AVL Chapter 57

Nine Heavens City, Evil Qi Road mirage.

 

Yu Tuishan, dressed in black, happily devoured his squirrel-shaped mandarin fish without getting a single stain on himself. Satisfied, he nodded repeatedly, feeling he’d made great progress—tomorrow he’d try wearing white and eating it again.

 

Having eaten too much squirrel fish and feeling a bit greasy, Yu Tuishan leisurely returned and summoned Yu Hu, asking for some “Yinhua Rao” to eat.

 

Yu Hu bowed respectfully, expressionless: “I already gave you the ‘Yinhua Rao.'”

 

Yu Tuishan paused. “Huh? No, you didn’t.”

 

Yu Hu repeated: “I gave it to you.”

 

“Oh.” Yu Tuishan said dryly, “I… don’t remember that at all?”

 

Yu Hu couldn’t care less, turning coldly to leave.

 

“Wait.” Yu Tuishan stopped obsessing over the “Yinhua Rao” and said, “Where’s the honored guest I invited?”

 

Yu Hu said: “Gone.”

 

Yu Tuishan: “…”

 

Yu Tuishan said quietly: “How could you let him go?”

 

Yu Hu frowned: “Did you say to keep him overnight?”

 

Yu Tuishan choked.

 

It seemed… he really hadn’t.

 

Yu Hu looked ready to lose patience and start hitting people, so Yu Tuishan hurriedly dismissed him and went to check himself.

 

The carefully arranged elegant room was empty, with two chains corroded by poison on either side of the bed, and a few traces of blood on the brocade covers.

 

Yu Tuishan casually flipped the covers, and with a “click,” something nearly flew out.

 

Looking closely, it was a palm-sized wooden figure.

 

Yu Tuishan picked up the wooden figure with interest, examining it from all angles. As if discovering something, his translucent fingers lightly brushed it.

 

The wooden figure’s disguise instantly dissolved, and Qu Xiangren, hanging on by his last breath, crashed to the ground, struggling to cough up several mouthfuls of blood.

 

Yu Tuishan carefully studied the bloody, mangled face, circling around for a long time before recognizing it.

 

“Ah.” Yu Tuishan crouched there like a cat, not minding the filth as he poked Qu Xiangren’s brow, smiling sweetly. “Master Qu, long time no see.”

 

Qu Xiangren’s eyes were unfocused, unable to hear the words at all.

 

Yu Tuishan’s fingertip sent a thread of Tianyan spiritual power into his spiritual platform. Qu Xiangren gasped, coughed dully a few times, and forced himself awake.

 

Yu Tuishan was very satisfied with his wretched state, his finger tapping Qu Xiangren’s brow intermittently.

 

Qu Xiangren’s gaze finally focused with difficulty, landing on a skull mask, immediately frightening him into unconsciousness again.

 

“Oh, oh.” Yu Tuishan seemed to finally react, hurriedly removing the mask. “Scared you, didn’t I? That’s my fault, I’ll take it off right now.”

 

The skull mask, nearly shattered by Sheng Jiao, slowly came off, revealing a snow-white, handsome face.

 

Qu Xiangren’s gaze froze, his pupils dilating sharply—he was even more terrified than when he’d seen the skull mask.

 

“You…”

 

Fresh blood continuously poured from his throat, nearly choking him due to his prone position, making him cough up blood foam with heart-rending intensity.

 

Yu Tuishan pointed at himself in surprise: “Huh? Me? What about me?”

 

Qu Xiangren coughed with a hideous expression, his eyeballs nearly bulging from their sockets, pupils filled with blood vessels. Using all his remaining strength, he rasped: “You… twelfth, xiangwen… actually!”

 

With the last word, Qu Xiangren could no longer hold on and collapsed back heavily, his throat making the death rattle, pupils gradually losing focus.

 

His pitch-black pupils were like a mirror, slowly reflecting the face of the person crouching there watching him.

 

Yu Tuishan…

 

Actually had a face identical to Xi Jianlan’s.

 

Actually, not completely identical—perhaps because Yu Tuishan had grown over six years, his frame was tall and imposing, his beautiful features fully matured, lacking Xi Jianlan’s lingering boyish quality.

 

His eyes were always smiling, but with a sinister, rebellious aura that sent chills down one’s spine.

