Nighttime revenge

Ling Mingyu raised his head when he heard a familiar voice call out in the distance.

"Brother!"

Ling Bolin hurried towards him.

"Why did you just disappear like that? I was worried to death!" he exclaimed before settling down in the soft grass beside him.

Mingyu felt somewhat guilty. He hadn't even considered that Bolin would be concerned about him. He had always been pretty independent, after all. After Mingyu had found his way out of the forest, he had been drawn to the verdant meadow that stretched out below the Ling family's residence. The whole area was specked with beautiful, multicolored wildflowers. He felt the urge to sit down and rest on it, smell the fresh, fragrant aroma of summer and feel the soft flower petals below his fingertips. So that was exactly what he had done. He glanced at Bolin who was sitting beside him with a slightly aggrieved expression on his face.

"I'm sorry Ah Lin." he mumbled while fiddling with the small daisy absentmindedly.

Ling Bolin sighed. "Don't do it again, okay? Brother is worried about you." he said gently.

"En."

His brother was truly good to him. Bolin's words held neither anger nor annoyance, only concern and familial warmth. The deity had indeed fulfilled his promise.

In the meantime, Qi Juan had strolled over unhurriedly and made himself comfortable beside them. He lied on his back lazily, his hands crossed behind his head while looking up at the sky. It was early evening. The sun had almost completely sunk below the horizon, dyeing the small, scattered clouds a vivid orange and fiery red. The first stars shimmered on the firmament above, announcing the arrival of nightfall. He turned his head and glanced at the two people sitting beside him. Ling Bolin had started collecting all kinds of small flowers and was currently weaving them into what seemed to be a flower crown. Ling Mingyu was looking at his brother's skillfully moving hands with slightly narrowed eyes, completely transfixed, as if he had never seen such a thing before.

'How cute.' Qi Juan's lips streched into a shallow smile. 'If I did that for him, what kind of face would he make? I wonder...' he thought.

They stayed in that position until the sun had completely disappeared behind the edge of mount Yueguang's tall crater wall, gazing at the night sky.

"We should head back inside. It is unwise to stay out after dark." Qi Juan advised solemnly.

The other two agreed, so they decided to head inside and retreat to their respective rooms. Like many of the palaces in Jiang Feng Sect, the Ling clan's residence was protected by a number of intricately designed defensive arrays. Even for an experienced cultivator it would not be easy to undo them in order to harm the people living inside. Many immortal masters stored their most precious posessions inside their homes, so it was only natural for it to be that way.

Mingyu was lying in his bed, thinking about all that had happened so far. In these last few hours, more exciting things had occurred than in the past fifteen or so years in his original world combined. And he had enjoyed it tremendously. For the first time, he was excited about what tomorrow would hold. He turned on the bed's soft mattress restlessly.

Suddenly, he heard three loud knocks coming from his door. The unexpected sound almost made his heart stop. 'What the hell?! Who could it be this late at night? Almost peed myself on accident!' he loudly complained within his mind.

As if to answer his silent grievance, a voice could be heard outside:

"It's me, Qi Juan."

'Sure enough, that guy takes his job very seriously...' Mingyu thought in astonishment. But why did that voice behind the door sound ...slightly off?

Qi Juan stood in the corridor with his face full of black lines, a hand covering his glabella to ease his headache. When he first inspected his own room, he had thought that it wouldn't be an issue to spend at least one night in there to cultivate. Qi Juan didn't want to stay in Ling Mingyu's room right away. After all, they didn't know each other and he didn't want to make things too awkward between himself and second young master by occupying his personal space. If either of them couldn't fully concentrate on their cultivation while meditating, it could do harm to their body.

'It won't be that bad' he thought. 'It only looks a bit cramped in there, anyways. That's no problem for someone who is used to sleeping in the wilderness for weeks at a time!'

But who would have thought that that damned room would be so unbearable?! Qi Juan really should have deliberated a bit more as to why Ling Bolin would assign him this room in particular. Earlier that day, he had determined that it was simply because of the bedchamber's shabby looks. He was wrong. Very wrong.

