Chapter 143: Silence

Chapter 143: Silence

The incident in Lingxi Valley was like throwing a match into an old jar of gunpowder, igniting all the grievances between the old and new factions that had long simmered. Although it hadn't exploded yet, it deeply troubled Shang Yunduo.

He was troubled inwardly.

And outwardly as well.

It even affected their travel!

Unlike humans, the demon clan rarely wandered around even as cultivators. Most preferred to stay near their own clan's territory. It was uncommon for them to travel far and wide like human rogue cultivators. Normally, renting a beast carriage was very simple—almost no waiting, and they could even choose.

But who would have thought that with this chaos, demon cultivators would start forming alliances!

Even the medium-to-large clans that didn't ally with outsiders had to gather their sub-clans together, like the Tiger Clan holding meetings, to discuss whether to get involved in this conflict.

As a result, the beast carriage business boomed. Carriages were scarce, and teleportation arrays were also in high demand, requiring extra spirit stones. Whether in the sky or on the ground, even in the most remote corners, one might run into a few demon cultivators—some even at the Core Formation stage. It was simply ridiculous.

Originally, they had planned to take airships since teleportation arrays were scarce among the demon clan, making travel inconvenient. Now, there was no telling who they might run into in the sky.

If it were just an ordinary Core Formation cultivator, that would be one thing, but if they encountered a Transformation stage cultivator or one with a keen sense of spiritual energy and scent, their disguise as non-demons would be blown.

For safety, they had to rent beast carriages, but renting required entering cities, and cities were crowded. Demon cultivators always loved to fight when they gathered, keeping Shang Yunduo's nerves perpetually on edge.

One day, they entered a city a bit late and missed the chance to rent a carriage, so they had to stay overnight. In the middle of the night, their lodge was surrounded. Fortunately, they reacted quickly and escaped before being completely encircled. In the chaos, he couldn't discern directions, and with so many demon cultivators fleeing in all directions, he and Pei Jie were separated. Just a moment of distraction, and he lost Pei Jie.

Shang Yunduo stood there, feeling like he had stepped on thin ice and was about to sink. The sounds around him grew blurry. He panicked, not knowing what to do, until Pei Jie grabbed him and they fled far away. His heart was still pounding wildly.

After that, he dared not close his Spiritual Sense, day or night, resting only when he grew so tired his head ached.

Over time, his training in Spiritual Sense improved rapidly. He could walk like an ordinary person without Pei Jie's help.

But relying too heavily on Spiritual Sense cost him good sleep. He either couldn't fall asleep from headaches or slept too lightly, easily startled, and endlessly plagued by dreams—jumbled and chaotic, with King Lingxi's self-destruction replaying in his dreams like a broken record on repeat.

One night, he woke up suddenly, thinking it was daytime, and hearing the noise of fighting outside. Panicked, he dragged Pei Jie to run. Pei Jie, yanked out of meditation, slapped him awake. He had been sleepwalking!

After that, he increasingly lost track of both day and night, and sometimes even confused dreams with reality.

Shang Yunduo grew silent.

At first, Pei Jie didn't notice anything unusual.

After all, both of them were injured, and they had to be more vigilant than before while traveling. Shang Yunduo was also blind, and that instinctive tension couldn't be relieved before adapting to the darkness.

He deliberately encouraged Shang Yunduo to practice using his Spiritual Sense.

Although Shang Yunduo's blindness should be temporary and he should recover soon, half a month had passed and he still couldn't see anything, with no improvement.

If, by some chance, he couldn't recover, the sooner he adapted and learned to use Spiritual Sense as a substitute for his sight, the better.

Even if his vision returned one day, this training would give him an advantage in situations where vision was limited or had to be shut off, increasing his chances of survival.

He knew Shang Yunduo was exhausted. Suddenly using Spiritual Sense so intensely and continuously—both as a substitute for sight to monitor the environment and being careful not to offend higher-level cultivators while avoiding detection—was naturally exhausting. He was so exhausted that it caused headaches and made him unwilling to talk, which was normal.

He taught Shang Yunduo some ways to alleviate the exhaustion and didn't push him when Shang Yunduo complained of headaches.

If it really became too much, they could talk about it then. He was still there for him.

But he hoped Shang Yunduo could persevere.

