This time there were more people. Mo Xuanli thought he’d be assigned a cabin with other senior brothers, but before assignments were made, he heard Gu Baiqing call to him.
“It’s only a day’s journey—come stay with me.”
“Ah?” Mo Xuanli didn’t react for a moment. Elders naturally had private cabins to rest in. But his master… his master had always avoided such things, rarely being alone with him in a room. So now…
“I want to give you a bit more guidance on your cultivation method before you enter the secret realm,” Gu Baiqing offered a reasonable explanation.
Hearing this, Mo Xuanli immediately realized he’d been overthinking. His master was always cautious, never appearing overly close to him in front of others—much less resting together in the same room.
With this thought settled, Mo Xuanli calmed down and obediently entered the cabin. But once inside, he felt something was off. Looking around, he asked, “Master, where’s Three Bean?”
“Second senior brother wanted to take him along, so I let him,” Gu Baiqing replied. Anyway, second senior brother was a cat addict—having the cat with him wasn’t a problem.
Mo Xuanli was speechless. Three Bean was a three-colored illusion cat—a large spiritual beast—yet now it was being raised more and more like a pet cat, passed around for petting.
Not thinking much of it, Mo Xuanli settled cross-legged as he did back in Luofeng Pavilion, listening to his master’s lecture.
Afterward, Gu Baiqing ordered him to meditate. By the time Mo Xuanli finished, the sky was dark, the noise outside the cabin had died down, and everyone had probably gone to rest.
Mo Xuanli withdrew his spiritual sense, and a cup of tea was handed to him.
Every time his master took the initiative to care for him, Mo Xuanli’s heart lit up.
After all, such moments were rare—normally his master’s kindness was hidden. Even a simple act like offering a cup of tea made him happy.
Without suspicion, Mo Xuanli smiled, thanked him, and took a sip.
Gu Baiqing even thoughtfully took back the empty cup and continued lecturing him—but inside, he was already looking forward to what was coming.
Hmph—after drinking my tea, don’t think you can run.
Tonight, you’re mine.
Gu Baiqing made this grand declaration in his heart. Huh? That line sounded a little odd. Never mind—tonight, Mo Xuanli would be staying as his “spirit battery.”
If he wanted to plunder enough from the Void Spirit Secret Realm to pay off his debt, he’d need rare spiritual materials. The difficulty of obtaining them would rival the trip to Ten-Thousand Sword Island—times ten. He’d need enormous amounts of spiritual power to sustain himself, and with his current pitiful double-digit points, it was impossible.
Money, or integrity?
Gu Baiqing: Integrity.
But to pay off debt—or integrity?
Gu Baiqing: What’s “integrity”?
To escape his suffering as soon as possible, Gu Baiqing had already steeled himself the moment he came up with this plan.
He’d borrowed Dreammist Incense, used it to knock out Mo Xuanli, and would take this one night to draw spiritual power—quietly, without anyone knowing—leaving no harm behind.
Flawless plan!
As Gu Baiqing smirked inwardly, his face stayed impassive, watching as Mo Xuanli’s eyes slowly drooped until he collapsed.
Gu Baiqing caught him and, for the first time, found holding Mo Xuanli rather pleasant. Thinking of his debts soon disappearing, he couldn’t help but murmur to him.
Lowering his voice to suppress his excitement, he said, “Don’t blame me. As your master, I can’t hold out anymore. It’s fate, heaven’s will—I accept it. Just lending you for one night, you won’t mind, right? If you don’t speak, I’ll take it as agreement.”
Mo Xuanli: !!!!!!
Gu Baiqing was joking to himself, not noticing that Mo Xuanli had suddenly opened his eyes wide in his arms.
When Mo Xuanli realized he’d fallen into his master’s embrace, he’d been embarrassed and about to get up—but the next second, Gu Baiqing’s words stunned him.
He suddenly realized what had happened—the tea he’d just drunk had Dreammist Incense in it. His master had gotten it from Third Senior Aunt…. and fed it to him?
Dreammist Incense was colorless, tasteless, and undetectable—it would make a human sleep soundly all night. But for Mo Xuanli, who was a human–demon hybrid with a different constitution, it would only knock him out for an instant before his body quickly recovered.
Mo Xuanli froze in place, not knowing how to react.
Why… would Master drug him?
And what did those words just now mean?
Couldn’t hold on anymore? Borrow for one night?
What exactly did Master want to do?
But before he could think further, Gu Baiqing moved. Flustered, Mo Xuanli instinctively closed his eyes and continued pretending to be unconscious.
And the moment he shut them, the scene suddenly felt incredibly familiar.
That one time when he had pretended to be asleep in front of Master, and then… wasn’t it… that Master had…
Mo Xuanli’s heart instantly pounded like thunder. Inside, he struggled frantically—should he wake up, should he break this moment?
This… this…
Before he could decide, Gu Baiqing suddenly scooped him up in a bridal carry.
Mo Xuanli didn’t know where Gu Baiqing was taking him, but the unease in his chest grew stronger.
