Cultivation Retirement Plan (BL)

16. Sore Spot

Mo Yixuan had to give pause. Even his poor social skills could tell that the stranger disliked him from his tone alone. Well, stranger to him at least. Who knew what the original Mo Yixuan had done.

"You," he began, but didn't get further than that before the man broke out into a harsh bark of laughter.

"It gets better and better, doesn't it?" he mocked. "From 'senior brother' to 'Peak Lord Jun,' and now down to simple pronouns? Aren't you so clever with your tongue, Mo Yixuan."

...I only said one word, Mo Yixuan privately protested. He decided to forget it and simply move on, but the man raised an arm to block him. Mo Yixuan raised his eyebrows, but the man just laughed again.

"We're not done yet, junior brother. Humor me and stay a while."

Mo Yixuan only looked at him in exasperation. "You've called me three different things in the last five minutes."

"What of it?" Peak Lord Jun said defiantly.

"So shouldn't I be praising your 'clever tongue' too?" Mo Yixuan deadpanned.

"You—!"

In the middle of the man's protest, Mo Yixuan seized the chance to slip away. The figure in the wheelchair didn't stop him, but something else did—an invisible wall that Mo Yixuan flew into headfirst a few feet away.

THUD!

Mo Yixuan was knocked backwards; fortunately, his instincts reacted in time to send him floating gently to the ground. He frowned, then took a few steps forward to feel with his fingers. Whatever made up the wall was almost intangible, firm with a hint of softness—the closest material Mo Yixuan could think of was memory foam, but that was ridiculous in this kind of setting.

"To think you'd run straight into my barrier!" Peak Lord Jun crowed as he turned to face his victim. "Have the last fifty years turned you senile? Mo Yixuan, you—" he cut off abruptly when he saw the other diligently poking at the air. "Pay attention when I'm talking!"

Mo Yixuan didn't bother turning around. "What's this?"

The barrier wall he was touching had pliability and strength. He suddenly recalled the folktale he heard once about a man who asked to build a house on the clouds. The man had been laughed at by everyone, but using this invisible thing as construction material could make that request a reality...and that was where his thoughts stopped as he realized they were wandering.

Peak Lord Jun seethed. "Don't disparage the abilities of my Heavenly Sealing Pagoda!" His robes shook as he spoke, shedding light on a tiny object in his palm. Mo Yixuan cast a glance on it and saw that it was, indeed, a tiny golden pagoda. It was also resting on the back of a golden turtle to match.

Who do you think you are, the pagoda-bearing god Li Jing?

The legend of the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li was a well-known character of Chinese mythology, but he never expected to see someone copying his skills here. To curb his son Nezha, Li Jing was given a golden pagoda with the power to capture any spirit, demon, or god within its walls. As Mo Yixuan was trapped but still partly human, he guessed that Peak Lord Jun's version had different properties.

"So we're in your pagoda right now," he remarked, looking up for any hints of tiled roofs or other architectural details. Unfortunately, he only saw the sky.

"You should know that this treasure is on par with the likes of your trio," Peak Lord Jun said unhappily. "At least it did far more stopping our enemies in battles than your fighting ever did!"

"Well," Mo Yixuan nodded absently. "It's cute, I guess." Like one of those collectible toys.

"Enough!" the other man snapped, his face turning red. "We're settling our debt today!"