You’re Just Pretending

Nie Chang wanted to scold his boyfriend but when he opened his eyes and saw the panicked expression on Su Yan's face and the way he worriedly examined his finger … Ah, never mind. Su Yan had only done this because he was afraid something might happen to him. Scolding him for that would be mean.

Nie Chang finally reached out and pinched Su Yan's cheek. "You! That was spiritual energy. I finally managed to use it. Nothing bad happened."

Su Yan looked from Nie Chang's finger to his face and back again. "Are you sure? It looked like it would catch on fire." He turned it around and looked from all sides again. There wasn't anything to see though. "Strange …"

"Let me try again." Nie Chang closed his eyes and concentrated. Once again a small wisp of spiritual energy flowed out of his dantian, coursed through his spiritual veins and finally reached his finger.

Su Yan's eyes went wide. His boyfriend's fingertip was glowing! He wanted to say something but what if Nie Chang was saying the truth and this was really because of the spiritual energy? Wouldn't Nie Chang get angry then if he disturbed him?

Su Yan pursed his lips and finally gently breathed onto it. The light didn't even waver. Su Yan frowned. So was this really spiritual energy?

Nie Chang also frowned and opened his eyes, the light finally extinguishing. Was his little darling doing this on purpose? Well, at the very least he knew now that he might be able to sense and move his spiritual energy a bit but he definitely hadn't mastered it yet. No, he was a long way from that if just a few words from Su Yan could make that small wisp collapse.

Nie Chang sighed. "Did you see it now?"

Su Yan nodded. "It must really be spiritual energy, ah!" Or maybe Nie Chang had accidentally swallowed a battery and was now carrying electricity? He pondered but finally decided that that didn't sound very likely. "So … What do we do now?"

"Well, originally …" Nie Chang stopped himself before the words could get out. He definitely couldn't say it or this would end in disaster. He could already imagine how Su Yan's eyes would light up as soon as he heard the term 'flying sword' and how he would endlessly pester him until they indeed went out and tried using one. He couldn't risk that! As long as he was unable to control the spiritual energy in his body, he couldn't let Su Yan get even close to a flying sword. What if they managed to get up into the air but then fell down? They certainly couldn't go and ask Elder Yue to heal them again, could they?

Su Yan blinked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Well … Originally, we wanted to try out some things to reach a new hidden milestone, didn't we? We just stopped with that because you wanted me to prove that I could really sense spiritual energy."

Su Yan pursed his lips. "Now you're blaming me?"

"Uh … No. No, I'm not blaming you. I just meant that since I've shown you, we could start working on the milestones now. Don't you also want to go home?"

Su Yan hesitated whether he should forgive his boyfriend this easily or not. In the end, he nodded. Nie Chang was always so nice to him, always thinking on his behalf. He should be nice to him too and not be unforgiving. "Then let's do that. What was it you wanted to try? Something outside, right?" Su Yan stood up and wanted to go but Nie Chang pulled him back.

"Wait! Actually … I think it might be better to do it inside, after all."

"Why? What are we trying?" Su Yan sat down next to him and grabbed onto his arm.

"Well …" Nie Chang gently took his darling's hand and interlaced their fingers. "Normally, in this kind of novel, if the protagonist encounters problems with his cultivation, he would ask his Master for help who would painstakingly guide him. Isn't that what you always wrote?"

Su Yan nodded. "Sure. But what does that have to do with relationships? Isn't that because they're Master and disciple?"

Nie Chang chuckled. "Sure they are. At the beginning at least. Afterward, they'll slowly turn into something different. Aren't those protagonists often poor orphans or illegitimate children that aren't loved by their biological father? They often have nobody else to depend on than their Masters and that dependency might turn into love when they get older."

Su Yan pursed his lips. "You're sounding like the system now. I've read and written so many xianxia novels and in none of them did the protagonist and his Master ever fall in love. And Dou Fang Hai isn't an orphan anyway. His father even appeared at the beginning of the novel. He's a nice man."

Nie Chang sighed. "There are always exceptions. But this is still something that is true for a lot of bl novels that I read. And … this isn't about novels anyway, is it? This is about milestones in a relationship and if we're two cultivators that are in a relationship, then cultivating together and helping each other through our bottlenecks would be the normal thing to do, wouldn't it?"

Su Yan pursed his lips. This sounded logical … "Well, I guess if you're saying it like this, then I can't refuse. If you definitely have to try and teach me, I'll have to accept. But don't think I wouldn't be able to figure it out on my own!"

Nie Chang tried very hard to keep a straight face. "Of course not, darling! How could I ever think you would need my help with this? You're so smart. I'm sure you're just pretending not to have figured it out anyway. Ah, you're really too nice to me, letting me take on the role of a real Master for a while just to make me happy." He leaned over and kissed Su Yan's cheek.

A certain someone beamed as if all this was indeed as Nie Chang said.

Ah, he really was so good to Nie Chang! It was a matter of course that his boyfriend should be happy.