Editor's Note: What is this? A double release?! Yes indeed! An apology for the late release of chapter 32 from Rain and myself.

That night…

Stars rose as the sun sank.

Dark red robes fluttered urgently in the wind, dying the frosty blue Nuan Yan Pavilion with a trace of vivid colour.

Before Xi Huai had even regained his footing after landing, Qiuqiu flew out of his hands. 

Shocked and afraid of losing Chi Muyao's soul-bound spirit beast, he searched for something in the Myriad Treasure Bell with the intention to catch it again.

Unexpectedly, after flying around in a circle, Qiuqiu returned to his shoulder instead of flying away. Its swaying body seemed to indicate it was quite happy. 

It didn't even seem to realise that it had been kidnapped. 

Xi Huai planned to take advantage of the time Chi Muyao was taking the extra credit exam to study Qiuqiu carefully for any traces of Hui Dragon Flames on its body. 

How Chi Muyao was able to conceal all traces of the Hui Dragon Flames was very suspicious. 

Xi Huai poked the feathers of Qiuqiu's neck somewhat helplessly. "Your master's pretty smart, so why are you such a dummy?"

Qiuqiu was able to perceive people's emotions. It knew he said something not so flattering so it turned away like it was ignoring him. However, it stayed on his shoulder.

He took Qiuqiu back to the courtyard and when he entered he asked, "Did you find out?" 

Zong Sichen quickly flipped through the books stolen from the Nuan Yan Pavilion as he said, "There's too much nonsense in these Nuan Yan Pavilion books. All theoretical explanations of no practical use."

Song Weiyue also had a book in hand, though his reading speed far paled in contrast to Zong Sichen. He mumbled as he read, "What's it even saying, ah... Why aren't there any pictures?"

Zong Sichen simply tossed the book in his hand aside. "There are too few records about spirit pets. Since none of us are willing to waste too much time getting friendly with this bird, we'll have to ask someone from the Yu Chong School about how to break the restrictions on its body." 

Xi Huai was skeptical of his idea. He sat down and asked grimly, "You want me to take their disciple's soul-bound spirit beast to their Sect and have them break the restrictions on this bird?" 

Zong Sichen walked in front of Xi Huai and looked down at Qiuqiu with a frown. "How are we supposed to investigate its spiritual energy? There are too many spirit beasts, each with their own unique differences. Many are recorded in books, but there's been no mention so far of anyone making a yellow oriole their soul-bound spiritual beast. I'm afraid even the author never thought anyone would do such a thing... Where are we even supposed to start?"

Xi Huai tilted his head at Qiuqiu. "I just want to see if there are Hui Dragon Flames in its body."

"I know that, but what about the restrictions?"

Actually, Xi Huai had already probed Qiuqiu when he had spent the night in Chi Muyao's room.

After placing a silencing spiritual artefact, he secretly released Qiuqiu when Chi Muyao was asleep, hoping to investigate the spiritual energy within Qiuqiu's body. 

He thought the method would be the same for spirit pets as it was for humans. However, he discovered that imbuing Qiuqiu's forehead with spiritual energy didn't do anything other than make the bird's fat belly shake.

Spirit beasts were different from humans, especially this kind of soul-bound spirit beast that had contracted with a human. Each had special restrictions set by their masters.

Song Weiyue also put down his book and came over to stare at Qiuqiu. He seemed confused. "Why in the world would he make a yellow oriole like this his soul-bound spirit beast? Can it even attack? What's it supposed to do in a fight, peck at the opponents?" 

Zong Sichen recalled earnestly, "I've never seen Chi Muyao use it. It always seemed to be on...sentry duty. Yes, sentry duty. That's it."

Xi Huai asked again, "You couldn't find out anything more?" 

"I did find out a bit. Either the master has to order it to lift the restrictions, or it has to voluntarily lift them in battle in order to use its spiritual energy."

The three people staring at the bird fell into an anxious silence.

Song Weiyue was too lazy to use his brain, so he just took Xizhao out. "I'll beat it up. It'll lift the restrictions to counterattack, right?" 

Xi Huai immediately raised a hand to shield Qiuqiu. "No. What if it's really just an ordinary yellow oriole? You'll flatten it like a pancake." 

Song Weiyue almost had a mental breakdown while holding his hammer. "Then what are we supposed to do? That little shijie of Chi Muyao's isn't a good person, since she dared to even fight you. Since she lost her shidi's soul-bound spirit beast, she's definitely going to go find Yu Yanshu. Then we'll have an entire sect searching for this bird, which happens to be with us? What are we supposed to say when we get caught, 'we wanted to roast it since it looks so fat'?”

