Chapter 7 He made her cunning
The old ancestor was determined to die.
Di Jiang refused to listen to Duan Jiuyou's arrangements, but Duan Jiuyou had a kind of perseverance. After the third watch of the night, Duan Jiuyou sneaked into Di Jiang's room again.
After taking a medicinal bath, Di Jiang should not be exposed to the wind. He would rest at home for a night after each use of medicine. Duan Jiuyou crawled into the tent in advance and sat on the innermost side. Di Jiang lifted the bed curtain and saw Duan Jiuyou with a smile in his eyes.
She put her clothes back on, changing into a light blue gauze dress after the rain. Her long hair was loosely draped over her shoulders, still half-tied up with a wooden hairpin. Her face was naturally youthful, and now, with her head tilted and teeth bared, she had a kind of silly and cute look.
Di Jiang looked at her for a while and admitted that she was indeed prettier than Xiao Cui, but he didn't want to talk to her. After understanding the whole story, he didn't want to waste any more time on Duan Jiuyou. He took off his crane cloak, removed his phoenix belt, took off his robe, and sat on the edge of the bed, taking off his satin boots. He gestured with his eyes to Duan Jiuyou, who occupied a larger area of the bed, to move over.
Duan Jiuyou had to make room for him, and only when he felt it was enough did he lift the covers and lie down.
Seeing Di Jiang's uncooperative attitude, Duan Jiuyou was not discouraged. He crossed his arms, lay down next to Di Jiang on the pillow, and began to persistently "recite scriptures".
She said, “Ten thousand things sounds like a lot, but they’re not actually difficult to do. Take hunting animals, for example. They devour infants and harm people. Killing them is a good deed. But if you kill the hunters at the same time, you’ve done a basket of good deeds and created a basket of bad karma. You’re so smart, you must know how to do the math. If you keep doing this, won’t you be the one who loses out?”
"You only have 30% of your divine power left. Even if you become the king of the Tenth Realm, when will you be able to recover to your peak? If you want the Heavenly Realm, I can help you with all my might. I can only die when you become the lord. There is no more suitable ally than you and me."
"I admit that killing you before was too reckless. Putting aside the fact that you looked down on me, I am absolutely your loyal subject."
Duan Jiuyou spoke at length, but Di Jiang didn't respond to a single word. The candle wick flickered, and Di Jiang used a finger-twisting technique to extinguish the already dim light. The candle smoke slowly rose, like a long sigh from Duan Jiuyou after exhausting his words and running out of breath.
Emperor Jiang closed his eyes, his voice low and leisurely.
"I will take back the Heavenly Realm sooner or later. You can wait to die."
—What a spirited young man! How could he be so rebellious!
Duan Jiuyou felt exhausted and changed from a prone position to lying flat.
"Have you always been this stubborn?"
Di Jiang ignored her. She stared at the top of the tent. She had never been so worried in her life. She had always done whatever she wanted and there were very few things she couldn't do, except for dying and being unable to influence Di Jiang.
The room was so quiet that you could hear the wind outside the window. Duan Jiuyou tilted his head to the side and saw that Di Jiang was breathing steadily, as if he was asleep. Duan Jiuyou watched him silently and felt that Di Jiang's personality was actually a bit like his own. They could both digest even the most devastating events and remain calm even when they hit rock bottom.
He did not become despondent due to the severe damage to his primordial spirit, nor was he defeated by the cold and gloomy atmosphere of the Ten Realms. He seemed to always be himself, whether standing at the peak or sliding down the slope, he could still climb upwards with a stable mindset.
Thinking about it this way, Duan Jiuyou actually noticed a good point about the Imperial Territory. After appreciating it, he looked at the face again. The Lord of the Great Wilderness, with his cold eyes closed, had a handsome appearance, unlike his usual aloofness, but of course, he didn't make people feel particularly close to him either.
Individually, his features are all sharp, but when put together, they appear somewhat bland. Perhaps it's due to illness? Or perhaps it's due to his personality.
Duan Jiuyou simply turned to his side and openly admired his face. As he admired it, drowsiness overcame him, and he fell asleep in that position.
Di Jiang wasn't actually sleeping soundly, not because there was a woman in his bed, but because his long-standing habit of hunting beasts at night had altered his sleeping patterns. He opened his eyes in the pitch-black room and, in his drowsy state, sensed Duan Jiuyou covering him with a blanket. Her soft, boneless hands tugged at one end of the blanket, unconsciously tucking it around his shoulders. The hand covering him didn't immediately leave, but instead gently patted him like it was soothing a child to sleep.
