Chapter 230: Back To That Key Moment ⑥

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Chapter 230: Back To That Key Moment ⑥

“Young Proprietor, hurry and bring me a pot of Relief Tea!” A dejected-looking cultivator sprawled over a stone table and called weakly to Shang Ke.

As the teahouse grew more famous, the regulars had all begun calling Shang Ke the “Young Proprietor.”

“No Relief Tea today,” Shang Ke said with a smile.

“Then what do you have?”

“Radiance Tea.”

“Then give me a pot of Radiance Tea.” The cultivator was so miserable that he no longer cared what kind of tea he drank.

A moment later, Shang Ke brought over the steaming tea.

The cultivator stared expressionlessly at the chrysanthemum blooming in the cup. “This is Radiance Tea?”

“Yes. It also comes with a complimentary serving of vinegar-pickled cucumbers.”

A plate of crisp cucumber slices arranged into a heart appeared before him, garnished with a small wild chrysanthemum.

The cultivator felt even more depressed. He had come here to clear his head after being dumped by his partner, bullied by his fellow disciples, and ignored by his master. His life had been nothing but gray lately. Yet even after reaching this secluded teahouse, hailed by countless cultivators as a “haven for the soul,” he still took another ten-thousand-point hit to the heart.

“Fallen blossoms stain the stream red; ten thousand idle sorrows, speechless, blame the east wind.” The cultivator recited the melancholy verse in gloomy heartbreak as he sipped his tea.

The first sip left sweetness and bitterness on his tongue; the second filled his nose with fragrance; the third nourished his qi, and spiritual resonance arose on its own.

A sudden gleam flashed through the cultivator’s dull eyes. His dark complexion cleared and brightened, spiritual qi circulated smoothly through his body, and his meridians opened. Comforted by the combined power of chrysanthemum and cucumber, his whole person truly became radiant.

Young Proprietor, you’re a good man! This teahouse really is a haven for cultivators’ souls!

“Young Proprietor, please bring us a pot of good tea.” Several travel-worn cultivators entered the teahouse.

“Of course. Coming right up.”

As more guests came and went, the once-quiet teahouse gradually grew lively. Everyone held chrysanthemum tea in one hand and ate sour cucumber with the other, faces glowing with health and bliss.

Inside the bamboo house, Yan Lu stood by the window and silently watched Shang Ke move leisurely through the courtyard, serving the tea drinkers and diners who had come from afar.

Who were these people of unknown origin to make his Little Mushroom wait on them hand and foot? They even ordered him around and joked with him so freely.

A sharp chill entered Yan Lu’s eyes. The urge to kill flooded his heart, as though a voice were screaming over and over: Kill. Kill. Kill!

His figure flashed. He leaped through the window and landed in the courtyard, murderous intent rolling off him.

A chill ran down everyone’s spine. They instantly went on guard and turned toward Yan Lu. He was strikingly handsome and carried an otherworldly bearing; his deep eyes seemed to contain boundless heaven and earth, while all living beings appeared no more significant than ants before him.

Several of those present were experts above the Nascent Soul Stage, yet before him they could not summon even the slightest will to resist. His strength was terrifying.

The courtyard fell into an eerie dead silence, as though someone had cast a binding spell. Even the air seemed frozen.

“Little Deer.” At that moment, a clear voice broke the silence.

Ripples stirred in Yan Lu’s dark eyes. Light flowed through them, and the dense killing intent vanished in an instant. The God of Slaughter became an adorable fool in the space of a heartbeat.

Everyone released the breath they had been holding, feeling as though they had narrowly returned from the gates of hell.

“What’s wrong?” Shang Ke walked over and casually handed him a cucumber.

Yan Lu crunched on the cucumber while thinking very seriously. He genuinely could not remember what he had intended to do, so he could only mutter, “They’re too noisy.”

Everyone present had sharp eyes and ears. At those words, they wiped cold sweat from their brows. So he had merely thought they were too loud? They had been certain he was about to start a massacre.

“Go to the backyard. Let Rabbit help you grow mushrooms.”

