They Are Archenemies, But They Have A Child - Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Bringing Rain

Cold Lici’s taciturn nature failed to dampen Meng Ping’s enthusiasm in the slightest. She pulled Cold Lici down to sit and focused entirely on styling his hair, chatting about domestic matters all the while.

“Huang’er has been putting too much pressure on himself lately because of the bad weather. If you see him, help Auntie talk some sense into him. And you, don’t worry either. There’s no problem that can’t be solved.”

“If the only way to solve the problem is to sacrifice Meng Huang, would you still not care?”

Cold Lici looked up at the woman in the mirror, who was middle-aged but still possessed the pure innocence of a young girl in her eyes, and asked calmly.

Meng Ping paused her actions, then sighed softly: “He is the Lord of the Nation. As a mother, I will respect his decision. But before that, as a mother, I will do everything I can to protect him.”

Cold Lici lowered his gaze, concealing the mockery in his eyes.

“I will also do my best to protect you.”

Cold Lici’s eyes moved slightly, but the ripple quickly subsided into calm.

Protect him? With what?

He never needed anyone’s protection.

“Cold Lici, are you there?” A gentle knock sounded at the door again.

“Huang’er?”

Meng Ping recognized the voice, answered, and at the same time tied a small silver ornament onto a braided strand of hair. She looked at the mirror: “Mission accomplished!”

Yun Qingwu paused slightly when he heard Meng Ping’s voice, then immediately pushed the door open and walked in: “Mother, why are you here?”

“I made a few clothes for Xiao Ci. Look.” Meng Ping twisted Cold Lici’s shoulder to face Yun Qingwu: “Doesn’t he look exceptionally good?”

Yun Qingwu’s gaze landed on Cold Lici, touching and leaving quickly.

This was the first time he had seen Cold Lici with his hair properly groomed. Although Cold Lici’s features were exquisite, he usually left his red hair loose over his shoulders, which somewhat diminished that refinement.

But now, with the long hair on both sides braided and tied back, the advantages of his rich features were clearly highlighted. Apart from the overly unusual color, he complemented the Nanze clan’s attire well.

He looked away, but his mouth said: “Does he?”

“You know the answer yourself!”

Cold Lici quietly broke free from Meng Ping’s hold and turned away. He was unaccustomed to the “weird” atmosphere in the room at the moment.

“Alright, Mother won’t bother you two anymore.” After a few more teasing remarks, Meng Ping left the room.

When the footsteps outside faded away, the façade of indifference Yun Qingwu had maintained finally completely dropped. His expression was shadowed, his hands clenched into fists. After a long moment, he stated his purpose:

“I have developed a spiritual tool that can bring rain to the Nanze Kingdom, but it requires your True Fire and demonic power. What do you want in exchange for your help?”

Cold Lici knowingly asked: “Bringing rain? Why don’t you ask the Rain God directly?”

Yun Qingwu’s tone was low, tinged with a hard-to-miss frustration: “I tried. No one responded. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Why should I help you? This method consumes demonic power but can only delay the problem, not solve it. I don’t seem to have a reason to help the Sovereign Lord.”

“So, I’m asking what it will take for you to help?”

Cold Lici looked at Yun Qingwu in confusion: “They have been dead for hundreds of years. What is the meaning of your actions now?”

Yun Qingwu looked away: “I don’t know. Tell me, what are your conditions?”

After speaking, he added: “If you ask me to tolerate you committing evil, forget it!”

Cold Lici scoffed: “Even if you can’t tolerate it, what can you do to this Lord?”

Yun Qingwu turned back, his eyes full of anger, but he did not leave.

The obsession hidden within that anger caused Cold Lici’s eyes to flicker slightly.

After a moment, he looked away and said calmly: “I have long heard that the Sovereign Lord is the Chief Craftsman’s favorite disciple. How about we exchange it for a spiritual tool?”

“What do you want?”

“I want a spiritual tool that possesses absolute lethality and defensive capabilities, while also being easy to carry.”

Yun Qingwu frowned: “How is that different from directly assisting you in committing evil?”

Cold Lici’s expression was indifferent: “Those are my terms.”

