CH 18

ing Qi spaced out for a moment, but then promptly resumed his normal response. He stretched his hand over and gently made a few waving motions in front of Wu Xi's face — only then he realized that the other person only had his eyes open and was not actually awake; even the depth of focus didn't seem quite right from the look of those orbs. After voicing the words that made Jing Qi's heart skip a beat seconds ago, Wu Xi tilted his head to one side and again drifted off to unconsciousness.

Soon the dawn would break — the little sable was sprawling asleep next to Wu Xi as Jing Qi donned the long robe of pale turquoise shade that Ping An had ordered someone to deliver over, his slumberous state had entirely vanished.

White hair... sitting beside the Stone of Three Lives.

After hundreds of years wandering in the Underworld, he had come to understand more or less the rules there. For instance, the living souls were not permitted to enter, and those spirits of the dead that passed by him all had already drunk the Mengpo tea, all had been washed immaculately clean to the point of cluelessness by the water from the River of Forgetfulness — thus, that person definitely would not have been able to remember the look of Jing Qi sitting neatly and quietly next to the Stone of Three Lives.

Then, if Wu Xi was not the Ghost Official in his previous life... he would precisely be the Soul Reaper.

Suddenly looking back on the memories by the Reincarnation Pond, Jing Qi recalled the words that the Soul Reaper once told him, "It was my fault that your fate became incomplete, making you constantly wrestle with the world and suffer all kinds of hardships for no reason. At this moment, there is nothing that I can do to make up to you except giving up all of my cultivation to trade for one lifetime where you can have black hair again..." Reversing yin and yang was equal to defying natural law — could it seriously be said that he had forsaken all of his cultivation?

Jing Qi gently raised his hand, fingertips brushing against the skin between his eyebrows as if at that place there had still remained a trace of blood. It wasn't until a long period of time after that he finally came back to his senses. Sitting by the bed, he watched the young man who was lying there in a low fever with a complicated expression.

"Although this is sale and purchase by force, after all, I am still owing you a favor..." He touched Wu Xi's hair tenderly and thought how the Creator had designed this world in such a mysterious way — she let them both meet in the netherworld, then allowed both of them, amongst the vast sea of people, to cross each other's path again.

The long, deep sleeve of Jing Qi's robe sagged down from his arms, slightly grazing past the sable's tiny body. The little creature opened its eyes vigilantly but then closed them again upon seeing the man, body curled into a ball of fur before inching toward Jing Qi's sleeve and falling into slumber.

Jing Qi heaved a sigh, and with one arm extended, he pinched the bridge of his nose: "It is really me who still holds onto the memories of all these entanglements from the past life and present time. This life... in this life, I will give it my all and keep you safe." He furrowed his brows and peered at Wu Xi appraisingly as if he was trying to finding faults from the other person. With a curled lip, he said: "You stubborn, little snot face! Say, if I no longer looked after you in the future, how long would you be able to survive with that horrible, donkey-like temper of yours?"

Wu Xi rarely experienced a fever like this — he felt like acidic water had been oozing out from each and every crack of his bones and seeping through his entire body. His dreams were a tangled, chaotic mess, of which he could remember neither the beginning nor the end. Once his mind had somewhat resumed its clarity, he vaguely sensed that there was a person beside him, and tremendous fear swelled up in his heart. During these vulnerable moments, he would regard everything around him with laden wariness, wanting to open his eyes wide to see who was there, and wanting to garner all the strength left in his body and struggle until the end to prop himself up.

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Yet, all that were there was a specially pleasant smell coming from that person, faint and delicate as it carried a hint of sweetness and the fresh coolness of clear water, and a hand that had been resting on his head all this time, very light and tender.

Strangely yet gradually, Wu Xi began to loosen up. Perhaps the fever had somewhat driven him to confusion, or perhaps his body was beyond exhaustion, thus came forth the illusion that it would be very safe for him to stay together with this person — just like a little animal dashing through the forest full of perils lurking from all four sides to return to the underground cave, so that it could finally shut its eyes and rest through the long night with a beautiful, sweet dream.2

When he finally fought back the fever and regained consciousness, the sun had already risen high and bright above the horizon.

