Chapter 39: Greedy Ambition

Song Qingshi had never seen An Long like this. He was a little overwhelmed, clueless as to what to do. After he removed all the poison, he spent an hour acting as a treasured teddy bear. He didn’t dare speak or move and finally he was reluctantly let go.

The Luminous Dragon was not injured but it was thoroughly exhausted from excessive exertion. He asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of raw eggs as food for the Luminous Dragon. He then repeatedly warned An Long not to drink alcohol; even medicinal liquor was not allowed.

When he returned to Fuling Palace, it was already midnight.

His newly-recovered body was tired; his heart was also tired.

Yue Wuhuan was sitting on the steps of Fuling Palace, waiting for him. Seeing his appearance, he was stunned and didn’t say anything.

“Were you waiting for me?” Song Qingshi was a little happy when he saw him, but it was a pity that his whole body was smeared with An Long’s mud. The cleaning spell couldn’t get rid of the smell of the swamp. He just wanted to take a bath.

Yue Wuhuan took a fresh unlined robe for him and sent it to the bathroom door.

Song Qingshi was soaked in the warm hot springs, thinking about how An Long had looked and what he’d said and done today. In his heart, he felt a little perplexed.

It couldn’t be that An Long likes him, right?

Song Qingshi quickly gave up this absurd conjecture. Although he was no expert at relationships between friends;?he might not have seen pigs running but he has eaten pork. His sister in the other world was a goddess-level?Baifumei, the line of suitors who came to court her could take up several whole streets. Everyone employed all sorts of gimmicks to win her favor. Some even tried to get to her through him, giving him all sorts of books and practice exams, begging him to put in a good word for them.

How could there be such a chaotic and infuriating wooing method like An Long’s?

This was obviously the bad-friend model that everyone talks about, right?

His brothers in school were also a lot more troublesome than this. They hooked arms around each other’s shoulders, hugged each other, cursed at each other, gave each other terrible nicknames, drank together, soaked in public bath together; he even heard that they would jeer and ridicule each other.. And somehow, it hasn’t prevented them from finding girlfriends at all. And they were different in front of their girlfriends, each becoming more well-behaved and thoughtful than the other.

More than five hundred years ago, every time he was kidnapped by An Long to go out to play, An Long would always be first to find a beautiful woman. He would whistle to attract the attention of the beautiful woman and he would tell him to come and watch, saying he’ll teach him how to seduce a woman.?He was not interested in these things and had refused many times. An Long, though, still kept tirelessly doing these foolish things. What ‘pure and gentle, sexy and enchanting’; what ‘delicate and lovely, dignified and lofty’; what ‘exotic bearing and classical grace’; what ‘daughter of a noble house,?jewel of wind and dust‘ ..

Thanks to An Long, he has seen an unprecedented number of beautiful women.

There was no one who disliked beautiful things.

Song Qingshi wasn’t against the appreciation of beautiful things. But one had to use respectful eyes to look. You must treat them with due respect. He absolutely hadn’t wanted to be taken as a lecher by these beautiful women!?He had wanted even less to be treated by these beauties as An Long’s accomplice because of An Long’s shameful actions, being chased down the street by these ladies up in arms and him not daring to fight back because he was in the wrong!

This incident will always rank first in the most shameful things in his life.

He couldn’t get rid of his anger even when he beat An Long’s dog head into a pig head.

An Long still hadn’t known to repent and asked cheerfully, “You don’t like women. Is it possible that you like men?”

Song Qingshi was dumbfounded by his question and he pondered over it for a long time. However, he was obsessed with cultivating and research. He was uninterested in self-indulgence and didn’t understand the feeling of being roused by desire. He never thought about his own orientation. How could he possibly know the answer to this question??He tried to draw an outline of his type in his mind but he could only draw a blank.

He pondered for a long while and found that An Long has once again made his thinking grow crooked. He was someone who was going to cultivate the Way of the Heartless. What was he doing thinking of this kind of thing?

An Long wouldn’t give up and kept asking, “What kind of man do you like? Men from our Western Forest are very good to their Daoist companions. Don’t look at how fierce we appear on the outside. In fact, we’re the henpecked sort. If she makes us go east, we would never go west. If she makes us kneel on the washboard, we would never dare kneel down on the nail board.. Do you want to think it over? I’ll find a good one for you. I guarantee he’ll be very obedient.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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An Long knew that he was in the wrong and he behaved for a long period after that.

Later, he successfully formed his Nascent Soul and cultivated the Way of the Heartless.

