WPCID 24: How Am I So Far Inferior to Him?

Inside his spiritual altar, Lu Buzhuo meticulously chopped the shadow into pieces five times.

The sensation of cutting himself was somewhat bizarre. Though there were no physical wounds, he could feel the blade parting his soul.

A chill would first spread from the cut, followed by the searing pain of a burn. The more wounds there were, the more his entire soul felt as if it were being scorched in a blazing fire, making it impossible to tell where the pain was coming from.

By the sixth time he brought the blade down, the edges of Lu Buzhuo’s soul were showing signs of minor dissipation, like tiny bubbles being blown away by the wind.

But his expression remained largely unchanged as he seriously considered where to start cutting this time.

“Is here okay?” Lu Buzhuo crouched on the ground, asking with great politeness. 

“Or would you rather I start from the head?”

The shadow completely broke down. 

“I’ll talk! Can’t I just talk?! You %￥@#…! You’re even crazier than in the last life!”

Lu Buzhuo’s expression relaxed. He tossed the blade aside. As he stood up, his body swayed almost imperceptibly, and he steadied himself by grabbing a nearby rock. He softly repeated the key words, “Last life?”

“Not exactly a last life. Time… it was reversed… cough, turned back three years.” The shadow panted, its voice still trembling. 

“You returned with the memories of those three years, broke free from the demonic energy restraints, and sealed me away.”

“Impossible.” Lu Buzhuo tapped his knuckles on the rock. 

“If I had the ability to break the restraints three years ago, why would I have needed to wait for time to rewind?”

“That I don’t know… Don’t do it! Move the… move the blade away… I really don’t know!” The shadow, casting aside all decorum, spilled everything in one breath like beans from a bamboo tube. 

“That day, I was trying to refine you in the spiritual altar when a stream of light flew in from somewhere. Your soul’s power suddenly surged. I was caught off guard and got sealed away.”

A sudden surge in soul power?

Lu Buzhuo was slightly taken aback and began to ponder. The soul was a person’s foundation. Extremely few heavenly treasures could directly affect a damaged soul; they usually had to be refined into pills with various medicinal catalysts to be effective.

Even then, the effects were not instantaneous. It was impossible for it to take effect in a moment, unless the object had some special connection to the soul, or was even… originally part of it.

This object had not appeared in the previous life, which meant that this life had an added variable that brought it here.

He vaguely felt he had grasped a crucial point. Just as he was about to interrogate the shadow further, the spiritual altar suddenly jolted, and he was thrown out.

Waking up abruptly, he realized with a start that he was burning with a fever that left his whole body sore and weak. He was so feeble he couldn’t even open his eyes, and he was being shaken constantly. He wanted to speak to make it stop, but his throat was too hoarse to make a sound.

The shaking stopped. Someone helped him up and roughly gave him some water.

He swallowed a mouthful instinctively and heard a voice by his lips, “Lu Buzhuo, I found a doctor to see you.”

He immediately choked and coughed. Forcing his dizzy eyes open, he was nearly poked in the eye by a pair of drooping, melancholic wolf ears.

Lu Buzhuo: “…”

He closed his eyes again, his expression serene.

Shen Zhou solemnly pressed his head against his chest to listen, then turned to Doctor Xie to report on the condition: “He fainted again after drinking water. This happens often. Can it be cured?”

“…” Xie Xianqing saw that this half-demon still seemed easy to fool and planned to send him away to have a few words with Lu Buzhuo. 

“How about this, I’ll take his pulse first. You go brew this prescription; it’s to clear heat and reduce fever.”

Who would have thought that at this critical moment, the half-demon would become alert? “Are you trying to send me away?”

With that, he sat down by the bed, planting himself there like a door god. He said coldly, “Treat him first. I’ll brew the medicine after you leave.”

Xie Xianqing: “.”

He’s keeping a tight watch, he thought. The root of this problem is nothing more than the long-term weakness caused by demonic energy erosion, and the weakness in turn allows the demonic energy to run even more rampant. Back at Kunlun Xu, this man used to get sick every few days. There’s simply no cure.

Despite his thoughts, he still reached out to take a pulse.

