Chapter 77: This Venerable One Feels Very Awkward

Chu Wanning and Mo Ran left Peach Blossom Springs and traveled

all over the map, searching for information regarding when markets opened

at the various sects. After several days of hasty travel, they finally decided to

stay a night at an inn in a small town.

They'd hardly rested since leaving Peach Blossom Springs, so Mo

Ran had retired to his own room a while ago. Chu Wanning sat at a table, lit a

candle, and contemplated the porcelain bottle in his hand under warm yellow

light.

Inside the white jade porcelain bottle were thirty or so golden pills. It

was fortunate that the Xuanji Elder had brought this bottle with him when he

came. If not for that, Chu Wanning didn't know what identity he would have

had to assume with Mo Ran.

"This is new medicine from Tanlang. There's about thirty in there,"

Xuanji had told Chu Wanning back at the cave. "He did some research in the

ancient archives and changed some ingredients, so one pill will allow you to

regain your adult form for seven days. Here, these will last you a while."

"Send Tanlang my thanks."

"There's no need for thanks." Xuanji smiled with a wave of his hand.

"Tanlang puts on a stern face, but he's very curious about your condition. Oh,

right, he also said to let you know that this medicine isn't too stable. Intense

emotions might diminish its effectiveness, so be careful about that."

Chu Wanning was caught up thinking through Xuanji's words when he

heard a knock at the door. He quickly tucked the porcelain bottle away and

extinguished the incense in the burner. "Come in."

Mo Ran had just gotten out of the bath, so he walked into Chu

Wanning's room wearing only a thin bathrobe while wiping his long hair,

which was dark as black jade.

Chu Wanning cleared his throat, thankful that his face remained neutral

before eventually saying, "What is it?"

"My room is no good. I don't like it. Shizun, can I sleep on your floor

tonight?"

Mo Ran was being awfully vague, and Chu Wanning wasn't that

gullible, so he obviously sensed that something was up. "What don't you like

about it?"

"I-it's just…just no good." Mo Ran snuck a glance at Chu Wanning

before mumbling, "The sound insulation is terrible."

Chu Wanning furrowed his brows, too noble and chaste by nature to

catch his meaning. Without another word, he pulled on his outer robe and

walked barefoot to Mo Ran's room. Mo Ran couldn't have stopped him if he

tried, and so could only follow after.

"It's a little spare, but not so much as to be intolerable." Chu Wanning

stood in the room and looked around, a tinge of chiding in his voice. "When

did you get so spoiled?"

Then a series of crashing sounds came from the room next door, like

something heavy had fallen to the floor.

Mo Ran couldn't bear to listen to anymore, so before things got even

worse, he reached out and tugged the corner of Chu Wanning's sleeve.

"Shizun," he pleaded, "let's leave already."

Chu Wanning's brows furrowed. "Really, what's the matter with you?

Just what do you find so objectionable?"

Mo Ran opened his mouth, but before he could get his words together,

coquettish giggles drifted over through the wall.

"Chang-gongzi is sooo naughty, always bullying me—nnh, n-no,

wait…ah!"

"Heh heh, babe, this peony on your chest is so pretty. Let me take a

whiff, see if it smells nice too."

The walls were so thin that they could hear even the rustling of clothes

on the other side. The rough pants of the man and the sweet moans of the

woman mingled together into something truly harrowing to the ears.

Incredibly, Chu Wanning didn't understand what was happening at

first. It wasn't until a few moments later that he put two and two together, and

his pretty eyes flew wide open while the color of his face changed rapidly

from white to red to blue, then finally settled on ashen as he cursed,

"Shameless!" and stormed out of the room with a sweep of his sleeve.

"Pfft."

Mo Ran failed to hold it in and started chuckling quietly behind him.

Luckily, Chu Wanning was so flustered that even his arms were swinging out

of sync as he walked stiffly away, so he didn't notice

Mo Ran laughing at him.

Only after getting back to his room and downing a whole cup of tea did

Chu Wanning finally regain some semblance of composure. He nodded

toward Mo Ran. "Such obscene speech is indeed detrimental to one's

cultivation. You may stay here tonight."

"Oh." Truth be told, when Chu Wanning had suddenly appeared at

Peach Blossom Springs and done everything in his power to protect Mo Ran

without doubting him in the slightest, Mo Ran had been beside himself with

shock and happiness in equal measure. Now that things had settled down, he

couldn't help feeling giddy. At this moment, under the candlelight, his

shizun's habitually impassive face somehow seemed a lot cuter. Sitting

cross-legged on the floor with his chin propped up, Mo Ran's eyes lit with

his smile as he stared at Chu Wanning.

"What are you looking at?"

"I haven't seen Shizun for so long—I just wanna take an extra look."

The youth's tone carried his smile, and his gaze was warm and bright. Now

that Mo Ran studied him, Chu Wanning…really did look quite like Xia-shidi.

Chu Wanning glared. "Instead of looking at me, go dry your hair. How

are you going to sleep with it dripping like that?"

"I forgot the towel in my room." Mo Ran grinned. "Shizun, do it for

me?"

Chu Wanning eyed him.

For a period of time, Xue Meng had been injured and unable to lift his

arm, and whenever he washed his hair, his shizun had dried it for him. Chu

Wanning had always done it very quickly by regulating his spiritual energy to

warm the towel and evaporate the water.

