Ye Chenyan raised a brow and chuckled as he sat down at the table. “So which are you eating, the legs or the claws?”
“The claws!” Yu Qingtang flashed a confident row of teeth. “I’ve discovered that these teeth of yours really are comparable to divine weapons. Even a crab this huge is nothing to them.”
“I’m taking advantage while I can. I’m cracking a few extra.”
Ye Chenyan laughed under his breath, broke off both enormous claws, and handed them over. “Here.”
Yu Qingtang had crunched his way through an entire claw before remembering to ask, “Oh, right. Are you really master of this realm now? Does it feel different somehow?”
In the original novel, Ye Chenyan had already been at peak Mahayana when he obtained the Realm Stone, only one step away from becoming an immortal. So other than its usefulness against otherworldly evil demons, it had never been clear how much of a boost the Realm Stone itself gave him.
Ye Chenyan chuckled. “Naturally, I’m incredibly powerful now.”
“If it didn’t raise my strength by an entire order of magnitude, why would my master have gone to so much trouble arranging for us to come get the Realm Stone?”
He raised a brow. “Right now, I feel like I could probably trade blows with Bu Yetian.”
“Ooooh—” Yu Qingtang supplied an extremely cooperative sound of admiration.
Ye Chenyan bumped him lightly with his shoulder. “I’m master of this realm now. Shouldn’t you...”
Yu Qingtang pressed his palms together and bowed to him. “Greetings, Master of This Realm.”
Ye Chenyan raised a brow. Something felt off. “Why are you worshiping me like a Buddha?”
Still holding his palms together, Yu Qingtang blinked innocently at him. “Am I not devout enough? Do you want a full prostration?”
“Who wants that?” Ye Chenyan shot him a sidelong look and muttered, “I meant, shouldn’t you act cute for me or sweet-talk me or something?”
“Ooooh—” Yu Qingtang nodded obligingly and cleared his throat. “That! Sure, you’re pretty great...”
Ye Chenyan looked at him with faint expectation.
Yu Qingtang leaned close to his ear and whispered, “In your dreams.”
Ye Chenyan: “You—”
He had just started to turn his head when Yu Qingtang bit down on his ear.
“Ah—!” Ye Chenyan sucked in a sharp breath. “Let go! Biting me right now means you’re biting yourself! Gently!”
Yu Qingtang immediately released him and sat upright again. “Oh. That’s true.”
Ye Chenyan rubbed his ear and turned to stare at him with a complicated expression.
“...My teeth really are pretty impressive.”
“See?” Yu Qingtang gave him a dazzling eight-toothed grin.
Feiyan’s booming voice approached from somewhere behind them.
“Everybody quit standing around in a daze! Get to work! We’re having a grand feast tonight!”
“I don’t care who they are—invite everyone! We’re all eating and drinking together! We’re welcoming the master of this realm!”
He came barreling up to the doorway, then stopped in surprise.
“You two are already eating? We’ve got a banquet later! You humans barely have any stomach capacity to begin with. Save some room!”
Ye Chenyan and Yu Qingtang exchanged a glance.
After a moment’s thought, Yu Qingtang suggested, “Then why don’t we pack this up and take it back with us? Brother Chi and Brother Xiao can try some seafood too.”
“Sure.”
After traveling with him for so long, Ye Chenyan had gradually grown accustomed to packing up leftovers. His movements were remarkably practiced as he gathered the food away.
It was only when he started stuffing everything into the storage ring that he remembered it was not actually his storage ring.
Then again, it hardly mattered whose ring held the food, so he did not stop.
“Hey, this crab...” Yu Qingtang pointed at the crab missing one leg and both claws. “We’re packing that too?”
“It’s fine.” Ye Chenyan lifted the crab with a smile. “If seven-legged crabs can naturally exist in this world, there must also be crabs naturally born without claws. They won’t mind.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
That sounded strangely reasonable.
“Ahem.”
Ye Chenyan sneaked a glance outside. Feiyan had already gone bustling off to organize the banquet again, and it looked as though they still had some time before it began.
So Ye Chenyan casually shut the door.
Yu Qingtang tilted his head. “What?”
“When I was putting everything away just now...” Ye Chenyan’s gaze shifted slightly, amusement creeping into his eyes. “I found something.”
“Something that brought back a few memories.”
“Hm?” Yu Qingtang froze, then pointed at his storage ring. “In there? What? A pork hock?”
“Not a pork hock!”
