After the Pretend Aloof Master Overturned His Cart - Chapter 5

Jiang Zhou took the roasted pigeon handed over by Lin Xiao, and looked around everywhere inside the mountain cave.

Lin Xiao took off the magnificent uniform of the Qingxiao Sect, stuffed it under his buttocks as a cushion, sat by the fire chewing on the pigeon meat, and said, “Don’t look, big brother. I only hid three one to send a message, and two are roasted.”

Jiang Zhou tore off a piece of meat, took a taste, spat it out, and returned the remainder to him.

“No way,” Lin Xiao said in surprise as he took it back. “It’s so fragrant, yet you can’t eat it down?”

Jiang Zhou shook his head, feeling sorrowful for him in his heart. This person had never eaten food made by Ji Yunlang; sure enough, he could eat down just any kind of thing.

Lin Xiao devoured the two pigeons in two or three bites, picked up the water flask and gulped down half of it with a gugudu sound, screwed the cap back on, wiped his mouth, and looked toward Jiang Zhou, “Talk about your business, big brother. I will say everything I know, as long as you don’t kill me.”

Jiang Zhou, however, merely looked at him silently.

After making eye contact for a long while, Lin Xiao couldn’t hold it together anymore, feeling his whole body itch, sitting in discomfort and anxiety. Although this big brother’s first impression was that he was quite easy to talk to, he suddenly didn’t make a single sound now, which was actually quite terrifying.

He opened his mouth tentatively, “Big brother? Are we still talking about business?”

Before his voice could fall, the big brother finally opened his mouth, but there was only a single word: “Eight.”

Lin Xiao’s soul instantly flew beyond the heavens, “Seven six five four three two one? This is actually a killing game, and you are giving me eight counts to let me run, and after you finish counting you will come kill me?”

Completely ignoring the injuries all over his body, he threw himself down to kneel onto the ground with a putong, and closed his eyes in terror, “No way, I’m most afraid of being chased, I won’t run!”

Jiang Zhou felt a painful tightness in his chest from holding it in. The words were stuck in his throat, and he just couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

After a long time, he let out a sigh, rummaged out paper and brush from the universe bag, wrote down a few sentences, patted Lin Xiao’s shoulder to let him open his eyes, and handed the paper to him.

Lin Xiao felt as if he had received a grand amnesty, took the paper to look at it carefully, sat his buttocks back onto the stone, and sighed as he looked, “Scared me to death, big brother. It’s fine as long as you have business, it’s fine as long as you have business. You look like someone who is very good at beating people, I was truly afraid—”

Halfway through looking, he fell silent, quietly finished reading the remaining portion, folded the paper, and tossed it into the fire.

“There are a few typos, but it’s understandable.”

Lin Xiao picked up a tree branch to poke at the campfire in front of him, the injuries on his body appearing even more terrifying under the reflection of the firelight, “So you wanted to ask about the Bafang Region. Just now I thought you were going to count down to kill me.”

Jiang Zhou nodded.

Lin Xiao continued, “You’ve followed me since the Qingxiao Sect, so you must have heard a lot. This matter isn’t a secret at all in the Immortal Continent.”

“The story goes back a bit far. A hundred years ago, a genius was born out of nowhere from the Yun family of Penglai Island in the Immortal Continent. He wielded sword-weapons to perfection, topping all the heroes. Later, he was personally introduced by the Head of the Yun family to enter the premier sect among the five major sects, the Qingxiao Sect, to serve as the Guardian Immortal Master.”

“Not many people have seen him, but there are not few rumors about him outside, saying this person’s combat power is staggering. During the internal strife of the Yun family, he single-handedly overturned the entire Penglai Island, supporting the Head who was merely an external young master at the time to ascend the position. The Head was grateful to him, securing a good status for him in the Qingxiao Sect, and crowning him with many fine names.”

