SHIZUN, FORGIVE ME

Chu Wanning could not listen to the obscenities anymore. At the same time, he did not want to barge into the scene and see Mo Ran doing whatever he was doing with the other person.

"How dare you!!!" He hollered angrily as the willow vine struck the stone floor, causing Mo Ran and the other person to gasp from fright.

Mo Ran widened his eyes in disbelief.

Why was Chu Wanning even there so late at night?

Unsure what to do, Ye Wangxi was momentarily in a daze. Mo Ran urged her, "Go, let me handle this."

"Oh, let me see YOU handle it," came Chu Wanning's cold voice beyond the water mist.

Ye Wangxi hesitated, but after another "Go away!" from Mo Ran, she finally dressed herself hastily and went away.

"Trying to escape? Dream on!!!"

Chu Wanning wanted to catch the other person badly. He could handle Mo Ran anytime. Unexpectedly, Mo Ran was determined to protect the identity of the other person. He even dared to go against his own shizun!

Chu Wanning was burning with rage. The whip disappeared as they exchanged one move after another.

"Shizun," Mo Ran called in an exasperated voice. "Please stop, I can explain..."

"You impudent disciple!" Chu Wanning was not interested in listening. "How dare you desecrate Sisheng Peak with your perverted behavior! You are truly and truthfully, deficient by nature, beyond remedy!!!"

Mo Ran suddenly stopped moving. It was too late for Chu Wanning to pull out his attack. He ended up kicking Mo Ran hard in the stomach. Chu Wanning quickly regretted it when he heard a distinct cracking sound of ribs breaking, followed by a splashing sound when Mo Ran fell into the pond.

"...!!!"

Chu Wanning rushed toward the pond and saw that the water inside the pond slowly turned red. Mo Ran, fully clothed, sat inside the pond while pressing a hand against a bleeding wound on the left side of his stomach.

"Shizun..." Mo Ran said pitifully.

"... You... Why didn't you dodge?"

"Shizun wanted to punish me, so I accepted the punishment."

Chu Wanning was still angry, but he could not just stand there watching Mo Ran bleeding profusely like that.

"Get out, let me take a look at your wound."

Chu Wanning extended his hand and pulled Mo Ran out of the pond. The couple of shizun and disciple returned to the Red Lotus Pavilion and Chu Wanning helped to redress Mo Ran's wound.

Mo Ran stripped off his clothes layer after layer, leaving only his underpants on. Chu Wanning told him to sit on the chair.

Adult Mo Ran had a broad shoulder that framed the toned torso. Deep lines were etched along his chest and stomach, proof that Mo Ran had been diligent in his martial arts training.

The taut lines flowed smoothly and pooled at the lower part of his abdomen, resting just above the bulge between his legs...

Chu Wanning's eyes quickly snapped up. What the hell did he look at just now? He did not plan to! It just happened!

The tips of Chu Wanning's ears turned red despite himself. He furrowed his brows in anger, more to himself than to Mo Ran. Shameless! How unbecoming of a shizun! He should punish himself by copying Buddhist scriptures before bed.

Chu Wanning cleared his throat and focused on Mo Ran's wound.

Naturally, that one kick from Chu Wanning could not have hurt Mo Ran so bad, but it did reopen a recent wound that had yet to be healed.

"What happened?" Chu Wanning asked, referring to the bleeding wound on Mo Ran's stomach.

"This disciple just came back from exorcising a demon at the Yellow River. I was careless and was pierced by the demon before I subdued it."

"Oh."

Apparently, touching was even worse than looking. Chu Wanning tried hard not to touch Mo Ran while bandaging his wound, but his fingers still ended up grazing the man's wheat-colored skin. The fingertips that touched Mo Ran felt hot as if they just touched the hot surface of a stove.

Mo Ran's warm breath blew softly against Chu Wanning's cheek when the latter was wrapping the bandages around Mo Ran's body.

Chu Wanning was in hell. As if that was not enough, Mo Ran just had to pick that time to whisper, "Shizun..."

The soft voice coupled with the gentle look that the man gave him caused Chu Wanning to unwittingly shiver. He finished bandaging Mo Ran as quickly as possible and retreated a few steps away from Mo Ran.

For some reason, Mo Ran looked dispirited. He lowered his gaze and stared at the floor. Chu Wanning seemed to see a shade of the half-grown disciple that Mo Ran was five years ago. How quickly the time had passed.

"So, who was it?" Chu Wanning asked, squinting at Mo Ran.

The latter lifted his eyes and looked at Chu Wanning. "Shizun, it was Ye Wangxi."

Ye Wangxi. Mo Ran's lover.

Chu Wanning clenched his hands into fists.

"Must you do this kind of thing at Sisheng Peak?" Chu Wanning chastised him with a trembling voice. "If you don't care about your reputation, can you care a little about hers?"

The Ye Wangxi in Chu Wanning's memory was a respectable person. To think that she would degrade herself in this way, fooling around with a man in the public bathing facility!

