“Lord Feiyan, is it finished?”
A crab with pink gauze draped over its head struck up a conversation with the black dragon Feiyan, peering curiously at the strange new structure beside the shell.
“Is this that thing the human cultivator called a... bathroom?”
“Yeah.” Feiyan’s voice boomed like a bell. He muttered impatiently, “I thought a bathroom was some special kind of place. Turns out it’s just somewhere to bathe.”
“Then what do they need a bathing pool for? The sea is nothing but water!”
“Humans °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° are delicate.” The crab nodded as if it understood humans extremely well. “They probably aren’t used to bathing in seawater. They need fresh water.”
Feiyan thought about it. “That actually makes some sense.”
“Whatever. Just another annoying human habit. Let them do what they want.”
He turned and left with remarkable generosity.
Meanwhile, inside the hastily constructed bathing pool, Yu Qingtang was submerged up to his chest, sprawled over the edge and playing dead.
Ye Chenyan was right beside him, copying his posture with his arms folded on the edge of the pool. He snuck a glance at Yu, his gaze passing over the red marks scattered across that smooth back. Clearing his throat, he quickly looked away as though the sight burned his eyes, the tips of his ears turning red.
“I-I wasn’t that excessive, was I?”
Yu Qingtang moved his head slightly.
He didn’t say anything. He merely gave Ye Chenyan a look.
Ye Chenyan obediently lowered his head. “I was wrong.”
“Hmph.” Yu Qingtang snorted and turned away again through gritted teeth. “Go ahead and keep tormenting it. You’re the one using this body today anyway.”
Ye Chenyan grinned and turned toward him, resting his chin on his hand. The slightest movement sent suggestive water sloshing around the pool.
“I know.” He looked at Yu with a smile. “But once we swap and you get my body in exchange, even if you’re angry, you’ll have to hold it in. Wait until we switch back before you hit me, or you’ll only be hurting yourself.”
Yu Qingtang glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “...What are you smiling about?”
“I don’t know.” Ye Chenyan scratched his chin. “I just... can’t help it.”
“Looking at you makes me want to smile.”
He edged closer.
Yu Qingtang immediately scooted away in alarm. “What are you doing? Maintain a safe distance!”
Ye Chenyan ignored the warning. He moved until their shoulders touched, leaned over the edge beside him, and secretly watched him. His voice softened as he coaxed, “I know this wasn’t really the time, but...”
His voice dropped lower and lower, until he almost sounded aggrieved.
“They used you to test me.”
Yu Qingtang let out a deep sigh. “That’s what I told them! I said you couldn’t withstand temptation, but they just refused to listen!”
He sprawled mournfully against the edge of the pool and muttered, “And now this innocent fish in the pond is the one who suffered.”
Ye Chenyan chuckled and lightly touched his ear.
Yu Qingtang tilted his head slightly to avoid him, but in the end gave up resisting and let him do as he pleased.
Ye Chenyan’s gaze settled on him, his smile impossible to hide.
“When you told me about the sulfur springs in Nanzhou, I thought they were like this.”
“Who knew everyone got their own barrel? I had to wait until now to finally soak in a pool like this with you.”
He idly stirred the water with his fingers.
“There should’ve been pools like this too, right?”
“Probably?” Yu Qingtang tilted his head at him. “Even if there were, I wouldn’t have dared get into one with you back then.”
“Keep your hands to yourself. Weren’t you nervous before? Can you show even a little proper respect for the serious thing we’re about to do?”
“All right—” Ye Chenyan obediently agreed and withdrew his hand. “Wait until I get back.”
He glanced toward the pile of clothes off to one side.
“Where’s the pill?”
Yu Qingtang stretched out an arm to reach for it.
Ye Chenyan’s gaze followed the line of his waist as it briefly emerged above the water.
His eyes snapped shut at once, and he turned his back like an honest man.
Yu Qingtang had been about to warn him not to sneak a look, only to turn around and discover that the guy was being unusually well-behaved today.
Thoroughly surprised, he leaned around into Ye Chenyan’s line of sight.
“Why are you being so good?”
Ye Chenyan opened his eyes and narrowed them slightly. Lowering his voice, he warned, “If you keep looking, then I’m going to...”
In a flash of enlightenment, Yu Qingtang understood.
He immediately clapped a hand over Ye Chenyan’s mouth, his entire face turning bright red.
“Okay, stop talking. I get it.”
Ye Chenyan’s eyes curved with laughter.
