Chapter 113 – A Secluded Bamboo Grove – “Qingyuan” (02/03)
Yun Hua and You Huang’s journey continued. While You Huang cultivated, Yun Hua drank and had fun.
You Huang: “Are you really that addicted to alcohol?”
Yun Hua paused with his hand on the flask and laughed. “Some people love wine but choose not to become addicted to it, so I’ll drink it for them.”
“Who?”
“Myself.” Yun Hua took the flute from You Huang’s hand to play with it, saying offhandedly, “For certain reasons, I must not experience extreme sorrow or joy, nor become attached to anything; I must calm my mind and keep my desires in check.”
You Huang sat down beside him and held out his hand. Yun Hua tilted his head and leaned into You Huang’s embrace, a smile playing at the corners of his lips.
You Huang wrapped his arms around Yun Hua’s waist. “But I’ve seen how you always manage to infuriate others to the point where they’d rather fight to the death, and yet you’re such a dedicated drinker.”
“I can do these things now,” Yun Hua said, lowering his head slightly as he tucked the flute into You Huang’s waistband. “It’s precisely because I couldn’t do them before that I’m so unrestrained now.”
“So what were you like before?”
“Without desires or demands, cold and serene.”
“I can’t imagine that.”
“Then there’s no need to think about it, Huang’er. Care for a drink?”
“I’m not good at–”
“You were fine after having a cup last time. Let me see just how much my dear Huang’er has secretly built up a tolerance for.”
“Master,” You Huang said, his tone a mix of resignation and affection.
Yun Hua rolled over and sat on top of him, picked up the wine flask, took a sip, and looked at him with a half-smile.
You Huang parted his lips slightly.
You Huang had said he couldn’t imagine the cool, serene demeanor his master described, but soon enough, he witnessed it.
That day, when he finished his cultivation, he saw Yun Hua standing in the courtyard, his aura cool and faint, his eyes calmly fixed on the corpse at his feet.
“Master…”
Yun Hua turned to look at him. It took quite a while before warmth finally appeared in his eyes, and the chill around him dissipated. “Huang’er.”
You Huang walked up to him. “Who is this person…?”
“Just some fool who didn’t know when to quit,” Yun Hua said, lazily sweeping his sleeve. The corpse on the ground instantly turned to ash, blown away by the wind and vanishing into the air.
“In all these years, this is the first time I’ve seen you kill someone. What did this person do, Master?”
Yun Hua turned away. “Nothing. How did your cultivation go today, Huang’er? Have you advanced to the next level?”
His intent to change the subject was all too clear. You Huang didn’t press the matter and went along with him. “Almost.”
It was only later that he learned the man who had died was a rogue cultivator, renowned for his painting skills. His cultivation level wasn’t particularly high, but he was extremely skilled in movement techniques and exceptionally adept at concealment. He enjoyed painting depictions of dual cultivation and selling them.
That day, You Huang and Yunhua were out in the wilderness when the man happened to catch a glimpse of You Huang’s breathtaking beauty and watched them from the shadows for quite some time. Unfortunately, at that moment, You Huang had merely taken off his mask to kiss Yunhua briefly before putting it back on.
The rogue cultivator spent a long time painting afterward but could never quite capture the essence of the moment. So today, recklessly disregarding the danger, he snuck in, even bringing his sketchbook, deluding himself into thinking he could secretly observe and sketch the scene firsthand.
In his drawings, You Huang was depicted in all sorts of bizarre poses, practicing dual cultivation with various men…
Yunhua caught him and saw those drawings. How could he not kill him?
You Huang: “So that’s your true self after all.”
Yun Hua shook his head. “That was me, and this current form is also me. One is me suppressing my true nature, and the other is me unleashing it.”
“I’ve never asked before—why did you suppress your true nature all this time?”
Yun Hua replied nonchalantly, “When I first arrived in the Immortal Realm, I provoked someone I shouldn’t have. That person cast a curse on me at the cost of their own soul’s annihilation.”
You Huang’s heart sank. “How is it now?”
“I found a way to break it,” Yun Hua said, wrapping an arm around him. “That’s why I’m here by your side right now.”
