Chapter 5: Shizun, did you fall for it?

Wen Tingshu cast a dust-removal spell on the blue oxen and watched them finish eating the radishes. When he lowered his head, he saw two dark piles of cow dung appear on the spotless jade tiles.

“…”

“Shizun, the longevity noodles are ready!”

Meng Baixu came out carrying a bowl of noodles with extra ingredients added.

Just a tiny bit. He had only added a little, after all. One quarter of the pill was the dosage for a two-thousand-jin blue ox, and it was very strong.

Wen Tingshu looked at the thick, wide noodles in the bowl and praised, “Lanshe is talented at everything he does.”

Meng Baixu stared as Shizun elegantly finished an extremely crude bowl of noodles, and he could not help suspecting that his cooking skills had already reached the peak.

Why did it look so delicious?

Meng Baixu swallowed, his gaze moving back and forth along Shizun’s Adam’s apple.

Wen Tingshu’s fingers paused. He said, “There is still one more day of bigu. Endure it for now.”

The second night of bigu was the hardest to bear. Wen Tingshu had already prepared himself to accompany Lanshe through it.

Lin Yao had said the pill would take one shichen to take effect. Meng Baixu was not in a hurry to inspect the results. He sat down and chatted casually with Shizun.

“A shimei is pregnant. You have to subsidize her with three thousand spirit stones.”

Wen Tingshu said, “Mn. Zhongli Yun will remember.”

Zhongli Yun was the administrative head of the Hengxue Sect. He managed all matters big and small. The discipline team was the number one pack of hunting dogs under him, and they could always come up with some twisted rules, such as one person doing bigu meaning the whole sect had to starve, or forming a foundation in three years and reaching Golden Core in five.

Meng Baixu and Zhongli Yun could not stand each other. Meng Baixu disliked him for inventing too many rules, while Zhongli Yun had criticisms about Wen Tingshu doting on his disciple too much and repeatedly changing sect rules for him.

Of course, for Wen Tingshu’s sake, the two were very polite to each other.

Fortunately, the Fuguang Sect was wealthy enough to rival a nation. Meng Baixu absolutely did not need to receive spirit stones from Zhongli Yun.

He was going to make the Hengxue Sect owe him three thousand spirit stones!

Meng Baixu casually pulled out one of the ancient books Wen Tingshu often read. Some of them were not cultivation manuals, but mortal literary collections.

“Shizun’s name was taken from A New Account of the Tales of the World? Who gave it to you?”

Like fragrant orchids and jade trees, wishing them to grow in one’s courtyard—Wen Tingshu.

Wen Tingshu said, “My father.”

Meng Baixu had never seen his father since he was young, so he was somewhat curious about what it felt like to have one.

“Who was Shizun’s father?”

For his parents to give Shizun this name, it must have carried great love and expectation.

Meng Baixu’s own name came from the weather on the day he was born. The elders said that when the Silver Kite delivered him to Guiye City, heavy snow fell from the sky. Some of the illiterate sect members suggested calling him Meng Xue. The Great Elder had a bit of literary talent and said, “It is not as fitting as willow catkins rising with the wind,” so Meng Baixu sounded more elegant.

When he named his future child, he would also make the name extremely elegant. He would also flip through A New Account of the Tales of the World!

Wen Tingshu said, “They passed away several hundred years ago. Even if I told you, you would not know them.”

Meng Baixu remembered some rumors.

It was said that Wen Tingshu had been the only cultivator in his entire family. He had been outstanding, surrounded by admiration. In other words, all his family and friends had long since died until not even bone fragments remained. After watching all his closest kin pass away, he had cultivated alone for hundreds of years.

Longevity was also loneliness.

Meng Baixu felt inexplicably melancholic.

He thought of Auntie Mingyue, his wet nurse, and the only mortal in the Fuguang Sect. As the little sect leader grew up, Miss Mingyue became Auntie Mingyue.

One day, he would also be like Shizun and feel sad because of this.

Meng Baixu sniffed.

Wen Tingshu touched the top of Meng Baixu’s head, thinking he had remembered the sorrow of his lonely origins.

“Lanshe, your courtesy name was given by me. I will accompany you for a long time.”

Meng Baixu asked, “How long?”

Wen Tingshu said, “Forever.”

Did the people outside know Wen Tingshu was this good at coaxing people?

