BB | Chapter 4

Lan, Drifting for Half a Lifetime

Li Yaochen raised his brows and looked at Shen Canglan.

The world he lived in was, in fact, a storybook called <Love in the Cultivation Path>.

In this storybook, the spiritual energy of the Lanchuan Continent was abundant, but no one cared.

Men and women, men and women, even beasts—everyone was busy falling in love.

Even the female dung beetle who merely passed by in the novel had to hug a male dung ball and play at some bizarre four-way romance.

Pairs formed in twos and threes, then fours, and they came together very quickly. Li Yaochen had personally witnessed two people go from fighting with all their might to fighting with all their might.

In short, in such a dangerous world, sharing a room alone with someone else was extremely dangerous, and there was the possibility of being loved.

Li Yaochen only wanted to cultivate and ascend back to his original world; he did not want to stop his steps for love and desire.

He quietly took a step back, eyeing Shen Canglan warily.

But the situation he feared did not happen.

Shen Canglan lowered his head and focused on straightening the wrinkled sleeve that had been tugged askew. Then, like someone handling a treasure, he adjusted the slender sword at his waist.

Then he looked up, his bright black eyes fixed on Li Yaochen, excitement plain on his face. “I think my previous cultivation method was too slow. Spiritual energy came in slowly, and very little stayed. I tried expanding my dantian a bit so more spiritual energy could enter, and sure enough, my progress improved a lot.”

He said, “At this rate, I should be able to build my foundation very soon. Maybe I’ll be the first in our sect to break through to the Great Golden Core.”

Li Yaochen: “?”

He asked, “What’s a Great Golden Egg?”

Shen Canglan: “Not golden egg, golden core.”

Li Yaochen nearly laughed. “Do golden cores come in large and small? This isn’t Mahayana and Hinayana.”

“What’s that?” Shen Canglan asked with fresh curiosity. “Why wouldn’t golden cores come in different sizes? My shifu said that once you break through the small golden core, you can become a Great Golden Core cultivator, then a Super Great Golden Core, then a Giant Golden Core, and then you can ascend.”

Li Yaochen: “?”

What was that? Talking in dreams?

The System said: [Maybe it’s because the author didn’t set out the levels in detail in the book, so the people in the story had to make up names like Great Golden Core and Big Big Golden Core to make the logic fit.]

Li Yaochen: “……”

A story about cultivators, and it didn’t even clearly define the ranks? Was this author even capable of writing?

The System said: [People’s energy is limited after all. The author did, however, set very detailed sizes……]

Li Yaochen was silent for a moment.

He found it amusing, and reached out to lightly pat Shen Canglan’s arm. “It’s not like that.”

Shen Canglan asked, “Then what is it?”

It couldn’t be explained in a few words. Li Yaochen turned back, pulled over a chair, and sat down. Shen Canglan copied him, dragging over a chair for himself as well.

Li Yaochen said, “From lowest to highest, they are Foundation Building, Body Tempering, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Great Ascension, Divine Transformation, and ascension to true immortality.”

Shen Canglan asked, “How do you know?”

Li Yaochen paused.

Naturally, he could not say he came from another world.

That thing called the System would not allow him to reveal his identity, or heavenly thunder would be sent down as punishment. After he came here, his cultivation had been completely emptied. He had once tried twice to tell others where he was from, only to be struck by heavenly thunder until he was crisp on the outside, tender and delicious on the inside, and unable to move in bed for half a month.

He said vaguely, “It was… after falling off a cliff… I suddenly met an old senior hermit, and he taught me.”

Shen Canglan had heard the legend that every strong person would have a mysterious old master, but he hadn’t expected Li Yaochen to have such a great opportunity.

He was so envious. “When will I be able to have my own old master?”

Li Yaochen: “……”

Shen Canglan asked again, “Where is your old master now?”

Li Yaochen had barely ever lied. Now that he had no choice but to do it once, he only felt awkward all over. To keep Shen Canglan from asking more, he said, “He passed away.”

Shen Canglan drew in a sharp breath. “How did he pass away?”

Li Yaochen: “…He fell ill.”

Shen Canglan asked, “What illness?”

Li Yaochen forced himself to continue, “He broke a leg.”

Shen Canglan: ?

So Li Yaochen’s old master had caught some contagious disease that could break legs, and then died?

Could that old master’s true form be an octopus??

Li Yaochen knew this lie was terribly clumsy and tried to steer the conversation away. “Let’s keep talking about cultivation.”

The moment Shen Canglan heard that, he instantly perked up.

He actually had a bellyful of questions about cultivation. Usually Ye Xuezhu was busy being imprisoned, so he had to visit the library himself to flip through ancient texts, or ask senior brothers and senior sisters for help. Sometimes when Shen Guanqi went down the mountain, he would bring back a couple of books for him.

He chatted with Li Yaochen for a while and asked several questions, only to discover that most of the doubts he had accumulated could be answered by Li Yaochen.

Then he tried meditating according to the method Li Yaochen taught him, and sure enough, he felt his meridians smooth and comfortable.