“Keep it up. No looking!” Yu Qingtang released him, then quickly leaned out of the water, snatched the pill from among the clothes, and dropped back into the pool with a splash.
“Got it.”
Ye Chenyan looked at him again. “Feiyan is waiting outside. It’s about time we left.”
He took the pill, split it neatly in half with spiritual power, and handed one half to Yu Qingtang.
Yu Qingtang carefully wiped his hand dry before daring to take it. He raised his eyes to Ye Chenyan, visibly nervous.
Ye Chenyan seemed nervous too, though apparently for an entirely different reason.
He picked up two cups of wine from the edge of the pool and dropped his half of the pill into one. Then he looked at Yu Qingtang.
“Come on.”
Yu Qingtang copied him, dropping his own half into his cup.
He took a deep breath, summoned some liquid courage, and boldly clinked his cup against Ye Chenyan’s.
“Cheers!”
“Not like that.”
Ye Chenyan pulled his hand back, then lightly linked their arms together.
“Like this. Call it a rehearsal.”
Yu Qingtang blinked. “A rehearsal for what?”
Ye Chenyan looked at him and mumbled somewhat bashfully, “Our wedding day.”
His eyes remained fixed on Yu Qingtang.
“After everything we’ve done, you’re not still going to say you don’t want to marry me, are you?”
He edged even closer.
“You can’t decide you don’t want me now, Senior Brother Yu.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
He knew perfectly well this guy was deliberately acting cute.
And somehow, he still had absolutely no resistance to it.
He muttered quietly, “You only call me Senior Brother at times like this.”
Ye Chenyan’s eyes curved with laughter.
Leaning close to Yu’s ear, he whispered, “I called you that last night too.”
Yu Qingtang slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Drink! Hurry up, drink the thing and leave!”
Ye Chenyan smiled with his eyes, kept his arm linked with Yu Qingtang’s, and raised the wine to his lips.
They drank at the same time.
The mysterious ancient pill melted the instant it entered their mouths.
A wave of dizziness crashed over them. Heaven and earth seemed to turn upside down, and both nearly lost consciousness.
Yu Qingtang staggered and almost collapsed into the pool. He barely caught himself on the edge, shook his head, and gradually recovered.
Holding his head, he asked, “Did it work?”
He turned toward Ye Chenyan—
Or, more precisely, toward Ye Chenyan inside his body.
Ye Chenyan’s brows were slightly furrowed. He still looked a little dizzy. He opened both hands, flexed his fingers, and slowly familiarized himself with the unfamiliar body before finally raising his head.
When he met Yu Qingtang’s concerned gaze, he gave him a faint, reassuring smile to show that he was fine.
Yu Qingtang’s expression turned strange.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Ye Chenyan was clearly wearing the exact same face Yu Qingtang had always seen in the mirror, yet somehow it looked completely different now.
Looked at this way, maybe he could pass for Long Aotian too.
Ye Chenyan, meanwhile, was examining Yu Qingtang inside his body.
He narrowed his eyes, reached out, pinched the other man’s cheeks, and turned his face from side to side for inspection.
“Do I really look this stupid?”
Yu Qingtang: “...Tch.”
Ye Chenyan muffled a laugh. A sly gleam flashed through his eyes.
“All right, I’m leaving my body in your hands. I’m off.”
He started to stand up from the water.
Yu Qingtang hurriedly stopped him.
“Wait!”
He stared suspiciously at Ye Chenyan.
“Y-you’re going to dress my body?”
“Mm.” Ye Chenyan widened his eyes slightly. Combined with Yu Qingtang’s face, it made him look even more innocent. “Can’t be helped. We swapped while we were in the water.”
Yu Qingtang pointed at him accusingly.
“You didn’t do this on purpose, did you? Why didn’t we wait until after we got out before swapping?”
He narrowed his eyes and leaned closer.
“Were you trying to sneak a look at something?!”
Ye Chenyan guiltily turned his gaze away.
“...How did you suddenly get so smart?”
Yu Qingtang froze, then touched his own head.
“Right.”
“Could it be because I’m using your brain now?”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
He chuckled and rose from the water.
“Don’t say that. You’re not stupid either.”
“Right, right.”
Yu Qingtang watched Ye Chenyan climb out of the pool and begin drying his body off.
He was just about to warn him not to touch anything he shouldn’t when Ye Chenyan suddenly looked up.
“I think...”
Yu Qingtang stared at him warily. “Hmm? What?”
