Chapter 41: Be Sure to Properly Corrupt the Holy Sons

No one tried to bargain.

Was six thousand really that cheap?

This sect leader had worked hard to give birth to two cultivator babies, and Hengxue Sect had only offered a subsidy of six thousand spirit stones.

They had not even paid it yet.

Meng Baixu thought about it again. It must be because this sect leader’s accumulated might was too great. Who would dare haggle with the Demon Sect?

He swept a dignified gaze across the room. Before long, several sect leaders surrounded him and eagerly asked, “Has Sect Leader considered offering a lifetime pass?”

This was the first time the Demon Sect Leader had ever been this popular.

Cultivators were different from mortals. Their lifespans were uncertain, so the word “lifetime” was far too distant and difficult to price.

Meng Baixu pondered for a moment.

The sect leaders immediately changed their question. “Have you considered annual passes? How much would one year cost?”

Meng Baixu lifted his eyelids. Their cautious expressions were truly pleasing to look at. He casually said, “One hundred thousand per year.”

Paying one hundred thousand spirit stones all at once was no small expense. The sect leaders who had inquired began calculating how many times they would travel between east and west in a year and whether individual tickets or an annual pass would be more economical.

Meng Baixu said, “In consideration of everyone traveling thousands of miles to attend this grand cultivation conference, your first passage will receive a discount of one thousand spirit stones!”

“I want a ticket!” Someone immediately took out money.

Meng Baixu had only come to announce the good news. He did not manage the sect’s accounts.

“You are all members of the righteous path, honest and true to your word. Use it first and pay afterward. Hand the money to the guards at the exit.”

“Uh, forgive me for asking an offensive question, Sect Leader, but is the cultivation corridor guaranteed to be safe?”

Would they fall from the sky above Yongzhou City halfway through? Their cultivation would be suppressed there, so falling straight to the ground would kill them.

What if Fuguang Sect intended to use this opportunity to wipe out the entire righteous path?

Meng Baixu thought that the righteous path really had too many concerns. Shizun had anticipated even this.

“For your first passage, Wen Tingshu will accompany you.”

“Ah, that’s wonderful!”

The cultivator’s face immediately relaxed. With Sect Master Wen present, they could feel completely at ease.

Sect Master Wen remained in seclusion throughout the year and had no need to use the corridor. Yet to take care of his fellow cultivators, he would personally descend the mountain and supervise their passage.

Such righteousness!

After finishing the serious business, Meng Baixu turned to leave, only for someone to suddenly stand in front of him.

It was the Sect Master of Qingyun Sword Sect, Shi Wumi’s “former husband.” After twenty years of tempering, the former young sect master had become much steadier and had successfully inherited the position of Sect Master.

The sword cultivator held his sword horizontally in front of him.

Meng Baixu immediately summoned Fengxing Sword.

The opportunity to avenge Shi Wumi had arrived!

Twenty years ago, Qingyun Sword Sect had gone mad and imprisoned Shi Wumi inside the Myriad Sword Formation to await execution. Shi Wumi had suffered serious injuries while escaping and had therefore entered deep sleep and seclusion.

Meng Baixu had originally intended to give Wen Tingshu face and not cause trouble during the cultivation conference, lest the old thing punish him afterward.

But it was different if Qingyun Sword Sect attacked first!

The surrounding cultivators gathered around while cracking melon seeds. Not one of them feared the two cold, gleaming swords crossing between them.

The incident between Qingyun Sword Sect and Shi Wumi had caused a tremendous uproar back then. The entire cultivation world knew about it.

They had only come to attend a conference today, yet they could even watch the sequel live. The corridor ticket for their return journey was already worth it.

The sword cultivator said, “This sword is worth one hundred thousand spirit stones.”

Meng Baixu: Hm??

The sword cultivator said, “An annual pass for the cultivation corridor.”

Meng Baixu’s eyes turned, and he immediately understood.

Qingyun Sword Sect wanted to hide within the corridor and ambush Shi Wumi when he passed through.

Shi Wumi was the great contributor who had enabled everyone in the Demon Sect to own a sword. Meng Baixu would never sell him out for a mere one hundred thousand spirit stones.

“Qingyun Sword Sect refused to do business with Fuguang Sect back then. Today, Fuguang Sect will also refuse to do business with you.”

