CH 69

Since Gu Louyin defected from Yunjian Pavilion and his whereabouts were unknown, Shen Fugui and Cai Xunnian had been looking for him. After searching for several months without success, Cai Xunnian proposed to go back to Yunjian Pavilion to inquire if there was some news. Maybe Gu Louyin had already been taken back by Yunjian Pavilion. The two hurried to Yunjian Pavilion and had to fight the disciples of Yunjian Pavilion in the blink of an eye.

While Cai Xunnian was unconcerned, Shen Fugui was heartbroken. This group of minions was nothing, but when the elders of Yunjian Pavilion or Gu Hang himself came later, could they still fight? It was definitely impossible to beat them and it would hurt the harmonious relationship of Xuanle Sect and Yunjian Pavilion. Although last time when he learned that his friend was forced to demonization by his shimen, he didn’t hold back and scolded everyone in Yunjian Pavilion except Gu Hang, but it wasn’t to the point of a complete break-up.

Seeing that his shimei had already summoned her se (a stringed instrument), Shen Fugui hurriedly said, “Shimei, don’t!”

It was a pity that Cai Xunnian has never been a good shimei who listened to her Shixiong. Her white slender fingers quickly plucked the strings and invisible ripples spread from them. The sound waves rolling out in all directions were full of the graceful and mighty spiritual power unique to the female disciples of Xuanle Sect.

Most of the disciples guarding the gate of Yunjian Pavilion were young outer disciples. Only half of them were able to resist Cai Xunnian’s sound waves and the other half were pushed away for a few steps; some even lost their swords. The leading disciple shouted indignantly: “What are you doing in a daze, pick up your swords and get them!”

Cai Xunnian also said, “Shixiong, help me beat them!”

Since his beloved shimei spoke, Shen Fugui could no longer care about the harmony between sects. He took the flute tied to his waist and was about to play together with Cai Xunnian. A familiar voice came from behind him: “Dignified seven-foot men beaten like this by a little girl, my old second hand embarrassment problem is back and my face is burning.”

Everyone looked at the source of the sound and saw a man in the attire of a Yunjian Pavilion disciple sitting on the gate, looking down at them condescendingly.

Shen Fugui knew why he felt that this voice was familiar – it was his own voice!

Cai Xunnian was speechless, “Shi, Shixiong?!”

The disciples of Yunjian Pavilion looked at Shen Fugui in yellow clothes and Shen Fugui in white clothes, their expressions shocked and confused.

“How could there be two Shixiongs…” Cai Xunnian was puzzled, “Which one is the real one!”

“Of course I am the real one!” Shen Fugui was furious, pointed at Xiao Yuan and said, “You have seen it, there is a counterfeit here. What you said about stealing the treasure of Yunjian Pavilion was done by this counterfeit and has nothing to do with me!”

Xiao Yuan smiled slightly, “Young Sect Master Shen, don’t be angry. It’s my fault that I used your face without authorization. I will make amends in the future.”

Shen Fugui shouted, “Listen, he admits it! My goodness, I was almost killed by you…”

Cai Xunnian said coolly: “It is probably a tradition of Yunjian Pavilion to wrong innocent people.”

The disciple of Yunjian Pavilion knew that they were at the wrong here and immediately pointed his finger at Xiao Yuan, “Take this person down for me!”

As he said that, the disciples of Yunjian Pavilion jumped up and swarmed towards Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan didn’t move an inch but only waved his jade fan lazily. In an instant a gust of violent wind, like a giant roar of the sea, blew the disciple of Yunjian Pavilion away and Xiao Yuan landed to the ground without anyone even touching the hem of his clothes.

Cai Xunnian’s eyes lit up: “Wow, Shixiong, the way he uses a fan is so chic and casual!”

Shen Fugui felt a little sour: “That’s not me, okay?”

“Shixiong, who do you think this person is?”

“I have an idea.”

“I have one too.”

The two glanced at each other and said in unison: “An Mu.” They had seen An Mu’s face-changing technique that didn’t need peeling people’s skin and he was the first one they thought of.

While the disciples of Yunjian Pavilion felt helpless, someone shouted: “Elder Qian is here!”

Xiao Yuan raised his eyebrows, thinking it was almost time to go back to the village. Although he wanted to have a fight with a grandmaster of Qian Sang’s level, now was not the time. The purpose of his trip had been achieved, and along the way, Shen Fugui’s and Xuanle Sect’s names had been cleared. Staying any longer might have led to extraneous deviations.

