WPCID 33: “Shen Zhou, I Can Help You.”

Lu Buzhu had gone to the neighboring courtyard again.

Shen Zhou sat cross-legged by the window, too lazy to perk up his wolf ears. The corrosion of the demonic energy hadn’t fully receded, and his thoughts were clear one moment and muddled the next, so he had to spend a lot of time sorting through them.

His demonic core had withered quite a bit, as if someone had stolen some of his demonic energy, and his cultivation level had dropped significantly along with it.

It was probably the doing of that Sect Master of Kunlun Ruins.

Lu Buzhu had dark circles under his eyes recently and wasn’t as enthusiastic towards him anymore. He needed to nap in the afternoon and went to bed early at night, leaving absolutely no time for dual cultivation.

This was likely also related to that Sect Master of Kunlun Ruins.

He didn’t quite remember what happened when his demonic energy was in chaos, but he had a vague feeling: Lu Buzhu’s heart had strayed.

Occasionally, when he looked over the wall and his gaze fell upon Chu Xuan, the killing intent in his heart would surge uncontrollably.

But Shen Zhou knew that killing Chu Xuan was useless.

In his past life, after he had killed Lu Buzhu, that Chu Xuan had stood in the pouring rain, his sword gleaming as bright as snow, but his eyes were bloodshot, crimson and crazed, more terrifying than any demonic cultivator.

He didn’t want to see a Lu Buzhu like that.

Besides, with his current cultivation level, killing Chu Xuan would be a bit troublesome.

If that man surnamed Chu could just leave on his own and leave Lu Buzhu behind, that would be for the best. After all, Chu Xuan hadn’t killed him in this life yet, and Shen Zhou wasn’t an unreasonable person.

The wolf ears wagged once in agreement.

Shen Zhou popped a candied fruit into his mouth and continued to think.

The matter of Lu Buzhu’s heart straying was actually very easy to solve. He chewed on the candied fruit. As long as the man surnamed Chu left, and then he locked Lu Buzhu up in bed so that he could only see him every day, wouldn’t his heart naturally stray back?

If he still refused to be obedient…

A needle-fine glint of demonic energy flashed through his pupils—then he would just break his hands and feet and hang him up, just like in his past life.

Back then, “Lu Buzhu” had told him that as long as he was willing to let him go, he would do anything. He was sure he would be willing in this life as well.

…

The pit of the candied fruit was crushed with a crack, melting in his mouth and releasing a wave of astringency. Shen Zhou blinked as if waking from a dream, spat it out, and grabbed two more.

The wolf ears became cheerful again.

Lu Buzhu was lying on the bed, undergoing medicated fumigation.

The scent of flowers mixed with herbs made him drowsy, and his lips were a little pale.

Xie Xianqing held a golden needle, his wrist trembling slightly as he slowly inserted it into an acupoint.

Chu Xuan didn’t much care for this smell and stood by the window for fresh air as usual. After a moment, he said in a low voice, “How is Senior Brother’s condition, really?”

“I’ve done my best,” Xie Xianqing replied in a low voice as well. 

“The hidden injuries in his meridians are innumerable. His soul is incomplete, and his spiritual domain is unstable. How can that place possibly bear the full cultivation of a Tribulation Stage cultivator? I don’t know what he’s sealed in his spiritual domain, but in short… it’s nothing good.”

“Go into his spiritual domain and take a closer look.”

“You think I haven’t? I even got pecked twice by a damn myna bird,” Xie Xianqing said irritably. 

“I was thrown out before my seat was even warm. He said he was afraid his Dao Companion would be unhappy. In that short amount of time, what could I possibly figure out?”

“…” After a moment of silence, Chu Xuan said, “Senior Brother is hiding something from us.”

“He won’t talk. What can we do?” Xie Xianqing inserted another needle and found that Lu Buzhu had already fallen into a deep sleep. He sighed. 

“The elixirs I’ve been giving him are all for nourishing the soul. They’ve nourished it, yes, but only by half. I have no idea where the other half of the medicinal power is going. It can’t be that he’s saving it up to feed that half-demon. It’s truly bizarre.”

He paused, then looked at Chu Xuan.

“You’ve been away for quite some time now. When do you plan on going back?”

Chu Xuan’s gaze had been fixed on Lu Buzhu. After a moment, he answered the question with another question, his voice low. 

“I want to take Senior Brother with me.”

“And the half-demon?”

“I remember you have a secret art that can seal a person’s memories with golden needles.” Chu Xuan lifted his eyes to look at him.

“Xie Xianqing, do me a favor.”

In the past, as long as he looked into the other’s eyes and spoke like this, no matter how outrageous the request, Xie Xianqing would always be willing to help.

“…” Xie Xianqing’s wrist trembled, and he nearly picked the wrong needle. After a moment of silence, he rolled up his needle pouch. 

“Then the things he forgets won’t just be the half-demon. He’ll forget his entire past. It’ll be no different from being dead.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“…”

“You won’t help?”

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a long pause, Xie Xianqing said, “I’ve known him a lot longer than I’ve known you.”

“…”

“Sect Master Chu, I have my principles as a physician.” After speaking, he tucked the needle pouch into his sleeve. Feeling the atmosphere was too heavy, he made a forced attempt at a lighthearted joke. 

