Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 39

Fu Xue ate to her heart’s content that night and slept very sweetly.

Although they had moved into the absolutely safe City Lord’s Mansion, Yun Qing still couldn’t break her habit of keeping watch. As usual, Fu Xue took the first half of the night, while she took the second half.

The rosewood bed was extremely large, with a matching small table and drawers on it. The bedding and curtains were silver-red silk gauze with light pink tassels hanging from the edges. The top of the curtain was also heavily adorned with a circle of pearls.

Yun Qing was seeing such a luxurious bed for the first time. No wonder some Daoist cultivators abandoned their practice and lost themselves in the pleasures of the mortal world – it was truly tempting.

Yun Qing sat beside Fu Xue, with her eyes closed in meditation. She appeared to be practicing sitting meditation, but was actually pondering Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book. Her face occasionally showed expressions of confusion or sudden enlightenment.

She had long since committed Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book to memory, so she didn’t need to look at it now.

In the deep of night, cicadas chirped tirelessly outside the window, and the autumn wind blew fallen leaves onto the roof.

Suddenly, Yun Qing’s eyes flew open.

There was demonic energy.

Although the other party deliberately concealed their aura, Yun Qing was naturally sensitive to such things. At this moment, she sensed wisps of demonic energy moving toward the north.

She quickly set up a formation around Fu Xue to prevent her from being attacked in her sleep, then quietly got out of bed, walked to the window, pushed it open, and nimbly climbed out.

Half a moon hung in the sky, casting pure white light upon the world. Stars were scattered sparsely, and lamps were lit throughout the mansion. Looking around, there were stars both above in the sky and below on the ground.

Yun Qing sprinted across the rooftop, with black tree shadows swiftly passing by her side.

She had already spotted the demon. Judging by the figure, it was a male demon with a bun on his head, about two inches taller than her.

The demon was agile, moved quickly, and his footsteps were almost completely silent.

While running, Yun Qing drew her Cangye sword, channeled her spiritual power, and sent the sword flying from her hand like a pure black night breeze, directly toward the demon’s back.

The demon suddenly lunged forward, dodging the sword, then bounced off the tiles and nimbly flew onto another rooftop.

Yun Qing caught her returning Cangye sword and likewise jumped onto that roof, saying, “What minor demon are you? State your name.”

The demon’s silhouette twisted slightly, then raised its hand and threw something in her direction.

A pellet shot toward Yun Qing, but she didn’t pause her steps at all, simply blocking it with a horizontal sword.

With a crisp “clang,” the pellet was deflected by the blade and fell onto the roof.

“What brings you here in the dead of night?” she asked again.

The demon seemed to grow impatient and shot five pellets at her in rapid succession. Yun Qing listened to determine their positions, blocked two with her sword, caught two with her sleeve, and held one in her mouth.

She spat out the pellet in her mouth and smiled, “Mere tricks.”

But the demon had already disappeared.

Yun Qing guessed it hadn’t gone far. After searching carefully without finding it, she jumped down from the roof.

Upon landing, she found herself standing in front of a family temple.

Though she had been sprinting, she hadn’t yet left the City Lord’s Mansion, so this temple naturally belonged to the Chu family.

Two rows of red silk lanterns hung at the entrance of the family temple. In the narrow gatehouse, two doorkeepers were sound asleep, snoring as they leaned this way and that. On a small table lay wine cups, a wine pot, and leftover snacks.

Yun Qing passed through the gatehouse and entered the family temple.

Inside, she first saw a small courtyard with two large water vats made of yellow bronze. Before her stood a main hall and two side halls, all with lamps lit.

The surroundings were extremely quiet, with the air pervaded by a mixture of tung oil and incense.

Yun Qing first walked into the main hall.

Just inside the door, she saw a colorful clay statue of a middle-aged man wearing Daoist robes, with a star crown on his head and a feather fan in his hand. He had quite an immortal, scholarly air about him. If placed outside, people might mistake him for a celestial master enshrined in some Daoist temple.

In reality, this was Chu Xiangzhi, the legendary ancestor of the Chu family.

In front of the statue sat a large incense burner with many incense sticks. The two adjacent rooms housed memorial tablets of successive city lords, each with its own incense burner. Portraits of many city lords also hung on the walls.

Yun Qing made a circuit but saw nothing suspicious, so she turned and left, entering the side hall.

Both side halls also contained memorial tablets and burning incense. The only notable difference was that the east side hall had a small shrine.

Candles were lit in front of the shrine, with offerings of fruit and an incense burner.

Yun Qing walked over curiously.

Inside the shrine was a statue about half a foot tall.

The statue depicted a cross-legged seated man in plain clothes with a relaxed posture. One hand was formed into a fist supporting his chin, while the other rested idly on his knee, holding a blooming osmanthus branch.

Looking up at the statue’s face in the flickering candlelight, Yun Qing was startled.

The face was ghastly white and completely smooth, without any facial features.

The deep ancestral hall, the flickering candlelight, the numerous black memorial tablets. Standing among them, looking at the blank face of the statue, Yun Qing inexplicably felt her heart beat faster.

Suddenly, her heart tightened and her body reacted before her mind could process what was happening. Her sword flew from its scabbard!

Behind her, a gleaming silver spear approached like a swimming snake, its tip like the white fangs of a poisonous serpent, savagely biting toward her shoulder blade.

Yun Qing had no time to turn around and merely drew her Cangye sword and sent it backward, the blade steadily blocking the spear tip.

Cling!

Yun Qing felt her sword-wielding wrist sink heavily, and thought to herself: what formidable strength this person has!

