Chapter 42: Are Both of You Siblings Demons?!

“Meh?!”

Oh no, I’ve been spotted… Crapcrapcrap!

The moment her eyes met the white-clothed Sword Immortal’s, the Nine-Colored Deer’s little face went pale, and she quickly buried her head between He Yimo’s legs.

Mo Yuyan felt a little perplexed.

As a righteous cultivator, she often performed good deeds. Her chest practically radiated righteous energy, so logically, she shouldn’t have terrified a spirit deer to this extent.

Besides…

“Even if you bury your head, I can still see you,” Mo Yuyan sighed, pressing her fingers to her temple. This little deer seems a bit… slow.

Meanwhile, He Yimo smiled awkwardly and proactively stood up, lifting the Nine-Colored Deer from between his legs.

Even though Wangxue was a deer, she was surprisingly small compared to a true spirit deer, feeling more like a large Maine Coon cat when held.

“Senior Sister, her name is Wangxue,” He Yimo introduced, rubbing the little deer’s head.

“Wangxue?”

Mo Yuyan mused, finding the name quite elegant. She tried to recall if she knew of a creature named Wangxue.

But then, He Yimo grinned brightly, “Sounds nice, doesn’t it, Senior Sister?”

“Wait, you named her Wangxue?”

“Yep! Found her when I got lost in the back mountains. She was lost too, just like me.”

“…”

Mo Yuyan’s lip twitched. She felt like her own intelligence was dwindling just by talking to him. A second ago, I was actually wracking my brain trying to remember which elder owned a spirit beast named Wangxue, worried he’d stolen someone’s prized deer.

Thankfully, it was just a wild spirit deer he’d picked up in the mountains.

“Even if she’s wild, you just brought her up the mountain like this?” Mo Yuyan stepped forward, crouching down to examine the little deer with suspicious eyes. She reached out to pet Wangxue’s head and was quickly won over by the deer’s affectionate nuzzling.

“No wonder you call her Wangxue. She’s actually a snow deer… but her antlers have a faint shimmer…”

Even a Senior Sister is still a woman, unable to resist cute things.

He Yimo silently praised Wangxue for her excellent performance and smoothly continued his explanation: “Actually, I didn’t bring her up the mountain. Wangxue insisted on following me and then… well, she kinda carried me up.”

“Why did she follow you?”

“No idea. Maybe she likes me?” He Yimo shrugged helplessly.

But he immediately saw Wangxue puff out her cheeks, glaring at him with slight dissatisfaction.

He totally begged me shamelessly to carry him up the mountain!

Wangxue wanted to retort but ultimately suffered from her lack of vocabulary. She could speak simple human words when agitated, but most of the time, she could only rely on He Yimo’s one-sided narrative.

“If I remember correctly, snow deer are quite rare mountain spirit beasts…” Mo Yuyan murmured worriedly as she continued petting Wangxue. “Besides, Ranmo Peak isn’t a place for you to raise spirit beasts.”

She looked up at He Yimo.

He Yimo was prepared. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a pre-carved contract seal on his wrist. “Senior Sister, when I was little, my aunt told me that spirit beasts can form contracts with humans. So, I was hoping to borrow your courtyard for a couple of days to try and earn her trust. If I can’t form a contract, I’ll release her back into the mountains…”

“But, Senior Sister, look—if it works out, Wangxue can reside in the seal on my wrist, so she won’t take up any space on Ranmo Peak.”

“Meh… Meh ah?!”

As He Yimo finished speaking, Mo Yuyan didn’t react strongly, but the little deer nestled against his leg suddenly lifted her head, tilting it quizzically at him.

Release Wangxue back into the mountains if no contract is formed within two days? Is he even speaking human?!

“She really seems to like you,” Mo Yuyan remarked with surprise. Just after hearing He Yimo’s words, the little deer started nuzzling him even more eagerly, her survival instinct kicking into high gear.

But the warm atmosphere didn’t last long before Mo Yuyan realized a crucial problem—

“Wait. When did you carve a contract seal on your wrist? You know a bit about contract arts too?”

“Er… My aunt taught me before,” He Yimo blurted out after a moment’s thought, defaulting to his catch-all explanation.

