Chapter 33 Confession
“Ying’er! Meet me at the third floor of Xianfu Teahouse in the south. I have lots to tell you, so please do wait for me there and don’t go without meeting me!” Although Lyu Liang was not fully aware of what went wrong, he just felt something was amiss. When he saw Shangguan Ying ran down the stairs, he could only say those words directly from his heart without carefully thinking through them!
Lyu Liang had discoverd Xianfu Teahouse the first time he was walking around the market place. At that time, he was trying to look for a place where he could gather some information and seeing that the teahouse was filled with people going in and out, he decided to go in. Apart from Tianshui Pavilion, Xianfu Teahouse was about the only other place he had an impression on.
Shangguan Ying obviously paused for a second on the stairs, then continued down in a hurry. This and Lyu Liang feel even more anxious, now he was not sure if she would really wait for him at the teahouse.
Aunt Green sighed and shook her head, she thought to teach this lad a lesson, however she thought the better of it when she saw the look of yearning in Lyu Liang’s eyes as he watched Shangguan Ying’s back.
“Sigh, forget it. Let the younger generation handle their own problems,” Aunt Green thought, as she also descended the stairs afterwards.
By this time, Lyu Liang had somehow calmed down a little bit. He weighed the situation and finally decided to settle his purchases instead of running after Shangguan Ying. He would proceed to the teahouse within the next hour. If Shangguan Ying had made up her mind not to bother about meeting him, there would be no point running after her now.
“What’s happened to me? Wasn’t it only an upper grade Primordial Stones? Why am I feeling so happy? Why did I feel so disgusted when Senior Brother Li offered to buy me gifts?” Lyu Xinyun pondered. She was feeling both elated and perplexed simultaneously.
“I’m gone through these items and they are as per our requests. Have you counted the Premordial Stones to make sure I’ve given you the right amount? Ok, so we are good. How about the complementary magic treasure for Premordial Qi or Devil Qi? Don’t you have something like that in Tianshui Pavilion?” Lyu Liang had not given up enquiring about it even though it was not among the items the shopkeeper brought to him in the sack.
“Ha ha, don’t you be anxious! I will explain to you now. Look at this!” said the shopkeeper as he reached into his robe and took out three soot black bamboo sheets.
“You have come at the right time, my distinguished guests. You have just made it to Tianshui Pavilion’s once-in-three-months’ auction. The time for the auction will be tomorrow noon. Here are three invitation cards for you to participate in the auction. It will be at the sixth floor,” the shopkeeper pointed towards the sixth floor and reached into his coat again to take out three scrolls. He continued, “The complementary magic treasure you were inquiring about will be one of the auction items. You may have these three scrolls. In them are the information about the magic treasures on auction tomorrow.” The shopkeeper held out the three scrolls to Lyu Liang and his companions.
Delighted, Lyu Liang thought he had not made this trip in vain! He quickly kept the scroll. He planned to find a place to sit down and look through them carefully later.
“My distinguished guest, I suppose you will be participating in the auction? There are ten floors to our building and from the seventh floor up, there are rooms for our distinguished guests to stay over. If you have purchased our items from the forth or fifth floor, you are considered our distinguished guest. You may take a room upstairs to rest if you each pay one mid grade Premordial Stone!” The shopkeeper’s offer was just what Lyu Liang and his companions needed.
“Alright! Here are three mid grade Premordial Stones, please bring us upstairs!” After handing three mid grade Premordial Stones to the shopkeeper, the three followed him up to the seventh floor.
When they reached the seventh floor, three of them were amazed when they felt that the place was filled with a high concentration of Premordial Qi. Lyu Liang truly admired the founder of Tianshui Pavilion for being so thoughtful in the design of the Pavilion.
A housekeeper approached them and communicated with the shopkeeper with their Divine Sense. From there, the housekeeper took over to bring Lyu Liang and his companions into their designated room.
After they entered the room, the housekeeper handed Zhang Ran a golden ball and explained, “Dear guest, this is your room and this ball is a prohibition ball. Once in the room, you may stimulate its prohibiting effect using your Premordial Qi. In this way, the people outside the room will not be able to use their Divine Sense to sense what’s going inside side the room, neither can they enter your room without your permission.”
