Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Bai Mu Mu, Two Trials: One by Fire, One by Ice

If Shen Sang Ruo wanted to kill Bai Mu Mu, Luo Chu could still force himself to accept it, since she never liked his Junior Sister. But he had been there too; how could she try to kill him along with Bai Mu Mu? [Impossible.]

Luo Chu was overly sure of himself, certain he held a place in Shen Sang Ruo’s heart. No, he thought it must be a very large place.

With a stern face, he scolded Bai Mu Mu like a teacher: “Junior Sister, stop saying things that hurt our unity. If Second Senior Brother hears this, he will definitely rebuke you.”

Bai Mu Mu, already at the end of her rope and determined to expose Shen Sang Ruo today, snapped back as if breaking the jar: “But I saw it with my own eyes. Fourth Senior Brother, do you not believe me?”

She emphasized each word: “Fifth Senior Sister sent out a stream of Spiritual Power that opened a gap in the snow, which made the snowpack slide and caused the avalanche.”

“These are things I saw with my own eyes.”

Still unwilling to believe, Luo Chu frowned and said, “Maybe the white flash dazzled you and you saw it wrong?”

[Is he calling me blind?] Bai Mu Mu nearly exploded with anger.

Trying to sound patient, Luo Chu murmured with a special meaning in his tone: “Enough, Junior Sister. I know you are upset that Shen Sang Ruo ran off and left us, but you cannot slander her like this.”

In Luo Chu’s mind, Bai Mu Mu’s words questioned his place in Shen Sang Ruo’s heart. She was questioning him, and he refused to accept it.

“I dislike her too. When we get back, we will complain to Master and have Master punish her hard; let’s see if she dares abandon us next time,” he said, then added, “But the avalanche was not her doing. Stop clinging to that.”

In the past, Luo Chu would believe anything Bai Mu Mu said. Even things that were wild, baseless, and made up just to disgust Shen Sang Ruo, he would accept without doubt. Yet now, when something real had happened, no matter how she argued, he stayed unmoved, even suspecting she was smearing Shen Sang Ruo on purpose. Bai Mu Mu truly could not understand what was going on in his head.

[Alert: Luo Chu feels displeased with the Host. Please stop this topic now, or favorability may drop.]

Stuffed full of anger, Bai Mu Mu could only back off.

Since this road did not work, she took the second-best path. She followed Luo Chu’s lead and blamed Shen Sang Ruo for refusing to save them, then stressed how she herself had stayed by his side and never left. Only then did Luo Chu’s favorability rise a little, reaching 90 points, just 10 points away from success.

[When I complete this route, I will cut off Luo Chu’s pig head first!]

A few days later, they were carried back to the Flying Cloud Sect.

Bai Mu Mu suddenly fell into a coma. After Wen Xuan treated her, they learned that many days buried in snow had let cold seep into her body and triggered her old cold illness again. If they could not quickly find Fire-Scale Vine and make a healing elixir, her life would be at risk. The situation was very serious.

Always steady, Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao nearly went mad when they heard. At once they mobilized the whole sect, used every connection, and searched everywhere for Fire-Scale Vine. They even gathered hundreds of thousands of High-grade Spirit Stones and hired the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion to help find it.

Shen Dao Chen tucked in Bai Mu Mu’s quilt with a face full of pain. He had thought his beloved daughter had finally ended her hard wandering and could live well after returning to the sect. He never expected that two training trips out of the sect would end with one fire and one burial in ice. Each time she came back, she was half dead.

His poor daughter.

After leaving the room, he and Master Ling Xiao called in Luo Chu, who had traveled with her.

Luo Chu bowed to plead guilty and said, “It was my failure. I did not protect Junior Sister.”

“Go to the Disciplinary Hall later,” Master Ling Xiao said in a cold voice.

Luo Chu looked stubborn, but when he met Master Ling Xiao’s sharp gaze, he wilted. “Yes.”

It felt familiar, like this scene had happened before. Master Ling Xiao did not understand how such a simple task had gone wrong again. He asked, “What exactly happened during this training? Tell me everything.”

