After a brief farewell to Fu Chengfeng, Rong Yi travelled to Jinling with Qin Mu'an and the others. Because of her decent attitude, she was granted permission to ride a horse.
"If Liu Yidao hadn't sealed my ability in time, are you planning to take my dead body back to the Kaoshan Wang1 as proof of your mission completion?" Rong Yi asked Qin Mu'an. Her tone was casual as if she was not talking about her life or death but a random and light-hearted topic.
Qin Mu'an replied: "The Terrifying Dragon's Leaf only kills people when it enters the heart."
Rong Yi nodded in understanding, then asked, "Have you really fallen for my beauty trick?"
Dumbfounded, Qin Mu'an realised she was asking about the previous incident when he caught her and Fu Chengfeng escaping and said, "At that time, the Terrifying Dragon's Leaf in my hand was aimed directly at Fu Chengfeng's heart."
Qin Mu'an's tone was very calm, but it stirred up waves of shock in Rong Yi's heart. Imperial Brother hadn't guessed wrong; Qin Mu'an hadn't indeed fallen into the trap. Fortunately, at that time, Imperial Brother came out halfway and grabbed her, and fortunately, Fu Chengfeng didn't escape; otherwise...
Rong Yi dared not think further and secretly reminded herself not to take the enemy lightly again.
At that time, Qin Mu'an said, "A woman who is too confident will have a short life."
When Rong Yi heard this, she unceremoniously shot back, "Men who lack desire will have no offspring."
*
Fu Chengfeng stood in place and watched as Qin Mu'an and the others took away Rong Yi until he could no longer see their silhouettes before looking away. At that moment, a third person, besides Fu Chengfeng and Liu Yidao, walked out of the forest. Fu Chengfeng could sense the third person's arrival but did not turn around, coldly asking, "Was it you who unlocked the cavalrymen's skills?"
"It was me. Are you going to kill me to avenge her death? Oh, that was wrong. She's not necessarily dead yet. It's too early for revenge." The visitor replied with a leisurely smile.
Liu Yidao's brow furrowed in disapproval at the words as he glanced at the visitor.
Fu Chengfeng also frowned when he heard the other party's voice, feeling a sense of déjà vu. Where had he heard this voice before? Fu Chengfeng turned around to see a face that bore a striking resemblance to Yun Ni's. "It's you." There was no surprise in Fu Chengfeng's tone. He glanced at Liu Yidao with a puzzled expression as if to say: why are you still hanging out with this guy?
Feeling Fu Chengfeng's gaze, Liu Yidao silently lowered his head, unsure if it was because he had lost his face or because his neck had become a bit sore.
"That's right, it's me." The man was still smiling as if he had a very good heart.
"Do you have a name?" Fu Chengfeng asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yun Shang2."
Fu Chengfeng said, "Yun Ni, Yun Shang. Hearing the names together sounded like a family and even had a very similar appearance. It seems that you are also from the Yun family. However, I have never heard that Yun Hendong has a son."
Yun Shang's eyes immediately flashed a hint of sternness, which then turned into a smile as he said, "Even I haven't heard of it, so of course you haven't heard of it either. But, there are some things that, if you haven't heard of them, it means they're fake. And there are some things that, if you haven't heard of them, it just means you don't know about them. Guess. Is this thing we're talking about fake or you just don't know about it?"
"I guess I just don't know." Fu Chengfeng's expression remained unchanged.
"I guess so, too." Yun Shang smiled faintly, but it was a hideous smile, and his gaze swept over Fu Chengfeng to look somewhere in the distance.
Fu Chengfeng: "Let me make another bold guess. You didn't capture me because you wanted to avenge Yun Ni."
"You are indeed very bold and clever. Since you are so clever, why don't you guess again why I don't want to avenge her?" Yun Shang asked.
Fu Chengfeng's eyes slightly twitched as he stared at Yun Shang for a long time before he said, "There are only two reasons why someone would not want revenge after losing a loved one. One is that they have seen through the world of mortals3, and the other is that they have been hoping for the death of their loved one. You don't look like someone who has seen through the world of mortals3." He said the last sentence to Liu Yidao.
Liu Yidao's body suddenly shook, but his head remained lowered.
