SHIZUN, I AM THE BEST!

Chu Wanning was relieved when he woke up to a rising sun instead of a setting sun the next day. He remembered that a banquet was to take place in Sisheng Peak that night to celebrate his return.

Chu Wanning disliked merriment, but even he agreed that resurrection is something worth celebrating.

After his usual morning meditation, Chu Wanning went to practice his swordsmanship by the pond. Five years of sleep had turned his body rigid. His movement was less smooth and he also had difficulties maintaining his balance.

Chu Wanning was already practicing for around half an hour when he caught a shadow using his peripheral vision. One slash with his sword sent a wave of spiritual energy toward the person who dared to sneak into the Red Lotus Pavilion.

There was a loud bang sound in the air as the spiritual energy clashed against a bright red willow vine.

Chu Wanning lowered his sword and looked at Mo Ran. He only wore his inner robe for practice purposes. Right now it was soaked with sweat, causing the fabric to stick to his body, accentuating his gentle curves.

Unable to look away from the enticing sight before him, Mo Ran swallowed hard. He wondered if Chu Wanning would allow him to set up a barrier around Red Lotus Pavilion.

Mo Ran understood that Chu Wanning was still too weak to make any long-lasting barrier, but Mo Ran did not want anyone to come randomly and take a look at his shizun.

Just like in their past life.

He remembered having to gouge out a few people's eyes because they were looking at Chu Wanning with lust in their eyes. He often reprimanded his Chu Fei for being careless. For not keeping his face covered under a veil.

"What if they come to take advantage of you???" Taxian-Jun once screamed at Chu Wanning when he found him sitting by the pond one day without a veil.

Chu Wanning had merely looked at him with calm and collected eyes. It was as if he didn't care.

His nonchalance made Taxian-Jun bubble with rage.

At that time, he had lifted Chu Wanning into his arms, canceled whatever agenda he had for the day, and proceeded to punish Chu Wanning.

Mo Ran remembered that Chu Wanning did not resist at all that day. He simply closed his eyes and let Taxian-Jun play with him as much as he wanted. Every time the emperor finished, Chu Wanning would open his eyes and look at him defiantly. As if challenging him.

Taxian-Jun was never one to refuse a challenge. So he did it again and again until Chu Wanning passed out and could not give him that defiant look anymore.

A month later, Chu Wanning passed away.

"What are you doing here, Mo Ran?"

Mo Ran didn't even realize that his fingers were tightly clenched around the handle of his willow vine. When Chu Wanning asked him the question, he loosened his grip and stammered out, "I... This disciple brought Shizun some breakfast."

Chu Wanning frowned at Mo Ran.

Breakfast?

"Why?" He asked in suspicion.

Mo Ran merely gave him a weak smile. "Can a disciple not be filial and bring his shizun breakfast?"

As Chu Wanning went past Mo Ran, he murmured, "Do you even know what I like to eat?"

A sweet but cold haitang scent emanated from Chu Wanning's body, arousing Mo Ran's senses. It appeared as quickly as it disappeared.

Mo Ran cleared his throat and followed Chu Wanning into the pavilion.

Chu Wanning sat at the dining table as Mo Ran unpacked boxes of food and spread them across the table for Chu Wanning to enjoy.

Chu Wanning had to blink a few times in disbelief.

Mo Ran came prepared.

He not only brought the tofu pudding with savory sauce from the Mengpo Hall, but he also did not forget the dried shrimps and seaweeds.

And then there were also the fried pancakes that only the breakfast vendors from Wuchang Town sold early in the morning.

There was also a big bowl of medicinal chicken soup again, and a bowl of plain congee. Some simple vegetable dishes had also been prepared to eat with the congee.

"Too much," Chu Wanning commented.

Mo Ran smiled and got to his feet. "Please enjoy, Shizun. Drink the soup first to nourish your body."

"Where are you going?" Chu Wanning inquired.

"I will make some tea."

"Alright."

Chu Wanning sat before the lavish breakfast spread, unsure what to eat first. In the end, he decided to drink the medicinal soup first. He did not want a layer of fat to build on the soup as it got colder.

To his surprise, all the food was still warm. It made no sense, especially because Wuchang Town was some distance away. And then he remembered. Mo Ran could use barrier with warming properties as well. He was wasting his spiritual energy on useless endeavors again.

Chu Wanning finished the soup and started to eat the tofu pudding. By the time Mo Ran came back, he was halfway through the fried pancakes.

A happy smile spread on Mo Ran's face when he saw Chu Wanning eating with gusto. It had been a while since they sat together to eat like this. A year, to be exact.

Mo Ran's eyes grew misty when he remembered Little Chu Wanning. He always had such a happy face whenever he ate something good. Mo Ran missed him terribly. He wanted to pat Chu Wanning's head, wipe the oil from the corner of his mouth.

And yet he did not dare to.

He could no longer do that.

Chu Wanning frowned when he saw the forlorn look on Mo Ran's face.

"What is it?"

Before Mo Ran was able to answer, someone was knocking at the door with urgency.

"..."

"Who is it?"

"SHIZUN IT'S ME! CAN I PLEASE COME IN??"

Mo Ran's face darkened. Xue Meng, really? So early in the morning and he just had to come and bother Chu Wanning?

"En, come in."

