Chapter 112: Worried Yao

Fu Li looked at Zhuang Qing, and then looked at the elder from the Fields Sect. He wanted to let the other party know that this was a misunderstanding, but when he glimpsed the raised corners of Zhuang Qing’s lips, he hugged the jar of fruit jam tightly and remained silent.

In the eyes of the Fields Sect’s elder, Fu Li’s silence was due to his thin skin, so he didn’t think much of it.

Fu Li received quite a few new year’s blessings along the way to the Fields Sect’s main entrance. There were even many cultivators who looked at him and Zhuang Qing with a face full of ambiguity, their expressions screaming ‘you don’t have to say anything, we understand’.

Fu Li finally understood. Conjuring up things in the mind was a bad habit of the humans, but when yao cultivators transformed into their human forms, they could also acquire this sort of bad habit.

They hadn’t walked out of the Fields Sect’s barrier when Zhuang Qing noticed that Fu Li had his head silently lowered. Knowing that Fu Li objected to those words, he said calmly, “There’s no need to take offense to their words. As time passes, they will realize that those are just rumors.”

Fu Li lifted his eyelids, glancing at Zhuang Qing. Zhuang Qing met his gaze. “We’re going to the flying palace now?”

“En,” Fu Li nodded. He touched the phone in his pocket. Would there be a signal in the flying palace?

Kang Gu and Feng Ruizhong had long prepared everything after knowing that the two juniors would be coming over for two days. What they hadn’t expected was for Zhuang Qing to bring a large pile of presents from the human world. The items weren’t expensive, but such kind intentions were hard to come by. As a result, their liking for Zhuang Qing increased.

“Both your rooms are in the east hall. Little Li, bring Little Zhuang over.” Feng Ruizhong was making magic clothes with Kang Gu and couldn’t leave at the moment, so he told Fu Li, “Play well. It’s hot here, don’t stay too long.”

Ordinary fire was of no threat to yaoguai with profound cultivation, but the fire currently in the Divine Fire Hall was the Fenghuang’s true flame that he had spat out. The juniors would feel uncomfortable if they stayed for too long.

“Then you and King Ganglie shouldn’t push yourself too much,” Fu Li knew how they worked, so he didn’t insist on remaining to help and instead brought Zhuang Qing out. The patrolling bodyguard-maids that they encountered along the way bowed one after another, their expressions vivid and their motions similar to ordinary people. Without careful scrutiny, it would be nearly impossible to tell that they were merely refined devices without souls.

To be capable of making refined devices with a high level of similarity to living people, and to make so many at that – these ancient great yao had formidable capabilities.

“It should be on this side,” Fu Li pointed at the palace in the east. “My family’s elders like to position my dwelling in the east.”

There was indeed a palace standing on its own in the east. The name ‘Hall of the Rising Sun; Sun Rises in the East’ engraved on it was quite a fitting one. There was ample spiritual qi in the hall, and Zhuang Qing discovered that the floor and walls were not only inlaid with spiritual stones, but had a Spirit-Gathering Formation drawn on them. A single day of cultivation here would be equivalent to ten days of cultivation outside. 

“The rooms are all the same.” Fu Li opened the rooms to two master bedrooms, took a few glances, and then told Zhuang Qing, “I’ll take the one on the left and you take the one on the right.”

“Okay,” Zhuang Qing walked into the room. Only when he heard the door close next door did the corners of his mouth tighten.

Hiding in the room, Fu Li took out his phone and made the unexpected discovery that there were two signal bars. The country’s infrastructure was truly yao-shattering. What magnificent humans.

Fu Li found the website he had previously logged in to, located his post, and continued posing questions.

Flower: OP’s follow-up is finally here. I feel like OP has a group of good friends. They have a high acceptance of your love and even specially wished you well. Very cute.

Mighty and Majestic Rabbit: That isn’t an issue, my social network has a high acceptance of all kinds of love. That isn’t what I wanted to ask guidance for, I wanted to request for everyone to raise a few ideas on what my friend meant by this action.

