The sun climbed higher in the sky, and more and more people came by the inn to eat. Mo Ran found it noisy downstairs, so he had the attendant bring the dishes he'd made up to his room.
He did invite Chu Wanning in the end. Shizun was the highest ranked, after all; Mo Ran was no emperor of the human realm right now, so he had to play by the rules.
Three bowls of steamy noodle soup sat on the square beech table. He'd made the noodles himself, smooth and chewy, much better than what you could buy outside. Thick-cut slices of beef were piled on top, along with fried sausage, fresh and tender pea shoots, plump Napa cabbage, and golden colored egg floss, the colorful ingredients artfully arranged.
But the most noteworthy thing was not the dewy greens, the generous cuts of meat, or even the abundance of ingredients, it was the broth that had been simmered on a low fire for four hours. The milky white broth had a layer of sesame chili oil on top; Mo Ran had ground the hot and numbing spices himself in a stone grinder and simmered it with the broth for a rich taste and tantalizing aroma.
He had used copious amounts of both chili oil and peppers, thinking about Shi Mei's love of spicy foods. Watching Shi Mei dig in with relish now, Mo Ran's grin stretched even wider. He stole a few glances and couldn't resist asking, "Is it good?"
Shi Mei said, "It's delicious."
Chu Wanning said nothing, still wearing a gloomy face like the heavens owed him a hundred mountains made of gold and silver.
Mo Ran was quite pleased with himself. "Then just let me know whenever you want to eat it again, I'll make it for you."
Shi Mei's eyes were watery from the spiciness when he looked up to smile at Mo Ran, expression gentle. Faced with such a beauty, if it weren't for Chu Wanning sitting on the side freezing half the room with his mere presence, it might have been difficult for Mo Ran to decide between eating the noodles in his bowl and eating Shi Mei.
Shi Mei didn't eat much of the pea shoots and sausage, but the beef and cabbage were quickly gone.
Mo Ran, who had been watching quietly from the side, reached out with his chopsticks and moved the pea shoots and sausage into his own bowl, then moved several pieces of beef from his bowl into Shi Mei's.
Sisheng Peak's disciples all ate at Mengpo Hall, often exchanging dishes with one another, so Shi Mei smiled and thought nothing of it. "A-Ran doesn't like beef?"
"Mhm, I like pea shoots."
Then he started chowing down. The tips of his ears were a little red.
Chu Wanning, expressionless, picked out the pea shoots in his bowl and tossed all of it into Mo Ran's bowl.
"I don't like pea shoots."
He also tossed all the beef in his bowl into Shi Mei's. "I also don't like beef."
Then he stared at the rest of the food in his bowl with furrowed brows, pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Shi Mei asked carefully, "Shizun… is it not to your taste?"
Chu Wanning: "..."
He didn't respond, only lowered his head and silently picked up a piece of cabbage, taking a small bite. His expression instantly grew worse and he put his chopsticks down with a 'pa'.
"Mo Weiyu, did you spill an entire jar of hot sauce into the soup?"
Mo Ran paused and looked up, a noodle still dangling from his mouth; he hadn't anticipated that the breakfast he had worked so hard on would receive such harsh criticism. He blinked at Chu Wanning, bewildered, unable to believe his own ears for a moment, before slurping down the noodle in his mouth. "Wha?"
Chu Wanning was even less courteous this time. "Is this even food for people? Is it even edible?"
Mo Ran blinked several more times before it finally clicked that this prick Chu Wanning was roasting him. He shot back indignantly, "How is it not people food?"
The space between Chu Wanning's eyebrows twitched as he remarked, "It's truly unpalatable."
Mo Ran choked. No matter what, his skills had been sneakily learned from the best of the best at the House of Drunken Jade.
"Shizun aren't you…a little too picky."
Shi Mei also piped up, "Shizun, you haven't eaten for a whole day, even if you don't like it, still try to eat some."
Chu Wanning stood up and said coldly, "I don't eat spicy foods."
Then he turned and left.
The two left at the table fell into an awkward silence. Shi Mei was dumbfounded. "Shizun doesn't eat spicy foods? How come I didn't know that…A-Ran, you also didn't know?"
"I…"
Mo Ran stared blankly for a while at the noodles that Chu Wanning had left basically untouched, then nodded.
"Mn. I didn't know."
That was a lie. Mo Ran knew that Chu Wanning couldn't eat spicy food.
