His lips moved slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing as his dry throat finally squeezed out two hoarse, low words that seemed to carry the scent of iron rust:
“Yan Xiu.”
“Yan Xiu?” Su Yong’an tilted his little head, turning the name over in his mouth twice,
“Yan Xiu… Yan Xiu… Yup! Good name! Sounds very scholarly!” He commented with a serious air, completely missing the chill in the other’s tone.
Just as he was pondering how to arrange this newly recruited “underling,” the name Yan Xiu struck like a rusted key, violently bursting open a long-forgotten corner deep within his memory!
Click!
The sealed gates swung wide open!
Countless bizarre fragments of memory belonging to the “novel” rushed into Su Yong’s mind like a breached dam: The ethereal Immortal Venerable!
Suppressing the eight desolate realms with a single sword! Cloud robes stained with frost and snow! Sitting high above the nine heavens! Looking down with compassion on the mortal world! Saving all living beings!
And… his favorite character in the book!
At the time, he had just looked at this person without paying attention to anything else, which was why he only realized now that he had been reincarnated into a novel!
Su Yong’an froze completely! His pretty little face went blank for a second, his peach blossom eyes wide and round, his small mouth slightly agape, like a porcelain doll stunned by lightning.
I… wasn’t I reincarnated and forgot to drink Meng Po’s soup? I… transmigrated?! Or did I transmigrate as a baby?!
Then… then this scrawny boy in front of me, who was bullied so miserably,
whose tested aptitude was the trash of all trash… is… is the future super awesome, blindingly handsome, high-and-mighty Ethereal Immortal Venerable?! Yan Xiu?!!
The massive influx of information struck like a meteorite into a small pond, stirring up towering waves in Su Yong’an’s eight-year-old little brain!
He blankly stared at the silent, gloomy, ragged boy with lifeless eyes in front of him,
and tried hard to overlap him with the image from his memory of the novel: cold, ethereal, peerlessly graceful, changing rivers and mountains with a flick of his finger…
Failure! Complete failure! The gap… was bigger than the drop between Yuxu Peak and the chores room at the foot of the mountain!
Great master… was your youth… this miserable?! Truly appalling, hey! Why didn’t the novel mention a single word of it?!
Did it only write about how handsome you were, how strong you were, and how you saved the world?! The little person inside Su Yong’an’s heart roared wildly, feeling scattered in the wind.
However, who was Su Yong’an? He was an extraordinary fellow who could calmly accept not drinking Meng Po’s soup while still in his mother’s womb, and who dared to paint a turtle on an elder’s ritual robe under the noses of the Sect Master and peak masters at age eight!
His nerves were as thick as the foundation of the Mingjian Sect’s grand protective mountain array!
After a brief system crash, his powerful adaptability instantly came online! Transmigrated? Reincarnated as a baby?
The great master turned into trash? Fine! Since he was already here anyway! Since he had already transmigrated! The great master turned into a pitiful little wretch?
That’s just perfect! Hugging his thighs right now… ah no, providing help in times of need, was the absolute best timing!
Once he eventually became the Immortal Venerable, wouldn’t he, Su Yong’an, be able to swagger sideways? Just thinking about it made him a little excited!
Having digested this earth-shattering “fact,” Su Yong’an’s gaze toward Yan Xiu instantly shifted from simple “championing the weak and helping the bullied,”
upgrading to a complex glow mixed with “discovering a treasure,” “initiating the great master cultivation plan,” and “…gee, the great master had it so miserable and pitiful when he was little.”
The dullness on his small face instantly faded, replaced once again by surging vitality, even tinged with a sort of… bizarre excitement, as if he had just struck gold.
He crept closer to Yan Xiu, standing on tiptoe (because although Yan Xiu was scrawny, he was quite a bit taller),
and stretched out a tender, fair finger, poking Yan Xiu’s overly thin cheek with a hint of novelty and exploration, before poking his thin arm.
“Hey! Yan Xiu!” Su Yong’an pouted in dissatisfaction, his voice crisp with a hint of small complaint, “You’re so cold and aloof! You never talk! That’s no good, you won’t make any friends!”
The tactile sensation from his fingertips was icy, carrying the lean skeletal feel unique to a youth.
Yan Xiu was startled by this sudden, somewhat intimate touch, his body trembling violently as he rapidly retreated a step like a frightened beast.
A chilling and vigilant light instantly shot from those dormant eyes, staring fixedly at Su Yong’an as if questioning: What are you trying to do?
Su Yong’an was taken aback by this reaction, his finger still lingering awkwardly in mid-air.
He blinked his pretty, large eyes, looking at Yan Xiu’s heavily guarded appearance, which seemed covered in sharp spikes from head to toe.
