Ch20 - Get Out of My Way

Editor: chestnutwhale

The miasma surrounding him riddled his mortal vessel with holes.

Qin Jun’s eyes were steel-gray and gave off an arrogant air when looking at others. Yet they stared into Jiang Yinghe’s as if he was a priceless treasure.

Jiang Yinghe was busy protecting his heart and nascent soul. His ears were filled with the sound of rumbling thunder from above. He lamented, “If I had managed to remove all the resentful energy from your body before, this would have never happened…..”

His words halted as he caught sight of Jun-er’s hand.

All that was left of a strong and proportionate limb was stark white bone and the tattered remains of a few tendons. The originally dark sleeve had been stained through with bits of flesh and gave off the distinctive scent of blood.

Jiang Yinghe was at a loss for words.

He suddenly reached over to touch a bony finger.

By now, the dark clouds had completely covered the sky. A fearsome bolt of heavenly lightning struck the dead center of the miasma.

Normally, cultivators would stay away from those experiencing a tribulation for two reasons.

Jiang Yinghe was of the Hollowed Cave stage. It was not difficult for him to face a Nascent Soul level tribulation, but it was not pleasant either.

“Your hand….”

Jiang Yinghe cut himself off. He held Jun-er’s finger tightly. “….Shizun will think of a way.”

His voice was very quiet and suffused with a warmth that no one else was privy to. Qin Jun was a bloodless, fleshless wraith that didn’t need a heartbeat to survive. But at this moment he could feel the human heart in his chest pound violently.

He suddenly drew Jiang Yinghe into his arms.

“Shizun,” His voice was somewhat hoarse like it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper. “if I really become a monster….would Shizun leave me behind?”

It was rare to hear him speaking in such a manner.

Steeling his eyebrows, Jiang Yinghe looked at him with a promise in his dark eyes. “Shizun won’t let you get there.”

The miasma continued to expand, shaking as the heavenly lightning rained down. Qin Jun looked down without reacting in the slightest to being struck repeatedly. His gaze was focused on their intertwined hands.

His mind was filled with countless evil thoughts clamouring and interfering with his rationality. Shizun holding his hand made him want to steal him and hide him away where no one else could see him.

But he couldn’t do that.

Never has he realized it as clearly as in this moment: what he wanted was the Jiang Yinghe before him right now.

He never wanted to see the day Wangchen was pointed at him.

How was Jiang Yinghe to know what Jun-er was thinking about? He was busy reminiscing about Qin Jun’s cultivation journey over the past century and thinking of ways to help him….Although this hand was usable, it couldn’t be left like this! It might scare off Jun-er’s future cultivation partner!

Jiang Yinghe felt like he was an old man with three good-for-nothing sons. Although their cultivation progress was good, he couldn’t help but worry about how to find them a wife to settle down with.

The transition from Nascent Soul to Primordial God was not easy. Those who survive it could be respectfully referred to as Zhenrens. Who didn’t spend hundreds of years preparing a suitable location and time to invoke it? But his poor Jun-er….

Jiang Yinghe continued to protect his heart. “I know it’s sudden, Jun-er, but you have to endure…”

Qin Jun lowered his head and embraced him then, as if he couldn’t bear it anymore.

Jiang Yinghe sighed. “Even I can’t help you with this. All I can do is preserve your life. There’s no use in getting closer to me.”

“There is.” Jun-er’s voice was hoarse as if he was parched. “Shizun, let me hold you a little while longer.”

He tightened his arms around Jiang Yinghe’s back, realising for the first time how narrow his waist was.

Jiang Yinghe usually wore many layers, giving him the look of an ethereal immortal, but it also obscured his figure. It was only when he was held that one could feel the very human warmth of his body.

He was too light. Qin Jun could barely feel his weight on his palm, as if the other could easily escape his grasp.

He couldn’t help but tighten his grip as this realization. He heard Shizun say in an exasperated voice, “Does doing this give you the strength to overcome your tribulation?”

Jiang Yinghe meant for his words to be an encouragement for his disciple to courageously face his tribulation. Everyone experienced a few very low points in their lives….take him for an example. The worst thing that could happen was failing to advance, there wasn’t any risk of damaging his foundation.

He didn’t think that this usually independent and proud second disciple of his would bury his head so intimately in his shoulder, saying in a serious tone, “It does.”

Jiang Yinghe: “…..”

He can’t teach this kid anymore.

Just as Jiang Yinghe was having a mental breakdown, he saw that the Little Jiang Shizun System’s progress bar suddenly leap forward. It even made pink bubbles appear on screen and sent him a heart emoji.

Jiang Yinghe: .WTF was this bullshit.

—-

The storm raged on.

This kind of tribulation came as a huge shock to everyone. Even the migrating ghosts went mad.

A cloud of inky black miasma obscured the center where lightning struck. There was no way to tell what was going on inside. The only certain things was the lightning that rained down relentlessly and the increasingly rampant resentful energy.