“From then on, the interactions between the Qingxiao Sect and the Yun family gradually became dense, and the relationship between this Guardian Immortal Master and the Head of the Yun family became a beautiful tale. The disciples within the sect could frequently encounter them touring the lake and composing poems together, or boating to admire the moon. That Head, Yun Yan, had been a famous gentleman since childhood; although weak in body, he possessed broad knowledge and was kind to people. As for the Immortal Master, Jiang Zhou, he was a person of elegant tastes, upright and steady. These two standing in one spot was just like a clear breeze accompanying the bright moon—”

Jiang Zhou interrupted him, “Don’t speak nonsense.”

“Oh, I was recollecting the rumors I heard when I was a child; after all, I wasn’t even born at that time,” Lin Xiao thought for a bit and continued, “The two had always been intimate and best friends for several decades, until Jiang Zhou stubbornly insisted on taking a disciple, but the Head of the Yun family disagreed. The two came close to breaking off relations, but Jiang Zhou took that child into the Qingxiao Sect anyway.”

Lin Xiao gave a cough, and said solemnly, “At this time there was me. When I was a child, I frequently encountered this disciple taken by Jiang Zhou. It was because of him that the Qingxiao Sect and the Yun family came close to falling out, so the children of the elders’ families all hated him, changing their ways to bully him every day, and people from the Yun family also frequently came to squeeze him out. In the past, I only felt this Guardian Immortal Master Jiang Zhou had a cold nature, didn’t manage affairs, and was unwilling to interact with people; I didn’t expect that after he took the disciple into the sect he didn’t care at all either, just letting him be bullied by us—”

Lin Xiao paused, drank a mouthful of water, and said, “That time wasn’t because I intentionally wanted to kick him either. I followed Jiang the Eighth and the others, there was no way… and this person Ji Yunlang was truly too blatant, daring to provoke anyone. Later, every time I encountered him I used the pretext of having business to run first; I really only kicked him that one single time…”

A piece of paper was thrust in front of his eyes, on which was written: This is also nonsense.

“Okay, from the speed of writing it can be seen, big brother, you are a person who pursues efficiency.”

Lin Xiao took a deep breath and said rapidly, “Jiang Zhou never cared after taking his disciple into the sect. Later, he and the Head of the Yun family restored their old friendship, their relation being just as harmonious as before, and the Yun family even wanted to marry a lady to him.”

“But nobody expected that precisely on the day Jiang Zhou was to wed the lady of the Yun family, his disciple killed the Head of the Yun family who had come to congratulate him. The hand he dealt was exceptionally poisonous, practically a cruel slaughter. This matter caused a sensation through the entire Immortal Continent back then. The Yun family certainly wouldn’t let it rest, gathering the clansmen of the entire Penglai Island to come make a scene at the Qingxiao Sect.”

“Jiang Zhou didn’t finish getting married, and his best friend was even killed. In a fit of rage, he tossed his disciple into the Bafang Region. That certainly isn’t any good place—a wild hell that only appears in rumors; entering it basically means kicking the bucket.”

“Then it was five years ago. After Ji Yunlang stayed in the Bafang Region for two years, far from merely surviving, he even opened up a passage from the Bafang Region to the Immortal Continent, bringing people of the Bafang Region to charge out. Everyone thought he was going to make a grand scene in the Immortal Continent, but as it turned out, he only came to charge into the Qingxiao Sect, abducting the Master who had driven him out of the door back then.”

Lin Xiao snapped a tree branch to add a piece of firewood to the campfire, and continued, “None of those in the Bafang Region are good people. The five major sects have been trying to make peace with Ji Yunlang over these years, deeply fearing that a single displeasure from him would let that crowd of savages into the Immortal Continent again.”

“Following that is the question you asked, big brother. You asked why my family would be exiled into the Bafang Region. To tell you the truth, the reason I spoke so much nonsense to you is precisely because I have no way to answer your question.”

