As his fingers lightly swept away Jiang Molou’s sword, half of Jiang Xunyi’s arm was starting to become numb. Jiang Molou was not inferior to him in skill; if Jiang Molou had not been previously injured and Jiang Xunyi did not rely on his understanding of the other’s moves, he would not be an easy opponent at all. Not to mention there was still the relentless Xuan Li, who seemed to have received some unknown provoking stimulus and was now nonstop gnawing on him like a rabid dog. Jiang Xunyi originally only wanted to “straighten his clothes and leave upon finishing his responsibilities, hiding his strength and identity1.” He did not expect that these two would join forces against him. Now it seemed like he himself should be included in his rant about how “there are no longer any capable heroes in this world.”
Numerous thoughts raced through Jiang Xunyi’s mind. As he saw Xuan Li smashing yet another palm over, he inwardly cursed. His anger rose and his right hand clenched into a fist, swinging over to meet it head-on. The might of his fist produced a vigorous rippling wind, yet he only struck empty air.
Jiang Xunyi abruptly looked back to see that Xuan Li’s palm strike was actually aimed straight at Yun Xie, who was still controlling his breath on the ground!
It turned out that while Demon Sovereign Xuan Li had been fighting with Jiang Xunyi on the surface, on the inside he had been nursing a burning hatred for Yun Xie since he heard what had recently happened. He naturally would not let go of this newfound opportunity to get rid of Yun Xie.
Jiang Xunyi did not know exactly how Yun Xie had been injured or what exercises he was doing. All he saw was that this fellow wasn’t dodging, sitting there stock still as if he didn’t want to live. Jiang Xunyi immediately panicked. He didn’t know whether this panic was because he had followed the plot to help the protagonist so much over all these years that it had become a conditioned reflex. In any case, by the time his mind had reacted, his body had already rushed over to grab Yun Xie and roll them away, evading that mountain-splitting and rock-shattering palm by Xuan Li. But they were blown by the aftershock of Xuan Li’s palm and Jiang Xunyi had overshot the roll——the two of them rolled straight off the cliff.
However, everyone knew that a mere fall off a mountain cliff could not kill two martial arts experts, so Xuan Li mercilessly flew forward to strike with another palm. Jiang Xunyi didn’t even have time to say a “Fuck”; he could only bitterly store his energy to try and meet it. Unexpectedly, the Yun Xie he was carrying suddenly stopped pretending to be dead and turned over to block for Jiang Xunyi with his back. Accelerated by this heavy force, the two men plummeted into the wreathing fog below the cliff.
The sounds of shock, surprise, abuse, blame, and laughter on the cliff all mixed together. Seeing the Imprisoned Demons Valley approaching before his eyes, Jiang Xunyi’s conditioned reflexes drove him to take the Extinguished Flower sword from Yun Xie’s waist. He had just wanted to fly up on the sword2 when a new idea came to mind. He pulled the sword out of its scabbard instead, lighting up the valley with purple radiance. Waves of spiritual energy circulated, and the swift and fierce sword aura opened a tiny crack in the seal on the Imprisoned Demons Valley. Jiang Xunyi tightly clutched Yun Xie’s injured and comatose body to dart into the gap.
The enchantment automatically closed again in the blink of an eye.
Everyone spoke of the Imprisoned Demons Valley as a place of limitless evils and dangers, and in the past few millennia no one had ever been able to leave. However, from Jiang Xunyi’s perspective, there was no place under the sun that could trap him. Instead, it was the cliff that had a way too annoyingly complex situation with enemies and friends alike, which he wanted to temporarily avoid.
As for Yun Xie, this was the protagonist, involved in his main goal of returning home. He had to take Yun Xie with him at all times for “convenience of study.”
Yun Xie’s eyes were tightly shut. Jiang Xunyi casually checked his wrist pulse3 and felt that while Yun Xie’s injury was not light, he wouldn’t die. He might as well not bother worrying, and ran to the nearby river on his own to wash his face.
Upon washing the dust and blood off, the water surface reflected a handsome and refined face. This should be the appearance of this body’s elder brother Du Li. Jiang Xingyi could sense he had actually been wearing a mask over his face this whole time.
Unexpectedly, this Du Li was actually quite good-looking. But since Du Heng had already been disguised as Du Li, how did he get stained with all those ugly blotches? They looked to be… deliberately covering up something.
Jiang Xunyi frowned. He glanced back to check that Yun Xie still hadn’t woken up, and then carefully began to take the mask off his face.
He had previously heard that Du Li’s mother Cheng Dan was a rare master of disguise, so it seemed like this mask should be her work. It was honestly a marvelous creation of masterful workmanship; if Jiang Xunyi hadn’t been wearing it himself, he would definitely never have noticed its existence.
