After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian

Yu Qingtang looked calm on the surface, but inside, he was panicking like mad.

He dragged Ye Chenyan forward at top speed, even pressing {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} down on his head so he could not turn back and look.

Was this a joke? If the romance route got messed up, he could still help cover for it for a while. But if the plot route got messed up, his watered-down Golden Core strength was not enough to patch the hole!

“Miss Qingtang...” Ye Chenyan followed with visible reluctance. “Why did you stop me?”

“He—” Yu Qingtang glanced back and only let out a breath once he confirmed the man had not followed them. Then he made up a line. “There’s something strange about him.”

“Even a powerful outsider shouldn’t provoke the local snakes. We’d better not invite trouble.”

Ye Chenyan still seemed somewhat unconvinced. He curled his lip. “I’m not afraid of trouble.”

True.

Yu Qingtang thought numbly that one of Long Aotian’s specialties was probably inviting trouble.

But this stretch of plot had not reached its trigger point yet, and the trouble was not supposed to be stirred up yet either.

When he saw the blue birthmark on that pill cultivator’s hand just now, he had finally remembered who the man was—Du Heng, the chief disciple of the old Pill King of Fire Cauldron Sect, a pill cultivator, and the only third-rank pill refiner among the younger generation.

In the original novel, the old Pill King of Fire Cauldron Sect was nearing death, and everyone coveted his generous inheritance. For that, they did not hesitate to imprison the old Pill King and drive Du Heng out of Fire Cauldron Sect.

Because of that, Du Heng could only pretend to be an idle wandering pill cultivator, traveling around while lying low and searching for a chance to return to Fire Cauldron Sect.

Later, Long Aotian met Du Heng while searching for pills. The two of them formed a friendship through life and death, and Long Aotian helped Du Heng fight his way back into Fire Cauldron Sect, rescue the old Pill King, and subdue the entire Fire Cauldron Sect—this book was called Young God-King: Unifying the Immortal Sects, after all. The later plot involved subduing each sect, and subduing Fire Cauldron Sect counted as an important milestone.

With the old Pill King’s support, plenty of smaller sects voluntarily came under Long Aotian’s command, and Du Heng became his indisputable right-hand man.

Yu Qingtang glanced guiltily at Ye Chenyan. Ye Chenyan probably had no idea that he had nearly beaten up his own future right-hand man just now.

Although Yu Qingtang had also been the one who told him to beat the man up. But this kid Ye Chenyan was way too quick to act. Yu Qingtang had almost failed to stop him.

“That pill cultivator was obviously a fraud.” Ye Chenyan was still brooding over it. “Should we still use the pills we bought from him?”

“Use them. The pills are definitely fine.” Yu Qingtang nodded with certainty.

Du Heng was a genuine third-rank pill refiner—the lower the number in pill-refiner ranks, the more powerful the refiner, and anyone who reached third rank could establish his own sect.

Although Yu Qingtang had no idea which meridian Du Heng had checked wrong to somehow diagnose him with irregular menstruation, Du Heng was at least a positive character. He could have small flaws, but he would not deliberately harm people.

Ye Chenyan gave him a meaningful look. “You’ve researched pills too?”

“No.” Yu Qingtang shook his head honestly—after how embarrassing it had been the last time he ate a pill, probably no one would believe him even if he claimed he had researched them deeply now.

“They just look pretty good. Besides...” Yu Qingtang said with perfect confidence, “even if someone wanted to scam people out of money, he wouldn’t use Spirit Recovery Pills and Blood Recovery Pills this cheap to do it.”

“That makes sense.” Ye Chenyan nodded along. “I just wonder whether they’re sweet.”

At the thought of that previous Spirit Recovery Pill, sourness started spreading through Yu Qingtang’s mouth again. He could not help swallowing, then urged Ye Chenyan to try first. “You eat one first.”

Ye Chenyan poured out two pills and handed one to him. “One each.”

Yu Qingtang tried to refuse. “Isn’t that too wasteful? I haven’t even used any spiritual power yet, and eating one now—”

While he was not paying attention, Ye Chenyan shoved a Spirit Recovery Pill straight into his mouth.

Yu Qingtang: “Mm!”

His eyes went wide. Ye Chenyan smiled slyly and leaned closer to ask him, “Is it good?”

Yu Qingtang pressed his lips together with difficulty, then slowly lifted the corners of his mouth. His smile was a little stiff. “Good. Especially good. Try it.”

Half-believing and half-doubting him, Ye Chenyan lifted the pill toward his mouth.

