Xu Yifan’s gaze was almost tangible, not bothering to hide itself at all, boring into him like needles on his back, until Xian Qinglin could barely keep up his composure, the tips of his ears flushing faintly red, goosebumps rising across his skin. Just as he was about to dodge that projected stare, Xu Yifan suddenly clapped both hands over his own eyes and shook his head.
“Never mind, never mind, this isn’t right. This kind of thing needs to be mutual, both willing. If I really did that, I’d only get his body, not his heart. Without his heart, he’d end up cuckolding me way too easily. Can’t look, can’t look, one more look and I won’t be able to hold back. Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, form is emptiness, emptiness is form…” [1]色即是空，空即是色, a Buddhist phrase from the Heart Sutra, here used half-jokingly to talk himself out of lustful thoughts jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Xian Qinglin: “…”
“What’s wrong with cuckolding, anyway? Boss, I think you’d look good wearing a green hat too.” the demonic plant said. [2]“wearing a green hat,” 戴綠帽子, is Chinese slang for being cuckolded jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Xu Yifan: “…”
Xu Yifan’s expression darkened, his palm itching as if he wanted to smack something.
The demonic plant kept swaying its chopstick-sized little body.
Xu Yifan shot it a glare. “Pah, you exasperating little troublemaker, you’re just like the pretty little beauty. Let’s head back.”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Xu Yifan left with the demonic plant in tow. Xian Qinglin secretly let out a breath of relief. Having finished weeding the spirit plant garden, he’d just stepped out of the protective grand array when Meng Qingqing and Ling Chenzhi arrived.
The two of them were also outer disciples, on fairly good terms with Xian Qinglin normally.
The three of them headed together toward the spirit food hall.
Spirit beasts carried spiritual energy within their bodies, beneficial when eaten, though spirit food naturally cost more as well.
Spirit beasts referred to edible demonic beasts capable of drawing energy into their bodies, once a beast could draw energy inward, it meant it had already begun cultivating, having developed some hazy degree of awareness. Such beasts became far better at avoiding danger and seeking advantage, making them harder to catch, and thus considerably more expensive, only cultivators of considerable wealth could afford to eat it at every meal.
Ordinary cultivators who couldn’t afford spirit food would often choose to eat Grain-Avoidance Pills instead, first for convenience, and second, because eating too much ordinary food would accumulate impurities in the body. Regular Grain-Avoidance Pills, taken in excess, could also produce pill toxicity, though far less than what ordinary food would build up.
For an outer disciple like Xian Qinglin, whose pockets were cleaner than his own face, spirit food wasn’t even worth considering, and Grain-Avoidance Pills were out of the question too, he couldn’t afford either. He could only eat the kind of food ordinary mortals ate. He knew it wasn’t good for him, but with his low cultivation, still very much a mortal body, how could he avoid eating regular grains and food?
Along the way, Meng Qingqing seemed anxious. “It’s almost afternoon already. I wonder if there’s still any food left at the spirit food hall.”
Xian Qinglin reassured her, “I don’t know about the rest, but there’s sure to be some of the coarse grain dishes we eat left.”
Inner disciples referred to the ordinary meals outer disciples ate as “coarse grain,” rarely touching it themselves. In the past, the coarse grain at the spirit food hall was almost always left over every day. Xian Qinglin had often helped out the hall master there with chores, and the hall master, being generous, always let him pack up the leftover coarse food to take home.
Xian Qinglin had packed up quite a bit before and hadn’t come to the spirit food hall to eat in several days as a result.
Ling Chenzhi said, “That’s hard to say this time.”
Xian Qinglin looked up, confused, and Ling Chenzhi explained, “You know the Sixth Elder recently took on a new disciple, right?”
Whatever else Xian Qinglin might not know, Xu Yifan’s affairs he knew better than anyone. He nodded, and heard Ling Chenzhi continue, “That little junior martial brother eats an incredible amount. He started coming to the spirit food hall a few days ago, and ever since he started, there’s never been a scrap of leftovers.”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Meng Qingqing, noticing his expression had become somewhat indescribable, added, “I had the good fortune to see that little junior martial brother once. He’s really quite round, cuter than Senior Sister Fang’s pet snow rabbit, if you ask me. Although I’ve heard from several other senior brothers and sisters that he brings a whole bucket with him every time he comes to get food, complaining our spirit food hall’s dishes taste bad, and yet he still fills up two whole buckets every single time.”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
He really did seem to love eating, it seemed.
Over the days that followed, after finishing sword practice, Xu Yifan would often sneak down the mountain to secretly spy on Xian Qinglin. Sometimes he’d hide in the bushes, gnawing on roast chicken while watching him on the sly. Sometimes he’d hang from a tree, sometimes hide behind a White Horse Beast’s rear end, sometimes lie flat on a rooftop.
His spying skills were rather clumsy, and Xian Qinglin always knew he was there, yet never felt annoyed or embarrassed about it, he even found it a little amusing.
His cultivation wasn’t high, so the tasks available to him were few and far between, only the dirtiest, most exhausting jobs, ones paying the least in spirit stones that no other cultivator wanted, ever fell to him.
