CH 38

Ji Ning stood, dazed, as Ying Qianqiu removed his mask. He hadn’t expected this sudden movement and was just thinking about how to react, when he felt a gentle kiss on his forehead.

He watched, wide eyed, as Ying Qianqiu’s handsome face slowly moved away. Unconsciously, he raised his hand to touch the place where he had been kissed. He suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. 

Although Ying Qianqiu had taken off his mask, his appearance was still altered. Ying Qianqiu shouldn’t recognise him…

Ji Ning knew that Ying Qianqiu wasn’t the kind of person who easily got close to others, so he couldn’t help but feel suspicious. He wasn’t sure whether Ying Qianqiu had really recognised him, or if this was a new way to test him.

No matter which it was, he still turned away and covered his face. He’d originally told Ying Qianqiu that he was too ugly to be seen to give himself a reason to hide his appearance.

“…I’m sorry, I was in the wrong.” 

After a moment of silence, Ying Qianqiu gently hugged him from behind. Holding Ji Ning close to his chest, he put the mask back on his face and said quietly.

“I just want you to feel comfortable.”

His hands rested on Ji Ning’s shoulders, a variety of emotions swirling through his eyes.

Seeing the teenager so worried about him and unwilling to leave Cangshan, his heart was overjoyed.

Although he didn’t know why the boy wanted to hide his identity, such a reaction showed at least that he still held some affection for him.

Knowing this, he was too weak to stop himself from holding the boy in his arms, wanting to feel a little closer to him. After a short moment, he restrained his emotions. Although it hurt him to do so, it wasn’t a good time for them to reunite.

He refused to reveal Xiaoxiao’s identity and cause him to stay in Cangshan to face the coming danger. He had to send the little one to a safe place.

He couldn’t lose him again. 

“Qianqiu, it’s Ying Xue, he…”

At that moment, Yun Dao’s voice came from outside the palace. After Ji Ning had run out, she hadn’t been able to find him anywhere, so she hurried over to Ying Qianqiu’s palace to tell him the boy was missing. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Ji Ning there, “You are…”

“Take him down the mountain and travel westward to the boundless sea. You’ll be protected there.”

The silver haired demon lord lowered his head slightly and looked at Ji Ning. His stern brow softened slightly and he ruffled the top of his hair, “I’ll come pick you up later, I promise.” 

“Let’s go.”

Yun Dao gave Ying Qianqiu a reluctant look, took Ji Ning’s hand and walked outside the hall.

In fact, she didn’t want to leave Ying Qianqiu’s side either. After Ji Ning passed away, she only had Ying Qianqiu beside her. However, now there was Xue Tuan too, and she was the only person he could rely on. She decided she would take Xue Tuan to a safe place, then rush back to Cangshan.

He wouldn’t go… 

Ji Ning obediently followed behind Yun Dao, but spoke this silent promise in his heart, leaving a splinter of his consciousness inside the hall.

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Yun Dao took Ji Ning, Qin Ruwang and a few reliable guards down the mountain. Following Ying Qianqiu’s instructions, they headed west, towards the boundless sea.

Cangshan’s defences had been strengthened and its scattered disciples urgently called back to its palace, in preparation for a battle to the death against the Dongyou demon lord and the three great clans. 

In the dead of night, Ji Ning’s consciousness remained inside the palace, sitting on the sofa, and watching Ying Qianqiu reading by candlelight.

Ying Qianqiu’s expression was tranquil, his silver hair falling like scattered moonlight as he quietly read his book. He paused for a few seconds, before taking out a jade slip from his personal treasure bag. He touched it gently with his fingers as a soft child’s voice played from it.

“Sister, wait for me…”

The recording of Ji Ning’s childhood voice echoed over and over again through the empty hall. 

Ying Qianqiu held the jade slip in his hands, his eyes closed. Lowering his head, he gave the slip a gentle kiss, thin lips slightly parted as he murmered against it.

“Xiaoxiao…”

Watching Ying Qianqiu’s devotion to him, Ji Ning couldn’t sit still. He paced back and forth through the main hall for a while. In the end he gritted his teeth and split his consciousness into two, throwing half of his spirit towards the underground palace, where the spirit sword Qiyue was stored.

