CH 50

The immature youth had already grown up and he bore the handsome temperament of a young man, like a pine or bamboo standing independently in the wind. 

His eyes were the same as before, black and penetrating and resembled two indistinct ponds of water he cast over his unwavering gaze.

Su Yang was stared at by Gu Feidi for a long time and he felt his heart tremble somewhat. 

He said to himself: If the Devil Sect’s Young Saint character was really into men, when faced with such a Gu Feidi, how could he bring himself to hurt him? It’s better if I’m not confused and unnerved by him! 

Gu Feidi didn’t wait for Su Yang’s reply, but he muttered to himself for a moment, then asked, “What would you do if it was you?” 

When asked this question, Su Yang became unsettled and had the strange urge to bolt.

He quickly combed his memories, suppressed his emotions and displayed the Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s character. He leaned against the table, propped up his chin with his hand and narrowed his eyes. Then, he plucked a line from the script to recite: “It is fortunate that there are still many flowers in life. Peach blossoms are most vivid in spring. Naturally the white lotus looks most refreshing in summer. In the bleakness of autumn, the golden chrysanthemum is the most delightful. Of course, red plum clusters are livelier during winter…” 

Each time he spoke, the smile at the corner of Gu Feidi’s mouth dulled a little and the radiance in his eyes dimmed… Once Su Yang had completed delivering his monologue, Gu Feidi lowered his head to hide the look in his eyes and his expression was one of utter dejection.

Seeing Gu Feidi like this, not only did Su Yang not feel any better, instead he felt even more depressed in his heart.

He awkwardly let out a cough, sat up straight and said, “Why are we talking about this? Eat, eat!” 

He picked up the chopsticks and began shovelling the porridge from the bowl into his mouth. After a long while, he still hadn’t eat much porridge. It was then that he realised and changed to using a spoon instead. 

A meal was becoming more and more bland. Su Yang quickly stuffed himself full, got up and headed to the chamber to deal with the Devil Sect affairs that had accumulated during the recent days.

Ju Hall has already conducted their investigation into the youth who infected Gu Feidi with the Gu poison, but they could not detect any dubious points—the child had been brought back by Su Yang himself a few years ago from a Wujiangmen farm. His parents were merely farmers of a peasant household from the village and had nothing to do with any high-level Wujiangmen people. They would not have had the opportunity to come into contact with Eluo Ghost Tent’s Gu poison.

When Su Yang disbanded the Juan Dan Palace, the youth had knelt before Ju Hall Elder, crying that his father treated him badly, would often beat and scold him and would not give him food. Therefore, he did not want to go back. He was willing to be the Sect Leader’s ‘furnace’ and didn’t want to leave Devil Sect.

This incident was witnessed by Mei Hall Elder. He saw that the youth was still immature and could be polished, so he sent him into Mei Hall. Because Ju Hall had already investigated his background before, they didn’t conduct an additional check when he was transferred to Mei Hall. 

Having heard these strings of causes and consequences, Su Yang was in a daze for a long time and was beginning to have a headache: “Since there was no issue with his background, is it possible that there are spies from Eluo Ghost Tent in my Sect?” 

Ju Hall Elder and Mei Hall Elder who had dealt with this matter were frightened out of their wits and began to tremble. They immediately prostrated and promised to conduct a thorough investigation. 

Su Yang was actually grumbling to himself, so he didn’t expect the two elders to be so serious. He simply waved them away to investigate. 

Subsequently, Lan Hall reported on the rumors that had been spreading recently in the Central Plains martial arts circles. It was said that Eluo Ghost Tent had reached a deal with Devil Sect, which was why they encircled and suppressed the Central Plains troops in the Wasteland. After the Wasteland melee, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint didn’t die after falling off the cliff. Instead, he located the Tomb of the Sword Sage by a twist of fate; leading the Devil Sect to gain the legacy of the Sword Sage Bai Jinghong.

“This subordinate has already tried my best to suppress these rumors, but the rumors are like wind and get in at every chance, so we are powerless.” Lan Hall Elder’s expression was solemn, “If this continues, I am afraid it will compromise our Sect.” 

Su Yang puzzled: “We didn’t do any deal with Eluo Ghost Tent, but we did obtain the swordsmanship in the stone room.” 

Elder Lan Hall heaved a sigh: “But, Young Saint, we can’t admit it. It wasn’t our fault that the swordsmanship was there!”

Su Yang thought about it, then asked, “Then, how should this matter be dealt with?” 

