“You slept with the Sect Leader?”
Lu Jijun had grown up in the Qingheng Sect and was long accustomed to Elder Jueya’s nagging about marriage. To the outside world, Wenren Qi was an immortal rumored to be on the verge of ascending to godhood, but he was neither respectful to the elderly nor protective of the young. He was blunt and showed no deference to his seniors.
He did not even care that his disciple was standing right beside him. When he spoke, his thin lips could release words toxic enough to kill. “If I remember correctly, back then, your child was grown and you still had not managed to secure a formal status.”
Lu Jijun’s eyes widened in shock amidst Elder Lan Que’s thunderous coughing. Clearly, this was the first time he had heard of this.
The mountain gate supervisor, who was slightly tipsy, replied, “That is not true. It was just that the lady felt a legal husband was better back then.”
Lu Jijun regretted not bringing melon seeds. In such an atmosphere, a drink would have been even more pleasant.
Wenren Qi rose. Gold threads shimmered on his dark cyan outer robe. His long, cascading hair looked simple, but Lu Jijun had known since childhood that it took two hours to tie that tail braid. It appeared plain on the surface, but it was anything but. His master was surprisingly fastidious; if the sect ever went bankrupt, he could probably make a living with his handicraft skills down the mountain.
“Heh, so you truly had no formal status.”
After Lu Jijun’s parents died, he was sent to the Qingheng Sect by their mutual friends. Back then, Wenren Qi looked much as he did today: pale, seemingly troubled by a cultivation error, and in a foul mood. His dislike for children was even stronger then, and he had told his friend to take the child away.
“I am not taking disciples,” Wenren Qi had said.
“If you will not take him, then he is mine,” Wen Jinggen said. He had a gentle personality and, at least on the surface, was much easier to talk to than Wenren Qi. “Among my disciples, I have none with such talent.”
Wenren Qi looked every bit the immortal, yet the palace he lived in was too empty, and the waterfall in the mountains behind it only made the silence more profound. At the time, Lu Jijun was very obedient and believed Wenren Qi was a reliable senior, just as his parents had said. He could not have imagined that the man was incredibly foul mouthed and did not even bother to hide it.
“It is just that you are not picky,” Wenren Qi had added.
Those words had a great impact on the young Lu Jijun. Only later did he realize that such remarks were common for his master.
At this moment, Wenren Qi and Elder Jueya were arguing across the room. What immortals? Even mortals were not this crude.
“What do you mean by that, boy? Why did the heavenly lightning not strike you dumb?”
“Did I hit a sore spot?”
Wenren Qi was losing interest. He was still recalling the appearance of the closed door disciple, regretting that he had not taken a closer look that day. Aside from the fragments of their intimacy, his only clear memory was that the flute music had been good. “I was wondering why the old man said I had no aunt in law. It turns out she was just playing with you, Uncle.”
Lan Que looked as if he were going to cough up a lung. “Enough. Stop fighting. Senior Brother, calm down. I have some Heart Clearing Pills here.”
“I will be provoked to death by this bastard sooner or later!” Elder Jueya was supported by Wang Qian as he left. He looked back every three steps, not forgetting to shout a threat: “Do not get too cocky! If you ever capsize and get played by someone, I will definitely find someone to play music at the celebration!”
“Even playing funeral music would be fine,” Wenren Qi began, but he was interrupted by Lan Que. “Enough, Wenren Qi. You seem to be in a bad mood lately.”
Lu Jijun silently thought that he was never in a good mood. He had been back at the sect for a few days. Wenren Qi had asked him to handle a matter, and although Lu Jijun had received a reply from Mai Li, he did not report back to his master immediately. After all, finishing a task too quickly was not always a good thing; that was Lu Jijun’s way of survival. If his master thought he was being perfunctory, he would be punished.
Five days had passed, and only today did Lu Jijun return with that bundle to tell Wenren Qi who the owner of the clothes was.
In their century as master and disciple, although Wenren Qi claimed not to take disciples after Lu Jijun, his name was associated with many registered disciples pushed onto him by Elder Jueya. If Cen Moyu was the closed door disciple, then Lu Jijun could be considered the opening disciple.
Wenren Qi did not answer. Lan Que asked with a smile, “Why did you ask Lu Jijun to find Cen Moyu?”
“He has been a closed door disciple for nearly a hundred years. Everyone in the sect knows him except you.”
Wenren Qi was the Sect Leader, so it was normal for him not to go out. His residence was at the highest point, far from the mountain gate. Lan Que was not so angry that he forgot to think; perhaps once Jueya calmed down, he would also realize something was wrong with Wenren Qi.
If he remembered correctly, the very day after Wenren Qi failed his ascension, he had sent disciples to patrol the mountain as if searching for something. Even the Internal Affairs Hall managed by Lan Que had not been spared.
