Translator: transcendentwings
CW/TW: as the star in the title indicated, another chapter that was somewhat erotic and explicit which made JJWXC’s bot censor and lock the actual chapter yet again
The first part of Xu Xingzhi’s whole body to rouse was his waist. The terrible pain caused Xu Xingzhi to have the illusion that he had been chopped in half and then pieced back together hastily, before being rolled up in straw mats and then abandoned in the outskirts of the wilderness.
Instantly, that poem abruptly barged into his mind again, like a giant hand grasping shards of ice had reached into his skull and stirred everything around vigorously. Xu Xingzhi had such a bad headache that his teeth chattered and his mouth soured, he just wanted to swallow a mouthful of water to extinguish the flames smoldering in his chest.
Who would have known that just as he was about to straighten, a hand stretched over to support his waist, which was as stiff as stone, and even rubbed it lightly twice: “Shixiong, what do you need?”
As soon as Xu Xingzhi opened his mouth, he felt that the exhaustion of his entire body had spread to the muscles of his neck, and even making a sound was laborious.
He could only condense his words to a minimum: “. . . Water.”
“I’ll pour it for you.” Meng Chongguang got up.
“No need.” Xu Xingzhi reluctantly pushed the other’s hand away, “I’ll get up and take a walk.”
“I’ll help Shixiong.”
“Don’t bother.”
Before he finished speaking, Xu Xingzhi, who wanted to stand up, felt his legs buckle and almost fell to the ground on his knees, fortunately, a pair of strong arms wrapped around his waist from the side in time.
“Shixiong obviously can’t walk, yet you still won’t be obedient.” Meng Chongguang leaned forward with a grin, using his tongue to ambiguously outline the inner ridges of Xu Xingzhi’s ear, “I’ll pour it for you. However, if Shixiong is truly unbearably thirsty. . .”
A burning, hoarse chuckle was emitted from Xu Xingzhi’s throat. He turned his head and blocked the other’s mischievous mouth forcefully.
Meng Chongguang was caught off guard and hummed when he was kissed by Xu Xingzhi.
The continuous and extremely aggrieved low murmur made it sound as if Meng Chongguang was the one at a disadvantage to uninvolved third parties. However, only the two of them who were entangled were aware that they were evenly matched, and the one who was humming in pleasure and suffering was actually able to gain a slight upper hand.
After several lingering and savoring motions, Xu Xingzhi’s lips and tongue seemed to have found the way home as his chaotic heartbeat gradually calmed down and his headache also eased up a lot.
Slightly out of breath, he curled the tip of his tongue and pressed against the other’s teeth, pushing Meng Chongguang out so that he could also remove himself completely: “. . . It’s pretty sweet.”
Meng Chongguang had already become addicted to this type of seduction and hooked onto Xu Xingzhi’s neck, refusing to let go: “Still want.”
Xu Xingzhi was provoked by his natural as-a-matter-of-course coquettishness and smothered a laugh while his expression was serious and proper: “Pour water.”
Meng Chongguang was anxious as he plastered himself all over Xu Xingzhi with his hands and feet and eagerly pleaded: “Chongguang wants more.”
Xu Xingzhi fixed his gaze on him: “I’m thirsty.”
Meng Chongguang reluctantly let go of his hand, got off the cot and strode a couple of steps away before he unexpectedly turned around and rushed back. Covering the back of Xu Xingzhi’s head with one hand, he pressed the other heavily onto the bed and once again dragged Xu Xingzhi back into a clash of moistness and coolness between lips and teeth: “No, I can’t help it. . . Chongguang really can’t bear it. . . Shixiong just spare Chongguang this time, ah?”
Xu Xingzhi had no strength in his body and could only allow the other to toss him around in the dark for a long time before he managed to lift his shaky knees and gently press against Meng Chongguang’s lower half. Then taking advantage of the moment the other’s body softened reflexively, he brought his arm across the other’s throat in a block, propped up his own body with his wooden hand, and pinned Meng Chongguang underneath him. He pressed his fingers against the other’s slightly red and swollen thin lips due to their make out session, and rubbed them up and down as he threatened: “. . . I want to drink water.”
