Chapter 85

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In which you should drink in moderation lest you get abducted by a random dude coming in through a window.

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Last night, Wei Jiangyue had gone missing in a brothel.

After Sir Xiao encountered that incident, the Junior Sect Masters began following their elders to Shengyin City, moving as fast as possible, without relaxing even the slightest practically the entire way there, and along with Sir Xiao’s life or death being unknown, they also weren’t in the mood for anything. Now that Sir Xiao had safely been returned, and the Abbot and the others also weren’t in a hurry to get on the road, they had thus wanted to go out and play.

Of course, Ding Xilai and Wei Jiangyue were the exceptions; those two had purely wanted to drink some alcohol.

And the problem arose precisely because of that alcohol.

The moment Wei Jiangyue sat down, he began downing alcohol without a word, practically taking no notice of anyone else. Seeing that he appeared to be in low spirits, they gave him a few words of advice. Wei Jiangyue maintained a cold face through it all, and it wasn’t apparent whether he was actually listening or not. After a time, most likely because he thought that they were too annoying, he saw that the lead entertainer was next to him pouring wine and pulled this person towards him before then leaving to change rooms, all without looking back. He told them that there was no need to wait for him.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and someone said, “Let’s just leave it. He’ll feel better after he vents.”

The rest said, “…Yes.”

Why did they do that?

Because it was very likely that matters between Wenren Heng and Sir Xiao had borne fruit, while Wei Jiangyue himself appeared to have some intentions towards Sir Xiao, so they thought that Wei Jiangyue was simply jealous. The most important point was that Wenren Heng was not easy to contend with, and although Wei Jiangyue was outstanding, he was still a far cry from Wenren Heng’s level, so there was basically no hope for him.

They sighed as they drank and, upon seeing that Ding Xilai also seemed absent-minded, quickly turned their gazes to this person instead. After a single question, they learned that he wanted to become sworn brothers with Sir Xiao, and so they also generously provided quite a few ideas, including some truly ridiculous ones, angering Ding Xilai to the point that he rolled up his sleeves and started a brawl with them.

This group of people ate and drank and played until very late into the night. Some of them remained behind with pleasing beauties on their arms, while the remainder returned to the inn with arms around each other’s shoulders. But, as a result, after this night was over, Wei Jiangyue had disappeared.

Manor Lord Wei and Pavilion Master Ding had already sent people to search throughout the city, while the Junior Sect Masters had taken the responsibility to remain behind to recall the events from last night, honestly replying to all of the elders’ questions.

Pavilion Master Ding asked, “All of you said that his mood wasn’t good?”

The Junior Sect Masters said, “It seemed like it. We didn’t dare ask too much.”

Sect Leader Xuanyang said, “Then do all of you know the reason?”

The Junior Sect Masters said, “We don’t.”

What a joke! At this time, even if they were beaten to death, they couldn’t reveal the matter of Brother Wei liking Sir Xiao, or else how awkward would it be in the future.

Wenren Heng was listening to this conversation on the side and once again looked at the Academy Master Ge next to him, asking, “Didn’t they say that Wei Jiangyue called for someone? What about that lead entertainer? Did she see anything?”

“She fell unconscious,” Academy Master Ge said, “She said that they drank for a while after entering the room, and then Wei Jiangyue suddenly turned towards the window and asked who it was. After that, she fell unconscious, and she’s completely unaware of what actually happened.”

Wenren Heng wordlessly muttered to himself.

Academy Master Ge said, “Where’s Sir Xiao?”

Wenren Heng said, “His health still hasn’t quite recovered, so he’s still sleeping.”

Academ Master Ge nodded and once again looked at the scene in front, letting out a soft sigh. “Ah, this matter…”

Wenren Heng didn’t follow up on that sentence, but he did understand what the other was worried about.

He actually didn’t just understand Academy Master Ge; he also could just about guess what the rest of the people here were also thinking. After all, not long ago, the previous incident with the Alliance Leader father-son pair had already taught them a painful lesson, and those here were all of high-ranks and so would definitely think a layer deeper. For instance, why was the person who was lost Wei Jiangyue of all people? And also… wasn’t this very similar to what happened to Sir Zhong?

Everyone was thinking their own thoughts. Some saw Wenren Heng and also asked after Sir Xiao.

Wenren Heng gently explained again and, taking the opportunity, said that he was going to go upstairs to look in on that person.

However, right at this time, a certain familiar voice, that seemed to be just begging for a beating, carried over, “What kind of thing has made everyone so lively?”

Everyone turned around and saw Xie Junming unhurriedly stepping down the stairs, with even the great Sect Master Ye following beside him.

Someone from the lobby replied, “Something has happened.”

Xie Junming said, “And so I asked what kind of thing it was.”

He actually already knew.

It wasn’t only him, but the Qin Yuemian who had followed behind them downstairs also already knew.

