Their training began without delay. Mo Ran liked feather-gathering the most —after all, it's not like he actually expected to learn much from these losers that he had already trounced thoroughly in the last life—having the funds to indulge with was where it's at.
Every day before the break of dawn, they would go to the Ancestral Abyss to loot golden feathers. Next up was meditation in the ZhuRong Cave to refine cultivation by training their inner spiritual energy against the burning Yang energy of the cave. And four hours after that was demon suppression practice with the feathered tribe.
Another four hours of that, and then they would go to Asura Arena to engage in practice matches against one another.
And finally, in the evening, before the night fell, Miss Eighteen would lecture on "The Demon Compendium" and "Art of Exorcism" at the Stargazing Cliffs of the Peach Blossom Springs.
Of course Mo Ran's favorite time of day was the nightly lecture at the Stargazing Cliffs, because that was the only lesson attended by cultivators in all three specialized divisions.
He knew that Shi Mei wasn't great at footwork, and worried if he had enough to eat, so he made sure to give Shi Mei half of his harvested feathers every day.
But outside of that, he hardly even had any chance to interact with Shi Mei.
Instead, he spent every day with Chu Wanning, the two gradually becoming inseparable.
During this span of time, they could often be seen together, day in and day out, cloudy and sunny, with Chu Wanning sitting on the railing of a bridge playing a tune on a leaf, and Mo ran sitting next to him, cheek propped up in one hand.
Or, sometimes, Chu Wanning would be feeding fish by the river, and Mo Ran would stand to the side holding an umbrella, watching the koi fish leap, golden scales glimmering against waters of clear jade.
When it rained at the Peach Blossom Springs, Mo Ran would hold Chu Wanning's hand while they walked along a limestone footpath, its stones cracked from age, an oil paper umbrella held evenly above the two of them.
If the rainwater began to collect on the ground, Mo Ran would pick up his little shidi and carry him on his back, and the little guy would hold quietly onto his shoulders as the drops of rain pitter-pattered all around them.
And if the close contact got to be a bit too warm and sweat started to bead on his forehead, the wordless shidi on his back would reach out and wipe his sweat for him with a handkerchief. The handkerchief was a plain white, with a haitang flower sewn on a corner. Mo Ran kept feeling like it looked familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before, but the careless thought fleeted across and was lost, like the drizzle of rain falling into a deep pond.
One day, Chu Wanning was resting in the courtyard when Mo Ran undid his braid on a whim and tied his hair up into a high ponytail instead. He was halfway through brushing his hair when Ye Wangxi walked in holding his left shoulder,
expression gloomy.
Mo Ran, ever observant, raised his eyebrows slightly: "Did Ye-xiong get injured?" "En." Ye Wangxi paused, then furrowed his brows, "It's nothing, just got grazed in a fight. But that guy was truly such a depraved lecher, how despicable!" "..." Mo Ran sputtered in disbelief: "Did you get groped?" Ye Wangxi glared daggers at him, and said, coldly: "What exactly are you thinking about." "Hahaha, just kidding." Mo Ran laughed awkwardly, but couldn't resist the curiosity, "Who was it though?" Ye Wangxi replied: "Who else could it be but that flirt from Kunlun Taxue Palace."
Mo Ran let out an "ah" at these words, thinking: Could it be that guy?
Recently, he often came across female disciples at the Peach Blossom Springs whispering amongst themselves, "da-shixiong" this, "da-shixiong" that. It was one thing for the younger ones, but just yesterday he saw a forty, maybe fifty-some year old female cultivator in hysterics by the flower bushes, muttering with distant eyes: "Not a single man in this world could even hope to hold a candle to da-shixiong... if only he would look my way, speak to me, I'd willingly go to hell with no regrets." Mo Ran had lost it right there and burst out laughing at the lovelorn display.
He had a sneaking suspicion as to whom this "da-shixiong" might be, but the Peach Blossom Springs was full of cultivators who barely even interacted, so he had never seen this person despite hearing his name mentioned time and again,
and he knew enough shame to not go inserting himself into the gossip of female disciples, so he couldn't be sure.
"I was having a drink at the LingHu Tavern in the western market," Ye Wangxi said, "That bastard happened to be there too, with a girl in each arm. It was depraved, but that's their choice and none of my business, so I couldn't exactly say anything." Mo Ran agreed: "Makes sense." "But then, a female Guyue'ye disciple ran in, looking around with an anxious expression, clearly looking for someone." Mo Ran laughed: "Let me guess, she was looking for that 'da-shixiong'?" "You've heard of this da-shixiong too?" "Haha, well, I mean, if even an upstanding individual like you has heard tell of his philandering ways, how could a gossipy person like myself not know?" Ye Wangxi shot him a wordless glance, then continued: "That da-shixiong is truly a piece of work. Turns out, the Guyue'ye girl came looking because he had exchanged tokens of affection with her some days ago, saying he'll be her cultivation partner and stay by her side forever." Mo Ran laughed again: "Yeah that's bullshit. I bet da-shixiong has like seventeen copies of that 'token of affection', one for every girl he's after.
