CH 78

Dan Yi reached out a hand to caress Chen Ziqi’s smooth, fair-skinned face. Just as his fingers made contact with his skin, he couldn’t help pulling back a little, his fingers curling inward. He was intensely afraid that this was just a hallucination of his. Qiqi had still been a clueless little boy only yesterday – how had he matured overnight?

Dan Yi only collected himself again when Chen Ziqi couldn’t keep it in and grinned widely at him. His eyes, which had originally shown a mixture of elation and panic, returned to their usual cold and aloof mode. 

“Then, we should check that very carefully…” Dan Yi said softly, moving forward very slowly toward Chen Ziqi. He kissed those soft, warm lips gently, tenderly, sincerely.

The lips he kissed still had the bitter taste of medicine on them, but to Dan Yi, this tasted like the sweetest heaven.

Chen Ziqi simply remained exactly where he was, holding his head in place as he let Dan Yi inch closer to him. He’d originally thought that he would have to pester this little red bird who was predestined to lay eggs with a Green Phoenix for a very long time before he could win him over. He’d never imagined that his little chick had the same kind of feelings he had long ago.

I like you, and was trying a thousand ways and means to get you to be mine, but at the very same time, you were also stupidly in love with me. This kind of feeling was just too incredible, too unbelievable. The two of them exchanged a long, passionate kiss, and their young hearts started beating like drums in their chest. 

Dan Yi gathered Chen Ziqi into his arms. The latter still had his head tilted back with his lips pressed to Dan Yi’s, and Dan Yi deepened the kiss. Heaven only knew how hard it was for him to restrain himself when he’d secretly kissed Chen Ziqi before.

Chen Ziqi held his injured hand out of the way and used his good hand to wrap around Dan Yi’s waist, caressing the solid, toned muscles there.

After a long time, they slowly broke apart, panting a little raggedly.

“Did you find the blackworm?” Chen Ziqi asked, using his thumb to rub at the corner of his mouth. He was grinning widely, like a fox that had just stolen a farmer’s chickens.

“Not yet,” Dan Yi said, unable to stop the corners of his lips from curving upwards into a slight smile. He put Chen Ziqi back onto the bed and pressed him down under himself. “I need to try looking for it again.”

“Now that you’ve kissed me, you’re my bird. You’re not to lay eggs with other birds, you got that?” Chen Ziqi said arrogantly, pinching Dan Yi’s chin with his thumb and forefinger. Unfortunately, the effect of this move, which was supposed to look overbearing, was diminished significantly by the fact that he was underneath Dan Yi.

“I won’t lay eggs with other birds,” Dan Yi said seriously, taking hold of Chen Ziqi’s hands and pressing them down above his head. He bent his head and kissed Chen Ziqi’s eyes. “I only want to lay eggs with you.”

“Scram! Who wants to lay eggs with you?” Chen Ziqi laughed, raising a leg to kick him. “Spill, have you liked me since ages ago?” 

“Nn,” Dan Yi acknowledged. He caught hold of the leg that was attempting to kick him.

“Then, when you said that good friends ‘help’ each other that way, were you just shitting me?” Chen Ziqi asked, raising his eyebrows and using his toes to rub at little Fengyuan. The latter had already been standing proud since much earlier, and when Chen Ziqi rubbed at it, Dan Yi felt a hot rush of embarrassment.

Dan Yi pressed his lips together and refused to reply, choosing to tickle Chen Ziqi in revenge instead.

The two rolled around on the bed, their limbs intertwining. As they rolled and rolled, they somehow found themselves kissing each other again. It was as if they had just discovered an interesting new game. The two of them didn’t tire of showing their feelings for each other again and again. No matter how many times they kissed, it just didn’t seem to be enough. 

Dan Yi couldn’t help reaching his hands into Chen Ziqi’s clothes as they kissed. As his hands explored the inner folds of Chen Ziqi’s robes, he suddenly felt a hard object at his waist. “Eh? What’s this?” he asked.

Chen Ziqi smacked his head. “Ah! I nearly forgot about this,” he said, laughing merrily. He reached into his robes, fished out a thin little notebook and handed it to Dan Yi as if he was handing over a precious treasure.

