Bu Wei

Half an incense stick later, Ning Buwei stared blankly at the pile of twigs, fallen leaves, pebbles, and various vaguely familiar but unrecognizable items spread out on the bed.

His son was excitedly “explaining” to him, babbling in a language he couldn’t understand. When he got particularly excited, he would grab his arm, stand up, and hold things up to his eyes to show him.

Ning Buwei responded without emotion, “Wow, amazing.”

The small bell on Ning Xiu’s wrist chimed sweetly.

Chu Jun took the small stone that Ning Xiu handed him and said, “He can stand now.”

Ning Buwei remarked indifferently, “He’s already nine months old. If you had come two months later, he would be running.”

Chu Jun steadied Ning Xiu and looked at Ning Buwei, “Are you in a bad mood?”

Ning Buwei was startled for a moment and instinctively denied it, “No.”

Chu Jun’s small stone was snatched back by Ning Xiu and placed in Ning Buwei’s palm. “Ah~”

Father take it~

Ning Buwei played with the small stone between his fingers. Ning Xiu gave a withered leaf to Chu Jun, then turned back wanting to take the stone, trying twice but failing to get it.

“Ah!” He anxiously shouted at Ning Buwei.

Ning Buwei was lost in thought, spinning the small stone quickly in his hand, giving Ning Xiu no chance to take it.

Ning Xiu became so anxious that he stomped his feet and tugged hard at Chu Jun’s sleeve. “Ya~”

Mother~

Chu Jun grabbed Ning Buwei’s wrist, took the small stone, and handed it to Ning Xiu.

Ning Xiu happily sat down clutching the stone, then placed the withered leaf in Ning Buwei’s hand. “Ah ya~”

Father look at this one~

When Chu Jun unexpectedly gripped Ning Buwei’s wrist, he instinctively applied force, and the leaf turned to powder.

Ning Xiu, who was holding the small stone, froze.

Ning Buwei and Chu Jun simultaneously looked at the pile of powder, then at Ning Xiu.

Although it was just an ordinary withered leaf from the roadside, Ning Xiu had been carefully treasuring it as a precious item. Ning Buwei’s action had instantly destroyed this Golden Core cultivator’s “treasure” – the situation was very serious.

“Wuwa—” Loud crying immediately filled the entire room.

Ning Buwei quickly conjured another withered leaf and waved it in front of his eyes. “Look, it’s not broken.”

Ning Xiu’s crying stopped abruptly. He tearfully took the leaf with his small hands, stared at it for a while, then burst into loud crying again.

This isn’t my original treasure wuwuwu~

Ning Buwei looked at Chu Jun with a headache.

Chu Jun: “……”

The fact proved that not just Golden Core cultivators, even Hinayana cultivators wouldn’t bother remembering the exact vein patterns of a withered leaf.

Unless this Golden Core cultivator was a small child.

Chu Jun thought for a moment, took out a piece of Tianhuang stone from his storage ring, and quickly carved a thin, smooth small maple leaf. Although its shape and veins differed from Ning Xiu’s leaf, it was similar in size. He waved it in front of Ning Xiu.

While crying, Ning Xiu’s gaze followed the yellow jadeite maple leaf as it moved—though the Golden Core cultivator thought his treasure was good, it didn’t prevent him from distinguishing which treasure looked better.

Chu Jun placed the leaf in Ning Buwei’s palm and said softly, “Father’s compensation for you.”

Ning Xiu crawled onto Ning Buwei’s knee and looked up at him, “Ah?”

Long teardrops still hung on his eyelashes, dropping onto Ning Buwei’s hand.

Ning Buwei cleared his throat lightly and handed him the small maple leaf, “Mm, compensation for you.”

Ning Xiu instantly smiled through his tears and lay on Ning Buwei, playing with the maple leaf.

“The little thing has quite an eye for treasures.” Ning Buwei sighed in relief. Catching a glimpse of Chu Jun still carving something with the Tianhuang stone, he couldn’t help but ask, “What else are you carving?”

