ISMW CHAPTER 57

Yun Xunlan had an excellent memory.

 

He remembered Tai Song.

 

Like Xinghua, Tai Song was a mortal whom Yun Xunlan had saved. And like Xinghua, Tai Song developed feelings for him because of that act of salvation.

 

But unlike Xinghua, Tai Song lacked her courage.

 

When he left, it was partly because he felt inferior due to his mortal body and shorter lifespan compared to Yun Xunlan’s. He also resented the passage of time—while he aged, Yun Xunlan’s appearance remained unchanged. Most importantly, he couldn’t, like Xinghua, come to terms with his true feelings. As a result, he ended up not only misleading himself but also others, and in the end, he even blamed Yun Xunlan for not reciprocating his feelings.

 

To be honest, the longer Yun Xunlan lived, the more people like Tai Song he encountered. In contrast, people like Xinghua and Wen Yi were rare. A single Tai Song wasn’t anything extraordinary.

 

Yun Xunlan had even met people who didn’t truly like him but pretended to in order to stay by his side. When such behavior was exposed, Yun Xunlan would ask them why they acted that way.

 

One person once answered: “Because you’re renowned and revered as the ‘Immortal Lord.’ Flattering you could bring countless benefits—perhaps even the hope of immortality.”

 

But in reality, Yun Xunlan wasn’t wealthy.

 

To save lives, he would give away all his treasures and spiritual herbs, depleting his resources entirely. There were even times when he was so poor that patients had to bring their own medicinal ingredients for treatment.

 

When this person discovered how frugal Yun Xunlan’s life was, they changed their approach. They wanted to uncover why someone with such mediocre talent could achieve such rapid cultivation progress over a thousand years—from foundation-building to the Mahayana stage. Was it some secret treasure? After years of observation, they realized Yun Xunlan’s cultivation success came from saving countless lives and accumulating immense karmic merit—something others couldn’t replicate.

 

In the end, this person resorted to desperate measures. They stripped naked and climbed into Yun Xunlan’s bed, attempting to use dual cultivation through forbidden techniques to steal his cultivation power. It was only then that their ill intentions were exposed.

 

The entire Beiwen Sect was outraged upon hearing this and wanted to kill the scoundrel to rid the world of such filth.

 

However, Yun Xunlan intervened on their behalf, recalling that this person hadn’t taken anyone’s life. He stopped his sect members and said to the individual: “If you want my cultivation power, I can transfer it to you directly. But you must swear on your soul that you will never harm another person in any way for the rest of your life. If you break this oath, your soul will be destroyed.”

 

The person immediately swore on their soul but ultimately didn’t take any of Yun Xunlan’s cultivation power.

 

Afterward, Yun Xunlan escorted them down the mountain.

 

“Do you really not want to dual cultivate with me? I don’t even want your cultivation power anymore—I’d give you all of mine,” they asked Yun Xunlan along the way. “Before, I didn’t like you because I was blind and thought I was better-looking than you. But now I really do like you.”

 

This person was indeed more beautiful than Yun Xunlan—so stunning that one could describe them as more radiant than spring flowers or peach blossoms in full bloom. It was this confidence in their beauty that emboldened them to climb into Yun Xunlan’s bed in the first place.

 

“No,” Yun Xunlan replied with a smile at their words. “I don’t like you. It would be better if you didn’t miss out on your destined match.”

 

“Sigh… I’m so good-looking that I have more matches than I can count—I won’t miss out,” they said with a pitiful expression resembling pear blossoms bathed in rain. Seeing that Yun Xunlan remained unmoved by their charms, they sighed again: “You healers really don’t understand romance—some even wanted to kill me.”

 

At the foot of the mountain, Yun Xunlan stopped and said gently: “Well, they didn’t kill you in the end. Now go.”

 

The beautiful scoundrel gazed at Yun Xunlan’s retreating figure and asked: “Can I come back to visit you someday?”

 

“Just don’t climb into my bed again,” Yun Xunlan replied without turning around as he waved them off. “Otherwise, my unromantic sect brothers will probably want to kill you again.”

 

And with that, Yun Xunlan ascended the mountain alone once more.

 

On his way back to the sect, Yun Xunlan heard the system laughing.

