CH 14

Chapter 14

Editor: Sahloknir

“Hold on.” Meng Yunfei pressed down on Gou Chen, “That’s not the real Lotus Immortal.”

Yuchi Xiao stared intently at Gong Wei, not daring to move, “He is! Look at what is embroidered on his robe!”

Gold is one of the most important raw materials used by the Artefacts Sect to craft all kinds of weapons. Because of this, the Immortal Alliance has stipulated that all of the Xuanmen Sects cannot discreetly accumulate large amounts of gold. And only six key figures, namely Xu Shuangtze of Cang Yang Sect, Martial Sovereign, Ying Kai, Lotus Immortal, Gong Wei, as well as Yuchi Changsheng of the Sword Sect, Mu Duozhu of the Medical Sect, and Chang Sun Chengfeng of the Artefacts Sect — could use gold threads to embroider their family crests and patterns on the robes of their direct disciples to identify themselves.

Other sects and immortals, such as Meng Yunfei, who is the foremost disciple of Guqin Immortal, had at most silver threads embroidered on their robes.

This is not a hard and fast rule. Apart from the official sect robes, no one actually cared what kind of clothing each of them wore in private. But in front of Yuchi Xiao and Meng Yunfei, the gold and red maple-patterned robe was too iconic, even without seeing it, they had heard about it from various novels and plays about the Lotus Immortal, which were popular with the masses. Other than the great Chief Gong Wei, no other person would come to mind.

“…No, I’m not saying you’re mistaken.” Meng Yunfei also stared closely at Gong Wei, gritted his teeth and whispered, “He is an illusion within the mirror!”

His words jolted not only Yuchi Xiao but also Gong Wei, who suddenly realised, That’s right, this is Xu Shuangtze’s sub-consciousness. I'm just a projection from his memory, it makes total sense!

Gong Wei blinked and immediately stood still, looking at them motionlessly.

“The illusion has no self-awareness and will only act based on a fixed trajectory, and won’t attack outsiders as long as they are not provoked.” Meng Yunfei slid Gou Chen back into its sheath, forcing himself to turn his head as if nothing had happened, gesturing for Yuchi Xiao to also look away, “Don’t stare at him, don’t make him feel that we are aggressive… good, look he’s no longer paying attention to us.”

At the corner of Yuchi Xiao’s eye, he could see the ‘Lotus Immortal’ stood in place for a while, silently tilting his head in thought, then slowly paced a few steps away, stopping at the edge of the riverbank with his back facing them. He was gazing towards the village in the distance with smoke curling up from the chimneys.

At this time, the Lotus Immortal had not yet grown out his hair, and the tips were just covering his neck, and the skin on the back of his neck seemed to glow faintly in contrast to his jet-black hair. Rumour had it that when the Lotus Immortal walked under the moonlight, his body would glow, creating the illusion of a celestial being. The contrast of his pale features and the crimson outer robe he wore gave him an indescribably youthful look.

This was actually quite incongruous, as the Lotus Immortal’s actual age was not really that young. The Xuanmen scrolls recorded that he looked fifteen or sixteen years old when he was first brought into the Immortal Alliance by Ying Kai.

It was as if he was a being who had travelled alone through the years, innocent and full of wonder like a child, no matter how many years had passed, yet maintaining a very cautious and subtle distance from the earthly world.

Yuchi Xiao drew back his gaze, and despite knowing that what he was seeing was only an illusion, he still felt the absurdity like life and death has been reversed, and asked in a small voice, “Are we in Lord Xu’s most fearful memories? Then how can we get out?”

Under the Guqin Immortal, Meng Yunfei was exposed to relatively more research on illusions, and he thought about it before saying, “Generally there are only two ways to break free from the realm. The first is to try to make the realm master realise that this is an illusion… but it is more difficult, and I don’t know where to find Lord Xu.

The second is to dissolve the core of the illusion, which is to say that we ensure that the disaster that was destined to happen, does not. As soon as the realm master realises that the tragedy is developing differently than he or she remembers, he or she will be able to perceive that everything is a mere illusion.”

