After Yalan left, Miaozhen elbowed him for the third time: “First Brother, time for you to shine?”
“Shine what?” He gave her the side-eye.
She smiled back: “Of course to capture our Junior Sister. Don’t you see, that Poison King is here, he’s in love with her for a long time now and was courting her for who knows how long? This is a good chance for him because she needs help.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Li Qiye shook his head, not caring about the matter.
She circled around him while blabbering: “You can’t put it like that. As the adage goes - keep the goodies within the family. Second Sister is so pretty and talented on top of being kind, where else are you going to find a girl like her? How can we let that jerk from Everlasting win her?”
Li Qiye looked at her and said: “Are you trying to protect your sister or just want to antagonize Everlasting?”
“Both.” Miaozhen wasn’t embarrassed after being figured out and said: “A girl like Second Sister should marry a genius in Longevity Valley, such as yourself, First Brother. As for Everlasting? Hmph, I’m annoyed by those pretenders long ago. It’s my responsibility to take them down a notch.”
She didn’t try to hide it at all. Of course, this wasn’t a personal feud of hers. Everlasting considered themselves the strongest lineage in the system and had wanted to take over Longevity Valley for a long time now. The ambition was there, the only thing stopping them was fear of the unknown.
As the First Sister and in spite of her playful demeanor, she had insight beyond her peers. That’s why she was very cautious about this sect.
“That still has nothing to do with me.” Li Qiye shook his head again.
“Who says? You’re the First Disciple of the Valley, so you bear the responsibility of protecting it, am I wrong here?” She glared at him and angrily said.
Li Qiye rubbed his chin: “That might be true, but I don’t think flirting is part of the description. Of course, if you want to take Everlasting down a notch, you need to give me something good. As the adage goes, money can buy anything.”
“Hmm, it’s probably not that hard. Let me destroy that Poison King’s morale, then if necessary, you’ll win Second Sister over. Our jewel can’t be given to an outsider.” She said.
“Win her over?” He smirked: “I normally don’t do something like this, unless it’s a buy one get one. If I take your Second Sister, do I get the First Sister too?”
“In your dream.” She blushed. A bold girl was still bashful when this type of topic came up.
She scowled: “You’re quite greedy for wanting a harem, how lowly! Hmph, if you want both of us sisters, you need to contribute first. If you destroy Everlasting, not to mention just me, you can marry all three of us!” [1]
This might be a joke but she certainly considered Everlasting to be a threat, hoping that her First Brother would be able to do something.
“My heart is beating so fast now, hugging all three beauties together? Such romantic luck.” He smiled.
“Hmph, you can daydream once you take down Everlasting. But before that, it’ll only be a grand dream.” She felt her face becoming hot and retorted. [2]
“Looks like you think quite highly of me, confident that I can destroy Everlasting. I didn’t know I was so capable, I’m so overwhelmed from earning the love of a beauty.” Li Qiye joked back.
Of course, he didn’t look overwhelmed at all.
“No need to talk so much.” She said: “Not just anyone can be the First Disciple of Longevity. Master’s wisdom is impossible to fathom.”
She declared it without any hesitation, showing her absolute confidence in her master.
“I feel like I’m walking on air now after all the praise.” He smiled: “However, if I’m truly so amazing, then I can’t marry just anyone. Even princesses and goddesses can only be my feet-washing maids.”
“No time to waste, the enemy is knocking on our doors already, go and break him already.” She ignored whether he agrees or not before dragging him out again.
Meanwhile, Mu Yalan was personally greeting the Poison King from Everlasting, Huang Quanwei. [3]
“Senior Brother Huang, thank you for taking the long journey.” Yalan cupped her fist. Her attitude was polite yet distant.
She always acted like this regardless of the situation, maintaining a distance with everyone else.
“It’s perfectly fine, even if I was farther away, I would fly after hearing your invitation, Junior Sister Mu. All the troubles are nothing.” He excitedly said with a pair of eyes filled with love and greed. He could stare at her forever without getting bored.
Despite his grand title, he was still very young, looking quite dashing with his white robe just like a scholar. However, because he surrounded himself with poisonous creatures all year long, he had a sinister aura that makes others shudder uncontrollably.
He was a disciple from Everlasting and the Junior Brother of Miracle. Nevertheless, their two paths were different.
His research was on medicine but this derailed into poisonous grasses and insects.
His crush on Yalan was no secret. Moreover, he thought quite highly of himself and believed that he was a good match for her. Plus, his background from Everlasting meant that he was a proper groom for Longevity Valley.
The seniors from Everlasting approved as well. If he could marry a genius from Longevity, it was all pros and no cons for their kingdom.
“I have a patient from a side-branch of the sect. He accidentally got poisoned while finding some medicines in a ravine. This poison is quite fierce and I can’t remove it completely. You are the best in this aspect, so please help.” She said slowly.
She was in charge of the hall and normally didn’t participate in curing regular illnesses. However, this was an elder of a side-branch. She tried several times and failed, only able to stabilize the wound and stop further spreading.
She had no choice but to ask Huang Quanwei for help.
“Everlasting and Longevity are family, so I will help you with everything I got, even if it means jumping into a boiling cauldron.” He said while his eyes couldn’t avert from her beautiful face.
“I hope you will be able to cure the elder.” She gently nodded.
At this time, the duo of mischief made it in. Miaozhen smiled and said: “We’ll also see the elder and see how he is doing.”
Quanwei didn’t dare to show any slight and cupped his fist after seeing her: “Ah, Senior Sister Fan, long time no see. I’m sure your pill-making skills have improved by leaps and bounds.”
Miaozhen rarely left the valley but she enjoyed a great status in the system.
“No way comparable to your poison skill, Junior Brother Huang.” Miaozhen was acting respectable and elegant right now: “Nothing can be better than your presence. Looks like the elder will be just fine, we were worrying for nothing.”
He quickly responded: “You’re too kind. As long as the elder is indeed poisoned, and I don’t mean to brag, I will have an antidote.”
He arched his chest proudly after finishing the sentence. Of course, this was well-deserved. No one in the young generation was on the same level as him, hence the reason why he was the Poison King.
“Good.” Miaozhen nodded: “I planned to ask First Brother on checking it out, looks like there is no need to trouble him now.”
Yalan stared at Li Qiye for a bit. She didn’t know whose idea it was. Perhaps Miaozhen was dragging him into this mess. After all, she was aware of Miaozhen’s cautious attitude towards Everlasting.
“This gentleman is…?” Quanwei finally noticed Li Qiye.
1. “Wanting a harem” is a weird choice of an idiom from the author. A literal translation would be - “wanting the happy fate of the man from Qi”. This was a tale about a man who had a wife and a concubine, so it became an expression for a man wanting multiple loves, or a sarcastic/jealous retort (in this case). This would make sense in a modern city novel, where everyone is expected to know this tale. However, this is the Xianxia world where earth and the old dynasties from China and these tales do not exist. Using it here is acceptable to Chinese readers, because the expression transcended the historical accuracy and became part o the daily vernacular. For an English reader, this isn’t the case and can be jarring/confusing. I changed it to harem for readability, but know the origin of the phrase and why I chose to change it
2. Wow, another historical idiom. The literal translation would be “grand dream from Spring and Autumn. Spring and Autumn was a period of six kingdoms before unification by Qin. The dreams here were the dreams of the rulers, wanting to be the strongest of the six and that’s their goal. However, Qin’s ruler had a much clearer goal - destroy the others to unite China. Thus, this expression is about having unrealistic ideas and dreams
3. This guy has a super grand name. Huang = king, Quanwei = authority and prestige