Chapter 10 – The Youth’s Free-spirited Journey
Chou Bodeng’s skin was very white, as white as snow on the most ancient mountains, untouched by mortal dust. The slightest touch of red would become incredibly obvious. Right now, on his wrist, besides the marks left by the Kui Dragon Bracelet, there were also a few long finger marks circling his slender wrist bone, branded onto the pure snow like some unspeakable mark. Looking at it, one couldn’t help but feel the urge to deepen it.
The Oracle Master’s fingers, hanging by his side, curled slightly.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, hastily averting his gaze. “I’m sorry.”
Chou Bodeng stared at him, noticing that the man’s eyelashes were very long. When they were lowered, they hid that expanse of silver-gray tranquility, making him look a little lost, with a dazed and obedient appearance…
He’s too easy to bully, isn’t he?
Subtly, Chou Bodeng found that his conscience, which had been dead for eight hundred years, had suddenly revived a little. He cleared his throat and, for once, restrained himself. “Just kidding. We didn’t mean to offend the Divine Fu Tree.”
As he said this, he was about to stand up. Just as he was about to pull his hand back, it was grabbed.
The Oracle Master, holding the lantern in one hand, pulled him with the other. As he rose, he gave a tug and pulled him up as well. Before Chou Bodeng could say anything, he released his hand, as if the action had just been a casual bit of help.
“Is something the matter?” the Oracle Master asked.
With a wave of his sleeve, all the things frozen around them finally regained their weight and came crashing down like a torrential rain. Below, Zuo Yuesheng and the other two were pelted by branches and leaves, scurrying for cover with their hands over their heads. But the spot where he and Chou Bodeng stood remained clean, without a single leaf falling on them.
The gray bird that had just swooped down folded its wings and landed not far from them. It tilted its head, its cold, golden eyes fixed on their movements.
Chou Bodeng scrutinized it for a moment.
Just as he had guessed during the day, it was a bird of prey over six meters tall. Although it was very afraid of the newly arrived young Oracle Master, its gaze remained proud and sharp, filled with deep hostility. A faint trace of blood was visible at the base of its wings; the giant bird had been injured before it attacked him.
It was much easier on the eyes than Elder Ye’s bald-tailed phoenix.
“We’re looking for a jade pendant,” Chou Bodeng explained briefly, then pointed to the gray bird that had landed nearby. “It might have been taken by it.”
The Oracle Master nodded silently and walked towards the gray bird.
The gray bird spread its wings. When it had attacked Chou Bodeng earlier, it had swooped down from a great height with a chilling aura, arriving in an instant—a true lightning strike. Zuo Yuesheng and the other two had just heard the sound of wind when its talons were already descending on Chou Bodeng’s head. But compared to its talons, its long beak was its truly vicious weapon. It was sharp and strong, and after coiling its neck, it could snap a person’s head at close range with no more effort than twisting the head off a rabbit.
The Oracle Master’s sleeves were wide. He carried no saber or sword, only an ordinary paper lantern.
He just walked over simply like that, the wind blowing his robes, his figure slender.
The gray bird’s long beak, like refined iron, failed to strike out.
It stood frozen, motionless. If one looked closely at its downy feathers, one would see that its posture was less one of preparing to attack in revenge, and more a display of bravado born from extreme fear and the inability to retreat.
The Oracle Master placed a hand on its wing, soothing it, and uttered a series of low, gentle syllables.
The gray bird gradually calmed down, responding with a similar sound.
Seeing him walk away, Zuo Yuesheng, Lu Jing, and Ye Cang craned their necks and came over to join Chou Bodeng. After that downpour of branches and leaves, they felt that if they didn’t make it clear they were with Chou Bodeng, they would probably be mercilessly eliminated.
“Damn,” Zuo Yuesheng said, looking over, so shocked he sucked his teeth. “Are you Oracle Masters this badass? You can even talk to birds?”
“What’s so special about that?” Ye Cang replied gruffly. “An Oracle takes heaven and earth as their teacher, able to communicate with the gods above and connect with the things below. The City Divination Department has the miscellaneous study of the Language of All Things. Forget bird language, talking to a turtle is no problem.”
