Shen Xiuyun sat up awkwardly, covering his mouth with a hand and clearing his throat, trying to replace his embarrassment with a scolding. “Why were you holding on so tightly just now? What kind of conduct is that!”
He wasn’t a body pillow!
Zhu Xingyao seemed rattled by the shout. He hung his head, his fingers fidgeting nervously with the blanket, embodying to a T the look of a disciple who had just been scolded by his Master and was fraught with unease.
“It was so cold at night, and Master’s body was warmer, so… your disciple overstepped. Master, punish me.”
“You…”
Shen Xiuyun had still been angry a moment ago, but now he didn’t know how to continue.
If he spoke too harshly, it would seem as though he, the Master, was being relentlessly harsh despite being in the right.
But if he said nothing, he feared it would embolden Zhu Xingyao and make him even bolder in the future, until everything once again spiraled in an uncontrollable direction.
After weighing the matter left and right, Shen Xiuyun could only issue a token warning: “Let this be the last time. Do not do such a thing again, or I will punish you with confinement.”
Zhu Xingyao replied meekly, “Your disciple will bear it in mind.”
Yet inwardly, he was puzzled. Master’s behavior seemed rather unusual. Why, now that he was being clingy, did Master dislike it instead?
He could never mistake the aura of Master’s soul.
Such an anomaly… Could it be that Master also…?
If Master truly remembered the outrageous things he had done, then why would he still keep him by his side?
No, perhaps Master was merely lenient toward this version of himself who had committed no wrong.
But if he ever learned his true identity…
A chill went through Zhu Xingyao’s heart.
If that was the case, then he absolutely could not let Master find out any of this.
As long as no one provoked him, he didn’t mind playing the harmless little white rabbit for the rest of this life.
Master yielded to softness, not hardness. A “frail” little white rabbit would have an easier time conquering Master’s heart.
Shen Xiuyun waved him off. “Now that you know, you may withdraw. Have breakfast, then come back to listen to my scripture lecture.”
“Yes, Master.”
Zhu Xingyao obediently took his leave.
What Shen Xiuyun hadn’t expected was that half a shichen later, Zhu Xingyao returned, carrying several sumptuous dishes.
He laid the dishes out on the low table, served Shen Xiuyun a bowl of rice, and only then sat down across from him, waiting for Shen Xiuyun to pick up his chopsticks.
Shen Xiuyun hesitated for a moment. “A-Yao, I have already achieved inedia. From now on, there’s no need to prepare a portion for me.”
It wasn’t that he disliked fine food; it was simply that the fewer such daily encounters, the better.
“Is Master dissatisfied with the food your disciple prepared? If so, your disciple will work hard to learn to cook better.”
Zhu Xingyao spoke in a pitiful tone, as if the moment Shen Xiuyun said “no,” he would perform a strong man’s tears on the spot.
Shen Xiuyun explained, “No, you cook very well. But those who cultivate the Dao should minimize their intake of grains and coarse foods, lest it hinder their cultivation.”
System: 『Host, if I didn’t know your real purpose, I’d almost believe your act.』
Shen Xiuyun: 『Buzz off. Don’t interfere with my performance.』
System: 『You got it. Scramming right away.』
Meanwhile, Zhu Xingyao, having grasped Shen Xiuyun’s “well-intentioned advice,” gazed at him with resolute eyes, his look brimming with fighting spirit.
“Your disciple understands. Your disciple will cultivate to the Golden Core as quickly as possible.”
Shen Xiuyun was satisfied.
The male lead who hadn’t fallen into demonic cultivation really was simple-minded and easy to coax.
Much easier to fool than that one who had turned villain.
This mission was far too easy.
Now, as long as he kept Zhu Xingyao away from that accursed Taichu Secret Realm, the ending was as good as sealed.
Smug and complacent, Shen Xiuyun didn’t notice the sharp glint that flashed through Zhu Xingyao’s eyes as he lowered his head to eat.
Master, so you wanted to distance yourself from me.
But how could I ever let you have your way?
You are my life.
Without you, how am I to go on living?
