Chapter 2: But what if the child you give birth to turns out to be a little saint instead?

Having the aphrodisiac pill still wasn’t enough. With Wen Tingshu’s unfathomable cultivation, any pill fed to him might be suppressed by him. Meng Baixu still needed to create an illusion realm that would force the virtuous into evil.

Meng Baixu’s eyes turned, and he came up with an idea. He lifted his feet and headed toward the cultivation world’s grand dining hall.

As he walked, he took out a yellow talisman paper from his pocket. His slender fingers folded it a few times, and soon, a voice-transmitting bird was finished.

“Tell Shizun that I’m eating at the dining hall at noon. I won’t be coming back to eat.”

The yellow bird flew away. Meng Baixu watched it for a while.

Honestly, Wen Tingshu was too strict. He did not let him eat at the big dining hall. All three meals a day were cooked specially for him on Hengxue Mountain.

If not for the fact that Wen Tingshu could make one hundred and eight kinds of pastries, all authentic and delicious, comparable to a royal chef from the mortal world, Meng Baixu really would have made a fuss.

Once cultivators reached the Golden Core stage and passed through the bigu period, they would no longer know hunger. However, the path of cultivation was long and endless. If even good food had to be abandoned, what meaning would life have left?

Today, the dining hall was especially lively. It seemed as if the entire sect had come.

Meng Baixu arrived late. The cultivators who had finished eating passed by him, and all of them stopped.

“Da-shixiong, why are you here?”

“There’s no roast chicken left since it’s so late. Da-shixiong, you can have mine.”

Meng Baixu said, “I came under orders to inspect whether the dining hall has been skimping on meals. Everyone, continue eating. There is no need to mind me.”

As for whose orders he was following, that was none of their business.

The hearts of the cultivators immediately felt warm. It must be that the Sect Master was concerned about disciples like them, so he sent Da-shixiong over to check.

Ever since Da-shixiong had come, the Hengxue Sect had taken on a completely new atmosphere. They no longer got punished even when they secretly ate snacks during class.

Meng Baixu pretended to walk around the dining hall. As expected of the dining hall of the number one cultivation academy, it was enormous. He found a remote corner and sat down.

Before long, a person who looked like a fair-faced scholar bowed in front of him, lifted his robe, and sat down.

Meng Baixu was not the only undercover agent in the Hengxue Sect.

The cunning Fuguang Sect had already planted an undercover agent in the Hengxue Sect twenty years ago, secretly passing along information.

Meng Baixu had grown up without a father and had been raised by the sect members. Those single, fierce men were terrified that they would fail to teach Meng Baixu properly and wrong the previous sect leader. After discussing it among themselves, they sent someone to infiltrate the Hengxue Sect and learn from them, copying the Hengxue Sect’s teaching model directly.

The little sect leader was naturally intelligent, and with the teaching model of the number one cultivation academy, he had indeed become an outstanding cultivator.

According to the information exchanged over the years, among all the excellent students gathered from under heaven at the Hengxue Sect, not a single one currently studying there could compare to Meng Baixu.

Every time they secretly pulled the grade reports and compared them, the entire Fuguang Sect would burst into celebration.

Meng Baixu sized up the subordinate in front of him.

The Great Elder had chosen Liu Xishi as the undercover agent because he looked kind, with eyes as bright as stars, and did not resemble a wicked person at all.

As soon as Meng Baixu entered the sect, he was taken away by Wen Tingshu. For various reasons, he had not been able to meet up with his subordinate. He had heard from the Great Elder that Liu Xishi held an important position in the Hengxue Sect.

Meng Baixu’s gaze landed on the head chef emblem on the white silk collar of Liu Xishi’s robe.

The Great Elder had not lied to him.

Liu Xishi was in charge of breakfast at the Hengxue Sect. His position was crucial. Without him, the whole sect would have to go hungry.

Liu Xishi was also observing the sect leader. For the past twenty years, he could only learn everything about the little sect leader through the elders’ letters. Now that he was seeing the little sect leader with his own eyes, he was like a fresh lotus emerging from water, elegant and graceful, more outstanding than every cultivator Liu Xishi had seen in the Hengxue Sect over these twenty years.

“The sect leader has surpassed his predecessors. This subordinate is deeply pleased.”

Back then, when he came undercover, if he had chosen to become a cultivator, he would have had to study morality classes. He was too lazy to learn that nonsense cultivation morality, so he would rather grind tofu pudding in the dining hall. He only worked the morning shift, and his holidays were even longer than the cultivators’.

The sect leader was actually willing to endure humiliation and bear the burden of attending cultivation morality class. His grades were even excellent. This made Liu Xishi feel deep respect.