 

“Hahaha… hahahahahaha!”

 

At first, the laughter was an odd, monotonous tone, but as it continued, it shifted—sometimes sounding male, sometimes female, with a variety of timbres. By the end, it even turned into Yun Xunlan’s own voice.

 

Yun Xunlan often smiled, but he had never laughed so openly and freely before. Curious, he asked the system: “What are you laughing at?”

 

“I’m laughing at this endless immortal path,” the system said. “Not a single person can walk it with you. It’s a good thing you have me—otherwise, how lonely would you be for hundreds or even thousands of years?”

 

“I’m not lonely,” Yun Xunlan replied with a faint smile, humoring it. “As you said, I have you.”

 

But the system stopped laughing: “But am I what you want?”

 

“No,” Yun Xunlan admitted.

 

The system then asked him: “Then what do you want?”

 

—What do I want?

 

“I want…”

 

Yun Xunlan gazed toward the sunset-stained mist in the mountains, trying to see through it to the Beiwen Sect beyond.

 

But not only could he not see clearly, the world before him seemed to dim, like the scene after a candle is extinguished in a cave, gradually fading into darkness until all was black.

 

Yun Xunlan blinked, and this time he could see clearly again.

 

What he saw first was Yu Chen’s very prominent chest muscles pressed right in front of his face.

 

Yun Xunlan stayed silent for a few seconds before moving his right arm. When he tried to lift his hand, he realized he couldn’t move at all—Yu Chen was holding him too tightly, making it difficult even to turn over.

 

Neither of them was wearing any clothes, and any slight movement felt like they were teetering on the edge of something dangerous.

 

Truthfully, Yun Xunlan wouldn’t mind if things escalated—as long as Yu Chen maintained the duration of his first round and didn’t revert to his second-round performance. Otherwise, Yun Xunlan would definitely be late for work.

 

But Yu Chen loosened his arms as soon as he noticed Yun Xunlan waking up. He used his fingers to brush aside the silver hair that had fallen over Yun Xunlan’s forehead. His ears were slightly red, and he wore an expression that suggested he wanted to look at Yun Xunlan but felt too embarrassed to do so. In a low voice, he asked: “Lanlan, you’re awake? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

 

Yun Xunlan was far less shy than Yu Chen.

 

His gaze was clear and calm—completely unlike how he had looked last night when lying beneath Yu Chen with their fingers tightly interlocked and lost in desire. He even took the initiative to pull Yu Chen’s arm: “I’m not uncomfortable anywhere, baby. Let me see your hand.”

 

Yun Xunlan remembered that he had scratched Yu Chen’s arm so badly last night that it bled.

 

But when he pulled Yu Chen’s arm closer for inspection, he saw that the wounds had completely healed—only faint red marks remained. Such was the impressive regenerative ability of high-level alphas.

 

Yu Chen added: “It’s already fully healed.”

 

Yun Xunlan marveled: “That’s so fast…”

 

Yu Chen: “…”

 

The last thing Yu Chen wanted to hear right now was the word “fast.” His breath caught for a moment as he replied: “Yes… speed is one thing I excel at.”

 

Yun Xunlan thought for a moment and said: “But I think you’re pretty fast in other areas too.”

 

Yu Chen: “…………”

 

Carefully, Yu Chen asked: “…In what areas?”

 

Yun Xunlan gave Yu Chen an example, praising him: “For instance, last time when I was attacked by pirates, you retaliated with your sniper rifle—your shots were both fast and accurate.”

 

There were too many suggestive keywords in that sentence, and Yu Chen couldn’t even muster a smile despite the compliment: “…Thank you.”

 

“And right now—” Yun Xunlan smiled as he raised his right hand, placing it on Yu Chen’s chest and pressing against his heart. “Your heartbeat is very fast too.”

 

Yu Chen felt like Yun Xunlan was teasing him but couldn’t find any evidence to prove it. He rubbed his forehead against Yun Xunlan’s chin, his high nose lightly sniffing the youth’s neck: “You don’t have my pheromones on you anymore.”

 

He couldn’t mark Yun Xunlan, nor could he make their relationship public. This meant he couldn’t leave his pheromone scent on Yun Xunlan during the day.

