The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

"I'll… reluctantly accept touching you. You don't have to feel too happy about it. Go and lie down," Qian Lu whispered as he blushed.

"Are you in your right mind?!"

Gu Ting Yu jumped up in anger like a frog that was being boiled in steaming water.

Qian Lu gazed at Gu Ting Yu strangely, "…You've already kissed me, yet now you're denying it?"

"Damn it!" There was an eighty percent chance that this bastard set the kiss up as a trap! It was very rare for Gu Ting Yu to be teased by some else to such an extent. "You're still making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Making fun of you?" Qian Lu stood up so that his eyes were on the same level as Gu Ting Yu's, "I'm already willing to touch you, what more do you want?"

Gu Ting Yu felt as though he was talking to a wall, and the sense of helplessness caused him to droop his head down. A moment later, he suddenly lifted his head up in a fierce manner, "Even if we must… engage in certain physical activities for Ming Lei's sake, I should be the one topping you."

This time, it was Qian Lu's turn to frown, "Come again?"

"Just then when we kissed, didn't you want me to take the initiative? Why, do you not want me to top you now?"

At that moment, Qian Lu's philosophies and values suffered a critical blow. It almost felt as though he was standing in one spot without moving one day, as the Yue Xuan Zither jumped up and whipped him —— like putting a cart before its horse.

Thus, Qian Lu stopped talking pointlessly, and instead directly pounced onto Gu Ting Yu.

By now, Gu Ting Yu was no longer as dull-witted in terms of perspicacity and sensitivity as he used to be. Neither one of them had used spiritual energy. The two wrestled and tumbled one another, completely diverging from their initial goal. Gu Ting Yu had gotten into a fight with Qian Lu over the serious question of who was going to top and who was going to bottom.

Qian Lu always became too reluctant to attack Gu Ting Yu in the last moment. Thus, in this foolish brawl, he didn't gain anything from it.

"Let go!" Gu Ting Yu's weakest part of the body was seized by the other, and he unconsciously revealed a painful expression.

Qian Lu hurriedly let go. However, he lost his advantageous position in an unguarded moment. He felt the world spin around him before Gu Ting Yu pinned him down with a victorious smile.

"Get lost! You despicable human!" Qian Lu roared out, disregarding his image.

At the same time, Gu Ting Yu completely forgot about how he himself looked just like a child who was extremely happy from a play session. The weird thing was that his mind suddenly conjured an image of himself standing in front of Tian An Men, saying 'The people of China have now stood up!'

"Now tell me, what's the method of giving you the power?"

Qian Lu's face flushed. He couldn't accept the fact that Gu Ting Yu was actually straddling him, "I wasn't joking! It's true that you must use the body as a medium! Ah~!! Y-you…."

"Oh." Gu Ting Yu unbuttoned Qian Lu's white shirt, "Then… I'm going to start."

Words mixed with aggravation and anger spurted out from Qian Lu's mouth, "Don't think that I wouldn't dare to touch you just because I like you!"

… Gu Ting Yu suddenly stopped moving his hands.

Qian Lu's hands were clasped over his mouth. His eyes looked flustered and anxious. Gu Ting Yu slipped off the other's body in a daze.

… It didn't seem like Qian Lu was joking.

Qian Lu crawled up in a discomposed manner before curling up into a ball beneath the table.

"Hey." After a long time, Gu Ting Yu, who had now snapped out of his daze, couldn't stand it any longer, and scooted over beside Qian Lu.

Qian Lu covered his ears, looking as though an elderly family member of his' had just passed away.

"Hey…" Gu Ting Yu knew that the other could hear him, "If you walk down the streets at night… for a long time, there'll always be times when you tumble and fall."

As expected, Qian Lu uncovered his ears and gazed at Gu Ting Yu in a puzzled manner.

Gu Ting Yu continued, "If you play the zither for too long, there's bound to come a day when it breaks."

"What are you getting at?" Qian Lu couldn't but ask.

"What I'm saying is, if you like someone… there's bound to be a time when you two won't match."

Qian Lu stared at Gu Ting Yu's eyes and spoke in a serious tone, "You call this comforting? I don't feel better at all."

"Then what do you want?" Gu Ting Yu was going to stand up, but instead he hit his head on the table. He clutched his head and squatted down again with his teeth clenched together.

"You have to swear to me… that you didn't hear anything just then," Qian Lu whispered.

Is this guy mentally alright…? Gu Ting Yu felt deep shame. Why was it that whenever he was with Qian Lu, he always found himself on the verge of breaking down…

Gu Ting Yu couldn't stand it anymore and shook his head… he didn't know if it was because he had hit his head too hard on the table, but he repeated, "I swear, I didn't hear you say that you like me."

"You're still talking about it!" Qian Lu became irritated.

Gu Ting Yu covered his face with his hands and softly laughed.

Beneath the moonlight that felt slightly cooling, like water, Gu Ting Yu's smiling image carried hints of an indescribable gentleness.

Qian Lu watched with infatuation. He knew that at this very moment, Gu Ting Yu had let down all his guards… just like… himself.

"Whatever," Qian Lu suddenly said, "I don't want Ming Lei's power anymore."

Gu Ting Yu was taken aback. He hesitantly lowered his head. A moment later, Gu Ting Yu awkwardly asked, "Is body contact really the only way?"

"Didn't you hear me? I said I don't want it anymore!" Qian Lu suddenly came out from beneath the table. His expression gradually became calm again as he stood with his back towards Gu Ting Yu and said, "Just leave. Stop lingering before my eyes."

