“I don’t want it, move it away!” Ling Miaomiao fired her rage at the rabbit, but still felt aggrieved so she reached out to grab his hand, turning the rabbit’s butt towards her. She then fiercely chomped down on it as she cursed him with an aggrieved tone: “You’re insane.”
Mu Sheng tightly pinched the apple, eyes locked onto her. Each and every expression of hers was absorbed and collected in his mind. He sighed in the depths of his heart.
Her current appearance was just… really, truly and utterly cute to an extreme.
Ling Miaomiao finished the apple in the end. When she calmed down a little, she spoke in a low tone: “Ziqi, let me go. Let’s have a proper talk.”
The dangerous look on his face hadn’t gone away just yet. His eyebrows and corners of his eyes were expressive, framing his lowered eyes just like a bewitching flower that was poisonous. “Let’s just talk like this.”
“How can we talk like this?” Ling Miaomiao stomped her feet as she glared at him. She was so angry, she felt like she could feel steam coming out of her seven orifices. She tried to hold it for a while before spitting out a severe accusation: “You… you don’t respect others!”
Not only was he not respecting her, he was also completely disrespecting the entire female population! He was using force to tie her up, what kind of person was this!?
Mu Sheng looked at her with a prejudiced look of obsession within his dark, starry night sky eyes. He leaned in and sincerely touched her lips with his. He sounded both sad beyond words yet, he sounded like he was acting coquettish at the same time: “I love you.”
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“….” Ykysxkys’p fyo easrrle vs vbl qzssa, yv y nsxrzlvl zspp qsa osaep.
Ykdwvl cu xkdwvl, plnsde cu plnsde vbl vkxl rypple cu.
“Tso zsdt es usw oydv vs vkl xl wr qsa?” Tla vbasyv qlzv y zkvvzl ayo yzalyeu, y zkvvzl bsyapl. Fbl nzlyale bla vbasyv yde bla hsknl oyp nzlyazu qkzzle okvb vbl vsdl sq elqlyv. Mbl ldep sq bla osaep alhlyzle bla taklhydnlp, bsolhla, kv sdzu pswdele zkjl pbl oyp clkdt nsiwlvvkpb vs bkx, “Yu yaxp qllz zkjl vblu’al ycswv vs calyj….”
Yw Fbldt ycawrvzu aykple bkp blye yde iwknjzu alxshle vbl Plxsd Slpvaykdkdt Ukanzlvp.
Nkdt Ykysxkys pweeldzu qlzv bla yaxp clnsxl qalle. Tsolhla, clqsal pbl nswze lhld cakdt vblx cynj vs y nsxqsavyczl rspkvksd, bl bye yzalyeu tayccle sdvs bla yaxp. Tl pvyavle vs psqvzu yde oyaxzu xyppytl vblx, tskdt wr yde esod vbl hlkdp sd bla yaxp. Tl vkzvle bkp blye wr vs zssj yv bla, “Pslp kv pvkzz bwav?”
Nkdt Ykysxkys pbssj bla blye, qynl qykdvzu dwxc kd pbsnj yp pbl oyvnble bkx. Tsolhla, wrsd pllkdt vbl nakxkdyz ckdekdtp vbyv alpvaykdle bla qsa ps zsdt, vbl Plxsd Slpvaykdkdt Ukanzlvp yde alyzkgkdt vbyv bl bye ds kdvldvksd sq wdvukdt bla nsxrzlvlzu… bla lmralppksd kxxlekyvlzu naypble esod yde pbl pllvble kd ydtla: “Rv bwavp.”
Tkp lulp pllxle vs nsdtlyz vs y rskdv kd vbyv xsxldv, rkvu qzypbkdt vbaswtb bkp lulp. “Mbld zlv xl blzr xyppytl usw psxl xsal.” Tl nsdvkdwle vs zktbvzu xyppytl vbl ralppwal rskdv sd bla lzcso qsa ydsvbla vld xkdwvlp clqsal ypjkdt, “Rp kv clvvla dso?”
