Chapter 26: CH 26

Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff 

After the bunch of them started moving forward again, Zhou Wang kept on interrograting Xu Xingzhi about the passing god that had kidnapped him.

Xu Xingzhi responded seriously: “A big brute with chest hair.”

After all it wasn’t a glorious achievement to have almost been taken advantage of by a female overlord. Xu Xingzhi believed if he spilled the truth about these shameful experiences, Zhou Beinan would utilize it to make fun of him for an entire year even without repeating the same joke.

Zhou Wang: “Why did he kidnap you?” 

Xu Xingzhi replied fluently: “He was a subordinate of the Lord of Feng Mountain and wanted to avenge his previous lord.”

Zhou Wang: “Then why did you change your clothes ?”

Xu Xingzhi: “My original clothes were dirtied so Meng Chongguang pulled out his clothes for me to wear.”

Without waiting for Zhou Wang to continue her pestering, Xu Xingzhi preemptively answered: “Did you want to ask, since that person took me away for revenge, why am I unscathed?”

Zhou Wang nodded.

Xu Xingzhi snapped open the fan he had dropped by the bank of the stream and commented with disdain: “You sure have a lot of questions.”

Zhou Wang: “. . .”

Lu Yujiu, who had been listening to the banter between the two since the beginning, couldn’t help it anymore: “Hahahahaha.” 

Zhou Beinan approached from behind and warned Zhou Wang: “Don’t chat with this man too much. That mouth of his is the definition of infuriating.”

Xu Xingzhi: “. . . I heard that ah.”

Zhou Beinan sneered: “Am I afraid of you hearing it?”

Xu Xingzhi picked up a handful of dirt from the ground and flung it behind him, 

Zhou Beinan subconsciously raised a hand to block it, but that clump of dirt just went straight through the back of Zhou Beinan’s hand as well as his head then disintegrated upon striking the ground.

Zhou Beinan furrowed his brow: “Xu Xingzhi, are you that bored!?”

Xu Xingzhi grinned, pleased: “Seeing that you are in a foul mood, I just said some nonsense lou. It was only to cheer you up anyways.”

Zhou Beinan: “. . . F*ck off, who’s in a bad mood?” 

Xu Xingzhi scratched the hickey-like red mark on the back of his neck with his fan: “Since you left the tower, you have either remained reticent or you’ve been speaking in a strange tone.  . . . Were you like this when you were in a pleasant mood in the past as well?”

Zhou Beinan didn’t respond to Xu Xingzhi’s provocation any further and stalked to the front of the group alone, solitarily forging ahead with his spear at hand.

While Xu Xingzhi was perplexed, Lu Yujiu hurried forward.

He whispered to Xu Xingzhi: “Don’t mind it Xu-shixiong, he just has this young master temper.” 

“It’s fine.” Xu Xingzhi raised his fan slightly, he wasn’t the sort of person to take such trivial matters to heart at all, “What’s on his mind?”

Lu Yujiu lowered his voice and answered: “. . . His accident that year was at Hutiao Ravine.”

. . . No wonder.

Xu Xingzhi frowned: “Do you know what happened?” 

“I don’t know either.” Lu Yujiu answered, “I was near Hutiao Ravine when I picked him up. At that time, the core of his soul had already separated from his body and was about to dissipate in a single breath. I asked him about it after I saved him, but probably because he was severely stimulated and his spiritual body was also scattered, he couldn’t recall a single one of his experiences in the events leading to his death. It was also because his spiritual body was incomplete that he has been missing a large half of his spiritual power these years and is doomed to be unable to regain the strength he possessed in the distant past. He has always suppressed something in his heart all these years, so ever since he knew that we were heading to Hutiao Ravine, he had been preoccupied.”

Speaking on this topic, he clasped his hands and softly implored: “Xu-shixiong, don’t blame him, he isn’t actually targeting you. . .”

Xu Xingzhi smiled: “You sure are protective of him.”

Lu Yujiu pursed his lips and the half of his baby face exposed under the phantom mask turned into half of a maroon red bean bun: “He and I. . . In fact, he’s the one protecting me most of the time.” 

Xu Xingzhi couldn’t help laughing when he saw Lu Yujiu’s expression as if he were boasting: “Don’t you still have a few ghost servants? I saw them on the first day I came to the savage wasteland. They all wore the uniform of Qingliang Valley, but why don’t I see them hanging around all day like Zhou Beinan?”

“Those are the remnants of a few of my Shixiong that I found.” As he spoke, the scarlet hue of Lu Yujiu’s face faded and his still round and tender bun-shaped face puffed up earnestly, “Zhou Beinan is already the most complete soul among my ghost servants. Now, without consuming essence, he can maintain his form and soul from scattering on his own. However, the depletion of the soul cores of my Shixiong were so great that it’s difficult for them to even manifest their own form. Usually, if I let them manifest at will, I have to deplete even more essence.”

