Man, You’ve Got My Attention
Shu Fu had always felt that, in this cultivation world, music cultivators were an exceptionally overpowered existence.
Sword qi, spells, poisons, spirit pets—most of them were tangible things. If you could see them, you could defend against them. Even when there was a huge gap in strength, you could still find a way to dodge.
But “sound” was colorless, odorless, and formless, yet somehow could reach anywhere and everywhere. Its power struck straight at the internal organs, and it was a wide-area AOE with absolutely no blind spots.
In terms of both concept and strength, it was practically cheating.
When “Jian × Fate III” first introduced the Changge Sect, players from the other sects must have had similar thoughts.
And Jiang Xuesheng made no attempt to hide the fact that he cultivated musical arts for only two reasons—
One was that it looked cool.
The other was that it was diao—badass.
Shu Fu: What are you even talking about?! .jpg
Of course, the strength of music cultivators varied from person to person. Shu Fu, for example, was weak as hell and relied entirely on the equipment bonuses from the Soulmoon Zither. If she were given an ordinary suona, her combat power would plummet, and she could only rely on how awful she sounded to provoke her opponent into suicide.
Conversely, once a music cultivator had achieved true mastery, like Jiang Xuesheng and Liu Ruyi, they could kill someone with the pluck of a finger.
For instance, Ling Fengqing was currently lying motionless on the ground, his face as pale as gold paper and his eyes tightly shut. He looked just like an ordinary corpse.
“First Young Master? First Young Master, wake up!”
Elder Shengyang had always been a firm supporter of the crown prince. In ordinary times, he had spared no effort to curry favor with the powerful and trample on the weak, all in the hope that First Young Master would successfully ascend the throne in the struggle for succession. Then he could claim credit for helping the new ruler—no, helping the phoenix chick—and trade it for eight hundred or a thousand beautiful young men.
His beautiful dream had one prerequisite: First Young Master could not kick the bucket.
Thus, the moment Ling Fengqing fell, Elder Shengyang and his lackeys rushed forward. They lifted him up with many hands, looking for all the world like a pack of devoted filial sons.
When Elder Shengyang checked his pulse, he found it chaotic, his qi sea churning, and his little heart struggling half-alive within his chest. Every so often it gave a violent twitch, making everyone’s internal organs clench in unison for fear that this precious heart might simply stop working.
Fortunately, although Ling Fengqing had been injured, his foundation was solid, and he had also been carrying quite a few defensive artifacts close to his body. They had neutralized a fair portion of the momentum behind Jiang Xuesheng’s magnificent strike. With plenty of good food and rest, it would not be difficult for him to recover completely.
Elder Shengyang felt somewhat relieved. He raised his head and shouted sternly, “Jiang Tan! You injured First Young Master and still want to leave unscathed?!”
“I do, actually. Why wouldn’t I?”
Jiang Xuesheng looked down at him coldly, calmly folding his hands behind his back. “We’re leaving now. What are you going to do about it?”
“You…”
Elder Shengyang wanted to challenge him, but he knew he could not deal with both Jiang Xuesheng and Liu Ruyi at once. So he turned toward Elder Huayue, who had yet to show himself, and goaded him, “Huayue, they’ve ridden straight to the gates of Lingxiao City. Are you still not going to act? If the sect master finds out—”
“If the sect master finds out, he’ll praise me for considering the greater good and refusing to drag Lingxiao City’s dignity even lower.”
Xie Fangnian paused for a moment, then let out a soft sigh.
“Ah, no, that’s not quite right. On closer inspection, Lingxiao City’s dignity seems to have already hit rock bottom. There’s nowhere left for it to fall. In that case, I suppose there’s no harm in my appearing.”
A soft rustling came from behind the carriage curtains. A hand with long, slender fingers, fair as jade, emerged from within, forming a stark contrast with Elder Shengyang’s black, chicken-claw-like hand.
Then a streak of light flashed past, and a wheelchair appeared on the ground.
It was neither gold nor jade, but simple in design, carrying the fresh fragrance unique to natural wood. It seemed to have been carved from some sort of spirit wood.
After the wheelchair landed, the layers of curtains stirred despite the absence of wind. Elder Huayue—Xie Fangnian’s figure was like a wisp of breeze, passing silently and without a trace through the crowd.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared before everyone, as though the moisture borne on the wind had condensed into human form.
“Master Tanhua, and all you young friends.”
He inclined his head slightly. “Huayue’s body is crippled and unable to rise to offer proper greetings. Please forgive me.”
“…”
Shu Fu stared at him without blinking, momentarily lost in thought.
