When Chi Muyao and Xi Huai rode back to the Yu Chong School on the bamboo slips, they found the place a little more lively than they had left it.

Yu Yanshu and Xi Zihe had been sent to deliver some medicinal pills to Chi Muyao.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they ran into Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen, who were playing with a fox. 

Yu Yanshu naturally wanted to ask a few questions, the implication being that he could help drive away these demonic faction disciples if they weren't guests of the Yu Chong School. 

Song Weiyue had a sharp tongue and immediately asked, "You're only daring to say that because our Young Sect Master isn't here, right? You know you're definitely not his match. "

"He has a spirit contract with the Hui, so I am naturally not his opponent." Even Yu Yanshu could admit that. However, he believed things would be different if the Hui was removed from the equation.

"You're not his opponent even without the spirit contract. He built his foundation before you. If he hadn't been...delayed, he would surely have formed his golden core earlier than you. Now you've become the youngest cultivator to ever form their core in the cultivation world. Bah, like you're anything special. Our Young Sect Master let you be first."

For this reason, Song Weiyue was unhappy for a long time. 

"Then I'll have to thank him sometime." Yu Yanshu's words were polite, but they were actually mocking.

The atmosphere between the two sides tensed, almost to breaking point.

Coincidentally, Xi Huai and Chi Muyao came back then. The sight of two men intimately sandwiched together on a small flying artefact was even more egregious than the Biqiong Carp. 

Chi Muyao noticed how many people were looking at them. He got off the artefact and quickly tried to shake off Xi Huai…to no avail. The other person even pulled him over and asked, "Does he come here often?"

He was referring to Yu Yanshu.

Yu Yanshu replied on behalf of Chi Muyao, "That's right." 

Then he came over to help Chi Muyao get out of Xi Huai's grasp. He questioned Xi Huai, "Are you a vine that's attached to him? Can't you see he's unwilling?" 

Before Chi Muyao could steady himself, his body shifted again as he was pushed away from Yu Yanshu by Xi Huai. 

Xi Huai looked at Yu Yanshu and replied in a low voice, "How could you tell? Did the Nuan Yan Pavilion teach you to understand human emotions, behaviour and how to interpret other's expressions?" 

"If he was willing, would he have left you just now?"

Chi Muyao quickly stepped in between them. "You guys, don't..."

Xi Huai fiercely retorted, "Shut up."

Yu Yanshu comforted him, "It's okay."

Chi Muyao liked reading about dramatic moments like this in novels, but that didn't mean he wanted to experience them in person. 

He quickly said, "Yu-shixiong, they're only here to avoid the people from Cheng Yu Pavilion until the end of the month. Let me see what you have brought here."

Yu Yanshu asked again, "He didn't bully you, did he?"

"No!" Chi Muyao pointed at the Qiankun bag and asked, "I brought a watermelon back, do you want to have some?"

Yu Yanshu didn't want these people to see the sight of him devouring an entire watermelon by himself. The thought made his cheeks burn even now, so he shook his head. "I came this time to bring you some supplements. Shiniang also wanted you to have an artefact. Keep it well."

"En, okay."

Chi Muyao followed Yu Yanshu to the main hall to see what they had brought.

On the way, Xi Zihe greeted him, "Chi-shidi, you really suffered that day. Actually, if you had started your challenge fifteen minutes later, I would've been in the formation with you."

Chi Muyao sighed a little after hearing this. "Then it's fortunate I opened it early. That formation was truly dangerous, and I doubt the two of us could turn things around. After all, it was Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable who broke the formation."

"En. Shifu is an elder with extremely high formation attainment. Breaking this kind of formation is definitely not a problem for him." 

Zong Sichen looked at Chi Muyao and Xi Zihe chatting, and couldn't help but sigh. "Aiyo, they really are two little treasures."

Song Weiyue didn't get it. "What do you mean?" 

"It's rare to find two kind-hearted and pure-looking little boys in the cultivation world, much less two that get along so well. I always feel like the sight of them standing together is very harmonious."

"..." Song Weiyue pinched Zong Sichen.

Soon, Zong Sichen saw Xi Huai standing between Chi Muyao and Xi Zihe, so the three formed a '凸' character shape. 

Zong Sichen: "..."

He shouldn't say mean things, but their Young Sect Master ate vinegari.e. Gets jealous. at every opportunity.

 What he should've said was that a pure-minded person like Chi Muyao was suitable to be with a wicked-minded little dragon person.

The Nuan Yan Pavilion sent over several supplement pills, some of which aided in cultivation. However, there was nothing like what Chi Muyao wanted most.

The pills that aided in core formation were extremely precious. Even the Nuan Yan Pavilion wouldn't distribute them to sect disciples at will. After all, not everyone could succeed on the first attempt.

