The Husky and His White Cat Shizun

Chapter 41: I Kissed the Wrong Person Again...

The layout of the stone chamber was clear: three walls surrounded it, and one side was a barrier shimmering with red magical light. There was only a simple stone bed covered with straw inside.

He lay on that stone bed, his limbs bound by iron chains. Whenever he moved, the shackles clanked noisily. To make matters worse, he realized that his spiritual energy seemed to be restrained by some kind of magic, preventing him from using it. Amidst his anxiety, he heard a creak, and turning his head, he saw two Qilin people enter.

"Y-you!" Mo Ran immediately exclaimed in anger, "You bunch of crazies! What is going on? What do you want? Where are my fellow disciples? The Palace Master of Dipper General! ...Hey! I'm asking you!"

Regardless of how much Mo Ran shouted or scolded, the two Qilin ignored him. One after the other, they carried a roll of red fox fur. From its shape, it seemed to be wrapped around someone. They expressionlessly placed the wrapped figure on the stone bed.

Mo Ran huffed, "Both of you little eels—"

"What's all the noise about?" One of the Qilin finally spoke, his voice laced with contempt. "You're a Wood Spirit essence; you won't suffer."

The other Qilin also sneered. "Not suffering? Clearly, you're getting off easy."

Mo Ran was furious enough to spit blood. "What do you want from me?! Why have you locked me here? And what did you bring onto this bed?!"

"One of us brought something?" one of the Qilin asked in response.

"It's naturally someone you hold dear," the other dragon-like creature said.

Mo Ran's fingertips turned cold with astonishment. "...Shi Mo?"

The creature neither confirmed nor denied, instead sneering coldly. "The night is short, and you two have been blessed with this encounter. Tonight, you may indulge in your affection. Once it's done, you will understand why the divine being went through such great lengths to arrange this."

With that, the creature left.

Silence filled the room.

Mo Ran's limbs were restrained, leaving him unable to move. Time passed in a blur, making it difficult for him to gauge how long had elapsed. Despite his struggles, which left his wrists and ankles bruised, he could not break free.

Breathing slightly heavily, he turned his head to look at the fox fur cloak beside him, now wrapped around a living person. The cloak was tightly bound, completely concealing the individual from head to toe—except for a single strand of inky black hair that peeked out from the edge of the cover, stirring both longing and anxiety within Mo Ran.

Though he was unaware of the reason behind the twisted plan of the God of Chong Xin's Upper Palace, if this truly allowed him a fleeting moment of passion with Shi Mo...

At this thought, his mind suddenly went blank.

It seemed that any further wicked intention would profane the beauty of that person.

Mo Ran stared at the vaulted ceiling of the stone chamber, his breaths heavy and stifled, as if a weight was pressing down on his chest. This was something he had yearned for so long, but now that he had the chance to do it, he felt awkward and uneasy all over.

As countless thoughts swirled in his mind, the initial dirty excitement gradually faded, and he calmed down.

With the Upper Palace of Chou Chen's design, the situation was likely grim. If it were unfavorable to himself, he could accept it, but if it would harm Shi Mo without reason, how could he bear it?

Moreover, this was forced upon him by others; Shi Mo wasn't willing. Though Mo Ran was indeed a scumbag, when it came to the person he liked, he wanted to protect them, not hurt them. Therefore, no matter what wicked magic the Upper Palace of Chou Chen used, he wouldn't take advantage of Shi Mo when he woke up.

After a long silence, he suddenly sensed a faint movement beside him. The person next to him had finally woken up.

Mo Ran quickly turned his head to look, his voice hoarse. "Shi—"

Before he could finish, the word "Mo" rolled back onto his tongue and was swallowed whole. After his throat convulsed, he managed to utter the last part.

"Zun?"

Master? !?

The moment before, Little Immortal Lord Mo, with his unwavering beliefs and resolute gaze, felt like the towering edifices within him crumbled at the sight of the face peeking out from the fox fur. The defenses he had painstakingly built in his heart were flattened into rubble, shattering into fragments with a loud crackling noise.

All those promises to protect, to never bully the other, to never defile their beloved—each word slapped harder than a slap across the face.

Mo Ran's face turned ashen.

He now firmly believed that beneath Jin Chengchi, led by the evil God of the Northern Dipper, resided a bunch of blind fools!

Did he, Mo Ran, like Chu Wanning?

Pah!

Be it that fox or the dragon-man, he wondered how those idiots could have possibly concluded that his heart belonged to Chu Wanning. Did they deduce this from his past and present desire to sleep with the man? Preposterous! Was liking someone simply equivalent to desiring to share a bed with them?

The righteous Junior Immortal Mo raged inwardly, but not a single word escaped his lips. Instead, he stared blankly as Wanning slowly opened his phoenix eyes.

...

This was dire.

He thought he heard a snap in his mind, as if something had broken.

After an instant, something else erupted from the ruins of his heart, burning fiercely with a putrid smell, black ashes, and contorted heat.

It was scorching hot.

