MOF Chapter 100
by VolareWen Liangchen pointedly asked, “Shen Qianqiu, what are you following me for?”
Shen Qianqiu, as a young master from an Immortal Clan, should not, in principle, be addressed in such a tone by Wen Liangchen. However, considering he was the one doing the following and Wen Liangchen never paid much attention to formalities, he simply smiled it off, “Long time no see, Brother Wen is still as guarded as ever.”
He greeted him cordially, approaching Wen Liangchen with an unaffected expression. Seeing the latter shrink back slightly, he stopped.
“Brother Wen, I originally came to Wen Residence specifically to mourn after hearing the terrible news of your passing due to illness,” Shen Qianqiu didn’t hide, knowing Wen Liangchen’s personality. “However, I discovered anomalies with your remains, leading me to suspect something and pay closer attention. Unexpectedly, through a series of coincidences, I witnessed everything.”
Upon hearing this, Wen Liangchen stared at Shen Qianqiu with a complex gaze. This person had not only grasped his weakness but also brazenly spoken it out loud. Was he pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, or was he truly frank and open?
He said, “So, what does Brother Shen plan to do? Expose me to Wen Qingliu?”
“No, no,” Shen Qianqiu shook his head like a rattle-drum. “I just feel it’s a pity.”
“A pity?” Wen Liangchen raised an eyebrow, hearing someone describe him that way for the first time.
“Yes!” Shen Qianqiu nodded. “Brother Wen previously studied at my Cang Ling Du, grasping everything with ease, understanding one thing and deducing many others effortlessly. You are a rare talent for cultivation. Such decline is truly a pity, isn’t it?”
As he spoke, he became somewhat excited, unconsciously moving closer to Wen Liangchen, “If you are willing, you can join my Cang Ling Du, immerse yourself in cultivation, and not waste your innate intelligence.”
Wen Liangchen said, “What if I insist on wasting it?”
Shen Qianqiu’s words caught in his throat. He looked at Wen Liangchen with a blank, stunned expression for several seconds, as if he hadn’t expected him to say such a thing.
How many people begged and pleaded to enter an Immortal Sect? Once enlightened and a golden core formed, one could extend their life, soar through the clouds, ride swords, and bring glory to their ancestors.
Wen Liangchen chuckled, half-amused and half-mocking, “Spare yourself the effort, Young Master Shen. If I were interested in cultivating immortality, I wouldn’t need someone else to persuade me.”
Having made his intentions clear, he ignored Shen Qianqiu and strode away.
However, Shen Qianqiu didn’t give up, following closely behind him like a shadow.
Wen Liangchen acted as if the other man didn’t exist, continuing forward on his own.
“Brother Wen, have you heard about the recent natural disasters?” Shen Qianqiu paused deliberately for a moment, and when he saw that Wen Liangchen didn’t intend to reply, he continued to speak to himself, “It’s been a long time since it rained, indeed. If it continues like this, I fear a great chaos will erupt in the world.”
The wind rustled weakly through the bamboo grove, the sound of bamboo leaves falling was distinct. Wen Liangchen pressed his brow, turning back, “Young Master Shen, what exactly do you want?”
Shen Qianqiu stepped on the fallen bamboo leaves, his gaze somewhat complicated. His lips moved, hesitant to speak.
He could tell that the method Wen Liangchen used to fake his death wasn’t a legitimate one. Not wanting a good person to stray onto the wrong path, he had followed him all this way.
However, such words were based on nothing but his own speculation, and he couldn’t voice them and wrongly accuse someone.
Wen Liangchen took in all of Shen Qianqiu’s shifting expressions, understanding, “Oh, so you’re afraid I’ll fall into the demonic path, become a ghost cultivator, and stand against the Immortal Sects.”
He then smiled faintly, “Even if that were to happen, what does it have to do with you, Young Master Shen?”
Shen Qianqiu said, “We know each other. I can’t just watch you fall into the demonic path.”
“Strange,” Wen Liangchen casually caught a bamboo leaf, folding it into a small boat in a few motions. “Instead of worrying about your Cang Ling Du, or those commoners crying out in despair in the face of disaster, why are you meddling with me?”
Just as Shen Qianqiu was about to speak, a cowering man emerged from the depths of the bamboo forest.
