Ch20 - Autumn Night Whisperings

Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff

Xu Xingzhi collapsed into Jiu Zhideng’s arms and the upper half of his robes slid down to his waist. There were beads of sweat sliding down the lines of his muscles, but his body temperature was gradually lowering.

He whispered: “. . . The Silver Ringed Snake Rune.”

The Ghost Clan of Mingya Country had always been proficient at spell formations, including the “Snake Rune” spell. “Snake Rune” was further divided into the Golden Ringed Snake Rune and the Silver Ringed Snake Rune. The former had a pale blue glow and the body of the afflicted person would become scorching hot as the meridians suffered a burning pain; the Silver Ringed Snake Rune possessed a fiery glow and once cursed, the whole body would become like ice and the blood flow would  freeze.

Although Xu Xingzhi circulated his spiritual power to aid its suppression, when the curse was imprinted onto his body, the ghostly cultivator obviously put all of his efforts into this last blow. No matter how hard Xu Xingzhi tried to forcibly suppress it, he still inevitably suffered the fate of being trapped in a frigid prison.

This spell also had another feature that was somewhat strange: once the curse rune was formed and the target was determined, it would penetrate into the body of the target without fail. Thus, even if Xu Xingzhi was a step ahead and killed the ghostly cultivator just in time, the curse imprint would still fall onto Jiu Zhideng.

Only by taking his place, would Jiu Zhideng be able to escape danger.

Jiu Zhideng’s throat was slightly choked and he felt ashamed and remorseful: “Shixiong, I shouldn’t have been so careless. . .”

“What’s the use of saying this now?” Xu Xingzhi gritted his teeth and grabbed Jiu Zhideng’s shoulders tightly, panting non-stop while his lips were tinted faintly purple, “Why did you remove my clothes? Put my clothes back on for me.”

Meng Chongguang couldn’t control his emotions and a faint splendor of light shone from his palm: “Shixiong, just lie down here, I’ll help you with the curse. . . “

Xu Xingzhi struggled to raise his upper body and smacked Meng Chongguang’s hand away with a slap: “And let Zhou Beinan know that I was injured because of this insignificant lackey? He’d make fun of me for the rest of my life!”

A shock went through Jiu Zhideng’s body as if he had just realized something, but he only bit his lip and kept quiet.

Meng Chongguang clenched his teeth tightly: “Does Shixiong not care for your own body at all?”

Yet Xu Xingzhi was still uncharacteristically in a rare determined mood: “How can there be so much nonsense? Help me put on my clothes! Remember, no one is allowed to tell the others about my injury. We are leaving it at that!”

The sound of the altar exploding just now was shocking in this claustrophobic and enclosed space. Just as Xu Xingzhi refastened the sash around his waist, Zhou Beinan appeared from one of the passages accompanied by a Danyang Peak disciple: “. . . What was that sound just now?”

Xu Xingzhi leaned against a slightly larger altar stone and sat with his legs crossed: “The Ghost Clan forgot to take their Gu worms away with them and scared laozi.”

Zhou Beinan laughed uproariously: “Xu Xingzhi, you don’t fear ghosts or gods, so how are you terrified of bugs to such an extent?”

Xu Xingzhi leaned back further and argued back disdainfully: “If young master Zhou was almost divided among ants to be eaten when you fainted from illness as a child, then you might be more afraid than me.”

Zhou Beinan didn’t want to remind Xu Xingzhi of his childhood so he coughed lightly and slightly reined his laughter in, changing the subject: “How come your complexion is so poor?”

Xu Xingzhi asked back: “Don’t you think it’s oddly cold in here?”

Zhou Beinan replied contemptuously: “You are so weak.”

Xu Xingzhi picked up a stone and hurtled it at Zhou Beinan: “Go, git, get lost. If you have the time to squabble with me, why don’t you go and see if there were any fish that escaped the net instead.”

After a period of scouring about, the group confirmed that none of those troublesome ghostly cultivators were spared and all had been taken care of. There were 37 corpses in total, which Wen Xuechen sealed with several talismans and burned to help their souls reincarnate cleanly and obediently.

. . . No one realized that there was a corpse missing.

Deep in the valley at Baima Peak.

The corpse of the ghostly cultivator who had just attacked and injured Xu Xingzhi was dragged into the mountains.

The sky has already darkened; several vines crawled out of the depths of the damp jungle and around the body like a snake, tying it up like a zongzi.

Afterwards, fine white foam began to appear on the surface of the vines. At first the skin of the dead man corroded away, and soon broken white bones emerged after the fiery baptism.

Then within a quarter of an hour, he was melted until not even the bones remained.

After the body was destroyed, a light orb slowly rose from the vines.

That was a soul core that everyone possessed. After the body died, if the soul was intact, then it could reincarnate.

