“Sneaking around, what are you doing? You.”
Ji Yunlang had apparently been awake for a while. He opened his eyes calmly, shifting his gaze from Jiang Zhou’s face to Husheng, who stood nearby. “The two of you.”
Jiang Zhou: “…”
Husheng: “…”
Husheng began to tremble, hiding behind Jiang Zhou. “B-Big Brother embroidered a worm by hand and wanted to give it to you. But he’s shy and d-didn’t dare come alone, so he specially fetched me out of the Bafang Region to k-keep him company…”
Ji Yunlang raised an eyebrow, asking Jiang Zhou, “Is that so?”
Husheng frantically tugged at Jiang Zhou’s sleeve.
Jiang Zhou: “No.”
Husheng let go of him in despair, gearing up his emotions to kneel and cry.
Jiang Zhou: “It is not a worm. It is a flower.”
Husheng wiped away a tear that had just squeezed out. “Exactly. This is a worm-flower that Big Brother embroidered with his own hands. He wanted to give it to you, but he’s shy and didn’t dare come, so he specially fetched me out of the Bafang Region.”
“Husheng.” Ji Yunlang cut him off, pointing to an empty spot in the corner of the room.
Husheng silenced himself instantly, hanging his head as he walked over to face the wall obediently.
Ji Yunlang sat up, rubbing his aching neck as he held up the handkerchief to look at it.
Jiang Zhou felt a rare wave of nervousness.
Although his little flower was exquisitely embroidered, everyone had different tastes. If Ji Yunlang thought it was inferior to his previous handkerchief, Jiang Zhou would have to take it back and rework it. But this was already the peak of his embroidery skills; how could he possibly improve it further?
As he was thinking, Ji Yunlang got out of bed and walked unhurriedly to the window.
Jiang Zhou followed him, his eyes falling on the fresh bite mark on the side of his neck.
“Senior,” Ji Yunlang opened the window, holding the handkerchief up before his eyes to admire the clumsy stitching against the moonlight, “you spent the entire day working on this?”
Jiang Zhou: “Yes.”
Actually, that was not true. More than half of it had been done beforehand.
Gripping the handkerchief, Ji Yunlang turned and sat on the windowsill. With his back to the moonlight, a smile curled on his lips. “Then do you know what I was doing while you were making this?”
Of course I know.
Jiang Zhou remained silent.
Ji Yunlang ran his fingers over the handkerchief. “I caught my master. While you were embroidering this handkerchief for me, I was being intimate with him.”
Jiang Zhou had no reaction, but Ji Yunlang continued to talk to himself.
“But he left again. He lied to me again, pretending he would never leave. Tell me, why must he treat me this way? Because unrequited love is just like this. While you were thinking of me and embroidering this handkerchief, I was being intimate with him; I wasn’t thinking of you. And when I think of him, he is thinking of someone else, and likewise, he isn’t thinking of me.”
Jiang Zhou’s brow furrowed slightly. “Thinking of someone else?”
When your master is being intimate with you, who else could he possibly be thinking of?
Ji Yunlang ignored him. He tossed the handkerchief out of the window, shut the window, and brushed past him without looking. “I need to discipline a child now. Please leave, Senior.”
Jiang Zhou did not leave immediately, standing before the closed window for quite a long time.
His original intention in giving Ji Yunlang the handkerchief was to prevent him from being sad after his departure, but looking at it now, Ji Yunlang was clearly even more distressed.
Jiang Zhou was at a loss.
Whenever Jiang Zhou found himself helpless regarding Ji Yunlang’s matters, he would wish Jiang Shishui and Yun Zhengyue were here.
Since Ji Yunlang was their own child, they would surely know how to coax him.
In the past, Jiang Zhou always felt those two were using him as an experiment to learn how to raise a child, so that when they had their own, they could be qualified parents and raise him well.
In the end, they never got the chance, leaving Jiang Zhou to take over and raise their child for them.
And then, in a place they could not see, he had seduced their son into his bed.
If they ever found out, they would surely be furious enough to lock him up and beat him to a pulp.
Jiang Shishui would beat his chest and stamp his feet, cursing that he used to say they had to guard against him if they had a daughter, but he never expected they would have to guard against him with a son as well.
Yun Zhengyue would look at him and Ji Yunlang in utter bewilderment, waving her hand to say, You two go out first, let me be quiet by myself.
