Half an hour ago, the forbidden area.
“You want me to pretend to be an immortal?” Yin Ci was somewhat surprised.
“Yes. I’ll just say my disciple died down there. Your previous disguise is too convincing, making it difficult to explain to the outside world. It’s better to abandon it.”
Shi Jingzhi regained some strength and prepared to set fires around.
“Of course, you don’t need to perform any magic tricks. Just pretend to be unconscious. I can use the excuse of ‘treating the divine spirit’ and close the door to visitors. Your face is convincing enough, and they already believe in immortal potential nonsense, so they won’t suspect for now.”
‘It’s also a way,’ Yin Ci thought to himself.
The villagers’ feelings towards the Goddess couldn’t disappear immediately, no matter how they explained it. The matter of the “Goddess’s remains being nonexistent” would raise suspicions. It would be better to establish a new deity and stabilize the villagers first. With the testimony of Yin Deng, this absurd plan seemed feasible.
After a chaotic night, although the two had countless words, they held back and didn’t speak of them and instead silently tidied themselves up, barely restoring their appearance as normal people. They then pulled up the unconscious Yin Deng from the corner.
The plan officially began.
The master and disciple stayed in the forbidden area for a night. Now that they were out, the air was so fresh that it made people teary-eyed.
Considering the previous eruption before entering the forbidden area, Shi Jingzhi had been going all out the whole way—first holding back, then exploding, and finally exhausting himself completely. His disciple had a sturdy physique and was quite heavy. He was so tired that his legs trembled, yet he had to pretend to be a deity and put on a superior demeanor.
Yin Ci didn’t fare any better.
He continued to close his eyes, pretending to be an unconscious and distressed deity. Shi Jingzhi walked unsteadily, which made his heart also fluctuate with worry, afraid that his cheap master, who had taken advantage of him, would stumble and fall on him, shattering their carefully planned scheme in front of everyone.
When facing the Goddess in battle, Yin Ci had never been this nervous.
Fortunately, Shi Jingzhi had some backbone after all, and his luck was also good. He hadn’t taken a few steps when Yan Qing rushed up.
Yan Qing frowned at the “stranger” Yin Ci but didn’t ask a single question. Shi Jingzhi breathed a sigh of relief and adjusted his hold to a supporting stance. The two of them carried Yin Ci, one on each side, back to the room.
Su Si followed behind with an expressionless face, blocking a few people who wanted to ask questions. Fortunately, most of the villagers didn’t realize what was happening and were left dumbfounded as they were left behind.
Once inside the room, Shi Jingzhi suddenly weakened. He fell to the ground with a thud and instantly fell into a deep sleep. Yin Ci tried to stand up but found that his sleeve was tightly gripped by Shi Jingzhi.
On the other side, Yan Qing attempted to remove the flag from Shi Jingzhi but experienced the firmness of a fox’s claws—Shi Jingzhi slept soundly, grabbing everything that needed to be grabbed.
After thinking for a moment, Yin Ci obediently laid down on one side and fell asleep on the spot.
After a night of intense battle, his energy was equally depleted, and replenishing his physical strength was a priority.
Yan Qing, Su Si: “…”
Su Si tapped Yin Ci with his toe. “No, who are you?”
Yin Ci turned over and said, “I’m the senior disciple of the Kushan Sect.”
Su Si: “…San Zi, I told you this sect is suspicious. Setting aside the face-changing thing, just look at how the master and disciple look. Which one of them resembles a normal person?”
Yan Qing’s gaze swept back and forth between the two and finally settled on Su Si’s face. After a moment of silence, he sighed softly. “Let’s lend a hand and move them to the inner room.”
The master and disciple went to sleep in the early morning to evening.
Shi Jingzhi guessed right. He gave himself the title of “Envoy of the Imperial Celestial”, and the villagers didn’t dare to visit him. Yin Deng became the only witness, and people flocked to Mian Jie’s house, trying to dig up some information. The young girl was greatly shocked, and she only mentioned that there was indeed something strange about “ascending to immortality,” but she didn’t want to say too much, leaving people helpless.
