NEBM Chapter 36: Balance

Before Shen Zhixian had time to speak, a group of fake Yan Jins had reached them. The scene that followed was quite spectacular.

Yan Jin, who was holding him, pressed his lips tightly together. With one hand wrapped around Shen Zhixian’s waist, he evaded the other Yan Jins while not hesitating to attack with the sword in his other hand. The sword ray immediately shattered those fake Yan Jins into countless strands of black mists that spread out and disappeared after a while.

As Shen Zhixian was being moved around, because of his lack of security, he subconsciously hugged Yan Jin’s waist: “…”

His poor waist!

Felt like it was going to be cut off!

After the black mists had all cleared and everything had settled down, Yan Jin landed on the ground steadily and loosened his hand.

When Shen Zhixian watched TV series in the past and saw the male lead holding the female lead while flying about and fighting, it’d seem so romantic and awe-inspiring. All fake! Being held like that made him feel as if his waist was on the verge of snapping!

After gasping for breaths a few times, Shen Zhixian regained his sense of clarity. He wondered if this Yan Jin was real so he subconsciously pinched the Yan Jin in front of him.

But he didn’t realize where he was pinching. Immediately after feeling the pinch, Yan Jin’s waist stiffened. Yan Jin calmly held him and said in a quiet, slightly helpless voice, “Master, don’t pinch.”

Only then did Shen Zhixian react. His hand stiffened before he hurriedly dropped his hand and took a step back. He coughed. “Wasn’t it because I was afraid you’re also fake…After being chased by a few fake Yan Jins, I’ve had enough.”

His heart had been wary for a while now and, finally, he could feel at ease. Although this Yan Jin and those Yan Jins all looked the same, he knew that those were fake and this person in front of him was real.

Yesterday’s fake Yan Jin also looked the same. But, although his expressions were very similar, his behavior was slightly off. The real Yan Jin would never stay in the same place when he meets Shen Zhixian. With everyone else, he would. But with Shen Zhixian, he would be the one to take the first step.

He didn’t want Shen Zhixian to touch his wound because he was afraid that Shen Zhixian would discover that his wound was just an illusion. Afterward, Shen Zhixian had used the issue of him concealing his identity to sound Yan Jin out…

Shen Zhixian lowered his head to look at Yan Jin’s hand but didn’t see any wound. Soon afterward, his churning mind became quickly suppressed by the two words “concealing identity.”

If it was just concealing his identity, it wouldn’t be too bad… But, not only did he conceal his identity, he’d also fabricated his identity into Yan Jin’s cousin.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhixuan’s brain began to hurt. He just wanted to go back in time to that moment and give his brain a hard and calm look.

He stole a quick glance at Yan Jin and carefully considered his words. “A’Jin, about me concealing my identity, in fact…”

In fact, there was no reason. Shen Zhixian got stuck, paused for a moment, and just broke the jar. “…I didn’t think about it properly. Don’t mind it. A’Jin, just forget about it.”

He thought Yan Jin would be angry. Even from childhood to now, this person with facial paralysis wouldn’t show it even if he was angry. But he never expected that when Yan Jin heard him, a smile would flash across his clear, bright eyes. It was so fleeting that if Shen Zhixian wasn’t paying close attention, he would have missed it altogether.

Shen Zhixian didn’t dare to squeak. His head was full of thoughts. Was this the legendary angry smile?

He didn’t speak, and so Yan Jin opened his mouth. His tone was calm and placid as usual, but there was a faint gentleness interwoven in every word. “During this time, the disciple had been very happy. It seemed that I’d also inadvertently offended Master. Please forgive me.”

Shen Zhixian didn’t want to hear himself being called Master at this moment. When he heard it, he’ll remember his current appearance in front of Yan Jin… It made him wonder when Yan Jin knew and how long he’d known his real identity.

Truth be told, he didn’t really want to know and he didn’t dare ask. So, he only tilted his head uncomfortably, pretending a calm he didn’t feel. “It’s not easy revealing my identity outside. If you don’t mind it, then don’t call me Master.”

