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Chapter 109




Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
In which Pavilion Master Ding makes a decision, and Elder Mei and Ren Shaotian take a bath together.
Slight correction: Of the two bottles Ye You gives Elder Mei, I originally translated one as a “medicine to dispel poison” (which is
 the literal definition of antidote lmao), but it was actually just an antidote to the pill that sealed internal energy. This error has been fixed. Just goes to show I shouldn’t translate at 2 in the morning, haha.
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Pavilion Master Ding had just finished changing his clothes when he saw his subordinates carry over a cup of ginger tea.
He instructed all of them to leave and then held the cup in hand as he sat on the chair, his face completely ice-cold.
The candlelight burned faintly, the room illuminated with a layer of dim light.
He stared at the minute patterns of the furniture, his entire mind full of the words that Ah-Xiao had spoken just now.
When he had straightened out his senses and carefully gone over this entire incident once through, he became aware that this chessboard had been set up for the three of them from the beginning. Ah-Xiao knew they were partners and so had used methods to tear them apart one by one.
Back when they were first at Shaolin, he had once found Ah-Xiao to discuss the matters of the chessboard, and in both words and actions, Ah-Xiao kept trying to draw attention to Wei Haide and the Alliance Leader, what with, “the white piece has an enemy who wants to play dirty tricks,” “the black piece could be the white piece’s partner or trusted confidante,” and so on. Practically all of it was for the sake of making him suspicious of those two people.
What was even more disastrous was that Ah-Xiao had already long seen through their weaknesses. Thus, when going to capture Mr. Xiao that night, the person had specially called over Xilai. As such, when he and the Alliance Leader had hurried back to Shaolin from Xiangxing City, the Alliance Leader’s expression had immediately turned off upon learning that his son had been kidnapped while Jiangyue and Xilai had done a deed of great merit together, and the other began worrying about being used as a throwaway piece.
Pavilion Master Ding slowly stroked the teacup, sorting out his trains of thought.
Later, after Ah-Xiao succeeded in driving a wedge between them and managed to force the Alliance Leader away, the person’s second step was to confront Wei Haide.
At that time, they were even more suspicious that this person was the black piece and quickly determined that the matter with Elder Yu was what provided the motivation.
That matter had been caused by a moment of negligence by Wei Haide, and because Ah-Xiao and Wenren Heng had always treated him very respectfully and were also very close to Xilai, they had of course inevitably believed that only Wei Haide had been exposed. After becoming aware of this relationship, they then knew that there was still a chance to counterattack, and since they had been in a bad position all this while, they needed someone to return and assume command. Thus, during that period of time, Wei Haide had already finished making preparations to leave at any time.
Now that he thought about it, those details had all been purposely put on display by Ah-Xiao and Wenren Heng, and even leaking the matter about Wei Haide being the white piece to Shaotian was also an intentional move by Ah-Xiao. This person’s intelligence was truly terrifying!
But how exactly did Ah-Xiao learn that the three of them were partners?
Who exactly was he? Why did he know so many things?
Pavilion Master Ding deeply furrowed his brows.
Now that Wei Haide had already been forcibly exposed, with Ah-Xiao’s skill and the letters that Wei Jiangyue provided, for the rest of this life, Wei Haide probably would never be able to make a comeback. Then Ah-Xiao and Wenren Heng’s next target was going to be him!
His pupils darkened, and he hastily went out, going to Ding Xilai’s room. But, as it turned out, his foolish son wasn’t even around, and his heart thumped, his limbs going cold in an instant. In a stern voice, he asked, “Where is he?”
The subordinate had never seen Pavilion Master Ding this anxious and received a fright, replying with, “The young master should
 should be in Young Master Zhong’s room.”
Pavilion Master Ding immediately went over. When he pushed open the door, he saw that Ding Xilai was huddled on a chair in front of the bed, currently foolishly staring at the person on it. Conversely, Xiao-Zhong had long already gone to sleep, his eyes somewhat swollen, most likely because the person had cried after hearing about the entire sequence of events.
Ding Xilai saw him, instinctively tensing up his face and standing up. With a face still bearing a touch of sadness and grief, the person said, “Dad.”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “Come with me.”
