CHAPTER 11 This Young Mistress Wu has a lover.

As she finished her words, someone came over to unlock the cage. And then, Fu Changling and Qin Yan came out.

Fu Changling was in a state of daze whereas Qin Yan was being helped out. Qin Yan watched as Fu Changling still hadn’t returned to his senses and calmly repeated those words from before, “Sacrifice the small part of me to achieve an even greater cause.”

As he spoke, he had even ground his jaw and lightly added, “Thank you for your sacrifice.”

Afterwards, someone helped him, as well as Fu Changling, onto the horse carriage.

Fu Changling returned to his senses after getting up the horse carriage. His face drooped as he stared into the distance. Qin Yan sat cross-legged in front of him and after some time of meditating, he lifted his gaze at him and calmly said, “Don’t overthink it. Let’s first think how we should be getting out.”

Fu Changling eyed him and sighed. “The blame is all on me for being too handsome.”

Qin Yan didn’t want to listen to his nonsense, so he curtly shut his eyes.

Fu Changling lightly coughed, watching Qin Yan’s impatience, and got back to discussing serious matters. “Have you known anyone who went into this place, the Hidden Realm of Xuanji?”

“Never.”

“Not even your shifu?”

Fu Changling leaned against the horse carriage and rhythmically tapped his fan against his shoulder. He eyed Qin Yan from the corner of his eye. Qin Yan appeared to have grown solemn at the mention of his shifu. “Never.”

“Alright.” Fu Changling straightened his back. “Since no one has any experience, let us rely on guessing. Averagely speaking, there are some laws to abide by in hidden realms, so now we need to do two things.”

“What?”

Qin Yan’s eyes flickered open. He looked at Fu Changling, and Fu Changling was looking towards the outside of the horse carriage. “Energy barrier,” Qin Yan said.

And as he finished speaking, the entire horse carriage was wrapped up by an energy barrier, and then Fu Changling turned, exhaling in relief, “Now we can properly talk.”

As he spoke, he lifted one finger. “The things we need to do are: Firstly, you and I make sure we’re healed and take care of ourselves.”

Qin Yan expressionlessly said, “Go straight to the point.”

“Secondly,” Fu Changling dragged his tone, “We need to curry favours with this Young Mistress Wu and get to know more information from her.”

Qin Yan was a little puzzled. “Why?”

“Did you notice there’s a fragrant sachet with sword patterns on her?”

Qin Yan gave it some thought and nodded. Fu Changling leaned in closer to him and whispered, “That fragrant sachet is probably not hers. Its pattern looked like it belonged to a man. The sachet is already worn, and appeared to have been used for a very long time; it even seemed to be frequently fumbled with. What do you think it means, for Young Mistress Wu to hang a man’s fragrant sachet by her waist and even frequently fumbles it?”

“Just say it.”

“This means that this Young Mistress Wu already has a lover.”

Qin Yan appeared to have understood after listening. “She has a lover, but she’s still going about looking for a suitor. She had even agreed to bring us back. Something is suspicious here.”

“Right.” Fu Changling nodded his head. “In fact, most importantly, did you realize?”

“What?”

“She has pupils.”

These words stunned Qin Yan. He couldn’t refrain himself from repeating them. “Pupils?”

It’s not strange for Qin Yan to find it odd. In the entire Hidden Realm of Xuanji, all the townspeople had no pupils, but this Young Mistress Wu appeared to be special.

“How did you know?” Qin Yan couldn’t help asking.

Fu Changling rolled his eyes. “I saw it. When she lowered her head, I realized that there’s a speck of black on her eyelids.”

Fu Changling tapped his palm with his fan. “She should have pupils, but she’s kept them hidden.”

Speaking, Fu Changling lifted his gaze at Qin Yan, “Do you think she’s the god of the Hidden Realm of Xuanji?”

Qin Yan said nothing.

Every hidden realm would have their own set of unique laws, as well as someone to ensure the execution of these laws, and these were the gods.

These gods were just saints that the hidden realm would worship in the past, for example, the “Venerable One” that the Hidden Realm of Xuanji prays to was their god.

The god was different from the entire existence of this place. Everything else were creations of this array, but the god, and only the god, was created by their creator along with the array.

Fu Changling allowed Qin Yan to digest his words. He used his fan to lift the curtains and look towards the outside.

The both of them harboured their own thoughts as they entered the Wu Manor. Just as they entered, the mayor summoned them.

The mayor was an old man over the age of fifty. When he saw Fu Changling, he went forward in tears and held his hand, filled with emotions, and said, “Our saviour! Saviour!”

Fu Changling smiled wryly as Mayor Wu dragged him on. On that day, they had a grand banquet and he’d had Fu Changling accompany him with wine.

Wu Sisi sat just next to Fu Changling and kept pouring wine for him. Fu Changling had quite an impressive tolerance for wine, but all night along, he finally couldn’t hold his cups. At the end, after everyone had collapsed, Qin Yan scanned their surroundings before getting up and prepared to return to his room.

Fu Changling could see doubles, but he too knew that Qin Yan wanted to leave. He quickly grabbed Qin Yan’s sleeve and said with great difficulty, “Don’t… Don’t leave me.”

Qin Yan momentarily paused, and after a while, he unsheathed his sword by an inch.

Fu Changling was scared stiff by that unsheathed sword. Qin Yan plainly said, “Don’t push your luck. Hold on to it.”