 

—Completely different from Xi Jianlan’s temperament.

 

Yu Tuishan smiled cheerfully as he sent another bit of Tianyan spiritual power over, keeping Qu Xiangren alive.

 

Qu Xiangren was completely immobilized, his cloudy eyes filled with terror, fear, and resentment.

 

For the first time, he understood what “life worse than death” truly meant.

 

Yu Tuishan’s golden pupils flickered, his face showing a trace of sinister, forest-like malice, yet he kept smiling, his voice light and soft.

 

“So… you all call me the twelfth xiangwen?”

 

High above in the sky, aboard the river barge.

 

Sheng Jiao’s tall frame commanded attention just by sitting there. Xi Jianlan felt extremely guilty, inexplicably sensing he was completely shrouded and confined, unconsciously scooting backward to escape Sheng Jiao’s intimidating presence.

 

Sheng Jiao said coldly: “Xi Jianlan.”

 

Xi Jianlan feigned composure, planning to turn the tables: “What’s wrong with scheming against you? How can you be so easily ruffled? You’re the one who went back on your word—I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet, and here you are, the villain filing the first complaint. Where’s the justice in that?”

 

Sheng Jiao: “…”

 

Xi Jianlan had always been skilled at sophistry, able to argue black into white.

 

Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, he had to win on momentum first.

 

Sheng Jiao’s eyes looked ready to leak ice.

 

Seeing he couldn’t bluff his way through, Xi Jianlan instantly changed tactics, kneeling and crawling into Sheng Jiao’s embrace, his paws hooking around Sheng Jiao’s neck, fawning shamelessly.

 

“Gege went back on his word and made me suffer such a loss. After knowing each other for years, you should understand my dog-like temper—feeling wronged and wanting revenge is only natural. You can understand that, right?”

 

Sheng Jiao: “…”

 

Cold-hearted and emotionless, Sheng Jiao’s face clearly read “cannot understand.”

 

Xi Jianlan leaned in to nibble and tease his lips, pressing his advantage: “Besides, you were the one who schemed against me first at ‘Encountering Peach Blossoms.’ We already had our cloud-and-rain spring encounter six years ago—why won’t you acknowledge it?”

 

Sheng Jiao tilted his head slightly, avoiding the kiss, and said indifferently: “You were unwilling to register our union.”

 

 

Xi Jianlan pressed almost his entire body against Sheng Jiao’s embrace, saying casually: “Not registering our union has its benefits too. We can play our parts, not talk about love, just greedily enjoy the pleasures of fish and water—that has its own special flavor.”

 

Sheng Jiao seemed triggered by some word, his hand gripping Xi Jianlan’s chin with slight force, saying coldly: “You still haven’t given me an answer. Why won’t you register our union?”

 

Xi Jianlan winced: “It hurts.”

 

Sheng Jiao remained unmoved, persistently asking: “Why?”

 

If Xi Jue had agreed to register their union back then, perhaps their union ceremony would have taken place after Sheng Jiao came of age.

 

But Xi Jianlan had refused.

 

“Didn’t I already tell you?” Xi Jianlan didn’t want to rehash old matters. His stirred interest instantly dissipated, and he sat unhappily on Sheng Jiao’s lap, complaining: “You were too poor. My parents would never let me marry a pauper and suffer hardship.”

 

Sheng Jiao: “…”

 

He spoke so righteously that Sheng Jiao almost thought he himself had committed an unforgivable crime.

 

Sheng Jiao said coldly: “I don’t believe it.”

 

Only Xi Jianlan could come up with such a clumsy excuse.

 

Xi Jianlan said: “That’s exactly how it was. I was pampered and couldn’t endure the slightest hardship. After registering our union, would you have me live in that tiny courtyard of the Sheng family, seeing your scumbag father’s ghostly scribbled face every day? You didn’t even have a cave dwelling—following you would only bring suffering.”

 

Seeing he wouldn’t tell the truth, Sheng Jiao simply stopped arguing and said directly: “I have them now.”

 

Xi Jianlan looked confused: “Huh? Have what?”

 

“Cave dwelling,” Sheng Jiao said. “Spirit stones.”

