BW Extra 3

Later (3)

Although Ning Buwei had already been alone at sixteen, going up mountains of blades and down seas of fire, fighting to the death with the Chongzheng Alliance, looking at sixteen-year-old Ning Xiu, Ning Buwei always felt that the next moment he would still cry pitifully asking for porridge to drink.

Sixteen was still young, after all, not even catching up to a fraction of his own age.

Ning Buwei reached out and grabbed his cheeks, narrowing his eyes as he said, “You still know to come back?”

“Father, I was wrong, I won’t dare to again——” Ning Xiu looked at him with teary eyes.

Ning Buwei mercifully released his hand. Ning Xiu rubbed his face and protested, “Father, I’m already an adult. You can’t keep pinching my face like this whenever you feel like it. What if others see? How embarrassing.”

“When you wet and soiled yourself on me as a child, you didn’t care about face then.” Ning Buwei snorted with laughter.

Ning Xiu’s face turned red. “You promised not to mention that!”

“You just called me ‘Father’ a moment ago.” Ning Buwei said leisurely.

“…That was because I was scared.” Ning Xiu insisted.

“Speak up, what were you sneakily trying to do?” Ning Buwei lifted him from the rooftop back to the main hall.

“Giving you all a surprise.” Ning Xiu obediently followed behind him.

Chu Jun was drinking tea. When Ning Xiu saw him, his eyes immediately lit up. “Dad! I’m back!”

Then he unceremoniously squeezed next to Chu Jun to reach for the teacup beside him. Chu Jun pressed his palm against his forehead and poured him a fresh cup of tea.

Ning Xiu gulped down several cups before stopping, rolled around on the couch and collapsed there, refusing to move.

“The break has already lasted a month. Where did you go wild?” Chu Jun pulled his sleeve out from under him.

“Xie Chang’an and I went to play in Zhongzhou.” Ning Xiu fabricated without changing expression, taking the opportunity to feel around in the storage ring in Chu Jun’s sleeve, “And made a new friend too.”

Half-truth, half-lie, it sounded quite believable.

“Planning to stay home for a few days?” Chu Jun asked again.

“Three days.” Ning Xiu perked up his head seriously, though his sticking-up hair made him look silly. “I promised them we’d go train together.”

“What a busy person indeed.” Ning Buwei helped press down that strand of sticking-up hair and extended a hand toward him.

Ning Xiu blinked, looking suspiciously at Ning Buwei, then at Chu Jun.

Chu Jun gave him a helpless look.

Ning Xiu lowered his head and fumbled around in the storage pouch of the red cord on his wrist.

After growing up, he felt the small silver lock wasn’t impressive enough, so he pestered Chu Jun to modify it, going through a small dog, small pig, small cat, and the stone lion head in front of the Ning mansion gate, finally returning to normal and changing it to a small, exquisite Nine-Leaf Lotus.

Finally, he struggled to pull out a handful of candy and placed it in Ning Buwei’s palm.

Ning Buwei and Chu Jun: “…………”

“How old are you to still secretly eat candy?” Ning Buwei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

If those young ladies outside who firmly believed the Ning family’s little master was as pure as moonlight and untouched by the dust of the mortal world, were to see this, they’d probably laugh themselves to death.

The candy in Ning Xiu’s mouth crunched loudly as he chewed, saying righteously, “Mother gave it to me.”

Ning Buwei turned his head and saw Chu Jun calmly touch his nose. “Mm.”

Ning Buwei waved his hand helplessly. “Fine, when you come back, stay away from Xiao Jiang. She’s in a bad mood, and absolutely don’t mention Shen San.”

Ning Xiu obediently agreed, lazily sprawled on the couch refusing to move. Ning Buwei slapped his leg. “Hurry back and rest. Don’t be an eyesore here.”

“I haven’t been back for so long, and you only cherish me for the time it takes to burn an incense stick!” Ning Xiu tugged at Chu Jun’s sleeve. “Mother, I want to eat a pastry.”

Chu Jun good-naturedly picked up a pastry and stuffed it in his mouth, taking the handkerchief Ning Buwei handed him to wipe his hands.

“I’ve told you so many times not to call Mother. Either call Dad or call Father.” Ning Buwei couldn’t stand his lazy appearance and gave his head another knock.

