At that moment in Taixu Hall, under Zong Lei’s lead, the topic had finally shifted toward the campaign against the demon clan. Just as emotions were heating up, a deafening rumble suddenly echoed from afar, as though the heavens themselves were shaking. A violent demonic aura surged forth, rolling in with thick black smoke.
Everyone was jolted as if drenched in cold water.
Then someone shouted, “The demon clan is coming!”
All eyes turned toward the source of the smoke, it was coming from the recently sealed Constellation Island.
Overhead, a teleportation array like the one from the Void Spirit Secret Realm had appeared, billowing dense black smoke as it continuously transported demons over.
Zong Lei hadn’t expected the demons to attack at this moment and immediately began giving orders. The cultivators quickly took defensive positions.
A portion of them stayed behind to guard the captured demons, while the rest prepared for battle. The strongest among them charged toward the frontlines without hesitation.
Their blood was already running hot from earlier speeches, this was the core fighting force of the cultivation world. None of them flinched; all were eager to strike first.
Ao Hang, carrying Three Bean, sensed the demonic aura at once and rushed to find Mo Xuanli and Gu Baiqing, only to realize the two were in the opposite direction, likely unaware of what was happening outside.
Inside the room, Gu Baiqing was startled by the raw anguish on Mo Xuanli’s face, it was like an invisible needle pricked his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Why did it feel like he was the one being heartless? But he truly didn’t understand what Mo Xuanli was talking about. He had gone out of his way to avoid any possible misunderstanding. Besides, wasn’t this world supposed to be straight? Mo Xuanli wasn’t even supposed to like men!
“You… what are you talking about? I’ve always treated you as my disciple, only ever wanting to teach you well. Why would you think otherwise?” Gu Baiqing was utterly at a loss. How had this turned into such a mess? When had he ever given Mo Xuanli romantic hints or affection? Had he failed to maintain proper boundaries as a teacher? But this wasn’t one of those master-disciple romance stories, how could things have gone so far?
“Misunderstanding? You’re calling it a misunderstanding?” Mo Xuanli’s voice trembled, eyes glassy with tears. He lunged again, this time knocking Gu Baiqing onto the bed and clutching him tightly.
Such reckless behavior was, of course, intolerable. Gu Baiqing shoved him off and snapped, “Enough, Mo Xuanli! If there’s a misunderstanding, we can talk about it calmly. What kind of behavior is this?”
Mo Xuanli’s body trembled. He slowly sat up, though their lower bodies were still pressed dangerously close.
Gu Baiqing pretended not to notice, forcing his gaze upward, meeting Mo Xuanli’s fierce yet pained eyes.
“You want to deny it? You want to deny the closeness we shared? What kind of master-disciple relationship crosses that line? We’ve already done so much, how can you act like nothing happened?”
Gu Baiqing’s eyes flickered. Wait… he remembers? The incident from when he’d lost control under demonic influence?
His heart sank. If that’s what Mo Xuanli was referring to, then this was truly impossible to explain.
“What closeness? The only time anything happened was that incident at the Beast-Taming Manor, when someone used that incense on us and you lost control!” Gu Baiqing said cautiously.
Mo Xuanli froze. “No… there were… several times. I may not remember them all, but when I went into deviation, I…”
In truth, he didn’t remember much at all. Most of what he believed had happened came from piecing together hints afterward, his rational mind and emotions were in conflict, but he had wanted to believe it was real. Even when the evidence was flimsy, even when everything was based on his own assumptions, he had chosen to trust his feelings.
But now…
“What do you actually remember? Did we truly cross that line between master and disciple? Did anything really happen?”
Mo Xuanli’s pupils trembled, uncertainty clouding his face.
He had always revered Gu Baiqing. If it was all his imagination, then…
A stubborn tear slipped free again, landing on Gu Baiqing’s chin. And in that moment, Gu Baiqing finally understood.
Gu Baiqing frowned slightly. “So all of this, these misunderstandings, came from your own overthinking?” But as he said it, a strange feeling crept into his chest. If Mo Xuanli were to deny it, if he were to say none of this came from confusion, and that he truly liked his master then what was he supposed to do?
Gu Baiqing’s heartbeat quickened. He watched Mo Xuanli’s face closely, searching for even the slightest shift in expression that might reveal an answer.
But then Mo Xuanli spoke. “Even if everything was my misunderstanding, Master does like me, doesn’t he? Long ago, even when you still acted cold toward me, in the Jade Healing Pool of Zixiao Sect, when we bathed together in medicine, you fantasized about me, didn’t you? And in the Void Spirit Secret Realm, didn’t you sneak to my bedside, hold my hand, and sleep beside me the whole night? There were many little touches like that.”