At this time, the insulted Qiuqiu suddenly spread its wings and chirped before taking to the air.

The three of them looked up at Qiuqiu, who was flying all around the room. They didn't dare to use excessive force because they were all very talented cultivators, and any one of their attacks would be enough to end this bird.

So instead of using their spiritual energy, they tried to catch it with only their hands and net-like spiritual artefacts.

Don't disparage how thiccFrom this YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arnWU1sWqKw
See also: Chonky
See also: Sahl - One of my cats, who is like a smol, ginger planet. Qiuqiu's body was, its movements remained quite agile. The three of them couldn't even catch it while using the Light Body Technique. It even targeted Song Weiyue, dropping a poo on top of his head.

Song Weiyu was, at the very least, the son of one of the Qing Ze Sect's palace masters. He had put up some defences, including a barrier above his head.

But the sight of that shit spreading out slowly over the barrier on top of his head was still very disgusting... 

Zong Sichen laughed at the sight. "Hahaha, so it does have a few tricks up its sleeves. We've underestimated it."

Song Weiyue hurriedly jumped away, as nimble as any monkey. He ended up squatting on one of the tabletops with his foot on a book. Looking down, he felt that this wasn't very respectful towards the book, so he picked it up.

Even though he couldn't understand it, this was still a piece of knowledge.

He patted the dust off the cover and said, "This Chi Muyao really is quite interesting. He entered the Yu Chong School, so his lack of cultivation progress isn't surprising, but to make a yellow oriole his soul-bound spirit beast? That level of un-motivation really is remarkable."

Xi Huai replied with his eyes downcast, "People have their own ambitions, he just likes other ways of living, I guess."

Zong Sichen nodded and added his own insights to the analysis, "Which means his preferred lifestyle is completely different from yours. Could that be why he refuses to admit it despite knowing you are looking for him? His life would change in many ways after being found by you, and life at the Qing Ze Sect has never been peaceful. If he were by your side, he would have to experience unrest, which he clearly doesn't like. That's why he simply denies it to avoid it altogether." 

The two of them had come to understand by now that Xi Huai wasn't going to punish or kill A-Jiu once he found him. Otherwise, there was no need to protect A-Jiu and others related to him.

They knew just by looking at Xi Huai that he had fallen for A-Jiu. He just hadn't expressed it in words.

By helping Xi Huai analyse this, they were also analysing the future of those two.

Song Weiyue laughed and said, "Do you really think that Chi Muyao is A-Jiu? The Young Sect Master probably wants someone as good looking as him to be A-Jiu. How else can you explain how perfect his disguise is? Why bother looking for A-Jiu anymore? The real A-Jiu's probably refusing to come out because he's seen the Young Sect Master flirting with a little beauty everyday."

"But..." Zong Sichen hesitated, "A-Jiu was in the Array, and A-Jiu was also present when we ran into that old nun, Xian Yue. Not many people meet both of those conditions. I'm beginning to suspect Chi Muyao as well. Who else could it be, Xi Zihe?"

Xi Huai listened to their analysis with a dark expression.

The lack of a definite answer was grating to him. 

His heart was like a strand of duckweed adrift in blue waves, floating everywhere with no support.

His gaze remained on Qiuqiu the entire time. He found that Qiuqiu flew around for a while before landing back on his shoulder, bouncing around there and showing off to Song Weiyue.

Its guts were fat too.

Song Weiyue was so angry that he shot to his feet. "It's picking a fight with me. What makes it so confident?" 

Zong Sichen also found it interesting. He said with a smile, "It knows that the Young Sect Master is protecting it. Speaking of which, it really likes the Young Sect Master."

Xi Huai let Qiuqiu land on his hand. He tentatively injected spiritual energy—again to no avail. 

None of the artefacts and methods he thought of next bore any fruit either. 

Dejected, the trio had to give up in the end. Song Weiyue sighed. "Looks like this was a dead end." 

So Xi Huai could only take Qiuqiu back. 

Instead of bringing Qiuqiu to Yi Qianxi, he brought it back to the room Chi Muyao was living in. He shut all the doors and windows to make sure it didn't fly off.

Less than an hour later, Yi Qianxi entered Chi Muyao's room. She only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Qiuqiu land on the screen and look at her with its head tilted.

She immediately went over and recalled Qiuqiu. She cursed while holding it, "Why did you fly back by yourself? I was going crazy looking for you, arrggh!"