Ning Xiu rubbed his forehead indignantly. “If I call Father, you two won’t know which one I’m calling. Calling Dad sounds too distant. I only do it at home. Besides, you were the one who taught me——mmph.”

Ning Buwei stuffed two more pieces of cake into his mouth. “Even food can’t stop your mouth.”

Ning Xiu happily ate the two pieces of cake, dropping many pastry crumbs on the couch. Seeing his father about to kick him, he quickly bounced up from the couch.

“I’m going to see Second Sister.” Ning Xiu dodged Ning Buwei’s foot, walked a couple steps, then suddenly turned around, snatched the candy from Ning Buwei’s hand and ran outside.

Ning Buwei said helplessly, “Little brat.”

“Let him be. He won’t learn without suffering losses.” Chu Jun was quite philosophical about it.

Ning Buwei sat down beside Chu Jun, showing him the fine powder in his palm. “If we keep spoiling him, he might turn the world upside down.”

“Fentian Stone?” Chu Jun recognized it at a glance.

“Fentian Stone belongs to the Shen family.” Ning Buwei said, “I heard that during the break, several young masters from the Shen family didn’t return home, but went to the Wandering Dragon Secret Realm with Hao Zheng to train. However, that secret realm belongs to the Shen family, and only Fentian Stone can open it.”

“There’s a Wanhua Pagoda in the Wandering Dragon Secret Realm, containing the Shen family’s ancestral token. Although it’s called training, it’s actually a test for the Shen family to select their next family head.” Chu Jun said unhurriedly, “Shen San is also inside.”

“That makes things much clearer.” Ning Buwei nodded. “Although it’s Second Sister’s private matter, it’s still infuriating. I missed it when the Fourth and Fifth Child went to beat people up, so I might as well go cause trouble now and anger Shen San to death.”

“Mm, not bad.” Chu Jun nodded. “Father called me back, but I was worried, so I climbed onto the roof to see if you two were in good moods.”

“As a result, I was caught red-handed,” Ning Buwei said lazily, “but I’m so clever, watch me weave a half-true, half-false story to fool them.”

“…Little fool.”

Having his thoughts completely seen through, Ning Xiu sneezed as soon as he left the door.

“But why do you always give him candy?” Ning Buwei was puzzled.

“If he likes to eat it, let him eat. Better than having him constantly thinking about it.” Chu Jun brushed his sleeve.

Ning Buwei remembered how when Ning Xiu was little, he stayed awake for three whole days just to steal candy, and after a long silence said, “Don’t know who he takes after.”

“I don’t like candy.” Chu Jun said seriously.

“Yes, yes, yes, you don’t like it.” Ning Buwei said perfunctorily, “All the candy in your sleeves is prepared for Ning Xiu.”

Chu Jun: “…………”

****

Ning Xiu wandered to Jiang Yizheng’s courtyard, only to find no one there. On his way back to his room, he happened to run into Yang Lingzhu. “Third Sister!”

Yang Lingzhu turned at the sound and smiled. “Xiao Shan is back?”

The little girl from before had now grown into a graceful young woman, with bright eyes and white teeth, gentle and serene. Countless cultivators in the seventeen states admired her, but unfortunately, her feelings were unrequited, and she tactfully rejected them all.

Others didn’t know, but previously the seventh young master of the Ge family had pursued her relentlessly, chasing after his Third Sister every day, desperately wanting to become dao companions. Later, he somehow received such a shock that his mortal heart became desolate, and he actually ran to Jiting Sect to become a monk——showing that his Third Sister had quite some methods in rejecting people.

“Second Sister isn’t in the courtyard. Third Sister, do you know where she is?”

Yang Lingzhu thought for a moment. “She went to the back mountain to practice swordsmanship. She might not come back tonight, but you should be able to catch her early tomorrow morning.”

“Then I can only look for her tomorrow morning.” Ning Xiu sighed, then pulled out a storage ring from his sleeve and handed it to her. “These are the medicinal herbs you asked me to find before.”

“Thank you.” Yang Lingzhu patted his head and smiled. “I was just missing this ingredient.”

Ning Xiu skillfully dodged the red snake that darted out from her sleeve, then heard Yang Lingzhu say, “Xiao Shan, have you offended anyone recently?”

Ning Xiu shook his head, suddenly feeling something was off. “Why do you suddenly ask this?”

