Chapter 19: The Gu King of the Western Forest
When the day of An Long’s arrival came, the Medicine King’s Valley had already made ample preparations to receive guests.
Song Qingshi put on his robes neatly in front of the mirror and carefully checked his appearance. When he looked back, he unexpectedly saw Yue Wuhuan wearing a loose gray cotton robe. He was dressed like a valley servant. Although the cotton clothes couldn’t hide his beauty, such a drab color did not suit his temperament. He was more suitable for bright colors that were more flamboyant and domineering.
As expected, the Medicine King’s Valley really has no money left. A Phoenix has been reduced to a sparrow.
Song Qingshi secretly felt sad. He was determined to overcome his social anxiety and draw in the investment from the Myriad Gu Sect.
There was the sound of birds announcing the guest’s arrival and the poisonous fog array of the Medicine King’s Valley dissipated to welcome him in.
Suddenly, there was an uneasy commotion from the valley servants keeping guard at the gate. The commotion gradually spread into the valley and some of the more cowardly valley servants even ran over in panic.
Yue Wuhuan raised his head and glanced coldly at the fleeing valley servants. They immediately stopped in their tracks. Remembering the ruthlessness when handling affairs of this beauty deeply trusted by their master, their faces turned somewhat pale.
Song Qingshi was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
Yue Wuhuan meekly lowered his head once again, not offering any answer.
Song Qingshi quickly understood what the valley servants were afraid of.
A huge white snake, with its tongue sticking out, slithered up the steps. Its silver scales glittered under the sun. Its blood-colored eyes were like a demon’s that crawled out from purgatory.
The white snake raised its head and quickly crawled to Song Qingshi’s feet. It affectionate rubbed its head against him and curled its tail around his leg.
Song Qingshi was delighted. He squatted down and touched its head, asking, “You’re Xiao Bai, aren’t you? I haven’t seen you for so many years. How come you’ve grown so big?”
Seeing that Song Qingshi recognized it, the white snake used its tongue to touch him, rubbing against him even more enthusiastically.
Yue Wuhuan wanted to step forward to stop it, but when he saw someone coming, he backed away.
“This double-dealing scoundrel, I always knew it likes you more,” the tall shadow enshrouded them. The deep resounding voice was filled with helplessness, “Back then, in the secret realm, you refused to accept the Luminous Dragon as a spirit pet and it had to settle for me. It has borne a lot of resentment and its always wanted to go back to you.”
“Don’t joke” Song Qingshi said with a smile, “It’s not suitable for living in the Medicine King’s Valley. It’s more suitable for the Myriad Gu Sect.”
After Song Qingshi finished petting the snake, he raised his head and was suddenly stupefied.
The An Long in his memory was an inexperienced, mischievous, ordinary teenager. The man who appeared in front of him now was more than 1.9 meters tall, with an awe-inspiring body, with a tiger's back and a wolf's waist, wearing skintight black leather armor. His bare right arm was covered in tattoos of the five evils; the poisonous creatures were intertwined with countless bones of the dead. It was both terrifying and fascinating, people couldn’t look away. He was like a proud and overbearing ruffian. He had his hair cut extremely short, making his facial features appear even sharper. His dashing brows reached to his temples, his nose was straight like a peak, and his narrow eyes were like beast’s choosing which person to bite. His thin lips were tightly pursed and his whole body exuded a dangerous aura.
The years served as a carving knife, using 500 long years to thoroughly remold himself.
Song Qingshi stared blankly at him for a long time. Finally, he found traces of the past on this face.
An Long also looked at him for a long time and finally laughed. A sharp canine tooth appeared at the edge his lips. The dangerous aura faded in an instant and he turned back into that bad boy who liked playing pranks back then. All the girls in the Medicine King’s Valley blushed and they didn’t dare look any longer.
This familiar feeling made Song Qingshi breathe a sigh of relief.
An Long looked around, bent down and whispered quietly, “I thought you were angry with me and would never see me again.”
Song Qingshi thought back to this bear child’s trouble-making past, “I’m not angry.”
An Long didn’t quite believe it. He patted him on the shoulder, seeming to want to change the subject.
The Myriad Gu Sect was a body-refining sect. His strength was enormous and his hand pats were somewhat painful for Song Qingshi.
“By the way, I heard that you brought back a…” An Long glanced at the crowd and quickly locked on to Yue Wuhuan. After thinking about it, he didn’t know how to address him and so casually just threw out, “Is it this kid? He’s not like what they say. He looks pretty cute and well-behaved.”
