Although it was an intentional threat to vent his anger, there was an indescribable hint of ambiguity in it.
After all, Ning Buwei had threatened countless people before, but he had never casually threatened others by saying he would violate them if they didn’t confess.
In the end, he just wanted to tease and provoke the person, but he didn’t expect Chu Jun to “cooperate” so well. It was clearly abnormal, which instead made him feel like he was taking advantage of someone’s weakness.
Ning Buwei clicked his tongue and wrapped Chu Jun’s collar tighter. As he stood up, he casually removed the immobilization talisman, saying, “Forget it if you won’t talk.”
Chu Jun sat up and loosened his tightly wrapped collar, “It’s not that I won’t tell you, it’s because I don’t remember.”
Ning Buwei frowned, “You don’t remember?”
“My cultivation went awry, and now my memories are a bit chaotic,” Chu Jun looked up at him, “When you stopped me on the mountainside earlier, I… remembered some things.”
His mind was unsettled, to the point of being difficult to control.
For some reason, Ning Buwei recalled Chu Jun calling out “Ning Chengfeng” not long ago, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The green light had reminded him of past events with Wanli, and then the heart demon realm had made him completely let go of this matter. It was just youthful passion, a coincidence. They were destined to be apart, and there was no need to force it. Chu Jun clearly didn’t remember, so he had never mentioned it.
But now, a hidden expectation unexpectedly welled up from the bottom of his heart, and he almost cruelly nipped that expectation in the bud.
“You—” he stared at Chu Jun, his voice cold, “What did you remember?”
Chu Jun lowered his eyes, his voice a bit muffled, “I was waiting for you.”
Ning Buwei suddenly felt his throat tighten, “Waiting for me to do what?”
Chu Jun frowned slightly, and after a long while, he said, “…Waiting for you to come back.”
[Don’t run around everywhere, I’ll be back in two weeks at most.]
But it seemed he had waited for a very long time and hadn’t seen the person return.
Ning Buwei’s expression was complex. He cleared his throat, “Apart from this, what else do you remember about current events?”
“You gave birth to a son for me,” Chu Jun recalled. “We have four children and a dog to raise… You like red wood, someone is plotting against you, Ning Xiu’s soul is unstable now, you can’t use too much spiritual power—”
“I gave birth to a son for you?” Ning Buwei interrupted him.
Chu Jun’s expression was calm, “Isn’t that right?”
Ning Buwei smiled slightly, “You’ve remembered wrong, you were the one who gave birth to the son.”
A look of confusion indeed appeared on Chu Jun’s face.
Although Ning Buwei was talking nonsense, his thoughts were actually in turmoil. He turned around and said, “I haven’t seen Ning Xiu for a long time, I’ll go check on him.”
Chu Jun then took him next door.
It was the middle of the night, and Ning Xiu was sound asleep, curled up in a small bundle in the soft cotton blanket. His little face was rosy, and he was smiling, probably dreaming of something pleasant.
Since Ning Xiu’s birth, this was the first time Ning Buwei had been apart from him for so long. He couldn’t help but miss him. He reached out to scoop up his son, staring at him for a long while, pinching his cheeks and poking his belly, then weighing him, finding that the little one had indeed gained weight.
With all this disturbance, Ning Xiu finally woke up, frowning and about to cry.
“No crying allowed.” Ning Buwei reached out to pinch his little mouth.
Hearing the familiar voice and surrounded by Ning Buwei’s familiar scent, Ning Xiu instantly opened his eyes wide.
Father!
Ning Buwei released his hand satisfactorily, and saw Ning Xiu grinning at him, excitedly waving his arms and legs, “Ah! Ah yi ya~”
Father! Father where did you go~ Father father~
Ning Buwei lifted him up, unable to hold back a smile. “So happy?”
“Ah!” Ning Xiu smiled so much his eyes curved.
Ning Buwei said, “Call me father, let me hear it.”
“Ahbo” Ning Xiu happily kicked his legs, the little socks on his feet falling onto the bed.
Chu Jun picked them up and put them back on, saying to Ning Buwei. “It’s cold at night, wrap him in a swaddle.”
Ning Buwei carelessly said. “It’s fine, he’s not a little girl. When he was just born, he was rained on all night in the cold and didn’t—”
Ning Buwei was too excited seeing his son and abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
Chu Jun took Ning Xiu and wrapped him in a soft little blanket, then placed him back in Ning Buwei’s arms, saying in a flat tone. “So, why was he rained on all night when he was just born?”
Ning Buwei: “……”
This was truly a good question.
Fortunately, Ning Xiu came to his father’s rescue just in time. A stream of urine came down, making it impossible for his father and “mother” to continue discussing this topic.
The little blanket was made of some unknown material that wasn’t waterproof at all. Ning Buwei’s sleeve was immediately soaked through, thoroughly extinguishing his feelings of missing his son.
“Ah~” Ning Xiu pursed his little mouth sheepishly, looking at Ning Buwei with an innocent expression.
Couldn’t hold it in~
Chu Jun began skillfully changing their son’s diaper. Ning Buwei simply went behind the screen to change his clothes. When he came out, he saw Ning Xiu being uncooperative during the diaper change.
Ning Xiu had been woken up in the middle of the night, and just when Ning Buwei suddenly disappeared, his originally suppressed grumpiness at being woken up came back. He kicked his legs around looking for Ning Buwei, refusing to let Chu Jun change his diaper.
“Ah~ Ah?” Ning Xiu was anxious, thinking his father had disappeared again.
