Ch93 - Turnaround

They set off at daybreak.

Chu Zhishi and Tantai Meng were still tense, but Xie Zhiwei was clear that there’d be no more pursuers. Still, he remained silent and went with the flow. Chu Zhishi was the first to get on the carriage and suddenly recalled something.

Turning back, he asked, “Second senior brother, the King of Nine Provinces had no idea you were at the king’s manor, right? Otherwise the men he sent wouldn’t just target me and leave you alone.”

Tantai Meng added, “They definitely don’t know. Otherwise they wouldn’t send anyone at all because it’d be useless.”

Chu Zhishi laughed. “Yesterday those men couldn’t fight back against second senior brother at all. Then that brat Mu He counterattacked out of the blue. I wonder how they’ll explain themselves.”

Tantai Meng placed their belongings on the carriage before turning to speak. “Although it’s hard to guess the Shizi’s intentions, I’ve heard he’s very filial to the King of Nine Provinces. Benefactor, do you think the king will blame him for this?”

Xie Zhiwei’s lips hooked into a frown as he shook his head. This didn’t even happen in the original novel, so how could I answer? The existence of the King of Nine Provinces in the book was very low, just like Xie Zhiwei himself. They were both tools used to upgrade the protagonist. When the hero needed status, the king rushed over to acknowledge him as a son; when the hero needed power, the king gave him the military command token; when the hero asked for the throne in one chapter, the king retired in the next, afraid to stay on as emperor or steal the protagonist’s thunder. But all that hinged upon whether the hero could coax the king until he was satisfied.

In the original novel, the hero had never disobeyed his father. Of course, he had nothing worth overturning his image as the filial son in the first place.

Chu Zhishi arched his brows. “On that topic, even if no one knew second senior brother was at the estate, what happens when the king asks that brat why he helped us? Would he spread word about second senior brother? We have to hurry back to the daoist sect.”

Xie Zhiwei suddenly opened his mouth. “Even without him saying anything, the King of Nine Provinces can probably guess it by now.”

“Why?” Chu Zhishi was lost. “Weren’t things just fine yesterday?”

Tantai Meng thought back before glancing at him. “Senior, when we left the riverbank, you seemed to have said ‘second senior brother!'”

“Did I? I must have relaxed and gotten careless. I think I really did…” Chu Zhishi slapped his chest, chagrined. “Second senior brother, I’ve implicated you.”

Xie Zhiwei waved a hand. “No need to blame yourself. Paper can’t cover a fire.”

“Even so, the King of Nine Provinces is extremely petty. Shizi had his hand broken for Benefactor’s sake. If he knew Benefactor was still alive, how could he sit still?” Tantai Meng’s heart had palpitations. “Fortunately, Benefactor’s already left the king’s manor. You mustn’t go back.”

“Right…don’t go back.”

The wheels on the carriage turned as they began to enter the forest from last night. When it passed by the maple tree, Xie Zhiwei couldn’t help glancing at the ground.

And then his gaze froze.

The morning light illuminated many dark purple maple leaves on the ground mixed with large swathes of yellow leaves. But amidst the dismal hues, Xie Zhiwei saw a rare patch of red. Tantai Meng followed his gaze and grew perplexed.

“Benefactor, why is there a small bloodstain underneath the tree? How strange.”

Xie Zhiwei’s eyes flickered slightly. “Indeed, it’s strange.”

Chu Zhishi grew interested and looked as well. “I heard the girl say you chased off a white-eyed wolf here last night. What a shame. In this wilderness, it’d be great if we could roast and eat it.” He even laughed a couple times while Xie Zhiwei lowered the curtains and seemed to quirk his lips as well.

Chu Zhishi paused then asked doubtfully, “Second senior brother, this blood can’t be related to the white-eyed wolf, right? You injured it that badly?”

Xie Zhiwei suddenly couldn’t say a thing. After a while, he forced out, “I’m a little sleepy, I’ll take a nap.”

With his face to the duo, he leaned against the carriage door and spent a long time just calming down his emotions. Then he took a deep breath to connect to the System. This time, Gallant Outlaw had the rare chance to answer him within seconds.

“Morning ah, Idol. How is it, how is it? Has the hero harassed you recently?”

“No,” Xie Zhiwei said sullenly.

Gallant Outlaw gave a start. This is the wrong tone. From what Xie Zhiwei described previously, he was absolutely indignant about the protagonist like someone who’d swallowed a hundred flies. He couldn’t wait for the hero to disappear right in front of him.

So shouldn’t he be thrilled that the hero didn’t harass him?

Gallant Outlaw chuckled. “Idol, then…you mentioned wanting to escape last time. How’s the plan going?”

“Mm, I’m a day’s journey away from the daoist sect.”

“What the hell? So fast…it’s only been a few days, but things went so smoothly?”

“Obviously. Like I’d do anything I couldn’t handle.”

“Then, Idol did you contact me mid-escape because you ran into trouble?”

“It’s not really any trouble,” Xie Zhiwei paused, then asked, “Tell me the truth: can the hero die?”

“Of course not,” Gallant Outlaw said crisply.

“Then fine, no problem,” Xie Zhiwei relaxed and prepared to disconnect.

“Wait wait! Idol, I haven’t finished,” Gallant Outlaw called him back. “It’s not that he can’t die. Because of the plot, the hero will still get injured, even seriously, within his character settings….um, and maybe die too.”

Xie Zhiwei was furious. “Then why did you say just then—”

“And also,” Gallant Outlaw added hastily, “Since he’s the heart of the System, his death will trigger the safe mode so he doesn’t actually die. It’s like what happened to you before, Idol, except it’d be much more painful for him. When you kick him, he has to endure it until his body is fully recovered.”