Ding Xilai didn’t dare to disobey and obediently went with him to his room. After they entered the room, the person couldn’t help but ask, “Dad, in the future, can Xiao-Zhong come live with us?”
Pavilion Master Ding looked at the other, somewhat unsure of how to reply.
Ding Xilai said extremely pitifully, “Uncle Zhong’s been killed, and his house has been burned. Only Xiao-Zhong is left, and there’s no one to protect him. His martial arts isn’t good, and as a prodigal son, he’s never experienced any hardships, so he’d definitely be bullied. If this was me, I’m afraid I won’t even live past ten days. If I don’t take care of him, I don’t know what’ll happen to him in the future.”
Without any warning, Pavilion Master Ding reached out a hand and softly patted him on his shoulder.
Ding Xilai felt his words immediately become stuck in his throat, feeling somewhat alarmed. His old man had always been stern and was very rarely ever this kind towards him. Right now, could the other be thinking that he’s finally grown up and was feeling moved?
He immediately proudly puffed out his chest.
Pavilion Master Ding gave him another two looks before retracting his hand. Immediately afterwards, he suddenly sealed the other’s acupoints. Ding Xilai couldn’t even utter half a word before taking a fall. With a hand, Pavilion Master Ding caught him.
Watching from the side, Wei Jin was startled. “Pavilion Master?”
Pavilion Master Ding gave the other a look before pulling out a small box from his chest and handing it over.
Wei Jin accepted and opened it, discovering that it was a delicate medicinal pill, even giving off a faint, sweet fragrance.
He said, “This is?”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “A beneficial medicine for strengthening one’s foundation. Eat it, I have something I want you to do.”
Wei Jin said a word of ‘understood’, took out the pill, and swallowed it.
Pavilion Master Ding said, “Pick out a few people and send away Xilai tonight. Leave right now.”
Wei Jin said, “Send him away?”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “Yes, I don’t want him to participate in what’s coming next. Send him to his Second Uncle[1]’s place and then quickly return. Afterwards, I still have other things for you to do.”
Wei Jin asked one more question, “What if the young master makes a ruckus about wanting to come back?”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “Even if you need to tie him up, you need to send him away.”
This whole way, there were many times he wanted to send Xilai away.
But all the other younger generations were here, so if he alone sent someone off, he was afraid that he’d invite suspicion. What’s more, at the time, he was completely unaware that he himself had also been exposed, and since Xilai really enjoyed following Ah-Xiao, he had thought that he might be able to learn a few things, so he hadn’t chased the person away. Who knew that their belief in their own infallible advantage had been used to Ah-Xiao’s own benefit, and that they’d be pulled along by that person all the way up until now!
Wei Jin saw that his face was set and so didn’t ask further, carrying Ding Xilai and going outside to choose a few subordinates before quickly leaving the Sheng family residence.
Wuyun City was a large city, so it was surrounded by city walls, and right now, the city gates had long already closed.
They thus jumped to a secluded area to climb over the walls, deciding to get a carriage only once they got outside. The people of “Moon’s Shadow” agilely followed him, asking, “Captain, where’s Brother Shaotian?”
Wei Jin said, “He was sent by the young master to follow Sir Xiao.”
The people of “Moon’s Shadow” said, “Why didn’t we see him return?”
Wei Jin said, “Perhaps he had some last minute business. If the Pavilion Master also wants him to follow, when he returns, the Pavilion Master will let him come chase us. It’ll be fine as long as we leave some marks along the way.”
The people of “Moon’s Shadow” said, “Understood.”
 
At this time, the Ren Shaotian whom they were concerned about had long already entered a manor.
When they left, the day had already been late, and they weren’t able to reach the next small county town. Elder Mei then simply found a manor and spent some money for a night of lodgings, even having people heat up some warm water. Sitting alongside the bathtub, she said, “Wash then.”
Ren Shaotian, “
”
Elder Mei said, “What are you looking at me for?”
Ren Shaotian reminded, “Lady Mei, men and women are different.”
Elder Mei said, “I know, but didn’t you hear our Sect Master say that I need to accompany you no matter if you’re eating, drinking, shitting, pissing, or sleeping?”
