Feng Yongrui woke up with a start and looked around with apprehension. He still remembered dreaming of worms... The worms were entering his nose, his mouth, his ears... And those disgusting creatures kept wriggling and giggling at his misfortune!
"Urgh..." Feng Yongrui groaned and clutched his head.
"Master, Master! You're finally awake, Master!" Feng Yongrui heard Ma Bo's voice and looked up.
"Bo'er... How come you're here?" Feng Yongrui asked in confusion.
"Master, the barrier was opened, so we all rushed here. Are you okay?" Ma Bo's face was filled with concern.
Feng Yongrui petted Ma Bo's head and gave a weak smile.
"Of course I'm okay. I'm your invincible, awesome, Master~" Feng Yongrui said teasingly.
In his heart, though, Feng Yongrui was crying bitterly.
His. Whole. Body. Hurt!
That system was really... How could it not tell him that the Haunting Dreams Poison was so painful?!
Feng Yongrui stood up and observed the surroundings. All the Gu worms were gone, and the children were slowly waking up. The children had no clue to what just happened. They only felt that their head didn't hurt like before.
"Master," Hou Renshu smiled and saluted him. "Master, don't worry. All the children are okay..."
Feng Yongrui nodded. As long as they were okay, then it was good.
"Master..." Hou Renshu hesitated to speak. He wanted to ask his Master how he extracted the Gu worms and why he didn't allow them to help, but Hou Renshu felt that his Master wouldn't tell him.
"Master, next time, please bring us with you," Hou Renshu finally spoke. "Master, we are Master's disciples. We will follow you wherever you go and work together. Master, please don't leave us like that again..."
...We were worried about you, Hou Renshu wanted to say.
Feng Yongrui felt his heart grow warm and his lips curled into a smile. Unfortunately, he couldn't promise that.
Feng Yongrui gave a small hum in reply, but he didn't say anything. Ruffling Hou Renshu's hair, Feng Yongrui then turned to Ma Bo and called him over.
"You two... Ask the children where they come from. We'll send them home," Feng Yongrui said.
"Understood, Master," the two disciples bowed and obeyed him.
After asking all the children, the disciples organized the children into several groups, depending on what town or village they belonged to.
When that was done, Feng Yongrui took out a large paper crane and told everyone to hop on. They would send the children back home.
When all the children were sent home, the sky had already turned dark. The moon hung in the sky and glowed brilliantly. Feng Yongrui, Hou Renshu, Ma Bo, and the youth were thoroughly exhausted.
Bringing all the children home was really tiring. Thankfully, the children were relatively obedient. When the families were reunited with the children, they were joyful, relieved, and grateful.
Seeing the happiness on their faces made Feng Yongrui feel like all of this had been worth it.
"Let's go home," Feng Yongrui told his disciples. They all agreed and flew back to the Immortal Pathway Sect. Of course, before they entered the sect, all three of them changed back into their original face.
The only problem here was a certain youth.
"Can't you change back into a dog?" Feng Yongrui asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
The youth curled his lips in displeasure and lifted his chin upwards.
"Hmph! Why should I?" the youth sniffed.
"...You were cuter when you were a dog," Feng Yongrui flatly said the truth.
The youth's eyes bulged and his mouth gaped open in disbelief.
"H-how could you?! I... I obviously look nobler like this..." the youth cried. His eyes moved furtively in Ma Bo's direction, asking for help.
"...Actually, I agree with Master. You look cuter as a dog. Your fur was smooth and silky too..." Ma Bo said, reminiscing his cute pet that used to wag his tail and bark cutely.
"Hmm..." Hou Renshu gave a hum in agreement. "...And petting you was really fun, too..."
"W-what? It's not like you can't pet me anymore, right?" the youth scoffed. His words were really sharp, but the youth's ears were tinged with a blooming red color.
"Here," the youth grabbed Ma Bo's hand and placed it on his head.
"You can pet me even if I'm like this, right?"
"Mh-hm..." Ma Bo stroked the smooth black hair and relished the warmth in his hands.
"Hmph! Take back what you said!" the youth pouted.
"Alright, alright... Xiao Hei, you're cute no matter what form you're in..." Ma Bo gave an indulgent smile and placated him.
The youth gave a satisfied hum, forgetting the fact that Ma Bo had called him Xiao Hei.
Feng Yongrui and Hou Renshu, the "spectators", cleared their throats.
