Shi Wuduan and Bai Li sat inside the room for a long time, though they only made small talk and caught up on the past. Bai Li occasionally asked what he’d been up to all these years, but Shi Wuduan only answered in one or two sentences, glossing it all over, unwilling to go into detail. Bai Li didn’t leave until Shi Wuduan was visibly tiring. Shi Wuduan walked him to the door and watched as he entered a nearby room before closing the door and returning to his seat.
There was a single strand of black hair on the chair Bai Li had sat on.
Shi Wuduan lifted the strand of hair and coiled it twice around his fingers. His gaze strayed to the corner, where his astrolabe was hanging beside a jinse — to look or not to look?
Shi Wuduan didn’t think he was a paranoid person, but the Bai Li who’d returned was too different from the Bai Li he remembered.
The blood of demons, patricide….
No one knew what exactly demons were or where they came from. They weren’t the same as yao, the yao had their own Dao, and most of them cultivated into human form, living in the mortal realm much like regular humans. Shi Wuduan, having entered a sect at such a young age, had almost met more yao than he had people.
But demons were creatures of terrifying legend. That word had escaped Shi Wuduan’s lips the moment he saw the black qi that Bai Li conjured, but he’d never actually seen any before. It was simply the only answer that sprang to mind. And what was the black shadow following Bai Li?
According to Bai Li, the demons within the seal hadn’t escaped all those years ago, despite the crevice in the valley and the lanterns at the mountaintop. So how had he gotten out?
And … for what purpose?
He’s Bai Li, Shi Wuduan repeated to himself in his head. He twisted the strand of hair that Bai Li had carelessly left behind between his fingers. His other hand was lightly closed around a teacup, a fingertip tracing the brim round and round. Bai Li was a dear brother, they’d played together as children, and they did have… a friendship forged through life-and-death danger.
Several times, Shi Wuduan moved his hand towards the astrolabe and drew it back mid-way. When Bai Li’s hair neared the astrolabe, a few threads of glowing starsilk would venture from its surface, as if they were seeing whether he’d finally reach over. They gently brushed against Shi Wuduan’s fingertips, lightly catching on that strand of hair.
Almost like it wanted to know as well.
Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. Shi Wuduan startled and shrank back, almost guiltily, from the astrolabe. He curled Bai Li’s hair into a small pouch at his waist and casually opened the door — it was Gu Huaiyang.
“Eldest brother?”
Seeing that he was still dressed neatly in his outer clothes, Gu Huaiyang knew that he hadn’t gone to bed yet, so he said, “I saw your lamp was still lit, so I came to say a few words.”
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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Gu Huaiyang lowered his voice, “I got a message from Cui Hu today. It seems the old geezer’s getting impatient. He said he was going to send some people in a few days to see how things are going. What do you suggest?”
Shi Wuduan absently replied, “Detain them.”
Gu Huaiyang frowned, “I and your third brother were of the same mind. I looked around, and Guji City really is a nice place. It’s easily defended and hard to attack. I’ve also sent scouts to the nearby villages and farms. If we could gradually bring them under our authority, our strength would nearly rival Anqing’s. There’s no sense in giving up what we’ve taken already, so what do we do next? Fall out with Cui Hu entirely?”
“For now, there’s no need.” Shi Wuduan said, “Just drag things out. Replace all of the guards in Guji and its surroundings with our people. Stockpiling rations and recruiting soldiers are our top priorities. You don’t need to worry, just focus on getting things done. I’ll handle things on Cui Hu’s end.”
Gu Huaiyang looked at him with a complicated expression, quietly saying, “We’re lucky to have you.”
Shi Wuduan chuckled and didn’t respond. Gu Huaiyang remembered something and asked, “That person who arrived today….”
“Is an old friend of mine. There’s no cause for concern, eldest brother, I know him. We grew up together. He’s a good person.”
Gu Huaiyang, caught off guard, hurriedly responded, “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that it’s rather rare for you to have a friend of similar age around, of course spending more time together would be good for you. He seems rather extraordinary to me. If he’s willing to stay, I’m more than willing to welcome him.”
Shi Wuduan stilled. After a long while, he shook his head, “I… I’m afraid he won’t be staying.”
