Chapter 33#

Expectations#

Zhuo Yu’s brow rose slightly, and for a moment a shadow seemed to flicker across his face. But it was too fast for Feng Xianyu to catch. The other man casually lowered his hand, tucked in the corner of the blanket, grabbed the snow-white robe at the bedside, draped it over Feng Xianyu’s shoulders, and then stood up.

Feng Xianyu was still in a daze.

It wasn’t until Zhuo Yu lifted the curtain and was about to leave that he snapped back to reality. As if possessed, he blurted out, “Senior Brother!”

Those two words seemed to hit a pause button, and Zhuo Yu froze instantly.

Feng Xianyu opened his mouth, only to realize he had no idea what to say. In his line of sight, Zhuo Yu tilted his head slightly, saying nothing. Around them, only the sound of their breathing filled the silence. Zhuo Yu waited quietly for a moment. When nothing came, he left the room without looking back.

As soon as Zhuo Yu stepped out, he ran straight into Ye Shu, who had been pacing anxiously outside the door.

Hearing the movement, Ye Shu spun around abruptly, with such force it looked like his head might fly off.

“It’s you?” Ye Shu froze, then asked urgently, “Is Xianyu awake?”

He got no answer. Looking up, he met Zhuo Yu’s dark, heavy eyes.

Those eyes looked down at Ye Shu, sweeping over him as if passing judgment. Then, they softened slightly. Ye Shu thought he caught a hint of mockery, and his heart jolted. A chill ran from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, making the hairs on his back stand on end. He had no idea what Zhuo Yu meant by it.

“He’s awake,” Zhuo Yu said, his voice cold and hard, cutting off Ye Shu’s frantic thoughts.

Upon hearing this, Ye Shu abandoned all else. He lifted the hem of his robe and rushed into the room.

Zhuo Yu flicked his fingers but did not stop him. He only heard Ye Shu shout, “Xianyu!” in a flustered, loud voice. After a long pause, Feng Xianyu’s voice finally came—soft, fragile, like a gust of wind.

Rounding the screen, Ye Shu saw Feng Xianyu sitting on the couch in only his inner robe, draped in the snow-white outer robe that was far too large for him. He stared blankly ahead, his long black hair cascading down like a waterfall, one strand held loosely in his own hand. His unfocused eyes carried a dazed look, as if still emerging from a dream. His thick lashes caught the warm candlelight, making him seem utterly unreal—like a bubble that would vanish at the slightest touch.

Feng Xianyu forced a weak smile at the rushing Ye Shu.

“Xianyu, you’re finally awake,” Ye Shu said, forcing himself to calm down. He stopped a few steps away, not immediately sitting down. “I tried to come in and see you several times, but I couldn’t get in. Even my master had to bear with your senior brother’s glare. Quite intimidating.”

Qin Ge, accustomed to being feared, was for the first time put in his place by a junior. His face had been sour the entire time, and as he left, he gritted his teeth and sent an exorbitantly large bill to Qingdu Mountain. Who knew if the Qingdu Mountain Sect Leader would cough up blood upon seeing it?

From Ye Shu’s words, Feng Xianyu gathered that Zhuo Yu had been here all along?

Just thinking about it made him feel a little guilty.

A dream was just a dream—you couldn’t take it seriously. Besides, in the dream, he was already dead, so how could he know what happened afterward? Maybe it was just a nightmare, or the influence of demonic energy—Ah Yue’s palm strike.

Why would Zhuo Yu need to kill Kong Yan?

When Feng Xianyu himself was courting death with the Demon Lord, Kong Yan had helped him a lot. And later, when the Qingque Sect had its own troubles, it was understandable that they couldn’t look after him. By that time, the entire cultivation world was in chaos; no one had time for anyone else. Even if he and Kong Yan were close, Kong Yan was first the Young Master of Qingque Sect, and only second his friend.

Besides, Zhuo Yu was definitely not the kind of person to kill indiscriminately. Even if his temper wasn’t the best, he had never held a grudge no matter how many times Feng Xianyu had provoked him as a child. That showed he had a pretty good heart.

