Ch 54: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

The man froze for a moment, then gave Mu Xing a playful look.
“You know what kind of person I am?”

Mu Xing shook his head honestly.

The man tilted his head.
“You don’t even know who I am, and you’re not afraid I might harm you?”

Mu Xing didn’t hide anything.
“I’m very sensitive to goodwill and malice. You won’t hurt me.”

“Interesting.” The man sat upright on the couch, gazing steadily at Mu Xing.
“Come here.”

Mu Xing obeyed and walked over.

A cool fingertip pressed against his brow.

In just an instant, it withdrew.

“Who could be so cruel as to dig out a child’s spiritual root?” The man lowered his eyes to him.
“I thought you were just an ordinary street beggar, but it seems your background isn’t so simple either. What’s your name?”

“My name is Mu Xing.”

Then he added:
“I gave myself that name.”

“I am Yue Fubai, a demonic cultivator.” The man’s gaze carried a faint smile as he looked at him teasingly.
“Do you know what a demon cultivator is? Aren’t you afraid?”

Mu Xing nodded, then shook his head.

“What does that mean?” Yue Fubai raised an eyebrow.

Even a beggar child could hear plenty of stories from the streets. And in mortal tales, demon cultivators never had a good reputation.

Mu Xing answered honestly:
“I’ve heard some rumors about demon cultivators. They were scary. But you don’t seem like a bad person.”

“Oh?”

Mu Xing countered,
“Rumors aren’t always true. Where I begged, there was a very kind Lord Wang, everyone in Yuezhou said he was a rare good man. But a little beggar I knew once accidentally bumped into his carriage during the day—and that night, he was beaten to death in an alley.”

The child’s clear eyes looked at him seriously.
“You may be a demon cultivator, but you saved me. Otherwise, I would have died of illness. So I’m not afraid of you.”

This time, Yue Fubai was genuinely surprised.

He sized Mu Xing up from head to toe, then finally nodded.
“Then follow me for now.”

With that, he rose from the couch. With a wave of his hand, the couch vanished without a trace.

He extended a hand toward Mu Xing.
“Hold on to me.”

Mu Xing glanced at his own dirty, grimy little hand, then at the jade-like, pampered hand before him. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed onto the sleeve.

Yue Fubai chuckled softly.
“Hold tight.”

As the words fell, he stepped forward. The ground shrank beneath them—thousands of miles passed in an instant.

Mu Xing’s vision blurred. When he regained his bearings, they were already in a grand residence.

The estate was vast. A blossoming tree stood in the courtyard, delicate palace lanterns hung all around, and faint laughter and music drifted from the carved pavilions and painted corridors.

Everywhere was refined and magnificent.

“Master is back!” a clear female voice rang out.

That call was like flipping a switch. In the next moment, fragrance filled the air, and more than a dozen gorgeously dressed beauties with cloudlike hair and flowerlike faces rushed over from all directions, encircling Yue Fubai in the center.

Mu Xing—

“Ah-choo!” He sneezed ungracefully.

“Master,” the leading lady in red covered the corner of her mouth with a fan, her eyes brimming with charm. “Where did this little young master come from?”

Yue Fubai laughed, plucking the fan from her hand and lightly sniffing it.
“Again wasting the snow orchid I’ve been cultivating?”

The red-clad beauty pouted coyly.
“How can you call it wasting? Hong Ling specially prepared the fragrance for Master. So—is it fragrant or not?”

Yue Fubai sighed.
“Your courage grows bigger by the day. You only dare because you know I can’t bear to punish you.”

He pointed at Mu Xing.
“Take him, wash him thoroughly, and change his clothes.”

At once, Mu Xing was surrounded by fragrant, beautiful young women, who carried him off to a spacious chamber. To his shock, the residence even had hot springs.

This thigh seemed pretty thick indeed!

Soon, like a helpless little squirrel, he was stripped and scrubbed from head to toe until he was spotless.

Afterward, the young ladies applied some fragrant ointment whose effects he didn’t know.

When he lay on the soft couch and the gentle girls dried his hair, Mu Xing was half-dazed: this treatment felt… downright decadent.

Once his hair was mostly dry, the red-dressed beauty from earlier entered with something in her hands.

It turned out to be clothes for him. Who knew where she had procured them in the middle of the night?

Mu Xing was dressed in a little sapphire-blue robe. His hair, neglected from malnutrition and filth, had been trimmed, and now two short tufts were tied up into little pigtails atop his head.

“Ah, as expected, Master’s eye for beauty is unmatched.” Hong Ling clapped her hands joyfully at the sight of Mu Xing, who looked like a fair little immortal child, and couldn’t resist bending down to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Mu Xing: “…”

He rubbed his face helplessly as Hong Ling led him back to Yue Fubai.

Yue Fubai looked him over with satisfaction.

