92 6.16

As soon as the group that had left to deal with the demonic beast stampede was spotted approaching Heavenly Saber Sect's territory, news rapidly spread throughout the disciples, so that a crowd was gathered in Sun and Moon Hall to welcome the travelers back by the time they landed. Of course, many of the onlookers' main purpose was instead to live vicariously through their peers by listening to the details of their adventures and, more practically, to perhaps receive some souvenirs from any outstandingly generous friends.

And their wait was quickly rewarded—based solely on the way that both of the Moqi brothers had concernedly wrapped their arms around that notorious Ning He to ensure that he didn't stumble when he stepped off his sword, it was certain that there would be an intriguing story to be heard. Thus, most of the teenagers who'd just returned were promptly dragged off to explain those indifferent peak masters' bizarre treatment of Jade Sword Mountain's bully, and the rest flew back to recuperate in their own halls, leaving behind barely a handful of stragglers around Chen Yu and his guardians.

While Chen Yu facepalmed inside at how the twins had so blatantly staked their claim, he didn't shrug off their hold since he knew that they were quite likely to simply abduct him to one of their peaks if he did so. Usually, such disruptions to his schedule might not have mattered, but for the moment, he wished to stay close to Ning Taio until his curiosity was satisfied, which meant that the Moqi brothers' remote halls weren't an option. Besides, Chen Yu knew that the men had already fortified the monitoring functions in his necklace during their trip back, which meant that there was no point in trying to evade a public demonstration of their relationship; if he pushed them off now, they would just pursue him later to show off their feelings, so he had to acknowledge that it would be easier to simply allow them to believe that he was completely theirs.

As a result, in order to pacify their anxiety and ensure that they wouldn't interfere with his plans, Chen Yu pulled out two engraved wooden bead bracelets that he'd collected from the secret dimension at the bottom of Shadow Abyss and passed one to each of them, clearing his throat to mutter, "These are for you, shishu, master. Because I've marked them, you just have to crush one of the beads to speak to me." As a beat passed without the glowing brothers claiming the presents due to being dazed by happiness, Chen Yu inwardly rolled his eyes at these fools, on the surface embarrassedly stuttering, "If-if you don't want it, you don't have to take it!"

This shout woke the twins from the delight that had consumed them at this proof that their shizhi loved them and, panicking upon noticing that he was about to hide their gifts, they promptly snatched them back, grinning at the faint blush on the child's cheeks. When they eagerly rolled them onto their wrists, however, they widened their eyes in surprise and stared at the boy.

Notwithstanding their regularly ridiculous behavior, both of them were peak masters after all, so they immediately realized from the spiritual energy that buzzed in the beads that these bracelets should be powerful enough to link the wearers no matter how far apart they were, making them extremely rare treasures. Yet what soon caught their attention more than where Ning He could have obtained these bracelets was that generally, for such paired artifacts, each party had to bear the item to communicate, meaning that...somewhere on the youth was a mark of the bond he'd created between them?

It was Moqi Lirong who collapsed to his desires first, he intently ran his hands along the startled boy's body while Moqi Baihui gently restrained his attempts to struggle away, until they finally located the matching beaded artifacts encircling each of Ning He's delicate ankles. It seemed that the bracelets were too large for his slim wrists, so that their brand had to be hidden under his gowns, visible only to them...At that thought, the brothers both reacted, with the white twin tenderly nuzzling his shizhi's soft neck and the crouching black twin nipping and sucking on the distinct ankle bone in his grip to further seal it as his.

At the same time, in a magnetically deep tone, Moqi Baihui murmured, "Shizhi, let us repay you for your gift, come stay with me for a while," and, as if to clarify how they would show their gratitude, Moqi Lirong suggestively stroked his hand up the leg he was bracing, caressing the trembling inner thigh. En, it appeared that the boy was still sensitive, he might really agree...

Indeed, despite his awareness of how tiring such 'repayment' would be, Chen Yu briefly wavered at that arousing touch and the hoarse voice whispering in his ear, but thankfully, he regained his senses in time by catching sight of a figure that looked like Ning Taio's in the distance. Damn it, when had he weakened so much as to fall for these perverts' advances? Pushing aside that irritating issue, he rushed to carry out the rest of his ploy, huffing, "Don't, there's something I have to say."

Gazing at him indulgently, the two attentively assured him that they were listening even as they tenaciously continued teasing him, so Chen Yu just gave up on discouraging them and dropped his command out of the blue. "Don't do or say anything to my father about the Golden Honey Flower extract."

At that demand, the twins' faces simultaneously stiffened, their expressions clearly distressed. If Ning Taio could feed his son such a drug, what else might he dare to do? They couldn't leave Ning He in such a precarious situation, even if their shizhi was willing to endure it for the sake of keeping the peace.

Reading the brothers' refusal from their silence, Chen Yu rubbed his temples. This was the entertainment he'd set aside for himself, all right? What would he occupy himself with if they took his fun away? Therefore, resisting his honest chagrin at what he'd been reduced to, he leaned his weight on Moqi Baihui's chest and tugged on Moqi Lirong's sleeves, putting on a crestfallen look to mumble, "You won't promise? But he's my father..."

Moqi Baihui embraced the poor child worriedly, distraught at his troubled tone. Nonetheless, he insisted, "Ning He, what if something happens to you because of our tolerance of Ning Taio? At least let us investigate why he's been giving you that kind of medicine." Soothingly shifting his hand to intertwine with the youth's, Moqi Lirong also peered up at the small, frowning face, unable to compromise even if the boy became angry. So many people had already attacked their shizhi, they couldn't afford to take such a risk again.

