Ch52 - Night of Festivities*

Translator: transcendentwings

CW: NSFW, but er very tame and non-explicit (at least I think so)

Xu Xingzhi only felt as if the back of his head was enveloped in a chill and when he turned around, he noticed that everyone’s gaze seemed strange.

He reached out and touched the back of his waist, wondering if Meng Chongguang did something to his back when he was asleep.

He couldn’t see behind, thus he didn’t know what they saw.

—There was a large scar on the upper part of his lower back, as if a layer of flesh had been scraped off with a piece of metal. Probably because the assault had been so ruthless, but one could still vaguely vividly imagine the bloody appearance of the torn flesh when the wound was inflicted.

However, even with the wound in its present state, everyone could still see the circular silver-ringed serpent imprint peeking out from under the scar.

Because the scar happened to be located on the center of the spine and was well demarcated, extending to a spot three fingers above the waistline from either side of his waist, from Xu Xingzhi’s perspective, if he didn’t turn his back to a certain angle and look in a mirror, he wouldn’t be able to spot it at all.

Xu Xingzhi couldn’t see the area where the scar was, so he could only raise his head and ask: “. . . What’s wrong?”

Zhou Beinan took the lead in looking away, then he raised his fingers to rake his hair back along his thick hairline, coughing drily: “It’s nothing.”

Lu Yujiu also chimed in: “Xu-shixiong, come down quickly ba. You just woke up, so you can’t withstand catching a chill.”

Tao Xian had been used to running around the market since he was child, so although he hadn’t been trained to speak eloquently, he still possessed the well developed ability to read the atmosphere. The others didn’t want to bring it up, so he also gave up the notion to ask. He turned around to grab ahold of Qu Chi’s hand as he whispered in a low voice: “Qu-shixiong, Xu-shixiong’s back. . .”

Contrastingly, Qu Chi flipped it around and gripped the other’s wrist, warning seriously: “. . . Sh.”

Xu Xingzhi was thoroughly baffled.

Lu Yujiu, who fell into the spring just now, had been soaking in the water for a while and scrambled ashore using both his hands and feet. Because he hasn’t seen the sun for many years and since his skin has always been covered by his cultivator robes, his whole body was so pale that it shone. Therefore a mottled blue-green discoloration the size of half a fist at the base of his thigh was extremely clear and vivid.

Noticing where Xu Xingzhi’s gaze fell, Lu Yujiu swiftly covered it with his hands and then muttered somewhat shyly and uneasily: “. . . Xu-shixiong. . .”

Xu Xingzhi surmised that it must’ve been the imprint from the ghostly clan.

He perused a lot of books and no matter where they were from all over the world, he would read them as long as they piqued his interest, as such he couldn’t recall from which tome he had lifted that particular information from: Once a ghostly cultivator awakened their inheritance, a mark exclusive to the ghost clans would emerge somewhere on the body. The seals of the ghost clans sport different shapes and positions, some may appear directly on the forehead and some will extend all over the face like a birthmark.

Although the location where Lu Yujiu’s mark of the ghost clans ultimately manifested was rather awkward, its advantage was that it was more hidden. As long as he didn’t remove his clothes in front of others, he wouldn’t expose his secret.

Thinking about it this way, Xu Xingzhi was suddenly enlightened.

Lu Yujiu’s situation was quite similar to that of the original owner.

Ever since the original owner was cursed with the d*mned serpentine sigil, in order to conceal the matter, he had always avoided removing his garments in front of others. This was the case when he refused the invitation of those shidi to frolic in the water after the Heavenly Ranking competition and when he received his punishment after his rendezvous with Sa Si.

It stood to reason that the original owner should never have had the chance to see the mark on his body and everyone shouldn’t have been aware that there was a scar from the silver-ringed snake seal on his back.

Did the others just reveal that expression because they caught sight of the serpentine imprint?

. . . Wrong.

This explanation was also not quite right.

Since they didn’t know of it beforehand, if they were to discover it so abruptly, at least according to Zhou Beinan’s personality, they would’ve been sure to dig deep and get to the bottom of it. Yet everyone put up the pretense to avoid discussing it as if they didn’t want to initiate this topic of conversation.

. . . Everyone was in possession of a secret involving himself, yet he, himself, was the only one who didn’t know. This sort of feeling was particularly subtle.

Churning with these thoughts, Xu Xingzhi finally hopped into the water.

Immersed in the hot water, Xu Xingzhi felt his entire body was penetrated thoroughly and he was reborn as a human being in this world.

He quietly shifted his left hand behind his back under the water, attempting to touch whatever it was on his back, but before his fingertips could make contact, he was firmly grasped by a warm hand with the fingers laced together tightly and the palms melded flat against each other.

Meng Chongguang’s shy voice slid past his ears: “Shixiong, let me scrub your back for you.”

Xu Xingzhi coughed: “. . . No need.”

