“You didn’t have too hard of a time this morning, did you?”
Langxia glanced up at Lin Cangyuan. He smiled politely. “I was perfectly fine. It just takes me a while to get up in the mornings. It had nothing to do with the alcohol.”
Lin Cangyuan’s guilt eased slightly.
“I would have never guessed,” Jiu Jingyi exclaimed. “You seem like the type to be able to roll out of bed as soon as the sun rises.”
A wilted look crossed over Langxia’s normally complacent expression. “On the contrary, I prefer sleeping in until most people have woken up.”
“That’s the opposite of you,” Ye Liuxing noted.
Gui Yin gave a half-hearted smile. “It is, isn’t it?”
Gui Yin had been forced to stay in bed with Langxia until lunchtime. By that time, his entire body was uncomfortable and he was rearing to get up. Eventually, he threw Langxia off and went ahead to get ready first. By the time he came back, Langxia had already pinned his hair up and looked like a normal, refreshed human being.
Langxia listened to the mundane conversations between the martial siblings and silently sipped his tea. There was a small smile set against his face.
“Then, Yinglian, will you be staying with us for the time being?” Lin Cangyuan asked.
“I should be. Unless,” Langxia glanced at Gui Yin and raised his brows. “It’s time for us to go?”
Gui Yin had been far too relaxed the past few days. After saving Yankui and visiting Beihua Town, they hadn’t had much activity going on. Or, at least, Gui Yin didn’t see the activity that went on. On Langxia’s side, he had probably been sending out his informants, scouring for any signs of high concentration of resentment, demonic energy, or madness in any of the areas they had circled.
Gui Yin awkwardly coughed. “Um, yes, I should…explain that.”
Lin Cangyuan and the others patiently listened as Gui Yin began to recount their adventures up until their current points.
Lin Cangyuan’s expression had darkened completely while the other two were varying degrees of angry and confused.
“But who would be behind it all?” Ye Liuxing asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lin Cangyuan said. “None of the sects in the upper realm can be trusted anymore. Not even those at the Beidou Alliance.”
He turned to Gui Yin. “We won’t report this matter. Since we have complete jurisdiction over Whirlpool Tower, we will take this as our personal business. You and Yinglian just need to investigate it and report back here. If we get anything…well, we’ll first need to pay personal visits to our allies to make sure none of them have also been contaminated.”
Gui Yin nodded. “I understand.”
Lin Cangyuan turned to Langxia. “Looks like our Yunjing Pavilion owes you another one.”
“There is no need to say that, Sect Master-shixiong,” Langxia said. “I would personally prefer if Qiao Ceng remained in the tower as well.”
Lin Cangyuan chuckled. Ye Liuxing frowned and he slowly snuck a glance at his martial siblings.
“You guys…don’t think that Li Huanwei was behind this do you?”
“What are you saying?” Jiu Jingyi scoffed. “You think he dares?”
“But it feels targeted, doesn’t it? Zhengyang Shan Sect has the power; we have the economy. Yin Hua Palace technically has both, but they can’t be compared to the both of us. Besides, they don’t have a great reputation among the people either; meanwhile, we have medicine and Zhengyang Shan has prestige,” Ye Liuxing said. He shifted a little. “You don’t think that Li Huanwei is crazy enough to team up with ghost cultivators to gain power, right?”
“There’s no way,” Jiu Jingyi rejected the idea.
“Nothing is impossible in this world,” Langxia said. “It is an interesting idea.”
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.
“Since the beginning of time, human greed has been the catalyst for many events,” Lin Cangyuan agreed. “We shouldn’t write this off either.”
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“…P’w oeii,” Ale Alcusl rjlv.
Ye Liuxing sighed and shook his head. “Me too.”
The two single-dogs had been reluctantly stuffed with dog food.
Ye Liuxing and Jiu Jingyi excused themselves from the table, leaving Lin Cangyuan alone with Gui Yin and Langxia.