“Even if I dare to make it, would you dare to use it?” Yun Qingwu stared intently at Cold Lici, his lips pressed into a tight, straight line.

“That’s my concern.”

Cold Lici sat cross-legged on the couch and closed his eyes.

Yun Qingwu’s right hand, hanging by his side, was tightly clenched. His fingertips were slightly discolored from the force. Thoughts raced through his mind, weighing the pros and cons.

When the sunlight outside the window shifted its angle, he spoke in a muffled voice: “Fine, I agree.”

…

The next day, the sun shone high, and a measure of anxiety was visible on people’s faces.

On an empty piece of flat ground, Yun Qingwu squatted down, took out a small knife, and decisively cut his wrist. Blood oozed from the wound and dripped into a spiritual tool shaped like an hourglass placed on the ground.

The originally transparent end gradually turned red as it was stained with blood.

Cold Lici stood to the side with his arms crossed, watching Yun Qingwu’s actions coolly. Bai Ze’s blood had the function of imparting consciousness, capable of granting limited sentience to objects to a certain degree. Therefore, even though Yun Qingwu had currently lost his divine power, he could still operate the spiritual tool using this method.

However, the blood was not an endless supply, and it was a drain on his own body.

“Start setting up the array.” When the required amount of blood was sufficient, Yun Qingwu applied medicine that had been prepared earlier to the wound to stop the bleeding.

“My True Fire clashes with your constitution. When the two fuse, you will suffer a certain backlash. Have you thought this through?”

Yun Qingwu’s lips curved slightly: “What? Are you worried about me?”

Cold Lici snorted and began to set up the array: “This Lord would not worry about someone who seeks trouble.”

Several streaks of True Fire on the flat ground followed a circular trajectory toward different directions, eventually converging at the same endpoint, forming a gigantic circle.

As the formation neared completion, the temperature within the circle abruptly rose. Under the scorching heat of the True Fire, water vapor deep within the earth’s veins evaporated upwards. Waves of white mist spread from the depths of the soil and were then sucked into the other end of the “hourglass.”

The mist and the red blood gradually fused. A sharp burning sensation spread from Yun Qingwu’s heart to his entire body. Yun Qingwu gritted his teeth, enduring the stinging pain that felt like being consumed by fire.

He was currently no different from a mortal, so the agony brought by this backlash was several times more intense than under normal circumstances. Fine beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

The blood that was flowing inside the “hourglass” gradually condensed into tiny red ice crystals. Only when the inside of the “hourglass” completely returned to dryness did Yun Qingwu finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He picked up the spiritual tool and handed it to Cold Lici: “It’s your turn.”

Cold Lici glanced up at Yun Qingwu, took the fused spiritual tool, turned around, and leaped into the clouds. His eight fluffy tails suddenly spread out behind him, looking like a blazing fire burning in the sky from a distance.

As the “blaze” swayed, red ice crystals erupted from within, scattering far and wide, heading for every corner of the land. With the descent of every ice crystal, torrential rain poured down.

“Hey! It’s raining! It’s raining!”

“Thank you, Great God Bai Ze, for your protection! Thank you!”

The cheers below the mountain grew louder and louder.

“Wait, why is the sun still out?”

“That just shows even more that this rain is a favor granted to us by the Great God Bai Ze!”

Amidst the cheers, some people noticed the anomaly, but it was quickly overshadowed by the joy of the rain.

But this method was ultimately a temporary fix. Under the nearly ceaseless sunlight of the rotating seasons, this rainwater was merely a drop in the bucket.

The anxiety and fear that had been suppressed for a year began to resurface.

At the dinner table, Meng Ping looked worriedly at her son, who was visibly haggard and weak, and at Cold Lici, who was also paler. She stood up and ladled a bowl of chicken soup for each of them: “Mother knows you’ve been busy solving problems for the people recently, but you must also take care of your health.”

Yun Qingwu forced himself to take a few sips before putting down the spoon, the cloud of worry on his brow refusing to dissipate.

In contrast to Yun Qingwu’s difficulty eating, Cold Lici finished his meal without any change in expression.

After dinner, Yun Qingwu intended to forcibly bring rain again.