Yue Wuhuan was used to people giving him messed up appraisals. His expression remained unchanged. He respectfully bowed to An Long and continued to remain silent.
Song Qingshi, though, was shocked.
An Long touched his chin and exclaimed, “He really is beautiful. It’s a pity he’s a man.”
Even after taking over the Myriad Gu Sect and cultivating to Nascent Soul, he was still that same old unscrupulous scoundrel as before!
With a cold expression on his face, Song Qingshi skillfully dragged An Long to the main hall. He then sent Yue Wuhuan to feed the mice and began to lecture the guy in front of him. Although he wanted to get the investment from the Myriad Gu Sect, that did not mean he was about to toss aside his bottom line. Therefore, he quickly sorted out this bastard’s black history and gave him a list of prohibitions, including prohibitions against taking any liberties with Yue Wuhuan. He was not to speak anything obscene to Yue Wuhuan. He was not to say anything vulgar to Yue Wuhuan. He was not to flirt with Yue Wuhuan. He was not to trespass into Yue Wuhuan’s room. He was not to make Yue Wuhuan drink any alcohol. There were 126 rules and regulations.
“Ancestors above,” An Long was dumbfounded as he listened to him. It took a long time for him to come back to his senses, “Is this man made of colored crystal?”
Song Qingshi tapped on the table and skillfully reprimanded, “Article number 72, you are not to use any strange words to describe him.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” For some reason, An Long seemed completely happy being reprimanded. He raised his hands in surrender and promised to stop talking nonsense. He then asked, “Then how should I call him? What is his identity in the Medicine King’s Valley?”
Song Qingshi was stunned. He realized that this was a serious problem…
Yue Wuhuan’s problem was psychological. It was inconvenient to explain and he had to protect the patient’s privacy. Although he was the Medicine King’s Valley’s Omnipotent Secretary, this profession was equivalent to a main steward in the immortal realm and provided no real status. Therefore, he had neglected to give Yue Wuhuan a suitable identity.
Song Qingshi immediately got up and said to An Long, “Wait here. I’ll go make sure.”
After speaking, he immediately walked out of the main hall, looking for Yue Wuhuan.
Yue Wuhuan had finished feeding the mice a long time ago. But he knew there were some things Song Qingshi had to say that wouldn’t be convenient for him to hear. And so he sat at a spot in the corridor that was not too far away and waited patiently while reading.
Song Qingshi hurriedly ran to Yue Wuhuan and asked, “Wuhuan, do you want to be my disciple?”
Yue Wuhuan looked at him in disbelief, somewhat stunned. “Master, why did you suddenly…”
“An Long reminded me,” Song Qingshi explained, “It’s better for you to have a suitable identity in the Medicine King’s Valley. I’ve never accepted a disciple before, so you can be my most senior disciple. This way, no matter what you do or when meeting guests, it will much more convenient. Of course, if you don’t want to then just forget it. I’ll think of other ways.”
“I want to,” Yue Wuhuan said hurriedly, “Master saved my life and taught me skills. I have already regarded Master as my teacher, but I didn’t dare to ask it of you.” He took a black wood carving from his bosom. It had his name written on it. He handed it to Song Qing embarrassedly, “I have secretly made my life plate early on. Please accept it, Master.”
The life plate was a must-have for every disciple of the sect. Living in the immortal realm was often filled with life-threatening danger. Each sect would use the disciple’s thoughts and blood to make a life plate, which would then be placed in a safe place. If the life plate shatters, it signifies that the disciple had died.
Yue Wuhuan carefully said, “I added a little array when I made it. If I meet with a mishap and my body perishes, the life plate will inform Master of the whereabouts of my corpse. Wuhuan hopes… that my body may be cremated and buried within the Medicine King’s Valley to accompany the Master. Is that alright?”
Song Qingshi was so touched that he collapsed in complete shambles. He repeatedly said, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you and I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
Yue Wuhuan got up to formally pay obeisance to his master.
“Wait, I have a request,” Song Qingshi hurriedly grabbed him to stop. He awkwardly said, “Can you not call me ‘Shifu’? This form of address always reminds me of that guy…” He hasn’t accepted disciples for a very long time. Hearing this also made him have an ill-feeling in his heart. Yue Wuhuan’s previous shifu’s conduct and deeds has gravely broken his bottom line, to the point that he practically feels nauseated. He absolutely didn’t want the same title. Moreover, he was worried that Yue Wuhuan would have a psychological shadow because of this form of address.
