Chapter 224: Entering a Rebellious Phase
The gray-eyed cat trailing at Yu Yin’s feet disdainfully avoided the drunken youth who had stumbled to one side, instead fixing its gaze on Mu Yi at the doorway.
On that somewhat familiar youthful face was an expression of shock and tension.
Ah, so it was him—the guy who had caused him quite a bit of trouble in his past life and had always been at odds with him.
The light around him shone a little brighter than the average person.
Yu Yin recalled Mu Yi’s identity but showed no reaction. He merely went to pick up the mask he had accidentally knocked over.
Brushing the dust off it casually, he slowly turned a half-smiling face toward him and unexpectedly asked, “What are you doing here?”
Could it be that this Mu Yi, like him, had been reborn?
Otherwise, how else would he recognize him and display such an expression—one of anger so intense that it seemed he wanted to rush up and kill him?
Mu Yi was currently at the height of his hatred toward the demon Silk Nest. Suddenly encountering his cunning and dangerous enemy in such an unexpected place, he couldn’t even spare a thought to assess the situation. A murderous intent had already surged in his heart.
Almost in an instant, Mu Yi drew a dagger concealed on his person and shot toward Yu Yin like an arrow leaving the bowstring.
The cold glint of the blade cut through the air in front of Yu Yin.
Of course, Yu Yin could have easily dodged the attack and immediately used his spider silk to restrain him.
In their previous life, Mu Yi had been no match for him, and in this life, he was even less of a threat.
Yet, as the icy glint of the dagger neared, Yu Yin’s heart suddenly stirred, and he chose not to completely evade.
Feigning a look of being caught off guard, he raised his arm to block.
In an instant, blood spattered. The dagger tore through his sleeve, leaving a long gash on his arm.
Mu Yi stepped into the Exorcism Bureau’s main hall. The moment he saw Yu Yin, he suddenly let out an angry roar and charged at him, attacking in the blink of an eye. It all happened so quickly that the others in the room had no time to react.
Who would have expected such a frail-looking child to suddenly lash out and injure someone? Besides, everyone present was a drunken mess, their minds dulled from alcohol.
The sight of blood spilling in front of Yu Yin instantly sobered them. Those who had been sprawled across tables or passed out under them scrambled to their feet in a panic.
“Where did this brat come from, daring to injure someone on our turf?”
The young man who had drunkenly stumbled into Yu Yin earlier was Meng Miao. He was closest and reacted first. Cursing loudly, he leaped up from the ground and, still unsteady on his feet, managed to grab Mu Yi’s leg and slam him to the floor.
“Let me go!” Mu Yi shouted angrily, hating himself for not delivering a fatal blow to his enemy.
But it was too late to attack Yu Yin again. Several others had already rushed over and restrained him.
“Who is this crazy kid, daring to hurt someone in the Exorcism Bureau?”
“Unbelievable! Tie him up right now!”
“Hey, stop struggling, kid, or I’ll teach you a lesson!”
If not for the fact that Mu Yi looked so young, the crowd would have beaten him up right then and there for daring to injure Yu Yin.
“Let me handle this,” came a gruff voice.
Wu Jin, who had just climbed out from under a table, shook his groggy head and firmly pressed down on Mu Yi, who was still red-eyed and struggling.
Hearing that familiar voice, Mu Yi froze for a moment and turned his head to look. His furious expression suddenly softened.
“Teacher Wu Jin?!”
It was only then that Mu Yi realized Wu Jin was also here.
When Mu Yi had entered the Divine Academy at the age of thirteen, it was Wu Jin who had taught him.
Wu Jin was the teacher who would slap his shoulder and call him a fine lad, the one who had taken him into the mountains to catch pheasants for fun.
Later, Wu Jin had died protecting a group of students. Mu Yi had rushed back with all his strength but had still been too late to see him one last time.
Wu Jin, who always felt more like an older brother than a teacher, furrowed his brows and glared at Mu Yi, holding him down firmly. Yet, to Mu Yi’s disbelief, Wu Jin even glanced at the demon Silk Nest with a worried expression!