After all, the world of cultivation was like a vast ocean, never truly calm. No matter what difficulty they faced, self-pity and standing still were useless. Adapting and overcoming were the only ways to stay alive.

But soon, he began to sense something wrong.

Shang Yunduo's silence was abnormal.

In the first half month of their journey, every morning when he woke up, Shang Yunduo would ask why he still couldn't see, if he was going blind. Sometimes he didn't need an answer—he just muttered to himself, as if talking relieved his panic over losing his sight.

But after more than half a month, he stopped. Not just that—he stopped talking about anything.

At first, he had been very chatty.

During the day, afraid of being exposed, he kept quiet and aloof around others to avoid drawing attention as a blind man. Once they were alone, he would chatter endlessly, repeating everything he had heard during the day.

Later, he seemed tired of hearing about Lingxi Valley, the Mystic Eagle Clan, the Blood Qilin Clan, and such. He stopped talking about those things and seemed indifferent whenever he heard them. Combined with exhaustion from overusing his Spiritual Sense, he spoke less and less. By the time Pei Jie realized the problem, he noticed that whenever he sat meditating to heal, Shang Yunduo would sit alone in a corner, staring into space.

Once, when Pei Jie woke him up in the middle of the night, Shang Yunduo seemed a bit embarrassed and explained he had been dreaming and was confused.

After that, he no longer called out "Senior" first thing upon waking. Instead, he would lie there silently, first listening to the sounds outside, then scanning the surroundings with his Spiritual Sense, and only then speak.

Halfway through their journey, one day Pei Jie woke from meditation to see Shang Yunduo already awake but silent, lying flat and staring at the ceiling with a vacant look. He stayed like that until Pei Jie finished his meditation and was about to get up. Then Shang Yunduo turned over, sat up, and called "Senior," asking, "It's still early, there's no one around. Aren't you going to sleep a little more?"

That day was rainy, with heavy rain outside, and hardly any demon cultivators were out. Pei Jie had woken from meditation around noon. Only then did he realize Shang Yunduo could no longer distinguish day from night.

When had it started?

Pei Jie felt as though he had been struck in the chest.

A dull ache spread through him.

He suddenly realized he truly didn't know how to take care of others.

The next day, after a teleportation, Pei Jie took out the airship to travel.

Shang Yunduo: "An airship?"

Pei Jie replied patiently, "Yes. It's not far from the Divide Mountains now. This is the border territory of the demon clan. The civil war isn't focused on this area. Transformation stage cultivators probably won't come this way. The airship is invisible; even ordinary Core Formation cultivators probably won't detect it."

Shang Yunduo was still uneasy about it. After coming all this way, there was no need to risk exposure. But Pei Jie insisted, so he agreed.

Truth be told, he had long been tired of feeling his way through dens of demon cultivators in the dark.

Lying back on the familiar airship, he finally allowed himself to relax a little.

But out of habit, he still couldn't sleep well, even dreaded sleeping. He always dreamed, and every time he woke up, he had to reorient himself: was it day or night? Even if he knew that, he still couldn't tell morning from afternoon. Even when he could tell morning from afternoon, he couldn't pinpoint the exact time.

During the day, it was fine; he could judge by temperature changes. At night or on cloudy, rainy days, he was like a clock without hands, utterly disoriented.

He could ask, but he didn't want to. Asking what time it was all the time felt like a bother, as if he were useless, unable to handle even such a trivial thing.

Finally, after another tense but safe teleportation journey, they arrived at the Divide Mountains. Shang Yunduo felt another huge weight lifted from his shoulders.

Beasts were easier to handle than demon cultivators. They could lie low and heal.

Only...

"You're going to give me a bath?" Shang Yunduo still found it hard to believe.

Even as he heard the sound of rushing water, he found it hard to believe.

The first thing they did when they got to the Divide Mountain Range was that Pei Jie wanted to bathe him!

Why though?

He used the Cleansing Spell every single day!

Pei Jie rolled up his sleeves. "Do you want to keep bringing a trace of Demonic Qi into human territory?"

Shang Yunduo shook his head.

But...

It was too weird!

Seriously, too weird!

Before he could ask anything else, Pei Jie had already yanked off his fur top and pulled down his fur skirt. Shang Yunduo suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.

