The next morning, the sun was blocked by the now opaque walls and failed to shine into the Crystal Palace. It could only come through the gauzy curtains on the windows which quietly cast a dim shadow on the ground.
A tortoiseshell-coloured foxtail grass stood at the head of a bed, it sneakily approached the area under Mo Tianliao’s nose and scratched it. Noticing that there was no reaction, the slender stem twisted and scratched it again.
Mo Tianliao, his eyes still closed, grabbed the mischievous foxtail grass and threw it under the bed, granting it also the gift of a fireball while he was at it.
“Ow!” Taishi howled. Mo Tianliao used his divine sense to force it into silence. It could only become a candlestick and stand in place, mutely burning. It had been Master himself who had told it to wake him up early so that he could cook for the kitten! He was so unreasonable!
“Ng…” The man sleeping in Mo Tianliao’s arms was disturbed by the noise and frowned slightly, as if about to wake up.
“It’s okay, baby,” Mo Tianliao soothed him in a gentle tone, patting his back.
Qingtong must have been very tired, when he heard the familiar voice, he fell deeply asleep again, his long and thick eyelashes dropped like two small fans, covering the blue shadows under his eyes, the graceful corners of his eyes still had faint traces of red.
Last night had been a bit rough. Not only their bodies but also their souls had become connected at the same time and Qingtong had finally been unable to take it. His hair had turned snowy once more, and a pair of fluffy ears had emerged before he could stop them. Seeing this change, the excited Mo Tianliao had lost control even further, his movements becoming even wilder, until glistening tears were pouring out of those lightly coloured Liuli eyes.
Recalling the previous night, Mo Tianliao felt the heat rise once more inside his body. Swallowing saliva, Mo Tianliao slowly lowered the person in his arms onto the pillow, covered him with the quilt, and gently left the bed. Qingtong was already exhausted, if he were to try and get handsy again… He looked at the scratches left on his shoulders. If he were to do that, he would be lucky if he only got turned into wood shavings.
He dressed neatly, picked up Taishi who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, and headed downstairs.
The main hall was silent, Mo Tianliao snapped his fingers and the first-floor walls became transparent. The sunshine was not very bright, the sky outside was still grey, but because the ground was covered in snow, it made everything look brighter. The snow was still falling heavily, there was already a pile blocking the front door.
The two foxes sleeping on the elk were woken up by the light and looked up to see Mo Tianliao, they greeted him.
Shuang Ren jumped down and became human. “Second shixiong, are you all right?”
Mo Tianliao, who had a face brimming with satisfaction, looked fresh and energetic with no signs of any injuries. It seemed like the one they should be worrying about instead was Master, who still had not risen.
“I’m fine.” Mo Tianliao looked at the little fox who sat on top of the elk watching him eagerly. He could not help smirking, he bent over and asked, “Little furball, would you like to eat some roast elk?”
Shuang Hua nodded hurriedly, her big ears flapping with each movement of her head.
Mo Tianliao could not resist reaching out and trying to touch them, however, he was stopped by Shuang Ren who took away the little fox. “Shixiong, decorum must be maintained between men and women.”
He had almost forgotten, this was his shidi‘s little sister. When in human shape, she was a young lady who was delicate as a flower and refined as a precious jade. He could not go around touching her whenever he pleased. Mo Tianliao coughed dryly. “I got carried away. Shidi, please excuse me.”
Shuang Ren smiled. He knew that second shixiong was a gentleman, after all, many female disciples had a crush on him, but he was unmoved and paid them no mind.
Mo Tianliao dragged the elk to the door, with a wave of his hand, he swept away the snow in front of the entrance. Turning Taishi into a knife, he began to skin the elk.
“A divine weapon is being used like this, Master, have you no conscience?” Taishi cried while working.
“This is an important and worthy task.” Mo Tianliao was unmoved. He skilfully removed the pelt in one piece, this elk was unique to these snow-capped mountains; its fur was thick, so it was suitable for making rugs or blankets.
Shuang Ren put his sister on his head and came out to join the fun. “Second shixiong, let me help.”
Mo Tianliao readily agreed, giving the pelt to Shuang Ren to wash while he picked up the meat and went back inside.
“Let’s roast the legs and make stew with the tendons.” Taishi turned into a big mouth, kept to the side and chattered on and on, giving orders.
Mo Tianliao, absolutely fed up with it, turned Taishi into a long stick, hung all the meat on it, and set it up to grill over the fire. Tendon stew sounded good, but Mo Tianliao did not know how to make it.
Shuang Ren worked efficiently, the pelt was quickly washed and all the steps which had gotten stained with blood were also cleaned. Then he turned back into a fox and crouched in front of the kitchen with his sister, watching eagerly.
When Mo Tianliao looked back and saw the two little furballs staring at the meat unblinkingly, he could not help laughing. “Which one of you wants to make tendon stew?”
Shuang Hua blinked, then turned into a girl dressed in simple white clothes. “I- I will make it.”
Handing over the kitchen to the two foxes, Mo Tianliao stretched himself and then sat cross-legged on the couch in the main hall, examining his body internally. The great amount of qi he had absorbed yesterday had not gone to waste, apart from the enormous quantities he had absorbed during last night’s dual cultivation, he had also been entwined with a Beast soul once more. Now, his late period Golden Core cultivation was quite stable. If they dual cultivated for a few more days, could he form a Nascent Soul?