“You two have to be careful,” Lin Cangyuan said. “You may have gotten rid of the Void Saint, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the operations have stopped. If the Void Saint was so willing to sacrifice himself, that most likely means there is someone else behind the operations.”
“Do you really think Li Huanwei is capable of these things?” Gui Yin questioned. “I mean…he’s not great, but he’s not…evil.”
“Maybe it’s not him, but his heart demons acting,” Langxia said.
“That’s right. What the ghost cultivators have done is turn us against ourselves. Those who harbored evil intentions, but never acted on it now have the courage to move,” Lin Cangyuan said. He sighed and shook his head. “No matter what it is, everyone is dangerous…including us.”
The atmosphere grew heavier with one sentence.
The ghost cultivators had the ability to use their desires against them and they didn’t know when they would strike—the situation was extremely precarious.
“If they’re truly targeting us and Zhengyang Shan, then we have to be even more careful. Will Shan Yu be okay?” Lin Cangyuan asked.
Gui Yin nodded. “She’ll be fine…instead, I’m more worried about Young Palace Lord Li.”
“Why do you say that?” Lin Cangyuan asked.
“Last time I met with him, he already said he suspected his father,” Gui Yin said. “He seems to have a handle on things, however…”
“You’re afraid Li Huanwei will figure out that his son is onto him,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin nodded. He sighed and tapped at the spot between his brows. “I know he’s an adult now and he can handle things on his own, but…”
“I can send someone to watch him,” Langxia offered.
Gui Yin looked at him.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t die—if that’s what you’re worried about,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin looked at him wearily. “You and your definition of ‘not dying’ is very broad.”
Langxia smiled. “Then, I promise I will make sure no harm comes unto him.”
Gui Yin hesitated for a moment.
“That could be a good thing. It’ll also give us a window into Yin Hua Palace too.”
Lin Cangyuan looked at Langxia, who slowly smiled.
“If it is what Sect Master Lin wants, I am willing to do my part.”
“Then, we’ll be troubling you,” Lin Cangyuan said.
“It’s no trouble. It’s just one Yin Hua Palace. Even my dog can sneak in,” Langxia sneered. He stood and pressed a quick kiss to Gui Yin’s forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
Gui Yin hummed awkwardly and waited for Langxia to leave before turning to Lin Cangyuan.
“He offered.”
“He wouldn’t have offered if you didn’t say anything,” Gui Yin said.
“This little wolf cub you picked up is very obedient,” Lin Cangyuan said.
Gui Yin sighed. “You still don’t trust him?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust him,” Lin Cangyuan said. He glanced at Gui Yin and finally sighed. “He seems nice. Very sincere too.”
“So, you approve?”
“If I didn’t approve, would you break up with him?” Lin Cangyuan asked. “Qinle, you’re not twelve—I have no say over who you meet with and who you spend your time with.”
“You just don’t want me to make the same mistake again, right?” Gui Yin said. He lowered his gaze and nodded. “I know. I don’t remember much of what happened but…I let myself be a mess like that for so many years, even I feel like it was a waste. I’ve learned my lesson. But Er’lang’s different.”
Gui Yin averted his gaze. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just…know that we’re meant to be together. I feel it in my soul.”
Lin Cangyuan scoffed. “Feel it in your soul? Can you be any cheesier? Fine, fine. I’ll stop being mean to him since you’ve even said so much nonsense to convince me.”
Gui Yin grinned. “Thank you, Shixiong.”
“But be careful with him.”
“Shixiong…”
“I’m saying this because I also have a little wolf at home,” Lin Cangyuan said. “His type are sweet to you forever and always, but if you’re not careful, you’ll end up hurting him.”
Gui Yin had not expected this kind of lecture. His brows raised. “What do you mean?”
“They’re possessive, but they’re afraid of holding you too tightly, so they’ll hide their feelings,” Lin Cangyuan said. Seeing Gui Yin’s stunned expression, Lin Cangyuan sighed. “I saw right through him last night when he was sticking to you. He kept on saying ‘my Qinle’, ‘my Qinle’ and when anyone approached you, his little tail would droop. Did you not notice?”
