Ch54 - After the disaster

The Demonic Sect was a little stunned. They didn’t understand why Chi Yan had suddenly drawn back.

Chi Yan himself had a belly full of fire.

He clenched one of his hands, whose palm still retained the mark left by Xie Zhiwei four years ago before his death. He had spent years trying to get rid of it, but his efforts only intensified the effects on his spiritual power. At such a crucial moment, it still…

Qiu Chongyun stepped next to him and said, “Could it be that the saint sovereign has a different plan?”

Xie Zhiwei really wanted to make a splash, but he knew he’d be exposed as soon as he made a move. Thankfully, he’d plotted against Chi Yan four years ago and could use this against him now.

He said deliberately, “The Buddhist sect has deep ties with the King of Nine Provinces. He’s heard news and will send reinforcements here very soon. Even if you have any plans, the Buddhist sect has no fear.”

Chi Yan’s eyes flickered slightly before he sneered. “Good. This Seat will wait until everyone’s here before smashing them again.”

Boast all you want, you’re probably pissing in fear right now, Xie Zhiwei thought.

Qiu Chongyu was also doubtful. “Saint sovereign, are we really falling back? We haven’t gotten Golden Lotus yet, aren’t you—?”

“Shut up. When was it your turn to point out this Seat’s matters?” Chi Yan was like a paper tiger reprimanding Qiu Chongyun. At last he accumulated enough spiritual power to summon Red Lotus, whose petals slowly opened a portal in the sky.

Qiu Chongyun said nothing, but the cloud of suspicion in her eyes never dissipated. The monks watched with sadness and anger. A few who couldn’t bear the crisis had already fallen to their knees with bitter tears before the Mahavira Hall. Du Sheng was still staring at the ashes with a dull gaze. This time, the Buddhist sect had suffered far more severely than the daoist sect in the past. Xie Zhiwei only managed to save him, but the other two monks had been burnt to ashes with the hall.

Still, this was already much better than the original novel where the fire had completely obliterated the Buddhist sect and Golden Lotus fell into Chi Yan’s hands until the hero snatched it away.

…this is bad, where does the plot go from here?

In the original novel, the hero killed Chi Yan to eliminate evil as a form of natural righteousness. But right now Golden Lotus was still in Du Sheng’s hands. If the hero wanted Golden Lotus, he could only ask for it from the Buddhist sect. That would be tricky. How can a black-hearted white lotus like the hero purposely OOC himself?

Xie Zhiwei was still basking in his guilt when Tantai Meng sprang up and exclaimed to Chi Yan, “Demon, I’ll definitely get revenge for the Buddhist sect one day!”

Her words were immediately echoed by all of the monks. Du Sheng didn’t react, but his hand clenched around his Zen staff.

Chi Yan snickered at the hatred from all sides. “With your lot?”

Qiu Chongyun followed suit and covered her mouth with a light laugh.

Tantai Meng’s eyes were stern and awe-inspiring. “Everyone in the world wants to punish the vicious demon head. Even without the skills to take revenge, I, Tantai Meng, will repay any high level expert who does in my stead for the rest of my life!”

Xie Zhiwei was tickled by her vow. Aiya sis, you said it yourself. With words like that, even I’ll help the hero kill Chi Yan ASAP.

…but I can’t leave right now and the hero’s being all mysterious deploying his forces. How do I reach that goal?

The portal in the sky had almost reached maximum size. Chi Yan withdrew Red Lotus and said to Qiu Chongyun, “What are you doing just standing around? Are you going to let that girl keep yapping?”

“Right,” Qiu Chongyun said quickly as she turned. Red silk wound snake-like around her fingers as she smiled at Tantai Meng gently. “This flower-like-jade little sister, do you hear that? My family’s saint sovereign doesn’t like those who keep yapping. Don’t blame big sister for this, oh.”

