After Transmigrating into the Dao Companion of the Juvenile Long Aotian - Chapter 1

“Respectfully welcoming the Madam back to the sect.”

Amidst the chorus of reverent greetings, a luxurious carriage pulled by phoenix-like birds came to a quiet halt at the gates of the Guiyuan Immortal Sect.

The carriage was veiled by gauze curtains. One could only vaguely see a figure sitting motionless behind them.

One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths.

Just as the lead disciple was about to step forward to inquire, a small gap finally opened in the curtains.

A slender, fair finger, the tip tinged with a soft, pale pink, extended from behind the gauze and beckoned gently to the outside.

The disciples of the Guiyuan Immortal Sect exchanged glances, uncertain of the intention of this Madam who had traveled from afar. One or two of them, perhaps letting their imaginations wander, found their faces turning red.

At this moment, a frantic little demon jumped out from the “dowry” caravan that had been trailing the carriage. It shouted:

“Let me do it! Let me do it! The young master is looking for me.”

Though the little demon had cultivated a human form, it still retained animal features such as long ears and red eyes. Upon reaching the carriage, it hurriedly transformed into a large white rabbit and hopped inside.

As the rabbit’s four hooves scrambled, a corner of the curtain lifted and fell, briefly revealing a glimpse of the person inside.

They sat with perfect posture, two slender, snow-white hands resting gently on their lap. Long hair, like a dark cloud touching the ground, pooled onto the floor.

Aside from the hair and clothing fluttering in the breeze, the person remained perfectly still, as serene and beautiful as an ancient painting.

The curtain fell, completely obscuring the inquisitive gazes of the crowd.

Although they hadn’t seen the person’s full face, that fleeting glimpse was enough to leave a deep impression.

Many began to mutter among themselves: Didn’t rumors say this Madam was as simple-minded as a child?

Judging by today, there was no sign of foolishness. In fact, their gentle and tranquil demeanor seemed far superior to the disciples in the sect who only knew how to fight and kill.

Daoist Lingxiao truly has great fortune.

…

Fang Jueqian was essentially dead inside.

He sat motionless in the drafty carriage, silently mourning the sudden passing of his previous life and the significant trial he was about to face.

He, Fang Jueqian, had transmigrated into a person with the same name and surname after dying from overwork, and he was currently in a cultivation world.

For him, living a second life should have been a good thing, but it just so happened that this body was bound to an incredible Dao companion, whom he had known since childhood.

Moreover, that Dao companion was male.

And so was he.

Although Fang Jueqian had a hobby of secretly reading BL novels on a certain green website when bored, he was not prepared to actually experience it firsthand.

But that wasn’t the main issue. Whether he could survive his original self’s Dao companion was a complete mystery.

By now, he had arrived at the sect where his Dao companion resided and was about to meet him, and he had yet to inherit any of the original owner’s memories.

If that Dao companion realized he wasn’t the genuine article and wanted to finish him off in a fit of rage, what would he do?

“Oh, young master, you cannot hesitate any longer! The Daoist will be angry.”

A corner of the curtain lifted, and a rabbit the size of a human’s forearm pounced in. Fang Jueqian immediately looked at it:

Ba Ge, male, rabbit kin, age unknown, unmarried, smooth fur, especially on the lower abdomen, which, when touched, felt… Stop! Where was his mind wandering?

Fang Jueqian tried his best to pull himself away from his obsession with the rabbit’s texture, straightened his expression, and asked:

“But what should I do? I’m so afraid of him; I really don’t dare to go in.”

He had only been transmigrated for a few days, and only this rabbit knew a part of the truth. It thought he had lost his memory after being hit on the head by a flying carrot.

The man and the rabbit had been terrified for quite some time. The man feared being exposed as a fake and being finished off; the rabbit feared being blamed by the Daoist for failing to look after the young master and being turned into spicy rabbit head, sautéed rabbit meat, or soy-braised rabbit leg.

In short, black eyes met red eyes, and they wept as they stroked each other’s heads.

Ba Ge, the rabbit demon, produced a carrot from nowhere and began to crunch.

Fang Jueqian deeply suspected that his fear of being finished off was largely due to this rabbit crunching in his ear all day.

