Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 66

After dinner, Yun Qing pulled out a handful of items from her treasure pouch and sighed leisurely, “I had originally wanted to refine a magic treasure myself, but now I don’t know when my body will fully recover. Baiyu, why don’t you help me refine it instead.”

The others looked closely and saw that what she held in her hands were demon cores.

These demon cores were taken when she swept away the demon horde at Linglong Mountain. She had disdained the cores of lesser demons and hadn’t bothered taking them, only collecting those from the more powerful ones—eighteen cores in total.

Seventeen of the demon cores were either green or brown, with only one being red as cinnabar—that belonged to the golden-haired hound.

She had originally planned to refine these demon cores into a powerful magic treasure herself, but after the battle at Linglong Mountain, she had never had a chance to catch her breath. Now her cultivation was recovering very slowly, and she wasn’t a patient person, so she had to trouble Jiang Baiyu with the task.

Jiang Baiyu accepted the demon cores and nodded in agreement.

Yun Qing thought of the jade disc that Chu Yanhe had given her—she might as well refine it together, as it would make a perfect protective jade for Cheng Suiyan.

Protective magic treasures were easy to refine since they served a single purpose—they only needed to be worn on the body and required no incantations.

In comparison, Yun Qing’s demon core magic treasure would be much more complex.

“What name do you want to give it?” Jiang Baiyu asked.

“Uh…” Yun Qing wasn’t very good at naming things. After thinking for a while, she said, “A Neat Family?”

Cheng Suiyan said quietly, “I suddenly feel those demons died quite miserably.”

Fu Xue: “They died so wrongfully.”

Ci Li: “They died with eyes wide open.”

Jiang Baiyu asked Yun Qing again, “What about the incantation? Have you thought of one?”

Yun Qing just felt a headache coming on and waved her hand dismissively, “I don’t know, you help me think of one.”

Jiang Baiyu smiled, “Alright.”

A few days later, Jiang Baiyu brought her the finished magic treasure. The treasure was wrapped in a piece of emerald green lotus leaf—no need to ask why there would be fresh lotus leaves in this season.

Opening the lotus leaf, inside was a bracelet.

On the bracelet, seventeen demon cores of green and brown were arranged irregularly, surrounding a slightly larger red demon core. Perhaps feeling the demon cores’ colors were too monotonous, Jiang Baiyu had also strung some other jade stones among them.

The bracelet was quite beautiful. Yun Qing hadn’t expected Jiang Baiyu to have this skill—if this person didn’t cultivate the Dao, he would be very popular as a jewelry craftsman.

She unfolded the lotus leaf and saw an incantation written in ink:

A thousand li of bright moon, a thousand li of dreams,
Free in the mortal world, free as the wind.
The beauty lies drunk among the flowers,
Fragrant mist drifts, returning to Yun Qing.

This incantation…

Yun Qing cupped her chin and narrowed her eyes.

How did it feel like Baiyu was flirting with her…

She flicked the lotus leaf lightly with her finger and glanced in Jiang Baiyu’s direction.

Jiang Baiyu’s eyelashes fluttered slightly as he met her gaze and pressed his lips together.

Yun Qing slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, shook it in the sunlight, and nodded, “Not bad.”

Jiang Baiyu’s gaze lingered briefly on her wrist before he smiled, “As long as you like it.”

…..

These past few days, they had shaken off their pursuers several times—without guessing, they knew these were people sent by Jiang Binghe. Since he and Jiang Baiyu had already torn off their masks, there was no need to continue the charade of filial piety, so he had become even more unrestrained.

However, while the pursuers continued to follow, they never made a move.

Yun Qing speculated that because they had killed Qingcheng Zi and Jiang Baiyu’s cultivation far exceeded Jiang Binghe’s expectations, these factors made him wary, so he had hesitated to act, probably wanting to find a foolproof strategy.

“Senior Sister, what should we do now?”

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to Huayang Mountain, Yun Qing temporarily had no good ideas.

After thinking, she said, “I want to meet that Senior Hanlu Zi first. Baiyu, how much do you know about Hanlu Zi?”

Jiang Baiyu shook his head with difficulty, “She has been imprisoned in the forbidden grounds for eighteen years, and many old matters have been forgotten by people.