The candlelight in the room was dim. Shi Wuduan’s eyelashes were especially long at the ends of his narrow eyes; they cast a long shadow, making his face seem even more delicate. But his eyes seemed to be forever half-closed, never revealing a hint of the brilliance concealed within. Gu Huaiyang had always thought that Shi Wuduan was able to see things that no one else ever could.
There were too many things locked away in those eyes of his, thus his gaze was incredibly deep.
People really can’t be compared.
Some would be satisfied simply to have a bowl of food, but some people, even if they were born noble and wealthy enough to cast pearls before swine, would never be content with what they had. After every step they advanced, they would very quickly break free of the complacency brought by their achievements, and set their sights even further, striving towards their next goal. This type of inborn discontent either made heroes out of men or turned them into laughingstocks.
Gu Huaiyang was that type of person.
Once they entered Guji City, they could go back to living like kings. His followers were all of lowly birth, having food and shelter was already enough to make them count their blessings, not to mention the adulation of all the civilians who called them “sir soldier, sir soldier.” In every establishment they patronized, the managers and waiters would serve them so very respectfully, even if they didn’t pay. At the moment, their egos were so inflated they nearly took up the whole street when they walked.
Military discipline? Never heard of it. Who knew which mountain they’d tossed it in; it belonged to the monkeys now. Once they got the chance to live well and eat and drink to their heart’s content, why would they ever give it up to follow some madman, marching about the lands with their heads strung at their waists?
A few days later, Gu Huaiyang suddenly issued stringent military orders. The troops in Guji City would all be salaried according to their rank and were forbidden from leaving the barracks as they pleased. Those who dared to disturb the civilians would be executed.
No one took those orders seriously until Gu Huaiyang, along with Lu Yunzhou and a few subordinates, personally dealt with over a dozen offenders. Lu Yunzhou wasn’t a fast talker, but he was fast with a saber. He rarely fought anyone, but when he did, he was utterly ruthless.
Once they’d made an example of them, staining Guji City’s streets with blood, the soldiers were far more docile the next day. Afterwards, Gu Huaiyang became buried in work, learning new ways to use the stick and dangle the carrot. He figured it all out one by one. Perhaps he’d studied military treatises before, or perhaps he was simply gifted, either way, the garrisons stationed in and around Guji City were gradually whipped into order.
That night, after Gu Huaiyang left, Shi Wuduan sat alone in the lamplight for a long while. He grabbed the astrolabe but only stared at the pinprick stars moving along their tracks. He stroked its surface; seven stars lit up in the wake of his hand. One of them was even glowing faintly with red light.
He beheld it for some stretch of time before he mumbled to himself, “The course of the Emperor’s Star is slightly deflected; the lunar star is unstable…. it’s still chaotic.”
He snapped his fingers and the stars in the astrolabe began spinning furiously. His face, normally slack with stupor, was twisted into a cold sneer. He thought, if you lot can change fate, then what’s stopping me from doing the same?
The future wasn’t set in stone, and even if it was, what did it matter if it was shattered?
Throughout the eons, there would always be someone rising up in defiance, igniting the beacons of war. If nothing ever changed, the world would be as a still pool, putrid and festering.
Shi Wuduan was about to blow out the candle and sleep, but as he stood up, a thread of starsilk snared the pouch at his waist, trying to get at the strand of Bai Li’s hair. Shi Wuduan’s eyes darkened. He pinched the thread in half and burned the hair over the candle.
He extinguished the lamp with a wave of his hand and thought self-mockingly, I really am being blinded by the devil. Little Li-zi is whatever he is, I’d never made an issue of it when I was younger, but it seems the older I get, the more wretched and narrow-minded I become.
At sunrise the next morning, Shi Wuduan was squatting in the courtyard, banging the rabbit’s food bowl while yelling, “Little Li-zi are you up yet? Quick, quick, get over here!”
Apparently, he was dead set on raising this abnormally gifted rabbit as a pig. He’d even specially gotten him a food bowl as large as a washbasin. Vegetables, bread scraps, it had a bit of everything in it, but the rabbit wasn’t picky at all. It ate whatever it was fed, and the more it ate the more enthusiastic it got. Even when Shi Wuduan was hitting the bowl, making a ruckus, it’s appetite wasn’t diminished in the slightest.