Yesterday, they had accompanied a certain person to waste quite a bit of time, and so they were all clear that something was probably going to happen. When the ruckus began, they were naturally curious, but they forced themselves to dawdle for a while upstairs, in accordance with their temperaments, or else it’d have looked far too deliberate. But even though they didn’t come downstairs, they had people make some inquiries, and so they all knew about what happened to Wei Jiangyue.

The two weren’t fools. After stepping downstairs, they secretly shot Wenren Heng a glance, finally understanding what kind of medicine this person and Ye You were selling[1].

The white piece had always been cautious around Ye You. Yesterday, when they were together with Ye You, the white piece wouldn’t have been sure whether or not they were conspiring with each other and so all the attention must have been on their persons, thus relaxing vigilance in other places. Thus, Wei Jiangyue went missing — this showed that these disciple-brothers had been deliberately trying to create a diversion.

So Wei Jiangyue was kidnapped by this pair of disciple-brothers?

What was the goal?

The two flipped through their thoughts as they found a good place to sit, appearing as if they were idle people simply interested in listening to the progress of events.

However, the current clues were far too few.

Even after discussing for a long while, no one was able to come up with a solution. They could only do their best to search. If they couldn’t find him in the city, then that would be truly terrible.

Manor Lord Wei’s always amiable expression had been replaced by a grave one, and he paced back and forth with furrowed brows. He suddenly looked at Wenren Heng and asked, “What do you think, Xiao-Heng?”

Wenren Heng shook his head. “I still can’t be sure who it was that made this move.”

Manor Lord Wei said, “What about Ah-Xiao?”

Wenren Heng said, “I’ll go look.”

He went upstairs the moment he finished speaking. Pushing open the door, he saw that his Junior Brother still hadn’t gotten up and so sat at the bedside, slowly stroking his Junior Brother’s cheeks. “Still sleeping?”

Ye You opened his eyes, lazily reaching out his hands towards the other party, and was then pulled up by his Senior Brother. After washing up, he also had the bandages wound around himself, and only then did he unhurriedly go downstairs.

Everyone had split into several tables and was just about to eat. Upon seeing them arrive, the group waved at the two, pointing at the seats that had been left open for them. Ye You walked over and said apologetically, “Since the days are cold, I overslept a bit. Sorry for leaving these elders waiting.”

Everyone knew about his ill health and so naturally waved it off and said it was of no consequence, indicating for them to sit before then starting the meal.

Manor Lord Wei didn’t have an appetite. He made no move to touch his chopsticks, and only a single cup of tea was placed in front of him. He looked at Ye You and asked, “Have you heard about what happened with Jiangyue?”

Ye You nodded. “I heard my Senior Brother talk about it.”

Manor Lord Wei said, “Do you have any thoughts?”

“The other party should be a martial arts expert, and might also be skilled in using drugs,” Ye You said, “Sir Wei’s martial skill is fairly high. Although that place was somewhat noisy at the time, Ren Shaotian and the others were all still around, so if Sir Wei was able to delay the intruder even slightly or find an opportunity to retreat, with Ren Shaotian’s skill, the other would’ve definitely been able to hear those movements and would go to help. But unfortunately, even they didn’t notice anything wrong, so I think that the other party managed to suppress the person in a very short period of time.”

Everyone made noises in agreement, basically all of one mind.

Academy Master Ge asked, “Then which side do you think did it?”

Ye You said, “It’s hard to say. Let’s wait until I go there in a bit and look around, see if I can find any clues.”

He didn’t delay his efforts, going over to the brothel with his Senior Brother as soon as he finished eating.

The people of “Heaven’s Firmament” had actually already turned over the place once but had found absolutely nothing useful, so when Ye You and them arrived, that room had already long been tidied up by the brothel.

The proprietress already knew of the identity of the young sir who had gone missing, so she was especially attentive, cautiously trying to read their attitudes as she explained, “I really didn’t know that room would still be useful, so I let them clean it up. I still need to run this business after all…”

Ye You said, “No harm done. I’m just taking a quick look.”

The proprietress examined their expressions, and only upon discovering that they didn’t seem to be angry did she let out a breath of relief.

Ye You looked around the room very simply, even opening the window to take two glances outside, before going to look around the nearby surroundings of the brothel. He appeared in deep thought, speaking not a word. Ding Xilai had followed them from beginning to end and, upon seeing this, asked him what he thought. Ye You faintly sighed. “No clues. The other party did things very cleanly.”

Ding Xilai said, “Can we still get that person back?”

Ye You said, “It’s unclear. Let’s go back.”

 

At this time, “Heaven’s Firmament” and “Moon’s Shadow” were still searching the city.

No one had any clues so could only wait for these two groups’ news. Unfortunately, even when they waited until nightfall, “Heaven’s Firmament” and “Moon’s Shadow” were both unable to find Wei Jiangyue, and were also unable to find any suspicious persons as well.

Many Sect Masters thought that it was possible that the person had already been brought outside the city.

