Chapter 41: Qingyun (7)
It was only after Yan Qing finished carving his wood sword from a plum tree that he realized something: In his past life, his weapon was the soul thread. He had absolutely no idea how to use a sword, ah. Within the sect, even the most junior Wangqing Sect disciples long had sword forms drilled into their hearts, and Futai Study Hall wouldn’t offer any similar classes. He could only self-study.
He went to look for Xie Shiyi to borrow swordplay manuals.
Xie Shiyi sat in Yuqing Palace, and his gaze coldly fell upon him as he said, “I don’t have swordplay manuals.”
Yan Qing found this hard to believe and was sure that Xie Shiyi was pranking him. “You don’t have swordplay manuals? As the Chief Disciple of Wangqing Sect, how could you not have sword manuals?”
Xie Shiyi didn’t bother to explain that his sword style descended from the Ancient God, and he utterly didn’t need such things. He merely asked, “What do you need sword manuals for?”
Yan Qing lifted the sword in his hand and said, as if it were a given, “I need to learn swordplay. Even though I’m only using a sword to keep up appearances, I can’t not know how to perform a single move, can I—when the time comes for me to stand on the stage at the Qingyun Conference, won’t it be really embarrassing if I just make up a performance of nonsense gestures?”
Xie Shiyi heard what he said and laughed. He quietly asked in reply, “And you think that performing the sword forms you learned won’t be embarrassing?” He was originally against and disapproved of Yan Qing participating in the Qingyun Conference in the first place.
Yan Qing: “…” True. He definitely couldn’t produce any results of note by hastily practicing right before the battle.
Xie Shiyi was the foremost sword cultivator in the Upper Heaven. Using a sword in front of him would be embarrassing, no matter how it was used.
However, Yan Qing still seriously, earnestly, profoundly said, “Immortal Master, please don’t use such an arrogant tone to humiliate this up-and-coming young sword cultivator. Don’t you know that the wheel of fortune is always turning?”
“Alright.” Xie Shiyi open-mindedly nodded his head. A sound-transmitting talisman appeared in his hand as he calmly said, “I’ll wait.”
He sent a message to Le Zhan telling him to deliver a pile of low-level beginner swordplay manuals to Yuqing Peak from the scripture pavilion.
Le Zhan didn’t even need to think about it. He knew that these were definitely prepared for that “disciple daughter-in-law.”
Yan Qing started spending every day in the study hall analyzing those swordplay manuals.
In his past life, he studied with Xie Shiyi at the Ascension Pavilion for ten years, and it wasn’t as if he had never touched a sword. However, after spending a hundred years accustomed to using the soul thread, he had long forgotten it all.
Furthermore, he was attending the competition as a disciple of Wangqing Sect, and he definitely had to be familiar with Wangqing Sect’s sword techniques. Otherwise, he would be exposed all too easily.
Budezhi was sleeping in the mustard seed space, and only by opening its eyes every day to its dazzling pile of spirit stones could it soothe the sorrow in its heart. After going through all kinds of internal struggles, it was finally able to accept that its master was once the head honcho of the Demon Realm.
Budezhi mustered up all its courage before sticking its head out of the mustard seed space. As a result, its sight fell upon the book in Yan Qing’s hand, and its pitifully small brain could only ask a single question. “What’s this? What are you reading?”
Yan Qing said, “I’m reading swordplay manuals.”
In the blink of an eye, Budezhi felt its heart being twisted by a knife and madly spread its wings. “Then what about the book you bought with one spirit stone?! Are you not gonna read it?!”
“Huh?” Yan Qing heard what it said and snorted. He lazily said, “Thanks for the reminder. I just remembered that I never finished that novel.”
It just so happened that he was tired of studying.
Yan Qing rummaged through his drawer and once again brought out his copy of The Tyrannical Sword Cultivator Fell in Love with Me.
While giving a lecture from the study hall’s podium, Hengbai secretly kept an eye on him.
Yan Qing could only hide the novel within a manual called Nine Heavens Swordplay and discreetly steal glances at it.
In truth, Yan Qing wasn’t the least bit interested in the novel’s plot. He was simply interested in the protagonist gong, whose character was born from the world’s imagination of Xie Shiyi.
Yan Qing felt that Murong Motian’s every sweet word and indulgent phrase in the book was interesting and satisfyingly satirical.
