Unlike during his time as a handyman, after he was promoted to the Cult Master’s Personal Guard, the monthly silver he received and the quarters he was assigned had improved.
Deep into the night, Blackwood Cliff was very quiet.
Yang Lianting was lying in bed, tossing and turning from one side to the other, unable to fall asleep. Opening his sore eyes, he silently stared into the dim room. Not knowing if a long time had passed, he eventually breathed out a faint breath and then forced himself to shut his eyes again.
Hiding the deep emotions lingering in his eyes and weighing heavily on his heart. Waiting, turns out to be this kind of feeling. He was waiting for Dongfang to return from the rare courtyard.
Yang Lianting remembered, after Dongfang Bubai had begun cultivating[1] the Sunflower Manual, after they had gotten together, he had not held the slightest interest in women.
But now isn’t two years later.
Two years from now, their affection had been deep, and their love been intense.
What was Dongfang doing at the moment? The Seven Ladies were all matchless beauties of the Wulin, patient and tender, they treated Dongfang with cordial admiration.
Eating, drinking, dancing, or intimacy?
Unable to restrain certain images from appearing in his mind, Yang Lianting took a deep breath and tried to act as if he did not care at all, yet his eyes felt heavy.
In his past life, that person had been wholeheartedly devoted to him, had been infatuated with him to the point of spoiling him rotten. Nearly forgetting that, in his absence, he too was attended to by tender fragrance and gentle jade, he too was tightly held to their bosom. Seven devastatingly beautiful women who sat at his side to wait upon him, to fulfill his every demand.
He only had himself to blame. It was all his own fault, for not knowing how to cherish him in the past.
Serves you right, Yang Lianting.
Dongfang Bubai had been gone for a few hours.
Yang Lianting silently counted the passage of time, patiently waited for his return, moment by moment. Eventually his eyelids were getting heavier, so heavy he had to close them.
He seemed to be dreaming.
He saw the Dongfang Bubai of a lifetime ago.
That night had been the first time, he forced himself to greatly please Dongfang Bubai for the sake of power and prestige.
In his previous life, Yang Lianting had never thought that one day he would be together with a man. He had thought that, if he were successful, he would have married a beautiful and obedient woman, had sons and daughters, and lived his life to the fullest.
Perhaps, this was the reason why Yang Lianting had despised and resisted him, after he had become aware of Dongfang’s true feelings for him. He had been unwilling to accept that Dongfang Bubai, an immortal banished from the heavens, could fall in love with him, could love him in that humble and infatuated manner.
To keep him, Dongfang Bubai had once told him,
“Lian di, I will give you everything you want.”
“I will give you… everything you want.”
That day, he thought about the horrible insults he might bear. Feeling terribly upset, he had drowned himself in alcohol inside his room. His foot had kicked over the pile of wine jugs and the sound alarmed Dongfang Bubai, who had come out of seclusion. That person in red had entered his room and instantly noticed his entire body awfully reeking of alcohol, instantly noticed his hazy mind.
Dongfang cared about cleanliness.
Despite seeing him like this, he had raised his hands to gently help wipe away his sweat, he comforted him in a soothing voice, helped him lie down on the bed to rest and used his vast internal energy to relieve the alcohol’s aftereffect.
At that time, he had been rather drunk.
Dongfang had been very, very close to him. He had been able to smell his body’s faint pine fragrance, to feel his pale and clear skin with little hair, to see his own figure clearly reflected within his black eyes.
Perhaps, he had subconsciously felt inferior in front of him. Under the influence of alcohol this inferiority had warped into a stimulant.
Igniting all his desire and lust.
The good and the evil.
He had taken advantage of his drunkenness, lifted his hand to encircle Dongfang’s waist, pressed the Wulin’s top martial artist beneath his own body.
Movements rough and outrageous.
Eyes red and bloodshot, body reeking of alcohol.
Dongfang’s first reaction had been rejection.
With his status, who in the world had ever dared to be so rude to him? If anyone got too close for comfort, he directly took their life with a merciless palm strike. But, before he had been able to lift his hand he recognized the face of the person pressing on top of him.
Dongfang Bubai had halted his first move, unable to tell apart the feelings in his heart, yet unexpectedly he held a humble and hard to express expectation. Since Yang Lianting had found out his body’s secret, Dongfang Bubai always remembered the brief expression flashing in his eyes.
Shock, fear, resistance, and loathing.
