Chapter 142: Shizun, This is Cruel Torture

Turns out, in the split second Mo Ran looked over, inspiration struck Chu Wanning, and he spun around in the last second, propping himself up against the wall with his arms crossed, leaving the other the plain view of his even and powerful back.

This way, Mo Ran wouldn't be able to see his full frontal view. Chu Wanning thought he was brilliant.

This dummy, he didn't realize at all that what he exposed to Mo Ran's eyes were his low-lying and sensual back dimples, his full and firm buttocks, and his slender and powerful legs...He was like a rabbit who peeled his own pelt and stacked over the fire to grill, browned and crispy. He was practically saying "Please enjoy, thanks." Mo Ran felt his throat running dry. His eyes were laced with red, and he had to hold himself back for a moment before he could speak. "Shizun, what… What are you doing?" What was he doing?

...Hm...This position was certainly a little strange, but what should he say in order to smooth this over without arousing suspicion…

Chu Wanning peeked over, showing half a face, his expression cold and solemn, trying to cover this up.

Mo Ran had already put down his clothes and was walking towards him.

Perhaps it was because his back was against the light, but Chu Wanning kept thinking the expression on Mo Ran's face was frightening, like a wolf in the jungle that had been starved for too long but the meat was hung over the claws of a trap, so the wolf hesitated, his hunger and reason engaging in a fierce fight,

the flames of the battle itself spreading to his eyes. Mo Ran's black eyes were very bright, emitting a haunting glow.

Chu Wanning finally realized something was wrong, and three words were tacked onto the bow, the tone of them sharp, piercing through this peculiar silence.

"Scrub my back."

"...Hm?" Mo Ran's watery voice was frozen in his throat, carrying a nasal tone, sounding particularly sensual. "What?" This really was just an excuse Chu Wanning came up with anxiously, at the end of his wits, but since his voice was already heard, there was no getting out of this, so he could only pretend to be calm, and said frigidly, "Since you're here,

come scrub my back before you go." Mo Ran, "..." "It's been so busy these days, I'm covered in sweat and it's uncomfortable." Chu Wanning used his everything to appear nonchalant and very unconcerned,

"It'll be good to be scrubbed clean." He couldn't tell if Mo Ran bought his lies, or if his lying sounded natural.

But either way, in the end Mo Ran still heeded him and obediently came over with a towel, used warm water to soak it through, then started scrubbing Chu Wanning's back for him.

Yuheng of the Night Sky had always been wise. This had to be the dumbest thing he'd ever done.

What was the most excruciating torture in this world?

When the one you love passionately stood behind you scrubbing you clean with a pair of large hands with only a rough towel separating you two, and in the wake of every place washed was like a sail through spring waters, leaving behind small marks. Mo Ran was already holding back his strength, but he's still very rough. Besides, Chu Wanning had never had his skin touched by others like this before, and it felt as if every inch of his muscle was trembling, so he had to tense up before he could scantily manage to remain calm, lest the one behind him notice his unusual behaviour.

He pressed his forehead against the wall, and tightly bit his lips out of Mo Ran's sight, the corners of his phoenix eyes flushing red, his mind scaldingly hot,

so much so that he was like the thick dew upon the branch, softly moist within the mist...

He was someone who had never experienced such a thing before too, but so what? He still had to endure such stimulation before the one he deeply loved,

pretending to be haughty and out of reach.

This was too stressful...

But if it was Mo Ran, what would be the most excruciating torture in the world for him?

The answer would be vastly different. He would probably say, it's that person standing in front of you with his hands pressed against the wall, his shoulders unfolded, and completely unsuspicious of you, giving all of himself to you openly and unfazed, letting your hot hands knead across this field of early spring separated by a hindering towel, his mind filled with unspeakable filth.   Of course he knew he was scrubbing shizun's back for him, but if he pressed just that bit harder, that person's skin would redden, giving the semblance of him being bullied, of being abused.