Crabs Taste Bad: Is it only me who feels that OP’s friend is a schemer? Under some imperceptible influence, he got everyone around the OP to feel that him and the OP are together. Who would express their feelings towards the OP like this? Looking at the OP, he doesn’t seem like someone with romantic experience. OP, I sincerely advise you not to continue struggling, give in to him.

Panda’s Tail: OP, perhaps this friend of yours has secretly been in love with you for a very long time. It’s just that you didn’t know about it.

Fu Li read this reply with some shock. Zhuang Qing had secretly been in love with him for a very long time?

No, impossible. Zhuang Qing’s usual attitude towards him wasn’t at all like the kind in television dramas. All that about the face turning red, secretly writing love letters, giving presents, and stammering when speaking – Zhuang Qing didn’t conform to a single one of them.

Mighty and Majestic Rabbit: My friend is a very impressive person who doesn’t fear anything. If he had any intentions towards me, he wouldn’t stay silent for so long.

Panda’s Tail: Because even the bravest person will become timid in the face of love. The more he cares, the more cautious he’ll be. Because in the grand bet that is love, he dare not lose, doesn’t want to lose, and can’t afford to lose.

Fu Li stroked his chin thoughtfully. Was it really like this?

“What a dimwit!” The crested ibis sat cross-legged on his bed, two fingers flying across the screen. It had been a long time since he had seen such a silly human who didn’t even know whether the person beside him liked him.

Panda’s Tail: Think hard. What is he usually like? How does he treat people? Has he given you any particularly expensive presents?

Mighty and Majestic Rabbit: Nothing very expensive, he just gave a villa to me a while back.

Flower: Hehe, is OP purposely fooling around with us?

Crabs Taste Bad: Another troll post?

Panda’s Tail: A villa? Why don’t you brag that someone secretly in love with you gave you a huge pile of gold, silver, and jewels?

Mighty and Majestic Rabbit: That didn’t happen, those were the things I gave him.

“We were chatting perfectly well, why did they start to curse me?” The netizens on the post were no longer answering his question and were commenting ‘green burial pleasure’, ‘post trolling everyone to death’, and whatnot. Seeing this, Fu Li logged out of the post, shaking his head. “Humans are really temperamental.”

After he withdrew from the post, he found a post with a tiny flame symbol on the top page titled ‘Some Things about the Hegemonic Chairman and his Assistant’. He smoothly clicked on it and immediately saw the photo he and Zhuang Qing had posed for on the night of the charity event.

He was cocking his head and looking at something while Zhuang Qing was turned towards him.

There were many photos inside – photos of him and Zhuang Qing selling fish, photos of them from the back as they walked around the zoo with panda ears, photos of them seated in the car, and even photos taken from the side as they strolled around the supermarket.

Tomorrow’s Sunday: My friend and I took many photos, but they were all taken in secret, so we can only put up two photos taken from the side and back. But the chairman is super doting to his little assistant. The little assistant picked everything out along the way and the chairman just obediently pushed the cart at the back. When the little assistant was buying snacks and the cart was full, the chairman pushed another cart over and swept up all the goods on the shelves. Truly both handsome and considerate.

Dou Dou Doesn’t Take a Beating: Really envious of the person upstairs for witnessing this scene. Is the chairman and little assistant as good-looking in real life as they are in photos?

Tomorrow’s Sunday: Super good-looking, even more good-looking than the pictures. Everything below the neck is all legs. My little partner and I nearly couldn’t breathe because of how handsome both of them were. Let me tell you guys a small secret – when the chairman went to settle the bill, he picked up a box of little umbrellas at the counter. I went to take a peek at them later on – that was a big box, it seems like the chairman and his little assistant’s relationship is super~ duper~ good~

The comments below were already discussing the topic of who was top and bottom, how many times they did it a night, and how long one time was. Fu Li silently closed the web page. He hadn’t expected humans to be so interested in life’s great harmonious exercise.

Zhuang Qing was of the dragon race. How could it only be seven times a night and one minute every time? These humans were really ignorant.

“Fu Li,” Knocks sounded on his door. Fu Li hurriedly stuffed his phone into his pocket. With a wave of his hand, his room door opened. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Zhuang Qing sat beside the table. “It’s boring being on my own in the room.”

