Chapter 104
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After Yunjian Pavilion was destroyed, there were a lot of things waiting to be done in the aftermath, but these had nothing to do with Xiao Yuan. In the early morning a few days later, he and Gu Louyin left Xingtian Sect together.
In order to avoid trouble, he did not mention to others that he was leaving. Unexpectedly, as soon as he left the gate, he heard a “Shixiong”.
Xiao Yuan turned around and said helplessly: “Shidi got up so early.”
Mu Yingyang looked at Xiao Yuan, then at Gu Louyin beside him, and said, “Where are you going?”
“Just walking around, enjoying the landscape.”
Xiao Yuan had experienced this kind of dialogue many times. Mu Yingyang’s next sentence should definitely be “I’ll go with Shixiong” and so on. He couldn’t help but feel a headache and began to plan how to coax the jealous sword cultivator.
Mu Yingyang clenched his half-ruined right hand and opened his mouth: “Shixiong… take care.”
Xiao Yuan was taken aback. Gu Louyin also glanced at Mu Yingyang.
Mu Yingyang smiled; this smile was particularly unlike him. “Fang Baichu said that he had found a way to heal my right hand. Since I have to stay in Xingtian Sect to heal it, I will not go with Shixiong.”
Intuition told Xiao Yuan that Mu Yingyang was lying. Xiao Yuan did not expose him, smiled and said, “Okay.”
Gu Louyin said calmly: “Let’s go.”
Xiao Yuan and Gu Louyin walked for a while until they suddenly heard another “Shixiong!”
This time, Xiao Yuan didn’t look back, but waved goodbye to Mu Yingyang gracefully without turning.
On the top of the mountain, Xiao Du looked condescendingly at the two distant figures until Xiao Yuan completely disappeared from his view. He turned around, and Meng Chi and Li Yanzhi left after him. Only after Xiao Du had told them to withdraw did the two dare to talk.
Li Yanzhi felt a lot of emotion: “I never expected that there would be a day when the Venerable Lord had to admit defeat.”
“So what if he didn’t admit defeat? Our young lord doesn’t care for anyone except for those he likes. The Lord begged and pleaded but still couldn’t make him stay.” Meng Chi’s tone sounded as if she was beyond the desires of the mortal world. “He couldn’t bear to keep him by force, let alone make the young lord unhappy, so he could only admit defeat. At least if he admits defeat now, the young lord will be willing to see him in the future and call him brother.”
“What about Master Mu? He also gave up?”
Meng Chi said leisurely, “Who knows. Anyways, he can’t beat Master Gu now. Instead of stalking them, he might as well practice hard and snatch the man back in the future.”
Li Yanzhi thinking it sounded correct: “It makes sense.”
Penglai territory was located above the sea, with a continuous mountain range and few people there. It was a place where the brilliance of heaven and earth combined the mountains and the sea, full of spiritual energy that made many nameless and independent cultivators live there in seclusion. Xiao Yuan and Gu Louyin flew from Xingtian Sect by sword and landed there just at midday.
Xiao Yuan watched Gu Louyin collect the sword and said, “Haven’t you named your sword yet?”
“No.”
“Anyway, it has been with you for so long, isn’t it worthy of a name?”
Gu Louyin said, “You give it.”
Xiao Yuan waited for Gu Louyin’s words. “I have read a book before, and there was a sentence in it‘ ‘Blue tide (Bihai Chaosheng) is born to play the jade flute’. Why don’t you just call your sword – ‘born to play‘!” After saying that, Xiao Yuan laughed first.
Gu Louyin: “…”
Xiao Yuan clasped Gu Louyin’s shoulder with one hand and held Bihai Chaosheng in the other hand, laughing so hard he could barely stand. Gu Louyin hugged Xiao Yuan with one arm, lest he fell from laughter, “Stand still.”
“I can’t.” Xiao Yuan leaned closer to Gu Louyin, “What about the name I gave, do you agree, huh?”
Gu Louyin held the sword in his hand without letting go of the beauty; a chill came out of his palm. When the sword was unsheathed again, the word ‘Yuxiao’ (jade flute) was already imprinted on the sword blade.
Although the master of Xiao Yuan’s Shizun, Ji Ming, lived in Penglai, he often changed his place of living. Relying on Xiao Yuan’s vague childhood memories, it was not easy to find him. But Xiao Yuan was not in a hurry, he was ready to look for him for a long time. The landscape of Penglai was very different from that of the mainland, surrounded by isolated islands. They watched the ebb and the flow of the tide, the rising sun and the setting sun – this was a view they had never seen before. Gu Louyin made a bamboo raft. When Xiao Yuan didn’t want to use the sword, they would float on the raft, aimlessly, wherever the current took them.
The night was bright and the wind was clear, and the brilliant moon was hanging high. This was the fifth day since they arrived at the Penglai boundary, and they still hadn’t seen any trace of Ji Ming. The two sat on the bamboo raft, Xiao Yuan lay in Gu Louyin’s arms, looked at the stars in the sky, and said, “Gu Louyin, do you think we can find Shizun?”