Gui Yin shook his head. “Shixiong, are you sure you weren’t looking at Yenuo?”
Lin Cangyuan sighed. “You little playboy. Forget it. You’ll see with your own eyes eventually. Most of the people you’ve run with were all jerks, but this one is different. You can’t grow cold on him.”
Gui Yin pinched his ear slightly, but still nodded to show he understood.
Lin Cangyuan looked at Gui Yin worriedly.
Ever since Kui Wanming had passed, aside from throwing himself into his inventions, Gui Yin would sometimes leave the sect to god knows where. On the outside, he was in seclusion, but only his martial siblings knew that he would sneak off in the night. Later, they found out he would have casual flings. As healthy adults, they naturally had nothing to say about it, but each of those flings were worse than the last. It really made them worry that Gui Yin was tormenting himself.
…Well, the truth of the matter had turned out to be much worse.
Lin Cangyuan sighed. “Actually, he’s good for you.”
“What…”
“Don’t worry about what we think,” Lin Cangyuan said. “As long you’re happy, we’re happy.”
Gui Yin looked at the hypocritical man. His eyes clearly said “I approve of my son-in-law” while his mouth told Gui Yin to just do whatever. If Gui Yin really had gotten serious with any of his previous flings…well, he didn’t remember them—but if he got with the ones in the other dimension, Lin Cangyuan would definitely be so livid that he would be able to walk again.
After exchanging a few more words, Gui Yin excused himself first.
He was glad Lin Cangyuan was so lively after so long in a coma, but he really couldn’t handle any more nagging. It was like five years of nagging had been injected into one conversation. He suddenly missed Langxia.
He felt a bit gloomy knowing that the man wouldn’t be by his side until later.
Gui Yin took a seat at the gazebo and looked out over Shuangye Peak. He smiled softly and leaned back against the pillar.
Things weren’t so bad right now. If only…
Langxia returned several hours later. His steps were light as he flashed beside Gui Yin. He looked at him for a moment before chuckling. He bent down and lifted Gui Yin up horizontally. He walked as softly as he could so as not to jostle the man in his arms. He opened the door as quietly as he could, but when he had made it to the bed, Gui Yin suddenly woke up.
He stared at Langxia for a moment before sitting up and wrapping his arms around Langxia’s neck.
“You’re back.”
Langxia stilled. He lifted a hand and hesitantly patted Gui Yin. “Mn. I’m back.”
“I fell asleep waiting for you,” Gui Yin mumbled.
“I’m sorry. I took too long,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin looked up at Langxia in surprise. He shook his head. “No, that’s fine…I mean, you still came back.”
It was a joke, but the look Langxia gave Gui Yin made his heart stutter. Langxia crouched down and placed his head on Gui Yin’s lap.
“I’ve received news of high concentrations of resentment in Half Star Ocean,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin hummed. “Then, we’ll have to leave soon?”
“You can stay at Yunjing Pavilion if you want. I can go check it out myself,” Langxia said.
“How can I let you go by yourself?” Gui Yin scoffed. He pinched Langxia’s ear. “If you’re going to go, then I’m going too. It could be very dangerous. What am I going to do if something happens to you because I wasn’t there?”
Langxia showed a dimpled smile. He hugged Gui Yin tighter. “Alright, let’s go together.”
“When do you want to leave?” Gui Yin asked. He thought about it for a moment. “Should we go tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow will be fine,” Langxia said. “Before we head over, we should probably disguise you.”
Gui Yin raised a brow. “Disguise in what way?”
“Less lord immortal—more like a mercenary,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin looked at him quizzically.
Langxia looked up at Gui Yin with a small smile. “You can be the newest edition of White Dragon Mercenary Group.”
“The…The what?”
“you still came back” 😭🥰😭🥰😭🥰😭🥰😭
GASP!! DISGUISES!!!!! IM EXCITED
Ooo immortal to mercenary!