The day of his weekly “date” with Sun Fuyu arrived once again. Wen Zhihao first went to the usual mortal town, but he didn’t see Zhou Sheng around. (Senior Lin was still following him.)

Incidentally, the doctor in the town came out to greet Wen Zhihao and gave him a letter.

“Truly mysterious that a letter addressed to the Master Cultivator appeared on my desk!” the doctor said, a little nervously. “Rest assured that it is untouched.”

“Then I thank you for sending it to me,” Wen Zhihao said, taking the letter. He opened it on the spot. The letter was made of ordinary paper, with the simple words: Cannot meet this week.

Hmm, there was only one mysterious person who he was supposed to meet, Zhou Sheng. Wen Zhihao kept the letter—it was nice scrap paper—and thanked the doctor again. He’ll just have to give the “bribe” talismans to Zhou Sheng next time.

Not many people wanted to buy things from him today (unsurprisingly, he had saturated the market), so Wen Zhihao went to see Old Third.

Old Third’s face was warm and bright as he welcomed Wen Zhihao into his house.

“Here are your brushes, Master Cultivator!” Old Third presented a lovely wooden box, inside which nestled five brush pens, each with a slightly different style, with inlaid decorations across the brush body.

“Old Third, these look very good,” Wen Zhihao praised. They literally looked like a professional made them. He closed the box and placed it in his spatial ring.

“This is all due to Master Cultivator Wen’s genius,” Old Third said humbly.

Wen Zhihao smiled sheepishly. How was it genius? He just copied some things from his life back on earth. “If Old Third wants to innovate further, it is possible to replace the brush tip with a thin, flexible piece of metal shaped a little like a brush tip. I imagine gold would be quite popular,” Wen Zhihao suggested.

Old Third nodded. “I understand, Master Cultivator.” His expression became a little cautious. “I will not start selling the new brushes until I have sufficient stock, so your free school cannot be built yet.”

Wen Zhihao shrugged one shoulder. “There’s no rush, go at the pace you’re comfortable with.”

After thanking Old Third again, Wen Zhihao decided to fly to another town a bit further away to sell his little glowing flowers and talismans.

By the time he was done, the sun’s rays had become quite hot, so Wen Zhihao wanted to find some shade to rest in before flying back. Except all the tree shade was taken up by locals…

“Parasols¹ for sale! Bamboo, paper, silk parasols for sale! Good to protect your skin from the sun! Look younger! Elegant, a must have for women!”

Wen Zhihao’s lips twitched slightly at the sales pitch the group of teenage girls were spouting. But a parasol was exactly what he needed, how convenient! Wen Zhihao went over and decided to buy two red oiled-paper parasols, placing one in his spatial ring.

The girls grinned brightly as they made the sale. “Thanking the Master Cultivator!” they chorused.

“Thank you for the beautiful parasols, you must have all worked hard.”

The girls became even happier. “En!”

After the girls moved on to sell more parasols to others—having a master cultivator buy some was a great endorsement—Wen Zhihao placed an air-cooling talisman on the underside of the parasol.

Ahh, very good. Now, not only did he have moveable shade, but he also had a cool breeze!

 

---

 

By the evening, Lin Yijun’s presence disappeared. Since Wen Zhihao had time, he went directly to Senior Cultivator Liu Zhongmin’s quarters and waited outside.

Not too long after, Sun Fuyu hurried out. He staggered to stop when he saw Wen Zhihao.

“Wen-ge, you’re here!” Sun Fuyu’s eyes shone as he basically skipped/floated to Wen Zhihao’s side. “What are we doing today?”

“Your Wen-ge found a restaurant that plays good music,” Wen Zhihao said. Even though it wasn’t officially a date, Wen Zhihao felt that Sun Fuyu would like it.

Sun Fuyu smiled. “Let’s go.”

Wen Zhihao took Sun Fuyu to the town where he had bought the parasols earlier that day.

