CH 16

So it’s her? Yan Jun looked at his chessboard, and realized who Lingshu was. He paused and said, “Leaving your main body for too long will harm you. You should go back.”

“I won’t go back. I came to find you, and I want to stay with you.” Lingshu’s tone was firm. 

Yan Jan wore a bemused expression. With a wave of his hand he sent Lingshu back, leaving her with these words, “Tomorrow I can come visit you. Don’t wander around.”

The next day was spent as in previous times, the only difference being that Lingshu took on human form to accompany Yan Jun.

“You’re named Lingshu? Did you choose it?” Yan Jun now spoke a little with Lingshu.

“No, everyone in the village called me that. I thought it was my name.” Lingshu had an earnestly innocent expression. 

Yan Jun smiled, and contemplated a bit before saying, “The name Lingshu is a bit strange. It would be better to change it to Lingsu!” He wrote out the two characters for ‘Lingsu’ on the ground.

Lingsu gazed at those two characters making up her new name, giggling foolishly and nodding her head. From then on, she was known as Lingsu.

Yan Jun taught Lingsu how to write mortal language, and when he didn’t have time to visit, he left some of the mortal world’s storybooks to entertain Lingsu. After reading many stories, Lingsu began to have thoughts of longing for love. She became discontent with Yan Jun regarding her only as a tree. She even had the delusion she could become his companion.

Accordingly, she constructed a house for herself, and began to live in the fashion of humankind. For the sake of gaining Yan Jun’s love, she even used her main body to build a table and two chairs.

Yan Jun merely greeted Lingsu’s changes with a faint smile, but didn’t comment on them.

Later, Yan Jun taught Lingsu to paint. In order to teach her, he painted a portrait of her as an example, which Lingsu treated as a rare and valuable treasure.

It’s unknown when Yan Jun began to be busy, and often failed to come to see Lingsu for a few months at a time. Lingsu missed him terribly. To relieve her longing, she painted nonstop, and the content of those paintings was always Yan Jun.

Because she missed Yan Jun too greatly, she went to find the saplings that had just begun to develop spiritual awareness and chatted with them about her and Yan Jun. Tao Yao was one of those saplings. 

“Lingsu, in the future you can’t come visit me. The abode of the immortals has encountered great troubles, so I’m going to seal off the celestial mansion, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to return. There are many spirits within this celestial mansion with whom you can spend your life together.” Yan Jun, who had been absent for ages, finally appeared, looking completely exhausted.

“No . . . I won’t stay. Wherever you go, I’ll go too. I’m fond of you, Yan Jun. I can’t accept a life without you!” Lingsu spoke in a panic.

Tjc Aec kjr rlifca. Lf tjv ibcu yffc jkjgf bo Olcure’r offilcur yea kjr ecjyif ab gfrqbcv ab atfw. Pa kjrc’a atja tf vlvc’a kjca ab, yea atja tf mbeivc’a. Lf jigfjvs xcfk tlr ojaf kjr ab qfglrt; kts rtbeiv tf yegvfc jcbatfg?

“Po sbe vbc’a ajxf wf klat sbe, P’ii vfabcjaf ws mbgf.” Olcure kjr gfrbieaf. 

Moved by Lingsu’s determination, Yan Jun’s expression shifted, and he slowly spoke, “I’ll deploy an array called ‘The Seven Emotions and Six Desires‘. If you can break out of the illusion, I’ll think of a way to take you along.”

Of course she broke out of the illusion, and Yan Jun stood by his promise. Using a Celestial spell, he transferred Lingsu’s spiritual essence from original body of the tree into her human form. Then the tree which she had spent most of her life as shriveled up. Finally, Yan Jun sealed the Celestial mansion and Lingsu traveled with him.

“. . . Yan Jun and Lingsu left, never to return. Only, one day, Yan Jun’s chessboard flew back, but there was no news of the two of them.” Tao Yao finished her recounting and was lost in memory, unable to calm down for a while after.

“Yan Jun is the master of this celestial mansion?” Gu Feng caught on to the essential point. He had a feeling that the name was incredibly familiar. 

“Yes, his full title is Da Yan Xian Jun, but everyone calls him Yan Jun. If you have news of the two of them, please inform me immediately. I only want to know if Lingsu Jiejie is alright.” Tao Yao returned to the present and gave Gu Feng a peach petal taken from her own tree. With it, Gu Feng could contact her no matter his location.

“Okay, after I leave, I’ll investigate, and if I find anything I’ll let you know. Do you know where the chessboard is at this time?” Since Tao Yao was one of the permanent residents of the celestial manor, Gu Feng wanted to mine her for clues, but he also subconsciously felt that the chessboard was significant.

Tao Yao knit her brow in concentration, then shared her conjecture, “It probably flew over to Yan Jun’s residence. Right here, we’re on the outskirts of the celestial mansion, a long distance from there.”

Gu Feng, “. . .” 

Indeed, they had wandered around for so long, but still remained in the periphery of the hidden realm?

Returning to the space beneath the giant peach tree, he found his teammates still passed out. Gu Feng gave Tao Yao a look, with an obvious implication.

“I know, I’ll release them. Hurry and go, so as not to disturb my peace. Don’t forget what I asked you about.” Tao Yao once more reminded Gu Feng, then revived Su Mujin and the rest before she faded from sight.

“Ye Mochen, come over here. I want to discuss something with you.” Seeing that everyone had regained consciousness, Gu Feng called to Ye Mochen, taking pains to avoid meeting Su Mujin’s scorching hot gaze. He was unable to face Su Mujin for the time being. 