She flicked her wrist to deflect the spear tip, then turned and jumped aside to distance herself from her opponent.

Only then did she look at the person.

He was a man around twenty-six or twenty-seven, tall and powerfully built, wearing dark-colored robes with his hair neatly tied up, topped with a gold wire crown.

The gold wire crown was adorned with more than a dozen pure white small pearls, surrounding a large pearl in the middle like stars encircling the moon. The large pearl was round and pristine white, as big as a longan fruit.

He had thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes, with exceedingly handsome features, his mouth corners turned downward and his face as cold as frost.

He seemed somewhat surprised that Yun Qing had blocked his spear with one sword strike. He pulled back his silver spear slightly and said, “Come out and fight!” before retreating outside the hall.

Yun Qing raised her sword to meet him, smiling, “Gladly.”

Appearing in the City Lord’s Mansion at midnight, wearing luxurious clothes, wielding a silver spear, and having phoenix eyes similar to Chu Yanhe’s.

Yun Qing had already guessed who this person was, but her fighting spirit had been aroused, and she genuinely wanted to experience the spear techniques of this City Lord.

Therefore, Yun Qing only used outer sect techniques to duel with him.

For a time, the spear moved like a swimming dragon, and the sword like a cold nail.

His silver spear was wielded with broad, powerful strokes. All around her ears was the sound of wind created by his spear movements. Yun Qing was as agile as a monkey, turning and leaping. After probing for several rounds, she deliberately left an opening.

Seeing his spear tip hooking toward her, she stabbed her sword tip into the ground, then borrowed the force to leap into the air. Her body nearly horizontal, she kicked toward his waist.

To her surprise, he too had been creating a false opening. When she turned her body horizontal, he instantly changed his move. He stabbed his spear tip into the ground, used it to flip himself into the air, avoiding her attack while simultaneously striking down with his palm.

Yun Qing fell to the ground, ungracefully rolling several times with wheel-like speed. After dodging his palm strike, she flipped up to her feet.

The man descended gracefully from the air, planted his feet firmly, twirled his spear in a flourish, and coldly regarded her.

Yun Qing sheathed her sword and smiled, extending her hand to him. “You dropped something.”

In her palm lay a pearl the size of a longan fruit.

The man’s expression changed.

Jiang Baiyu stood on the roof of the west side hall, holding his sword and watching the duel in the courtyard.

The night wind made his robes flutter wildly and his hair dance. When he saw Yun Qing returning the pearl, he suddenly let out a cold snicker.

Outside the family temple, disordered footsteps resounded as many people ran toward them carrying torches, shouting:

“Thieves! Quick, catch them, don’t let them escape! Which son of a bitch dares to steal from our City Lord’s Mansion!” They shouted loudly, an effect that could bolster each other’s courage.

It turned out their fighting sounds had already alarmed the servants of the City Lord’s Mansion.

Not just the servants, but Chu Yanchuan and Chu Yanhe had also heard about it and came to see the commotion in the middle of the night.

Chu Yanchuan was dressed rather casually, while Chu Yanhe wore a cloak wrapped around her like a rice dumpling, with four or five maids following behind.

Chu Yanchuan was still grumbling that she shouldn’t have come.

Chu Yanhe carelessly said, “Well, we’re already here.”

She covered her mouth to stifle a yawn as she walked into the family temple. Upon seeing the situation inside, Chu Yanhe froze. “Ai Ge, am I still half asleep? Is Big Brother stealing from the family temple?”

Chu Yanchuan held his forehead, thinking: you’d sooner suspect our eldest brother than Yun Qing…

He walked over and said, “Big Brother, Yun Qing, what are you doing here?”

The man was stunned for a moment. “She is that Daoist friend you mentioned?”

Chu Yanhe nodded, “Yes, Sister Yun Qing has already agreed to teach me swordsmanship.” She yawned again.

The man was silent for a moment, then walked over to retrieve the pearl from Yun Qing’s hand. He said somewhat awkwardly, “I am Chu Yanzhang.”

Yun Qing smiled and said, “City Lord Chu, I’ve long heard of your reputation.”

“Miss Yun Qing, your sword skills are among the most profound I have ever encountered.”

“You flatter me. City Lord Chu’s spear techniques are also very impressive.”

Chu Yanzhang pressed his lips together without speaking. As the saying goes, “an inch longer, an inch stronger” – he already had the advantage in weapons, yet still had the pearl plucked from his crown. Where was the impressiveness in that? Her words sounded more like mockery.

Chu Yanhe was suddenly no longer sleepy. “You two fought?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, I missed it! Could you fight again for me to see?”

Chu Yanzhang frowned. “Don’t be absurd.”

Chu Yanchuan asked, “Yun Qing, why did you come to the family temple in the middle of the night? Is there a problem here?”

Yun Qing nodded and said, “Let’s talk outside.” She looked up toward the roof of the west side hall, her eyes curving slightly in a smile. “Baiyu, let’s go.”

Jiang Baiyu leapt down, his face like white jade, his appearance surpassingly beautiful, like an immortal descending to the mortal world.

Chu Yanchuan covered his mouth and whispered something in Chu Yanhe’s ear. Chu Yanhe’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze settling briefly on Jiang Baiyu.

The group then left the family temple.

About a cup of tea’s time after they left, from behind a beam in the main hall of the family temple, a furry cat paw silently emerged.

The cat’s leg was black, but only its small paw was a round roll of white fur, as if wearing a white glove.

The soft, furry white cat paw thumped heavily against the red beam, followed by the angry voice of a young boy.

“Bad luck!”