Chapter 8 - Perhaps it really was a tribulation of love (2/2)

This was the little priest who thought I wanted to pluck his yang in order to nourish my yin. He looked so much like the former Moxi that I never could help myself from adoring him.

Unable to do anything but shake, he didn’t offer me an answer.

I gave Moxi a questioning look. He stared at Chang’an before coldly uttering:

“Reflect on your wrongdoings,” then waved his sleeves and turned to leave.

When he saw him leaving, Chang’an desperately broke away from me to run after him, sprawling on the ground while crying in snots and tears. “Your Most Reverend! Your Most Reverend! Don’t leave me here by myself! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

I wiped my sweat. What did I even do to deserve this? When we spanked the little priests last time, didn’t I only let him go? But now the ungrateful kid was this afraid of me?

Moxi waved his sleeve and helped Chang’an up. Scarcely giving me a glance, he said, “One month of self-reflection is already lenient considering you had fought with your fellow classmate to the point of severely injuring him. Stop crying, it’s a disgrace.”

I blinked rapidly, coming to understand Moxi’s intention. Thinking back, my conduct for the past few days must have convinced him that I wasn’t really a murderous demon. This was how he could assuredly throw his errant student here to scare him with my notoriety.

What could I do but bewail my own grievances?

Moxi brushed his robe and easily went away, leaving Chang’an lying on the floor crying till his whole body convulsed.

I gave his head a poke. He looked up to me with swollen eyes. I kindly smiled to him: “Let’s talk?”

After struggling to talk to him for half a day, coaxing and tricking, I finally got why he was sent here.

If we were to talk about this, then we’d have to begin from the time I brought the Thousand-Lock Pagoda down to free the wolf demon. I had thought he would know to run far away once I let him go and bury that proverbial hatchet. Who knew that wolf demon would be so stubborn. He not only didn’t hide, he even assembled a group of demons who bore grudges against Liubo to destroy it in one fell swoop.

Once they knew of the wolf demon’s sinister plan, Liubo naturally could not sit still to await its own demise. A decision was thus made to gather the leaders of other major monastic sects to jointly come up with a defensive plan.

It was against this backdrop that Changan’s story began. It was said that when the little priests of Liubo were preparing for tomorrow’s banquet, Changwu who was spanked by me last time was still recuperating in bed. He was so bored that he made a fuss about wanting to eat the fruits reserved for the banquet guests. When he happened to see Chang’an pass by with the fruits, he wanted to ask for one.

Chang’an, being an honest child, refused. The back and forth argument eventually turned into a larger fight, and when Chang’an couldn’t hold himself back any longer, he ended up pushing Changwu.

Because Changwu was already injured, his head busted when he got pushed down hysterically, Chang’an had no way to defend himself…

And so here he was.

It was extremely upsetting to see the face that looked so much like Moxi’s from the last lifetime crying in snots and tears. I tried all sorts of ways to pacify him, even vowing to take revenge for him. He finally stopped crying, and after sniffling for a long while, asked me, “You’re… you’re so good to me because you want to wash

me clean, then… then pick me, right?”

My mouth twitched. I really wanted to know what kind of ideas his master normally stuffed in his head. I pinched his chubby cheeks, smiling deviously. “Of course. But I just want to pick your venerable Reverend. I want to pick him clean, pick till he’s exhausted to death!”

“His, His Most Reverend…”

I placed my hands over my heart and said with all the affection in the world: “That’s right, you’re a quite good-looking chap, though unfortunately still too little. Your Most Reverend, on the other hand, has long taken over my heart. My heart is filled with his presence, my mind is filled with his grace. I think of his voice before going to sleep, I think of his face the moment I rise. I miss him like crazy whenever I don’t get to see him, but when I do see him my heart thrums wild. Heaven knows how long my heart has been his. I’m head over heels in love with him, and I don’t know how to stop. I just want to tell him how I feel…”

“His Most Reverend.” Chang’an pointed behind me.

I looked back, but all I saw was a pure white robe skirting by the plum trees, bringing the snow on a plum bough floating down. He left in such a hurry that I couldn’t even detect his figure.

And then he was gone…

“Was it really your venerable Reverend? The Venerable Zhonghua?”

Chang’an nodded, thought for a moment and then said, “When he left, his face was red.”

Baffled, I sighed softly while muttering: “Moxi, Moxi, how did you become so useless in this lifetime? All I did was confess to you…”

Although the nights were cold here, they weren’t quite freezing. I had always lived by the Wangchuan, so I didn’t fear the cold. But Chang’an was different. No matter how gifted he was, he was still only a human. I laid out a quilt for him in the small cabin, lit the firewood, and then spent the night outside.

Why go outside? Obviously because if that child saw me next to him, he’d never go to sleep!

After all, I was a kind spiritual being.

When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to see Chang’an holding a quilt over me. Seeing me opening my eyes, he gave a start, shook like a leaf, and kept backing away. He staggered for a few steps before falling over awkwardly. I sat up he stumbled and ran away.

My hand suspended in the air as my veins popped blue. I wanted to suppress my irritation down but I just couldn’t. As profanity was about to leave my mouth, he poked his head out and said to me: “Umm… umm, you can sleep inside the house tonight. It’s cold out…”

I stared at him quietly for a moment before sighing: “My name is Sansheng.”

He blinked. Only after a long time did he timidly try to call me: “San… Sansheng.”

Pleased, I nodded and went inside the house to find the book Zhonghua had sent me a few days ago, then leaned against a plum tree to read in comfort. This was a tale of a romantic reunion, of a broken mirror whose pieces eventually rejoined. I was in the exact mood for it, and was therefore very invested in my reading.

I ignored Chang’an and he naturally did not dare to disturb me. The day went by very peacefully… if not for tonight’s banquet, that is.

With the wolf demon’s retaliation approaching, Liubo’s banquet to gather the major sects was scheduled for today.

I finished my book by the time night fell. When I looked up, I found Mount Liubo awash in light. It was so bright that even the sky was illuminated.

Good grief, Zhonghua’s sorcery for making force fields was so good that he had really given me no hole to crawl out from. Besides seducing Moxi, eavesdropping was my second biggest interest. I had so much time on my hand that I was bored enough to take a stroll around the plum forest. But when I detected no loopholes, I gave up and turned around to wash for bed.

Just then, I saw two white figures flashing across the back door of the main hall.

Curious, I took a closer look. Hey! Aren’t they Venerable Zhonghua and the nun who was called ‘grandmaster’…?

At this point, I saw the nun pulling on Zhonghua’s sleeve. There was an urgency on her countenance but since Zhonghua’s face was hidden in the shadows, I could not see his very clearly. They were making my imagination run wild…

I inwardly gritted my teeth and fisted my hands. What are you two trying to do?!

7 an idiom used to mean the desecration of sacred things