For now, they managed to get through this day.
When Yin Ci woke up again, Shi Jingzhi was nowhere to be seen. Only Yan Qing was staring at him with a face that expressed “unbelievable” on the right side and “how could this be” on the left.
Yin Ci wasn’t in the mood to explain one by one. He got straight to the point. “Where is Shizun?”
“Sect Master Shi is in the innermost room in the backyard. He said to let you go there when you wake up.”
Here it is. Many things occurred in the forbidden area, and they couldn’t avoid a long conversation. Yin Ci went over the lines he had thought of in his mind and calmly proceeded.
The room in the backyard wasn’t large, and the door was slightly ajar. A strong medicinal smell mixed with a hint of hostility wafted out, hitting him in the face.
Is Shi Jingzhi going to settle the score with him? Well, he would meet him head-on.
However, after taking a good look at the situation inside the room, Yin Ci froze at the doorway.
There was an additional folding screen in the innermost room of the backyard, and behind it, there was a bathtub filled to the brim with terrifyingly colored medicinal liquid. Shi Jingzhi had clearly taken a bath in advance, as his hair was still damp.
Upon seeing Yin Ci enter, Shi Jingzhi had an expressionless face. While exuding a fierce aura, he lifted a hairbrush towards his disciple.
Yin Ci turned and walked away.
Shi Jingzhi flicked his sleeve, and two surges of true qi shot out, slamming the door shut. “Yin Ci, come here.”
Oh, now he’s using his full name. Yin Ci turned his head, no longer pretending to be an obedient disciple. “What? Shizun wants to have another go?”
Shi Jingzhi’s momentum was overwhelming. “I need to talk to you.”
“Then put down the brush first.”
“If you’re uncomfortable, you can go into the water with your undergarments. I need to confirm your physical condition since you fell into the pool.” Shi Jingzhi swung the brush, displaying an aura as if he were wielding an ancient weapon.
Fine, he couldn’t escape from the inevitable*. Let him brush then, unless Shi Jingzhi intended to peel off his skin. Yin Ci kept his pants on and entered the bathtub shirtless.
*Can avoid the first day of school but not the fifteenth (躲过初一，躲不过十五) Idiom referring to you can avoid for a while but in the end you can’t escape.
As it turned out, Shi Jingzhi didn’t actually intend to peel off his skin, but the force he applied was almost there…
Not long after, Yin Ci gritted his teeth and said, “Shizun, stop scrubbing. I really was only wearing a ghostskin robe.”
He highly suspected that Shi Jingzhi was using this opportunity to teach him a lesson, as his skin was about to be scrubbed off. Even if the ghostskin robe was still intact, it could be brushed to tatters by his master.
Shi Jingzhi raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so that thing is called a ghostskin robe. It’s quite convenient. When I saw you in the Ghost Tomb last time, I really thought I was seeing a ghost.”
Immediately, he gave the brush a flick. “Is your name really ‘Yin Ci’? Who exactly are you?”
Yin Ci turned his head and looked at Shi Jingzhi, who had a stern and murderous expression. The pre-prepared lie came out smoothly.
“I am the great-grandson of the former Patriarch of the Chigou Sect, Su Zhi. My name is indeed Yin Ci. The Su lineage has congenital meridian damage, unable to cultivate inner force. Unwilling to get involved in the affairs of the martial world, my grandfather changed his name and went into seclusion in the mountains, passing down only one magic treasure and a set of sword techniques…”
“The ghostskin robe and Bone Sweeping Sword technique?” Shi Jingzhi interrupted.
“That’s right. I have an unusually distinctive appearance, so my grandfather had me wear the ghostskin robe to avoid drawing attention.”
“Why did you hide it from me?”
Yin Ci told the truth. “I found it interesting.”
