Chapter 150: Shizun, Swap Rooms with Me

Speaking of this small town, it had become famous because of Xuying Peak,

but after that fake Gou Chen affair where the weapons of Jincheng Lake had been completely destroyed, the town had gradually become desolate as the years passed by. Many of the inns that provided accommodation for those who came seeking swords closed due to the slump in business, and switched their business to something else.

However, the inn with the hot springs that the master and disciples had stayed at was still stubbornly surviving. Because of Nangong-gongzi's grand wedding, many of the guests coming to Rufeng Sect to attend the reception would settle in Daicheng City first, and so this inn returned to its former glory.

Xue Zhengyong swept aside the bamboo curtain and stepped into the reception hall. "Boss, checking in!" "For four?" Xue Zhengyong hadn't yet answered when he heard a low voice from behind, "No, for five." Turns out Mo Ran had hurried back just in time.

Xue Meng was a little surprised to see him. "So fast?" Mo Ran blinked at first, then his face dropped immediately and he thought angrily, does it take a long time for yours to go down? It was nothing but a simple matter of reciting the mind-purification spell a few times while sitting there at the tea shop.

But he also knew that Xue Meng wasn't talking about the same thing and that he couldn't throw a fit, so he could only nod quite reservedly.

"You swallowed all the melon seeds without even spitting out the shells,

didn't you?" Mo Ran: "..." "Lord customers, how many rooms do you need for the five of you?" Xue Zhengyong replied, "My wife and I will share one, then three more of the bestest suites, so four in total." Mo Ran listened to his uncle's arrangements with a calm and quiet look, but he was faintly restless inside. He had secretly hoped that the same conversation from the past would happen, that the boss would tell them that there was no vacancy and they'd have to squeeze, that way he could…

Forget it. Truth was, he still wouldn't be able to do anything. But just the thought of staying in the same room alone with Chu Wanning made his heart burn, made him both a little unsettled and a little thrilled. After all, the blood of predatory beasts flowed in his veins.

However, coincidences didn't happen that often in life, and this time, the manager quite happily answered, "Yessir, four suites!" He turned around and collected four keys from the cabinet, then shouted with a dragged out greeting, "LORD CUSTOMERS, SECOND FLOOR, PLEASE——" Mo Ran gave him a deep, silent look, feeling somewhat glum.

Stupid, he thought, what are you so happy over four rooms for? What's there to be happy about! What's there to be happy about! What's so good about making more money!

"Ran-er, why are you gripping the counter like that?"

"..." Mo Ran maintained his composure as he withdrew his hands then flashed a smile. There were already several cracks on the bottom of that wooden board where he had been gripping, and had he used more force it would've shattered. "No reason."

After taking his key from Xue Zhengyong's hand and going upstairs, Mo Ran stopped in front of the door to the room assigned to him, taken aback.

When he turned his head, he saw Chu Wanning was also looking at him.

"You're staying in that room?" "En… Yea." Mo Ran hesitated for a moment, lashes lowered at first, but then he raised his eyes in spite of himself, and those bright, black orbs gazed at Chu Wanning's face. "Does Shizun still remember?" "…Remember what?" Mo Ran pointed at his door and said, "That time when we came to seek swords, this was the room shizun stayed in." "…" Mo Ran watched him cautiously, forbearing his voice, but he couldn't conceal a flicker of hope. "Shizun, do you still remember?" Chu Wanning thought to himself, how could he not.

As he climbed up to this floor, past events had been coming back to him with each step, creaking along with the stairs of this old building that had long since fallen into disrepair, and memories slowly emerged, carrying the decaying smell of wood soaked in the passing of ages.

He could almost see the young Mo Ran push open the door, still with a cynical and frivolous look on his face, and cracking a smile at him. His dimpled smile was light yet profound with years.

Seeing him silent for so long, Mo Ran seemed to appear somewhat disappointed, and he dropped his gaze. "Maybe I remembered wrong, mixed it up…" "You're right." Mo Ran's head shot up.

