FIMA Ch156: Calming the Fire

Morning sunlight rose.

Half the lake of white lotus blossoms swayed in the wind with graceful elegance.

Xie Xueyi came rushing up from below the mountain in high spirits, landing lightly in front of the gate of Linya Shui Ge. He was just about to cross the lake—

when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

A silver-white sword shadow flashed past his eyes at incredible speed.

In the next instant, all heaven and earth seemed to fall into silence and extinction, with only that single silver-white point of starlight remaining somewhere unknown, like a lonely star about to fall in the boundless void.

And yet the final radiance of that falling star seemed to promise some world-destroying consequence.

A moment later, the world brightened again.

Xie Xueyi blinked and had the strange feeling that the lotus lake in front of him seemed a little shallower than before.

Gu Siyuan flicked his sleeve lightly and sheathed his sword.

Then he lifted his eyes toward the fool standing dazed across the lake and asked, “Did you pass the Disciple Hall test?”

With a tap of his toes, Xie Xueyi floated over the water without disturbing a single ripple and landed beside him, smiling brightly. “Of course I passed. And for that, I have to thank Gu-shizun for your instruction. Hahaha, it really seems that with a famous teacher, even cramming at the last second gives great results…”

Gu Siyuan raised a brow. “Everything else is external. Your own aptitude is fairly good too.”

“Mhm, mhm… gege is right.” Xie Xueyi nodded at once, then burst into a few smug laughs.

But remembering that courtesy ought to be repaid with courtesy, he put on an intentionally polite look and asked Gu Siyuan, “Gege, your talent is even better. What was that sword art you were just using? It looked really beautiful to me, and also really powerful.”

Gu Siyuan answered casually, “Yunxing Jianfa. I only started practicing it today. I haven’t even entered the basics yet.”

“…” Xie Xueyi.

This effortless, cloud-light-and-wind-gentle way of showing off was something he could never catch up to even if he rode a horse after it.

Such a profound sword art, and after only one morning of practice it already had that kind of effect—yet he still wore a dissatisfied expression.

Just then, Xie Xueyi saw the man opposite him suddenly reach a hand toward the side of his neck.

Xie Xueyi’s heart skipped.

What was this for?

Should he close his eyes or not…

Gu Siyuan plucked a green leaf from Xie Xueyi’s collar.

Looking at him, he asked, “This is a fallen leaf from in front of Qixing Yan. Judging by the time, you did indeed come back a little late. Did something happen on the way?”

“Ah…” Xie Xueyi widened his eyes. “You really can calculate pretty well.”

Holding that leaf between two fingers, Gu Siyuan’s face remained stern. “So, what happened?”

Seeing that expression, Xie Xueyi immediately pushed aside all other thoughts, puffed out his cheeks, and started complaining, “Hmph, it’s all your fault. You made such a huge splash, and your reputation in the immortal sect shot up again. I only went to the Disciple Hall once, and all your shidi and shimei kept pestering me with questions. Tell me, how is it that you’re a grown man and yet so good at attracting bees and butterflies?”

Gu Siyuan tossed away the leaf and pinched his cheek. “Don’t act spoiled. Speak properly.”

Xie Xueyi made a face at him.

Gu Siyuan continued, “They only dragged you around to ask questions? Then why is your hair crooked?”

Xie Xueyi raised a hand and touched his hair, then gave a light snort. “A few overly bold idiots wanted to steal your sword attendant position from me, so they insisted on dragging me into a sword contest.”

Gu Siyuan’s brows rose in displeasure at once. “They tried to fight you?”

Seeing him get angry only made Xie Xueyi’s smile grow brighter, and he said smugly, “Of course not. I wasn’t going to fight them. I’m not stupid—they had so many people, after all. Hehe. My hair got messed up because I ran up the mountain too fast and accidentally crashed into a tree.”

Gu Siyuan nodded mildly. “I’ll deal with that matter later.”

As he spoke, he suddenly looked Xie Xueyi up and down.

The look made Xie Xueyi feel inexplicably uneasy, so he deliberately joked, “Gege, why are you looking at me like that? Have you finally realized I’m as beautiful as a flower?”

Looking at him, Gu Siyuan said seriously, “If you can’t beat them, fine. But if you can’t even run up the mountain without colliding with a tree, then to prevent this sort of thing from happening again, from now on you will go into seclusion and practice swordsmanship with me every day, and cultivate diligently.”

