Chapter 4: A Jade Pendant Without a Moon
The boy's voice followed immediately, "Let go of my senior sister!"
Before he could even get close, a chilling spirit sword was already positioned in front of his neck.
The boy stiffened slightly. "Senior sister! Hurry up and go call senior brother..."
"Song Anran!" the girl in yellow said angrily, "You broke someone's jade pendant!"
Song Anran's already stiff body stiffened even more. He turned his head cautiously, but the bamboo hat completely obscured the person in front of him, so he couldn't see her expression. However, he could tell from the sword that was still emitting cold air across his neck that she must be in a very bad mood.
The girl in yellow picked up the broken jade pendant from the ground and tried to salvage it. "Our senior brother is also very good at carving these things. Why don't you come back with us first and let him carve a new one?"
Fu Yunyao sheathed the Rangchen Sword, calmed herself down, and, somewhat surprised by her sudden anger, said, "No need."
"Then, should we pay compensation?" the girl in yellow asked cautiously.
Fu Yunyao shook her head, "It was never important anyway, so let it break."
She did not take the jade pendant from the girl's hand and turned to leave.
Song Anran asked in surprise, "Isn't it important? I felt like her sword energy just now almost killed me a dozen times over."
"How dare you say that! It's obvious that this person cherishes their things; how could they not be angry when they're broken like this!"
"Oh no, what should we do then?"
"I can only take it back to my senior brother for now."
...
In the inn room, the blue fox mask was placed on the table, with a number of jade stones placed next to it.
The candlelight illuminated the man's somewhat subtle expression as he looked up at the window, hesitant.
Just now, he seemed to sense the sword intent of the Dust Sword.
"Senior brother."
The girl's voice made him look away. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at the ingratiating expressions on the faces of the two people in front of him.
"Jiang Wanyi, Song Anran, tell me, what trouble have you two gotten into this time?"
The girl in yellow, Jiang Wanyi, smiled and said, "Senior brother, what are you saying? How could someone as obedient as me cause trouble?"
"Hmm?" He raised his voice slightly at the end.
Jiang Wanyi immediately deflated, "Okay, senior brother, can you carve crabapple blossoms?"
Crabapple blossoms?
Fu Yusheng was slightly taken aback. "What's wrong?"
Jiang Wanyi placed the broken jade, wrapped in white cloth, on the table. "We accidentally broke a jade pendant."
Fu Yusheng stared blankly at the jade pendant that he recognized so well in the white cloth.
Observing his expression, Song Anran quickly spoke up, "It was me. I saw Senior Sister being blocked by someone. That person didn't have any spiritual energy fluctuations. I thought it was some powerful expert with extremely high cultivation, and that's why they were in such a hurry..."
Jiang Wanyi tugged at his sleeve, signaling him not to say anything more.
Fu Yusheng picked up the broken jade and asked, "What kind of person was she?"
"Ah... that person was dressed in plain white brocade and wore a bamboo hat, so I couldn't see her face. Oh! Her sword aura was incredibly powerful; in just one strike, I felt like I had been killed ten times over."
“Plain white brocade…” Fu Yusheng repeated softly. “Is she angry?”
"Should I be angry? I feel like he was really angry at first, but then he said the jade pendant wasn't important and it didn't matter."
"Is that so?" he asked in a very soft voice.
Jiang Wanyi and Song Anran looked uneasy. They didn't know why, but every time they got into trouble, they weren't afraid of their master, but they were afraid of this seemingly carefree and sickly senior brother.
"Let's go back. You've been out all day, aren't you tired?"
As soon as he spoke, Jiang Wanyi and Song Anran finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I knew it, senior brother would definitely have a way."
"Thank goodness I have my senior brother..."
Their voices were shut out along with the closed door.
Fu Yusheng stroked the broken jade in his hand. The jade pendant was smooth and round, as if it had been played with often.
He thought of Song Anran's words, "It's not important," paused, and couldn't help but raise his other hand to cover his face, tilting his head back slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he let out a few muffled laughs.
Alright...
How could he not know how to carve crabapple blossoms? This jade pendant in his hand was carved by him himself to make her happy.
In the first few years after Fu Yunyao came out of the forbidden area, she was unusually quiet and seemed indifferent to everything. Fu Yusheng observed her for a long time and found that she would only show a very faint smile when watching him practice his sword.
So he took the sword and offered to trade with her.
"Say something to me, and I'll teach you a sword move, okay?" The boy bent slightly, looking at the girl sitting in the courtyard at eye level, and coaxed her softly.
"Let's start with my name? Fu, Yu, Sheng."
That was the first time Fu Yunyao spoke. She blinked her beautiful eyes slightly, tilted her head to look at him, and tentatively opened her mouth.
"Fu Yusheng".
Fu Yusheng couldn't resist reaching out and ruffling her hair.
She was indeed very talented in swordsmanship. In just half a year, she learned all the sword moves of the Yaotai Realm. In fact, she found that she could perfectly replicate a sword move after seeing it only once. The plan to lure her into talking with sword moves ultimately failed.
Then one day, Fu Yusheng appeared before her with a jade pendant.
The jade pendant was lustrous and translucent, with delicate patterns, and the designs on it were personally designed and carved by Fu Yusheng.
Fu Yunyao brushed the words on the jade pendant; they were the "Fu" of Fu Yusheng and also the "Fu" of Fu Yunyao.
He told her.
"I enjoy listening to you talk. If you like this gift, can I exchange it for you to speak with me?"
Fu Yunyao didn't understand why he insisted on making her speak, nor did she understand why he thought she would like a jade pendant, but seeing the several scars between his fingers, she still agreed.