For the sake of letting Qiuqiu and her red fox get some fresh air instead of being in the spirit pet bag all the time, Yi Qianxi chose to go to the back of the mountain. When Qiuqiu suddenly disappeared, she was frantic.

She searched all over the Nuan Yan Pavilion for it, afraid that someone would use Qiuqiu as a target for practicing the Fire Ball Spell or something. 

The first person she went to was, naturally, Yu Yanshu, who called a few disciples over to help. Their group searched everywhere. 

Left with no other choice, Yi Qianxi came to Chi Muyao's room, only to find Qiuqiu here. After a huge burden was lifted from her shoulders, she held Qiuqiu and started to cry very, very loudly.

Yu Yanshu stood by her side, somewhat helplessly. He reached out but ended up withdrawing his hand.

He wasn't good with this sort of stuff, so he could only send out Sound Transmission Talismans to let the other disciples know that Qiuqiu had been found. Then he looked around the room. "All the windows and doors were shut, so Qiuqiu couldn't have flown in on its own. Someone left it here.” 

He was successful at changing the subject. Yi Qianxi immediately asked, "So it really was kidnapped?"

"Looks like it. Then it was brought back.”

 "Did the people of the Qing Ze Sect do this?"

 "I don't know.”

 Yi Qianxi finally wiped away her tears, and stomped her feet with anger. "Pervert, damned cutsleeveWhy we're all here - boys who love boys. A term from a Chinese Emperor (can't recall the name - too lazy to look it up) from the Han Period who cut off the sleeve of his clothing rather than wake his (male) lover.. How dare he have impure intentions after seeing how good looking my shidi is?!" 

"Take good care of Qiuqiu while Chi-shidi is taking his exam. I will keep an eye on them." Yu Yanshu pointed at Qiuqiu. "Is it hurt?"

Yi Qianxi's eyebrows rose after checking. "No.”

"That's good. I'll leave first." Yu Yanshu didn't want to be alone in the same room for too long with a girl, so he quickly left. 

Yi Qianxi only checked the restrictions within Qiuqiu's body after he left. Then she reinforced them.

It seemed like Qiuqiu really was kidnapped by someone...

Chi Muyao sat in the Phoenix Gazebo and swung his legs, watching the other cultivators busy themselves.

Compared with how tense everyone else was, his calmness really stood out. 

The Phoenix Gazebo in this place consisted of three gazebos connected to each other. The centre one was taller, with the corners of its eaves curved in graceful arcs. The gazebos to either side resembled spreading wings.

Chi Muyao sat in the main six-sided gazebo, taking in the fresh breeze that slowly brought the scent of vegetation.

There were many formations on each floor of the trial ground's Ninety-nine Glazed Glass Pagoda. The cultivators taking the exam needed to enter three formations on every floor. Three successes meant they could move up one floor.

This was already the second day of the exam. After braving his way onto the third floor, Chi Muyao felt his eyes go dark the minute he saw Ming Shaoluo and her posse.

It seemed like he couldn't avoid them after all.

Actually, from the moment he saw Mu Ren, Chi Muyao had anticipated that even his random entering of formations was anticipated by the Pagoda's mechanisms. It wasn't a surprise for him to encounter Ming Shaoluo's group.

However, Ming Shaoluo was very shocked to see Chi Muyao on the third floor. Why else would she be unable to stop staring at him for so long? 

After getting ready, Ming Shaoluo became the leader and began to lead all the cultivators to break the formation together.

After reaching the third floor, the formations became more complicated. This one was no exception. It was as if they had been transported to another location. There was fresh grass to smell, gazebos to sit in, and a cool breeze to enjoy. 

The fog had yet to clear. Before the gazebo was a sea of gently swaying green grass. Willow branches blew across the river bank, which was lined with blue, moss-covered stones.

It was almost like another world entirely.

However, this formation was just too alluring. The fog acted as interference, disorienting people.

As people wandered around in this formation that seemed without end, they would somehow find themselves back where they started. However, the place was slightly different from before.

It was a confusing formation meant to trap people. If the eye of the formation couldn't be found, people would probably wander forever inside, never able to leave again.

Chi Muyao felt a little bored watching them busy themselves.

He was familiar with this type of formation. Their He Huan Sect was best at using illusion spells, which were incorporated into this formation. 

He only needed a rough glance to see the flaws, but he didn't want to steal Ming Shaoluo's limelight. He also didn't want to be stuck with them.

However, sitting here and waiting was getting tiring.

In the end, he couldn't sit still and got up, intending to help them. 

He circled around the eye of the formation. While he was studying it, he heard other people say, "That one from the Yu Chong School has been wandering around the stone steps for a long time.”

