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“Meow once if you were a cultivator, meow twice if you were an ordinary person,” Ziche Duanyuan said.
Pei Bufan drooped his little head and whimpered twice.
Ziche Duanyuan nodded and continued, “Meow once for male, meow twice for female.”
Pei Bufan: “…Meow.”
“Meow once for adult, meow twice for minor.” Ziche Duanyuan was clearly getting addicted to this game. Pei Bufan huffily turned around, presenting his little butt to Ziche Duanyuan and refusing to answer. Poking the fluffy, chubby backside, Ziche Duanyuan scooped the black cat into his arms, rubbed his face against Pei Bufan’s fur, and smiled with satisfaction.
“Let’s go back,” Ziche Duanyuan said.
Pei Bufan flicked his tail. He gave Ziche Duanyuan’s outstretched hand a haughty look, deliberately stepped onto it in slow motion, glanced at Ziche Duanyuan’s smiling eyes, and then zipped up to his shoulder, curling into a ball.
With light hearts, the man and cat walked towards the secret realm’s exit. It was now afternoon. The sunlight was bright but not glaring, and a cool breeze blew away a good portion of the summer heat, making their time together feel exceptionally peaceful and warm.
Unfortunately, Ziche Duanyuan didn’t get to enjoy this wonderful warmth for long. The appearance of a youth shattered their tranquility.
He was a beautiful youth with slightly feminine features and alluring eyes. He seemed to be fleeing from someone. Upon seeing the male lead, his soul-stirring eyes lit up, and he suddenly rushed over, kneeling at the male lead’s feet.
“Please, save me!” The boy’s eyes welled with tears that threatened to fall but never did. “As long as Benefactor saves Yi’er, Yi’er will do anything you say!”1
Ziche Duanyuan’s brow furrowed slightly. He discreetly pulled his robe out of the boy’s grasp, but put on a gentle smile and helped the boy up. “You needn’t bow to me.” However, no matter how he pulled, the boy clung tightly to Ziche Duanyuan’s thigh and wouldn’t let go. Ziche Duanyuan’s smile began to strain.
Meanwhile, Pei Bufan, perched on the male lead’s shoulder, felt his whiskers tremble the moment he saw the boy.
He had recognized the boy’s identity the instant he appeared. Wasn’t this the very first shou to appear in his novel?! The beautiful little shou with seductive bones, a pure-yin constitution, and three spiritual roots, a perfect human cauldron!2
Of course, this human cauldron was prepared for the male lead, a ‘great tonic’ for him to restore his spiritual power after a great battle and even rapidly reach his peak to break through to the Golden Core stage!
Pei Bufan squinted at Ziche Duanyuan. Should I spectate, or spectate, or spectate?
Although he prided himself on being an author who followed the plot, the level of gay romance and spiciness in his novels was definitely not low! In order to satisfy his own YY3 and the tastes of his vast readership, Pei Bufan had tossed his dignity away when he started his very first novel.
Generally speaking, the protagonists or official pairings that an author writes are usually the types the author themselves yearns for, especially the first one to appear. Therefore, this Gong Yi with the pure-yin constitution was the very same delicate shou that Pei Bufan had always obsessed over, a character with a difficult family background and a tragic identity, who nevertheless refused to bow to reality and always struggled to survive!
But… how could the reality be so different from his imagination?!
Look at that delicate, womanly soft personality, crying at the slightest poke! Every single move carried a seductive hint, and that attitude of wanting to speak but holding back!
How is this less of a delicate shou and more of a little white flower?4 The black-hearted kind, at that?!
There was none of the clean purity of a lotus emerging from the mud unstained.5 He was more like a top courtesan from a male brothel who was putting on a pure and aloof act!
Is something wrong here?
Was it a problem with his writing?
Come to think of it, that made sense. Back then, he had used plenty of phrases like ‘those jade-like arms, white as lotus roots; those slender hands, soft as if boneless; that tiny waist you could circle with one hand; those eyes that held a smile-that-wasn’t-a-smile…’ How could a truly unworldly, delicate shou be described with such suggestive words! The shou Pei Bufan described was practically trying to seduce people at every moment!
My damn meddling hands just needed to be chopped off!
Now it serves me right to be blinded by my own creation!
