Chapter 125: Respectful and Filial Lele
Yu Le lay on the bed with his eyes closed, a faint layer of red still lingering on his skin. His silver crown rested on the bedside table, his hair scattered messily, making his youthful and beautiful face even more striking.
Mo Cunzhi silently pulled the blanket higher, covering his shoulders.
He wore his outer robe and sat at the bedside, frowning as he reflected on himself.
He had actually indulged his junior brother’s antics, not even making it through the door before…
“Pfft.” The junior brother, eyes still closed, suddenly laughed. He sat up on the bed, not caring as the silk blanket slipped from his body, his gaze filled with teasing as he looked at Mo Cunzhi.
“Senior Brother is reflecting again?”
Yu Le, after all, treated this as a way to cultivate by absorbing demonic energy and found it pleasing in its own way.
But Mo Cunzhi, on the other hand, used to only engage in such activities out of duty and always felt guilty for deriving even a sliver of pleasure from it.
He was like an ascetic monk, harsh and demanding of himself.
The more Yu Le watched him struggle to control himself, trying to suppress any bodily or emotional enjoyment, the more he wanted to push him into losing control.
It was only in moments of irrationality that Mo Cunzhi would reveal the madness buried within.
Yet, this kind of “loss of control” clearly caused him to feel inner guilt and self-reproach.
“Senior brother was a bit intense this time. I almost couldn’t handle it. What’s bothering you? Did something provoke you, or was it just too enjoyable that you lost yourself in it?”
Mo Cunzhi instinctively turned his head, trying to hide emotions he hadn’t even realized he was showing.
His voice was deep and hoarse, still carrying traces of their recent encounter: “Don’t speak anymore.”
Yu Le chuckled, pushing open the window and leaning over the bed to look outside. “It’s getting late. Senior brother, aren’t you planning to return to the competition stage?”
Hearing no reply, he turned his head and saw Mo Cunzhi staring at his back.
Yu Le’s body was pale and slender, with the only flaw being the whip marks left by the “Soul-Crushing Whip” on his back. Faint red welts stretched across his back and waist, hidden beneath his tangled hair.
The light pink marks resembled cracks on porcelain.
The two of them were usually face-to-face, rarely seeing each other’s backs.
Mo Cunzhi’s calloused fingers, rough from sword training, touched the whip scars on Yu Le’s back.
“You’re the one who whipped me. How do you feel about it now, regretful?” Yu Le asked, his face resting on his arm.
Mo Cunzhi snapped out of his daze, withdrawing his hand as his voice returned to its calm tone. “Regret is useless.”
Then he asked, “Why didn’t you use medicine to remove the marks?”
“I hold grudges,” Yu Le replied with a laugh.
Mo Cunzhi glanced at him deeply. Reaching into his storage bag, he pulled out a long whip.
“This is the Soul-Crushing Whip. The marks it leaves cannot be removed.”
He removed his outer robe, sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to Yu Le, his tone indifferent. “You can take your revenge.”
His body bore numerous scars, old and new, far more than Yu Le’s.
A hand, marked with peach blossom imprints, picked up the black Soul-Crushing Whip. Mo Cunzhi felt a cold, tight sensation at his neck, forcing him to raise his head.
Yu Le stood behind him, wrapping the whip around his neck with a smile on his face. “I wouldn’t whip Senior Brother with this.”
He pressed his body against Mo Cunzhi’s back, affectionately clinging to him. “Senior Brother has been so kind to me; I stopped being angry a long time ago.”
Yet, the whip in his hand didn’t loosen. Instead, he slowly tightened it, leaving faint marks on Mo Cunzhi’s neck, while playfully biting his ear.
Even though they had done far more intimate things countless times, Mo Cunzhi still wasn’t used to this kind of playful teasing and intimacy. His whole body tensed as he pressed down on Yu Le’s hand.
Yu Le chuckled, tossing the whip aside and releasing him, then curled up under the blanket with an innocent look on his face. “Senior Brother, I’m tired. I need to rest now.”
The sound of rustling clothes filled the room, followed by Mo Cunzhi quietly leaving.
Yu Le closed his eyes to rest, sending the demonic energy he had just absorbed to his abdomen, where it would be refined into his demon core.
As the process continued, the speed at which the pill was refined increased.
This demon core, originally belonging to the protagonist, was indeed formidable. It had saved him from a hundred years of painstaking cultivation. Even Mo Cunzhi was probably no longer his match.
But it still wasn’t enough.
The room was silent as Yu Le slowly opened his eyes and leisurely began to dress. He glanced toward the corner. “Since Xiao Niang has come to find me, why not show yourself?”
