Yu Qingtang had not expected that he would actually cultivate for an entire night.
When the first rays of sunlight outside the window fell across his face, Yu opened his eyes in disbelief and stared blankly into space for a while.
There was not a trace of discomfort in his body. If anything, he felt lighter than before. Maybe it was just psychological, but it was as though the bad luck that had plagued him last night had been swept away. Once again, he was a perfectly good little idle cultivator awaiting good fortune.
His body was fine. His heart, however, was suffering terribly.
He had betrayed the very wish he had come into this world with. He had failed to uphold his bottom line of living freely and happily. He had actually been swept along by this crowd of overachieving prodigies and cultivated diligently for an entire night!
An entire night!
Yu covered his face in grief.
He had betrayed the soul of an idle cultivator!
“Morning.”
The moment he climbed out of bed, Ye Chenyan opened his eyes from where he sat cross-legged in Yu’s room.
There was a rare trace of drowsiness in his eyes. For once, he had not cultivated through the night and had genuinely gotten some sleep.
He had slept sitting up, of course, but for the legendary Long Aotian, that probably still counted as relaxation.
Sure enough, Ye rose and stretched slightly, a faint smile touching his lips.
“I almost never relax this thoroughly...”
Then he met Yu’s sour gaze.
“Must be nice,” Yu said. “Sleeping straight through till morning without having to cultivate all night and worry about karmic fire roasting your butt.”
“Ahem.” Ye held back a laugh and crouched beside the bed. “Are your legs numb?”
“Not too bad.” Yu pounded his legs with a pout. “I trained for it in the Cultivation Tower.”
“I see.” Ye smiled and looked away. “I was originally going to send Chi Yantian a transmission and have him prepare something nourishing for you.”
A teasing glint flashed through his eyes.
“Though if we’re nourishing like with like, I’m not sure whether you need fish tails or pig trotters...”
Yu immediately looked up, alert. “Were you just taking the chance to insult me?”
“Of course not.” Ye looked completely innocent.
...
The restaurant Chi Yantian had invited them to was a Heavenly Fire Cult business called Fireblaze Tower. It had only recently been transported over from Rongzhou by magical artifact, so it was practically brand-new.
Standing before the fiery-red restaurant, Yu almost forgot what the word “fire” even looked like.
“It really does look like one of your sect’s businesses.” He forcibly dragged his gaze away from the overly blazing décor, then took a deep breath and inhaled the restaurant’s true essence. “But it smells amazing.”
There was also a sharp, spicy scent in the air.
Considering the siblings’ fondness for chili-flavored Spirit Recovery Pills, it was not hard to imagine that the dishes here would lean heavily toward spice.
Yu was full of confidence.
He could handle spicy food!
Ye finally came back to himself and cleared his throat. “The Heavenly Fire Cult has always had this kind of style. The food should be... normal.”
“Come on. Let’s find them.”
The entire restaurant was managed by Heavenly Fire Cult disciples.
Chi Yantian and Tu Jiaojiao had both placed well in the Golden Core Competition, and they had also received the ancient Fire God Art inheritance. The entire Heavenly Fire Cult was overjoyed. They had specially laid out an open banquet in the main hall, where anyone passing by could sit down and eat.
Yu and the others were Chi Yantian’s personally invited guests. The moment they entered, a Heavenly Fire Cult disciple dressed in blazing red led them upstairs and into a private room.
“You’re finally here!”
Before they had even crossed the threshold, Chi Yantian’s booming voice rang out.
He laughed heartily and waved them over.
“Sit wherever you like!”
Yu stared blankly at the enormous red flower hanging from the ceiling, then at the red ribbons drifting through the room. He asked in confusion, “Is someone... getting married today?”
Chi Yantian looked equally confused. “Who? I haven’t heard anything!”
A glimmer of amusement flashed through Scholar Xiao’s eyes.
“If the two of you would like to—”
“Ahem!”
Ye cleared his throat, cutting off the nonsense.
“He only meant that the banquet room might be decorated a little too... festively.”
“I think so too.” Tu Jiaojiao propped her chin on one hand and curled her lip. “The elders arranged all this. Personally, I think they should have added more gold thread. It would have looked richer.”
