Chapter Fifty-Eight: A Peculiar Identity

No sooner had she finished speaking than a wisp of white mist drifted from behind the stone pillar. The presence of that mist felt deeply familiar and safe to her. She allowed it to envelop her; cool droplets, light as rain, fell from the cloud and instantly swept away the stifling heat. Qu Yiqiu lowered her gaze—beneath her feet, a cloud as delicate as mist hovered in the air. As she stepped forward, the cloud floated nimbly along with her. Gentle moisture wrapped around her, shielding her from the stones that burned like embers.

Behind the glowing red stone pillar, a massive figure lay half-reclined. Mu Yunjin’s lashes quivered slightly, and a flicker of struggle passed through his crystalline eyes, but his body refused to obey. “Shijie has come back... I should go and greet her... but my arms, my legs, my tail... everything aches so much...”

The pain seemed to pierce his very bones. Drops of sweat beaded on Mu Yunjin’s fluttering lashes and rolled down onto his bare chest. The hard, iridescent scales there absorbed the droplets at once. If one looked closely, they would see on those vibrant, glowing scales a steady flow of crimson light.

Protected from the burning heat, Qu Yiqiu made her way behind the stone pillar in just a few breaths. She stared at Mu Yunjin in astonishment, nearly stumbling back in fright. It wasn’t that his appearance had become monstrous, but rather that the aura radiating from his body had reached the force of the Nascent Soul stage. Just a single glance from her, a mere Qi Refining novice, was enough to awaken a primal fear within her heart.

“Shijie... Shijie...” His pained, trembling voice drew her back to herself. She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and forced herself to ignore the oppressive heat as she approached his half-human, half-demonic form.

Once a delicate, lovely face, he now bore a pair of dragon horns, and half his snowy complexion was etched with scales like the morning sun. His lips burned fiery red, and his pupils glowed with blazing crimson light. In his haze, he sensed a familiar, cooling presence drawing near. Instinctively, Mu Yunjin turned his head, his brilliant scarlet gaze colliding with Qu Yiqiu’s.

For a moment, Qu Yiqiu was stunned—Mu Yunjin was no ignorant hatchling. “Shijie...?” he managed, and upon seeing her, a breathtaking smile tugged at his flaming lips. Then he collapsed backward against the pillar, causing the entire cave to tremble, and lost consciousness.

Qu Yiqiu’s attention was immediately drawn to the brilliant red scale on his chest—she had just seen it flash with a strange light. But it vanished as quickly as it had come. Now was not the time to study his dragon scales; she pressed her hand to Mu Yunjin’s wrist and cautiously sent a wisp of water spiritual energy into him. The moment it entered, the intense heat devoured it completely.

Undeterred, she tried again and again, sending thin threads of water energy into him. After dozens of attempts, her spiritual energy finally managed to flow through Mu Yunjin’s meridians. Closing her eyes, Qu Yiqiu carefully analyzed the information carried back by the energy. Near Mu Yunjin’s dantian, she sensed a surging, turbulent mass of multicolored spiritual power. Her water energy could not approach, only observe from a distance.

That multicolored power churned like a raging sea, crashing again and again against his body. Any ordinary cultivator would have been reduced to pulp by a single collision with such an overwhelming force. Yet, although that turbulent energy was terrifying, it also crazily lured her water spiritual energy closer, as if a voice whispered that if she only approached, she could attain immortality.

Qu Yiqiu’s eyes snapped open, cold sweat beading on her brow. She thought she understood the nature of that multicolored spiritual energy now. She had hurried back to Xiaoping Peak, preoccupied only with her master and junior brother’s conditions, forgetting that a new member had also recently arrived at Xiaoping Peak.

The Nine-Colored Deer!

The Nine-Colored Deer was missing.

Qu Yiqiu stared intently at Mu Yunjin, a dreadful suspicion rising in her mind. Had her junior brother devoured the deer alive? Was that the cause of this anomaly? And what of her master—where had she gone? Could it be that her junior brother, in a fit of madness, had also...

Frightened by her own conjecture, she hastily retrieved the soul lamp hidden deep within her storage pouch. Seeing Mo Qinglei’s soul lamp burning steadily, she breathed a sigh of relief and set it back beside her parents’ lamps.

She quietly studied Mu Yunjin’s bewitching face, sighed softly, then drew out most of the spring water from her spatial storage, pouring it into a wooden tub and placing Mu Yunjin inside. She replaced his crude stone bed with a fragrant sandalwood bed carved with coiling dragons, and brewed a pot of celestial tea with a fine teapot made of aromatic bamboo.

When all was done, she glanced at the unconscious Mu Yunjin soaking in the spiritual spring, then stepped out of the cave dwelling.

Xiaoping Peak was a modest mountain; without the cover of dense forests, its state could be easily seen from the neighboring peaks. Qu Yiqiu selected a site with such excellent geomancy that even a master of feng shui would have praised it, and there she set a sixth-grade defensive array.

She embedded dozens of mid-grade spirit stones at the array’s center, and instantly a thin veil fell over Xiaoping Peak. The formation was hidden among lush foliage; after instructing Xiao Yan to check for vulnerabilities and confirming that the array’s core could not be easily discovered, she left with peace of mind.

Mu Yunjin remained soaking in the spring water. Qu Yiqiu placed an ancient incense burner on the stone table, and each time a stick of incense burned away, she would wake and feed a pot of celestial tea to the unconscious Mu Yunjin.

Three days and nights passed in this manner.

Gradually, Mu Yunjin’s dragon tail and scales faded away. The supply of spring water in Qu Yiqiu’s space had been reduced by more than half. She sat cross-legged in a corner of the cave, communicating with Xiao Yan in her sea of consciousness.

“What’s the situation in the Yin Nether Realm now?”

Xiao Yan closed his eyes and sensed. “Rest assured, Master, there is still time.”

Qu Yiqiu exhaled in relief. “That’s good.”

“Shijie...” Mu Yunjin’s fiery lips moved with difficulty.

Qu Yiqiu looked up. Mu Yunjin, eyes tightly shut, wore a tormented expression as if enduring unimaginable pain.

“Junior brother, I am right here. Focus on guiding your spiritual energy and do not let your mind wander.”

It seemed he heard her—his furrowed brow suddenly eased, and his complexion improved. Qu Yiqiu examined his body; with no dragon scales left in sight, she nodded in satisfaction. Once her junior brother woke, she would go in search of Mo Qinglei.

In the past days, to prevent Mu Yunjin’s true nature from being discovered, she had not even met with Zhou Chen, remaining by Mu Yunjin’s side as his protector. This also gave her more time to ponder the matter of the Nine-Colored Deer. Whether Mu Yunjin had consumed the deer, she would know once he awakened.

The Nine-Colored Deer’s arrival had been abrupt, and she’d left in such haste that she hadn’t inquired about its origins. Now, thinking back, when Mo Qinglei and Mu Yunjin had openly carried the deer back to Xiaoping Peak, it was impossible that no one had seen them.

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(End of chapter)