Chapter 6

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"Stop---"

The person being pursued had been wounded

and was fleeing in panic. A group of people was chasing that person in a city

with heavy traffic. Vendors and passersby were being consecutively knocked over, causing the whole street to fall into chaos. But seeing that the culprits were from Wuliang

Sect, everyone choked with silent fury.

That person stubbornly resisted but was ultimately caught in the end. He still did not give up and shouted: "I don't know

anything, why do you want to catch me? Just because you're from Wuliang Sect,

you can't arrest people in broad daylight! You're taking advantage of your power to bully people! Does the law still exist?!"

"Stop talking nonsense. Don't think

that no one knows what kind of business you're doing. Take him away!"

The waiter from the teahouse came over to

replenish their tea, and Xie Bi An inquired: "Brother, do you know what is going on outside?"

"Oh, something serious happened in

Wuliang Sect yesterday. Are you the middleman of an immortal sect? If you are,

you probably would have heard it."

"Yeah, I've heard of it, is this

person the murderer?"

"Of course not, I heard that Meng Ke

Fei was very powerful. If he's the murderer, how can he be caught by a bunch of low-level disciples from Wuliang Sect?"

"Brother makes a reasonable point,

then this is..."

"This person most likely escaped from

Fumenghui. Last night, the Lone Sword Song Chun Gui brought some people to turn Fumenghui

upside down. I heard that they wanted to catch those who are related to trading

cores and bring them back to Yunding for interrogation." The waiter pursed

his lips and said in a low voice, "They went crazy about catching people.

There were a few men in our village who just went to Fumenghui to do some work for

food and all of them were taken away inexplicably."

Xie Bi An frowned and seemed lost in

thought.

Song Chun Gui's reputation was

well-known even to the commoners who were not from the immortal cultivation

world. He is Li Bu Yu's youngest disciple, a well-known one-armed swordsman in

the world. With only one hand, he could skillfully display the swordsmanship of Wuliang

Sect. Currently, he’s the most popular figure in Wuliang Sect. Li Bu Yu

dispatching this person showed the importance of Meng Ke Fei's death to the sect.

And

Fumenghui, which the waiter mentioned, was only 15km away from Fengdu city.

It was Jiuzhou's largest black market and leisure place. There were only things that people dare not to think, but there was nothing that people dare not to do. There were only things that people couldn't afford, but there was nothing that people couldn't sell. It's the most magical place in the world.

"Wuliang Sect is quick to take action by checking on Fumenghui first." Fan Wu She looked outside the window at those

people who were taken away and said coldly, "It's a pity to turn to any doctor one can find when critically ill*. Where the wind and the waves are highest*, who would dare to trade Meng Ke Fei's golden core?"

"Yeah, but if they caught the

people who are related to core trading, they might find some clues. However, spreading

a wide net and arresting people indiscriminately will damage the prestige of

Wuliang Sect."

That word "prestige" made Fan Wu

She sneered secretly. Time was really a whitewashed facade*. Who knew

the Wuliang Sect right now, as the leader of the Immortal Alliance and the

model of immortal families, would have a different kind of appearance a hundred years ago.

"However, as long as Wuliang Sect

finds out the truth, they won't hurt innocent people." Xie Bi An said,

"Wu She, let's eat first. After eating, I will bring you house."

Go home...

Fan Wu She's heart moved.

After lunch, they returned to Qintai

Alley.

Zhong Kui bought a house here. The house was

not small, but it was old, plain in appearance, and unattractive. This was the

residence in the human realm that he and his master used. When Xie Bi An was young and

couldn't stay in the Underworld for long periods of time, he spent more than half of his time growing up here.

When they pushed open the door and entered, a

burst of fragrant orchid scent wafted out and a sea of flowers greeted them. The square courtyard was actually filled with orchids of various colors

and varieties. With numerous branches and clusters, each plant was elegant and

fragrant, graceful and colorful. It was such a beautiful scenery, like a

fairytale.

Xie Bi An inhaled the fragrance and felt refreshed. He laughed and said: "I named it Orchid

Garden. I've grown this garden of orchids for more than 10 years."

Fan Wu She looked at this beautiful

scenery, yet he felt like he was being run over by a nail plate. The spikes pierced

directly into his internal organs. His eyes became fuzzy due to the

inexplicable burning pain. Time and space became deranged one after another.

