Chapter 80 Lin Su City
After seeing Lou Sanbai off, Lin Chengye bid farewell to Wei Jingchen for a while.
When the man heard Lin Chengye prepare to return to Xianhua Villa with Cai Wenyou for a short stay, his hand trembled, and he almost spilled the hot tea on himself. Wei Jingchen looked at Lin Chengye intently and noticed that the man had even packed his bundle and was holding it in his hand.
So this is to inform her.
"...Actually, I don't really want to face my aunt either." Wei Jingchen paused, then said very seriously. "Especially when I'm all alone, you understand?"
“But if Your Highness were to face it alone, I would be extremely grateful.” Lin Chengye shrugged and then chuckled teasingly. “After all, with something like this happening, the frail Princess must be quite shaken. As her niece, I must stay by her side and share her burdens.”
"Get out of here!" Wei Jingchen rubbed her throbbing temples. Lin Chengye was right. After what had happened, she really did need to visit the Princess more often.
Seeing Lin Chengye laughing so happily, she mercilessly smashed the teacup in her hand towards his face.
Lin Chengye was prepared. He nimbly slipped out of the room, closed the door to Wei Jingchen's room, and the poor teacup crashed against the door and shattered on the floor.
“This…” Cai Wenyou looked at Lin Chengye with some worry.
"It's okay, that means you agree."
Lin Chengye was in a good mood. He grabbed Cai Wenyou, who was waiting at the door, and with a stomp of his foot, he flew lightly out of the Thousand Buddha Kingdom that had imprisoned her for many days.
After traveling for about four hours, Lin Chengye, under Cai Wenyou's guidance, went through seven or eight caves and jumped up and down between cliffs before finally arriving at the real Xianhua Manor.
The true location of Xianhua Mountain Villa is not the Baixiao Tea House known to the outside world, but rather in a valley not far away. The villa is not large in scale, and with its natural peaks and ridges layered upon each other, it is extremely difficult to find without a disciple leading the way.
Lin Chengye, covered in fallen leaves and twigs, jumped down from the snow-covered branches in a somewhat disheveled manner. When he looked up, he saw a woman sitting on the stone steps in front of the villa, idly kneading snow, with a row of lifelike chickens, ducks, fish, and dogs arranged in front of her.
The woman was dressed very simply, just like any ordinary person. Some of her clothes were even tattered, with colorful patches on the hems of her trousers and clothes.
"this……"
"Mother! Why are you back! Didn't you go traveling the world?"
Suddenly, Cai Wenyou, who was being held under Lin Chengye's arm, exclaimed in surprise, struggled to jump down, and limped towards the woman.
Just as he got close, the woman raised her hand and smacked Cai Wenyou hard on the head, without holding back at all. The pain made Cai Wenyou crouch down, clutching his head, tears and snot almost streaming down his face.
"Didn't I tell you not to get involved in the affairs of the Thousand Buddha Kingdom? The people there are not to be trifled with by the people from the Gossip Manor!"
The woman's thick eyebrows twitched as she spoke, clearly indicating she was furious; her eyes still showed signs of shock. She grabbed Cai Wenyou, checked him over thoroughly, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming he was alright.
"If you hadn't been lucky this time, you would have definitely died there! When your mother heard that, she was so scared that she rushed back!"
“But I really want to know about the ghost disease…” Cai Wenyou shrank his neck a little guiltily.
"How dare you talk back!"
Before Cai Wenyou could finish speaking, the woman raised her hand and struck again.
I never expected Cai Bailing to be this kind of person; she really is just like Cai Wenyou. Lin Chengye stood quietly to the side, arms crossed, watching the two bickering with great interest.
At first, Cai Bailing was talking about the Kingdom of Thousand Buddhas, but she gradually veered off-topic and began to recount Cai Wenyou's mischievousness and troubles since childhood. Cai Wenyou stubbornly refused to admit anything and tried to find excuses to refute her.
The two of them seemed to have turned into childish kids, arguing until their faces were red and their necks were bulging, all to get the other to admit defeat. For a moment, they completely forgot about their roles as mother and daughter.
Lin Chengye was amused by the scene and realized that the mothers and daughters were quite different. Lin Daiqiao's relationship with her was like that of a ruler and his subject; she would think carefully before speaking and rarely contradicted him. Cai Bailing and Cai Wenyou, on the other hand, were more like close friends; they spoke their minds and were never willing to give in.
However, the words "mother and daughter" are like snowflakes, capable of being molded into a thousand different shapes.
When the two finally tired of arguing, Lin Chengye found a moment to bow to Cai Bailing.