For a few seconds, Chen Yu considered what to do, but he swiftly decided that, taking into consideration how persistent his lover could be, he didn't have time to drag this out. Thus, drooping his head further, he blinked to force out some tears, then wetly sniffled, "En, shizhi understands."

And as expected, this upset yet obedient reply from the typically stubborn young master hit the twins' weak spot, they couldn't help but relent. Accordingly, a mere moment later, Moqi Baihui sighed and kissed the boy's flushed eyes, giving in, "All right, we won't do anything, but only if you vow to contact us as soon as you encounter anything that seems even vaguely threatening."

Heart aching at how the child's fingers had been quivering from his quiet sobs, Moqi Lirong similarly wiped Ning He's wet cheeks with his free hand, relieved that the youth's tears were slowing down from this capitulation. Still, he sternly added, "And you can't swallow another drop of that medicine." Although no one had tested if the effects of the Golden Honey Flower were permanent, it would no doubt be safer if the boy didn't continue to ingest it. As for any damage that the tonic had already caused to his talent, he and his twin had plenty of methods to restore it, including transferring some of their cultivation to him through various means.

Having extorted their agreement just in time, Chen Yu smiled brightly, making the brothers reflexively curve their mouths at how cute he looked with his reddened nose and misty, innocent eyes. But before they could fully express their appreciation of his adorable appearance by resuming their seduction, Chen Yu 'noticed' his father nearing and ran toward him, abandoning them in an instant. Naturally, he ignored the way the dignified Moqi leaders glared at their fellow peak master, as if a man fetching his son was an incredibly inappropriate act.

In contrast, Ning Taio genuinely didn't register the stares boring twin holes through him, busy rushing forward to hug his son and apprehensively patting his body all over to check that he hadn't been hurt. It was only once he finished shooting questions about whether anything dangerous had taken place during his expedition that he discerned that Ning He had been crying, but when he swept his eyes around and glowered in accusation at the two men who'd been around his son when he'd arrived, his words became stuck in his throat. Weren't those the peak masters of Ten Stems Hall and Twelve Branches Valley? They rarely even interacted with other elders, why had they been wrapped around his son?

Unfortunately, aware that he couldn't discuss anything in front of them, he merely nodded his thanks for taking care of Ning He and signaled for his son to fly back to Jade Sword Mountain. But much to his astonishment, not only did Ning He dash back to affectionately brush his mouth against the Moqi leaders' chins, those famously aloof brothers also palpably melted at the kiss, wistfully patting the boy's hair and dotingly whispering in his ears. Due to the shock from this sight, Ning Taio was silent all the way back, while Chen Yu secretly shook his head at how touchy those vinegar tanks were, leaking at any little thing.

Eventually, however, by the time the two had stepped into Ning Taio's personal suite, they each returned from their thoughts, and the instant Ning Taio was sure that no one was listening to his conversation with his son, he first asked again whether he'd been injured. This time, Chen Yu answered with a lengthy boast about how he'd battled off the horde of demonic animals on his own, droning on about every scene in minute detail until at last, the man cut him off with a somewhat restless manner and, jerking up the corners of his lips, bluntly changed topics. "En, I'm sure you performed very well, He'er. You also properly took the medicine I gave you, right?"

While Chen Yu had predicted that Ning Taio would be impatient about this subject, this was really too obvious. Having reaffirmed that his son hadn't spilled any of the blood that would have driven the demonic beasts into a frenzy, the man was rushing off to settle his next agenda? Still, Chen Yu wasn't one to torment others, he directly answered, "Mm, I didn't, Master Moqi Lirong stopped me because he said there was something in it that would put me at risk. Golden...Golden something?"

At those words, Ning Taio conspicuously blanched. And when he abruptly extended a shaking hand to slash his fingernail across the boy's arm, drawing a line of red blood, his pale complexion became coated with cold sweat, so that despite his efforts to seem calm, his fright was unconcealed.

Observing the man's trembling, Chen Yu raised his brows sardonically. Well, it was indisputable that Ning Taio had intentionally been feeding his son a tonic that would suppress his talent. This wasn't necessarily odd in itself. After all, blood may be thicker than water, but so was a sundry variety of things. Rather, what was noteworthy was that the drug the original owner had been taking also wasn't poisonous enough to kill him, so there shouldn't be a personal grudge—or maybe this body had some other use? Eyes shining with interest, Chen Yu leaned down to peer into Ning Taio's alarmed face. "Father, what's wrong?"

Confronted with his son's pure concern, the man couldn't bear to confess, he simply claimed that he'd been too exhausted from worrying about Ning He's safety and indicated that the boy should go rest up himself.

Since the original owner had been a relatively filial son, Chen Yu didn't argue, he immediately supported his father to his bedroom. Then, as if he'd almost forgotten, he personally wrapped a bead bracelet around his father's wrist, explaining that it was an item that would supposedly strengthen its wearer, a trinket he'd picked up during his journey and hoped would help him recover.

Due to this description, unlike the Moqi brothers, who'd been informed of the bracelet's proper use and therefore correctly interpreted the beads' buzzing as energy that would power audio transmission over a long distance, Ning Taio assumed that it was merely a sign of the tool's magical nature and also disregarded the fact that one of the beads was slightly crumbled, taking it as an indication of how ancient the artifact was.

Because of this misunderstanding, Ning Taio didn't bother guarding against it when he left his room a beat after his son. Thus, although this bracelet was the last of those he'd gathered from Shadow Abyss, Chen Yu's investment yielded results within the hour, when he was able to enjoy the chat between Ning Taio and Duangan Pang, the master of Puppet Warrior Peak.