As soon as Wu Xi opened his eyes, he saw a slender hand, palm up, placed in front of him, along with the little sable whose body was half tucked into Jing Qi's sleeve, the pale turquoise outer robe was tied loosely around the man. Jing Qi half leaned against the headboard, his head slightly tilted to one side. A wisp of hair fell down, scattered strands dangled over from his chin to his chest and slipped down onto the bed; it seemed like the hair ends were fluttering lightly in rhythm along with his breathing.

Wu Xi remained in a daze for a while as if he had never known this person before, the pair of deep black eyes opened wide as he was watching Jing Qi gingerly.

He thought about how good-looking this person was, and that it turned out to be the same young man who had looked after him the entire night before. He wondered why this person was neither afraid nor chose to run away during the assassination attempt that previous evening.

And, he thought about how this person was the only friend that he had crossed paths with during these past five years after his arrival at Da Qing.

Hence, he couldn't help but smile softly before quietly closing his eyes.

When he finally woke up again, Jing Qi had already left.

After moments of leaning against the bedside, Jing Qi napped through most of his sleepiness and somewhat gained back his energy. He then took the little sable out of his sleeve and placed it in his embrace; after a brief discussion with A Xin Lai, he went back to his residence.

After all, he still had some important matters to take care of at Nan Ning Wang Residence.

Ping An personally came out to welcome his master back, presented the list of servants living in the mansion, and let him know that everyone on this roster had been summoned and was currently waiting in the courtyard.

Jing Qi swept his eyes over the list and returned it to Ping An. With a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips, he strode toward the front yard.

Even Ping An, who normally could not keep his mouth shut even when there was nothing to talk about, had to bow his head in silence this time. Suddenly he felt that during the split second the young prince stepped over the threshold, this person had seemingly transformed into an entirely different person: that idle, lethargic kind of appearance that he was carrying around all year long as if it had been inherently rooted in his bones was just then a layer of skin camouflage that could be removed easily.

The same usual face was still there, thus naturally could not be defined as with fierce sharpness — yet when his glance lightly and casually swept over one's face, it would consequently send chills down their spine.

He was no different from a lazy and limpid cat that unexpectedly turned into a giant tiger the moment it woke up, ruthlessly scanning around for its prey. Ping An thought to himself that if his master normally had looked like this, someone could give him another share of courage but he would still have not dared to rattle on in His Royal Highness's face.

Jing Qi's steps came to a halt as he arrived in front of everyone, yet he didn't spare them a single look — he merely hung his head down a little and locked his eyes on the ground. Ping An immediately brought out his master's usual reclining chair and urged the latter to sit down and be comfortable.

Jing Qi settled down, legs up as he crossed one over another somewhat casually. With hands clasped together, interlaced fingers resting on his thighs, and lips carrying a miniscule trace of a smile, he looked at a yard full of people with unfathomably dark and wintry eyes and started to speak: "Last night, His Highness the Crown Prince sent someone here to let you know that the young sorcerer and I were going outside."

Ping An answered with a low voice: "Yes, His Highness the Crown Prince said that Master went out for a stroll, then instructed us servants to prepare hot water along with things like changes of clothing and wait to properly serve Master upon your return."

Jing Qi nodded his head. Needless to say, that was the normal standard for Nan Ning Wang Residence — even with ordinary scholars and noblemen of lower ranks, there was no justification whatsoever for the master to walk out of the gate without servants leading the horse and pouring water for them, and their dignity would be terribly marred if such disgraceful action was to be discovered by others. Those few words that Helian Yi gave him were indeed an implied reproach.

Among the Da Qing aristocrats and elites existed a strong emphasis on practice of lightness, calmness, steadiness, non-violence, and indignation-free.

