Clearly, Shen Xiuyun also realized this. He immediately said, “I’ll contact Qin Zhi’s sect elders. Wait for my news.”
Ye Yang hung up, feeling uneasy. He paced around the living room, phone in hand, unable to focus on anything else.
But then again, he thought, surely nothing could have happened to Qin Zhi? After graduation, he had undergone several more trials, and for the past year, he had been cultivating at his sect to prepare for the competition. He should have been perfectly safe.
Compared to the eldest brother, who was constantly running errands for his master; the third brother, who flew all over the world for competitions; and himself, who had faced danger multiple times on missions despite not traveling much—Qin Zhi should have been the safest of them all, right?
Soon, Shen Xiuyun called again. “Something really happened. Qin Zhi has defected!”
“!???”
In the past few minutes, Ye Yang had thought of many possibilities, but the one thing he never considered was that Qin Zhi had defected!
“What exactly happened?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I have time. By the way, help me look for him if you can. His sect is going crazy searching for him.” Shen Xiuyun hung up without waiting for Ye Yang’s reply. He really was in a hurry.
Ye Yang listened to the beeping from his phone, his anxiety growing.
“How could that be? Senior Qin Zhi is such an upright person. Sure, he’s a bit too straightforward, too reckless, too prone to trusting his gut instead of thinking things through, but…”
Before he could finish, a weak voice suddenly sounded from inside the apartment. “Do I really have that many flaws?”
“Who’s there?!”
“Ga?!”
Ye Yang and Little Crow were both terrified. This apartment had only the two of them—and it was the safest YCG apartment. How could a stranger be inside the house?!
“It’s me, the youngest.”
Two heads popped up on the balcony. One was Qin Zhi. The other was a super handsome, dark-skinned young man with sharp features and a pair of upright black canine ears on his head.
“Senior! Is this… Xuan Lu?”
Qin Zhi, who had looked haggard with chapped lips, immediately broke into a delighted smile. “You remember! Great! Yes, this is Xuan Lu. He’s already taken human form. Pretty good, right?”
Ye Yang was frantic with worry. “Is now really the time to talk about that?! What on earth is going on? Explain clearly!”
“Wait, wait, wait. Hear me out first. This place is safe, right? I’m hiding from pursuers, and I really have nowhere else to go. Can we stay here for one night?”
…
After receiving some treatment from Ye Yang and taking a bath, as night fell, Qin Zhi finally curled up on the sofa wrapped in a blanket, holding a cup of hot water, and let out a comfortable sigh.
“This is so nice. Thank you so much, little one. I haven’t bathed in half a month.”
“Thank you,” Xuan Lu said stiffly but politely.
Ye Yang couldn’t help stealing a few more glances at him.
When he had stood up from behind the balcony door—so tall and imposing—he had scared Ye Yang half to death.
This guy, whom everyone had always thought was a dog, turned out to be a wolf demon. Qin Zhi explained that Xuan Lu had been ambushed by enemies and trapped in the body of a young pup, only breaking free a few years ago. Even so, he still couldn’t fully recover his strength, nor could he achieve complete human form.
Qin Zhi hadn’t told anyone else about this because he was afraid of attracting Xuan Lu’s enemies.
Still, Ye Yang thought Xuan Lu looked more like a dog.
Xuan Lu was pressed tightly against Qin Zhi, his eyes darting alertly between the door and the window. From the moment they had revealed themselves to now, he hadn’t relaxed his guard for a single second.
Even the food and water Ye Yang gave him, he only accepted after asking Qin Zhi and receiving confirmation that it was safe to eat.
If that wasn’t a dog, what was? And a particularly loyal one, at that.
Ye Yang folded his arms and sat down across from Qin Zhi. “Alright. Now will you finally tell me what’s going on?”
Qin Zhi’s eyes darted around. He hemmed and hawed for a long time, only saying that he had absolutely done nothing wrong—it was all a misunderstanding. He danced around the subject, refusing to explain clearly. Losing patience, Ye Yang snatched the water cup from Qin Zhi’s hands and slammed it down on the coffee table.
“Thump!”
“Don’t want to talk? Fine. Teacher Shen is away on a business trip right now, but he’ll be back tomorrow. You can explain it to him then.” With that, he stood up to leave.
“Wait, wait, wait!” Qin Zhi panicked. He lunged forward and dropped to his knees, hugging Ye Yang’s thigh. “Little one, I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything. But you can’t make fun of me!”
The story was really quite hard to comment on.
After graduation, Qin Zhi returned to his sect and was immediately set up by his family on blind dates with daughters of other noble clans. Qin Zhi himself had no interest in any of this. His eyes and heart were only for swordsmanship. He also never rejected the idea of contributing to his family’s interests.
About a year ago, he became engaged to a fellow female disciple of his sect. They were to form a bond after the competition and also obtain a legal identity certificate in the human realm.
Both sides had already exchanged betrothal gifts. Qin Zhi and his senior sister were very satisfied with each other. The senior sister was also a sword fanatic. Their skills were evenly matched, and they trained together daily, rapidly improving their swordsmanship and sword intent.
The more Ye Yang listened, the more he frowned. When Qin Zhi started going on and on about sword techniques, he finally couldn’t help interrupting. “Stop, stop. What does any of this have to do with your current situation?”
