Who Exactly Is Ji Chaoyun?
Feng Qi froze in place.
In his half-shifted state, Ji Chaoyun’s skin was so pale it was nearly translucent. Yet after soaking in the spring for so long, a faint flush of pink had risen beneath it.
The noise just now had not awakened him. Ji Chaoyun murmured something in his sleep and buried half his face in his arm.
A restless heat flared within Feng Qi. He cursed silently and looked away. “Wake up. If you want to sleep, go back to your room.”
They still hadn't figured out what was making Ji Chaoyun feel unwell. If he slept out here in the open, he would most likely still feel miserable when he woke.
Ji Chaoyun did not react.
Feng Qi stepped forward and nudged his arm. “Did you hear me? Go back to your room and sleep.”
The skin beneath his fingertips was soft and smooth, pleasantly warm, completely unlike Ji Chaoyun’s usual bone-chilling coolness. Feng Qi found himself strangely reluctant to let go. The restlessness within him only grew. He gave Ji Chaoyun’s cheek a pinch. “Are you getting up or not?”
“It hurts...” Ji Chaoyun wrinkled his nose in his sleep.
He instinctively tried to pull away the hand bothering him, but he had no strength. His own hand only loosely landed upon Feng Qi’s wrist.
Wet fingertips caught Feng Qi’s sleeve, leaving several faint trails of water along the cuff.
“...” Feng Qi’s breathing immediately grew heavier.
Was this little yao dragon doing it on purpose?
Feng Qi lightly ground his teeth and forcibly pulled his hand away.
His gaze shifted and landed on the clothes Ji Chaoyun had left beside the pool. He drew several deep breaths, picked up the robes, and wrapped them around Ji Chaoyun.
The sound of splashing water echoed through the mist-filled bamboo grove.
A short while later, Feng Qi emerged carrying the half-human, half-dragon Ji Chaoyun in his arms, his expression dark.
Removed from the comfortable water, Ji Chaoyun stirred uneasily but soon sensed the familiar embrace around him. He looped his arms around Feng Qi’s neck and without opening his eyes, nuzzled deeper into his chest. His dangling dragon tail obediently coiled around Feng Qi’s body, wrapping him tightly like a snake.
The motion was entirely instinctive, but Feng Qi’s expression only grew harder to describe.
Through the fabric of Ji Chaoyun’s robes, he lightly slapped the place where the dragon tail joined his human body and scolded, “Behave. Stop moving around.”
The slender tip of the dragon tail flinched. Then it obediently curled around Feng Qi’s waist and stopped moving.
Feng Qi carried Ji Chaoyun back to his bedroom.
It had taken Ji Chaoyun only two days to clean out the bedroom that had once been so filled with dust and clutter that there had been nowhere to stand.
According to Ji Chaoyun, everything in the room only needed to be simple and functional.
Feng Qi, however, could not tolerate having such a shabby room within his own courtyard, so he had redecorated it according to the standards of his own bedroom.
Feng Qi placed Ji Chaoyun back onto the bed and was just about to pull the blanket over him when Ji Chaoyun’s tail suddenly swept out and dragged Feng Qi onto the bed with him.
Feng Qi landed directly on top of Ji Chaoyun and hurriedly braced both hands beside him to steady himself.
“What are you doing?” Feng Qi asked through gritted teeth.
Ji Chaoyun showed no sign of noticing his anger.
Instead, the dragon tail became even more demanding, curling upward and wrapping Feng Qi tightly once more.
Feng Qi: “...”
The two were extremely close.
Feng Qi could almost smell the warm moisture clinging to Ji Chaoyun’s body, mixed with another faint fragrance, like grass and trees soaked by rain just as the sky cleared afterward.
The scent only made Feng Qi more restless.
It felt as though some uncontrollable impulse was pressing against the limits of his reason.
He forced himself to remain calm, darkened his expression, and peeled the dragon tail away from his body.
Before he could get off the bed, however, he realized someone had grabbed his sleeve.
Ji Chaoyun lay sunk into the soft bedding, his long silver-white hair spread across the entire bed.
He looked soft and vulnerable.
Even in sleep, his brows remained faintly furrowed. His expression could not hide his exhaustion, and somehow he even looked a little aggrieved.
“Don’t go...”
Feng Qi’s heart immediately softened.
He lowered his gaze toward the hand tightly gripping his sleeve, then bent down and asked quietly beside Ji Chaoyun’s ear, “You don’t want me to leave?”