The corners of Meng Baixu’s rosy lips curved. He yawned and deliberately squeezed two points of tears into his beautiful eyes.

“Shizun, I’m sleepy. I’m going to sleep first.”

Wen Tingshu said, “If you can’t sleep at night, you can come find me.”

Meng Baixu had been waiting for precisely these words.

“I know!”

Under Shizun’s gaze, Meng Baixu obediently climbed onto the bed, covered himself with the quilt from his toes to his shoulders, looking as if he would sleep very well.

First, he would pretend to sleep to lower Shizun’s guard, lest Shizun use his cultivation to suppress the reaction the moment it started. If that happened, Meng Baixu would not be able to observe anything.

He secretly set an hourglass under the covers to remind him after one shichen.

A quarter of an hour later, Meng Baixu heard Shizun’s footsteps entering and immersed himself in pretending to sleep.

Wen Tingshu said, “If you cannot sleep, you do not need to force yourself.”

Meng Baixu said, “I’m asleep, I’m asleep. Shizun, hurry and go sleep.”

Wen Tingshu hesitated for a while, then turned and left.

Meng Baixu thought, Hurry up and go. Go back to your own room.

He tightly gripped the hourglass in his hand. Without realizing it, he fell asleep. The hourglass in his palm became scorching hot, so hot that it even reddened his waist, and only then did he wake in alarm.

How could he have fallen asleep!

Meng Baixu rolled out of bed, then quietly passed through the central courtyard on tiptoe. Hengxue Mountain was protected by arrays, so there was no need to close the doors while sleeping at night.

His fingers touched the Silver Kite in his hair. A bit of light, light as air, followed the wind and slipped into Wen Tingshu’s room, acting as Meng Baixu’s eyes.

Inside the room, Wen Tingshu sat beside the tea table, one hand resting on his knee and the other on the table. By his hand was a cup of lukewarm tea. His frost-cold face showed nothing unusual.

But Shizun had always risen with the sun and rested with sunset. He never moved around at night. He was extremely boring.

The fact that he had not slept yet meant the medicine had taken effect.

Because the night was deep and quiet, Wen Tingshu did not suppress it, nor did he resolve it. He merely sat silently with his eyes closed, allowing Meng Baixu to see it clearly.

Shizun’s sleeve hung down over his thigh, somewhat blocking the view. Meng Baixu could not see the full picture of the mountain range. Just as he was about to control the flowing light and examine it up close—

Suddenly, Wen Tingshu opened his eyes and looked straight outside.

Meng Baixu was startled. Before retreating, he subconsciously took one more look at Shizun’s place, only to discover that it had already calmed down.

Meng Baixu blinked.

That was it?

According to Meng Baixu’s plan, after Shizun was drugged, he would at least need to spend fifteen minutes subduing him. Shizun had to last at least fifteen minutes.

No matter. Haste made waste. Lin Yao had said that taking the pill in small, repeated amounts could strengthen virility. He would first nourish Shizun’s body for a period of time.

While his thoughts were running wild, Wen Tingshu had already arrived in front of him. His voice was no different from usual.

“Too hungry to sleep?”

Meng Baixu nodded and held his stomach. “Mn. Shizun, how about I do bigu three months later instead? Return my qiankun pouch to me. I want to eat the rabbit legs inside.”

Meng Baixu’s black-and-white eyes stared at Wen Tingshu’s waist, though it was hard to tell whether he was looking at the qiankun pouch or somewhere else.

Wen Tingshu rarely showed discomfort and touched the qiankun pouch. “Endure a little longer.”

Meng Baixu immediately came up with a plan. He swiftly moved closer. If he could snatch back the qiankun pouch, good. If he could not, he would take the opportunity to change targets and steal the peaches, checking whether Shizun had really calmed down.

Wen Tingshu would soon understand what it meant to openly repair the plank road while secretly crossing at Chencang.

“Mm—”

Wen Tingshu’s hand was even faster. In the time it took for sparks to fly, Meng Baixu’s chin was pinched, and he was controlled in place. Wen Tingshu’s arm was longer than his. The distance of Shizun’s arm happened to keep him separated from Chencang by a hair’s breadth, yet as far away as the ends of the world.

Damn it!

Wen Tingshu was actually using this posture, like pinching a defeated subordinate, to deal with him!

