On the day Chu Wanning came out of seclusion, an unexpected guest arrived at Sisheng Peak.

     Knock, knock, knock.

     Early in the morning, someone knocked anxiously on the door of the Red Lotus Pavilion.

     Mo Ran was in the middle of helping Chu Wanning change his clothes when they heard the knock on the door. Chu Wanning was still in a daze from the ten days of meditation, and when he heard the knock, he said coldly, “Come in.”

     Mo Ran laughed, “Pfft—”

     “...What are you laughing at?”

     “Shizun set up a barrier at the door. Apart from Xue Meng and I, who else can come in?”

     Only then did Chu Wanning remember. He raised his hand to lift the barrier.

     A messenger disciple hurriedly rushed in to deliver a message. He reeked of alcohol and looked like a headless fly, “Yuheng Elder, bad news. There’s a great demon at the entrance of Loyalty Hall!”

     The two of them looked at each other and immediately rushed to Loyalty Hall.

     From far away, Mo Ran saw a huge gourd spinning around the square as a group of elders and disciples watched in disbelief, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

     Mo Ran: “...A great demon?”

     Fat gourd: “Glug, glug, glug.”

     Seeing that Chu Wanning and Mo Ran had arrived, Xue Zhengyong’s eyes lit up and he slapped his thigh, “Ah! Yuheng! You woke up at the right time, we’re saved! Come quickly!”

     “Hmm?” Chu Wanning was still in a daze, but his face was so cold and impassive that even if he was in a stupor, he still looked aloof and dignified.

     “It’s another monster that escaped from Jingu Tower.” Xue Zhengyong’s face looked bitter, angry, and amused at the same time, “It’s the Wine Gourd!”

     Chu Wanning raised his head to look at the huge gourd that was rolling around the square. It was as tall as two people, covered with a mother of pearl luster. Peach-red smoke drifted from its mouth, quickly followed by bubbling wine. It was indeed the legendary Wine Gourd demon.

     “This demon doesn’t hurt people,” Chu Wanning said.

     “But it pours people wine!”

     His words were true. The wine gourd was chasing a group of young disciples all over the place. As soon as it caught up to one of them, it would open its mouth and start spewing wine in their mouths with a “Glug, glug, glug.”

     Chu Wanning: “...”

     “I heard that it only obeys the orders of people who can drink better than it,” Xue Zhengyong said. “Yuheng, look…”

     Chu Wanning felt a headache coming on. He touched his temple for a moment before he summoned Tianwen and swept down the square, placing the willow vine right in front of the wine gourd.

     “Don’t run away,” he said. “I’ll drink with you.”

     The fat gourd was overjoyed. It swayed back and forth and immediately opened its mouth. With a puff, a mouthful of wine shot out like an arrow directly towards Chu Wanning’s handsome face.

     Unexpectedly, Chu Wanning easily dodged it, and everyone was only able to see a flash of golden light before the fat gourd was tightly restrained by Tianwen.

     “Find another way to drink it. Do you have a cup?”

     “Pa!” The fat gourd spat out a gourd ladle filled with wine. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Chu Wanning sat on the ground and began to drink with the wine gourd.

     “Glug, bo, bo!”

     “Not bad, one more.”

     “Bo!”

     “Do you have pear blossom white?”

     “Bo, bo, bo!”

     Xue Zhengyong said in astonishment, “Yuheng, you understand what it’s saying?”

     “Yes,” Chu Wanning said. “This kind of demon can always be understood a little bit.”

     “Bo, bo, bo!”

     Mo Ran smiled and asked, “Shizun, what did it say this time?”

     “Its chatting with me about how it hasn’t been in the sun for a long time,” Chu Wanning said.

     The wine gourd seemed very happy. Apparently, it seemed to have understood Chu Wanning’s words as well. It approached him affectionately and poured him another large ladle of wine.

     “Is it pear blossom white this time?” Chu Wanning asked.

     “Bo!”

     “I don’t like red wine.”

     “Bo…” The wine gourd immediately poured out the wine and replaced it with another.

     Everyone was shocked speechless.

     They watched the man and the demon drink from morning to noon. The man wasn’t drunk, but the demon was happy. Everyone was dumbfounded, and the crowd at the entrance to Loyalty Hall only grew.

     Xue Meng and Shi Mei also came.

     Seeing Shi Mei, Mo Ran recalled the misunderstanding. He felt guilty and wanted to apologize to him, but the moment Shi Mei caught sight of him, he turned and left.

     Xue Meng saw what was going on and elbowed Mo Ran, “He still seems to be angry at you for misunderstanding him last time.”

     Mo Ran was worried, “What should we do?”