“So, can you do it?” Lu Jing asked curiously.
Ye Cang was silent.
This guy with the surname Lu is really damn annoying.
“Obviously, he can’t.”
Chou Bodeng had no concept of not exposing someone’s shortcomings to their face and mercilessly added another blow.
Ye Cang’s face darkened.
This guy with the surname Chou is just as annoying.
“You all were quite lively just now, weren’t you?” Chou Bodeng asked pleasantly, holding his sword. “Was it like squatting in front of a stage? Were you just missing some melon seeds and snacks?”
The three of them, Zuo Yuesheng included, nodded subconsciously.
How could squatting in front of a stage be as exciting as squatting on a tree branch just now? This was a real-life play of ‘blinded by beauty’ that they had witnessed with their own eyes! A hero saving a beauty, love at first sight—these things usually only existed in the storyteller’s tales. But the young Oracle Master’s appearance with the lantern just now was a living example of a hero saving a ‘beauty’—although Young Master Chou was rotten on the inside, his appearance was indeed beautiful. Not to mention, this Oracle Master who had rushed over had then patiently taken care of Chou Bodeng’s hair.
Matters related to hair can sometimes be very subtle.
Literati and poets use words like ‘azure threads,’ ‘threads of affection,’ ‘cloud-like tresses,’ and ‘threads of vexation’… all sorts of sentimental words to describe it, as if all one’s heart’s desires could be silently hidden in three thousand strands of hair. Thus, what was clearly a simple act of untangling and combing hair suddenly made the three hot-blooded youths, somewhere between men and boys, blush to the ears.
But they all had their pride, and no one was willing to show it, so they could only resort to random banter.
Lu Jing had been deep in thought. When Chou Bodeng asked, he suddenly clapped his hands. “Right! This is called…”
“Called what?” Zuo Yuesheng and Ye Cang asked in unison.
Chou Bodeng paused his kicking motion, somewhat curious as to what profound theory Lu the fool could come up with.
“A red-robed beauty, fair under lantern light; black hair untangled, a hairpin slowly placed!”
Lu Jing was so passionate he felt that if you gave him a brush, he could write an eight-hundred-act play on the spot.
Lu Shiyilang, in his nearly twenty years of life, discovered for the first time that he actually had a talent for storytelling. Even if he were kicked out of the valley by his father in the future, he wouldn’t have to worry about starving to death.
“Brilliant!” Zuo Yuesheng and Ye Cang applauded vigorously.
Thump, thump, thump.
In an instant, the three of them were kicked down almost simultaneously by a stone-faced Chou Bodeng. They were laughing in mid-air, flailing their arms to grab onto tree trunks and vines to hang on.
“The jade pendant is at the top of the Fu tree.”
Just as Chou Bodeng was about to jump down and give each of them another stab, the Oracle Master walked back.
The gray bird followed him.
The six-meter-tall giant bird folded its wings and moved somewhat clumsily on the tree, like a large free-range chicken, looking particularly comical. But when it came before them, the shadow it cast was like a dark cloud falling from the sky. It lowered its body and offered its wing to Chou Bodeng, making a soft sound to indicate he should climb on.
—Chou Bodeng had guessed correctly during the day; this bird’s temperament was actually quite good.
It was just that for some reason, its reaction just now had been so intense.
“Young Master Chou! Take us with you! Take us!”
Zuo Yuesheng scrambled up nimbly, shamelessly darting back, a living demonstration of what a ‘flexible fat man’ was. The other two followed his example and jumped up as well.
“Young Master Chou is beautiful and kind-hearted!” Zuo Yuesheng, hearing the growing clamor and seeing more and more torches in Fu City, quickly laid on the flattery. If he didn’t follow Chou Bodeng and the Oracle Master, he would be beaten to death!
“Young Master Chou is beautiful and kind-hearted!” Lu Jing and Ye Cang chimed in without any psychological burden, lying through their teeth.
“Kind my ass…”
Chou Bodeng was just about to kick them off when he heard a very soft laugh.
The slender and upright Oracle Master stood by the gray bird, holding a paper lantern. His face was half in shadow, half in light. The laugh was very low and quick, so quick it seemed to have left no trace in his silver-gray eyes, but a faint smile still lingered on his lips. Seeing Chou Bodeng look over, he gently raised the lantern.
