Reborn
General Manager Xun didn’t pass out for long. As he regained his conscious, he could feel the pain akin to his body collapsing surging through his body. His bones and organs felt as if they were alight. He found himself lying on a thick bed and tucked into a soft blanket. Above were black veils. Having been deprived of sleep in a blanket for so long, it was a dream come true until he realised he realised he shouldn’t have been in the foreign room. General Manager Xun yanked off the blanket and struggled to sit up. He was already dressed in proper garments somehow. He had never worn proper clothing since undergoing his transformation.
Mu Yu opened the door and looked relieved upon seeing General Manager Xun up again. “You’ve finally come to.”
“Why are you here? Didn’t they capture me already?”
Mu Yu smiled. “Luckily, I found you before they did.”
Mu Yu raced straight to the academy after General Manager Xun’s spirit collection formation was defused, bolted straight to the grey-rank disciples’ courtyard and found the sheet of paper in their drainage channel. That was how he found his way to Flowing Moon Sect. He intended to stop General Manager Xun from committing murder, but he found the latter lying defeated on his way there.
“You are safe here at Dustfallen Sect.”
General Manager Xun was taken aback. He recalled Zhou Xinyu’s betrayal last. He knew he wasn’t doing anything noble, but he had nothing he felt guilty about. Zhou Xinyu’s betrayal, however, erased his reason for living on. He hesitated to speak several times before finally uttering, “Thank you.”
Mu Yu flashed his pearly whites. “I should be thanking you. Thanks to your spirit collection formation, I’ve ascended to Golden Core Realm.”
“You’ve ascended to Golden Core Ream?!”
If Xiaohu was given the same opportunity, he wouldn’t have ascended to Golden Core Ream in two years. While it was hard to believe Mu Yu’s aptitude surpassed Xiaohu’s, there was no denying the Golden Core Realm energy exuding from Mu Yu. General Manager Xun spent his entire life interacting with various individuals; he had his fair share of interactions with Golden Core Realm cultivators, so there was no way he couldn’t distinguish between energy levels.
“Unbelievable.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, either. Let’s not get into the whole aptitude discussion. Long-story short, I informed Uncle An and my seniors, and they agreed, so you are another member of Dustfallen Sect henceforth. You’re not longer the academy’s grey-rank disciple.”
Dustfallen Sect never accepted people through their doors for the sake of it. Uncle An was impressed General Manager Xun was able to create a spirit collection formation, hence the decision. It was to everyone’s benefit if they kept him for that ability.
“What?”
“You’re no longer the academy’s grey-rank disciple. You’re part of Dustfallen Sect now. That being said, I don’t know if you’re all right with being part of our sect. After all, other sects don’t think highly of us,” replied Mu Yu, adding a shrug.
General Manager Xun was speechless. His dream came true in a most anticlimactic manner, and it hadn’t sunken in.
“I did tell you I’d help you leave the academy and leave behind your life as a grey-rank disciple. I won’t force you to stay by any means. If you want to start over a peaceful life, you can leave. If you wish to stay, you are very welcome to do so.”
Concerned, General Manager Xun queried, “The others accept me? Do they know about my crimes? Do they know I’m a… a… soul-devouring wolf?”
“Yes. Uncle An told me he has a method of helping you suppress your wolf instincts. In reality, you can choose whether or not you transform. You can be free of its influence as long as you keep it in check. As for your crimes, I’d like to ask you to stop. We don’t like to kill the innocent.”
General Manager Xun wore on a bitter smile. There was no way he’d help someone after they betrayed him. Moreover, the incident taught him an important lesson: some things couldn’t be changed just because one desired the change. It finally occurred to him he was treating the symptom, not the root cause. In the end, it came back to haunt him. Not every grey-rank disciple was worthy of pity.
“Can I see them? Can I see Patriarch Feng Haochen?”
Mu Yu’s glow dimmed upon hearing the mention of his shifu. He still hadn’t picked up anything after months of searching. The only good news was his shifu wasn’t in the grasp of those who’d harm him. He stood up and smiled. “General Manager Xun, heal up first. I won’t disturb you any longer. I’ll be back soon.”
“I quit as General Manager long ago. My name is Xun Jingshou. Just address me by my name.”
Mu Yu mused over the suggestion then replied, “I’ll call you Elder Xun, then. You are an elder to me, after all.”
“Up to you.”
Eder Xun was quite touched. Mu Yu was the only one to consider him an elder. That was not to mention Mu Yu was a Golden Core Realm cultivator. Those who knew his name would outright call him by his name.
Mu Yu bumped into Cheng Yan after he left Elder Xun’s room. Cheng Yan, tired, asked, “He up?”
Mu Yu nodded. “First Brother, Green Pine Sect and Jiuhua Sect haven’t tried to start with us, have they?”
Cheng Yan sighed as they walked. “You wish. They’ve come knocking twice this month alone. I told them I’d provide them with an answer in ten days. That means they should be back in three days’ time.”
Cheng Yan gave Mu Yu an earful for sneaking off for a month and bringing back a stranger on the verge of death when the latter first returned. Cheng Yan let him off the hook after noticing his junior had ascended and confirmed their shifu wasn’t at Green Pine Sect.
“They? Senior Brother, did you arrange it so that they would come together?”
Cheng Yan grinned. “We wouldn’t possibly join either alliance, anyway. I’d like to see what happens when they bump into each other.”
Mu Yu smirked: “Ooh, you’re a bad boy now.”
“We’ll roll with the punches. Based on what you gathered, the youth hasn’t taken Shifu, which means there’s a chance the one supporting Reverend Jiuhua has intervened. Worse comes to worse, we join Jiuhua Sect and find a way to sneak into their sect to find out.”
Mu Yu was in agreement with the plan. “Ling’er and Xiang Nan have both ascended to Golden Core Realm, as well. Besides the two devils and Elder Xun, we don’t have anyone at Foundation Establishment Realm. Will they accept us? Golden Core Realm cultivators’ cultivation method is set in stone. They can’t just change our method at our level.”
“They’re in the dark in regards to your ascensions. Plus, even if they do know, they wouldn’t care. If anything, they’d be more eager to recruit you. You do realise how absurd it is to be a Golden Core Realm cultivator at your age now, don’t you?”
Mu Yu chortled. They always had Dustfallen Mental Cultivation to resort to if they wanted to hide their true levels and avoid attention.
“You reckon they’ll get into a tussle when they bump into each other?”
Cheng Yan assumed a thinking pose. “Beats me.”
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