When people lose control in the heat of anger, the first thing they usually forget is to lower their voice. Thus, Xie You Lan’s furious accusations rode the spring wind from front to back, sweeping clearly across every sharp ear present before drifting leisurely into the distant horizon.
“Heartless and faithless?” Cheng Yu looked genuinely doubtful that he’d heard correctly. “Who? Me?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye was equally shocked. “Huh? You?”
Ying Yue: “Huh? Him?”
Xie You Lan: “…”
What a bunch of bastards!
Everyone desperately held back their laughter, terrified of ending up on Beizhu Palace’s assassination list forever. Xie You Lan threw Cheng Yu an indignant “Hmph!” full of embarrassment and fury, then cracked his whip and galloped off alone in a huff.
Watching the trail of dust and smoke left behind, Yu Gong Zhao Ye sighed emotionally to himself. Those brothers really were disasters. Out of all people, they specifically had to torment Longsha’s assassins. Had they grown tired of peaceful lives and become addicted to the thrill of licking blood from knife edges?
“Brother Cheng.”
He urged his horse forward to ride beside Cheng Yu and teased him with a smile.
“I truly never expected you’d like this type.”
“It’s all a misunder—” Cheng Yu forcibly swallowed the final syllable, releasing instead a helpless sigh from deep within his chest. “Everything happened because of unfortunate circumstances. I didn’t expect him to seriously pursue the matter afterward.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye looked at him several times like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. At last, unable to hold back any longer, he tried as tactfully as possible to point out:
“Brother Cheng, honestly, you could simply say he was talking nonsense and deliberately slandering you. After all, Xie You Lan’s reputation among the public wasn’t exactly spotless to begin with…”
There was no need to admit it quite so straightforwardly.
“…”
Cheng Yu fell silent for a long moment before giving a bitter smile.
“One matter is one matter. In this case… I truly am not innocent either.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye pretended to clear his throat and guided his horse closer, adopting the posture of someone “all ears.”
Admitting something to oneself was one thing. Discussing it with another person was entirely different, and the embarrassment could not even be compared. Cheng Yu looked at him strangely.
“Your Highness never seemed interested in these sorts of trivial matters before.”
Cough cough cough.
His Highness suddenly seemed to choke on a chicken feather lodged in his throat, producing some awkward noises.
“I’m concerned about—”
Cheng Yu’s expression practically screamed that if he dared say the word “you,” Cheng Yu would immediately draw his sword and exorcise this impostor possessing His Highness in the simplest and most direct way possible.
“—Palace Master Xie’s lifelong happiness.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye executed an emergency turn mid-sentence.
“Despite how he acts, there are still friends and family who care about him.”
Cheng Yu acknowledged the first half of that statement but questioned the second.
“He’s the only son of Xie Jing, the former Palace Master of Beizhu Palace. What friends and family could he possibly have?”
“So domineering, Sect Master Cheng,” Yu Gong Zhao Ye sighed dramatically. “Do you intend to control how many relatives Palace Master Xie has too?”
Cheng Yu: “…”
“His younger brother Wei Fu is the Assistant Chancellor dispatched from Xiling to Longsha. I spent tremendous effort inviting him back.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye lowered his voice. “Even though he and Xie You Lan don’t appear particularly close, if anything happens to his brother and I dare hide it from him, the consequences would be unimaginable…”
Cheng Yu looked horrified.
“You invited an ancestor back to Longsha?!”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye raised a hand to partially cover his mouth and whispered mysteriously:
“He and Xie You Lan share the same mother. Blood is thicker than water—what do you think?”
Cheng Yu understood instantly. Completely understood. He nodded in sudden realization.
“Your Highness has worked hard.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye replied sincerely, “Same to you.”
Cheng Yu: “…”
The two stared at each other with wide eyes, each seeing the same indescribable suffering reflected on the other’s face.
After a while, Cheng Yu turned away first.
“You remember Moyun Sect, the sect that fought Changchu Sect over territory? They’re subordinate to Beizhu Palace. Back then the two sects fought constantly, so Moyun Sect went to Beizhu Palace to complain and request reinforcements. They ended up bringing in the young palace master Xie You Lan personally to stand up for them.”
