“Yenuo? What are you doing here?”
Deng Yenuo looked up. A small smile lit his face as a lovely girl hopped down the steps. Her hair was in a tall ponytail and her navy and gold robes showed off her position as an administrative member of Beidou Alliance’s headquarters. Her smile was bright and her doe-like eyes shown with excitement as she approached Deng Yenuo.
“Chun-jie,” Deng Yenuo greeted.
Ouyang Chun (欧阳春) clicked her tongue. “Chun-jie makes me sound so old! Why can’t you just call me A-Chun? We look about the same age now anyway!”
Deng Yenuo chuckled. “I’m younger than you. It’d be odd if I called you anything other than Chun-jie.”
Ouyang Chun sighed. She pouted as she led Deng Yenuo up the large stairs. “Alright. What are you doing back here? Did that shizun of yours finally get sick of your pining and decided to kick you back to your good cousin?”
Deng Yenuo shook his head. For a moment, Ouyang Chun couldn’t believe her eyes. Her little cousin that she picked up and raised for a good ten years was looking at her with excitement in his eyes. This boy! The very one who acted like a cold iceberg the moment he was fished from the streets!
“You…no way.”
Deng Yenuo lowered his gaze and shyly nodded.
“You—you actually succeeded?!” Ouyang Chun paused. She gripped Deng Yenuo’s shoulders, finally gaining a height advantage from walking ahead, and shook him. “You!? With the Lord Liaosu!?”
“Jie, lower your voice,” Deng Yenuo quickly said. He glanced around. “I don’t want to cause Shizun any problems.”
Ouyang Chun clicked her tongue and excitedly stomped her foot. “You silly child! If he accepted your feelings, then that means he’s ready for any type of criticism! Lucky you!”
Deng Yenuo pressed his lips together but it still didn’t stop the grin from taking over his face. Ouyang Chun happily hugged him as she jumped up and down.
“I’m so happy for you!” Ouyang Chun squealed. She settled back down and held Deng Yenuo’s face. “You know, when you told me that you had fallen for your shizun I was waiting for you to come crying that he rejected you—but look at you now! You did it! You actually nabbed one of the most sought after bachelors!”
“Jie, stop. Someone’s going to hear you,” Deng Yenuo said. “And how come you’re acting more excited than I am?”
“I bet I’m not! I bet you were so excited you couldn’t sleep,” Ouyang Chun beamed.
“That’s not…true,” Deng Yenuo said. “When he saw I couldn’t sleep, he coaxed me to sleep…”
“You two slept together?” Ouyang Chun whispered.
“Not…together. We just slept side by side,” Deng Yenuo said.
Ouyang Chun squealed and swatted at Deng Yenuo. “Look at you! From a discarded mistress’s son to a lord immortal’s little husband—you’re really moving up in the world!”
“I have other things to show too,” Deng Yenuo said somewhat helplessly.
“Oh, trust me, I know. But I mean in terms of…of your relationships!” Ouyang Chun said, gesturing wildly. She scoffed. “What did that old man of yours say? That no one would be able to love you? If he hadn’t died already, I’d drag your shizun over and shove him in his face. Not only did you find many people who loved you, the one who loves you most is actually the sect master of one of the richest sects. That shallow old man would have a field day!”
Deng Yenuo clicked his tongue. He sighed and nudged Ouyang Chun up the stairs. “Don’t mention him anymore. I don’t even want to think about him.”
Ouyang Chun hummed happily as she allowed Deng Yenuo to steer her in the direction of her office.
She had always been worried about this little cousin of hers. He had been thrown into the streets by his father after his mother died, leaving him with no one to take care of him. She only found him a few months later, when he already had the appearance of the beaten up street rat. At first, her father had tried to persuade her not to take him in, for fear of receiving the ire of her uncle.
But Ouyang Chun had long pulled away from the Ouyang Clan. At the time, she had been working as a small assistant in the Beidou Alliance Headquarters already and had more than enough to support her and a child. Ignoring her father, she adopted this little boy, surnamed Deng, and told everyone that he was her little brother.
Now, not only had Deng Yenuo become one of the brightest of his generation, with many achievements under his belt, he also succeeded in getting the one he loved.
Ouyang Chun sighed.
Deng Yenuo glanced at her. “What’s wrong?”
“I was just thinking, I fulfilled the duty of a mother well enough,” Ouyang Chun said. She patted Deng Yenuo’s shoulder. “You grew up well.”