He wanted to withdraw his hand, but Meng Chongguang refused to let go and even tugged on his fingers, locking his finger and palm securely behind his back.

Xu Xingzhi possessed a masculine physique, so his body was naturally not as soft as a woman’s, yet when he was yanked on like this, he still instantly hummed in pain: “Wu. . . What are you doing?!”

Meng Chongguang sincerely commented: “Shixiong, you look amazingly delicious. I really want to pick you clean, so that you would be mine alone.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was also by no means low either. Lu Yujiu, who was the closest to them, was startled when he heard those words, and when he came back to his senses, he was so embarrassed that his belly turned pink. How would he dare to dip in the bath again now, thus he removed his feet which were dangling in the pool and uncomfortably voiced: “I-I-I, I’ll be off, to drink water.”

He rushed to Zhou Beinan’s side, his 2.33 m short stature shoved Zhou Beinan’s 2.77 m. Zhou Beinan also acted as if his ass was set on fire and gestured frantically towards Qu Chi.

Tao Xian couldn’t stand it anymore. He didn’t dare to turn his face in the direction where Meng Chongguang and Xu Xingzhi were: “Qu-shixiong, let’s leave too ba. . .”

Qu Chi was bewildered with a blank look on his face: “Are you also thirsty?”

Tao Xian stammered: “I-I. . . I’m a little dizzy. . .”

This made Qu Chi anxious at once and he couldn’t help but pick Tao Xian up from the water sopping wet, easily holding the other in his arms. After stepping ashore, he informed the others obediently according to etiquette: “Xingzhi, I’ll take Tao Xian to rest first. You all just wait here for a moment, we’ll be back in a short while.”

Zhou Beinan’s face turned green: “Qu Chi, you’re still coming back? What are you returning here to see ah? Would there be anything the two of them might feel ashamed of doing?”

“Xingzhi. . . Them?” Qu Chi’s eyes were transparent and ignorant. He struggled to argue, “Xingzhi is very good ah. . .”

Zhou Beinan compressed his voice: “Good my ass! Laozi has even f*cking seen them doing it on the roof. The two of them are so shameless. They clearly sent me a signal to head over in order to discuss things and even made laozi wait in the room. When they finally finished their business and came down, accomplishing their wicked deeds that would strip the shingles on the roof and stir up the waves in the sea—”

These words from Zhou Beinan landed lightly in Xu Xingzhi’s heart before they abruptly exploded with a bang.

. . . Could it be that the original owner and Meng Chongguang had actually already—

Although he had anticipated this long ago, Xu Xingzhi still felt as if he had fallen into a dream when this fact was unceremoniously presented to him through the rhetoric of others.

In the present world where he lived, the folk customs were simple and open as men or women pairs could also tie the knot and get married. His father was very broad-minded about this and had even stated several times that he needn’t worry about passing on the family line, he just had to follow his heart, choose the person he loved, and support the other for a lifetime. This made Xu Xingzhi dumbfounded and caused him to suspect on multiple occasions whether his father had secretly set up a child-bride for him and the other party had miraculously given birth to a male descendent which was why he tried to instill this in him in every possible way.

Compared with being into men, he found those delicate and charming dancers, singers, or prostitutes more appealing, after all, he had only sought them for his viewing pleasure and comfort. As for who he would spend the rest of his life with in the future, he really had no plans.

However his actions had always been bold and once he had decided in his heart, he would definitely act as thick-skinned as could be.

Zhou Beinan’s scolding just now not only didn’t succeed in making Xu Xingzhi blush with embarrassment, but even made him think that if the roof were used for such pleasurable things, it seemed pretty interesting.

However, before he could recover, a warm embrace embraced him deeply from behind: “Shixiong, don’t listen to them. Zhou Beinan is just jealous of us.”

Xu Xingzhi: “. . .”

After that transient reverie was enveloped into a warm hold, it was rapidly removed from Xu Xingzhi’s mind.

Before, Xu Xingzhi had vowed that if Meng Chongguang really had some sort of relations with the original owner, then he could only allow the mess to continue. Yet when push comes to shove, he realized that everything wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

Meng Chongguang may have been the original owner’s most beloved person, thus the original owner had ignored worldly views and became cultivation partners with Meng Chonggaung. But Xu Ping wasn’t the original owner, thus if he became involved in a relationship with Meng Chongguang with the original owner having already become a statistic, a state difficult to change, then after leaving the savage wasteland, would he still be able to leave him? Could he still return to being the real Xu Ping?

The owner of this body had changed and the person Meng Chongguang really wanted to obtain was no longer here, so what was the point of letting him get a taste of some illusory sweetness only to ultimately part ways?

Xu Xingzhi was unable to go through with such an unprincipled act.

He definitely couldn’t have any further connection with Meng Chongguang.

Absolutely not. . .

