TEMBMBIWB Chapter 54
by VolareThe immortals were in an uproar, and immediately began to denounce this generation’s painting immortal.
Elder Zhou You secretly went to the lower realm with Yue Shanglan, leaving the matters of the Immortal Sect to his closed-door disciple, Zhang Yu.
Sui Chunsheng didn’t know how long he had been unconscious. When he slowly opened his eyes and looked at the completely unfamiliar room in front of him, he immediately forced himself to wake up.
The strong scent of medicine permeated the air, adding a bit of familiarity.
Sure enough, he saw a figure walk in through the door.
Zhou You walked in quickly in surprise, placing the medicinal soup in his hand on the bedside table.
“Oh, Little Immortal, you’re awake. You slept for a really long time.”
Yue Shanglan walked in upon hearing this, looked at the young man’s complexion, and said, “It seems he’s recovering well.”
Elder Zhou You smiled and said, “Little Immortal’s physique is amazing, he has already recovered almost completely.”
He handed the medicinal soup to the young man, stroked his beard, and said, “Little Immortal, drink the medicine yourself. Today, you don’t need me to feed you.”
Sui Chunsheng looked around, “My master…”
Zhou You said, “The divine lord has been busy recently. The remnants of the Xiu Luo from the South Sea are giving him a headache. I heard that the divine lord just cleared the South Sea area, and now I’m afraid he won’t be idle either.”
Yue Shanglan: “I will tell your master that you are awake. If he has time, he will come to see you.”
Sui Chunsheng was urged by Zhou You to drink the medicinal soup and subconsciously searched for something in his sword’s inner world.
It wasn’t until he found a mirror that his movements slowly slowed down.
He turned the mirror over and lowered his eyes to look at it.
The mirror’s surface was blurry, and the White Deer Immortal’s figure did not appear.
Master didn’t carry the Lovesickness Mirror with him.
Sui Chunsheng’s heart turned cold, and he couldn’t help but worry. Was his master still blaming him? Did he not want him anymore?
After pondering for a moment, he could no longer endure it and struggled to get up.
Zhou You quickly stopped him, “Hey! Little Immortal, what are you trying to do? Although you’ve recovered almost completely now, you should still avoid moving around freely.”
Sui Chunsheng said in a muffled voice, “I want to find my master, I want to see my master…”
Elder Zhou You: “You can’t go out right now, stop moving around, be careful of your body!”
In the end, it was Yue Shanglan who stepped forward to press him back down, lowering his eyes and saying, “Stay put.”
Sui Chunsheng subconsciously grabbed him, “I want to see my master.”
Yue Shanglan sighed, “I know, I’ll send a letter to Ah Zhui, asking him to come see you. But you can’t go looking for him.”
Sui Chunsheng was surprised, “Why?”
Yue Shanglan stared at him, “Have you not noticed that your body is different?”
Upon hearing this, Sui Chunsheng examined his body and discovered that what was flowing from his fingertips was no longer pure spiritual power but a chaotic Xiu Luo aura.
The divine wood spirit root in his body had also long since disappeared. Within his dantian, there was only endless chaos and darkness, like an eternal night sky, desolate and boundless.
He had no more pretense.
Now, he was just a remnant of the Xiu Luo clan, and he had no right to return.
He was no longer qualified to return to the Nine Heavens, to Fangcun Mountain.
Yue Shanglan patted his shoulder, “You rest well first. Your master will come. Are you hungry? Little Wood is making food for you. Fill your stomach in a while.”
Not long after, Wugen walked in carrying the food, swatting away Yue Shanglan’s hand, which was trying to steal a bite.
Wugen used wooden voice to tell Sui Chunsheng to eat, “Eat, what are you spacing out for, you brat.”
Sui Chunsheng saw Wugen as if seeing a relative and almost cried out.
Wugen blinked in confusion, thinking he had made his brother cry, and quickly said, “What are you crying for? Don’t cry, eat.”
He placed the chopsticks in Sui Chunsheng’s hand and patted his head.
“Eat! Food!”
Sui Chunsheng picked up a piece of food, the familiar taste.
After filling his stomach, Wugen played a game of chess with him. The two were like they were on Fangcun Mountain, spending a day in the mountain courtyard.
Sui Chunsheng couldn’t help but look towards the courtyard gate, waiting for a moonlit figure to enter.
But even until night fell, he had not been able to wait.
Sui Chunsheng asked Yue Shanglan more than a dozen times if he had sent a letter to Tan Zhui.
He felt like he was being a nuisance himself.
Late at night, the courtyard was breezy. It was already early summer.
The shadows of the bamboo forest overlapped, and the leaves trembled slightly.
Sui Chunsheng lay on the couch and slowly closed his eyes.
He only hoped that he could meet his master in his dreams.
Tan Zhui had already received the letter. Upon learning that Hibiscus had woken up, his first reaction was to go and check on him.
But in the end, his reason stopped him.
How was he supposed to see him now?
With what kind of identity, with what kind of feeling?
It was not until late at night that he slowly walked into the mountain courtyard.
Stepping on the moonlight, he entered the young man’s room.
Next door, Yue Shanglan’s snores rose and fell, and the young man’s breathing was steady, not very noticeable.
The first thing Tan Zhui noticed was the figure on the bed. The young man’s face was as usual, and he looked like he had recovered well. He was sleeping peacefully.
He subconsciously slowed down his footsteps and quietly approached the bed.
