Editor: Sahloknir
Li Huanhan’s state became more and more unstable.
His body was often surrounded by the stale smell of blood, and his inner energies were often in disarray. At the beginning Jiang Yinghe thought that this was due to his internal demons, but he later realized…it was more like he was injured.
The people responsible were obvious. It must have been one of his other disciples. Jiang Yinghe was currently the vanguard of the righteous faction as the number one sword cultivator of the immortal way, so of course he was very familiar with the combat abilities of each of the major sects.
His disciples…were fighting?
Jiang Yinghe meditated on this thought momentarily. He was brought back to attention by a familiar voice from beside his ear.
“Shizun.” Li Huanhan called softly, “Who are you forsaking sleep to think about?”
He understood Jiang Yinghe all too well. He could estimate when he would be tired and when he would wake.
The soft and fuzzy rabbit ears on top Jiang Yinghe’s head curled up like he didn’t want to hear his voice. But soon enough he asked quietly, “Who did you fight with?”
Li Huanhan was curled protectively around his Shizun like he always was. He only lifted his head after hearing the question. There was a trace of gentle humour in his eyes. “So you were thinking of this.”
He paused before casually remarking, “Shizun needn’t worry. I won’t die.”
One of his hands was tightly wrapped around Jiang Yinghe’s waist. He was buried in Li Huanhan’s shoulder. Their breaths intertwined once again.
Li Huanhan liked to sleep while hugging him way too much. If he didn’t do something like locking him up in a little dark room, Jiang Yinghe would be hard pressed to find where he was different from before—
If he really had to give an answer, it was that his disciple’s possessiveness had taken root and gradually revealed itself.
Only when Li Huanhan was present could Jiang Yinghe sense the arrays and formations around these sleeping chambers. They cut off almost all paths to get to this location. When Li Huanhan, the one who arranged it all, left, Jiang Yinghe couldn’t even feel their existence anymore.
It has been a long time since he has been inferior in terms of cultivation.
Jiang Yinghe cast down his eyes and said cooly, “Whether you are alive or dead does not concern me.”
As long as his sensitive rabbit ears were not being rubbed, Jiang Yinghe could still maintain his peerlessly cold attitude. He was already a bit angry, so his words carried a faint hint of frustration.
To sum it up using a saying on Earth, this was a cold war.
Li Huanhan stopped breathing for a split second. He didn’t say anything. He just leaned forward and bit into Jiang Yinghe’s slender and white throat.
“Ah!…” Jiang Yinghe struggled to take a breath. His fingers dove into his inky black hair to rub his temples. He frowned, “Are you done? I’m tired. Don’t bother me anymore.”
He had picked up that his words only had an effect on Li Huanhan if they were spoken courteously.
As expected, his eldest disciple retracted his lips but continued to hug him contentedly.
…What kind of animal was his astrology sign? Why did he have to stroke him in the direction of his fur?
Jiang Yinghe was already used to him not talking much. Now he spoke even less. It wasn’t like Li Huanhan started doing this a few days ago. And as long as he didn’t want to touch his ears, they could still negotiate.
He tried to remove his extra pair of ears earlier, but Chang Ye must’ve done something because he couldn’t remove it himself. There was no way that Li Huanhan would help him with this.
It was like adding salt onto the injury of his questionable student’s history and his teaching methods.
Jiang Yinghe really was tired. He had to sleep where Li Huanhan could see him before the other person would rest. Sometimes he didn’t, despite this. He’s seen times where Li Huanhan hugged him and stared at him the entire night…
So tonight’s plan was up to fate.
Pretending to sleep wouldn’t work. Jiang Yinghe could only forcefully wake himself up after going to sleep without startling the other person.
The candle was bright.
In the silence, Jiang Yinghe maintained his even breathing as he woke up in the middle of the night. He opened his eyes a crack. There was no movement from the other person.
…Great, he was asleep. It looked like fate was smiling down on him right now.
Jiang Yinghe’s body didn’t move. Only his finger touched the storage artifact on his hand—Li Huanhan had never searched his body. He didn’t know if it was out of carelessness, indifference, or a genuine fear of making him more upset.
His finger brushed past the artifact once to retrieve the messenger plate he bought from the deer devil shopkeeper.
He originally intended to use it to ask Peng Lai for more information about Qin Jun’s current movements, but who would’ve thought that it would be used under these circumstances instead? Even the best plans were prone to failure.
It was a good thing that although the arrays prevented anything from coming in, the same could not be said for going out.
He slowly eased his consciousness into the tablet. He soon received a response. Jiang Yinghe sighed in relief and quickly focused and dived into the tablet.
“Don’t speak.”
The other party immediately quieted. They seemed to have noticed his surroundings.
The transmission of sound was slightly faster. Besides, communicating using your consciousness was like someone used to typing using autocorrect having to write things by hand. Not only was it slow, but it required patience.
