Jiuhua Mountain’s Feathered People tribe?!
The moment these words were spoken, all three were shocked.
The Feathered People of Jiuhua Mountain were born with half-immortal bodies. Extremely pure immortal blood flowed through their veins. No matter how much the passage of time diluted it, the Feathered People remained one of the most mysterious races in the world, and the one closest to the gods.
Murong Chuyi mused, “The Feathered People are solitary by nature and display few emotions. They have also remained hidden for a long time within the Peach Blossom Spring Immortal Realm, often not entering the mortal world for a hundred years at a time.” After saying this, he scrutinized Rongrong. “But you don’t seem to fit any of those descriptions.”
Rongrong’s face immediately flushed bright red. She said, “I-I was still… very young when I was b-brought… brought here… I-I wasn’t raised by the Feathered People. So I… I’m not really the same as the other Feathered People…”
Jiang Yexue asked, “Who brought you here? Was it Wuyan?”
Upon hearing the name of the bat-spirit island master, Rongrong shuddered violently. She swayed unsteadily, first shaking her head in terror. After a long while, realizing that she was safe now, she quickly nodded instead.
Jiang Yexue turned to Gu Mang. “She seems terrified.”
Gu Mang patted Rongrong’s head and comforted her. “Go sit by the bonfire and rest for a while. I’ll explain things to them.”
Rongrong obediently did as he said.
There was nothing to be done about it. Some men were simply born to be favored by the opposite sex. The very same words of comfort, when spoken by Gu Mang, felt as soft as silk. If Mo Xi had said them instead, the young woman would probably have thought he was threatening her, as though if she refused to obey, he would simply bury her alive on the spot.
Jiang Yexue watched Rongrong walk toward the fire and asked Gu Mang, “Should we get her some snacks and tea?”
The moment he finished asking, he saw Rongrong sit down right next to the bonfire. She reached a hand into the flames and actually scooped out a handful of blazing fire as though she were digging into a watermelon. Lowering her head, she began eating the fire in tiny bites.
Jiang Yexue: “…”
Mo Xi was silent for a moment before saying to Gu Mang, “In less than two hours, you not only found a suitable person, you also made her trust you so much.”
Gu Mang smiled smugly and tilted his head.
“Impressive, right?”
“How did you do it?”
Gu Mang stroked his chin. “Probably because I look kind and approachable. Too deceptive, perhaps? Back then, Lord Xihe, weren’t you also completely won over by me just like her? Ah, this world… The more a man smiles, the easier he is at coaxing people. Someone like Lord Xihe simply won’t do. You may be a great beauty, but you spend all day shouting about beating people up or killing them, and you’re covered in murderous aura. Forget two hours—even if you were given two days and two nights, you wouldn’t be able to find anyone willing to follow you back.”
“…”
As he spoke, his gentle blue eyes blinked at Mo Xi. Their color was as soft as the sky after a storm, yet they carried an unmistakable provocation.
“Change that about yourself. Look at you, you’re already thirty. How come you still don’t have a wife?”
Those words were clearly aimed directly at Mo Xi’s sore spot. Gu Mang had assumed that Mo Xi would fly into a rage and fall out with him on the spot, and indeed, anger suddenly flared in Mo Xi’s eyes.
Gu Mang waited with a half-smile for him to explode.
But Mo Xi merely glared at him.
The tall man stared at him, and stared, and stared…
Until, somehow, his eyes seemed to redden with grievance.
Then he silently turned his face away, bit his lip, and endured it without saying another word.
Neither Jiang Yexue nor Murong Chuyi noticed the emotion in Mo Xi’s eyes. But the awkwardness of the confrontation between the two was something even a fool could sense.
Amid the discomfort, Jiang Yexue said gently, “Brother Gu, why must you speak to Lord Xihe like that? Deep and enduring affection is the rarest thing of all. The reason he has remained unmarried all these years… you’re not unaware of his difficulties.”
“…Hm?” Gu Mang’s expression changed slightly, but he still wore a smile. Sweetly, he asked, “Brother Jiang, what do you mean by that? What difficulty of his do I know about?”