It was as if a dragon spewing flames had suddenly streaked across a silent night, or if molten lava and roaring flames had burst forth from a silent abyss.

All the rationality and composure he had promised himself were consumed by this deceitful blaze, turning into indistinct, charred shadows...

He hadn't expected it to be like this.

Chu Wanning's sharp and piercing eyes from before now held a hazy, drowsy look, appearing leisurely and disoriented. It was as if a rain had just fallen in a bamboo forest, and every leaf whispered with dampness.

He slowly sat up. Judging from the expression on his face, it seemed that his consciousness had been taken over by something. The red fox fur cloak slipped off his shoulders, revealing that he wore nothing underneath. Thus, large swaths of his taut skin were exposed, with a mix of red and blue marks on his shoulder blades, all evidence of passion and love-making—

How... could this be...

Mo Ran felt as if he was on the verge of losing his mind.

Who did this?

Who dared to do such a thing... to his... his... his Master?

This was Chu Wanning...

Every bone in his body quivered with a fierce, seething hatred.

This was Chu Wanning!

Who dared touch the one he cherished?

His...

Mo Ran's rage was so intense that he didn't even consider the fact that Chu Wanning didn't belong to him, nor anyone else. All he saw was his master's toned and well-proportioned body, along with unfamiliar bruises on that familiar form.

"Master!"

But Chu Wanning seemed oblivious to Mo Ran's hoarse cry. He lowered his eyelids like a puppet controlled by unseen strings, leaning over to caress Mo Ran's face, meeting his gaze for a moment before closing his eyes and drawing near. With lips shimmering with translucent moisture, he captured Mo Ran's own.

Rarely had Mo Ran been kissed so proactively by Chu Wanning. The moment their lips touched, the world around them withered, replaced by a frenzied and dazzling array of colors. His heart pounded wildly.

Chu Wanning might have been chilled, his body icy to the touch, but the intensity of their entwined lips and teeth showed no sign of abating. Mo Ran was still tormented by the pain and jealousy of Chu Wanning's humiliation, yet in his rage and envy, he was being seduced by this all-too-familiar man, creating a mix of both agony and arousal.

After the kiss ended, Mo Ran panted heavily, opening his eyes to see Chu Wanning's glistening eyes and flushed skin, a clear sign of deep desire. Blood rushed through his veins, and he couldn't resist the urge to cup his face.

However, bound by chains, he couldn't move, hands or feet. Chu Wanning glanced at the iron lock without a word, then knelt up, ready to mount him. Mo Ran's throat convulsed as he swallowed, his gaze fixed on Chu Wanning. He saw a thick, telltale liquid slowly trail down between the long, muscular legs of the man he knew so well...

His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, his temples pulsing. He jolted up, only to be pulled back by the chains, crashing hard onto the bed.

"Who...?"

Unable to contain himself, Mo Ran roared nearly madly, like an animal trapped in a cage.

"WHO DID THIS TO YOU?! I'LL KILL HIM! I'LL KILL HIM!!!"

Be it the God of the North or the ruler of the heavens, deity, demon, ghost, or Buddha—Mo Ran was Heaven-Stepping Lord, and Chu Wanning belonged to him! Even if he was now trapped within the body of his younger self, he was still the Emperor of the Human Realm at heart. Who dared to touch—damn his Master, who touched the one he claimed? Mo Weiyu, he was Heaven-Stepping Lord's person!!!

"Mo Ran!"

Someone seemed to be calling his name.

Yet the endless rage deafened him, making it seem as though he heard and yet did not hear.

"Mo Ran!!"

...Kill them all. Unforgivable, damn it. Why had he lost his spiritual energy? Why couldn't he summon Ghost? He was going mad.

A monstrous insult, a deep-seated hatred – a monstrous insult, a deep-seated hatred!

Who dared to touch Chu Wanning? In his previous life, after being with Chu Wanning, even if someone so much as glanced at Yu Heng during the night, he would gouge out their eyes and make them eat them! Then he would hold Chu Wanning beneath him until they were both exhausted. But in this life –

"Mo Weiyu!!!"

Who was calling him, relentlessly pestering him?

Yet the voice was so familiar.

As though he had heard it before...

No, that wasn't right.

It seemed as though he could hear this voice everywhere, as if its owner had accompanied him through countless years...

"Mo Weiyu, snap out of it! Have you lost your mind? What are you doing?!"

"!!"

Mo Ran abruptly opened his eyes.

Following the sound, he saw outside the secret chamber, a figure clad in pristine white robes that shimmered like snow. With sharp eyes, an anxious expression, and furrowed brows, exuding a murderous aura, it was none other than Chu Wanning!

"Shifu?!" Mo Ran exclaimed in shock.

Then who was lying on his bed—

He turned his head sharply, and the face mere inches away nearly scared him to death! This wasn't Chu Wanning; it was clearly a creature with the body of a human and the face of a fox, a dead monster!

Calling it a dead monster, the word "dead" wasn't just for emphasis.