I only know that she had considerable achievements in swordsmanship, and her former sword ‘Hundred Years of Sorrow’ was also considered a famous divine weapon. After Jiang Binghe confiscated this sword, he shelved it;

She had six direct disciples, five of whom died in the Cold Heron Rebellion, with only one surviving by defecting to Jiang Binghe.”

“Who is this person?”

“Yu Beiting.”

****

Yu Beiting had just returned to Huayang Mountain when he got beaten again. Jiang Binghe was a suspicious person, and now that he had suffered setbacks, he suspected that Yu Beiting was in league with Jiang Baiyu, even using the Incantation of Truth for this.

He asked Yu Beiting if he knew Jiang Baiyu’s true cultivation level. Yu Beiting answered that he didn’t know.

Jiang Binghe then asked Yu Beiting about his purpose in leaving the Cangye Sword with Jiang Baiyu.

Yu Beiting’s answer was that the Cangye Sword had actually been snatched away by the demoness, and he had never dared to tell the truth.

This answer made Jiang Binghe so angry his face turned frost-cold, and he whipped Yu Beiting about twenty times.

…..

After walking out of Changsheng Hall, Yu Beiting wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and let out a long sigh.

Under the occasionally curious gazes of the gatekeeper disciples, he looked up at the sun expressionlessly.

Li Xiuzhu passed by Changsheng Hall—whether intentionally or unintentionally, no one could say. Seeing Yu Beiting come out injured, he walked over to Yu Beiting’s side and called out warmly, “Junior Brother Yu.”

Li Xiuzhu didn’t look like bamboo at all; he was more like a tree stump. He was short and stocky with a square face that always wore a smile. Yu Beiting had never seen him not smiling.

He suspected that smile was permanently painted on Li Xiuzhu’s face.

Li Xiuzhu was one of Jiang Binghe’s direct disciples.

Speaking of Jiang Binghe’s direct disciples, it was truly a very risky identity.

Jiang Binghe had taken a total of eight direct disciples, four of whom had various accidents during cultivation—three died and one went mad.

The one who went mad also became mute, running around everywhere going “aba aba” every day. Because of his status, everyone in the Huayang Sect let him be.

Besides these four, two other disciples eloped together and their whereabouts remained unknown to this day. No one knew which corner they were hiding in, or whether they had continued the curse of being “Jiang Binghe’s direct disciple” and met with accidents.

So among the sect master’s eight disciples, only two were currently still whole and active in the Huayang Sect.

Some said it was because Jiang Binghe’s destiny was too harsh, easily bringing misfortune to those around him. Yu Beiting didn’t think so.

At this moment, Li Xiuzhu rarely restrained his smile—after all, Yu Beiting had just been beaten by the sect master, so it would be too inappropriate for him to keep smiling.

Li Xiuzhu took Yu Beiting’s hand, patted the back of his hand, and comforted him.

“Junior Brother Yu, you’ve worked hard. This is a Heaven-Mending Pill I refined just the other day. If you don’t mind, please take it.” As he spoke, he stuffed a light blue pill bottle into Yu Beiting’s hand.

Yu Beiting looked down at the pill bottle in his hand, the corner of his mouth curving into a mocking smile, “I just got lectured by the sect master, and you’re not avoiding suspicion?”

Li Xiuzhu hurriedly shook his head. “What are you saying! Master was instructing you—we’d be delighted to receive a few words of instruction from Master ourselves.”

Yu Beiting made a “tsk” sound and said while walking, “Hypocrite.” He always spoke directly, without saving face.

Li Xiuzhu wasn’t annoyed and walked beside him, saying, “Junior Brother Xie just acquired a fine landscape painting. We all know you love paintings. When you’ve recovered, let’s drink tea and appreciate paintings together.”

The Junior Brother Xie he mentioned was Xie Junze, Jiang Binghe’s other direct disciple.

Yu Beiting didn’t want to get too close to them, so he returned the pill bottle to Li Xiuzhu and went back silently.

…..

After returning to his quarters, Yu Beiting kept thinking about this matter. Many disciples of the Huayang Sect knew that Yu Beiting loved collecting paintings, and whenever they got good paintings, they always liked to curry favor with Yu Beiting.