Jiang Zhou had imagined countless scenarios of being discovered by them. Every day, he waited for Jiang and Yun to beat him, scold him, and if they really couldn’t get over their anger, to draw their swords and kill him to feed Tantan.
But they would never find out.
No one could help him coax his disciple, so Jiang Zhou could only face Ji Yunlang’s sorrow helplessly, time and time again, completely on his own. He had never been able to coax Ji Yunlang well.
He could not even begin to comprehend how to address the phrase “thinking of someone else” that Ji Yunlang had spoken.
He remained standing by the window, refusing to leave. Ji Yunlang sat down to drink his tea, ignoring him.
After being disciplined, Husheng approached Ji Yunlang with tears in his eyes, feeling fearful yet unable to stop himself from complaining, “You went too far just now. Big Brother spent so long embroidering that worm-flower. Even if you didn’t like it, you shouldn’t have thrown it out like that. Think of how sad Big Brother must be!”
Ji Yunlang changed the subject, asking, “How did you get out?”
“The… the Bone Dragon brought me out.”
Ji Yunlang slammed his teacup down. “You brought the Bone Dragon out?”
“No, just its tail. There were no guards at the entrance. I ran out along with its tail!”
Ji Yunlang frowned. “No guards?”
What on earth was Lousha doing?
He stood up, intending to return to the Bafang Region immediately. Jiang Zhou blocked his path. “Are you not going to search for your wife?”
Ji Yunlang walked around him. “No. Even if he dies, it is none of my business.”
The lack of guards at the entrance was a serious matter. Ji Yunlang did not waste any more words on him. Leaving Husheng behind, he stepped out and hurried toward the Bafang Region.
Jiang Zhou kept pace with him, asking along the way, “Why?”
Unable to shake him off, Ji Yunlang replied, “Why what?”
Jiang Zhou said, “The Bafang Region doesn’t need guards.”
Ji Yunlang: “The passage is open right now. If no one guards it, won’t they just come out?”
“Why,” Jiang Zhou asked, “not let them out?”
Ji Yunlang found him baffling. As he pondered how to answer, he ended up laughing at himself. “This is the Celestial Continent. What right do they have to come here?”
Jiang Zhou continued to press, “What does it have to do with you?”
Seeing how persistent he was, Ji Yunlang sighed, looking at him with a deep gaze. “This is all because of you, Senior.”
Jiang Zhou’s heart skipped a beat, though he forced himself to remain calm on the surface. “What does it have to do with me?”
“Exactly,” Ji Yunlang shot him a sidelong glance, “what does it have to do with you?”
Jiang Zhou opened his mouth several times to argue, but his mind and tongue were entirely devoid of words.
After a few attempts, he deflated.
Not only was his throat blocked, but his chest also felt heavily congested.
He decided to hate Ji Yunlang for the next half hour.
As expected, there were indeed no guards at the entrance. With a grim expression, Ji Yunlang stormed into the sand cave of the Eighth Territory Lord.
Upon entering, his eyes were nearly blinded by the sheer absurdity of the scene. Lousha was sitting stark naked on the ground, passionately clinging to a man’s leg. He wore a locking collar around his neck, the other end of which was chained to the leg of a nearby stone table.
The current Eighth Territory Lord, the Bafang Region’s god of mating, was tied to the table like a dog.
Lousha grew many oranges, and oranges were the one thing the Eighth Territory never lacked. Feng Xun sat upright at the table, one of his legs being held by Lousha, as he expressionlessly peeled oranges to feed him.
When Ji Yunlang walked in, Lousha had just taken an orange into his mouth. Seizing the opportunity, he wrapped his lips around Feng Xun’s finger, sliding his upper body up to him. In a tone that no ordinary person could describe, he murmured, The lower part needs it too.
Ji Yunlang’s sword left his hand almost instantly, flying straight toward the god’s sacred treasure.
Lousha ducked out of instinct, but the chain around his neck dragged the stone table down with him. Ji Yunlang’s rage flared. Today, he was absolutely determined to castrate him, drawing another sword to strike.
Jiang Zhou entered the cave after throwing up outside, only to see his disciple furiously wielding a sword, chasing a naked man all over the cave. Behind that man dragged a stone table half the height of a person.