Meng Chongguang, who had his fill of smooching, still felt unsatisfied but still went to pour water aggrievedly.
Xu Xingzhi gazed at Meng Chongguang’s back, a slight frown between his brows, while the corners of his mouth were unconsciously raised.
. . . He had clearly only spent a month with him in the savage wasteland, but they seemed to have known each other for a hundred years. Whether it was making love or making out, it all seemed as if they had gone through countless instances of locking their gears together to become so harmonious.
If he hadn’t lost his mind and tried this once, Xu Xingzhi would never have imagined that he would be so proficient in these matters even without a teacher to guide him.
It was like when a flame comes in contact with dry firewood, it would only ignite with a hu, and have no alternate path to take.
Xu Xingzhi wanted to indulge in this familiar and intimate sea of desire, not to think about the past, nor to deliberate upon the poem that made him sick. He was unwilling to contemplate the complex relationship between Jiu Zhideng, Wutong, and his father including all the entanglements it involved. Though at the same time, he couldn’t help but mull it over again and again until he was thoroughly exhausted.
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.
In the past, there was a scale placed in front of Xu Xingzhi. On the left was Meng Chongguang’s life and his conscience and on the right were his father and his younger sister.
Ktf akb rlvfr rffrjkfv eq jcv vbkc, mbwqfalcu klat fjmt batfg ktlif We Wlcuhtl kjr lc atf wlvvif yflcu abrrfv ifoa jcv gluta, la kjr vloolmeia obg tlw ab mtbbrf yfakffc flatfg rlvf.
Ccv cbk, atfgf kjr j nblmf lc tlr tfjv ktlrqfglcu atja atf mtlqr bc bcf rlvf wjs tjnf cfnfg fzlrafv lc atf olgra qijmf, atja atf kflutar bc atf gluta rlvf bo atf rmjif, ogbw yfulcclcu ab atf fcv, kfgf pera akb afggloslcu qtjcabwr.
This cognition had too much of an impact on Xu Xingzhi.
Thinking back carefully, Xu Xingzhi discovered that besides the year title of “the Sixteenth Year of Tianding”, there were too many points worthy of suspicion.
For example, he had no memories of the time before age five at all.
He still remembered what he saw when he woke up from his sickbed when he was five.
The afterglow of dusk moved slowly across his body and the warm scarlet light wrapped him up in an airtight cocoon.
Xu Xingzhi only felt that he was going crazy from his headache, his internal organs were all twisted in agony, but very quickly a middle-aged man’s gentle voice rang out: “. . . You’re awake?”
To this day, Xu Xingzhi still recalled the intense sense of panic that accompanied his blank mind, like he had gone to the other side once already before his soul was forced back into the human realm.
Then as if the other noticed that there was something off about his gaze, that man picked up his weak and trembling body from the bed, patting him slowly as he coaxed in a soft murmur: “Xiao-Ping, what’s wrong? You don’t recognize your father anymore?”
Xu Xingzhi thought at the time, this is what a father was like?
In the past. . . did he have a father?
But it didn’t take long for him to pick up on and be affected by the suppressed excitement in that man’s voice.
His heart softened and he couldn’t bear to let this amicable and gentle middle-aged man before him down, so he exhausted his strength to wrap his left arm around the other: “. . . Father.”
That man’s figure trembled and then hugged him desperately, the other’s arms were locked tightly around him, making him almost breathless: “It’s good that you’ve returned, as long as you’ve come back. . . I will take care of you for a lifetime, I won’t let you leave me again. . .”
Xu Xingzhi had such a bad migraine that it seemed as if someone had split his head open, but at the same time, he always felt that something was wrong, as if there was some sort of imbalance within his body.
He lowered his head with all his strength, only to find that his right wrist was wrapped in a thick white cloth. The position where the right hand should have occupied was now empty.
Most likely because of the throbbing in his head, Xu Xingzhi couldn’t feel the pain from his wound. He tilted his head and gaped at the severed hand in shock: “. . . My hand. . .”
“I will be your hand from now on.” The man declared decisively, “Xiao-Ping, your little sister and I will take care of you from now on. . . . Meimei, come over here quickly.”