Yu opened his mouth. “Wouldn’t that make it look even more like a wedding?”
He could not help worrying about their future.
“It’s already this festive. When one of you gets married someday, how are you going to make the wedding banquet look even more celebratory?”
“Hmm...” Tu frowned, still propping up her chin. “Make it redder? Over a wider area?”
“Oh, please. I don’t even have anyone I like yet. And as for my brother, I should count myself lucky if he doesn’t wake up one day and decide to marry Flamelet or his hammer. We can worry about the future later.”
Tu waved them over.
“Sit down already!”
Ye was about to pull Yu over to sit with him when Tu Jiaojiao waved dismissively.
“You go hang around with the men!”
She grabbed Yu’s hand.
“Come on, we’re going to the back. I invited several of the outstanding women from this year’s Golden Core Competition. We’ve set another table back there!”
“Huh?” Yu felt awkward about mixing in with a crowd of young women and immediately tried to escape. “I-I think I’ll just eat here. I’m shy around strangers...”
“Yes,” Ye chimed in. “If there are too many unfamiliar people around, Qingtang probably won’t eat much.”
“Don’t worry. Li Ling’er from Guiyi Sect is there, and Miaoyin Xian from Qingzhou too.” Tu Jiaojiao patted Yu’s shoulder carelessly, then shot Ye a look and asked with deliberate amusement, “Don’t tell me you can’t be apart from her for even a moment. Are you planning to trail after her all clingy?”
“Of course not.” Ye denied it on instinct and looked away. “I was only—”
“Good.” Tu Jiaojiao grinned and dragged Yu farther inside. “Come on. We’re not eating with them!”
“Hey!” Chi Yantian looked a little anxious. “You took her away...”
Tu Jiaojiao glared at him.
“Stop eyeing her karmic fire! Eat your food!”
Chi Yantian’s thoughts had been seen through. He scratched his head and muttered to himself, not daring to say anything more.
As Yu was dragged away by Tu Jiaojiao, Scholar Xiao lightly waved his folding fan and gave Ye a meaningful look.
“Brother Ye, how are things progressing?”
Ye pretended not to understand. “How are what progressing?”
“Your love life, naturally.” Scholar Xiao smiled with undisguised curiosity. “Miss Yu does not look like the sort to cultivate the Dao of Emotionlessness. Besides...”
He adopted the air of an experienced elder, lightly tapping Ye’s shoulder with his fan as he lowered his voice.
“I can tell. She has feelings for you.”
“Ahem!”
Ye had just raised his wine cup. He nearly choked on Scholar Xiao’s words, his face flushing red.
“Impossible!” he denied instinctively. “H-He’s obviously...”
He did not finish the thought. He simply gripped his wine cup tighter, shut his eyes, and drained it in one gulp.
“In any case, absolutely impossible.”
“Huh?” Chi Yantian tore off a piece of leg meat and stuffed it into Flamelet’s mouth, looking thoroughly puzzled. “Then do you want her to have feelings for you, or not?”
Ye’s eyes flickered as he instinctively avoided the question.
“O-Of course I...”
“Then why do you look like you’ve been scared half to death?” Chi Yantian casually filled Ye’s cup again. “I thought you didn’t want her to fall for you.”
“I—”
Ye choked, then drained another cup of wine in frustration.
“You don’t understand. Things between us are complicated.”
“They are indeed extremely complicated.” Scholar Xiao nodded solemnly. “Enough twists and turns to make it one of the most dramatic stories among this generation’s rising stars.”
“Even Pretty Butterfly of Pleasure Sect and Baoshan of Dharma Academy, whose scandal was all anyone talked about a few days ago, fall slightly short by comparison.”
“Are you going to write about them too?” Chi Yantian asked casually.
“I’m only gathering material. Nothing has been decided yet.” Scholar Xiao smiled. “Young people’s hearts are fickle, and feelings can change easily. Especially among Pleasure Sect cultivators, who tend to do whatever they please. Who knows what will happen to them later?”
“They must truly become lovers before they can appear in our Taking Stock of the Nine Provinces’ Immortal Romances. Otherwise, they’ll have to go next door.”
