Wen Li looked at everyone. “Raise your hand if you succeeded in the task.”
Xie Tinglan closed his eyes slightly, while Yao Dai and Xin Jiuxian rolled their eyes without a word.
Only Hua Cishu slowly raised his hand.
“You did it alone? Bring out the shadow stone so I can see,” Wen Li asked him.
Hua Cishu shook his head. “Not alone. I cooperated with Zongzheng Huangyue.”
The moment he spoke, a figure returned. Behind her followed a youth with a bump on his forehead and his white clothes turned into dirty rags. His storage bag was gone, and the Blade of Tetanus Wen Li had given him could only be carried in a sword casket on his back.
“Master,” Zongzheng Huangyue called out.
“Master!” Gu Linshu cried out.
The moment he appeared, the trio from last night exchanged glances. Why had he come back with Zongzheng Huangyue? He was supposed to have fought with Hua Cishu and then come here to complain.
Seeing his face covered in filth and looking as if he’d been mugged, Wen Li, who knew exactly what had happened, put on a look of surprise and concern.
“You finally found your way here! Why do you look like this? Who robbed you? And where’s your storage bag?”
As soon as she said that, a certain trio who had split the contents of his storage bag last night silently looked down at their feet. There were two feet. Yes, they were symmetrical.
Oh, the storage bags on their waists had puffed up quite a bit. They felt a little heavy; how annoying.
“I—I—I was... last night...”
Gu Linshu stepped forward excitedly, about to say something, when he caught sight of Xie Tinglan out of the corner of his eye. His face turned pale with fright, and he immediately ducked behind Wen Li.
“He...” No, he had spent the whole walk here mentally preparing himself, but now that he was actually here, he was still terrified.
Gu Linshu’s hand was about to point at him, but Xie Tinglan merely raised his eyes to look at him. The look made Gu Linshu shudder, and he immediately averted his gaze, the words he had intended to say getting stuck in his throat.
Wen Li patted his back. “What happened to you last night?”
Sensing his own intimidation factor, Xie Tinglan’s eyes flickered, and his body suddenly blurred.
Hiss—
A thick black snake with iridescent scales coiled itself on the ground, looking terrifying and eerie. Everyone turned to look at the commotion.
“Ahhh!!”
Gu Linshu, terrified by Xie Tinglan suddenly reverting to his true form, trembled with a pale face. He scrambled backward, clutching Wen Li’s arm with a death grip, wishing he could use her as a shield between himself and Xie Tinglan.
Wen Li, held up like a human shield, thought to herself, “...You really are a filial disciple.”
She had no doubt that if they encountered a snake demon in a fight in the future, Gu Linshu, who should have stood in front of her, would retreat right behind her.
She had already intended to have Xie Tinglan help Gu Linshu overcome his fear of snakes, and now she was even more determined to have him move into the same cave dwelling as Xie Tinglan.
Desensitization training would have to be done slowly; she couldn’t scare him out of his wits just yet. Wen Li glanced at the black snake, whose tail was twitching, its eyes filled with pride and admiration for its own true form.
The black snake let out a hiss, and though reluctant, it obediently transformed back into human form.
Xie Tinglan, dressed in black, leaned nonchalantly against the stone wall. The cold stone was more comfortable anyway.
Wen Li dragged Gu Linshu out from behind her. “All right, all right, you can come out now. Your Second Senior Brother just has a bit of an exhibitionism problem. Just imagine he stripped off his clothes.”
Xie Tinglan was speechless. What exhibitionism? That was his majestic and powerful true form! How could it be compared to some tawdry clothes?
He was about to complain when a secret transmission reached his ears.
“I won’t interfere with you guys taking his storage bag.”
Hearing this, Xie Tinglan looked at Wen Li in surprise, but he quickly accepted that she knew about it and kept his mouth shut.
This kid was truly wealthy; the items in that storage bag were worth a whole year’s worth of what he’d swindled from the dwarf old man of Fuxian Sect! No wonder Master had taken him in despite him being so stupid.