Shi Jingzhi immediately gave him a brush stroke. “You deceived me in the Ghost Tomb, and that was interesting?”
“Because I wanted to know what kind of person Shizun is. The situation of the Su clan has special circumstances, so if I’m going to follow you in the future, I must first explore the truth. When you said you wanted to take me in, I couldn’t simply believe it. Offending people in the Ghost Tomb was unexpected… Ah, be gentler!”
“You didn’t expect me to be so insane, huh?” Shi Jingzhi lowered his gaze.
Yin Ci was taken aback. After spending so much time together, it was the first time he heard Shi Jingzhi voluntarily talk about this matter.
“Now that you’re willing to open up, there should be give and take. I have a slight heart condition, and occasionally I lose control. In the future, when we travel the martial world, I hope you can bear with me a bit more… As for this time, for deceiving your elder, I will deduct half a year’s stipend.”
Yin Ci: “……”
The good news was that Shi Jingzhi didn’t intend to kick him out of the Kushan Sect.
The bad news was that he was working for free.
Fortunately, Yin Ci only momentarily lost focus. He grasped onto the topic and wouldn’t let the fox sidestep it. “A slight heart condition?”
Was it referring to the “heart condition” of going crazy for a half-stranger or the “heart condition” of being able to quickly calm down and kill the Goddess? He finally had the chance to understand Shi Jingzhi’s ghostly logic and wouldn’t let it slip by.
Shi Jingzhi stopped his actions, and that obscure and mysterious gaze from the forbidden ground appeared once again.
With peace now surrounding them, Yin Ci could discern the meaning behind that gaze—it wasn’t protection or lingering affection. It was pure evaluation.
It seemed that Shi Jingzhi had realized that his disciple truly had no inner force, and compared to when they first left the Ghost Tomb, his attitude was no longer as cautious and meticulous. His master’s aura was like a handful of deadly weeds—whether it was suppressed by a stubborn rock or mud, as long as there was a slight crack, it would grow wildly, attempting to stand on equal ground with heaven and earth.
By willingly stepping into the bathtub and engaging in this conversation, Yin Ci had already embraced Shi Jingzhi’s path. He knew that if he wanted to stay, then his master would still be his master, and he would still be the disciple.
“Shizun, what kind of heart condition?” Seeing that Shi Jingzhi remained silent for a long time, Yin Ci asked again.
Shi Jingzhi sighed and said, “A’Ci, have you heard of ‘object addiction’?”
“Object addiction?”
“Ordinary people may develop addictions to alcohol or gambling, but for me, I have an object addiction. I become particularly attached to things related to myself, whether it’s possessions, weapons, or disciples. Among them, the thing I can least part with is my own life.”
“Ordinary people don’t want to die either.”
“For ordinary people, preserving their lives is like how a person who loves wine feels about fine wine. However, there’s a difference between a ‘wine lover’ and a ‘drunkard’. Even if the wine is excellent, if it’s mixed with poison, most people wouldn’t drink it, but a drunkard is another story… In any case, when this impulse arises, I also have trouble controlling it.”
Yin Ci completely lost focus and let his master scrub his shoulders.
Whether it was his attitude toward his disciple or his attitude toward the Goddess, this explanation made sense. However, Yin Ci always felt that something was off—Shi Jingzhi’s explanation was too smooth, as if it had been prepared in advance.
Furthermore, having traveled the world for over three hundred years, Yin Ci had never heard of such a peculiar addiction. “Object addiction” was probably similar to his “great-grandson” identity, a mixture of truth and falsehood that was difficult to discern.
They weren’t close friends, and it was impossible for them to reveal such intimate matters.
But that was fine. With just a bit of truth in his fabricated story, they could both release a bit of their true nature. He still needed this fox as there was a long road ahead. It was hard to say who would expose the other first.
So he stopped at this point. “So what you’re saying is, if I were completely wiped out, you would go insane. If you were to discover a clue to staying alive, you would go insane. Shizun, you’re quite peculiar when you go mad.”