He ruthlessly pulled out the uniform of the Qingxiao Sect from beneath his buttocks and tossed it into the fire, watching the rising thick smoke and saying, “I also want to know what on earth this matter has to do with my family. My dad spent his whole life diligently working as a sidekick for Elder Jiang, and I have also spent every day since I grew up diligently working as a sidekick for Jiang the Eighth. Zhao Heng wasn’t wrong; we are just dogs, we are a family of dog-legs, so they don’t look at us as humans… Hmph, my dad isn’t any good thing either. If they push him too hard, he will shake out all that bit of wretched business to them!”

Jiang Zhou’s paper was handed in front of his eyes again: What wretched business? Detail it.

“I don’t know, big brother. This is all inside my dad’s brain. In any case, what he mutters every day is ‘if they push me too hard, I will shake out all that bit of wretched business to you guys’; who knows exactly how wretched it is.”

Jiang Zhou nodded.

Lin Xiao couldn’t give him any useful information. He stood up and said, “Farewell.”

Lin Xiao was startled, then overjoyed, “Leaving just like this, big brother? Not sitting a bit longer? Then goodbye, big brother! Take care, big brother!”

Immediately after, he closed his eyes, clasped his hands together to pray to the heavens, pray to the earth, and pray to the mountain cave, his mouth muttering words.

“Ancestors protect, Heaven protect; unconsciously disturbing the Head of the Yun family, protect too. Let my father and mother successfully run away, let my Lin family evade this disaster; ancestors protect, Heaven protect; unconsciously disturbing the Head of the Yun family, protect too—”

Suddenly a pain came to the back of his neck. Jiang Zhou appeared beside him again in a single instant, pinching the back of his neck and asking, “Yun Yan is buried here?”

Jiang Zhou took a look all around. Back then the Yun family came to lead the corpse away, and he searched all through Penglai Island without finding it. A tiny broken cave at the foot of the mountain like this, both narrow and cramped, where even Tantan couldn’t sleep down if it came—how could it possibly be burying the Head of the Yun family?

Lin Xiao replied, “Right… no, also not right… Ai, it’s all about the same. In short, the Head of the Yun family is certainly nearby here, which is why I hid here. Even if Jiang the Eighth brings people to look for me, they wouldn’t dare walk toward this side.”

“How so?”

Lin Xiao lowered his voice and said, “My dad hasn’t been a dog-leg for so many years in vain. Back then when they discussed how to settle the Head of the Yun family’s corpse, he happened to pass by and caught a earful. The Yun family didn’t bring the corpse out of the mountain at all. For so many years, the Head of the Yun family has always been buried at the base of the Qingxiao Mountain, right by the side of that lake where he and Jiang Zhou boated to admire the moon.”

He pointed to the innermost part of the mountain cave, “Right there. If you don’t believe it, go over and listen. Punch through this cave, and going out leads to the lake. After Jiang Zhou left, that area was all classified as a forbidden area. Given Jiang the Eighth’s courage, he wouldn’t dare come.”

Jiang Zhou let go of him, and leaned down to lift up a stone that was neither large nor small.

Lin Xiao had just turned his head around while rubbing his neck when he saw he had already put on a posture of throwing a stone, on which a mass of powerful spiritual light was wound.

“You wouldn’t be wanting to”

Only a loud rumble was heard. The mountain cave was directly tunneled through, breaking out an opening that could allow a person to pass. Jiang Zhou grabbed him and left.

Lin Xiao: “I’m going too? Wait a moment, big brother, do you know what a forbidden area is? Around a forbidden area there are always—”

Lin Xiao was dragged by him to walk to the cave opening. Facing the large expanse of lake water below, he leapt straight down without any omen.

Lin Xiao closed his eyes ruthlessly, using all his strength at the final moment of his life to shout out: “Around a forbidden area there are always killing arrays, big brother! We are going to be sliced into pieces of meat, dead dead dead dead dead dead”

Landing steadily, not even his buttocks crashed.

Lin Xiao lowered his volume tone after tone.

Jiang Zhou’s gaze swept over the entire lake water. It was the afternoon hour, and fine specks of light rippled on the surface of the lake, the wind from all four sides also carrying a dampness.