The sect leader had come, and Liu Xishi was extremely excited. Unfortunately, he had been watched too closely by his superior lately. Damn that Zhongli Yun. Because of him, Liu Xishi only managed to speak with the sect leader today.

Liu Xishi had originally thought he could protect the sect leader and secretly add chicken drumsticks to the sect leader’s breakfast. In the end, the sect leader transformed and became the Sect Master’s first disciple, his status now even higher than Liu Xishi’s.

“Sect Leader, this subordinate has something he must say. The matter of the Sect Master accepting you as his disciple is somewhat strange. What do you think?”

Meng Baixu was full of confidence. “Of course, it was because I amazed everyone at the recruitment assembly and startled Hengxue Mountain. That was why Wen Tingshu came out to accept a disciple.”

There was also another reason: Wen Tingshu had been in seclusion for too long. It was cold and lonely, so he wanted to accept a disciple to relieve his boredom.

That was Meng Baixu’s guess.

Liu Xishi thought about it. That was true. Sect Master Wen was the number one saintly father of the cultivation world. What bad intentions could he possibly have?

Liu Xishi changed the topic and asked with concern, “Sect Leader, are you eating well at the Sect Master’s place? How many dishes do you have per meal? Is there meat?”

Wen Tingshu looked like a celestial immortal who did not need to eat. Their sect leader was at the age where he was still growing. How could he follow that old thing and eat vegetarian meals?

Although Liu Xishi looked about the same age as him, in reality, he was over a hundred years older than Meng Baixu.

Meng Baixu pursed his lips. “It’s passable. Because I have to eat and live with Wen Tingshu, so I can wait for an opportunity to find his fatal weakness.”

Pain flashed in Liu Xishi’s eyes. “Sect Leader has worked hard. Has there been any progress?”

Meng Baixu shook his head. “But I have one plan that can overturn the world. If this plan succeeds, neither you nor I will need to remain undercover anymore.”

Liu Xishi closed his eyes and praised him first. “As expected, Sect Leader’s wisdom and strategy are unparalleled!”

Meng Baixu then revealed the entire plan.

Liu Xishi’s expression went from “My sect leader is truly clever,” to “How exactly did the Great Elder teach him?” and finally to “It seems like this might not be impossible.” For a moment, his feelings were extremely complicated.

In the end, Liu Xishi was older and looked at problems more long-term.

“But what if, Sect Leader, you give birth to a little saintly father?”

Wen Tingshu’s character was noble and deeply rooted. His Dao heart had not changed for hundreds of years. Could the sect leader’s arm really twist past the thigh?

Was the little sect leader certain the child would take after him, and not Wen Tingshu?

Meng Baixu’s authority was questioned, and he immediately refuted, “I’m full of wicked schemes. How could I give birth to a little saintly father?”

The little cub would live in his belly for ten months. Surrounded by what he saw and heard, those near ink became black. The child would definitely be a natural-born villain.

Liu Xishi hissed softly.

That was also true. Acquired education was the decisive factor. Otherwise, why had he been undercover here all this time, stealing teaching information?

“But Sect Leader, if you want to take down Sect Master Wen, that is harder than ascending to the heavens.”

A sly glint flashed in Meng Baixu’s eyes. “That is why I need your help.”

The two of them leaned together and whispered for a while. Liu Xishi’s expression became even more complicated than before. Subconsciously, he wanted to delay things a little.

“If I rashly leave the Hengxue Sect, it will easily arouse suspicion. Besides, the dining hall cannot do without me.”

Meng Baixu widened his eyes. “The dining hall won’t open tomorrow.”

The once-a-year bigu period for cultivators had arrived. They would have to go three days and three nights without eating or drinking. Once they were hungry to the extreme and forgot the desires of the mouth and stomach, it would count as a successful bigu. From then on, they would no longer feel hunger.

During these three days, cultivators who had already passed bigu would also follow along to temper their minds. The entire Hengxue Sect would not light any cooking fires. The discipline team would investigate very strictly, specializing in treating food lovers with weak willpower.

Meng Baixu spread out his palm. In his palm appeared a magic treasure shaped like a flying kite. With a flip of his hand, the faintly glowing kite disappeared into Liu Xishi’s chest.

“Go and return quickly.”

Liu Xishi vaguely saw the shadow of the previous sect leader, Meng Fuguang, on Meng Baixu’s face—that decisiveness, that daring to act and take responsibility.

He nodded. “As you command.”

***

Meng Baixu simply ate a bowl of pickled cabbage noodles in the dining hall. The taste was not as good as Shizun’s cooking. He was terribly disappointed.

In the afternoon, after finishing two hours of pharmacology class, he immediately rode his sword back to Hengxue Mountain as soon as class ended. He could not even be bothered to disguise himself as the perfect shixiong and say goodbye to his shidi.

