MO RAN SPUTTERED. He had to hand it to Xue Meng—these latest antics had chased every gloomy thought of the past life from of Mo Ran's mind, leaving nothing but fury and lust. He couldn't fathom why Xue Meng had to talk to Chu Wanning at this hour—
Shit, surely Xue Meng didn't like men?
The very thought was enough to nauseate Mo Ran, but with another moment's thought, it seemed unlikely. Mo Ran shook his head, pushed himself upright, and leaned down to glance at the space below the bed. "No way," he said.
"You—"
"Don't be mad. I'm not being difficult," said Mo Ran. "There isn't enough space; I won't fit."
Chu Wanning stared at him.
"There's no closet in here, and I can't climb through a window that small. There's nowhere for me to go. Tell him to leave."
Chu Wanning thought it over and was forced to concede. "Can we talk tomorrow?" he called. "I'm about to go to sleep."
"But I'm really…" Xue Meng's voice was tearful, the words somewhat strangled. "I won't take a lot of time, okay? Shizun, I'm really confused—there are just a few things I want to ask you about…"
Chu Wanning knit his brows in silence. "Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep…"
His pathetic whining made Mo Ran's heart stir uncomfortably. He too wondered what Xue Meng was so keen to get off his chest tonight. He sat up, looked around, and had a sudden idea. Leaning over, he whispered into Chu Wanning's ear.
Chu Wanning's expression darkened. "Don't be ridiculous." "Then tell him to leave."
Chu Wanning opened his mouth, then stopped. He could hear soft rustling from outside the door as Xue Meng kicked at the leaves on the ground. It was rare for Xue Meng to be so clingy; if he really sent him away in this state…
Chu Wanning cursed under his breath and shoved Mo Ran off. "Then you'd better behave, and don't ever think this will happen a second time." Pausing, he groaned. "Wait, don't forget all the clothes on the floor! Hide everything, quick."
Xue Meng had waited outside for some time in silence. Despite his sinking heart, he ventured one more time: "Shizun?"
After a moment, he got his reply. "I heard you. Come in."
Finally receiving his go-ahead, Xue Meng pushed the door open. As soon as he entered, he frowned slightly. A faint scent hung in the room, one he didn't know how to describe—fleeting but somehow familiar.
Chu Wanning was indeed already in bed, the thick curtain let down around him. As he heard Xue Meng come in, he drew the curtain aside ever so slightly, revealing features soft with drowsiness. His eyes were heavy-lidded, as though he had just woken and was still quite tired, with a faint redness at the corners. He gave Xue Meng a long look, his expression shrouded in the curtain's shadow, nebulous and hazy in the dim light of the candle.
Abashed, Xue Meng muttered, "Shizun, I'm sorry, I've disturbed your rest…"
"It's fine. Sit," said Chu Wanning. "I'll stay where I am."
Of course, Xue Meng wasn't about to tell him to get up after he'd already lain down. "Uh-huh—Shizun, just listen to me from where you are," he hastily replied.
Chu Wanning waited for him to speak.
Xue Meng sat in confused silence at the table. After returning to his room and giving the matter some thought, he had realized why the pendant around Mo Ran's neck looked so familiar—back when they were traveling to Rufeng Sect for the wedding, Mo Ran had bought one just like it for Chu Wanning. Xue Meng even remembered grabbing it for a closer look; he'd thought it very pretty and had asked Mo Ran for one as well. At the time, Mo Ran had told him it was the last pendant of its kind.
The more he thought about it, the stranger and more disconcerting it seemed. Like Mo Ran, Xue Meng had gone back and forth about whether he ought to speak, suffering the torment of indecision. In the end, his feet took him to his shizun's door.
But as he looked into Chu Wanning's eyes, Xue Meng hesitated again. He didn't know where to start. Eventually he began in a muffled voice, "Shizun, have you noticed that…Mo Ran has been acting really weird?"
Both Chu Wanning and Mo Ran's hearts skipped a beat. Chu Wanning's face was impassive as he asked, "How so?"
