Chapter 73

Xueting's movements were very slow; slow enough that someone could see every

single detail. But at the same time, it was so fast—so fast that one could not react in

time.

Shen Qiao came to the cruel realization that his own strength really was much too

inferior. Even though he was able to make out the direction Xueting was going to

extend his hand, he still could not react in time. The moment that he was able to raise

his sword, something in his chest had become numb before a sudden intense pain

spread within him.

Shen Qiao flew backwards, his body unable to put up any

resistance. A sweet, raw taste rose up in his throat. He was at a loss for a moment

before he suddenly spit out a large mouth of blood, and was thrown against a pillar in

the veranda!

But Shen Qiao could not remain there for even a moment. He used all the strength he

had, and the blade of his word suddenly glowed like that of moonlight touching water,

billowing upwards with the lurching waves of a river. In a split second, it took on a

jade-like radiance—tens of thousands of times as beautiful as brocade, its light falling

layer upon layer and surging directly towards Xueting-chanshi.

Even with Xueting's

cultivation, in a moment, not even he could make out the sword from its user.

At that moment, both Lian Sheng and Lian Mie were working together in harmonious

and solemn coordination, as if they were a match fated to be. Their intentions were

mutually linked. Yan Wushi's wugong was completely unlike that of before, and the flaw

in his demonic core had also yet to be fully mended. His attacks would inevitably leave

him somewhat vulnerable. The two monks took advantage of this opportunity. With

Lian Shen on defense and Lian Mie on offense, they surrounded Yan Wushi.

However,

they did not intend to kill him; instead, they did not give him any room to escape,

surrounding him with a force like that of Taiji¹ and heaven and earth.

It seemed as though they were following some instructions Xueting had given them

beforehand. they knew that with their abilities, it would still be somewhat difficult to kill

Yan Wushi, even though his abilities had diminished significantly.

They could only

search for a way to stall him and wait until Xueting had defeated Shen Qiao before

assisting them.

Such a shame that they ended up waiting around for so long. After exchanging several

moves with him, the two monks were starting to work up a sweat on their foreheads,

yet Xueting was still being held up by Shen Qiao and did not intend to separate from

him right then.

Lian Sheng was becoming anxious. He could not help but take advantage of the

moment that Lian Mie was attacking Yan Wushi and glanced in his shizun's direction.

It was only a glance, and yet their circumstances suddenly changed so much!

Yan Wushi, who had been on the defensive this entire time, suddenly attacked them.

He used the tips of his fingers as though they were the point of a blade and struck the

center of Lian Mie's palm. Earlier, Lin Mie had seen Yan Wushi's indifferent expression,

and could not help but underestimate his strength. He had even thought, the great

zongzhu of Huanyue Sect is hardly anything to fear.

In the end, just as he finished that

thought, he felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hand, as though a scalding hot iron bar

had stabbed right through him.

He could only give a horrible shout as he stepped away reflexively. In the center of his

palm was a bloody hole, with fresh blood gurgling up and flowing out. Within this

wound he could barely make out the sight of muscle and white bone.

Lian Sheng quickly ran back upon hearing this. Upon seeing the state of things, he was

completely taken aback. But before he could act in time, the light of a blade suddenly

flitted across his face.

"Let's go!" Shen Qiao shouted harshly.

With this, he grabbed Yan Wushi's arm and took off in the south-eastern direction.

Shen Qiao did not dare underestimate Xueting, so he used his Tiankuo Hongying

technique to its utmost power.

"Chang'an. If we were to take it, we would certainly run into countless obstacles and

ambushes."

Shen Qiao responded with an en. He had thought of this matter already as well.

Yan Wushi sneered. "Did you really think that Xueting and the rest only mean to kill

me?"

"Their true target is most likely the Emperor of Zhou," Shen Qiao said.

"That's right," Yan Wushi said. "I'd said it once before. The Buddhists want to broaden

their influence, and they can only do this through the means of a ruler.

As a result, they

absolutely cannot stain their hands with the crime of regicide. Otherwise, even without

Yuwen Yong, it wouldn't matter who would take up the throne. They would not place

the Buddhists in any important position. The same applies to Tujue, Liuhe-bang, Fajing

Sect and all the rest.

If they were to do such a thing, not only would their titles be

illegitimately conferred, but they would run into trouble after trouble as a result. It

wouldn't be as convenient as having someone close to Yuwen Yong laying their hands

on him."

Yan Wushi's words was like that of lightning, illuminating an area that Shen Qiao had

yet to explore: "Empress Ashinshi² is a person of Tujue!"

"Look at that. A student worth teaching," Yan Wushi teased. "Ashinshi has been left

to the side by Yuwen Yong for so long, as he doesn't trust her. Naturally she would

want to help Duan Wenyang add fuel to the fire. As for the prince, he hates to work

and prefers leisure. He spends his days entertaining himself and hardly thinking of

progress. He too understands that if he doesn't take advantage of the fact that his old

man hasn't yet the heart to remove him of his status and strike him down first, then

there's a high chance that he won't be able to hold onto his title as prince."

Shen Qiao was shocked by his words. After a moment, he said: "The prince is his son.

He wouldn't..."

He barely said half of his sentence, but could not say anymore. Shen Qiao had

suddenly thought of Yu Ai, and the affection he had towards him. It couldn't be any less

than that of the prince and the emperor, could it? And yet the other man had poisoned

him with xiangjianhuan without any mercy. Royal families were known for their

ruthlessness. It wasn't beyond the prince to be able to commit patricide.

Yan Wushi sighed.

"Ah-qiao, you aren't stupid. You're just soft-hearted, and that's what holds you back.

When you approach matters and people, you almost always consider their good

points; you're completely unable to anticipate the darkness in their hearts. Honestly,

what would happen to you if I weren't around?"

