When I Mistook My Arch-Rival for My Dao Companion - Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Fu Guzhou’s reaction was incredibly fast; it was as if he had keenly captured a sense of danger—he immediately dropped the idea of looking for his memories.

Regardless of what he was thinking in his heart, Wenren Qian was very satisfied with this answer. He patted Fu Guzhou’s head and said warmly: “Good boy.”

Fu Guzhou blinked. He didn’t know if he was being “good” or not, but his Dao companion was truly fierce; just now, he was certain he felt the danger of being stared at by a wild beast.

It was fine for a Dao companion to be “wild,” but not that kind of wild.

Fortunately, Wenren Qian’s intimidation of the youth lasted only a moment. While Fu Guzhou looked at him blankly, Wenren Qian reached out in an exceptionally good mood to pull Fu Guzhou up from the ground, then asked: “How is your body?”

“It’s alright.” After being pulled up, Fu Guzhou carefully sensed his physical condition and gave a fair assessment: “Your medicine is very good.”

“Do you know what kind of pill This Seat gave you?” Wenren Qian asked with a beaming smile.

Fu Guzhou tilted his head slightly. “It surely wouldn’t be poison.”

“You guessed right; it is poison. Right now your body seems to be in a very good state, but before long, you will bleed from all seven orifices and die.”

Wenren Qian observed Fu Guzhou’s expression. Perhaps even Fu Guzhou didn’t know that his eyes widened slightly upon hearing about “bleeding from seven orifices,” but this tiny micro-expression was quickly suppressed, as if it had never happened.

Fu Guzhou licked the roof of his mouth, analyzing the lingering sensation in his mouth, and said with great uncertainty: “That shouldn’t be right. There is still a medicinal fragrance between my teeth. Judging by the time I likely took the pill, the fragrance is still present because it was a high-quality pill. I’ve heard that only pills of the seventh rank or higher can reach the point where the fragrance lingers for a long time. Based on the faint residual taste, this should be a Nine-Turn Hundred-Spirit Pill. A Nine-Turn Hundred-Spirit Pill can’t possibly be considered a poison… could there be something in it that I didn’t taste?”

Fu Guzhou actually frowned and analyzed it seriously. Finally, just as Wenren Qian thought he would surely add some random ingredients to the theory himself, he suddenly said: “So, the Great Demon Sovereign is lying to me, right?”

As he spoke, Fu Guzhou’s eyes curved slightly, as if he didn’t find Wenren Qian’s behavior bad at all.

“Immortal Venerable, what are you happy about? Even if This Seat was lying to you, it doesn’t seem like something worth being happy about.”

“Naturally, I’m happy because you love me so much. The Nine-Turn Hundred-Spirit Pill is already a ninth-rank pill. Even if I’ve lost my memory, I know that ninth-rank pills are extremely rare; every single one is priceless and unattainable.” To be able to casually take out such a top-tier pill to save him—did that not prove Wenren Qian loved him?

“It’s just a pill. How does the Immortal Venerable reach such a conclusion?”

Fu Guzhou shook his head. “It’s not just a pill.”

Something that could make even an Exalted-stage powerhouse tear off their mask for it could never be called “just a pill.”

Wenren Qian, as if seeing through Fu Guzhou’s inner thoughts, said calmly: “The pill is indeed extraordinary, but compared to the Immortal Venerable, it is merely a pill. Immortal Venerable, you must remember that you are far from being that cheap.”

Hearing this, Fu Guzhou pursed his lips slightly, and his heart unconsciously beat a little faster.

Sword cultivators seemed to have long been equated with “poverty.” There had long been rumors in the cultivation world that healers would not consume a large amount of spiritual materials to save a sword cultivator, because everyone knew sword cultivators simply couldn’t afford to pay them back.

This was a laughable point. Everyone knew sword cultivators were stronger than average cultivators, but at that time, the number of sword cultivators who could truly become famous throughout the world was pitifully small. Who knows how many sword cultivators were defeated by that single word: “poor.”

“Wenren Qian, I suddenly feel that you are a very good demon.”

“Understood. So it turns out This Seat was not considered good in the Immortal Venerable’s eyes before.”

Ah… Fu Guzhou absolutely didn’t mean that. Fine, he was worried before that his companion was too cruel and that no one would come to their ceremony, but was that something he could say directly?

Fu Guzhou’s mind churned through several answers. When he spoke, it was the simplest and most direct: “You are very good.”

Seemingly afraid Wenren Qian wouldn’t believe him, Fu Guzhou added a nod to show his sincerity.

After a long pause, just as Fu Guzhou thought Wenren Qian was going to get angry because of his unintentional remark, he heard Wenren Qian say almost with a sigh: “The Immortal Venerable truly is simple and pure. So cute that one can’t bear to bully you.”