"Recently, I've felt like something's off about him… Has Shizun not noticed…?" Xue Meng asked haltingly, struggling to string the words together. Finally he steeled himself and blurted it out. "It's like he's, uh, pursuing someone."
Mo Ran and Chu Wanning both went very still.
Naturally, Xue Meng didn't dare to say, It's like he's pursuing Shizun, but he snuck a glance at Chu Wanning, his eyes filled with alarm.
"What makes you say so?" Chu Wanning asked.
"I-I'm not really sure either, so I wanted to ask Shizun and see if you had the same thought."
"You don't need to worry so much about him." "But today…"
"What happened today?"
"Today… Today, I saw something around his neck…" Xue Meng fell silent, looking down at his hands, but Mo Ran started in surprise behind the curtain. One hand groped for the crystal pendant around his neck as his expression shifted.
Chu Wanning still had no idea what Xue Meng had seen. He gazed at Xue Meng, brow furrowed, waiting for him to finish his thought. But after a long while, Xue Meng still hadn't made a sound; instead, Chu Wanning felt a large, warm hand touch his leg.
His eyes instantly flashed. Thinking Mo Ran was about to do something truly absurd, he tore his gaze away from the oblivious Xue Meng to the corner of the curtain-covered bed. Contrary to his expectations, he saw Mo Ran pointing to the pendant around his own neck as he soundlessly mouthed the word at him. Chu Wanning at once put together what had happened.
After a moment's deliberation, Chu Wanning asked, "Did you see him wearing a pendant and think it was just like mine?"
"No no, that's not what I meant!" Xue Meng exclaimed, flapping his hands in anxiety and embarrassment. "I wasn't trying to imply anything about Shizun, I just thought it was weird, I…"
"It's fine," said Chu Wanning. "I gave that pendant back to him." "Ah… Sh-shizun gave it back to him?"
"Why else do you think he has it?"
Xue Meng let out a breath of relief, color finally coming back into his pale face. "That makes perfect sense," he said with a smile. "Back then he told me it was the last pendant. I thought he'd…"
Chu Wanning narrowed his eyes.
"That's not what I meant… I just wanted to say… Actually, I…" Xue Meng babbled. Finally, he clapped a hand to his forehead and said plaintively, "Ah, just pretend I never said anything, Shizun. I'm so bad with words, I don't know how to explain myself. Really, I just thought he was acting weird lately. You know, his brain isn't normal—I was worried he might get some strange ideas and do something to upset Shizun." After this rambling, Xue Meng asked tentatively, "Shizun…do you get what I mean?"
"No," said Chu Wanning.
"Uh, no worries then, that's good, that's really good." The longer Xue Meng spoke, the less sense he was making. Grabbing a handful of his own hair in desperation, he groaned listlessly. "Heavens… What am I even saying…"
Chu Wanning had never been a practiced liar; he had no idea how to comfort him. There were any number of things he could've said. Although it might have gone against his conscience, he could've drawn a clear line in the sand between himself and Mo Ran with a single casual utterance.
After all, Xue Meng was looking for such reassurance. If Chu Wanning had just said "That's not the case," Xue Meng would always choose to believe his shizun even if proof otherwise was laid out before him.
But this unwavering belief was precisely the reason Chu Wanning couldn't bring himself to say it. He didn't want to speak in absolutes. He watched in helpless silence as Xue Meng scratched his head and sighed, clearly vexed. At last Xue Meng fell still. He lowered his head to stare blankly at the floorboards before he spoke again. "Shizun, you'll always be our shizun, right? That won't ever change, will it?"
There was no immediate reply.
"I'm only asking because I felt bad seeing what happened with Nangong Si… I…"
"Nothing will change," said Chu Wanning.
Bit by bit, the tension bled out of Xue Meng's stiff spine. Slumping in his seat, he sniffled a laugh. "Mn, that's enough for me."
Heartache and guilt welled up unbidden in Chu Wanning. Although his features remained as composed as the still waters of a well, he murmured, "Xue Meng…"
Xue Meng waited for him to continue. But in the candlelight, Chu Wanning only gazed at him in silence. What was he supposed to say?