Ren Shaotian, “
”
Elder Mei rested her chin in hand and said, “Then let’s say it like this, Martial Hero Ren — everything that your body has, I also have, and everything that your body doesn’t have, I also don’t have, so there’s no need to feel that I’ll be embarrassed. All right, hurry and take off your clothes then.”
Ren Shaotian, “
”
These words seemed to hide some incredibly vicious implications.
Elder Mei said, “Do you need me to help you take off your clothes?”
“No need.” Ren Shaotian saw that she truly wasn’t leaving and so began taking off his clothes, completely ignoring her assessment. Stepping into the bathtub to soak, he said, “You really don’t want to go back? With you leaving like this, how many people will the Demonic Sect have left?”
Elder Mei said, “It’s all right. While Xiao-Ji and Xiao-Bai were previously sent to escort those drugged men away, they’ll probably get in contact with a few Hall Masters on the way and hand the task over to them. In two days, they’ll be able to make it back. What, you want to go back?”
Ren Shaotian was very frank, “Yes, I’m ill at ease. What if I don’t get involved with the matters of Lingjian Pavilion and only watch from the side?”
Elder Mei said, “No.”
Ren Shaotian said, “You and I both know that this chess game is quickly coming to an end, and the monster and Manor Lord Wei could come at any time. It’s a critical moment right now. I’ll definitely investigate my own matters, but not right this instant.”
Elder Mei said, “No means no.”
Not wanting to continue speaking of this, she changed the topic, “Brother Shaotian, your body seems pretty good.”
As a vice-captain of “Moon’s Shadow”, Ren Shaotian wouldn’t be so easily played by her. On the contrary, he actually pulled up a wicked smile and raised his brows to say, “Then let’s take a bath together?”
His mask had already been removed, so for an instant, Elder Mei felt that his elegant bearing was somewhat similar to the Sect Master’s and slightly startled. Following that, she shyly lowered her head, but right as Ren Shaotian felt that she was going to refuse, she said in a small voice, “Then
 then all right.”
Ren Shaotian stared at her, without moving or speaking, wanting to know if she was actually serious.
Elder Mei was serious, quickly taking off her clothes and entering the tub. Taking a look at his expression, she said, “You thought I wouldn’t dare? Martial Hero Ren, we’ve lived in our Sect Master’s and Temple Master Xie’s hands for several years already, so something like this isn’t even worth mentioning. I told you before that you shouldn’t struggle.”
Ren Shaotian, “
”
How exactly did all of you live these past few years?
Ren Shaotian’s heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he glanced at the clothes that she had thrown to the side. Steadying his patience, he soaked for a bit longer, but right as he was about to say that he had finished washing, his acupoint was hit by the person in front of him, and he couldn’t help but look towards her.
Elder Mei leaned against the edge of the tub and said in censure, “What’s the hurry? Wait for the other person to finish too.”
Ren Shaotian immediately knew that this person could tell that he wanted to grab that antidote and said, resigned, “All right, release me then.”
Elder Mei saw that he had practically given up and, with great merciful benevolence, unsealed his acupoint.
Ren Shaotian helplessly wondered in his heart about what kind of people all these Demonic Sect members were. After a moment of silence, he said, “You should tell me a bit about his matters then.”
“Ah, our Sect Master
” Elder Mei’s eyes were somewhat distant. “He hides his thoughts very deeply, and he usually lives his life freely and easily. If it hasn’t been for the matter this time, we never would’ve known that he has enemies and that those enemies are so difficult to handle.”
Her beautiful eyes carried with them a layer of cold light, and her tone turned gentle, “But it’s all right, since now we know. Our lives are the Sect Master’s, so whoever makes him unhappy will be whoever we’ll make wish they were dead.”
 
Ye You slept very soundly the whole night, and when he awoke the next day, Wenren Heng had already long been awake.
Right as he opened his eyes, he felt a strong force around his waist, and he was immediately pulled into an embrace by his Senior Brother. He raised his head and said, “You hit my acupoints yesterday?”
Wenren Heng made a sound in agreement. “How do you feel?”
