WJ Chapter 27

Che Lin (4)

In just a moment, the supremely noble Zhuyin Sect Leader was smilingly pushed outside the room door by his Four Directions Protector.

Then the door closed.

Yun Changliu: “……”

It wasn’t as if he were a woman—what harm could there be in seeing? Why guard against him so thoroughly……

The Sect Leader, shut outside, faced the door panel, feeling slightly displeased.

……However, he soon discovered that this inn’s door had fallen into disrepair over the years, with some areas near the edges worn quite badly.

The candlelight inside was soft and dim yellow, carrying a warmth that brought comfort throughout one’s body. It flickered through that small crack, landing precisely on the dark hair at Yun Changliu’s temples.

Yun Changliu looked at that small gap in the door, cleared his throat lightly, and the tips of his ears suddenly turned slightly red. Thinking of the person inside and the scene that would inevitably unfold next, he remained silent for quite a while.

——In the end, he still chose to turn his head away and be a gentleman.

……

A strange small town, a strange inn—even the night seemed different from usual.

Downstairs came the sounds of inn servants running errands, the accountant clicking his abacus and settling accounts with the shopkeeper, and from time to time the voices of guests conversing could be heard.

Yun Changliu leaned against the door panel with his eyes closed, his long, thick eyelashes trembling constantly.

His internal energy cultivation was pure and deep—this door’s soundproofing effect was equivalent to nothing for him. He heard the rustling sounds of fabric inside, and felt even his cheeks beginning to heat up.

Perhaps out of boredom, perhaps not yet accustomed to this night so utterly different from the peaceful silence of Yangxin Hall……Yun Changliu began uncontrollably imagining Wujue’s hands with their ten long, elegant fingers and distinct knuckles.

Those clean, beautiful ivory-white fingertips would touch the blazing red robes, smoothing wrinkles downward, circling around a lean waist, gently untying the sash.

He would lower his chin slightly, both hands opening the inner garment, and as the clothing slipped off, it would reveal delicately formed collarbones and snow-white shoulders.

And then, further down would be……

Yun Changliu’s heartbeat became somewhat fast, somewhat chaotic.

He had always been emotionally detached, yet now he had stirred up desire born of romantic feelings.

He thought hazily: No good, he truly still felt this way toward Wujue……

Those soft, romantic yearnings, those tender, lingering thoughts……they hadn’t broken, couldn’t be broken.

Even if forcibly severed, there were still fine, delicate threads connecting them, pulling at his heartstrings like a swing swaying there—likely to be pulled all the way into his grave.

Yun Changliu heard the sounds of robes being shaken and folded, heard bare feet stepping on the floorboards, heard hands stirring water——the person inside was presumably casually testing the water temperature.

That water sound seemed to transform into wind blowing into one’s heart. Like spring wind making willow leaf tips sway ticklishly, making ripples rise across a pool of spring water.

Splash……

The sound of entering the water.

Sect Leader Yun suddenly tensed his lips.

He blinked once, took several low, rapid breaths, and suddenly had a very strange thought that would never have occurred to him before——

That’s right, wasn’t he the leader of a nefarious jianghu sect?

What need was there to be a gentleman!

……This thought was completely unreasonable and illogical. If he just calmed down, Yun Changliu would definitely think his brain had a problem in that instant.

The issue was precisely that in this moment, the Sect Leader was extremely not calm.

“……”

Yun Changliu silently turned back a little.

He tilted his face and quickly glanced through that crack.

——To be fair, with Yun Changliu’s temperament, at most he would steal just that one glance, then turn his head back and blush for a good while as if nothing had happened.

However, the moment Yun Changliu’s gaze touched the person inside, it rapidly froze and solidified.

He understood……why Wujue was unwilling to bathe in front of him.

Guan Wujue’s physique was very attractive, shrouded in steaming white mist, as if his outline had been softened. He was tall and slender with a narrow waist and long legs—he should have been the object of countless young women’s dreams. However……

However, what first rushed into view was a long, vicious scar that crossed from his left shoulder across his chest, extending all the way to his right upper abdomen.