 

“I should head to assembly now. Lanlan, why don’t you sleep a little longer?”

 

Yu Chen took a deep breath, released Yun Xunlan, and sat up from the bed. He tucked the blanket around the youth.

 

But just as his foot touched the ground, Yun Xunlan stretched his arm out from under the blanket and grabbed Yu Chen’s hand: “Yu Chen.”

 

Yu Chen understood.

 

He had completely figured it out—Yun Xunlan only called him by his full name in three situations: when there were people around; when he’d been pushed too hard; or when he wanted to hear the “oath.”

 

So Yu Chen turned back, leaned down, and recited the “oath” softly into Yun Xunlan’s ear. After finishing, he raised an eyebrow and asked helplessly: “Satisfied now?”

 

“Baby.” The youth immediately switched to a more intimate tone after hearing it. Holding Yu Chen’s hand, he playfully shook it and said: “See you later.”

 

Yu Chen replied: “See you later.”

 

After leaving the room, Yu Chen headed straight back to his dormitory to change into his military uniform, water his flowers, and apply some of the lychee rose lip balm he had confiscated from Yun Xunlan. Naturally, this was to treat his “love sickness.”

 

Yu Chen felt that using lip balm was quite effective—it was like kissing Yun Xunlan. It smelled sweet and felt smooth. Even if his colleagues noticed it, he wouldn’t mind; it would be a subtle way to show off their love.

 

He deliberately went to the training ground for assembly with the scent of lychee rose lingering on his lips.

 

Sure enough, alphas had sharp senses of smell. As soon as Fu Yanxi brushed past Yu Chen one second, he turned around wide-eyed in the next and stared at Yu Chen’s lips: “You…”

 

Yu Chen raised his right eyebrow: “What?”

 

“You bought this new lip balm too? We all did,” Fu Yanxi said as he pulled out a matching lychee rose lip balm from his pants pocket. “But here I only dare use it before bed—not during work hours. You know how it is—if the Third Highness smells it and thinks I’m provoking him, what am I supposed to do?”

 

Fu Yanxi held up the lip balm reverently: “I only ever follow the Third Highness loyally.”

 

“Exactly! This isn’t Northern Palace—there aren’t any lychee rose flowers nearby to mask it. You actually dared wear it at work—you’re so bold,” Gui Yan chimed in as he leaned closer. “And it’s so hard to buy! We had to crowdfund for a top-tier scalper and pay ten times the price just to get some. Yu Chen, which scalper did you use? How much did you pay? If it wasn’t expensive, introduce them to us!”

 

Yu Chen: “…”

 

“Give me that—you’re not allowed to use it.” Yu Chen snatched Fu Yanxi’s lip balm and then turned to Gui Yan: “Throw yours away when you get back too.”

 

“What’s wrong with you? Give it back!” Fu Yanxi clenched his fists in anger.

 

“You’re using it yourself—why can’t we?”

 

Damn it! Can my use of lip balm be compared with yours?

 

Yu Chen’s face turned cold as he said in a frosty tone: “I said you’re not allowed to use it, and that’s final. I’ll pay 100 times the price for your lip balm—stop arguing with me.”

 

For the first time, Fu Yanxi truly understood the feelings of that omega at the Elianxia Dessert Shop—the one who refused to sell him ice cream. He echoed the omega’s words: “This is my belief! Even if you offer 1,000 times the price, I won’t sell it to you!”

 

Gui Yan, however, tugged on Fu Yanxi’s arm and quietly tried to persuade him: “Brother Xi, if Yu Chen really offers 1,000 times the price, we should sell it. That money would be enough for us to hire a scalper and buy 100 more tubes.”

 

Fu Yanxi was swayed by this logic. His anger disappeared instantly, and his expression shifted quickly as he smiled at Yu Chen: “Alright, I guess it’s not impossible to sell—but it’ll cost extra.”

 

“Extra?” Yu Chen smiled back at him. “I’m not giving you a single cent.”

 

Fu Yanxi immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight Yu Chen: “You damn dog Yu!”

 

At that moment, Lu You walked over and interrupted: “Yu Chen, did you offend someone? Someone sent me this thing.”

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