The next day, in the early morning, Chang Qian really did ask the little deer to come.

    Jiang Zheliu had just washed up, he hadn’t even tied up his hair yet. He was thinking about what he could grow once Zhongnan Mountain’s winter was over……He was mid-thought, when he heard the patter of the little deer’s hooves.

    After that, there was a knock on the door. Chang Qian opened the door and let in the youth with the two horns on his head. He looked a bit older than Chang Qian, about 14-15 years old in appearance, with bright and round eyes and seemed quick-witted.

    He had only just entered when his gaze fell upon Jiang Zheliu, he went up to him to take a better look, and then blinked a few times, before saying: “Shenxian gege!”

    Jiang Zheliu looked at this loveable little deer and listened to Chang Qian’s cheerful introduction: “This is my gege, he’s an immortal living in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain……this is Ah-Chu.”

    Ah-Chu stood in front of Jiang Zheliu. The pair of horns on his head were almost translucent. At the top of the horns there was a small area that had faint blood red veins as if they were not fully grown and if touched would be very painful. His legs had not completely transformed yet, so he still had a pair of deer hooves.

    “Shenxian gege.” Ah-Chu’s eyes shone brightly as he approached, he seemed to be a bit more courageous than Chang Qian. “You are really good-looking, you’re even better looking than I imagined.”

    Jiang Zheliu watched him attentively for a while. Looking at the unmistakable look of sincerity on Chu’s face, he was silent for a few breaths and then said: “Do you want to cultivate in Zhongnan Mountain?”

    Ah-Chu nodded very seriously and said: “I will serve gege well.”

    Jiang Zheliu said: “I don’t have any more spiritual energy. I’m weak and ill, I’m no longer the Immortal Sect Leader I was before. You probably won’t be able to learn anything from me.”

    “As long as Shenxian gege can occasionally give me some guidance in my cultivation, it’s enough!” The little deer blinked. He moved closer as if unintentionally, his slender eyelashes were on full display in front of Jiang Zheliu, and his breath spread slowly in the air. His face exhibiting an obedient look.

    He seemed to be well-behaved, as if he would serve well. His manners could easily convince the youthful Chang Qian, this little naive snake demon. But Jiang Zheliu wasn’t completely convinced.

    But Jiang Zheliu didn’t care either, just as he could tolerate Wen Renye being his neighbour. His attitude towards many things was “okay”, “why not”, and “all is fine”, which was enough to also tolerate this deer demon that seemed to have an ulterior motive but overall seemed harmless.

    Jiang Zheliu nodded, he was just about to continue chatting but when he looked up, he saw Wen Renye coming in through the door.

    This devil looked the same as usual, wearing a black robe with crimson coloured threading pattern on the lining, purple eyes and he was still brimming with unusual emotion.

    The smell of pine and cypress entered the air, carrying with it the stench of battle and death.

    Jiang Zheliu stretched out his hand to give his ear a rub, pointed at Wen Renye beside him, and said calmly to Ah-Chu: “Girls must be careful when they go out. Those dressed in black are usually bad guys.”

    This is just a joke, but compared to demons, he had never liked people from the Devil Realm, this was a widely known fact.

    Wen Renye played along: “Yes, a bad guy.”

    Wen Renye frowned: “… why would you do that?”

    “Naturally it’s for reading.” Jiang Zheliu looked at him strangely, as if he was explaining something that was painfully obvious. “The covers of these folk stories are very straightforward and obvious. If I read these at Ling Xiao Sect and the disciples saw it, wouldn’t it make young disciples curious, and delay their cultivation practice?”

    Jiang Zheliu said it was too calmly as if he thought that it was completely ordinary, it seemed that he didn’t think what he had done was completely out of the ordinary.

    Wen Renye was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say, and then he heard Jiang Zheliu say quietly: “This afternoon, I’m going to the Hot Springs to bathe. Could my good neighbour look after Ah-Chu and Chang Qian.”

    Wen Renye gazed at his thin frame and said coldly, “This good neighbour thinks that it’s more important to look after you, you look like you’d fall over with one push.”

    One push and he’d fall?

    Jiang Zheliu looked down and glanced over himself, and said casually: “If I fall, I just won’t get up again, and I’ll exhort ten million spiritual jade stones from your Devil Realm.”

    ————

    There were several hot springs behind Zhongnan Mountain, which are almost never used because there are few residents in the mountains. But Wen Renye had cleaned out this place for him.

    Jiang Zheliu took off his robe, leaving only a thin undershirt on his body. He dipped himself into the water to explore his own body.

    Although he no longer had any spiritual energy, he had still reached a certain point in his cultivation so he was still able to examine himself internally. At this moment, he looked inside his body, the more he looked, the more he felt that his meridians were damaged to an incredible extent. It could be said that the state of his meridians were a tragic sight without the least bit of rhythm.

    When he repaired the Realm Boundary, he encountered a huge impact. He went to repair it alone. His disciples from the Ling Xiao Sect should have arranged for assistance, but Zhu Wuxin was afraid the news would leak and they might be attacked by evil doers, so in the end, he went alone.

    Jiang Zheliu was getting dizzy from the heat of the hot springs, he closed his eyes and reminisced on the past.

    He had given Zhu Wuxin an opportunity, but it was also his shidi’s choice. Zhu Wuxin didn’t try his best to help him, causing his hair to turn white in an instant, to sustain serious injuries, but Jiang Zheliu accepted this readily.

    He opened his eyes slightly and with the faint light he looked at the back of his hand, gazing intently at the calluses between his thin fingers made from wielding his sword. These calluses were made from the constant friction of gripping of the sword from training his cultivation, bleeding and then training again until these hands became pale and colourless.

    He suddenly remembered the time when Zhu Wuxin was young, when he had just been accepted as a disciple. He was an orphan who had been taken in but he cultivated the hardest. Taking away the limelight from the others, he was always ridiculed by the other disciples, saying that he was a “b*stard with no mother nor father”. Zhu Wuxin was only four years old at the time, and was not very tall at the time, but he rushed out, like a fierce cat, standing in front of him to protect him.

    He remembered Wuxin raising his little hand and cupping his cheeks and saying earnestly, “Zheliu gege don’t be afraid of them, Wuxin will protect you.” The voice was so babyish that he still wasn’t able to properly enunciate his words.

    Later, it was Jiang Zheliu who protected him for half of his life, until Zhu Wuxin personally chose to abandon him when he no longer needed him.

    From the day that Zhu Wenyuan passed away, Zhu Wuxin only ever referred to him as “shixiong”, and not “gege”.