“Master… your disciple was wrong.”
Mo Xuanli had expected this reaction. He had already prepared himself to kneel and beg forgiveness. After all, last night he had completely lost control—as if possessed by some inner demon. The deepest desires buried within him, ones he had never dared to acknowledge, had surged to the surface, and once the chance presented itself… he had done the unthinkable.
“You… what did you do? I was only affected by the balm—that’s why I lost control! You’re my disciple, how could you overstep your position like that? Are you insane? Don’t you feel disgusted?”
Gu Baiqing’s words came out sharp and angry, but halfway through, he froze. From last night until now, he had been furious and shaken—but not… disgusted.
This wasn’t a dream conjured by an illusion, nor a moment of Mo Xuanli’s demonic loss of control, nor the version of him that existed in the spiritual sea when his consciousness was small and innocent.
This was the real Mo Xuanli.
Had his own thinking—his bottom line—already been corroded to this point?
No, no. He wasn’t like that. He wasn’t “bent.” He didn’t have those kinds of thoughts toward Mo Xuanli. It was just—well, he had felt good. He couldn’t deny that. And Mo Xuanli was the person closest to him in this world. What happened was an accident, that’s all. Don’t panic. Don’t panic!
“Master,” Mo Xuanli said, kneeling and bowing low. “It’s all this disciple’s fault. If it will ease your anger, you may hit me again.”
His heart sank. As expected, his master couldn’t accept what had happened under those circumstances. It was disrespectful. No matter what his master said, he would admit his wrongdoing and accept punishment without a word of complaint.
Gu Baiqing, however, was speechless. What now? What could he even say? He took a deep breath. “When I fainted… did you do anything else?”
Just from that alone, his spiritual energy had risen so much. Although his body felt normal, he couldn’t shake the fear that Mo Xuanli, too, might have been affected by the balm. If things had gone too far—if the line had been crossed—there would be no way to undo it.
Mo Xuanli’s pupils trembled. “Master doesn’t remember?”
Gu Baiqing paled. “After the first time, I must have fainted. You…”
Mo Xuanli immediately understood—like a drowning man suddenly breathing in air.
Call him despicable if you want, but now wasn’t the right time to face it. If his master didn’t want to confront what happened, he had no right to force it either. Better to seal that night away for now and wait for the right time.
He quickly said, “I only helped Master twice. That’s how your body recovered.”
“Twice?” Gu Baiqing blinked. Wasn’t it once? Wait… he vaguely remembered—before completely losing consciousness, he might’ve grabbed Mo Xuanli’s hand and told him to continue. That time—it was him who had…
Gu Baiqing’s mind went blank. His memories after the first time were hazy. He only recalled the beginning—nothing about how it ended. He had actually let Mo Xuanli… twice? Heaven help him. Someone please strike him down with lightning!
How was he supposed to scold the other now?
He’d been the one to enjoy it, and yet he’d struck Mo Xuanli hard enough to make him vomit blood afterward. Gu Baiqing, you should just self-destruct right now.
Still, he couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit relieved. If he had acted under the balm’s influence, that was one thing. If Mo Xuanli had initiated a second time on his own—that would’ve been truly terrifying. As it stood, Mo Xuanli had technically done wrong by acting without consent, but his intent had been to help, not to take advantage.
And he himself had been caught in a trap—his own carelessness to blame. He should have recognized the danger the moment the fragrance changed. That balm was something that had appeared in the original text! How could he have failed to guard against it?
Wait—Gu Baiqing suddenly asked, “You… weren’t affected by the balm?”
In the novel, Mo Xuanli had been affected. If he wasn’t now—if he really hadn’t been—then he had done nothing more than help? That sounded suspicious.
Mo Xuanli could only stiffly reply, “No. I only helped Master, that’s all.”
“Enough, don’t repeat it. And I never asked you to do it—it was your own decision, and it made things worse, not better.” Gu Baiqing refused to admit that Mo Xuanli’s actions had brought him relief. He couldn’t allow Mo Xuanli to think that way.
So, in the original version, had Mo Xuanli also lied about this? He hadn’t really been affected by the balm, had he? That made sense—Mo Xuanli was of mixed blood. Anything related to merfolk would be ineffective against demonic lineage. So, with demonic blood, he wouldn’t have been affected at all.
Then the original Mo Xuanli’s scene in Yu Chun’s quarters… was just another case of the “rebellious disciple seducing the master” trope. Of course. That twisted disciple could indulge freely, push things to the extreme, and even knock his master unconscious—all while blaming the balm afterward. It fit him perfectly.
