In the blink of an eye, the person on the floor vanished into thin air right before Huo Yan’s eyes. Once again, Huo Yan did not sense a single ripple of spiritual energy. This was fundamentally impossible; even a master at the Great Completion stage could not achieve such a feat. How could a mortal like Xie Shurong possess such an ability?
Then there were those strangely echoing words: Host, Xie Rong, self preservation. Every single word pointed to the fact that something was deeply wrong with Xie Shurong.
Huo Yan’s expression gradually turned dark. Without realizing it, he tightened his grip on Yuzhu, who was in his arms, causing the boy to cry out in pain.
“Let go!”
Xian Yuzhu felt an unbearable discomfort, as if ants were biting his entire body. His small face was a mess of tear tracks. Yet, Huo Yan seemed lost in thought, standing still for a long while, neither acknowledging him nor loosening his hold.
Xian Yuzhu had set a trap only to fall into it himself, showing a level of stupidity truly unprecedented. Seeing that his weeping had no effect, his vengeful streak flared up. Without a moment of hesitation, he tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and bit hard on Huo Yan’s chin!
A sharp pain, accompanied by the wet warmth of someone else’s lips and teeth, jolted Huo Yan. He frowned, snapping back to reality, and instinctively pulled away from the person in his arms.
Xian Yuzhu could not stand steadily and slumped limply against Huo Yan’s forearm. He was sharp toothed and merciless; that single bite left a deep set of tooth marks on Huo Yan’s chin. Yuzhu’s eyes were dazed. After biting, he instinctively licked his lips. Perhaps it did not taste good, as he turned his head and spat twice, looking thoroughly disgusted.
“Xian. Yu. Zhu.” The man’s low voice from above dripped with heavy displeasure.
As if knowing he was about to be scolded, Xian Yuzhu let out a loud cry and reached up to cover his ears. “I am here! I am here! Why do you keep calling me!?”
The noise gave Huo Yan a slight headache. He took a deep breath, his face darkening. “Shut up.”
Between the stinging wound on his chin and the failed attempt to kill Xie Shurong, Huo Yan was in a foul mood. He was not a tolerant or kind man, and he certainly had no intention of indulging Xian Yuzhu for biting him.
“Do not move.”
Huo Yan coldly pinched Xian Yuzhu’s cheeks, dragging the boy toward him. He leaned down, ready to retaliate with a bite of his own, only to collide with a pair of misty, water logged eyes. Xian Yuzhu was flushed crimson from the heat, his expression one of pure innocence and misery.
“Wuuu.” It hurts.
His mouth was pinched into a “goldfish pout” by Huo Yan, making it impossible to speak. Tears flowed down his face like a string of broken pearls, pooling in the crook of Huo Yan’s thumb.
Huo Yan’s brow furrowed. Involuntarily, he recalled the Yuxian Sect Master’s instructions before entering secluded meditation: “Your Junior Brother was raised with thousands of charms and much pampering. I have spoiled him, and his temper is exceptionally large. If he does something to anger you while I am away, I hope that while you teach him, you can also show him much tolerance.”
The words had been a preemptive warning. Indeed, Xian Yuzhu had not disappointed; he found new ways to challenge Huo Yan’s bottom line every single day.
Their eyes met. After a long silence, Huo Yan felt the boy clinging to his arm while simultaneously cursing him by name. Huo Yan let out a cold, sharp chuckle. It was clearly Xian Yuzhu who was being ungrateful, yet in the end, it was Huo Yan who had to be tolerant.
The Frost-Lian Whip Technique was a Heaven grade manual that could serve as bait to make countless people risk their lives for him, yet he had to force Xian Yuzhu to learn it. Huo Yan looked down and gave Yuzhu’s face a light shake.
“Do you truly loathe my supervision that much?” Did he hate it so much that he would seek out that Xie Shurong to deal with him?
