Ch87 - Uncontrollable Emotion

Outside the alley, Yuan Qian and Wu Baili remained silent, unable to recover for a long time.

Yuan Qian took a deep breath, about to speak.

Wu Baili said coldly: “Stay calm!”

Yuan Qian: “…”

Yuan Qian’s serpent scales were nearly frightened into visibility. He barely restrained himself: “The World-Honored One is a Buddhist! Destined to become a Buddha, and Young Lord he! How foolish!”

Wu Baili had “calm” practically written on his face as he said coldly: “Your mind is too dirty. It was just an embrace—haven’t you ever embraced your superiors?”

“Never,” Yuan Qian said pitifully. “They all despise my mixed blood of human and demon. They’d rather flay me for clothing.”

Anyone hearing such a pitiful tale would feel sympathy, but Wu Baili remained coldly unmoved: “Stop that act. The World-Honored One has compassion and virtue. He merely cares for his late friend’s son. There’s absolutely nothing improper.”

Yuan Qian disagreed: “What about the Young Lord? He’s quite the devoted soul, even capable of falling for someone like Qi Jianyi. How much more so for the World-Honored One—such a pristine lotus?”

Wu Baili hadn’t expected Yuan Qian to be so audacious as to slander the World-Honored One and Su Hansheng’s purity. After a long moment: “Filthy!”

Yuan Qian pouted: “What’s filthy? The way Young Lord looked at the World-Honored One—there’s no way that’s pure.”

Wu Baili rubbed his temples, feeling a headache.

“Before you rub your head,” Yuan Qian pulled Wu Baili along, slipping mysteriously into the crowded street and whispering: “They’re coming out of the alley. Let’s probe and test them.”

Su Hansheng was still preoccupied with his own “probing and testing.”

After the fireworks ended, he and Chongjue walked side by side from the alley. Many pedestrians had left, but it remained noisy and crowded.

Su Hansheng sneaked glances at Chongjue beside him, mentally calculating how to probe whether this person had memories.

If Chongjue truly had previous life memories, would he treat him so calmly and composed, as if nothing had happened?

Su Hansheng’s thoughts jumped erratically, changing constantly, then he began to think he was overthinking.

He walked somewhat distractedly, his eyes constantly on Chongjue’s face.

Normally, Chongjue would have turned to look at him, but this time for some reason Chongjue seemed deliberately avoiding his gaze—his expression remained serene as he looked straight ahead walking through the crowd, seemingly not noticing Su Hansheng’s attention at all.

Su Hansheng began to let his imagination run wild again.

The evil one had committed countless murders in Infinite Hell—it didn’t seem to affect the virtuous one World-Honored One. Perhaps to him, lust and killing were the same, just different forms of depravity.

Su Hansheng was lost in speculation when his gaze inadvertently caught Chongjue’s Adam’s apple moving up and down. Uncontrollably, his mind conjured the image of him sitting in the tall man’s embrace, face covered in tears as he bit his neck to vent his anger.

Su Hansheng: “…”

Heat surged up his back. Su Hansheng guiltily withdrew his gaze, fanning his burning face with his paw, nearly shocking himself with his own “lecherousness” again.

Chongjue finally couldn’t continue pretending to be blind. He turned to look at him, his eyes confused.

Su Hansheng was about to make a panicked excuse when he caught sight of Yuan Qian and Wu Baili in his peripheral vision, each carrying a cup of cold tea as they strolled over.

Su Hansheng choked.

Yuan Qian, holding one tea in each hand, let his gaze drift before it suddenly fell on Su Hansheng and Chongjue. He stepped forward and bowed as if by chance: “Greetings, World-Honored One, Young Lord. What a coincidence—you’re browsing the market too.”

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The Young Lord’s inclination was toward men, yet he’d actually developed feelings for the World-Honored One!

How foolish!

Falling in love with a Buddhist cultivator was destined to be a one-sided, unresolved affection.

Seeing Yuan Qian desperately signaling with his eyes, Chongjue knew his presence was only making the three nervous and fearful. He said warmly to Su Hansheng: “I have other matters. I’ll come fetch you in two hours.”

