Mu Yanchen seemed to realize that his tone had been a bit too harsh.
A sense of guilt welled up in his heart.
When he saw that Xiaotuanzi was about to cry again because of his words, he wished he could slap himself.
He quickly softened his tone and lowered his head.
"Sorry, it's my fault. You guys were just worried about me and Master. You should go back quickly. If you stay here, Master and I won't be able to rest easy."
That's why Mu Yanchen was so stubborn. Ever since Master had calmed down, every single word he said had been about driving them away.
It was as if as long as he kept reminding them, Niannian and the others would agree.
But he also knew that everyone in their Taoist temple was stubborn to the core. They couldn't be persuaded by just a few words.
Shen Weixun was too lazy to pick up on this topic.
Master, that old fox, had only taken Mu Yanchen with him when he went down the mountain this time because he knew Mu Yanchen was extremely obedient.
If Master said go east, he would never take a single step west.
If Master said one, he would never say two.
In front of Master, Mu Yanchen never seemed to have his own thoughts.
He had absolute execution ability and was as obedient as a puppet.
If one day Master really got into trouble, and before the incident, Master told Mu Yanchen never to care about him, never to save him, and to just turn around and run, Mu Yanchen would definitely carry out that order to the end.
It was probably that Master had reminded his senior brother early on that the other disciples were absolutely not allowed to get close, which was why he had been reminding them over and over again.
"Senior brother, why did Master become like this?"
Niannian didn't want to leave either. Being a smart kid, she suddenly learned how to change the topic.
Looking at Master, who was in a deep sleep and unconscious, Mu Yanchen was indeed distracted.
"I don't know either. On the second day when Master and I arrived at the village, Master seemed to have noticed something. He told me to wait in the room and prepare dinner, saying that he would be back soon. But if he didn't return by sunset the next day, I should go look for him. I waited until sunset the next day. When I saw Master again, he was already like this."
Shen Weixun rolled his eyes. He really didn't know how to describe his speechless feelings.
He had always said that his senior brother was a stubborn fool.
If it had been any of the other disciples, they would either have pestered Master to take them along or would have gone to look for him after waiting for just a short while.
No one would have been as obedient as him and waited for a whole day and night in such an environment.
"After that, Master didn't go crazy every day. At first, he just had nightmares every night. When he was awake, he sometimes couldn't tell the difference between dreams and reality. Later, the time when Master was awake became less and less. Now, he is either in a deep sleep or going crazy."
"Occasionally, Master would shout two names in his sleep. One I didn't recognize, and the other was Mistress's name."
When Mu Yanchen said this, he lowered his head even more.
Niannian and Shen Weixun also fell into a long silence.
There was a small, unoccupied house in the Taoist temple.
The house had everything in it and was decorated very warmly.
But except for cleaning, no one ever went into the small house on normal days.
Only on New Year's Eve and other festivals of reunion would Master open the small house and sit in it for a whole day.
There were two memorial tablets inside.
One was for Master's wife, and the other was for Master's child.
All of them were very curious about what had happened to Mistress and Master's child and why they had passed away.
But they were afraid of touching Master's painful past, so no one had ever asked.
Later, once Master got drunk.
In his daze, he told them the past.
Niannian was still young at that time, and her memories were a bit fuzzy. But she only remembered that Master had cried very sadly.
That was the first and only time she had ever seen Master cry.
She had heard that Mistress was a very gentle person.
In the past, Master had been obsessed with Taoist arts and didn't like to go down the mountain like other Taoist priests to help people solve problems, tell fortunes, and earn money. He just wanted to exorcise demons and be a poor but just Taoist priest.
So Master had always lived a very hard life.
But Mistress had never complained. She had just stayed in the Taoist temple with him, living a simple life of rising with the sun and resting with the sunset.
At that time, there were no other disciples yet.
According to Master, that had been the happiest time of his life.
Later, for some reason, Mistress had been killed.
When she was killed, she was three months pregnant.
The child hadn't even taken shape yet and had turned into a pool of blood. Along with Mistress's death, the child had also left the world.
The child didn't even have a name, and no one knew if it was a boy or a girl.
After that, Master had traveled all over the world, trying to find the person who had killed Mistress to avenge her. But he had searched for a long time without any results.
Later, Master had picked up Mu Yanchen, who had been abducted by human traffickers and forced to be a beggar, and brought him back to the Taoist temple. After that, Master had never gone down the mountain again.
He had locked himself in the Taoist temple and was reluctant to take a single step out.
He tried to act as if he didn't care about the mortal world and had forgotten his past. But they all knew that Master had never forgotten.
Mistress's death was still Master's sore spot.
The most unhealable wound in his heart.
If Master was really immersed in that memory now, then everything that had happened before could be explained.
The other name that Senior Brother had never heard of might be Master's enemy.
If not, Master's mind had always been very stable. Even if he was in an extremely painful illusion, he wouldn't have used the life-burning technique casually and gone crazy like this.
Niannian tilted her head and thought carefully.
Master's current situation was similar to the time when Second Brother had been immersed in his memories.
But they couldn't use the same method that they had used to help Second Brother to help Master.
After all, as a Taoist cultivator, Master's soul was much stronger than theirs. If they rashly invaded his spiritual world,
they would be instantly killed by Master.
Or maybe they could beat a gong?
To wake Master up?
Shen Weixun's train of thought had connected with Niannian's.
But what he was thinking about wasn't beating a gong. It was wailing at a funeral.
"Maybe we should hold a funeral for Master?"
Shen Weixun suddenly spoke up.
His words shocked Mu Yanchen and Niannian.
The big one and the small one stared at him in disbelief, their mouths slightly agape.
They knew that Shen Weixun was the most disobedient one, but they had never expected that Third Senior Brother would be so rebellious!
"I think Master can still be saved."
Mu Yanchen swallowed hard and politely expressed his disagreement.
"Third Senior Brother, let's think of some other way. Master shouldn't be at that stage yet..."
Xiaotuanzi's voice also trembled a little.
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit tense. Shen Weixun frowned and looked at the two of them. Only then did he realize that what he had just said was a bit inappropriate.