The Weight of a Nightmare and a New Responsibility

Blood flowed, dripping onto Dan Fusheng’s face.

Looking up, he could see the distorted countenance, separated from his own by only a layer of metal mesh. He gazed upwards, unable to cry out. He had to survive.

“Junior brother?”

“Junior brother!”

Someone was shaking him. Dan Fusheng’s eyes snapped open. Sweat and tears mingled on his face, his breathing heavy and ragged.

A massive red dragon cradled him with its tail, its dark green eyes filled with worry. “Another nightmare?” the dragon spoke, its voice distinctly human.

“Senior sister,” Dan Fusheng managed, pushing himself up.

The colossal dragon supporting him transformed into a human figure, pulling Dan Fusheng into a comforting embrace.

“I’ll send a message to Master, asking him to come.” Ying Wangyou felt her junior brother was utterly exhausted, his face pale and his body trembling uncontrollably. This junior brother had only been here for a few years. While the Demonic God’s bloodline was an enhancement to his cultivation, Dan Fusheng’s mental fortitude simply couldn’t keep pace. His cultivation was too high, yet his foundation remained unstable. It was like a towering structure built on air, poised to collapse at any moment.

Upon hearing ‘Master,’ Dan Fusheng shivered slightly.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. ‘Are you still afraid of Master?’

Dan Fusheng tentatively asked, “Aren’t you afraid, Senior sister?”

“What is there to fear about him? He has no dignity whatsoever.”

Ying Wangyou spoke too soon. When she saw a multicolored man dash into her cave dwelling, she couldn’t help but curse loudly: “Can’t you act normal when you see your disciple?! Why do you always look like a ghost?! What if he develops a complex because of you?!”

Dan Fusheng watched the two-meter-tall colorful giant and began trembling even more violently.

The giant took the shaking Dan Fusheng from his senior sister’s arms, laughing heartily. “Isn’t your junior brother quite lively and energetic? He’s shaking so much I can barely make out his features. Oh! His teeth are tapping out a rhythm! Not bad, kid!” True Monarch You Qing praised.

Dragon scales began to emerge on Ying Wangyou’s face. If True Monarch You Qing continued to scare her junior brother, she vowed to flatten this wretched Master like a pancake.

Seeing Ying Wangyou’s transformation, True Monarch You Qing quickly composed himself. He placed a hand on Dan Fusheng’s forehead, sensing the restless spiritual energy within him. After calming the agitation, his face also clouded with worry. This disciple was prone to straying. If his mental state remained unstable, the emergence of inner demons was only a matter of time.

Moreover, this disciple was so timid… he feared Dan Fusheng would refuse to speak. Was he destined to raise a mute child?

Decades later, True Monarch You Qing understood that he hadn’t raised a mute, but a little overlord.

A thirty-something-year-old Dan Fusheng, clutching a lotus leaf package, wound his way to his senior sister’s cave dwelling. She had placed a restriction on her dwelling, making it impossible for him to enter easily now. Dan Fusheng pondered for a moment before finally locating the array’s core and forcing his way through.

At a time like this, his senior sister should have given him a beating. But Dan Fusheng opened the lotus leaf, revealing its contents. “Senior sister! Come! Good stuff!”

By the time True Monarch You Qing arrived, Dan Fusheng and Ying Wangyou had already finished eating. True Monarch You Qing arrived without a sound. Dan Fusheng hastily rewrapped the lotus leaf, intending to sink it in the spiritual spring, but his senior sister smacked him on the head. His movements were too slow; True Monarch You Qing had already noticed him.

“Is that a spiritual lotus from my pond?” the Master asked.

“Huh? Is it?” Dan Fusheng looked at the withered lotus leaf with feigned shock. “Really? Senior sister, take a look?”

Ying Wangyou pondered seriously, then shook her head. “It looks no different from an ordinary lotus leaf.”

True Monarch You Qing continued, “That bone on the lotus leaf has spiritual energy… Hiss, is that my immortal crane?!”

“Couldn’t be,” Dan Fusheng mumbled, meticulously rewrapping the lotus leaf.

True Monarch You Qing smiled. Dan Fusheng also smiled. Ultimately, Dan Fusheng was sent to care for the immortal cranes, while True Monarch You Qing discussed with his eldest disciple about assigning the newly admitted third disciple to Dan Fusheng’s care.

“The new disciple you mentioned is from Xiaoguo, right?” Ying Wangyou rubbed her forehead. “His parents are deceased, and he’s already seven years old?”

