MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The King of Acting

The man’s boots stepped on the wooden floor, making steady footsteps that echoed in the quiet library. Shen Yucheng held his breath, crouching behind a bookshelf, the sound like drumbeats hammering against his heart, making it pound incessantly.

Why was he here?

Mo Yifeng…

He had only glanced at the newcomer, but he had recognized him as Mo Yifeng. Although the other party seemed to have used some kind of disguise technique, making it impossible for those with lower cultivation to recognize his true appearance, Shen Yucheng had seen through it at a glance.

However, what truly shocked him was the change in the other’s temperament—gloomy, oppressive, and almost lifeless. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was a living corpse.

What had happened in these past few years?

This was completely different from the Mo Yifeng he had first met, the playful and lively youth.

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Shen Yucheng shrank back, scanning his surroundings, his mind quickly weighing whether to hide in place or risk using the [Penetration] spiritual technique to leave.

But the library was full of traps and mechanisms. The slightest carelessness could cause a commotion. And although [Penetration] had an excellent cloaking effect, it would also allow those with high cultivation to sense something amiss.

He gritted his teeth, deciding to remain still for the time being.

Mo Yifeng stopped in front of the bookshelf opposite Shen Yucheng, reaching out to search. The sound of pages turning was particularly jarring in the silent space. Shen Yucheng quietly glanced over and noticed that the bookshelf the other party was looking through seemed to hold books related to the Forbidden Dao.

This guy was still the same, interested in these strange and heretical things.

Shen Yucheng couldn’t help but complain inwardly. But soon, he was pulled back to reality by the current situation. Now was not a time to relax. He was too close to Mo Yifeng and could be exposed at any moment.

Suddenly, Mo Yifeng stopped turning pages, and a low voice with a hint of pleasure rang out, “Found it.”

Shen Yucheng’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but steal another glance. He saw Mo Yifeng pull a book from the bookshelf, the words “Puppet Dao” written on the cover.

Shen Yucheng’s brow furrowed involuntarily, and a wave of emotion surged in his heart.

Puppet Dao? What did he want to do?

While he was secretly speculating, Mo Yifeng suddenly spoke, “Hiding for so long, aren’t you coming out yet?”

Shen Yucheng froze instantly, his heart missing a beat. Immediately afterward, a huge spiritual pressure pressed down on him from all directions, firmly binding him.

This spiritual pressure might be fatal to ordinary Golden Core cultivators, but for Shen Yucheng, it was not a hopeless situation.

Since he had already been exposed, he decided to play along, pretending to be overwhelmed by the spiritual pressure, and staggered out from behind the bookshelf in a miserable state.

Shen Yucheng lowered his head, deliberately making his voice sound trembling, “I… I’m a disciple who cleans the library. I didn’t know you were coming, sir. I’m sorry for disturbing you. I’ll leave immediately!”

The person who came this time was Mo Yifeng. He wasn’t as easy to deal with as Li Juemu, so Shen Yucheng even deliberately changed his way of speaking.

Over the years, Shen Yucheng had traveled far and wide, meeting all kinds of people. He was already skilled at hiding himself. He deliberately lowered his voice and even stammered a few times to make himself look more harmless. After speaking, he turned around without looking back, pretending to run.

However, as soon as he took a step, the sound of a book closing came from behind him, and a cold voice slowly rang out, “Wait a moment, raise your head.”

Shen Yucheng paused, alarm bells ringing in his head. An ominous premonition rose from his spine, as if an invisible hand was gripping his throat.

He suppressed his unease and slowly raised his head, but his eyes still didn’t want to meet Mo Yifeng’s, afraid that a direct gaze would reveal something.

“You can still be distracted under my spiritual pressure?” Mo Yifeng raised an eyebrow, his tone full of coldness. “It seems your cultivation isn’t low.”

Shen Yucheng’s heart sank. He was about to make up another excuse to brush it off when he suddenly felt a pain in his cheek—Mo Yifeng’s large hand had reached over, pinching his face and forcing him to raise his head to look directly into his eyes.

