After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian

“Are you all right?” Yu Qingtang snapped out of his shock and instinctively reached out to steady her. Miaoyin Xian seized his hand. “Don’t act rashly. You’re no match for him.”

Yu Qingtang had not planned to act rashly.

He was even silently sighing to himself. Miaoyin Xian really did live up to a female lead’s configuration. She was way stronger than him. Even with all those debuffs stacked on her, she had not been blasted half a mile away like he had.

“Oh, right.” Yu Qingtang came back to himself and shoved the Dragon-Crane Zither into her arms. “Play this. This one’s strong!”

Miaoyin Xian froze. “This is... the Dragon-Crane Zither?”

Now it was Yu Qingtang’s turn to be surprised. “You know it?”

A faint gleam flickered through Miaoyin Xian’s eyes. “My Master once said that Heavenly Music Sect had a xiao flute and a zither, both first-rank spiritual artifacts with human understanding. But later, something happened within the sect. One senior left the sect with the Dragon-Crane Zither, and from then on, it vanished without a trace.”

Yu Qingtang’s mouth fell open slightly.

They really had been one family eight hundred years ago.

“This isn’t the time to talk about that.” Miaoyin Xian gripped his hand, her expression grave. “With the Dragon-Crane Zither, we may be able to try.”

“Try what...” Yu Qingtang failed to keep up.

Miaoyin Xian had already grabbed him by the shoulder and thrown him upward. “Battle-Entering Melody, rise!”

Yu Qingtang, who had been forcibly added to the battlefield: “...Wait, this zither and I aren’t close! It won’t listen to me!”

Seeing Wu Tianlong’s sandbag-sized fist wreathed in flames about to greet his face, Wu Tianjiao cried out in alarm, “Big Brother, don’t hit his face!”

Yu Qingtang: “...”

You’re kind of nice, actually.

Wu Tianlong turned a deaf ear. He had no intention of showing tender pity toward beauty and did not hold back in the slightest.

“Careful!”

Ye Chenyan had been moving around nimbly the entire time, avoiding a direct contest against the other man’s surging spiritual power. But for Yu Qingtang’s sake, he now had no choice but to take the blow head-on.

The two exchanged one move. Wu Tianlong did not budge. He slowly flexed his wrist and looked coldly at Ye Chenyan, who had retreated two steps, the arm he had just used to receive the attack scorched black.

Yu Qingtang knew that in a Long Aotian leveling story, this only counted as a minor injury. But seeing it with his own eyes still made the sight shocking.

He gritted his teeth and set the zither in position. So what if he got blasted half a mile away? This was already the second time! This Wu Tianlong guy kept going for his face every single time. Picking on the softest persimmon, was he?

Even a clay man had three sparks of temper. Before he got sent flying today, he was at least going to give this flaming muscle man an invisible flick to the forehead!

Slender fingertips swept across the zither strings. A vast, austere killing aura rose abruptly, perfectly matching Ye Chenyan’s counterattacking spear. The murderous force shot straight at Wu Tianlong’s face, actually making him feel, for one instant, as if it could not be matched.

Wu Tianlong instinctively took a step back, then flew into a rage and insisted on receiving the spear head-on.

The two clashed. Each retreated two steps, but behind Wu Tianlong, two cultivators maintaining the formation spat blood and collapsed.

Ye Chenyan looked down at his own palm in surprise, then instinctively turned back toward Yu Qingtang.

The white-clad qin cultivator’s brows were lowered, his robes fluttering as if he were a being from beyond the heavens—as Daoist Idle Crane had said back then, Yu Qingtang was only one bottle of mute medicine away from being a peerless beauty.

When he was occasionally serious, that face of his was still pretty good at fooling people.

With the two of them working together, the situation on the field reversed. Ye Chenyan forced Wu Tianlong into repeated retreat, and in the end, Wu Tianlong spat blood and fell to the ground, his palm pierced through by a spear. He let out a scream.

Miaoyin Xian’s expression shifted slightly, and she advised him, “Young Master, wait! He is the prodigy of the Jinzhou Wu family. If you truly kill him...”

Ye Chenyan ignored her. With a few traces of viciousness, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gave a low laugh, and pulled out his spear. “Using your power to bully people?”