Chu Wanning gazed at him, then seemed to let out a faint smile, "You weren't mistaken, it was that one." His words were like a spark that ignited the darkness within Mo Ran's eyes in a flash, and the corners of Mo Ran's lips slowly pulled into a sweet smile, almost as if he'd tasted an extremely delicious candy. He then pointed at the room Chu Wanning was to stay in for the night. "And, the room shizun is staying in tonight was the one I stayed in last time."   He was really happy so his words were honest.

However, that made Chu Wanning a little embarrassed, and his smile disappeared as he spat indignantly, "I don't recall that." As he said that he pushed the door and went in, leaving Mo Ran outside.

"..." Um…what had he done to upset him now?

Mo Ran didn't dare go to the baths to soak in the hot springs that night. In most cases, he wasn't afraid of anything, but for certain things, he was afraid of that one in a million chance. He felt he had now arrived at the borders of desire.

If Chu Wanning were to give him the slightest bit of temptation, he didn't know if he could endure being a gentleman, could resist plucking this out-of-reach cliffside flower.

He lay there in bed, arms pillowed behind his head, incredibly bored, and started mulling over the way he and Chu Wanning had been interacting.

He wasn't a very smart person, and felt that Chu Wanning was like a big white cat, one that he wanted to treat well, a snow-white kitty that he wanted to take care of, but every time he tried to pet it, it only took a couple strokes before the white cat's claws would come swinging, as if he hadn't petted it comfortably,

or the way it wanted to.

He felt himself at fault, but he really didn't know where he was allowed to touch and where he wasn't. He was like someone who had just started keeping a cat; all his knowledge was half-baked, and all that he knew to do was to push the white cat down and lick its fur.

Which would garner him an angry yowl and a swipe of the claws.

Mo Ran flipped over and blinked, feeling very depressed.

He suddenly remembered the floorplan of this inn, and the bed of the room next door and his should be pressed together, separated only by a single planked wall.

The moment this thought surfaced, there was even less chance of Mo Ran falling asleep. He felt his mouth go dry.

Had Chu Wanning taken his bath? Or was he getting ready to?

But he barely heard any movement from his room…If Chu Wanning didn't plan on going to take a bath, did that mean he had already lain down? Then that meant, they were actually very close to each other right now, and if it wasn't for that thin wooden board in the middle that divided their rooms into two, they would actually be lying beside each other…

Lying together. This thought alone made the young man's blood boil, flowing dangerously, like a volcano in shallow dormancy, not yet erupting.

He couldn't help but shuffle even closer to press himself firmly against the wall. At the end of the day, a wall made of wood was different from one made of earth; wooden planks were only so thin, at most three fingers thick.

Mo Ran thought to himself, Chu Wanning was lying there, only three inches away from him, stripped of his clothes, or perhaps only wearing a thin underrobe… He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He could feel his heart burning,

scorching his entire body, blazing all the way to his eyes. His eyes weren't open,

but if they were, they would be laced with red, bloodshot.

Ah. He then abruptly remembered another thing——Something so thrilling that his entire body went taut, his blood gushing straight down below.

He had once masturbated on that very bed that Chu Wanning was now sleeping in.

Memories of years long past were so wet, sinful and sweet. When Mo Ran recalled this, he could feel himself tense. That year, he recalled, he had gone to the hot springs and had accidentally tripped, falling into Chu Wanning's arms.

That feverish feeling wouldn't fade no matter how much he tried, and he'd only been able to rub at himself, wallowing in his own decadence with his forehead pressed against the wall, releasing his desire that way…

Mo Ran cracked his eyes open a slit, his eyes dark. The pitch black was like rocks, yet with scarlet red lava surging beneath. He once again pressed his forehead against the wall.

It was as if his heart was going to burst. How had he been such a fool, it had been such blatant desire and love, so how… had he not noticed…

He placed one hand against the wall, trying to restrain himself, but he really couldn't.

When he'd thought he didn't love Chu Wanning, he could think about him and relieve himself without scruple. But now that he'd fallen in love, he was destined to never obtain that man on the other side of this divide no matter how he wished, and even dreaming of it would feel dirty, like he was defiling Chu Wanning.

Forcibly holding back lust was truly pure torment for a young body so full of vigour. The tip of his nose pressed against the wall as he pushed all that he could of his feverish body against that flimsy facade, mind a chaotic mess. His eyes were lost and unfocused, and amidst this upsurge of passion that was swelling by the minute, an illusion faintly took hold of him.