Xie Shiyi didn’t even need to be agreeable—if he had just been mute, they wouldn’t have gotten into so many arguments from the start.
He slacked off in class with keen interest.
Up on the podium, Hengbai’s mood increasingly worsened until he directly walked down and glowered, “Tomorrow we’re setting out for Fuhua Sect. I see that Yan Qing is still seriously studying Nine Heavens Swordplay, but has he gleaned any insights from his study?”
Hengbai handily snatched Yan Qing’s book away.
Yan Qing froze.
He just read in the book that Murong Motian had just rescued the little Shidi from the hands of a lascivious thief. The little Shidi was drugged, his body was limp and weak, his face was flushed, and the plot was in the middle of developing in a taboo direction.
Yan Qing: “…” What great timing.
This scene was just like getting caught reading smut by your homeroom teacher in modern times.
However, between the two of them, it was more like: the faithfully devoted maidservant discovered that the son-in-law actually dared to hide spring palace paintings1 under his pillow.
“Where have you read up to?” Hengbai saw Yan Qing’s bizarre expression and deliberately wanted to make his life harder. He coldly laughed, “I’ve never seen a disciple who has entered Futai Study Hall and still wanted to read Nine Heavens Swordplay, you’ve read for an entire class, yet only reached this page?” Hengbai started reading aloud from the beginning, “Murong Motian slowly undressed…” Undressed the little Shidi.
The following words were forcefully swallowed down by Hengbai. The next instant, he erupted with wrath, his round face swelled with crimson, his ears burned scarlet, and fire shot from his eyes!
He looked at Yan Qing with unadulterated rage, and his teeth gnashed with a gurgle. He was incredulous, he was shocked, and above all, he was flustered and exasperated beyond belief.
—He was furious on Xie-Shixiong’s behalf!
What the absolute fuck did Xie-Shixiong bring back to Yuqing Peak?!
Did Shixiong know that this person’s brain was filled with this kind of vulgar, obscene shit?!
Yan Qing: “…”
Yan Qing had no words. He could only hold a hand to his forehead.
In his past life, his reputation had been dragged through the mud by Eunuch Qi. He never thought that after being reborn, his reputation would be tarnished yet again by this stupid ass book.
That little peddling thief kept saying what a good read it was, that there were pleasant surprises later. Was this the pleasant surprise? Simply indecent. There was nothing pleasant about the surprise.
Hengbai was so angry that he couldn’t function. However, he knew that it would be inappropriate to speak about these matters in public. So furious his heart nearly stopped, he glared at Yan Qing, gritting his teeth and speaking incoherently, “Yan Qing, you show up to class just to read stuff like this? What does that brain of yours think about all day?! I’m going to reveal your true colors to…to…”
He wanted to finish with ‘Xie-Shixiong.’ However, the words died in his throat.
Because he absolutely didn’t have the status to enter Yuqing Peak, and absolutely didn’t have any opportunities to speak with Xie-Shixiong.
Xie Shiyi’s status was extremely complex, and even if they were fellow sect members, it was absolutely impossible for them to have a normal Shixiong-Shidi relationship.
Hengbai’s teeth were grit, his face was choked with redness, yet he still couldn’t get the rest of the words out.
Yan Qing gave a faint sigh and swindlingly coaxed, “Elder Hengbai, don’t be mad, I wasn’t the one who bought this book.”
At the moment, he was rejoicing that Xie Shiyi was typically hard to contact. Otherwise, he’d really lose too much face.
Hengbai said, “You didn’t buy it? Then who did?”
Yan Qing thought for a bit and came up with someone who would shut Hengbai up. “The young mistress.”
Hengbai: “…”
Hengbai got carried away in the moment and completely forgot to maintain propriety in front of his disciples. “Bullshit! How could Xie-Shixiong possibly buy this kind of filth!”
His anger surged as he raised the book high. Just as he finished speaking, a clear, cold voice came from outside the window.
“What couldn’t I possibly buy?”
Yan Qing: “…”
Hengbai: “…”
Futai Study Hall stood in the depths of the bamboo forest. Amidst the streaks of light and shadow and rustle of bamboo, everyone raised their head to see two people standing there.
One person was Tianshu, the old people pleaser with white eyebrows and compassionate eyes. As his gaze fell upon the squabbling Yan Qing and Hengbai, he knit his brows for a moment, his face full of troubled concern. “Hengbai, what are you doing?”
