Chapter 102: Blue Moonlight (Thirty-one)
Twenty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
The banks of the Yuman River were still prosperous. Chen Yunli had only been there briefly once, and that was in the bustling Meiye City. It was completely different from the quiet and almost deserted retreat he later lived in, so naturally he didn't feel any regret that things had changed.
Walking downstream along the river for more than a hundred miles, the world's vanity is gradually stripped away by the quiet and dense forest. When you reach the bottom of the valley where the only sounds are the wind, water and birdsong, it is the secluded place of Chen Yunli mentioned in the stories written by the descendants of the Su family.
"It's exactly the same as the mirage I saw nineteen years ago."
Chen Yunli wandered leisurely through the valley for a while, then shook his sleeves and asked casually, "Wen Jian, do you remember how the storybook described my residence? I vaguely remember it being a small courtyard surrounded by a bamboo fence, but I can't quite recall the details."
Chen Wenjian lowered his eyes in thought. After a moment, he waved his sleeve forward, and the valley suddenly became turbulent. A piece of open space was cleared in the lush bamboo forest. Bamboo poles crisscrossed like weaving threads to form an exquisitely structured two-story bamboo building. It was located on the bank of the river, surrounded by bamboo leaves and wild flowers, like a naturally formed fence.
"That's how it should be," he said.
Chen Yunli certainly would not doubt his memory. Moreover, this courtyard and this bamboo building were built according to his own aesthetic taste. Even if there were discrepancies with the storybook, it was the storybook's problem, not a mistake in reality.
He skillfully made a double-standard judgment, tugged at Chen Wenjian's sleeve, and then walked into the courtyard.
The courtyard was empty. Chen Yunli held his chin and thought for a while, then quickly made a plan.
"The valley has abundant moisture and fertile soil, perfect for growing vegetables. Dig a pond here, bring in fresh water from the Yuman River, and then plant a vegetable garden next to the pond."
"Build two more huts opposite the pool. One will be used to store sundries, and the other will be used as a kitchen. By the way, do you know how to build a stove?"
Chen Wenjian nodded: "Of course."
Chen Yunli smiled and shook his head: "That means I don't know how to do it. I can find someone to help me build it."
"Pond, vegetable garden, utility room, kitchen..." Chen Wenjian recited, and with a slight movement of his fingers, the empty courtyard immediately filled with all the things he had imagined. "What else do you want?"
"Vegetable seeds, cooking utensils, furniture... We need a lot of things to live here." Chen Yunli walked to the circular pool that drew water from the river and looked down at the shimmering water. "But don't worry about anything else. Get me a bed first. I need to take a nap."
Chen Wenjian was stunned. It was a rare moment when he couldn't keep up with his train of thought: "Bed?"
It wasn't his fault. He had already been asleep in the Black Sea for ten thousand years, and for the past twenty years, Chen Yunli and he had been venturing into the mountains and rivers almost daily, eating and drinking from the wind and dew, sleeping under the sky and on the ground. The last time he slept in a bed was years ago. It was normal for him to be unable to react for a while after suddenly returning to civilized society.
"Yes, a bed, or a couch, or even just a platform made of a few pieces of wood."
Chen Yunli stretched out his body, his figure straightened and stretched out, his beautiful curves outlined by the faint light of the sky. "I really don't want to sleep on the floor anymore... I don't even want to sleep in a tree."
Chen Wenjian reacted, walked forward with a smile, and put his arms around his thin waist from behind.
"good."
After a while, Chen Wenjian built a large step-out bed according to the style in his memory, and extravagantly covered it with the mermaid silk that he had bought by chance during his travels, then hugged Chen Yunli and rolled onto it.
The physical strength of a cultivator is far superior to that of an ordinary person. Chen Yunli didn't feel very tired at first, but as soon as he lay down on the bed, in Chen Wenjian's warm embrace, a feeling of numbness and pain in his bones surged up.
These feelings were light and lingering, like thin vines entwined around his bones and piercing his flesh, vague yet lingering. Together with a heavy sense of laziness, they hung heavily on his eyelids, forcing him to close them.
The step-out bed was placed under the window on the third floor. The window was not closed tightly. Through the gap of two fingers wide, one could see a line of gray-black sky outside the valley.