Only after spending immense time and effort did he finally manage to remove the mask intact. Jiang Xunyi looked down at his reflection, and was immediately shocked stupid.
The man in the water had fine eyebrows and handsome eyes with a look of quick intelligence and soft refinement. On his jade-like skin4, his facial features were exquisite and outstanding, peerless without lacking heroic spirit——this was clearly his own face!!!
Du Heng actually looks exactly the same as Jiang Xunyi?! Then why had he never heard of this before? Was this the reason why he resurrected into this person’s body?
Was all of this a coincidence or… a conspiracy?
Jiang Xunyi had a hundred questions but no answers. He angrily put the mask back on his face. Even after recovering Du Li’s appearance, he still felt this wasn’t enough, so he grabbed some soil and smeared it on his face to return to that original weird look.
When Yun Xie opened his eyes, he only felt severe pain all over his body. He blanked out for a moment, but quickly remembered how he had previously been injured by Xuan Li’s palm.
Yun Xie closed his eyes for a moment, feeling that his injury had not been taken care of. He scanned his surroundings and saw he was lying on an ice-cold mountain rock. He looked around further to discover that idiot with obscured facial features from before, currently holding a blade of grass in his mouth and snoozing away on the side.
Jiang Xunyi’s spot was dry and comfortable, warm and sunny. His face was still smudged with colorful blotches so his expression was not visible. But from his sitting posture alone, one could feel this person’s coziness at this moment.
This look, was actually a bit like……
Yun Xie’s heart ached, and he immediately stopped that line of thinking. Still clutching his chest, he slowly stood up, walked over to Jiang Xunyi’s side, and… kicked his leg.
Jiang Xunyi opened his eyes: “……”
Of course he could hear Yun Xie’s footsteps coming over, but anticipating that Yun Xie was going to assail him with a thousand questions, he was too lazy to pay him any attention. He therefore shut his eyes and feigned ignorance, and had not expected this kick at all.
Jiang Xunyi and Yun Xie had known each other since they were little, and they had always been equally famous. Before Jiang Xunyi’s rebellion, they had definitely forged a deep and profound bond. All things considered, aside from that very last stab, Yun Xie usually did not show even a trace of acrimony towards Jiang Xunyi. So Jiang Xunyi had actually forgotten this protagonist’s established characterization: appearing as gentle and refined as jade, but in fact bearing a vicious and ruthless disposition—black-bellied, cold-hearted, and just all-around extremely nasty to other people.
Yun Xie spoke with a dull tone: “How come Eldest young master Du’s Lost Soul Disease still hasn’t been cured yet? I previously once heard that this disease of yours fluctuates in severity. Just now on the mountain, your speaking manner still seemed fine and decent. How did you return to insanity so quickly?”
Yun Xie was half-dead himself, how did he manage to still be so annoying?! If this was someone else, Jiang Xunyi would make him personally feel the truth behind the saying “trouble coming from a loose tongue.” But since it was Yun Xie… No, he still had to hide his identity to keep an eye on the protagonist.
Their eyes met for a moment. Yun Xie’s alertness secretly reached its peak, but Jiang Xunyi suddenly giggled and extended a hand, shouting: “Give money! Give money!”
Yun Xie: “……What did you say?”
Jiang Xunyi asserted eloquently: “I just saved your life, you should give me money. In the past, when I saved Ah-Hu’s life, Uncle Wang gave me a lot of copper coins! Give me money, I want to go home!”
Full of doubts, Yun Xie sized him up, thinking: This person keeps oscillating between crazy and sane, is he truly pretending after all? What is his intention in following me? If he had malicious motives, wouldn’t it have been more convenient for him to kill me while I was still unconscious just now?
Yun Xie had always been the type to overthink matters. He never trusted other people easily, and was by no means easy to hoodwink. Fortunately, back on the cliff Yun Xie had been completely focused on his injuries to the point where he did not pay any attention to the clamor around him. Later when Jiang Xunyi moved against Jiang Molou, Yun Xie naturally hadn’t seen his skills then either. If it weren’t for these lucky coincidences, suspicion would have long since risen in Yun Xie’s heart.
He had already envisioned numerous possibilities within the blink of an eye, but his outer expression did not change. He continued probing with Jiang Xunyi’s newly given information: “Ah-Hu? Who is that?”
Jiang Xunyi excitedly said: “That’s the old sow raised by Uncle Wang!”
Yun Xie: “……” He took a deep breath, and smiled slightly: “Is that so?”
