This person had saved him. Risked his life to save him… Just thinking about it filled Xu Zirong with happiness, overwhelming happiness.
This person wasn’t Xu Ziyan. How could the old Xu Ziyan ever have risked his life to save him?
He was his big brother, and belonged to him alone!
Heaven must have seen that he had been granted a second life and specially bestowed a good big brother upon him.
The blood smeared across Xu Zirong’s face made it look frightening. Combined with his strange smile, it was enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
Unfortunately, his face was buried tightly in Xu Ziyan’s chest, so no one could see the eerie smile on his delicate little face.
“Big Brother, you’re still bleeding.” Xu Zirong gathered his emotions and looked up at Xu Ziyan with concern.
This time, his concern was genuine. He had decided that the person before him was the ‘big brother’ bestowed upon him by heaven. He did not care who this man had been before, but since he had taken over Xu Ziyan’s body, he would have to fulfill a big brother’s responsibilities.
In his previous life, Xu Zirong had longed for familial affection and never received it. Now he finally had a chance to make up for what he had lost.
“It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt at all.” Xu Ziyan’s face was deathly pale, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Xu Zirong bit his lip and looked guilty. “This is all my fault. If Big Brother hadn’t been saving me, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Xu Ziyan struggled to ruffle Zirong’s hair with his uninjured hand. “Isn’t it a big brother’s duty to protect his little brother?”
Tears glimmered in Xu Zirong’s eyes. He lowered his head and murmured his assent.
Xu Ziyan smiled, accidentally jostled his shoulder, and could not help hissing in pain.
Xu Zijing left the Brain-Devouring Rat for Xu Zixue and Xu Ziluo to handle, then walked over and said dryly, “Are you two finished showing off your brotherly affection?”
Xu Ziyan let out an awkward laugh. Xu Zirong lowered his head even farther in apparent embarrassment.
Xu Zijing merely raised her eyebrows. “If you don’t treat that wound soon, you’ll bleed to death.”
Only then did Xu Ziyan take some medicine out of his storage bag and hand it to Xu Zijing. The wound was in a place he could not easily tend himself. But Xu Zirong intercepted the medicine and volunteered to apply it.
Xu Zijing shrugged and went to help Xu Zixue and Xu Ziluo deal with the rat. As a teammate, she had no objection to treating Xu Ziyan’s wound, but since someone else wanted to do the job, she was happy to leave it to him.
Xu Zirong carefully cleaned Xu Ziyan’s wound and spread the medicinal powder evenly over it. He now looked every inch the obedient little brother, wholly absorbed in caring for him.
Xu Ziyan was deeply moved. He remembered how Xu Ziyu had once bandaged him when he was hurt, except that Ziyu had scolded him incessantly while doing so. By comparison, Zirong seemed even more considerate.
When Xu Zirong finished dressing the wound and looked up, he saw Xu Ziyan lost in his memories.
His expression darkened for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. Feigning casual curiosity, he asked, “Big Brother, what are you thinking about?”
Xu Ziyan came back to himself. Looking at the face so different from Xu Ziyu’s, he could not help feeling a little melancholy. He shook his head. “Nothing.”
Xu Zirong’s fists clenched abruptly, then he forced himself to relax. The violent impulse inside him seemed to be rising again. The ‘big brother’ he had chosen appeared to harbor many secrets, and he did not like that.
He did not like it at all!
He did not care who had taken Xu Ziyan’s place, whether through possession or by some other means. What mattered was that this man had come for him, or so he had decided. In that case, there should be no room in his heart for anyone else. Absolutely no one.
Xu Ziyan was a treasure bestowed by heaven to compensate Xu Zirong for all the suffering of his previous life. None of those other people had suffered as he had. What right did they have to share his gift?
Yes. In Xu Zirong’s eyes, Xu Ziyan was heaven’s gift to him, and belonged to him alone!
“Ow! That hurts, that hurts! Zirong, be gentler!” Without realizing it, Xu Zirong had begun using too much force, and Xu Ziyan cried out.
“Sorry, Big Brother.” Xu Zirong looked remorseful, but a hint of satisfaction flickered in his eyes.
“Ow… it’s fine…” Xu Ziyan shook his head gently. The bleeding had stopped after treatment. The medicine Xu Xiao had given him was naturally excellent; within a few minutes, an itchy tingling spread through his shoulder as the wound began to heal.
Xu Ziyan stood up, then suddenly grew dizzy and nearly fell. Assuming it was a normal result of blood loss, he did not notice Xu Zirong behind him concealing a bright-red drop of blood with his sleeve and swallowing it.
Xu Zirong smiled faintly. The accident had made it easy for him to collect some of Xu Ziyan’s blood essence. With this drop, he would be able to locate Xu Ziyan wherever he went. Even if Xu Ziyan tried to escape from him in the future, it would be impossible.
