EHRPS CH173

Once Tu Tianba stretched out his hand, he couldn’t pull it back.

Beneath his palm was the man’s thigh. The area slightly above the knee didn’t feel particularly fleshy, but its distinct sinews and bones provided a resilient strength… Touching it somewhat quenched the thirst in his heart.

Earlier, when the man merely used his fingers to apply ointment to his face, Tu Tianba couldn’t help but feel his face burn up. He kept secretly complaining in his mind, wondering if the other party was using some evil, seductive charm art on him, which was truly unbefitting of the righteous path.

In short, he wasn’t a proper person.

Now that it was his turn to improperly touch a man’s thigh, not only did he completely lack the self-awareness that he was taking advantage of someone, but he actually started being picky about it.

One moment, he was dissatisfied with the fabric beneath his palm. The next moment, Tu Tianba’s fingers seemed to develop a mind of their own, instinctively crawling toward areas with more flesh…

Soon, a soft smack sounded.

The man’s expression remained entirely unmoving, his back still straight. The hand holding the chopsticks didn’t pause for even a second, while his other hand swiftly and accurately clamped down on the youth’s unruly palm. His hand was a size larger than the youth’s, covering the back of the other’s hand completely, his thumb gently locking around that overly thin wrist.

The palm and back of their hands were pressed tightly together, warmth transferring downwards.

A generation’s Demon Lord, Tu Tianba, was thus held hostage by the righteous path’s top boss, who had been reduced to a mere mortal.

He cried out silently:

Inner demon, what’s going on?!

Why does half my arm feel numb? It feels like I can’t even move it! Did this bullshit Immortal Lord use some underhanded trick on me again?

It feels like all my strength has been sucked away by him!

Inside the system space.

N001 simply couldn’t bear to look at the light screen.

They say the bigger the forest, the more kinds of birds you’ll find; it would say the more worlds there are, the more kinds of hosts you’ll find.

How could someone embody both lecherousness and pure innocence at the same time? Striking hard when touching someone else’s thigh, but erupting into incompetent fury when his own little hand was touched!

After a long while, it squeezed out a sentence:

“You might be under the curse of the virgin, I guess. A gentle, beautiful older brother type like the male protagonist is practically super effective against a little virgin like you.”

Despite saying this, it couldn’t help but worry… It was truly afraid that one day the host would violently act out in a state of mental instability and straight-up kill the protagonist or himself.

Having received confirmation from the inner demon, Tu Tianba immediately glared viciously at the man across the table. Then, he let out a heavy, cold snort, as if treating him like the meat in his mouth, biting down hard.

A-Hui: “…”

Did he get angry because I wouldn’t let him touch me?

Left with no choice, the man moved his thumb, gently rubbing the side of the youth’s wrist twice, just like rubbing a child’s head, carrying a sense of appeasement. It was gentle and pure.

However, Tu Tianba only felt that tingling numbness instantly spread up his entire arm. A groan slipped unconsciously from his lips, the end of the sound twisting with twists and turns, sounding incredibly ambiguous.

The man’s expression paused slightly, and the movement of his hand froze.

The physical contact between them was clearly kept within a not-too-intimate boundary, yet the youth’s reaction made him feel as if he had done something highly inappropriate.

Tu Tianba was hollering at his inner demon again:

This is outrageous!

Did this guy hide a backup plan and secretly cast a lightning spell to shock me?! I’m numb, my whole body is numb!!

N001 instantly executed a tactical backward lean, distancing itself from the light screen.

…My eyes.

·

A-Hui was currently in a dilemma.

If he let go of the youth’s hand, given the other’s personality, he would very likely just grope him directly. For him, that level of intimacy was simply too far beyond the pale.

But if he didn’t let go…

Looking at the complicated expression on the youth’s face, A-Hui only felt a slight tingling on his scalp, his entire body feeling uncomfortable.

This meal was truly difficult to eat.

Fortunately, it was finally finished.

With a wave of the youth’s arm, the nearly emptied cups, plates, bowls, and table vanished completely. Seeing that the barrier between them was gone, A-Hui silently shifted closer to the edge of the flying boat. He turned to look out at the vast sea of stars, hoping to calm the heat on his face.

But the youth couldn’t settle down.

Tu Tianba still held up that hand that felt shocked and numb. He hadn’t found any traces of being hit by a spell. Just now, he had rubbed the side of his wrist where the man had touched him—nothing.

Tu Tianba cast a glance at the man, who looked guilty and didn’t dare meet his eyes, and declared with absolute certainty:

“You definitely ambushed me!”