Ba Ge crunched very quickly. In the blink of an eye, it devoured a carrot nearly as long as its own body. It wiped its mouth, as if having made an important decision:

“Young master, we should just confess.”

“Confess?” Fang Jueqian shuddered, whispering, “What will he do then?”

“You don’t need to worry too much. After all, the Daoist and you grew up together. Plus, your father was the one who cultivated the Daoist in the first place.”

Fang Jueqian shuddered even harder.

After transmigrating, he had secretly gathered information from Ba Ge about his Dao companion.

That Daoist Lingxiao was no simple man.

He was the fastest Grandmaster stage cultivator in tens of thousands of years. Many peers his age were still struggling at the Foundation Establishment or Golden Core stages, which was already considered decent speed, yet he had already reached the Grandmaster stage, with only Ascension left.

What an earth-shattering cultivation genius!

And yet, this genius, when he was a mere mortal in his early years, had signed a contract with a cultivator to grasp a hard-won chance at immortality. The cultivator would devote all his resources to training him, and in return, he had to become the Dao companion of his simple-minded son under the witness of the Heavenly Dao, protecting him for life.

In truth, because chances at immortality were rare, most people would sign it; changing one’s destiny was more important.

But for a peerless genius that might appear only once in tens of thousands of years, it might not have been a very good deal.

The cultivation world had a custom of periodically selecting children with great potential from the human realm to bring back to the sect. If Daoist Lingxiao hadn’t agreed to the conditions, there was a high probability he would have been selected a few years later without having to be saddled with a simple-minded Dao companion.

Especially since the Daoist was clearly straight. Forcing a straight man to marry a male wife is asking for divine retribution.

When Fang Jueqian thought of this, he felt like hitting his head against a block of tofu.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about running away.

But firstly, he was powerless and unfamiliar with the world; he didn’t have the courage to test his survival skills in the wild or his understanding of the treacherous cultivation world.

Secondly, this body had a hidden debuff, a very lethal one. Running away was essentially suicide, and a very unglamorous death at that.

Based on this, even though he was extremely worried about passing Daoist Lingxiao’s audit, Fang Jueqian still tremblingly arrived in the carriage, even eating more than usual.

Life is difficult enough; one shouldn’t let down their appetite.

Ba Ge twitched its split lip and continued:

“Although your father is no longer with us, the Daoist still values you highly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent someone to bring you back to the sect after learning you had recovered. You just have to put in a good word for me, so at least let the Daoist leave my body intact.”

Fang Jueqian asked cautiously:

“I know that, of course, but you said the Daoist…”

Ba Ge corrected him: “It is Husband. Young master, you usually call him Husband. You cannot mess up the address, or the Daoist will be even angrier.”

Fang Jueqian sucked in a breath of cold air. He struggled between his integrity and his life for two seconds, then reluctantly changed his tone:

“My… my husband. Are we very close? If so, why didn’t he come to meet me? Usually, shouldn’t a spouse come to pick up their partner when they arrive from afar, especially for the first time? It is just polite.”

Ba Ge stuttered for a few seconds, twitching its whiskers and kicking its feet, the very picture of a guilty reaction:

“Young master, don’t be sad. Even though the Daoist didn’t come to pick you up despite being in the sect, he must be too busy. It is definitely not because he doesn’t care about you.”

Ah, so that was it.

Fang Jueqian immediately understood. So, Daoist Lingxiao didn’t actually care about him.

While this was unfortunate for the original owner, it was fantastic news for him.

As long as he could breeze through this initial meeting, wouldn’t it be smooth sailing from here on out? He could just lie flat and relax.

Fang Jueqian immediately perked up:

“Tell me more about the Dao… my husband.”

“Young master, please remember, you cannot get the address wrong. Just in case, why don’t you say it ten times to reinforce it.”

“Husband, Husband, Husband, Husband, Husband… f-j-u-n…”

The caravan began to move as they spoke.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage stopped, and Ba Ge’s briefing was nearing its end:

“That is about it. Oh, by the way, I heard the Daoist also took on an apprentice, surnamed Qiu. They say he is young and arrogant, but very gifted and highly regarded by the Daoist. You had better not offend him, young master.”

