Yan Ling struggled to climb a few steps before sitting down listlessly, refusing to move.
Xi Jue wandered ahead. Seeing his small face growing paler, he squatted there grinning: “Shorty, you should be a cultivator, right? How can you be so weak you can’t even climb mountain steps?”
Yan Ling glanced at him: “Isn’t it because of you?”
If Xi Jue hadn’t crashed into him and made him hit his head, he could have bounded up these steps in one breath.
Xi Jue laughed endlessly. Seeing he was truly struggling, he grinned: “Want me to carry you up?”
Yan Ling frowned: “You—you’re going to activate that xiangwen thing again? Go straight to the mountaintop?”
The ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ xiangwen wasn’t fully controlled yet. Xi Jue recalled the feeling of vomiting miserably just now—somewhat instinctively resistant to using the xiangwen again. He coughed dryly: “Stop fussing. Come.”
Originally thinking Xi Jue would play another trick, he unexpectedly actually carried Yan Ling on his back, climbing up the mountain step by step.
Yan Ling hugged Xi Jue’s shoulders, looking at his ears. After a while, he said sullenly: “I’m not short.”
Xi Jue choked, not expecting this little dumpling to quietly hold grudges. Unable to hold back a laugh, he said: “How old are you?”
“Nine years old, but almost ten.”
Xi Jue thought about it—when he was nine, he was probably about as tall as Yan Ling. But if he admitted it directly, that wouldn’t be fun. He deliberately teased Yan Ling: “When I was ten, I was much taller than you. Hey, is your body too weak, so you don’t grow?”
Yan Ling angrily kicked his feet on his back: “Not true.”
Xi Jue laughed heartily.
These steps looked very long and actually were very long to climb, especially carrying a child.
Xi Jue started out grinning and teasing Yan Ling, but after climbing over a hundred steps, his legs started going soft. He forcibly used his meager spiritual power to hold himself up to avoid collapsing.
Finally, Yan Ling could see Xi Jue was forcing himself. He probed: “How about I get down and run?”
“Stay put.” Xi Jue refused to admit defeat, saying coldly: “Said I’d carry you up, so I’ll carry you up. Who are you looking down on?”
Yan Ling could only dryly say “Oh,” lying on Xi Jue’s back watching him get slower and slower, his legs trembling more and more. Yan Ling’s two small chubby hands unconsciously clenched tighter, unable to help sweating for him.
Xi Jue gritted his teeth hard, steps staggering. Just when his desperate plan to maintain dignity in front of the little brat was about to fail, he suddenly felt a figure flash over, then his back was empty.
Yan Ling was grabbed by the collar and lifted directly into the air. With a startled cry, he landed in the cold-aura-carrying Yan Hanque’s arms.
Xi Jue nearly collapsed face-first. Puzzled, he steadied himself and looked up.
Yan Hanque’s hands gripped Yan Ling tightly, wishing he could tie him to his body and never let go. The fear after recovering what was lost spread through his heart—even his firm, powerful arms trembled.
Yan Ling paused, belatedly hugging Yan Hanque tightly, saying happily: “Father!”
If it were normally, Yan Hanque would definitely string him up for a beating. But this time he’d been missing a whole day. If not for his life lamp still burning, Yan Hanque would have thought he’d met with disaster.
Yan Hanque reached out to press Yan Ling’s head against his chest, imperceptibly releasing a complete breath of relief.
As long as he’s safe.
Yan Ling had been foolishly happy, but a child’s temperament is too sensitive and changeable. After being happy briefly, he seemed to sense Yan Hanque’s fear. Suddenly without warning, he hugged Yan Hanque’s neck and burst into loud tears.
Yan Hanque rubbed his head, saying softly: “Why are you crying?”
“Don’t—don’t know.” Yan Ling cried until his face was covered in tears, sobbing as he clutched Yan Hanque’s collar. Though he’d already returned home, he still couldn’t stop the sadness. “I’m just scared.”
Scared he could never return home again, never see his family.
Yan Hanque said helplessly: “Don’t be afraid.”
Yan Ling sobbed and nodded, hugging Yan Hanque and refusing to let go.
Yan Hanque sensed he seemed truly afraid from his very soul. Rarely indulgent, he let him continue hugging for comfort. His gaze finally fell on Xi Jue beside them: “You are?”