Shi Jingzhi snorted coldly and applied a bit more force with the brush.
Yin Ci chuckled softly. “And I am a living person, not an object. Shizun, you don’t need to be blindly attached.”
As soon as his words fell, Shi Jingzhi stopped brushing, and his expression gradually became strange. Seeing his reaction, Yin Ci’s scalp tingled for a moment.
Judging from Shi Jingzhi’s expression, it didn’t seem like he was thinking, “What nonsense are you talking about?” but rather, “There’s something to this? This is the first time I’ve realized it.”
Yin Ci sat in the hot water, but a chill slowly crept up his spine.
Object addiction.
Shi Jingzhi’s care, anger, madness, and scrutiny toward himself suddenly had another interpretation.
Like a child receiving their first gift, he carefully tucked it into his embrace. Once lost or damaged, it would undoubtedly bring both grief and anger. Now that the shell of this object had been peeled off, he discovered that the interior was more exquisite and intriguing than he imagined, and it must be carefully examined.
Will it hurt me? How should I play with it to make myself happiest? Does it have any other secrets?
Regardless, it belongs to me.
When Shi Jingzhi’s past displays of affection and care were recalled now, they seemed as if they were separated by a thin veil, yet they made perfect sense.
…What bullshit Shi family. Normal families couldn’t produce children like this.
Even if a child was abused from a young age, they would still have a concept of “interacting with others”, even if it was a distorted concept filled with resentment. However, judging from Shi Jingzhi’s condition, he had only a vague understanding of this.
There was something wrong with this person’s background.
Yin Ci turned completely, locking eyes with Shi Jingzhi. Shi Jingzhi still had a strange and vacant expression, as if he were desperately trying to recall something, and the brush in his hand was still dripping water.
Yin Ci grabbed the drooping ends of Shi Jingzhi’s hair and pulled him closer. For the first time, he concentrated all his attention and looked directly at that bewitching face.
Until now, Yin Ci had always considered himself superior. He knew that Shi Jingzhi was somewhat special, but he had never seriously observed his master. After all, it was just a temporary plaything that would eventually be discarded. This person was usually lively and energetic, occasionally going mad at most, but not to the extent that it required special attention.
It turned out that swimming could drown a good swimmer. He had completely misjudged.
Through Shi Jingzhi’s amber eyes, Yin Ci couldn’t find a complete “human heart”.
At the depths of Shi Jingzhi’s gaze, there were only scattered fragments. He had a full range of emotions, yet he was like a child, in an extremely primitive state, unable to form a normal human being.
His obsession with life was more akin to that of a thirsty plant than to the ordinary human condition.
‘…It seems that I need to correct a thought,’ Yin Ci thought to himself.
To him, Shi Jingzhi was no longer a simple source of amusement. His master was wrapped in numerous mysteries and entangled in countless fates. Yin Ci insisted on piecing together those fragments, carefully examining what exactly was hidden within this shell.
“A’Ci?” Shi Jingzhi brushed his disciple like a cow for a while, but seeing that Yin Ci was really just skin and bones now, he let out a sigh. Feeling the intense gaze upon him, his heart tightened, fearing that he would provoke a rebellious response from his disciple.
Yin Ci slowly smiled and released Shi Jingzhi’s hair. “As a living person, I can take care of myself. It’s better for Shizun to have fewer fits of madness, as anger damages the liver.”
Shi Jingzhi’s expression relaxed a bit. “Master…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence.
Perhaps Shi Jingzhi had been brushing his disciple for too long, but Yan Qing, unable to bear it any longer, came knocking on the door. “Sect Master, I have something to discuss about the Goddess. We found her residence and discovered some… strange things.”
Shi Jingzhi’s attention immediately shifted. “Strange things?”
“Yes. Yan Budu seems to have been here.”
The author has something to say:
Demonic Lord Yin: I take off this vest and put it on a different side.
This wave, this wave is to retreat in order to advance (?
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