Sick Beauty [Rebirth] Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Moonlight 

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Ye Yunlan walked into the sea of ​​flowers. 

A fragrant fragrance burst into the tip of his nose. It brought along the smell of morning dew, sunlight and other earthly scents. 

Soaked in the pleasant fragrance, even the breeze on his face seemed to become gentle. 

“Shen Shu,” Ye Yunlan whispered, “Are these flowers all planted by you?” 

Shen Shu had already gotten up and ran to him. 

The boy’s long hair hung on his cheeks. His face was pale and sharp, and his clothes were very shabby. But when he looked up at him, his eyes were full of joy. He nodded when he heard the words, “A…surprise for the Immortal Lord.” 

Ye Yunlan: “How did you think of planting flowers next to my residence?” 

“Last time, Immortal Lord asked me to pick a flower, but later told me, you didn’t like… seeing the flower wither,” Shen Shu replied earnestly, “At that time, I just thought, if I could plant flowers and plants around Immortal Lord’s residence, then Immortal Lord would be able to see the flowers from time to time, and the flowers… would not die.” 

“Seven days was too short, so I was only able to go through Yanhui peak. Thus, whatever flowers I saw, I moved them here.”

“Immortal Lord, do you…like it?” 

The young man’s eyes were too enthusiastic, Ye Yunlan was slightly startled. He subconsciously moved his eyes away. 

He leaned down and gently touched a star flower on his side.

The flower was born white and gleaming, with five pointed corners, it was like a star in the sky. 

Ye Yunlan touched it. Feeling it was cute, he couldn’t help but touch it again. 

The little flower swayed tremblingly. The dew on its petals flowed to his fingertips, seeping out a gentle fragrance. 

In his previous life, he withdrew himself due to the fear of the world. Wherever he passed by, the doors and windows of every house would close. Even the place where he lived was a hundred miles away from human population. 

Thus, he could only plant flowers and plants next to his residence. 

In his spare time, he would take a pot of wine, carry a qin, then sit alone and watch the flowers bloom and watch them change. This can be regarded as the last years of his life, his few pleasures that remained. 

“I like it very much.” He said softly. 

Shen Shu’s gaze moved to Ye Yunlan’s slender fingertips. 

He thought it would be great if he was the flower. That way, Ye Yunlan would also touch his head with his palm, stare at him, and say to him, “I like it very much.” 

He stared at Ye Yunlan for a while. Seeing that the other party’s attention was still on the flower, he raised his voice: “Immortal Lord, you promised…you would reward me.” 

Ye Yunlan paused his fingers and remembered Shen Shu’s sparkling eyes that looked up at him brightly in YunTian palace. 

“You…” He laughed, then his fingers moved away from the petals. He straightened up to face Shen Shu, “Let’s hear it, what kind of reward do you want this time?”

Shen Shu said without hesitation: “I want to ask the Immortal Lord to accept me as a disciple.” 

Ye Yunlan was stunned. 

He didn’t expect that would be what Shen Shu wanted. 

Apprenticeship was an extremely important matter in the cultivation world. 

In a sense, the relationship between the master and the disciple is even closer than a blood relationship. This is because most cultivators have a long life while the bonds of blood are no more than a hundred years. The bond between the master and the disciple in the cultivation world is for life. 

Ye Yunlan had never accepted a disciple before. 

Therefore, he did not know what responsibilities a teacher had to bear, how to teach, and how to correctly lead a person on a smooth path that suited him. 

The path in his previous life was too bumpy. Within thorns and knives, he had crawled over this path with blood dripping everywhere. 

His whole body was covered in cuts and bruises. 

He didn’t want anyone to follow the same path as him. 

…Not to mention, in this life, he had already decided that he would no longer have anything to do with the world. He would just spend his life quietly. 

Ye Yunlan was silent for a while, “Why do you want to have me as a teacher?”

“I heard others say that a master- disciple relationship is the closest relationship in the cultivation world besides dao companion.” Shen Shu said seriously, “I want to be …the person closest to the Immortal Lord.” 

Ye Yunlan was silent. 

Seeing that he hadn’t answered for a long time, Shen Shu continued earnestly: “If the Immortal Lord accepts me as a disciple, I will listen to the Immortal Lord’s words carefully.” 

“I will do what the Immortal Lord wants me to do.” 

