A/N: Thank you to the supporters over on ko-fi for funding this extra chapter! If you also want to support me, my ko-fi is linked below!
Once breakfast was had, Gui Yin and Langxia went back down to the library.
“I really can’t underestimate you,” Gui Yin said. He shifted on the table and held out the book he was reading. “What the hell are these cultivation techniques? I’ve never even heard of them! Did you dig them out of the ground or something?”
“Some are from devil cultivators, others are from the desert,” Langxia said. “There are even some from other continents.”
“Other continents?” Gui Yin’s eyes widened in interest. “You’ve been?”
“No. I only know people from them,” Langxia said. He glanced at Gui Yin. “I’ll introduce you some time.”
Gui Yin smiled. “Alright. If you’ve said it, you have to remember your words.”
Langxia nodded. He watched Gui Yin silently as the other returned to his books. He pulled his gaze away and frowned. What was so good about people from other continents? They couldn’t be any more interesting than him, right?
Gui Yin clicked his tongue as he went to the next book. “All of these seem so difficult. Is there really anything that would suit Xiao Kui?”
“Don’t think about the difficulty. Just see if one suits his temperament,” Langxia said. “If it’s too difficult, the two of us can try to help him.”
“That’s true,” Gui Yin said. He flipped through a certain one and cringed so hard that he had to set it aside. The next book it touched was one with a black cover. He read through it with vague interest and raised a brow. “This one seems alright.”
Gui Yin hopped off the table and walked over to Langxia. Langxia leaned back slightly and read the page Gui Yin held open. His eyes widened a fraction and he nodded.
“It could work,” Langxia agreed.
With one book in hand, Langxia and Gui Yin found two others to give Yankui a choice. The pair of them returned to the surface and went to find Yankui.
The young man was sitting in the middle of the training grounds.
Sweat glistened off his skin as he stared blankly into the distance. The direction he was looking to was Lord Xun’s residence. There was a faint longing in his eyes and his lips were pressed into a pitiful pout. He was like a little kitten that had been abandoned by its owner, waiting until its owner came to pick it up again.
Unfortunately, before its owner could come, two other people had already approached him.
Yankui immediately stood. “Yìfù, Laoshi.”
“What’s wrong? Why are you just spacing out in the middle of the arena?” Gui Yin asked. He looked around. “Where’s Su Wen?”
“I wanted some time alone…so I asked him to do his own things,” Yankui said.
Gui Yin and Langxia shared a glance.
“Well, good news,” Gui Yin said. “We found something that might interest you.”
Yankui glanced at the books in their hands and pulled on a smile. “What is it?”
Gui Yin sighed. He crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Hm, what’s with that forcefully delighted expression?”
“It’s not forced. I’m happy,” Yankui said.
Gui Yin frowned and stepped a bit closer. “Xiao Kui, you can be upset or sad if you want. The last thing you need to do here is pretend that you’re happy. What’s wrong? Do you miss Huo’er?”
Yankui leaned his head into Gui Yin’s hand and hummed softly. “I barely got to say anything to him and now he’s gone again for so long.”
“Poor thing,” Gui Yin sighed. He pulled Yankui into a hug and rocked them back and forth. “Even if that is the case, you can’t go around acting like a little widow. My disciple is still alive and well. If you want to see him, just go to Lord Xun’s abode and take a peek.”
Yankui pouted slightly. “I would be distracting him…”
“You can’t do this and you can’t do that,” Gui Yin said. He pulled back and held Yankui at arm’s length. “So, what do you think you should do?”
“…Cultivate properly so I can stay by his side,” Yankui mumbled.
Gui Yin chuckled. He rubbed Yankui’s hair into a mess. “Good boy! Here, I’ll give you this as a reward.”
Yankui took the book hesitantly and read through it. His eyes slowly widened. He looked up at Langxia. “How did you—”
“I get around,” Langxia said with a small shrug. “If we use your Ghost Fire as a source for cultivation, you won’t have to rely on outside sources. It’ll be like embarking on a fire root path.”
Yankui’s eyes brightened. He held the book tighter. “That’s…perfect.”
