Because it was hollow, the purple Nine-Souls Crystal looked a lot lighter, it seemed to be a pale lilac colour. The Sheltering Silver edging wrapped tightly around every sharp corner of the crystal, and it was perfectly polished, so it would never scratch against the skin. When it landed on the white, almost translucent palm, it glittered even more beautifully.
The cold beautiful eyes glanced indifferently at the fallen Mo Tianliao, they showed neither care nor scorn, simply staring blankly. “You were in seclusion for ten days just to refine this?” Such concern and dedication!
“Yes…” Mo Tianliao took a breath, preparing to get up, suddenly his eyes widened and he jumped. “Ah! Don’t!”
He saw the white hand suddenly turn over and the Nine-Souls Crystal pendant plummeted straight to the ground. Qingtong had just been unhappy at first, he had never seen this idiot put so much effort into refining things for people other than him. Now, seeing Mo Tianliao rush over to catch the pendant despite his exhaustion, he abruptly became angry. He waved his hand, and the pendant that had almost been caught by Mo Tianliao’s hand flew out, slamming against the furnace with a resounding crack.
When little bits of crystal hit his face, Mo Tianliao’s expression suddenly changed, he couldn’t help shouting, “What are you doing?!” He braced himself on the wall and stood up, hurriedly picking up the pendant. The soul wisp inside it was about to dissipate, Mo Tianliao held the pendant, calmed his breath and his mind, and quickly started reabsorbing the precious soul wisp.
A wisp was not much, if it was lost, he would suffer from headaches for a couple of days at most. However, this wisp also contained a bit of Mo Xiaozhao’s soul. For him whose soul was incomplete, even the smallest amount was tremendously precious. If he could not be completely cured in the future because this little bit was lost, Mo Tianliao really would have nowhere to cry.
Qingtong was startled by the sudden scolding, he took a step back and froze. Mo Tianliao had yelled at him because of a magical tool he had made for somebody else! He slowly turned around and fled the forge room.
Mo Tianliao expended a lot of effort reabsorbing the soul wisp. He opened his eyes and felt the cold sweat on his forehead, all his spiritual power had been exhausted, after such an ordeal, there were even black spots in front of his eyes. He swallowed a Qi Restoring Pill, and drained a piece of lingshi. Only then did he have the strength to repair the broken Nine-Souls Crystal.
Fortunately, it was just a bump, although the soul had leaked, the array was still intact. Mo Tianliao had brought some other materials, after a bit of tinkering, the surface blemish had been quickly repaired, it was as good as new.
“I hate to remind you of this, Master, but you just scared the kitten away. If you don’t placate him, don’t even think of going to bed together tonight. Tsk-tsk.” The big tortoise-shell mouth said, anticipating his disappointment.
Mo Tianliao remembered that, just now, in his anxiety, he had actually gotten mad at his Master. He slapped himself on the forehead and tried to ran out, but he had barely made it to the door when he fell down. He had just finished refining, and he had also exhausted his soul. Mo Tianliao had absolutely no strength left, if you gave him a pillow, he would fall asleep immediately.
Slapping his face in order to keep awake, Mo Tianliao pulled out a pill from his storage bracelet and swallowed it. Once he felt like he had strength again, he immediately stood up and started walking towards Qingning Palace.
“What’s the matter with him?” Mo Tianliao asked Taishi while they headed there. He had been crafting these past few days, and the kitten had not come to accompany him. There must be a reason for him to lose his temper and start throwing things around as soon as they saw each other again.
“What? Do you still think you’ll be able to talk sense into an angry cat?” Taishi said, brimming with schadenfreude. “My darling’s heart has changed, our love has vanished, never to return ~ Ay, Ay, Ay ~ Never to return. This slave’s body, just take it…” As he went on, his babbling actually turned into a song. Who knows where he learnt the tune, it was very complex and plaintive.
“Shut up!” Mo Tianliao rubbed his forehead, his head ached faintly. As a Demonic Lord, his temper was not very good. He saved all his patience and gentleness only for his cat. It would be a lie to say that he had not been angry just now, Lord Kitty was becoming more and more unreasonable from all his spoiling, but, when the Nine-Souls Crystal fell he immediately got a slight headache, he was afraid of what could have happened to Qingtong.
He stopped in front of Qingning Palace, paused for a breath of time, then went in. Mo Tianliao disparaged himself while he pushed open the door of the inner hall.
The door was half-open, and there was no barrier. Mo Tianliao walked in softly, and saw the person lying in bed at once. His back was to him so he couldn’t see his face, he must be angry. Climbing into bed, Mo Tianliao pursed his lips, grabbed Master’s shoulder and slowly leaned over. “I… Qingtong!”
The words that he had been intending to use to appease his cat turned into a sudden exclamation, Mo Tianliao quickly took the man in the bed into his arms, and anxiously lifted the pale handsome face with one hand. “What’s the matter? Does it hurt?”