"Lightness" meant that an erudite scholar ought to have a frail and sickly form, ought to speak with a feeble, soft voice that somewhat made others feel like he never had enough energy — only then he would be considered as an elegant, refined person. "Calmness" referred to the gracious nobility, who ought to walk to in deliberate steps, ought to ride their horses in an unhurried pace — only then he would be considered to have proper upbringing. "Steadiness" specified that man of noble birth ought not to falter when matters came up, whether neither glee nor sorrow ought to be found in their face — only then he would be considered having lived up his noble status. It had also been emphasized that descendants of aristocratic families were not allowed to practice martial arts since that line of work was only for the crude barbarians. They could neither get mad nor show any sign of anger, and were certainly not allowed to quarrel with others because that meant stooping low to the level of commoners at the market.

Of course, all of these long-established practices that endorsed ailments and fragility above were just, in fact, some kinds of songs specifically used to nurture the worthless pretty boys who could neither move a limb nor lift a finger.

Helian Yi handled this situation accordingly the same way households of high-ranking officials and aristocrats would do — when running into juniors of noble families who went out without bringing any servants along, one would send an attendant to go and notify their family about the youngsters' wellbeing. This would show that he had looked after them while giving the family their peace of mind.

Jing Qi took a sip of tea from the cup held in Ping An's hands, pursing his slightly chapped lips: "Ayy, what are you people standing here for? What's the matter? Wanting to ask for lucky money from me?"

Since dawn broke, everyone had been gathered here by Ping An, completely clueless of what had happened; but then it sounded like their master couldn't care less, they were finally able to breathe out a sigh of relief.

Although Ji Xiang was a clever one, at this moment, after taking a glimpse of Jing Qi's countenance, he could not tell if the latter's mood was good or bad, thus attempted to probe further by saying: "Master, gifts from other households have been delivered here. How should we return the favors? The butlers and servants have already compiled and organized them onto a notebook. We put it your study — would you like to take a look at it a bit later?"

Jing Qi responded: "Not looking. One pile to another... looking at them only gives me headaches."

Ji Xiang nodded his head in compliance and continued: "Master, you see, the butler summoned everyone here since early morning, and we didn't know what had happened. But now that you have returned, our hearts can finally be at ease. Should we just disperse and go back to continue whatever work that we were supposed to do?"

Jing Qi gave a small nod: "Mhm, whoever has work to do, hurry up and go do your thing."

The servants looked at each other in confusion, then decided to scatter anyway.

Yet right at that moment, their young lord began to speak, slowly and deliberately: "But if you are not in a hurry, you may as well stick around so I can tell you this funny story. About what happened last night, can you guess who were the people the Young Sorcerer and I ran into last night?"

Even Ping An did not know much about this. Last night when someone from the Sorcerer Residence came here, they only said that since it was already too late, the prince would stay over there for the night. After listening to the man's instruction, although Ping An undoubtedly knew that something had happened in between, he was not so certain about the specifics.

Jing Qi simply put on a smile; as his gaze swept over the group of people, the illusion that "he is looking at me" struck each and every single one of them. Then, they heard him say: "We ran into a few foolish, imprudent assassins."

That startled Ping An, his thin eyes immediately opened wide twice their usual size: "Assassination? Master, are you feeling okay? Is there any injury? Should I call for the Imperial Doctors?"

Jing Qi took the teacup from the butler's hands, lifted the lid open, and took a small sip. He then answered: "No need. It is nothing to make a big fuss over. They were merely southern barbarians called 'Black Sorcerer' or something like that. I already killed them out of convenience."

As the words "already killed them out of convenience" left his lips, his tone, albeit became much more sweet and mellow, was reeking crimson malice that made others shiver. Right then, the little sable began to crawl out from his sleeve. This tiny fellow was spattered with blood last night, yet Jing Qi hadn't got the chance to properly wash it — with body half mottled in bloodstain, its intensely bright, watchful eyes glaring, it certainly made others feel somewhat terrified.

Some of them were rather fainthearted, thus already felt their legs giving in; they thought to themselves, this person has such a quick change of heart -—he was like a gentle breeze and fine drizzles just moments ago, but now he is completely unfathomable, no one can figure out what he meant.

Then they heard Jing Qi go on with his talk: "Among us, there is a brother with great skill and spirit; as soon as he received the information and realized that this was such an unbelievably rare opportunity, he immediately dashed out in hurry to report to... um, his master. Who would have thought that before he even got the chance to see his owner, he had already first bumped into the master's adopted son."

