CH 20

Su Mujin turned his head in a daze, and saw Gu Feng smiling at him.

“Stick with me and you won’t lose your way.” Gu Feng leaned close and his mellow voice tickled Su Mujin’s eardrum. 

Su Mujin bowed his head, the roots of his ears starting to turn red, and transmitted his words, “Gege, you previously said we should just use voice transmission to talk about private matters. There’s no need to be . . . in such close proximity.” Like this, I won’t be able to calm down and regain my composure.

Gu Feng arched an eyebrow, and just as before, leaned in close to say, “Really? My bad, I had forgotten. Next time I’ll remember.” He was entirely unrepentant.

Su Mujin silently turned around, and pulled Gu Feng to enter the doorway. He tried to stop the smile that grew to cover his whole face, but failed. There was no way he’d allow Gege to see his foolish expression.

Gu Feng obligingly did not expose Su Mujin’s hidden thoughts, but began to carefully observe their surroundings. The treasures were completely hidden within the glowing orbs. It seemed that their choice was up to fate. 

He tried reaching out his hand to take one of the glowing orbs, but halfway there, he encountered resistance, and couldn’t reach any further. It appeared he had no destiny with this one.

The pair wandered around aimlessly like this for a while, their hands entwined, meandering among the twinkling lights as though they were on a date.

“Eh?” Gu Feng suddenly felt a strong pull from an orb to the left in front of him.

“What’s wrong, Gege?” Su Mujin sensed Gu Feng’s sudden change in mood.

“Ahead of us, something is calling to me. Let’s go take a look?”

“Sure!”

It was a black orb, smooth with no seams. If one wasn’t paying careful attention, it would be easy to overlook.

Gu Feng reached out, and there was no obstruction this time. He grasped the object, which was also pitch black and appeared to be a disc. It looked as though someone had thoroughly scorched a plate. 

Gu Feng, “. . .”

“Heh, it’s kind of ugly. Gege, why not try injecting some spiritual power and see what happens?” Su Mujin barely suppressed his giggles.

Gu Feng did just that, and in his mind there appeared a message.

‘Celestial Spirit-devouring Disc. When it matures, it will be the highest grade of spiritual artifact, and can absorb spiritual power from any kind of spiritual matter before transmitting it to its master.’ 

This was exactly what he needed! Gu Feng’s face lit up. Up ‘till now, he had never found a treasure that had seemed so predestined. This ‘Celestial Spirit-devouring Disc’ was still in its initial form, but as Gu Feng cultivation increased, so too would the level of the disc increase. It was extremely suitable to be his natal weapon.

“Lfgfjoafg, atlr klii yf ws cjaji kfjqbc. Ktf agfjregfr tfgf jgf ageis bea bo atf bgvlcjgs, rb ifa’r xffq ibbxlcu jgbecv.” Xe Mfcu fzmlafvis qeiifv Ve Zeplc obgkjgv.

“Xfuf, kjla. P offi kf rtbeiv tfjv lc atja vlgfmalbc.” Ve Zeplc revvfcis tjiafv jcv qblcafv tlr olcufg abkjgv j gfv yjii bo iluta, lar mbibg rlwlijg ab atja bo yibbv.

Su Mujin reached out and smoothly retrieved the object within. It looked to be a medicine bottle. Pouring out the contents, there was a single tiny pellet. Gu Feng leaned in to inspect it, and approvingly said, “This is a Shengmai pill, and can increase the force of blood circulation. It’s suitable for your needs.” 

“Gege is truly learned and well-informed. I’ll put it away for now, but after we leave I’ll look for an opportunity to put it to use.” Su Mujin smiled broadly.

“Sounds good!” Gu Feng nodded his approval. In his previous incarnation he had always been searching for exactly this item but never found it. This life, Su Mujin’s fortune was already better, and his achievements could only improve from here.

The two of them continued to roam around, and Gu Feng retrieved his second treasure without a hitch. It was a suit of armor, with the obvious name of ‘Golden Thread Soft Armor’. When donning it, the wearer could resist three strikes from a Demigod level cultivator. It was a rare lifesaving treasure.

“For you.” Gu Feng didn’t even think about it before handing it to Su Mujin. Afterall, the person before him was in greater need of it than he was. 

Su Mujin took it with his face blushed red. Rounding up, this gift could be considered a marriage token right? (lol no) His heart secretly went into a frenzy, beating like wild. Today had been full of too many pleasant surprises.

It took about two days for everyone to select their treasures, but a hall still remained – Yan Jun’s personal residence. Gu Feng’s instinct told him that the Tianji Disc must be there.

“Chu Feng, halt!” Just as everyone was preparing to go directly to the next hall, that man suddenly called out.

“Is there a problem?” Chu Feng was flummoxed. 

The man’s lips moved, seemingly too embarrassed to speak, but he finally said, “The master decreed that the person who receives his inheritance will be my new master. My name is Feng Hu.”

As soon as his finished speaking, Feng Hu turned into a snow-white fox, about the same size as an ordinary fox, but with eight tails. He jumped into Chu Feng’s arms and refused to budge.

Chu Feng deflated, but how could he dare refuse? He could be squeezed to death with just one of Feng Hu’s fingers. Did he really become the master of a spiritual pet or was it the master instead?

As they were about to enter the last hall, Gu Feng glanced at Gu Yunxi and realized that there seemed to be excitement in her eyes. He was even more certain about his guess – the Tianji Disc must be here. 