“That’s good, then.”
Yun Hua asked, “That version of me… would you like it?”
“As long as it’s you, Master, I’ll always like it.”
“It’s nothing.”
In the days that followed, You Huang rarely saw Yunhua’s cold, aloof side again, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled.
It seemed the curse had truly been lifted.
With his mind at ease, You Huang went into seclusion to break through to the next realm.
“I won’t go out during this time; I’ll guard you.”
“Mm, it won’t take too long. Once I’m done, we’ll head to the next place.”
“Alright.” Yun Hua kissed him. “From now on, whenever we go out, you’re not allowed to take off your mask, not even to kiss me.”
You Huang chuckled.
“It’s to prevent any reckless fools from setting their sights on you.” Yun Hua pinched his cheek. “What are you laughing at? Did you hear me?”
“I heard you. From now on, I’ll only show my face to you, Master.”
“That’s how it should be.”
“Master really does love my face, don’t you? What if one day I were to be disfigured…”
“That won’t happen. The Immortal Realm has no shortage of elixirs to restore one’s appearance.”
“But what if someone even more beautiful than me were to appear…”
“Impossible. My Huang’er’s beauty is unmatched by anyone.”
“Master, you really are…”
“Are you ever going to finish your seclusion?”
You Huang cradled his face and kissed him for a long while, then said tenderly, “My cultivation will soon catch up to yours. If you don’t like cultivating, then from now on, I’ll be the one to protect you.”
If You Huang had known that upon emerging from this seclusion, he would lose Yun Hua, he would have preferred never to advance in rank, even if his cultivation stagnated.
When he emerged from seclusion and saw no sign of Yun Hua, he assumed he’d grown impatient and ran off to play.
However, he waited a long time and Yun Hua did not return.
He went out and asked everyone he met, exhausting himself before finally learning that someone had seen a figure resembling Yun Hua hurrying eastward.
He searched the entire route and investigated for a long time, discovering that Yun Hua had last been seen near Yacheng and the Twelve Reincarnation Palaces.
There was nothing unusual about Yacheng, but the Twelve Palaces were not places one could enter and exit at will.
He accepted the recruitment offer to become a system, speculating whether Yun Hua’s former enemies had come looking for him.
He built a good relationship with the team leader, cultivated goodwill with the hosts, and befriended systems from other teams during his days off…
In the end, everyone who knew him was aware that he had been searching for his missing immortal partner.
By the stream.
You Huang set down his flute. “So you really did run into the Twelve Palaces back then.”
But Yun Hua wasn’t a host, nor was he a system… To end up in a Minor Thousand World, one would have to sneak through the passage without a contract…
Was that why his soul had been damaged?
That aura You Huang had encountered while tracing his memories seemed somewhat familiar…
“Huang’er.”
You Huang spun around abruptly.
Qingyuan landed gently; his frost-like aura had not yet dissipated, but the eyes fixed on him held deep longing and affection.
“Master!”
Qingyuan let You Huang embrace him, his emotions finally relaxing completely.
You Huang’s spiritual sense probed into his primordial soul; as expected, it encountered no resistance.
Incredible… His soul was intact, and his sea of consciousness stretched vast and boundless like an ocean.
This level of cultivation…
You Huang withdrew his spiritual sense.
“You… when did you attain the cultivation level of an Immortal Emperor?”
“It’s a long story…”
You Huang had confirmed that a divine soul cannot be altered; this was Yunhua’s divine soul, yet it was far more powerful and completely undamaged…
This body…
You Huang’s hand reached for his sash.
Qingyuan grabbed his hand. “My name is Qingyuan. This is my true form; Yunhua… is a fragment of my soul.”
You Huang: “……” No wonder, he was just a fragment.
“Huang’er, I am Yunhua. I…”
“Of course, I know who you are.” You Huang clasped his hand in return. “I wouldn’t fail to recognize you.
A smile bloomed in Qingyuan’s eyes.
