The Villainous Shizun Is As Beautiful As A Flower

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The night breeze blew in through the open window, causing the candle flames to flicker. The room was filled with tranquility.

Xu Xingchen leaned his head to the side, resting his elbows on the table. With closed eyes, he let the swaying candlelight fall on his head, and the amethyst crown emitted a faint glow.

After a while, the window wind grew stronger, making his hair brush against his cheeks and causing a slight itch.

In a half-dream state, Xu Xingchen raised his hand, brushing away the bothersome strands of hair. He glanced at the alchemy furnace with a drowsy gaze.

The fire at the bottom of the furnace had gone out unnoticed, and a lingering medicinal fragrance wafted from it. A figure sat on a nearby chair, surrounded by scattered herbs.

He was engrossed in alchemy, while he himself was asleep?!

Xu Xingchen felt embarrassed and slapped his face to wake himself up a bit. Then he reached for his storage pouch at his waist, taking out a string of brightly colored candied hawthorns.

He had noticed that Shen Liuxiang had seemed uninterested in his meals earlier, so he had bought some candied hawthorns from the street. However, he got sidetracked when he returned and forgot to give them to him.

Xu Xingchen held the candied hawthorns and cleared his throat. “I have some leftover candied hawthorns here. The imperial palace emphasizes frugality, so I’m entrusting them to you. What do you think?”

He waited for a response for a while, but the person on the chair remained silent and unmoving.

Perplexed, Xu Xingchen furrowed his brows, got up, and walked over. He placed his hand on the person’s shoulder.

“You fell asleep.”

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Bang!

The ‘Shen Liuxiang’ on the seat suddenly turned into a piece of wood and fell to the ground. A piece of paper caught Xu Xingchen’s eye as it fluttered down.

Familiar handwriting adorned the paper: “Out for a bit, don’t miss me, little brother.”

Xu Xingchen: “??!”

…

Dark clouds obscured the moon, and there were few figures on the street.

Shen Liuxiang gathered his loose hair and asked, “Where did you learn your magic? How come you’re so skilled?”

Zhou Xuanlan hesitated for a moment, finding it difficult to explain. He said, “If Master wants to learn, I can teach you. Besides the substitution technique, there are other powerful spells, all ancient secrets.”

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“Well… by the way, where are you taking me?” Shen Liuxiang halted his steps and looked around at the unfamiliar street.

A slight smile curved on Zhou Xuanlan’s lips. He grabbed Shen Liuxiang’s hand, turned a corner, and walked toward a mansion that emerged in the night’s darkness.

“We’re practically home, and Master is just realizing it.”

Shen Liuxiang was pulled along and entered the mansion. It was spacious inside, with pavilions, terraces, and gardens. The scenery was even more charming in the night’s illumination.

Stepping onto a path of stone slabs, Zhou Xuanlan said, “I need to leave Qilin City for a while.”

Shen Liuxiang was taken aback. “What happened?”

Zhou Xuanlan glanced at him. “Received a message from Ao Yue this afternoon. Someone troublesome has appeared in the Eight Wastelands. I’m not sure how long they’ve been there, but I need to go back.”

“Do you need my help?” Shen Liuxiang pondered.

“No need to trouble you, Master. I’ll take care of it and be back soon.”

The visitor was Qingling Sect’s leader, Ling Ye. His intentions were unclear, but he was clearly up to no good. Zhou Xuanlan wouldn’t allow Shen Liuxiang to get involved.

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Continuing, he said, “I asked Master to come tonight because I want to entrust someone to you.”

Shen Liuxiang looked puzzled. “Who?”

“A man,” Zhou Xuanlan replied with an inexplicable tone, pushing open the door.

Shen Liuxiang curiously looked inside the room and suddenly widened his eyes.

There was indeed a man in the room.

He wore a black and gold robe, had a slender figure, his ink-black hair was neatly tied, and his sharp features were deep-set. His jet-black eyes were as profound as the night.

He gazed at Shen Liuxiang and spoke in a calm voice, “Master.”

Shen Liuxiang: “??!!”

He turned his head to look at Zhou Xuanlan by his side, then back at the man in the room—both of them looked exactly the same.

“Substitution technique,”

Zhou Xuanlan waved his hand, and the duplicate in the room immediately vanished. “I’m returning to the Eight Wastelands. If Master encounters danger in Qilin City and I can’t return immediately, I can only leave a duplicate here to protect you.”

Shen Liuxiang was dumbfounded. He had heard about the substitution technique in the imperial palace. It was an ancient high-level secret technique that had disappeared from the world long ago.

Emperor Yunyu knew it, but when Shen Liuxiang had eagerly asked him to teach it, he was rejected and chased away with a disdainful wave of his sleeve.

At that time, Emperor Yunyu had lowered his gaze and said directly, “You’re not capable of it.”

Shen Liuxiang had been so frustrated that he left the study without looking back and ignored him for three days.

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On the fourth day, the sun was shining brightly.

He saw Emperor Yunyu approaching from a distance and was about to turn and leave when he realized there was another one behind him. Before he could recover from the shock, duplicates appeared on both his left and right sides.

Suddenly, he was surrounded with no way out.

In the end, there were four identical figures of Emperor Yunyu in white robes and gold crowns, making him dizzy.

One person scolding him turned into four voices scolding him:

“To perform the substitution technique, you need a strong soul as a support. Your soul is as fragile as paper. You can’t even split a rabbit. If you force it, you’re walking the path to death.”

