The voice that made people miserable rang out once again.
Rong Xuanhe took a deep breath. “Why? You haven’t even given me any rewards!”
Other people’s systems always gave plenty of rich rewards, you know.
Affection points have been rewarded. Please check them in time, Host.
“?” Rong Xuanhe said speechlessly, “What use do I have for this junk?”
He wasn’t actually involved in a romantic relationship with Su Wenchuan.
With that thought, Rong Xuanhe stubbornly added, though his heart was soft: “Bring up the affection points interface so I can see it. Can I save up points to exchange for a cheat or something?”
The system obediently opened the interface, and a pink screen popped up, floating in mid-air.
Affection points: 641/1000
It was only six hundred. Wait, how much?
Six hundred and forty-one!
Rong Xuanhe’s pupils practically dilated in shock.
What on earth? They had only known each other for two days, and they already had such a deep emotional foundation?
“Your tasks give this much?”
He asked dumbfoundedly.
Completing a regular task rewards 50 affection points.
“I knew it. Wait, only fifty?” Rong Xuanhe pointed at the screen with a trembling hand, raising his voice several notches. “Are you telling me that after knowing him for just one night, my affection points are already over five hundred and ninety? Isn’t that…”
Too ambiguous.
He steadied his mind and tried to reason with the system: “Normal people who know each other for two days become friends at best; you can’t even call that sharing souls. He and I haven’t gone through life and death together, nor have we experienced any bridge effect. Isn’t your affection point calculation a bit unscientific?”
Impossible. The system scoring is strictly fair and impartial.
“Impartial? Then tell me, is his performance affectionate, or is my performance deeply devoted?”
Rong Xuanhe closed his eyes. “Look at that murderous look of his. I suspect killing me would just be a casual task for him. Where on earth is the affection? Have you ever seen people date?”
The system fell silent.
Recalling his experiences from yesterday until today, the young man felt a nameless fire flare up.
He continued to interrogate it: “Don’t you feel guilty when issuing tasks? Do you get a sense of achievement from forcefully shoving two unfamiliar people together? Can you disregard a host’s life and death just to complete a task? If I sit on his lap right now, he’ll toss me right off. Do you believe me?”
The system remained silent.
Knowing it was in the wrong, forcing such tasks through while facing Su Wenchuan’s cold expression, it realized that succeeding was pure luck while failing meant punishment, and either way, Rong Xuanhe was the one getting the short end of the stick.
Hearing that the system wouldn’t speak, Rong Xuanhe simply let desperation drive him to boldness: “Since I’ll be punished anyway, why don’t I just sit right on his lap now, and then he can throw me off the carriage so we can crash and die together!”
With that, the young man actually stood up.
Su Wenchuan raised his eyes slightly, a chilly gaze falling upon his face without speaking immediately.
The young man regretted standing up the moment he did it, but the words were already out; backing down now would make it impossible for him to save face.
He mustered his courage to lock gazes with Su Wenchuan for two seconds, then stiffened his neck and marched toward the other’s lap with a martyr’s resolve.
With his eyes closed, getting thrown out probably wouldn’t be too terrifying, right?
Just a second before he sat down, the system suddenly spoke up.
Following system judgment, an error was found in the data and has been uploaded to headquarters in a timely manner. Tasks are temporarily suspended during this period.
Rong Xuanhe instantly snapped his eyes open.
However, it was already too late. His body fell downward with momentum, crashing squarely into Su Wenchuan’s embrace.
The carriage jolted, and the young man instinctively clutched Su Wenchuan’s lapels, nearly toppling backward.
Damn system, it ambushed him!
Rong Xuanhe was so angry his teeth itched. A single hand wrapped around his waist, halting his backward tilt.
As he looked up, the first thing that entered his sight was the man’s chiseled jaw, followed by thin lips, a high nose bridge, and finally those cold, pale brown eyes.
The two maintained this posture for a few seconds, the atmosphere inside the carriage growing visibly more stagnant by the second. Rong Xuanhe opened his mouth: “I…”
He could practically feel killing intent emanating from the hand resting on his waist.