He shrugged, his eyes full of anticipation.
“After this, I plan to take a trip to Nanzhou. I don’t know whether I’ll run into those two, but I’m sure there will be no shortage of fresh stories along the way.”
“Nanzhou...” Chi Yantian rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “There are plenty of rare ores in the barren mountains there, but the demonfolk control most of them. They hate dealing with humans unless they have no other choice.”
“If we could go, we’d probably get our hands on plenty of good things!”
Scholar Xiao’s eyes lit up.
“In that case, Brother Chi, why not travel together? And what about you, Brother Ye? Care to head to Nanzhou and make an adventure of it?”
Ye remembered what Tianji Zi had told him. He was supposed to make a trip to Nanzhou eventually.
But traveling with this group...
His expression turned a little strange.
Scholar Xiao seized the chance to suggest, “Brother Ye, why not invite Miss Yu to go with you?”
Ye lowered his eyes again and drank a cup of wine.
“Qingtang isn’t going.” His lips pressed into a thin line. “Qingtang is returning to Jinzhou.”
“Oh, Brother Ye!” Scholar Xiao anxiously smacked his fan against his palm, looking even more worried than Ye himself. “Then you need to beg her! This is no time to worry about your pride!”
“Act cute, flatter her, plead miserably—whatever it takes! You need to use every trick you have!”
“Exactly. I think so too.” It was unclear whether Chi Yantian had understood anything, but he nodded along anyway. “That karmic fire of hers—”
“Brother Chi.” Scholar Xiao smiled at him and pushed an enormous platter of meat his way. “All right, we understand. Go play with Flamelet first.”
Only then did he turn back to Ye, his expression serious.
“If she returns to Jinzhou, it will be difficult to get her to come out again.”
Ye propped up his chin and casually tossed a peanut into his mouth, crunching it loudly.
“How do you know I haven’t already asked...?”
Scholar Xiao had not heard him clearly.
“What?”
“Ahem.” Ye brushed it off. “Nothing. I said, if Qingtang doesn’t want to travel with me, I can’t force Qingtang to stay.”
He drank another cup of wine.
“I promised before that I would only ask Miss Yu to accompany me through the Golden Core Competition. If she has no feelings for me afterward, I’ll escort her back to Jinzhou.”
He poured himself another drink and could not stop himself from sighing as he rested his chin in his hand.
“But now, I doubt she’ll even need me to escort her.”
“But how do you know she has no feelings for you?” Scholar Xiao paced anxiously in a circle.
“How could anyone know?” Ye clicked his tongue. “There’s no method in this world for seeing into another person’s heart...”
“There is!” Scholar Xiao snapped his fan shut with certainty. “There really is!”
“Huh?” Chi Yantian looked shocked, finally finding a chance to join the conversation. “There’s a method for that?”
Scholar Xiao slowly waved his fan.
“Have you heard that Pleasure Sect in Nanzhou has a love parasite?”
“I have.” Ye lost interest and looked away. “Only people who love each other can plant a love parasite. If one person is not sincere, the parasite will devour them alive.”
“I can’t exactly make Qingtang go...”
“Hey, I’m not saying you should use a love parasite!” Scholar Xiao quickly waved both hands. “I’m saying that Pleasure Sect excels at this sort of romance business.”
He pulled Ye over to the window and pointed toward a restaurant behind Fireblaze Tower.
“See that? A Pleasure Sect business. Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.”
Ye frowned warily.
“Is it a respectable restaurant?”
“Respectable!” Scholar Xiao patted his chest in guarantee. “Just as Ascension Tower has its Bodhi Tree, Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion has its own signature treasure—the Love-Listening Bell.”
“Ordinary people may think the Love-Listening Bell is a magical artifact, but according to my sect’s compendium of formations, it is clearly a formation.”
Scholar Xiao grabbed Ye’s hand.
“All two people need to do is tie red cords around their wrists, enter the formation, and gently shake them—”
“If the silver bells chime, then their hearts have stirred. If the bells hang silent and motionless, then...”
He put on a regretful expression, then lowered his voice to urge him on.
“What do you think, Brother Ye? It’s not far. Why not give it a try?”
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