 

Xi Jianlan froze, as if hearing the world’s greatest joke, nearly laughing until tears came: “That broken cave dwelling of Xiezhi Sect? If I hadn’t arranged it myself, I’d think you’d captured me to imprison me there! And spirit stones—Sheng Wuzhuo, look at those few broken spirit stones in your storage ring and say that again. How many spirit stones do you have that would be enough for my expenses?”

 

Expressionless, Sheng Jiao removed a storage ring carved from spiritual marrow from his index finger and slipped it onto Xi Jianlan’s claw.

 

—But Xi Jianlan’s fingers were too slender; Sheng Jiao’s index finger ring had to be worn on Xi Jianlan’s thumb to barely stay on, still slightly loose but fortunately wouldn’t fall off.

 

Xi Jianlan stared dumbfounded at the crystal-clear jade-green storage ring: “What is this?”

 

Sheng Jiao’s storage ring had never been restricted against Xi Jianlan: “See for yourself.”

 

Looking bewildered, Xi Jianlan sent his spiritual consciousness into the storage ring and was nearly blinded by the brilliant mountain of spirit stones—this enormous storage ring was completely filled with densely packed hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, with a pile of spiritual artifacts in the corner that looked quite expensive.

 

Xi Jianlan: “………..”

 

Xi Jianlan was stunned speechless, and after a long while said dazedly: “What… is this?”

 

Sheng Jiao was concise: “Spirit stones.”

 

“Nonsense!” Xi Jianlan nervously gripped his shoulders. “Sheng Wuzhuo, what’s wrong with you?! Have you been possessed? Whose spirit stones did you rob? The Tianyan Pearls won’t convict you of the great crime of thievery and strike you with heavenly thunder, will it?! Huh? Say something!”

 

Sheng Jiao frowned, not understanding why he was making such a fuss: “Saved up.”

 

Xi Jianlan was stunned.

 

He’d almost forgotten—being stingy didn’t mean being poor.

 

Xi Jianlan seemed to think of something, his eyes slightly reddening. He murmured softly: “Sheng Jiao…”

 

Sheng Jiao looked at him coldly.

 

“It might not be quite enough.” Xi Jianlan was moved to tears, seriously counting on his fingers for him: “If you want to tumble phoenix and dragon with this courtesan and enjoy fish-and-water pleasures, you’d probably spend all these spirit stones in a month.”

 

Sheng Jiao: “…”

 

How clever Xi Jianlan was—he naturally understood the meaning behind Sheng Jiao’s gesture, yet he continued to joke around, clearly showing he didn’t want to register their union.

 

Frowning, Sheng Jiao was about to pull the storage ring off and take it back.

 

Xi Jianlan quickly raised his hand high, trembling as he held back laughter: “Hey! Sheng Wuzhuo, that’s no fun—you already gave it to me, how can you take it back?”

 

Sheng Jiao only said: “I’ll continue saving.”

 

He’d save until Xi Jianlan thought it was enough to spend, then give it to him.

 

Xi Jianlan completely lost his composure, burying his face in Sheng Jiao’s shoulder and laughing heartily.

 

In their youth, the others in Zhuxing Zhai all said Sheng Jiao was a stuffy gourd who couldn’t squeeze out a word in half a year. The seven of them even held a criticism meeting to scold Sheng Jiao.

 

Little Xi Jue had squeezed together with Feng Yu and the others, heartlessly laughing along.

 

“He probably has to cultivate the Emotionless Dao,” Feng Yu said. “He might not even have a dao companion his whole life—his virgin cultivation is probably better than Chang Xing’s.”

 

Xi Jue laughed until he rolled around: “Virgin cultivation, hahaha!”

 

Heng Yudu nodded, saying softly: “Honestly, he really is like a block of wood that doesn’t understand romance—a few days ago when we sparred with other halls, two medical cultivators showed interest in Sheng Jiao and tried to chat, but that saw-mouthed gourd didn’t even give them a glance, making the girls so angry they flounced off.”

 

Xi Jue took pine nuts from Feng Yu’s paws and cracked them: “Won’t the Sheng family force him to marry and have children?”

 

Liu Changxing shook his head: “Hard to say. What wouldn’t that bunch from the Sheng family do? They might even think Sheng Jiao’s talent and spiritual roots are extremely strong and force him to have offspring with someone to inherit his gifts.”

