Ch1 - Lanterns

These few days, Mingguang Sect poured with rain, and it seemed as if the mountain peaks were constantly enveloped by dark clouds. Summer ends and autumn arrives, the wings of a bird in flight cut low through the sky as it skimmed across the raised eaves of the roof and landed on Yi Ning’s fingertip.

Today was his first day out of secluded cultivation. 

Usually, Yi Ning didn’t like to speak, and ever since that person arrived, he became even more reticent.

This was Mount Yunqing, a peak that was constructed right before the Sect Leader left to wander the world. Originally, it was only for Yi Ning to reside on, but after he took in his disciple Gong Xiuxian, it became the abode for the two of them. After that, when his disciple’s childhood friend Liu Rugeng came up the mountain to seek help, two became three.

 

 

The bird ruffled its wings and pecked tamely at the food in Yi Ning’s palm. Yi Ning quietly watched it, and just when his heart had become a little more settled, he once again heard Liu Rugeng’s joyous laughter ringing out from within the hall, as if he had purposely made sure his voice would carry to the outside. “Xiuxian, today is the Lantern Festival, let’s go down the mountain to bring back some lanterns.”

Yi Ning felt inexplicably irritable. 

Gong Xiuxian is Yi Ning’s only disciple, and also Yi Ning’s cultivation partner. Although they hadn’t married yet, they had long confirmed their mutual affection.

 

Now, Yi Ning wasn’t clear where they stood anymore.

Ever since Liu Rugeng arrived, there seemed to be a wall between him and Gong Xiuxian. For example, he didn’t know what the Lantern Festival was, didn’t know the stories of their childhood, and didn’t understand why they were so lively.

“Alright, then I’ll call Shizun to come with us.” Yi Ning heard Gong Xiuxian’s voice, gentle and pleasant to the ear, delicate, refined, and upright like his person.

 

Hearing his words, Yi Ning’s expression finally had a little change. His long lashes quivered lightly, but his gaze remained on the bird in his hand.

Gong Xiuxian walked out of the hall, his palm broad and warm as it landed lightly on Yi Ning’s shoulder. He said gently, “Shizun, today is the Lantern Festival, let’s go down together to release lanterns.”

The bird was startled by his arrival and took flight. Yi Ning’s pupils trembled, but before he had the chance to open his mouth and say something, a series of footsteps sounded out from behind him, and the approaching person said, lightly, from beside Gong Xiuxian, “Xiuxian, how could Immortal Master enjoy secular things like lanterns? It’s better to not interrupt Immortal Master’s cultivation.”

 

Yi Ning turned his head, meeting Liu Rugeng’s pair of seemingly pure and clear eyes. The other person looked at him and said with a faint smile, “Immortal Master, Xiuxian and I will bring back the most beautiful lantern for you. Isn’t that right, Xiuxian?” 

Gong Xiuxian pondered for a bit, and after considering how Shizun had never celebrated these sorts of festivals before and only focused on his cultivation day in, day out, reasoned that he probably didn’t enjoy noisy events. As such, he nodded and said, “That’s true. This disciple was negligent. I will head down the mountain with Rugeng then. Please cultivate well, Shizun.”

Yi Ning opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything in the end and nodded slightly in acquiescence.

Indeed, he didn’t enjoy noise, but occasionally even he would want to join in on the festivities.

Liu Rugeng happily chattered into Gong Xiuxian’s ear, recounting their experiences of releasing lanterns when they were young. Gong Xiuxian’s memories were also seemingly stimulated by his words, and he laughed unceasingly at Liu Rugeng’s recounts. 

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Yi Ning couldn’t bear to continue listening, his heart felt heavy, like a rock was blocking it up. It was heavy and hard, and it weighed him down so much he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

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He wanted to ask, what is the Lantern Festival? From young, he lived on Mount Yunqing and cultivated here, so Yi Ning didn’t understand the matters of the human world.

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Perhaps, there was still a person he could talk with.

Yi Ning’s feet subconsciously brought him to the cliff on the back of the mountain.

 

The cliffs on the back of Mount Yunqing were extraordinarily precipitous. Only Yi Ning knew, there was a cave in the cliff wall, and there was a formation inside that he personally laid down meant to seal demons.

Yi Ning leaped and dropped into the cave opening. His clothes swirled around, and brought with them the scent of rain and mist from the outside, awakening the person sleeping within the formation. 