He stood up and patted the dust off himself, frowning as he looked around, “But this village looks peaceful, it doesn’t look like there’s any disaster about to happen, right?”

The corners of Gong Wei’s mouth twitched slightly, thinking that these two young swordsmen were completely unaware that a disaster of epic proportions was already set in motion by now…

“This village.” Suddenly Yuchi Xiao murmured deep in thoughts, gazed at the farmhouse in the distance, and was suddenly enlightened, “—village!”

Meng Yunfei: “What?”

Yuchi Xiao picked up his pace and ran towards the village, “There’s something wrong with this place!”

Meng Yunfei hadn’t reacted yet, but ran after him anyway, and when he reached the village entrance, he saw a stone monument under a peach blossom tree, with big words inscribed, ‘Taoyuan Village’!

“Oh shit!” Yuchi Xiao’s expression changed dramatically, “—Goodbye My Lover, this plot is from Goodbye My Lover!”

Meng Yunfei thought he had heard it wrong and asked in dismay, “Do you mean the Goodbye My Lover plot where Lord Xu met a peasant girl at Taoyuan Village, was charmed at first sight, fell in love and pledged himself in marriage only to her for three lifetimes?”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“And then Lotus Immortal suddenly arrived and killed the bride with a sword at the wedding, and Lord Xu was so grief-stricken that he ended up giving himself a-a you-know-what… that Goodbye My Lover?”

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Meng Yunfei jerked his head around, only to see the crimson-clad figure standing against the wind on the other side of the river, Gong Wei stared back at him with an innocent expression.

“…”

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Yuchi Xiao covered his face with one hand and shook his head, he was simply unable to face this sinister world any longer.

After a long period of dead silence, Meng Yunfei finally asked a question that shocked their souls,”Didn’t they say that all the books were fictional?”

At that moment there was a creak, and the door of a small courtyard in the distance was pushed open.

The Realm Master’s memory world had been set in motion. Yuchi Xiao and Meng Yunfei’s hearts suddenly tightened as they took a half step backwards towards the peach blossom tree to avoid directly facing the illusionary Lotus Immortal. Then, they saw the tall silhouette of a man dressed in a silver and white robe coming out. He turned towards the backyard and led out a horse. Step by step along the green pebbled path, he walked towards the door of the courtyard, then paused in his tracks as he turned to ‘gaze’ back at the house with a yearning and reluctance to leave.

To say that he was ‘gazing’ was perhaps not fully accurate, for his eyes were covered with a piece of white cloth, revealing only a high nose and thin lips—it was Xu Shuangtze.

Xu Shuangtze, in his own memory, was surprisingly more alive. He did not look like the immortal monarch who was lofty and high above the earthly world nor cold and indifferent like accumulated ice of a million years. But rather like a normal man with all his seven emotions and six desires intact.

Yuchi Xiao asked, “What’s wrong with his eyes, are they injured? There’s nothing about it in the book.”

Xu Shuangtze in the illusionary world stood for a moment, then suddenly let go of his horse and walked towards the house. Although he could not see, his movement was unimpeded and one could not tell if he had other methods of perceiving the environment through the five elements of yin and yang. He pushed against the door and stood with his back facing them at the entrance, saying softly,”Xiaotao.”

—The legendary Lady Xu!

No one knew her name, and definitely no one knew what she looked like, but for many years she had been known throughout the world as ‘Lady Xu’!

Meng Yunfei muttered under his breath, offended by the blocked vision. Yuchi Xiao was not as upright as his friend and immediately stretched his neck from behind the tree to steal a glance. However, the interior of the house was too dark, and Xu Shuangtze’s broad back was completely blocking the entry, so Yuchi Xiao could only vaguely catch a glimpse of a figure clad in a scarlet-red dress in the room, but he could not see the details of her face.

“Although what I said last night was abrupt, it was my heartfelt words.” Xu Shuangtze paused for a while before continuing, “I do not know why—I have never seen your face or heard your voice before—but the very first time I met you, it felt like you are the one I have been waiting for since my previous life.”