Having recently run short of spirit stones, he’d taken on several tasks in a row and still hadn’t finished them all.
He’d taken on quite a few jobs in the Spirit Plant Garden, these spirit plants grew delicate and finicky, needing regular watering with spirit spring water, and any weeds sprouting up needed to be pulled the instant they showed. Xian Qinglin spent more of his time working in the Spirit Plant Garden than anywhere else.
At the foot of Elixir Glow Peak, the Grand Elder had buried a water spirit pearl, making the spirit spring water there the most concentrated in spiritual energy anywhere. Today he needed to water the spirit plants, but though he made several trips back and forth, he hadn’t caught sight of Xu Yifan even once, these past few days, Xu Yifan had always shown up, but today, for whatever reason, there was no sign of him at all.
Xian Qinglin suddenly felt a hollow sense of emptiness. The spirit plants grew well, but Xian Qinglin had always thought that so-called spirit plants really looked no different from the weeds outside, the only difference was one carried spiritual energy and one was entirely useless, hence the vast gap in how they were treated.
The Grand Elder had a fiery temper and treasured this Spirit Plant Garden dearly. Not daring to be careless, Xian Qinglin watered with utmost care, until a sensation at his waist made every hair on his body stand up. He snapped back to his senses, turned around, and saw Fang Zhihao standing behind him, no telling how long he’d been there.
Xian Qinglin’s heart sank instantly.
“Junior Martial Brother, keeping busy?”
Fang Zhihao’s gaze was cold and slick as a snake’s, sweeping up and down over Xian Qinglin, from his fair, pale neck, down to his shapely, seductive collarbone, then to his pressed-together lips, finally settling on Xian Qinglin’s narrow, slightly upturned eyes, their gaze cold and sharp.
“Haven’t seen you in a few months, and Junior Martial Brother’s grown even more striking.”
Xian Qinglin felt his scalp prickle, a fine layer of cold sweat breaking out across his palms.
“Qinglin greets Senior Martial Brother.” He bowed in greeting, said he still had work to do, and picked up his water bucket, meaning to leave.
“Hey now, Junior Martial Brother, it’s been so long, this Senior Brother has missed you terribly. Now that we’ve finally run into each other, why the rush? Let’s catch up a bit first.” Fang Zhihao spread his arms to block his path.
Xian Qinglin clenched his back teeth. “Senior Martial Brother, this junior really does still have work to finish.”
Fang Zhihao’s expression darkened. “Junior Martial Brother, if you behave yourself, this Senior Brother won’t touch you. Otherwise…” he sneered, his gaze once again landing nakedly on Xian Qinglin’s rather pale face. “Do you think Gu Qingyun can protect you?”
Xian Qinglin’s footsteps froze abruptly, his entire body feeling as if it had plunged into an icy pit, his legs suddenly weighed down as though filled with lead, too heavy to even lift.
He should have had more backbone, should have turned and walked away right then.
But he didn’t dare.
Fang Zhihao meant what he said, though his aptitude wasn’t as good as Gu Qingyun’s, his background wasn’t much worse either.
Everyone in the sect knew Gu Qingyun harbored some measure of affection for Xian Qinglin, and so, however much they might covet him, no one else dared act on it. But Fang Zhihao was different, he was the Grand Elder’s third disciple, a second-grade pill master, young and promising. Truthfully, even Gu Qingyun would have to show him some deference in person.
Single spiritual root aptitude was more likely to produce offspring with single spiritual roots as well. Gu Qingyun would surely marry and have children eventually to continue his bloodline. As for Xian Qinglin, at most Gu Qingyun would toy with him, or keep him as a concubine, could he really expect the man to bear his children?
Gu Qingyun would never stand against someone over a plaything not fit for the public eye, and Fang Zhihao knew this well enough that he dared come find Xian Qinglin again and again.
Xian Qinglin lowered his head, gripping the wooden bucket in his hands tightly. Not yet ready to give up, he glanced around, sweeping his gaze over the surroundings, before finally drawing it back in disappointment, his voice low and hoarse. “You’re not allowed to touch me.”
Fang Zhihao immediately broke into a smile. “Knew Junior Martial Brother had the sense to understand the situation. Don’t worry, same as always, this Senior Brother knows the drill.” He licked the corner of his mouth, his expression growing increasingly lewd. “Remember to hit me later.”
As he spoke, he impatiently hiked up the hem of his robe. Xian Qinglin’s looks truly were exceptional, his flushed, beautiful eyes stood out all the more, that expression of furious yet helpless restraint, both repressed and aloof at once. The way he bit down on his lips added a further layer of cold, ascetic allure, always leaving Fang Zhihao itching with desire, longing to drag him down into the mud, to sully him thoroughly, to tear apart that cold, aloof gaze of his and see just what expression he’d wear once he sank into desire.
Fang Zhihao, truly unable to hold back any longer, walked up beside Xian Qinglin, wanting to close the distance and face him directly. His scorching breath made Xian Qinglin’s stomach churn violently. He turned to the side, his clenched fist never once loosening.