Or, more accurately, the demon within the formation.

“Why are you here?” That person was restrained by heavy chains, his body suffused with the pungent scent of blood. Yet, his gaze was lazy and casual, staring fixedly at Yi Ning like a beast in the shadows sizing up its prey.

Yi Ning stepped into the formation, standing in front of the other party and quietly looking at him. He opened his mouth and said, “Yan Xuan.”

This was his name. Yan Xuan hadn’t heard his name for a long time. He raised his eyelids slightly and said calmly, “What?” 

Ordinarily, Yi Ning wouldn’t come to see him apart from reinforcing the formation and seal.

After Yi Ning finished speaking, he fell silent again. But, he really wanted to know what the Lantern Festival was. If he did, the next time Gong Xiuxian brought it up, he had something to talk about with him.

“Do you know what the Lantern Festival is?” Yi Ning’s expression was placid, and his tone was casual, like he was asking an offhanded question.

Yan Xuan was briefly stunned, and replied with some perplexity, “Why are you asking this?” Could it be a new hex that had something to do with lanterns? Yi Ning always used those strange hexes to deal with him. 

Hearing his reply, Yi Ning sighed softly and stood up. “It’s fine if you don’t know.” He knew it, a Demon Venerable like Yan Xuan couldn’t possibly know what the Lantern Festival was. He assumed too much.

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Seeing that he was about to leave, Yan Xuan suddenly said, “It’s a day to release lanterns and pray for blessings.” After speaking, he looked away from Yi Ning a little uncomfortably and for once didn’t say anything mocking. However, Yi Ning didn’t notice his expression.

Praying for blessings, huh. Yi Ning stood in place, but his thoughts had already flown off into the horizon, and a long time passed before he slowly replied, “I understand.” After that, he turned and walked out of the cave.

Yi Ning left swiftly and didn’t give Yan Xuan any more chances to speak. Yan Xuan gritted his teeth in frustration and struggled furiously. The electric whip on the chains instantly charred his wrists black. 

One day, one day… Yan Xuan closed his eyes.

Gong Xiuxian and Liu Rugeng returned unusually late. Carrying lanterns, the two of them chatted about everything under the sun, from the tragedy that happened to the Gong family that year, to how well Shizun treated him now.

As Liu Rugeng listened, his eyes dimmed slightly, but he still responded, gently and carefully, “Fortunately you were saved by the Immortal Master, otherwise I really wouldn’t know when I would get to see you again.”

When the topic of the Gong family was brought up, Gong Xiuxian fell silent. That year, his parents were murdered by insidious scum through poison, and only he managed to escape with his life because he didn’t ingest enough poison to kill him. For the sake of revenge, he threw himself into cultivation, climbing the nine hundred and ninety steps to Mingguang Sect and nearly perishing before he made it up. At that time, it was Yi Ning who saved him. 

“Don’t be sad. In the future, I will always accompany you; I won’t let you feel lonely again.” Liu Rugeng’s body stealthily plastered itself to Gong Xiuxian. Although summer wasn’t yet over, the breeze that whistled past was already chilly. As the two of them leaned against each other and shared body heat, even the air seemed to have warmed up a little.

Gong Xiuxian felt touched, and let out a faint smile as he said, “Rugeng, in the future, Shizun and I will always be with you too, and we won’t let anyone wrong you ever again.” Liu Rugeng was originally Gong Xiuxian’s personal servant, after Gong Xiuxian left, Liu Rugeng experienced humiliation under the Gong family housekeeper and only came to seek help from Gong Xiuxian when he couldn’t endure any further.

 

He had already stayed on Mount Yunqing for half a month.

“Thank you, Xiuxian.” Liu Rugeng purposely lifted the lantern slightly, illuminating his lovely face. At this time, the corners of his eyes were wet with tears, and he looked at Gong Xiuxian with deep emotion. 

Gong Xiuxian didn’t sense anything off, and only felt that Liu Rugeng was truly pitiful. However, when he saw the lantern, he suddenly remembered. “Oh no, we forgot to bring a lantern back for Shizun. Rugeng, you head back first, I’ll go back down the mountain to buy one for Shizun.”

He was just about to leave when Liu Rugeng tugged on his sleeve and he heard him say, “Recently, there has been heavy rainfall and the roads are slippery, so don’t go down the mountain now. I have an extra lantern here, we can give it to Shizun. Being able to release lanterns with you today, I am already satisfied.”

