Sun Fuyu was exuding happiness like a little sun that evening. He felt that this was their first proper date. Sometimes, Sun Fuyu would sneakily brush the back of his hand against Wen-ge’s hand as they were walking down the particular sea-side mortal town they were exploring today. He beamed every time Wen-ge bought another little street-side snack for him.

Meanwhile, Wen Zhihao felt that Sun Fuyu was a rather resilient young man. Look at his light, almost bouncing steps! It made Wen Zhihao want to smile and indulge him even more. Yet, at the same time, Sun Fuyu seemed more sticky than usual...but Wen Zhihao didn’t mind that either.

After eating, they walked along the beach, listening to the sound of the waves. The moon gently lit their way.

With a nifty talisman, Wen Zhihao set up a warm, private little area for them to sleep by the sea, with the clear night sky overhead. Sun Fuyu took the initiative to place their bedding together so Wen Zhihao went with the flow and laid down next to him.

He sighed quietly in his heart. Sun Fuyu was so attractive. Aiya, he really liked him. He wanted to reach over and pinch Sun Fuyu’s cheeks and rub Sun Fuyu’s hair...

Wen Zhihao’s naughty hand reached out and rubbed Sun Fuyu’s hair.

Sun Fuyu’s eyes curved as he basked in the sensation. “Wen-ge,” he said softly.

Wen Zhihao’s heart felt like a little Xiao-Yu-cat paw was scratching at it. “Hm.”

Sun Fuyu just smiled at him.

“Alright, go to sleep, some of the jackfruit will be ripe enough to eat tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Sun Fuyu closed his eyes. He shifted a tiny bit closer to Wen-ge and contentedly fell asleep.

And now that Wen Zhihao had defaulted to a certain “plan of action” (i.e., procrastination i.e. not thinking about difficult and messy things like “confession” and “does he like me or not”), he equally, easily fell asleep.

 

---

 

The next morning, they returned back to the sect and Wen Zhihao picked a big ripe jackfruit to eat. Even better, since there were many seeds, it would be a lot easier to plant more jackfruit trees. Wen Zhihao picked another large ripe jackfruit and decided to bring it to the farmers in the Golden Sun Sect when he and Sun Fuyu went with Old Tang to collect fresh vegetables from them.

The farmers happily accepted the fruit, and Wang Aimei assured him that she had plenty of talismans left in order to create a suitable growing environment for the jackfruit along with the newly planted mango trees from the mangos eaten over the last week.

They were just talking normally when suddenly a Golden Core cultivator descended from the sky. Old Tang and Wang Aimei quickly stepped back.

“Wen Zhihao! There you are, hiding among the farmers! Fight me!” Wang Li Wei jumped down from his flying sword and pointed it domineeringly at Wen Zhihao. He had just advanced to Golden Core and he was bursting with energy to duel this hateful Wen Zhihao!

Wen Zhihao looked at where Wang Li Wei had landed. Lucky, he landed on the thin part of the walking land between the manured/fertilised land...

“Fellow Daoist Wang, I was having a conversation with esteemed farmer Wang Aimei—”

“Screw your farm! I’ll destroy it if you don’t duel me! And when you lose, you have to call me father and apologise to me for saying that I have problems in front of my friends!”

Wen Zhihao: “...”

Aiya, son, aren’t you exactly proving that you have some problems?

Wen Zhihao sighed, pushing out his qi aura to dampen Wang Li Wei’s sharply fluctuating one. “Please don’t, Fellow Daoist Wang. Your own meals come from these farms. Perhaps we should sit down, have some food, and talk slowly...”

“NO!”

Credit to Wang Li Wei for being even more riled up than Zhang Wu. He took a menacing step towards Wen Zhihao.

Sun Fuyu’s eyes narrowed. Even though Sun Fuyu was not yet Golden Core—he was only at Peak Foundation Building¹Qi Refining < Foundation Building < Golden Core < ... are the major levels, with sublevels Early-stage < Middle-stage < Late-stage < Peak —he knew that Wen-ge wasn’t a fighter. That meant it was up to him to defend Wen-ge!

Sun Fuyu rushed forward, placing himself between Wen Zhihao and Wang Li Wei. With a shhhg, he drew his sword.

“I’ll fight you!”

“No way, no proxy duellers allowed!” Wang Li Wei retorted.

“My ge is stronger than you! You have to defeat me before you’re allowed to even think about getting close enough to him to fight!” Sun Fuyu scolded back.

Wen Zhihao: “....”

People of a certain CP-ing mindset might look at this and think that these two people were fighting for his favour.

If the two of them wanted to duel each other, Wen Zhihao decided he wouldn’t stop them. It would be a good combat experience for both of them.

“Be careful of the delicious growing vegetables. Please don’t fight in the middle of the farm,” Wen Zhihao said, stepping forward to pull Sun Fuyu back. “We still haven’t had breakfast yet. If you really want to fight, then do so somewhere more suitable.”

