Chapter 63 - Papaya Flavored Senior Brother Gong (1): Big papaya: Where’s the “I’ll repay you with myself”?
Back after a break!
Editors: Vez, Blarghette
Hear Fan Yin, unrestrain your sword.
The nine underworlds, the Shaolin monastery, the Three Qing Palms.
There is no sadness in the Jianghu, high-spirited youths strive to be heroes.
The righteous path is for the people; the lonely experts are hidden, we try our best to sharpen ourselves.
——Bai XiaoShen·Diary of Jianghu
Currently, in the Jianghu, the hottest topic was about the marriage between Yu Jian Alliance’s Northern Sword Sect and their influential neighbor the Mo Xie Valley.
The sole daughter of the Northern Sword Sect Leader was named Xia Xinya and she had quite the history. Her union this time with the young valley master of Mo Xie Valley was actually her third marriage! Her first husband was named Ye Yu and he was the son of the Fan Yin Pavilion Master. Five years ago, on the night of their wedding, he was killed by the Demonic Cult’s Right Guardian, Ye Gui, who was now the current Lord of the Demonic Cult.
The warning was then spread by the latter: Whoever dares to marry Xia Xinya will become the second Ye Yu.
Of course, there were people who didn’t believe this. As a result, her second husband who was the second disciple of the Northern Sword Sect’s Sect Leader Xia, also died on the night of the wedding.
During her youth, Xia Xinya was lauded as the most beautiful woman in the Jianghu, yet she was held up like this for year after year, that is until the young valley master of Mo Xie Valley, Mo GuanJu, fell in love with her at first sight.
As the day of the wedding approached, it sent the Northern Sword Sect and Mo Xie Valley on edge. After discussing it with each other, they decided to gather the allies of the righteous path and laid down careful arrangements. If Yu Gui dared to come, they won’t let him leave!
Gou Liang’s host this time was precisely the notorious Lord of the Demonic Cult—Ye Gui.
【Ding, the mission target has been confirmed!】
Outside the Northern City, Mo Xie Valley.
A fierce battle had just occurred, destroying a section of the valley.
The Left Guardian, dressed in all black, confirmed that Ye Gui was no longer breathing on the ground before he dared to approach. Just as he reached to tear open Ye Gui’s clothes in search of the Demonic Cult’s Leader token and the Secret Heart Technique manual left by the previous Lord—
“Brother, isn’t it distasteful to harass a young lady in broad daylight?”
A person suddenly appeared behind the Left Guardian.
Shocked, the Left Guardian quickly stepped aside—to think he was unable to detect the presence of this person!
Caught off guard, the black cloth concealing his face was pulled off and revealed his appearance.
“As I thought, it’s you. Did the Left Guardian come here to drink the wedding wine as well?”
“Who are you?”
“The person who will take your life.”
“You sure can talk big! This matter does not concern you, leave now or don’t blame me for being merciless!”
The Left Guardian only managed to kill Ye Gui after great efforts. His internal force was already spent, and he didn’t want anymore problemsThis person managed to appear out of nowhere, making him even more guarded.
The person chuckled coldly. He didn’t waste anymore words and attacked the Left Guardian with a folding fan.
He looked young but his martial arts were extremely refined; he had a deep reserve of internal force and his sword intent was sharp. He couldn’t be underestimated!
When they had exchanged ten moves, it dawned on the Left Guardian that he wasn’t the youth’s opponent, and what was even more spiteful was that each of the youth’s moves was aimed to take his life! Aghast, the Left Guardian didn’t want to entangle with him any longer. Wanting to flee, he turned around and tried to grab Ye Gui who was lying on the ground.
How could the youth allow him to succeed?
The Left Guardian had planned meticulously for so many years to obtain the Leader Token and the secret manual, so how could he just give up? The two ended up engaging in battle once again.
In the end, he suffered a hit from the youth and spat a mouthful of blood. He knew that if he continued, he might lose his life. However unwilling he was, he could only retreat first.
The youth was about to give chase when he discovered that the person on the ground was still breathing.
Looking at the person teetering between life and death on the ground, he looked at the Left Guardian who had already fled. The youth hesitated for a moment but still turned back in the end.
He fished out an object from his lapels, “Master said our sect’s holy medicine can restrain hundreds of poisons. Perhaps it can cure this Bone Withering Poison.”
After he fed the medicinal pill to the person, the youth glanced around, “Seeing that the situation at hand is urgent, Yue Qian will have to offend you, Miss.”
The youth hugged Gou Liang and lifted him up. He only took a couple of steps when he suddenly stopped. This Miss appears thin, but…she was actually quite heavy.
Gou Liang watched himself move along with the big blind spot and was assured. He went to extract the mirror image of the host.