Fang Zhihao didn’t mind at all, panting heavily while frantically trying to pull down his pants, leaning in slightly to inhale his scent. “Qinglin, you smell so good, you really smell so good, what did you put on yourself? Quick, quick, pull down your collar, this Senior Brother wants to see, hurry…”
Martial Academy disciples often liked to practice bare-chested, and being all men, facing each other bare-chested wasn’t normally considered strange. But knowing Fang Zhihao harbored twisted feelings toward him, even showing a bare wrist in front of Fang Zhihao made Xian Qinglin feel utterly nauseated.
He stepped back, jaw clenched, his stomach roiling with nausea, a dense layer of cold sweat breaking across his rigid back. With great difficulty, he raised his hand and pressed it to his collar.
Fang Zhihao was far too impatient. His pants not yet pulled down, he kept thrusting his hips back and forth restlessly. He’d just undone the jade belt at his waist, preparing to pull his pants down, when, amid the otherwise quiet Spirit Plant Garden, filled only with Fang Zhihao’s panting, a furious shout suddenly rang out.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
The voice roared out at full volume. “Take my Black Tiger Digs Out the Heart move!”
Xian Qinglin and Fang Zhihao were both startled half to death, neither having time to figure out where the voice had come from, let alone turn to look, when Xian Qinglin felt an enormous black shadow flash past his eyes, immediately followed by a miserable scream.
Fang Zhihao howled like a pig on the chopping block, one shriek after another.
Xian Qinglin looked closer and saw Xu Yifan had rushed over at some point, and the moment he reached Fang Zhihao, gripped him hard through his white undergarments. Then, propelled by their combined momentum, the two of them went flying backward, tumbling a considerable distance.
By the time Fang Zhihao hit the ground, Xu Yifan still hadn’t let go.
Xian Qinglin’s face was full of shock, and for a moment his thoughts froze entirely.
“What the hell were you trying to do just now?” Xian Qinglin bit down hard on his lower lip, his eyes reddened, shoulders hunched, looking utterly lost and helpless as he glanced around in every direction. The sight made Xu Yifan’s heart pound with fear. Xian Qinglin was standing right there, bathed in the pouring sunlight, and yet his whole body was trembling, as though carrying an overwhelming weight of exhaustion.
The moment Xu Yifan recalled what he’d just seen, a blaze of fury ignited in his chest. What had this man been trying to do just now?
Why had the pretty little beauty’s face gone that pale? And why had this man been thrusting his hips back and forth like that?
If Xu Yifan had grown up out in the wider world, he’d probably have figured it out with just a moment’s thought. But right now, he was somewhat baffled, he didn’t know exactly what Fang Zhihao had been trying to do, though his gut told him it was clearly nothing good, because whatever way you sliced it, Fang Zhihao’s behavior had looked thoroughly obscene.
Fang Zhihao’s eyes were nearly bulging from the pain, bloodshot, sweat pouring down his face, veins bulging on his neck, unable to get out a single word.
“I’ll squeeze, I’ll squeeze, squeeze squeeze squeeze.” Xu Yifan straddled Fang Zhihao’s stomach, his left hand kneading and squeezing viciously at Fang Zhihao’s weak point like dough.
That particular spot was both fragile and highly sensitive to pain, and Fang Zhihao couldn’t even manage to scream through the agony.
Xian Qinglin, still reeling from this sudden turn of events, couldn’t process it all.
Xu Yifan’s eyes brimmed with fury, his round, plump face flushed red with anger. “This thing’s had eight lifetimes of bad luck, ending up attached to the wrong person. Damn it, if you don’t want it anymore, I’ll just help you squeeze it right off.”
Fang Zhihao’s face had gone deathly pale, his forehead throbbing wildly, unable to catch his breath. At this point he no longer cared about anything else, shouting, “Stop… stop, stop it… I beg you, I beg you, stop.”
Xu Yifan released his grip.
Fang Zhihao gasped like a dying man suddenly given air again, or like a fish flopping on the shore finally returned to water. Enduring that bone-deep, gut-wrenching pain, he tried to swing a palm strike at Xu Yifan.
“Ooh, still giving me that vicious look? What’s wrong? Regretting that I let go, is that it, since you’re not satisfied? So that’s why you’re glaring at me so hard. Fine, let me satisfy you then.” Xu Yifan’s movements were even faster than his, his claw-like grip snatching at Fang Zhihao’s crotch again.
The spiritual energy Fang Zhihao had just gathered in his palm scattered before he could condense it, and he screamed miserably once more.
Xian Qinglin, fearing the noise would attract others, hurried over and clamped a hand over Fang Zhihao’s mouth.
Xu Yifan found a moment to ask him, “What was this guy trying to do just now?”
Xian Qinglin’s face had gone somewhat pale, his gaze darting away, head lowered, unwilling to say.
“Was he trying to see you naked?”
Xian Qinglin’s head snapped up sharply to look at him.
