The first rite of passage in the cultivation world was cutting one’s hair and cleansing one’s marrow. Only after achieving inediaNot Eating. could one truly be said to have left the mortal world behind.

Since they didn’t need to eat, there was naturally no need to go to the washroom either.

As cultivators, they were fine being locked up in this cave because they could tolerate more than normal people. However, they too could be eventually affected by the suffocating darkness around them.

The darkness ate away at people like a silent fog. It slowly soaked into their skin until a layer of black dyed their fingertips. They would also become irritating with prolonged exposure.

Chi Muyao knew what kind of temper Xi Huai had, so he didn't dare to even breathe too loudly after entering the cave. He was afraid of incurring this guy’s wrath.

As a result, he hugged his knees and sat in a crevice of the cave for nine days straight.

Like a depressed mushroom, he didn’t move an inch.

Xi Huai never paid him any mind either. He didn’t say a word the whole time.

Chi Muyao didn’t need his attention. He would be happy as long as Xi Huai didn’t find trouble with him.

Suddenly, a rustling noise echoed through this barren chamber.

Neither of them moved. The sound didn’t come from the direction Xi Huai was in either.

Chu Muyao lifted his head in the direction of the noise. Then he swept over the area with his divine sense. But before it could get any closer, his mind sea was attacked. The sensation made him jolt to his feet.

There were other living creatures in the cave!

He took out the He Huan Sect's signature artefact, the round fan团扇 - Name is self-explanatory. Apparently this was a popular accessory in the imperial palace during the Han dynasty., and readied himself.

In terms of cultivation, he was not the match of the living creature lying in wait. He still had a lingering headache from when his divine sense was repelled.

If the other party came with malicious intent, his chances of victory were slim.

But that creature seemed disinterested in him. After watching him for a while, it pounced at the restrained Xi Huai.

Xi Huai could not move from where he was lying down. He wasn’t surprised to learn that there were other living things in the cave, almost like he had been attacked by it before. Since he couldn’t retaliate, he could only let it do as it wished.

Come to think of it, this creature was able to live well recently because it drank Xi Huai’s blood, ate his flesh and siphoned his spiritual energy. After tasting sweet success before, it was back for another round.

Immediately, that creature seemed to tear a hole in Xi Huai, using so much force that the young man’s body shifted and his chains clinked. The air gradually became saturated with the rich smell of blood.

Since cultivators had an above average sense of smell, Chi Muyao naturally noticed this as well.

He tiptoed over before leaping into midair and disturbing the feasting creature with a sweep of his fan. It was forced to temporarily abandon its attack on Xi Huai and take flight.

Alas, Chi Muyao's cultivation was too shallow. Although his vision was superior to mortals, it was still lacking in these kinds of dark environments. His spiritual sense wasn’t strong enough to perceive the locations of surrounding objects either. He could only rely on sound to fight.

After the creature was driven off, Chi Muyao landed on one foot on Xi Huai’s stone bed. Only after making sure he didn’t step on Xi Huai did he tentatively put his other foot down.

If there was light in the cavern, you would be able to see the current position of the two.

With his limbs restricted by chains, Xi Huai was lying flat on the stone bed in the shape of the character ‘太’. Although ‘火’ would serve to describe his current state better in some aspects, ‘太’ offered a more complete visual.

Chi Muyao, on the other hand, was standing atop the stone bed in the shape of the character ‘亽’. Both of his feet were planted on either side of Xi Huai’s waist. If his legs were any more together, he would have stepped on Xi Huai.

He leaned down slightly and asked out of concern, "Did it bite you?"

"En."

"Are you bleeding a lot?"

"No, it’s just a minor injury."

Since it was Xi Huai we’re talking about, this was indeed a minor injury.

In the original novel’s plot-line, about two-thirds of the way through, Xi Huai went blind. The readers even jokingly referred to him as ‘Little Blind Dragon’小龙瞎 - lit. 'little dragon blind'

There is a pun here. '龙虾' (shrimp) has the same pronunciation as '龙瞎' (dragon blind). They're basically calling him 'Little Shrimp'..