“Then I’ll take you for a stroll around,” Fu Li stood up. He felt a bit embarrassed just thinking about how he had even been considering Zhuang Qing’s reproductive ability a minute ago.

Zhuang Qing noticed that there was something off about him, but didn’t expose him. “Will it be an inconvenience for you?”

“No no,” Fu Li paused. “We’re friends after all.”

Zhuang Qing smiled gently. “En, the most important friends, right?”

Fu Li nodded. “Yes!”

Kang Gu squatted on the steps at the entrance to the Divine Fire Hall and asked Feng Ruizhong with a look of confusion, “It’s Little Li and Little Zhuang’s third or fourth time circling the yard, should I ask them to stop and eat something?”

Feng Ruizhong closed the door to the refining furnace and walked over to Kang Gu. He crouched down with both hands on his knees and looked at them for a while. “Do you feel like… our Little Li is a bit clingy with Little Zhuang? Does he have those intentions towards Little Zhuang?”

“Little Li is already more than four thousand years old, it’s very normal for him to like a yao. Little Zhuang has profound cultivation, an upright nature, and a body of yao-shocking virtue. It wouldn’t be half bad if Little Li became his Dao Companion,” Kang Gu stared at Zhuang Qing with rapt attention for a moment. Suddenly, his breathing turned heavy. “Do you still remember the divination Baize did for Fu Li?”

Feng Ruizhong hesitated. “You mean – golden water transforms to luck, virtue comes from the east?”

Kang Gu nodded fiercely. “Little Zhuang is a golden dragon and is now the emperor of the aquatic races. The golden dragon palace is also in the East Sea. Maybe he’s Little Li’s sole chance at survival.”

The gazes of the two great auspicious beasts met, each seeing ecstasy in the other’s eyes.

Zhu Yue was unwilling to appear even today, even though Fu Li said that he had met her in the sea. Kang Gu and Feng Ruizhong had long suspected that in accordance with Baize’s divination, Zhu Yue had gone into the sea in search of Fu Li’s sole chance at survival. They had always assumed that the prophecy referred to a certain object or magic device, but hadn’t considered the possibility that these ten words referred not to a magic device, but to a human or yao.

“If Baize is still alive…” Kang Gu inhaled deeply as he struggled to suppress the excitement in his heart. “If he’s still alive, he would definitely be able to tell if Little Zhuang is Fu Li’s one chance to live.”

They had fled in all directions at that time and ended up suppressed at different locations in the world. No one knew who was still alive and who was already dead. Among the great numbers of yao cultivators on Reflecting Mist Mountain, the only ones they could be sure were alive were the four of them.

“If Little Zhuang really is the chance at survival mentioned in the prophecy, then he must not learn of this matter,” Feng Ruizhong said. “What if he thinks we want him and Little Li to be together because of his fate?”

“But we only specially thought of him and Little Fu becoming Dao Companions because of his fate,” Kang Gu scratched his head. “If Little Li and Little Zhuang become Dao Companions, they will be in the same boat. With Little Zhuang’s virtue, he can definitely protect Little Li from heavenly law.”

“So you must remember to keep your mouth tightly shut,” Feng Ruizhong glared at Kang Gu, worried that his pig’s head would mess things up. “Didn’t you see how those men and women in human stories end up quarreling till the skies and earth turn upside down because of such misunderstandings?”

Something like ‘turns out you just wanted to make use of me, I hate you’.

Something like ‘turns out you don’t love me at all, you only love my money or body, I hate you’.

And something like ‘turns out you don’t love me, you only love this face that resembles someone, I hate you’.

Those humans loved and hated, but at the end of the day, they might still be able to reconcile, reunite, and get together once again. Their family’s Little Li couldn’t bear this sort of torment from being hated here and there. What if heavenly law made trouble out of nothing while they were in the midst of hating here and there? What should they do then?

“But the most important question now is – how are we going to get Little Zhuang to willingly become Dao Companions with Little Li?” Anxiety filled Kang Gu’s face. “We can’t possibly rely on our seniority and higher cultivation to force Little Zhuang to be with Little Li, right?”

Feng Ruizhong: …

The two people glanced at each other and sighed simultaneously.

This matter would worry them yao to death.