Ch66 - Mysterious formation

Another BGM to listen to as you read. I thought the bittersweetness fit this chapter well.

After returning from Mu He’s small compound, things were quiet and peaceful. Dog’s disappearance didn’t seem to affect anything at all. Thus, Xie Zhiwei put his mind at ease while tracking the plot and considering his next move.

However…

“Benefactor, if it’s escaping, then we go together, I can’t leave you behind.”

Xie Zhiwei had finally found a chance to save Tantai Meng but the other was determined to stay put. He could only reason with her through the prison bars. “I’m not in any peril at the Demonic Sect. Since Qiu Chongyun stands by her words, your looks aren’t in danger for the moment. But this stint in the Demonic Sect might take a while, so it’s better for you to leave early.”

Tantai Meng slowly lowered her head, her voice a little choked. “Benefactor, you’re always thinking for my sake. Why are you so good to me?”

Because you’re the heroine ah, sister. In the original novel you were the goodness in the hero’s heart and the goddess of thousands of readers. Why else would I try so hard?

But Xie Zhiwei couldn’t say that. Seeing the heroine wearing the white dress he bought her, his heart was touched and he sighed. “When you wear white I…will be reminded of a certain person.” The hero and heroine were a Heaven-made pair. Although he didn’t think of the heroine when seeing the hero, the opposite was always true for some reason. Just add a hint of gloom and she’d fit.

Tantai Meng looked up, baffled. “Who is it? Benefactor’s relative?”

Relative…that’s an interesting way to put it.

Xie Zhiwei said loudly, “Sort of. But it’s all in the past, so no need to bring it up.” They had to look towards the future. Mengmeng, try harder and win over the hero. Then you’ll be my apprentice daughter-in-law. It’ll be best if you can pillow talk the hero so he doesn’t hold a grudge against me, perfect.

Tantai Meng observed his expression and remarked, “Benefactor looks a bit melancholy. You must miss that person, right? Eh, Benefactor said not to bring up the past but I’m still talking, sorry ah.”

Xie Zhiwei blanked out. Melancholy is melancholy, I’ve been that way since my resurrection. But I don’t miss the hero, I’m trying to figure out how to avoid him!

Seeing Xie Zhiwei’s tangled expressions, Tantai Meng thought she was right and tried to comfort him. “Benefactor doesn’t need to be like this. Although I don’t understand the ins and outs of the matter, anything’s possible as long as that person’s safe and sound. The two of you will meet again someday.”

Her last words caused Xie Zhiwei’s forehead to break out in cold sweat. After a while, he laughed drily. “N…no need. If he saw me, he’d probably be unhappy.” Not only that, he’d be humiliated and furious and probably cut me into pieces, gods…

Tantai Meng shook his head and was about to speak when there was a clamor outside the scene. “What’s going on?”

Xie Zhiwei had long risen to his feet to look outside. A large quantity of disordered footsteps echoed across the empty Demonic Sect, heavy yet urgent. All of them seemed to be heading in one direction. Xie Zhiwei knitted his brows. “Something must have happened.”

Something had indeed happened.

Since Tantai Meng was firm on staying, Xie Zhiwei could only give up rescuing her and hurry towards the source of the sound. It had been nearly a month since he entered the Demonic Sect and the place was usually dead. You couldn’t even hear someone cough loudly. Now there was a huge commotion. Up ahead, he heard Qiu Chongyun’s voice.

“The saint sovereign has orders: surround Blood Rive Lake so even a fly can’t escape. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, we obey!” the crowd chorused.

Xie Zhiwei quietly circled behind the mob. This place was littered with jagged rocks and overgrown grass, perfect for hiding his figure. He looked down from above and saw a swathe of blood-colored light churning below an abyss, as if the bottom hid a lake of blood.

Every sect had a spell formation that was equivalent to a self-destruction device. Once an enemy invaded, the formation would activate and trap the enemy. If his cultivation was good enough to escape, the formation would activate its self-destruction mode so the entire sect died together with the enemy. The Blood River Lake was the Demonic Sect’s magic formation and synonymous with the heart of the Demonic Sect. No one would seek death to break in on an ordinary day. Therefore, its surface was usually calm like a polished ruby mirror. But now the light was flashing chaotically, raising waves as if someone was churning the depths from within. Who was idle enough to do something that hurt both themselves and others?

From a distance he observed Qiu Chongyun, whose expression was seriously. She usually preferred to lounge against a tree, a wall, or even a man’s body, but today she was standing straight and studying the Blood River Lake. Her expression even looked…somewhat reluctant?

At this moment, Xie Zhiwei found the few devil soldiers at the very end of the crowd bleeding from wounds and looking pained. One of them braced the wind to bandage the other, trying to comfort him. “Don’t yell. You only got three slashes, but Old Third’s legs are half broken.”

“But it still hurts, ah,” the injured gritted his teeth as his face distorted in agony. “I don’t know who’s more powerful, the Qingping Sword or Mu He. He actually killed his way in.”

“Who cares about him? Now that he’s charged into Blood River Lake, the saint sovereign definitely won’t let him gloat for long.”

What’s this about? Xie Zhiwei thought it over before he reacted. Mu He must have found something amiss at last and came barging into the gates. Xie Zhiwei had snuck into his compound and found nothing, but was bitten by Dog and brought him back to the Demonic Sect. The animal didn’t let go until it fell asleep from exhaustion—who knew where he got his strength from.

But this damned cat was a divine beast full of spiritual energy. Even if you sealed it up, some of its power would still leak out. Mu He was a sensible person, but he had been very busy recently and only came now to search, which could be considered slow. That was good, though. Xie Zhiwei hadn’t been able to sleep soundly since escaping from the side compound, wondering how Qiu Chongyun would round up his lies in his place.