But a vine shot out like lightning, ensnaring the soul core that had been floating in the air and with a ka, it was crushed into pieces.

Xu Xingzhi had deliberately concealed his injuries, so naturally no one could detect that anything was amiss. He laughed and messed around the entire way back like usual so even Yuan Ruzhou, who was usually very assiduous, didn’t pick up on any abnormalities.

After returning to Fengling Mountain and reporting the details of the mission to his master and shishu, Xu Xingzhi felt so cold that he had lost all sensation, yet he was still conscious. When he willed himself to walk all the way back to his room, he still didn’t forget to greet a few of the shidi that he was familiar with.

After closing the door, Xu Xingzhi felt completely spent.

Behind his room was a hot spring pond for bathing that was boiling hot all-year round. Xu Xingzhi stepped slowly towards the pond while he undressed, leaving his white robes on the wet ground, his belt sash hanging horizontally, and his brocade shoes kicked off along the way.

Walking to the edge of the pool, he poured out a few medicinal pills from a gourd hanging by the pond with trembling hands. He didn’t bother counting how many and just tossed all of the pills into the pond indiscriminately.

The water in the pond immediately turned a milky white and with the churning of the bubbling hot water, the fragrant aroma of medicine became overwhelming.

Xu Xingzhi dove in and let the steam penetrate his body as he soaked in the medicinal spring.

However, probably due to the long delay before treatment, when Xu Xingzhi climbed out after soaking in the spring for a whole two hours, his body was still frigid and his joints were also so cold that they ached painfully.

He secretly curse d*mn it. Knowing that his body wouldn’t recover for a while, he wiped off the droplets on his body and walked out naked.

After soaking in the boiling hot medicinal spring for such a long time, Xu Xingzhi became a little dizzy, and so, when he returned to his room, he didn’t notice that the clothes that he had littered all over the ground had been neatly returned to the clothing hooks.

. . . Until he saw the big and well-behaved bundle on his bed.

That person had pulled his quilt over and wrapped himself into a fluffy and soft ball.

Xu Xingzhi guessed who it was at a glance.

. . . After all, there weren’t many people who dared to enter his room and lay under his duvet in broad daylight.

He yanked a sleeping robe off the hanger and wrapped himself in it: “Chongguang?”

A sweaty, but beautiful face emerged from underneath the quilt.

His voice was soft and sweet, like the malt candy sold on the street for three cents a pound: “. . . Shixiong, I’m warming your bed for you.”

Xu Xingzhi chuckled, walked over and captured him, pulling him out: “Who told you to climb onto my bed?

“Shixiong’s hands are so cold.” Unexpectedly, Meng Chongguang didn’t follow up with his question at all and just brought Xu Xingzhi’s hands to his lips, huffing his breath on them, “I’ll warm them for Shixiong.”

Xu Xingzhi was stunned for a while and his face was actually a little hot as he pulled back his hands: “. . . Stop trying to pull these tricks with me ah. Go, shoo, leave, go back to your own room to sleep.”

Meng Chongguang stated: “I’m not leaving.”

Xu Xingzhi tugged his arm: “Get up. If Shishu goes to the disciples’ hall for a room inspection. . .”

Before he could finish, Meng Chongguang seized Xu Xingzhi’s wrist, yanked him aggressively, then flipped around and pressed Xu Xingzhi down onto the bed.

Xu Xingzhi didn’t know from where the small and weak body of his, that would’ve collapsed under a gust of wind, muster so much strength. Perhaps it was because he had just been cursed so his body was slightly weak, but he was restrained to the point where he couldn’t even struggle even if he freed his wrist from Meng Chongguang’s grip.

Another slender and pretty hand took advantage of the situation and covered Xu Xingzhi’s eyes, blocking out the candlelight in the room.

Xu Xingzhi tried his best, but he couldn’t move at all. He only felt like Mount Tai was pressing down on him so heavily until he was nearly breathless.

Meng Chongguang’s steady voice came from above, as soft as ever, you couldn’t even tell if he was exerting any force.

He demanded an unreasonable request: “From today onwards, I want to move into Shixiong‘s room.”

He stated: “I want to watch over Shixiong and prevent Shixiong from getting hurt again.”

He continued: “I used to think that there was nothing Shixiong couldn’t accomplish, but it seems that I was too lax. This time, I was careless and Shixiong was injured. I promise that this sort of thing won’t happen again in the future.”

Xu Xingzhi gradually stopped trying to break away from Meng Chongguang and listened to his words attentively.

Meng Chongguang nagged for a while, but found that Xu Xingzhi wasn’t moving anymore and couldn’t help panicking. He immediately climbed down from Xu Xingzhu and let go of him: “. . . Shixiong?”