Shen Canglan was so moved he almost cried.

To Li Yaochen, he was merely a stranger encountered by chance, yet he could be so generous and hide nothing at all.

But he had nothing good enough to repay Li Yaochen with.

Maybe he should just give all his money to Li Yaochen.

Just as his blood was running hot, he heard Li Yaochen say, “Oh right, I’ll teach you a few more incantations.”

Shen Canglan tilted his head. “Incantations?”

Li Yaochen said, “The incantation I use for cultivation. Didn’t you say you always felt something was off when cultivating? That’s because you didn’t have an incantation.”

Shen Canglan was so moved he truly felt like crying.

But he refused. “Wouldn’t that be bad? This should be a secret, right?”

Li Yaochen smiled.

He had a handsome, upright look, and when he smiled, he gained a bit of youthful spirit that matched his appearance.

Compared to him, Shen Canglan felt his own eyebrows were a little too fine, his skin too pale, and the bridge of his nose not quite straight enough.

Looking at Li Yaochen’s face, Shen Canglan thought that he had originally planned to grow into exactly such a heroic, dashing figure.

Sigh.

What a pity.

Li Yaochen did not know what Shen Canglan was thinking. Seeing him stare straight at him, he lifted a hand. “Come on, repeat after me. — Radiant are the Seven Luminaries, Brilliant Light in harmonious flow, boundless is the Great White Star, heaven’s precepts become blessing, life endlessly renews…”

As he spoke, he motioned for Shen Canglan to close his eyes, and placed his hand on Shen Canglan’s shoulder.

He sent a wisp of spiritual energy into Shen Canglan’s body, guiding him through a full circulation.

By the time it ended, the sky was already faintly bright.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage still needed sleep. Shen Canglan usually went to bed early and rose early in the Love Sect, so by rights he should have been sleepy by now, but at the moment he was full of energy.

He looked at Li Yaochen with shining eyes. “Daoist Li, I really feel the difference. You’re amazing!”

Li Yaochen said, “Metal-element cultivators usually find it hard to go very far on the path of cultivation. But you’re strong, and you’re very gifted.”

“Also,” Li Yaochen added, “you’ve just come down the mountain and you’re too trusting of people. It’s a good thing you met me tonight; otherwise, being fooled into circles would be the least of your troubles.”

Shen Canglan had originally planned to repay Li Yaochen with his money.

But in that instant, Shen Canglan felt it was not enough.

For such an utterly wonderful person, such a selfless and kind-hearted person, he had to repay him with more.

With what?

Storybooks said that what men cared about most was their status.

Status he could not give Li Yaochen.

But the brother position, he could.

So Shen Canglan said, “Lan, drifting for half my life, if you don’t mind me, I’m willing to bow to you as an adopted…”

Li Yaochen: “……”

He froze for a moment, then suddenly clenched a fist and covered his mouth, coughing a few times. Even so, the smile at the corner of his lips was still clearly caught by Shen Canglan.

Shen Canglan asked, “What’s wrong?”

Li Yaochen coughed twice more. “That really isn’t necessary. I don’t have any interest in being someone’s adoptive father.”

“But,” Shen Canglan said very seriously and earnestly, “Daoist Li, you’re too good to me. I really don’t know how to repay you.”

Li Yaochen looked at Shen Canglan and touched the bridge of his nose with the hand that had been hiding his smile.

Looking at Shen Canglan, he could always think of himself.

Back when he first entered his sect. He reached Foundation Building in only two days and was then kept at a distance by others, so he sat beneath a waterfall to cultivate, indifferent to the rise and fall of the sun and moon.

He had never expected that in this strange world, he would still meet someone like Shen Canglan—single-mindedly cultivating and earnestly studying.

“Hey, let me ask you something,” Li Yaochen said. “Do you want to ascend?”

Shen Canglan nodded firmly without hesitation.

“So do I,” Li Yaochen said. “From this day forth, you are my sworn brother. From now on, the two of us will help each other on the Great Dao and ascend together. How about it?”

Shen Canglan did not hesitate even for an instant, nodding again and again with all his might.

Li Yaochen smiled and held out a hand toward Shen Canglan. “Good brother.”

Shen Canglan also extended both hands, gripped Li Yaochen’s hand, and shook it up and down. “Brother!!!”

The two looked at each other, the corners of their mouths lifting, and at the same time let out hearty, unrestrained laughter.

The room was full of heroism and joy without end, while only the System wailed in Li Yaochen’s mind: [I’m a love system, host! Recruiting little brothers won’t raise my points at all, host!]

“What little brother?” Li Yaochen said. “Brother.”

System: […………]

[Two lonely men sharing a room late at night. This should have been so romantic, yet you went and swore brotherhood.]

It felt utterly hopeless, the future pitch-black: [You really can’t kiss, can you? Haha, just pretend it’s for me.]

“Kiss what kiss.”

Li Yaochen still said the same thing: “He’ll be my real brother from now on.”

[So if they’re already real brothers, what’s wrong with kissing once?] The System said miserably. [I hate straight men like you to death!]