“Making one for Zizhang and the others,” Chu Jun replied without looking up.

Ning Buwei took out a piece of cyan gold from his storage ring and handed it to him, “If you would.”

“Hmm?” Chu Jun held the rather heavy cyan gold and looked up at him.

Ning Buwei gestured while explaining, “Carve a flying ship, two levels, five rooms, with evil-warding charms on the window lattices.”

“Alright.” Seeing that Ning Xiu showed no signs of sleeping yet, Chu Jun continued carving the jade.

Chu Jun’s hands were white and slender, very beautiful, even making the jade in his hands seem less remarkable.

Ning Buwei lazily leaned against the headboard, occasionally glancing at Chu Jun’s hands. After playing with the leaf for a while on his stomach, Ning Xiu raised his little head and bit Ning Buwei’s chin. “Ah ba~”

Caught off guard by the bite, Ning Buwei looked at the now-pacified little thing, grabbed his small hand and pretended to bite it. Ning Xiu laughed while dodging back and forth.

The candlelight flickered, and the child’s crisp laughter occasionally drifted out the window.

Chu Jun had roughly carved out the shape of the cyan gold when he noticed the playful laughter had disappeared. Looking up, he saw Ning Buwei sprawled across the bed fast asleep, his calves dangling off the edge, looking quite unrestrained. Ning Xiu lay on his stomach like a cotton ball, rising and falling with Ning Buwei’s breathing.

Chu Jun’s gaze lingered on Ning Buwei’s face.

His usual sharp coldness was softened by half in the candlelight. Perhaps because he had enjoyed playing with the child, he wasn’t unconsciously frowning as before, and looked unusually relaxed…

Chu Jun glanced at the table by the window, where traces of some formation’s energy remained, formerly domineering and naturally evil.

His fingers moved slightly, and the flickering candlelight quietly extinguished, leaving only the sound of breathing in the room.

The next morning.

Ning Xiu opened his eyes and played with his father’s hand for a while, then crawled onto Ning Buwei, stared at his father’s handsome face for a moment, and bit down on his nose.

Before opening his eyes, Ning Buwei’s hand reached out and lifted Ning Xiu up.

“Ah ya~”

Flying~

Having had a rare good sleep, Ning Buwei was in an excellent mood. He carried Ning Xiu out of bed, and caught sight of something on the table, raising his eyebrows.

There were cicada-wing-thin maple leaves carved from Tianhuang stone, identical to the one given to Ning Xiu last night.

After scanning the room without seeing Chu Jun, Ning Buwei gathered the three leaves in his hand and carried Ning Xiu to open the door.

“Father, you’re awake!” Jiang Yizheng was practicing sword in the courtyard and greeted him warmly when he opened the door, looking completely different from the girl who had been copying texts to exhaustion yesterday.

“Mm.” Ning Buwei waved at her.

Jiang Yizheng ran over happily, with sweat on her forehead and nose tip, “Father, what is it?”

Ning Buwei handed her the three leaves, and Jiang Yizheng’s eyes immediately lit up upon receiving them, “So cute! So beautiful!”

Girls always loved such delicate trinkets. She said happily, “Father, did you make these?”

“Chu Jun made them for you all,” Ning Buwei said, “Just right, one for each of you.”

Jiang Yizheng said emotionally, “The Venerable is so kind, I’ll go give them to Zizhang and Huanhuan right away.”

“Wait.” Ning Buwei suddenly called out to her.

Jiang Yizheng whirled around abruptly, nearly bumping her forehead on his chin.

“You…” Ning Buwei stared at her, hesitating to continue.

The happy smile on Jiang Yizheng’s face gradually froze, and she said weakly, “Father, don’t… don’t look at me like that, it’s creepy.”

It was as if he wanted to silence her forever.

“Do you have enough spirit stones? Is there anything special you want?” Ning Buwei asked seriously, “Like, rouge and powder… things like that.”

