Chapter 14: Rising from the Dead in the Dead of Night?

Chapter 14: A Corpse Rising from the Dead in the Dead of Night?

Turns out Xue Youtan had stopped them just to say that. Ling Yue was taken aback for a second, but once it clicked, she shot back, "Master, didn't you already spare Junior Fellow Pei? Why do you still..."

Before she could finish, she saw Pei Zhi's body convulse on the stretcher. Furious and frantic, he coughed up a mouthful of dark blood while his face suddenly turned deathly pale, like he was about to kick the bucket any second.

What the hell? That shouldn't be happening—he'd deliberately pulled his punches.

Xue Youtan's heart lurched. The stern look he'd just carefully put on instantly melted into worry. He tossed aside his whip and hurried over to Pei Zhi in two quick strides, intending to check his injuries, but before he could reach him, he got shoved aside by Yueli, who came barreling in.

Yueli rushed to the stretcher and swiftly sealed off several of Pei Zhi's major acupoints, then scolded Ling Yue, "No time to argue. We can't delay—get him to the medicine hut, now."

"Yes, Uncle-Master." Ling Yue quickly joined Ling Feng in carrying Pei Zhi away.

Once they were gone and the disciples had scattered, only Li Luoshu was left standing there.

He stared at Xue Youtan for a few seconds, then walked over, picked up the whip, and held it out to him. "Master~ your whip."

That "Master" snapped Xue Youtan's gaze away from Pei Zhi. He reached out to take the nine-section whip, meaning to tuck it back into his waistband, but it was still sticky with blood, so he had to pull out a handkerchief and wipe it clean first.

"Don't worry, Master. Junior Fellow Pei's got a sturdy constitution—he'll be fine. After all, back in the desolate village, when the plague nearly wiped out the whole village, Junior Fellow Pei was still full of beans. A dozen or so measly lashes won't kill him."

The moment Li Luoshu finished, Xue Youtan's hand froze mid-wipe. He looked at Li Luoshu, narrowing his eyes slightly, and latched onto the key word: "Mere?"

Li Luoshu was stunned. He really couldn't wrap his head around Xue Youtan's logic. He'd spelled it out so clearly—wouldn't any normal person first connect the village's ruin to Pei Zhi being a jinx? But somehow, with Xue Youtan, the focus landed on the word "mere"?

Now his words had inadvertently become a slight on the power of Xue Youtan's nine-section whip!

Li Luoshu dropped to his knees at once. "This disciple was just too worried and misspoke. Please don't take offense, Master."

"Get up." He hated people kneeling at the drop of a hat.

Of course, he also hated stubborn types like Pei Zhi, who'd rather die than kneel even with a Cloud Palm about to crush him. In life, you gotta be a bit more tactful and flexible.

Right, *System*?

Suddenly put on the spot, the system in his head froze for a good three seconds before System Sister's voice piped up, "Sweetie, Tongtong doesn't quite get what you mean."

Don't give him that innocent act.

"I'll ask you one thing: do those remaining five lashes on the male lead really have to happen? And if they do, and he dies from them, will you take responsibility?"

The system paused for a long moment, as if thinking it over, then said in its cute voice, the most soul-crushing words: "Sweetie, if he dies, we just start over."

Xue Youtan was speechless.

This conversation was a dead end.

Pissed off, Xue Youtan wiped the whip hard a couple more times before stowing it in his divine sense. Just as he was about to leave, he saw Li Luoshu still hovering beside him.

"Something else?" Xue Youtan asked.

Li Luoshu nodded, rubbing his palms together. "In half a month, it'll be this disciple's birthday. My father already sent word telling me to head home early to prepare. Luo Shu wants... Luo Shu wants..."

He kept stammering without getting to the point, and Xue Youtan was so impatient he wanted to say it for him. "What exactly do you want?"

"I'd like to invite Master to attend the ceremony."

Wasn't it just a banquet? Why was such a simple request so hard to spit out?

Still, he remembered Feng Mingjue mentioning that Li Luoshu came from the Red Pavilion. Could this Red Pavilion not be the kind of place he was thinking of, but some code for a millionaire? Otherwise, why would a birthday warrant such a grand banquet?

Xue Youtan didn't dwell on it. Anyway, going with the whole "fellow sufferers" thing, since Li Luoshu—a cannon-fodder NPC just like him—had asked, Xue Youtan would definitely save him face. So he nodded. "I'll be there, then."

"Really? That's wonderful, Master!" Li Luoshu was so thrilled he nearly jumped, even doing a little spin. His excited flailing left Xue Youtan totally confused.

Was it really that exciting to invite someone to a meal?

Fine, he'd just take it as Li Luoshu celebrating another year of life.

Hmm, thinking about it, let him calculate—how old was this body of Xue Youtan's now?

For cultivators, once you hit a certain level, your body and looks stop changing. And since Xue Youtan was just a side character, the book never said how old he was. But he figured he had to be pretty old—otherwise, how could someone so young be an Altar Master?

Thanks to Li Luoshu's interruption, when Xue Youtan tried calling the system again, System Sister had already faked going offline and gone quiet.

Xue Youtan had been calling since the countdown read 0 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes, all the way until it dropped to 0 days, 17 hours, 00 minutes. Five more hours passed, and the system was still offline.

Damn it, she still hadn't gotten back to him about how many points he needed to exchange for the calamity-avoiding pill. 2484—don't you dare go dark on me!

The sky had gone dark, and pale moonlight streamed through the window, lighting up the bed curtains. Watching the countdown tick closer, Xue Youtan tossed and turned, unable to sleep, until he finally sat up, threw on his robes, and decided to go check on Pei Zhi.

It wasn't that he was worried about a paper character dying—his visit was purely to walk off that heavy dinner.

He'd already heard during the day that Pei Zhi had been taken back to the disciples' quarters, so he headed straight for the North Courtyard. To keep a low profile, he deliberately walked instead of using Sword Flight.

He'd planned to just peek in and leave, but when he slipped into the room, Pei Zhi wasn't in bed.

Huh? Wasn't he supposed to be at death's door? In the dead of night, was Pei Zhi playing dead and rising from the grave?

Xue Youtan snapped his fingers, and a golden Spirit Butterfly fluttered its wings, circled twice, then, sensing the direction, flew toward the back of the house.

Xue Youtan followed the butterfly, leaping a few steps until it dissolved near a hot spring.

So Pei Zhi was here!

Xue Youtan gazed at the mist rising from the spring, bent down, scooped up a handful of water, and tested it with his true qi. Sure enough, he found that this spring water had remarkable healing and nourishing properties.

Not bad—he'd been roaming Mount Cangya for ages and never knew there was a spot this good behind the run-down disciples' quarters in the North Courtyard. The male lead had only been here half a month and already found a treasure.

Talk about a life with cheat codes.

System, look at him, then look at yourself—what the hell are you good for?

"Who's there!"

Just as Xue Youtan was cursing his system for being hell-bent on screwing him over, Pei Zhi's voice cut through the mist.

His voice sounded full of vigor, nothing like the half-dead state he'd been in on the stretcher.

Hearing the water sloshing closer, it sounded like Pei Zhi was wading over. Xue Youtan quickly stepped back two paces and ducked into the shadows behind a tree.