And he even called himself Yi’er. He hadn’t thought much of it when he wrote it, but seeing it in person now, goosebumps were popping up in droves. Pei Bufan turned to look at Ziche Duanyuan. In the novel, the male lead had fallen for this guy, and they were stuck together like glue when they left the Lower Realm. Didn’t he find it annoying?
When Gong Yi had rushed over just now, he had even smelled a hint of cosmetics! Pei Bufan the cat, being sensitive to strong smells, let out a huge sneeze.
Ziche Duanyuan glanced at Pei Bufan out of the corner of his eye, then looked back at Gong Yi, his brow slightly furrowed.
Ziche Duanyuan sighed. Looks like I need to re-evaluate the male lead’s taste. He had completely forgotten that he was the one who wrote this logic-defying novel.
Just as Gong Yi was clinging to Ziche Duanyuan, several men rushed over. Seeing Gong Yi, they revealed triumphant smiles. “Let’s see where you run to now.” Completely ignoring the male lead, they took out their magic treasures and pounced to grab him. Perhaps Ziche Duanyuan’s disheveled appearance made them classify him as one of the incompetent ones.
Gong Yi yelped in fear and hid behind Ziche Duanyuan, his hands still clutching tightly to his clothes.
Ziche Duanyuan’s expression darkened further. He took Pei Bufan from his shoulder with one hand and held him protectively, while his other hand formed a seal. A few water arrows finished off the men on the spot, leaving only the one farthest away to flee, pissing his pants in terror. Ziche Duanyuan didn’t give chase, letting him go. He glanced down at Pei Bufan, who was happily licking his paws, completely unaffected (in reality, he was too much of a coward to look at the bloody scene QAQ). Ziche Duanyuan pinched Pei Bufan’s ear. Pei Bufan’s ear twitched. He shot a glance at Ziche Duanyuan and turned his head away, ignoring him.
Ziche Duanyuan let out a low laugh.
Gong Yi, still standing there, was a bit stunned. He hadn’t expected this man to be powerful enough to insta-kill the guys chasing him. When he snapped out of it, he saw an expression so warm it could melt ice. In that moment, Gong Yi thought he could hear his own heartbeat. Seeing the man turn to look at him, he immediately replaced his stunned expression with one of adoration, his eyes gazing at Ziche Duanyuan with deep affection, as if he were the only person in the world.
Ziche Duanyuan sneered internally. They were just a bunch of Qi Refinement stage trash, what’s there to be so surprised about? The emotion in this youth’s eyes is also laughably fake. His originally good mood had been ruined by this farce.
“Thank you, Benefactor,” Gong Yi said, plopping to his knees again. He looked up at him. “From now on, Yi’er will follow…”
“Scram!”
The fawning smile on Gong Yi’s face instantly froze. He looked at the male lead in shock, completely unable to understand his hostile attitude. Seeing the man turn to leave, the white hem of his Heavenly Silkworm Silk robe fluttering, and then thinking about his own predicament, Gong Yi shamelessly stood up and followed him.
Ziche Duanyuan stopped and turned, looking at him coldly.
Enduring the intense killing intent radiating from the man, Gong Yi said with trembling lips, “Yi’er has a pure-yin constitution, suitable for dual cultivation… If Benefactor is willing, Yi’er doesn’t ask for any status, only to serve by your side…”
In the original novel, this was exactly what Gong Yi had said to the male lead, and the male lead had joyfully accepted him. Of course, when he left the Lower Realm, he also ditched him just as decisively.
Back then, he had been so high on writing the H-scenes that he hadn’t considered their character settings at all. Because most readers didn’t like this shou, he had decisively cut his screen time. Looking at it now, wasn’t this a classic case of a scumbag gong and a pathetic shou?
Pei Bufan whimpered, looking at the male lead with an expression that clearly said, ‘You have so many romantic prospects, I’m so jealous.’