“Take him to rest.”

Mu Xing blinked, his eyes fixed on Yue Fubai.

Yue Fubai chuckled mischievously.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Don’t tell me you want to sleep with me?”

With a suave flick of his fan, he smiled gracefully.
“That won’t do. A spring night is too precious. If I spent it with you, the beauties would all complain.”

Mu Xing: “…”

What could he do?

Of course, he could only pretend he didn’t understand a thing and follow the pretty sister away.

---

And so, Mu Xing began living in Yue Fubai’s residence.

To be honest, if Yue Fubai hadn’t said it himself, Mu Xing would never have guessed this man was a demonic cultivator.

He looked every bit the elegant young lord from a family steeped in nobility—refined, cultured, romantic, and talented.

His days were leisurely: if not surrounded by beauties with music and dance, then alone composing poetry or painting.

The household itself was exquisitely run. Thinking back carefully, Mu Xing realized: compared to that past life when Ah Yue treated him like fragile porcelain, this really wasn’t any worse.

It must have been Yue Fubai’s command, because everyone in the residence treated Mu Xing as a proper young master, pampering him at every turn. The meals were delicate, the clothing never repeated for a month.

One day, Yue Fubai called Mu Xing over and asked,
“How do you find life here?”

Mu Xing replied,
“Very comfortable.”

Yue Fubai smiled.
“Honest of you. Do you like this kind of life?”

Mu Xing nodded.
“I like it.” After all, who wouldn’t?

“Anything you’re unhappy with?”

Mu Xing hesitated, but still chose honesty.
“The sisters… are a little too enthusiastic.”

“Hahahaha…” Yue Fubai suddenly burst into laughter.

Under Mu Xing’s confused gaze, he said,
“Yet from what I’ve seen, you don’t seem particularly fond of this life.”

Before Mu Xing could ask, his expression chilled inexplicably.
“Since you don’t love a young master’s life, then be my servant.”

Mu Xing: “?”

Just like that, his fine clothes were stripped away, his quarters moved to a remote little room.

No hot spring, no soft feather bed, no beautiful sisters to care for him.

Worse, Yue Fubai often summoned him to serve tea, grind ink, or stand by while he painted.

At meals, he would make Mu Xing watch him feast on delicacies, then send him back to eat ordinary food.

Mu Xing had no idea what he’d done to offend him.

Still, the man never went too far.

And Mu Xing was open-hearted: Yue Fubai had saved his life, after all, and had no obligation to raise him as a pampered young master. Serving as a study attendant wasn’t so bad; he could even do something useful, which felt like repaying a little kindness.

As for food and clothing—though not as extravagant, he lacked nothing.

Compared to life as a beggar, this was paradise. He had nothing to complain about.

Each day he found joy for himself. When Yue Fubai painted, Mu Xing watched. The man’s skill was extraordinary, and observing him was a pleasure in itself.

Back in his little room, Mu Xing silently practiced the body-strengthening methods from the Xiaoyao Sect book. And indeed, he felt some effect.

---

Another month passed.

One day, while Mu Xing was meditating, Yue Fubai appeared out of thin air.

“What are you practicing?” he asked.

Mu Xing wasn’t surprised he noticed—after all, this was a world of cultivation.

“A book I picked up as a child,” Mu Xing answered. “It had some methods for strengthening the body.”

Yue Fubai didn’t ask how he could read, just as he had never asked about Mu Xing’s background.

Instead, he studied Mu Xing’s face. Over the past two months, though he had seemed indulgent, he had been observing him closely all along.

“I relegated you to a servant’s life,” Yue Fubai asked. “Do you resent me for it?”

Mu Xing shook his head.

“Why not resent me?”

Mu Xing looked at him oddly.
“Why should I resent you?”

“Because you went from being waited on as a young master to waiting on others as a servant.”

“But,” Mu Xing said, “I was just a beggar with nothing to eat to begin with.”

Yue Fubai gazed into those still-clear eyes.

Two months of vastly different living conditions, and yet not a trace of shadow lingered in them.

Suddenly, he laughed.
“Good boy!”

He stepped forward, once more extending his hand.
“Would you be willing to take me as your master?”

The child’s eyes widened in surprise, confusion flickering across his face. After a moment of hesitation, he reached out.

This time, Mu Xing didn’t tug on his sleeve. He placed his chubby little hand firmly into Yue Fubai’s palm.

“Master!” Mu Xing called crisply.

A smile flickered in Yue Fubai’s eyes.
“You heard him—what a good disciple.”

He led Mu Xing out of the room, ordered a lavish banquet to be set, and solemnly celebrated taking in a new pupil.

Only then did Mu Xing, belatedly, realize: so those past two months had all been a test.

Only lofty figures acted with such eccentricity.

Mu Xing thought happily to himself: Looks like I really did latch onto a golden thigh this time.

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