“Young Master… Master.” He stopped beside Wen Liangchen, his posture humble and subservient. “The master buried you and the second young master’s bodies together in the Wen family cemetery.”
The bamboo leaf boat fell to the ground, carried by the wind. Wen Liangchen rubbed his fingers together lightly, nodding slightly, “Understood. There’s nothing for you here. You don’t need to come out.”
Wen Zilao consciously retreated, glancing at Shen Qianqiu before leaving.
Shen Qianqiu recognized Wen Zilao and didn’t look at him much, “Brother Wen, what are your plans for the future? Why not go to Cang Ling Du…”
Wen Liangchen turned and left, “I appreciate the kind intentions. Farewell.”
After that, Shen Qianqiu relentlessly followed Wen Liangchen. However, worried about completely angering the other man, he deliberately kept a distance that was neither too close nor too far.
Wherever Wen Liangchen went, he had a tail. Having nowhere to go and unwilling to get involved in the gradually chaotic city, he slept on the ground outside the city.
However, as soon as he left the city, the tail followed him, living under Shen Qianqiu’s gaze all day long. As time passed, it began to feel like a kind of indulgence. Thinking this way, his heart felt a little complicated.
After some time, Wen Liangchen completely treated Shen Qianqiu as if he were nothing, though Shen Qianqiu didn’t feel that way.
He would offer a water bottle when Wen Liangchen swallowed often, or take out a prepared white flour cake, estimating the time.
Wen Liangchen looked down on such bland things. As the son of the wealthiest man in Jin City Qingzhou, from childhood to adulthood, everything he ate, wore, and used was exquisite and luxurious. If Shen Qianqiu hadn’t broken off a piece and “tested it for poison” in front of him, he wouldn’t have known it was even edible.
“This is a white flour cake,” Shen Qianqiu explained before retreating, seeing his puzzled expression.
Wen Liangchen held up the white flour cake, which he was seeing for the first time, slowly overlapping it with the scorching sun in the sky, blocking the blinding light. After a while, he finally put it to his mouth, using his teeth to tear off a small piece.
It wasn’t that bad.
The banana trees, two or three people tall, along the roadside had already withered and died. The molten sunlight formed a long sword, and the thick banana leaves were cut in half at the waist, painfully shrinking into strings of sword tassels.
The soil under his feet became increasingly dry and hard, grating against the soles of his feet. After walking for a long time, it became extremely sore. Wen Liangchen decided to go into the mountains.
As night fell, the mountain was slightly cool. In the past, he could still see faint lights, but now there were only the mixed sounds of wild animals running around at night.
The night was pitch black. Wen Liangchen held a sword in his arms, his back against a naturally flattened boulder. He leaned against it and closed his eyes to sleep.
The night wind blew, and not far away, Shen Qianqiu felt his clothes, the fabric feeling cold to his fingertips.
Although it was summer, the temperature on the mountain was lower than at the foot of the mountain. If he wasn’t careful, he would catch a cold.
He glanced at Wen Liangchen, who was motionless and seemed to be sleeping soundly, and took off his outer robe, slowly approaching with both hands.
Shen Qianqiu intentionally restrained his breath, silently approaching Wen Liangchen. He raised his hand, his movements much slower than usual.
Before the robe could touch Wen Liangchen, a cold sword was swiftly drawn and pierced through. The clothes had a hole, and the sword passed through Shen Qianqiu’s chest.
Wen Liangchen’s grip unconsciously loosened, the sword standing upright in flesh and blood, the only sound between the two was the drip of blood.
Wen Qingliu had disliked his eldest son since he was a child, never seeing eye to eye with him. As Wen Liangchen grew up, he became independent and unrestrained. He even accidentally learned the secrets of the Autumn Water Hall, which gave Wen Qingliu a huge sense of crisis. He didn’t care about blood ties and hired many people to assassinate him.
There were all sorts of people, men, women, old, and young, using all kinds of tricks, but none of them succeeded.
To be a father and son to such an extent, Wen Liangchen only found it laughable. His greatest pride was his extraordinary reaction and vigilance, which was also the reason he had survived until now.
