CH 30

Xiao Yuan was silent. Gu Louyin had obviously lost his mind and it was futile to say anything to him at this time. Let him cry first, and when he is done crying and calms down, he will explain before it is too late.

After Gu Louyin said that passage just now, he stopped talking and wept silently. If it weren’t for the steady stream of tears he could feel, Xiao Yuan would have thought he fell asleep on his shoulder.

Gu Louyin’s reaction being so big was something Xiao Yuan hadn’t expected. It seemed that he had lost and recovered not a fiancée with whom they mutually used each other, but a Dao companion with whom he was deeply in love with.

No need, there was no need at all. He and Gu Louyin had only been together for a few months. They might have been friends before Lin Wulian was poisoned, but after that, even if they had a private marriage contract, they were each getting what they each needed. Gu Louyin wanted his blood to save his Shixiong, and he wanted to become Gu Louyin’s Dao companion to approach Qingyan and to complete his task. They had never said anything beyond negotiating the conditions. There was no ‘like’ or ‘being in love’, let alone making an oath to stay together. From beginning to end, the only thing Gu Louyin gave him was a purse. He did not accept it, so their relationship could only end there.

Xiao Yuan changed back to Shen Fugui’s appearance and patted Gu Louyin on the back, “Young Pavilion Master Gu, I can understand your mood, but you have recognized the wrong person again.”

Hearing Shen Fugui’s voice, Gu Louyin stiffened. He slowly straightened up and stared into the eyes of ‘Shen Fugui’, as if to see the soul of the person in front of him through this body. “Don’t lie to me anymore, Xiao Yuan.”

“I am An Mu.”

Xiao Yuan’s voice was filled with unmistakable determination, but Gu Louyin was even more determined than him. His was an almost terrifying obsession. “You are Xiao Yuan.”

Xiao Yuan sighed helplessly and asked, “Where is your evidence? Oh, you heard the conversation between me and Lu Yueyao just now, so you concluded that I was Xiao Yuan?”

Gu Louyin stubbornly said, “You are.”

“The reason why I did this is because I was entrusted by a client.” Xiao Yuan said calmly, “He asked me to use the convenience of the face-changing technique to investigate the truth about the poisoning of Lin Wulian back then and to restore Xiao Yuan’s innocence.” 

Gu Louyin obviously didn’t believe his words and said solemnly: “Who?”

“The master of Xiao Yuan, Li Xianting.” Li Xianting was elusive. Unless he wanted to show up, no one could find him. Since he was able to fight against Yunjian Pavilion for his apprentice two years ago and both sides ended up injured with no winners when he fought Gu Hang, the Yunjian Pavilion Master, it made sense he wanted to clear his apprentice’s name today. Gu Louyin knew of the existence of Li Xianting and it was appropriate to use Li Xianting as a cover.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, Gu Louyin’s eyes flashed with hesitation, but it was quickly replaced by conviction. He was like a drowning man who had caught onto a driftwood – he would never let go.

“You are very good at deceiving people,” Gu Louyin said hoarsely, “but this time, I won’t be fooled.”

He loved to eat seafood, he didn’t eat bitter melons and he wanted a ruthless hua. His reaction to Lu Yueyao’s poisoning, and when he changed to Xiao Yuan, his every smile, every move… And, as long as he was in front of him, his heart would throbbing indescribably.

There could not be so many coincidences, he was Xiao Yuan, he had to be Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan was speechless for a while. He said everything he had to say, but Gu Louyin didn’t want to wake up.

“Tell me, you are him.“ Gu Louyin’s voice was full of longing and plea, “I only need one word from you, just one word from you.” 

Xiao Yuan looked at him calmly and gently said, “I am not.”

Longing turned into despair. Gu Louyin’s eyes darkened and he whispered, “Do you just… hate me that much?” 

Xiao Yuan was a little dazed – did he hate Gu Louyin?

Hate was the same as love. It was too strong an emotion and he seemed to have never felt it before. He didn’t know how to love someone, nor how to hate someone. Looking back on the past two decades, his initial emotions for those close to him had always been expectation.

For a short while, he expected that his Shidi would eat his sugar piggy, that Xiao Du would really be his elder brother, that his Shizun would take him home and that Gu Louyin would clear his name for him.

Later… he had no more expectations. Without expectations, there would be no disappointment, and he could live a happier life. Also because he no longer expected anything, his feelings for these four people would always remain as they were before the expectations arised. Either Gu Louyin or the other three, for him they would just be the people from the past who prevented him from continuing to be unrestrained and at ease.

