After Crossdressing and Provoking Long AoTian

“There is nothing abnormal about this pill.”

Four Books Academy had four academy heads, one each for qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Leading the group today was Wen Tianxia, the academy’s head. He shook his head slightly. “This pill uses unusual materials. Even I find it difficult to see through completely, but I can say for certain that there is no flesh or blood inside it.”

He looked just like an ordinary mortal scholar, only exceptionally handsome, as if he and Scholar Xiao came from the same family.

After Wen Tianxia finished speaking, he smiled and looked toward an old monk from Dharma Academy. “How about Master Huiming takes a look as well?”

“Your Dharma Academy is most sensitive to meat and blood. Never mind divine maiden flesh and blood—if someone had put demonic beast blood or dried insects inside, you would be able to smell it.”

Master Huiming, who had a powerful build and several enormous prayer beads hanging from him, turned at those words. His gaze shone like torches as he stared straight at the pill. He raised a hand to summon a wisp of pill vapor, sniffed it lightly, and said in a deep voice, “There is no meat or blood.”

Tianyuan Pill King burst into hearty laughter. “Academy Head Wen is widely learned and knowledgeable, and Master Huiming distinguishes right from wrong with clarity. Since both of you have said so, I trust the rest of you can dispel your doubts?”

“Heh.” Wen Tianxia shook his fan with deep meaning. “Not so, not so. I only said that this pill before us has no problem.”

He only said half of it, but presumably quite a few people had already heard the implication.

“Oh—” Elder Green Snake’s eyes spun. “Meaning, in any case, no one has ever seen a genuine Wondrous Jade Beauty Pill. Maybe this one isn’t one at all, and that boy just said it to bluff people.”

Cangzhu, who had suddenly been named, trembled in terror. He kept shaking his head, but could not get a word out.

Elder Green Snake laughed softly and stroked the head of the giant python beside her to frighten him. “Child, you had best tell the truth. Otherwise, my little darling likes nothing more than eating children who love telling lies.”

“Heh.” Elder Lieyang rolled his eyes. “What impressive skill Elder Green Snake has, only knowing how to scare children.”

“Everyone, why make things difficult for a mere junior?” Tianyuan Pill King shook his head with a bitter smile. “This is naturally the Wondrous Jade Beauty Pill. As for Academy Head Wen saying so...”

“Ah—” Wen Tianxia quickly waved his hand, smiling as he cleared himself of involvement. “I merely said it was possible. Possible.”

Tianji Zi suddenly turned his head and said with a smile, “Speaking of which, since Fire Cauldron Sect has such a wondrous spiritual pill, I imagine the old Pill King should be fine as well?”

The topic changed abruptly. Tianyuan Pill King’s expression did not shift. He only shook his head slightly. “Senior Brother already knows heaven’s will. Everything depends on fate now.”

He gave a bitter laugh. “I imagine all you great experts understand that when one’s lifespan is nearly exhausted, a temporary return to youth may not allow one to cross that threshold of the ascension gate. Even with the Wondrous Jade Beauty Pill, there is no reversing heaven’s decree.”

Several of the great experts present, who were no longer young themselves, fell silent. A faint sense of sorrow for another’s fate arose in them.

Tianyuan Pill King raised his hand and summoned Cangzhu to his side. Cangzhu shook like a sieve, head lowered, not daring to look at him.

Tianyuan Pill King chuckled. “Look at this grand commotion. You’ve frightened the child.”

“No matter. Get up, child. Since your heart is clear of guilt, naturally you need not fear those with ulterior motives.”

Qingzhu lifted his eyelids. “This matter cannot be settled for the moment.”

“But if a heretical cultivator is swindling people under the Pill King’s name, Fire Cauldron Sect should pay some attention to it as well. Best to drag the person out sooner rather than later.”

Tianyuan Pill King chuckled. “Naturally.”

“If Heavenly Music Sect finds any trace, you may come to Fire Cauldron Sect for assistance at any time. Yunzhou and Qingzhou are neighboring provinces. We should have watched over one another to begin with.”

Qingzhu said no more. He withdrew his gaze, looking rather uninterested.

Tianji Zi stroked the beard he had conjured through illusion. Thoughtfully, he pinched his fingers together. Quite a few people saw the movement and all went tense, their expressions varied.

—This man was known as someone who could calculate every affair under heaven. Perhaps he really could calculate something.

Elder Green Snake, not at all afraid of making the spectacle bigger, pressed him. “Tianji Zi, did you calculate anything?”

“Mm...” Tianji Zi shook his head with an air of profound mystery. “Heaven’s secrets must not be revealed.”

He looked deeply at Tianyuan Pill King, then withdrew his gaze with a chuckle.