Strictly speaking, she had traveled throughout the cultivation world for years and had seen plenty of beautiful people, each with their own unique charm.
Jiang Xuesheng and Liu Ruyi went without saying. The little merfolk Si Fei was delicate and lovely; the old green snake Wu Yao was dashing and handsome; the headmaster Qi Yexin was aloof and otherworldly; and her sworn brother Ji Shaoguang was gentle and refined…
When she counted them all up, the beautiful people around her were practically endless. Their quality and variety rivaled those in an otome game from her previous life.
And yet she slept with her sword in her arms every night, having practically made the Solitary Radiance Sword her cultivation partner. She was truly wasting an abundance of natural resources.
Even Shu Fu, however, had never seen a beauty like Xie Fangnian.
When he spoke softly from behind the curtains, the beauty of his voice and the gentleness of his tone instinctively brought Liu Ruyi to mind. Yet the sharp, barbed flirtation in his words gradually overlapped with Jiang Xuesheng’s image.
In truth, he resembled no one.
The first time Shu Fu saw him, a sentence inexplicably surfaced in her mind, one she seemed to remember reading in Dream of the Red Chamber:
“I am a melancholy, sickly man, while you are a beauty capable of overthrowing kingdoms.”
Applied to Xie Fangnian, it would be:
“He is both the beauty capable of overthrowing kingdoms and the melancholy, sickly man.”
Xie Fangnian was not short. Among men, he could even be considered tall and slender. Yet his pallor and emaciation were immediately apparent. His face was perpetually sickly, his body thin and frail, like a clothes rack made of bones. Combined with the fact that he was sunk into a wheelchair, he looked like a small, fragile bundle.
His bloodless face resembled a mound of snow, and his pale, clear eyes were crystalline as ice. Yet they did not make people feel cold. Instead, he seemed delicate and unreal, as though he might melt beneath the sunlight at any moment.
The people of Lingxiao City regarded themselves as “descendants of phoenixes and dragons,” and all of them dressed in gold and jade. Xie Fangnian, however, was different. He wore only a plain white inner robe and a moon-white outer coat. Around his wrist was wrapped a thin chain woven from tiny white flowers—not a spirit plant or magical artifact, but merely a string of ordinary jasmine flower balls.
Just as he lifted his eyes to look toward Shu Fu, he suddenly bent forward and pressed a hand to his chest, coughing softly once or twice. A trace of red seeped from his pale lips.
Elder Shengyang was startled. “Huayue, how were you injured? Could it be that you weren’t merely standing by just now, but secretly opposing them with spiritual power…”
“That is not the case.”
Xie Fangnian took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the corner of his lips. His gaze swept across Shu Fu’s face as he said gently, “It was because this young friend played the zither so terribly. I felt as though a fine instrument had been burned and a crane boiled, and my heart was filled with anguish. I accidentally bit through my lip. Ah, to take such a fine instrument and play it into this miserable state—you truly are a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy. Any instrument refiner who heard it would go hang himself.”
Shu Fu: “…”
All right. Let’s just murder him.
Just because of that one sentence, the sliver of pity she had felt for Xie Fangnian beneath his frail exterior vanished in an instant, transformed entirely into a blazing fury.
Fuck you. Even my master has never cursed me like that!
Though it was true!
Though it was very, very true!!!
“Fu’er, don’t be angry. The Po’yue qin is in your hands. Whether you want to use it to smash someone or fluff cotton with it, that’s entirely up to you.”
Jiang Xuesheng watched with amusement. Reaching out, he pulled Shu Fu behind him, then stepped forward himself. He examined Xie Fangnian’s features and expression carefully, pondered for a moment, and said meaningfully,
“You were born a beauty. Why sully yourself by associating with vermin?”
Xie Fangnian was quick-witted and understood at once. He lifted his head and answered with a smile. “I was entrusted with a task, and I must see it through.”
“Entrusted by whom? And whose task must you see through?”
Xie Fangnian replied frankly, “Ling Shanhai, Lord of Lingxiao City. He once helped me, so I’m merely repaying the favor.”
“Why?”
“For the yuanchu.”
“How is this for the yuanchu?”
“It’s quite simple. Sect Master Ling has spent his entire life wishing for the divine bird yuanchu to reappear in the mortal world and regain its former glory. Advancing in cultivation, expanding territory, and producing offspring—all of these count as ‘for the yuanchu.’”
Xie Fangnian propped his chin on one hand. His smile was gentle, but his eyes held no more warmth than sunlight in winter as they swept over the unconscious Ling Fengqing.
“In his heart, bloodline is more important than anything else. So long as the yuanchu bloodline can be passed on, he doesn’t care whether the soul within is pure gold or rotten cloth.”