But there was no time to consider that now.

The original novel did write the hero entering the Blood River Lake once. The center of the formation concealed a blood agate. During the final boss battle, Mu He found with Chi Yan there before gaining the blood agate to knock out Chi Yan and acquire all Five Treasures. This blood agate was the source of the Blood River Lake’s spiritual power. Its ferocious qi was akin to the fury of Red Lotus just like how coal and wood both gave rise to fire. With it in his possession, the hero was naturally more immune to the Red Lotus’s attacks. There was nothing wrong with the hero’s actions now, but Xie Zhiwei still couldn’t figure out why he was acting ahead of schedule?

He gulped. Don’t tell me…the story will end today?

Heheh, ridiculous. The hero doesn’t have a single member in his harem yet. If we force an ending just like this, the conclusion will be so crappy. Gallant Outlaw would cry himself blind.

Xie Zhiwei felt he was overthinking things and decided to observe a bit longer. It was impossible to see the entirety of Blood River Lake, but a section inside gradually formed a small vortex that slowly expanded to the surprise of the crowd. Although solid cliff surrounded them on all sides, a few people still backed away subconsciously. Seeing this, Qiu Chongyun immediately glared at them. “No retreating allowed. The saint sovereign said anyone who leaves will be tossed in instead.”

She really was “ordering about the vassals by using the emperor’s name.” Xie Zhiwei suddenly calmed down, analyzed rationally, and discovered a big problem. The big battle in the original novel had Qiu Chongyun sending heavy troops down to stand guard, but her purpose was to help Mu He eliminate Chi Yan. Now only Mu He was below, but she was still waiting with killing intent. Even if she was worried, it was only a flash.

This woman…she’s not targeting Mu He, right? Xie Zhiwei suddenly recalled all the unusual occurrences so far. First, Qiu Chonogyun seemed to have become allied with the Demonic Sect with no intentions to hand it over to Mu He. Not only did she sneak attack Chi Yan without authorization and find him to act as a substitute, there was even the Blood River Lake to consider. Although Blood River Lake was dangerous in the original novel too, the hero had Tantai Meng to assist him and Qiu Chongyun loyal to his heart. Now the hero was fighting solo. Even if he escaped from the formation, he couldn’t resist Qiu Chongyun and her suddenly unclear motives.

The vortex fluctuated wildly as the scarlet light waves rose higher. Sparse grass growing higher on the cliff were hit by the waves and instantly withered into ashes. The full moon in the sky was also stained a bloody tinge, reflecting the shine of Qiu Chongyun’s red robes. Fearless, she stepped forward and fixed her gaze on the abyss below.

Boom. Something seemed to have exploded beneath the light, sending a blood-colored stream straight into the sky. Qiu Chongyun’s shoulders shook, while the soldiers behind her were worse off and wanted to flee. Xie Zhiwei patted his chest, heart pounding. He silently cursed, tightened the bag containing Dog at his waist, and approached the cliff edge.

The demonic soldiers were wailing and some of those with status had even started to beg. “Saintess, what’s going on? Why hasn’t the saint sovereign come yet? Should we retreat first…”

Qiu Chongyun arched her brows, displeased. “What retreat? Do you dare to question the saint sovereign?”

Hearing this, another immediately asked, “But…the saint sovereign hasn’t shown his face for days. How did you get these orders?”

Qiu Chongyun ruffled her hair and laughed. “I thought you lot were dissatisfied with the saint sovereign, but it turns out you just doubt me.”

Before the two demonic soldiers could react, they let out miserable cries and fell to the ground, black qi emitting from their faces. In a flash, they were dead. The surroundings suddenly grew quiet. Qiu Chongyun’s smile turned sweeter as she dropped the hand adjusting her hair and pinched her fingers into an orchid shape. Three silver needles shone between her thumb and ring fingers. Of those present in the crowd, some exchanged glances while others were furious but dare not speak. Still some remained obedient, but all stood still without any more complaints. Qiu Chongyun stood proudly in the forefront, still overlooking Blood River Lake. But her raised eyebrows were a great contrast to the tense army behind her.

Smiling slightly, she said, “You can’t afford to doubt the saint sovereign, so you can afford to suspect me even less, understand? In the future, you have to obey me when the saint sovereign isn’t here. But even if he was, you lot still—”

Abruptly, a colorful figure flashed in front of her before leaping into the abyss like a purple-red meteor. Qiu Chongyun blinked and rubbed her eyes before looking at the suddenly silent and ripple-less Blood River Lake. She couldn’t help asking the person beside her, “Just then…did someone go in?”

The underling only stammered, “Yes, it seems—it seems to have been the saint sovereign?”

“It was the saint sovereign all right, no one else dresses as handsomely as he does!”

“The saint sovereign can definitely set things right. This is great, the saintess wasn’t lying after all.”

The calm crowd grew excited again, but Qiu Chongyun was in no mood to acknowledge them. She figured out the status quo in a flash before her eyes widened. “He…has he lost his mind?” she muttered to herself. “Does he really take himself to be Chi Yan?”

—

Translator’s Note: Now now, Aunt Yun. This is what they call, ahem, “method acting.”

They say hindsight is 20/20, but can two negatives really make a positive in real life? Meet Wei Qing, a rich young wastrel who ruins his life and dies an ignoble death to leave the world as bare as he entered it. Meet Yue Fei, the one person who could’ve grabbed him and said “I told you so,” only to lose his chance until revenge turns to ashes and his own body to pulp in the accident that takes his life.

In the past both missed, from a future not quite remembered, they wake to walk their paths again. But something has changed.

Something must change.

From writer Nate Nox comes the original novel F**k-Up’s Guide to Falling In Love.

As a wise man once said, they call it the present because it’s a gift.