“How boring.” Elder Green Snake sighed. “Just pretend you calculated that he did all of it and see what he says.”

“Mm, that makes sense.” Tianji Zi smiled slyly. “Fairy teaches well. Next time, I will do exactly that.”

Behind the Nine Provinces’ sects, the holy maiden of the Esoteric Sect, wearing a veiled hat, turned her eyes slightly. The old man beside her listened, then shook his head gently. “Holy Maiden, you should look upon all under heaven, not fix your gaze upon one corner.”

“These affairs will naturally be handled by the cultivators of the Nine Provinces. There is no need for Esoteric Sect to act.”

The holy maiden quietly withdrew her gaze and said no more.

......

Inside the Ancient Academy Realm, Ye Chenyan saw both their names disappear from the Flying Immortals Ranking and knew Tianji Zi had heard him. Only then did he turn and say to Yu Qingtang, “Go on.”

Yu Qingtang stared at him.

“What are you looking at me for?” Ye Chenyan blinked, then suddenly realized. He raised his fingers with a sincere expression. “I swear, I absolutely won’t peek.”

Yu Qingtang lowered his head, took a white gauze hair ribbon out of his storage ring, and crooked a finger at him. “Come here.”

Ye Chenyan did not understand, but obediently leaned over.

Yu Qingtang raised his hands and covered Ye Chenyan’s eyes with the white gauze hair ribbon, then tied a bow at the back of his head. Only then did he clap his hands. “Done.”

Ye Chenyan fell silent for a moment. Then he hooked a finger under the hair ribbon and revealed one eye, reminding him helplessly, “Fairy, I have hands.”

Yu Qingtang pulled his hand down and helped him straighten the ribbon again. “If you really wanted to look, I couldn’t tie you up anyway.”

He patted Ye Chenyan’s shoulder with heartfelt earnestness. “I’m guarding against accidents, not guarding against you.”

It was not that he did not trust Ye Chenyan’s character. He did not trust this dog Heavenly Dao.

Ye Chenyan himself definitely would not want to peek, but who knew whether his dear father, the Heavenly Dao, would arrange some delightful little commotion and make him “accidentally” see?

Covering his eyes was at least one line of defense if something really happened.

Only then did Yu Qingtang stand. “I’ll be done soon. Wait for me a little while. You’re not allowed to take it off yourself!”

He reminded him over and over. “Wait until I come out and take it off for you.”

“Mm.” Ye Chenyan propped up his chin and agreed helplessly. “I know.”

He pricked up his ears to listen to the movement behind him. Yu Qingtang entered the cave and closed the cave door. Then the surroundings fell quiet.

He propped up his chin and waited quietly. Suddenly, for no reason, he let out a laugh.

......

Yu Qingtang took off his clothes and sank into the spiritual liquid pool, feeling the legendary spiritual liquid with some curiosity.

The Golden Core inside his body shone brightly. As if parched land had finally met sweet rain, it excitedly drank down the spiritual liquid in great gulps. But the immortal cultivation world clearly did not obey the basic law of conservation of matter. After drinking so much, the thing not only did not grow bigger as it drank; instead, it grew smaller and smaller.

—It was said spiritual liquid could condense a Golden Core.

Only belatedly did Yu Qingtang grow nervous. His Golden Core had practically been pushed into existence by the plot. It was watery, yes, but surely condensing it would not condense it right out of existence!

Yu Qingtang nervously watched his Golden Core shrink to the size of a sesame seed, then slowly expand. In the end, it settled at the size of a peanut.

...Before, at least it had been about the size of a Ferrero Rocher.

Yu Qingtang guiltily rubbed his nose, then very broad-mindedly came to terms with it—it was fine. A peanut was also very impressive.

He was just about to stand when he suddenly froze... It seemed the feeling had come.

He closed his eyes, not forgetting to put on clothes first. The Dragon-Crane Zither flew out of his storage ring and hovered over his knees.

Yu Qingtang let out a long breath. His fingers lightly brushed across the strings and swept over them casually. Zither music poured out, not forming any melody. Invisible sound waves swept out freely and directly blasted the cave open.

When the surging emotions and spiritual power calmed, Yu Qingtang lowered his eyes and discovered that his peanut-sized Golden Core had become the size of a malted chocolate ball—he was now mid Golden Core.

Not only that, but a seven-string zither marking was faintly visible on its surface, slowly flowing. If he listened carefully, he could even hear the long, lingering sound of qin music.

Yu Qingtang: “...”

What a distinctive Golden Core. He now felt like a human music box.

After moving his limbs a little to feel the difference, Yu Qingtang felt that he was not entirely unable to understand the cultivators of this age. No wonder every single one of them wanted to become immortal and wanted to be number one under heaven.

