Ch17 - Secret Observations

Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff

Translator Note: unedited for now, an edited version will be updated as soon as possible, sorry!

Tao Xian was indeed a shy person, he became a nervous wreck before he’d even exchanged more than two sentences with Xu Xingzhi.

Xu Xingzhi didn’t make it difficult for him: “Qu Chi is playing with A-Wang outside. You’re looking for him ba.”

Tao Xian smiled timidly and bowed to thank him before hurrying outside.

Xu Xingzhi followed him out of the tower.

There was a rain shower yesterday, and a clear stream trickled down in front of the tower, lapping audibly.

The day Xu Xingzhi was able to step foot on the ground, he molded a mud pot out of a lump of wet mud and asked Meng Chongguang to use his spiritual powers to dry and make it into a sturdy earthen pot.

Meng Chongguang happily completed the task, or in other words, he was always very enthusiastic about anything Xu Xingzhi asked him to do.

After the pot was ready, Xu Xingzhi began to teach Zhou Wang how to play the pitch-pot game. She had never played this sort of game before and became addicted to it not before long. However, her hands that could swing a pair of 100 jin blades easily couldn’t control their strength very well and often shattered the pot with a kaqiang with each throw.

Yet Xu Xingzhi was still very patient and especially made seventeen or eighteen extra pots for her in one go the day before for her to smash to her heart’s content.

When Xu Xingzhi exited the tower, Zhou Wang was already tired from playing and leaned against Qu Chi to rest.

Qu Chi seemed to really like eating candy. Zhou Wang had only just settled down when he reached into his lapel to retrieve a newly found pebble and handed it to Zhou Wang: “. . . Eat.”

She accepted it nonchalantly and placed it in her mouth as she seriously tasted it: “It’s pretty sweet, thanks Godfather.”

Qu Chi smiled very warmly and stretched out a hand to rub her hair.

Zhou Wang turned her head to the side, letting him do as he pleased, but her expression was clearly that of an older child feigning ignorance in order to amuse the little ones.

Xu Xingzhi leaned against the wall by the door and couldn’t help but laugh watching the two of them interact.

Qu Chi’s actual age was unknown, but he currently had a mind equivalent to that of a child. Zhou Wang was interacting with him so harmoniously that rather than father and daughter, they seemed more like a pair of siblings where the older sister was pampering the naïve younger brother.

Tao Xian approached them, bent over, and asked something, then he draped the hemp cloth robe in his arms over Qu Chi: “Don’t catch a cold.”

Qu Chi pulled Tao Xian to sit down with them and stubbornly insisted on recommending his “candy”: “Candy, for you.”

Tao Xian coaxed him seriously: “Qu-shixiong, eating too much candy will harm the teeth.”

Qu Chi puffed up his cheeks and looked befuddled: “Why?”

Tao Xian coaxed him: “If we can leave in the future, I’ll treat you to all sorts of candy, I’ll even invite you to eat candied haws.”

Qu Chi’s curiosity was piqued: “What are candied haws?”

Tao Xiao gesticulated patiently: “It’s just something children love to eat. It’s made of hawthorns, sour and sweet, Shixiong will definitely like it.”

Qu Chi grabbed a handful of pebbles from his pocket and muttered to himself, “I know what sweet is, the flavor this has, is called ‘sweet’. But then what is called ‘sour’?”

Tao Xian didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry as Zhou Wang listened in from the side, also especially curious.

She was born in the wasteland and didn’t know what sour, sweet, or spicy tasted like.

Xu Xingzhi listened to their childish dialogue for a while, then looked up.

Lu Yujiu sat in a daze with one leg dangling down on the eaves of the tower’s third floor. He had a paixiao made of wood placed by his side.

Zhou Beinan sat a step higher than him idly. He treated his phantom spear like a dart, throwing it at the ground and then circulating his spiritual power to retrieve it time and time again.

He was obviously an experienced pitch-pot player. From a distance of ten meters away, every time he tossed the spear, he accurately pierced the same landing spot again and again.

The Skeletal Girl was at a nearby stream with her back towards them washing their clothes.

Having seen her in such a bare-boned and disjointed state so often, she naturally didn’t seem frightening anymore. What’s more, she looked just like a person who loves music very much while she sang as she laundered. The tune of the song wasn’t even solemn, on the contrary, it was quite upbeat.