Meng Chongguang was unaware of Xu Xingzhi’s internal struggles. His fingertips trailed over Xu Xingzhi’s twitching and tense back muscles, lingering: “Shixiong, I’ve missed you. . .”

Xu Xingzhi coaxed him: “Let me go first, don’t fuss.”

“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.” Meng Chongguang turned a deaf ear, “. . . You don’t know anything.”

Xu Xingzhi’s elbow had already been pinned until it became numb, his muscles quivering in waves. His other hand was completely useless and he could only just barely support himself by the edge of the spring so as to not slip into the water completely.

“Meng Chongguang! Let go!”

Meng Chongguang didn’t speak, just caressed and kissed the back of the other’s neck inch by inch with his lips, making soft and regular chirping wet sounds.

Since he entered the savage wasteland, Meng Chongguang has always been obedient and on the occasions where the other’s words or deeds were overboard, Meng Chongguang would take care of it appropriately whether it was an advance or retreat without him needing to be so harsh.

Even the notion of having him locked up had at least been discussed.

. . . When did the relationship between the two of them start to get out of hand?

Very quickly, Xu Xingzhi answered it himself. It was starting from that moment when he interrogated whether Meng Chongguang was lying to him and they had exchanged a kiss after the dispute.

That kiss unlocked a long memory for Xu Xingzhi and also melted the obstacle that had originally existed between Meng Chongguang and the original owner.

Ever since that kiss, Xu Xingzhi had no reason to reject Meng Chongguang. After all, in Meng Chongguang’s view, Xu Xingzhi accepted his intimacy, that was to say, he forgave the other.

Xu Xingzhi looked up at the sky and sighed deeply: . . . F*ck.

He deeply pondered over how to persuade Meng Chongguang to let go of him, and was so anxious that his muscles trembled from the tension.

After picking up on Xu Xingzhi’s vaguely veiled resistance, Meng Chongguang’s body froze suddenly and his fiery fingers gradually stopped its circling and arousing movements.

He stared at the back of Xu Xingzhi’s neck and whispered wearily, hurt: “Shixiong, you’re afraid of me? This time. . . Are you scared of me?”

Xu Xingzhi wasn’t fearful of other people acting violent, but was most frightened of their tears. He had just hardened his heart when his helmet and armor were tossed away by Meng Chongguang’s words until he was unable to resist further.

He racked his brains to comfort Meng Chongguang: “You. . . don’t be like this.”

“Shixiong is really too awful.” Meng Chongguang sobbed, “Every time. . . Every single time you’d torture me like this. . . . I will lose my mind, you are the one who drove me crazy bit by bit.”

. . . “Every time”? What does “every single time” mean?”

Xu Xingzhi didn’t know what the other was referring to, but he could feel the uneasiness and confusion in the other’s tone, as if someone who couldn’t swim watched the flood encroach from all directions, like someone who had fallen into quicksand and sank helplessly.

Hearing the desperation in his voice, goosebumps broke out all over Xu Xingzhi’s back which was exposed above the water.

His arm was still twisted backward at an awkward position, and Meng Chongguang’s fingers tightened further, becoming less and less aware of propriety.

Xu Xingzhi was in so much pain that his clenched jaw throbbed, but for some reason, a piece of soft flesh in his chest also tightened in response and felt excruciatingly painful.

His forehead rested against the pumice patterns by the pool. He couldn’t figure out why he felt it was so hard to endure to the extent that he wanted to slam his head against the wall just because of Meng Chongguang’s few tearful words.

. . . Xu Xingzhi suspected that he might’ve been infected by some terrible disease that was housed in this body.

After venting his emotions, Meng Chongguang finally discerned the situation before him: Xu Xingzhi’s left arm was twisted and squeezed by him at a nearly impossible angle, a circle of bruises already gathered around the other’s wrist, and his entire body was pressed against the shore, shaking from the intense pain.

Meng Chongguang let go of the other’s arm in a panic: “Shixiong. . .”

Xu Xingzhi covered his arm which was finally liberated, gritting his teeth as he squeezed out: “. . . Don’t call me shixiong.”

. . . Now he couldn’t bear to hear Meng Chongguang call him shixiong at all.

He even began to suspect that the Worlds’ Consciousness didn’t remove the soul of the original owner cleanly when he stuffed himself into this body, otherwise, how could he explain the pain where he wanted to gouge out his own heart that he felt.

Xu Xingzhi just reprimanded the other casually, but Meng Chongguang burst into tears, grabbed ahold of his arm and refused to let go: “Shixiong, it was indeed my fault at the beginning. I shouldn’t have not let you go, I shouldn’t have bound you, Chongguang admits this, I own up to it all—Don’t not want me, don’t go looking for Jiu Zhideng, if you leave, you won’t be able to return. . .”

Xu Xingzhi was dumbfounded for a while: “What are you talking about?”

Meng Chongguang couldn’t speak between his choked sobs. He pressed his soft cheek against Xu Xingzhi’s back and nuzzled it. The hot drops seared Xu Xingzhi’s back, causing the skin there to slightly spasm.