This was what he owed Qianqiu… 

As soon as the divine consciousness he had separated from his spirit approached Qiyue, it was swallowed.

After entering the realm of swords, he was once again inside the beautiful peach blossom forest. Yun Yuan’s spiritual consciousness lounged across the thick and wide branch of a peach blossom tree. He showed a careless, relaxed posture and held a glass of peach wine in his hand. He took a sip of the drink before smiling at Ji Ning below.

“Have you thought it through this time?”

“I can’t agree to your request.” 

Ji Ning looked up at him and shook his head, “You know I’m not from your world, and I don’t belong to this world either. All along, my wish has been to return to my own world, so I can’t promise you.”

“Back to your world?”

Yun Yuan glanced down at him, appearing to be a little interested. He threw the wine glass into the air and it disappeared into mist.

Kicking up his long legs, he leapt lightly down from the tree. Pink petals clung to his snow white clothes as he walked up to Ji Ning and threaded his fingers through his long hair. 

“Would you wait for me to shatter the void and come with you?”

“…”

Ji Ning hesitated slightly. Yun Yuan smiled, releasing the strands of hair and stroking his face gently even as he said coldly.

“Then I have nothing to say to you.” 

“But I’ll try my best to satisfy your other requests.”

Ji Ning worried that Yun Yuan would drive him out of the sword realm again, so he quickly grabbed at his sleeve and said, “As long as I can do it.” He paused, then continued, “If I’m allowed, I will accompany you here for a hundred years.”

“One hundred years?” Yun Yuan curled his lip, “Do you think that can offset the two thousand years I waited for you?”

“…” 

Ji Ning said nothing. Yun Yuan smiled, reaching out a hand to create a long table and pour himself a glass of peach blossom wine. He took a long sip of wine before speaking.

“Forget it.” He said, “Why don’t you explain to me why you were so obsessed with me, when in the end I was so easily discarded. What am I to you?”

His dark gaze was cold and heavy, covered in a thick layer of frost.

“You provoked me first, Ji Ning.” 

“…”

Ji Ning was speechless for a while, unable to refute Yun Yuan’s words. Inside the cultivation world, he was indeed the one who provoked Yun Yuan first and it wasn’t an ordinary provocation.

Inside the cultivation world, his identity was the son of the sect master of the Qingzong demon sect. When he first took on that identity, he was extremely embarrassed. This sect used cultivation techniques that required indulgence in desires. One’s cultivation relied on the seven emotions and six desires, with the most complex practices using methods of dual cultivation. Inside the sect, almost every disciple had more than a dozen dual cultivation partners and furnaces.

Ji Ning was still young back then, and had never found anyone to practise those techniques with. He rejected many suitors and advanced in his cultivation alone until the protagonist of the novel, Yun Yuan, appeared. 

Yun Yuan was born in the Jingxu palace, the largest heavenly cultivation sect. When the novel’s plot begins, he’s just an inconspicuous outer disciple, but Ji Ning, who had read the original book, knew that Yun Yuan’s background was very unusual. He had reincarnated.

Yun Yuan in his previous life was one of the three main hall masters of the Jingxu palace. His cultivation had reached great ascension and he was about to enter a period of heavenly tribulations. However, he had read the heavenly secrets and knew that his Taoism was imperfect. He would not survive the heavenly tribulations. Only when he reincarnated would he smoothly survive this heavenly tribulation.

So Yun Yuan temporarily sealed his memories, reincarnated and deliberately hid his aura from the Jingxu palace. He didn’t want his reincarnated body to be pampered. If he lacked challenges, his Dao heart would still not be pure enough in his second life.

In the beginning, the aptitude of the reincarnated Yun Yuan was only average and left no impression inside the Jingxu palace which was filled with prodigies. Therefore, he was only accepted as an ordinary outer disciple. During his training outside the sect, Ji Ning took the opportunity to seek him out. 

Yun Yuan had encountered a mid level monster. Since he had only just started cultivating, his cultivation base was shallow and it was only by chance that he managed to escape from it.

