Shame for Three Days

Shuzhou City!

Mortal practically crawled out of the Prefectural Yamen, limping and clutching his head—it was just too miserable.

By now, three days had passed since the great battle at Hidden Moon Peak.

Early this morning, Mortal had come to check on Cousin's injuries. The good news was that Cousin was fine; under the nourishment of various spiritual medicines, his external wounds had healed, and his internal injuries just needed some rest to recover.

But for Cousin, that was the bad news. As soon as Su Wanjun learned his wounds were stable, she promptly strung him up in the main hall of the Yamen and started lashing him with a whip.

Judging by the sheer wretchedness of Cousin's screams, it must have hurt quite a bit. Mortal took one look after stepping through the door and decisively backed out.

Outside the Yamen's main gate, Hanyu was squatting alone, picking up stones to play with. He wore a flowery cotton-padded jacket, two little buns on his head, a vacant expression, and drool occasionally dripping from his mouth.

What was this supposed to be?

Mortal immediately covered his face.

Back then, after Hanyu scared off Ran Shiqing, he just stood there motionless. It wasn't until the two of them slowly approached that they realized something was wrong with him.

Who could have guessed that someone who was ferocious beyond belief one moment would be stupid beyond belief the next?

All the doctors in Shuzhou City had examined him. Even Cousin's cousin sister, Su Wanjun, had taken a look. The conclusion was unanimous: his head was damaged, and there was no saving him.

No one had ever heard of a divine ability's side effect being this terrifying. Mortal refused to accept it and waited another two days, but Hanyu showed no improvement whatsoever.

Not only no improvement, but he was also as ignorant and clueless as a two-year-old child. Mortal could only temporarily raise him like a toddler.

"I want milk."

Hanyu, still squatting on the ground, suddenly brightened up as he spotted a woman with ample assets walking by the roadside.

Mortal's face changed instantly, and he hurried over to drag him away. This had caused no small amount of trouble over the past few days—those who could be reasoned with would cast pitying glances, while those who couldn't would directly report them to the Prefectural Guard to be hauled off.

"Don't make a fuss. I'll take you somewhere nice to drink."

Mortal coaxed him helplessly, then pulled and dragged him all the way to a cow shed at the east end of the city.

The cow here had recently calved, and it was a spot Mortal had gone through great trouble to find. After paying the owner a sum of money, whenever Hanyu said he wanted milk, he'd lead him here.

For Hanyu, those three days felt like the blink of an eye.

His last memory had cut off abruptly after Ran Shiqing fled in panic, and then his entire mind went blank.

When he opened his eyes again, it felt like only a moment had passed.

"What's that smell?"

When his consciousness fully returned, a fishy taste in his mouth nearly made him gag. Only then did he realize he was in a cow shed, and his hands were cupping a pair of cow teats.

Little Glazed in his mind burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Hahaha! Hanyu, go find a place to look at yourself."

Hearing this, Hanyu immediately left the cow shed. Just outside was a large water vat. He poked his head over to look at the surface, and a blurry reflection stared back—a pair of little buns on his head, looking utterly foolish.

Then he took in his own flowery red jacket, so festive it hurt, and his face instantly darkened.

Little Glazed kept laughing in his mind!

Just then, Mortal frowned and walked over, grabbing him and saying, "Kids shouldn't play with water. Playing with water means you'll wet the bed."

Hanyu turned back to look at him with a complicated expression. When their eyes met, Mortal suddenly froze.

Then he reached out to feel Hanyu's forehead. Hanyu scowled, brushed his hand away, and shot him a glare. "This stupid outfit—you didn't dress me up like this, did you?"

Mortal jumped in surprise, then cried out in shock and joy, "You're awake?!"

His face then flushed red as he thought of his own impulsive "masterpiece," cursing those quack doctors under his breath.

Hanyu wordlessly pulled off the two little buns, then looked around. He figured he must be inside Shuzhou City.

Naturally, he asked about what happened next. The two of them walked out of the cow shed, talking as they went. Mortal recounted the events of that day in detail, then brought up Cousin, and finally, with a complicated expression, described Hanyu's condition over the past three days.

"You're telling me that for three days, I acted like a two-year-old—wetting the bed, soiling myself, playing in the mud, sucking my fingers, and chasing women around asking for milk?"

Hanyu muttered in disbelief. What kind of shameful days had he just lived through!

Mortal looked awkward. Unfortunately, he had witnessed all of Hanyu's embarrassing moments. Then Hanyu seemed to think of something and suddenly changed expression.

"You weren't the one taking care of me up close these past few days, were you?"

The thought of two grown men doing that was just disgusting...

Mortal rolled his eyes at him. "Don't flatter yourself. I hired an old nanny to look after you. I just took you out for walks."

That was a relief.