Xu Xingzh’s mind was blanked as it buzzed with a wengweng.

—Meng Chongguang acknowledged that he was wrong. But what mistake was he admitting to?

The fact that he was crying so sadly showed that for him, this was the thing that he regretted doing the most towards the original owner.

However, according to the Worlds’ Consciousness, what he should profess was stealing the divine artifacts, framing the murder of his master, betraying the sect. No matter which one of these crimes, they were all a hundred times, even a thousand times more serious than “tieing you up and not letting you go”.

Was it because Meng Chongguang’s mindset was different from that of ordinary people, thus he couldn’t really tell the priority of things, or. . . had he been deceived by the Worlds’ Consciousness yet again?

The originally somewhat ambiguous atmosphere shattered and transformed into the current state of affairs. Zhou Beinan and the others who escaped early on would never have expected this development at all.

Meng Chongguang seemed to have suffered great grievances and pressure in his heart, so he hugged Xu Xingzhi’s back like this, keening all the way down to his marrow.

He wasn’t sure if he was flustered and short of breath due to Meng Chongguang crying, or if it was because he soaked in the hot spring for too long, but a familiar dizziness hit Xu Xingzhi again in waves.

Xu Xingzhi let out an expletive secretly in his heart.

He used to be in very good health, except the time he was five years old when his hand was severed by a wheat knife in an accident and fell severely ill for a long period of time. For thirteen years, he didn’t even know where the door of the medical clinic was opened, but the moment he entered the wasteland, he seemed to have been possessed by a delicate young lady and would feel faint every now and then routinely.

Xu Xingzhi pressed on his chest with his wooden hand, hating that he couldn’t just roar and let it all out, or pound on it heavily a few times, but he was still deprived of all senses by that terrible reeling sensation.

. . . Although this time he didn’t close his eyes and fall headfirst into the water.

Xu Xingzhi’s eyes became brighter and hotter than ever before.

“. . . Chongguang. . .”

Someone was chanting this name in his heart, and the voice was so familiar that Xu Xingzhi’s heart palpitated, “. . . Chongguang, this is a good name, but what surname would be best ne.”

In front of his eyes, a scroll of surnames from hundreds of families appeared vaguely, and a slender right hand dipped in thick ink casually drew a circle upon it.

The character in that circle was “Meng”.

Xu Xingzhi heard the man chewing over this name over and over again: “. . . Chongguang. Meng Chongguang. Sounds alright.”

Gradually, the voice was like a stone thrown in water, stimulating layer after layer of ripples, each layer echoed that person’s name.

Chongguang, Chongguang, Meng Chongguang.

There were reprimanding voices, warm voices, teasing ones, doting, and so on and so forth.

Moreover, in addition to these, Xu Xingzhi also heard a voice pierce through with a hint of joy wrapped in torment, Chongguang, Meng Chongguang.

Meng Chongguang, who pinned Xu Xingzhi against the edge of the pool and wept for a long time, slowly stopped his tears. He rubbed the tip of his nose that was red from crying, his voice still quavering slightly, but at the very least he had calmed down somewhat: “Shixiong, I know you’re still mad at me for not letting you go. . . Until you forgive me, I, I won’t touch you. . .”

Xu Xingzhi still had his back, which was burned by his tears until it reddened, facing the other, which caused Meng Chongguang to panic for no reason: “Really, I won’t touch you. I’m very tired and haven’t slept in a long time, so I have no strength. . .”

He tried to explain himself incoherently for a long time, seeing that Xu Xingzhi still had no intentions of turning around, his tensed shoulder blades finally relaxed hopelessly as he waded out of the water with a huala huala.

The moment he turned around, Xu Xingzhi stood up from the water in a staggering manner.

When he heard the sound of water behind him, Meng Chongguang smiled wryly in his heart, but before the bitterness of that smile could reach his eyes, a pair of arms looped around from behind him and locked him in a hold forcefully.

Xu Xingzhi had no idea what he was saying or doing at all. It was as if his body was instructing him what to do next, and he just complied in a daze.

Therefore, Xu Xingzhi didn’t even know what he was doing when he flipped the bewildered Meng Chongguang around and invaded the other’s mouth with the breath from his lips like a raging fire.

What drove him to do such a thing was this body, not any order from the Worlds’ Consciousness, nor the memories of the original owner, as if everything that happened from here on out was the natural course of events.

He only felt that there was a kind of profound familiarity spreading out in his blood, like it was injecting him with some miraculous power, dominating his hands and feet, making all his rationality flee.

Meng Chongguang squeezed out a few words of surprise between his lips and teeth: “Shixiong? You. . .”

After finding that words were useless, he resolutely gave up talking to Xu Xingzhi and wrapped his arms around Xu Xinghzi’s waist tightly, pinching the deep line of the muscle by his slender waist and violently capture Xu Xingzhi’s mouth with the same action, fighting for ownership against the other.

