Life Going Wild With Plug-ins

Chapter 46 - Damn it, I don’t want to screw up QAQ


“Return the sword..... you can return it, but your fate remains the same.” Yang Qingzhou put his teacup down, lightly tapping on the tabletop as he appeared to hesitate and thinking with furrowed eyebrows, then flatly said, “I will be straightforward with you, that day after the market closed, the guards that monitored you in secret, including the men that went to rob the sword and fight to test out your strength.... both Henglian and Zonglian participated in this, some of the people were even sent by me.” He sighed and lowered his voice, “Don’t blame me, Yang Lake is my territory, and this is where all my responsibilities lie.”

“.....Thank you for informing me, I really haven’t misjudged you.” I thought about it, and asked, “Then..... what I told you just now, about my history, can you help me keep it a secret?”

Yang Qingzhou shook his head apologetically: “I’m sorry, I can’t make that promise. Realistically, I will have to report this evening’s conversation to my superiors.”

“That’s fine, I just thought there might have been another way.” I couldn’t bear looking at his sad expression, and consoled him by saying, “Qingzhou, I know you carry a great responsibility, you’ve taken a lot of trouble to manage things in Yangxi, and have painstakingly gotten to where you are today..... You don’t need to blame yourself, I know you’re being compelled by your circumstances. You were willing to frankly inform me, so I am already very glad.”

“.....You .....sigh, I would feel a little better if you were to blame me.” Yang Qingzhou laughed bitterly, and said, “You can rest assured. As for whether they believe it or not, that is a different matter.”

I nodded: “I hope so. If there are really people following our every step..... we can forget about trying to hide in the future.”

“.....Compared to this.....” Yang Qingzhou’s expression turned even more grave, “I’m afraid it will be even harder to clear things up with One Sword Tomb.”

“How so?”

“One Sword Tomb specialises in interring swords, members are required to break and hand over famous swords in the Jainghu’s precious weapon’s register at regular intervals. Those who can’t accomplish this and fail to meet the deadline.....” Yang Qingzhou paused, and coldly said, “Are purged.”

My heart turned cold, and with a trembling voice, I asked: “.....the intervals, how.... how long are they?”

Yang Qingzhou: “Every first day of the month.”

My heart thumped: “.....Isn’t that, tomorrow.”

Yang Qingzhou said: “To be precise, it’s after daybreak but before midnight tomorrow.”


.....I’m done for.

I’m already a dead man.


I was still unwilling to give up, so I struggled to say: “How strong is One Sword Tomb? Is..... is there still time for me to escape now?”

Yang Qingzhou shook his head: “So far, One Sword Tomb have been brash, despotic rulers, they have defeated all the names on Bai Xiaosheng’s Rankings1 , every sect and group has suffered greatly at their hands, many people have exhausted their heart’s blood to get their hands on divine weapons only to have everything destroyed by them. Even to this day, there is no one in the Jianghu who has been able to anything about it for fear of the consequences..... What do you think?”

“.....You never explained this reason! From the beginning you didn’t tell me!” I was suddenly learning such frightening news, and it made me want to cause a scene.

“When has there ever been reason behind One Sword Tomb’s actions? This is why I told you to be cautious at that time.....” Yang Qingzhou remembered this and his heart became sad, so he said with remorse, “Blame me. This matter is known by everyone, I thought Xuanheng would inevitably know..... I was the one who interfered with you.”

This was my first time coming here, and Ye Tan had also never been involved in the Jianghu, so naturally we had no way of knowing, it really was true that a single slip could cause everlasting sorrow. I rubbed my forehead: “Is..... is there no other way?”

“All may not be completely lost.....” Yang Qingzhou thoughtfully said, “This matter requires you to personally go to One Sword Tomb. As for whether or not you can succeed.... it will depend on Xuanheng’s luck.”

Yang Qingzhou got up and said: “I have a Yulan White Dragon Steed2 , it can travel four hundred li3 in one day, this is the fastest horse in Yangxi. If you set out this instant, you should be able to arrive before sunset tomorrow.”

I hadn’t reacted, thinking about how I suddenly found myself being forced to embark on a journey away from home when I had just gone out to return some medicine, when Ye Tan stepped out ahead of me: “Thank you for your trouble. There’s no time to lose, Young Master Yang, please lead the way.”