And besides this, his body was covered with crisscrossing scars, chaotic and of varying depths, brimming with madness, cruelly tearing apart this otherwise pleasing form.

The scar on his chest, Yun Changliu recognized. That was an injury Guan Wujue had sustained years ago during training at Ghost Gate.

But all those others……hadn’t existed a year ago.

——Those were the scars left by the Bone-Crushing Whip.

This was the first time Yun Changliu had seen with his own eyes the injuries he himself had inflicted.

He suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Or rather, very uncomfortable.

……

Inside the guest room, the candle flame quietly emitted light.

Guan Wujue, submerged in the water, narrowed his eyes.

He suddenly curved his lips and laughed a couple of times, leaned back, and pillowed himself contentedly on the edge of the bathtub, calling out toward the door:

“Young Master, your qi has become unstable——aiya, I told you not to look, so why did you look? Isn’t this just making yourself feel bad for nothing?”

Outside, Yun Changliu said nothing. Those soft thoughts filled with affection had long since vanished into smoke. His hands slowly clenched until they turned pale.

He asked himself: Did it hurt your heart? Did you regret it?

Did you or didn’t you?

In the end, was there, or wasn’t there?

Guan Wujue sighed leisurely. He swept a handful of water-soaked hair behind his ear and said with a smile:

“Actually, that’s not quite the right way to put it—should say your qi ‘changed’——actually, from the moment this subordinate started undressing, your qi had already become ‘unstable.’ Just what were you thinking about?”

Still no response from outside.

The curve of Guan Wujue’s smile gradually faded as he silently worried. Well then, this has become a big problem……

He stood up, bringing up a splash of water. Guan Wujue wrung the water from his hair with one hand, lifted his leg to step out of the bathtub, casually threw the outer robe folded nearby over himself, and in three steps made into two, quickly walked to the door and pushed it open.

“Young Master——”

“You!?”

Although there was no one in the corridor between guest rooms at this time, Yun Changliu was still startled. He fumbled to wrap Guan Wujue’s outer robe tightly around him. Rather than pushing him into the room, it was more like embracing him by the waist and carrying him inside.

After Yun Changliu released him and closed the door, he turned around wanting to scold him, but saw Guan Wujue smiling gently with water droplets still falling from his hair. “Wujue has finished bathing, Young Master, please go ahead.”

“……”

Yun Changliu’s heart felt bitter, knowing this was Wujue deliberately trying to coax him by making such a fuss. But after all this back and forth, where was the mood to properly bathe? He just hastily soaked in the water briefly and called it done.

His mood was as chaotic as wild grass.

For a moment or two, Yun Changliu was certain he regretted it deeply, then in the next instant found it utterly laughable.

Emotions of self-loathing suddenly spread through him.

……Those were whip wounds he himself had inflicted one by one, and now he felt heartache—what was this? Wasn’t it ridiculous?

Guan Wujue had already changed into a new white inner garment, worn loosely on his body. He was unusually silent, his eyes complex as he watched Yun Changliu’s indifferent profile, stopping himself from speaking countless times.

Afterward, the two washed up and changed clothes, and extinguished the lamp and candles.

The room was suddenly filled with darkness.

Yun Changliu looked at the only bed. Having him speak at this time was truly difficult. The Sect Leader hesitated for a long while before finally turning to Guan Wujue and saying in a low voice. “Sleep. Tomorrow……”

He hadn’t finished speaking.

Guan Wujue suddenly knelt down on the ground without a word, his knees hitting the floor with a thump. His Adam’s apple bobbed once, as if he had made a great decision, before he said through gritted teeth:

“Young Master……Sect Leader, please listen to what Wujue has to say.”

Yun Changliu’s heart emptied, as if falling from a ten-thousand-foot cliff.

He stared blankly at Guan Wujue kneeling before him. Those scars rushed violently into his mind, and his first thought was actually: Was this going to be a showdown?