Xu Xingzhi knew that the ghost servants and their master were in a symbiotic relationship. One party needed to be branded and swear allegiance to their master, while the other party provided the essence necessary for the ghost servants to survive.

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In comparison, the two or three kittens under Lu Yujiu’s banner made for quite a shabby appearance.

Xu Xingzhi made a joke: “Qingliang Valley places great importance on rules, for you to command your Shixiong at will, are you not afraid of getting reprimanded by Wen-baimao?”

At the mention of this person, Lu Yujiu abruptly fell silent.

Xu Xingzhi calmly observed Lu Yujiu’s reaction. 

Of course he had asked this question on purpose.

In the original owner’s memories, Xu Xingzhi, Zhou Beinan, Qu Chi, and Wen Xuechen were the most outstanding among their peers from the same generation in the four sects. Among them, Wen Xuechen loathed people who were not of the righteous path very much. His actions were upright and rigid and he was unlike the original owner who acted unruly, unlike Qu Chi with his soft temperament, nor was he impulsive and irritable like Zhou Beinan.

If Xu Xingzhi was asked to name a person who would never have participated in the theft of the divine artifacts thirteen years ago, Wen Xuechen would be the only person he could think of.

However, utilizing the intermittent memories of the original owner alone to obtain the full truth of what occurred that year was probably too impractical. Thus, Xu Xingzhi really wanted to procure accurate pieces of information from Lu Yujiu. 

Did Wen Xuechen participate in the betrayal that year? Was he hiding somewhere in the savage wasteland at this time or did he remain outside of it?

After a long while, Lu Yujiu gave an answer in a muffled voice: “I think. . . Wen-shixiong should no longer be in this world.”

Xu Xingzhi was really startled this time and his tone was slightly raised: “En?”

Lu Yujiu countered: “Shixiong has been on the outside for thirteen years and has never heard from Wen-shixiong, right?” 

Xu Xingzhi commented in his heart, if I did hear anything then that really would be as if I caught sight of a ghost.

So he only shook his head.

Lu Yujiu’s eyes dimmed slightly beneath the mask: “. . . Is that so? That seems right.”

Not only did he not get an answer, but Xu Xingzhi, who was now baffled, also couldn’t dig into it any further. He could only watch as Lu Yujiu went ahead to chase after Zhou Beinan. 

Just as he was about to regurgitate the information he acquired from Lu Yujiu, a hand grabbed the sleeve of his left hand from behind, while another came around from behind him to pinch his chin.

Meng Chongguang whispered against the back of Xu Xingzhi’s neck: “Shixiong chatted with him for a long time ah? What were you guys talking about?”

Xu Xingzhi’s neck was tickled by the heated breath he exhaled: “. . . Just idle chit-chat.”

“Just random banter and you conversed for so long.” Meng Chongguang felt aggrieved, “While Shixiong doesn’t want to spare more time to talk with me. Chongguang also wants to chat with Shixiong.” 

Xu Xingzhi slapped the back of the hand playing around with his chin: “Impudent. Okay, okay, okay, I’ll just engage in idle banter with you. What do you want to hear about?”

Meng Chongguang happily looped around from behind Xu Xingzhi to come before him as he asked with his hands clasped behind his back: “I want to hear what Shixiong and Lu Yujiu were discussing just now?”

Xu Xingzhi: “. . . We didn’t really talk about anything.”

Meng Chongguang became even more wronged: “Shixiong is lying. You guys just talked about Zhou Beinan, about ghost servants, and about Wen Xuechen. How can you say that you guys didn’t really talk about anything?” 

Xu Xingzhi almost spat out a mouthful of bad blood: “. . . Since you’ve already heard it all, why did you bother asking at all?”

Meng Chongguang’s eyes were full of the glinting waves of sincerity which were easily moving: “I wanted to have Shixiong repeat it to me again. I want to hear Shixiong’s voice.”

Xu Xingzhi thought, this old wicked spirit was really finicky to no end, who spoiled him to the point that he developed this bad habit.

As he grumbled internally, he did as asked: “Lu Yujiu came to implore me just now to not bicker with Zhou Beinan. . .” 

And like that, they walked and jabbered on until the lot of them trekked for nearly six hours.

Zhou Wang was young and couldn’t bear the heavy task of seeking the key fragments. She had always stayed in the tower to guard it in the past and so this was the first time she ventured far from it.

She took in the bountiful scenery that she had never seen before. Although the mist was floating all around and the barren, yellow, cracked land seemed to stretch onwards without a border, she still ran around happily, picked several colorful flower petals, and clumsily weaved flower crowns which she adorned both Qu Chi and Tao Xian with.

