Although Wu Lingtian had been a clever child, being bait to attract a snake demon was still no easy feat. He hadn’t been hurt, but the courage Wu Lingtian previously had seemed to have all been drained away afterwards. He remembered continuing to put on a strong front, but Sect Leader Wang had simply laughed at him. After the child had calmed down, the sect leader knelt down and seriously asked Wu Lingtian to consider returning with him to become a cultivator. As a child who had always dreamed of seeing the outside world, Wu Lingtian had readily agreed.
He glanced at Fan Yi who had just finished bathing. He hadn’t told Fan Yi this story in much detail, but the amusement that remained in Fan Yi’s eyes had warmed Wu Lingtian’s cheeks. It was like revealing an embarrassing past to an old friend. However, after talking about his first meeting with Sect Leader Wang, the stuffy feeling in Wu Lingtian’s chest slowly began to unknot.
“Are you sleeping soon?” Fan Yi asked.
“No,” Wu Lingtian shook his head.
“Ooh, then shall we stay up and talk some more?” Fan Yi settled down beside Wu Lingtian with a small smile on his face. “We can reveal our deepest secrets to each other and become bosom buddies.”
Wu Lingtian looked like he wanted to ask Fan Yi if he had hit his head while they were traveling back to the inn but he refrained from doing so and merely reached for his book. Fan Yi disappointedly clicked his tongue.
“Lingtian, we were conversing so well just a few minutes ago, why are you going back to ignoring me?” Fan Yi leaned against the armrest between them.
Wu Lingtian glanced at Fan Yi. “Sect Leader must be tired after working so hard today. Perhaps it is time you retire to bed.”
“I worked hard? I haven’t done anything today,” Fan Yi said. He glanced at the book in Wu Lingtian’s hand and childishly placed his hand over it. “Tell me more about your childhood, I want to know more.”
“There is nothing else to know,” Wu Lingtian said.
“You just told me Sect Leader Wang asked you for information and then you acted as bait,” Fan Yi said. “How did that even happen? Did you offer yourself? You must have, right?”
“Sect Leader,” Wu Lingtian tugged his book away.
Fan Yi drew his hand back and pouted slightly at Wu Lingtian. It was rare for Wu Lingtian to offer any information about himself. It was even rarer to hear him talk so much in such a short span of time. Fan Yi found himself already missing the sound of Wu Lingtian’s voice, soft as he summarized his first encounter with the late sect leader. He felt that it was a shame he hadn’t actively kept the conversation going.
“Then, what was Sect Leader’s childhood like?” Wu Lingtian asked after catching a glimpse of Fan Yi’s expression.
Fan Yi slumped back against the chair. “Nothing special. Just imagine every privileged child that was born from an affluent and prominent sect—that was me.”
“Were you spoiled?” Wu Lingtian asked as he opened his book once more.
“Spoiled?” Fan Yi echoed. “Probably. My parents were strict though—they didn’t allow me to act spoiled, but they were kind enough to give me everything practical that I wanted, so I must have been spoiled.”
“I see.”
Fan Yi fell silent. He leaned his head against the backing of the day bed and watched Wu Lingtian’s side-profile. He smiled silently to himself. An hour before, Wu Lingtian had shown a side of him that Fan Yi was sure he never wanted anyone to see. Thankfully, now, Wu Lingtian had returned to normal. Not only did he reject Fan Yi’s attempt at speaking, but the color had finally returned to his face.
The longer Fan Yi stared, the drowsier he found himself. The past few days, he had had a lot of trouble falling asleep, but now he felt his eyelids growing heavier. He allowed himself to wallow in the feeling of sleepiness, though he fought to keep his eyes open. His body was reluctant to move, but he felt far too tired to struggle anymore. He allowed his eyes to close and, soon after, Wu Lingtian heard a steady breathing coming from beside him.
Wu Lingtian glanced at the man, slumped against the back of the daybed.
In the past few days, Wu Lingtian discovered something about Fan Yi. He seemed to be an insomniac. Even if Wu Lingtian didn’t wake up to find Fan Yi coming down from the rooftop, he’d hear Fan Yi jerk awake in the middle of the night from a nightmare and then toss about until daybreak. Fan Yi also had a habit of leaving a candle or two lit. Today was no exception.