Xiao Yuan showed a helpless smile, “Gu Louyin, you really recognized the wrong person. I think you miss the dead too much,” Xiao Yuan pointed to his forehead, “which caused something to go wrong here. If you really think about Xiao Yuan that way, why don’t I become like him and let you hug me? Don’t worry, I know you are poor and I won’t charge you money this time.”

Gu Louyin’s face was extremely unsightly. At this moment, a man’s scream came from not far away. Xiao Yuan felt quite lucky and said, “What happened?”

Gu Louyin looked at him, “I don’t know.”

“Go, let’s go and have a look.” Xiao Yuan was still being pressed against the rockery by Gu Louyin and he couldn’t move without Gu Louyin moving. “Why are you still in a daze, maybe something fatal is happening!”

Gu Louyin let Xiao Yuan go with a slight reluctance, and Xiao Yuan  immediately went toward the direction of the sound.

Gu Louyin followed up and said, “You are still wearing…”

“Oh, I know.” Xiao Yuan glanced down at the attire of a Baihua Palace disciple on his body and said indifferently, “Anyways, I am now Young Sect Master Shen, so it doesn’t matter.” 

Gu Louyin looked at the profile of ‘Shen Fugui’ and couldn’t help but smile.

Xiao Yuan was really back.

Even though Xiao Yuan said that it didn’t matter, he still went back to his room and changed his clothes. Otherwise, if Young Sect Master Shen’s eccentricity reached Shen Fugui’s own ears, Shen Fugui would definitely chase him all over the cultivation realm.

When he changed his clothes, Gu Louyin was guarding him at the door, for fear that he would run away. Xiao Yuan  was a little worried. Looking at Gu Louyin’s attitude, it seemed that he had already identified him as Xiao Yuan, and he didn’t know if Luo Lan had received his letter.

The screams came from Xiao Du’s room. When the two arrived, there were already a lot of people outside. Most of them were the cultivators who lived in Taoyuan, and Mu Yingyang was also there.

When Mu Yingyang saw Gu Louyin and Xiao Yuan, he raised the corners of his lips and said, “Oh, your young master is here.”

When everyone heard the words, they turned around and consciously gave Gu Louyin a way, with an expression of watching a good show..

Xiao Yuan followed Gu Louyin into the crowd, and he roughly understood what happened at a glance.

Several disciples of Yunjian Pavilion were on the ground, tied by the tough vines, and kept rolling on the ground, screaming as if in pain. If one took a closer look, one would find that there were countless sharp, thin barbs on the vines that were tying them. The more they struggled, the tighter the vines became, and the barbs entered their flesh deeper, like ten thousand arrows piercing their bodies.

When they saw Gu Louyin, they stretched out their hands to him, shivering and saying in unison, “Young Master, save, save us…”

Gu Louyin said, “Fanged vines.”

“Young Pavilion Master Gu has good eyesight. This is the fanged vine I bought from the flower viewing party yesterday.” Xiao Du stood on the steps and watched with interest the tortured appearance of the disciples of Yunjian Pavilion, as if enjoying it very much. Xiao Rong hid behind him and looked around curiously. “I put the fanged vine in the room with the serpentine beauty, and I heard screams in my sleep. This was the sight I saw when I woke up.”

Mu Yingyang joked: “Yunjian Pavilion fails to steal the serpentine beauty and is trapped like a dog by fanged vines. This flower viewing party is really of great value, it can increase one’s insight so much.”

The disciples of Yunjian Pavilion had always been known for their rigorous cultivation and high moral character. No one would have thought that they would do such a thing as stealing. What was even more ridiculous was that they tried to steal but were caught red-handed and disgraced Yunjian Pavilion. As the young master of Yunjian Pavilion, Gu Louyin had not yet made a statement, but others had already begun to talk about it.

“No way, no way, the people at Yunjian Pavilion really tried to steal it?! My goodness, when I was a child, my ambition was to be able to join Yunjian Pavilion! I, I, I – I’m shattered!”

“No more, no more, to lose face like that is a crime.”

“In my opinion, the ancestors of Yunjian Pavilion are turning in their coffins. You might as well expect them to climb out of the ground in anger and scold these unworthy descendants.”

“I seem to know why our Tianhe Sect can’t become the number one sword sect in the world. It’s because we are not thick-skinned enough?”

“However… they did it to get the antidote to save a human life, I think it is understandable.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s important to save a life.”

“Oh, can you steal if it’s to save a life? Then I have a kind of disease that will kill me if I can’t get Qingyan. Is it understandable to go to Yunjian Pavilion to steal Qingyan?”