The restaurant was not as fancy as the one that Sun Fuyu had taken Wen Zhihao on his birthday, but it was still quite refined. A band of women sat near the front playing traditional Chinese music while patrons spoke in quiet tones. Some of the people seemed to recognise Wen Zhihao.

“Oh, is it that Master Cultivator from earlier?”

“I bought a shining flower from him!”

“He bought one of the parasols I help make!”

“Who is that with him?”

“That other master cultivator is so handsome…”

The different tables were separated by latticed partitions, such that music could be heard but the view was slightly blocked.

Sun Fuyu sat down opposite his Wen-ge, feeling a little proud and smug as he heard all the whispers about himself and his ge.

The waiter who came was very polite. Wen Zhihao ordered a number of small dishes, along with some tea. Mindful that they were among non-cultivators, they didn’t talk much, and instead listened to the music.

“Does Wen-ge like music a lot?” Sun Fuyu asked. If he did, then Sun Fuyu would learn!

Wen Zhihao shrugged lightly. “At times. Is there a sect that cultivates through music?”

Sun Fuyu nodded. “Yes! To the southwest, there is the Gentle Breeze Sect that is known for its beautiful tiered gardens and musical cultivators. Many musical cultivators play a pipa² or a dizi³, though there are some cultivators who use special floating guqin⁴ and guzheng⁵...”

“I see.” Listening to the ancient-styled music, Wen Zhihao missed modern music. He somehow doubted that there was a rock music cultivator at the Gentle Breeze Sect…

Sun Fuyu noticed Wen Zhihao’s little amused smile. “Wen-ge, what are you thinking of?”

Wen Zhihao’s smile grew a little larger. “Thinking if there was a drum musical cultivator. Playing such an instrument would suit battle very much.”

“Or a suona!⁶” Sun Fuyu thought of that loud wind instrument. “And cymbals and gongs. That would scare away many malicious demons.”

“And many people too.”

Sun Fuyu grinned. “Umm,” he agreed.

 

---

 

After they finished eating and paid, the two leisurely walked through the town and to its outskirts. Under the dim light from the nightsky, the crops of farmland fields swayed lightly in the wind.

Sun Fuyu glanced at Wen Zhihao. He almost reached out for Wen Zhihao’s hand more than once, but Wen Zhihao seemed occupied.

“Let’s go back to the forest by the sect,” Wen Zhihao said. It was long overdue...

Sun Fuyu pulled his hands closer to himself. “Okay.”

They flew back to their usual camping spot.

Recently, the area of the camping spot and other places Wen Zhihao liked to visit had new flower blooms, even though all the flowers had already bloomed a month or two ago. These new flowers also had more qi than usual.

But Wen Zhihao didn’t think long about how they had bloomed again though: the important part was that the scent of the flowers and the greenery of the forest was a lot more sweet and relaxing, and the place itself was private.

It was warm enough for the two of them that Wen Zhihao didn’t start a fire. Instead he only took out some bedding to sit on and some glowing stones to gently light their surroundings.

“Is Wen-ge sad?” Sun Fuyu said with good perception.

Wen Zhihao shook his head. “Not sad. Perhaps nostalgic.”

Sun Fuyu’s brows creased lightly. Nostalgic of the past? “Is it your...family?”

At the word “family”, Wen Zhihao felt even more guilty.

“If you don’t like your family too, then don’t worry. Wen-ge is very important to me!”

“Xiao Yu is important to me too.”

Wen Zhihao sighed lightly.

Reincarnation in this xianxia world was a known concept (see Lin Yijun), and even possession was something that wasn’t unknown. But transmigration? How should he say this?

Finally, Wen Zhihao asked, “Xiao Yu, do you believe in other worlds?”

 

 

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Being an evil author is SUCH FUN 😎

 

Also, I feel like some of you are a bit thirsty….so let me give you a more “normal” xianxia rec! One of the few xianxia that I’ve actually finished reading (🙈🙈🙈 ) and liked a lot is Heavenly Soul by crimson_carnation !!