Chapter 14 Endured.

Chapter 14: Enduring It.

Chu Ji went still the moment he plunged into the water.

He had only just learned to keep his eyes open underwater, and the spiritual energy within him showed no signs of recovering. He couldn’t use the Water-Repelling Pearl at all. Jun Xueyi’s spiritual energy, mingled with that strange and ancient power, completely suppressed his constitution, preventing any recovery.

Jun Xueyi quickly surfaced, only to see the young master sinking straight toward the bottom of the pool.

He can’t swim?

If he couldn’t swim, why had he deliberately smashed through the ground back at the silver spider nest?

He had thought the other knew what lay below, but it seemed he hadn’t.

To act so recklessly without knowing—either he was foolish or naive.

At this thought, he chuckled inexplicably. Or perhaps it was neither—maybe someone was simply overconfident.

He raised his hand.

The whip wrapped around Chu Ji’s waist immediately pulled him upward. Half-opening his eyes, Chu Ji was hauled out of the water until the other end of the whip returned to Jun Xueyi’s hand.

Jun Xueyi gripped the whip and pulled hard.

Chu Ji broke through the water’s surface, struggling to steady himself as water streamed down his head. His long hair spread across the water like a water sprite.

The pool water didn’t soak his eyelashes but dripped down the sides of his face. With nothing to hold onto in the water, he could only cling tightly to Jun Xueyi, his lips slightly parted as he gasped for air.

His lips were a vivid red, and upon closer inspection, the corners showed signs of being bruised.

Jun Xueyi stared at the marks. With this person’s cultivation level, he should have healed quickly. The fact that the marks remained could only mean he had lost his spiritual energy shortly after they appeared, preventing any healing.

Back then, he had been unconscious.

A wave of irritation washed over him. He tightened the whip and pulled the other ashore, then dried himself with a wave of his hand. He must have been out of his mind to waste time with this young master here.

Lifting his eyelids, he glanced over. The other stood dripping wet by the poolside.

So attached to this pool?

Chu Ji stared at the water. The pool wasn’t cold or gloomy at all, completely different from the icy pool he had fallen into earlier. He and Jun Xueyi had been swept away to who-knows-where, and now he didn’t even have the spiritual energy to dry his clothes. He could only stand there, waiting to air-dry.

He was a mess—more disheveled than he had ever been.

His clothes were far from clean, his hair was a tangled mess, and he had just been bitten twice.

Every part of him looked disorderly; even one of the ornaments on his boots had fallen off.

He was so disgraced he didn’t dare look at his reflection in the water.

As the young master of the demon realm, raised in luxury and accustomed to getting whatever he wanted, he had never experienced such humiliation. If he were in the demon palace, those eager to please him would line up from the main hall to his bedchamber.

But now, standing beside him was the very person he wanted to kill but couldn’t—the one who had bitten him, sucked his blood, and seen him completely exposed!

Chu Ji didn’t even want to speak to him, let alone beg him.

If it weren’t for this man, he wouldn’t have lost all his spiritual energy.

Jun Xueyi observed the figure standing motionless. His appearance was no different from those mountain spirits who assumed beautiful forms to lure and devour humans.

If he were a female cultivator, he might have been tempted to offer a few words of comfort.

Hah.

To gift the Red Thread of Fate upon their first meeting—if he were a female cultivator, who knows what this young master might have offered.

The more he looked, the more irritating the sight became.

The first time they met, he was met with hostility. Without even seeing him, he had people curse him in the streets. Instead of staying comfortably in the demon palace, he had come to this perilous Neverfall Mountain Range to play the part of a spirit—what a waste of talent.

Chu Ji suddenly sneezed, rubbing his reddened nose. Was someone cursing him?

Whoever it was couldn’t be any good. He cursed back in his mind, using every insult he could think of.

Just as he was inwardly venting, a wave of spiritual energy swept over him, drying his clothes and hair in an instant.

He turned to see Jun Xueyi casually tying up his hair with a ribbon and saying, "Your spiritual energy might not return until you refine what’s inside you."

Chu Ji gritted his teeth in frustration. Without spiritual energy, he couldn’t use any of his magical tools. Even his sword was little more than a prop.

He didn’t even have the energy to open his storage ring.

How infuriating.

Jun Xueyi looked at Chu Ji’s expression and smirked coldly. "Still want to kill me? Try again next time."

With that, he turned and left. He didn’t believe the young master had no other tricks up his sleeve. The demon realm’s young master in these mountains was surely safer than he was.

