CH 33

Two days later, Su Yang and his party arrived at the Gobi Grand Oasis in the afternoon.

This oasis was located in a low-lying valley in the Gobi desert surrounded by a two feet high stone bank.

In the middle of the valley was a deep blue lake, twice the size of the pond they had passed by before. It had a long and narrow shape like a huge willow leaf. The locals called it Willow Leaf Lake. The lakeside vegetation was dense, filling the entire valley, which wasn’t very large but was lush with greenery.

The Willow Leaf Lake Oasis was the largest oasis in the Gobi desert aside from the Devil Sect’s headquarters. As the Devil Sect’s headquarters was hidden by the Devil City, Willow Leaf Lake became the only visible oasis on the map of the Jianghu and of the imperial court; it was also the only place for caravans to pass through to the Western Regions.

As such, there were guesthouses and stables here.

There was no one by the lake at this time, but there were four horses tied up in the small mud-walled courtyard hidden by the green trees. Obviously, someone had arrived here early.

Mei Shisan stepped forward and asked: “Young Saint, do you want to explore it?”

Su Yang frowned, thinking that there seemed to be such a storyline in the script at the beginning, “No, let’s head over directly.”

If what he anticipated was right, there would be a few cannon fodders coming over to make provocations in this oasis. Once they had been beaten to the ground by him, that was when Gu Feidi would appear.

Mm-hm, Gu Feidi to the rescue again.

This script was about to fit the title ‘Arch-Rivals’ and there were many arrangements for him to meet Gu Feidi every time—and each time he was responsible for bullying people, Gu Feidi was responsible for saving people. Doesn’t the screenwriter get fed up?

After complaining in his heart, Su Yang rode down the stone bank ramp to the bottom of the valley. He handed over the horse to the flower aide to bring it to drink. He, Mei Shisan and the others walked into the small earthen house courtyard.

Two strong-looking men walked out of the house; probably after hearing people approaching. Su Yang stepped forward to make his greetings, but when he saw the two of them, he was taken aback and his expression changed suddenly.

One of them curled his lips in disgust and sneered: “People from Devil Sect dare to covet the Central Plains Sword Sage’s legacy?”

Su Yang raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

This was a typical cannon fodder setting. It seemed that the plot hadn’t collapsed this time. No, it was exactly the same as the lines that provoked him in the script.

His mood brightened and put on the demeanour of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, raised the corners of his mouth and gave a wicked smile: “Oh? Since he was the Sword Sage of the Central Plains, how can his legacy be in this Gobi Wasteland, in our Sect’s back garden?” 

The strong man choked, then raised his chin: “When the Sword Sage entered into the deep Wasteland, he must have encountered some misfortune. Therefore, I am determined to bring his legacy back to the Central Plains!”

Su Yang smiled, pulling out the sword from the waist, he slowly walked over to the two people, “…Is it to bring it back to the Central Plains or to bring it back to your faction to hog for yourselves?”

The two people heard the animosity in Su Yang’s tone. Their eyes narrowed and they drew their swords.

“Insolent punk, bullshit!” He angrily said, “This ol’ man is going to eliminate and kill you Devil Sect demons on behalf of the Central Plains today!”

Su Yang shook his wrist and raised his sword and without using it, he simply urged the internal force to block the sword stroke by the brawny man.

Gold and iron slammed together, but after three or four times, the brawny man’s wrist was curled by Su Yang’s sword and he could no longer hold onto his sword under the pain.

He stepped back and looked down where the sword had clattered to the ground, his face shocked: “Who are you?!”

Su Yang laughed: “Isn’t it a little late to be asking who I am?”

Hearing this, the brawny man winked at his companion.

The man immediately yelled something that Su Yang couldn’t understand and in an instant, eight strong-looking men came out from the house.

They obviously thought the same as the brawny man and began to swear indignantly when they saw people from the Devil Sect.

Su Yang had a headache because of all their foul language and was too lazy to speak with them. He rushed forward with a few strikes and personally sent that group of people hurling to the ground.

He wasn’t heavy handed either, just injuring and knocking them out, tying up their hands and gagging their mouths, leaving them for Mei Shisan to do as he saw fit.