True Monarch You Qing nodded.

Ying Wangyou frowned. “Those cultivators from Xiaoguo mature early; they’re known for producing stubborn, old-fashioned types. Little Dan is only in his thirties…”

“Thirty-something isn’t young! If he were an ordinary person, he’d have children in their teens by now,” True Monarch You Qing reminded her.

“I’m not worried about Little Dan; I’m worried about that child.” Ying Wangyou used to worry about Dan Fusheng being too introverted; now she worried about his lack of restraint. “Have you forgotten when you stopped wearing those colorful dresses?”

In the past, True Monarch You Qing would tease Dan Fusheng by wearing dresses, and Ying Wangyou would tell Dan Fusheng to fight back. Eventually, after extreme suppression, Dan Fusheng… went mad. That day, True Monarch You Qing had specifically chosen a strapless red dress. He swayed his hips and fanned himself as he went to see his young disciple. However, his disciple had too much to drink that day. Once again teased by his Master, Dan Fusheng’s anger flared. The moment True Monarch You Qing sat beside him, he reached out and wrapped his arms around the Master’s waist.

True Monarch You Qing instantly froze.

But Dan Fusheng continued to move. He took a soft breath. “My beauty, you smell so fragrant.”

After that incident, True Monarch You Qing lost a hobby, and…

“Fu Sheng became responsible?” True Monarch You Qing asked.

Ying Wangyou pointed at herself. “You’re also responsible for me becoming like this! Do you really think such a ‘Little Dan’ can properly care for a seven-year-old child who lost both parents?”

“This isn’t…” True Monarch You Qing sighed. “He’s cheerful now, but his mental state is still unstable. I’m worried…”

“You want him to try taking responsibility?” Ying Wangyou didn’t approve. After all, this old geezer had let her starve for an entire month when he first raised her.

“This is just one reason.” True Monarch You Qing extended his index finger, then his middle finger. “Second, I’ve met the child.”

Ying Wangyou mused, “He and Little Dan have compatible temperaments? Could it be he hasn’t been pickled into an old-fashioned type yet?”

“No, no, no.” True Monarch You Qing shook his head. “His temperament is quite incompatible with yours and mine. That child is the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. His parents were executed, and their family was raided, but he initially refused to come with me.”

Ying Wangyou scoffed, “Didn’t he know staying would be a death sentence?”

“He wanted to die. He believed his parents were innocent and had no intention of fleeing; running would imply guilt.” True Monarch You Qing rubbed his forehead. “I talked with that child until my forehead was sweating. I was genuinely terrified.”

Ying Wangyou asked, “…How old was he again?”

“Seven. Oh, right, I forgot to mention, he was kneeling and prostrating himself while he spoke to me!”

Ying Wangyou immediately interjected, “He and Little Dan are perfectly suited! One fiery, one steady!” ‘At any rate, I wouldn’t dare raise such an old-fashioned child.’

“You think so? Oh, what a coincidence!” True Monarch You Qing clapped his hands repeatedly.

While they discussed, Dan Fusheng had been dragged by True Monarch You Qing’s blood puppet to tend to the spiritual lotus. He sneezed occasionally, feeling as though someone was doing something truly unethical behind his back.

Not long after, a young Chen Gui solemnly bowed to him. Dan Fusheng’s face was grim, remaining silent. That was the only memory Chen Gui had of Dan Fusheng ever acting like a senior brother.

At that moment, Dan Fusheng was simply thinking—‘How could that old geezer go out and cause such a huge mess only to dump it on me?’

Dan Fusheng had considered building a good relationship with Chen Gui. He believed the best way for two disciples to get along was to sacrifice the image of a superior. Without hesitation, he revealed his Master’s penchant for cross-dressing, which greatly shocked Chen Gui. Dan Fusheng then suggested they could tease the Master together, making him dance for them.

Chen Gui sternly rebuked him and spent a week lecturing him. It was then that Dan Fusheng realized he and this junior brother would never get along.

In fact, Dan Fusheng’s biggest commonality with Si Fenglang later on was precisely this: they simply couldn’t understand their respective junior brothers.

“I initially had a prejudice against you, first because you are of the demon race, and second because of Si Chen.” Si Fenglang chugged a mouthful of wine. “He can befriend anyone.”

“Does he have friends from the human, demon, and monster races?” Dan Fusheng asked.

