Gui Yin silently scrutinized Langxia with three parts curiosity and seven parts wariness. Shan Yu’s lips pursed slightly before she lightly tugged on Gui Yin’s sleeve.
Gui Yin glanced over and Shan Yu leaned in to whisper: “Can Sun-shushu cook?”
“A-Yu,” Qin Siyi tugged at her. “He can still hear you.”
Gui Yin glanced at his disciples and then shifted his gaze to Langxia. He shrugged and spoke in a normal volume, “If he can’t cook, then we can just eat at the dining hall.”
Langxia smiled softly as he lifted his head and the cleaver in his hand. “I can cook. Rest assured.”
Shan Yu and Qin Siyi ducked behind Gui Yin. Shan Yue poked her head out and smiled sheepishly. “It’s not that we don’t believe you, Sun-shushu. But you’re a palace lord, after all!”
“That’s right,” Qin Siyi said, her eyes peering over Gui Yin’s shoulder. “Shizun can’t cook either. He can only make pastries.”
Gui Yin coughed loudly, making the two girls shrink again.
Langxia chuckled as he turned back to the ingredients. The scallions were perfectly cut with the leisure of a professional chef. Gui Yin couldn’t help but watch with a bit of intensity. His hands were really perfect to showcase this kind of skill.
“The food will be done in an hour,” Langxia said. He glanced over his shoulder at the three people. “Unless you want to help?”
Gui Yin softly cleared his throat again. He was the first to step out of the kitchen. Shan Yu gave another sheepish laugh and quickly followed after Gui Yin. Only Qin Siyi remained at the doorway a little hesitantly.
“Do you need my help, Sun-shushu?” she asked.
Langxia stopped moving the cleaver and shook his head. “No need. I was only joking.”
Qin Siyi shifted uncomfortably. Langxia’s smile only grew. “Or, you can help me wash the rice?”
Qin Siyi’s eyes lit up. She nodded and quickly went to work.
An hour later, the table was filled with delicacies. Shan Yu couldn’t help but swallow her saliva. She glanced between Gui Yin and Langxia.
“Eat,” Gui Yin said.
“Thanks for the meal, Sun-shushu!” Shan Yu happily said.
Langxia watched the three people eat for a moment before he took a few bites himself. He had often cooked in the twenty-first century, but it had been a while since he cooked such traditional dishes. Although the taste wasn’t up to par, it wasn’t bad either.
Gui Yin was pleasantly surprised.
“Oh, right, Shizun,” Shan Yu said after swallowing a particularly big bite. “Where did you go? Shijie and I searched the entire continent for you, but we couldn’t find anything. Fenghua never even reacted.”
“Ah, that,” Gui Yin muttered. He glanced at Langxia before smiling sheepishly. “It’s a bit of a long story.”
Gui Yin concisely summarized it starting from when he entered Ghost Valley. He vaguely skimmed over the details of why he even had the ability to go to a different plane in the first place. When he finished, Qin Siyi and Shan Yu had stopped eating. Gui Yin awkwardly took a bite and looked between the two girls.
“This is…” Qin Siyi couldn’t quite find the right words to describe the way she was feeling.
“It’s a bit unbelievable,” Shan Yu said. Qin Siyi nodded in agreement. She tilted her head in mild confusion. “Is this even something a human can do?”
“Your shizun is very special,” Langxia said mysteriously. He drew the attention of the two girls as he casually continued his meal. “Of this era, he is probably one of the top three most likely to ascend to immortality.”
Shan Yu and Qin Siyi’s eyes widened. Shan Yu looked at Gui Yin. “Is this true?”
“He’s just saying nonsense. Don’t listen to him, he’s a con man,” Gui Yin said.
Langxia chuckled, but didn’t argue with him.
Shan Yu pouted, but still turned back to Langxia. “Who are the other two then?”
“One is the Great Demon, Qiao Ceng. The other is me,” Langxia said with a smile.
Shan Yu clicked her tongue and went back to eating. “Tooting your own horn.”
“But hasn’t the Great Demon Qiao Ceng been sealed?” Qin Siyi pointed out. “How could he ever ascend?”
“He’s been sealed. He isn’t dead,” Langxia said. He looked between the three of them with a slight tilt of his head.
Gui Yin’s gaze darkened. “Do you know something?”
