Chapter 41
It’s really strange.
Could it be a bewitching method of the Spirit Charm Clan, intentionally using fragrance to seduce people?
Thinking of this, Haowei furrowed his brow and his gaze carried a hint of warning. “Don’t attempt to use sorcery on me.”
With these words, Haowei withdrew his hand and distanced himself from Si Lan, though the fragrance lingering in the cave still permeated his breath.
Si Lan looked at him puzzled, not understanding why he suddenly got angry. He reached out to touch him, but Haowei recoiled as if avoiding a venomous snake, stepping back from Si Lan.
Although Si Lan was unfamiliar with worldly matters, he vaguely understood at this moment that Haowei disliked himself. Si Lan slowly withdrew his hand and moved a few steps back, curling up in a corner alone like a sulking child.
Seeing him like this, Haowei suddenly felt a twinge of regret.
Did he speak too harshly just now?
Could that fragrance be his natural scent rather than sorcery?
In fact, when Si Lan nestled in his arms last night, he faintly smelled that fragrance too, but it wasn’t as strong as today.
The more Haowei thought about it, the more regretful he felt. Unsure of what to do, he noticed Si Lan in the corner seeming unsettled, body trembling slightly.
He walked over to Si Lan, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
Si Lan’s eyes suddenly widened, unfocused, almost as if having a seizure, his body contorting.
Haowei quickly crouched down and saw Si Lan’s body becoming transparent, reminiscent of their first meeting, faintly visible as if about to vanish.
Grabbing onto Haowei’s sleeve tightly, Si Lan seemed in great discomfort, his features contorted with pain, eyes reddened, tears falling onto Haowei’s chest.
Haowei’s heart tightened at once, watching the figure in his arms gradually fading away, unable to help but hold him tighter. “What’s wrong with you? Are you in pain somewhere?”
At this moment, Si Lan whimpered softly, as weak as a mosquito, yet it tore at Haowei’s heartstrings.
Fortunately, after a moment, Si Lan’s almost fading figure gradually became clear again, his body calming down from severe convulsions.
His breathing also steadied, his two black eyes seemingly veiled with moisture, wet, delicate sweat seeping from his small and exquisite nose, as if he had just bathed.
Haowei didn’t know what was happening to him, but sensing that his condition was stabilizing, he frowned and asked, “Are you… feeling better?”
Si Lan didn’t speak, his long eyelashes fluttered lightly, having just heard a strange voice in his head, someone kept saying “soul come, soul come,” causing him great pain. He buried his head in Haowei’s arms, one hand gripping Haowei’s arm, closing his eyes, as if snuggling closer to Haowei could bring him comfort.
Because of the earlier convulsions, the grass covering his shame had been thrown aside, leaving him completely exposed.
Haowei was only wearing a pair of underpants himself. As the two pressed together, he keenly felt the warmth from Si Lan’s body seeping into his bloodstream.
Haowei’s blood seemed to ignite like a hot fire, burning his whole body red-hot.
He wanted to push him away, but seeing how clingy he was, he endured it. He stiffened his neck, staring straight ahead, forcing himself not to look or think too much.
Only when the breathing in his arms gradually calmed down did he slightly lower his head and glance at Si Lan.
Si Lan’s tension eased, his black hair falling behind him, a few strands mixed with rain or sweat, sticking to his body, contrasting sharply with his fair skin.
Haowei’s throat bobbed involuntarily, thinking this little spirit was truly naive.
Does he really believe in him like this?
Sleeping naked in his arms so directly…
Isn’t he afraid he might be a bad person?
Haowei gently released him, covered him with the grass again, then went to the cave entrance to catch a wild chicken and two sparrows, quickly draining their blood and gutting them before roasting them over a fire.
Si Lan was awakened by a wave of fragrance, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up from the ground. His gaze fell on the fire, gradually focusing on the wild chicken being roasted over it, his face suddenly turning pale.
He shrunk his shoulders and moved a bit away from the fire.