The flames of war burned, and after several rounds of battle, the fluid between their lips became so entangled that they could hear the slight shishi sounds of the crackling embers.

Meng Chongguang switched from passive to active and Xu Xingzhi chose to quit voluntarily instead. When he backed out, he bit Meng Chongguang’s lip and tugged on it outwards. The pain caused the other to hiss and take two breaths. He stretched out a hand to touch it and it came away scarlet.

“What are you crying for? En?” Xu Xingzhi cupped the other’s tear-stained face with his wooden hand and admonished with a frown, “Cry cry cry, you only know how to shed tears.”

Meng Chongguang was both surprised and delighted, but there was an indelible grievance in his tone: “Shixiong bit me. . .”

“What’s wrong with biting you?” Xu Xingzhi heard himself counter in an almost fierce voice, “Have I not bitten you before? Didn’t you like it very much in the past?”

Meng Chongguang clutched onto Xu Xingzhi’s arm, his eyes bright: “Shixiong, say it again. Are you willing to talk to me now and forgive Chongguang for the things that were done back then?”

Xu Xingzhi sneered, gripped Meng Chongguang’s lower body tightly with one hand and kneaded it vigorously: “Scram, Meng Chongguang! ‘Are you or aren’t you’, ‘are you or not’, why do you have so many questions? Whether or not I forgave you, aren’t you clear on it in your heart?”

“Wu—” Meng Chongguang groaned emotionally. He couldn’t bear it anymore, picked Xu Xingzhi up in his arms, and sucked on the other’s earlobe as an enduring tenderness and sweetness seeped into his voice, “. . . Shixiong, really, I miss this attitude of yours the most.”

Xu Xingzhi thought, he must’ve gone f*cking crazy to do such a thing.

But his body no longer listened to his will and once again indulged in carnal desires.

An hour later, Yuan Ruzhou led Zhou Wang away with a flushed face to a palace in Hutiao Ravine that was the furthest away from the hot spring, but even so, hoarse shouts and the sound of playful laughter could still be faintly heard.

Zhou Beinan paced back and forth in the courtyard with his spear in his arms, staring blankly for a long time until he finally couldn’t bear it any longer: “Are they finished!? Ah?! Not even letting people sleep?”

He gritted his teeth and stomped viciously: “I’ll find them! It’ll be endless, won’t it?”

Qu Chi: “I’ll go too.”

Zhou Beinan: “. . . Why are you going?”

Qu Chi answered with reason: “They’re fighting, you can’t stop them alone.”

Zhou Beinan’s ears were slightly crimson: “You sit still obediently, it’ll be fine with just me, their scuffle is quite serious and extensive, wouldn’t want them to scare you.”

After saying his piece, Zhou Beinan departed in a majestic manner, yet when he reached the wooden door leading to the muchi, there was a muffled kuangdang on the other side of the door, making Zhou Beinan take a step back in shock.

The sounds of panting and the planting of strawberries on the neck could be heard without pause and the two bodies even slammed against the wooden door so hard that the hinge seemed to be knocked crooked.

Zhou Beinan’s handsome face blanched into a liver-colored tone, his teeth creaked with a gezhi gezhi as he grinded it. He held back for a long time before he choked out a growl: “Are you guys demolishing a house ah?””

The movement inside didn’t stop, but the voices traveled outwards in unison: “F*ck off!”

Immediately afterwards, Xu Xingzhi on the interior side of the door began to pant in a low tone: “. . . Didn’t sleep? Tired? You haven’t slept for a few days yet you are stimulated to this extent? You’re tired my ass!”

Meng Chongguang acted coquettishly with a soft and sticky voice: “How can it be tiring to do this sort of thing with Shixiong? It won’t be enough even if it’s for a lifetime ne.”

“Uh—” Xu Xingzhi sounded like he was in substantial pain and slapped Meng Chongguang twice, “Change it! Stop f*cking driving into me! My back is going to break. . . Wu. . .”

Zhou Beinan paced by the door irritably twice, thinking viciously, laozi won’t lower himself to the same level as those two b*stards.

After deciding upon that, he returned to whence he came with his spear at hand as before.

When he returned to the small courtyard where the four of them were staying, Qu Chi, who had been waiting anxiously, hurried forward: “How is it?”

Zhou Beinan: “How’s what? Aren’t they. . . just brawling it out ne.”

“. . . Xingzhi screamed very miserably ah.” Qu Chi’s face was pale, “He even cried just now. . .”

Thinking of the yelled “get out” just now, Zhou Beinan was provoked again: “He asked for it! Let him be beaten to death.”

He took a few steps, still felt incomparably indignant and pointed at Tao Xian: “Tao Xian, you, you start singing opera, so that you can suppress those voices!”

Tao Xian shrank back and shook his head.