Ultimately, the group decided to rest in a cave under the cliff and caught up on a few hours of sleep before heading out anew. 

Everyone gathered pampas grass and hay from all over in order to lay out beds.

About a quarter of an hour later, Qu Chi went out and dragged a dead deer-shaped monster that had a mouthful of human teeth back.

He told Tao Xian: “For you.”

Tao Xian laughed: “It’s all mine?” 

Qu Chi nodded: “All yours.”

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Tao Xian patiently persuaded: “Qu-shixiong, I can’t eat all of it by myself. How about we divide some with everyone?”

Qu Chi swept his gaze around the entire group and stated resolutely: “I don’t care, this is yours.”

After declaring as such, he turned around again and hauled two even more bizarre monsters in: “. . . This is theirs.” 

He enigmatically approached Tao Xian, lowered his voice, and whispered to Tao Xian: “The one for you looks better than the other two. I especially hunted it down for you.”

However it was useless for him to lower his voice like this, everyone present could hear his words clearly.

Noticing that Xu Xingzhi was suppressing his smile until his face turned green, Tao Xian’s light-colored face flushed red.

Then he also imitated Qu Chi’s expression, quieted his voice and solemnly replied: “. . . En. Thank you Qu-shixiong.” 

Qu Chi smiled gently and stroked Tao Xian’s hair.

Although cultivators needed to give up on their desire to satiate their appetites and everyone present except for Xu Xingzhi and Tao Xian have long since succeeded in maintaining their fast, it was still a rare happiness in the world to gather for a hard earned feast.

Zhou Wang and the Bone Maiden raised the fire while Xu Xingzhi and Meng Chongguang headed out of the cave, picking and choosing, and finally chose a few branches richly saturated with the aroma unique to fruit trees.

Roasting the meat with the branches would season it with a unique, smoked flavor; it was the most delicious taste in the world. 

Xu Xingzhi also brought back a lot of lake water from the salt-water lake in the vicinity and used the pot and pan rack stored in Meng Chongguang’s storage ring to evaporate it.

As the lake water boiled, pale, white particles gradually precipitated out along the edges of the pot.

Xu Xingzhi scraped off the condensed salt grains with clean tree leaves that were rinsed thoroughly and brought them before Zhou Wang, asking her: “Do you know what this is?”

Zhou Wang shook her head. 

Xu Xingzhi answered with a smile: “You have cultivated inedia since you were a child and naturally can’t identify what this is. Come and have a taste.”

Zhou Wang peered at the white crystalline grains he held up in front of her, then she cautiously dipped a finger in and then sent it into her mouth. Frowning slightly, she contemplated deeply to find a suitable description among all of the available senses to summarize how it tasted.

After a moment’s hesitation, she finally found a similar flavor: “. . . Bitter.”

Xu Xingzhi patted her on the head: “Xu-shixiong will teach you, this is called ‘salty’. You don’t have to deliberately memorize it. I’ll just cook a few more dishes in the future, and you’ll naturally come to know what salty is.” 

After that, he muttered to himself: “The floral nectar in this savage wasteland is extremely bitter and can’t be consumed. I’ll search around and see if I can find something sweet so I can teach you what ‘sweet’ is.”

Zhou Wang was taken aback.

She never thought that Xu Xingzhi would take such a minor thing such as teaching her what was “salty” and what was “sweet” to heart.

After a long time, she finally spoke softly: “. . . Thank you Xu-shixiong.” 

Meng Chongguang crouched by the fire and his eyes that were focused on Xu Xingzhi, flared a little fiercer than the flames beside him.

The Bone Maiden was also there with a smile on her face as she fed firewood into the flickering tongues of the kindling heat, making it crackle with bibibobo sounds as it burned.

Tao Xian was seated further into the cave and was making the bed with Qu Chi.

Lu Yujiu, who had nothing to do, cast his gaze around for a bit, then walked out of the cave, tracing a path straight along the mountain road to a cliff not too far away. 

Zhou Beinan really was at the top of it getting some air.

Hearing footsteps, he guessed who was approaching: “How did you know I was here?”

Lu Yujiu lifted his chin slightly: “Your eyes are also my eyes, of course I know where my ghost servant is.”

Zhou Beinan chuckled and didn’t speak. 

“It wasn’t that I was worried about you or anything. . .” Lu Yujiu scraped the soles of his shoes on the ground covered in gravel, “If you didn’t want to come to Hutiao Ravine, it’s not impossible for just the two of us to head back together. . .”

Zhou Beinan straddled the cliff with one leg propped up on the edge and the other dangling over it, exactly the same posture Zhou Wang often used: “Of course I had to come. Even if I’d be laughed at by Xu Xingzhi for the rest of my life, I still want to find out how I died that year.”

