Chapter 28: You’re Setting Me Up Again?

Dry firewood crackled and popped, sending sparks flying into the air as curls of blue smoke drifted upward.

Hou Junji, his face bruised and swollen, scrambled out from the crowd of soldiers who had been beating him and reached toward Ling Xuan’s waist.

Ling Xuan’s mind had not yet returned to the present. He had just learned that Hou Junji had never been to Licheng, let alone the Jia Family Tower, and had only ever served as a lowly soldier in the military colonies. Yet, even as a common soldier, he was restless. For a long time, he had barely touched a bow and arrow—he could practically be considered unskilled—spending his days instead climbing trees or scaling sheer cliffs. Valuables, especially precious items belonging to other soldiers, frequently went missing from the camp, leaving behind only the mark of a small white ape. In the eyes of his fellow soldiers, the "Little White Ape" was synonymous with a thief. The men had searched for him in vain for quite some time, never expecting that Ling Xuan would expose him with a single word on the road to Zhuojun.

Seeing that the Zixiao Divine Flute was nearly within his grasp, Hou Junji was overjoyed, muttering to himself, "That’ll teach you to expose my identity."

Without warning, he felt a chill at his neck as two thin blades pressed against his skin. Ye Ziyan gave a cold snort. "Still trying to reach for it?"

"No, no, I just noticed some dried grass on the young master’s waist," Hou Junji said, his eyes darting around as he quickly replied, "I just wanted to brush it off for him."

"How reckless. Even I must ask permission before taking anything from him, let alone you?"

Ling Xuan’s thoughts shifted. He hadn't left his village much, yet back in the mountains, he had recognized the Bearded Guest despite his immense power, and now he had identified Hou Junji, whom he had never met before. Though he didn't know why, Ye Ziyan believed that anyone Ling Xuan took note of could not be simple. She sneered, "Since my husband has called out your nickname, you shall follow him from now on."

"Why should I? He’s only at the Small Zhou Tian stage!" Hou Junji protested loudly.

Ling Xuan’s focus returned. Since the course of history had quietly shifted, he decided to keep Hou Junji by his side. He grinned, "Because you tried to hold me hostage."

"Who do you think you are?" Hou Junji said with disdain. "Just because I call you 'Young Master' doesn't mean you actually are one."

"Good," Ling Xuan applauded, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "In that case, my dear, pay him no mind. Brother Sun, let’s go and let these soldiers vent their grievances."

"Give me back my meat sandwich!"
"Give me back my spirit grass!"
"Give me back my jade fruit!"
...
The soldiers shouted one after another, their anger palpable.

Sun Tianxin emptied Hou Junji’s pack. While there wasn't much inside, there was a handful of loose silver. "Take this and divide it among yourselves as interest."

Driven by desperation, Hou Junji lunged forward. "You forced my hand!"

"Hiss..."

A small white snake darted out, striking like a flash of lightning and coiling around his arm. It raised its tiny triangular head, its red tongue flickering as its fangs glinted with a chilling menace.

"A snake?"

Hou Junji tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge. His face fell into a grimace of misery. "Fine, I’ll drive the carriage for you, is that enough?"

"Driving for me is a lifetime commitment. Before you decide, you might want to think it over carefully," Ling Xuan said, turning his head and spitting out a blade of grass.

Hou Junji was stunned. "What? A lifetime? I’m to be a carriage driver for the rest of my life?"

"No one is forcing you," Ling Xuan said with a wicked smile. "Brother Sun, my dear, let’s go. I’d hate to watch someone suffer from lethal venom."

*Is this not blatant bullying?*

Between the blades and the venomous snake, and with his silver already distributed among the crowd, Hou Junji felt cornered. He couldn't fathom the true strength of the physician Sun, the woman beside him was clearly formidable, and this shaven-headed boy, though not physically strong, was full of treacherous schemes. A wise man knows when to yield. Hou Junji’s eyes rolled as he conceded, "I agree! I agree, won't that suffice?"

"Little fellow, keep a close watch on him. If he harbors any ill intentions, don't bother telling me—just bite him."

Ling Xuan touched his earlobe, feeling something slightly different than before, and a grin spread across his face. *You little punk, did you think I couldn't handle you?*

"What? You’re having a venomous snake watch me?" Hou Junji felt like crying but had no tears. When had he ever suffered such treatment? But even if he wanted to run, he couldn't; the white snake coiled around his arm was truly under the command of that shaven-headed boy, its orange eyes fixed firmly upon him.

"Ling Xuan, why keep such a person by your side?" Sun Tianxin asked, puzzled.

Ling Xuan’s lips curved upward. "Brother Sun, driving the carriage is exhausting work; don't let the reins affect your hands for acupuncture."

"Spare me," Sun Tianxin shook his head, offering a reminder. "You carry the Purple Gold Medical Order; safety must come first in all things."

"Brother Sun, the Little White Ape has excellent footwork, and besides, my dear needs someone to run errands."

He couldn't reveal his true motives, so Ling Xuan changed the subject. "When you performed acupuncture on him, did you notice if he was being eroded by something?"