Wu Lingtian set his book aside and stood from his seat. He moved as silently as he could and returned with Fan Yi’s blanket. He carefully and gently placed the cover over the other man. He sat back down and glanced at the peacefully slumbering Fan Yi. He thought about it for a moment and simply curled up where he was to sleep. He kept the movable armrest between them. Even with that there, there was enough room to sit up comfortably and sleep.
It had been a long day and there were maybe just a few hours before sunrise. Wu Lingtian closed his eyes, listened to Fan Yi’s steady breathing and slowly drifted off to sleep as well.
The first few days of the conference was suffocating and terribly boring. Wu Lingtian was suddenly reminded of why he disliked coming to these and had begun to opt out when he was of age. It was just a hoard of two-faced righteous cultivators that finally had a chance to air out their dirty laundry. Fights were tactfully picked and even when they were speaking, they kept a cordial smile on their faces.
Before, when he had been Rong Meihua’s disciple, Wu Lingtian had sat straight-backed among the disciples in the lower stands. He had silently gone over cultivation method after method or simply reviewed what he had been taught time and time again. He had completely mastered the art of blocking out every noise and every sound. During breaks, he would be dragged out by Situ Hong to get some fresh air and he would listen to the latter complain while secretly agreeing.
He had never bothered looking around after his first conference, thus he had never noticed what happened on the side of the unorthodox and demonic cultivators.
His eyes slowly trailed over to the table propped up further back in the booth. The sound of clacking dice echoed loudly but no one on the outside paid them any attention since Fan Yi had already set up a soundproof barrier.
“Big, small, or middle?” Tian Xiewen asked as he slammed the cup of dice down onto the table.
Zhen Yueyue’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Tian Xiewen’s smug expression. She looked to her partner. “What do you think?”
Yu Liulin let out a low hum. “Try big.”
Zhen Yueyue placed a plain pebble into the big slot.
“I bet that’s just what he wants you to think,” the burly man beside them grumbled.
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.
Wu Lingtian glanced at Hu Rongming, the sect leader of Stygian Dragons, and then back at the gambling table they had set up. Hu Rongming placed his pebble onto the piece of paper with the character “small” written on it.
“P mtbbrf rwjii.”
“Cgf sbe regf?” Kljc Wlfkfc ubjvfv.
“P’w cba ublcu ab ojii obg sbeg qfaas aglmxr,” Le Ebcuwlcu rmboofv.
“P mtbbrf rwjii jr kfii,” Efc Tlhtbe rjlv.
“Fan-ge, what about you?”
“Zlvvif,” Mjc Tl ifjcfv jujlcra tlr xcemxifr jcv mjgfifrris abrrfv j qfyyif bcab atf qlfmf bo qjqfg klat atf kbgv “wlvvif” ijhlis rmgjkifv bcab la.
Wu Lingtian slowly turned his attention back to the front. He heard Fan Yi’s triumphant laughter as the other unorthodox cultivators bemoaned their bad luck.
Wu Lingtian was the only person in the booths that sat normally and upright. If anyone bothered paying attention to their side, they would notice that the sect leaders from the unorthodox sects were missing—some having snuck to other booths or have even ditched this half of the conference all together. Meanwhile, in the demonic sects, Wuma Qiongling had brought a bed along and was taking a nap—his right-hand man Bai Qiu was nowhere to be seen. As for the disciples down below, even if they acted well-behaved, many of them were passing notes with flying enchanted paper cranes.
Just as Wu Lingtian began to space out, he felt a warm breath against his cheek. He jerked to the side and met Fan Yi’s smiling gaze.
“Bored?”
Wu Lingtian quirked an eyebrow, his expression asking what Fan Yi thought. Fan Yi smiled and sat down beside Wu Lingtian. “If you’re bored, then come play with us, you don’t have to just sit here.”
“That’s right!” Hu Rongming’s voice intercepted them. The big man pushed himself between the two of them. He looked at Wu Lingtian. “I hear Drifting Clouds Mountain Sect has quite strict rules—you must have never done anything like gambling and drinking.”
