The Giant Eagle Martial Artist clearly did not have many choices left.
Fu Xi Yan had no intention of leaving his corpse exposed in the wilderness. A dignified Martial King could still contribute a little residual value, for example by hanging the corpse at a city gate as a warning to martial artists: being powerful did not mean you could do whatever you pleased. A person still had to be decent, or the Giant Eagle Martial Artist would be your future.
But there was only one corpse, and when it came time to distribute it, resources suddenly became tight. The new city, Jinling, Lin’an… all were major disaster zones.
Well, they could deal with that later.
Worst case, they could divide up the corpse.
Fu Xi Yan had no respect whatsoever for the principle that the dead should be honored. His own reincarnation had happened inexplicably enough, without any trial before the King of Hell, and after so many years no ghostly constable had come to arrest him and restore cosmic order. So there probably was no underworld in this world. If a villain like Guo Ju Ying could not go to hell, then there was no need for Fu Xi Yan to be too polite to his corpse.
Someone this unrepentant had contributed nothing while alive. He might as well accumulate a little virtue after death.
As he thought this, Fu Xi Yan quietly absorbed the true qi the Taotie Gu spat back out.
The true qi Guo Ju Ying had left behind was not much by Martial King standards, but to an ordinary person it was an enormous quantity. Perhaps because it had suffered too many losses before, the Taotie Gu was especially stingy this time. It swallowed desperately and released only tiny traces whenever it could not help burping.
Fu Xi Yan did not argue with it. If there was some, he absorbed it. If there was none, he did not force the issue.
Man and Gu maintained a tacit little exchange between them.
Fu Xi Yan and Pei Yuan Jin led the way while the Hidden Dragon Unit dragged the corpse behind them. Following the secret markers Shou Nan Shan and the others had left, they searched along the route until they ran into Zhang Wei, who had volunteered to look for them. Only then did they learn the others had encountered Shen Bo You and were resting at a tea pavilion ahead. Ever since Pei Yuan Jin became a Martial King, Shou Nan Shan and the others had relaxed considerably around him and no longer watched him as nervously as before. They were willing to let him handle many matters alone now, which was also a sign of their trust in the Immortal Treasury Palace’s next leader.
The tea pavilion had been built with money pooled by nearby villagers and was jointly managed by several aunties.
Since ordinary people were present, Fu Xi Yan and the others did not bring the corpse over and risk frightening anyone. They left it in the grass not far away with one person guarding it. Shou Nan Shan, Ying He, and several others even went over specifically to take a look.
Calling Martial Kings invincible was no exaggeration. Once someone reached that realm, killing others became easy, while being killed became extremely difficult. At least in recent years, no Martial King or Martial God had died at someone else’s hands.
Perhaps having no natural predators was exactly what made them increasingly unscrupulous.
Hopefully Guo Ju Ying’s death would sound a warning bell for them.
The tea leaves at the pavilion were the cheapest kind and tasted distinctly astringent, but the multigrain buns steamed there were fragrant and sweet.
By the time Fu Xi Yan and the others arrived, Shou Nan Shan’s group had almost eaten the pavilion clean, leaving only around twenty buns behind.
But that was enough.
Fu Xi Yan had just participated in killing Guo Ju Ying and remained so mentally overstimulated that he ate only one bun for form’s sake and had no real appetite. Pei Yuan Jin, on the other hand, ate five in one go. He smelled the tea, then replaced it with plain water.
Fu Xi Yan remembered what Yu Su Huan had once said and leaned closer curiously. “If you don’t drink tea, won’t you get sleepy?”
Pei Yuan Jin glanced at him. “You don’t have to practice martial arts while sleeping.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
So when Pei Yuan Jin could never wake up as a child, had he actually been using sleep to dodge martial arts training?
Well, children did sometimes develop strange little tactics to avoid school. But somehow, when the exact same behavior belonged to Young Master Pei, it felt deeply incompatible with reality.
Pei Yuan Jin, who had once dared challenge a Martial King while carrying only the Crimson Dragon King, had actually tried to avoid martial arts practice as a child. Who would believe that?
Pei Yuan Jin saw Fu Xi Yan lowering his head and laughing so hard he looked like rice porridge bubbling in a pot. A trace of helplessness appeared on his face. He had hidden this secret in his heart for many years. Even Aunt Yu did not know it.
After laughing for a while, Fu Xi Yan returned the courtesy by offering one small secret of his own. “Actually, I wasn’t that bad at memorizing texts. I just didn’t like doing it.” So he deliberately performed badly until his tutor gave up on him early.
The corner of Pei Yuan Jin’s mouth had barely lifted when Fu Xi Yan sighed with feeling. “Who would’ve thought? We were the two-member underachiever squad.”
Pei Yuan Jin’s mouth immediately flattened again.
The wise and mighty Young Master Pei had never once in his life been called an underachiever, not even during the period when he had forced himself to sleep to avoid practicing. Underachiever… worthless dregs… hm. It probably meant something like what he was imagining.
He raised a brow and was just about to refute the accusation when Shen Bo You rose from the neighboring table, walked over, bowed deeply, then swept aside his long robe and knelt. “This subordinate Shen Bo You asks the Young Master for punishment.”
Fu Xi Yan jumped in surprise and thought, How enormous a crime did he commit?
Pei Yuan Jin reached out, took a sixth multigrain bun, and began eating it.
Kneeling on the ground, Shen Bo You began listing his own offenses, starting with how he had once yielded the chief-manager position and continuing through his years of accomplishing nothing after taking office in Southern Yu. It was practically a confession essay written in blood and tears, every sentence wrenching his heart open.
Watching from the side, even Fu Xi Yan felt that it was not easy for a man of his age to abase himself this way. Yet Pei Yuan Jin did not so much as lift an eyelid until he finished eating the bun. Only after Shen Bo You finished did Pei Yuan Jin ask coldly, “What has happened recently in the new city and Lin’an?”
Shen Bo You’s body stiffened slightly, apparently not expecting such an emotional confession to leave Pei Yuan Jin unmoved. But he knew perfectly well that he had achieved nothing in Southern Yu for years and had no hope of advancement. Now that the Immortal Treasury Palace had openly fallen out with Southern Yu, remaining there would make his future even more difficult. His only path was to seize hold of Pei Yuan Jin and earn merit to atone for his failures.
He steadied himself and lowered his head. “After the battle in the new city, Elder Yu and Elder Tan are in rather poor condition…”
Tan Bu Ju, who had been listening with ears pricked upright, shot to his feet. “What happened to my father?”
Shen Bo You said, “The Palace Lord has already taken several elders back to the Palace for treatment.”
Tan Bu Ju immediately became too restless to sit still and began muttering endlessly. “My father was already at peak Martial God before he entered seclusion. I wonder whether the retreat accomplished anything.” The reason he had risked entering Southern Yu in the first place was because he feared his father had little time left and wanted to grow quickly and build a career of his own. Instead, he had managed to make a mess of things and trigger the entire chain of disasters that followed.
He drained his tea in one gulp and nudged Zhang Wei beside him. “I’ve rested enough. Let’s keep moving and talk on the way.”