77 Day 76: The Scum Is A Blackmailer (2/2)

Fang Wen smiled. ”Where is Wu Bai, by the way?” he asked and looked around.

”Oh, he's – ” Feng Mo said and looked at Chen Sheng.

”He's walking Xia Di around.” Chen Sheng answered.

Silence fell upon them, don't know what to say.

And so Chen Sheng continued. ”During the escape, led by Mu Jun since he's the one who knew most of the portals to different realms, the queen gave birth to me.” he said. ”They had no choice but to stop. At the same time, Yu Sheng's mom gave birth to him, too.” He said.

Their eyes went wide. ”You mean...” they said.

”Yes.” Chen Sheng answered. ”We're the same age.” He said.

Silence fell.

He sipped his tea and continued. ”When we finally reached the middle realm, Mu Jun looked back and saw the rebels are running behind us. ” he said. ”Since their body is rich in qi, Mu Jun clearly know they could go back and forth of the realms, and so he made a big decision.” He said, then paused. ”He destroyed the portals.” He said.

Their eyes went wide, shocked.

”Master...” Feng Mo called.

”Call me 'Brother Chen'.” Chen Sheng told Feng Mo and sipped his tea.

Dark lines covered Feng Mo's face. He nodded, forced.

”Since the portals are eating qi, Mu Jun should equally feed it with negative qi in order to destroy all of them.” Chen Sheng continued. ”That... made him deplete all his power.” He said. ”Since he fed the portals with negative qi, the negative qi scattered all around the three realms. And so, the pure qi, too.” He said.

”The pure qi too?!” they said, shocked.

Chen Sheng nodded. ”Yes.” He answered. ”Since my body, of original of BaiLong's, can't feed on pure qi anymore, my body became frail.” He continued. ”The king and queen forced my soul out of my frail body, lest my body explode because of my strong soul.” He explained.

”That's... the Soul Eviction Technique.” They said.

”Yes.” Chen Sheng answered. ”It was only my body that's a problem to me...” he muttered, then sighed. ”Yu Sheng, since his parents experienced rich qi for staying so long in the BaiLong, and was conceived there even though he was born here, of course he'd be stronger than most people in this continent.” he explained.

They looked at each other, remembered how powerful Yu Sheng as the prodigal disciple of the Upright Sect, and back when they met him at the YuLing Village's cave where he fought with Li Shan effortlessly.

”They tied my soul in Yu Sheng's body, making Yu Sheng bear two souls. One already strong, while the other one is far stronger.” He continued. ”But, because of that, his body should be adjusted first. But, since they suddenly did it, he...” he said, then paused.

”'he'?” they said.

Chen Sheng looked at them and put down his now empty cup. ”He fell asleep.” He answered. ”A very deep, and long sleep.” He added.

Their eyes went wide.

Upright Sect.

Yu Sheng stared at Mu Jun, wide – eyed, after he told him everything. ”How... how I - ?” he said, stepped back when he momentarily lost his balance because of shock. ”I – ” he said and held his head.

”Yes.” Mu Jun said. ”Do you remember how the king and queen died? Do you remember how your parents died?” he asked as he watches Yu Sheng cried, holding his head. ”Do you know... why after all these years, only 15 years ago you had remembered the prince, and where his body lied?” he asked. ”Do you?” he said as Yu Sheng knelt, crying.

Mu Jun lowered his head and sighed. He doesn't want to do this, but he has to. He has to make Yu Sheng remember everything in order for him to serve the prince loyally the moment the prince come back to BaiLong.

BaiLong... he thought as his face went dark when he remembered it. Yes. The place that's like a utopia, where the royalties live... now it's –

How everything changed.

Newfound Sect.

”Because of the large amount of power inside his body, his body adjusted for a long time.” Chen Sheng said. ”While waiting for him to wake up, the king and queen left the Soul Techniques to Mu Jun and Yu Sheng's parents while they went back to check their kingdom.” He explained.

”But – ” Li Tian said. ” – isn't the three realms... it became continent. So, the king and queen...” he said, didn't continue.