Sometimes they gave it the first time, but not the second time if the first time ended in failure. Disciples would also carefully consider whether to take it the first time. 

As a disciple of the Yu Chong School, Chi Muyao didn't even need to think about it.

The artefact was from Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable. It was a solid formation plate that could be used while setting up a formation, making the process less laborious and more reliable.

For example, Chi Muyao sometimes had to throw spirit stones to various locations while setting up. If the position of the spirit stones changed, it would also affect the formation's attack power. Things would improve considerably with a solid formation plate. 

Chi Muyao took a look at the artefact before thanking Yu Yanshu and Xi Zihe. "Thank you both for taking the time to come. Please pass on my thanks to Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable and Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable as well. Things are still chaotic at the Nuan Yan Pavilion, right?"

Yu Yanshu frowned subconsciously after hearing this question. There was even a bit of disgust in his eyes. Obviously, thinking of the matters of the Sect put a damper on his mood. 

He was usually a gentleman that rarely had such an expression on his face, making it all the more alarming. Finally, he answered truthfully. "Yes. The situation within the Sect is indeed somewhat tricky. We are actively managing the best we can."

Chi Muyao knew when to drop it. "En. Then I won't keep you two any longer.” 

Yu Yanshu glanced at Xi Huai again before saying, "Send a Sound Transmission Talisman to me if anything happens. In the worst case scenario I can have Shifu come over to chase them out."

Chi Muyao was afraid Xi Huai would be angered to the point of fighting Yu Yanshu, so he took the initiative to escort Yu Yanshu out. 

After that, Xi Huai went straight to Chi Muyao's room to wait for him.

He couldn't help but sigh. Xi Huai has grown more and more blatant recently, and the entirety of the Yu Chong School just closed one eye. After all, they had no way of reining him in. 

He could only go to the accounting room by himself to record the transactions from today, avoiding Xi Huai at the same time. 

Yi Qianxi came bounding over to the accounting room to gossip with Chi Muyao. "When I went to deliver beast bones to the Yao Sect, I heard that the Nuan Yan Pavilion has been very noisy lately. The first seven houses are fighting over who will be the Acting Sect Master while the mess in their sect has yet to be dealt with. It seems like the competition is fierce."

"The Sect Master has been injured for some time. Has someone not been nominated yet?"

"Most people definitely want Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable to be the Acting Sect Master, since he's the most powerful person aside from the Sect Master. However, Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable objects to this because Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable doesn't care about anything. If he became the Sect Master, it would be Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable who dealt with sect affairs in his stead, which means the Nuan Yan Pavilion will be in the control of an outsider..."

Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable wasn't a child of one of the big clans of the Nuan Yan Pavilion, but a selected disciple. Although she had been at the Nuan Yan Pavilion for more than two centuries, she was still considered an 'outsider'. She would never be a suitable candidate for Acting Sect Master, which meant Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable was disqualified by association.

Chi Muyao didn't feel too bad after hearing all that. He thought that Shizu probably didn't want any part of this mess anyway. If she wasn't able to sleep with Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable, she couldn't possibly care less about the affairs of the third house.

Even if she had any desire for the position, it would only be because she didn't want Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable to be the Acting Sect Master. Otherwise Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable would definitely suppress her.

Chi Muyao continued to record with his brush. "Come to think of it, the Nuan Yan Pavilion elders must have quite a headache now."

"Right? There are more and more gradually hostile encounters between the disciples of different houses. I just don't understand why there's so much fuss over a mere Acting Sect Master position."

"It's natural considering the Nuan Yan Pavilion Sect Master's lifespan is coming to an end, with no hope of breaking through to the Demigod stage. His position will become available sooner or later. Most likely whoever becomes Acting Sect Master now will gain an advantage when it is really necessary to select the next Sect Master."

"But their disputes have almost torn their sect apart!"

"There has always been discord between the first seven houses of the Nuan Yan Pavilion, as the various large clans came into conflict due to resource allocation issues. The situation now is simply all the problems coming to the surface at once. They would usually hold back for consideration of face and relationships, but this breaking point has caused grudges old and new to be settled at once. When the matter of Sect Master is completely settled, they will return to being as harmonious as before."

Yi Qianxi thought for a while and mumbled, "It's so complicated..."

"That's right, so don't think anymore on the matter. It's not something for us to worry about. Of course, we need to lean towards the third house slightly after the care they've shown us, lest we be called white-eyed wolves, but we don't have to step forward when the time comes. After all, we have little force and will only be swept away if we get involved. No one will say anything if we don't go, because no one remembers us in the first place."

"En, we definitely must not get involved!" With that, Yi Qianxi happily skipped out of the accounting room without a worry in the world.

