Chapter One Hundred And Seventy Five - Jin Li purchases a Cultivation method

It is not unusual for the night streets to be filled with toneless singing of men chanting with slurred words, however the voice that echoed this time was soft and the words sang were quite clear... even if the song made absolutely no sense.

"One - don't pick up the phone..." the boy sang as he clung to the back of the man carrying him. "You know...um... dah dah dah dah dah!"

Ursam glanced over at the grimacing Jin Li and the drunk boy he held. "How much did he drink exactly?" He inquired. They had already sent Pharmacist Clawse on his way and were heading back to Ursam's shop, where the man planned for the youths to stay the evening.

"Two bowls worth." Just to say, a bowl of wine was no more that a single glass in Leon's previous life. The wine had only been a floral wine, not high in alcohol content. However, unknown to others, this had been beyond his limit in that life as well!

"...so little?" Ursam commented with slight bewilderment. The singing tapered off as Leon drifted to sleep upon Jin Li's back.

Ursam's Wife was less than impressed by the state Leon was in, but not a word was said in blame of the small alchemist. No, instead it was all reserved for her husband. "How could you let him drink so much as to be in this condition?" She hissed at him, crossly.

"He's an adult, you know," Ursam pouted as the words fell like large hammers onto his head.

"He's an adult? You're the adult!" The woman retorted. "These boys are like mere bairn's compared to you! Just how much did he drink?"

"Two bowl's full," Jin Li repeated his earlier words, without chagrin.

"...so little?" Ursam's wife hesitated for a moment. Still, she felt that a man of her husband's age ought to have known better and to have stopped him after just the first. "Help Jin Li to the guest room and settle him in. We'll talk about this in the morning."

The guest room only had one bed, happened to be a double bed, with heavy curtains to protect sleepers from draft winds. Although Ursam guided Jin Li to the room, he didn't enter with him, saying he would refresh the jug of water upon the table beside the bed instead. Leon slipped from Jin Li's back and onto the mattress with a sigh, but otherwise did not seem to be disturbed from peaceful sleep.

"Look at you, so weak," Jin Li sneered as he carefully pulled Leon's boots from his feet, followed by his socks. "You dare to allow others to see you in this vulnerable state?" He removed Leon's glasses and the pin from Leon's hair, which spilled over the bed like a halo of black and white.

Leon did not answer as Jin Li maneovered him until he was beneath the covers and watched with raised brows as his small lover snuggled deeper into the blankets, until only the crown of his head could be seen. Looking at him for a moment, Jin Li felt the rising of that soft sensation within his heart, that he still wasn't quite used to. Protecting him was fine, sharing the sensations of the body were fine, blatantly declaring his sovereignty over him was fine, this was... this was fine as well, he supposed.

A muffled cough and knock upon the door shut down the tiny warmth and the coldness of seventeen years swiftly returned to its rightful place. Jin Li turned around and saw Ursam waiting for him, jug of water in hand. Without a word, Jin Li came over to take it from him, but hesitated to take it when he noticed the strange grin upon Ursam's face. A sense of foreboding began to build and worsened when Ursam crooked a finger at him, indicating he should step out of the guest room and follow him. They did not go far, however. This was the older man's way of being considerate to the sleeping boy left behind.

That grin, though... "So you and Leon huh?"

Jin Li frowned. "Leon and I what?" He asked coolly.

"Your relationship is like that!" The man's brows raised and the grin widened nearly splitting his face in two.

"I do not get that which you imply." Jin Li was not a complete idiot. In the country state of his birth, he was actually renown as a genius. Able to read and write hundreds of words before he was four, thousands before he was seven. Able to Cultivate to a level beyond his years without much external aid (from pills and the like), able to learn Martial Arts techniques quickly and adapting them for his own usage. His demeanour was while cold, considered elegant and sophisticated, he was blunt on occasion, did not use flowery words or schemes of misdirection. As such, sly comments with double meanings would never cause him to share more than a sneer and a look of contempt. In actual fact, this man just didn't really catch the other meanings hidden in their words.

