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Ch141 - Click Clack




Su Hansheng found it quite novel.
A few jars of wine seemed to have muddled Chongjue’s brain. If he had even a bit of clarity, he certainly wouldn’t be fooling around with him in bed right after finally getting Su Xuanlin’s promise to “stop interfering.”
Seeing Chongjue untying his sash, Su Hansheng blinked. “Your brain is drunk, but your hands are nimble.”
Chongjue’s hands paused, looking down at him.
Su Hansheng raised an eyebrow, not moving, watching to see if he had the courage to continue.
Chongjue gazed at Su Hansheng for a long time before suddenly leaning down to kiss the corner of his eye, murmuring, “I like you.”
Su Hansheng: “…”
In his past life, when the evil one forced Su Hansheng to say all sorts of crude things, he’d never felt embarrassed. But now, these three short words made his cheeks burn, the blush nearly spreading to behind his ears.
He stammered, “You… you’ve said it so many times today.”
“Mm.” Chongjue kissed him again. “Once I sober up, I probably won’t be able to say it, so I need to say it a few more times.”
Su Hansheng froze, then said quietly after a long while, “So when you’re sober, you have to maintain your Buddhist principles and not break precepts, so you want to dual cultivate with me while you’re drunk and not thinking clearly?”
Chongjue: “…”
Quite good at drawing inferences.
Chongjue chuckled softly. “No.”
“Oh.” Su Hansheng asked again, “You drank so much today. When you wake up sober tomorrow morning, will you deny it?”
Chongjue said, “No.”
Su Hansheng muttered something under his breath, about to mock him when Chongjue’s tall form suddenly collapsed on him.
Su Hansheng’s small arms and legs were crushed with an “oof,” nearly coughing up blood.
“Chongjue?”
Chongjue’s full weight pressed on Su Hansheng without restraint. Su Hansheng’s limbs flailed desperately as he struggled to push him over to the side.
Chongjue had fallen completely asleep, unmoving.
Su Hansheng: “…”
Su Hansheng looked at his half-undone clothes, silent for a long time before suddenly kicking Chongjue viciously.
What an annoying drunkard.
***
The next day.
Chongjue sat up from the bed with a splitting headache, rarely dazed for quite a while before regaining consciousness.
Yesterday… what happened?
He only remembered Su Xuanlin forcing him to drink. After half a jar, there was nothing after that.
Outside, the sun was already high. After the ringing in his ears slowly dissipated, he could finally hear clearly.
Someone seemed to be practicing swordplay outside.
Chongjue held his head, staggering to his feet. Using spiritual energy to circulate through his meridians a few times, the pain from the hangover gradually disappeared.
He stood and walked out of the inner room, looking through the half-open window to see Su Hansheng practicing sword forms in the courtyard.
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Chongjue’s hand paused mid-drink, looking over with a completely numb expression.
With just one glance, he nearly dropped the bowl in his hand.
Magpie Ridge had just entered autumn, but the sun was still blazing. For ease of practice, Su Hansheng wore hunting attire with the wide sleeves tied up, his waist extremely slim. After half an hour of practice, his meticulous collar had become disheveled, revealing his slender neck and thin collarbones…
And the ambiguous bite marks on them.
Chongjue: “…”
Seeing Chongjue frozen in place, Su Hansheng scoffed, drinking a bowl of water in one gulp.
He knew it. Despite saying he wouldn’t deny it, after waking up, he’d forgotten everything clean.
Seeing Su Hansheng like this, Chongjue was stunned, tentatively saying, “Last night, I…”
“Sigh.” Su Hansheng shook his head and sighed. “The World-Honored One needn’t worry. We didn’t… mm, do anything.”
With that, he covered his mouth, putting on a pained, sorrowful expression, as if deeply hurt by his refusal to acknowledge what happened.
Chongjue’s pupils trembled violently, frozen in place.
This was Su Hansheng’s first time seeing the usually strategic Chongjue, who was like an untouchable flower on a high peak, looking thunderstruck. He was laughing so hard inside he nearly stumbled, but his face showed tears, looking at him with both hope and sadness.
