A Hundred-Year-Old Ox Grazing on Tender Grass

Yu Zhi did not keep Hei Xiazi waiting long. Soon, he handed over the two sheets of paper.

"Here, take a look. I don't know much about you, and I don't know whether any of this is true, so judge for yourself. Give it back when you're done. You can't keep it."

It was not that Yu Zhi did not want to write more, but in the book, which was told from Wu Xie's perspective, Hei Xiazi existed as a hidden thread. He only gradually appeared later on, and even then he came and went like a ghost. Yu Zhi had not altered the contents or added his own thoughts.

Of course, he had added one remark of his own right at the very end. The thought of Hei Xiazi's expression when he saw it made him want to laugh.

Blind Man snatched the two sheets and read ten lines at a glance. The more he read, the more shocked he became. Some of it concerned things he had only just discovered a short while ago, and some were guesses he had made from the information he had. He was certain he had never mentioned any of those things to anyone.

He read that in the future, he would become Wu Xie's master and Xie Yuchen's protector.

He curled his lip. He had never heard either name before. At this point, neither of them had even been born yet.

When the time came, he would stick his oar in and stop them from being given those names, then have a good laugh at Yu Zhi. Since when was Blind Man so kindhearted? They must have paid me too much to refuse.

Then he saw that it said he had close ties to a child of the Nine Gates' Xie family. Pah! Worst of all, the ending said Hei Xiazi had no shame, that he was a hundred-year-old ox grazing on tender grass!

"Slander! This is blatant slander! Yu Zhi, explain yourself! What do you mean, a hundred-year-old ox grazing on tender grass?!"

Yu Zhi watched at his leisure as Hei Xiazi's face went from ashen to pale, pale to black, black to red, and then green, like a painter's palette. His expressions were certainly varied.

"Hahaha, it means you! Round up, and you're a hundred years old! Don't pay so much attention to the details!" Yu Zhi laughed so hard he could not straighten up, and before he knew it, he had fallen against Zhang Qiling.

Zhang Qiling did not push Yu Zhi away. He simply watched him laugh as he leaned against him, reaching out to steady him for fear he would fall to the floor.

"Mute, you have to stand up for me. Look at this nonsense he wrote! It's pure slander. If word gets out, I won't be able to show my face. How am I supposed to get by in the trade after that? Besides, we're Blind Man of the South and Mute of the North, two halves of a whole. You might get dragged into it too." Blind Man shoved the papers into Zhang Qiling's hands.

Zhang Qiling read through them ten lines at a glance but offered no opinion. He merely patted Yu Zhi's back to help him catch his breath; Yu Zhi had just laughed himself breathless.

"All right, all right, Master Hei, Master Hei, don't be angry, don't be angry. Don't you always tease me too? We're even," Yu Zhi said, waving a hand. He could tell Hei Xia was not angry; he was just being his usual unserious self and talking nonsense.

"How do you know all this? There's the past in here, and the future, and even my thoughts. You couldn't have just made it all up. Are you a prophet?" Blind Man asked seriously.

"This world is actually a book. I happened to read it. Everything on those papers came from the book. Except for the last sentence, I didn't change a single word," Yu Zhi said.

"A book? What book? Can I read it?" Hei Xiazi pressed.

"I don't have the book. If you want to read it, I'll have to write it out. It's all in my head. Anyway, the book never said whether you were still alive at the end, only that you'd go completely blind," Yu Zhi continued.

"Then I was probably dead. A blind man without his eyes wouldn't live long," Hei Xiazi said quietly, the strange grin gone from his face.

"I think so too. As the second long-lived being besides Zhang Qiling, you'd only have it worse without your eyes. I think you ended your own life in the end," Yu Zhi said.

"Probably." By now, Hei Xiazi believed him. There were too many coincidences, all exactly the same.

"Then how did you get Mute out? What are you trying to do? What do you want?" Hei Xiazi stopped dwelling on things that had yet to happen.

"I was a test subject at the sanatorium too. I saw how beautiful he was and my hand moved a little too fast, so I brought him out. As for what I want to do, I want to solve his Heavenly Bestowal and disrupt the plot of the book. As for what I want, I haven't decided yet. Let's just call it my good deed for the day."

What Yu Zhi said was half true and half false. He really had coveted Zhang Qiling for a long time, but he did not want to force anything. He only wanted to free Zhang Qiling from his tragic fate in this world. He had suffered too much.

The god on the snowy mountain deserved humanity's selfless devotion! As he had said before, he was strongly possessive, but had no desire to control him.

Hei Xiazi had never expected Yu Zhi to say such a thing. He turned his gaze to Zhang Qiling.

