My Darling Sick Beauty

Fragmented glass

The Zen Master did not respond.

Since he had been captured by Wang Wenyuan, he had almost not said a word, only offering up a rare sentence or two.

It was the same now. Ming Jing remained utterly silent, not uttering a single word.

He Sorshi didn’t care, his ghostly energy lingered over the bars continuing to corrode all of the metal in the cage, completely dissolving the two metal hooks impaled in the little buddhist monk’s body, and then he picked him up in his arms to leave.

Before he had picked him up, He Sorshi just thought that the other did not move because his shoulders had been locked into place, but now he had picked him up, he discovered that the little monk did not struggle at all, not because he didn’t want to but because he had no force whatsoever in his body.

Ming Jing’s buddhist cultivation body had been completely sealed, he was weak and soft, powerless to fight back like a string puppet.

Tianji Pavilion had a lot of peculiar curses and spells, including methods to temporarily seal one’s cultivation….. And these had all once been used on Wang Moxuan.

The two brothers shared a father but different mothers. The younger brother had grown up in the secular world and had no malicious heart, he was as pure and innocent as a newborn. Wang Wenyuan who had been raised in Tianji Pavilion, however, was capricious and paranoid as well as selfish.

For the relationship between them to turn so hostile was not unexpected at all.

He Sorshi reached out with his hand and lightly pressed Ming Jing’s neck to check that there were not any other curses or poisons on his body and then he retracted his hand. 

 

He didn’t want to be used or manipulated by this junior of the Tianji Pavilion who knew how to divinate. He only agreed to work with him, so that they could each reap their own benefits and that was the end of it.

This buddhist cultivator who did not speak or even move was in his arms, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was still breathing and had a heartbeat, he would not have resembled a living person at all. He Sorshi let Ming Jing lean on his shoulder as he didn’t feel that the latter could do anything threatening to him.

In reality, those who could actually threaten He Sorshi were few and far between. If he really thought about it, there was only Jiang Zheliu back then and now with the addition of Wenren Ye, these were the only two people.

“Ghost Leader He.”

His footsteps paused as he heard Wang Wenyuan’s voice behind him.

“Aside from taking the recording sound cicada, there is also something else I’d like the Ghost Leader to pass on to him.

———— 

 

Wenren Ye had left for more than two months.

When Gongyi Yan delivered the letter, the two realms were indeed in a deadlock. Wenren Ye had the Pearl of Destruction and the ink knife in his hands, the situation was incredibly dangerous. But Qing Lin was not going to give up a thousand li of land to anyone. As they were unable to come to an agreement, this letter was able to break the impasse and also clarify Jiang Zheliu’s position.

The two realms established a pact, and changed their plans, and understood what the other wanted. At the same time, even though Wenren Ye sent Gongyi Yan back to guard over the little willow tree, he was overflowing with guilt.

Jiang Zheliu had discovered what was happening so quickly and his response was actually very gentle. Wenren Ye felt a great ominous feeling in his heart lately, he was afraid that Jiang Zheliu’s illness would become worse because of this matter and take a toil on his mind as well.

His worries were not unfounded.

It was true that Jiang Zheliu had been getting headaches from overthinking. He tried to avoid thinking too deeply about things, to not care about the war, to not think about worldly matters, and to not think about the matters after his death. But this kind of pounding headache was recurring like a chronic disease, and had already taken root in his body, and was not something that he could just bear in the meantime.
 

Yu Jinnian had come over to consult two times. He was still not aware that Jiang Zheliu had pretty much sussed out the entire situation. When he talked with Jiang Zheliu he was still continuing on with the farce with his sub-par acting skills.

Even a great celestial immortal would be unable to heal this kind of mind-battering migraine, let alone Yu Jinnian. The Divine Sage of Medicine’s heart was beating so hard that it was ready to jump out, but he couldn’t tell him directly and could only prescribe him some other medicines and elixirs.

He didn’t know it was because the effectiveness of the Resurrection Stone was waning.

Nothing is infinite, it’s all just a question of time.

Yu Jinnian was still not able to undo the Locking Sound Curse on the little mute, even if his medical expertise was already at its peak, he was still often challenged.

Compared to Yu Jinnian, Jiang Zheliu was much calmer.

The candle flame flickered and extended out causing the light and shadow to intertwine on the floor. Slowly, the shadow under the candle light began to sway here and there.

Jiang Zheliu was reading a book and felt that he was getting tired and his vision was getting blurred until he saw that the shadows under the candlelight were slowly fusing together. He put down the book and then silently watched over there.

