CH 23

An Long didn’t sleep well all night. His dreams were filled with that evildoer’s face. Unable to beat or scold him, it seriously tested his willpower… 



He was simply jolted awake from fright. For the first time in his life, he was terrified into a puppy by this kind of matter.



An Long was so angry that he spit out a few more curses. He then happily ran to find the little cutie to heal his injured soul, only to see Yue Wuhuan reporting to Song Qingshi in the research room. He evaded quietly but was discovered by Yue Wuhuan, who threw him a flirtatious smile. He immediately wanted to climb over a wall to run away, lest he couldn’t retrain himself and whip out some Gu’s to take out this evildoer.



Song Qingshi was puzzled. “Why did An Long run away? Didn’t he want to be your friend?”



Yue Wuhuan smiled. “I don’t know.” 



An Long: “…”



He was so angry, he decided to retaliate.



He was the dignified Gu King of the Western Forest, when he walked across the Jianghu, his fierce and mighty reputation preceded him and everyone cowered in fear. How can he be pressured by this little Qi-refining cultivator?



He carefully pondered Song Qingshi’s bottom line and secretly took out a Fantasy Gu. The Fantasy Gu was not a harmful Gu. It can only feel the desire and nature of a human being and then create corresponding illusions to satisfy it. The portrayal of the fantasy world will seem very real and very beautiful. Most of the time it would be a spring dream of wanton debauchery. He would often use it to deal with the women he gets involved with. Occasionally, he would use it on himself, running to the fantasy world to get a taste of the delicacies he could not taste.



Given how Yue Wuhuan had such an unrestrained nature and such rich experiences as well, under the influence of the Fantasy Gu, his fantasy world must simply be wonderful. He’ll let this guy eat and drink his fill, leaving him no time to pester this handsome guy. Then, he’ll make his move and directly expose the contents of his fantasy, humiliating him in front of Song Qingshi. This way, he’ll be killing two birds with one stone. Even if he was found to be responsible afterwards, he can pass it off as him just playing a prank.



An Long silently placed the Gu into Yue Wuhuan’s body and happily waited for the results.



…



Yue Wuhuan sat in the study alone when suddenly he felt a bout of dizziness… 



When he woke up, he was standing under a sky of peach blossoms. His mind was a mess. He didn’t know what day it was. When he saw the sword in his hand and the calluses from long practice, he gradually remembered his life.



He was born a mortal and had the good fortune to enter the immortal realm. At first he practiced cultivation under a swindler named Xie Que. Later, he discovered Xie Que’s filthy intentions and escaped before bad luck could befall him. He spent many years alone before he met an old Sword Immortal. The Sword Immortal valued his talent and accepted him as a disciple, teaching him swordsmanship.



Although his spiritual roots weren’t strong, he was a swordsmanship genius, possessing sword moves and a retentive memory that enabled him to learn with a single look.



After the formation of his Golden Core, he killed Xie Que, then traveled around the world, jumping everywhere to challenge masters. He beheaded many evil-doer Nascent Soul cultivators. Breaking through the confinement of his meridians, he rushed to Nascent Soul stage and established his status as a Sword Sovereign. Praise, jealousy, and admiration swarmed him. Everyone praised him for his immortal bearing and unparalleled beauty. He was the most dazzling star in the sky, the brightest phoenix. 



He liked bright colors, liked wearing golden-red brocade. He liked being flamboyant, liked doing as he wished. He liked collecting gems and jewelry of various colors — pearls, agates, rubies, sapphires, emeralds…every gem was of perfect color and luster, without the slightest flaw. He hid all these gems in a box, looking forward to one day giving them to the one he liked.



He spent many years in his search…



During this time, he met a lot of outstanding suitors, including male cultivators, female cultivators, talented Fen Shen cultivators and youngsters who’ve just entered their immortal sects… Some of them were seeking marriage, some were seeking pleasure; some loved madly, some loved silently. But he liked none of them. And thus, he refused to reveal any interest in anyone, refused to seek pleasure. He refused everyone and waited intently for the one who would get him to willing give all his gems away.



He traveled to countless places. His boxes of gems grew more and more. 



However, that person never appeared.



Finally, he grew tired and randomly picked a immortal mountain to stop at and rest.



The immortal mountain was full of peach blossoms and he practiced his swordsmanship under them every day.



Suddenly, Yue Wuhuan found, on another immortal mountain not far away, it seemed that there was someone who was watching him in the afternoons. His gaze was respectful and without malice. He only showed up for half and hour every day while Yue Wuhuan was practicing his sword. He never caused any trouble or made him uncomfortable. Yue Wuhuan was accustomed to having eyes fixed upon him and so he paid no attention to the harmless spectation by this Daoist. 