“And what will you do when you find out?” Lu Yujiu racked his brains attempting to come up with a few comforting words as he sat down beside Zhou Beinan, “If it weren’t for the fact that those memories were too painful, your soul wouldn’t have shattered.”

“But to just always be like this with a pitiful amount of my spiritual power at my disposal isn’t a long term solution either.” Zhou Beinan looked at Lu Yujiu, “You are my ghost master, so I have to let you be able to hold your head up high somehow.” 

Lu Yujiu: “. . . I don’t need such a thing. . .”

Before the last syllable fell, he was pulled into Zhou Beinan’s embrace.

Lu Yujiu was caught off guard and even his words stumbled: “You. . . You, what are you doing?”

Lu Yujiu’s stature was just too small, so when Zhou Beinan, who was stalwart and strong, brought him into his arms, Zhou Beinan could even rest his chin on the crown of his head with ease. 

Zhou Beinan’s tone was no longer so trigger happy, instead it sounded gentle like a fur coat dampened by a watery mist: “. . . I want to recharge some essence.”

Lu Yujiu wanted to struggle out of his hold, but was stopped by a soft warning: “Don’t move.”

Lu Yujiu: “I need to activate the talisman in order to replenish your essence. . .”

Zhou Beinan: “It’s enough to just hug you.” 

Lu Yujiu instantly turned into a cooked shrimp: “. . . You, how daring of you, I’m your ghost master.”

Zhou Beinan hummed an affirmative: “I know, I’m your ghost servant. . . . I’ve long since lost the role of the young master of Yingtianchuan.”

Lu Yujiu was suddenly at a loss of words, he hesitated for a long time before he buried his head further into his embrace in resignation and mumbled under his breath: “. . . You can only supplement for a little while.”

Zhou Beinan broke out into a smile: “Roger.” 

His gaze swept over the hazy sky, then after it landed in the direction of Hutiao Ravine, it never shifted away again.

In the main hall of Fengling Mountain at this time.

Wen Xuechen massaged his temple with one hand, his face was extremely cold: “. . . That’s what happened, so I only brought back two. That place was already bereft of people and the tower was deserted. I utilized my spiritual power to scout out where they might’ve gone, but Meng Chongguang left traces of spiritual power in all directions, so I couldn’t determine where they went.”

Jiu Zhideng, who was positioned high above, was still dressed up like in the old days. A long, pale green-colored hair ribbon made his hair as dark as ebony while his face looked paler and frostier in contrast: “Shixiong really wasn’t in the tower?” 

Wen Xuechen countered: “Did you listen to a word I said?”

Jiu Zhideng stood up and paced around back and forth: “Go make another trip to the wasteland.”

Wen Xuechen: “For what?”

Jiu Zhideng counted off earnestly: “Deliver some melon seed snacks and some clean cyan and white-colored fabrics. Shixiong is partial to those two colors, then place them at the base of the giant tower.” 

Wen Xuechen: “. . . What are you trying to do?”

Jiu Zhideng couldn’t quite keep calm: “They eventually have to return. Shixiong is fond of these things so he’ll be able to use them as soon as he gets back. . .”

Wen Xuechen didn’t speak and just quietly stared at Jiu Zhideng from his wheelchair.

In those eyes mixed with infinite chill, Jiu Zhideng, who was originally only slightly agitated, finally restrained his stimulated expression a little. 

He sat back in his seat and contemplated for a while before saying: “. . . There’s temporarily no more need for that.”

Wen Xuechen had only just breathed a sigh in relief when he heard Jiu Zhideng state: “I’ll go to the wasteland personally to seek Shixiong.”

“You can’t go.” Wen Xuechen countered incredulously, “Have you lost your mind? If you descend into the wasteland, who will handle the current affairs of the four sects? Xu Xingzhi is at Meng Chongguang’s side, would Meng Chongguang be a danger to him? Besides, do you know where they were headed? The wasteland is boundless and indistinct, where would you go to find him?”

Jiu Zhideng responded icily: “I feel disgusted every moment Shixiong remains by Meng Chongguang’s side.” 

Taking in Jiu Zhideng’s resolute attitude, Wen Xuechen’s eyes darkened with frost for a while before he stiffly threw out three words: “. . . I’ll go.”

After uttering those words, he stared down at his hands and smiled wretchedly: “I couldn’t get rid of the traitor myself that year. Thirteen years have already passed, it’s high time to end this game.”

The author has something to say:

Shixiong: who spoiled you to the point of developing these bad habits? 

Chongguang: . . . qwq Shixiong memeda.

Shixiong: . . .

Today’s Shixiong is also very troubled.

Author's Chapter Summary

Making inquiries, boiling salt, replenishing essence. 

The translator has something to say: one of many bittersweet chapters

The editor has something to say: Meng Chongguang is a vinegar jar…

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