Di Jiang closed his eyes again, remained silent for a moment, then opened them again, unsurprisingly meeting the eye of Duan Jiuyou, who had quietly opened one eye.
Her disciple told her that sincerity can move mountains, and she remembered it well, never forgetting to care for him.
When their eyes met, he hadn't slept at all; he had been waiting for her the whole time. Her carefully crafted act of care now seemed silly and awkward.
"I... well, I was really worried you'd be cold," Duan Jiuyou explained.
Di Jiang didn't say anything, turned over to sleep on his side, and pulled over the part of the blanket that Duan Jiuyou had secretly wrapped around him.
He made her cunning!
While Duan Jiuyou was struggling to deal with Di Jiang, the Cloud Realm above remained calm and undisturbed.
Unlike the Ten Realms, where the days are short and the nights are long, here there is a clear sky and calm floating clouds. Time always passes slowly here, as if even if it stops, it won't have much of an impact.
But this doesn't mean they're idle; on the contrary, because of the long days, they find themselves dealing with all sorts of things.
Bai Yanxing was busy for half a month straight, sleeping when he was tired and endlessly approving the mountain of official documents when he was awake. A newly enthroned emperor rarely had a moment of leisure; the first issue was the reconstruction of the thirty-six divine continents. Fighting within the imperial borders meant no one else's life was at stake, and a massive rifting array descended from the sky, crushing the palaces of half the divine continent.
Bai Yanxing wrote "Approved" on the memorial requesting the construction, and for a moment suspected that he was cleaning up the mess for Dijiang. Dijiang destroyed these things quite readily, as if he would never rest after this battle. Bai Yanxing sometimes wondered if Dijiang would be in the position of Emperor of Heaven if he were to worry about it as much as he did.
As Bai Yanxing thought this, he also thought of Duan Jiuyou, who had helped him win the country. He hadn't seen her for some time, hadn't seen her in court, and hadn't seen her cause trouble even in death. So he turned to Yan Fuzheng, the official in charge of writing and ink, and said, "Why has things been so quiet at Dixi Mountain lately?"
Yan Fuzheng smiled upon hearing this, thinking to himself, "Why bother stopping?" He first reported to the Emperor, saying in a helpless tone, "The Divine Official is forging swords in the Earthly Rest Palace. Her disciples reported this matter, but you were busy approving official documents at the time, so you probably didn't pay much attention."
Bai Yanxing recalled that the disciples of the Ao Sect had indeed reported this matter, but they came and went quickly, so it did not leave a deep impression on him.
Bai Yanxing said, "They left in a great hurry."
Yan Fuzheng nodded in agreement, "The priest brought back a cauldron from the old Celestial Venerable, a furnace specifically for forging swords. He could only borrow it for half a year, so he hurriedly took six disciples into seclusion. It is said that he wanted to forge the sharpest divine sword in the Three Realms and kill himself in one fell swoop."
Bai Yanxing laughed; this was indeed something Duan Jiuyou would do.
He put down the pen he had been holding for who knows how long, looked at the setting sun, and suddenly realized that he hadn't seen her in a long time.
The relationship between the two was that of ruler and subject. If a ruler wants to see his subject, he can simply summon him. However, Duan Jiuyou was not an ordinary subject.
She was old, of high seniority, and possessed a reckless, unruly temperament, barely better than a teenager. Bai Yanxing had never seen such a supreme deity before; he was surprised, and he admitted he also had other thoughts.
On the day of the grand ceremony, Duan Jiuyou, dressed in a dark cloud-patterned robe and wearing a jade Bodhi beaded court necklace, personally placed the imperial crown on his head as a veteran of nine dynasties. His small, young face and solemn, earnest expression were unforgettable.
He had seen her incarnation, watched her lead the Ao Clan to smash a rock-solid mountain, leaving it riddled with holes. Debris littered the ground, and even damaged the Yuankun Palace at the foot of the mountain. Bai Yanxing frowned slightly, a hint of melancholy in his expression. It seemed he was cleaning up the mess left by Di Jiang and Jiu You.
—If I had known it would turn out like this, I would have preferred not to do it.
Bai Yanxing briefly pitied himself, then, with a cloud rising beneath his feet, he arrived at the Earthly Rest Mountain where Duan Jiuyou was.
From a distance, the mountain resembles a tortoise shell. Inside, there are many palaces of varying sizes stacked on top of each other. The main palace is called the Earthly Rest Palace, where Duan Jiuyou usually lives.
At this moment, a sword was being forged in the sword-making workshop in the palace's rear courtyard. The sounds of hammering and the sizzling of hot iron hitting water filled the air. Duan Jiuyou left six disciples behind as cover. Although she was using the guise of sword forging to conceal her true intention of pursuing the imperial territory, she was genuinely going to forge this sword.