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.

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Yue Wuhuan’s curiosity was finally piqued. He wanted to see who this person was.



He quietly shielded himself from any spiritual detection and taking advantage of the night, snuck into that other’s immortal mountain. 



This immortal mountain was very dull and drab, with bare stones everywhere. At the back of the mountain was a garden where strange medicinal herbs grew. Beside the herb garden was a simple roof-tiled house. The lights were on inside the house. Under the lights, there is a young man wholly-absorbed in his reading. The young man was a little thin, dressed in layer upon layer of snow-white robes. No decoration adorned his body. The hair was very fine, scattered casually. It was reminiscent of some little downy animal. His skin was very white, with delicate and pretty features. He was particularly cute, especially the eyes… so clear that they appeared to be unstained by even the tiniest speck of dust.



It turns out that pure white was more beautiful than any bright-colored and gorgeous hue…



Suddenly, his heart began beating rapidly but he didn’t know how to face it. He secretly took off the crystal he had on him and placed it in the courtyard. He then quietly ran away, hoping that he would find it and come to meet him. However, the boy seemed quite obtuse. Not only did he not find the crystal but he also hadn’t discovered that he had gone over there.



Most of the time, the youth was busy doing his own research and was too busy to attend to any other things. 



He has never chased after anyone before. He was a little shy, too embarrassed to confess.



So, every day, he would have a bird carry a gem secretly and place it around the youth…sometimes, it would be by the creek, sometimes in the herb garden, sometimes under a tree… The boy’s expression when he finds the gems was particularly fascinatingly perplexed. He would place the gems he found in his own pill box. Every day, the looked at them and earnestly pondered. Yue Wuhuan didn’t know what he was thinking.



But in any case, it was fine so long as he was able to send his betrothal gifts.



He became more and more interested in the youth and every day he pondered how to make the youth fall in love with him. 



His clothes became more and more ostentatious. His sword skills became more and more beautiful as he practiced. Occasionally, he would pierce the sky full of peach blossoms or he would cut the waterfalls in half to show off his skills.



He found a lot of rare medical herbs and he replanted them on the young man’s mountain.



On the Lantern Festival, he released a thousand Kongming lanterns of various colors in the sky. Decorated with pearls, they dotted the sky, so beautiful that they robbed the stars of their beauty. He let these Kongming lanterns float towards the young man and then a sword slash streaked across like a swimming dragon and the lanterns were instantly extinguished. The pearls rained down one after another, all falling around the youth, giving him quite the fright as he was unable to make heads or tails about this matter.  Yue Wuhuan though hid in a secret spot and roared with laughter.



On the Qixi Festival, he summoned countless birds and filled the youth’s house. The birds chirped and sang for the entire day. Rendered helpless and bewildered by the noise, he went out to check, only to hear a melodious song “Feng Qiu Huang” coming from the opposite forest. 



…



He felt like a male bird courting a spouse. Every day, he happily displayed his beautiful feathers, praying to get the other’s attention.



It was a pity that the person he was pursuing was confused, apparently clueless as to what romantic interest was.



Later, Yue Wuhuan went to a secret realm to hunt for treasures. There, he met with trouble and was seriously injured. 



He lay in the house to recuperate and did not go out for many days.



There came a hesitant knock on his door…



The youth finally came to his mountain. Blushing, he apologized embarrassedly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t intentionally mean to peek. It’s just that I live alone and it’s occasionally quite lonely. Being able to see your bright colors every day, makes me feel very happy…” The young man had known all along what he had been doing. He awkwardly imitated him and secretly placed a lot of various medicinal pills and herbs in a jar in the yard as gifts in return. But Yue Wuhuan had never paid attention to what those dusty jars contained. This time, seeing that Yue Wuhuan hadn’t come out for many days, he grew worried and finally came to pay a visit.



It turned out that the youth had had him in his heart all along. 



He was so happy that he caused his wounds to reopen…



The young man’s medical skills were superb. He was treated for his injuries and taken care of daily.



The youth was very pure and simple. He was very introverted and he wasn’t good at expressing himself. But he was gentle and attentive and he never did anything wrong.



The young man always had such an earnest look in his eyes when looking at him. It created an unbearable itch in his heart. 



And so he dragged the youth around to see all kinds of beautiful scenery. There were gorgeous multi-colored forests, peerlessly beautiful scenes of rose-tinted sky over the sea, shining gem pits creating rich displays of lights and colors, roaring rivers under the vast abyss, the high speed stimulation of flying through the heavens… Together, they went to perform chivalrous deeds, to practice medicine and benefit mankind, to explore secret realms, to drink and spectate…



The young man’s speech grew from somewhat jerky to fluent as he grew familiar with him, he began to talk more and finally… those clear eyes were filled with his own image and his clean laughter was filled with his own name.