Dark clouds covered the sky, and drizzles of autumn rain fell on the valley floor, bringing a damp wind with the slightly cool fragrance of grass and trees.
Chen Yunli tossed and turned in sleep amid the sound of wind and rain, but his sleep was not deep. In his half-awake state, he vaguely felt the person next to him move several times. He went from hugging him in his arms to arching his arms, burying his face in his shoulder, and letting out a long sigh.
This sleeping position allows them to be as close to each other as possible, intimate and integrated.
Chen Yunli was fuzzy-conscious, but still found it funny. He patted him on the back twice, but before he could think about it, he was dragged into a deeper dream.
…
Autumn rainy days are perfect for staying in bed, and the two of them slept until late at night.
The lights in the night market of Meiye City were turned off and the people dispersed, but the lights in the courtyard at the bottom of the valley were lit up.
Chen Yunli, wrapped in a fur coat, sat on a new couch that was set with a constant warming spell. In one hand, he held the prescription left by Su Chenyu more than ten years ago, and in the other hand, he opened a new letter. After comparing the two and confirming that they were written by the same person, he concentrated on reading the contents of the letter.
"What's in the letter?" Chen Wenjian came in carrying a tray of medicinal soup. The amber liquid exuded a bitter aroma, and next to it was a small bowl of honey of a similar color. "Is it the annual greeting from the Su family master?"
Over the past decade, Su Chenyu has written to Chen Yunli and Luo Qifang every year to say hello. The Su family has a wide network of contacts, and Chen Yunli does not deliberately hide his whereabouts, so his letters are always delivered smoothly, and the timing is also appropriate, either during the New Year or the holidays.
But this time it was different. The letter came at any time of year or festival, and the content was a bit more than before. After reading the letter, Chen Yunli raised his eyebrows, smiled, and waved Chen Wenjian over.
"What's wrong?" Chen Wenjian walked over to him and sat down, tidying up the loose hair on his temples.
Chen Yunli: "Chen Yu wrote to us, saying that there's a young man in his Su family who's quite talented, but he's too arrogant. He's already clamoring to travel before his cultivation has even matured. Chen Yu is worried that he'll bring disgrace to the Su family and that he might make a mistake and harm himself and others. So, he wants him to stay with us for a couple of days before he leaves home, so we can give him some training and teach him the ways of life. What do you think?"
"If you agree, I naturally have no objection." Chen Wenjian played with his jade-white fingers. "But how do you give and teach the so-called training and principles?"
"Although these are two different words and sound like two different things, they are essentially the same to Chen Yu." Chen Yunli narrowed his eyes and smiled, "That is, to use absolute force to make him understand that there are always people better than you. The Su family doesn't like to hit children, so I'll trouble you to help him make up for this frustration education."
Chen Wenjian blinked: "Me? Are you sure?"
Letting him take action is not as simple as frustration education.
"I didn't ask you to use your full strength. Teaching a child a lesson isn't like declaring war on the Heavenly Dao." Chen Yunli tapped his forehead, not using force, only making it feel intimate. "Suppress your strength to the same level as his, and then defeat him as quickly as possible. It would be even better if you can inflict a few non-fatal but painful skin wounds on him, so that he will have a sense of awe."
"Is that so..." Chen Wenjian leaned against him and narrowed his eyes, as if thinking about something. "It's a non-fatal but very painful skin injury, right? I understand."
Chen Yunli was about to nod, but suddenly smelled a hint of danger.
"Do you really understand what non-lethal means?"
"I really understand what it means to be in extreme pain."
“…”
On the second day after Chen Yunli sent out the reply letter, the younger generation of the Su family, who was talented but too arrogant, arrived at the bottom of the valley on a crane.
He was born with a handsome appearance, gentle and refined temperament, and did not show any arrogance at first glance.
It was not until he talked with Chen Yunli and implied that Chen Yunli's cultivation had stagnated at the Three Tribulations Realm for twenty years without any progress that Chen Yunli sensed a bit of annoying arrogance in his gentle appearance.
Chen Yunli smiled slightly, gave up the idea of persuading Chen Wenjian to be gentler, and instead tried to soothe his already furious lover.
He smiled and said in a voice transmission: "As long as you can't kill him, beat him to death."
"Heh." Chen Wenjian sneered, "Don't worry, I know my limits."
Two days later, the younger generation of the Su family came in a gentle and elegant manner and left in a polite manner.
