Chapter 117: Shizun Tells Me To Get The Hell Out

What Rong Jiu meant to say, of course, was that Chu Wanning would definitely get upset and jealous, that he wouldn't be able to handle it.

But Mo Ran didn't know that Chu Wanning had actually loved him all along;

he mulled over Rong Jiu's words, and only thought that he was threatening to tell Chu Wanning about his past misdeeds. For a master to have to listen to all of his disciple's many outrageous acts recounted one by one, how mortifying would that be? Wouldn't he die of anger?

So he snapped immediately, "You leave him alone!" Rong Jiu smiled coquettishly, beautifully effeminate despite being a man. He said softly, "I'll behave if you protect me and take me with you, promise I won't say anything or make any trouble." With no other choice, Mo Ran cursed under his breath and turned to leave.

Rong Jiu followed after gleefully, knowing it for the silent acquiescence that it was. But Mo Ran barely went two steps before he whipped his head around and pointed a finger at him, whispering low and threatening, "Rong Jiu, if you so much as put a single toe out of line, I'll make sure to scatter your soul before you can even touch the gate of reincarnation."   Rong Jiu was a picture of affected coyness as he said sweetly, "If you don't mess with me, I won't mess with you. I'll behave as long as you don't mistreat me. Mo-xianjun, shouldn't you of all people know what kind of person I am?

You're my old regular, after all."   "..." Mo Ran was as disgusted by that soft, saccharine tone of his now as he had been fond of it in the past life, but there was absolutely nothing he could do about it as he watched Rong Jiu drift over to Chu Wanning's side. He really couldn't understand it—— Had he been blind back then or what?

Song Qiutong, Rong Jiu… how the hell had he managed to fall for people like them?

If he could be reborn into his past life in front of his past self, he'd really like to grab Taxian-jun by the neck and open his head up, check just how much water had gotten in there. Seriously, what the hell was all this?

Luckily Rong Jiu hadn't said anything outright earlier, and Chu Wanning was basically a blank sheet in matters of the heart, so after some words of explanation smilingly delivered by seasoned veteran Rong Jiu, Chu Wanning's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

He even thought that he was the one with the impure thoughts, to have misunderstood what this person meant by "old relations" earlier. He secretly felt rather embarrassed about it, though his expression remained unchanged.

Rong Jiu had to work if he was gonna tag along. Being the one most familiar with the palace, he said, "Not many people frequent this street, but it's not exactly hidden. Let's go to another place for peace of mind while you two figure out how to break through the barrier."   This other place he mentioned was a storehouse for clothing and fabrics in the Underworld, with bolts upon bolts of white burlap cloth piled high, perfect for hiding out.

The three of them picked a remote location, and Chu Wanning felt along the wall with his fingertips as if taking a patient's pulse, trying his best to feel out the spiritual barrier currently covering the entire away palace.

But a long while passed and he was still getting nowhere, while his soul grew weaker for his efforts. Mo Ran put his hand over Chu Wanning's, tugging it off the wall, and said, "Get some rest." Angry and helpless, Chu Wanning could only seethe as he stared at his own hand. "Why is this soul of mine missing spiritual powers of all things?" "What if I give you some of mine?" "I wouldn't be able to use it." Chu Wanning glanced at Rong Jiu off in the distance, and lowered his voice. "You're a living person, I'm a ghost, yin and yang energies are dissonant."   Chu Wanning was back on it after a short break. If he had his three souls and his spiritual powers, then all it would've taken was to send a burst of spiritual energy into the barrier, and he would've easily been able to pinpoint the weakness in the Fourth Ghost King's spell. But right now he hardly had any spiritual energy at all, and it was truly too difficult to try and seek out the weakness by forcing what tiny bit of it he had into the barrier, like looking for a single leaf in the vast ocean.

Two hours passed, and Rong Jiu started getting restless.

He ran over and pulled at Mo Ran. "Can we get out or not?" Mo Ran said, "Knock it off and go sit down." "Come on, I'm worried sick already, just tell me if we can get out or not." "Worrying won't do you any good, just wait."   Rong Jiu complained, "Isn't your Shizun supposed to be really powerful? It's been so long already, why isn't anything happening?" "He only has one of three souls, and this one's missing spiritual powers. Can you just be quiet?"   Rong Jiu seemed dejected at his words, eyelashes flickering as he sat back down on the pile of white burlap cloth.

Another two hours and then some passed. Rong Jiu got up and walked over to Chu Wanning. "Xianjun, is there any other way?" Fingertips still pressed against the wall, Chu Wanning replied without opening his eyes, "No." "Th-then is there some way to get at least some amount of your powers back?" Chu Wanning thought about it for a moment before asking, "Do you have any spiritual energy?" "No…" Rong Jiu was taken aback. "Why does xianjun ask…" "If you did, you could've passed me some to use." Rong Jiu said excitedly, "That easy? Then hurry and have Mo-xianjun…" Chu Wanning cut him off. "His is useless."