One-Finger Peak boasted dense, varied vegetation, but peach trees were the most numerous of all.
Several of them stood right in the courtyard of the meditation chamber.
Yet these peach trees, though lush with branches and leaves all year round, never once bloomed or bore fruit. It was truly strange.
“Why do you keep staring at those trees?”
Zhu Xingyao answered, “Master, your disciple has been on One-Finger Peak for four years, and these peach trees have never bloomed or borne fruit. Is something wrong with them?”
He still remembered that in the previous life, the two wooden puppets Yun Siqing had delivered in the end seemed to have been carved from peach wood.
Master also had wood spiritual roots. Could Master be connected to these trees somehow?
Shen Xiuyun covered his mouth and coughed lightly. “They… there’s nothing wrong with them.”
The one who had the problem was himself.
Damn it. The peach trees on One-Finger Peak were his avatars. If he hadn’t done this and that with someone, how were the trees supposed to bloom and bear fruit?
Luckily, apart from Yun Siqing and his ascended Master, almost no one knew about this. Otherwise, in the previous life, when he and Zhu Xingyao had spent their days and nights together…
He didn’t know how many times he would have died of social embarrassment.
Wait, his senior brother knew too!
Fuck!
Shen Xiuyun was completely numb.
Zhu Xingyao was still hung up on the question. “But peach trees in the mortal realm aren’t like this.”
Shen Xiuyun said gravely, “The mortal realm is the mortal realm. Trees in the cultivation world are naturally different.”
“Oh.” Zhu Xingyao shelved his curiosity for the moment, but he would get to the bottom of it.
In his previous life, he had wanted to cultivate together with Master beneath the peach trees of One-Finger Peak, but he had never had the chance.
This time, in this dream, it should come true, right?
Mm, he’d be a little greedy: best of all would be cultivating beneath peach trees in full bloom. That would surely be beautiful.
Shen Xiuyun couldn’t shake the feeling that Zhu Xingyao’s gaze was growing increasingly strange, and he hastily pulled the conversation back on track.
“Alright, enough of these irrelevant matters.”
Shen Xiuyun flicked his sleeve and sat down beneath a peach tree. Scripture in hand, he began solemnly expounding its contents.
About harmonizing yin and yang, and how a man and a woman becoming dao companions aided cultivation, and so on.
Zhu Xingyao, however, didn’t take in a single word.
Surely Master didn’t think that he had only conceived such treasonous desires after falling into demonic cultivation?
Wrong.
From the moment he had woken up on One-Finger Peak and laid eyes on Shen Xiuyun, he had liked this person.
That was why he had bitten Shen Xiuyun, leaving a mark that belonged to him.
At the time, his concept of “like” had still been hazy; he hadn’t known how to express it.
He had simply enjoyed having Shen Xiuyun pat his head, yet those touches had made him feel strange about himself.
Afraid that he might “fall ill,” he hadn’t been accustomed to drawing close to Shen Xiuyun.
It wasn’t until later, when he read some rather special books, that he understood: those strange reactions came only toward the person one liked. From that moment on, the craving at the bottom of his heart grew like wild grass, impossible to restrain.
“A-Yao, do you understand what I’ve said?” Shen Xiuyun asked the absent-minded Zhu Xingyao.
“Is Master telling your disciple that harmonizing yin and yang, with dao companions together, benefits cultivation?”
“Exactly. Once you come of age, you may find a dao companion who pleases your heart.”
Zhu Xingyao said with an innocent look, “But your disciple likes men.”
Shen Xiuyun nearly choked on his own saliva. “Cough, cough… A man being with a man defies the natural order and will invite the censure of the world.”
Could Zhu Xingyao have been bent from the very beginning?
Shen Xiuyun couldn’t quite fathom it, but he remembered that Zhu Xingyao had only confessed his feelings after getting drunk that time, and only then had he become exceptionally clingy with him. Right now, this disciple shouldn’t have any improper designs on him yet.
There shouldn’t be any problem.
“So what if the world censures? Your disciple cares only for the direction of his own heart.” He added silently: Whoever dares to censure, kill them.