"...We're not supposed to be fighting about this. Get back to the main topic. How are we going to sneak him back inside?" Feng Yongrui asked, scratching his head.
He had thought of simply putting an invisible spell on the youth, but he didn't think this plan would be effective in the long term. The best way was for this youth to turn back into a dog...
"You. Come here," Feng Yongrui beckoned to the youth.
The youth gave a reluctant glance as Ma Bo and moved slowly to Feng Yongrui's side.
Feng Yongrui felt his lips twitching. This guy... I'm only calling you to come over... I'm not telling you to sacrifice your life or something.
Why do you look so sad as if you were parting with your lover or going to be executed?? You don't need to be so dramatic ah...
When the youth stood next to him, Feng Yongrui instructed him to clasp his hands and close his eyes.
"Repeat after me," Feng Yongrui said. "I wish to be a dog again. I wish to be a dog again..."
The youth pursed his lips but obeyed Feng Yongrui, repeating the mantra ten times.
After a few times, they heard a 'pop' sound and the youth disappeared. In his spot, they saw a pile of clothes and a familiar black dog.
"Xiao Hei~" Ma Bo giggled and opened his arms wide. The dog gave an arrogant bark and rushed over to his arms, wagging his tail.
With this matter settled, the three men and one dog returned to the Immortal Pathway Sect with no trouble at all. They arrived at Feng Yongrui's Mountain Peak and went to their respective rooms.
"You all should take a bath and have dinner. It's already so late. Go to sleep, and we'll talk about everything tomorrow," Feng Yongrui instructed. The two disciples agreed.
Feng Yongrui himself went to take a bath. As he sat inside the tub filled with hot water, Feng Yongrui closed his eyes and called the System.
Speaking of the System, it had been quiet for a really long time now. Feng Yongrui wondered if something had happened to it.
"System. System!"
There was no reply. Feng Yongrui frowned and called it again.
"System. Hey, System! Is there something wrong?"
"Huh?" A childlike voice sounded inside Feng Yongrui's ears, crisp and lovely.
"System, you're finally replying! Hurry and tell me, are you okay?"
"Host, I'm fine," the System replied sheepishly.
"Well... actually... when the Gu worms were attacking you, I fainted..." the System whispered.
Feng Yongrui wanted to facepalm, but decided against it. He was still wet and soapy, since he was in the middle of bathing.
"So... I remember that there was a Gu worm that almost entered my ear. What happened to it? I passed out before I could kill all the Gu worms or eat the antidote for the Haunting Dreams Poison. Why am I okay?"
The System was dazed -- it had just woken up and now it was bombarded with Feng Yongrui's questions...
"Host, I just told you I passed out. How am I supposed to know? Also, I passed out before you, Host. So naturally, I don't have a clue regarding what happened..."
Feng Yongrui swallowed the complaints inside his heart and spat out a question.
"Tell me the truth. You're an apprentice System, right? That's why you're so clumsy and terrible at this..." Feng Yongrui said.
The System directly ignored his words and huffed in response.
Feng Yongrui sighed and finished bathing. He put on his white robes and laid down on the bed. He had yet to catch the Master-mind behind this incident...
He also wanted to talk to Ma Bo regarding his Demonic Constitution...
Anyway, Feng Yongrui finally understood why Ma Bo's cultivation progress was always so slow. As someone with a Demonic Constitution, Ma Bo would be way more suitable to cultivate Demonic Techniques.
All this time, Feng Yongrui had taught Ma Bo normal, orthodox cultivation techniques from the Immortal Pathway Sect. Naturally, Ma Bo's progress would be slower than Hou Renshu.
If Ma Bo was given a Demonic Cultivation Method, Ma Bo would definitely advance in leaps and bounds. Feng Yongrui meant what he said during the day. He didn't mind that Ma Bo had a Demonic Constitution...
Methods of cultivating varied from person to person, but in essence, cultivating was an act against the heavens, because cultivating to reach immortality meant they wanted to defy death...
Feng Yongrui was okay if Ma Bo wanted to cultivate Demonic Methods, as long as that cultivation method was not inhumane...
"Right!" Feng Yongrui suddenly remembered something.
***
Feng Yongrui: You were cuter when you were a dog.
Youth: *looks at Ma Bo, asking for help*
Ma Bo: I agree with Master. You were cuter as a dog.
Youth: QAQ
***
Do you prefer the dog or the human youth?
Comment below~