Probably spouts the same pledge of undying love word for word too." Chu Wanning had been listening quietly, but now he glanced at Mo Ran and said, disgruntled: "Of course you would know." But who would have thought that Ye Wangxi would take Mo Ran's side: "Moxiong has the right of it, the truth is exactly so. That girl was a secret admirer of da-shixiong's to start with, so she took him at his word and gave her virginity to him that very night." Mo Ran hurriedly covered Chu Wanning's ears with an "aiyo." Chu Wanning, unfazed: "What are you doing?" "Little ones can't listen to this, it's bad for your cultivation." Chu Wanning: "..." Mo Ran made sure that Chu Wanning's ears were firmly covered, then immediately asked, with sparkles in his eyes: "And then?" Ye Wangxi was a respectable individual; he had no idea that Mo Ran, the rascal, was listening to his recount of righteous indignation like he would some trashy romance, so he replied with an air of integrity: "What do you think? Dashixiong denied it, of course, he didn't even want to give her the time of day and have some words at least. That girl took out the sword tassel he gave her as token, but didn't expect the two on da-shixiong's arms to each pull out their own,
saying that he gives one to every friend, that it wasn't something special for a cultivation partner." "Tsk tsk, that's shameless all right." "Right?" Ye Wangxi said, "I couldn't just sit and watch, so I went over to have a word with him." His expression shifted slightly, and there was a pause before he continued:
"The talk went nowhere, so we got in a fight instead." Mo Ran gave a smile: "I see." But he was actually thinking: That's probably not the whole story. If this "dashixiong" was indeed the person that he thought he was, then based on his personality, he definitely wouldn't get in a fight with someone over something like this. Ye Wangxi had probably omitted something out of embarrassment.
But since Ye Wangxi didn't want to say it, Mo Ran didn't press the issue,
changing the topic instead: "That da-shixiong must be pretty good in a fight then,
I can't imagine just any random person being able to land a hit on Ye-xiong." Which was evidently the wrong thing to say, as it only seemed to make Ye Wangxi even madder, anger flickering like a wildfire in those dark eyes.
"Pretty good? Yeah right." Ye Wangxi said with indignation, "He himself can't get any more mediocre, the women did all the fighting for him——what a goodfor-nothing!" "Ah? Hahahahaha." At these words, Mo Ran took a closer look at Ye Wangxi to find that, aside from the sword wound on his shoulder, there were a couple of bloody scratches on his cheek that were clearly from a woman's nails, and almost fell over laughing, "Da-shixiong sure does live up to his reputation,
hahahaha." Chu Wanning said nothing. He seemed to have been pondering something ever since Ye Wangxi said "the talk went nowhere, so we got in a fight instead." He waited until Ye Wangxi left to go bandage his wounds in his room before saying: "Mo Ran." Mo Ran bopped his head: "Call me shixiong." "..." Chu Wanning continued, "This da-shixiong, is it Mei Hanxue?" Mo Ran said with a grin: "That's what I think." Chu Wanning fell silent again, deep in thought.
Then, as if suddenly coming to a realization, his eyes opened wide: "Could it be that Ye Wangxi got——" "Shh! Quiet!" Mo Ran raised a finger to his lips in a hushing gesture, then crouched down to Chu Wanning's height, smiling, "Aren't you a little too young to be thinking about that stuff?" "...I've long heard that this Mei Hanxue person is very...unreliable, that he's done all sorts of preposterous things, but to think that he'd dare to have a go at even a disciple of Rufeng Sect..." Mo Ran laughed: "Hahaha, unreliable is one way to put it. But anyway, let's stay out of other people's business. Here, let shixiong finish putting your hair up.
I saw a pretty hair clasp while I was out at west street earlier, and it wasn't too pricey either, so I grabbed it. Let's have you try it on."
Just like how Mo Ran didn't like Chu Wanning's tastes, Chu Wanning was also less than impressed with Mo Ran's tastes.