“Rabbit only knows how to eat them. It doesn’t know how to grow them,” Yan Lu complained.

“Teach it.”

“It’s that stupid. How could it possibly learn?” Growing mushrooms was a profound technical art, all right.

Shang Ke: Heh.

The two gradually disappeared from sight, leaving behind a group of cultivators who still had no idea they had just taken a stroll past the gates of hell. Curious about Yan Lu’s identity, they immediately began discussing him—but this time they instinctively lowered their voices, terrified of disturbing that expert.

Yan Lu had vanished from public view for decades. Most of those who had seen him back then were either dead or still in secluded cultivation after suffering severe injuries. The newer generation of cultivators generally knew his name but not his face.

As for Shang Ke, an expert could naturally see that he was a spirit cultivator. But thanks to the lingering deterrence of the God of Slaughter, cultivators nowadays treated spirit cultivators with exceptional courtesy. Yan Lu’s partner had been one, and anyone who harmed spirit cultivators had once been placed at the very top of his kill list. Although he had disappeared for decades, no one dared test whether that rule still applied.

None of the people present could have imagined that the man they had just seen was Yan Lu, the terrifying God of Slaughter—or that the Young Proprietor serving them tea and water was the very source of a century of upheaval in the cultivation world.

After closing for the day, Shang Ke settled in for his usual daily soak in mushroom soup.

Yan Lu sat beside him. One moment he was playing with his big mushroom; the next, he abruptly turned and asked in a deep voice, “Little Mushroom, why did you open a teahouse?”

It took Shang Ke a few seconds to adjust to the personality shift. “The mountain is too quiet. Opening a teahouse brings a little life here.”

“People are treacherous. Who knows what they might do behind our backs?” Yan Lu’s tone was dark, his gaze icy.

“We should be cautious, but we can’t hide from the world forever. Only by becoming strong ourselves can we remain undefeated.” Shang Ke turned, wrapped his arms around Yan Lu, and smiled up at him. “I promise I won’t meddle in other people’s business or go looking for trouble. We’ll live here quietly.”

Yan Lu gave a cool, lofty “Mm.”

“And you?” Shang Ke changed tack. “Can you promise me you won’t indulge your urge to kill?”

Yan Lu said nothing.

“You may have an endless lifespan, but you’ve accumulated too much blood debt. I’m afraid you’ll bring divine retribution upon yourself. I fought with everything I had to return to your side. I didn’t come back just to watch your soul scatter.”

Yan Lu buried his face in the hollow of Shang Ke’s neck, breathing in his warmth. “It won’t happen,” he promised softly. “Absolutely not.”

All he wished for was to remain with this person for life after life, never abandoning him. Even if heaven and earth refused to tolerate them, Yan Lu would still stay at his side.

“Let’s cultivate!” Yan Lu suddenly lifted his head, eyes shining.

And there went the atmosphere! Cultivate, my ass. No cultivation tonight!

Shang Ke turned his back on him, planning to wash up and go straight to sleep.

Yan Lu pressed close and whispered into his ear, “Are we doing it from behind tonight?”

A hot, hard pressure rubbed against Shang Ke below while Yan Lu’s heated breath curled around his ear.

Remembering their rather unfinished ‘cultivation’ last time, Shang Ke hesitated. What if Yan Lu switched personalities again halfway through?

Yan Lu did not give him time to think. Using the warm water as lubrication, he slowly pushed his cock into Shang Ke from behind, inch by inch. When he was halfway in, he suddenly thrust forward and buried himself to the hilt.

“…W-weren’t we supposed to be cultivating?” Shang Ke braced both hands against the edge of the pool, taking the thrusts from behind.

“Warm-up first.”

The water rocked violently, ripples spreading layer after layer as the pool filled with springtime scenery…

Yan Lu did not switch personalities this time. He kept fucking Shang Ke until the moon had sunk behind the treetops, and only then did he finally begin helping him cultivate.

Nourished by Yan Lu’s divine power, Shang Ke quickly entered meditation and lost all awareness of the outside world.