“Ok.” Yan Jin answered almost immediately. After his voice fell, he asked softly, “Then…. what should disciple call you?”

Shen Zhixian vaguely felt that something had changed in Yan Jin. It wasn’t obvious and was, in fact, a bit elusive. He thought hard, but he still couldn’t think of what it might be, so he said vaguely, “Just like those other days.”

This obviously meant that Yan Jin could continue to call him Sui Xian. Yan Jin pursed his lips slightly, and his eyes were bright as he said, “Sui Xian.”

“Mmn, that’s fine.” Shen Zhixian couldn’t figure out anything, so he didn’t think about it anymore. He looked around the illusion and decided to focus his attention.

Better to focus on this strange secret realm first. “After I entered this secret realm…”

He told a short story, going over the strange things that had happened to him. Afterward, he frowned and asked Yan Jin, “How did you get into the secret realm? What strange things did you encounter?”

Yan Jin, adhering to his silent nature, said in a few words about what happened at that time.

“You opened the secret realm before entering?” Shen Zhixian couldn’t help but sigh. Yan Jin was indeed the male lead. Very powerful. “You didn’t see the source of those two voices?”

Without batting an eyelid, Yan Jin maintained his usual calm as he concealed the events concerning the red spirit pellet. He only said, “…I didn’t see. After walking for a while in the fog, I arrived here.”

Shen Zhixian thought a moment about how they’d arrived at this makeshift road. “Let’s go and explore.”

He turned and walked on. However, he soon realized that Yan Jin hadn’t followed. Turning back, he asked doubtfully, “What’s wrong?”

Yan Jin asked in a serious voice, “Want to hold hands?”

Shen Zhixian: “???”

He immediately remembered that time when they’d slept together for the first time. Yan Jin had asked, “Do you want to embrace?” Finally, he reacted in shock.

When did Yan Jin become so active and open? When they slept together at that time, even though Yan Jin didn’t know his identity, he at least took Shen Zhixian as his cousin. It made sense. But, now that Shen Zhixian’s disguise had been revealed, he still dared to ask such a question…

It really surprised Shen Zhixian.

He instinctively asked, “Why hold hands?”

“It’s dangerous here,” Yan Jin said, looking as serious as if he was studying some advanced swordsmanship. “I’m afraid we might lose each other.”

Yan Jin’s usual silent, serious nature was too deeply rooted in Shen Zhixian’s mind. As a result, he didn’t suspect anything. Besides, there was some truth to what he’d said.

This secret realm was indeed too weird. There were many real and fake things. If they didn’t hold hands… Who knew if the person they see when looking back would be the real person!

But holding hands seemed rather inconvenient. He pondered for a moment, then touched his head with his hand. But, he didn’t find what he was looking for.

When Shen Zhixian was still at Qingyun Sect, he used to hold his hair back with a hair ribbon. Later, when he went down the mountain to practice, he’d taken it out so as to appear more chivalrous. And then, he forgot to bring the hair ribbon with him… A minor miscalculation.

He retracted his hand somewhat regretfully. As he was mulling over whether he should tear off a piece of cloth or just forget about it, Yan Jin seemed to have read his mind. He pulled out a ribbon with a flowing cloud pattern, adorn with a small jade.

Yan Jin handed the ribbon to Shen Zhixian. “Use this.”

The ribbon was a bit familiar. Shen Zhixian thought about it for a moment, then remembered that this was the item that Yan Shen had thrown into the Hidden Sword Pavilion, causing Yan Jin to recklessly break into it.

This ribbon should be very important to Yan Jin. Right now, they hadn’t reached the point of absolute desperation. How could he be willing to take it out?

He took the brocade ribbon, looked at it, and said, “It looks familiar…”

Yan Jin gazed at him, and a complex emotion flashed through his eyes. He said in a low voice, “Sui Xian, don’t you remember?”

This question seemed to have some other meaning, but Shen Zhixian didn’t perceive it. He only inadvertently glanced at Yan Jin’s expression. But somehow he felt as if he’d wronged Yan Jin. This feeling came so suddenly that his mind went blank for a moment.