Having abducted someone’s son, Xi Jue felt inexplicably guilty. He coughed dryly and awkwardly performed a junior’s courtesy: “Greetings, Uncle. I’m… Shorty’s friend.”
“Friend?” Yan Hanque frowned slightly.
Xi Jue didn’t even know Shorty’s name, yet could fabricate without blushing or heart racing. He even feigned an obedient smile to add credibility.
Yan Hanque was about to ask Yan Ling when, looking down, he saw the heartless little fool had already fallen asleep clutching his collar.
Xi Jue grinned at Yan Hanque: “Hehe.”
Yan Hanque: “…”
Yan Hanque’s sharp eyes detected the Tianyan aura this child hadn’t yet learned to restrain, instinctively not wanting Yan Ling to get entangled with clan people.
However, his son had just been carried on this person’s back. To drive away a child of just over ten years old down the mountain now—even an upright gentleman like Yan Hanque couldn’t do something so heartless. He could only bring Xi Jue to Yan Family Mountain and discuss it after Yan Ling woke up.
With Xi Jue’s dog temperament, he’d never had friends growing up. This was the first time he’d been invited to play at a “friend’s” home. Moreover, Yan Family Mountain was secluded here—the spirit plants, spirit artifacts, and all arrangements on the mountain were completely different from where he’d grown up, making him incredibly curious.
Yan Hanque carried Yan Ling back to the mountaintop. Madam Zhao quickly came forward upon seeing them. Seeing Yan Ling unharmed, the heart she’d been holding tense finally relaxed.
“This is a friend Ling’er made.” Yan Hanque was brief and concise.
Madam Zhao looked at Xi Jue, whose clothing screamed wealth and status, hesitating slightly.
Only clan children would dress like this, and there was also weak Tianyan spiritual power. Like Yan Hanque, Madam Zhao didn’t want the heartless Yan Ling getting entangled with clan people.
However, children are innocent. After hesitating, Madam Zhao smiled again, bending down slightly to wipe the sweat from Xi Jue’s forehead with a handkerchief, saying gently: “This is the first time Ling’er has brought a friend home. What’s your name?”
Xi Jue was skilled at acting obedient, saying crisply: “Ajue.”
Madam Zhao smiled gently, handing several spirit pills to Xi Jue: “Yan Family Mountain has many steps. You must be exhausted climbing all the way up—look at you covered in sweat.”
Xi Jue froze, looking at the spirit pills that were obviously refined by herself. He instinctively wanted to refuse—after all, the candy the young master casually popped daily was of higher grade than these pills.
But looking at Madam Zhao’s gentle smile, Xi Jue hesitated for a long while before tentatively accepting the spirit pills, swallowing them one by one.
Completely different from the Xi family’s spirit pills, upon entering his mouth there was bitter medicinal fragrance and sweet sugar coating—clearly spirit pills Madam Zhao had refined with practice coaxing children.
Gentle spiritual power flowed into his body’s meridians, instantly washing away his fatigue and the meridian soreness from overusing his xiangwen.
Madam Zhao said: “Go sleep for a bit first.”
Who knows where these two children came back from—each one more exhausted than the other.
Xi Jue could only sleep in his own brocade-piled gentle haven. Being brought to Yan Ling’s room to squeeze onto the bed with that shorty, he was utterly disgusted.
Sleeping on the hard bed, Xi Jue complained while poking Yan Ling’s face: “Why did I even make this trip? Just toss this shorty down the mountain and be done with it. Yet I carried him up the mountain and am even staying over as a guest? Did I knock my brain too? What’s good about this kind of place? Might as well let the hardness kill me. Uncomfortable, completely uncomfortable.”
Less than half a quarter-hour later, Xi Jue was sleeping soundly.
The two slept until dusk.
Xi Jue, drowsy and with terrible sleeping posture, nearly kicked Yan Ling under the bed. In his daze, he was awakened by the aroma of food. His nose twitched lightly. Suddenly he sat up abruptly, hair a complete mess, sleepy-eyed and mumbling: “Time to eat, time to eat!”
Yan Ling was startled awake all at once, curled up at the foot of the bed, rubbing his eyes in confusion as he got up: “Eat, eat.”
The two faced each other. After seeing each other’s disheveled state, they suddenly pointed at each other and slapped the bed laughing.