”Mu Jun already told them the effect of what he did.” Chen Sheng said. ”He turned the realms to mere continents, as well as disrupted the distribution of qi. And so, to make up for his mistakes, he left the Soul Techniques to Yu Sheng's parents and followed the king and queen to BaiLong. There – ” he said and paused. ” – everything's in chaos.” He said, his face serious. ”Mu Jun find the king and queen. But, when he found them, they – ” he said, then lowered his head.

”Brother Chen...”

”Sheng – er...”

”Senior Brother Chen – ”

Chen Sheng took a deep breath and sipped his empty cup. But before he could, Fei Yin stopped him and took his cup.

”It's late.” Fei Yin said. ”You should take rest.” He said and looked at everybody.

”Y – yes.” They said and immediately stood up.

”Let's retire for tonight.” Fang Wen said.

”Yin – er.” Xie Lan called as they left. ”We leave him to you.” He told him and left, following Fang Wen and Li Tian.

”Master. Brother Fei.” Feng Mo called. ”I'll be taking my leave, too – ” he said and looked at Chen Sheng. ”Please rest, master.” He said and bowed before he jumped out of the window and ran into the darkness of the night.

”Sheng – ” Fei Yin called.

”Ah – ” Chen Sheng said and sighed. He sat on the table and poured his cup tea. ”If they stayed a little longer, they'd hear an interesting story.” He said and looked outside.

They saw the shadow of Xia Di in the sky.

”Xia Di...” Fei Yin said. ”How did you come upon him?” he asked.

”I didn't.” Chen Sheng answered. ”It was Mu Jun.” he said.

Fei Yin looked at him.

”When he saw the king and queen has been burned alive...”

”Sheng.” Fei Yin called.

Chen Sheng looked at him, then sighed. ”He went into hiding in BaiLong. He roamed and roamed around, thinking on how to fix his mistakes and make it all up to the poor orphaned me, when he found a beast.” He said.

”Xia Di...” Fei Yin said.

”Yeah.” Chen Sheng answered. ”Unfortunately, it was the laziest beast he found.” He said and laughed.

But, Fei Yin didn't laugh.

Chen Sheng frowned. ”He then took the beast and brought it to the HuiLong. But – ” he said, his face went serious. ” – Yu Sheng's still asleep. They then hid my weak body deep in the cave so that my body won't get in contact with malevolent energy that's outside.” He said. ”When Mu Jun told Yu Sheng's parents about what happened to the king and queen...” he said, then stopped.

Silence fell.

After a while, Chen Sheng spoke when he calmed down. ”Mu Jun blamed himself for all these, and so he left the prince to Yu Sheng's parents' hands. He went to his brother who's also in BaiLong, and told them to make a body for me, that is the modified body now.” he said and smiled as he looked at his hands. ”When he came back for who knows how long, he found only my body that's left. Yu Sheng, as well as his parents, are gone.” He said. ”He thought Yu Sheng finally woke up, and so he searched endlessly. But – ” he said, his face became solemn. ” – they died.” He said. ”It's because of me.”

Fei Yin's eyes went wide. ”What do you – ” he said.

Chen Sheng looked at him. ”Do you think that my body that's deprived of qi would remain silent?” he asked.

Fei Yin didn't answer, clearly now realizing.

Chen Sheng looked away. ”They're the first casualty of my body eating qi. But, since Yu Sheng's parents have tasted the qi of BaiLong, my body became satiated and thus, never tried to eat qi again.” he explained. ”Before they could die, they gave Yu Sheng to a good family. That's the Xi family.” He said. ”But, after those years...” he said.

”The YuLing Village Case.” Fei Yin said.

Chen Sheng nodded. ”Yes.” He said. ”When my body came in contact of malevolent energy from Xi Peng's Qi Deviation while he was roaming around the village in Fei Xin's instruction, my body reacted.” He said. ”It started eating sucking in qi, thus the soul of the villagers who're supposed to fall in Xi Peng's, or Li Shan's hands to hand over to Mu Jie, fell on my hands instead.” He said. ”Since Xi Peng didn't know what happened, he made a fuss.” He frowned. ”My body, before it could suck in the life of the villagers, stopped when he no longer felt the malevolent energy. And so the soul of the villagers remained in the cave, lingering.” He said.

A long silence fell. The night wind blew and they, who're silently listening to the story in hiding, shivered.

But, it's not as cold as what Chen Sheng is feeling right now.