Xiao Yuan wanted to know who was so eloquent, but when he looked, it turned out to be Mu Yingyang. For the first time in his life, he wanted Mu Yingyang to keep talking. If you can talk, just talk more, Shixiong is willing to listen.

Gu Louyin looked blankly at his fellow disciples. His Shidi Jiang Liuyuan was not there, and neither was Xu Shidi who had been in Yunjian Pavilion for less than two years.

Xiao Yuan said calmly: “Do you want to untie them?”

萧玉案淡道：“要给他们松绑吗。”

Gu Louyin looked at Xiao Du, “It’s up to him.”

Xiao Du smiled, turned his head and asked Xiao Rong, “Ah Rong, what do you say, do you want to let them go?”

Xiao Rong said meekly and obediently: “I’ll listen to gege.”

Xiao Du said, “I would like to let them go, but it is a pity that this is the first time I have used fanged vines. I know only how to tie people but not untie them.”

The disciples of Yunjian Pavilion who were tied by fanged vines could no longer scream. Their faces turned blue and their lips turned purple, and they could only moan faintly. At this moment, someone shouted: “Yunjian Pavilion people are here again!”

Xu Shidi rushed through the crowd and saw his fellow disciples tied on the ground. He was shocked and disappointed: “You are really here… Why, why to steal! Didn’t you say that you would wait for Lin Shixiong to come! How can you do this kind of thing? How can Yunjian Pavilion do this kind of thing!?”

“Help, help…”

Xu Shidi was furious and raised his sword to cut the fanged vine. However, the vines were extremely tough. After he had been working hard for a long time, the vines still showed no signs of breaking but tightened more and more.

Han Mu who followed said, “Use fire.” As the words fell, a few clusters of flames came out of her fingertips and fell on the fanged vines. As soon as the vines were touched by fire, they quickly put away the barbs and slowly loosened. The few Yunjian Pavilion disciples were able to escape, but they were already on their last legs and could only lie on the ground and bear the stares of disdain or disappointment from the crowd.

Xiao Du smiled and said, “It turns out that fanged vines are afraid of fire. I’ll remember that.”

Han Mu bowed slightly and said, “Yunjian Pavilion is incapable of teaching its disciples. They will be severely punished upon their return for making such a scandal. This matter is the fault of Yunjian Pavilion, I hope this distinguished cultivator can be forgiving of us.”

“It was also my fault. It was my fault taking the serpentine beauty for myself and that’s what got me into trouble.” Xiao Du said, “Ah Rong, bring the serpentine beauty.” ”

“Yes, gege.”

Xiao Rong walked into the house and returned a moment later holding the herb. The serpentine beauty was planted in a pot. Its leaves were as long as a snake’s tail, but its color was like rouge on a woman’s lips, that’s why it received this name.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on this once-in-a-hundred-years treasure, especially the people of Yunjian Pavilion who yearned to plunder it.

Xiao Du took the serpentine beauty, only for a crisp sound to be heard. The flower pot shattered, and the serpentine beauty fell on the ground, was stepped on by Xiao Du carelessly and shattered into powder that was blown away with the wind.

There was no sound around, and the silence was like death.

Xu Shidi’s expression seemed to be murderous: “You–!”

Han Mu frowned and was about to say something, when another voice came: “Shishu.”

Han Mu’s eyes widened suddenly. Xiao Yuan was also taken aback. He remembered this voice……

Lin Wulian was dressed in the attire of a Yunjian Pavilion disciple, still looking like a gentle and courteous scholar. He walked up to Han Mu and said, “I know everything. I also ask Shishu to take my blood as soon as possible to heal Lu shimei.”

Xu Shidi’s eyes filled with tears; he choked and said, “I knew, I knew Lin Shixiong would definitely come!”

Han Mu’s look was complicated as she said, “Did the Pavilion Master agree for you to come?”

Lin Wulian neither confirmed nor denied it. As he looked at Gu Louyin, there seemed to be a bit of resentment in his eyes, “Shidi.”

Gu Louyin subconsciously stood in front of Xiao Yuan and said, “What’s the matter?”

“There is one thing you need to know.” Lin Wulian’s voice was not loud but it was enough for everyone to hear: “The corpse of Xiao Yuan has been found.” 

The faces of Gu Louyin and Mu Yingyang suddenly changed; Xiao Du’s eyes were slightly raised and his thoughts were unreadable.

Xiao Yuan smiled faintly. Luo Lan caught up just in time.