“...” Ji Chaoyun murmured something softly and nestled closer toward him.
As though compelled by some unseen force, Feng Qi did not move away again.
He simply let Ji Chaoyun come closer, rubbing against him like a small animal until he eventually burrowed completely into Feng Qi’s arms.
Ji Chaoyun found a comfortable position against him and finally stopped moving, falling into deep sleep once more.
“It’s only because you’re sick. Once you’re better, just wait and see how I deal with you.”
Feng Qi muttered through gritted teeth and tightened his arms around the person in his embrace, half sweet burden and half torment.
Less than one incense stick later, however, he began regretting his decision.
For the entire afternoon, Second Highness Feng alternated endlessly between restless excitement and brief periods of calm. By the end, he nearly drove himself mad.
When Ji Chaoyun finally woke completely, there was no one else in the room.
The sun was already sinking beyond the window.
He slowly sat up in a daze and only belatedly recognized his own bedroom.
Someone had already changed his clothes. He was dressed neatly, and all traces of dragon scales and his dragon tail had disappeared.
He could not remember what had happened earlier at all.
Perhaps the spring water truly had been effective, because Ji Chaoyun felt remarkably light and refreshed, with none of his previous exhaustion remaining.
So...
How had he returned to his bedroom?
Ji Chaoyun quickly straightened his clothes and stepped outside.
Feng Qi sat with his back toward him inside the pavilion, holding a book and reading.
Since moving here, this was the first time Ji Chaoyun had ever seen Second Highness Feng look so diligent.
He walked over. “What are you reading?”
Feng Qi snapped shut the Heart-Cleansing Scripture in his hands and looked up at him, his heart as still as water. “Awake? Do you still feel unwell?”
“Much better.” Ji Chaoyun said, “Thank you.”
Thank me for what? Holding you while you slept?
Feng Qi immediately retorted inwardly.
Before the calming effect of the scripture he had just finished reading could disappear, he answered coldly, “...No need to thank me.”
Ji Chaoyun had no idea of the chaos taking place inside his head.
He nodded. “If I go back now, I can still make evening lessons. I’ll return to the classroom first.”
“...”
Ji Chaoyun asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Feng Qi’s expression remained calm, though his voice inexplicably carried a hint of gritted teeth. “Go ahead. The examination is coming, so you really should work harder. Don’t sleep through an entire afternoon and do nothing but slack off.”
Ji Chaoyun: “?”
Ji Chaoyun, who had somehow just been scolded for “doing nothing but slacking off” by the very man who had forced him to skip afternoon lessons, left with a completely bewildered expression.
☁
The spring water on Wenqu Peak proved remarkably effective.
From that day onward, Ji Chaoyun meditated in the water for one hour every day. His energy improved noticeably, and the strange symptoms from before never appeared again.
Five or six more days passed. After afternoon lessons ended, Ji Chaoyun, Ye Chenxing, and Bei Ran headed toward the Scripture Pavilion.
TThe seasonal examination consisted of two parts: a written examination on Daoist scriptures and a martial trial within the secret realm.
The secret-realm martial trial was further divided into formation-breaking and exterminating evil. Formation-breaking naturally referred to the Stone Figure Formation everyone had spent months practicing against, while in the extermination of evil, each disciple had to rely on their own abilities within the secret realm.
For most disciples, although the martial trial was difficult, it no longer posed much of a problem. As things stood, the dull and tedious written examination on Daoist scriptures had instead become the greater challenge.
This was particularly true of Ye Chenxing.
This esteemed young master had never been able to sit through his Daoist scripture lessons. After each lesson, he would seek out Ji Chaoyun for tutoring, making up whatever he could and leaving the rest for later. Over time, his unfinished lessons continued to pile up, until he had no choice but to cling to the Buddha’s feet at the last minute.
During these final days before the examination, Ji Chaoyun could only use the evening self-study period to take the other two to the Scripture Pavilion and review the Daoist texts.
The three had only just left the pine forest outside the Sword Practice Grounds when a disciple approached them.
“Ji Chaoyun, Second Prince Feng is looking for you.”
Ji Chaoyun asked, “What for?”
“How would I know? I’m only passing along a message,” the disciple said. “He’s waiting for you at Nine Heavens Cliff on the back mountain. He said he has something very important to show you and wants you to hurry over.”