The little book had a dark blue cover, and the words “Xiao Shao Jiu Cheng” were written neatly on it. Dan Yi flipped it open. The book was covered in beautiful handwriting. Someone had copied out a music score earnestly. This music score only had the first three parts filled in, and the rest of the book was just white paper. It would appear that this was a handwritten copy of the remnants of the “Xiao Shao” music score.

“Where did you get this from?” Dan Yi asked suspiciously. 

“I stole it from that old witch’s clothes,” Chen Ziqi said proudly. When Abbess Liaoji was gripping his fingers tight, he felt a strong urge to take revenge, and thus stole something from her person.

Gjc Tl’r ojmf vjgxfcfv. “Qtja firf vlv sbe rafji?” tf jrxfv rfnfgfis.

“Ktja’r la,” Jtfc Ildl rjlv, gbiilcu tlr fsfr. Lf’v yffc lc remt ugfja qjlc ogbw atja biv tju’r gbeut wlclragjalbcr, jcv la kjr jigfjvs jwjhlcu atja tf’v wjcjufv ab rafji bcf atlcu. Qtja, kjr Gjc Tl fzqfmalcu tlw ab rafji tfg qegrf jr kfii?

“Men and women shouldn’t come into intimate contact unnecessarily. Don’t do that in future,” Dan Yi admonished. 

Huh? Chen Ziqi looked at him in shock. “My friend, my dear friend, she’s more than a hundred years old. You know that, right?” he asked sarcastically. Dan Yi’s vinegar eating really knew no bounds!

Dan Yi harrumphed in disagreement, then tossed the notebook aside and pounced on Chen Ziqi again.

“Hey, hey, it hurts! Don’t press on my hand!”

This beautiful morning would have been made perfect if they could both kiss and touch each other all over, but Chen Ziqi’s fingers were bound together in an ungainly lump, so they had to give up on this idea. The two of them talked excitedly into the night until they were too tired to open their eyes, then slept until the sun was high in the sky the next day. 

Diao Lie came back to report. “This subordinate regrets that he has disappointed the Palace Master. I was unable to kill Abbess Liaoji,” he said. When the Eagle Wing people had arrived at the stone room, they’d found it completely empty. Both the doors that led into the cave were open. The first was the one that Chen Ziqi and company had used to enter from the Four Corners Ravine, and the second one led to some building in the Suxin Sect.

A group of grey eagles patrolled the mountain all night, but didn’t manage to find out where the Abbess Liaoji had disappeared to. They’d missed yesterday’s golden opportunity to kill her, and it’d be hard to find any more opportunities like that.

Dan Yi used a wooden spoon to scoop up some porridge and fed it to Chen Ziqi. “Forget it. She’s just gotten a little extension on her life, is all,” he said.

Diao Lie had been unable to accomplish the task he was set and should have been punished. He lowered his head and waited for a moment, but that nonchalant statement was all he got from Dan Yi. He couldn’t help raising his head in confusion. The scene that met his eyes was Dan Yi smiling as he held a little baozi, luring Chen Ziqi to eat it from his hand. 

It seemed that the Palace Master was in a good mood. Diao Lie lowered his gaze again. “This subordinate will go and receive his punishment,” he said.

When the Dark Cloud Envoy committed a transgression, he had to ask for a punishment from the White Cloud Envoy if the Palace Master did not himself set a punishment. The next day, the White Cloud Envoy Lan Jiangxue appeared with a fan made entirely of eagle feathers in his hand.

“Say, this Wang ye only injured two fingers – it’s not like he injured both his arms. Why is it that the Palace Master is even feeding him tea?” Wu Bujian mused, leaning on the corridor railings and looking at the lovey-dovey couple in the pavilion in confusion.

“Perhaps human fingers aren’t the same as ours,” Tu Buxian said, examining his newly healed claws. 

“Tsk. You ignorant little fools just don’t understand,” Lan Shanyu said imperiously, walking over to them.

“Wing Leader Lan,” the two said, getting up to greet him respectfully.

“What is it we don’t understand?” Tu Buxian asked.

“You’ll know when you have a significant other,” Lan Shanyu said, grinning a proud little grin. He swished the sparkling blue wide sleeves of his outer robe and slowly walked into the pavilion the Palace Master was in to report on the latest news he’d received. 

The Suxin Sect situation was still ongoing. The Abbess Wuyin had died, and those in the martial arts world who had thought to take advantage of the chaos to loot and steal had been beaten to a pulp by the three old nuns who had rushed out to protect their sect. This fiasco also got the Qi Confederate to sit up; Luo Hongfeng personally brought his Liuhe Sect people to restore order.

