Shen Zhu's relaxed atmosphere had the opposite effect, nearly causing the cold northern wind to erupt into a heatwave.

If time could be turned back, Yin Ci only wanted to immediately expose Shen Zhu's identity.

Having lived for so long, he indeed wanted unprecedented experiences, but those experiences did not include once-in-a-century awkwardness. However, this could not be blamed on Shen Zhu - just based on appearance, he was a bit younger than Shi Jingzhi.

Demon Lord Yin's clumsy fatherly heart trembled and died halfway.

Previously not knowing each other's backgrounds, he and Shi Jingzhi had tested each other for quite a while. The two were tied together by the word "master and disciple", so some intimate actions were inevitable. Now that they recognized each other, they just needed to slightly shift their emotions... provided that he had not casually flirted with his own master.

How did he forget about this matter?

The energy channeling under the Ghost Tomb, the fake kiss at the city gate, occasionally blowing air to tease. Shi Jingzhi usually put on the appearance of a master, so if teased, he would most likely blush to the ears, which was very amusing.

If it were the other way around, he could magnanimously indicate that the junior was ignorant, and pretend nothing happened.

Unfortunately, the old rogue turned out to be himself, so this matter was not easy to handle.

Yin Ci rarely regretted anything in his life, but now he regretted his actions - was teasing a serious junior that fun, why couldn't he just honestly play the role of an ordinary mountain resident?

For a moment, he could not regard Shi Jingzhi as Little Mute anymore. The amusement gained at that time had now all turned into a taste of inexplicable awkwardness.

Fortunately, he still had the thick skin forged from hundreds of years, allowing him to pretend to be calm and unperturbed at any time.

At times like this, he absolutely could not show any signs of embarrassment first. Yin Ci cupped his hands and smiled naturally.

"Yes, I am indeed Yin Ci."

Shi Jingzhi looked at Yin Ci with a strange gaze for a while, not knowing if he was lamenting the thickness of this person's skin or admiring this person's ability to play dumb.

Shen Zhu did not see the surging undercurrents between the two in private. Following the conversation, she said, "There are too many injured, it's best for everyone to go rest in Luan River as soon as possible. After this period of time, it will not be easy to travel through the Central Plains."

She got on the wooden boat magic tool and tied the sled to the back of the boat. The rabbit demon pulling the sled instantly ran off without a trace.

Shi Jingzhi shook his head and came back to his senses, "It will not be easy to travel through the Central Plains?"

The smile on Shen Zhu's face faded a bit. She glanced at Yin Ci before shifting her gaze back to Shi Jingzhi, "The Jianchen Temple incident was exposed too quickly. Yueshui Bureau has already received the news - you forcibly went up the mountain, schemed to kill the two eminent monks Juefei and Juehui, and abducted the Compassion Stone Sword of Grandmaster Kongshi."

Once the Yueshui Bureau in charge of intelligence received the news, it was only a matter of time before it spread throughout the martial world.

Shi Jingzhi thought for a moment, "For such a ridiculous claim, it must be paired with a willful and reckless title... Let me think, there are clues about the Shi Rou on the Compassion Stone Sword, and in order to monopolize the secret, I killed the two eminent monks to silence them?"

Shen Zhu: "Exactly. There must be someone adding fuel to the fire behind this matter."

Shi Jingzhi: "I have an idea."

After saying that, he glanced at the unconscious Shi Zhongyu, "The Jianchen Temple tragedy came first, followed by the unsealing of the Mi Mountain Sect's secret scripture. It's really like encountering setbacks with every step we take... It seems we need to quickly part ways with Miss Shi. If she travels with us for too long, I'm afraid she'll also be harmed and become a pot of dirty water splashed on us."

With this incident, the search for the Shi Rou would only become more difficult. However, Shi Jingzhi was not anxious or agitated, clearly knowing something.

She didn't ask further and continued, "The Ling Sect is already aware that there are clues on the Compassion Stone Sword. They have taken advantage of the terrain to strategically block off Zongwu Mountain."

Shi Jingzhi's expression remained calm, "I understand."

Yin Ci had no time to dwell on the awkwardness. He only looked at his exceptionally calm nominal master with slightly furrowed brows. Unfortunately, with the bitter cold of the north and a boat full of injured people, it was not convenient to interrogate in detail.