The door opened and revealed two people. Xue Meng and another person who looked like the first snow in winter. Pure and beautiful, stealing the surrounding people's attention within an instant.

Chu Wanning knew who it was right away. Shi Mei had grown into an incomparable beauty, just like a bottle of aged wine. Mellow but fragrant. Demure but strong.

Chu Wanning inadvertently looked at Mo Ran. Mo Ran smiled at his two shixiongs who just arrived. It was a polite smile, but somehow cold.

It was unusual for Chu Wanning to see Mo Ran behave this way in front of Shi Mei. The Mo Ran five years ago would have waved frantically at Shi Mei and demanded him to sit next to himself.

Apparently, Mo Ran was truly over Shi Mei. He was now fully enamored in Ye Wangxi.

Shi Mei bowed in front of Chu Wanning.

"Disciple Shi Mei greets Shizun. Forgive me for not making it in time for Shizun's first day of resurrection."

"It is not a big deal," Chu Wanning answered. "How have you been doing?"

"This disciple has been learning a lot at Guyue'ye Sect..."

Xue Meng was patient enough to wait until Shi Mei was done reporting his activities from the past five years before he wedged himself between Chu Wanning and Mo Ran to complain at his shizun.

A vein popped at Mo Ran's temple. He wanted to smack the daylight out of Xue Meng for his audacity.

"Shizunnnnnnn..." Xue Meng whined.

"What is it?"

"This disciple has been wronged!"

Mo Ran perked up. Did someone bully Xue Meng? Who should he send the flowers to?

Chu Wanning asked, "What do you mean?"

Xue Meng took out a tattered book and showed it to Chu Wanning. It was clear that the book suffered a lot from Xue Meng's temper.

"Look, look. I am not anywhere on the list of 100 Wealthiest Cultivators! What is the meaning of this!"

Chu Wanning did not even need to look at the list to know that it was true. Sisheng Peak was quite poor compared to any sect from the Upper Cultivation Realm. It was an irrefutable fact. Unable to console his disciple, Chu Wanning decided to just listen to Xue Meng's rants.

"And then and then they dared to put me second in the list of 100 Haughtiest Young Masters! How shameless!"

Mo Ran chuckled. "If you are second, who dares to be first?"

Xue Meng's eyes flashed with anger. "You dog! If I didn't know better, I would say you wrote this list!"

"So who is the first rank?" Mo Ran asked again, trying hard to wipe the smile off his face.

"If you must know, it's Nangong Si! Shizun, have I told you that I beat Nangong Si in the Spiritual Mountain Competition...?"

Mo Ran rolled with his eyes.

They ended up reading the "Illustrated Cloud Ranking" book as they finished their breakfast.

And then Xue Meng came upon another interesting list.

"The Size Ranking of Heroes in the Cultivation World."

"What the hell is this?"

Shi Mei scooted closer and leaned in to read the content of the list.

"What size?"

"I don't know, let's take a look."

"Oh look, Shizun's name is here."

Chu Wanning frowned. His name? What size ranking again?

It turned out that Chu Wanning's name was merely mentioned because the list was incomplete. The reason for that was that some people had not been seen bathing in public thus their size remained undisclosed.

Chu Wanning took a sip from his cup of tea.

He thought that the one who compiled this book must be blind. Why was it even necessary to determine one's height when the person was taking a bath? One look sufficed to tell the size.

"Oh hey, the dog is number one on the list."

Chu Wanning frowned. Mo Ran did grow a lot taller in the past five years, but he would not say that Mo Ran was the biggest out there. He was sure that he had seen bigger people around...

"Seen when taking a bath in a public bathhouse. Absolute unit, truly awe-inspiring."

All eyes were directed at Mo Ran, who did not at all know why his name even stood there. He never read this kind of book before. Or better said, he was never a fan of reading books.

"Who is the second one?" He casually asked.

"Erm... Someone we don't know. Seen when taking a bath in the forest. Sensational."

"Okay, who's the third?"

"The third is..."

Xue Meng's face turned ashen. Shi Mei read in his stead. "Mei Hanxue. The author himself has not seen the thing with his own eyes, but a lot of women readily testified. Mei-gongzi is able to turn a woman's flesh into water, her bone into mud. He can satisfy ten women in one night without much difficulty."

The room was silent as everyone let the words sink into their head. When Xue Meng lifted his head to look around him, he found that everyone was more or less red in the face.

Chu Wanning fished the book between two fingers away from Xue Meng's hands. Disgust was written all over his face when he flung the book out of the room and caused it to explode with a burst of spiritual power.

"Don't read such trash ever again!" Chu Wanning chastised his disciples, who sat there red-faced with their eyes lowered.

"Shizun, let me pour some more tea for you..."

"I also want some..."

Chu Wanning took a deep breath. The room felt so hot all of a sudden. He casually looked in one direction and it just so happened that his eyes met with Mo Ran's.

Absolute unit. Truly awe-inspiring.

Both Chu Wanning and Mo Ran quickly looked away.

The esteemed Yuheng Elder rubbed at his temple. His eyes were closed, but one thing kept flickering in front of his eyes. The bulge between Mo Ran's legs the previous day.

Chu Wanning swallowed hard. He decided to copy some Buddhist scriptures before the banquet started in the evening.