“Shixiong, I’m at a place that you can’t find right now. Don’t worry about me, I have a plan. Is Peng Lai still safe?”
It was quite some time before Jiang Yinghe could feel the narrow symbols rising on the transmissions tablet.
“Peng Lai is fine. Where are you? The ghost cultivators have allied themselves with the devil race to fight against the Tian Mo School. The cultivation world is in a panic. Peng Lai has done its best to take in as many displaced cultivators as possible. Before, when I asked the Devil King, he said that you were not with him. Where are you?”
Devil King? Jiang Yinghe suddenly had a premonition. He asked.
“Is Chang Ye the Devil King?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Yinghe couldn’t speak for a moment. As he thought, those who could be referred to with respect were all highly skilled cultivators no matter their race. He might be another Half-step Golden Immortal. If Jiang Yinghe didn’t know that he transmigrated over and that the heavens were emotionless to begin with, he might have believed that the heavens held a grudge against him.
He suppressed his feelings and continued to with his message.
“Don’t worry about me. However, there is a string of demonic runes that I will have to trouble Shixiong to look into.”
He sent over the runes that he had observed on his shackles the past few days.
“…Demonic runes? Their purpose seems to be restraining… This seems to be a very famous type.”
Very famous…?
Jiang Yinghe paused. He felt Zhangmen-shixiong’s confusion bleed through in his next message.
“This type of restraining rune is the only one that is harmless to the one it is used on. It was very popular a thousand years ago, but hardly any demonic cultivators used it…Ahem. It was mainly used by those from He Huan sect or amongst cultivation partners while they…had some fun in the bedroom.”
The last four words shocked Jiang Yinghe into questioning his life. He unconsciously glanced down at Li Huanhan before continuing to ask.
“How is it broken then?”
“I’ll send you the method to break it.”
Jiang Yinghe focused and flawlessly recorded the method that Zhou Zhengping sent over into his mind. Just as he was about to ask about the details, he felt a familiar gaze land on him.
!!!
He ended the transmission and very quickly returned the transmissions tablet to his personal dimension. He heard Li Huanhan’s gravelly voice.
“Shizun.” His breath came closer. A hot sensation brushed past his eyelashes. “You’re awake.”
…He knew it. He couldn’t fool his eldest disciple unless he was actually sleeping. Jiang Yinghe’s eyelashes fluttered as he opened his eyes to look at him. Before he could say a word, the other person crushed him beneath his body.
A slightly cool hand lightly grasped his jaw. Li Huanhan leaned down to ask quietly, “How long were you awake?”
He could even tell that kind of thing… Jiang Yinghe furrowed his brow and ducked to avoid Huanhan’s hand. He said coldly, “Since when do I report to you?”
Li Huanhan was silent for a moment. “I sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy just now. Shizun, what were you doing?”
Jiang Yinghe had to give props to how sensitive he was. He could even pick up the act of returning the transmissions tablet to the spacial artifact after just waking up. But the item was already safely inside. He pretended nothing was wrong and buried himself in the blankets to go back to sleep.
A rustling sound came from beside him. Li Huanhan seemed to find something in his search. His voice was strange as he asked, “Shizun…did you get this because you were afraid of being hurt?”
Jiang Yinghe startled. He didn’t know what the other had found. He turned to see the little porcelain jar in between Li Huanhan’s fingers. There was a very lifelike illustration of a little chrysanthemum on it.
…Wasn’t this the freebie that the deer devil merchant threw in when he bought the transmissions tablets? He carelessly threw it into this personal dimension. Who would’ve thought that he would accidentally take it out as well earlier?
The atmosphere became awkward. Jiang Yinghe’s heart was muddled.
Li Huanhan was the first to break the silence. He opened the small jar to see the silky lubricant within.
Jiang Yinghe had chills running down his spine as he heard the other person’s next words.
“You want it?”
No. There’s been a huge misunderstanding. That train driver of a deer devil gave it to him. Jiang Yinghe couldn’t even push a cart.
Jiang Yinghe sat up helplessly and scooted over to a corner as he explained, “No, I just…couldn’t sleep at night, so I took it out to…play with it?”
Li Huanhan raised an eyebrow. “Play with it?”
Damn, he was making things worse for himself.
“Then why avoid me?” Li Huanhan came over to kiss him. He only gently brushed his lips over Jiang Yinghe’s forehead when he saw the other person wasn’t too against it. His voice became throaty. “This disciple can help.”
“No need.” Jiang Yinghe shifted back some more. He tyrannically closed off his face. “I don’t like you, so of course I would avoid you.”
Li Huanhan’s whole body stiffened. His breathing became erratic, as if those words stabbed into his flesh like knives. He was so tense that he only breathed out a few moments later. His voice was impassive. “Then why isn’t Shizun playing anymore?”
…What was that supposed to mean?
“This disciple wants to watch Shizun play with himself.” Li Huanhan said, “Think of me and play with yourself, alright?”