Ebld bl aykple bkp blye vs zssj yv bla vbkp vkxl, bkp kakplp yde vblka tyglp rlaqlnvzu zkdle wr vs nsdnlyz yzz sq bkp qydtp. Gzz vbyv oyp zlqv oyp bkp dyïhl-zssjkdt clywvu vbyv xyel sdl’p vllvb bwav.
Ling Miaomiao bit her lips, weakly leaning against the back of the chair. She raised her head to look at the roof beams, “I want to drink water.”
He paused for a moment, then immediately brought a tea cup to her lips.
Miaomiao was just like a little bird within its cage. Pecking at the several drops of sweet water on its owner’s palm. However, she felt like she was nearly about to burst into flames like a phoenix, how aggrieved she felt. She felt like all of her hair was standing on end.
Miaomiao purposely started to order him about. He was forced to walk back and forth constantly within the room for nearly an hour. However, he never displayed any annoyance, only seemingly becoming higher and higher in spirit.
In addition, the softer her voice grew, the warmer and patient he became. His eyes seemed to be glow brighter and brighter, until it finally grew to the level where it seemed like it would scorch anything it touched.
Ling Miaomiao laid back in the chair in disappointment. She had basically figured out how to get out.
—– Crying for a spell might work. The Black Lotus was most scared of her tears as if the liquid that rolled down her face wasn’t formed from tears and rather, scalding magma.
Moreover, it could be the loud and wailing kind of crying either. It had to be the type of crying where she was silent and cut out quite a pitiful figure. Like raindrops on pear blossoms, that was something he couldn’t bear.
Miaomiao blinked with her apricot eyes, calmly watching the youth’s side profile. Silently, she felt goosebumps raising across her back.
—–Maybe in her next life.
Was what she thought to herself in spite.
The two of them didn’t discover that on the wall nearby, several dark yellow water stains appeared on the walls. They seemed just like the footsteps of giants treading across the eaves, one step at a time.
After another ten minutes, Miaomiao felt like she couldn’t sit properly any longer: “Ziqi…”
Mu Sheng raised his eyes: “Eh?”
She couldn’t control her cheeks as the redness completely covered them. She hesitated for a moment before summoning up her courage. She tried her best to appear as haughty and indifferent as possible: “I need to pee.”
The youth turned silent for a moment.
A moment later, he finally walked closer to her, stooping over her to untie the silk belt. Ling Miaomiao didn’t even have time to be pleasantly surprised before she heard his following words right next to her ear: “I’ll carry you over.”
“…..” The excitement in her eyes immediately flipped into a sky-reaching fury. She shrunk back crying out, “I don’t want to go, you go! Hurry and go!”
“…..” Mu Sheng let go of her hand, his pitch black irises staring at her intensely but full of innocence. It was as if he didn’t know what he did wrong.
Ling Miaomiao twisted her head away from him, not wanting to see him. Her fingers were jittery as she played with the hem of her skirt, the regret coming to a peak within her heart.
—-She should’ve known not to drink so much water just now.
A weak breeze brushed past her earlobe, bringing with it a rather familiar but putrid stink. Take aback, she breathed it in before she realized it, causing her nose to feel pain like it was burning.
Immediately after, there was a loud crash that resounded through the room. Prompting her to turn around hurriedly to see that a massive black cloud had formed what seemed like a wall inside the room. It was nearly taking the roof off the room from its size. Two hands were extending from the black cloud and they were currently tightly clenched around Mu Sheng’s neck.
Ling Miaomiao suddenly felt warmth coming from beneath her feet. A thin layer of water had formed on the ground, causing the hem of her skirt dragging on the ground to become wet.
The youth’s shadow seemed barely discernible under the black cloud. His face was turning red and the veins on his temple looked like they were about to pop. Yet, he still could not make a single sound.
“Little Sheng’er, after drinking so much of your blood, I really can’t bear to kill you.”
The voice sounded like it was coming through gnashing teeth and clenched jaws to arrive at their ears.
She had gathered all of the strength she had saved for a while so not only had her size increase multi-fold, her voice had also become even hoarser. Her voice was ever approaching the voice of the male and female they had encountered on the ship while going through the winding river.