Jiang Xunyi had just opened his mouth to speak when he saw Yun Xie’s hand suddenly move with lightning speed, aiming to grab his throat. Jiang Xunyi’s natural reflex to this surprise motion would be to parry, but he fortunately had amazing self-control. His right hand trembled slightly but he forced himself to hold back, allowing Yun Xie to pick him up by the collar.
Yun Xie’s previous smile had now completely disappeared without a trace. He fixed his gaze on Jiang Xunyi’s face and spoke with ghastly seriousness: “Cut out all the acting like a crazy idiot. I’m asking you: Just now when Xuan Li attacked us with his palm while we were on the cliff, you swept your hand horizontally, first drawing an arc in the air before reversing your palm to counter——This move is clearly, is clearly, the sole creation of the Hidden Spirit Sect’s Jiang Xunyi, so how do you know how to use it?! What relationship do you have with him?”
His emotions turbulent, he raised Jiang Xunyi’s body high into the air. Jiang Xunyi’s toes were exactly at the level of Yun Xie’s shins. He didn’t even know what was going through his mind but he had probably somehow gotten addicted to acting crazy, because some inexplicable impulse made him kick off Yun Xie’s legs. His entire body started rocking back and forth around the axis of Yun Xie’s raised arm, as if he was playing on a swing.
Jiang Xunyi gave himself the accompanying sound effects: “Wheee——”
Yun Xie: “……” Now he kind of believes this person is actually crazy!
Jiang Xunyi: “……” Fuck, could it be that after switching into this body, Du Heng’s insanity has infected him?
Like he had touched something dirty, Yun Xie snapped his wrist to throw Jiang Xunyi away. He normally appeared to run the whole gamut of emotions in conversation without any problems, but in actuality this was only his attitude towards Jiang Xunyi. Ever since Ah-Xun’s death…. His heart had been reduced to ashes, and all his patience gone with it.
Yun Xie moved forward to step onto Jiang Xunyi’s chest. He applied pressure and spoke with the utmost coldness: “Speak! Who taught you that move?!”
If he hadn’t seen that familiar move, how could he have neglected his own safety to block Xuan Li’s palm for this lunatic!
A new idea appeared in Jiang Xunyi’s mind. He put on a wretched and plaintive appearance: “It was a big brother wearing light blue clothes. He was almost as tall as you and didn’t like to laugh. He also carried a sword that was super shiny! Ah, this sword of yours looks a lot like his!”
Yun Xie slowly took back his foot. He watched Jiang Xunyi struggle to sit up and make a big fuss over massaging his chest, before he whispered: “It actually… was really him…… Why did he teach you? What exactly is your name?”
Jiang Xunyi pretended he didn’t hear the first question. He patted his chest and said with pride: “My name is Du Heng!” After saying this sentence, his expression immediately changed into panic: “No, no, Second Mother5 said I can’t tell others I’m Du Heng, I should be called Du Li… Right! My name is Du Li, I’m Elder Brother.”
With Yun Xie’s intelligence, he instantly caught the key points from those incoherent words. Remembering the Du family situation, he immediately reacted: “So you’re that child of the Du family head who’s been dull-witted from birth… This time you were sent to die in Du Li’s place?” He smiled coldly, with unspoken ridicule: “Not bad. Du Li usually seems like an honest and considerate person, I didn’t expect this to be his true nature. Interesting.”
Having completely lost interest in Jiang Xunyi, he offhandedly pulled out a silver coin and threw it to him, and then turned around to leave.
Jiang Xunyi was sharp of sight and quick of hand; he rapidly rushed to cling onto Yun Xie’s sleeves, shouting: “You can’t leave! You can’t leave! That’s way too little silver, you have to send me home!”
An aura of fury flashed in Yun Xie’s eyes, and his right hand was already pressed onto the sword hilt at his waist.
Shit, you even want to hack at me with my own sword?!
Footnotes (so much fewer than the last few chapters lol):
1. 事了拂衣去，深藏功与名 literally translates to something like “Having kept his word, he straightens his clothes and leaves; deeply burying his deeds and fame”. This was originally a line in the《侠客行》[Ode to Gallantry] by the Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai. I modified it so the translation is clearer and fits this context better.
2. 御剑 lit. “driving/charioteering a sword”. In Xianxia novels, swordsmen often have the ability to control their sword enough to actually ride on it (kind of like standing on a surfboard lol), using it as a method of aerial transportation.
3. Yes, according to traditional Chinese medicine, you can assess how healthy someone is by examining their pulse alone. I don’t recommend trying this at home though 😛
4. This is white jade we’re talking about, not green jade.
5. 二娘 lit. “second mother/lady”. This refers to how Cheng Dan is not the first wife of the Du family (vs. Du Heng’s birth mother).