“Master Cai, this is Lin Chengye. Please don’t blame Wenyou for this. I came to you for help and promised to take Wenyou with me to find the truth, but I didn’t expect that the plan was not well thought out, which put the young master in danger.”
“You…” Cai Bailing was about to speak.
"Mother! You mustn't scold her. It's not Chengye's fault, it was my own insistence on going. Besides, I brought her back to get away from that awful place and let her rest for a few days. You mustn't be angry with her!" Cai Wenyou suddenly hugged Cai Bailing's waist and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"You brat, how could I be so unreasonable?"
Cai Bailing awkwardly pulled Cai Wenyou down, coughed lightly, and then, adopting the airs of an elder, helped Lin Chengye up. After examining him carefully, she clicked her tongue in satisfaction twice.
"I heard a while ago that a martial arts prodigy had suddenly appeared in the martial arts world, known as the Spring Goddess. Now that I see her, she is indeed a young heroine, and even her appearance is quite handsome..."
Cai Bailing led Lin Chengye across the stone steps in front of the gate and into the villa, patting her hand affectionately.
"Sigh, this is the first time Wenyou has brought a friend back to the manor. This girl has always been stubborn; she'll do what she's told not to do. Please bear with her..."
Lin Chengye listened with a smile and nodded. The two of them walked very slowly, so Cai Wenyou could barely keep up. But just as Lin Chengye and Cai Bailing stepped into the main hall, Cai Bailing suddenly turned around, slammed the door shut, and shouted at her daughter who was locked outside.
"Go back to your room first. I need to talk to Chengye for a bit."
Cai Bailing watched the shadow locked outside the door turn around, seemingly quite angry. It took a while before she reluctantly left. She snorted coldly, but her eyes couldn't hide her following the figure for a long time before she shook her head and said with a smile.
"That girl is definitely insulting me."
She raised her head, looked Lin Chengye up and down again, patted the mahogany armrest a few times with her right hand, and then sighed.
“I roughly know who you are. But don’t worry, I’ve never told anyone about this. I don’t want Gossip Manor to get involved in such a dangerous matter.”
"I know the gist of what you did this time. Thank you for protecting Wenyou. I'm getting old, and I only have this one daughter. If..."
Cai Bailing pursed her lips. Her playful bickering with Cai Wenyou just now was merely a facade, a way to comfort her daughter who had miraculously survived, and a display of her own vulnerability as a mother that she was unwilling to show. But if she spoke more deeply, her true feelings would inevitably be revealed, her eyes filled with lingering fear and self-reproach.
"Sigh, never mind, let's not talk about that. Anyway, feel free to ask me anything, and I'll try my best to answer you. However... what you want to know is probably not a legend or tale, and I may genuinely not know about it."
"Thank you, Master, but..." Lin Chengye gently shook his head.
Her identity isn't difficult to investigate, and she hasn't changed her name. But blood sacrifice, half-immortal, silverfish... these are things that only she probably knows, and revealing any of them would be disastrous for the listener, and could easily lead to their death.
"There's no need for that. I'm just here for a short stay, and I need some time to catch my breath."
"Alright, then this old lady won't say any more. Just stay here for the next few days and let me know if you need anything." Cai Bailing felt indebted, but Lin Chengye was backed by the number one sect in the world, the Divine Pivot Heavenly Mystery Sect, so he probably didn't need her little bit of money.
"There really is." Lin Chengye finally got what he wanted to hear. His eyes darted around, revealing a hint of youthful cunning, and he said directly.
"I need a simple forge."
...
Cai Bailing sat listlessly in a rattan chair, basking in the sun. To her right was a bowl of salty peanuts, which she was happily munching on.
On the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, which was the eleventh day since she returned, the heavy snow finally stopped. Cai Bailing quickly took advantage of the still warm midday to bask in the sun on her nearly rusty old bones.
With her peanuts empty, Cai Bailing reached for another handful from the bowl, only to find nothing. Turning her head, she saw the little thief "running" away, carrying her peanut bowl far off, then grinning slyly with narrowed eyes.
"Lin Chengye! Take this... what is this thing?! I've had enough!"
Cai Bailing finally lost her temper and turned around to yell into the house.
Three days ago, after Lin Chengye made Cai Wenyou a chair that could run, her little daughter's mischievousness, which had been restricted by her limp, seemed to have been unleashed all at once. From morning onwards, she would shake the chair and pound on her door, just to reach out and touch her neck with her hand the moment she opened the door, and then shake it away quickly just before her slap was about to land.
Hiding peanuts was a new and insidious trick Cai Wenyou came up with, and for the past three days she had been enduring all sorts of torment.
"Useless! Cheng Ye is in seclusion! She's about to break through, and there's still... she won't be out of seclusion for another five days!" Cai Wenyou stuck out his tongue triumphantly.
