WJ Chapter 91

Eastern Sun (2)

Whether this “illustrious Young Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect” had actually stolen something and hit someone was secondary—what was real was that he’d been completely bewildered by a little medicine person of similar age.

Yun Changliu grew even more flustered, and the more flustered he became, the less he could speak. Though taciturn and aloof, his mind was actually more sensitive and perceptive than most people’s. He could vaguely sense that this beautiful child he’d never met before seemed to be deliberately teasing him.

But it was precisely this teasing without any real malice that made the Young Sect Leader even more uncomfortable—if he were truly being bullied, he could at least fight back with his martial skills. Yet now, after just a few words from this blue-robed young boy, it seemed as though he was the one in the wrong…

What should he do?

What could he do?

After several breaths of stalemate, Yun Changliu finally, very hesitantly, extended his hand toward Ah Ku. His fingers, pale and delicate as bamboo shoot tips, emerged just slightly from his wide sleeves.

What Yun Changliu couldn’t have anticipated was that his cautious manner actually sparked a mischievous impulse in Ah Ku—he’d been living alone in this peach grove wooden house for nearly a year now. Though free, it had grown rather dull after so long.

It was rare to have such a noble and precious yet easily teased Young Sect Leader stumble in today. Ah Ku found it terribly amusing.

He’d already noticed that this Young Sect Leader Changliu couldn’t bear others’ touch. Now, seeing Yun Changliu hesitantly trying to help him up, Ah Ku smiled and leaned forward, reaching out to firmly grasp the palm that Yun Changliu had hidden in his sleeve!

“You!” Yun Changliu was shocked again, violently shaking his hand free. He suddenly turned around, not daring to look at Ah Ku even once more—

With several flying leaps of qinggong, he ran away.

Ah Ku finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud, the sound clear and bright.

Well, this time he’d controlled himself and didn’t use internal energy—that was progress.

He sat there, laughing while watching Yun Changliu flee in disarray with great interest. As he watched, Ah Ku couldn’t help but feel a trace of admiration.

…This Young Sect Leader truly had profound internal energy and exquisite qinggong.

Thinking carefully, he’d once prided himself on lacking nothing in talent, diligence, or comprehension when it came to martial arts. Among his peers, he dared not claim to be invincible under heaven, but he’d been confident he was no worse than anyone else.

Yet this Young Sect Leader Changliu, though suffering from severe poisoning, seemed to have even greater cultivation than him.

However… why was this person’s temperament so pure and easily bullied?

Ah Ku simply couldn’t understand… how exactly had a great demon like Yun Guyan managed to raise such a son!?

But he didn’t dwell on it for long, deciding to set this Young Sect Leader aside for now. The bitter smell inside was growing stronger—the medicine in the clay pot was nearly done cooking. If he delayed any longer, it would burn.

Ah Ku walked back into his wooden house and closed the door. He went straight to extinguish the fire, lifted the lid, stirred it with bamboo chopsticks, then skillfully poured the medicinal liquid into the porcelain bowls on the table.

The quantity was large—he filled three bowls before it was all poured out.

The freshly brewed medicine was scalding hot and couldn’t be consumed immediately, so the little medicine person sat down again, picked up the book he’d been reading earlier, and resumed from where he’d left off.

But this time, somehow his mind was restless. Those densely packed characters entered his eyes but couldn’t enter his heart.

…That’s right, this potent medicine he brewed every day was meant for that cold, beautiful Young Sect Leader in white robes to drink.

Ah Ku lowered his eyes and suddenly rolled up his right sleeve.

Across his wrist lay a vicious scar where the slender wrist of a young child had been torn open.

Medicine dissolving blood, slitting the wrist to extract blood… he’d already experienced all of this not long ago. He couldn’t remember how he’d endured those torments, only knowing that he was now thoroughly a medicine person, bitter medicine for that Young Sect Leader Changliu.

Ah Ku’s heart suddenly felt as though a hole had been gouged out. Though bloody, from that hole grew wild and complex emotions that covered even the bloody smell.

He was staring blankly into space when he heard the door creak open behind him.

Ah Ku’s face turned cold. He yanked his sleeve back down to cover the wound on his wrist and whirled around in shock. “You—why have you come back again?”

The person pushing open the door… was actually Yun Changliu again.

The white-robed Young Sect Leader said nothing, his face coolly expressionless, just gripping the door frame and looking inside at him.

Ah Ku didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He pointed at the peach branch that had fallen on the ground. “That spray of flowers is yours. Take it and leave, all right?”

“…”

Yun Changliu responded with silent staring.

Not speaking, not moving, not leaving.

Ah Ku thought to himself that this Young Sect Leader must have something wrong with his head.

