Chu Xinghui stood at the door, watching him without blinking.

He had behaved well these days, had not used his spiritual power, and mostly stayed in his room to rest. Only the last time the cold poison flared up had been dangerous, after a few days of recuperation, his complexion was still somewhat pale.

But he still looked very beautiful, like a tree that would not be broken.

The black bird stood in the courtyard, running around pecking at the stones on the ground like a free-range chicken. When it saw him return, it immediately dropped the stone in its mouth and flew back to the tree cautiously.

Xie Liufeng ignored it. He exchanged a glance with Chu Xinghui, then walked over to him and curved his eyes slightly: “Were you waiting for me?”

Chu Xinghui pursed his lips and did not want to admit it: “The weather was good today, so I went out for a walk.”

Xie Liufeng laughed softly and did not expose him. He casually threw him a storage bag and instructed: “I asked a professional. This thing can suppress the cold poison inside your body. If you encounter an emergency again, you can take one.”

Chu Xinghui opened the storage bag, and a rich fiery spiritual energy mixed with the fresh fragrance of spiritual fruit wafted over.

When he first came to the cultivation world, he had crammed knowledge about it. He had seen this kind of fruit in the comprehensive guide to spiritual plants.

The Blazing Flame Fruit had an extremely hot attribute, which restrained most yin-cold things. It only grew in the Heavenly Fire Domain, which was covered with boundless seas of fire.

From here to the Heavenly Fire Domain was thousands of miles apart. Even the top cultivators had to travel day and night to go back and forth in just a few days.

…Moreover, the Heavenly Fire Domain was a forbidden area difficult for ordinary cultivators to enter due to its harsh environment. Around such rare spiritual fruit, there were surely extremely ferocious beasts guarding it.

Chu Xinghui could easily imagine what Xie Liufeng had done these past few days.

He also did not expect that Xie Liufeng rushed out just for this matter.

And now, Xie Liufeng acted as if nothing had happened, casually tossing a whole bag of spiritual fruit to him.

Chu Xinghui lowered his eyelids and clenched the storage bag tightly.

Seeing his expression, Xie Liufeng pondered for a moment, then reached out and patted his head, lying without hesitation: “Actually, I went out for another important matter this time. I picked up these fruits when passing through the Heavenly Fire Domain.”

Chu Xinghui did not believe his clumsy excuse. He looked up at the person in front of him and was about to say something when his gaze fell on the sleeve hanging by Xie Liufeng’s side. He suddenly stopped.

There were… bloodstains on it.

Xie Liufeng followed his gaze calmly, turned to the side, and hid his sleeve behind his back.

Chu Xinghui refused to let him hide and directly grabbed his arm: “…You were injured.”

He gently rolled up Xie Liufeng’s sleeve and saw a savage wound crossing his arm.

The wound seemed to have been there for some time, it had begun to scab slightly, showing the owner had not cared much.

Fortunately, it was only a flesh wound and did not reach the bone.

Seeing that he could not hide it, Xie Liufeng cleared his throat lightly and said indifferently: “Just a small injury, not a big problem.”

He had not fought for a long time, so his muscles and bones had not stretched well. He was hurt by a few small beasts.

It seemed a bit embarrassing in front of the younger generation.

He tried to withdraw his arm, but Chu Xinghui held on stubbornly: “Where is the medicine?”

Xie Liufeng found it troublesome: “It’s just this small wound. It will heal on its own in less than two days.”

Chu Xinghui did not want to argue and directly dragged him into the room.

*

Xie Liufeng originally wanted to say more, but Chu Xinghui’s stern expression was quite intimidating, so Xie Liufeng surprisingly behaved himself and let Chu Xinghui handle it.

Chu Xinghui took a handkerchief and carefully wiped away the blood around the wound, applied ointment, and then wrapped the wound with a clean cloth strip seriously. After finishing all this, his expression finally relaxed a little.

Xie Liufeng watched his expression and secretly moved his wrist a little.

Chu Xinghui put the ointment back and his peripheral vision caught Xie Liufeng’s movement.

Xie Liufeng’s hand shape was very beautiful—long and strong—with a thin layer of calluses on the fingertips.

Chu Xinghui was very familiar with this kind of callus. It was the mark left by people who held swords for many years.

He could not help but touch Xie Liufeng’s hand and said unconsciously: “I have never seen you use a sword.”

Xie Liufeng got interested: “Want to see?”

Chu Xinghui sensed something and already regretted giving him a chance to embarrass him. He could only look at him expressionlessly, trying to stop the topic.

Sure enough, Xie Liufeng mischievously curved his eyes and teased him again: “What nonsense are you talking about? I’m just a plain mortal. How could I possibly use a sword?”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

He did not want to talk to Xie Liufeng anymore.

But Xie Liufeng was in a good mood to talk, so he continued to tease him: “You sword cultivators are amazing. Unlike me, who knows nothing and cannot even protect myself. How about this, you teach me swordsmanship?”

Chu Xinghui: …

He turned around and planned to leave.