Jiang Yexue did not notice the sharp edge hidden beneath his sweetness and straightforwardly said, “Princess Mengze has been suffering from poor health for a long time. Even after years of recuperation, she still cannot marry. Lord Xihe has waited for her because of the depth of his feelings, not because of what you said—that he has…”
He paused and sighed.
“…too much murderous aura and nobody likes him.”
“…”
The cold light in Gu Mang’s eyes slowly disappeared. He gradually relaxed his guard, then smiled and gave Mo Xi a meaningful glance.
“Oh. So that’s how it is.”
He acted as though he had never slept with Mo Xi before, scrutinizing the man with an entirely new and inquisitive gaze. His eyes moved back and forth over Mo Xi’s tall frame, his high, straight nose, his broad fingers, and his long, straight legs.
It was simply too outrageous.
Gu Mang clearly understood Mo Xi better than anyone.
He knew what Mo Xi’s throat looked like when his emotions ran deep. He knew how Mo Xi looked when he was stirred up, desperately restraining his breathing yet unable to control himself as he pressed someone beneath him and claimed them. He knew the strength in Mo Xi’s waist, how deeply he could penetrate when indulging himself, what positions he liked, and how long he could entangle himself with another person.
Yet Gu Mang acted as though he had never touched him before and simply smiled.
“With Lord Xihe’s physique, he really could take Princess Mengze’s life.”
“…”
Mo Xi’s face turned livid. After remaining silent for a moment, he finally could not bear it any longer and turned around and walked away.
Jiang Yexue watched Mo Xi’s back as he stood at the entrance of the stone cavern, his brows slightly furrowed. He sighed.
“Gu Mang, why do you always seek to embarrass him and make him feel bad after regaining consciousness?”
Gu Mang folded his arms and gave a perfunctory smile. “It’s just a habit of mine. I used to like teasing him. Back then, he could endure it, but unfortunately, he can’t anymore. I suppose I can only blame him for becoming more narrow-minded as he gets older. Brother Jiang, do you think it’s because he keeps getting prettier, so he’s become spoiled by his own beauty?”
Jiang Yexue helplessly shook his head and was just about to say something when Murong Chuyi impatiently said, “Can’t you save the person first and talk about everything else later?”
“I want to, too, but is it really that easy?” Gu Mang sighed. “We have to wait until Rongrong recovers some strength. Once we examine her pulse, we’ll know how to treat her.”
As he spoke, he glanced back at the Feathered People girl still crouching beside the fire and eating flames.
With considerable fairness, he concluded, “Miss Rongrong is still weak herself. She can’t do anything right now. We should let her rest properly first.”
“…”
Although Mo Xi had walked off to the side, the cavern was only so large, so he inevitably heard what Gu Mang said.
This was exactly why Gu Mang had always been so popular with girls in the past.
Because Gu Mang always sincerely, instinctively, and gracefully considered one matter or another on behalf of other people.
Even if it was merely a…
Mo Xi glanced at Rongrong and continued thinking:
A homely female bird yao that hasn’t even finished growing all its feathers.
Meanwhile, Murong Chuyi saw that Rongrong was indeed weak and had no choice but to stop pressing the matter. Instead, he asked, “That Wu… whatever her name is. What exactly does she want with capturing a member of the Feathered People?”
“You mean Wuyan? Wuyan captured her in order to cultivate into an immortal.”
“Cultivate into an immortal…”
“Mm. Do you remember what Shan Gao said before summoning the Time Mirror? Those words weren’t very long, but there were actually many peculiarities hidden within them. At the time, it said that Dream Butterfly Island was rich in spiritual energy, and the various yaos on the island had gradually cultivated the ability to survive without food. The Bat King wholeheartedly wanted to attain the Dao and ascend to immortality, so in recent years she had rarely committed killing and no longer needed to prey upon humans for food.”
Jiang Yexue asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s very wrong.” Gu Mang said, “Chonghua doesn’t cultivate demonic or heretical paths, so we only have a superficial understanding of many things related to yaos, demons, and evil spirits. But when I was in Liao…”
He paused.