Chu Ji watched his retreating figure and immediately started shadow-boxing—three punches to the left, three to the right. If he weren’t so powerless now, he would have sliced him to pieces and fed his flesh to the dogs.

Noticing his sword on the ground, he picked it up and swung it a few times.

Damn bastard.

After a moment, he suddenly remembered their shared fate. Holding his sword, he crossed his arms arrogantly and smirked, counting silently in his mind.

Just as Jun Xueyi was about to take his ninety-ninth step, he reached the number in his head.

The next second, Jun Xueyi flew backward as if struck, soaring through the air like a leaf and nearly crashing into him.

Chu Ji turned slightly, his robes fluttering in the wind as he brushed past Jun Xueyi.

Jun Xueyi didn’t fall flat on his face—he managed to steady himself just in time, landing on one knee and skidding a long distance.

Beneath the mask, his eyes turned cold and scrutinizing. "What did you do?"

Chu Ji felt slightly better but kept his arms crossed. After all, he was human, and the one on the ground was a dog. Without spiritual energy, if this mutt bit him again, he’d be tainted beyond cleansing.

Too filthy to ever wash clean.

Admiring the other’s posture, he curled his lips dismissively. "No idea. I think I’m the unlucky one here."

So it wasn’t his doing. Jun Xueyi averted his gaze and stood up. "Thanks."

A lot must have happened at the bottom of the pool. They were now far from the silver spider nest. Regardless, while he was unconscious, the other had borne the brunt of it, good or bad.

Chu Ji couldn’t even muster a perfunctory smile. "If you want to thank me, go kill yourself."

Jun Xueyi couldn't be bothered to dignify that with a response. He got straight to the point, "We can't get too far apart? For things to get this bad, there must be other issues between us."

After speaking, he glanced at the other’s haughty, lifted chin and knew it would be difficult to get anything out of him.

His gaze shifted back to the other’s lips—the faint mark was still there.

He lowered his eyes to look at the gloves on his hands. Both the gloves and his mask were magical instruments. When he was unconscious, the artifacts would lock, making it impossible for anyone to remove them...

He would have to grin and bear it for a couple of days.

"Let’s go." Jun Xueyi didn’t want to waste breath. He sensed that the Cloud Snow Flower would bloom in just three days.

He only had a rough idea of the flower’s location; everything else would have to be figured out as they went.

Chu Ji raised an eyebrow. If Jun Xueyi wanted to leave, he was determined not to go.

Want to pick the Cloud Snow Flower? In your dreams.

He found a clean spot and sat down. Since he couldn’t open his storage ring, he couldn’t even tidy his hair.

Without a comb, he could only use his fingers instead, slowly untangling the knotted ends of his hair.

So filthy, so disheveled.

Utterly unbearable.

Jun Xueyi took two steps before turning back to look at him quietly. With his hair disheveled, he looked like a mess. If they ran into any cultivators outside, given this young master’s careless, flirtatious way, someone would end up getting hurt.

He took a hair ribbon from his storage ring and channeled some spiritual energy to send it over to the other. "No need to return it."

Chu Ji looked at the ribbon, pinching it between two fingers as if he wanted to burn it.

"Get lost."

Jun Xueyi leaned against his sword. "Fine if you don’t want it."

He spoke indifferently, "But have you looked in a mirror lately? Do you realize what a mess you look like right now?"

Chu Ji snapped his head around.

Jun Xueyi calmly held that fierce gaze.

Chu Ji gritted his teeth, clutching the ribbon as if it were Jun Xueyi himself, squeezing it hard.

Jun Xueyi turned away. "If you don’t start moving, I’ll haul you. It won’t be me who ends up with egg on their face."

Chu Ji had witnessed the power of Jun Xueyi’s spiritual energy—it completely restrained him. The red marks on his wrist hadn’t even faded yet.

Touching his wrist, he was fuming.

Why wasn’t this bastard dead yet?

The red marks were glaring, each one a reminder of his recent humiliation.

Swallowing his disgust, he picked up a wrist guard from the ground. He couldn’t put it on with one hand, so he had to use his teeth to tug the strap tight.

He had disliked the plain black enchanted bracer for being unattractive, which was why he’d chosen this one. If he’d known something like this would happen, he would have worn the other one—at least Jun Xueyi wouldn’t have been able to remove it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jun Xueyi saw the other puffing out his cheeks, biting the strap to fasten the wrist guard—the one he had taken off.

He walked over. "What's taking so long? Borrowed those hands? So clumsy."

Picking up the other wrist guard, he conjured water to clean it, then forcefully grabbed the other’s hand and fastened the guard back on. He then tried to pull the ribbon from the other’s tight grip but failed.