Each harboring their own thoughts, the two thus headed for Luan River.

When Shi Zhongyu regained consciousness, there was a shelter above everyone's heads.

It was now sunset. Carefully calculating, she had actually been unconscious for nearly a day.

Shi Zhongyu subconsciously touched her chest. Only after feeling the disaster-blocking talisman did she exhale the breath she had been holding for a long time. Shi Zhongyu properly put on the tattered Green Maiden Sword and struggled to get out of bed.

This inn was not large, located in an ordinary courtyard, looking like an average family doing a bit of small business on the side. There were only two or three guest rooms in total, and the furniture inside was covered in dust, not meticulous to the extreme.

However, although the Ku Mountain Sect was in a tight spot, they were not crude to the point of throwing a young lady in with a bunch of men. Shi Zhongyu had a guest room to herself, and there was not even half an item belonging to the Ku Mountain Sect inside.

Shi Zhongyu hastily tidied her appearance and pushed the door open, eager to rush back to Taiheng in one go and wake up the sect leader.

It's just that considering how she had received much care from the Ku Mountain Sect on this trip, leaving without a word was truly not the conduct of a gentleman. Having just recovered some strength, she began to look for members of the Ku Mountain Sect.

She knocked on the door next door for a long time, but no one answered. The door was half-open with a thin crack, and she could see the unconscious Su Si and Yan Qing. The two were huddled in the bedding, covered in dirt, with their wounds properly bandaged, seeming to have no major issues. Lord Bai was pressed against Su Si's chest, drowsily napping.

There was no one else in the room. She turned around again but did not find Shi Jingzhi and Yin Ci.

The courtyard was not big. With her, a living person, wandering around everywhere, the shopkeeper spotted her with one glance, "Miss, you're awake. Your friends have arrived and are waiting in the front hall."

Friends?

Shi Zhongyu wandered to the front hall of the main building and was instantly drowned in a chorus of "Senior Sister" from all directions.

That's right, she thought dully. Taiheng had a rest stop in Luan River, with quite a few disciples of average aptitude guarding the place. They did not usually practice martial arts much and were busy with the sect's tedious miscellaneous matters.

They rarely saw important figures from Taiheng, so when a senior sister suddenly fell from the sky, they definitely had to take a curious look.

Now that she had successfully rendezvoused with her fellow disciples, as long as she lay in the Protective Shuttle, she would be able to return to the Central Plains very quickly.

It's just that Shi Zhongyu really could not understand why that master-disciple pair would notify Taiheng early and then deliberately avoid them, only leaving behind two injured people who could not receive guests at all - Yan Qing was previously just a servant of Taiheng, and Su Si had only recently joined the Ku Mountain Sect. Even if the Taiheng disciples were waiting for her here, unless she spoke up, they would not have the slightest bit of interest in those two "nameless nobodies".

Faced with two confused servants, she seemed to have nothing to say either.

Although Shi Zhongyu was stubborn, she was born into a wealthy merchant family after all and knew which superficial skills were best to use. Previously, under the Ghost Tomb, Sect Leader Shi had not been stingy in doing her a favor.

The current arrangement seemed like they did not want to have any association with her, tactfully urging her to leave.

Obviously, they had just fought side by side, going through life and death together.

Shi Zhongyu rubbed her temples. She realized that no matter how much she agonized over it, there was only one path she could choose - she couldn't very well let her sect leader's life hang in the balance while quibbling over the finer points of etiquette.

So she forced a smile and dealt with the enthusiastic Taiheng disciples in front of her. They escorted her out of the courtyard, and as she was leaving, Shi Zhongyu turned her head and looked at the dilapidated yard with puzzlement.

...At least even if she couldn't say goodbye to them in person, there were other things she could do to repay them.

Yin Ci, no, Senior Yin had also entrusted her with a task.

Sect Leader Qi's situation was a matter of life and death, and couldn't be delayed. But she still had time to pull the records of a deceased disciple.

A few hours later, an Arrow Horse left River Luan, and a gray pigeon flapped its wings, its silhouette cutting through the night.