The Way of the Heartless didn’t actually affect life and friendship. It simply cut off passions and abstained from desires; concentrating on seeking the Way, freeing one from any worries about love.?After Song Qingshi cultivated the Way of the Heartless, he never again suffered from the troubles of the?heart demon. There were no more bottlenecks on his road to cultivation and he made progress at lightning speed. Obviously, his choice at the time had been the right one. This was the Way that suited him best.

An Long, however, lost his temper like crazy. He cursed out a lot of words that were unpleasant to hear, slammed the door and left.

Song Qingshi was angry about this for a long time.

When his anger subsided, he was a little worried. He asked Ye Lin to inquire about any news of him. However, Ye Lin reported that An Long was outside?toying with flowers and grass; he spent his days very happily. After the two finally reconciled and after much difficulty, resumed correspondence, he even dared to provoke numerous immortal ladies and female cultivators to come make trouble at the gate of the Medicine King’s Valley. It added chaos to his research and he was so angry that he wanted to hit someone. He was simply a thoughtless, straight-man bastard!

..

Song Qingshi got up from the hot spring. He felt that he was thinking too much!

How could An Long abandon the allure of beautiful women? And for dull and boring man like him??He also wasn’t a beauty like Yue Wuhuan. Was there something wrong with his mind?

It was most probably that his self-esteem had been hurt by being severely injured by a Foundation Building cultivator and he was now too embarrassed to say it and so he was just feeling depressed.

If he were to put himself in his shoes, if he had lost out on an exam to a younger junior brother, he too would feel so depressed, he would want to cry.

He’ll be a little gentler to An Long during this time.? He won’t carelessly burn him. He’ll let him cool his temper and he’ll find a way to solve the issue of the Bone Intoxication

Song Qingshi straightened out the logic in his mind and got up from the hot spring. He put on his unlined robe and walked out of the bathroom, prepared to go back to his room to rest.

Yue Wuhuan had been waiting outside the door early on. He looked for a long moment and suddenly stretched out his hand and wiped two unfaded tooth marks on Song Qingshi’s?neck. He said awkwardly, “It’s easy to leave marks on Master’s body. It can’t be wiped off. I’m afraid you might be made fun of if you go out like this..”

“I’ll apply medicine on it later. It should be gone by tomorrow.” Song Qingshi promised, feeling depressed. “That dog of a brute, he’s like this every time he loses his temper. In the future, he will definitely not be allowed to bite indiscriminately.”

Yue Wuhuan asked, “An Xianzun likes to bite people?”

“Yes. It’s nothing,” Song Qingshi couldn’t help ridiculing him. “You haven’t seen him go mad and bite off an enemy’s neck..”

Yue Wuhuan smiled and softly hummed in agreement. He supported him to walk slowly back to the room. He controlled the Blood King Vine to retrieve the ointment to remove bruises and then gently smeared a thick layer on the bite mark. The mark was completely covered before he stopped. He then carefully massaged Song Qingshi’s stiff limbs.

He had already taken off his golden mask and under the light of the luminous beads, his beautiful phoenix eyes were concealed with a dark luster.? The corners of his mouth were tightly pursed together. After hesitating for a long time, he lowered his head and slowly said, “It was wrong of me to use the Bone Intoxication in the Poisonous Fog Array. It was wrong of me not to say anything even though I knew An Xianzun was poisoned. Provoking An Xianzun and implicating Master in this trouble was even more wrong of..”

Song Qingshi immediately refuted. “It’s not your fault.”

Although the fight between the two was caused by a misunderstanding, fights in the immortal realm were always a matter of life and death. What sense was there to admit fault for this kind of thing??And under An Long’s violent attacks, how could Yue Wuhuan possibly have retreated unscathed??Only after he had woken up, he saw that Yue Wuhuan was safe and sound, so he didn’t think much about it.

Thinking of this, he suddenly had a realization and hurriedly examined Yue Wuhuan’s body with his mental probe. As a result, he found a lot of injuries that had yet to fully recover, as well as traces of old wounds that had already completely healed. Especially eye-catching were those traces where something had bored in through his leg and wound along his meridian, snaking towards his heart. This was obviously the work of An Long’s Heart-Eater Gu.

The Heart-Eater Gu was small in size, moved extremely quickly. It was hard to pin down its tracks and it left you no time to use anesthetics.

At the moment the Gu invades, you need to act decisively. You will need to cut open your body with your own hands, open up your meridians little by little, and fish it out.?If you hesitate even for a moment or if you were struck with bad luck and allowed the Heart-Eater Gu to crawl to your heart, you will be met with an even more painful way to die.