Yue Wuhuan understood his intentions and agreed with a smile, paying his obeisance once again.
“Later, I will take you to pay your respects to your grand-master.” Song Qingshi happily went back to An Long with the life plate. While showing it off to him, he said, very proud of himself, “Yue Wuhuan is now my senior disciple. This identity’s not bad, right?”
An Long was rendered speechless.
He’s seen masters accept disciples quickly, but never this quickly. Within just three quarters of an hour, the Medicine King’s Valley’s senior disciple came fresh out of the oven.
It seems… This came about because he asked that question?
Ancestors above, did he do something wrong?
Song Qingshi resolved this worry and began to think about how to pull in his investment. He vaguely remembered his sister saying to first let the investors eat and have fun before coaxing them to sign the contract. So Song Qingshi took An Long to visit his laboratory, carefully telling him about his methods for cultivating bacteria. He then invited him to perform some joint experiments.
Both he and the original body both liked to use this manner to welcome their friends.
Though it was a bit strange, it was very sincere.
Since entering the laboratory, An Long has been staring at him in a daze. He was both surprised and happy, as though he wanted to ascertain something…
He was starting so much that Song Qingshi started to think it strange. He asked, “Is there anything on my face?”
An Long asked carefully, “Qingshi, have you really forgiven me?”
Teenagers do a lot of stupid things during their rebellious phase. What was there that was worth holding a grudge over? Besides, he couldn’t clearly remember most of them.
Song Qingshi smiled and said, “I’ve forgiven you long ago. I’ve forgotten those things.”
An Long’s eyes were a little red as he stared at him incredulously, “You’ve really forgotten?”
Song Qingshi definitely said, “I hate lying.”
“Yes, yes, you never lie.” An Long suddenly took him into his arms, burying him against his shoulder. He whispered, “Thank you…”
The mask of pretending was torn off and the warm heart was drawn out.
He was so happy that he couldn’t help himself.
Song Qingshi wanted to push him away but he felt a warm dampness on his shoulder. He thought about it and stood still.
An Long’s voice was unspeakably hoarse,
“You don’t know how much I regret…”
“I’m so happy that I could see you again.”
Chapter 19: The Gu King of the Western Forest
When the day of An Long’s arrival came, the Medicine King’s Valley had already made ample preparations to receive guests.
Song Qingshi put on his robes neatly in front of the mirror and carefully checked his appearance. When he looked back, he unexpectedly saw Yue Wuhuan wearing a loose gray cotton robe. He was dressed like a valley servant. Although the cotton clothes couldn’t hide his beauty, such a drab color did not suit his temperament. He was more suitable for bright colors that were more flamboyant and domineering.
As expected, the Medicine King’s Valley really has no money left. A Phoenix has been reduced to a sparrow.
Song Qingshi secretly felt sad. He was determined to overcome his social anxiety and draw in the investment from the Myriad Gu Sect.
There was the sound of birds announcing the guest’s arrival and the poisonous fog array of the Medicine King’s Valley dissipated to welcome him in.
Suddenly, there was an uneasy commotion from the valley servants keeping guard at the gate. The commotion gradually spread into the valley and some of the more cowardly valley servants even ran over in panic.
Yue Wuhuan raised his head and glanced coldly at the fleeing valley servants. They immediately stopped in their tracks. Remembering the ruthlessness when handling affairs of this beauty deeply trusted by their master, their faces turned somewhat pale.
Song Qingshi was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
Yue Wuhuan meekly lowered his head once again, not offering any answer.
Song Qingshi quickly understood what the valley servants were afraid of.
A huge white snake, with its tongue sticking out, slithered up the steps. Its silver scales glittered under the sun. Its blood-colored eyes were like a demon’s that crawled out from purgatory.
The white snake raised its head and quickly crawled to Song Qingshi’s feet. It affectionate rubbed its head against him and curled its tail around his leg.
Song Qingshi was delighted. He squatted down and touched its head, asking, “You’re Xiao Bai, aren’t you? I haven’t seen you for so many years. How come you’ve grown so big?”
Seeing that Song Qingshi recognized it, the white snake used its tongue to touch him, rubbing against him even more enthusiastically.
Yue Wuhuan wanted to step forward to stop it, but when he saw someone coming, he backed away.
