Chapter 106: Soft-Eared Mama’s Boy 21 Part 1

After that day, Jiang Rang behaved himself for quite some time.

Shizun had indeed been injured. Though the wounds were only superficial, they were on his abdomen—a gash emitting foul qi that looked utterly alarming at first glance.

The young man spent days in a frenzy, scrambling for herbs and refining pills nonstop, yet Xie Lingfeng’s injury showed no sign of healing.

It was only two days ago, when Jiang Rang had all but lost his appetite fretting over it, that the man’s wound suddenly took a turn for the better.

With that, the somewhat stiff and chilly relations between master and disciple over the past few days finally thawed completely.

Jiang Rang had always been cheerful and unrestrained by nature, and knowing he was in the wrong, he was more than happy to take the initiative in making amends.

Kunyu Immortal Venerable had always been patient and indulgent with his young disciple. This time, the anger had dragged on for so long that to outsiders, it seemed the Immortal Venerable was simply furious at his disciple for letting emotions cloud his judgment—inviting the wolf into the house and playing with fire in the process.

But as the person involved, Jiang Rang could sense that something wasn’t quite right.

Xie Lingfeng wasn’t angry over his disciple’s sharp words, nor was he blaming him for the calamity brought by the Innate Disaster Body.

Jiang Rang only remembered that it had still been morning when Kunyu Immortal Venerable—who always paced with measured steps and a gentleman’s poise—had fixed him with a face cold as frost and gripped his wrist in an iron hold, shoving him straight into the Spirit Spring Pool of Cloudmarsh Hall.

The youth hadn’t dared to struggle. He didn’t even dare touch the wet strands of black hair clinging to his neck. He was just like a child struck dumb with instinctive fear before an angry elder, not daring to entertain even the slightest of his usual little schemes.

He let the older man strip away his clothes, soaked and caked in mud and filth. Shizun’s hands clamped tightly around his slender, beautiful waistline, leaving his hips—curved to perfection from years of body refining—pressed inescapably against the man’s long thigh. His arms, caught in the relentless cascade of water, wrapped instinctively around the other’s neck.

It was the posture of a young child held patiently in an elder’s arms—being cleaned, teased, and amused.

Jiang Rang’s face burned red, his senses in utter disarray. He and Shizun knew each other far too well after more than twenty years of companionship and intimacy. A mere light touch on the prominent ridge of his spine, and the youth understood the implication completely.

The water rippled endlessly. The muddy clothes—tangled with Zhu Miaojie earlier—turned silently to ash and powder at the glow of white light from the man’s fingertips, dissolving completely into the waves.

That day, every inch of the youth’s body was thoroughly cleansed by the cool spirit spring.

The process dragged on so long that Jiang Rang even had the fleeting illusion he might drown in the pool.

Throughout it all, Xie Lingfeng’s expression remained one of cool detachment.

For the first time, Jiang Rang couldn’t read his Shizun.

Those deep, dusky golden pupils were like an endless midnight. To step into them was to shed one’s mortal shell, melting and seeping into a void of absurd desolation.

Only at the very end of the cleansing did the youth glimpse that frigid mausoleum of a gaze shatter into countless flecks of gold dust.

Shizun asked him if it had hurt, if Zhu Miaojie had been rough with him.

Jiang Rang should have felt ashamed—whether from the excessive gentleness and indulgence of those touches, or from Shizun patiently cleaning away the traces left by another.

But as he gazed into those golden eyes—unchanging from his childhood to adulthood, always brimming with heartache, care, love, and pity for him—the youth utterly lost control and cast aside every pretense.

He didn’t even wait for Kunyu Immortal Venerable to ask. Like an obedient child, he spilled everything.

Even the details came out without a shred of shame.

There were no secrets between child and parent.

Nor between him and Shizun.

Jiang Rang had thought he was simply confessing his heart as usual, confiding in his elder. He never imagined that afterward, Kunyu Immortal Venerable would grow even more distant toward him.

Bewildered and confused, the youth nearly threw a tantrum, wheedling and rolling about.

But Kunyu Immortal Venerable merely sighed softly and said something the young man couldn’t fully comprehend.

“A-Rang, you’ve chosen him. I won’t stand between you two and put you in a difficult spot.”

Jiang Rang didn’t understand—couldn’t understand. Hearing those words, the young disciple felt the heavens and earth itself shake. He certainly yearned for the first taste of love that Zhu Miaojie had given him, but he couldn’t bear the thought of the Shizun who doted on him drawing away.

He didn’t grasp why he had to choose between Shizun and Ah Miao any more than he understood the fundamental difference between a lover and a mentor.

They both made him so happy when they were together. Why all the worry? Why compete to see who was better?

And so, the uncomprehending youth pestered and fawned once more.

In the end, Xie Lingfeng relented with that familiar air of helpless indulgence.

They went back to sharing a bed, limbs entwined as always.