The words were full of sincerity, and Gong Xiuxian’s heart melted as he said, “Rugeng, you truly are considerate. On behalf of Shizun, I thank you.”

Liu Rugeng smiled mildly, but didn’t say anything. 

An inky-blue curtain covered the sky, and a few sparse stars hung twinkling on this curtain. Below the stars, an upright, pale blue figure stood, looking like a tranquil painting.

Yi Ning had always been fond of wearing pale blue clothing. Gong Xiuxian immediately spotted Yi Ning, who was awaiting their return at the mountain gate, and rushed over to him. He said, a little worriedly, “Recently, the weather has been cold, why did Shizun wear so few layers? How long have you been waiting?”

When Yi Ning heard his words, his expression relaxed slightly, and he said in a low tone, “Not long.” It was only from dusk ‘til now.

“That’s good then.” Gong Xiuxian easily believed him, and once again spoke gently, “The night market was bustling, Rugeng insisted on staying for a little while longer, so our return was delayed.” 

When Liu Rugeng heard his words, he had an expression of being angered into laughter as he grabbed Gong Xiuxian’s elbow and hit him. “Speak for yourself, you were obviously having a lot of fun too. Who was it that dragged me to the riddle stall to guess an hour’s worth of riddles?” The two of them bantered naturally, and Gong Xiuxian didn’t reject the other’s touches. When their laughter rushed into Yi Ning’s ears, he only found it ear-piercing.

He suddenly wanted to return to rest.

“That’s right, Immortal Master, the two of us were too caught up in our fun and forgot about the lantern.” Liu Rugeng acted as if he had just recalled the issue, and said as his eyebrows wrinkled, “If you don’t mind, please accept the lantern Xiuxian bought for me.”

Yi Ning’s footsteps halted, and he turned his body to look at the lantern. The rosy pink lantern was cut into a flower shape, and a candle was placed in the middle, already nearly burnt out. 

It was indeed beautiful. Yi Ning lifted his eyes to look at Gong Xiuxian, who seemed very eager for him to accept it. Liu Rugeng was full of smiles as he held the lantern, standing by Gong Xiuxian’s side.

“Keep it, I don’t like it.” Yi Ning couldn’t put his finger on the strange emotion he was experiencing, but he knew that he didn’t want it. What was he, a jealous woman? Yi Ning felt a little disgusted.

Gong Xiuxian and Liu Rugeng’s smiles froze on their faces. Gong Xiuxian sensed that his Shizun was in a bad mood, and instantly moved closer to ask, “Shizun, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m fine, just tired.” Yi Ning’s expression was placid, and he wasn’t willing to admit that he found the candle light from the lantern unsightly, and that he also found Liu Rugeng’s smile also too unsightly. 

He turned his body and left with quick steps. His heart felt incredibly gloomy, and he didn’t want to look at them right now.

They were having too much fun and forgot about him, is that it?

 

Seeing Yi Ning’s retreating back, Gong Xiuxian stood in place dumbly. Liu Rugeng walked to his side with his head lowered, and he sounded like he was angry with himself as he said, “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have played for so long and caused Immortal Master to get angry.”

“How could it be your fault? It’s mine.” Gong Xiuxian comforted in a soft voice, “It’s alright, Shizun has always been good to me, it’ll be fine once we apologise to him tomorrow morning.” 

He always believed Yi Ning couldn’t leave him, just like he couldn’t leave Yi Ning.”

Liu Rugeng nodded, concealing the curve of his smile.

So what if he was a powerful Immortal Master, he couldn’t compare to Liu Rugeng’s little tricks. Once Gong Xiuxian left, LIu Rugeng slowly hung the lantern in front of the hall. He wanted Yi Ning to see this lantern every day, and never forget what happened tonight.

The night grew darker, and Yi Ning sat alone on the cliff behind the mountain to cultivate. The night breeze blew his ink-black hair around, and he was filled with the graceful bearing of an immortal. 

He was indeed more handsome than Liu Rugeng, but he wasn’t stained by the mortal world, and he was detached from humanity, in the end, he was just too distant and cold. It might be better if he were more lively, like Liu Rugeng.

Though Yi Ning thought this, his brow was deeply furrowed.

But he didn’t want to become like someone else.

“Oi, get in here.” He heard a low voice ring out from the cave under the cliff’s edge. 

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