This was one of An Long’s cruelest Gu’s. It may seem like this Gu leaves you hope to escape with your life, but very few cultivators actually survive.

Yue Wuhuan refused to say anything.

Song Qingshi almost exploded with anger. He wanted to tear that Alaskan Malamute to pieces. He had just stood up when he remembered the even crueler Bone Intoxication on An Long’s body. His mind cleared up once again. He sat back down and took two deep breaths. He calmed his angry mood and tried to be rational, pondering the problem.

Bone Intoxication and the Heart-Eater Gu, neither was something that could be forgiven. They could now be regarded as mortal enemies.

In order to save him, a deep misunderstanding occurred between the two. They attacked each other, causing the current situation..

Song Qingshi did a round of reflection and found that the main culprit was he himself. Now, he was feeling a bit guilty.

He looked at Yue Wuhuan and thought about An Long. He had never faced such a complicated situation before. He felt more pained than when he had been struck by lightning. He wished that he could take these two things onto himself and have that be the end of the matter.

The little angel’s well-behaved and sensible appearance made him want to be partial towards him.

But, no..

If he forcibly shielded his faults, An Long will be even more furious and will never let the matter go. If news of this matter spreads, that he master of the Myriad Gu Sect had been grievously harmed, it would be a dispute between the sects for their honor and dignity. This matter can no longer be measured by right or wrong.?It will be even more unfavorable for Yue Wuhuan. Therefore, this will be used only as a last resort.?It would be better to find a way to calm An Long’s anger and get him to give up pursuing this matter and let this matter remain secret.?Then he would keep the two apart and use time to dilute everything..

But what about the grievance that this little angel suffered?

Yue Wuhuan saw through his troubles and softly comforted him, “Master, there is no need worry. Wuhuan will admit his error to An Xianzun and ask for punishment, bringing an end to this matter.”

Song Qingshi immediately refused. “No! You’re not at fault. There’s no need for you to beg for forgiveness!”

He knew how ruthless An Long was towards people he found displeasing. He can’t let the little angel suffer this grievance.

Yue Wuhuan lowered his head. He tucked his slightly wavy hair behind his ear. He dropped his phoenix eyes, gently kissed the palm of his left hand. He said sincerely, “Your troubles are my fault.”

Song Qingshi felt as though his palm had been brushed by a feather. It tickled and his ears were a little hot for some reason. Fortunately, his long hair hung down and covered it.?He retracted his hand uneasily. The beating of his heart went slightly disordered. He insisted, “You’re not at fault.”

Yue Wuhuan smiled. “You can admit to a mistake even if you’re not at fault. I’m used to this kind of thing.”

When he was at Golden Phoenix Manor, he had to admit his mistakes no matter what he did. Even if he had been forcibly held, he had to kneel down, admit his mistakes and be punished.

Now he could no longer tell what was good and what was evil, what was right and what was wrong. Strong was right, weak was wrong; living was even more right, dying was even more wrong. In order to achieve one’s goal, there was no means that could not be used. .

He can kill anyone and he can also offer up an apology to anyone.

He couldn’t feel any difference between the two..

Everyone said that his mental state was abnormal and that he was a lunatic.

He had killed everyone in the Medicine King’s Valley who knew he was a lunatic and couldn’t control their mouths.

Hush. He must hide it. How bad would it be if he were discovered by the Master?

He can lock the demon of desire in his heart. He can restrain the crazy thoughts in his mind. Naturally, he can put up with this dirty wolf, hide his murderous intent into the darkness and cover it up with a smile. He can pretend to be harmless and then wait for the right opportunity. He wants too many things, so he mustn’t be too eager to act. He must slowly weave the net, slowly laying out preparation, never showing his true colors before the prey completely falls into the trap.

When he looked at Song Qing with a smile, his eyes were full of doting tenderness..

“Wuhuan,” Song Qingshi was so moved by the way he looked at him. He thought for a long time before he said, “You don’t need to do these things for me. I am your master, although..I am an incompetent master who knows nothing except medical skills and research and one who hasn’t done anything worth presenting. I was even so irresponsible as to abandon you for ten years, causing you a lot of suffering.”

Yue Wuhuan immediately cut him off. “No, this is because you blocked the Heavenly Tribulation for me..”