The three-year-old girl who was waiting obediently outside the door trotted into the room at the sound of her father’s call. She had the edges of her skirt fisted in her hands as she watched him with red-rimmed eyes.
Xu Xingzhi was moved by those heated yet restrained eyes of the child in front of him. Forcibly enduring the aching pain in his head, he slowly revealed a smile to her.
According to what he found out, his right hand was chopped off in a freak accident at the palm by a wheat sickle when he was goofing off, leaving him disabled.
After nearly three months of bed rest, Xu Xingzhi’s feet were finally able to touch the ground. His legs were like white poplars, extending its stem, sprouting tender leaves, easily teeming with life once again.
He discovered that whatever he learned, he was able to utilize and rapidly at that, whether it was writing, reading, drawing a bow, pitch-pot, were all not beyond the realm of possibility.
He was a playful person by nature and his father never restrained him because of the incident where his life had been hung by a thread when he was a child. Ever since he turned twelve, he started to wander about, establish friendships, travel across mountains and rivers, drink and go merrymaking.
Entreating what life entailed everywhere, like the flighty goose stepping on the snow and mud.
However, even a capricious goose needs a place to settle down to live.
No matter how far he treks, he only needs to turn his head and there would be a shingled roof and candlelight waiting in place for him.
How reassuring this used to be for him.
Everything changed the moment he moved his brush to pen this volume of tales out of boredom.
He always believed that it was the Worlds’ Consciousness that pulled him into this nightmare. But now he suddenly realized that he seemed to have been startled awake from a long dream.
. . . What was real, what was false?
Although the illusions were ridiculous, like the flowers in the mirror, or the moon reflected in the lake, looking at each from a distance, how would one determine which side was genuine and which side was the lie ne.
Xu Xingzhi covered himself tightly, leaned against the bedpost and took a few sips of water from the cup that Meng Chongguang had passed over and just barely suppressed the beast that was viciously tearing at his heart using its teeth with the coolness from the water.
Meng Chongguang put the cup down and tested the temperature of Xu Xingzhi’s forehead with his own: “Fortunately, Shixiong’s fever has subsided.”
Xu Xingzhi didn’t answer, only using his pair of black eyes to stare at the other bluntly and boldly.
The two straight and beautiful nose bridges were lightly pressed against each other, and the heat exhaled from each other’s breaths mingled with each other briefly before continuing forward to brush against each other’s cheek.
After a few rounds, Meng Chongguang avoided his line of sight in a panic and wanted to retreat from the side of the bed. Xu Xingzhi’s eyes were quick while his hands were nimble, and with a simple movement of his knee, he pinned the edge of Meng Chongguang’s robes down firmly.
“Where are you going?”
Meng Chongguang’s breathing was already tumultuous as he turned his face aside vigorously: “Shixiong’s fever just broke, your waist also isn’t in good shape, I can’t. . .”
Xu Xingzhi squeezed the other’s chin tightly, stoppering all the other words he was about to say.
When Meng Chongguang shifted his dazed and watery gaze back onto Xu Xingzhi, he saw Xu Xingzhi suddenly smile then lift his quilt, exposing a part of his plain white trousers which was rolled up to reveal his slender and straight legs.
He raised his chin: “. . . Get over here, get on with your business.”
After obediently rolling into the blanket, Meng Chongguang felt around until he came up behind Xu Xingzhi, nibbling on the other’s ear as he whispered into it in excitement: “Shixiong, you seduced me. . .”
“Stop saying nonsense. Why do you like hugging people from behind so much? Who taught you that?”
“Wasn’t it Shixiong?” Meng Chongguang’s tone was extremely wronged, like a little milk pup who hadn’t snatched up any milk, whining with a henghengjiji, “Shixiong doesn’t remember anymore? During our first time, Shixiong didn’t cooperate at all, stating that looking at my face when doing it was too awkward and insisted I go from the back. . . Then you ended up screaming fiercely, scolding that it hurts and wanted me to get the hell out. You only stopped berating me when I cried. . .”
Xu Xingzhi almost couldn’t hold back his urge to snicker when he heard the other’s tone. But soon, he lost the strength to laugh or tease as he let Meng Chongguang conduct his business with a pale face.