Compared to having his neck snapped, getting thrown out felt much gentler.
The young man closed his eyes and threw caution to the wind: “I want to grow closer to my husband!”
Absolute silence.
The moment those words left his mouth, Rong Xuanhe felt completely relaxed.
No more worrying about a confused transmigration, no more fretting over absurd system tasks, and no longer fearing the murderous and volatile god.
Fine, haha.
What a relief.
He let out a long sigh, preparing to welcome the sensation of free fall.
One second, two seconds, three seconds. A full ten seconds passed without the slightest movement.
?
Rong Xuanhe cautiously opened his eyes.
He saw Su Wenchuan looking at him with a complex expression. The hand was still resting on his lower back, and the man hadn’t thrown him out as he wished.
Stared at like this, Rong Xuanhe’s face burned. He awkwardly muttered, “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
Remaining silent like this made him look very foolish.
Su Wenchuan stared at him heavily for a long time before spelling it out word by word: “How do you want to grow closer?”
The hot potato was thrown right back at him.
Rong Xuanhe froze, his face rapidly turning red.
How could he possibly dare to say it? He had just been throwing caution to the wind, planning to perish together with the system.
Yet the system chose neither early nor late, speaking up precisely at the moment he was about to sit down, playing a solid trick on him.
Stared at by those pale brown eyes, sweat nearly beaded on the young man’s temples. He stammered: “Just sitting here. Is that okay?”
Would this count as completing the task for him? If not, wouldn’t he be taking a massive loss?
Sitting stiffly on Su Wenchuan’s lap, the young man had eyes that couldn’t conceal his thoughts. He shifted them around guiltily, then stole a peek at the other person, clearly wearing unmasked fear on his face yet stubbornly refusing to move.
It made people unable to guess what he was thinking.
Su Wenchuan stared at him for a long while before speaking flatly: “Get down.”
“Oh.”
Rong Xuanhe stood up as told, a quiet wave of relief washing over him.
The tone was calm; did that mean this behavior hadn’t enraged the murderous god?
However, his appearance seemed to be misinterpreted as disappointment by the person beside him. Su Wenchuan paused, then added: “Matters of intimacy can wait until we return.”
Rong Xuanhe’s eyelashes trembled, his fingers curling involuntarily: “Huh?”
Damn it, why was there still a death by a thousand cuts waiting for him?
By then, the Sweet Pet System might issue even more outrageous tasks. Well, this was fantastic, he had truly dug a pit and jumped right into it.
With a stiff expression, the young man hated himself for the first time for having such a loose tongue.
“Actually, it doesn’t need to be that close.” He offered an awkward, ingratiating bargain. “I was just afraid you would abandon me.”
Su Wenchuan made a stopping gesture, forcing Rong Xuanhe to trail off awkwardly. He muttered inwardly, did even his talking find a way to annoy people?
Yet he quickly realized he had guessed wrong.
Because a few breaths later, a rhythmic tapping sound came from the window: tap, tap.
Rong Xuanhe instinctively turned his head, wanting to ask who it was, before suddenly realizing that they were in the sky, so who was knocking on the window?
A sense of horror instantly crawled up his spine, and Rong Xuanhe gasped sharply, immediately looking toward Su Wenchuan.
Yet there was no special expression on Su Wenchuan’s face, not even surprise.
He reached out and pulled back the curtain. Amid swirling clouds, a youthful boy resembling a child was leaning against the window, curiously peeking inside.
“Venerable One.” Seeing Su Wenchuan open the window, the boy straightened up and offered a salute, his gaze falling onto Rong Xuanhe: “Could this person be…”
Su Wenchuan interrupted coldly: “Do not ask about things you shouldn’t.”
The boy quickly stopped, tactfully changing the subject: “The Venerable One suddenly came out of seclusion, so the sect did not anticipate it and failed to prepare in advance. Now that the Venerable One is returning to the mountain, the sect has specially sent me to meet you.”
He looked utterly in awe of Su Wenchuan. After Su Wenchuan nodded slightly, the boy consciously moved to the front of the carriage to drive the spiritual horses.
Rong Xuanhe noticed the title the boy used for Su Wenchuan: Venerable One.