Faced with this speed of cultivation, Mo Tianliao did not know what to think. After he came back to life, he had thought that since he still possessed a divine soul, he would be able to reach the Half-Immortal stage again within 20 years. Now… it had barely been two years.
A divine tree body was really great, it was worth it to wait for hundreds of years in order to obtain it.
When the little foxes were done roasting the meat and making the stew, Mo Tianliao cut a chunk of the best meat from the hind legs into slices and placed them on a jade plate, he also prepared a bowl of tendon stew and then he went upstairs with the dishes. The two little foxes, holding the remaining elk leg, were so busy gnawing on it that they did not even lift their heads.
All the walls of the Crystal Palace became transparent; the room lit up instantly. Qingtong shrank into the quilt, covering his face.
Mo Tianliao’s lips pressed into a tiny smile, he extricated the other man from his quilt cocoon and wiped his face with a cloth towel. “Baby, have a bowl of soup and then you can go back to sleep.”
Although dual cultivation was helpful for increasing one’s level, it also made one spend essence excessively, so he had to eat something good in order to replenish it.
The two little foxes were not that big, so after eating for a little while, they became full. While they sat on the stairs licking each other’s fur, they heard Mo Tianliao’s screams coming from upstairs.
“Ow! Master, I was wrong! I was wrong!”
It snowed heavily for three days and three nights, it was very cold outside so Qingtong stayed at home. At the moment he was on the second floor, reclining on the couch, lazily looking outside and gently tapping his slender fingers on the transparent wall, as if he wanted to catch the flying snowflakes. Under his head, a fox pillow lay conscientiously still, another one lay by his hands, she had curled up there on her own in order to keep him warm.
Mo Tianliao, who had gone out to gather information, came back to such a scene and could not help but frown. Didn’t Shuang Ren say that decorum must be maintained between men and women, why is he letting his sister warm Qingtong’s hands? Why isn’t he mentioning decorum now?
With a dark face and his temper quickly rising, Mo Tianliao walked over and said fiercely, “Why don’t you have a quilt?” After he said this, a woollen blanket covered Qingtong.
“You hear anything?” Qingtong looked back at him.
“The Three Sects Conference has already dispersed. Because of your disappearance, the Sect Leader personally came to meet with Liu Mang Zhenren. Ding Hu has not yet woken up, so no one knows what actually happened.” Mo Tianliao took off his frozen coat, climbed on the couch and squeezed close. He took the little hand-warming fox, laid it next to the Shuang Ren pillow, and made a great show of using her as a pillow.
Shuang Ren saw this and immediately opened his mouth to bite his ear, feeling displeased.
“If Ding Hu wakes up, your identity will become known.” Qingtong held out his slender fingers and started counting people. Mo Tianliao had killed from practically every sect, in the righteous path and also in the demonic path. If his identity was revealed, how many people would come seeking revenge?
“There’s nothing we can do about that,” Mo Tianliao said, holding his long and soft fingers and resting his chin on Qingtong’s shoulder. “Trouble is coming, now there’s only one thing we can do.”
“Which is?” Qingtong turned his head to look at him.
Mo Tianliao took advantage of the situation and pushed him down beneath him, giving a peck to his pale and thin lips. “What do you think?” Of course, it was to take every possible moment and dual cultivate many many more times, so that he could once more achieve the Half-Immortal stage as soon as possible.
When the fox pillow saw this scene, he was so startled that his hair puffed up.
“Why don’t we just remain in seclusion here for a year or so… Ow! Pain, pain, pain!” After being bitten on the nose, Mo Tianliao immediately started to behave himself.
The fox who was lying down as a pillow struggled until he escaped and instantly turned into a human, dragging Mo Tianliao off the couch. “Second shixiong, how could you do such a thing! You’re betraying your teacher and destroying your ancestors!” Shuang Ren’s face was flushed with anger. Who would have thought that he would take advantage of Master’s injury to sexually harass him! The little fox could never have imagined that the second shixiong whom he had always admired would turn out to be so despicable!
“You’re betraying your teacher and destroying your ancestors! Huahuahua!” Taishi, that big mouth who had never met a fire it did not want to pour oil into, yelled gleefully.
Mo Tianliao held the fox’s arm with one hand, firmly restraining his shidi who was about to draw his sword. “Shidi, calm down.”
When the other fox pillow saw her brother being bullied, she immediately launched herself at him and bit him. The room promptly descended into chaos. Qingtong supported his head with one hand and lay on his side on the couch, watching them nonchalantly.
In the middle of the ruckus, suddenly there was a knock at the door.
Mo Tianliao looked at Master and saw that he had no intention of helping at all, he ended up having to drag two fox shaped pendants downstairs with him to answer the door. The walls were transparent, so when he walked to the next floor, Mo Tianliao could see what was happening outside. He suddenly froze. On the vast expanse of whiteness, there were more than a dozen foxes, huddled together.
“This old man is the Elder of the Frost Fox clan that lives on these snowy mountains. I sensed the presence of a Great Beast and have led my people here specially in order to pay our respects.” The old fox turned into an old man with a white beard and bowed respectfully to Mo Tianliao.
“Elder grandpa!” Shuang Hua jumped down from Mo Tianliao’s sleeve and pounced.
Unedited, please point out any mistakes