When night fell, Su Yang put on his night clothes and sneaked out of Iris Island to test whether the plan Gu Feidi had devised was feasible.
It was inconvenient for Gu Feidi to use light footwork skill, so he stayed at Su Yang’s residence, therefore if someone came looking, he could still help cover for him. He held a scroll in his hand and sat below the lamp, his eyes fixed on the page, but he didn’t turn it for a long time.
There was a curfew in the headquarters of the Devil Sect. At this moment, there was silence outside the window except for a few occasional chirps from insects, but perhaps it was because of the cold, they quieted after a few calls.
The candle was flickering, a sign that it was about to burn out soon. Su Yang was wrapped in the chilly air when he opened the door and entered the room.
Gu Feidi breathed a sigh of relief and put down the scroll he was holding. He picked up a new candle to light it and replaced the old one in the lamp.
“Gu Feidi, you’re a genius!”
Su Yang pulled off his face mask, his eyes beamed at Gu Feidi and lowered his voice, “The flaw you found is really useful! The empty space is huge, even if you don’t use internal force, we can pass safely as long as we move quickly!”
Gu Feidi’s expression wasn’t happy when he heard this, instead he looked worried: “Is the flaw so big?” He frowned, “Based on the Devil Sect’s reputation in the Central Plains, this shouldn’t be the case…”
Su Yang smiled and said, “You still believe the rumours from the Central Plains martial world circles? The bad ones can be said to be good. The Devil City here acts as a barrier in this sinkhole and under normal circumstances no one would be able to attack it. Those who arranged the internal patrols may not be so rigorous.”
As he spoke, he removed the dark top and pants he used for night travel, folded them and said: “I’m going to take a bath and have a good night’s sleep tonight until morning. We’ll act tomorrow night!”
Gu Feidi mumbled to himself for a moment and nodded: “That’s fine.”
When Su Yang came back from the bath, Gu Feidi hadn’t left. He had taken off his outer garment and only wore only his inner shirt. His hair was loose and he was sitting at the bedside reading a book, as if he was going to sleep there.
“What’s the matter with you?” Su Yang asked with a headache, “Not returning to your room?”
Gu Feidi raised his head and said with a smile: “It’s late at night and there is no charcoal fire in my room. Besides, I have been waiting in your room until this time. If I’m spotted by an attendant suddenly returning to my room in the middle of the night, it might make them suspicious.”
Su Yang thought about it and it wasn’t the first time that the two of them slept in the same bed, so they didn’t need to be hypocritical.
So he nodded, drew open the quilt, wrapped himself in and asked: “Then you have washed up?”
Gu Feidi put down the book and laughed lightly, “Going now.”
They didn’t speak all night.
When Su Yang woke up early the next morning, he found to his surprise that he was being embraced in Gu Feidi’s arms.
Gu Feidi’s nose fell on his forehead, blowing his scattered hair with a warm breath, brushing between his eyebrows and eyelashes, like a feather was scratching on the tip of his heart and it was indescribably ticklish.
Smelling the faint fragrance of flowers from Gu Feidi’s body, Su Yang’s heart trembled suddenly and it pounded so fast that it almost jumped out of his throat.
He immediately yanked out his arm, pushed Gu Feidi away, turned over and sat up, he was in shock.
The noise woke Gu Feidi up. He frowned and opened his eyes. For a moment, he stretched his eyebrows and said, “Good morning.”
“You—” Su Yang pretended to be calm and wanted to censure Gu Feidi, but he didn’t know where to start.
Gu Feidi stared at Su Yang’s red ears and chuckled lightly, “Had a nightmare again last night?”
Su Yang immediately denied: “No, I didn’t dream.”
Gu Feidi, “So why did you wrap around me in the middle of the night and not let go?”
Su Yang: !!!
So he was the one wrapping around Gu Feidi and not letting go?!
Seeing Su Yang’s surprised look, Gu Feidi’s eyes brightened even more, but he only yawned and said: “You slept in a daze last night, I couldn’t wake you and wasn’t suitable for me to use internal strength. I had no choice but to let you wrap around me. I didn’t sleep well and I’m still tired.”