Xie Xueyi’s eyes flew wide in shock, and he rejected it wildly. “No way!”

Wasn’t it enough that this cultivation-madman tormented himself? Now he wanted to torment him too?

“What did you just say? No to what?” Gu Siyuan’s expression did not change, and he asked in a leisurely tone, “No to practicing the sword? No to being my sword attendant? Or no to continuing to stay here?”

“…” Xie Xueyi.

Well, well. So this cold-faced cultivation lunatic had even learned to threaten people in that passive-aggressive tone.

A man had to bow under another man’s roof!

Xie Xueyi grabbed Gu Siyuan’s sleeve and started acting cute. “Gege, don’t be like that. Look at me—I’m so tender, so fair, so delicate and precious. Where do I look like someone meant for sword training? Can you really bear to make me suffer like that?”

Gu Siyuan nodded without hesitation. “I can.”

“…” Xie Xueyi.

Heartless, faithless bastard.

Xie Xueyi pulled a long face and made one final attempt to resist. “Good gege, actually I’m at Jindan too. I’m just hiding it for the time being. If I really started fighting, there aren’t many among your shidi and shimei who could beat me.”

“If you really fought?” Gu Siyuan cast him a mocking glance. “Would you dare use demonic-path techniques here?”

“…” Xie Xueyi sighed. “No.”

With how fiercely the righteous and demonic paths were fighting now, if he exposed even the slightest trace of demonic cultivation, he’d probably be seized immediately and have his soul extracted and refined under interrogation.

Gu Siyuan glanced at the longsword hanging at his waist. “Then why aren’t you starting?”

Xie Xueyi glared at him. “Both of us had marriage contracts, so why is the treatment so different? Ji Jinghuan never forces that idiot Ruan Li to cultivate.”

Gu Siyuan gave a faint snort of laughter. “You just called Ruan Li an idiot, and now you’re asking to be treated the same way. Does that mean you’re an idiot too?”

Throwing away all dignity, Xie Xueyi nodded firmly. “I am. I am an idiot, gege. Just treat me like one.”

“…” Gu Siyuan.

The corner of Gu Siyuan’s lips lifted in a half-smile. “Then let me tell you something too. I hate idiots the most. So your choices are simple: either cultivate diligently with me, or leave Linya Shui Ge. Those are your only two options.”

“Cold-blooded, heartless, cruel.” Xie Xueyi muttered a few unwilling curses under his breath as his hand rested lightly on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

But the moment he met Gu Siyuan’s gaze, his mouth immediately switched to sweet words. “Gege, can you understand my heart? I’m doing all this for you. Gege, I’ve sacrificed so much for you. Gege, you have to treat me better in the future…”

Gu Siyuan was almost amused in spite of himself by the endless tricks this fellow kept coming up with.

So he simply stepped forward, raised a hand, and gently placed it atop Xie Xueyi’s head. In a low voice, he said, “Mm. Very good. I’ll remember it.”

That voice was low and deep, far too sexy, as though it sounded directly inside Xie Xueyi’s heart.

Feeling the breath so close to him, Xie Xueyi felt the backs of his ears slowly redden.

Then he suddenly felt warmth on his right hand, the one resting on the sword hilt.

Xie Xueyi’s body trembled faintly.

This man’s hand was really so large. It could completely envelop his own…

What was he going to do?

In the next instant, a soft click sounded.

Holding his hand, Gu Siyuan slowly drew the silver-white sword out of its sheath and said blandly, “Alright. Start practicing now.”

Then he let go and stepped back.

Gu Siyuan’s spiritual power was so profound that with a casual step, his green robes fluttered and he was already dozens of meters away.

“…” Xie Xueyi snapped his head up and glared at him resentfully.

You damned cold-faced block of ice!

Could he just take up the sword and hack at him?

“Fine, I’ll practice. You’re special, you’re amazing. But don’t regret it. Once I master peerless sword arts, be careful that I don’t trample you beneath my feet from then on. Be careful your position as Da Shixiong doesn’t survive.”

Gu Siyuan stood tall as jade beneath the corridor not far away, hands behind his back, watching him with an innocent face. “A sword is wielded with the hands, not with the mouth.”

