Chapter 13: External Forces, Warnings and Popinjays
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The deal was sealed.
Unsurprisingly, Ji Ling insisted on spending the night at the Residence of Yun.
“Such a large home, and only for the both of you?” Ji Ling asked. “How lonely that must be! I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I availed myself of your hospitality tonight then.”
“Seeing as to how we are both unmarried, that would be an inconvenience. It would be much more appropriate for Lady Ji to rent a room at the tavern, instead,” Yun Yang said while carefully nursing his bruised right eye, the price of his incessant mocking earlier.
“In that case, I’ll just have a little chat with my sisters about how fondly these mystical beasts take to you…”
“Very well, which room will you have?”
…
Yun Yang endlessly sighed as he ate.
Seated across him, Lady Ji watched with increasingly widening eyes as he shoveled food into his mouth.
“How can you possibly eat so much?” Ji Ling felt nauseous looking at Yun Yang practically inhale the small mound of mystical beast meat, albeit with table manners elegant enough to rival any lord...
This would come up to forty, maybe fifty catties?
“Eat quickly, Lady,” Lao Mei’s hands flashed as he quickly skewered a piece of meat, “It’ll all be gone very soon.”
“…”
Ji Ling had nothing to say in response.
…
Yun Yang, who initially had no interest whatsoever in the young lady’s tournament, began to think to himself. “The competition between these young masters’ will be interesting.” Yun Yang’s gaze glinted darkly, “I’m going against the Four Seasons Tower, but I have no clue where to start… I have an objective, but it’s not strength, and even if I had the strength, I would still be lacking a target. Perhaps it’d be a good idea to start with these young masters…”
The more he thought about it, the brighter Yun Yang’s eyes became.
“I can turn back if I’m in error, but I can’t go on sitting on my heels.” Yun Yang continued to brood on the matter, his eyes gazing far away. “If it were the mystical beasts tournament, wouldn’ there already be quite a number of young masters present here already?”
Ji Ling , in contrast, was feeling extremely pleased with herself. “Be vexed with me, chase me away, but in the end, you’ll still have to aid me.” Little did she know that Yun Yang had already made her his stepping stone in his plans. Furthermore, she wouldn’t be the only one caught in his web. Soon, all the young masters from these influential families who were yet to come would be as well, and their foundations would be shaken from that day onwards.
Faced with Ji Ling’s blustering threats, Yun Yang could have just ended the stand-off with a simple sentence, “Whoever you speak to about me doesn’t matter, I’ll just make sure you don’t succeed.” However, he would never do that, because if it weren’t for Ji Ling, Yun Yang’s train of thoughts would never had led this way. Since the moment she had appeared in the picture, a wide, spacious route was suddenly laid out in front of Yun Yang.
These were external forces that even his own enemies would not have foreseen, making them the real threat. It looked like he would have to make his rounds in Tiantang City more frequently now.
“Tomorrow, we’ll go pick out a mystical beast,” Yun Yang said.
“Okay.”Ji Ling smiled in triumphed.
…
It was already late into the night at the Residence of Marshal Qiu Jianhan.
The old marshal gazed endearingly at a painting on the wall in his study.
It depicted a battlefield; nine different colors were splashed across it. The earth quaked, thunder roared and lightning flashed, flames spouted high and mighty as ferocious waves churned, strong winds blew and billowing clouds filled the heavens.
It was a vision of the Nine Supremes’ valour, frozen for eternity on parchment.
“You nine men,” the old marshal’s eyes were moist, “had always been so careful. How did it come to this?”
The painting gave no reply, the nine masked warriors who stood brave in the battlefield were silent.
The old marshal sighed heavily.
Without warning, a sharp whistle tore through the night air. A stern voice hollered outside, “Who goes there?”
In the blink of an eye, the quiet residence dissolved into chaos.
A silver streak split the air as a sword flew from several dozen feet outside of the wall and crashed into the roof of the marshall’s residence with a loud crack; broken tiles flying across the sky. There was a incandescent flash of light, followed by a thud, and all present could see a strip of paper fluttering wildly, pinned against the doorframe.