Even though they were inside the Divide Mountain Range—a desolate wilderness with not a single demon beast nearby, just a few wild boars in the distance, some birds in the trees, and some negligible bugs and fish—and even though the sun was blazing overhead, making him feel warm enough to know how clear the day was, what was he doing pretending to turn off the lights like an idiot, when he was the only one who couldn't see?

Shang Yunduo's face turned bright red. Grabbing his underwear that hadn't completely come off, he stammered, "I, I, I'll just wash myself, okay..."

Pei Jie: "What are you being so shy for? It's not like I haven't seen it before."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

How is that the same?! That's totally different!

Two people checking each other out is one thing, but me just looking at myself is another, right?

"I'll go in by myself."

He jumped in the moment he heard the water and nearly twisted his ankle on a rock at the bottom.

"You..." Pei Jie sighed. "Go further ahead; the water's deeper there."

Shang Yunduo felt for the bottom with his feet, but couldn't reach the bottom, so he just swam over. Once he was floating, he stripped off the rest of his clothes and threw them onto the bank.

Pei Jie sat by the shore, crushing medicinal herbs. As he crushed the herbs, he said, "The water is very clear. You're floating in the water, same as standing on the shore—there's no difference."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

He patted the water and felt around—the clothes were indeed gone. He had no choice but to cover himself up quietly.

Pei Jie: "... Hah."

Shang Yunduo heard Pei Jie chuckling and was both embarrassed and ticked off. "What are you laughing at me for!"

Pei Jie: "When you were begging for Dual Cultivation, why weren't you shy then?"

Shang Yunduo: "That's different..."

Pei Jie: "How is it different?"

Shang Yunduo: "... I dunno how to explain."

After grinding the herbs into a paste, Pei Jie tapped the stone by the water. "Come here."

Shang Yunduo slowly swam over. Before he could reach the shore, Pei Jie grabbed his hand and heaved him onto a flat rock. "Get down here."

"Okay."

He dabbed the crushed herbs, wrapped in cloth, onto his shoulders, back, and arms—it was cool and refreshing. The bitter scent spread across his skin. After letting it sit a bit, Pei Jie rubbed it in, even behind his ears.

Shang Yunduo felt ticklish and flinched, but Pei Jie held him down, scrubbing and washing. The sound of splashing water rang in his ears, washing off the totemic beast marks from his body.

Shang Yunduo finally remembered why this scene felt so familiar! "This is how my aunt-in-law bathed her two-year-old grandson."

Pei Jie was taken aback. "What?"

Shang Yunduo: "Shoving him into a basin, grabbing his arms, and scrubbing him everywhere."

Pei Jie: "..."

Shang Yunduo: "And how my mom used to wash the cat..."

Suddenly it clicked what felt so off. Right now he was like a baby, puppy, or kitten that needed to be looked after.

"Pfft, ptooey—" Pei Jie suddenly splashed several handfuls of water onto his face. Shang Yunduo shook his head, confused. "Senior?!"

"Your waist."

"Oh." Shang Yunduo crawled up a bit. The sun was scorching his butt. He wanted to slide back down but froze, hesitated, then just gritted his teeth and bore the embarrassment.

The herbal paste was pressed onto his waist.

He turned his head away, giving Pei Jie only the back of his head.

Pei Jie: "You're the only one besides a corpse who'd dare lie like that in front of me."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Pei Jie: "Corpses turn to ash, but you get to enjoy having me bathe you."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Pei Jie's cool fingers kneaded his waist, tracing the lines like he was drawing beast markings. It wasn't gentle, but it was careful.

Pei Jie asked, "Was your aunt bathing her grandson to embarrass him?"

Shang Yunduo was stunned. "What?"

Pei Jie glanced at him. "Or was your mom trying to embarrass a cat?"

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Pei Jie: "So why do you think I'm embarrassing you?"

Shang Yunduo whipped his head around. "I don't think that!"

Pei Jie: "Then what? You think this is embarrassing for me?"

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Well... but he didn't dare say that.

Pei Jie turned his head back toward him. Even though he couldn't see, Shang Yunduo felt like they were staring into each other's eyes, their gazes intense.

Pei Jie asked, "Why aren't you begging me to kiss you?"

Shang Yunduo: "..."

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