Yu Qingtang fell silent.
At the mention of that senior brother, Xueyan shrank behind Xuexiang with lingering fear.
“Most Fire Cauldron Sect disciples look down their noses at us and never spare us a proper glance. Especially the ones who know we are demonfolk. But Senior Brother Bajiao...”
“I originally thought he was kind and approachable. I never expected him to be a lecher who would take anyone he could get.”
Xueyan clutched the corner of Xuexiang’s robe and lowered her head.
“If Xuexiang had not reacted quickly and called other senior brothers over, he probably would have laid hands on me.”
Yu Qingtang sucked in a sharp breath. “Fire Cauldron Sect even has people like that?”
Qingzhu raised his eyes coolly. “When the beam above is crooked, those below follow suit.”
He looked at Xueyan.
“I do not know what demonfolk standards of beauty are like, but by human standards, your transformed appearance is charming and lovely. There is no need to belittle yourself.”
Yu Qingtang readily agreed. “Exactly! You’re pretty enough that people would turn for a second look if they passed you on the street. It’s perfectly normal for someone to like you—ow!”
Ye Chenyan stepped squarely on his foot with one expressionless paw.
Grimacing, Yu Qingtang pulled his foot out from beneath the broad paw and hurriedly clarified with clenched fists, “It’s normal to appreciate beauty! But lusting after someone is not normal at all!”
He pointed at himself.
“I’m only appreciating her. I didn’t have any improper thoughts!”
Ye Chenyan gave him a long look and snorted.
Rarely praised so openly, Xueyan blushed and hid behind Xuexiang, nearly covering her entire face.
Yu Qingtang crouched to smooth Ye Chenyan’s fur while asking Xuexiang, “Senior Brother Bajiao delivers the old Pill King’s medicinal meals every day? Does that mean he sees the old Pill King daily?”
“He should, in principle,” Xuexiang replied without concealment. “But Senior Brother Bajiao often pushes his own duties onto other disciples. Since this matter is more important, he personally oversees it. Still...”
“He does not like carrying the food box himself. He usually orders an outer disciple to carry the medicinal meal for him.”
“The disciple only takes it as far as the door to the old Pill King’s seclusion chamber. Senior Brother Bajiao brings it inside personally.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up. “Then I’ll volunteer!”
“Would that not be too obvious?” Xuexiang looked worried. “He may not be exceptionally clever, but he knows this matter is important. If your intentions are too blatant, you may alert him.”
The others exchanged glances.
After hesitating, Xuexiang offered a suggestion.
“The disciple who usually carries the food box waits in the kitchen early each day. If you find a way to draw him away and then let Senior Brother Bajiao notice you, it might seem more natural.”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes brightened. “Then that’s what we’ll do!”
He was about to continue when Qingzhu suddenly warned them, “Someone is coming.”
“Oh no!” Xueyan’s expression changed. “They’re here to inspect our progress!”
Yu Qingtang looked concerned. “You spent all this time talking to us. Will you...”
“It will be fine.” Xuexiang shook his head. “We already know how to deal with that senior brother. Hurry and leave. Focus on your own task.”
“If...”
He hesitated, then continued.
“If you discover any trace of Xueran, please help him if you can do so without endangering yourselves.”
Yu Qingtang nodded solemnly. “We will.”
...
Under Qingzhu’s concealment, the group successfully slipped into the kitchen.
Security was not particularly strict there. People came and went constantly, and no one paid much attention to them.
They had found an unused woodshed and planned to lock inside it the outer disciple responsible for carrying the food box.
Unexpectedly, two people entered the woodshed immediately after them, blocking their only exit.
With no other choice, they watched Qingzhu cast an illusion and huddled behind a rack, hoping the two men would leave quickly.
The newcomers appeared to be senior and junior brothers. The senior brother was indolent and arrogant, while the junior brother was timid and submissive. The gulf in their status was obvious.
“What did you call me here for?” The senior brother clasped his hands behind his back lazily. “Speak quickly. I do not have as much free time as you do.”
The junior brother trembled like a leaf. He swallowed, gathered his courage, then dropped to his knees with a thud.
“Senior Brother, I—I don’t want to deliver the meals anymore! Please, find someone else!”
Yu Qingtang froze and slowly turned toward Ye Chenyan, silently exchanging a look with him.
Saying he exchanged a look with a wolf sounded normal enough, but seeing it happen was somewhat strange. On that furry wolf face, Yu Qingtang somehow glimpsed traces of Ye Chenyan’s familiar features.
He nearly burst out laughing.
Biting his lower lip with great difficulty, he hurriedly turned to look at Qingzhu instead.
Much better.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Senior Qingzhu’s face was not funny at all. Looking at him felt far more normal.
Ye Chenyan fell silent.
He had no idea what this fellow was thinking, but for some reason it irritated him.
Since he could not reveal himself at the moment, he temporarily endured it.
He would remember it, though.
From behind the rack, the group studied the notoriously lecherous Senior Brother Bajiao.
He looked respectable enough, but his frivolous expression and constant crooked smile made him seem thoroughly untrustworthy.
Hearing his junior brother’s plea, Bajiao smiled disdainfully.
“What? You cannot even do this small favor for your senior brother? With such contempt for your elders, you might as well leave Fire Cauldron Sect now.”
“Senior Brother!”
The junior brother had already prostrated himself, his face twisted with terror.
“But—but that meal... it isn’t food! It’s alive! Alive!”
“I heard it last time. I heard it with my own ears. Someone inside the meal was crying for help!”
The careless smile instantly vanished from Bajiao’s face.
He seized the junior brother by the throat and narrowed his eyes, smiling without warmth.
“Do not talk nonsense, Junior Brother.”
