Chapter 59: A Sudden Heartbeat
It was an ordinary night in early spring.
The stars twinkled in the night sky, and the cool, damp night breeze rustled the dense forest. The moonlight shimmered on the stone pond deep in the forest, and across the pond, a bonfire flickered. The voices of a mining team filled the air as they chatted loudly, gossiped, and bragged.
This wasn’t the Sword Tomb, struck by wind, rain, and thunder, nor was it any particularly special or significant place. It was simply that Ji Xiao, looking at Meng Xueli under the moonlight, felt the need to speak his mind. Whether it was an uncontrollable impulse or something that felt inevitable, once he started speaking, there was no turning back. He added earnestly,
“I haven’t done well in the past. This time, I will make an effort to learn. I want to start over with you.”
At that moment, Meng Xueli was already feeling utterly despondent. He had just exposed his own lie, and a dull, uncomfortable feeling settled in his chest. He had felt some relief after listening to his disciple’s comforting words, but unexpectedly, Xiao Tingyun’s change in tone struck him like a thunderclap, and he could no longer hear a single word clearly.
Meng Xueli stood frozen, asking, “What did you say? What should I choose?”
Xiao Tingyun leaned in and took his hand. The two were so close that their breaths almost mingled.
Looking into those eyes, full of burning, bright intensity, Meng Xueli’s heart fluttered, and only then did he fully understand the meaning behind Xiao Tingyun’s words.
It felt like being scalded, and Meng Xueli quickly pulled his hand away.
The same sensation of nervousness, just like when they first met, flooded him. Along with it came waves of shame, fear, and anger. His eyes widened, and he could hardly speak clearly:
“Are you crazy? Do you even know who I am?!”
Ji Xiao spoke calmly, “I’m not crazy. Stay with me, whether you are human or demon.”
Unlike when Jing Di had confessed to him, Meng Xueli felt a hidden, unspeakable sweetness. To cover up this emotion that shouldn’t exist, he felt even more shame and anger. “I’m Ji Xiao’s Dao companion! When the bells rang nine times, people came to congratulate. I’ve already been acknowledged as his Dao companion by the Han Shan ancestral hall!”
Ji Xiao:” But you just said you didn’t like Ji Xiao, and that your companionship was fake.”
“I’m telling you the truth because you have the right to know. It’s not to make you think like this. I’m your elder!”
“This isn’t the problem,” Ji Xiao thought. The demon clan clearly didn’t care about the rules, but now that you’re human, you suddenly worry about propriety.
However, Meng Xueli meant “father-son,” and Ji Xiao mistakenly thought he said “master-disciple.”
“How dare you! If you keep saying such things, I’ll break your legs!” Meng Xueli’s body trembled slightly.
He wondered, is it really me who has a problem? Or has the taste of young sword cultivators in the cultivation world just gone off track?
Xiao Tingyun was like a gift left behind by Ji Xiao, a piece of work that had gathered his own heart and soul. At Changchun Peak, under the peach tree, he had been there to help him practice and study, watching him grow from a fledgling into someone capable. Like a sapling growing strong, and then one night, suddenly it grew crooked…
He had never been willing to even strike the tree, now it was being severed with one decisive stroke. How could that be?
Meng Xueli didn’t know what to do. In desperation, he came up with an extremely childish solution: “You should apologize immediately, and I’ll pretend I never heard anything. We can still be master and disciple.”
Ji Xiao sighed softly, not pitying himself but feeling sorry for Meng Xueli, who was constantly facing painful setbacks. Not only had he not gotten over Jing Di’s shadow, now someone he didn’t like had confessed to him.
He said: “I was rude. I’m sorry for making you distressed.”
Meng Xueli breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a sudden emptiness.
He stood up, “Then you should calm down first.” I’ll calm down too.
“Don’t leave. I’m calm,” Ji Xiao whispered. He gestured toward the extinguished bonfire across the way. “They’ve all gone to sleep. You should rest too. Just think of everything I said as a dream. When we wake up, we’ll still be master and disciple.”
As long as they stayed together, the road ahead was long.
Meng Xueli looked at the other side. If they continued arguing with Xiao Tingyun and caused a ruckus that would wake up the mining team, it was likely that as soon as they left the secret realm, the entire cultivation world would know that Ji Xiao’s Dao companion had been confessed to by his disciple.
He nodded repeatedly, “It must have been a momentary confusion, you were just speaking nonsense.”
Ji Xiao responded with a muffled “Mm.”
Meng Xueli tried to meditate by the pond, but when he couldn’t, he leaned against the tree trunk and pretended to doze off. As soon as he closed his eyes, Xiao Tingyun’s face appeared in his mind.
Meng Xueli was almost at his breaking point, “But I can’t sleep! Knock me out!”
Ji Xiao sighed softly.
…
Meng Xueli had another dream.
It was like the previous one, where he was no longer a human, but a spiritual ferret, with smooth, soft fur, napping on Ji Xiao’s lap.
Ji Xiao sat at his desk, one hand flipping through a book while the other gently stroked him from his head to his back. The sweet scent of golden-threaded peach blossoms wafted in from the window, and the sound of turning pages filled the air.
Meng Xueli was sleeping comfortably, about to turn over and expose his belly when suddenly his body sank. He found himself in human form, sitting on Ji Xiao’s lap.
He looked up in shock. Their eyes met, their breaths intertwined. Ji Xiao’s face, cold and distant as ice and snow, turned into Xiao Tingyun’s smiling face.
“I’m better than him. Choose me.”
“No!” Meng Xueli began to fall, plunging into total darkness.
“Are you okay?” A spark of light appeared in the dark, and someone held his back while catching the candleholder.
In the moment of his heart racing, the candlelight revealed the person’s face, and it was Ji Xiao’s face: “Saying you’re loyal, my corpse hasn’t even turned cold, and you’re seducing my son?”
Meng Xueli hurriedly said, “I didn’t! Xiao Tingyun is still young, just confused for a moment!”
Ji Xiao shook his head. “Senior brother was right. Demons are the best at lying and deceiving people’s hearts.”
“Ah!!”
Meng Xueli woke up with a start, his eyes opening to the dim light of dawn. He sighed in relief, thankful it was just a dream.
But the back of his neck and spine tingled with heat, as if someone had really touched him.
“I’m finished. I’m done for.” He muttered to himself.
Ji Xiao gently patted his back, “Nightmare? Are you okay?”
Meng Xueli was startled again, realizing he had been leaning on his disciple’s shoulder. He quickly sat up. “How did you get here?!”
Ji Xiao replied, “…You fell asleep on me.”
Author’s Note:
Ji Xiao: Want to date? Max level sword master, I’ll carry you, we win and lay down together, dungeons are a breeze.
Meng Xueli: No.
Ji Xiao: Wait, I’ll switch to a different character.
Xiao Tingyun: Want to date? Second marriage, choose me, I’m super sweet.
Huge shoutout to @_nyanmaru_ on Discord for commissioning this! The chapter will be posted regularly, show your support for Ciacia at Kofi.