As Mo Xuanli spoke, his eyes suddenly lit up, full of conviction. “Gu Baiqing, don’t tell me all of that was fake.”
The shock of hearing his disciple call him by name was nothing compared to what he had just said.
He, he knew?
This wasn’t something that could be explained away even if time reversed itself.
Still, Gu Baiqing had to try. He couldn’t let Mo Xuanli keep misunderstanding like this.
Under the intense glow in Mo Xuanli’s eyes, Gu Baiqing forced himself to stay calm and explained, “My spiritual energy was unstable at the time. Later, I discovered that any physical contact with you could temporarily restore my spiritual power. So those times I touched you, it was an experiment, to prepare for emergencies in the future.”
He couldn’t bear to look at Mo Xuanli’s face as it stiffened, like a sheet of thin ice cracking apart under pressure.
“I should have told you,” Gu Baiqing went on softly. “But I was still testing the effects myself. I planned to explain everything once I was certain…” He paused. Mo Xuanli’s gaze was still fixed on him, demanding the rest. “As for the Jade Healing Pool…”
Mo Xuanli’s voice was hoarse, like someone clinging to the last thread of hope while feverish. “Don’t try to lie to me about that, I saw it myself. Ao Hang’s artifact could show a person’s thoughts. I saw what you were thinking. At least in that moment, you were thinking of me, weren’t you? You had those kinds of thoughts about me. Don’t say you didn’t, I won’t believe it.”
If the atmosphere hadn’t been so heavy, Gu Baiqing would have flushed red in embarrassment. Right now, though, he only felt exhausted.
“What you saw was real…” Gu Baiqing admitted.
Mo Xuanli’s face brightened with sudden hope.
But Gu Baiqing’s expression only grew darker. He finally understood some things.
“At that time,” he said, “I had just realized that touching you could help restore my power. So… I thought of another possibility.”
Mo Xuanli was sharp; the moment he heard that, he understood. It was as if he had just been dragged out of a swamp, only to be kicked straight into a pit of fire.
“You wanted… to dual cultivate with me?”
For the first time, Mo Xuanli realized that even the word dual cultivation could feel like a blade driven into one’s heart.
Gu Baiqing sighed. “Yes. I wondered if dual cultivation could restore my strength but it was only a thought. No matter what, you’re my disciple. I could never actually do something like that. And besides… I don’t like men. I simply couldn’t.”
Mo Xuanli’s whole body trembled. Gu Baiqing could sense the younger man’s reaction, his physical response, but a moment later, Mo Xuanli pushed himself up.
He stared down at Gu Baiqing, his entire being radiating the fragile despair of something utterly shattered, like glass that would break with the slightest touch.
Gu Baiqing slowly sat up, meeting his gaze. His tone grew calm, analytical.
“You’ve always respected me deeply. In the Illusion Realm of the Demon Refining Tower, the vision you saw was of me marrying someone else. That means, at first, your feelings toward me were pure. But after seeing those visions, and after all the misunderstandings that followed, you came to believe that I secretly harbored affection for you. You misunderstood me early on but took no action because you didn’t like me that way, you only saw me as your master. Later, though, your thoughts gradually changed, until we ended up here. Isn’t that right?”
He spoke plainly, without softening the truth. Gu Baiqing had always found Mo Xuanli’s feelings toward him strangely misplaced, how could such an obedient disciple harbor desires like those from some fanfiction plot? In the original story, they were supposed to stay a proper master and disciple.
Gu Baiqing’s gaze flickered. If Mo Xuanli truly loved him, that was one thing but if it was only a misunderstanding he had inadvertently fueled, then that was something else entirely.
He knew well how dependent Mo Xuanli’s mind had become on him, so dependent it was almost an illness. He couldn’t lie and let Mo Xuanli believe that this obsession was love.
So do you really like me? Is your affection for me truly real?
Gu Baiqing didn’t voice the question, because he already knew what answer he’d get.
He had sworn that Mo Xuanli would live a happy and peaceful life, not lose himself in a love that was clearly unhealthy.
But when he finally looked up, Gu Baiqing instantly regretted it.
Because Mo Xuanli was crying.
He stood there alone, tall and strong enough to overpower anyone, yet crying like a helpless child, wiping at his tears with his sleeve again and again, but they just kept falling.
Gu Baiqing felt his heart seize painfully. His reason deserted him. He rose and reached out to touch Mo Xuanli, only for his hand to be slapped away.
