The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Gu Ting Yu's eyes darkened as he thought about Bai Zhi Ao who he still hadn't heard from. Noticing Gu Ting Yu's depressed state, Nian Xing fidgeted insecurely.

"So…" Ignoring the pain in his heart, Qian Lu gazed out of the window awkwardly, "… So, now we split into two teams, I will go rescue the three of them, and the rest of you will protect 'Xiao Yu' while delaying the Evil Source's attack until we can meet up again."

"Qian Lu…" Gu Ting Yu lifted his head as Qian Lu sat down in the corner, holding the Yue Xuan zither; his long, once white fingers were now covered with blisters that could be vaguely identified under the dim flame lights.

There were no objections to the proposal. Qian Lu glared at Gu Ting Yu intensely, then turned around immediately, intending to leave.

"Qian Lu!" Gu Ting Yu grabbed a blanket in a hurry to wrap himself in, rushing out of the door to follow Qian Lu. Qian Lu stopped at the door, waiting for him.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time, so now they both stared eye to eye silently for quite a while. Gu Ting Yu could see frustration and the feeling of defeat in Qian Lu's eyes, and he lowered his head in guilt.

"Oh… so you have a name." Qian Lu didn't plan on using such a mocking tone, but he couldn't stop himself from doing so. The only thing that managed to come out of his mouth was jealousy, as an uncontrollable ache swirled in his chest.

"After you were gone, I was… no, that's not important… why did you do it with them…" Qian Lu couldn't continue any further, he just couldn't shrug off the feeling that the Gu Ting Yu in his heart was no longer the Gu Ting Yu in front of him now.

Gu Ting Yu opened his mouth wanting to clarify that nothing happened between Nian Xing and him … but what about Zhuo Ying? Plus, before that, he'd also had sexual relationships with Bai Zhi Ao and Xiu Er.

He wasn't as pure as Qian Lu imagined him to be, so any further explaining was useless.

Qian Lu couldn't wait any longer, "What are you hiding? Say… say that you had no choice, I'll believe you."

Gu Ting Yu stared at Qian Lu's long silver hair, thinking back on their half-hearted bickering, and a bitter sensation filled his heart. He couldn't bring himself to make any excuses in front of Qian Lu.

Gu Ting Yu held Qian Lu's bruised fingers… He had forgotten to take care of his own wounds resulting from over-practicing the zither, yet he wanted to go rescue the others.

Ming Lei's power flowed towards Qian Lu along Gu Ting Yu's palm. The injuries healed quickly with Ming Lei's help; Qian Lu's face, however, turned from depressed to pale white.

"What are you trying to say!?" Qian Lu pushed Gu Ting Yu away in complete despair, "Why are you trying to give Ming Lei to me?"

Ming Lei was the only thing connecting him and Gu Tung Yu together, but Gu Ting Yu now wanted to return that power to him. Was rejecting his feelings not enough, was Gu Ting Yu trying to completely sever ties with him?

"Qian Lu… You are really weak right now, and I'm worried that you're going to have to deal with dangerous situations alone." Gu Ting Yu knew that all the sacred beasts were not at their best right now, but at least Gu Ting Yu had Zhuo Yin, Qing Que, and Nian Xing by his side; Qian Lu, however, had to go through the barriers alone to save the three missing beasts.

"It's none of your business!" Qian Lu jerked his hand away, feeling his fingertips burn slightly.

He suddenly remembered the time when Gu Ting Yu left the Palace of Egoism; he didn't want him to leave back then, and now it was Qian Lu's turn to leave.

"Then… I'm going."

"Hmn, I will wait for you guys to return."

"You can just wait for them to return, what use is there to wait for me?"

Gu Ting Yu closed in towards Qian Lu, carefully encircling him with his arms, and hugging him, and he felt Qian Lu's shaky breaths the moment they touched. "Be safe," he said softly beside Qian Lu's ear.

Qian Lu leaned into Gu Ting Yu's neck, and said with frustration, "I really… don't like seeing you hug other people… especially when you're naked."

"Hmn… I know… I'm sorry," Gu Ting Yu tried using his soft voice to soothe Qian Lu.

Qian Lu's mood turned from cloudy to sunny at long last. At that moment, sounds of an argument came from the room; it seemed that Nian Xing and Zhuo Yin were fighting.

Gu Ting Yu looked at Qian Lu awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Surprisingly, Qian Lu was feeling a lot better and waved his hand, signaling Gu Ting Yu to go, "Go inside."

"Ah… Um!?" What made Gu Ting Yu even more surprised was that his lips were already devoured by Qian Lu's mouth… Advances both shy and eager, mixed with hints of embarrassment, a string of silk-like saliva along with alluring heat leaked out between their teeth, and their tongues intertwined; Gu Ting Yu felt that he was going to suffocate soon.