“…” Xie Xueyi.

Why did he suddenly feel like this guy had intentionally been teasing and bullying him just now?

The waterside pavilion stood by the cliff, and the cliff wind blew through from time to time.

The fragrance of white lotus, mixed with fresh watery air, drifted into the nose, refreshing the heart.

Xie Xueyi was practicing the basic sword technique he had taken from the Gongfa Pavilion the other day. There was not much difficulty in the circulation of spiritual power itself.

The main problem was simply his unfamiliarity with the sword. During those years in the demonic path, he had always used a whip, and the way force was applied through the hand was completely different between the two.

First, Gu Siyuan demonstrated the eighteen foundational movements for him—chopping, thrusting, lifting, flicking, and so on—and told him to imitate them.

When Xie Xueyi watched Gu Siyuan demonstrate the sword, however, he watched with great relish. The sword was a gentleman’s weapon, perfectly suited to Gu Siyuan’s temperament. Added to the fact that Gu Siyuan’s foundations were already deep, when he moved the sword, it looked extraordinarily beautiful.

At once, Xie Xueyi’s lustful heart flared up. Using the excuse that he hadn’t understood clearly, he made Gu Siyuan demonstrate several times.

But by the third repetition, Gu Siyuan handed the sword back.

With sword practice, the more basic a move was, the more important it became. There were no shortcuts—only endless repetition until familiarity bred mastery.

Even Gu Siyuan himself, before meditating each day on Yunxing Jianfa, would first go through the full set of basic sword forms.

Skip one day, and you know. Skip three days, and your opponent knows. Skip thirty days, and everyone knows.

For someone as restless in temperament as Xie Xueyi, getting him to practice once or twice like this was possible.

Any more than that, and he started losing patience.

One moment he was complaining his waist hurt, the next saying his arm hurt, then demanding water, then wanting to use the toilet.

Gu Siyuan truly felt that he had indeed come here to play a raising simulation. Back in his modern life, when he had worked part-time as a tutor in university, one of the middle-school students he taught had behaved exactly like this.

Looking at Xie Xueyi, he sneered. “Cultivators don’t eat grains. Where would a toilet even come from? If you want to slack off, at least find a more believable excuse.”

Xie Xueyi blinked innocently and tugged at Gu Siyuan’s robe hem. “Gege, as long as you understand me, that’s all that matters. Practicing the sword is so boring. I’m really tired. Let me rest a little before I keep going.”

Gu Siyuan only looked at him silently, saying nothing.

“Hmph…” Xie Xueyi pouted and said pitifully, “I’ll practice one more round, alright?”

Gu Siyuan touched his cheek. “Three rounds. Then I’ll brew spiritual tea for you.”

“Deal!” After thinking it over for a moment, Xie Xueyi nodded in satisfaction.

Watching him whirl around and start sword practice again in a flash, Gu Siyuan thought to himself: Though he loves acting spoiled, he’s actually pretty easy to coax.

With a wave of his hand, a low table appeared beneath the corridor.

Then Gu Siyuan took out a stove, teapot, and other things one by one from his storage ring.

Using spiritual fire to brew tea was extremely fast. Before Xie Xueyi had finished even two rounds of practice, a faint and intoxicating fragrance had already begun to drift from the teapot.

Gu Siyuan stopped paying attention to the tea and rose to stand behind Xie Xueyi, watching to make sure his movements did not deform.

“Use the waist, not the arm.”

Turning his head to look at him, Xie Xueyi grinned. “My Gu-shizun, what’s wrong with my waist? Would you like to place your hands on me and guide me?”

Gu Siyuan cast him a glance, and spiritual power stirred faintly in his palm. The magic sword he normally used appeared in his hand.

Xie Xueyi’s eyes widened. “…Gege, is that really necessary? Sword practice has to proceed step by step. You can’t get rough…”

Just then, something cool touched his lower back and gently nudged him.

Gu Siyuan had not even drawn the sword. Using the sheathed blade as a pointer, he corrected his force application. “You’re using the wrong strength here.”

Xie Xueyi pouted. For a moment he felt relieved, and in the next moment strangely disappointed.

“Here, raise the arm higher.”

“Here, move faster.”

“Make the wrist steadier. Once the sword is out, there must be no hesitation.”