“Don’t touch me!”
Gu Baiqing flinched. He couldn’t even say whether he had been right or wrong but he knew he had hurt this child, however unintentionally. Even hatred from him would be deserved.
“Xuanli… I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I made you misunderstand. You need to look clearly into your own heart. If there were no misunderstandings, you would have…”
Gu Baiqing trailed off because he truly no longer knew what to say.
However, Mo Xuanli suddenly began trembling all over. His head was lowered, his eyes faintly red, and the ring on his finger seemed to be gathering power.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, all collapsing into a single one in the end.
He shouldn’t listen to anything Gu Baiqing said anymore. Even if everything was a misunderstanding, it was still his fault, he was the one who started it, so he should take responsibility to the end. If he just held Gu Baiqing and made all the imagined things that hadn’t happened into reality, then Gu Baiqing would have no reason left to reject him.
Yes, only by doing that would his master not abandon him. Only that way…
Mo Xuanli slowly raised his hand; the lightning power coiled around his ring as if it were about to erupt. But the next second, the door was thrown open with a loud bang.
Mo Xuanli snapped awake instantly.
“Fourth junior brother, Mo Xuanli, come out quickly! The demon clan is invading!” Fu Zhiyi didn’t even enter the room, but his voice carried in. “Junior brother, if you’re out of spiritual energy, stay on the island to guard it. If you still have power, head to Constellation Island, there’s a demonic realm teleportation array there! For them to dare come at this time, it must be urgent!”
Gu Baiqing’s face changed; he immediately turned to leave.
But Mo Xuanli grabbed his hand in an instant.
Gu Baiqing said, “Xuanli, this is more important, we can talk about our matter later if you still have questions.”
Gu Baiqing had to go no matter what, the situation had deviated entirely from what he knew. He couldn’t leave Mo Xuanli in a story he could no longer control. Even if he couldn’t predict the future, at least he still held the identity of the strongest cultivator; he had enough points to use.
Seeing that Mo Xuanli wouldn’t let go and only stayed silent, Gu Baiqing could do nothing but pull him along as they rushed out together.
When Fu Zhiyi saw the two of them coming out like that, his face darkened. At first, he had even tried to bluff others by saying maybe their master and disciple had sensed something wrong and gone to investigate early yet here they were, inside a room together. If he hadn’t come back to guard the island, then really…
Fu Zhiyi couldn’t bear to look. “Hurry up, go!”
Gu Baiqing looked toward Constellation Island in the distance, things indeed didn’t look good. He turned to Mo Xuanli. “Quickly, Void Realm space.”
Mo Xuanli said nothing. Gu Baiqing frowned slightly, thinking he still hadn’t recovered from the earlier shock of the truth. Though Gu Baiqing also wanted to give him time, right now…
He hesitated whether to bring Mo Xuanli along when, in the next second, Mo Xuanli suddenly stepped forward and hugged him tightly in front of Fu Zhiyi. The next instant, the two of them vanished and just before disappearing, a dragon carrying a cat dropped onto them.
When they opened their eyes again, they were already on Constellation Island, shrouded under the demonic teleportation array.
They were in a dense forest, beside a waterfall and pool rich in spiritual energy, the very same Spirit Spring Mo Xuanli had been at before.
Mo Xuanli’s eyes flickered when he recognized the place.
Gu Baiqing pushed Mo Xuanli’s arms away after a brief hesitation, this embrace felt even harder to describe than before.
Drawing Morning Snow, he headed toward the array’s central point, where the black mist was thickest, surely the most dangerous place.
Mo Xuanli, however, froze where he stood. Staring at Gu Baiqing’s back, he suddenly pulled out a shard of mirror from his storage bag.
But in the next moment, he felt a tightness all over, the dragon’s body had coiled around him.
Turning his head, he met Ao Hang’s dragon face and Three Bean’s worried eyes.
“It’s useless to use that,” Ao Hang said coldly. “That mirror only shows the images forming in one’s mind, not a person’s true heart. It deceived you once already. Do you want to waste it again?”
Ao Hang and Three Bean had actually followed them long ago but hadn’t interrupted since the two were discussing something serious.
Three Bean, feeling guilty that this divine item had caused such a misunderstanding between his master and little Xuanli, looked stricken.
“Xuanli, if you only liked the master because of a misunderstanding, maybe you should calm down and think clearly.”
Mo Xuanli shook his head violently, wordlessly. He couldn’t untangle it all. His mind was chaos. But he couldn’t give up. He had experienced such beautiful things, how could he just accept that it had all been a mistake?