He immediately shifted his gaze back to the brocade ribbon, suppressing the strange emotion. He tried to ignore Yan Jin’s burning eyes and pretended to contemplate the ribbon. He suddenly said, “Ah, this is the brocade ribbon that fell in the Hidden Sword Pavilion that year? This should be very important to you. What if we ended up breaking it….?”

Yan Jin quietly said, “It’s very important. But Sui Xian is more important.”

This sentence caught Shen Zhixian off guard, and he inexplicably found himself blushing–Hey, Yan Jin, what kind of answer was that?!

Those who knew that Yan Jin went out to practice, and even those who didn’t know, would wonder what mysterious places had taught him such sweet words!

Shen Zhixian didn’t dare say anything or ask any questions. He quickly lifted the brocade ribbon and tied each ends of the long ribbon to their respective wrists. He tried it tight enough that it wouldn’t be easy to undo.

Where they should go, Shen Zhixian also didn’t know. But, it didn’t matter. After all, the person standing next to him was the protagonist of this world!

So Yan Jin chose a direction at random, and they walked forward side by side, their wrists tied together with a length of ribbon.

……

This place was really weird. The mountains, rivers, water, trees and flowers looked normal. But, there was always a strange black qi scattered about.

They walked for several days but they neither found a way out nor saw anyone again.

Shen Zhixian didn’t know if a long time had passed or if it was due to some other reasons, but he began to feel increasingly more tired. His drowsiness kept rising and, sometimes, when he walked, he would fall asleep on his feet.

After resting for the night, he should clearly be more alert during the day. But, he couldn’t push away his fatigue. When night came, he would sleep easily and for long periods of time.

Early this morning, Yan Jin had to call him for a long time before he finally woke up. Waking up was also like pushing through quicksand. He felt tired and weak and leaned against Yan Jin’s arms. It took him a long time to fully wake up.

He thought that this constant fatigue was due to his heart ailment. Therefore, in the past few days, he didn’t even need Yan Jin to urge him to eat Fourth Elder’s elixir three times a day. Although he didn’t get a heart attack, the drowsiness became increasingly heavier, making him almost unable to bear it.

He didn’t know how many days they’d traveled before they finally came upon someone.

It was a man in a black robe, digging through spirit fruit grass with a small bag in his hand. Shen Zhixian was about to approach him to ask about the situation. But, the man saw Shen Zhixian and came forward at his own initiative.

“Your body is weak. It’s time to eat something.” The man in the black robe looked at Shen Zhixian, his young face very serious. “Otherwise you will disappear.”

His gaze fell directly on Shen Zhixian and not once did he mention or acknowledge Yan Jin, who stood next to Shen Zhixian.

Shen Zhixian felt the same familiar creepy feeling.

His sleepiness was slightly suppressed, and he reluctantly responded, “What does this mean?”

The man fixed his gaze on Shen Zhixian for a long time. Then, he suddenly lowered his head and dug through the small bag in his hand. He pulled out a small, gray fruit and handed it to Shen Zhixian. “It doesn’t mean anything good. Here, I’ll give this to you. Eat it quickly to fill up your body.”

Shen Zhixian didn’t know what the fruit was but it looked very innocent and had a sweet smell.

When he smelled this sweet scent, Shen Zhixian’s thoughts became chaotic. With a blank expression, he subconsciously reached out to take the fruit.

However, in the next instant, Yan Jin grabbed onto his hand and pull him back.

And the fruit fell to the ground.

The man in the black robe couldn’t see Yan Jin. He only saw that Shen Zhixian took a step back at the last minute, causing his fruit to fall to the ground.

His expression shifted, feeling as if his good intentions had been stepped on. This made him a little angry and he said in a cold, stiff voice, “I saw that you were not well so I wanted to give you this spiritual qi fruit out of kindness. Since you didn’t appreciate it, don’t regret it later.”

He walked away angrily without picking up the fruit.

Shen Zhixian suddenly regained his senses. He looked down at the fruit and his heart went cold. There was no gray fruit in sight. Only a thick black qi!

