Wasn't He Supposed to Be Cannon Fodder?

The air froze.

Yun Qing's hand remained steady as a rock around the soup bowl. As the Radiant Sun pressure aimed at him neared his body, it vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea, quietly dissolved by the all-embracing Chaos Aura.

He was not angered by the sudden rebuke. His Double Pupils lifted calmly, piercing the violent currents of energy swirling around Yun Huang. With those eyes, he could always see a little more than others.

Rage, frustration, agitation, and a trace of chagrin that even its owner had not noticed?

Yun Qing understood. Rather than taking out his frustration over the formation on someone else, the young lord was being awkward.

Under Yun Huang's icy gaze, Yun Qing advanced instead of retreating, carrying the bowl of soup forward.

Then he raised his free left hand, gathered a wisp of spiritual power at his fingertips, and lightly touched the dim formation disc above.

"Young lord," he said, as gentle as ever, as though those cold words had never reached his ears, "the connection here seems a little too rigid."

"Star Spiral and Celestial Pivot should flow seamlessly into each other. Pursuing rigidity alone will only make them more likely to lose their balance at the final moment. Blazing Sun is indeed fierce, but once it truly begins to circulate, it need not leave no room for adjustment. What is rigid to the extreme breaks easily. Why not try introducing three parts yielding force, like the pull of the tides? Perhaps..."

As he spoke, Yun Qing traced lines in the air, weaving threads of spiritual power imbued with the properties of Chaos into the phantom formation disc.

The previously lifeless Formation Disc gave a faint tremor. Several runes that had been clashing actually steadied for an instant. Though it was still far from becoming a complete formation, the deadlock had been broken.

Yun Huang's gaze sharpened slightly and immediately returned to the Formation Disc. His talent was unparalleled; a single hint was enough for him to grasp the crucial point. The problem that had troubled him for days had been laid bare by Yun Qing with such effortless ease.

Yet what left him momentarily speechless was Yun Qing's attitude. In the end, the other man had preserved his dignity.

Yun Huang fell silent for a moment. He had truly lost his composure today.

"You..."

Yun Qing continued to smile. Seeing his anger ease a little, he finally set the Iceheart Soul-Calming Soup beside the desk and said gently, "Working on formations taxes the mind. Steady yourself first, young lord. There is no hurry to continue. The way through is already clear. After a brief rest to regulate your breath, success will surely follow."

Yun Huang looked at the soup, then at Yun Qing. At last, he picked it up and drained it in one go. His restless sea of consciousness slowly settled.

Setting down the bowl, Yun Huang gave Yun Qing a complicated look, then suddenly spoke, his voice a little less cold. "You do have some discernment when it comes to formations."

"I merely rely on these eyes to see a little more closely than others." Yun Qing remained perfectly at ease, his Double Pupils curving with his smile and a rare hint of teasing.

Yun Huang watched him, his gaze flickering slightly, before hastily turning his attention back to the formation diagram. He began working through it according to Yun Qing's advice, and indeed, everything flowed much more smoothly.

By the time Yun Huang finished working through the final section, stars filled the sky outside. Spiritual mist drifted over the gilded roof ridge of the Perching Phoenix Hall, lending the night an even deeper stillness.

Yun Qing bowed, the hem of his robes brushing the hall's jade tiles. "Young lord, if you have no further instructions, I will take my leave."

Yun Huang did not look up. Toying with a strand of Radiant Sun spiritual energy between his fingertips, he said indifferently, "The Serenity Courtyard has been prepared for you. For this month, you will attend me day and night, ready whenever you are summoned."

"Well..."

The unfailingly composed Yun Qing faltered for once.

The Serenity Courtyard lay behind the eastern side of the Perching Phoenix Hall complex. It was an elegant, self-contained little courtyard, planted with plenty of heart-cleansing vine, the principal material used in the Yun Clan's Discipline Whip.

More importantly, it was barely a hundred paces from Yun Huang's sleeping quarters.

For cultivators like them, with keen senses and perceptive souls, those hundred paces were... truly little different from sharing a hall.