Lu Yujiu glared at him: “He studied Huadan not Dagushu!”

Zhou Beinan covered his forehead irritably: “These days can’t even be gotten through can they, ah?”

The reverberation of the joys of the clouds and rain were tossed about the entire night before they stopped.

The next day, Meng Chongguang wrapped Xu Xingzhi tightly up in a bath towel and strode out of the hot springs refreshed. He placed the other down on the cot in the room, leaned over and kissed the other tenderly on the cheek several times.

Xu Xingzhi was extremely drowsy. He glanced at the other, his eyes half-masted, and then turned away.

Meng Chongguang simply crouched by the bed, put his hands on the edge of the divan and inquired in a docile manner: “Shixiong, what do you want to eat? No matter what you want, Chongguang will think of a way to get it for you.”

Xu Xingzhi mumbled “let me think about it for a while”, then closed his eyes and stopped moving.

Meng Chongguang waited patiently for a long time, before he finally realized that Xu Xingzhi was breathing evenly, as if he were asleep, so he reached a hand over and caressed Xu Xingzhi’s bright scarlet lips that were moist from his breaths.

Last night, they rolled around, horribly entangled in and out of the spring. Even until now, Xu Xingzhi’s face still carried a thin blush from the heat and steam. Meng Chongguang watched the other in an inexplicably vibrant mood and smooched the surface of that blush then gave it another smack.

He carefully tucked the quilt in for Xu Xingzhi and then slowly closed the door as he left.

After the sound of the door closing rang out, Xu Xingzhi raised his severely sore arm and rested it across his heavy eyelids.

The wildness of the previous night left Xu Xingzhi with lingering fears and also made his chest thump with a pengdong pengdong crazily.

He didn’t understand what was wrong with him, but when he saw that Chongguang was upset to that extent, he instinctively proceeded as such, hugged the other, comforted and teased him, as if he had done such a thing dozens of times.

Xu Xingzhi even felt that the person who was raising a ruckus with Meng Chongguang all of last night wasn’t himself, but the original owner who was in a deep slumber within his body.

. . . However, was the original owner still genuinely there?

He, Xu Ping, possessed the family and stable life that the original owner, Xu Xingzhi, had hoped to obtain in the other’s previous life; And then himself, as Xu Ping, was forced to take over Xu Xingzhi’s life as well as the mess the other left behind.

What the hell did this count as ne? Was it really just all a mere coincidence?

Xu Xingzhi mumbled to himself: “Meng Chongguang, Jiu Zhideng. . . Jiu Zhideng, Meng Chongguang. . . Jiu—”

While chanting repeatedly, a fragment suddenly flashed across his mind.

Xu Xingzhi’s throat tensed suddenly and he sat up abruptly. A burst of sharp pain pierced through his waist in retaliation and he was forced to lie back down. He pressed firmly on his waist as his whole body throbbed in agony.

When he was a child, he flipped through many collections of poetry and had once read a poem that left a deep impression on him.

The profound meaning behind it was that his young sister liked this poem very much and had divulged that her name was taken from this very one.

Xu Xingzhi still remembered that he had craned his neck to look at her at the time and tousled her hair, simultaneously a little irked and somewhat amused: “Your name was obviously given to you by your elder brother! Wishing that ‘Upright and graceful outside of the southern pavilion, the firm wood was tall, slender and straight’. How could it be derived from that unlucky poem? Really not auspicious.”

Wutong looked at him with a smile, placed her slender fingers on his rosewood right hand: “I really like the name that elder brother bestowed upon me.”

Xu Xingzhi was defeated by her smile: “As long as you like it.”

Wutong leaned against his shoulder, resting her head there, and Xu Xingzhi also accommodated her by tilting his shoulder down so that it was more comfortable to lay on.

Xu Wutong murmured: “Elder brother is the world’s best brother.”

He offered his crippled hand over and deliberately dangled it in front of her: “Your elder brother is disabled, and can still be called the greatest ah?”

“Amazing. Everything is wonderful.” Xu Wutong clasped his wood hand between her smaller ones, gazed at Xu Xingzhi cherishing, and declared: “. . . Elder brother, in Wutong’s eyes, everyone in this world was just born with an extra hand.”

Xu Xingzhi still recalled his mood at the time, warm and serene, as if he didn’t have to bother fighting for it and was already in possession of the most glorious things in the world.

However, thinking about that poem now, Xu Xingzhi only felt chilled to the bone, wishing he could tuck himself into the depths of the quilt as to draw even the most meager warmth from it.

“The nine-branched lamp sat by the window, hope is lost, it’s boring but change is resented. Before dreams depart at dawn upon the golden bolster, the early chill arrives before the stone screen. It’s a pity for the lost hairpin of the three autumns were in vain, and only an inch of red remains of the candle. Roll up the bamboo curtain to see the opalescent teeth, look beyond the melancholy and catch a glimpse of the phoenix tree in the mirror.”

