Chapter 88: The Golden Cage Traps the White Phoenix (11)
Hearing Bai Chunsheng’s words, Bo Yan was clearly stunned: “You won’t see him?”
Bai Chunsheng said, “No. Tell him to cultivate properly.”
As he spoke, Bai Chunsheng felt the oppressive Dragon Clan aura pressing down on him dissipate almost entirely. Without Bo Yan holding him, he instinctively transformed back into his little duckling form, waddling back and burrowing into the arms of the attendant sister, waiting to be led to have his throat cut and feathers plucked.
When the attendant rose, Bai Chunsheng, still in her arms, glanced back and saw Bo Yan standing there, lost in thought. He didn’t know what Bo Yan was thinking.
None of it concerned Bai Chunsheng anymore.
The Yaoyue Pavilion was not very large—a delicately constructed ancient building. The loft where he had met Bo Yan earlier was the highest point of the tower, and Bo Yan’s usual office. The lower two floors were all studies, filled with all sorts of secret method scrolls and tomes, which Bo Yan occasionally perused. The entire Yaoyue Pavilion was not meant for living; it was merely a resting place for the Water Abyss Realm master.
Not far from the Yaoyue Pavilion stood the Dragon Palace, hidden deep within the Soul Abyss by the Dragon Clan.
The Dragon Palace was far larger than the Yaoyue Pavilion. From a distance, it gleamed in gold and jade, seamless in grandeur, as if it had been built from stacks of coins into a treasure palace.
Bai Chunsheng, in a soft, trembling voice, asked the attendant holding him, “When they cut my throat later… could it be gentler, quicker?”
Before the attendant could answer, Bai Chunsheng asked again, “Have you killed anyone before? Did the person say it hurt a lot?”
The attendant laughed and cried at the same time: “The Lord only asked me to bring you to bathe. I’m not going to kill you.”
Bai Chunsheng obviously didn’t believe her: “But he just said he’d put me into the cauldron. How is that not killing me?”’
Thinking of this, the fear of death enveloped Bai Chunsheng again.
He started thinking about Yan Yi again. He wondered when Yan Yi could possibly defeat Bo Yan.
But by then, his bones would probably already be cleaned thoroughly. No matter how strong Yan Yi was, it wouldn’t matter for him.
So Bai Chunsheng pondered how he could make Bo Yan suffer at least a little before he died.
—Apart from his own meat being too tough and tasteless to eat, Bai Chunsheng couldn’t think of another way.
Crying loudly, he begged the attendant holding him: “Don’t eat me! I’m skinny, all bones. Even if you put me in the soup, you won’t get much fat out of me.”
By this time, the Dragon Clan attendant had already carried Bai Chunsheng to the Dragon Palace bath. The pool was made of spirit jade, filled with milky-white steam that permeated the room. The water in the pool had been warmed after being melted from the Snow Abyss ice.
The attendant set Bai Chunsheng on the ground, patted his back, and pointed to a long rope with bells hanging from the ceiling near the pool. “There’s a bell over there. When you finish bathing, just ring it. We’ll bring your clothes to you.”
“Clothes?” Bai Chunsheng shivered even more. Did he have to wear special clothes even to be sent to his slaughter?
Hesitantly, he asked, “Do I have to wear clothes?”
The attendant seemed surprised: “If you don’t want to, that’s fine. We can find bedding and wrap you up before sending you to the Lord’s bedchamber.”
Bai Chunsheng was even more shocked: “He plans to eat me raw?!”
“Why are you still thinking about eating?” the attendant frowned, then smiled. “If you’re hungry, we can bring some snacks.”
“All right, go ahead.” The attendants left the room, carefully minding protocol, bowed to Bai Chunsheng, and closed the door behind them.
Bai Chunsheng couldn’t understand exactly what they were doing. He still worried about Bo Yan’s earlier words about putting him in the cauldron.
But this place was far too perfect for bathing and playing in the water. Bai Chunsheng hadn’t played in water for a long time. He glanced around, saw that there truly was no one else, and first transformed into his human form. He removed his clothes and carefully stepped into the pool bit by bit.
The water, melted from the Snow Abyss ice, was saturated with spiritual energy, and the steam made Bai Chunsheng’s head spin.
After a while, as he adjusted, the heat flushed his sensitive, thin-skinned face with a faint pink. His elbows and the backs of his knees were tinged a soft rose as well, making him look entirely fair-skinned, innocent, and easily embarrassed.
While Bai Chunsheng bathed in the pool, he worriedly thought about what Bo Yan might be planning. Only now did he faintly sense that Bo Yan probably didn’t intend to send him to the dining table. But then, what did the attendant mean about sending him to Bo Yan’s bedchamber?
Send him to the bedchamber for what?
Suddenly, Bai Chunsheng’s eyes widened in realization. Bo Yan couldn’t possibly want to… sleep with him, could he?
Well, there was nothing unusual about that—Yan Yi had slept with him before.
He could have just said so instead of frightening him first.
Thinking of this, Bai Chunsheng’s temper flared.
Suddenly, he heard steady knocking sounds coming from the wall next to the pool—one knock, then another. It sounded as if someone on the other side of the wall was deliberately signaling to him.
Bai Chunsheng swam closer, listened for a moment, and immediately understood.
Cautiously, he asked, “Yan Yi, is that you?”
On the other side of the wall, Bo Yan said faintly, “Yes.”
Bai Chunsheng’s anger surged even more. “This Bo Yan, why can’t he keep his word? I said I didn’t want to see you!”
“Why don’t you want to see me?” Bo Yan raised an eyebrow.
Realizing he probably wasn’t going to die after all, Bai Chunsheng told the whole truth. “He just threatened me, saying he’d put me in a cauldron, on a dining table. I didn’t want you to be upset, so I said I didn’t want to see you.”
Bo Yan said sourly, “So you like me that much?”
“Shut up,” Bai Chunsheng said. “Stop dreaming. I only said that because I didn’t want you to be upset.”
Bai Chunsheng told Yan Yi to shut up, and Bo Yan really did fall silent.
After a while, it was Bai Chunsheng who spoke slowly through the wall. His voice, echoing through the misty, steam-filled bath, sounded distant and clear: “Yan Yi… you must cultivate properly.”
“For when I need to rescue you later?” Bo Yan asked.
“No.”
Bai Chunsheng thought seriously for a moment and said, “It’s so that you can live well.”
Bai Chunsheng suddenly realized that even if he regained his memories, he still wanted to see the invincible Yan Jingqiu.
Then Yan Jingqiu would leave the Water Abyss Realm and return to the Middle Realm. The Sword Sovereign would remain the strongest Sword Sovereign—not weakened or trapped in the Dragon Palace dungeon because of him.
Life and death were at the mercy of others.
So the amnesiac Yan Jingqiu had to cultivate properly.
Author’s Note: Bai Chunsheng worried endlessly: if Yan Yi wasn’t strong enough, Bo Yan would take him to sleep!
In Bai Chunsheng’s imagination, “sleep” meant turning back into his duck form while Bo Yan held the little duck to sleep.
Bai Chunsheng: “Ugh, pervert.”
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