Only upon seeing him at a loss for words did Yun Huang look up, his tone indifferent. "Elder brother... do you object?"

That softly uttered "elder brother" held no particular emotion, yet somehow made answering him difficult.

"I would not dare. I accept your command." Yun Qing immediately lowered his head in assent. His expression remained unchanged, but waves had already risen in his heart.

Yun Huang's actions seemed like a warning, yet allowing him to remain "beside his own bed" was also a subtle sign of greater trust and closeness, was it not?

A thin layer of frost covered the old stone path, and his footsteps rang crisp and clear upon it. The attendant guiding him remained silent all the way, withdrawing after escorting Yun Qing to the Serenity Courtyard's gate.

Looking at the seemingly ordinary gate, Yun Qing had already prepared himself for trouble.

"A fallen young master, little better than a servant. What a precarious situation." He teased himself, yet his Double Pupils held not a trace of fear. Instead, a faint eagerness stirred within them.

According to the conventions of certain legendary tales from his previous life, this was when some vicious servant who fawned on the mighty and trampled the lowly, or some fool eager to prove his loyalty, ought to jump out and make trouble, heedless of Yun Qing's status and strength.

Interesting. The wheel of fortune turns. Let me have a taste of how those protagonists play the pig to devour the tiger, turning the tables and slapping faces.

Nineteen years of arduous cultivation in the Primordial Chaos Ancient Cave had tempered even his lively nature into the weight and steadiness of a mountain. Fortunately, the second elder who guarded his path was a humorous man, allowing him to retain this playful streak even now.

Reality, however, gave him a gentle, resounding slap.

The Serenity Courtyard's furnishings were exceptionally refined; not a single table or chair was ordinary. The desk, crafted from thousand-year-old black ironwood, was solid and imposing, while the Cloudstep Ink Peach on the windowsill breathed pure spiritual energy in and out. Every furnishing and cultivation resource had been supplied according to the standards for the Yun Clan's "eldest young master," without the slightest withholding or deficiency. They were even somewhat finer than his allotment at the Heaven-Supporting Hall.

Every steward and servant who came to deliver supplies or messages was respectful and impeccable in courtesy. None slighted him or spoke dismissively because he was "under punishment," nor did any curry favor with the powerful by making trouble or testing him.

A delicate-featured steward hurried forward and bowed to Yun Qing, his voice respectful. "My respects, eldest young master. The young lord sent word that he may have failed to consider matters properly earlier today. He instructed us to give you this, and also said that you need only arrive at the Perching Phoenix Palace at the hour of the hare tomorrow." As he spoke, he presented an antique-style food box with both hands.

Yun Qing nodded slightly and accepted the box. Watching the steward retreat respectfully, he chuckled inwardly. Yun Huang's actual words must have been something like, "Bestow this on him. Tell him to come at the hour of the hare tomorrow." Rephrased by the steward, however, they had become considerably more tactful.

This young lord truly ruled his subordinates with strict discipline. Even though he had openly adopted a posture of "making things difficult" for Yun Qing, those beneath him did not dare flatter the favored and trample the disgraced.

Yun Qing sighed inwardly. His little hope of "slapping a wicked servant's face" had utterly fallen through.

"It seems those scenes from my previous life's storybooks, where people trampled the lowly and fawned on the mighty, could never play out under Yun Huang." He could not tell whether he felt more disappointed or impressed.

This was an ancient Aristocratic Clan, after all. Where would he find a truly blind fool?

That being so,

If he wanted to secure a place beside this reincarnated Immortal Emperor, he could only rely on genuine worth and ability.

"This world isn't one of my previous life's novels, after all..."

Gazing at the bright moon outside the window, enveloped in the faint scent of vines drifting through the courtyard, Yun Qing found himself, for once, mourning spring and grieving autumn. Having arrived alone in another world, he suddenly understood a little of the loneliness and desolation Yun Huang hid in the blazing sun's shadow.

Wait.

"Something's wrong!"