When Huo Yan kissed him, Xian Yuzhu was dazed. The cool, thin lips pressed against his mouth, and his scalding breath seemed to cool down instantly; he unconsciously opened his mouth a little. At first, it was just a clumsy pressing of lips, but for some reason, it gradually transformed into a much more ambiguous kiss.
Soft, warm, and cloyingly sweet.
Huo Yan was stunned for a moment, his gaze darkening. His palm steadily supported the slender nape of the person in his arms. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly as his vision shifted from Xian Yuzhu’s burning, reddened eye corners to those full, soft lips.
Thump, thump.
The heartbeat echoing in Huo Yan’s ears from his own chest had already drowned out the sound of the two of them kissing. He had heard bits and pieces about intimacy between people, but he had never tried it. Whether it was seeking a Dao companion or the fleeting romances chosen by most cultivators, such things had never been part of Huo Yan’s life plan.
He simply never expected that Xian Yuzhu would lose his reason and take the initiative to kiss him. Furthermore, as if possessed, Huo Yan forgot about the detoxification pills in his storage bag. When Xian Yuzhu tried to pull away, a dark impulse flared, and he caught him again to offer personal consolation.
A quarter of an hour later.
“Mm,” Xian Yuzhu muttered.
A slightly bitter detoxification pill entered his mouth. Xian Yuzhu hated bitter things; his tongue instinctively tried to push it out, but Huo Yan blocked it with his hand. Huo Yan covered Xian Yuzhu’s mouth, staring until he watched him struggle to swallow the pill before letting go.
Precious pills truly made a difference. Only a few breaths after swallowing it, the person in his arms settled down significantly. Xian Yuzhu’s burning body temperature gradually returned to normal. Curled up on Huo Yan’s lap with his face against the man’s palm, he drifted into a dazed sleep, his eyelashes drooping. Huo Yan was left alone to hold him, his thoughts in total disarray.
Early the next morning.
Xian Yuzhu opened his eyes to find himself back at Ethereal Peak. He blinked slowly. Lying on a luxurious bed piled with silks and satins, he clutched a celestial silk quilt to his chest as memories played back frame by frame: the complex look in Huo Yan’s eyes during the kiss, his own whimpering dissatisfaction, and the ambiguous sounds of the kiss in his ears.
Xian Yuzhu’s face turned from white to red, then quickly went deathly pale. So, he had kissed Huo Yan! And it was even the kind from the picture books where both people opened their mouths.
Dire news!
Gag. Absolutely dire news!
Xian Yuzhu instinctively covered his mouth, his face looking sallow. He stumbled off the bed and rushed to the table. He picked up the spiritual tea and gulped down several large mouthfuls before spitting them into a nearby ceramic jar.
How could he have done that with that annoying jerk? What was the difference between this and being kissed by a dog?
Crash!
In a fit of exasperation, Xian Yuzhu smashed his teacup. He thought about how that bastard Huo Yan usually put on the act of a gentleman who was above worldly beauty to trick his father and the elders into trusting him, while secretly kissing the mouth of the Young Sect Master!
“Bastard. Shameless,” Xian Yuzhu hissed.
Xian Yuzhu rinsed his mouth frantically with tea, his eyes filling with physiological tears of frustration, his face flushed red. Huo Yan clearly had the detoxification pills, yet he insisted on waiting until after the kiss to give them to him.
“Just die!”
That grief-stricken howl terrified Yuan Shun outside, who thought his master had been possessed and almost went to report it to the elders.
After a period of chaos, Yuan Shun did not dare ask what had happened last night. In short, when he saw Huo Yan carrying the Young Sect Master back in the middle of the night, Xian Yuzhu was already fast asleep in Huo Yan’s arms, wrapped tightly in that red fox fur.
“Young Sect Master, please do not be so angry. Excessive anger is bad for your health,” Yuan Shun said cautiously. He had the tea shards cleared from the carpet and ordered a brand-new tea set before kneeling at Xian Yuzhu’s legs to massage them.
Xian Yuzhu slammed the table hard, gritting his teeth. “No, you do not understand. If I do not avenge this, I am not Xian Yuzhu!”