Host, named Ye Gui, male, twenty-five years old.
That’s right, the host who the target-dada refers to as “Miss” was unmistakably, conclusively a genuine man. The target didn’t misunderstand because his eyesight was bad, but because the original host…was a crossdresser.
He loved the color of fresh blood so he always wore red.
Since he liked gorgeous embroideries, he was proficient in needlework and used embroidery needles as a weapon.
He loved beautiful things and was a narcissist who thought the number one beauty in the Jianghu was no other than himself. He adored beautiful dresses so he wore skirts and dressed like a woman in private.
He naturally had softer features with an exquisite and oval face, a pair of sensual peach blossom eyes, and deep dimples on his left cheek whenever he smiled. His eyes were covered with frost throughout the seasons and proud demonic charms rested between his brows. He was beautiful enough to cause people to avert their gazes.
When he dressed as a woman, he could contend with Xia Xinya and even emerge on top.
However, he didn’t kill Xia Xinya’s husbands because he thought they were blind to think she was the number one beauty. The real reason was a long story.
Strength was king in this world. While the righteous path was led by the Fan Yin Pavilion, the Yu Jian Alliance, the Nine Underworld Tower, the Shaolin Temple, and the Three Qing Creed, the opposite side was led by the Demonic Sect.
40 years ago, the head disciple of the Northern Sword Sect, Bao Shi, betrayed his sect.
His three views were unable to align with his sect’s. He wasn’t ashamed of utilizing unorthodox ways as long as the method allowed him to achieve his goal, and to steal a secret manual, he even killed his fellow sect members. When the matter was brought to light, Bao Shi didn’t sit around idly. He joined the Harmonious Joy Sect, and by his own strength, unified the so-called unorthodox paths and created the Demon Cult, becoming its first Lord.
The Demonic Cult’s strength multiplied until eventually, it could compete with the righteous factions.
Bao Shi also was ruthless in nature and his way of doing things was capricious and cruel. From the righteous path, the people who offended him and had their sects wiped out were found everywhere, and later on in order to steal various secret martial arts manuals, he killed even more.
But that wasn’t all. When he wiped out entire sects and martial arts families, he would take in the children under three as his disciples. He made them acknowledge their worst enemy as their master and instilled in them from a young age that the strong ate the weak. He then used the children to continue oppressing the righteous path.
The original host was one of those children.
He accidentally stumbled upon the truth of his background when carrying out a mission from his Master.
As it turned out, Ye Gui’s mother was the younger sister of the current Fan Yin Pavilion Master. She had married the head disciple of the Nine Underworld Tower’s Tang Clan who was held in high esteem back then. But according to the rules of Fan Yin Pavilion, whether the woman of the Ye Clan married out or found someone to marry in, the children they gave birth to must all be given the clan’s surname, so he was named Ye.
Ye Zhi and Xiao Xinya’s mother were friends and when they became pregnant at the same time, they joked that they should betroth their children to each other.
Then later on when Ye Gui and Xiao XinYa were born, coincidentally they were a boy and girl pair. Seeing this, the Tang and Xia Clan exchanged tokens and agreed that the two would marry once they turned eighteen.
It was supposed to be a beautiful arrangement, but no one would have thought that before Ye Gui was even three, the Tang Clan would be massacred by the Demonic Cult.
After learning the truth, he didn’t feel angry. Towards the person who killed his parents, he continued to respect him as his Master. He only changed his name from Bao Jiu, the name given to him by Bao Shi, back to Ye Gui.
As for his ex-fiance, the original host who had already been raised crooked held steady to his beliefs. Since she’s my person, she cannot be with anyone else even if she has to live like a widow.
No one was the wiser. The entire Jianghu knew Bao Shi had a conflict with the Xia Clan when he was still in the Northern Sword Sect. They all thought his actions were directed by his Master.
The original host didn’t care about how others viewed him nor was he interested in revenge or marrying a wife. He had one wish and that was to become stronger.
He wished to be the strongest!
The first step towards his goal was replacing his Master.
A year ago, he killed Bao Shi when he encountered a Qi deviation. Using secret manuals that Bao Shi had stolen and created over the years, he became the second Lord of the Demonic Cult.
Among the manuals was the Demonic Cult’s most powerful technique—《Nine Dark Arts》
The original host eagerly entered closed-door cultivation but he didn’t expect that Bao Shi had left behind a trap in the secret manual of the 《Nine Dark Arts》. It triggered a Qi deviation causing his internal force to rupture and his meridians to reverse, nearly wasting his entire cultivation base. The original host was left without a choice and could only choose to abolish his cultivation and start anew.
But the original host didn’t know that the Left Guardian had discovered his condition. The latter helped contain the news, but he was already planning to have Ye Gui follow in Bao Shi’s footsteps.
