Translated by: Rize
Edited by: Larkspur
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, they journeyed towards Shen YaoCity.
Mu Yunjin, from the very beginning, had beenfeeling stuffy; it felt like something inside her was jumping up and down,stifling her and making her feel unwell.
Thinking about it, surely it was theso-called Spirit of the Black Lotus.
What bad luck! Withoutgood cause, how could such a thing spread out? She couldn"t wait tosee this Daoist and split open his belly; that"llbe good.
"What are you thinking?" Chu Liturned to look at Mu Yunjin and noticed her, from time to time, touching thepit of her stomach and frowning.
Mu Yunjin curled her lips and shook her head,"It"s nothing."
Chu Li fell silent for a moment.
After an unknown amount of time had pa.s.sed,the carriage finally arrived at Shen Yao City gates where they were stopped bya city guard.
Ding Xian who was driving the carriage, onseeing the guard approach to scrutinize, fished out a token from his pocket andhanded it over to the city guard.
One look at the token, and the city guard’sface changed. He immediately bowed over to Ding Xian in ceremony, and spoke inan embarra.s.sed voice, "The City Lord has orders, all the people enteringShen Yao City, no matter who, have to undergo a personal inspection, includingthe...... n.o.bilities.”
Ding Xian had followed Chu Li to Shen YaoCity several times and naturally knew of the rules of Shen Yao City. At thistime, Ding Xian approached the carriage curtain and peered inside.
"Master, we have arrived at Shen YaoCity."
"En."
There came a clear voice, followed by a well-definedhand holding a jade bead out of the carriage.
When the guard saw the jade bead, heimmediately recognized it and bowed down in a "please enter". He thenshot a look at the guard by the door and said, "Open the city gate!"
The carriage slowly drove into Shen Yao City.
Mu Yunjin leaned over and took the jade beadsfrom Chu Li and held them in her hand for a moment.
"What is this?"
"Qu Xinyao"s stuff." Chu Li replied.
Hearing it, Mu Yunjin nodded in understandingand raised her eyebrows, and gossipingly looked at Chu Li.
"You and Qu Xinyao also have friendlyrelations?"
"No." Chu Li shook his head andadded, " Yesterday, before Xu Heyu left, he gave it to benhuangzi."
"It turns out that this city is reallydifferent from other cities."
It"s rigorous enoughto keep an eye on every entrance, and one doesn"t know about the customs here.
Thinking of this, Mu Yunjin lifted thecurtain of the carriage and looked out.
After failing to see what she expected, MuYunjin sat up and stretched out a little more to see the road ahead only to seethe carriage journey turns more and more remote.
"Are we going to find the old Daoistfirst?" After Mu Yunjin sat down, she looked at Chu Li.
"En."
As soon as she heard that they would find theperson first, Mu Yunjin was somewhat nervous. After expelling a breath, she satthere quietly and remained motionless.
Her mind was abruptly preoccupied.
If they succeeded inbreaking the array and rescuing Rong Fei, would she have to return the Huang YuPavilion to her?
If so, it was indeed a good thing. After all,she had limited ability to take over such a large and mysterious organization,so there was still some pressure.
What"s more, they"re all...
Half human and half beast.
I can"t handle it!
..........
After the carriage entered the city, it drovefor about half an hour and finally stopped in front of the door of a desertedthatched hut.
Mu Yunjin almost fell asleep in the carriage.After getting out of the carriage, she looked around and found herself in abarren land. Half of the roof of the hut in front of her was broken and half ofthe outside walls were also old and decrepit. It looked to be on the verge of collapsingat any moment.
"Someone lives here?" Mu Yunjinraised her eyebrows in surprise.
Chu Li looked at her eyes and said, "Goahead."
When they came to the door, Ding Xian knockedsoftly. After a while, on hearing no reply, they slowly opened the door of thehut.
"squeak, bang--"
Two sounds and a moment after the door opened,it fell heavily on the ground and left a gust of dust in its wake.
Mu Yunjin frowned and muttered about the dilapidatedplace. When she looked inside, she saw nothing but a heap of withered gra.s.s onthe ground.
On the pile of withered gra.s.s, an old man ina gray robe sat cross-legged, his eyes closed as if he were meditating.
At this time, no one spoke.
Mu Yunjin looked at the old man. She saw hisragged clothes and white hair tied with a cloth strip, and his shoes alreadyhad several holes on the soles.
Such a man in raggedclothes, in any case, looks like a vagrant. How can he be Chu Li"s trustedDaoist?
Truly baffling.
After standing for a long time, Mu Yunjin"slegs turned a little sore. She looked around and saw that the ground under herfeet was made of mud. She had yet to find a place to sit so she was a littlehelpless.
"The little guniang can no longerstand?"
A teasing voice sounded.
Looking at the source of the voice, Mu Yunjinsaw the old Daoist who was sitting with his eyes closed a moment ago, hadopened an eye and was giving her a once-over, displaying a trace of mockery.
Seeing the old Daoist’s unfriendly gaze, MuYunjin snorted.
"You have been sitting for so long, why tell me to stand?"
"Oh, you dare answer back?" The oldDaoist laughed contemptuously, and a sudden stream of qi flew out of hissleeve, sweeping Mu Yunjin.
Ding Xian was about to step forward but was heldback by Chu Li.
