Brother

After Zheng Zefang finished administering acupuncture to Qin Leyan, he was about to leave. As he stepped out of Peaceful Residence, he saw the three people seated beneath the crabapple tree. All three possessed exceptional looks and bearing; the sight of beauties beneath the blossoms left him staring blankly for a moment.

When Feng Wuhen saw him emerge, he flashed him a smile. Yet that smile froze in an instant when he saw what was about to happen to him.

I didn't look closely just now. Something like this is going to happen to Uncle Zheng after he goes back? No, I have to help him!

Zheng Zefang heard his inner thoughts as well and became curious about what would happen after he returned. Judging by Feng Wuhen's anxious expression, it did not seem like anything good.

Feng Wuhen walked toward Zheng Zefang. As he approached, his inner voice did not stop for even a moment, and his curses were utterly filthy.

Those bastard turtle-grandsons, those sons of bitches—not only will they falsely accuse Uncle Zheng of stealing another man's wife, they'll even seize his medicinal formula!

Especially Uncle Zheng's disciple. Back when he was about to starve to death, Uncle Zheng brought him back to Mount Grand Mystery. Not only did he feed him, he even accepted him as his disciple.

He even passed down all his skills to him, yet he ended up raising a white-eyed wolf, one who helped outsiders scheme against his own master.

They'll splash Uncle Zheng with mud from head to toe, then claim his years of painstaking work as their own.

Betrayed by the disciple he had treated like a son, slandered by a close friend of many years, Uncle Zheng will suffer a shattered heart and broken spirit. His cultivation will immediately begin to regress.

The Sect Master and the others will exhaust every possible means to prove Uncle Zheng's innocence. Yet before they can clear his name, Uncle Zheng will vanish during an outing.

He'll be swept into a secret realm that suddenly appears and never emerge again. Some time after he disappears, the Life Stone kept in the sect will shatter. Even in death, he will never restore his reputation.

Zheng Zefang could not believe that his close friend of many years, along with the disciple he had raised since childhood, would betray him and join forces to ruin his name.

But Chen Tianze had told him that Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts were all true. Zheng Zefang's face turned pale in an instant.

He looked at Feng Wuhen, then at Qin Xiaoran and the others who had followed over, his tone carrying a trace of strained composure. "Xiaoran, I suddenly feel a little unwell. Can you take me back?"

Qin Xiaoran and Shen Ziheng had both heard Feng Wuhen's inner thoughts. They had been considering an excuse to accompany Zheng Zefang back.

Who would have thought that Zheng Zefang would offer them a way out himself? They naturally went along with it.

Qin Xiaoran was a spell cultivator and had no sword for flight, but he possessed other travel artifacts. He took a leaf from his storage ring.

With a casual toss into the air, the leaf expanded. Feng Wuhen and the others jumped onto it, and Qin Xiaoran guided the leaf to Medicine Peak.

Zheng Zefang led them into his room. It was spacious, lined with more than a dozen bookshelves, while several open books even lay scattered across the floor.

The desk directly opposite the door was piled with disorderly sheets of paper. The handwriting on them was beautiful, though.

They recorded nothing but names of medicinal herbs and illustrations of medicinal plants.

"Ahem. I've been researching some things lately, so the room is a little messy. If you have nothing else to do, could I trouble you to help me tidy it up?"

Zheng Zefang knew the three of them would certainly find an excuse to stay, so he might as well provide them with one himself.

Besides, this was not really an excuse. His room truly did need sorting out.

Feng Wuhen was just worrying over how to find an excuse to remain when Zheng Zefang assigned them work. He immediately agreed.

"We'll help you tidy it up, Uncle Zheng. But where should we put everything once we've organized it?"

Feng Wuhen actually wanted to look around Zheng Zefang's room and see whether there were any places where someone could easily hide. That way, when that group came to frame Zheng Zefang later, they could leap out at precisely the right moment.