Whatever happens in the future, I hope you'll acknowledge me as your shifu? Impossible. Even on pain of death, he could never utter such sappy
—such cruel—words. What right did he have to ask Xue Meng to acknowledge him regardless of what might transpire? Everyone would inevitably experience separation and reunion. Everyone would grow and change, just as a young shoot of bamboo would eventually shed its outermost layer, letting it wither and crumble to dirt. Xue Meng had many decades ahead of him. It was rare for any one person to walk beside another till the end of such a long journey. Events and companions came and went, all destined to become a snake's discarded slough, a stalk of bamboo's discarded sheath.
Xue Meng waited, but Chu Wanning didn't continue. His concerned eyes grew round as he watched him. "Shizun?" he mumbled.
"It's nothing," Chu Wanning said mildly. "You seem to have a lot on your mind. I was just going to recommend you ask the Tanlang Elder for two bottles of Tapir Fragrance Dew."
Xue Meng blinked.
"Is there anything else?" asked Chu Wanning. He thought for a bit. "Yes."
"What is it?"
Xue Meng had been stewing on this for a while. "Shizun, are you really going to take Nangong Si as a disciple? H-he's not gonna become my da-shixiong, is he?"
Chu Wanning eyed him. "Is that what you're concerned about?" "Mn." Xue Meng gave his hem a bashful tug. "I used to be your first disciple. If he counts, then won't I…"
Chu Wanning couldn't help it; his lips bowed in a tiny smile. Xue Meng had always sulked and whined with Madam Wang when he was little. After Mo Ran came to Sisheng Peak, he grew needier still, always trying to one-up his cousin for the spotlight. Who would've thought that even as a grown man, this habit was still so deeply ingrained that the prospect of accepting Nangong Si made the little peacock's feathers fan in agitation. Xue Meng had been brooding over this question of who would come first all day.
"It makes no difference," Chu Wanning said. "I don't put any of you first or last."
"No way, I don't want him to be my da-shixiong! Even if he pledged to you first, Shizun recognized him last. I don't mind that he's becoming Shizun's disciple…but can't he go at the end of the line? He can be a little shidi or whatever," Xue Meng said, perfectly earnest. "I can call him Nangong-shidi."
"Whatever you'd like."
This brightened Xue Meng's mood considerably; now he wanted to stay and chat. In the back corner of the bed, Mo Ran was increasingly agitated. How did Xue Meng have so much to say? Why couldn't he get the hell out, out, out.
But Xue Meng didn't budge. "There's one more thing I want to ask Shizun."
"Mn," Chu Wanning replied evenly. "Go ahead." Mo Ran stared at him in disbelief.
"Earlier today, Mo Ran said Shizun promised to give him a handkerchief."
"Oh, that…" Chu Wanning paused. "Mn, I haven't made it yet. Do you want one too?"
Xue Meng's eyes lit up. "C-can I have one?"
"I originally meant to make one for each of you. But I've been busy, so I kept putting it off."
Xue Meng was overjoyed. Mo Ran, on the contrary, was completely stunned. Wasn't that… Wasn't that supposed to be just for him? Why did Xue Meng also…
And Shi Mei too. Even Nangong Si…
Mo Ran felt a spike of indignation. Unfortunately, Chu Wanning's face was turned toward Xue Meng; he entirely missed the turbulent look in Mo Ran's eyes.
Xue Meng chattered on, blithely detailing what kind of handkerchief he wanted. Not a trace of his gloomy mood remained. Mo Ran, at the foot of the bed, grew more and more irked, especially as he watched Chu Wanning's cheerful countenance as he responded to Xue Meng. Even knowing there was nothing between them, dissatisfaction gnawed at his chest.
"Pollia flowers are difficult to embroider. If you want a pollia pattern, I'll have to ask Madam Wang."
"I-is it difficult?" Xue Meng was taken aback. "Forget it, then— Shizun, you should choose something you know. What are you best at?"
"I'm…actually not familiar with any flower or animal patterns." Chu Wanning cleared his throat in mild embarrassment. "I'm really only good at stitching the Heart Sutra."
Xue Meng blinked.
