CH 18

Note from translator:

There’s some transphobic and homophobic stuff in this part of the novel, but don’t read it as an author endorsement, rather as a portrayal of a bigoted world where those who don’t fit into the heteronormative mold are excluded and reviled. It’s always written as coming from a character point of view. 

Also, Gu Feng and Su Mujin are not the only gay pairing in this novel, but all the gay pairings are secretive about their relationships. Only Gu Feng is brazen enough to announce it to his ‘ex girlfriend.’

Gu Feng’s eyebrows furrowed. If you have something to say, just spit it out. Saying that while staring at me in that manner, what kind of thoughts do you have in mind? Gu Feng resented his sensitivity, and recalling Su Mujin’s behavior in the peach grove, he grew even more indignant. Never before had anyone made him feel so trapped and exposed.

“That’s too bad, to have a beauty on each arm is a wonderful kind of life, in my opinion.” Gu Feng raised his eyebrows and smiled as he spoke. He felt that it was necessary to let that instigator Su Mujin experience some suffering of his own this time.

Who would have thought that hardly had his voice faded away, but Su Mujin’s smile grew even more brilliant. Gu Feng’s words just now were actually within his expectations. Only someone with something to hide would have flown into a rage out of shame. It seems that Gege already harbors doubts about the innocence of my feelings regarding him. Now that a seed of uncertainty has been planted, all that remains is to wait for it to germinate and mature into a towering tree. There’s nothing more for me to do but to water it liberally. 

Seeing his words result in the opposite effect than he intended, Gu Feng nearly spit up blood in frustration. He took a few deep breaths and resolved to not get tangled up by this matter. Just let it go . . . 

Among the crowd of cultivators, those few who were trained in the tactical deployment of troops quickly stood up. Die Wu’s words truly gave them a bit of assurance. Who wants to work for free after all? Those cultivators discussed among themselves, and decided to start with the eastern quadrant of this territory. But due to the high complexity of the job, they estimated it would take half a month to break through. This amount of time was sufficient to allow everyone to recuperate and regain their peak performance once again. After having battled the yao beasts for so long, everyone was exhausted.

The day they broke through, Gu Feng was sitting in meditation when suddenly he saw a brilliant flash of light accompanied by the roar of a yao beast. His conditioned reflex was to shut his eyes against the light.

“The territory is breached!”

“Yao beasts have emerged! Quickly, fight!”

All around could be heard the shouts of cultivators. Gu Feng opened his eyes to look. Sure enough, the territory had already been breached. The four nascent soul stage yao beasts were just as fierce as expected, but the remaining golden core cultivators still numbered in the several hundreds. Moreover, those who had made it this far were no ordinary people. Just as ants can bite an elephant to death, so too, the four yao beast guardians were soon defeated.

“This wall plaque says this is the ‘Hidden Treasures Pavillion’!”

“There’s got to be a ton of good stuff here. Everyone, let’s go!” 

Gu Feng’s heart skipped a beat. ‘Hidden Treasures Pavillion’ sounded like just the place where precious items such as cultivation pills and spiritual implements should be stored. Did the Tianji disc lie within?

“Ofa’r rqila eq, Xfuf. Pa’ii yf wbgf foolmlfca atja kjs.” Xe Mfcu tjvc’a rqbxfc ktfc Ve Zeplc rffwfv ab tjnf jcalmlqjafv ktja tf kjcafv ab rjs jcv eaafgfv atbrf kbgvr lcvloofgfcais.

Since when did he begin to already understand me so thoroughly? A warm feeling invaded his heart, and Gu Feng unconsciously softened his voice in response, “Okay, but if you come across a chessboard-like spiritual implement, you must grab it. And . . . stay safe.”

“P’ii mbwwla Xfuf’r fnfgs kbgv ab tfjga. P’ii ub lc olgra.” Ve Zeplc rwlifv, jcv la kjr jr lo j tecvgfv oibkfgr tjv yibbwfv jcv tlr jcvgbuscber yfjeas tjv gfjmtfv atf qfjx bo qfgofmalbc. 