Xiao Yuan stood up unhurriedly. Qian Sang chased after him with the sword, shouting, “Don’t you think it’s too late to run now?!”

Xiao Yuan smiled, “I don’t think so.”

The sword pointed directly at Xiao Yuan’s vital point, but Xiao Yuan remained motionless, with no intention of hiding. Seeing this, Cai Xunnian subconsciously shouted: “Danger!”

When the tip of the sword was only a finger away from the center of Xiao Yuan’s eyebrows, a figure dressed in plain white flashed out of nowhere, and Xiao Yuan disappeared. The violent wind was full of extremely cold sword aura, almost shattering the person’s chest. Qian Sang’s expression suddenly changed but it was too late to stop. After landing awkwardly, he had to stick his sword into the ground to finally manage to regain his balance before making a fool out of himself in front of the disciples.

Shen Fugui recognized the figure and said with joy: “Louyin! Louyin, it’s me!”

Xiao Yuan sat in Gu Louyin’s arms, looked down at Shen Fugui who was waving frantically, and said with interest, “Would you like to say hello?”

“No need.” Gu Louyin said, “Since Yunjian Pavilion knows that Shen Fugui did not participate in the previous incident, they will not trouble him again.” If he and Shen Fugui got too close, it would cause trouble to Xuanle Sect.

Xiao Yuan caught a glimpse of a large white sword flying in their direction and said, “Then let’s go, reinforcements from Yunjian Pavilion are here.”

Gu Louyin hummed “en”, hugged him tighter and flew on the nameless sword, escaping in full view of the crowd.

Shen Fugui: “…” No way, I have been looking for you for months, brother, yet you don’t even look at me?

When Xiao Yuan and Gu Louyin returned to Qingzhu Village, there was still an hour before dawn. When the two landed in the courtyard of Uncle Pan’s house, Xiao Yuan remembered that his room was occupied by Mu Yingyang and he should have gone to Fang Baichu to sleep.

“I……”

“You…”

The two spoke at the same time and stopped at the same time, and the scene was a bit awkward for a moment. Xiao Yuan waited for Gu Louyin to speak; they should have had a lot to say. For example, Gu Louyin could ask him why he lied to him over and over again, even to the extent of arranging a corpse, rather than letting him know that he was alive; they could also talk about what happened in the illusionary realm or in the memories in the secret passage.

However, after Xiao Yuan waited for a long time, Gu Louyin never said anything. He couldn’t hold back and asked, “Are you sleepy?”

Gu Louyin said, “No.”

“Then let’s go to your room and talk about business.”

Gu Louyin seemed to feel a little bit ill at ease, “Okay.”

When they came to his room, Gu Louyin poured a cup of tea, turned around and saw that Xiao Yuan had recovered his own appearance. He was still wearing the white clothes of Yunjian Pavilion, looking a bit less bright and flirtatious than in the past and a bit more elegant and refined.

Gu Louyin felt as if hit in the chest and said, “Why are you…”

Xiao Yuan said, “Anyway, my identity has been completely exposed, so I don’t need other people’s bodies.”

Gu Louyin’s staggered his line of sight, “En.”

“En? What do you mean by this?” Xiao Yuan leaned towards Gu Louyin, “You don’t want to look at me?”

Gu Louyin whispered, “No.”

“No what? Look at me.” Xiao Yuan felt a little amused. Didn’t Gu Louyin always wanted to see him? Why didn’t he even dare to look at him when he really saw him, just like in the soul-summoning illusion?

Gu Louyin slowly raised his eyes, facing the pair of eyes that could keep the world intoxicated for a long time.

The candlelight flickered, and Xiao Yuan’s face was as it had been when he had first seen him.

Gu Louyin’s eyes gradually became clouded with mist, and he said hoarsely: “I thought you were dead.”

Xiao Yuan said, “En…”

“I thought so until I saw your soul in the ancient mirror.”

Xiao Yuan smiled and sighed with sorrow: “It seems that every time I lie to you, I will be exposed by you in the end, how can it be.”

Gu Louyin said, “I said this before, you can continue to lie to me.”

Xiao Yuan waved his hand, “No more lying, no more lying, can’t I just admit defeat?” He took a deep breath and said with a serious expression: “Gu Louyin, I am not dead, I have always been alive.”