Elder Lan Hall: “If there were such rumors in the past, our Sect would send Mei Hall flower aides to kill those responsible for spreading the rumors, so as to intimidate them. Young Saint, you see…” 

Su Yang: …

He really shouldn’t have much expectations from the ‘bare minimum’ of the Devil Sect. 

Su Yang let out a sigh and massaged his temples, “The swordsmanship in the stone room is really not any sort of exquisite martial arts. Once Mei Hall has finished sorting it out, we will announce it to the martial arts circles. If we stay silent, we would be guilty of hoarding it, but if we publicised it, it would no longer be a treasure.” 

Elder Lan Hall was taken aback: “But this…”

Su Yang said: “Just act accordingly.” 

Elder Lan Hall could only take his orders. 

“Oh, that’s right.” Su Yang turned to Lian Hall Elder. 

Elder Lian Tang immediately lowered his eyebrows and listened attentively. 

Su Yang acted nonchalant and asked: “Where is our Sect’s Forbidden Area?” 

Lian Hall Elder was stunned and frowned, “Replying to Young Saint, our Sect… there isn’t any ‘forbidden area,’ so to speak. If what you mean are the places that ordinary people are prohibited from going, most of them are on Yun Hua Island or anywhere near Young Saint’s abode.” 

Su Yang thought, there’s way he was going to get a straight answer by playing hardball, so he waved and said: “Never mind.”

By the time he’d finished dealing with a number of Sect matters, it was already past noon. 

The two of them had breakfast late, so lunch was pushed back and wasn’t served until around 2pm.

Su Yang wasn’t particular about the tradition of ‘not speaking when you eat and sleep’, so he told Gu Feidi about the rumours spreading in the Central Plains martial arts circles regarding the Sword Sage legacy at the dining table. 

Gu Feidi’s chopsticks paused and he gave a snort: “Sure enough, I guessed that Eluo Ghost Tent deliberately led you and I into the cave with malicious intentions.” 

Su Yang asked, “What do they gain from doing that?” 

Gu Feidi said: “That stone room may not be a Sword Sage Retreat. They used a possibly false Sword Sage legacy to instigate the Central Plains martial arts circles to fight against the Devil Sect, but you can’t say that they didn’t reap any benefit from it. If either one of us died there, this battle would be even more unavoidable.” 

Su Yang was shocked: “So the person who infected you with the Gu was also because of…” 

Gu Feidi snorted coldly: “If I died from the poisoning, the one who infected me was a Devil Sect flower aide, the Devil Sect wouldn’t be able to escape the implication. If I didn’t die and had to go to the Northern Realm to serve Eluo Ghost Tent… then that would have been a great plan indeed!” 

Su Yang said, “But everyone knows this poison is the signature move of Eluo Ghost Tent.”

Gu Feidi shook his head and said: “Eluo Ghost Tent and Devil Sect are located in the Northwest Wasteland. There are already some in Central Plains who believe that you’ve had a secret pact for many years. Now Eluo Ghost Tent claims to have reached an agreement with Devil Sect. What do assume the Central Plains martial arts circles will think of this? Although the Eluo Ghost Tent is a thorn in the side of the Central Plains martial arts circles and the imperial court, when it comes down to it… it is farther away than the Devil Sect.” 

Su Yang: …

Your circle of water is so deep! I’m just a baby walking through the storyline! The script I have is also an idol-drama, please let me go! 

“In that case, it’s better to quickly take you to detoxify.” Su Yang clenched his chopsticks, his expression was firm, “After eating, I will do some research and devise a plan to detoxify your Gu poison as soon as possible. As long as you return safely to the Central Plains martial arts circles, the conspiracy on the Eluo Ghost Tent will naturally be disrupted.” 

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment and asked, “Why do you persist in detoxifying me?” 

Su Yang was puzzled: “I don’t want you to die, aaa. Why else?” 

Gu Feidi said: “I am the son of the Central Plains Martial Alliance Leader and you are the Devil Sect’s Young Saint. When you and I meet, it should be a ‘you die or I die’ situation. Since I’ve been infected with the Gu poison, you should have trapped me in the stone room to fend for myself. Why… are you willing to let me die?”

Of course it’s because you are the protagonist that you can’t die aaa! 

Su Yang knew this in his heart, but he couldn’t really say that out loud. So he smiled and said: “Initially, when we fell off the cliff and into the underground river, why didn’t you, the son of the Martial Alliance Leader, abandon and not look after me, this Devil Sect’s Young Saint? The reason you didn’t kill me is the reason I didn’t kill you.” 

Gu Feidi raised his eyebrows: “Do you know why I didn’t kill you in the first place?” 