The thought of Xie Shurong’s lecherous gaze and Yuzhu wandering around in a thin white dress before that man sparked a sudden surge of inexplicable anger in Huo Yan. It was a mix of pity for the boy’s misfortune and fury at his lack of ambition. Xie Shurong was so obviously suspicious, yet Xian Yuzhu truly treated him as a harmless mortal?
Spurred by a dark impulse, Huo Yan straightened up and lightly patted the soft, delicate cheek of the beauty in his arms. “Xian Yuzhu, you are so stupid.”
Xian Yuzhu had no idea what Huo Yan was muttering. He only followed his instincts, nuzzling against the man’s neck to soothe the sweltering heat in his body.
“Since this beauty is so ungrateful, why not just give up on him, Little Friend Huo?” The gravelly voice of the remnant soul echoed. “Once we achieve our great undertaking, what kind of person could you not have? Granted, no cultivator in the world can match his looks, but a well behaved and obedient one is much more pleasant to raise.”
“Give up?”
Huo Yan was not swayed by the remnant soul. Instead, he let out a cold sneer. As it said, Xian Yuzhu was indeed a difficult person to serve. He was pampered, tyrannical, unreasonable, shallow, and arrogant. He did not even understand gratitude; he could flip from affection to hostility in a heartbeat.
But so what? If Xian Yuzhu was foolish and flighty, Huo Yan was no gentleman either. As the saying goes, a broken pot deserves a cracked lid. Huo Yan liked this pampered, beautiful idiot very much and had no intention of letting go, even if he was not yet sure of the nature of his feelings.
Was he merely toying with a wicked yet simple minded pet, or had he truly developed romantic intentions? It did not matter to Huo Yan. He wanted Xian Yuzhu to be obedient and to see the dangers of the outside world. Even if the boy grew to hate him, he would still have to tuck his tail and curry favor.
As for whether Xian Yuzhu was willing to be summoned at will or remain a “pretty doll” in his arms, that was not within the considerations of a hypocrite like Huo Yan. Sometimes, he thought that having a selfish, cold blooded protagonist like himself was truly the misfortune of this world.
“Wake up.” Huo Yan carelessly pinched Xian Yuzhu’s tender cheek.
“Wuu.”
Scorched by the Yilan incense, Xian Yuzhu opened his beautiful, peach blossom eyes, which were now clouded with mist. Sensing the large hand was about to leave, he hurriedly stood on his tiptoes to press his face back into Huo Yan’s cool palm.
“Do not go.”
His burning cheek rubbed eagerly against Huo Yan’s palm, the pink bead flower at his temple swaying slightly, like a small animal seeking coolness. Huo Yan looked down at him. After a moment, his fingertips tilted Yuzhu’s chin up. His gaze moved from the tear stained tips of the boy’s eyelashes all the way down to his full, vivid red lips.
“You will not let me go? Does Junior Brother not hate me?”
Xian Yuzhu pouted. “Hot.”
Huo Yan’s gaze darkened. He used a rough thumb to wipe the flushed corner of Yuzhu’s eye. “Heh. You deserve it.”
Strictly speaking, this was Yuzhu’s own doing. He was the one who cleverly gave the Yilan incense to Xie Shurong, and now he had inhaled a large amount of it himself. With the medicinal effects coursing through his body, he was inevitably entering a state of arousal.
Huo Yan, being the villain to the end, did not intend to help. Instead, he planned to give him the cold shoulder for a while. After repeatedly being disobedient, the boy needed to suffer a little.
Huo Yan let go of the limp body in his arms, allowing Yuzhu to slump onto the cold stone platform. He then sat nearby, closing his eyes to meditate. Huo Yan’s constitution was unique; the incense had little effect on him, and two cycles of internal energy would clear it.
Silver moonlight crept through the window frame, illuminating the room. Xian Yuzhu whimpered as he lay on the stone platform, his black hair scattered and his face flushed red. In his moon white clothes, he looked like a seductive ghost that had crawled out from nowhere.
From this angle, his blurred vision could only make out the man’s sharp jawline and indifferent, thin lips. Images from the secret picture books and stories he had peeked at before surfaced in his mind. The first step in those books was lips touching lips.