“…”

Gu Siyuan’s eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s, correcting Xie Xueyi’s movements bit by bit.

Feeling the jade-like scabbard tapping against his back and waist, Xie Xueyi’s thoughts wandered all over the place. He found himself wondering whether this or Gu Siyuan’s arm would be cooler, and which would be harder…

Back when they returned to the sect, in that mountain ridge, he had been too shocked and hadn’t really taken the time to feel it properly, had he?

Once he thought of something, he acted on it.

At the end of the third round of practice, Xie Xueyi’s eyes suddenly shifted. Somehow, his footwork slipped, his left foot tangled with his right, and his whole body pitched forward as if he were about to fall.

Gu Siyuan had no time to think and instinctively reached out to catch him.

Xie Xueyi’s waist was extremely slender and his frame very thin. With one sweep of Gu Siyuan’s arm, his whole body fell neatly into his embrace.

Lowering his head, Gu Siyuan asked, “Are you alright?”

Looking up at that handsome, deep-cut profile, breathing in the icy fresh-tea scent so close at hand, Xie Xueyi did not know what possessed him. His heart stirred, and he directly kissed Gu Siyuan once on the side of the face.

Cool. Not bad.

“…”

Gu Siyuan froze for a moment.

But very quickly, his expression returned to normal. Raising a brow, he looked at the person in his arms. “What are you doing?”

At first, Xie Xueyi had indeed felt a little guilty and flustered.

But seeing Gu Siyuan remain so calm, an inexplicable fire rose in him instead, and he said angrily, “Kissing you. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know either. I just thought your side profile looked good, and since I wanted to kiss it, I did. I couldn’t hold back.”

Gu Siyuan was almost amused into laughter by him.

Few people could act like a hooligan and still sound this righteous about it.

He reached out and pinched the man’s chin, saying coldly, “It looked good, so you wanted to kiss it and did? Are you like this with every pretty face you see? Are all of you from the demonic path this flirtatious and casual?”

“How could that be!” Xie Xueyi jumped up like a lion whose paw had been stepped on, angry and embarrassed. “I’ve grown this big, and you’re the only one I’ve ever kissed.”

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes and pressed his thumb against those red lips. “Really? Your first time, and you’re already this practiced and bold? Pulling whiskers from a tiger’s head?”

Xie Xueyi wanted to stick out his tongue and lick the finger pressing his lips, but he was afraid that would anger him even more.

So he turned his head aside a little awkwardly and muttered, “Hmph. Anyway, that’s just how it is. We’re both men, so what’s the big deal about one kiss? It didn’t tear off any flesh. If you’re unhappy about it, then take revenge. At worst, I’ll compensate at ten times the price and let you kiss me ten times.”

The hand pinching that neat little chin increased in strength, and Gu Siyuan smiled without really smiling. “You’re quite good at business. When you were in the demonic path, were you in charge of accounting?”

The pain made Xie Xueyi hiss softly a few times. Out of the corner of his eye he sneaked glances at him, not daring to say anything more.

Seeing him put on that pitiful expression again, Gu Siyuan let go. With his thumb, he gently rubbed the red mark he had just pinched into existence. “The tea is ready.”

With that, he turned and walked back to the low table.

Xie Xueyi followed after him hesitantly. “You’re really not going to take revenge on me?”

Sitting down by the low table, Gu Siyuan cast him a cold glance. “Didn’t Xie-shidi just say that a kiss between two grown men was no big deal? Since that’s the case, how could shixiong keep insisting on revenge? Wouldn’t that make me petty?”

“Mm, true, it’s no big deal. A kiss isn’t bad at all.” Xie Xueyi nodded seriously, then stared hard at Gu Siyuan and asked in a deliberately casual tone, “Since that’s the case, gege, then let me kiss you a few more times. It was too fast just now, so I didn’t really get to feel it.”

Gu Siyuan looked at him in silence for a moment.

After a long pause, he pressed both hands lightly onto the low table, his expression utterly cold.

Xie Xueyi immediately retreated a few steps in alarm. “Good gege, you’re not about to flip the table, are you? Don’t! You brewed this tea yourself! If it goes to waste—well, if you don’t want to drink it, I can finish it for you…”

Gu Siyuan gave a cold laugh. “What you really need right now is to drink a full pot of tea and cool down the demonic fire in that brain of yours!”

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