Ch88 - Sneaking Around

Yuan Qian charged into battle with a crowd of people.

Su Hansheng’s face turned green. He quickly grabbed Wu Baili and ran against the flow of people down the alley, lest his Senior Brother go on a killing spree and beat him up too.

But they’d barely taken a few steps when the Wendao Academy students’ sharp eyes recognized the robes Su Hansheng and Wu Baili wore. They immediately surrounded them, pushing them backward toward the riverside.

“A fellow student is in trouble! How can you flee from battle?!”

“That’s right! Are you Wendao Academy students or not?”

Su Hansheng: “…”

Su Hansheng was pushed backward in small steps. Forced into it, he was swept along with the crowd to the riverside, surrounding the “black-robed man” so thoroughly that escape was impossible.

Terrified that Ying Jianhua would discover him, he wished he could bury his head under his heels, quickly hiding behind Wu Baili.

Wu Baili stood calmly with arms crossed, coldly waiting to watch the show.

Yuan Qian, as the instigator of this “siege,” spoke first, his voice thundering: “Release Sister Fuqu!”

His call received a hundred responses as everyone joined in shouting.

“What kind of hero bullies female cultivators! Come at me if you dare!”

“Sister Fuqu, don’t be afraid. We came to burden you—no, to save you!”

The black-robed man—Ying Jianhua—observed coldly, forcibly suppressing the urge to slap these little brats away. His eyes swept across coldly: “Come at who?”

His Spirit Transformation pressure swept out like a powerful wave, making everyone involuntarily lean backward. Even their hair was blown back.

Everyone: “…”

All of them shuddered and immediately pushed Yuan Qian forward with seven or eight hands, signaling: brave hero, go ahead—come at him!

Yuan Qian: “?”

Yuan Qian could now tell this person’s cultivation was at least Nascent Soul or above. Forced into position, he stood there crying inwardly.

Why would such a powerful cultivator resort to robbery and banditry?

What was the point?

“Ahem.” Yuan Qian pretended to be composed, ceremoniously bowing: “Observing this fellow cultivator’s bearing, I wonder which hermit master you might be…”

Ying Jianhua, already irritated at being forced to play this “villain,” became even more annoyed at being surrounded by a bunch of brats.

He didn’t care what Yuan Qian was saying. With a dark expression, he summoned a spirit sword and pointed it at Gong Fuqu.

Gong Fuqu didn’t dodge, merely making a show of stepping back half a step.

She instinctively tried to gauge Gong Handan’s reaction, only to see her standing there indifferently, completely unmoved.

Gong Fuqu froze, lowering her eyes to hide the dimness within.

Yuan Qian had been terrified, but seeing Ying Jianhua truly about to bully with superior power, he immediately transformed into serpent form, sweeping his tail toward Ying Jianhua.

Ying Jianhua had no real intention of hurting Gong Fuqu—his sword intent deflected into the river.

He watched coldly as the serpent tail approached, merely raising his hand slightly. He didn’t even need spiritual power to block a Golden Core stage strike.

But Yuan Qian was crafty. His serpent tail didn’t strike at Ying Jianhua. Instead, his entire serpent body coiled into a ball and came crashing down like Mount Tai onto the river, creating a tremendous splash several zhang high.

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“B-Baili, we… should run too! Hahaha!”

Ying Jianhua truly looked like he was about to commit murder.

The people had scattered, but he still had to see this through. Otherwise, his lifetime of reputation would be trampled into the ground, never to be salvaged.

Ying Jianhua turned coldly toward where Gong Fuqu and Gong Handan had been standing, only to freeze.

The spot where both of them had been…

Was now empty.

While the academy students were creating a distraction, they’d noticed Gong Fuqu run off and immediately dispersed like startled birds.

Ying Jianhua couldn’t contain his fury. He suddenly raised his hand.

Yuan Qian, who’d just crawled from the river, dripping wet and planning to sneak away, immediately let out an “ugh” as his entire body spun mid-air, floating upward.

When consciousness returned, he’d somehow transformed into a finger-thin serpent, his tail dangling weakly in midair.

Ying Jianhua’s face was grim. He pinched Yuan Qian by his vital point with two fingers, staring coldly at him.

Yuan Qian: “…”

Doomed.

***

Along the long street, lanterns blazed everywhere.

Gong Fuqu stood blankly as Gong Handan pulled her through the crowd, taking a long while to regain her senses.

This was the first time Gong Handan had actively reached out and touched her.

Gong Handan rarely walked on solid ground. Her steps were slow and clumsy. In her stumbling, she seemed to bump into a passerby, finally causing her to stop her dazed movements.

The autumn market glowed with lanterns, filled with the cries of hawkers and the chirping of cicadas.

It was a world of human warmth she’d never witnessed.

Gong Handan stood stunned as, inexplicably, all the lanterns along the entire street extinguished at once, plunging the bazaar into darkness.

Everyone immediately cried out in alarm: “What happened?”

Fortunately, the spiritual stones in the surrounding trees quietly radiated moonlight, faintly illuminating the street once more.

Gong Handan still stood blankly in the crowd, lost and uncertain of direction.

Gong Fuqu remained frozen for a long while before stepping forward cautiously to look at her.

Gong Handan’s eyes held a faintly burning candlelight—as if all the flames around them had gathered in her pupils. She stared at Gong Fuqu for a long moment, her lips parting to whisper:

“It’s alright.”

