Completely dumbfounded, Wen Xu never expected that he would end up tumbling right onto Yu Qinghan. Fearing the other would become angry, he didn’t even care about his slightly aching chin as he hurriedly used his hands to push himself up by the edge of the recliner.
“Apologies, Shizun. This disciple’s legs momentarily went numb…”
“Shizun? Little Junior Brother? What on earth are you two doing?”
A sudden voice interrupted Wen Xu’s words and brought his movements to an abrupt halt.
Hearing the voice, the two of them turned their heads in unison to see Yuan Xiuzhu standing in shock behind the beaded curtain.
He had originally come to see Shizun regarding a matter, figuring he could conveniently check on how his little junior brother was getting along here.
Yet he never imagined that the moment he stepped inside, he would witness such a scene: Shizun resting upon the recliner, the little junior brother draped over Shizun’s body, their posture intimate and the distance between them vanishingly close.
Seeing the look of utter shock on Yuan Xiuzhu’s face and realizing he might have misunderstood, Wen Xu scrambled to his feet in a hurry and explained, “Senior Brother Xiuzhu, please do not misunderstand! It’s just that my legs went numb by accident, so I tripped and fell onto Shizun. We weren’t doing anything at all!”
“There is an old saying: the lady doth protest too much—the more flustered your explanation, the more it shows you have a guilty conscience.” Lying there unmoving, Yu Qinghan merely adjusted the robes that had been disheveled by Wen Xu’s weight before lifting his gaze toward Yuan Xiuzhu and asking in a cold tone, “What is it?”
Sensing that he might simply be overthinking things, Yuan Xiuzhu snapped back to his senses and reported respectfully, “Shizun, because of what happened to Ah-Xu earlier, you instructed the left and right protectors to teach the Xuanshuang Sect a lesson. This provoked intense dissatisfaction from their sect leader, Ye Xuanxuan, who has now sent a challenge letter asking Shizun to meet him at the Five Fingers Peak for a duel to the death.”
With that, he pulled an envelope from inside his robes and handed it over to Yu Qinghan.
“Five Fingers Peak?!” Hearing that name, Wen Xu couldn’t help thinking it sounded suspiciously like the place where the Great Sage was pinned down under the mountain in Journey to the West. Upon a second thought, however, he remembered that the one in the story was called the Five Fingers Mountain.
His overreaction struck Yu Qinghan as rather peculiar.
“Has Ah-Xu been to Five Fingers Peak before?”
Wen Xu immediately shook his head with a smile. “No, no! This disciple certainly has never been to Five Fingers Peak; I merely thought the name sounded quite distinctive—it must be a wonderful place!”
Yu Qinghan stated coldly, “It’s a barren stretch where not even a single blade of grass grows. What kind of wonderful place is that?”
“Shizun, what should we do about this challenge…” Yuan Xiuzhu still held the letter in his grip.
Without even glancing at it, Yu Qinghan replied with a look of utter disdain, “Ignore him. Ye Xuanxuan is nothing more than a barking dog, capable of doing nothing but howling everywhere. However he delivered that letter to you, send it right back the exact same way.”
“Understood, Shizun; this disciple comprehends.”
Yuan Xiuzhu nodded, casting a hesitant, lingering look toward Wen Xu.
Giving him a cold glance, Yu Qinghan adopted an attitude completely different from the one he showed Wen Xu. “Anything else?”
“…Nothing more.”
No matter how majestic and impressive Yu Qinghan’s disciples appeared outside, before their Shizun, they never dared utter a single extra word.
Figuring he could simply question his little junior brother later tonight, Yuan Xiuzhu turned and prepared to take his leave.
“Senior Brother, wait for me! I’ll go back with you!” Wen Xu hurriedly packed up the food box. Realizing that Yu Qinghan didn’t particularly care for these sweets anyway, rather than leaving them here to go to waste, he might as well take them back and eat them himself.
“Ah-Xu, where are you going?” Yu Qinghan called out, stopping him in his tracks.
“Eh?” Wen Xu froze. “Didn’t you say that today ends here, Shizun, and that I should come back tomorrow? Since Senior Brother is here, I can just leave together with him.”
Feiyu Palace was situated at the highest point of the entire Wuji Sect. Although Wen Xu’s residence wasn’t terribly far away, for someone with a cultivation level practically sitting at zero, climbing up here was equivalent to scaling a small hill.