“I can help the Immortal Lord take care of the flowers and plants, clean the house, and find more flowers…” 

“Shen Shu.” Ye Yunlan interrupted, “You said you want to take me as a teacher, but until now, you have only said what you can do for me, you have not said what you want me to do for you.” 

Shen Shu was stunned. 

Ye Yunlan sighed. 

“Becoming a teacher and accepting a disciple is not as simple as you think.” He said, “Although I saved your life in the secret realm, I have already said that I don’t need your repayment. If you are grateful and want to take me as a teacher, in Sky Sect, there are many people who can become your master. They can teach you much more than me.” 

Shen Shu: “But I… just want to become the disciple of the Immortal Lord.”

Ye Yunlan has seen his stubbornness from the case of the flowers, and was not surprised by what he said. He only replied indifferently: “I can’t even use my spiritual power, I’m already a useless person in Sky Sect. If you worship me as a teacher, everyone will laugh at you for taking a waste as a teacher.” 

Shen Shu was puzzled: “Others will laugh at me, but what does it have to do with me? Not to mention the Immortal Lord… is not a waste.” 

“I have seen the Immortal Lord’s sword.” He said, “When the Immortal Lord carried me out of the secret realm, you used the sword to cut through all the obstacles on the road… The sword light was very dazzling and brilliant. It was… the sword technique of the nine heavens. .” 

He seriously stated: “I really want to learn.” 

Ye Yunlan’s hand held the queying Sword tightly.

Everyone in the past has said that the sword technique of the Ghost Rakshasa was the sword of the ghosts in h*ll, that the asura sword he wielded was a sword of heinous murders, soaked in the wailing of countless souls. 

But Shen Shu said that his swordsmanship was the swordsmanship of the immortals in the nine heavens. 

After a long silence, Ye Yunlan let out a sigh. 

“If you just want to learn the sword, come here everyday, I will teach you.” He said, “As for other things…we’ll talk about it later.” 

Shen Shu wanted to say something, but he was keenly aware of the expression in front of him, one of fatigue and indifference. 

He remembered that when he first saw the other party, Ye Yunlan also looked like this when he wanted to close the window and reject him. 

Shen Shu was not afraid of rejection. 

But he was afraid that him asking for requests too frequently would cause the person in front of him to be fed up.

And the other party did not completely reject him. What he had was patience and time. 

His eyes were dark and he nodded slightly. 

Ye Yunlan walked through the sea of ​​flowers and pushed open the gate of the bamboo building. 

No one had been there for some days, so a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the ground. When the door was opened, the wind that accompanied brought up the dust that immersed in the warm yellow sunlight, floating. It was the changing of time of more than three hundred years. 

This was the first time Ye Yunlan has returned to his residence after being reborn. 

The furnishings inside were unfamiliar and familiar. He could vaguely see the traces of his life back then. 

When he was in Sky Sect, he stayed here for most of his years. 

He walked in and Shen Shu followed behind him. The wind chimes on the door made a crisp sound. 

The furnishings inside the house were very simple. There wasn’t a bamboo screen outside. Stepping inside, it was raised one step, and the floor was covered with wood. There was also a low table in the middle with some tea sets. 

To the left was the study room, with a row of bookshelves on the wall, neatly lined with books. On the table, there were many stacks; pens, ink, paper and inkstone were scattered around, as well as an oil lamp. 

Further inside was the bedroom with an ordinary carved bed next to the wall. A mirror table was by the window, with something lying on the table. 

Ye Yunlan paused in his footsteps and walked over. He saw a silver mask and a letter. The letter said “To my dear Ah Lan”. 

He picked up the mask, a cold touch came from his fingertips. 

This mask was meticulously crafted. The complicated and elegant lines were like vines twisting around each other, revealing a strange beauty, much more delicate than the masks he had worn before. 

He looked down for a moment, then turned around and handed the mask to Shen Shu: “Throw it away for me.” 

Shen Shu: “Throw it away?” 

“Just find a place to bury it.” 

Shen Shu didn’t ask anything. He just nodded, took the mask and went out. 

Ye Yunlan opened the letter on the desk. 

The letter was a thick stack. The paper recalled memories. 

He looked down at a few lines. Before he finished reading, he walked to the study, lit the oil lamp, and burned the letter. 

He opened the window of the study room to ventilate. The light from his eyes fell on a guqin hanging on the wall.

When he first entered the sect, he didn’t know how to play the guqin. But Rong Ran said he wanted to listen, so he learned.