Lu Yujiu picked up the paixiao and played in harmony with her.

Seeing such scenes, Xu Xingzhi felt an unprecedented sense of peace in his heart.

In the first three days he came to the savage wasteland, maybe it was because his heart was laden with concerns, but nightmares and charming spring dreams visited him everyday. Every time he woke up, he felt sore all over and when he woke up for the third time, he even had a fever.

When Yuan Ruzhou came to see him, he couldn’t just say that it was because he had many strange dreams, so after mulling it over for a long time he could only say that he had caught a cold.

After nursing it for a few days, he laid on the bed and carefully sorted out all of his thoughts and observations that he hadn’t had a chance to organize since he entered the savage wasteland.

. . . First, why did he still possess a crippled body when he entered this world?

Could it be that the “World’s Consciousness” took the fact that he had been disabled for more than ten years into consideration and would be completely unused to using his right hand, so fearing that he would expose himself in front of this group, he also crippled the original owner’s hand in advance in order for him to use the body with ease?

If so, then this “World’s Consciousness” was really attentive.

Secondly, why did this group attempt to steal the divine artifacts that year? And why did they fail?

The original owner’s memories provided by the “World’s Consciousness” were intermittent and the subconscious memories hidden in the original owner’s body haven’t arisen in the past few days. Xu Xingzhi endeavored to seek out the Beast Hide Man for questioning, but he was still in a coma due to his severe injuries, and was unable to produce a coherent account.

Through his tentative probing, he found that Zhou Wang was completely ignorant of what happened that year.

Other than Zhou Wang, the others were all primary witnesses to the events of that year, however, if Xu Xingzhi asked them, he would probably have aroused their suspicions and if his identity was discovered, then he was afraid he’d be completely done for.

But after getting along for the past few days, Xu Xingzhi really couldn’t tell what part of this group was abominable.

A couple of days ago, they routed the criminals from Feng Mountain, giving them a severe blow. It’s said that due to that incident the smell of blood wafted more than five thousand meters away. It sounded cruel and unusual, but in the savage wasteland, the strong preyed on the weak, it’s simply the law of the jungle.

There had always been a shortage of resources in the wasteland. Due to the proximity between Feng Mountain and the high tower, both being located at the center of the wasteland, it was natural for conflict to arise between them. Moreover, the people of Feng Mountain loved to commit these raids during Meng Chongguang’s absence, hoping to kill off even one or two of these seven companions in an attempt to cripple Meng Chongguang’s wings.

Before his own arrival, Meng Chongguang focused only on finding the original owner. When he went out to search, he would spend anywhere from ten days to a month away, so of course he wouldn’t pay much attention to this matter. Unfortunately, in his opinion, this group of rabble from Feng Mountain were just an eclipse of moths, not worth mentioning at all.

Even under their continuous harassment, they themselves, had never taken the initiative to counterattack Feng Mountain and have always stopped after defending until the attackers retreated.

Xu Xingzhi pondered over it and couldn’t figure out what this group wanted the divine artifacts for.

Zhou Beinan was the son of the master of Yingtianchuan Island, thus if all things went as planned, he would have rightfully inherited the divine artifact.

Qu Chi was the head disciple of Danyang Peak, even if someone took advantage of him after he lost his mind, was a fool even qualified to partake in learning the secret of the divine artifacts?

Lu Yujiu appeared in Xu Xingzhi’s memories, but at that time he was only a young outer sect disciple of Qingliang Valley, a very loyal and honorable child.

The Skeletal Girl Yuan Ruzhou also didn’t seem like someone who had wild ambitions, while Tao Xian was a mere mortal who had just entered Danyang Peak, and finally as for Zhou Wang, she was born in the wasteland and was completely ignorant of the struggle for the divine artifacts it the first place.

In this way, Meng Chongguang seemed to be the only one among them whose intentions Xu Xingzhi wasn’t sure of.

And yet, Meng Chongguang’s initial entrance to Fengling Mountain wasn’t something he had long schemed as he had originally assumed from the memories of the original owner. The two of them had coincidentally met during the Eastern Emperor’s Sacrificial Ceremony so how was Meng Chongguang so sure that he would definitely be brought back to Fengling Mountain back then?