“The rope’s here—let’s tie him up first,” came a voice.
Mu Yi turned his head and saw Shi Bai speaking.
Together with Wu Jin, Shi Bai used the hemp rope to bind him tightly, leaving Mu Yi so angry and heartbroken that he could barely speak.
“You—Shi Bai, Teacher Wu Jin! How could you—how could you protect him? Don’t you know he’s… mmph!”
Shi Bai, finding the boy’s behavior increasingly odd, stuffed a towel into Mu Yi’s mouth—one he had been using earlier to wipe his brothers’ mouths—to shut him up.
Frowning, Shi Bai turned to glance at Yu Yin’s injured arm.
Something felt off. How had Yu Yin, of all people, gotten hurt today? He wasn’t even drunk.
Yu Yin, who had planned to slip away to find his big brother, found himself surrounded instead.
A group of drunken, reeling men stared at his bleeding arm, scratching their heads in confusion, their alcohol-clouded minds struggling to keep up.
“He’s bleeding! What do we do?”
“What else? Bandage him up! Someone, hurry up and do it!”
“He’s losing so much blood! Is this wound too big? I don’t dare touch it—you do it!”
“Fine, I’ll do it!”
The young man who volunteered looked up at Yu Yin’s face and immediately turned pale. “No! I accidentally saw his face—now I’m seeing spots and feel like throwing up… ugh!”
“Move aside, all of you! Useless idiots, stop crowding and get out of the way. We’ll handle this!”
Two women pushed through the crowd, working together to free Yu Yin from the throng and lead him over to Ban Ying.
Ban Ying had already opened the medical kit. Along with the two women, she pressed Yu Yin down and reassured him: “Don’t worry. Big sisters will bandage you up and apply some medicine right away!”
However, Ban Ying had clearly drunk too much herself. Her vision was doubled, and she struggled to align the bandage with the wound.
Yu Yin: “…”
If he could speak, he would have shouted at them long ago to let him go and back off.
Meanwhile, Mu Yi, still tied up and lying on the ground with no one paying attention to him, finally calmed down a little.
He watched in disbelief as the dangerous and terrifying demon Silk Nest was surrounded by people fussing over him with concern.
Even his teacher, Wu Jin, had gone over, standing on tiptoes to offer a few worried words.
It was like they were playing a game of hot potato, passing Silk Nest from one set of hands to another until he was finally delivered to a beautiful woman with a cold and elegant demeanor.
Mu Yi saw something faintly familiar in her features.
At that moment, he genuinely felt like he was dreaming.
When he had first been reborn, he had suspected it was a dream and spent several days confirming that everything was real. But now, with all that was happening, he began doubting reality once again.
If this was real, how could his friends, his teacher, possibly be so close to the demon Silk Nest?
…
The commotion in the front of the hall eventually alerted Yu Guang, who had been in the back brewing sobering soup.
Carrying a large basin of the soup, he walked in, immediately noticing the blood on the floor and his younger brother being held down on a chair while Ban Ying treated his wound.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Big Brother, come quickly! Little Brother’s been hurt!”
“Yeah, some kid suddenly went crazy and attacked Yu Yin with a dagger. We’ve subdued him now,” someone added.
Listening to the chorus of explanations, Yu Guang handed the sobering soup to someone nearby and walked over to Ban Ying and Yu Yin.
The moment Yu Yin saw him, he pulled his arm free. Ban Ying, perceptive as ever, handed her supplies to Yu Guang and stepped aside, letting him take over.
After all, everyone knew how much Yu Guang cared for his little brother. He had watched over him closely since they were young.
Yu Yin had always been clingy with his big brother, and as he grew older, it only became worse—like he was Yu Guang’s shadow.
“You’ve lost too much blood. Come, let’s clean it up in the back,” Yu Guang said, gripping Yu Yin’s arm and examining the wound before leading him away.
As they left, the group in the hall sat back down and noticed the steaming, dark-colored sobering soup on the table.
“Big Brother just brought this over. Should we share it and drink it?” someone suggested hesitantly.
“No, no, I’m already sober from the scare. No need for more.”