With Feng Hu present, the enchanted barrier fell away with ease. The yao beasts did not dare to act rashly, so the cultivators made entry without a hitch.

Compared to the first three halls, the last hall was quite plain. The entrance led directly into the hall, which was filled with the most ordinary wooden tables and chairs, and the place gave off a rustic feeling. There was obviously nothing special here.

“Feng Hu, um . . . which direction should we go now?” With such a terrifying powerful individual around, who dared to act without permission? Under great duress, Chu Feng had no choice but to ask.

“Don’t mind me, you all can move freely.” Feng Hu said lightly without even opening his eyes. 

Receiving amnesty, everyone else immediately slipped away. Only Chu Feng was left, his face pale with rage. He carried the fox, while full of anger at the lack of conscientiousness among his fellow cultivators.

Gu Feng, who had been keeping a constant eye on Gu Yunxi, pulled Su Mujin to follow her as soon as she made a move. Before leaving, he gave Chu Feng an apologetic glance, though it was also a bit gloating, making Chu Feng grind his teeth in anger.

Gu Yunxi definitely seemed familiar with this place. She quickly walked through several corridors to reach her destination, stopping before a stone wall.

Without giving Gu Feng a chance to come to his senses, the other person had already disappeared. He pondered inwardly for a while, dragged Su Mujin over to the wall, and knocked on the stones one by one. Sure enough, one of the stones was loose – it was here. After pressing the stone, in the blink of an eye they had arrived in a completely unfamiliar place. 

It was an independent territory, and looked similar to the place they had been sent during the test in the audience hall, except that it was full of life.

The stars shone as brightly as the Milky Way. There were more than just trees, flowers, and grasses growing – there was also a cacophony of frogs and birds. It was a cheerful and relaxing place, a real Utopia.

“The two of you have been rudely stalking me this whole time.” Gu Yunxi suddenly appeared behind them, holding a chessboard while she played with it.

The Tianji Disc! Gu Feng flinched, but immediately recovered, saying, “Oh really? The Celestial Mansion doesn’t belong to you, so why shouldn’t we wander around as we please?” 

“Su Mujin, I’ll ask you once more, will you give me your voice transmission password?” Gu Yunxi ignored Gu Feng, and stared directly at Su Mujin. She appeared to be fixated on gaining this password.

Su Mujin smiled but didn’t speak, looking instead to Gu Feng.

It was naturally impossible for Gu Feng to reply. Quick as lightning, he reached out to grab the Tianji Disc, but just as he was about to touch it, Gu Yunxi disappeared, leaving behind these words, “Anyone can enter here, but if you want to leave, you’ll need the Tianji Disc. Su Mujin, I had intended to take you with me, but your little performance just now . . . truly disappointed me.”

What a dirty trick. Gu Feng’s expression was gloomy. She had planned to trap him in the Celestial Mansion for eternity. It reminded him of the dark times when he had been imprisoned by her in his past life. Those were his most dreaded and disgusting memories. Could it be that this new life would follow that same old routine? 

“Gege, she may not have been telling the truth.” Furthermore, I’ll always accompany you no matter the situation.

Gu Feng calmly gazed at Su Mujin for several seconds, then suddenly reached out and embraced him tightly, as though he wished to fuse their two bodies into one.

Su Mujin was caught off guard. For a moment he could only hear the deafening roar of a heartbeat, but couldn’t tell if it belonged to his companion or himself.

After a long while Gu Feng released Su Mujin, and said with a laugh, “You spoke well. We’ll have a look around to see if there’s an exit.” Then he casually grabbed Su Mujin’s hand and began walking around. 

Su Mujin’s eyelashes quivered, and he squeezed Gu Feng’s hand in return.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Gu Feng suddenly recalled that long ago Su Mujin had invited him to admire the moonlight together. Was it possible that at that time he had already . . .

“Huh?” Su Mujin was startled. Gege suddenly took time to notice whether the landscape was beautiful or not? This was a historic moment. Alert the presses!

“I can accompany you later to do that thing you asked about.” Although he felt somewhat silly, if the other party enjoyed it, he would still be willing to accompany him. 

Su Mujin was silently confused. What are you even talking about?

“Hey, doesn’t it look like there’s a building ahead?” Gu Feng was a bit perplexed. Then was this Yan Jun’s true residence? Speaking of that, Gu YunXi had probably grabbed the Tianji Disc from over there. Unfortunately they were a step too late.

“Let’s go take a look and see if there are any clues.”

When they entered the building it gave them a similar vibe to the earlier grand halls, but it was much smaller. Main hall, bedroom, they looked through room after room and finally arrived at the final room. 

“Gege, take a look over there.” Su Mujin said as he pointed to a mural.

The mural depicted a multitude of people, capturing a moment in time during a banquet. There were four seats of honor in the middle of the painting, and the status of those persons was obviously quite high. Below them, countless people ran around serving them and carrying out orders.

Among those four, one was Yan Jun. Since the other three were of equal status, they must also be Celestial beings. But why had nobody in the cultivation world ever heard of them, or left records of them?

Gu Feng carefully took note of the four individuals, and discovered that each of them held an object. Yan Jun held the Tianji Disc, the next person held a qin, which Gu Feng felt looked awfully familiar. But where had he seen it? 

There was a sudden splitting pain in his head. Memories that had long been buried began to surface at long last.