With his mouth covered, Ye Chenyan blinked at him.
Yu Qingtang pulled his hand back with a swish.
Feeling a little guilty, he wiped his hand. “Ahem, this... is better not said carelessly.”
“Let’s—let’s go.”
“Oh...” Eldest Senior Sister did not look as if she understood, but she respected it, and very sensibly followed them downstairs.
At the entrance, she said goodbye to the two of them. The way she looked at Yu Qingtang was full of reluctant attachment. “Little Junior Sister, then Senior Sister is leaving now. You must take good care of yourself.”
She gripped Yu Qingtang’s hand tightly, leaned close to his ear, and lowered her voice. “Remember, safety first. If it really won’t work, our whole sect can just run away. It’s not like we have much property anyway.”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
There was such poverty in her sincerity that he was both touched and amused.
Ye Chenyan separated the two of them without a change in expression and cleared his throat. “Since it is still early, Eldest Senior Sister should leave sooner rather than later. Jinzhou has not been peaceful lately.”
“I heard that too.” Eldest Senior Sister frowned. “Who knows what petty villains are causing trouble in Jinzhou? Once we go back, we’ll help search too.”
“But I heard they’re capturing Golden Core female cultivators. I’m already Nascent Soul, so there’s no need to worry.” She lifted her chin proudly. “If they dare come, I’ll show them what I can do!”
Ye Chenyan smiled and nodded perfunctorily. “Mm-hm. Still, caution comes first.”
Yu Qingtang wanted to say something, then stopped—Eldest Senior Sister, he’s mocking you for being as weak as a Golden Core despite being Nascent Soul! How can you not hear it!
Eldest Senior Sister was just about to turn and leave with a flourish when an attendant inside the inn poked his head out and called, “Sir, the things you ordered have been packed.”
While Ye Chenyan went in to pick them up, Eldest Senior Sister swiftly stuffed a small bottle into Yu Qingtang’s hand. “Take this. Something nasty from the bottom of Master’s private stash. Supposedly, it can even drug a Mahayana-stage cultivator unconscious!”
Yu Qingtang’s eyes widened. “That powerful?”
“Hide it well. Use it to save your life if you have to.” Eldest Senior Sister looked somewhat guilty and glanced inside. “Before he comes out, I’m leaving first!”
After saying that, she did not linger. Like someone who had just done something bad, she turned and ran.
Ye Chenyan came out carrying the packed dishes, somewhat surprised. “Why did Eldest Senior Sister leave? I even packed two dishes for her...”
“Ha. Ha-ha.” Yu Qingtang laughed dryly twice and quickly stuffed the bottle into his storage ring.
What else could it be? Guilty conscience, of course.
He had a little of that himself now.
Ye Chenyan shook his head helplessly. “Then we’ll have to eat them ourselves.”
He put the dishes into his storage ring and suggested to Yu Qingtang, “Because of Heavenly Music Sect’s inspection, flight is forbidden in these cities, but the area isn’t large. At most, it will take half a day.”
“If we walk faster, we can leave Jinzhou’s borders today.”
Yu Qingtang was just about to nod when a contemptuous sneer suddenly came from behind them. “What poor ghosts crawled out from where, daring to block Heavenly Residence’s entrance?”
“Sorry.” Yu Qingtang apologized out of reflex and pulled Ye Chenyan aside.
But a fan suddenly reached in from the side and lifted his chin.
Yu Qingtang: “!”
Before him stood a male cultivator with an oily, powdered face, smiling at him with wicked arrogance. “Oh? A pretty beauty, are you?”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
“Pretty beauty.” What an impoverished vocabulary. What a shabby description.
He quietly shifted back a step. The fan followed him one step forward, and by the look of it, was about to slide down along his neck...
With a sharp smack, the fan was knocked aside.
Ye Chenyan blocked the space between them, his face cold. “Your conduct has crossed a line. Please conduct yourself with some dignity.”
Yu Qingtang felt somewhat numb.
Miaoyin Xian was not here, so did that mean all the plot points that were supposed to happen to her had to be copied onto him?
That really was not necessary!
Standing behind Ye Chenyan, he craned his neck and tried to identify which minor cannon fodder these people were from their lineup.