Before leaving, he presented Chen Yunli and Chen Wenjian with tea as a disciple, thanked them for their careful and hands-on teaching, and expressed his regret and reluctance that they would not be able to meet again as they were far apart in the future.
Seeing how focused he was on the performance, Chen Yunli tentatively asked him if he wanted to stay another day. His legs immediately gave way, and he bowed deeply to the two men. After snatching the New Year's red envelopes from their hands in advance, he fled on his crane.
"Alas, this child is dishonest." Chen Yunli looked at the fleeing figure and said seriously, "Next time there is a teaching activity like this, Wen Jian, remember to add a course on honesty."
Chen Wenjian smiled and said, "Okay."
Chen Yunli meant this as a joke, but he didn't expect that just two days after he said it, Su Chenyu's new letter would come.
This time he wrote three pages in an eloquent manner. The first two and a half pages praised Chen Yunli and his wife, the living miracle doctor, for their miraculous ability to bring people back to life and turn a genius who was arrogant to death into a reserved, calm, restrained and polite gentleman. He said that they were so kind that he would send them New Year's goods this year to show his gratitude.
The last half page gets to the main topic of the letter. A relative of the Su family heard about this and also hoped to send his martial arts-mad daughter to train for a few days. He didn't ask for her to improve her strength, but letting her fight with strong people, receive their teachings, and broaden her horizons would be a good thing.
After reading the letter, Chen Yunli looked at his lover who was making medicine for him not far away: "Wen Jian, are you willing to agree?"
Chen Wenjian picked up the purple clay teapot and poured half of the medicine into the porcelain bowl. "Okay. Can I use the honest education you mentioned last time?"
"Of course." Chen Yunli smiled at first, then sighed at the bowl of medicine he brought over, "You know these are useless to me. Destined death cannot be changed by anyone's will."
"I understand." Chen Wenjian curled his lips and tapped the letter in his hand with his chin. "But don't you want to reassure your friend?"
Chen Yunli was stunned for a moment, his fingers holding the letter tightened slightly, and then he smiled.
"Yes, I want to reassure him."
Ten days later, the daughter of Su's in-laws came in a dignified and polite manner, and left cursing. Before leaving, she did not forget to offer tea to the master. Even after running dozens of miles away, one could still hear her resounding and lingering warm greetings.
For a few more days, Su Chenyu continued to provide the couple with entertainment... no, he continued to provide them with disciples to enrich their boring life of seclusion.
Many years passed like this, and the younger generations who had received Chen Wenjian's gentle and warm education gradually emerged and shined in the world of cultivation, and also spread the reputation of the small courtyard at the bottom of the valley.
Chen Yunli's secluded place changed from a secluded place to a gloomy and terrifying hell on earth. Every step brought a disaster and every three steps brought death. The young heroes shuddered at the thought of it.
Chen Wenjian went from being an unknown name to a living devil, with a green face and fangs, eating raw meat and drinking blood, and calling everyone a cultivator in the third calamity realm, with no upper limit. The young heroes' foreheads turned green when they thought of him, and they would rather walk under the thunder tribulation than tell any details of their fight with him.
From then on, there was an unexplainable strange story in the world of cultivation, called the small courtyard at the bottom of the valley by the Yuman River.
When Su Chenyu passed the news to Chen Yunli, Chen Yunli looked at the letter for half an hour and still couldn't understand how the story written by the younger generation of the Su family could glorify him into that character.
"Hell on Earth," he pointed at the floor, then looked at Chen Wenjian, "Living King of Hell? Didn't we beat enough of those brats back then?"
Chen Wenjian: "Do you want to bring them back one by one and beat them up again?"
Chen Yunli couldn't help laughing: "We won't need them for now, let them enjoy their glory for a few more years."
As he spoke, he suddenly felt a dull pain in his chest and a faint taste of rust in his throat.
The time is almost up.
Chen Yunli calmly suppressed the urge to cough. Chen Wenjian seemed to have noticed something and stood up to pour him a cup of tea.
"Is the illusion about to end?" he asked.
Chen Wenjian would never use words like "death" to describe Chen Yunli.
"Yeah." Chen Yunli leaned over and rested her head on his legs. "We'll fight again the day before we leave."
A muffled laugh erupted from Chen Wenjian's chest.
"good."
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