Although he hadn’t been awake for long since losing his memory, A-Hui already had a preliminary understanding of this ‘Tu-style language’. He didn’t turn around, simply asking softly:

“What does that mean?”

So, Tu Tianba repeated the deduction he had earlier told his inner demon, and then cited the two powerful examples of applying ointment and touching hands, demanding:

“If you didn’t ambush me, why do I repeatedly feel an unbearable numbness all over my body, like everything is wrong? I only feel this way when you initiate contact with me!”

A-Hui was listening seriously at first, but unexpectedly, the more he listened, the more he felt something was off—the youth’s phrasing didn’t sound like someone who had been ambushed, but rather like the stirring of young love, surging with restlessness.

He couldn’t help but look back.

The youth’s apricot eyes were wide, insisting on an explanation.

A-Hui’s thoughts were complicated. Because he found that the youth’s earlier explanation about ‘a sword cultivator insisting on paying off his debt with his body, and being forcefully saddled with it’ seemed increasingly credible…

Not only was the youth bad at lying, but he couldn’t even clearly discern his own feelings. It was as if his emotions differed from ordinary people, making him exceptionally dense in this regard.

At this very moment, the confusion in his eyes was so profound. A-Hui actually didn’t know how to answer.

Seeing the man remain silent for a long time, Tu Tianba’s remaining patience was completely depleted. He approached with a foul face, shoved the wrist the other had touched in front of him, and threatened forcefully:

“If you don’t confess honestly, I’ll immediately lift the resonance spell on you and let you hurt to death! Although I don’t feel anything, a delicate crybaby like you definitely won’t be able to stand it!”

A-Hui asked in bewilderment, “What is a ‘resonance spell’?”

Tu Tianba chuckled smugly, explaining the effect of this self-created spell in a few sentences, and boasted triumphantly:

“Scared now? If you’re scared, then confess.”

The night sky was silent, save for the howling wind. Several arrays were carved into the bottom of the flying boat, providing both wind protection and constant temperature. The boat was also embedded with illumination crystals, lighting up the space brightly.

As soon as Tu Tianba’s voice fell, he saw the man clearly freeze. Those slightly closed eyes widened instantly, deepening the creases on his eyelids. The light fractured, while the shadows were hoarded away.

“…What did you say?”

Hearing the man’s low murmur, Tu Tianba wanted to punch the air again. He seriously suspected that during the time his mind was in chaos, either he or the heavenly lightning had busted the bullshit Immortal Lord’s ears! The current situation was truly more infuriating than complete deafness. With complete deafness, one could at least use voice transmission. But the bullshit Immortal Lord’s hearing fluctuated—he had no idea when he should speak normally to the guy and when he should use voice transmission.

“Argh—”

Tu Tianba wore a pained expression, slapping the side of the flying boat in near breakdown, making the artifact wobble. He shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes nearly splitting open: “Why the fu○k can’t you hear anything clearly?!”

“How many times do you want me to repeat it!!”

Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang.

Unable to bear the heavy burden, the flying boat cracked under his slaps. Yet the youth seemed not to know pain, continuing without pause.

A-Hui hurriedly tried to catch his hand, but saw the youth turn in another direction to dodge him, furiously slapping the flying boat and throwing a manic tantrum.

“Talking to you is really..so..exhausting!!”

As he slapped, Tu Tianba’s manic nature surged, triggering a habitual behavior that had lasted for years.

—Smashing his head against the floor.

Only, that thud didn’t sound for a long time.

He was hugged from the side.

It all happened in an instant.

The man practically threw himself forward, pinning the youth from the side, successfully stopping his suspected self-harming behavior. But since the man had been reduced to a mortal, despite his swift actions, his strength couldn’t match Tu Tianba’s. Pulled off balance by the youth’s force, he stumbled, his long loose hair whipping forward in a beautiful arc.

The two fell onto the floor of the flying boat together. The sound wasn’t loud.

When Tu Tianba’s mind calmed down a bit, he suddenly realized one of the man’s arms was wrapped in front of his chest, and the other was holding his lower back… Ink-black hair was scattered over his body.

The man’s moist, hot breath sprayed onto his cheek, close to his ear. When he spoke, it blew Tu Tianba’s earlobes so much he felt like floating.

He said, “Don’t do this.”

He also said, “Actually, I did hear clearly, I was just surprised, and that’s why I didn’t react immediately…”

Tu Tianba lay on his back, staring numbly and calmly at the starry sky. It took him a little time to recover his normal tone of voice: “Oh, so you heard it clearly. You should have said so earlier.”

