The sun was rising higher, and more and more people arriving at the inn. It was getting too noisy downstairs for Mo Ran, so he asked the waiter to bring all the dishes to his room.
In the end, he invited Chu Wanning. After all, he is still his shizun. He's not the emperor of the human world right now, so he still had to follow proper etiquette rules.
There were three bowls of steaming noodle soup on the square beechwood table. These noodles weren't like the noodles being sold around town; these noodles were homemade. They were smooth and chewy, covered with thick slices of beef, fatty sausages, fresh and tender bean sprouts, plump bok choy, golden scrambled eggs. It had a lively colour and it really looked like a beautiful dish.
But the best thing about these three bowls of noodles was not the garnish, nor the large pieces of meat or rich ingredients, but the bone broth that had been simmered over four hours on a low fire, poured into the noodle bowl, a creamy white soup floating in the red sesame oil. Mo Ran took a stone bowl and examined the fresh, spicy seasoning boiled into the soup. It had a tangy aroma and a rich flavour.
He figured that Shi Mei loved spicy food, and both the red sesame oil and the spicy peppers were pretty hot. Seeing Shi Mei readily eating his meal, the curves in the corners of Mo Ran's mouth grew softer. He snuck a few glances and couldn't help but ask: "Does it taste good?"
Shi Mei said: "It's delicious."
Chu Wanning didn't say anything, his deep scowl seeming to suggest that the heavens owed him a hundred gold and silver mountains.
Mo Ran said with a smug look: "Then let me know when you want to eat. I'll cook you something."
Water pricked in Shi Mei's eyes. He raised his gaze and smiled at Mo Ran, a soft expression on his face. If it weren't for Chu Wanning, who was sitting in between him and the beauty in front of him, Mo Ran didn't know if he would eat the noodles or if he would simply devour Shi Mei instead.
Shi Mei didn't eat many bean sprouts or fatty sausages, but he inhaled the beef and bok choy.
Mo Ran, who had been quietly observing next to him, stretched out his chopsticks and moved the peas and fatty intestines into his bowl, replacing them with several pieces of beef from his own bowl.
The disciples of Life-Death Peak all ate together in the dining hall and would often trade food with each other, so Shi Mei didn't find this strange at all and smiled: "You don't like beef?"
"No, I love bean sprouts."
He snorted and ducked his head. The tips of his ears were tinted a faint red flush.
Chu Wanning blankly picked out the bean sprouts in his bowl with chopsticks and threw them all into Mo Ran's bowl.
"I don't like bean sprouts."
He threw all the beef in his bowl into Shi Mei's bowl: "I don't like beef either."
Then he frowned, staring at what was left in his bowl. He pursed his lips silently.
Shi Mei asked cautiously, "Shizun… do you not like it?"
Chu Wanning: "…"
He didn't respond. He lowered his head, silently picking up a piece of bok choy. He took a small bite and his face screwed up. With a "tsk", he neatly put down his chopsticks.
"Mo Weiyu, did you knock a jar of hot sauce into this soup?"
He hadn't expected to receive such a snarky remark about the breakfast he had worked so hard on. Mo Yan was shocked and looked up, a noodle still hanging from the corner of his mouth. He blinked at Chu Wanning innocently, confused. He must have heard him wrong so he slurped up the noodle and asked: "What?"
Chu Wanning didn't mince his words this time: "Were you trying to make something that people can actually eat? Is this edible?"
Mo Ran just blinked a few more times. He finally determined that Chu Wanning was degrading him, and he said angrily: "How is it not edible?"
Chu Wanning's eyebrows twitched, and he said sharply: "It's really hard to get down."
Mo Ran choked. This was the craft that he had picked up from Jade Wine House.
"Shizun, you're… you're too picky."
Shi Mei piped up: "Shizun, you haven't eaten anything in over a day. Even if you don't like it, you should at least eat some of it."
Chu Wanning got up and said coldly: "I don't like spicy food."
After he spoke, he turned and left.
The two people left at the table suddenly fell into an awkward silence. Shi Mei was a little surprised: "Shizun doesn't eat spicy food? How come I don't know that… A-Ran, did you know?"
"I…"
Mo Ran stared at the noodles that Chu Wanning left on the table. He had barely touched it. Internally fuming, he nodded.
