Wu Lingtian’s footsteps were light and soundless as they usually were despite being intoxicated. Fan Yi walked several paces back just to observe Wu Lingtian. Other than buying into his impulsive decisions, if one were to tell Fan Yi that Wu Lingtian wasn’t drunk, he would actually believe it. The man in front of him still held a bottle of wine in his hand. Occasionally he would lift it up and give it a sip, but it didn’t give off a greasy feeling like it would with any other random drunk.
“Why do you keep drinking? Does it taste that good?” Fan Yi asked in amusement.
Wu Lingtian looked down at the bottle. “Sect Leader Wang used to drink all the time.” He paused and took a swig. “I’m still trying to figure out why he did it.”
Fan Yi clicked his tongue and snatched the bottle from Wu Lingtian. He looked at Wu Lingtian’s lost expression and held the bottle away from him. “Don’t learn that old man’s bad habits. Who knows—maybe he died so early because he had that terrible drinking habit.”
Wu Lingtian snatched the bottle back and gave Fan Yi a lazy look. “He adopted that habit after he realized he didn’t have long to live. He died because he had been poisoned. Don’t act as if I didn’t know anything just because I was a kid.”
Fan Yi watched Wu Lingtian’s sauntering back. The man tilted his head and drained the rest of the bottle. Fan Yi caught up with Wu Lingtian. The bottle was pushed into his hands before he could reach for it, but the bottle was already empty. Fan Yi gave Wu Lingtian a dissatisfied look.
“So, what? Are you missing that old man on this lovely night?” Fan Yi asked.
“Miss,” Wu Lingtian admitted. His lips curved into a smile as he sighed up at the moonlight. “I miss him!”
In the next second, Wu Lingtian crouched down on the ground. His arms hung over his knees as he stared up at the moon. Fan Yi squatted down beside him. He looked at Wu Lingtian’s side profile and observed the bright smile on his face. Because Wu Lingtian’s facial features were so defined, and because he rarely smiled, the man always ended up looking intimidating. However, when he smiled, he ended up look quite adorable. Fan Yi could still make out traces of the Wu Lingtian he knew as a child within the smiling face. He reached out and poked the dimple that appeared.
Wu Lingtian tilted his head back and looked at Fan Yi. He swatted Fan Yi’s hand away. “Why are you going around poking people for?”
“Smile again?”
Wu Lingtian looked at Fan Yi in confusion. He did as he was told and watched as Fan Yi’s smile widened. He reached up and poked the two dimples by Wu Lingtian’s mouth. Wu Lingtian allowed to knead his face as he pleased, but the entire time his gaze remained concentrated on Fan Yi.
“How come I never noticed you have dimples?” Fan Yi asked with a hint of wonder. He looked up to find Wu Lingtian watching him with a heated gaze. His eyes narrowed and he pinched Wu Lingtian’s cheek. “What are you looking at?”
“You.”
Wu Lingtian held Fan Yi’s hand to his face and leaned against his palm. “Looking at you.”
“Am I good looking?” Fan Yi asked with interest.
“Mn. Good looking,” Wu Lingtian laughed.
Fan Yi clicked his tongue. “And you still say you’re not drunk?”
“Is this being drunk? If it is…then I think I get why Sect Leader Wang drank so much,” Wu Lingtian placed his hand over Fan Yi’s hand. It held cool his warm face, making him feel very comfortable. “It feels nice.”
“This amount of alcohol will make you feel nice, so don’t drink anymore. If you drink too much, you’ll feel horrible,” Fan Yi lectured.
He stood and pulled Wu Lingtian up. However, the other man was uncooperative. He fell forward and folded over Fan Yi. His arms draped over the other man’s shoulders and he even nuzzled his nose against Fan Yi’s neck.
Fan Yi let out a helpless sigh and patted Wu Lingtian’s back. “Look at you—what kind of image is this? Stand up by yourself and walk.”
