Sick Beauty [Rebirth] Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Carving a Sword 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY EVERYONE!!!

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Shen Shu looked at the person in front of him playing the qin. 

Sitting before the table, Ye Yunlan lowered his head. He rested his five slender, pale fingers on the strings with his eyelashes hanging down like unfolded butterfly wings. 

Sunlight seeped in from the window, shining on him. The scarlet mole at the end of his eye sank into the shadow of his peripheral, revealing a gentle, charming look. 

The thin dust floated gently in the air, accompanied by the sound of music. 

Shen Shu had never heard the qin before, but he felt that this music made people feel intoxicated. 

It seemed to be drifting from a distant place. Passing through the flowing water in the mountains, snowy forests and seas, it carried the natural wind of the sky and earth to his ears. 

He listened to the sound of the qin as if he had arrived in an empty and uninhabited realm. All the earthly disturbances were far away, leaving only the sound of the guqin, echoing leisurely. 

It was very beautiful. 

But very lonely. 

The person who was playing the qin, covered in warm yellow sunlight, gently lifted his fingertips on the strings. He was clearly right in front of him, but he still looked so ethereal and illusory. 

It was as if he could disappear in the blink of an eye. 

Shen Shu’s pupils tightened. His five fingers shook subconsciously as if he wanted to try to grasp something. 

One piece was played. 

Ye Yunlan raised his head and saw that Shen Shu had stopped his hand movement and was looking straight at him.

The young boy’s eyes were sharp and narrow. He was born with a vicious aura, and his eyes looked dark with something surging within. For some reason, he felt it was a little familiar. 

He frowned. Rubbing his temples, he looked again. The boy’s eyes were as bright and clear as usual. They were full of pure yearning for him. 

Just now, it was probably just his illusion. 

Ye Yunlan was not used to being stared at with such enthusiasm. He moved his eyes away, flicking his fingertips across the strings, and asked softly: “Does it sound good?” 

Shen Shu blinked and said seriously: “It sounded really good.” 

Ye Yunlan: “Qin music can calm your mind and cultivate your temperament. If you encounter difficulties in your practice in the future, you can come to me to listen to the qin. It may be a little helpful.” 

Shen Shu nodded. He hesitated, then said: “Immortal Lord, in the future… will you always be here?” 

Ye Yunlan: ” Why do you suddenly ask this?” 

“I’m just a little scared,” Shen Shu said in a low voice, as if embarrassed, “I’m afraid that the Immortal Lord will leave sometime in the future…and I won’t be able to find you anymore to listen to your qin.” 

Ye Yunlan smiled after listening. 

He hadn’t noticed before that this little wolf cub was not only stubborn, but also very clingy. 

“If there is no accident in the future, I won’t leave here easily.” 

Shen Shu’s eyes lit up.

Ye Yunlan continued: “It’s just that, I think you also know thus, but everyone in this world will all have a day when they need to leave – no matter how many promises or appointments have been made. Although I will not leave here, it’s impossible for me to stay by your side for my entire life.” 

Shen Shu wondered, “Why?” 

“You are still young, so you don’t understand. There are some things in this world that cannot be resolved with effort.” Ye Yunlan said, “For example, life and death…For example, fate.”

It was unclear what he thought of, but his eyes were a little blank. He soon recovered and calmly said: “My life is limited now, I cannot continue to cultivate. After a few hundred years, a flicker of a moment, the sand will return to the earth and the cycle will start all over again. If you are successful in your cultivation, by then, your path would have just begun.” 

Life is limited. 

Shen Shu focused on these words. 

He quickly thought of the reason why Ye Yunlan’s life was limited. His hand slowly clenched into a fist. 

“In the future, I will help Immortal Lord find the best healing elixir in this world. I will help Immortal Lord to heal his internal injuries.” He paused , “Immortal Lord…will not die.” 

Ye Yunlan was silent.   

After thinking about it, he didn’t tell Shen Shu that his wounds were not curable by an elixir. No matter how good the elixir was for healing in this world, it would only barely help him prolong his life. 

While the only way to solve his injury…he would never try it in his life. 

“Your thought, it’s already enough.” He said, “But you have to understand that in this world, there is no real ever-lasting thing. Even the strong who stepped into the void tracing realm will have their lifespan depleted. Human life, no matter if it is long or short, to the world, it is only a brief moment. I am not attached to it, and you… don’t have to be attached to me.” 

If you are too attached, you will become biased towards the demonic dao. 