Fu Changling returned to his senses when he heard those words. He quickly pulled at Qin Yan’s sword and happily said, “Alright. I’m pulling.”

He borrowed Qin Yan’s strength and got to his feet. Qin Yan was walking in front, and Fu Changling was following from the rear. He squinted his eyes and blearily, he could see Qin Yan’s silhouette. For a moment, he thought that he had seen Yanming.

Back in that year, amid the wild and horrendous snowstorms, the one who walked in front of him, guiding him, Yanming.

He thought that he’d been too drunk, but he couldn’t describe his feelings, so he chuckled and said, “Do all of you sword cultivators like to guide people in this manner?”

“I don’t know,” Qin Yan calmly answered.

Fu Changling sneezed. “In the past, there was someone… who… who… guided me in this way before. He… he was also a sword cultivator.”

No one knew why, Qin Yan, upon hearing that, momentarily paused in his tracks.

Fu Changling lifted his gaze at him. “Something happened?”

Qin Yan stood for a moment, then turned around. “Who guided you in this manner before?”

Fu Changling smiled and waved his hand. “Geez, you wouldn’t know him.”

At his response, Qin Yan wanted to speak, but as he did, the sound of a lady rang, “Ah, my darling, both of you are here!”

Both of them lifted their heads, only to see Wu Sisi, with a face full of joy, looking at them from the end of the corridor. Fu Changling inhaled a deep breath of cold air and instinctively wanted to hide behind Qin Yan, but before his body acted, he forced his conscious into place and mustered a handsome smile on his face at Wu Sisi. “Young Mistress Wu.”

“Fu Gege~”

Wu Sisi held Fu Changling and blinked her pupilless eyes. Then she batted her eyelashes and said, “Waited for you for a long time. There are many things I want to say to you~”

Fu Changling had a spasm when she batted her eyelashes.

But he thought, no, he couldn’t lose. In these sort of situations, how could he, Fu Changling, lose to it!

And so, he inhaled deeply and decided to go full out.

“What a coincidence.” Fu Changling smiled and held hands with Wu Sisi, arm-in-arm, and headed into the direction they’re going to. He blinked and said, “I too have many things to say to you, Sisi Meimei[1].”

Fu Changling never drafted his cheesy talks, but Wu Sisi seemed to have stiffened at these words of his.

Fu Changling begun to feel cocky.

Qin Yan walked behind them. He was carrying his sword and looking at them expressionlessly as if he was like a wind that sailed along with no sense of existence.

Fu Changling and Wu Sisi looked like a couple flirting with each other, but in reality, they were silently tossing insults. Once they entered, Wu Sisi shoved Fu Changling away in disgust and closed the doors.

An array burst into light under Fu Changling and Qin Yan’s feet. Fu Changling studied the array and Wu Sisi clapped her hands, then walked towards the table and poured herself a cup of tea. “I think both of you must have already known, seeing how you’ve targeted me.”

“Oh.” Fu Changling raised his head and nodded. “We guessed a little bit. Are you the god of this world?”

“I am not,” Wu Sisi said.

Fu Changling was stunned, and after a while, he heard Wu Sisi take a sip of tea and lower her head. “The god is my master and I am his sword spirit. Of course, I am also his cultivation partner.”

Fu Changling’s mind clicked at this. “And where is he?”

“Fourteen years ago, someone forcibly took the Hidden Realm of Xuanji under their control and made this ‘Venerable One’ the god of this hidden realm. Presently, this ‘Venerable One’ has sealed him up.”

“You need our help.”

Qin Yan spoke straightforwardly, and Wu Sisi lifted her eyes at Qin Yan, nodding. “Yes. These years I’ve hidden myself among the townspeople. He hasn’t found me. I need your help.”

“So you found yourself a reason to get close to cultivators who came from the outside, because only they would be able to help you.” Fu Changling managed to put the pieces together, and then couldn’t help himself asking, “Then why did you choose to get married with me, and not him?”

Qin Yan stared at Fu Changling with a helpless look. Wu Sisi snorted coldly. “With what you’re scheming, you think you could hide it from me?”

“Tch.” Fu Changling flipped his fan open and gave a look of defeat. “Women.”

Qin Yan could not bear to listen to this any longer. He changed the topic and asked Wu Sisi, “What do you need?”

“I need an item,” Wu Sisi placed her teacup down and described, “The day after tomorrow, this item will be put up for auction in the Lotus Pavilion of the city. It’s the star item of Lotus Pavilion tomorrow, called the Linglong Pagoda. Find it, and take it to me. Help me set my master free and I will deliver you people out of the Hidden Realm of Xuanji."

Wu Sisi shook her head. “I don’t want to draw the attention of ‘that person’. The Linglong Pagoda is an item belonging to my master. Whoever got their hands on it would draw the attention of the ‘Venerable One’. I’m afraid that he will notice me. So it must be taken by someone else. You people are foreigners so it’s normal for you to want the Linglong Pagoda, he would not be suspicious.”

“Alright.” Fu Changling nodded his head and then reached out to Wu Sisi with a hand.

Confused, Wu Sisi looked at him. “What do you want?”

“Money, of course.”

Fu Changling reasonably stated, “Don’t you need money in an auction?”

Author’s Notes:

Fu Changling: When it comes to bugging[2] other people, I would never lose.