Ch90 - Pursuit

Tantai Meng turned back and remarked, “Benefactor, this light looks so familiar.”

Of course it is. You’ve already seen it twice.

This was the boundary field of White Lotus. But Xie Zhiwei examined it and found a difference: although the light was expansive, it was much weaker compared to Mu He’s usual barrier.

Chu Zhishi knitted his brows. “What, that asshole’s chasing after us?”

Tantai Meng coughed softly. “Is senior referring to Shizi?”

Chu Zhishi praised, “Good girl, you’re smart.”

Asshole? Cheese, can’t you respect Mu He a little more as the hero’s “prospective little brother?” With time pressing, he didn’t have time for the reminder and said, “Reveal yourselves.”

As soon as he finished, dozens of silhouettes appeared beyond the white light.

“Chu Zhishi, we’re here to take you into custody on orders of the King of Nine Provinces. Give up and consent to capture.”

All of these were the king’s guards, each of them high-level experts who rarely left the king’s manor. It seemed that the King of Nine Provinces was determined to keep Chu Zhishi this time.

Chu Zhishi laughed out loud and didn’t look up. “What, your Shizi sent these lackeys here today because he was scared of showing his face?”

“Presumptuous!”

The guards rushed over and surrounded the trio, each of them pointed blades at them. Chu Zhishi just tsked. “Not enough to pose a threat.”

Xie Zhiwei rested a hand against his forehead. Right now you’re the least battleworthy out of the three of us. Stop pretending to be tough already.

The head guard ordered, “The king’s orders are to take them dead or alive. Charge!”

Instantly, the swords rushed towards them, blades glinting colder than the light of the moon. Xie Zhiwei had a single thought before the fallen leaves at his feet rose up and formed a tall, layered wall around them. The blades hit the leaves as if cutting a bronze wall with clanking sounds. The guards were extremely fast and slashed through hundreds of them in a blink of an eye. When they landed, they saw the wall of leaves had barely budged around the group and exchanged looks. In the meantime, fine notches and nicks visible to the naked eye had appeared on their weapons.

Tantai Meng had only half-summoned Golden Lotus and was dumbfounded. “As expected of…Benefactor is so powerful.”

Chu Zhishi was smug. “Of course.” As if Tantai Meng was praising him instead.

The head guard’s voice sank. “Who is Your Excellency? Will you leave a name?”

“A nameless person of no consequence,” Xie Zhiwei replied.

It seemed that no one knew of his existence beyond the members of the rear courtyard. The hero had did a good job keeping him secret. He retorted, “Your actions tonight were acting upon your Shizi’s intentions, correct?”

He had known Mu He wasn’t here from the very straight. Truthfully, his condition probably precluded his appearance here. The original novel wrote that Mu He had already gained some advanced skills while he was still in the middle-tier of cultivation. He could manage many tasks from a distance without being physically present. For example, he could torment Bai Jianzhu’s dreams from a distance. Or use a boundary field a few dozen li away in the king’s manor to trap Xie Zhiwei and the rest.

In fact…when Mu He left the imperial court in the original novel, he could even enter the dreams of the girls within the palace and make love there. He really knew how to play. But Xie Zhiwei would never seen such flowery scenes of embrace again.

Becoming bent ruined everything.

The guard only replied vaguely, “Naturally. The king’s intentions are the Shizi’s intentions.”

Interesting.

Although Mu He was somewhat distant with his father, he still acted docile. Now he could even work with his father to confront a common enemy. But getting captured? The King of Nine Provinces was an old, straight man with an overwhelming control streak. If he knew his precious son had been bent by Xie Zhiwei, he’d be smoking with anger from his ears. Would Mu He follow his father’s intentions to change his orientation, or oppose him to bend to the end?

Xie Zhiwei looked at the boundary field, whose light was getting weaker and weaker.

He sighed and said, “Apologies for offending.”

“What did you say?” the head guard was at a loss. But he soon widened his eyes when he became unable to speak. When he saw the other guards in the same state, he looked at Xie Zhiwei in shock, his body completely frozen.

Tantai Meng withdrew Golden Lotus and wondered, “What’s happened to them?”

“Never seen it, huh.” Chu Zhishi said leisurely. “This is second senior brother’s restriction spell. He could never bear to discipline naughty disciples, so he did this instead. It’s tried and tested flawless.”

The leaves around them gradually fell to the ground as Xie Zhiwei waved a hand. “It’s just a trivial trick.”

Chu Zhishi felt much better seeing the guards stand like blocks of wood. “But it’s very effective. You should try it on that bastard disciple of yours one day, he’s yet to suffer through this.”

Xie Zhiwei was about to nod when he gave a jolt. Too much time had passed that he almost forgot—he had used this on Mu He before. That day at Ascension City’s One Step Cliff, Mu He had witnessed the entire process of him turning the tide until his embarrassing death. It was a once in a lifetime moment.

He sighed. “Youngest junior brother, I know you’ve suffered much, but he’s still your martial nephew. You shouldn’t…”

“I shouldn’t curse him like this,” Chu Zhishi continued. “How about second senior brother expel him from the sect? Then I can scold him without scruples.”

Xie Zhiwei looked troubled. “Youngest junior brother, this…”

“Aish, I’m joking,” Chu Zhishi shrugged his shoulders. “You’re such a decent man that you don’t take it to heart when others mistreat you. Plus, that kid’s always acting docile in front of you, so it’s not strange your heart went soft. He can sure put on a show. If I hadn’t noticed him hiding his skills back then and kept an eye on him, I never would’ve noticed how he looked at you wrong. He would’ve even fooled me.”