Zheng Zefang understood his unspoken meaning. Pointing behind the screen, he said, "There is a curio shelf behind the screen. On it sits a blue-and-white porcelain vase with a white base. Turn that vase, and you can open the hidden study. Put the sorted items in there."

Feng Wuhen and the others nodded, then crouched down to begin organizing. Since Zheng Zefang felt that they had rarely come to visit and were even helping him, he wanted to prepare some spirit fruits for them. He left for the garden beside his residence to pick some.

After he left, Feng Wuhen closed and picked up the books from the floor as he asked Shen Ziheng and Qin Xiaoran, "Senior Brother Shen, Eldest Senior Brother, I recently read about talisman cultivators. They can draw all kinds of strange and wondrous spirit talismans.

"I heard that some talismans can even record other people's voices and play them back whenever needed. I'd like to see one. Do either of you have such a talisman?"

Shen Ziheng understood what he wanted to do. He took out a stack of spirit talismans from his storage ring and handed them to him. His talismans were drawn using jade as the material.

Their effects were somewhat better than those made from paper. Shen Ziheng picked out a talisman from the stack that could record someone's voice.

"This is an Echo Talisman. It can record what someone says, then play it back repeatedly later. This is the improved version. The old Inscribed Speech Talisman required one to continuously maintain the flow of spiritual energy in order to record someone's voice.

"That was very unfriendly to disciples like us, whose spiritual power is low and who have yet to reach Foundation Establishment, so it was later improved.

"When using it, first activate it with spiritual power. Once activated, the talisman will remain lit, which means it is recording sound. Once you have finished recording what you want, simply draw the spiritual power back out.

"But there is one more thing to note. If the talisman begins flickering, it means the spiritual power you put into it is insufficient, and you must channel more in.

"Besides the Echo Talisman, I also gave you some other talismans. Once we return to Nine Heavens Peak, you can try them out properly.

"Oh, and there is something I forgot to tell you. The talismans I gave you are all single-use. Once used, they cannot be used again."

Feng Wuhen took out the Echo Talisman and placed all the remaining talismans into his storage ring.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Shen. You're so good to me!"

Seeing how delighted he was, Shen Ziheng felt happy as well. Unable to hold himself back, he said, "Since I'm so good to you, how about becoming my little brother from now on? Don't call me Senior Brother—just call me Brother."

Qin Xiaoran could not help giving his junior brother a thumbs-up in his heart. He truly acted the moment he thought of something. He had only just told him that he wanted to coax Feng Wuhen into becoming his little brother, and now he had gone straight for it.

Feng Wuhen looked at the anticipation in his eyes and at his right hand, whose fingers were curled nervously. He recalled the care Shen Ziheng had shown him during their few meetings.

He also recalled the past and future of Shen Ziheng that he had seen. Shen Ziheng was a very good person, one who had never harbored any intention to harm others. Being with him, there was no need to worry about being stabbed in the back.

"Sure! Then you'll be my brother from now on. You have to look out for me."

When Shen Ziheng saw that he had agreed, he excitedly stepped forward and hugged him. His deep, gentle voice brimmed with joy. "That's wonderful. I finally have a little brother. Hurry and call me Brother so I can hear it."

It was the first time Feng Wuhen had seen such an unrestrained expression on his face. Shen Ziheng's eyes curved into crescents as he smiled, his lips lifting to reveal white teeth. Before this, he had always worn a faint smile that made him seem modest and gentle, yet it had always felt as though something was missing.

"Brother!"

Shen Ziheng was utterly satisfied upon hearing that word. "Yes! That is simply the best thing I've ever heard. Oh, and this storage ring is for you."

Shen Ziheng took a ring from his storage ring and gave it to him. "Inside are treasures I bought when I wished for a little brother. Today, that wish has finally come true, and this ring can finally be given away.

"Take a good look after you return. I don't know how many of the things inside you'll like, but if you see anything you like in the future, tell me. Brother will buy it for you."