Don't Pick Up Disciples Randomly by the Roadside - Chapter 6

He leisurely swept his gaze back and forth between Shen Chunyi and Shi Yun for a long while before finally narrowing his eyes into crescents. “Seeing that I’m not dead, aren’t you happy, Uncle-Master?”

The youth was quite beautiful, and when he smiled, a pair of canine teeth showed—it should have been adorable. But in Shi Yun’s eyes at that moment, it could only be compared to a mountain village corpse emerging from its grave at midnight.

Shi Yun’s entire face twitched. Xuan Shuangxu stood with arms crossed beside Shen Chunyi, leaning slightly closer to his ear with a radiant smile. “I saw that Master hadn’t returned for too long, so I came out to look.”

Shen Chunyi very naturally placed the things in his hands into the youth’s arms, patting them to signal him to take them, while softly chiding in a gentle tone, “It wasn’t that long.”

On the long street, the atmosphere instantly fell into an eerie silence. A thin layer of cold sweat seeped from Shi Yun’s spine. How powerful Xuan Shuangxu was, Shi Yun had truly witnessed firsthand. He simply shouldn’t exist in this world—a loophole in the workings of heaven and earth, nearly turning a sect sparring match back then into a massacre. It was just a hair’s breadth away.

Later, Shen Chunyi had no choice but to seal his soul with his own blood, locking away nearly half of his power before the outraged voices from the outside world could be quelled.

If he truly sought revenge… who could possibly stop him?

Xuan Shuangxu stood with arms crossed, clearly aware of what Shi Yun was thinking. He sneered contemptuously, “Give it a rest. I don’t have the leisure to pour boiling water into an ant nest.”

Then, as if realizing his words were somewhat inappropriate, he added, “Oh, I misspoke. That would insult the dignity of ants. You lot of trash are easier to kill than ants.”

“So don’t act up. I currently have no interest in slaughtering the mountain. Whether that changes later is uncertain.”

Whenever someone mentioned the events of that year, Shen Chunyi would break out in cold sweat, feeling dizzy and nauseous, almost unable to stand. Seeing his condition deteriorate, Shi Yun knew the two had spoken wrongly and hurriedly moved to support him, but Xuan Shuangxu steadied him first.

Frowning, Xuan Shuangxu asked, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Shen Chunyi coughed twice, changing the subject. “Tong Che is far too careless, letting you come down alone like this. You should listen to your senior brother and come with me. I’ve been quite idle lately anyway.”

Shi Yun took a step back, shaking both his head and hands in refusal. “Really, there’s no need.”

Xuan Shuangxu stood beside Shen Chunyi, frowning as he checked his pulse but found nothing unusual. Lifting his eyes, he saw Shi Yun—the most skilled in medicine—standing there idly without moving, and irritation flared. “You don’t even cultivate offensive or defensive arts, so why all this nonsense? Taking kindness for ingratitude. If you go back missing limbs or broken arms, you won’t even be able to lift a medicine bottle to heal yourself.”

Shi Yun cautiously replied, “Senior brother is fine.”

This wasn’t really an illness for Shen Chunyi. To put it plainly, it was a case of “once bitten, twice shy.” As long as he didn’t see the rope, he remained perfectly normal.

Shen Chunyi frowned slightly. “You shouldn’t speak to your uncle-master like that.”

“Oh.”

The fear that had been warring within Shi Yun’s heart was diluted somewhat by the provocation in Xuan Shuangxu’s words. Suppressing a headache-inducing sense of speechlessness, she reluctantly gave Shen Chunyi some face. “It’s fine. I won’t hold it against a junior.”

Xuan Shuangxu shifted to a mocking tone, saying, “Yes, indeed. I always knew Uncle-Master had the broadest of minds and would never stoop to squabbling with a junior like me.”

Shi Yun felt her teeth ache as if they were about to crack. She absolutely couldn’t afford to genuinely pick a fight with a junior, but simply enduring the ridicule without a word was too much to swallow. After struggling for a long time to find the right words, she could only target Shen Chunyi: “As a junior, speaking in such a manner reflects a rather lacking upbringing.”

This remark wasn’t aimed at the young man anymore but subtly criticized the elder who had taught him, implying poor mentorship. Though Shi Yun hadn’t openly mocked Shen Chunyi’s failures in teaching for a long time, suddenly lashing out like this now brought back a faint sense of her former self.

Shen Chunyi glanced at her but couldn’t be bothered to respond.

Xuan Shuangxu smiled and said, “Uncle-Master’s words leave this junior confused. I was genuinely concerned for Uncle-Master’s safety, worried you might end up with broken limbs. Moreover, praising Uncle-Master’s magnanimity was sincere. Why blame me instead?”

Shen Chunyi sighed helplessly and stepped forward, positioning himself squarely between the two to prevent further bickering.

He first turned to Shi Yun and said gently, “Alright, I rarely see you taking on a mission alone, so I couldn’t help but worry. This child has been spoiled since childhood and doesn’t know how to mince words. Please bear with him. If there’s no inconvenience, it would be better if I accompanied you.”

Shi Yun wasn’t particularly keen on having Shen Chunyi join her, but the sudden encounter and the young man’s aggressive attitude made the situation feel more urgent. Besides, it had been a while since they last met, and she had questions she wanted to ask Shen Chunyi.

After a brief hesitation, she nodded in agreement. Then, she pulled a bright yellow mission scroll from her sleeve and handed it to Shen Chunyi, stating succinctly, “The cause and location of the disturbance are detailed in the scroll. I’ll head there now. Senior Brother can join me later.”

Just as Shen Chunyi took the scroll and was about to open it, a pale, slender hand decisively snatched it from his grasp. The hand flipped through the pages casually before snapping it shut with a crisp thwack.

