Chapter 76: Pengzhou (3)

“May I venture to ask, how should I address this Immortal Lord?” Daoist Zhuji looked cautiously at Fu Fengyan. “The roster states that only one person should be coming from Qingyun Academy, yes?”

“His name is Fu Fengyan, he came by drawing lots too, didn’t you know?” He Tingtong was walking in front, spouting nonsense right off the bat. “Senior, you see, this is precisely a problem with your Yuanchen Palace. It’s clear the people above you were so focused on targeting me that they forgot to give you the complete roster.”

“Yes, yes, yes, it must definitely be an oversight on their end.” Daoist Zhuji wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “Please have a look, you two Immortal Lords. This building is only about this big in total. Whichever room you take a fancy to for lodging, I will go clean it up.”

“Sorry for the trouble.” He Tingtong walked into a room, pushed open the window, and gave a faint sweep with his eyes. The wind and sand in Pengzhou were strong; whether it was the table or the bed, everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

But it was, after all, a station of the Immortal Alliance, so the place was still large. From the front, it was a three-story small building that looked like an inn. Once you passed through the main hall, there was an extremely large courtyard behind the building, with a water well and even vegetables planted in it. After passing through the corridor, there was also a huge study that looked very suitable for holding meetings.

He Tingtong casually closed the window. “We’ll take this one.”

Daoist Zhuji looked toward Fu Fengyan and asked cautiously, “I wonder where this little Immortal Lord will be staying?”

Without waiting for Fu Fengyan to answer, He Tingtong spoke up first, “He will stay with me.”

Daoist Zhuji: “Then what about bathing?”

He Tingtong pressed his body close to Fu Fengyan’s arm, tilted his head, and smiled—smiling very sweetly, “Naturally, we will do that together as well.”

Daoist Zhuji instantly had a look of sudden comprehension on his face. “Alright, you have suffered a tiring journey, and our hospitality has been lacking. You two rest for today, and if you need anything else, just give me your orders.”

Subsequently, Daoist Zhuji pressed a palm against the room’s door, muttering words under his breath. After a shout, when he opened the door again, the interior had taken on a completely new look.

The little assassin from downstairs who had tried to assassinate them also came up carrying a large tub of water. He set the water heavily onto the floor, splashing water everywhere, and said grumpily, “Water is here, take your time using it, you two Immortal Lords.”

He was clearly dissatisfied; the gaze he sneaked upward even harbored a trace of viciousness.

He Tingtong lowered his head, meeting his eyes, and kindly reminded him: “Remember to copy the disciplinary rules and show them to me tomorrow, otherwise I will electrocute you.”

The little assassin shuddered all over, lowered his voice, and said, “…Got it.”

He Tingtong smiled. “Good boy.”

He raised a hand and closed the room door, scanning his surroundings. Sure enough, there were traces of talismans and arrays everywhere, from the window lattices and roof tiles to even the bed. At first glance, they looked like ordinary wind-blocking and dust-removing spells.

He Tingtong rubbed the surfaces a couple of times, looking at the red marks rubbing off onto his fingertips. He stared at the wooden floorboards under his feet for a couple of glances, dropped the jade pendant from his body, bent over, leaned down to pick it up, and gently tilted his head. Just as expected, a stroke of vermilion could be seen under the table—probably the corner of some array. The brushstrokes were concise and seasoned. It was an interlocking trapping array; when activated, it could lock down at least a sixth-tier cultivator.

An array like this—who knew how many of them were in here.

He Tingtong slowly stood up. He had just wanted to remind Fu Fengyan to be a bit careful, only to see that the other person was currently staring at the now-still tub of water. Who knows what he was thinking about, but his entire face was flushed red.

He Tingtong: “A’Fu?”

Fu Fengyan suddenly turned his head to stare at him, his face solemn, the corners of his lips trembling. Looking as if he were both shy and timid, he asked cautiously, “Are we really going to take a mandarin duck bath (couple’s bath)? But you haven’t even agreed to be together with me yet. If we do this, won’t it seem somewhat contrary to ethics and morality?”

He Tingtong: “…”

He originally wanted to seriously ask Fu Fengyan exactly what kind of miscellaneous books His Divine Lordship usually read and have him make a book list, because how could his head be full of this messy nonsense?