Since Mo Xuanli here hadn’t been influenced, then last night had only been… “clean”—just helping twice. That… could still be rationalized. In ancient times, it wasn’t unheard of for subordinates to physically serve their superiors. Best not to imagine the worst and scare himself.
“Yes, Master’s reprimand is right. This disciple was wrong,” Mo Xuanli said softly, head bowed, admitting fault once more.
“Mo Xuanli, what happened was wrong. It must never happen again. You are to forget it completely—and no third person must ever know. Remember only one thing: I am your master. Engrave the words ‘respect your teacher and honor your path’ into your mind and never forget them.”
Mo Xuanli didn’t quite understand. His master clearly liked him—so why did he keep emphasizing the boundary between them? Was it a test? Or was it his master reminding himself?
Did his master not want him to feel the same way? Why was he so conflicted?
Forget it. Until he was capable of taking responsibility for his own choices, there was no point thinking about it. He could only obey.
“This disciple understands.” Mo Xuanli remained obedient as always, never arguing with his master. That eased Gu Baiqing’s heart a little.
They couldn’t linger on this topic any longer—the air between them was already too thick, too sticky.
“By the way,” Gu Baiqing said after a pause, “Yu Chun…”
“I knocked him out earlier. When he woke up this morning, I sent him away,” Mo Xuanli replied calmly. “I warned him—and told him we aren’t blood-related. He won’t dare use that against us again.”
“He’s been unconscious in this room the whole time?” Gu Baiqing’s expression was odd—it felt eerily similar to déjà vu from the original script.
Mo Xuanli nodded awkwardly. “If Master thinks it’s inappropriate, I’ll go kill him right now.”
“Forget it. He didn’t die by our hands,” Gu Baiqing said. “You… go tend to your wounds. I’ll go find Three Bean. Where did he go?”
“Master, don’t go out—” Mo Xuanli suddenly stood up, but because of his injuries, he staggered. Gu Baiqing instinctively reached out to steady him, yet the instant their hands touched, both of them froze.
Gu Baiqing immediately flung his hand away as if burned—after all, that hand had burned him last night.
Mo Xuanli barely managed to steady himself, pretending nothing had happened. “Master, you’d better wait for Three Bean to return. Last night, your illusion spell on your appearance was dispelled.”
Though he was the one at fault, Mo Xuanli decided it was better to lie than to explain. “It might’ve been affected by the balm’s scent.”
Gu Baiqing quickly looked toward the mirror in the distance—sure enough, it was his true face staring back.
Great. Now he couldn’t leave the room.
But neither did he want to stay in the same room with Mo Xuanli.
Sensing Gu Baiqing’s hesitation, Mo Xuanli said, “I’ll go find a healer nearby, and at the same time check whether Yu Chun is scheming anything in secret. Master, you should summon Three Bean.”
After speaking, Mo Xuanli respectfully took his leave.
Only then did Gu Baiqing finally breathe out and sit down cross-legged to meditate, trying to calm himself. From now on, he must appear composed and unruffled. If he kept reacting so nervously, it would only remind them both of what had happened. He needed to handle this like an elder—calm, poised, dignified.
But no matter how he tried to hypnotize himself, the memory of what had just happened was far too explosive to pretend it hadn’t.
Now, for the first time, Gu Baiqing realized that no matter what ridiculous or involuntary fantasies had flashed through his mind before, once compared to the real thing—even something as simple as touching hands—he couldn’t bear it. He’d always been gentle and easy to get along with, but never had anyone come this close to him. It left him completely at a loss.
He could still recall the details from the beginning—Mo Xuanli’s touch had been clumsy, yet it had made him feel… comfortable. Too comfortable… Ah! No, stop thinking about it—his body was heating up again.
Gu Baiqing pressed his lips together, about to sigh, when he suddenly froze. Strange… He hadn’t felt it before, but now the corners of his mouth and the tip of his tongue felt faintly sore and swollen.
His mind was just about to wander there when a lazy yawn came from the doorway.
“Master, you called me? Huh—ah! Your face—what happened to your face?” Three Bean exclaimed.
Gu Baiqing was jolted back to his senses, the earlier thoughts flying out of his head. “Quick, cast the illusion!” he ordered.
The lightning-mark on his face was far too distinctive—it would easily reveal his identity.
Gu Baiqing lent Three Bean some spiritual power, and Three Bean hurried to cast the illusion spell before asking, “What happened?”
“An accident,” Gu Baiqing replied curtly. “By the way, where were you last night?”