He had come to this place countless times, but in his memory it seemed he hadn’t toured the lake with Ji Yunlang. Neither of them were people who understood romance; they didn’t like to watch the moon, and disdained doing those things that put on an appearance to waste time.

Next time, Jiang Zhou thought in his heart. Riding a small boat in the center of the lake at night to be intimate would be another new flavor.

He didn’t know when the next time would be yet. Jiang Zhou stroked the collar on his neck.

When Ji Yunlang kissed his neck, he would frequently touch the spirit-locking chain. A warm, soft kiss accompanied by a slight coolness was branded onto the skin; every time it reached this kind of moment, Jiang Zhou loved to look at him. First casting down his eyes, then dodging lightly, and Ji Yunlang would raise his head.

The instant their gazes intersected was the gentlest. Following that, Ji Yunlang would be unhappy, hiding that bit of softness, spikes growing all over his body, leaving only bared fangs and brandished claws of dissatisfaction and venting.

Sure enough, annoyed when close, yet thinking of each other when separated.

Lin Xiao was looking around everywhere, saying in puzzlement, “This also doesn’t look like a place that can bury a person, big brother. If you are looking for the Head of the Yun family, do we need to start digging?”

Jiang Zhou: No— The word got stuck, so he simply didn’t speak. He leapt into the center of the lake, entering the water with a putong.

Not far away was the Guanhai Peak that was still emitting smoke. In truth, this below was merely a lake; who knows who gave the name, insisting it be called a sea.

Jiang Zhou had once run off to search through the entire Penglai Island; he hadn’t expected Yun Yan to be buried right under his eyelids.

At the bottom of the lake was a transparent ice coffin. From the outside, one could see the person lying inside, a white robe unstained by a speck of dust, hands peacefully placed at his sides, eyes gently closed—not looking dead, but looking as if fast asleep.

It had to be said the Yun family still possessed some methods. When Yun Yan died, his corpse had become like that, yet they could still restore it to let him leave decently.

Near the ice coffin wound a few curious small fish, colorful and bright, counting as an embellishment. Otherwise, having only a deathly pale ice coffin matching a deathly pale person made Jiang Zhou feel a bit dizzy from looking.

However, his approach still startled away those few small fish. The icy lake water flowed around his body. Jiang Zhou didn’t want to stay long, nimbly lifting open the ice coffin lid, grasping onto Yun Yan’s shoulder wanting to turn his body over.

In the next instant, the eyes on that deathly pale human face suddenly opened.

Because of his arrival, something inside this body seemed to begin to stir frantically, trying its utmost to burst through the shackles, yet in the end it was merely futile.

Jiang Zhou halted his movements, staring straight into those eyes with a vacant expression, raising his hand to feel the chain at his neck.

The one on his wrist was merely a little passion-interest that Ji Yunlang liked; the one on his neck was the truly useful spirit-locking chain.

Even right now, the seventy percent of spiritual energy he cultivated after entering the Qingxiao Sect was still completely suppressed under this chain, unable to be used in the slightest. Similarly, the filthy things from outside couldn’t enter half a bit either.

The corner of his lip hooked up extremely minutely.

Like self-satisfaction, and like showing off.

Following that, his arm exerted force to flip Yun Yan’s body over, groping for a turn at the position of the back of his neck. Inserting his five fingers into it to grasp, he held a section of a sword hilt.

After Jiang Zhou emerged from the water, he discovered Lin Xiao hadn’t left, but was sitting by the shore throwing stones into the lake to skip them.

Carrying the sword on his back, he went ashore. He didn’t wipe his hands either, first tossing a soaking wet piece of paper over: I thought you had already run.

Lin Xiao used the paper to wrap the stone, continuing to skip it, “I see that you appear and vanish unpredictably, big brother; I estimate I couldn’t run very far.”

Jiang Zhou unhurriedly dried his entire body from top to toe, and tossed him a dry piece of paper: We can run now.