“Shixiong, you truly are, very tight. . .”
Xu Xingzhi’s forehead was beaded with cold sweat: “If you think it’s f*cking tight then why don’t you just get. . . ah. . .”
“You’re not allowed to call out.” Meng Chongguang covered Xu Xingzhi’s mouth, “. . . They will hear it.”
Although the joy in the bathing spring made others recall it fondly, Meng Chongguang regretted it to death when he came back to his senses.
In his transient loss of composure, he actually allowed others to hear Shixiong’s voice.
He will never make that same mistake again.
He embraced Xu Xingzhi, disturbing the quilt until he produced numerous frothy waves.
Xu Xingzhi just gazed at the ceiling in a daze in the interim.
Amidst the collisions that provoked death’s bottomline, he could at least confirm that the person behind him now wasn’t a guest in his dreams who might leave and disappear at any time. This fact made Xu Xingzhi, who had the facade of serenity, but was actually overwhelmed by anxiety, feel inexplicably relieved.
In addition, Xu Xingzhi didn’t mind frankly admitting that he missed these stimulating emotions that made his heart tremble, this was true physically and emotionally.
In the following days, Meng Chongguang and Xu Xingzhi rolled around in the sheets throughout every corner of Nanli Palace.
They weren’t in a hurry to get anything done and it wasn’t as if the key shards housed in their respective locations could run away, thus Xu Xingzhi just let his heart go, allowed his strength to be sapped, and let Meng Chongguang do what he will wildly without abandon for quite a while.
One day, when he had nothing to do and was just roaming around aimlessly, he caught sight of Tao Xian and Qu Chi at the end of a corridor.
Tao Xian was crouched next to Qu Chi, writing and drawing on the ground, while Qu Chi imitated his movements to scribble along. The two looked very harmonious.
Tao Xian was very sensitive, he turned his head when he heard the sound of footsteps, and when he caught sight of Xu Xingzhi, he immediately shot to his feet in a panic. Before he could speak, his face was already flushed: “Xu, Xu-shixiong.”
Xu Xingzhi was standing upright with a robe draped over his shoulders. Meng Chongguang’s outer robe was a little too long for him and the corners swayed leisurely with the breeze in the corridor making him look even thinner and taller with well-proportioned muscles and bones.
Qu Chi raised his head to greet Xu Xingzhi, then he eagerly copied Tao Xian, scrawling on the ground stroke after stroke.
Xu Xingzhi came over, aiming to sit down by the steps of the veranda. Before he could, Tao Xian rapidly reached out to support Xu Xingzhi’s waist, then flung off his outer robe, folded it twice and cushioned it on the steps in one smooth motion.
He offered meekly: “Xu-shixiong, please sit down.”
Xu Xingzhi also didn’t bother to act overly polite with him and sat down unceremoniously: “Aren’t you considerate.”
After sitting down, he shrugged out of the warm robe and pulled it over Tao Xian’s shoulders.
Tao Xian was a little flustered and attempted to reject it a few times, but Xu Xingzhi clicked his tongue and he could only accept it with a flushed face. Rubbing the sash on the robe with his fingers he stuttered awkwardly: “Shixiong, I’ll warm it up for you first. When you are cold, I’ll return it to you.”
How would Xu Xingzhi make a fuss over this and just waved a hand with a grin: “We’ll see, we’ll see. . . . What are the two of you doing?”
Tao Xian replied bashfully: “Qu-shixiong pestered me and asked me to draw candied haws for him. Ever since I told him about it last time, he has been keeping it on his mind.”
Qu Chi couldn’t tell that they were discussing himself and just focused on scratching out his candied hawthorns in the dirt. However, when Tao Xian’s gentle gaze fell on him, he seemed to feel something and raised his head to smile at Tao Xian in response.
Qu Chi’s facial features were shaped at birth to define the four characters of “gentle, eloquent, and elegant”. The spot between his brows radiated joy and Tao Xian had only just met the other’s gaze when he hung his head in embarrassment, the fingers on his knees flexing and stretching nervously.
The impulse to tease him arose and Xu Xingzhi nudged Tao Xian with his elbow before he deliberately whispered directly into the other’s ear: “Are the two of you cultivation partners?”