Chongjue was shocked into a daze for a long time before suddenly saying in a deep voice, “We’ll register together.”
Su Hansheng: “…”
Su Hansheng almost laughed out loud. “My father just agreed not to interfere with us, and you want to register—aren’t you afraid he’ll drag you drinking again?”
“Let him drink,” Chongjue said. “I’ll definitely let him drink to his satisfaction.”
Su Hansheng was trying hard to hold back laughter when he saw a familiar figure appear at the Buddhist hall entrance.
Su Xuanlin had questioned everything all night and finally reluctantly accepted reality, though his expression was still dark. He entered and immediately glared viciously at Chongjue.
Su Hansheng was startled, quickly fastening his collar to prevent Su Xuanlin from seeing and losing his mind again.
Su Xuanlin probably hadn’t expected the two had already gotten that far. Without looking much at Su Hansheng, he sat down directly without pleasantries, getting straight to the point. “You want to marry my son, right?”
Chongjue: “…”
Su Hansheng: “Pfft.”
Chongjue’s peripheral vision caught the faint red marks showing on Su Hansheng’s neck. Still feeling guilty, he nodded. “Yes.”
Su Xuanlin had only meant to needle him and was slightly shocked he actually admitted it.
His attitude was quite good, actually.
Su Xuanlin was satisfied inside but didn’t show it. “But Xiaoxiao is still too young. Registering together can only be discussed after he graduates from the academy. It’s best to let him train outside for a few hundred years first.”
Chongjue: “?”
A few hundred years?
Su Xuanlin didn’t blink. “Besides, you’re both unmarried men living together—what propriety is that? Xiaoxiao, I’ve already reclaimed your residence. Move back to Falling Parasol Lodge immediately.”
Su Hansheng’s eyes went wide. “Father!”
Su Xuanlin looked at him.
Su Hansheng immediately became flexible, saying stiffly, “Oh, okay then.”
Chongjue’s gaze had been on Su Hansheng the whole time. The daze in his dark eyes had disappeared, instantly returning to his usual calm demeanor, though carrying some meaning Su Hansheng couldn’t decipher.
Su Hansheng didn’t dare stay longer. He slowly packed his things and moved back to Falling Parasol Lodge.
Chongjue continued getting scolded in the Buddhist hall.
Whether it was because last night’s “dual cultivation” had numbed the World-Honored One, he simply gave up. As Su Xuanlin kept pushing the timeline further back, he suddenly spoke. “Next year when Xiaoxiao graduates, I’ll register with him.”
Su Xuanlin’s “register in a thousand years” stuck in his throat. He looked at him incredulously. “Next year?!”
“Yes,” Chongjue said without hesitation. “Next year.”
Su Xuanlin stared at Chongjue for a long time before suddenly taking a deep, deep breath. His trembling hand gradually steadied like stone, gripping his radiant life sword.
Clang—
***
Su Hansheng didn’t know they’d started fighting again. After returning to the unsealed Falling Parasol Lodge and hearing the class bell, he quickly gathered his things for class.
Best to graduate first.
There were many afternoon classes. It was already dark when school let out.
Su Hansheng had planned to return to Falling Parasol Lodge, but received a message through his disciple token that Su Xuanlin had business at Old Talisman Ridge. He immediately changed destinations, tossing his bag to Yuan Qian to take back, running alone to the back mountain Buddhist hall to play.
That meddling Su Xuanlin was finally gone. Su Hansheng was overjoyed, practically bouncing as he walked.
When he reached the Buddhist hall, Chongjue wasn’t meditating.
Puzzled, Su Hansheng searched the residence but found no trace. Finally, he found him at the hot spring in the back courtyard.
Chongjue sat in the hot spring with his hair loose, countless strands of spiritual energy becoming wisps of mist slowly entering his core. Combined with the spring’s vapors, the entire back courtyard looked like a celestial realm.
Su Hansheng curiously approached, crouching by the spring to look at the completely naked Chongjue in the water.