“So it’s like that, ah…” Xie Zhiwei trailed off thoughtfully.

Gallant Outlaw struck while the iron was hot. “Idol, are you asking this because the hero got injured? How about giving me authorization to see? I can help you analyze the recent scenes.”

But Xie Zhiwei directly refused him. “Go birdwatching, I’m disconnecting.”

Gallant Outlaw immediately started to shout. “Idol, don’t be like this. I really want to know about the recent plot developments, ah. Even looking at a bird is fine ahhhhh—”

Xie Zhiwei mercilessly exited the System. Recently he’d noticed that Gallant Outlaw seemed determined to get authorization rights. Even dictation didn’t satisfy him. But there was no time to pursue that now. He thought back to the author’s words and felt like a hand was firmly squeezing around his heart.

Mu He really is seriously injured.

His escape had been a fluke. He thought the hero was such a cheat existence that there’d be no way for a mere illusion to trap him. Yet the treasures of this world were all cheat existences in themselves. If something went wrong with them, it’d be hard to fix. Last night Mu He had coughed before leaving in a rush; sure enough, he’d been hacking up blood beneath the tree.

Xie Zhiwei had died once and knew what it felt like, but like Gallant Outlaw said, he’d expired and knew nothing more. He only had to endure pain for a little while. The protagonist was different, having carried hate and despair to die the first time. Although he was still young in this life, if he had to suffer through that pain once more…it would be long-lasting suffering. Xie Zhiwei couldn’t begin to imagine how the experience would morph Mu He further.

For someone who finally saw a bit of light in his life, only to see it extinguished; for someone who finally waited for the person he’d been missing, only for the other to leave without a word and no regard for his life or death—it seemed that Mu He’s second life wasn’t much better than his first.

Xie Zhiwei’s thoughts turned in his mind for half the day before he let out a sudden pah.

Who said the hero has to die here?

No matter the ending, the System’s safe mode would always be there. If that wasn’t enough…didn’t he still have himself, Xie Zhiwei?

Currently, their carriage was on a noisy public road. Xie Zhiwei suddenly stood up, causing the dozing Tantai Meng to stand as well. “Benefactor, what’s happened?”

Next to her, Chu Zhishi was still sleeping soundly and even had faint snores coming from his mouth.

Xie Zhiwei took a deep breath and said, “People are coming.”

The carriage stopped and Xie Zhiwei shouted towards the outside, “No need to keep searching, your shizun’s right in the carriage.”

Right after that came the sounds of kneeling. “Disciples welcome back shizun!”

Tantai Meng got off the carriage and muffled her mouth, surprised at the mob of Heavenly Sun City disciples kneeling outside. Chu Zhishi yawned and drew up the curtain with a reprimand. “What are you all yelling about? So noisy.”

Xie Zhiwei turned a deaf ear to his surroundings as he stood alone on the sidelines, watching the distant marketplace and its busy throngs of people.

Flying Flowers Township.

—

Chu Zhishi had left the mountain a few days ago. At first, Yan Zhifei didn’t find it strange since Chu Zhishi had no need to report everything to the sect leader when he was in charge of so many things already. But when successive days passed with no news, his sudden departure and inexplicable words grew abnormal. Recently, Yan Zhifei had assigned disciples of Heavenly Sun City to go down the mountain and search for their master.

Naturally, he instructed them to keep a low profile, but there were always a few loose-lipped disciples who said things like, “What do we do if we can’t find shizun?” “It’s too miserable just leaving Third Martial Aunt and Sect Leader alone like that.” Xie Zhiwei happened to overhear them and even thought…the voice was a little familiar.

He was currently using the lid of his cup to brush aside the tea leaves while kindly asking the male disciple with a mole on his mouth, “What is the name of this martial nephew? How long have you been at Heavenly Sun City?”

The disciple replied, “To reply second martial uncle, this disciple is named Chen Daoyuan (陈道远) and I’ve been at the sect for ten years.”

Xie Zhiwei nodded. “That’s quite a long time.” So a gossip’s power is directly proportional to his age.

Heavenly Sun City was massive and filled with tens of thousands of male disciples. It was rare to even see a girl on most days. As time stretched on, just encountering a female felt fresh and uncommon to its students. Currently, the goddess-level Tantai Meng was sitting at the same table with them while wearing a slight smile, causing all the male disciples to either blush, find topics of conversation, or pretend to look elsewhere while their gazes stared off into space. They all but wished they grew more eyes on their body.

Chu Zhishi couldn’t stand it anymore and knocked their heads one by one. Xie Zhiwei’s lips curled up as he continued speaking to the disciple with a mole. “Your shizun’s medicine needs to be changed three times a day. That bamboo splint is too loose, so get some plaster to fix it in place. He can’t stop taking his pills no matter what. If he throws a tantrum and refuses to eat them, go find your sect leader martial uncle, understand?”

Chen Daoyuan agreed to everything. “Disciple remembers. Don’t worry, second martial uncle.”

Xie Zhiwei nodded, got up, and walked away.

Chen Daoyuan scratched his head and muttered to himself, “Weird, does second martial uncle know me very well? Why did he only tell me about this? I get it, he must have thought I looked outstanding. People with moles always have better luck, shizun didn’t deceive me…”

When it was time to eat, the mess hall was full of people. But Xie Zhiwei excused himself and left through the back door. He didn’t look back until he had left Flying Flowers Township completely. Beyond it, a corner of Ascension City peaked out over the clouds, as distant as the sky’s edge.

Flying Flowers Township was located at the base of the daoist sect and currently guarded by a host of Heavenly Sun City disciples. Cheese and Mengmeng would be safe here, so he could leave without any worries.

Xie Zhiwei sighed. After saving this side, I have to rescue that side. There’s no break, ah…