When Yin Ci received the gray pigeon, the bright moon had already risen. It was close to the fifteenth, and the moon was quite full.

Unfortunately, River Luan was remote and cold. As soon as night fell, the lights on the street instantly dimmed a few degrees. The master and disciple on the roof became two thin shadows, like decorative stone beasts, continuing to keep up appearances in tacit understanding.

When the pigeon arrived, Yin Ci did not avoid Shi Jingzhi beside him, and read the letter in front of him.

There was only one short sentence on the letter.

[Shi Chongyu was fortunate enough to receive the emperor's favor, but died in depression less than four years after entering the palace.]

Yin Ci crumpled the paper, and his final guess was settled - twenty-four years ago, there were only a few people in the world who could have specially faked a corpse to deceive him. For that person to go to such lengths for a little mute, Shi Jingzhi must have been of extraordinary origin.

Shi Jingzhi had said that his eldest brother had inherited the family business early on and no one managed him. He had said that he had drunk immortal wine, but it had no effect on him... He had said that his eldest brother had eccentric hobbies and had him learn military strategies from a young age.

At the time, Yin Ci had just thought he was talking nonsense. Who knew that looking back, most of it was actually true. Yin Ci had some knowledge of royal family information, but had never heard of the Xu family having such a son.

After so long, Yin Ci had finally caught this person's fox tail, but no matter what, he couldn't feel happy about it.

Shi Jingzhi had said before that he should find him soon and go to his side. But now that Shi Jingzhi knew of the deep connection between them and knew of his care for him, he didn't take the opportunity to hint or try to use the all-powerful tool of "immortality".

Even though no matter who the enemy was, he himself would not die because of it.

The crying child from back then had grown up. Yin Ci thought, perhaps he had grown up a bit too much. With Shi Jingzhi's "obsession" and seeing immortality before him, who knew how he had resisted asking about it.

Even now, with no one else around, Shi Jingzhi only watched the departing pigeon. "A letter from Taiheng?"

"Mm."

"Ah Ci, the fish slices in fruit juice at noon were very tasty. Can we have grilled fish tomorrow?" Shi Jingzhi naturally changed the subject.

Yin Ci suspected that if he didn't speak up, they could maintain this false peace forever.

"Over the years, I have been investigating the cause of the 'immortal body'. If I knew the answer, I would never hide it from you." Yin Ci still sighed and took the first step. "Unfortunately, my past can't help you much."

His memories from when he first became "immortal" were hazy and hard to distinguish between true and false to begin with. And in those limited impressions, he only remembered endless darkness and despair. Yin Ci had investigated for hundreds of years without finding anything close to an answer. Shi Jingzhi's days were numbered, and this was clearly not the path they should take.

Not to mention that he was old enough that he didn't need to pour out his old grievances to Shi Jingzhi. Yin Ci didn't want to give Shi Jingzhi unrealistic hopes at all. That would be too cruel.

But if the immortal person himself had no clue, once these words were spoken, they would inevitably arouse suspicion no matter how you looked at it.

However, upon hearing this, Shi Jingzhi only smiled brilliantly. "I know. After all, Ah Ci promised me a long life of a hundred years and wouldn't deliberately hide it from me. The Ku Mountain Sect is about to reach the point where everyone is calling for its destruction, yet you're still willing to stay. This master is satisfied."

Yin Ci could see that this was not a lie - if there was any change in Shi Jingzhi after the seal was broken, perhaps it was only this unreserved trust.

After finishing his words, Shi Jingzhi again enthusiastically admired the lights of tens of thousands of households under the eaves.

Why not come closer? Yin Ci thought. Shi Jingzhi clearly had ample reason to act coquettishly, hint, or seek help, anything would do.

Forget it, he thought again. This person had already pulled him into the mortal world, so he could also walk over.

It was such a simple principle.

"Your Highness, this can't go on."

Yin Ci placed a hand on Shi Jingzhi's head, applying a bit of force to make him look at him.

"It's time we had an honest talk."

Author's Note:

Compared to immortality, his royal status seems to be the most irrelevant layer of the onion _(:з」∠)_

Fox Shi, all grown up! Demon Lord Yin... Demon Lord Yin's old father mentality, subscription renewal failed.

Happy Lantern Festival, everyone!!!