—Jiu Zhideng is by, the space beside the window.

—Three autumns in vain, Sanqiu, Xu Sanqiu.

—In the mirror, melancholy, see Wutong.

—And also, Xu Ping, stone screen.

How could that be. . .

God wouldn’t have given him such a cruel riddle just to watch him guess the solution to it ba.

Xu Xingzhi’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down rapidly. Although the ravages of the night made his throat burn and feel unbearable, he still couldn’t help but want to swallow the acidic fluids that rushed to his throat.

However, the sour and bitter numbness was truly too tormenting. Xu Xingzhi couldn’t bear it anymore, struggled to sit up, supported himself by the divan’s edge and retched violently.

The crystal clear gastric juices spilled out of his mouth and slid down the corner of his lips. He vomited so hard that he rolled off the cot with both elbows pressed solidly against the ground. His face was so pale that he hated that he couldn’t just hurl his stomach out.

He heard the sound of the door being barged open, heard Meng Chongguang’s exclamation and rapid footsteps, and then he was swiftly held by a pair of strong, but gentle arms: “Shixiong, what’s wrong? Where do you feel uncomfortable?”

A spot of coolness was pasted on his burning forehead, which was about to come to a boil, before it was removed in a panic: “Shixiong, you have a fever. Just bear with it for a moment, I’ll call Yuan-shijie over right away.”

Xu Xingzhi lifted his hand and fisted the other’s lapel.

Meng Chongguang, who was planning to withdraw, was taken aback for a moment, and then he instantly understood. Comforting Xu Xingzhi with a warm voice, he kissed Xu Xingzhi’s hot ears: “Okay, Shixiong, I won’t leave, I won’t go anywhere.”

He stretched out one hand to clasp Xu Xingzhi’s and then hollered towards the door: “Zhou Beinan! Qu Chi! Someone come here!”

Xu Xingzhi lay in Meng Chongguang’s arms. Hidden under the left side of the pillow was the dagger given to him by the Worlds’ Consciousness.

He struggled a bit and whispered in a torn, hoarse voice: “. . . The pillow, beneath the pillow.”

Meng Chonggong was startled and reached out to grope underneath it for a while, then handed the dagger over straight into Xu Xingzhi’s hand.

Xu Xingzhi removed the dagger from its sheath.

The body of the dagger was as bright as silver, the blade was thin and sharp, and there was a hidden brilliance flowing from it, which was the trace of pooled spiritual energy from the heavens and the earth. As long as it was aimed and brought down upon the demonic core at the center between the heavenly sprite’s eyebrows, then the heavenly sprite’s life would be considered to have come to an end with no hope of reincarnation.

Meng Chongguang stared at the dagger in the other’s hand, the look in his gaze was somewhat strange, half smiling and half woeful.

Xu Xingzhi’s whole body was scorching hot, only the palm of his hand was astonishingly cold. He weighed the dagger in his hand for a while, curled his lip wretchedly, then slid the dagger back into its sheath with his last bit of strength: “This, keep it for me ba.”

Meng Chongguang: “. . . Shixiong?”

“Put it away.” There were so many spots flitting before Xu Xingzhi’s vision that he couldn’t see anything clearly anymore. He murmured, “You are here, I have no need for it anymore.”

Meng Chongguang’s throat felt thick and when his tears fell, Xu Xingzhi was already weary to the utmost and had passed out completely with his head resting in Meng Chongguang’s embrace.

Soon after, everyone gathered in the room.

Yuan Ruzhou carefully placed her bony fingers on Xu Xingzhi’s wrist and probed his temperature with the back of her hand. Zhou Wang leaned against the bed with her two blades on her back and stared at Xu Xingzhi’s face, which was flushed from the fever, not without some anxiety: “Ruzhou-jiejie urged me to go to bed early, exactly what happened yesterday?”

The several others present immediately made their gaze roam elsewhere.

Meng Chongguang didn’t answer either. He crouched bedside to watch over Xu Xingzhi and since Yuan Ruzhou occupied the other’s hand, he tightly clasped Xu Xingzhi’s ankle, as if he were afraid that Xu Xingzhi would be separated from his physical body and dissipate.

Only Zhou Beinan raised an eyebrow and pompously commented: “Who told you guys to kick up such a fuss and not let us sleep.”

Lu Yujiu stomped on the other’s instep and ground his foot at the time.

Zhou Beinan hissed in pain and simply dragged Lu Yujiu to his side, wheedling him like he were a child as he allowed the other to step on both of his feet and no matter how Lu Yujiu struggled, he firmly kept his elbow locked around the other’s neck, cutting off Lu Yujiu’s air until his entire face turned red.

Qu Chi fixed his gaze on Meng Chongguang disapprovingly: “No matter what wrongs Xingzhi had committed, you still shouldn’t have punished him until he was in this state.”

Tao Xian asked Yuan Ruzhou nervously: “How is it?”