The Cheng family’s massacre was well-known to all. There was nothing much to argue about that. Luo Hongfeng insisted that the Suxin Sect return the Cheng family’s treasure to Cheng Zimo for safekeeping. The gold, silver, pearls, antiques, jade, precious weapons and other treasures had all been kept in the Suxin Sect’s storehouse after the Cheng family was wiped out.

When Berry Brown received these valuables, he didn’t bring them back to Lu City, but instead distributed them amongst the “Jiangnan Warriors” as compensation for their efforts in this matter. Those who had wanted to continue kicking up a fuss immediately became obedient upon receiving their share of the money, and also didn’t pursue Cheng Zhou’s original promise to publicise the instruction manual of ‘Open the Heavens’ since Cheng Zhou was already dead.

The Cheng family matter was thus considered closed. Chen Zimo sent off the martial artists, then dealt with Cheng Zhou and Cheng Jiazhen’s corpses. He buried Cheng Zhou in the Cheng family grave, and as to Cheng Jiazhen, he tossed her body off Wangchuan Cliff. 

“The Suxin Sect wants to hold a funeral for the Abbess Wuyin. Also, her successor is Zhao Surou,” Lan Shanyu said, opening his fan and fanning himself languidly. It was already the middle of summer and the weather was sweltering hot. Lan Shanyu was wearing six layers of clothes despite the heat, and sweat ran in little rivulets down his face even though he had only been standing for a short while.

“Why don’t you wear less layers?” Chen Ziqi asked, drinking a mouthful of iced sour plum tea. He felt hot just looking at Lan Shanyu.

“These are the robes Qinghan made for me. I want to at least wear them for one day more,” Lan Shanyu said, smiling merrily as he spoke. He saw how his Palace Master was hugging Chen Ziqi protectively and refusing to let go. The way those two stuck together looked hotter than his six layers of clothes. Weren’t they afraid of getting a heat rash?

At this juncture, Linghe led Yuhu into the room. 

“Yuhu, how are you getting on here?” Chen Ziqi asked, motioning her over to sit.

“Big Brother Chang, I’m going to go back to the Suxin Sect,” Yuhu said, her eyes reddening as she spoke. She had woken up to find herself in the Cloud Palace, and everyone here treated her so well that she was starting to see the people whom her martial arts master called “the demons of the Cloud Palace” in a new light. She was actually very willing to stay here long-term.

However, she’d found out today that her master had died, and that her funeral was being held in the Sect. She absolutely had to go back and pay her last respects to her master. No matter what, she was still her master’s loyal disciple.

“The Supreme Abbess isn’t dead yet, you know. If you go back, it might be dangerous for you – the whole sect might be under her control now,” Chen Ziqi said worriedly. 

“My master has passed away, and the Supreme Abbess is insane. No one will listen to her. Moreover… I can say that I was kidnapped by the Cloud Palace,” Yuhu said, saying the last few words very quickly. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing furtively at Dan Yi after that.

“That works,” Dan Yi agreed calmly. He waved a hand to signal to his subordinates to send Yuhu down the mountain. He’d brought this girl back so that Chen Ziqi wouldn’t worry, but now that she wanted to leave of her own free will, he was quite happy to let her go.

Chen Ziqi wanted to say something, but he realised that he didn’t have any standing to stop someone from attending her own master’s funeral. As such, he instructed Wu Bujian to go with her and come back only when he’d seen her safely to the Suxin Sect.

When Yuhu returned to the Suxin Sect, the first thing she saw was the thin white silks that were draped all over the mountain to mourn her master’s passing. Her heart felt very heavy. Zhao Surou was very busy attending to the funeral matters at this time, but she was very pleased to see her young disciple return safely. 

“You stupid girl, where did you run off to?” she exclaimed, smacking Yuhu’s back hard as she spoke.

“I… I was kidnapped by the Cloud Palace people,” Yuhu whispered, her neck shrinking into her shoulders.

“Those demons again,” Zhao Surou said, grinding her teeth. She didn’t ask any more, and told Yuhu to change into funeral attire quickly.

Yuhu was bone tired after kneeling at the funeral for a whole day, and she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow in her room. In the middle of the night, she was rudely awakened when someone threw a basin of cold water on her. Before she had fully come to, she got dragged off to one of the side halls by two of her Shijie. 