"Hahahaha." Yun Shang laughed his head off. He laughed for a while before stopping and saying to Fu Chengfeng, "You are very good at using this trick of sowing discord between people. It's a pity that you used it in the wrong place. No matter how hard you try, Yidao will never betray me. Because between him and me—there is this face." When Yun Shang said these words, his face had a maniacal sense of smugness, just like a madman.
No, not 'like'. This man IS a madman. Fu Chengfeng suddenly had a hunch that all the suffering he and Rong Yi had endured had something to do with this person.
Liu Yidao's head lowered even further as if he wanted to sink into the dust and bury himself on the spot.
At that moment, Yun Shang added: "Actually, I didn't want to help Qin Mu'an just now."
"But you ended up helping him."
"Because your little one is far more powerful than I imagined," Yun Shang sighed. "I didn't expect that girl to have such great abilities. Yidao, have you figured out her background?"
"It's not confirmed yet," Liu Yidao said as the words Rong Yi had just said as she bade farewell to Fu Chengfeng flashed through his mind, "Since I, Murong Yi, have decided to marry you in this life, I will make sure that I am buried next to your grave even if I die!" Murong Yi... Murong... With such a family name and unfathomable martial arts skills, her background became even more obvious. Liu Yidao secretly congratulated himself for bowing his head at this moment. Otherwise, Yun Shang would have noticed something unusual about him.
"If you haven't figured it out yet, you don't need to investigate anymore. Her origin doesn't matter anymore." After a pause, Yun Shang asked Fu Chengfeng, "How did you feel when she was hit by the Terrifying Dragon's Leaf just now? Did you want to destroy the world and be buried with her?"
Fu Chengfeng was suddenly shocked, almost revealing his innermost astonishment. How could Yun Shang know his inner feelings? Did Yun Shang know the secret of the Duantian Sword? But his master personally forged the sword, and even he didn't know what effect the Duantian Sword would have on him. How could Yun Shang know?
Fu Chengfeng hid his emotions well and did not let Yun Shang see even a hint. His reaction made Yun Shang feel a bit surprised. Could it be that he had guessed wrong? Could the Duantian Sword not yet have any effect on Fu Chengfeng after he broke the killing ban? Or was Fu Chengfeng just pretending to be calm?
Yun Shang gave Fu Chengfeng a probing look and said eerily, "Don't worry, someone will be buried with her."😱
Before Fu Chengfeng could figure out the meaning behind Yun Shang's words, he heard him say, "Yi Dao, I've changed my mind. I won't let him go this time. Let's lock him up for now, and we'll release him when the time is right. When that time comes..." Yun Shang didn't continue. His face was full of a smugness that could even wash away humiliation as if victory was already in his sight.
Facing a face that resembled Yun Ni, Liu Yidao couldn't let him down.
While escorting Fu Chengfeng, Liu Yidao remembered the first time he saw Yun Shang.
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
He was drinking in front of Yunni's tomb at that time. He had drunk ten jars, but he still couldn't drink himself to death, and he wasn't even drunk. In a daze, he saw a person walk out of the tomb and smile at him, a smile he had never seen on Yun Ni's face before, so gentle and focused. At that moment, for the first time, he truly felt that she was really looking at him, with all her heart, only at him.
"Yun Ni... Yun Ni... is that you?"
"If you want me to be, then I am."
"You aren't her. She never looks at me."
"That is her misfortune. From now on, I will look at you for as long as you wish."
"You're not her."
"You can think of me as her."
......
"He's not Yun Ni." Fu Chengfeng's words pulled Liu Yidao back from his memories.
"I know." Liu Yidao replied coldly.
Fu Chengfeng looked up at the sky speechlessly and sighed. "Brother, if he's a woman, I can still understand. After all, there is a justification for a heartbroken person to find a replacement. But he's a man. You're not thinking of changing your s*xual orientation because of Yun Ni, are you?"
An expressionless Liu Yidao remained silent.
Fu Chengfeng had no choice but to change the subject: "Why doesn't he just kill me after capturing me?"
"No comment."
"... do you believe I can turn the three kitchen knives in your hand into nine?"
"I don't."
"......"