Deng Yenuo chuckled. “It’s all thanks to you.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Oh, please. I only raised you for ten years, but your shizun? I should be thanking all those peak lords over at Yunjing Pavilion. If you had really stayed by my side, I bet you would have turned into a rogue.”
“Dea P kbeivc’a tjnf ubaafc atf mtjcmf ab fcafg Tecplcu Ujnlilbc lo la kfgfc’a obg sbe. Vb, P’w ugjafoei.”
Yesjcu Jtec uijcmfv ja Gfcu Tfceb. Vtf milmxfv tfg abcuef. “Cigluta! Scbeut klat atf rkffa ajix. Qts vlv sbe mbwf tfgf obg? P atbeuta sbe kfgf boo olutalcu j kjg.”
Deng Yenuo’s expression grew serious. “Jie, I’m sure you know about the ghost barrier and everything accompanying it, right?”
“Of course. Beidou Alliance has to keep strict records on every battle, so we don’t lose track of anyone.”
“Then, recently, have you heard anything about the battle of the lower realm?”
“Just that you were shoved until you touched the mountains of Kunlun,” Ouyang Chun said, frowning slightly. “But there was nothing other than that.”
“That’s because the enemy decided to tire us out,” Deng Yenuo said.
Once they made it to Ouyang Chun’s office, Deng Yenuo slowly explained everything, from how they ended up squeezed so tightly to the border, to Gui Yin’s hypothesis, and then to Changyuan’s reveal.
Ouyang Chun was unbothered at first, but the more she listened, the angrier she became. She looked at the two images, spread out in front of her and slammed her hand on the table.
“Just because they’re in the lower realm, they think the Beidou Alliance can’t do anything to them?” Ouyang Chun scoffed. “This is a war crime!”
Deng Yenuo nodded. “At the moment, our hands are full with our own battle, so Shizun sent me here in hopes that the Beidou Alliance can send down troops to take care of the traitors.”
Ouyang Chun nodded. “No worries. I’ll tell Yunqin. She’ll take care of it.”
Deng Yenuo smiled. “I just knew you were reliable.”
Ouyang Chun waved her hand. “No, no. I’m just the messenger. If you want to thank anyone, then thank your sister-in-law.”
Deng Yenuo raised a brow.
Ouyang Chun lightly cleared her throat. “Speaking of which, are you heading back right away? If not, just stop by and have a meal. Your sister-in-law is great at cooking.”
Chong Yunqin (崇云琴) was one of the head chiefs in the Beidou Alliance. While she worked in headquarters, she also had her own job as Liushui Sect’s sect leader. Since they were young, Ouyang Chun had had her eyes on Chong Yunqin. It wasn’t until recently that she managed to catch her heart.
“I would love to,” Deng Yenuo said, “but I have to visit Elder Shan and Palace Master Li.”
“Those two old foxes? Why?”
“Shizun isn’t aware of my connection to the Beidou Alliance’s administrative office. Since he told me to pay them a visit, I may as well send my greetings.”
“No, no, no. Just stay here. We’ll take care of it, so you won’t have to go over there and talk to those hypocritical old men,” Ouyang Chun said, scoffing. “I’m sure if your shizun knew, he would also agree with me.”
“Then…alright,” Deng Yenuo agreed.
Ouyang Chun grinned. “That’s the spirit!”
She let out a scoff. “Speaking of those two old foxes gets my blood boiling. Elder Shan is fine, but that Li Huanwei has been getting on my nerves. Of the big three sects, he’s the laziest! I doubt he even knows his son is fighting on the front lines right now.”
“What’s he been doing?”
“He’s at home, all year round,” Ouyang Chun said. “He said he has to remain in his sect so he can properly portion out troops to fight. While his thousands of disciples are out fighting for their lives, he’s actually at home, sipping at wine and enjoying the moonlight with his wife.”
Ouyang Chun shook her head. “From what I’ve gathered, everyone’s tired of him. Even Yin Hua Palace’s elders dislike him. Everyone is waiting for his prodigal son to come home to kick Li Huanwei out, so they can seat him on the throne.”
Deng Yenuo raised a brow. “You can do that?”
“Well, if Li Huanwei doesn’t want to leave, then he can get a knife through his throat. Or he can get exiled. If he steps down, then at least he’ll continue to enjoy the perks of whatever his father and grandfather left behind for him,” Ouyang Chun said. She clicked her tongue. “For all the parading around he does, he’s so useless.”