Yu Qingtang suddenly shoved the pill into his mouth, then clamped a hand over his mouth to stop him from spitting it out.

While hissing for breath, he gritted out, “It’s delicious! Eat! It! Slowly!”

“Cough!”

Caught off guard, Ye Chenyan felt a terrifying spiciness explode in his mouth. Even after he swallowed, it felt as if he had swallowed a ball of fire.

His entire face flushed bright red. While struggling, he also clapped a hand over Yu Qingtang’s mouth.

Yu Qingtang shook his head back and forth. “Let mm go, let me drink water!”

Ye Chenyan yanked him closer, wearing an expression like they would live and die together. “No!”

Their foreheads were almost touching as they glared at each other and struggled for victory.

“Hiss—” Yu Qingtang squeezed his eyes shut, then lifted his free hand, pointed at Ye Chenyan, then at himself, signaling a mutual, peaceful release of hostages.

Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes and nodded half-suspiciously.

Yu Qingtang raised three fingers and counted down. The two of them suddenly flung off each other’s hands, swiftly pulled water from their storage rings, tilted their heads back, and poured it down.

“Hah—” Ye Chenyan took two breaths. His mouth still burned fiercely, but the spiritual energy around his body was exceptionally abundant, leaving him even lighter than usual.

He turned to look at Yu Qingtang, who was beside him with his tongue out, panting. “You tricked me!”

Yu Qingtang raised a hand to cover his mouth, trying to hide the fact that he currently looked like an overheated dog with its tongue hanging out, and struck back without giving an inch. “You shoved it in my mouth first!”

Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes and was about to fire back, but for some reason, he took a deep breath, changed his expression, and showed weakness. “I didn’t know it tasted bad back then. But you clearly tasted that it was bad first, and then shoved it into my mouth.”

He even sounded a little wronged. “You did it on purpose!”

Yu Qingtang really did fall for this sort of thing.

He rubbed his nose guiltily. When put that way, he did sound a little excessive.

“Oh, fine.” Yu Qingtang shifted toward him and bumped his own waterskin against Ye Chenyan’s. “It was my fault. I apologize. I’ll drink first as a show of sincerity!”

He gulped down more than half a waterskin, then turned to look at him. “Your turn.”

Ye Chenyan’s expression froze slightly. He looked at the waterskin in his hand, then at Yu Qingtang, and could not help letting out a low laugh. Then he copied Yu Qingtang and bumped their waterskins together. “All right—”

He drank a mouthful of water, shook the waterskin, and said, “Too bad it’s only water. It would be better if we had wine.”

He turned to look at Yu Qingtang, his eyes hinting.

Yu Qingtang received the signal and blinked. “Huh?”

He couldn’t be thinking of making Yu Qingtang pay, could he?

Yu Qingtang rubbed his nose guiltily. It was not that he was stingy, but with Guiyi Sect’s spending standards, he probably could not afford to treat him.

There were no spirit stones in his little pockets. There was nothing he could do.

After considering it, he patted Ye Chenyan’s shoulder sincerely. “My Master still has a good amount of immortal fruit wine hidden away. When you send me back, I’ll go steal... cough, go get some for you.”

He bumped the other man’s waterskin again and raised his brows in promise. “We won’t stop until we’re drunk.”

By then, it could count as a wrap-party farewell meal too. Sacrificing his Master’s stock was not entirely impossible.

Ye Chenyan laughed despite himself. “All right. It’s settled!”

He stood up. “In that case, we should hurry along, so those...”

He glanced back and chuckled softly. “‘Local snakes’ don’t come looking for trouble.”

...

That night, the two of them stopped in a small town in central Yunzhou.

The inn here was not as prosperous as Heavenly Residence, but it won through quiet elegance, and its side dishes were exceptionally refreshing.

After eating and drinking his fill, Yu Qingtang slumped lazily onto the bed—if the female lead’s plot were not chasing after him, traveling around as Long Aotian’s underling and eating well all the way might actually be a pretty good life choice.

He paused, then quickly shook his head, flinging that unrealistic thought out of his mind.

Wake up, Yu Qingtang! You can’t be bewitched by good food! Being Long Aotian’s underling isn’t that easy. If you eat his food now, you’ll have to repay him by blocking knives for him later!

It was still better to be an idle cultivator, drifting free as clouds and cranes, wandering wherever the vast world allowed.

With his resolve firm once more, Yu Qingtang lazily lay back down.

The window gave a creak.

Yu Qingtang opened his eyes, a hint of gravity in his expression.

He was currently carrying Miaoyin Xian’s plot. Ye Chenyan wouldn’t... launch a midnight ambush, would he?

