You'll regret this someday

Ling Tian paused, then replied, "Rumor has it that, as the adopted son of the Xuanxiao Immortal Sect's sect master, you aren't favored."

Wu Yunsu clapped his hands. "That rumor is true."

He paid Ling Tian no further attention, turning his purple eyes toward Chi Yu and asking quietly, "The intelligence report said you should be at the Qi Refining Stage. Why have you reached Foundation Establishment now?"

Although he was openly a kidnapper, Chi Yu didn't particularly dislike him. After all, Chi Yu considered himself one of the good guys.

Hello, comrade. We're on the same side.jpg

Secret rendezvous.jpg

Chi Yu answered, "I'm exceptionally talented."

Wu Yunsu smiled when he heard that. "That must be it."

Ling Tian said, "Senior Brother Wu-"

Before he could finish, Wu Yunsu cut him off, his tone icy and utterly impatient. "Junior Brother Ling, you have no say here."

Ling Tian: "..."

Chi Yu: "..."

Clearly, they knew each other somewhat, but not very well (...)

Of course Chi Yu had to protect his own resident old man. He boldly spoke up. "You're fellow disciples, at least. How can you talk to him like that?"

Wu Yunsu paused, his attitude changing quite naturally. "Sorry-Junior Brother Ling, I was in a bad mood just now. Please don't take it to heart."

Ling Tian: "..."

That change of face was so fast...

He said solemnly, "It's all right."

He paused, then continued, "Senior Brother Wu, please let young friend Chi go. He hasn't done anything wrong and shouldn't be implicated in this."

Wu Yunsu said, "The intelligence report states it very clearly. He killed a Nascent Soul cultivator. The sect master ordered me to capture both him and Xie Xiyi and bring them back to the Xuanxiao Immortal Sect."

Ling Tian managed a note of disbelief in his solemn voice. "Senior Brother Wu, do you believe that? Young friend Chi's cultivation is so low. How could he possibly kill a Nascent Soul cultivator?!"

Ling Hezhou couldn't help sweating. Senior Brother, your acting is too fake. He hurriedly spoke up, brimming with emotion. "The intelligence report must be wrong! Yan Tongchen is slandering him! He couldn't beat that demon, so he's dragging random people into it. Look at our Chi Yu. Does he look like a demon with blood on his hands? He's only fourteen! He's still a child!"

Chi Yu: "Pfft."

That stock line, used everywhere throughout the ages, made him laugh. Seeing Wu Yunsu looking at him, he said, "I've never even killed a chicken in my life."

Ling Hezhou said, "Exactly, exactly! He even walks around ants moving their nest! He's so kind. How could he possibly kill a Nascent Soul cultivator?"

Wu Yunsu said, "I don't care whether he killed a Nascent Soul cultivator, but you two really are eyesores."

His beautiful face shifted between light and shadow, his purple eyes dark as he stared at the Soul-Guarding Pearl housing the two fellow disciples.

Ling Hezhou couldn't help shutting his mouth. Ling Tian still wanted to speak, but Ling Hezhou covered his mouth too, transmitting his voice to him. "I feel like there's something strange about this man. He seems to really hate us, but he seems all right with Chi Yu?"

Naturally, Ling Tian had noticed this oddity too.

And naturally, Chi Yu protected them, turning slightly to block Wu Yunsu's gaze.

Wu Yunsu smiled again and told Chi Yu, "Don't worry. I won't take you to the Xuanxiao Immortal Sect."

Chi Yu asked, "Then where are you taking me?"

Wu Yunsu said casually, "Anywhere is fine, as long as it's just the two of us."

Chi Yu: "Huh?"

Chi Yu: "..."

He couldn't help looking Wu Yunsu's body over. Although he wore a dress, his Adam's apple was prominent and his chest flat. He was indeed male.

Something flashed through Chi Yu's mind, frightening him so badly that his hair stood on end. He said weakly, "Um, I'm straight."

Wu Yunsu: "What?"

Chi Yu frantically handed out nice-guy rejections. "Straight means I like girls. I'm sorry. You're really great, but I can't accept your feelings. You'll meet someone better than me someday."

Wu Yunsu: "?"

Chi Yu tried to awaken his conscience. "Besides, I'm only fourteen. This is illegal. You can't do this. I should at least be eighteen, right? That's the bottom line! Otherwise, it's pedophilia, and everyone will condemn you."

Wu Yunsu: "..."

He didn't understand.

But it didn't matter.

Immortal Lord Qingxuan soon received the intelligence report and sent Taixuzi a message. "Wu Yunsu has defected."

Taixuzi was surprised by the news. "Defected? Has he gone mad?"

Immortal Lord Qingxuan said indifferently, "I told you long ago that he would never be loyal."

Taixuzi asked, "How did his fight with Xie Xiyi go?"

Immortal Lord Qingxuan said, "Xie Xiyi cut Wu Yunsu down with one strike. He revealed his true face at the end, but Xie Xiyi seemed not to recognize him."

Taixuzi: "Seemed?"

Immortal Lord Qingxuan said, "He killed most of Wu Yunsu's gu insects. He truly didn't recognize him. Tongchen mentioned one detail to me: Xie Xiyi seemed not to remember his own name."

Realization dawned on Taixuzi. "Has he

lost his memory

?"

