BB | Chapter 38

Brother, I Smell So Good

The road back to the sect was even slower than Shen Canglan had calculated.

Mostly because children walked so slowly. Shen Canglan had already trudged far ahead with his head down before the children had even managed to move a few steps.

Shen Canglan tried to encourage them: “The sect is full of spiritual energy, so you can sit in meditation and cultivate every day there. And the food made by the shishu is terribly awful, which is perfect for training your resolve.”

The children only slowed down even more.

In the end, it was Shen Guanqi who finally coaxed them back into energy by saying, “The elders in the sect are all beautiful, many of the shixiong and shijie are single, and the library has many rare books you can’t see outside.”

Shen Canglan pinched the jade pendant and sent his brother a message: “Chen-ge, the plan has changed. It’ll take me at least ten days to reach the sect.”

Li Yaochen replied, “It’s fine.”

Shen Canglan chatted with him casually. “Did you find the place that the squirrel mentioned?”

Li Yaochen: “No.”

Then he added, “But I don’t plan to look for it for now.”

That gave Shen Canglan a start. He asked, “Why? Are you hurt?”

Li Yaochen said, “Brother is perfectly well. I just plan to go into secluded cultivation for a few days.”

Secluded cultivation?

Shen Canglan asked, “Why the sudden seclusion?”

–

For cultivators, secluded cultivation could mean many things.

Some were badly injured and needed to regulate their breath.

Some could not break through for a long time and went into seclusion to force the barrier.

And some were like Li Yaochen now.

Cultivating the Dao heart.

On the Great Dao, circumstances were tangled and complex.

One would always encounter grudges, estrangement from loved ones, and the like. If the Dao heart was not steady, it was easy to stray from the right path.

Li Yaochen’s pursuit of the Great Dao had never changed.

This time, he went into secluded cultivation because of Shen Canglan.

Although he had never had a true friend besides Shen Canglan, he still had his own understanding of the word “brother.”

On top of that, he was more than a hundred years older than Shen Canglan. In daily life, he ought to take care of Shen Canglan more, just like a real elder brother would.

Yet deep down, he still could not truly come to like what Shen Canglan liked.

At the very least, he was unwilling to see, on Shen Canglan’s waist token, the record image of some shixiong in an intimate pose.

Though it was only a tiny trace of confusion, it was like a loose thread on a sleeve, impossible to ignore. Li Yaochen wandered around nearby for two days and nearly muddled himself completely, so he simply decided to go into secluded cultivation.

It was just that when cultivators secluded themselves, their five senses were temporarily dulled, and if danger came, it was hard to react in time.

Although Li Yaochen believed there was nothing in this world that could hurt him, he still did not dare be careless.

He had a magical treasure that could split open the void. In the past, whenever he secluded himself, he would simply cut through the void and hide inside. But the void was full of flying debris, with spiritual energy that was chaotic and ferocious. With his current cultivation, going in would be no different from courting death.

So he found a cave, blocked the entrance with dead branches, and covered himself with a layer of fallen leaves.

[Like a fisherman, hahaha.]

His appearance was rather strange. The System found it immensely amusing and even gave him a terrible idea: [Host, why don’t you take a record image of yourself like this and show it to your bestie?]

Li Yaochen snorted. “I won’t.”

As he spoke, he placed the jade pendant used to contact Shen Canglan in front of him, slowly exhaled, and closed his eyes.

–

After a long journey, Shen Canglan finally delivered the dozen or so boys and girls to the sect intact.

Qin Chun was very excited when he saw him. “Li daoist friend didn’t come back with you this time?”

“No.” Shen Canglan looked very mature as he said, “Chen-ge and I are both grown men, and we each have our own things to do. Naturally, we can’t be tied together all the time.”

Qin Chun asked, “Tied together?”

Shen Canglan: “? What?”

He felt that Qin Chun’s words seemed to carry some hidden meaning.

Qin Chun, however, looked away and said, “Nothing.”

They had not seen each other for a long time, so Qin Chun pulled Shen Canglan over and asked about everything that had happened during this period.

But it was already very late, so Shen Canglan did not go into too much detail. Qin Chun listened with great interest and said, “It’s better when you, Canglan, tell it yourself. When I ask Shen-shixiong, he always embellishes things.”

Shen Canglan smiled broadly. “Haha, my brother spends his days facing animal friends and doesn’t really talk much with people. If you ever want to ask anything in the future, just come to me directly.”

Qin Chun nodded and smiled happily.