The joke made Gu Linshu a bit less terrified. He carefully peeked and saw that Xie Tinglan was no longer in his true form. He finally exhaled and sat down straight beside Wen Li.
Wen Li asked him again, “What happened to you last night? Who hit you?”
Gu Linshu looked up at Xie Tinglan, who was admiring a scale he had shed; Yao Dai, who was yawning; and Xin Jiuxian, who was snacking on melon seeds.
“...M-M-Master, I’m fine. I just acc-acc-accidentally tripped last night.”
Hearing this, Hua Cishu, who was waiting for him to file a complaint, let out a disdainful snort. Coward. It was just a snake; what was there to be afraid of?
Zongzheng Huangyue showed no surprise and sat down calmly.
Wen Li asked once more, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I-I’m sure.”
Gu Linshu nodded. He really couldn’t handle things like snakes. If he told the truth now and his Second Senior Brother retaliated by putting hundreds of snakes in his bed later, he would truly die of fright.
Anyway, it was just one storage bag; he would consider it a way to win them over. It wasn’t much; his parents had given Master even more valuable storage bags. What they had taken was just the cheapest one.
Since even the victim didn’t care, Wen Li naturally didn’t ask any further.
“Let me introduce you. This is Gu Linshu, Old Three.”
“This is the Eldest, Yao Dai. Old Two is Xie Tinglan. You know Old Four already. Old Five is Hua Cishu, and Old Six is Xin Jiuxian.”
She also subconsciously avoided using seniority titles for the introduction.
Gu Linshu nodded. “H-hello, everyone.”
Yao Dai nodded back with a face full of smiles. “Hello.” What a big, fat sheep.
Except for Xie Tinglan, who preferred leaning against the wall, everyone else sat down, and peace reigned for the moment.
Wen Li explained the task regarding Jiang Nianyao to Gu Linshu.
When Gu Linshu heard that the task was to make Jiang Nianyao eat a chicken-manure-flavored Qi-Replenishing Pill, he instantly recalled the time he tried to escape and was kicked into a pigsty by Wen Li, smelling pig manure for half a day. His forehead broke out in cold sweat; Master was still as nonsensical as ever.
Wen Li continued her questioning of Hua Cishu. “You cooperated with Old Four. Old Four, does that mean you were the one who made Jiang Nianyao eat the Qi-Replenishing Pill?”
Zongzheng Huangyue nodded calmly. “Yes.”
Following the rules, she took out the shadow stone and waved her hand.
The image showed her taking out the pill bottle. The moment Jiang Nianyao smelled the scent, her face scrunched up in refusal. Everyone watched.
In the next second, Jiang Nianyao actually ate the Qi-Replenishing Pill. Although she had blocked her sense of smell, the task was indeed completed.
After watching the recording, everyone except Zongzheng Huangyue, Hua Cishu, and Wen Li looked suspicious.
Yao Dai spoke up. “She really just ate it? How did you manage that?”
Xie Tinglan also frowned slightly. The stench of the Qi-Replenishing Pill was one thing, but eating a pill given by a stranger was another. It seemed like one hurdle, but it was actually two. Jiang Nianyao was the young lady of the Beast Taming Sect; how could she be so trusting of others?
Furthermore, according to Yao Dai, she was the fourth person to approach her. Jiang Nianyao couldn't possibly be without suspicion.
They doubted the authenticity of the situation.
“It was quite simple. I was honest with her and told her we were doing a task. As soon as she heard that it could make the three of you wash my socks, she got interested and actually ate it,” Zongzheng Huangyue said calmly, pouring herself a cup of tea. Complete strangers can always bond over a bit of mischief. They might not help if you’re doing something good, but if it’s a bad deed that adds to someone else’s misery, there’s no shortage of people wanting to join in.
Compared to Yao Dai playing the friendship card, Xie Tinglan playing the hero, and Xin Jiuxian playing the disguise, her honesty approach, coming out as the finale, was far more suitable for Jiang Nianyao.
“...”
Hearing this, Yao Dai, the other two, and Gu Linshu were all stunned and reflexively looked at Wen Li. You could do that?!
Wouldn’t that be directly leaking the task details?
Rate on N.U.
