Ch37 - Secret Behind the Mask

Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff

Zhou Beinan was unconscious for six days. During this period, Lu Yujiu took the post and stayed rigidly by his side with a blank stare tirelesslt.

The only person who could touch the ghost servant was the ghost master. Yuan Ruzhou couldn’t treat Zhou Beinan, so all of his injuries were taken care of by Lu Yujiu.

Although Xu Xingzhi was by his side, he couldn’t help Lu Yujiu share part of the burden.

On the sixth day, Xu Xingzhi went to Zhou Beinan as soon as he woke up in the morning and just happened to catch Lu Yujiu take off the phantom mask that covered his face all year round and place it aside to wipe his eyes as his shoulders trembled.

Xu Xingzhi patted his clothes and fished out a handkerchief that Yuan Ruzhou had finished washing yesterday, folded it over once and approached the other.

Hearing footsteps, Lu Yujiu hurriedly picked up half of the mask to cover his face before he was willing to turn his head around.

Only after he swallowed with difficulty several times was he able to suppress his tears: “. . . Xu-shixiong.”

Xu Xingzhi said: “Don’t cry, you’ll hurt your eyes.”

“I wasn’t crying.” In order to prove this statement, Lu Yujiu even tried to squeeze out a smile.

Xu Xingzhi walked to the side and dropped the handkerchief into his hand: “Okay, okay, you didn’t cry.”

He sat down beside Lu Yujiu; his sitting posture was as lackadaisical as always with his left leg crossed in front of him, his right leg raised, while his right elbow rested on his right knee. Looking at the unconscious Zhou Beinan, it was unknown what he was thinking.

Just as Lu Yujiu was about to kneel upright, Xu Xingzhi pressed on his head somewhat unreasonably and brought the face along with the mask to rest against his shoulder. He had even deliberately slouched slightly to suit Lu Yujiu’s height a little better.

Lu Yujiu was somewhat dazed and burrowed into Xu Xingzhi’s arms, his voice thick with a nasal hum: “. . . Xu-shixiong?”

Xu Xingzhi coughed lightly, running a hand through his thick hair as he murmured against his ear: “. . . No one can hear it. They are all asleep ne, if you want to cry, Xu-shixiong won’t laugh at you.”

Lu Yujiu paused, grabbed Xu Xingzhi’s lapel, and tried hard to hold back for another moment before he ultimately let out a long, painful sob.

Danglang—

The mask that Lu Yujiu didn’t have time to wear properly, slipped from his face and fell to the ground.

Xu Xingzhi let him lean on him to cry, then after an unknown amount of time, the sobs of the person in his arms gradually trailed off.

Xu Xingzhi unwrapped the crystalline paper hidden in his right palm and retrieved something from it before stuffing it into Lu Yujiu’s mouth.

Lu Yujiu sucked on it for a while before he was able to distinguish the taste on his tongue: “. . . Sugar?”

Xu Xingzhi responded: “. . . En.”

A few days after Nan Li’s death, the ghost servants under his command were also disbanded and Hutiao Ravine became an empty valley of the dead. In order to find the key shards that opened the gates to the savage wasteland, Zhou Wang and the others combed through Hutiao Ravine thoroughly, but still couldn’t locate any shards.

In the end, it was Xu Xingzhi who discovered that the key fragment was the inlaid stone that was fashioned into a pendant found in Ye Buyi’s empty soul locking jade vessel.

Xu Xingzhi had read through Ye Buyi’s memories.

That year, the reason Nan Li used to successfully deceive Ye Buyi into coming to Hutiao Ravine was that there was a treasured place with good Feng Shui in it where he could bury that unfamiliar fellow practitioner.

Xu Xingzhi thought it was strange at that time: the savage wasteland was barren and desolate, there was almost no lush water and verdant plants, even the floral nectar was bitter, so what was the origin of this so-called place rich with good Feng Shui?

After Nan Li died, he had even purposely went to the lake near Hutiao Ravine to take a look and discovered that the trees were sparse, rabbits and mice ran amok, the lake was dry, and the whole basin of the lake was full of cracks. It seemed as if the entire lake had its life drained away from it. The environment appeared bleak akin to death.

He even deliberately tasted the stamen of several wild flowers that were clustered nearby, and noted that it actually possessed a hint of sweetness. This at least proved that this place was indeed rich and vibrant once upon a time.

Furthermore, while recalling and sorting out Ye Buyi’s memories. Xu Xingzhi noticed that the two, Nan and Ye, often played the game of toss and retrieve in the lake. Once, the little cultivator Ye Buyi salvaged a strange, glowing shard from the lake. Nan Li was unawares and fashioned it into a precious chained jewelry and gifted it to Ye Buyi.

