Chapter 91: Penglai Has an Immortal Island (1)
That little fool Bai Chunsheng slept straight through half a day and an entire night. When he finally woke the next day, the first thing his eyes landed on was the golden gauze canopy above his head. His body was completely bare, not a single thread of clothing on him, covered only by a soft, fluffy quilt embroidered with cloud patterns and twin lotuses blooming from the same stem, stitched from spirit silkworm thread.
This was clearly nothing like the treatment he had in the prison cell.
Where was this place?
That was Bai Chunsheng’s first reaction. He sat up in bed, steadied himself for a while, and fragments of memory began flashing one after another in his mind.
The last thing he remembered was Yan Yi’s voice brushing against his ear with that light and drifting whisper: “Little Demon King, this is what it means to have ‘slept with’ someone. You’d better remember it well.”
The moment that line came back to him, Bai Chunsheng’s whole face turned green.
His mind clearly worked in places different from ordinary people. What he was thinking about now was—had Yan Yi secretly laughed at him behind his back?
Bai Chunsheng: “……”
Obviously, the answer was yes.
Most likely, when Yan Yi had sat silent while listening to him talk about it from the next room at the bath, that silence had simply been him secretly stifling his laughter.
This was far too humiliating…
Although he had made plenty of blunders before in front of Yan Jingqiu, never had there been one this ridiculous. Out of habit, Bai Chunsheng shifted back into his little spirit duck form, tucking his head under his wings to calm himself down.
That movement naturally startled the maid who had long been waiting quietly at his side.
The one leading them was the same maid who had escorted Bai Chunsheng to the bath earlier. Her name was Yi Zhou. With a pure and delicate appearance, she was a local dragon of the Water Abyss Realm. Within the Dragon Palace, even those serving as attendants had to be cultivators of the Dao stage. Yi Zhou’s bloodline was impure—she was only a half-dragon. Thus, despite being a Dao-stage cultivator in the middle stage, her position in this vast Dragon Palace was merely that of a maid.
Seeing that Bai Chunsheng was awake, Yi Zhou asked softly, “Would the young master like to change clothes?”
Bai Chunsheng was still ashamed and refused to let anyone see him in such a state. After a while, he finally answered in a crisp little voice: “No.”
No meant no. Yi Zhou only stepped back respectfully, returning to her original spot.
After waiting for a long time, Bai Chunsheng finally realized that running away would never solve the problem. If he did not try to salvage things, then that would be the true disgrace. He shifted back into human form and, forcing himself to face the harsh and painful reality, asked in a muffled voice: “Yan Yi… where is he now?”
Yi Zhou, carefully following Bo Yan’s instructions, frowned and asked with puzzled suspicion, “Who is Yan Yi?”
Bai Chunsheng did not know how to explain. His small face flushed red, and he said, “Well… the young sword cultivator who was with me in the bath yesterday…” As he spoke, his voice grew increasingly vague: “Yesterday, in the bath… besides me, did you see anyone else?”
It was impossible that Yan Yi had simply left after Bai Chunsheng fell asleep, right? That would have been far too cruel—leaving him alone in the bath, asleep by himself.
Yi Zhou tentatively said, “The one you mean… could it be the Lord?”
“Yesterday, only the Lord came.” Yi Zhou’s words technically did not count as a lie. In theory, Bai Chunsheng’s current identity should have been that of the future master of the Dragon Palace. But since Bo Yan had not yet given the order, Yi Zhou did not dare make such claims on her own.
Bai Chunsheng immediately denied it: “Impossible, Yan Yi must have been there.”
Following Bo Yan’s instructions, Yi Zhou said in a roundabout way, “Yesterday, when you bathed, a blue-seal flower was lit inside the chamber. Perhaps you mistook someone?”
Bai Chunsheng did know something about the blue-seal flower. It was a type of demonic flower cultivated in Cuiwei Palace. Its fragrance was faint, carrying a sweet freshness. When kept nearby for long periods, it could put one in a cheerful mood—this was the benefit of planting it. The reason it was called a demonic flower lay in its drawback: though it could lift one’s spirits, prolonged exposure would create illusions that blurred the line between real and unreal.
Such illusions often fused with reality, showing the entranced person exactly what they most wished to see. There was no way to avoid it, nor would those who cultivated the flower even wish to avoid such illusions.
Because the illusions were born out of reality, they were extremely difficult to resist, often driving those who sank into them to uncontrollable madness.
The seeds of the blue-seal flower had long been destroyed by Cuiwei Palace, and its trade had been banned from the market.
However, this flower only had an effect on cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage. Once one reached Nascent Soul or Dao stage, they gained some resistance to its fragrance. Unless the person who fell into the flower’s illusions was consciously willing to sink into it, the effect would not take hold.
Bai Chunsheng said, “I’ve already reached the Dao stage. How could this blue-seal flower still affect me…” Halfway through his words, he trailed off.
All of a sudden, he recalled the hand that had covered his mouth yesterday.
The behavior yesterday had not been Yan Yi’s usual way. That kind of harshness—how could Yan Yi ever do something so excessive to him?
If—if it wasn’t Yan Yi, but Bo Yan instead?
Then he must have been the one who fell into the blue-seal flower’s illusion.
As this dazed thought crossed his mind, Bai Chunsheng’s tears fell one by one onto the quilt with soft plop, plop sounds.
Yi Zhou had not expected Bai Chunsheng to suddenly cry, and she hurried forward to comfort him—only to hear him plead in a trembling voice: “Then yesterday afternoon, was there someone in the room next to mine? Was it Yan Yi?”
—Had Yan Yi heard?
What had he heard?
Author’s Note:
Yan Jingqiu, unhurried: It was all me. Don’t worry, baby.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