If Three Bean had been around, things might have gone differently. Though, judging by the little cat’s usefulness… maybe not.
“Last night, Xuanli sent me to find the merfolk, but halfway there I ran into that girl Junhua…” Three Bean began explaining.
“You two came back halfway?” Gu Baiqing’s expression stiffened.
“Yeah. We saw the lights were out, so we didn’t look for you anymore. Oh, and Junhua said there was some merfolk balm—bet that idiot was trying to harm you two. Are you alright? Did anything—” Three Bean asked worriedly.
“What? No! Nothing happened. We beat that guy up, then rested for a bit,” Gu Baiqing cut in quickly. Since Three Bean hadn’t noticed anything strange, he definitely couldn’t dig his own grave now. He changed the subject at once. “Anyway, what did you two do afterward?”
Three Bean blinked. He’d wanted to explain about the merfolk balm’s effects to put his master at ease, but seeing that Gu Baiqing seemed completely unconcerned, he decided to drop it. After all, that stuff didn’t really matter to this master-disciple pair—and bringing it up would just make things awkward.
“Speaking of last night, it was quite a scene,” Three Bean began—
Just then, Mo Xuanli returned.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Hearing his voice, Gu Baiqing quickly steadied his expression and looked up calmly. Mo Xuanli had not come back empty-handed—he was carrying breakfast, the very dishes Gu Baiqing had mentioned wanting the day before. Despite the morning’s awkwardness, the man had still remembered. Such a dutiful disciple. Gu Baiqing felt a flicker of guilt and asked, “How’s your injury?”
Mo Xuanli saw that familiar serene expression and felt a faint twinge of disappointment, but he smiled. “It’s nothing.”
“And Yu Chun?”
“He’s recuperating in his courtyard. When others went to check on him, he only said he’d suffered a deviation during cultivation—he didn’t try to cause us trouble.”
As Mo Xuanli said this, his gaze darkened. When he’d gone there earlier, Yu Chun’s courtyard had been full of young, handsome men—and one of them… bore a faint resemblance to his master’s disguised form.
A cold light flickered in Mo Xuanli’s eyes.
Gu Baiqing, maintaining a calm demeanor, nodded slightly and turned to Three Bean. “Go on. What happened?”
“Last night, that girl and I tried to find the merfolk here. She’d been here before—apparently, she entered this place to look for one of her kin. It seems more and more merfolk have been disappearing lately,” Three Bean explained. “Merfolk aren’t usually the communal type—they often wander far into the sea or go off to cultivate for years. But lately, too many have gone missing.”
Mo Xuanli nodded. “Beast-Taming Manor is the largest immortal sect at Longan Port and the only power that controls this region. If merfolk are disappearing frequently, it’s natural she’d suspect them first—and it turns out she was right. Merfolk wouldn’t keep running into trouble so often unless it was organized trafficking. Still, she’s far too reckless—charging out here alone like that is downright foolhardy.”
Three Bean nodded, then immediately shook his head. “She’s not the only one!”
Mo Xuanli looked over in surprise, while Gu Baiqing already had a hunch.
Three Bean went on excitedly, “Last night we searched half the night without making any progress. There were barriers and arrays everywhere—every trace of spiritual aura was masked, and we couldn’t get close. Just when we were completely out of options, we ran into another merfolk—a delicate-looking young man. He too was searching for his kin.”
“There’s actually another one? And he wasn’t discovered?” Mo Xuanli said in surprise.
Gu Baiqing felt a headache coming on. As expected…
Three Bean continued eagerly, “And he’s Junhua’s younger brother! I heard him call her ‘Second Sister.’ But the moment he saw her, he ran off—it didn’t seem like they planned to come together. Junhua was furious and caught him on the spot. To avoid getting beaten, the boy quickly told her about the clues he’d found. Turns out, he actually had a way to get through some of the barriers and arrays—and he really led us to where the merfolk were being kept.”
“There’s a place inside Beast-Taming Manor where dozens of merfolk are imprisoned. The boy had found traces earlier and went last night to confirm. Honestly, he looks soft and timid, but he’s got brains. He can even find weak points in the formations to let us in.”
“But just as we found the captured merfolk, that boy ran off again while we weren’t paying attention. He said the rest was beyond his ability and left it to Junhua to handle. Tell me—aren’t those siblings strange? Going to rescue people but not even staying together.”
Mo Xuanli was about to speak when he suddenly looked toward the door.
Gu Baiqing also turned his gaze that way—and saw Junhua, face dark with anger, standing at the entrance.
“I have something to tell you.”
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