After a moment of silence, the man finally answered the question Tu Tianba had been pressing earlier: “When I initiate contact with you, and you have those reactions, it’s not because I did anything to you…”

He paused, seeming somewhat conflicted.

Tu Tianba: “Tch.”

In the next instant, the man closed his eyes. Carrying complicated and somewhat helpless thoughts, he said softly and slowly:

“It might… it might be because…”

“You have feelings for me.”

Tu Tianba’s calm, almost sluggish expression instantly wrinkled like a steamed bun. He couldn’t help but turn his head to look at the bullshit Immortal Lord lying on his side next to him, the disgust in his expression practically overflowing.

“…Barf!”

The man paused again, his brows suddenly relaxing. He seemed amused by the expression and asked in a tone Tu Tianba didn’t quite understand:

“Aren’t we Dao Companions?”

Having said that, A-Hui gazed at the youth’s bloodshot eyes. After hesitating for a long moment, he still decided to swallow his next sentence.

…Let’s leave it unsaid for now.

Ignorant of the bullshit Immortal Lord’s inner thoughts, Tu Tianba just shifted his eyes to the side. He casually picked back up the background story he had fabricated earlier and emphasized:

“I am reluctantly accepting it.”

His wicked intentions still burning, he squeezed in a remark: “If you want to repay my kindness, then dual cultivate with me as soon as possible. I am really, really, really in a rush!”

Hearing the youth emphasize the matter of dual cultivation three times in a row with a heavy tone, A-Hui smiled helplessly.

He gazed at the youth’s now-calmed face. It was completely different from the enraged and manic state just now, yet it carried some indescribable commonality… A-Hui couldn’t help but wonder what kind of environment the youth had grown up in to develop such a complex yet easy-to-read personality. His eyes were sometimes very bright, and sometimes very tired, looking like a dying star. Flickering, on the verge of falling.

Regardless of what their relationship was before he lost his memory, A-Hui wanted to treat this youth as well as possible. Not just to repay the debt of saving his life, but also because… he felt he should shoulder this responsibility.

In the end, A-Hui still caught the youth’s hand that had nearly smashed the flying boat to pieces. Tu Tianba lay unmoving. Lowering his eyes, he saw the man’s arm that was wrapped in front of his chest slowly move down, gently grasping his palm. He held Tu Tianba’s wrist, his thumb resting on its side.

Tu Tianba subconsciously shuddered, feeling that tingling numbness return. He immediately questioned:

“It’s numb, and you still say you didn’t do anything?”

As soon as his voice fell, a cool breath brushed across his flushed palm. In his peripheral vision was the man’s profile, his eyes lowered, blowing softly onto his palm again and again. His eyelashes were very long, casting exceptionally fine shadows. His lips were a bit thin, but they looked very soft.

His palm was both hot and cool.

Tu Tianba felt tingly and numb.

His soul seemed to slow down considerably, or perhaps he had caught the poor hearing disease from the person beside him. It wasn’t until the other shook his shoulder a few times that he finally reacted.

The man was saying:

“Little Cultivator, dispel the spell.”

Following the voice, he looked back and found the man gazing at him intently. His eyes were filled with shattered stars and moonlight, looking upright and gentle, his tone extremely calm.

Tu Tianba suddenly felt that the inner demon was absolutely right.

The bullshit Immortal Lord was the bullshit Immortal Lord.

A-Hui was A-Hui.

The two could not be lumped together.

The bullshit Immortal Lord drew his sword wanting to kill him. But the man before him didn’t want him to hurt and would even blow on the palm of his hand. He was an understanding and virtuous good wife who knew how to care for people.

Tu Tianba had an epiphany.

He wriggled a bit, twisting himself into a side-lying posture to face the man, and said with absolute sincerity,

“You’re right.”

“I might like you a little bit.”

It was just that his previous malice toward the bullshit Immortal Lord was too strong, suppressing this faint goodwill. But Tu Tianba felt he had already attained great enlightenment—what did the bullshit Immortal Lord’s matters have to do with Ah-Hui?

Once he figured it out, Tu Tianba’s mood smoothed out a lot.

However, the next second, he put on a stern little face, not forgetting to lay down the law:

“A real man keeps his word. Since you agreed to pay off your debt with your body, you have to follow through. Once we deal with the Pill Fetus in your belly, don’t forget about that extremely urgent matter.”

“Even if you forget, it doesn’t matter, I’ll remind you!”

Inside the system space.

The white orb put on a mask of pain.

Ahhh—

The last sentence was ‘I like you.’ How did the next sentence immediately go back to demanding dual cultivation!!