Things got even worse in the finale. In that decisive battle, Xi Huai lost an arm and was bleeding freely from basically his entire body. There was barely any intact skin to be found amidst all the wounds. Facing off against him in this state was the protagonist, the second male lead and the protagonist’s seven very good female friends. They used a forbidden formation to kill Xi Huai through exhausting him.

Chi Muyao vigilantly got up with his round fan still in hand. “It couldn’t have given up so easily. It’s still hiding nearby, watching for another chance to attack. I’ll bandage your wounds after I take care of it.”

Xi Huai, however, hit him with the cold, hard truth. “You’re no match for it."

Xi Huai could sense Chi Muyao's cultivation level, which was the pitifully weak stage of early Qi Refining. With his subpar talent, it was already difficult for Chi Muyao to draw energy into his body. High level tasks like opening the Governing and Conception Vessels任督二脉 - two of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Reference here: Governing and Conception Vessels. were probably beyond his capabilities.

But the bastard that attacked him had Dark level cultivation.

The cultivation levels of spiritual beasts went as follows: Heaven, Earth, Dark and YellowThis may be in reverse order. It's hard to believe that the lowest tier would be called 'Heaven'..

Dark level was already equivalent to the Foundation Establishment stage in the cultivation world. Chi Muyao was clearly no match for it at all.

"I know." But Chi Muyao still refused to back off. He continued scanning his surroundings. “I can’t just stand by and watch it attack you forever. Besides, it’ll come for me once it finishes you off. Consider this an act of self-preservation. I’m already nearing the end of my lifespan, so doing one more good deed before I go doesn’t sound too bad.”

Xi Huai’s posture where he laid didn’t change at all. He spoke not a word, and his chains became silent again.

The creature approached once more. As the assault dragged on, Chi Muyao was gradually being put at a disadvantage. At most, the situation could be considered a stalemate.

But the good news was he had a rough idea of what his opponent was.

It had wings, hard leather armour and moved with unparalleled swiftness

Taking all that into consideration, it should be a type of bat spirit beast.

Xi Huai kept a lazy eye on the fight above him, noting that Chi Muyao was still watching his feet to not step on him while he fought.

Then he secretly tossed down spirit stones to set up a formation.

After a brief glance, the corners of Xi Huai's mouth curled up.

So he isn’t a complete idiot.

In order to fight someone of a higher cultivation level, you needed either an extremely strong artefact or other methods like seals or formations.

Xi Huai observed that Chi Muyao was quite good at formations. He probably studied them carefully because he had no prospects as a waste male disciple of the He Huan Sect.

Chi Muyao's use of formations wasn’t bad, but his attention was split by how much he was relying on his hearing.

Xi Huai finally spoke up, "Incorporate more variations like shaking the three palaces or heaven shooting stars.”

Chi Muyao immediately made hand seals with one hand and changed his formation based on Xi Huai’s suggestions.

Xi Huai listened a bit longer before reminding again, "Input your energy."

"I don't have a fire spiritual root." Chi Muyao hastily replied as he tended to the formation.

"Then draw the energy out of me. Do you know how to do that?”

"Yes, but may I?"

Before this, Xi Huai had warned Chi Muyao not to touch him.

"Then fight it yourself for all I care." Xi Huai said dismissively.

Then he noticed Chi Muyao hastily taking off his shoes. With a brief “sorry about this”, he stepped on Xi Huai with one foot.

He changed position after noticing his foot had landed somewhere awkward.

Xi Huai: "..."

Is he...afraid of getting my clothes dirty?

Chi Muyao drew out a fire-type attack from Xi Huai's body. This was a method that all of the demonic sects knew how to use.

There were fewer cultivators in demonic sects than those renowned righteous sects. They could only study strange and bizarre techniques. This was a method they developed for times when they worked together to defend against a common enemy. By attacking as a group, there were times when many Foundation Establishment demonic sect disciples could set up a formation that could momentarily hold off a Golden Core stage cultivator.

