Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Senior Brother loved saying ridiculous things to tease me, waiting until I got flustered and furious before bursting into laughter.

So later on, I always kept my guard up and never took his feigned profundity too seriously.

But this time, of all times, he had been telling the truth.

By the time we entered the Northern Plains, night had already fallen deep.

Senior Brother carried Shanting off to scout the road ahead and told me to wait where I was.

I had always been obedient. Unfortunately, I had been hungry for days, and when I caught a strange, alluring fragrance, I somehow followed it all the way into a magnificent restaurant.

This restaurant was unlike ordinary ones.

There was no signboard hanging before the entrance. Instead, there was a mirror.

When I passed by, I glanced at it. Seeing nothing special about the mirror, I paid it no more mind.

The shopkeeper who came to receive me was fairly kind. He did not look down on me or neglect me because of my shabby clothes, and instead introduced the restaurant’s dishes to me in great detail.

I listened until I could only swallow my saliva. Then I looked at the prices on the menu, scratched my forehead, and broke out in a few beads of cold sweat.

I definitely couldn’t afford it. I should have expected that.

I felt a little vexed.

Just as I found myself stuck in an impossible position, I looked up and saw Senior Brother hurrying past the front of the building with an anxious expression.

I quickly called out to him, “Senior Brother, I’m here!”

Hearing me, Senior Brother turned back. His expression eased slightly, but then his brows drew together and he glared at me before walking straight over.

Yet the moment he stepped onto the stone stairs of the restaurant, the mirror before the entrance suddenly burst with several streaks of flame. Like strings of chains, they wound around him from head to toe, binding him layer after layer.

Scarlet fire coiled and swelled, nearly burning a hole through the murky night.

Bound within it, Senior Brother instantly could not move.

At the same time, inside the restaurant, the noisy hall fell silent. Everyone turned their heads, looking outside with gazes full of terror and contempt.

“Well, well. A Brood came in.”

After a long silence, a cold voice rang out faintly.

Then came the sharp crashes of things shattering beside my ears.

Someone threw a cup. Someone hurled a pair of silver chopsticks.

They cursed:

“Brood, get out! Don’t dirty our floor!”

“A mere Brood dares come to a place like this?”

“Why haven’t all the Brood been killed yet?”

The shopkeeper beside me, who had been all smiles moments ago, suddenly changed his face as well, shouting for people to drive Senior Brother away.

The sudden turn of events struck me like a blow to the head.

Like someone shoved off a cliff, I turned back in shock and stared at those hideous faces.

Why?

Why were they treating Senior Brother like this?

What right did they have to treat Senior Brother like this?

Tongues of flame licked wildly over Senior Brother’s body, and I felt a fire leap up in my chest as well, burning hotter and hotter.

But Senior Brother seemed long used to scenes like this.

Without a change in expression, he shook his head at me, signaling that I should not immediately follow.

Then he raised a finger and sent Shanting from its sheath. The blade cut through the firelight, and he left on his own.

A quarter of an hour later, I followed the floating tufts Shanting had left behind and found Senior Brother.

Before him ran a shallow stream. He leaned against a broken wall half a person tall, head tilted up as he looked at the sky, lost in thought.

“Senior Brother.”

I took a deep breath and called to him with difficulty.

“I’m sorry. If I hadn’t run off…”

“It’s fine. But there will not be a next time.”

Senior Brother gave a soft hum, not letting me continue.

He straightened and walked toward me, his expression as calm as ever.

“Still, this trouble of yours wasn’t for nothing. At least it confirmed one thing.”

His tone lifted at the end, carrying a trace of delight.

The flowing water was reflected in his eyes, rippling with faint light.

Seeing the smile in his eyes, my heart loosened at once, and I threw the gloom from earlier to the back of my mind. I hurriedly asked him:

“What thing?”

What answered my question was the snap of robes billowing in the wind.

A blurred figure descended from the sky. Before I could react to what was happening, Senior Brother had already shielded me behind him, blocking the newcomer’s line of sight.

And the sword he brought down.

Steel clashed against steel, and the two of them retreated dozens of steps apart.

Senior Brother turned his face slightly and reminded me in a low voice not to speak.

I nodded and shrank farther behind him.

But in truth, the man in white, with his arrogant bearing, did not spare me even half a glance.

His eyes were fixed straight on Senior Brother. Gritting his teeth, he let out a cold sneer.

“Nan Wenji. It really is you.

“You had the guts to slaughter your entire sect. Why don’t you have the guts to go die yourself?”