“This double-dealing scoundrel, I always knew it likes you more,” the tall shadow enshrouded them. The deep resounding voice was filled with helplessness, “Back then, in the secret realm, you refused to accept the Luminous Dragon as a spirit pet and it had to settle for me. It has borne a lot of resentment and its always wanted to go back to you.”
“Don’t joke” Song Qingshi said with a smile, “It’s not suitable for living in the Medicine King’s Valley. It’s more suitable for the Myriad Gu Sect.”
After Song Qingshi finished petting the snake, he raised his head and was suddenly stupefied.
The An Long in his memory was an inexperienced, mischievous, ordinary teenager. The man who appeared in front of him now was more than 1.9 meters tall, with an awe-inspiring body, with a tiger's back and a wolf's waist, wearing skintight black leather armor. His bare right arm was covered in tattoos of the five evils; the poisonous creatures were intertwined with countless bones of the dead. It was both terrifying and fascinating, people couldn’t look away. He was like a proud and overbearing ruffian. He had his hair cut extremely short, making his facial features appear even sharper. His dashing brows reached to his temples, his nose was straight like a peak, and his narrow eyes were like beast’s choosing which person to bite. His thin lips were tightly pursed and his whole body exuded a dangerous aura.
The years served as a carving knife, using 500 long years to thoroughly remold himself.
Song Qingshi stared blankly at him for a long time. Finally, he found traces of the past on this face.
An Long also looked at him for a long time and finally laughed. A sharp canine tooth appeared at the edge his lips. The dangerous aura faded in an instant and he turned back into that bad boy who liked playing pranks back then. All the girls in the Medicine King’s Valley blushed and they didn’t dare look any longer.
This familiar feeling made Song Qingshi breathe a sigh of relief.
An Long looked around, bent down and whispered quietly, “I thought you were angry with me and would never see me again.”
Song Qingshi thought back to this bear child’s trouble-making past, “I’m not angry.”
An Long didn’t quite believe it. He patted him on the shoulder, seeming to want to change the subject.
The Myriad Gu Sect was a body-refining sect. His strength was enormous and his hand pats were somewhat painful for Song Qingshi.
“By the way, I heard that you brought back a…” An Long glanced at the crowd and quickly locked on to Yue Wuhuan. After thinking about it, he didn’t know how to address him and so casually just threw out, “Is it this kid? He’s not like what they say. He looks pretty cute and well-behaved.”
Yue Wuhuan was used to people giving him messed up appraisals. His expression remained unchanged. He respectfully bowed to An Long and continued to remain silent.
Song Qingshi, though, was shocked.
An Long touched his chin and exclaimed, “He really is beautiful. It’s a pity he’s a man.”
Even after taking over the Myriad Gu Sect and cultivating to Nascent Soul, he was still that same old unscrupulous scoundrel as before!
With a cold expression on his face, Song Qingshi skillfully dragged An Long to the main hall. He then sent Yue Wuhuan to feed the mice and began to lecture the guy in front of him. Although he wanted to get the investment from the Myriad Gu Sect, that did not mean he was about to toss aside his bottom line. Therefore, he quickly sorted out this bastard’s black history and gave him a list of prohibitions, including prohibitions against taking any liberties with Yue Wuhuan. He was not to speak anything obscene to Yue Wuhuan. He was not to say anything vulgar to Yue Wuhuan. He was not to flirt with Yue Wuhuan. He was not to trespass into Yue Wuhuan’s room. He was not to make Yue Wuhuan drink any alcohol. There were 126 rules and regulations.
“Ancestors above,” An Long was dumbfounded as he listened to him. It took a long time for him to come back to his senses, “Is this man made of colored crystal?”
Song Qingshi tapped on the table and skillfully reprimanded, “Article number 72, you are not to use any strange words to describe him.”
“Yes, yes, yes.” For some reason, An Long seemed completely happy being reprimanded. He raised his hands in surrender and promised to stop talking nonsense. He then asked, “Then how should I call him? What is his identity in the Medicine King’s Valley?”
Song Qingshi was stunned. He realized that this was a serious problem…
Yue Wuhuan’s problem was psychological. It was inconvenient to explain and he had to protect the patient’s privacy. Although he was the Medicine King’s Valley’s Omnipotent Secretary, this profession was equivalent to a main steward in the immortal realm and provided no real status. Therefore, he had neglected to give Yue Wuhuan a suitable identity.
Song Qingshi immediately got up and said to An Long, “Wait here. I’ll go make sure.”
After speaking, he immediately walked out of the main hall, looking for Yue Wuhuan.