The heavy rain outside had stopped. When Haowei returned, he saw Si Lan staring fixedly at the roasting chicken. Remembering Si Lan’s reaction to the chicken yesterday, he said, “If you don’t like roasted chicken, how about trying roasted sparrows?” These two small sparrows were specially roasted for him.
However, Si Lan was even more frightened by these words, clutching the grass and retreating all the way to the corner.
He mistook those sparrows for baby chickens.
This person is really hateful.
Killing the chicken mother and roasting the baby chickens together.
Haowei hadn’t expected him to be averse to sparrows as well, hesitated for a moment, then turned and walked out.
Confused, Si Lan watched Haowei leave. After waiting for a while with no sign of his return, he began to feel that Haowei didn’t want him anymore, feeling instantly sad.
Remembering his modesty, he put on a loose shirt, slowly walked out, and stood at the cave entrance, looking around.
He didn’t know where to find Haowei. Just as he hesitated, a low growl suddenly came from beside him.
In the next moment, a fierce beast with earthy yellow fur and black stripes lunged at him from the forest.
Terrified, he quickly retreated into the cave, and the beast followed, growling lowly, as if intimidating its prey, slowly approaching him.
Stepping into a depression, he accidentally fell to the ground. The beast immediately pounced towards him.
He rolled over in panic, evading the beast’s pounce, but the tiger swiftly adjusted its body and charged at him again. Just as it was about to harm him, Haowei’s tense voice came from behind.
“Little spirit!”
The tiger beast turned its head towards Haowei upon hearing the voice.
Haowei picked up a piece of wood from the ground, engaging the tiger while gesturing towards the torch, indicating for Si Lan to use it to fend off the beast.
Although Si Lan was bewildered, he surprisingly grasped Haowei’s meaning at this moment and quietly approached the torch.
Sensing Si Lan’s intention, the tiger roared angrily and lunged towards Si Lan.
Before Si Lan could reach the torch, the tiger bit him.
Seeing this, Haowei had no time to think, rushing forward and striking the tiger’s head with the wooden stick.
However, the tiger seemed impervious to pain, tightly clamping down on Si Lan’s arm.
Haowei had to grab the torch and thrust it towards the tiger’s eyes. Only then did it sense fear, roaring in reluctance as it reluctantly released its grip.
Haowei advanced on it step by step, intent on capturing this fierce beast and selling it for a good price in town.
The tiger retreated under his pressure, its eyes evasive, glancing around as if seeking an opportunity to escape, but Haowei had no intention of letting it go.
Capturing this tiger could fetch quite a sum in town.
Glancing towards the cave entrance, Haowei spotted a depression. As expected, when the tiger retreated there, its footing became unsteady, stumbling and falling askew.
In the next instant, Haowei rushed over, lifting the torch and smashing it fiercely at the tiger. The beast’s head cracked open, blood flowing, and its fur singed from the fire.
Just as Haowei was about to deliver a final blow to the tiger’s head, Si Lan suddenly cried out from inside the cave.
He immediately abandoned the idea of hunting the tiger, turning back to check on Si Lan.
Si Lan was pulling at his sleeve, which was already soaked with blood. Some of the fabric had been bitten into by the tiger’s teeth, embedded in his flesh.
Si Lan couldn’t pull his clothes off, his face pale with pain, tears welling up in his eyes, looking pitiful and helpless.
“Don’t move, I’ll help you.”
Hearing Haowei’s voice from the cave entrance and estimating that the tiger had fled, he put down the torch and reached out to help Si Lan remove his clothes.
Si Lan’s entire right arm was soaked with blood, several puncture wounds oozing blood continuously.
Haowei watched this tragic sight, his heart wrenching as if those puncture wounds were on his own arm, feeling the pain.
Trembling slightly, he wiped away the blood stains from Si Lan, eyes tinged with crimson. “You’re supposed to be a spirit, but you can’t even handle a tiger.”
Si Lan looked quite aggrieved, his delicate brows furrowed, eyes fixed on the four puncture wounds on his elbow.
