Ch 142: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

He looked at Qi Xiubai in disbelief. “Senior brother, what are you saying? Do you not like me anymore?”

His eyes quickly filled with tears. “Do you think Xiao Yu is useless, and you like Junior Brother Mu who cultivates faster, isn’t that right?”

Qi Xiubai could never bear to see him cry.

His heart softened at once. He crouched down and carefully wiped his tears with a handkerchief.

Sensing his pity, Xue Zhongyu cried even harder and said, “You’re clearly my senior brother, why are you bringing up someone else? I won’t allow you to like Junior Brother Mu. I don’t want to like him either.”

In the past, he didn’t even need to cry—just pulling a sour face was enough to make everyone on Crescent Moon Peak revolve around him.

Qi Xiubai would always hurry to apologize and coax him. That was the cold thought of the malicious soul hiding inside Xue Zhongyu’s childish shell.

But things didn’t go as he wished.

Qi Xiubai did pity him, but he also felt that the junior brother seemed to be spoiled.

He lowered his voice to comfort him. “Xiao Yu, don’t cry. Senior brother didn’t mean anything else. I only think that since you have master teaching you hand in hand, and you can always ask me whenever you run into a problem, with such good conditions and your fine talent, it would be a pity to waste them.

“You need to grow up eventually.”

Xue Zhongyu: “…”

This script wasn’t quite what he imagined.

Through his tear-filled vision, he looked at Qi Xiubai. His eyes were clear, completely unaffected by the manipulations he had tried to stir.

How could this be?

A sense of unease crept into his heart.

He lowered his head in fluster, muttering softly, “I don’t want to grow up. Father and my senior brothers can protect me for life.”

Qi Xiubai, hearing this, felt tender affection but also thought: it can’t be delayed any longer.

They had spoiled Xiao Yu too much, and that’s how he developed this temperament.

Cultivators contend for fate itself—self-reliance is the true way.

As he continued to gently coax his junior brother, Qi Xiubai resolved inwardly: he must find a chance to speak with master, to ensure the junior brother focused on cultivating properly.

Meanwhile, Xue Zhongyu, pretending to cry with his head lowered, felt a chill rise up his back.

*

To Xue Zhongyu, these recent days had been nothing but ill-fated.

He had only been gone three years, yet everything had changed.

Crescent Moon Peak was no longer the one he knew.

The senior brothers there still treated this shell kindly and doted on him, but it was not the kind of indulgence he wanted.

What he wanted was that kind of love without principle, without reason, without limits.

If he wished them dead, they would die without question.

But now, these righteous cultivators all had clear eyes, and the effect of his manipulations of desire had become negligible.

These damn righteous cultivators!

He knew where the problem lay.

That Mu Xing of Medicine Peak—the “vessel” he had chosen.

When a demon seed chooses a vessel, it can devour the other’s fortune and strength.

The more people believed Mu Xing resembled him, treating Mu Xing as his substitute, the more he could siphon from him: talent, cultivation speed, luck, appearance—even lifespan.

When he discovered Mu Xing’s existence, he set up a scheme that caused the Mu family to be attacked by mountain bandits, letting Xue Wuya discover this child who resembled his supposedly dead son.

That was right when he had just gone missing, the time Crescent Moon Peak was sunk deepest in grief and longing for him.

And since he had built such influence there before disappearing, many already showed faint signs of demonic corruption.

Everything was perfect.

According to his plan, that mortal child would be taken in by Crescent Moon Peak. Those touched by demonic thoughts would obsessively look for “Xue Zhongyu’s” shadow in him.

Then he could effortlessly take everything from the child: appearance, fortune, talent—everything he desired.

But who could tell him why Mu Xing ended up going to Medicine Peak?

Once he went to Medicine Peak, he lost all connection with Crescent Moon Peak.

Medicine Peak disciples would never stake their lives over a missing Crescent Moon Peak disciple.

If it were only leaving Crescent Moon Peak, fine. But Mu Xing was outstanding.

He kept himself low-key, rarely descending the mountain even once in years, yet the disciples of Taixu Sect still came to know that Junior Brother Mu of Medicine Peak was a genius, gifted in both cultivation and alchemy.

Especially for many outer disciples who relied on sect tasks to obtain resources for cultivation—even with all his schemes, they still learned that Senior Brother Mu of Medicine Peak could refine low-grade pills of much higher quality than their peers.

Ten days ago, Medicine Peak delivered a new batch of pills to the sect’s pill house.

The sect’s pill house provided pills to all Taixu disciples at prices cheaper than the outside market and of slightly better quality.

And more than 80 percent of those pills came from Medicine Peak.

That was why Medicine Peak disciples were wealthy and untouchable.

Among the new batch were dozens of bottles of Barrier-Breaking Pills—astonishingly of near flawless quality! They were snatched up immediately.

At first, everyone assumed it was the sect’s alchemy masters amusing themselves, generously refining a few furnaces of low-level pills.