There was no Xiu Luo aura on the young man’s body. What permeated was still the faint scent of hibiscus.
This fragrance made Tan Zhui feel somewhat at ease, and somewhat wanting to indulge in it.
Tan Zhui slowly reached out, he gently touched the young man’s hair.
The young man seemed to be having a nightmare, his brows suddenly furrowing, and his expression looked a little ferocious.
Tan Zhui subconsciously used spiritual power to soothe him, his fingertip slowly brushing across his brow, smoothing the young man’s furrowed brows.
The young man murmured softly, “Master…”
Tan Zhui’s heart could not help but skip a beat, his breath pausing for a moment.
The young man murmured a few times, and it looked like he was about to wake up.
Tan Zhui subconsciously wanted to flee this place.
But the young man grabbed his retreating hand. The young man’s strength was great, squeezing it so hard that it hurt.
Sui Chunsheng suddenly opened his eyes. After seeing the person in front of him clearly, his eyes immediately turned red.
“Master!”
Tan Zhui frowned slightly, “Let go first.”
Sui Chunsheng didn’t let go. Instead, he pulled him toward himself and hugged him tightly into his arms.
The young man’s scent of hibiscus, mixed with a strong scent of medicine, swept over him, trapping him in his embrace, unable to move.
Tan Zhui struggled, his voice turning cold, “Impudence!”
“Let go!”
Sui Chunsheng shook his head, his voice with a sob, “Master, Master, don’t abandon me, don’t push me away…”
The young man buried his head in Tan Zhui’s shoulder, and his tears had already soaked his clothes.
Tan Zhui pushed him away, his tone angry, “What exactly do you want? You and I are already on different paths, how do you expect me to accept this?”
Sui Chunsheng held him tightly, “No, we won’t be on different paths, how could we be on different paths? I am Master’s disciple, I am the hibiscus that Master raised since I was little!”
Tan Zhui sighed softly, “Hibiscus.”
“Don’t be so persistent, just act like nothing ever happened.”
Sui Chunsheng did not know what incident his master was talking about, but no matter what it was, he could not accept it.
His emotions were starting to break down. He wanted to see what kind of expression the White Deer Immortal had when he said these words.
He grabbed Tan Zhui’s shoulders and pulled them apart.
He saw a pair of blue eyes, almost coldly staring at him.
In these eyes, he could not see a trace of reluctance.
Sui Chunsheng’s voice choked up, trembling slightly, “Like nothing ever happened?”
“Okay, then let’s pretend that nothing ever happened. I’ll listen to Master, as long as Master doesn’t drive me away, as long as Master is still willing to keep me by his side…”
Tan Zhui was a little helpless. He lowered his eyes and couldn’t help wiping away the tears from the young man’s face.
“Okay Hibiscus, good child, don’t cry.”
Sui Chunsheng grabbed his hand, “Master, please, keep me by your side.”
Tan Zhui did not answer. He only said, “Now that you have woken up, once you have fully recovered, I will send you to the You Ming Land. I’ve built a small building there during these past few days. It’s no worse than your Duan Xiao Peak.”
The young man’s eyes widened, and he shouted, “No, I won’t go, I won’t go, I won’t go!”
“You want to throw me there and then never come to see me again, right? You just want to find a place to throw me away…”
Tan Zhui met the young man’s eyes, those eyes filled with tears.
He held the young man’s hand, his finger gently caressing it, trying to make his voice sound gentle.
“Hibiscus, don’t worry, your teacher won’t abandon you. Your teacher will not want you.”
“It’s just that right now, if you return to the Nine Heavens with me, I won’t be able to protect you. Do you understand?”
Sui Chunsheng grabbed him, afraid that the person in front of him would disappear in the blink of an eye.
“Then I’ll wait here, I’ll wait for you here.”
Tan Zhui shook his head, “This place won’t do. You can’t stay here for long.”
“Your teacher will go with you, will stay with you in the You Ming Land, changing the desolation there, and will not leave you alone there.”
Sui Chunsheng grabbed him, “Master promised, you’ll always be with me.”
“Master will never abandon me, right?”
The White Deer Immortal did not answer him right away.
This made the young man unable to hold back his tears.
He clutched Tan Zhui’s hand, his voice trembling.
Tan Zhui wanted to reach out and touch the young man’s hair, but he didn’t know how to comfort him, nor did he know how to tell the young man.
This world wasn’t just the two of them.
It was not possible to arbitrarily abandon everything to be with the other party.
This one word, forever.
He really couldn’t take the responsibility.
For immortals, forever had no boundaries. It would never end. It was the ever-flowing state of rebirth, the long river slowly flowing, and the constant cycle of the four seasons.
He had already lived like this for tens of thousands of years, and perhaps would continue to live for another tens of thousands of years.
He had become accustomed to this emptiness, this ordinariness, this boundless end.
But the young man had just embarked on this path. He had not yet seen the flowers bloom in the four seasons of the three realms, had not yet seen the various immortals, and had not yet seen the vitality from every inch of land.
In the young man’s mere five hundred years, he was only painted by this boring and ordinary person.
Tan Zhui did not dare to imagine what it would be like to be with such a rigid person forever.
A young immortal lord as bright as the sun, and a boring old thing, no matter how one looked at it, they did not seem compatible.
Tan Zhui sighed softly. He gently patted the young man’s back, as if coaxing a child to sleep. His voice was soft, and seemed to carry a hint of bitterness.
“Forever, for me, is too precious.”