Chapter 36: Wen Tingshu actually spanked him?!

Meng Baixu turned his head and glanced at the cubs huddled together. The next second, the airflow around them shifted, and Wowo and Nangnang were surrounded by an invisible soundproof barrier.

Wen Tingshu said, “They can’t hear anymore.”

Meng Baixu immediately threw off the blanket, sat cross-legged, folded his arms, and raised his eyes with full momentum. “Start something and abandon it? What exactly did I start?”

The thin inner robe outlined his slender waist. His exposed ankles and wrists were as pale as snow, and his black hair spilled down his back like willow branches blown into disorder by the spring wind.

Lanshe was like a willow branch in March, while Wen Tingshu was a snow-covered pine in the dead of winter.

“You disturbed my Dao heart.”

Wen Tingshu hesitated for a moment, wondering if Zhongli Yun’s words had thrown him into disorder, and that perhaps he should not have said such things to his disciple so soon.

But it was not entirely because Zhongli Yun had disrupted his thoughts. To ask the Dao was to ask the heart, and he had long since seen his own heart clearly.

When Meng Baixu said he was going to find Situ Nanchun, then ignored him, Wen Tingshu discovered that even a single meal’s worth of time had become difficult to endure.

Unknowingly, he had grown used to Lanshe placing all his attention on his Shizun. He had enjoyed three months of Lanshe’s whole-hearted gaze—even though he already understood that Meng Baixu had only done it to turn him against the righteous path.

Lanshe’s gaze was the most precious and pure thing. It was a luxury.

“Your Dao heart isn’t firm anymore?” Meng Baixu’s eyes lit up. By sheer accident, he had discovered that three months of tirelessly brainwashing him while eating and living together could not compare to a single day and night of cold treatment.

At this moment, Meng Baixu admitted that Zhongli Yun understood Wen Tingshu a tiny bit better than he did.

So all this time, this sect leader had been working blindly behind closed doors, getting half the results with twice the effort. If he wanted to completely handle Shizun, he still had to consult people around Wen Tingshu’s age.

“Mn.”

Against the contrast of his white hair, Wen Tingshu’s deep eyes looked even darker and bottomless. “Before, I was bound by etiquette and rules, and made you suffer grievances.”

“Zhongli Yun asked me what relationship I have with you now. I cannot let you follow me with the children without status or clarity.”

Meng Baixu curled his lips. So Zhongli Yun had helped speak up for him. Another day, he would have Wowo and Nangnang call him good uncle a few more times.

Wen Tingshu said, “Since we are no longer master and disciple, we can form a new bond. Everything will be up to you.”

This old thing had finally opened his eyes!

Meng Baixu was so excited that he stood up and took two steps on the large bed. He was even taller than Shizun standing on the floor, so he looked down sideways at Wen Tingshu, who had come over obediently to admit his mistake. Because he was not watching his step, he nearly stepped on the two little cubs’ feet.

Wen Tingshu wrapped an arm around the bend of Lanshe’s leg and moved him closer to the edge of the bed.

Meng Baixu quieted down. Shizun’s forehead was right at the height of his ribs, giving him the illusion of being lifted high. He nervously hugged the back of Wen Tingshu’s neck.

Wen Tingshu said seriously, “Sect Leader Meng is still trapped in the secret realm. After we rescue your father and obtain his approval, I will—”

Meng Baixu said, “There’s no need to obtain his approval. I can make my own decisions!”

He respected Meng Fuguang as his biological father, but this sect leader had grown up. He could not possibly listen to his father in every matter. In the cultivation world, a Shizun was regarded as even more important than one’s biological father, and had he listened to Wen Tingshu?

Wen Tingshu insisted, “A union between two surnames requires the command of parents and the words of a matchmaker.”

At the same time, Meng Baixu said, “Being lovers doesn’t need to be that troublesome!”

“…”

The surroundings suddenly fell silent. The wind blowing in through the door and windows made the two sleeping cubs shrink closer together, their soft little cheeks rubbing against each other.

Wen Tingshu’s voice seemed to be chilled by the wind as well. Very lightly, word by word, he said, “Lovers?”

Meng Baixu said, “Yes.”

To Wen Tingshu, this word was even somewhat unfamiliar. He did not know which storybook Meng Baixu had read it from. Perhaps many storybooks had it, because in the storybooks Meng Baixu had ordered for him from Yongzhou City, faithless men almost always had lovers.

Wen Tingshu said, “Did you mean Dao companions?”

Meng Baixu said, “Lovers are lovers, Dao companions are Dao companions. How could I, the dignified Demon Sect Leader, merge household registers with the righteous path?”

If word got out, where would his authority go?

“Do you not know what lovers means? It means bed partners who are not Dao companions.”

He even explained it back to Wen Tingshu.

Wen Tingshu said, “Your father is still in the secret realm—”

Meng Baixu said, “I already said not to mind him!”

