Ch103 - Listening to the qin

The qin was still playing but Xie Zhiwei had lost all interest in the tune. He stared at the folding screen and saw the candle shadows swaying back and forth as if immersed in the beautiful music. Xie Zhiwei’s eyebrows moved before a sudden surge of spiritual energy picked up the cup on the table and struck it against the screen.

The sound of ripping silk followed in succession, drowning out the sound of the melody. In the blink of an eye, the colorful screen was left in pieces that drifted down from the air. Only the frame of the folding screen remained intact. Behind it was Mu He playing the qin and a girl who was practically cocooned in white light.

The poor girl had been striving so hard to be elegant that she covered her face with a veil for Xie Zhiwei. Now the white light had her in a stranglehold with the mask plastered to her face while she had long lost consciousness. Mu He remained undistracted, continuing to play his qin. His ten fingers plucked back and forth over its surface like floating clouds or flowing waters. With the noise of ripping silk long gone, the qin maintained its steady tempo with no mistakes.

Xie Zhiwei looked at him and said, “Sure enough, it was you.”

“Shizun went out of his way to hide here, forcing disciple to go on a good search,” Mu He looked back at him with the same half-smile he wore in the dream.

“Are you here to condemn your Master for his faults?” Xie Zhiwei wondered.

“Disciple would never dare,” Mu He’s expression was calm even as he pressed harder on the qin. The original gentle and soothing tune grew depressed while the notes turned heavy and even harsh. “Today disciple is playing the qin for shizun, I don’t know what shizun thinks of it?”

How am I supposed to feel listening to a guy play me music in a brothel while I drink wine…

Ask him how much it costs to spend a night?

Xie Zhiwei’s mouth twitched as he replied, “Master is tone-deaf and cannot enjoy your music.”

“Right, ah…” Mu He looked at the strings beneath his fingers, voice low. “In the past, because of this…”

“What?”

The qin melody grew even heavier, each note seemingly drumming against a nerve. Mu He remarked, “Back at Ashen Cloud Mountain’s banquet, shizun confessed that he was tone-deaf, so disciple understood that shizun wasn’t a completely perfect person. Even though…you cared for disciple in the beginning, it still felt like shizun was a million miles away. If disciple had one skill above shizun, perhaps…shizun would be less exalted in this disciple’s heart.”

The more Xie Zhiwei listened, the more wrong everything sounded.

First they’d gotten soaked in Black Wolf blood, then Mu He accidentally walked in on him bathing, and finally the hero had a strong reaction to Shen You and Ming Kong’s relationship…thinking back, this was all that fanfiction’s fault! Gallant Outlaw, you unscrupulous author messed up people’s sexual orientations!

Xie Zhiwei couldn’t take it anymore. “I shouldn’t have brought you to Ashen Cloud Mountain.”

“No,” The corners of Mu He’s mouth tugged up before he stared straight back. “It would be the same outcome regardless of whether I went or not. In the four years that shizun was gone, disciple copied shizun’s handwriting all night long, broken hundreds of strings on qins, and even recited my cultivation methods backwards and forwards…every time I achieved a small measure of success, I’d imagine how shizun would look at disciple differently if he was still alive. But…”

Mu He’s lips tugged against as his fingers pushed the strings to their breaking point.

Xie Zhiwei pretended to look at the scenery outside the window.

What’s so special about that? Every stallion novel protagonist experiences a shocking reversal in different ways and yours is tame by comparison. If I had seen you cuddling up to courtesans after I revived, I’d definitely give you a thumbs up!

A dry willow leaf landed on Xie Zhiwei’s shoulder before he realized it was already the start of winter.

Strange, since the weather’s already so cold and the windows are open, why do I feel so hot all over?

The qin stopped abruptly as Mu He slowly rose to his feet. “It looks like it doesn’t matter even if disciple is mightier than shizun. Shizun will ever be an unreachable immortal. Disciple can only go with the flow in the mundane world and become the atrocious villain instead.”

Xie Zhiwei’s reply was perfunctory. “You can also choose to be a good person.” Of course that was impossible. How could any blackened stallion protagonist whitewash himself to be good again? That would deviate too much from the original persona and reverse the entire plot of the world. How was an un-blackened protagonist supposed to take over the world, much less protect himself? Wasn’t his miserable past life a lesson enough?

Sure enough, Mu He’s expression shifted. “A good person?”

Xie Zhiwei nodded and was about to point to himself as a “role model.” But the next instant Mu He had moved in front of him with dark eyes. “Shizun is going on a tangent again so you can coax me to release youngest martial uncle and that white-robed female. Suppose I refuse?”

Xie Zhiwei was a little dumbfounded. His brain works at godly speeds, ah! I wanted to discuss some deeper topics with the blackened hero and then take the chance to steal some scenes. That way I could get a  grasp on his psychological changes. But why did we suddenly lower ourselves to the level of dog-blooded melodrama?

Yet…it wasn’t like he could just say something as heartless as, “No, do what you like with them, it doesn’t matter if they’re alive or dead.”  The System wouldn’t allow it either. After a period of silence, Xie Zhiwei tried again.

“Looks like the previous ice carp really didn’t affect you.”

Mu He stiffened.

