The next day, when Fu Yiyun got up, he found that both Liu Xu and Meteor were missing.
His first thought was that Liu Xu had been kidnapped.
He anxiously went downstairs to ask if anyone saw her.
Quite a few people had at least some impression of her.
After all, it was hard for most people to forget pretty, refined young ladies with glib tongues.But the result he got from asking caused Fu Yiyun to be shocked.
Last night, someone had gone out to drink. On the way back, he just so happened to catch Liu Xu hurriedly leaving the inn.
Because the man had drunk too much, he hadn’t been able to ascertain if she had Meteor with her.
But since it had been lost in the inn despite so many people around, there was an 80% chance that Liu Xu was the one who’d stolen it.
Even if one person didn’t notice a stranger entering the inn, someone should have, right?
Fu Yiyun had Meteor in his possession even before he became famous. Few knew of his true identity and background. They only knew that his sword technique was impeccable, which led to him becoming the number one swordsman.
Yet this number one swordsman now had his sword stolen by a woman...Even if now was the time to put aside internal strife to face against external threats, there were still some people secretly looking to watch a good show.
Fu Yiyun didn’t have the energy to deal with their mockery. He didn’t understand. Just how had he let Liu Xu down for her to steal his sword?
His chest tightened and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. “Pfft!”
“Sir Fu!”
“How come you spat blood?! Quick! Call the physician! Help Sir Fu up first!”
The crowd fell into chaos.
......
The Demon Sect was currently under siege, but the besiegers discovered that they couldn’t actually scale the mountain.
They could see the path up, but after following it, they’d always come back right where they started.
“The hell? No matter how we walk, we always end up right back where we started.”
“Getting lost and circling around[1]?”
They gathered together, their gazes odd as they stared at the path not far from them.
“It’s a divination technique.” As the Alliance Head, Shen Xingyang was naturally here. He was the calmest out of everyone.
Beside him stood the Village Head of Jadewater Village. He spoke in response to Shen Xingyang’s words. “I didn’t expect the Demon Sect to be so brimming with talent.”
Divination techniques were one of the more mysterious aspects of jianghu. Once everyone else heard Shen Xingyang’s words, they quietened down. None of them were well-versed in this subject.
“The Demon Sect isn’t that easy to attack.” Shen Xingyang sighed.
‘That lady called Wu Zheng... If not for these people, I wouldn’t even have come here.’
“Alliance Head, do you have any ideas?”
Shen Xingyang shook his head. It wasn’t as if he knew divination, what could he do?
Village Head Zhong looked at Shen Xingyang, a gleam in his eyes.
“Should we try attacking with fire?” Divination techniques relied on external objects to form. If they just burned down the whole mountain, they’d be able to break in, wouldn’t they?
Shen Xingyang didn’t speak. ‘As if it’s that easy to break.’
But since they had no other choice, they could only try.
They were successful in starting the fire...but only up to a certain point. The fire was halted before it could get very far.
It was as if there was some invisible boundary there. Despite the blazing inferno outside, the plant life past the boundary didn’t catch so much as a spark.
Just as the people outside were feeling puzzled, several human figures appeared on the limestone path. They stopped one step away from the fire and gestured at it.
“Sect Master was right. The fire really can’t get in.”
“Sect Master is awesome. She even said that they can’t come in to attack us. I wonder if it’s true. Wanna test it out?”
“Who’s going to be responsible if we die?”
“You dumb? Why would you stand there and let them hit you? Don’t you know how to run back?”
Hence, the people outside found themselves being challenged. But their attacks could only reach as far as the fire, and would sometimes even bounce back at them.
“Fuck! What kind of men are you to hide inside there?! Get the hell out here if you’ve got the balls!”
“Demon Sect brats, get out here! Grandpa’s waiting for you!”
The Demon Sect members all flipped him the bird before exchanging looks and running back up the mountain.
“You turtle grandsons! What’re you running for?! Can you hide in there forever?!”
Their insults got louder and louder, but no one appeared on the path. Just as they were planning to stop, a large crowd of Demon Sect members rushed down from above.
The orthodox sects, “...” ‘What’s going on?’
Well, whatever it was, having someone around to cuss at was better than no one. Hence, the crowd’s insults got even louder, hoping to agitate them into coming out of their ‘shell’.
But it was no use. The Demon Sect members merely stood on the mountain path, not even retorting, just pointing at the people outside.
“That dark-skinned one only knows how to call us turtle grandsons. If he doesn’t know how to insult people, then he shouldn’t! Isn’t he just shaming himself?”
“How come I don’t see that little whiteface Fu Yiyun?”
“From what I heard, he seems to be on the verge of death.”
The other sect members all turned to look at the person who spoke.
The man spoke rather cockily, “I heard it’s because of a woman. Ah right, did you guys know that he has a really awesome identity?”
“Hey, Er Gou Zi[2], how did you hear about all of this when we’ve all been on the mountain the entire time?” Someone interrupted.
Ever since their Sect Master had sealed this mountain off, no one had ever left.
“I snuck out at night to eavesdrop.” The one called Er Gou Zi chuckled.
“Pretty bold ah!”
“Don’t interrupt! Let me speak.” Er Gou Zi gestured for them to quieten down.
“I heard that Fu Yiyun is the Ninth Prince, the son of that once world-famous number-one beauty.”
“Ninth Prince?”
“Sect Master.”
The crowd cleared a path for her to walk through. Shi Sheng descended the stairs and walked over. “Fu Yiyun belongs to the imperial clan?”
‘A prince... Woah!’
This hadn’t been in the plot, so Shi Sheng had naturally been unaware.
Er Gou Zi scratched his head. “Sect Master, I overheard this from them. I don’t know the details.”
Shi Sheng didn’t continue this topic. She looked outside. The people outside seemed to have caught sight of her, for they all stopped cussing and directed their collective gazes towards her.
“Sect Master, when are we going to attack?” ‘We can’t just let them surround us forever, can we?’
“You guys can go if you want to, I’m not stopping you.” Shi Sheng rolled her eyes at the person who asked the question. “You won’t be able to get back in after leaving though. I’m not taking responsibility if you die.”
The cowardly sect members that were afraid of death, “...” ‘We should just turtle up here...’
But that didn’t stop them from using other methods to attack the people outside. As long as they stayed within the safe zone, the other party couldn’t do anything to them.
It seemed the Demon Sect members had grown addicted to this, for they came up with new ways of tormenting the people outside every day.
In the end, those people couldn’t take it anymore and retreated further away. Due to the current distance between them, the Demon Sect members could no longer harass them.
As the saying went: “The wicked are more resourceful than the principled. For every plan you make, I have a way to undermine it[3].”
Even with the invisible barrier, the two opposing parties still managed to come into conflict.
Shi Sheng could only react with an expression that read “you idiots”. ‘I was waiting for them all to gather in one place to take them down in one fell swoop, yet you guys chased off so many of them!
Really now...’
“Ow ow...” The little puppy circled around Shi Sheng’s feet.
Shi Sheng, “...” ‘Why’re you still so small? I don’t think teacup dogs existed in this time period...? Author, is it really okay for you to just add stuff like this?!’
[1] The raws are 鬼打墙 which is used to refer to the phenomenon where it feels like ghosts are obstructing your path by making you lose your sense of direction and circling back to your original spot. No direct English equivalent I’m afraid.
[2] Raws are “二狗子” which isn’t all that classy of a name since it literally translates to Second//Two/Dumb(slang) Dog. Names like these are more common in rural areas.
[3] Wasn’t really sure how to translate this part. The raws are “道高一尺魔高一丈，你有张良计我有过墙梯”. I don’t know how to explain it.