“Shall we go?” he asked.
“Let’s go,” Chou Bodeng said through gritted teeth, stepping on the lowered wing and leaping onto the bird’s back first.
The three behind him were exceptionally good at climbing up whatever was available and immediately followed. Ye Cang nearly sat down next to Chou Bodeng, but Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing each grabbed one of his arms and dragged the clueless idiot back.
Finally, the Oracle Master landed lightly beside Chou Bodeng.
The gray bird let out a clear cry.
Its strong legs pushed off the Fu branch, its solid chest muscles pulling on its keel. The long wing bones spread, and the thick, neat flight feathers stirred up a powerful current of air. The next moment, amidst someone’s long cry of surprise, it rode the wind like an arrow shot from a bow, bursting out of the cage of wood and leaves!
***
Bang!
The small, crooked wooden door was kicked open.
“Young Pavilion Master!”
Lou Jiang, who had run across half of Fu City and finally found his way to Ye Cang’s place, shouted breathlessly, his voice anxious.
“Get out of Fu City! This place is about to…”
The courtyard gate, which had already been abused by Chou Bodeng during the day, gave a final creak and fell to the ground, meeting its end.
Lou Jiang’s words came to an abrupt halt.
He was facing an empty courtyard with no one in sight.
Lou Jiang burst into the house, throwing open all the doors with a clatter. Just as he was about to go mad with anxiety, he found a piece of paper nailed to the doorpost of the main hall. On it was a line of characters that looked like a ghost’s scrawl, so ugly it was in a class of its own. Lou Jiang felt a little relieved and snatched the paper down.
The gist of it was:
Lou, I’m going up the Divine Fu Tree to find a jade pendant. I’m going with Chou Bodeng, Lu Jing, and Ye Cang. If we’re unlucky enough to be chased by the whole city, you’d better come save us!
“Fuck your mother!”
All of Lou Jiang’s upbringing was exhausted in that moment. For the first time in his life, he swore.
What kind of unlucky, brain-dead Young Pavilion Master was this? In the past, he was just chased and beaten. Now, how did he manage to dive into the most fatal places?!
In the distance, the night watchman on the street sounded the midnight gong.
“Oh no, the third watch is almost here!” Lou Jiang’s face changed, and he turned and ran. “Daoist Priest Xuanqing’s side is about to make a move!”
The Young Pavilion Master of the Mountain Sea Pavilion, the Little Martial Ancestor of the Taiyi Sect, the youngest son of the Medicine Valley Master… If these three all died in Fu City, Lou Jiang dared not imagine the catastrophic consequences!
He turned around, and his steps froze.
The crooked courtyard gate lying on the ground cast a long shadow that stretched and shrank, and like flowing water, a spectral shade covered in silvery spiderweb-like threads rose from the earth!
It lunged at Lou Jiang like lightning.
A gust of wind suddenly rose!
***
“The wind is rising—”
Zuo Yuesheng stood on the gray bird’s back, his arms spread wide, laughing like a complete idiot. But no one laughed at him. Lu Jing and Ye Cang’s reactions were much the same. One stood on the bird’s back, shouting at the top of his lungs while getting a bellyful of wind; the other waved his arms and shouted nonsensically.
After carrying them out of the Fu tree’s cage, the gray bird circled and soared straight up, rushing towards the heavens.
The earth was suddenly pulled far away, the sky suddenly drawn near.
Chou Bodeng sat in the front.
Above him were clouds that seemed within reach; beside him was the Oracle Master, standing as still as a pine; behind him were two cheering fools; and on the ground were torches that formed a long dragon. It was as if the entire city had been jolted from a sweet dream by the two Lightning-Containing Pearls Zuo Yuesheng had thrown. It was as if the whole world was raising torches, shouting, running, and cursing, coming to hunt them down with great momentum.
The pursuers numbered an entire city.
A hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, like mountains and seas.
But they were high in the sky, and no one could catch them.
Chou Bodeng laughed and leaped to his feet, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Oracle Master.
A fierce wind rushed towards them, stirring all their youthful defiance.