The next day, Shen Canglan went to Ye Xuezhu’s place.

His shifu’s romance had failed once again. He looked listless, curled up in a chair with little interest as he read.

Shen Canglan glanced curiously at the cover and was very surprised. “Shifu, are you going to cultivate the Emotionless Dao?”

Had his shifu finally decided to seal his heart and lock away love?!

Ye Xuezhu lifted his eyelids to look at him. “I heard that those who cultivate the Emotionless Dao all end up finding someone for a twisted romance. Your shifu wants to try it too.”

Shen Canglan: “…”

Shifu, why bother?

He was just about to try and persuade him when Ye Xuezhu said, “Right, there is something I need you to make a trip for.”

Shen Canglan immediately straightened his chest with a strong sense of responsibility. “What is it?”

Ye Xuezhu asked, “Do you still remember the fourth elder? Do you know his background?”

A handsome face floated through Shen Canglan’s mind.

He had also heard a little about this fourth elder’s background. It seemed that he had once been the true prince of a small kingdom, switched at birth by a cat for a prince; a few years ago, he had been found and brought back. At the time, the matter had caused quite a stir, and everyone in the sect except him had been guessing whether the true and false princes would end up together.

He said, “I remember. What happened to the fourth elder?”

Ye Xuezhu said, “Now the story has twisted again. After all that, it turns out the emperor was fake too. The fake emperor gave birth to the fourth one, the true emperor gave birth to the fake prince, but the fake emperor has sat on the throne for more than a dozen years and done real work, so everyone has come to think the fake one is the real one…”

What with real and fake, fake and real.

Shen Canglan’s head was spinning.

After Ye Xuezhu gossiped with him for quite a while, Shen Canglan finally understood what he was supposed to do. “So we, as the family on the bride’s side, need to go over there and help the fourth elder stand tall.”

But supporting someone and arguing were both things he was clearly not good at.

If it was about being eloquent, there were plenty of people in the sect who were far better than him. And as for build, there were also many shixiong who stood a full head taller than he did.

Ye Xuezhu seemed to know what Shen Canglan was thinking.

He tapped his own temple with his right index finger. “The ruthless fear the awkward. Your blunt little brain is perfect for it.”

Shen Canglan: “…”

When people fought, they could be very shameless and throw sand.

So Ye Xuezhu was treating him like a handful of sand.

Shen Canglan felt stuffy and frustrated, but since it was a sect task and concerned the fourth elder’s honor and dignity, he could only nod in extreme reluctance.

The only bad thing was that he would not be able to go and play with Li Yaochen.

Sigh, career. Sigh, friendship.

Sigh, being a mature man was really not easy.

However, things were a little different from what Shen Canglan had imagined. Besides him, there were many others traveling together. At the very least, all of the fourth elder’s disciples had come, making for a grand procession of nearly thirty people.

But Shen Canglan was not very familiar with any of them, and most of them paired off in twos, talking with their lips almost touching. Shen Canglan did not want to join the excitement, so he trudged along during the day and cultivated at night.

But the place where the fourth elder lived was far to the north, and the scenery along the way was all new to Shen Canglan. Occasionally, it would even snow. Shen Canglan used the jade pendant to record all of it and send it to Li Yaochen.

Although Li Yaochen was in secluded cultivation, he would occasionally reply to his messages. Whenever Shen Canglan saw that palm-sized jade pendant begin to flicker, he would miss his brother very much.

After nearly half a month on the road, the group finally reached the fourth elder’s residence.

It was everyone’s first time in the imperial palace, and though it was only a small country, they were still very excited. Before Shen Canglan had even reached the imperial palace, he had already sent Li Yaochen many record images and asked him, “Chen-ge, have you been to the imperial palace?”

“Twice,” Li Yaochen replied just then. “There are too many people and too much gossip, but it has its merits.”

Li Yaochen added, “The imperial palace has the richest spiritual energy. It’s very suitable for cultivation. How has your cultivation been lately?”

It would have been fine if Li Yaochen had not asked, but once he did, Shen Canglan only felt aggrieved.

He was already at the late Body Tempering stage, and every time he inwardly examined his body, he could see a round, fuzzy shadow in his dantian.

Shen Canglan knew this was his not-yet-condensed golden core, and he could also feel that he was only one step away from a breakthrough. Yet no matter how he cultivated, he could not get any closer.

It was like a sneeze that never came out, unbearably frustrating.