She knew that he had deliberately let her see those scars, but that day, seeing the sparkle in his eyes, she didn't want to disappoint him.
...
Fu Yunyao sat by the window, watching the hustle and bustle of the street, and slowly came back to her senses.
She thought that it was probably because the jade pendant was broken that she dreamed of those distant, forgotten memories last night.
"Song Anran! Where have you gone to cause trouble again in just half a day!"
The inn's soundproofing was really bad. Cultivators usually use their spiritual power to set up soundproof barriers when they are out, but unfortunately, Fu Yunyao is a mortal and does not have this ability.
The elders of Yaotai Realm even designed a soundproof array that could use spirit stones instead of spiritual power, but Fuyun Yao found it troublesome and never used it.
Sometimes, she actually quite enjoys the noise and bustle of the outside world.
A familiar voice came through the door, and Fu Yunyao couldn't help but turn her head.
"No, I didn't. I went to catch magical beasts today. Look, they're all in my Qiankun bag."
They didn't lower their voices, and their conversation reached Fu Yunyao's ears. Although there were barriers around the mortal towns, too many demonic beasts could still pose a threat to the towns. Therefore, the Immortal Alliance specifically called on cultivators to enter and exit the barriers to kill demonic beasts. Each demonic beast killed could earn points at the Immortal Alliance. Once a certain number of points were accumulated, they could be exchanged for prizes or spirit stones. The generous prizes attracted many cultivators.
However, considering their attire yesterday, they didn't seem like people lacking spirit stones.
"What are you two doing, making a racket in front of my door in the middle of the day?"
Fu Yunyao paused in her play with the jade slip, wondering if she was hallucinating because she hadn't slept well.
Otherwise, why would this voice sound so familiar?
Song Anran felt a little wronged, "Isn't this all for the points?"
Fu Yusheng leaned against the threshold, somewhat helplessly, "We'll be going back to the sect tomorrow. You two can shut up for a bit."
Before Jiang Wanyi and Song Anran could respond, they heard a soft "clang" from the next room.
Jiang Wanyi asked, somewhat puzzled, "Didn't they set up a soundproof barrier?"
Not long after the Cultivation Grand Competition ended, many cultivators were still watching to see if the top seven from this year's competition could obtain inheritances in the secret realm. As a result, almost all the people staying at the inn recently were cultivators. How could cultivators not set up soundproof barriers when they were staying outside?
Fu Yusheng looked up and saw that the door was tightly closed, but he didn't think much of it.
Inside the room, Fu Yunyao's hand rested on the door, trembling slightly. She maintained this position until she heard the door close outside, at which point she lowered her hand.
The sword, placed on the table, was unusually quiet.
Fu Yunyao closed her eyes, trying to comfort herself.
It couldn't be his; if it were, Chen Jian wouldn't have remained silent.
Absolutely not, it couldn't be him!
Only at this moment did she realize clearly that she was afraid.
I'm afraid he's still alive.
Because of the existence of the Dust Restriction, no matter how high her talent is in swordsmanship, all the spiritual swords in the world are just ordinary swords that are a little harder in her hands. Only the Dust Restriction Sword is the only spiritual sword that she can truly use.
If he were alive, she wasn't sure if his once-favored sword would still be willing to serve her.
Fuyuki...
...
At night, without warning, the previously intact barrier suddenly cracked open, and the magical beasts surrounding the barrier instantly became restless. However, they were killed by the sword energy on the barrier as soon as they stepped half a step into the town. The sharp sword energy lingered in the air above the town, killing every magical beast that tried to enter.
However, while the demonic beasts could be stopped, the invisible, spreading demonic energy entered the town through the gap in the barrier.
Awakened by the cries and noises of the townspeople, Fu Yunyao's mind went blank, with dark red patterns wrapped around her neck.
For a fleeting moment, still grumpy from being woken up, she thought, what does what happens outside have to do with me? Protecting the mortal realm is his faith, not hers.
She only slowly came to her senses when she heard someone urgently knocking on the door next door, or even roughly kicking the door open.
She put on a straw hat, without having time to cover the forbidden patterns with a white veil.
As she passed the doorway of the house where the voice sounded very similar to Fu Yusheng's, she glanced at the mess inside but paid it no mind.
She felt a dislike for the people in the room without any reason, simply out of instinct, and she had no intention of investigating the cause of this dislike.
"Senior brother, how are you?" Inside the room, Song Anran looked anxiously at the man shrouded in black mist in front of her and took out a porcelain bottle from her Qiankun bag.
Fu Yusheng swallowed the pills he poured out, and the veins on his forehead bulged.
Jiang Wanyi set up a barrier inside the room to ensure that the demonic energy outside could not enter, and she and Song Anran looked at Fu Yusheng with worried expressions.
Fu Yusheng sat on the ground, his plain white robes spread out, revealing the red lining underneath, flamboyant and unrestrained.
His face was pale, his eyes were half-open, his long eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes, and his lips were bloodless.
Beneath his robes, his veins stood out starkly against his pale skin, and demonic energy surged within them, relentlessly eroding his meridians.
He saw a familiar white figure pass by his house. She was wearing a straw hat, but he could still feel her glancing into the house. Her footsteps did not stop, one after another, as if tapping on his heart, and then slowly receding into the distance.
He knew her so well that he didn't even need to see her face under the straw hat to be certain that the figure belonged to Liao Liao.
His...
How could she really ignore him?
That day, when Fu Yusheng fought the Demon Lord, all his meridians were severed, and demonic energy entered his body, corroding his spiritual veins. If not for…
He thought of the spirit sword that had become part of his flesh and blood, and finally couldn't bear the excruciating pain any longer. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell into a coma.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
