Chapter 8 Two Copper Coins

After battling Yu Xiao for a full two hours, Li Yanhe exhausted his strength and collapsed on the ground, barely able to breathe.

He could see it now—Yu Xiao didn’t intend to kill him; he wanted to toy with him!

Wait, didn’t Master plan to escape the Demon Palace together with him?

Li Yanhe turned his head to glance at his Master, who was already engrossed in playing chess by the table.

The chessboard was filled with pieces, clearly showing Master’s complete disregard for his life after half a day of not paying any attention to him.

Li Yanhe almost choked on his own blood.

Chu Xuyun had been like this back in the Clear Sect too, always starting something only to get distracted and busy with something else.

But Master, we’re inside the Demon Palace right now!

As if sensing Li Yanhe’s look of despair, Chu Xuyun finally glanced at him, taking out a Returning Yuan Pill from his pocket and throwing it to Li Yanhe from a distance.

“Finish the pill and continue training. Keep taking pills until you’re too tired to continue.”

Li Yanhe quickly got up from the ground to catch the Returning Yuan Pill, swallowing it gratefully. “Master, I won’t let you down.”

A top-grade Returning Yuan Pill, costing nine thousand spirit stones. Master was indeed generous; suddenly, Li Yanhe felt that he could manage alone.

Yu Xiao naturally noticed Chu Xuyun’s actions. He stood silently in place, his sword hanging by his side.

He had clearly won, clearly the most talented disciple. If Chu Xuyun had been in trouble with someone else today, he would have tried harder to save him than he had done with Li Yanhe. But Chu Xuyun had never treated him as he had treated Li Yanhe.

A glance swept across the Returning Yuan Pill in his hand, and he quickly withdrew his gaze, as if he had never cared.

It didn’t matter; he was strong enough not to need to.

Another half-hour passed, and Li Yanhe felt that after taking the pill, he was even worse off than before. Yu Xiao’s attacks were becoming fiercer, as if he really wanted to beat him to death.

After venting his anger, Yu Xiao kicked Li Yanhe out of the hall coldly. “Lock him up in the dungeon.”

On the day of the wedding, he would still have Li Yanhe come to toast with him and Chu Xuyun.

Yu Xiao looked back at Chu Xuyun, who was quietly playing chess in the hall, his face calm, his clothes neat, not a hair out of place.

The last move was made, making a crisp sound on the chessboard.

Chu Xuyun stopped moving and looked up into Yu Xiao’s eyes.

Yu Xiao knew that by beating Li Yanhe like this in front of Chu Xuyun, he must deeply hate him.

But without magic power, Chu Xuyun couldn’t do anything, so he deliberately didn’t look, didn’t listen, just played chess to divert his attention, as if anything he did in Chu Xuyun’s eyes wasn’t worth mentioning.

Chu Xuyun wanted to make him understand that he couldn’t hurt him.

“Immortal Monarch, if you have time to play chess, why not think early about the style of our wedding attire?”

He didn’t want to say this, but the words always came out with a sting. If he didn’t say it, Chu Xuyun probably wouldn’t even look at him.

It’s good to hate him; hating him will make him remember him.

Hearing Yu Xiao’s words, Chu Xuyun suddenly stood up and, under Yu Xiao’s unwavering gaze, picked up a stone pen from somewhere and swayed it gracefully on the chessboard.

After a while, Chu Xuyun put away the pen, and looked up at Yu Xiao who was still standing there motionless.

His eyes sparkled brightly, with tiny specks of light in them that seemed to be eagerly anticipating something.

Yu Xiao was briefly stunned for a moment. For an instant, he thought he had misunderstood, but before he could think further, his body involuntarily walked towards Chu Xuyun.

He lowered his head and saw the chess pieces on the chessboard being pushed aside in a mess, leaving a blank space with a strange drawing on it.

Yu Xiao tried hard to figure it out for a moment, but couldn’t understand.

Seeing this, Chu Xuyun seemed somewhat helpless and carefully added a few strokes to it.

Now he could see that if he hadn’t misunderstood… it seemed to be a piece of clothing.

Clothing?

Yu Xiao’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and his fingertips lightly touched the somewhat crude drawing on the chessboard, tentatively asking in a low voice, “Is this… the wedding attire you want?”

As the words fell, Chu Xuyun breathed a sigh of relief and nodded gently.

If Yu Xiao still didn’t understand, he really wouldn’t be able to draw it. It had taken him half a day to come up with it.

Yu Xiao looked blankly at the wedding attire drawn on the chessboard. The skirt was short, and there was a funny-looking bug crawling on it, somehow ridiculous.

This was drawn by Chu Xuyun?

Yu Xiao was stunned for a moment. He had always thought that Chu Xuyun was omnipotent, but he didn’t expect that he also had things he couldn’t do well—his drawing was somewhat special.

However, Chu Xuyun, the Clear Immortal Monarch, the leader of the righteous path, the one whose sword chilled the Fourteen States and whose name struck fear into the hearts of evil cultivators, had drawn a bug on his own wedding attire. What did it mean?