It was almost as if Chu Wanning's breathing and that faint fragrance of haitang on Chu Wanning's body had permeated through the cracks in the grain of the wood, had seeped into his bed, enveloping him seamlessly.

Chu Wanning's scent was enticing him, pitying him.

It was tempting his beastly desires, and pitying his humanity.

It was luring him to self-combust in the flames of lust, and pitying him for what he wanted, but could not have.

Lost amidst this temptation and pity, Mo Ran's brows furrowed painfully and the hands supporting him against the wall tensed, the bones and veins standing out starkly.

In contrast to his ruthless expression however, were his pleas, near sobs, as he murmured softly, "Chu Wanning… Wanning…" What he didn't know however, was that on the other side of the wall, Chu Wanning hadn't actually dared to go to the hot springs for a bath either. He was just as Mo Ran had imagined and had already laid down. at this moment, he was also thinking of him, yearning for him. Chu Wanning's long and slender fingers stroked the slightly cool wooden planks, his forehead also pressed against this heartless wall.

The misunderstandings between the two of them in the past life were so deep that it made them lose their way, and a tremendous abyss divided them.

And so in this life, they used their own blood to fill this abyss, turn it into a sea of blood in order to ferry across to get to each other's side. However, because of this one barrier, they could not see the outpouring of love from the other, and so had no choice but to let their own love and desire wash over them, alone.

But they were so undoubtedly close already.

So much so that it was as if Mo Ran could hear Chu Wanning's heartbeat,

and Chu Wanning could always hear Mo Ran's breathing.

"Dong dong dong!" Startled, Mo Ran shouted irritably, "WHO IS IT!" His shout also startled Chu Wanning next door, and instantly he realized that Mo Ran really had been sleeping nestled against the wall, pressed so close to him that this deep and hoarse voice seemed to have sounded right next to his pillow.

"..." Chu Wanning unconsciously clenched his fists, opening his phoenix eyes in the darkness.

"It's me, Xue Meng," the person outside said. "My mum said she put my belongings together with yours, open your door, jeez, I wanna go take a bath." Eavesdropping was obviously not a good deed, but Chu Wanning thought to himself, I'm not eavesdropping, it's the planks that are too thin, the soundproofing of the rooms is terrible, it's Xue Meng who's too loud.

Either way, it wasn't like he wanted to listen.

Chu Wanning thought as he wrapped the blanket tighter and shuffled closer to the wall.

The creaking sound of the bed came from next door, and after a moment the door opened. Xue Meng's voice rose again, "Eh? How come you're sleeping already? So early?" "I'm sleepy," Mo Ran was a little choked up. "Move it, you woke me up. Take your clothes and go, gogogogo." "What's the hurry, jeez?" Xue Meng paused, then a trace of suspicion coloured his voice, "Locking your door so early and stifling yourself inside, acting all pissy so quickly, don't tell me you were…" What? What was he doing?

Chu Wanning's eyes widened immediately, and his mind unconsciously wandered to when his and Mo Ran's bodies had rubbed against each other, next to the lotus pond. That youth possessed excessive vitality and high spirits, like he could kill, should he be ready to strike.

A young man who was just over twenty, he didn't practice the same abstinence method that Chu Wanning employed, so how much rolling lava was concealed in that body? How often did he have to release himself for it to be normal? Chu Wanning didn't know any of that, he had been ascetic for too long,

this wasn't something he understood.

And now, he kind of wanted to know. But due to his face, he couldn't let go of his pride.

For someone who was so proud, who could he ask for a question like this?

He couldn't possibly just pull aside a random disciple and say "Excuse me, sorry to trouble you, I want to know how many times a week do normal men in their prime need to relieve themselves?" …Just the thought of it made him feel indescribably perverted.

Of course, at Sisheng Peak there were books related to dual cultivation and sentiments, but every book borrowed required registration on the logs, and Chu Wanning really couldn't imagine the following words appearing on the records:

"Legends of Bed Heroes" , "Chronicles of Drifting in the Sea of Lust" Borrower, Yuheng Elder Chu Wanning …It would be better to just kill him.