WPCID 15: The First Glimmer of Truth

Lu Buzhuo wasn’t particularly keen on answering that question.

Shen Zhou nudged him.

With no other choice, Lu Buzhuo reluctantly said, “Sometimes they are.”

Shen Zhou was about to ask more, but Lu Buzhuo raised his index finger and wagged it side to side. “If you keep asking, you’ll end up tossing me into the blankets again. Do you really want me to thoroughly teach you what it means to be a Dao companion?”

He deliberately emphasized the word “thoroughly.”

“…” Shen Zhou fell silent, lightly rubbing the green jade ring on his finger. He looked up. “The things from before—do you really not remember a single thing?”

“I don’t,” Lu Buzhuo said frankly.

Then there was nothing more to ask.

Shen Zhou kept rubbing the ring.

He knew that among the unorthodox paths, there was a practice called body possession, where a foreign soul would fight the original owner for control of the body. If the Lu Buzhuo who had given him pastries and the ring back then had been possessed afterward, he should have been thoroughly dead seven or eight years ago.

So why had he reappeared after time rewound?

Shen Zhou couldn’t make sense of it.

Lu Buzhuo waited for a response that never came, but he noticed the pair of wolf ears swaying rhythmically, one after the other, indicating their owner was seriously considering his suggestion.

Lu Buzhuo: “…?”

Suddenly, Shen Zhou said, “Touch my ears.”

Lu Buzhuo: “?”

Though puzzled, he complied and reached out to touch them.

Shen Zhou seized his hand, sniffed it carefully, then placed it back on his head to rub a few more times, as if confirming something.

Then he pushed Lu Buzhuo, stripped off his white marten fur coat, pressed him down onto the bed, and considerately covered him with the blanket.

Lu Buzhuo assumed he wanted to sleep.

Though they’d been sharing a bed these past days, they strictly adhered to the one-person-one-blanket rule, except when Shen Zhou burrowed over to consume demonic energy.

The only time they’d shared a blanket was when he’d been tied up like a bundle.

Lu Buzhuo had no desire to repeat the experience of sleeping bound. “Wait a moment, I’ll ask the clerk for another blanket… Shen Zhou?”

Shen Zhou crawled into the blanket right in front of him.

Not only that, he burrowed straight into Lu Buzhuo’s arms.

Lu Buzhuo: “!?”

The soft fur on the tips of Shen Zhou’s wolf ears brushed against his Adam’s apple, causing him to let out an involuntary “mmph.” Unsure what Shen Zhou was up to, he instinctively shifted back.

“What are you yelping for?” Shen Zhou asked, confused. “Don’t move.”

With that, he pulled Lu Buzhuo back, grabbed his hand, and placed it on his waist. Curling up, he nestled into Lu Buzhuo’s arms, fumbled to remove the green jade ring, and tossed it by the pillow.

Lu Buzhuo: “.”

He lowered his head slightly, trying to figure out what Shen Zhou was doing, and asked softly, “What’s wrong? Are you cold?”

The tone was just right, carrying a hint of that soft accent.

Shen Zhou’s ears twitched, and he snapped his head up. “You…”

The rest of his words caught in his throat.

Their gazes met briefly, breaths brushing lightly against each other, mingling like steam rising from water poured over hot coals, scalding and moist in an instant.

Shen Zhou didn’t even have time to close his mouth. His slightly parted lips grazed the corner of Lu Buzhuo’s, cool and soft, with a hint of dampness, as if pressed against a piece of melting spring ice.

He held this head-tilted position, instinctively pursing his lips.

This time, Lu Buzhuo didn’t pull away. His gaze deepened, and he raised a hand to press against the back of Shen Zhou’s neck, leaning down to kiss him.

The blanket was pulled up, the movements subtle, with only occasional soft rustles.

Shen Zhou was pressed beneath the blanket, the bamboo scent stronger than ever before. Though it was an elegantly refined fragrance, it now carried an invasive intensity, grinding against his lips, filling his nose and mouth with its richness.

The overwhelming sensation left him voiceless, his heart wrapped in a heavy tremor, only to float lightly the next moment, creating a disorienting sense of being lost in place.

His fingers fumbled blindly, grasping a cool, hard object that pressed painfully into his palm.

Shen Zhou snapped back to awareness, squinting. His wolf ears slowly perked up.

Lu Buzhuo noticed the change in his ears and released his lips but kept their noses touching, peering at him through the sliver of light filtering through the blanket. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“That day, you said you’re not him,” Shen Zhou said, licking his stinging lips. “So where did he go?”

“…I don’t know,” Lu Buzhuo replied softly, pausing before adding, “Why ask about him? I thought you wouldn’t like that kind of… Dao companion business.”

Neither realized a misunderstanding had crept in.