The deeper one went into the sand cave, the wider the space became. The Eighth Territory Lord leaped up and down, spinning and jumping, and his sacred treasure leaped and spun right along with him.
Eventually, Lousha could no longer run. He sprawled flat on the ground in the shape of the character “太” (tai). “You are too cruel, too vicious! Even if you envy this god’s sacred treasure, you can’t.”
Ji Yunlang swung his sword down, and Lousha instinctively covered his crotch with his hands.
Ji Yunlang cleanly sliced off the locking collar around his neck, hauled him up, and demanded, “Where are the guards?”
Lousha: “What guards?”
Ji Yunlang laughed out of sheer anger, delivering a hard kick to his buttocks. “The guards at the exit! Where are your people?”
Lousha lowered his head in thought. “This god doesn’t know about the exit guards. This god has been in bliss for several days, so he let them go on patrol on their own. This god doesn’t care about them…”
Ji Yunlang smacked his head again, rummaging through his cosmos bag. He pulled out one of the garments Hu Ye had given him earlier and threw it over.
Lousha was wearing clothes of the Celestial Continent for the first time, touching the fabric in wonder. Feeling impatient, Ji Yunlang grabbed him by the back of his neck and hauled him out of the sand cave without sparing a glance at the two people remaining inside.
They had to check the sand prison. If the entrance guards were gone, the sand prison guards probably hadn’t stayed either. Once the guards were gone, those Bafang Region prisoners who desperately wanted to enter the Celestial Continent would.
Ji Yunlang did not dare to think further, wishing he could mince Lousha into paste on the spot. Only then did Lousha realize that trouble had brewed. He kicked the sand beneath his feet as he walked. “This god has been too, too happy these past few days. He wouldn’t let this god leave, so this god didn’t leave. This god went nowhere, this god knows nothing…”
“Releasing him was so he could do things for you,” Ji Yunlang gripped his sword tightly, “not for you to.”
“This god knows! It is this god’s fault! This god couldn’t refuse him!” Lousha touched his lips, a blissful smile spreading across his face. “But his kisses are sweeter than all of this god’s other treasures.”
Inside the sand cave, Feng Xun picked up a clean piece of orange peel from the ground, wiping the fingers Lousha had just sucked on.
Jiang Zhou walked over to him, using his foot to nudge Feng Xun’s rumpled pant leg.
Feng Xun, a man who detested men, was indeed exceptionally adept at using them.
Feng Xun suddenly pressed his foot down, stepping on Jiang Zhou’s shoe and dirtying it.
Jiang Zhou immediately drew his blade and sliced off the leg of his chair. Just as Feng Xun tried to stand, Jiang Zhou swept his leg beneath him, sending him tumbling to the ground.
“Back then,” Jiang Zhou said, “did you also use this trick on Hua Jia to save your life?”
Feng Xun remained silent, which Jiang Zhou took as tacit agreement.
Hua Jia would kill anyone, but Feng Xun was the only one he would spare, let alone a Feng Xun who proactively showed him favor.
“You are truly disgusting,” Jiang Zhou said.
“You are even more disgusting.” Feng Xun stood up, not even bother to brush the dust off his clothes as he walked over to sit on the low daybed. “If you had been there that day, Jiang Shishui and Yun Zhengyue would not have died. If you wanted to be a person of the Celestial Continent and leave the Bafang Region for that half-human, half-ghost Young Master Yun, you could have chosen never to return. Since you have chosen to return now.”
Feng Xun’s deep, dark eyes locked onto him. “Jiang Zhou, your sins can only be washed away with the blood of the Celestial Continent.”
Unsurprisingly, the sand prison was empty.
“Aaaaah!”
The Eighth Territory Lord went mad, grabbing Ji Yunlang’s sword and pressing it against his own neck to commit suicide to atone for his sins. Ji Yunlang watched with a cold eye.
Lousha paused. “Are you not going to stop this god?”
Ji Yunlang raised his other sword. “I can help you.”
Clutching the sword, Lousha took off running, heading all the way back to his sand cave. Just as he entered, he collided with Jiang Zhou, who was on his way out. Jiang Zhou smoothly snatched the sword from his hand, stepped out of the sand cave, and left the Eighth Territory. Halfway through, he ran into Ji Yunlang, who had just emerged from the sand prison.
Ji Yunlang was not returning to Lousha’s sand cave. He had to check the other seven territories to see exactly how many people had taken the opportunity to slip into the Celestial Continent.
