Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other’s Arch-Rivals?

It was the winter months and there were only less than twenty days left before the Winter Solstice of the twelfth lunar month.

Although snow had not yet fallen in the Shenyi Village at the foot of Yulian Mountain, it had already ushered in the winter winds that blew mottled leaves all over the mountains and plains.

Su Yang was wrapped in a gray fox fur cloak, his hood covered his head and hid his eyebrows in the shadows.

When heading down the mountain, he held the Heart Warming Pill in his mouth. The medication was so fiery that it heated his cheeks. A thin layer of red appeared in his eyes and it made his reddened lips appear even more tender and alluring. In addition to the accumulated snow blocking the road and the complications of going down the mountain, he couldn’t use internal strength now. He was so exhausted that his whole body was feeling weak and he leaned into Gu Feidi’s embrace. Even if he wasn’t wearing a long skirt, he resembled a woman from a distance; exceptionally attractive and affectionate.

The villagers of Shenyi Village rarely saw someone who’d only revealed half of their face and was so beguiling. They couldn’t help being distracted. All of a sudden, they realised that the Yuqiong Divine Doctor was coming down the mountain.

The village was small and news spread extremely quickly. Within a short while, Luo Yu was surrounded by a group of villagers.

However, everyone there knew that they shouldn’t provoke the bodyguard ‘Ah Yue’ beside Divine Doctor Luo, so they only stood several feet away, excitedly shouting words of thanks and not daring to approach. Seeing someone bringing four fine horses for Luo Yu and his party, the villagers quickly guessed that they were going on a long journey and they were all a little resentful.

The one who led the horses over was a healer that Luo Yu had previously mentored.

After handing over the reins, he wanted to say something but then he hesitated and instead gave a deep bow to Luo Yu.

“Sir” he said, “…have a safe journey…” At the end, he stammered and asked: “Will Sir be coming back? The students are not yet familiar with many difficult and complicated illnesses…”

Although Luo Yu’s disposition was eccentric and he never concealed his mood from those who accompanied him, but before students and patients, he would always smile with kindness.

“I’ll naturally return once I’ve attended to my affairs.” He said, “We will have to trouble you and the other doctors to take care of everyone during this period.”

Hearing Luo Yu’s words, everyone in Shenyi Village breathed a sigh of relief.

A bold villager approached Qin Jianyue and handed him a bunch of paper bags. He rushed to smile and fawn over Luo Yu: “Divine Doctor, these are my family’s homemade vegetable cakes for you to eat on your journey!”

Once he started, there was an uproar everywhere. Some villagers handed over two eggs, others gave a few slices of cake and there were even hunters who presented smoked meats, salted fish and suede fox fur.

The scene was a complete pandemonium for a while and in the end, Qin Jianyue let out a loud roar to calm the situation down.

Luo Yu needed to select some easy-to-carry food, so it could also be considered as him accepting the appreciation of these villagers. Finally, with the excuse that the horses couldn’t transport so many items, he decline the others. Then they all mounted the horses and quickly headed out the village’s entrance.

Once they could no longer spy the send-off party behind them, Qin Jianyue laughed and said, “Seeing such a scene, you’re still unwilling to practice medicine to help the public and still want to live in seclusion?”

Luo Yu rolled his eyes at him and said, “Yes, I’m deeply moved, but I still dislike the nuisance of practicing medicine to help the public, that’s all.”

Hearing the conversation between the two, Su Yang blinked, “Actually, with jiujiu’s reputation, it doesn’t matter if you live in seclusion or not, right? Many people know of the Yuqiong Divine Doctor, so of course there will be patients who come to seek medical treatment…”

Qin Jianyue smiled and shook his head: “Although there are many people who know his name, how many patients can endure the journey’s dangers and the difficult Snow Mountain roads to come and seek medical advice?”

Su Yang abruptly realised.

After all, this world had an ancient backdrop, which couldn’t compare with the extremely convenient transportation of modern times. One shouldn’t assume they always travelled using horses and carriages. As a matter of fact, these things were extremely luxurious to the common folk. There weren’t many people like him who could travel all the way from the Wasteland to the southwest Snow Mountain for the sake of curing and eliminating the Gu.

“If jiujiu doesn’t like the nuisance, you can actually recruit a few more disciples or open a medical school.” Su Yang started running off at the mouth again, “and then send the disciples you taught to various places to practice, like Lesser Jade House does. Shixiongs tutoring shidis that will soon be able to cover the entire country…”

Luo Yu threw a sidelong glance at Su Yang: “You actually said that… Were you truly raised by that guy, Su Huaizhu? Don’t tell me you’ve been stealthily switched?”

Su Yang: ……

Su Yang and Gu Feidi eyed each other and stuck out the tips of their tongues in tacit understanding.

……

Lesser Jade House was situated in Meizhu Mountain, in the northern part of the Central Plains. It was sandwiched between the Central Plains and the northwest Wasteland. To the northeast was the Yi clan that never had much sense of existence with only Qinglian Sect as the nearest Martial Arts circles influence. At this time, Su Yang and his party chose the straight road north to Meizhu Mountain.

After passing a flatland in the central territory, the group reached the northern mountain region. The sense that winter was approaching was even more apparent here. At last, they experienced their first heavy snowfall since setting off on their journey.

In the end, Su Yang couldn’t withstand the frigid weather and fell unconscious again without warning. He nearly dropped straight from his horse. Fortunately, Gu Feidi was so nearby. He quickly reacted, hauling him into his arms and using his internal strength to help him warm up.

The Heart Warming Pill had strange properties. The more times the medicine was taken, the poorer the effect would be in the future. Therefore, it shouldn’t be taken unless necessary. However, since they still needed to hurry on with their journey, Luo Yu had no choice but to stuff another pill into Su Yang’s mouth. The group insisted on continuing until dusk, but because the snow was gradually getting heavier, they had to rest for the time being and wait out the snow before setting off again.