Chu Wanning looked at Mo Ran and his perfectly functional limbs, then

hmphed coldly. "You're neither sick nor injured. Why would I do it for you?"

Still, he waved him over.

The candle cast warm light on Mo Ran's incomparably handsome face.

It had already been almost a year since his rebirth, and he was reaching that

age when growth spurts occurred. Without really noticing it, he had gotten

quite a bit taller these past few months. At present, when he sat on the bed, he

was nearly the same height as Chu Wanning.

This height made it a little difficult for Chu Wanning to wipe his hair,

so Mo Ran leaned back on his arms and shifted his body lower. Standing at

the side of the bed, Chu Wanning rubbed his long hair dry with an

exasperated expression. Mo Ran yawned contentedly, closing his eyes to

enjoy this rare moment of peace. Outside the window, a frog croaked now

and again.

"Shizun."

"Mn."

"Did you know? The feathered tribe's illusion sent me back to Lin'an

two hundred years ago, and I met someone named Chu Xun."

The rubbing didn't even pause. "How would I know that?"

Mo Ran rubbed his nose with a grin. "He looked like you."

A long pause. Then, "There are plenty of similar-looking people out

there. Nothing strange about that."

"No, really," Mo Ran said, all serious. "You were practically cast

from the same mold. Shizun, do you think he might be your ancestor?"

"It's possible," Chu Wanning replied mildly. "But with something from

two hundred years ago, who can say?"

"He had a son who looked like Xia-shidi," Mo Ran continued.

"I feel like all this is a bit too much to be coincidence. Shizun, is Xia-shidi

perhaps a lost relative of yours?"

"I don't have any relatives."

"That's why I said, 'lost'…" Mo Ran mumbled. He was so close to

Chu Wanning that he could detect the light, soothing fragrance of haitang.

It smelled so good. Whether in their previous lifetime or this one, Chu

Wanning's scent always seemed to soothe him. In his past life, whenever he

returned from a bloodbath, he had always needed to bury his face in the

crook of his shizun's neck just to breathe again.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was already hopelessly

addicted to Chu Wanning's scent. He closed his eyes and slowly relaxed into

the familiar peace, mind drifting in the flow of time.

In his last lifetime, he would on occasion return to the empty Wushan

Palace after another slaughter, soaked head to toe in rain. He had clearly

committed countless sins, but he was nothing more than a drenched stray with

no home to speak of.

At such times, he would sit and wrap his arms around Chu Wanning's

waist, bury his face against his abdomen, and have his shizun stroke his hair

over and over again. It was the only way to calm the madness within.

Those bygone dreams were things of the past—of another life. But

with his eyes closed, they seemed like only yesterday.

Chu Wanning noticed that the chatterbox had stopped talking and

lowered his lashes to glance down at him. In the dim light of the candle, Mo

Ran's face was relaxed, at peace.

Although his face still had a touch of the soft tenderness of youth, his

features had matured with striking definition, like a natural handsomeness

blooming through haze that still carried the deadly freshness and vitality of

the young.

Chu Wanning's hand wavered for a split second, and his heart seemed

to beat a little faster. He had no idea what compelled him to say in a soft

voice, "Mo Ran."

"Mm…" Mo Ran absentmindedly mumbled a reply. Then, as if

exhausted, he leaned closer and pressed his face against Chu Wanning's

waist, just like he once had in his past life.

Chu Wanning was struck speechless.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

His heartbeat was rapid in his chest, like war drums on a battlefield.

The reverberations made him dizzy.

Chu Wanning pressed his lips together. Not knowing what else to do,

he could only continue to wipe Mo Ran's hair, steaming away the last

droplets of water.

A long while passed in this fashion, until he set the towel down,

brushed aside some stray strands of hair from Mo Ran's forehead in passing,

and said in a low voice, "All done. You can go to sleep now."

Mo Ran opened his eyes, black with a tinge of purple and still a bit

dazed. After a few moments, they gradually became clearer.

When he finally broke out of his daze and noticed that he had gone so

far as to give in to habit and lean into Chu Wanning's waist—

and even more unexpectedly, that he hadn't in fact been shoved off—Mo Ran

was startled, to say the least. His eyes opened wide in stupefied

astonishment, making him look just like a dumb dog.

Chu Wanning had at first still felt a bit uneasy, but he couldn't stop

himself from smiling at that look on Mo Ran's face.

As Mo Ran realized that he was actually smiling—however lightly, it

was definitely a smile—his eyes became even rounder. He sat up straight,

hair a bit of a mess, and suddenly said with utmost seriousness, "Shizun, you

have a scent. It smells really nice."

Chu Wanning was once again struck speechless.

Mo Ran paused, then suddenly furrowed his brows, as if trying hard to

remember something. When he did manage to remember it, consternation

crept into his expression. "Huh, that's strange," he mumbled. "Doesn't…Xiashidi also smell like that?"

Chu Wanning's expression went instantly rigid. He flung the towel onto

Mo Ran's head before he could react and physically tossed him off the bed.

"I'm tired now," he said coldly. "Get the hell off and go to sleep."

Mo Ran landed stupidly on his back, caught completely off guard. He

lay on the floor in a daze for quite a while before sitting up and rubbing his

nose, not mad at all, and obediently got up to make his bed on the floor.