That tiger was so big and charged right at him, how could he fight it!
Haowei was about to carry him down the mountain to see a physician when he suddenly noticed the puncture wounds on Si Lan’s arm spontaneously stopping bleeding, gradually healing until there was no trace left.
His arm’s skin was fair and clean, without a single scar.
It was as if those four puncture wounds had never existed!
If Haowei hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed what was happening before him. He looked at Si Lan in astonishment.
Si Lan, however, seemed unfazed by the unusual occurrence, touching his arm and then carefully tucking it into his chest.
The four bloody puncture wounds hurt so much.
Haowei hadn’t expected this spirit to have such abilities.
While he might be naive, his body was indeed extraordinary.
“Does it still hurt?” Haowei asked.
Si Lan tilted his head, as if understanding Haowei’s words.
Haowei shook his head, feeling a mix of emotions. He reached into his arms and handed Si Lan some wild berries. “If you don’t want to eat roasted chicken or sparrows, try these wild berries.”
He had gone out just now to pick these berries for Si Lan.
Si Lan took the wild berries. They were dark and didn’t look very appetizing. He tentatively took a bite, smacking his lips as he tasted.
Fortunately, they were sweet and juicy.
Seeing Si Lan smacking his lips, Haowei couldn’t help but smile.
Truly a silly little spirit.
He reached out and rubbed Si Lan’s head. At that moment, Si Lan looked up at him with wet eyes, causing Haowei to pause, slowly withdrawing his hand.
After the house collapsed in the strong wind, it would take some time to repair, so Haowei decided to stay with Si Lan temporarily in a cave.
During this period, Chong Mingwei’s men found Haowei.
When Chong Mingwei was killed at the palace banquet, his three vice-generals were all dismissed. Over the years, these three vice-generals had ostensibly withdrawn from court politics but secretly strategized, intending to avenge Chong Mingwei.
They had kept in touch with Haowei, hoping that during the Yu Dynasty’s campaign against the Li Dynasty, Haowei could join the army, build military achievements, establish his prestige in the military, cultivate his own subordinates, and eventually clear Chong’s name.
Haowei knew that gaining power required military achievements. Now, he faced a problem: how to handle the imp he had picked up. He couldn’t possibly take the imp with him into the army.
Meanwhile, he noticed something strange in the village recently—a sorcerer in gray robes who constantly wandered around with a bell.
He paid two wild chickens to have the sorcerer help locate where the imp’s home was nearby.
Finding the imp’s home would allow him to return it.
Unexpectedly, after examining the area, the sorcerer told Haowei that this mountain used to be teeming with mountain spirits and demons, but they had all vanished three years ago, likely scared off by some ominous presence. Haowei remembered that three years ago was exactly when he arrived in the village.
“…”
So, this imp wasn’t some kind of monster, and thus wasn’t scared away?
Then what was it?
Haowei had no choice but to give the sorcerer two more wild chickens to check on Si Lan. However, the unreliable sorcerer took the chickens and promised to return in the evening but disappeared.
Later, Haowei heard from the village laborers that Lanlan had driven the sorcerer out of the village. Lanlan had spent a lot of silver to have the sorcerer summon spirits, but instead of achieving anything, he had just swindled her, nearly emptying Lanlan’s household.
“That Laner, I wonder if she’s gone mad, rejecting Wang Xiaozhi and insisting on a pretty boy.”
“Have you seen this pretty boy?”
“Never seen him, but he must look good, or else Lanlan wouldn’t have refused Wang Xiaozhi’s proposal.”
…
Haowei wasn’t interested in village gossip and didn’t continue listening. He bought some items at the market and also brought a jug of peach blossom wine.
During this time, he and Si Lan had been living in the cave. When the weather was good, the cave temperature was comfortable, but when it turned bad, the cave became bitterly cold.
Drinking some wine helped ward off the chill.
Si Lan seemed frightened since the incident with the tiger, and when Haowei wasn’t around, Si Lan didn’t dare to venture out.