Hanyu sighed helplessly. The three-day side effect was indeed terrifying—he had basically lost all ability to take care of himself, and he hadn't even been conscious.

If no one had been looking after him, who knew what shameful thing he'd be doing the moment he opened his eyes.

Right now, his top priority was to get out of this festive outfit immediately. The two of them hurried back to the inn.

After changing back into a normal, fitted martial robe, Hanyu finally felt comfortable all over.

At noon, an unexpected visitor arrived—Cousin, who had been strung up and beaten.

He pushed the door open with a beaming face, froze for a moment when he saw Hanyu, then broke into a delighted expression. "You're finally awake."

The two of them just shot him a strange look, and Mortal said with a teasing smile, "So they let you out?"

Cousin's face flushed red, and he scratched his head as he said, "My cousin sister finally cooled down and let me go. I'm free again!"

No wonder Cousin was beaming—he'd managed to slip out once more.

The three of them sat down together. Cousin poured himself a cup of water and drank it, then his expression suddenly turned serious as he lowered his voice. "I think we three might have stirred up a hornet's nest."

Hanyu was baffled and asked, "What happened?"

Cousin's face grew grim as he recounted everything he'd overheard at Su Wanjun's place.

Back when the three of them—one limping, one dazed, one gravely wounded—returned to Shuzhou City, it naturally alarmed Su Wanjun. A large force of Prefectural Guards, based on Cousin's testimony, headed to Hidden Moon Peak. But by the time they got there...

"What do you think happened?"

Cousin was about to drag it out for suspense, but Mortal immediately grew impatient and urged him on.

"Spit it out, or get lost."

A wildfire had broken out across the entire Hidden Moon Peak. By the time the Prefectural Guards arrived, they couldn't even get close. When the fire finally died down, there was nothing left but a scattering of unidentifiable bones.

"The valley was set on fire too. Those Corpse Puppets Mortal intercepted all turned into charred corpses."

Cousin sighed.

That made it impossible to accuse the Zhu You Sect of corpse refinement. In the end, all they had was the word of the three of them, with no solid evidence left.

Hanyu seemed to remember something and pointed at Mortal. "What about the Soul-Snatching Bell and the sect Command Token that Mortal grabbed?"

Mortal nodded. "I remember handing both over to Commander Su."

Cousin shook his head and sighed again. "Yesterday, the Zhu You Sect responded, saying that Bao Ruijie had been missing for some time and that the sect knew nothing about any of this."

Wasn't that just blatantly lying through their teeth?

"What about the other one?"

Hanyu thought of that high-level cultivator.

"Who is he? What's his name?"

Cousin shot back, and the two of them were instantly stumped. They had no idea who that high-level cultivator even was.

Then Cousin brought up another matter. A small village over at Pian Shi Gang had also been hit by a massive fire, with dozens of people burned to death.

Why did he bring that up? Because Cousin said Su Wanjun suspected that high-level cultivator had fled to Pian Shi Gang and been silenced there.

Both locations had similar massive fires, and both had burned everything clean around them. The method was alike, so it couldn't be ruled out that the same person was behind it.

Tsk!

That was truly ruthless. Silencing a witness was one thing, but wiping out the surrounding villagers too? The job was done too thoroughly, too cleanly.

"But that's just speculation. Pian Shi Gang was burned so badly, you can't tell who's who anymore. Cousin Sister said it's best if it wasn't the same person, or else we've really poked a hornet's nest."

Cousin's expression was grave.

"Even if it's a coincidence, it can't be that coincidental. A small village of a few dozen people—unless they were all dead first, a fire wouldn't burn like that."

Hanyu's face darkened as well.

"So, there's a mastermind in Shuzhou Prefecture who went to both places that day to erase all traces."

If that was really the case, then the secrecy of the operation meant whatever they were trying to cover up was no simple matter.

Why did that high-level cultivator have to die? Bao Ruijie being exposed and silenced made sense, but that high-level cultivator didn't necessarily have to die. They could have just hidden him away.

Unless he had a reason he absolutely had to die.

The three of them racked their brains but couldn't figure it out. The more they thought, the more confused they got.

The whole thing was murky and tangled. The three of them had just happened to stumble into it by chance.

Hah—ptooi!

In broad daylight, the Glazed Bottle spat out phlegm again... no, medicine.

"What's up with the Glazed Bottle lately? It's been so active."

Little Glazed explained in a frustrated voice, "It thinks it's done something meritorious. It thinks it's more useful than me. So now, it spits whenever it wants, and I can't do anything about it."

Hanyu broke out in a cold sweat. Weren't they promised that once the Artifact Spirit awakened, he'd be free? Weren't they promised autonomous pill production? What was this now?

In his mind, the new pill the bottle had spat out spun around and around...

Here's the third chapter for today. On-site begging for recommendation tickets and collections!