Ye Mochen looked at Gu Feng with a complicated expression, but stood up and followed him.

“Gu Feng?” The two of them had just come to a stop, when Gu Feng suddenly threw out those words.

“Are you messing with me? You called me over just to say your own name?” Ye Mochen looked disgusted. He was still affected by the torment and treachery he experienced in the illusion.

“I was talking to you, Gu Feng.” This time Gu Feng spoke assuredly. 

Ye Mochen was astonished, his eyes opened wide in shock, he said, “You-how did you know? Who . . .  are you?”

“Locked up for three hundred years together, and you ask who I am?” Gu Feng asked a question in reply, his tone rather emotional.

“Then . . . who is the Su Mujin over there?” Ye Mochen calmed down a little, and slowly found his voice.

“Also ‘me’, but without my later memories.” Mentioning Su Mujin, Gu Feng had a bit of a headache. 

Hardly had he finished speaking, when he saw Ye Mochen looking even more shocked, this time his mouth formed the shape of an ‘O’ and he said, “but I heard from Hua Yan that the two of you are a couple. Your taste is . . . really that extreme?”

Gu Feng, “. . .”

Annoyed by the mention of his sore spot, wait no, Hua Yan knows about it? He himself had only just realized. Gu Feng thought long and hard, and only then remembered that at the beginning, in order to dump Hua Yan, he had made it seem as though he and Su Mujin were together.

If Ye Mochen had asked him yesterday, he would have resolutely refuted it. But today, he was incapable of immediately denying it, because his heart had been moved. 

“Cough, I’ve already forgotten much of the past. Regarding this hidden realm, I know nothing. I was already locked up at that time in my previous life. What do you remember?” Gu Feng let out a guilty cough, and changed the topic.

“. . . I actually don’t remember much about last life’s imprisonment. I only remember Hua Yan.” Ye Mochen was embarrassed to admit this.

Gu Feng’s face clearly showed what he was thinking as he looked at Ye Mochen. Why are you so useless?

“But I remember that Gu Yunxi seems to have obtained a Tianji disc from this secret realm. That object was vitally important to her, and in fact, she came here solely for the purpose of getting it.” Mentioning Gu Yunxi, Ye Mochen’s face turned sombre. 

Tianji disc? Could it be Yan Jun’s chessboard? Originally I merely suspected that Gu Yunxi and Lingsu were related, but now I’m certain. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Gu Yunxi to know that there was a Tainji disc here. Judging by her appearance, Gu Yunxi is most likely Lingsu’s daughter. With Lingsu’s deep seated affection, it would have been impossible for her to give birth to another’s child, is it possible that Lingsu and Yan Jun are still alive?

But is Gu Yunxi not the  sect leader’s daughter? She was brought back when the sect leader’s wife passed away. Allegedly, when the sect leader was a youth, he was utterly obsessed with a mortal woman and fathered a daughter. By the time the sect leader found out about the child, the mother had already died. The sect leader then brought the child back to the sect. Did Gu Yunxi pretend to be that child?

Things just keep getting more and more complicated. It seemed that after leaving this place, he would have to go find Wuying Pavillion and ask them to investigate Gu Yunxi’s life before she entered Taixu sect. Wuying Pavillion was a neutral force solely devoted to intelligence.

“Don’t mention our business to anyone else. Presently, we must do all we can to prevent Gu Yunxi from obtaining that Tianji disc.” Gu Feng had developed a headache, and rubbed his temples. 

Ye Mochen nodded solemnly.

“Gege, we discovered that the array had already been broken when we regained consciousness. What happened?” Just as Gu Feng returned, Su Mujin asked him, with a free and easy attitude. It seemed as though he really didn’t remember anything that had happened after the illusion ended.

“I found Tao Yao’s main body, and after attacking it, the array broke. Then I discovered all of you, but you all were unconscious.” Gu Feng spouted rubbish without batting an eyelid.

“. . . Oh, so that’s what happened. Gege is truly awesome!” Su Mujin seemed to be caught in a daze for a moment, but quickly covered it up as though nothing was wrong. 

Actually, he still retained the memory of what happened after the illusion array broke, but he was certain it was a hallucination. How could Gege just stand there and let me kiss him? However, he just now had observed that Gege’s lips appeared a bit red and swollen. Additionally, Gege seemed to be avoiding him. He suddenly felt a bit uncertain.

“Yeah. So I’ve checked this place already, and found there’s nothing special here. We shouldn’t delay any longer.” Gu Feng answered Su Mujin in a single word then quickly looked away. Right now, he needed to find the Tianji disc as quickly as possible.

“Chu Feng, this secret realm is dangerous. Why don’t you come with us?” Hua Yan looked at Chu Feng with a bit of concern. Afterall, Chu Feng’s woman had betrayed him, and he might feel depressed.

“Certainly I’ll join you. It’s senseless to go alone.” Chu Feng answered without a care in the world. He even seemed quite elated?! 

Gu Feng couldn’t look Chu Feng in the eye. Nobody else was as clear as he was about the reason for Chu Feng’s happy attitude. If Tao Yao once again set up the illusion array, Chu Feng would happily lose himself within it.

As soon as they exited the peach grove, everyone’s expression changed. Within Tao Yao’s territory, they couldn’t sense anything happening without. But once outside, they saw multitudes of cultivators rushing past, all of them with panic stricken expressions. The cultivators gave Gu Feng’s group strange looks, clearly surprised to see them standing still.

Gu Feng looked in the direction that the cultivators were fleeing from, and suddenly his heart trembled. This is bad. It’s a beast stampede . . .