Mo Ran did not come again after that day.
After working diligently for two weeks straight, Chu Wanning finally finished the first prototype of Holy Night Guardian. He happily went to Wuchang Town to seal the deal with local merchant. The material to make a Holy Night Guardian was cheap, hence the merchant at Wuchang Town was able to sell it for cheap price. It was the design that was expensive. If Chu Wanning wanted to earnestly make some money, he could do so easily by overpricing his inventions, but his true purpose had always been to protect the common folk. Hence the reliable Holy Night Guardian was sold at the same price as a household broom. It was even cheaper than the protection talismans sold by cultivation sects. The simple armor eventually became so popular that Chu Wanning indeed earned some hard cash as time went by. He never had to rely on SiSheng Peak for income, although of course Xue Zhengyong insisted on paying his monthly salary. If Chu Wanning did not donate the excess money he had while travelling, then he spent them on sweets.
Before going back to SiSheng Peak, Chu Wanning made a detour to the market and bought sweets to his heart's content. Candies made of cow's milk, honey glazed lotus root, all kinds of pastries and cakes and puddings. Chu Wanning wanted to chomp down then and there, but he still had to maintain his appearance as a Grandmaster in public. The bakery owner was so happy that tears started streaming on his face. Chu Wanning was one of a kind, rare customer. Whenever he showed up, he would buy at least half of his store content. That was why the owner always made sure that Chu Wanning got the best goods at the best price. Of all the pastries, Chu Wanning liked the lotus pastry the most. Unfortunately this time around only one piece was left. Still better than nothing. Chu Wanning took it gladly.
Before he went home, Chu Wanning bought three jars of sweet soy milk as well. It was such a good day. For the first time since his rebirth, Chu Wanning actually enjoyed being alive again. He opened a jar and drank from it leisurely all the way back to SiSheng Peak.
When Chu Wanning arrived at the red lotus ponds, someone was already waiting for him. Mo Ran stood at the end of the bridge, his eyes were directed at the lotus flowers.
"…"
Mo Ran had not seen him yet. If he wanted to run away, he could do so at once. Chu Wanning was about to turn on his heels and walk away, but then he caught a movement at the tail of his eyes. Mo Ran, the scoundrel, reached out a hand and was about to pluck one of his lotus flowers!
"Mo Weiyu!!!"
Mo Ran nearly fell into the pond. His hand was still hanging in the air, centimeters from reaching the lotus flower. Chu Wanning walked toward him, looking very unhappy. Mo Ran froze on spot. What exactly made him Chu Wanning so angry, again?
Chu Wanning was about to scold Mo Ran when he saw it. There was a lone snail on the red lotus flower, and Mo Ran wanted to pick the snail off the flower. Chu Wanning's face switched between green, white and red.
Mo Ran greeted him carefully, "Shi… Shizun?"
Chu Wanning was embarrassed. He replied with a quiet "En" and picked the snail off the flower himself. Then, he placed it safely on nearby grass.
Chu Wanning stood up again, his back facing Mo Ran. He was not sure what to say or do. It was such an awkward situation. Thankfully, Mo Ran spoke up.
"Has Shizun fully recovered?"
"En. How are your injuries?"
As if wanting to demonstrate, Mo Ran moved his arms around, "All healed up!"
Chu Wanning threw a jab at him, intending to be funny, "Then the punishment was not severe enough."
"…"
"…"
Maybe it was not that funny after all. Chu Wanning cleared his throat.
"What brings you to Red Lotus Pavilion?"
Mo Ran ah-ed, he suddenly remembered the purpose of his visit. Candidly, he took out the letter he just received from his aunt, which detailed the exorcism case that he was supposed to complete together with his Shizun and a fellow disciple. It went without saying that he picked Shi Mei for this mission.
Chu Wanning read through the letter and tried to remember the particular details about this mission, and yet he could not. It was such a long time ago, and he completely forgot. Probably nothing too difficult.
"So the time has come. Alright, have you informed your shixiong?"
Chu Wanning really did not need to ask which shixiong.
"Un. Shizun, when are we leaving?"
"We will leave next morning. You and Shi Mei, get ready."
After saying that, Chu Wanning flicked his sleeves and marched toward Red Lotus Pavilion with his sweet soy milk jar still in hand.
Mo Ran stood there in silence for a while, baffled. When did he tell Shizun that he was bringing Shi Mei along?
Then his stomach started to growl.
"…"
"…"
Chu Wanning turned around and glanced at the pitiful looking Mo Ran.
