Chapter 55 – A Touch of Decadent Beauty

The corners of Chou Bodeng’s eyes were long and naturally upturned, giving him an overly decadent look when he glanced sideways. Normally, this was suppressed by the deep blackness of his eyes, which made him look sharp and cold. But after a life-and-death struggle, his eyelashes were damp with fine tears, the corners of his eyes were tinged with red, and his black pupils were veiled in a layer of moisture. That touch of decadent beauty instantly became a faded, soul-snatching allure.

Shi Wuluo stared at him blankly. Not only did he forget to move his finger, but he also unconsciously pressed down a little.

Warm and soft.

Chou Bodeng looked at him sideways, then suddenly opened his mouth and bit his knuckle.

The tips of Shi Wuluo’s ears instantly grew hot.

His finger bone was held between teeth, not too hard and not too soft, with a layer of skin in between. The pad of his finger was slowly licked by a soft, moist tongue. A searing heat shot from his fingertip, instantly scorching his heart and nerves, as if a fire had suddenly burst into flames. Chou Bodeng released his mouth, his tongue darting out to lick his own teeth, wiping away the speck of blood from his lips.

“What are you thinking about?” he looked at Shi Wuluo with a half-smile. “Why are your ears so red?”

Shi Wuluo didn’t answer.

Chou Bodeng didn’t ask again, pressing his lips together strangely. They were on the surface of the sea, with Shi Wuluo kneeling in the moon’s reflection. Chou Bodeng was actually sitting on his lap, leaning against his chest, so close that they were inseparable. Any reaction, no matter how subtle, could be felt. He couldn’t help but glance askance at Shi Wuluo, who hastily looked away.

His eyelashes were lowered, still feigning composure.

…If Chou Bodeng weren’t still sitting on his lap, he might have actually believed it.

“Let go.”

Chou Bodeng nudged him with his shoulder, annoyed.

Shi Wuluo silently loosened the arm around his waist. As his leg lightened, Chou Bodeng stood up. When the warm body left, the cool sea breeze poured into the empty space between them. Shi Wuluo relaxed a little, but at the same time felt a profound sense of loss.

In his heart, a fire burned, neither rising nor falling.

Just as the red robes were about to leave completely, he instinctively reached out to hold him back.

Chou Bodeng’s wrist was caught, forcing him to look down.

Those silver-gray eyes met his, clearly reflecting his own image. His pale, handsome face had a vaguely bewildered expression, looking a little wronged… When he was drunk just now, wasn’t he quite unrestrained? Who was he putting on this wronged act for now?

Chou Bodeng turned his head, not wanting to look at him. His gaze swept over the dark bloodstain spreading on his shoulder and paused slightly.

“Honestly.”

Chou Bodeng cursed softly. He let him hold one hand while placing the other on his uninjured shoulder, then leaned down and gave him a fleeting kiss on the lips, as light as a dragonfly touching water.

Just as he was about to pull away, a hand cupped the back of his head.

Before he could speak, his words were swallowed, and even his breath was stolen. Chou Bodeng closed his eyes, his long, dense eyelashes trembling slightly. The blush at the corners of his eyes deepened, seeping into a line of desire, full and ready to fall. Shi Wuluo released his lips and kissed his brow, his eyes, kissing away the moisture forced from their corners, as if to swallow all his tears.

So that he would never be sad again.

“Alright, are you a wolf or something?”

Just as he was about to kiss his lips again, Chou Bodeng pressed against his shoulders and cursed him, panting slightly.

Once he got a bite of meat, he refused to let go.

“You said you were coming to the end of the Cang River,” Shi Wuluo’s voice was low and hoarse. “You thought you wouldn’t make it, so you came here to die.”

Drunk, return to the Cang River; the Cang River will bury my cold bones.

So he had to come to the end of the Cang River, to the boundary of the mortal realm, to sing and dance under the moon, to burn the last bit of his life away completely, and then sink silently to the bottom of the sea.

He wouldn’t harm anyone, and he wouldn’t leave anything behind.

Chou Bodeng’s hand on his shoulder froze.

After a long time.

“Yes.”

He didn’t deny it.

The premonition had appeared suddenly when he arrived at Qiwu.

The moment the Golden Crow carrying the sun sank into the sea, darkness swept over everything. He suddenly felt that he was being swallowed, that death was dragging him down. The voices of Zuo Yuesheng and the others around him became distant. He could still talk to them, laugh with them, but a transparent barrier that he could never break through stood between him and everyone else.