Mei Shisan cupped his fists and nodded, ordering several flower aides to carry away all the men from the door of the house to who-knows-where.

Su Yang walked into the house and saw that there were still a lot of luggage and dry food left here by the men. He didn’t take them, but put them in the corner of the room to make room for himself and the Devil Sect.

Suddenly, he sensed some unusual sounds. It seemed that some people were cursing, some were begging for mercy. Ultimately all were cut short to reveal some strange atmosphere.

Su Yang frowned and was about to reach out for his luggage, when his movement suddenly stopped.

He remembered the storyline of the script.

In the script, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint arrived at the Willow Leaf Lake Oasis and was provoked by cannon fodder. He couldn’t restrain his temper and carried out a killing spree.

Just after he’d murdered everyone in the Oasis guesthouse, Gu Feidi arrived. At that time, the shore of Willow Leaf Lake was littered with corpses all over and blood was seeping into the river. In his fit of anger, Gu Feidi led the troops to fight against the people of the Devil Sect.

It was precisely because of this fight in the Oasis that Gu Feidi was injured by the Devil Sect. Which was why he had later lost to Su Yang and was knocked off the cliff with Pu Lingyun.

Thinking of this, Su Yang’s face turned pale. He didn’t care about packing any more bags and immediately activated his Prized Flower Steps to rush out of the guesthouse door.

With little effort, the oasis by Willow Lake was already a hellhole.

The strong men were tightly tied to the trees by ropes and all were not breathing. Each of them had a fatal wound. Either their heart had been pierced by a sharp weapon or their throats had been cut. The scene was terrible. Of the ten people who were still alive and swearing loudly just now, there was only one left. He was the one who had confronted Su Yang earlier and he was barely alive being held below Mei Shisan’s sword.

He didn’t beg for mercy but his eyes were full of anger, so red that they were almost bleeding.

“Damn you Devil Sect…” He hissed with blood in his mouth and cursed, “…Don’t deserve a good death…trying to be a hero… the prestige of a fart…”

Su Yang looked at the scene in front of him, the stench of blood filled his nose and he suddenly felt a little dizzy.

He barely endured the feeling of retching. He closed his eyes and forced himself to speak: “…Shisan, stop!”

Mei Shisan abruptly pulled out the dagger that had just pierced the man’s shoulder, then turned his head and nodded: “Young Saint.”

“You…”

Su Yang’s throat was tight and he could hardly speak.

It wasn’t until this moment that he truly felt what kind of world was in the book ‘Arch-Rivals’.

In the previous days, the background of ‘wuxia’ was nothing but a sword-struggling and happy enmity in his impression. Whether it was the bloody portrayal of the script or the scene of corpses in the drama films, it would never bring him such an impact that could almost shake his soul.

But now… people have died.

These people would not disappear to nothing as the pages of the book were turned, nor would they be like the cast performers who could stand up unharmed after the shooting was done.

Su Yang only felt that his mind was buzzing and he couldn’t think about anything for a while.

Mei Shisan stepped forward and said: “Young Saint, this subordinate is interrogating him on the whereabouts of the map of the Tomb of the Sword Sage. Please be calm.”

Su Yang turned back and was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth again but he couldn’t weave together any words.

He even forgot how to recite his lines.

The man was still cursing. Even though his breath was failing, he still insisted on spouting out all the unbearable insults and profanities.

At this time, the sound of horses’ hooves could be heard from far but were approaching nearer. They sounded like they were about to reach the stone bank by the valley.

Everyone in the Devil Sect was on the alert and immediately surrounded to protect Su Yang.

Mei Shisan glanced at Su Yang, who was still in a daze and made a decisive choice. He backhanded the dagger into the heart of the brawny man who was still swearing!

Su Yang yelled out in shock: “Shisan!!!”

The man’s cursing stopped abruptly, his eyes twitched a few times and he hung limply from the tree.

Mei Shisan turned around and knelt in front of Su Yang: “If someone comes to save him, it will be a disaster to keep him alive. The subordinate acted without authority. Young Saint, please punish me.”