Fang Jueqian nodded, supporting his head, which felt heavy and full after being bombarded with massive amounts of information.

He tried to recall what he had just heard, but the more he thought about it, the weirder it became. How could one person be wise and martial, yet act on impulse; compassionate, yet cruel and bloodthirsty?

Was he even a normal person? He couldn’t be suffering from a split personality, could he?

Finally, seeing Ba Ge pull out another carrot and start crunching, Fang Jueqian couldn’t help but ask the question that had been lingering in his mind:

“Ba Ge, where did you get all this information?”

Ba Ge stopped crunching the carrot and fell into deep thought: “I heard it from A-Da.”

“And where did A-Da get the information?”

“From Xiao-Ba. Xiao-Ba heard it from a grasshopper, the grasshopper heard it from Xianglian, and Xianglian heard it from a passing cultivator. The passing cultivator… I do not know who they heard it from. Why do you ask, young master?”

Fang Jueqian: “…”

He held onto a final shred of hope: “How many times have you actually seen my husband?”

Ba Ge tilted its head, looking a bit embarrassed:

“Once, once, once, once… Young master, it seems it was only once! And that was from afar, through a crowd.”

Fang Jueqian clutched his chest: “Then why did you say it so many times?”

Ba Ge shyly covered its face with the carrot: “I just wanted there to be more of it.”

“…”

Fang Jueqian finally walked off the carriage with resolve.

Even if it was all hearsay, since it was so widely circulated, surely there had to be some grain of truth to it. Besides, he did not have time to ask around anymore.

After stepping off the carriage, Fang Jueqian was soon led into the hall. Two young boys with snow-white, adorable faces and top-knots greeted him with smiles:

“The Madam has finally arrived. The Daoist is currently entertaining a guest. Please, rest here for a moment.”

Though the boys were young, they were very nimble. One served tea, the other offered pastries, and both were skilled at flattery:

“Usually, the Daoist always complains that we are foolish. Seeing the Madam today, we finally understand what it means to be truly refined. The Madam is truly worthy of the title.”

Fang Jueqian was embarrassed.

He thanked them with a flushed face and was just about to use the time to review what he had learned from Ba Ge, when his gaze caught a painting hanging on the wall.

He froze instantly, doubting his own eyes. Was this really something he could see here?

The boy followed his gaze and said with a smile:

“The Madam has a good eye. The Daoist also likes this painting very much.”

Fang Jueqian was even more shocked:

“Your Daoist likes this painting too?”

“Yes, he treasures it even more than his magical artifacts. That is why he specially placed it in the hall to look at it from time to time. Are you asking what this painting is called? Let me think… it seems to be called Mist-Slaying Slave and the Awakening of 茂. Madam, why are you crying?”

The boy hurriedly brought a handkerchief to wipe his eyes.

Fang Jueqian wiped away the tears that he could not control out of excitement and sniffled, his heart surging with emotions:

“It is fine, I am just happy.”

A few seconds later, he looked up at the painting, which depicted a muscular man in red punching a bipedal blue-and-white cat-like creature, and decided he had to confirm it:

“Mist-Slaying Slave and the Awakening of 茂, what a great painting, though it is a pity it does not have a signature. May I ask the name of the artist?”

The boy scratched his head:

“The Daoist brought this painting back himself. He did not say who created it, but we all suspect it was the Daoist’s own work.”

Hearing this, Fang Jueqian finally felt completely relieved.

So it was a case of a compatriot meeting a compatriot, eyes filled with tears. He should have said so earlier; it would have saved him so much stress.

In the time that followed, Fang Jueqian’s appetite soared. He not only ate several pastries and drank two cups of spiritual tea, but he also verified the intelligence he got from Ba Ge with the two boys.

As personal attendants, their description of Daoist Lingxiao sounded much more realistic than the rumors:

“The Daoist is very kind. When we accidentally make mistakes, he never blames us; he just tells us to be careful next time.”

“That is right. Even if we occasionally want to slack off, as long as it does not affect official business, the Daoist does not mind at all.”

“…”

As Fang Jueqian listened, he relaxed more and more.