“The sect master and the old Pill King share a profound bond as senior and junior brothers. The sect master merely fears that the old Pill King might awaken from seclusion with an empty stomach. That is why he has people prepare medicinal meals each day, just in case.”
“Yesterday it was black-chicken ginseng soup. Today it is old-duck eight-treasure soup...”
He gave a low, mocking laugh.
“Did you hear the black chicken crying for help, or was it the old duck?”
Had the junior brother retained even a little presence of mind, he would have realized he should agree and stop arguing.
But fear seemed to have driven him half senseless.
Trembling violently, he stammered, “N-no! It wasn’t a chicken or duck. It was a person! Someone was crying for help! A person!”
A vicious gleam flashed in Bajiao’s eyes.
He kicked the young man to the floor.
The junior brother was only at Foundation Establishment. A full-strength blow from a Nascent Soul disciple sent him tumbling into the wall. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious.
Yu Qingtang’s eyes flew wide.
Before he could make a sound, a furry paw covered his mouth.
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
He met Ye Chenyan’s gaze, uncertain whether this was some form of retaliation.
“Tch.” Bajiao dusted off his shoe and muttered, “Useless. Every last one of them.”
He took two steps forward, apparently intending to dispose of the junior brother properly. Then he glanced at the time.
After a moment’s hesitation, he turned and walked out.
“Forget it. I cannot miss the appointed hour.”
He shut the woodshed door and even locked it, presumably intending to return and deal with the man after delivering the medicinal meal.
Only then did Yu Qingtang exhale.
He hurried to the unconscious junior brother and nervously checked his breathing before relaxing.
“Good. He’s still alive.”
“A medicinal meal that cries for help.” Ye Chenyan snorted. “As expected, something is wrong.”
“He struck his own junior brother far too viciously.” Yu Qingtang still looked shaken. “I thought he was merely an ordinary pervert. I never expected...”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “An ordinary wolf?”
Yu Qingtang paused, then immediately corrected himself with a righteous expression.
“Wolves are good. People are bad!”
He scratched beneath the giant wolf’s chin.
“Calling him a wolf is an insult to wolves! I know you are different. You have always been a perfectly restrained, pure-hearted good wolf!”
Ye Chenyan was silent for a moment.
“...That is not entirely true.”
Yu Qingtang blinked. “What?”
Qingzhu glanced at them. “Follow.”
Naturally, the lock on the door could not hold them.
With Qingzhu concealing their presence, they followed Bajiao openly all the way toward the old Pill King’s chambers.
Several times along the route, Qingzhu slowed his steps. They had evidently passed near formidable figures, and he feared their concealment might be seen through.
Fortunately, they reached their destination without incident.
Yu Qingtang did not dare speak. He could only exchange covert glances with Qingzhu.
Unfortunately, the two had no understanding whatsoever. After staring back and forth for some time, neither could decipher what the other meant.
Qingzhu finally looked at him and said, “You may speak now.”
“Oh!”
Yu Qingtang breathed a sigh of relief. Still, with Bajiao carrying the food box not far ahead, he kept his voice low.
“Aren’t we going to help carry the food box?”
“No.” Qingzhu shook his head coolly. “He is wary now. It would be difficult to act.”
“Then...”
Yu Qingtang glanced around and lowered his voice further.
“Can you simply go straight to the old Pill King’s door?”
If that was the case, all their effort searching for Bajiao or anyone else had been unnecessary.
“I can.” Qingzhu nodded with certainty. “But there is a risk.”
Yu Qingtang froze. “And there is no risk now?”
Qingzhu looked at him calmly. “There is.”
Yu Qingtang stared blankly. “...What?”
He continued in bewilderment.
“Then why did we suddenly decide to take the risk and follow him? What happened to the plan?”
Qingzhu clasped his hands behind his back, his expression serene.
“I was annoyed.”
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
What a perfectly confident and irrefutable reason.
Could it be that this senior, who appeared as tranquil and refined as green bamboo in a forest, merely looked that way—and actually had a dreadful temper?
Qingzhu spoke coolly. “What are you thinking?”
Yu Qingtang wiped his face. “That I suppose it is understandable.”
After all, people wrote of bamboo, “Holding fast to the green mountain, never letting go.” The other creature that bit down on something and refused to release it was probably a snapping turtle.
Apart from both being green, perhaps they were simply equally stubborn.
Yu Qingtang looked up wearily.
“I have been cultivating quite diligently lately. Good fortune should look after me, right?”
Qingzhu remained unmoved. “Silence.”
“The danger ahead is greater.”
Yu Qingtang immediately shut his mouth. Hugging the giant wolf’s neck, he fell one step behind and respectfully invited Senior Qingzhu to lead the way.
Qingzhu gave him a long look before striding to the front.
Bajiao had already reached the old Pill King’s chambers with the food box.
The two guards outside were clearly no ordinary gatekeeping disciples. Their cultivation appeared formidable, and even Bajiao treated them with great respect.
The more amiable-looking guard smiled.
“Well, Bajiao. You actually carried the food box yourself today?”
“Do not mention it.” Bajiao smiled familiarly. “Young disciples nowadays cannot endure the slightest hardship. Ask them to help with one small task, and they invent every possible excuse.”
“Then teach him a lesson,” the guard said with a laugh. “Otherwise, you will tarnish Senior Brother Bajiao’s reputation.”
“Naturally.” Bajiao laughed along. “If I had not feared delaying the medicinal meal, he would already be receiving punishment in Discipline Hall.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with the two guards, he pushed open the door.
Yu Qingtang nervously peeked out from behind Qingzhu.
The old Pill King, whom Four Books Academy had investigated for so long without ever seeing, was truly right before them.
“Wait.”
The other guard, who had remained silent until now, suddenly opened his eyes.
He turned toward Bajiao and narrowed his gaze, as though he had sensed something.
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