Mother~ Where’s father? Where did father go?
He accidentally kicked Chu Jun’s chin, immediately leaving a red mark. Given how pale Chu Jun already was, the mark looked even more obvious.
Chu Jun didn’t mind, but Ning Buwei frowned at the sight. He strode over and picked up Ning Xiu, helping Chu Jun finish changing the diaper.
“Ah~” Ning Xiu called out to him in a soft, milky voice.
Ning Buwei glared at him, poking his foot and saying in a serious tone. “If you dare to kick people recklessly again, I’ll eat your little feet.”
Ning Xiu was born with a golden core, and he couldn’t control his own strength. Back when Ning Buwei had lost all his powers, he was kicked three zhang away by Ning Xiu. The kick just now wasn’t much weaker.
Ning Xiu seemed to understand but not quite. He looked at his little toes, then at his father’s serious expression, and finally at his mother’s reddened chin. He weakly smacked his lips, “Aya~”
Oh no, I accidentally kicked mother~
“It’s alright,” Chu Jun said, seeing Ning Xiu’s confused and helpless appearance, and noticing Ning Buwei’s serious face. He spoke gently, “He just missed you too much.”
Ning Buwei glanced at his chin, “Children don’t know their own strength. You don’t need to indulge him.”
A hint of amusement flashed in Chu Jun’s eyes, “Alright.”
Ning Buwei pinched the red string and silver bell on Ning Xiu’s wrist, “I’ll put him to sleep before I leave.”
But they saw Ning Xiu’s little face turning red with effort, as golden spiritual energy floated out from between his eyebrows, covering Chu Jun’s chin. The red mark there instantly disappeared.
Ning Buwei and Chu Jun were both stunned.
“Ta-da~” Ning Xiu smiled proudly at Chu Jun and Ning Buwei.
I helped mother heal~
Chu Jun pinched a bit of the golden spiritual energy covering his chin, his tone somewhat grave, “This spiritual energy contains life force.”
Ning Xiu had been with him for so long, yet this was the first time he had seen Ning Xiu use spiritual energy.
Ning Buwei recalled, “When I was seriously injured before, he also used spiritual energy to help me heal. Even the dog he contracted was originally just a painting on a small porcelain spoon, but later became a living creature.”
He paused, tucking Ning Xiu’s wildly swinging little arms back into the swaddling cloth, “He was originally formed from the Linglong Bone, which can revive the dead and regrow flesh on bare bones, so healing injuries naturally…”
Ning Buwei’s voice grew quieter as he spoke, reaching out to pat Ning Xiu’s little head.
“Ah~” Ning Xiu restlessly stretched out his arms again, hugging Ning Buwei’s hand to his chest.
Hug father~
All things in nature seek balance, especially matters of life and death, which involve heavy karmic consequences. In the seventeen states, there was only one person who had the ability to control matters of life and death — Ning Xingyuan.
Ning Buwei’s heart sank.
——
“Master, there’s a problem with Wang Zizhuo,” Xie Jiu knelt on the couch. Opposite him was a crystal-clear water mirror, and on the table lay a map of the Dao Discussion Mountain, with several locations circled in red ink, standing out conspicuously.
“He behaved somewhat abnormally tonight. I suspect he knows something. Tomorrow is not a good time to make our move.”
The person in the water mirror chuckled lightly. “The Wang family is no longer a concern. Tomorrow, you just go ahead and do as planned.”
Xie Jiu lowered his head to look at the map on the table and said, “Now Ning Buwei has found six fragments of the Suzaku knife, but the fragment inside Chu Jun’s body still shows no movement. The child formed from the Linglong Bone is being watched closely by Chu Jun. I cannot find an opportunity to make a move.”
“There are many fools in the Chu family, but also quite a few clever ones. Moreover, a thousand-year-old fox like Chu Jun is very troublesome,” the person in the water mirror showed no sign of blame. “I had originally planned to work around him, but his karmic connection with Ning Chengfeng is too deep. However, now that his inner demon has already begun to act, it’s better to deal with this hidden danger early, lest it cause trouble later.”
Hearing this, Xie Jiu said, “This disciple is willing to—”
“No need. Leave this matter to your martial uncle. He has confronted Chu Jun before and has a good grasp of the situation. You just focus on handling the affairs of the Discussion Conference.”
“Yes, Master,” Xie Jiu responded, raising his head to look at the person in the water mirror.
“What is it? Is there something else?” the person in the water mirror asked with a smile.
The tone was gentle and casual, without any hint of aloofness or distance, easily inspiring goodwill and closeness.
Xie Jiu pondered for a moment, his tone unconsciously becoming a bit nervous, “Master, is your health better now?”
“It has improved considerably.” Suddenly, a commotion of voices could be heard in the background of the water mirror, including a woman’s voice coming from afar.
“Oh my, there’s someone here—”
Xie Jiu was startled, “Master, have you already come out of seclusion?”
“The cave dwelling was stuffy, so I came out for some fresh air,” the other party chuckled, then advised, “The Discussion Conference is crucial for both you and the Cui family. Don’t miss this excellent opportunity.”
“Yes, Master.” Xie Jiu nodded in agreement. When he looked up again, the water mirror had suddenly dissipated.
Xie Jiu stared at the vermilion circles on the map and picked up his brush to mark the final location.
Liuyun Pavilion.
However, he had some doubts, and as he put down the brush, he applied too much force, accidentally drawing a vivid red mark on the map.
Why would Master… suddenly come out of seclusion?