This simple and elegant courtyard gradually overlapped with the palace garden

with dragons and phoenixes. Everything matched, starting from the same blue

sky, then the sun, then the clouds, then the flowers, and finally, the young

man standing in the sea of flowers, smiling at him warmly.

"Wu She, Confucius said, orchids have

the virtues of a gentleman and the fragrance of kings. Senior brother loves

orchids the most, do you like orchids?"

"Xiao Jiu, Confucius said, orchids

have the virtues of a gentleman and the fragrance of kings. Big brother loves

orchids the most, do you like orchids?"

Millions of arrows pierced through his

heart.

Fan Wu She staggered and took a step back.

His eyes were red.

Xie Bi An realized Fan Wu She's

abnormality and asked nervously: "Wu She, what's wrong, do you feel

uncomfortable? Is it heatstroke?" He stepped forward and was about to

support Fan Wu She.

Fan Wu She slapped Xie Bi An's hand away

fiercely: "Don't touch me!"

Xie Bi An froze. His worried expression has yet to change, but a deep disappointment could be seen from the veins that crawled up his face,

which looked a little funny. He sighed and said softly: "Wu She, you and I

have only met for less than a day. We've never had any disagreements before. I don't

know why you seem to...reject senior brother somehow."

Fan Wu She looked at Xie Bi An's lowered

brows and eyes. His expression looked as if it could swallow a person whole.

Xie Bi An continued to talk to himself:

"It is fate for you and me to be senior and junior brothers. Senior

brother wishes to live in harmony with you, to cultivate and serve master

together. I know that you had an unfortunate life. You were lonely and had no one to

depend on. It may be difficult to trust others, but I will treat you like a

real blood brother." He lifted his head and looked at Fan Wu

She sincerely.

Yet Fan Wu She turned around. After a

while, he whispered: "I just don't like to be touched by people."

I just can't let you touch me. I hope you

don't treat me well, smile at me, and touch me, because I don’t want to

keep you to myself all the time.

If you know what shameless things I want

to do to you, what will you do?

I can't repeat the same mistakes.

Xie Bi An wanted to peek at Fan Wu

She's expression, but couldn't see it. He hesitated and said: "Then, do

you recognize me as your senior brother?"

"...I do."

Xie Bi An immediately felt relieved. He was

open-minded and never clung to small matters: "It's alright so long as

you recognize me as your senior brother. It is due to senior brother's lack of

consideration. We only met each other yesterday, so it's impossible to get

acquainted with you right away. In the future, if there's anything that senior

brother did to make you feel awkward, it's okay to voice it out directly."

Fan Wu She adjusted his emotions and

turned around. His expression was already indifferent: " The orchids are

very beautiful."

"Yeah, I have spent a lot of effort on them. But I don't just plant orchids. There are some heliophilous plants over

here. Jiuyou doesn’t have a sun. I planted plenty of them at the Heaven Master

Palace. When we head back, I will bring you to see my garden at the Heaven

Master Palace."

"Okay."

"Look." Xie Bi An pointed

to a bunch of extremely luxuriant and beautiful pink and white orchids and said

excitedly, "This is what I told you before, the petal from the maternal

plant Brother Lan gave me. This species is called Dangshanhe. The name is

beautiful, and the flower is even more beautiful."

Fan Wu She squinted at that orchid.

"By the way, you can't even imagine

Bo Zhu's expression when I mentioned it to him." Xie Bi An mimicked Bo

Zhu's expression and said in a surprise, "'Ah! What kind of mother pig*

can live for a hundred years, wouldn’t it become a spirit?'

Hahahahaha----"

"..."

"That silly Bo Zhu always says silly things. So adorable." Xie Bi An stretched out his white and slender

hand and stroked the Dangshanhe lovingly. His fingertips were so gentle it

almost melted at the touch, "He doesn't know that the price of this

Dangshanhe can be up to thousands of gold in the black market. Even if Xianyue Pavilion

has thousands of orchid species, this is the only precious one. Brother Lan and

I are people who love flowers, how can he give up what he treasures, I..."

"He just wants to please

master." Fan Wu She said in a vicious voice, "If you are not a

well-known cultivator, you think he will care about you?"

Hearing the names Bo Zhu and brother Lan in every other sentence, Fan Wu She felt as if His scalp was on fire*.

