SHI MEI'S UNDER PRESSURE

Shi Mei turned to look at Xue Meng and sighed sorrowfully. There were tiny droplets of tears that stuck to his eyelashes, adding more to his pitiful appearance.

"Young Master Xue, what are we supposed to do? Should we go to Yanluo Hall to get punished?" he asked while tugging at Xue Meng's sleeve.

Seeing Shi Mei acting this way, guilt filled Xue Meng's heart.

His father had always been proud of him. He did not raise his son to be a coward!

Xue Meng grabbed Shi Mei's shoulders. He looked deep into Shi Mei's eyes and spoke earnestly to him, "Shi Mei, I am sorry for dragging you into this matter. You don't have to go to Yanluo Hall. I will do that."

Shi Mei's lips trembled slightly.

"But Young Master, I was the one who mentioned that A-Ran and Shizun are both capable at handling ghosts. I did not mean to say that Young Master Xue is in any way weaker than them."

Xue Meng heaved a long sigh.

Of course he didn't. Shi Mei was such a gentle and understanding creature. He was merely trying to comfort Xue Meng who was disappointed because his shizun decided to leave him behind.

It was Xue Meng who was too childish, too superficial, too dumb. He overreacted to Shi Mei's innocent words and actually went to rip a tear in the ancient barrier. It was unforgivable. He truly deserved to be punished by Chu Wanning.

"Don't worry about that. I will handle it all," Xue Meng decided. He didn't want Shi Mei to suffer by his side.

But Shi Mei was still Shi Mei. He did not have the heart to let Xue Meng bear the entire burden.

"No, Young Master. I will ask for punishment together with you," the gentle beauty insisted. "I just need to go to a nearby village for a while. I will get us some ointment to help heal the wounds from flogging."

Blood drained from Xue Meng's face when he heard about the possibility.

Oh, and how Jielu Elder could flog! That old geezer's hands remained strong after all these years! His dedication to teach through pain was beyond question!

"Then you quickly go," Xue Meng said. "Buy a lot! We will help each other apply the ointment at night..."

Shi Mei nodded. With Xue Meng's permission, he thus left Sisheng Peak and climbed down the mountain.

Chu Wanning's second disciple did not have strong cultivation, and his core was also rather weak. He looked more like a scholar than a cultivator. Owing to that, he was able to mingle among the crowds without attracting much attention.

After buying the ointments from a medicine store, Shi Mei went to drink a cup of tea at a tea house. The village lay in the middle of the intersection of many roads that connected one town to another. That being said, the tea house was flourishing in business. Customers came and went incessantly, tables were only empty for a minute before they were occupied by new customers.

Shi Mei waited for a while before he could get a table. Because he was alone, he was given a table at the corner of the room. Initially, he sat alone and ordered tea. But then the tea house owner came up to him, rubbing his hands together as he asked whether Shi Mei would mind sitting with one other customer.

"This table is big enough for two people. Sir, you don't mind, do you? I promise that you will not be bothered at all."

Kind and understanding as always, Shi Mei naturally agreed.

The other man wore black from head to toe. He also wore a straw hat and straw cloak that he refused to put down. The man was weird, but it was the veil that covered the lower half of his face that disconcerted people the most.

One sharp glare from the man was enough to make the others turned their heads in a hurry. No one wanted to be involved with this questionable guy. They even felt a little sorry for the beauty who had the bad luck to sit with him at the same table.

Shi Mei took a sip from his cup and glanced at the stranger opposite him.

"How did it go?" Hua Binan asked.

Shi Mei shook his head but said nothing. The disguised Cold Scale Sacred Hand clicked with his tongue impatiently.

"Did he not fall for it?"

"He did," Shi Mei finally answered, not without looking left and right for people who might be listening in on their conversation. Once he ensured that everyone else was engrossed in their own exchanges, he continued, "But they came quickly and sealed everything so fast."

"Heh. It was not big enough then."

"The plan was only to get one or two out."

Shi Mei lowered his voice, "Almost a hundred managed to escape."

"How can they arrive at the same time? Only 'he' was supposed to come."

He naturally referred to Chu Wanning.

Shi Mei swallowed hard.

"A-Ran, he... lately, he has been quite invested in Shizun."

"Aha."

Hua Binan rubbed at his chin under the veil. Surprising, how one Chu Wanning who remembered the past could change Mo Ran that much, he thought. He already saw it coming when Mo Ran chased Chu Wanning to Rainbell Isle years ago. He just did not expect that Mo Ran would be able to fight the effect of the Hatred Flower to this extent. On the other side, it might have something to do with Shi Mei's lacking initiatives.

"You should work harder to get him to your side," he chastised his other self. "When I was your age, I had him wrapped around my little finger."

His fake death caused Mo Ran to destabilize and spiral down the path of destruction, exactly the way Hua Binan had planned. It was unfortunate that Shi Mei could not use the same scenario, but he should at least be able to pull Mo Ran to his side. Why let him lounge around Chu Wanning?

Shi Mei curled his fingers on the table in distress.

"I am trying," he said. "He's just not into me."

Hua Binan scoffed.

"What are you talking about? He and Taxian-Jun have the same flowers deeply embedded in their hearts. If I could do it, so can you."

Shi Mei raised his eyes and shot his other self a menacing glare.

"I don't like him."

The person he truly liked was the one who Mo Ran was chasing. Shi Mei did not want to pull Mo Ran to his side. He wanted Chu Wanning. Mo Ran was a disturbance in his eyes. Why did he have to act sweet and coy in front of Mo Ran to win his heart?

"No one is asking you to like him in return," Hua Binan pointed out. "You just need to keep him in his place so that he doesn't interfere with our plans."

Hua Binan sighed. He took out a small brocade box from behind his chest. Inside was a pill that glowed with mother-of-pearl luster.

"This is your last chance. Just mix it in something and feed it to him. You can do that, right?"

"..."

Shi Mei was full of hesitation. He did not like Mo Ran, but now Hua Binan made him use the Pill of Infatuation on Mo Ran. If anything, it was not helping his case at all.

"How long will it be effective?"

Hua Binan's lips were pulled into a grotesque smile. "Why do you care? He will die soon enough, and then you will be free from him."

Shi Mei swallowed. Gingerly, he reached out and took the brocade box from Hua Binan.

"Make it happen before they leave for Linyi," Hua Binan reminded him. "This is very crucial. I can only entrust this job to you."