Ch59 - Eavesdropping

That night Aureate Sect was exceptionally lively, but it had nothing to do with Xie Zhiwei. Since he couldn’t speak, it’d be shameful if he came out. But it was always too noisy to just sleep in his room.

Chu Zhishi went to the banquet but a few of his disciples stayed behind. They were loose-tongued and liked to chat about the shortcomings of their elders. This time they simply sat in the corridor with a handful of melon seeds to chew on gossip.

Xie Zhiwei listened to them talk about the bitterest and best tasting pills from Pill Furnace City, then move on to the beauties of Earthly Moon City. Xie Zhiwei wasn’t interested in any of those things, determined to be the clear-hearted Bixu zhenren who never asked after worldly affairs. But their next topic made him prick up his ears.

The bunch of brats actually brought up Summit City and the events from four years ago.

One disciple said, “Now that Summit City is empty, that Bai Yu guy can’t help running to Ascension City everyday to ask the sect leader martial uncle for the city lord position. It’s almost like he’s afraid people will forget he’s the grandson of the previous sect leader.”

Another clicked a melon seed between his teeth with a snort. “Despite everything, his looks are good. Even if he’s stuck up, the Earthly Moon City junior sisters still want to take a second look at him.” His tone was so full of vinegar that it was likely one of his crushes only liked Bai Yu.

“Heheh, our shizun is older and not interested in those young flowers and grasses. If he stepped out, could Bai Yu still have his share?”

“That’s right. Besides our shizun, even second martial uncle looked good back then. Change his shabby robes and dress him up and he’ll be a sight to see too.”

“What are you saying? Second martial uncle was highly revered. Even if he dresses plainly, he still looks like an immortal. But the dead deserve respect, let’s not disturb him.”

“Fine. Forget about the past, let’s talk about that Mu He fellow. How does he compare to Bai Yu?”

“Although I don’t like him either, I have to admit he and Bai Yu are the difference between Heaven and Earth.”

A disciple clapped his hands and said, “I heard Bai Yu and Mu He had a feud back then. Bai Yu even beat Mu He up for the sake of a girl and offended second martial uncle. Heheh, senior brothers, don’t blame me for saying anything wrong, I’m new here.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, that actually happened. But Mu He is high quality goods, so there’s nothing worth saying about his feud with our shizun.”

“So it’s like that ah…” the other disciple suddenly recalled something and slapped his head. “Right, senior brother! At the ceremony today our shizun said Mu He was ‘acting pitiful.’ What’s that about? This junior brother wanted to ask back then.”

That really was a question. Now that he could finally get some answers. Xie Zhiwei slowly sat up from the couch and listened intently.

The other party exhaled a breath. “Isn’t it all because of second martial uncle.”

Xie Zhiwei gave a start. What happened?

The new disciple pressed, “Senior brother, don’t keep us in suspense. Hurry and spill.”

In the quiet corridor, the disciple said slowly, “I was there four years ago when the Demonic Sect attacked One Step Cliff and personally witnessed second martial uncle spit up blood and die. That fellow Mu He was crying so bad, ah. He hugged second martial uncle’s body and refused to let go no matter what anyone said. His father the King of Nine Provinces couldn’t even pry him loose when Mu He fainted from his tears.”

Xie Zhiwei had already gotten off the couch, now completely awake.

“Looking at him now, it’s impossible to imagine what that must’ve been like… Then, what happened after that?”

“It was raining really hard, so we couldn’t just stand around and get soaked, right? Mu He wouldn’t let go of second martial uncle’s wrist and the King of Nine Provinces got impatient. He said—wait, let me imitate him, ahem…” the disciple cleared his throat and mimicked, “How could my Royal Son stay drenched in the rain? Since Xie Zhiwei is already dead, just cut off his arm.”

The crowd of disciples fell into an uproar. “How dare he!” “The King of Nine Provinces is too much!”

Xie Zhiwei gulped and moved his intact arm, feeling fear in hindsight.

“Did they chop it off in the end?” someone asked.

“What kind of place is our daoist sect? Even the imperial clan shouldn’t think of messing around. Moreover, our shizun and second martial uncle had such a good relationship that he blew up right then and there.”

“Good for him! And then?”

“Then shizun stepped up,” the disciple said, “and grabbed the hand Mu He was using to grip second martial uncle’s wrist—pay attention now, this was his right hand. Then he broke Mu He’s fingers one by one, ahem…before separating them. That’s how their grudge started too.”

The corridor was left speechless.

After a while, someone ventured, “I get it…no wonder Mu He was writing with his left hand today. His other hand…has been broken for four years? No way, right?”

The first disciple gave a cold laugh. “Why else would shizun say he’s acting pitiful? He’s a Shizi of a king, can’t he find someone to treat his hand? It was only some broken bones.”

Xie Zhiwei walked step by step to the half-open window facing the hall, his eyebrows furrowed in a rare serious expression.

