CH 25

Flying Dust [Fei Chen]

Chapter 25

Before getting into the carriage, Jun Wushuang said to Mo Fei Chen, “Fei Chen, this matter is actually just our sect’s matter, it has nothing to do with you. You have already done a lot for us. I… don’t want to involve you any longer…”

Mo Fei Chen took a breath as he held Liu Feiying into the carriage, “It’s fine, moreover that woman knows my face already, wouldn’t it be even worse for me if she found me when I’m alone now?”

Jun Wushuang smiled gently, “Fei Chen, if you are this so soft-hearted…I’m afraid that you will suffer in the future.”

“Then at least, not suffer here in your place.” Mo Fei Chen laid the quilt on, helped Liu Fei Ying and let her lie down into it. He also wrapped himself in a thin cloth before he came out. He sat beside Jun Wushuang and accompanied him as he drove the carriage.

“Why did you come out?” Jun Wushuang swung the reins, that graceful and natural move made people somewhat envious.

“A man and a woman should not be in the same room1[男女授受不亲 : In giving and receiving, man and woman must not touch (according to Confucian rules of etiquette).]. I dare not squeeze into the same carriage with Master Palace Liu.”

Jun Wushuang smiled again, Mo Fei Chen just looked at one side of his face and realized that his eyes were very deep, the curve of his nose was straight yet sharp, he should be a very good looking man that made people infatuated.

“Idiot, you and I together may also be ‘dangerous2[Dangerous here, in original text used the word 授受不亲 which usually used in relationship between men and women (男女授受不亲) specifically sexual, but here Jun Wushuang joke that being together with him, Mo Fei Chen and him can also have that sexual thing happen, that’s why it’s dangerous.]‘.”

“Hehe,” Mo Fei Chen pushed him with his shoulder,”Let’s not talk about this, is your Shi Fu’s injury serious? Did those medicines help?”

“It was because Shi Fu couldn’t use her internal force, that’s why Kemoluo could injure her. She would not have fainted but it was probably because of the smoke that did the trick, wait until the smoke has worn off, perhaps Shi Fu will wake up.” Since the carriage sped along the country road, they were now farther away from Kemoluo. They could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Along the road, there was no place for them to stop and stay. It was almost daylight when they saw the abandoned tiny temple (housing the village god).

Jun Wushuang was very cautious. He told Mo Fei Chen to stay in the carriage while he went down to check it out by himself before letting Mo Fei Chen drive the carriage in too. If the devil woman came after them and saw a carriage parked at the entrance of the temple, she would definitely find it suspicious.

Mo Fei Chen cleaned up the temple and the three of them laid down.

Jun Wushuang put Mo Fei Chen’s head on his shoulder, “Sleep for a while more.”

“Hn, where is this?”

“Further down the road, it should be Qiu City.”

Qiu City? Isn’t that the branch altar where Yu Jin is?

“Jun Wushuang, I may have to stay in Qiu City for a while tomorrow, how about this, why don’t you and Palace Master Liu go first?”

“What’s wrong with you? Yesterday, you said you were afraid that Kemoluo would find you, but today you are saying that you won’t go with me?” The palm of Jun Wushuang’s hand on Mo Fei Chen’s shoulder suddenly increased its strength.

“This time, I didn’t go back to Kun Yun Mountain Manor because of this matter. How about this? When we arrive at Qiu City, you guys continue to drive forward, since it’s the way back to your Xiu Shui Palace anyway. I’ll go after you once I’ve settled my affairs, how about that?”

Jun Wushuang frowned, “What matters are you going to settle?”

“To find someone.”

Seeing that he didn’t seem to want to say who he was going to see, Jun Wushuang eased up and said, “There is a brothel in the Shengmi town below Qiu City.”

“Huh?” Mo Fei Chen thought to himself, why is Jun Wushuang mentioning a brothel?

“I’ll take the Shi Fu to that brothel and wait for you, since Kemoluo will not expect that we’re going to stay at a brothel. Two days, I’ll wait for you for two days at most. You must come along.” Jun Wushuang took Mo Fei Chen into his arms and wrapped his other hand around him. Mo Fei Chen’s nose and eyes were pressed into his chest and he couldn’t even breathe.

“Jun Wushuang! It’s damn suffocating! It’s not like I won’t come back if I go!”

It was exactly at this moment, Liu Feiying slowly woke up and opened her eyes with a heavy sigh.

“Shi Fu, you’re finally awake!” Jun Wushuang helped her up.

“Where’s Kemoluo…?”

“She shouldn’t be able to catch up with us for a while. Shi Fu, how do you feel now about your injury?”

“I’m afraid it has hurt my internal organs, but I’ll be able to recover in a few days.” Liu Feiying’s eyes swept over the two faces and settled on Mo Fei Chen, “Mo Shi Zhí, thank you very much…”

Mo Fei Chen hurriedly shook his hand and said, “Don’t thank me, I’m just afraid that Kemoluo will find me.”

Liu Feiying smiled. Seeing that it was already morning, Jun Wushuang took out the pot (for decocting the medicine) and the herbal medicine from the carriage and boiled them up. After Liu Feiying had drunk the medicine, the three of them set off again.

When they arrived at Qiu City, Mo Fei Chen got out of the carriage. Jun Wushang grabbed him with his signature bad smile which Mo Fei Chen only seemed to have seen before, “You’re not meeting your sweetheart here, are you?”

“He he, it’s someone I take into my heart but not my sweetheart.” Mo Fei Chen’s finger nudged Jun Wushuang’s back of the hand, which was holding his own, before then he walked into the early morning market.