At the same time, a white horse appeared high on the stone bank. The evening sun revealed that it was carrying a silhouette of a figure on its back.

A man sat upright on the horseback in a moon-white outfit and a silk scarf covering his face showing only a pair of black eyes that looked like stars. They were hidden in the shadows and not very distinct.

Two horses, one chestnut and one tan, carrying the same masked man and woman appeared beside him, followed by more than a dozen uniformly dressed guards lined up on the high rocky bank.

Su Yang stared at these people.

Gu Feidi’s eyes swept across the blood and corpses, then finally fell on Su Yang’s pale face, his eyes were still.

When Xu Yunzhan saw the purgatory-like scene before him and the person who seemed to be completely clean standing in the field, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

He clenched the reins tightly, his knuckles were white. He gritted his teeth and asked in a deep voice, “You… did this?!”

Su Yang’s thoughts turned around but he didn’t know how he should answer.

This hellish scene was not originally intended by him, but the command to ‘drag them out and deal with them’ was in accordance with the script and he had indeed been the one who instructed Mei Shisan.

It’s just that he had misinterpreted the Devil Sect flower aides’ threshold and had single-handedly caused this irredeemable consequence.

Seeing Su Yang tacitly agree, Xu Yunzhan began to rage: “I really didn’t expect… you would behave like this! I really… I misread you!” 

Su Yang twitched the corner of his mouth, gave a chuckle and finally recalled a few lines: ” You Central Plains martial arts look at our Devil—Divine Sect like this all the time… don’t you? Where did you get it wrong?”

Hearing this, Xu Yunzhan was so angry that he wanted to draw his sword.

But Gu Feidi held his wrist back with one hand.

The atmosphere reeked of blood and Su Yang became more and more unable to suppress the feelings of nausea.

He gritted his teeth and turned his head to address Mei Shisan: “It’s… it’s too filthy, I can’t stand it anymore. At night, set up camp on the other side of the lake.”

After speaking, he turned around abruptly, covered his mouth and took to his Prized Flower Steps. With a few leaps, he disappeared into the bushes of the oasis.

Xu Yunzhan said angrily: “No Feidi, don’t stop me, I will go down there and kill every last one of those Devil Sect demons!”

Gu Feidi said solemnly, “What about him? You’ll kill him too?”

Xu Yunzhan gritted his teeth: “He actually behaved like that, I’ll… How will I… I’ll…” 

For a long time, he couldn’t say anything harsh. Xu Yunzhan slammed the heavy sword back into the scabbard and sat on the horseback without saying a word.

Gu Feidi looked down at the valley. He saw the Devil Sect had packed up their things quickly and led the horses away to evacuate from the guesthouse. He then led the group from Tengyun Pavilion into the valley.

He ordered the guards to untie the mens’ corpses from the trees, take them out of the oasis and find a place to bury them in the Gobi desert. Then he checked the luggage and belongings of those people and deduced that they were the boorish men from Wujiazhai, Central Plains.

“These years, countless people have died at the hands of the Wujiazhai. They cannot be considered decent people. Does that make you feel a little better?” 

Gu Feidi showed evidence to Xu Yunzhan, trying to comfort his best friend: “Besides, having travelled in the Jianghu for so many years, you should know that we… Tengyun Pavilion and Qianfeng Villa are not necessarily…spotless clean power influences. Even the imperial court makes use of us. Which one of us has never seen blood?”

“I was also impulsive. Seeing him here in that situation, his whole face filled with innocence, I…”

After speaking halfway, he couldn’t continue. Xu Yunzhan smiled bitterly and said: “I am obviously older than you, but I still need you to comfort me. The longer I live, the more backward I’m becoming.”

Gu Feidi glanced at Huo Ying, who was brushing her favourite horse by the stable and lowered his voice: “In his case, you will lose your sense of propriety. It’s understandable.”

After a pause, he asked again. “Now, you… still care about him that way?”

Xu Yunzhan sighed, “Since I’m married, Yingniang is the one I want to love with all my heart. I shouldn’t think about the rest. Moreover, it was just a juvenile fancy that’s all…”

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment, then raised his hand and patted Xu Yunzhan’s shoulder.