Ye Chenyan promptly sat down in front of him. He actually seemed a little embarrassed. After clearing his throat, he pulled a piece of red cloth from Yu Qingtang’s storage ring.
Yu Qingtang shook it open.
Only then did he belatedly remember.
Oh.
This was the scarlet mandarin-duck bellyband his Eldest Senior Sister had given him to use against enemies.
Yu Qingtang: “...”
His Eldest Senior Sister really had given him an impressive collection of treasures.
Ye Chenyan propped his chin on one hand and watched him with a faint smile. “The first day you and I stayed at that inn, this thing ended up in my room.”
“Back then, I...”
He scratched behind his ear and looked away.
“I thought maybe you’d picked up some crooked technique from one of those Joyous Union Sect cultivators and were trying to seduce me.”
Yu Qingtang: “...You already knew I was a man by then, didn’t you?”
Ye Chenyan stole a glance at him and muttered, “I knew, but Joyous Union Sect has male cultivators too. And you were wearing a skirt.”
Yu Qingtang put a hand to his forehead.
“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan chuckled. “But later, I became certain the Joyous Union Sect probably wouldn’t accept a disciple that stupid.”
Yu Qingtang gave him a sidelong look.
Ye Chenyan hooked a finger around one of his.
“So... would you wear it for me now?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes curved into crescents. “Sure.”
“Huh?”
Ye Chenyan froze.
He had not expected Yu Qingtang to agree so readily.
He had already prepared himself to wheedle and coax, so for a moment, he genuinely did not know how to react.
Yu Qingtang was already reaching for his belt, smiling as brightly as the sun and showing no fear whatsoever.
“Fine, fine. I’ll wear it. I’ll wear it. After all, if I wear it right now, that means you’re the one wearing it.”
“How about we put on that gauze from yesterday too?”
Ye Chenyan’s expression changed dramatically. He grabbed him at once. “No!”
“I meant after we switch back!”
“You never said that.” Yu Qingtang snickered. “That’s a condition you’re adding after the fact. Not allowed!”
“Then I’ll wear it!” Ye Chenyan snatched the bellyband and raised a challenging brow. “I’ll put it on and look at myself in the mirror!”
“You—” Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened in horror. “You’re master of this realm now! How can you possibly wear that? Put it down! Put it down right now! You are not taking my clothes off!”
“So what if I’m master of this realm?” Ye Chenyan said dismissively. “Even after becoming master of this realm, I still have to go back to the rear mountain with you and beat up wild boars. I can wear this too.”
Yu Qingtang closed his eyes, his expression full of suffering.
“Fine, I get it. I’ll wear it later. Later! Put it down for now!”
Ye Chenyan stopped. “Really?”
Yu Qingtang nodded mournfully. “Really, really.”
He pouted.
“You’re master of this realm now. If I lie to you, I might get struck by lightning. How would I dare?”
“That won’t do.” Ye Chenyan sat beside him, chin propped on one hand, his eyes curving with a smile. “They’re not allowed to strike you.”
Yu Qingtang gave two slightly embarrassed, foolish little laughs. “Hey, keep treating me like that and I’m going to get spoiled rotten.”
“Go ahead.” Ye Chenyan chuckled. “It’s not like you’re capable of doing anything bad.”
“Why would I have to do anything bad?” Yu Qingtang demanded with perfect righteousness. “Being spoiled rotten can be used for good deeds too!”
“From now on, I’ll wander around everywhere sticking my nose into other people’s business. You’ll be there to back me up anyway.”
Ye Chenyan looked at him with a smile. “Sure.”
“I’ll wander everywhere with you.”
His gaze softened as he looked at Yu Qingtang. He reached out, then stopped halfway and gave a quiet sigh.
“When are we switching back? Looking at my own face like this makes me not even want to pinch it.”
As he spoke, he pinched that face with palpable distaste.
Yu Qingtang muffled a laugh. “What’s wrong with it? I happen to like my face quite a lot.”
He caught Ye Chenyan’s cheeks between both hands.
Then his ears twitched.
“Are they serving the food? I think I hear Feiyan calling people over.”
Ye Chenyan’s expression turned strange. “I hear it too. This really is a music cultivator’s body. I can even hear a certain annoying old man...”
“I heard that too.”
Tianji Zi, as usual, refused to use any normal route. Instead of coming through the door, his head suddenly appeared at the window, smiling at them.
“Well, well. Someone talking behind my back?”
He pointed at Ye Chenyan.
“You know, in that body, even a brat like you somehow looks a little cuter.”
Ye Chenyan gave him a cold sideways glance. “Give it a rest.”