Wen Tingshu said, “Then I will discipline you in his place for now.”

Meng Baixu: ???

His vision blurred. Wen Tingshu had already placed him sideways across his lap, tugged down his pants, and the back of his waist went slightly cool. His round, tender buttocks took a heavy slap.

Smack.

Before the pain arrived, the wind from the raised palm came first. The motion was clearly not large, yet his usually insensitive bottom suddenly sensed that tiny bit of wind, and it seemed to blow straight onto his face too. The burning pain also reached his face.

The place hit was his bottom, but the place burning was his face.

Meng Baixu was stunned. Wen Tingshu had actually spanked him?!

His sons were sleeping right beside them, and Wen Tingshu actually spanked him!

Wowo and Nangnang’s bottoms had never even been hit!

“You old thing, you—” Meng Baixu struggled, using all his strength, but the two arms holding him were like welded iron. The gap between the Transformation realm and the Questioning Heaven realm was like an uncrossable chasm. Challenging someone above his level was like an ant trying to shake a tree.

Smack, smack.

Being spanked was far less painful than when he had been breached, but it was especially humiliating.

Meng Baixu’s tears immediately flowed out in a useless display. He only wanted to sleep with Shizun. It did not damage a demon’s reputation. Was he wrong?

“Do you know your mistake?” Wen Tingshu wiped away his tears with his fingertips. “We can return to being master and disciple, or we can become Dao companions. But we will absolutely never be lovers.”

Meng Baixu bit his lower lip and did not speak.

When Wen Tingshu restrained him, as usual, he did not allow him to use spiritual power to block the pain. This old thing was rotten through and through!

Wen Tingshu smoothed Meng Baixu’s messy black hair. Some strands had stuck to his cheek after being dampened by tears. When he touched them, he touched a burning-hot, tear-wet face. “I will also never agree to let you become anyone’s lover.”

Meng Baixu was a little afraid, but the Demon Sect’s face would not allow him to bow his head to the righteous path. He blurted out, “What right do you have to care!”

Smack.

His mouth felt good for a moment, but his bottom took another slap.

He had protected his pride and neglected his rear.

This slap was not as heavy as the previous ones, as if it carried softheartedness and helplessness. After the slap, the hand did not immediately pull away. It stayed on his buttocks, cool spiritual power flowing from his fingertips and quickly easing the red marks on the pale skin.

Did healing it mean it could be treated as if it had never happened?

Meng Baixu’s face was a hundred times redder than his bottom, hot and swollen. He wished he could tear open a secret realm and crawl inside.

Wen Tingshu pulled his clothes back into place. “Remember today’s pain. Even if you hate me, this is the discipline I owed you.”

“Fine, then we won’t be lovers! This sect leader will take Wowo and Nangnang back to the Demon Sect!”

Meng Baixu was furious. He grabbed Wen Tingshu’s elbow and bit him. He bit very hard, feeling as if his teeth had struck bone.

Wen Tingshu seemed to have no sense of pain and remained unmoving as a mountain. “Then you’re not rescuing your father?”

Meng Baixu choked. His perfectly fine father had suddenly turned into a hostage.

The tip of his tongue tasted a trace of blood. He released his teeth and changed his words without hesitation. “This sect leader brought Wowo and Nangnang to Hengxue Mountain as guests. Is this the righteous path’s way of treating guests?”

Wen Tingshu said, “No.”

Meng Baixu threw the aphrodisiac pill at the bedside onto the floor. It rolled far away. “After all that talk, you just don’t want to sleep with your disciple.”

There was a type of Dao companion in the cultivation world that was purely about like-minded cultivators forming a contract and resisting the loneliness of cultivation together. In private, they did not actually sleep together.

That was what Wen Tingshu wanted, right?

Wen Tingshu said, “No.”

His waist tightened. Meng Baixu thought he was going to be pressed down and spanked again, but instead his legs were pushed apart by a knee, and he was made to sit astride Wen Tingshu’s lap. Soft kisses fell upon him.

His lips, red as if bleeding, were pried open, and Shizun’s tongue slipped in.

His throat tightened instantly. Meng Baixu, whose head was about to smoke, was so startled he leaned backward, but a large hand firmly controlled the back of his head.

He could not help thinking of the Yuan Dan Wen Tingshu had passed out from his mouth. The Yuan Dan had been so hot when he swallowed it. Was it because it carried Wen Tingshu’s body heat?

Meng Baixu’s two arms weakly circled Wen Tingshu’s shoulders. He was kissed until his vision turned white.

This was the kiss from the illustrated books!

Lingering, blurry, without a clear sharp boundary, impossible to tell whose saliva was whose.

When cool air entered his lungs again, Meng Baixu had already been placed on the bed. His clothes were intact, but one spot of fabric was wet.