He was utterly alone, surrounded by a crowd.

He was going to die.

No one could save him.

He was surprisingly calm, walking nonchalantly with Zuo Yuesheng and the others through the long street, stepping into the crowded Qin Tower. In the most extravagant and lively place, he counted down the moments to his death, one by one, and drank cup after cup of strong wine, draining them all without any reaction.

Like a person freezing to death in a great fire, he was cold from his bones to his soul.

So let’s get drunk, let’s sing and dance.

Zuo Yuesheng and Lu Jing were peeking out from the alley exit. He leaned against the wall and smiled, thinking that once the song was over, the dance was done, and the fire was lit, it would be time to banish himself to a place with no people. But he was unwilling… He had listened to Peacock Terrace so many times in Qin Tower, pacing back and forth.

He was waiting.

Someone had said they would catch him.

The Southern Borderlands and Qing Province were separated by more than ten thousand miles.

He didn’t know if that person would come, or if they could make it in time… The mountain flowers bloomed year after year, but old friends were not always there.

But that was his last sliver of hope.

“You caught me.”

Chou Bodeng said softly.

Shi Wuluo stared into Chou Bodeng’s eyes.

After a moment, he wrapped his arms around Chou Bodeng’s back, pulling him closer, and rested his head to listen to Chou Bodeng’s heartbeat… as if only by doing so could he confirm that the person standing before him was not an illusion. Chou Bodeng felt the fingers on his back trembling slightly, in fear, in terror.

He hesitated for a moment.

Chou Bodeng raised his hands and slowly hugged him back.

The night was cool, the moon like water.

***

The tide receded bit by bit, and black rocks stood on the sandy beach.

Jun Changwei set foot on this isolated island hidden in the Cangming Sea. From a distance, he could see the only small wooden hut on the island lying crookedly on the ground, most of its roof blown away to who knows where.

A vein throbbed in his temple, and Jun Changwei shot forward.

“Shorty! Shorty!” He rushed to the side of the collapsed house, and with a wave of his sleeve, swept away the wooden planks and bricks. “Are you dead yet?!”

“You’re not dead yet, so how could I be?” A withered hand stretched out from the fragments of the iron furnace. With a thump, it pressed onto the ground, and the short, thin Old Heavenly Craftsman pulled himself out of the ruins, spitting out black charcoal. “Damn it all, I’m still waiting to use your cranium as a chamber pot.”

“Who’s going to be using whose is still uncertain.”

Hearing that he could still shout with vigor, Jun Changwei’s anxious heart finally settled down, and he retorted with a laugh.

“Is there even a question?” The Old Heavenly Craftsman glared with wide eyes. “I’m just a blacksmith. You, a saber master, want to compare lifespans with a blacksmith? Heh, you must have water in your brain.”

“Give it a rest.” Jun Changwei moved behind him and examined him carefully. “If you use that crimson armor a couple more times, I’ll have to buy you a coffin.”

Two pieces of dark red metal were attached to the Old Heavenly Craftsman’s back, like insects slowly burrowing into his flesh and bones. His entire back was wrinkled, as if his blood was about to be sucked dry. The Old Heavenly Craftsman casually tore off a large piece of Jun Changwei’s linen robe, tied it around his back, and covered the gruesome, aged flesh.

“I won’t die.”

He said lightly, tossing a sword and its scabbard to Jun Changwei.

Jun Changwei caught it and looked. “Ten-thousand-year-old Ruomu Wood? You old fellow are really rich…”

With a flick of his wrist, a cold gleam slid out.

The perfectly restored Taiyi Sword was as still as autumn water under the moonlight. Jun Changwei turned the longsword sideways. From the side, he could see countless intricate dark patterns hidden within the blade, layer upon layer, like flowing water, like ice patterns, perfectly natural.

“The Soul-Sealing Sigil is repaired,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said, squatting on a broken beam and digging a pipe out of the scorched earth. He wiped it casually and started puffing away. “But since this thing has been undone twice, its effect is diminished. However, I added a Fate Sigil to it for him.”

“Fate?” Jun Changwei was stunned. “You…”

“You’re overthinking it,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman sneered. “I’m not so generous as to draw out my own old life to paint a formation pattern for him.”

“Then where did this Fate Sigil come from…” Jun Changwei stopped mid-sentence.

“Someone dotted a Life Scale for him, but looking at your reaction, you probably know who did it.” The Old Heavenly Craftsman puffed out some black ash, cursed under his breath, and knocked his pipe hard against the broken beam. “Since you all know, I won’t waste my breath—three million, one hundred and twenty thousand gold. When do you plan to pay it back?”

