Yu Qingtang’s heart skipped a beat. His gaze darted around, refusing to meet theirs, and he stiffly forced out, “N-not the person you think.”
Ye Chenyan muffled a laugh and nodded along. “Indeed. I’m not the person you think either. My name is Hua Shimiao. A pleasure to meet you.”
“And this is Brother Yu That-One. You’ve mistaken us for someone else.”
Chi Yantian frowned and gave Scholar Xiao a strange look. “Do they think we’re idiots?”
Ye Chenyan finally burst out laughing.
Yu Qingtang slowly turned to look at him. Ye Chenyan pressed his lips together, turned his back, and tried desperately to hold it in.
Scholar Xiao stood dumbfounded for a moment before his eyes suddenly gleamed.
“I understand! You’re disguised as a man!”
“I’ve heard that Nanzhou cultivators are bold and uninhibited. With Miss Yu’s beauty, you must attract far too much unwanted attention, so you dressed as a man to avoid trouble.”
The more he spoke, the more convinced he became. He shook his head with a smile.
“Unfortunately, Miss Yu possesses an extraordinary bearing. Even rags and coarse cloth could never conceal such celestial beauty. A mere set of men’s clothes is unlikely to suppress it.”
Yu Qingtang slowly clenched his fists.
Startled, Ye Chenyan hurriedly grabbed his hand and leaned close to whisper in his ear, “...Are we still trying to fool them?”
“No!” Yu Qingtang ground out through clenched teeth. “I must make him acknowledge my unquestionably masculine identity!”
“Ahem.”
Amusement flashed through Ye Chenyan’s eyes. He turned back toward the other two and gently shook his head.
“She isn’t a woman disguised as a man. You two guessed it backward.”
“Backward?” Scholar Xiao’s expression changed dramatically. “It can be backward?”
“Huh?” Chi Yantian scratched his head. “The opposite of her disguising herself as a man? Could it be...”
Yu Qingtang looked at Chi Yantian expectantly.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that Chi Yantian would figure it out before Scholar Xiao.
Chi Yantian’s eyes widened in disbelief. He pointed at Ye Chenyan.
“You’re the woman disguised as a man?”
The smile vanished from Ye Chenyan’s face.
Yu Qingtang let out a gleeful snort.
Ye Chenyan whipped around to stare at him. Yu Qingtang immediately turned his head aside and pretended he had not laughed.
“Impossible,” Scholar Xiao denied instinctively. “Brother Ye soaked in the Dragon Transformation Pool with us. Naturally, he’s a man!”
“Obviously.” Ye Chenyan crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. “Are you two stupid? The opposite of a woman dressing as a man is naturally...”
“A man dressing as a woman?” Scholar Xiao finished automatically.
Then he froze.
Scholar Xiao was shocked.
Scholar Xiao narrowed his eyes in contemplation.
Scholar Xiao pulled out a booklet, braced it against a bamboo stalk, and began writing furiously, bending the green bamboo a full two inches under the pressure.
Chi Yantian looked bewildered. “Huh?”
He pointed at Yu Qingtang in disbelief. “You’re a man too?”
Then he turned toward Scholar Xiao. “What’s wrong with him?”
Yu Qingtang adopted an inscrutable expression. “He has achieved enlightenment.”
“Enlightenment about what?” Chi Yantian waved a hand, still finding the entire thing unbelievable. “A man can actually look like you?”
Yu Qingtang planted his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest. “What’s wrong with how I look?”
“You’re pretty.” Chi Yantian waved dismissively. “Forget it. It doesn’t really matter. Even if Flamelet suddenly turned female one day, it would still be my so—”
He paused and corrected himself.
“Daughter!”
Yu Qingtang stared at him in shock. “...I’m actually on the same level as Flamelet in your heart.”
It was strangely touching.
Ye Chenyan shook his head in amusement. “What exactly did you come here for? I don’t have any chairs to receive guests. Shall we sit by the river?”
He pointed behind the two men.
“And aren’t you going to introduce the other person?”
“No need for all that formality!” Chi Yantian waved broadly and tugged at Scholar Xiao. “You can finish writing later!”
Scholar Xiao held the brush between his teeth. “Give me a moment. I’m afraid I’ll forget if I don’t write it down now!”
He divided his attention between writing furiously and explaining, “We originally came to visit Brother Ye. We were worried that cultivating here might be too austere, so we brought some fine wine and food.”
“They weren’t going to let us in, but Four Books Academy has always maintained some ties with Starwatch Pavilion.”
He gestured toward the third person present.
She sat upright in a pitch-black wheelchair, her back perfectly straight. A strip of black cloth covered her eyes. Her dark robes were subtly embroidered with star charts, lending her a dignified and reserved air.
Scholar Xiao finally finished whatever he had been hastily recording and put away his brush and ink.
“This is Senior Sister Tianxin of Starwatch Pavilion. She’s a close friend of Senior Sister Dot Star Formation from my Chess Academy. The two of them often arrange to play chess together.”