Mu Yunxin was not afraid of the qi flow that wasdirectly pressing onto her. She dodged it easily. She had barely regained herfooting when two more came her way.
Mu Yunjin evaded one after another. When she eventuallystopped, she was no less than a tempest in a teapot. She pulled out the phoenixtail whip on her wrist and raised it in her hand.
"Smelly old man, are you sick?"
At her words, the old Daoist raised hiseyelids to reveal a glimmer of light. He then raised his wrists, splashed qi onthe ground and several crushed rocks hurled towards Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin bit her lip as her face turnedtense. Since the old Daoist wasn’t being polite, she would have no qualms either.
Waving the whip in her hand, one by one shesmashed the gravel. Then, Mu Yunjin shook the whip and it flew towards the old Daoist.
The old Daoist didn’t even raise his eyelidsand continued to sit cross-legged. When Mu Yunjin"s whip fell, he moved back andforth, his face was calm, he didn’t even blink.
The whip that Mu Yunjin swung down poundedseveral empty places. She instantly burned with rage; this bad old man is intentionally teasing me.
"Your whipping skills aren’t good enoughto fight me." The old Daoist raised his eyelids suddenly, and his tone wasfull of contempt.
By now, Mu Yunjin was hopping mad.
Holding the whip in her hand, she suddenlyinjected true qi. The Phoenix Tail Whip flashed a faint purple light, Mu Yunjinraised her chin and slightly raised her eyebrows, "Don"t say I don"trespect old people."
After that, the Phoenix Tail Whip danced inthe breeze on Mu Yunjin"s hand and with a strong wind-like sound surgedtowards the old Daoist.
The old Daoist wanted to dodge, but Mu Yunjinwas well prepared. She held the whip in one hand and beat the old Daoist withthe true Qi from the other. The true Qi wrapped around the old Daoist, which immobilizedhim for a moment, and firmly received a flog.
"Ouch --"
The old man, whipped by the Phoenix tail,cried out with pain.
When Mu Yunjin’s about to lash a second, ChuLi stepped forward, reached out and grasped the whip, to stop her.
Mu Yunjin glanced at Chu Li and saw himshaking his head at her. Her mouth twitched before she put away the phoenixtail whip and wrapped it in her wrist.
"Young guniang, not bad. It"s better tobe my apprentice." The old man caressed the spot he was whipped for awhile and laughed at Mu Yunjin.
Mu Yunjin looked at the old man and ignoredhim.
"You don"t even want to continue tofight me, yet you have the nerve to be my s.h.i.+fu?"
"Ah, deliberately let you win, you arestill pus.h.i.+ng your nose to heaven, but your skills, not ordinary ah." Theold Daoist looked at Mu Yunjin, his tone full of meaning.
Mu Yunjin was stunned, her face was a littlestiff for a while. In her rush, she had almost forgotten and used thecondensation method from the Xuan Ling Sutra.
Extreme...
Chu Li also looked at Mu Yunjin, his eyesslightly dark and heavy. He saw that the old Daoist and Mu Yunjin were makingfun of each other.
He opened his mouth slightly.
"Feng Xuan qianbei1, the Spirit of the BlackLotus was drawn out yesterday and is now in Yunjin"s body."
When the old Daoist, Feng Xuan, heard this,he was instantly happy and laughed unbridled.
"You mean, the Spirit of the Black Lotusis in this guniang"s body?"
Chu Li nodded.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, oh, that"s funny.I was worried that I was just whipped and couldn’t avenge! The girl came to mydoor by herself." Daoist Feng Xuan couldn"t restrain his laughter.
Mu Yunjin bit her lip, she resisted theimpulse of whipping the old man a few more times and opened her mouth with aflat face.
"Be serious, and quickly tell how to removethe Spirit of the Black Lotus from my body?"
"Humph!" Daoist Feng Xuan snortedand curled his mouth. "Girl, this Spirit of the Black Lotus is not asimple thing. If you don"t bring it out in time, it will merge into your blood,turn it black as ink, and then you’ll die miserably..."
Mu Yunjin"s heart turned cold. She frowned, simplyignored Daoist Feng Xuan and trained her eyes on Chu Li with a bitter face.
"Chu Li, you are a calamity..."
Chu Li looked at her small, bitter face, anddidn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He turned to look at Daoist Feng Xuan witha smile that was not a smile.
"Asking Feng Xuan qianbei* to pleasepoint a way out of this predicament."
"It"s very simple. Let this girl revereme as her s.h.i.+fu. I will teach her the tactics of breaking that array. Afterthat, she will be able to break the formation." Feng Xuan replied.
Thence, Daoist Feng Xuan looked at Mu Yunjinin the eyes and added, "My old ways are all unique. If this girl does not venerateme as a s.h.i.+fu, she will never get me to teach the old ways to break theformation."
"Well, little girl, do you want me to beyour s.h.i.+fu?" Feng Xuan complacently raised an eyebrow.
Mu Yunjin gritted her teeth and tenaciouslyglared at Daoist Feng Xuan.
How could this d.a.m.nold man be so annoying ‽Bowingto him as a s.h.i.+fu, when he looks this sloppy? In what way does he strike one asa religious person? No wonder this black lotus came from him, it is not adecent thing!
1.qianbei (前辈) - senior, elder,old generation.
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