He suddenly raised the spear and threw it. The spear tip grazed Wu Tianjiao’s scalp and nailed itself into the tree trunk behind him. Wu Tianjiao, who had been trying to secretly call for reinforcements, screamed and fell to the ground. A jade token rolled out with a clatter.

Only then did Yu Qingtang open his eyes, trembling.

Just now, his mind had been blank. He had practically finished playing the piece on muscle memory alone, but from the looks of it, he had performed better than usual.

But why had he not gone flying?

Yu Qingtang had no time to think too much. The corner of his mouth twitched as he pressed a hand to his dantian, where waves of pain were spreading.

Kidney deficiency. Always after overwork.

His vision went black. He spat a mouthful of blood and toppled backward, missing the sight of the Dragon-Crane Zither flashing with excitement as it absorbed his blood and recognized him as its master.

“Qingtang!”

Miaoyin Xian and Ye Chenyan moved to catch him at almost the same time, but in the end, Ye Chenyan was still one step faster. He caught him midair in a princess carry.

Instinctively, Ye Chenyan examined the Dragon-Crane Zither.

Before this, its brilliance had been withdrawn, and it had looked like an ordinary low-grade spiritual artifact. Only when it had briefly shown its sharp edge had it revealed a little of its unusual power.

After absorbing blood and recognizing a master, the Dragon-Crane Zither went straight back into Yu Qingtang’s storage ring.

Only then did Ye Chenyan look away, also withdrawing his thoughtful expression.

Miaoyin Xian hurried over and carefully checked Yu Qingtang’s injuries. She let out a breath of relief. “He’s all right. It’s only excessive spiritual power consumption.”

She shook her head gently, helplessly. “No wonder Qingtang wanted me to play the zither. A first-rank spiritual artifact has tremendous power, but the consumption is equally astonishing.”

“There are layer upon layer of restrictions on this Dragon-Crane Zither. Presumably, the elders of his sect were afraid he couldn’t control it, so they set them.”

Miaoyin Xian lifted her eyes toward Ye Chenyan. Light shimmered faintly in them. “I imagine she was desperate to save you, which was why she disregarded the danger and forcibly drew on her spiritual power...”

Ye Chenyan lowered his head to look at him.

Yu Qingtang’s eyes were tightly shut. His face was pale as paper, and the blood at the corner of his mouth was especially glaring, making him seem pitiful and fragile.

Ye Chenyan’s gaze flickered. He carefully wiped away the blood at the corner of Yu Qingtang’s mouth with his sleeve and said in a low voice, “I understand.”

...

After sending the rescued female cultivators away, only Ye Chenyan and the still-unconscious Yu Qingtang remained on the spirit boat.

Ye Chenyan propped his chin on one hand and looked at him. He lifted the fan pendant and swung it back and forth in front of Yu Qingtang’s eyes, staring at him thoughtfully.

“You did it on purpose.” He stared at Yu Qingtang’s face for a while, thinking about something unknown, then clenched the fan pendant. “Not necessarily.”

“Tsk.” He glanced at the burn on his own arm, reached out, and pinched Yu Qingtang’s nose. “Why aren’t you awake yet? If you sleep any longer, even my injury will heal.”

Yu Qingtang’s eyelashes trembled.

Ye Chenyan immediately sat up properly and pretended to be meditating to regulate his breathing.

Yu Qingtang slowly opened his eyes. With a trace of dullness, he scratched his head, carrying the bewilderment of someone whose brain had just rebooted.

“You’re awake?” Ye Chenyan opened his eyes as if he had only just noticed, then handed him a water bag. “Drink some water first.”

Yu Qingtang obediently took a sip. Only then did his rationality slowly return. He quickly asked, “Where’s Miaoyin Xian?”

Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes with a complicated expression and muttered softly, “You just woke up and you’re already asking about her?”

He crossed his arms and leaned back. “She went back to her sect. Before she left, I sent those female cultivators back too. We’ve already left Jinzhou’s borders. This is Yunzhou.”

“Yunzhou?” Yu Qingtang stared wide-eyed in shock. “She left? Then what about the zither?”

“The zither?” Ye Chenyan pointed at his storage ring. “It went home by itself.”

Yu Qingtang instinctively took out the zither, his eyes widening in shock. “...Is this my zither? Why is it so shiny?”

Ye Chenyan could not help giving a low laugh. “Its brilliance was originally withdrawn. Even I didn’t realize it was a first-rank spiritual artifact.”

