Haoren woke up in a daze, his memories slowly piecing together like a badly edited film. Memories 'inherited' from his master also flooded back—her pain, her sorrows, her suffering. It screamed within him, a call for him to visit her.

He needed to go. It was that time. But he couldn't bring himself to leave 'her'. So, he had to somehow make her come with him. Or at least confess. And maybe build a relationship.

Haoren sat up, feeling the weight of the memories and emotions pressing down on him. He looked around the dimly lit room, his eyes landing on Li Feng, who was still asleep beside him. Her face was serene, a stark contrast to the turmoil brewing inside him.

He quietly slipped out of bed and moved to the window, gazing out at the first light of dawn breaking over the horizon. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. 'How can I ask her to come with me? How can I confess everything to her?'

The thought of her reaction filled him with dread. Would she accept him, knowing the truth about his existence and the dangers he posed? Or would she turn away...

"Wait a minute... Huh?"

"..."

"Why's she in my bed?!"

"Calm down, me! Calm down! There must be something... Fuck!"

Haoren cursed, he wasn't one to use profanities... rather it might have been his first using such profanities without having even a moment of remorse.

"Hu... Let's see... last night..."

Clutching onto his throbbing head, Haoren tried to recall the hazy memories of the forgone day.

...

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

...

After their little 'fight,' both Haoren and Li Feng remained quiet all day.

The awkward mood made it so neither found a way to talk about basically anything. Even throughout their daily activities, such as Haoren guiding Li Feng's cultivation and having lunch together, they barely spoke a word or two to one another.

The reason for the awkward silence was the momentary rapid closing of the distance between the two. Until now, they kept their true thoughts to themselves, never revealing much to the other.

But in the unrestrained expression of emotions that morning, both no longer knew how to handle the other's presence.

Awkwardness pervaded through their meal at night until Li Feng brought a certain something after their meal.

"Alcohol?" Haoren frowned instantly as he realized what lied within the jar brought by Li Feng.

"Yeah. What? Can't handle a drink?" Li Feng asked teasingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"I simply do not like such a thing," Haoren replied haughtily. He truly did dislike alcohol. The very concept of a substance that ruined one's mind disgusted him.

"Ah~" Li Feng began with an amused smile, "I guess the 'young' lord can't handle this measly wine, huh?"

The word "young" echoed through Haoren's mind as he slammed the table.

"Hah?! Who says I can't handle some wine?!"

It took Haoren a moment to realize his folly. As he momentarily calmed, he followed up with another statement. "Rather, isn't it so that you, yourself, cannot handle your alcohol?"

Unfortunately, Haoren's little provocation did not faze Li Feng at all. She was quite confident in her tolerance, there had not been a single person to outdrink her!

"Well then, I suppose you'll also be having some wine?"

"O-of course!"

With false valour, Haoren agreed readily, spelling his own doom.

"Urgh...!" His frown deepened as he felt a small sip of wine burn up his throat. 'When did I become so petty as to pretend like this...'

As the alcohol went down his throat, yet another thought passed through, 'Neither Haoren nor he were like this...'

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Haoren simply never cared for such childish things. Being far from pettiness, the emotions he displayed were limited to a few.

Meanwhile, 'that guy' simply did not care if others considered him childish. He knew he looked like one— no matter how much time passed, he always remained as one and he used it to his benefit, that's all there was to it.

So, the only explanation for such a foreign emotion was, 'It's mine.' An emotion borne of the twisted being birthed from the corpse of the abomination and the fiend.

An unsightly emotion that brought warmth to the twisted existence that did not possess anything of its own.

As such thoughts passed by, his heart warmed as if he even forgot the unpleasant scent of the alcohol that burnt his throat.

Meanwhile, on Li Feng's side...

'Lesssgooo!! He drank it!'

She too was in a joyous mood. And why? Well, for that, we will have to discuss her thoughts from a while ago...

As Li Feng saw Haoren's frown, she couldn't help but muse, 'That's pretty rare...'

Seeing Haoren blatantly display his displeasure was not something that she saw often. After all, he wasn't one to show extremities of himself often. Which made him appear as a pleasant person to be around, but that also meant... 'I don't know anything about him.' ...He showed not even an ounce of his 'true self'.

Suddenly, it felt as if there was a large crevice separating her from him, and if she turned her back for even a moment, he'd disappear, leaving not a single 'truth' to remember him by.

And thus, she concocted a plan to interro—have a heartfelt conversation with Haoren.

