Core Formation
Feng Qi pushed open the half-closed courtyard gate. Ji Chaoyun was sitting in the courtyard, wiping down his sword.
He seemed not to have noticed the movement outside the gate. His head was lowered, his expression focused. Spirit lamps hung from the branches of the enormous parasol tree, casting his features into clear clarity and lending him a touch of gentleness.
Feng Qi stood at one end of the stone bridge and simply watched the person beneath the lamplight. The vexation in his heart abruptly vanished like smoke.
The conflict between immortals and demons, the ancient heavenly gods, none of it seemed as important as the person before him.
“...Why are you standing over there staring into space?” Ji Chaoyun’s voice came from ahead. He still did not look up, the soft cloth in his hand brushing lightly across the blade.
Feng Qi smiled brightly and strode forward. “Your perception has improved quite quickly lately. I deliberately concealed my aura just now, yet you still sensed me.”
He drew near. Ji Chaoyun looked up at him, a hint of pride in his eyes. “I sensed you the moment you passed through the array.”
Feng Qi lowered his head and kissed the corner of his eye. “At this rate, are you really going to defeat me in the Heaven Ranking Tournament?”
“Don’t worry.” The kiss tickled, and Ji Chaoyun smiled as he leaned back to evade him. At the same time, he picked up the scabbard resting on the bamboo couch. With a clang, the sword slid into its sheath. “I would like to. Would you give me the chance?”
“That depends on how you bribe me.”
Feng Qi gave him a suggestive wink. When his gaze fell upon the sword in Ji Chaoyun’s hand, he looked somewhat surprised. “This is... Feng Xiao’s sword.”
Ji Chaoyun had always kept this sword with him, but it had been a long time since Feng Qi had seen him take it out.
“...Mm.” Ji Chaoyun lowered his eyes. His fingers tightened hard around the sword, and for no apparent reason, unease rose within him. “I only thought it had been a long time since I last cleaned it, so...”
Feng Qi interrupted him in a low voice. “Why are you explaining yourself to me? I already said I wouldn’t go around drinking vinegar for no reason anymore. Come here. Eat first.”
He placed the food box on the small table atop the bamboo couch, opened the lid, and took out the bowls and dishes one by one.
Ji Chaoyun set the sword aside and watched him. He asked quietly, “Why did Immortal Venerable Tianshu summon you?”
Feng Qi’s movements paused. He did not tell him the truth. “Nothing. He told me about the Immortal Realm’s current situation and instructed me to concentrate on my cultivation. It’s always the same things. He’s getting more and more long-winded.”
“Immortal Venerable Tianshu must be worried about you,” Ji Chaoyun said.
Feng Qi went to the rear kitchen and brought out the seafood congee that had been simmering since earlier. He filled a bowl and handed it to Ji Chaoyun. “Eat some proper food first. You can have the pastries later.”
Ji Chaoyun did not dare argue and obediently accepted it. “...Oh.”
Feng Qi watched him take small sips of congee. Something occurred to him, and he asked, “Right, we also spoke about how to reinforce the seal earlier. Those three artifacts Feng Xiao left behind back then, are they real or not?”
Ji Chaoyun replied, “Of course they’re real.”
“Yet at the Dragon King Temple in Linhai Village, you said yourself that they were false.”
“That isn’t what I meant.” Ji Chaoyun shook his head. “I meant that the three artifacts people believe them to be, the Glass Bead, the Scarlet Feather Sword, and the Phoenix Golden Feather, are false. Of those three, only the Scarlet Feather Sword is real.”
Feng Qi tapped a fingertip lightly against the table. “So you know what the three artifacts actually are?”
“...I can guess.”
Feng Qi said, “I’d like to hear the details.”
Ji Chaoyun set down his bowl and chopsticks. Just then, the clear ringing of a bell sounded behind him.
A little mottled white cat came over with a small, crystalline pink flower in its mouth. It leapt onto Ji Chaoyun’s lap and raised its head to offer him the flower. A silver bell hung around its neck, and it was that bell that rang whenever it moved.
The little cat had grown especially close to Ji Chaoyun lately. Ji Chaoyun had even made the silver bell for it himself.
“Xiaohua, you’re picking my spirit herbs again!” Feng Qi made as though he were about to hit it. Xiaohua ducked behind Ji Chaoyun and stared pitifully at Feng Qi with its two watery eyes.
Ji Chaoyun rubbed Xiaohua’s head and said gently, “Enough. You planted those spirit herbs merely to decorate the courtyard anyway. Xiaohua likes them, so let it play with them.”
“Aowu, aowu...”
“Just keep spoiling it.” Feng Qi muttered under his breath. His gaze fell upon the little white cat and the sword lying beside Ji Chaoyun, and a thought abruptly crossed his mind. “Wait...”