Tantai Meng looked askance at her, her expression cold from the pure loathing in her eyes. At last, Xie Zhiwei saw a shadow of her original novel self. Although it was more fun seeing a spat between women than men, Xie Zhiwei knew these two would only fight with shadows and blades. There wouldn’t be any hair pulling or clothes ripping; the current Tantai Meng was also no match for Qiu Chongyun at all.

“Wait,” Xie Zhiwei said.

“Eh, does this benevolent gentleman pity the fair jade?” Qiu Chongyun looked over with a gaze wrapped in poisonous needles.

Xie Zhiwei smiled faintly before realizing making any expressions behind his mask was a waste of time. So he simply raised his arm and did a few movements. In a flash, the hairpin in his hand had darted past Qiu Chongyun towards Chi Yan. This caught Chi Yan off guard, but with his flow of spiritual energy broken, he had no way to deflect the attack. In the end, he was forced to catch it in his palm.

Seeing this, Qiu Chongyun’s eyes flashed before she lowered her head and said, “Saint sovereign, I never expected this rogue cultivator to be so brash, he actually…”

“A paltry thing like this…hmph,” Chi Yan’s face sank as he prepared to snap the hairpin in half.

“The Demon Lord certainly pities the fair jade, picking up your subordinate’s beloved hairpin,” Xie Zhiwei remarked. He had to give this fellow an excuse to extricate himself. The man needed to live until the hero showed up, ah!

As expected, Chi Yan’s movements halted in thought.

Qiu Chongyun’s lips quirked up inexplicably before she broke into a charming laugh. Bowing towards Chi Yan, she said, “This subordinate thanks the saint sovereign.”

“Mm,” Chi Yan casually tossed over her hairpin.

The Demonic Sect quickly retreated before infuriated looks. The moment the crack in the sky closed up, Xie Zhiwei heard curses coming from far away.

“Xie Zhiwei…when we kill our way back to Yujing Sect one day, this Seat will destroy your bones to ashes!” His tone was so morbid that it raised one’s hairs on end.

Tantai Meng grew curious. “Bixu zhenren has already been dead for years, but the demon head still won’t spare him. To be so angry…what do today’s events have to do with Bixu zhenren?”

Xie Zhiwei was half crouched by Du Sheng’s side to inspect his wounds and pretended not to hear. He failed four years ago and failed again four years later. Two smackdowns ruined all because of the same person, you tell me whether he’s mad or not.

But there was no time to be smug. Chi Yan was so impatient to invade today that the mark on his palm must be getting out of control. He could only use the “rebirth” powers of Golden Lotus to heal himself, so the Demonic Sect might re-invade at any time.

After looking over the injuries, Xie Zhiwei discovered that Du Sheng’s internal organs had been hurt. In fact, there were few uninjured amongst the entire Buddhist sect. Tantai Meng brought over a bowl of water and wanted to let Du Sheng drink to catch his breath, but the monk’s face was dead as ashes as he continued to stare at the ruins of the great hall.

“My condolences, Great Master,” Xie Zhiwei said.

Du Sheng looked at him blankly before finally shaking his head. “This poor monk needs no condolences. This poor monk is indignant.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

Du Sheng clutched his staff and said with a trembling voice, “This poor monk’s long-cherished wish was to pass away before the Buddha, but I didn’t expect the Demonic Sect to destroy the statue today! My two senior brothers should’ve died a good death with the Buddha statue, but they…” he paused as tears flooded his eyes. “They didn’t take me with them…”

Tantai Meng bit her lip before sending the bowl of water. “Master, disciple will definitely help you get revenge!”

Xie Zhiwei silently turned his head away.

Isn’t this master and disciple pair getting sidetracked, hey?!

He heard Du Sheng add, “I have never met this gentleman, but you were willing to save us. From now on, you are the benefactor of the entire Buddhist sect.”

Xie Zhiwei was humble. “There’s no need for that.”

But Du Sheng was insistent. “Don’t shirk, Benefactor. Our Buddhist sect always repays kindnesses, so you must agree.”