Meng Baixu folded his arms and coldly rejected him.

The sword cultivator asked, “Where is Shi Wumi?”

Meng Baixu said, “No comment.”

The sword cultivator said, “Sect Master Wen said he is nearby.”

Meng Baixu gritted his teeth.

Very good, Wen Tingshu. He had actually betrayed a core secret of Fuguang Sect. He could forget about getting into Meng Baixu’s bed tonight.

“You want to know? Step over this sect leader’s corpse first.”

The sword cultivator: “…”

The gossiping cultivators: “…”

How had it become this serious?

Qingyun Sword Sect truly possessed a hereditary inability to speak properly.

Swords forged by Qingyun Sword Sect were both fast and stable during sword flight. However, the previous Sect Master had been proud of his talent and excessively blunt, frequently causing orders to be lost.

After Shi Wumi became the young madam, he cultivated both internally and externally. Within the sect, he organized its accounting, personnel, and procedures perfectly. Outside, he enthusiastically expanded sales channels. He even fulfilled cultivators’ small requests, such as designing sword blades that produced flute music when the wind passed through them.

Orders flooded in, and the sword-forging furnaces expanded to three times their previous scale.

Everyone now knew how the story had ended.

It turned out that Shi Wumi had worked so hard to expand the sword sect merely so he could loot everything in one satisfying sweep.

After enjoying the gossip, the various sects all became vigilant.

A virtuous wife would not fall from the heavens. If one did, they had to be careful that the person was not from the Demon Sect.

For a time, everyone looked suspiciously at the person beside their pillow and felt endangered.

When the Left Protector heard this public opinion, he was furious. These people still wanted wives? They should first consider their own worth. Were they as handsome as Qingyun Sword Sect’s young sect master? Did their families have enough money to be worth plotting against?

***

Meng Baixu shook off Shi Wumi’s enemy and returned to Hengxue Mountain to settle accounts with Wen Tingshu.

“You sold me out?”

Wen Tingshu was mixing mugwort into dough to color it for Wowo and Nangnang. He was shaping it into a bamboo-colored steamer and carving woven bamboo patterns into its surface with a small knife.

Hearing Meng Baixu, he stopped. “Hm?”

Meng Baixu said, “Qingyun Sword Sect!”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

He admitted frankly, “Shi Wumi was the one who suggested having Wowo attach himself to Nangnang. I was being petty.”

Meng Baixu: “…”

Actually, the idea of sending only one cub had originated with him. Shi Wumi had merely carried out the Sect Leader’s plan.

“Don’t do it again.”

Wen Tingshu said, “All right.”

Wen Tingshu finished carving the steamer bun. Wowo and Nangnang each placed the little steamed buns they had made inside it, closed the lid, and steamed it for three quarters of an hour.

“Wow!”

The instant it emerged from the steamer, the two cubs could not even wait for it to cool. Each sat on one side, held the “steamer bun,” which was larger than a washbasin, and began gnawing.

They gnawed open a gap and lifted the lid. The entire thing could be eaten.

Meng Baixu: “…”

Had Wen Tingshu only just remembered how to make toys like this to amuse children?

Why had he never done so before?

In front of this five-hundred-year-old thing, what did twenty years of age even count for?

Why, when cooking for Meng Baixu, had he only cared about deliciousness, nutrition, abundance, and never repeating the same flavor?

Meng Baixu bent down and took one small steamed bun.

Meng Wowo said, “Wowo made that!”

Hearing this, Meng Baixu hurriedly took another ugly steamed bun.

Meng Nangnang said, “Baby made that!”

Wen Tingshu said, “Lanshe, after you finish eating, I’ll teach you the puppet technique.”

“Your technique will be limited to the East Hall. Do not leave it. Aside from Wowo and Nangnang, do not come into contact with anyone else.”

In truth, as long as Daddy slept beside them at night, Wowo and Nangnang would spend their days looking for one person and then another to play with. They would not cry for Daddy.

Wen Tingshu placed a restriction around the East Hall. Meng Baixu’s puppet would remain inside, and only Wowo and Nangnang could enter.

Once Meng Baixu became proficient, Wen Tingshu called the two little cubs over and had them sit on small stools.

He watched Meng Baixu summon the puppet, allowing the cubs to see personally that the puppet and Daddy were the same person.