Yun Changliu walked over somewhat dazedly and helped him up with both hands.

He suddenly asked softly, “Could I……not listen for now?”

Guan Wujue said, “No, you should still listen.”

The Sect Leader lowered his eyes. “Then stand up and speak.”

Guan Wujue stared at Yun Changliu and suddenly smiled bitterly. “Why does your complexion look so poor? Wujue won’t say anything unpleasant.”

Yun Changliu took a step back and sat on the bed. His cold, clear eyes were buried in darkness, his voice lower and slower than usual. “You can say whatever you want, I’m listening.”

……Guan Wujue realized the Sect Leader had completely failed to grasp the meaning of what he’d just said, which could be heard from his tone.

He thought for a moment and decided to first let Yun Changliu relax a bit. “How about I tell you a story first?”

“What?” The Sect Leader frowned slightly and said, “……Speak directly, why do this?”

But the Protector acted as if he hadn’t heard. “You should know the origin of the Fengchun Sheng poison, right?”

Guan Wujue sighed lightly and also sat down beside Yun Changliu, narrating on his own, “Legend has it that Fengchun Sheng was a poison refined by a female physician from the previous dynasty.”

“She loved someone who didn’t return her feelings. Love turned to hate, and from medicine she turned to poison, personally poisoning to death her former beloved. Love and hate are like wild grass—they cannot be cut down or burned away; when spring wind blows, they grow again. This is the meaning behind the name Fengchun Sheng poison.”

“The Sect Leader has surely heard this origin story.” At this point, Guan Wujue paused. “But you probably don’t know how the man loved by this physician who poisoned him ultimately died.”

Looking at it this way, it really did seem like he was telling a story.

Yun Changliu made an affirmative sound, indicating he should continue. Outwardly calm, but inwardly already on edge……actually, he felt this roundabout approach was worse than just getting it over with.

“That lover had martial arts. It’s said that initially, the physician declared that he would only succumb and die on the eighth occurrence of the Fengchun Sheng poison.”

“But in reality——that person took his own life after the fifth occurrence. Does the Sect Leader know why?”

Yun Changliu shook his head. “No, I don’t know this.”

Guan Wujue said, “Because, after the fifth occurrence of the poison——he accidentally killed his most beloved wife and child.”

Yun Changliu was puzzled and instinctively asked, “Why?”

In the story that had been passed down, the female physician was stunningly beautiful with supreme medical skills, yet the man of her affections remained unmoved. This was naturally because he had a wife he deeply loved, so why would he kill his beloved and his own flesh and blood?

Guan Wujue lifted his face in the darkness, looking directly at the Sect Leader, his words calm and clear:

“This is because, after the Fengchun Sheng poison takes effect, it causes one’s mind to become unstable and emotions to easily fall into chaos.”

“The poisoned man was originally a hero of firm will, but the Fengchun Sheng poison corroded his resolve. According to medical scrolls collected by the Medicine Gate, after the fifth occurrence, the hero awoke to hear his son clamoring for laba porridge.”

“It turned out that day was the Laba Festival, when every household cooks porridge. But the hero’s wife, in caring for her husband, hadn’t lit a fire to cook for two days, only telling the child to ask neighbors for food.”

“The son, who had been met with cold looks while begging outside, came home crying to his mother and cursed his bedridden father once. It was this one curse that enraged the hero.”

“So the hero drew his sword.”

Yun Changliu’s eyes widened slightly in shock.

……

Hundreds of years ago, on a certain joyous Laba Festival.

In a certain small village with cooking smoke curling up from chimneys.

A complaint became an argument, the argument produced sword light, and under the sword light, blood splashed.

The enraged husband killed his wife and child, knelt wailing in the pool of blood, and took his own life in the blood-red setting sun.

In the distance, a solitary female physician with flowing skirts hummed a nursery rhyme no one had ever heard.

Fengchun Sheng was the most vicious curse in the world.

It could grow sprouts of hate from love, blooming flowers of blood.