Arc 5: Chapter 6
Lin Yuan was bewildered when he woke up. He actually wasn’t rolling on the ground?!
He didn’t have time to pay attention to the surrounding environment, when he wanted to get up, he finally found that he was tightly bound by a white, soft robe, like a sushi roll, and only his head was exposed to the outside.
Huh? How did this happen? Lin Yuan's head was full of question marks. He only remembered how he was sitting next to the wall, and everything was hot, and he began to solve the discomfort by himself while thinking about his two husbands…
He went to ask 521.
521 recounted in detail how Lin Yuan pounced onto Yu Sui’an, kissed him, and licked him, and then talked about the confrontation between Yu Sui’an and Xie Hanzhou. It described vividly Yu Sui’an’s sarcastic remarks and thorny words, and how Xie Hanzhou was completely indifferent. Finally, it said Xie Hanzhou carried Lin Yuan to this room and used an elixir to cure him.
Lin Yuan was touched. He felt that although his master looked cold and arrogant, his heart was upright and kind.
As expected of his husband, hehe.
The robe was wrapped a little too tightly, and Lin Yuan had to ask for 521’s help to unwrap himself.
The inky bamboo patterns on the cloth made the robe look elegant and refined, and Lin Yuan had smelled the faint scent of cedar from the beginning. Holding the robe in his arms, Lin Yuan was unable to resist, and buried his face in the cloth, taking multiple small sniffs.
The faint scent of cedar was very similar to the fragrance on Xie Hanzhou’s body, but Lin Yuan felt it wasn’t exactly the same. Xie Hanzhou seemed to carry an additional scent of frost, like the chill of a snowy mountain cap. But the robe exuded a more warm, woody comforting aroma.
Still, it smelled really good, hehe.
Leaving the room, Lin Yuan met face to face with Xie Hanzhou’s attendant, Molian.
Molian smiled and said: “Junior, Master has called for you, come with me.”
Like a child caught for doing something wrong, Lin Yuan stiffened and his ears and neck flushed in an instant. His eyelashes trembled and he fidgeted a little before saying tentatively: “Senior Molian, can I go back to my room first? I want to take a bath and change my clothes before seeing Master.”
Molian merely thought that Lin Yuan cared about his appearance, and he said gently but firmly: “Junior Brother, Master doesn’t care much for formalities. Come with me first, Master is waiting for you at Clear Night’s Dream.”
Lin Yuan didn’t know how to explain. Even though he didn’t release last night, his clothes were still stained with dirt and sweat. And although Xie Hanzhou saw his appearance last night and still helped him, he was unconscious the entire time.
But now in broad daylight… he really couldn’t bring himself to meet Xie Hanzhou in this state.
Lin Yuan almost cried: “Se…Senior Brother, I’m begging you, if I don’t take a bath and change my clothes, I really… really have no face to meet Master…”
Molian didn’t understand why Lin Yuan was being so stubborn, but he had always been soft-hearted to other disciples. Seeing Lin Yuan like this, he hesitated for a moment and agreed. He urged lightly: “Junior brother be quick, don’t let Master wait for long.”
Lin Yuan let out a sigh of relief and hurried back to his chambers. At this time, it was the morning and there was no hot water prepared, so Lin Yuan quickly used two buckets of cold water.
Half an hour later, Lin Yuan put on a clean, white Taoist robe and re-tied his waist-length hair into a high ponytail. He looked much more like a spirited 18 year old teenager.
Molian sized up Lin Yuan’s appearance and agreed that this look was much more suitable for meeting Master.
Xie Hanzhou’s residence was similar to a celestial palace. Upon reaching the peak of the mountain, there was a grand peach orchard, with fiery cloud-like blossoms adorned with delicate yellow stamens. Moving further through the palace, one would find that this palace gathered sceneries from all four seasons.
Lin Yuan followed behind Molian, his eyes looking around curiously. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was overwhelmingly beautiful, but there was so much to take in that Lin Yuan was a little dazzled.
Molian led him into a side room. Xie Hanzhou sat behind a desk, his eyes focused on a book. On the corner of the table, on top of a three-legged incense holder with intricate floral carvings sat a hollow lotus-shaped jade incense burner, from which a thin wisp of smoke curled upwards. The air carried the crisp and serene scent of snowy pine wood.
As Molian retreated out of the room, Lin Yuan saluted respectfully: “Master.”
Xie Hanzhou slowly raised his gaze, and his dark eyes were still bottomless and indifferent: “Lin Yuan, do you still remember what happened last night?”
Lin Yuan didn’t dare look up, and whispered: “...Disciple remembers.”
Xie Hanzhou stared at the light red spreading across Lin Yuan’s cheeks with no expression: “What happened?”
Lin Yuan said half-truthfully and half-falsely: “Last night, this disciple was strolling around Midnight Rain Pavilion and met Senior Yu by chance and we had a chat. Then, I entered Senior Yu’s courtyard and had some late-night snacks. On the way back, I don’t know why, but I felt hot and uncomfortable all over.”
