CH 17

Shen Wanqing was speechless.

She turned and stared into Zeng Ziyun’s eyes earnestly for a while, and Zeng Ziyun also stared back seriously.

The atmosphere remained stalemate for a while.

In the end, Shen Wanqing sighed, stretched out her hand to hold onto Zeng Ziyun’s shoulder, and advised her sincerely: “You should just give up.”

Zeng Ziyun’s expression changed, she straightened up her neck and her eyes went red: “Are you looking down on me?”

…No, how did you come to this conclusion?

“What I mean is,” Shen Wanqing tried to explain, “Xie Wuyan is not the kind of person you can approach.”

Zeng Ziyun gritted her teeth and clenched her fists: “So are you threatening me right now?”

Fbld Eydikdt qlzv vbyv kv oyp y ckv vss ekqqknwzv vs nsxxwdknyvl okvb vbkp rlapsd: “R’x dsv…”

“Ls dlle vs lmrzykd!”

Hldt Hkuwd pzyrrle yoyu Fbld Eydikdt’p byde, bla vsdl oyp nsze: “Ls xyvvla bso xwnb usw pvsr xl, R osd’v tkhl wr. Zsw pbswze fwpv easr kv! Ju vbl oyu, zlv xl yehkpl usw, ds xyvvla obyv zldtvbp usw ts vs, ds xyvvla bso xwnb usw nzkdt vs Yypvla Dkl, bl okzz dlhla qyzz qsa usw.”

Gqvla prlyjkdt, pbl pvsxrle bla qllv yde vwadle yoyu.

Fllkdt Hldt Hkuwd zlyhkdt clbkde bla pkzbswlvvl, Fbld Eydikdt qlzz ellr kdvs vbswtbv.

Ebu eke vbkp pnldl qllz ps qyxkzkya?

Rv oyp zkjl y pollv, dykhl uswdt tkaz obs oyp nswaytlswpzu nbypkdt yqvla bla Ya.Vlaqlnv, cwv oyp vbld pvsrrle cu vbl nsze-blyavle hkzzykdlpp, vlzzkdt bla: “Zsw pbswze tkhl wr yp pssd yp rsppkczl, bl kpd’v psxlsdl usw nyd tlv nzspl vs.”

…Fbl bye esdl ps xwnb ulv pbl oyp pvkzz vbl hkzzykdlpp kd vbl lde.

“Why are you standing here foolishly?” Ji Feichen asked, coming over after hearing the commotion.

Shen Wanqing responded to him and trotted towards the table to sit down.

Ji Feichen scooped a bowl of chicken soup and placed it in front of her. He stretched out his hand, feeling a bit sorry for her and brushed away some of the baby hairs on her forehead, frowning while saying: “It’s been hard on you, you have lost quite a bit of weight these past few days.”

Shen Wanqing, who had gained four or five pounds of fat already and almost couldn’t fit into her cute dress today, was so abashed that she wanted to bury her head into the bowl.

Really, only your relatives would think that you have lost weight.

Ji Feichen, who carried this filter of thinking that she had lost weight, went from feeling sorry to self-blaming, and once he began self-blaming, he started to madly place food into her bowl until it stacked up like a small mountain.

Shen Wanqing sat beside him, holding onto her chopsticks, feeling embarrassed for having lived these few days with everything handed to her on a silver platter, so she also gratefully put some food into Ji Feichen’s bowl.

So the scene became two people putting food into each other’s bowls without moving their chopsticks at all to eat the food in their own bowls—

“My little sister has worked hard, little sister needs to eat more.”

“No, my older brother has worked hard, older brother eat more.”

Very harmonious and awkward.

But if you looked further away, you would only think that the atmosphere between the two was very harmonious.

For example, Xie Wuyan was standing upstairs, leaning on the railing and looking at the two downstairs.