Shen Canglan told Li Yaochen about it, but Li Yaochen only laughed. “Haha. There’s no need to rush.”

Shen Canglan said, “That’s true, but…”

Li Yaochen said, “That just means it’s almost here. Maybe you’ll condense your golden core tomorrow. I’m coming to find you.”

When Shen Canglan saw the last four words of Li Yaochen’s message, he somehow became happy. He jumped to his feet, following the instinct in his bones, and made a motion of leaping up, raising his hand, then pressing his wrist downward.

When he looked back, he saw the baffled eyes of the shijie.

Shen Canglan coughed twice and then walked away as if nothing had happened.

The group arrived at the imperial palace that afternoon.

The moment Shen Canglan stepped inside, he suddenly grew a little dazed.

Just as Li Yaochen had said, the imperial palace truly was overflowing with spiritual energy. He actually felt unable to withstand it. His whole body was swaying as though he had drunk too much, and he was hot all over. He could not even hear what anyone was saying to him clearly. It seemed that he changed into the clothes used to meet the emperor, then was taken somewhere, and it seemed he also met the fourth elder.

There should have been a shixiong who took him to rest in between, because when Shen Canglan opened his eyes again, he found himself in a very beautiful room. Everything in the room was glittering gold, and there were even extremely beautiful red plum blossoms placed by the window.

Shen Canglan remembered wanting to take a record image of the red plum blossoms for Li Yaochen to see, but for some reason, when he next became aware of himself, he was already sitting outside.

Dark clouds, thick and menacing, rolled in from afar, bringing a terrifying pressure. Shen Canglan’s dantian was absorbing spiritual energy like mad, and his whole body was radiating a pale golden light. In the dark night, he looked like a giant firefly.

Not far away, many people were watching him with worried faces.

Shen Canglan: “?”

How long had he been out of it? Why was he suddenly about to be struck by lightning as soon as he woke up??

He wasn’t ready yet!

Shen Canglan quickly slapped two protective items from his storage pouch onto himself, then raised his voice at the people watching him and shouted, “If you don’t want to get struck by lightning, then all of you back away!”

After struggling for a long time, he remembered Li Yaochen again.

He took off the jade pendant and left his brother a message: “Brother, you don’t need to come. I’ve already started my breakthrough.”

Who knew that just as the message went out, a voice would sound behind him. “But I’ve already come.”

Shen Canglan was startled and turned back to look.

What entered his eyes was Huangfu Lengshang.

Following Huangfu Lengshang, he looked up and saw his brother’s face, as handsome and fresh as one could imagine, to the point of defying both gods and men.

Only Li Yaochen was panting hard, so he must have rushed here at full speed.

Shen Canglan flashed him a grin.

Li Yaochen also smiled, but what he said was, “We’ll talk after the chit-chat. There are too many people here, so we need to find a place without anyone around first.”

He pulled Shen Canglan to his feet and summoned Huangfu Lengshang beneath them. “Hold on tight to me.”

Shen Canglan gave an “oh” and had just reached out to grab Li Yaochen’s shoulder when Huangfu Lengshang had already shot forward like a wild dog that had broken free of its leash.

Caught off guard, Shen Canglan instinctively wrapped both arms tightly around Li Yaochen’s waist, his eyes widening before he could stop himself.

Li Yaochen had once taken him flying on a sword before, but that time they had not moved very fast or very high. This time, however, Huangfu Lengshang was like a hunting falcon, swift as lightning, slicing through the night.

Was this the strength of a cultivator at the golden core stage?!

Shen Canglan was thrilled beyond measure and was just about to say something when, from extremely close behind them, came a thunderous, ear-splitting rumble.

Shen Canglan looked back and saw that the huge mass of thunder tribulation clouds was closely following behind him and Li Yaochen. Electric light writhed within the black clouds, and because they were so close, Shen Canglan even felt his hair fly up.

It would be a lie to say he was not afraid, but he was also excited.

Li Yaochen took out several more protective items and handed them to Shen Canglan. “When the time comes, just focus on your tribulation. I’ll guard you from the side.”

Shen Canglan nodded.

The thunderclouds moved extremely fast, gradually almost overtaking Li Yaochen’s speed. Fortunately, by then they had already reached the lonely wilderness. Li Yaochen called out in a low voice, “Land!” and Huangfu Lengshang descended swiftly to the ground.

Shen Canglan still remembered what Li Yaochen had looked like when he underwent his tribulation. He mimicked that same posture, sitting cross-legged properly. Before his stance had even fully stabilized, the first bolt of thunder tribulation came crashing straight down from the sky onto him.