At this moment, the sharp blade in Gu Louyin’s heart that had tortured him for two years was finally pulled out. Although this blade had left indelible scars in Gu Louyin’s mind that would remain with him for a lifetime, he still felt that Xiao Yuan’s sentence had rescued him from a deep well of darkness.

Xiao Yuan admitted that he was alive and stopped lying to him.

“So, can you get rid of your heart demon that was caused by me?”

Gu Louyin was taken aback and said, “I will try my best.” He was not very sure about this matter. He discovered he was greedy and he seemed to have deeper desires for Xiao Yuan. Fortunately, he was able to restrain them for the time being and would not scare Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan nodded, “That’s good, you strive to live a few more years and make me… make Uncle happy. By the way, who is that fake Luo Lan?”

Gu Louyin said, “Fake Luo Lan?”

Now that he had said all that, Xiao Yuan told Gu Louyin everything about his rescue by the fake Luo Lan, learning his face-changing technique and then being entrusted by him to go up to the snow-capped mountain and enter the soul-summoning illusionary realm. “He said that he is from Yunjian Pavilion and is your elder. I don’t know if it is true or not.”

Gu Louyin shook his head and said, “When I was in Yunjian Pavilion, I had never heard of such a person.”

Xiao Yuan smiled and said, “To tell you the truth, he was so kind to you that I even thought he was your father.”

“No.” Gu Louyin said, “My biological father is Gu Hang.”

Xiao Yuan couldn’t help but say, “But he treats you so… have you never doubted it?”

“I can open the gate to Qingyan, which is enough to prove everything.”

“Oh… that’s true.” Xiao Yuan thought for a while and said, “Do you think he could be one of the elders who you know well, who usually stays hidden and protects you when you are in trouble??”

Gu Louyin’s eyes flashed, “Could it be him.”

Xiao Yuan was shaken, “Who?”

Gu Louyin said, “Back then, I was delirious and when I was half conscious, I was told by someone that you were not dead. When I woke up, that person had disappeared.”

Two years ago, he witnessed Xiao Yuan jumping off the cliff on Dongguan Mountain with his own eyes and then was forcibly brought back by Yunjian Pavilion. At that time, he was desperate and determined to die, and it was this sentence that supported him for two years.

Xiao Yuan remembered that the fake Luo Lan had mentioned this to him, and said, “That should be him. I feel that his status in Yunjian Pavilion is not low. He can call Gu Hang by his first name and even dare to fight with Gu Hang.”

Gu Louyin said, “No one in Yunjian Pavilion would contradict Gu Hang.”

“If you say that, could he not be from Yunjian Pavilion?” Xiao Yuan was becoming more and more curious about that fake Luo Lan.

Gu Louyin didn’t have any ideas either. There was only one person in this world who would protect him, and that person hanged herself when he was six years old. “I’m afraid we have to ask him.”

“Uncle’s whereabouts are unpredictable and he can change his face at any time. Trying to find him is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack. Unless… we lead him to show up on his own initiative.” Xiao Yuan probably had a plan for that, but their top priority was to retrieve their earth souls, so that matter had to be moved back.

Gu Louyin thought the same thing and said, “The matter of the earth souls should not be delayed.”

“I know. Gu Louyin, do you know Pangu Mountain?”

The two discussed the matter of regaining the earth souls, mainly Xiao Yuan was talking and Gu Louyin was listening. At the end, Xiao Yuan’s eyelids became heavier and heavier, and he yawned again and again. Gu Louyin said, “You are sleepy.”

“Well, a bit.”

“I’ll carry you to bed.”

Xiao Yuan asked, “Where are you going to sleep?”

Gu Louyin pursed his lips, “In bed.”

“In your bed?”

“…..en.”

Xiao Yuan smiled, “That’s not very good.”

“You sleep, I will guard you.”

“Like in the soul-summoning illusion?” Xiao Yuan regretted it after saying that.

After he had admitted his identity, the two of them tacitly did not mention the soul-summoning illusion, and Xiao Yuan would not have mentioned it either if he hadn’t been too sleepy. Those words and those things in the illusion were enough to make him uncomfortable just thinking of them, let alone discussing them with Gu Louyin.

After a short silence, Xiao Yuan got up and said, “I’ll go back to Fang Baichu to sleep.”

Gu Louyin looked at him and whispered, “–like then.”