Chapter 33: Azure Cloud (11)

“Oh my.”

Young Master Fu opened his eyes slightly, watching Xiangli Xuan get drenched from head to toe by half a pot of wine. Amidst the aroma of alcohol, wine dripped from the teenager’s fair chin like rain. His eyebrows remained cold, as if devoid of emotion. He simply stood up, face stiff, twisted the red-robed teenager’s arm, and dragged him off the table. “Lingze, you’re drunk.”

Xiangli Lingze shook off his hand, staggered back two steps, his lips bright red with a smile. “My alcohol tolerance is excellent.”

He reached out to touch a cup on the table, picked it up, took a sip, then spat it out, pointing at the empty cup and laughing loudly. “Xiangli Xuan, you still drink tea in a place like this?”

The red-robed teenager was probably really drunk. He retreated and collapsed onto Young Master Fu’s table, dazedly felt for a pot of wine, and then wanted to force it down someone’s throat.

Young Master Fu raised an eyebrow. This was the first time someone dared to snatch something from his table.

Xiangli Xuan was pinned in the chair, the spout of the wine pot pressed against his lips, looking like his mouth was about to be pried open for forced drinking.

Xiangli Xuan grabbed his younger brother’s wrist, his eyebrows, usually as calm as spring mountains, rarely showing some anger. “Stop making trouble.”

“If you don’t drink today, I’ll tell Dad and Mom when I get back that you bullied me.” Xiangli Lingze tilted his head, his pitch-black eyes full of mockery. “I won’t go to the final test tomorrow either. Let’s just go home, how about it?”

“Or is it… you’re playing hard to get and want me to feed you?”

The two brothers looked at each other. After a long time, Xiangli Xuan took the wine pot, raised his head, and drained it all.

Xiangli Lingze applauded as if no one else was around, laughing loudly. “Good! Refreshing! Again!”

Xiangli Lingze, the third young master of the Xiangli clan, was indeed as rumored outside: unruly, with a brute force and rascally air.

Xie Xuanxiao’s brows were already furrowed. The smell of alcohol in the air was extremely heavy, making the atmosphere in the room turbid. The music stopped, making the noise upstairs and downstairs more prominent. A bunch of people stared at this spot waiting to watch the show, making the elegant room inelegant.

The noble families had always had strict rules. A bastard like Xiangli Lingze, if in Yuanchen Palace, would have been exiled to guard the mountains in remote places long ago.

The Fu clan was messy inside, but the main family’s methods had always been cruel, and everyone appeared brotherly on the surface. Of course, there was nothing to fight for the position of family head. The topmost position had always been occupied by someone. It wouldn’t be the juniors’ turn even after five hundred years. Just eating and waiting for death was enough.

Young Master Fu leaned his body, raised his eyebrows and asked him, “Leaving?”

Xie Xuanxiao stood up. “I’m going back to the Langhuan Pavilion.”

Young Master Fu also stood up. “Sigh, then I’ll go meet your esteemed wife.”

The two left, leaving the room to the noisy brothers.

It was still early. Young Master Fu dragged his silver hair reaching his calves, dressed in purple robes, walking alongside Xie Xuanxiao. “How old is your esteemed wife? How did you meet? Must be a beauty like a flower…”

Thinking of Zhang Duixue, the corners of Xie Xuanxiao’s lips hooked slightly, and the cold and arrogant aura between his brows melted a lot. Probably due to the gentleness of the spring breeze, his aura became warmer. “Good-looking, well-behaved, he loves me very much.”

Young Master Fu hugged his arms beside him and shivered, saying “Ooh”. “When are you getting married?”

Xie Xuanxiao chuckled lightly. “He is still young, no rush for now.”

He rubbed the circle of red marks on his wrist. The tracking talisman still stayed in the house, motionless. He should be sulking.

There was no need for Zhang Duixue to learn the sword. The sword edge was too sharp, hurting others and oneself. In this life, with his protection, his lover didn’t need to endure those winds and rains.

The restrictions of the Langhuan Pavilion were still operating as precisely as before he left. Zhang Duixue probably fell asleep and didn’t light the lamp. In the huge pavilion, the windows were wide open, and fluttering gauze could be seen.