Shen Yucheng cursed inwardly, *This brat, what’s with him grabbing people all the time after not seeing him for a few years!*

But he didn’t dare show the slightest dissatisfaction on his face. He could only try to freeze his expression in terror.

The light in the library was dim. He could only vaguely see Mo Yifeng’s eyes, which shone with a mysterious light, like bottomless black holes, as if they were about to swallow him whole.

The silence stretched on for a long time. Shen Yucheng’s neck was almost too sore to hold up, but Mo Yifeng didn’t say a word, just stared at him coldly, as if he wanted to stare a hole in him.

Just when he thought the other party was about to see through him, Mo Yifeng suddenly let go, his tone cold and dismissive, “Doesn’t look like him at all.”

After speaking, he turned and tossed Shen Yucheng aside, spitting out a single word, “Get out.”

Shen Yucheng felt as if he had been granted amnesty. Enduring the stinging pain on his face, he acted out his role completely, scrambling towards the door, his only thought was to finally be able to leave this place.

However, just as he reached the door, Mo Yifeng’s voice came from behind him again, “Does the library allow ordinary disciples to clean it?”

Shen Yucheng didn’t expect the other party to react so quickly, but he didn’t want to argue with him any further.

He gritted his teeth and didn’t turn back.

Just as he pushed open the door, a sharp aura attacked him. He instinctively dodged, and a silver needle flew past his cheek, sticking straight into the floor, the tail of the needle still trembling slightly.

An ambush!

Shen Yucheng raised his hand to counterattack, but found more silver needles coming in quick succession. If he kept standing in front of the door, he would become a pincushion. Faced with the attack of hundreds of needles, he subconsciously activated his spiritual power, his figure moving so fast it left afterimages as he weaved between the silver needles, dodging each one.

But the next second, he felt a chill run through all his senses in the dark library.

Someone was watching him!

Only then did he remember that Mo Yifeng was still here. The other party must have seen all his movements just now.

In a flash of thought, he gritted his teeth and forcibly interrupted the footwork he was about to complete. He deliberately stepped wrong with his right foot, disrupting the entire rhythm, and his whole body uncontrollably rolled back into the library, his left shoulder even being pierced by two needles.

This made it look like his amazing footwork just now was a subconscious burst of energy in a life-or-death situation, not something he had practiced.

Shen Yucheng gritted his teeth, pretending to have never suffered such serious injuries before, cold sweat streaming down his face, his hands trembling as he tried to pull out the needles but didn’t dare. Finally, he could only slump on the ground, looking helpless.

The attack stopped. In the darkness, Mo Yifeng slowly walked out, his hands behind his back, looking down at him condescendingly. Even though the library was pitch black, his dark eyes seemed to glow.

Piercing straight into the heart. His gaze swept over the wound on Shen Yucheng’s shoulder, his tone light and airy, “Does it hurt?”

Shen Yucheng was taken aback by this strange question, but then he thought that he still had to continue with this character. He nodded repeatedly, his eyes slightly red, and said with a pitiful look, “It hurts.”

Mo Yifeng chuckled softly, “Then just sit there and don’t move, it might hurt even more.”

Shen Yucheng was stunned. He didn’t understand what he meant. Just as he raised his head to ask, he caught a glimpse of a black shadow rushing towards him from a distance. He was so frightened that he rolled to the side. The next second, with a loud “boom,” the floor of the library was dented by a huge lead ball.

Shen Yucheng slumped on the ground, looking up at the position of the lead ball, his forehead breaking out in a sweat. If he hadn’t dodged it just now…

He lowered his head and looked at the lead ball, his expression cold, but when he raised his head to meet Mo Yifeng’s eyes, his expression immediately changed to a flattering smile, “Thank you for the reminder, sir.”

Mo Yifeng lowered his head, his gaze falling on the top of his trembling head, his emotions so deep they were impossible to see through. He opened his mouth slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a new wave of attacks from outside.