“I know you are hesitant to join me in the Capital, but it doesn’t matter. I will only be gone for a few months or at most a year. After a year’s time, whether or not I can regain my sight, I will return with betrothal gifts to ask for your hand in marriage.”

He paused, his voice softening, “Take care of yourself, and when we meet again, we shall be husband and wife.”

There was a deathly silence behind the peach blossom tree.

After a long time Yuchi Xiao could not help asking, “Is Lord Xu possessed by something?“

The mysterious Lady Xu in the room did not make an audible response for some reason, but her scarlet dress rustled with her movement. It seemed that she had written something on Xu Shuangtze’s palm. A short while later Xu Shuangtze whispered, “Good.” He stood there, reluctant to leave, before walking out of the house. On his way out he turned back once again to face the house with a smile.

As a matter of fact, when such a handsome young man smiled affectionately without saying a word, any one’s heart would flutter—but this was Lord Xu.

Meng Yunfei shuddered and covered his eyes, while Yuchi Xiao silently punctured the trunk of the tree with his fingers. Their expressions twisted as if they had been struck by a divine thunderbolt.

Not far away, Xu Shuangtze turned around and mounted his horse and galloped away, his figure disappearing at the end of the village.

In the house, a small, graceful figure slowly paced out of the door and stood on the stone steps looking in the direction of the disappearing white horse.

Lady Xu’s profile was facing the young men, her hair was long and dense, flowing down the sides of her long neck to her chest, hiding her face. Although her features could not be seen from that angle, it was clear that she had such an exquisite figure, that a mere glimpse of her silhouette gave one a sense of longing.

Yuchi Xiao couldn’t help but say, “Ah, Lady Xu doesn’t look like an ordinary peasant woman.”

Meng Yunfei said, “Although it is only an illusion, it is disrespectful to peep at a lady, so it is better not to look at her. In my opinion, this illusion is quite strange, and it will be difficult for Lord Xu to break it on his own. As long as we ensure that Lady Xu survives safely, and then marries Lord Xu smoothly—”

At this point the lady in the distance turned slightly, and Meng Yunfei’s words suddenly stopped coming out.

She still did not reveal her face, but this action showed a section of her neck and arm, and on her arm she wore a golden bracelet formed out of three wavy spirals connected at the beginning and end. It rested on her skin, which was a rarely seen ice-white, and under the sun it even gave the illusion that it was glowing faintly.

A strange feeling of déjà vu suddenly came over Meng Yunfei, as if he had seen a similar description of such features before, and he couldn’t help but turn his head to look across the river at the Lotus Immortal.

However, there was no one there.

His brow twitched and he reached out to pat Yuchi Xiao: “Lotus Immortal is gone, look around—” Immediately afterwards, his movements froze.

In his palm was clearly a cold, soft wrist that did not belong to his friend.

“…”

Meng Yunfei turned his head back without a sound, only to see that another person had somehow squeezed in between himself and Yuchi Xiao— The Lotus Immortal was blocking the daylight with one hand and holding on to the tree trunk with the other. He too was stretching his neck to catch a glimpse of Lady Xu’s silhouette in the distance, with an undisguised curiosity reflected in his flickering blood-red, right pupil.

In a flash, Yuchi Xiao and Meng Yunfei drew their swords at the same time, “When did he get here!!!” “Stop him!!!”

The tree trunk shook violently with a boom, and Gong Wei rolled on the ground, clutching his head, burrowing to evade the cold aura of both Gou Chen and Su Qing. He then rose up to dodge lightly by tilting his head to avoid the bright arc from Gou Chen’s attack.

Like the legends, the Lotus Immortal was indeed devilish, and even without a sword, any weapons or talismans, he was able to deflect attacks with great ease. Just as right now, he could evade the consecutive attacks by Yuchi Xiao like a fish swimming freely under the sword of Gou Chen. Meng Yunfei knew that if Gong Wei killed Lady Xu, everyone would be buried in the crumbling illusionary realm immediately. So in his desperation, he summoned his guqin and tapped it to the ground, dispensing waves of sound!