Yang Qingzhou nodded and quickly took the lead as he strode away, Ye Tan followed two steps behind, but saw that I was still stunned in place and, unable to do anything else, dragged me away. I staggered behind him all along the way, gradually realising the seriousness of the situation, and only then did my heart begin to palpitate. I pulled away from Ye Tan and stopped.

“I’ll go by myself.” I said in a low voice.

Ye Tan didn’t answer, but when he saw that I didn’t move, he frowned: “There’s no tome to waste, Master, don’t be temperamental.”

“I’m the one that implicated you. I picked the sword by myself, you have nothing to do with it. If I don’t come back..... you need to help me properly take care of Qiqi, Ye Xiao and Ye Lan. You all can go to Moling, at least you still have a place to go back to.....”

Ye Tan seemingly didn’t feel like wasting words on me as he wordlessly picked me up and carried me off, continuing his pursuit.

“This is an order! Let go.....” I was somewhat worried and began to struggle, trying to get down, “You aren’t always the most obedient.....”

“This is what you taught this subordinate.” Ye Tan fixed his gaze ahead, never stopping his feet, “Master, this subordinate.... this time, I don’t want to be a weapon that just listens to orders without distinguishing between right and wrong again.”

I was stunned. I had mentioned that without thinking it through at the time, I didn’t think that he would really take it to heart.....

“Those people don’t matter, they have nothing to do with this subordinate.” Ye Tan resolutely said, “Wherever Master is, that is the place where this subordinate belongs.”

My heart suddenly felt warm, and I felt like I wasn’t afraid of the road ahead.


We left the lake leading the Yulan White Dragon Steed along, Yang Qingzhou had handed us a map that had every path noted in detail so we wouldn’t waste time. Ye Tan deftly carried me atop the horse, then tightly held me in his arms, not giving me time to say anything before he raised the whip and we set off.

I was only able to hear Yang Qingzhou yelling out behind us: “We will meet again.”

I just felt that there were a lot of things on my mind, and I didn’t have time to clear them all up, so I worriedly said: “I still wanted to say a few things.... Qiqi and Ye Xiao, also Ye Lan, I’m worried about those three.... I also need Qingzhou to help me communicate with Jun Luoshu. In the event that this time......”

“We will come back soon, you can discuss it later.” Ye Tan rarely cut me off when I was speaking, but he did not let me go on with my words.

I knew he had misgivings in his heart, so I held back. I thought about how I arrived here for just a few short months and I already had so many worries in my heart, but Ye Tan had been all alone in the world until now, so the only one in his heart is me, this time must also be difficult for him. I was quiet for a long time, only responding: “Okay.”

Forget it, it’s not good to think about it too much. Yang Qingzhou said we still had room to save the situation, we’ll be ready when the time comes.


.....if I’m really unlucky, next time before I load the file, I will absolutely delete this dishonest and aggressive One Sword Tomb sect of weirdos first.


Talking about this, I have recently thought less and less about the matter of reloading my file.

I feel somewhat that, the kinds of experiences I’ve had with Ye Tan, and with other people.... If they don’t know about them, and I’m the only one left that remembers, it will inevitably be a little pitiful.


We were already well into winter, and the night wind was ice-cold, so I burrowed into Ye Tan’s arms. He noticed this and took off his cloak to cover my front, softly saying: “Still cold? The road is very long, you should rest for a while.” He then firmly looped his arms around my waist, so that I didn’t need to worry about slipping down. Even though the horse’s back is bumpy and shaky, I couldn’t stand the exhaustion from today’s worries. I agreed, and leaned back into his embrace as I closed my eyes.


If......

If this reincarnation ends here, Ye Tan won’t remember me.

If that happens, how would it be different from me really dying.....?

 

✦✧✦✧✦✧
 

1 From a series of novels by Gu Long, starting with “Sentimental Swordsman, Ruthless Sword” published in 1968. The character Bai Xiaosheng keeps a document known as the Weapons Spectrum, where he records the rankings of the most powerful weapons in the Jianghu. Top.

2 A famous horse from the novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guanzhong. Top.

3 A li is around half a kilometre or 0.3 miles. Top.