In the end, Su You got what he wanted. 

Neither Chi Muyao nor Xi Huai watched. The two of them sat side by side on the stairs in front of the little wood cabin. They even sealed their sense of sound because they didn't want to hear those sounds.

This should be the place Su You usually lived. It wasn't as luxurious as one would expect from a peak Nascent Soul stage cultivator. 

A forest, a wood cabin, a creek. 

The huge canopy of trees was like a natural barrier. It was green as far as the eye could see, all straight pines and lush grass. 

The creek gurgled. It came down from a cliff and went into the mountains. 

Su You brought Yu Chaoluo to stay here for a few days. He leisurely gave a few pointers for Yu Chaoluo's swordsmanship too. However, Yu Chaoluo was afraid of him and disgusted with him. He wasn't willing to stay long. 

Yu Chaoluo wanted to leave, but Su You wouldn't let him. He declared that he would let him go as long as Yu Chaoluo agreed to his demands. 

In the end, it was... 

Su You and Yu Chaoluo stayed in the cabin for three days. Yu Chaoluo's legs were trembling as he left. He needed to hold the handrail to get down the steps in front of the cabin.

Su You tried to help him, but he was refused. 

Chi Muyao and Xi Huai didn't actually wait that long. After all, the internal demon realm would blur one's perception of time and they weren't interested in what was happening inside. It felt like they just sat for a bit before the others came out. 

Su You trailed behind Yu Chaoluo. "Shall I take you back?" 

"No need." Yu Chaoluo refused bluntly. 

Only at the bottom of the steps did the duo notice the Sound Transmission Talisman outside the boundary. It should be the kind that recognised a master and sought out their spiritual energy. 

Yu Chaoluo retrieved it and found that the Sound Transmission Talisman was from his beloved. 

He didn't want to let Su You listen in, but Su You slipped past him and already fed the Talisman his spiritual energy.

The ability to use his spiritual energy was a result of dual cultivation, which drew a pang of shame from him. 

"Chaoluo, I married Xi Lin of my own free will. He didn't know about us, and in the end he's a good man who helped to make peace between the two realms. Since I have married him, I will not let him down. Still, I feel so much guilt towards you. This is between you and I, so don't take it out on others. I hope you can find love again in the future, and meet someone meant for you." 

Xi Lin had probably already found the bodies of his disciples. Xi Huai's mother suspected Yu Chaoluo was the culprit, so she sent this Sound Transmission Talisman to persuade privately. 

Yu Chaoluo was stunned for a moment afterwards. Then he looked abruptly at Su You. 

Su You was puzzled and looked strangely back. 

The two looked at each other, one angry, one bemused.

"He didn't know?" Yu Chaoluo asked Su You. 

"...Are you referring to Xi Lin? En, probably not. After all, his interest was piqued because he saw a good looking girl of excellent aptitude with a single fire spiritual root. Come to think of it, you have a water spiritual root. Your contradictory spiritual roots actually—"

"He didn't know, so why did I need to kill his disciples?!" Yu Chaoluo asked him, almost roaring. 

Yu Chaoluo didn't fly into a rage after being mocked. 

Yu Chaoluo was relatively calm after being schemed against too. 

Yet now, Yu Chaoluo flew into a rage and roared at him. 

Su You didn't get it. "So what if he didn't know?" 

"If he didn't know, then he's an innocent man. Who am I to take revenge on him?" 

"But he stole your cultivation partner, that's a fact!" 

"Then it was also my incompetence to not be able to keep her! It was my Shifu and Sect who deliberately misled him and split us up! It had nothing to do with him! If he knew and still forced the marriage, then that's his fault, but he didn't know. He just...just...but I killed his disciples?!" 

"I don't understand what you're so hung up over?" Su You was perplexed. "Is there a big difference if someone knows or not?" 

"Yes, of course there is!" 

Yu Chaoluo shouted, walking towards the boundary with big strides. 

Su You realised something and followed. "What are you going to do?" 

"I'm going to the Qing Ze Sect to explain things to Xi Lin. At most I'll give my life as atonement." 