But one day, as disciples chatted idly, a Medicine Peak disciple proudly revealed: it wasn’t the elders who made them at all—it was Junior Brother Mu.

Junior Brother Mu, Junior Brother Mu again!

Everyone still remembered the Foundation-Building Pills he refined before!

So, even when the vast majority didn’t even know what this “Junior Brother Mu Xing” actually looked like, his name was already deeply etched into the minds of the disciples of Tai Xu Sect.

Every time the pill hall released new elixirs, countless people would rush in, demanding specifically those refined by Junior Brother Mu of Medicine Peak.

Just thinking of this made Xue Zhongyu furious: the stronger Mu Xing’s presence was in the minds of the disciples, the less he could siphon from him.

Between Mu Xing and Xue Zhongyu, no connection could be born.

The key was, once he had chosen a vessel, he couldn’t casually replace it. At least until he reached Golden Core stage, only then could he select a second vessel. The stronger he became, the more vessels he could choose, plundering others’ things to make himself more and more “perfect.”

The most hateful part was, recently the people of Crescent Moon Peak seemed to have lost their minds.

Half a month ago, Xue Wuya personally summoned him to the main hall, stating that starting the next day, he must be urged to cultivate properly and could no longer laze about.

The following morning, before dawn, Granny Wang dragged him straight from bed, forced him into a plain short robe he rarely wore, and delivered him to Shi Zhizhu.

One thousand swings of the sword.

Only after finishing could he eat breakfast.

This body of his was delicate and frail, his cultivation all dependent on absorbing others’ desires and taking shortcuts. He had never gone through such hard, basic training.

He resisted, acted pitiful, refused to cooperate—but the always indulgent Shi Zhizhu hardened his heart, coldly watching, forbidding him to leave or eat until the count was full.

From the day of his birth, by relying on his innate ability to manipulate hearts and desires, everything had always gone his way. When had he ever suffered such a thing?

This body was only ten years old, the age most intolerant of hunger. Standing there, for the first time, he felt the taste of pain and despair.

What’s worse, Shi Zhizhu had even prepared a pill for him, one that ensured his body had enough stamina and that hunger wouldn’t harm him—but it didn’t blunt his senses. Hungry was still hungry.

In the end, under Shi Zhizhu’s watch, not until the sun had set did he finally finish a thousand swings, dragging his aching limbs home.

Then, Shi Zhizhu told him, “Junior Brother, today was the first day, I allowed you some slack. From now on, your daily task, besides sword practice, also includes cultivation. Master will be waiting for you in the main hall.”

Xue Zhongyu nearly blacked out.

*

Mu Xing was completely unaware of what was happening on Crescent Moon Peak. He only vaguely felt that lately, life seemed much lighter.

Until more than half a year later, when he accidentally overheard a young disciple from Medicine Peak mention Xue Zhongyu: under the strict supervision of his father and several senior brothers, he was now cultivating diligently every day, with hardly any free time at all.

Since he was always being watched by one senior brother or another, he didn’t even have the chance to stir up trouble.

What’s more, he did have some talent. After being forced to cultivate for more than half a year, his realm, which had stagnated at early Qi Refining for over a year after returning, finally advanced to mid-stage Qi Refining.

The people of Crescent Moon Peak immediately concluded that their little junior brother really just needed pressure, and thus tightened their supervision even more.

Xue Zhongyu was nearly driven insane.

Every day he was forced to cultivate, the only people he saw were Xue Wuya, whichever senior brother was watching him, and Granny Wang, who looked after him—oh, but soon even Granny Wang would be gone.

Because Xue Wuya said he was no longer a small child, and at such an age it was too pampered to still need someone caring for his daily living.

Before, he could at least slip through crowds and draw on the evil thoughts in others. Now, even that opportunity was gone.

They even claimed his breakthrough was thanks to cultivation—nonsense! It was clearly because he had refined the evil thoughts he had absorbed earlier.

He complained endlessly to Youhuo every day, plotting how to escape this life.

“I’m sick of this. Even if I have to let Mu Xing off for now, I don’t want to stay on Crescent Moon Peak anymore.” Xue Zhongyu lay on the bed, too exhausted to move.

“This isn’t the life I want. If I’d known earlier, I should have listened to you and stayed in the demon realm instead of coming back.”

Youhuo murmured, “But if the young master doesn’t reestablish the connection with his vessel soon, it will only grow harder and harder.”

The crimson flame in the void flared larger, and before Xue Zhongyu appeared the face of his current shell.

It was a delicate face, as lovely as spring blossoms, but something about it was not quite the same anymore.

The people of Crescent Moon Peak noticed nothing unusual—after all, children always change as they grow.

But Xue Zhongyu instantly understood Youhuo’s meaning: without drawing enough energy from his vessel, the connection was slowly being severed, and even the face that had once resembled Mu Xing so closely was beginning to fade.

Perhaps at first, he had deliberately chosen a child who strongly resembled “Xue Zhongyu.”

But now, it was no longer Mu Xing who resembled him—it was he, stealing Mu Xing’s features.

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