Xu Yifan wore an expression of “just as I suspected.” Back in the village, when the pretty widow at the head of the village bathed, several village men always loved climbing the wall to peek. He’d caught them at it several times whenever he came back from town, always assuming there must be something valuable hidden in the flirty widow’s house, prompting people to sneak up walls in the dead of night to look, only to find nothing valuable at all, just the flirty widow bathing inside.
This man had just been urging the pretty little beauty to pull down his collar, what else could that be except wanting to see him naked?
Damn it.
He himself hadn’t even seen the pretty little beauty naked yet, what right did this man have to look?
Just because he was thinner than him?
The more Xu Yifan thought about it, the angrier he got. This man was thin as a rail, and seeing someone that scrawny always got on his nerves. Since the man wanted to look so badly, he’d give him a good long look, then.
“Momo.”
The demonic plant poked its head out from the back of his collar, its voice thoroughly milky. “What’s up?”
“You and the pretty little beauty pin him down together.”
“Okay.”
The demonic plant’s two little leaves twitched, swaying left and right, and in an instant grew several dozen meters long, binding Fang Zhihao up like a rice dumpling.
Xian Qinglin kept clamping down firmly over Fang Zhihao’s mouth as before. Xu Yifan had the two of them prop Fang Zhihao upright, then walked a short distance away, facing them, and began stripping off his clothes.
He only took off his upper garment. His little belly stuck out round, as if he’d just eaten three bowls of rice before heading out, his arms and biceps thick with fat, his whole body pale and plump. Xian Qinglin glanced over.
For some reason, though Xu Yifan was obviously plump, and by rights someone with no figure and this much fat stripping off their shirt shouldn’t offer much of a view, should even look somewhat greasy, instead his round, plump body, like some kind of steamed bun, didn’t strike Xian Qinglin as greasy at all. Paired with that equally round, plump face of his, Xian Qinglin found himself, against all reason, thinking Xu Yifan looked rather adorable like this, and seeing his belly stick out so round, he even felt the urge to reach out and give it a knock.
Realizing what he was thinking, Xian Qinglin’s heart skipped a beat.
The demonic plant, seeing Xu Yifan strip off his clothes, was utterly baffled. “Boss, what are you doing?”
“Two perverts, doing perverted things. You wouldn’t understand, don’t ask more questions.”
Xu Yifan struck a pose, twisting his body this way and that. Seeing Fang Zhihao squeeze his eyes shut, refusing to look, he had Xian Qinglin pry his eyelids open. Fang Zhihao was a fish on the chopping block now, utterly unable to fight back. His eyelids forced open, his eyeballs darted around wildly, refusing to look at Xu Yifan no matter what, which sent Xu Yifan into a fit of embarrassed fury.
What did this mean?
Was he not worth looking at, or what?
Wasn’t he just desperately impatient to look a moment ago? And now he didn’t want to look? Well, whether he wanted to or not, he was going to look. Xu Yifan slapped him across the face. Fang Zhihao wanted to cry out in pain, but no matter what demonic plant this creature had raised, its strength was extraordinary, and its vine was currently clamped firmly over his mouth.
“…Hah, unbelievable. When I was giving you a show, you wouldn’t look. Now that I don’t want to show you, suddenly you want to look. Look or not, if you don’t look, I’ll give you another slap for good measure.”
Fang Zhihao had no choice but to look at Xu Yifan.
Xu Yifan twisted his body, his flesh jiggling with each movement, occasionally patting his own belly, producing a slapping sound.
Xian Qinglin was reminded of the time, before he’d come to Xianhao Sect, when he’d worked odd jobs at an inn. Whenever the cook there was about to slice pork, he always liked to give the pork a slap first, and it had made the exact same sound, pa pa pa. Truly identical!
Xu Yifan looked at Fang Zhihao and asked, “Good-looking?”
“Ooh, staring wide-eyed now, huh, damn pervert.” As he spoke, he glanced at Xian Qinglin too, and noticed the man’s eyes had also gone a bit fixed, which secretly pleased him no end.
That’s what you call a body with real substance.
Someone like himself, exactly.
Fascination and possessiveness both spring from love.
Look, the pretty little beauty was secretly watching him too! Even blushing a little. The pretty little beauty was normally so cold and aloof, but that sudden flush of red made for a contrast that set the blood pumping something fierce.
He must know, surely he was doing this on purpose.
This man was trying to seduce him.
To be honest, what a scheming little thing.
Xu Yifan’s face lit up with secret delight, and he twisted his body with even more enthusiasm.
Fang Zhihao: “…”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
For some reason Xian Qinglin found himself wanting to cover Fang Zhihao’s eyes instead. That mass of flesh on Xu Yifan’s body shouldn’t just be shown off to anyone so carelessly.
The demonic plant, however, didn’t see it that way. “Boss, this guy’s gone all limp. I don’t think he’s staring wide-eyed from admiration, I think it’s because his eyes are burning from the sight.”
“Huh? Really?” Xu Yifan ran over to check, and found that the spot where Fang Zhihao had just been standing at attention had gone completely slack now.
He scratched his head, so what had this guy’s brother been standing up so high for just now? “Pretty little beauty, what exactly was he trying to do earlier?”