Feng Qi asked, “Those two artifacts are actually the Scarlet Feather Sword and... the Spirit Tiger?”
Ji Chaoyun tossed the pink flower into the air. Spiritual power carried the spirit herb away. The little white cat flicked its tail and chased after it with a string of aowu cries, leaving the ringing of its bell behind.
Ji Chaoyun watched the little white cat at play, a smile at the corners of his lips. “Yes. His mount and his sword are the so-called artifacts he left behind in this world.”
“What about the last one?”
“The last one...” Ji Chaoyun turned back and looked up at Feng Qi.
The last one was the most precious thing he had left to this world.
Himself, reborn through nirvana.
Only when these three things returned to their proper places could the seal be restored.
Ji Chaoyun withdrew his gaze and said quietly, “I don’t know what the last one is either. Do you have any clues?”
“No. We’re still investigating.” Feng Qi said, “Eat first.”
“Mm...”
Neither spoke further, and they quietly finished dinner. Feng Qi cleared away the bowls and dishes. When he returned to the courtyard, he found Ji Chaoyun still holding the sword and staring blankly at it.
He sighed soundlessly, walked over, and wrapped his arms around him. “What are you thinking about?”
Ji Chaoyun came back to himself and instinctively hid the sword behind him. “N-Nothing...”
“How is it nothing? I saw you.” Feng Qi deliberately reached behind him, trying to snatch the sword away.
The instant his fingers touched the blade, another unfamiliar image flashed through his mind.
It passed too quickly for Feng Qi to see clearly. Ji Chaoyun had already pulled the sword from his hand.
“Stop fooling around.” Ji Chaoyun turned the spirit storage ring on his finger and put the sword away. In his nervousness, he failed to notice Feng Qi’s expression abruptly darken.
Feng Qi’s brows drew together slightly. He closed his eyes, and by the time he opened them again, his expression had returned to normal.
He pinched Ji Chaoyun’s cheek and sighed. “My fault. I shouldn’t have brought all that up with you today. Who else keeps bringing up his own love rival over and over again like I do.”
Ji Chaoyun whispered, “He’s not your love rival.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask.” Ji Chaoyun pressed his lips together and buried his head against Feng Qi’s chest. “Don’t ask anymore.”
He tightly clutched Feng Qi’s sleeve, his eyes reddening slightly. “Let’s find somewhere no one can ever discover and bury this sword.”
“Chaoyun...”
“We never should have taken it out of Mount Sumeru in the first place.” Ji Chaoyun’s voice was low as he said softly, “He won’t come back. Keeping this sword... has no meaning anymore.”
Feng Qi stroked Ji Chaoyun’s trembling back and said gently, “No.”
“Chaoyun, I don’t know why you’re so upset today. If there are still things you don’t wish to tell me, I can stop asking, but I don’t want you doing anything you don’t truly wish to do.” Feng Qi spoke beside Ji Chaoyun’s ear, his voice warm. “I don’t care what the reason is.”
Ji Chaoyun’s voice was muffled. “I’m not...”
“Then why don’t you dare look me in the eyes when you say that?”
Ji Chaoyun’s shoulders trembled slightly.
Feng Qi sighed softly. “Little dragon, after everything that’s happened, do you really think you can still hide what’s on your mind from me? Don’t say things like this again. You don’t need to force yourself for my sake.”
“That’s not it... You don’t understand...” Ji Chaoyun said in a low voice. “I’m only afraid... afraid you’ll leave again.”
“Why would I leave you?” Feng Qi frowned. “You think that if he returns, I’ll leave you?”
“No...”
Feng Qi asked, “Then what is it? What makes you think I’ll leave?”
Ji Chaoyun realized with a start that he had said too much and fell silent.
Feng Qi lowered his eyes to Ji Chaoyun’s profile. From the other’s hesitant words, the strange attitudes of both Ji Chaoyun and Tianshu, and the unfamiliar images that had appeared in his mind several times now, he seemed to have discovered something.
The tangled mess inside his mind seemed to have finally yielded a single thread at this moment, though it remained indistinct.
“What exactly are you...” Feng Qi was about to ask again when Ji Chaoyun abruptly raised his head and kissed him.
He had eaten quite a few pastries just now, and a sweet-and-sour taste lingered between his lips and teeth. Every word Feng Qi meant to say was stopped in his throat. When the kiss ended, Ji Chaoyun looked up at him and said earnestly, “Feng Qi, I want it.”
“You...”
“Don’t you?” Ji Chaoyun pressed close again, clumsily parting Feng Qi’s lips.
During all their previous times together, Feng Qi had been the one to take the initiative. Ji Chaoyun truly was not very skilled at it.