The limp arms tightened and Wu Lingtian pulled them closer. “Sect Leader, I’m drunk, you have to take care of me…”
“Now you’re drunk?” Fan Yi asked in amusement. He wrapped his arm around Wu Lingtian’s waist. “Alright, alright. Let go of me so we can walk properly. Are you trying to use your height to suppress me?”
Like a petulant child, Wu Lingtian only buried his head further in the crook of Fan Yi’s neck. His eyes were closed as he basked in the warmth of the person in his arms. He glanced at Fan Yi’s side-profile and felt himself growing reluctant to release him.
“Hm?” Fan Yi patted Wu Lingtian. “Get up.”
“Just a bit longer,” Wu Lingtian protested. His arms wrapped around Fan Yi in a proper hug.
Fan Yi’s hands hung by his side for a moment before he placed them on Wu Lingtian’s back. He glanced at Wu Lingtian and lifted a hand to pat the back of his head.
“How did you ever become this tall?” Fan Yi sighed. “If Lao Wang saw you now, he’d definitely say you were handsome.”
Wu Lingtian’s arms tightened around Fan Yi.
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.
Fan Yi smiled to himself. “…Lingtian.”
“Zw?”
“…I’m sorry,” Fan Yi softened his voice. “I wasn’t able to save Lao Wang.”
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Fan Yi’s brows furrowed. “Then, why didn’t you want to come back with me?”
Wu Lingtian drew in a breath as if he were about to speak, but no words followed. Fan Yi turned to look at Wu Lingtian. Wu Lingtian smiled. “You didn’t look very reliable.”
“…What?”
A light laugh tickled Fan Yi’s ear. He watched Wu Lingtian pull away. His face had gotten rosier in the time he had spent leaning on Fan Yi’s shoulder. He took a few steps backwards while still facing Fan Yi. An indolent smirk graced his normally expressionless face.
“You looked unreliable,” Wu Lingtian repeated himself. “How could I have accepted such a person as my shizun?”
“You…hah,” Fan Yi snorted and shook his head as he followed Wu Lingtian. “Are you even listening to yourself? I’m your Yi-gege, how could I have appeared unreliable?”
“You just did. You smiled too nicely,” Wu Lingtian said. “If I had to see your smile every day, I wouldn’t be able to learn properly.”
Fan Yi threw his head back and laughed. “Lingtian, are you even hearing yourself? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”
Wu Lingtian remained silent, allowing Fan Yi’s soft laughter to fill the space between them. He glanced at Fan Yi and smiled to himself again.
The two men continued down the street, enjoying the night air as they walked. Wu Lingtian basked in the slight breeze and allowed it to sober him up some. The heat from before began to fade and the stuffy feeling Wu Lingtian had been entangled with became slightly less apparent. By the time they neared their inn, Wu Lingtian had more or less gained his reasoning back.
Fan Yi glanced at Wu Lingtian amusedly but did not make a comment. He set one foot through the door way of the inn and was stopped by Wu Lingtian’s hand. Before he could react, Wu Lingtian had already pulled him all the way in and had hidden them behind a thick column nearby. Fan Yi’s brows furrowed, but he remained silent.
He heard the sounds of footsteps scuttling across the tiles of the roof, followed by the grunts that came with absorbing a heavy blow. His gaze met Wu Lingtian’s and the two men snuck towards the doorway of the inn and peered out.
A man was scurrying to escape a group of three people. It could be seen from their angle that the group of pursuers were all wearing masks beneath black, wide-brimmed straw hats. Their robes were tightly fitted to their bodies, as any martial artist’s robes were, with just a sliver of red that lined their wrists and created a design across their chest. As they ran, their steps were nearly silent. It was only the man who was gravely injured who made the most noise.
Wu Lingtian looked at Fan Yi.
“Follow?” the word was mouthed silently. Wu Lingtian nodded.