Chu Xuyun nervously observed his reaction, afraid that Yu Xiao would misunderstand his meaning. He picked up the stone pen again and carefully wrote a word next to the wedding attire.

“Dragon.”

Yu Xiao fell silent.

So this worm was a dragon all along.

The air in the great hall froze, an eerie stillness settling in.

Why had Yu Xiao suddenly stopped talking?

Chu Xuyun glanced shyly at the painting. Surely, Yu Xiao found it ugly; he regretted painting it. If only he hadn’t picked up the brush.

Suddenly, he heard Yu Xiao chuckle softly. Chu Xuyun looked up to see Yu Xiao’s smiling eyes.

The smile was beautiful, soft light reflecting in his deep pupils, shimmering like many hidden stars.

Chu Xuyun was mesmerized until Yu Xiao leaned closer, startling his racing heart.

“Immortal’s painting is excellent,” Yu Xiao said calmly, his smile deepening. “I thought you were displeased with Li Yanhe, not knowing you were actually thinking about our wedding attire.”

Warm breath lightly brushed past Chu Xuyun’s ear, setting him ablaze. His heart raced faster as he met Yu Xiao’s gaze, struggling to focus on his face, only sensing Yu Xiao’s smile, beautiful enough to blur everything else. At that moment, the world around them faded, leaving only each other.

Chu Xuyun wanted to embrace him, kiss him, or perhaps, directly engage in dual cultivation…

Just as he was about to touch Yu Xiao’s face, the voice of a demon outside interrupted.

“Report to Lord, the envoy from the Demon Clan is waiting in the main hall, seeking a discussion regarding the Twelve Cities.”

The atmosphere dissipated instantly. Chu Xuyun saw Yu Xiao’s smile freeze abruptly.

Yu Xiao, we haven’t…

Chu Xuyun still wanted to approach, but Yu Xiao suddenly stood up, turning to look at the crooked bug drawn on the chessboard attire.

“Dragon?”

Yu Xiao turned sharply to look at Chu Xuyun, as though someone had doused him with cold water.

“You want to embroider a dragon on our wedding attire because you’re still thinking about that Demon Clan beast, aren’t you?”

Chu Xuyun widened his eyes.

Who? Demon Clan beast? He didn’t know.

Yu Xiao’s breath quickened, gripping Chu Xuyun’s face, he kissed him deeply. The demon at the door wisely turned away and shut the hall door tightly.

“Do you want to embroider his totem on our wedding attire? Chu Xuyun, do you truly have no heart?” Yu Xiao asked in near despair, tightening his wrist, pressing Chu Xuyun against the pillar in the hall.

Unfair, Heavens above.

Chu Xuyun merely thought embroidering a dragon on the wedding attire was impressive. He didn’t want a dragon; he could embroider something else.

Struggling briefly, he managed to break free from Yu Xiao’s hold. Grabbing a stone pen, he gently wiped off the dragon on the attire and wrote the character for “crane” beside it.

Embroidering a crane would be fine too. It looked good.

Chu Xuyun turned to Yu Xiao, eager.

Yu Xiao looked at the chessboard again, falling silent once more.

“That’s enough,” Yu Xiao took a deep breath. “If Immortal wishes to spite me, embroidering a dragon is enough. There’s no need for a crane.”

Fine. Fine. A crane, Li Yanhe’s crane. Chu Xuyun truly hated him to the bone.

Seeing he seemed not appeased, Chu Xuyun quickly wiped off the crane, ready to write again, but Yu Xiao suddenly stood up, looking at him, his smile suddenly stiffened.

“Enough,” Yu Xiao said softly. “Even if I resent Li Yanhe, I won’t kill him before our wedding. You can rest assured.”

Chu Xuyun watched him leave, the hall door closed tightly. He scratched his face.

Although he didn’t understand what Li Yanhe had to do with it, Yu Xiao seemed genuinely not angry anymore. That’s good.

Yu Xiao was easy to appease.

Outside the hall, Yu Xiao cherished the small bottle in his hand for a moment, gently and slowly opened the porcelain lid of the bottle, pouring out a round pill.

Once Yu Xiao fully recognized the “pill” in his palm, he abruptly froze in place.

It wasn’t a recuperative pill at all, but a clear, crystalline mulberry candy.

Back in his days at the Celestial Sect, whenever Yu Xiao felt down, he would buy mulberry candies. They were the cheapest at the dried fruit shop beneath the sect, costing just two copper coins per pack, tucked away in a corner and rarely touched by anyone except Yu Xiao.

Yu Xiao picked up the candy and placed it in his mouth. The sweet, fragrant taste spread across his tongue as if swallowing bit by bit the bitterness in his heart.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, but how could Chu Xuyun have known he liked them? Regardless, Yu Xiao was pleased.

He quietly thought to himself that he and Li Yanhe were indeed different.

Two copper coins were sweeter than nine thousand spiritual stones.

“Thank you, Xianjun,” he thought. “I really like it.”