"So you're going to tell him that his cultivation partner used to have an old flame, so that there will be bad blood between them from now on. What do you want that girl to do in the future? Xi Lin might just kill your cultivation partner too in a fit of rage so you two can go to hell!" 

Only then did Yu Chaoluo stop in his tracks.

 He finally crumbled, breaking down in front of the person he hated with no regard for dignity.

After all he's been through lately? 

His cultivation partner left him, his Sect forcibly imprisoned him when he wouldn't comply, and after barely managing to escape, a whole bunch of other crap happened. Those two cultivators were innocent. He didn't want to kill them, but they died by his hands. 

Su You looked at him with impatience and incomprehension, confused as to what this man was thinking. 

He leaned against the handrail of the wood cabin's stairs with his arms crossed and watched him cry. "How can I make you feel like justice has been served? Why don't I help you kill the person who broke you up? Who was it? Your Shifu? Isn't your Shifu—" 

"None of your business!" 

"So you'll live on like a wimp?" 

"You can kill me." 

"Tsk..."

In the end, Yu Chaoluo left. Ci Muyao frowned as he watched, unsure if Yu Chaoluo had figured it out or just given up.

He couldn't help but ask Xi Huai, "Where do you think he went?"

"Not the Qing Ze Sect in any case." 

"How do you know?" 

"Because we still don't know the killer today." 

"Oh..." Chi Muyao actually forgot that this had already happened. He got into it like a TV show.

Su You and Yu Chaoluo soon crossed paths again. Was Su You intentionally following him? 

On his way back, Yu Chaoluo met some Nuan Yan Pavilion disciples who were out on a mission. The group of a dozen or so Foundation Building stage cultivators was led by two Golden Core stage cultivators.

When Yu Chaoluo ran into them, they were trapped in the forest and couldn't leave. He saw the distress fireworks before rushing in, but only protected them for a while. 

Yu Chaoluo looked at the vicious heaven grade beasts in front of them and asked, "Why were you sent to deal with these heaven grade spirit beasts? You guys aren't their match." 

"When the mission was assigned, the Deacon Hall said that there were some Dark grade spirit beasts causing a disturbance and asked us to take care of it. Who would've thought the smell of blood  and their corpses would attract  Heaven grade spirit beasts." 

Heaven grade spirit beasts have always liked to attack cultivators because they were easier to eat than other spirit beasts with no fur or armour. Plus their bodies contained more spiritual energy for their size. 

Yu Chaoluo had no choice but to say, "This place is far from the Nuan Yan Pavilion and there are no other sects around. It will be hard to get reinforcements. You guys escape first, I'll find a way to lure them away." 

These cultivators agreed to that and split off from Yu Chaoluo, who led the heaven grade spirit beasts away. 

However, how could Yu Chaoluo be their match on his lonesome? In his moment of despair, Su You appeared and stepped in front of the Heaven grade spirit beasts and killed three with ease. 

Covered with injuries, Yu Chaoluo leaned against the mountain and watched as Su You came to a stop in front of him. He hesitated for a moment but expressed gratitude, "Thank you..." 

It was very hard to say that to Su You.

Su You's tone was mocking, "You Nuan Yan Pavilion cultivators are really interesting. They agreed immediately when you suggested you would lure away the spirit beasts, like sacrificing you to save all of them was the right thing to do." 

Yu Chaoluo could only reply, "I had the highest cultivation and I wasn't as badly injured as they were, so they thought I would be able to escape—" 

"You think you can escape from the pursuit of several Heaven grade spirit beasts?" Su You laughed, "Are they the naive ones, or you?" 

"..." Yu Chaoluo had nothing more to say. 

Su You came over to inspect his injuries. Yu Chaoluo slapped his hand away like he had been shocked, causing Su You to frown. 

"Don't bother." Yu Chaoluo staggered away with his sword, only to faint after two steps. 

Su You sneered and stepped past him without care. Yet he turned back after quite a distance and picked up Yu Chaoluo before leaving.

When Yu Chaoluo woke up, he found himself in a small space. Judging by the decor it was one of those cave residences you could rent in the cultivation world.