Ye You said, “All right.”
Wenren Heng examined him.
After a night of nourishment, his Junior Brother’s complexion was clearly much better than yesterday’s, and the killing intent and chilling air that covered the other’s body had also been curbed. This person appeared to have already gotten used to controlling himself, practically having honed it to perfection.
Heart still aching terribly, he pulled this person into his arms for a moment.
Ye You didn’t much want to get up and buried his head into the other’s neck, closing his eyes.
Wenren Heng said, “Still want to sleep?”
Ye You said, “No.”
Wenren Heng then laid there with him, and only when the two started feeling somewhat hungry did they crawl out of bed to go eat.
The streets had long already become lively, with people coming and going every which way.
Ye You didn’t want to eat the inn’s food, directly returning the room, before followed his Senior Brother into Wuyun City’s most famous restaurant. Ordering a few dishes, they started eating. When they had almost finished their meal, his nose suddenly twitched, and he said, “Fengzui’s ‘Thirteen Beauties’.”
Wenren Heng looked around before hearing a soft laugh echoing from the doorway, “Sir Xiao truly knows what’s what.”
The two turned their heads and saw Xie Junming carrying an opened jug of wine as he ostentatiously entered the room.
The fragrance of that wine floated every which way, inciting all the drunkards in the lobby into twitching, their gazes all landing on the wine jug in his hand. Xie Junming ignored them and, smiling, greeted the two in front of him, “What a coincidence, you two.”
Wenren Heng said, “What a coincidence. Is Temple Master Xie here to eat?”
“I’ve finished eating already,” Xie Junming said, “But I found it too boring to stay at the Sheng family residence, so I wanted to come here and wait for lunch.”
This reason was too formidable, and everyone in the surroundings fell silent.
Ye You laughed and then asked the waiter for a private room, heading over to it together.
Xie Junming hadn’t come by himself, but Elder Baili seemed to have some business and entered the room only after a while.
Ye You gave him a look and, upon seeing that the other was pouting in the direction of the window, stood up to go investigate. Very quickly, in a corner of the street, he discovered the figure of Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master. Looking extremely aggrieved, that person had changed into a pink dress and was currently encircled by two local hoodlums who were trying to take liberties.
He said, smiling, “Why isn’t he fighting back?”
Xie Junming said, “He said that if he can endure it for an hour, then I should gift him ten jugs of Fengzui. I wanted to see how he’d do it, so I agreed.”
Ye You laughed out loud and gave the scene a few more looks, full of interest. Right when he was about to pass judgment, he heard a hot-headed shout echo from below, “What are you two trying to do in broad daylight?”
This time, not only Ye You but also Xie Junming and Wenren Heng curiously came over to look.
They looked towards the left of the street and saw a large man over two meters tall riding over on a horse. Ye You and Wenren Heng immediately started and, upon hearing Xie Junming mutter ‘who is this’ on the side, explained, “Suiyun Sect’s Sect Master.”
“Suiyun Sect?” Xie Junming said, “That place where you two set the trap for that monster?”
Ye You said, “Yes, that’s the Sect Master. He came here to find us.”
In the time it took them to speak, Suiyun Sect’s Sect Master had already flipped off the horse, rushed over in large strides, and tidied up those two gangsters, extremely agilely and precisely. The Fort Master was stunned and silently looked at the other, the only thought in his head was about how he was going to lose his wine.
Suiyun Sect’s Sect Master saw that there were quite a few Jianghu adventurers nearby and immediately grew angry. “Really, public morals are decreasing by the day! The righteous faction adventurers have actually reached the point where even if they see trouble, they don’t help!”
The adventurers were truly innocent and couldn’t accept this answer, asking, “Who is this esteemed gentleman?”
The Sect Master said, “Suiyun Sect’s Sect Master.”
Suiyun Sect was a sect in the neutral faction and, strictly speaking, wasn’t exactly a righteous faction sect so usually wouldn’t participate in Jianghu disputes.
The adventurers guessed that he most likely didn’t recognize this person and explained, “The Sect Master has misunderstood. The one beside you is a man; he’s even the Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master Chen Hong[2], about to be thirty this year.”