Ye Buyi liked that necklace very much and wore it every day. Only until the day Ye Buyi parted ways with Nan Li did he finally remove the chain.

After Ye Buyi passed away, Nan Li placed it into the jade vessel that also locked Ye Buyi’s remnant soul so that it could accompany him.

The key fragment was an entity with a soul. Perhaps it was because it fell into the lake that year that it nurtured such an oasis of abundant water and rich soil; then as soon as the fragment was removed, it reverted to barren earth.

This speculation was relatively reasonable, but Xu Xingzhi couldn’t shake the vague feeling that there was a discrepancy in all of this, it’s just that he couldn’t tell which part of it didn’t sit right.

He couldn’t figure it out for now and didn’t want to continue splitting hairs so he set it aside and kept this inexplicable suspicion in his heart for the time being.

Before leaving the dry lake of Hutiao Ravine, Xu Xingzhi picked dozens of the dying flowers nearby, drained them of nectar, and made four nectar candies.

One was naturally given to Meng Chongguang, the other two were given to Qu Chi and Zhou Wang respectively. The last he kept in his possession and originally was going to give to Zhou Beinan when he woke up, but seeing Lu Yujiu so devastated, Xu Xingzhi ended up giving the candy to him in a moment of soft-heartedness.

Xu Xingzhi asked: “Does it taste good?”

Lu Yujiu responded in a muffled voice with the candy in his mouth: “Did Qu-shixiong get one. . .”

Xu Xingzhi was tickled the moment he mentioned this: “I gave one to Qu Chi the moment I returned last night. Who knew that he wouldn’t bear to eat it, he didn’t even give it a lick and stuffed it into Tao Xian’s mouth while Tao Xian was still asleep, nearly choking him.”

When Xu Xingzhi chatted about Qu Chi, his tone became naturally familiar, as if he were talking about an old friend of many years.

Lu Yujiu murmured softly: “Thank you Xu-shixiong. . .”

“If you want to thank your Xu-shixiong then don’t cry anymore.” Xu Xingzhi responded, “Even Xu-shixiong’s inner robe is wet.”

Lu Yujiu was embarrassed. He swiftly lifted his face, and rubbed the wet patch on Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder vigorously with the back of his hand.

When he finally realized that he had forgotten to wear his mask, he looked up in a panic, only to find that Xu Xingzhi had already closed his eyes.

He urged thoughtfully: “Quickly put it on ba. I didn’t see anything.”

In Xu Xingzhi’s conjectures, Lu Yujiu must have suffered some sort of accident that ruined his appearance so he wore such a frightening mask in order to cover it up.

If Lu Yujiu didn’t want others to look at his face, why should he try to take a peek for the sake of some senseless curiosity?

After waiting for a while, he finally heard Lu Yujiu’s slightly weepy voice: “Xu-shixiong. . .”

Xu Xingzhi assumed that Lu Yujiu had worn his mask again, thus he opened his eyes.

Immediately, he gasped in surprise and only uttered the word “You” and couldn’t say anything further.

—Lu Yujiu wasn’t wearing the mask.

And the face under the phantom mask wasn’t ruined and marred with scars like in Xu Xingzhi’s imagination. It was an overly delicate and scarless baby face.

Lu Yujiu’s eyes were very round and the crying made it swell and flush with a color like cute peaches. His face was white and soft, making him look like a little squirrel who was saddened because it was robbed of its chestnuts for the winter.

Xu Xingzhi came back to his senses: “. . . You didn’t injure your face?”

Lu Yujiu shook his head timidly.

Xu Xingzhi couldn’t figure it out: “Then why wear a mask?”

Lu Yujiu pursed his lips and put on his mask again. After steeling himself, he began to confess his thoughts on the matter: “In the years I was practicing at Qingliang Valley, my skills were low, and my understanding average, but I just had to be partial to ghostly cultivation and had achieved some of its milestones. After being sent to the savage wasteland, if I still adhered to the immortal path, I’m afraid that I’d die without a place to rest in peace, so. . . So I abandoned the immortal path and concentrated on studying the ghostly path. . .”

When he divulged this information, his eyes darted around with a hint of remorse: “Later, I found the remnant souls of several Qingliang Valley shixiong. . . . The stratification of Qingliang Valley is very strict and my position is very low, giving me no right to dictate them and even less right to reveal my status as a ghostly cultivator to them. So I simply picked up a piece of scrap metal and forged it into this look to wear on my face. . .”

Xu Xingzhi stroked his hair to comfort him: “Is Zhou Beinan aware?”

Lu Yujiu answered: “Zhou Beinan was the last ghost servant I took in. When he saw me, I was already like this.”

