A Family of Hopeless Romantics, Except for the Evil Little Junior Brother-Chapter 152: A Man Like an Onion

The Ghost-Hand Divine Doctor, Zhang Wenxuan, revealed his famed ghost hand and inserted a silver needle into the back of Li Xuanxiao’s head.

In an instant, Li Xuanxiao felt that the silver needle seemed to be releasing some kind of energy.

It pierced swiftly through his body, and he couldn’t mount any meaningful resistance at all.

It was like a naked young maiden being completely seen through by someone.

Zhang Wenxuan nodded. Generally, cultivators would protect the secrets within their bodies—

such as the circulation of their techniques, core dantian, or soul memories.

Usually, they'd set internal restrictions and defense mechanisms, but at most just one or two simple layers.

Because if someone could approach you unhindered while you were defenseless and probe your internals,

it already meant your strength was vastly inferior. Protecting internal secrets at that point was meaningless.

Better to use that time to cultivate and raise your strength.

Zhang Wenxuan raised an eyebrow slightly. The Nine Palace Soul-Locking Formation?

He had carved a formation into his dantian, dividing his spiritual power into nine segmented spaces, each with its own unique restriction.

If someone tried to forcibly search his soul, their divine sense would instead be trapped inside the Nine Palace Formation, consumed by true fire and destroying the soul.

This kid had some tricks.

Zhang Wenxuan continued his probing.

And then he was startled to find that the other’s life-bound talisman had fused directly into his meridians.

If his soul was invaded, the talisman would retaliate, devouring the intruder’s soul—

and transferring any inflicted damage onto a puppet substitute.

“Hss~”

This kid was something else.

Zhang Wenxuan gave Li Xuanxiao a strange look.

Only because he was the Ghost-Hand Divine Doctor could he avoid falling for it. Anyone else might have been caught.

Interesting.

Zhang Wenxuan felt like one of the old tricks he’d abandoned had been picked up and reused by someone else.

It really brought back some ancient memories~

Zhang Wenxuan pressed the silver needle an inch deeper, reaching into the sea of consciousness.

In an instant, memory after memory surged from the needle into Zhang Wenxuan’s own mind.

His expression changed, and cold sweat broke out across his back.

He immediately took two steps back and stuck another silver needle into his own glabella.

“Phew... Phew...”

Liu Qiushui looked at him in surprise.

Zhang Wenxuan’s lips twitched slightly.

This kid was actually raising his own inner demon in his sea of consciousness!?

He had mixed real memories with his demon’s memories.

When outsiders attempted to peek, the inner demon would weave false memories to mislead them—possibly even corrupting their minds in reverse.

Zhang Wenxuan paused for a moment, then resumed probing while muttering:

“Good little brat... sneaky as hell!”

Heh~

Zhang Wenxuan shook his head. But he finally broke through it.

Though his methods were devious, they were still a bit green.

If properly trained...

Hmm!?

Zhang Wenxuan’s face suddenly changed again, and he yanked the silver needle out.

The needle had turned black. Zhang Wenxuan’s divine sense was damaged—he had been tricked.

This brat was also raising a God-Eating Gu worm in his body!!

When someone’s divine sense intruded, the Gu would devour the invader’s soul and feed memory fragments back to the host.

Zhang Wenxuan looked at his silver needle, heart aching, and took two deep breaths.

You're really a pig in a bra—one trick after another!!

Far more cautious than me.

Zhang Wenxuan took out another silver needle. This time, he dared not be careless and probed cautiously.

At last, he finally peeled open the layers of this man who was like an onion and touched the core.

Zhang Wenxuan frowned slightly and let out a hiss.

He saw the Nascent Soul within Li Xuanxiao’s Purple Mansion.

But that Nascent Soul was badly damaged...

Zhang Wenxuan shook his head at Liu Qiushui. “His soul is severely damaged. Probably only a quarter of it is left.”

Li Xuanxiao: (¯﹃¯)

Liu Qiushui looked at him with heartache.

A quarter!?

Who knows what kind of soul-searching technique those people used to leave Li Xuanxiao with only a quarter of his soul.

The fact that he wasn’t dead was already a miracle.

“Fix him!” Liu Qiushui ordered crisply.

“I’ll do my best...” Zhang Wenxuan glanced at her face, then quickly changed his tone, “Don’t worry, I’ll definitely heal him!”

“...........”

And so, in the days that followed, Li Xuanxiao lived at Zhang Wenxuan’s home together with Liu Qiushui.

Honestly, pretending to be dumb every day was kind of tough.

Li Xuanxiao examined himself inwardly, watching his Nascent Soul quietly floating in his Purple Mansion.

It made him feel deeply uneasy.

What the hell was this thing?

If he managed to break through to Nascent Soul, wouldn’t there be two of them inside?

Then what would happen?

Would he go crazy...?

But right now, the bigger problem was how to escape from Liu Qiushui’s grasp.

There was absolutely no chance with her around.

So Li Xuanxiao could only obediently keep playing the fool.

In this tiny town of Yongan, he lived the life of “picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, gazing leisurely at the southern mountains.”

Working at sunrise, resting at sunset.

Liu Qiushui, having been a Demon Lord for so long, was experiencing this kind of life for the first time—

and surprisingly found it not too bad.

She stood quietly, beside her was Li Xuanxiao with his head tilted, mumbling nonsense like “aba aba.”

The two of them stood side by side under the old, thick locust tree in the town center, their gazes peacefully fixed on the distant view.

At that moment, the entire town was wrapped in a thin misty rain, like a dreamlike ink painting.

Fine droplets drifted down, wetting Liu Qiushui’s clothes and hair.

But she didn’t seem to notice at all.

The scenery before her eyes brought a sense of peace. The distant buildings blurred in the drizzle, and the bluestone roads glistened as if reflecting the marks of time.

Liu Qiushui suddenly murmured, “If I spent the rest of my life here, maybe... it wouldn’t be so bad.”

Li Xuanxiao: (ΩДΩ)!

Don’t tell me I really have to pretend to be dumb for the rest of my life!?

Fortunately, Liu Qiushui was just talking.

Those who have walked through blood and storm, and held power in their hands, never truly let go of it.

The only thing that could make her give it up—was death.

So it wasn’t long before Liu Qiushui left Yongan Town.

But Li Xuanxiao didn’t get happy too quickly.

Because very soon, Liu Qiushui returned again.

After that, she would periodically leave Yongan Town and then come back.

Li Xuanxiao, however, made no rash moves—not even when she was away.

He kept observing—observing Yongan Town, observing the Ghost-Hand Divine Doctor Zhang Wenxuan—waiting for the right opportunity.

“.........”

One day, Liu Qiushui left Yongan Town again.

Li Xuanxiao had a rough idea of what she was doing.

Even though Asura Hall had fallen,

its remnants still remained. Liu Qiushui was outside gathering the leftovers, preparing for a comeback.

Watching her go, Li Xuanxiao didn’t relax. In fact, he felt even more pressure inside.

Zhang Wenxuan said calmly, “See, I wasn’t lying to you. If I had told Liu Qiushui earlier that your mind was perfectly fine, what do you think would’ve happened to you?”