Immortal Lord Qingxuan: "Possibly."

Taixuzi said with certainty, "He lost his heart."

Cultivators simply couldn't suffer memory loss. There was only one circumstance in which they could: if their heart was missing, all the memories stored within it, from birth to the present, would be lost.

And they would continue losing their memories in the future. This was an inevitable, recurring outcome.

Taixuzi laughed. "Wonderful! Heaven is helping me! As long as we seize the moment when he loses his memory again, we can take him down without losing a single soldier!"

"Without his memories, Xie Xiyi is merely a tiger with its teeth pulled! What a pity, though, that he can't remember the past. A pity. I wanted him to see that the man he once scorned and looked down upon has become the head of a sect, the ruler of three continents!"

"Xie Xiyi, who would have thought that one day I'd have you dancing in the palm of my hand!"

Immortal Lord Qingxuan said indifferently, "Wu Yunsu..."

Taixuzi said scornfully, "Let him defect. The Immortal Alliance will issue a warrant. No matter how many abilities he has, he cannot possibly escape the Immortal Alliance's pursuit. That vermin. I gave him a chance to take

revenge

, yet he cast it aside like a worn-out shoe. In that case, there's no need for him to exist anymore."

Immortal Lord Qingxuan paused, remembering that the intelligence report said Wu Yunsu had abducted the cultivator accompanying Xie Xiyi before defecting. It was a tiny piece of news that seemed inconsequential, so he left it unspoken.

Meanwhile, after trying earnestly to persuade him for ages, Chi Yu found that the man was still looking at him with tender affection. His butt clenched involuntarily.

You beast!

Chi Yu thought in anguish.

Just then, Chi Yu felt the root of his tongue grow hot, and Xie Xiyi's voice sounded in his head. "Open your fish mouth."

Chi Yu: "?"

Holy shit!

For the first time, Chi Yu felt that the villain could provide such a sense of security.

But "fish mouth" is going too far! I already said I'm not a fish!

Despite his inward grumbling, he obediently opened his mouth. The curse mark at the root of his tongue emerged, and a black Forbidden Curse chain flew out of it, rapidly gathering into a human shape obscured by black mist.

When the black mist dispersed, Xie Xiyi's tall figure appeared.

Chi Yu shouted in delighted surprise, "Boss!"

Wonderful! My ass is saved!

Xie Xiyi glanced at him. "Four songs today."

Chi Yu: "..."

That works too.

Author's note:

Puppy Fish: A disappointing tone-deaf fool.

A little clarification: Puppy Fish has a bit of an

everyone-loves-him

quality. That's inevitable. He's a little ray of sunshine, after all. Everyone likes him. But Wu is a follower, purely and simply.

Chapter 17: You'll regret this someday

Xie Xiyi and Wu Yunsu started fighting again.

This time, Xie Xiyi had far less inclination to play around. Wu Yunsu had abducted his person right in front of him. That was a provocation.

The black mist around him suddenly surged, and several Forbidden Curses flew toward Wu Yunsu.

Wu Yunsu's eyelid twitched, his spiritual mind trembling. Without the slightest hesitation, he once again turned into a mass of insects and fled in all directions. Having lost their target, the Forbidden Curses turned into wisps of black mist midway through the air and dispersed.

Xie Xiyi laughed, his voice pleasing to the ear. "Why run? You're a Nascent Soul cultivator. I'm merely in the Golden Core Realm. What exactly are you afraid of?"

A black snake closest to Xie Xiyi spoke in a human voice. "Xie Xiyi, enough! I'm not your enemy. The sect master of the Xuanxiao Immortal Sect, Taixuzi, leader of the Immortal Alliance, is your true enemy. He ruined your reputation and trapped you for five hundred years. He's the one you should kill most!"

Xie Xiyi's smile didn't fade. "Are you telling me what to do?"

The black snake instantly burst into a cloud of bloody mist. Another insect spoke. "You really don't remember who I am? You even gave me my name. There's no enmity between us. In fact, we were quite close."

That insect and all the insects around it instantly turned to dust.

The voice came from another direction. "Stop killing! Didn't you hear what I said? I'm not your enemy!"

Xie Xiyi's unhurried voice rang out. "I don't remember the past. No matter how close we were, I won't acknowledge it. All I know is that you're vermin, and vermin should go 'bang'-and die without leaving a trace."

The swarm was slaughtered relentlessly. Utterly defeated, Wu Yunsu abandoned the vast majority of his gu insects again without hesitation and escaped.

It was regrettable that he hadn't managed to take the boy away, but he hadn't expected Xie Xiyi to have lost his memory.

Pity, disappointment, anger, sorrow, and jealousy intertwined, leaving Wu Yunsu with deeply complicated feelings.

He would return again, at least to take that person away.

He got away again.

Filthy vermin. His ability to flee really is first-rate.

Displeased, Xie Xiyi returned to the flying artifact. There wasn't even a hint of laughter left in his voice as he remarked to Chi Yu, "Nascent Soul cultivators these days are all so cowardly. They run as soon as they can't win. I'm truly disappointed."

Chi Yu: "..."

What did he want him to say? If they couldn't win, were they supposed to wait around to die instead of running?

Villain, your logic really is something.

Xie Xiyi glanced at him. "What's that expression? Do you have a problem with me?"