Deng Yenuo chuckled. “Jie, sometimes I wonder if you work for Beidou Alliance, or if you’re in charge of a tea house. You always have so much gossip to talk about.”
“With our informants placed into every nook and cranny of Quanjing, do you think we’re so busy that we won’t gossip a few rounds?” Ouyang Chun laughed. She shook her head lightly as she began to write up a report. “Silly boy, even if people like me are in a stable administrative position, we still have to be careful of when the winds will blow our way.”
Deng Yenuo frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”
“Have you ever been crab fishing?”
Deng Yenuo shook his head. Yunjing Pavilion was so far inland—when would he ever get the chance to fish for crabs?
“Well, there was a bit of an odd phenomenon that happens when you put crabs in a bucket,” Ouyang Chun said, leaning back in her chair. She smiled up at Deng Yenuo. “Put one and it won’t be able to climb out, but if you put two, three, four, or even ten, they still won’t be able to climb out. Do you know why that is?”
Deng Yenuo frowned. When crabs were fished out, they were still alive. If there were more crabs in there, naturally at least one would be tall enough to climb out. So, how come they couldn’t leave?
“With five crabs, one can leave. But those other four crabs won’t let it,” Ouyang Chun said. “As soon as it gets close, it’ll only get dragged back down. And again and again and again. You may think the Beidou Alliance is a group of cultivators who are on the same boat, but when the time comes, do you think they won’t drag you down with them?”
Ouyang Chun tilted her head towards the images of the two arrays. “Look. Isn’t it already falling apart?”
Deng Yenuo’s frown deepened. “Do you know something?”
“I don’t. But I have a theory,” Ouyang Chun scoffed. “These idiots probably thought that since we’re losing, they’ll join the ghost cultivators. And if we still win, they can return to their cushy lives. Little did they know, they won’t get off so easily.”
“Because of the crabs in the bucket.”
Ouyang Chun nodded. “Exactly. Humans are quite similar. Except the crab that escapes is a traitor and we have to get rid of them before they leave us.”
Deng Yenuo fell silent.
“If you’re hungry, the kitchen is down the hallway and to the right. Let me finish this report and I can get off work.”
Deng Yenuo sat down at the table nearby. “Your job is quite nice.”
“It’s because we’re all volunteers here. Administrators only get paid through donations from everyone in the Beidou Alliance. We’re not obligated to stay for a certain number of hours—we just have to make sure everything is sorted out,” Ouyang Chun said. She glanced at Deng Yenuo. “You’re lucky I was in today.”
“I know. If you weren’t, I would’ve had to speak with your coworkers,” Deng Yenuo murmured.
Ouyang Chun chuckled.
The volunteers of the Beidou Alliance were not often very friendly.
Once Ouyang Chun finished her paperwork for the day and filed them in, she took Deng Yenuo with her to her home, not too far away. Just before they entered, Deng Yenuo could already smell food being cooked inside. He glanced at Ouyang Chun. Her cheeks were already flushed with delight as she excitedly threw the door open.
Deng Yenuo watched her place her belongings aside and rush to the kitchen. A loud squeal could be heard, followed by a bout of soft scolding. Deng Yenuo smiled to himself as he looked around the house.
Most things were like they had been when he lived here, but many things had also changed. There were more touches of a second person now, making it obvious that Ouyang Chun no longer lived here alone. Scrolls from Liushui Sect were tucked haphazardly between novels on the shelves. Documents from the Beidou Alliance were placed neatly on the table. The familiar scent of roses was now mixed with the scent of food and a hint of sunshine.
When he made it to the kitchen, Ouyang Chun was already excitedly chattering away. Her eyes brightened and she tugged Deng Yenuo over.
“A-Qin, this is my little cousin!” Ouyang Chun said. She pinched his cheek. “Look at him! Isn’t he much bigger than you imagined?”
Deng Yenuo awkwardly lowered himself to Ouyang Chun’s height. He smiled at the surprised woman.
“Hello. My name is Deng Yenuo. You can just call me Yenuo like my cousin does.”
Chong Yunqin smiled. “My surname is Chong, courtesy name Yunqin. You can call me whatever you—”
“Call her sister-in-law.”
“…Sister-in-law,” Deng Yenuo obediently repeated.
Chong Yunqin frowned slightly. “Dear, don’t bully your little cousin.”
“How is this bullying? I’m teaching him manners!” Ouyang Chun said. Obviously, she was the more delighted party in this arrangement. She patted Yenuo’s back. “Yenuo just came to drop by some information for his shizun. He’ll be going back tomorrow morning.”