In sepulchral tones, a voice hissed from the night, “Qiu Jianhan! Forget about Wu Wenyuan’s case; we honour your reputation, but a smart man knows when to stop. If you choose to remain stubborn, even those sworn to protect you will not be able to guarantee your life!”
Showers of sword sparks flashed in counterpoint to the grunts of the guards. A glowing blade could be seen rising up into the sky, with a black shadow holding onto it. On the ground, countless guards gave chase.
The light then flickered as daggers showered upon the residence, the steel shining brightly like meteorites. In panic, the guards weaved their swords through the air, attempting to deflect the shards of death. When the ray from the sword’s glow vanished, only the stars and moon could be seen in the night sky. The shadow that had been there was gone without a trace.
In the midst of bedlam, Qiu Jianhan stood calm and collected by the doorway. His gaze was filled with disdain as his arms rested firmly against his back.
“Bring it to me.”
The strip paper was passed to Qiu Jianhan’s open palm. Unfolding the strip, it contained only a single line written with blood.
“The Nine Supremes are dead, seek no rancor nor vengeance!”
“Pang!”
Qiu Jianhan tore the paper into shreds as his voice rang out loud, “The vengeance of the Nine Supremes will be sated!”
The sheer volume of his voice echoed through the night, the still air buzzed with the force of his declaration.
“Heh heh heh…”
The eerie voice spoke again, as if from a distance, “So, you’ve chosen the fool’s way. Let us see what comes next!” With that, the voice faded into the gloom.
Old Marshal Qiu growled into the dark, his eyes blazing with fury, “I shall not rest until I am dead!” The old marshal was furious beyond words, and his cries carried out into the capital.
I’ve only begun to investigate a few culprits, and already you grow impatient? Who then would bring justice to the death of the Nine Supremes?
…
Yun Yang’s home was not far from the residence of the marshal. The old marshal’s bellows, amplified with traces of refined mystical Qi, had shaken the entire capital awake.
Yun Yang had heard it all, as clear as crystal.
He immediately sat up, a magical radiance flowing from his hands as they worked briskly to trace words which also glimmered with mystical Qi before disappearing into the air mysteriously.
“Investigate the night incident at the Residence of the Marshal!”
…
It was early morning at the mystical beast market.
Yun Yang strolled along dressed in resplendent purple; although unwilling to be here, his innate elegance was not diminished in any way by reluctance. Although shops were lining the streets, the mystical beast market was entirely different from the pet market; here, it was clean without any unpleasant odors of animal waste or musk. The creatures being put up for sale here were all of good stock, second level and higher. These beasts had already begun to gain a reasonable amount of intelligence, and that included an aversion to being dirty as well. Ji Ling trailed behind Yun Yang, casually playing with the Thousand Illusion Monkey that was sitting comfortably on his shoulder. She was the very picture of innocence, but Yun Yang knew that this girl was far from that. The manner in which she could accurately identify his Achilles’ heel and threaten him with it was a telltale sign that she was no ordinary girl.
The Thousand Illusion Monkey also managed to look docile, its horns had shrunk into its head and somehow its multiple tails had merged into one. Even if anyone were to look closely, it resembled a perfectly normal baby monkey. Its crimson eyes darted around in mirth along the entire journey, but it remained perched on Yun Yang’s shoulder despite the many things that caught its attention.
“Ssss…”
An odd hissing arose from the entrance of the first shop they passed. Here, a mass of golden, statue-like snakes writhing in a cage raised their hooded heads, hissing fiercely at Yun Yang. Their long coils undulated wildly as if attempting to break out.
Slightly perturbed, Yun Yang pondered upon the means of concealing his innate ability. While it was certainly advantageous that he could attract mystical beasts, it would do him no good if he were to be caught and exposed!
Nevertheless, Ji Ling’s eyes radiated with glee at the sight.
“I’ve made the right choice indeed!”
Although Yun Yang had not practiced his cultivation, he could not entirely conceal his uniquely fresh scent and the immense air of vitality enveloping his being from these mystical beasts.
