Chapter 41: Mu Chen responded with a hum, the tips of his ears getting red against his cold face.

Translator: DragonRider

Chu Qianshuang was startled.

‘I’m such a bigmouth! Now I just wooed grand martial uncle a pursuer whose eyes are virtually filled with obsession. This person looks exactly the same as second martial uncle gets angry with master.’

Thinking like that, Chu Qianshuang immediately took to his heels and rushed to report a message to Mu Chen.

‘What if the red-dressed person forces grand martial uncle? Grand martial uncle is so warm-hearted that he will certainly suffer! Terrible!’

Mu Chen just finished checking his disciple’s physical condition when Chu qianshuang landed beside him with a worried look.

Liu Hanzhi also turned to look at them.

‘My own disciple, who I’ve raised up myself, isn’t intimate with me but gets along quite well with Mu Chen and Duanmu Feng. Grass is indeed always greener on the other side of the fence. Such an unfilial child does need a spanking.’

Chu Qianshuang looked around and set a boundary to block outsiders’ vision. Then he told Mu Chen all his understandings about the matter at one sitting. He kindly reminded Mu Chen to be as discreet as possible to avoid the red-dressed man in any case, “The man wears a red robe, very much like the so-called coquettish bitch that is hard to get rid of. If in any case grand martial uncle is pestered by him, do remember to send a distress signal!”

Mu Chen felt a terrible disgust all over his body. Although he didn’t believe Chu Qianshuang, he decided to kick off whoever in red trying to pester him.

In the midnight, the somewhat low pressure and the dark clouds rolling in the sky implied a heavy rain was about to pour down. Mu Chen stood by the window and looked out at the scenery—the dark night added a solemnness to the vermilion of Yanyang Palace so that everything around seemed more tranquil.

Since Jing Ming left, Yanyang Palace suddenly quieted down, for which Mu Chen had felt a little unaccustomed.

Black Egg fluttered its wings back after looking for food at somewhere. Knowing that the rain was coming, it stood on the windowsill for a rest, with its eyes closed. Sensing Mu Chen in a daze, it opened one eye to have a look, then took out a golden pearl hidden under its wings and passed it on to Mu Chen with its wings.

Mu Chen felt puzzled, "What is this?"

Black Egg whispered, "The demon core of a gold serpent, which I heard can be used to concoct pills. It’s for you!"

Mu Chen pinched it up for a look, abundant gold elements converging in the palm of his hand. Demon cores were more stable and less likely to drain off efficacy than many spirit pills. Therefore, many pill alchemists deliberately reared spiritual beasts in captivity for that purpose, and then killed them to harvest the core so long as they had born one, which Mu Chen had always looked down upon.

‘Only fools will use such a bloody method to kill spiritual lives for cores. A truly talented pill alchemist can bring wonders with spiritless things, without the necessity of killing creatures that have been fostered with elaboration.”

Black Egg looked around and found Gu Yunjue was not there. Then it dared to speak without inhibition, bragging with much proud, "First I did this…, then I… and… Bang! Bang! Bang! …I finally finished off the serpent of core formation stage. It crawled around my thighs calling me ‘daddy…daddy’ to ask for mercy, though, I didn’t give it any chance to escape from my palm, since I am such a righteous bird." Picturing a serpent hugging its claws crying for mercy, Black Egg shook its pronged feet up and down with self-satisfaction.

‘Damn! I was so domineering!’

Mu Chen frowned on that cumbersome statement, "Your voice sounds so terrible!"

Black Egg hastened to cover its mouth with the wings and scanned around with round red eyes to check if Gu Yunjue was there.

"But it's possible to be cured," Mu Chen seemed absorbed in deep thought before an inspiration suddenly occurred to him. "Come with me," he said to Black Egg.

Black Egg followed Mu Chen into the pill concocting room. Compared with Gu Yunjue who had capricious moods, Mu Chen, the so-called bad-tempered, seemed to be the embodiment of the word "tenderness" in its eyes. Moreover, Mu Chen had such a pure soul, the purest at least among the immortals Black Egg had met, that it couldn’t possibly resist.

Mu Chen fiddled about for a while and finally got a black ointment as big as Black Egg's nails. He fed Black Egg with it, chuckling with satisfaction, "The effect only lasts for ten days."

Black Egg, “Chirp?”

‘Hell! How can I make such a noise?!’