He hurriedly pulled the blanket over himself and curled his body like a cooked shrimp, outwardly fierce but inwardly weak. “What are you looking at?”

Wen Tingshu seemed to smile.

Meng Baixu immediately felt deeply humiliated. He had read many storybooks, so he naturally knew that “quick” was not good.

Wen Tingshu was still firm as a rock, yet the great demon had already surrendered his weapon.

Meng Baixu became angry from embarrassment. “Are you laughing at me?”

Wen Tingshu touched his face. “I’m not laughing. I know Lanshe already endured for a long time.”

Hearing this, Meng Baixu’s cheeks became even redder.

What? Shizun had also noticed that he hardened while being spanked?

Meng Baixu pulled the blanket over his head and did not want to speak anymore.

Wen Tingshu silently sat at the head of the bed, one hand resting near Meng Baixu’s waist. Like coaxing a child to sleep, he lightly raised and lowered the heel of his palm, patting him through the blanket again and again.

He also needed to calm himself.

After a while.

Wen Tingshu said, “Lanshe, I want to become Dao companions with you. For one lifetime, until death, unwavering.”

Meng Baixu pricked up his ears. Although Dao companion was not what he had wanted at first, this old thing had truly opened his eyes.

Zhongli Yun’s method had shown results immediately.

Dao companions it was, then.

Meng Baixu did not lower his guard. Wen Tingshu’s Dao heart had endured five hundred years of wind and frost, unyielding to force and unmoved by poverty. Tonight, he had been provoked into awakening, but who knew whether tomorrow, once he was clear-headed, he would become cowardly again?

He would observe for a few days.

This sect leader had read countless stories and would not believe a man’s verbal promises unless Wen Tingshu begged every day to sleep with him.

“Wu.”

A small cub at the foot of the bed made a sound. After a while, Meng Nangnang climbed up with his eyes still closed.

“Baby needs to pee.”

Little glutton. He had drunk too much sugar water at night.

Wen Tingshu got up and carried Meng Nangnang to pee.

***

The next day, when Meng Baixu woke up, as usual, the cubs beside him were gone. Wen Tingshu had taken them away long ago.

The father and sons were beneath the qionghua tree, kneading buns while learning the Analects.

Wen Tingshu said, “To know is to know, and not…”

Meng Wowo followed clearly, “Not to know is not to know!”

Meng Nangnang also refused to fall behind. Eating is eating, not eating is not eating. Baby eats everything!

Meng Baixu narrowed his eyes. See? If the children were left in Hengxue Sect, Wen Tingshu would seize every opening to teach them righteous-path education.

Even black would be taught into white.

Wen Tingshu saw him and said, “You’re awake? There are steamed corn mantou and pork pastries here.”

Meng Baixu picked one up and ate it. He had no intention of joining in.

The bamboo steamer, over twenty inches in diameter, was lined with a steaming cloth. Wen Tingshu placed each bun he finished in circles along the edge.

The spacing was two fingers wide, very orderly.

Meng Wowo had inherited Wen Tingshu’s sense of order and carefully placed the little mantou in his hands.

Meng Nangnang’s spacing was uneven, so Meng Wowo helped rearrange it.

Meng Baixu watched the one big and two small figures work, happily narrowing his eyes. Then he remembered that when he came out, Wen Tingshu seemed to have glanced at his bottom, and the corner of his mouth curled down.

He had to let Wen Tingshu know there was a price.

The steamer was quickly filled. Wen Tingshu carried it to the kitchen to steam.

Meng Baixu swiftly took over the spot, picked up a piece of dough, and tossed it up and down. “Come, today I’ll teach you idioms.”

Wowo and Nangnang nodded. “Okay—”

Meng Baixu said, “Strong in old age, old steed in the stable, old and overbearing, old and calculating, old tree blossoms, old man gains a son late.”

Meng Wowo and Meng Nangnang stopped making pastries and turned to look at Daddy. He said it too fast. Baby did not understand.

Meng Baixu said, “Never associate until death.”

Wen Tingshu, coming out with an empty steamer: “…”

Meng Baixu asked Meng Wowo, “Do you know what it means?”

Meng Wowo honestly shook his head. He did not understand.

Meng Baixu threw the dough onto the worktable. “Ask your father.”

Meng Wowo said, “Immortal Venerable Daddy, what does it mean?”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

He could not brush off the little cubs, so he could only explain the meanings of the idioms one by one, including “old man gains a son late.”

Meng Wowo listened very seriously. “Are they all the same old grandpa?”

Meng Nangnang displayed his wisdom. “Must be!”

Wen Tingshu: “…”

Meng Baixu was inwardly delighted. So Wen Tingshu wanted to rely on his age and discipline this sect leader, did he?

A yellow bird flew up from the mountain. It was a message from the guards for Wen Tingshu.

Wen Tingshu opened it. It turned out that Jia Liance, who had been on the road for half a year, had finally arrived.