Meng Baixu was just about to speak when Wen Tingshu’s thumb and middle finger conveniently pried open his mouth.

In the next second, a ball of light like a seed of fire flew out from Wen Tingshu’s mouth. Reflected in Meng Baixu’s widened eyes, it was like a blazing sun rushing toward him.

Before Meng Baixu could react, that scorching thing had already been fed into his mouth. It sank straight into his dantian, making his lower abdomen hot and full, as if he had just eaten something extremely nourishing.

This was—

This was Wen Tingshu’s yuan core!

Wen Tingshu released Meng Baixu, rubbed his head, his gaze clear and his expression like water.

“With my yuan core, you should be able to sleep tonight.”

He was not unable to sleep…

Meng Baixu had thousands of retorts in his heart, but none of them could cover the shock of having swallowed Shizun’s yuan core.

The yuan core was a cultivator’s true lifeblood.

Without a yuan core, a cultivator would be exactly the same as an ordinary person. They would age, fall ill, and die.

Wen Tingshu was so old. If his yuan core left his body for several days, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Even the most intimate Dao companions would not give their own yuan core to each other.

Meng Baixu covered his lower abdomen, feeling as if it were about to swell. He said in disbelief, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away while carrying your yuan core?”

Wen Tingshu said, “You are my disciple. What belongs to Shifu belongs to you. Why would you run?”

Meng Baixu lowered his lashes and huffed.

Even the demonic sect disdained the act of stealing someone’s core. Of course he would not run away.

But if he were carrying something else, that might not necessarily be the case.

“Then… then without your yuan core, will you grow white hair? I’ll return it to you. I don’t want it.”

Wen Tingshu said, “It’s all right. Just return it to me tomorrow.”

Meng Baixu once again realized that Wen Tingshu’s cultivation was probably far above his own. He lowered his flags and stilled his drums, pressing together lips red enough to drip blood.

Passing over the yuan core—although their lips and tongues had not directly touched, Meng Baixu’s lips still burned, and even his cheeks turned red.

Shizun’s yuan core was the real great nourishment, many tens of thousands of times stronger than Lin Yao’s pill.

Wen Tingshu had lived for five hundred years. He definitely had many enemies. Without his yuan core, nighttime was too dangerous. What if someone attacked him?

Meng Baixu said decisively, “I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

Wen Tingshu said, “All right.”

Meng Baixu had been to Shizun’s room countless times before. He just had not been on the bed. He sat down on the outer side of the bed and said, “I’ll sleep on the outside today.”

Wen Tingshu said, “I have to get up early.”

Meng Baixu thought for a moment, then climbed to the inside. “Then Shizun, don’t wake me. I’m not going to school tomorrow.”

Shizun did not have his yuan core. Meng Baixu had to guard him every step of the way, lest enemies come knocking.

He had come over in a rush while wearing only his inner robe. When he placed both hands on the bed, his upper garment lifted, revealing the patch of skin on his waist that had been reddened by the hourglass. The two-finger-wide red mark stood out clearly against his palm-width slender waist.

Wen Tingshu asked, “What happened here?”

Meng Baixu only felt a spot on his waist turn cool. It was because Shizun’s fingertip had touched it lightly, like a dragonfly skimming water. A stream-like spiritual power flowed in, quickly removing the redness—

No. Instead, it grew even redder.

Wen Tingshu had forgotten that he did not have his yuan core and could not send out spiritual power, much less repair an injury. That touch of his fingertip was entirely in vain, as if it had been deliberate frivolity.

This was truly the first time in history that his memory had been poor.

“What are you doing?”

Meng Baixu felt itchy and turned his head, meeting Shizun’s embarrassed gaze.

Wen Tingshu calmly withdrew his hand.

“…One’s body, hair, and skin are received from one’s parents. Do not treat them lightly.”

Meng Baixu responded with an “okay.” His own fingers pressed over the mark, and the red trace quickly turned fair again.

“Such a small thing. When people are hungry, they get cold. When they get cold, they have to warm themselves by the fire. When they warm themselves by the fire, they get burned.”

As he made up nonsense, he lifted his eyes to glance at Wen Tingshu. He saw Shizun lower his lashes, as if regretting that he had not given him the yuan core sooner.

Satisfied, Meng Baixu burrowed into Shizun’s quilt.