He wanted to see Gu Baiqing’s true heart. Maybe even Gu Baiqing himself didn’t realize it yet.
“No matter what, at least he hasn’t said he likes you.”
Mo Xuanli’s face had gone pale as ash. “Maybe… he does like me. As long as he likes me, I can keep liking him. Then nothing needs to change.”
“How will you prove it? Ask him directly? You don’t even have the courage to ask that’s why you wanted to use my eyes, isn’t it?” Ao Hang said coldly. He could tell Mo Xuanli already knew deep down that Gu Baiqing didn’t share his feelings.
Ao Hang only didn’t want Mo Xuanli to go on like this. Making things harder for both himself and his master would only drag their relationship into a more painful mess.
At least for now, they could still say it was all a misunderstanding.
But Mo Xuanli still refused to give up. Suddenly, he remembered something.
Gu Baiqing didn’t look back. He knew Ao Hang and the others were speaking to Mo Xuanli, and he felt it wasn’t right for him to be alone with Mo Xuanli right now. He feared that if he saw him again, he wouldn’t be able to stay firm, he might make the wrong decision.
But Mo Xuanli ran up and blocked his path, holding out a red seed in his hand.
“What are you doing?”
Mo Xuanli’s eyes were burning, his tone stubborn. “Everything you said just now, I can’t accept it all. Take this. Infuse it with spiritual power, and prove it to me.”
Gu Baiqing sighed helplessly, feeling both pity and sorrow for Mo Xuanli. “What is this?” he asked.
Even as he asked, he had already begun channeling spiritual power into it.
The power seeped slowly into the red seed. The next moment, cracks spread across its surface.
‘If one loves someone, the seed will bloom into a beautiful flower before that person’s eyes.’
Mo Xuanli’s eyes began to shine with hope.
But the very next second, the seed shattered in Gu Baiqing’s palm along with the cracks.
In that instant, it felt as though not the seed, but all of Mo Xuanli’s hopes had broken apart.
Startled, Gu Baiqing looked down at his hand. Thinking he had ruined it, he turned to Mo Xuanli and said, “This—”
But Mo Xuanli only stared blankly at the shattered seed, as though he had just witnessed something utterly despairing. Just as Gu Baiqing was about to speak, Mo Xuanli suddenly couldn’t bear it any longer, he turned and fled.
“Xuanli!” Gu Baiqing shouted in shock.
“I’ll go after him!” Ao Hang’s voice rang out, and his dragon form shot off into the sky, leaving Three Bean to drop down onto Gu Baiqing’s shoulder.
Three Bean landed lightly, then gave him a small cat punch. “Master, you really are…”
“What is it?” Gu Baiqing asked anxiously. “Was that Xuanli’s treasured item? What was it? I’ll make it up to him.”
“I don’t know exactly what it was,” Three Bean said, “but I think it could test whether one person truly loves another. Judging by what just happened…”
Gu Baiqing froze, his face changing slightly, all the strength seemed to drain from his body.
So… he didn’t love Mo Xuanli?
Of course not… yes… he was straight. No matter how softhearted he might be, no matter how much pity or affection he felt, it was only the care of a senior for a junior, an elder brother’s fondness for a younger brother, nothing more.
As for Mo Xuanli’s feelings toward him, they were nothing but a mistaken dependence, an instinctive reaction.
He needed to wake up. If a wrong beginning wasn’t corrected, it would only lead to more mistakes.
Gu Baiqing sighed softly. Hopefully, Mo Xuanli could pull himself through this.
“Master, will you… be angry with Xuanli? I can’t even tell who’s really at fault,” Three Bean said worriedly.
“No one’s at fault. I won’t be angry,” Gu Baiqing murmured.
——
“Older sister, it’s time,” a clear, tinkling voice said, accompanied by the faint chime of bells. “Are you taking him with you this time?”
“No. Let’s wait until he’s truly desperate first.”
“Wow, sister, you’ve used so many demon soul beads, looks like a lot of people are going to suffer. Did you give him one too?”
A soft laugh sounded. “I gave it to him. He’ll use it himself and he’ll do it right in front of the person he cares for most. I really can’t wait to see his expression when he turns into a demon before everyone’s eyes.”
“But isn’t he a half-blood? If he channels spiritual energy into a demon soul pearl, it’ll shatter. What if—”
“That’s only if there isn’t the slightest trace of demonic energy in the body. If there’s even a bit, it’ll be drawn out. No one with the faintest impurity in their heart can escape a demon soul bead, much less a half-blood. Let’s just hope his master won’t strike too hard when he sees it.”
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