Lan Que was always smiling. Although his hair was not as white as Jueya’s, it was graying. Having lived for so long, his physical body was approaching decay, and he knew his time was limited. He and Jueya had watched Wenren Qi grow up. They knew he was trapped in the past, in the memory of his elder brother dying in the Abyss of Delusion.
Their childhood friend, Wen Jinggen, had also become a sect leader. He had a good relationship with his Daoist companion and had to educate his children and disciples. With so many sect affairs, it was impossible for them to chat as they did in their youth.
If Wenren Cheng were still alive, the heavy burden of the sect would naturally be carried by the elder brother, and Wenren Qi would not have to be trapped here. The current Demon Lord of the Abyss of Delusion, Kuai Ou, was eyeing the Wheel of Tracing Years greedily. Without Wenren Qi, the Qingheng Sect would be too easy to breach.
The new generation, represented by Lu Jijun, still needed more training before they could ascend. In this period of transition, nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
No one spoke. The incense in the burner curled upward, and the sound of the waterfall in the distance felt increasingly lonely. Finally, Lu Jijun asked, “Master, you and Cen Moyu?”
He frequently went down the mountain and had seen Cen Moyu many times. The disciples guarding the gate were all exceptionally good looking, even if they had no talent for cultivation. Everyone loves beauty; even Lu Jijun, who was used to that innocent face at the mountain gate, had felt a bit out of place these past few days. Everywhere he went, people were discussing the gate guarding disciple who had returned to his hometown for a shotgun wedding.
With Cen Moyu’s appearance, where would he get a wife? He was more suited to being someone’s wife. Not only Lu Jijun suspected this; some even wondered if the one about to give birth was actually Cen Moyu. Over the years, sons of elders from great sects had proposed to Cen Moyu, but the beautiful disciple at the gate had always refused on the grounds that his heart belonged to another.
Could that be the girl from his hometown?
There were only the three of them present. Wenren Qi was still hesitating whether to speak. Lan Que, having watched him grow up, understood him well. “I will not tell Senior Brother Jueya.”
Lu Jijun thought that was very tactful. He also hurried to promise: “I swear I will keep this secret to the grave.”
The hall was empty. Wenren Qi reached out, and the bundle on the table some distance away flew into his hand. There was no longer the scent of that little demon on the clothes, but Wenren Qi’s body still remembered it. It was a light fragrance, similar to the incense in his own palace. It was as if Cen Moyu had once lived here in seclusion, a secret kept by Wenren Qi.
He concealed the fact that Cen Moyu had a demon body that night. He hid the memory of the blue wings faintly appearing on the waist during the height of passion, the soft feathers that trembled when touched, and how the boy had cried even louder.
“He took advantage of me when I was at my weakest,” Wenren Qi paused, noticing that both his disciple and his uncle were looking at him as if they were excited to see him suffer.
“Why did you stop?” Lan Que urged. “That child is very honest. He does not even know how to seek justice when he is bullied. He would not do anything like thievery.”
Even if Wenren Qi had failed his ascension and was seriously injured, it would still be effortless for him to strangle a closed door disciple.
“Thievery?” The man reclining on the snow white soft couch snorted coldly. “He behaved lewdly toward me.”
Lu Jijun was speechless. “Master, even if you were knocked unconscious by the lightning, would it not have been easy to throw him out?”
He had seen Wenren Qi fail his ascension before. From being terrified at first to it becoming a routine occurrence, Lu Jijun even suspected this was some sort of flirtation between the Heavenly Dao and his master. If his master ever passed away, his flesh and bones would probably be top tier materials for forging, higher in rank than any natural treasures.
Wenren Qi frowned. “You do not believe me?”
Lan Que tried to smooth things over. “Even if we believe you, I cannot guarantee the other disciples would. We know Little Moyu. How would he dare do anything to you?”
The white haired elder sighed, looking as if Wenren Qi were being unreasonable. “If you committed an injustice against him, why are you acting as if you were the one betrayed?”
“I knew it.” Everything made sense now. Lan Que had a sudden realization. “I wondered why he looked so pale, weak, and had a high fever that day. It turns out he was ravaged by you.”
Lu Jijun was silent. He suddenly understood why Mai Li had glared at him so fiercely the day he asked. This was a true disgrace to the sect. His master had done such a scandalous thing and yet failed to look in the mirror to see who was the stronger party. The poor closed door disciple had clearly been scared away.
Wenren Qi was uncharacteristically silent after being scolded. He pinched the fabric in his palm. It was hard to explain that they did not know how that little demon had tormented him, even suggesting it would be fine if he died. What a humiliation! If he had not been seriously injured by the lightning, Wenren Qi certainly would not have let the matter end so simply.
