Dreaming with My Aloof Master - Chapter 4

Lu Qinghuai’s hand burned as if touched by fire. He quickly cast the Pure Water Spell to wash away the ointment. He waved his hand dismissively, telling Xiao Xuanqing to go back to his room and rest.

But Xiao Xuanqing produced two crystal-clear fruits. They looked almost identical, except one had a red core. “Master, this is the Tanlian Fruit I found. It can help you think more clearly. We each have one.”

Without mentioning the hardship he’d endured to get them, Xiao Xuanqing ate the fruit with the red core and offered the other to Lu Qinghuai.

Lu Qinghuai recognized these fruits. They were the very cause of the incident in the original story. In the original plot, Xiao Xuanqing had thrown them into the Myriad Snake Cave, and the story never mentioned them again. But now, the plot had changed.

He knew he had to be extremely cautious with anything the protagonist gave him.

System, what does this fruit do?

[In Simple Mode, the System will provide the Host with one specific piece of information.]

[Mutual Life Fruit: The primary consumer can see through all disguises of the secondary consumer.]

So Xiao Xuanqing had already set a trap for the original owner from the very beginning.

But wasn’t this exactly what Lu Qinghuai needed?

Xiao Xuanqing was naturally suspicious. If Lu Qinghuai were too kind to him now, it would only accelerate his own death, just like before.

What if he didn’t let Xiao Xuanqing know about his good intentions? What if Xiao Xuanqing “discovered” on his own that Lu Qinghuai was secretly helping him under a different identity?

That would surely make Xiao Xuanqing trust him more.

Without hesitation, Lu Qinghuai took the fruit and ate it in front of Xiao Xuanqing. Instantly, his mind cleared, and his senses felt sharper than ever. A faint, invisible bond now connected him to the other man.

They met each other’s gaze, both seeing a flicker of satisfaction in the other’s eyes.

*****

Inside the Spirit Prison, Zhao Hao paced back and forth in despair. “Shangguan Yi, you have to save me! You’re the one who manipulated me into this. You promised me endless Daoist magical texts!”

“That’s because you were too greedy, you fool,” Shangguan Yi sneered, glancing at him with disdain. He rose to his feet and moved away to maintain a distance. “If you hadn’t tried to replace me as Sect Master Qinghuai’s disciple, he would never have found a clue. Besides, you’re the one who got abandoned.”

As his last shred of hope vanished, Zhao Hao fainted from sheer terror.

Shangguan Yi walked to the cell door. The Spirit Prison was dimly lit, with only a single guard on duty.

“I need to send a letter to the Shangguan Family,” Shangguan Yi demanded.

The guard ignored him and remained motionless.

Shangguan Yi had never been so blatantly dismissed. His voice rose involuntarily. “Don’t forget that the Shangguan Family has funded the Yunqiong Sect for years! Once my letter arrives, my elders will pressure Sect Master Qinghuai. I am still an inner disciple of this sect. How dare a mere prison guard ignore me? Get over here now!”

“You were the one who begged me to come over and over again.”

The guard stepped out of the shadows, his features becoming clearer in the shifting light. His skin was smooth and pale, and a thin-lipped smile slowly spread across his face. “So don’t go complaining to King Yama about me.”

“Xiao Xuanqing!” Shangguan Yi gasped in shock. “How are you here?”

“Do you think I’m too late? That I should have taken your life sooner?” Xiao Xuanqing tapped lightly on the prison bars. The sound of spiritual energy clashing echoed clearly in the silent room.

Though Shangguan Yi knew Xiao Xuanqing was merely a mortal, an inexplicable, deep-seated terror seized him, as if he were facing a grand master of the Cultivation World. He instinctively took a step back, struggling to maintain his composure. “This is the Spirit Prison. You cannot harm me here.”

At this moment, Shangguan Yi’s only solace was that the Spirit Prison was the most heavily fortified area within the Yunqiong Sect. That was why only a single guard was needed to watch over it. Here, he was at his safest.

Crack—

Shangguan Yi’s pupils dilated with horror. He saw countless wisps of demonic energy erupting from Xiao Xuanqing’s palm, coiling around the Spirit Prison. Before this absolute power, the Yunqiong Sect’s proudest formation shattered like a toy, splintering into a thousand pieces in an instant.

In Shangguan Yi’s eyes, Xiao Xuanqing was now a demon from the Shura Realm come to take his life.