Langxia met Gui Yin’s eyes and raised his brows. “My Huigu Palace is hardly an omnipotent presence. But so long as you crawl around this plane, there is little that can elude me. Don’t you think it’s odd that those fools at Yinfeng Valley suddenly started a ruckus? Not to mention, they all seem to be banding around Half Moon Cult.”
“Half Moon Cult?” Qin Siyi echoed.
“That’s the people who took Yankui!” Shan Yu said. She sat up and turned to Gui Yin. “Da-shixiong said that the person who took Yankui away was a man who called himself the Void Saint. He said that he’s the leader of Half Moon Cult.”
“Void Saint?” Gui Yin turned to Langxia. “I thought he died.”
“He’s still alive,” Langxia said. “He was hiding deep in Yinfeng Valley as his subordinates fought. No matter how we tried to spy on him, nothing would work. But I heard from a few sources that he often moved between several hideouts. It seems like there were some things there.”
Qin Siyi recalled something. “Shizun, when Li Yan passed away, Da-shixiong and I happened upon an unusual hideout. We received news that the ghost cultivators had kidnapped people and were bringing them to this place. When we found the people, they were in a large room that had an odd symbol carved into the floor. It looked like a sacrificial altar.”
Gui Yin’s grip on his bowl tightened. “Sacrifices?”
His mind reeled, but he tried to steady himself. He turned to Qin Siyi. “Siyi, do you remember where this hideout was?”
“I know about where it was,” Qin Siyi said. “This disciple can mark it out on a map, if Shizun would like.”
“Yes, please do,” Gui Yin said. He turned to Langxia.
“Leaving already?” Langxia asked with a small pout.
“Temporarily. I want to check the hideout,” Gui Yin said. He turned to Qin Siyi and Shan Yu. “This master will be back.”
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.
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Shan Yu looked up in surprise. She smiled sheepishly and shook her head, her ponytail swaying from side to side. “Hardly. Most of the sect matters are overseen by my mother.”
“But I hear that the hard to please elders of the Zhengyang Shan Sect are quite satisfied with your performance thus far,” Langxia said. “Even your grandfather had trouble controlling them.”
Shan Yu hesitated for a moment as they placed the plates and bowls into a basin. “They’re just being kind to me, since they know I’d have a hard time adjusting.”
Langxia tied up his sleeves and squatted down on the ground to begin washing the dishes. Shan Yu crouched down, not too far away, and watched Langxia silently.
“Sun-shushu, actually…can I ask you a question?” Shan Yu asked.
“Go ahead.”
“You knew my grandfather personally, right?” Shan Yu asked.
“I’ve spoken to him a few times. We’ve had a long on-and-off friendship,” Langxia said.
Shan Yu pursed her lips. “Did he ever mention anything about me?”
“Of course. You’re his only granddaughter,” Langxia said. He thought about it for a moment, “During the years you’ve lived, we’ve had less and less contact, but in the few times I saw him, he would always brag about you. He talked about how intelligent you were and how playful you were.”
“Is that so?” Shan Yu mumbled. Her brows furrowed as a long-lost sense of sadness welled up in her. She pressed her lips to the back of her hand and fell silent.
“You say the elders of Zhengyang Shan Sect are going easy on you, right?” Langxia said.
Shan Yu let out a nasally hum.
“They’re not the type of people to do such a thing,” Langxia said as he placed the clean bowls into a new basin. “If they saw that you were unfit, they would take away your position, even if that was your grandfather’s will. You’re only allowed to stay the way you have now because what you’re doing is enough to satisfy them. They can also see that in the future you will be a good sect leader. You can be a good leader, Sect Leader Shan. Don’t let your own diffidence cloud your judgement. If you do that, then you will block your own potential.”
Shan Yu lowered her forehead to her knees. She hurriedly wiped the few stray tears on her face and giggled. “Sun-shushu, you don’t have to call me Sect Leader Shan. Just call me Shan Yu.”
Langxia glanced over at her and smiled softly. “Alright.”
Shan Yu’s smile widened. She waddled closer. “Sun-shushu, thank you for taking care of our Shizun. I can tell he trusts you a lot.”
“He trusts me?”
The light-hearted skepticism in Langxia’s made Shan Yu pause a moment. She nodded enthusiastically. “Mn! Aside from the peak lords, I’ve never seen my Shizun get close to others. He might not show it, but he does trust you.”
She paused for a moment as she watched Langxia wash the bowls.