Zhang Ran could not wait to attempt his breakthrough in cultivation. When he was back in the hills, he had reached the bottleneck before acheiving the Early-stage of Foundation Establishment. At this moment when there was a much higher concentration of Primordial Qi, what better time to try to breakthrought?
The housekeeper led Lyu Liang and Lyu Xinyun further down the corridor until they reached the end where there was a much larger room than that which Zhang Ran had. The shopkeeper took out another prohibition ball and handed it to Lyu Liang. Smiling, he said, “This is the best room on the seventh floor and coincidental it is not occupied at the moment. You two may use it.” After giving these instructions, the shopkeeper turned to leave.
“Wait, are two of us sharing one room?” Lyu Liang thought it was not an appropriate arrangement.
“Of course! Are you thinking of having separate rooms?” the shopkeeper had come across many guests and he could sense that these two were not regular co-disciples.
Lyu Xinyun was blushing badly by now. She had bowed her head so low and was keeping very quiet. She did not know why she did not try to explain herself, because even with Yu Jun or Qi Lin, she would definitely make things clear if there was any misunderstanding. However, she was even feeling a bit of elation. She chose to remain silent before she could clarify her own sentiments.
“So this was crux of the problem! No wonder Shangguan Ying ran away when she saw us, but it goes to show she… “Finally Lyu Liang understood what Shangguan Ying’s reaction meant and he was thrilled at this revelation!
“Erm, I think you misunderstood it, Mr. shop-keeper. We two are blood brother and sister. I will let my sister have this room while you prepare another one for me please.” Lyu Liang handed the prohibition ball to Lyu Xinyun and looked at the shopkeeper expectantly.
“Oops I’m sorry, no wonder. I could feel that you have very similar aura that complement each other! So you are siblings! Alright, please follow me!” the housekeeper was all smiles again after he a short moment of hesitation.
While Lyu Xinyun was relieved at Lyu Liang’s clarification, she felt a sense of loss at the same time. In that instant, she called to mind Shangguan Ying’s beautiful face and Lyu Liang smitten look. Suddenly she had the urge to clarify this matter with Lyu Liang.
At this time, Lyu Liang was setting out with the housekeeper on the way to the other room. In desperation, Lyu Xinyun blurted out, “Senior brother! What is your relationship with the Fairy in red?” However, she regretted immediately, thinking that it was none of her business regardless of Lyu Liang’s relationship with that girl!
“Ah? Oh, haven’t you heard about what was going around in Immortal Palace? The story about how I exposed the ploy of the Great Dmon beast? In fact, this fairy and I went through that incident together and on that occasion she actually saved my life, but we were actually acquinted before that. There was no time for me to express my gratitude properly, so I will make it up to her later,” Lyu Liang said. What he said was the truth, except he had left out the part about his feeling of admiration for her.
Although Lyu Xinyun felt uneasy knowing that Lyu Liang was going to meet up with Shangguan Ying later, she did not say anything but went back to her room.
After the housekeeper brought Lyu Liang to his room and handed him the prohibition ball, Lyu Liang simply noted the room number and then ran down the stair in a hurry.
Since the entire market place was quite empty and Xianfu Teahouse was within the market place, Lyu Liang, mobilizing Kun Peng Skill to quicken his steps managed to reach the teahouse within an hour.
When he ran into the teahouse, Lyu Liang was surprised to find that the supposed croweded teahouse was empty apart from its shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was obviously stunned to see Lyu Liang.
Although Lyu Liang found it strange, he could not be bothered and went straight up to the second floor. Apart from three other waiters, there were no other people on the second floor as well. Lyu Liang proceeded upstairs to the third and finally he spotted Shangguan Ying, who was the only person there.
Lyu Liang was overjoyed to see her. He sat himself down facing Shangguan Ying and starred at her for a long time. A golden barrier arose all around them suddenly, which stunned Lyu Liang, but he quickly realized that it was barrier to block any outside disturbances as well as to protect them from being overheard.
…
When Shangguan Ying ran out from Tianshui Pavilion an hour ago, her heart had not stopped pounding hard. “How could he call me ‘Ying’er’ in front of so many people?! Oh, luckily it was a voice transmission so only I could hear it. Oh no, Aunt Green could hear it too!” That was her thoughts when she first left the pavilion and then, she contemplated whether to meet Lyu Liang at Xianfu Teahouse.