"I am saying that you two are in a lovers relationship!" Ursam finally spelled out his views plainly, allowing Jin Li to attain enlightenment. "You can't deny this, I have eyes, you know!" The older man continued, he felt Jin Li's evasiveness was not cute and also unfair to the small alchemist, who always looked at the Martial Art student with stars in his eyes. However, Jin Li's next words surprised him.

"I do not deny this, Leon is mine," he said this so clearly that Ursam was actually struck dumb for a moment. It didn't last long however.

"Good man, good man!" He smacked Jin Li back in an approving matter and ignored the fact that his touch was brushed off in obvious disdain. "It's hard for many men to admit that they would rather have a man than a woman! Society is all about the son, heir and marrying for the sake, one forgets that a Cultivator lives much longer than a mortal. Gender often becomes irrelevant when seeking that person destined to walk along side you on the path to immortality." The amicable smile was once again replaced by the lewd grin. "So have you to practiced any dual cultivation methods yet?"

Jin Li frowned, dual cultivation? How was that possible? In his knowledge, Dual cultivation was something that a man did with a woman, an advanced form of bedroom relations, but for the sake of cultivation rather than producing progeny. Although he had learned, in an extremely pleasurable way, that some bedroom activities could be performed between men, he still did not consider this one of them.

"It just so happens," Ursam continued oblivious to Jin Li's clear confusion, "I happen to be in the ownership of a dual cultivation technique designed for two men. I came across it quite coincidentally, wanted to try it out, but... you know... met the wife and everything so it's of no use to me now."

A part of Jin Li was curious, but that part of him, while it was of reasonable size and girth, still only represented a small part of the overall man. Thus he shook his head to turn down the offer. "No need," he said, curtly. "The cultivation method I practice is superior, only practiced by members of my family line. I need nothing else."

Ursam looked at him bewildered for a moment. With a slight frown he said; "Most dual cultivation methods are practiced in conjunction with other lone methods, you wouldn't be at a loss... otherwise how many would bother going into closed cultivation with their dao companion, if you know what I mean!"

"I don't."

It was at this point Ursam realised just how innocent Jin Li was in these matters, such a contrast to the cold, vicious aura he usually projected. How amusing! "Well, if I can't convince you..." he sighed, as if it really did not matter to him. "A bit of a pity for Leon, though; it would have likely boosted Leon's cultivation. He's not as fortunate as you, to inherit a bloodline technique, after all. This method would definitely be a boon to him."

Jin Li hesitated. "It's not as if this Lord is not interested..." he said, evasively, still unable to figure out just how two men could dual cultivate, but too proud to ask.

"It has pictures."

"Seeing as it is of no use to you," Jin Li spoke in an off handed manner, "this Lord could take it off of your hands."

"Ah, but you know, I can't give it away for free," Ursam grinned. Jin Li's felt the vein in his temple begin to twitch.

"This lord does not have much," he admitted. Leon fed him, had clothed him and bought a cup, plate and bath for him. But he would not ask his small lover for money of this thing. Instead, he considered what was in his interspatial pouch and fished out a handful of jade bottles filled with high quality cloudy spiritual pills. He couldn't recall where he'd got these, but he had no need of them. "Would these be sufficient?" High quality cloudy spiritual pills were worth something in the region of 10 silver a pill, but even with the amount of pills here, they really could not really cover even a quarter of the value of the cultivation method.

"Made by Leon?l Ursam hoped there would be some secret and that they'd be worth more than their initial estimate.

"No."

"Well, I'm practically giving it away," Ursam relented, eventually. "But seeing as this is for Leon... here you go." Jin Li snatched the small bamboo booklet away and tucked it into his robes, before quickly hurrying back to the guest room ignoring Ursam's knowing grin.