 

“How tragic,” Xi Jue clicked his tongue. “Whoever becomes his dao companion in the future will probably die of boredom. Sigh, so pitiful.”

 

The others chimed in agreement: “Sigh, sigh sigh.”

 

Back then, Xi Jue never imagined that Sheng Jiao’s dao companion would be himself.

 

Moreover, after spending time together, Xi Jue didn’t find Sheng Jiao boring at all.

 

On the contrary, Sheng Jiao had high cultivation and good talent, and his face suited Xi Jianlan’s taste. Sometimes behavior that others found incomprehensible seemed inexplicably cute to Xi Jianlan—like now, when Sheng Jiao felt the spirit stones weren’t enough and wanted to take back the storage ring he’d given away, planning to continue saving until he had enough to support Xi Jianlan.

 

Sheng Jiao’s biggest flaw was not liking to talk, but Xi Jianlan felt he was already noisy enough and could chatter by himself—there was no need to find a talkative dao companion.

 

“Sheng Jiao.” Xi Jianlan bit his earlobe and nibbled gently. “When the Xi family matter is settled… I’ll agree to it.”

 

He omitted the most important part of that sentence.

 

When the Xi family matter is settled, if I’m still alive, I’ll agree to it.

 

The airship sailed through the high sky, probably crossing another dark cloud as raindrops pattered against the windows.

 

In the quiet night, it added a few threads of intimate atmosphere that only the two of them understood.

 

Sheng Jiao had probably had enough of Xi Jianlan always dangling carrots in front of him. With a dark expression, he gripped Xi Jianlan’s waist and pinned him in place.

 

His broad palm pressed against the back of Xi Jianlan’s head, forcing it down with sudden strength. As their lips and teeth met, Sect Master Sheng still had to spare attention to guard against whether this little swindler would bite his tongue tip again to poison him.

 

Xi Jianlan was almost kneaded into Sheng Jiao’s embrace. He preferred to tease Sheng Jiao with tantalizing advances and retreats, but this feeling of being completely restrained made him instinctively resist and struggle backward, his eyes widening.

 

Sheng Jiao forcibly made him spread his legs and kneel astride him, the hand gripping his waist slowly moving upward like a wide curtain covering Xi Jianlan’s eyes.

 

Xi Jianlan’s hearing wasn’t good, so he relied heavily on his sight. He pressed his hands against Sheng Jiao’s chest and pushed outward, making muffled sounds between his lips and teeth: “No… don’t cover my eyes…”

 

Sheng Jiao turned a deaf ear.

 

Xi Jianlan’s waist nearly went soft. He struggled to push him away and gasped for air, but before he could catch his breath, he was blocked again. His eye rims turned completely red, and his useless ears buzzed from lack of oxygen.

 

He vaguely heard someone seeming to knock on the door.

 

“Xi Jue! Xi Jue, get out here!”

 

It seemed to be Lezheng Jiu pounding on the door and cursing.

 

Xi Jianlan’s eyes became unfocused, his face covered in tear tracks, his voice carrying a crying tone as he squeezed out a few words between his lips and teeth: “Don’t… gege… is calling me…”

 

Sheng Jiao separated from him with a dark expression, his thumb brushing over the bright red lip that had been rubbed raw, looking at him coldly.

 

Xi Jianlan collapsed on Sheng Jiao’s shoulder, gasping continuously, nearly choking. He coughed until his thin body shook, taking a long time to recover.

 

He stumbled down from Sheng Jiao’s body, hastily straightening his outer robe that had almost been removed. He held back and held back, but still couldn’t resist glaring at Sheng Jiao resentfully with wet lashes.

 

“If anyone ever says again that you don’t understand romance or know about love, I’ll be the first to fight them to the death.”

 

Sheng Jiao: “…”

 

Lezheng Jiu was still roaring: “Xi Jianlan—! I’m breaking down the door!”

 

Xi Jianlan vaguely sensed something was wrong. He tied up his disheveled waist sash and stumbled to open the door.

 

Lezheng Jiu outside looked ready to explode with rage. Seeing Xi Jianlan’s disheveled clothes and messy black hair, he became even angrier, grabbing him and hissing in a low voice: “Get over here!”