Jiang Yinghe’s brain stopped functioning. He couldn’t resist filling in the blanks of this suddenly heated situation. It was like a cloud vessel flew past him just now. The person in front of him clearly didn’t believe anything was wrong with his request… More importantly, neither did he.
Fuck he wasn’t straight anymore.
He didn’t know whether to first salvage his orientation that was as curved as an embroidery hoop or deal with his expectant audience of one…
Jiang Yinghe took a deep breath. “I don’t want to show you Li Huanhan. Control yourself.”
That pair of blood-red eyes bore into him. It was hard to guess how he was feeling. About two or three breaths later, Li Huanhan suddenly spoke, “If Shizun has a reaction while thinking about me, then this disciple will loosen the ring.”
Jiang Yinghe was rendered speechless. He was tempted, but he refused for the sake of his pride in the end. “…Although the condition is moving, I have always been devoid of such thoughts. But it really doesn’t hinder…”
“It does.”
Jiang Yinghe: “…What?”
The other person declined to clarify. He raised a hand to encircle the soft rabbit ears in his air.
Jiang Yinghe jolted. His eyes were glued to the other’s hand. He watched as the hand that had personally put the ring on turned to touch his tail. He stepped on Li Huanhan’s wrist and sighed deeply. His voice was shaking as he issued a reprimand, “…Li Huanhan, you bastard. Can’t you behave like a human for once?”
His restraints rattled.
Jiang Yinghe’s face was forced to touch his. The other party was very possessive, but he was overly cautious when touching his lips.
He heard Li Huanhan’s voice from beside his ear. It was close enough to make his entire body heat up.
“Shizun, I’ll loosen the ring for you.” He said quietly, “Let me help you solve this problem, alright?”
Only the Heavens knew which problem he was talking about.
Jiang Yinghe knew that this person could only be stroked towards the grain. He softly sighed and leaned against Li Huanhan’s shoulder. His voice was light.
“No more playing around. I really am tired. Be obedient and don’t bother me anymore.”
His ability to soothe others was so lacklustre. It was a disgrace to his entire career as an educator.
It was quite some time before he barely managed to catch Li Huanhan’s response.
“…Alright,” he said, “I’ll listen to Shizun.”
—-
The next morning.
When Jiang Yinghe woke up, Li Huanhan had already left.
His cultivation was like ice, and he had long since been able to abstain from food. Eating was only a preference, and he often expelled waste products from his body by circulating his spiritual energy. Normally speaking, as long as his pride as a human was left alone, adding something really didn’t affect his life.
There were no guards here. It was just him and the bubbling Blood Pond nearby. He used the method that Zhangmen-shixiong had sent over to remove the shackles on his limbs. He studied the little silver ring for a while, but he was unable to take it off.
He’ll just have to live with it for now.
Jiang Yinghe readjusted his clothing and carefully made his way out of the sleeping chambers. It was only when he was at the edge of the arrays that he could feel their presence without Li Huanhan beside him.
He took a deep breath and reviewed everything he knew about arrays. This, along with pointers from Zhangmen-shixiong, and the entirety of Peng Lai’s collection of scrolls, was enough for him to safely dismantle the barrier that isolated him from the outside.
Finally, after many days, Jiang Yinghe saw the situation outside. He wanted to take a deep breath to savour the scent of freedom he had been denied for so long, but then he noticed the scenery before him. One half was a blood-soaked hell, the other was a vast mountain range in the human realm.
He paused and jerked his head back. The place he had stepped out of was gone. It was just a normal crossing inside of an ancient mountain forest.
This was similar to the methods used to secure Peng Lai sect’s entrance, but…
It seems like…this was the border between the lands of the ghosts and the humans. If he headed left, he would enter the Nether Realm. You know what they say, walk in the darkness and hide where they least expect it.
Jiang Yinghe used to think that there was no way he would voluntarily enter the Nether Realm, but he had a feeling that his other two disciples were keeping a close eye on Peng Lai. He had to act calmly and think in the long term.
Jiang Yinghe hesitated between the two places for a while. He gained some inspiration from Li Huanhan’s ideology of ‘walking in the dark’. The border of the Nether Realm was mostly occupied by low-level ghosts. As long as there was enough of a difference between their cultivation levels, an illusion was enough to safeguard his identity as a living person from them… Even if he was exposed, they would probably mistake him for a devil.
A twofold disguise. It didn’t sound too bad.
He would decide his next steps after gathering some intel in the Nether Realm. Jiang Yinghe ran his hand over his outer garment, warping the original snow white cloak into a tattered red shirt radiating miasma. He was about to cross over to the Nether Realm when he remembered something.
He took out another artifact meant to obscure his features and conceal his breath from his spatial ring. A mask of a furious wraith gritting its teeth settled over his face.
Author’s Corner
HeHe: I’m really a genius!