“You’ve been touched by a gu.” Yang Lingzhu casually pinched a small red insect from behind his ear. “Although neither gu nor poison work on you, you should still be more careful in daily life.”

Yang Lingzhu practiced both medicine and poison. Chu Jun and Ning Buwei, two big men raising children, were quite rough, implementing free-range parenting. As long as it wasn’t a life-threatening problem, they mostly left the children to solve things themselves.

However, Yang Lingzhu was someone who loved to worry and couldn’t stand to see problems, so she reminded Ning Xiu.

Ning Xiu watched the small red insect turn to dust at Yang Lingzhu’s fingertips and nodded.

He went through the events of this period, and his heart became clear. After returning to his room, he felt uncomfortable all over and couldn’t bear it, so he took a bath.

He had indeed encountered a sinister and vicious gu cultivator before, and had rescued Shen Jingxue from this gu cultivator’s hands, which led to his later opportunity to demand the Fentian Stone.

That gu cultivator claimed to be a disciple of the Hanyan Sect——this sect had always had a bad reputation in the seventeen states, especially the current sect leader Han Wujiu, who was lustful and unscrupulous. Unfortunately, this person had extremely high cultivation and the ability to navigate both sides skillfully, still mixing well within the Chongzheng Alliance.

Ning Xiu rested both arms on the wooden tub, his water-dampened handsome face slightly gloomy in the misty steam.

Knock knock!

The window was suddenly knocked. Ning Xiu’s divine consciousness and pressure instantly spread out, then immediately encountered a familiar aura and retracted.

“Chang——” Ning Xiu casually threw on an outer robe and pushed open the window, looking down to see Xie Chang’an crouched in the grass, raising his index finger to his lips to signal silence.

Cui Yuanbai stepped on his Purple Flame Knife and flew quickly past from the sky, then promptly returned, his expression unkind. “Xiao Shan, did someone surnamed Xie follow you back?”

Ning Xiu shook his head innocently. “No, Fourth Brother, did you smell wrong?”

“Everyone surnamed Xie has a stench!” Cui Yuanbai gritted his teeth. “Especially the Xie Chang’an and Xie Changming brothers——“

“Could they have gone to the back mountain?” Ning Xiu leaned on the window sill, poking out half his body to look toward the back mountain, saying thoughtfully, “Brother Chang’an and Brother Changming always said the back mountain of Ning mansion is very safe.”

Sure enough, before he could finish the next sentence, Cui Yuanbai quickly flew toward the back mountain on his blade.

Warm water droplets fell from his hair, dripping onto the grass leaves.

“He’s gone.” Ning Xiu extended a hand to Xie Chang’an crouched on the ground, laughing. “Is my Fourth Brother really that scary?”

Xie Chang’an suddenly came back to his senses, grabbed his hand and jumped into the room, snorting coldly. “I naturally don’t fear him, it’s just that when he fights, he doesn’t care about his life, always wasting time.”

Ning Xiu turned to pour him tea and handed it to him. “Why did you chase all the way to Ning mansion so late? Is there a problem with the Fentian Stone?”

“It’s not the Fentian Stone, it’s——” Xie Chang’an suddenly averted his eyes, somewhat annoyed. “What are you bathing for when you have nothing to do? Not even wearing clothes properly, what does that look like!”

Ning Xiu casually made a hand seal to dry his hair and half-wet undergarments. In a blink, his outer robe was meticulously worn, the collar covering even his neck tightly. He said helplessly, “Wasn’t I afraid you and Fourth Brother would start fighting? Besides, I’ve always been casual at home… When will you ever change this rigid and conservative habit?”

“Hmph, absolutely refuse to change.” Xie Chang’an smiled coldly and threw a box onto the table.

Inside the box was a black robe embroidered with dark gold Nine-Leaf Lotus patterns, with many high-level formations and talismans on it. It was exactly the latest Heaven-rank, top-grade Daoist robe from Brocade Clothes Pavilion.

Seeing Ning Xiu’s confusion, Xie Chang’an said, “Wasn’t your robe destroyed in the Foluo Secret Realm before? I ordered you a new one, and it happened to be finished today, so I brought it to you on the way.”

Ning Xiu raised his eyebrow slightly, “On the way?”

Xie Chang’an said, “At the tavern, I didn’t have time… Just say whether you want it or not.”