If Luo Xiuya were to see this, he’d surely be astonished. After all, ever since that incident with the curse… he had…
“Back then, you were in seclusion. My immortal arts were nearing perfection, and I was in the process of recalling all my fragmented souls that were out in the world…” Qingyuan interlaced his fingers with his. “I was thinking irrationally at the time. I was worried that other fragmented souls might be as undisciplined as I was—that they might have developed other romantic attachments. I feared that once the main body fused us together… I would end up betraying you.”
“Many fragments?
Qingyuan sat down beside You Huang, resting his head on his shoulder. “That year, I fell victim to a curse…”
Qingyuan and Luo Xiuya had known each other in the mortal realm and ascended to the Immortal Realm one after the other.
Back then, Qingyuan was a carefree, unrestrained soul, as free as the wind. And since Luo Xiuya had been his close friend for so many years, they naturally shared some similarities.
They both loved to enjoy life and disliked being constrained.
If only Qingyuan hadn’t crossed paths with a certain person…
That year, he had casually saved someone, only to find himself hounded by them. That person had fallen in love with him.
But at the time, Qingyuan had no interest in romance, and he couldn’t rein in his temper, driving the person to the point of questioning their very existence.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, the person only grew more determined with each rejection, clinging to him relentlessly. To make matters worse, their cultivation was higher than Qingyuan’s, so he couldn’t escape.
What was even more infuriating was that, because Luo Xiuya was too close to him, that person actually attacked Luo Xiuya.
That was the last straw for Qingyuan.
“I was utterly sick of him and hated him with a passion. I was determined to kill him, even if it cost me my life,” Qingyuan said with disgust. “He was completely off guard against me, and my full-force strike seriously wounded him on the spot.”
Qingyuan and his companions were newcomers, while that man was from the Immortal Realm and surely had many more tricks up his sleeve.
He showed no mercy, seizing the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow, lest he miss his chance and be killed in return.
That man was in immense pain and despair.
“He said he loved me so much—how could I be so heartless as to kill him? What a joke! He disregarded my wishes, pestered me relentlessly, disrupted my life, and hurt my dearest friend—and yet he dared to ask me why I killed him!”
Qingyuan simply thought the man was insane and didn’t want to explain further.
Yet the man, mustering his last reserves of divine power, sacrificed his flesh and blood, scattered his soul, and cast a curse upon him.
“He cursed me so that for the rest of my life, I would never experience any emotional fluctuations—no thoughts, no feelings—forcing me to become a heartless, soulless, desireless, and aimless walking corpse.” Qingyuan closed his eyes. “The moment any emotion arose, my soul would be tormented by unbearable pain—as if being burned and torn apart.”
You Huang tightened his grip on Qingyuan’s waist, pulling him close into his embrace.
“I truly suffered immensely after that,” Qingyuan said with a bitter smile. “To put it simply, my deep friendship with Luo Xiuya alone was enough to make me wish I were dead.”
Luo Xiuya had been injured by that man; he cared about his friend’s condition, and then… he was subjected to psychological torment.
How could someone like Qingyuan possibly remain completely emotionless?
“Even if I were to see a stranger, I couldn’t possibly feel nothing, have no emotions at all… Back then, I truly suffered torment day after day, unable to understand myself. I begged Xiuya to kill me, but he refused.”
Qingyuan felt You Huang’s hand on his waist tremble slightly. He took his hand in his own. “But that’s all in the past now. Xiuya took me to a secluded place, where the mountains were lush and the waters clear, far from human habitation, so I could experience fewer emotional fluctuations…”
But even in the face of such natural beauty, how could one truly be without a single trace of emotion? It was merely less intense than before.
“Later, after Xiuya faced several life-and-death challenges, he found an immortal technique for me that could counter this curse.”
Although he still couldn’t afford too much emotional turmoil, he no longer had to suffer the agony of his soul being scorched and torn apart by every little emotion.
As he gradually mastered the immortal technique, he slowly learned to control his emotions, eventually becoming Qingyuan, the lord of Taoyuan Stream.
In the end, Qingyuan concluded, “There really are all kinds of people in this world. That person was nothing short of a madman—he was completely insane!”
Edit: Krone
Proofread: Choux_choux
