Xie Yi looked at his master’s doting eyes for a few seconds before tugging at his sleeve again.

“Yes?”

“Can I get a kiss?”

Shi Yue debated if Xie Yi was actively seducing him but decided that this thought was wishful thinking. Anyway, his little wife (Good lord. Xie Yi had really raised himself into his wife.) asked for a kiss, and a kiss he would get.

Xie Yi was quite pleased with the situation. Getting kisses was very easy, so he was satisfied with that.

“You can just kiss me when we are alone”, Shi Yue mumbled against his lips.

Xie Yi barely stopped himself from scraping his teeth over Shi Yue’s lips in complaint at the sudden stop. He couldn’t bite his lover, but truthfully, his teeth felt quite itchy at the sight of the narrow but soft lips.

“Xie Yi?”

Uhm, maybe it wouldn’t be an issue? As long as he didn’t bite hard. Probably?

Shi Yue was about to ask what was causing Xie Yi to be so dazed when the other tightened his hold on Shi Yue’s robes and softly nibbled on the man’s lips. The varying strength made it quite clear that Xie Yi wasn’t sure how much was allowed.

Anyway, Shi Yue didn’t mind teaching him. His head went blank at the adorable and unintended seduction.

Xie Yi half expected to be scolded for biting, but he didn’t expect Shi Yue to press tighter against him. He gave a small hiccup when he felt something intrude his mouth and almost instinctively bit down but stopped himself.¹A/N: And here we see that Shi Yue's worry wasn't that unrealistic.

He narrowed his eyes, concentrating on what Shi Yue was doing.

Shi Yue’s tongue moved over his lower lip and through the gap into his mouth. It brushed against his, an unfamiliar and tingling feeling.

Xie Yi thought he liked it. He reached his arms up, hooking them around Shi Yue’s neck and keeping the man close while slowly trying to mimic what Shi Yue was doing. According to the heated response, he shouldn’t have been too far off.

Xie Yi did not know when or how to breathe - his brain was turning weirdly sluggish at the kiss - so he stopped breathing altogether for a while.

He dimly remembered seeing people like this before. He hadn’t understood why they would do such a troublesome thing, but now he was convinced. Although weird in concept, it felt nice.

Shi Yue returned the nibble on his lips, sometimes softly sucking on the sensitive skin.

When they parted, Xie Yi dazedly licked over his swollen lower lip and remembered to breathe again.

“What were we talking about again?” Shi Yue’s voice had a slightly hoarse edge that sent a shudder down Xie Yi’s spine. “I forgot.”

“The dead Grandmaster.”

“Right…” The white-haired man turned his face away from the plump pair of lips that invited him for another bite. “We will have to bury your storage ring under my house. The natural energy around it should hide its existence.”

“Why?”

“So that no one ever finds the evidence, of course. Besides, with Nie sitting in my basement, I believe it is the safest place to hide something right now.” Shi Yue pursed his lips and continued to stare at the white wall. “The body is pretty much gone… But people will still notice he isn’t around anymore.”

“How annoying”, Xie Yi complained. “People didn’t care too much if I killed a Grandmaster before.”

“...You killed too many high-levelled cultivators for anyone to take note of a specific one anymore.”

Realizing that the statement was true, Xie Yi could merely shrug. He slowly and unwillingly parted from Shi Yue, well aware that the other wouldn’t stay in his room for much longer.

Feeling the warmth leave his body, Shi Yue ended up looking at Xie Yi again and almost reflexively cupped the young man’s face in his hands. “We will leave soon. Try not to stand out as much as possible.”

...Even though Xie Yi stood out a lot by nature.

Xie Yi gave his best to come up with the ideal, non-suspicious behaviour. He had experience acting innocent already, so he decided to alter it a bit.

The result was a perfect disciple. He followed his master at the heel, listened quietly, sometimes gave comments or asked questions, and tried hard to not offend anyone. (He still did, but not too badly.)

Nearly every day, the sect leader came to talk to them about any changes in plans or how things were going. It was decided that Shi Yue and Xie Yi would set out in the coming days and no one complained.

