Chapter 28: The Locking Bell the Master Bestowed

Chapter 28: The Locking Bell and Shackle from Master

"Congratulations, host, on triggering the main storyline quest: Testing One's Mettle. Please assist Pei Zhi in publicly subduing Nightfang to showcase your strength. This quest rewards 50 points and 300 prestige points."

A long-awaited notification sound.

If not for the person standing before him, Xue Youtan would have jumped for joy.

"2484?" Xue Youtan tentatively initiated a conversation with the system and immediately heard the voice of Sys Bro.

"Hello, System 2484 at your service."

"What's going on, you—"

"Boom—" A thunderous boom mixed with blazing firelight cut off Xue Youtan's attempt to catch up.

The battle at the front mountain was clearly fierce. With firelight blazing to the heavens like that, it was obvious that Nightfang's combat power was off the charts. Without him stepping in, there was no way it would succeed. Xue Youtan set aside his thoughts of chatting with the system, drew Liguang from its sheath, and without another word, flew off toward the front mountain in style.

But...

Xue Youtan surveyed his landing spot—a godforsaken place shrouded in miasma and thick black fog, so barren even birds wouldn't bother to visit. His forehead veins kept throbbing.

Alright, you'd better explain this properly. I clearly flew toward the front mountain, so how did I end up teleported to the Deadwood Forest in a flash?

"In the plot, you're not supposed to be there right now," Sys Bro said succinctly.

Are you kidding me?! Why give me a main quest if I don't even get any screen time? Am I supposed to just stand on this mountain and watch the quest finish itself?

If I fail the main quest, I'm dead—actually dead!

Xue Youtan immediately formed a hand seal to teleport back, but Sys Bro's next words stopped him: "Pei Zhi is in the Deadwood Forest."

Xue Youtan raised an eyebrow, somewhat skeptical. It could very well be Sys Bro trying to trick him. Xue Youtan recalled the plot surrounding Nightfang.

Since the book *Senior's Split Personality* was about the romantic story between Xiao Yiheng and Pei Zhi, the big scenes would naturally be all about the two male leads' showdown. As a supporting male character, he didn't even make the cut.

Take the Nightfang storyline, for example. In the original plot, after Nightfang was released, the Third Altar Master of Cangya Mountain and his associates all happened to be away on business at the same time. So Xiao Yiheng, as the senior disciple, stepped up in a time of crisis and, under the expectant gazes of the other disciples, took on Nightfang single-handedly. But the Xiao Yiheng who had transmigrated into the book had mediocre combat skills, and he was taken down in just a few moves.

Good thing that when skill isn't enough, cheats can make up for it.

The shou protagonist's system gave him a bonding function, teleporting both man and beast to Pei Zhi's side, where he was feeding wolves in the Deadwood Forest. And so began the two of them fighting monsters together.

Yes, the Deadwood Forest.

Ah, that's right—exactly where he was standing now, this godforsaken place, two mountains away from where Nightfang was.

Indeed, it was here that Pei Zhi awakened his demonic ultimate move. A single Execution Order shrank Nightfang down to the size of a husky, which allowed Xiao Yiheng to swoop in and seize the opportunity to complete the contract, making Nightfang his show-off pet for the days to come.

However, in the original book, it was because Xiao Yiheng fell into the Cold Pool that the original female Xue Youtan gave Pei Zhi twenty lashes and threw him into the Deadwood Forest to be wolf food. In this lifetime, although he had also hit Pei Zhi, after returning to Cangya Mountain, the boy had been nourished with the Mist Demon's demon core until his skin was fair and his looks were flawless—even Yueli would have to admit his skin was nice. How could he possibly end up in a godforsaken place like the Deadwood Forest?

"Cough, cough~" Just as he was thinking this, the sound of a young man's coughing echoed through the silent woods.

Xue Youtan raised an eyebrow, and the next second, a battered and bloodied Pei Zhi appeared before him.