Xu Xingzhi was slightly curious: “Why didn’t you tell him? He isn’t from Qingliang Valley.”

“He. . .” Lu Yujiu’s ears burned, “He always assumed that my face was ruined and never allowed another to touch my mask. Once he even, even nearly hit A’Wang for trying to take my mask off. He was so protective that I’m almost embarrassed to tell him. . .”

Xu Xingzhi felt that Lu Yujiu’s attitude was a little odd, then reminded himself about how strongly Zhou Beinan’s food-protecting momentum was towards Lu Yujiu, adding on the live erotic show the two Nan and Ye broadcasted a few days ago. . .

He exclaimed with a flash of insight: “Oh, the two of you. . .”

He swallowed the unspoken second half of his sentence because Lu Yujiu had only heard the first half and his face steamed like a red bean bun: “No, no, we really aren’t!”

Xu Xingzhi declined to comment on Lu Yujiu’s action showing that there weren't three hundred silver taels buried here.

Mentioning Zhou Beinan, Lu Yujiu seemed to have endless things to say: “. . . When I took him in that year, I hated him very much. Because he couldn’t remember how he died, he felt suffocated, and nursed a bellyful of wicked temper that he’d take out on me all day long. I was so annoyed with him that I practically didn’t even want him anymore.”

Xu Xingzhi recalled Zhou Beinan’s annoying young master manner and conduct and wholeheartedly felt that Lu Yujiu was justifiably annoyed.

“. . . However, remembering that he has already. . . passed away, I wasn’t that angry anymore. Besides, the only person he could touch was me. If even I were to ignore him, then he really would be too miserable.”

That phantom mask was really operating well, it directly twisted Lu Yujiu’s gentle tone into one tinged with something terrifying. Then again, after Xu Xingzhi heard him say these words following the glimpse of Lu Yujiu’s true face, no matter how he listened, he could only imagine a little squirrel counting its haul of pine cones aggrievedly.

. . . He seemed to understand a little more of why Lu Yujiu had to wear a mask.

After all, Lu Yujiu’s voice, appearance, and height didn’t seem intimidating at all. Even when he was furious, it probably only looked like a youth acting petty.

“Later. . . It was him and I up until now. . .”

Speaking of this, Lu Yujiu’s tone trembled slightly: “But, I didn’t, I couldn’t protect him well. . . His eyes are my eyes. I originally could’ve seen Nan Li’s arrival, but at that time, I watched him find his own remains and was unbearably downcast, so I wanted to let him be alone for a while. . .”

Speaking up to here, Lu Yujiu was so dejected that he couldn’t help but sob: “After so many years, I still can’t protect anyone. . .”

Xu Xingzhi regarded him quietly.

Many years have passed, and he was still that young ghostly cultivator in the memories of the original owner who would sacrifice his own life to save his peers at the drop of a hat. That same short youth, who although liked to cry, was still loyal and brave to a fault.

Xu Xingzhi was suddenly reminded of the time he first saw Lu Yujiu some days ago. He was standing at a high place, manipulating the talisman to summon ghosts and they emerged from the shadows, manifesting endlessly.

Then even later on, when the Feng Mountain followers came to besiege the tower to steal the key back, Lu Yujiu was seriously injured precisely because he stood at a towering height and was unluckily struck by an arrow.

. . . He seemed to like standing at higher places, even at the risk of getting wounded.

So, when he was endangering himself by casting talismans in a lofty position, it was all probably to prevent himself from appearing small and powerless ba.

—It was probably the same logic behind his use of a terrifying phantom mask to cover his true face.

Lu Yujiu wanted to make himself stronger than before, but to his dismay, at the end of it all, he was still that useless crybaby.

Xu Xingzhi was still in a daze when he abruptly heard a slightly feeble voice from beside him not too far away: “. . . Heavens ah, crying again.”

Xu Xingzhi followed the sound and looked over only to find that Zhou Beinan, who was lying there, had already opened his eyes.

Lu Yujiu was taken aback and then lunged over vigorously, directly on top of Zhou Beinan.

The only thing a ghost servant could make contact with was their ghostly master. This pounce tugged at the injury on his shoulder blade, making Zhou Beinan directly explode with an expletive: “Did you want to crush me to death?”

Lu Yujiu instantly reigned in his momentum, but still threw himself on top, refusing to get up. He bared his sharp teeth like a civet cat as he burst into tears: “Who told you to use the forbidden spell on yourself? If I hadn’t eliminated the spell in time, you would’ve been completely swallowed up by the malicious ghost! Did I allow you to use it?! Ah?”

Zhou Beinan protested incessantly: “My bad, my bad! I was wrong! Ancestor, can you please get up?!”

