For the next few days, Chen Yu strutted through Jade Sword Mountain with the original owner's group of followers, not even bothering to report for training. While on the surface, he was proudly basking in the other disciples' praise for his famous performance against the demonic beast horde, inwardly, he was wondering if he should squeeze some information out of Zhuo Biming, curious about whether You Daolin had made a move yet. Of course, if he'd chosen to use other means, he could have found the answer directly, but the suspense was quite exciting, he was reluctant to cut it short unless he was able to tease the protagonist in exchange.
For this purpose, he didn't interfere although he knew that when he wasn't around, his lackeys were becoming increasingly unbridled, emboldened by the new rumors circulating about how Ning He not only had a noble pedigree, he also had outstanding talent to back him up. And as he'd predicted, Zhuo Biming soon came to find him in a bruised and haggard state, his usually handsome face twisted in anger.
Despite having been warned again and again by Moqi Baihui not to divulge what he'd been told about Ning He's hidden circumstances or even that he knew that there were hidden circumstances, the current Zhuo Biming had no rationality left to spare for such prohibitions. Thus, as soon as he arrived in front of the boy who'd been lounging in a side room of the main hall with some fawning youths, he burst out furiously. "Ning He, don't go too far! Even if I understand what you're trying to do, I won't stand for it anymore!"
At the overt threat, Chen Yu narrowed his eyes, but he didn't rebut the implication that they shared some secret, simply waving at the buzzing audience to shoo them out. Only once he was alone with the heaving teenager did he cross his arms, then ask, "What do you mean, what I'm trying to do? And stand for what, a few tussles? Can't the great Zhuo Biming even handle some juniors? Oh, maybe that's not it. Is it that the genius just can't spare the time to practice with us regular cultivators?"
Throughout this smirking speech, the protagonist's complexion had been flipping amazingly quickly between red and blue, blue and black, amusing Chen Yu greatly until the youth finally drew in a deep breath to calm himself. "Ning. He. Master Moqi has already explained everything to me about why you've behaved the way you have for several years. Fine. That doesn't matter to me. All I care about is that you stop bullying me for your tricks. If you insist on treating me poorly, don't blame me for being rude!"
Almost without thought, Chen Yu raised his brows and laughed. "Hng, you're merely one of many inner disciples, you really believe that you can be 'rude' to this young master and survive? Besides, I haven't even bothered to talk to you these days, what dog fart are you spewing?"
Regardless of the frustration that filled Zhuo Biming at how this crude idiot was pretending to be ignorant of his underlings' actions, he couldn't deny that his status really was far below that of the peak master's son, especially considering that the extraordinary talent Ning He had shown off was no less than his own. He had no leverage over the boy.
Recognizing that this peaceful overture therefore wouldn't yield any results, he glowered at the brat and swept away, secretly resolving to respond at last to the daily puppet bird that had been visiting him recently. He'd hesitated this long partly out of rightful loyalty to his shifu's blood and more out of skepticism that someone he'd betrayed would genuinely help him again, but he had little choice now, since Ning He had proven too stubbornly arrogant.
Chen Yu hummed after the disappearing figure, his mouth curved. That had definitely been too easy a retreat. If the protagonist hadn't had an alternative option ready in his mind, the bullying he'd been enduring these days was enough that he would have done far more, no matter how degrading or exhausting it was, to extract a promise of future immunity. It seemed that You Daolin had indeed acted swiftly, and his first target was this young master. No doubt after Ning He was eliminated, Zhuo Biming would be up next.
Right as he was savoring his discovery, however, the door that had been slammed shut by the protagonist slid open to reveal his good father's cheerful face, disturbing his mood.
Recently Ning Taio had been very animated due to the positive descriptions of his son's talent which, in turn, reflected well on him, and had consequently increased his pampering of the child. Part of his new routine was tracking the youth down several times a day to feed him snacks, pass him some cultivating resources, suggest that he train more, so on and so forth; the sole manner in which Chen Yu experienced what influence a peak master held was through the fact that even if he reflexively fled whenever he noticed a hint of Ning Taio nearby, the tiresome man always managed to eventually locate him. This father was so annoying that if at first, Chen Yu had been interested in observing this self-induced failure, now he simply bared his teeth at the sight.
And as had become the norm, currently in one of Ning Taio's hands was a plate of desserts, in the other a pot of hot tea, yet when Ning He didn't stand up to greet him, the man easily entered by himself, dotingly chiding, "He'er, did you have another fight with that boy? I told you not to be so willful."
Too lazy to deal with this ridiculous peak master, Chen Yu kept his eyes on the desserts and didn't speak, so that the man was forced to take the cue and continue, "Okay okay, this Ning Taio's son can do whatever he likes. En, of course he can, he's the boy who's made me so proud! Just eat some sweets and make sure that you don't get tired, all right?"
Why would Chen Yu refuse such a delicious offer? Certainly, every bit of these snacks was laced with Golden Honey Flower extract, but that didn't particularly frighten him. Yet his anticipation was shattered again, this time by his good lovers.
Since they'd returned to the sect's territory from this trip, the Moqi leaders had, for some reason, developed an utter indifference toward etiquette. Even though the master of Jade Sword Mountain stood directly in front of them, they swerved around him without any sign of acknowledgment or apology for their abrupt visit, instead rushing forward to snatch the plate and cup out of Ning He's reach then warmly embrace him in greeting.