They stopped over in the courtyard of a lone hunter in the mountains. They were settled in a storeroom where firewood and tanned furs were kept. There were no beds, so they made do with a layer of thin firewood and hay that barely separated them from the chilly ground.

Gu Feidi pulled out all the fur pelts from his luggage and unfolded them above the firewood. Only then did he carry the bundled-up Su Yang over, grasped his hands and slowly transferred over some internal strength to him.

The conditions of the mountain shed were meagre. There was no charcoal to light a fire for the heaters. Fortunately, the doors and windows there were all ventilated. Qin Jianyue promptly lit a wood fire in the middle of the shed for them to warm themselves.

Luo Yu borrowed an earthen pot to boil some hot water, filled two pouches to make warmers and placed them in Su Yang’s arms.

After checking Su Yang’s pulse, Luo Yu sighed and then grabbed Gu Feidi’s wrist to probe his inner breath. He was certain that Gu Feidi’s body could still endure the chill carried over from Su Yang for the time being, so he had no choice but to instruct both of them to dual cultivate again.

……

Su Yang was dragged out of his grogginess. He was still dazed for a while and not completely awake from his slumber. He didn’t even take notice of the surrounding environment…… Until the weather began to let up, he systematically regained his senses and looked around in surprise at the crude walls, roofs and beds made of firewood.

“Where’s this?” He asked Gu Feidi bewilderedly, “I fell asleep again?”

Gu Feidi reached out to pluck the messy hay from his hair and said: “It’s a mountain house we’re staying in temporarily……How do you feel? Are you warmer? A bit more energetic?”

Su Yang nodded in embarrassment as he wrapped the clothes around himself.

Gu Feidi dropped a soft kiss on Su Yang’s forehead and got up to fetch him some warm water for him to wash up.

After everything was settled, Luo Yu entered the shed and diagnosed Su Yang’s and Gu Feidi’s pulse before finally heaving a sigh of relief: “Fortunately, it was still a little effective although it was an expedient measure.”

He took the ginger decoction handed over by Qin Jianyue and poured a bowl each for Su Yang and Gu Feidi, ordering them to drink it.

Gu Feidi held the bowl of decoction and glanced at Luo Yu uncertainly, “I need to drink it too?”

“There’s cold air invading your body, so naturally you should take some precautions.” Luo Yu said, “If our journey goes according to plan, the two of you may not need to dual cultivate until we arrive at Meizhu Mountain. But in the event the road is blocked by heavy snow, you might have to do it another two or three times……By that time, your body will definitely be impacted by the cold air from his body.”

It was a while before Su Yang realised what Luo Yu’s words meant and he reacted by accidentally choking on the medicine and coughing violently.

Gu Feidi quickly came over to pat him on the back. Su Yang coughed until his whole face was red. He threw an unbelievable look at Luo Yu, then glanced at Gu Feidi and asked in a low voice, “They know what happened earlier?!”

Gu Feidi also found it hard to speak about that matter and hastily nodded——the courtyard of the mountain house wasn’t big and the two elders were both martial arts practitioners, so they had heard everything because they had sharp ears and keen eyes. Moreover, Su Yang was muddle-headed when he awoke from his sleep and was wholly without self-repression……

The mood was a bit awkward for a while. Su Yang felt that his cheeks and ears seemed to have bursts of hot flashes. After silently drinking the medicine, he handed the bowl over for Gu Feidi to clear away and dared not to look up at Luo Yu’s face at all.

Luo Yu was amused by Su Yang’s expression and smiled: “This kid is still bashful. But Su Huaizhu back then would dare to—”

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Jianyue, who was next to him, gently kicked him with his toe. Luo Yu eyed Gu Feidi, then shut his mouth and didn’t continue.

Su Yang said in his heart: Su Huaizhu, the Leader of the Devil Sect. With a character like his, there should be nothing that he doesn’t dare do.

All in all, based on what he could piece together from what Luo Yu had said, he speculated that the Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s biological mother was forcibly captured to the Devil Sect by the Leader and had since not been released.

It’s just that, hearing Luo Yu’s voice earlier, he didn’t seem to be talking about his enemy, but it gave the impression of ……the warmth of a once-close friend and brother.

He recalled the rumours of the Martial Arts circles that Gu Ruohai, the Leader of the Martial Alliance, also had a good relationship with the Leader of the Devil Sect. Now, they both faced each other with equal harshness. He also thought back on the flower hairpin that the Leader of the Devil Sect had given him, allowing him to seek Luo Yu to save his life……Su Yang felt that this Martial Arts world was a place that was abound with abnormal brotherhoods.

For example, the Uncle Qin that accompanied Divine Doctor Luo. His relationship with Luo Yu was incredibly unshakable……

When he considered this, Su Yang’s gaze quietly shifted to the two elders beside him. But as luck would have it, he was caught sight of Qin Jianyue’s fingers sneaking up Luo Yu’s cuff to lightly tickle the tip of Luo Yu’s little finger before quickly retracting them.

Su Yang: ……

Hang on, what kind of Standard Operation Procedure was this?

Was this the type of small secret moves made by decent respectable, brotherly friends of many years?

Su Yang was instantly a little stumped and raised his head to look up at Qin Jianyue.

Qin Jianyue was expressionless and stood habitually protecting behind Luo Yu like a green pine.

Su Yang felt that his vision earlier must’ve been blurred.

——Just because he’d abducted Gu Feidi and inexplicably turned homosexual, he couldn’t just assume that everyone around him was gay too. The original author was a lady and her tastes wouldn’t be so hardcore!