A passing servant caught sight of him and couldn’t resist laughing. He bowed and asked, “Lord Sixth, where will you be having breakfast this morning?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be going out shortly,” Shi Wuduan said. He recalled something and took a list out of his sleeve, “I need you to make a trip to the storehouse, if anyone asks, just say that I have need for it.”
“Yes.”
Even an upright bureaucrat can scrape a hundred thousand silver in three years. And the city lord was far from upright. Who knew how much money he’d squirreled away? Too bad it all belonged to Gu Huaiyang and his lot now. Clearly, wealth was one of those things you couldn’t take into your next life.
Once the servant left, Shi Wuduan kept rapping the rabbit’s bowl distractedly, almost like a monk tapping a wooden fish.
Shortly, Bai Li’s door creaked open. He seemed to be in high spirits. He took one look at him and laughed, “How old are you already? What’re you yelling for so early in the day?”
Shi Wuduan lazed about on the ground, beaming at him, “Hang out with me today?”
As if he was still that boy outside the cave residence on a sunny spring day, who showed his canines when he smiled, and always had his pants legs rolled up high.
Bai Li’s eyes blanked, falling into a momentary trance. When he blanked, the vision was gone. He went and pulled Shi Wuduan, who hadn’t been prepared. He hissed and slowly scrambled to his feet using all fours. He grumbled, “My legs are numb.”
Shi Wuduan had been banging a bowl to get Bai Li to hurry out, but he himself was quite slow and his attention wandered easily. It took them a whole fifteen minutes to walk from the courtyard to the front door, petting cats and dogs and doing all sorts of annoying little things on the way. Bai Li, of course, wasn’t willing to rush him. When they got to the door, the money that Shi Wuduan had requisitioned was delivered.
Shi Wuduan grinned and said, “Great, now that I’ve got money, I’ll take you out to eat today.”
He hadn’t stayed in Guji long enough to fully know his way around, yet he knew whose shop had the best tea and whose restaurant had the best noodle soup like the back of his hand. He’d even tasted all the deserts from all the vendors tucked away in winding alleys. Seeing Shi Wuduan order everything under the sun, he realized that he really could “eat him out of house and home” — he was a very impressive glutton.
They roamed the streets, fooling about the whole day. When the sun began to set, Shi Wuduan wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Bai Li and said, “I’ll take you somewhere good.”
The lecherous expression on Shi Wuduan’s face gave Bai Li a bad feeling. Shi Wuduan pulled out a strip of paper from his sleeve; there was a simple map drawn upon it. Shi Wuduan scratched his head, “Guji City really has too many twisting and turning little alleyways, wait for me to find it.”
Bai Li leaned in closer to take a look. The map only showed a line leading to their destination but didn’t give any directions at all. The only clues they had were the other marked locations on the map such as, “Braised Meatballs,” “Apricot Village,” “Five Spices Egg.” He came to the realization that in Shi Wuduan’s eyes, Guji City was apparently just one big restaurant.
Shi Wuduan led the way, pausing frequently here and there. But the further they walked, the more Bai Li detected something off. The sound of faint warbling melodies reached his ears. Though it was not yet night, red lanterns illuminated the street, their soft light curiously inviting.
Shi Wuduan slapped his shoulder, announcing, “We’re there!”
As soon as Bai Li looked up, he nearly had steam coming out of his ears, regretting that he hadn’t strangled Shi Wuduan, that bastard. That plaque was inscribed with two very transparent words, “Tender Paradise.”
Oho!~ Someone would be surely eaten right?~ I mean beaten!
Thanks for the chapter<3
This kid 😅 Thanks for the hard work.
Hahaha. Bai Li go for it! Rooting for you haha.
Can’t believe he brought him to brothel 😂
That rascal 🔥😂
Who are you trying to convince ??!! 🤣🤣🤣
SWD: Look Bai Li my bro! 🤡
[ Tender Paradise Brothel ]
Bai Li: ….
Yep, I should just eat him here.
SWD YOU DID NOT 😂😂😂
Taking his bro on a food tour and it’s gonna end with him getting esten lmao
Eaten* gdmit i wish i could edit