Xie Hanzhou remembered how Yu Sui’an mentioned another disciple, and asked: “Did you meet anyone on your way to the Midnight Rain Pavilion?”
Lin Yuan nodded: “This disciple saw a fellow disciple rushing out of Senior Yu’s residence in a hurry. They seemed very panicked, as if something terrible had happened.”
Xie Hanzhou only believed seventy percent of Lin Yuan’s words. Not because he felt that this new disciple would lie, but because this matter involved Yu Sui’an. It was definitely possible that Lin Yuan could've been tricked or manipulated by that evil demon.
“Master knows. As for what happened last night, just pretend it never happened. Focus on your cultivation from now on, understand?”
Lin Yuan nodded vigorously: “I know, I know. I will definitely concentrate on cultivating from now on.”
Lin Yuan sighed twice in his heart. Although Xie Hanzhou was his husband, Lin Yuan felt much more complicated when facing him compared to facing Yu Sui'an. Xie Hanzhou was just too perfect. In addition to love, Lin Yuan felt a little fear towards him as well.
Xie Hanzhou’s eyes were extremely deep and calm, and he said coldly: “One more thing, don’t go find Yu Sui’an anymore. He is about to break through, and needs to focus on cultivating. If you encounter any trouble in Pure Jade Palace, you can find Molian or Chengfeng, they will help you.”
The person named Chengfeng, surnamed Mu, was the Second Senior Brother of the seven generations of disciples in Yuqing Palace. He was a genius from a famous family, and also one of Chu Yao’s targets.
Lin Yuan’s timidity turned into speechlessness. Yu Sui’an didn’t seem like he was going to break through at all, he didn’t expect that even the Immortal Sovereign could lie so seriously, he was almost convinced.
In response, Lin Yuan agreed on the surface, but his body honestly did something different.
A few days later, after returning from a city a hundred miles away, Lin Yuan carried multiple shopping bags and knocked on the door of the Midnight Rain Pavilion.
Yu Sui’an was very lazy, and his front door was not locked by any array or boundary so anyone could easily get in or out.
Lin Yuan knocked for a while and shouted several times, but nothing happened. After thinking about it, he put his bags on the ground and sat on the steps in front of the door, opened his cultivation book and began to read.
Yu Sui’an had been drinking all night. With his cultivation level, he naturally didn’t experience any hangover symptoms, he just simply wasn’t in the mood to see Lin Yuan.
As for why he was drinking... hugging Lin Yuan was the first time in many years that Yu Sui’an was so close to someone, which triggered some unpleasant memories. Those memories originally belonged to Xie Hanzhou, but Xie Hanzhou didn’t want to remember them, so Yu Sui’an was forced to have them instead. Yu Sui’an thought scornfully that the lofty and aloof Immortal Sovereign looked like he didn’t care about anything, but he was no better than a cowardly ghost who couldn’t even face the past.
The teenager’s voice was soft and clear and not unpleasant. Yu Sui’an listened to it like he was listening to the wind or the sound of running water. When the voice stopped, Yu Sui’an turned over on the soft couch, making his amber like pupils covered by shadows.
His long, dark hair scattered around him, some strands twisting on the couch, some on his loosely worn robe, and some on his pale and white skin, like a thin black cage with thousands of bars, trapping him in place.
Yu Sui’an knew without checking that Lin Yuan hadn’t left. It was obvious that this cute and handsome junior liked him. These efforts to attract his attention definitely wouldn’t be given up halfway. If it was someone else with scheming nature, when they met again, they might even use it as an opportunity to gain sympathy. But from what he’d seen, this junior’s character was not bad, just that he was quite flirtatious and eccentric. Compared to someone like Chu Yao though, Lin Yuan was still a hundred times, even a thousand times better.
Yu Sui’an lay there for two hours. Sensing that Lin Yuan still hadn’t left, he separated a part of his divine sense and wanted to see Lin Yuan’s impatient appearance. Maybe he would bite like an angry bunny.
But the scene outside was unexpected. The teenager sat on the doorsteps and seriously read a book, looking very focused and not impatient at all.
Yu Sui’an stared for a moment and waved his fingers. A gust of wind blew past Lin Yuan, ruffling his hair and robe.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes and waited for the wind to pass, and then looked down and continued to read.
Suddenly, a boom of thunder roared in the sky. Lin Yuan trembled in shock and then looked up at the sky in disbelief.
There were no clouds, and not even a raindrop. Where did the thunder come from?
Lin Yuan blinked his eyes in confusion. Without thinking too much, he looked down at the book. After a few minutes, another gust of wind blew past, and even took away the book in his hands.
“???” Nature could even do this??
Yu Sui’an played for a bit and felt much more comfortable in his heart. He had initially planned to tidy up before seeing Lin Yuan, but then thought to himself, why bother? It might be more interesting this way.
Lin Yuan heard the door opening behind him and was surprised. He thought that Yu Sui’an wasn’t home this entire time.
He looked back.
Then he was even more stunned.