“Everything was fine at first,” Luo Chu said, his voice weak. “After we collected the Thousand-Year Cold Ice, we saw Shen Sang Ruo. We worried she was in danger, so we went to find her… then the avalanche hit.”

He knew the truth: he had led Bai Mu Mu away from the team, and that led to the accident. He could not bear that blame, so he used his usual trick and shoved the fault onto Shen Sang Ruo.

“Shen Sang Ruo?” Master Ling Xiao’s brows drew tight. Why was it her again?

“Why would Sang Ruo go to the Slanting Mountain Icefield?” Shen Dao Chen asked, puzzled. After a moment he remembered to ask, “How is she? Why was she not rescued with you?”

Shen Sang Ruo had a Fire Spiritual Root. If she was invaded by cold, the result would be worse than for others.

At that, Luo Chu finally found a chance to vent his anger. “She is fine and who knows where she is having fun now. Before the avalanche, she ran away and did not even warn us, and we got swept into it.”

His muffled voice carried blame. Shen Dao Chen and Master Ling Xiao’s frowns only deepened.

Master Ling Xiao raised a hand to dismiss him. Though Luo Chu did not hear what punishments they planned for Shen Sang Ruo, the looks on both faces said she would not be let off lightly. Feeling pleased, Luo Chu trotted off to find Lu Shi Qing.

He hammered on the door: “Open up! You had the nerve to give me broken Seven Emotions Gu, so have the nerve to open the door!”

Lu Shi Qing opened it to see Luo Chu’s face full of rage. As soon as he saw him, Luo Chu rattled off like beans pouring from a sack: “Third Senior Brother, you told me to use the Seven Emotions Gu on Shen Sang Ruo and report her reactions. So why did you give me two broken Seven Emotions Gu?”

“I lost so much face in front of her. She is definitely laughing at me behind my back.”

Catching the key in his words, Lu Shi Qing asked, “You met Shen Sang Ruo?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you say the Seven Emotions Gu were broken? Did you place the gu on Shen Sang Ruo?” Lu Shi Qing’s voice tightened. He had refined the Seven Emotions Gu with utmost care this time. There should have been no mistake.

“Of course I used them. I used both, and she had no reaction at all. So your Seven Emotions Gu must be faulty, right?” Luo Chu sounded casual, not sensing how serious this was.

“How could there be no reaction? Did you see clearly?” Lu Shi Qing suddenly seized him by the shoulders and stared, breath turning rough like he had lost control.

“Fine, I saw it clearly with both eyes, no reaction at all!” Stung by the grip, Luo Chu snapped and described the whole scene in detail, shouting it out.

As Luo Chu talked, Lu Shi Qing’s lashes trembled. His expression grew worse and worse. He could see Luo Chu’s lips moving, but he could not hear the words anymore. In the end, his mind went blank.

“Your gu failed. Why take it out on me?” Luo Chu huffed.

“Yes. It must be my Seven Emotions Gu that failed…” Lu Shi Qing muttered. His eyes went dull, as if all strength had drained from him. Yet the hand hidden in his sleeve would not stop shaking.

“Go. I have to continue Gu Refinement,” he said, closing the door at once.

“Hey!” Luo Chu almost got his nose caught by the door. “Ridiculous!” He shook his sleeve and left.

Back in his own cave, Lu Shi Qing sank to the floor. The straight back he always kept had lost its support and bent, his face written with defeat.

In his mind, he saw again the day Shen Sang Ruo walked out of the Confinement Chamber. Those cold, distant eyes, when remembered now, felt like sharp ice piercing his heart. [Did it start that day?]

He froze, late to realize.

He did not know how long he sat like that. Then he stood and stepped, one by one, into the room where he refined gu. “So my gu insects failed. I will refine them again. I will make a true Seven Emotions Gu.”

But Lu Shi Qing was one of the top young gu cultivators in the Cultivation World, and Gu Refining Technique was what he did best. How could he fail again and again? He was only deceiving himself.