Zhu Miaojie’s pointed words were utterly forgotten.

Nothing had changed.

Nothing would change.

No one could ever know what calculating thoughts, flickering deep and profound, lay hidden behind the benevolent gaze of Kunyu Immortal Venerable, whose face resembled a serene Bodhisattva.

~~~

Jiang Rang had always been the type to savor the sweets and forget the beatings.

Zhu Miaojie was, after all, the first person he had ever truly fallen for—especially now that the entire world seemed arrayed against them. Far from deterring him, the opposition only made it harder for the young man to let go of this thorny, intoxicating romance that set his heart racing.

The adorable Purple Thorn Beast Cub lingering before him served as a constant reminder of his beloved, suffering in the dungeon below.

Jiang Rang had considered sneaking off to Sin Peak more than once, but the place was guarded like a fortress, and with the Sect Leader’s explicit orders barring his entry, he hadn’t managed to slip inside even once in the past fortnight.

Just as anxiety was gnawing at him, word came that the Luo Family Little Young Master—who had been clamoring to take monastic vows—had been talked down by his family and was now heading back to the Primordial Sect.

Of course, Luo Yunchun wasn’t returning alone. He arrived with two entire spirit ships brimming with “dowry.”

The cargo was a dazzling array of rare treasures, elixirs, silks, and more, too numerous to count.

In the words of Little Young Master Luo himself, this was merely a modest token of sincerity—a little welcome gift.

Those words alone spoke volumes about the Luo Family’s vast wealth and their utterly indulgent pampering of their young master.

Jiang Rang had been completely in the dark about all this. Xie Lingfeng had helped him deliver a subtle warning to the Luo Family that day, their conversation full of veiled implications and unspoken understandings.

He had thought the matter settled, but it seemed the other side had been speaking in riddles all along. They had never intended to relinquish this extraordinarily talented prospective son-in-law, favored by their precious little son.

And so it was that when Jiang Rang descended from the Sword Peak Academy, only to find himself blocked at the mountain gate by two enormous spirit ships overflowing with treasures—and a youth clad in blazing red—he desperately wished he could cast an Earth Escape Spell and vanish on the spot.

Jiang Rang’s face was ashen, his vermilion lips pressed into a tight line. The white jade coronet atop his head trembled in the gusting wind, while his handsome black ponytail whipped wildly, curling around the edges of his lips. His features were naturally striking, radiating the bold vigor of youth.

Luo Yunchun’s arrival had been so flamboyant that fellow disciples had gathered at the Sword Peak gates to gawk, their expressions a mix of curiosity and gossip.

Someone couldn’t resist piping up. “Didn’t Senior Brother Jiang fancy that Disaster Star? What’s this Little Young Master Luo doing, butting in now?”

“Look at Senior Brother Jiang’s icy expression—he clearly had no idea. Sounds like one-sided affection to me: the flower yearns, but the water flows on indifferently.”

“But you have to admit, compared to that Disaster Star bewitching Senior Brother Jiang and stirring up trouble for the sect, Little Young Master Luo might be hot-tempered, but he’s got power and status. Not a bad match at all…”

Jiang Rang caught only snippets, but it was enough to make his teeth grind harder, his face darkening completely.

He might love joining the fun and acting the fool on ordinary days, but he hated being turned into a sideshow.

Luo Yunchun seemed oblivious to the peanut gallery of fellow disciples. Today, he wore a robe of vibrant crimson brocade shot through with watery sheen. His fox-like features glowed with fine porcelain skin, his chin sharpened to exquisite perfection. He resembled a begonia flower in furious bloom—vibrant, spirited, and utterly extravagant. There wasn’t a trace of the haggard exhaustion his mother had described.

Little Young Master Luo must have been waiting at the gates for ages. The moment he spotted Jiang Rang, his striking black eyes welled with moisture, a faint blush blooming across his pale cheeks like lotus petals.

No one knew what the Luo Family had said to dissuade him from the monastery, but now the delicate youth looked every inch the bashful lad stumbling upon his heart’s desire.

Proud as ever, Luo Yunchun clearly longed for the other man with every fiber of his being—yet he feigned coyness, planting his feet and waiting for Jiang Rang to approach.

But soon enough, he noticed the fool staring at his face in a daze, his expression oddly stricken.

Realizing Jiang Rang must be captivated by his looks, Luo Yunchun—who normally despised anyone commenting on his appearance—felt no anger at all. It was as if he’d forgotten his usual prickliness entirely.

He reined in his emotions with effort, fussing with the flamboyant pink arm bangle dangling from his elbow—the kind said to attract romance—before gliding forward with deliberate grace.

The red-clad youth’s voice had lost its former sharpness and arrogance. His eyes shone bright and fervent as they fixed on Jiang Rang, laced with the faintest hint of shyness. “Jiang Rang… I’ve heard all about it.”