Su Yang felt a little guilty seeing that Gu Feidi was indeed a little blue at the moment. It was obvious that he really hadn’t slept well.
He thought back to their half year together in Lesser Jade House when Gu Feidi would fall asleep at 9 – 11pm without fail every night. Now that he had been abducted to the Devil Sect, he followed Su Yang’s schedule and had been going to bed later and later every day. In addition, Gu Feidi couldn’t use internal force now, couldn’t practice martial arts and had been helping him organise topographic maps and patrol maps, so his vitality was definitely worse than before.
With that in mind, Su Yang glanced at the sky outside the window and considered for a moment: “It’s okay, anyway, we have nothing planned for daytime. The most important thing is to recuperate our mental state. Go to sleep, I will also make up for it.”
After that, Su Yang lay down again and wrapped himself in the quilt. He made sure to stay far away from Gu Feidi, turned his back to him then closed his eyes.
Unconsciously, his drowsiness surged and he actually fell asleep again in a daze.
Gu Feidi stared at Su Yang’s scattered hair on the pillow. He stretched out his hand and gently stroked it a few times. Then he moved forward, wrapped Su Yang around his waist, pulled him into his arms and sighed contentedly, then closed his eyes and caught up on his sleep.
The next time they awoke, it was almost noon.
Su Yang turned his head and glanced at Gu Feidi, who was sleeping ramrod-straight. He was convinced that he himself did not sleep decently last night, so he had to hug Gu Feidi, who slept in such an old-fashioned posture.
But it was strange that he never had the impression that he was dreaming. Although his sleeping posture was not as elegant as Gu Feidi’s, it shouldn’t go as far as needing to hug others to sleep?
Su Yang was still puzzled after mulling over it for a long while. He was too lazy to continue thinking about it anymore, so he got up to wash up and ordered Lian Jiu to serve lunch immediately.
Lian Jiu took the order and was about to withdraw. Su Yang suddenly remembered something, “Oh, yes, I need some medicine for internal and external injuries. Prepare them for me.”
“Ak… Is Young Saint injured?” Lian Jiu asked.
Su Yang said: “No, I just want to be prepared. If I need it, then I won’t be disorderly.”
It was best that tonight’s operation went without a hitch. In case of an accident, it was always good to have some wound medicine on his person.
Hearing this, Lian Jiu snuck a peek out of the corner of his eye into the quiet bedroom.
It was almost noon and Gu Feidi hadn’t gotten up yet.
He understood clearly: “Don’t worry, Young Saint, this subordinate will search for some mild wound medicine.”
Su Yang nodded: “Mmm, get a few kinds of internal and external medication.”
Lian Jiu: “This subordinate understands.”
When the meal had been set out, Gu Feidi had already awakened and finished washing up.
Lian Jiu handed a box filled with medication to Su Yang, Su Yang casually put it aside on the table: “The dried fruit bars which I’ve asked the kitchen to make should be ready now. Have all of them sent to me later.”
After eating, Su Yang took the dried fruit sticks and the medicine box into the inner room. He transferred the medicine powder and pills from porcelain bottles into paper bags, making it more convenient to carry.
Gu Feidi sat down opposite him and caught a glimpse of a small round iron case in the medicine box. Frowning slightly, he reached for it.
As he opened the lid, a fresh floral scent dissipated into the air. The case was filled with a translucent pink gel. Gu Feidi stretched out his finger and dipped into it a bit. He rubbed it on his fingertips, it felt extremely smooth and slick.
His ears were red when and his lips were pursed when he looked up at Su Yang.
Su Yang had been focused on folding paper bags when he suddenly smelled a rich flowery fragrance. He glanced up at the iron case in Gu Feidi’s hand.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Gu Feidi fastened the lid of the case and said, “Perhaps it’s some kind of topical ointment?”
Su Yang curled his lips in dissatisfaction: “It’s too fragrant, it can’t do anything practical…” As he spoke, he thought again and added: “Maybe it’s to prevent mosquito bites?”
Gu Feidi nodded in agreement: “Maybe.”
Su Yang said, “Take it, it might be useful.”
Gu Feidi gave a light laugh. He took the small case and put it away under his lapels.