Ning Taio had witnessed the two brothers display such rude and intimate actions frequently enough that he wasn't surprised; these twins were wrapped around his son at least half the time that he met with He'er. He even suspected, and rightly so, that they were sneaking into the child's bedroom and spent the night on Jade Sword Mountain more often than they did in their own respective halls. As a responsible father, he glared at the men in indignation, vaguely sensing that their intentions toward Ning He weren't pure, but he couldn't rebel against them. Whenever he attempted to reprimand them, his mind rang with the constant reminder of the reality that they knew what he'd been giving Ning He and could explain it to the boy if they were irritated, which would thoroughly ruin his relationship with his child. So, weak as it was, the best he could do was throw a last scowl at the uncaring figures and escape.
Once the outsider left, Moqi Lirong immediately swept his shizhi onto his lap and concernedly rubbed his thumb along the sulky lips that were cutely sticking out, while Moqi Baihui crouched in front of him to stroke his cheeks and ask, "Did you eat any of what he gave you?"
With Moqi Lirong's sensitive sense of smell, it hadn't taken long for him to realize that everything Ning Taio was offering his son was contaminated. Nonetheless, perhaps because they'd been afraid that their shizhi would be too depressed if they'd apprised him of this reality, the twins had only instructed him not to accept anything from his father anymore.
Of course, Chen Yu had been ignoring this advice wholeheartedly, but basically sure of what would happen if he told these perverts the truth and hoping to avoid any lectures they might spout to disguise their motives, Chen Yu opened his mouth to deny the accusation, unaware of the telltale crumbs around his lips. When he thereby carelessly fell into the trap that the Moqi brothers had silently devised the instant they'd spotted the boy holding the dessert his father had presumably presented to him, it was naturally too late.
As if he'd been waiting for the lie, behind him, Moqi Lirong sharply bit his hear, whispering, "Bad shizhi," and Moqi Baihui sadly sighed. Shaking his head heavily, he lamented, "We didn't raise you to deceive us, did we? Don't you trust that we have only your best intentions at heart, shizhi? Would we deprive you of what you like for the sake of being mean? Even if you disagreed with our directions, you shouldn't have been untruthful. That's not what a good child does. Shizhi, what do you say should be your punishment for lying to your shishu and master?"
In contrast with the somber, disappointed tone of this speech, Chen Yu could feel and see that both men were already aroused, their eyes gleaming hungrily. Cursing inside at what utter nonsense all of those words were—how long had they raised him for, a couple weeks?—yet well aware that this was his loss, he gave up and decided to at least prevent them from getting everything they'd wanted, putting on a disgruntled expression to exclaim, "W-would this young master have had to lie if you two hadn't always been so overbearing?! What's so bad about having some snacks? Isn't this all your fault!"
Soothingly patting the boy and admiring how his flushed face set off his glittering eyes, Moqi Lirong instinctively started to agree, "En, our fault, our fault," but luckily stopped in time thanks to his brother's fierce glare. Having become conscious of the fact that he couldn't help their case by speaking, the black twin obediently turned silent at that point and devoted himself to taking advantage of his current position instead, nibbling at the soft nape of the youth's tender neck.
At the same time, Chen Yu quietly clicked his tongue in displeasure, and the white twin grinned, shedding his scholarly façade as he stood up and pushed Ning He's hand against his stiffened length. A beat later, a hoarse murmur rang out in the room. "Why don't we clean out your mouth, shizhi?"
---
Meanwhile, You Daolin was gazing at the little bird that had fluttered down onto his palm without much expectation, only to widen his eyes upon realizing that the thing gripped in its beak was a folded talisman. So, Zhuo Biming had apparently replied, and since he wouldn't have taken the risk if he was merely refusing his proposal, the message indicated that this You Daolin had finally acquired some hands and feet inside Jade Sword Mountain.
When, in order to confirm that this was the case, the impatient youth callously snapped the bird's neck and dripped its blood onto the runes, water droplets flew toward him and created a flowing script in the air, which disintegrated into mist as soon as the last word appeared. Even as he sneered at what a showoff Zhuo Biming was, You Daolin mulled over the information he'd just read.
The other teenager had sent more than a simple acceptance, he'd also recorded a short narrative about Ning He's circumstances. The gist of it seemed to be that Ning He wasn't actually as treasured as he appeared, with his own father feeding him a tonic to suck out his spiritual energy and causing him to become a notoriously selfish yet lackluster cultivator.
Once he enjoyed a few moments of snickering vindictively, however, You Daolin frowned. That news did gratify his wish to watch that lying freak suffer, but all he felt in the end was, so what? It wasn't as if anyone would condemn Ning He if he was found out—on the contrary, according to what Zhuo Biming claimed, that idiot had somehow exploited this story to dupe the Moqi brothers into protecting him, proving that this material was useless.
Although it was true that he was being treated exceptionally well here by his new shifu thanks to the high quality goods he'd provided, he was nonetheless restless, boiling with hatred, and had hoped that Zhuo Biming's joining would finally signal the start of his revenge. So, having been disappointed, You Daolin's reply was curt and his evaluation of Zhuo Biming terrible, until a few days later, he happened to catch sight of Ning Taio striding into Duangan Pang's workshop.
From what he remembered, the two masters rarely interacted in public, neither friend nor foe. Yet he'd clearly seen Ning Taio walk extremely confidently into the private halls of Puppet Warrior Peak, demonstrating his familiarity with Duangan Pang's territory, meaning that they must be acting deceptively distant for some purpose. Was there something shady that would come out if they interacted openly?
Alerted that this could be something worth paying attention to, You Daolin used his favored status to loiter near the inner rooms, pretending to need to speak with Duangan Pang. And his wait wasn't in vain: after unintelligible shouts sounded for a while, Ning Taio angrily shoved open the door, allowing You Daolin to glimpse his shifu's conspicuously malevolent stare at the other leader.