Ch 204: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

He asked back in a doubtful tone, “Dad, don’t you want to see us brothers get a little closer?”

On the other end, Mu Rong seemed to suppress his anger, speaking in a low voice, “That’s not what I meant. But this ink jade qilin is our family heirloom. It was always enshrined back at the old home, and I specially went to bring it back for you. It’s good that you care for your brother, but this is your father’s token of love for you. Go ask your brother to return it, and I’ll make it up to him with something else.”

Mu Xing softly asked, “Dad, this qilin, you really brought it specially for me?”

Mu Rong didn’t sense anything strange, and with a trace of laughter in his tone he said, “Of course. That’s why I was hurt to see you casually give it away.”

Mu Xing’s tone suddenly lightened. “But I’ve already given it away. How can I go and ask for it back? That would make me lose so much face! How about this, let big brother keep it for me for a while. Later, I’ll find some excuse and have him return it to me.”

“No!” Mu Rong blurted out.

A chill ran through Mu Xing’s heart.

He asked slowly, “Why not?”

Mu Rong realized he had sounded too anxious. But that ink jade qilin… even he didn’t dare approach it, so how could he let Mu Qiong hold onto it?

He coaxed in a gentle tone, “Your big brother has been disobedient and troublesome since he was young. Just looking at him gives me a headache. This heirloom, along with the Mu family, will all belong to our Xingxing in the future. It’s not for anyone else.”

If Mu Xing didn’t see by now that there was something wrong with the Mu family, he’d be a fool.

He pretended to be convinced, gave a dissatisfied snort. “Then you go ask for it yourself. Anyway, I don’t have the face to do it.”

After hanging up, Mu Xing recalled how Mu Qiong’s eyes had genuinely lit up with joy when he received the ink jade qilin earlier that day. That hadn’t been an act.

So regardless of how cold the relationship between this stepbrother and the original body was, at least in this matter he hadn’t harbored any malice.

But Mu Rong…

Just now with a little probing, Mu Rong’s reaction all but confirmed he knew the ink jade qilin wasn’t some harmless trinket. Otherwise, hearing it had ended up in Mu Qiong’s hands, why would he be so alarmed and angry?

What kind of grudge could it be, for him to send something so deadly into his youngest son’s hands, his own biological son?

In the original storyline, Mu Rong had also gifted this heirloom to the original.

And from the very next day, strange things began happening around him.

Right.

The day Zhong Lin had his accident was the very day Mu Xing received the ink jade qilin.

In the original story, Mu Xing had even worn it to show off to his childhood friends.

If Zhong Lin had already been weak in constitution, then got toyed with by the spirit in that figurine, carrying lingering evil energy…

And on top of that, got entangled with the ink jade qilin…

Perhaps that was the true cause of Zhong Lin’s death?

Sitting in the driver’s seat, Mu Xing suddenly felt like calling his mother Wen Li, to ask if in her younger days she’d maybe had some affair next door, giving Mu Rong a green hat.

Maybe the original body wasn’t Mu Rong’s son at all?

Otherwise, how could one explain this? Even a vicious tiger won’t eat its cubs. Favoring one child could be explained as bias, but giving such a lethal object to his own son…

But Mu Xing only allowed the thought to run wild in his head for a moment.

Wen Li had grown up, married, and had children without ever suffering. Her personality was always carefree, even a little detached from reality.

If she had really done something to betray Mu Rong, with her nature how could she have hidden it? How could she be so carefree all these years?

Mu Xing had thought Mu Rong would at least hold back. But at ten o’clock that very night, Mu Rong came in person with Mu Qiong to his apartment.

Mu Qiong’s face was ugly. He gave Mu Xing a cold look, shoved the box holding the ink jade qilin into his arms.

“It was my mistake. If I’d known this was something Dad specially gave you, I never would have taken it.” He said it coldly, then turned to leave.

Mu Rong stood at the door, acting as if he hadn’t seen his eldest son’s anger. Beaming at Mu Xing, he said, “Dad brought it back for you. This is a one-of-a-kind treasure. Keep it well, don’t lose it, and don’t give it away again.”

Mu Xing stroked the box. Even through the wood, he could feel the chill seeping out.

After delivering it, Mu Rong prepared to leave. Mu Xing tried to get him to sit, but Mu Rong said he was getting old and needed to hurry home to rest.

Holding the box, Mu Xing watched him go from a distance.

Old and needing rest, yet he still had to personally see the thing handed back into his son’s hands before he was reassured.

Mu Xing shut the door, opened the box, looked for a long time, then pretended not to see the thick black resentment inside. He tossed it casually onto the sofa and went to bed.

The place he lived in was a large flat, two units per floor in a high-end complex. He barely remembered his neighbor, someone who rarely stayed there anyway.

Mu Xing had always slept soundly. Before long, he was in deep sleep.

In the dark living room, black mist invisible to ordinary eyes began to gather on the ink jade qilin, growing thicker and thicker.