After a small-scale ruckus, the water ghost finally had enough of playing around. She had carved his name down, due to the grudge stained by a sea of blood formed between them. This time she was caught off guard, she had acted with bitter resentment. The moment she raised her hands, she was ready to send the other party to their death with an ambush.
By hook or by crook, he had to die.
Ling Miaomiao felt a layer of cold sweat appear on her back as the cold intent seemingly crawled up her shoulder blades.
The Demon Restraining Circlets laid on the table, glittering brightly. Just now, in order to untie her, he had placed them at the side and hadn’t had the chance to put them back on. Mu Sheng’s Demon Restraining Circlets… one of them was on her wrist and the other was on the table. At the current moment, he was simply catching a naked sword with his empty palms. He didn’t even have any backup weapons on him…
There was a faint but definitely provocative look on the youth’s face. Completely ignoring how the water demon’s hands were around his neck, he managed to reach out with one hand despite having been taken off guard by the sudden ambush. His fingers touched one another and a loud ‘bang’ accompanied by a saffron yellow burst of flames. Surprisingly though, this attack wasn’t aimed at the water ghost’s face, but rather: A long distance away in the direction the water ghost was looking towards.
“Bang.”
The Exploding Sparks accurately landed on the silk belt knot. Even Ling Miaomiao’s clothes were unscathed as the tightly bound silk belt around her immediately loosened.
“…..” Upon suddenly being freed, Miaomiao placed her hands on the table for support to stand up abruptly.
The Exploding Sparks he threw out didn’t go out after freeing her, it continued forward. It started to succumb to gravity and continued exploding 4-5 more times, before finally reaching the door. It resembled an anxious little sprite afraid of the fire spreading so it brought it outside through the door.
Ling Miaomiao was stunned for a moment. She then raised her head to take a look, Mu Sheng wasn’t looking at her and he still hadn’t made a sound.
The Exploding Sparks he had seemingly carelessly casted was simply akin to him tossing away a perfect opportunity for him to counterattack. His entire body was tightly pressed into the corner and now, there wasn’t even the slightest leeway for him to use Exploding Sparks again. Under this kind of life-threatening situation, the only thing he could do was reach for the hands choking him with his own and struggle against the demon with merely his own muscles.
His arms were trembling due to the amount of force he was exerting. There was still an apathetic grin on his face, just that his lips had already lost their color and the veins on his temples looked like they were about to burst. It was clear that he was already reaching his limits as the look in his eyes seemed turn a little slack.
—-He was already in such a bad situation yet he still tried to show off?
She paused, feeling like all of the blood in her body was rushing to the top of her head. She only felt unsteady as she picked up the Demon Restraining Circlet on the table and, without any hesitance, threw it with great force.
The Demon Restraining Circlet struck the black cloud and dispersed a large portion of it. Several white bone pieces fell from the splash onto the ground.
The Demon Restraining Circlet started to tremble wildly in the air.
Just a single one was far from enough and she calmly but angrily walked deep into the black cloud. She took off the other Demon Restraining Circlet and also threw it with great force.
The black cloud shuddered, then shrunk. A strong gust suddenly swept across her face, as if someone gave her a great big slap on the face.
She felt her ear turn fiery hot with pain. Immediately afterward, a layer of sweat covered her but her footsteps did not stop. In 3-4 seconds, she touched herself all over before finally taking out all of the talismans she had saved from the beginning till now. In particular, there were some from Liu Fuyi, some from Mu Yao and some the ones Mu Sheng had originally left for her. In total, the sum of them all was enough to stack up as high as a brick.
She didn’t try to categorize the talismans or look at what they did. She simply faced the water ghost’s face and started to toss out talismans, five at a time. It was just like playing darts, locking down your forward foot in one position as you threw out the darts with ferocity. The target shook violently with each hit, and if she didn’t use enough power, it’d seem like she miss entirely.
She whipped her arm faster and faster until she felt like she couldn’t feel anything in her arm any longer. Just like a machine that knew no such thing as exhaustion, her fiercely beating heart was the core of her machine, endlessly creating a scary amount of energy for her.