“How should I say this?” Shan Yu mumbled. “Mm…when I was a kid, I never noticed how he treated others, but upon reflection I can tell he’s the type of person who really likes distancing himself from people. Even when he was telling us what happened, he avoided a lot of parts so as not to make us worry, right?”
“He’s a person who masks his emotions.”
“Yes,” Shan Yu nodded. “So, for him to let someone stay by him and for him to accept your help means that he actually really treasures you. You’re a very important friend to him.”
“I hope to be his most important person,” Langxia said.
Shan Yu’s eyes widened. Her heart pounded against her chest as her voice lowered. “Do you like him?”
“Not sure.”
“Not sure?” Shan Yu frowned. She thought for a moment before asking, “Then, when you’re apart from him, do you think of him?”
“Of course.”
“And you like when he makes the food you eat?”
“To some degree.”
“And you want to keep protecting him, right?”
“It would be ideal.”
Shan Yu snapped her fingers. “Sun-shushu, that’s called ‘like’!”
Langxia looked over at Shan Yu. “How do you know?”
“What do you mean? That’s exactly how people who like another would feel. Let me tell you, when my shijie was missing for a year, I was always worried about her. I was worried that she would be bullied if I wasn’t by her side. I even learned to cook so that I could make sure she could eat well,” Shan Yu said. She awkwardly coughed, “Well, um, I’m still learning, but that isn’t the point. What you describe is clearly how others would know they fancy a person!”
Langxia couldn’t help but chuckle. “It’s possible.”
“Why are you acting like you’re not,” Shan Yu sighed. “There’s nothing to be shy about! But it does seem like there aren’t any developments…Oh! Oh! I can tell you a way to win my Shizun’s heart!”
“What way?”
“You just have to act cute,” Shan Yu whispered.
“Cute?”
“Mn! My shizun loves cute and helpless things,” Shan Yu said. “If you get hurt, even if it’s really small, tell him that it hurts and he’ll get super worried, then he’ll take care of you. You can slowly build feelings that way.”
Langxia finally laughed out loud. “I think your shizun likes a person who can take care of him.”
“Well, of course! Who doesn’t like that? But you can be both,” Shan Yu said. “My grandfather always said that the moment shows you their weakness, that means they trust you. You have to show that it’s not just a one-way relationship, so he’ll feel secure and he’ll slowly fall for you.”
Langxia hummed. “That’s reasonable.”
“Right?”
He slowly turned to Shan Yu with venom hidden behind his smile. “Then, Yuyu, have you managed to chase down your shijie yet?”
Shan Yu’s excited expression slowly fell. She pouted and harrumphed. “Not…yet…”
“Since you gave me so many good tips, I’ll give you one in return,” Langxia said.
Shan Yu perked up her ears.
“People like your shizun and your shijie who spend their entire lives protecting and taking care of people most need someone to look out for them,” Langxia said. “For them, that’s how you earn their trust.”
Shan Yu pouted her lips as Langxia finished washing the dishes.
It was reasonable, but how could she prove herself to her shijie?
“I was wondering where you two ran off to,” Gui Yin’s voice rang from behind them. “You washed the dishes?”
“Just quickly,” Langxia said as he stood.
“Then, what about you? How could you let the guest wash the dishes?” Gui Yin asked his little disciple.
“I told her to let me do it,” Langxia said.
Shan Yu’s eyes shined in admiration, but she still smiled sweetly at Gui Yin. “This disciple was asking Sun-shushu how to be a good sect leader.”
Gui Yin sighed. “Alright, whatever. I won’t lecture you this time. It’s about time we leave anyway.”
Shan Yu nodded enthusiastically. “This disciple will send Shizun and Sun-shushu off!”
Shan Yu and Qin Siyi followed Gui Yin to the front of the peak. Gui Yin looked at Shan Yu.
“You reminded me—shouldn’t you be back at Zhengyang? Why are you here?”
“To keep Shijie company,” Shan Yu said. She thought about it a bit longer and sighed. “But since Shizun has returned, I really should head back now.”
A flicker of reluctance passed through Qin Siyi’s eyes. “Then, will you be leaving soon?”
Shan Yu hummed. She grinned and cheekily leaned closer to whisper, “But I’ll wait until Shizun comes back again to leave.”
Gui Yin couldn’t help but sigh at Shan Yu’s petulance, but he didn’t make a comment on her decision. She was already grown—there was no need to nag her so much.
