Chapter 87.2
Editor: Sahloknir
Shi Qing had a very restful night of sleep.
Other than being a bit sticky due to sweating during the night, he felt very refreshed.
However, as soon as he opened his eyes, he noticed that something was different about his room.
It seemed to be cleaner, with everything straightened out. The smell of roast chicken wafted in from the outside, causing Shi Qing’s mouth to water.
He could practice inedia at his cultivation level, but not having to eat didn’t mean he couldn’t be hungry.
Being a cultivator came with a lot of benefits, but not eating meals wasn’t one of them.
Rong Jue definitely knew Shi Qing was awake by now. Seeing as he hasn’t made a move yet, he obviously intended to continue acting like an invalid.
So Shi Qing spoke, “Who is outside?”
His eldest disciple came in quickly but respectfully, still in those bloodstained robes and as pale as ever.
“Shizun, this disciple is here.”
The supreme elder sitting on the cloud bedding frowned slightly. “Why are you here?”
Rong Jue blinked. “Has Shizun forgotten? You seemed to be having chest pain before, so this disciple helped you into the house.”
When he said this, his handsome face looked down with a shamed expression. “This disciple is now an invalid, so I didn’t even have the strength to go down the mountain for help. I could only guard Shizun here.”
Shi Qing: [Dude, nice acting skills.]
When Shi Qing shifted, as if he intended to get up, Rong Jue strode forward and naturally helped him up. He asked with overflowing concern, “How is Shizun feeling now? This disciple noticed that Shizun seemed to be greatly weakened and having chest pain… Are these symptoms of spiritual energy deficiency?”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about.”
As expected, the supreme elder waved his sleeve and pushed Rong Jue away without explaining anything. He reverted to his usual cold and aloof appearance.
“This is just an old illness acting up, nothing too serious.”
Then he glanced at Rong Jue again. “I’ll have someone escort you down the mountain.”
Rong Jue didn’t object. He obediently said, “Understood. This disciple will follow Shizun’s instructions.”
He could clearly feel that Shi Qing’s att.i.tude towards him seemed to have softened a bit.
Was it because he had become an invalid, or was it because of his ‘unchanged’ admiration?
The blue-robed supreme elder didn’t seem to notice how disheveled his hair was. That, combined with his chilly demeanour, made for a slightly amusing picture.
Shi Qing looked up. “What is that smell?”
Rong Jue replied warmly, “Since I have become a mortal, I can no longer practice inedia. I caught a pheasant and roasted it to sate my hunger.”
His eyes crinkled as he smiled as brightly as the sun. “I used to roast pheasants when I was young, and I still remember much of the process. It tastes quite good. Would Shizun like some? This disciple can bring a portion for Shizun.”
Rong Jue left the room without waiting for Shi Qing’s reply. When he came back, he was holding a roast chicken wrapped in leaves. It was dripping with oil and emitting a rich fragrance.
He smiled and handed the roast chicken to Shi Qing. “Shizun, have a taste of this disciple’s cooking.”
Shi Qing looked at the roast chicken that was practically whispering, “Eat me, come and eat me”. His fingers twitched hesitantly.
Unfortunately, he was supposed to be a cultivator who could practice inedia right now.
The supreme elder who obviously didn’t let himself be stained by the dust of mortal affairs turned his face away dismissively. “There’s no need for me to taste the food of mortals.”
Little Sun Rong Jue’s face immediately fell. He dejectedly hung his head, and there were 800 points of disappointment in his voice.
“Yes, this disciple almost forgot since he became a mortal that cultivators don’t eat foods originating from the mortal realm.”
He looked up and tried to squeeze out a bitter smile as he took back the roast chicken. “Shizun, this disciple meant no offence.”
When Rong Jue said that, the eyelashes of the indifferent supreme elder who shunned mortal things fluttered slightly.
Although there was no expression on his face, Rong Jue could clearly sense that the supreme elder seemed to be at a loss.
Was he at a loss for words because he accidentally jabbed at his disciple’s sore spot?
Rong Jue lowered his eyes to hide his deep thoughts. He continued to pretend to be pitiful with a strained smile. “Shizun, this disciple will take his leave first.”
As soon as he turned around, Shi Qing faintly spoke up from behind. “Wait.”
He paused. His eyes grew even darker as he obediently turned around. “Shizun?”
The supreme elder, who was always cold and unfeeling, had expressionlessly stretched a hand out in his direction.
“Bring it here.”
A wide smile immediately appeared on Rong Jue’s face. With a surprised look, he pa.s.sed the roast chicken in his hand to his Shizun.
The supreme elder looked quite disgusted with the golden and fragrant roast chicken before him.
He frowned slightly, “Where are the bamboo chopsticks?”
Rong Jue replied quickly, “No need for chopsticks, Shizun. Just tear it off with your hands and eat it. This roast chicken is very clean.”
The supreme elder’s frown grew more severe.
His expression seemed to be saying, “Using your hands directly is too indecent.”
The always attentive eldest disciple immediately asked, “Does Shizun not want the oil to get on your hands?”
“Then this disciple will serve it to you.”
Without waiting for a reply, he tore off a piece of meat, and brought it to the supreme elder’s red and moist lips.
He was still smiling radiantly, his eyes without a cloud in sight. “Shizun needn’t worry. This disciple just washed his hands.”
Only then did Shi Qing open his mouth slightly with furrowed brows and cautiously eat that piece of meat.
As soon as he finished, his overly thoughtful eldest disciple immediately brought another piece over.
The supreme elder frowned, but after seeing his disciple’s sunny smile, he looked down helplessly and forced himself to continue eating.
Rong Jue didn’t overstep any more of his boundaries and continued to feed him.