Not closing the window at night, being so greedy for coolness, not afraid of catching a cold.

He asked Young Master Fu to wait in the courtyard, dissipated the smell of alcohol outside by himself, then entered the room and pushed open the door. The humid water vapor from the lake rushed to his face. A hook moon hung in the mid-sky. The room was coldly dark, too quiet, so quiet that not even a trace of breathing could be heard.

Xie Xuanxiao’s heart sank, and he spoke: “Little Xue, have you gone to bed?”

He waved his sleeve, spiritual fire lit the candles, and lamps lit up one by one. The cold wind blew, and on the wide bed, a slightly rising human shape was under the quilt. Lifting the quilt, it was just two pillows placed together.

Xie Xuanxiao: “…”

Young Master Fu was admiring flowers outside. Having seen messy things in the clan since childhood, his heart had hardened into stone, never believing in true feelings.

Seeing a couple as loving as Xie Xuanxiao and his wife, he was actually secretly envious.

Yuanchen Palace was one of the five sects. Marriage was so important. His Young Palace Master had such courage to decide on his beloved so early. This kind of “only you, until death” feeling was indeed rare.

While envying, he saw Xie Xuanxiao come out of the room, alone, lonely, white robe sleeves fluttering in the air, lonely like a white bird.

Young Master Fu was puzzled. “Where is your esteemed wife? Gone to bed?”

Xie Xuanxiao closed the door expressionlessly. The door panel shut with a thud. He raised his head, pupils pitch-black, face calm as water, a storm brewing.

Young Master Fu was amused. He wanted to laugh but felt it wasn’t kind to laugh now, so he could only hold it back and asked with concern, “Ran away?”

“My wife is naughty, made Fellow Daoist Fu laugh.” Xie Xuanxiao gritted his teeth, face tense, indescribably stiff. He raised his hand, the tracking talisman on his wrist expanded. But no matter what, the talisman told him that Zhang Duixue was still in this courtyard, not moving an inch.

But when his divine sense probed, there was no third living person’s aura in the courtyard at all.

This talisman was not untied. If it were broken, he would sense it. The current situation meant it should have been shielded by a secret method.

Azure Cloud Academy was just a bunch of wet-behind-the-ears kids. Who on earth had such ability to touch his talisman, dare to touch his talisman!

While chaos reigned over there, in the small courtyard of the Sword Pavilion here, He Tingtong lit a lamp. The dim light illuminated the small house. The four of them had washed up, taken a comfortable hot bath, changed clothes, and sat around the table to eat.

There was flour in the kitchen today. He Tingtong kneaded the dough, cut four bowls of noodles with effort, threw in a handful of small green vegetables, and poached two eggs.

The vegetables were emerald green, the poached eggs golden yellow. When poked with chopsticks, semi-solidified yolk flowed out. Fu Fengyan, Yue Qianxun, and Zhang Duixue slurped the noodles, heads almost buried in the bowls. Four teenagers devoured a pot like wind sweeping away clouds, finally feeling comfortable.

He Tingtong kicked Yue Qianxun’s stool. The teenage Demon Venerable stood up subconsciously, very sensibly cleared the things, and ran to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

Only when Zhang Duixue touched his belly and slumped in the chair did he feel a solid sense of coming alive.

He wanted to say some grateful words. Turning his head, he found Fu Fengyan staring at him beside him. The gaze caught in that instant was pitch-black, making him shiver. But in the blink of an eye, it became the same as usual, a bit dazed, a bit stunned, gentle and harmless, not very shrewd, but couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Zhang Duixue’s back went numb from the stare. “Something wrong?”

Fu Fengyan asked him in a low voice, “Do you like Xie Xuanxiao?”

This question was a bit too gossipy.

Zhang Duixue’s gaze dimmed a little, but he still answered frankly, “Of course I like him.”

“The Young Palace Master treats me very well. In the entire Yuanchen Palace, he is the person who treats me best.”

He had followed Xie Xuanxiao as an attendant since childhood. And there were twenty-four attendants like him, big and small.