Seeing this scene, it wasn’t convenient for Xu Xingzhi to stay any further. He retired after achieving his meritorious goals and quietly headed towards the outside of the cave.

Lu Yujiu, who was still in the cave, reluctantly got up, knelt beside the bed, and hesitated for a long time with his lips slightly parted before he finally informed Zhou Beinan: “. . . I just ate candy.”

Zhou Beinan had just come around from the pain so his mind was still somewhat sluggish: “What do you mean?”

Lu Yujiu asked: “Do you want to eat it?”

Before Zhou Beinan could speak, Lu Yujiu leaned down and gave Zhou Beinan’s lips a peck, like a mouse stealing a bite, and slipped him the nectar candy that had yet been completely melted.

He blushed as he straightened: “There was only so much left, you’re not allowed to dislike it. . . Wu!!”

Zhou Beinan raised his uninjured left arm, cupped the back of Lu Yujiu’s head, and tugged the Lu Yujiu, who had yet to straighten fully, back down: “. . . I wasn’t able to taste it just now. Again.”

Xu Xingzhi mulled over his concerns while fiddling with his folded fan.

As of now, Meng Chongguang was in possession of two key fragments. If that “Worlds’ Consciousness” found out that he was not carrying out his duty properly as the assassin he was, and had even aided Meng Chongguang in their escape, he was afraid that it’d be infuriated until death.

He exited the cave alone and just so happened to meet Yuan Ruzhou, who was approaching. He greeted her with a smile: “Ruzhou.”

Yuan Ruzhou caught sight of him and returned a slight nod: “Shixiong.”

“Where is Chongguang? Beinan is awake, I was just looking for. . .”

The voice came to an abrupt end.

Yuan Ruzhou looked at Xu Xingzhi, some confusion coloring her tone: “. . . Shixiong?”

Xu Xingzhi turned around and stared into the cave, incredulous.

In that moment just now, he finally figured out what was so weird about the circumstances surrounding Nan Li.

—The shards of the key to the savage wasteland were treasures to anyone residing in the wasteland. However, Nan Li didn’t seem to be aware of the fact that the piece Ye Buyi brought ashore was a fragment of the wasteland key from the beginning to the end!

Not only did he turn this little tidbit into jewelry for Ye Buyi, he even let Ye Buyi, who had low spiritual power, to prance around while wearing it.

. . . The question was, Nan Li himself wasn’t cognizant of the fact that it was the key to the wasteland, so how did the lord of Feng Mountain, whom they captured, know that Nan Li had a sliver of the wasteland key here?

The shadows of the mountains overlapped, its peaks surpassing the heavens. Bizarre cypresses shot upwards from the absolute summits. This view, combined with the giant tower that stood abruptly stalwart in the savage wasteland made the wasteland seem even more barren, desolate, and incomparably bizarre.

Several disciples dressed in Qingliang Valley robes pushed Wen Xuechen’s wheelchair and halted before the giant tower.

Wen Xuechen’s snow white hair fluttered in the wind. He faced the tower with an indifferent expression, while the two disciples who had been here before, looked at the life-threatening star dust scattered on the ground with lingering fears. The two were ceaselessly restless: “Wen-shixiong, it is dangerous here. They are not in the tower, is it necessary to go in?”

Wen Xuechen gave an order succinctly: “Enter. There is another inside. I want to ask him something.”

With the command from Wen Xuechen, the few disciples dared not disobey, and pushed the wheelchair over with trepidation.

The stardust undulated on the ground, loose and free, but as soon as the eight trigrams array in Wen Xuechen’s arms shone brightly, the demonic power of the stardust was forcibly suppressed.

The wheelchair moved forward slowly, making a rustling noise as it rolled over the ground.

When the several disciples walked through this place, they all became soaked with cold sweat.

The disciples who came here last time wiped away their cold sweat and tried to converse with Wen Xuechen to disperse their tension: “. . . Wen-shixiong‘s wheelchair is really well made and moves smoothly over the ground. Since the first time we met more than ten years ago, Wen-shixiong has always been using this one, the quality must also be outstanding. Under which skilled craftsman’s hands was it engineered from?”

Wen Xuechen didn’t lift his head as he replied: “. . . Xu Xingzhi.”

The author has something to say:

The next chapter is about the childhood memories between Shixiong and Wen-baimao.

Shixiong: Specialized in curing all manners of arrogance, highly effective, welcome to visit.

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Phantom mask, wheelchair, glaring discrepancy

The translator has something to say: Shixiong keeps good on his promises although he had to make do for now

The editor has something to say:  Xu Xingzhi’s influence reaches far and wide!