He was panicked and afraid, not knowing what Master intended to do to him. But at the same time, he couldn’t bear to embarrass Master. Master had done so much for him, treated him so well—if Master’s feelings ran too deep and tonight he couldn’t hold back his desire to be close, and Mo Xuanli interrupted… Master would surely be overwhelmed with shame.
Besides, he couldn’t explain why the Dreammist Incense had no effect on him.
Maybe… maybe he should just keep pretending to be asleep?
Perhaps, like last time, it would just be a touch here or there. Since he was “unconscious,” Master wouldn’t dare to truly cross any lines. There was no need to make a fuss. And he trusted Master—Master surely wouldn’t go too far.
But then he suddenly remembered some of the things Master had once fantasized in his mind, and Mo Xuanli’s heartbeat sped up again. No… no way.
Before his mental defenses were even fully built, he felt himself being placed on a bed.
A bed! It was a bed!
What was Master going to do? Not just touch… maybe hug… but also… something even more excessive?
What should he do? What should he do? He couldn’t handle that—should he wake up?
Suddenly, he felt the mattress beside him sink down.
Mo Xuanli’s heartbeat immediately went out of rhythm, his breathing a mess, even his back breaking out in a cold sweat from fear.
Same bed… same pillow… He and Master… No, this wasn’t right, it wasn’t right.
Before he could panic further, an invisible pressure appeared above him. He could acutely sense Gu Baiqing’s every movement—he knew Master was now hovering over him, one hand braced at the side, lowering his head, slowly leaning in.
Mo Xuanli’s breath caught. His entire body tensed to stop trembling, every part of him screaming inside.
The cold plum fragrance that clung to Master suddenly grew stronger, curling around the tip of Mo Xuanli’s nose. A warm breath brushed against him.
It was so close—close enough that the heat radiating from Master felt like fire scorching him.
Mo Xuanli suddenly realized—Master was… about to kiss him.
Master… was going… to kiss… kiss him?
His mind felt foggy in waves—maybe the Dreammist Incense was still affecting him; otherwise, his head wouldn’t feel so dizzy.
He was a little worried. He… probably wasn’t the kind of person who liked men. If Master really kissed him, would he instinctively push him away? That would surely hurt Master.
If only he hadn’t pretended to be asleep just now. Now it was too late to wake up.
Mo Xuanli secretly clenched his fists, telling himself that no matter what he felt, he had to endure it. Just a kiss—just lips touching—it was like holding hands, nothing worth making a scene about.
Master’s lips… he remembered… not too thick, not too thin, just right, the corners slightly upturned—should have been smiling lips, but Master rarely smiled. The color… like pale plum blossoms, moist and soft. If he kissed them… he had a feeling they would taste sweet.
Would he taste that sweetness?
It was like his heartbeat was counting down—one beat, two beats… He didn’t know how long it had been when the heat was gone, the breath was gone, even the cold plum scent had faded.
The bed shifted beside him—Master… had lain down?
Nothing had happened? He’d just… lain down?
Mo Xuanli’s thoughts stalled for a moment before he felt like he’d just let out a long sigh of relief.
But then, his legs suddenly tensed.
Because he felt Master’s hand coming toward him—the slightly hard knuckles brushing against his thigh, like being pricked by a needle.
That prickling sensation slowly, sporadically crept upward from his leg.
Mo Xuanli went blank…
It was laughable yet pitiful—he had grown up as a man, yet had never had those kinds of thoughts, never even… taken care of such needs himself.
It wasn’t that his body was incapable, he had simply never thought about it—survival had been a luxury before, and after joining Zixiao Sect, all he wanted was to cultivate with all his might.
Still, he had never eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run. And that one time when he’d accidentally seen something through the lens had been an extremely vivid lesson. If he hadn’t seen it, he wouldn’t have imagined himself making such actions and expressions.
So now… with Master’s hand touching him, Mo Xuanli guessed what Master might be intending next. And if that was the case—it was far more unacceptable to him than a kiss.
His body tensed involuntarily. He thought that if Master kept exploring, he would surely realize Mo Xuanli wasn’t actually asleep. That would be unbearably awkward.
Mo Xuanli had no idea how things would develop and was at a complete loss.
But then that hand simply took hold of the hand he had absentmindedly rested on his abdomen, firmly grasped his wrist, and moved it to his side.
Mo Xuanli was stunned, then hurriedly relaxed his hand—only to feel Master’s cool hand slowly slide from his wrist into his palm, which was warm from tension. First, Master gently held it, then slowly intertwined their fingers until their ten fingers were completely locked together.
Mo Xuanli’s heart seemed to skip a beat.
Silence—silence on the bed, silence in the cabin, silence from the person beside him. No more movements, nothing—so silent it was frightening.
The two of them lay side by side like that, their arms faintly touching for the sake of keeping their hands clasped together.
Mo Xuanli waited a long time, until he was sure that the master beside him had fallen asleep… truly asleep.
So… that’s it?
Go to the trouble of drugging him, say “I can’t hold on, let me borrow you for a night,” and then… just lie on the same bed holding hands?