"Shizun, we didn't do anything!" Mo Ran said in their defense. He had some nerves.

"Are you lying?" Chu Wanning pinned his disciple with a glare. The latter bit his lip and muttered, "If Shizun suspects me, he is welcome to interrogate me using Tianwen."

"Hmph! Do you think I would not?"

"This disciple doesn't think that way. Shizun can do whatever Shizun thinks is right."

Aha.

Since when was Mo Ran this obedient?

Chu Wanning crossed his arms before his chest. "Then what were you doing?"

Mo Ran looked relieved that his shizun was willing to listen. He quickly provided an explanation before Chu Wanning changed his mind.

"Ye Wangxi and Elder Xu helped me with the demon at Yellow River. They got hurt together with me. Ye Wangxi still wants to keep her identity a secret, so she can only bathe late at night. I was there to guard her while she cleans herself and redresses her wounds. I did nothing else!"

So it was like that. That also explained why Mo Ran sent Ye Wangxi away. Ye Wangxi would be humiliated to the core if Chu Wanning caught her in improper condition, they would never be able to look into each other's faces anymore.

"Shizun?"

Mo Ran looked at him beseechingly. "Shizun, please believe me. I didn't do anything despicable."

"..."

-I am not deficient by nature, beyond remedy... Wanning, please don't say that...

Chu Wanning remained silent. It turned out that silence was worse than Chu Wanning's harshest words. Mo Ran went to kneel in front of Chu Wanning and grabbed the end of his robe.

"Shizun, please don't kick me out..."

Chu Wanning looked at the big man at his feet. Truly, these disciples... Xue Meng had always been a spoiled young master, but Mo Ran was not the same. Chu Wanning was not used to having Mo Ran at his feet, begging for mercy. It made him feel uncomfortable.

"Get up already, do you need me to drag you to your feet!"

"If Shizun does not forgive me, I will continue kneeling here," Mo Ran said stubbornly.

"Then what if I kick you out of here?" Chu Wanning sneered.

"I will come back every day, begging Shizun to take me in."

"..."

"Shizun, let this disciple accompany you this time around. I will not leave you alone."

"I don't need your company," Chu Wanning said.

The heartbreak was written all over Mo Ran's face.

"Shizun... I know there is nothing I can say to rewrite the past, but please. Please forgive me. I want to make up for everything that I did. If Shizun wants to punish me, this disciple will accept."

"All I am asking for is that Shizun allows me to stay by his side."

Chu Wanning sighed in his heart. The hurt and pain of a lifetime. Love mixed with hatred. The words that they told each other. The fierce entanglements full of resentment. The relationship between the two of them was extremely messy. At this point, was it still possible to start anew?

Chu Wanning looked at Mo Ran apprehensively. Was it not why he crossed the Crack of Space and Time that time? To change Mo Ran's life course?

The previous Mo Ran would never kneel in front of him while humbly admitting to his fault. The current Mo Ran had served the cultivation realm to the best of his abilities.

He was no longer Taxian-Jun. He was now Mo-zongshi.

This Mo-zongshi was now kneeling before him, begging for his forgiveness. As a magnanimous shizun, should Chu Wanning not forgive him? Or would he forever begrudge him for his past mistakes?

"Shizun..."

"Get up already, or I will really kick you out!" Chu Wanning snapped impatiently.

Mo Ran quickly got up. He pulled a grimace when he felt a pull at his wounds.

"Shizun..."

"I know what you want to say. No need to mention it anymore."

Mo Ran gaped at Chu Wanning. Did it mean that Chu Wanning forgive him? Or was he waiting to punish Mo Ran at a later time?

"You can go back," Chu Wanning said, dismissing him.

"... Good night, Shizun."

Just as Mo Ran had one foot outside of the door, Chu Wanning called him back.

"Mo Ran."

Mo Ran turned around, his eyes brimming with hope. "Yes, Shizun?"

"Thank you for telling me about Xue Meng."

"..."

"You can go."

Mo Ran nodded curtly. "Yes, Shizun."

He left the Red Lotus Pavilion with a dark cloud hanging above his head. Xue Meng again.

In past life or present life, Xue Meng would always be Chu Wanning's most favored disciple.

Chu Wanning would do anything for Xue Meng.

Chu Wanning came back from the Underworld purely to be with Xue Meng.

Chu Wanning loved Xue Meng so much that he even gave Xue Meng his Dragon Blood crystal necklace!

In any life, Mo Ran would never be able to beat Xue Meng in Chu Wanning's heart.

Mo Ran was burning with extreme jealousy.

If he had been his old self, he might just grab Chu Wanning, rip the white clothes off his body, and fuck the man raw the whole night.

Mo Ran would play with Chu Wanning all night until the latter no longer acknowledged anything else but the disciple above him, who was pushing in and out of him wantonly.

Until he begged for Mo Ran to stop, spraying his cum shamelessly onto their intimately intertwined bodies while accepting Mo Ran's seed deep inside his own body.