Following that, without waiting for Lin Xiao to finish reading, he grabbed him and leapt onto the mountain cave from which they came. Only a round of boiling was heard from the lake water below, exploding open with a beng sound. The splashing water droplets bounded up very high, even dropping two colorful and bright small fish onto Lin Xiao’s head.

Lin Xiao had just been brought up, his entire person blank for a moment, following which he scrambled into the mountain cave with three large strides, saying with a trembling voice: “You blew up the Head of the Yun family’s tomb?”

Jiang Zhou still stood at the cave opening admiring the scenery below. The ice coffin along with the corpse at the bottom of the lake had been blown into a complete shatter. Countless pieces of colored glaze drifted up on the surface of the lake, the lake water reflecting the sunlight, mixed with flesh and blood, floating out a large expanse of crimson.

Just like the Head of the Yun family’s decayed and ulcerated life—using clear colored glaze to envelop a broken body, hiding those filthy flesh and blood below, changing himself into a wisp of clear breeze.

Unfortunately, Jiang Zhou couldn’t serve as that bright moon accompanying the clear breeze. The people of the Immortal Continent were all very strange; having such a blatantly bright sun yet they didn’t love it, but preferred the moon instead. A thing like this, no matter how bright, couldn’t illuminate an evil ghost into a kind person, or illuminate hell into the mortal world.

Lin Xiao saw that the big brother ignored him and didn’t hand him a paper slip either. Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he clasped his hands together on his own accord to pray to the heavens and pray to the earth, “Ancestors protect, Heaven protect; let my father and mother successfully run away, let my Lin family evade this disaster—”

Just as he was muttering, a few gugu sounds suddenly came from outside the cave. Accompanied by a round of wing-flapping sounds, the pigeon he had just released to send the message flew back in front of him.

Lin Xiao’s spirit was invigorated. He immediately untied the small bamboo tube from the pigeon’s leg and unscrewed the cap. A wisp of spiritual energy drifted out:

Already run, my son do not miss. Can go to your Sixth Uncle’s house in Luxi City to temporarily avoid, and by the way demand back the things your father originally stored there. There is a phrase of secret words: “Tilt the head yet see no moon.” Once you speak it, Sixth Uncle will understand. Destroy after reading, strictly make sure it cannot be seen by a second person, strictly.

Lin Xiao raised his hand to wave away these few lines of characters, saying firmly toward the air, “I’ve remembered it, Dad. You and Mom hide well; from now on the burden of the Lin family will be delivered to me!”

Jiang Zhou sat beside him at some unknown point, “I’ve also remembered it.”

“Big brother, what exactly do you want to—” Before the three words do you want could be asked out, Jiang Zhou handed him a piece of paper: Do you know what kind of place Luxi City is?

“What?”

The second piece of paper: Ji Yunlang’s old home.

The third piece of paper: The first stop for the Bafang Region entering the Immortal Continent.

The fourth piece of paper: In case you happen to encounter Ji Yunlang returning to his old home, and you precisely happened to have bullied and humiliated him in the past—do you believe it or not, he won’t forget even a single strand of your hair.

“Big brother, you truly write characters fast,” Lin Xiao sighed. “Giving me a full sense of security. If going to Luxi City this time has you accompanying me left and right, big brother, I wouldn’t dare imagine how happy I would be.”

Jiang Zhou: Can do.

Lin Xiao took over his paper and brush, writing his own name in a flamboyant script, and said, “My name is Lin Xiao. How should I address you, big brother?”

Jiang Zhou took the brush and freshly made up one for him. Lin Xiao folded the paper well and tucked it away, “Okay, Big Brother Hu. I will pack up, and we set out immediately.”

Jiang Zhou nodded.

Lin Xiao stood up to go pack his own luggage, during which he clasped his hands together to pray to the four directions again, “Ancestors protect, Heaven protect; picked up an inexplicably wild big brother as a bodyguard, big brother protect too. Let my father and mother successfully run away, let my Lin family evade this disaster…”