Yuan Ruzhou was about to answer, when Xu Xingzhi’s brows were scrunched up high as if he were extremely uncomfortable, mumbling: “Shifu. . . Shifu, don’t. . .”

The expressions on the faces of those present changed one after another when they heard his sleep talk.

Yuan Ruzhou’s expression was shaken as she withdrew her hand. When her empty sockets stopped on Xu Xingzhi, that hint of anguish, distress and heavy reticence was enough to chill one to the bone.

Xu Xingzhi flipped over in extreme torment: “. . . Shifu, Xingzhi would rather die, I would rather be dead ah!”

Meng Chongguang lunged over, pinning down Xu Xingzhi’s two hands which were clenched tightly and pried his fingers apart one by one: “. . . It’s okay, it’s fine, Shixiong, everything is all right now.”

Xu Xingzhi cracked his eyelids open slightly, peering at him wearily: “Where’s Shifu? We made an appointment yesterday to view the plum blossoms and drink wine. Why didn’t Shifu show up? It made me freeze for half the night by the base of the porch. . .”

Meng Chongguang skillfully cajoled him: “Shixiong, Shifu is drunk and still asleep in Qingzhu Pavilion ne.”

Xu Xingzhi shut his eyes violently and tilted his head back: “. . . You’re lying to me. Shifu is no longer here, he’s gone.”

Zhou Beinan clicked his tongue, lifted Lu Yujiu off his own feet and strode forward in a few steps to pat Xu Xingzhi’s face with his outstretched hand: “. . . That’s right, now that you’ve tocuhed upon it, I can take this opportunity to ask ne. Xu Xingzhi? Xu Xingzhi!! Don’t sleep!”

The temperature of Meng Chongguang’s eyes dropped by several degrees exponentially as he moved his gaze from Xu Xingzhi to rest upon Zhou Beinan: “Zhou Beinan, what are you doing?”

Zhou Beinan announced with reason: “I have something to ask him!”

Meng Chongguang sternly snapped: “Don’t stimulate Shixiong! Scram!!”

A vicious light ignited in his palm and he pushed the air three inches below his ribs, causing Zhou Beinan to retreat a couple of steps back, only stopping when he collided into Lu Yujiu.

The moment he took this tumble, Zhou Beinan’s fiery nature also exploded. He covered his chest where the ribs that were struck throbbed in pain, and pointed at Xu Xingzhi from across the span of a few steps, scolding: “Xu Xingzhi, don’t f*cking pretend that you didn’t hear me! Among those of the four sects, who didn’t know that Qingjing-jun loved and pampered you the most, exactly what happened back then? Why did you kill Qingjing-jun? You get up ya, spit it out ya!”

The three words “Qingjing-jun” seemed to be effective on Xu Xingzhi. He gasped unbearably, reached out and grasped the material on his chest as if he wanted to gouge out his heart right then and there without preamble.

After Zhou Beinan’s bout of anger passed, he finally realized that Xu Xingzhi was crying.

Tears slipped from the end of the other’s eyes, melding into the pillow and the spots on the satiny cover that were stained with tears turned dark as a result.

Zhou Beinan had seen Xu Xingzhi laugh and get angry, but he had never caught the other weeping. This scene made the expression on his face change instantly: “I, I. . . He. . .”

Everyone glared at him with unfriendly eyes making Zhou Beinan feel rather embarrassed as he muttered: “I just heard him bring it up and wanted to hurry up and ask quickly. . . In the past, when he was exiled, I couldn’t inquire about it if he didn’t mention it. . .”

Zhou Wang asked curiously: “Who is Qingjing-jun?”

Qu Chi raised his voice in a rare moment and chided sternly: “. . . A-Wang.”

Zhou Wang rapidly fell silent, but she found that when this person was brought up, everyone looked pained.

Yuan Ruzhou looked at Xu Xingzhi who was lying on top of the bed and whispered in a low voice that ached: “I don’t know, I only saw Shixiong being escorted like a prisoner out of Shifu’s palace back then. Shixiong’s mouth and body were all stained with Qingjing-jun’s blood. Maybe. . . Perhaps. . .”

She turned her eyes and gazed in Meng Chongguang’s direction, with a slightly expectant voice: “Did Shixiong tell you before, why he. .. “

“Shixiong was unwilling to broach it, how could I inquire further.” Meng Chongguang retrieved a handkerchief, moistened it with hot water, and then pressed it against Xu Xingzhi’s cheeks time after time again, “I have no clue what happened at that time. When Shixiong was involved in that incident, I wasn’t even at Fengling Mountain.”

The author has something to say:

Other than Chongguang, each of the character’s name has its own origin~

Today’s poem is Wen Tingyun’s “Sit in the Evening and Send Off Friends”.

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Magistricide, wild night, old poems.

The translator has something to say: XXZ has made his ultimate decision, he’s in it until the end