He had used hunger to control Shizun again! In the future, he must remember that not a single meal could be skipped!

Meng Baixu pulled the cotton quilt up to his chin, revealing a face white with a rosy flush.

Outside, he was the peerlessly graceful and beautiful Da-shixiong. In front of Wen Tingshu, he still looked like a willful and innocent child.

Wen Tingshu lay on the outside, with some distance between them.

Meng Baixu held Wen Tingshu’s yuan core inside him, and his whole body was warm, as if a small furnace had nestled in his lower abdomen. He magnanimously let off his yuan-coreless and defenseless Shifu, not taking advantage of the situation.

“Sleep, sleep.”

“Sleep.”

Wen Tingshu let out a sigh of relief. He had no experience coaxing children to sleep. He had heard that wet nurses fed milk to coax children to sleep, but right now, he could not give Meng Baixu anything to eat and ruin his bigu halfway.

Fortunately, there was still the yuan core that could be used.

After a short while, Meng Baixu turned over under the quilt to face Shizun, lifting his leg onto Shizun’s waist. His fair, slender ankle swung back and forth, without the slightest sign of sleepiness.

The west palace was near the bamboo forest. The fine sounds of insects passed through the doors and windows like a night song that soothed the heart.

Meng Baixu quietly opened one eye and glanced at Wen Tingshu.

Did Wen Tingshu sleep quietly like this every day? Did he not say even a little bit of Hengxue Mountain gossip before sleeping?

Meng Baixu looked for something to say. “Shizun, why are the insects on your side so noisy? I’ll catch them all another day!”

After a while, his other eye also opened, and he raised a hand to prop up his head.

The moonlight was like water, and the young man’s gaze was like white silk.

Every time Meng Baixu saw Shizun, he would think of an idiom: as graceful as a jade tree in the wind.

His disciple had made it clear he wanted a nighttime chat. Wen Tingshu could not ignore him, so he started the conversation.

“What extra thing did you add to the noodles?”

Meng Baixu first denied it tactically.

“Nothing!”

Wen Tingshu said nothing. If he were not certain, he would not bring it up.

Meng Baixu had not planned to hide it anyway. He deliberately acted annoyed.

“I’m sorry. I wanted the blue oxen to give birth to calves, so Hengxue Mountain would be more lively. I added aphrodisiac pills to the radishes and forgot to wash my hands when kneading the dough.”

Wen Tingshu fell silent.

He had thought Meng Baixu was merely unskilled in kitchen matters and had randomly added mutually reinforcing ingredients, accidentally creating an unspeakable medicinal effect.

The Hengxue Sect had no dual-cultivation methods. How could Lanshe have obtained such improper and abnormally fierce pills? Moreover, their medicinal properties did not seem like medicine made purely for livestock.

This matter was serious. Tomorrow, he would have Head Zhongli investigate thoroughly how aphrodisiac pills had flowed into the Hengxue Sect and how they had ended up in Meng Baixu’s hands.

Having made a decision in his heart, Wen Tingshu opened his eyes and suddenly touched upon his disciple’s frank gaze, as well as his face full of pride at having obtained a precious pill.

In an instant, he understood.

It was likely that Lanshe had privately asked an alchemist shidi to make it. If this matter were thoroughly investigated, everything would be thrown into chaos. How would Lanshe get along with his fellow disciples in the future? How would people trust him? How would he establish his authority as Da-shixiong?

Forget it. As the master of a sect, why should he interfere in the interactions of the younger generation?

Meng Baixu did not know of Shizun’s internal conflict and asked despite knowing the answer.

“Shizun, did you fall for it?”

Wen Tingshu said, “No.”

Heh. Stubborn mouth.

Meng Baixu’s thoughts wandered wildly. “If cows eat it, they want to give birth to calves. If people eat it, will they want to give birth to a little Sect Master?”

“…There will be no little Sect Master.”

Wen Tingshu first answered his question. As a teacher, he remained calm and unruffled, patiently educating his disciple who was eager for quick results.

“All life and reproduction in the world naturally follow heaven’s will. Beasts have their own path as beasts. There is no need to interfere.”

Meng Baixu thought, beasts naturally had the path of beasts. He was worried Shizun could not perform as a man.

He perfunctorily said, “Oh.”

Wen Tingshu sighed.

“Sleep. Next time, remember to wash your hands.”