CH 18

Dan Yi used a technique called the “Dispelled Clouds Reveal the Moon” and grabbed hold of Chen Ziqi’s wrist easily, but Chen Ziqi’s hand had already grabbed hold of his crotch.

“Hehe!” Chen Ziqi grinned, relaxing the wrist in Dan Yi’s hand. The very moment Dan Yi released his grip, Chen Ziqi stretched out a finger and poked Dan Yi’s little bird in a flash.

“You…” Dan Yi’s face reddened instantly.

“Why do you blush so easily?” Chen Ziqi teased. He poked Dan Yi again in a most foolhardy manner, and was wrestled to the ground in retaliation. They both fell to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs.

Dan Yi huffed angrily as he got up and made to leave. Chen Ziqi tugged on his belt to stop him. “Oh come on, don’t be angry! I’ll let you grab my crotch back, how about that?” he said.

“Please, who wants to grab yours?” Dan Yi sniffed derisively. He grabbed hold of Chen Ziqi’s collar and dragged him to the bed. “Do you want to learn or not?”

“Yes! Of course I do!” Chen Ziqi said animatedly.

“First, learn how to control your breathing. Without neili, you can only learn how to do the actions, and that’s pretty much useless,” Dan Yi said, sitting cross-legged in front of Chen Ziqi.

“Control my breathing? I know that,” Chen Ziqi said. He also sat cross-legged and demonstrated the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong method that Old Man Plum had taught him.

Dan Yi frowned and stopped him at once. “Forget this. Don’t use this ever again,” he said. 

Most of the neili cultivating methods originated from the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong, and mastering this ordinarily formed the foundation for learning other martial arts. However, the Divine Dragon’s Howl was not in the same family of martial arts as the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong at all.

Chen Ziqi nodded dubiously. Dan Yi started teaching him a completely different method of controlling his breathing. This method was not difficult, and as it was a second-order breathing control method, it was in fact much easier than the Tianyan Wanxiang Gong’s third-order breathing control method. 

In a third-order breathing control method, the first breath was short, the second breath was longer, and the third breath was the longest. This cycle then repeated ad infinitum.

The second-order breathing method that Dan Yi was teaching Chen Ziqi was very different. One had to inhale in two breaths and exhale in a single long breath. Chen Ziqi tried out this method three times, then started to feel rather faint.

Beansprout: Lol all this breathing reminds me of pilates 

“Loosen your clothes,” Dan Yi said, supporting the unsteady Chen Ziqi.

“I’m taking off my clothes again?” Chen Ziqi protested vaguely, scratching his head. However, he complied obediently, removing his belt and opening his robes to reveal his fair-skinned chest.

Dan Yi reached out and pressed a hand on Chen Ziqi’s soft little chest.

“Hey, hey, don’t touch me here, hahaha!” Chen Ziqi giggled, wriggling away from Dan Yi’s fingers. He was ticklish there and couldn’t help laughing.

“Don’t move. I’m looking for your meridian,” Dan Yi said. He held Chen Ziqi down, looking earnestly for that elusive point. He wasn’t experienced in doing this; he had only recently succeeded in attaining the first level of the Danyang Divine Martial Arts, so he had to press and prod Chen Ziqi carefully inch by inch.

Chen Ziqi was laughing uncontrollably throughout this process, and had tears in his eyes from laughing too much by the time Dan Yi was finally done. “Have mercy on me…” he moaned pitifully.

Dan Yi made a mental note of Chen Ziqi’s ticklish spot, but outwardly he displayed a serious expression. He tapped the meridian that he’d just located. “When you do the breathing technique, make sure your qi passes through this spot.”

Chen Ziqi collected himself, then breathed in, and out, and in, and out… He did this for a full hour, but nothing happened. He couldn’t even feel his qi, let alone figure out if it was indeed passing through his meridian.

Dan Yi pressed his palms to Chen Ziqi’s and transferred a little neili to him.

A warm, toasty feeling passed through Chen Ziqi’s palms and traversed his whole body. It was as if someone had poured warm wine into his veins. He closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of the qi as it passed through his body.

“I think I kind of understand it now,” Chen Ziqi said, opening his eyes and scratching his head.

“There’s no need to rush it,” Dan Yi said, yawning. He lay down to sleep.

Chen Ziqi exerted himself blindly for some time more without Dan Yi’s guidance, but there was no improvement. He pursed his lips, then let himself fall limply onto the bed. He turned to look at the soundly sleeping Dan Yi.