Catching sight of the bronze mirror by the table out of the corner of his eye, he paused, then suddenly stood up with a wicked grin. Step by step, he approached the still-hesitating Fu Fengyan, raising his hand to undo his own belt, while asking in a low voice, “Morality?”

“A’Fu, since the two of us eloped here, there is no need to talk about propriety, righteousness, integrity, sense of shame, or morality.”

Fu Fengyan: “Is… is that so?”

He Tingtong: “Pengzhou is remote, no one knows you or me, Qingyun Academy can’t manage this place, and our masters, immortal elders, relatives, and friends are none of them here. This is our world.”

“My darling, the opportunity to be unbridled has finally arrived!”

Fu Fengyan’s eyes abruptly widened. He saw He Tingtong fling away his outer robe; the lapels instantly loosened, opening wide to reveal the thin chest underneath. Subsequently, the youth threw himself into his embrace. However, before he could feel any warm fragrance or soft jade, he was directly pressed into the bathing tub, and then a heavy weight pressed down on top of him.

Fu Fengyan pursed his lips in disappointment.

“Someone is watching us.” He Tingtong stirred the flowing water. Amidst the splashing sounds of water, they rubbed their ears and temples together and sank beneath the surface. He Tingtong pointed toward the top of their heads and then made a gesture indicating for him to be on guard against their surroundings.

Squatting in the water, Fu Fengyan released his spiritual consciousness, instantly covering the entire city. He indeed sensed that the auras in the city were mixed and chaotic, with quite a few top experts. Only then did he clear his head, soaking in the bathtub with He Tingtong and splashing water for fun, while simultaneously transmitting his voice: “There is no one else here, just those three. But further away… there is danger.”

“Pengzhou is barren, it is a lawless zone. This place is not under the control of the Immortal Alliance, and there are many extremely vicious and wicked villains. What’s more, deep within Pengzhou lie the ancient ruins of the Divine Dynasty. There are always people keeping an eye on this place, so naturally, there are many experts.” He Tingtong blinked. “For this Daoist Zhuji to be dispatched here by the Immortal Alliance, his cultivation base naturally cannot be low. Since his disciple dared to attack us, he must be extremely favored on regular days. The display of severity I gave them today, bringing out Brother Tan as our backer, was mainly to remind him not to bring trouble upon himself.”

“The folk customs here are fierce and intrepid, and danger abounds. We are only staying here for half a year. On normal days, observe more, speak less, and do less. Do not approach the south side of Jialing City. Some things are very thorny; once entangled by them, you won’t have a day of peace moving forward.”

“Okay.” Fu Fengyan blew out a bubble, squatting in the water hugging his knees. “Then how much longer do we have to squat?”

He Tingtong fell silent for a moment. “How long do you think it takes to do it once?”

Fu Fengyan thought about it seriously. “The books often say, starting at one shichen (two hours), capping at two shichen (four hours). Generally, it’s done until dawn, and then your bones are crisp and your spirit mesmerized, unable to get out of bed.”

After a moment of silence, he added, “I’ve never done it, I don’t know.”

He Tingtong: “…”

He climbed out of the water, poked Fu Fengyan’s cheek, and smiled, “I am going to confiscate all your miscellaneous books.”

Fu Fengyan nervously gripped his own tiny storage spiritual artifact, then released it a moment later, saying in a muffled voice: “It’s no use. I’ve memorized them all in my head, I can’t forget them.”

“F*ck!” As the lights flickered, in a secret room in the backyard, the youth threw his brush into the water bucket as if venting his anger. “These two damn cut-sleeves are too cunning!”

“Xiao Qing, don’t vent your anger, you’ve gotten ink all over the floor.” The elderly woman stretched out her hand tremblingly and wiped clean the ink spots on the ground.

“Cunning what?” The fat Daoist poked his finger onto the youth’s forehead. “You brought this upon yourself. I told you not to disobey and just take orders casually! I see three times of copying the disciplinary rules isn’t enough; you will copy it ten times for me every day!”

“I told you guys not to go to the Ghost Market, not to get mixed up with those messy and chaotic things, but you absolutely wouldn’t believe it! Can you use your pig brains? If it’s something the people from Yuanchen Palace stepped up to target, could it be anything good?” The fat Daoist, holding his horsetail whisk, rapped it on the youth’s skull like striking a wooden fish. “His backer is the Sword Sect, and he is a student of Xu Yinwei. How did you dare!”