After she left, Chi Muyao set his brush down and fell into contemplation while staring at the ledger in front of him.

The incense in the accounting room was still wafting smoke, which seemed to outline a landscape painting.

A gust of wind blew into the room, causing the bell by the window to ring. The sound was crisp and pleasant.

By now, the plot of the book had become a complete mess.

The only thing that hadn't gone off the rails from the original novel, aside from the deep love between the main leads, was this: the second female lead, as always, was bitter, mean, and liked to be slapped across the face after seeking trouble.

Everything else was messed up.

The Nuan Yan Pavilion fell into chaos a hundred years in advance. At this time, Yu Yanshu was still just at the Golden Core stage. Who knew whether he could successfully become the Sect Master a century later?

Chi Muyao didn't understand. Why couldn't he leave the He Huan Sect no matter what back then, when all these other plot line derailments had not been corrected?

Was it because little cannon fodders like him had no human rights?

He once thought that the plot could not be changed, so he was afraid of Xi Huai for so many years. Now it seemed like his previous fear had been overthinking things.

He looked towards his room and sighed again, not knowing what to do.

How should he face Xi Huai?

How should he handle things properly?

And what would be the result...if he and Xi Huai?

 At this time, the desk in front of him suddenly began to shake. The bell by the window also shook more violently and continuously.

He quickly rose to his feet and went out into the courtyard, where he saw the other disciples streaming out as well.

Chi Muyao quickly assigned them work before taking out Dingding and heading to the mountain's peak.

Their Pu He mountain range experienced earthquakes on a regular basis, sometimes very strong, other times weak. They usually took precautions in their everyday lives, and their houses were all reinforced with formations. 

However, the places where many spirit beasts lived did not have this layer of protection.

All spirit beasts migrated according to changes in their living environment or events, such as whelping young. Some locations they could protect with formations, but they couldn't do anything right after if the spirit beasts ran off.

Now that an earthquake had occurred, Chi Muyao's first thought was of the Flat-billed Pincer Beasts that had just laid eggs at the top of the mountain.

This kind of spirit beast wasn't that responsible and didn't stay by its cubs' side at all times. It would go out in search of food when hungry, leaving the eggs alone in the hole.

They also like to nest at the peak of the mountain, which was always the most dangerous during earthquakes.

By the time Chi Muyao reached the top of the mountain with his spiritual artefact, he saw a huge boulder rolling down from the cave, smashing mushroom clouds of dust in its wake.

He agilely dodged and tentatively tried to go into the cave for a look. 

As soon as he got closer, someone grabbed his arm. "Can't you see the cave's about to collapse? Why are you still going in?"

Chi Muyao looked a Xi Huai, a little surprised. His first instinct was to come and protect the spirit beast eggs, and Xi Huai's first instinct was to follow and ensure his safety.

Chi Muyao pointed to the cave and explained, "There are still eggs inside."

"Eggs? What eggs?"

"Flat-billed Pincer Beasts eggs."

"..." What in the world was a Flat-billed Pincer Beast? Why are the Yu Chong School people always so weird?

Chi Muyao was a little anxious. He grabbed Xi Huai's sleeve and asked, "Do you have any way of stabilising this cave? Let's go in and have a look.”

The cave was on the tallest mountain on the island, at the peak at that.

When an earthquake hit, the higher the place, the stronger the tremors. This place shook the most intensely, and the cave looked on the verge of collapse.

Xi Huai looked at Chi Muyao's hand tugging his sleeve, then Chi Muyao himself. In the end, he used a boundary to protect Chi Muyao as they headed into the cave.

This was the first time Chi Muyao had asked him for help.

"Come closer. The smaller the range, the stronger it will be." Xi Huai dragged Chi Muyao to his side.

Chi Muyao was too concerned about the spirit beast eggs to care about the details for now. He pulled Xi Huai forward by the arm. "This way. It's blocked."

When Xi Huai raised a hand, Chi Muyao quickly caught it. "Don't destroy the eggs.”

"..." Xi Huai could only give up on attacking and use the Control Object Technique to remove the rocks and dust. 

The small cave they entered had stagnant air and little light. Luckily, they were both cultivators with enhanced eyesight and could see a little more clearly.

Chi Muyao discovered the formation originally here was still running with difficulty. As expected, neither the irresponsible mother or father Flat-billed Pincer Beasts were present.

Chi Muyao quickly took out his solid formation plate after entering and began to reinforce the formation. He couldn't take the eggs away, otherwise the Flat-billed Pincer Beasts would think the eggs were gone when they came back and didn't see anything. They wouldn't sit on the eggs after that or even recognise them as theirs if you brought them back.

Xi Huai took the time to go look at those eggs. The eggshells were actually tea-green with beige patterns on them. Interesting.