Chu Wanning stared silently at that overly vibrant and honestly gaudy hair clasp decorated with golden orchids and butterflies: "...Are you sure that's for me?" "Yup! Little kids should wear lively colors like gold and red." Chu Wanning: "..." He really didn't want it, but thinking about it again, this seems to be the first time that Mo Ran's ever gifted him something, so he closed his mouth and said nothing, face full of gloom as Mo Ran fastened the clasp to his ponytail. The golden orchids and butterflies glimmered garishly against his long, inky hair.
Chu Wanning lowered his lashes.
He suddenly felt that this wasn't bad.
This kind of color, this kind of Mo Ran, this kind of himself. If he was in his normal form, none of this would have happened.
It was as if the butterflies had come from a dream.
The clouds overhead shifted and colored as sun and moon chased one another across the sky.
Half a year of training at the Peach Blossom Springs flew by in the blink of an eye.
Miss Eighteen had said that they would be tested at the half year mark to gauge their progress.
"This will be your first test since coming here." Eighteen announced gracefully to the assembly, "The content of the test will differ depending on your division, with three different disaster scenarios. Those of you in the defense division will enter the 'Domain of Blood River', those in the healing division will enter the 'Domain of Great Sorrows', and those in the attack division will enter the 'Domain of Fiends.'" "Each of the three scenarios is an illusory realm that has been reconstructed using memories of the ghost realm invasion from hundreds of years ago. You will not be any danger while inside, and you will be returned here once you have resolved the crisis therein." "Up to two people can enter the illusory realm at a time. In other words, you can challenge it alone, or invite one other person to go together. As for the order of testing, that will be announced by the envoys anon." The assembly was dismissed, and the tests began. Mo Ran didn't know how things were going over at the defense and healing divisions, but for the attack division at least, half a dozen people have already gone through it, and all did pretty well, so it seemed the test probably wasn't too hard.
Ten days later, it was Mo Ran's turn.
Eighteen was the one in charge of the attack division. She smiled and asked:
"Will Mo-xianjun[3] be going with a partner?" Mo Ran thought about it: "If I choose someone to go along with me, would they then be exempt from having to go through the test again?" "Of course." "Then I'll bring my shidi." Mo Ran pointed at Chu Wanning, "He's still young,
I'll worry if he goes at it alone." The moon hung bright overhead as they followed Eighteen to a pitch-black cave, its entrance covered with a thin layer of reddish-gold mist.
Eighteen said: "Please listen well—the scene within the Domain of Fiends is that of the calamity from two hundred years ago, the first breakage of the ghost realm barrier. At that time, because the barrier wasn't able to be repaired in time,
masses of vengeful ghosts and malicious spirits escaped into the human realm and slaughtered countless living beings. This illusory realm is an emulation based on the memories of a survivor from Lin'an back then. Stepping into this cave will bring you to the battle-torn Lin'an City of two hundred years ago. Slay the Ghost King leading the army, and the illusion will dissipate on its own." Mo Ran glanced at Chu Wanning, then turned to smile at Eighteen: "Big sister, I'm sturdy so it's whatever, but my shidi is only six, and swords don't have eyes, what if he gets injured..." "There is no need to worry, the weapons inside the illusion will not actually hurt you." Eighteen explained, "Any injuries you sustain will only be marked with a spiritual signifier. However, if you get marked at a vital area representing a fatal injury, you will have failed the challenge." Relieved, Mo Ran clasped his hands together and grinned: "I see, thank you for the kind considerations." And so, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning headed into the test without worry. The cave was pitch-black; stepping inside felt like missing a step, like their bodies were abruptly suspended in mid air, followed immediately by blurry images flashing before their eyes, countless contorted faces flowing together into a river passing below them.
When their feet landed back on solid ground, they found themselves transported to ancient Lin'an, on a road at the outskirts. It was noon, the sun blazed from above, and a putrid smell filled the air.
The sight of the ancient Lin'an City of two hundred years ago, plagued nightly by hordes of ghosts, accompanied by the heavy stench of rotting flesh,
unfolded slowly before Mo Ran and Chu Wanning's eyes like a weathered scroll scorched by the flames of war.
Mini Theater [Feathered Tribe Instanced Dungeon Options]
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Mo Ran and Chu Wanning?
No healing, death.
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Mo Ran and Shi Mei?
No opportunity, the author refused.
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Mo Ran and Xue Meng?
Bicker in front of the boss about who can self destruct faster.
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Xue Meng and Shi Mei?
Normal composition, there is a possibility of winning.
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Xue Meng and Shizun?
Death, one DPS standing at the sidelines cheering for another DPS.
What would be the ending to an instanced dungeon with Shizun and Shi Mei?
Boss dies under the hands of a rampant Mo Ran, this instance does not exist.
[3] 仙君 xianjun- a respectful form of address for a cultivator