An older disciple chimed in, “Forget it, forget it. We said we wouldn’t talk about second martial uncle but we’ve gotten off topic again. Mu He is his only disciple, so it won’t be good if we make the old man unhappy.”

The other disciple thought differently. “It’s not like I’m wrong. Plus, second martial uncle is far away in Summit City. Even if his spirit’s in Heaven, he wouldn’t run here to eavesdrop in a corner.”

The new disciple suddenly turned white as he pointed at the half-open window behind him. “S-senior brother…there’s someone behind you!”

The disciple looked back in astonishment. Against the blackened window slit stood a vague silhouette. He was tightly wrapped up from head to toe except for two eyes shining in the moonlight. The disciple shrieked before turning to flee, knocking into the others behind him until everyone stumbled and fell.

Even if there’s a ghost at the window, you lot are all cultivators. It’s the ghosts who should be afraid instead, right? I bet these pipsqueaks didn’t learn anything from Cheese except how to be a loudspeaker.

Xie Zhiwei pushed open the window while lighting the candle beneath it.

Creak, went the door as he opened that next.

The various disciples from Heavenly Sun City finally stood up from their dogpile and looked towards the light. They only saw a skinny masked man emerge with a lamp in his hand before the stench of rotten mud filled the air.

Everyone exhaled in relief while a disciple with a mole at the corner of his mouth patted his chest and said, “So it was you, ah. Scared us to death. Old bro, were you okay today? That Mu He rascal is so ruthless, he didn’t even spare innocent bystanders.”

This was the person who had told the rest about the past. No wonder he’s a gossip, he has a mole on his mouth.

Xie Zhiwei waved a hand and took a couple more steps until he was standing in the corridor. He didn’t speak, but the mole-mouthed disciple didn’t find it strange and added, “That’s why we didn’t notice anyone else here. Old bro doesn’t cultivate, so he has no spiritual power.”

Someone added, “That’s right. He even tried to avoid Mu He on foot today. If he knew swordflying like us, he would’ve escaped ages ago.”

Xie Zhiwei was expressionless as he hehe’d in his heart. Youngster, what makes you so confident that you can outrun Mu He on a sword?

He nodded modestly and kept walking to the shadowed stairs before stopping. None of the disciples knew what he was doing, so a few dozen eyes were still staring at him. Xie Zhiwei only stood wordlessly in front of the staircase and seemed to sigh.

And then Tantai Meng emerged from the shadows, causing the crowd to draw a collective breath.

She was rather embarrassed. “Benefactor, I wasn’t going to eavesdrop, but I was really curious about Xie zhenren’s past so…sorry for scaring you, everyone.” She cleared her throat. “That, um…it’s getting late, so I hope everyone sleeps well. Benefactor should sleep well too.” Then she slipped away like smoke down the stairs.

The various disciples were left embarrassed before the mole-mouthed one coughed. “Great Master Du Sheng’s senior disciple certainly has better cultivation than us. It’s not shameful that we didn’t notice her, not shameful at all. Old bro should go to bed, we will too.”

They sure know how to find excuses for themselves.

But that was the truth. If a cultivator couldn’t sense spiritual energy from the other party, then there were two possibilities. One was the other had no spiritual energy at all. The second was that the other had a much higher cultivation base that they didn’t try to suppress. Now that Mu He was in his prime, it’d be simple for him to conceal his actual spiritual powers in front of Xie Zhiwei. Meanwhile, Xie Zhiwei could only hide his presence before Mu He by not using spiritual power at all, such as today…

Recalling it made Xie Zhiwei want to die. Wimpy, so wimpy.

But now that the noise had dispersed, he could finally sleep, right?

Heh, not really.

Xie Zhiwei tossed and turned on the bed while thinking of Chu Zhishi breaking Mu He’s fingers. It seems like he’d underestimated the hero’s dependency on him that year, which led to these results. His scalp tightened at the thought. The hero broke his hand because of me, what a waste of feelings. There’s no way I can let him recognize me. Forget about skulking around the capital city, I’ll just complete other tasks instead. If the hero’s happy he’ll spare me (maybe).

But one thing he couldn’t figure out was why the protagonist had kept his fingers broken for four years. The original novel described him as “invulnerable to swords and spears, with an astonishing self-healing ability.” Did something happen to the hero so that he failed to get a King Kong body but gained hemophilia instead?

Or maybe…the hero is a masochist who just wants to feel pain?

Xie Zhiwei thought nonsense for half the night before finally falling asleep. He vaguely heard a commotion while unconscious and woke up the next morning to find the room next door empty. Tantai Meng came upstairs to deliver his meal and saw him staring blankly at its shuttered doors.

She explained, “City Lord Chu took his disciples to rush back to the daoist sect at the third watch last night.”

Xie Zhiwei nodded and faintly felt that something was up. He was puzzling over the plot when he heard Tantai Meng lower her voice and add, “They woke me when they left and I overheard a couple of sentences. Benefactor, apparently two important figures from the daoist sect are missing.”