Just when the original host was planning to leave the Demonic Cult to find a safe place to abolish and restart his cultivation, he heard the news that Xia Xinya was getting married again. That was why the original host ended up here—before he abolished his cultivation, he first needed to kill Mo Guanju.
When the original host arrived at Mo Xie Valley, the Left Guardian who had been tailing him the entire time pounced. The original host was caught off guard and sustained heavy injuries. Even if the original host knew one thousand and one methods to kill him, there was no way to execute it in his crippled state. He struggled for a while before ultimately falling to a potent poison.
【System: Embroidery needles, female clothes, Lord of the Demonic Cult…Master, I think I know a person like this. 0 v 0 】
【Gou Liang: If you chose a host without a rod for me, you can start picking your method to die now.】
【System: …Ying.】
【Ding, scanning of the target’s basic information is complete.】
Name: Yue Qian
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Height: 189 cm
Appearance: ★★★★★
Intelligence: ★★★★★
Strength: ★★★★★
Health: ★★★★★
Potential: Grade S
Current favorability value: -100.
The bold and red number made the mission undertaker and the system sink into a strange silence.
After a long time had passed.
【Gou Liang: …Did you finish picking?】
【System: A problem must have occurred in the channel left behind by the Lord God! It’s not my fault, believe me, Master!（/TДT)/ 】
Gou Liang began to sort through the target’s information with a weary heart.
Yue Qian had already made a name for himself in the jianghu despite being only 19 years old.
He came from a family of martial artists and was born with an extraordinary bone root. On the ceremony of his first birthday, the Southern Mountain Sword Sect of the Yu Jian Alliance insisted on taking him in as a disciple, and he became the first disciple of Sect Master Si Tu. With his overwhelming talent, after he mastered all of the swordplay and internal force techniques available at the Southern Mountain sword Sect, he began creating his own technique. Nobody dared to underestimate him because of his young age.
He then won the championship at the Martial Arts Conference held by the five great sects once every five years, and at merely age fourteen, he placed number one on the Ranking of Heroes created by Jianghu’s Bai Xiaosheng.
In the same year, the Yue Clan fell victim to the Demonic Cult.
Yue Qian was overwhelmed with grief and secretly descended the mountains. He planned to infiltrate the Demonic Cult and kill Bao Shi to avenge his parents, but he encountered a sandstorm in the desert.
Martial experts liked to duel in the desert, and the countless who had met their ends there had their bodies and weapons swallowed by the yellow sand. Miraculously, the frequent storms would gather them to a certain part in the desert, and over the years, sacred martial arts ground was formed, hidden away from the rest of the world. By the time Yue Qian regained consciousness, he had been brought here by the storm.
As a proper protagonist with a halo, having meat pies fall from the sky was normal.
Yue Qian stayed there for three years learning the techniques left behind by the skeletons there. His strength improved by leaps and bounds and he even felt strong enough to face off against Bao Shi. After he buried the seniors with the weapons, he left the place and headed towards the Demonic Cult to exact his revenge.
However, when he arrived at Oasis City, he was caught and forcibly brought back by Sect Master Si Tu who had almost gone crazy searching for his disciple.
But Yue Qian was stubborn by nature. He vowed to exact revenge and even Sect Master Si Tu couldn’t convince him otherwise.
This was a hard-to-come-by once-every-century martial arts genius, he couldn’t find another disciple as excellent even if he scoured the entire world. There was no way Sect Master Si Tu would let him rush to his own death like this. In the end, he told Yue Qian that if he could break through all the sword arrays left behind by the sect’s predecessor, he would allow him to leave the mountain. Yue Qian spent two years breaking through the big and small sword arrays left behind by the distinguished senior that nearly numbered in the thousand, but just as he finished the last one, he heard the news that Bao Shi had died at the hands of his own disciple—the original host.
After that, Yue Qian was dejected for a long time. Sect Master Si Tu couldn’t stand it anymore and chased him off the mountain under the pretense of having him attend the wedding at Mo Xie Valley in his stead.
Gou Liang could understand the target’s hatred towards Bao Shi and the Demonic Cult, but…facing a love as deep as -100, Gou Liang’s tears were enough to form an entire sea.
Even if he didn’t want to face the fact, life must continue on.
“Senior brother, the Miss has regained consciousness!”
The excited and elated voice of a young girl shouted. Someone pushed open the door and walked towards him in large strides.
Gou Liang’s lashes trembled, and just as he was about to open his eyes—
【System: Ding, a gentle reminder. The Left Guardian is around the vicinity of Mo Xie Valley and has his eyes on you. Master, take care to not break character, oh.】
【Gou Liang who was preparing to play a weak beauty: …】
When Gou Laing opened his eyes, his gaze was alert and murderous. He grabbed the throat of the person approaching him and snarled, “Who are you!”