If you weren't around, my days would go a hundred times smoother! Shen Qiao nearly

blurted out.

But he was a kind man of noble character. How could he possibly say such a thing?

instead, he brought his focus back to their earlier topic at hand as a result.

If things continued like this, then the chessboard³ was truly becoming all the more

shocking with each play, each turn closely linked to one another.

As Yan Wushi had experienced such an incident, Huanyue Sect was lacking a leader.

The other two demonic sects almost certainly could not help but cause trouble for

Huanyue Sect, and Bian Yanmei would be busy dealing with them. He would certainly

be careless in watching over the empress and the prince—Yuwen Yong's spouse, and

his flesh and blood son. Bian Yanmei was incredibly skilled. But he could not possibly

stay by the emperor's side all hours of the day. If they wanted to do something to the

emperor, then it would certainly be much more convenient on their end than it would

be for a wugong master to directly assassinate him.

Shen Qiao coughed twice. "Then what of Hanzhong?"

"The prince of Qi⁴, Yuwen Xian, resides in Hanzhong. There are also military forces

there. First, we'll go there and see what the situation is like, before heading to

Chang'an."

Shen Qiao understood.

Yan Wushi believed that everything regarding Yuwen Yong led to disaster, so he

needed to find a different way out. The prince himself followed Buddhism and did not

see Huanyue Sect as being useful to him in any way. Yan Wushi also looked down on

the prince as well, which was why he would rather pledge his support to the Prince of

Qi, Yuwen Xian. Before this, Huanyue Sect had almost certainly put a lot of time and

effort in Yuwen Xian.

Xueting believed that they would go to Chang'an; as a result, the others most likely

thought so as well. It was very likely that no one would think that they would go to

Hanzhong.

The way that a crafty hare has three burrows, a sly person has more than one hideout.

No one could be better than Yan Wushi at this sort of crooked and dishonest practice.

Night came especially early in the mountains. As the sun set in the west, the dense

foliage overhead had absorbed the last few rays of light.

And then to have a strange and sudden warmth spread up from his lips. It was like that

of something invading and wreaking havoc upon him. He struggled for some time,

making a soft groan as he did, before finally opening his eyes with great effort.

The fire had been burning for almost the entire night, and its light had gradually

weakened. He was being held close in the arms of someone else, only separated from

the warmth of the other person's body by a layer of clothing. It was the sort of warmth

that would have settled into someone's bones and emit a sort of indolence from them,

leaving them wanting to sink even deeper into sleep, and never wanting to wake.

Shen Qiao suddenly felt as though he were out of breath. However, this pressure was

not from his wounded chest, but rather from his mouth and nose.

"To think that the great zhangjiao of Xuandu Mountain can't even inhale and exhale

right. If anyone found out about such a thing, then they'd probably laugh themselves

to death, wouldn't they?" He could make out his teasing voice, which sounded as

though it were both far away and close by at the same time.

But the truth was that it

was just by his ear, and that their faces were very close. The other man had pulled his

tongue from Shen Qiao's parted lips before slowly kissing him once more. Only then

did he finally draw back somewhat and pinch both of Shen Qiao's cheeks. "Surprised?"

Shen Qiao finally came to from his muddled state. He immediately struck Yan Wushi,

who shouted an aiyah! and pulled away.

"Ah-qiao, it's me, Xie Ling!"

Shen Qiao stopped and stared at him, frowning.

Yan Wushi once more held him close, speaking in a gentle voice: "It's me, Xie Ling. You

don't recognize me?"

Shen Qiao did not say a word. Instead, he raised his hand once more and struck him

again.

Yan Wushi was quick to react. He caught Shen Qiao's arm and said, astonished: "You'd

even hit Xie Ling when you're in a daze from sleeping?"

Shen Qiao was hardly in a mood to talk: "Why would Xie Ling call me 'Ah-qiao'?!"

Yan Wushi burst into laughter. "That's right, I forgot. He calls you meiren-gege. But you

know, I couldn't get myself to say it! I didn't think that, with your good looks, you'd

take advantage of me for so long. Every time you heard Xie Ling call out to you, you

never let it show on your face, but deep down, you were incredibly happy, weren't

you?"

Shen Qiao turned around, refusing to face him: "Stop talking!⁵"

Yan Wushi kissed his cheek. He took advantage of the fact that the other man had yet

to react and stopped before provoking him any further, instead making sure there was

three chi of distance between them.

Shen Qiao wanted to stand. But because of his internal injury, he could only cough

while holding his chest, allowing the pain to slowly pass over him.

He could only shout angrily between coughs, "It's this time of night, and you're—still

acting like this—!"

Yan Wushi couldn't help but break into laughter: "Ah-qiao, you're just too cute! You

can't even curse people right! What do you mean, acting—like—this—? Here, I'll teach

you: this is what they mean when they say, lust is born from warming up and eating

well."

The face of this beautiful man had turned red from both anger and his coughing fit. He

had coughed so much that there were tears in his eyes, blurring his vision. With the

fire's soft brilliance spreading over them and his desire unfulfilled, Yan Wushi could not

take his gaze from Shen Qiao's heaven-made beauty. A shame that he could only look

and not feast.

***

1Taiji: the absolute or supreme ultimate; the source of all things according to interpretations of

Chinese mythology.

2 shi. a term of address often added to a married woman's maiden name.

3 ...weiqi board....

4 This isn't, interestingly enough, the country of Qi that's been felled haha. It is just a part of his title.

5 What he says here is , which roughly translates to 'nonsense!' but 'nonsense' sounds way too

light in this context. i don't think sq would be rash enough to tell him to shut up or say 'bullshit' though

lol.