“Three million one hundred and twenty thousand? Why don’t you just go rob someone?!”

Jun Changwei’s foot slipped, and he nearly fell headfirst into the smoldering embers.

“Robbery?” The Old Heavenly Craftsman glared. “Do you know how much the old man from the Kongsang North Ge Clan offered me to activate the crimson armor back then?” He held up one hand. “Five million taels of gold! Five million! I’ve already given you a half-price discount, and you still think it’s expensive?”

“…”

Jun Changwei’s hand, holding the Taiyi Sword, trembled slightly.

“You might as well just take all my bones and sell them!”

Three million one hundred and twenty thousand… The money from everyone in the entire Taiyi Sect combined probably wouldn’t be enough!

The Old Heavenly Craftsman snorted heavily. “How much are your bones worth? Even a dog would turn its nose up at them.”

“Take it or leave it.” Jun Changwei threw all sense of shame to the wind. “I don’t have the money anyway.”

“I never expected you to pay me back,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said, putting the pipe back in his mouth. “How about this: you do me a favor, and not only will the debt be wiped clean, but I’ll also forge a saber for your disciple.”

“One after another, you all ask for a favor. You say it’s one, but it’s like pulling up a radish and getting a whole string of mud. Who knows how many things are waiting for me to do… Fine.” Jun Changwei reached for his gourd, only to remember the wine was gone. He helplessly lowered his hand. “Let’s get this straight, I’ve already taken on a job tonight. Don’t give me too much trouble.”

“My job is simple,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said. “I want to kill a guy, but I reckon I can’t do it alone. You can lend me a hand then.”

“Who?”

“Xie Yuan.”

Jun Changwei paused. “Your Heavenly Works Mansion is planning to come out of seclusion?”

“Letting a traitor run free for over three thousand years is shameful enough,” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said, scraping at his pipe and getting a small spark.

“You’ve found him?”

“In recent years, I’ve vaguely detected traces of Wilderness Emissaries in Qing Province. After he betrayed the Heavenly Works Mansion, he joined the Great Wilderness. Considering his abilities, it was only a matter of time before he became a Wilderness Emissary.” The Old Heavenly Craftsman looked up. “This Wilderness Emissary in Qing Province calls himself ‘Mister Xi.’ I think that’s right, it should be him.”

Jun Changwei was silent for a moment. “There’s something I should tell you.”

“Speak.”

“Someone in the Mountain Sea Pavilion is in contact with the Great Wilderness. Zuo Liangshi is investigating this matter.” Jun Changwei sheathed the Taiyi Sword and stood up. “Two jobs have become one, but why do I feel like there are more and more things to do? Alright, remember to forge a saber for my disciple.”

“Hey.” Just as Jun Changwei was about to leave, the Old Heavenly Craftsman called out to him. “Have you seen that kid from the Zuo family?”

“I’ve seen him. What’s up?”

“What do you think of that kid?” the Old Heavenly Craftsman asked hesitantly.

“He’s alright, more promising than his old man,” Jun Changwei recalled. “He’s fat enough, doesn’t look like his dad at all, so he doesn’t make you want to beat him up. You want to take him as a disciple? I think it’s a good idea. His dad is a piece of work, but his family is rich enough.”

“You think I’d covet their family’s money?” the Old Heavenly Craftsman said, annoyed. He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “I’ll take another look. I’ll think about it some more.”

“Dilly-dallying,” Jun Changwei sneered. “You just keep thinking. When someone else snatches him up as a disciple, we’ll see where you go crying.”

“Aren’t you going to find that ancestor of your Taiyi Sect? Go on, go on.”

The Old Heavenly Craftsman grumbled, shooing him away.

As soon as he was shooed, Jun Changwei sat back down.

“I almost forgot… Going to find them now would be nothing but annoying. Shorty, got any wine?”

***

“I’ll treat you to a drink tomorrow.”

Chou Bodeng returned to the boat, lay down in the cabin, tossed the empty wine jar aside, and lazily rolled over, propping his head on his arm to face the gunwale.

With a rustle of clothes, Chou Bodeng turned his head and saw Shi Wuluo lying down beside him. The boat was small, just big enough for two people to lie side by side, but any movement would cause them to touch.

“Let’s go. It’s time to go back.”

Shi Wuluo was silent.

“Don’t want to go?” Chou Bodeng turned his head back, analyzing the wood grain on the gunwale. “Want to elope with me?”