Luo Jianqing companied Mo Qiu to the foothill of Yu Xiao Peak. One step out, surprisingly, Mo Qiu stopped. Luo Jianqing looked at him in wonder, but before he could say anything, Mo Qiu lowered his voice and asked, “Do you… really love your Master?”
Astonished, Luo Jianqing beamed, “Yes, indeed, and we have already been together.”
Mo Qiu pondered for a while, then said, “Now that otherworldly Master Xuan Lingzi is willing to let go all the common etiquettes which used to shackle him, he is being sincere – I guess. Nevertheless, Luo Jianqing, this doesn’t seem like a good deal. Xuan Lingzi has been cultivating for more than three hundred years, which means he is three hundred years older than you.”
Luo Jianqing chuckled, “So what? As cultivators, three hundred years is nothing but a blink of an eye for us. A Deity Transformation Period cultivator has a life-span which can last for five thousand years; a Da Sheng Period cultivator can live up to three thousand years. I am just a Nascent Soul Period cultivator for now, only have eight hundred years left. Compared to the high-level cultivators, I am the one who is closer to the gate of death and in need of taking pains to cultivate.”
With his back to Luo Jianqing, Mo Qiu asked in a bizarre tone, “Three hundred years… just a blink of an eye?”
Luo Jianqing nodded, “Indeed.”
Slowly, Mo Qiu turned back, staring at Luo Jianqing with mixed feelings, and said in a low voice, “For someone, however, three-hundred year is what he’s been craving for.”
Luo Jianqing frowned in confusion at first, then suddenly figured out what Mo Qiu was saying, “You mean those cultivators who come close to their life-span limits? That’s right. For them, every second is precious. Nonetheless, if considering all the creatures living on the Xuan Tian Continent, a natural death is a quiet satisfying thing. The battle of Human and Demon Clans is such a bloodbath. Surviving from it… is good enough.”
Mo Qiu laughed with elusive emotion hidden beneath, “You’re right. Staying alive is good enough.”
They chatted for a while until Mo Qiu felt it was time to leave. Right before he took off, he casted a beam of red light into Luo Jianqing’s hands, leaving behind several words in the breeze, “I know righteous cultivators like you so well, stubborn and fusty. Since you have found your partner for life, I – as one of few people who know this and as your friend – hereby give you a present to celebrate it. Luo Jianqing, no need to thank me! Ha ha ha ha ha!”
When the echoing was finally blown away by the wind, Mo Qiu already flew away for dozens of miles, nowhere to be seen.
Baffled by this friend, Luo Jianqing slightly shook his head and smiled. He then checked the “gift” that Mo Qiu left him, carefully unsealed the red light.
It was a book which couldn’t be more normal.
Noticing the words graved on the cover, Luo Jianqing read them out, “Spring Breeze Stroke Record? A record of some special maneuvers? Is this…”
He stopped mumbling abruptly. Luo Jianiqng stared at the nude paintings on every page of the book, stupefied for a moment. The book was slammed close, making the reader blush in an instant. Even if he liked to flirt with his fusty Master, Luo Jianqing was no playboy. Compared to a Fiend Cultivator such as Mo Qiu, Luo Jianqing was so innocent.
Irritated, Luo Jianqing gripped the book, “Mo! Qiu!”
Subconsciously, he tried to destroy the book, but before Mo Qiu’s “gift” was torn into pieces, what Xuan Lingzi said a few days ago thumped in Luo Jianqing’s head – “What is ‘ride’?”
Smiling mischievously, he put the book in his Interspatial Ring and flew back to the top of Yu Xiao Peak.
Luo Jianqing didn’t go back to his own house but came to the other one. He lightly knocked on the door and said, “Master, I met some difficulties while cultivating. Can I look up in the books on your shelf?”
Xuan Lingzi’s bleak voice broke through the door and reached Luo Jianiqng’s ears, “Come in.”
After getting inside, Luo Jianqing didn’t go to the shelf and apply the trick, instead, he walked toward Xuan Lingzi and stood right in front of him. Eyes closed, his Master was meditating, but that couldn’t stop Luo Jianqing from looking at him. Xuan Lingzi’s ear-tips reddened. He coughed, finally opened his eyes, frowned, “What book are you looking for?”
Luo Jianqing shook his head, “Master, you said something to me several days ago, right? It was so noisy out there, I could hardly hear what you said.”
Xuan Lingzi was confused, having no idea what his disciple was talking about.
Luo Jianqing asked again, “Master, what was that again? I am the… what of your eye?”
Xuan Lingzi’s ear-tips were so red that it wouldn’t be bizarre if they started to drip blood. Luo Jianqing didn’t notice that, however. Xuan Lingzi tried hard to bring his tone back to normal, finally demanded in a calm voice, “Go look up what you need to know, now.” Then he closed his eyes again, as if he went back to meditating.
Luo Jianqing didn’t obey his order, nonetheless. He sat right next to his Master and felt the sudden stiffness of the world’s greatest cultivator. Leaning on Xuan Lingzi and chuckling, Luo Jianqing whispered, “Master, you haven’t told me what you said that day. Oh, I recalled something. You said that you love…”
“Go read your book!”
Xuan Lingzi operated Spiritual Power and shoved Luo Jianqing to the bookshelf. When Luo Jianqing managed to look back, the white-robe cultivator had already gone. Looking around the empty room, Luo Jianqing smiled and shrugged, then took out the book from his Interspatial Ring.
Looked at the words on the book cover – Spring Breeze Stroke Record, Luo Jianqing blushed and foisted the book in the shelf as quickly as possible.
Finishing all of these, he picked one book at random and started browsing while waiting for Xuan Lingzi’s return. Nevertheless, Xuan Lingzi didn’t show up even when the sun rested, and the moon hung high. Suddenly, Luo Jianqing figured something out. He put back the book and left the house.
Fifteen minutes later, a white figure flew across the forest and dashed into the bamboo house.
Xuan Lingzi sighed, with a helpless expression emerging on his elegant face. He flicked the sleeves. A Moonlit Light was kindled. While walking to the bed, he heard a mild knock at the door.
Stunned at first, Xuan Lingzi turned around, only to see his winsome, young disciple gently opening the door. The cultivator dressed in bice was standing under the moonbeam. He looked at his Master with his limpid brown eyes, and mumbled, “Master, Jianqing… wants to sleep with you.”
His voice was purely artless, without any complicated emotion mixed in it.
All was the same with what happened thirty years ago:
Back then Xuan Lingzi built another bamboo house for Luo Jianqing, commanding him to cultivate alone. That night, his disciple who was still a kid came to Xuan Lingzi’s room, attempting to sneak on his bed but was scolded by him.
After the scold, however, the Master and the disciple still shared a bed.
Xuan Lingzi stared at the young man with a complexed look, while Luo Jianqing smiled and fixed his eyes on him calmly. They looked at each other for a long time. At last, Xuan Lingzi let out a gentle sigh, “If you are determined to disobey my order, then I shall… allow you do what you want.”
That night, the two who hadn’t slept for days, finally lie on the same bed for a sleep, without taking off their clothes.