Ch.129: Blinded by the Heart; Brocade Immortal Forged by Blood 2
“Your Highness Qi Ying? Your Highness? Are you listening?”
Xie Lian reached out and waved his hands in front of Quan Yizhen. Quan Yizhen seemed to have spaced out and only now did his spirit return to this body. “Oh.”
It appeared he wasn’t listening. Xie Lian wasn’t in the position to say much so he said instead, “This mission is urgent, and we have to find that brocade robe. Its original form is…”
Quan Yizhen interrupted, “A sleeveless, headless, gunny sack like blood-soaked robe.”
Xie Lian smiled, “So you do know. I thought you didn’t read the scroll. But, since this robe is a wicked object, extremely magical with thousands of forms. There are millions of clothes in this world, so to search for such a robe is no different than seeking a needle in the ocean.”
“Oh.” Quan Yizhen said, “Then what should we do?”
Xie Lian explained, “Ghosts and demons who got their hands on the robe will usually transform into a merchant, and beseech people to buy or exchange old for new in busy streets. But that’s from centuries ago, so if anyone was to do this now it’d be more or less strange. But, their habits and ways of doing things won’t change so easily so fast. In any case, let’s go into town and see if we can catch wind of any such news.”
Ghosts would be more interested in such an object than mortals. Underground information from the ghost realm would be much faster than in the mortal realm, which meant, asking Hua Cheng directly would surely save a lot of trouble. However, it wasn’t too long ago when Xie Lian told him they shouldn’t meet for the time being, and it wouldn’t look good to go back on his words the moment he needed something. Besides, the Brocade Immortal was only just stolen, and the robber might not dare be so swift in bringing it out to cause harm. Quan Yizhen nodded, rose to his feet, and followed him for a few steps. Xie Lian noticed that Lang Ying also followed suit so he told him, “You stay here.”
Lang Ying shook his head. Before Xie Lian could say anymore, there was a sudden THUD! behind him. Quan Yizhen had collapsed again.
Xie Lian whipped around, “Are you alright?”
That shade of purple was colouring Quan Yizhen’s face again, and a moment later, unable to hold back any longer, he finally flipped over, crouched onto the floor, and “WAH” puked all over the floor.
“…”
After puking, Quan Yizhen rolled over, his face facing upwards, his soul leaving from his mouth.
“Qi Ying… can you still walk?” Xie Lian asked carefully.
Quan Yizhen had his limbs all stretched out flat, “I think. I can’t.”
“…”
Woeful, Xie Lian could only drag Quan Yizhen who had lost all willpower to fight onto the side and covered him with a blanket, letting him recover for the moment.
It took until the next day before Quan Yizhen looked slightly better. Either way, Xie Lian didn’t dare to let him eat anything random, and asked for some porridge from the village head’s home, bringing it back to fill the stomach of the other two. Quan Yizhen sat in the spot Hua Cheng usually occupied, and for some reason, Lang Ying kept staring at him, seemingly unfriendly. Xie Lian placed the porridge in front of the two and subconsciously called, “San Lang…”
Before the words completely left his lips, the two turned to look at him. Xie Lian instantly froze and only then did he realize what he blurted, and he cleared his throat softly, “Please continue.”
The two sat at the altar table eating their porridge while Xie Lian took up the axe and went outside. As he chopped wood, he thought back on the clues the scroll provided:
“The Brocade Immortal was first sealed under a Great Martial Temple, and the seal of that temple was extremely powerful. Skilled masters filled the ranks of the heavy security guarding the hall, and a simple arousal of ghosts should not have allowed it to escape on its own, which meant someone eyed the opportunity and stole it away amidst the chaos…”
Before it was always Hua Cheng who chopped wood, and now that he was doing it himself, for some reason it didn’t feel like the wood he chopped was as good as Hua Cheng’s. Quan Yizhen drank a few mouthfuls of watery porridge pathetically and fell over directly to keep sleeping within Puqi Shrine. Lang Ying on the other hand, came out looking to help out.
“There’s no need. San… Lang Ying, heat some water later and take a bath.”
Now that he thought about it, Lang Ying didn’t seemed to have bathed in a long time.
Ghosts certainly wouldn’t have the trouble of skin oils and grime, but hanging out outside all day, surely there’s dirt. Still, he couldn’t point it out so straightforwardly lest he hurt other people’s self-esteem. Lang Ying seemed to be taken aback and didn’t respond, but Xie Lian had already carried a bundle of logs inside to heat water. “I sold some scraps in town yesterday and bought you two autumn robes. Once you’re done bathing, why don’t you see if they fit you?”
Lang Ying was just putting on the new robes, but hearing him, he turned to leave without a word. Xie Lian grabbed on to him, chiding solemnly, “Don’t go! Bathing is without question. Don’t worry, I won’t unwrap the bandages on your head.”
Lang Ying still protested, and went out the door to chop wood gloomily, refusing to come back in. Exasperated, Xie Lian could only go grab some logs, heated the water, and peeled off his own clothes. Ruoye looped around Xie Lian’s chest, unwrapping itself.