“What?”
Caught completely off guard by the name Tianxin, Ye Chenyan immediately remembered Yu Qingtang’s drunken ramblings. He grabbed Yu Qingtang and retreated a step.
Yu Qingtang tilted his head at him. “Why are you hiding?”
“I... She...” Ye Chenyan’s eyes widened as he lowered his voice. “The Tianxin you mentioned?”
Yu Qingtang leaned closer and whispered, “What other Tianxin would there be?”
Chi Yantian had not noticed their private conversation. His eyes widened as he blurted out, “Your senior sister plays chess with a blind woman? Isn’t that bullying her?”
Yu Qingtang paled in horror. “Scholar Xiao, cover his mouth!”
In the original novel, the people who mocked Tianxin for being blind and unable to walk had actually gotten their legs broken by Long Aotian!
Scholar Xiao was so frightened that he threw away his brush and clapped a hand over Chi Yantian’s mouth.
“Please don’t take offense, Miss Tianxin! Brother Chi is simply too blunt and speaks without thinking...”
“Exactly!” Yu Qingtang hurriedly joined the apology. “His mouth takes off first, and his brain runs after it but can never catch up. Please don’t be angry!”
He turned toward Ye Chenyan. “You shouldn’t be angry either.”
Ye Chenyan took a step back and distanced himself from the matter. “Why would I be angry?”
Only then did Chi Yantian realize what was wrong. He scratched his head.
“Ah, I wasn’t mocking you for being blind and lame...”
Scholar Xiao pressed his hand even tighter over Chi Yantian’s mouth and wailed, “Brother Chi!”
Chi Yantian knocked him aside. “I thought before speaking this time! Let me finish!”
He crossed his arms.
“What I meant was that although you were born with physical limitations, you’re now one of Starwatch Pavilion’s greatest prodigies of the younger generation. That proves you’re far stronger than many people with perfectly healthy bodies.”
“Still, if you dislike people mentioning that you’re blind and lame, then I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said it. The Heavenly Fire Cult speaks and acts directly. When we make a mistake, we admit it. You can hit me or curse me. I won’t fight back.”
He dropped into a horse stance.
“Come on!”
Yu Qingtang fell silent.
This scene was so familiar. So were those words.
When Chi Yantian had nearly run him down with an ox cart in the street, he had apologized in almost exactly the same way after realizing his mistake.
Tianxin’s expression remained unchanged. She gently shook her head.
“Don’t concern yourself with it.”
“This body of mine is what it is. Some people show me respect to my face yet inevitably laugh behind my back about my blindness and crippled legs.”
“You may speak without thinking, but that’s still better than whispering behind my back.”
She shook her head again.
“I won’t hold it against you. However, the demon race of the southern frontier has many people who are just as ‘straightforward’ as you. Unless you learn to be more careful, you may provoke quite a few incidents.”
“When traveling, remember to watch your words and actions.”
Scholar Xiao hurriedly cupped his hands. “I’ll be sure to advise him often.”
“Miss Tianxin may have been born with physical limitations, but she possesses a natural Seven-Orifice Exquisite Heart and has attained profound mastery of Starwatch Pavilion’s mechanism arts. She’s hardly someone an ordinary person can compare to...”
Tianxin chuckled. “Your senior sister said you’re exceptionally skilled at flattery. It seems she wasn’t lying.”
“Let me think.” Tianxin tilted her head slightly. “Could it be that you damaged the Jeweled Chessboard Formation I gave Star and couldn’t find a suitable replacement, so you came to ask me for help?”
Scholar Xiao’s smile froze. His eyes wandered guiltily.
“Well... About that...”
Tianxin laughed softly. “A good magical artifact can only be found through fortune. You might as well ask that holy son of the Heavenly Fire Cult beside you.”
Scholar Xiao’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! Brother Chi, you’ll reach the Nascent Soul stage soon. Once you break through, could you help my senior sister...”
“Easy!” Chi Yantian waved magnanimously. “We were already planning to search Great Wilderness Mountain for rare ores during this trip. Once we find something good, I’ll forge one for you!”
Scholar Xiao hurriedly thanked him.
Tianxin gently shook her head. “Go ahead and talk among yourselves. I’ll wait here.”
“This place is unusual. It is jointly sealed by the demonfolk of Great Wilderness Mountain, the demon race of Pleasure Sect, and the humans of Starwatch Pavilion. Ordinary people are forbidden from entering.”
“Each of the three factions possesses only one command token. The tokens cannot be handed to anyone else, so I must remain nearby to supervise.”
“Since we’re already here...” Yu Qingtang had already helped Chi Yantian lay out the packed food beside the river. He looked up and warmly called, “Miss Tianxin, come eat with us!”
Tianxin was just about to decline when Chi Yantian and Scholar Xiao each grabbed one side of her wheelchair and carried her over to the riverbank.