More than a hundred years ago, he didn't

know where this shitty Xianyue Pavilion was. Otherwise, he would relocate all

of the orchids in their house. And he wouldn't let this person keep singing praises of another man.

Xie Bi An smiled indifferently: "I would have understood even if you didn't say it. But your senior brother prides himself on being a romanticist. Brother Lan is not

someone who needs to cling to the high and connect to the rich*. He

respects master and is willing to associate with me. There's no conflict."

Fan Wu She was so furious that he wanted

to dig out that damn flower.

A couple surnamed Liu lived in the house.

They usually looked after the house and took care of the flowers and plants.

They knew the true identity behind Zhong Kui and Xie Bi An, so they did not

question Fan Wu She's arrival. They understood the rules very

well.

Xie Bi An put all the things they

purchased today into the Qiankun bag, preparing to take it back to the underworld.

Taking advantage of the good weather, he changed his clothes, put on a straw

hat, went to the courtyard to dig up weeds, and watered the plants. He seemed to be contented and was enjoying his time.

Fan Wu She sat in the shade, watching in a

daze.

He had seen Zong Zi Heng take care of his

garden like this, and personally witnessed the orchid garden becoming impoverished,

overgrown with weeds and eventually deserted.

Xie Bi An was just like Zong Zi Heng in his prime.

At the age of 19, that was the start of Zong Zi Heng's drastic transformations. Also, that was when Xie Bi An was reunited with Fan Wu She.

If there was only a fixed amount of destiny and the Dao had

a fixed way, then he won't believe destiny and Dao. He had crawled back into the

human realm from hell, and it was definitely not for the repetition of his previous life.

In the evening, after dinner, Xie Bi An

handed the Qiankun bag to Fan Wu She and instructed: "Wu She, I’ll send

you across Yin Yang Monument. Wait for Bo Zhu to bring you back to the Heaven

Master Palace. Remember to put the food in the icebox, otherwise, it won't be

fresh. Senior brother will make wontons for you tomorrow morning."

Fan Wu She didn't reply. A pair of black

fox eyes stared at Xie Bi An: "You’re not going back?"

"Senior brother still has business to

do."

"Fumenghui?"

"Mm."

"Bring me along."

"This trip might be dangerous, senior

brother will go alone." Song Chun Gui only investigated people, but he could

ask ghosts. Maybe he could find some clues in Fumenghui.

Fan Wu She frowned: "Do you think I

need your protection?"

Xie Bi An laughed: "Senior brother

knows you are great and talented, but you're still young. That's not a place that you

should go."

"Bring me there." Fan Wu She

refused to give up, "Otherwise, you shall not go."

Xie Bi An looked at him helplessly.

"I won't burden you, and..."

"And what?"

Fan Wu She whispered reluctantly,

"I'll listen to senior brother."

"So obedient." Xie Bi An smiled,

"Alright, then you have to listen to me and not act without authorization."

"Okay."

SQC’s notes: Going to flashback to

previous life soon, everyone no need to panic

----

Translator's Thoughts:

PS: Dangshanhe: I hope that black-clothed

dude won’t visit me again. EVER!

***IMPORTANT: In ancient Chinese novels, li* [里] is approx. 500m, and zhang* [丈] is approx 3.3m!!! They're not miles and feet in our modern world. However, I'll still use miles for very generic terms, and only calculate when it's specific.

li* [里] ---ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m

turn to any doctor one can find when

critically ill* [病急乱投医] ---those in a desperate plight will try

anything

Where the wind and the waves are highest*

[风口浪尖] ---where the struggle is the fiercest

whitewashed facade* [粉饰门面]

---a metaphor of beautifying the exterior with decorations

mother pig*[母猪]---XBA was mentioning maternal plant [母株] earlier before he mimicked Bo Zhu’s reaction about mother pig. 母猪 and 母株 have the same pronunciation in Chinese.

His scalp was on fire*[头皮都在冒火]----FWS is jealous that XBA was talking about Bo Zhu and brother

Lan

cling to the high and connect to the rich*

[攀高结贵]---try to attach oneself to the rich and

powerful

Editor's Thoughts:

Personally, I like roses more xD

Leave a "Like" in the comments if you like the chapter!

Edited on 15 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

Edited on 23 Jun. 21(Ari)

Edited on 21 Jul 21 (Limit)

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