"He couldn't possibly think that's the formation’s eye, right?"

"I've walked by there many times without seeing anything amiss. Seems like he's just here to bum off other people's efforts after all. It's a miracle he made it to the third floor.”

"First he sat there like an idiot, now he's studying the stone steps. This is hilarious.”

Mu Ren came over from elsewhere and sighed. "How do you know he's not observing something closely?"

Those people all shut up after hearing Mu Ren speak up for Chi Muyao.

Ming Shaoluo was also not far away. She smiled and asked, "Mu Ren, your attitude towards him's changed. Have your paths crossed earlier?"

"En, once." Mu Ren didn't want to elaborate, and he didn't pay any more attention to Chi Muyao either, going off to search on his own.

Mu Ren's wood element spiritual root was above average. He stepped into the gazebo to meditate cross-legged, using his divine sense to connect with the plants here to sense anything amiss within the formation. 

Of course, the other cultivators all had their own methods since they did get to the third floor.

When Mu Ren opened his eyes again, he locked eyes with Chi Muyao.

Despite feeling a bit embarrassed, he walked in Chi Muyao's direction.

"Why didn't you..." Mu Ren seemed to want to ask Chi Muyao why he didn't just unravel this illusion formation. Then he glanced knowingly at Ming Shaoluo and dropped the subject. He would solve the formation.

In an instant, the world changed.

Day became night as the moon rose high in the sky. Stars scattered above like fallen autumn leaves.

The Phoenix Gazebo vanished, and vegetation became stone slabs and ground.

The ground stretched infinitely from the stone steps, the formation eye, with no end in sight.

Red silk and drums were scattered under the moonlight. The drum was a common red drum with golden nails and rings surrounding its cowhide drum surface.

Red silk surrounded the eighty-one drums. As the drums moved, so did the silk.

At this time, there was the sound of qinMusical instrument as modelled here by our lovely Lan Zhan (The Untamed/GMDC). in the array. The melody it played was melodious, but with a distinct sense of rhythm.

The formation was still one meant to interfere with the senses. The red silk, the night, everything was a distraction. Random changes to make it more difficult to figure out how the drums were changing.

This formation would only allow one cultivator to hit the right drums at the right time. This person also needed to understand the hints given by the melody in order to find out which drums to hit. It had to be someone who truly knew what they were doing.

The ones who didn't understand musical theory just gave up, standing to one side and waiting for the others to break the formation.

Chi Muyao wasn't in a hurry. He watched Ming Shaoluo jump into the formation and try to find the positions by listening to the melody.

Don't disparage Ming Shaoluo because of her stubborn personality, there was a reason for her to be so proud. She had good aptitude as a single-element wood spiritual root, good looks and a good family background.

Her leaping about the formation actually seemed like she was spinning and dancing. 

Her sleeves fluttered in the wind like newly opened peach blossoms.

The drums needed to be hit eighty-one times exactly. However, you would need to start again if even one mistake was made. 

Eighty-one drums, eighty-one times. Every drum must be hit once.

The beat kept moving, its position uncertain. If you couldn't keep up, you would also fail to break the formation.

Some of the onlookers sighed, "It's too difficult."

"Ming-shijie really is amazing. If I had to go, I would mess up even if I used my divine sense to monitor all the drums.”

"Right?”

Ming Shaoluo managed forty-two consecutive beats on her first try. She couldn't keep up on the forty-third time, unfortunately failing to break the formation.

She sighed for a long time after walking out of the formation, saying unhappily, "It's so difficult!"

Despite saying that, she was secretly pleased on the inside. She knew that she had already done very well. 

She broke through this formation once before being reborn.

At the time, Mu Ren was the one who first found the formation eye. She didn't notice where Mu Ren found it, but she saw the world change to the second phase.

This second phase actually stumped them for a while. Everyone went up and had a try at it. In the end, she was the first to pass after wasting two days. 

Because she had to try so many times, she had practically memorised the rhythm.

 She was sure that no one could show her up.

She remembered that only she and Mu Ren were able to clear this level of the formation.

Mu Ren seriously regarded the formation and praised, "This formation is very difficult. You've already outdone yourself."

"Would Mu-shixiong like to have a try?"

"En, I will." Saying that, Mu Ren entered the formation using the Light Body Technique. He tried to calm down and listen closely to the rhythm, but he only managed to hit the drums fourteen times in a row on his first attempt.

 More people tried after that, and all failed.

Ming Shaoluo glanced at Chi Muyao, who had mostly just sat back and watched. "Chi-shidi should also give it a try.”

