After Escaping From Death, He Went Even Crazier By Criticizing Black Lotus Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Catching Fish

Bad news: The Black Lotus has completely latched onto him…

In this world, besides Ning Zhou and his paternal aunt, the person Su Chao loved most was his adorable little cousin who sweetly called him “Gege.” Even his parents, who had passed away many years ago, ranked lower.

Therefore, upon noticing the intermingled aura between the two, Su Chao felt his blood rush, his vision blacked out momentarily, and he wished he could immediately kill that scoundrel.

But his younger brother had grown up and developed his own ideas, stubbornly blocking him and preventing him from striking the villain. Su Chao’s heart ached intensely.

He regretted that he should never have left Huan’er alone on the mountain years ago just to evade Ji Heng’s search. How could he have forgotten that Senior Sister Feng was the worst at raising children!

When his aunt sent him up Lichen Mountain after the Su family’s downfall, Senior Sister Feng insisted on raising him personally. Had he not achieved Foundation Establishment quickly, he might have starved to death on the mountain.

Now, after only four years of raising him, she had turned him into someone so easily fooled!

Su Chao was filled with remorse.

Watching Su Chao grit his teeth one moment and beat his chest the next, Su Huan swallowed, feeling that his nominal older brother’s mental state seemed less than beautiful.

It was best to provoke him less.

Ning Zhou stood nearby, gloating: “A’Chao, since your brother has made his choice, why do you care how the two of them mess around? Maybe they even find you meddlesome.”

He earned a punch from his Dao Companion, clutching his stomach in pain, yet still unrepentant: “I didn’t say anything wrong. You care about him so much, but what about him? He comfortably used your identity for so many years, completely indifferent to whether you lived or died, never even asking a single question…”

A vein pulsed on Su Chao’s temple. He patiently explained, “That’s because Huan’er and I swapped memories. Huan’er doesn’t remember anything.”

Ning Zhou froze.

Speaking of this, Su Chao couldn’t help but feel a little lost in thought.

His mind drifted back four years. The first thing the young man, who had just lost his mother, did upon waking up in his body was to return and kill his father. His aura surged and plummeted, so chaotic that he was on the verge of falling into depravity.

The sixteen-year-old boy cried until his voice was hoarse, desperately trying to rush down the mountain. He was tightly bound by his Master with Immortal Binding Rope, curled up on the ground, silently looking up at him with eyes full of pleading.

Pitiable, but also frustratingly troublesome.

As a last resort, he begged his Master to seal the boy’s memories and gave him his own, allowing him to remain the carefree Junior Brother on Lichen Mountain… Oh no, he heard Master later took in another disciple, so Huan’er was now the Fourth Senior Brother.

What a pity.

Thinking of this, Su Chao glared at a certain person named Ning. That person, realizing how terribly wrong he had been, sheepishly rubbed his nose, not daring to utter a sound.

Su Chao withdrew his gaze and sighed helplessly.

He took Su Huan’s hand and earnestly instructed, “Huan’er is fond of this fellow, and as your older brother, I won’t say much. But listen to your brother, don’t go back and look for that heartless old monster again, okay?”

Su Huan felt utterly bewildered: “I don’t like him!”

However, Su Chao didn’t believe him at all. With a flick of his finger, he drew out the intertwined spiritual power of the two, stating expressionlessly, “Then why are you out adventuring with him, and why are you this intimate?”

Su Huan subconsciously wanted to refute, but suddenly recalling the scenes in his Sea of Consciousness, he choked.

In the cultivation world, to brand a spiritual contract of ownership, both parties must have undergone dual cultivation. In other words, he seemed to have truly reached the cultivation world’s equivalent of home plate with the Black Lotus!

Help, he was no longer pure!

Sensing a faint sadness emanating from the other side of the contract mark, Xiao Jianming, who was behind him, pursed his lips, his expression also becoming downcast.

Seeing Su Huan speechless, Su Chao sighed lightly, repeating his earnest advice from years ago: “Huan’er, since you’ve recovered your memories and all these years have passed, you should understand. Three hundred and seventy-two members of the Su family were reduced to just over ten people in a mere decade. With our current strength, facing a behemoth like the Ji family is simply trying to stop a chariot with a praying mantis’s arms, or striking a rock with an egg.”

“However, even if the Ji family truly becomes the foremost aristocratic family, it’s impossible for them to genuinely search every corner of the Seven Continents and Four Seas. As long as you don’t actively expose your secret, that old monster won’t find you even if he searches for a lifetime.”

“After leaving the secret realm, return safely to the Xuanji Sect. It won’t be too late to seek revenge when your cultivation is complete, alright?”

Su Huan blinked: “Okay.”

Although an extra segment of memory had appeared in his mind, he was not Ji Buhuan, and he didn’t feel deeply about the original owner’s tragic experience. Naturally, he wouldn’t run off to court death.

However, he noted this grudge. When he became powerful in the future, he would personally go to the Ji family and chop off Ji Heng’s head.

It wasn’t exactly heroism… well, consider it repaying the favor of his rebirth.

Su Chao, unaware of his thoughts, forced him to swear a poisonous oath before finally letting him off.

No sooner had he finished swearing the oath than Su Chao coldly pressured Xiao Jianming to swear a poisonous oath to keep the secret, causing Su Huan to gasp.

He thought the two were about to start fighting again, but to his surprise, Xiao Jianming swore an identical oath to Su Huan’s without hesitation.

After the binding force of the Heavenly Dao took effect, he immediately turned to look at Su Huan, his eyes seemingly seeking praise.

Behind him, it felt as if a tail was happily wagging.

It was simply unbearable to watch.

*

Even after the oath, Su Chao was still uneasy and insisted on seeing Su Huan safely return to his sect before leaving.