This fellow really slept very quickly. Chen Ziqi wriggled over and tilted his head to one side as he observed Dan Yi. Moonlight filtered in from beyond the bedcurtains, and Dan Yi’s long eyelashes cast delicate shadows over his fair-skinned face. Now that he was so close to Dan Yi, he could also smell the sweet smell of his breath.

Chen Ziqi grinned mischievously as he recalled the nightmare he had the previous night. It was time to get some revenge. He fastened his underclothes firmly, squirmed over to Dan Yi’s side, and snuggled into Dan Yi’s arms, hugging his soft little body tightly. He buried his face in Dan Yi’s chest and drifted off into a contented slumber.

Chen Ziqi awoke feeling hot and bothered in the middle of the night. He wanted to roll away to find a cooler spot, but found that his legs were firmly entwined in Dan Yi’s, and he couldn’t move an inch.

Chen Ziqi ended up not sleeping well that night. When he awoke the next morning, there were bags under his eyes.

“Dianxia, are you feeling unwell?” Fuxi asked. He noticed Chen Ziqi looked rather off-colour that morning as he was dressing him, and was very worried.

Lingguan hid a smile with her hand. She had been on duty last night, so she knew exactly what had happened.

“Last night, I dreamt that I was hugging a hot brazier to sleep, and that I was burned so badly that my skin fell off,” Chen Ziqi said, giving the clueless Dan Yi a pointed look. 

Chen Ziqi thought that he looked under the weather, but when he saw Berry Brown at Chunxi Hall, he thought he looked to be in the pink of health compared to Berry Brown’s exhausted-looking face.

“What’s gotten into you?” Chen Ziqi asked, clapping Chen Zimo on the back in a friendly way. Chen Zimo looked like he was about to fall asleep right then and there in the horse-riding stance.

“Hmm?” Berry Brown made a vague sound, then slowly raised his head to look at Chen Ziqi. “Last night. Martial arts practice. Tired.”

Chen Zimo had always been a person of few words. When he did speak, he usually spoke in this short, disjointed manner.

“The Sixth Prince is most hardworking,” the Third Prince said, walking over to peer at Chen Zimo. “The Qi Confederate’s gongfa is difficult to practice.” On the surface, it sounded like he was praising the Sixth Prince for his efforts to improve his martial arts, but when one read between the lines, he was actually insinuating that Chen Zimo was secretly learning the Qi martial arts.

All of the princes were not allowed to practice martial arts other than the Divine Dragon’s Howl. The Second Prince was an exception, but he had to give up many things in exchange for this opportunity. Even the Third Prince, who had the high-ranked De Fei as his mother, had been unable to get a concession to learn swordsmanship. De Fei might be very highly ranked, but her clout was still a far cry from the Empress’ at the end of the day.

Cheng Jieyu was from the Suxin Sect, so it was very likely that she had taught Berry Brown some of the Qi Martial Arts before they had been summoned to the palace. The Zhenlong Emperor had indicated that he would overlook the fact that Chen Zimo had been taught the Qi Martial Arts in the past, but had also told them to stop practising this now that they had entered the palace.

The other princes were all jealous that the Sixth Prince had learnt a bit of martial arts before.

“I… I didn’t…” Chen Zimo muttered softly. He didn’t really know what to say in response.

“Suxin Sect’s martial arts can only be learned by women. The Sixth Prince probably didn’t learn that, and was only taught some external martial arts,” Yao Guang said, his confident voice ringing out across the martial arts arena.

Cheng Jieyu was a direct disciple of one of the Qi Sects, so the Crown Prince naturally included her son Chen Zimo in his camp. When he saw that the Third Prince was giving Chen Zimo trouble, he immediately sent Yao Guang over to help him.

Chen Ziqi couldn’t resist staring at Yao Guang’s crotch. He seemed to be lively and in good spirits, so he probably hadn’t suffered any permanent damage. It looked like the Cloud Dispelling Fists couldn’t smash those “eggs”, and Chen Ziqi wondered if the Roving Dragon Follows the Moon technique could.

The hairs on the back of Yao Guang’s neck prickled uncomfortably under Chen Ziqi’s gaze, and he instinctively clamped his two legs together.

“It was just a casual comment. It’s really disrespectful to speak to me like this. I’m a prince, you know,” the Third Prince retorted. He had always had a glib tongue, and was able to shut Yao Guang up in a few sentences. Yao Guang had never had the gift of the gab and was not the Third Prince’s match by a long shot.

“Yao Guang, you shouldn’t speak that way. Quick, apologise to my third brother,” the Crown Prince said, gritting his teeth. At the end of the day, he still had to protect the dignity of the Imperial family.

Yao Guang looked incredibly reluctant as he bowed and apologised to the Third Prince. The Third Prince only gave him a cold, disdainful sniff in reply,

The Second Prince smirked as he looked on from afar.