Manor Lord Wei furrowed his brows even deeper as he sat, completely motionless.

Seeing that he had not eaten much for an entire day, everyone couldn’t help but give some words of comfort, such as this child Wei Jiangyue had always been trustworthy and had never caused any trouble and, even more, didn’t have any enemies, so the kidnapper should have some other goal and definitely wouldn’t take his life.

Manor Lord Wei gave a bitter smile and asked, “And what if he’s turned into a drugged man?”

This really was… Everyone immediately knew they shouldn’t have tried any attempt at consolation.

Manor Lord Wei also didn’t much want to hear their attempts to console and waved his hand to indicate that he was all right before continuing to wait for news from “Heaven’s Firmament”. Only very late into the night did he return to his room, mind layered with worry.

The day passed by in the blink of an eye.

The next morning, Ye You was once again woken up by the noise.

He let out a sigh and retreated back into the blankets.

Wenren Heng was looking at this person from the side.

It truly did appear to be the effects of the weather, and now that mornings came later, his Junior Brother seemed to enjoy lazily sleeping in. He held the person in his arms and asked, “Do you still want to sleep a while longer?”

Ye You lazily made a sound in acknowledgment.

Wenren Heng laid with him for a moment before letting him go and preparing to go downstairs. At this time, Wenren Heng saw the person on the bed also follow to get up and asked, laughing, “Not sleeping anymore?”

Ye You said, “Since I already know that something happened to Wei Jiangyue, of course I need to take things a bit more seriously.”

Wenren Heng said, “I could say that you were worrying so much over Wei Jiangyue’s safety last night that you didn’t sleep well and so I lit some calming incense.”

Ye You laughed and said, “We can use this excuse next time.”

The two went downstairs and quickly learned that the person who kidnapped Wei Jiangyue had sent a letter, telling them that he’d meet them at Sifang Fortress[2] in ten days. Ye You asked, “It didn’t say anything else?”

Academy Master Ge said, “No, it also didn’t mention what’s needed to trade for the hostage; it only said to meet there, but…”

Ye You said, “But what?”

Academy Master Ge lowered his voice, “Sifang Fortress is the old name for the place. It’s long already received a different name.”

“Is that so?” Ye You was very curious and looked at his Senior Brother out of habit.

Wenren Heng then explained, “Sifang Fortress used to be the Hua family’s domain. Since the Hua family was massacred by that monster twenty years ago, the influential family who developed there afterwards thought that this name was too ill-omened, so they changed it. Now it’s called Wuyun City[3].”

Ye You looked at Academy Master Ge. “I understand now.”

Academy Master Ge didn’t continue speaking.

Because this matter was too obvious. Previously, the Lantern-Extinguishing Poison had reappeared, along with the very likely possibility that the Alliance Leader was that monster’s retainer. With the Hua family of Sifang Fortress as a sect that had been extinguished precisely by that monster, now that the other party had kidnapped Wei Jiangyue and requested that they meet in that place, there was no need to say who it was that he was challenging, right?

Those present thereupon looked at Manor Lord Wei and waited for him to speak.

Manor Lord Wei didn’t have the slightest bit of hesitation and said, “I’m going to Wuyun City. Everyone…”

Everyone said, “We’re naturally also coming along.”

Manor Lord Wei nodded and went upstairs to pack his luggage.

Those remaining looked at each other, none saying a word.

Academy Master Ge hesitated for a moment before being the first to speak, “There’s something I need to repeat again. Although this letter is not written in the same style as the previous letters from the black piece, from looking carefully at the details, I can say with certainty that it wasn’t the same person who wrote this.”

Pavilion Master Ding asked, “You mean that this perhaps wasn’t done by the black piece?”

Academy Master Ge said, “I’m not certain. Perhaps it was inconvenient for the usual person to write the letters so they changed to someone else.”

Pavilion Master Ding looked at Sir Xiao. “What do you think?”

“It’s not easy for me to say.” Ye You looked around the room. “But if it really isn’t the black piece, would these elders still keep this appointment?”

Everyone fell silent. There was no need to ask, of course they definitely needed to go.

All right, time to go pack then.

They indicated for the proprietor to prepare some meals before then returning to their own rooms for this period of time.

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[1] 葫蘆裡賣的什麼藥了 A… turn-of-the-phrase, I guess, that means that they finally understood what Ye You and Wenren Heng had been planning.

[2] 四方堡 lit. four directions fortress/stronghold. Was really tempted to just translate this, since 四方 is a really common word that can just mean “everywhere”/”all directions”, but I decided to just follow my own consistency guidelines and stick with pinyin.

[3] 五蘊城 The 五蘊 here is actually a Buddhist term, and is the Chinese word for skandhas, otherwise known as the Five Aggregates: form, sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. The things that make up humanity, essentially.

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After two weeks, I finally got terraforming in Animal Crossing! …So that’s all I’m going to be doing over the next couple days because, man oh man, is this terraforming tool not user friendly.\n

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