Xiao Niang, who had been hiding her presence in the room, suppressed her shock and revealed herself, teasing, “I saw you were resting and didn’t want to disturb you. I hesitated for a moment, which is why I didn’t show up sooner.”
“What brings Xiao Niang to me?” Yu Le pretended to ponder, then asked, “Could it be that the demonic cultivator who was caught today is also one of Xiao Niang’s ‘younger brothers’?”
Xiao Niang was once again surprised by his sharpness and intelligence. After a brief pause, she responded with a hint of bitterness, “Isn’t that the case? How many ‘brothers’ do I have left? Another one has been harmed by you, my troublesome enemy, and now I can’t even find a suitable target for my cultivation.”
“That was my senior brother who dealt with him. How can you blame me?” Yu Le rested his elbow on his knee, his tone sounding aggrieved.
But his expression didn’t match his words. He said, “How about I help Xiao Niang find some new targets for cultivation?”
Xiao Niang’s heart stirred. “What do you mean?”
Yu Le replied, “I’ve heard that many demonic cultivators have recently come near Liexing City. With your cultivation technique, wouldn’t it be better to drain the energy of more powerful demonic cultivators?”
Xiao Niang immediately understood. “You want me to tell you which strong demonic cultivators are in Liexing City?”
Yu Le shook his head. “No, I want you to lure those demonic cultivators out.”
Xiao Niang’s gaze flickered, and she remained silent.
Yu Le stood up and walked toward her, saying, “Before long, I will be heading to the Demonic Path. Don’t you want to see what I’m really capable of?”
He seemed to possess a natural ability to captivate and manipulate hearts. Xiao Niang, who had experienced countless men and was much older than the young man before her, found herself stirred by his gaze.
She truly admired this mysterious youth. The Demonic Path was in chaos, and Xiao Niang needed stronger allies within it. Ever since she had first encountered him, she had been contemplating how to recruit him to her side.
It only took a moment for her to make up her mind.
“There is an old demon in the Demonic Path called Xue Chou. He is at the late stage of the Xuandan realm, with a cultivation level similar to mine. Recently, he has also been in Liexing City.”
Yu Le smiled faintly. “Good, let’s go pay him a visit.”
*
That night, a figure dressed in gray appeared in the dilapidated temple outside the city.
“Xiao Qing, come out!”
Xiao Niang, dressed in a peach blossom pink robe, appeared not far from the figure in gray. “Brother Xue Chou, why are you still so impatient?”
“Cut the nonsense! You said you had news about my traitorous disciple. Where is she?” Xue Chou asked with hatred in his voice.
Xue Chou, the old demon, cultivated by absorbing blood, refining a powerful blood aura.
In the Demonic Path, every infamous demon lord had blood on their hands, and Xue Chou was one of the most notorious.
Just as Xiao Niang used her technique to drain energy from the numerous “little brothers” she cultivated as furnaces, Xue Chou also raised disciples with good aptitude to serve as resources for his own cultivation.
This time, Xue Chou had left the Demonic Path to come to Liexing City because one of his female disciples had stolen a precious cultivation technique and fled. Using the connection of his blood gu, he had tracked her to this place.
However, the disciple had been ruthless enough to completely purge his blood gu by exchanging her own blood, leaving him unable to pinpoint her exact location.
After searching in vain for a long time, Xue Chou had eagerly responded to Xiao Niang’s message, hoping for a lead.
Xiao Niang, always adept at charming people and skilled in the art of energy-draining cultivation, didn’t concern Xue Chou much, even though their cultivation levels were similar.
“Brother Xue Chou, there’s no need to rush…”
Suddenly, Xue Chou became alert and turned his head, spotting a young man emerging from behind a Buddha statue.
The young man wore brocade robes, black boots, and a silver crown, with a smile on his face. His bright, jet-black eyes carried the curiosity of youth when he glanced at Xiao Niang.
“A weak cultivator,” Xue Chou thought, but before he could finish the thought, the youth’s spiritual energy was suddenly overwhelmed by a surge of dark purple demonic energy.
Pure, terrifying demonic energy instantly engulfed the broken temple.
Xiao Niang, still shaken, stared in horror as the seemingly harmless young man reached into Xue Chou’s abdomen and pulled out his inner core.
With severe injuries and the loss of his demon core, Xue Chou instantly became frail and withered, struggling on the ground like an old man.
Unlike true-born demons, demonic cultivators had to reach the Xuandan realm to form an inner core. It was not located in the heart, as it was for demonkind, but in the dantian.