Jiang Yizheng first looked bewildered, then turned pale, “Father, is it because the parasitic gu in my body weren’t completely removed and I don’t have long to live?”

Why else would he ask about her wishes with such a serious face?

“The parasitic gu in your body is as dead as it can be,” Ning Buwei said, “You’re a young lady, different from Zizhang and the others.”

He couldn’t raise her as roughly as he did the boys.

Jiang Yizheng completely missed his meaning and scratched her head, “Ah, indeed different…”

A moment later, Jiang Yizheng stood dazed holding a pile of spirit stones, savoring Ning Buwei’s words ‘buy whatever you like’, then slowly widened her eyes.

Was her father being— blatantly partial?

****

Ning Buwei carried his son out for a walk, didn’t see who he wanted to see, and returned to the room for the daily morning routine of bathing his son and changing his diaper.

The entire room was warm and comfortable under the coverage of spiritual energy. While Ning Xiu played enthusiastically in the bathtub, Ning Buwei searched his storage ring for clean clothes. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in,” he said without turning around after scanning with his divine consciousness.

Chu Jun pushed open the door. Ning Xiu splashed water happily, and Ning Buwei turned around with a cream-colored small garment.

Chu Jun lifted Ning Xiu from the water and took the towel Ning Buwei handed over to wrap up the child. “I went to find Hua Ran.”

Ning Buwei handed him the diaper, “Where has the Floating Sky reached this time?”

While skillfully diapering their son with practiced ease, Chu Jun dressed Ning Xiu and said, “Kun Prefecture, Zhenzhou.”

Ning Buwei frowned, “Ning Fan is also in Zhenzhou now.”

He snorted softly. “It’s as if they deliberately arranged to lure us to Zhenzhou.”

“What’s special about Zhenzhou?” Chu Jun asked, seeing his unpleasant expression.

Ning Buwei was silent for a moment, “My master perished in Zhenzhou.”

“Your master?” Chu Jun had been in closed cultivation for five hundred years and didn’t know many things that had happened to Ning Buwei.

“Her name was Yan Jinzhou, a rogue cultivator. She was the one who gave me the Suzaku Knife back then.” Ning Buwei gave a self-mocking smile, “She saved me many times after that… always liked to meddle in others’ affairs.”

Yan Jinzhou had exceptional talent and a free spirit. She was about the same age as Ning Xingyuan, and when Ning Buwei met her, she was less than a hundred years old but had already reached the God Transformation realm.

Even for a once-in-a-century celestial spirit body with family and sect resources supporting them, reaching the God Transformation realm before a hundred years old was extremely difficult, let alone a rogue cultivator without any backing. But Yan Jinzhou not only reached God Transformation, Ning Buwei had personally witnessed her kill a Fusion realm cultivator while crossing two cultivation realms.

Ning Buwei rarely genuinely admired anyone. Besides his brother Ning Xingyuan, it was only Yan Jinzhou.

When he knelt down, kowtowed, and offered tea to acknowledge Yan Jinzhou as his master, she received the same treatment as his birth parents. While he occasionally dared to go against Ning Xingyuan, he never dared to do so with Yan Jinzhou.

The only time he disobeyed his master’s orders, he ended up thoroughly involving Yan Jinzhou…

Chu Jun rarely saw Ning Buwei with such a silent and heavy expression. He placed the warm Ning Xiu in Ning Buwei’s arms, “I can go alone.”

Holding his son, Ning Buwei’s mood lightened again. He pretended to worry, “No way, the Venerable has already been forced to fake death once. How could you handle meeting Ning Fan again?”

“Da ah?” Ning Xiu, nestled in his father’s arms, practiced speaking while perfectly mimicking Ning Buwei’s frowning expression.

The large and small faces looked identical, except one was teasing and one was serious.

Chu Jun reached out to pat Ning Xiu’s little head, but his eyes were fixed on Ning Buwei, his voice gentle.

“Stop teasing.”