To Pei Bufan’s surprise, the male lead acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing and just turned and walked away. It wasn’t just Pei Bufan; even Gong Yi was dumbfounded. A pure-yin constitution referred to someone born in a yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour, who had also maintained their virginity. It was best in women, because it was very difficult for a man born with a pure-yin constitution to survive. Gong Yi had lived this long by relying on his water-wood dual spiritual roots to constantly nourish himself, but his body was still weak with congenital deficiencies, and he would never be able to reach the Golden Core stage in this life. There was another reason he had survived: from birth, he had been chosen by a Nascent Soul6 old ancestor from the Middle Realm. That old ancestor had… special tastes, disliked women, and was someone who loved using human cauldrons to supplement his cultivation. Knowing that a boy with a pure-yin constitution had been born in a Lower Realm family under his protection, how could he not be delighted? He had promised a pile of benefits and was just waiting for him to turn 18 to bring him into his manor.
That old ancestor was already over a thousand years old. His cultivation had been stuck at the Nascent Soul stage, and his lifespan was nearly at its end, his head full of white hair. He was a cultivator but had indulged in carnal pleasures, destined to never achieve the Great Dao in this life.
How could Gong Yi be willing to accompany an old man with one foot in the grave, especially one who would use him as a tonic and then kill him?
Compared to that guy, the man before him was obviously much better.
This time next year was when he was to be sent to the Middle Realm. With only one year left, he didn’t want to sit and wait for death. He had escaped while his guards weren’t paying attention, but he was discovered so quickly. Luckily, he had met him in this secret realm…
Gong Yi now had no way out. Ziche Duanyuan had let the last pursuer go. That man would definitely report his whereabouts to the family. Besides clinging tightly to the thigh of the man before him to survive, he had no other path.
Perhaps because of the way he was raised, he was very knowledgeable about matters between men. He could tell with one look whether a man was interested in men or women. This man before him was clearly fond of the southern wind7, which was why every move he made while begging for help was a subtle seduction. He never expected… to fail.
There were only two reasons for failure. One, he genuinely wasn’t interested in him. Two, he already had someone he loved and thus didn’t act.
He refused to believe the first one, no matter what. As for the second… men think with their lower bodies.
Remembering the man’s warm smile from before, Gong Yi’s heart began to stir with ideas.
********
Author’s Note:
Gong Yi: To tell if a man is gay, you need to pay attention to the way he looks at people. A straight man’s attention lingers more on women, whereas a gay man’s will focus more on other men. If he finds someone who’s his type, even if he doesn’t say a word, his eyes will be full of interest. If you observe carefully, you can even figure out what his type is, what he likes about you, and what he doesn’t. Got it?
Pei Bufan: …I don’t really get it.
Ziche Duanyuan: (Glances at Gong Yi, silently turns away. He then looks over at Pei Bufan, his gaze instantly growing warm. He scans him from head to toe, his eyes finally landing on Pei Bufan’s butt. His eyes narrow, the corners of his mouth curl into a wide smirk, and he licks his lips…)
Gong Yi: …
Pei Bufan: ……………………………………………………..(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ !!!!!!
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Reika’s Notes:
- This text was translated by Kotori Translates, and given to BC Novels to publish.
- I helped with the footnotes, formatting, grammar, etc., the usual stuff that is needed to post this on the website.
- Please let me know if there are any errors. Thanks for reading!
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- 伊儿 – a cutesy, almost feminine-sounding name the character uses to refer to himself in the third person. This is a deliberate affectation to appear more delicate, pitiful, and endearing.
- A 炉鼎 (lúdǐng) or “human cauldron” is a trope in cultivation novels. It refers to a person (often with a special constitution) whose vital energy or essence can be absorbed by another cultivator, usually through sexual acts (双·修 (shuāng xiū) or “dual cultivation”), to rapidly increase the latter’s power.
- YY is internet slang derived from 意淫 (yìyín), which means to fantasize, often in a lewd or wish-fulfillment manner. It’s used to describe daydreaming about romantic or sexual scenarios.
- 小白花 a slang term for a character archetype who appears pure, innocent, and fragile on the surface, but is often secretly manipulative, scheming, and “black-hearted” (黑芯).
- The original idiom is 莲出淤泥而不染 a famous line praising the lotus for its ability to remain pure and beautiful despite growing in mud. It’s a metaphor for maintaining one’s integrity in a corrupt environment.
- Nascent Soul (元婴 Yuán Yīng) is a high level of cultivation, far above Foundation Establishment and Golden Core. An Ancestor at this stage would be an incredibly powerful figure.
- 南风 – nánfēng literally “southern wind” aka an archaic literary term for homosexuality