The entire Hengxue Sect was made up of Hengxue Mountain and the surrounding twenty-seven peaks. Hengxue Mountain was located in the center and was covered in white snow all year round. Meng Baixu had no idea how Wen Tingshu could endure going into seclusion in this cursed place for hundreds of years.

On the first day Meng Baixu arrived, he had very much despised the monotony of the place and immediately wanted to pack up his bedding and live in the cultivator dormitories with the students from his batch.

Wen Tingshu told him to make do for one night.

As a result, when Meng Baixu woke up the next morning, Hengxue Mountain, which had been frozen for a thousand li, was unexpectedly filled with birdsong, flowers, and the vibrant warmth of spring.

It was Wen Tingshu who had used his cultivation to change this part of the world.

“Shizun! I’m back!”

Meng Baixu jumped down from Fengxing Sword and held it in his arms. This sword had been given to him by Wen Tingshu on the day he became his disciple.

It was said that a hundred years ago, Wen Tingshu once used this sword to flatten an evil sect. The cold wind had howled, and blood dyed the long embankment red. After that battle, no one dared to commit evil again, and Wen Tingshu also entered seclusion on Hengxue Mountain, always wearing a gentle and kind appearance.

Meng Baixu inserted the sword into the scabbard beneath a viburnum tree.

Unfortunately, he had been born too late and had not personally seen Shizun kill a man every ten steps, his sword frost chilling fourteen provinces.

Before coming to the Hengxue Sect, Meng Baixu had thought Wen Tingshu would be an old thing with a head of white hair. In the end, he was unexpectedly very young, his features like those of a banished immortal.

“Shizun, I’m hungry.”

Meng Baixu raised his voice a little.

Petals from the viburnum tree drifted down one by one, seemingly endless. Beneath the tree, Wen Tingshu slowly opened his eyes.

“Why didn’t you come back to eat at noon?”

Since he had stood him up temporarily, Meng Baixu knew Wen Tingshu would ask. He had already thought of an excuse.

“I wanted to get along well with the shidi, so I needed to eat at the dining hall with them.”

Shizun was silent for a while, seeming to accept this reason. Then he stood and walked toward the kitchen.

“What do you want to eat?”

“Is there nothing already made?” Meng Baixu followed after Shizun like a little tail.

Usually, the food was already prepared, and there would be something to eat as soon as class ended.

“Shizun, are you angry?”

Wen Tingshu’s expression was calm. “No. The shidi are the same age as you. It is natural for you to want to get along with them.”

Meng Baixu said, “I want to eat the noodles Shizun makes. The dining hall’s pickled cabbage noodles weren’t good. The pickled cabbage was too old.”

Wen Tingshu said, “Mn.”

When Shizun lowered his head to knead the dough, Meng Baixu pressed close behind him and pulled a lock of Wen Tingshu’s hair, winding it around his finger to play with it.

Wen Tingshu was simply a block of wood. Even if lightning struck him, he would not turn black. Everything about him was plain and white; only his hair was black and thick.

Hm?

What was this?

“Shizun, why do you have one white hair?!”

Meng Baixu plucked out a strand of white hair and brought it close to his eyes to examine it carefully. He confirmed that this was a genuine white hair, one that had grown from Wen Tingshu’s head.

After cultivators broke through the Golden Core stage, they could preserve their appearance forever. If they broke through at twenty, they would remain twenty year after year and would not age again. Why would Wen Tingshu, perfectly fine as he was, grow white hair?

Maybe Wen Tingshu really was an old thing who relied on eating children to return to eighteen. Recently, since he had been eating and living with Meng Baixu and could not eat children, his hair had turned white.

Meng Baixu clutched the hair and leaned closer, staring at Wen Tingshu with an expression that demanded he get to the bottom of this.

“What’s going on?”

Wen Tingshu looked at the beautiful face so close at hand and said lightly, “Premature graying.”

Premature graying?

Aren’t you a cultivation genius? How could you study so hard that your hair turned white in your youth?

Meng Baixu borrowed a strand of light from the heavens and rummaged through Shizun’s hair again and again. After confirming that there was only this one white hair, he muttered, “You’re not allowed to grow any more in the future.”

The Great Elder of the Fuguang Sect, He Shangxian, had clearly preserved his appearance while still in the prime of life, yet he insisted on allowing his appearance to age. His purpose was to use his age to pressure others. When Meng Baixu was little, he thought the old grandfather was very pitiful and listened to him very obediently.

Could Wen Tingshu also feel that his disciple was hard to manage and come up with the same trick as He Shangxian, relying on old age to act senior?