Feng Xianyu was lost in his own thoughts when he vaguely heard Ye Shu say, “…Was True Person Zhuo like this when you were at Qingdu Mountain?”

Feng Xianyu thought: It wasn’t that bad.

Back when he first started cultivation, he and Zhuo Yu were practically inseparable during lessons.

Back then, Zhuo Yu hadn’t moved out on his own yet. They lived in the same courtyard as Feng Qianqiu, basically room to room.

Zhuo Yu always blew out his lamp early and rose at cockcrow.

Feng Xianyu, on the other hand, was a night owl. He never slept before the wee hours. Out of every seven days of lessons, he was late five, and on one day, he simply couldn’t get up at all. The lecturer elders were furious and reported him to the Sect Leader one after another. In the end, Feng Qianqiu had to drag his son out of bed himself every day.

So, every day, when Zhuo Yu returned from his morning sword practice, he’d find Feng Qianqiu locked in a tug-of-war with Feng Xianyu, who refused to get up and was still lying in bed, throwing a tantrum. It would be a long while after Zhuo Yu had already taken his seat in the classroom before Feng Qianqiu finally succeeded in dragging a half-asleep, sloppily dressed Feng Xianyu into the room.

As time went on, Feng Qianqiu grew completely exasperated.

Not long after, Feng Qianqiu went into seclusion. He knew that once he was in seclusion, his son would inevitably slack off. No one in the sect could control him. In the end, he set his hopes on Zhuo Yu.

“I have no one else I can trust,” Feng Qianqiu sighed deeply. “You know how Yu’er is. I really can’t find anyone else to discipline him.”

“He won’t listen to me,” Zhuo Yu said. After a pause, he couldn’t help adding, “Actually, he cultivates well even without listening to lessons.”

Feng Qianqiu grimaced, but before he could speak, they both heard voices in the distance: “Little Junior Brother, come down! It’s too high!”

Then Feng Xianyu’s voice: “It’s fine, I’m just poking it. Won’t take long. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Feng Qianqiu’s nerves snapped. Taking a deep breath, he rushed to the window, channeled his spiritual energy, and roared at the top of his lungs: “You brat! Get down here! Right now! I told you not to mess with those bees! They hold grudges!!”

But he was too late.

They only heard Feng Xianyu yelp, then quickly jump down from the tree and scurry away, trying to dodge the buzzing swarm of bees. Cornered, he plunged into the pond with a splash.

Feng Qianqiu: “…”

Zhuo Yu watched silently, then said, “He runs fast.”

“Without rules, nothing can be accomplished! How can one cultivate without hardship?” Feng Qianqiu spun around, grabbed Zhuo Yu’s hands, and said with tears in his eyes, “You two are my only disciples. You must love each other and work as one. All my hopes rest on you!”

That day, Feng Xianyu stayed up late as usual, playing with his crickets, thinking that with his father in seclusion, no one would bother him. He figured he could enjoy himself freely for at least half a year. So he happily played with the crickets until almost dawn, then collapsed into bed.

Around the time Feng Qianqiu usually came to call him, a flash of white suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Feng Xianyu groggily cracked an eye open and saw a small, serious-faced Zhuo Yu standing by his bed, radiating cold air. This gave Feng Xianyu such a fright that he shot upright, hugging his pillow as he scrambled to the other side of the bed, glaring warily at Zhuo Yu. This was the first time Zhuo Yu had ever come to his room.

“What are you doing here?” Feng Xianyu demanded suspiciously, clutching his pillow like a sword, ready to strike at any moment. Seeing Zhuo Yu standing there, pristine as an icicle, a bad feeling crept into his heart. Sure enough, Zhuo Yu’s next words confirmed his foreboding.

“Master told me to keep an eye on you,” Zhuo Yu said.

No matter how good-looking Zhuo Yu was, to Feng Xianyu at that moment, he might as well have been a yaksha.

Feng Xianyu’s vision went dark. Furious, he thought to himself, “My life is over!”