He was still very weak and his voice didn’t have a fraction of the intimidation he believed it carried. Nevertheless, the cold glint in his eyes was capable of striking fear into people’s hearts.
Yue Qian was not affected, but his junior sister trembled under the pair of eyes that seemed to belong to a vicious wolf. She cried out, “Unhand my Senior Brother!”
Yue Qian easily escaped from Gou Liang’s grip that was nothing more than a bluff. After being in a coma for three days without eating, his hand was weak and strengthless. Yue Qian smiled and assured his junior sister that he was unharmed. He turned to Gou Liang, “Miss, this one is a disciple of the Yu Jian Alliance’s Southern Sword Sect, and is named Yue Qian. This is this one’s junior sister, Si Tushuang. There is no need to be alarmed, Miss. We do not hold any ill intentions towards you.”
“You’re the Peerless Yue?”
“…” Yue Qian’s face stiffened. He smiled dryly and said, “So Miss has heard of this one’s nickname. Haha, what a coincidence. What should I address Miss as?”
A trace of amusement flashed through Gou Liang’s eyes.
After getting his treasure of a disciple, not a day would go by without Sect Master Si Tu bragging about it to everyone. After receiving stimulation one day, he suddenly declared: You are the disciple of the great Si Tu, Qian this, Qian that, how is it appropriate! From today forth, you will be called Wudi! Words of this matter were then spread like wildfire by Bai XiaoSheng and soon became a topic of joke. Ever since then, Yue Qian had gained the nickname, Peerless Yue.
The person himself did not appreciate the nickname at all.
Gou Liang thought: Young man, be satisfied. At least your teacher didn’t name you Buqun.
He sat up. He didn’t reply to Yue Qian but said tepidly, “Pour me some water.”
Si Tu Shuang was angered by this matter-of-fact tone, “You!”
Yue Qian cooperatively poured him a cup of water with a smile on his face.
Yue Qian was exactly like how rumors depicted him—a warm gentleman who was upright like jade. Gou Liang sized him up. Although the other had sharp brows and piercing eyes, his thick and long lashes obscured the depths of his eyes. His generous offer of smiles melted the severity in his eyes—he looked just like a magnanimous and easy-going person…
Yue Qian handed him the water, “Miss, you were unconscious for three days and three nights. Fortunately, the poison has been eliminated, are you feeling better?”
“Not too bad.” Gou Liang smelled it cautiously. After confirming that there was no poison in it, he drank it before finally saying, “You saved me?”
Yue Qian nodded, “In what way did Miss provoke the Demonic Cult for the Left Guardian to be after your life?”
“Since when did the Demonic Cult need a reason to kill?” Gou Liang tossed him a lazy glance, “I have always heard that Yue Qian of the Southern Sword Sect possesses extraordinary martial arts. Were you able to lop his head off?”
Yue Qian was silent. For some reason, he felt like Gou Liang was looking at him with the word ‘useless’ written in his eyes.
Si Tu Shuang said huffily, “Oi, what kind of attitude is that! My Senior Brother saved you out of the goodness of his heart! We don’t want your gratitude, but how could you talk to my Senior Brother in such a tone!”
A girl was sensitive towards a beautiful person of the same sex and seeing Gou Liang belittle her most respected Senior Brother, she naturally would not stand for it. Before Yue Qian could stop her, Gou Liang stood up and walked over to her. He lifted her chin with a slender finger and stooped down, “Beauty, you’ll be more beautiful if you smiled.”
Si Tushuang’s face became thoroughly red, and she escaped in a fluster, “I-I’m going to call Martial Uncle Ji over.”
Gou Liang smiled broadly. He motioned Yue Qian to pour him more water while saying, “That beauty seems to like you a lot.”
Yue Qian replied good-naturedly, “Miss, you’re mistaken. My Junior Sister is young and inexperienced, if she acts rudely, I’ll have to ask you to be more forgiving.”
Gou Liang shot him a look. Sure she was young, the seed of her first love had germinated on her Senior Brother. But who could blame her, he was a Senior Brother who was not only handsome, gentle, and considerate, but a genius in martial arts. The bees he attracted were far more than a little girl entering puberty. Gou Liang pressed down the dissatisfaction welling in his chest and set down the cup, “I’m Ye Gui. Since you saved me, how should I repay you?”
Yue Qian, “Miss, you’re too polite. I didn’t do much so there’s no need.”
Gou Liang nodded his head calmly, “Remember your words. Since you have refused it yourself, I don’t owe you anything.”
Yue Qian: “…”
Eh, when Master talked about heroes saving damsels in distress, it didn’t go like this…