He pushed Feng Qi down onto the bamboo couch, kissing him while fumbling with the front of his robes.
Ji Chaoyun’s breathing quickened. He raised his head slightly. “What about now?”
The corners of his eyes were still red, making him look fragile and beautiful.
Feng Qi understood at once.
Ji Chaoyun did not want him to keep asking.
Feng Qi’s heart ached and softened at once. He gathered Ji Chaoyun into his arms. “I won’t ask anymore. Don’t do this. We still don’t know what’s happening with your body. We can’t...”
“Feng Qi, I mean it.” Ji Chaoyun braced both hands beside Feng Qi and lowered his head to kiss his lips. “There truly are things I still can’t tell you, but my feelings for you are sincere. Wanting to be with you is sincere too.”
With each sentence, he kissed Feng Qi once on the lips.
His trembling fingers followed the folds of Feng Qi’s robes downward. By the time he reached the end, even his voice was shaking. “...It’s true. I-I can prove it to you.”
Feng Qi finally reached the limit of his restraint and turned them over, pressing Ji Chaoyun down onto the bamboo couch.
...
...
Their dual cultivation this time was particularly intense. Both carried their own troubles in their hearts, and it was almost an act of release, as though they meant to use it to sweep away the heavy emotions weighing upon them until they could scarcely breathe.
After two or three times, Ji Chaoyun had completely run out of strength.
The two lay sprawled on the bamboo couch. Ji Chaoyun pushed Feng Qi’s shoulder. “I want to bathe...”
“Why are you already asking to bathe? Weren’t you going to prove it to me? You can’t continue after only this much?” Feng Qi brushed Ji Chaoyun’s damp hair back behind his ear and looked at his clearly defined features. “I haven’t had enough yet.”
Sensing something, Ji Chaoyun hurriedly shrank backward. “No... I can’t anymore.”
Ji Chaoyun had only just tried to escape when Feng Qi caught him around the waist and dragged him back. A whimper that had yet to leave his mouth caught abruptly in his throat as Feng Qi picked him up.
Ji Chaoyun struggled to breathe. Frightened, he wrapped his arms tightly around Feng Qi’s neck and could barely speak. “...What are you doing?”
“Taking you to bathe.” Feng Qi smiled teasingly and, still holding Ji Chaoyun in that position, strode toward the back of the house.
The little white cat was in the spirit field, wrestling with a spirit herb, when it spotted the two of them approaching from afar.
It tilted its head, seemingly unable to understand what the two were doing now.
“Get lost. Is this something you should be watching?” Feng Qi cursed at it under his breath. The little white cat let out an aowu, hurriedly grabbed the spirit herb in its mouth, and fled.
Feng Qi carried Ji Chaoyun into the water. As the water rose around them, Ji Chaoyun felt, for the first time, almost as though he were drowning.
The sound of water splashed loudly beside his ears. Ji Chaoyun’s mind was muddled, his entire body burning hot.
The heat seemed nearly enough to bring his blood to a boil. Because of this, he failed to notice the changes occurring within his body.
Spiritual power continuously poured from Feng Qi into him, drawing the spiritual power already within his spirit meridians into rapid circulation. It flowed through his limbs and every part of his body, reshaping his immortal bones.
Ji Chaoyun abruptly opened his eyes and caught Feng Qi’s hand. “Feng Qi, wait. I think I—”
His words were stopped by Feng Qi’s kiss.
...
When their final round of dual cultivation ended, Feng Qi repeatedly kissed the damp corners of Ji Chaoyun’s eyes. “What’s wrong? You liked it that much?”
“I...”
Ji Chaoyun opened his mouth. He could feel that, as the final thread of spiritual power entered his body, all the spiritual power throughout him was gathering toward a single place.
It was where his core had once been before he lost his Dragon Pearl.
Feng Qi finally noticed that something was wrong with Ji Chaoyun. He caught the other’s wrist and was about to send his power into Ji Chaoyun’s spirit meridians when his arms abruptly became empty.
The silver dragon, having returned to his true form, slipped beneath the water.
The silver dragon’s scales began to glow faintly, and the light soon enveloped him completely. Bubbles continuously rose through the pool as the water temperature climbed. The surface churned, splashing water into the air, while an extraordinarily powerful fluctuation of spiritual energy surged out from beneath the water.
“This is...”
Feng Qi had been born in the Immortal Realm and possessed an immortal body from birth. He had never personally undergone such a thing, but that did not mean he did not recognize it.
This was...
Core Formation.
☁︎₊˚⊹ The Author’s Jade-Slip Aside ⊹˚₊☁︎
After thinking it over, I still decided to change the Core Formation scene to this version. The effect is a little better. If this ends up flopping horribly... then I’ll replace it with the original version orz
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