This time, what was attacking was no longer silver needles, but wooden stakes, which were shot directly in from outside, piercing through the wall and heading straight for Shen Yucheng.

The wooden stakes were extremely fast, but to cultivators above the Nascent Soul stage, this speed was nothing more than slow motion. It was completely unworthy of mention.

As one of the wooden stakes headed straight for Shen Yucheng’s heart, Mo Yifeng remained standing by the side, quietly watching and observing his every reaction.

At this moment, Yan Quanye’s voice rang out in Shen Yucheng’s mind, “Finally, something a little exciting! Shen Yucheng, stop pretending, quickly slap it away!”

Shen Yucheng took a deep breath and replied in his mind, “I can’t.”

When Yan Quanye heard this, he instantly exploded, “You can’t again?! You’ve been pretending to be useless for ten years! Every time you encounter danger, you either dodge or run away. Do you love being a waste so much?!”

Shen Yucheng closed his eyes, too lazy to argue with him. He didn’t want to be like this either, but over the past ten years, he had encountered this kind of targeted attack every so often. He couldn’t use too much spiritual power, because as soon as he did, it would definitely leave a trace, allowing others to discover his existence.

He couldn’t let those people from the Lingfeng Sect know that he was still alive.

At least, until he completely resolved the issue with Bai Guchen, he couldn’t expose himself.

Therefore, he could only endure and keep a low profile.

Otherwise, his departure back then would be meaningless.

Even though the wooden stake was getting closer and closer, he couldn’t easily escape. But he couldn’t die here either.

Shen Yucheng felt for the first time how difficult it was to pretend to be useless.

Yan Quanye looked at his expression and sighed, “Forget it, I’ll do it. It might be a little painful.”

Shen Yucheng nodded when he heard this, knowing what he was going to do. He sat motionless on the spot, his eyes fixed on the wooden stake, his expression panicked, as if he had already wandered around the edge of life and death.

The wooden stake pierced into his body, the tip entering his skin, and blood instantly stained his clothes red. His face was pale, and his pupils dilated slightly, as if he was about to faint from the pain.

All of this was captured in Mo Yifeng’s eyes.

While Shen Yucheng was still acting out his emotions, Yan Quanye complained in his mind, “You’re quite the actor, aren’t you? You’re pretending to be like this after only being stabbed a little bit.”

Over the past ten years, as Shen Yucheng’s cultivation had improved, Yan Quanye’s abilities had also increased. The current [Penetration] was vastly different. It could perform local [Penetration], but this small advanced ability could only be used by the Earthbound Spirit himself. Shen Yucheng could still only use ordinary [Penetration].

Just now, the wooden stake had not completely pierced Shen Yucheng’s body—the back half of the wooden stake had been [Penetrated] away by Yan Quanye. Only the tip of the stake had actually injured Shen Yucheng.

In the eyes of outsiders, it seemed that the wooden stake had really pierced into Shen Yucheng’s body, and the scene looked terrifying and ferocious.

Mo Yifeng watched all of this, his face showing no emotion at all.

Yan Quanye poked Shen Yucheng boredly, “Hey, stop pretending, he’s not reacting at all.”

Shen Yucheng was about to raise his eyes to take a peek when he saw Mo Yifeng actually leaning closer, the distance so close that his heart jumped. Just when he thought the other party was going to do something, his arm was suddenly yanked upwards with a strong force, and his whole body was pulled away from the spot.

The next moment, the second wooden stake slammed into the spot where he had just been, embedding itself deeply into the floor with a “thud.”

Shen Yucheng stared at the wooden stake. Was he saving him?

But the next second, he frowned. He still had a wooden stake stuck in his stomach, and being forcibly pulled up like that would have torn a big hole in a normal person.

Mo Yifeng’s expression was as usual. He lowered his head and glanced at him, his tone cold and with a hint of unquestionable pressure, “If you don’t want to die, follow me.”