Jiang Zhou handed the sword back to him, saying, “I will accompany you.”
Ji Yunlang did not say a word; he knew this person would follow him no matter what he said anyway.
If only Jiang Zhou could treat him like this, Ji Yunlang thought. He only wanted Jiang Zhou’s affection, even if it was just a little bit.
Ji Yunlang went to check the Second Territory first. Strangely, both the Second and Third Territory Lords were staying obediently at home.
Sagu Man was speaking with Xin Shi just outside the Second Territory. Neither of them expected Ji Yunlang to arrive so suddenly.
Seeing him, Xin Shi immediately fell to his knees. Sagu Man stood firmly on the spot, his thick and muscular build resembling a wall as he looked down at Ji Yunlang. His gaze then shifted to the man beside him, his eyes flickering slightly when he spotted the large blade on Jiang Zhou’s back.
Sagu Man asked, “How does the Lord find the time to visit?”
Ji Yunlang did not spare him a single glance, stepping right past him into the territory of the Second Territory to inspect if anyone was missing.
Jiang Zhou followed him for a short distance. Once he was certain that only minor lackeys remained inside, he turned to leave.
Hearing his departure, Ji Yunlang glanced back but said nothing.
Jiang Zhou walked to the entrance of the Second Territory. Just as he was about to stop, Sagu Man blocked his path. “Wait a moment.”
Standing before him, Sagu Man gave him a direct up-and-down look. “Are you the one he brought in to replace the Eighth Territory Lord?”
Jiang Zhou remained silent. A grotesque smile stretched across Sagu Man’s scarred face. “Lousha made a massive blunder this time and will soon become a slave. As a newcomer, to have played with him, your luck is quite good.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhou asked, “Do you know me?”
“You are the first kid to grow this quickly. Not only do I know you, but the entire Bafang Region now knows you and that blade of yours.”
Now Jiang Zhou understood. It was because he had proven himself at the entrance not long ago.
Sagu Man’s gaze carried a hint of admiration mixed with disdain as he continued, “A strong person will never be overlooked, no matter where they are. You have only just arrived, yet you are no longer a mere kid; that is your own capability. But following the wrong person is simply foolish.”
Jiang Zhou made no sound. Thinking he did not understand, Sagu Man reached out to squeeze his shoulder.
“New kids always revere the Lord; that is normal. But the Bafang Region of today is no longer what it used to be. Our Lord is not a strong man and cannot lead us into the carnival of slaughter. If you had witnessed the previous Lord, you would know that this Celestial Continent person currently sitting in the Senluo Beast Bone Hall is nothing at all.”
“A carnival… of slaughter,” Jiang Zhou repeated the words. “That is something Hua Jia would do.”
Seeing that he could name the previous Lord, Sagu Man’s eyes narrowed. “You—”
Before he could finish, a wave of agonizing pain struck. Jiang Zhou had drawn his blade at some unknown moment, severing the tendons in both of Sagu Man’s ankles.
Sagu Man let out a cry of agony, unable to stand, and collapsed heavily onto his knees.
Jiang Zhou stepped aside in a timely manner, making it so Sagu Man’s sudden kneel was directed straight at Ji Yunlang, who had just walked out from around the corner.
Approaching them, Ji Yunlang cast a strange glance at Sagu Man, who was suddenly kneeling before him, before turning to Jiang Zhou. “Let us go.”
As the two of them walked away, Xin Shi hurried over to assist Sagu Man, only to be waved off.
Sagu Man stared at Ji Yunlang’s receding figure, letting out a cold laugh. “Let him stay arrogant for a few more days.”
As he knelt, Xin Shi knelt down beside him as well, asking, “Territory Lord, are you really going to cooperate with that Celestial Continent person named Song Yang?”
“What of it?”
Xin Shi said hesitantly, “I don’t understand. This time, someone helped us deal with the guards, so why didn’t we seize this chance to enter the Celestial Continent? Why must we listen to that Song Yang and stay put in the Bafang Region?”
Sagu Man looked toward the horizon, raising his arm to point in the direction of the distant Senluo Beast Bone Hall. “Because he said that as long as I let him return to the Celestial Continent, he would let me occupy the Senluo Beast Bone Hall and become the second Hua Jia.”