Forgetting all propriety, Shangguan Yi collapsed to the ground. His hands trembled as he drew an Image-Recording Pearl from his robes. Unlike others of its kind, this pearl glowed with an eerie light. He cast a Blood Curse upon it and cried, “The Shangguan Family is famous for our Image-Recording Pearls. If you kill me, this pearl will be delivered to Sect Master Qinghuai. When he sees its contents, he will never allow a blood-stained monster like you to remain in the sect!”

Xiao Xuanqing looked at the pearl with mock regret. “Do you know that if my Master hadn’t imprisoned you in the Spirit Prison, I wouldn’t have to go to such trouble? You would have died an ‘accident’ behind the Cloud-Gazing Platform.”

Shangguan Yi retorted, “I never even appeared at the Cloud-Gazing Platform! Even Sect Master Qinghuai couldn’t link me to it. How could you possibly know about it before he did?”

“You think the Shangguan Family has a monopoly on Image-Recording Pearls?” Xiao Xuanqing flicked his wrist, and the pearl flew from Shangguan Yi’s hand into his own.

Xiao Xuanqing held it high. Through the pearl’s surface, Shangguan Yi’s face was already twisted with terror.

He spoke recklessly. “Xiao Xuanqing, I did alter the Image-Recording Pearl. But if Sect Master Qinghuai truly wanted to save you, he could have just gotten another stalk of Taiyu Grass. Instead, he blindly trusted Zhao Hao, took him as a disciple, and even banished you to the Myriad Snake Cave.

“No one ever returns from that cave. He never intended for you to survive.”

At this, Xiao Xuanqing let out a strange, soft laugh. His eyes, like starlit pools of water in hell, shimmered with a cold light. “What a coincidence. I was planning to kill my Master too. It seems we were thinking the same thing.”

“You’re insane! You’re insane!”

Shangguan Yi managed to scream only twice before Xiao Xuanqing began picking up the shards of the Spirit Prison from the floor. The intense spiritual energy burned his hands, but he seemed not to notice.

“You broke the Spirit Prison, so now you’ll be the one to clean up the mess.”

He didn’t just clean it up. He used Shangguan Yi as a container, slowly and methodically shoving each shard into the man’s flesh. Shangguan Yi writhed on the floor in agony, but there was nowhere to run.

Only after every last shard was embedded did Xiao Xuanqing stop. By then, Shangguan Yi had already stopped breathing.

“Master, now it’s time to settle our accounts.”

*****

Inside Yuqing Residence, Lu Qinghuai was exhausted in both body and mind, yet he tossed and turned restlessly.

Only after a long time did he finally fall into a deep sleep, dragged into the darkest depths of a dream.

The Immortal-Binding Rope bit deep into his flesh, and Lu Qinghuai’s knees ached from the pressure. He was alone on the empty Cloud-Gazing Platform.

A cold whip pressed against his chin, forcing him to tilt his head back and exposing the fragile curve of his neck.

The figure holding the whip stood against the light, hiding his face.

“How dare Xiao Xuanqing covet Sect Master Qinghuai.”

Lu Qinghuai felt dazed. Why was he kneeling here in Xiao Xuanqing’s place?

The figure leaned down, his voice returning to its own tone, tinged with mockery. “Heh, Martial Uncle Li says this disciple covets his Master. This disciple is terrified.”

But his actions showed no sign of terror. The hard whip sliced into Lu Qinghuai’s chin, and blood flowed down the weapon, soaking into the gaps of the spirit vine weave.

A searing pain flared.

“Master, you accused this disciple of theft and threw him into the Myriad Snake Cave. But you stole this disciple’s root bones. Now, let me let you taste the Myriad Snake Cave too, shall we?”

Before Lu Qinghuai could even defend himself, a hand shoved him violently. In the next moment, he fell into a mass of slimy, soft bodies.

Countless small snakes swarmed his fragile, beautiful body, pinning him to the ground by his neck, wrists, and ankles.

Lu Qinghuai had always loathed cold-blooded reptiles. His skin trembled with primal fear.

“Get off me!”

But the snakes didn’t stop. They pried open his crossed collar and slithered inside.

“Hiss—”

Lu Qinghuai winced in pain as sharp bite marks bloomed across his skin.

The Myriad Snake Cave was cold and dark, lit only by a faint beam of light filtering through the overgrown entrance above.

Lu Qinghuai strained to see the shadowy figure standing over him.