The thing that had just passionately kissed him was truly lifeless.

This fox demon had empty eyes, its skin pale and lifeless.

The thought that he had just kissed such a creature under the deception of an illusion made Mo Ran nearly vomit. His face turned ashen with disgust. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Outside the cell, Chu Wanning held a charm between his fingers. Seeing that the dead fox demon was now completely still, he knew that it was this very charm that Chu Wanning had conjured and extracted from the fox corpse at the last moment.

With a fierce determination, the charm suddenly released a great surge of dark red blood, accompanied by a mournful, distant cry. In an instant, the charm turned into a pile of black ashes.

Chu Wanning opened his palm, and the scattered ashes slowly gathered in his hand, gradually forming a dark black chess piece. Staring at it, his expression became extremely grim.

"It truly is a game of Go...," Chu Wanning murmured, lifting his gaze abruptly to fix Mo Ran with a stare. "When you were sick, what did Shi Mingjing usually cook for you? Speak!"

"A-ah? Uh..." Having been bombarded with revelations, Mo Ran's mind was in disarray. "W-why are you asking this?"

Chu Wanning barked fiercely, "Answer me!"

"... Soup dumplings."

Only then did the tension in Chu Wanning's expression ease slightly, though his furrowed brows remained. He said, "Mo Ran, listen carefully. That God of Ten Thousand Weapons in the Palace of Chou Chen is a fake, not the deity in person. This individual is skilled in creating illusions and has mastery over one of the three forbidden arts, the Game of Go. Hence, I had to be cautious, fearing that you might be an illusion created by him as well."

Mo Ran was almost weeping in grievance. "If I were an illusion, why would I be locked up?"

Chu Wanning: "…I'll get you out right away."

Mo Ran nodded repeatedly and asked, "By the way, Master, what about Shi Mo and Xue Meng?"

"They're just like you – they've been drugged with a hypnotic substance in their drinks and are being held elsewhere," Chu Wanning explained, noticing Mo Ran's expression. "Don't worry, they're both fine now. But this place is dangerous and unpredictable. I've ordered them to wait outside. You'll see them when we leave."

As for the Jūnlóng Chess Game, Chu Wanning didn't offer any further explanation, nor was one needed.

One of the three most powerful and notorious forbidden techniques in the cultivation world.

True to its name, the Jūnlóng Chess Game referred to using others as pawns for one's own strategy. The caster typically wouldn't appear on the battlefield but instead remain hidden, setting up a chessboard before them and controlling the puppets of their opponents, forcing living humans, ghosts, beasts, and birds to serve their will. Those under the Jūnlóng Chess Game's spell would remain loyal to the caster until death; if already deceased, they would fight until their bodies were crushed into dust.

However, depending on the caster's magical prowess, different entities could be controlled. The easiest to manipulate were freshly deceased humans or animals, followed by those who had been dead for some time, then living beasts and birds. At the highest level of mastery, one could control even living humans.

There were few people in the world who could perfect the Jūnlóng Chess Game, but during Mo Ran's reign as emperor, he had honed it to an unparalleled degree. In his battle against Chu Wanning, he had unfurled a scroll a hundred feet long, using ink as his chessboard and beans as his soldiers.

In that battle, tens of thousands of pieces fell simultaneously, causing feathers to block out the sky, golden crows to sink in the west, dragons to break through the water, and the ocean to churn. Mo Ran summoned countless beasts and birds and controlled an endless army of living beings. Such a spectacle was rarely seen even in the most gruesome hells.

Presently, this fox corpse was clearly under the control of the Zhenlong Chess Game, but there was another layer of magic at play – an illusionary spell.

Legend had it that after the founding ancestor of the Qingqiu Fox Clan passed away, their fur was transformed into forty-nine pieces of unequal-sized fox fur talismans. By taking someone's blood and dripping it onto the fur, then covering anything with it, even a rotten log, it could be transformed into the desired object in that person's longing.

This fox corpse was wrapped in such a talisman, but its transformation was only visible to the owner of the blood. To others, it remained as it was, without any alteration.

Rescuing Mo Ran didn't take too much effort. After successfully freeing him, Chu Wanning also explained the situation in detail.

Mo Ran's biggest confusion was, "Shifu, how did you know that the God of the North Dipper was fake?"

The author has something to say:

Today's game is typing the initials of each character's name to see what the input method suggests!

Chu Wanning: Pet bird (??)

Mo Ran: Nobody (Does nobody like him? Hahahaha)

Xue Meng: Down below (Are you hungry, Young Master? I'll feed you)

Shi Mo: S&M (…Why is my input method so impure?)

Mei Hanxue: Quite amusing (What's so funny about that? Flips table)

Ye Wangxi: Via WeChat (How sophisticated…)

Xue Zhengyong: Homework (Hahaha, poor Uncle, such suffering)

Madame Wang: From Weifang (Stop assigning random birthplaces to Madame Wang, hey!)

What a lousy input method, I might as well uninstall it, waving goodbye.