His expression sharpened. He rolled across the bed with the quilt around him, wrapping himself up tightly before calling out, “Who is it?”

“Oh.” The window was pushed wide open, and the newcomer sat astride the frame, letting out a lazy, mocking laugh. “Eating your fill and going straight to sleep—what kind of Fairy are you pretending to be?”

Yu Qingtang’s eyes slowly widened. Sitting at the window was a man who looked like a vagrant. His face was covered in pockmarks, the features very distinctive.

He looked completely different from how he had during the day, but Yu Qingtang was a music cultivator, and from his voice, he still recognized him as the pill cultivator from earlier—Du Heng.

Yu Qingtang: “...”

Big Brother, why are you here? You belong to the Nascent Soul part of the cast! Ye Chenyan is only Golden Core right now. It isn’t time for you to appear yet!

“Oh, pretty steady, aren’t you?” Du Heng smiled as he flipped into the room. “I was just about to tell you not to shout, but you’re quite cooperative.”

“I didn’t come here for anything else. I just wanted to ask this ‘Fairy’ something. Do you recognize me?”

Yu Qingtang was about to deny it, but Du Heng’s tone was certain as he smiled and pressed closer. “You recognized my birthmark, and I also know your secret.”

Yu Qingtang: “...”

Bad.

Du Heng had just been expelled from Fire Cauldron Sect, and this was exactly the time when he was suspicious of every rustle of grass and every movement in the wind. If Yu Qingtang did not answer properly, there was no telling whether Du Heng would attack.

Besides, Du Heng had already been famous for a long time. Right now, he was already at late Nascent Soul cultivation. Even if Yu Qingtang called Ye Chenyan over, Ye Chenyan might not necessarily be able to beat him.

Yu Qingtang’s gaze shifted. Right now, the only thing he could rely on was his ability to make up stories!

“Are you... Senior Brother Du Heng of Fire Cauldron Sect?” Yu Qingtang took a deep breath and carefully looked at his face. “I heard the elders of my sect mention you before.”

Du Heng did not deny it. He raised his brows slightly. “The elders of your sect?”

“Jinzhou’s Biehe Sect. My Master is Daoist Idle Crane.” Yu Qingtang tried to move him with sincere eyes. “His cultivation isn’t much, but he has a very wide social circle. When he has nothing to do, he always loves going to other people’s homes to freeload... cough, drink tea.”

“As the saying goes, the more you talk, the more friends you have. My Master talks a lot.”

Du Heng had a smile on his face, but his eyes were completely unmoved. “Never heard of him.”

“But I really have heard of you.” Yu Qingtang blinked. “Master said the old Pill King has a troublesome disciple with a blue birthmark on his hand. He could clearly cure it with pills, but he refuses.”

“He even wanted to make you a wrist guard.”

Du Heng’s eyes shifted at last, finally showing some change. He took one step back, then suddenly gave Yu Qingtang a courteous salute. “My current situation is dangerous. It was inevitable that I acted somewhat rudely.”

“To be honest, my Master... is in even greater danger than I am right now. I wonder whether that Daoist Idle Crane might be able to make a trip to Fire Cauldron Sect and look for my Master?”

Yu Qingtang scratched his head and spoke carefully. “My Master calls himself half-step Out-of-Body.”

Du Heng: “...”

Meaning he had not actually reached the Out-of-Body stage.

Du Heng closed his eyes, exhaled, and gave a bitter laugh. “My apologies. I was desperate enough to seek medicine from anyone.”

He looked somewhat pitiful. Yu Qingtang could not bear it and reminded him, “Perhaps you can try asking the person next door.”

He lowered his voice. “He’s from Guiyi Sect.”

Du Heng’s eyes lit up.

...

After a brief discussion, Du Heng quietly climbed out of Yu Qingtang’s room. He had only taken one step when a silver spear lay across the front of his neck.

Ye Chenyan was sitting cross-legged and looked as if he had been waiting for a long time. “Entering a female cultivator’s room without permission in the dead of night is rather inappropriate, don’t you think?”

Du Heng lowered his voice and followed with a soft laugh. “Seeing someone enter a female cultivator’s room in the dead of night and not going in to save her is also rather inappropriate, don’t you think?”

Author’s Note:

Realm settings: Qi Refining—Foundation Establishment—Golden Core—Nascent Soul—Out-of-Body—Soul Transformation—Integration—Mahayana—Tribulation Crossing.

Yu Qingtang: As expected of me. I turned the tide with my own strength! Time to sleep, zZZZZ.

Outside the door, Long Aotian and his underling are about to start fighting.

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