The moment Su Hansheng heard him speak, his mind uncontrollably conjured those vulgar words from his past life. He immediately nodded firmly, wanting him to leave.

Chongjue nodded lightly and transformed into mist, departing.

With the oppressive presence of the World-Honored One gone, Yuan Qian and Wu Baili immediately flanked Su Hansheng and dragged him toward a nearby alley.

Su Hansheng, being short, was lifted with his feet dangling. He kicked futilely: “Put me down! I’m going to get angry!”

The three stumbled into the alley, and only then did Su Hansheng touch ground. He glared fiercely at both of them.

Yuan Qian said with heartfelt concern: “Young Lord, why must you develop feelings for a Buddhist cultivator?! And that person is your superior, your father’s dear friend!”

Su Hansheng, adjusting his clothes, frowned: “What are you babbling about? What inclination?”

“Broken sleeve!” Yuan Qian said despairingly.

Su Hansheng froze, only then belatedly understanding Yuan Qian’s earlier words. He felt amused and exasperated: “What do you mean I developed broken sleeve feelings for a Buddhist? The World-Honored One and I are perfectly proper!”

Wu Baili gave a cold laugh: “Hmph.”

One word said more than a thousand.

Su Hansheng grew anxious: “Did you see us just now… cough, the embrace? That was just a junior expressing gratitude to an elder! Yes, gratitude. Didn’t you see he even gave me another set of superior prayer beads?!”

Yuan Qian rubbed his aching brow and asked helplessly: “Then why did you just glance at the World-Honored One and your face turned red?”

Su Hansheng choked: “I… I!”

Yuan Qian pressed relentlessly: “If you hadn’t harbored feelings for the World-Honored One, how could a single glance make you lose control, with blush spreading to your ears? This is a girl experiencing her first love!”

Su Hansheng: “…”

Su Hansheng grew agitated and shouted: “I didn’t lose control! I was just…”

“Just what?”

Su Hansheng wished he could bash his head against a wall.

He certainly couldn’t say he’d harbored lustful thoughts.

Su Hansheng hugged his head and lightly bumped against the wall, whimpering without speaking.

Seeing this, Yuan Qian, urgent and worried, said: “Young Lord, Xiaoxiao, Hansheng—if you harbored feelings for anyone else, even an ordinary Buddhist cultivator, there’s at least the possibility he could renounce Buddhism and change his path for you. But you like the World-Honored One of Mount Sumeru. Never mind the status—just consider the generational gap. Have you thought about what happens if this is exposed? The spittle of the three realms could drown you.”

Su Hansheng had originally thought he harbored no real feelings, but hearing Yuan Qian’s words, he didn’t like it. He turned away unhappily.

“We have no blood relation. Even if we became dual cultivators, no one has the right to criticize. What’s it to them? They dare spit at me?”

“How old are you?” Yuan Qian said patiently. “You haven’t even come of age, yet the World-Honored One has cultivated Buddhism for thousands of years. Even in the worst case where you truly became dual cultivators, to outsiders it would appear the World-Honored One, exploiting his superior status, unscrupulously seduced you—a half-grown child.”

…And the son of his late friend.

Su Hansheng, carefree and thoughtless, hearing “the World-Honored One exploiting his status to unscrupulously seduce,” couldn’t help but let out a giggle.

Yuan Qian: “…”

Wu Baili rubbed his temples and said quietly: “Su Xiaoxiao.”

Su Hansheng, somewhat intimidated by Wu Baili’s cold expression, immediately stopped laughing and spoke softly: “It’s not even at the first stroke yet. Why are you making it sound so serious?”

Wu Baili asked: “You’re not thinking of drawing that first stroke?”

Su Hansheng quickly shook his head: “No, no, no. I… I really have no other intentions. You’re just overthinking.”

Wu Baili: “Really?”

Su Hansheng hesitantly nodded.

Yuan Qian and Wu Baili exchanged glances.

Well, this foolish kid didn’t even understand himself. No matter how much they said, he probably wouldn’t listen.