He watched as the shadow grew bigger, it was like a very peculiar transportation method.

Ah-Chu had gone out to collect the medicine and had not come back, there was only Chang Qian who was in the little pine house. And next door in the bamboo courtyard there was only a doctor with Wang Moxuan, who was also completely devoid of spiritual energy. With only that kind of fighting power, there was really no point in calling out to anyone.

Also, few people could transport themselves between two realms – Wenren Ye was able to do it, he was once able to do it, since he was able to see it before him, he thought that there was no point in putting others in danger.

Jiang Zheliu reacted very quickly, he reflected over this extremely calmly, so calm that it was almost like a cruel acceptance of his fate.

“Long time no see.” The man who stepped out from the shadow did not have any colour at first, it seemed like the colour on his body was being slowly painted on, until Zhu Wuxin’s face was revealed. Using that face he revealed a smile, “Jiang Xianzun?”

“Ghost Lord He.” Jiang Zheliu said.

…….. He wondered if Gongyi Yan had come back yet, he also wondered how much power this Netherworld Ghost Lord had when using someone else’s body.

As he pondered over this, he began to have a splitting headache.

“The devils really underestimated the ghost cultivators, what a bunch of careless idiots.” He Sorshi stretched out his body, as if he needed to get used to this body every time, and then he casually took a seat opposite Jiang Zheliu, and poured himself a cup of tea. “The barrier is extremely complicated but it only applies to the living……… Little Willow, what did you do to that devil, his brain must not be functioning, you’re not a good influence on the younger generation.”

Jiang Zheliu looked at him calmly: “Little Willow?”

” “A new form of address I’m trying out.” He Sorshi narrowed his eyes like a lazy snake, “Are you delighted to see your shidi like this?”

From the day that He Sorshi had taken hold of Zhu Wuxin’s body, Jiang Zheliu already had a premonition. Now that premonition had been realised, although he was not surprised, he was still not used to it.

He suppressed his feelings of discomfort, and looked He Sorshi up and down, and replied: “It’s not as good as the original.”

He Sorshi smiled and nodded, and then said: “When a ghost cultivator squeezes into a fresh corpse, they can absorb the memories of the previous owner….. This little b*stard’s brain has really opened my eyes.”

Jiang Zheliu stared at him silently.

“Compared to infatuation, I personally think that what he was fond of was not your relationship previously but the tender warmth with which you treated him which was different to the way you treated others.” He Sorshi took a sip of tea and then continued, “I cannot find anyone else in his memory that you treated so well.”

He didn’t get any response so he just continued talking.

“I can’t believe how close you both were in the past, how did it become like this?” He Sorshi propped up his lower jaw, brimming with smiles, “This shidi that you raised yourself, and was also killed by your hand, I don’t believe for a second that you don’t feel anything.”

Using this face, he revealed many facial expressions that Zhu Wuxin had not used in many years —— In the end, Zhu Wuxin rarely smiled, and when they were together he was always sulking in silence.

Jiang Zheliu looked at him and finally responded: “The wrong path was chosen, this was my fault, but someone dead cannot be resurrected.”

“Saying these kinds of things to the Ghost Lord of the Netherworld seems…… Anyway he has been dead for so many years.” He Sorshi thought that chatting with him was quite interesting, it was just that Jiang Zheliu’s disgusted reaction was too obvious, so he didn’t really feel like talking about it any longer, and instead took out the Wang Wenyuan’s Recording Sound Cicada from his sleeve and gave it to him.

The cicada shook slightly and spit out what it had recorded that day.

The room was utterly silent, only the words from the cicada’s song could be heard. A slight breeze blew past the window as the candle continued to flicker and sway, almost to the point of burning out.

The fingertips that were gripping the book gradually began to tighten and his knuckles became white.

He glanced at He Sorshi, more precisely, stared at his face.

“After you left, Ling Xiao Sect really became a sheet of loose sand1.” He Sorshi smiled slightly and then continued, “Power struggles, hidden schemes, despicable and narrow-minded people, just like leeches that suck the blood of living beings, they don’t need you anymore.”

What Jiang Zheliu had suspected this whole time had become a reality.

Wuxin was raised by him, he had his faults but he didn’t deserve to die, but……

He Sorshi changed his actions, reaching out to fiddle with the teacup lid, and said lazily: “Jiang Xianzun, don’t you have anything to say to that?”

What could he say.

He had raised Zhu Wuxin himself, he had led Ling Xiao Sect personally but a lone tree cannot uphold everything alone2. Under a period of lengthy peaceful accord, the four great immortal sects had also started to deviate from its path. Now, the immortal sect that he had brought to the forefront had been completely destroyed by his own hand.