"At Wubei Temple, when I was young, I… Huaizui taught me," said Chu Wanning. "I…" His brows suddenly drew together. Cheeks pale, he pressed his lips closed.
"Shizun, are you okay?" Xue Meng asked, taken aback.
There was a slow beat before Chu Wanning replied, "I'm fine… Is there anything else?"
"Mn, yeah, one more thing, but I forgot what it was. Let me think a second…" Xue Meng dipped his head, deep in thought. The instant Xue Meng lowered his gaze, Chu Wanning sucked in a breath. Fury simmering in his eyes, he glared at the man hiding in the corner of the bed.
Mo Ran had merely been idly feeling up Chu Wanning in the hope that he would send Xue Meng packing a little sooner. But the red-rimmed glare Chu Wanning shot at him in answer, added to the fact that Chu Wanning was quite powerless to mount any meaningful resistance at the moment, fanned the embers in Mo Ran's heart into a fire.
His instincts were beastly from the start, and in certain respects, he was as savage as could be. Only his overwhelming love and guilt toward Chu Wanning shackled his primal appetites. Until this point, he hadn't done anything outrageous in bed. Now impatience and envy melted those shackles down. His dark eyes gleamed silently and dangerously at Chu Wanning.
Seized by a wild impulse, he burrowed beneath the blankets, where Xue Meng couldn't see, and crawled forward between Chu Wanning's slender, muscular legs. The bedspread blocked out all the light, but the darkness only sharpened his other senses. He could distinctly feel Chu Wanning's minute tremors.
He felt a hand grab his broad shoulder, five burning fingers digging into his flesh, pushing him away. This was all Chu Wanning could do to stop him beneath the covers. It only stoked Mo Ran's desire to tear him to shreds.
Xue Meng was still talking, but not about anything important. Mo Ran listened half-heartedly. But upon hearing Xue Meng say, "No matter what Shizun embroiders, I'll like it," Mo Ran's irritation flared. His breaths were brushing against the tops of Chu Wanning's thighs. He knew precisely where that soul-stirring desire most ached, but he deliberately left it untouched. He turned his face, lashes fluttering, and trailed kisses along Chu Wanning's inner thighs, gently sucking that soft skin, leaving behind marks that would linger for days.
Chu Wanning's trembling grew more acute. At this moment, he was deeply regretting his choice to let Mo Ran stay behind. His nails dug into Mo Ran's shoulder, but force was futile against this lunatic.
"Shizun, are you listening?" "Mn…"
Mo Ran waited, lips hovering near the delicate curve of Chu Wanning's erection, heated breaths fanning over it. He held himself still, waiting for the most perfect, most shocking, most thrilling moment.
It arrived soon enough. Xue Meng asked some irrelevant question; Mo Ran didn't care to listen, but Chu Wanning still needed to answer. In the instant Chu Wanning was about to reply, Mo Ran slid forward beneath the covers and greedily swallowed his blazing arousal.
Chu Wanning's entire body tensed; he swallowed frantically. His fingernails had already broken skin on Mo Ran's shoulder, but Mo Ran didn't mind a bit. His mind was a rush of exhilaration—at Chu Wanning's reaction, at the exhibitionist thrill of what they were doing in the dimness of the bed curtains. He knew Chu Wanning could bear this much; even if Mo Ran were to rip off his underclothes and fuck him right now, Chu Wanning wouldn't so much as whimper. Mo Ran cast aside his inhibitions.
Though Chu Wanning had a thousand reasons not to want this, the physical pleasure was undeniable. He was hot and hard in Mo Ran's mouth, the round, full head of his cock pressing against the back of Mo Ran's throat. It wasn't necessarily a pleasant sensation, but Mo Ran was too infatuated to care; he couldn't have been more eager.
Even in the grip of such stimulation, Chu Wanning managed to field the rest of Xue Meng's questions. Whether in this life or the past one, his sheer strength of will had ever been astonishing. He put on a commendable act of normalcy; his voice was lower than usual, and his words a trace slower, but other than that, his behavior betrayed not a thing. If Mo Ran weren't in bed with him, he would've never guessed this man was experiencing such extreme pleasure.