Zhen Yueyue gasped and pushed Hu Rongming aside. “We should go play tonight! There’s an entertainment house in this city and one of my close friends own it. I hear right now they’re keeping out the common people after a certain time at nights so the cultivators can have fun.”
“That sounds like a good idea!” Tian Xiewen stood from the table. “Should we invite Feng Huiling too?”
“Might as well, right?” Zhen Yueyue hummed. She looked over her shoulder. “A-Lin, you’ll be coming too, right?”
“Mn,” Yu Liulin nodded.
“Why are you three getting so excited? Lingtian hasn’t even agreed,” Ren Yizhou said with an amused smile.
The people turned to look back at Wu Lingtian. In their eyes he was strait-laced and as pure as powdered snow. However, without flinching, the man before them nodded. “I don’t see why not.”
Fan Yi’s eyes widened. He waved the others away and turned back to Wu Lingtian. “They drink a lot.”
“Fan-ge, since you’re so worried, does that mean you’ll be coming with us tonight?” Zhen Yueyue tempted.
“If you don’t come with us, we might just swallow him whole,” Hu Rongming provoked.
Fan Yi frowned at the two people in front of him before glancing at Wu Lingtian. “I would have gone with you even if he didn’t go.”
Zhen Yueyue and Hu Rongming rolled their eyes but didn’t bother poking through Fan Yi’s lies.
As the sun began to set, the cultivators that had been trapped in the stadium all steady flowed out, grateful for the sunlight. Wu Lingtian watched Zhen Yueyue link arms with Yu Liulin and skip off together. Hu Rongming temporarily reconvened with his sect to pass things over to his eldest disciple before meeting back with them. Fan Yi said a few words to the disciples of Screeching Sparrow Sect before sending them on their way as well. Wu Lingtian stood quietly off to the side as he waited for everyone to reconvene. He stared off into space and didn’t notice the purple-robed man approaching him until he was right beside him.
“Are you busy tonight?” Situ Hong asked.
Wu Lingtian looked at Situ Hong and then glanced at Situ Min. “Mn, I am.”
“Liar,” Situ Hong straightened indignantly. “What kind of plans do you have?”
“I’m going to the entertainment house tonight,” Wu Lingtian said.
Situ Hong stared at Wu Lingtian blankly for a moment before turning to Situ Min. “A-Min, ge can’t accompany you for dinner tonight.”
Situ Min opened his mouth to protest, but Situ Hong had already pushed him towards the waiting Situ An. “Be a good kid. Go eat with Father and Auntie.”
“I didn’t say you were invited,” Wu Lingtian quirked an eyebrow at Situ Hong.
Situ Hong smiled charmingly as he flourished his fan. “Aye—Wu Lingtian, is that how you talk to your friend?”
He patted his chest. “Don’t worry, I can earn my place. I’ll pay for the drinks tonight.”
“You’re paying?” Hu Rongming returned by Wu Lingtian’s side. “The great Lord Feng Ling?”
“Of course. However, much you’re all willing to drink is how much I’m willing to pay,” Situ Hong said.
“If Lord Feng Ling is paying, then we can’t just have a few drinks tonight,” Zhen Yueyue said excitedly. She looked expectantly at Wu Lingtian. “Let’s drink till sunrise.”
“Good plan! You have a good attitude,” Situ Hong approved.
Fan Yi returned to Situ Hong mingling within the crowd of unorthodox cultivators. Tian Xiewen let out a surprised grunt, but none of the Three Pillars objected to this newest addition to the group. As if the rest of the world didn’t exist and the disbelieving eyes of the righteous cultivators was just the wind, the group moved to the entertainment house Zhen Yueyue had talked about. Just like she said, the building was completely empty save for a few cultivators that had got their drinks in early. They managed to get a large room to themselves.
Wu Lingtian sat and watched as dinner passed and the festivities began. At first, he was merely watching, but as an hour turned to four, he found himself submitting to the requests of others and joining in on their drinking games. Although his actions were awkward, he had always been a fast learner.
Situ Hong’s gaze landed on Fan Yi and he leaned his elbows against the table. “Sect Leader Fan, why is it that you haven’t had a single drop to drink?”
Wu Lingtian glanced at Fan Yi beside him.