The towel brushed past his shoulder blades as Mo Ran washed him delicately, but unconsciously, his ministrations grew ever the more vigorous. He could sense the slight quivering of the person beneath him, but he couldn't tell if it was all in his head. He stared at that fair and plump curve, restraining himself to the point his eyes were laced with red so as to not toss away the washing towel and use his own hands directly instead, engraving upon the curve five bewitching red streaks.

He had long since thoroughly tasted the overwhelming flavour of the man before him, but so what? He still had to swallow his cries and endure it, force himself to be a gentleman.

This was too stressful…...

The two were stressed by themselves for a good while, and if this scrubbing continued, fire was going to be ignited.

At last, Chu Wanning couldn't contain himself anymore, and he said, his voice cracked, "It's good, you can go. I can reach the rest of my back on my own, I'll do it myself." Mo Ran's sigh of relief was almost immediate, his forehead was already covered in fine sweat.

He replied glumly, "Okay…...shizun..." The curtain of the door flapped and fell. Mo Ran had left.

A long time passed and still Chu Wanning hadn't come back around; he was still leaning against the wall, his forehead pressed against the surface. The tips of his ears were blood red, just like the marks left in the wake of the scrubbing,

though he wondered whether Mo Ran had noticed.

"..." He cracked open his phoenix eyes, seeming to be biting his bottom lip out of humiliation, but after a long hesitation, he still reached down. His Adam's apple rolled up and down slowly, it was blurry and damp within the mist, and the steam all around was so thick it couldn't be dispelled...

He had originally run back to shower in order to suppress this sordid feeling.

Yet the heaven's plans superseded all, and under the most coincidental of circumstances, Mo Ran pushed him deeper into the billowing waves of the sea of desire. Finally on this day, Chu Wanning, who had always relied on purification cultivation to resist human nature, couldn't hold it in and had to employ the most basic and the most embarrassing common method to relieve himself of the desire that was on the cusp of overflowing.

His mouth is slightly open, his phoenix eyes half-lidded, looking a little pitiful,

and a little aggrieved...

He was pressing against the icy cold wall, but his forehead was flaming hot.

His beautiful shoulders were raised, his Adam's apple rolling, as he suppressed his deep panting and haunting sobs.

So sinful, yet so beautiful.

Like a white swallowtail butterfly sunken in a spider's web, quivering its wings powerlessly in the tightly-knit lust, never, ever, ever, to escape once more.

He was dirtied after all.

Dirtied to the bone. Dirtied so wretchedly, so pitifully, luring others to conquer,

drawing others into addiction.

In the end, Chu Wanning was practically indignant as he smashed a fist against the wall. He was so hardened, so frustrated, so unwilling, to the point that he used such a great force he scraped the skin of his fingers, and blood oozed out.

"Bastard." He didn't know if he was cursing himself or cursing Mo Ran.

Chu Wanning's eyes were still wet, tender and affectionate, bitter and hateful, but there was confusion too.

In the blink of an eye it had already been more than half a month since they had come to Yuliang Village, and the busy farming season was coming to an end.

Since that scrub bath day, Chu Wanning had been avoiding Mo Ran like snakes and scorpions to ferocious beasts. It wasn't that he noticed anything unusual with Mo Ran, but that he couldn't accept the change in himself.

When a man had been austere and refined for too long, it'd be particularly easy for him to be holier-than-thou, otherwise why else would Chu Wanning so easily turn his nose up at others practicing dual cultivation? It really wasn't jealousy, Yuheng Elder really couldn't stand it, thinking it too lovey-dovey.

Dislike.

 He didn't look at erotica because he really didn't want to, that wasn't an act.

To Chu Wanning, "to like" and "kissing" were things that he could still tolerate,

but if he had to take it a step further, for example masturbation, or for example other such deeds, then his face would darken and he couldn't take it.

This was akin to someone who had been vegetarian his entire life, and if you snuck a bit of lard in his bowl, he might think it smelled good, but if you gave him a piece of meat that appeared browned on the outside but still carried the stench of blood on the inside, he would probably die of disgust.

That day, after he got himself off in a confused flurry, Chu Wanning sobered up. He panted as he stared at the stickiness on his hand, and felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dunked over his head.

His face darkened completely.

