"Fucang stop! " I shouted as I saw him lunging at a Ye Bai Yi who was ready to draw his sword despite the uncomfortable position he was in.

"Hey old toad, don't touch my baby! " yelled my soul mate at the same time.

Before I could say anything, Lao Wen had rushed to the entrance of our room and interposed himself between the Changming Mountain Immortal and Fucang.

I sighed. What was Ye Bai Yi doing in the armory, how did he get there? And most importantly, how did he get in? Next to me, Cheng Ling had turned white as snow. He threw himself to the ground and bowed, slamming his forehead against the icy stone. QingMing and ChenZichen did the same!

"Mas... Master, forgive me, I am unworthy of your trust and teaching. I failed to see that we were being followed...

"Forgive us Master, we have more experience than young Lord ChengLing and we didn't see anything either!!!" Shouted my 2 Heaven's Windows disciples.

The 3 of them continued to slap their foreheads in punishment. Fine droplets of blood began to color the ice on the ground. Behind me, Ye Bai Yi was getting up, while verbally retaliating against Lao Wen and keeping an eye on Fucang

"And you, silly face, did you see your baby's face, at the same time with such a father, it's normal that it looks like he collided with a wall! And what's with the hairstyle, are you trying to make people think you're wiser than you are?"

"You can talk Old ghost, you looked at yourself, with your white streaks here and there I at least my hair is similar to the eternal snows that surround us and A-Xu says it suits me very well! ... Am I right A-Xu?" Said my soul mate as he turned to me with a candid look.

Between my 3 disciples who were still on the floor and those 2 weirdos who were unable to be in the same room without bickering, I think my nerves were going to give out! Not to mention that I hadn't had a decent night's sleep since Fucang had pulverized our bed!

"That's enough !!!!" I shouted suddenly in exasperation! I turned to my followers.

"You three, get up and wipe off that blood. You must be soaked by now! "My 1st disciple and his 2 elders stood up while keeping their eyes on the ground. ChengLing ran his sleeve over his face to wipe the red beads that were oozing out. QingMing and ChenZichen followed him at once, looking sheepish.

I turned to my soul mate and his companion. From the look on Lao Wen's face, he must have sensed that his turn to be scolded was coming.

"And you two over there, this is a room, not a battlefield, if you want to cross swords, go outside! Have I made myself clear? I remind you on the other hand that we have a bed to mount and that tonight I would like to sleep in it! If a certain person I won't name wished to rest there too, he better calm down!"

I stared at Ye Bai Yi. His hair was now dotted with white strands. Proof that he had given up his hermit life to resume a mere mortal existence. He looked around the room and then carefully observed Fucang who was standing behind Lao Wen.

"He looks as stupid as your first disciple! Isn't he supposed to guard this place? Because I had no trouble getting in!"

Seeing that Lao Wen was about to reply, I felt compelled to preempt him so that things wouldn't get out of hand once again between them.

"Elder Ye," I said as I bowed to him to greet him properly.

"Elder Ye, Fucang only attacks people who are hostile to us! If he doesn't sense any evil intent in you, he will rely on our behavior." I let a moment pass before continuing.

"He understood perfectly well that despite your exchange of graphic words with his master, you were not an enemy. As a result, he is content to stand back." I then turned to my followers.

"That goes for you too!" I sighed and encompassed the room with my gaze as well as everyone present.

"ChengLing, behind the treaty room, there is a room we are setting up. There you will find everything you need to sleep in. You also know where the charcoal balls for the braziers are. All three of you go and set up your straw mattresses for tonight and get changed. Make a fire to warm up the room. Then when everything is ready, come back here. Go now!" I waved my hand at them to get out of my sight. As they left the room, I turned to the other two protagonists of the chaos that had just occurred.

"Wen Kexing, take Fucang and feed him, I'd rather not have him around by the time we get this bed up so we don't risk another disaster!"

My soul mate grimaced and resigned herself to leaving our room Fucang on her heels. Ye Bai Yi smirked as he saw him obey without reluctance and then looked at me with a penetrating gaze.

"It seems, disciple of Qin Huai Zhang, that you have found a way to survive, and this great fool has something to do with it!"

I bowed to him once more, keeping my eyes fixed on the ground.