Ji Chaoyun’s brows drew together in uncertainty.
Feng Qi behaved unpredictably, but he knew Ji Chaoyun had been busy reviewing lately. There was no chance Feng Qi would summon him away right before lessons without good reason.
The disciple urged him twice to hurry, then quickly turned and left.
Ji Chaoyun instinctively felt something was strange.
Before he could make a decision, Ye Chenxing lightly poked him from behind.
Ji Chaoyun turned around. “Why are you smiling like that?”
Ye Chenxing could barely hold back his meaningful grin. “That’s Nine Heavens Cliff. Why would the flower peacock invite you there?”
“How would I know? What’s special about Nine Heavens Cliff?”
Bei Ran explained, “Nine Heavens Cliff takes its name from the line ‘as though the Milky Way falls from the Nine Heavens.’ From the top, you can see nearly all of Hongmeng Mountain. It has the most beautiful scenery in the academy.”
Ye Chenxing added the important part. “And it’s the best place for lovers to meet in secret.”
Ji Chaoyun: “............”
He pressed his fingers to his brow with a helpless sigh. “There is nothing between us. What are you two thinking?”
“Maybe there’s nothing on your side. That doesn’t mean the flower peacock feels the same.” Ye Chenxing leaned close to his ear and whispered, “The entire academy is talking about it. If he doesn’t like you, why would he let you come and go freely from Cloud-Ascending Tower and even move into Wenqu Peak?”
Ji Chaoyun thought, I clearly owe him an enormous debt. I only went there to work it off as his laborer.
Then he reconsidered.
He had been so busy preparing for the seasonal examination lately that he had not actually done any of the work a laborer ought to do.
If he gave that explanation, these two would probably believe him even less.
Ji Chaoyun stopped trying to explain. “You two go to the Scripture Pavilion first. I’ll be back soon.”
Ye Chenxing gave him a knowing look. “Have fun. If you can’t make it back in time, send me a voice transmission. I’ll ask for leave on your behalf!”
Ji Chaoyun: “...”
The Sword Practice Grounds were already on the back mountain, so Nine Heavens Cliff was not far away.
Ji Chaoyun quickened his pace and soon passed through the pine forest and climbed to the top.
It was just around sunset.
The sky had been dyed crimson by the setting sun. In the distance, mountain upon mountain rose beneath drifting mist, breathtaking in the fading light.
Someone was already waiting on Nine Heavens Cliff, but it was not Feng Qi.
Ji Chaoyun let out an almost imperceptible sigh and walked forward. “What did you call me here for?”
“You already guessed it was me?”
The person turned around and it was Jun Ruzhuo.
Ji Chaoyun did not answer.
Jun Ruzhuo smiled. “You knew it was a trap and still came. You’re as foolish as ever.”
“If you have something to say, say it. I still have to get back for evening lessons.”
The smile vanished from Jun Ruzhuo’s face, replaced by something cold. “You know what I want.”
Ji Chaoyun looked into his eyes.
After a moment, he shook his head. “I won’t fight you.”
He turned to leave, but Jun Ruzhuo raised his hand and a curtain of water appeared from all directions, surrounding the two of them.
Jun Ruzhuo said, “Draw your sword. Fight me properly. Otherwise, I won’t let you leave.”
Ji Chaoyun fell silent.
He stared at the watery barrier before him, then laughed softly after a moment.
“I was the one who taught you this technique back then. Several hundred years have passed, and now I can’t even use it anymore.”
Jun Ruzhuo shouted, “Enough nonsense. Draw your sword!”
“You only want to know how useless I’ve become, don’t you?” Ji Chaoyun turned back and looked at him calmly. “I’m already standing right in front of you. Isn’t that enough? There’s no reason for me to lie to you. If you fought with all your strength, I wouldn’t last three moves against you.”
“You...”
Ji Chaoyun said softly, “A noble gentleman is like jade, cut and polished, carved and refined. I was the one who gave you your name. You still remember, don’t you?”
Jun Ruzhuo’s entire body began trembling violently.
His eyes instantly reddened.
“Ah-Zhuo, I once thought we would never meet again in this life. Being able to see you again, and seeing that you’ve been living well, makes me very happy.”
“Shut up.” Jun Ruzhuo’s voice trembled uncontrollably. “I never wanted to see you. I never... wanted to see you like this...”