The smell floated up and there was faint rotten stench. That sweet smell from before was nowhere to be found.

Shen Zhixian stood there for such a long time that Yan Jin pulled his hand in concern, whispering, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Zhixian felt as if he was on the verge of figuring something out but he became drowsy again, causing his mind to turn in confusion. Unable to think of anything, he shook his head tiredly. “Nothing. I’m just a bit hungry.”

There were weird things here, and they dared not eat indiscriminately. Fortunately, before entering the secret realm, Shen Zhixian had prepared a lot of dry food and water. Since Yan Jin could abstain from eating, it was only Shen Zhixian who had to gnaw through these dry foods.

Shen Zhixian was not a willful person. Under these environmental conditions, even if these dry foods were more difficult to eat, in order to survive, he could swallow them without any resistance. But today, somehow, he wanted to vomit.

“I don’t want to eat…” He put away the dry food that he’d just taken a bite out of, barely drank two sips of water, and refused to eat anymore. He leaned against Yan Jin and looked at the stream not far away.

There was a school of fat and tender fish swimming in the stream. They happily jumped over the clear water. There was a stupid fish who’d jumped too high and ended up falling on the banks.

Shen Zhixian saw this and suddenly remembered the gray-robed man’s grilled fish. In that instant, an overwhelming desire to eat grilled fish surged up.

He sat upright and got up with the intention to pick up the fish and cook it.

Yan Jin noticed his action and stopped him immediately. “Sui Xian!”

Shen Zhixian didn’t hear him; he only had grilled fish in his eyes. The more he couldn’t eat grilled fish, the more uncomfortable he became. It tortured him desperately. He even felt that if he continued to sleep like this, sooner or later, he would never wake up.

Only the grilled fish could save him.

He struggled to get out of Yan Jin’s hold. Probably because he was too eager, he moved with a great burst of strength. And, because Yan Jin dared not use too much force for fear of hurting him, he almost couldn’t hold him back.

“Master!” he yelled with a rare nervousness and pulled Shen Zhixian back tightly into his arms.

Shen Zhixian was suddenly yelled at by Yan Jin, causing him to snap out of it. He said with difficulty, “I want to eat that fish…”

Yan Jin listened tensely. He glanced at the shore of black water and the motionless fish–To be precise, it was a black fish skeleton with a rotten, fishy smell.

“It’s fake. It’s all black… Master! Sui Xian!”

However, Shen Zhixian was already unable to hear him. His eyes became disorganized, his body began to spasm, his hands waved wildly, his fingers twitched. Like a drowning man looking for a life-saving driftwood.

He repeatedly mumbled “grilled fish” in a loud voice, and his expression was extremely painful. The pain seemed to gradually increase until it was almost unbearable. Short groans came from his mouth, and sweat beaded across his forehead.

Yan Jin wrapped his arms around Shen Zhixian’s shoulders, clasping his two hands together behind Shen Zhixian’s back. Unable to appease him, Yan Jin gritted his teeth and, in desperation, lowered his head to press his forehead against Shen Zhixian’s forehead.

Shen Zhixian’s forehead was ice cold. Yan Jin slightly pressed against him to prevent him from moving and then passed spiritual force through the point where their foreheads met, gently soothing Shen Zhixian.

It was surprisingly effective. After a while, Shen Zhixian gradually calmed and the anxiety and discomfort eased. He gasped, his eyes clearing. As soon as he regained his senses, he noticed how close they were and almost jerked back.

They were too close. So close that the tip of their noses were lightly touching. When Yan Jin spoke, Shen Zhixian could feel his warm breath brushing across his lips. The sensation caused Shen Zhixian to instinctively lick his own lips.

Yan Jin’s throat tightened. He saw the confusion in Shen Zhixian’s eyes and, since the transmission of spiritual power was still ongoing, he only said softly, “Sui Xian, close your eyes.”

Shen Zhixian froze. Subconsciously listening to Yan Jin’s words, his eyes drifted shut.

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Xixi: This extra post is a happy thank you to my daily readers and commentors. I’ve greatly enjoyed reading all your comments and thoughts. (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