Yuan Qian drained his cold tea to cool himself down, saying helplessly: “Fine, as long as you understand. We won’t say more.”

“Cough.”

Su Hansheng felt heart-guilty himself, but he couldn’t tell if he’d actually been caught harboring feelings or if he was being evasive about his own filthy lust. He could only cough a few times to quickly move past the subject.

“Have you two finished browsing? Is there anything you want to buy? I happen to have plenty of spiritual stones.”

Su Hansheng knew the two meant well with all their sincere advice, but he didn’t know how to reciprocate such kindness. So he resorted to shallow gestures, showering them with spiritual stones.

“We’ve bought enough. We were heading back to the academy anyway,” Yuan Qian yawned. “We’ll sit here with you awhile and wait for the World-Honored One to fetch you.”

Su Hansheng quickly protested: “No need. You should go ahead.”

Wu Baili couldn’t help but roll his eyes: “The market’s filled with riff-raff. You look like you have more money than sense. What if someone drags you into an alley, beats you up, and robs you? You can’t even fight back.”

Su Hansheng: “…”

He wasn’t such a waste.

“Really no need. Besides, at Yingxu Sect’s bazaar, how could anyone rob people in broad daylight…”

Just as the words left his mouth, he spotted two female cultivators with remarkably similar faces and features slowly approaching from the stone steps deep in the alley leading to the gathering place. Both held rabbit lanterns, and the faint clinking of chains could be heard as they walked.

Before they’d even reached the riverside, a man in black robes silently appeared and said solemnly to one of them: “Hand over all your valuables, or your life is forfeit!”

Su Hansheng: “…”

There really was a robber?

Yuan Qian and Wu Baili quickly peered over, exclaiming in surprise: “That’s Senior Sister Gong Fuqu… huh? Who’s that person beside her? Her sister? They look so alike.”

Su Hansheng’s heart skipped. He hurried forward and saw Gong Fuqu below speaking softly and feigning weakness to the tall “robber.”

“Spare me, fellow cultivator. I’ll give you all these spiritual stones.”

The man roughly slapped Gong Fuqu’s hand away, saying coldly: “What use are these broken spiritual stones? Hand over that spirit jade you just purchased.”

Gong Fuqu froze, tears forming as she whimpered: “But sister gave this to me.”

Hearing the word “sister,” Gong Handan, who’d remained expressionless the entire time, felt her hand hidden in her sleeve twitch slightly. A flicker of struggle crossed her eyes.

But still, she didn’t move.

Gong Fuqu’s performance was extremely exaggerated, fake crying with tears flowing.

Su Hansheng watched from the side with fascination, thinking that fortunately Gong Handan had met so few people since childhood that she didn’t know the wickedness of human hearts. Otherwise, any normal person would see through Gong Fuqu’s disguise at a glance.

Just as Su Hansheng was thinking this, Yuan Qian roared in fury: “How despicable! To actually rob in broad daylight, and a Wendao Academy student at that! Outrageous!”

Su Hansheng: “?”

Su Hansheng was startled, thinking Yuan Qian would rush forward to play hero. With his small frame, one punch from Ying Jianhua would break his snake tail clean off.

He was about to stop him, but after waiting a moment and seeing no movement, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Wu Baili watched Gong Fuqu, seeming to perceive something but saying nothing. He turned to see Yuan Qian tapping his disciple token.

“What are you doing?”

Yuan Qian turned around, waving his disciple token as he said gravely: “I’ve already posted about this on the communication mirror. Dozens of Wendao Academy students came to Yingxu Sect’s bazaar tonight—I’m calling them to come help. They’ll arrive momentarily.”

Su Hansheng: “???”

Just as he finished speaking, urgent footsteps suddenly echoed through the narrow alley. Dozens of people wearing Wendao Academy disciple robes swarmed in, each radiating murderous intent and aggression, shouting loudly:

“Who dares bully our Wendao Academy’s Sword Cultivator’s Light?!”

“Sister Fuqu, don’t be afraid! We’ve come to save you!”

Su Hansheng: “…”

Gong Fuqu: “…”

**