ISMW Chapter 97

“Let her know about my existence.”

 

The Invincible Scholar gave its solution: “Let your Imperial Sister know who the most invincible being in the entire galaxy is.”

 

Yun Xunlan: “…”

 

Has his system already upgraded from Invincible Scholar to Invincible Being?

 

This statement is very convincing without thinking, but if thinking, it’s not, because Yun Xunlan’s mind is very clear: “If I say this, I’ll be immediately locked up in the royal sanatorium by her.”

 

It’s suspicious if Imperial Sister believes this.

 

A person who talks about science and technology in an interstellar world, how could they believe the ancient secret treasure theory of the cultivation world?

 

Yun Xunlan now has to see a psychologist regularly. If he really tells Yun Xunguang about the system’s existence, she would think he’s completely crazy and send him to the royal sanatorium for delusions.

 

Moreover, Yun Xunlan always remembers his cousin sister’s last words before she died: “Secret treasures bewitch the heart and easily bring disaster. In my previous life, my cousin sister left a dying message: Don’t let others know I have a secret treasure.”

 

He told the system: “So I can’t say it.”

 

“Your cousin sister told you this because she was afraid others would fight you for my invincible secret treasure. But is your Imperial Sister an outsider? She’s your family.”

 

The system stood on a moral high ground to accuse Yun Xunlan, as if he made a big mistake by not being honest: “She loves you so much and treats you so well. Do you really think if she knows about me, she’ll want to take me away?”

 

“I’ve never thought that. I trust my Imperial Sister very much.” Yun Xunlan immediately said. “But even if I tell her, she won’t believe it.”

 

The system said again: “Hearing is believing, seeing is truth. She hasn’t seen me with her own eyes, so it’s normal she doesn’t believe.”

 

But this time, the voice didn’t come directly from Yun Xunlan’s mind but from right in front of him. It was sharp and hoarse, with a mixed male and female tone.

 

Yun Xunlan seemed to sense it. He lowered his hand from his temple, slowly raised his eyes, and lifted his lashes for a moment. He saw a glossy, blue-green wine vessel appear on the originally empty mecha bay floor. Its beauty could only be described by the phrase “The dappled autumn dew opens the Yueyao kiln, capturing the green of a thousand peaks.”

 

The vessel stood quietly on the ground. The system’s complex voice came from inside, like countless people screaming and wailing: “So, let us prove…”

 

“…I knew I shouldn’t open my consciousness sea to the Unity stage.”

 

Yun Xunlan interrupted it, closed his eyes, and sighed.

 

The consciousness seas of cultivators are deeply connected. The edge of the Unity stage consciousness sea connects to the Tribulation Transcendence stage consciousness sea. So every time Yun Xunlan opens his consciousness sea to this level, he easily sees the system’s true form. However, the system’s true form is very special, and Yun Xunlan doesn’t want to see it.

 

“Don’t leave my Tribulation Transcendence stage consciousness sea casually.”

 

Yun Xunlan re-sealed the opened consciousness sea layers and opened his eyes again. The vessel had disappeared, and the system seemed to have disappeared with it, no longer speaking.

 

He exited the virtual mecha bay, leaned back in his chair, looked up at the study ceiling, and was lost in thought. For a moment, he couldn’t remember what he had just done.

 

“What are you daydreaming about?”

 

When he regained consciousness, Yun Xunlan blinked and realized Yu Chen had come to the study without him noticing, standing behind his chair, looking down at him.

 

The man’s ice-blue eyes were truly beautiful. Yun Xunlan looked up at them and suddenly felt they were no longer a vast sea but the sky he had always glimpsed in the pot. It used to be unreachable, but now it was within reach.

 

Yun Xunlan couldn’t help but reach out his hand.

 

Yu Chen thought Yun Xunlan wanted to touch his face, so he bent down and pressed his face into the young man’s palm.

 

Yun Xunlan gently stroked Yu Chen’s eye corner with his fingertip. Yu Chen glanced at the access helmet on Yun Xunlan’s head and helped him take it off, asking, “Did you go to the virtual battlefield alone?”

 

This question triggered painful memories for Yun Xunlan. He had died quickly in all three simulated forced landings and been mocked by the system each time. His thoughts were now hazy, so he instinctively answered, “Yes, I died very quickly in there, faster than you…”

 

The young man’s voice suddenly stopped, but the information was already enough.

 

Thus, Yu Chen’s painful memories were also triggered.

 

Yu Chen: “…”

 

Yun Xunlan and Yu Chen now shared an extraordinary tacit understanding in some aspects. When he saw Yu Chen’s expression, he quickly moved his finger from Yu Chen’s eye corner to stroke his hair, using this to shift Yu Chen’s attention from the awkward topic.

 

“Baby, your hair has grown a lot.”

 

Fortunately, Yu Chen didn’t want to bring up the painful fifteen-minute memory. He cooperated with Yun Xunlan: “It’s been a long time since I last cut it. Do you like me with short hair? I can cut it shorter.”

 

Yu Chen’s hair was just long enough to tie a small ponytail. Yun Xunlan thought it was cute and shook his head: “No need.”

 

Because he thought if the hair was too short, it might be easier to get caught on his legs sometimes?

 

Yun Xunlan was about to ask if Yu Chen felt the same, but before he could say it, a familiar and cold voice suddenly interrupted their conversation: “What are you two doing?”

 

Yun Xunlan was very familiar with this voice. Although Yu Chen wasn’t, he had a deep impression of it. Just hearing the voice immediately made them think of a person’s name. So both looked up and saw a tall figure standing at the door.

 

—The visitor was indeed Mu Xingyu.