Xian Qinglin coughed, finding it hard to voice, and said quietly, “He… he wanted me to whip him a few times, then pin him down, and, that.”
He hadn’t done those latter two things before. Fang Zhihao was the one truly unique person among all those who eyed him hungrily, he didn’t want to possess Xian Qinglin, but rather wanted to be possessed by him.
Xu Yifan: “…”
Were his ears broken?
Shaken by these bizarre, filthy words, Xu Yifan’s stomach twitched, and then he flew into a rage.
“This absolute pervert! That kind of thing between cultivation partners is one thing, but this? What’s he even mean by this? His ass itching or something? Damn it, Momo, satisfy him then, jab him one in the backside.”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Were they actually going to go through with this?
Fang Zhihao nearly passed out.
The demonic plant shrieked outright. “Boss, that’s really unfair of you! It really hurts Momo’s feelings to hear that. Momo’s just a little grass no one loves, burrowing into holes isn’t Momo’s specialty. Momo isn’t some bug that likes drilling into people’s backsides.”
Xu Yifan hadn’t actually meant to make it really happen, and simply sat back down on Fang Zhihao’s stomach.
The demonic plant shrank back down and crawled back onto Xu Yifan’s body.
Xian Qinglin, quick as ever, clamped his hand back over Fang Zhihao’s mouth just before he could cry out again.
“What should we do?” Xian Qinglin asked Xu Yifan, his heart racing.
Xu Yifan understood what he meant. This man probably had some kind of backing, letting him go would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains, he’d surely come seeking revenge later. That look in the man’s eyes just now had clearly meant he wanted to strike Xu Yifan dead outright.
It was either him dead now, or one of them dead later.
Xu Yifan said, “Don’t be afraid. Destroying evidence, killing people, and burning things down, that’s my specialty. This is exactly my forte.”
Xian Qinglin wished nothing more than for Fang Zhihao to die, and yet he couldn’t help but feel a twinge in his brow at this point. Xu Yifan, plump and round, was so adorable-looking, and people like that usually had the softest, kindest hearts. He hesitated for a moment. “Do we really have to kill him?”
Xu Yifan looked at him, puzzled. “What’s wrong? You feel sorry for him?”
Xian Qinglin shook his head. “No, I’m just afraid that once you calm down, your conscience will ache over it.” After all, Fang Zhihao had never done anything to Xu Yifan directly, there was practically no grudge between the two of them at all.
Xu Yifan looked at him, baffled. “For my conscience to ache, I’d need to have a conscience in the first place. I don’t have one of those things, so how could it ache?”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
“Cut the weeds but don’t dig out the roots, and spring wind will bring them right back.” [3]鏟草不除根，春風吹又生, a saying meaning that if you don’t eliminate a problem completely, it’ll return jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); Xu Yifan said. “Momo, quick, give him a hit.”
Fang Zhihao’s eyes had gone bloodshot. Originally moaning and struggling in pain, he’d assumed the person holding him was just another admirer of Xian Qinglin’s, who’d let him go once they’d vented their anger. He’d even been thinking, once he got out of here, he’d definitely take this person’s life in return, only to realize now that they had no intention of letting him go at all.
Fang Zhihao’s eyes went wide with panic, thoroughly terrified, struggling with everything he had, his head thrashing left and right, trying to break free of Xian Qinglin’s grip and cry out for help.
Xian Qinglin could barely keep his hand clamped over his mouth. The demonic plant leapt onto the top of Xu Yifan’s head, its vine tip curling slightly, then suddenly lighting up with a beam of green light. Its two leaves flapped once, and that green light, wrapped in a burst of forceful wind, shot straight toward Fang Zhihao, piercing directly into the space between his brows.
Fang Zhihao’s pupils contracted sharply, his legs kicked once, and then he stopped moving entirely.
Xu Yifan tossed a talisman at his body, and Fang Zhihao’s corpse vanished into ash instantly.
Xian Qinglin’s hands were still trembling, feeling dazed, as if caught in a dream.
Fang Zhihao was dead. He’d really died.
Xu Yifan looked at him and, noticing his face had gone impossibly pale, assumed he was just badly shaken. “Are you about to piss yourself scared? That’s a pretty small amount of nerve you’ve got there. What am I going to do with you?”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Anyone else would have exploded hearing something like that, but faced with Xu Yifan’s slightly worried expression, Xian Qinglin forced himself to swallow his anger.
The demonic plant found it all unbelievable. Its tiny brain couldn’t quite process how its Boss had just thrown a talisman at that corpse, and the corpse had simply vanished! It searched the ground back and forth, even pawing at the dirt with its roots, and finding nothing at all, exclaimed “Wow” and, thoroughly impressed, said, “Boss, Momo has really had its eyes opened today.”
Xu Yifan stared at it. “What do you mean?”
“I never imagined there could be someone even greasier than you in this world.” the demonic plant said. “That guy just now was so greasy it nearly put me off my food for three whole days.”
Xu Yifan: “…”
Xian Qinglin, still not fully recovered from the shock and still shaken with fear, suddenly burst out laughing.
Well, so much for keeping his dignity now.