Gu Louyin said, “We can keep looking.”
Xiao Yuan wrapped Gu Louyin’s silver hair around his finger and said softly: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I’ve been thinking about Shizun a lot these days. The better I feel, the more likely I am to think of him. Probably because without Shizun, there would be no me as I am now.”
Gu Louyin was quiet for a long time, then suddenly grasped Xiao Yuan’s hand playing with his hair, “Do you really think that the Heavens can be deceived?”
Xiao Yuan was a little confused, “What else? My Shizun succeeded.”
“If the Dao of Heavens really didn’t know anything, why did that beggar in Lizhou dream of you and me when he was a child?”
Xiao Yuan’s eyes widened slightly.
“Whether you obeyed the Heavens or hid from them, you would have survived. This is your destiny.” Gu Louyin lowered his eyes, Xiao Yuan’s spring-like face reflecting in his eyes, “Every moment you experience now, every breath you take, your future belongs to you, not to those who gave alms and sacrificed for you.”
Xiao Yuan’s vision gradually became blurred, “I shouldn’t be dead, I should live?”
“You will live and you will live for a long, long time.” Gu Louyin said word by word, “And I will accompany you to live.”
Xiao Yuan smiled dumbfounded, “I don’t even know what to say…”
“Then let’s not talk about it.” Gu Louyin lowered his head and his slightly cool lips gently pressed against the corner of Xiao Yuan’s mouth.
Xiao Yuan opened his lips timidly and put his arms around Gu Louyin’s neck.
They kissed for a long time and neither of them was breathing steadily. Xiao Yuan opened his eyes and looked into Gu Louyin’s eyes that seemed to be surging with a dark tide. He was also ready. “Let’s go ashore?” You can’t do it on a bamboo raft.
As soon as Gu Louyin was about to answer, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and said, “Someone is here.”
“Huh?” The fire that Xiao Yuan had just started was extinguished at once, “Who?” He rose to his feet following Gu Louyin and saw a bright light appear in the darkness ahead.
Xiao Yuan felt alert. The bright light was getting closer and closer to them and they could vaguely see that it was the light of a boat.
Yuxiao came out of its sheath, and Bihai Chaosheng was raised. Xiao Yuan said out loud: “Who is here?”
No one answered; the boat was still heading towards them and its outline gradually became clear.
They saw an old man with white hair standing on the bow of the boat, with a calm face and the bearing of an immortal. He looked at Xiao Yuan and said, “You are here.”
Xiao Yuan’s memory immediately cleared: “Shizu!”
Gu Louyin said, “Have the True Lord been waiting for us?”
True Lord Ji Ming nodded and said, “Follow me.”
The two of them followed True Lord Ji Ming to an isolated island. True Lord Ji Ming led the way, silent. Xiao Yuan couldn’t help but say, “Shizu, us coming here…”
“I know,” True Lord Ji Ming said, “you are here to find your Shizun.”
Xiao Yuan’s heart jumped suddenly, “Is he here?”
Ji Ming said, “Besides here, where else can he be?”
Xiao Yuan and Gu Louyin glanced at each other and asked, “Is he okay then?”
“You will see.”
The island was overgrown with a kind of strange grass that emitted a dim light. Even without a lamp you could see the road under your feet clearly at night. Gu Louyin said: “Soul-calling grass.”
Xiao Yuan was startled, having a vague premonition.
Soul-calling grass grew along the path, with no end in sight. They didn’t know how long they walked until True Lord Ji Ming finally stopped and said, “Here we are.”
In the center of an isolated island, surrounded by the soul-calling grass, a man in a blue robe laid quietly, his eyebrows like mountain ridges, gentle as jade, his whole body exuding a quiet light due to the soul-calling grass.
Xiao Yuan looked at his closed eyes, feeling that he would open his eyes the next moment and say with his usual warmth and gentleness: “Ah Yu has come to find Shizun.”
Ji Ming said: “His soul was separated from his body for more than ten years, and it is difficult for it to return to the body. Without one of his souls, he can only sleep for a long time to protect his remaining souls.”
Xiao Yuan said, “…en.” Actually, it was just as he expected, there was nothing to be surprised about.
Gu Louyin asked, “When was the last time he woke up?”
“It was during the flower viewing party.” True Lord Ji Ming said, “He went to Baihua Palace.”
Xiao Yuan smiled slightly, “To help Xiao Du recognize me?”
Ji Ming nodded, “He said he owed you this.”
Sure enough. At that time, Li Xianting took Cai Xunnian to the Burial Garden and led them to find the remains of his father.
Xiao Yuan shook his head, “Shizun doesn’t owe me anything.”
True Lord Ji Ming sighed and said, “I planted soul-calling grass here and tried to summon his separated soul but for years nothing changed. I don’t know when he will open his eyes again.”
Xiao Yuan bowed to the sleeping Li Xianting and said, “There will be such a day.”
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I hope that XY next journey will be to help find his Shizun’s soul!
I’m sad for Shizun, but excited to see them travelling together.