“Save me.”

The man merely looked down, silent and judging.

Lu Qinghuai sank into despair as the reptiles writhed around him. He was going to die here.

Finally, the small snakes merged into a single, massive Ink Snake. It coiled around him, crushing him tight. Red welts from the torment marred his pale skin.

The Ink Snake opened its maw, revealing silver fangs and a flicking red tongue. But it was Xiao Xuanqing’s voice that spoke: “Master, how does it feel?”

Lu Qinghuai snapped his eyes open on his bed, the suffocating pressure of the giant snake still lingering on his body.

“So it was just a dream,” Lu Qinghuai thought. “Because I took over the original owner’s body, it’s as if I personally stripped Xiao Xuanqing of his skeletal structure. That’s why he punished me in the dream.”

But…

Lu Qinghuai propped himself up on the ice bed, his black hair spilling over the edge as he slowly exhaled a long breath.

Why did I encounter that snake in the dream?

Hidden beneath his scales, two rods rubbed slowly against each other through the fabric of his clothes.

Meanwhile, in the Guiyun Residence, an unusual flush crept across Xiao Xuanqing’s pale face. He was self-pleasuring with a dark expression, never expecting the Mutual-Generation Dreamscape to affect him so deeply.

The Mutual Life Fruit he had fed his Master allowed the main fruit’s consumer to see through any illusion, but more importantly, it could link their dreams.

He had initially intended to punish his Master, forcing him to experience the same torment he had suffered in the Myriad Snake Cave.

But when he saw the Immortal-Binding Rope cutting deep into his Master’s skin, leaving bloody welts as he knelt on the Cloud-Gazing Platform, completely at his mercy…

Xiao Xuanqing’s mood shifted to one of sadistic pleasure. He changed his plan on a whim and decided to punish his Master personally, replacing the venomous snake with his own divine sense.

Yet, upon returning to his true form, the snake’s innate lust took over. His Master’s body was so soft and hot, and the scent of magnolia flowers constantly stimulated him. His cold-blooded serpentine body tightened uncontrollably, forcing him to abruptly flee the Mutual-Generation Dreamscape.

“Ugh…”

With a muffled groan, Xiao Xuanqing cast a Pure Water Spell to wash away the sticky residue on his hands.

Just then, Lu Qinghuai’s cool, clear voice drifted in from outside. “Xuanqing, have you gone to bed yet?”

Xiao Xuanqing leaned against the headboard, his expression one of post-release languor. The heat in his lower body hadn’t fully subsided. “Master, I’ve already undressed. I’m afraid it would be improper for me to face you now. Please forgive me, but could we speak through the door?”

Hearing this, Lu Qinghuai replied from outside, “It’s no matter. I couldn’t sleep, so I wanted to take a walk with you through the sect. Since you’re already in bed, I won’t disturb you further.”

Jinzi’s spiritual energy silently probed Xiao Xuanqing’s life force. This was a grave taboo for cultivators. Ordinary people would react even if the energy was a foot away, let alone if it invaded their life force.

Yet, there was not a single ripple of spiritual energy inside the room.

Could that dream have been a mere coincidence? Xiao Xuanqing was currently nothing more than a mortal with no cultivation.

Unable to confirm his suspicions, Lu Qinghuai withdrew his spiritual energy. At the same time, a faint wisp of black demonic energy quietly retreated from him. However, this demonic energy was so powerful that Lu Qinghuai failed to notice it.

He had no doubt that his opponent possessed the strength to kill him before he could even react.

Lu Qinghuai turned to leave. Just then, Xiao Xuanqing’s voice, sounding slightly muffled, drifted from inside the room. “Master, wait. How was the Tanlian Fruit? If you enjoyed it, I will find some more for you tomorrow.”

Master, how did it taste?

The dream of the giant dragon coiling around him merged with Xiao Xuanqing’s question. Lu Qinghuai felt a strange sensation but decided to follow the younger man’s lead. “I liked it very much, but that fruit is too difficult to find. Do not go looking for it again.”

Xiao Xuanqing replied with an ambiguous tone, “So Master likes that taste.”

Lu Qinghuai felt as if a boundary had been crossed. He suppressed the faint sense of unease in his heart. “I know you mean well, Xuanqing. Go to rest early.”

Inside the room, the “good disciple” who claimed to care for him was moving with deliberate slowness. As they spoke, his eyes filled with satisfaction.

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