“Happy?” Gui Yin asked. He rubbed Yankui’s head again. “Go bathe and get changed so you can focus on cultivating.”
Yankui nodded excitedly and he quickly ran off.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Xel Tlc rlutfv. “Ubbg mtliv. Llr bcis reqqbga rsrafw lr rb mibrf sfa rb ojg.”
When Gui Linghuo entered the springs, he would be there for weeks or even months at a time. Upon entering seclusion, he was not meant to eat, sleep, or interact with others. He could only focus on expelling the ghost qi from his body. If he is disturbed, there was a chance he could go into Qi Deviation. It was better if Yankui didn’t see him at all.
“Pa’r olcf. Lf tjr rbwfatlcu ab ibbx obgkjgv ab cbk,” Ojcuzlj rjlv. “Pa’ii ajxf tlr wlcv firfktfgf.”
Gui Yin nodded in agreement. “Well, it’s never good for a person to treat another as their whole world. Maybe Xiao Kui can find a new meaning in this cultivation method.”
Ojcuzlj kjamtfv Xel Tlc obg j ktlif yfobgf ribkis ibbxlcu jkjs.
“P rtbeiv ub rff Obgv Wec cbk,” Ojcuzlj rjlv.
Gui Yin abruptly turned to him. “Are you still unwell?”
“No, this is a checkup. I forgot about it until this morning.”
“You forgot about it?” Gui Yin echoed. “That’s unlike you.”
Langxia’s expression dimmed. He murmured softly, “It’s because I don’t like going to see the doctor.”
Seeing this, Gui Yin’s suspicions cleared up immediately. He awkwardly patted Langxia’s shoulder. “Alright. Then, I’ll be in your study. I still need to write a letter to Yunjing Pavilion to tell them what I’m up to.”
Langxia nodded.
The two men went their separate ways.
Langxia lowered his head and let out a short sigh before he quickened his pace. He flew from Huigu Palace to Clear Springs Abode in a matter of a few minutes. When he landed, he was immediately greeted by a servant. The servant recognized Langxia and without more than two words, he had already gone in to call for Lord Xun while another accompanied Langxia to the tea room.
The doors were flung open. Xun Yunding rushed in and looked Langxia over.
“What’s wrong? Where’s your stomach? Where’s the wound?”
“What are you talking about?” Langxia asked as he was unceremoniously pulled up.
Xun Yunding did a full circle around him. “Or is it an internal injury? You lay down first and I’ll take a l—”
“Are you crazy? I’m not injured.”
“Not injured?” Xun Yunding stared at him. He scoffed and placed his hands on his hips. “Then, are you crazy? Did the sun rise from the west today? What kind of wind blew you over here? When have you ever visited me unless you were on the verge of dying? You always make me go over to your palace. What’s wrong? Found out you have a terminal illness and decided to come and say goodbye?”
Langxia stared at Xun Yunding speechlessly. He let out a bewildered sigh. With a finger shaking in Xun Yunding’s direction, he said, “Do you really want me to die?”
“Of course not! But there’s no way your crappy habits would change unless you were facing death,” Xun Yunding said. He scoffed and grumbled, “When have you ever been considerate?”
Langxia took a deep breath. “I’m leaving.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Xun Yunding immediately stood in front of Langxia. He smiled. “My goodness, do you have to get so worked up? I’m joking! Joking. Our prestigious and venerated Palace Lord Sun actually decided to visit this humble one’s small abode—I have to learn what made him do so before I let him leave, right?”
Langxia slowly turned away with an arrogant expression. “I suddenly don’t want to say.”
“…Are you going to be this way?”
Langxia scoffed.
“Petty. You’re a very petty man,” Xun Yunding said. “It’s a good thing I never accepted you as my first disciple or Weiqing (为青) would have learned all your bad habits. Poisonous. Toxic.”
“Scolded enough yet? Weiqing doesn’t need me to influence him. Just a whole Xun Yunding is enough to poison him,” Langxia said.
Xun Yunding gasped. “You dare accuse me of such a thing?!”
Langxia smirked. “You enjoy pretending to be my shizun all the time, so why not own up to it? It’s not like I could have raised myself as a child.”