Xu Xingzhi couldn’t figure any of these conjectures out and could only temporarily shelve them and not agonize over them.

Thirdly, did Meng Chongguang have to be killed?

Xu Xingzhi didn’t put much effort into pondering this issue at first, but ever since he tried to assassinate him twice with both ending in failure, he started to seek another way out.

If Meng Chongguang could be as peaceful as he was in the wasteland after he escaped, not causing any trouble, then what would be so wrong with helping him out a bit in his escape?

Besides, if Meng Chongguang had demonic power as vast as the sea, entirely unfathomable such that even the “World’s Consciousness” couldn’t erase him easily, then wasn’t it better for him to reveal his identity, tell him that he was an outsider in this world, that he possessed the truth of this world and could help him escape the savage wasteland? Once Meng Chongguang escaped, let him learn from the “World’s Consciousness” and send himself back to the original world, wasn’t that just as good of a plan?

. . . If the “World’s Consciousness” knew that he had such thoughts, then he probably couldn’t help but vomit one meter of blood.

However, Xu Xingzhi was only making speculations.

It wasn’t difficult for him to imagine, if he told him the truth that he wasn’t Xu Xingzhi, and was only using the face of the original owner, while the real Xu Xingzhi had already died in the outside world, then he was afraid that Meng Chongguang would immediately send him on an express trip to heaven and he would never be able to see his father or little sister again.

Holding his family in his musings, Xu Xingzhi couldn’t help but be lost in his thoughts until a warm embrace locked onto him from behind.

“What is Shixiong looking at?” Meng Chongguang wrapped around him from behind and rested his pointy chin on his shoulder, “. . . I also want to see.”

Xu Xingzhi’s little sister Xu Wutong also loved to stick to him like this, as such Xu Xingzhi who was used to such gestures, didn’t feel that anything was wrong.

Most of the spoiled children in this world were like ivy wrapped around a tree and seemed to believe that continuous entanglement is the only way to express their love.

Considering this, he replied: “I’m not looking at anything, I was only thinking that there is no sun or moon, nor are there any stars. It’s just a blanket of gray, which seems particularly boring.”

Meng Chongguang asked: “Shixiong wants to see the stars?”

Xu Xingzhi: “Not in particular, I was just thinking.”

In the end, he just casually added a sentence: “Looking at the stars and admiring the moon, this sort of high-class pastime, is only favored by Wen-baimao.”

As soon as the words left his lips, he, himself, was stunned.

Those words indeed came out of his own mouth, but it was spoken with barely any thought.

. . . Perhaps it was the original owner’s instinctive reflex?

This time, another doubt he had missed earlier surfaced in Xu Xingzhi’s heart.

. . . Amongst the four sects, the original owner Xu Xingzhi, Qu Chi of Danyang Peak, Zhou Beinan of Yingtianchuan, were all in the wasteland and yet, Wen-baimao, who was rumored to be the most righteous and the one who detested all those of the demonic path the most, seemed to have not been mentioned by anyone at all.

While he was in a daze, Zhou Beinan who was sitting at an elevated place retrieved the phantom spear into his palm again but didn’t toss it towards the same place again.

The spear shot out like a dragon, cutting through the air, making a sharp buzzing sound, and was nailed accurately into a clump of reeds dozens of meters away.

A miserable scream rang out and the blood splattered in a little more than a two meters radius, like a splash of red silk.

Xu Xingzhi was startled and looked up.

The speed of ghosts was naturally incomparable to the speed of ordinary people. Zhou Beinan who was originally sitting on the eaves, flashed into the reeds in an instant, and dragged a corpse out of it.

The clothes on the corpse were exactly the same as the ones on Meng Chongguang, white robes adorned with a cloud pattern and a light-colored ribbon made of hemp cloth.

Zhou Beinan didn’t plan on taking the other’s life with one strike and only speared through his calf, pinning him to the ground, and yet that person had died as blood spilled out from the corner of his mouth.

Zhou Beinan pried his mouth open and half of a tongue fell out.

Xu Xingzhi was a very mundane person, so naturally he wasn’t used to seeing such bloody scenes, and could only detect some clues from the way he was dressed.

Qu Chi curiously asked Tao Xian: “Did people from Fengling Mountain come? If they’re from Fengling Mountain, I’ll treat them to candy ya.”