Qian Lu was also panting unseemly after kissing, "Fuh… I won't… lose to those guys…"

Gu Ting Yu stared at Qian Lu who turned into silver light, and disappeared in front of his eyes… He couldn't figure it out, Gu Ting Yu couldn't understand why things became even more complicated…

He opened the door to find the room in a complete mess—Zhuo Yin wanted to topple the whole shell."You, cripple!" came out of his mouth intermittently.

Nian Xing was grinding his teeth and while screaming at the top of his lungs, "You are inferior to a lowly deep sea earthworm!" he prepared to throw a glass vial at Zhuo Yin's head.

Qing Que was between them, trying to diffuse the situation; he said in a lecturing manner, "There are no earthworms under the sea…"

"Stop!"

Zhuo Yin and Nian Xing turned around to look at Gu Ting Yu, naturally both stopping their attacks upon hearing Gu Ting Yu's order… He wondered why these three always listened to him; all of them had clouds over their faces right now as if they owed Gu Ting Yu millions.

Qing Que was the first to regain composure. He walked to Gu Ting Yu's side, and used his sleeve to dry Gu Ting Yu's kiss-swollen lips; coughing lightly, he said, "There isn't time for pointless bickering anymore. To my knowledge, only the consciousness of the Evil Source has awoken, and he has not yet recovered completely. Now is our only chance to make use of this time period to get through all twelve palaces."

"What will happen if he recovers completely?" Gu Ting Yu asked.

Zhuo Yin sighed, "Then… we are dead for sure."

"Come." Qing Que invited everyone to squat down on the floor as he used a paint brush to draw, "Excluding Huan Sheng, the Evil Source has four sacred beasts on his side."

T/N: Yep, of course Nian Xing doesn't mind that you draw on his floor.

"Huh, only four people? We can just finish them off," Nian Xing said as he squinted his mouth.

"Fool," Zhuo Yin said coldly. "I'm injured, Qing Que's strength has also dropped by half due to the barriers between palaces, and we can just ignore you, cripple."

"Stop your squid ink squirting, you bastard sea turtle!!"

"Ahem…" Qing Que cut into their argument, "We all know who the masters of the eighth and ninth palaces are. We can try to come up with a plan to deal with them, but for all this time, we never knew what the master of the tenth palace was like."

Zhuo Yin frowned, "Unknown attributes, or offense capabilities… We only know that his name contains the word 'Mian (i)'."

"Ah~~~~I'm sleepy." Nian Xing yawned, and smirked at Zhuo Yin's pale face, "What use is there to think so much, Xiao Yu is sleeping together with me tonight."

Zhuo Yin screamed furiously, "Do you know how dire the situation is right now?! The Evil Source might send people to ambush us at any moment!!"

Nian Xing rubbed his own chest while showing an innocent face, "Xiao Yu, it's a little painful here… help me rub it."

"Where does it hurt?" Gu Ting Yu carefully examined Nian Xing who was leaning into his chest and squirming, "Let's go back to the shell together… Let's go back to the shell together…"

On the other side of the room, even the great snake king was at a loss for words.

Gu Ting Yu lifted Nian Xing up; Nan Xing lowered his voice and murmured at Gu Ting Yu's ear, "It's exactly because we are in a dire situation that I have to treasure every moment I have with Xiao Yu."

Qing Que stood up, "It's already very late, you guys can sleep. We will continue the discussion tomorrow morning."

"What about you?" Gu Ting Yu asked.

"I will stand guard outside, in case the Evil Source tries to ambush us while we are sleeping." Having said that, Qing Que left the room and quietly closed the door.

The room finally quieted down; Gu Ting Yu pulled up the covers for Nian Xing, then tidied up a bit to make space for Zhuo Yin to sleep.

The ocean breeze blew on the dim candles, making the lights flicker. Zhuo Yin sighed, and lifted his hand to caress Gu Ting Yu's face, hesitant to speak.

Gu Ting Yu lowered his head and said gently, "Sleep."

The weather worsened at night, and Gu Ting Yu couldn't fall asleep; he closed his eyes, trying to do so. He knew very well in his heart that a lot of work awaited him tomorrow… He had to get some rest while he still could so that he could face the challenges ahead with enough strength and intelligence.

Gu Ting Yu was lying inside the shell, hearing the crashing waves, rain, and the wind chimes made of conch shell hanging on the window; though he was almost asleep, he woke up again. He looked at his surroundings; Nian Xing was sleeping peacefully beside him, and Zhuo Yin had his eyes shut, leaning on the wall in the firelight.

Gu Ting Yu secretly opened the shell; he suddenly remembered seeing a few blankets in one of the cabinets he had tidied. Though they were quite old, they could still be used.

Gu Ting Yu took out a blanket as quietly as he could, and put it on Zhuo Yin.

"Um…" frustrated snoring came from the shell, and Nian Xing curled up into a ball, frowning as there was no-one for him to hug.

Gu Ting Yu chuckled helplessly.

T/N:

(i) Mian: Means "sleep" in Chinese.