Without waiting for the other, the two men left the inn and silently began to tail the pursuers and the one being pursued. They remained far back enough to remain unseen, but were close enough to hear the sounds of struggle. The two men sat within the shadows of the trees and watched the ongoing fight. Wu Lingtian raised an eyebrow and noted the way the pursuers fought.
They didn’t use weapons of any sort and fought with only their fists. Their footwork was fast and barely left a shadow. The man carried a long sword, but couldn’t even get a nick of blood from any of his three killers. However, for him to survive that long was already a strong feat. With how these assassins moved, it was a wonder that the man hadn’t died from the offset.
But the fight ended without any other surprises. A heavy hand landed on the man’s head and slammed him down to the forest ground. From where they hid, they heard the crisp sound of the man’s skill cracking. With a thud, the man fell limply to the ground.
The three assassins knelt and began searching through the man’s clothes. One took his Qiankun pouch while the other two patted the man down, even going as far as to strip him partway. Eventually, one of the trio emerged with an item. He held it up to the moonlight. The three communicated in a muffled tone and ran off into the night.
Wu Lingtian watched the entire scene without an iota of emotion. This type of situation happened quite often in the cultivation world. Even with the order brought about by the Hall of Impartiality, it wasn’t rare to see someone die because they had something the rest of the world wanted a hold of. Wu Lingtian himself had killed countless people just for something Rong Meihua desired, so such a scene didn’t move him.
He turned to Fan Yi to suggest they go back, only to find that his sect leader was trembling. If it weren’t for the fact that he had rubbed against Fan Yi’s arm in that moment, he wouldn’t have noticed.
Wu Lingtian shifted forward. “Sect Leader, are you okay?”
Fan Yi didn’t seem to register Wu Lingtian’s words at all. His eyes remained on the dead man. In the moonlight, it was easy to see that all his blood had drained from his face. His lips parted as if to speak, but no words came out.
“Sect Leader?” Wu Lingtian softened his voice. “Sect Leader, what’s wrong?”
Fan Yi grabbed Wu Lingtian’s outstretched arm and turned to look at him shakily. “What was the color of the…the jade?”
“The jade?” although Wu Lingtian had seen it, from this distance, he hadn’t even registered that it was a piece of fragmented jade. He thought for a moment before meeting Fan Yi’s gaze again. “Red.”
“…Red,” Fan Yi repeated. He pursed his lips and looked back at the corpse. Then, as if nothing had happened, he stood again and jumped from the tree.
Wu Lingtian followed after him. “Sect Leader, are you okay?”
“Mn,” Fan Yi nodded. He turned and smiled at Wu Lingtian. “I’m fine. As for the matter of this cultivator…I’ll tell Sect Master Zhong in the morning. Judging from his robes, I think he was from Xingzhen Temple.”
“Oh…alright,” Wu Lingtian nodded.
Fan Yi ignored Wu Lingtian’s worried gaze as they traveled back to the inn. His complexion had regained its rosiness and his entire bearing had turned back to normal. If Wu Lingtian hadn’t felt the tremor, he would have felt like he had just imagined Fan Yi’s shaken state.
Once they were back in their room, they began to get ready for bed. Wu Lingtian sat on the day bed and watched Fan Yi carefully blow out the candles one by one, save for the four nearest his own bed. He turned to Wu Lingtian with a gentle smile.
“Goodnight, Lingtian.”
“Sect Leader.”
Fan Yi’s steps paused. He turned and raised an eyebrow at Wu Lingtian. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you want to sleep together?” Wu Lingtian asked. Faced with Fan Yi’s widened eyes, Wu Lingtian quickly came up with an excuse. “Tonight, after drinking, I’ve thought too much about Sect Leader Wang. I miss him a bit. I’m afraid I can’t fall asleep. Can we talk a bit?”
Fan Yi watched Wu Lingtian silently for a moment.
“We can sleep like we did our first day here,” Wu Lingtian said as he shifted himself to one side of the daybed. “Sitting up.”
