91 6.15 (2/2)

Meanwhile, stuck miserably on the fringes of this festive atmosphere was the shame-faced teenager who'd condemned Ning He prematurely. Under the mocking glances of everyone who passed by him, he didn't dare to take any cores, but he also couldn't stand the sight of how swiftly the precious items were being snatched up in front of his eyes. If he waited any longer, there really wouldn't be anything left for him! Therefore, hoping to beg for Ning He's mercy, he stared tearfully at the sole person who could pardon his mistake, but the boy in Master Moqi's arms seemed oblivious, he didn't even glance at him.

This wasn't because Chen Yu sincerely cared about disciplining a mere loudmouth; rather, he was occupied with another matter entirely. Having noticed the complex expression on the protagonist's face during his scan of the disciples following his little speech, Chen Yu had at last taken the time to check his task's completion rate, and the results had been somewhat surprising.

Taking into account Zhuo Biming's hatred for the original owner and also whatever turmoil he'd probably felt after he'd been informed of Ning He's 'true' motives, Chen Yu had expected that he would have reached at least 20% or so. When he analyzed his mission's progress, however, he learned that the protagonist this time seemed to be a fairly rational type, he had produced merely 8%. Instead, it was You Daolin and Wenren ShiShi who had generated a total of 3% between them, a startlingly high yield for mere members of the protagonist's clique.

While he wasn't in a hurry to wrap up his assignment, Chen Yu did file away this information for future reference, then finally turned his attention toward what the twins had been muttering about all this time. Apparently, they'd been lamenting that their shizhi was too kind, rewarding these ingrates who hadn't done any work, complaining about how he'd been treated by these same vicious people, so on and so forth, until they happened to recall another wicked villain who'd attempted to harm the boy.

Tensing at the reminder of the danger Ning He had been in, the brothers decided that they had to issue a warning immediately. For this purpose, Moqi Baihui flicked his finger to lower the temperature and Moqi Lirong sounded a crack of lightning, drawing the focus of those shameless youths who'd been frenziedly stealing their shizhi's property.

Frozen from the cold gaze the peak leaders were directing at them, the teenagers nervously dropped the cores they'd been holding, their minds racing. Had Ning He changed his mind? Did he want them to cough everything up again? No, they refused! Even if the Moqi leaders demanded it, they would object, they would force Ning He to let them keep what they'd hoarded if they had to!

But in the next instant, their resolve promptly collapsed at what Moqi Baihui declared. In a mild voice, the man spit out a cruel explanation of what he'd done to the last disciple who'd attacked Ning He, detailing, ”I, the leader of Ten Stems Hall, hereby announce that the punishment of Wenren ShiShi, an inner disciple of my own peak, has been carried out. For the crime of seeking to kill a fellow member of Heavenly Saber Sect, as witnessed by the leader of Twelve Branches Valley, the penalties which Wenren ShiShi suffered include the following: disembowelment, flaying of her skin, mutilation of her facial features, and shattering of the bones in her limbs. Since she escaped the rest of her punishment by dying, she has lost her right to be recognized as a disciple of Heavenly Saber Sect and will not be buried by the sect.”

Then, once he was certain that he'd accomplished his aim of deterring anyone from threatening Ning He by frightening them with the explicit description of what would await any idiot who tried such a thing, Moqi Baihui waved his hand to signal that they could go on picking up cores, ignoring their blanched complexions. Next to him, Moqi Lirong lifted the big hands he'd been holding over the boy's ears, and, while pretending that nothing significant had taken place just now, the two men surreptitiously peeked at the youth's face to see if he'd heard anything.

Although they'd carelessly shown Wenren ShiShi's corpse to their shizhi before, they were now calm enough to keep in mind that the tender boy might be frightened away from them by their merciless treatment of her, so that even Moqi Baihui, who wished to prove that he loved Ning He above outsiders like his own peak members, didn't dare to emphasize how they'd avenged him. Much to their relief, from the way that the youth was still blithely watching the other disciples, it seemed he hadn't discovered anything.

Nonetheless, Moqi Baihui was afraid that the child would blame him for not controlling his disciple well enough, so he couldn't help but grasp the boy's soft hand and implore, ”Shizhi, what happened with Wenren ShiShi...it was my oversight. She did come from Ten Stems Hall, but I promise that in the future, no one else from my peak will disturb you.” Also worried that his irresponsible brother's neglectfulness would cause Ning He to distrust them, Moqi Lirong similarly nodded to indicate that he would review disciplinary measures in his Twelve Branches Valley.

At their freful expressions, Chen Yu couldn't resist his urge to tease them, he squinted his eyes and complained, ”Why did she attack me? Did it have to do with what she said about me dirtying you, shishu? But I, this young master, haven't done anything to be ashamed of!”

In the process of torturing Wenren ShiShi, Moqi Baihui had inevitably learned about her infatuation with him and he knew that he should, of course, tell Ning He the truth. Yet when he thought that doing so would likely worsen his shizhi's impression of him, he couldn't open his mouth. As for Moqi Lirong, despite his desire to alienate his twin by exposing how he'd been attracting bees and butterflies, in the end, he simply drooped his head. Revealing such a thing might hurt the boy's feelings and, moreover, he honestly wasn't sure that he was verbally skilled enough to appease the child alone.

When some time had therefore passed silently while the two men were internally debating how to respond, Chen Yu hummed in amusement, but he didn't bother drawing out their anxiety. After all, he was still curious about what Ning Taio's objective in feeding his son Golden Honey Flower was, so his priority now was to return to the Heavenly Sabert Sect and solve the mystery. Thus, with a short ”Well, never mind, I don't care about such weird people. But from now on you'd better protect me properly as my shishu!” he resolved their concern to move them along.

And finally, two days later, a short while after the group arrived back at Sun and Moon Hall, he gleaned a clue to what the original owner's true situation had been.