Staring in a daze, Gu Feng groped at his wildly racing heart, and came to a vague understanding of why Gu Yunxi was so crazy for Mo Ran. He had a premonition that if Su Mujin had made a request of him just a moment ago, he would have agreed to . . . pretty much anything.

With a wry smile, and a shake of his head, he moved on from his momentary lapse and collected himself before charging into the ‘Hidden Treasures Pavilion’.

Inside the pavilion were numerous rooms, but the layout was evenly divided between left and right. Su Mujin had already taken off for the right side, so Gu Feng chose the left.

Each room was plundered along the way. Some contained pills, some contained spiritual implements, some contained the highest quality elixirs. Gu Feng didn’t even stop to look before indiscriminately grabbing it all and dumping it in his spacial ring. 

Everyone else behaved in the same manner as Gu Feng. Nobody fought, as the ‘Hidden Treasures Pavilion’ was much too large, and to do so would cause them to delay. After a day and night had passed, the pavilion had basically been swept clean by the crowd of cultivators. Gu Feng had yet to come across the Tianji disc, but had managed to pick up a ton of other treasures. No wonder it was emphasized that this secret realm was vital to conquer. This was simply becoming a millionaire overnight.

But why didn’t he see Xiao Jin? Gu Feng’s brow wrinkled as he frowned, starting to search within the crowd. Finding him, Gu Feng initially felt elated, but soon afterward, his expression grew darker and darker by the second.

“It’s not a big deal, I only practiced outside the sect for a few years.” Su Mujin absentmindedly answered Gu Yunxi’s questions. She had brought him into Taixu Sect, so he couldn’t be too rude.

“All those years I was really worried about you. Why don’t we exchange voice transmission codes?” Gu Yunxi outwardly still presented the attitude of a poised celestial maiden, but the slight quiver of her sleeve revealed that she was far from calm. 

“There’s no need to exchange transmission codes, Jiejie. You should be worrying about your own fiancé instead.” Gu Feng pulled Su Mujin away, his tone mocking.

“Hmph. Was I asking you? Do you always feel the need to swoop in and answer for him in such a domineering manner without ever asking what he wants?” Gu Yunxi glared at Gu Feng frostily, trying to drive a wedge between them with her words.

“Shijie, I thank you for your kindness all these years. Here’s a bottle of top ranked nascent soul pills to repay the favor.” Su Mujin took out a bottle of pills and tossed it to her, paused, then continued, “Gege’s opinions are my opinions. Shijie need not bother to find me in the future; asking Gege will do.”

Gu Yunxi’s retort was nullified by Su Mujin. Her face turned pale and distorted for a moment, then she hurriedly left. 

“You . . .” Both men spoke at the same time.

“You go first.” Again, they spoke simultaneously, causing them both to laugh.

“Then I’ll speak first. What you said just now I won’t forget. Even if you later decide to look for a Dao companion . . . you have to ask for my blessings.” Gu Feng spoke with a faint smile.

“Who else could I turn to for such a matter as a Dao companion, except for Gege?” Because the one I like is you. 

The corners of Gu Feng’s mouth turned up. The sapling in his heart seemed to grow a bit taller. Perhaps it wasn’t far from being full grown already.

After another half month or so, the defenses of the second hall were finally broken by the same group as before and the yao guardians once again had the misfortune of dying at their post. As this hall was the ‘Library Pavilion’, Gu Feng thought the Tianji disc was probably not hidden within, so there was no need to split up and search separately from Su Mujin.

The Library Pavilion’s collection was exactly as one would expect. It contained some rare books for cultivation techniques, and so on. Gu Feng already had a celestial level technique, and didn’t need anything else. As for Su Mujin, Gu Feng recalled that as soon as he broke through to nascent soul, the cultivation technique ‘Nirvana’, inherited from the Phoenix Clan, would automatically appear within his mind. So neither of them needed any of the cultivation manuals.