Seeing that he was teased into frustration, Xie Liufeng laughed and pulled him back.

Chu Xinghui looked sideways, saw the wound on his arm, softened, and silently sat down again, following Xie Liufeng’s pull.

He looked extremely obedient.

Seeing how easy he seemed to be bullied, Xie Liufeng felt a bit restless again.

Chu Xinghui noticed his intention and looked at him with clear eyes.

Xie Liufeng smiled. His rare conscience started to work, and he finally settled down.

He gave up because bullying someone needed to be sustainable. If he really pushed too far, he wouldn’t be able to catch another one from the river.

The two of them sat quietly for a while.

Chu Xinghui touched the teapot on the table. Seeing the water inside had cooled, he planned to use his spiritual power to reheat it. Then he glanced at Xie Liufeng’s injury, poured out the tea, replaced it with plain water, and filled both their cups.

Xie Liufeng actually minded that Chu Xinghui had poured away his precious tea leaves and replaced them with tasteless water, but he still did not dare to complain and just drank it reluctantly.

Chu Xinghui looked at him silently for a moment, then suddenly asked: “Why did you help me again this time?”

Xie Liufeng finally frowned and drank the whole cup of plain water. He answered naturally: “I told you before, even if the sky falls, I’ll hold it up for you. Although I might not really be able to hold it up if it falls, since I said it, I can’t just go back on my word, right?”

Chu Xinghui felt something was wrong again: “That doesn’t make sense.”

Xie Liufeng asked: “What doesn’t make sense?”

Chu Xinghui thought for a moment and answered: “You don’t have any obligation to do these things for me.”

Since he had memories, most of the time he was alone. He accepted mutual help between people, but Xie Liufeng’s kindness toward him seemed to far exceed normal mutual help.

He had met many good people but had never had anyone treat him so well without reason.

Xie Liufeng tried to correct his thinking: “But if I didn’t help you, it would be very hard for you to do it yourself, right? Like this time, would you have gone to the Heavenly Fire Domain alone? Or wait for who knows when a couple of sky-high priced Blazing Flame Fruits would appear on the market? That’s a gamble with your own life.”

“Life is very precious. Unless it’s the last resort, don’t gamble with your life lightly.”

When he said this, Xie Liufeng’s gaze seemed a bit distant, but in the next moment, the feeling vanished like the wind blowing over water.

Chu Xinghui looked up at him and for the first time realized that this person was not always completely at ease.

Xie Liufeng reached out with his uninjured hand, touched Chu Xinghui’s head, and continued: “That’s why seniors exist. Before you grow up and have enough ability, all the things you can’t do can be temporarily handed over to me. You don’t need to feel burdened. After you grow up, I’ll take it all back with interest.”

Chu Xinghui repeated: “Hand it over to you?”

Xie Liufeng thought for a moment and decided to correct his contradictory words: “Ah… I meant hand it over to some unknown kind-hearted person.”

Chu Xinghui: “…”

Xie Liufeng always seemed very good at turning serious topics into something absurd and unknown.

Seeing that Chu Xinghui still looked a bit puzzled, he kindly used a metaphor: “Or you could try to think of me as… uh, your father?”

From a popular perspective, a master might also be a kind of father.

Although he himself felt weird saying it.

Maybe because he had never been a father.

Chu Xinghui looked at him and inexplicably felt a bit resistant to this relationship.

The two exchanged a glance, mutually rejected this strange metaphor, and temporarily gave up on this increasingly odd topic.

Xie Liufeng’s gaze casually swept over Chu Xinghui and suddenly noticed that the clothes he wore today looked a bit familiar.

They were somewhat like the clothes he wrapped around Chu Xinghui last time.

He casually asked: “These clothes…”

The clothes were robes he had bought several years ago that could adjust size automatically according to the wearer’s figure. Since Chu Xinghui was much smaller than him, he almost didn’t recognize it when Chu Xinghui wore them.

Chu Xinghui looked up quickly and interrupted his question: “These clothes were the ones you put on me.”

He saw Xie Liufeng come back and just picked a random coat to put on. At first, he didn’t realize it was Xie Liufeng’s clothes.

…By the time he realized it, he was already wearing it.

Xie Liufeng only asked casually, not expecting such a big reaction from him. He felt a bit unsure of his attitude and cautiously admitted the fact: “Yes, that’s right.”

He started to think whether he should clarify that it was just an emergency measure at the time, not meaning to give his disciple old clothes.

Chu Xinghui had grown quickly recently, so indeed it was about time to buy some new clothes.

His ears turned a little red, but his expression remained calm, and he argued stubbornly: “So now they belong to me.”

This sentence sounded nothing like his usual desire to separate himself from the world.

Xie Liufeng was stunned.

Chu Xinghui realized what he had just said. His face turned red and he whispered: “I’ll wash it and return it to you. Now you’re not allowed to say anything.”

Xie Liufeng laughed gently with a warm voice: “Wear it. It looks very good on you.”

 

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