“Golden Silk Snakes,” Yun Yang muttered under his breath and continued to saunter past the shop. These third level beasts were extremely venomous, but Yun Yang barely slowed down to even take a second glance at them. He did the same at the second shop, and then the third. The creatures would grow agitated and work themselves into a frenzy as Yun Yang passed by.
In his mind, he had to keep to remarkably high standards when selecting a mystical beast. It had to be more obedient than the current one, able to form a tacit understanding with its owner, able to be taught new abilities, and must also able to show dependency on its new owner.
All of that, and it could be no higher than a fifth level beast.
That would come up to a total five conditions; the number of fifth level mystical beasts that could accommodate all of them was few and far in between. To Yun Yang, there was another condition; seemingly insignificant, but in reality, of utmost importance.
It had to be able to receive training from a girl.
This was Yun Yang’s first visit to the market. He would normally never deign to step foot in such places; the lower level mystical meat that he consumed would usually be bought and prepared as a bountiful meal by Lao Mei. Now that he was here however, he saw how merry the place was. It was a lively arena, teeming with people walking about, all abuzz with excitement. Up front there were a number of people dressed in white, chattering loudly as they fanned themselves while walking.
A chuckle almost escaped Yun Yang’s throat when he recognized who they were.
Ah, familiar faces.
Young Master Ma and Young Master Qin had each brought their servants along and were looking around openly. Their gazes strayed everywhere but boldly lingered longest on the ladies who were passing by with their mystical beasts.
Yun Yang’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, was that a baby beast that Young Master Ma held in his arm? Its bright, innocent eyes seemed to be taking in its surroundings.
Interesting indeed.
“Hey, little lady, have we met before?” Young Master Ma attempted to waylay a girlishly slim figure that walked by, pretending to be deep in thought. “Where was it again? Allow me to think…”
The girl spat on the ground in disgust and stalked off in a huff.
“Hey, wait, don’t go! I’ve figured it out! Why are you leaving? Meh, girls these days. No fun whatsoever.” Young Master Ma wore a bored expression.
“Hey, lady, seeing you today has inspired me to write a poem… Hey, don’t go!” Young Master Qin stared at the girl dejectedly and said, “I just wanted to show you my talents! Sigh.”
Undaunted, the two womanizers just shrugged and continued the hunt for their next prey.
Yun Yang hid a smile.
These lechers! Philanderers indeed!
“Those two popinjays are utterly unsavory!” Ji Ling’s frowned in their direction.
Even as she spoke, Young Master Qin and Young Master Ma had already spotted her from a distance. Although they could not see her face from the angle that she stood, her well-proportioned figure had the two animals rushing over in a frenzy. Being somewhat blinded by lust, they did not see Yun Yang standing just within arm’s reach. Casually placing themselves on both of Ji Ling’s sides, they wheezed, “Young lady, you look familiar!”
“Ahem,” Yun Yang gave a discreet cough in warning. If he did not intervene in time, Ji Ling might have pummel the men to their deaths.
“Young Master Yun?” Young Master Ma looked like he had seen a ghost. On the other side, Young Master Qin who had also heard the admonition turned around with a sour expression on his face. “Brother Yun. It looks like there isn’t anywhere we can go without running into each other.”
Yun Yang sneered, “Are you two having fun?”
Young Master Ma laughed uncertainly, “Brother Yun, you would know better! There’s no way we can compare ourselves to you. You certainly have an eye for the ladies, walking about with a beauty like this!”
Young Master Qin plastered on a pained smile, “Right right, Brother Yun has all the luck when it comes to the opposite sex...”
It was at this moment that Ji Ling turned her head over, her eyes boring holes into both Young Master Qin and Young Master Ma. Their faces froze in a rictus as they caught her angry gaze. How could this lady possess such an elegant figure but have such a homely face? The compliments they were about to ply on her abruptly vanished, and they were left gaping in silence.
Translator’s Note
1 Ancestor’s grave would smoke(祖坟上冒青烟 zǔ fén shàng mào qīng yān): to have really good luck or fortune.
2 Long Hu Dou(龙虎斗 lóng hǔ dòu): literally ‘dragon fighting against tiger’; famous Cantonese dish made of snake and wild cat.