Shangguan Ying could not help but savor that sweet feeling in her heart whenever she thought about how Lyu Liang addressed her at ‘Ying’er’. Finally she bit the bullet and walked southwards to the teahouse.
Xianfu Teahouse was situated at a very conspicious location. It was basically the next biggest building after Tianshui Pavilion.
When Shangguan Ying first arrived, she was quickly attended by a waiter who was obviously stunned by her beauty. The waiter immediately brought her up to the third floor and said politely to her, “Please follow me to the VIP seats on the third floor. This must be the first time you are here. We have spiritual tea of immortal standard for you to enjoy!”
With such exceptional beauty, Shangguan Ying always became the focus of men around him and it was no exception here. Under the gaze of the man all around, Shangguan Ying could not help but blushed. Once on the third floor, she spotted a table with two seats by the window.
There were no many people on the third floor and there were still empty tables. It was observed that the guests on the third floor were cultured in their upbringing and behaved with elegance. The tables and seats on the third were apparently much more tasteful than those on the first and second floor. Moreover, each time a table was taken, a golden barrier arose to enclose the table and its seats so no Divine Sense could penetrate through the barrier.
In fact, the third floor was normally meant for higher level cultivators with high status. Although Shangguan Ying had only achieved the Gold Core Middle-stage cultivation level, the waiter, believing that she must be have come from a distinguished background from her appearance, naturally brought her to the third floor.
All of a sudden, the all the cultivator in the teahouse felt a short sharp pain in their head as they heard the severe voice of a lady loud and clear, saying, “Apart from the shopkeeper and the waiters, all the others are to disappear from the teahouse in 5 seconds, otherwise you will be destroyed!”
In the twinkling of eyes, the teahouse which was busy and crowded with people were left with three clueless waiters and a frightened looking shopkeeper. Shangguan Ying was still immersed in her thoughts and did not realize that she was the only guest left in the teahouse.
Subsequently all those who wanted to enter the teahouse were obstructed to enter by an invisible wall. That was why the shopkeeper was so surprised when Lyu Liang dashed in without hitting the wall.
…
Starring at Lyu Liang, who was smiling like an idiot, Shangguan Ying’s anger was immediately abated. “Didn’t you say you have a lot to say to me?” Shangguan Ying said softly as she lowered her head.
“Fairy Shang… Shangguan, I…” Lyu Liang stammered and was at a loss of words.
For some unknown reason, when Shangguan Ying heard Lyu Liang address herself as “Fairy Shangguang”, her heard sank. She responded reflexively, “Did you not call me Ying’er earlier?”
“Ah! Ying… Ying’er…” Lyu Liang quickly changed the way he addressed her.
“You! Who allowed you to call me that? Shame, shame on you…” said Shangguan Ying, who began to blush all the way down to her neck.
“Er… Fairy Ying’er, my two companions in the pavilion are my Junior Brother and Sister. You know my background. That girl is from the Lyu Family in Sishui…” Lyu Liang eventually managed to explain everything to her.
By the time Lyu Liang finished explaining, he was in tears. Similarly, Shangguan Ying’s tears had flowed down her cheeks as she could not bear to see the sadness in Lyu Liang. Moved by his grief, Shangguan Ying held on tightly to his palm, as she sincerely empathized with Lyu Liang’s plight of keeping his identity a secret from his relatives.
Lyu Liang was almost overcome by his emotions when he saw Shangguan Ying’s lovely countenence. Suddenly his courage and confidence was boosted and he reached out to Shangguan Ying’s hands and held on tightly to it, saying, “Ying’er, did you know that after we parted that day, you would appear in my vision whenever I close my eyes! I never knew how it felt to fell in love with someone, but I think this it how it felt! Unfortunately, I have a heavy burden to bear and before I accomplish my mission, I’m not qualified to enjoy this feeling of love! If I’m still alive after accomplishing my mission, I will ask for your hand even if you already have a partner! I will snatch you back from his hands!”
By now, Shangguan Ying’s cheeks were covered with tears. All she could do was to keep nodding.
Lyu Liang, who let out all his bottled-up emotion in one go, suddenly felt embarrassed. He softly said, “Of course if you’re unwilling, I will still give you my blessings…”
To Lyu Liang’s surprise, Shangguan Ying was first taken aback then feeling outraged, she glared at Lyu Liang and said, “Who says I’m unwilling?”