Chen Zimo had not said anything throughout this whole process. Chen Ziqi looked left and right, making sure that no one was watching, then quietly asked him to come back for lunch with him at Qingyun Palace. Every time Chen Zimo had a meal at Qingyun Palace, he seemed to fare alright for the next two days or so.

As expected, Chen Zimo’s eyes lit up on receiving Chen Ziqi’s invitation, and he nodded happily in agreement.

Ah Mu heard this and immediately raised his hand, indicating that he would be coming along too. Chen Ziqi smacked him on the head. “When have you ever not had lunch at my place?” he said.

Ah Mu was not in the least bit frightened of Chen Ziqi. He stuck out his tongue at him and ran off.

Dan Yi frowned slightly. He didn’t like it when it was crowded during mealtimes. Qingyun Palace was already lively enough on a regular day, and now Chen Ziqi had invited yet another person along. He thought to himself that he should hurry along the repairs for his Danyang Palace.

“The Autumn Hunt will be upon us soon. Rather than wasting energy on arguing with each other, go practice your archery instead,” Prince Qi admonished. He brought them all to the archery grounds behind the martial arts arena.

The archery grounds were situated in the middle of a racecourse for racing horses. Sixteen targets were lined up in a row at the far end of the archery grounds.

“Imperial Uncle, am I also participating in the Autumn Hunt?” Chen Ziqi asked, clutching at an arrow.

“All princes above six years old have to participate,” the Crown Prince said, picking up a bow. It weighed six jun*, and had a dragon carved along the length of the bow. He nocked an arrow, then released it. The arrow whizzed away and landed solidly near the red bullseye. “To protect the land, the Imperial family relies both on its generals and its troops. It’s very important that the Imperial family masters both horsemanship and archery.”

*T/N: Baidu says 1 jun is equivalent to 30 jin. I previously noted that 1 jin was 12kg, but that was my bad – it’s actually ½ kg, not 12kg, oops. That makes 1 jun 15kg, so this bow is 90kg?! This Crown Prince must be a hulk.

Prince Qi nodded approvingly at the Crown Prince’s words. He directed the older princes to practise on their own, then went to teach the younger princes how to draw the bowstring.

“That’s a two-jun bow,” Chen Ziqi warned softly, watching Dan Yi pick up a bow that was taller than himself. Prince Qi started teaching them archery a few days ago, so he knew how to recognise the weight of the bows. He found it very difficult to pull the bowstring, even for the lightest one-jun bows. Dan Yi was only older than him by two years, and using a two-jun bow might injure his hands.

The Crown Prince shot three arrows in succession, and they all landed very close to the bullseye. The other princes immediately started praising his archery skills.  

“My brother, your archery has improved even further,” the Fourth Prince said, full of admiration. “Will you teach me?”

The Crown Prince smiled proudly. He turned to look at the Phoenix King’s Shizi, who clearly still intended to use the two-jun bow. He decided to grant Dan Yi the distinct honour of teaching him archery personally, in the hopes of getting close to him. “Shizi, do you know how to draw the bow? I can teach you,” he said.

Dan Yi didn’t reply. He nocked an arrow, pulled the bowstring, then released the arrow in one smooth motion. “Thwack!” The arrow lodged itself firmly in the very centre of the bullseye. He walked around the Crown Prince, who was still standing there awkwardly, and went to tug at Chen Ziqi’s hand. “I’ll teach you,” he said to Chen Ziqi.

After archery class, Chen Ziqi and Dan Yi walked back to the Qingyun Palace to have lunch together. “Why do you always ignore the Crown Prince?” Chen Ziqi asked, tilting his head curiously. The Crown Prince was the heir to the throne after all. Even if the Phoenix King was very powerful, he still had to give some face to the Crown Prince, didn’t he?

“I feel like ignoring him, so I will,” Dan Yi said. He threw a glance over his shoulder, looking at Brown Berry and Ah Mu, who were trailing along behind them. “Danyang Palace will be ready tomorrow.”

“Nn.”

“Come live with me.”

“Nn… Huh?”

Author’s note: Mini-theater

Crown Prince: Why don’t you say anything?

Birdie Gong: This is a rule in my family, I hope you understand

Crown Prince: What rule?

Birdie Gong: We don’t entertain fakes

Crown Prince: QAQ

Qiqi: I feel kinda bad that you only talk to me

Birdie Gong: This is a rule in my family, I hope you can understand

Qiqi: What rule?

Birdie Gong: To talk to your spouse more

Qiqi: ( ≧ ω ≦ )