"…"
"…"
Mo Ran whined, "Shizun, I'm hungry…"
"Then go to Mengpo Hall."
"I did but they were still cooking dinner."
"Did you not have lunch?"
"No.."
"…"
The truth was that Mo Ran was so excited about the prospect of going on a mission with Shi Mei that he completely skipped lunch to stalk and bother Shi Mei. Only now the hunger came to invade him and he came to regret his earlier decision.
Mo Ran and his puppy eyes were looking at Chu Wanning's jar of sweet soy milk. Chu Wanning had never felt so possessive of something. But then again Mo Ran looked so pitiful. After much internal debate, Chu Wanning gave in and grabbed inside his qiankun pouch. Of all the things he could pull out, he had to pull out his favourite lotus pastry. Chu Wanning wanted to switch it with something else, but Mo Ran already saw it. The unfortunate Shizun could only hand it over to his disciple helplessly.
Mo Ran broke into a smile as he took the lotus pastry and happily bit into it. Chu Wanning's facial expression softened.
"Thank you, Shizun."
Chu Wanning nodded stiffly and went inside the Red Lotus Pavilion, feeling sad over the one lotus pastry that he did not manage to eat after all.
The next morning, they left on horses for Butterfly Town, where the exorcism would take place. Butterfly Town was not far from SiSheng Peak, but it still took a day to reach the town. Sun had already set when they finally arrived, and the town was bustling with activity. Though the ghost marriage procession was unique and his two disciples looked very interested to watch, Chu Wanning still urged them to head directly to the haunted family's residence.
The distraught Chen family was beyond relief to finally meet with the representatives from SiSheng Peak. They lamented about the deaths of their two elder sons, and worried endlessly for their youngest son's wellbeing. Chu Wanning still could not remember details about the case so he listened attentively and followed through with his usual exorcism method, until after they unearthed the big red coffin that started the curse on the Chen family. The big red coffin split open and revealed the corpse of Chen Bo'Huan, the eldest son of the Chen family. Chu Wanning's face immediately turned sour. He did not even register Mo Ran's expert analysis regarding the situation. Of course. Mo Ran's first mission. How could he forgot. It was during this mission that this impudent disciple…
He did not even get to finish his train of thought before they entered the foggy illusory realm. Chu Wanning was determined not to let Mo Ran touch him again, and so he placed a tracking enchantment on him and left to find Shi Mei and Chen Yao first. Thankfully he still remembered which direction he had to go to. Just as in previous life, he found them walking in a daze, eyes closed, to a certain direction. Chu Wanning quickly pulled them back and fed them the antidote.
Shi Mei's face was pale from the poison, but he regained consciousness fairly quickly.
"Shi.. Shizun, I'm sorry for… cough cough!"
Chu Wanning patted his back impatiently while checking on the still unconscious Chen Yao. After some time had passed, Chen Yao also regained consciousness. The woman was terrified and scared.
"W-What happened? Where are we?"
Chu Wanning did not even have the time to explain. He needed to find Mo Ran right away. Using the tracking enchantment, Chu Wanning dragged them both to find Mo Ran. The problem was that they ran and ran for a while but Mo Ran was still so far away. Chu Wanning's heart lurched to the ground. Had he made a mistake just by altering the disciple to save first?
When he sensed movement ahead, he quickly shielded Shi Mei and Chen Yao behind him.
"Careful," he said. "Before we break out of the illusory realm, don't do anything excessive and stay behind me."
They soon arrived before a manor which was dressed in vibrant colors, with "Xi" characters written everywhere. Sound of guests chattering and laughing happily could be heard. It looked perfectly like a normal, luxurious and festive wedding banquet until they noticed that the guests were faceless.
The chattering guests cheered when two lines of people appeared from the thick fog, one led by a smiling golden boy and the other led by a smiling jade maiden. Both of them carried tall wedding candles which burned with exceedingly sweet smell of Hundred Butterfly Fragrance, to the point of nauseating the living.
Shi Mei and Chen Yao turned somewhat pale. Although they already ingested the antidote, the poisonous fog and the fragrance still took a toll on them. While Chu Wanning was still thinking about what to do to break Shi Mei and Chen Yao out of the illusory realm, Shi Mei's eyes widened and he whispered urgently.
"Shizun, look!"
The two lines of people were actually made up of corpses. Making up the tail of the line behind the golden boy, Mo Ran was walking with his eyes closed and head down.