He paid no attention and, seeing the medicine had cooled somewhat, naturally picked up the bowl and drank in large gulps.

At the doorway, Yun Changliu showed slight emotion.

He’d never imagined that this child living in this paradise peach grove, whose every smile and frown radiated brilliance… was also like himself, ill and needing to drink so much bitter medicine.

…But if he was ill, how could he live alone in this place?

Even having to brew his own medicine, with no one to care for him?

Could he be without father or mother?

Thinking this way, the Young Sect Leader’s heart suddenly ached with sourness.

He knew best the pain of illness and the bitterness of loneliness.

If he himself was destined by birth to suffer, that was one thing—he’d grown accustomed to enduring days in silence and darkness. But why must this child also…

Inside the wooden house, Ah Ku calmly finished drinking those several large bowls of medicine. He closed his eyes and bore the bitter, nauseating taste filling his mouth. Just as he was setting the bowl back on the table, he heard footsteps behind him.

That Young Sect Leader had actually voluntarily entered his house!

Ah Ku’s face darkened, but before he could lose his temper, a hand suddenly extended before his eyes.

It was Yun Changliu reaching out with a small package he’d taken from his chest.

He carefully unwrapped the outer paper in front of Ah Ku. Inside were several exquisite, lovely candy pieces.

Young Sect Leader Changliu just extended his hand like that, holding several candies in his palm, standing silently before Ah Ku.

“This… for me?”

Ah Ku blinked in surprise.

He suddenly raised his head again and very seriously examined the white-robed Young Sect Leader before him once more from head to toe.

Yun Changliu’s pair of eyes were clear and cold as frost, still earnestly extending his hand to offer candy.

Ah Ku suddenly smiled, lips pressed together. When the young boy smiled, he looked truly beautiful, as though his whole person was gilded with a faint halo. He waved his hand. “Ha, I don’t want yours.”

Yun Changliu insisted stubbornly. “Consider it an apology.”

Ah Ku was once again utterly astonished. He seemed to have just heard words that absolutely shouldn’t come from a Sect Young Sect Leader’s mouth. “Apology… apologize for what!?”

“Apology,” Yun Changliu tilted his head slightly, expressionlessly imitating what Ah Ku had said earlier, speaking slowly, “I, the illustrious Young Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect… not only stole someone’s flowers and trespassed into someone’s home, but even struck them.”

“…”

Ah Ku’s eyes widened. He truly didn’t know whether to be angry or amused, so he helplessly picked up a candy and put it in his mouth. This time he really had no way to deal with this Young Sect Leader. “Fine, I accept your apology gift. Now leave quickly, go on, go.”

As he spoke, he pushed the person toward the door. This time Yun Changliu didn’t even resist Ah Ku’s touch, very obediently allowing himself to be pushed out of the wooden house.

But once outside, he turned around, standing there looking at Ah Ku, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Ah Ku wasn’t moved in the slightest. He gave this white-robed Young Sect Leader one last deep look and slammed the door shut with a bang.

….

A quarter hour later.

Ah Ku could bear it no longer and opened the door again.

When he saw Yun Changliu standing calmly and motionlessly at the door, he finally laughed in exasperation. “Young Sect Leader, what else do you want!?”

Yun Changliu shook his head.

“Then why aren’t you leaving? Didn’t I tell you to go back!?”

Yun Changliu answered very honestly. “Can’t find the way.”

“What do you mean… wait, you’re saying you’re lost?”

Ah Ku was initially incredulous, then immediately burst into laughter, leaning against the door frame. He raised his eyebrows teasingly. “Then how did you get here in the first place?”

Yun Changliu: “Don’t know.”

Ah Ku lightly jumped over the threshold, standing on the grass covered with peach petals, smiling. “Take your peach branch and follow me.”

So Yun Changliu very compliantly followed behind him.

The two children walked one after the other, treading on the fallen flowers covering the ground, out of the rosy peach blossom forest.

Halfway through, Yun Changliu saw that Ah Ku was walking ahead with no intention of turning around. He quietly channeled internal energy into his hands and in just an instant soundlessly shook all the flowers off that peach branch.

The Young Sect Leader quietly watched that blue-clad back and thrust the tree branch into the soil along the way.

His internal energy was astonishing—the peach branch easily penetrated through the hard stone beneath the mud as well, like chopsticks through tofu, without making the slightest sound.

After a while, they’d left the peach grove far behind and turned onto a mountain path.

“The candy,” Yun Changliu suddenly asked softly, “is it sweet?”

Ah Ku hadn’t expected the person behind him to actually initiate conversation. He pressed his lips together, and his expression unconsciously softened. “…Mm.”