It was just that he'd forgotten.
He had been tangled with this person for the greater part of his previous life, after all. He knew exactly what foods Chu Wanning liked and disliked.
But he didn't bother to keep it in mind, so he never remembered.
Chu Wanning returned to his room and lay down, still dressed. He faced the wall with his eyes wide open, unable to sleep.
He had lost a lot of blood and used too much spiritual energy. On top of that, he hadn't had a single bite to eat since yesterday, his stomach had long been empty and felt awful.
This person didn't know how to take care of himself at all. He was in a bad mood, so he simply didn't eat, as if he could fill his stomach with anger instead.
He didn't know what he was angry about. Or rather, he didn't want to know.
But in the silence, a face appeared before his unfocused eyes, lip corners curled softly into a brilliant smile, light flickering in a pair of clear black eyes, gentle with a hint of purple.
Warm and comfortable, and somewhat lazy.
Chu Wanning gripped the blanket, joints of his fingers pale from the force. He didn't want to sink into it, and closed his eyes in an attempt to escape that face and its careless laughter.
But the past surged forth even more with his eyes closed, and washed over him like a tide…
The first time he'd met Mo Ran had been in front of the Heaven-Piercing Tower on Sisheng Peak.
The sun had been fierce that day, and all twenty elders were present, talking amongst themselves in low voices.
Yuheng Elder was an exception, naturally. He wasn't so foolish as to go stand over there with the rest of them to bake in the sun. Instead, he stood under a flowering tree by himself, preoccupied with examining the flexibility of the newly-made finger claw of a black metal gauntlet on his hand.
Of course he himself had no need for such things; he was forging these claws for the lower level disciples of Sisheng Peak.
The lower cultivation realm bordered the ghost realm, and so was often dangerous. It wasn't uncommon for the lower level disciples to get injured or even lose their lives. He never said anything about it, but Chu Wanning had been trying to work out a solution; he wanted to make a weapon that was light, nimble, and easy to learn.
The others stood to the side, chattering.
"Did you hear? That long-lost nephew of the Sect Leader was barely saved from a fire. No one else survived the place burning down. If the Sect Leader had been even a step slower, the nephew probably would've turned to ash too, it was truly a stroke of luck."
"Must've been his late father protecting him from the other side. It's heartbreaking that he became separated so young, and went through so many hardships, sigh…"
"The child is named Mo Ran? Fifteen years old, right? It's time for him to receive a courtesy name then, does he have one?"
"Xuanji Elder, the child grew up in a brothel, he's lucky to even have a name, much less a courtesy name."
"I heard the Sect Leader already thought of a couple, and is just choosing amongst them now. Wonder what he's going to pick in the end."
"The Sect Leader sure does value this nephew of his."
"You don't say? Not just the Sect Leader, either, even the Madam dotes on him endlessly. Heh, probably the only person in the entire Sisheng Peak to be displeased is our very own darling of the heavens——"
"Tanlang Elder! You mustn't speak with such indiscretion!"
"Haha, my bad, I slipped! But our darling of the heavens runs wild and pays little mind to propriety, disrespects elders, and lazes about idly all day with an air of born entitlement, he truly does lack some discipline."
"Tanlang Elder, how much have you had to drink today…" The person at his side gave him a meaningful look, gesturing with his chin toward Chu Wanning who was standing a distance away, his meaning obvious.
The darling of the heavens, Xue Meng, was Chu Wanning's disciple. To say that Xue Meng lacked discipline was just an indirect insult of Chu Wanning's teachings.
This Yuheng Elder was composed and refined in appearance, as if he was above the matters of the mortal realm, and surrounded by a lofty air. But everyone knew about his volatile temperament; if anyone rubbed him the wrong way, they might as well just wash their neck clean and wait for death by whipping.
Chu Wanning heard every word of their gossip.
But he paid them no mind. He had less interest in what others had to say about him than he did in the decorative patterns on the finger claw.
Speaking of which, the finger claw was pretty good, but not quite tough enough, and might not be able to rip through the thick hide of some demons in one strike. He would try adding some dragon bone powder when he got back, that should help.
The other elders saw that Chu Wanning didn't react, so they relaxed a little and went back to their chatter.
"The Sect Leader probably summoned all of us here today in order to pick a teacher for that Mo-gongzi, huh?"
"That's strange, why doesn't the Sect Leader teach him himself?"