Xu Yifan’s face turned livid, and he reached out to grab at the demonic plant, this damn thing really was too much.
What did it mean, greasy?
Where exactly was he greasy?
Comparing him to that beast just now was practically an insult, lowering his whole standard.
Xu Yifan glared at it. “Keep running that mouth of yours and you’re going to get beaten up when you go out into the world. Damn it, forget it, I’ll beat you up first.”
The demonic plant darted off in a flash, hiding behind Xian Qinglin. “Pretty little beauty, save me, save me.”
Xian Qinglin glanced at Xu Yifan, recalling his furious expression from just moments ago. His fingertips tingled slightly, his mind still a bit fuzzy, and amid the pounding of his heart, he said quietly, “Thank you.”
Xu Yifan’s throat felt somewhat dry.
The demonic plant climbed onto Xian Qinglin’s shoulder and asked, puzzled, “Pretty little beauty, why didn’t you hit that guy earlier? Why were you just standing there so still? Were you…”
Xian Qinglin’s expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly looked up at Xu Yifan. Xu Yifan, frowning, snatched up the demonic plant and told it not to say another word.
He knew exactly what it had been about to say.
That Xian Qinglin hadn’t resisted, hadn’t fled, did that mean he was secretly “enjoying it,” willingly going along?
But where could he even flee to? Some people were simply born standing above others, as long as Fang Zhihao wanted something, there was no escaping it, no running from it.
Xian Qinglin sometimes resented himself for being weak, spineless, incompetent, but there was nothing to be done about it.
That was simply how this world worked, cultivation reigned supreme, family background reigned supreme, and cultivators standing above the clouds could turn their hand this way or that as they pleased, bending fate to their whims.
For cultivators without family background or cultivation strength, they were, in truth, no different from ants, cattle, or sheep, like weeds growing outside the mountain gates, anyone could step on them at will. The cultivation world was littered with human cauldrons everywhere, and people like him were shuffled about like toys, passed from hand to hand.
Fate had never once been within his own control.
Xian Qinglin knew that the reason Fang Zhihao behaved this way was, at its core, because he’d never once considered him a person at all, and so he’d never thought to respect him, never given him a second thought.
He was clearly a person, and yet he didn’t feel like one, in this world of cultivation, he and cattle and sheep were the same, all fodder for the slaughter, all subject to fates not their own to choose.
And yet, so long as one remained human, one still feared death, no matter how wretched one’s life had become, no matter how thoroughly stripped of dignity, one still yearned, against everything, to keep living.
Xian Qinglin had no one to rely on in the sect. He stood alone at the edge of a cliff, one foot already stepped out into thin air, his figure swaying precariously, and no one there to pull him back. He had only himself, and a body of cultivation that served almost no purpose at all. Alone, he maneuvered day after day, living in constant trepidation, as if walking on thin ice.
Beyond spinelessness and forbearance, what else could he possibly do?
Rise up and resist? Perhaps the result of angering them would only be crueler humiliation and degradation still.
Xu Yifan had seen it all clearly, that look in Fang Zhihao’s eyes just now. Was Xianhao Sect really a place for cultivation?
Clearly it was a gathering ground for refined-looking scum instead.
This damned place, one Ma Xiang, one Ma Xiu, and now another beast had come along too.
And yet Xianhao Sect had several thousand disciples, surely only a few were twisted like this, and most were probably normal enough.
Xian Qinglin’s mouth moved for a moment, but it was as though someone had a hand around his throat, he couldn’t manage a single word.
Had Xu Yifan seen everything that had just happened?
What would he think of him now?
Would he think Xian Qinglin was pathetic, degrading himself?
Would he think Xian Qinglin was unclean?
Would he even find him disgusting?
These thoughts sprouted up one after another, spinning endlessly through his mind, like fists landing blow after blow, each word cutting straight to his heart.
Xian Qinglin felt ice-cold all over, unable to stop trembling, the faint color that had returned to his face draining away to a ghastly white once more. Just as he stood there, at a complete loss, a faint, sharp sting suddenly registered on his forehead.
Xu Yifan flicked his forehead lightly. “What are you thinking about? Your face has gone as white as a ghost’s. Are you still angry at that guy?”
The instant they touched, Xian Qinglin felt a tingling numbness spread through his entire body. “I…” He’d only just opened his mouth when he heard Xu Yifan say,
“He was filthy and disgusting. You’re not like him. You’re good.”
His words, calm and plain, just those two simple sentences, and yet they put Xian Qinglin’s mind at ease more than anything else in the world could have, like a form of salvation, each word landing squarely against the softest part of his heart, warming his chest until it burned. Xian Qinglin could no longer hold himself together, and he threw himself into Xu Yifan’s arms and burst into tears.
His voice choked with sobs, thick with sorrow. Years of anguish and forbearance, helplessness and fear, all seemed to find their release in this single moment.
Xian Qinglin gasped for breath, his heart clenching tighter and tighter.
Xu Yifan, at a complete loss, his whole body tensing up. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you crying all of a sudden?”
Xian Qinglin, eyes red, said nothing, unaware that his entire body was trembling violently.