Li Huanhan stood to one side with a freezing aura around him. No one dared to approach him. Some of the Peng Lai disciples saw the scene of Xian Wei Xianjun diving into the ghostly whirlpool after Qin-shixiong. Even the usually harmless-looking Chang Ye shidi had a hint of stiffness hidden in his smile.

Although Chang Ye now had a sword, it wasn’t a famous one from the Sword Viewing Scroll. Instead, it was a saber from Jiang Yinghe’s personal collection. Jiang Yinghe had picked it out reluctantly, his heart still set on commissioning a custom blade for his little disciple.

Chang Ye loved it like it was a priceless treasure, never letting it leave his side wherever he went. Yet the weapon he was unconsciously touching at this moment was not the saber, but instead the emerald flute tied to his waist.

Chang Ye slowly tapped the bottom of his mask, the protective seal on his forehead flashing every once in a while. He felt an itch in his molars. In his head he’s already tore this Qin-shixiong of his to pieces several times.

Tianhou’s habits were very unique. He didn’t like to eat anything other than dragon brain, the complete opposite of that glutton Qin Jun.

Chang Ye had already caught on to how Qin Jun was seducing Jiang Yinghe. He suddenly saw the previously still Li Huanhan pull out his sword, his bloodlust flowing freely around him.

He quickly intercepted the heavenly demon. “Shixiong!”

That wasn’t something you heard everyday.

Li Huanhan glared at him. His voice was without a single trace of warmth. “Get out of my way. I’m going to turn that son of a bitch into dog food.”

The lighting chose that moment to stop. The clouds and fog slowly dispersed.

Chang Ye had no more interest in stopping him. He turned around and was about to try and embrace Shizun when he saw Qin Jun’s hand reluctantly remove itself from Jiang Yinghe’s waist.

Chang Ye had a change of heart. “…I’ll help out. Let’s go.”

But no matter how tempting it was, they couldn’t risk exposing themselves in front of that person. They had no choice but to endure.

Half of Qin Jun’s shirt was already soaked in blood from his wounds inflicted by the lightning. Yet he kept staring at Jiang Yinghe’s cheek as if he hadn’t noticed it at all.

Maybe the gaze was too intense. His Shizun who was still helping him stabilize his foundation glanced at him. Qin Jun immediately looked away to the two standing nearby.

Li Huanhan slowly slid his blood sword back into its sheath and dully said, “Congratulations Shidi.”

Chang Ye pinched his fingers from beside him as if trying to suppress his urge to hurt someone. He managed a weak smile. “Who would have thought that Qin-shixiong would experience his tribulation in the Yun ghost city? This place is terrifying, what with the ghosts everywhere…

“Oh right, Shizun doesn’t know yet, right? Hui Jing Chanshi was just speaking with the other elders. He said that the recurring bouts of miasma here could be due to a problem from the past.”

Jiang Yinghe split his attention to listen. “What problem?”

“Apparently a powerful ghost cultivator was struck down here. It was likely to be that Spirit Patriarch from 3000 years ago. What was his name…?” Chang Ye put on a pensive front. “I think the historical records referred to him as Bing Zhi.”

He smiled sweetly. “Oh wait, isn’t Qin-shixiong’s courtesy name Bing Zhi?”

This ‘kind and obedient’ little shidi’s mouth was way too smooth, Qin Jun had no time to react before he started exposing all his secrets.

Qin Jun tried to salvage the situation. “How can I be similar to a ghost cultivator?”

Chang Ye snorted. “Yeah, there’s a big difference between you guys.”

The only reason they didn’t start arguing was out of consideration for Jiang Yinghe. It was only after he retracted his hand after making sure that his disciple’s realm had stabilized that he noticed they had an audience.

His Yan-shijie came over right away after seeing the lightning, but she’d been unable to find Jiang Yinghe up until now. She breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that he was unharmed. “What happened? There was a Primordial God tribulation going on and I couldn’t approach. Is Shidi hurt?”

Jiang Yinghe silently shook his head and took up Qin Jun’s hand in his own. Slender white fingers tightly grasped cold bones. “Only Jun-er was hurt.”

Yan Caiwei nodded. “What’s important is that the person is fine. Injuries can be dealt with later.”

Hui Jing Chanshi approached from the side and offered, “Jiang Xianjun. If you are not too busy, why not accompany this monk to stay a while at Lan Ruo Temple? There may be some way to heal this wound.”

Jiang Yinghe was just about to reply that he could only make a decision after dealing with the ghost cultivators when he saw all of them run away as if they were being chased by the hounds of hell. Instantaneously, the majority left the mortal realm. The few left behind trembled in fear as the younger generation ganged up on them.

What just happened? Did their daughter-in-law go into labour or something?

Jiang Yinghe swallowed back his words. “…I would be more than happy to go.”

Author’s Corner

Chang Ye: I might not be a human, but you’re really a dog.

Qin Jun aka Bing Zhi. ‘Bing Jun’ is a metaphor for government power from Wei Yuan’s book ‘Under the Goblet, Part 8’. Jun is a good character suitable for boys~