“We saw that his bounty was only a hundred spiritual pearls, and besides, his cultivation base was so low. I thought he was just a small fry and that no one took the job because the money was too little.” The youth defended himself, his voice growing lower and lower. “How was I supposed to know he brought a helper, and one that was so formidable at that…”

The fat Daoist plopped his buttocks onto the chair, only wanting to sigh.

He turned his head to glance at the projection stone placed in the room for surveillance. He only saw that those two brats had suddenly entangled with each other like dry wood and blazing fire. Startled, he cursed them for being shameless, and quickly slapped the mirror face down to avoid corrupting the child. Then, as if still unable to suppress his anger, he grabbed the youth by the ear. “Yuan Xiaoqing, you still have the nerve to speak! If those two hadn’t come from Qingyun Academy, you would have already taken your grandma and your sister to have your corpses exposed in the wilderness by now!”

“Speaking of which, where is your sister? Why hasn’t she come back yet?” The plump flesh on the fat Daoist’s face trembled twice. “Have you gotten in touch?”

“Grandma and I were captured and brought back by them, we simply had no time to notify Sister!” The youth named Yuan Xiaoqing suddenly stood up, tripping over the stool behind him. “Oh no, Sister wouldn’t have thought we were dead and gone to fetch rescue troops, would she!”

The fat Daoist stood up and pointed at those two shrinking in the corner like quails. “You never succeed, you only ruin things! Is an order from the Path of No Discrimination something you can just take casually? You really don’t want your lives anymore!”

“But… but without enough spiritual pearls, when will we ever be able to pay off our debts to the Mirage Sea Assembly and leave this place?” Yuan Xiaoqing said in a low voice. “Master, you have already helped us enough, but they simply won’t give us time. Once you enter the Fen Feng Plains (Scorching Wind Plains), it’s ten deaths and zero survival. Sister and I only have one month left.”

Daoist Zhuji remained silent for a long time, then let out a long sigh. “Go find Xiao Zhu and bring her back first, to avoid causing more complications.”

“Alright.” Yuan Xiaoqing wrapped a pitch-black cloth around his head, exposing only a pair of eyes reflecting the dark fire. “I’ll go look for her right now.”

Night fell. It wasn’t until the moment the Golden Crow (the sun) sank beneath the mountains that the entire city of Jialing truly came alive.

He Tingtong opened the window. At night, the water vapor that had evaporated during the day was rolled up by the wind, bringing a rare hint of cool air that suppressed the daytime’s sweltering heat and dust. Looking out from the upper floor, one could see the streets weaving with streams of people, brightly lit with lights.

After soaking in the water for half a shichen (an hour), a person would soak until they turned pale. However, washing away an entire body’s worth of bad luck and dust made his entire person feel much more comfortable. He Tingtong changed into a fresh set of clothes and leaned against the edge of the bed, dressed entirely in white robes, fluffy like a cloud.

Fu Fengyan lay on the table airing his hair out, his forehead pressed against the tabletop, secretly transmitting his voice to He Tingtong: “You are very familiar with this place too.”

Out of the corner of his eye, He Tingtong caught a glimpse of a dark silhouette fleeing out the back door. His gaze moved down, meeting Daoist Zhuji’s eyes in the courtyard.

“I can only be considered half-familiar,” He Tingtong replied to him, while simultaneously raising his hand and waving friendlily at Daoist Zhuji. “This place is most suitable for those wanted fugitives to live in seclusion. In the past, when I was wanted, I could only run here. You have to be on 120,000 percent alert in everything you do; otherwise, if you provoke someone you shouldn’t, it’s very easy to drop dead on the spot.”

Down below, Daoist Zhuji waved his horsetail whisk and asked amiably, “Little Friend, would you like to come down and have a meal?”

“Thank you for your kindness, but I still have things to do tonight.” He Tingtong crooked his finger behind his back. Fu Fengyan then walked over from the table, embraced the person from behind, landed an extremely ambiguous kiss, and then closed the window with a clack.

Daoist Zhuji: “Tsk.” Young people.