“It’s not just limited to them. At seven, he dared to befriend wandering charlatans and was almost lured away by evil cultists to refine pills.” Si Fenglang’s guard immediately went up when he heard Dan Fusheng was Si Chen’s friend. “Although I have no complaints about your character now, your rescue of Si Chen that time was truly excessive. A life-saving favor—we’d give you anything you wanted. Why did you make him smear rouge and powder and travel with you?”

Dan Fusheng interrupted him. “Wait, hold on! I made him smear rouge and powder and travel with me?”

“Wasn’t it? He said you thought it was boring for two grown men to travel together, so you used him as a substitute,” Si Fenglang explained.

Dan Fusheng: “…”

Si Fenglang looked at Dan Fusheng. “That’s not right.”

“He volunteered to be a ‘sacrifice’ for a woman, intending to eradicate evil, but he ended up falling into a trap,” Dan Fusheng explained, finally understanding why Si Fenglang and Sikong Fang had initially treated him so poorly. “They discovered he was a man, but the ‘groom’ found him quite attractive and wanted to make the best of it.”

“If I hadn’t arrived, your Yu Nation’s royal family would have formed an alliance with that mountain sect.” Dan Fusheng realized he had been unfairly blamed for so long.

Si Fenglang: “Ah?”

“But don’t worry, that person respected your junior brother. He recognized he was a formidable cultivator, so he didn’t force him,” Dan Fusheng reassured Si Fenglang. “When I arrived, that person had already prostrated himself.”

Si Fenglang: “…Si Chen was controlled and couldn’t escape?”

“Not exactly. Your imperial brother also felt that person respected him quite a bit, and he was considering whether to make the best of the situation.” However, before the ‘wedding,’ that “mountain god” had ambushed a village Dan Fusheng once stayed in. To avenge them, Dan Fusheng wiped out the mountain god’s lair.

In truth, the moment Dan Fusheng saw Si Chen, a sense of kinship naturally arose. Though they didn’t look alike, Si Chen’s style of dress was so similar to True Monarch You Qing’s that it gave Dan Fusheng a comforting sense of ‘returning home.’

“He hadn’t had time to decide when that ‘mountain god’ was killed by me. He insisted I was his life-saver, and I didn’t know he was the Second Prince of Yu Nation at the time.” Dan Fusheng feared the strange man would offer himself in gratitude, and that inexplicable sense of closeness quickly vanished.

That person followed him to the borders of the Yu Nation. When Dan Fusheng’s attempt to visit was obstructed, Si Chen immediately jumped out to ‘save the hero.’

Si Fenglang listened in silence for a long time, then looked up at the moon and let out a long sigh. It was at this moment that Si Chen arrived with wine and meat. Si Fenglang’s eyebrows shot up when he heard his cheerful commotion.

Si Chen didn’t know what was happening, but his survival instinct made him immediately drop to his knees. The wine and meat fell to the ground. He wailed, “Imperial brother, I was wrong!!”

Si Fenglang walked towards him, step by step. Si Chen trembled. “Imperial brother, don’t… My friend is still here… Ah!!!”

Dan Fusheng watched Si Fenglang beat Si Chen until Si Chen scrambled away, clutching his head. After running off, he returned a while later, howled, picked up the wine and meat from the ground, and then howled as he ran off again.

Si Fenglang only felt a headache coming on. “Your junior brother is so much better, steady and unassuming.”

Dan Fusheng let out a cold laugh. “Your imperial brother is quick to kneel, but my junior brother would rather die than yield. When he first joined the sect, if the number of words I spoke exceeded Master’s previous sentence, he would frown and correct me.”

Dan Fusheng felt Chen Gui had almost driven their Master into reclusion. Master used to be such a cheerful, uninhibited person, yet he had to maintain his dignity and composure as a Master in front of Chen Gui—a role that simply didn’t suit him.

“Once he believes he’s not wrong, he’ll stubbornly look at me and say, ‘If you want me to submit, kill me right here,'” Dan Fusheng said, also chugging a cup of wine.

He and Si Fenglang exchanged glances, both sighing in unison. After clinking their cups, they looked up at the moon.

“A cursed fate,” Si Fenglang said.

“A karmic debt…” Dan Fusheng responded.

“Martial Uncle?! Martial Uncle is back!” The clamor startled Dan Fusheng awake.

He opened his eyes, realizing the sensation beneath him felt wrong. He reached back and touched the back of his head. ‘Hmm, quite springy.’ “Junior brother?!”

Had Chen Gui been holding him?

“How did you sleep?” Chen Gui’s hand was still pressing on Dan Fusheng’s temples.