First of all, with a face like that, this definitely was not anyone important. On top of that, the people following him seemed to be only a few servants, not cultivators, so they looked like the type who could be dismissed with a casual wave.
But since he still dared behave like this in Heavenly Music Sect’s territory, he should have a backer, and he believed no one would dare hit him.
Every sign pointed to one person—the Wu family of Jinzhou, Wu Tianjiao.
From that name, it was not hard to tell that he also had an older brother called Wu Tianlong.
When Yu Qingtang had read the book back then, he had complained about it. What family named children that accurately when they were little? One look at them after birth and they knew which one was the dragon and which one was the lesser flood-dragon, and even put it straight into their names?
But one had to admit, it was very straightforward. At least from the names alone, you knew which one was impressive and which one was trash.
Sure enough, the surrounding crowd wore frightened expressions and dutifully supplied the exposition. “Ah! It’s that scourge from the Wu family again!”
“He doesn’t look that strong. Why is everyone so afraid of him? Just because of the Wu family? Jinzhou is Heavenly Music Sect’s domain!”
“It’s more than that! The Wu family’s foundation may not be as deep as Heavenly Music Sect’s, but Wu Tianjiao’s older brother reached mid Golden Core at a young age. He’s said to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with Heavenly Music Sect’s holy maiden. I heard the two families intend to form a marriage alliance...”
Yu Qingtang: “...”
The original plot should have gone like this.
Long Aotian encountered the heretical cultivators capturing Golden Core female cultivators on the road, rescued Heavenly Music Sect’s holy maiden, Miaoyin Xian, and affection quietly bloomed between them. Miaoyin Xian hid her identity and delayed returning to her sect, traveling with him the whole way.
Who could have known that halfway through, she would be harassed by that lecher Wu Tianjiao? Naturally, Long Aotian beat him up. After being beaten, Wu Tianjiao refused to accept it, went home to complain to his older brother Wu Tianlong, and handed over Miaoyin Xian’s portrait too.
His brother recognized his “fiancée” at one glance. In a fury, he had the Wu family hunt the two of them down, ordering them to leave only the woman alive.
Only then did the pair of desperate little lovebirds flee all the way into Biehe Sect’s territory and run into the righteous, heroic Yu Qingtang.
But the problem was, the person here now was not Miaoyin Xian.
Yu Qingtang scratched his chin. If Wu Tianjiao went home to complain now, what if Wu Tianlong could not be bothered to make a move?
Before he could work anything out, Wu Tianjiao had already launched forward, planted face-first, and rolled to Yu Qingtang’s feet—Ye Chenyan had finished beating him up.
He struggled to crawl up and pointed angrily at the two of them. “Just you wait! You dared hit me, so I’ll make sure you can’t leave Jinzhou’s borders!”
Yu Qingtang: “...Wait a moment.”
Wu Tianjiao had no intention of stopping, but Ye Chenyan’s spearpoint pressed against his neck, so he had no choice but to halt.
Yu Qingtang looked at Wu Tianjiao. “You were planning to leave just like that?”
He found it a little strange. Why was this cannon fodder so lacking in self-awareness? Why wasn’t he leaving behind the thing he was supposed to leave behind before going?
Wu Tianjiao looked at him warily. “What else do you want?”
Yu Qingtang held out his hand.
Ye Chenyan seemed to find this very interesting and watched with great enthusiasm, pressing the spearpoint down a little farther.
Wu Tianjiao cried out pitifully for him to stop, then swiftly reached into his storage ring. His mouth twitched, and with a pained expression, he took out a purse and threw it over, still insisting on talking tough. “Consider it this young master feeding a dog today—agh!”
Wu Tianjiao screamed.
The shaft of Ye Chenyan’s spear had struck him directly across the mouth.
Yu Qingtang opened the purse and glanced inside. There were only some spirit stones in it. He shook his head. “Not this. Sigh.”
Since this side character was so bad at playing his part, Yu Qingtang had no choice but to do it himself. He snatched the fan from Wu Tianjiao’s hand. “This. It’s mine now. You. Scram.”
“You want this?” Wu Tianjiao covered his mouth, looking a little stunned. “Th-this was written by me.”
Yu Qingtang said with perfect confidence, “What, you have a problem with that?”
He shifted one step to Ye Chenyan’s side, borrowed the tiger’s might, and lifted Ye Chenyan’s spear. “Hm?”
