"What are you thinking about, little brat? Why are you grinning like that?" Ning Ke hunched over, pretending to shovel down his food as he questioned Ning Xiaoxiao.
"Can't you see your brother's sitting on pins and needles? Instead of helping me out, all you do is laugh!"
Ning Xiaoxiao huddled over her bowl too, whispering to Ning Ke, "Hehe, I just think you're so popular, big brother. I'm happy for you!"
"You little rascal!"
Up on the inn's second floor, Hong Yao leaned against the railing and chuckled as she watched her troublesome disciples. "I thought Yusheng was only joking. I didn't expect him to be serious. All of us who cultivate the path of love are bound to face a trial of love. I wonder if A Ke is his."
After saying this, she lifted her lovely eyes to glance at Gao Ze beside her. "You said Pale Silver and Red Cloud appearing together means the Great Demon's seal is weakening. I believe you."
"And some of the places where Heaven's Way sealed the Great Demon ten thousand years ago are in Secret Realms. So whichever Secret Realm the children enter now, there's a chance they'll encounter danger. I've been wondering whether we should cancel the plan to send them into the Secret Realms after the tournament."
"...I thought the same thing at first." Gao Ze's gaze was somber. After a long silence, he sighed. "But while we can protect them for a time, how can we protect them for their entire lives?"
"The Great Demon is coming. If they don't undergo trials, how will they cope with the upheavals ahead?"
"The Secret Realms are the best places to gain experience. They must go."
Hong Yao nodded at his words.
"Then we'll have to see what fate has in store for these children."
With no one helping him out of this predicament, Ning Ke struggled through the meal as though something were stuck in his throat.
At last, everyone rose to return to their own rooms, and Zhuang Yusheng looked at Lou Yunxiao.
"From now on, we'll compete fairly," he said.
Lou Yunxiao didn't answer him, however, and simply followed Ning Ke upstairs.
Zhuang Yusheng narrowed his eyes. "Coward."
He could tell.
Lou Yunxiao felt an unusual possessiveness toward Ning Ke.
And the person Ning Ke had mentioned liking earlier was most likely Lou Yunxiao.
Yet despite being so hostile toward him, Lou Yunxiao had never openly declared, "I like A Ke," the way he had.
So what was he, if not a coward?
"Phew, I'm still not used to handling situations like that." Ning Ke rolled his neck a few times and poured himself some tea.
He poured Lou Yunxiao a cup as well and pushed it over.
Lou Yunxiao didn't touch it. Instead, he asked, "Junior brother, have you ever learned how two men become cultivation partners?"
Pfft-
Ning Ke sprayed out a mouthful of tea. Fortunately, Lou Yunxiao blocked it with an ice wall, or he would have ended up with tea all over his face.
"Cough, cough! Senior brother, why do you suddenly want to learn about that?"
Lou Yunxiao lowered his head, remembering the excitement in his heart and his body's reaction when he had held Ning Ke the night before.
That urge felt unfamiliar to him.
Outwardly, he was restrained and proper, but in truth, he was also a hot-blooded man.
He realized that he harbored an unusual fixation on Ning Ke, selfishness, and... sordid desires.
So he wanted to understand where these thoughts came from.
"I'm just curious."
"Oh, oh, you're curious." Ning Ke breathed a sigh of relief, though his expression remained a little awkward. Fortunately, Lou Yunxiao couldn't see it.
He asked Lou Yunxiao, "Then, senior brother, do you want to know why men fall in love with other men, or how they do... that?"
His voice grew very quiet for the second half of the question. Even he felt embarrassed.
He also silently prayed that Lou Yunxiao was only curious about the first part, and absolutely not the second.
Then he heard his aloof, ethereal senior brother, who used to blush at the slightest thing, utter his answer.
"...I want to know both."
"..."
"Well..." Ning Ke could only brace himself and explain. "There's no difference between a man falling in love with another man and a man falling in love with a woman. It still comes down to the person."
"You like them for who they are. It has nothing to do with whether they're a man or a woman."
"Mm, I understand." Lou Yunxiao nodded, then continued to "stare" fixedly at Ning Ke, making it painfully obvious that he was waiting for an answer to his next question.
"..."
That stare made Ning Ke's scalp prickle. Finally, inspiration struck, and he pulled My Days and Nights with the Daoist Supreme out of his Storage Ring and stuffed it into Lou Yunxiao's hands!
"Senior brother, if you really want to know, you can read this!"
"When you touch it with your fingers, it'll automatically display images in your sea of consciousness!"
Lou Yunxiao was slightly taken aback.
His fingers instinctively brushed over the words on the cover.
He read aloud as the words appeared in his sea of consciousness. "My... Days... and... Nights... with the Daoist Supreme?"
His voice was cool and pleasant.
Yet he was reading such vulgar words.
It sent Ning Ke's blood pressure through the roof!
His toes curled with embarrassment. He felt like the chief criminal responsible for corrupting the upright, wholesome male lead!
"N-never mind! It's fine if you don't learn about this! Senior brother, just give the book back!"
As he spoke, Ning Ke reached to snatch it back, only to discover that Lou Yunxiao's hands were already empty.
He had put the book into his Heaven and Earth Bag a moment earlier.
"Once you've given something away, there's no reason to ask for it back."
Lou Yunxiao pressed his lips together.
A smile blossomed at their corners.
He closed his hand, then opened it again, and a sachet appeared in his palm.
"Junior brother, this is for you."
"A sachet? Did you sew it yourself?" Ning Ke's eyes widened.
"No," Lou Yunxiao said. "I bought it."
"I know you wanted one. But since I'm not the person you love, I got you an ordinary one. I hope you like it."
Ning Ke took the sachet, the corners of his mouth rising higher and higher despite himself.
[Host, did you know? Right now, you look exactly like a young girl in love.]
Ning Ke: ...
He was in a good mood and decided to ignore Xiao Yuan. He didn't bother with the book again either, happily hanging the sachet at his waist instead. His smile never faded.
Two days later, the Sect Tournament began.
The disciples stood in the Arena, lined up by sect.
The Sword Sect stood in the third position, with the Pill Sect on its left and the Buddhist Order on its right.
This arrangement nearly made Zhuang Yusheng cry with frustration.
After all, he desperately wanted to stand next to Ning Ke.
Standing behind Lou Yunxiao, Ning Ke mostly kept his eyes on the Buddhist Order's group of bald heads.
With the sunlight shining down, they looked just like a row of gleaming light bulbs.
At the thought that his next identity would have to look like that too, Ning Ke couldn't help touching his hair and sighing.
Then he noticed that all the boys and girls from the Buddhist Order were looking at him. They huffed angrily and turned their heads away again.
Ning Ke: "..."
Sorry. He really hadn't done it on purpose.
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Three chapters today! Happy May Day, everyone!!
Before you continue