The meaningful words seemed to want to guide him toward a deeper level of thought, but unfortunately, Fu Guzhou’s heart and mind were entirely stolen away by that word “cute”—how could he think of anything else?

He forced himself to maintain a stoic face, not wanting his emotions to be too exposed, but in the end, he couldn’t help it. He gave an embarrassed cough and reminded: “‘Cute’ is used to praise little girls.”

Wenren Qian laughed. He really wanted to tease him—for example, by saying “Is there a big difference between the Immortal Venerable’s shy appearance and a little girl’s?”—but thinking about the other’s unexpectedly strong youthful self-esteem, he ultimately left Miss Fu a bit of face.

Faced with that smiling face that said nothing but seemed to say everything, Fu Guzhou stubbornly changed the subject, asking: “Does the Demon Sovereign have any place he wants to go?”

When a person asks such a question, sometimes they don’t necessarily want to know what the other person wants to do, but rather what they want to do.

Wenren Qian clearly understood Fu Guzhou’s meaning perfectly, yet he still said: “This Seat does indeed have a place I want to take the Immortal Venerable to.”

“Is it urgent?” Fu Guzhou was a bit disappointed.

“Oh? Does the Immortal Venerable have other pressing matters?”

Fu Guzhou seemed hesitant about whether to speak. His hand reached forward slightly, and only after hooking onto Wenren Qian’s hair did he seem slightly more at ease; his hand unconsciously swayed the hair lightly. “I don’t know how long I’ve been away from the Xiaoyao Sword Sect. To keep Senior Brother from worrying, I want to report my safety to him first.”

“If the Immortal Venerable wants to go back and report his safety, that is also possible. Why do you look so troubled?” Wenren Qian said nonchalantly, as if he were very easy to talk to.

“Because I can’t see right now. Senior Brother will definitely be very worried if he knows. Also, I… I somewhat want to…”

Wenren Qian suddenly became curious about what words could make even Fu Guzhou too embarrassed to speak. He enticed him: “Want what? The Immortal Venerable can tell This Seat directly. There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

Fu Guzhou tightened his grip on the hair slightly, seemingly giving up the struggle, and said directly: “I want to take you back to the Xiaoyao Sword Sect.”

Wenren Qian gave a slight “Oh,” elongating the tone as if it were mere curiosity. However, if Fu Guzhou’s eyes weren’t troubled, he would surely have seen the undisguised killing intent and heavy blood-lust in those narrow eyes.

The killing intent flashed and vanished. Wenren Qian quickly suppressed that slaughterous urge and asked softly: “Why?”

In that instant, Wenren Qian even suspected that Fu Guzhou had been acting with him all these days. A Fu Guzhou who had lost his natal spirit sword was no longer the Qingchen Immortal Venerable who could seal him back then. In such a situation, the other would have only one way to suppress him: utilizing the mountain-protecting array of the Xiaoyao Sword Sect. Wenren Qian was inherently suspicious; with just one sentence, he had already decided how Fu Guzhou should die.

In the midst of danger, Fu Guzhou was completely oblivious. Being too nervous, he didn’t even capture that accidentally leaked killing intent. He looked as if he had completely surrendered to his embarrassment, saying bashfully: “Because Senior Brother doesn’t know you are my Dao companion at all. If he knew you were my companion, he shouldn’t have had that expression when he sent me to Wuying Mountain. Since we are companions, I should take you to meet the people close to me no matter what.”

So, just to introduce the people close to him.

After hearing this, Wenren Qian actually felt a bizarre sense of “that sounds more like it.”

After speaking, Fu Guzhou added a slight defense for himself: “The reason I hesitated was that I was worried you wouldn’t want to go. After all, you still haven’t forgiven me for my past mistakes. Bringing you to see Senior Brother so abruptly seems a bit disrespectful of your opinion. So you don’t have to consider me; just do whatever you think.”

A seventeen-year-old youth should be the “self-centered” type, yet Fu Guzhou’s manner of completely considering others often made Wenren Qian feel that he was vastly different from the later Qingchen Immortal Venerable. He carefully recalled his past interactions with the Immortal Venerable. Stripping away personal hatred and emotion, the youthful Fu Guzhou and the version from many years later seemed to have changed, yet also seemed unchanged.

The Fu Guzhou he saw later was indeed cold enough to make people retreat, yet back then, when a demon said he was going to kill him, he still asked a companion to send him medicine. During the reckless second contract attempt that left him in a wretched state, he gave up the moment he decided he didn’t want to force someone. Even during their second meeting, a full hundred years later, the other’s original heart remained unchanged.