"No, I didn't know."
That was a lie. Mo Ran knew Chu Wanning didn't like spicy food.
It's just that he forgot.
After all, he had been mixed up with this person for most of his life during his previous life and he knew what Chu Wanning did and didn't like to eat.
But he didn't care so he never remembered it.
When he returned to his room alone, Chu Wanning lay down, facing the wall. His eyes stayed open, unable to fall asleep.
He had lost a lot of blood and consumed a lot of spiritual energy. The few grains of rice he had eaten this morning did little to replenish his strength. In fact, his stomach was already empty and it was hard to bear.
He wasn't very good at taking care of himself. Whenever he was in a bad mood, he didn't eat it at all, almost like he thought he could fill his stomach with his rage.
He didn't know what he was mad at. Really, he didn't want to know.
However, in the silence, a face appeared faintly in front of his eyes. He had a bright smile, the corners of his mouth slightly curled, and a pair of dark, gleaming eyes that shone a somewhat gentle deep purple.
It looked soft and warm.
Chu Wanning clutched the mattress so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He was unwilling to indulge this and closed his eyes to get rid of that wantonly laughing face.
But after closing his eyes, his past became more and more turbulent, and a tidal wave of memories flooded his mind…
The first time he saw Mo Ran was in front of Life-Death Peak.
On that day, the sun was scorching, and the twenty elders were all gathered, whispering quietly to each other.
Elder Yuheng was naturally an exception. He wasn't so stupid as to willingly stand over there and bake in the sun. Instead, he hid under the blossoming tree by himself. Absentmindedly, he lifted a set of glove fingers, examining whether his newly manufactured Xuan Iron nail set was freely retractable.
Of course, he himself didn't have the need to use retractable nails. This curved iron and gold armour set was forged specifically for the low-level disciples of Life-Death Peak.
The Lower Cultivation Realm was adjacent to the Ghost Realm, and it was often dangerous. It wasn't uncommon for low-level disciples to get injured and be killed. Chu Wanning could see this happening, although he never said anything. He had been thinking hard about the solution and wanted to create a light, flexible, and easy-to-handle weapon to help.
The others were discussing something with great interest.
"Have you heard? The lord's long-lost nephew was rescued from a sea of fire. Everyone else in the building died. If the Lord arrived even a minute later, I'm afraid that his nephew would've become nothing more than a pile of ashes. What a blessing."
"It must be his father protecting him from the underworld. It's such a pity that he lived his childhood separated from his father. He has suffered so much…"
"The kid is called Mo Ran? He's fifteen years old, right? That's far too weak a name. Does he have a courtesy name?"
"Elder Xuanji, you don't know anything about this. This kid grew up in a music hall when he was young. It would be great to have a name but where would he get one in a place like that?"
"I heard that the Lord has drafted up several names for him and he's in the process of choosing one. I don't know which one he'll end up picking."
"The Lord really values his young nephew."
"Of course. Not to mention even Madam Wang is heartbroken and distressed thinking about him. Hey, I bet the only unhappy person on Life-Death Peak is probably our proud son of heaven—"
"Elder Tanlang! You can't say that kind of nonsense!"
"Haha. Sorry, sorry! But our prideful son of heaven is truly arrogant. He has no respect for his elders. He plays with chickens and dogs all day like everything should be handed to him on a silver platter. He's out of control."
"Elder Tanlang, you've had too much wine today…" The person next to him repeatedly nudged him and nodded his chin towards Chu Wanning standing in the distance. His implication couldn't have been more obvious.
Xue Meng, the proud son of heaven, was Chu Wanning's disciple. Saying that Xue Meng was out of control was essentially the same as turning around and mocking Chu Wanning's teachings.
Elder Yuheng didn't bother with the usual sluggishness and ordered teachings of immortality. His teachings were taught with an expert style, like something out of this world. But everyone knew that he had a terrible temper. If anyone accidentally pressed his buttons, they should cover their neck and wait to be beaten to death.
Chu Wanning had already heard everything they had said.
But he didn't bother to pay attention. His interest in what others said about him was probably not as strong as his interest in his nail set.