Before the secret realm matter happened, Rong Ran would often give him music scores he wanted to hear and he would learn them one by one. Most of which were love songs such as Feng Xiwu and Xiangsi Yin. He couldn’t play the lingering affection within it, but Rong Ran had always preferred that. 

Later, Rong Ran stopped asking him to play for him, so he just played for himself. 

In fact, he didn’t like songs that were too touching. Instead, he preferred more elegant and tranquil ones. Ones like flowing water and high mountains, or like the clear breeze or bright moon. 

He once played such a tune to Rong Ran, but Rong Ran didn’t like it. 

Chen…that man didn’t like him playing the qin either. He had said that his qin sound was too lonely and difficult to get close to. 

Only the Demon Lord did not hate it. No matter what he played, he would like to listen. 

Especially… when he received the backlash of the Nine-turn Celestial Demon body. 

The cultivation of the celestial demon body was secretive and treacherourous. It required one to gather evil thoughts and grievances in the world. Among the demon sects, countless demon cultivators had gone mad and lost their humanity due to the practice of this method. 

Because the risk was too great, the Celestial Demon Refining Method was regarded as a forbidden technique. Every cultivator was pursued and killed by both the Demon Sect and the Immortal Dao Sect if they practiced it. 

For thousands of years, only the Demon Lord had practiced it to great success.

But in spite of this, the Demon Lord would still be backlashed by grievances and evil thoughts. 

At that time, the Demon Lord would lose all his reasoning.

The Soul Refining Sect was once slaughtered by the Demon Lord overnight because of a rebellious word from their disciple. Since then, the Soul Refining Sect was removed from the Demon Sects. 

Therefore, when the night of the full moon approached and the Demon Lord summoned him, everyone looked at him with pity. 

They all thought he would be cruelly abused. 

Only he knew that the Demon Lord was asking him to play the qin again. 

He knelt down in the hall and played the qin. 

The Demon Lord sat on the high seat and stared at him. 

The cyan torch at the side of the wall burned, making a faint sound. He couldn’t see the look of the person opposite who was wearing that terrifying, dark ghost mask. 

The moon gradually hung high in the sky, and countless shadows began to twist within the hall. Demons and monsters spread, while ghosts and shadows flickered in a sinister way. 

In the terrifying and strange scene, only the space half a foot around him, was there still clear peace.

He was used to this. He bowed his head and played the qin.

Most of the time, after half the night had passed by, those distorted shadows would gradually disappear. Once the first ray of sun shone in the early morning, the Demon Lord would use a low, tired voice to let him go back. 

However, occasionally, when he lowered his head to stroke the qin, he would be hugged by the Demon Lord from behind. The twisted shadows on the ground would climb all over, entangle his limbs, and slide nimbly into his clothes. 

The Demon Lord’s hand would pass through his hair, hold his throat, and slowly caress it. He would tremble constantly because of those things. At those moments, he could only raise his head and make a low voice

…After that, he was forced to lie down on the qin, his black hair spread out, and the knuckles on the qin white. 

The moonlight coldly shone into the hall, and the distorted shadows of the entire hall fell on him. He and the Demon Lord were sinking into the shadows. Only the bright white qin was shining with the moonlight. It reflected the dark red eyes of the Demon Lord that seemed to have deposited countless blood. 

The strings made a messy sound, echoing in the hall. 

This qin was made by the Demon Lord. He went to Xuantian Mountain to fetch the ancient spirit wood, went to the extreme north to catch Ten Thousand Year old Ice Silkworms, then he drew fire from the ninth heaven. He made it just for him.

The name of the qin was “Moonlight”. 

The door suddenly creaked, it was Shen Shu who was back. 

Ye Yunlan recovered from his thoughts. 

He turned around and saw Shen Shu walking in with a wooden bucket full of water in his hand. A worn-out hand towel was placed on the rim of the bucket. After entering the house, Shen Shu put down the wooden bucket, picked up the towel, and helped him wipe the dusty tables and chairs. 

Ye Yunlan was startled, he whispered: “Shen Shu, you don’t have to do this for me.” 

Shen Shu only said: “I will help the Immortal Lord clean the house, Immortal Lord…is there any reward for me?” 

Those eyes looked brightly over. He seemed to have completely forgotten the rejection of his apprenticeship. 

He seriously had a child’s mentality. 

Ye Yunlan’s heart softened. His eyes fell on the guqin hanging in the study. 

He walked over, held the qin in his arms, and said softly, “Shen Shu, do you want to listen to the qin?”

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