Finally, he took the young man’s hand and asked with the greatest care, “May I hold this hand for a lifetime?”



The youth’s eyes curved into a smile. “Yes.” 



The phoenix has perched on the Wutong tree and the beautiful gems that had been waiting for years finally had a home.



With Heaven and Earth as their witness, they became Daoist companions.



At night, he found that the youth was even more adorable.



With a little stimulation, the rims of his eyes turned red. With a little bit more stimulation, tears started falling out. 



The young man tried his best to endure, but he couldn’t hold on for long and he was quickly sent from whimpering to wailing. In the end, his throat turned hoarse from crying and still, he held on to him and said incessantly, “Wuhuan, I like you.”



“Wuhuan, I like you.”



“Wuhuan, I like you.”



“…” 



The youth said it over and over again, making him like it a little more each time, until he was crazy about it.



He gave him all the best gems in the world.



He gave him the most beautiful flowers in the world.



He collected medicinal materials, medical books. He collect everything that the young man liked and gave them to him. 



They traveled all over the world, saw all the beautiful things and all the beautiful sights. They ate and drank all sorts of delicacies and finally, they chose a place to call home.



They are the most loving of Daoist companions, living the happiest of lives and never letting go of each other’s hands.



One night, he woke up suddenly. The young man wasn’t lying on his pillow beside him. An inexplicable anxiety rose in his heart. He felt as though he had forgotten something.



A mirror appeared before the bed… 



He suddenly remembered that in this life, he had never looked in a mirror. He had never looked at his face and he only had a vague impression of his appearance.



It was extremely strange, extremely terrifying.



He slowly got up, as if controlled by something. He went to the mirror, took off his clothes and looked.



In the mirror was a familiar and yet unfamiliar young man, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old; tall with a well-proportioned physique. He had muscles just taut enough from training. He had no excess fat, with a slender waist and contours that carried with it power. The appearance though exquisite and delicate, was still every bit heroic. His beautiful phoenix eyes carried a nobleness that would not tolerate the profane. They were very clean. 



That’s right, his face should be like this…



He breathed a sigh of relief.



Suddenly, the scenery in the mirror began to distort. A garish and beautiful red tear-shaped mole appeared under his left eye. Carrying with it a decadent aura, it ruthlessly crushed all his nobility, destroyed all his cleanliness. His body gradually changed to that of a weak youth’s. All his strength disappeared. His beauty was dyed with a bewitching hue. His back was branded with a scorching seal, dragging him into the filthy abyss, ceaselessly defiling…



He drew out his sword in a panic and smashed the mirror. 



The beautiful dream ended…



He woke up from the fantasy and for a long time after, he could not calm down. He looked in horror at his hand without any calluses, at his unbearable body. He looked in the mirror once again. Reflected in the mirror, the laughable beauty and the tear-shaped mole under his eye seemed to be mocking his delusional dream.



He had no power, no reputation, no gems, no young man, no home…



He was still that Yue Wuhuan who had nothing but filth… 



The mirror fell unwillingly from his hand and smashed into pieces.



So dirty, everything was so dirty…



He couldn’t control his breathing anymore. He couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t control his body. He could only curl up into the darkness, trembling continuously. His chest hurt so much, he felt as though it would split open. His fingers clung so tightly to his body, that his fingers drew blood. He was like a fish on the verge of death, he was panting hard but he couldn’t suck air into his body. He could only gradually suffocate, unable to call for help as he watched himself inch step by step towards death.



The door of the study suddenly opened. 



It was Song Qingshi who noticed something was wrong and rushed in. He hugged him tightly.



He struggled to call the youth’s name. He wanted to say something but only a hoarse whine came from his throat.



Like this, he was so unsightly to look at …



He had thought it was after he had come to the Valley of Medicine Kings, after he had  received tenderness and kindness, that he slowly fell in love with this person. 



Now, he finally realized that when he had first met him by the river, it had been love at first sight.



That’s why he had been able to doggedly drag his injured body closer. That’s why he was able to poke his nose into his business, to prevent that beautiful misunderstanding. That’s why, he had wanted to touch that soft hair. That’s why he had been shamed into anger upon having the dirtiness of his body found out. That’s why he had hoped for a better fate for him than the fate he got himself…



That’s why he had clung to this person tightly, unwilling to let go of this gentleness.



His body began to spasm. The world was turning dark. He could not support himself and he slowly collapsed. 



He could no longer hear what the young man was anxiously shouting.



Only the most enticing words from the fantasy remained in his mind.



“Wuhuan, I like you.”