The pair departed from Yunjing Pavilion and boarded Gui Yin’s sword. Langxia stood rather close, his hand placed on Gui Yin’s shoulder as they flew. He glanced down at Fenghua’s sword form.
“If Fenghua can transform, can’t it become something a little bigger?”
“The blade is already broader. What else do you want?”
“I mean, can’t it be a fan that can fly?”
“That’s ridiculous,” Gui Yin scoffed. “Just imagine how silly it would look!”
Langxia shifted from one foot to the other and sighed. “As if flying swords weren’t silly.”
“Things that are socially acceptable aren’t silly,” Gui Yin said.
“You can start a new trend.”
“Please. If you want it then you can do it.”
“Lord Ninglan, I’m just a nameless figure in the cultivation world. If there needs to be anyone who starts a trend, it’s you,” Langxia said.
Gui Yin rolled his eyes. “Excuses.”
The two men flew until Langxia called for Gui Yin to stop.
The sword hovered precariously over the trees, making Gui Yin glance at Langxia questioningly. Langxia pointed down.
“Look—there’s wires.”
Gui Yin froze. He glanced down at the trees.
Wire wove through the trees, in a tight crisscross pattern. If they had landed there, they would have either been tangled up or directly diced into small cubes. Gui Yin’s eyes narrowed slightly. He glanced at the map that had been clutched in his hand. They should technically be in the correct area, but Gui Yin couldn’t find the mountain that Qin Siyi had indicated.
“Let’s land over there,” Langxia suggested.
Gui Yin nodded and redirected his sword to a clearing, not too far away. Once they landed, the first thing they both noticed was the strong scent of resentment.
“Resentment this strong can’t have generated naturally,” Gui Yin said. He glanced at the area of wires and slowly approached it.
The silver wires were carefully laced with poison. Even if they hadn’t been diced up, they would have died the moment these wires touched a wound.
“Shall we try cutting them?” Langxia asked.
“But what if it leads to another trap?” Gui Yin pointed out.
Langxia crossed his arms and looked around. “Well, from what I see, there isn’t any hill that your disciple said there would be. My guess is that they have already flattened the area in order to get rid of any traces of their crimes.”
“Then, why are these wires here?” Gui Yin asked. “They’re guarding a secret. Even if it doesn’t have anything to do with human sacrifices, we should still look into it.”
Gui Yin turned to Langxia. “You have the ability to see into the past too, right?”
Langxia glanced at him and walked over to the wires. “I’ll take a look.”
Langxia reached out his hand and barely touched the wires. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his eyes were gold. He raised a brow and walked back over to Gui Yin.
“It’s a mechanism they put into the trees. The mother tree should be that one.”
Gui Yin looked to the one Langxia pointed at and quickly walked over.
After a bit more searching, Gui Yin’s eyes finally lit up.
“It’s here!”
Langxia slowly walked over.
The mechanism was embedded into the tree. It should be a device that shoots something out once triggered. The hole was small. Perhaps it would shoot out a needle with the same lethality as the wires they strung up on the trees.
“I’m going to try to disable the mechanism,” Gui Yin murmured.
“Alright,” Langxia hummed.
Gui Yin stuffed his fan into his belt, rolled up his sleeves and placed his hair into a bun. Langxia stood to the side and watched as Gui Yin pulled a small wrap of cloth. He spread it out on the ground, revealing a set of tools, all with functions that Langxia couldn’t identify. He crossed his arms and watched Gui Yin with great interest.
Seeing the concentration on Gui Yin’s face, Langxia couldn’t help but feel that he was watching a small child. It was a small child who had finally gotten his hands on something he really enjoyed playing with.
Clack.
“I think I got it,” Gui Yin murmured, pulling back as he carefully detached the back end from the tree. He shifted to the side while holding the piece out. Only when he felt a warm palm touch his fingers did he release the detached part and turn his attention back to the mechanism.
Inside, was another encasing that had grooves on it like a nail would. Wound tightly around it, like strings on the pegs of a string instrument, was the poisonous wire. Gui Yin frowned. He crouched down, pawing for the magnifying glass in the wrap up case, but only came upon the feeling of warm fingers again.
Gui Yin glanced over, only to find his palm turned upwards as the monocle was placed in his hand.
“You don’t have to keep staring at it. It won’t run away.”
Gui Yin rolled his eyes at Langxia’s joke and carefully set the monocle against his eye. He turned back to the mechanism.