“Quite well.” ‘He actually fell asleep?’

‘No! That’s not right!’ Dan Fusheng immediately grew alert. “What Martial Uncle is back?!”

“Si Chen,” Chen Gui explained.

An instant later, a loud “Yo~” rang out, the sound drawn out so long it almost became a “yao.”

“This courtyard is quite nice~ And these chili peppers, tsk tsk.” Si Chen walked around outside, observing. His Master had finally let his old demon lord friend out. A group of disciples followed, but Si Chen had no time to answer their questions. He was here for Dan Fusheng.

Dan Fusheng pushed the door open. Si Chen’s silver hair was braided into a plait, with silk flowers tied at the ends—an incredibly flashy display. He was a completely different personality from the Si Chen who had lost his memories.

Upon seeing Dan Fusheng, Si Chen removed the sunglasses that almost covered half his face. “My dear Demon Lord, I’ve turned over a new leaf and returned as Martial Uncle!”

‘Is he here to stop me from taking the territory?’ Dan Fusheng’s brow furrowed slightly. “Si Chen?! Are you really Si Chen?” A glimmer of tears seemed to flash in his eyes. ‘This is going to be troublesome.’

“I, I remember now,” Si Chen also looked deeply moved. “Fu Sheng.” ‘This old geezer still wants to snatch my sect? How shameless.’

Dan Fusheng: “Achen!”

Si Chen: “Fu Sheng!!”

Dan Fusheng: “Achen!!!”

Si Chen: “Fu Sheng!!!”

They excitedly ran towards each other, embracing with immense force and tearful eyes—a truly moving sight.

“Wait, hold on, don’t touch!” The aloof Chen Gui separated them, one hand on each. Then he pointed at Si Chen. “You remember now, right?”

“Yes, Dan Fusheng and I are old…”

“Alright,” Chen Gui interrupted him. “The deaths of the Qianyu Gate disciples were very likely done by your Master. You are also a suspect. You are not allowed to move. I have already called the police.”

Si Chen: “Ah?”

He looked back at Dan Fusheng, wanting to continue his act. “Fu Sheng! You understand me.”

“Stop!” Chen Gui blocked him. “He is your friend; his testimony doesn’t count. You are also not allowed to contact him. His power is too strong; he might fabricate evidence for you.”

Si Chen: “I…”

“Until the police arrive, you are not to move a single step,” Chen Gui interrupted him again. “No talking, no passing messages. You are a suspect. No eye contact either. You cannot be ‘Martial Uncle’ right now; you can only be a suspect.”

Si Chen was restricted.

Dan Fusheng continued his act outside. “Junior brother, isn’t there a mistake? He’s very kind. He cares for all living beings; it’s impossible for him to harm his own disciples. Although he might have been brainwashed by his Master… Junior brother, can’t you be a little gentler with him?”

The disciples, astonished by the turn of events, also fell silent. Indeed, the Martial Uncle they remembered was steady and serious. This current Si Chen, apart from his face, bore no resemblance to their Martial Uncle.

‘What’s with the act?!’ Si Chen gritted his teeth. ‘If you’re going to badmouth me, just say it directly, stop beating around the bush! So passive-aggressive!’

Si Chen found his eldest disciple in the crowd and said helplessly, “Fu Sheng’s suspicion is reasonable. I will prove my innocence, but during this time, I’ll have to trouble…”

He was silenced by a spell. His disciples were clearly starting to be moved!

“Whispering? What are you trying to do?” Chen Gui said coldly. “I didn’t seal you initially out of respect for cultivators. If you speak again, you will be disrespecting me. Respect is mutual.”

Inside Dan Fusheng’s barrier, Si Fenglang, who was looking at an early childhood picture book, suddenly received a message from Dan Fusheng.

[Do you still remember our discussion about my junior brother?]

Si Fenglang frowned; he didn’t understand what that was.

[You don’t remember?] Dan Fusheng asked.

[I can try to recall…]

[Never mind.]

Si Fenglang: ‘???’

[Hehe.]

Si Fenglang wanted to completely excise that memory that hadn’t yet surfaced. But Dan Fusheng broke through his restraint, forcibly helping him recall it.

Si Fenglang: “You’re so damn boring!!”

Outside the barrier, Dan Fusheng suddenly leaned against Chen Gui’s back. “That person inside the barrier is cursing at me.”

Chen Gui, who had no good impression of Si Fenglang, frowned. “He lacks manners.”