***

Just back from the main peak, Gu Yunjue stopped suddenly at the entrance of Yanyang Palace. He looked at the West with a strange feeling, instantly turned around and found the one who had been waiting for him for a long time. A sense of teasing appeared on this young man’s beautiful face, "Why haven’t left yet? You want to give me something else?”

Gu Yunjin’s face froze, his heart gripped by a sudden dull pain, "I suddenly recalled something before leaving and thought it would be better to tell you."

Gu Yunjue stood still without responding, seemingly very interested.

Gu Yunjin continued, "The devil world is capturing pill alchemists, among whom Mu Chen is listed in the first place, as he is Danyang Zi’s disciple after all. You’d better pay attention to it."

As soon as Gu Yunjin finished, Gu Yunjue drew the sword out of its sheath, a cold light flashing before eyes. Then a black-dressed man fell between them with a bang. From the irrepressible devil breath on his body, Gu Yunjin instantly recognized him from the devil realm.

Snickering faintly, Gu Yunjue stepped his delicate white boot on the man’s chest; gentle as his move might seem, the creepy sounds of bone cracking could sent chills down the spines. The person under his feet convulsed painfully, his mouth open, where the dark red blood mixed with the fluid of broken viscera flew out irrepressibly, his eyes filled with blood streaks, and his face twisted. However, he, out of fear and pain, couldn’t even make any sound. Gu Yunjue uttered in a strangely unhurried manner, without any fluctuation on the face, "Tut, caught another one."

Before Gu Yunjin said anything, this young man suddenly stretched out his juvenile hand, exposing the slender fingers with well-proportioned knuckles. But his next action thrilled the other deeply through the heart. Gu Yunjue hung his fair palm over the black-dressed man and grasped in empty, extracting the man’s soul out. Then as he moved his foot, red flames emerged from the ground and incinerated the man’s body into ashes.

The beautiful white-dressed young man smiled at Gu Yunjin and took out a transparent sphere from the space ring, where more than a dozen black souls wailing mournfully were imprisoned. They clung to the wall and tried desperately to break through the barrier for freedom. Unfortunately, what they had been able to crush at will was now an insurmountable obstacle. No matter how hard they struggled, the sphere wouldn’t move the slightest, and they were just like an ant trying so hard to shake a tree but without result.

Then Gu Yunjue stuffed another soul in it with an innocent smile, "They could just serve as food for my spiritual pet after being interrogated. Will my elder brother come and stay with me for a few days?"

Looking at the undisguised malice in Gu Yunjue’s eyes, Gu Yunjin shook his head with a hollow laugh.

‘Stay for a few days? Perhaps, I’ll be casted to feed birds by this little brother in human’s shell. His proficiency indicates he must have extracted many souls…’

Gu Yunjue spread his palms regretfully, his pure and white robe presenting him as an innocent teenager, "What a pity!" With that said, Gu Yunjue licked the corner of his lips like a coveting monster, as if he’d seen the essence of the other’s soul through the skin, which chilled Gu Yunjin to leave as soon as possible.

Gu Yunjue seemed more regretful on his face.

As soon as Gu Yunjue returned to Yanyang Palace, a thunderbolt suddenly fell over the far south, rumbling like a mad dragon of golden purple that dashed across the sky for a dozen miles and calmed down in an instant. Then there followed an urgent downpour that put up a vast blur over the sky, making the tranquil night even quieter without even a trace of wind.

However, this thunder had stirred many cultivators.

Countless superiors in seclusion seemingly sensed something and faced the direction to the thunder with an upsurge of emotion, and some even broke off their seclusion, heading straight to where the thunderbolt fell. Heaven’s anomalies implied the birth of some new treasure. If one obtained it, even if the chance was one in ten thousand, he’d have more development than sitting idly for a hundred years without progress.

At this time, where the thunderbolt fell, a middle-aged cultivator in green robe flew out from the mountains like a drowned rat; he shook off the leaves over his head and raged, "Damn it! The barrier is hard indeed! Tearing it apart has cost half of my spirit power!"

Meanwhile, surprised at seeing an old man in black rushing over, the green-dressed man picked his eyebrows, flew to grab the old man’s collar and lifted him up in the air, "It should take you more than five hundred years before you reach the demigod stage?" Railing him like that, the green-dressed cultivator kicked the other’s buttock, "Why are you so stupid?"

"My ancestor!" Someone in the vicinity wanted to approach but was stopped by the wave of the old man.