“So soon?” Chong Yunqin asked. She shook her head. “No, it’s better to not be away for too long.”
“Yes, I—”
“He has to go back to his beloved,” Ouyang Chun teased.
Deng Yenuo glanced at his cousin and awkwardly coughed. “No, I have other matters to take care of as well.”
“Such as?”
“…There’s still a battle going on,” Deng Yenuo said.
Ouyang Chun sighed as she picked at the fresh berries on the counter. She popped a few in her mouth. “You want to hear my prediction?”
Deng Yenuo looked at her in amusement. “Sure.”
“This long drawn out war is going to end in two years—no. One year, if you guys push yourselves,” Ouyang Chun said. “With the discovery of what’s wrong with the ghost barrier and with the arrival of War God, Lord Ninglan, victory is assured.”
“What’s wrong with the ghost barrier now?” Chong Yunqin asked concernedly.
“Oh, I’ll tell you later, sweetie,” Ouyang Chun said, waving her hand. She turned back to Deng Yenuo. “Don’t worry your little head. Everything will be back to normal soon. It’s just two more years!”
Deng Yenuo shook his head slightly. “Let’s hope so.”
“A-Chun, mind your words,” Chong Yunqin said. She glanced at Deng Yenuo. “It’s unpredictable out there. Everyone initially thought it’d only be three years.”
“I just have a gut feeling,” Ouyang Chun said. She rested her chin against the palm of her hand, her eyes narrowing as she lightly tapped her fingers. “They’re beginning to slip up.”
“You definitely know more than you’re letting on,” Deng Yenuo said, raising a brow.
Ouyang Chun met Deng Yenuo’s gaze and grinned. “You think so? Is it because I’m so mysterious?”
Chong Yunqin rolled her eyes. “Miss Mysterious, can you go and clear the table and set up so we can eat?”
Ouyang Chun stood up, brushed her hands together, and pressed a fleeting kiss against Chong Yunqin’s cheek before she skipped out into the living room.
Deng Yenuo glanced at Chong Yunqin. “I should go help her.”
“Yenuo.”
Deng Yenuo froze at the doorway. “Yes?”
“Don’t mind what your cousin says. She’s just a little ditzy sometimes,” Chong Yunqin said, smiling helplessly.
Deng Yenuo chuckled. He knew that. Ouyang Chun had always been eccentric. “I know, sister-in-law. Thank you for reminding me.”
“And, also,” Chong Yunqin stopped Deng Yenuo again.
“Yes?”
“Be careful out there,” Chong Yunqin said, her brows pressed together tightly. “A lot of information gets funneled in through our informational networks and there are a lot of people suspected of working with outsiders.”
Deng Yenuo’s brows furrowed. “Then, why isn’t it announced?”
“The Beidou Alliance is a written agreement in this area of Quanjing, but the headquarters itself is made up of volunteers. We’re not a real establishment and we’re definitely not law enforcement. The sorted information isn’t even stored in headquarters,” Chong Yunqin said. She shook her head. “I don’t know where the documents and evidence goes. That’s the matter of the administrative staff. But just know that every piece of information that passes through the headquarters is public information.”
Deng Yenuo nodded slowly. Until the war exploded, Deng Yenuo had not had half the mind to pay attention to how the Beidou Alliance really worked.
On the surface, it was a collection of sects, cultivation clans, and temples and monasteries in a certain area of the upper realm. The alliance emphasized a strong bond and willingness to help each other in a time of need. There was even a building at the “center” of all those in the Beidou Alliance, where those who were in it would have a meeting once every ten years.
It was community run—that much Deng Yenuo knew. With volunteers that filtered in and out, getting paid only by generous (or less than so) donations from those in the Beidou Alliance. He only knew that Yunjing Pavilion gave quite a big chunk, despite their reputation as a classless sect within the alliance, because those classier didn’t want to “waste their money”.
But the headquarters was nothing more than an archive. Like the alliance itself, it was an empty show of power and togetherness. And it was becoming more and more apparent.
Deng Yenuo wondered what would happen if this illusion was destroyed.
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
thanks for read!
the need to gently hold Deng Yenuo intensifies.
i like his cousin and sister-in-law!! sweet fresh air (๑˃ᴗ˂) and foreboding….. maybe HQ should tax the rich akxbsjxbs
LMAOO they should tax the rich. give monie if not effort– thanks for reading!!
whyyyyyy do i suspect ouyang chun is the person gui yin was assigned as an editor to, who wrote THE story