When asked about Daoist Lingxiao’s apprentice, the two boys were full of praise:

“You mean Senior Brother Qiu Haocing? Senior Brother Qiu is a man of elegance and grace, far surpassing his peers. Not only the Daoist and the Sect Leader value him, but he also has many admirers throughout the entire Immortal Sect.”

Fang Jueqian secretly raised the threat level for this Senior Brother Qiu a notch.

After a while, someone finally came to report that the Daoist is ready for the Madam. Fang Jueqian quickly brushed the crumbs off his clothes and followed the boy outside.

The scenery was spectacular, featuring majestic mountains and exquisite gardens, along with many rare birds and beasts.

Fang Jueqian was so dazzled he could hardly take it all in, when the boy leading him suddenly stopped and said in surprise:

“The Daoist and Senior Brother Qiu are still talking.”

Fang Jueqian was stunned. He followed the boy’s gaze and saw two cultivators conversing in a pavilion by the pond.

The slightly older man must be Daoist Lingxiao. He had handsome features, bright eyes, and a heroic bearing. He definitely had the aura of a legendary Grandmaster.

The other was a youth who looked only sixteen or seventeen, with white hair. That must be Senior Brother Qiu.

When he saw Senior Brother Qiu, Fang Jueqian’s eyes widened. He was just too beautiful.

This was not just because of the cultural appreciation for white hair; he was genuinely stunned by such otherworldly beauty.

The youth’s face looked like it was carved from ice and snow, yet his expression was even colder. There was a sharp, piercing killing intent radiating from him.

Even when talking to his mentor, he showed no sign of respect, yet Daoist Lingxiao tolerated him, smiling and nodding frequently. It was clear he doted on this apprentice.

However, Fang Jueqian could understand his fellow countryman. With a beautiful youth like that, it was a treat to have him around all day. He would dote on him too.

Because he was so mesmerized by the youth’s beauty, Fang Jueqian stared at him for quite a while, from head to toe, without missing a detail.

When the youth in the pavilion suddenly looked coldly in his direction with a warning in his eyes, he jolted awake, his face flushing red.

The youth seemed annoyed and glared at him again. The gaze was like a knife and a sword, stabbing through him, before he turned back and said something to Daoist Lingxiao.

Then Daoist Lingxiao looked toward him as well, and to his surprise, a smile appeared on his face.

Fang Jueqian’s face turned even redder. This time, it was from excitement.

He thought about how he had transmigrated to an alien world after dying. He had expected to walk this path alone, but he had not expected to meet a fellow traveler.

What a magnificent miracle.

Even though the man was his Dao companion and they were bound by marriage, they were good brothers after all, and brothers should look out for each other.

Fang Jueqian was mentally prepared to cling tightly to his compatriot’s leg.

The boy’s voice called out beside him: “Madam… Madam? The Daoist is calling for you.”

Fang Jueqian snapped out of it, quickly replied, and walked toward the pavilion.

As he walked, he looked ahead. The Daoist’s apprentice had not left but had turned his back to give them privacy, hands behind his back, admiring the koi in the pond. His robes shifted with his movements, outlining his lean and powerful waistline.

Fang Jueqian only took one glance before his heart began to pound, and he did not dare look again. He turned his attention to Daoist Lingxiao, only to find his fellow compatriot looking at him with a warm smile, full of anticipation.

Fang Jueqian was even more thrilled. He sped up his pace; had his clothes not been so cumbersome, he would have run right over.

Finally, he arrived at the pavilion.

Daoist Lingxiao was still smiling at him, but when he realized Fang Jueqian had stopped right in front of him, a flicker of surprise crossed his face.

Fang Jueqian did not take it to heart. He met Daoist Lingxiao’s gaze, swallowed his saliva, and happily called out to him:

“Husband!”

Oh crap. It had become too much of a habit; he had forgotten to change the address.

Just as Fang Jueqian was feeling regretful, the smile on Daoist Lingxiao’s face suddenly vanished.

At the same time, the youth knelt down without hesitation, though not in his direction:

“Master, it seems the Madam was nervous and mistook the person for a moment.”

Fang Jueqian was frozen in place.

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of approaching footsteps.

Soon, a cold, youthful voice reached Fang Jueqian’s ears:

“What did you call him?”