     “Go talk to him. If you guys are like this, I’ll get stuck in the middle,” Xue Meng said. “There’s nothing for you to do here anyway.”

     Mo Ran glanced at Chu Wanning, who was still drinking with the wine gourd, and indeed felt that nothing bad would happen soon.

     He said to Xue Meng, “Then, I’ll go find him first. You stay here and keep an eye on Shizun. If anything happens, let me know immediately.”

     It didn’t take too long to catch up with Shi Mei. Mo Ran stopped him in front of the sword dance plateau.

     “Shi Mei!”

     “...”

     “Shi Mei!”

     Shi Mei stopped and turned around. He looked at him quietly and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with, Mo Ran?”

     “No…” Mo Ran waved his hand and frowned, “I came to tell you that I was wrong. What happened last time was my fault.”

     “Which thing are you talking about?” Shi Mei asked.

     Mo Ran froze for a moment and his eyes widened slightly, “What?”

     Shi Mei’s expression was light and gentle, and he brushed his hair back as the wind blew. “Was it when you misunderstood what I was going to do to Shizun in the Red Lotus Pavilion? Or was it when neither of you sat at the same table as me when we were at Yuliang Village? Or was it even earlier, when I went to bring you wine when Shizun woke up, but you never said a word to me from beginning to end? Which one?”

     Mo Ran didn’t expect him to mention things that happened so long ago. He was at a loss for a moment, and only after a long time did he say, “You… you were angry with me that long ago?”

     Shi Mei shook his head, “I’m not angry, but I still care.”

     “...”

     “Mo Ran, ever since Shizun was reborn, you have been deliberately distancing yourself from me.”

     Mo Ran fell silent. He was indeed deliberately distancing himself from Shi Mei. The two of them used to be so close that even Chu Wanning could see it clearly.

     But he always felt that something was missing. When they were young, they couldn’t ever break the barrier between them. And later on, when Mo Ran understood his true feelings, he didn’t know what to do with his relationship with Shi Mei.

     He thought about telling Shi Mei directly, but he didn’t think it was appropriate. He had never confessed to Shi Mei, so he didn’t know what kind of feelings Shi Mei had for him. It would be too abrupt and presumptuous if he rashly ran over and said he wanted to cut off their relationship. So, in the end, the last thing he thought of was to slowly fade away.

     Shi Mei gazed at him quietly, and after a moment, said, “When you first came to Sisheng Peak, I told you that I had no parents and few friends, and that from then on, we were family.”

     “...Yes.”

     “Then, why did you change?”

     Mo Ran felt very sad and a little lost in his heart as well, not knowing why he had distanced himself from Shi Mei like this.

     Ever since he came back from the ghost realm, had he even said more than a hundred words to Shi Mei?

     The two of them used to be inseparable, but now they had drifted apart. Mo Ran couldn’t help but hesitate. Did he go too far?

     He said, “I’m sorry.”

     “...There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Shi Mei turned his gaze away, “Forget it.”

     “Don’t be angry…” Mo Ran pleaded. “If you’re angry, I… I can’t stand it. You’ve always been good to me.”

     Shi Mei finally smiled faintly, “I’m very good to you, but what about compared to Shizun?”

     Mo Ran said, “That’s different.”

     Shi Mei looked at the distant mountains and said, “I remember you told me before that I was good to you because I gave you a lot of warmth. Then what about Shizun?”

     Mo Ran said, “He gave me my life.”

     Shi Mei didn’t answer for a long time.

     In the end, he finally sighed, “I can’t compare.”

     Seeing him like this, Mo Ran felt even worse. He said, “There’s nothing to compare. Everyone is different. You—”

     Without waiting for him to finish, Shi Mei turned his face to the side, raising his hand against the wind, and patted Mo Ran’s chest, “Alright, you don’t need to say any more. I know what you mean. I’m not a person who cares too much about other people’s opinions, but I’m really sad that you misunderstood me like that before.”

     “Hmm…”

     “Let’s move on. Don’t think about it anymore.”

     Mo Ran’s dark eyes were warm. After a while, he nodded half-heartedly and said, gratefully, “Alright.”

     Shi Mei’s tall and slender figure leaned against the jade railing of the sword dance plateau. He looked down at the trees below. After a while…

     “Let’s go back.”

     “What did you want to say that year?”

     They spoke at the same time.

     Mo Ran was stunned, “Which year?”

     “The year of the Heavenly Rift,” Shi Mei replied.

     Only then did Mo Ran recall the unspoken confession he made during the Heavenly Rift in Butterfly Town. He froze for a moment.

     Shi Mei continued, “Back then, you didn’t finish your sentence. I don’t know what you wanted to say. Can I ask you now?”

