurately observe objects and grasp the state of objects. It was an external manifestation of the cultivator’s “spiritual insight.”

He thought of his Master. His eyesight seems not very good, but he could engrave such mysterious and detailed divine texts on the scabbard. Perhaps, he did use his spiritual sense.

Yes.

Although Ye Yunlan’s internal veins were broken and there was no cultivation base, he was still a Golden Core Stage cultivator once. His spiritual sense and spirit were much stronger than ordinary people.

But no matter how strong the spirit is, it requires a physical body to support it. The consequences of frequently using his spiritual consciousness, although it wasn’t directly inducing spiritual energy, will make Ye Yunlan lose control of the divine fire in his body. It would bring the deeply injured body closer to the verge of collapse.

Ye Yunlan didn’t tell him at all.

Shen Shu pursed his lips. He suddenly realized why Ye Yunlan called him to go into retreat in the first place. The real reason may not be because he wanted him to get rid of those wrong thoughts that he shouldn’t have.

Qiyun Jun’s cold voice continued.

“You are his personal disciple, and he refined a spirit sword for you.”

“Two years ago, he went to Tianchi Mountain dao conference and was injured by the Tianchi Mountain movement. It was also for you.”

“If you really care about your Master and if you want him to live longer, stop relying on him. Go down the mountain as soon as possible, and let him rest in peace.”

Qiyun Jun was indifferent. For the past several years, he looked out from Wangyun peak. What he said this time came from the things he saw then.

Shen Shu listened, then raised his eyes, “What about Sect Master? Why is Sect Master coming to heal my Master repeatedly?”

Qiyun Jun did not move and said, “He is my Sky Sect’s disciple.”

Shen Shu curled his lips into a sneer, “There are thousands of disciples in Sky Sect. When they were injured, where was Sect Master?”

Qiyun Jun: “The world’s karma touches all life. Among thousands of disciples, I saved him by accident, and there is no problem in saving him for the rest of his life.”

He didn’t want to talk to Shen Shu anymore. He turned around and stepped out of the room with the wind blowing against his white hair.

He said: “Remember the advice I gave you today.”

Shen Shu looked at his back coldly: “If this is the case, I will also give Sect Master a piece of advice.”

“I heard that the Sect Master’s cultivation is in the heartless dao. In the heartless dao, the heart is the heaven and the earth, and it does not blend with other things. Sect Master frequently interferes in the mortal world. If your emotions are moved, it will ruin your heartless dao. It will destroy your years of hard work. Is Sect Master really not afraid?”

Qiyun Jun paused. There was no answer. He just turned into a sword light and disappeared into the sky.

..

When Ye Yunlan woke up, the pain in his chest was still there.

The windows were open, and the sound of birds chirping came in from outside, accompanied by the fragrance of spring flowers.

He covered his lips and coughed a few times. He coughed until his cheeks turned slightly red, but his face was indifferent.

In the past two years, his injuries had become more frequent.

But he didn’t really care.

He calculated the rest of his time and found that it was enough. Just when he wanted to put on his clothes, the door creaked. Shen Shu walked in with a bowl of elixir.

“Master.”

He was tall and had deep black eyes. Ye Yunlan was startled. He turned his head to avoid his gaze: “What have you cooked?”

Shen Shu: “It’s a thousand-year snow ginseng soup. It’s good for nourishing the qi and calming the soul.”

Ye Yunlan nodded slightly. He took the ginseng soup, sat down at the table, took the soup spoon, and drank.

At this moment, when he looked at his eyelashes drooping and slowly drinking the medicine, he was really well-behaved and quiet.

But at the bottom of this person’s heart, he didn’t care about his own life.

There were certain things he knew he couldn’t do but would still do. Silently, not saying a word.

..He really wanted to lock him up and trap him in the palm of his hand or in a place where he was always in his line of sight. This way, the other party wouldn’t disappear on him when he wasn’t looking.

Shen Shu thought this, but his face remained calm. “Master, is the ginseng soup bitter?”

