Reunion

"You still don’t know, do you? She’s already married!"

Gu Xuanwu was a clever man too. He deliberately waited until Chuchenzi had drunk halfway through his tea, then suddenly turned his head, tapped the table, and said that.

"Ugh~ Blegh~"

The news startled Chuchenzi so badly that he choked on a large mouthful of tea. He coughed several times, but it did not get any better.

"Heh~"

Some of the water sprayed onto Gu Xuanwu. After casually wiping it away, he continued speaking to Chuchenzi, who was covering his mouth. "And let me tell you this! She didn’t even marry him as his principal wife. She insisted on becoming his eighth concubine!"

He held up eight fingers, smiled at Wu Xin and Li Yueya, who were grinning with pursed lips, and emphasized again, "His eighth concubine!"

Chuchenzi was so embarrassed and angry that he slammed the table and said to the laughing group, "I’m telling you, she has nothing to do with Qingyun Temple! Nothing, nothing, nothing! She can marry whoever she wants. Anyway, it has nothing to do with us!"

"You can’t put it that way~"

Wu Xin stood up and walked behind Chuchenzi, continuing the provocation. "As the saying goes, once your teacher, your father for life. What’s more, she’s your grandmaster’s senior apprentice sister, and thus even higher in rank than your teacher!"

"Ah~ Master~" Gu Xuanwu chimed in. "Look, this temple master has no intention of helping us either. Why don’t we just head down the mountain first?"

"Sure~"

Li Yueya stood up as well. Wu Xin continued, "We’ll go down the mountain and find someone to explain everything to. We’ll tell them that the master of Qingyun Temple shields and indulges his elders, allowing them to slaughter innocents!"

As he spoke, Wu Xin patted Chuchenzi on the shoulder, making him squirm in discomfort.

"Right!"

Gu Xuanwu pointed at him and laughed. "And there’s also the fact that she’s shamelessly old, refusing to be a principal wife and insisting on becoming someone’s eighth concubine!"

He jumped up laughing as he said it, while Wu Xin and Li Yueya also laughed without showing Chuchenzi the slightest bit of mercy.

"Let’s go~"

Wu Xin pointed toward the door. Li Yueya and Gu Xuanwu also answered with a "Let’s go!" The three of them headed toward the entrance together.

"Stop!"

Chuchenzi panicked and ordered them to stop.

Wu Xin turned around with a smile. "Daoist Priest, have you changed your mind?"

Chuchenzi had no choice. He walked over, grabbed Wu Xin by the sleeve, and pulled him back. "Come, come, come. Ah, come, come~" He dragged Wu Xin aside and lowered his voice. "It’s not that I don’t want to help. I really don’t have the ability to help! With what little skill I have, I don’t even possess a fraction of my grandmaster’s abilities.

"I can just about handle a few minor demons and monsters. But dealing with the Ghost Fiend is already beyond me. And if you want me to deal with Yue Qiluo, wouldn’t that just be sending me to my death?"

"Hold on. You think you can clear yourself of all responsibility with just one sentence?"

Gu Xuanwu refused to let it go. In his view, every damned mess had begun with Yue Qiluo beneath the well in the old mansion. Without Yue Qiluo, there would never have been the Female Fiend incident, Shirakawa Rin would never have been drawn there, and Lord Gu would never have ended up like a stray dog.

"Then what do you want me to do?"

Chuchenzi said helplessly. He truly had no way to help. If Qingyun Temple had possessed a method of dealing with Yue Qiluo, they would not have merely sealed her away back then.

Wu Xin spoke again. "Lord Gu, forget it. Let’s not make things difficult for him."

"That won’t do~"

Gu Xuanwu shot Chuchenzi a sidelong glance. Now that he had become a stray dog, he would bite whoever he could catch. Chuchenzi could consider himself unlucky.

"Ah~ Let’s go down the mountain and find Yue Qiluo~"

The first half of Wu Xin’s sentence made Chuchenzi nod, but the second half startled him. A bad feeling rose in his heart, and he turned to look at Wu Xin.

"Heh~~"

Wu Xin chuckled and rested one hand on Chuchenzi’s shoulder. "Master, why not let her come and reminisce with you? We won’t meddle anymore. You can settle your family’s affairs yourselves."

Chuchenzi’s head turned left and right. He was genuinely terrified.

Gu Xuanwu snickered. "After we go down the mountain, we’ll let the grandmother and grandson have a good chat and reminisce. We’re leaving!" As he spoke, he patted Chuchenzi on the shoulder, then followed Wu Xin and Li Yueya as they made to leave.

"Wait~ No, no, no, no~~~"

Chuchenzi finally realized what was happening. He rushed to the entrance, blocked the door, and said to the three of them, "Let’s talk this over! Let’s talk it over!"

"This is your idea of talking it over?"

Wu Xin said, "You refuse to help us, so how are we supposed to talk things over?"

After hesitating for a while, Chuchenzi said, "Well, I’m willing, but I’m powerless! If I had my grandmaster’s abilities, I would certainly act. But my magic is too weak, and regarding such a calamity for the sect, I can only—Still, at least I’m the master of Qingyun Temple. I can draw talismans for blessings and protection…"

"Chuchenzi, scheming against your elders—is that also something the master of Qingyun Temple ought to do?"

An eerie child’s voice rang out from outside. Chuchenzi’s back instantly became drenched in sweat, and he fled toward Wu Xin and the others.

"Creak~~"

The door was blown open by the wind. Riding a Paper Doll, Yue Qiluo soared inside like a celestial maiden.

"Yue Qiluo~"

Wu Xin was startled when he saw her. He sliced open his palm with a dagger, ready to rush forward and fight at any moment.

"Wu Xin, don’t waste your effort. I admit your blood is powerful, but even the most powerful blood is useless if it can’t hit anyone."

Yue Qiluo, dressed like Little Red Riding Hood, shook her cape. A smile curled at the corner of her exquisite lips. "Did you really think you could use the same trick against me twice?"

"Whether it works or not, you’ll know once you try. Come on!"

Wu Xin shouted sharply and prepared to take the initiative.

"Forget it. I didn’t come here today to hunt you down."

Yue Qiluo did not attack as Wu Xin expected. Instead, she turned to Chuchenzi and said, "Chuchenzi, aren’t you going to come out and pay your respects to your grandmaster?"

Chuchenzi looked left and right. Wu Xin and Gu Xuanwu had no intention of helping him at all. What a bunch of utterly disloyal bastards. With no other choice, he could only step forward and perform a formal Daoist bow to Yue Qiluo. "This disciple, Chuchenzi, pays his respects to Grandmaster!"

"Oh my~ More than a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye. Senior Brother even has a grand-disciple now, while I haven’t changed at all. But he has already turned to dust. It truly makes one sigh. This is the fate of mortal men."

Yue Qiluo let out a sigh. After hearing this, Chuchenzi lowered his head even further, not daring to look at her at all.

"Mortal men have their own advantages too. If Zhang Xianzong was merely a mortal man in your eyes, why did you marry him?"

Wu Xin spoke up. Of the group, he was the one most qualified to say this. If he had not undergone nirvana once every hundred years and lost his memories, he might have become even more cold-hearted than Yue Qiluo.

"He was different, of course. Even as a mere mortal man, he stood out from the rest."

Yue Qiluo looked at Wu Xin with a smile. "Wu Xin, if I had met you first, I might have fallen for you. Your physical body is immortal, while my soul is undying. We would have been a perfect match by nature!"