The excitement of his “great master cultivation plan” cooled slightly, replaced by a more realistic emotion mixed with heartache and confusion.
Was the great master… this difficult to deal with when he was little? Even more guarded than the hardest-to-tame Silver Moon Wolf King from the back mountain!
Yan Xiu tightly pressed his pale, thin lips, locking his deep, pool-like eyes onto Su Yong’an, complex undercurrents surging within them.
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he finally spoke again, his voice even hoarser and lower than before, carrying a cold, sharp skepticism akin to self-derision:
“Why?”
“Huh?” Su Yong’an didn’t react in time.
“Why bring me back?” Yan Xiu bit out word by word, every syllable like shards of ice squeezed from between his teeth.
“They said I have no affinity for the Great Dao. I… cannot give you any benefits.”
His gaze swept over Su Yong’an’s expensive cloud-patterned brocade robe, then swept over the exquisite, spirit-rich courtyard before them.
Finally, it fell back onto Su Yong’an’s flawless, pretty face. In that gaze was unmasked inferiority, suspicion, and a kind of desperately clear-headed realism.
He looked as though he were waiting for a verdict a reason sufficient to make him thoroughly give up, or utterly deprave.
Su Yong’an was momentarily dumbfounded by the question. Why did he bring him back?
At the time, his head had just overheated, and he couldn’t bear seeing him bullied! He thought he looked nice… oh wait! He couldn’t say that!
Now that he knew he was the future great master, of course he wanted to hug his thighs, and besides, he looked really good, with those sword-like brows and starry eyes… oh, it seemed he couldn’t say that either!
His little brain spun at high speed, swaying wildly between “telling the truth” and “finding a high-sounding reason.”
In the end, the instinct of his mouth being faster than his brain took absolute supremacy!
Under Yan Xiu’s icy, scrutinizing gaze that seemed capable of piercing through everything, Su Yong’an’s brain short-circuited.
With his mouth wide open, an earth-shattering truth laden with heavy “face-con” vibes popped out crisply, brightly, and righteously:
“Because you’re good-looking!”
The air froze once more.
On Yan Xiu’s cold, lifeless face, carved as though from millennia of glacier ice, the first clear crack appeared.
It was as if he had heard some absurdly ridiculous joke, his deep pool-like eyes widening sharply.
The complex emotions surging within them were instantly replaced by extreme astonishment and… absurdity.
He looked as though he were truly and carefully sizing up this pretty little toddler for the first time.
Good-looking?
Just because of that?
What on earth… does this young master have in his head? Immortal nectar and jade dew, or cotton candy?
In this world of cultivation where the law of the jungle prevailed and talent was supreme, would he bring someone destined to be trash, someone who would bring trouble, back to his own peak simply because a man no, a boy was “good-looking”?
Absurd! Ridiculous! Naive! Simply… utterly foolish!
A trace of faint, icy laughter carrying a thick layer of sarcasm involuntarily escaped from Yan Xiu’s tightly pressed lips.
The laughter was very light, yet it cut across glass like an ice pick, carrying a bone-deep chill and mockery.
“Heh…”
The look he gave Su Yong’an instantly shifted from cold scrutiny.
To looking at a thoroughly spoiled, worldly-ignorant… troublesome brat.
An… elite young master who acted purely on whim and was naive to the point of utter stupidity.
So, it was just childish whim. A… boring, impulsive game.
The crack in his heart that had been forcibly torn open was instantly covered by a thicker layer of ice.
Even colder and harder than before. He no longer looked at Su Yong’an, instead turning his head slightly to shrink himself back into that indestructible shell that isolated everything else.
The strap of his tattered bundle was gripped tightly in his hand.
Su Yong’an’s pretty face stiffened at Yan Xiu’s chuckle and the look that treated him like a fool, belatedly realizing what “tiger-and-wolf words” he had just uttered.
His fair cheeks instantly flushed crimson, red all the way to the tips of his ears! Like a boiled little shrimp!
“I… I didn’t mean that!” He waved his hands frantically in an attempt to salvage the situation, his pretty eyes full of annoyance and panic.
“I mean… um… you… you have a great disposition! Right! A unique disposition! You can tell at a glance you’re not meant to stay in a shallow pond! You’ll achieve great things in the future! My, Su Yong’an’s, eye for talent is the sharpest! Really!” He puffed out his small chest hard, trying to increase his persuasiveness.
However, Yan Xiu merely stood there in silence like a lifeless ice sculpture, turning a deaf ear to his explanation.
That silent rejection and the low pressure radiating from him that said stay away from me expressed his attitude far more clearly than any words could.
Su Yong’an watched his impervious demeanor, his pretty face collapsing like a deflated ball.