After doing most of the preparation work, preparing medicine, food and getting two sets of dark night clothes, the two of them waited for nightfall. With the appearance of having idled in the inner room for the whole afternoon, Su Yang dismissed the Lian Hall attendant early and brought Gu Feidi into the bedroom.
That night, the lights in the Young Saint’s residence went out before 9pm. Observing from a distance, Lian Jiu shook his head.
Mei Shisan stood on the eaves of the wall with a sword in his arms, staring at the gate of Su Yang’s courtyard with a blank expression.
“It’s the first time Young Saint has tasted it, I was afraid that he would make excessive demands and didn’t know if Young Hero Gu could withstand it.” Lian Jiu grinned wickedly, “Unexpectedly, he can endure it and he didn’t make a sound.”
Mei Shisan was silent for a moment. Leaped off the wall and approached Lian Jiu, saying, “You should understand the principle of not speaking when being harassed.”
Lian Jiu still laughed: “What? Shisan-xiong picked on my faults and is going to punish me the same way as last time? You’re taking turns guarding tonight, don’t neglect your duty.”
Mei Shisan lowered his eyes, his thoughts unknown. The corner of his mouth picked up and smiled: “…There’s no harm in neglecting my duty tonight.”
Lian Jiu was stunned for a moment. Then he was pressed against the wall by Mei Shisan’s kiss.
At the start of Chou period*.
(*TN : 1am – 3am)
Su Yang took Gu Feidi and stealthily left Iris Island successfully without encountering any obstacles.
Both of them followed the plan and evaded Mei Hall’s patrolling the flower aides all the way. Based on their calculations of when they were to proceed to the flaw, everything went extremely smoothly and they advanced all the way to the shallows at the base of Jun Hua Island.
However, the smoother the situation, the more solemn Gu Feidi’s expression became.
It was when Su Yang located the cave entrance by the shallows and found it unguarded, Gu Feidi couldn’t help grabbing him.
“Beware of tricks.” He whispered, “The Devil Sect’s defense would not be so lax. If you and I managed to arrive here so easily, it’s not because we were lucky.”
Su Yang said in his heart: It’s not good luck, it’s your protagonist halo!
In the script, Gu Feidi invaded the Devil Sect alone and could flee with Pu Lingyun who had been imprisoned in the cell. They then escaped to the Devil Sect Forbidden Area. Now, with this Young Saint as the undercover agent, why would they encounter unexpected events?
“Don’t worry.” Su Yang patted Gu Feidi on the shoulder and smiled, “Nothing will happen.”
Gu Feidi exhaled helplessly, clenched the long sword in his hand and followed behind Su Yang to enter the cave.
After all, this cave belongs to the Devil Sect and it was also a Forbidden Area that has been developed. Oil lamps were embedded on the walls of the cave. The flames swayed gently with the breeze, illuminating the stalactites and stalagmites in grotesque shapes within the cave.
Turning around a corner, a brighter blaze appeared on the wall of the cave in front.
Gu Feidi held Su Yang’s wrist and swallowed his throat. He threw a look to Gu Feidi that said: Don’t make any rash moves.
Su Yang twisted his wrist round and patted the back of Gu Feidi’s hand to comfort him: “It’s fine. How about you stay here? Wait for me to go ahead and have a look. Assuming there are guards inside, they won’t make trouble with me considering my identity.”
After speaking, he shook Gu Feidi off and moved ahead.
Gu Feidi had no choice but to chase and catch up with Su Yang.
The two turned the last corner and saw a huge, brightly lit cave appear in front of them.
There was a stone door on the cave wall opposite and there were many lamppost stands beside it. The fires burned brightly on the stands, illuminating the whole cave like it was daytime.
A white-clothed martial artist sat cross-legged at the top of a flattened stalagmite.
The man in white had long hair hanging down to the ground and his face was covered with a gauze veil. His eyes were slightly closed, as if he was entering meditation.
When Su Yang saw this person, he was shocked and blurted out: “It’s you!”
The man in white slowly opened his eyes. His eyes were deep like a dry well in ancient times and there wasn’t the least bit of mood or emotion in them.
At that moment, he spoke with an indifferent voice: “Su Yang, Gu Feidi. This One has been waiting for you for a long time.”