“Ng…” The long eyelashes quivered and opened slightly, droplets of sweat dripped down continuously, the mouth opened, but what came from it was a low and painful moan, on the hands clutching the sheets, blue veins where already visible.
Damn. What happened just now must have affected Qingtong’s soul.
Qingtong couldn’t see clearly because of the pain, but he dimly sensed that Mo Tianliao had come.
This man was the one who took him with him since he was very young, who gave him delicious food and nice toys, who let him scratch and bite, and who would pull open his clothes and hold him while he slept during cold nights. He gave him the kind of love that went beyond what Master and shixiong could give him. For a kitten who had just lost his parents, this slightly foolish guy who was always laughing was his whole world.
He had never thought that one day Mo Tianliao would stop doting on him. He knew that he was partial to all furry things, but he just liked them, nothing more than that, Mo Xiaozhao knew very well that he was the only one in Mo Tianliao’s eyes. That’s why, when he learnt that Mo Tianliao was going to refine something for Shuang Ren, although he minded a little, he was not really angry.
But this time it seemed to be different. This man, without asking for anything in return, spent ten days refining something like that, completely exhausting himself. He did not let him slap the pendant and he had even gotten angry at him over it.
When his heart suddenly hurt, Qingtong quickly left the forge room, feeling that he could not stay there for a moment longer. He could not stand seeing Mo Tianliao’s angry face.
“Go… away…” Qingtong’s voice shook, he raised a hand to push him away.
Mo Tianliao felt terribly distressed, he would not listen to him. He tried to find some Soul Condensing Pills in the storage bracelet, but because of Qingtong’s flailing, he couldn’t catch his wrist.
“Ah!” By the time he had finally managed to grab his wrist, Qingtong suddenly let out a cry of pain, his hands jerked up and clutched his head.
“Qingtong! Qingtong!” Mo Tianliao hugged him tightly. “Easy, don’t be afraid, I’m here.”
“Nnn… Hurts… It hurts.” Qingtong was already a little out of it, he leaned into that familiar embrace, his voice frail, as if he were a spoiled child calling for help.
Mo Tianliao’s heart broke when he heard it, he embraced him and was preparing to go find the Sect Leader, when a pair of slender hands suddenly grabbed his neck, and a pair of thin bloodless lips slowly came closer and kissed him firmly.
Mo Tianliao immediately froze, he stared at the beauty in his arms who was behaving exactly like a cat, artlessly rubbing against his lips. His head was buzzing, he promptly forgot everything. His arms slowly tightening around the clumsy kisser, Mo Tianliao pulled him closer by the back of the head with one hand and kissed him deeply.
A luscious taste coiled around his mouth, the light and cool sensation intoxicating, and the little gasps that sounded were enough to make him lose his mind. After just enough of a taste to slightly relieve his ravenous hunger, Mo Tianliao forcibly restrained his instincts, he told himself that the person in his arms was in pain, he could not allow himself to indulge in pleasure without any regards to his fate.
He was about to tear his lips from paradise, when he suddenly heard a pleased purr coming from Qingtong’s throat. Mo Tianliao was stunned, he carefully checked, and noticed that the tense body in his arms had slowly relaxed to the point of contented laziness.
What was going on? Could kissing stop the pain? Mo Tianliao was shocked by his own absurd idea. He slowly moved back, and the thin lips followed him, just like the last time.
It seems like it really can stop the pain, what luck!
Mo Tianliao had mixed feelings about this, all kinds of thoughts flashed across his mind in quick succession.
He is my cat; I can’t take advantage of his instincts like this…
He is my Master, by feeling him up like this I would perhaps be deceiving my teachers and destroying my ancestors…
But, with such a temptation, Buddha himself wouldn’t be able to resist it…
But since I like him, I don’t feel like resisting…
When he wakes up, he will scratch me into wood shavings…
In the end, the tangled ball of his thoughts turned to dust, leaving only one sentence, “Only a knobhead wouldn’t take advantage of this!”
Therefore, Mo Tianliao followed his demonic cultivator nature, doing just what he wanted, and fell back to the soft bed with his arms around the beauty. He kissed the sweet lips deeply, one hand caressing the soft hair at the crown of his head.
His soul was unstable, the originally inky hair turned snow-white, it spread out delicately, framing those eyes that had become like translucent Liuli, immeasurably beautiful.
Mo Tianliao also rubbed his head to relieve his headache while taking advantage of him.
Taishi silently turned into a candlestick, sat on the headboard and played dead. At times like this, no matter how inconsiderate it was, it still knew to shut up, otherwise, if it were to startle the couple, the only thing waiting for it would be a dual fire and ice Heavenly Tribulation.
Since it was first refined in the Mo Palace, this kitten had been constantly shooting ice at it. At the time, its nascent wisdom had just been extracted by Mo Tianliao from a heavenly material and earthly treasure, it had been very fragile! Being frozen like that hurt so much, that even now that it had its impenetrable shell, it was still afraid of the cat’s ice shards.