A beauty in tears was truly the picture of a rain-soaked pear blossom, evoking tender pity [4]梨花帶雨, a classical poetic image describing a beautiful woman crying, her tears likened to raindrops on pear blossoms jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, utterly unlike anyone else crying with a snotty, tear-streaked face. Xu Yifan’s heart twisted into a knot, and he wanted to hold him even tighter, but felt it wasn’t quite right, after all, they’d only just met, and embracing him like this made him seem far too forward. Although he came across as carefree and casual, he really was a rather casual person by nature.
He said, “Don’t cry anymore. I know you’re scared, but… but we’ve only met a handful of times, and you… you’re already throwing yourself into my arms like this. I, I feel a bit awkward about it.”
Xu Yifan’s mouth claimed awkwardness, yet his hands honestly settled around Xian Qinglin’s slender waist all the same. His heart pounded like a drum, this close contact, the person he liked leaning against him like this, filled him with both a surging rush of excitement and a fierce, overwhelming desire to make this person his own.
That surge of grievance came on so suddenly that Xian Qinglin couldn’t control it at all, and he said nothing. Xu Yifan, growing increasingly frantic, had no idea what to do, and in his desperation, turned to the demonic plant perched on his shoulder, asking quietly, “Momo, what should I do right now?”
The demonic plant said, “What do you mean, what should you do?”
“The pretty little beauty is crying! So pitiful, it’s breaking my heart.”
The demonic plant’s two leaves flapped rapidly. “Boss, when I cried, you said I sounded like wailing ghosts and howling wolves. When the pretty little beauty cries, it’s heartbreakingly pitiful. Is that fair? I’m just asking.”
Xu Yifan thought it was completely fair.
One was a little brother, who at most could give him a leg massage now and then, the other was potentially his future spouse, someone he’d spend the rest of his life sharing a bed with. There was simply no comparison between the two.
Xu Yifan ignored it. The pretty little beauty’s soft sobbing had him thoroughly heartbroken and frantic with worry. He could feel his chest growing damp with tears, when suddenly his eyes lit up. “Pretty little beauty, don’t cry. I’ll perform my signature skill for you, want to see it?”
Xian Qinglin didn’t particularly want to see it, if anything, he was more captivated by the warm, clean scent radiating from Xu Yifan’s body, but seeing Xu Yifan’s expectant expression, he instinctively nodded.
Xu Yifan suddenly braced both hands on the ground, puckered his lips, and let out a roar. “Behold, the Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain! How’s that? Does it look the part? Fierce and majestic, right?”
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Xian Qinglin froze for a moment, and then burst out laughing, he genuinely didn’t understand how the world could produce someone this scatterbrained and yet this adorable at the same time.
If any other cultivator had performed this doggy-style pose, tensing their whole body, they’d surely display broad shoulders and a wasp waist, catching every eye, a feast for the senses, quite the sight to behold. But Xu Yifan’s belly stuck out in front, his back was just as wide across the waist and shoulders alike, all soft and plump, no matter how you looked at it, it was thoroughly comical.
Xian Qinglin couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
As long as he was laughing, that was good enough. Xu Yifan let out a breath of relief, got up off the ground to put his clothes back on, and pressed Xian Qinglin, did it look convincing? He mentioned that the last time he’d performed this move, his master had said he looked more like a wild boar charging down the mountain, absolutely no eye for it whatsoever. Desperate to find someone to back him up, since his master’s comment had genuinely stung, he asked Xian Qinglin,
“My master’s eyesight must be broken, and yet he refuses to admit it. Now that you’ve seen my performance too, don’t you also think there’s something wrong with his eyes?”
Xian Qinglin stammered, at a loss for words.
The Sixth Elder’s eyesight, in fact, remained perfectly sharp. Xu Yifan’s performance just now really hadn’t looked like a fierce tiger descending the mountain at all, it had looked exactly like a wild boar charging down instead.
His hesitant, evasive manner made Xu Yifan’s brows shoot up instantly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Xian Qinglin’s gaze darted away. “…The Sixth Elder just doesn’t have a good eye for these things. What you performed clearly… clearly looked quite similar.”
Xu Yifan was thoroughly outraged, his fists clenching tight. “Similar to what, exactly? Why does it sound so grudging? I’m speechless [5]無語, a modern slang expression for being at a total loss for words, often used comically jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.”
The demonic plant stood between the two of them, glancing back and forth, one furious enough to want to devour someone whole, the other with brows slightly knit, lips parting as if about to say something.
What was going on here? Everything had been fine just a moment ago, what happened?
Xu Yifan, exasperated at its uselessness, gave it a smack. The demonic plant understood at once—Boss wanted it to back him up, to be on the same side. So it shouted loudly, “Screw that noise!” [6]靠北, a Taiwanese Hokkien-derived expletive, mild crude slang jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3015896_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3015896_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });
Xian Qinglin: “…”
Xu Yifan snorted, satisfied, then glared at Xian Qinglin, thoroughly indignant. “I’m not talking to you today.”
With that, he took the demonic plant and left.