Eventually, Xue Meng nodded and said, "I understand."
"You should head back; it's getting late," Chu Wanning replied. "Don't let your imagination get the better of you."
Xue Meng got to his feet. "Shizun, I'll be going then… Oh yeah, should I put the light out?"
"Sure."
As Chu Wanning spoke the word, Mo Ran swallowed his entire length. His lips parted. Though he didn't gasp, he couldn't keep from frowning slightly, lashes quivering, a faint blush coloring his cheekbones.
"Shizun, do you have a fever?" Xue Meng asked tentatively. "…I don't."
"But your face is a little red." Without thought, Xue Meng leaned down and put his hand on Chu Wanning's forehead.
Chu Wanning couldn't have foreseen that his unsuspecting disciple would touch his forehead while Mo Ran was subjecting him to such a carnal act. Xue Meng stood with a concerned gaze before him, while Mo Ran sucked him off beneath the covers, his warm mouth enveloping him, bobbing up and down in an unmistakable rhythm. His pleasure was cresting as his humiliation threatened to drown him. It took every fiber of his self-control to repress his panting and moaning.
"You don't feel hot…" Xue Meng muttered. "Shizun, are you not feeling well?"
Not feeling well? Mo Ran thought. How could he not feel well? Your shizun is feeling pretty damn great—the fact that you're still standing here is the only thing stopping me from making him feel even better! Leave already!
Mo Ran's resentment deepened until Xue Meng finally realized it was time for him to go. He diligently snuffed the candle, bade Chu Wanning good night, and left the room.
The second the door clicked shut, Chu Wanning exploded with rage, throwing the blankets aside and hauling Mo Ran up by his topknot. He drew back his hand and slapped him—not lightly, but none too hard either—as he snapped, "You scoundrel…mmph!"
The only response he got was Mo Ran's ardent, ragged breaths and his bright gaze, blurred with torrid lust. Most men were no better than animals in the heat of desire; putting them in bed with their beloved was like drugging a beast with an aphrodisiac. Mo Ran was completely unfazed by Chu Wanning's slap; he grabbed his hand and pinned him to the bed to tear off the last layer of his robes. As skin met skin, both let out a low moan.
Mo Ran didn't speak; his eyes gleamed with a feverish want. He was so hard it hurt, clear fluid leaking from the full, round head of his cock. He ground himself against Chu Wanning's abdomen as if drunk, leaving slick, sticky trails in his wake.
He had teased Chu Wanning without mercy beneath the covers; now, the flames that threatened to consume him were equally ruthless. As Chu Wanning had summoned his willpower to bite back his moans, so too Mo Ran summoned all his fortitude to stop himself from lifting Chu Wanning's legs and burying his aching hardness to the hilt.
Muscles straining, Mo Ran kissed Chu Wanning with all his might, mindlessly bucking against him. The flames of lust lapped at his heart; all he wanted was to be inside this man. All his most primal urges compelled him to fuck Chu Wanning, to claim him completely, to tear him to pieces. They demanded he make Chu Wanning take him in, accept him, swallow him; make Chu Wanning his own.
"Get up… Baby, get up…" he mumbled. "Quick—I can't wait any longer. Put your legs together…"
Mo Ran's voice was a low rasp as he clung to his last thread of rationality. He pulled Chu Wanning to his knees and, just as he had before, pressed his burning length between Chu Wanning's thighs. Hands a vise around Chu Wanning's waist, he began to move, each snap of his hips quick and brutal. His skin was sheened with sweat, the light in his eyes almost as frenzied as his movements. This incomplete consummation merely stoked the flames of his desire. He was too focused on the sensation of thrusting between Chu Wanning's legs to run his mouth with filthy words, too focused on the way his cock brushed against that hidden entrance every time, nudging against it. With each thrust, his hips met Chu Wanning's thighs, coarse hair rubbing against the soft skin there, each movement audible in the slap of his balls against the full curve of Chu Wanning's ass.
The force of it left Chu Wanning dazed; he was losing his mind, a feeling not at all helped by Mo Ran reaching down from time to time with the hand that wasn't gripping Chu Wanning's waist to curl his fingers around Chu Wanning's own straining erection and stroke him off.