The stack of talismans in her hand quickly became thinner at a rapid pace as the two Demon Restraining Circlets constantly zoomed through the black cloud.
The water ghost’s agitated movement became more and more pronounced. The flower vase on the table was knocked down and the tea cups were shattered and scattered across the ground. Ling Miaomiao felt half of her body became increasingly soaked by the splashes of water. However, she still stubbornly continued forward. As she repeated the chants over and over, she faced the water ghost. From her head to her toes and over and over again, she faced the water ghost directly and tossed talismans at it.
She felt her heart beating crazily. Her hands, footsteps and mouth were unceasing. She felt like the moment that she stopped, the two of them would immediately sink into a pit of despair and powerlessness.
She threw out the final talisman in her hands, nearly face to face with the black cloud standing in front of Mu Sheng.
At the same time, the water ghost let out a shrill and long hiss. The windows vibrated with resonance and the black cloud moved erratically. It was just like a little girl getting set on fire, letting out all kinds of changing screams and shouts. However—
‘Splash!’ Water rained down like rain drops, completely soaking Ling Miaomiao’s head.
She closed her eyes and wiped away the water on her face. When she opened her eyes again, the black cloud had vanished into thin air.
A pile of while bones clacked against one another on the ground. Exposed white teeth were submerged in the water and empty eye sockets stared at her with great grievance, seemingly unreconciled with how its mortal body and died.
The Demon Restraining Circlets flew back onto Mu Sheng’s hands. The youth retreated several steps before he could stabilize himself. His face was still pale, not having recovered fully yet. His dark pupils were akin to the blackness of ink as he stared blankly at the person in front of him.
The girl’s forehead was completely drenched and her cheeks were utterly red. However, her eyes were as bright as the luminous stars in the sky. She was quietly watching him, breathing heavily before she suddenly grunted coldly: “No need to thank me, I wanted to kill her long ago.”
The moment she lowered her hands, the soreness struck her and rendered them unable to be moved anymore. A layer of cold sweat popped up on her forehead, and she reached out to find something to lean against.
“Miaomiao….” He reached her side with a single step and reached out to pull her soft arms into him hands. Shaking, he inspected her hands, nearly unable to believe himself. Just now, in such a short amount of time, she had advanced forward nonstop whilst throwing out more than a hundred talismans.
Was… it all for him?
He felt a sudden wave of dizziness as he felt an intense of surge of ecstasy go through him. At the same time however, a surge of self-blame and pity seemed to drown him. He pulled the drenched girl into his arms, completely ignoring how her wet clothes immediately caused his own to become drenched.
He perked up just like a balloon being filled with air, as if all she had to do was softly poke him and he would immediately deflate back into his original form.
The way he grabbed her into his arms hugged her with his chin against the top of her head was almost… unreasonable. However, he was shivering.
Only by hugging her this tightly could he feel a little bit better.
Miaomiao’s cheeks were flushed as she struggled with embarrassment. She bore with the soreness in her arms are she struggled out of his arms while screaming mentally: ‘I need to pee….’
The sun slanted down the west horizon, the lanterns outside of wine shops were slowly lit up one after another. Huazhe’s hall was very quickly filled to the brim with customers. The waiters shuttled through the tight gaps busily and plate after plate of delicacies quickly piled up on the tables. Very soon, the tables were completely covered.
Mu Yao spun the tea cup in her fingers while leaning back against the chair. She was staringly blankly at the two empty seats in front of her with a bit of doubt: “The two of them… are they not planning on coming today?”
Liu Fuyi softly placed his hand on the arm she rested against the table, speaking hesitantly: “I think it’s good that they’re not coming.”
Mu Yao instinctively understood his words and subsequently nodded.
The sound of wooden clappers knocking one another resounded through the room.
The old man entered the stage. However, he wasn’t nearly as spry and full of spirit as he was the few days before. It almost seemed as if he hadn’t had a good night’s rest with the dark bags beneath his eyes. Upon seeing the two of them, a bitter smile covered his face as he greeted them with his eyes.