Xun Yunding scoffed. “How could that be? I met you as a teen. Your personality was already settled.”
“Shirking from responsibility,” Langxia sighed.
Xun Yunding rolled his eyes. He paused for a moment. “Hold on, you’ve distracted me!”
Langxia raised a brow.
“Why are you suddenly here if you’re not dying? What? Did your Qinle kick you out?”
“No. We get along fine,” Langxia said. He sat back down and poured himself a cup of tea. The warm steam drifted upwards, calming his irritable heart. “I checked my mental sea. Some things have changed.”
Xun Yunding’s eyes widened. He quickly sat down. “For the better?”
Langxia nodded.
“That’s great! That’s…but why did you come all the way here to tell me?” Xun Yunding asked skeptically.
“Yesterday, something triggered my emotional root to sprout, but I’m not sure how stable it is. If it isn’t stable, I think it would be best to just remove it again, lest something horrible comes from it,” Langxia said.
Xun Yunding’s smile slowly dimmed. “…Remove your emotional root?”
Langxia hummed. “It’s faulty anyway. Like you said, some of my emotions couldn’t be saved. You’re right that Qinle is special, but I doubt he could actually fix something that’s been torn apart.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Xun Yunding said.
“It didn’t feel fine,” Langxia said. He lifted his gaze and looked at Xun Yunding. “Just take a look. If it’s fine, I’ll leave it.”
Xun Yunding frowned, but still agreed rather reluctantly.
He and Langxia moved over to the bed. He pressed his hands against Langxia’s back and slowly waited for him to relax before he delved into his mental sea.
About half an hour later, Xun Yunding pulled back. He frowned and glanced at Langxia, whose lips had paled significantly. He held out a handkerchief and watched Langxia wipe away the sweat that had gathered on his face and neck.
“So?”
“It’s odd, but it seems to be recovering,” Xun Yunding said. “I dug around it a little and found that the roots that contain your affection have started to grow again. But they’re a bit gnarled, so…”
“So?”
“…It’ll become tangled easily. If your original emotional root was anything to go off of, you’re originally quite possessive. This time…it might be a little more extreme.”
Langxia lowered his gaze.
“But in general, your emotions have always been quite muted,” Xun Yunding said. “So, perhaps it won’t be too ba—”
“Take it out.”
“Yinglian—”
“It’s dangerous. You should take it out.”
Xun Yunding pursed his lips. “We can’t—”
“Is it difficult? The people at Qi Du Cult didn’t seem to find it so.”
“It’s…not difficult,” Xun Yunding said. “But a person needs their emotions to form a fully rational opinion. Otherwise, you’ll just be a machine. You’ll be easily fed information and manipulated. It’s too dangerous.”
“Then, cut off the roots that have just begun growing again.”
“You—” Xun Yunding stopped his own words this time. He took a deep breath. “I won’t.”
Langxia followed Xun Yunding. “Why? You’re not even a deity anymore. This shouldn’t be anything illegal.”
“It isn’t about that,” Xun Yunding snapped. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. He opened his eyes again and looked at Langxia. “What are you afraid of?”
“…What?”
“You’re dodging the main point again. I can tell. What are you afraid of? Loving? Caring? From the way I see it, you’ve always done those things. You just never felt it. I’m sure you know that too—objectively. So, what’s so different now?”
Langxia remained silent.
“Is it because of Ninglan?” Xun Yunding said. “You said you were afraid that you wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings last time. Now what? You’re scared you’ll love him too much?”
“…Enough.”
“Alright. You know something that you can’t tell me. I get it. But you shouldn’t let that get in the way of you recovering. This is a miracle! You can’t give up this opportunity, you—”
“Every miracle comes with a price,” Langxia said.
Xun Yunding fell silent.
“You really won’t do it?”
“…I really can’t,” Xun Yunding said.
Langxia hummed. “I understand.”
“Yinglian.”
Langxia stopped. He looked over his shoulder at Xun Yunding. “What?”
“You’ll be fine. Whatever you’re worried about—it’ll be fine.”