“…Oh,” Fan Yi nodded and made his way over to the daybed. He sat down beside Wu Lingtian and watched numbly as the other began to make himself comfortable. Fan Yi belatedly did the same.
Wu Lingtian rested his head against the backing, his eyes towards the ceiling, as Fan Yi sat with the side of his head against the backing, his eyes on Wu Lingtian’s side-profile. His fingers clutched the blanket around him tightly, but he didn’t make a sound, as if he were scared of breaking the silence.
Wu Lingtian’s eyes grew heavier the longer he stared at the ceiling. He lifted a hand to his mouth and suppressed a yawn. Fan Yi smiled and let out a soft chuckle.
“A-Tian, thank you.”
“Hm?” Wu Lingtian glanced over at Fan Yi. “I should be the one thanking Sect Leader for accompanying me tonight.”
Fan Yi laughed and looked at Wu Lingtian wistfully. “A-Tian, actually, your heart is quite warm, isn’t it?”
“Sleep,” Wu Lingtian suppressed another yawn as he closed his eyes.
Fan Yi hummed, but his eyes remained on Wu Lingtian until morning. He was reluctant to close his eyes. If he did, he would only see that piece of red jade, reflecting the flames that drowned his family.
Sect Master Zhong welcomed an unexpected visitor early in the morning. He gave the man a side-long glance as he finished the remainder of his breakfast. Finally, he stood and sat down beside Fan Yi.
In his memory, there was a youth who had arrived at the gates of his sect. In the storming rain, the youth donned in white and gold robes lifted his head to look at him. His entire appearance was ruddy and the cleanliness the youth so treasured was discard in that instance. The hems of his robes were died with blood and the liveliness that was always present had been replaced by a dull, helpless look.
His hands were outstretched as Sect Master Zhong approached him. When the other had gotten close enough, the youth’s knees gave out. It was just enough distance for Sect Master Zhong to catch onto him. His breath had been caught in his throat as he sobbed.
Following that…well, following that, the youth was no more. What replaced him was a merciless, bloodthirsty monster with a different name.
Sect Master Zhong let out a long sigh. “What are you looking for me for? Kill someone?”
Fan Yi chuckled. “Uncle, you’re a bit too biased against me, aren’t you? How could a good citizen like me randomly raise my sword to kill a person?”
“You’re calling me uncle…so? What trouble did you get into?” Sect Master Zhong raised an eyebrow.
“Uncle,” Fan Yi leaned against the arm rest, bringing himself closer to Sect Master Zhong. “Don’t be so pessimistic. I, your nephew, am a sensible person. If there was any trouble I brought onto myself, I would take care of it with my own hands.”
Sect Master Zhong rolled his eyes and silently sipped his tea. Just a few days ago, this brat was mouthing off to him, but now he had become so obedient. He would only believe him if he were a pig.
“Last night, A-Tian and I went into the forest,” Fan Yi noticed Sect Master Zhong’s impatience and began his narrative right away. “We saw something interesting. In the dead of night, three people were chasing a man from Xingzhen Temple. In the end, they cracked the man’s skull and—”
“You didn’t stop them?” now Sect Master Zhong understood why Fan Yi so sweetly called him uncle.
“And they left with a piece of fragmented red jade,” Fan Yi finished his sentence.
Sect Master Zhong froze. He met Fan Yi’s eyes. “…No.”
Fan Yi smiled. “I also wish that weren’t true, but you and I both know that the third piece had become lost in the chaos. It’s not a surprise for it to finally show up.”
“No, but,” Sect Master Zhong pursed his lips. “Are you sure?”
“Uncle, I spent years searching for those three pieces of jade—naturally, I know what they look like,” Fan Yi reassured the other man.
“But if the Vermillion Jade Seal has really resurfaced on this earth…”
“They can’t do anything about it. Before, Hei Ming already destroyed a piece. I have the second piece. Even if they try and replicate it with the third piece, they’ll be unable to,” Fan Yi smirked.
“What they should be looking for now is that second piece then,” Sect Master Zhong murmured.