Jiang Zheliu raised his hand and put the half read book on the table.

His fingers were trembling ever so slightly but he did not want He Sorshi to see him tremble, so he tried to restrain it. He slowly retracted his hands into his sleeves, no longer exposing even an inch.

“The timber has already become a boat3, there’s nothing else to be said.”

Jiang Zheliu’s voice was indifferent like usual.

He Sorshi looked at him with much attention and after a long while he said: “If that a*hole hadn’t said that your life is coming to its end, I probably wouldn’t let you off…… Little Willow. In your next life, be careful, there are some burdens that you can’t just casually accept.”

“Thank you for your guidance.” Jiang Zheliu smiled, “It’s a shame, I won’t have an afterlife.”

When ordinary people die, they are transported to the River of the Dead. When cultivators die, their souls return to Heaven and Earth, scattering completely, and will not reincarnate. Only those cultivators who have extremely high cultivation and have successfully passed their Heavenly Tribulations were able to reincarnate and not pass through the River of the Dead to wash away the remnants of their previous lives, and hold on to their memories.

Jiang Zheliu had no afterlife, he only had his cultivation realms but he didn’t have any cultivation energy.

The Northern winds rose and the snow bashed against the window making a noise. On the candlestick nearby, the melting wax gradually dripped down the candle, coagulating at the bottom like blood.

“Haven’t you dreamt about him?” He Sorshi said, “You don’t want to tell me about it?”

“No.” Jiang Zheliu’s hand shook violently, he tightened his fists, his nails stabbing into the palm of his own hand, but his facial expression was still cold and apathetic. His white hair and pitch black eyes were even colder than an icicle, his entire body was emitting a pure cold energy. “Since we’ve already parted, why torment me in my dreams.”

He Sorshi smiled slowly: “Why would it be torment, he intended to hurt you, indirectly placing you into a deathtrap, and then you killed him, isn’t that an equal grudge on both sides?”

“An equal grudge on both sides.” Jiang Zheliu closed his eyes and then reopened them, “To administer the passion pill, to give me the recording sound cicada, I really don’t know what kind of grudge I have with Tianji Pavilion?”

Wang Wenyuan had been plotting against him from the start, the Head of the Immortal Sects position was indeed captivating but it wasn’t that captivating if it hadn’t been taken from the hands of Jiang Zheliu. Wang Wenyuan’s interest was founded upon a grudge that Jiang Zheliu did not understand. On the surface, he seemed to be doing all this just out of self-interest, but in reality, it was to resolve some sort of concealed grudge.

Jiang Zheliu suddenly thought about Wang Moxuan who had been cursed and poisoned.

“That a*hole also has something to ask you.” He Sorshi almost forgot, “He wants to ask you…… Do you feel guilt for having been worshipped and loved these last hundreds of years?”

One is at home when the pot falls from the sky4. Jiang Zheliu looked at He Sorshi, he looked somewhat puzzled.

“His father was the most renowned person after your shifi passed away. After he was gravely injured and fell, this paved the way for Jiang Xianzun.” He Sorshi was brimming with smiles when he said: “The little a*hole rushed into the room before his father died and saw that the old Pavilion Lord had suffered a sword wound from Ling Xiao Sword. That’s what he told me.”

“Little Willow.” It was as if he liked this form of address, “Did you kill him?”

Jiang Zheliu’s emotions were complicated, he sighed and said: “It was me.”

He Sorshi looked like he heard some great immortal secret, his enquiring eyes opened wider: “……. What did you say?”

“There is a defect in Tianji Pavilion’s cultivation, they can divinate but they can also easily fall into qi deviation.” Jiang Zheliu had a massive migraine, he thought that the left side of his head was going to crack open, and his left ear would go deaf. He stopped for a moment, then said with concision, “Old Pavilion Lord Wang had been attacked by demonic cultivators, he could not tell the difference between friend and foe at the frontline. After I beheaded him, I did not expose the qi deviation incident in order to preserve his reputation.”

The cause of death of the old Pavilion Lord was still to this day recognised as dying from a battle wound. Those who were aware of the truth had long either gone to live in seclusion or no longer cultivated, so those who knew were few and far between.

“…… Oh?”

His reply was short, as if he was particularly tired, he raised his hand to cover his mouth as he coughed a few times, and whispered: “I’d advise you to go back and ask Wang Wenyuan if he is also beginning to exhibit some symptoms.”