 She wanted everyone to try it, so they would see for themselves how difficult this formation was. Only then would they truly appreciate how good she was.

She was even already thinking about news of her breaking through this formation arriving at Xi Zihe's ear. Perhaps this would change Xi Zihe's view of her.

After all, there was no one more obsessed with formations than Xi Zihe.

After Chi Muyao nodded and walked forward, Mu Ren suddenly said, "Try it normally." 

He looked back at Mu Ren, who spoke in a preaching tone again, "People will still find out once you rush the next few floors. There's no need to be like this now. It'll save you time and energy.” 

He thought for a while before replying, "En. You're right."

Everyone was puzzled over what these two were talking about.

Ming Shaoluo frowned slightly. She didn't expect Chi Muyao to make it to this formation. To be honest, she was really curious about Chi Muyao's true abilities. 

Chi Muyao stood in the formation, listening to the rhythm, watching the drums. Then he began to break the formation. 

Every He Huan Sect disciple was proficient in keeping rhythm. They were also skilled in all the other fine arts, lures they employed to attract better 'furnaces'.

Naturally, Chi Muyao was also quite good at keeping rhythm, a tad worse than his martial sisters, but not by any means bad.

When he hit the drum, he would leave a peach-pink fluorescence that only the He Huan Sect disciples could see on the drum surface, so as to record which drum he had already hit.

Chi Muyao drifted from drum to drum, his turns making it seem like he was dancing lightly. 

The moon's silvery cold rays shone down on Chi Muyao, highlighting his hair and clothes in silvery white.

The melody lingered, the dance was light. A shadow cast on the surface of drums and red silk.

His figure appeared and disappeared between the constantly shifting drums and red silk, his sleeves and long hair fluttering.

He tossed out a spirit stone. Jumping on it, he willed the spirit stone to break. The spiritual energy contained within was instantly absorbed. The fallen debris resembled a broken pear blossom, the scattered catkins unexpectedly beautiful. 

Tang Ming has always been a crazed suitor of Ming Shaoluo. He was obsessed with her beauty.

Witnessing the sight of Chi Muyao breaking through the formation, even he couldn't help but sigh, "How beautiful, ah..."

It was only after he blurted out the words that he noticed they made Ming Shaoluo unhappy. Tang Ming quickly recalled his captivated gaze and swallowed his spit with embarrassment to conceal his momentary distraction.

Mu Ren watched Chi Muyao break the formation and counted silently. He did it silently at first, but started counting aloud after reaching seventy. 

The eyes of everyone else watching in the formation began to widen. People started subconsciously holding their breaths.

The most critical last hits were here! 

"Seventy, seventy-one...eighty, eighty-one!" Mu Ren cried out the final number especially loudly, his tone conveying his pleased surprise.

He succeeded!

In one try!

A clean and smooth execution from beginning to end. 

Mu Ren actually breathed a sigh of relief on Chi Muyao's behalf. He looked down on Chi Muyao before, but now the other party had gained his respect. 

Mu Ren was capable of changing his attitude when he met someone truly capable.

Ming Shaluo watched in disbelief as Chi Muyao smoothly passed the trial. Mu Ren abandoned his previous dislike for Chi Muyao. In fact, Chi Muyao's success even helped him regain the motivation to try again.

It was as if Mu Ren was learning while Chi Muyao broke the formation. 

How could this have happened? 

Where did this Chi Muyao come from?! 

How could this be?

A Yu Chong School waste!

How could this be?!!

She looked around at the others. Everyone seemed astonished by Chi Muyao's formation breaking abilities. Some were shocked, others skeptical, others completely in awe.

But more than that, was the long-lasting shock of being amazed.

"This Yu Chong School disciple is so amazing.”

"I suddenly feel like he's called the number one beauty in the three realms for good reason! The sight of him beating the drums was so beautiful!" 

"Who would've thought he actually had it in him..."

Having already been transported out of the formation after succeeding, Chi Muyao naturally didn't know that Ming Shaoluo was so angry she wounded her lower lip with her teeth.

He didn't touch the teleportation stone in the room for a long time, instead standing quietly with a hand on the wall.

"My old waist...AHHHH!! Ow, ow, ow!”

He was in so much pain that he dared not move recklessly. He stood with one hand on his waist and the other on the wall for a long time.

He had pulled a muscle in his waist while breaking the formation. Chi Muyao only remembered after standing quietly for a while that he had a healing ability. Then he began to treat his waist in secret.

His aged knees and waist never really recovered from old 'wounds'. They just weren't cut out for this kind of action.

The 'wounds' were of course sustained during those years in the cave.