After all, the story that brought his great riches and an empty reputation was brought about by the blood, tears and pain of the real characters in the story. Yet, he wantonly told everyone of this, turning the deceased and their story into a joke.
Although these thoughts didn’t show up in his head often, he still felt ill at ease.
“Mu Rongshi’s pregnancy was reaching its end, and she was submerged in joy. However, she never would’ve imagined that her blissful life would be completely split apart. That soon, her life would become far, far away from anything she could’ve ever imagined.
Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi looked each other in the eye, pricking up their eyes to listen carefully.
“As I’ve mentioned before, Young Noble Zhao was the young master of a big clan. He was willing to live in seclusion far away from Changan, in Wufeng Town. He had abandoned his high position in officialdom and discarded his identity, leaving behind his prior life of squandering money like dirt. Yet, his family was unwilling to let him go. Thus, they brought some people and rode a boat to Wufeng Town to look for him.”
“One year and four months later, they found Young Noble Zhao and his wife. And they were very, very dissatisfied with Mu Rongshi.”
The old man sneered: “The talented youth of the big clans carry great weight on their backs: The clan’s future honor and glory. So how could they be allowed to live for themselves? From his position in the court to even his marriage, they were all things that could only be things that benefited the clan, not something he had any choice in.”
“Young Noble Zhao’s older sister investigated Mu Rongshi’s identity and discovered that she grew up in some unknown wasteland. She had no mother, father nor close friends. Not to mention social status at all, to call her a commoner was already uplifting her status. To their eyes, a girl with a beautiful face but a low status was definitely not fit to be the wife of Young Noble Zhao. In addition, with how she was basically keeping him in this faraway town, away from the clan, it was already close to a great offense against the clan.”
“Young Noble Zhao’s older sister sent people over and over again to invite him back yet they were all refused by Young Noble Zhao. He could not stand them anymore, even warning them that if they were to continue bothering Mu Rongshi, he would completely break off his brother sister relation with his sister.”
“Young Noble Zhao’s sister was quiet for a month. After the month passed, she sent out a Daoist. They talked with Young Noble Zhao for the length of a stick of incense before they immediately left.”
The old man paused here for a moment. His deeply sunken eyes were turbid but it was clear that great pity and compassion was flowing out of them: “Five days later, Young Noble Zhao left by himself on a ship to Changan. He never looked back, leaving Mu Rongshi behind in Wufeng Town forever.”
TLN: Hey y’all. Hopefully the summer is treating y’all just fine. Or winter, if you’re in australia I guess. Sorry about the lack of chapters again… It’s been a struggle to stay productive… Though technically I have a good excuse for that: I’m graduating tomorrow. But personally I feel like that’s a lame excuse and I shouldn’t use it. Sorry, I feel like a lot of people are disappointed in me, myself included. Sigh.
Anyways, I don’t want to say too much, this chapter was pretty confusing to translate with a several paragraphs full of… rather ethereal descriptions that are basically up to the reader to interpret as they wish. Hope you enjoy, and feel free to point out any mistakes I made. I self-edited a little after I just finished translating but I’m sure there are much more typos left…
Thanks for new chapter, and congrats for your graduation
It’s fine, don’t be so hard on yourself! Congrats on your graduation!
Thank you for the chapter, loved seeing Mu Sheng so moved by her 🙂
Thank you so much Entropy for the chapter! Also, congratulations on graduating! 🎉🎊🎓 I really appreciate your translating this despite how busy you’ve been, and you did a great job. I was overjoyed to read it, it was such a good chapter! My god, Miao Miao turned out to be a total badass! If he wasn’t dying in the moment, I bet that would have made Sheng all hot and bothered lol. Like, toss her on the bed time overwhelmed with … emotion. But his hug and kiss was super sweet and I hope it moved her heart a little. I can’t believe he actually said I love you! Finally! His villain origin story is getting more complex too which is great. I hope Miao Miao heals his heart.
Congrats on your graduation! I’m sure you did excellent! Good luck on your future endeavours and as always, thank you for your hard work with translations ♡♡♡