Seeing Wenren Qi remain silent, Lan Que sighed again. “So, what do you intend to do?”
The immortal on the couch had a cold gaze and spoke mockingly, “Did you not say his wife was about to give birth?”
Lu Jijun, standing nearby, sharply noticed the feather Wenren Qi was twirling in his palm. He thought: “Is that not the bird feather hanging from Cen Moyu’s bamboo flute?” Although his only interaction with the other man was at the mountain gate, he could remember what was on the closed door disciple’s table without even trying.
In the eyes of his disciples, Wenren Qi had a strange personality. Although he had the appearance of an immortal and had maintained his youthful looks well, his age was considered old among the leaders of the great sects. Most sect leaders, elders, or heads of immortal families around his age had wives and children, yet Wenren Qi was solitary. He even mocked others for having too many weaknesses, for being indulged in romance and trapped in the red dust of the mortal world, calling it utterly boring.
Although Wenren Qi had the potential to ascend and was admired by thousands, Lu Jijun felt that given his master’s sharp tongue, it made sense that Cen Moyu ran away. Otherwise, the boy would eventually be burned by his master’s verbal venom.
“Stop being so sarcastic,” Lan Que said, half laughing and half exasperated. “You do not believe it, do you?”
Based on the argument between Wenren Qi and Jueya earlier, one could hear the bitterness in his voice. It sounded as if even if the closed door disciple had a wife and child, Wenren Qi intended to snatch him back. In the end, who was the one not being loved? Who was the one without a formal status?
Lan Que laughed and then suddenly remembered. “Then why did you suddenly ask me to identify a feather? What was that about?”
Wenren Qi was still considering how to hide Cen Moyu’s true identity. He had no time to think about why he was instinctively covering for him. Demons were different from devils; most of them knew their place. Where exactly had the mistake occurred? A bird demon had been a gate guarding disciple in the sect for a hundred years, yet neither Elder Jueya nor Lan Que, despite their high cultivation, had identified him.
He did not know what other secrets that little demon possessed or what he was plotting by lurking in the sect. If he was sent by the Abyss of Delusion to work for Kuai Ou, then it was dangerous. Others did not know, but Wenren Qi was always aware. The current Demon Lord wanted the sect’s guardian artifact to return to the time before Wenren Qi had severed his demon body and start over.
The artifact could only be activated by the Sect Leader’s lineage. Wenren Qi was the only one left in his line, and he had no offspring. What if they stole his essence and used demon arts to create one?
Seeing Wenren Qi go silent again, Lu Jijun could not help but say, “That is the feather pendant from Cen Moyu’s bamboo flute.”
He seemed to know the bird demon very well. Wenren Qi’s handsome face turned as cold as frost. “Are you very close to him?”
Lu Jijun finally understood. If the closed door disciple was favored by his master, he might become the Sect Leader’s spouse. Would that not make him his Master Mother? He shook his head vigorously. “Of course not. Master, what will you do next? Do you need me to bring people to find him?”
Wenren Qi shook his head. “I will go find him personally.”
“Are you alright? You have sneezed several times.” Mai Li had traveled a thousand miles and finally found where Cen Moyu was staying, only to find that the Fairy Pitta had grown even thinner.
Cen Moyu’s waist was already thin. Mai Li usually had to tie more cloth around it to create a slender silhouette, but it was nothing compared to the way the gap in the waistband under Cen Moyu’s casually draped coat invited the imagination.
In the yard, the magpies had been brooding for days. The chicks had hatched and were making a racket every day. Inside the house, Cen Moyu treated his friend from afar with local pastries and shook his head. “Perhaps the magpies outside are scolding me again.”
“Those birds have no spiritual intelligence, but they sure can swear.” Mai Li glanced outside and then looked back at Cen Moyu. “You ran so fast; it was truly hard to find you.”
“I am sorry, there was a reason for it.” Cen Moyu held a cup of honey water and gathered his courage to ask, “Is there anything major happening in the sect?”
Please do not let it be about me, he thought.
Mai Li did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point: “Did you sleep with the Sect Leader?”
[Author’s Note] A rumor in the cultivation world: The Sect Leader of the Qingheng Sect is exceptionally good at playing funeral music. Later, Cen Moyu sought confirmation from Wenren Qi. Wenren Qi: Wen Jinggen had a meal without paying and only took his lover away, leaving me behind to pay the debt. I was forced into it. Even later, Wen Jinggen explained in person: How could I have no money? It was your husband who said he wanted to learn in advance so he could send his own father off. Cen Moyu: … Lu Jijun, who was present: Your image of him is shattered now, right? Unexpectedly, Cen Moyu said: He is so filial! Lu Jijun: …Every pot has its lid. Later: The bird hatchling also went to learn how to play funeral music.