Leave? Gu Ting Yu was felt confused… "Where do I go?"

"I'm saying that… sooner or later you'll probably have to leave this dimension." Qian Lu turned around. Beneath his calm appearance, something pulled tightly at his heart strings.

"But…" He still had many things he didn't know, and a multitude of others he hadn't learnt. He wasn't sure how to use Ming Lei either… Gu Ting Yu suddenly paused. He realised that he actually… didn't want to leave.

Gu Ting Yu gazed at Qian Lu and slowly retreated two steps back.

The next second, he was being firmly held in Qian Lu's arms.

"This is your reward." Qian Lu tightly hugged the body in his embrace. He leaned closer to Gu Ting Yu's ear and placidly said, "You should keep Ming Lei's power to yourself. You'll have to face many more dangers further down the track. You can return the power to me after you finish conquering the Twelve Palaces."

"…." Gu Ting Yu only felt a thundering noise echoing in his head.

"… Wait a moment." As soon as the words were spoken, a vast field of silver light suddenly appeared before Gu Ting Yu's eyes. Qian Lu stood amidst the blinding silver light and slowly transformed. After the silver light had dispersed, the figure that shockingly appeared before Gu Ting Yu was a seldom seen creature of the world, a unicorn.

Gu Ting Yu opened his mouth widely, "… You're a… horse?"

The unicorn, who was originally emanating with ethereal beauty, instantly glared at him. He rapidly circled around the bamboo room. He felt so provoked he had forgotten how to speak.

A moment later, Qian Lu's voice gradually resounded from within the unicorn, "… If… if someone else said that, I would've kicked them to death already."

Gu Ting Yu reached out with his hand and gently stroked the unicorn's neck. The strange thing was, he didn't feel scared at all…

"Hey, pull out a few strands of hair from my tail."

Gu Ting Yu didn't know the reason for this, but he still followed the other's orders and pulled out a few strands of the shiny silver hair from the unicorn's tail. The strands were transparent, soft and elastic, faintly glistening with silver light.

"This is…" Gu Ting Yu lifted his head up, and in an instant, Qian Lu transformed back into his human form.

"This is the best murder weapon," Qian Lu said slowly.

Anyone who was familiar with assassination would definitely know that the hair of a unicorn's tail was soft like silk, yet tenacious as steel. It was the most inconspicuous weapon.

Unicorns lead a secluded life by nature. Disregarding the time and energy needed to capture and kill a unicorn, even if a unicorn did get captured, these creatures typically have a proud and aloof spirit, and would rather be razed to the ground than let their capturer get a single strand of hair.

Right now, Gu Ting Yu still didn't know what it meant for a unicorn to willingly offer the hair its tail.

That night, Qian Lu lay down on the bed and tossed and turned relentlessly. Suddenly, the wooden door creaked open softly and Gu Ting Yu left.

Qian Lu had his eyes open. He didn't have the intentions of getting up to look for Gu Ting Yu. He merely gazed into the pitch black darkness around and silently waited for his consciousness to leave him.

Not knowing how he entered a nightmare, Qian Lu had a dream.

In his dream, there was a large tranquil bamboo forest. He stood at the top of a mountain spring and gently strummed his zither's strings. There was a person sitting quietly by the bank. They listened to melody he played. They understood every movement of the strings, and he merely needed to lift his eyes to capture the other person's gaze…

Beneath the depths of their gaze, they were smiling.

***

The morning breeze brushed aside the window gauze. Qian Lu gradually woke up. After a short moment of confusion, he sat up with lustreless eyes.

"I didn't die….?" His gaze circled around the room. The was nothing abnormal about the familiar setting, except for the fact that Gu Ting Yu was no longer here. Qian Lu leaned against the bedhead, his eyes completely devoid of the ripples of emotion.

However, at that moment…. *Dang* The stiff sound of a strummed string split the tranquilness of the bamboo forest.

His heart instantly harshly clenched—— That sound!!

Gu Ting Yu was sitting in the pavillion. His fingertips had been cut many times by the sharp silver strands. After seeing Qian Lu racing towards him, Gu Ting Yu hid his hands behind him.

Qian Lu was breathing heavily as his hand held onto the pavillion. The corners of his lips were lifted in surprise as he remained stunned and speechless for a long time.

What he couldn't believe was the zither in front of Gu Ting Yu.

The Yue Xuan zither that had once become famous across the lands due to being stringless, was currently blooming with a new colour —— a colour that belonged to him.

Gu Ting Yu spent an entire night threading each strand of Qian Lu's tail hair onto the zither. He had once heard that a horse's tail was the best choice for zither strings. Similarly, a unicorn's tail should be pretty good too…

"Before I come back, you can temporarily use this zither to relieve boredom."

Gu Ting Yu slightly smiled at Qian Lu. His smile was like the light of winter sun at the break of dawn, yet it was warmer than the sun rays. It was like evening breeze that blew on the chirping of cicadas on a summer day, yet it was more pleasantly cool than the soft winds.

The face of the person in his dream morphed together with Gu Ting Yu's own. Qian Lu felt a slight burning sensation in his nose. He carefully organised the words inside his heart. He had so much he had not yet had the opportunity to tell the human in front of him.

However, the words which left his mouth in the end were, "The way you are playing is the most atrocious sound I've ever heard from a zither."

T/N

Rui: Hey, just here to help out with a few chapters.