"Supposedly, the little nephew's cultivation nature is incompatible with the Sect Leader's cultivation method," someone mumbled. "But even then, isn't it a bit much to gather all the elders for the young master to pick and choose from?"
Lucun Elder let out a soft sigh and brushed aside his smooth, graceful long hair, bemoaning, "My humble self feels like a cheap Napa cabbage right now, laid out in the stall for little Mo-gongzi to pick."
Everyone: "......"
Could this fop please not blurt out the whole truth without a hint of finesse like this?
They waited for quite a while before the Sect Leader finally came. He walked up the thousand steps to arrive before the Heaven-Piercing Tower, a youth trailing behind him.
Chu Wanning only glanced over briefly, and didn't even bother to see clearly before looking away to continue examining his finger claw without a second glance.
Sisheng Peak's procedure for seeking apprenticeship under a teacher was well and truly unconventional. In every other sect, the teacher was high and mighty, and would rest his hand on some new disciple's head and utter, "Young man, your aptitude is satisfactory, henceforth you shall be my disciple."
The disciple wouldn't even get a chance to say "no".
Or else the teacher would wave his sleeve with a face of cold derision, and declare, "Young man, your forehead is too big, your eyes too dull, and the back of your skull protrudes too much, not the proper appearance for my sect. You and I are not fated to be, I will not accept you as my disciple."
The disciple wouldn't even get a chance to prove himself before the teacher would zoom away on his sword, hightailing it outta there faster than a dog.
Things were different here on Sisheng Peak: the teacher and disciple mutually chose one another.
What did that mean?
Sisheng Peak had twenty elders. When a new disciple entered the sect, they would first spend a period of time living alongside everyone and weighing their options before delivering a letter of intent to an elder, expressing their desire to seek apprenticeship.
If the elder accepted, then everything worked out perfectly.
If the elder declined, the disciple could continue badgering until either the elder gave in or the disciple gave up.
By all appearances, Chu Wanning was exceptionally skilled and handsome to boot, so one would expect his front yard to be filled to the brim at all hours of the day with hopeful disciples relentlessly pursuing him as a teacher. But the reality was far different.
Chu Wanning's appearance was elegant, but his temper was so bad it made people's hair stand on end. Rumor had it that when he got angry, he could whip female disciples like one would male disciples, and sink his male disciples directly into the pond. Not many people were brave enough for this kind of shizun.
Thus, Yuheng Elder's residence was quiet and lonesome.
Other than the darling of the heavens Xue Meng, and Xue Meng's close friend Shi Mei, he had never accepted any other disciples.
Everyone would rather call him a respectful "Elder" than an intimate "Shizun".
Chu Wanning wore a lofty expression and insisted that he wasn't bothered by it at all. His head was lowered as he continued to tinker with the ice cold weapon in his hands, as if he couldn't care less. Everything he designed, from the sleeve-hidden weapons to the emergency whistles, were for others. The sooner he finished, the more people might avoid suffering.
So he didn't expect it at all when Mo Ran chose him without hesitation.
At the time, his brows were furrowed as he stroked the thorns on the finger claw, pondering on how to improve them and not even paying any attention to what the Sect Leader and everyone else was saying.
Without him noticing, everything had grown quiet.
Only after having thought of a method of improvement did Chu Wanning suddenly realize that the surroundings that had been buzzing with conversation a moment ago seemed a little too quiet.
So he finally moved his gaze away from the finger claw, and looked up with some impatience and incomprehension.
That was when he saw a face.
So brilliantly lit by the sun as to be nearly dazzling.
A handsome youth, head tilted back, was looking up at him. The corners of the youth's lips were curled into a faint, lazy smile, and a pair of dimples decorated his cheeks; a bit of a marketplace's smell of smoke and fire, and a bit of guileless innocence. A pair of purple-tinted black eyes stared unblinkingly at him, filled with fervor and curiosity both.
He was new and didn't know the rules, and stood so close that it was almost impudent.
Having someone appear so suddenly right in front of him, Chu Wanning was startled and reflexively stepped backwards as if burned. The back of his head met the trunk of the tree with a thump.
The youth's eyes widened slightly. "Ah…"
Chu Wanning: "..."
The youth: "..."
Chu Wanning said, "What are you doing?"
The youth grinned. "Xianjun xianjun, I've been watching you for so long already, why won't you pay attention to me?"