When the sun began to set, Langxia smartly pulled out an orb of light, just for Gui Yin. He used his own spiritual energy to force the light to become brighter, so Gui Yin’s eyes wouldn’t be so strained. He looked over Gui Yin’s shoulder with a bit of confusion, but felt that if he spoke now, he would only get yelled at.
“I don’t know,” Gui Yin murmured, finally taking a step back. He removed the monocle and looked at Langxia with a frown. “I don’t know how to dismantle it without touching the wire. And I don’t have a glove on me.”
Langxia glanced at the mechanism in the tree. “You’re afraid it’ll poison you?”
Gui Yin nodded. “I don’t doubt that they put the world’s most lethal poison on these wires.”
Langxia glanced at the opening in the tree. “What do you need to do?”
“I need to unwind the wire here. Once I do, the entire mechanism will snap. Erlang, do you have a glove on—wait!”
Langxia wedged himself between Gui Yin and the tree. He reached in fearlessly and slowly undid the wire bit by bit. Gui Yin held his breath and said nothing else, for fear that Langxia would mess up somehow and cut himself. He watched, wide-eyed, as the wire finally snapped away from its anchor and unfurled with a loud zipping sound.
Gui Yin looked up and watched as the wires sagged to the ground.
The sun was beginning to set now, causing the silver wires to glint clearly. Because the main mechanism had been disabled, the weapons had also been undone. There were no longer any traps, laying ahead of them.
“Then, let’s g—”
Langxia’s hand was abruptly grabbed.
Gui Yin shakily examined his fingers, making sure that there wasn’t even the smallest cut. He looked up at Langxia. “Do you feel anything?”
“I’m fine.”
“Really? Or are you just saying that so I don’t worry?” Gui Yin asked, his gaze turning back to Langxia’s hand. He pursed his lips and ran his thumb over the beds of Langxia’s fingers. “Looks like there actually isn’t anything wrong.”
Gui Yin breathed a sigh of relief, but turned to glare at Langxia in the next second. “How could you be so reckless? Are you crazy? Something could have gone horribly wrong! You could have died.”
“I wouldn’t have died.”
“Do you think you’re really invincible in this world?” Gui Yin snapped.
“Are you worried about me?”
“Of course!” Gui Yin said. He hesitated for a moment before adding, “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Langxia’s hand lowered to his side. His fingers still tingled from Gui Yin’s touch. He hummed softly. “We are.”
“Good. Then, don’t do that again,” Gui Yin huffed. He pulled Fenghua from his belt and fanned himself. “You scared me to death! Mechanisms are tricky things. One wrong move and you really could have died.”
“I wouldn’t have,” Langxia repeated.
Gui Yin glared at him.
“I really wouldn’t have,” Langxia emphasized. He felt the convoluted feeling in his chest again and realized that this was called “worry”. He paused for a moment and was a bit unsure of what to say.
Gui Yin sighed and shook his head. “Forget it. There’s no use reasoning with you.”
“It’s because,” Langxia spoke again before Gui Yin could continue forward. Gui Yin looked over his shoulder expectantly.
Langxia lifted his arm. “This arm isn’t real. I had it replaced recently, so it hasn’t even integrated into my body. There’s no way the poison would have affected me. Even if it did damage this arm, I could just take it off and replace it again.”
Gui Yin’s gaze dropped to Langxia’s arm. “Fake?”
Langxia frowned slightly. How come he was even more concerned now?
headpats for Qin Siyi for helping cook (๑˃ᴗ˂) headpats for Shan Yu for all her advice, i love you (๑˃ᴗ˂) he- HELP, LANGXIA;;; this can’t hurt me because there’s nothing to hurt well what hurt you before?? assuming the arm was lost rather than never there….
“who hurt you” but like, actually Who Hurt You– he’s just a silly lil guy LMAO
thanks for reading!
Thank you for the chapter!!!!
thanks for reading!!!
Whew! Winding mechanism was a bit worrying—Gui Yin, don’t just touch! Langxia, I’m not a real boy, see no feeling, fake arm… Wha? Thanks for the update 🤣❤️❤️❤️
thanks for reading!!!
It’s fun seeing Langxia’s reactions when he feels what Gui Yin’s feels. 🤭
Thank you for this chapter!
thanks for reading!!
ufff Erlang~ stop making your baby anxious ><