“Well, it’s Big Brother’s kind effort…”
“How about we give it to that kid? I bet he got drunk and went on a rampage, which is why he attacked Yu Yin. Let him sober up with it.”
At this suggestion, everyone turned to look at Mu Yi, still tied up and lying on the ground, and quickly agreed.
The utterly grief-stricken Mu Yi: “???”
*
In the back courtyard, cold water from the well flowed over Yu Yin’s wound, washing away the blood and grime around it.
Yu Guang held his brother’s arm firmly as Yu Yin suddenly leaned his cheek toward him, a faintly aggrieved voice ringing in his mind. “Big Brother, it hurts a little.”
Yu Guang glanced at him calmly, his expression unchanging. He dried the area with a clean cloth and methodically began applying medicine to the wound.
Seeing such an indifferent response, Yu Yin’s expression darkened. “Big Brother, do you not care or feel bad seeing me hurt?”
Yu Guang continued dressing the wound, his tone stern. “Yu Yin, no matter the reason, deliberately injuring yourself is a foolish act!”
He hadn’t witnessed the earlier events firsthand, but Yu Guang knew better than anyone the extent of his youngest brother’s current abilities.
The youngest sibling he himself had to suppress with all his strength could not have been hurt so easily.
Instead of the comfort or sympathy Yu Yin had expected, he received a scolding. His face grew even darker, his frustration plain to see.
Yu Yin suddenly let out a cold laugh, yanking his arm forcefully from Yu Guang’s grasp and tearing off the half-wrapped bandage with a sharp tug.
The rough movement caused the medicinal powder to scatter, and his wound reopened, fresh blood streaming out once more.
“What are you doing?” Yu Guang snapped, his tone sharp as he grabbed Yu Yin’s hand to stop him.
“If Big Brother thinks I’ve done something wrong, why bother dressing my wound? Let it bleed as a lesson, wouldn’t that be better?” Yu Yin retorted with icy sarcasm.
Yu Guang felt a headache coming on. He suspected his youngest sibling was entering a rebellious phase—say the wrong thing, and it would turn into a full-blown tantrum.
“Fine, leave it be. Let it bleed. If Big Brother has something to lecture me about, go ahead, I’m all ears,” Yu Yin added mockingly.
How was Yu Guang supposed to reason with that? Staring at the blood dripping from Yu Yin’s arm, he realized that even if he were made of steel, he couldn’t bring himself to reprimand his brother harshly in this state.
He had never dealt with a sibling who would treat themselves so harshly, so prone to self-destruction at the slightest disagreement.
Yu Guang tried to clean the wound and reapply the bandage, but Yu Yin resisted, making the already long gash on his arm even worse with his defiance.
“Stop moving!” Yu Guang growled, seriously considering whether he should knock his brother unconscious to deal with the wound properly.
Yu Yin noticed the conflicted and frustrated expression on Yu Guang’s face, as well as the rare flicker of anger in his eyes. His icy, sullen demeanor softened slightly, and he raised his arms to embrace Yu Guang’s shoulders.
“I just want Big Brother to care for me… to feel for me,” he said quietly. “Didn’t Big Brother say I was your favorite?”
Yu Guang froze, realizing that Yu Yin was still hung up on a comment he’d made not long ago—about having a few older brothers ahead of him.
This was apparently a sign of insecurity. Yu Yin, who had been raised for years by Yu Guang, remained distant from everyone else, attaching himself only to his big brother. Yet even the way he sought attention from Yu Guang was so warped.
Yu Guang pulled Yu Yin’s arm back down to apply the medicine, utterly baffled by his younger brother’s line of thinking.
“If you want something, just tell Big Brother directly. What’s the point of making such a fuss?”
“If I say what I want, will Big Brother agree to it?” Yu Yin asked, his tone teasing.
“As long as it’s nothing bad, sure,” Yu Guang replied without hesitation.
Yu Yin immediately broke into a smile, his mood changing as quickly as a stormy June sky clearing up. He leaned closer, his uninjured hand sliding down Yu Guang’s back. “I want Big Brother to comfort me.”