“Shuyu Peak does not treat lovesickness. But if you were to ask me for a medicine that makes one’s limbs go weak and unable to draw talismans, I have plenty of those.”

Chu Xuan continued to stare at him without a word.

Xie Xianqing’s smile vanished, and he said no more. When the time for the fumigation was up, he retrieved the golden needles, shook the man awake, nagged him with a pile of instructions, stuffed him with many elixirs, and only then let him go back.

Knowing that Shen Zhou disliked the smell of medicine, Lu Buzhu forced himself to go to the storage room to take a bath, washing away the scent before returning to their room.

He had just closed the door and hadn’t yet turned around when he felt a gaze on him from behind.

“Dao Companion.” The other person came closer and sniffed, seemingly satisfied that there were no other scents. 

“Want to dual cultivate.”

Shen Zhou didn’t want to reveal that he had recovered just yet.

“Some other day.” Lu Buzhu didn’t notice anything unusual. He ruffled the pair of perked-up wolf ears, his eyelashes drooping and casting a shadow, revealing a hint of exhaustion. 

“I want to rest today.”

These past few days, he had felt constantly fatigued, as if all the old injuries he had accumulated had suddenly collapsed and were striking back at him a hundred, a thousand times over, pressing down on him like a mountain until he could barely breathe. He didn’t even have much energy to spare for the seal in his spiritual domain.

However, he hadn’t neglected Shen Zhou because of it.

“Come here, I have a gift for you,” Lu Buzhu said, taking out a delicate silver ornament the size of a thumbnail from his robes. It was triangular, with a wolf head pattern on both sides.

He had asked Chu Xuan to commission this, and it had just been delivered today.

Shen Zhou froze. He masked the ferocity in his eyes that had sprung from his displeasure, making them clear again. He pretended to look up curiously, and his wolf ears wagged cooperatively. 

“?”

He watched as Lu Buzhu took the ornament, reached out, and gently clipped it on. Then, he brought over a mirror for him to see.

Shen Zhou looked into the mirror.

…The notch on his wolf ear was gone, replaced by the beautiful silver ornament. It was light, unnoticeable, and a perfect fit.

He touched it, and then touched it again. He was silent for a long time. Suddenly, he found it in himself to forgive what had happened that day.

But only a little.

“Do you like it?” Lu Buzhu asked softly, his voice slightly hoarse.

Shen Zhou nodded. He wanted to say more, but he still had to pretend his mind was addled and he couldn’t speak well. So instead, he helped fetch the quilt for sleeping and settled the man onto the bed.

Every so often, he would tuck the quilt in. A little while later, he would tuck it in again.

The fussing kept Lu Buzhu from sleeping. The next time Shen Zhou came to tuck the quilt, he yanked the man into the bed with him.

Shen Zhou: “!”

The wolf ears wagged excitedly.

“It’s good that you like it,” a muffled voice came from above his head. 

“The pattern on it was too fine. I went to several shops, but none could do it. In the end, it was Chu Xuan who found a spirit treasure forger from Taiping Garrison… It’s finally carved on. It’s good that you like it.”

The wolf ears abruptly stopped moving.

A while later, Lu Buzhu fell asleep.

Shen Zhou carefully climbed out of the bed and took off the ornament. He was in such a hurry and used so much force that he accidentally cut his wolf ear, causing it to droop pitifully from the pain.

His face grew even uglier, almost freezing over.

Ever since that man surnamed Chu had appeared, he had wormed his way into every gap between him and Lu Buzhu.

Every little thing was somehow connected to him. Whether it was the chaos of the demonic energy or the burn from the porridge, it seemed that just by standing there and doing nothing, he would divert Lu Buzhu’s attention.

The snacks and candied fruits he ate were bought by Chu Xuan, the new things in the courtyard were gifts from Chu Xuan, and even this carefully prepared silver clasp was related to him—those two words, appearing suddenly during an intimate moment in the bamboo-scented bed, were like a haunting ghost, a fishbone stuck in his throat.

Chu Xuan Chu Xuan Chu Xuan Chu Xuan Chu Xuan Chu Xuan.

Demonic energy pierced through his pupils like needles. Shen Zhou clenched the silver clasp so tightly it nearly dug into his flesh. After a moment, he actually laughed.

Whose fault was it that his Dao Companion was someone else’s Senior Brother?

Lu Buzhu had woken up at some point and was sitting up behind him.

But there was no scent of bamboo.

Shen Zhou sensed it. He casually tossed the silver clasp into his storage ring and turned to look at him coldly. 

“Get back inside.”

“You seem to be in a bad mood.” “Lu Buzhu’s” eyes curved into a smile, and he spoke slowly, word by word. 

“Is it because you don’t like that Sect Master of Kunlun Ruins? Understandable. The Lu Buzhu you like has forgotten the events of his past life, but I remember.”

“Stabbed by so many swords, it hurt so much. You were surrounded by a teeming crowd of people, and all of them stood by that Chu Xuan, protecting him, guarding him. In this life, his Senior Brother sides with him too. No one remembers you.” He got out of bed and walked closer. His expression and posture were identical to Lu Buzhu’s, and his voice was soft and gentle, as if every word was filled with genuine emotion. 

“But I remember it all for you. I feel very sorry for you.”

That voice was almost bewitching in his ear. 

“Shen Zhou, I can help you.”