Perhaps unwilling to wound Jiang Yexue’s heart, when he mentioned Liao Kingdom, his voice dropped several degrees, and he quickly moved past it.
“While I was there, I read many scrolls.”
“The spiritual energy in this world is divided into yin and yang. What we absorb in cultivation is yang energy, and we walk the path of immortals and gods. Yaos and spirits, however, absorb yin energy and walk the path of ghosts and demons,” Gu Mang explained. “In other words, as a yao, Wuyan’s body can naturally accommodate yin energy. Committing fewer killings can only reduce the yin energy within her; it cannot obtain the pure yang essence required for her to cultivate into an immortal.”
Jiang Yexue pondered. “In other words, for a yao to cultivate into an immortal is to act against its own nature?”
“That’s more or less what it means.” Gu Mang said, “A yao cultivating into an immortal is like a human falling into demonic cultivation. Both are paths that defy Heaven.”
Hearing this, Mo Xi could not help turning his head and silently looking at the small portion of Gu Mang’s profile from behind.
He thought of how Gu Mang was also someone who had fallen into demonic cultivation. Thus, even after his spiritual core had shattered, he could still use demonic energy to summon demonic weapons. But the price he paid was the loss of two souls and the repeated reforging of his body…
Yet Gu Mang spoke of these matters without the slightest concern and continued.
“Now, going back to Wuyan. She is the queen of the Fire Bat clan. Her branch of the species is descended from the hybrid offspring of the Feathered People and demon beasts. Although some impure immortal energy still remains within her body, most of what flows through her is still the energy of demon beasts. If her cultivation method is incorrect, not only will she fail to become an immortal, she will instead suffer tremendous depletion, causing her aging to accelerate.”
At this point, Gu Mang asked, “Then let me ask you this: if you were Wuyan, what would you want at this point?”
Jiang Yexue said, “A way to slow down the depletion?”
“Exactly.” As he spoke, Gu Mang glanced at Rongrong beside the fire. “The best way for Wuyan to slow her depletion is to increase the immortal energy of the Feathered People within her body. That is why she risked going into the Feathered People’s immortal realm to capture one and bring her back.”
Rongrong was still earnestly holding flames in her hands and eating them. From time to time, she would extend a little paw to stir the bonfire and make it burn more fiercely, then scoop out another cluster of golden-red flames and nibble at them.
Some color had returned to her astonishingly beautiful face, but she still appeared extremely anxious and weak.
Murong Chuyi, being a master craftsman capable of observing even the tiniest details, carefully examined her from head to toe. His sword-like brows gradually furrowed.
“What happened to her neck?”
Gu Mang sighed. “Those are the marks from bloodletting.”
“Bloodletting?” Jiang Yexue’s eyes suddenly widened.
Gu Mang nodded. “That’s right. Wuyan is already like a leaky vessel. She has to regularly consume pills refined from Miss Rongrong’s Feathered People blood to restore her vital energy. I discovered her in Wuyan’s alchemy chamber.”
Jiang Yexue frowned. “Such an important ingredient must have been heavily protected by layers upon layers of restrictions in Wuyan’s alchemy chamber. Without anyone guiding you, how did you think to specifically venture inside?”
Gu Mang smiled. “Who said no one guided me? The person who directed me to look for medicine in the Bat Queen’s alchemy chamber is actually right here.”
Jiang Yexue was astonished. “Who?”
Gu Mang answered, “Mr. Murong.”
“…”
Murong Chuyi raised his eyes and stared coldly at Gu Mang.
“What do you mean?”
His phoenix eyes contained dark currents like flames and lightning, commanding awe without the need for anger.
“Are you saying I’m in league with these broken birds?”
“No, no, no. You’re so beautiful, how could that be?” Gu Mang waved his hand. “What I mean is…”
He glanced somewhat apprehensively at Jiang Yexue, then looked back toward Mo Xi. Finally, with a touch of awkwardness, he rubbed his nose and said to Murong Chuyi:
“It started that day when I was at Peach Blossom Pool. Cough… I mean, when I saw you taking a bath…”