Li Feng's initial plan was simple— get Haoren drunk and see if she could uncover more about him. She was curious, desperate even, to understand the person who had such a strong hold over her heart.

She poured yet another glass and slid it over to him with a teasing grin. "Come on, Haoren. Have one more drink. Or are you afraid you can't handle it?" she coaxed, her voice dripping with playful mockery.

Haoren raised an eyebrow, not one to back down from a challenge. "Afraid? Of this? Please," he scoffed, downing the drink. The burn was familiar now, but no less unpleasant. "Y-you're just trying to avoid admitting you can't keep up."

Li Feng smirked— she had always had a strong tolerance for alcohol as her body was immune to many poisonous substances. So, she took another sip from her own glass. "Keep up? With you? Don't make me laugh," she replied, her tone competitive. "I've seen you wince at every sip. Admit it, you're a lightweight."

"I'm not the one turning red," Haoren retorted, pointing to her flushed cheeks. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"Me? Pass out? Ha!" Li Feng laughed, smiling at Haoren's cute little attempt at psychological warfare. 'Ha! There's no way that I'd be... I'd be... huh...'

She felt a strange warmth spreading through her body. Still, she continued to pour drinks for both of them, determined to prove her point.

As the night wore on, the alcohol began to take a stronger hold on Li Feng. Her confidence in her tolerance proved to be a misplaced belief as her vision blurred and her thoughts became jumbled. She giggled at nothing in particular and often spoke utter nonsense which included but was not limited to nuking the moon.

"You're... not as tough as you think," she slurred, pointing a finger at Haoren, who looked at her with a mix of amusement and concern.

"And you... are drunk," Haoren said, his words clearer but tinged with a growing haze. He felt an unusual drowsiness creeping in, something he couldn't quite shake off. "Why did you want me to drink so much, anyway?"

He might have been petty enough to fall for her tricks but wasn't stupid enough to not realise that he had fallen for her trap. But her desire to have him drunk truly puzzled him.

Li Feng blinked slowly, trying to focus. "Wanted to know... more about you," she mumbled, her head lolling to the side. "You always hide... yet see through others... it's not fair~"

Haoren chuckled softly, shaking his head. "That's quite the way you see my blank thoughtless stare... it's not seeing through anything..." he said, though his own eyelids felt heavy. The effort of maintaining his composure was becoming increasingly difficult.

'Why am I feeling so...'

He hadn't yet realized that he was getting drunk. This should have usually been impossible.

As his body would devour any substance and turn it into pure energy, rendering the effects of poisons or elixirs null.

Of course, this ability was not nearly as good as it sounded since that meant a healing elixir didn't heal him properly, an elixir for purifying qi didn't help, and so on.

But currently, his soul which had just ripped a part of itself to return Li Feng's memories was in a state of starvation, absorbing all emotions to recover itself.

His ability was now absorbing Li Feng's drunken state of emotions, pulling him down with her.

"You... should sleep," he said, his voice trailing off as he carried Li Feng to the room upstairs.

"Don't wanna~"

"Just go... to... slee—"

And with a blurred vision, Haoren fell onto the bed as well.

Drunkards nuking moon [https://i.ibb.co/kgT1KfQ/drunk5.png]

...

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅

...

Haoren held his forehead as the murky memories that were like fragments of a dream left him puzzled. Somehow, he could even recall a memory of discussing nuking the moon and how it would not be possible. Surely, a dream that he was now confusing with reality.

"BUT WHY ARE WE NAKED?!"

Haoren, who could not remember anything beyond that, couldn't help but ask, even though there was no one else to answer.

Or was there?

Li Feng, the origin of the whole alcohol fiasco, had just woken up, now pretending to be asleep. Why? One might ask. Well, because her memories are a bit different than Haoren's...

Her memories consisted of her doing this and that... to Haoren.

"...!" Haoren turned around almost instantly as he sensed that Li Feng was awake. But he didn't know what to do. He was a virgin, no, even worse, he had been 'innocent', as innocent and pure as one can be until just a while ago. And now he woke up with a naked woman in his bed and did not remember anything!

However, his emotions were not filled with much strife and confusion as a slight joy and relief sparked within his broken soul.

'...There is no disgust or rage...' As he sensed Li Feng's emotions, while he could not tell perfectly, he could tell that there was no true disgust or grievance. In other words, what lay within her heart was acceptance... to some degree.

And with that, Haoren decided to hasten up his prior 'plans'.