Su Yang smiled and asked, “For the sake of our classmate relationship? Or is it because I saved your life before? Besides, I haven’t done any bloody, atrocious acts and you all from the Righteous Way would always find a reason for killing people. Maybe you haven’t found a reason to kill me?” 

Gu Feidi looked at Su Yang seriously and asked, “What if it’s not any of those?” 

Su Yang was stunned this time, “Aaa? None of those? Then why?”

Seeing Su Yang’s dazed expression, Gu Feidi smiled slightly, his nose made a soft sound but you couldn’t tell whether he was laughing or sighing. 

“Figure it out yourself.” 

After he finished speaking, he put down his chopsticks, got up and went back to the room. 

However, Su Yang really didn’t have much skill to scrutinize Gu Feidi’s parting words. After lunch, he went to the Mo Lan Building where the Devil Sect’s books, documents and scriptures were located. 

——It was unsuitable for him to ask the flower aides and elders regarding the Forbidden Area of the Sect. He could only use the excuse of seeking a detoxification method for Gu Feidi to delve into Mo Lan Building to search for the information in an attempt to find any smidgen of clues on the Devil Sect’s Forbidden Area. 

His search lasted a few hours. 

The moon had risen to the middle of the sky, yet Su Yang could still not find anything. He only managed to note a handful of words from a few records confirming that a forbidden area did indeed exist in the Devil Sect.

But there absolutely wasn’t any clue on where it was located, where the entrance was and how to get in. 

Seeing that the candle in the lantern he was holding was about to burn out, Su Yang decided to stop for the night and return at dawn the next to continue looking. 

He put the papers and documents that covered the desk in order and stacked them into categories so that they could be conveniently viewed again tomorrow. 

As he turned a corner out from the book shelves, Su Yang could vaguely make out a Mo Lan attendant ahead who was tidying things up, so he walked over and reminded the man: “Don’t touch the stuff on that table; I’ll be coming again tomorrow.” 

The man paused slightly and turned back to look at Su Yang. 

In the dim candlelight, Su Yang could see that the man was not dressed in Lian Hall attire, but was wearing an off-white robe with wide sleeves. His hair was extremely long, almost reaching his ankles and tied loosely with a hair tie. He was wearing a veil on his face, revealing only a pair of calm and pitch black eyes, like two ancient wells, peaceful and deep. 

The man looked extremely young, but Su Yang had been in the entertainment industry after all and he still had the ability to judge a person’s age from their outward appearance. From the fine lines of his eyebrows, he believed that the man before him should be in his forties.

It’s just that his appearance and temperament are really outstanding, obscuring his age, and he seemed… terribly charming. 

“Ak, who are you…?” Su Yang frowned, “This is the Mo Lan Building, not just anyone can enter as they please.” 

The man’s expression remained unchanged, staring at Su Yang for a long while, he said in a low voice: “I live on Yun Hua Island.” 

Yun Hua Island was the residence of the Devil Sect Leader. 

The island was originally called Yin Tan Island, but it was said that the current leader was changed to Yun Hua Island after he returned from Lesser Jade House and his travels through the Jianghu. 

Of course, in addition to the leader himself, dozens of his male concubines also live on Yun Hua Island at the same time. 

Su Yang appraised the man in front of him for a moment, then thought of the shriveled old man from the cast who played the role of the Devil Sect Leader and couldn’t help but sigh: The Ol’ Sect Leader is being served by such a beautiful man with such outstanding temperament. It’s really… such a waste! 

Thinking of the Devil Sect’s destruction in the future, it would be impossible for these beautiful male pets to survive anyway, Su Yang gaze subconsciously revealed some pity. 

The white-clothed man raised his eyebrows, ignored Su Yang, turned and pulled out a biography from the next shelf. 

The book was old and somehow, the binding came apart sending pages scattering all over the ground. 

Su Yang quickly put his lamp aside and bent down to help the man pick up the pages of the book. 

Suddenly, his fingers paused slightly and he picked up one of the pages. 

“This is…” 

His eyes lit up, he immediately lifted the precious page to his eyes and read it carefully. After that, he picked up the subsequent page from the ground to continue reading. 

As soon as he’d read over a dozen pages, Su Yang had trouble hiding his smile. He looked up to thank the man who had helped him find the information about the Devil Sect’s Forbidden Area. 

However, the figure of the man in white has long since vanished. 

A wind lantern had been placed on the bookshelf that obviously didn’t belong to Su Yang. The candle in the lantern was bright and looked like it could burn for a long time.