After a quiet moment, Shen Zhou asked, “So do you also want to dual cultivate with me?”

Lu Buzhuo: “…”

After a long silence, Lu Buzhuo countered, “Do you?”

“No,” Shen Zhou said quickly.

So decisive.

Lu Buzhuo felt a pang of heartbreak, mixed with complex emotions, unable to fathom what Shen Zhou saw in that other person.

Before he could dwell on it, the blanket shifted. In the dimness, something warm and wet pressed against him, kissing his cheek, then adjusting slightly, inching toward his lips.

“…Shen Zhou?”

Shen Zhou didn’t respond. He pressed his lips against Lu Buzhuo’s, then pursed them, tasting a wealth of bamboo scent. Satisfied, he relaxed.

His wolf ears slowly drooped.

Not the fearful kind pressed tightly to his scalp, but a relaxed signal of falling asleep.

Since his rebirth, the constant tension of suspicion and vigilance had finally been soothed by today’s fire that burned the past and the bamboo scent buried deep in his memories. His heart settled, and he felt sleepy.

“Lu Buzhuo,” Shen Zhou mumbled softly, “do you know… you smell really good?”

What did “really good” mean?

Lu Buzhuo was about to return the kiss but hesitated when he heard steady breathing beside him—Shen Zhou had fallen asleep. As he slept, he rolled over, burrowing into Lu Buzhuo’s arms like a warm hand warmer.

The soft wolf ears pressed against his jaw, carrying a faint magnolia scent from the medicinal ointment.

Lu Buzhuo froze for a long moment, then gently lifted the blanket, pulling Shen Zhou out to rest on the pillow. He smoothed the wolf ears, his fingers grazed by Shen Zhou’s long lashes.

So soft, nothing like the boy himself.

Lu Buzhuo reached out to touch them again, watching the lashes tremble like butterfly wings, his heart softening.

Then he snuffed out the candle.

“If you don’t want to, then don’t,” he said softly. “There’s plenty of time ahead.”

In another room at the inn.

Xie Xianqing brewed tea, sat down to rest, and took out a communication jade tablet, flipping through the messages.

Chu Xuan: [The Bian City branch says you’ve gone missing]

Chu Xuan: [Where are you]

Chu Xuan: [I told them to come get you]

Xie Xianqing read them and replied: [Even my Master didn’t control me as much as you do]

Considering the other party was, after all, the sect leader, he rephrased: [This place is the same as ever. Haven’t seen a single patient, but I’ve met a slew of carefully selected talents from various sects. One’s offered as a disciple, another as a medicine boy—there’s a line at the door, on the walls, in the trees, floating around like willow fluff. Should I collect them to make you a winter quilt?]

A flash of golden light, and an instant reply: [Don’t need a winter quilt]

Followed by: [Where are you hiding?]

Xie Xianqing lazily scribbled: [An inn outside the city. I didn’t bring money, so it’s all on your tab, Sect Leader]

Chu Xuan: [That jade token can cover it]

Xie Xianqing nearly threw the communication tablet.

Another slow message came: [Tell the Bian City branch to come pay]

Xie Xianqing: “…” That joke wasn’t funny at all.

That was the Sect Leader’s jade token—hardly something to casually pawn off.

[Let’s talk business. I’ve been around the city these past few days and bought some messy maps of the Ten Thousand Bones Cave in the black market. The people have been caught, and I’ve sent the items back to you…]

As he wrote, he suddenly heard faint noises from the next room.

Xie Xianqing raised an eyebrow.

…Dao companions really are noisy.

Glancing down, he saw Chu Xuan had replied: [You’re a medical cultivator—be extra careful]

As if medical cultivators didn’t practice anything else.

Xie Xianqing brushed it off, replying perfunctorily before putting away the communication tablet. He touched something else in his robe—the Sect Leader’s jade token.

Seeing this token was like seeing the Sect Leader himself.

That Chu Xuan would give him this showed how much he valued him.

He examined it, flipping it over in his fingers for a moment, but didn’t seem particularly pleased.

…It was only because he was the last of Kunlun Ruins’ medical cultivator line.

Xie Xianqing didn’t want to take disciples.

Not at all.

After a while, he tucked the Sect Leader’s token back into his robe and decided to head to the rooftop for a drink.

As he stepped out, he saw the door of the Dao companions’ room crack open. A figure slipped out, draped in white marten fur, footsteps unsteady, stumbling down the stairs.

With Xie Xianqing’s medical expertise, he could tell something was wrong at a glance.

Without thinking, he called out, “Hey, you, stop…”

The figure turned at the sound, disheveled hair falling over their face, eyes hazy and unfocused, with faint traces of demonic energy seeping from their pupils, brushing past the upturned corners of their eyes.

It was unmistakably Lu Buzhuo.