Owl

Weekly regular 2/3
Sponsored: 3 + 0.6
Thanks Jhime85!
From now on, needed kofis for a sponsored chapter will be raised to 3, reasons below!

“Yue”, he called out affectionately despite his calm face and Shi Yue walked over to give him a short hug.

“Sorry for making you worry.”

“It’s good that you’re awake”, the bird sighed. “There was so much trouble. Do you know how hard it was to get your disciple to eat?”

“I did eat”, Xie Yi tried to defend himself. Okay, he had lost several kilos, but he had eaten. Somewhat. If he remembered or was reminded.

“That calls for a good breakfast.” Shi Yue intended to walk forward when Xie Yi rushed to his side with a stubborn glare.

“Don’t walk around so much! You’re hurt!”

“Says the one… who is hurt?”, Shi Yue teased slowly. Xie Yi’s face showed he was searching for a better argument.

“I’m… still in a better state than you. Come lean on me or Xue Hua.” His lips moved forward in a pout.

The avian beast’s eyes twitched between them once before he stepped back. “I’ll go and ready the kitchen.”

And gone he was. 

Since his face was even and his voice level, Xie Yi was left behind very confused but Shi Yue noticed that for some reason, the bird wanted Shi Yue to lean on Xie Yi.

...Oh.

Wu was Mingtian. Mingtian was Xie Yi’s partner and Xue Hua’s mate.

Yeah. Okay. He could see where that was going.

Rolling his eyes to himself, Shi Yue nonetheless took the offer. “Alright, a bit then.”

Truthfully, he was quite wobbly. Even if it was only leaning on Xie Yi’s shoulder to keep walking straight, it was quite helpful. He tried to ignore the satisfied look on his disciple’s face.

Although Shi Yue wanted to make the breakfast fully by himself, no one allowed him to stand up so he did the preparation while being seated and then proceeded to order Xue Hua around. (Xie Yi would never touch his kitchen again.)

The avian prepared overly large portions on purpose. Shi Yue ate the same amount as usual but Xie Yi, who had had troubles eating, wolfed down everything.

“Xu Yan and the rest are on their way back home”, he said between two bites. “Huo Cheng is sending them part of the way.”

“You met him?”, Shi Yue asked and placed his empty bowl to the side.

“Yeah”, Xie Yi confirmed.

“Did he cause you any trouble?” Shi Yue felt a bit annoyed at the thought of the prince messing around with Xie Yi.

The youth stopped and considered it for a second. “Not more than other people.”

Shi Yue’s eyebrows lowered. “Other… people?”

The young man happily narrated. How they met the group from the other sect, how he acted timid so that people would leave him alone, what they did in the days they were there.

By the end of it, Shi Yue had placed his head into his hands. Xu Yan needed a pay-raise. Not that he was getting paid, but by now, he deserved it.

The bathhouse was irritating him especially much for some reason.

“You’re not allowed to go take baths with others again”, Shi Yue grimly ordered.

Xie Yi tilted his head. “Why?”

“Because I’m saying so.”

“Okay… But what do I do about the dorm?” He wouldn’t get near a bathhouse that often anyway, but the dorms had a shared bath. Not a bathhouse, but a washing station, you could say.

“Wash up here”, Shi Yue growled.

He knew what a fully matured Xie Yi looked like and judging from the difference between his current state and that, there was still going to be a jump in how good he looked.

He could easily tolerate Xu Yan seeing his disciple like that, but not any random person.

“Sure”, the black-haired young man said with a nonchalant shrug. Not that he cared either way and a personal bath was nicer.

“Xie Yi, I generally agree that you acting timid was an easier way out of avoiding troubles but from now on, you shouldn’t do it again. People will believe they can do whatever you want.” Shi Yue closed his eyes. If others took liberties with Xie Yi, they were in grave danger.

Alright, Xie Yi had a long time of habits built up. He had never fought without the intention to kill unless it was against Shi Yue himself and he was used to the way the Demonic Sect fought.

Deciding on something, Shi Yue determinedly raised his head. “Once both of us are back to good health, we will resume training. Martial arts, specifically.”

“I’m really bad with those”, Xie Yi whined and spread out over the table.

“Not like before”, his master declared. “You’re strong enough as is so we will see if we cannot rework your… natural dispositions. Although unorthodox, I believe we can find a temporary way for you to train by not following a specific manual.”

“Can I train with Xiao Jin at least?”, Xie Yi begged with huge eyes.

“You’ll mostly train with me”, Shi Yue said with a proud look. If they did that, Xie Yi would have to truly watch his movements as he would bleed, unlike the paper-man.

Xie Yi froze. His expression turned into one of gaping and even Xue Hua stopped cleaning up to look surprised.

“Unhappy?”, Shi Yue asked his disciple with an inquiring gaze.

“Not at all!” Xie Yi jumped up from the chair. Excited, he was almost trembling. “Really? You’ll spar with me? You’ll fight with me directly?”

Shi Yue twitched involuntarily at the display of joy. Was it really that special to spar against him?

Hmm, maybe he might have said something like that he would only spar against people who were worth it to exchange pointers in his last life…?

He had said that to the disciples who had wanted to spar against him to reject them in a friendly way. He hardly ever sparred with anyone and only gave pointers from the side. It had been an excuse and Xie Yi hadn’t even been around but who knew where the guy had hidden at times he didn’t expect. He might have heard it.

“As long as you listen well to what I say.”

The youth went right back to sitting orderly on his chair with a straight back and hands on his lap. He nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes. I will. Whatever you say, Master.”

“What else do I need to plan”, Shi Yue said to himself. He closed his eyes and hummed lightly.