Ji Ning’s cultivation base had just reached the golden core stage and he helped Yun Yuan with his escape.

When they first met, Yun Yuan was extremely wary of Ji Ning. Seeing the beautiful young man in front of him, he knew right away that he was a demon cultivator. He had an alluringly pretty face and was dressed in silky, revealing clothes that showed flashes of pale, smooth skin. A cinnabar huadian marked his forehead, between his bright and seductive eyes. His every movement was tempting and coquettish, enough to seduce the soul.

In fact, Ji Ning didn’t want to appear this way, but the strange exercises he practised in the Qingzong sect made him naturally erotic. The most hateful thing was that he seemed to be extremely talented at the Qingzong cultivation style. Once he had cultivated to the golden core stage, he was no longer able to restrain his charming aura. If he continued to advance so quickly, sooner or later he would become a walking aphrodisiac! 

Even if wanted to pretend to be pure in front of Yun Yuan, he would never believe him, so he simply gritted his teeth and showed Yun Yuan his most tempting appearance.

Yun Yuan had once reached great ascension. Even though he had been reincarnated and lost his memories, his mind retained its tranquillity and indifference. Faced with the temptation of the demon boy, he remained completely unmoved.

At that time, Yun Yuan’s cultivation was considerably inferior to that of Ji Ning but it was still difficult to deal with. Ji Ning had to sigh. Fortunately he had come early. If Yun Yuan’s cultivation advanced too high or his past life’s memories were restored, he would probably have to accept this mission as a failure.

In this fashion, Ji Ning made his interest in Yun Yuan obvious. No matter where Yun Yuan went, he would pester him, trailing behind him with a suggestive smile. 

At first, Yun Yuan was wary of him, but as time went on, he realised Ji Ning had no ill intentions. If he really wanted to kill him, Yun Yuan would be dead many times over.

Yun Yuan could tell that Ji Ning was from the Qingzong sect, or one that used a similar cultivation style, but his physique wasn’t special, so it couldn’t be that Ji Ning wanted to use him as a furnace.

As for dual cultivation, there was such a gap between their cultivation levels that dual cultivation wouldn’t benefit Ji Ning at all. So what was the purpose in following him around?

After training in the mortal world, Yun Yuan spent a night in an ordinary inn. Taking off his jacket, he planned to meditate inside the room, but the young demon cultivator was one step ahead of him, already reclining across the bed. 

The slender teen lounged across the duvet, exposing his long, pale legs. He smiled at Yun Yuan, his eyes teasing and seductive as he beckoned him forward, “Come over here.”

“Senior, if you need this room, I’ll give it to you.”

Yun Yuan smiled politely but he was indifferent to the situation. He left the guest room and paid for another room at the far end of the corridor. He sat on the bed and tried to meditate, but before long he smelled a familiar fragrance.

“…” 

He opened his eyes a little helplessly, and sure enough, the young demon cultivator had sneaked back into his room. Perched on his bed, the demon stared at him with beautiful, curved eyes.

“Senior Ji, if you want to practise dual cultivation, it would be better to find someone at a similar cultivation level.”

Yun Yuan tidied up his clothes, slipped on his shoes and got off the bed. “This Junior’s cultivation base is still shallow and cannot help Senior’s cultivation in any way. I’m sure Senior is aware of this himself.”

Just as he was about to leave the room, the demon hooked his fingers and pushed him back onto the bed using an invisible force. 

“Cultivation this and that, do you only have cultivation in your head?”

The young man placed his hands on Yun Yuan’s chest and lowered his head with a smile. He exhaled a hot breath of air into his ear and purred.

“Who said I wanted to practise with you? I’m simply interested in you…”

His eyes were hot and heady as he ran soft fingers across Yun Yuan’s lips and jaw. 

“Let me show you the greatest pleasure in the world.”

Look, I cannot blame Yun Yuan for his actions at all – if I had this slutty little thing all over me, I too would be entranced for the next two thousand years.

Also, I think Yun Yuan might be an alcoholic…Ningning drove him to drink (ノv`*)