Cold Lici looked at Yun Qingwu’s scarred hands, which now had no clear space left to cut, his emotions complex. He said harshly: “You want to bleed yourself dry and die here, but this Lord refuses to accompany you.”

Yun Qingwu acted as if he hadn’t heard and cut fiercely into an old wound. The wound was so deep that bone was vaguely visible, yet the blood flow was extremely slow. After a long time, it barely managed to cover the bottom of the “hourglass” end.

Cold Lici snatched the crystallized spiritual tool and simultaneously reached out his right hand, strongly gripping Yun Qingwu’s injured wrist. Yun Qingwu let out a slight gasp of pain.

“Heh, this Lord thought the Sovereign Lord was made of copper and iron. It turns out you know pain too?”

Cold Lici mocked, but the strength in his hand did not lessen at all.

After a moment of pain, Yun Qingwu felt the wound gradually healing. He looked up at Cold Lici, who still wore an expression of impatience. The oppressive gloom that had hung over his heart was briefly dispelled slightly. He let out a light laugh:

“Didn’t you say you refused to accompany me?”

Cold Lici flung Yun Qingwu’s hand away; the wound on it had already scabbed over.

“It’s an eyesore for this Lord to look at.”

Yun Qingwu grew serious: “Thank you.”

Cold Lici snorted and leaped into the sky again.

“This is the last time I will help you.”

Over the past year, Yun Qingwu’s body was physically exhausted from the forced rain, and Cold Lici’s spiritual power was also in a state of long-term excessive consumption. By now, even if it rained, the amount was negligible, just better than nothing.

“The disaster is clearly uncontrollable. Why haven’t you made your move yet?”

Returning to the bedroom, the Bone Sword asked suspiciously.

Cold Lici caressed the sword hilt and said darkly: “Every drop of rain that falls carries my demonic power. I can make my move whenever I want. Why the rush?”

“Heh heh, how many layers of your demonic power are left? This is not like your usual—”

“Bang!”

Cold Lici threw the sword against the wall.

“Ouch, that hurts. Can’t you talk more and act less?” The Bone Sword stood upright from the floor, its tone disgruntled.

…

Events unfolded as Cold Lici predicted. As the survival crisis brought by the drought replaced the heat as the primary problem, people’s minds began to waver.

Unwilling to destroy the belief that had been etched into their bones since birth, they placed all the blame elsewhere. The first one to bear the brunt was him, the clearly visible anomaly.

“Lord of the Nation, upon closer inspection, all our anomalies occurred after that demon fox appeared. What the common folk are saying is not without reason.”

In the morning court, Elder Wei, responsible for rites and sacrifices, analyzed the situation with a grave expression.

“In my opinion, that fox with eight tails is inherently ominous. We should comply with public opinion and offer him as a sacrifice to the Great God Bai Ze. Perhaps all the calamities can be resolved.”

“No!” Yun Qingwu’s heart sank, and he said sharply, his hands clenched tightly at his sides.

“Why not?” Elder Wei was also somewhat anxious. It was the first time he had seen Yun Qingwu behave this way, and he was displeased: “I have heard about the relationship between the Lord of the Nation and that demon fox, but is that more important than the lives of the clan members?”

“That is not the same thing!” Yun Qingwu’s breathing became heavier: “Those rumors are completely unfounded. Is it not too rash to decide a person’s life and death based on them?”

“That’s right, Elder Wei. The Lord of the Nation is correct. Putting aside everything else, he did a lot to help when the chicken demons were causing trouble. There is no evidence this time to prove the problem lies with him.” Elder Xie advised.

Elder Zhou: “Elder Wei, you need to calm down. Don’t blindly seek medical treatment when you’re desperate.”

“Then tell me, what other solution is there now? It’s been a year! That sun has been hanging up there for almost a year without tiring! Can this matter be reasoned with? This is punishment for our lack of judgment in trusting an outsider to invade!”

Elder Wei was emotionally agitated, pointing a finger at the relentlessly high-hanging sun outside.

“I will find a way, but I will not agree to the matter of sacrifice.” Yun Qingwu lowered his gaze, concealing the emotion in his eyes, his tone unyielding and firm.

Having said that, he left the main hall on his own.

Just as he stepped out of the hall door, he ran into a face he did not wish to see right now.