Of course Rong Jiu didn't know that Mo Ran wasn't actually a ghost. His smile froze as soon as he heard that Mo Ran's couldn't be used. "How come?" "Different elements, is all." Mo Ran knew that Chu Wanning was no good at lying, and it'd be best not to let Rong Jiu know the truth about him not being a ghost, so he cut him off immediately. "Can you please just go keep watch outside and let us know if you see anyone coming this way."   Rong Jiu shot him an irate glare, but the three of them were stuck in the same boat right now, so he could only begrudgingly go over to the storehouse entrance and reluctantly lean against the door, picking at his nails while glancing about outside with that pair of hazy peach blossom eyes.

Mo Ran glanced over at him before sitting down next to Chu Wanning.

He hesitated for a while, but in the end decided he didn't want to keep anything from Chu Wanning, so he spoke up, "Shizun, I...I want to apologize for some wrongs I've committed." "What wrongs?" "Um, do you remember that time when you had me reprimanded at the Platform of Sin and Virtue, for…" Mo Ran paused, too embarrassed to say debauchery. A person's face really was quite the mysterious thing—thick like the great wall when they didn't care, thin like a sheet of paper and just as flimsy as soon as they began to care.

Mo Ran lowered his head bashfully and said in a small voice, "...for breaking the fourth, ninth, and fifteenth commandments." The fourth commandment, thievery.

The ninth commandment, debauchery.

The fifteenth commandment, deceit.

Of course Chu Wanning wouldn't forget that time. His eyes opened, but he didn't look at Mo Ran as he muttered, "Mn." Looking at that cool, disciplined expression, Mo Ran felt even more ashamed, dropping his gaze after a moment and quietly whispering, "Shizun, I'm sorry."   Chu Wanning could already guess what he was going to say. Although aggrieved, he had always been able to keep a level head during difficult situations, and besides, it wasn't like he was just now finding out about the sleazy things Mo Ran had done back then, so he replied coolly, "Weren't you already punished for that? And there were no repeat offenses after that either, so why bring it up now?" "Because that Rong Jiu outside… he's…" Mo Ran couldn't finish the sentence, and Chu Wanning was also silent for a long while.

Then Mo Ran heard Chu Wanning scoff, "So it's him?" "Mm." He didn't dare look up at Chu Wanning at all. Sisheng Peak never forbade its disciples from matters of desire, and young people dual cultivating or having a lover on the outside was perfectly normal and ordinary. But Chu Wanning was different. Chu Wanning's cultivation path focused on purity of heart and mind, and he had always treated such carnal things with contempt.

Not to mention Mo Ran had slept around in the brothels back then instead of properly seeing someone like a normal person would…

Xue Zhengyong might not have cared much, with the way he spoiled his nephew. Mo Ran was already of age anyway, and it wasn't like he cultivated the purity path. Moreover it wouldn't be healthy to suppress those needs, so he would just close one eye and let it go. But Chu Wanning wouldn't be able to tolerate it.

He'd be disgusted. Mo Ran had already seen such a reaction, back when he was being punished at the Platform of Sin and Virtue; in Chu Wanning's eyes back then, he had clearly seen disgust, contempt, and loathing.

It's already been so many years, and he hadn't done those things again since, but now that Chu Wanning had run into Rong Jiu in the Underworld, how could he possibly not be bothered? Mo Ran truly felt the weight of the words "what goes around comes around, it's just a matter of time" now.

He wasn't afraid of being scolded or hit by Chu Wanning—in fact, he'd rather he just take out Tianwen and give him another round of lashing—just as long as nothing went awry, as long as the Earth Soul that he had gone through so much to find didn't run off in a huff over this past affair. If Chu Wanning were to leave in a fit of rage, Mo Ran might really kill himself.

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Rather than keeping Rong Jiu around like a barrel of gunpowder on legs, it'd be better to just come clean himself and go apologize to Chu Wanning first.

He had it all planned out, deliberately standing in the direction of the door as he confessed, so that if Chu Wanning tried to leave after hearing what he had to say, he could grab him, tie him up if he had to, whatever offense he had to resort to, to keep him from disappearing and leaving him behind. Chu Wanning could be as mad as he wanted after this was all over.

Mo Ran was practicing how to block off Chu Wanning's escape routes in his head when the fabric of Chu Wanning's robes shifted slightly in the dim lighting,

light catching on scarlet silk and golden embroidery.