This was her backup plan; if the imperial court didn't cooperate, she still had a chance to use this sword to kill herself.
Bai Yanxing arrived quietly, without any imperial regalia or attendants. The palace disciples only discovered the emperor's arrival when he reached the outside of the sword-making room.
Yan Feng, a disciple of the Ao Sect, slapped Bai Yanxing across the face. Startled, he quickly bowed to the Emperor.
"I was unaware of Your Majesty's arrival and have failed to greet you properly. I hope you will forgive me."
That shout was quite powerful, causing a huge commotion! It threw the disciples in the sword-making room, which was just a door away, into complete chaos.
"What should we do? Has the Emperor discovered something? My grandson is still so young!"
Their eyes widened in shock, they looked at each other in disbelief, their faces saying: "This is it, we're doomed."
From the perspective of the current emperor, his ancestor's plan to help the imperial court change dynasties is treason and rebellion, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of his family!
A group of people who can't die and don't know pain are worrying about their entire families, and no one thinks that this worry is completely unnecessary.
Ao Zong has an exceptionally gifted physique; even the youngest child thrown into the Heavenly Fire feels like soaking in a hot spring. It's all just pointless worry.
Outside the door, Yan Feng was still facing Bai Yanxing alone, his expression calm and his tone steady.
"Is Your Majesty here to see my ancestor? It is truly unfortunate that we are here today. My ancestor went into seclusion half a month ago. Until the Heavenly Sword is completed, I am afraid he will not be able to personally welcome Your Majesty."
Yan Feng is a guy with facial paralysis; his facial features don't move, and he has no expression on his face, so he really looks like a real person.
Yan Feng had said the same thing when he last sought an audience with Bai Yanxing. Bai Yanxing nodded and smiled. The bright moonlight illuminated his elegant, poetic face, which always seemed easy to talk to.
"Don't panic. I just thought the stars were nice tonight, so I came here to sit for a while and will leave soon."
He gestured to Yan Feng that he didn't need to come, and went to sit down on a cloud-shaped chair in the courtyard.
This is the cloud chair that Duan Jiuyou sat on when he last met him. Duan Jiuyou is a man who doesn't follow the rules, and even when he personally greets someone, he doesn't show any respect.
Bai Yanxing was an approachable emperor who always referred to himself as "I" when he was not in the main hall.
Yan Feng didn't dare to say anything more, cupped his hands in a bow again, had someone bring him tea and desserts, and then withdrew.
At times like these, saying too much is a recipe for disaster; who knows which word might give you away?
The disciples of the sword-making workshop were even more worried upon seeing this! They all lowered their voices and whispered among themselves.
"Do you really think the Emperor's visit this time is just for a short stay?"
"Could it be that they've noticed something amiss, or that someone tipped them off?"
"If they really sent word, they'd probably go straight to the sword-making workshop, right? I don't think so. They probably just like our local snacks."
Bai Yanxing sat quite comfortably, his head slightly tilted back, leaving behind an elegant silhouette of gazing at the moon and stars. The younger disciples anxiously peered through the crack in the door and discovered that he had drunk his tea and admired the stars, but he did not leave.
Yan Feng did not participate in the discussion; he simply heated the furnace for forging the sword even hotter and hammered the iron even louder. He had to maintain a consistent rhythm in forging the sword to conceal the "fact" that the patriarch was in seclusion.
Bai Yanxing stayed until late at night before leaving. When he left, Yanfeng saw him off again. Bai Yanxing seemed to be in a good mood and even said that he would come again next time.
Yan Feng bowed calmly, and even after seeing Bai Yanxing off, he didn't forget to have the disciples in the room continue to make noise. The younger disciples nodded secretly, thinking that their senior brother was indeed very composed. Little did they know that after arranging everything, Yan Feng quickly ran to the back mountain of the Earth Breath Palace and dragged out Xiao Feifei, who was in charge of delivering messages.
The seemingly calm senior brother was actually more flustered than anyone else. After rushing into the back mountain, he hurriedly gave Feifei a long message.
“Go tell the Ancestor, it’s terrible! The Emperor seems to have discovered her plot to rebel! He looked at the stars and the moon tonight, he must suspect that the Ancestor went to a place with many stars and the moon. The Ten Realms have short days and long nights, and the moon is big there! He also said he would come again next time, which means he already knows that the Ancestor went to see the Emperor Jiang. He is warning the Ancestor that if we don’t see her next time, we can forget about living a good life!”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com