"Mas... Master?" Seeing Xue Youtan here, Pei Zhi called out softly, about to blink a few times to see if he was seeing things. But in that moment of distraction, the lead wolf chasing him sank its teeth into his arm. Then, the entire pack surrounded him all at once.

"Ow~" Pei Zhi grunted, twisting his wrist and driving the sword in his hand viciously toward the lead wolf's throat.

Warm, rank wolf blood splattered across his face. Pei Zhi didn't bother wiping it off, but instead glanced back toward where he'd seen Xue Youtan.

But in the darkness, there was nothing.

It was indeed his eyes playing tricks on him.

Pei Zhi curled the corner of his mouth in a self-deprecating way, sidestepping to dodge the wolf that lunged at him head-on, but the wolves from the other sides still sank their teeth into him. The pack had gone feral—once they clamped onto their prey, they swarmed him, all aiming for his head and neck.

Seeing he was outmatched, Pei Zhi instinctively shielded his head, planning to wait until the wolves bit down and relaxed before turning the tables.

But just then, a flash of golden light accompanied by a sharp sword aura swept past. Before the wolves could sink their teeth in, they let out pitiful howls and were instantly cut in half.

The next second, Xue Youtan's Liguang returned to its sheath, and his white-robed figure landed gracefully from midair.

"How useless can you be—you nearly got bitten to death by a pack of wolves."

Pei Zhi didn't explain. He simply gazed at Xue Youtan for several seconds before pushing himself up from the ground with his sword. "I've embarrassed myself before you, Master."

As he rose, a string of bells hanging at his waist jingled, and wolf howls drew nearer from afar.

"This is..." Xue Youtan looked at the bells, gave a slight curl of his finger, and the bells flew into his hand.

Once he saw the patterns on them, Xue Youtan's pupils constricted slightly.

So this was why the male lead had the leisure to dress himself up and wear new accessories at his waist. That wasn't an accessory at all—it was a wolf-summoning device called the Locking Bell and Shackle. Wearing it, not just in a place like the Deadwood Forest, which was crawling with wolves and beasts, but even on Cangya Mountain, would draw a pack of wolves to surround you.

"Where'd you get this?" Xue Youtan asked.

"Didn't Master have Senior Brother bestow it on me?" Xue Youtan hadn't said anything, but Pei Zhi could tell from his expression that the bells were nothing good, so he deliberately answered that way.

Fine, he shouldn't have asked.

Looking across all of Cangya Mountain, besides himself—the number one villain—the only one who was constantly at odds with Pei Zhi was the non-transmigrated Xiao Yiheng. If the bells weren't placed by him, then even a fool could figure out it was Xiao Yiheng's doing.

That kid Xiao Yiheng really was constantly courting death every single day.

Xue Youtan sighed, gathered spiritual power in his palm, and with a tight squeeze, the Locking Bell and Shackle in his hand instantly turned to dust.

With that cursed thing gone, the wolf howls that had been drawing closer finally died down a bit. But this place had just been the site of a lot of wolf kills, and the scent of blood would still attract other packs—it wasn't safe to linger.

Xue Youtan grabbed Pei Zhi's wrist, intending to take him away, but the moment his hand touched Pei Zhi's wrist, the boy let out a pained cry and staggered.

What was going on? He hadn't been this weak when he was killing wolves earlier.

Xue Youtan pushed up Pei Zhi's sleeve and indeed found a bloody wound on his hand where a wolf's claw had raked him.

After spending half a month carefully nursing him back to health, the boy had gone and gotten himself injured again. Xue Youtan was speechless.

Pei Zhi's wrist was slender, fair, and soft—now marred with fresh wounds. Not only did it ruin the looks, but it would definitely affect his ability to subdue Nightfang later.

Of course, those were secondary. The main issue was that it would affect the male lead's ability to tame his mount, which directly impacted whether he could complete his main quest.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Xue Youtan's body moved before his mind could catch up, using spiritual power to heal Pei Zhi's wounds.