Among these twenty-four people, Zhang Duixue was the most inconspicuous one.

He didn’t know arrays or techniques, his strategy and scheming were average, he didn’t know how to fight for favor, learned things slowly, only when doing odd jobs were his legs quick, running faster than others.

He could never enter the inner courtyard. What he did most often was guard the door, carry things, boil medicine for several nights when needed, pick plum blossoms for the Young Palace Master, collect morning dew, store winter snow, and stand in front of the huge lattice window, peeking through the gap at the immortal-like teenager setting up arrays in the main hall.

He was so good-looking, from eyebrows to lips, like in a painting, noble and elegant, spotless.

He thought he would be an attendant for a lifetime, and when he got older, be a steward in Yuanchen Palace, or ask to leave the sect and go to the Sword Sect to knock on the mountain gate. If he could join the Sword Sect and achieve something, maybe one day, he could also stand in front of the Young Palace Master and softly call him “Fellow Daoist.”

At the age of fourteen, the Young Palace Master fell into the water while traveling, falling into the Cold Lake. He knew how to swim and jumped in immediately, enduring the bone-piercing cold, pulling the person out. Although soon more people pulled the Young Palace Master away in a flurry, that was the first time he touched the Young Palace Master’s hand. Very light, very soft, softer than plum blossom petals.

After returning, he continued to guard the door. The Young Palace Master was critically ill with a high fever that wouldn’t subside. Immortals shouldn’t get sick, but the Palace Master used all methods and couldn’t wake him up. Half a month later, the Young Palace Master woke up by himself, then walked to the lattice window, opened it, and suddenly hugged him.

Crying bitterly, trembling all over, probably confused by illness.

He didn’t know when Xie Xuanxiao fell in love with him. Maybe the grace of saving his life, or some other talent moved him.

Since then, he was brought to the Young Palace Master’s side. All food, clothing, housing, and transportation were equal to his. Xie Xuanxiao would teach him to set up arrays and draw diagrams, guide him on the key points of cultivation, tailor clothes for him, comb and braid his hair for him, and play a song of Phoenix Seeking Phoenix with unfamiliar fingering… The cold and proud flower on the high peak bowed for him, knelt in the ancestral hall for a month, and finally risked his life, causing spiritual fire to riot, just to give him a legitimate status.

Such kindness, such favor, who wouldn’t be moved?

Of course he liked him.

Fu Fengyan asked, “Since you like him so much, why don’t you obediently listen to him and continue to learn arrays with him?”

This question was somewhat presumptuous. He Tingtong shifted his gaze and stared at him. Fu Fengyan couldn’t read the look, only assuming the other party was flirting with his eyes, so he hooked his lips and smiled shyly.

He Tingtong: “…”

“The Young Palace Master is a magic cultivator. Magic cultivators set up arrays slowly and have to draw talismans. If someone gets close…” Zhang Duixue raised his hand and gestured, “Block his mouth, step on his hands, pin him down, seal his spiritual veins, and he has no power to resist.”

“This is very dangerous. If I learn the sword and become a very powerful sword cultivator, I can stand in front of him, and no one can hurt him.”

“I know the Young Palace Master is afraid of me getting hurt and feels distressed seeing me bleed. But I’m not porcelain, nor am I that delicate.” Zhang Duixue looked at the two people opposite, his gaze firm. “I will definitely enter the Sword Pavilion and prove to him that I can hold a sword and can stand in front of him!”

Fu Fengyan looked thoughtful, but didn’t seem to think too much.

“Alright!” He Tingtong interrupted, patting his shoulder. “Rest for an hour. After midnight (Zi hour), go knock on the assessing senior brother’s door, let them record our names first. Tomorrow at 7 AM (Chen hour), when the Dean’s secret realm opens, we’ll rush straight in.”

Zhang Duixue said carefully, “The assessing senior brother is sleeping at midnight, right? Isn’t it not good for us to do this?”

He Tingtong raised his eyebrows. “If Xie Xuanxiao stands at the assessment registration office at 7 AM tomorrow, are you going or not?”

Zhang Duixue stood up immediately. “Going to find the assessing senior brother right now!”