Lang Ying came back in, a large bundle of logs in his carry, and when he saw Xie Lian with his upper body bare, his eyes instantly widened. Xie Lian on the other hand, was testing the temperature of the water with his hand, thinking it was just right, and was already submerging into the bath with his underpants on. Seeing Lang Ying come in, he called out, “Oh, perfect timing. Can you please pass me the scroll that’s hung under the bamboo hat on the wall?
Not only did Lang Ying not come over, he backed all the way outside and PANG! shut the door. Xie Lian was puzzled. Not a moment later, it seemed Lang Ying remembered something, and forcefully kicked the door open. Xie Lian hastily cried, “Don’t kick that door! That door is…”
Lang Ying however, didn’t spare a look at him. He walked straight inside, picked up Quan Yizhen who was lying on the floor like a stiff corpse, and dragged him out the door. Quan Yizhen seemed to be deeply asleep, only activity as big as shaking mountains could wake him up, so he felt nothing while getting dragged away the entire way. Xie Lian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “What are you doing? It’s alright, it’s not like I’m a girl. Come in.”
When Hua Cheng wasn’t around, it wasn’t like he hadn’t bathed inside Puqi Shrine.
After all, Puqi Shrine really was too small, its ability to provide for daily life minimal. That there was a water barrel for bathing was already plenty; there wasn’t a pool bath with screens stretching over meters long to let him row a boat while he played and bathed.
However, whether intentional or not, Xie Lian had never bathed in front of Hua Cheng before. Since the one before him right now wasn’t Hua Cheng but someone else, he didn’t feel like this was anything.
“…”
Lang Ying flipped Quan Yizhen over, grabbed a few random clothes to pile over his head, before he himself took that scroll Xie Lian asked for and passed it over with his head bowed, then continued to sit in the corner. Xie Lian on the other hand, rolled open the scroll and was reading through it carefully while he let his hair loose.
Steam warmed his face, giving it a rosy glow. His long hair and lashes were shimmering black and dripping wet. Suddenly, he felt that thin silver chain on his chest, and at the end of the chain hung a diamond ring.
Xie Lian gripped that ring, closing his fingers tightly around it. Suddenly, at the peripheral of his vision, he saw on the corner of the altar was a tiny little flower.
He subconsciously picked up that flower and brought it before his eyes, feeling his mind cloud just like the lingering hot air surrounding him, and he needed a hand to wave away the haze. Just then, a series of knocks sounded outside the door, That sound pulled him out of his thoughts, and Xie Lian placed the flower back. He was just about to ask who it was when he realized the knocking wasn’t on Puqi Shrine’s door but the village head’s house next door.
In between the knocking, the delicate voice of a woman sounded, “Is anyone home?
Exchange old for new, exchange old for new. I have a brand new robe that I have no use for and want to find a set of old clothes that I might fancy. Are any masters in the house willing? Is anyone home?”
Without him needing to go search, that creature actually came knocking all by itself!
She knocked and inquired after every house, yet not a single household opened their door to her. Naturally. When Xie Lian wasn’t collecting scraps he would open lectures at Puqi Shrine, educating all those aunties and grannies on hundreds of little tricks of how to identify evil. To run into such an obviously strange uninvited guest in the middle of the night, no villagers would pay it any mind. People of today weren’t as easy to deceive as the olden days. That creature knocked all around but still no one responded. Finally, it came to Puqi Shrine’s door. Xie Lian held his breath, waiting tensely. Yet, it seemed before that creature even knocked it could feel this wasn’t a place she should’ve come.
With an “Aiyoh”, her footsteps sounded to leave and Xie Lian quickly called out, “WAIT! I want to exchange!” Then, he whispered to Lang Ying, “Open the door, quickly. Don’t be scared, nothing will happen!”
Lang Ying was not scared at all. He went up and opened the door. Outside the door stood a girl, her figure slender and sensual, and just by the bottom half of her face one could tell she was lovely and charming. However, she was wearing a headscarf covering the top half of her face, like she didn’t have any eyes, looking rather unnerving.
She glanced inside and covered her mouth as she giggled, “Daozhang, what kind of old clothes did you want to use to exchange for my new clothes?”
Xie Lian was still soaking in the water barrel simply to make it lower its guard. He smiled, “That will depend on what your new clothes look like.”
That girl extended an arm and gave it a gentle shake. From her bag a shining brocade robe was shook out and rolled open to reveal itself, glamourous and beautiful, but the style seemed to be a bit old and it was emitting an air of evil all over. Xie Lian praised, “Beautiful. Beautiful. Lang Ying, give this lady that set of clothes I brought back from town.”
Lang Ying handed the robe over with only a hand. That girl exchanged the new robe and giggled, receiving the old robe. As she was about to turn around, her face suddenly dropped, like something had pinched her hand, and she screamed, throwing the old robes onto the ground. Within the heap of that hemp robe was Ruoye who was coiled up in a bundle, having snuck in who knows when, and it peeped out of the sleeve like a white viper hissing at the girl.
And that ‘girl’ wasn’t a girl either. A scream and a jump after, her headscarf was pecked off by the ambushing Ruoye and it ell to the ground. Although the bottom half of her face was enchanting, but the top half of her face was full of wrinkles, extremely old, forming a horrifying contrast – what ‘girl’? This was clearly an eighty year old hag!
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