The other person was dressed in robes whiter than snow, their dark hair cascading like a waterfall. Their cultivation was unfathomable, their expression distant, and every strand of their hair seemed to carry a chill.
Hengbai was tongue-tied. “Xie-Xie-Shixiong?”
Xie-Shixiong? In an instant, the entire classroom widened their eyes, dumbstruck, and went pin-drop silent.’
From his place beside the window, Xie Shiyi reached his hand out and seized that book from Hengbai’s hands, his ice-cold sleeve brushing past Yan Qing’s desk.
Yan Qing looked at his snow-white sleeve, and his vision also went white. In a moment of desperation, he directly grabbed Xie Shiyi’s sleeve and cried, “Wait!”
Xie Shiyi stood beside the window and didn’t throw his hand off. His gaze descended.
One head lowered, one head raised.
Although Yan Qing had dared to tell the story to Xie Shiyi’s face, he didn’t dare let Xie Shiyi catch a glimpse of the smut based on himself, no matter what.
Immediately, he cast a glittering, innocent smile toward him. “Immortal Master, don’t look. This kind of stuff from the mortal realm would only be an insult to Immortal Master’s eyes.”
Xie Shiyi’s tone was cold and indifferent. “It’s not an insult.”
Yan Qing anxiously said, “Immortal Master, why have you come to the study hall? How could you waste time here? Elder Tianshu, Elder Tianshu—” Yan Qing directly clutched the old people pleaser. “Hurry, why don’t you hurry and bring the Immortal Master to get down to some proper business?”
“Um, Young Master Yan, Duwei and I are here on business regarding the Qingyun Conference…”
Tianshu was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Xie Shiyi’s liuli eyes gazed at him and calmly said, “You don’t need to cover it up. Anything I wish to know, I always learn eventually.”
“…” Yan Qing said, “Actually, there’s nothing special written there. Didn’t I already read it aloud to you yesterday?”
Xie Shiyi asked, “Who’s the young mistress?”
Yan Qing: “…”
At that moment, Yan Qing was filled with overwhelming hatred towards Hengbai! Why did you have to play the part of a malicious maidservant so convincingly?! You made my imagination run wild with stupid thoughts!
While Yan Qing was lost in thought, Xie Shiyi took advantage of his momentary lapse of focus to retrieve the book in his hand.
He looked down and read a few lines, and his fingers flipped a few pages. His gaze was frigid, and his expression remained unchanged from start to finish.
Yan Qing and Hengbai choked up together.
Hengbai was even more choked up than he was.
When Hengbai thought of the book’s contents, he hated Yan Qing so much that he wanted to throttle him to death! Although the book’s protagonist was named Murong Motian, everybody could see that the person portrayed was Xie-Shixiong. Popular novels with protagonists based on Xie Shiyi had been all the rage in the cultivation realm. Hengbai had always viewed them as improper, but they were so widespread that he couldn’t possibly burn them all. So he could only put them out of sight, out of mind.
He never imagined that base things of this kind would be brought into Wangqing Sect.
After catching a stunning glimpse at the Qingyun Conference, the cultivation realm had very few people who were able to see Xie Shiyi. However, a great many details concerning Xie Shiyi had been circulated, such as his ink-black hair, snow-white robes, the Buhui Sword, and even the mole on the top of his right wrist.
The book’s Murong Motian also had this mole.
Between the lines, the author’s passionate, suggestive, and ambiguous intentions were palpable.
In this part of the plot, the little Shidi had lost all reason after being violated and drugged with an aphrodisiac, and wanted to go and kiss Murong Motian.
Murong Motian frowned and wanted to reach out and stop him. However, the second he reached his hand out, his sleeve rolled up, exposing the mole on his wrist. The little Shidi directly grabbed his hand, his face flushed red, and melted into his embrace, kissing that mole with an obsessed infatuation. Softly, softly, he extended his tongue…
AAAAAAAAA NO WAY! Hengbai was almost angered to death. At the thought of his clear as ice, clean as jade Xie-Shixiong having his eyes corrupted with this material, he wanted to throttle Yan Qing to death.
Yan Qing wasn’t completely aware of what was written in the book. He waited for a while, trembling in fear. Afterwards, upon seeing Xie Shiyi’s placid expression, he assumed that perhaps the book’s contents weren’t that explicit after all. Warily, he asked, “Immortal Master, are you finished reading? Can you give it back to me now?”