"Ahh…"
Mo Ran bit down on Chu Wanning's shoulder, nibbling it before murmuring, "Not so loud. The soundproofing isn't good here, and Xue Meng might still be nearby."
Chu Wanning let no more sounds escape after that. His eyes were glassy and unfocused as Mo Ran brought him to release, as he endured the ferocious drive of Mo Ran's hips on all fours. That startlingly thick cock moved between his legs; he didn't dare contemplate how it would feel inside him. He shivered…
That night, they made love like this thrice—or, more accurately, Chu Wanning came thrice like this. By the end, his awareness was fast slipping away. He remembered clinging to the man on top of him as they kissed with abandon, and how his heart abruptly began to ache. Chu Wanning raised his head to kiss him again, somewhat clumsy, but Mo Ran was at his limit. "Don't tempt me…" he panted, disoriented.
Chu Wanning froze. Tempt him? Who was tempting him… Vexed, amused, and not a little helpless, Chu Wanning retorted, "Surely I can't just lie still and let you do whatever you want?"
Mo Ran dipped down to kiss the edge of his ear. "It would be great if you let me do whatever I wanted."
His tone held a hint of bitterness, betraying the disquiet still lurking in his mood. It was dark in the room, but when Chu Wanning looked up, he saw clearly the sorrow that flitted through Mo Ran's eyes.
An idea came to him in a flash of inspiration. Before Mo Ran could react, he flipped them over to straddle his strong waist. Gripping both of Mo Ran's hands, he gazed down at him from above.
"Shizun, you…" Mo Ran muttered, startled.
Chu Wanning didn't respond right away. His phoenix eyes shone, but his earlobes were crimson. "I already said—let me take the lead this time. I haven't forgotten."
Slowly, he straightened up and shifted himself down. Watching him with his scalp completely numb, Mo Ran felt his blood surge wildly. "Stop fooling around," he said. "If you really… You won't be able to make the journey tomorrow."
But Chu Wanning acted like he hadn't heard. As always, once stubbornness overtook him, he would forge his own path, never taking the words of others to heart.
Mo Ran's spine went rigid. On one hand, he longed deeply to see Chu Wanning take the initiative and ride him, to get on top of him and move his hips. But on the other, he truly didn't want Chu Wanning to do so right now. He knew that if he fucked Chu Wanning for real, Mo Ran wouldn't be able to stop after just one round, not after he had restrained himself for so long.
Besides, during their unending trysts in the past life, when had he ever been able to fuck Chu Wanning merely once? On that frenzied night when he'd used an aphrodisiac on Chu Wanning, he'd tormented that man until dawn, drinking in his helpless moans. Mo Ran was entirely wrung out toward the end, yet he refused to stop, refused to pull out, still buried himself in that wet, twitching hole. Their legs tangling, their tongues intertwining, he'd pushed himself inside him, murmuring filthy, mortifying words into his ear. "It feels good doesn't it? Shizun, look how you're still sucking me in. I came so much for you—aren't you satisfied yet?"
He had forced Chu Wanning to look where they were joined, reaching down to stroke the taut lines of Chu Wanning's stomach. "Your belly is filled with my come," he growled. "What should we do?" His eyes glinted with bestial lust as such obscenities dropped from his lips. "Will Shizun bear a child for this venerable one? Hm?" He bucked his hips, driving deeper. Come from his previous climaxes leaked out around his cock.
The aphrodisiac was still in effect. Mo Ran watched the man in his arms tremble as he shifted within him, his eyes darkening against his will as a low whine escaped from his throat. Mo Ran could no longer resist. He began to move once more, driving into him, gratifying him…
At that point, he didn't want to be the invincible emperor of the cultivation realm. His desire for Chu Wanning had always been potent and all-consuming. He wanted nothing more than to lock Chu Wanning in a room and make love to him with single-minded devotion, day and night, with no regard for anything or anyone. He wanted to take him on all fours, to take him against the wall, to fuck him with his long legs splayed open on the bed, to thrust into him as he bounced on his cock. Nothing was better than seeing Chu Wanning fucked until he babbled nonsense, until he was sobbing and begging for mercy, until his cock twitched uncontrollably, and he came. If only he could live the rest of his life sheathed inside Chu Wanning and never pull out—that would be the height of the mortal realm's pleasures.