On the surface, he was showing respect and admiration to Shi Qing. But in reality, he was testing the bottom line of his Shizun, bit by bit.
What he couldn’t figure out, and at the same time took for granted, was…
This Shizun, who was still acting cold to him on the surface, seemed to have no bottom line when it came to his supposedly most hated disciple.
When he offered another piece of chicken, perhaps too carefully, Rong Jue felt something wet brush against his fingertips.
Shi Qing didn’t seem to notice. He was still frowning while gently biting off a piece of flesh with his white teeth.
The grease made his already moist red lips glisten even more.
A faint flush also spread across his usually cold and jade-like complexion.
The demon king’s dark eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the sight.
Why didn’t I notice it before?
His Shizun actually possessed a beauty hard to find in all three realms.
In the end, Shi Qing and Rong Jue split the roast chicken equally.
Rong Jue was escorted by someone Shi Qing summoned down the mountain afterwards. Meanwhile, Shi Qing laid back comfortably on his soft bed.
[I’m completely satisfied!]
He bragged to the System: [Did you see how Rong Jue and I were just the picture of filial son and father earlier? He fed me half a chicken. ]
System: […It looked more like you two ate roast chicken together…]
Shi Qing: [Wait.]
System: [?]
Shi Qing: [With you here watching, wasn’t it a threesome? What a dirty minded little System you are.]
System: [……]
System: [Wuwuwuwu Host don’t make fun of me right now. You two were getting along pretty good earlier, but Rong Jue’s animosity value is still 500, it didn’t go down even a little!!]
Shi Qing laid back on his bed and stared at the ta.s.sels hanging down. He closed his eyes comfortably. [Don’t worry so much. This world is pretty stable right now. Okay, okay, go to sleep now.]
System: [……]
Stable?
Where’s this stability exactly?!
With his animosity value, it’s a surprise Rong Jue hasn’t killed his Shizun yet.
And, more importantly, its Host only had a month to turn things around!
It’s already been two days now!
Two days!
The System cautiously spoke up: [Host, shouldn’t we talk about this some more…]
Shi Qing: [Zzzzzz……]
System: …Huh.
System: Wuwuwuwu…
****
The System frantically watched as the deadline drew closer.
Shi Qing slept soundly again.
In other words, another day pa.s.sed without much progress.
Shi Qing still wasn’t in a hurry. He meditated when he should meditate and slacked off when he should slack off.
The System has already given up its futile struggle.
In the meantime, at the bottom of the mountain, Rong Jue thought about how to get closer to Shi Qing while working on his demonic cultivation.
Now that he has been reborn, Rong Jue wasn’t that interested in reclaiming the position of demon lord again.
He only wanted to find out what was going on with his ‘wonderful’ Shizun.
In his last life, this person chased him relentlessly from the shadows with clear killing intent. But now there seemed to be something more going on.
Even though he still hated Shi Qing to the point of wanting to kill him immediately to vent his anger, Rong Jue couldn’t do it, not until he understood why Shi Qing was acting this way.
He recalled the memories of this time period in his last life.
It was somewhat blurry, but he still remembered that he wasn’t driven out of Chi Yun Sect right away. He remained at the foot of the mountain. At first, although he had lingering aches and pains and was adapting to becoming a mortal, he was well taken care of by his Shidi and Shimei.
But soon, his Shidi and Shimei both reached a bottleneck and entered closed-door cultivation. It was normal for cultivators to seclude themselves for at least half a month like that, but this meant the newly mortal Rong Jue had no one to protect him.
As a former genius of the Chi Yun Sect, he naturally had many people who didn’t like him.
These people couldn’t do anything to him when he was still the powerful eldest disciple of Qing Jian Peak, but after he became an invalid and his Shizun shunned him, those who were once jealous of Rong Jue but couldn’t do anything about it jumped at the chance.
A grandson of one of the other supreme elders was the first to act. He made the proud Rong Jue kneel and crawl around on the ground like a dog. He even forced Rong Jue to crawl under his trousers.
At that time, Rong Jue was naturally reluctant to take this humiliation lying down. He was beaten up by those people, almost to the point of losing his life. Then they all stepped on him as they left.
He still remembered his despair and hatred as he laid on the ground with no way to get help.
He remembered the faces of those people well, but their names eluded him. No matter, Rong Jue encountered him just after becoming a demonic cultivator and killed him with his own hands.
What meaning was there to remember the name of a dead man?
But now, that guy could be a good target to use.
At this time in his last life, Rong Jue had already guessed that the person who destroyed his spiritual root was Shizun, the person he respected most in the world. Of course he wouldn’t ask Shi Qing for help after being humiliated.
But in this life…
Rong Jue thought about the supreme elder who choked down the roast chicken because of a few words from him.
He had a new plan in mind.
So when Shi Qing was bathing, he suddenly heard a cry for help, “Shizun, help me!”
It was Rong Jue.
He had crushed the jade token of his shizun that every disciple had and asked for help.
Shi Qing immediately got up and casually put on a piece of clothing. He hurried to the foot of the mountain where he met Rong Jue, who looked like a mess but actually wasn’t injured at all.
Behind him were several Chi Yun Sect disciples, who seemed to be arrogant and unharmed, but their heart meridians were already infected with demonic energy.
His mortal disciple threw himself into Shi Qing’s arms, shivering very convincingly.
But there was not a shred of pity in Shi Qing’s heart.
After all, the two were quite different in terms of size.
It was like a big bear jumping on a spotted deer.
There was no way the spotted deer would feel bad for the bear.
Especially since this big bear was manhandling his waist and burying his face in his chest, thinking that no one noticed him taking advantage of the situation.