Song Qingshi knew that he was clumsy with his words. Afraid that he wouldn’t be able to out-speak him, he stretched out his hand and blocked his mouth. Unyielding, he said, “It is the master’s responsibility to protect his disciple! It’s because I didn’t properly anticipate your Foundation Building crisis. I didn’t make thorough preparations. I hadn’t been able to guage the strength of the Heavenly Tribulation and I wasn’t able to adjust my Nascent Soul well and I made my move in a flurry, which led to being seriously injured and falling into a coma.”

Yue Wuhuan was stunned by him. When that warm palm touched his lips, it brought a secret faint joy.

Seeing him honestly keeping quiet, Song Qingshi smiled with satisfaction. “Wuhuan, let me resolve this matter.”

It was time for him to climb out of the ivory tower and learn how to deal with complicated interpersonal relationships.

Yue Wuhuan looked at him for a while and said, voice hoarse, “Okay.”

He put down the blue silk canopy screen for Song Qingshi and extinguished the luminous beads. He put on the mask once again, got up to take his leave.

Within the dark canopied bed, a shy voice came from under the quilt.

“Wuhuan, don’t be afraid, I.. will do everything to protect you..”

He kniew that it will be difficult to get Yue Wuhuan to get rid of the shackles of the past and find happiness, but he will do his utmost best and do it bit by bit.

His intelligence might not be first-rate and he wasn’t the best when it came to EQ. He was also a bit clumsy when communicating..

However, no matter how difficult the problem was, he would never give up. No matter how many times he fails, he still has to find the correct answer.

Yue Wuhuan looked at the figure in the canopied bed. He had accompany this body day and night, bathed it and changed its bandages. Every contour of every part of his body, the sensation of every inch of his skin, have already been engraved in his mind. There was no need to witness it with his own eyes. He can easily imagine how alluring the person behind the curtain was. He used the Emotion Locking Gu to forcibly suppress the crazily burning desire in his body. In contrast, his voice was extremely soft and steady, “I know.”

The long red vine slowly stretched into the canopied bed, gently wrapping around his pale ankle, like a rope that could easily be loosened.

“Good night. Let it accompany you. It’s difficult for you to move about right now. If you need to summon me, you can just pull this vine.” Yue Wuhuan couldn’t help but indulge his greed for a while. This was his most precious stone, pure and flawless. He must watch it closely, guard it, let no one take it from his arms.

The author has something to say:

Because my characters are comparatively controversial, I’d like to say a few words.

First of all, don’t just say that the author doesn’t understand Wuhuan as a character. His psychological problems are very complicated — he has a highly-retentive memory, he’s clever and perceptive, prideful, a perfectionist, has strong desire for control, serious mysophobia, etc., taken together, they cause a variety of serious mental illnesses (at the same time, its part of his charm). If I was even slightly off in my understanding and control of his character, the Wuhuan who would have appeared would no longer be the one you’ve seen and liked.

Love and doting affection might resolve the psychological trauma of ordinary people.

This is not possible for Wuhuan. I have already given the answer in the chapter regarding his fantasy. Right now, doting affection will only cause him suffering when he is sober and awake. The love given by Qingshi will only make him feel inferior and he will be trapped in the cage that is the Medicine King’s Valley. He will pretend to have recovered. He will carefully play the role of a happy character that everyone wants to see.?(Patients with mental illness hide all their symptoms, which represents a refusal to be treated.)

The title of the first volume is First Meeting. It’s just the preliminary treatment for his physical wounds and giving him a reason to stop trying to kill himself.

The title of the second volume is Madness. It is necessary to expand everyone’s psychological problems to the largest extent and to expose their hidden problems, igniting them all.

Only when the sea of ??blood and mountain of corpses is initiated and Wuhuan’s unbridled hatred completely released, allowing his mentality to change, will the real road to redemption begin. (Wuhuan in that period was super liked by all my friends who had read the spoiler outline. The plot would also gradually become sweeter.)

Qingshi’s psychological problems will also be gradually revealed in the second volume.

An Long is an important trigger. His feelings are by no means simply to create some hellish scene or to have a lady-killer character design. I don’t like to making meaningless set ups. Every step was done thinking about how the next few steps will be. (It can’t be helped that I write slowly.) (Although the unrequited love is miserable, there is no possibility of multiple angles in the story.) (An Long’s final ending is still good though so don’t worry too much.)

In all psychotherapy, the doctor is only an aid and ultimately it is necessary for the patient to seek his own cure and to stand up by himself.

So the story has to go til the end to solve all the problems.

If this really bothers you, you can choose to abandon this story, or wait until the end of the story to read the final answer.