Xie Shiyi’s fingers paused at a page, and indifferently said, “Give it back to you?”
Yan Qing replied, “Yeah, I haven’t finished reading yet.”
Xie Shiyi lightly laughed. “You still want to continue reading?”
Yan Qing reevaluated the expression on Xie Shiyi’s face.
In his past life, the two of them passed through brothels and pleasure houses. Each time, Xie Shiyi moved through them like the wind, treating common courtesans as if they were thin air.
Prestigious nobles were prestigious nobles after all, and he was proud and aloof to his bones. He was too lazy to even cast a glance toward matters of sex and romance, finding them filthy.
If the book’s subsequent plot developments were truly too indecent to look at, then Xie Shiyi likely would long have destroyed the book with a deadpan expression, and wouldn’t be having this interaction with him.
Seems like there wasn’t much written there after all.
Yan Qing thought this made sense and calmed down, saying, “Yeah. Aren’t novels meant to be used for passing the time?” He hadn’t managed to gross out Xie Shiyi yesterday, and now he was filled with confidence and boldness. With a smirk, he said, “Also, Xie-Shixiong, don’t you think the Murong-Shixiong within the book is pretty familiar? When I was reading it, I always ended up imagining him as you instead.”
After all, it was truly impossible to imagine the dialogue from the book coming from Xie Shiyi’s mouth.
“Little Shidi, don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” “Little Shidi, you’re so pretty.” “Little Shidi, with you like this, how could I have the heart to refuse?”
Hahahahahaha.
Hengbai: “…”
Hengbai was already so enraged that his internal organs were about to erupt.
HOW. DARE. YOU! How dare, how dare Yan Qing humiliate Xie-Shixiong like this!
Xie Shiyi retrieved his gaze. He didn’t raise the book; instead, he directly dropped it onto Yan Qing’s desk from beside the window. The distance was a bit far, and the sleeves that settled on his body like snow also retreated slightly, revealing a wrist like an exquisite river of fine jade. Xie Shiyi was very close, and so Yan Qing could clearly see the very faint mole on his wrist bone.
Actually, Yan Qing had already discovered this mole in his past life, and at the time, he was quite astonished at his discovery.
Yan Qing accepted the book.
And heard Xie Shiyi’s slightly hoarse voice carry over from the crown of his head, “You imagined me? Including this mole?” His tone was subdued, carrying neither happiness nor anger.
Yan Qing heard what he said and raised his head, only to meet Xie Shiyi’s downward-gazing eyes. They were deep, cold, serene, and dark, like an eternally snowy lake.
Yan Qing was clueless, blinking befuddledly.
Xie Shiyi gave a low laugh, retrieved his hand, and said no more. Turning his head, he instructed Tianshu, “Shishu, please go get the roll of names.”
Tianshu absolutely didn’t want to insert himself between Yan Qing and Xie Shiyi, and readily agreed, “Alright, alright, alright.”
After Xie Shiyi turned and left.
Hengbai’s face contorted with fury, flying into a rage. “Yan Qing! How dare you, how dare you—”
However, before he could finish, Tianshu’s shout rang over from the other side. “Hengbai, hurry, hurry, hurry, come out for a moment, help me with something.”
With difficulty, Hengbai swallowed back his all-consuming anger. He shot Yan Qing a glare before leaving with a heavy flick of his sleeves.
Yan Qing’s head was filled with fog.
Nothing much was written in the novel anyways.
Wasn’t this little elder a little too pure and innocent?
“Isn’t it just a novel? I even personally read it aloud for your young mistress to hear yesterday. Why so mad?” Yan Qing secretly ridiculed Hengbai behind his back.
Thus, he retrieved the book, and just so happened to land on the last page Xie Shiyi had read.
In a split second, his face fell as if the earth split and the sky collapsed.
He had seen this mole many times before. When Shixiong was holding his blade, writing, or playing chess, it would always carelessly be exposed, adorning his ice-cold wrist like a highly suggestive invitation. This was the only time he had been this close. He was drugged with an aphrodisiac, his body had melted into a puddle, his senses burned with desire, craving, yearning for something. And Shixiong was his antidote. The little Shidi’s eyes glazed over with infatuation, and he sank down, cradling the hand Shixiong had reached out with to press down on his shoulder, and kissed that mole with sincere devotion…
Yan Qing: “…”
Yan Qing: “………”