Wu Tianjiao shrank back in fright. “Fine, take it if you want!”
He fled in defeat, and did not forget to turn back and provoke them. “Being able to receive this young master’s treasured calligraphy is your lu-lucky day!”
Seeing more and more people gathering around them, Ye Chenyan tugged Yu Qingtang. “There are too many people here. We should go too.”
Only after they left the city did Ye Chenyan slow his steps. “This should be far enough.”
His gaze paused.
Yu Qingtang was still lowering his head and fiddling with that fan.
“Ahem.” Ye Chenyan pretended not to care and asked casually, “Miss Yu, do you like that fan?”
His gaze swept over it. “His handwriting isn’t anything special.”
“Hm? It isn’t.” Yu Qingtang finally raised his head and handed over the fan pendant he had worked so hard to detach. “Here. This is for you.”
“Ah?” Ye Chenyan froze and accepted it instinctively.
It was a jade fan pendant in the shape of a flood-dragon. Cool to the touch, a fine piece of jade, and what was even rarer was that it refreshed the spirit as soon as one held it, almost as if...
Ye Chenyan turned it over in surprise. “There is an array carved onto it. It can calm the mind, quiet the spirit, and help a person focus more during cultivation.”
“You...” He lifted his eyes to Yu Qingtang. “Did you want that fan because you had your eye on this?”
It was because, in the plot, Wu Tianjiao was supposed to offer this piece of jade to you on his own while begging for mercy—because his blood essence is on it, and it lets the Wu family track and locate him.
“Keep it.” Yu Qingtang guiltily looked away.
Without this thing, the later plot could not be triggered.
Ye Chenyan rubbed the fan pendant and followed him with a smile. “What about the fan? Did you put it away?”
“Mm.” Yu Qingtang answered while quietly searching the forest for traces—although the plot’s timeline was out of order, the location was still right. Miaoyin Xian should be somewhere in this forest.
Ye Chenyan clasped his hands behind his back. “That fan isn’t good-looking. If you like fans, I’ll write you another.”
“I never said it looked good.” Yu Qingtang trudged along. “But I can’t just throw it by the road.”
“Oh—” Ye Chenyan drew the word out, then suddenly leaned close and asked, “Miss Qingtang, what are you looking for?”
“Looking for...” Yu Qingtang nearly choked. “Huh? I’m not looking for anything. I-I’m hurrying along seriously.”
Ye Chenyan’s eyes curved with laughter. “Truly?”
“Ah, mm—” Yu Qingtang’s eyes darted away. “Actually, why don’t you help me look too?”
If he could think of a way to send Ye Chenyan off, the preconditions were already in place. Maybe Ye Chenyan could trigger Miaoyin Xian’s plotline on his own.
Ye Chenyan was very interested. “Look for what?”
“Grass. Immortal grass.” Yu Qingtang lied with a straight face. “Yellow, with eight leaves. My Senior Sister said this forest has some in this season. It’s something good.”
“I see.” Ye Chenyan nodded thoughtfully and looked around. “Then...”
Yu Qingtang suggested, “Let’s split up and look for it. Just for a while. If we can’t find it, we’ll keep traveling.”
Ye Chenyan agreed readily. “All right.”
He deliberately turned his back to Yu Qingtang and walked some distance away. Then he looked back and casually plucked a flower. “Miss Qingtang, is it this?”
“No.” Yu Qingtang raised his head to look. “It has yellow flowers.”
“Oh.” Ye Chenyan turned around again. A while later, he asked, “What about this?”
Yu Qingtang shook his head again and quietly widened the distance. “Not that either. Eight leaves!”
Ye Chenyan shook his head in amusement. Surely he wasn’t planning to sneak away, was he? He was putting more and more distance between them, but he was also being far too obvious.
Then Ye Chenyan turned his head, his brows lifting slightly in surprise.
Eight leaves, yellow flowers.
There really was one.
With a little surprise, Ye Chenyan picked the flower and turned back. “Miss Qingtang, I found it... Hm?”
There was no one behind him.
...
At the same time, Yu Qingtang—his eyes covered, slung over someone’s shoulder, and carried at a sprint, jolted so hard he was about to throw up—fell silent.
He had wanted to trigger the plot.
He had never imagined it would be in this way.
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