“Don’t rush me. It’s connected. Just let me finish.”
Qin Zhi continued. Everything had been going well. His relationship with his senior sister was steadily developing, and Xuan Lu had even started practicing swordsmanship. But one day, Xuan Lu suddenly went mad, bit the senior sister, knocked Qin Zhi unconscious, and carried him out of the sect. On the way, they’d accidentally lost his phone.
Just as he said this, Ye Yang’s phone rang. He opened it and saw an email from Zhuang Li. Zhuang Li, always on the frontline of gossip, had gathered some information about Qin Zhi’s sect for Ye Yang.
No one in the sect could believe it. Their pride and joy, the future hope of sword cultivation—all because he had picked up a dirty little puppy, fed it, clothed it, gave it shelter, kept it by his side, named it when he saw its spiritual nature, taught it to take human form, and even planned to teach it swordsmanship—had ended up defecting from the sect!
That little puppy—no, little wolf cub—everyone in the sect knew was a fierce one. The ruthlessness in its eyes was never hidden. But since it always acted so docile in front of Qin Zhi, no one had said anything. What harm could a little cub do?
Who would have thought that Xuan Lu was a pure ingrate? That all his obedience was a facade? His real goal was the sword prodigy Qin Zhi himself!
The sect elders determined that this was a conspiracy from the demon realm—sending such a good little actor to steal away the future of their sword path.
But a more widely circulated rumor within the sect was that this little cub had never seen Qin Zhi as his master—but as his lover.
The following was from an anonymous junior sister: “I saw it a long time ago. Xuan Lu was originally confused. Though his heart was full of love, he didn’t even know what love was. He was content just to guard Senior Qin Zhi. But after that senior sister came, Xuan Lu finally understood that if he wanted to keep monopolizing Senior Qin Zhi, he had to take action!”
Ye Yang read this and sucked in a sharp breath. Raising his eyes to look at the two across from him, he finally understood what had felt so off all along. The way Xuan Lu looked at Qin Zhi was anything but innocent!
It wasn’t so much guarding a master as it was a dragon hoarding its treasure, not letting anyone else covet it.
Just then, Qin Zhi himself reached this part of the story. “Xuan Lu knocked me out, but he didn’t hurt me at all. And the senior sister’s injury wasn’t serious. I’ve asked him about it. Xuan Lu is a demon—maybe his way of thinking is different from ours humans—but he definitely doesn’t have a bad bone in his body!”
“The problem is, because of what happened, the sect has misunderstood Xuan Lu and wants to capture him. I can’t let Xuan Lu suffer that injustice. I wanted to go back to the sect and explain everything, but the demons who were chasing Xuan Lu have shown up again. To avoid them, I have no choice but to hide out with Xuan Lu for a while.”
“I can’t just lead those pursuers back to the sect. We sword cultivators can handle our own problems. We shouldn’t always rely on the sect.”
“Are you sure you can handle it?” Ye Yang muttered, remembering the state the two of them had been in when they first showed up. Then he held up the email. “So you sent the sect a letter, making it clear that you weren’t being coerced?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know if the elders were too anxious or what, but they seem to have misunderstood what I meant.”
Ye Yang glanced at the line in the email: “I am traveling together with Xuan Lu.” Was this really the elders’ fault? Anyone would interpret that as Qin Zhi leaving together with Xuan Lu, right?
“So… you two are… mutually in love?” Ye Yang struggled for a long time, his tongue practically tying itself in knots, before finally finding the right word.
To his surprise, Qin Zhi’s reaction was not what he expected.
Qin Zhi sat up straight. “That’s not how things are being spread outside. I’m straight. But I saved Xuan Lu, so I’m responsible for him. Now that the sect has misunderstood and got him hunted, I have to help him get through this.”
Ye Yang: “…” He was speechless.
Straight?
What straight guy acts like you?
You two have practically eloped. You, the sword sect genius, have more or less defected from your sect. And now you’re telling me this?? Do you think I believe you?
Besides, was Qin Zhi really that dense—or that blind?
Anyone with eyes could see how utterly determined Xuan Lu was to have him. The possessiveness in those eyes was practically spilling over!
Forcing himself not to look at Xuan Lu’s expression, Ye Yang asked, “So what are you going to do next? You can’t keep on like this forever. Do you need me to help explain things for you?”
“No need. I can handle it. It’s all under control.” Qin Zhi waved his hand dismissively, looking like it was no big deal. “Once I help Xuan Lu deal with his pursuers, I’ll go back to the sect and explain everything myself.”
Xuan Lu, who had been mostly silent, stared at Qin Zhi and said, “I knew you were the strongest, Master.”
Qin Zhi was so flattered he almost seemed embarrassed. “Haha, not really. Just moderately strong, I guess.”
Ye Yang: “…”
Just as he was feeling utterly exasperated, Qin Zhi suddenly turned to him. “Oh, right. There’s one more thing. I think the YCG should know about this, but I really can’t get away right now, so I’ll have to pass it on through you.”
“A few days ago, when I was undergoing my tribulation, I had a momentary connection with heaven and earth. I sensed a great demon in the area of Mount Nüyang!”
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