Children’s friendship is pure and simple—as if with one laugh, all previous conflicts and resistance completely dissipated.
Xi Jue mooched a meal at Yan Family Mountain. The young master accustomed to delicacies was eating such different food for the first time. Like a starving ghost reborn, he wolfed down two bowls of rice.
Madam Zhao watched with endless worry, afraid he’d stuff himself.
Yan Ling looked at the table full of medicinal cuisine without much appetite. After eating half a small bowl, he stopped.
Yan Hanque lightly tapped the table: “If you’re done eating, come with me. I have something to say to you.”
Yan Ling said “Oh,” hopping off his chair to follow Yan Hanque outside.
Xi Jue completely didn’t treat himself as an outsider, happily saying: “Madam, can I have another bowl?”
Madam Zhao, seeing his face covered with food, helplessly smiled and served him another bowl.
Xi Jue wolfed it down.
Yan Yue ate slowly. In his bowl was a piece of meat he’d always wanted to eat but due to his peculiar habit wanted to save for the very last bite. He was a bit afraid of strangers, sitting beside Madam Zhao not daring to look at Xi Jue, slowly eating his rice.
Suddenly, a hand shot over swiftly.
Yan Yue only saw an afterimage flash—the piece of meat in his bowl had actually disappeared.
Little Yan Yue was stunned.
Xi Jue took a big “nom” bite, deliberately smiling at Yan Yue.
Yan Yue: “…”
Yan Yue nearly burst into tears with a “wah.”
Xi Jue desperately held back laughter, thinking there was actually an even smaller dumpling to bully.
Really nice.
On the other side, Yan Hanque looked at Yan Ling coldly in the night: “Who exactly is that person? How did you meet him?”
“He is…” Yan Ling thought about it but couldn’t remember Xi Jue’s name, so he said: “He’s the flower peacock. He was being chased and killed, then suddenly entered the barrier, then took me away. It seems to be some xiangwen roam—roam something, very capable of roaming!”
Yan Hanque: “…”
What nonsense is this?
“He’s from a clan.” Yan Hanque frowned. “Ling’er, it’s best not to get entangled with clan people.”
Yan Ling paused, saying “Oh”: “Okay—okay, I’ll drive him away now.”
Yan Hanque helplessly grabbed him: “Tomorrow I’ll send him to Central State.”
“He can leave in one go,” Yan Ling said. “From Central State, ‘right away’ he arrived at Yan Family Mountain.”
“I’ve heard that in recent decades, Tianyan spirit veins have become scarce. Though his is Spirit-grade xiangwen, activating it requires consuming Tianyan—an extremely heavy burden on his spirit veins.” Yan Hanque shook his head. “He’s still young. Only after attending Tianyan Academy for a few years can he fully master how to use Tianyan. It’s best not to excessively expend his xiangwen over trivial matters—it’s better for his future path too.”
This was the first time Yan Ling heard Yan Hanque say so much. Though he didn’t understand most of it, he still obediently nodded: “Got it.”
Yan Hanque couldn’t reason with this child whose mind was full of play, so he could only let him go back to play.
Yan Ling had only played with Yan Yue these years and was long bored. Finally having someone his age arrive, he was incredibly curious, dragging Xi Jue back to his room to see his treasured collection.
Xi Jue looked with great disdain at a shabby little wooden horse: “Just this broken thing?”
Yan Ling glared at him: “This is what my parents gave me to play with when I was little. It’s not broken.”
Xi Jue raised an eyebrow: “It’s not even fun.”
Yan Ling immediately became unhappy, sullenly treasuring away the precious little wooden horse. His crow-feather-like lashes tangled together—thinking indeed he shouldn’t have befriended him. Forget it, he’d send him away tomorrow and never play with him again.
After speaking, Xi Jue also regretted it, looking at Yan Ling’s unhappy expression and choking for a long time.
But coaxing people was a territory the young master had never ventured into. He hesitated for a while before extending an empty hand toward Yan Ling.
Yan Ling glared at him: “What?”
Xi Jue’s palm flashed with Tianyan spiritual power—the little wooden horse that had been placed in the box instantly appeared in his palm. Xi Jue grinned: “Look, impressive, right?”
