I courted death and then tried to escape, so the whole sect wants to get rid of me.

After sitting quietly for a while, Song Yao started rambling: "Fourth Senior Brother, I only came here today out of curiosity. I already know there's nothing good or fun about this place. Why don't we go back? I still have to study the alchemical texts."

After saying that, he added, "I am still young, and it is not appropriate for me to stay in a place like this for a long time."

As soon as she finished speaking, a slender, fair hand reached into her large bundle and pulled out a book on alchemy.

Xie Zhou casually flipped through a couple of pages: "Which page are you on?"

Song Yao: "...Seventy pages."

Weird.

She gets dizzy before she can even understand the first page.

But in front of his fourth junior brother, he couldn't lose face too much.

Xie Zhou closed the book and handed it to the girls in front of him: "Read it."

A question mark popped up above Song Yao's head again.

Did she go too far back then? Fourth Junior Brother seems to have really gone mad.

In a brothel, are girls made to read Buddhist scriptures?

Where did the fourth junior brother come up with the idea of ​​tormenting his fellow disciples?

She turned her head and glanced at Xie Zhou, who was sitting upright by the window. His features were handsome and his temperament was aloof. He looked like he wouldn't leave until she studied properly.

They were serious.

Song Yao pondered for a moment.

She can't fall asleep while studying at Baicao Peak, but with her fourth junior brother, a ticking time bomb, watching her in the brothel, she probably won't be able to sleep, right?

She looked away and smiled at the girl holding the book: "Go ahead and read, thank you for your trouble."

She looked beautiful when she smiled. The girl blushed, quickly shook her head and said it was no trouble, and then began to read it haltingly.

The prescription was dry and boring, but it didn't seem so boring when she read it from her mouth.

Fearing that her fourth junior brother would notice something amiss, Song Yao persevered for a full three pages before her vision began to blur and her head started to droop.

Good sleep.

I'm not only sleepy, but also dizzy.

Before falling asleep, Song Yao thought to herself, "Losing my soul is really troublesome."

But since he's the fourth junior brother, it shouldn't be a problem for me to sleep in front of him for a while.

-

The girl was reading halfway through when she noticed that the person in front of her was sleeping soundly with their head drooping and their face resting in the crook of their arm.

Holding the book, she looked helplessly towards the window: "Young master, this..."

Xie Zhou got up and casually grabbed a thin blanket and threw it on Song Yao.

The blanket was too big, covering most of the person, leaving only their eyes and the top of their fluffy hair showing.

He glanced at the half-burnt incense stick on the table and said unhurriedly, "Let's get started."

The expressions of the people kneeling in the room changed drastically.

The girl holding the book suddenly looked up, her fear vanishing, replaced by a chilling murderous intent: "You actually saw through me!"

She formed her fingers into claws and viciously clawed at Xie Zhou's face, her movements as swift as lightning, bringing with them a gust of bloody wind.

Several handsome young male prostitutes nearby suddenly sprang into action, blocking Xie Zhou's escape route.

Xie Zhou dodged to the side, and the talisman flew out from his sleeve, turning into a wall of fire in the air, forcing the group back half a step.

"Those heretical cultivators all said that Young Master Xie of the Nine Saints Hall is difficult to deal with, and he certainly lives up to his reputation."

With a "bang," the door was kicked open from the outside.

The second manager, who had just knelt down and begged for mercy, stood at the door, his face no longer showing any fear.

He held a heavy, dark longsword, its blade engraved with sinister patterns that gleamed with an eerie red light in the candlelight. "However, my Drunken Immortal Pavilion is not to be trifled with. We let you go just now, yet you dared to insist on staying alone! Then I'll finish you off and use your head to exchange for the manager!"

He roared, and the evil patterns on the blade intensified, slashing down at Xie Zhou while enveloped in a cloud of black energy.

The others attacked simultaneously, rushing in from all directions.

Xie Zhou didn't move at all. The talisman flew out and transformed into dozens of golden rays, weaving a dense golden net in the air.

The people who rushed up were struck by the golden light, grunted, and flew backward, smashing the doors and windows with a loud bang.