The World-Honored One always kept his robes fastened to his neck, rarely appearing so “open.” Su Hansheng wasn’t unfamiliar with Chongjue’s body, but Chongjue with his “World-Honored One” identity was completely different from the shamelessly seductive evil one of the past life.
Quite alluring.
Chongjue was in deep meditation, completely unguarded toward whoever approached.
Su Hansheng propped his chin, smiling as he looked his fill.
But as soon as his gaze fell on that face, he noticed bruising at the corner of Chongjue’s eye, as if someone had hit him.
Startled, Su Hansheng quickly reached out to touch his face, frowning deeply.
This was obviously Su Xuanlin’s handiwork.
And Chongjue—why did he just stand there and let him hit him again?!
Su Hansheng’s touch finally roused Chongjue from meditation. He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze cold like a deity looking down from heaven at insignificant ants, inviolable.
But seeing Su Hansheng, that gaze—like thousand-year snow on Mount Sumeru’s peak—suddenly warmed, his eyes unconsciously showing a gentle smile.
“When did you arrive?”
Su Hansheng pouted, muttering quietly, “I’ve been here—why were you hit again? The dignified World-Honored One, beaten twice in one day. If word got out, the Three Realms would laugh you to death.”
Chongjue smiled. “It’s nothing serious.”
But Su Hansheng said, “If it’s nothing serious, why are you meditating here to recuperate?”
This time Chongjue said nothing.
Su Hansheng was both angry and anxious. “Wasn’t everything fine during the day? He already agreed not to interfere. What did you two talk about to make him so angry?”
Chongjue said calmly, “I said once you graduate, we’ll register together, and told him about last night. He fainted three times.”
Su Hansheng: “…”
Su Hansheng said incredulously, “You! You, you!”
He’d only been flirting and joking with him. How could he take it so seriously and fight with Su Xuanlin over it?!
Su Hansheng said angrily, “What I said at noon was deliberately teasing you. You’re such a grown man—do you just believe whatever anyone says? Don’t you have any idea whether you lost vital essence or not?!”
Chongjue: “…”
Su Hansheng was both angry and heartbroken, his eyes reddening.
Chongjue reached out to touch the corner of Su Hansheng’s eye. “It’s really nothing serious. Don’t you know your father is all bark and no bite? Next time, I’ll definitely beat him until he cries. How’s that?”
Su Hansheng was suddenly amused by this almost roguish statement, then glared at him fiercely.
Seeing him smile, Chongjue tapped his forehead.
He’d recovered enough from meditation. Raising his hand to summon his robes to exit, Su Hansheng suddenly shed his outer robe and, wearing only thin underclothes, jumped directly into the hot spring.
Splash.
The water soaked his white clothes until they clung to his body, outlining his slender frame. Su Hansheng didn’t mind dirtying Chongjue’s spring, reaching up to hook around his neck and leaning forward to bite him viciously.
Chongjue was bitten but didn’t blink, raising his hand to clasp Su Hansheng’s waist, coaxing gently, “Don’t be angry anymore.”
“You’re the one who got beaten—why am I angry?” Su Hansheng muttered quietly, sitting on Chongjue’s lap, kissing him while saying unclearly, “My father went to Old Talisman Ridge.”
Chongjue: “Mm?”
Su Hansheng clicked his tongue, saying disdainfully, “My father fought you over last night’s nonexistent incident. Why don’t you make it real? Otherwise, wouldn’t you have been beaten for nothing?”
Chongjue: “…”
Chongjue discovered that no matter how long he spent with Su Hansheng, he still couldn’t figure out what was going on in this child’s head.
Su Hansheng continued hooking Chongjue’s waist with his toes. Movements in water were always slow, but just then, Chongjue, who had remained unmoved, suddenly clasped his waist tightly and flipped him over, pressing him against the rocks at the spring’s edge.
Startled, Su Hansheng instinctively clutched Chongjue’s shoulders.
Looking up, he saw the man who moments ago had been gentle as jade like a Buddhist statue now had deep, dark eyes. Leaning down to envelop him, his brow was filled with undisguised desire.
Su Hansheng: “…”
From gentleman to lustful demon—all in a single thought.
***