“I exchanged blows with Xie You Lan several times. We won some and lost some. He probably never expected a fishbone like me could actually stab someone, so he was a little unconvinced. Still, he was relatively reasonable in the end and ordered Moyun Sect to retreat to Liufang Mountain and stop harassing us.”
“I see.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye smiled. “His temperament is eccentric and unruly, but judging from his conduct, he has more humanity than Xie Jing ever did. Seems you didn’t dislike him.”
“Being sentimental doesn’t necessarily make someone good,” Cheng Yu said. “You could say Xie You Lan and I became acquainted through fighting. But considering Changchu Sect’s position in the martial world, it would’ve been far too presumptuous for me to seek friendship with him. That’s why nobody ever knew we were acquainted.”
“At the end of last year, Xie Jing died and Xie You Lan inherited the position of Palace Master. But Beizhu Palace wasn’t united. Some elders thought he was young and easy to manipulate, so they secretly plotted to usurp his position.”
“On the fourteenth day of the second month this year, at Golden Lantern Valley in Xiangzhou, two elders suddenly made their move. They dragged out some illegitimate child from who-knows-where and accused Xie You Lan of murdering his own father and harming his siblings in order to seize the position of palace master, claiming he was unfit to lead Beizhu Palace.”
“By sheer bad luck, I happened to run straight into the middle of it all. I couldn’t exactly watch Xie You Lan die before my eyes, so unwillingly, I ended up dragged into the mess. Unfortunately my skills weren’t good enough and I lost. I suffered some injuries and could only flee for my life together with that unlucky bastard.”
At this point he paused briefly, omitting every terrifying crisis, hardship, and struggle. In the lightest tone imaginable, he concluded:
“People from Beizhu Palace pursued us the entire way. We hid for several days in the cellar of an abandoned Daoist temple. Fortunately, we eventually found a way to escape.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye knew perfectly well the situation could not possibly have been as easy as Cheng Yu described. But it was equally obvious that asking further would tread directly into forbidden territory, so it would be inappropriate to continue probing.
Yet Cheng Yu seemed to see through his concerns and voluntarily explained:
“When people are trapped in desperate circumstances, they often develop irrational dependence on their companions. Xie You Lan calls me heartless because he mistook that dependence—and the help I gave him when he had no other options—for a different kind of feeling…”
Those words struck directly at the greatest uncertainty in Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s heart. Something inside him suddenly tightened, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out:
“Then what do you think?”
Cheng Yu fell silent for a moment before replying:
“A momentary impulse. Talking about forever because of that would be far too reckless.”
Their eyes met. Suddenly, a sly smile appeared on Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s face.
“Only… ‘reckless’?”
He did not think two men loving each other violated heaven’s principles, nor did he care about social standing or the distinction between righteous and demonic paths. What mattered to him was whether those feelings were genuine, whether they came from sincerity, and whether they had been carefully considered rather than born from misunderstanding.
What Cheng Yu feared was “not lasting forever.” In other words, didn’t that simply mean he hoped it could last forever?
Cheng Yu considered seriously before answering:
“We people of the martial world don’t fuss over trivialities, but our actions must still accord with heaven’s principles and personal morality. One cannot behave too wildly. Blades and swords are blind, but emotions are entirely governed by self-control. Wounds to the flesh may heal, but wounds to the heart could become grudges lasting a lifetime. It’s better to be cautious.”
“Sect Master Cheng speaks wisely.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye nodded. “Since you know your own heart, I won’t interfere further. For Palace Master Xie to fall for a proper gentleman like you is ultimately a fortunate thing. It also gives his younger brother something of an explanation.”
He lifted his gaze, searching for wherever Xie You Lan had run off to, then casually asked:
“How are Palace Master Xie’s injuries? Has he fully recovered?”
No answer came.
After waiting a while, Yu Gong Zhao Ye turned around only to find Cheng Yu sitting motionless on horseback, lost in thought. For some unknown reason, a blush had spread across the exposed skin above his neatly fastened collar, winding all the way up beneath the brim of his hat to his ears and cheeks.