Xian Qinglin said nothing. Xu Yifan turned back to see him still standing there in the same spot, growing even more furious.
The pretty little beauty hadn’t even tried to hold him back.
Truly heartless, indeed.
“If I sneak down the mountain to spy on him again tomorrow, I’m a dog.”
The demonic plant bounced up and down on his shoulder. “Boss, you said the exact same thing last time. You’ve already been a ‘dog’ several times over now. I don’t believe you at all.”
Xu Yifan: “…”
This was an exasperating thing too.
Xu Yifan trudged along, sulking. The Sixth Elder, seeing him come back from outside carrying just a bucket, meaning to go get food, found it rather odd. “Why only one bucket?”
Xu Yifan said he had no appetite.
“…”
The Sixth Elder asked what was wrong. This disciple of his, generous of heart and plump of body, actually had a day without appetite? A thought suddenly struck him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been sneaking out to buy food!”
A few days earlier, he hadn’t realized Xu Yifan was so gluttonous he wouldn’t even turn down coarse grain food. The Sixth Elder had assumed he’d been eating spirit food the whole time and hadn’t bothered to interfere, letting him eat as he pleased.
As it turned out, it wasn’t until he was giving a lesson at the training grounds and overheard disciples transmitting messages to each other that he learned his little disciple had already become somewhat notorious in the sect, for pinching spirit stones, he’d specifically sought out the cheapest, coarsest food to eat. He’d come back and given Xu Yifan a scolding over it, and Xu Yifan, no longer daring to eat at the spirit food hall, had instead started sneaking down to the town outside the sect to eat there.
After scolding Xu Yifan, the Sixth Elder had left with the Seventh Elder the very next day, and hadn’t been at the sect these past few days, no telling whether his disciple had actually listened.
Now, seeing Xu Yifan’s evasive gaze, the Sixth Elder’s brow twitched, and he raised a hand to bop him on the head. “You actually went again? You little demon-spawn, I told you, no eating coarse grain food, no coarse grain food! Why don’t you ever listen?”
Sneaking off to eat sounded a bit better than sneaking off to spy on someone, the former was, at most, gluttony, while the latter was outright perverted and lewd.
Xu Yifan didn’t dare tell the truth, and besides, he really had gone down the mountain to buy food too. He mumbled, “The food in the sect just doesn’t taste good.”
Although the food bought in town wasn’t much use nutritionally, it really did taste incredibly good.
The Sixth Elder gave him a look of profound disappointment. “You’re a cultivator. Your main focus, your priority, should be on cultivation. What kind of talk is this, thinking about food all day long? Besides, old man Xiao who cooks at the spirit food hall used to work at the Beast-Taming Hall shoveling dung for the spirit beasts. You really think his cooking skills are all that great? Next time you go eating whatever you please again, watch out, I’ll deal with you.”
Xu Yifan had never really had any great ambitions in life, before, all he’d wanted was to go home, to find his parents. Now he had two additional goals: pursuing the pretty little beauty, and eating well. Not letting him eat, what joy would there even be left in life?
“When I first asked you, you said yes, I could eat whatever I wanted once I came back with you. Now you won’t let me eat again? Were you lying to me the whole time back then? Deceiving such a pure, innocent child like me, are you even human? You have no conscience.”
The Sixth Elder: “…”
The Sixth Elder was almost laughing with exasperation, and yet he couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty too. Still, he genuinely felt he’d treated this little disciple quite well, otherwise, wasn’t it exhausting enough teaching a body like this to leap around all day without complaint? This child had absolutely no idea how much thought and effort he’d put into it.
He sighed and tossed Xu Yifan a spatial ring.
Xu Yifan caught it with both hands. “What’s inside?”
“Some spirit stones. Take them and buy yourself some spirit food to eat.” the Sixth Elder said.
Xu Yifan probed the spatial ring with his soul power, sure enough, spirit stones. Not a huge amount, but several thousand at least. He eyed the Sixth Elder suspiciously up and down. “Master, where’d you get these spirit stones from?” His master was famously poor! What day was it today, that he’d suddenly become this generous, handing over spirit stones like this?
Being looked at like that made the Sixth Elder flush with embarrassment, wishing he could smack the boy silly. “I traded for these spirit stones with your Eldest Uncle-Master. Didn’t your Seventh Uncle-Master and I go down the mountain a few days ago? We went to Tanze Lake. There’s a fourth-grade spirit herb there, guarded by a third-grade aberrant crocodile beast. That aberrant crocodile beast isn’t easy to deal with, which is why your Seventh Uncle-Master and I hadn’t gone after it before.”
Now, with no spirit stones left and a disciple to support, the Sixth Elder had had no choice but to risk his life for it once more.
Fortunately, the aberrant crocodile beast hadn’t been as difficult to handle as rumor claimed.
Xu Yifan’s eyes welled up with touched tears. “Master, so this was all for my sake! These spirit stones feel almost too hot to hold, honestly. But don’t worry, I’ll definitely use them to buy tons of spirit food to eat. I’ll eat well, sleep well, and never let Master’s good intentions go to waste.”
The Sixth Elder: “…”
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