What was he doing? Was he so stirred up by a kid barely past twenty that he couldn't restrain himself, and actually needed to masturbate in order to appease the rolling tides in his heart?

Goosebumps flared on Chu Wanning's back. So, whenever he ran into Mo Ran after that, he'd stay at least three feet away, scared he might accidentally unleash the raging beast in his heart and do something he'd regret.

He withdrew. Mo Ran withdrew too.

Mo Ran was also terrified after the fact. He discovered his yearning for Chu Wanning seemed to be much stronger than he anticipated. The dam he erected from before almost couldn't stop the tempestuous currents anymore, the passion in his bones was going to overflow at any minute.

He was keenly aware that human or animal was but a moment of weakness,

and he didn't want to hurt Chu Wanning again because of this moment of weakness, so he was also unconsciously avoiding Chu Wanning.

With the distance between the two pulled farther apart, it actually gave the illusion of a respectful disciple and a kind master.

And the days passed peacefully without incidents.

This day, the hunter of the village butchered a plump deer, and the villagers proposed holding a bonfire party in the evening at the small drying field at the entrance of the village.

And so every household brought out some food, be it cakes or jerkys, and the village chief opened two pots of gaoliang liquor too, the crowd sitting together, jolly and excited. What joy it was to watch the bonfire, smell the aromatic grease of the roasted venison, and eat and drink in merriment. Chu Wanning and Mo Ran didn't sit together, the two were a little far apart with the raging flames between them, and they gazed at the other through the fire yet not wanting the other to find out.

You'd steal a glimpse at me, thinking it was quiet and discreet, but the two gazes always managed to meet halfway, so both pretended it was an unwitting sweep of the eyes, and the gazes were dropped with nonchalance. A moment later, while the other was unguarded, the eyes would secretly climb onto the other's cheeks once more.

The orange firelight was surging, the firewood crackling.

Laughter and voices of cheer from all around were intermingling and crisscrossing, but they couldn't hear anyone, and they couldn't see anyone. The moon hung in the sky yet illuminated only the hearts of two.

The pots of liquor the village chief opened quickly bottomed, but the crowd didn't feel it was enough.

Mo Ran suddenly remembered that he still had a pot of the best pear blossom white in his own cabin, so he gave a quick heads up, then got up to go grab it.

Halfway to the cabin however, he heard a noise behind him.

He turned around, "Who's there?" The rustling sound of footsteps instantly paused, then a pair of verdant shoes embroidered with yellow flowers sluggishly shuffled out from around the corner.

Mo Ran paused for a moment. "Oh, it's you, Miss Ling-er." Ling-er had drunk a little too much, and her snowy jade-like cheeks were flushing red, her lips rich and bright. She stood there under the moonlight,

gazing at him with affection, her full bosom rising up and down along with her quickened breath. She said, "Mo-xianjun, wait. I have something I want to say to you."

Author's Notes:

Mini Theatre: Random Bad Edit of This Chapter's Conclusion

1. If Jiang-er was a spectator Jiang-er: "Mo-xianjun, wait, I have something to say to you." Mo Ran: "Speak." Jiang-er: "Everyone wants me to ask you, when will you two do it?" Mo Ran: "..."

2. If Jiang-er was a crook tour guide Jiang-er: "Mo-xianjun, wait, I have something to tell you." Mo Ran: "Speak." Jiang-er: "A full course of roasted venison and farmhouse liquor is ¥899, will xianjun be paying by card or cash?" Mo Ran: "...I thought meals are included in the tour?" Jiang-er: "They are, but this is a bonfire party, it's an optional program at your own expense." Mo Ran: "..."

3. If Jiang-er was a Cat Cafe Pimp Jiang-er: "Mo-xianjun, wait, I have something to say to you." Mo Ran: "Speak." Jiang-er: (Rubs hands) Sexy bengals, intellectual British Shorthairs, fiery hawt American Shorthairs, Sphynx cats and others. Sign up for a monthly membership and you can enjoy unlimited petting and coddling all day,

won't xianjun consider?

Mo Ran: …...Do you have white cats? The kind that swipes at you ten times when you touch it once?