He scratched his head in frustration and muttered softly, “Fine, fine… cold and aloof it is then… anyway, there’s a long time ahead…”
Just as he was debating whether to forcibly drag the person into the courtyard or go report to his parents first, a commotion and voices suddenly traveled from afar.
Intermingled with them was his father Su’s signature, slightly jubilant yet forcibly restrained voice:
“Hahaha! Nephew Zhimian, this way please! From now on, Yuxu Peak is your home! Don’t stand on ceremony at all! That kid Yong’an… huh?”
Su Lan’s hearty laughter cut off abruptly when he saw the bizarre standoff at his own courtyard entrance.
There stood his lawless son Su Yong’an, looking like a defeated little rooster, standing listlessly below the steps with a face full of frustration.
And right beside him stood a scrawny boy in tattered clothes, head lowered, radiating an icy aura of keep strangers away.
Meanwhile, standing beside Su Lan was a tall, gentle-tempered, and refined young man in moon-white brocade robes none other than the supreme fire-root genius who had voluntarily requested to join Yuxu Peak, Lin Zhimian.
Lin Zhimian’s gaze immediately fell upon the impossibly pretty little toddler at the foot of the steps.
Upon seeing Su Yong’an’s snow-white, tender little face slightly puffed up with vexation.
A flash of unmasked, pure admiration instantly lit up his calm pupils, the corners of his lips curling up slightly of their own accord.
Su Yong’an also saw his father and the handsome, understated young man with extraordinary bearing beside him.
He blinked his eyes, temporarily pushing the “hard nut to crack” Yan Xiu to the back of his mind as he curiously sized up Lin Zhimian.
Sensing Lin Zhimian’s gentle gaze full of clear goodwill falling upon him, Su Yong’an’s slight frustration instantly vanished into thin air.
His pretty face immediately bloomed with a brilliant, slightly smug smile, and he subconsciously puffed out his chest a little more.
See? This is how a normal person should react when seeing this genius beauty-boy! That ice-cube face Yan Xiu must have something wrong with his aesthetic sense!
Su Lan looked at the bizarre “tripolar” standoff at the door one ice chunk (Yan Xiu), one silly happy mischievous monkey of a son (Su Yong’an), and one voluntarily defected, halo-toting top-tier commodity (Lin Zhimian) and felt his head grow twice its size.
He cleared his throat, attempting to break the deadlock:
“Ahem! Well… Yong’an, come over here! Let me introduce you, this is Senior Brother Lin Zhimian!
From now on, he’s a member of our Yuxu Peak! Nephew Zhimian, this is my unworthy son Su Yong’an, ahem… somewhat unruly, please excuse his behavior.”
Su Yong’an immediately bounced over to Lin Zhimian like a cheerful little bird, lifting his small face with a blindingly brilliant smile:
“Hello, Senior Brother Lin! My name is Su Yong’an! Welcome to Yuxu Peak!” That enthusiastic attitude was practically night-and-day compared to how he had treated Yan Xiu just moments before.
Lin Zhimian looked at the flawless, pretty little face close at hand and listened to that crisp, pleasant voice, feeling as though his heartstrings had been lightly brushed by a soft feather.
He smiled gently, cupping his hands in return as his clear, pleasant voice sounded:
“Hello, Junior Brother Su, please take care of me from now on.” His attitude was humble, neither servile nor arrogant, making him feel as refreshing as a spring breeze.
Su Yong’an’s favorability meter for this new, handsome, and polite (at least on the surface) senior brother maxed out instantly!
He wanted to say something more, but his peripheral vision caught sight of Yan Xiu standing silently in the shadows of the corner, as though forgotten by the entire world.
Yan Xiu still kept his head lowered, his withered yellow hair masking his expression.
Yet the moment Su Yong’an looked over, he seemed to shift slightly, hiding himself deeper into the shadow of the courtyard wall.
That scrawny figure, beneath the bright sunlight of Yuxu Peak and against the backdrop of Lin Zhimian’s jade-like gentle aura, appeared even more desolate, icy, and out of place.
Su Yong’an felt a slight thud in his heart. The excitement and smugness sparked earlier by Lin Zhimian’s arrival deflated like a popped balloon.
He looked at the gently smiling, charismatic Lin Zhimian, and then looked at Yan Xiu in the corner, who was as silent as a stone and radiated an aura of keeping strangers away…
One was the moon in the sky, the other was dust in the dirt.
One was a supreme genius who voluntarily defected, the other was “trash” he had forcibly “picked up.”
Su Yong’an’s pretty face puckered up, feeling for the first time an emotion known as “tricky.”
Did his happy life as the “little tyrant” of Yuxu Peak seem… about to get complicated?
[Babies, it feels like the plot ideas for this novel are getting richer. Readers who prefer the protagonist-centric dynamic can rest assured, this author will definitely not engage in brainless angst.