Xuan Shuangxu wore a hollow smile, determined to keep provoking: “Life and death are matters of fate. If one feels fate is unjust, they should learn to defend their own path. Constantly waiting for others to save them while preaching the importance of life and death—isn’t that hypocritical? Obsessing over fleeting moments, what’s the point?”

Shi Yun thought to herself that the one who had the biggest grudge against him on Mount Taiwu wasn’t her, so why was he picking on her? She figured she was just collateral damage, truly innocent.

Turning her head, she saw that Shen Chunyi still had no intention of intervening and gave up hoping he’d mediate. She let out a cold, mocking laugh and turned to leave without another word.

Only after she had walked away did the young man’s smile fade.

Shen Chunyi strolled beside him, gently fanning himself, and said softly, “You shouldn’t speak to your Uncle-Master like that.”

Xuan Shuangxu rubbed his nose, expressionless, and replied, “Does Master not find anything odd?”

“Tell me, what seems odd?”

“Aside from Tong Che, aren’t there other sword cultivators on Mount Taiwu? Why would a medical cultivator like her go down the mountain alone? Moreover, when Master offered to help, it was clearly for her benefit. Yet she refused so coldly, almost as if she were trying to hide something.”

Shen Chunyi fanned himself a few more times before replying, “You certainly know a lot.”

Seizing the opportunity, Xuan Shuangxu turned the tables: “Master’s intentions were clearly good, yet she had her own hidden agenda. And she still accused me of having no upbringing—how unfair.”

Such a masterful display of shifting blame truly reached the pinnacle of skill.

Shen Chunyi finally turned to glance at him, wanting to laugh but holding back. He closed his fan and tapped it on the young man’s shoulder, saying, “Call me Uncle!”

The youth feigned a cry of pain, then obediently nodded. The two walked side by side back to the inn, tidying up briefly. Xuan Shuangxu sat opposite him, redoing his hair, while Shen Chunyi leaned against the table, sipping soy milk from a bamboo tube and flipping through the report page by page.

The person who wrote this report likely had little education, as there were many corrections and typos. A mess of meaningless ink stains stubbornly squirmed across the paper, like silkworms wriggling in spring.

Shen Chunyi stared at it for a long time, expending immense effort to decipher what the writer was trying to say. Turning to the second fold, he found Shi Yun’s red annotations. Her wording was concise, neatly summarizing the earlier nonsensical passage. It must have been quite a challenge for her to translate it word by word:

Twenty li west of the capital lies the Zhao residence, where an elderly woman died suddenly at noon. The incident was abrupt. After lunch, all the able-bodied laborers had gone out, leaving only the woman and a few servants in the residence. According to the servants, half an incense stick’s time after finishing her meal, the woman suddenly went to the kitchen and voraciously ate two steamed buns.

In less than half a moment, her face turned deathly pale, and she died suddenly inside. During this time, no one entered or left the residence, leading to suspicions of ghostly mischief. We humbly request the immortal’s investigation.

Shen Chunyi bit into a fried bun and stared at the report for a while, finishing his soy milk before turning it over to show the youth opposite him. “What do you think?”

Xuan Shuangxu had just finished adjusting his hair crown. He glanced casually at the report and said succinctly, “Hungry ghost.”

Hearing this, Shen Chunyi smiled faintly and was about to speak when the youth continued, “I have two guesses, Master.”

Shen Chunyi raised an eyebrow, signaling him to go on.

“First, a hungry ghost in the residence took advantage of the old woman’s unpreparedness, possessed her, and after overeating, choked to death. However, the incident occurred at noon when yang energy is at its peak, making it unsuitable for ghosts to be active. This point remains questionable.”

Shen Chunyi nodded approvingly. “And the second?”

He continued, “Second, there might have been fish bones or small bones in the lunch. The esophagus has three narrow points, the second of which is close to blood vessels. If a fish bone or small bone gets stuck there, the natural first reaction is to swallow food to push it down. That’s why she went to eat steamed buns after the meal—it was an instinctive move. The bone, pressed down by the food, could pierce the blood vessel, causing internal bleeding and death. This has nothing to do with ghosts.”

Shen Chunyi was somewhat surprised.

Xuan Shuangxu blinked and said earnestly, “If it’s the first scenario, a ghost capable of appearing and harming someone at noon must be a fierce ghost. Why didn’t she go with the sword cultivator? If it’s the second scenario, they shouldn’t have requested a cultivator but rather a coroner. I can think of this, and Shi Yun, as a medical cultivator, would likely have thought of it too. So, logically, she shouldn’t have gone alone. There’s something suspicious here.”

Shen Chunyi shook his folding fan and smiled. “You know so much. Why do you still follow me? I have nothing left to teach you.”

The youth propped his cheek on one hand, tilting his head slightly, and said softly, “If Master finds me annoying, I’ll just speak less.”

Shen Chunyi’s gaze drifted over his dark hair, pausing for a moment before he said, “Actually, it’s almost certainly true. But back then, I didn’t think too much about it. I just felt that our master cherished his female disciples greatly and would never let her go down the mountain alone under any circumstances. So, I guessed she wasn’t going down for the mission scroll—perhaps she was just going for a stroll or to have some fun. But I never expected she really was going down for that reason. It’s strange, but as her senior brother, I shouldn’t let her go alone no matter what.”

Xuan Shuangxu said ambiguously, “Our master cares deeply for her.”

Shen Chunyi glanced at him but didn’t comment on his inexplicable tone. “Are you done eating? If you are, let’s go.”

Xuan Shuangxu pouted slightly, sounding a bit aggrieved. “I haven’t even started yet.”

Shen Chunyi closed his folding fan and withdrew his gaze as well. “Then eat properly.”

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