Within the mist, a twisted silhouette slowly began to take shape.

The air in the room turned icy cold in an instant.

In the separate room, the figurine’s eyes trembled with fear. After struggling for a long time, it decided the safest option was to play dead, lying stiffly without moving.

Mu Xing is much more powerful than me. She was terrified and tried to excuse herself like that. If even he couldn’t handle it, me stepping in would just be throwing my life away for nothing.

That twisted black shadow didn’t seem interested in anything else. After lingering in the living room for a while, it seemed to sense a familiar aura and walked straight toward Mu Xing’s bedroom.

Knock knock.

The door was rapped on.

Mu Xing groggily opened his eyes. Dawn was about to break outside. His mind was muddled, and for a moment he wasn’t sure where he was or what time it was.

“Who is it?” he asked.

A clear male voice came from outside the door, carrying an accent from who knows where. “Food delivery.”

Did I order food? Mu Xing thought in confusion. He got up and opened the door.

At the door stood a man in a red jacket, his face obscured by a cap. He stretched out a bag. “Your takeout.”

Mu Xing didn’t take it. He looked at him with doubt. “Did I order food? I don’t really remember.”

The man lifted his head, and Mu Xing met a pair of green eyes.

The man gave a strange smile, speaking slowly. “You’re Mr. Mu, right? You ordered spicy hot pot, from that usual place, isn’t that right?”

Mu Xing’s eyes went hazy for a moment. He stared blankly and then nodded sluggishly. “Oh… right! I did order spicy hot pot.”

He reached out his hand to take the food.

The man lowered his head. From under the brim of his hat, the corners of his mouth stretched unnaturally high, grinning half across his face—eerie and grotesque.

But Mu Xing didn’t see it.

The man was pleased, watching Mu Xing reach for the bag. Once he took it, the contract would be sealed, and then…

Suddenly, his wrist was gripped, held fast by a powerful force.

The man’s head jerked up in shock. The young man in front of him had clear eyes, bright as stars. There wasn’t the slightest trace of confusion.

Mu Xing demanded, “What exactly are you? Playing tricks in the middle of the night—what are you after?”

As soon as he spoke, the scene around them shattered.

It wasn’t dawn outside at all, but thick night.

Mu Xing hadn’t even turned on the lights. He stood in his pajamas at the door, gripping a cold, pale arm.

That arm was deathly white and icy, not like something living.

And what it held wasn’t food, but a yellow talisman paper, scrawled with cinnabar symbols Mu Xing couldn’t recognize.

The man screeched, “How can you see through my illusion?”

Not only see through it—Mu Xing, just an ordinary human, somehow had enough strength that the man couldn’t break free of his grasp.

Mu Xing studied him. Though he didn’t look like a living man, his face pale as death, he was unexpectedly good-looking and not the terrifying monster Mu Xing had expected.

Still holding him, Mu Xing switched on the room’s light. Then he thought better of standing in the bedroom and dragged this strange being into the living room.

The man was horrified, staring at Mu Xing with those green eyes, clearly shaken.

Mu Xing let go and sat on the sofa, pointing at the jade qilin. “You’re that thing? Why are you looking for me?”

He glanced at the talisman in the man’s hand. “And that paper—what’s it supposed to be?”

Now exposed in the light, the green-eyed man’s figure seemed faintly transparent, casting no shadow on the floor.

He didn’t leave. Instead, he stared at Mu Xing warily. “Are you the master the Mu family hired to deal with me? With the decline of the mystic sects, I never thought such a powerful young Taoist priest still existed. I was careless.”

Mu Xing gave him a puzzled look. “What mystic sects? What priest? My name is Mu Xing. I guess that makes me one of the Mu family.”

At those words, the man’s expression twisted.

“Mu family?” he spat venomously. “Impossible! The Mu family’s Dao seed shattered long ago. How could any descendant still be born with such gifted blood?”

Hearing Mu Xing claim the Mu family’s name seemed to enrage him. His face contorted, sharp claws sprouted from his hands. The living room lights flickered, gusts of cold wind whipped around, all rushing toward Mu Xing.

But they stopped a meter away, unable to come closer. Mu Xing calmly raised his hand and seized the claw aimed at his throat.

He even examined it closely, then said, “You’re a cat?”

The green-eyed man: “…”

He shrieked, “What are you? Why doesn’t my power work on you?”

Mu Xing thought for a moment, then answered seriously. “I don’t know either. But I heard that righteousness repels evil. Maybe it’s because I’m a righteous man.”

The cat demon: “…”

Then he sneered. “Righteousness? The Mu family are despicable and shameless! How could there be any such thing?”

He lifted the talisman in his hand, his voice dripping with hatred. “I hold this contract to claim your life. This is the debt your Mu ancestors owe me!”

Mu Xing leaned forward and studied the paper from side to side. Then he asked honestly, “What does this say? I can’t read it.”

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