 

Xi Jianlan was confused.

 

But when he followed Lezheng Jiu to the main hall, he finally understood what he was angry about, and his face immediately turned green.

 

By the low table in the main hall, Liu Changxing was playing two-person cards with Feng Yu, dozens of jade tiles floating beside them—it looked like they’d just started.

 

Seeing Xi Jianlan approach, Liu Changxing glared at him while busy with his game.

 

Feng Yu was like an excited puppy, his eyes shining, his face full of “Entertainment! Entertainment! Entertainment is here!”

 

Xi Jianlan: “…”

 

Xi Jianlan said quietly: “Liu Tiaotiao, weren’t you in Nine Heavens City? And you, Feng Yu, weren’t you going to the Southern Territory to deliver something to the Director? How are you still here?”

 

Liu Changxing said coldly: “My master instructed that there’s no need to protect Xun Niang anymore, so there’s no need to stay in Nine Heavens City.”

 

Feng Yu spoke rapidly without pausing: “My dad sent a message via rhino horn lamp that the Director has come out of seclusion and returned to Central State so I don’t need to go anymore what’s the entertainment hurry up and tell us I’m dying of anticipation.”

 

Xi Jianlan knew this matter couldn’t be easily glossed over. He put on a serious face and found a comfortable position, preparing to have a good session of nonsense with them.

 

But just as he’d arranged his imposing sitting posture, Lezheng Jiu said coldly: “You still dare to sit?”

 

Xi Jianlan: “…”

 

Xi Jianlan immediately cowered, wilting as he knelt on the cushion, ready to accept his fate: “Gege, I was wrong.”

 

Lady Wan treated him like her own son. Sometimes when Tianyan Academy was on holiday, little Xi Jue wouldn’t even return to the Xi family, happily following Lezheng Jiu back to the Medicine Sect to play wildly. Lady Wan extremely doted on him—every time Xi Jue caused trouble, it was Lezheng Jiu who got scolded.

 

Other people’s “gege” might contain who knows how much genuine feeling, but because of Lady Wan, Xi Jue’s calling Lezheng Jiu “gege” had always been sincere.

 

Lezheng Jiu took Feng Yu’s ghost blade and slammed it on the table, shouting sternly: “No wonder when I asked you before, you hemmed and hawed and talked around the subject—turns out you’ve been fooling around outside all these six years!”

 

Xi Jianlan said weakly: “No, no fooling around. I’ve been pure and chaste, keeping my body like jade.”

 

Lezheng Jiu thought to himself, “Bah! Your virgin body has been broken and you’re still keeping it like jade.”

 

But Xi Jianlan didn’t seem to be pretending—his grievance appeared genuine.

 

Lezheng Jiu frowned.

 

If it wasn’t during the six years outside, then this little swindler must have… before coming of age?

 

Thinking back to who Xi Jue was most likely with back then, Lezheng Jiu silently gasped, finally understanding what kind of hanky-panky Xi Jianlan had been up to inside while he’d been cursing outside for so long.

 

Liu Changxing and Feng Yu were still confused, borrowing Lezheng Jiu’s momentum to interrogate.

 

“Nonsense,” Liu Changxing looked ready to shed manly tears again. “You also said you were attracted to men—attracted to what men! At such a young age, instead of learning something good, you’re always… damn, how did that scolding go… oh right, always ‘climbing walls and peeping through gaps!’ Shameless!”

 

Feng Yu also joined the commotion: “You said before that Sheng Jiao was infatuated with you and forced himself on you—you made it sound so convincing. Don’t tell me it was Sheng Jiao fooling around with you? That’s the unromantic, loveless Heavenly Dao lord who definitely doesn’t have such worldly filthy desires. I’ve gotten smart now—I won’t believe a single word from you.”

 

Liu Changxing: “Exactly, don’t try to drag Wuzhuo into this!”

 

Xi Jianlan: “………..”

 

Seeing Xi Jianlan staying silent, the two urged him on.

 

Liu Changxing: “Jue’er!”

 

Feng Yu said: “A-Jue!”

 

Lezheng Jiu remained silent for a long time, then slowly raised his hand in a gesture of appreciation, saying quietly to Liu Changxing and Feng Yu:

 

“You two are absolutely incredible.”

 

**

 

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