Chapter 9: Who the Hell Wears Pants in the Bath?

Chapter 9: Who the Hell Takes a Bath in Pants?

Pei Zhi frowned, stepped out from the crowd, and stood in front of Xue Youtan but didn't kneel like he was told. He simply lowered his gaze and stood still.

Up close, Xue Youtan noticed that Pei Zhi's blue disciple robe was soaked through, his clothes and face dripping, and even the furry beast ears atop his head were drooping damply, looking pitiful as hell.

Because he was looking down, Xue Youtan couldn't see Pei Zhi's expression, only catching a glimpse of ice crystals clinging to his curled lashes through the few strands of wet hair hanging down.

What's going on here? Shouldn't Xiao Yiheng be the one who took the plunge? So why's Pei Zhi the one looking like a drowned rat?

Just as Xue Youtan was wondering where the hell things went off the rails, Ling Yue scrambled over to explain, "It's not what you think, Master, you've got it wrong. Junior Fellow Pei was saving me—he didn't hurt Senior Brother. It was... it was Senior Brother who..."

At this, Ling Yue glanced at Xiao Yiheng, trailing off, as if giving him a chance to own up on his own.

Sure enough, the next second, Xiao Yiheng stepped forward, flanked by the crowd. "Master, it was unintentional. I was sparring with that little—Junior Fellow Pei, when Junior Sister Yue suddenly ran out. I couldn't pull my strike in time, and that's how Junior Fellow Pei wound up in the cold pool."

(?ω`)? Xue Youtan was straight-up baffled.

What's happening here? Are his ears broken or what? Say that again—who threw who into the cold pool?

That's not how the original plot goes, man.

Changing the script like this really screws him over, making his earlier tough talk look like a joke.

Pei Zhi stayed silent the whole time, until his name was cleared. Only then did he raise his eyes, a hint of a smile tugging at the corners. "The one who hurt a fellow disciple isn't me. Sorry to disappoint you, Master."

Disappointed, my ass—without a legit excuse for the whipping, how was he supposed to hit his plot points?

That kid Pei Zhi was cautious and careful, hard to catch slipping on any given day. He couldn't just make up some crime to finish the mission, right?

Besides, what other crime would justify beating someone half to death and tossing them into the Withered Wood Forest to feed the wolves?

Ugh, what a headache, seriously.

Xue Youtan's face, all twisted up with worry over the mission, looked completely different to Pei Zhi.

Ever since he'd come to Cangya Mountain, he could clearly feel Xue Youtan's disgust toward him. No matter how slick his sword forms were, in Xue Youtan's eyes, he was always invisible. Just moments ago, Xue Youtan could be all chatty with Li Luoshu, but the second he came near, the smile would vanish and he'd sidestep away. Like he was something dirty, something to avoid at all costs.

And now, without even checking the facts, Xue Youtan had just assumed he was the one who hurt a fellow disciple.

What a joke.

Frustration and resentment churned inside him. The fake smile on Pei Zhi's face dropped, his double pupils narrowing, his jaw clenching.

Xue Youtan didn't catch the shift in Pei Zhi's expression. He edged closer to Yueli, who was watching the drama from the sidelines, planning to use a greeting to skate past this awkward moment. But he'd only taken two steps, right between Pei Zhi and Yueli, when Pei Zhi suddenly coughed into his hand, swaying unsteadily like he might keel over any second.

Xue Youtan froze, debating whether to reach out and steady him, when Ling Yue beat him to it and grabbed Pei Zhi.

She looked at him, worried, her eyes all red. "Junior Fellow Pei, are you alright?"

Pei Zhi shook his head, trying to pull away, but couldn't. He coughed twice more, shaking his head. "I'm fine."

Despite his stubborn words, Pei Zhi's body went limp, sliding down like a leaf in the wind.

Pei Zhi was skinny, but Ling Yue was still a girl—no way she could hold him up as he collapsed. If Xue Youtan hadn't been quick to catch him, they'd both have hit the floor.

"What do we do, what do we do? That cold pool is so frigid that even a Foundation Establishment senior brother would get sick from falling in. Junior Fellow Pei just joined the sect and hasn't even hit the Qi Refining stage. Without spiritual energy to protect him, could he die from the cold?"

The cultivation realm's power levels roughly ranked: Qi Refining → Foundation Establishment → Golden Core → Nascent Soul → Spirit Transformation.

According to the book's starting stats, both Xiao Yiheng and Pei Zhi were at the lowest Qi Refining stage, so Ling Yue's worry made sense. But as someone holding the script, Xue Youtan wasn't worried about Pei Zhi's condition at all.

As the male lead who could bang ten women in a night in the book, a little cold poison was nothing to him—like eating pickled veggies with rice.

Before Xue Youtan could respond, Ling Yue actually started crying. "It's all my fault. I didn't notice what was happening and rushed recklessly toward Senior Brother, and that's what harmed Junior Fellow Pei, wuwuwu..."

"Enough, stop crying." Xue Youtan's head was about to split from Ling Yue's sobbing. He placed his hand on Pei Zhi's wrist, sending spiritual energy to warm his body while glancing toward Yueli, who was watching the commotion. "Isn't your disciple already boiling water? So what's the plan—take him to your place or mine?"

The words sounded a bit odd. Yueli raised an eyebrow, and his folding fan snapped open with a "swish." "Take him to the medicine hut."

Fanning himself by the cold pool—this guy would die if he didn't show off for even a moment.

Xue Youtan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, grabbed Pei Zhi, formed a hand seal, and headed straight for the medicine hut.

In terms of magical arts, Yueli was a step ahead of him, and with Pei Zhi as dead weight, Xue Youtan was always slower. So by the time the two arrived at the medicine hut, Yueli and Ling Feng had already prepared the medicine barrel and were waiting.

Seeing them arrive, Yueli didn't waste words and directly ordered, "Strip him." Then he tossed another handful of herbs into the barrel.

Strip what? Oh, clothes. Whose clothes, and who's stripping them?

Xue Youtan looked at Pei Zhi, then at Yueli, and finally pointed at himself in disbelief. "Me... I strip him?"

Stripping the male lead bare in front of everyone—that didn't seem quite right.

Xue Youtan's mouth said no, no, but his hands moved quickly, peeling off Pei Zhi's wet outer robe in a few swift motions. And surprisingly, though Pei Zhi looked as skinny as a bean sprout, once the clothes came off, he actually had windows abs!

Damn, even with his perfect villain physique, he didn't have abs that nice. And this bean sprout of a male lead had them!

Xue Youtan felt extremely unbalanced inside. His hand moved downward, intending to pull off Pei Zhi's undergarment.

Whether it was his imagination or not, Xue Youtan felt the skin of the person beneath him tremble when his hand touched Pei Zhi's waistband.

Xue Youtan grabbed the edge of the pants, about to strip him completely, when Yueli, who had just fetched the herbs, turned around and asked in confusion, "It's just a medicinal bath—no need to strip him completely bare, is there?"

??? Isn't this standard procedure? Who takes a bath in their underwear?

Xue Youtan was about to argue back when Yueli's next words made him snatch his hand away.

Because he heard Yueli say, "You'll be getting in the bath with him in a bit too. Wouldn't it be awkward to face each other completely naked?"

WTF?

What kind of twist is this? He'd never heard of needing a dual bath to cure cold poison.