Jing Qi let out a small chuckle, and everyone on the scene was completely in dead silence. After blowing the hot steam from his teacup, he continued: "This honorable person didn't spill a word, yet some of his brothers under him couldn't just sit still, so they just had to run out at that hour without notice to slash others. After one round of hassles and hard work, not only that they failed to accomplish anything decent, some even had their lives taken while helping me realize that there has always been an honorable presence at our Nan Ning Wang Residence all along..."

Suddenly, Jing Qi raised his head, his electrifying stare aiming directly and piercing through a certain individual, a smile on his face as he said: "What's wrong? You have already ruined His Highness the Second Prince's business — even I have to feel restless for you, but you seem rather relaxed about it, huh?"

Before his voice completely faded away, the grey-haired, muddy-face man crouching in the far corner, as if suddenly becoming an entirely different person, had already dashed over towards Jing Qi with utmost agility. Right at that moment, a series of bone cracking and joint popping sounds rattled off. As one turned around to look again, this person was no longer the timid, cowering, and shrimpy old Zhang who swept the yard — this clearly was a husky fella with the back of a tiger and shoulders of a bear!

In a moment of desperation, Ping An hurled the teapot in his hand with the target being that giant man's head, at the same time shouting out loud: "Assassin! Protect His Royal Highness!"

That man dodged the teapot attack and crooked his fingers, aiming directly for Jing Qi's neck — this unforeseen turn of events happened too fast and left no room for the guards to react. But the moment that hand was about to reach Jing Qi's neck, a "squeak" sound was instantly heard. All of a sudden, that man took a stride back and let out a blood-curdling scream as he slung his hand around desperately. The little sable jumped on Jing Qi's shoulder nimbly and stood upright again; it wagged its tail proudly while posing to flaunt his commendable bravery.2

That husky fellow's hand had already turned into violet shade; the cloud of purple smoke rapidly spread along his arm — within seconds, it crawled up and blanketed over the entire limb.

Jing Qi was a little surprised; he tilted his head to take a glimpse at the little sable that was licking its claws and said: "That powerful?"

The sable realized that it was being looked down upon, thus immediately bared its little teeth: "Squeak!"2

Jing Qi laughed out loud. When he turned around and looked, the guards had already put down that giant and restrained him on the ground. It was too late for the man to resist — all he did was tightly holding his own arm whose size was then several times bigger than the original while crying painfully, even a complete sentence could not uttered. The blackish purple shade had already spread up to his neck, his throat trembling with each quackish sound.

Jing Qi rubbed his chin lightly and asked Ping An: "How long do you think he can last?"

By then, Ping An had already been shocked speechless by this string of unanticipated incidents. It wasn't after a good while later that he started to point at the man on the ground who was convulsing as if just having had his tendon pulled: "This... this... Uncle Zhang?!"

Jing Qi extended his arm and gave the other a few light pats on the shoulder then waved his hands: "Dismiss dismiss! Ping An, go back and ask the accounts office to give each person a red envelope. Just tell them those are my words, giving everyone a bit more luck for the New Year."

After that, he turned around and started walking to his study; Ping An then hurriedly ran after: "Master, that... that..."

He pointed at old Zhang who had already lay motionless on the ground; even just glancing at the man could already make him scared out of his wits, thus he immediately turned back to Jing Qi: "That Uncle Zhang... What should I do?"

Not even bothered halting his steps, Jing Qi only instructed: "Burn the corpse. For the clothes, take them off first, fold them neatly, combine with the gifts that have already been prepared for the Second Prince, and send them back altogether."6

Ping An stood aghast, unable to close neither his eyes nor mouth.

Based on the level of this spy, Jing Qi could tell that Helian Qi had never taken him seriously. He let out a soft laugh: Originally, I didn't even plan to provoke you. It was your people that have done the bad deed. This time, it seems we will have to wait and see how this is going to unfold..."1

Author's note: Wow.... this weather is goddamn hot ==

---------------------------- end of chapter 18 ---------------------------