Shen Canglan felt –

To be honest, he felt nothing at all.

His mind went blank for an instant, as though everything had vanished. He did not even know whether it hurt. He only knew that when he came back to himself, he could smell the scent of his own body.

He twisted his head with great difficulty to look at Li Yaochen. “Brother, I smell so good.”

Li Yaochen was just a zhang away from him. At those words, the corner of his mouth twitched strangely twice, as if he wanted to laugh.

He said, “Focus.”

No sooner had he spoken than the second heavenly tribulation struck.

The purple-gold lightning was as thick as Shen Canglan’s calf, but when it landed on him, it split into two streams, one large and one small. The smaller strand seemed to lose its way, darted wildly in midair for a few moments, then flew toward Li Yaochen.

Even though Li Yaochen had taken away part of the tribulation lightning, Shen Canglan still felt a searing pain.

He felt like Huangfu Lengshang back then in the furnace, being hammered and forged over and over. His body, his divine sense, everything was being remade.

Then came the third heavenly tribulation.

Shen Canglan remembered clearly that when Li Yaochen first crossed his tribulation, there had been six bolts of heavenly lightning in all.

He held on through the fourth bolt, and once he felt he was past the halfway mark, he finally relaxed a little.

He waited amid the scorched, fragrant smell for the fifth bolt of heavenly lightning to fall, but after a long time, there was still no movement in the sky.

Instead, he heard Li Yaochen say, “It worked!”

Shen Canglan looked up in surprise. Sure enough, the pitch-black mass of clouds was no longer threaded with crackling bolts of electricity, and was slowly dispersing.

Huh? Why?

But Shen Canglan’s mood lightened all at once.

What followed was a tremendous sense of exhaustion.

He swayed twice and pitched forward. Just as his forehead was about to hit the ground, Shen Canglan felt himself caught by someone.

“You’re safe now,” Li Yaochen said.

And so Shen Canglan, completely at ease, fainted in his brother’s arms.

–

Li Yaochen pulled a set of clothes from his storage pouch, wrapped Shen Canglan in them, then took a clean handkerchief and wiped the black soot from Shen Canglan’s face.

As he wiped, he suddenly smiled.

“I know now,” he said.

[?]The System did not understand. [What?]

“I’m not talking to you,” Li Yaochen said. “I’m talking to myself.”

[Huh?]

Li Yaochen did not answer again. Instead, he repeated the words he had just said to Shen Canglan: “You’re safe now.”

After Shen Canglan left, he had secluded himself for a full month, yet his thoughts remained a blur.

But just now, Li Yaochen’s mind had suddenly become crystal clear.

He had been trapped by his own assumptions, tormenting himself needlessly.

What he truly wanted was only for Shen Canglan to be well.

What counted as well?

Sleeping well, cultivating properly, having a healthy body, not running into too much danger in the secret realm, and getting good magic treasures.

That was well.

Li Yaochen laughed heartily. Though the heavenly tribulation had left some black soot on his face as well, his brows and eyes were easy and unburdened.

He carried Shen Canglan on his back, summoned Huangfu Lengshang again, and was just about to leave when something fell from Shen Canglan’s body.

It was Shen Canglan’s waist token.

After all, his clothes had been blasted into tatters, so it was only natural that the belt could no longer hold anything.

Li Yaochen bent down to pick up the waist token, and his eyes instinctively swept over the contents on it –

“Li Yaotu hooked Shen Canglv’s chin and covered his lips over his, using his tongue to pass him a mouthful of spiritual energy.”

“Shen Canglv felt much better. His injuries in this secret realm were far too severe. Luckily, Li Yaotu passed him qi every day, otherwise his wounds would have healed even more slowly.”

“Shen Canglv thanked him, and Li Yaotu smiled. ‘With the relationship we have, there’s no need to be so polite.'”

“Shen Canglv then asked, ‘What relationship do we have?'”

“Li Yaotu said, ‘All is understood without words.'”

Li Yaochen: “…………”

Th, this is? The story booklet Shen Canglan usually reads?

Li Yaochen’s gaze went over the words again and again. As if struck by lightning, the bright laugh on his face froze, and even his steps came to a halt.

He carefully recalled the past, and seemed to suddenly understand something.

So, actually, maybe, just maybe, there was such a possibility.

His brother had always been looking at him with that sort of gaze, but his brother himself didn’t know it?