As soon as the puppet appeared, Meng Baixu’s true body immediately concealed itself. The puppet walked nimbly to the cubs and pinched their cheeks one after another.

“Call me Daddy.”

Meng Wowo and Meng Nangnang hesitantly said, “Daddy.”

How had Baby’s beautiful Daddy become an ugly… ordinary Daddy?

Meng Wowo politely asked, “Daddy, did you eat a poisonous mushroom?”

He Shangxian often frightened the two little cubs, warning them never to pick wild mushrooms from the ground and eat them, or they would turn into ugly babies.

When the Holy Son babies had just learned to crawl, they loved crawling across the grass, one going east and the other west. They stuffed everything they saw into their mouths, giving the elder grandpas enormous headaches.

Meng Baixu touched his face. “Yes. It’ll take a month for Daddy to change back.”

Meng Nangnang’s ears twitched. “What is a poisonous mushroom? Can Baby eat it?”

It seemed He Shangxian’s frightening warning had only been remembered by Meng Wowo.

Meng Baixu asked, “Will you dislike Daddy now?”

Meng Wowo and Meng Nangnang shook their heads together.

Wen Tingshu said, “I will be leaving for one month. Wowo, Nangnang, while I am away, you must take good care of Daddy. Don’t let him go outside, eat poisonous mushrooms, or stand in the sunlight.”

Meng Wowo remembered everything.

Daddy could not go outside. If sunlight touched him, he would not be able to change back.

Meng Nangnang also remembered that Daddy could not go outside.

Baby would bring Daddy food!

The next day, the Demon Sect’s higher-ups also arrived at Hengxue Mountain.

The East Hall had been sealed. Previously, only Jia Liance had lived in the West Hall, but now Shi Wumi, Liu Xishi, and He Shangxian were squeezed inside as well.

The Left Protector remained behind to guard the sect.

With so many demons occupying one mountaintop, even Wen Tingshu had to move aside.

Demons were best at treating themselves as familiar guests. They had only arrived an hour ago, yet Jia Liance was already drinking soy milk ground by Liu Xishi.

He cheerfully said, “Older people prefer strong flavors. Add more sugar.”

People loved liveliness as they grew older. Sister-in-law’s family was much friendlier than he had imagined.

He especially had plenty to discuss with He Shangxian.

Wowo and Nangnang carefully carried soy milk to feed Daddy, completely unaware that the real Meng Baixu had secretly descended the mountain with Wen Tingshu.

Traveling thousands of li by sword, Wen Tingshu led everyone into the cultivation corridor before nightfall.

The sword-flight obstacles and obsession formations inside had all been cleared. The passage of time was barely noticeable, and they arrived in western Yongzhou almost instantly.

The Left Protector waited there and collected payment one by one. They used the corridor first and paid afterward. Everyone paid readily.

Wen Tingshu made no movement to pay.

The dignified saintly father now owed the Demon Sect a total of ten thousand spirit stones.

“Sect Leader, place your and the Sect Master’s safety above everything else.”

“I know.”

Meng Baixu continued west with Wen Tingshu, heading toward Xiling Mountain.

He sat inside a phoenix carriage transformed from Wen Tingshu’s golden-wheel artifact, comfortably nestled in Wen Tingshu’s arms.

“Wen Tingshu, your sons brought food to me. Guess what they brought.”

Wen Tingshu said, “Sweet tofu pudding and savory tofu pudding.”

“You even know that! Guess who carried the sweet one?”

“Meng Nangnang.”

“Not bad. In only a few days, you already understand Wowo and Nangnang this well.”

Meng Baixu thought for a moment and said, “Once we rescue my father, let’s not tell him immediately that he has grandsons.”

The two little cowards did not have enough wickedness stored up. Meng Baixu feared they might provoke Meng Fuguang.

Before leaving, Meng Baixu had deliberately instructed Shi Wumi to be sure to properly corrupt the Holy Sons.

If Meng Fuguang learned beforehand that he had grandsons, he would certainly expect to meet two little demons. When he discovered they were not, he would fly into a rage.

But if he knew nothing at first and met two little babies at Hengxue Sect, he would find them adorable and think, It would be wonderful if they belonged to Fuguang Sect.

Then, upon learning the truth, he would be overjoyed.