Being captured by this person, the old man was just like a baby without any ability to resist. The green-dressed man’s cultivation was too profound to be fathomable. If he had the intention to fight, they’d all die here.

‘When is there such a formidable person in the immortal world?’

The green-dressed man coughed, wiped the dust off his face and asked recklessly, "Now answer me. Who among those in the immortal world of one hundred years old or so, with the family name Mu, are as handsome as me and more freaking awesome than you?"

Looking at the other's charred face caused by the lightning, the old man couldn’t help but rage in heart, “Who the hell can tell how handsome you are?! Your face is black as charcoal!!!” However, as to some ones with the family name Mu that reached the demigod stage at the age of one hundred years old or so, there was only one person in the immortal world.

"Mu Chen of Lofty Cloudy Sect, at his one hundred, allegedly has reached the demigod stage."

"Where is he?"

"In the north!"

The green-dressed man dropped down the old man, rubbed his own hair in a delight mood and headed to the direction that the old man pointed. However, before he went far, he turned westwards along the mountain, murmuring to himself, “Since Lofty Cloudy Sect is in the north, then north here I come! When I find third uncle’s son, grandfather the old fogey would definitely praise me.”

Seeing him disappear in the distance, people in the vicinity, with a queer look, got amazed, not only by his cultivation but also by his poor sense of direction—it turned out he was an idiot unable to find north.

***

"Atishoo!" Mu Chen suddenly felt itchy in his nose, with some sense of trouble hovering over his mind.

With a cloak in hand, Gu Yunjue gently approached Mu Chen from behind, draped it over his shoulder and tied it up.

Mu Chen frowned, ‘My little disciple has come back too late. How come Yue Mingze got so much nonsense to say? It's just a competition. It’ll be alright to omit such unnecessary formalities so long as we can win it.’

"Is master tired?" Staring gently at Mu Chen's eyes, Gu Yunjue raised the hand to tease the straggly hair behind his master’s shoulders.

Mu Chen curled slightly the corners of his mouth, seemingly to show off something funny, and then pulled Black Egg out of the shadow.

"Chirp! Chrip!" Black Egg felt so sad. From a moment ago, everything he uttered was a chirp! Devil of the abyss spoke like a bird! What a shame!

Gu Yunjue went blank for a moment, and then smirked, "Master’s pill is so good to change Black Egg’s voice. Black Egg seems so fond of the pill that it even cries."

Mu Chen responded with a hum, the tips of his ears getting red against his cold face, “Good that it likes.” Mu Chen felt a little bashful when being praised by his disciple with such a sincere tone.

Gu Yunjue rubbed his cheek against Mu Chen’s with a smile, “Master can concoct some pill that enables Black Egg to sing, since it likes imitating orioles so much”

The idea delighted Mu Chen, his eyes brightening up when Black Egg instantly felt a strike.

Gu Yunjue walked over with a chuckle and held Mu Chen's waist.

‘My little master is really easy to get satisfied. Such a lovely person, is absolutely mine. I’ll kill whoever dares to stand in the way, immortals or devils. If it’s the heaven, I’ll destroy it at any price!’

***

The next day, the competition among the four sects continued.

Because Gu Yunjue's part was in the afternoon and Mu Chen was devoted to concocting a pill for Black Egg, so Mu Chen lost the time and didn’t show up until noon.

On arriving at the competition arena, Mu Chen saw a man in a red robe standing in the air, wide sleeves flowing. It was hard to distinguish the one’s gender from the delicate face. Suddenly, Chu Qianshuang’s words hit Mu Chen’s mind. And another look at the red-dressed man reminded him of the two words, “Coquettish! Bitch!”

“Mu Chen, I want to … you… Ah!" The red-dressed man wanted to express his intention to compete pill concocting with Mu Chen to prove he was the best pill alchemist in the world. However, a white boot rushed over his head before he could even finish the words. As a pill cultivator, he had spent all time in pill concocting rather than having any fight with anyone.

Mu Chen treaded the man down in an instant, with a cold face, then waved his sleeves and walked away in his usual ethereal manner.

‘Hum, I definitely won’t accept all those coming along. Such a blind-minded dares to waste my time to see my disciple. If I see him next time, I’ll give him another stamp on the face!’

"Master!" The little red-lantern servant rushed over with a shocked face.

"Mu! Chen!" The red-dressed man crawled out of the soil and shouted, gnashing his teeth, "I, Bo Jinyu, will be your permanent enemy!!”