The lights in the inner hall were dim, barely able to show what was inside.
The spacious room was covered with light-coloured cushions, and walking on them was a bit difficult. Mo Tianliao almost fell down the moment he stepped in. He flipped in mid-air, landed, and steadied himself. He looked down, the person in his arms was still sleeping soundly.
Secretly relieved, Mo Tianliao looked around. The huge window was half open and hung with a layer of snowy gauze that swayed gently in the night wind. There was a big bed in the middle of the room, with drapes hanging from the four corners and a plain brocade quilt cover, shimmering in the moonlight.
He slowly walked over and gently laid the beauty in his arms on the bed. The soft breathing against his neck excited him. Mo Tianliao took a deep breath and moved the head resting against his chest onto the soft pillow.
The cold moonlight shone through the window screen onto the peerless beauty. Mo Tianliao could not help but look again.
The beautiful gently-closed eyes that drew a graceful line; the thin, rosy lips; the perfectly curved chin; the white neck; and below that neck…
Mo Tianliao forcibly tore his eyes off the beauty and put the person on the bed properly. The slender body sank into the soft mattress. Pulling the thin quilt, he carefully covered his master. Mo Tianliao had just straightened up and turned to go when he felt a tug on his sleeve.
“Where are you going?” The soft, melodious voice sounded tender; the lingering drowsiness gave it a slightly clingy and childish tone.
Mo Tianliao stiffly looked back and found that a bit of his sleeve was caught in his master’s hand, those beautiful eyes slowly opening a bit as he spoke.
“If Master is tired, disciple will come back tomorrow.” Mo Tianliao lit the Liuli lamp next to the bed with a rub of his fingers, crouched down, and looked at his master who was lying prone by the edge of the bed.
A white hand slowly raised to cover the delicate pink lips; Qingtong yawned slightly. He did not get up, simply lying on the bed and looking at him.
“There is no need to come tomorrow. This excellency will be meditating in seclusion.”
Mo Tianliao understood clearly what his master meant: “What do you want? Say it quickly and fuck off”. He promptly brought up the matter of Mo Xiaozhao, “Disciple really wants that white kitten.”
As for whether a direct disciple could obtain a Demonic Beast, Mo Tianliao had already consulted with Yan Lie, and there weren’t any rules. It all depended on whether your master wanted you to have one or not. He couldn’t ever lose Mo Xiaozhao. He wasn’t worried about the cat not accompanying him. His only worry was that Master would give Mo Xiaozhao away.
“I’m not giving him to anyone,” Qingtong answered simply and clearly, shooing him away with his hand.
“Then how can I get him?” With his master’s reassurance, Mo Tianliao felt an enormous weight lift from his heart. But when he looked at those beautiful eyes, watery with sleep, like obsidian washed by rain, he couldn’t help asking, using it as an excuse to keep looking at them.
Eyes that sparkled like the light reflected on a wave of water glanced at him and slowly closed. “Let’s see your performance.”
Mo Tianliao couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear. He pulled out the Liuli hairpin from behind his back. It was the same one he had bought in the town market. However, the carving had been redone. The hiding moon was now embedded within the hollow clouds. The simple form belied its complex and magnificent design, which seemed to move in the candlelight. It was very beautiful.
“I bought this in the market and wanted to give it to Master,” Mo Tianliao said softly as if he were lulling him to sleep. Not caring whether his master had heard him or not, he quietly placed the Liuli hairpin beside his pillow and blew out the candle.
The door to the inner hall closed slowly, the sliver of light gradually disappearing, and the room became quiet.
The beautiful eyes slowly opened and glanced at the hairpin. These eyes could see clearly even at night, and they could distinguish every single mark of the carving knife.
“Xiaozhao, your eyes are really beautiful, the colour of translucent Liuli.”
“Xiaozhao, look, I’m wearing a Liuli hairpin. We match very well, don’t you think?”
“I look too domineering; it doesn’t look good. This translucent Liuli would be better suited to a beauty.”
Pale, thin lips curved slightly. Qingtong put his hairpin under the pillow and closed his eyes wearily.
When Mo Tianliao opened his eyes the next day, the little furball did not appear at his bedside as usual. He was a little surprised, so he got up to look for it.
“Shishu, what are you looking for?” Several second-generation disciples who were in charge of various tasks came to report back and saw Mo Tianliao wandering around in the courtyard, so they came forward to offer help.
“Nothing.” Mo Tianliao raised his head and motioned the crowd into the room.
The finicky daily affairs were quickly taken care of. Mo Tianliao tapped two fingers against the table surface, “The common affairs of the peak are numerous and diverse. You all take care of them every day without any compensation and, in turn, delay your cultivation. I have discussed this matter with Master and will set up an administrative hall in Woqing Abode.”
It was not difficult to build the administrative hall, because there was one already for the whole sect — they just needed to build a smaller version of that. The positions in the hall rotated between disciples with a high cultivation level and good character. The disciples whose turn it was to work were compensated with additional lingshi.