*
At nightfall, Fu Chengfeng was locked in a cave by Liu Yidao, which was heavily guarded by mechanisms. Fu Chengfeng didn't understand the mechanisms, and coupled with his severe injuries, he didn't dare to act recklessly. He meditated with his knees crossed as he regulated his breathing to heal his injuries.
At the same time, Rong Yi, Qin Mu'an and the others arrived at the town inn. According to the agreement, Chu Murong would be waiting for Rong Yi there. As soon as Rong Yi entered the inn, she looked around but did not even see Chu Murong's shadow.
After dinner, Rong Yi was assigned the northernmost single room on the second floor. Qin Mu'an lived across the hall from her, and the seventeen cavalrymen took turns standing guard at her door. As long as she made the slightest movement, she would be discovered immediately. But that was not the most amazing thing. The most amazing thing was that her room had no windows.
It was the first time she had lived in a windowless room after wandering in the jianghu5 for so long. At such a desolate time, she wasn't even allowed a moment of self-pity with the moon. What a cruel thing to do.
Did Qin Muan think this could block her communication with the outside world?
The corners of Rong Yi's mouth slightly curved as she tilted her head to look at the roof, right into a pair of beautiful black eyes.
Up on the roof, Chu Mu'an curled his lips into a smile and jumped silently down to the ground. "How did you know I was up there?" He whispered in Rong Yi's ear.
Rong Yi followed suit, cupping her hands over her mouth and whispering in his ear: "Because I know that Your Majesty is not only great at jumping out of windows and climbing over walls but also likes to take off roof tiles and sit on the beams."
Chu Murong was so embarrassed that he stroked his nose in frustration and asked with his eyes: Is your brother that helpless?
Rong Yi rolled her eyes and gave him a look of disdain: Since you were a child, you have been practising qinggong6 by jumping over windows and walls, and climbing up beams and roofs.
Chu Murong was stunned. Fine. When he was young, there was indeed a time when he was addicted to such chicken-stealing and dog-touching7 behaviour as jumping and climbing over windows and walls, taking off roof tiles to sit on the beams, but that was all in the past! He had said goodbye to those green years for a long, long time.
"Do you still want me to save you or not?" Chu Murong whispered grumpily.
"I do, but I can only think about it in secret. You are no different from a clay Bodhisattva statue that cannot even protect itself when crossing the river8. So I can't count on you," Rong Yi said.
Chu Murong: "Are you doubting my strength?"
Rong Yi shook her head. "Remember when you told me earlier that Qin Mu'an might not have fallen for my beauty trap?"
Chu Murong nodded. "Before, it was just a guess. Now, it's a certainty. If you truly bewitched him, he wouldn't have been ruthless enough to use the Terrifying Dragon's Leaf on you."
Rong Yi: "Did this incident bring you any revelations? For example, that Qin Mu'an is an extremely and deeply cunning person, has a meticulous mind, and doesn't let a drop of water leak out9 when doing his job?"
Chu Murong was slightly stunned, not understanding why Rong Yi was pulling Qin Mu'an's personality at this critical moment. Suddenly, he remembered that Rong Yi had said earlier that he was no different from a clay Bodhisattva statue that cannot even protect itself when crossing the river8. "Could it be…"
Before Chu Murong could finish his sentence, the door opened with a bang from the outside. Chu Murong immediately looked up to the roof, only to see a cavalryman standing on the beam with the Terrifying Dragon's Leaf in his hand, pointing it at him.
"Sealed your skills." Rong Yi sighed.
Chu Murong was not about to give in: "Is there no other way?"
"I am at my wits' end. If you're unwilling, you can try the beauty trick on him. Maybe he'll like it." Rong Yi replied calmly.
Footnotes Full List
- King
- The irony of this name is that the character 殇 (shāng) means to die in childhood. At the end of this story, why he called himself with such a name will be explained. If I'm not mistaken, it's not his real name.
- Buddhism idiom: rejecting the world for monastic life
- Who is it?!
- lit., rivers and lakes—people who wander from place to place and live by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc., who are regarded as a social group
- 'the art of lightness'. The body is trained to be 'light as a feather' so that a person can run at great speed, leap high, and land softly on the tip of their toes.
- Chinese idiom: sneaky
- Chinese idiom: being in trouble yourself and unable to help others
- Chinese idiom: watertight
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