Yan Ling: “…”
Yan Ling didn’t think it was impressive at all. He snatched it back, raging: “Didn’t you disdain it as broken? Don’t touch it!”
“Where did I disdain it?” Xi Jue was shameless to the extreme, leaning over all smiles: “Why so angry? Why’s your temper so bad? Careful or you won’t grow tall.”
Yan Ling was so angry he nearly fell over backward, almost taking them both down together.
Xi Jue made the little wooden horse appear in his hand again from thin air, casually playing with it. Seeing he was still angry, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration: “How about I secretly take you out to play?”
Yan Ling snatched it back again: “Not going. I’m going to sleep.”
“Take you somewhere very—very exciting to play?” Xi Jue coaxed earnestly.
Yan Ling put away the little wooden horse, planning to reason with him: “My father said your—your xiangwen can’t always be used. It’ll be bad.”
Xi Jue took pride in his Spirit-grade xiangwen. How could he tolerate an evaluation of “bad”? Hearing this, his face immediately fell, saying coldly: “Where’s it bad? I can go wherever I want, steal whatever I want—who can say it’s ‘bad’?!”
Saying this, his hand moved—he actually stole Yan Yue’s little wooden horse too.
From the neighboring courtyard, after a dazed moment, came Yan Yue’s wailing cries.
Yan Ling: “…”
Yan Ling was completely convinced.
This wasn’t over yet. Xi Jue felt it necessary to let this little bean see his abilities. He grabbed him: “I’ll take you to play.”
Normally, Yan Ling would definitely bounce around cheering “Great, great!” But now he hesitated: “My father said…”
Xi Jue didn’t want to hear what he had to say anymore. He directly mustered his strength to activate his xiangwen, taking him to Central State’s most exciting place to play.
But for a twelve-year-old child, the most exciting place probably wasn’t that dangerous either.
Xi Jue originally planned to take Yan Ling outside Xiezhi Sect to see the man-eating hook snakes in the waterway, to scare this timid dumpling.
But ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ was too difficult to control. Xi Jue’s instability seemed to transmit to the wrong location—when landing, beneath his feet wasn’t solid ground at all, but inexplicably appeared ten thousand zhang high in the sky.
Xi Jue: “Ahhh—”
Yan Ling: “Waaah—!”
The two appeared in midair from nowhere, falling straight toward the scorched earth below.
Shen Tianshe.
Young Sheng Jiao entered an environment full of evil ghosts for the first time. The Tianyan Pearl in his hand faintly flickered with spiritual power. At a loss, he looked at the fierce ghost before him extending grievances.
“Am I guilty?!”
“…My lord, I avenged my father—is it truly unforgivable?”
“Judge my right and wrong, sentence my punishment or pardon!”
Sheng Jiao’s demeanor was gentle and harmless. Forced back half a step unconsciously by the evil ghost’s yin energy, his face pale as he shook his head.
“I—I don’t know.”
A child raised with such favor—where would he have seen such scenes of blood and sin? Those ferocious fierce ghosts surrounded him, mouths continuously murmuring almost driving him mad.
Just then, two miserable screams came from the horizon.
Sheng Jiao looked up in a daze.
Only hearing a thunderous violent sound—Xi Jue landed face-first, smashing a human-shaped crater in the ground and stirring up clouds of dust, unable to even crawl up.
Yan Ling was scared to tears by the intense weightlessness, wailing for help.
Just as he was about to suffer the same face-first landing fate as Xi Jue, he suddenly felt a gentle spiritual power of deep blue water patterns sweep over like a swimming dragon, gently catching Yan Ling’s waist, cushioning his downward momentum.
Yan Ling’s body slowed for a moment, then immediately fell down again.
He instinctively closed his eyes, but at the critical moment, a pair of hands suddenly extended from the side, catching his thin body in a full embrace, preventing him from falling miserably to the ground.
Yan Ling smelled a sweet osmanthus fragrance. Dazed and confused, he tentatively opened a finger-width gap in the small chubby hands covering his eyes, sneakily peeking out.
The Tianyan Pearl was still emitting gentle flowing water-like spiritual power.
Sheng Jiao didn’t notice Xi Jue struggling to get up in the distance, covered in dust and utterly disheveled. His voice gentle, he said to Yan Ling who’d opened his eyes: “Are you alright?”
Yan Ling was dazed.
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1