Wang Li Wei glared at Wen Zhihao. “You’re scared!”

“He’s not scared!” Sun Fuyu shouted back, though he didn’t pull away from Wen Zhihao’s hold.

Wen Zhihao looked at Old Tang and Wang Aimei. “I apologise in advance for Daoist Wang, he is a bit childish. Old Tang, Xiao Yu, let’s go have breakfast. Wang Li Wei, we’ll meet outside the demonic beasts’ enclosure in two hours.”

“What, NO WAY! What if you run away!” Wang Li Wei exhaled sharply. In a slightly calmer tone, he said, “No, I’m going to have breakfast with you. Tch, where do you eat anyway? You never go to the Banquet Hall…” Wang Li Wei sneered. “Oh, you must be too scared.”

Wen Zhihao had a faint headache. Wang Li Wei was never this wordy in the past, was he? Maybe his new mentor didn’t like speaking, and so all of Wang Li Wei’s words were spat out now. Or maybe it was because Wen Zhihao had just made the big mistake of talking to Wang Li Wei instead of immediately walking away.

Well, Wen Zhihao could rectify that right now.

“Suit yourself,” he said with a casual wave of a hand. He steered Sun Fuyu to turn their backs to Wang Li Wei. They farewelled Wang Aimei and had Old Tang lead the way back to the kitchens.

Wang Li Wei’s chest puffed up in irritation. He clenched his fists and followed them. Unlike Wen Zhihao who didn’t look back, Sun Fuyu did. Wang Li Wei sneered at him each time, and Sun Fuyu returned narrowed-eye looks.

“Stop following us!” Sun Fuyu mouthed.

“Tch,” Wang Li Wei doggedly followed them. It wasn’t as though Wen Zhihao, Sun Fuyu, and that mortal were walking particularly fast.

Soon, they approached the Banquet Hall. Wen Zhihao was walking to a small door to the side and Wang Li Wei wanted to follow but—

—He saw his friends outside the Banquet Hall, and irritatingly, they saw him. Exhaling shortly, Wang Li Wei glared at Wen Zhihao’s stupid dull-yellow outer-disciple robed back one more time, then grudgingly walked over to his friends.

His fight with Wen Zhihao was supposed to be a secret and he hadn’t told them...But at least he could brag that he had advanced to Golden Core! Wen Zhihao would never be as good as him!

Sun Fuyu was glad that Wang Li Wei didn’t join them in the kitchens. He knew how much Wen-ge liked food and he didn’t at all like the idea of Wang Li Wei stealing some of it. And since Aunty Liu was so good at cooking, what if Wang Li Wei came back and interrupted every subsequent breakfast?

Upon returning to the kitchens, Old Tang immediately told everyone what was about to happen.

Aunty Liu Jing’s brows creased with worry. “Oh, Xiao Fuyu, are you sure you can win? Here, have some more food, this will give you more energy...”

Everyone fussed around Sun Fuyu, making Sun Fuyu grow increasingly determined.

“Don’t worry, Aunties, Uncles, Wen-ge. I’ll defeat him!”

Aunty Liu sighed heavily. “Come back afterwards so that we know you are safe.”

Sun Fuyu nodded with seriousness.

 

---

 

After breakfast, Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu went to see the big cats as usual—and the new teeny-tiny kittens that had been born, though Huang Jialing didn’t let them get close to the latter without her supervision. Wen Zhihao didn’t understand why—was she scared that the two big guardian cats watching over the kittens would be violent? Nonetheless, he good-naturally left the kitten’s enclosure with Sun Fuyu when she shooed them out and went to the now-big cats’ enclosure instead.

As Sun Fuyu groomed the fur of one of the big cats, Wen Zhihao thought about the matter of Wang Li Wei. Would kitten-therapy also help Wang Li Wei? It certainly helped Zhang Wu.

Fifteen minutes before the appointed time, Wang Li Wei found his way to the demonic beasts’ enclosure. His eyes grew wide at seeing Wen Zhihao and Sun Fuyu amongst the large beasts.

How? When? What? Wang Li Wei gripped his sword. If they weren’t scared, then neither was he! He reached out for the gate.

“Fellow Daoist, what are you doing?” Cultivator Huang Jialing asked in an unimpressed voice. “Are you also Cultivator Wen’s friend? Then, by all means, head inside...”

At that moment, Wang Li Wei saw one of the demonic beasts open its mouth extremely wide right next to Wen Zhihao. He shivered, stepping back and turning his head away. “I have a meeting with Daoist Wen. I will wait for him here.”

Because he was looking away, he didn’t realise that this particular demonic beast was just yawning.

The cat patted Wen Zhihao and padded off back to its favourite sleeping spot, giving Wen Zhihao a superior look. But to Wen Zhihao, he felt that it was particularly cute! And he would like to have a nap too, but he had a fight to oversee...

 

 

 

 

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You don’t know how many times I wrote “charm/spell” instead of talisman. There shows my Harry Potter writing background LOL