"Elder Ye, I know what I owe you. If you hadn't shared your martial arts with Wen Kexing, I wouldn't be in this world to talk to you anymore. "

"Lalala," he replied, waving his hand in the air; Ye Bai Yi walked over to me and grabbed my wrist, placing 2 fingers on it at the point where my spiritual energy passed through.

"Well, it seems that this big idiot did things the right way, for once." He paused and let my hand fall back. He had a serious look on his face.

"Aside from the color of his hair, what other effects did it have on his body?"

I sighed and motioned for him to sit down. The tea was still hot, so I poured him a cup and pushed it toward him. He took a seat across from me and brought the cup to his lips, then put it back down and stared at me waiting for an answer.

"Well, he sacrificed some of his martial arts for me. When I regained consciousness, I could barely feel his life force. But I didn't give up. It took me several months to give him back the spiritual energy he needed to come out of the deep sleep he was in. Since then, I have been regularly giving him my own strength and forcing him to train regularly so that he can return to his former level."

"But that's not all...is it?"

"No, I also studied 'the combination of the six martial arts'..."

"I suspected it. I felt it when I checked your spiritual energy. Both of you are on the path to immortality, but Wen Kexing must beware, for he has seriously depleted his life reserve to save you."

"I know that, and I tremble because of his whimsical and adventurous nature..."

"Yet you seem to have a very good handle on your partner!" My interlocutor's lips lifted slightly in a mocking smile. His eyes laughed. I returned his smile.

"Lao Wen is... Lao Wen! I sometimes worry that he will be bored with me here, even though he assures me otherwise....Maybe enough about us! And you Elder Ye, how did you find us!"

"That's the question I was going to ask that old ghost!" Did my soul mate as he entered the room and sat down beside me. Ye Bai Yi took an exasperated attitude, but answered nonetheless.

"Well after you disappeared into the mountain, I kept an eye on your disciple in case he needed help. But I have to admit, the young fool is doing pretty well! A few days ago, when I was passing by, I noticed that he was behaving strangely. When I saw him leave with that cart and your two disciples who inherited the Windows of Heaven, I had a doubt and followed them! That's how I got to you. To enter, I took advantage of the fact that this idiot was distracting you to slip inside. I must admit that I didn't expect it to be so big! Afterwards, I followed you. I feared several times that you had heard me... "

"Elder Ye , what are you planning to do?"

"It seems that you have made the choice to protect this place, so as far as I'm concerned, this is fine! All this knowledge must not fall into the wrong hands. Pass on what needs to be passed on and keep secret what may be dangerous, that is my recommendation. As long as you follow this advice, I will have no reason to intervene in your life path."

Silence settled in the room. It was the moment that my three disciples chose to come back and put some animation in this so serious conversation.

"Master, Master, are we building this bed? Look, I asked the carpenter to make me an assembly plan? "ChengLing held out to us a piece of paper on which there were diagrams ... Lao Wen grabbed it and started to study it, Ye Bai Yi flew out of his hands and said:

"Since when have you been able to read, you big idiot? Let the adults do it, kid!" Ye Bai Yi stood up and walked towards the bed rooms. My soul mate followed him...

"Old toad who do you think you are, you are at home here!...

Here it was again, they were doing it again! ChengLing decided to join them to play the mediators and I prevented QingMing and ChenZichen from interfering too and made them sit at the table

"Let's leave them to it... anyway things can't get any worse than they already are!" I said philosophically while swallowing a glass of alcohol.

In fact, things were less complicated to do than it seemed! I don't know how, but ChengLing managed to make these 2 mule heads work together and our bed was finally assembled.

After a few more heated exchanges between my soul mate and our Elder, it was time for bed. ChengLing managed to get Ye Bai Yi to promise a story about his past adventures. My three disciples and the Immortal retired, leaving Lao Wen and me alone. Finally, our room was quiet. My soul mate embraced me.

"ChengLing chose well, I think," Lao Wen whispered, kissing my neck.

"How about we test its strength to be sure?" He added, nibbling my ear.

Decidedly, I thought to myself, this man did not miss any opportunity, any pretext to take advantage of the situation and have fun!

But at the same time was I so different? I let myself go to the softness of his caresses. After all, he was right, it was necessary to inaugurate this new bed and the best way to do it, was it not a night of passion?

   Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)