In these days and nights, Xu Xingzhi had watched on with cold eyes and only felt that the relationship between Zhou Beinan and Lu Yujiu, and between Qu Chi and Tao Xian were all out of the ordinary.
But this wasn’t surprising, it was a blessing to have someone be able to accompany you in this savage wasteland and this group were also all young and vigorous young men. In such an environment, the long nights were difficult to get through, so why would one fuss over whether the person accompanying them was a man or a woman.
Unexpectedly, Tao Xian opened his eyes wide and stammered to retort: “Xu-shixiong, why would you think that way? I, Qu-shixiong and I are like the high heavens and the mud on the earth, the two opposite poles, how would I dare to harbor those kinds of thoughts about Qu-shixiong?”
Xu Xingzhi was surprised that Tao Xian would stutter so nervously yet his words were so sincere.
Tao Xian looked at Qu Chi and saw that the other had turned his back to the two of them again as he began to sketch seriously. Only then did he dare to show the endless admiration in his eyes when he normally would have just avoided meeting anyone’s gaze: “I have never seen someone who is more gentle and a better person than Qu-shixiong. When I was in the present world, I kept thinking about the matter where Qu-shixiong exchanged a hundred spirit stones to obtain the candied haws for me to eat. It was such a pity that I couldn’t converse with Qu-shixiong a little more. . .”
The culprit who used two bunches of candied hawthorns to blackmail Qu Chi of one hundred spirit stones choked out a dry cough.
As soon as Tao Xian brought Qu Chi up in conversation, the symptoms of stumbling over his words and shyness would disappear and his eyes would be full of tenderness.
“Later, when I grew up, I left the tea tavern and took my luggage around to find where Qu-shixiong resided. I was too young at the time, so I really couldn’t remember which sect Qu-shixiong belonged to and had no choice but to waste two years of time to inquire about it one at a time. I had only wanted to swear into the same sect as Qu-shixiong and just watch him from afar, and I, I would be satisfied.”
Xu Xingzhi mulled it over, a bunch of candied haws and a few heart-warming words had been remembered by this child for so long, his life must have been quite sad and pitiful at the time.
Xu Xingzhi had always been soft-hearted towards these sorts of good children and couldn’t help reaching out to stroke Tao Xian’s soft hair.
Tao Xian was obviously not used to such intimate physical contact and shrank back like a frightened puppy.
Xu Xingzhi didn’t mind his instinctive evasive movements and chuckled in amusement: “Tao Xian, when did you become a disciple of Danyang Peak?”
In the past few days, Xu Xingzhi may have been indulging wantonly in the lap of luxury, but his mind only became sharper and clearer.
The memories of the original owner showed no signs of reawakening in recent days. Seeing that the truth was close at hand, it was useless for Xu Xingzhi to try and shirk away from it. It was better to aid Meng Chongguang in retrieving the key, return to the present world, find Jiu Zhideng, and demand the truth face to face. He would interrogate him on what exactly was up with those lines, “the nine-branched lamp sat by the window, look beyond melancholy and capture the phoenix tree in the mirror”.
At the same time, he also wanted to glean more news from these people. Although everyone possessed different pieces of intelligence, if they could complement each other, maybe they could be pieced together in a mockup of the rough truth.
Tao Xian calculated it for a while: “The fourth year of Tianding, the third day of March.”
“You remember rather clearly.” Xu Xingzhi laughed again.
Tao Xian curved his lips somewhat sadly: “How could I not remember it vividly. When I ascended the mountain on that third day of March, the peach blossoms were in full bloom; on the tenth day of March, all the peach blossom petals on the mountain had fallen and Qu-shixiong became like this.”
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Quenching thirst, undisguised admiration, fall of the peach blossoms
The translator has something to say: finally a normal length chapter, XXZ’s convictions are crumbling and he’s becoming more proactive in fishing for information now, he’s letting go. Also I feel back for TX who couldn’t spend much time with the sane QC as a friend before he took on the role of a caretaker just to stay by his side anyway
Thank You for the new chapter (⋈◍＞◡＜◍)。✧♡