“Even if your soul is intact, it’s not something you can master overnight. Your personal cultivation is lacking diligence. Do you want to use the duplicates to be lazy alongside you?”

“When I say no, it means no. Don’t expect me to compromise.”

“I heard someone wanted to pour out the water from my teacup to check if there were iron stones inside because otherwise how could I have a heart of stone?”

Back then, Shen Liuxiang was still in his child form, surrounded by them, weak, helpless, and small. In the end, he squatted down slowly, pinching his delicate, small ears.

“…I was wrong.”

At that time, due to the situation, Shen Liuxiang obediently admitted his mistake. But now, he still didn’t know where he had gone wrong.

Shaking off the memories, he blinked. “You can even do this?”

Could it be that Zhou Xuanlan was his real son, and Emperor Yunyu secretly taught him?

“Not proficient yet. The duplicate doesn’t have a true body, so it’s easy to manipulate.”

Zhou Xuanlan cast a spell, and a magic array appeared on the ground. “After I leave, the duplicate needs to be nurtured within this array daily. Master, remember to infuse him with some spiritual energy.”

Shen Liuxiang nodded, feeling quite nervous. “Is your duplicate just like you? Is he easy to get along with?”

Zhou Xuanlan chuckled softly, “Master, no need to worry. He’s formed from a part of my soul, so he’s me, but he’s more rule-abiding. With him accompanying you, even if I’m not in Qilin City, I can sense your presence through him.”

Shen Liuxiang felt relieved. Thinking about how creating a duplicate would significantly impact Zhou Xuanlan’s actual body’s cultivation, he said, “I am a Harmonization cultivator – I can deal with danger. I will infuse more spiritual energy into your clone.”

Zhou Xuanlan responded, “Disciple understands the balance.”

After explaining, Zhou Xuanlan released the duplicate, and Shen Liuxiang took a look, finding no discernible differences. “How will I be able to tell which one is the real you in the future?”

Zhou Xuanlan extended his well-defined fingers, undid a button on his collar, and caught Shen Liuxiang’s hand, placing it on the exposed part of his collarbone.

“Here.”

Inverse scales, the only one in the world.

Shen Liuxiang looked at him with some urgency. “Are you leaving right away?”

Zhou Xuanlan’s expression changed slightly, nodding. “If I don’t return, the Eight Wastelands might be in trouble.”

Shen Liuxiang furrowed his brows, puzzled by who possessed such power to make Zhou Xuanlan so cautious. Even various Demon Kings wouldn’t be able to elicit such vigilance from him.

Seeing that he wasn’t willing to share more, Shen Liuxiang didn’t press further.

Zhou Xuanlan gazed outside at the sky, “I have three subordinates on a night mission. They’ll only return during the day. I’ve instructed them that during my absence, they should follow your orders. One of them is Shi Fang, whom Master has met.”

Shen Liuxiang nodded.

Zhou Xuanlan stared at him, sighed slightly, “I have to leave now. Once I’ve dealt with the matters in the Eight Wastelands, I’ll rush back.”

Shen Liuxiang fell silent for a moment, looking at him with a smile. “No, I will retrieve the scroll as soon as possible, and then find you in the Eight Wastelands.”

Zhou Xuanlan held his hand slightly tighter, his lips curving. “Alright.”

As his words fell, he released his grip, and his figure disappeared on the spot.

Shen Liuxiang’s gaze remained fixed on the empty space. Despite being prepared for this, he stood in a daze for quite a while, until a low voice, “Master,” beside him, startled him back to his senses.

He looked at the duplicate.

Both of them stared at each other for a moment.

Zhou Xuanlan was the first to speak, “I’ve left the city. Master need not worry.”

Shen Liuxiang raised an eyebrow in curiosity and pressed his shoulder, then reached for his hand, wanting to see if the duplicate’s temperature matched that of the real Zhou Xuanlan.

Unexpectedly, the moment his fingertip touched the duplicate’s skin, Zhou Xuanlan swiftly moved away, as if avoiding an ant or a bee.

Shen Liuxiang’s eyes widened.

What was this about? Did the duplicate have some issue with him?

Shen Liuxiang took a few cautious steps forward, attempting to reach out to him again. But Zhou Xuanlan evaded him once more.

“???”

“Why are you avoiding me?”

Zhou Xuanlan didn’t answer but kept evading his touch.

Shen Liuxiang grew infuriated. Determined not to give up on touching him today, he concentrated on catching Zhou Xuanlan’s movements.

The two of them engaged in a chase within the not-so-spacious room. For half an hour, Shen Liuxiang, breathless, could only shout, “Stop!”

Zhou Xuanlan paused, and the aura surrounding him gradually dissipated. He was indeed standing where he had been.

Shen Liuxiang hadn’t expected him to become obedient all of a sudden. He walked over in puzzlement, held Zhou Xuanlan’s elongated hand, and realized that Zhou Xuanlan’s body tensed up slightly. There was a hint of evasion in his actions, but he seemed to be restraining himself due to Shen Liuxiang’s previous words. He stood still, allowing himself to be “harassed.”

So, Shen Liuxiang caught his hand, teasingly touching him all over in retaliation. After taking some liberties, he hummed as if acting like a bully.

“What’s wrong? Not letting me touch? Who are you saving the privilege for?”