He was holding onto some crisp cherry fruits in his hand. He didn’t eat them, just tossed them up one by one. Xuanniao, who was standing on his shoulder would reach its head out to catch them, and then swallow them one by one into its stomach.

Shen Wanqing was a person who knew how to live her life well.

Even though she was staying in an inn, she had organises a small place like this very neatly and orderly. 

A fragrance also filled her room. It had been concocted all by herself when she had been idle and bored. It was very comfortable to smell, not too strong at all. Just from walking around in her room, your body would end up carrying this scent.

At this moment, Xie Wuyan’s body carried this fragrance which had concealed his original bloody scent, but it was incompatible with the lifeless aura that pierced through his whole body.

At the same time, the original owner of said fragrance was sitting at the table, smiling with her eyes curved, lowering her head to talk to the man next to her full of joy.

Ji Feichen seemed to see something on the corner of her mouth, and resignedly took out his handkerchief and handed it to her.

Shen Wanqing reached out and took it, thanking him sweetly.

“Snap.”

Xie Wuyan didn’t even lift his eyelids, the crisp cherry fruit in his hand was crushed.

Xuanniao, who had been holding its mouth open and preparing to eat it in one gulp, was startled for a while. It swallowed hard, and finally realized that its owner’s mood at the moment was surprisingly bad.

It was even worse than when the group of cultivators who had come to fight at the gate of the palace a hundred years ago burned the flowers he had worked so hard to raise.

Just when Xuanniao thought that its owner would be tempted to make a fuss, he turned around without saying a word and went straight back into his room.

…This was probably the tranquility before the storm.

After eating, drinking and washing up, Shen Wanqing patted her stomach and returned to her room contently. She crawled back to her bed, wrapped herself up in her quilt, took out a novel from underneath her pillow, and prepared to read before sleeping.

While reading, she started to feel tired.

As she got tired, she couldn’t restrain herself from falling asleep.

So when Xie Wuyan came into her room, he saw her lying on the bed in an extremely strange sleeping position, the pillow had been kicked underneath her leg, her body was only half covered and there was even a book lying on her face.

Xie Wuyan stretched out his hand, picked up the book, and glanced up and down.

It read, “Shangguang Qing pulled out the Lingxue sword, and in that split second, the mountain and ground shook as if it were about to split apart. With her powerful spiritual power, even the demon who committed all sorts of evil, Nangong Yan, felt intimidated. She slashed the demon’s head off cleanly with a sharp sword…”

What a stupid book.

Xie Wuyan moved his fingertips and burned it to ashes without hesitation.

After doing these things, he sat down beside the bed and looked down at Shen Wanqing who was sprawled out in the bed, sleeping peacefully.

Shen Wanqing was indeed sleeping quite soundly.

It was already summer, and the weather had gradually become hot and stuffy. Even if she only covered herself with half of the quilt, she kept on feeling a stifling hot air enveloping her whole body, it became hard for her to sleep well.

Just as she was about to get irritated by the stuffy heat, she suddenly felt a cold flow incoming.

Almost subconsciously, she got closer to the direction of the cold air, and then touched something chilly and cold with her fingertips.

It was like a huge block of ice used for relieving the summer heat.

Shen Wanqing moved in the direction of the ice cube, bit by bit. She first placed her hand over it, then put her head towards it and finally shrank her whole body into a ball and leaned against it.

Comfortable.

Shen Wanqing was at ease.

She slept even more soundly as she became at ease.

Xie Wuyan fell into deep thought as he looked at Shen Wanqing who was resting upon him.

He was in a very bad mood tonight.

So he had originally intended to wake up Shen Wanqing directly, just like he had done so countless times before.

But when he saw Shen Wanqing curled up next to him like a kitten, and even put her head on his lap and refused to move away, Xie Wuyan suddenly didn’t want to wake her up anymore.

Xie Wuyan stared at her for a long time, then stretched out his hand to hold onto her neck.