Gong Wei: “?”

He only wanted to take the opportunity to see what Xu Shuangtze’s beloved ‘Lady Xu’ looked like! But it was not a worthy enough cause to lose his three souls and seven spirits in the process.

So Gong Wei in reaction to the situation, immediately attempted to slip away in the opposite direction. But Yuchi Xiao couldn’t let him leave, and immediately drew out his sword and forced his way towards him, and under the guqin’s sound attacks and the sword glare of Gou Chen, Gong Wei finally could not relax.

With both hands cupping his ears and evading the attacks with a grimace, he was forcefully pushed backwards by the fearsome aura of Gou Chen.

The direct damage to his soul created a metallic taste in his throat and his vision momentarily darkened. Gong Wei’s expression turned annoyed as he clenched his teeth, pulled up his sleeves and lunged forward to grab Gou Chen from Yuchi Xiao using his bare hands.

Meng Yunfei almost lost his voice, “Be careful, Brother Yuchi! Stay away from Lady Xu!”

In the distant courtyard, the lady seemed to have finally heard the commotion and turned her head to look at them, finally revealing her face in its entirety.

Meng Yunfei froze, Yuchi Xiao was stopped in his tracks, and even Gong Wei’s hand was violently halted in mid-air.

The atmosphere was fearsomely still, and the trio could not take their eyes off the lady’s face at all. Then, they finally heard Yuchi Xiao’s stammering voice, “What…what’s going on?”

The legendary ‘Lady Xu’ had nothing on her face, no facial features, no expression, not even any contours or outlines.

She simply had no face.

The atmosphere turned to an extremely horrifying one, as all three of them stood frozen in place, staring at the blank, smooth ‘face’ across from them.

Then it struck Gong Wei—That’s correct, she shouldn’t have a face.

Xu Shuangtze hadn’t even had time to lift her veil when Lady Xu died, so he couldn’t have known what his so-called bride looked like at all!

Gong Wei didn’t know whether to laugh at the scene or to feel a little guilty, which by now would be too late. At that moment, the woman turned around without any reaction and entered the house, closing the wooden door with a soft click.

The moment the door shut, a light breeze came from afar, rustling through the treetops, and the peach blossom petals were carried by the wind from the trees, whirling together and creating waves of scarlet red across the skies.

Gong Wei instantly realised what was about to happen and immediately retreated and followed the lady into the small courtyard.

Yuchi Xiao sensed an ominous feeling and just as he was about to chase after and stop Gong Wei, he was pinned to the spot by an invisible restraint. The next moment, the scarlet red petals, which were covering skies, dispersed and the mountains were now covered with scattered golden-red maple leaves. Some of the leaves fell into the stream and drifted along with it. The next moment, Yuchi Xiao felt something cold landing on the back of his hand, when he looked up, he saw snowflakes descending from the sky. The seasons had changed in a blink of an eye, and the entire village was now covered in silver-white.

A cold northern wind carried a snowy mist through the valley, but before Yuchi Xiao and Meng Yunfei could feel the chill, they saw the snow and ice melt away before their eyes and spring once again returned to the land. Yellow warblers chirped and darted through the tall grass, a few carp leapt out of the water, bringing splashes of crystal waves behind. Bare branches started to bear flower buds, then a thousand of flowers bloomed in unison, forming a grandiose scene of emerging scarlet clouds, which stretched for a hundred miles.

This was the illusionary realm taking form based on the memories it was built on.

The villagers, whose facial features were vague and could not be clearly seen, worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, and as the afterglow in the sky faded, the bustling village returned to silence, and the nocturnal insects began chirping in the distant fields.

Moonlight shone on the long, stone path leading from the entrance of the village, the silence all around was ethereal, but abruptly broken with the sound of horses’ hooves suddenly coming from the distant valley.

The two looked at each other and guessed at the same time what had happened, and Meng Yunfei whispered, “It’s Lord Xu.”

One-year had passed, and Xu Shuangtze had returned to receive his bride!