Xie Zhiwei was startled. “Why didn’t you tell me back then?”

Chu Zhishi thought back slowly. “I only felt that kid had a weird stare, but it was hard to describe it. I wanted to wait until he showed his fox’s tail before I told you, but I never thought you’d…”

Xie Zhiwei deeply understood Chu Zhishi’s mood. How could a defenseless straight man attempt to explain the gaze of a gay one?

Chu Zhishi went on, “Back then I broke his hand finger by finger. I don’t blame him for this, but I’ll never forgive him if he has wicked intentions against you.”

Xie Zhiwei smiled. “He and I are just master and disciple. What wicked intentions could he have against me?”

You can’t begin to imagine the kinds of wicked intentions he actually harbors…

Tantai Meng easily dissolved the thin layer of White Lotus light but didn’t feel very smug. She only said “Huh?” at the empty night sky. Xie Zhiwei looked at her instantly while Chu Zhishi asked, “What, are there more pursuers?”

Tantai Meng waved a man. “No, I just almost stepped on a bug.”

Chu Zhishi’s expression stagnated. “Then why get so worked up?” He couldn’t be blamed for feeling nervous. Everyone knew the King of Nine Provinces and his son wouldn’t easily let someone go. Moreover, Xie Zhiwei’s group had knocked out all the guards when they escaped. New grudges piled on the old would definitely make the king hate Chu Zhishi to the bone.

—This is only the beginning of their murderous pursuit.

Thankfully, both Chu Zhishi and Tantai Meng were cultivators. Even with their spiritual energy suppressed, they could still wield it in bursts and alternated between swordflying and walking until day broke. At last, they reached the edge of a river bordering an outskirts town. Chu Zhishi held onto the railings to climb the bridge, heaving for breath but less tense than before.

“You must be exhausted,” Xie Zhiwei said, “Now that it’s light, we can go rest in town.”

Tantai Meng looked at the smoke rising from the city walls and nodded. “We can probably find a carriage and pretend to be merchants to hide ourselves. Senior, let’s prepare some rations since it’ll take a few days to reach the daoist sect.”

Chu Zhishi suddenly sniffed the air before his eyes lit up. “Second senior brother, I smell fried flaky pastries.“

Tantai Meng burst into a laugh. “Senior didn’t eat dinner and spent all night on the road. It’s about time to eat something.”

Xie Zhiwei rested a hand against his forehead. “I’ll buy you something later.”

Chu Zhishi was in high spirits and even stopped holding the railing to stride forward. “Hurry, it’s best to eat them fresh.” In a flash, he had reached the middle of the bridge.

Xie Zhiwei followed with a helpless tone. “It’s like you drank from a spiritual spring as soon as you mentioned food.”

Tantai Meng covered up her grin. “Senior Chu is not a stickler for details, but I think that’s not bad.” As she spoke, she seemed to recall something and scooted closer to Xie Zhiwei. “Benefactor, I felt like there was something wrong with the light back there.”

“How so?”

Tantai Meng replied, “Chu Zhishi can’t stand the name of Shizi and I was too concerned with those guards to speak up then… Benefactor, is the Shizi not well?”

Xie Zhiwei’s expression shifted slightly. “What makes you say that?”

“I’ve seen that white light twice. The first time was outside the side compound, the second time was last night at the king’s manor,” Tantai Meng’s voice dropped. “Even if Shizi tossed out the boundary field on a whim, I’d need my entire strength to break through it. But back then, I took care of it very easily… Shizi must have no more strength left to support such a huge barrier, unless he’s letting us go on purpose.”

Xie Zhiwei felt silent.

Tantai Meng glanced at Chu Zhishi, who was still striding forward, and lowered her voice even further. “Benefactor, last night I saw someone sleeping on the bed through the crack in the door. I didn’t think about it then, but that was probably Shizi, right?”

Xie Zhiwei’s steps faltered. “He…”

“The daoist up front, please wait a moment,” a voice called from the foot of the bridge behind them.

The trio turned and saw a hunchbacked old man with white hair, a pouch slung over his shoulder, and a walking stick in hand as he ascended the bridge with shaking steps.

“What’s wrong, old mister?” Tantai Meng asked.

Chu Zhishi looked between the old man and the town before him, brows creased in impatience.

The old man caught up in a hurry and gasped for breath. “I just heard you mentioned fried flaky pastries. Are you hungry?”

Surprised, Chu Zhishi forced a smile. “Does it have anything to do with you?”

“Daoist,” the old man eagerly grabbed at his pouch. “Taste some made by this old man.”

Tantai Meng watched his movements and asked, “You know how to make flaky pastries? Are you going to sell them in town too?”

“Right. It’s not easy to run a small business, ah,” the old man said and drew closer. “Only two copper coins.”

“That’s expensive,” Xie Zhiwei stepped forward.

Chu Zhishi’s brows creased further. “Second senior brother, price isn’t an issue, but they might not be fresh.”

When he finished speaking, Xie Zhiwei suddenly pulled Tantai Meng aside and struck with his palm to swiftly attack the old man, who let out a strange laugh and retreated. Following that, a skewed sword qi landed on the bridge and shattered half the railings into wood chips that fell into the river.

This blow was originally aimed at Tantai Meng’s head.

—

Translator’s Note: A new challenger appears…?! Come to think of it, the cast in this story is pretty small, huh…makes it easier to keep track of everyone, haha.