Shen Wanqing looked extremely delicate, just one hand could clasp most of her neck, as if it could break easily with just a little bit of force.

But in the end, he didn’t do that.

He moved his hand away gently, brushing away a few strands of hair on her face, rubbing her hair like he was stroking a cat.

Shen Wanqing hummed and used her head to brush against his hand.

It was itchy.

Xie Wuyan didn’t move.

He leaned on the edge of the bed, lowered his eyes and pondered for a while. How long had he lived in this world?

It had been too long, he couldn’t even remember.

When he had been in the Heavenly Dao Palace, every night was spent in the dungeon, accompanied by a humidity that carried a repulsive stench and ice cold chains.

There was a sky window above the dungeon, which was mostly foggy.

There were no birds or beasts, nor could he see the moon or clouds.

Later, he escaped from the Heavenly Dao Palace.

For those in the demon realm, he was once a servile follower of the Heavenly Dao Palace, an executioner who had brutally hunted down his own kind. For the cultivators, he was a stubborn, tyrannical villain who could not change his ways.

No matter which side it was, there was no place for him to survive.

He was not tolerated in the Heavenly Dao Palace, nor was he tolerated in the Demon Realm.

Everyone said that he would surely cause the end of all spiritual life.

Before, no one had really given him a choice. Afterwards, still no one did. Everyone kept saying it was so, thus he decided to really do it.

He destroyed a place and built his own palace there, it was for himself only.

He lived there in loneliness and peace, occasionally stepping on Xuanniao’s back to travel around, looking mockingly at the expressions of horror and fear when those people saw him.

He had lived like this for many years.

There was no difference between being alive and dead.

“Ah-choo”

Shen Wanqing’s nose was itchy from rubbing against him, she frowned and sneezed lightly, then changed her position and continued to sleep.

Xie Wuyan looked down at her.

For the first time like this, there was someone beside him that had fallen asleep so comfortably.

In a way, he appeared to be just like a normal person.

–

Shen Wanqing felt that last night was the most peaceful sleep she had ever had in these past few days. It was just like sleeping in an air-conditioned room and waking up naturally after a deep sleep, feeling refreshed and full of vitality.

She rolled over and stretched her waist with her eyes still shut.

Then she stretched out her paws and touched something soft and cold.

It seemed to be hair.

…Wait, whose hair was this?

Did she meet a ghost again?

Shen Wanqing woke up in an instant, she immediately sat upright and hugged the pillow, opening her eyes with alert.

Xie Wuyan leaned on the edge of the bed, one hand on his knees, his eyes closed tightly. His thin lips pressed firmly together, and his brows slightly furrowed, as if he was taking a nap.

“!!!”

Shen Wanqing went blank.

She might has well have met a ghost instead.

Had she used this brat as her human pillow all night yesterday?

She hugged the pillow and stared at Xie Wuyan with her eyes wide open for a long time. Seeing that he was not moving at all, she cautiously crawled over and stretched out her hand underneath his nose to test if he was still alive.

Thank god he was still breathing.

Just when she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Xie Wuyan’s eyelashes moved slightly, he lifted his eyelids and looked at her.

Shen Wanqing was startled, she immediately withdrew her hand and waited for a while, wanting to wait for the brat to take the initiative to speak.

But after waiting for a long time, she discovered that he didn’t seem to have the intention to speak, he just looked at her peacefully.

The situation had come to a deadlock.

Shen Wanqing thought for a long time, and thought that if she didn’t say anything, the two of them would stare at each other all day.

She took a deep breath, took out the pillow from her arms, straightened up and placed it behind Xie Wuyan’s head. She then took out the quilt and covered his body very half-heartedly.

She then slowly crawled past him, stepped on her shoes to stand up firmly, turned around and bowed to him: “Okay, you can continue to sleep.”

Xie Wuyan: “…”

I think you act even less like a normal person than me.

—

[Translator’s note: More of ML’s back story, my poor baby!!!!!]