That was all Master wanted to do?
No—rather, that was all Master dared to secretly do. After all, Mo Xuanli had witnessed the images inside his master’s mind before—absolutely nothing like this. Yet in reality, Master was this pure… truly a contradictory person.
Mo Xuanli slowly turned his head toward Gu Baiqing, as if unable to make sense of him, then lowered his gaze to their clasped hands. At that moment, his heart felt relaxed, yet sour, yet warm all at once—hard to find the right word to describe his emotions.
If it was only this, there was no need to drug him. Whenever Master wished, Mo Xuanli would have willingly offered his hand. As long as Master did not let go, he would never pull away first.
It was such a simple thing, yet Master… had to take such a roundabout way to achieve it.
And once he had it, he was satisfied.
Mo Xuanli let out a silent sigh, and couldn’t help leaning a little closer toward Gu Baiqing, tightening his grip slightly.
Gradually, Mo Xuanli no longer felt nervous—on the contrary, he grew a bit sleepy. In the calm night, with Master’s unique warmth beside him and the faint scent of plum blossoms in the air, the atmosphere brought him a long-lost sense of peace and comfort.
And just like that, he fell asleep leaning against his master.
On such a night, the only thing still moving was probably the spiritual power counter inside the system.
Through the night until dawn, Gu Baiqing had calculated the time exactly. He had already ordered someone to wake him early—after all, he wasn’t certain if he might fall asleep during the process of replenishing spiritual power. When a disciple outside called twice, Gu Baiqing awoke. Looking to the side, he wasn’t worried, because the Dream Mist Incense had a time limit—there was still an hour before Mo Xuanli would wake.
Gu Baiqing simply sat up, not in a hurry to let go of the hand. Since it was already done, he might as well replenish a little more.
Looking at Mo Xuanli’s sleeping face, his lips softer and more pliant than ever, Gu Baiqing felt a trace of regret—if only he weren’t straight, a few casual kisses could have replenished far more spiritual power.
Unfortunately, unless it was a life-or-death moment, it seemed he truly couldn’t bring himself to throw away all restraint. Even faced with an unconscious Mo Xuanli—who wouldn’t know anything he did—he still couldn’t bring himself to kiss a man.
So he had simply held Mo Xuanli’s hand all night. Though slow, the rate of replenishment was within Gu Baiqing’s tolerance.
Moreover, through his experiments, he had discovered that gently holding hands versus intertwining fingers, sitting together versus lying on the same bed, all produced different rates of replenishment.
Gu Baiqing opened the system page and looked at the unbelievable numbers. It was even higher than he had expected—probably because they had slept side by side, fingers interlocked, the whole night.
It seemed the system really spared no effort in luring him into the trap with benefits.
But this was the kind of thing he wouldn’t dare to do again. If not for his debts, he wouldn’t have sacrificed himself in the first place. Doing this sort of thing felt like any moment he might get caught in the system’s trap. Too dangerous.
Gu Baiqing flexed his hand still holding Mo Xuanli’s, not at all worried that Mo Xuanli would wake—handling it like a doll’s hand.
Suddenly, Gu Baiqing noticed that Mo Xuanli’s hand seemed, without him realizing, to have grown larger than his own—long, well-defined fingers, especially elegant. Gu Baiqing looked him over again… he seemed taller as well.
Gu Baiqing’s thoughts wandered aimlessly. When the spiritual power reached a nice round number, and seeing that it was about time, he released his slightly stiff fingers, turned over, got out of bed, tidied up the scene of the “incident,” and left the cabin.
The moment the door closed, Mo Xuanli opened his eyes—he had woken earlier than Gu Baiqing.
What he saw upon waking was something he couldn’t recover from for a long while.
The faint morning light fell on Master’s body, as if surrounding him with a gentle radiance—warmth that softened the heart. And Master’s hand was still interlaced with his fingers, not once having let go.
That instant was so peaceful and beautiful that Mo Xuanli could not describe it.
Many years later, Mo Xuanli would still think of that moment. He would understand then how he had felt at the time—wanting to stay in that moment forever, in a place where Master was by his side, where waking up meant seeing him.
…
When they met after leaving the room, Mo Xuanli played along with the act, asking with confusion and unease how Master had rested last night, whether he had taken up Master’s bed.
As expected, Master gave an excuse, as if they hadn’t shared a bed at all.
Only when Mo Xuanli picked things up and paused awkwardly—his hand seeming a little stiff—would Gu Baiqing feel a pang of guilt and look away.
Gu Baiqing turned to look outside the flying boat, and soon the excited voices of disciples could be heard.
They had reached the Void Spirit Secret Realm.
From the thick fog slowly emerged a vast secret realm, like a great forest floating in the air, shrouded in a golden barrier, glittering as if it were a treasure awaiting discovery.
Gu Baiqing’s gaze gradually changed.
Many events were supposed to happen here, but since the master-disciple romance plotline had been cut off, at least half of them would now change.
But none of that mattered to Gu Baiqing.
Because here lay the five hundred thousand spirit stones calling to him!
