The White Moonlight Senior Brother Loves a Bad Seed Like Me - Chapter 3

By the time I returned to Qingyun Sect with the spirit beast, news of Mingxiu’s appearance had spread across the cultivation world.

Everyone waited eagerly for him to recover his spiritual power and memories, to become once more the flawless savior they remembered.

I hated that word—savior—more than anything.

In a fury, I summoned a water mirror and secretly searched for the mortal’s whereabouts.

After a fierce contest, Mingxiu had been left with six ardent protectors: Junior Martial Uncle Lu Fei, the holy son of Hehuan Sect, the foremost senior disciple of the Emotionless Dao, the young master of Thousand Mechanisms Sect, the chief of Beast-Taming Sect, and the master of Medicine Immortal Valley.

They were heading for the Great Wilderness Secret Realm to find the Nine-Heart Lotus Flame for him.

Mingxiu had come from another age, and his soul had yet to stabilize. The divine flame could rebuild his spiritual meridians and temper his soul. Once his power returned, so would his memories.

I watched the water mirror, my eyes gleaming and a wicked smile spreading over my lips.

Six romantic rivals joining forces to win a divine flame for their white moonlight?

Interesting.

I was going to steal it.

I hurried as fast as I could and arrived just in time for the show.

The six protectors were facing the guardian of the divine flame, a nine-tailed tiger called Kuiwu.

He might have been a beast, but like certain human cultivators, he was sanctimonious and thoroughly unpleasant.

I hid among the spirit herbs, planning to seize the flame once both sides had worn each other down.

To my surprise, the moment Kuiwu saw Mingxiu’s face, his haughty eyes brightened.

“Is this man… the reincarnation of my young friend Yinyu?”

The cultivators exchanged glances, then nodded.

“Young friend Yinyu once saved my child. His nature was pure as white jade, and he held all living beings in his heart. The divine flame is his to use.”

The smile froze on my face. A dead stalk snapped between my fingers.

This blind, stupid beast! How could he mistake that counterfeit for Senior Brother too?

He brought the divine flame out from the depths of his cave and carefully floated it into Lu Fei’s hands.

The fire shimmered through all the colors of the rainbow. Reflected in my eyes, it ignited a blaze of restless red.

Why?

That mortal was nothing but a cheap thief who had stolen someone else’s identity. What right did he have to stand there alive and well?

The fire in my eyes burned hotter until it devoured my reason.

By the time I came to my senses, I had already shot out like an arrow. I moved so quickly that only a blur remained behind me.

My fingertips nearly touched the edge of the flame before a tiger tail, packed with enormous spiritual force, swatted me away.

“I wondered who it was. So it is the little rat who used to trail behind young friend Yinyu.”

“Your nature is as vicious as ever. You cannot bear to see your Senior Brother return to life.”

These people were so boring. They could never think of a new insult.

I had heard it all before.

Centuries ago, strange omens appeared across the cultivation world. Demonic creatures ran rampant, and ordinary people suffered.

Senior Brother claimed he wanted to travel and took me with him to investigate.

I watched coldly as he scattered kindness everywhere we went, saving more people and beasts than I could count.

Kuiwu’s litter was among those he rescued from demonic cultivators.

Perhaps beasts were naturally drawn to their own kind. Those noisy, clingy little creatures ignored Senior Brother and stuck to me like burrs instead.

My head, my arms, and both legs were soon covered in divine-beast cubs. One especially stupid creature, unable to find room anywhere else, latched onto my backside with its teeth and refused to let go.

Smoke practically poured from my ears.

I was about to line them all up and kick their bottoms when Senior Brother forcibly suppressed my rage.

He bought me ten candied haw skewers. I could not hold them all with two hands, so I changed back into my true form and swallowed the lot in one bite.

“You can’t eat the sticks!”

Senior Brother frantically pried open my jaws and tried to fish them out.

I shoved him away with my head and smacked my lips.

“They’re only wooden sticks. Back in the demon realm, I ate tree bark and demon rats. Nothing ever happened to me!”

See? I was mighty. Invincible.

But Senior Brother did not praise me.

He fell silent and looked at me with reddened eyes.

His stare made me so uncomfortable that I scooped the cubs onto my back and fled toward the home they had pointed out.

Later, grateful that his children had been saved, Kuiwu gave Senior Brother a mountain of heavenly treasures. He also made a solemn promise: if Senior Brother ever asked, he would come to his aid.

He did not thank me.

Instead, before Senior Brother left, he called him aside to say things I was not allowed to hear.

I was not a good person, so naturally I listened anyway.

“You must beware of the savage beast at your side, young friend.”

“I can see the evil in his nature. Such a baleful creature will bring disaster sooner or later.”

Hidden in the shadows, I felt storm clouds gather in my black eyes.

It was not the first time I had heard words like those.

Senior Brother’s admirers had said plenty about me behind his back. They called him the bright moon cherished by all.

And me? I was a vicious, sullen beast, too rotten at the bone to be taught.

To Senior Brother, I was a stain. A burden.

The one thing I would never be was the person standing beside him at the end.

The lofty, hypocritical faces of his admirers blurred together with Kuiwu’s earnest warning.

My whole body went cold and rigid, while my eyes burned.

The air seemed to grow heavy enough to crush the breath from my lungs.

Before I could escape it, Senior Brother’s voice drifted toward me on the wind. All warmth had left his smile, and every word was grave and certain.

“He is not a baleful creature. He is my Junior Brother.”