Even every time he advanced and communicated with heaven and earth, he felt an impulse of “with this qin in hand, all under heaven is mine.”

The reality, however, was that without this qin, if he brawled with a wild boar on Biehe Sect’s back mountain, both victory and defeat were possible.

Yu Qingtang closed his eyes. Forget it. A person could not compare too much with others. A Golden Core who could not beat a wild boar barehanded probably, maybe, occasionally existed.

At least their Biehe Sect had a whole nest of them.

—And today was not the same as the past. If he went back now, he might not necessarily lose!

After imagining his glorious future of returning to Biehe Sect and becoming the overlord of Shanyuan Peak, Yu Qingtang finally put away the qin and walked out.

Ye Chenyan was sitting cross-legged with his back to him. That white gauze hair ribbon remained exactly where it had been. Even the bow Yu Qingtang had tied earlier was still in its original shape.

Hearing movement behind him, Ye Chenyan turned back and smiled. “Mid Golden Core? Did you refine a core marking?”

“Mm-hm.” Yu Qingtang was just about to show off his music-box Golden Core when his gaze suddenly paused. He discovered strange things placed beside Ye Chenyan.

—A bag of spirit stones, and a storage ring.

“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

“Oh.” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Someone passed by just now. He thought I was blind and wanted to rob me while he had the chance, so I let him learn who was actually blind.”

“As for these, naturally they were apology gifts he voluntarily left behind.”

Yu Qingtang retained doubts about the “voluntarily” in his mouth.

“It’s time to untie me, isn’t it?” Ye Chenyan propped up his chin and smiled. “I obediently listened. I didn’t even take it off while fighting just now.”

Yu Qingtang blinked. “I’m out now. You can take it off yourself.”

“That won’t do.” Ye Chenyan put both hands behind his back. “I agreed with you that I had to wait for you to take it off.”

“Hurry up—”

He stretched out a hand and groped around. Yu Qingtang could only take his hand and crouch in front of him. “Coming, coming. I’ll take it off for you.”

He reached both hands behind Ye Chenyan’s head, untied the bow, and let the white gauze hair ribbon fall away, revealing those smiling eyes.

Yu Qingtang had felt before that this person looked especially dazzling when he smiled, and especially sincere.

He turned his gaze away, gathered up the hair ribbon, and was about to stand when Ye Chenyan suddenly caught him. “Wait.”

Yu Qingtang tilted his head and looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going to do.

Ye Chenyan took a green jade hairpin out of the storage ring on the ground and reached toward the back of his head. “That unlucky fellow just now obtained it in this secret realm—it can conceal one’s aura. As long as no one sees you, it’s very difficult to sense your presence.”

“If he hadn’t been so bold as to attack me of his own accord, I wouldn’t have noticed he was there just now either.”

“I thought it over, and this hairpin seems just right for a little turtle who likes carrying a shell on his back.”

“Mm?” Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened.

Ye Chenyan laughed. Yu Qingtang curled his lip. “Fine. When someone gives you something, your tongue has to be short. I won’t argue with you.”

A turtle was a turtle. At least turtles lived long lives, which fit his ideals quite well.

“But...” Yu Qingtang tilted his head and dodged slightly, looking at him with a complicated expression. “Are you planning to put a hairpin in my hair, or are you trying to stab a hole through my head?”

“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan’s ears reddened. Rarely, he became flustered. “I—I don’t know how hairpins are worn.”

He muttered softly, “Usually when I see Senior Sisters and Junior Sisters wear them, they just stick them in casually and it’s on...”

“I just finished bathing and haven’t tied my hair up,” Yu Qingtang reminded him. He tried to reach out and take the hairpin, but Ye Chenyan stood up, circled behind him, and rolled up his sleeves. “Don’t move. I’ll tie it for you!”

Yu Qingtang was somewhat wary. “You aren’t going to yank my hair out, are you?”

“What are you thinking?” Ye Chenyan stared at his waterfall-like long hair as if facing a great enemy, then rather clumsily and cautiously began tying his hair for him.

Yu Qingtang was tense with fear at first. Later, he propped up his chin out of sheer boredom and finally could not resist turning back to sneak a look.

“No looking!” Ye Chenyan pressed his head and twisted him back around.

Yu Qingtang opened his mouth, then spoke tactfully. “Um...”

“I’m actually not very good at braiding hair either.”

“I don’t mean to question your ability.”

“I just wanted to say, um, tying up hair probably really doesn’t require a levitation formation.”

He had just finished speaking when his scalp tightened. Ye Chenyan clapped his hands and stood. “Done!”

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