With the establishment of the administrative hall, Mo Tianliao’s free time increased at once. A matter that couldn’t be solved and needed his input would only arise every couple of days.
Given his spare time, it was only natural that Mo Tianliao should concentrate on training.
Now that he had plenty of lingshi, progression was guaranteed. According to the guidelines in “Wood Igniting Technique”, Mo Tianliao cut down every type of spiritual tree in the rear mountains.
Wood was full of spiritual power, and fire qi would also appear when it was burned. Thus, by repeatedly doing these two things, his cultivation advanced rapidly. Only… Mo Tianliao looked at the roasted cold spring fish that was releasing a mouth-watering fragrance and sighed.
Lately, Mo Xiaozhao had barely appeared. He couldn’t eat all the things that were required to be roasted according to “Wood Igniting Technique”. The cold spring fish mentioned in this chapter was the little guy’s favourite.
Mo Tianliao himself did not like to eat fish. This precious cold spring fish was not easy to catch, and it would be a pity to waste it. He got up and wrapped up the food in big, clean leaves and headed towards Qingning Palace.
If the kitten was not in the rear mountains, maybe it was with Master.
In front of the main hall of Qingning Palace, there was an area covered in bamboo. Among the grove were couches, rocking chairs, chess-boards, etc. all made from that same plant; they were very elegant. Sunlight glowed through the slender stalks, not dazzling but pleasant.
There was a rocking chair covered with thick, soft cushions. The white-clad beauty reclined there, his beautiful eyes gently closed. The sunshine, accompanied by the faint scent of bamboo, shone on his thin clothes, warm and soft.
When Mo Tianliao came over, he saw such a languid picture of his Master with his eyes slightly narrowed. That look of contentment under the warm afternoon sun, which gilded his white garments in a layer of gold, made him look a little less indifferent, a bit more indescribably… tempting.
Coincidentally, Mo Tianliao just walked over into this very scene carrying the grilled fish.
Long eyelashes quivered slightly, a pair of beautiful eyes slowly opened and coldly swept over him. “What?” Qingtong asked leisurely.
“Disciple has roasted a cold spring fish and wanted to…” seeing those beautiful eyes brightening slightly at the word “fish”, Mo Tianliao abruptly swallowed the words “feed the cat”.
“I wanted to invite Master to have a taste.”
Qingtong snorted, “This excellency has long started to practise inedia.”
Mo Tianliao smiled and dragged a small bamboo stool to sit down beside the rocking chair. “Practising inedia doesn’t mean one shouldn’t enjoy delicious food. After starting to practise inedia in hisprevious life, disciple still ate a lot. The road to immortality is long. To give up even delicious food, wouldn’t it get too boring?”
As he spoke, he peeled the leaves apart, revealing the fragrant roasted fish inside.
The cold spring fish meat was fresh and tender. When roasted with wood abundant in spiritual power, it only required a light layer of seasoning. It was very delicious.
Qingtong glanced at the roasted fish, which looked very appetizing, stretched out his hand, and broke off a piece. He slowly put it into his mouth. “How goes your training?”
“I’m already at the eighth layer of Qi Refining, I’ll attain Foundation Establishment in a few days,” Mo Tianliao said honestly.
“Mmm.” Qingtong swallowed a piece of fish and lifted his chin slightly.
Mo Tianliao looked down, saw a tea set on a table nearby, and immediately understood. He left the fish near his master’s hand and got up to drag the tea table over. People of the righteous path were absolutely single-minded; most had no other hobbies apart from cultivating. Demonic cultivators were different — they devoted themselves to following their own desires and inclinations.
It took a long time to cultivate to immortality. Apart from crafting, Mo Tianliao also studied many different things, such as tea ceremony.
In his opinion, to live freely was to cultivate. The improvement of spiritual strength was, of course, important, but tempering one’s heart and mind was also vital.
Wash, pour, steep, whisk, smell — a set of actions flowing like water, a feast for the eyes. Fragrant tea was poured into a nearly-transparent white jade cup and handed to Master.
Fair hands held the white jade cup, the border between the two almost indistinguishable.
The edge of the white jade cup touched the pale, thin lips, and was removed in an instant. Qingtong raised his eyes and stared coldly at Mo Tianliao.
“Are you trying to kill your master with such hot tea?”
Master’s eyes are black when in human form, otherwise his secret would be revealed. The previous chapter said that his eyes are like Liuli, which refers to their transparent and crystalline appearance, not their colour _(:з」∠)_
Master: Go and make tea for me
Master: Go and get me a blanket
A note about the word “Liuli”: according to Wikipedia it can mean any of the following things:
*(literary, originally) a kind of blue and translucent natural precious stone, probably lapis lazuli.
*coloured glaze similar to this kind of stone.
*(literary) synonym of 玻璃 (bōli, “glass”).
*(literary) lamp made from glass.
*(literary, figuratively) any translucent object.