“He doesn’t drink,” Tian Xiewen, who had had the most out of all of them so far, said.
“In all my years I’ve known him, I’ve never gotten him to drink a drop of wine,” Zhen Yueyue added.
“Why? Is it a health issue?” Situ Hong asked curiously.
“More of a preference,” Fan Yi said as he took a sip of tea.
Wu Lingtian glanced at Fan Yi as he drained his cup. A silly thought suddenly flashed through his mind—what would Fan Yi be like if he were drunk?
“Don’t look at him so intensely anymore,” Situ Hong waved his hand in front of Wu Lingtian’s face. “Didn’t we say that we would drink until we all passed out? Everyone’s still too sober.”
Wu Lingtian sighed and held his cup out to allow Situ Hong to pour him another one. “Out of everyone, I believe you are the most drunk.”
“Impossible!” Situ Hong tilted his chin at Yu Liulin. “Isn’t she already sleeping?”
“A-Lin is a lightweight,” Zhen Yueyue quickly defended her partner.
“In fact, it’s good that Fan Yi doesn’t drink,” Feng Huiling, the sect leader of Nightly Butterfly Sect, said. “At least there’s someone to look after you load of drunkards later.”
“Who said I’d be looking after them?” Fan Yi scoffed.
Despite what his mouth said, Fan Yi still watched everyone carefully, making sure that they weren’t overexerting themselves. As the night drew on, the bodies began to slump over one another. By the seventh hour, the chaos had quieted down. Situ Hong sat in the corner of the room, contently dozing off. Zhen Yueyue’s arm acted as Yu Liulin’s pillow as she slept leaning against the top of Yu Liulin’s head. Hu Rongming and Feng Huiling were still drunkenly arguing. Tian Xiewen and Ren Yizhou had left a while ago, claiming that they were too tired.
The only ones still sitting up were Wu Lingtian and Fan Yi. Fan Yi glanced over at Wu Lingtian who was sipping from the bottle.
At some point, they drunkards had shifted from the table to the balcony. Now, Wu Lingtian sat on the railing of the balcony with his back leaning against the pillar. His legs were crossed at his ankles as he lazily gazed up at the full moon.
Fan Yi took in the delicate scene of Wu Lingtian, lifting the bottle to his pink lips. The moon cast a ghostly glow across his skin and his white robes. Against the backdrop of stars, Wu Lingtian looked to be an immortal who had descended down to earth to enjoy a glass of mortal wine.
“’Since life in the world is but a big dream’,” Wu Lingtian murmured.
“’Why must one toil to no avail?’” Fan Yi recited.
Wu Lingtian tilted his head back to look at Fan Yi. A smile spread across his face. Despite having drank so much alcohol, Wu Lingtian’s cheeks were only slightly rosier than usual. The laziness in his movements still carried a sense of righteousness and nobility. He didn’t bother sitting up and merely waved Fan Yi over.
Fan Yi stood from his seat and moved towards the balcony. He leaned against the railings and glanced at Wu Lingtian.
“Sect Leader, what do you think about life?” Wu Lingtian asked.
Fan Yi’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “What do you think?”
“Life is just the flower reflected in the mirror, the moon reflected in the water,” Wu Lingtian said. “A fragile illusion that can be so easily shattered. Just a long…long, never ending dream.”
“Is it a dream?” Fan Yi hummed.
“Sometimes it’s a nightmare,” Wu Lingtian said. “To some people, it’s a nightmare.”
Fan Yi leaned against his hand as he looked at Wu Lingtian. “What about to you? Is it a nightmare to you?”
Wu Lingtian shook his head. “I’m quite lucky.”
“Oh?”
“Even if I have nightmares, at least I get to wake up. And every time I wake up…I’m happier than before,” Wu Lingtian said. “Is that not lucky?”
Fan Yi laughed. “It is. It is quite lucky.”
Fan Yi watched Wu Lingtian’s steady movements, the smile on his face growing ever so much fonder and the look in his eyes growing the slightest bit gentler. “Are you drunk or are you faking it?”
“I wasn’t faking it but I’m also not drunk,” Wu Lingtian let out a long sigh as he stared up at the moon.