During a discussion conference any years ago, the existence named Hei Ming had found the first piece of the Vermillion Jade Seal and, in front of the entire conference of over three hundred cultivators, he had shattered it with his bare hands. At that point, the ruling clans and sects who all vied after the seal had died miserably one by one, in the hands of Hei Ming, a self-ordained vigilante who was disgusted by the corruption of the righteous sects. After this grand display, he had tossed out a single word: “If anyone tries to find the jade again, I’ll see them in Hell.”
Aside from this, there was also the devil named Fan Yi who had made his sect in the West. At that time, there had yet to be a separation between orthodox and “unorthodox” cultivators. Yet, this man heedlessly carved out his own territory, allowing those who had committed wrongs to stream into his land while he kept out those who had sought out revenge, whether righteously or in the name of righteousness.
It had been a dark time for the righteous cultivators. With Hei Ming’s threat hanging over their heads and Fan Yi’s rambunctious actions, their hands had been too full to worry about this Vermillion Jade Seal again. And, after Fan Yi’s continuous persecution on the righteous cultivation world, they had been too busy trying to recover. After several decades, no one ever remembered Qingyao Manor and the Vermillion Jade Seal that had come from it.
“So, what do you plan to do?” Sect Master Zhong looked at Fan Yi.
“Fortunately, I had the foresight to keep that last piece of jade and seal it tightly,” Fan Yi said. “I hadn’t wanted to find that third piece—what’s lost should remain lost—but since they decided to wave it in front of my eyes, it would be a shame if I didn’t bite onto their bait.”
Sect Master Zhong showed a frosty expression.
“Uncle, don’t look like that.”
“Don’t call me uncle! Last time you had a grand plan, the entire cultivation world was flipped upside down by you! You even created new demarcations to separate the territories without anyone’s permission. Do you know how hard I had to work to cover for you? If your mother had not been my sister, I—”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Fan Yi fawningly poured Sect Master Zhong a cup of tea with a grin on his face. “But didn’t it all turn out well? Those who are innocent seek refuge with me—now there’s rarely anyone who are persecuted in the name of righteousness for a crime they didn’t commit.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Sect Master Zhong mocked his nephew. “You’re the best, you’re the greatest. No wonder, you’re your mother’s son.”
He clicked his tongue and muttered, “Now if only you had been more like your father.”
He threw a resentful glance in Fan Yi’s direction. “You look like him, but your temperament is just like your mothers. Goodness, me.”
“Uncle, if you keep grumbling like this, you’ll appear like an old man.”
“I am old! So, what?”
“How could an elder like you speak like that?” Fan Yi asked in disapproval. He stood and smiled as he passaged the other’s shoulders.
Sect Master Zhong swatted his nephew’s hands. “So? What do you want from me?”
“Nothing much,” Fan Yi smiled. “I just need a pass into Xianping Province. And some money.”
“Don’t you have money?”
“Uncle, spare your nephew some pocket change, I really don’t have money.”
“I just knew you only call me uncle when you need something. Shameless brat. Heartless, just like your mother,” Sect Master Zhong grumbled irritably. He glared at Fan Yi. “So? How much?”
Fan Yi grinned fawningly as he helped his uncle rub out the ink. Despite his mother being adopted into the family and then leaving when she was still relatively young, this uncle of his still treated him and his mother as if they were really his family. Because of this, Fan Yi had no qualms calling in favors and using the man’s kind heart.
Wu Lingtian playing drunk to eat tofu .,, yummy
stolen tofu is always the yummiest tofu (/▽＼)
Uncle, adopt me, I need love and care, I won’t run away and destroy the cultivation world 🙃
Crying like a baby for some reason
What a cute side of both of them. That snuggle-hug was long overdue but worth the wait.
i keep hopping between “i want to hold them carefully” and “OOOO BACKSTORY INFORMATION?? 👀” these last few chapters alxhakxhz
Same 😔