It sounded quite formidable.
And what sect was “the sect”? Was it the cultivation sect Su Wenchuan belonged to?
Still, with Su Wenchuan right in front of him, he couldn’t ask too many questions; after all, if this man wanted to talk, he would have told him yesterday. As things stood, aside from Su Wenchuan’s name, he knew almost nothing.
Thinking of this, Rong Xuanhe couldn’t help worrying a bit about his own life.
Modern people knew better than to follow strangers around casually, but this was the cultivation world; whether you could follow someone was truly out of your control. Refuse one second, and the next second you might find yourself finely minced into meat paste.
Speaking of which, did the cultivation world have laws or anything of the sort?
He asked the system worriedly: “Doubao, doesn’t the cultivation world apply human laws?”
This system is not called Doubao. Furthermore, there are explicit public covenants in the cultivation world. Do you require me to interpret them line by line?
“Let’s hear it.”
Rong Xuanhe put on an attitude of eager listening.
To survive and ensure his personal safety, he was determined to pivot into becoming a magic user.
Two minutes later.
The young man passed out in an ocean of learning.
He slumped crookedly against the carriage wall, his face turned to one side, his chest rising and falling lightly with shallow breaths, one hand hanging limply by his side as though it might slip off at any moment.
A hand reached over, gently draping a brocade quilt across him.
Sensing it, Rong Xuanhe sleepily tried to grope for that hand. Su Wenchuan pulled his hand back, but the young man’s hand chased after it like a cat unable to resist being teased. Upon touching it, he firmly clasped that hand between both of his own.
He rubbed his warm cheek against the back of the hand, then buried his face into it, falling into a deep sleep while clutching Su Wenchuan’s hand.
The man lowered his head and watched for a while, ultimately not pulling his hand back.
Rong Xuanhe in his dream felt something tickle him, followed by a light chuckle.
When he woke up, there wasn’t a single soul in the carriage besides himself.
He opened the carriage door, as thankfully the spiritual horses and the boy were still there, though the surroundings looked like a desolate wilderness, appearing highly suspicious.
The boy was sitting cross-legged on the front driver’s platform, supporting his chin with one hand and stroking the horse’s back absentmindedly.
Hearing movement, he turned his head and said to Rong Xuanhe, “Young Master is awake? Do not worry, the Venerable One went to scout a nearby town and will be back shortly.”
Rong Xuanhe nodded, but didn’t shrink back inside.
He stared at the boy.
The boy stared back at him.
After three seconds of eye contact, the boy smiled and said, “If Young Master has anything to ask, feel free to speak. If I know, I will tell you everything.”
“Then I really will ask.”
Rong Xuanhe immediately seized the opportunity: “What sect does your Venerable Lord belong to? Is this the road back to your sect?”
The boy replied, “The Venerable Lord is the master of Cangyi Mountain, and this road leads back to the mountain.”
An unfamiliar place name.
Rong Xuanhe asked again, “Is his cultivation very high?”
“Naturally.” Mentioning this, a look of pride rose on the boy’s face: “The Venerable Lord has reached near perfection in the way of the sword. Across both our clan and the entire world, there are hardly a few sword cultivators more formidable than him.”
A sword cultivator?
Catching the keyword, Rong Xuanhe couldn’t help blurting out: “Isn’t it said that sword cultivators are very poor and honest? Why did he visit a pleasure house and drop tens of thousands of spiritual stones right off the bat? Has he always been this wild?”
The boy froze, his eyes widening: “Visit a pleasure house?”
Rong Xuanhe said matter-of-factly: “Yes.”
The boy opened his mouth, taking quite a while to find his voice: “Young Master, you must have misunderstood. The Venerable Lord has always been self-disciplined and would never visit such dusty, dissolute places.”
Rong Xuanhe pointed at himself: “Then how did I get here? Was I birthed by him?”
The boy was at a loss for words, looking at him with a complex expression as he deliberated: “The Venerable Lord surely had a reason, but the Venerable Lord is definitely not a dissolute profligate.”
“He has a Dao companion.”
Rong Xuanhe froze in place.