“Qi deviation?” He Sorshi said, “Do you also find him to be odd?”

Jiang Zheliu no longer wanted to speak, his mind was buzzing, his headache was so strong it really felt like it was about to split open. His organs that had been repaired were once more aching and in pain, like a cracked vase that had been glued back together but was cracking apart once more, each cracked part about to fall off and break into dust.

The clotted blood rushed up his throat, a fresh metallic taste.

He Sorshi stared at him: “You are indeed at your end.”

Just with these two pieces of information was already enough to cause such a negative reaction and completely destroy his body and negate all the effects of his lengthy recovery into nothing.

Jiang Zheliu swallowed the blood, he didn’t want to appear too pitiful, his hands were moist with cold sweat, he was trying to prop himself up on the arm of his chair but could not exhibit any force and was simply leaning on it.

He knew what He Sorshi’s goal was, the other wanted to leave the River of the Dead. There were only a few people in this world who were able to break his netherworld chains, he was doing all this to make Wenren Ye lose his mind.

As for why he was not killing him now, he probably didn’t want to be murdered after being freed violently from his chains by a madman…… Or He Sorshi had something else that he was hiding…..

Jiang Zheliu was impressed that he was even able to think at a moment like this, he very clearly felt pain as well as an unending stream of energy from the resurrection stone trying to replenish his vitality, but he was somehow able to pull out a train of thought through the pain to gradually put together the puzzle pieces.

His wrist was very slender, the ink bracelet fell off from his wrist and then stayed around his hand.

“Jiang Xianzun.” He Sorshi changed back to a more formal address, “The thing that you brought up, I don’t really want to tell Wang Wenyuan.”

He really enjoyed playing along with madmen, such as when he nurtured Zhu Wuxin. He liked those people who were particularly obsessed and biased and he liked to make them crumble and make them break.

After a long while, he finally heard Jiang Zheliu’s reply.

“…… As you wish.”

This person didn’t seem to really care about his reputation or clearing his name.

He Sorshi laughed and then said: “If I could have got free earlier, there’d be no need to use this body to torment you, don’t you think?”

He casually spoke these words of nonsense, before his body gradually vanished under the shadows of the candle light, before disappearing entirely without a trace.

All that was left was a candle flame that was finally extinguished by the wind from the window.

The room was thrown into darkness, dizzying shadows took over the room, there was no moonlight from the outside, nor was there light from the stars. There was no light whatsoever, nor was there sound. There was just unending darkness, an omnipresent darkness coming over like a boundless tide.

In this kind of darkness, in the room, all that remained was a hurried and weak sound of breathing. And then the sound of blood becoming vomited and retched, as well as the trembling sound of bones that were so weak to the point of snapping.

Jiang Zheliu vomited a mouthful of blood, leaning over the table motionless, trying to steady his breath.

The years have been long but from start to end it was just a pipedream.

In that moment, he began to wonder if he would even be able to last the night, or would he just be completely buried in this darkness.

His snow white hair flowed down his back, trembling along with the movements of his breath, like the precious dew that was tenderly balancing on the tip of a tree branch, dropping away as soon as it came in contact with the snow and the wind.

That violent and abrupt pain that he felt was slowly beginning to settle and disperse, a thread of moonlight fell upon his fingertips.

Jiang Zheliu was motionless for a long time before he finally raised his eyes to see that thread of moonlight.

He watched for a while, almost forgetting the vestiges of his pain, forgetting the deafening ringing in his left ear, whilst his gaze followed the movements of the moonlight.

But he was in too much pain, he couldn’t even think about relighting another candle, he couldn’t think about calling Chang Qian over to help him, and he particularly couldn’t think anymore of the days to come.

He could only think that he mustn’t say these kinds of things and he should go and take a few medicinal pills to temporarily suppress the pain. He could only think about how he could console Wenren Ye after he was gone, how he could stop Wenren Ye from being used and not carry such a heavy debt of blood on his hands…..

Everything melted into his unending torture, in the end he could not think anymore and just felt exhausted and wanted to sleep……

But Jiang Zheliu really missed him, he really didn’t want to leave the little devil by himself, he didn’t dare to let himself sleep.

But when are you coming back?

Author Note:

Scold the characters and not me, there are some unavoidable plotlines, there is a lot of foreshadowing that cannot be avoided. (Puts on pot lid5.)

Anyway it’s a HE, and anyway he has to die. Get used to it! ← Is that something the author should be saying (x)

Translator Note:

Booooo don’t scold me either, I’m just a poor little translator hehe.

We are at the half-way mark of this novel – are you still with me? ^^