…It was truly ridiculous—he’d bullied this person like that, yet that person gave him candy instead.

Perhaps this Young Sect Leader was truly naive about worldly matters, innocent and pure toward everyone?

Mountain paths always have an end. Walking like this, the dark outline of Xifeng City had already appeared before them. Ah Ku didn’t intend to accompany Yun Changliu into the city. He turned his head:

“This should be far enough. I’m going back now, you can—”

His voice suddenly cut off.

Under Ah Ku’s shocked gaze, Young Sect Leader Changliu hid the hand holding the peach branch behind his back, his expression coolly innocent.

—Along the entire route from the peach grove to before Xifeng City, Yun Changliu had actually used that peach branch to forcibly carve deep fissures.

….

At the same moment.

Nearly frantic with worry, Yun Guyan was in a towering rage in Yangxin Hall.

“Can’t find him!? Useless, all a bunch of useless fools! How big is Mount Shenlie—you can lose this Sect’s Young Sect Leader!?”

“Keep searching… deploy all the Yin Ghosts from Ghost Gate to search for this lord!!”

“Chop up those three wretches who were supposed to attend to Liu’er! Chop them into mincemeat and feed them to the wolves in the mountains!”

No matter how Wen Huan tried to calm him, it was useless. Finally, seeing that the Sect Leader was about to go search for his son personally, he could only physically restrain him. “Sect Leader, calm down, calm down… The Young Sect Leader is steady and composed in temperament, and his martial arts are high. Surely nothing serious will happen! You cannot leave!”

“Get lost!” Yun Guyan angrily pushed Wen Huan aside, shouting anxiously, “Liu’er has never left the city alone! What if he encounters some venomous creature or fierce beast in the mountains? What if that Fengchun Sheng acts up again? What if he goes down the mountain and gets abducted by human traffickers? …What if he can’t find the way back!?”

…It must be said, that last guess actually hit the mark.

Just then, a Zhuhuo Guard burst into Yangxin Hall, announcing loudly, “Report to the Sect Leader! The Young Sect Leader has been found, safe and sound!”

“Liu’er is safe!?”

The Sect Leader and his close attendant, who’d been pulling at each other, were both delighted and surprised. Yun Guyan couldn’t be bothered about chopping servants into mincemeat to feed wolves anymore. He quickly asked, “Where was he found?”

“At… outside Changsheng Pavilion. The Young Sect Leader walked back on his own.”

….

When Yun Guyan hurried over, Yun Changliu was sitting in his usual spot, drinking his customary medicine. Seeing Yun Guyan enter, he set down the bowl and called softly, “Father.”

It was rare for Yun Changliu to speak up on his own, and Yun Guyan immediately perked up. He saw the Young Sect Leader point toward the window, saying somewhat dejectedly:

“Liu’er saw the peach blossoms blooming at the foot of the mountain and couldn’t help wanting to go see… I meant to look for just a moment then return, but got lost halfway.”

He glossed over it like this, concealing matters regarding both Yun Chanjuan and Ah Ku.

Yun Guyan treasured this eldest son most. Hearing that Yun Changliu had gotten lost in the mountains, his heart immediately ached terribly. How could he investigate further? He just held the child and kept coaxing. “Was Liu’er frightened? It’s good you’re back, it’s good you’re safe.”

“I wasn’t scared,” Yun Changliu shook his head. Then he tilted his neck back, his elegant Adam’s apple bobbing as he drained the remaining medicine in one gulp. “In the future… want to go out more. Don’t want people following.”

Yun Guyan’s expression showed difficulty at these words.

He furrowed his brow, and before he could open his mouth to refuse, Yun Changliu tugged at his sleeve, saying lowly, “…Father?”

—The Young Sect Leader could never learn to cry, wheedle, or throw tantrums. For him, this single word “Father” was already the limit of willfulness.

Yun Guyan naturally knew this. His heart felt as though cut by knives, but he could only grit his teeth and say with a hard expression. “Liu’er… anything else, you can ask for whatever you want, and Father will give it all to you.”

Yun Changliu wasn’t particularly sad or upset. He just lowered his head in silence for a while, as though thinking.

After a long moment, he pointed at the empty medicine bowl, saying expressionlessly, “Then… the medicine is very bitter. I want candy.”

Yun Guyan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He was willing but unable—temporarily unable to cure that strange poison Fengchun Sheng—but this small matter he could still do for his son.

“Someone come! From now on, after the Young Sect Leader finishes his medicine each day, send him several preserved fruits and candies. Dispatch someone specifically to purchase the best and sweetest from the town at the foot of the mountain. No repeats within a month. Have you noted this?”