That said, the armour set was good but it wasn't resilient enough. When encountering a thick-skinned monster, they might not be able to swiftly tear through the monster's skin. He should go back and add a little keel powder. That should make it more efficient.
Seeing that Chu Wanning didn't respond, the elders breathed a sigh of relief and continued their discussion in hushed voices.
"The Lord called us here today to choose a shizun for Young Master Mo, right?"
"How strange. Why doesn't the Lord teach him himself?"
"It seems that his nephew's root foundation core isn't good for practicing the Lord's core teachings." Someone murmured. "But that wouldn't be enough to gather all the elders and let the boy pick one of us, right?"
Elder Lucun sighed quietly. He played with his elegant and soft long hair, complaining: "I feel like a cheap cabbage right now, placed on the table, waiting for Young Master Mo to pick me."
Everyone: "…"
Can this guy not just blurt out what everyone was clearly thinking?
After waiting for a while, the Lord finally arrived. He walked up a thousand steps to the base of Sky-Reaching Pagoda, a young man following behind him.
Chu Wanning only casually glanced over. Before he could take a proper look, he turned his gaze away and continued to study his nail set. He didn't bother to take a second glance.
When it came to disciples, one has to mention how nontraditional and unconventional Life-Death Peak was. In other sects, the shizun held all the power. He would touch the head of a certain new disciple and say: "Young man, I can see that you are quite wise. From now on, you are my disciple."
The disciple didn't even have a chance to say "no".
Either that or the shizun would look indifferent and contemptuous, waving his sleeves and saying: "Young man, your forehead is too high, your eyes are dull, and you have no backbone. This isn't what my disciples look like. You have no relationship with me. I won't accept you as my disciple."
The disciple had no time to prove himself before the shizun flew away with the whoosh of his sword, moving faster than the dog.
Life-Death Peak was different. The shizun and the disciple chose each other.
What does that mean?
There were twenty elders on Life-Death Peak. After being initiated, all the disciples can devote themselves to the post and interact with each other for a period of time, then express their desire to continue training under that elder.
If the elder accepts then everyone's happy.
If the elder didn't accept, the disciple can suck up and follow them around until either the elder relents or the disciple gives up.
Logically speaking, Chu Wanning had superb skills and a handsome appearance so he should have a large number of disciples crowding around to worship him as their shizun. But this wasn't the case.
Chu Wanning's face was beautiful but his temper was horrible. Rumours say that he would beat a female disciple just the same as a male disciple when he got angry. He'd even drown the male disciples in his pond. Few people had the courage to worship such a shizun.
Therefore, no one studied under Elder Yuheng.
Besides Xue Meng, the proud son of heaven, and Xue Meng's good friend Shi Mei, he hadn't accepted anyone else.
Everyone would rather respectfully call him "Elder" but they didn't want to call him "Shizun".
Chu Wanning said with a stone-cold expression that he didn't care. He bowed his head nonchalantly and continued designing his cold mecha weapons. All his arrow sleeves and martial whistles were designed for others. The sooner they were completed, the sooner more people could be spared from suffering.
So he didn't expect that Mo Ran wouldn't hesitate to pick him.
He was frowning, folding the sharp tips on the nail set, thinking about how to improve it. He didn't pay attention to what the Lord had said to everyone.
He didn't know when, but his surroundings gradually quieted down.
After thinking about how he could improve the nails, Chu Wanning suddenly realized that the chatty people around him seemed too silent.
So he finally moved his gaze away from the nail set, and with some impatience and questioning, he lifted his eyes.
He was met with a face.
It was almost dazzling in the sunlight.
It was a handsome young man looking up at him. There was a casual smile hanging off the edge of his mouth, dimples sinking into his cheeks, giving off a misleading air of innocence. A pair of blackish-purple eyes were staring at him unblinking with a mix between eagerness and curiosity.
He had just arrived and didn't understand the rules. Standing this close would be considered rude.
That person had suddenly appeared in front of him. Chu Wanning was taken aback. As if he had been burnt, he subconsciously jerked back a step. With a bang, his head hit the trunk of the tree.
The young man's eyes widened slightly: "Ahhh…"
Chu Wanning: "…"
The young man: "…"
Chu Wanning: "What are you doing?"
The young man smiled and said: "Sir, I've been looking at you for a long time. Why are you ignoring me?"