Yu Gong Zhao Ye blinked.
“Hm?”
Very few people had ever called Cheng Yu a “proper gentleman.”
After all, he used to be an assassin who picked off heads more easily than fruit, coming and going like the wind while committing acts entirely opposite to anything resembling righteousness. Even after “abandoning darkness for light” and taking over the crumbling Changchu Sect, spending every day worrying about how to raise a crowd of children, people still didn’t call him a gentleman. To his face they called him “great philanthropist”; behind his back they called him “great fool.”
Aside from Yu Gong Zhao Ye, the last person who had used that term for him had been Xie You Lan.
During… the most humiliating and unbearable moment of Cheng Yu’s entire life.
The elder sent to hunt down Xie You Lan was Madam Xiang Yan Bo, known as “Lady Qingxiao.” Nobody knew how Xie You Lan had offended her in the past. Although she had deliberately left them a slim chance of survival rather than finishing them off, she also maliciously filled the cellar with enough “Three Branches Nine Flowers Powder” to knock down a bull.
The two hid in the darkness of the cellar. Cheng Yu sat with eyes closed, meditating while struggling to suppress the raging agitation throughout his body. Beside him, Xie You Lan murmured like a heart demon:
“Hey, did you hear what she said? If someone under the effects of the drug doesn’t sleep with another person, eventually their blood and qi will boil over and they’ll explode to death.”
“I’m not deaf,” Cheng Yu answered.
“There are only two people here right now.”
“I’m not blind either.”
“Things have already reached this point. If you don’t want the worst outcome, then you’d better kill me now, carry my head out to claim the reward, and maybe your broken-down sect can rise to glory along with you.”
“Just because a dog bites you doesn’t mean you should willingly become a mad dog yourself and start biting people.”
Cheng Yu kept his eyes shut, unmoving. His heart fire was already blazing, and Xie You Lan’s endless chatter only added fuel to the flames. Holding back his temper, he said:
“Palace Master Xie, can you calm down for a while? Since you don’t want this, then there’s no need to force yourself.”
Cheng Yu had no idea how other people behaved after being drugged with an aphrodisiac, but in Xie You Lan’s case, it seemed to magnify his terrible personality tenfold. His moods became wildly unstable, and no one could possibly get the better of him.
“Force myself? Why would I? Humiliating a righteous gentleman like you sounds extremely entertaining.”
He stared coldly at Cheng Yu’s detached expression, teeth nearly grinding apart from fury.
“We people of the demonic path don’t care about this sort of thing. But once news spreads afterward, the entire world will ridicule and mock you. Your reputation will be ruined for life.”
Cheng Yu finally opened his eyes and looked at him, sighing softly.
“Palace Master Xie, one matter is one matter. If you’re asking whether I regret saving you, then the answer is no.”
Xie You Lan: “…”
Suddenly he rose and stepped forward.
With a sharp hiss, Cheng Yu’s sword instantly left its sheath. The cold blade pressed against Xie You Lan’s throat, forcing him back with steel and killing intent.
“Palace Master Xie. One matter is one matter. I advise you to behave yourself.”
The effects of the drug meant Cheng Yu was nowhere near as calm as he appeared. His hands trembled weakly out of control. He had no desire to truly injure Xie You Lan and intended to withdraw the blade after frightening him.
Yet Xie You Lan neither retreated nor dodged. Instead, he stepped forward again directly into the sword’s edge.
The razor-sharp blade sliced across the side of his neck instantly, carving open a wound nearly two inches long.
Blood immediately welled out, streaming down his neck. Xie You Lan casually wiped it away with the back of his hand, staring fixedly at the bright red staining his fingers. For no apparent reason, he suddenly laughed.
This madman with disheveled hair approached Cheng Yu step by step, then lowered himself to one knee before him.
The movement looked devout enough to resemble worship before a Buddha, yet carried something deeply profane as well.
Leaning close, Xie You Lan reached out and gently smeared the blood from his fingertips across Cheng Yu’s lower lip.
“Never thought I’d end up like this.”
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