     Mo Ran was about to reply when he suddenly heard a loud crash behind him, coming from Loyalty Hall.

     Both his and Shi Mei’s expressions changed. Mo Ran said, “It’s Shizun!”

     Shi Mei didn’t have time to chat, “Let’s go back and see.”

     The two of them turned around and rushed back to the main hall. When they arrived at the entrance to Loyalty Hall, they found that there was actually a second fat gourd in the large square.

     Mo Ran was shocked, “What is this?!”

     Xue Zhengyong covered his face and said, “Lust Gourd.”

     “How many are there?!”

     “Two. They’re twins.” Xue Zhengyong’s head was about to explode, “The one drinking with Yuheng was only the younger one. This one is the older one.”

     Mo Ran’s eyebrow twitched, and it took him a while to respond, “The wine gourd likes to compete with others. The lust gourd…” He turned away with a grimace and looked at the fat peach-colored gourd that spun round and round.

     Xue Zhengyong explained awkwardly, “The lust gourd is capable of all the temptations in the world. It only obeys the orders of the purest of people.”

     Mo Ran turned his head and shouted, “Xue Meng!”

     Shi Mei also said, “Why isn’t Xue Meng here? Where did he go?”

     Xue Zhengyong pointed to the peach-colored gourd, “...He’s already in the gourd for his trial. He said he wanted to share Yuheng’s burden.”

     Mo Ran let out a sigh of relief, “Then it’s alright. If even Xue Meng isn’t pure enough, then there’s really no such thing as a pure person in this world.”

     Just as he finished speaking, there was an explosive “pa!” sound.

     Xue Meng was blown out of the gourd, and landed heavily in the middle of the crowd. The movement was so loud that everyone looked over. Even Chu Wanning, who was drinking with the wine gourd, turned around.

     Shi Mei was stunned, “What’s wrong?”

     Another person exclaimed in astonishment, “Could it be that even the young master…”

     Cough, cough, cough. Xue Meng’s face flushed red as he staggered to his feet. His eyes were filled with anger and shame as he roared at the lust gourd, “You—you demon! You-you-you shameless bastard!”

     Mo Ran looked around and saw that Xue Meng had, at some point, changed into a golden-red robe. He felt both amused and curious, “What’s going on?”

     Xue Zhengyong could only hold his forehead, speechless.

     Shi Mei said, “I’ve heard of this before. The lust gourd isn’t actually lustful, but infatuated. It wants to find the purest person in the world, who has no one in their heart, and marry them... It is said that those who are sucked into the gourd will find themselves in a new room.”

     “...And then?”

     “Then, the lust gourd’s spirit takes the form of a bride or groom. But regardless of whether they take the form of a bride or groom, their faces will be hidden, and they’ll be sitting on a bed behind a curtain, waiting for the other party to uncover them.”

     Mo Ran asked, “Is the lust gourd’s true form revealed when you uncover it?”

     “Of course not,” Shi Mei said. “What one sees after uncovering it varies from person to person. If there is someone you love, you will see the person you love. If you don’t have someone you love, but you are lustful, it is said that what you see will be…”

     Shi Mei coughed lightly, a bit embarrassed, before continuing, “A stunningly beautiful man or woman, without an inch of clothing. Only the purest of people will be able to see the lust gourd’s true form.”

     Mo Ran turned his head and looked at Xue Meng in disbelief, “Then what did Xue Meng see???”

     He couldn’t believe that Xue Meng had a lover, but neither could he believe that Xue Meng could possibly see some naked man or woman.

     However, Xue Meng really was thrown out by the lust gourd. To make matters worse, the gourd was even jumping and rolling around happily, as if it was laughing at Xue Meng.

     Shi Mei couldn’t bear the thought, and immediately tried to smooth things over for Xue Meng, “Maybe the lust gourd misjudged…”

     Before he could even finish his sentence, Xue Meng unsheathed Longcheng and pointed it at the gourd, shouting, “How dare you fucking change into me to confuse me! You even made me wear a woman’s dress in that stupid illusion!!! You—you dog! How dare you humiliate me?!”

     “...”

     Many of the disciples of Sisheng Peak, including Mo Ran, were silent for a moment. They tried to hold back, but in the end, they all couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

     Xue Ziming was the most self-absorbed, after all. He was like a peacock, never failing to bring attention to his dazzling feathers. So, when Xue Meng lifted the veil, what he saw was actually his own face.

     “It makes sense.” Mo Ran tried to hold back his laughter, and nodded, “Xue Meng should be very beautiful as a girl.”

     Before he could finish laughing, he heard Xue Zhengyong shout, “Yuheng, after you’ve dealt with the wine gourd, why don’t you help us with the lust gourd too?”