With this thought, Gu Feng wasn’t invested in exploring, but then decided to pick up some manuals, so he could hand them over to the sect for merits. The library was immense, and after two days of exploring, the two of them failed to come across any trace of the Tianji disc. 

The third hall was the ‘Palace of Oration’. The barrier to this hall was much more complicated than the previous two halls, and took a full month to break through.

Hey, why is the hall’s yao guardian still sitting in place? Gu Feng was inwardly immersed in astonished confusion when he realized that he himself was unable to move, and furthermore, everyone around was frozen in place. What had happened?

To his amazement, he saw a lone figure lazily strolling through the hall, turning to look at the cultivators as they stood motionless. Naturally, that person was a gorgeous woman, with long silvery white hair, eyes like shining gems, lips red as cherries, and skin as white as snow. Their every move was alarmingly seductive, and many of the male cultivators reacted, their faces blushing bright red.

In contrast, Gu Feng stood there calm and collected. He had to withstand the temptation of Su Mujin’s good looks daily, so he had developed a sort of immunity to beauty. But despite that, Gu Feng couldn’t help but admit that this person’s appearance was equal to that of Su Mujin. However this person’s ability to suppress everyone was terrifying. Their cultivation was likely on par with the sect leader’s, which was enough of a development to shock anyone. 

“Ugh! Today’s male cultivators are too weak. If their hearts are so easily swayed, how can they hope to cultivate the path of immortality?” The beauty’s eyes were filled with derision, then the sound of their magnetic voice revealed a deep, masculine tone.

A man’s voice? The cultivators were astounded. Such a peerless beauty was a man? The male cultivators were distraught, the Heavens were cruel. The female cultivators were envious and jealous. Why couldn’t they have been endowed with such divine looks?

That man brandished his hand, and numerous rays of white light poured forth, rushing about before finally alighting upon the few men with irreproachable conduct. Gu Feng and Su Mujin were included within that number. Both of them pinched a ray to take a look and saw it was . . . a bit of animal fur?

Gu Feng, “. . .” 

Su Mujin, “. . .”

They were in agreement upon this expert’s ‘unique’ demeanor.

“Now, all those who were selected by the rays of white light can come with me to undergo the trial of the Celestial Sovereign.” The man spoke with an aloof expression, his entire disposition instantly undergoing an about turn. If he had been a seductive siren previously, now he was as chilly as an immortal in exile.

“What? What were the selection criteria? 

“Weren’t they randomly selected?”

“That’s right, this method is unfair!”

Many male cultivators began to raise a fuss, and among them was Chu Feng. To be honest, he was the only one of his aptitude that wasn’t selected, but who made him be so partial to a beautiful face? Meanwhile each of the female cultivators had been selected.

“Why? You ask me why? Just think of how you behaved when I appeared a few moments ago!” The man coldly snorted. 

In response to those words, many of the male cultivators looked ashamed. Only Chu Feng recklessly insisted, “What your gorgeous self said is naturally correct, but isn’t this test only unfair to the male cultivators? Afterall, to start with everyone thought that you were . . . a peerless beauty.” After finishing his words, he still eyed the man up and down a few times with a heated gaze.

Gu Feng resolutely tried not to smile though the corners of his mouth twitched. Such lewd behavior would lead to a tragic end. One day that dude would get his comeuppance.

The person who Chu Feng was undressing with his eyes felt completely exposed, but couldn’t deny the rationale of the other’s words. His expression abruptly turned gloomy as he icily asked, “Then what, pray tell, do you think should be done?”

“I can test the women’s resolve myself, to assure they’re qualified. I am willing to take on such a task so that those beauties can show their ability.” Chu Feng’s face was as thick as a city wall, to say such words without a trace of shame. 

The man bowed his head in contemplation for a bit, then nodded and said, “Your words are reasonable, but I think your charm falls short. In my opinion, he is the best choice.”

Keenly watching the farce from the sidelines, Gu Feng’s expression suddenly grew dark. If he wasn’t mistaken, the person the man had pointed to was himself. Why was his life so difficult? Why did he keep getting pushed into the fire?