When he returned, he saw Si Lan wearing a large hemp robe, sitting cross-legged on the ground, carving wood with a small knife.
He placed the wild fruits and peach blossom wine on a rock, approached Si Lan, and noticed that Si Lan had carved out a piece of wood into a flute.
He couldn’t help but marvel at Si Lan. Si Lan didn’t understand anything, so how could he carve a flute? Had he seen one before?
“Xiaoqi.” Haowei had picked Si Lan up on the seventh day, so he called him Xiaoqi. “Do you remember anything?”
Si Lan handed the wooden flute to Haowei. Seeing that Si Lan didn’t react to his words, Haowei wasn’t angry.
During this time, he had already gotten used to Si Lan’s simplicity. Looking at the wooden flute, he fell silent and said, “Are you giving this to me?”
Si Lan was like a child lost in his own world, distracted by other things. He turned around curiously to look at the peach blossom wine, missing Haowei’s reddening eyes.
This was the first time in seventeen years of his life that someone cared about him.
After arriving in this strange village, although no one knew his past, he still didn’t dare to interact too much with others.
Once, the matchmaker in the village saw that he looked good and came to propose marriage, but he just drove her away with a cold face. The matchmaker was offended and spread rumors in the village that he was eccentric and difficult to deal with, causing people in the village to avoid him.
But this suited him just fine.
And Si Lan was the only one who stayed with him and wasn’t affected by misfortune.
Perhaps because Si Lan wasn’t human.
Haowei picked up the flute and put it to his lips, tentatively blowing into it. He didn’t expect the flute to actually produce sound.
He then played a tune called “Thoughts of Birds.”
After finishing, he noticed that Si Lan, who had been distracted by other things, was now staring at him intently with his chin in his hands.
Si Lan even waved his hand, as if to indicate that he played it beautifully.
Haowei smiled and picked up the small knife from the ground. “I’ll give you something too.”
He glanced at Si Lan and then lowered his head, concentrating on carving.
Si Lan leaned closer to him, his eyes fixed, with a blank expression.
Soon, he carved a wooden puppet that resembled Si Lan. He placed it next to Si Lan’s face and gestured. The puppet looked like Si Lan, but not as handsome as the real person.
He handed the puppet to Si Lan, who joyfully caressed it and carefully tucked it into his pocket.
Seeing Si Lan cherish it so much, Haowei’s heart stirred slightly, and he lifted his eyes to look at Si Lan.
Si Lan happened to be looking at him too, and when their eyes met, it felt like threads of silk tightly binding them together—one thread burning hot, the other thread oblivious.
Suddenly, Haowei said, “If we meet again in the next life, I want to be the silent one, letting you pamper me every day.”
But he didn’t know if there would be a next life for him.
Born under an unlucky star, he was fated to harm his father, mother, and everyone around him. Even when he came to live in these mountains, the monsters here were scared away. So would someone like him have another life?
Even if there were a next life, this imp probably wouldn’t recognize him.
Unlike Haowei, burdened with sorrow and regrets, Si Lan’s essence of spirit didn’t seem to carry such weight.
He liked the scent of peach blossom wine, leaning over the wine jug to sniff it, gently extending his tongue to lick along the edge of the jug like a greedy little pig.
Haowei hadn’t expected Si Lan to love drinking so much. Most other children would cry from the spiciness of alcohol the first time they tasted it.
So, half jokingly and half seriously, Haowei said, “Since you love this peach blossom wine so much, why don’t we use wine to recognize each other in the next life?”
Upon hearing this, Si Lan suddenly turned around, his black eyes blinking, as if responding to Haowei’s words.
Unable to resist, Haowei reached out and ruffled Si Lan’s head.
His hair was surprisingly soft and smooth, nothing like what one would expect from a monster’s fur.
—
As the days drew closer to joining the army, Haowei still didn’t know how to settle Si Lan, but fortunately, Si Lan was a monster and monsters weren’t so easily killed.