The first ten minutes were okay. He opened the narrow door wide in order to ventilate the room a bit, got rid of some of the dust and sat down on the bed, closing his eyes in preparation for his nightly meditation. The small, dark space was windowless, so its air circulation was especially bad. After about fifteen minutes, the room's smell started to intensify again. It was a very distinct fragrance, like something rotten mixed with a herbal aroma. And it became worse with each passing minute. Qi Juan was certian that he would have to wash himself thoroughly the next day to get rid of this ungodly stench. As for his clothes, well, he decided to directly burn them.

Additionally, he heard faint whispers coming from some of the glass bottles that stood on the shelf to his right. At first, he did not pay attentiom to them and focused on his cultivation. However, they started to get louder and louder. It seemed as if said bottles were... talking to each other? Qi Juan opened his eyes and turned to look towards the shelf.

To be more precise, it wasn't the bottles that were talking, but the things sealed within them.

"Do you think if we- ah! Hey! He noticed us!" an androgynous sounding, overjoyed voice came from a green, palm sized bottle. It was much louder now.

"Shut up! Do you really think he'll help? Dream on, stupid!" the pink, slightly bigger bottle beside it interrupted in an annoyed tone.

The green bottle was not discouraged by its companion's harsh words.

"Oh great immortal master! This humble one requests thy mercy! I beg of you, please release me from this tortuous space! I guarantee that you shall be rewarded generously! I can fulfill anything you wish for, take my word for it!" the voice spoke excitedly.

Qi Juan remained impassive. "No."

"Good choice, that guy's word ain't worth shit." the pink bottle's inhabitant commented dryly.

"Wh-what?! Of course it is! Xiao chi, how dare you say that! Great master, listen, I can give you all the riches in-"

This time, it was Qi Juan's turn to interrupt:

"Not intersted."

If he had to make a guess, the entities sealed inside those bottles should be low level spirits. Most nature spirits were good natured. They had gained spiritual awareness by thriving in an environment with high amounts of spiritual energy. These spirits would peacefully cultivate for thousands of years. Sometimes they guided lost travelers onto the right path after they had accidentally stumbled into their territory.

However, that was not always the case. Some spirits were quite mischievous and malicious, tricking people by disguising themselves by acting kindly, or confusing travelers and leading them deep into dangerous territory. They did not necessarily get anything out of it except for a good laugh. For cultivators, they were quite annoying, but essentially harmless.

"Please! Oh please please please! Just think about it! I can be very useful to you! I'm strong, handsome if I do say so myself, and very smart! Like, I know a looot of things!" the spirit continued animatedly, its bottle swaying lightly.

"Ugh, you're annoying, that's for sure." the other spirit said.

"Mighty immortal master! I can show you the location of a hidden pocket dimension filled with countless riches! You will be the most envied man in the entire jianghu!"

The pink bottle only heaved a long sigh in response to the other's enthusiastic pleas.

Qi Juan decided to ignore them. This proved to be surprisiny difficult. Over the course of thirty minutes, the voice coming from the green bottle used various means to get his attention, from begging for mercy, over to trying to charm him with exaggerated compliments, telling jokes, offering to fulfill his desires, and lastly, full on ugly-crying. At this point, Qi Juan wasn't even sure what 'please' was anymore. He had heard that word so many times, it had already completely lost its meaning.

"I-I can, g-give you..." the spirit hiccuped pathetically.

"No! No riches! No women! No power! I! Am! Not! Interested!" Qi Juan roared.

His patience had run out completely. He smelled abysmally, sitting in complete darkness, and his ears were ringing. He never thought that he would regret getting on Ling Bolin's bad side. He had underestimated that guy. He had definitely tricked Qi Juan with his flustered act in the afternoon.

Qi Juan got up from the bed, walked out the door with fierce momentum, and slammed it shut with a loud bang. The air outside was the freshest, sweetest thing he had ever taken in. He let out an exhausted breath. Well, it couldn't be helped. Qi Juan would spend the night in Ling Mingyu's room after all.