While Xian Yuzhu was screaming in rage on Ethereal Peak, the square on the other side of the sect was remarkably peaceful. During early morning exercises, the disciples weirdly noticed that their Eldest Senior Brother seemed to be in a good mood. At the very least, that dead-man face did not look like someone owed him eight million, but rather only one million spiritual stones.
Even when a disciple failed to keep up with the sword array, Huo Yan only gave a cold glance and did not order extra practice. This was a first in over ten years; it was as if the sun had risen from the west!
Huo Yan’s unusual behavior drew frequent sideways glances from many inner disciples. After the morning exercises ended, the Cultivation Group 2, confirmed no Eldest Senior Brother version, was buzzing with activity.
“What is the situation? Was Eldest Senior Brother possessed?” “Did his cultivation break through again? Or did he have a realization in swordsmanship?” “Insider news! Someone went for a night run and saw Eldest Senior Brother carrying the Young Sect Master toward Ethereal Peak. They looked extremely intimate. Exclusive direct shot at the risk of being beaten to death; buyout for 20,000 spiritual stones! Direct message me if you want it!” “Are you serious, bro?” “Hahaha, whoever believes that is a dog. Who does not know our Yuzhu hates Huo Yan the most?” “Clarify that, person above. What do you mean ‘your’ Yuzhu? The Young Sect Master belongs to everyone.”
The cultivators in the group mocked the video seller until, a moment later, a wealthy second-generation cultivator posted.
“Holy crap! It is true! See for yourselves:”
Video 1
In the hazy moonlight of the video, Huo Yan was carrying a petite red figure in a bridal carry. When the pale moonlight hit the face of the youth in his arms, it was clearly a sleeping Xian Yuzhu! The disciples were certain, for anyone who had seen that face could never mistake it.
“Holy crap!?” “Holy crap!?” “Holy crap!?”
“Holy crap! The Young Sect Master is practically a goddess! No, a god!? Wait, a total siren!” “I am melting, I am melting, the baby looks so cute sleeping.”
Just then, Zhou Xu, who had been busy buying gifts at the foot of the mountain to coax Xian Yuzhu, noticed the colorful expressions on the faces of the other cultivators and asked what was happening. A male cultivator, looking heartbroken as if his house had been robbed, choked out, “Senior Brother Zhou, see for yourself. I cannot explain it.”
Zhou Xu opened his communication jade and saw the 99+ messages in Group 2. He instinctively scrolled up. The more he scrolled, the tighter his brow furrowed. His finger stopped as he clicked the video. After playing it through several times, Zhou Xu’s face turned completely black. It was true; the person Huo Yan was holding was Yuzhu.
Zhou Xu’s eyes spat fire. His anger finally boiled over, and he slammed his communication jade down with a snarl. The jade shattered with a loud crash.
“Huo Yan!”
That bastard, acting like he was above it all on the surface, but what exactly had he done to the Little Junior Brother behind everyone’s back!?
Huo Yan, at the center of the storm, was currently standing by a cliff. Behind him, a waterfall cascaded down, creating countless droplets of spray. “Xian Yuzhu, your movements are not precise. Use more force.”
Xian Yuzhu had been picked apart by this cultivation maniac for several hours, and his arms were sore. He lashed out with his whip. Huo Yan easily raised a hand to stop the sharp wind of the strike. He curled his lip slightly at Xian Yuzhu, whose eyes were red, and spoke indifferently.
“I told you, if you want to hurt me, you must break through to the Nascent Soul stage first.”
With a swish, Huo Yan flicked the whip back. Xian Yuzhu used that massive force to retract the black and red whip, which immediately coiled around its owner’s flexible, slender waist.
“Show-off,” Xian Yuzhu cursed under his breath. He wiped his eyes and continued practicing the Lingshuang Whip Technique.
Just now, he had tried to sneak attack Huo Yan by kicking that neurotic off the cliff. He never expected Huo Yan to dodge, nearly causing him to plunge over the edge instead. It was a thousand-foot drop; it would not kill him, but he would definitely be injured. That botched revenge attempt scared Xian Yuzhu half to death. When he was caught by the waist and pulled back, his legs were too weak to stand. He had hung off Huo Yan with a pale face, crying.
Huo Yan’s reaction at the time was even more infuriating. As Xian Yuzhu slumped against him with weak legs, the man had simply remarked.
“Even if you are moved by my rescue last night, there is no need to perform such a grand salute so early in the morning.”