Chà Chà Novel

By the time they emerged from the flower spirits’ lair, dawn was breaking.

The mountain path was rugged, and the rain the night before had left the ground muddy.

Lin Huaiqing walked ahead. His two disciples, both only recently grown to adulthood, trudged miserably down the mountain with three sets of remains on each of their backs.

“Master… why do we have to carry the bodies down? Couldn’t we just find somewhere to bury them?”

Qin Du did not dare complain outright, but he could not understand Lin Huaiqing’s decision.

That was already the most humane solution he could think of.

“As the saying goes, fallen leaves return to their roots. We should let their families bury them with their own hands. Consider it a good deed.”

Qin Du listened in bewilderment, feeling as though he understood and yet didn’t.

Among demons, at least, a death was never this much trouble.

The dead demon’s core would certainly be divided among the others. As for the body, hardly anyone cared. The remains were generally collected and disposed of together.

When they brought the bodies back to the village at the foot of the mountain, the villagers grieved, but most had already come to accept this outcome.

After so many days missing in the mountains, the hunters’ chances of survival had been slim.

Fortunately, the spirits had been completely eradicated. Nothing like this would happen again.

The village chief paid their fee without hesitation and thanked Lin Huaiqing so profusely that he began to feel embarrassed.

After bidding the village farewell, master and disciples resumed their journey to find the male lead’s bonded spirit sword.

It was getting dark when they reached a town, so Lin Huaiqing decided they would rest there for the night and continue the next day.

Three people, three adjoining rooms.

Lin Huaiqing took the middle room, with Qin Du and Mu Yunting on either side. Although he had cast a cleansing spell on himself, the moment he lay down, he still felt sticky from all the spirit blood that had splashed over him. He simply couldn’t shake the discomfort.

He dressed again and went downstairs to find an attendant.

“Please have a tub of bathwater brought up to my room.”

“Honored guest, our inn is famous around here for its hot springs! We have bathing facilities in the rear courtyard. If you’d like a bath, you can head straight there.”

Hearing that he could soak in a hot spring lifted Lin Huaiqing’s spirits. At last, he could ease his fatigue.

The attendant led him to the rear courtyard and into a large bathing room.

Around a dozen people were soaking in the steaming pool.

Lin Huaiqing was rather particular about cleanliness and did not want to share a bath with strangers. He gave the attendant two extra low-grade spirit stones and asked for a smaller, private room.

Its pool was separate from the communal one and large enough for five people.

Only after the attendant left did Lin Huaiqing feel comfortable removing his robes, layer by layer. He draped them over the screen and stepped into the hot spring.

He had no idea how much time passed before he heard splashing. Someone had entered his pool.

He was about to speak when he realized it was his two disciples.

“Master, why did you come to the hot spring alone without inviting me?”

“Exactly, Master. I’ve been looking for you everywhere. Why don’t you let me scrub your back?”

Ripples spread across the warm water.

Though Lin Huaiqing couldn’t see, he had a feeling that three grown men crowding into one small pool would make things rather awkward.

He was just about to refuse when water splashed behind him. A source of warmth drew close as Qin Du approached and laid a hot towel across his back.

Not to be outdone, Mu Yunting stripped off his clothes and jumped straight into the pool, sending up a sizable splash. He, too, came over and offered to scrub his master’s back.

Though both had only recently reached adulthood, they were already tall and well built. With one on either side of him, Lin Huaiqing felt he had nowhere to retreat.

By rights, his two disciples—one righteous, one villainous—should have had vastly different personalities. Why were they so remarkably alike when it came to attending to him?

Both seemed desperate to claim the privilege.

“There’s no need. I’m finished bathing. You two take your time.”

Faced with their excessive enthusiasm, Lin Huaiqing could only find an excuse to retreat.

Before, he would have thought nothing of bathing together. But ever since that dream, he had been doing his best to keep his distance from his disciples.

He had barely taken a few steps through the pool when his foot slipped, sending him tumbling into the water.

The pool was only about a meter deep, but Lin Huaiqing couldn’t swim. The moment he lost his balance, he panicked.

He floundered for a while before Qin Du, who was nearby, rushed over and caught him.

With Qin Du’s arm to hold on to, Lin Huaiqing finally managed to regain his footing. But now they were so close that he could even feel Qin Du’s breath growing warmer.

“Careful, Master. Did you choke on any water?”

Qin Du’s voice sounded slightly hoarse.

Flustered and bedraggled, Lin Huaiqing had no time to answer. He hurried out of the pool, dressed, and left without looking back.

Only Qin Du and Mu Yunting remained in the water. After watching him leave, they turned to face each other.

The atmosphere was painfully awkward.

They might have been sworn enemies who had fought to the death in their previous life, but when the flower spirits forced them to duel today, Mu Yunting had still shown him mercy.

That had genuinely surprised Qin Du.

Neither spoke. They simply went back to washing themselves.

Then, for no apparent reason, Qin Du heard Mu Yunting mutter beside him, “Shameless.”

His voice was quiet, but the contempt was unmistakable.

Having been insulted out of nowhere, Qin Du was hardly about to take it lying down.

“What’s wrong with you? What did I ever do to you?”

Qin Du might have been better off saying nothing. The moment he answered, Mu Yunting’s temper flared.

“A demon like you dares covet my master? I suggest you put those filthy thoughts out of your head before it’s too late!”

As he spoke, he frowned and glanced down toward Qin Du beneath the water. His disgusted stare practically bored through him.

Qin Du looked down, then hurriedly turned his back on Mu Yunting.

“What the fuck are you looking at?!”

“You’d better watch yourself.”

Mu Yunting flung his wet towel into the pool, splashing water all over Qin Du.

Early the next morning, master and disciples climbed back into the carriage and resumed their journey.

This time, however, the atmosphere was rather strange.

The two men, who normally seemed incapable of surviving without an argument, were acting as though something had possessed them.

Mu Yunting drove while Qin Du sat beside him. Their silence was astonishing.

“We’ll soon enter the Xianyue Sect’s territory. Come with me to pay a visit to Immortal Venerable Shuangyue.”

Lin Huaiqing spoke first, breaking the awkward silence.

In truth, this was less a social visit than a chance he was arranging for Mu Yunting to enter the secret realm in the mountains behind the Xianyue Sect and recover his spirit sword from his previous life.

Mu Yunting had been worrying about how to ask Lin Huaiqing for leave so he could sneak into the Xianyue Sect and retrieve his sword. He had never expected an opportunity to fall into his lap so neatly.

His master really was his lucky star!

“The Xianyue Sect?”

Qin Du repeated the name under his breath.

He seemed to remember hearing of that sect in his previous life. Supposedly, it accepted only female disciples.

Even its leader, Immortal Venerable Shuangyue, was a highly accomplished female Nascent Soul cultivator, honored as the foremost female cultivator in the world.

He vaguely recalled fighting her during the war between the immortal sects and the demon race. Mediocre cultivation. Decent looks.

He had never known Lin Huaiqing was acquainted with this celebrated woman.