Yan Xiaohu, Unable to Speak of His Suffering

When Zhou Qing met Cui Yingying's gaze, he hurriedly bowed with a guilty conscience.

Cui Yingying returned the salute, then said, "Junior Brother Zhou, please forgive us. Mainly because you two were there last night, and we did indeed see a chicken beside the hot spring. The coincidence was a little too great. We truly had no leads, and others said you two liked... ahem."

Cui Yingying suddenly became a little embarrassed.

The moment Yan Xiaohu heard that, he refused to take it lying down.

What did she mean?

Once you'd been a thief, whenever someone lost something afterward, we'd be the first ones suspected, was that it?

Wasn't that too unjust?

Naturally, Zhou Qing understood what Cui Yingying meant. He had no face to argue about anything right now.

Cui Yingying continued, "Last night, I hastily exchanged blows with that little thief. The other party used a divine ability of considerable power. Afterward, I consulted the Sect elders, and they identified it as one of your Sect's closely guarded secrets—the Silver Dragon Hand."

"I heard that Junior Brother Zhou once rendered meritorious service to the Sect and was bestowed it by a Grand Elder. Is that true?"

Zhou Qing nodded. "That's right. It was bestowed on me not long ago, and I haven't even had time to cultivate it yet. It truly wasn't me. First of all, I'm only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. How could I possibly sneak into that manor without a sound?"

Cui Yingying could also see Zhou Qing's cultivation level. It truly did not add up.

According to what the Sect elders had said, the Silver Dragon Hand was extremely difficult to cultivate and could not be mastered in a day or two.

Yet the person last night had used it at the Minor Success stage from the very first move, which severely contradicted the time Junior Brother Zhou had supposedly obtained the Silver Dragon Hand.

Unless he was a genius!

Moreover, there was something else they still could not understand. Since he had been peeping, why had he suddenly leaped out and carried off the chicken right in front of so many of them?

Was that a provocation?

Or was he simply overly confident in his own strength?

Clearly, although Junior Brother Zhou before them matched some of the traits, in terms of strength, he could not possibly possess such confidence.

Cui Yingying smiled faintly. "Junior Brother Zhou, don't take it to heart. I was merely asking whether you knew of anyone else who cultivated the Silver Dragon Hand, so that you could help us capture that little thief as soon as possible and restore the innocence of all us sisters."

Zhou Qing furrowed his brows and pondered for a while before shaking his head. "I truly don't know. After all, the Silver Dragon Hand was something a Grand Elder of our Sect obtained by chance while traveling abroad in his youth. Heaven knows how many people cultivated it before then and passed it down."

Cui Yingying agreed with that answer.

Having no further questions, she led the others in a salute and departed.

"What a false alarm. Master, you have to stand up for us. Nowadays, every stray cat and mongrel dog wants to take a bite out of us..."

"Kneel!"

Yan Xiaohu had barely begun to sob with tears and snot running down his face when Mo Xingjian, his face filled with fury, shouted from above.

The two instinctively dropped to their knees.

Mo Xingjian trembled with rage as he walked toward them step by step.

"Good, truly good! The division of labor was crystal clear. One scouted the place, one kept watch, and one feasted his eyes to his heart's content. Brothers united, their strength could cut through gold, was that it?"

Mo Xingjian mocked them mercilessly.

The two lowered their heads in silence. They had known they could not hide it from their master.

Who could blame them for having prior offenses?

"Master, we really went there to look for a chicken!" Zhou Qing raised his head. "And this has nothing to do with Third Senior Brother. I did it all."

Mo Xingjian merely gave Zhou Qing a bland glance before suddenly striking out, delivering three hard knocks to Yan Xiaohu's head.

The pain made Yan Xiaohu immediately clutch his head, baring his teeth and grimacing.

"What are you doing?" Tears instantly welled up in Yan Xiaohu's eyes as he cried out.

Zhou Qing was stunned as well.

Mo Xingjian snapped furiously, "It's all because of you! Fourth Child used to be such a pure child, yet now he peeps at people bathing again and again. Where do you think he picked up this habit? Don't you know perfectly well?"