The demonic dao is not a good place. 

Shen Shu: “What if you become an immortal?” 

Being immortal and never aging is the ultimate goal of all cultivators. 

Ye Yunlan was silent for a while, but his tone became dim, “…maybe.” 

Shen Shu couldn’t hear Ye Yunlan’s indifference, he only knew one thing. 

It turns out that if you want to stay by someone’s side for a long time, you need not only  patience and effort, but also strength. 

Enough to keep that person firmly under their wings while they fight the heavens and fate.

After spending half a day, Shen Shu cleaned up the entire house.

Ye Yunlan held the lamp and whispered softly: “It’s getting late, you should return.” 

Shen Shu nodded and left, rushing across the sea of ​​flowers. 

It wasn’t until he watched the young figure disappear completely into the night that Ye Yunlan blew out the lamp. He laid down on his bed, and went to sleep in his clothes. 

A faint floral fragrance floated in from the window, lingering on the tip of his nose. 

This night, the entangled nightmare of his previous life, reduced a lot. 

Waking up again, it was early morning. 

The birds were chattering outside the window. Ye Yunlan sat in front of the mirror, looking at himself. He touched the vermilion spot at the end of his eye with his fingertips, it felt very unfamiliar. 

To live a lifetime again, for him, was like a big dream. He couldn’t help but be in a trance. 

This feeling has not disappeared. 

The door was knocked on suddenly. 

He walked over, opened it, and saw Shen Shu standing in front of the door holding a few spirit fruits in his hand. He handed it over when he saw him.

“This is a freshly picked spirit fruit… Do you want to have a taste?” 

Ye Yunlan was startled. 

Generally speaking, after a cultivator reaches a certain realm, they could supplement themselves by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. It was no longer necessary to eat. Basically, they would “fast”. 

Regardless of his past and present, he had been fasting for a long time. 

Only after being seriously injured by the divine fire essence and unable to gather spiritual power, did he also begin to require food like a mortal. 

He Lanze didn’t know how to cook. When he was recuperating at He Lanze’s residence, he would eat a pigu pill. One pill could last him several days, there was no difference from his fasting before. 

He had long forgotten how food tasted. 

When Shen Shu saw that he was not responding, he whispered: “These spirit fruits…I’ve washed them many times carefully…they’re very clean.” 

Ye Yunlan’s heart softened hearing this.

He raised his hand to pick up a spirit fruit and took a small bite. 

Shen Shu looked up at him. 

He whispered: “Very sweet.” 

Shen Shu’s eyes lit up

Ye Yunlan turned around and fetched a bamboo bowl in the house. He put the remaining spirit fruit on the study room table. He planned to eat it while reading a book later. 

He heard Shen Shu speak again: “Immortal Lord, I found an orchid on Qingya Peak yesterday. I have already brought it here… I will plant it outside later.” 

“I see.” He touched the young man’s head. “When you finish, I will go and look.” 

Sitting before the desk, he opened a scroll and read it. Occasionally he would take a spiritual fruit in his hand and slowly taste it. 

Shen Shu was busy outside in the sea of ​​flowers. 

The birds chirped outside the window. 

It was quiet and peaceful, time passed by without knowing. 

Unsure of how long time had passed, when Ye Yunlan raised his head, he found the boy was looking at him with his head resting on the window edge. 

Seeing that he was discovered, the boy blinked slowly. 

“You…” Ye Yunlan got up and walked over, “The flowers are ready?” 

Shen Shu nodded and pointed to one place. 

Ye Yunlan raised his eyes and saw a blue and transparent orchid blooming in the sun. 

There seemed to be water waves flowing on the orchid’s petals, the lines swayed like rippling layers, reflecting the faint blue light. 

He said: “It’s very beautiful.” 

Shen Shu: “In the future…I will find more beautiful flowers for the Immortal Lord.”

Ye Yunlan’s expression was slightly relaxed, but he felt that some things still needed to be reminded, “The matter of looking for flowers, it’s no rush. Based on your age this year, this is when you should be laying down your foundation. You can’t slack off everyday. Didn’t you say you want to learn the sword from me? Why didn’t I see you bring a sword over?” 

Shen Shu was silent. 

After a long while, he hung his head and said in a low voice: “I don’t have my own sword.” 

Ye Yunlan was taken aback. His eyes fell on Shen Shu’s worn-out clothes. Only then did he notice that it had been several days, but what Shen Shu was wearing was still the same outfit as usual.