“So I still have to preserve this sack of rotten cloth. Master Tanhua, could you do me the favor of letting him live one more day?”
“……”
Both sides were intelligent people. Now that things had been spelled out so clearly, there was no need to probe any further.
With only a few words, Xie Fangnian had revealed the full state of affairs in Lingxiao City:
Ling Shanhai was devoted to reviving the yuanchu and spoiled his descendants, granting his two precious sons—Ling Xiyue excluded—whatever they wanted. Although Ling Fengqing’s actions had not been ordered by his father, they had been tacitly approved and indulged.
If anything happened to Ling Fengqing, Ling Shanhai would not let the matter rest. Everyone present would be caught up in no small amount of trouble. With the slightest misstep, the incident could escalate into a clash between two factions, leaving a million corpses in its wake and rivers of blood.
That was why Xie Fangnian had proposed waiting one more day.
As for what would happen after that day, no one could say.
Jiang Xuesheng considered the matter briefly and reached his own conclusion, but he did not answer at once. Instead, he turned to Shu Fu and asked, “Fu’er, what do you think?”
Shu Fu replied readily, “Fine. Tomorrow, we’ll settle our grudges openly and honorably on the arena, in front of everyone under heaven. That has been my wish all along.”
“And one more thing…”
She glared at Xie Fangnian in irritation. “I’d also like Elder Xie to see for himself whether my qin music really can make someone hang themselves.”
Before she had even finished speaking, Xie Fangnian once again furrowed his brows and pressed a hand to his heart, coughing weakly over and over.
“I’m sorry, but please don’t make me remember it again. Just thinking about it makes my heart ache as though it were being twisted, and my innards burn as though they were on fire. I feel as if it might give rise to a heart demon. If I had to listen to it a few more times, I might lose all hope of ever reaching the Great Dao in this lifetime…”
Shu Fu: “……”
Man, you’ve got my attention.
Ever since I transmigrated, all the masters of verbal abuse in the world have been my brothers. You’re the first person who’s dared to curse me.
……
After Jiang Xuesheng and Xie Fangnian reached an agreement, neither side continued to hound the other. They each went their separate ways, returning to their respective homes and families.
Elder Shengyang was a hundred times unwilling to let the matter go. However, he was alone and outnumbered, so he had no choice but to throw out a few standard villainous threats, carefully hoist Ling Fengqing onto his back, and return to Yao City to have him treated.
Once everything had come to an end, Zhao Yun and the fox girls immediately swarmed around the still-shaken Ling Qingyue, surrounding her with concern and asking after her welfare with great enthusiasm.
The female demons had always been sympathetic toward girls who had suffered misfortune.
Ye Shusheng watched, completely bewildered. They were all strangers, so why had he and Ling Qingyue received such completely different treatment?
Could this be what Shu Fu had once called “gender discrimination”?
Xiao Tieyi patted him lightly on the shoulder and smiled. “All right, don’t just stand there. I’ve heard that you’ve been through quite a lot these past few years, and I’d really like to hear about it. Why don’t we find somewhere to sit? The girls are all occupied at the moment, so you don’t have to worry about them making things difficult for you.”
Ye Shusheng scratched his head and gave an awkward laugh. “It was actually nothing much. I only did two things these past few years. First, I diligently tempered my body. Second, I traveled across the world looking for you… How about I tell you how I tempered my body?”
“……”
Shu Fu really couldn’t bear to listen any longer. Her fists clenched and unclenched several times before she finally interrupted, “Not to put too fine a point on it, Ye Shusheng, you—”
—Could you at least tell her about the second thing?!
“Sure. Tell me about tempering your body.”
Xiao Tieyi agreed immediately. “Come on. I hear the winter mushroom chicken stew at Hundred Blossoms Tower is excellent. We fox demons like that sort of thing, as you know. Do you have anything you don’t eat? Or any particular cuisine you prefer? If you’re hungry right now, I have some pastries made by my little sister. I can quietly give you some to tide you over. Just don’t let her find out.”
Shu Fu: “………………”
Seriously, had Ye Shusheng saved the world in his previous life?
Was he actually the female lead?
“What? Jealous?”
Seeing her stare at Ye Shusheng with her mouth hanging open, Jiang Xuesheng couldn’t help laughing. He called out to her teasingly, “Come on. I’ll treat you today too—and I won’t bring your senior brothers.”
Only then did Shu Fu snap back to reality. She asked casually, “Where are we going?”
“To the place where Perfected He Meng of the Tianyan Sect is staying. We’re going to catch a blue chicken and figure out how to cook it.”