Yu Beiting had done quite a lot of dirty work for Jiang Binghe and had many good things in his possession, so he often exchanged his heavenly materials and earthly treasures with these disciples.

Yu Beiting rested on his bed for a while, but finally got up, took a drop of Taihua Golden Liquid, and went to find Xie Junze.

Xie Junze was handsome and talented, Jiang Binghe’s most favored disciple, and his residence was much more luxurious than Yu Beiting’s.

In his garden, there was actually a large cave made of piled crystals, with white stones laid inside, called “Ice and Snow World”—it was considered one of the scenic spots of Huayang Mountain.

Xie Junze often drank tea and played chess with people in the Ice and Snow World, enjoying others’ flattery and jealousy.

Jealousy was an emotion that became stronger the closer one’s status was. If two people were worlds apart, there would naturally be no jealousy.

Xie Junze knew that the one who envied him most was Li Xiuzhu.

And the one Xie Junze envied most was Yu Beiting.

The difference between humans and beasts was that no matter how much jealousy and hatred humans had, they could always maintain harmony on the surface.

And humans were most harmonious when two people got together to speak ill of a third person.

At this moment, Li Xiuzhu and Xie Junze were playing chess in the Ice and Snow World while making idle conversation.

The two first chatted about cultivation, exchanging compliments and probing each other—naturally, neither spoke any truth. Then they talked about their master and the young master.

Li Xiuzhu then seemingly casually brought up Yu Beiting.

“Master lectured Junior Brother Yu again today. Junior Brother, do you think Yu getting beaten has anything to do with the young master’s disappearance?”

Xie Junze said strangely, “Wasn’t the young master kidnapped by two demoness? I heard those two demoness wanted to come and propose marriage, but when the gatekeeper disciples refused, the demonesses schemed to make the gatekeeper disciples do shameless things in public.

Because of this incident, our Huayang Sect almost became the laughingstock of the martial world.”

“Since they kidnapped the young master, Master must have sent people to rescue him. These past few days, you and I haven’t left the mountain. I think he most likely sent Junior Brother Yu.”

Xie Junze held a light pink tourmaline chess piece, hesitating whether to place it, and after pondering for a moment said:

“Senior Brother’s analysis is very reasonable. But I heard those two demoness cultivate the Way of Compassion? You and I both know what the Way of Compassion is—even if they could kidnap the young master, Junior Brother Yu shouldn’t be unable to defeat demoness who practices the Way of Compassion, right?”

“That’s what makes it strange. If you ask me, Junior Brother Yu has been quite favored by Master these years, and it’s made him somewhat arrogant, which led to this setback.

Not to mention anything else, just today, I kindly told him that you wanted to invite him to appreciate paintings together, but he acted all high and mighty and just walked away.

He’s always looked down on me, and I don’t mind, but Junior Brother, you’re Master’s most favored disciple, yet he doesn’t put you in his eyes either.”

Xie Junze knew Li Xiuzhu was trying to sow discord, but he still felt somewhat angry. His expression was indifferent as he curved his lips and said:

“Him? He’s just a dog that Master keeps. Why should I care if a dog doesn’t put me in its eyes?”

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind the flowering trees not far away. “That’s right, I am indeed a dog that the sect master keeps.”

Xie Junze was startled, and the chess piece in his hand dropped onto the board with a clear, pleasant sound.

Yu Beiting walked out from behind the flowering trees, leaning on his sword as he approached the Ice and Snow World. He looked expressionlessly at the two chess players and said:

“But aren’t you two dogs as well? Scheming and fighting each other for a bit of cultivation techniques and secret manuals—how is this different from dogs fighting over a bone?

Master gives you a glance and you’re happy for three days; Master scolds you once and you’re terrified for half a month—how is this different from a dog wagging its tail for rewards? If you ask me, in this entire Huayang Sect, except for Master himself, who isn’t a dog?”

Xie Junze’s face changed drastically, “Yu Beiting, what do you mean?!”

“My meaning is: we’re, all, dogs.”

Seeing that the two were about to fight, Li Xiuzhu was somewhat excited but couldn’t show it.

He held back Xie Junze, put on that smile that had been painted on his face for years, and persuaded, “Junior Brother, for Master’s sake, don’t argue with this crude man.”