It wasn’t dirty, but the clothes have long been washed until they were discoloured, while the corners of the clothes were also tattered. 

Ye Yunlan pondered for a while, then changed the subject, “Shen Shu, I remember you are an outer disciple?” 

Shen Shu nodded. 

“I heard that there is a golden bell tree on the Outer Gates of ZangXiu Peak. The flowers are very beautiful. I have always wanted to see it.” Ye Yunlan said, “If you have some free time tomorrow, please help me pick a golden bell flower.” He paused and added, “There will be rewards.” 

When he heard the word reward, Shen Shu’s eyes lit up, “Okay.”

Ye Yunlan touched his head, “You have been busy this entire time, go in and rest. I wanted to play a few tunes, so you might as well listen to them while you rest.” 

Shen Shu rubbed against his hands, “En.” 

    ——

It was late at night. 

Shen Shu had gone back. 

Ye Yunlan had blown out the lamp, but did not rest as usual. Instead, he took out his sword and walked out. 

The flowers swayed in front of him, reflecting the stars in the sky. 

He slowly pulled out the queying sword in his hand. 

The thin blade was shining under the moonlight, revealing a cold glow. Between the ups and downs of his breathing, the blade trembled slightly. 

He hadn’t had this feeling of being connected to the heart of the sword for a long time. 

In his previous life, the queying Sword was long broken by He Lanze in front of the other disciples when he was expelled from the sect. 

His original sword cultivation was abolished at the same time as his golden core cultivation base. 

Later, when he held onto the Shura Sword, he was already embarking on a completely different path. 

The Shura Sword was the most evil sword in the world. It was originally made by the blood sacrifice of millions of people by the founder of the Blood Soul Sect thousands of years ago. Before it fell into his hands, it had gone through hundreds of masters. Each one well known for their fierceness. 

The previous master of the Shura Sword was the soul-killing ancestors of the Soul Refining Sect. He used the Shura Sword to purge thirteen cities of Xizhou with blood.

And the previous one was the Demon Lord. 

The long sword in Ye Yunlan’s hand suddenly pointed in one direction. 

Although his vision was blurry, the aura of the surrounding spirits had become extremely clear the moment he shot his sword out.

——The sword that he held devoured the vitality of life. Death nirvana dao. 

A thousand feet away, a rat was curled up, shivering with cold. 

The queying sword trembled. 

Ye Yunlan used the force in his palm and navy blue winding veins appeared on the back of his hand, but he was still unable to stop the tremor of the sword. 

He frowned. After a while, he lowered the tip of his sword. 

In the distance, the rat fled. 

The sword body was still shaking. 

As the master of queying sword, Ye Yunlan knew that this was the lament calls that his queying sword was letting out from being unable to sustain his sword dao.

…a sword dao that was so hostile and unaccepting. 

Ye Yunlan stroked the long sword with his fingertips and sighed. 

“I have wronged you.” 

He no longer poured his sword intent into the sword body, but placed the sword into its sheath. He carried it through the bamboo forest, and walked into the mountains. 

After searching for a long time, he chose a century-old black ironwood. 

In the night, a very thin sword light flashed across. The sword light was not dazzling, and there was no spiritual energy flowing, but a smooth gap appeared on the hard trunk. 

A piece of black iron wood fell from the tree. 

Ye Yunlan leaned over and picked up the piece of wood.

The wood was really heavy. When he returned to the bamboo building, a thin layer of sweat was spilling out from the corner of his forehead. His face was too pale. 

He put the wood on the table, lit the lamp, took out a knife, and began to slowly carve it. 

In the middle of the night, the lights were still on. 

The wood had been carved into the shape of a longsword. 

Ye Yunlan brushed off the sawdust from the sword. He looked down for a long time, then carved the word “Shu” on the sword. 

Then he wrapped the hilt of the sword with a navy blue cloth strip and tied a thin knot. 

He had never carved a sword for anyone in his life, but when the sword was actually made, he was still quite satisfied. 

It should be more than enough for Shen Shu to use in sword practice. 

When Ye Yunlan thought this, his eyes were soft under the light.

    ——

The next day. 

Ye Yunlan flipped through his book with the wooden sword beside him. 

After flipping through the book, he lifted his eyelids and looked at the windowsill. 

No one was at the windowsill. 

Outside the window, the blazing sun shone on the sea of ​​flowers, countless bright colors bloomed before his eyes. 

It was past noon. 

Shen Shu still had not come.

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