Ji Chaoyun looked away, his breathing becoming slightly uneven. “If I had known you would come to Hongmeng Academy, I wouldn’t have appeared here.”
“You never should have appeared!” Jun Ruzhuo shouted, his voice cracking. “What did you promise me back then? You said you would return soon. You said you would never abandon me, that you would never abandon Lingyuan Sea!
Three hundred years. I waited for you like a fool for three hundred years. Everyone said you had betrayed us and fled to become a yao, but I was the only one who refused to believe it. And what did I finally wait for? A yao dragon whose spiritual foundation has been completely ruined!”
Ji Chaoyun’s eyes trembled faintly.
Bitterness rose in his throat. “I’m sorry. I broke my promise.”
Jun Ruzhuo let out a soft, hollow laugh. “Three hundred years, and all you have to explain yourself is one apology?”
“There’s nothing else I can say.” Ji Chaoyun replied, “What happened back then was not as simple as you think, but since it has already passed, I don’t want to speak about it again. Failing to keep my promise was my fault. If you want to vent your anger, I’m standing right here. Go ahead.”
He closed his eyes and quietly waited for Jun Ruzhuo’s decision, but nothing happened.
Instead, the rushing sound of the water barrier behind him suddenly disappeared. Only a faint ring of moisture remained upon the grass.
Jun Ruzhuo turned his gaze away and said coldly, “Tomorrow, I’ll ask Immortal Lord Tianshu to move me to another classroom. I don’t want to see you again. Get lost.”
Ji Chaoyun hesitated for a moment, softly said, “I’m sorry,” then turned and left Nine Heavens Cliff.
The sun finally sank below the horizon.
Jun Ruzhuo slowly sank to his knees. One hand braced against the ground, his fingers digging deeply into the soil and grass. Across Nine Heavens Cliff, there was only the faint sound of a suppressed, broken sob.
The final trace of light disappeared from the sky. Stars and moonlight spread across the pine forest.
Jun Ruzhuo walked slowly along the mountain path when his steps suddenly stopped.
In the next instant, a ball of flame descended fiercely from the sky and ignited half a step before him.
He raised his head.
A man sat upon a tree branch, silhouetted against the moonlight, his features impossible to make out.
Jun Ruzhuo said coldly, “Feng Qi, don’t provoke me.”
Feng Qi leaned lazily against the branch, half the hem of his robe hanging down. He tilted his head and looked at the young man below. “Who’s provoking you? Don’t make it sound so ambiguous. Someone might misunderstand.”
“What do you want?”
Feng Qi said, “You bullied someone who’s mine. Naturally, I came to demand an explanation.”
Jun Ruzhuo scoffed. “Since when did he become yours?”
“That’s none of your concern,” Feng Qi said. “Tell me. What did the two of you say on Nine Heavens Cliff?”
“Why should I tell you?”
Jun Ruzhuo stepped over the flame at his feet and about to walk forward when another ball of fire descended, nearly striking him directly.
“Damned phoenix, don’t go too far!”
Feng Qi gave him a leisurely smile. “You used my name to lure him here. Why shouldn’t I know the truth? If you refuse to tell me, that’s fine too. You can’t beat me anyway. We might as well keep this up and see which of us has the patience to last until the end.”
Jun Ruzhuo remained silent. The hand hanging at his side slowly opened, a silvery light beginning to gather in his palm.
“You want to fight?” Feng Qi raised a brow, perfectly composed. “Think carefully, Young Master Jun. The Dragon King of Lingyuan Sea sent you here to cultivate. I doubt he wants you breaking academy rules immediately after enrollment.”
“...”
The atmosphere within the forest grew tense.
After a long while, the spiritual light in Jun Ruzhuo’s palm faded.
He gave a quiet sigh and finally compromised. “What do you want to know?”
Feng Qi asked, “Who exactly is Ji Chaoyun? What happened in the past?”
“He...” Jun Ruzhuo began slowly, his voice low and strained.
“He is my older cousin. His true name is Jun Yan, the eldest son of the Dragon King of Lingyuan Sea. He should have been the most gifted of the Lingyuan Sea Dragon Clan in centuries, and its finest heir.”
☁︎₊˚⊹ The Author’s Jade-Slip Aside ⊹˚₊☁︎
Other dragons coil around pillars. Our little dragon is different. He can wrap himself around a phoenix. 【？？？】
————
Thank you all so much for your support. I’ll keep working hard!
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