Dongfang Bubai had not killed him, yet steeled his mind and hardened his heart. In this lifetime, I’ll never force him at all.
However, he had never expected that Yang Lianting would take the initiative to provoke him while he was drunk.
Yang Lianting’s kiss had been reckless.
Rude, coarse, and rough.
But, Dongfang Bubai had slowly closed his eyes, and left the initiative to the one lying above him. Entirely submitting himself to his hands.
Until Yang Lianting let go of him, out of breath.
At that time, the face in front of his own, the immortal’s face that had always been as cold as a snow lotus had cheeks blushing deep red and eyes brimming with glistening tears, had looked at him in an expectant gaze.
Never had he thought that Dongfang Bubai could appear this weak and delicate, Yang Lianting’s heart moved. Looking at him in a daze, that place below had felt hot and begun to rise, and his heart had beat frantically. Unable to shift his eyes away, panting roughly, he had closely stared at the man whom he was pressing beneath himself to prevent him from moving.
He had ignored the soft feelings surging in his heart.
Regardless of their intimacy, regardless of their kisses he had instantly realized that Dongfang was a man, was the cult master, and was a cast… was a castrate without integrity.[2]
Castrate.
That term had been too cruel, too terrifying. In an instant, that term had destroyed all of Yang Lianting’s remaining rationality. The realization sobered up the alcohol that had gotten to his head. In the same instant, having clearly seen all the hesitations, all the changes in Yang Lianting’s expression with his own pair of eyes, Dongfang Bubai’s black eyes dimmed little by little.
Until the light in his eyes had completely extinguished.
His complexion had looked unhealthily white, he had lightly chuckled and slightly opened his mouth wanting to speak, yet he stayed silent in the end. Time passed he had stiffly and hesitantly raised his hand wanting to gently pat his back, wanting to quietly comfort him. He had been about to touch his back when his hand had halted.
Dongfang Bubai’s dim and dismal pair of eyes, had made the man above feel an indistinct sadness and gloom.
He had lain on the bed, his quivering lips pulled upward as if he were smiling, his faint voice sounded as if it were blown away by a breeze. He had said, “It’s alright, I won’t keep you.”
“Lian di, don’t be afraid.”
Not knowing why, but seeing Dongfang Bubai’s forlorn eyes, hearing him speak such hopeless words, as he hesitantly reached out, the emerging tightness and panic in his chest had been much harder to bear than when he first realized that he had kissed him.
Heart distracted, thoughts in turmoil.
At a loss, all his emotions had interwoven together.
Veins visible in anger he had clenched his shaking hands into fists, after an instant of hesitation he had slammed his fist against the headboard. He had gritted his teeth, taken a deep breath, and looked at Dongfang Bubai.
“Would you give me everything I want?”
“Will you give me everything I want?”
At that time he had only summoned up his courage and forced himself to continue what they had been doing, he only made that shameless demand without sparing a thought for the affection in his heart that broke into a thousand pieces. Feeling flustered and nervous, as if he were grasping at straws, he had tightly clenched his teeth and stared right into Dongfang’s eyes.
“I want power over Blackwood Cliff.”
“Cult Master, will you give me what I want?”
Dongfang Bubai had lain beneath him in a red robe.
Disheveled black hair had contrasted his unhealthily wan yet handsome face. Looking straight at Yang Lianting, his dim eyes had brimmed with sadness and sorrow and his quivering lips had obstinately smiled.
The candles placed on the bedside table shone in a dim light, their crackling and flickering flames casting long shadows over Dongfang Bubai’s features. He had hesitantly raised his hand to touch Yang Lianting’s cheek yet his hand shrank back and stiffly halted in the air.
“Lian di, I will give you everything you want.”
I will always give you everything you want.
Hearing him promise, Yang Lianting had not known why his heart neither felt the faintest joy nor happiness. Looking into his pair of dark and dull black eyes, the intricate and oppressive pain appeared in his chest once again. He was disgusted with himself, yet stupidly shifted his disgust upon Dongfang Bubai’s body.
He had taken a deep breath and, without thinking, he heatedly kissed him once again. This kiss, unlike the ones before had been even coarser, even savager, this kiss had been brimming with the desire to pillage and plunder.
Fierce, forceful, and brutal.
Lips bleeding, metallic taste spreading in his mouth.
Yang Lianting had no way of knowing Dongfang’s emotions, in that instant, he had only known that from the depth of his heart a maddening and satisfying pleasure surged upward.