It was not difficult to find the location of Jing Shui Sect’s branch altar, as the people of the Jing Shui Sect were always dressed up in such eye-catching clothes. Mo Fei Chen wandered around the city and caught one of them with his old (previous) method. Not only did he find out the address of the branch altar, but he also stripped him naked and threw him into a pile of beggars.

Congratulations, you have become a disciple of the first under heaven’s sect3(the unequalled or peerless) , Gaibang4[丐帮 Gaibang: a famous sect that either the disciples or the leaders all are beggars]! 

The branch altar was located in the Chen family’s compound. It was one of the three wealthy families in Qiu City.

Mo Fei Chen did not go through the main entrance, after all, if he was seen by other members, it would not be convenient for him to search around. Although he thought of waiting until it was dark before entering, he was afraid that Jun Wushuang, who was waiting in Shengmi town would be anxious.

Since Yu Jin was going to be punished, he would be imprisoned in some kind of secret room or dungeon, according to the pattern in Wu Xia novels.

The area was guarded by the disciples, but not very strict.

Mo Fei Chen stood on the roof of the room and saw two disciples, one of them holding a jar of wine and the other carrying a whip, walking under the eaves.

“You know, this is really a pain in the ass5(arduous, fruitless and thankless task). No matter what, Yu Jin is still the Protector of the sect. The Vice Leader told us to punish him and although we were only carrying out orders, when Yu Jin came out, he’ll make fun of us.”

“That’s why the branch altar master didn’t do the whip himself, so that when Protector Yu blames him later, then the altar master will push it to both of us?”

“Damn, what a messy thing to do!”

Mo Fei Chen was happy to see the two men go around the winding corridor and seemingly open the door of a room, he gently took a step down and followed them. It was lunchtime and there were even fewer disciples taking their patrol. Mo Fei Chen poked a hole in the window and saw them walk up to the shrine in the hall, twisting the Buddha’s raised hand so that the shrine turned outwards. It seemed that the secret room was down there.

Mo Fei Chen did not dare to beat the grass and startle the snake—act rashly and alert the enemy, but hid behind a rockery in the courtyard. After about half an incense stick had passed, the two men came out again. When they were gone, Mo Fei Chen used his invisible sword qi to pass through the gap in the door. He knocked down the latch of the door, before then he pushed through the door and turned the Buddha’s hand to enter the secret passage.

The smell of mold and dirty water rushed into his nostrils, Mo Fei Chen was able to suppress the urge to vomit.

The further down he went, the more he realized that he was in front of a watery prison, in the middle of which a man hung, topless, the eerie light on the wall finding its way onto his patchy, jagged body, bloodstain streaked across it. The other man’s head was bowed, his hair covering his eyes, and he was still stubborn in his dispiritedness.

“Yu Shi Xiong?” As if Mo Fei Chen’s heart was pulled, he called out gently.

The man’s body, riddled with scars, suddenly trembled as he slowly raised his head… It was exactly Yu Jin.

“Fei Chen…what are you doing here?”

Mo Fei Chen was just about to go down into the water when Yu Jin stopped him, “Don’t come here!”

“Why?” Mo Fei Chen looked at him and felt a pain like a knife being twisted in his heart.

“It’s nothing serious, it looks deep but the fact is really nothing.” Yu Jin’s voice was still calm, but with a little more of a low and hoarse voice.

Mo Fei Chen took a breath, calmed himself down and said, “Yu Shi Xiong, come back to Kun Yun Peak with me, okay?”

Yu Jin shook his head.

“The Mirror Water (Jing Shui) Sect is now no longer just a ‘heresy’, it will probably be a cult in the future. Look at what Leng Yufang has done, she has already made enemies in the martial arts world!”

“What does it matter if it’s righteous or evil?” Yu Jin smiled, “Last time you asked me how I became the Protector of the Jing Shui Sect,right?”

“Your kung fu is good.”

“Hehe…” Yu Jin shook his head, “I climbed up by stepping on Leng Yufang’s skirt.”

“What——?” Mo Fei Chen’s eyebrows raised, “That… woman’s appearance is not bad, but her age is really big, right…? Shi Xiong, how can you ‘eat it down’?”

Yu Jin laughed softly, “She is my sister. Our mother gave birth to me, this ‘her little brother’, when she was fourteen…She wanted to follow Wen Xin, the sect leader of Jing Shui Sect. Our mother died of a serious illness after giving birth to me and since we have no father, there was no one to take care of me. She then thought the way out and left me at the foot of Kun Yun Mountain… Then I was found by your father, Mo Chang and he brought me up to the mountain.”

“So it was you who carried me up to the mountain. Is this a cycle of karma?” Mo Fei Chen shook his head, “Leng Yufang is your elder sister, so no matter what happens to you in Jing Shui Sect, you don’t intend to leave.”

Yu Jin didn’t answer him, he just said, “Fei Chen, you must always be well, keep living, always be as happy as you were at that time. You are right, ‘The world is like a tide, people are like water, how many people can eventually return (alive) from Jiang Hu’. I don’t know if I can go back, but if you are no longer Mo Fei Chen, then I … won’t have anything that I think (cherish, take into account) about.”

Mo Fei Chen sighed and turned around, just as he did seven years ago when Yu Jin also watched him leave.

“Yu Mutou…we’ll meet again some day!”

Mo Fei Chen ran away and left the Chen family’s compound. Once he was out, he stood under a jujube tree and pant vigorously.

Everyone had their own path to follow and others were unable to change it.

Mo Fei Chen looked up at the floating clouds in the sky and curled up with a smile, nothing to be sad about.

He was waiting for Yu Jin and He Yunfeng was probably waiting for him on the mountain.

Moreover, Jun Wushuang was hoping for him to quickly meet with him at one of the brothels in Shengmi town.

His heart relaxed, Mo Fei Chen used his ‘riding the wind’ steps and headed for Shengmi town.