Yan Xiaohu: "..."

For a moment, two streams of hot tears rolled down his face.

"Master, this really has nothing to do with Third Senior Brother. It's just that my luck is bad..."

"Shut your mouth!" Mo Xingjian interrupted.

Then, with a look of bitter disappointment, he said, "You're no better. Mere pink skeletons, and yet you're this obsessed? From Grand Elders, to eighteen female disciples of the Outer Sect, to the Core Disciples of Jade Clarity Peak—and now, even those can no longer satisfy you, is that it? You've set your sights directly on disciples from other Sects?"

"More than forty people—how could you even keep your eyes on all of them? You managed to get away unscathed this time, but what about next time? Bah, you're still thinking about a next time! How about your master gives you an idea? These disciples are truly boring. Just take down the Sect Master of the Azure Feather Immortal Sect directly. Wouldn't that be great? Then one day she can call me Master right alongside you. How prestigious would that be!"

Mo Xingjian dripped with sarcasm.

Zhou Qing lowered his head and said nothing.

And so, with his hands clasped behind his back, Mo Xingjian cursed one for a while, then the other, occasionally comparing the two of them to Eldest Brother Gui Ao.

No one knew how long it took, but Mo Xingjian eventually grew tired from all the scolding and finally told them to get lost, saying that the sight of them annoyed him.

"I should never have given him that Ink Soul Jade," Yan Xiaohu grumbled after they came out, rubbing the three huge bumps on his head.

Zhou Qing removed the padding from inside his shoes, sniffled through his reddened nose, then looked at Third Senior Brother and apologized. "I'm sorry, Third Senior Brother. I dragged you into this."

Yan Xiaohu said, "Listen to yourself. What's our relationship? Why talk about dragging anyone down? But then again, have you really developed a habit of peeping now? If so, then your senior brother has truly wronged you."

Zhou Qing hurriedly waved his hands after hearing that.

"No, no, no. My luck has just been bad every time. Forget it, this is all fate!" Zhou Qing felt somewhat mentally exhausted.

Yan Xiaohu secretly let out a breath of relief, then said with an aggrieved expression, "I fucking only watched the Grand Elders bathe once, and it left me scarred for life. Every time afterward had nothing to do with me, yet it all somehow got blamed on me. It's like I saw everything or something."

Zhou Qing felt awkward and even more ashamed inside.

From now on, he guaranteed that such things would never happen again.

"Senior Brother Zhou, are you two all right?"

The two had barely started walking down when they saw four figures approaching.

Who else could they be but Lu Yaoyao and the others?

At a glance, Zhou Qing noticed the annotations above their heads.

Lu Yaoyao's original "so magnanimous" had changed to "Good Eye Fortune."

Li Daoxuan's "fairly sensible lecher" had once again become "a lecher who couldn't stop eating shit."

He had not expected Senior Sister Shi Zhen to come as well. Of course, her annotation had changed from "such a childish Junior Brother Zhou" to "Junior Brother Zhou whose sleepwalking disorder had worsened."

Sister, you really were innocent.

What kind of sleepwalking disorder would make someone run into another person's territory and still escape unscathed afterward?

"Junior Brother Zhou, I just saw the people from the Azure Feather Immortal Sect leave. Are you all right?" Senior Sister Shi Zhen hurriedly asked.

Zhou Qing shook his head and smiled. "Thank you for worrying. It was purely a misunderstanding. It had nothing to do with me."

"It had nothing to do with me either!" Yan Xiaohu hurriedly added, rubbing his head.

After hearing that, Shi Zhen comforted them. "I knew it was a misunderstanding. It's good that you're all right."

But Lu Yaoyao and the other two looked as though to say, Do you think I believe that?

A chicken went missing, and you had us help look for it.

Then you two forcibly broke into that manor. Afterward, the chicken appeared by the hot spring and was carried away, along with that Silver Dragon Hand used in the fight—and your prior offenses.

Anyone could tell with their toes that it was you.