He sat up and inspected his own injuries. Then he looked at Su You, who was sitting on the side reading a book. After a moment of silence, he picked up the ointment placed on the side of the stone bed and sniffed it. Then he applied it on himself.

Chi Muyao looked down at the ointment inside the cave and said, "This ointment is the same as yours." 

Xi Huai casually replied, "They're all products of the Yao Sect." 

"Yao Weng's not bad at making medicine, but his character is, well..." 

Xi Huai didn't care about the ointment. He was a little impatient. "Do we really need to watch everything in the internal demon illusionary realm?"

"Actually, we just need to find the root cause of Su You's pain and use it. I suspect it's Yu Chaoluo's death. Unfortunately, we need to wait for that moment when Su You's internal demon relapses to really hurt him." 

Xi Huai turned his back to Su You and Yu Chaoluo, as if he couldn't even look at them after becoming CHi Muyao's cultivation partner. 

But Chi Muyao has no such scruples. He even leaned over to look at the lash marks on Yu Chaoluo's back.  "Looking at the traces, the whip they used was imbued with lightning." 

Xi Huai snorted. "Splitting up cultivation partners and using lightning to whip people, can the Nuan Yan Pavilion really be considered a renowned Righteous Sect?"

"In the view of the Nuan Yan Pavilion seniors, Yu Chaoluo ignorantly disobeyed their orders."

"Bullshit!" 

With that, Xi Huai tugged on Chi Muyao's hand. 

As soon as he got out of the way, Su You took his place and grabbed the ointment in Yu Chaoluo's hand and helped him apply it.

Yu Chaoluo naturally didn't want him to, but Su You just muttered, "As if I haven't touched it before." 

Not only that, it was Su You who disliked the interference of the lightning in the wood cabin and dispelled it, thus lessening Yu Chaoluo's pain. 

"You!" 

Su You helped him finish applying the medicine. Once he saw it getting better, he sat next to Yu Chaoluo to heal him. 

Yu Chaoluo could only bear it. 

After that, Yu Chaoluo still wanted to go back to the Nuan Yan Pavilion. 

Su You followed him the entire way, teasing him from time to time. Yu Chaoluo was very annoyed, but he held his tongue. Su You wasn't an upstanding person. He did it a few times while they rested in the middle of the forest. 

Chi Muyao and Xi Huai stayed as far away as possible, communicating through their divine senses after sealing their hearing. 

Chi Muyao complained endlessly, "Is he a dog in heat?! How many times has it been already?"

Xi Huai followed suit, "Yes, it's so annoying when there's no end to it." 

Chi Muyao looked at him and asked, "You know it's annoying too?"

Xi Huai was particularly offended, "It doesn't count when it's you and I." 

"How does that work?" 

"Because I can't help it when I see you..."

Chi Muyao felt disappointed in himself since that sentence actually made him shy. This person was already his cultivation partner! 

He leaned into Xi Huai's arms with some embarrassment and buried his face in Xi Huai's shoulder to keep Xi Huai from seeing his expression.

Xi Huai hugged him and smoothed out his hair. He asked with his divine sense, "I'm a little confused. Yu Chaoluo was so resistant initially, so why did he change his mind recently? Although he doesn't seem happy, he didn't refuse." 

"Perhaps it's a coping mechanism." 

"Coping mechanism?"

"En. Since things are already like this and he can't do anything about it... He's probably at his limit with all this suffering and his disappointment in his Sect, which he still has to go back to. Maybe doing it with Su You...became his way of coping. He could work out his frustrations this way. There's also a possibility that he was inspired after seeing Su You opening his own Sound Transmission Talisman."

Xi Huai instantly understood. "He wanted to open Su You's storage space and take those two beads to avoid future trouble?" 

"That's right."

"How could a cunning old fox like Su You miss that?" 

"So what if he knows? Isn't this what he wants?"

After that, they fell into silence. 

A long time later, Chi Muyao couldn't help but sigh. "I don't know whether Yu Chaoluo was pitiful or tragic. He was once the same as Yu-shixiong, a proud son of heaven, right? He also once burned bright with hope and will to carry forward..."

"Perhaps he's both."