Learning that Su Huan and Xiao Jianming had come to the Moon Cinder Secret Realm for the Soul Nurturing Grass, he was delighted: “We also came here for this spiritual medicine! Let’s go together then!”

Ning Zhou still held some resentment towards Su Huan. He snorted lightly and pointedly said, “Thanks to a certain someone, A’Chao now needs to constantly nourish his soul with soul-nurturing items just to get a good night’s sleep.”

Su Huan gave an awkward laugh, unsure what to say.

Xiao Jianming spoke up then, his voice cold: “That was his own choice, and he bears his own karma. It has nothing to do with Buhuan Gege.”

B-Buhuan Gege?!

This form of address made Su Huan so embarrassed his toes curled.

He tried to explain: “Um, I’m not…”

“Alright, stop arguing.”

Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, Su Chao quickly intervened, but he also interrupted Su Huan’s unfinished words. Su Huan looked at his subconscious protective gesture and ultimately swallowed the rest of his words.

Su Chao smiled at him, seemingly noticing his low mood, and said softly, “Huan’er, you don’t need to worry too much about this matter. You are my aunt’s only child. Even if it meant my own death and dissipation, I would save you.”

“You might not know this, but I was born with a congenital deficiency. If my aunt hadn’t been so skilled in medicine, I would have died in infancy.”

He looked at the vibrant young man before him, his eyes tinged with sadness.

His aunt’s kindness was immense. He couldn’t save his aunt, but he could exchange his life for her child’s, ensuring this child escaped the bitter sea of the Ji family and was no longer trapped in the mire.

…This was the only thing he could do for his aunt.

Su Huan met his eyes, which were full of tenderness, and couldn’t help but purse his lips. The suppression in his heart turned into a heavy stone, and he didn’t know how to speak the truth.

He wanted to say that he wasn’t the young Ji Buhuan they spoke of; he was just an outsider who accidentally transmigrated into the book.

The true half of Ji Buhuan’s soul had, for some unknown reason, vanished.

However, after much hesitation, he ultimately failed to reveal the truth.

Thus, Su Huan gained a set of good and bad news—

The good news was that he gained an older brother who was exceptionally good to him.

The bad news was that the Black Lotus had completely latched onto him.

They had to ride the sword together, fight monsters together, and even when eating and sleeping at night, those dark eyes were fixed on him without fail.

The place where the Soul Nurturing Grass grew in the Moon Cinder Secret Realm was a snow mountain. Since the Immortal-Mortal Bone was absorbed by Su Chao, the grassland illusion had broken down on its own, so they immediately headed towards the towering white peak that reached into the clouds.

Along the way, whenever Su Huan turned his head, he would inevitably meet those dark, bright eyes, eagerly drawing closer, trying to exchange a few more words with him.

In the early evening, as the sunset faded and the stars twinkled, Su Huan sat by the bonfire. The gaze beside him, hotter than the sparks, made him feel a lump in his throat, like thorns in his back, leaving him restless.

At the same time, a sense of absurdity arose in his heart.

In the original novel, was the relationship between the Black Lotus and Ji Buhuan really this… gay?

Why, when it came to him, did “repaying a life-saving kindness with a spring” turn into “repaying a life-saving kindness by offering oneself”?

“You two, what are you sitting there for? Hurry up and catch two fish for dinner. The fish in here are naturally formed spiritual fish, much more nourishing than those outside. If you miss this chance, you won’t get another one.”

Ning Zhou stood beside Su Chao, stoking the flames in front of him, and shouted at them impatiently.

One of the traditional customs of the cultivation world was to cook spiritual food whenever entering a secret realm. It was not only beneficial for cultivation but also quickly replenished consumed spiritual energy, ensuring enough strength to compete for treasures in the realm.

Su Chao glared at him, about to tell him to go himself, but Su Huan, who was worried about finding an excuse to escape the person next to him, quickly agreed before Su Chao could speak, saying that such a simple task could be done by him alone.

After speaking, he eagerly ran to the mountain stream nearby, rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs, and happily waded into the water to catch fish.

But he forgot that his cultivation was currently weak and the secret realm was full of dangers. Xiao Jianming, however, did not forget, and followed him.

The stream was crystal clear to the bottom. The spiritual fish in the water were quite perceptive. The moment Su Huan made a move, the fish tails darted away quickly, disappearing in the blink of an eye, leaving only a pool of clear water gently rippling with fragmented light, slowly flowing away.

Xiao Jianming watched this scene, which happened to overlap with the memory of the young man catching fish by the cliff edge years ago, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips.

On this side, Su Huan struggled for a long time and finally caught a fish. He was so excited that he couldn’t wait to get ashore. Just as he stepped one foot onto the bank, he unexpectedly stepped on a sharp stone, crying out in pain as his body swayed and he fell backward!

In a flash of lightning, Xiao Jianming caught him in time, but couldn’t counteract the forward momentum of their bodies, causing both of them to fall into the water.

The stream wasn’t deep, and the chill was bone-piercing. Xiao Jianming lay in the water, relieved that his reaction had been quick enough to prevent Su Huan from landing beneath him.

Su Huan, having been thrown so suddenly, saw stars. When he recovered, he felt his palm touch a firm, soft wall, and immediately realized something was wrong—

He saw that the Black Lotus was almost half-submerged in the water, one hand propping up his body above the surface, and the other firmly clamped around his waist. His own hands had nowhere to rest and were pressed tightly against the Black Lotus’s chest, forced to accept the scorching heat emanating from the other’s skin.

Even more outrageous was the fact that he was straddling the Black Lotus!

Su Huan’s vision went black.

———————–

Author’s Note: I’m here, I’m here!

Thanks again to all the darlings following this novel [Applause] [Applause]