Xie Zhiwei went on, “You seem to have ample spiritual power, too. That’s good then, I have no reason to stay.” With a toss of his sleeves, he shut the two windows and walked towards the door. The corners of his forehead were slick with sweat, so he was anxious to get out for some air. He couldn’t help complaining to himself, Is the room heated with warm jade or something? Can a brothel afford something like that?

But why doesn’t the hero feel hot? He didn’t even sweat after sitting there playing music all day.

“Shizun, please stay.” As the voice fell, the door in front of Xie Zhiwei was suddenly covered with a white lotus boundary field.

Xie Zhiwei’s face fell. “What do you want now?”

Mu He spoke slowly. “Disciple only came today for the sake of a single game. How could I leave out shizun.”

“What did you say?” Xie Zhiwei creased his brows.

He’d hardly spoken when red light bloomed in the room and a crack appeared beneath his feet. Aghast, he prepared to retreat when Mu He grabbed his waist from behind. Shook, he raised a hand to hit him. His palm strike was stopped midway before layers of black qi came to encircle his body.

Not a single word and he’s wrapping me up like a dumpling. Furious, Xie Zhiwei demanded, “Let go!”

Mu He was deaf to his words and said in a gentle, respectful tone, “Shizun, let’s hide for three days without letting anyone find us. Isn’t this a very interesting game?”

The scene before them changed rapidly like colors being kneaded into a ball before they were flattened and pieced together again. After a few rounds of this, the images finally stabilized. Everything before them had the same furnishings as his quarters in the capital. No, it was even the exact same room!

Xie Zhiwei was stunned. “Is this an illusion you created yourself?”

“As expected of shizun,” Mu He praised, “You saw through it at a glance.” He sighed. “While shizun was gone these years, disciple wanted to go back to the daoist sect, but couldn’t without fulfilling my last orders. I had to resort to this to relieve my yearning.”

Xie Zhiwei couldn’t stand it. “That’s absurd. This is just self-harm!”

No wonder Mu He had frequent hallucinations. He’d spent all his mental energy on these crooked paths in the past four years! Before, Black and White Lotus balanced each other out and barely kept him stable, but Red Lotus was so full of killing intent that it broke the balance of his divine consciousness despite boosting his cultivation tremendously. Otherwise, even an imperfect meld between the lotuses wouldn’t have caused such severe side effects!

It’d be better if he had Golden Lotus too, but that was with Tantai Meng. Xie Zhiwei saw that Mu He looked indifferent and began to get anxious. “Hurry and dispel this illusion.”

Mu He reached out to wipe away a droplet of sweat on his forehead, not in a rush at all. “Shizun is actually this anxious…but it’s Royal Father who wants to deal with youngest martial uncle, not me. That white-robed female has other uses too…”

“You want to take her Golden Lotus, is it?” Xie Zhiwei asked in a heavy tone.

Mu He’s gaze flickered before he spoke as if nothing had happened. “As expected, I can’t hide it from shizun. But currently she refuses to tell me the incantation to use Golden Lotus. I can’t kill her either, so I can only lock her up for now.”

Hearing this, Xie Zhiwei already knew that Mu He had already tried all sorts of methods to force Tantai Meng, likely including multiple fatal moves as well. It was a pity that the original goddess heroine had been reduced to such straits.

Mu He added lightly, “I naturally won’t release youngest martial uncle either. Anyone who dares to oppress me deserve a miserable death. Otherwise, may I be cursed to a miserable death of my own. I’ll repay the pain of my broken hand in spades to him.”

Xie Zhiwei was so fretful that he grew dizzy. The sweat on his forehead began to drip onto his collar.

No, I have to stay calm. I was worried about the hero’s health at first, but why did he pull the topic back to Cheese and Mengmeng again? Right now the two of them are in danger, what to do…

Stay calm, stay calm…it’s too hot…

Golden Lotus was a must-have item, but Tantai Meng was a stubborn type. Bringing up matters with no progress caused Mu He’s eyes to turn murderous, but Xie Zhiwei suddenly felt one more crystalline drop roll down his neck.

Another drop of sweat.

Only then did Mu He realize his shizun’s face was a little red. He quickly retracted Black Lotus and took Xie Zhiwei into his arms to ask, “Does shizun feel unwell anywhere?”

Xie Zhiwei pushed him aside stiffly while fanning himself with his sleeve. “When you were playing the qin, I drank a cup of wine. This is probably a result of the after effects.”

Mu He froze. “Wine?”

Xie Zhiwei nodded. “I heard it was good wine that the nobles always order.”

Like hell it is. What kind of wine is fishy when you drink it? These nobles sure have heavy tastes…

Wait, fishy flavor…like the flavor of blood.

Xie Zhiwei froze as well.

Sure enough, a subtle change crept onto Mu He’s face. A long time later, he finally said, “Does shizun still remember Ash Cloud Mountain’s Black Wolf blood?”

—

Translator’s Note: I’m still laughing over the commenter who feared Xie Zhiwei drank his own coffin bathwater in the last chapter…omg, his was put in medicinal wines, not brothel ones!

Mu He would be great at creating those “Locked in a Room until you XYZ” scenarios. And master and disciple can actually still have a civil conversation after all their lies and secrets. It’d be nice if they could keep talking until they got out of this mess, but…

The author has something to say: A hot and steaming chapter~

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