After an unknown amount of time, Shang Ke suddenly felt his body being rocked while he cultivated, followed by wave after wave of familiar pleasure. He was at a critical point in his meditation and could not afford to break concentration, so he simply let the surging heat drown him.

When he woke, it was already the afternoon of the third day. Without realizing it, he had meditated for two full days. His body brimmed with spiritual power, his aura was deep and steady, and he had crossed two realms in succession—successfully passing the Transformation Stage and reaching the middle Soul Condensation Stage.

“I leveled up!” Shang Ke threw his arms around Yan Lu.

Yan Lu had no idea what Little Mushroom was celebrating, but that did not stop him from being happy too.

“I’ll make you something delicious today.” Shang Ke kissed him on the lips, got dressed, and bounded cheerfully out of the room without noticing that Yan Lu had once again turned into his bewildered, childlike self.

Yan Lu touched his still-warm lips. Remembering the “bad things” he had secretly done to Little Mushroom not long ago, he hugged his giant mushroom pillow and giggled foolishly.

The easy, comfortable days flew by. As Shang Ke’s cultivation improved, he began making higher-grade teas and dishes, gradually sorting them by effect into categories such as Nourishing, Mind-Calming, Evil-Warding, and Realm Journey. Realm Journey was the rarest, allowing a person to experience a higher cultivation realm within an illusion.

A cultivator’s comprehension realm determined how far they could advance. Many cultivators stagnated not because they lacked spiritual power, but because their understanding was insufficient to break through the bottleneck. If they could personally experience a higher realm even once, that bottleneck might collapse in a single moment of enlightenment.

When Realm Journey first appeared, no one paid much attention. They simply assumed the Young Proprietor had invented another new dish. It was still priced at one tael of silver.

Someone ordered a serving out of curiosity. The moment he finished eating, however, he unknowingly entered an illusion. When everyone around him saw him suddenly sitting as motionless as a wooden statue, they thought something had gone wrong with the food and nearly caused a scene.

Less than an hour later, the motionless cultivator abruptly erupted with a vast surge of spiritual power. Qi blasted outward with astonishing force, and in the blink of an eye he advanced from the late Heart Motion Stage to the early Golden Core Stage.

The cultivator went stupid with shock. So did everyone watching.

“Ha—hahaha! I broke through the Heart Motion Stage!” Tears streamed down the cultivator’s face. “I was stuck in that realm for ten years! I can’t believe I actually broke through today! Hahaha!”

Unable to contain his excitement, the cultivator laughed wildly and rushed out of the teahouse to share the good news at home—forgetting even to leave behind his silver.

Everyone in the teahouse stared blankly. A bottleneck he had failed to break for ten years had vanished after he sat there like an idiot for less than an hour?

After a moment of silence, someone finally realized his breakthrough might have something to do with the food he had just eaten. One by one, burning gazes turned toward the owner of the teahouse.

Shang Ke frowned. “If any of you know that customer, please pass on a message for me.”

“What message?” asked a long-faced man.

“As of today, he is officially blacklisted from Leisure Teahouse.”

“Why?” The long-faced man looked stunned.

“Because he dined and dashed.”

The lucky cultivator who advanced became both Realm Journey’s first beneficiary and the first unlucky bastard ever blacklisted for eating without paying. From then on, he would never again enjoy Leisure Teahouse’s drinks or food. His one noteworthy contribution was allowing everyone to witness Realm Journey’s extraordinary effect with their own eyes.

Even so, Shang Ke offered only one serving each month. Its extreme rarity only made countless cultivators flock to the teahouse all the more eagerly.

The cultivators benefited enormously from Shang Ke’s generosity. In addition to silver, many began leaving behind herbs, spirit stones, spiritual artifacts, and other items. Everyone knew that charging only one tael bore no relation whatsoever to the true value of the food and drinks he provided, and not everyone was shameless enough to keep taking advantage of him.

Give someone a rose, and the fragrance lingers on your hand.

Without realizing it, Shang Ke gained the friendship and respect of many people and built a network of his own—creating a slim chance of survival against the danger that would soon arrive…

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