“Then, all right.”

….what is this miserly old monk going to repay me with?

Du Sheng forced himself to liven up and stood with Tantai Meng’s support. “Meng-er, the Buddhist sect is in dire need of recovery after the disaster. Master cannot extricate myself, so the important task of repaying our benefactor will be left to you.”

—

“This is for you.”

“It’s so pretty, but…it’s too expensive. I can’t accept it, Benefactor.” Tantai Meng shook open the dress and examined it with some trepidation.

Xie Zhiwei’s voice was gentle. “No matter. It’s already been bought, so wear it.”

Tantai Meng hesitated before happily running off to change clothes. Xie Zhiwei nodded with a smile while silently cursing Du Sheng in his heart. He swore he sympathized with the old monk at first. But that was only at first.

Hell knows why his idea of repayment was to stuff Tantai Meng at him to “protect the Benefactor,” but never give her a single cent. How was this any different from trying to get a free meal? Forget it, he had to think of the big picture. She was his apprentice daughter-in-law. Raising her white and chubby should make the hero happy, ah.

The saying that “girls look good in white” was true. When Tantai Meng changed to white robes, her whole temperament changed. Xie Zhiwei couldn’t resist looking a few more times, scouring his memory for the white-robed disciple and expanding it again and again to see if he had any CP (pairing) sparks with Tantai Meng. But no matter how he tried, he could only recall Mu He’s red-rimmed eyes and the blood trailing by his lips. The image of him in white robes was nothing more than a blur.

Before they set off, Tantai Meng suddenly stopped and looked at the street corner. There was the stall where she bought the sugar figurine for the little beggar a few days ago. Coincidentally, that same little beggar was shrinking under the tree and looking at the seller. Gold, silken strands of melted sugar was skillfully twisted into various shapes, and the sweet scent of caramel could be smelled from a distance. The little beggar saw Tantai Meng and brightened immediately.

“Big sister!” As soon as he spoke, he began to drool.

Tantai Meng shook her head helplessly but wore a doting expression. “Benefactor, please wait for me a moment.”

“Go ahead,” Xie Zhiwei understood.

The stall vendor looked up. “Oh, today’s Miss…looks very pretty.”

The little beggar ran over and declared, “Big sister always looks good.”

Tantai Meng smiled slightly while the vendor shoved a sugar figurine into the boy’s hands. “This monkey sure knows how to talk. Here, eat yourself instead.”

The little beggar accepted the monkey-shaped candy while making a face, but didn’t rush to eat. He raised it up and said, “Big sister, you eat.”

Tantai Meng waved her hand. “I don’t like sweets. You should hurry and eat it instead.”

The little beggar promised before stuffing it into his mouth.

Xie Zhiwei caught up and murmured, “You even put sugar in your porridge, so why say you don’t like sweets?”

“I…” Tantai Meng’s expression shook. Her money pouch was all out of coins.

Xie Zhiwei said, “Pick one you like, I’ll treat you.”

Tantai Meng’s heart warmed. “Then thank you, Benefactor.” She picked through the selection of sugar figurines, showing a rare girlishness. Xie Zhiwei couldn’t help browsing the wares with her and suddenly paused to take one down.

Tantai Meng looked at his stick. “So Benefactor likes eating lobster-shaped ones.”

Xie Zhiwei wanted to speak when a crisp female voice interjected, “Great, it took no time at all! This is a ready-made lobster! How much? This commandery princess wants it.”

—

The author has something to say: The little commandery princess is online, can Wood Box be far behind~?

Translator’s Note: In case anyone’s concerned, there is no shipping between Tantai Meng and Xie Zhiwei, they’re a straightforward bodyguard + Benefactor relationship. But she is a lovely person and one of my favorite characters in the story, which is rare since plenty of danmei prefer to make females act b*tchy for some reason. She’s also a big reason why I chose to translate this novel, so I hope you like her too! Daughter material 200%! <3