Langxia averted his gaze. He nodded silently.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I know.”
“Think about how Ninglan would feel if something happened to you.”
Langxia glared at him halfheartedly. “I’m leaving.”
The trip back was not as fast as the trip there.
Langxia walked down the steps slowly. He glanced at the springs and, through the warm fog, he could make out Gui Linghuo’s figure.
The young man had just stood up. He rolled his shoulders back and tugged over a fresh set of robes. He felt a pair of eyes watching him through the fog and looked over. His eyes widened in surprise and he walked over.
“Sun-shu, why are you here?”
“Is it okay to randomly get up?” Langxia lazily asked.
Gui Linghuo smiled sheepishly as he pulled his wet hair over his shoulder. “Lord Xun said that I don’t have to stay in there for as long. Since I was already a bit distracted, I decided to get up and walk around.”
“Distracted? How come?”
Gui Linghuo’s already rosy cheeks turned even redder. He glanced towards Huigu Palace.
“Your shizun is doing fine,” Langxia said.
The embarrassed expression on Gui Linghuo’s face immediately evaporated. “Ah—right. Yes, Shizun…that’s good.”
Langxia chuckled. “Xiao Kui is also doing well. You two really are a pair of love birds. He was just thinking of you this morning, but it turns out you were thinking about him as well.”
Gui Linghuo cheeks flushed again. “Well, we…I mean…it’s been a while.”
“Hm?”
“S-since we’ve spoken!” Gui Linghuo quickly explained. His entire chest reddened. “I-it’s been a while since we’ve talked much. And last time we—it was quite fast too. So…it’s not what you’re thinking of.”
“What am I thinking of?” Langxia questioned.
Gui Linghuo felt that it was a bad idea to leave the springs. He felt jittery up to his fingertips and he couldn’t figure out anything to say. He glanced at Langxia again and found the other man had a slightly amused expression on his face. Gui Linghuo was suddenly stricken by the likeness between Langxia and his own shizun. They were both impish, weren’t they?
“Just…never mind,” Gui Linghuo murmured.
Langxia laughed. “Alright, never mind. Are you planning on visiting or are you staying here?”
“Staying here,” Gui Linghuo said. “I shouldn’t leave the springs for too long until this recuperation period is over.”
“Alright,” Langxia said. “Do you have anything you want to say to your beloved?”
Gui Linghuo opened his mouth, but Langxia intercepted him.
“Or is it something an outsider like me can’t hear?” Langxia teased.
Gui Linghuo’s expression puckered. He pushed a hand through his wet hair and looked at Langxia with a hint of annoyance.
Langxia laughed again. “Alright, alright. I won’t tease you. If there’s something you want to tell him, just say it. I’ll pass it on.”
Gui Linghuo hesitated for a moment. “Can I write a letter?”
“You may.”
Gui Linghuo quickly rushed off to find paper and a brush. A while later, he returned with his face still reddened. The letter was carefully folded into a sealed envelope and handed over to Langxia. Langxia turned it in his hand.
“Sealed?” Langxia glanced up at Gui Linghuo.
Gui Linghuo felt a shiver down his spine. He bowed low. “Thank you, Sun-shu! Sun-shu, I should really be going now!”
Langxia’s boisterous laughter followed Gui Linghuo shamefully as he threw himself back into the springs.
So langxia’s roots are recovering and growing but not completely fixed? Like they’re growing but the roots are kinda wonky?
That’s interesting. I’m super excited to see how everything plays out🙈🙈
hehe thanks for reading!!
at first i laughed at Langxia’s possessiveness but for him to see his doctor about it? ough, must be scary for him and now i’m nervous for him… hang in there, it can be sorta cute!! [remembers how i enjoy the Possessive-to-Kidnapping-point trope] i may not be the most objective
“can be sorta cute” LOL 😭 thanks for reading!
Is Er’lang scared that he’ll do something to Gui Yin? C’mon listen to your doctor, you’ll be fine!!!…(right?) Thanks for the chapter qwq
thanks for reading!!
Awwww I’m looking forward to this development 🤧
Thank you for this chapter!
THANKS FOR READING