Gong Fuqu froze.

Gong Handan gripped Gong Fuqu’s hand tightly. She stepped forward half a pace, her other hand brushing a strand of Gong Fuqu’s disheveled dark hair behind her ear. Her voice was icy, yet soothed like comforting a frightened child as she repeated:

“You’ll be fine.”

Gong Fuqu’s eyes widened slightly.

Everyone believed that by putting Gong Fuqu in danger, Gong Handan would be forced to act, allowing her to develop her own agency.

But Gong Handan, after struggling, chose not to act. Instead, for the first time in her life, she summoned the courage to escape.

Even when the Gong family’s collateral branches treated her as a tool and commanded her to slaughter, Gong Handan endured that blood-stained control numbly.

Even in the secret realm, when she’d killed those who controlled her for Su Hansheng’s sake, she’d still ended up returning alone to the Gong family’s residence.

That place she called “home.”

For Gong Handan, escape was harder and more painful than taking action.

Yet she did it anyway.

For the first time, she reached out and grasped her sister’s hand, leading them away from danger.

She didn’t want to be commanded to kill for souls. She simply wanted to live an ordinary life.

Gong Fuqu froze for a moment, then suddenly lunged forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Gong Handan’s frail frame.

This was the first moment with clear awareness that her blood-related sister had returned.

Gong Handan’s movements stilled, as if frightened by the embrace.

But after her hands remained rigid for a moment, she slowly and awkwardly attempted to place them on Gong Fuqu’s shoulders, gently caressing them.

The warmth transmitted from her palms, accompanied by the surrounding human warmth, was something Gong Handan had never felt before.

—She had finally come alive.

***

Both sides of the long river were in chaos.

Su Hansheng and Wu Baili sneakily made their way back, searching for half the day before finally finding Yuan Qian tied in several knots around a tree.

Yuan Qian, baring his two tiny fangs, still grumbled threateningly: “That bastard—if I ever find out who he is!”

Su Hansheng sat on a chair, frowning as he and Wu Baili worked together to untie the knots, saying irritably: “Stop shouting. You’re lucky you didn’t lose half your life.”

Yuan Qian bared his teeth: “This was me acting righteously!”

Wu Baili said coolly: “Gong Fuqu is at Nascent Soul stage. The female cultivator behind her… I’d estimate Spirit Transformation stage. What danger couldn’t they handle without you playing hero?”

Yuan Qian fell silent.

Xu Nanxing’s knot-tying technique was probably learned from Ying Jianhua. Yuan Qian’s body was twisted into seven or eight segments. After Su Hansheng and Wu Baili spent ages working, they finally freed him.

Yuan Qian transformed back into human form, sprawling weakly on the table: “My waist, my delicate jade feet… I’m done for. Can’t feel a thing. Wu Baili, help me!”

Wu Baili said coldly: “You deserve it.”

Despite his words, he still picked up the clingy person and carried him, asking Su Hansheng: “We’re heading back to the academy. You…”

He hesitated for a moment, then sighed meaningfully: “As long as you understand.”

Finished speaking, he turned and left.

Su Hansheng was still puzzled about why they weren’t worried he’d be robbed when, glancing aside, he saw Chongjue in blue robes slowly approaching.

Su Hansheng immediately jumped to his feet, shaking the water-soaked hands from untying Yuan Qian, saying obediently: “Uncle’s back. I’ve been waiting here the whole time—I didn’t run off.”

Chongjue smiled slightly: “Come on, let’s head back.”

Su Hansheng quickly nodded, trotting forward: “Mm, let’s go back.”

As the autumn market ended and they made their way home, Su Hansheng kept feeling something was different—the atmosphere wasn’t quite the same as when they’d arrived.

He sat beside Chongjue on the spirit boat. For some reason, where his arm barely brushed against Chongjue’s, a scalding heat spread up his limb, burning the youth’s jade-like half-face a deep crimson.

Su Hansheng raised his hand to pat his face, trying to forcibly dispel that heat.

But Chongjue, as if always watching him, asked: “What is it?”

Su Hansheng laughed nervously and patted his cheeks twice more: “Nothing. I was just swatting mosquitoes.”

He didn’t dare move around recklessly. He could only forcefully steady his composure, returning to Wendao Academy with a wooden expression.

Chongjue had meant to send him to Falling Parasol Lodge, but Su Hansheng thought for a moment and said quickly: “But my homework is still at your place, and I need to turn it in tomorrow morning.”

So both of them had to return to the Buddhist hall at the back mountain.

After Su Hansheng retrieved his homework, he lingered, reluctant to leave.

Chongjue had been squeezed through crowds all evening. Even after using spiritual power to cleanse the dust and odors from his body, he still felt dirty overall. So he took a change of clothes, intending to send Su Hansheng off before bathing in the hot spring in the back courtyard.

Su Hansheng’s eyes brightened: “Uncle’s going to bathe?”

Chongjue nodded: “It’s getting late. Should I send you back to Falling Parasol Lodge?”

“No, no.” Su Hansheng said, “It’s so late already. I’ll just stay the night at the Buddhist hall.”

Chongjue: “…”

Chongjue silently laughed, finding him quite shameless.

“Fine, do as you please.”

With that, he turned toward the hot spring in the back courtyard of the Buddhist hall.

Su Hansheng secretly glanced at him, tracing the talisman on his finger.

Really… wouldn’t he be punished for anything?

**