The Fort Master inconceivably looked at the person next to him. “Are you a man?”
Chen Hong raised his head, biting his lips as he looked at the other, his limpid eyes looking wet and moist, making him look extremely pitiful.
The Sect Master turned back to look at the adventurers and said angrily, “This is clearly a lady!”
The adventurers, “
”
Those adventurers had a mind to go over and tear open Chen Hong’s clothes, but they all knew that Xie Junming and them were at a restaurant nearby, so the only thing they could do was choose not to lower themselves to his level, using their twitching hands to hold onto their swords before turning around and leaving.
Those watching this play from upstairs saw that the Sect Master was comforting Chen Hong, looking about to send him home, and so decided not to show themselves. When they saw these two walk far away, only then did they reluctantly retract their gazes and sit back down.
Xie Junming pushed forward the wine jug. “Drink?”
Ye You looked at his Senior Brother. “That Sect Master came here to look for you. You aren’t returning to the Sheng family residence?”
Wenren Heng said, “One cup.”
Ye You thereupon didn’t try to hurry him away anymore. Seeing Xie Junming pour him a cup, he then joyfully picked it up and pursed his lips, letting out a sigh of satisfaction. He asked, “Other than coming to find me to play, you don’t have any other business?”
“I actually do have one,” Xie Junming said, “When we were eating breakfast this morning, I didn’t see Ding Xilai at the table.”
Ye You said, “He was sent away?”
Xie Junming said, “Yes, I asked Pavilion Master Ding, and he said he received some news from back home last night that said that Elder Madam Ding’s health wasn’t well and so she wanted to see her grandson. Thus, he let Ding Xilai go back.”
Ye You said, “The excuse he found is quite good.”
He lifted up his cup, wanting to drink another mouthful, but a hand actually reached out from beside him — Wenren Heng took the cup and completely drained the rest of it.
Wenren Heng said tenderly, “I said one cup, but I didn’t say that you could finish drinking it by yourself.”
Ye You felt helpless, but he then thought that his Senior Brother agreeing to let him drink even one mouthful was already not bad, so deciding to quit while he was ahead, he stood up and, “Come on then, let’s go back.”
Xie Junming said, “How do you want to do this?”
Ye You narrowed his eyes. “The letters that Wei Jiangyue brought yesterday apparently weren’t written by the Alliance Leader, so I’m going to ask Pavilion Master Ding if he wrote them.”
The moment he heard this, Xie Junming knew that the other wanted to face that surnamed Ding directly, and he immediately became spirited, hastily following them to leave.
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The author has something to say:
Regarding Elder Mei, for the details, see chapter 15 and 20 and you can see Elder Mei’s attitude. So all of you guess whether Elder Mei is a man or a woman hahahahahaha~~~~
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[1] äșŒèˆ… Specifically, Ding Xilai’s mother’s brother.
[2] So apparently the Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master named the Fort after himself?? This legit confused me though, since æȉ isn’t an actual surname, but it’s certainly being treated as one here
 Maybe it’s just a stage name that the Fort Master made for himself
 Or maybe the author is actually lowkey confusing it with æȈ (Shen) which is an actual surname and a variation of æȉ

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<summary>So, re: Elder Mei’s gender: I’m really not a fan of how the author is going about revealing it, so I’m just going to say it straight out under this details cut.</summary>
The author explicitly refers to Elder Mei as intersex (雙性äșș in her author’s note next chapter and 陰陜äșș in the text itself). I am
 not a super big fan of how she ends up portraying this, both here and later on. It just doesn’t really feel like she understands how truly complex and varied gender can get, but that, uh, probably says more about the state of intersex/trans rights in mainland China than about the author imo.
Anyway, while I have mixed feelings about this, representation-wise, it’s overall a better representation than one usually gets from Chinese WNs (which usually amounts to porn), so I guess I’ll take it. Not a fan of Ye You referring to her as “not a woman” though, since she clearly identifies as a woman here, but whatever.
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Also I speed-skimmed these chapters the first time through, so I completely missed the scene between the Fort Master and Suiyun Sect’s Sect Master. Does this mean that the Fort Master has finally found someone to marry him?
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