Tao Xian: “Shh, hush.”

Meng Chongguang pushed Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder: “Shixiong, you go into the tower first, Jiu Zhideng’s subordinates are here.”

Xu Xingzhi was surprised: “What is their purpose in coming here?”

“As long as the few of us are still alive in the wasteland, they’ll come at any time.” Meng Chongguang stated in a light tone, but when he turned around to look at Xu Xingzhi, the tenderness in his eyes seemed so gentle that it could just melt away, “Shixiong, hurry and go in, if you get injured if a fight breaks out then that would be bad.”

Xu Xingzhi didn’t waste any more words, after exhorting “be careful”, he turned around and entered the tower.

In fact, he was still hung up on the words that he had just blurted out. Following that, his head had also become heavy as some scattered memories started to surface before his eyes.

. . . The memories of the original owner reared their head again.

If he continued to stand there, he was afraid that he would follow the same path to ruin and pass out. If that happened, he’d just be adding to the chaos.

Waiting until after Xu Xingzhi entered the tower, the warmth and tenderness on Meng Chongguang’s face disappeared without a trace.

Zhou Beinan dragged the body over: “. . . He’s dead, he bit his tongue and committed suicide.”

“Looks like Jiu Zhideng made it clear to them ah.” Meng Chongguang chuckled coldly, “These people dare not fall into my hands alive.”

Zhou Beinan looked around: “There might be others spying, what should we do?”

“一Find them.” Meng Chongguang ordered, “After finding them, just like usual, peel their clothes off and their skin along with it.”

Yuan Ruzhou, who was washing by the stream, was closest to the intruder just now.

She followed the blood trail over and after fumbling around in the reeds for a while, she found a looking glass.

She merely took a glimpse of the looking glass for but a moment, and her expression changed drastically as she smashed it into smithereens without hesitation.

Yuan Ruzhou held the broken looking glass and returned to the front of the tower, handing over the fragments to Meng Chongguang: “Shidi, take a look at this, this is a Lingzhao Looking Glass, whatever object the Lingzhao Looking Glass reflects, will be communicated between.”

When Zhou Beinan heard this, he turned towards Meng Chongguang: “. . . This spy was sent by Jiu Zhideng to see whether Xingzhi had already struck you down, right?”

Meng Chongguang’s expression didn’t change as he smiled at the shattered lens: “Toss this broken thing away ba. . . . Shixiong and I are living harmoniously in the wasteland, how would he be willing to strike me down?”

On the other side of the Lingzhao Looking Glass.

A disciple holding the Lingzhao Looking Glass dressed in Fengling Mountain’s robes knelt down in front of a person, daring not to speak.

The scene projected by the looking glass was already broken and webbed. Meng Chongguang’s face was reflected in it in several facets, and the sound that traveled through was intermittent but still recognizable: “. . . Shixiong. . . and I. . . are living harmoniously. . . how would he be willing. . . to strike. . .”

Facing the looking glass was Jiu Zhideng in white robes of cloud patterns.

Jiu Zhideng’s cold eyes were filled with anger and when he heard this sentence, the scroll in his hand was instantly hurtled aside.

A crystal silver vase that was placed on one side for decoration shattered immediately and the flowers inside scattered around as the water splashed all over the floor.

That disciple instantly panicked, fell silent, and didn’t dare make a sound.

“Call Wen Xuechen over.” After a long time, Jiu Zhideng’s cold voice came from above, the anger sounded like it had completely faded, “I want him to figure out a way to get Shixiong out of the wasteland.”

The disciple kept chanting yes and when he got up, he accidentally swept his eyes across the place Jiu Zhideng had sat and felt horrified.

—The table before Jiu Zhideng was crafted out of thousand-year agarwood, but now, five deep and fresh finger marks were gouged into it, extremely terrifying.

The author has something to say:

. . . The Shixiong, who raised two bear cubs, is internally bitter.

Conjectures, slip of the tongue, Lingzhao Looking Glass

The translator has something to say: at least Xu Xingzhi taught them consistently enough for both his shidi even to act the same when they are angered by something that involves him, I see a lot of specially carved (gouged) furniture in their future

The editor has something to say: Jiu Zhideng ya, those furniture seems expensive. . .