This method required the cooperation of the donor and allowed the receiver to attack with a technique of a different element than their own.

After listening carefully to the sounds of battle for a while, Xi Huai commented, "Eight strengths mountain, heaven appointing stars, input energy!”

Chi Muyao was already in motion as he spoke. Clearly, he had come to the same conclusion as Xi Huai.

This was not Chi Muyao’s first time using the energy drawing technique, but the Overbearing True Fire he extracted was just too hard to control.

As the firelight shot up to the ceiling, his silhouette shifted. The backlash threw him off the stone bed. As he fell, he remembered to retrieve the emergency talisman given to him by the Sect Master from his spatial artefact and send it flying forward with hand signs.

The combined assault of the Overbearing True Fire and a sealing talisman made by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator were enough to overcome the beast. It seemed to roar before tumbling to the ground. However, the ultrasonic wavelengths used by bats weren’t audible to human ears, making it seem like it died without a sound.

Xi Huai's attention was on the beast. Only after confirming it was down for good did he look over at Chi Muyao.

Unfortunately, he missed his chance. The fluttering wide sleeves of a pale pink garment and the briefest hint of his figure were all that Xi Huai saw. He wasn’t able to find out what this He Huan Sect disciple looked like.

Of course, he had no idea right now that this would be the only time fire would ever light up the cave.

He never found out what Chi Muyao looked like, even till the end.

After falling off the bed, Chi Muyao rolled around on the ground due to the pain. He rubbed his back and sighed. Scrambling to his feet, he fumbled around, looking for that shoe of his.

His fingers ended up, accidentally touching Xi Huai's waist. Chi Muyao quickly drew back his hand like he was burned.

"One more inch forward." Xi Huai informed him.

Chi Muyao frantically reached out again, got his shoe and put it on. He walked over to the bat’s corpse and took out the bamboo tube used for storing spiritual beast corpses. He capped it after use.

From time to time, they would go on hunting excursions and sell the useful parts harvested from their haul for spirit stones at the market. Naturally, this made the bamboo tube a common item.

Then Chi Muyao went to Xi Huai's side again. He didn’t dare to touch for fear of aggravating the other’s wounds.

Thus, he could only lean down and sniff to see where the scent of blood was strongest. Then he placed his hands on Xi Huai's sleeve and measured out an area from his shoulder to his elbow. "Is the wound somewhere here?"

"..." His questionable methods left Xi Huai speechless for a while. "En."

After confirming, Chi Muyao took out the medicinal powder from his necklace. Since he couldn’t see exactly where the wound was, he applied the powder very liberally to the area. This also caused the air to be filled with powder, making Xi Huai cough and turn away.

"Does it hurt?" He asked because he misunderstood.

"I've never used such a poor quality medicinal powder before."

"I only have this kind. It’s the type the Sect issues to everyone.” Chi Muyao put the remaining powder away and took out some gauze to bandage Xi Huai up.

The medicine Xi Huai usually used had almost nothing in common with this chalky powder. It would instantly heal wounds like this upon application, so there was no need to use bandages either.

Especially bandages over his clothes.

Xi Huai was the Young Sect Master of the Qing Ze Sect, so he was naturally treated like royalty. This imprisonment was his first time being treated like this.

If the Qing Ze Sect was said to be the second wealthiest sect in the entire cultivation world, no other sect would dare to claim first place.

Yet if he hadn’t attracted the covetous attention of so many people, the Qing Ze Sect Master wouldn’t have been desperate enough to make a spiritual contract with the Hui.

And if he hadn’t made that contract, he could’ve spared Xi Huai a lifetime of pain.

Chi Muyao was really careful to touch him as little as possible when applying the bandages. He even applied the bandages rather loosely over Xi Huai’s clothes.

When it was done, Chi Muyao once again retreated far away in a manner that seemed to say, ‘look, I really didn’t make a pass at you’.

Through his actions, he demonstrated how he really wasn't interested in Xi Huai's body. If not for the sudden appearance of that spirit beast, he wouldn't even have moved from his spot at all.