Chapter 214: Helenos of Troy

Translated by Tracy

Yan City had four gates into the city, with one in each cardinal direction. Each of its four gates are said to be made of a special jade and able to withstand blows from a Spiritual level warrior without so much as a scratch.

In the past, there had been one such warrior who wanted to test if the gates were truly as sturdy as the legend goes. He was taken down by guards at the gate not long after the start of his barrage, and as for the gate itself…it was completely unscathed.

Yan City was the poster child of the North, symbolising the authority of certain forces in the territory. Due to this fact, air travel in the area immediately above the city was forbidden and any trespassers would be immediately shot down by patrol upon discovery. Worst case scenario would result in the perpetrator being exiled and barred from entry for the rest of their life.

The punishments were usually quite cruel. Because there have been people made an example of in the past, all travellers looking to pass through the city were aware of this particular law of Yan City. In fact, it could be considered a prerequisite to entrance, despite being by no means broadcasted.

As the saying goes: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And thus, You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao followed the crowd of people onto the road and began their hike. Despite all appearances, Yan City was actually quite a distance away from their landing area. It only looked rather close due to its abnormally large silhouette.

Four hours of walking later, You XiaoMo began to feel the effects of this extreme exercise. He looked forlornly at the seemingly close city and wilted in despair.

He had thought that Yan City was rather close, but obviously that wasn’t the case. Apparently they had only covered half the ground in these four hours, which would mean that there’d be another four hours of walking until they could reach the city.

Ling Xiao, who was walking ahead, noticed that You XiaoMo had fallen behind. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

You XiaoMo was half crouching and replied with a pained expression, “My feet hurt.” He could feel the beginnings of a blister forming on two of his toes, making the very action of walking painful.

“So fragile,” Ling Xiao said, approaching him.

You XiaoMo scowled at Ling Xiao. Please, he never liked going out in his last life to begin with, opting to stay inside as much as possible. And this life wasn’t much better as a scrawny pill maker who did nothing but make pills and practice self-cultivation; who’d have time to strengthen the body? Walking for four hours straight was already quite an accomplishment.

Ling Xiao was not at all affected by You XiaoMo’s hostility, continuing after a chuckle: “I’ll give you two options. One is being carried in my arms, and two is being carried on my back. Which would you prefer?”

You XiaoMo was about to retort that there was no difference between the two, but after a period of careful consideration realised that there was, in fact, quite a big difference. No matter how he thought about it, the image of a man like him being carried in someone else’s arms made him feel kind of embarrassed. Therefore, You XiaoMo opted for the latter.

Little did he know, both options were equally embarrassing for him. Feet getting tired after a mere four hours of walking, he seemed even more delicate than a woman.

And so, a breathtakingly handsome young man who gave off an air of nobility appeared on the road to the southern gate, carrying a dainty-looking boy on his back. This scene made many an exquisitely-looking male coveting ladies turn their heads at Ling Xiao’s demeanor, immensely jealous of the boy on his back.

With such a magnificent man, they couldn’t even cherish him, let alone make him carry out tasks. Not only did that boy(lit. A man’s beauty is sin) – see the T/N in chapter 209 if you are a fellow victim of memory loss. The original phrase (with woman instead of man) has a direct translation of Helen of Troy, who caused many a misfortune with her exquisite looks (more info on her here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troy). To represent You XiaoMo’s changing of this saying (from female to male), the name Helen was replaced with its masculine counterpart, Helenos. Apparently it’s not an actual name anymore but there was, at one point, a few dudes in ancient history who were named Helenos, and who are we to judge the poor naming choices of ancient parents?