Even Mo Ran's heart was trembling as he said in a small voice, "Shizun…" Chu Wanning said, "This is all ancient history, and punishment's already been dealt out, so what're you telling me these bygones for?" He gave him a sidelong glance, expression coolly indifferent as his thin lips parted deliberately,

even a touch sardonically. "What do I care?" Something like "what do I care" was the last thing he had expected him to say…

Mo Ran was dumbstruck.

He didn't taste any of that vinegar[11] dripping from Chu Wanning's words; all he felt was panic, thinking that Shizun had lost all hope in him and didn't want to bother with him anymore, didn't care about him anymore. He said, frantically,

"Shizun, everything in the past was all my fault, please don't be mad…" "Why would I be mad, what is there to be mad about." Despite his words, the more he thought about it the more irritated he felt, until Chu Wanning snapped heatedly, "I just knew things weren't so clean between the two of you. 'Old relations' indeed, are you still trying to fool me? ...Get out." "..." "Out!" He was well aware of the sourness in his voice, and he well knew that this was all in the past already, but Chu Wanning just couldn't help muttering under his breath, "Absolutely shameless."

Instead of getting out, Mo Ran only continued to sit there dumbly next to him,

staring insistently at him with that pair of bright black eyes.

A moment later, he said, "I'm not leaving."   Chu Wanning said, incensed, "Leave! I don't want to see you right now!" "I'm not leaving," Mo Ran mumbled, sitting there refusing to budge, like a stupid piece of rock. He was such a despicable person, but as he stared at Chu Wanning and the rims of his eyes grew red, there was somehow also a bit of pitifulness and stubbornness there.

"I'm afraid that if I go, you'll run off… Shizun, don't leave me behind."   "..." Chu Wanning had no idea that this was what had been on Mo Ran's mind.

Although he felt revolted every time this thing got brought up, it wasn't news to him, and he was also aware of the prevailing normal practice in the cultivation world: be it men or women, once they came of age—provided their cultivation path was not that of purity—practically everyone indulged in some amount of dissolution. It was nothing to raise one's eyebrows at.

Mo Ran was no Xue Meng. Xue Meng had grown up sheltered and coddled,

with upstanding parents and a strict education, so he'd always been wellbehaved unlike other young masters. But Mo Ran?

A willful personality, always doing whatever he felt like.

Grew up in the pleasure houses.

No father, and a songstress for a mother.

He was a wild, unruly pup that had grown up without guidance, screwing around day in day out all the way until he was fifteen before his uncle plucked him from the mire, fur covered in mud.

Only an idiot would think he was clean and pure like a fine piece of jade. Chu Wanning was no idiot.

It was one thing knowing all that, but seeing Rong Jiu with his own eyes, this beautiful person who had slept around with Mo Ran back then, Chu Wanning was still grossed out.

Unable to make Mo Ran go away, he turned back to the wall, closed his eyes, and went back to checking the barrier.

But as he worked, he just couldn't help thinking about Rong Jiu's pretty little oval-shaped face, that fair, tender-looking skin that was probably soft and smooth to the touch. And those cute little lips, light pink and smooth-talking…

that damned Mo Ran had definitely kissed them before. And that little waist, that figure… and, in spite of himself, he even thought about how Mo Ran must have been all tangled up in bed with that effeminate little thing, how repulsive!

When it came to certain things, hearing about it was an altogether different matter than having to see it for oneself. He couldn't help thinking about it now that he had seen, and the more he thought about it the less he could stand for it.

Chu Wanning's eyes suddenly snapped open, flames of anger blazing within. He stood up and shoved Mo Ran away none-too-gently. "Get the hell out." "Shizun…" "Out." Left without a choice, Mo Ran could only lower his head and slowly walk outside the storehouse.

Rong Jiu was a little surprised to see him there.

"Oho, Mo-xianjun, did you have a fight with your Shizun?" Mo Ran didn't even want to acknowledge him; just the sight of him gave him a headache. He had liked him in the past life because he looked a bit like Shi Mei, and when he had slept with him after his rebirth in this life, it was with a grudge and the intention of screwing him over.

But no matter what, the things he had done in the past were like marks carved into a wooden post, impossible to restore to the way they used to be.

Mo Ran said, "I'll keep watch by myself, go find somewhere else to sit."   The door was the least safe place in the storehouse, and Rong Jiu was only too happy to comply.

But he couldn't resist looking back at Mo Ran after walking only two steps away. He was suddenly a little curious how Mo Ran had died. How did his personality change this much in the few years he hadn't seen him? It was as if he'd gone through some kind of harrowing experience, how very curious.

Pretty eyelashes fluttering, he glanced Mo Ran up and down from where he stood behind him. Suddenly feeling like something was a little off, he looked him over again, more carefully this time, and his gaze landed on the faint shadow at Mo Ran's feet…

Rong Jiu froze in shock.

[11] Vinegar = jealousy