Thinking of the great secret in his plan, Meng Baixu emphasized, “You’re not allowed to grow white hair.”

Otherwise, he really would not be able to sleep with him.

Wen Tingshu said, “Mn.”

Meng Baixu found it an eyesore, and his hand itched to help him pluck it out.

Wen Tingshu seemed to predict his intention and stopped him. “If you pluck it, it will grow again.”

Meng Baixu lowered his hand and tilted his head to watch Shizun knead the dough. Those beautiful hands were long and powerful, and the dough in his hands became as soft as water.

As he watched, steaming hot pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles came out of the pot.

He ate, and Shizun ate too.

“Shizun, you didn’t eat lunch, did you?”

“Mn.”

Meng Baixu curled his lips.

Before he came, Wen Tingshu had not eaten for a hundred years. He had no desires and no wants. He truly was someone who could become an immortal.

It seemed that next time, Meng Baixu should not eat at the dining hall after all.

Appetite was also a kind of desire. He had to properly cultivate Shizun’s appetite. He absolutely could not let him become invulnerable through having no desires.

The master and disciple sat facing each other and finished their noodles. Wen Tingshu looked at his disciple with an unwilling gaze, but in the end, he still spoke.

“Lanshe, you should learn bigu.”

Meng Baixu had just finished drinking the last mouthful of soup in the pot. Hearing this, his body stiffened.

It was over. Shizun knew about the matter of bigu. He could not muddle through anymore.

Meng Baixu had hidden his true strength to go undercover. He had long since passed the Golden Core stage and had already gone through bigu, but he did not want to starve for another three days for no reason.

Bigu could only guarantee that a cultivator would not feel hunger. It could not relieve a cultivator’s craving for spicy rabbit legs, kung pao chicken, and brown sugar rice cakes.

“I’m not learning this,” Meng Baixu said firmly.

Wen Tingshu said, “No.”

Meng Baixu said, “From the day I was born until now, I have eaten three meals every day.”

Wen Tingshu simply did not understand!

This time, Wen Tingshu did not indulge him.

“If you encounter a great battle, with heaven and earth plunged into darkness, the enemy will not give you a chance to pause and fill your stomach.”

“Lanshe, bigu is very important for cultivators.”

Meng Baixu grumbled twice, then reluctantly said, “Fine.”

At worst, he would secretly eat at night. His qiankun pouch was filled with snacks Auntie Mingyue had made and packed for him from the Fuguang Sect, fearing that he would not eat enough or sleep warmly enough at the Hengxue Sect.

Auntie Mingyue’s cooking was very good, but pre-cooked food from several months ago naturally could not compare to Wen Tingshu’s freshly made, fragrant, spicy dishes.

He would just wrong himself and eat pre-cooked food for three days.

Wen Tingshu said, “Give me your qiankun pouch.”

Meng Baixu: “…”

Meng Baixu covered his precious qiankun pouch and went back on his word. “I’ll do bigu with the next batch.”

The next recruitment would be three years later. By then, he would already have restored his identity as a great demon and would be eating and drinking whatever he wanted.

His palm suddenly emptied. When he looked up, his qiankun pouch had run to Wen Tingshu’s waist.

Snatching it by force?

If he did not have to hide his strength, Meng Baixu would have snatched it back in the next second.

Meng Baixu was so angry that he gritted his teeth and glared at Wen Tingshu.

Wen Tingshu said, “I’ll return it to you in three days. Also… cold fish soup.”

Hengxue Mountain was frozen all year round, and flying birds were nowhere to be seen. The only living creature there was Wen Tingshu, along with a pond of fish raised in the cold, flowing water. Who knew how many years they had accompanied the Immortal Venerable? Their flesh was fresh and delicious, but he would not allow them to be eaten.

“Fine.”

Meng Baixu glanced at Shizun’s expression and understood that there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

Wen Tingshu said, “Before midnight, you may still eat one late-night snack.”

Meng Baixu’s dim eyes brightened a little.

“I want roast chicken.”

The next day.

Meng Baixu rubbed against the silk quilt in bed, subconsciously waiting for Shizun to bring delicious food and call him to get up.

What shape of pastry would Shizun make for him today?

He loved eating wheat-based foods the most, and Wen Tingshu just so happened to know how to make all kinds of them. There was nothing from across the divine land that he could not make. Their master-disciple pair was simply too compatible.

He waited and waited.

He neither saw Shizun’s figure nor smelled the fragrance of Shizun cooking.

Oh.

He remembered.

There was no food today.

Wen Tingshu had starved his own disciple, so he did not even dare to show his face.

Meng Baixu got out of bed with a long face.

How was this a righteous academy?

It was practically treating people like demons.