The second shopkeeper's longsword was about to strike Xie Zhou's head when it was blocked by a beam of light that appeared out of nowhere. Sparks flew everywhere, and the light made Xie Zhou's hands go numb, forcing him to retreat several steps.

He couldn't cut through, and his men couldn't break through either.

Xie Zhou stood in the center of that circle of golden light, his moon-white robe motionless, his expression indifferent, as if watching a group of moths futilely flying into a net.

The second shopkeeper's eyes darted around, and he suddenly turned around, slashing his long sword at Song Yao.

The slash was swift and ruthless, the blade overturning the teacup.

Xie Zhou's eyes suddenly turned cold, and his movement of raising his hand was so fast that it was almost invisible.

A talisman flew out from between his fingers, silently and swiftly as lightning.

The paper was so thin it let light through; it pierced through the blade and precisely sliced ​​the second shopkeeper's throat.

The second manager froze.

A thin line of blood seeped from the edge of the talisman, and in the next instant, fresh blood gushed out.

The second shopkeeper opened his mouth, only emitting a "hoarse" sound, and the long knife slipped from his hand, hitting the floor with a muffled thud.

He knelt down, clutching his neck, his eyes wide with disbelief.

After their initial shock subsided, the people inside the room tried to retaliate, but several more talismans flew in and suppressed them completely.

They could only watch helplessly as Xie Zhou slowly walked up to them: "Hidden in Kunming for so many years, who is behind you?"

One of them chuckled, "Who else could be behind us? It's ourselves, of course! Spring City has a great environment and its people are so beautiful, it's perfect for nourishing us..."

Before he could finish speaking, his throat was suddenly gripped tightly, almost suffocating him.

Xie Zhou lowered his eyes to look at him: "I'll ask you one more time, who's behind you...?"

The slight noise behind him interrupted Xie Zhou's actions.

He let go, turned his head, and saw that Song Yao had woken up.

The slender girl propped her head up from her arms, her long eyelashes trembling, her pupils slightly dilated. She held half a stick of incense from the incense burner in her hand, and said in a weak voice, "Fourth Junior Brother, there's something wrong with this incense. I feel so dizzy."

Her voice was soft and gentle, with a long-lost, coquettish quality.

Xie Zhou stopped in his tracks, glanced at her, and then at the incense in her hand.

There's definitely something wrong with this incense.

She actually managed to make him hear her call him Fourth Junior Brother.

A barely perceptible glint of hatred flashed in his eyes. He smirked and walked to the table.

He bent down and gently wiped away the bloodstains that had accidentally gotten on her face with his rough fingertips.

Song Yao let him wipe her eyes in a daze, her eyes half-open and half-closed, as if looking at him through a layer of fog.

After wiping, Xie Zhou straightened up: "It's late, let's go back to the sect."

Song Yao pressed her temples; her head was still spinning.

She was in a daze, somewhat unsure of where she was.

Squinting, he saw the red curtains and light gauze, and smelled the aroma of wine. He also saw his fourth junior brother's face and thought to himself that he must have accidentally drunk too much wine again.

She struggled to sit up, reached out and grabbed her fourth junior brother's arm, acting like a brat as before: "Then carry me back, otherwise what if Master scolds me again?"

Xie Zhou looked down at the hand.

Thin and pale, with prominent wrist bones, and cool fingertips.

The owner of the hand was looking at him with an expression he hadn't seen in a long time.

Stubborn, self-righteous, and utterly unreasonable.

His gaze grew colder inch by inch, and the spiritual energy surrounding him became dark and gloomy.

He'd been dead for half a year, and now he's back without a word, pretending not to know anyone. Such is the way things are in this world.

The talisman paper connected, transforming into a chain that bound her wrist, leaving red marks.

Song Yao groaned in pain, her eyes welling up with tears: "Xie Zhou, you're no good at all. I'm going to burn your house down."

"..."

The talisman loosened in the next moment and flew back into Xie Zhou's sleeve.

He turned around, squatted down in front of her, and sighed softly, "Come on up, don't burn down my house, Third Senior Sister."