The original host’s physique was quite frail, leaving him utterly exhausted just from the morning trek up.
Now that Yuan Xiuzhu was right here, hitching a “free ride” would be ideal; with his abilities, carrying him back to Mingyue Cottage would be a breeze.
Lost in his own thoughts, Yu Qinghan furrowed his brow slightly, his gaze dark yet carrying a trace of chilling aloofness.
After a brief moment, Yu Qinghan parted his lips, his tone remaining cool, though the lingering vexation in his heart had already evaporated without a trace.
“Master has changed his mind. The matter from before is not yet concluded; stay right here and continue.”
The matter from before? What matter? Continue what?
Yuan Xiuzhu was filled with a swirl of confusion, yet he had no choice but to depart immediately, knowing that lingering any longer would only incur Shizun’s wrath.
Once again, the vast expanse of Feiyu Palace was left with only Wen Xu and Yu Qinghan.
“Resume.”
“Resume what?” Wen Xu looked utterly blank.
Yu Qinghan pointed toward his own legs. “Continue the leg massage.”
“Ugh…” Wen Xu parted his lips, speaking with cautious hesitation. “Shizun isn’t worried that this disciple might accidentally touch somewhere I shouldn’t again, are you?”
Yu Qinghan’s gaze instantly chilled.
Dropping to his knees on the spot, Wen Xu placed both hands on Yu Qinghan’s legs, began kneading them, and offered a smiling guarantee. “This disciple guarantees I will never touch anything I shouldn’t this time! I swear it in the name of Grandpa Mao!”
A flicker of puzzlement crossed Yu Qinghan’s eyes. After a brief silence, he asked, “Who is Grandpa Mao?”
Was there someone surnamed Mao in the sect?
“Er…” Wen Xu choked up instantly, stammering, “Grandpa Mao is… just Grandpa Mao.”
Yu Qinghan: “???”
It sounded like an explanation, yet it explained absolutely nothing.
The entire morning slipped away amid Wen Xu’s continuous leg-kneading.
He decided that this Yu Qinghan was truly something else the moment he demanded a leg massage, he made him keep going indefinitely without ever calling a halt. His fingers were practically aching to the point of breaking, not to mention his knees from kneeling on the floor, which were bound to be bruised red by now.
Puckering his lips in mild grievance, Wen Xu massaged his own fingers before rubbing his knees, his large, glistening, beautiful eyes repeatedly casting sidelong glances at the eyes-closed Yu Qinghan.
Is he actually asleep, or is he just pretending?
He desperately wanted to slack off and catch a quick nap himself, especially since that nightmare last night had left him chronically sleep-deprived.
Although Yu Qinghan kept his eyes shut the entire time, his senses remained fully active, allowing him to clearly perceive his little disciple’s gaze lingering steadily upon his face.
The little fellow undoubtedly assumed he had fallen asleep, which was why he was taking such blatant liberties to steal glances at him.
He could even sense the little disciple gradually creeping closer, the warm puffs of his breath nearly brushing against his skin.
Suddenly overtaken by a mischievous impulse, Yu Qinghan snapped his eyes open without the slightest warning.
“What are you trying to do? Wanting to steal a kiss from Master?”
Startled out of his wits, Wen Xu tumbled straight backward onto his rear. Hearing Yu Qinghan’s accusation, he shook his head frantically, resembling a rattling drum.
“No, no! How could this disciple ever dare harbor such a bold thought!”
One had to hand it to him this snake of a Shizun seemed a bit overly confident. First claiming he was confessing his romantic devotion, and now accusing him of trying to steal a kiss.
Please! He, Wen Xu, was a straight man! A straight man harder than reinforced steel! How on earth would he ever want to steal a kiss from another man, no matter how handsome that man happened to be?!
Of course, Yu Qinghan didn’t quite fit the textbook definition of a standard narcissist, since typical narcissists were merely ordinary yet overly confident.
Given Yu Qinghan’s peerless looks and status, he was far from ordinary; if anything, it was Wen Xu who felt unworthy standing beside him.
“Do you really think Master is completely oblivious? You have been staring intently at me the entire time, and thinking I had fallen asleep with my eyes closed, you decided to seize the opportunity to sneak a kiss!”
With an icy gaze and a resolute tone, Yu Qinghan spoke as though stating an undeniable truth.