 

However, Mu Xingyu’s current appearance was vastly different from when Yu Chen first met him, and also very different from what Yun Xunlan remembered.

 

Mu Xingyu was no longer wearing the dark blue uniform of the Big Dipper Tianquan Legion today, but had changed into royal formal wear with gold threads on a white base. His clothing was fine, but his physical condition was seriously problematic.

 

His originally bright and clear olive-colored eyes now only had one remaining, the other replaced with a red electronic prosthetic eye. His right hand hanging at his side had also been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic limb, while his left hand was empty, with no fingertips showing from his sleeve. However, his upper arm was slightly swollen, and Yun Xunlan speculated it was like when his own hand was severed—medical repair fluid tubes were fitted over the wound to promote limb regeneration. His legs couldn’t be assessed due to his long pants, but judging from his upper body injuries, his lower body probably wasn’t much better.

 

So after seeing Mu Xingyu’s condition clearly, Yun Xunlan couldn’t help but be slightly shocked: “Imperial Brother… you?”

 

Even Yu Chen was very surprised, though he wasn’t surprised by Mu Xingyu’s injuries, but rather that despite being so severely injured—with medical repair fluid tubes and prosthetic limbs—he still refused to lie in an immersion medical pod for a period of complete treatment.

 

Clearly, lying there for a few days would allow his severed limbs to heal completely without affecting his appearance or daily activities. The only issue was that patients in immersion medical pods were mostly unconscious, with very little waking time.

 

Mu Xingyu’s current approach of only installing prosthetics on his right hand and using medical repair fluid tubes on his left clearly showed he wanted to stay conscious and minimize the impact of physical disability on daily life as much as possible.

 

As for his reasons for doing this…

 

Yu Chen had always felt the interaction between the two brothers Mu Xingyu and Yun Xunlan was strange, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was odd about it.

 

Back then, Mu Xingyu’s gaze toward him was already unfriendly. Now, Mu Xingyu’s gaze falling on Yu Chen showed only coldness, no warmth.

 

Since he was so rude—at Zhan Yue Peninsula, at the North Palace, everywhere treating Yun Xunlan’s study and bedroom like a public restroom, coming and going as he pleased—Yu Chen didn’t bother being polite with Mu Xingyu either. He raised an eyebrow, deliberately didn’t move, continuing to maintain his half-bent posture of obediently having his hair stroked by Yun Xunlan, his blue eyes coldly staring back at Mu Xingyu, acting as if he hadn’t seen this person standing there, not straightening up to greet him.

 

“What are you two doing?”

 

Mu Xingyu slowly asked.

 

He clearly couldn’t stand seeing Yun Xunlan and Yu Chen so intimate. His tone was very unpleasant, and after speaking, he provided an explanation for Yun Xunlan and Yu Chen, as if helping two people caught having an affair find an excuse: “Preparing for tutoring?”

 

Yu Chen wanted to use the same sentence structure Mu Xingyu had used before to retort.

 

But when it came to the ability to “leave people speechless with one sentence,” Yun Xunlan was still the strongest. He directly said what Yu Chen was thinking: “What kind of tutoring requires this position?”

 

After hearing this, Mu Xingyu’s eyes showed a hint of being choked up, and he gritted his teeth: “…tutoring ‘War Psychology.'”

 

“No, Imperial Brother, we weren’t planning to tutor.” Yun Xunlan wasn’t trying to deliberately oppose Mu Xingyu; he was just telling the truth. “When baby and I usually tutor ‘War Psychology,’ we never use this position.”

 

Mu Xingyu had dated before, so he wouldn’t be stupid enough to ask what position Yun Xunlan and Yu Chen would use for tutoring, nor would he ask what Yun Xunlan was preparing to do if not tutoring.

 

After all, the word “baby” that anyone not deaf could hear clearly was enough to explain everything.

 

When Yun Xunlan spoke more words, the tongue piercing would flash conspicuously. Mu Xingyu was first dazzled by the blue sapphire’s brilliance, then stung by Yun Xunlan’s “baby.”

 

He looked at Yu Chen’s pair of blue eyes, then at Yun Xunlan: “You still call him… baby?”

 

A few months ago when the three first met, Yun Xunlan was still calling him “Major Yu Chen,” sounding like peers. Now upon meeting again, Yu Chen’s damn seniority had dropped to the children and grandchildren generation to become a baby!

 

How can people get younger as they live?

 

Mu Xingyu felt he had aged more than ten years.

 

Especially after hearing Yun Xunlan’s explanation: “Yes, because Yu Chen and I are lovers. ‘Baby’ is my pet name for him. If you’re not used to hearing it, Imperial Brother, you might get used to it after hearing it a few more times. If you still can’t get used to it, then I don’t have any good solutions.”

 

Mu Xingyu: “…”

 

“When I heard you were with an alpha, I thought I misheard.” Mu Xingyu took a deep breath, trying hard to calm his churning emotions. “Turns out it’s actually true.”

 

Yun Xunlan made another shocking statement: “If I’m not with one alpha, should I be with several alphas?”

 

Mu Xingyu was silent for a few seconds: “He’s your guard.”

 

His implication was that it wasn’t good to get involved with someone so close.

 

But Yun Xunlan couldn’t think of this layer at all, since he had Yun Xunguang ahead of him who was with her own attendant.

 

So Yun Xunlan only sighed in relief: “Exactly, Imperial Brother. Fortunately, being close to the water tower gets the moon first. If Yu Chen weren’t my guard, wanting to be with him probably wouldn’t have been so easy.”

 

Mu Xingyu: “………..”

 

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