The candles burned brightly in the side hall, making the room as bright as day.

All the first and second generation disciples were present. Zhao Surou stood in the centre of the room, her face cold and severe as she glared at Yuhu.

“Shifu?” Yuhu asked, frightened. She wiped off the beads of water on her face.

“Clack, clack, clack…” The sound of a wooden staff tapping on the floor came from one side of the room, and before long, three of the old nuns who had been trying to kill Chen Ziqi came forward, supporting an old woman with snow white hair who was holding a wooden staff in her hand. They walked slowly, step by step, towards Yuhu. 

“Kneel down!”

One of Yuhu’s Shijie kicked the back of her knees, forcing Yuhu to fall to her knees on the floor.

That old witch was brought to the host seat, and she sat down slowly in it. She opened her mouth to speak in a hoarse, raspy voice. “Did you bring that unclean disciple here?” she asked.

“Supreme Abbess…” Yuhu’s voice faltered as she looked at the old witch, and she started trembling violently. Abbess Liaoji had not only survived, she was now in control of the Suxin Sect! Was she the ‘unclean disciple’ Abbess Liaoji was referring to? 

“Hmph! Being overly friendly with men, and colluding with outsiders against your own masters – is this how you have been teaching the Suxin Sect disciples in the years that I was in seclusion?” the old witch asked, banging her staff down with force. The three old nuns immediately knelt in apology.

“I wasn’t overly friendly with any men. That day, we had mistakenly gone into the cave and offended you, Supreme Abbess…” Yuhu said. Before she could finish speaking, the old witch used her neili to slap her with a palm wind.

Neili that had been cultivated for more than a hundred years was no trifling matter. That slap threw Yuhu halfway across the room. The other disciples didn’t dare to help her up and just stared at her in shock.

“From today onwards, the Suxin Sect’s rules are to be strictly enforced! Anyone who has more than a passing contact with a man shall be punished according to the Sect’s rules!” the Abbess Liaoji snarled, using her blind, milk white eyes to glare fiercely at the gathered disciples. She was completely blind now, and this seemed to have made her become even more vicious and violent. 

Yuhu lay chest down on the ground, listening to one of the Sect Elders proclaim that she was to be put to death. She couldn’t help speaking up to defend herself at that point. “There’s nothing in the Sect rules to say that we can’t speak with men!” she protested. This wasn’t a nunnery, and quite a few of Sect Elders and her Shijie had gotten married.

“Shamless wench!” one of the blue-clad old nuns shouted, slapping her face.

As they were speaking, some Liuhe Sect people knocked on the main door, saying that Confederate Head Luo had seen the bright light in the Sect and was concerned that something was happening. Zhao Surou waved a hand, signalling to two of her disciples to lock Yuhu up in the firewood storeroom so that she could deal with her personally later on.

It was very embarrassing to have to discipline one’s own disciple in front of an outsider, and that was why the Suxin Sect had chosen to do this secretly in the dead of night. Zhao Surou went out to placate the Liuhe Sect people, and two of the Shijie gave Yuhu a sympathetic look. 

“You really shouldn’t have been so careless. Running off with a man is really a slap in our Sect’s face.”

Yuhu curled up in a corner, tears running silently down her face. When she had attained enlightenment, she had been reading the words of the Supreme Abbess, which said that the Suxin Sect was founded to protect weak women from being bullied and to give women a place to stand on their own two feet in the martial arts world.

But now? What had the Suxin Sect become? Yu Linglong and Yu Furong were raised specially as sacrifices to please the Emperor, and they had to hide their faces since they were little, so that no other man could look at them. Yuhu herself had only left with Chen Ziqi for a few days, and she was now being sentenced to death. This place was no longer the Suxin Sect whose mission was to protect weak women anymore…

— 

The author has something to say: Mini-theatre

Old Witch: This disciple is unclean. Drag her out and chop her head off

Qiqi: Saying a few words to a man is unclean?

Old Witch: She didn’t just speak, she also held his hand 

Qiqi: Then if a man touched her chest, would that also be considered unclean?

Old Witch: That is downright filthy

Qiqi: Oh, when I stole the book, I touched your chest

Old Witch: ( ⊙ o ⊙ ) 

Yuhu: This Supreme Abbess is unclean! Drag her out and chop her head off!