Yu Le held the inner core in his hand, curiously examining it and comparing it to the demon core he had obtained from the male protagonist.
It seemed far inferior.
Noticing Xiao Niang’s gaze from the corner of the room, Yu Le smiled at her. “I was inexperienced, so I went a little too hard. I want this inner core—looks like you’ll have to wait for the next one. Is that alright?”
Xiao Niang didn’t dare utter a word of refusal. The suffocating demonic energy just now had left her back drenched in cold sweat.
She had merely sought an ally, but this simple test had yielded such terrifying results!
Now, how could she not see that the young man possessed a true-born demon’s inner core within his body?
And he had already refined it, using its demonic energy as his own.
In the Demonic Path, everyone knew how valuable the inner core of a true-born demon was, but not everyone could handle it.
When demons were young, their cores were easier to seize, but if a common demonic cultivator took one, they would have to rely on absorbing the demonic energy of others for future cultivation, unable to refine it themselves. This process was slower and came with many limitations.
Once a demon reached adulthood, their core could grant immense power, enough to allow someone to ascend rapidly. But by then, these demons were so powerful that seizing their core became nearly impossible.
In the Demonic Path, whenever a fallen demonic cultivator capable of seizing powerful demon cores appeared, it invariably brought about a reign of chaos and bloodshed.
Such a demonic cultivator required countless inner cores from others to grow in strength. To cultivate someone like this, countless demonic cultivators had to perish.
These cultivators, often ruthless and unrestrained, were feared even more than true-born demons because their power surpassed that of the demons themselves.
Xiao Niang’s heart trembled with fear at the thought of how she had once considered manipulating him, but at the same time, a surge of ambition swelled within her.
The young man before her might one day dominate the Demonic Path, perhaps even become its ruler!
If she swore her loyalty now, she could secure herself the most powerful ally in the Demonic Path’s future.
Filled with determination and fear of having her own inner core taken, Xiao Niang immediately bowed her head and said:
“Xiao Niang failed to recognize your greatness before. If you do not cast me aside, I am willing to serve as your loyal servant. Should you desire to lead the Demonic Path one day, I will gladly pave the way for you.”
Yu Le appreciated intelligent people.
He swallowed the inner core, feeling it merge with the blood core in his abdomen, nourishing and refining the demon core within. His cultivation increased further, leaving him in a good mood as he smiled.
“Then I must thank Sister Xiao Niang,” he said with a casual smile.
Hearing him call her “sister,” Xiao Niang’s face lit up with joy, and she eagerly responded with deference, “There are many Xuandan realm demonic cultivators within Liexing City. I shall personally seek them out for you, my lord.”
Yu Le replied calmly, “No rush. Why don’t you first tell me about the current state of the Demonic Path, Sister Xiao Niang?”
“Of course,” Xiao Niang answered without hesitation and began to elaborate. “The Demonic Path is currently fractured, divided by several powerful demon clans, none able to overpower the others. However, the most fearsome figure is a demonic cultivator who fell from the Immortal Path. It’s said he was once a disciple of a prestigious immortal family…”
*
Bai Feishuang finished her duel and spotted her senior brother, Mo Cunzhi, standing alone beneath a tree, holding his sword.
“Senior Brother, where’s our junior brother?” Bai Feishuang asked as she walked over.
“He’s resting,” Mo Cunzhi replied.
Bai Feishuang observed his expression carefully and noticed that something seemed to be troubling him.
“Senior Brother, did something happen?” she asked with concern.
Facing his caring junior sister, Mo Cunzhi finally opened up. “I can’t seem to find peace.”
Bai Feishuang was shocked—hearing such words from her senior brother was unheard of. However, she quickly gathered her thoughts and made a guess. “Is it because of our junior brother?”
Mo Cunzhi hesitated for a moment. “Perhaps it has nothing to do with him… It could be my own issue.”
“Senior Brother, you always blame yourself for everything,” Bai Feishuang remarked. “It’s definitely our junior brother causing trouble, isn’t it?”
Mo Cunzhi paused. “How do you know that?”
Bai Feishuang chuckled. “Since getting to know our junior brother better, I’ve noticed that his personality has changed a bit. He’s become more mischievous.”
“With your serious nature, Senior Brother, Junior Brother enjoys teasing you on purpose. He must have angered you again, only to coax you afterward, right?”
Mo Cunzhi fell silent.
“Does he behave that way toward you too, junior sister?” Mo Cunzhi asked slowly.
Bai Feishuang shook her head. “Not at all. He’s always very respectful and filial toward me.”
Mo Cunzhi: “…”