Moreover, Si Lan could recover quickly from injuries, so as long as Haowei taught him the basics of survival, Si Lan could manage to live among humans.
The mountain they lived on faced south on one side and north on the other, with vastly different temperatures above and below. Therefore, wild fruits and grasses grew there throughout the year.
Haowei took Si Lan’s hand and led him up the mountain, demonstrating which wild fruits were edible and which were not. Later, fearing Si Lan might forget, Haowei simply cut down all the poisonous fruit trees and replaced them with edible ones.
He also taught Si Lan how to hunt, though Si Lan seemed uninterested in eating meat and instead got along well with mountain chickens and sparrows. Haowei didn’t force Si Lan to eat meat either.
He also instructed Si Lan to avoid the villagers. Even though Si Lan looks like an ordinary person, the more he interacts with the villagers, the easier it is for his abnormality to be discovered.
After gesturing a few times, Si Lan vaguely understood his meaning. From then on, not only did Si Lan avoid the villagers, but even the birds, beasts, and insects on the mountain also avoided him.
Haowei was astonished by his single-mindedness, “This world ultimately isn’t where you should stay. You should quickly remember how to return.”
Si Lan felt confused, thinking Haowei no longer wanted him.
During this period, Haowei always made him pick wild fruits and collect dew by himself. If he didn’t do well, Haowei would furrow his brow, looking serious.
Si Lan felt a bit sad and somewhat angry, thinking Haowei was rejecting him. So he shrugged off Haowei’s sleeve and walked into the cave.
Haowei noticed his sulking and reluctantly followed to explain.
“I will be joining the army in half a month. I can’t take you with me. By then, you’ll have to rely on yourself to survive here on earth.”
Whether it was from staying in the mortal realm for too long, Haowei felt that although Si Lan still couldn’t speak, he could understand and respond promptly to what was said to him.
Si Lan didn’t know what he saw in the cave, and suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Haowei thought he saw another wild animal and quickly pulled Si Lan behind him, only to find an old man with white beard leaning on a cane in front of them in the cave.
The old man wore a gray robe, his hair snow-white, tied simply with a headband behind his head. He couldn’t stop coughing, moving his shaky body slowly, and raised his head to look at the two of them.
Upon seeing Haowei’s face, the old man froze for a moment. “Ahem… Your Majesty.”
Haowei didn’t catch the “Your Majesty” clearly, just considering him as someone like them, living outside with difficulty.
Haowei asked, “Sir, are you here in the cave to seek refuge?”
The Old Man of the Tai Xu, slightly stunned, pointed to the mountain path. “This is Mount Tai Xu.” It was named in the mortal realm in his honor, dedicated to him.
Every thousand years, he would come here to rest.
The cave where Haowei and Si Lan lived was dug out by him twenty thousand years ago.
Haowei frowned, not understanding his meaning. Why did this old man suddenly mention “Mount Tai Xu”?
What’s wrong with Mount Tai Xu?
Although the Old Man of Tai Xu had dim eyes, he also sensed that something was wrong at this moment. The person in front of him looked exactly like Haowei, but he was a mortal.
The Old Man of Tai Xu stepped forward, approached Haowei, bent his back, and looked up at Haowei with difficulty.
Still the true Majesty Haowei.
Just, he had descended into the mortal realm and turned into a mortal.
In the Nine Heavens, Haowei’s descent into the mortal realm must be a big event, which would certainly be announced to the hundreds of immortals. Why didn’t it this
T/N: Hey there! There is plenty more where that came from, so stay tuned! And stay healthy! Straighten your posture, so some stretches and drink some water before continuing hehe~
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Also, check out the other series we have on HoH!
If you like cats, check out Revenge of the Garfield
If you like dragons, check out I’m Pregnant with the Hope of the Entire Planet and The Dragon and the ‘Princess’
How about some mystery or showbiz? Check out Morbid Addiction & Perfection
What about the perfect, most non-toxic male lead ever? Laws of Love
How about MC nursing ML back to health? Forced into the Deep
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