Xu Xingzhi sat up silently, stretched his neck and shoulders, adjusted the disheveled upper half of his sleeping robes, and then stood up.

Flustered, Meng Chongguang scrambled to the side of the bed using both hands and feet and knelt down, tugging on the sash around Xu Xingzhi’s waist: “Shixiong, don’t ignore me. . .”

With one pull, Meng Chongguang nearly stripped Xu Xingzhi naked on the spot: “Aiaiai, let go.”

Meng Chongguang aggrievedly whispered with a soft nasally voice: “Shixiong. . .”

Xu Xingzhi raised his head and sighed: “. . . Where did you think I was going to go? I was going to go to the disciples’ hall to bring your quilt over!”

Meng Chongguang’s eyes lit up and immediately let go obediently as he sat, kneeling on the bed: “Really?”

“Living in such a spacious palace by myself is really boring.” Xu Xingzhi stated, “If you move over here, I will at least have someone to chat with to relieve my boredom.”

Meng Chongguang was so excited that his cheeks were flushed red and wanted to hop down with bare feet: “Shixiong is ill, I’ll carry it over.”

Xu Xingzhi stuffed him back into the quilt: “I’ll go. Someone will have to provide an explanation to Shishu, if you were to explain, would Shishu let you go so easily?”

After saying so, he lightly rapped his knuckles against Meng Chongguang’s forehead, “. . . Stay here and warm the bed for me obediently.”

As soon as the words left Xu Xingzhi’s mouth, Xu Xingzhi felt that something was wrong, but at the moment, it was difficult for him to tell exactly what was out of place.

. . . It’s just like how he didn’t know why he agreed to Meng Chongguang’s unreasonable request in such a muddle-headed way.

He only thought that after spending many years interacting with Meng Chongguang daily during the daytime, spending the night under the same roof didn’t seem like something that was difficult to accept.

He swiftly changed into his outdoor clothing, then turned around behind the screen, tying his sash at his waist as he commanded: “Go to bed first, don’t wait for me.”

Meng Chongguang popped out from underneath Xu Xingzhi’s quilt and replied in a soft, docile voice: “Shixiong, the moonlight is too bright outside, Chongguang can’t sleep.”

Xu Xingzhi was helpless. He raised his hands, forming a seal, and a thick fog instantly condensed outside the round window.

It was as if he used this fog barrier to cage the moon within, the moonlight was also softened into a fluffy ball of dim light.

“Is this good enough?” Xu Xingzhi asked.

Meng Chongguang nodded lightly and pulled the quilt up to cover half of his face, muttering in a muffled voice: “. . . The moonlight outside of Shixiong’s palace is more breathtaking than the moonlight at other places.”

“Sweet-talker.” Xu Xingzhi teased him.

When Xu Xingzhi was about to head out, Meng Chongguang exhorted from behind: “Put on two more layers before you go.”

Xu Xingzhi replied: “No need.”

However, as soon as Xu Xingzhi opened the door, a gust of autumn wind blew straight at him and made him shudder. He felt that his palms and feet were so unbearably cold that he was forced to close the door immediately. Only after he found an outer robe lined with fur, did he push the door open again and finally head out.

Xu Xingzhi closed the door gingerly, but didn’t go to the disciples’ hall straightaway.

He walked around the drapes that were hung around the main hall to the corridor and walked a few more steps further in. Sure enough, there sat Jiu Zhideng underneath the window with his knees tucked in and his arms wrapped around them, seeming thin and isolated.

There were dozens of bottles laid out before him, all of which seemed to be medicinal pills used to treat cold poisons. Jiu Zhideng sat under the window outside his palace, the warm light from his room shone over his head and the cold moonlight enlongated his shadow.

. . . He was in a such rare daze that he wasn’t even aware of Xu Xingzhi’s arrival.

And Xu Xingzhi felt this third presence outside of his palace as early as the moment Meng Chongguang pressed him down on the bed.

Seeing Jiu Zhideng’s current state, if he didn’t come out to look for him, Xu Xingzhi was afraid that he would’ve sat outside until dawn and still wouldn’t have knocked on the door to his palace.

. . . Each of these two children were really more worrisome than the other.

Xu Xingzhi fastened the tie on his outer robes more tightly and called out to him: “. . . Xiao-Deng.”

The author has something to say:

The first line of the couplet: Children who know how to cry have milk to drink

The second line of the couplet: Children who are sensible, reprimand themselves

The flanking, horizontal scroll: My heart was stabbed my friend

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Cold poison, exacting revenge, warming the bed

The translator has something to say: Meng Chongguang reminds me of those TeeTurtle shirts

And, sorry for being so late, I’ve had to pick up a lot of extra shifts lately

The editor has something to say: Xu Xingzhi really just lets Meng Chongguang have his way with everything hahahah.