Wenren Qian was not the type of person to be blinded by anger. At their first meeting, he was indeed very angry that the other wanted to contract him, but he didn’t truly seek trouble with him afterward; a large part of that was due to that bottle of top-tier pills.

If not for Fu Guzhou’s sealing five hundred years ago, Wenren Qian might have continued not seeking trouble with him and might have completely forgotten the “If I do not die today, This Seat will certainly take your life in the future” of those years. Unfortunately, there are no “ifs.”

Wenren Qian touched Fu Guzhou’s face pityingly. “Only now do I realize that Miss Fu is actually a silly girl.”

No… Fu Guzhou was truly going to get angry now. He wouldn’t comment on the other calling him “Miss Fu” at the drop of a hat—after all, they were companions—but why call him a silly girl?

Fu Guzhou’s condemnation was visible to the naked eye.

“Oh? Is Miss Fu going to cry again?”

“No!!!”

Fu Guzhou resolutely refused to admit he was the type to cry easily. He had clearly only cried once—just once! Why did Wenren Qian remember this one time so vividly?

“Fu Guzhou, so do you want This Seat to follow you back to the Xiaoyao Sword Sect, or not?”

Fu Guzhou didn’t first say whether he wanted to take him back to report safety, but asked instead: “The Great Demon Sovereign said just now that he wanted to take me somewhere. Why not tell me where you intend to take me?”

“The Demon Realm.”

What could he be going to the Demon Realm for? Fu Guzhou thought about it and felt the other was ten-to-one going to seek revenge on the Xuanyin Demon Emperor.

The Xuanyin Demon Emperor was one of the four Great Demon Emperors; his strength was surely not to be underestimated. Even if Wenren Qian’s strength truly surpassed his, the Demon Emperor’s subordinates weren’t pushovers. How could they simply let Wenren Qian fight his way to the door? Furthermore, they hadn’t been strangled by the Nine-Turn Yin Fiend Formation back then, so the Xuanyin Demon Emperor likely laid down countless hidden traps long ago, waiting for them to deliver themselves.

The more Fu Guzhou thought about it, the more dangerous he felt Wenren Qian’s trip was. He obediently held onto Wenren Qian’s sleeve, waiting for the other to take him away. “I think I’d better go with you.”

Wenren Qian laughed. “Is the Immortal Venerable not in a hurry to go back and report his safety?”

Fu Guzhou gave an “Eh?” and conjured a small messenger butterfly. After finishing the words he wanted to convey to his Senior Brother, he let the butterfly fly away. Simultaneously, he signaled to Wenren Qian that his “reporting safety” was done.

If Wenren Qian were willing to go with him, he would naturally prefer to take him back to see Senior Brother—not just to introduce his companion, but also to discuss his amnesia in detail. But currently, Wenren Qian was intent on revenge; he couldn’t very well just leave with a clear conscience. If he left now, he might even lose his Dao companion.

Wenren Qian raised an eyebrow. “The Immortal Venerable does not need to force himself for This Seat’s sake.”

Fu Guzhou pulled him a little tighter. “I’m not forcing myself. Anyway, I’m not in a particularly big hurry to go back. By the way, what place in the Demon Realm did you say we were going to?”

“The Wanbao Pavilion.”

Fu Guzhou: “……”

He blinked. “Not to go find trouble with the Xuanyin Demon Emperor?”

“This Seat never said that.”

Fu Guzhou thought about it, and it seemed the man truly hadn’t said it. Everything was just what he had assumed.

He whispered: “So the matter of the Xuanyin Demon Emperor is just dropped like that?”

“Naturally not. It’s just that there’s no rush for that. Compared to finding Xuanyin, This Seat would rather see what is going on with the Immortal Venerable’s brain.”

Fu Guzhou felt his brain was quite normal and felt he had been deceived. But since the messenger butterfly had already been sent, he couldn’t regret it. He could only half-pull the man’s sleeve as they headed toward Wanbao Pavilion.

Initially, Wenren Qian didn’t particularly want to be so intimate with Fu Guzhou. After refusing once, Fu Guzhou didn’t force it and relied entirely on his other senses to walk.

This was clearly very difficult for someone who wasn’t fully adapted to the darkness. Despite Fu Guzhou’s expressionless face and his walking as if taking a leisurely stroll, he nearly tripped after just a short distance. If Wenren Qian hadn’t reached out to support him, Fu Guzhou might be lying on the ground in a very inelegant posture right now.

Perhaps Fu Guzhou was too well-behaved; even Wenren Qian found it hard to continue bullying him.

He placed the other’s hand on the hem of his own sleeve and said calmly: “Hold on tight. If you trip again, no one will catch you.”

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