Yue Wuhuan had finished feeding the mice a long time ago. But he knew there were some things Song Qingshi had to say that wouldn’t be convenient for him to hear. And so he sat at a spot in the corridor that was not too far away and waited patiently while reading.
Song Qingshi hurriedly ran to Yue Wuhuan and asked, “Wuhuan, do you want to be my disciple?”
Yue Wuhuan looked at him in disbelief, somewhat stunned. “Master, why did you suddenly…”
“An Long reminded me,” Song Qingshi explained, “It’s better for you to have a suitable identity in the Medicine King’s Valley. I’ve never accepted a disciple before, so you can be my most senior disciple. This way, no matter what you do or when meeting guests, it will much more convenient. Of course, if you don’t want to then just forget it. I’ll think of other ways.”
“I want to,” Yue Wuhuan said hurriedly, “Master saved my life and taught me skills. I have already regarded Master as my teacher, but I didn’t dare to ask it of you.” He took a black wood carving from his bosom. It had his name written on it. He handed it to Song Qing embarrassedly, “I have secretly made my life plate early on. Please accept it, Master.”
The life plate was a must-have for every disciple of the sect. Living in the immortal realm was often filled with life-threatening danger. Each sect would use the disciple’s thoughts and blood to make a life plate, which would then be placed in a safe place. If the life plate shatters, it signifies that the disciple had died.
Yue Wuhuan carefully said, “I added a little array when I made it. If I meet with a mishap and my body perishes, the life plate will inform Master of the whereabouts of my corpse. Wuhuan hopes… that my body may be cremated and buried within the Medicine King’s Valley to accompany the Master. Is that alright?”
Song Qingshi was so touched that he collapsed in complete shambles. He repeatedly said, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you and I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
Yue Wuhuan got up to formally pay obeisance to his master.
“Wait, I have a request,” Song Qingshi hurriedly grabbed him to stop. He awkwardly said, “Can you not call me ‘Shifu’? This form of address always reminds me of that guy…” He hasn’t accepted disciples for a very long time. Hearing this also made him have an ill-feeling in his heart. Yue Wuhuan’s previous shifu’s conduct and deeds has gravely broken his bottom line, to the point that he practically feels nauseated. He absolutely didn’t want the same title. Moreover, he was worried that Yue Wuhuan would have a psychological shadow because of this form of address.
Yue Wuhuan understood his intentions and agreed with a smile, paying his obeisance once again.
“Later, I will take you to pay your respects to your grand-master.” Song Qingshi happily went back to An Long with the life plate. While showing it off to him, he said, very proud of himself, “Yue Wuhuan is now my senior disciple. This identity’s not bad, right?”
An Long was rendered speechless.
He’s seen masters accept disciples quickly, but never this quickly. Within just three quarters of an hour, the Medicine King’s Valley’s senior disciple came fresh out of the oven.
It seems… This came about because he asked that question?
Ancestors above, did he do something wrong?
Song Qingshi resolved this worry and began to think about how to pull in his investment. He vaguely remembered his sister saying to first let the investors eat and have fun before coaxing them to sign the contract. So Song Qingshi took An Long to visit his laboratory, carefully telling him about his methods for cultivating bacteria. He then invited him to perform some joint experiments.
Both he and the original body both liked to use this manner to welcome their friends.
Though it was a bit strange, it was very sincere.
Since entering the laboratory, An Long has been staring at him in a daze. He was both surprised and happy, as though he wanted to ascertain something…
He was starting so much that Song Qingshi started to think it strange. He asked, “Is there anything on my face?”
An Long asked carefully, “Qingshi, have you really forgiven me?”
Teenagers do a lot of stupid things during their rebellious phase. What was there that was worth holding a grudge over? Besides, he couldn’t clearly remember most of them.
Song Qingshi smiled and said, “I’ve forgiven you long ago. I’ve forgotten those things.”
An Long’s eyes were a little red as he stared at him incredulously, “You’ve really forgotten?”
Song Qingshi definitely said, “I hate lying.”
“Yes, yes, you never lie.” An Long suddenly took him into his arms, burying him against his shoulder. He whispered, “Thank you…”
The mask of pretending was torn off and the warm heart was drawn out.
He was so happy that he couldn’t help himself.
Song Qingshi wanted to push him away but he felt a warm dampness on his shoulder. He thought about it and stood still.
An Long’s voice was unspeakably hoarse,
“You don’t know how much I regret…”
“I’m so happy that I could see you again.”