The former Lord, Hua Jia, was a god-like existence in the eyes of this generation of Bafang Region inhabitants.
From the moment they gained awareness, Hua Jia had been their leader. He was powerful, beautiful, and intelligent, appearing as though he were born to reside in the Senluo Beast Bone Hall.
When everyone else was still a mere kid, he had already become king.
Hua Jia was bloodthirsty and fond of killing; the Day of Lunar Eclipse was always his stage, and those who died by his hand were countless.
Such a Lord commanded Sagu Man’s absolute submission.
Becoming such a Lord was also Sagu Man’s lifelong pursuit.
Ji Yunlang went on to inspect the other territories. From the territory lords down to their lackeys, more or less everyone had some people running out, which made the quietness of the Second and Third Territories seem increasingly anomalous.
Sagu Man had always possessed a keen interest in the Celestial Continent. For him to remain inactive now, what was he planning?
Suddenly, Ji Yunlang felt a slap on his buttocks. His brow furrowed as he turned around.
Jiang Zhou was raising his hand to deliver a second slap. Seeing him turn back, he locked eyes with him, asking with his gaze: What is it?
At the same time, his hand did not stop, landing the second slap.
It was neither heavy nor light, neither painful nor itchy, but he had slapped his butt! His butt!
“Just now,” Ji Yunlang’s mind flashed with a hundred ways to retaliate, but a gentle smile appeared on his lips first as he asked, “were you harassing me again?”
“Why,” Jiang Zhou kept his hand in place, delivering two more slaps as he looked at him in confusion, “would you say that?”
Then, without waiting for Ji Yunlang to speak, he held him by the shoulders and spun him around to face him. He began patting his arms, his waist, and his thighs like he was dusting him off, saying as he patted, “Those people are dirty. Your body—” has collected a lot of dust.
His voice trailed off.
Fortunately, even though Jiang Zhou did not finish his sentence, Ji Yunlang understood his meaning. Looking down, he saw that his clothes had indeed accumulated a fair amount of dust.
As Jiang Zhou patted the dust away, he thought of how his disciple had accepted his clothes but had still chosen to wear his old garments today.
The first time he saw the clothes he gifted being worn, it had actually been on that naked pervert they had encountered while looking for Feng Xun.
Each of the garments he had gifted Ji Yunlang had been meticulously selected by Jiang Zhou to match his disciple’s form and stature. Now, Ji Yunlang had casually given one away, and had even let that pervert run around with his sword. Though Jiang Zhou showed no expression on his face, he minded it very much in his heart.
Seeing that Ji Yunlang’s clothes were covered in so much dust that patting them would not clean them, he withdrew his hands, took a step back, and said to Ji Yunlang, “Take them off.”
“?”
Ji Yunlang understood that Jiang Zhou had been dusting him off just now, so he could reluctantly forgive the few slaps to his rear. But this single word, “take them off,” threw him into silence once more.
Seeing him stationary, Jiang Zhou added, “They are too dirty. Change into new ones.”
Ji Yunlang rummaged through his cosmos bag. Out of habit, he reached for his red garments again. Just as he pulled them halfway out, Jiang Zhou said, “Change into a different one.”
Ji Yunlang’s movements paused. Without a word, he stuffed them back in and selected from the pile of clothes Jiang Zhou had gifted him instead.
With this, Jiang Zhou fell silent, waiting on the side for him to finish changing.
Ji Yunlang had trained with a sword since childhood, so his shoulders, back, and waist were exceptionally well-developed. When he wore red, he looked vibrant; the bright color made his eyes appear spirited, drawing everyone’s gaze.
The purple garments carried a touch of maturity. The darker shade of the fabric made his eyes look exceptionally beautiful, becoming the most striking and alluring feature on his person.
Jiang Zhou raised a hand to cover his own eyes.
Ji Yunlang had only changed his outer robe and had not exposed any skin. Seeing him like this, he asked in confusion, “What is the meaning of this?”
Jiang Zhou said, “It looks good. I am a little.”
Even with his eyes covered, he still peeked through the gaps in his fingers. Forcing himself to turn around with his back to Ji Yunlang, he added, “…unable to restrain myself.”
Ji Yunlang’s movements stilled for a brief moment. He then calmly lowered his head, continuing to adjust his robes. “Then you must try your best to maintain your restraint. Forced affection is never sweet.”
Jiang Zhou: “Yes.”