Cultivators were extremely careful about losing their own blood essence because many sinister arts could use it to affect the person it came from. At Xu Ziyan’s age, he naturally had no idea how important blood essence was, which was why Xu Zirong had obtained it so easily.
The group packed up the Brain-Devouring Rat. Although Xu Ziyan’s injury had put a slight damper on their success, remembering that the beast was at the sixth level of Qi Refining was enough to make him grin.
Sixth-level Qi Refining demonic beasts did exist in the Forest Sea, but most were difficult to deal with. That Brain-Devouring Rat, for example, was so adept at hiding that they might never have discovered it had it not attacked them first.
With the rat secured, the greatest challenge of their trip had been resolved. After all, although Xu Ziyan was powerful, he also had the most difficult prey to hunt for his own assignment.
After a short rest, Xu Ziyan extravagantly took out a spirit stone to replenish his power.
The spiritual power that would normally take a full shichen of meditation to restore filled his dantian in the time it took to drink half a cup of tea. Perhaps because he had emptied his reserves all at once earlier, he even found that his dantian had expanded slightly. It was a blessing born of misfortune.
With the rat as their main prize, the rest of the hunt went smoothly despite Xu Ziyan’s reduced performance from his injury. Apart from the fifth-level Qi Refining Two-Tailed Scorpion that Xu Zijing needed, which took somewhat more effort, catching the other required beasts was remarkably easy.
Before nightfall, they followed their markers out of the Forest Sea and returned to the bottom of the cliff. Staring at the empty cliff face, however, everyone was at a loss.
Sliding down the Spiraling Dragon Ropes had been convenient, but getting back up… Ha!
Rubbing his nose, Xu Ziyan felt grateful that Xu Zijing was so meticulous. Had she not obtained a map, finding the shortcut out of the Forest Sea would have been rather difficult.
Xu Zijing’s team was among the luckiest. They were the first to return to the training hall, and they brought back a rich haul.
In all, they had hunted four Rock Cats, one Brain-Devouring Rat, one Two-Tailed Scorpion and two Cauliflower Snakes. Do not laugh at the name: Cauliflower Snakes were genuine fourth-level Qi Refining demonic beasts. They were called that because they had a fleshy growth on their heads resembling a cauliflower. Their venom was stored not in their fangs but in that growth, making them dangerous to anyone unfamiliar with them.
After turning in the required prey, they passed the practical combat test. They sold the extras directly to the Xu family shop, and each person received five low-grade spirit stones. Xu Zirong, of course, received no share. →.→ Xu Ziyan tucked the stones into his storage bag and took Zirong back toward the Xu residence. Along the way, they saw more disciples returning from the Forest Sea, most of them injured, though their hunting results were impossible to tell.
The following day was a rest day for the training hall, so Xu Ziyan planned to take Xu Zirong sightseeing in Moxin City.
Most of Xu Ziyan’s pills and spirit stones were supplied by the Xu family, leaving him nothing to worry about. Xu Zirong did not enjoy the same treatment, so Xu Ziyan intended to buy him some pills and help him cultivate faster.
In three years, Xu Ziyan would leave for the Flowing Light Sect. He could not guarantee that the Xu family would treat Zirong well after his departure. Frankly, he had no confidence in that ‘father’ of his.
Once the brothers returned to Liushang Courtyard, each went to his own room. Xu Ziyan made a point of reminding Zirong to wake him early the next morning.
_(：з」∠)_ Well, Zirong had already discovered his habit of sleeping in, so there was no point hiding it. Zirong could serve as his personal alarm clock. Xu Ziyan even began considering whether the two of them should share a bedroom.
Xu Zirong woke very early the following morning.
Thanks to the previous day’s hunt, he had collected several drops of demonic-beast blood essence. His circumstances were far better now than when he had secretly used domestic poultry to cultivate the Blood Sea Heart Scripture.
After a night of refining it, he had successfully reached the first level of Qi Refining. Were it not for the suspicion that advancing too quickly would arouse, he could even have climbed all the way to the third level within seven days.
His one regret was that Xu Ziyan had not let him out of his sight throughout the hunt, leaving the violence simmering inside him with nowhere to go.
The red in his eyes had deepened since the previous day. Xu Zirong had to exert considerable effort to suppress his thirst for blood.
Licking his lips, he could not help recalling the sweet taste of the blood he had sampled the day before. Unfortunately, that blood belonged to his chosen ‘big brother’, so he could not devour him.
Only after the red faded completely from his eyes did Xu Zirong rise, dress and enter Xu Ziyan’s bedroom.
With a little effort, he dragged Xu Ziyan out of bed. After a simple breakfast, Xu Ziyan enthusiastically took Zirong into the city.
It was a little embarrassing. Although he possessed the former Xu Ziyan’s memories, strolling through a city of such old-fashioned architecture was a completely new experience for him. Unable to contain his excitement, he looked everywhere, just like a country bumpkin visiting the city for the first time.