He looked up again and saw that there was actually a stone bed in the cave.

He looked at the stone bed and asked, "Has someone lived here before?"

Chi Muyao glanced at it momentarily before explaining, "The Flat-billed Pincer Beasts are so irresponsible that they often don't sit on the eggs long enough for them to hatch.""That's why my Shifu made a stone bed here, so someone could monitor the Flat-billed Pincer Beasts and make sure they sit on the eggs."

Xi Huai walked over to the stone bed and used the Simple Washing Technique to clean it. Then he lay back on the bed.

Chi Muyao looked at him after reinforcing the formation. This strange move perked his curiosity. "You...what are you doing?"

"Have you finished reinforcing?"

"En.”

Xi Huai immediately used the Control Object Technique to forcefully lift Chi Muyao into the air and make him sit on his own body, a position he was all too familiar with.

Chi Muyao was shocked and frantically tried to get up, but Xi Huai held him in place.

He quickly asked, "What are you doing!? 

"Getting a feel of things.”

"A feel of what...?" He became more and more guilty. This position was all too familiar for him as well, since he repeatedly assumed it over those three years.

"Getting a feel for your thigh-to-knee, knee-to-ankle and foot length. I can't see it with my eyes, but I can hear and feel it. My senses are very sensitive to things like this. I remember clearly how long your legs were."

Chi Muyao was so frightened his heart skipped a beat. He renewed his struggles with vigour, wanting nothing more than to escape immediately. 

However, Xi Huai sat up at this time. Pressing him down still, he leaned forward and stared at Chi Muyao.

Chi Muyao was very nervous at being scrutinised. He subconsciously swallowed dryly and avoided Xi Huai's gaze.

He braced his arm against Xi Huai so he couldn't get any closer. He said, turning his head slightly away, "L-let go of me. The tremors here are violent and I might fall on you.”

Xi Huai pushed back against his arm with his chest. Leaning closer, he said in a low voice by Chi Muyao's ear, "I'm not worried. Before, someone in this position trembled even more, shaking, crying and calling out all the while. I've gotten used to that, so this is nothing." 

The ambiguous, soft voice lingered in his ear for some time.

"B-b-but we met by chance...Why are you saying those strange things to me?"

"Chi Muyao." Xi Huai suddenly called his name.

"En?"

"You're called Chi Muyao. Chi Muyao. Your name is Chi Muyao." Xi Huai repeatedly called his name in a whisper into his ear. "Chi Muyao...that's your name?"

"En.”

Xi Huai's aggressive eyes swept down, taking in Chi Muyao's resisting arms and his flushed cheeks. He asked with a playful smile, "Why are you shy now? I didn't even wear pants back then, right? It's a real pity I never got to see the bare legs under that pink outfit. I'm so unsatisfied..."

"Do you always talk to people like this?!" Chi Muyao became fierce after being shamed enough.

Did he say all this to anyone?

Xi Huai denied it, "No, I don't talk to others like this."

"T-thank you then.”

"For what?”

"Thank you for being willing to speak to me, but I don't want to hear any of this!"

Xi Huai stared at him and chucked softly. Once again pulling Chi Muyao closer, he leaned in for a kiss when the other person looked up in a panic.

The distance between them was so close that their breaths spilled onto the other's cheeks. The tips of their noses even touched.

Chi Muyao quickly ducked back and slapped Xi Huai.

The slap landed on his cheek. To cultivators, so little force was used that it couldn't even be considered a warning. It was almost like a child playing around.

Even so, Xi Huai was displeased. He stared and asked, "You dare to hit me?!"

Xi Huai had regal features that easily displayed anger. A slight frown made him look enraged, and the way he looked at Chi Muyao now really was a bit fierce.

Chi Muyao was so scared his back stiffened, but he still retorted confidently, "En, so what if I hit you? You were the one acting like a hooligan, and you're being mean to me on top of that?"

"I wasn't mean to you...” Xi Huai didn't even know how to restrain his tone. He always spoke like this. "I'm always like this."

"Let go of me!" Chi Muyao struggled again.

Instead of letting go, Xi Huai hugged him, burying his face in Chi Muyao's neck and saying shamelessly, "No. I'm afraid of earthquakes. Protect me, Grandpa Jiu."

"...” Chi Muyao was so stiff from being hugged. He didn't dare to move and continued to act tough. "My name is Chi Muyao."

"En, en. You're called Chi Muyao. Chi Muyao..." Xi Huai said strange words again like he was in a dream, "Water, Earth and Wood three element spiritual roots. Eighteen years old. A little disciple of the Yu Chong School. Slightly thin lips and long legs the exact length of my A-Jiu..."