Seeing the other’s wide-eyed, murderous glare, Jun Xueyi coolly produced another ribbon. Using spiritual energy to restrain him, he quickly tied the other’s hair up high.

Unlike a hair crown, the ribbon took a few extra wraps to secure the soft hair properly.

Noticing the other still glaring daggers at him, Jun Xueyi lowered his head to meet his gaze.

"Young master, back home, were you such a spoiled brat that you needed someone to dress you and comb your hair when you woke up? Did you even need others to wash you and feed you?"

Chu Ji blinked rapidly twice, gritting his teeth as he enunciated clearly, "You! Get lost!"

Seeing that he had gotten a reaction, Jun Xueyi took a step back and withdrew his spiritual energy. "Let’s go."

"If you can’t walk, I’ll have to stoop to knocking you out and carry you."

Chu Ji struggled to suppress the rage burning in his chest.

Under someone's thumb, without spiritual energy, he couldn’t use anything. He had no choice but to yield.

Jun Xueyi studied the map and within a quarter of an hour figured out exactly where they were. He took out a Teleportation Talisman, grabbed the other’s shoulder, and as the talisman flared with golden light, they instantly reappeared outside the entrance of the silver spider nest.

The moment they landed, Chu Ji wrinkled his nose—the air was thick with toxic fumes.

Jun Xueyi glanced sideways at Chu Ji’s face, still pale and unblemished, then turned to look for the Ji brothers.

They had agreed beforehand. Ji Ling was no fool—if things went south, he would surely retreat beyond the toxic gas with the others.

"Young Master!"

Chu Ji had taken two steps when he heard a voice. Looking up, he saw Xiong Qun squatting on a thick tree branch not far away, with another person beside him.

Looking closer, he felt relieved to see the golden protective shield around them.

Xiong Qun could barely contain his excitement. He grabbed the person next to him, jumped down from the tree, and hurried over to Chu Ji. Staring at Chu Ji’s appearance, he felt a twinge of heartache. After holding back for a moment, he said, "Young Master, you’ve lost weight."

Ji Yin stood beside Xiong Qun, leaning halfway against the tree due to his necrotic leg. Seeing Jun Xueyi return, he said happily, "Young Hero Jun, it’s great that you both made it out alive."

They had waited for three days. It was only two days ago that Xiong Qun swore up and down his young master was fine, which made Ji Yin believe both were still alive.

He tilted his head to look at Xiong Qun’s young master.

Ji Yin’s eyes widened slightly, and he pursed his lips into a faint smile.

Was there really someone so pristine and handsome?

As he stared, his view was suddenly blocked. Coming back to his senses, he realized it was Jun Xueyi. "Young Hero Jun?"

Jun Xueyi shot a cool glance at the person behind him, who was going through his subordinate’s storage ring. "We'll talk outside."

Ji Yin also wanted to leave, anxious about his brother. "Alright."

Jun Xueyi led the way, while Xiong Qun’s gilded protective shield covered the three of them.

The four had been walking for an hour within the toxic gas but still hadn't cleared it.

Chu Ji snapped, "Hey, use a Teleportation Talisman."

Jun Xueyi turned back and asked lazily, "Young master, can't you keep up?"

Chu Ji, recalling Jun Xueyi’s earlier remark about him being spoiled, gritted his teeth and said, "Yes, I can’t walk anymore."

Jun Xueyi snorted as he took out the teleportation talisman, then inadvertently noticed frozen patches on the other’s trouser leg.

...He looked closer and realized it was Ji Yin’s.

He thought: Ji Yin was injured?

His gaze fell on the other’s leg, his lips pressed into a tight line. He glanced at Ji Yin’s face again before shifting his eyes back to the young master’s face.

Hmph.

Someone who had chased him for so long couldn’t even walk a few steps?

He sneered, "You’re really such a saint."

Chu Ji frowned. "What’s his problem?"

All around were the corpses of animals killed by the Cold Poison and the remains of humans—some frozen into blocks of ice, others crushed by silver spiders. It was disgusting as hell. And then there was the poisonous mist. Although his Mental Technique was still active, he had no spiritual power. The poison didn’t harm him, but it was disturbing. The coldness made him restless, still itching to slash the person in front of him.

But he couldn’t do it now—and he couldn't kill him even if he tried. It was even more frustrating.

Chu Ji: "What’s your problem…"

At the same time, Ji Yin heard this and looked toward Chu Ji, lowering his head shyly and saying, "Thank you—"

Jun Xueyi activated the teleportation talisman, giving no one a chance to speak further.