Upon taking the pulse, he immediately noticed something was wrong: the demonic energy wasn’t running wild. This sudden illness was more like Lu Buzhuo’s soul had suffered a severe blow.

Xie Xianqing’s expression turned slightly grim. He glanced at Shen Zhou.

What kind of dual cultivation could cause one’s soul to be damaged? This demonic cultivator really is more than meets the eye, playing such kinky games.

Then again, what effect did the soybean powder actually have??

Xie Xianqing was completely baffled but couldn’t let it show too obviously. He took out a few vials of pills for nourishing the soul and handed them over. After giving a few instructions, he left.

He exited the main gate, turned right, and patted Chu Xuan, who couldn’t get into the residence and could only wait helplessly by the wall.

Chu Xuan turned his head. 

“How is he?”

“The situation is not good. His soul is damaged,” Xie Xianqing said softly. 

“Lu Buzhuo has been completely bewitched. To be tormented like this and still be devoted to that demonic cultivator… I don’t think we can be tactful anymore. That demonic cultivator occasionally goes out, leaving Lu Buzhuo alone at home. Why don’t we just cut to the chase—”

He made a gesture, meaning they should just snatch Lu Buzhuo away while Shen Zhou was gone.

Chu Xuan understood immediately. His index finger gently rubbed the hilt of his sword, a glint of killing intent flashing in his eyes.

“Leave this matter to me,” he said. 

“I have been away from Kunlun Xu for some time now. It’s not good to drag this on.”

“You?” Xie Xianqing was taken aback, a bit bewildered. Sect Master Chu can’t even get through the door, how is he going to secretly abduct someone?

On second thought, perhaps he meant he would help stall Shen Zhou to buy time. He immediately felt that Chu Xuan was being quite sensible today. He opened his fan and waved it. 

“Alright. As expected of Sect Master Chu.”

The two reached an agreement, both very satisfied, and went off to make their respective preparations.

Shen Zhou didn’t entirely trust Xie Xianqing.

He twisted open the vial caps, poured out a handful of pills from each, tasted them one by one, and waited for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before he felt at ease enough to feed them to Lu Buzhuo.

After giving him the medicine, he touched Lu Buzhuo again. The heat radiating through the thin layer of clothing was frighteningly hot. He suddenly felt a pang of regret for giving Lu Buzhuo that medicine to make him “able.”

He sat quietly for a moment with a strange sense of guilt, then re-boiled some hot tea, brewed the medicine, and even cooked a bowl of thick, white porridge. He began to bustle about, taking care of his weakened cultivation partner.

Returning from the kitchen, as he lifted the quilt to help the man up and feed him porridge, his wolf ears suddenly shot up alertly.

Shen Zhou paused, his eyes lowering to look at the Lu Buzhuo in his arms.

…The bamboo scent was gone.

There was surprisingly little shock, but rather a sense of relief, as if he had been waiting a long time and it had finally come.

He pressed his lips together, not even realizing how unhappy he was. A moment later, he still scooped up a spoonful of porridge and shoved it into the other person’s mouth.

The “Lu Buzhuo” had just opened his eyes when a large spoonful of sticky white porridge was shoved in, nearly choking him to death.

“Mmph, you…”

“Shut up,” Shen Zhou said coldly. 

“He’s sick. He needs to eat.”

This “Lu Buzhuo” was not obedient. He turned his head to avoid the next spoonful of porridge and smiled, his dry, pale lips stretching. 

“What a surprise. You can actually tell the difference?”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to?” Shen Zhou put away the porridge he had cooked for Lu Buzhuo. 

“You’re far inferior to him.”

“Far inferior… Hahaha, cough cough…” The laugh wasn’t loud, but it carried a strained hoarseness that was slightly chilling to hear, as if he were forcing this body that wasn’t his own to speak. 

“How am I so far inferior to him? All he did was give you a bite to eat. After that, he forced you into dual cultivation, carved out your golden core—are you telling me that grudge is wiped clean for a few pastries?”

The bowl of white porridge clattered to the floor.

Shen Zhou whipped his head around. 

“What did you say?!”