“You’re grounded for now. Not allowed to leave the sect for a while.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t wander around too much in the lower grounds… Can’t believe I’m saying this. Anyway, while the atmosphere is tense, avoid the other disciples and teachers.”

“Un.” 

“Wait until you’re fully healed before you resume your training.”

“Will do.”

Shi Yue paused and frowned. Uhm, actually… He kind of wanted to tell Xie Yi to not go around sneakily killing Yao Ming. But the guy was living until now so Xie Yi should not be too furious.

Xie Yi was waiting peacefully for more instructions. The sight of it had been normal a while ago, but now, with his memories fully returned, it was embarrassing.

“Let me check up on your core”, Shi Yue heard himself say while stretching out his hand. It was pure curiosity on how Xie Yi would react.

The youth flinched and lowered his head. He cowered back into the chair.

“I… don’t want to. I’m sorry, don’t get mad, please?”, he asked quietly and with upturned eyes. He truly did look dejected.

“Do you have a good reason for rejecting?”

“Yes”, the other whispered. “But I can’t explain.”

“I’ll trust your judgement. Come to me if you notice anything wrong, though. Don’t do everything on your own.” Shi Yue’s fixed his violet eyes on Xie Yi and said the words sternly.

It was important that Xie Yi did rely on him. The more he went after the Demonic Sect, the harder it would be to hide his strength.

Shi Yue hoped that maybe he could understand that people would help you even if you couldn’t always tell them the reason why you needed help in the first place.

Besides, he was more than willing to help avoid such a monstrous talent turn to the dark side again.

Xie Yi exhaled visibly.

“For now, the two of us must make sure to allow our bodies to heal”, Shi Yue repeated again, a bit worried that Xie Yi might forget. “Are your marks painful? They are poisoned, are they not?”

Xie Yi touched the red line on his face. It did hurt. Constantly, even. A lot. But he knew that the amount of painkillers he would have to take would knock him out and wailing wouldn’t change it.

“It hurts, but it’s fine.”

“It will leave a scar”, Xue Hua commented from the side.

“I don’t mind that. It’s not like I need to have flawless skin and it’s not my first scar either.”

“If it heals well, it won’t be more than a thin, discoloured line. It won’t even stand out too much. Cultivators will always end with marks that won’t vanish”, Shi Yue said.

Owl

Poll for the next drawing I'd get into commission :) Money for one more!
Also, thing I gotta do is set up the sponsored chapter for 3kofis a chapter. Reason is, we are starting to get into the latter parts of the story... the latter half or third, i cant really say, but either way, now its going to get complicated. i need more planning and writing is going to slow down, so i hope you will all understand that i'm raising the 'price'. well, either way, the regular is still 3 chapters a week :) i'm not planning on lowering that again unless reality jumps at my throat, which can happen....
so far, 99.999% of you are the sweetest, non-complaining reader base ive never expected to get and i'm very happy about that. honestly, i wouldnt be able to keep on writing something this long without it (ive got an attention span of a couple of days, so this is pretty amazing for me)
once the story is finished writing, btw, ill raise it to daily chapters. but thats still a while to go!

Having fun with characters below the spoiler

Spoiler

GWD characters be like-
MingMing *hugging Xue Hua and carrying Xie Yi under his other arm*: "Don't talk to me or my wife or my little brother ever again! I'll fucking eat you!"

*Corpses everywhere*
Xie Yi: ":)"
Shi Yue: "No."

Xue Hua: "I am a calm person. Stress does not help anyone. As long as your thoughts are clear-"
MingMing: *waving from across the room and smiling*
Xue Hua: *internal screaming*

MingMing: "My little brother is the cutest"
Xie Yi: *carries in a corpse by its hair*
Xie Yi: "Where do I put that so that it doesn't reek"
MingMing: "Leave it here. I'll bury it in the backyard for you. Go wash your hands before you eat, okay?"
Xie Yi: "Okay." *leaves room*
MingMing: "Look at him. He's adorable"

Nie *looking at Mingtian*: "Son."
*Mingtian hugging Xie Yi tightly*
Nie: "...Second son, I guess."

Shi Yue: "Stop seducing me"
Xie Yi: "I'm not"
Shi Yue: "Yes you are"
Xie Yi: "??? What am I doing?"
Shi Yue: "You're lying on my bed without any clothes"
Xie Yi: "Oh"

Xie Yi *pointing at MingMing*: "Elder brother"
Xie Yi *pointing at Xue Hua*: "Uhh Brother-in-law, mostly"
Xie Yi *pointing at Ying Hua*: "...Brother-in-law's sister and... Daughter...in-law... and Master's sword spirit...?"
Xie Yi *pointing at Shi Yue*: "..........."
Xie Yi *breathes in*
Shi Yue: "Stop. Stop making this complicated."

Xie Yi *to Mingtian*: "So what do you call Xue Hua?"
MingMing: "Just by name"
Xie Yi: "And you MingMing?"
Xue Hua: "By..."
Xue Hua *looks at Shi Yue staring over*: "........ Husband."
Xie Yi: "Oh. Okay. Good to know"
MingMing: *glaring*
Shi Yue: *sighs in relief*

Xue Hua: "Do you not mind Yue marrying a man"
Ying Hua: "I like everything that stresses him."
(Far in the distance, Shi Yue: "Ah Yi, stop burning my kitchen down!!")

Owl *crying at character*: "I want to include you already!!!"
Character: "... :<"
Owl: "I can't!!! It makes no sense yet!!!!!!"
Character: "............... Q_Q"
Owl: "Stop looking at me like that"
-The pains of being the one who writes the story.

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