He saw Zhang Qiling staring at Yu Zhi without blinking, his eyes full of trust. Good grief! I think I've just been fed dog food! This is bad! Mute's going to fall for him. Through decades of wind and rain,

this was the first time he had ever seen Zhang Qiling look at someone so intently!

"Then you mustn't seduce our Mute and abandon him. Poor Mute only has me as his family. If you bully him, I'll kick up a fuss." Seizing on Yu Zhi's words, he started talking nonsense again.

"Blind Man!" Zhang Qiling listened to Hei Xiazi with black lines all over his face. No matter how aloof a person was, he could not withstand the two of them spouting nonsense to his face, especially when there was nothing between them at all!

"I should be able to treat your eyes, but not yet. And stop taking those medicines. I'm certain they're absolutely useless! The only reason you think they help is the placebo effect. You know what a placebo is, right?" Yu Zhi said.

"I do. Don't underestimate Blind Man. Blind Man studied abroad, you know. A placebo is used in experiments. Simply put, it works because of a psychological effect," Blind Man said smugly.

"That's right. The human body can also save itself. The main reason you went blind later had to do with that female corpse. The medicine was useless," Yu Zhi said.

"Those villains, swindling Blind Man out of his money. All my poor little pennies from so many years, just flown away like that," Blind Man said.

"Yu Zhi, help treat him," Zhang Qiling said. Blind Man was his brother. Through wind and rain all these years, it was Blind Man who had helped him along, and every time he lost his memory, Blind Man had picked him up and taken care of him.

"I can try, but right now I can't guarantee it'll work. Later on, I'll definitely be able to solve it. But from now on, Blind Man has to be on our side, or rather, on your side, Zhang Qiling. The book said it, and I saw it clearly: Blind Man was on the Nine Gates' side."

Yu Zhi did not spell everything out. He did not want to reveal his own secret yet.

"Slander. There's no way I'm on the Nine Gates' side." Hei Xiazi looked at the two of them seriously.

"Mm, he isn't!" Zhang Qiling agreed.

Yu Zhi was speechless as he watched the two of them sing the same tune. He actually knew that the entire book was written from Wu Xie's perspective, so there would be some inaccuracies in many things.

Hei Xiazi was certainly no simple character. He was deep and calculating, cautious in his actions, and often failed to collect the balance of his payment. He was certainly no kindhearted soul; such selfless devotion was out of the question. It was just possible that, in the end, he too had been caught in someone's schemes for some reason.

Just like Zhang Qiling's Heavenly Bestowal, it could only be said that neither of them was the chosen one, just pure tools.

"Hold out your hand. Let me take a look first." Yu Zhi reached toward Hei Xiazi, signaling him to raise his arm.

Hei Xiazi did not hesitate. He confidently placed his vital point in Yu Zhi's hands. He did not trust Yu Zhi, but he did trust Mute. With Mute there, he could rest easy.

Yu Zhi carefully released a thread of spiritual power and slowly sent it into Hei Xiazi's body to examine him. Overall, his qi and blood were abundant, but his yin energy was too strong and suppressed his yang energy.

A master must have sealed all the yin energy in his eyes before, giving them the ability to see at night. The side effect, however, was that he could not bear sunlight. Moreover, as the yin energy eroded his eyes, they would slowly deteriorate until he finally went blind.

While examining his meridians, Yu Zhi discovered another troublesome matter. He could sense the presence of a yin ghost inside Blind Man's body.

It was sucking away his yang energy and life force, albeit very slowly. It was particularly like the sinister possessing ghosts of the cultivation world, used specifically to harm people; ordinary people could not detect it.

He recognized it only because he had seen one in the cultivation world. Hei Xiazi was lucky in that respect. Yu Zhi knew how to deal with it, and it was not difficult, but he needed to reach Foundation Establishment first.

It seemed this world had countless ties to the cultivation world. He could not claim to be invincible here; there might even be other cultivators. He still needed to be more careful and keep himself hidden.

Hei Xiazi could feel a thread of coolness moving through his body. When it reached his eyes, even the swelling and pain that were always there eased a little. His heart lifted. The kid really did have a way to solve his eye problem. He also knew this was Yu Zhi's secret, so he did not press him.

"I can solve it, just not yet. But I can improve it. From now on, I'll treat you once every seven days," Yu Zhi said.

"Such great kindness can't be repaid with words. From now on, you're a second Mute. As long as I have a mouthful of food, Mute will have a mouthful, and you'll have a mouthful too," Blind Man said.

"Then go cook. I don't eat stir-fried pork with green peppers, thank you!" Yu Zhi said without ceremony.

"Coming right up! Just you watch, I guarantee it'll be so good you'll swallow your tongue! Mute, the usual?" Blind Man asked Zhang Qiling as he walked out.

"Mm." Even Zhang Qiling's voice sounded relaxed as he answered. It seemed they really were close!