“Your alcohol tolerance is quite high then,” Fan Yi exclaimed.
“Sect Leader, I also know to pace myself,” Wu Lingtian turned his gaze back to Fan Yi. “Why don’t you drink?”
Fan Yi tilted his chin over his shoulder. “I don’t want to embarrass myself like them.”
“Is Sect Leader’s tolerance low?”
“Mm…” Fan Yi’s brows furrowed. “I think it could be considered low.”
“Have you ever been drunk before?” Wu Lingtian asked.
Fan Yi turned to look at Wu Lingtian.
“What’re you like?” Wu Lingtian continued.
Although Wu Lingtian really wasn’t drunk, after so much alcohol his speech slurred together, sounding more and more like how Wuma Qiongling spoke. It was a charming mix of the soft Fengya accent and the sharpness that belonged to Xianping.
“I’m not sure,” Fan Yi said.
Wu Lingtian sat up and leaned towards Fan Yi, allowing the other man to fully see the childish glint in his eyes. “I really want to see.”
Fan Yi held his gaze in wonder before he chuckled. “Lingtian, when you get drunk, you appear much more roguish.”
“I was asking about you, not me,” Wu Lingtian showed a disapproving expression.
“I really don’t know,” Fan Yi shook his head.
“Can I see?” Fan Yi took a step back as Wu Lingtian hopped down from the railing. Wu Lingtian landed steadily and held the bottle out to Fan Yi almost expectantly.
Fan Yi stared at the bottle in front of him and laughed. He shook his head. “No. If I drink now and pass out, I’m afraid you’d take advantage of me.”
Wu Lingtian rolled his eyes at Fan Yi’s fake chastity and spun around to stare over the railing. “Let’s go.”
“We’re leaving them here?” Fan Yi asked. Even if that was what he was originally planning to do once Wu Lingtian passed out, he hadn’t expected Wu Lingtian to suggest it himself.
The man in question lazily waved his hand and placed one foot on the railing. “They’ll be fine.”
“Then we—Lingtian!?”
Fan Yi jerked forward to grab onto Wu Lingtian. The other man had climbed onto the railing and had been preparing to jump down. Seeing Fan Yi’s outstretched hand, Wu Lingtian held onto him and pulled him up. The two men fell from the two-story building yet landed perfectly down on the ground. Fan Yi stared at Wu Lingtian incredulously as the other man removed his hands from Fan Yi’s waist and began to walk down the street back to their inn.
Fan Yi looked down at the hand intertwined with his and then back towards the other man.
“Why didn’t you use the doors?” Fan Yi asked.
Wu Lingtian looked perplexed. He shot Fan Yi a look. “Isn’t it easier to jump?”
Fan Yi stared at Wu Lingtian’s side-profile as if he were looking at an unfamiliar man. Was he really not drunk or was he just that good at pretending?
↳ Stygian Dragon Sect (阴龙派; Yīn lóng pài)
↳ Nightly Butterflies Sect (夜蝶派; Yè dié pài)
↳ “Since Life in the world is but a big dream, why must one toil to no avail?” an excerpt from《春日醉起言志》(Chūnrì zuì qǐ yán zhì) by Li Bai. The original line is “處世若大夢，胡為勞其生?” (Chǔshì ruò dà mèng, hú wèi láo qí shēng). The person in the poem basks in the tranquility of nature, while harboring an undertone of criticism for society. Wu Lingtian reciting this line is also in reference to how Taoism and Buddhism feel that life is just a type of dream and an illusion that can easily shatter, so it’s useless to get hung up on anything.
↳ 镜花水月 (Jìnghuāshuǐyuè) – “Life is just the flower reflected in the mirror, the moon reflected in the water”; Wu Lingtian basically explains it already. The saying means that something is unreal/an illusion that can easily be shattered.
Wu Lingtian opening up more and more. Is still mischievous and clever like when he was a child.
Also author is teasing with this this Wuma Qiongling glimpse
always a glimpse of wmql when i can hehe
Oohhh I like where this is going! And I love that Wu Lingtian is happier each time he wakes up from a nightmare. I can’t help assuming he’s focusing on the latest one that involves getting beat and left for dead and waking up to a cheerful little disciple.