However, this hard to express sensation of pleasure arousing from being together, had interwoven with the uncontrollable fear in his heart, and had thoroughly warped into a complex exchange of interests.
Yang Lianting had gone mad that night.
In the early morning, at the break of dawn, unable to face him he had put on his clothes and fled.
Fled in defeat.
Only after running out into the courtyard and being blown by the rapid frigid winds, had he realized that his body was covered in vibrant red bloodstains.
Strikingly frightening.
Yang Lianting had known whose bloodstains they had been, after all, he had not suffered any harm. Back then, Yang Lianting had felt a momentary impulse to turn back and see to what extent he had harmed that person. However, he had suppressed that one impulse.
He had not gone back to see him.
As if he were fleeing for his life, he had hastily run to the foot of Blackwood Cliff. He had looked for the major brothel in town, looked for five or six gorgeously and seductively clothed women for company, and drowned himself in alcohol again until he had fallen unconscious.
Despite being surrounded by women, his heart and mind, his eyes, his all, had lingered on that blazing figure in red.
That person was a man.
A man.
Yang Lianting had not known how many wine jugs he drunk, wine jugs he emptied, or how long he stayed in that place. Once he had regained consciousness and gotten up to leave, a few days and nights seemed to have passed. The courtesans’ faces had all been exquisitely painted and powdered, but their eyes had stared at him sourly. How come a man called upon so many women at once, only to end up drinking and not touching any of them?
What a fool!
Not paying them any attention, he had left.
On the way back to Blackwood Cliff he had suffered from an awful headache due to his hangover, yet his mind had been clear. He had been thinking about Dongfang Bubai.
He had hardly been able to stop thinking about him, thinking about that man, thinking about that man he had slept with. Their first time had actually occurred due to an exchange of interests.
Thinking about it, it seemed ridiculous.
Lifting his hand to rub his stinging and throbbing head, Yang Lianting had taken a deep breath and walked onward on his path upward. In the dim shine of the remaining sunlight, just after he had raised his head, he had seen his figure.
Dongfang Bubai.
Despite standing far away, despite not clearly seeing his face, he had still recognized him at first glance. A long, long time ago, before he had approached him, he had once thought that the Cult Master donned in red was mesmerizing.
The red long robe had been fluttering in the gusts of wind, as he stood on a precipice watching him from afar.
Looking up to him from a distance, he had felt a painful sting in his eyes. This person seems to be getting thinner and thinner. That night, he had faintly noticed how thin he truly was. Merely by stretching out his hands, he had felt his protruding ribs.
Noticing him, the negative emotions that had haunted him for a long time disappeared. Standing in place and staring at the red figure in the distance, thinking why he was solely skin and bones. In a daze, he had unexpectedly pondered over their future meals.
However, that person in red had used his qinggong and flown in front of him in the blink of an eye. Seeing his furrowed brows, Yang Lianting had habitually lowered his head, hesitant to meet his eyes, he had stepped back with a guilty conscience. The smell of wine and powder on his body was too heavy, and this person’s six senses were excellent, how could he not guess where he had gone? Before he had time to figure out why exactly he felt guilty, Dongfang Bubai stepped forward and gently hugged him.
A light and soft embrace.
So careful, so cautious, as if he had been afraid that he would feel disgusted. Enveloped in the familiar fragrance of pinewood and the chilly cliffside breeze, he held him so over cautiously.
The Jianghu’s unrivaled Invincible East, his complexion as pallid as paper, his smile bitter yet content, had carefully inquired in a voice trembling with joy, “Lian di, are you hungry?”
“I’ll have someone prepare a meal for you.”
He had not paid it any attention in his past life, but after being reborn, he finally realized that this person had not appeared there coincidentally. From beginning to end Dongfang had stood there and waited for him to return. Pretending not to know that he had run off to a brothel, he had waited for him with forlorn hope.
Finally seeing him, he had neither gotten angry nor fallen into a rage. He had just quietly gazed at him with a gentle smile, and said, ‘It’s good that you’re back.’
Yang Lianting could only vaguely recall what had happened afterwards. From that day onward, Dongfang had promoted him to the Sun Moon Holy Cult’s Chief Steward. One by one, he had severely and cruelly suppressed any opposing voices. In the end, Yang Lianting held great authority in his grasp, and no one atop Blackwood Cliff dared to take him lightly.
However.
Night after night, tossing and turning in his bed, he dreamt of the red figure waiting for him on the precipice that evening.