"You're the one behind the Spirit Road Blood Calamity?!"
Ye Qingling asked Mu Chen in disbelief.
At those words, the surroundings fell silent.
Although these people had never taken part in the Spirit Road, judging by their leader's tone, this had to be some extraordinary title.
Mu Chen nodded.
Once her initial shock passed, Ye Qingling suddenly felt her appetite for gossip stir, and she asked,
"What's your relationship with King Luo, Luo Li?"
"Huh?"
"King Luo... is that the title she received after earning a King Rank assessment?"
Hearing that title, Mu Chen couldn't help chuckling. He could imagine the helpless way she would have raised her brows upon receiving it.
"She's my companion. We were teamed up the whole time," Mu Chen said with a smile.
"Really? Just companions?" Ye Qingling looked at Mu Chen, her eyes brimming with amusement.
"Do you know what she did after you left the Spirit Road?"
At that, the smile faded from Mu Chen's lips, and he waited intently for Ye Qingling's answer.
"At the final stop on the Spirit Road, when the kings fought in the Spirit Crown Contest, she attacked King Xuan, Ji Xuan."
"The two kings clashed, and both withdrew with severe injuries, costing King Xuan his best chance to seize the Spirit Crown."
At this point, a trace of fervor appeared in Ye Qingling's gentle eyes.
"After forcing King Xuan back, she said, 'Your life isn't mine to take. Sooner or later, he'll come for you himself.'"
Mu Chen fell silent and lifted his head. A glimmer flashed through his black eyes, and his bearing turned resolute and fierce.
"Wow! After all that, you're still saying you're just companions?"
Tang Qian'er chimed in from beside him.
"Hmph! Every last one of you from the Mu Family is heartless."
No sooner had she finished than a well-defined hand, like white jade, settled on top of Tang Qian'er's head and slowly ruffled her hair.
"What was that?"
A warm, mellow voice sounded beside her ear, and Tang Qian'er immediately went rigid.
"Uh-nothing."
Tang Qian'er lifted her head and rubbed against Su Qing's palm in a gesture of appeasement, then looked up at him and blinked.
Su Qing met Tang Qian'er's gaze. After they looked at each other for a while, he withdrew the hand resting on her head.
Then, while Tang Qian'er wasn't paying attention, he flicked her smooth forehead.
"Ow! Big brother, that hurts~"
Tang Qian'er rubbed the red mark on her forehead and whined.
"That's what you get for talking nonsense. I've never even dated anyone. How does that make me heartless, huh?"
Su Qing looked down at Tang Qian'er and pinched her cheek.
"Um, you're heartless! That's why you're still single!"
Tang Qian'er fell silent for a moment, then declared it with a fierce expression.
Su Qing rolled his eyes at her without answering, then turned to Mu Chen.
"When are you planning to bring her home so Dad can meet his daughter-in-law?"
Mu Chen froze, and a blush swiftly climbed his cheeks.
"W-we'll talk about that when the time comes."
"Heh."
Su Qing chuckled. It looked dazzling on his handsome face, but to Mu Chen, it was the smile of a devil.
He knew his big brother far too well. Whenever he smiled like that, nothing good could follow!
"How far have you two gotten?"
"What's her family like?"
"Have you met her parents?"
"When are you planning to get married?"
"After you're married, when will you have children?"
"How many are you planning to have?"
A lethal barrage of questions, straight out of a gathering of every nosy aunt in the family.
Mu Chen was utterly mortified.
Haha-sure enough, nothing good.
Mu Chen didn't answer. He simply stared at Su Qing with drooping, dead-fish eyes.
I'm not saying a word. Do as you please!
After clicking his tongue, Su Qing shook his head and sighed, disappointment spreading over his face.
"You've grown up. You're no fun to tease anymore."
Beside them, Tang Qian'er seemed to remember something and smiled with her lips pressed together.
Mu Chen glared at her, then turned a resentful gaze on his big brother.
Back when he was four or five, Su Qing had teased him and Hong Ling like this too. He could only lament how young and ignorant he had been; remembering it now made him so embarrassed he could claw an entire Northern Spiritual Academy out of the ground with his toes.
Ye Qingling had been waiting curiously to see how Mu Chen would answer Su Qing's lethal barrage, only to watch him give up outright.
She was rather disappointed too.
Yet judging by their reactions, there seemed to be something more behind it. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "What happened?"
Su Qing's eyes lit up at those words. The child had grown too old to tease, but there was still something called-social death.
Su Qing exchanged a glance with Tang Qian'er, then nodded. Confirmed: they were thinking the same thing.
A chill ran down Mu Chen's back. In his eyes, both of them wore devilish smiles, having reached an evil agreement.
Then Su Qing clapped a hand over Mu Chen's mouth and restrained him, while he and Tang Qian'er took turns recounting Mu Chen's glorious exploits from back then.
A world where only Mu Chen got hurt had come to pass.
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"
Mu Chen struggled with all his might, yet his heart only grew colder, turning to snow-white ash, until he finally lay in Su Qing's arms with vacant eyes.
The sky is azure blue, and there are paper cranes outside the window.
Why did things turn out like this? For the first time, I have someone I like, and I've heard news of her. Those two joys intertwined should have brought me even more joy.
So why, why did it turn out like this?
I'm going to create a world where Su Qing doesn't exist.
"Mmph!"
After finishing his account of Mu Chen's glorious achievements, Su Qing casually tore off a piece of roasted meat and held it to Mu Chen's lips. Mu Chen instinctively opened his mouth and bit down.
Chew, chew, chew.JPG
"He's broken."
Su Qing gazed at Mu Chen, who seemed to have turned black and white in his arms, and murmured.
"In that case, let's give him another little jolt."
Su Qing smiled. The dancing firelight illuminated his handsome face, while the shadow behind him seemed to sprout a devil's tail, swaying back and forth.
With that, Su Qing took out a Jade Talisman, fed spiritual energy into it, unlocked its password with a specific circulation pattern, and began playback.
"Hong Ling, I-"
A childish voice sounded beside Mu Chen's ear.
"No!"
As though injected with a shot of pure adrenaline, Mu Chen instantly recovered, snatched the Jade Talisman, and tucked it into his Mustard Seed Bracelet.
"Su Qing! You've got nothing left to threaten me with!"
After snatching the Jade Talisman, Mu Chen swiftly sprang up and moved away from Su Qing, then spoke with smug satisfaction.
"You didn't think I only had one, did you?"
Su Qing looked at Mu Chen with a beaming smile, like a fox with a belly full of wicked schemes and a thoroughly sly streak hidden beneath his mild exterior.
As he spoke, Su Qing opened his left hand, revealing a dozen Jade Talismans hanging from a red cord.
Then he opened his right hand. There was another dozen.
The expression on Mu Chen's face froze.
"That's not all, you know."
Su Qing turned his hands over and spoke softly.
Each hand hooked another dozen Jade Talismans out of his sleeves.
What suffering is this?
Mu Chen stared at the Jade Talismans swaying through the air. Their crisp clinking seemed to echo deep within his heart.
At that moment, a song seemed to rise around Mu Chen, so sorrowful, so helpless, yet so furious-and still powerless to do anything.
Dad, just what sort of thing did you pick up and bring home back then?!
Perish, world!