Mo Ran knew what sort of beastly lust lurked at the bottom of his heart like roiling lava. His throat bobbed as he pinned dark eyes on Chu Wanning, beseeching him, warning him. "Shizun, don't do this…"
"Then I'll do something else." Chu Wanning's cheeks burned, but his gaze was unyielding.
Mo Ran had no time to consider what something else might be before Chu Wanning moved down and dipped his head. His movements were quick, leaving Mo Ran no opportunity to refuse, and leaving himself no time to hesitate.
He took Mo Ran's fearsome erection between his lips.
"Ah…" A jolt of electricity seemed to race down Mo Ran's spine as all the muscles in his torso tensed. He instinctively closed his eyes in ecstasy, then reached out and buried his fingers in Chu Wanning's long hair. One fine-boned hand cupped the back of Chu Wanning's head as his sculpted chest heaved.
"Wanning…"
Tears leaked from the corner of his eyes—was it from stimulation or gratitude? He couldn't be sure anymore. In his beloved's mouth, his cock grew harder yet, veins standing out in stark relief. Already imposing in size and heft before, it grew into something entirely too formidable.
Chu Wanning couldn't possibly fit the entirety of Mo Ran's length in his mouth, but he mimicked Mo Ran's motions. He licked along the shaft, trembling from head to toe with shame, even as love and desire warmed his chest from within. He strained to take both the massive head and the shaft into his mouth, but the tip was already knocking against his throat by the time his lips made it halfway down. The blazing heat at the back of his mouth coupled with the faintly musky scent of Mo Ran's arousal nearly made him retch several times.
Infinitely rueful, Mo Ran hurried to intervene. "That's enough, babe, don't…" A muffled groan swallowed the rest of his words. Chu Wanning wasn't about to give up; his obstinacy made no exception for sex. He started to move, sucking and bobbing his head.
Mo Ran had never had any issues lasting in bed, especially during his days as Taxian-jun. Back then, men and women had plied him with every manner of temptation, but his heart had never been moved. Yet when Chu Wanning leaned down between his legs, kissing him, his tongue lapping against his cock, the world turned to white nothingness in his eyes, then endless darkness, bursting with raucous color and then fading to a gentle blur.
It felt too fucking good.
Mo Ran threw his head back and panted lowly, his slender, elegant fingers tangling in Chu Wanning's hair as hoarse moans escaped his lips.
His Wanning, his shizun… Yuheng of the Night Sky, the Beidou Immortal. The loftiest man in the world—the pristine and faultless Chu Wanning—was willing to do this with him. Without drugs, without coercion, entirely of his own accord…
Mo Ran's eyes were wet, his dusky lashes quivering.
…Gladly, even.
Chu Wanning's technique was terrible, and he didn't quite know his own strength; several times, he accidentally scraped Mo Ran with his teeth, hard enough to hurt. But Mo Ran sank into Chu Wanning's ministrations with no thought of stopping.
As his climax rocked him, hot tears slipped from his eyes. He pulled Chu Wanning to his chest, gathering him into his embrace, kissing him again and again. His heart blazed with the agonies of both sorrow and affection.
"Wanning…" he murmured into his ear, over and over.
"Wanning…"
Chu Wanning glanced at him, phoenix eyes wet with desire, before lowering his lashes in shame. After a long pause, he asked, voice small and hoarse, "Did you like it?"
Those gentle words pierced Mo Ran's flesh and blood, rousing a bone-deep ache. Mo Ran held him tight. "I did," he answered quietly.
Chu Wanning's ears were scarlet. After these words of affirmation, he fell silent.
Mo Ran's hand stroked his hair. "Wanning…" he murmured, voice a whisper. "I love you… It's only ever been you."
No one in the world could be better than you. No one but you will ever stir my heart.
Shizun. I love you. I love you.