As for the woodfire… Taishi melodramatically pretended to drip tortoiseshell-coloured droplets, it could not speak through its tears.
“Mmm…” When their mouths touched, the painful headache disappeared immediately. The deepening of the kiss seemed to allow both halves of the split soul to faintly touch, the feeling, like the broken shards of a mirror coming together perfectly, was truly wonderful. Qingtong gradually recovered his sanity and realized what he was doing, but instead of pushing Mo Tianliao away, he let him continue.
One reason was that he lacked the strength, and the other was that it felt way too good.
Mo Tianliao saw the cold eyes open. They looked at him quietly, the translucent Liuli pupils clear, Master was conscious! He was conscious and still let him fondle him!
Mo Tianliao felt like an inferno suddenly ignited inside his body, burning all reason to ashes. The kiss became deeper and deeper, his hand, which had been caressing the hair on the crown of his head, moved down slowly, sneaking inside the snow-white clothes.
“Mmm!” Qingtong’s eyes widened. What the hell is he doing? I have no hair there when I’m like this, yet he still dares to touch it! A hand, which had been hanging to the side, slowly rose, and five hooked claws, flashing coldly, instantly emerged.
“Ouch! Pain, pain, pain!” Mo Tianliao’s blood-curdling scream declared the end of the tender intimacy.
Taishi happily flew over and expressed its deep sympathy for its Master by turning into a pile of tortoiseshell-coloured wood shavings, indicating that it would share both joy and sorrow with its Master. Mo Tianliao was so moved that he demonstrated his appreciation with a fireball.
“Ouch! Hot, hot, hot!” Taishi flew away, feeling persecuted. It landed on the windowsill and turned into a tortoiseshell-coloured flower, dropping a few petals, pretending to be frail.
Mo Tianliao touched the white grooves on his face and neck, looked at Qingtong who had silently turned his back to him and slid against the sheets, drawing closer. He hugged him from behind and asked, “Does it still hurt?”
Qingtong raised his hand without saying a word, those hooked claws had not yet been retracted.
Mo Tianliao removed his arms awkwardly, he took out the newly crafted Nine-Souls Crystal pendant from his sleeve, and slowly offered it to Qingtong. “This… you take it. I took back the soul portion I had put inside of it, so it doesn’t matter if you drop it.” He had only been thinking about mending his soul, he had forgotten that this icy beauty was actually the fidgety Lord Kitty, so the pendant would surely be bumped and knocked. His heart still had not recovered from the scare, he would not dare to use his soul like that again.
Qingtong looked at the pendant in front of him and blinked. This was for him? He reached out slowly and took it in his hand. “Didn’t you make this for Shuang Ren?”
“Eh?” When Mo Tianliao was asked this bizarre question, it took him a long time to get it. His mouth slowly spread in a smile, which got wider and wider, and did not stop growing until he was smiling from ear to ear. Coughing gently, he took out an outrageously unremarkable ball from the storage bracelet. “This is for Shuang Ren. He gave me the Sheltering Silver, and I always keep my promises.”
Qingtong looked at the ball, the Sheltering Silver was wrapped around it casually, looking like an awful mess, and the crystal had obviously been cut simply and crudely, there were still some exposed edges and corners. Satisfied with this, he stuffed the pendant under his pillow, then buried half of his face in the soft pillow.
Mo Tianliao lay behind him, looking at the pair of snow-white furry ears coming out of the top of his head, turning pink little by little.
“This excellency is tired, leave.” The melodious and slightly languid voice was still cold and dignified, but the fluffy ears were getting redder and redder, twisting from side to side without his knowledge.
Mo Tianliao felt a nosebleed coming, he quickly covered his nose, recited the mantra for exorcizing the heart once, and pulled on the thin quilt, covering Qingtong. But he was not planning on leaving, he extended his long arms and embraced the troublesome beauty.
“You…” Qingtong turned to glare at him, but he was simply pecked on the corner of his lips by Mo Tianliao. His ears immediately stiffened even though his face was completely indifferent.
Mo Tianliao tried so hard to swallow his laughter that his stomach was aching. Ignoring Qingtong’s glare, he stretched his long legs around the man and touched the side of that peerlessly beautiful face. “Behave. I’m also very tired. I’ve been crafting for ten days and then you dropped my soul. I can’t even stand right now. Let’s sleep together for a little while.”
Tianlang (Dog Witch): Have you decided yet? You can become human, but if he doesn’t love you…
Xiaozhao (Cat Prince): I’ll do it. I’m willing to pay the price
Carpenter (Human Prince): Oh, my love, what price did you pay?
Xiaozhao: If you don’t love me anymore, your body will turn into wood shavings
Carpenter: …I feel like there’s something wrong with this picture
Unedited, please point out any mistakes
This is the longest chapter to date, almost double the size of other chapters.
This extra chapter is thanks to Anno-noya. Thank you for the ko-fi!