Ye Yunlan’s hand that held the spoon paused.

“Slightly.”

Shen Shu took out an oil paper bag from his arms and unfolded it. Steam came out, revealing two shiny jujube cakes.

“Disciple made this jujube cake. Master shouldn’t have eaten it before.”

Ye Yunlan’s eyes lit up slightly. He stretched out his fingers and put a piece in his mouth.

The jujube paste’s sweetness and the rice cake’s smoothness melted in his mouth together, eliminating the ginseng soup’s bitterness. It left only sweetness on the tip of his tongue.

Shen Shu: “Master, do you like the food that Disciple made?”

Ye Yunlan didn’t know why he asked this, so he said, “Yeah.” After eating a piece of jujube cake, he picked up another piece. He whispered: “It tastes very good.”

Shen Shu took the opportunity to continue to speak: “If Master likes it, I can make it for Master every day from now on.”

“I also learned a lot of other pastries.” Shen Shu stared deeply at Ye Yunlan, then emphasized, “There are at least hundreds and thousands of them.”

“I want to always have the opportunity to make food for Master in the future. Is that okay, Master?”

Ye Yunlan paused while eating the jujube cake. He was silent for a moment to avoid answering this question. He only said, “It’s good to learn more crafts. It’s just that the cultivation road is long, and outside things shouldn’t have too much importance. The most important thing is to focus on oneself.”

Shen Shu’s eyes dimmed slightly.

That was his deliberate test.

He could guess Ye Yunlan’s answer and felt disappointed, but at the same time, he made a decision in his heart.

Ye Yunlan silently finished eating the second piece of jujube cake in his hand, then said casually: “Everything in the world has their time to return to the dust and dirt of the earth. A long-lived tortoise can live forever, a fly for a moment. But in a lifetime, there is actually no difference.”

Ye Yunlan had already said tons of words like these before, so Shen Shu didn’t want to hear any more.

He glanced around and deliberately changed the subject: “Master, why don’t I see Furball and that Tianchi Mountain spirit? I have been out of my closed-door training for a few days, but I haven’t seen either of them.”

Ye Yunlan: “Something bad happened on Tianchi Mountain one year before. Nian Er could only take back the consciousness she left. I heard that the Ye Clan people blocked Tianchi Mountain, but there is no news other than that. However, Nian Er’s comb left behind by her is not destroyed, so there shouldn’t have been any major events.”

“As for Furball.. to tend to my injury, it took too much strength from him, so he fell asleep temporarily. I put him in the bamboo basket. I don’t know when he will wake up.”

While speaking of this, Ye Yunlan raised his eyes and looked at a place.

Shen Shu followed his gaze and found a bamboo basket hanging on the window sill’s upper edge, slightly swaying in the wind.

He got up, walked over, and found a little chubby chick with golden fluff, nestled in a padded basket and sleeping soundly.

Tsk.

He could already see that Furball was not a real creature with his eyesight. Instead, it was a kind of “bizarre energy” embodiment that had formed its own self-consciousness. Interesting.

While Ye Yunlan continued to lower his head to drink the medicine, he glanced at the mirror table and found a thick stack of letters scattered on it.

These letters were big and small, and some had a slight powdery fragrance. After thinking about it for a bit, Shen Shu had figured out where these letters came from.

He was slightly unhappy. His sharp eyes suddenly narrowed while he thought that maybe he should look for an opportunity to help Ye Yunlan clean up these letters.

He saw one of the letterheads pressed on the bottom with a corner slightly exposed. Chen Weiyuan signed the letter.

His pupils shrunk.

In Shen Shu’s memory, his Master did not like Chen Weiyuan, but Chen Weiyuan had always entangled with his Master like a dogskin plaster. Very annoying.

In his memory as a Demon Lord, this person was one of the few people in the Immortal sects who could cause him trouble.

There were countless things in the world, and he had absorbed hundreds of millions of soul fragments. It made his memory messy, and he was too lazy to remember things that had nothing to do with him. However, Chen Weiyuan’s marriage to his dao companion had caused chaos, leaving a big impression. He even had subordinates mentioning it to him as a joke.

