After the Stand-in Hugged the White Moonlight's Thigh Tightly - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Senior Brother Combs My Hair

Song Chenxi picked up his sword, intending to chop the rat into pieces, but changed his mind. He chased the rat and saw the creature, slippery as an eel, dart into a small hole in the corner and disappear.

“Get down! The rat is gone,” Song Chenxi said to Ruan Mingyu, who was still clinging to him.

“Really? You’re not lying to me?” Ruan Mingyu stood up, still shaken.

As Song Chenxi moved, his foot stepping on a pebble created a sound. Ruan Mingyu, startled, immediately hid behind him.

Song Chenxi couldn’t help but chuckle at his timid behavior. He followed the traces and found the small hole the rat had escaped through. Since the rat could survive, perhaps following the small hole would lead to a clue for leaving.

He was about to cast a spell to blast open the entrance, but as soon as he chanted the incantation, he realized there was no spiritual energy flowing inside his body. The last bit of spiritual energy he had was used up making the ice pack for Ruan Mingyu.

Ruan Mingyu asked, “Senior Brother, have you found a way to get out?”

Song Chenxi nodded, then poured cold water on his excitement: “Don’t be happy too soon. With our current abilities, we can’t break open the hole.”

Ruan Mingyu was always optimistic: “As long as we can get out, it’s fine.”

The hole was too small; only something as small as a rat could squeeze through.

Song Chenxi thought of a solution: storing spiritual energy inside a talisman. Once enough power was accumulated, they could blast open the hole.

However, only a tiny amount of spiritual energy recovered each day. Who knew how long it would take to succeed?

Since they couldn’t leave, the two could only continue living in the cave.

A normal person wouldn’t be able to survive in such an environment, but both Song Chenxi and Ruan Mingyu were somewhat unusual. Ruan Mingyu chattered away when his eyes were open and slept when they were closed, while Song Chenxi was cultivating all the time.

Any normal person would have gone crazy eventually.

Song Chenxi’s individual capability was limited, as was the spiritual energy he could recover each day.

He turned his gaze toward Ruan Mingyu, who was sleeping soundly. If they both cultivated together, the results would undoubtedly be doubled.

Song Chenxi woke Ruan Mingyu up and said to him, “You certainly sleep soundly. Get up and practice your sword with me.”

Ruan Mingyu opened his eyes lazily. “I don’t want to.”

“Don’t want to cultivate or don’t want to leave?” Song Chenxi pulled Ruan Mingyu up without a word and handed him a sword.

“From now on, you’ll practice your sword and cultivate with me.”

Ruan Mingyu pointed at himself: “Me?”

Song Chenxi: “Who else?”

Ruan Mingyu: “Alright…”

Ruan Mingyu was reluctantly pushed into the path of cultivation. He was a quick learner. He could imitate the sword moves quite well after watching them only twice, which made Song Chenxi look at him with new eyes.

However, he was impressed too early. After only a few days of cultivation, Ruan Mingyu complained that his hand hurt from holding the sword: “Senior Brother, my hand hurts. I can’t hold the sword anymore.”

Song Chenxi was a strict Senior Brother. He gave a cold smile: “Pleading won’t work. It’s only been this long. Continue.”

Ruan Mingyu persisted for a while but couldn’t endure it, so he lay down nearby and refused to move.

Song Chenxi walked over with a cold expression, intending to pull him up. Just as he touched his hand, Ruan Mingyu cried out in pain.

Song Chenxi looked down and saw that Ruan Mingyu’s hand was chafed and had broken skin. He had been spoiled since childhood and had never done any rough work. His skin was delicate and naturally hurt from the friction of the sword.

It wasn’t that Ruan Mingyu couldn’t tolerate the hardship, but he just felt that learning it wasn’t very useful. He had no intention of becoming an immortal, and the old man of the Three Pure Ones had told him he wouldn’t live much longer, so he was content to just muddle along until he died.

Song Chenxi crouched down on one knee, gently taking his hand. Ruan Mingyu looked at him blankly: “What are you doing?”

He saw Song Chenxi pull out some medicine and apply it to his hand.

The ointment stung a little when first applied. Ruan Mingyu instinctively tried to withdraw his hand, but Song Chenxi firmly gripped his wrist, stopping him.

Ruan Mingyu hissed, “It hurts.”

“Endure the pain,” Song Chenxi said. “How did Shen Yanyuan raise you like this? You can’t handle any hardship.”

“Can you not mention him?” Ruan Mingyu’s eyelashes were wet with tears. He looked tearfully at Song Chenxi applying the medicine. “Senior Brother, is it done?”

Song Chenxi met his eyes, reached out, and wiped away his tears with his thumb, teasingly saying, “So spineless, already crying.”

Ruan Mingyu turned his head away: “I cry, and it’s none of your business.”

Ruan Mingyu tried to pull his hand back from Song Chenxi’s palm. He tugged, but it wouldn’t move. Song Chenxi stopped him: “I just put medicine on it. Don’t touch it.”

Ruan Mingyu said, “Oh.”

Song Chenxi added, “You can skip practicing the sword for the next two days.”

Ruan Mingyu’s eyes lit up: “Really?”

Song Chenxi pulled out a manual: “I have a beginner’s manual for alchemy here. Take a look.”

Ruan Mingyu took the two books and began to flip through them.

Song Chenxi said, “But you have to read it yourself. I know nothing about alchemy, so asking me is useless.”

If Song Chenxi wasn’t interested in alchemy, why did he keep the book with him? Although the content was complicated, Ruan Mingyu looked closely, and it wasn’t too difficult.