“What are you doing here this early?”
“Obviously, I divined that you would become master of this realm and came especially to take you two back.” Tianji Zi smiled with grandfatherly benevolence. “But alas, the sea folk of the Dragon Palace are simply too enthusiastic. The moment I arrived, they insisted that I attend their banquet. Their hospitality was impossible to refuse.”
Ye Chenyan gave him a knowing smile. “Or did you divine that coming now would get you a free meal, so you deliberately showed up at this exact moment?”
“Hey—” Tianji Zi looked deeply offended. “Am I that kind of person?”
Ye Chenyan countered, “Aren’t you?”
Tianji Zi immediately turned to Yu Qingtang for support.
“Look at him. He becomes master of this realm and immediately starts talking to his master like this. Ah, it chills the heart.”
He clutched his chest and put on an expression of utter heartbreak.
Yu Qingtang glanced at Ye Chenyan and answered honestly, “I don’t think becoming master of this realm has anything to do with it. He talked to you like this before too.”
Tianji Zi: “...”
“Fine. You two are on the same side.”
He turned away with a deeply melancholy expression.
“Looks like I have no choice but to drown my sorrows in wine.”
“Hey, big black dragon! Go bring me two jars of good wine. Huh? You don’t have wine at the bottom of the sea? Ah, but Stillwater Sect definitely does. Go ask them for two jars.”
“Tell that Stillwater Sect boy to bring over two jars of the finest stuff he’s been saving. I’ll divine his romantic prospects for him.”
Ye Chenyan: “...”
He and Yu Qingtang exchanged a glance.
Both burst out laughing.
The Dragon Palace banquet was a boisterous affair.
Quite a few of the sea folk attended in their true forms, and when they ate, they swallowed their food whole. The phrase an appetite capable of swallowing mountains and rivers had rarely seemed so literal.
Yu Qingtang sat off to the side peeling crab while enjoying the spectacle.
Tianji Zi quietly sidled up beside him and called in an exceptionally kind voice, “Qingtang.”
“Hm?” Yu Qingtang obediently turned around. “What is it?”
Tianji Zi darted a glance at Ye Chenyan, who was currently talking to Li Ji, and his smile widened.
“I have a wish.”
“You see, this disciple of mine has been rebellious since childhood. Hardheaded as they come. Not once has he ever acted affectionate with me or called me sweetly.”
He waggled his eyebrows at Yu Qingtang.
“And now such a rare opportunity has presented itself. So perhaps you could...”
Understanding dawned on Yu Qingtang.
He immediately cleared his throat, leaned against Tianji Zi’s arm, pitched his voice into an exaggeratedly sweet tone, and called,
“Maaaster—!”
Tianji Zi grinned so widely his eyes nearly vanished.
“Aww—my good disciple...”
Ye Chenyan whipped around.
Murder flashed in his eyes as he charged straight at them.
“Stop that!”
Yu Qingtang paled in alarm.
Tianji Zi loyally threw himself between them. “Run!”
Yu Qingtang scooped up the crab from the table and bolted.
Ye Chenyan had never been coming after him in the first place.
He lunged straight for Tianji Zi and grabbed his beard.
“Hey, you brat!” Tianji Zi exploded. “You’re using Qingtang’s body right now, so I’m not fighting back! Don’t push your luck!”
Then he lowered his voice.
“That love letter you wrote to the mysterious immortal maiden on the back mountain of Ten Thousand Immortals Pavilion is still in my—”
Ye Chenyan immediately let go.
Tianji Zi raised a smug brow.
“See? That’s more like it.”
“Your master is still your master. Becoming master of this realm doesn’t change a thing. Heh.”
Yu Qingtang cautiously peeked around from behind a pillar.
“Is it over?”
Ye Chenyan looked toward him.
Yu Qingtang gave an awkward little laugh, held up a piece of freshly peeled crabmeat, and offered it to him.
“Want some?”
Before Ye Chenyan could answer, Tianji Zi had already floated over with a smile.
“I do, I do. Come now, good disciple. Show your master some filial devotion.”
“You!”
Ye Chenyan darted forward, beat him to it, stuffed the crabmeat into his own mouth, then turned and glared at Tianji Zi.
“Peel your own!”
“Tsk. Miser.”
Tianji Zi clicked his tongue and shook his head, though his eyes were full of laughter.
“Eat, eat. Once we finish this meal, it’s back to Four Books Academy.”
“I’m taking a crab shell with me. I’ll make that old bastard Wen Tianxia die of envy.”
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