"Not a demonic soul, but a formless power holding him in check," Sun Tianxin said, his brow furrowed. "I have never seen such a phenomenon, nor have I heard Master Chao mention it."

"A formless power?"

Ling Xuan looked at Ye Ziyan. The Profound Ice Evil Curse was a formless power, though he didn't know what method his grandfather had used—linking it through a soul seal—to allow him to sense it while remaining hidden from others. Hou Junji had been in the military colony the whole time; even though he had reached the Great Zhou Tian stage, he was a nobody. How could he be cursed? Curses, aside from those inherent to Great Shikigami, were usually only found in cases like Ye Ziyan’s, where someone traced the source of a former Chen royal bloodline to place a secret curse.

In his memory, Hou Junji had no such special lineage. Why would someone target him specifically? As Hou Junji’s life trajectory shifted, Ling Xuan felt a tremor in his heart. Could it be that someone else had transmigrated like him and was invisibly trying to alter the flow of history? Counting the time, the gathering at the Jia Family Tower should have already passed, but since Hou Junji hadn't participated, it meant the alliance at Wagang had never formed.

Ling Xuan stood up abruptly. "My dear, Brother Sun, shall we travel through the night?"

"Are you trying to kill me?" Hou Junji groaned, full of complaints. "I’m still wounded!"

"If you don't want to be bitten, stay put," Ling Xuan said, ignoring him as he jumped onto the carriage.

To know how much history had changed, there was one way to verify it: reach Zhuojun as quickly as possible, visit the Prince of Beiping’s mansion, and see if the Heir to the Prince of Beiping was also suffering from a curse.

"Are you really leaving?"

Seeing Ye Ziyan and Sun Tianxin hop onto the carriage, Hou Junji was startled and scrambled onto the driver's bench. "Young Master, can you call off the snake? It’s giving me the creeps."

"Venomous snake? You’re the venomous snake!" Ling Xuan replied with a chuckle. "Let me tell you, the little fellow is your brother. You’re the Little White Ape, and he’s the Little White Snake. You’re both part of the 'Little White' family."

"What kind of logic is that?"

Hou Junji was completely bewildered. He couldn't even protest, especially since the little snake actually nodded, letting out a soft, joyful hiss. Ye Ziyan covered her mouth to hide a smile. She had never seen Ling Xuan let anyone off the hook with his tongue, but this was the first time she’d heard him talk to someone like this; she could sense he actually held Hou Junji in some regard.

Sun Tianxin hadn't known Ling Xuan long and didn't understand the nuance, but a faint smile appeared on his usually stern face. "Aren't you going to thank him?"

"Thank him? Why would I thank him?" Hou Junji was even more confused.

"The little snake is Ling Xuan’s companion and possesses great spiritual essence, containing the bloodline of a white dragon. It has always been by his side. By letting it coil around you, isn't that a sign that he values you?" Sun Tianxin explained. "People would beg for such an opportunity."

"Tch..."

Hou Junji drew out the sound, unimpressed. "I am a dignified Great Zhou Tian expert. Why would I care about being valued by a Small Zhou Tian brat? There’s no benefit in it for me."

*Benefits?* Why did that sound so familiar?

Ling Xuan kicked out. "I’m the one who usually demands benefits from others! What’s this about you expecting benefits from me? And you dare demand them from your master? Little fellow, bite him!"

Hou Junji’s small frame trembled, and he quickly cried out, "No, don't bite! I submit, okay?"

"Drive the carriage properly. Don't even glance inside the cabin; that is reserved for my wife," Ling Xuan said, tapping Hou Junji on the shoulder with the Zixiao Divine Flute, a silver needle flying out and pricking him. "If you have any treacherous thoughts, I’ll make you wish you were dead."

A numbness spread through his shoulder, and half of his body went limp. Hou Junji was stunned. "You... what did you do to me?"

"Just to help you remember," Ling Xuan chuckled. "Brother Sun knows how to use needles to save people, but my skills are a bit lacking—I use needles to kill."

Suddenly, a cold snort came from the side. "A bit lacking, indeed! Do you treat the soldiers of our Great Sui Dynasty as if they aren't human? Do you think the lives of our soldiers are worthless?"

Looking over, he saw that idiot Yuwen Chengxiang walking through the darkness, waving his folding fan with a smug expression. "Soldiers, tell me, am I right?"

But for a long while, no one paid him any attention; it seemed they didn't care for him at all.

Ling Xuan beckoned. "Young Master Yuwen, let me treat your eyes. I guarantee you won't see the sun tomorrow. Can you not even recognize my voice? Are you deaf? Or should I stick a needle in your mouth too, so you stop shouting like that?"

Upon recognizing Ling Xuan’s face, Yuwen Chengxiang’s expression changed drastically. His grandfather had sent a letter reprimanding him, telling him not to provoke this person until his father and sister returned. Who could have imagined that the dignified Heir to the Prince of Changping, the holder of the Purple Gold Medical Order, would be sitting in such an incredibly ordinary carriage?

Ye Ziyan pulled back the curtain and brandished her red short bow. Yuwen Chengxiang scrambled backward, his voice stuttering, "You... you're setting me up again?"