He turned his back to Ye Yunlan. He was slowly immersed in his thoughts, stirring the memory of being the Demon Lord.

Generally speaking, he would not do this because the Demon Lord’s memories were too complicated. It was thousands of times more than what he had experienced. Once caught in it, he could have the chance of not waking up again and not be able to maintain his consciousness as “Shen Shu.”

He didn’t doubt the authenticity of these memories, but he still hadn’t figured it out yet. Was the Demon Lord’s experience something he personally experienced? Was he the same person as the Demon Lord? Was it the reflection of the future that reflected on him now? Or was it a memory of himself in a different world that overlapped with himself?

Before clarifying these things, he didn’t dare to indulge himself in integrating all these memories into his own body. After all, he was not sure whether Ye Yunlan’s voice would still wake him up again.

It was different this time.

The name on the letter lay across his eyes, and he realized that Chen Weiyuan’s matter was very important to him.

His consciousness drifted far away. A layer of red gradually covered the world.

He sat on the high seat, flames burning on the cast iron. The wine in his glass was bright red.

In the hall, dozens of enchantresses danced gracefully. Music actors played and sang behind the curtains. The steps next to him under his seat sat the Demonic Sect’s elders.

In the process of singing and dancing, he was very interested in listening to his follower’s conversations.

One of the drunk elders smiled and said, “Have you heard about the scandal that happened recently?”

“Is Elder Chu speaking about the Chen clan’s young patriarch marrying a wife?” Someone asked.

“Yes, I heard that the Chen clan’s young patriarch married a cripple who had been exiled by Sky Sect as his wife, despite the opposition of his clansmen. This act has really beaten the faces of those self-proclaimed, arrogant Sky Sect disciples.”

“Haha, I would like to listen to their infighting. Elder Chu, tell us quickly, what did that cripple do to get driven out of the sect?”

“It’s rumored that due to his greed for treasures, while he was in a secret realm, he plotted to frame and murder his fellow sect members and was revealed. He was thus punished.”

“——Such a despicable person? Did the Chen clan’s young patriarch get blinded by what he saw and take fancy in him?”

“The word blind is a great use of words!” Elder Chu took another sip of wine, “Not only is his character despicable, but I also heard that this disciple has a ruined face. He was born an abomination, so he wears a mask every day. There is no strong point on his entire body. Perhaps it is because of his body and skill in bed that fascinated the heart of the Chen clan’s young patriarch. Hahahaha..”

Elder Chu smiled drunkenly but found that none of his peers dared to laugh with him.

As soon as he raised his head, his pupils reflected in the high seat’s hideous bronze ghost mask.

Elder Chu was shocked to realize that he was using disrespectful words and cold sweat continued to shed from his forehead.

The music disappeared, and the dancers in the hall stopped dancing. They knelt before him one after another, not daring to breathe.

He looked down at the ant-like crowd and shook the glass in his hand. His tone was indistinguishable from anger or joy.

“Why are you stopping? Continue. Sing if you should sing, jump if you should jump, speak if you should speak.” He casually chuckled. “This Lord is listening.”

Music sounded again. The dancing girls continued to dance lightly, but the movements were quite stiff.

Elder Chu did not dare to touch the wine in his hand again, nor did he dare to defy his orders. He pulled out a stiff smile.

“Everyone, where was I again?”

One person spoke up: “You said that the Chen clan’s young patriarch is blind. The dao companion he married has no strengths and has a despicable character.”

“Yes, that’s right, I was up to that point.” Elder Chu exhaled and looked around, “Do you guys have anything you want to ask?”

Everyone looked at each other, afraid they would say something disrespectful and anger that man.

After a while, someone picked the most secure topic, and they carefully asked.

“Dare to ask Elder Chu, who is the person the Chen clan’s young patriarch married? What’s their name?”

Elder Chu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and replied, “The Chen clan’s young patriarch married a man surnamed Ye..”

“Name Yunlan.”