Shi Yue’s eyelid twitched. He wasn’t so lucky that he believed they’d be able to leave without any issues, but he hoped for it nonetheless.

Neither Shi Yue nor Xie Yi were overly surprised when the cultivator who had disliked both of them from the start stormed in on them eating in the canteen, dragging the sect leader behind him.

“It must have been them!” The man’s shouts were half shrieks. Xie Yi rubbed his ears, reminded of some women from his hometown who always shrieked shrilly like him. “You have to investigate, sect leader!”

Shi Yue placed his chopsticks down and calmly stood up, forcing a smile despite being rudely pointed at. “May I ask what’s the matter?”

“Circumstantial clues he's getting hung up on over”, the sect leader sighed, visibly not too perturbed. “I apologize for disturbing you during your meal.”

Xie Yi pursed his lips, wondering if he should stand up too, but Shi Yue gave him a small wave with his hand behind his back and he kept staying seated with a slightly lowered head while Shi Yue took place again.

“Could the two of you accompany us for a moment? I believe this isn’t the most ideal place to-”

“You murdered Grandmaster Zhu!”

The whole room fell quiet in an instant. The sect leader’s face twisted, irritated at the cultivator ignoring him and running off his mouth about a topic that certainly had to be discussed in peace.

The cultivator’s face was red with agitation. He was heaving, his face an expression of righteous fury.

Shi Yue pointedly raised an eyebrow. Xie Yi mostly watched his master, not missing any change on the Grandmaster’s face or body language.

“I can see that you are agitated. Could we start at the beginning, please? I am not even sure what you are talking about, something happened with the patriarch of the Zhu family?” Shi Yue spoke as if he was talking to an unruly child. Going by age, the man in front of them was indeed younger. He threw a glance at the sect leader and gave him half a smile. “We have no corpse to hide, don’t worry about us. If he wishes to solve the issue right here, we won’t be the ones to complain.”

The sect leader gave him a slow nod. The resignation in his eyes was quickly hidden - sect leaders always had to act as if everything was under control. A whole sect could panic at the slightest change and usually a sect’s older cultivators would help in upholding that steady calmness.

This one clearly wasn’t part of the helpful group.

“Don’t try to play games with me! Grandmaster Zhu is gone, you killed him!”

“You mean to tell me that you lost contact with Grandmaster Zhu?” Shi Yue tilted his head in mild confusion.

Xie Yi was shocked. He hadn’t been aware that Shi Yue could lie so naturally that even he did not find a single ripple in the violet eyes. Xie Yi did not hide it and allowed the confusion and surprise to surface, essentially creating a very honest expression.

Shi Yue was doing nothing else. He wasn’t planning on lying or acting a lot. He was simply going to direct his attention and reaction to things others would not expect.

Indeed, the patriarch was dead. But he had been in contact with the man before him? That was very surprising.

“Are you sure he is gone? He is a Grandmaster, he would not inform you of his whereabouts, correct?”

“He was here!” The man was fuming. It was clear he wanted to convince his sect leader, but he wasn’t the most intelligent person. “If he was still alive, he would have contacted me!”

Shi Yue turned to the sect leader with a soft, suspicious frown. “Were you aware of Grandmaster Zhu being around your sect?”

The sect leader’s face darkened. He did not like the Grandmaster of the Zhu family either, and hearing about a strong cultivator sneaking around his sect made him unhappy. “Not at all.”

“He-”

Shi Yue interrupted the man. “What was he doing here? First things first, that should be solved.”

The man uncomfortably fidgeted. “How would I know?! Anyway, he was here, but now he is gone and all that’s left is a destroyed corner of the forest and blood!”

Shi Yue paused. His eyes widened. “You mean to tell me that you are accusing me of killing another Grandmaster, simply because of some blood? Don’t you know what kind of devastation would have been left behind if I had truly fought him?”

“You must have tricked him! You and that disciple of yours! That child must have distracted him while you attacked from hiding!”

Shi Yue stopped himself from clicking his tongue. No surprise that this cultivator was still on Grandmaster Zhu’s side - he was an idiot.