There was no sense of day or night in the cave, illuminated solely by the luminous pearls Song Chenxi had embedded in the wall. Ruan Mingyu didn’t know how long they had been there. Besides cultivation, there was nothing else to do. Ruan Mingyu would often seek out Song Chenxi to chat, rambling about everything under the sun. Fortunately, although Song Chenxi had a strange temper and spoke sarcastically, they could talk, which made the days less boring.

However, Song Chenxi was reluctant to reveal his past. Whenever the topic came up, he would inevitably start lecturing about swordsmanship. Ruan Mingyu, on the other hand, was unrestrained in his talk, allowing Song Chenxi to know him inside out.

He learned that Ruan Mingyu was the youngest child in his family and the most doted upon. Ruan Mingyu had no grand ambitions. He just wanted to eat well, be satisfied, and drift through life, his attitude being to just avoid starving to death.

Ruan Mingyu used to think Song Chenxi was pretentious, always meticulously grooming himself before going out. Even now, with just the two of them, Song Chenxi maintained his standards: his clothes couldn’t have a single wrinkle, and his hair was neatly combed.

In contrast, Ruan Mingyu looked like a savage. He didn’t bother to comb his hair when it was messy, practiced sword for a while when Song Chenxi dragged him up, and then slept.

Song Chenxi couldn’t stand it. He pulled him over to comb his hair.

Ruan Mingyu rested his chin on his hand: “There’s really no need. It’ll be messy again in a little while.”

Song Chenxi: “I can’t stand the sight of it.”

He removed Ruan Mingyu’s hair tie and combed his hair into a high ponytail. From his perspective, Ruan Mingyu’s eyes were like amber, drooping at the corners, making him look innocent and pitiful.

He seemed to discover something, lifted Ruan Mingyu’s chin, and examined him from side to side: “Actually, we don’t look alike at all.”

Ruan Mingyu puffed out his cheeks: “You’re surnamed Song, and I’m surnamed Ruan. We weren’t a family even eight hundred years ago. It makes sense that we don’t look alike.”

Song Chenxi chuckled: “That’s true.”

Ruan Mingyu asked, “Senior Brother, how long have we been here?”

Song Chenxi: “I don’t know. Maybe a few days, or maybe a few months or years.”

“…” What was the difference between saying that and not saying anything?

Ruan Mingyu asked again, “Many people in the sect like you. Have you ever been moved by anyone?”

Song Chenxi stared at him with a half-smile: “Naturally, there have been some.”

Ruan Mingyu: “…” Why did he have to open his big mouth and ask? Now he was being teased again.

If there were only him and Song Chenxi in the cave, Ruan Mingyu might have accepted it. However, that damned rat kept popping out of the small hole to check on them.

The rat was huge, fat like a cat, Ruan Mingyu didn’t know what it ate.

Ruan Mingyu screamed in terror every time and clung to Song Chenxi, refusing to let go.

Ruan Mingyu thought Song Chenxi might also be a little afraid of rats, otherwise, he would have killed it every time he pulled out his sword.

The rat showed up again. Ruan Mingyu hid behind Song Chenxi, his hands clutching his neck: “Senior Brother, if you’re afraid of rats, just say so. You keep holding your sword but don’t chop the rat.”

Song Chenxi’s eyes held amusement: “I’ll give you the sword. You do it.”

Ruan Mingyu shrank back: “Forget it. You do it.”

There was no concept of time in the cave. Ruan Mingyu felt like they had been there for at least a year. He seemed to have grown a little taller. Ruan Mingyu had gotten comfortable with Song Chenxi and casually leaned on his shoulder, languidly saying, “Senior Brother, when do you think we’ll be able to leave? It’s been so long. If I stay with you any longer, I might as well live the rest of my life with you.”

Song Chenxi joked with a mix of sincerity and humor: “You’re truly interested in me.”

Ruan Mingyu fell silent. Song Chenxi had been so good-tempered lately that he almost forgot what kind of person he was.

Ruan Mingyu hadn’t been completely unproductive in the cave. He had learned some sword techniques, such as ‘Star-Moon Kill,’ which Song Chenxi liked to use to chop mosquitoes, and some other sword techniques. He had also gotten started on cultivation, being able to perceive the surrounding spiritual energy fluctuations.

He thought his learning was mediocre, and he still needed to focus on his old trade of alchemy when he returned. What he didn’t know was that Song Chenxi was considered a genius in the sect. The fact that he could exchange a few blows with Song Chenxi after only a short time of cultivation meant he was already a standout with high talent.

Song Chenxi would occasionally inject the recovered spiritual energy into the explosive talisman. Ruan Mingyu asked him for the nine hundred and ninety-ninth time, “How long until we can leave?”

Song Chenxi gave the same reply: “I don’t know.”

Ruan Mingyu, as usual, waited for Song Chenxi to finish, then injected the spiritual energy he had recovered into the explosive talisman as well.

This time, it was different from before. The runes on the talisman lit up. Ruan Mingyu quickly called Song Chenxi over to look.

Song Chenxi took it and saw the illuminated runes on the talisman. He said, “It should be enough.”

He told Ruan Mingyu, “Stand back.”

Ruan Mingyu moved back a little.

Song Chenxi lit the talisman and stuffed it into the small hole, then turned and ran. Ruan Mingyu didn’t quite understand what was happening.

“Get down!”

Song Chenxi rushed over and pushed Ruan Mingyu’s head down.

With a tremendous roar, the entrance of the cave was blasted open.