Spending the night with Jiang Jinyue had taught him a valuable lesson: when in doubt, blame the ‘Almighty Aunt’. Since Yuan Xinyao genuinely had taught He Yimo bits and pieces of everything growing up, it was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

“Your aunt again?” Mo Yuyan was inwardly amazed. The perceived value of that Lingyuan girl from the Grand Preceptor’s household just keeps rising.

“But didn’t you come to Ranmo Peak to learn swordsmanship from me?”

“Just forming a contract with a little deer shouldn’t affect my sword practice, right?”

“Are you planning to cultivate both sword and contract arts simultaneously?”

“Can’t I? My aunt specifically told me to keep practicing contract arts even after joining the Wuji Sect…” He Yimo stated innocently.

This time, he wasn’t feigning ignorance; he genuinely believed it was possible. After all, back when he played ‘Fallen Immortal’, He Yimo could balance cultivating all five elements, easily leveling up skills by grinding cultivation methods and consuming materials, eventually becoming a pentagonal war god.

“Why would your aunt urge you to practice contract arts?” Mo Yuyan found it increasingly strange, yet somehow unsurprising. This perfectly matched her experience interacting with He Yimo.

Last night, while playing chess alone on Ranmo Peak, Mo Yuyan often questioned herself—what kind of young man had she brought home three days ago? Why did He Yimo seem to have an endless supply of secrets?

“Well… it’s not entirely impossible for you to dual-cultivate, I suppose…” After much thought, Mo Yuyan hesitated, sighing inwardly as she looked at the little deer.

She had been taught since childhood to specialize in one path of cultivation. Her master and senior sisters explained it was because human energy was insufficient to master both fish and bear paws concurrently.

Take contract cultivators, for example. Just finding a powerful spirit beast with an affinity for them could consume their entire lifetime and energy. Many spent their lives chasing legendary divine beasts, only to die without success.

But He Yimo seemed to have already found his desired spirit beast right at the start.

If it only took two days to tame it, perhaps it truly wouldn’t drain too much of his energy…

“Unfortunately, I don’t know beast-taming arts and can’t offer you any useful experience. If you wish to study contract arts, perhaps Miss Yun Jin could help. I heard she has many animal friends in the mountains.”

“Also, if Wangxue is unwilling to stay with you, you shouldn’t force her. It’s best to release this snow deer back into the mountains soon. If she’s away from home too long, she’ll surely miss her life there.”

Mo Yuyan stood with her hands behind her back, lecturing earnestly. She was implicitly agreeing to He Yimo’s proposal, mainly concerned he might coerce the little deer.

But strangely, hearing this made Wangxue even more terrified. She looked at Mo Yuyan, her little face stark white.

Miss life in the back mountains? Are you two demons?!

“Meh, Meh MEH!!”

Wangxue leaped into He Yimo’s arms, nearly bursting into tears. Her previously dim antlers began radiating a brilliant nine-colored holy light.

For a moment, Mo Yuyan didn’t understand what was happening.

She watched as the holy light from the nine-colored antlers enveloped He Yimo. After a moment of silence, the nuzzling white deer vanished, leaving only He Yimo standing there, staring back at Mo Yuyan.

“Uhm…” He Yimo rolled up his sleeve again, turning his wrist in surprise.

The white-clothed Sword Immortal’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the golden sacred mark now imprinted on the back of He Yimo’s hand—

“See, Senior Sister? Looks like Wangxue really likes me.”

Under the morning sun, the young man grinned brightly.

Meanwhile…

“Senior Brother, you’re finally back!”

In the small courtyard in the back mountains of the Wuji Sect, the black-clothed youth put down his sword, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stood up joyfully to greet him.

But before he could even open the gate for his Senior Brother, a chilling, bone-deep aura hit him, making his legs give way and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Gu Wanglan pushed the gate open, noticing the pale-faced youth. After a moment of silence, he suppressed his murderous intent. While folding back his cuffs, a superficially friendly smile touched his lips—

“Chen Jianxin…”

“Brother has a question for you. I hope you’ll answer honestly.” His smile didn’t reach his eyes, which held two faint, blood-red marks as he stared down at the youth.

Chen Jianxin’s face went white. He didn’t dare speak, just nodded obediently.

“Where… did you go last night?”