It was a pity that Ye Xiaobei’s original appearance wasn’t very masculine to begin with, and the addition of that ridiculous fake beard only made him look even more awkward.
“What do you mean, ‘girl’…?” Qing’er was instead the one troubled.
Listening to Ye Xiaobei stammering, Su Mu didn’t have time to speak—rather than worrying about being recognized, it was better to think about how to explain.
“You must be drunk. I, I am a man, how could I possibly be…”
A wave of defeat.
Qing’er looked down at her own flat chest and couldn’t help feeling a trace of doubt.
“Ha, since when can men grow breasts?”
Ye Xiaobei silently shattered inside.
As they say, children speak the truth.
Hearing Qing’er’s sincere observation, he thought to h8mself that his binding still wasn’t tight enough, but if he bound it any tighter, he wouldn’t be able to breathe…
At that moment, the heavily drunk Su Mu seemed to have an epiphany, raising a finger and laughing quite wantonly.
“Wake up and suddenly find you’ve turned into an adorable girl, too scared to even go out? Oh! I get it, you’re pretending to be a man, hehe. Could it be that suddenly…”
Su Mu gestured vividly as she spoke, making it sound very convincing, and it happened to hit Ye Xiaobei’s sore spot, plunging her into great panic.
“You, you, you…” Ye Xiaobei’s pretty face alternated between pale and green.
Just then, Su Mu’s silver-bell-like laughter came to an abrupt halt.
She felt a chilling gaze, sharp as a sword blade, piercing straight toward her from the direction of the kitchen.
Lu Shan stared coldly at Su Mu, a flood of suspicions racing through her mind.
How could the Drunken Sword Immortal, who speaks truth through wine, suddenly wake up, and even drink an entire bowl of poisoned wine without any reaction?
Watching Su Mu’s behavior, Lu Shan’s first thought was of that suspicious Drunken Sword Immortal senior from the Shu Mountain Sect.
But that sword immortal senior was a man…
Ying the scholar was clearly poisoned, sleeping like the dead, so how could he suddenly wake up…
This disrupted her train of thought.
No, male or female no longer mattered.
Perhaps it was even her.
Lu Shan’s perception was far sharper than Wu Zigi’s.
Though she lacked his seasoned insight, she was also cautious by nature, and had already silently marked Su Mu as an unfathomable eccentric hermit master not to be taken lightly.
Thinking this, Lu Shan pushed the drawn longsword back into its sheath, restrained the killing intent radiating from her, and immediately returned to her composed demeanor.
As she walked slowly over, Su Mu’s unfocused gaze finally settled on Lu Shan.
After recognizing that familiar pretty face, she grew excited again.
“Mi Xian! How are you here?”
Hearing this, Lu Shan’s steps faltered, alarm bells ringing in her heart.
Yet she dared not act rashly, only quietly placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.
‘Mi Xian? Mìxiānshān! But how does she know my childhood name…’
The affairs of Mìxiānshān had long been forgotten by the world.
Lu Shan always presented herself as a disciple of the Heavenly Origin Mansion when traveling the jianghu.
The only ones who would remember such things were those in the know.
Lu Shan’s eyes sharpened, cold sweat trickling down her back.
Her assessment of Su Mu rose to another level.
But what surprised her even more was that Su Mu actually stood up and staggered toward her.
Relying on her innate Sword Eye, Lu Shan could capture every detail of Su Mu’s movements and deduce from her years of cultivation intuition—loose steps, disordered breath, unfocused eyes, weak limbs…
‘Her whole body was full of openings, but why did I feel that if I struck, I would be the one killed instead?’
Lu Shan dared not make any rash moves, only watching helplessly as Su Mu approached, extending a wicked little hand toward her, and then…
Patting her on the head.
“When did you grow so tall… Almost taller than me, I barely recognized you.” Su Mu held onto Lu Shan’s shoulders to steady her swaying body.
These highly suggestive words, paired with Su Mu’s gentle caress, immediately sent Lu Shan’s thoughts spinning.
‘Did I meet her when I was very young? Or was it back at Mìxiānshān…’
“I still like you the way you were when you were little. Like this, it really makes me uncomfortable…”
Compared to Lu Shan, Su Mu’s mind was even more chaotic.
She spoke whatever dream fragment came to mind, but her words completely confirmed Lu Shan’s speculation.
To verify her thoughts, Lu Shan tremblingly and carefully channeled a secret technique from Mìxiānshān, sending a stream of yin-cold internal power into Su Mu’s body.
That wisp of inner force fell like a spark into dry tinder, immediately igniting a prairie fire.
Feeling that wisp of ink-black mana, Su Mu’s core instinctively responded, surging forth a similar dark magic power from within, flowing through her limbs and bones.
At the same time, it dispelled the lingering alcohol around her, sobering her up.
“Mm… Did I get drunk?”
She muttered softly, fragmented images flashing through her mind.
For a moment, she couldn’t recall what had just happened, only noticing that the familiar black-haired girl had gently placed her hand on her shoulder, looking at her with a wistful expression, as if wanting to say something but stopping.
Su Mu immediately realized she had caused trouble.
Just as she was about to explain, she heard Lu Shan speak first, her voice timid like that of someone meeting a long-lost family member: “Mom…”
Upon hearing that word starting with “mom,” Su Mu felt her scalp tingle and quickly covered Lu Shan’s mouth to stop her from saying something irredeemable.
The two stared at each other in an awkward pose, causing the surrounding air to freeze for a moment.
In that instant, Su Mu thought of many things, even feeling the urge to open the emergency pouch, but she quickly found a solution.
She coughed deeply, feigning mystery, then spoke enigmatically: “Don’t worry about who I am, and don’t be curious. You only need to know one thing: I will help you. Understand?”
Then she hurriedly turned back, grabbed Qing’er, and walked out of the shop.
Lu Shan nodded blankly.
Seeing this, Su Mu finally released her.
“Chief, you’re finally awake. Where are we going?”
“Don’t ask. I don’t know either.”
And so, Lu Shan stood there in bewilderment, watching the two disappear around the corner, unable to snap out of it for a long time.
After a long silence, Ye Xiaobei finally spoke: “Shan’er, do you know that senior?”
Lu Shan hesitated and shook her head, “I don’t know.”
Ye Xiaobei’s heart was in turmoil, and she couldn’t help sighing, “Truly an unfathomable master. She saw through me at a glance…”
Hearing this, Lu Shan glanced at Ye Xiaobei’s clumsy disguise and pursed her lips without a word.
But indeed, she was hard to fathom.
After a frantic escape, Wu Zigi finally reached a secluded alley corner.
He collapsed against the wall, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead—whether from fear or tension, he couldn’t tell.
“How disappointing, Wu Zigi.”
At some point, a disheveled man had appeared beside Wu Zigi out of thin air, chewing on a stalk of dogtail grass, speaking mockingly with a thick foreign accent.
Though insulted, the moment Wu Zigi saw his face, he trembled in fear, unable to muster any anger, and repeatedly begged for mercy: “My apologies, Master Xiao. This time was truly an accident…”
The man called Xiao chuckled lightly, casually patted Wu Zigi on the shoulder, and walked straight away without looking back, saying: “Accidents? Aren’t they quite normal? I don’t mind, but I hope Wu Zigi doesn’t lose his head over such a small accident.”