Countless times in the dead of night, he could close his eyes and pierce the heart of someone hiding in his room with a single sword strike. However, this time, Shen Qianqiu, standing in front of him, wasn’t holding a sword, but an outer robe.
“It’s cold at night, I… I’ll lend you my clothes.” Shen Qianqiu looked down at his chest, slowly retreating in Wen Liangchen’s seemingly indifferent but actually empty expression.
Silver blade, red blood, stained Wen Liangchen’s pupils red in the cold moonlight.
The sword was pulled out, Shen Qianqiu frowned and quickly relaxed. He let go, and the clothes fell to the ground. Without saying anything, he turned and staggered away.
Wen Liangchen finally reacted. He raised his hand and threw the sword, the blade firmly stuck in the ground beside Shen Qianqiu’s feet.
“Don’t you cultivators all have golden cores? Will this sword kill you?”
Shen Qianqiu didn’t turn back, his gaze sidelong, falling on the sword at his feet, “I’ll be fine after I go back and adjust my breathing for a while. Brother Wen, please take care of yourself.”
The golden core was formed in a person’s dantian, gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to aid in cultivation.
However, what he didn’t say was that because he had no experience in eliminating evil spirits, he had been invaded by a wisp of evil energy, damaging his spiritual veins and harming his dantian, almost costing him his life.
Later, the Cang Ling Du sect leader had acted, forcing out the evil energy and transferring the golden core to his heart, allowing him to survive.
Wen Liangchen’s sword was precise, neither deviating to the left nor to the right, piercing straight through the heart and shattering the golden core.
Shen Qianqiu forcefully clutched his chest, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, his palms gradually becoming wet. His legs felt as if they were wrapped in thousands of pounds of iron chains, dragging him away into the distance.
If he used his spiritual power to transmit a message back to Cang Ling Du at this moment, he might not be able to save his life, but the Shen family wasn’t stupid. Seeing the wounds on his body, they would definitely investigate the matter.
At that time, not only would Wen Liangchen be unable to escape blame, but his whereabouts would also be exposed. He had finally faked his death to escape the Wen residence, and Shen Qianqiu was unwilling to implicate him.
The night wind in the mountains carried a scent of damp earth, the surroundings bare and mirror-like, not a single blade of grass or tree could be seen. Shen Qianqiu raised his head, a cold moon like a half-eaten white flour cake hanging in the sky. The edges were pitted and uneven, as if someone had taken a bite out of it.
A trace of coldness drilled into the pierced chest, Shen Qianqiu had to continue forward, but the things in his eyes began to blur.
His figure swayed, like a stone thrown into the water stirring the moon’s reflection. However, the moon can regain its fullness, but the golden core is hard to rejoin.
A few moments later, Shen Qianqiu finally couldn’t hold on any longer. His head drooped down, and he fell to the ground, motionless.
Until the white moon sank to the west, the bright radiance gradually disappeared, the person on the ground remained as silent as wood and stone, without a trace of life.
The sun rose and set, day and night alternated. In the second year of the disaster, the Immortal Sects completely eliminated the blood locusts, but it still didn’t rain.
With the blood locusts eradicated, the Immortal Sects didn’t even have time to breathe a sigh of relief, rushing to evacuate the mutually slaughtering refugees in various places.
Eating human flesh had become the most common way to survive among the refugees.
The Immortal Sects spent a great deal of effort to control a small portion of the people, but the majority of the refugees were still irrational and out of control.
One day in the third year, Nangong Ci rescued Shen Wangu, who was anxious to find his younger brother. He had mistakenly entered a trap set by an unnamed evil spirit and had been trapped for two whole days.
He had never encountered such a trap before. He was momentarily careless and injured his spiritual power, but fortunately, the person was rescued.
Shen Wangu was grateful and moved to tears, “Fortunately, I met Immortal Lord Fufeng, otherwise, I don’t know how many years I would have been trapped.”
Nangong Ci said, “You’re welcome.”
Shen Wangu was about the same age as Nangong Yue, but his attitude towards Nangong Ci was very respectful, “I will never forget today’s kindness. If Immortal Lord Fufeng encounters anything that needs help in the future, feel free to come to Cang Ling Du to find me.”
Hearing him say this, Nangong Ci really remembered something.
And this matter, Cang Ling Du would definitely be able to help him with.