“Now that it has recognized you as its master and absorbed your blood essence, that’s why...”

“Wait!” Yu Qingtang caught the important point and turned his head stiffly. “Recognized who?”

“You.” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget? You vomited blood before you passed out.”

He pointed at the zither. “It splashed onto the zither.”

Yu Qingtang felt that his newly awakened brain might not be especially awake after all.

It was over. It was all over.

He could not go back to Jinzhou. Miaoyin Xian had flown away. The Dragon-Crane Zither had gone blind. And he had boarded the pirate ship to Qingzhou.

Ye Chenyan deliberately stretched his injured hand in front of Yu Qingtang’s eyes and waved it. “What’s wrong?”

As expected, Yu Qingtang noticed his injury. “Your hand...”

“It’s fine.” Ye Chenyan smiled and drew it back. “A small injury. It’ll heal soon.”

“Watch.”

He circulated his cultivation method, urging the wound to heal rapidly. The blackened scabs fell away piece by piece, revealing intact skin underneath.

“Wow—” Yu Qingtang applauded with great enthusiasm. “It looks like beggar’s chicken.”

The smile on Ye Chenyan’s face stiffened. He slowly turned his head to look at him.

Yu Qingtang covered his mouth and immediately corrected himself. “Ahem. I mean, what an impressive body-tempering cultivation method.”

Ye Chenyan propped his chin on one hand with a complicated expression, sighed, and handed him a sheet of golden paper.

Yu Qingtang took it hesitantly. “What is this?”

Ye Chenyan said sourly, “A mental cultivation method from your Miaoyin Xian. She said it was to thank you, so she gave it to you.”

Yu Qingtang looked down. Written on the golden paper was a zither score: Heart-Questioning Melody.

It seemed that in the original novel, when Ye Chenyan broke through, Miaoyin Xian had played this very piece for him.

Yu Qingtang’s expression turned complicated.

Judging by this, it seemed this world was still working hard. At the very least, the things Long Aotian would need later were all being diligently shoved at him.

It was just that, apparently, the harem had lower priority than chance encounters that raised his strength. In other words, Miaoyin Xian might be butterflied away, but her leveling buff would not be.

Yu Qingtang narrowed his eyes.

Credit where credit was due: this world’s consciousness was pretty career-driven.

It was just that because he had stuck his foot in, Miaoyin Xian had lost a first-rank spiritual artifact for nothing. That was a little unfortunate.

But on second thought, if this meant she did not have to join Long Aotian’s harem, then... maybe it was not that much of a loss?

Yu Qingtang propped his chin on one hand and sank into thought, suddenly unsure whether he had wronged her or not.

Ye Chenyan glanced at him twice, cleared his throat, and asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Yu Qingtang answered instinctively, “Miaoyin Xian.”

“Oh—” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “You like her?”

“Huh?” Yu Qingtang jolted in fright.

“Love at first sight?” Ye Chenyan deliberately leaned closer. “A lofty mountain and flowing water meeting a kindred soul. You qin cultivators all like that sort of thing, right?”

Yu Qingtang was somewhat dumbfounded. Then he remembered that in the original plot, Ye Chenyan seemed to have actually gotten jealous over the harem too.

Yu Qingtang’s gaze changed slightly.

Kid, you can eat any kind of vinegar, can’t you?

He sighed and decided to keep telling this lie for the sake of his character setting.

He expressed sincerely, “I like men.”

Ye Chenyan’s eyes abruptly widened, and he instinctively sat up straight. “Huh?”

Yu Qingtang found that a little strange. “Why are you surprised?”

“No, I’m not.” Ye Chenyan looked away. “I mean, well, aren’t you cultivating the Dao of Emotionlessness?”

“Right.” Yu Qingtang was perfectly justified. “Weren’t you the one who said to enter emotion before transcending it?”

The two of them stared at each other, each privately muttering inside.

Just then, a sudden clap of thunder exploded across the sky. Yu Qingtang jumped in fright and instinctively lifted the zither over his head as a shield.

Don’t tell me the heavenly lightning has come to strike me because I’ve told too many lies!

Ye Chenyan abruptly withdrew his gaze. “Ahem. It’s going to rain. Let’s find a place to take shelter first.”

Author’s Note:

Ye Chenyan: I’m not a straight man.

Yu Qingtang: I like men.

The Heavenly Dao thundered to show receipt.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!