Tianxin fell silent.
She shook her head helplessly. “Very well. I’ll treat it as a rare chance to relax.”
Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. Without drawing attention to it, he arranged for Chi Yantian and Scholar Xiao to sit on either side of Tianxin, then pulled Yu Qingtang down across from them.
Yu Qingtang tilted his head and smiled at him. “What are you panicking about?”
“Afraid you won’t be able to resist the temptation?”
“Nonsense.” Ye Chenyan raised an eyebrow. “Of course I can.”
Yu Qingtang pointed across the spread. “Then sit over there.”
“I refuse.”
Ye Chenyan ignored the bait and deliberately pressed closer to him.
“I’m sitting here.”
Scholar Xiao enthusiastically asked, “What would you like to eat, Miss Tianxin?”
“Can you tell what’s on the table?” Yu Qingtang finally remembered her circumstances and pointed at the food. “I can list the dishes for you!”
“This one is... a square flatbread, a round flatbread, black meat, red meat...”
Chi Yantian looked disgusted. “You don’t recognize a single thing. What kind of dish names are those?”
Tianxin laughed softly. “Then please give me one of the round flatbreads.”
“Coming right up!”
Yu Qingtang smugly raised his chin at Chi Yantian.
“See? She’s smart enough to understand me!”
“Honestly.” Scholar Xiao looked at Chi Yantian with concern. “Brother Chi is so incapable of pleasing young ladies that I truly wonder whether, in the future...”
“Hmph! Who says I can’t?”
Chi Yantian slapped his thigh, eager to prove himself. He turned toward Tianxin.
“Can you eat by yourself? Should I stuff it into your mouth for you?”
Tianxin fell silent.
Yu Qingtang fell silent too.
“...Excellent attempt at charming her. Never attempt it again.”
Looking thoroughly exasperated, Yu Qingtang placed the flatbread in Tianxin’s hand.
“It’s not as if she doesn’t know where her own mouth is!”
“Besides, men and women shouldn’t behave too intimately,” Scholar Xiao said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “Trying to feed her the moment you meet is far too familiar.”
“Tch.” Chi Yantian pursed his lips in dissatisfaction. “Why is it so complicated? How about I have Flamelet carry it to her in its mouth?”
Scholar Xiao laughed. “That won’t work either. Once something enters Flamelet’s mouth, do you honestly expect anything to remain?”
Chi Yantian scratched his head. “That’s true.”
Tianxin lightly pressed her fingers to her brow and laughed.
“Now I understand what Star meant when she said that if life ever became boring, she could raise two junior brothers and they would be as noisy as eight hundred parrots.”
Yu Qingtang pointed at Chi Yantian. “He counts as all eight hundred by himself.”
“Oh?” Tianxin tilted her head slightly. “How do we count the rest of you?”
“Scholar Xiao counts as one.” Yu Qingtang pointed to himself. “I’m sweet, obedient, and sensible, so subtract one for me.”
“Now, Brother Yu...” Scholar Xiao waved his fan. “You can’t possibly calculate it that way!”
Tianxin could not suppress a quiet laugh. “And the last person?”
“The last person...”
Yu Qingtang leaned toward Ye Chenyan with a malicious smile.
“He’s pretending to be mute today.”
Ye Chenyan turned and stuffed a piece of flatbread into Yu Qingtang’s mouth. Then he smiled politely.
“Please forgive me, Senior Sister. I’m naturally introverted and dislike speaking.”
“Huh?” Chi Yantian was just about to object when Scholar Xiao promptly stuffed food into his mouth.
“By the way, Brother Ye will be cultivating in seclusion here, but what about Brother Yu?” Scholar Xiao asked with smiling eyes. “Why not come explore Nanzhou with us?”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes lit up, and he turned toward Ye Chenyan.
Tianxin took a bite of her flatbread and warned him, “He has an agenda.”
Scholar Xiao laughed awkwardly. “It’s nothing serious. I simply wanted to ask what happened to the two of you during the part of the journey I missed.”
Tianxin nodded slightly. “There’s more.”
Scholar Xiao gave a bitter smile and confessed honestly, “Ahem. I also heard that Brother Ye is close to Pleasure Sect. He can’t leave while cultivating in seclusion, but I imagine that if Brother Yu accompanies us, his presence will earn us some consideration.”
“I also want to ask what happened between Pretty Butterfly and the young monk Baoshan. We’ll most likely need to visit Pleasure Sect.”
Chi Yantian stared at him in shock, suddenly regarding him in an entirely new light.
“You brat! You actually have that many schemes?”
“Ahem.” Scholar Xiao rubbed his nose in embarrassment. “A few. Just a few.”
Author’s Note:
Known fact: there are eight hundred schemes present.
Scholar Xiao has two hundred. Tianxin has eight hundred.
Chi Yantian, Little Yu, and Three-Fires can divide whatever remains among themselves, lol.
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