Ye Chenyan pulled on his clothes while testing out the body, his expression increasingly strange.
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“My lower back isn’t sore. My legs don’t hurt. Nothing hurts.”
His blazing gaze locked onto Yu Qingtang.
Yu Qingtang answered without thinking, “Of course not. I’m a Soul Transformation-stage cultivator, you know. Out in the world, I’d already count as a great expert. I—”
Before he could finish, Ye Chenyan braced one hand against the screen and drew out a long, knowing:
“Oh—”
“So when you said you couldn’t go on yesterday, you were pretending?”
Yu Qingtang froze.
Ye Chenyan narrowed his eyes and gave a low laugh.
“You lied to me again.”
He lowered his voice and returned to the edge of the pool, looking down at Yu Qingtang.
“Next time, you won’t fool me.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Crap!
“I, uh...” Yu Qingtang snuck a glance at him. “Whether someone can keep going doesn’t depend only on their body. Mental state matters too.”
“Oh—” Ye Chenyan crouched down in front of him. “You look pretty energetic to me.”
“Oh, come on, Feiyan’s waiting outside already! Just go!” Unable to argue his way out of it, Yu Qingtang simply started pushing him away. “The world needs you! Go make your dazzling entrance, hero!”
“Fine, fine, I’m going.” Ye Chenyan caught his hand, laughter dancing in his eyes. “One more thing.”
He suddenly leaned closer and lowered his voice.
“When you were seducing me before, you could’ve put at least a little effort into it. At minimum...”
He moved closer bit by bit until their breaths mingled.
He lifted his eyes.
Their gazes met.
The atmosphere turned ambiguous—
And both of them stopped moving at exactly the same time.
For a moment, neither dared make the next move.
In the end, Yu Qingtang was the first to avert his eyes. He shifted awkwardly and spoke in a small voice.
“Do you feel like...”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
Yu Qingtang glanced at him again.
“It’s just...”
“I can’t quite bring myself to kiss my own face.”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
He closed his eyes and nodded solemnly.
Then he stepped back, pressed his fingers to his brow, and laughed helplessly.
“A miscalculation.”
“Tch. So body-swapping has drawbacks like this too. Better switch back as soon as possible.”
Yu Qingtang was still sitting in the water, grinning like an idiot.
Ye Chenyan glanced over and saw his own face wearing that ridiculously foolish grin.
Wordlessly, he pressed his fingers against his brow even harder.
With a small sigh, he said, “Wait for me to come back.”
“Oh.” Yu Qingtang answered, watching him pitifully. “You really won’t let me come with you?”
“No.” Ye Chenyan said it with perfect confidence. “You’re not coming. Stay here and behave.”
He pushed open the bathroom door, stylishly reached for the demonic weapon standing outside—
and nearly got yanked backward.
His expression turned strange for a moment.
He tried pulling on the demonic weapon again.
It didn’t budge.
Yu Qingtang: “Pfft.”
Ye Chenyan slowly turned around.
“It doesn’t recognize me?”
The one currently linked mind-to-mind with the weapon was Yu Qingtang.
He listened to the demonic weapon for a moment, then answered honestly, “No. It recognizes you.”
“You just can’t carry it.”
Ye Chenyan: “...What do you mean I can’t carry it? You can’t carry it.”
“You’re the one in this body now,” Yu Qingtang said righteously. “That makes it your body.”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
Yu Qingtang chuckled twice.
“Well? Still can’t manage without me, can you? Looks like I really do have to come along.”
“If you beg me, I suppose I could help you carry the demonic weapon over there.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow, glanced at the demonic weapon planted outside the door, and gave a soft snort.
“No need.”
He curled his fingers and knocked against the weapon.
“Follow me yourself.”
With that, he walked forward a couple of steps.
The demonic weapon slowly floated after him.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
Ye Chenyan took two more steps, then backed up again and tilted his head toward Yu Qingtang.
“Well?”
“Stay inside and behave. Don’t follow me.”
Yu Qingtang muttered, “If I sit in the water all day, I’m going to soak until I swell up!”
“Fish swimming in water is perfectly normal, isn’t it?” Ye Chenyan chuckled. “Don’t worry. I already told them. They’ve arranged an undersea gourmet feast for you today that should take up a good chunk of the day.”
“You won’t be bored.”
“I will, I will.” Yu Qingtang watched him with pleading eyes. “I’ll still be bored. Come back early, okay?”
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