"Hmph..." Cai Bailing seemed to be frowning, but she couldn't help but laugh when Cai Wenyou rocked the chair to pick plum blossoms again.
Deep within her heart, some long-hidden knots suddenly untied, and at this moment her ecstasy was perhaps no less than Cai Wenyou's.
For over a decade, Cai Bailing has been consumed by guilt over the high fever Cai Wenyou suffered as a child. Although all the doctors at the time said it was a miracle Cai Wenyou survived, Cai Bailing couldn't console herself with the words "did her best." She always felt that if she had been more careful back then, perhaps… perhaps…
Over the years, she has traveled to various countries in search of renowned doctors, all in order to give Wenyou another chance to run and jump.
“Hey, what… what’s this chair called again?” Cai Bailing suddenly turned her head and asked.
"The Leisure Car!" Cai Wenyou shouted. "Lin Chengye got it! I love it!"
"You Ran... You Ran..."
Cai Bailing murmured softly, rocking the rattan chair beneath her, thinking to herself.
No wonder that child's code name was "Spring God," because he would bring spring wherever he went and sow seeds of hope in people's hearts.
...
Around the morning of the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, a loud bang was accompanied by a powerful and warm internal force that spread from the forge like waves to all parts of the manor. Cai Bailing and Cai Wenyou both stared nervously at the door.
After a while, Lin Chengye slowly came out of the door with a smile on his face.
"The...sixth floor?" Cai Wenyou looked at her expectantly.
"Hmm." Lin Chengye came out, casually ruffled her hair, and said with a smile, "The real deal."
She increasingly felt that the cultivation method seemed to have its own righteous path. For example, when she was designing and forging that leisurely chariot, her progress was quite rapid. It seemed that the Midas touch technique was also happy to be used on this.
"Tsk tsk, the order of the Amazing Book will have to be changed now."
Cai Bailing stroked her chin. She was being conservative; someone at the sixth level of internal energy cultivation was perfectly capable of attempting the Cloud Cliff Heavenly Manual. It had been so long since a true genius had emerged in this martial world; things were truly about to get interesting.
"However, I received a letter from Prince Su, who is also the Third Princess, early this morning. He asked me to return to Yongfo Temple immediately. I cannot properly bid you farewell, and I hope you will understand."
In fact, the words in the letter were far more complex than they seemed. Wei Jingchen practically berated her, saying that he had made countless excuses to delay and that if he didn't come back soon, he might as well just die out there.
This is her fault; after all, she was completely focused during her breakthrough. Lin Chengye pinched the bridge of his nose guiltily.
She left in such a hurry that Cai Wenyou and Cai Bailing only saw her off to the gate of the manor. Cai Bailing handed her a blue brocade pouch, telling her to open it only when she had nowhere else to go, as a reminder.
"You are naturally intelligent. This isn't some divine strategy, but just the experience of someone who's been there. It might not even be useful."
"Thank you in advance, junior." Lin Chengye carefully put away the brocade pouch and bowed very formally.
Cai Wenyou, who was usually so noisy, suddenly quieted down and simply hugged Lin Chengye in silence.
She didn't know what to give or what to say, she just prayed that the ominous city of Lin Su wouldn't shoot down this person who was like the blazing sun.
...
The carriages drove in a grand procession through the vermilion city gates of Linsu City.
On the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, the festive atmosphere in the city was already strong. Colorful tents had been erected on both sides of the main street in the center, and the east and west markets were bustling with people. People buying New Year's goods were shoulder to shoulder. When they heard that the Princess's carriage was entering the city, most people scattered and rushed to make way for her. A few curious people peeked out furtively.
Although it is not yet New Year's Eve, the air is already filled with the aroma of famous sake Sanzen-i and cured meat, and occasionally the drumbeats of Nuo dance rehearsals can be heard, creating a unique scene of the end of the year in Kyoto.
Having seen it with my own eyes, I can truly appreciate the line the princess wrote for her: "A meteor shower across the Milky Way is not as beautiful as a moonlit night here."
Despite being prepared, I was still so shocked that I was speechless for a moment.
Lin Chengye reached out and lifted the carriage curtain, gazing at this place that was ten times more prosperous than the Southern Qi Kingdom, yet she couldn't smile at all. With the Yongfo Temple as a cautionary tale, who knew how much unsavory life lurked beneath this prosperity? She dared not relax for even a moment.
"This is... Lin Su City..."
Author's Note: A new chapter begins! Actually, we've covered most of the clues, so things will move very quickly from here on out [hugs].
I have a question: is this update frequency better, or is 2,000 updates a day better?
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