Ch141 - Yuyang Appears
Night fell.
The procession stopped to rest at the foot of a mountain. After dinner, Yan Tianhen used the excuse of personal problems to disappear behind a dune while no one was paying attention.
Behind the mound stood a figure with a straight back, dressed in a black robe which helped him blend into the night.
Yan Tianhen's gaze actually fell upon this person's feet.
With embroidered cloud motifs, the Piercing Cloud Boots looked novel and beautiful, with exquisite workmanship. They emanated the aura of a high grade magic treasure, enough to make people's eyes green with jealousy.
Yan Tianhen said with a taut face, "Ah Gu, when did my Dage give you those boots?"
Ling Chigu had no monetary or material needs, he didn't care much about wearing or not wearing clothes. There was no way that he would have gotten those shoes on his own, they could only have been given by Lin Xuanzhi.
Ling Chigu stared back unblinkingly.
Yan Tianhen squinted at him for a bit and then sighed. "Never mind, I forgot that you only know how to follow my orders. You are not yet capable of speaking or expressing your opinions. But the next time my brother gives you something, you have to tell me."
Ling Chigu continued to stare for a moment, then squatted down and immediately started removing his boots.
Yan Tianhen was shocked; he quickly squatted down and patted Ling Chigu on the shoulder. "I didn't want to try and take it from you, I just... just... ah, I wanted to know what he had given you so I could ask him to make another one for me tomorrow."
Yan Tianhen showed a little shame after saying that.
After thinking about it again, his brother really was a very busy person, yet he actually had the nerve to take up more of his time? It was true that Lin Xuanzhi treated him very well, but it wasn't something that could be taken for granted. He never did anything for him, so where did he get the guts to ask Lin Xuanzhi to fulfill his requests?
Yan Tianhen scratched his face and patted Ling Chigu, "Ah Gu I've wronged you these past couple days. Once we've arrived at the East Continent, I will find a place for you to stay, I won't force you to live in the wild anymore."
Even though it was clearly written in the <<Imperial Corpse Technique>> that corpses were merely killing tools for the Imperial corpse user, Yan Tianhen would never treat Ling Chigu as a tool.
Moreove,r he already considered Ling Chigu as a brother-in-arms. Though they had never fought together or seen blood, they had at least gone through several thrilling instances of almost being caught together.
Ling Chigu, under the sincere gaze of Yan Tianhen, slowly nodded his head.
Yan Tianhen was stunned, and then said with pleasant surprise, "Ah Gu, you've learned how to nod! Then in the future, you should also be able to speak with me right?"
Ling Chigu fell silent once more.
Yan Tianhen didn't push him. He already knew that this corpse was beginning to have a consciousness.
It was possible in the future for the corpse to act exactly like a living person, indistinguishable to the human eye. However, the body would always be ice cold. No matter how similar they could be to living people, they would never be alive.
Yan Tianhen sat on the dune and chatted with Ling Chigu. After a while, Yan Tianhen had the thought that if he really had gone to relieve himself, there must be something medically wrong with him for him to take so long.
A moment later, he stood up and patted his butt and blinked at Ling Chigu, "Ah Gu, I'll leave first. We'll start traveling really early in the morning, you should get some rest."
After that he smacked himself in the head and said, "Sorry, I forgot that you don't need to sleep anymore."
Ling Chigu serenely looked at Yan Tianhen, yet his handsome face seemed to be a shade more resentful.
Yan Tianhen felt some guilt, blinked his eyes and laughed. He turned around, prepared to run away, when suddenly a talisman stuck itself to his hands and he froze, unable to move!
Ling Chigu shuddered as if he were struck by lightning, then aimed a palm strike towards the sky, only to see a grey crane mount which had no time to dodge or even cry get its throat slit by a fierce sword Qi. The bird plummeted out of the sky.
Ling Chigu prepared another strike.
"Holy fuck." a voice rang out.
Yan Tianhen was shocked, and said, "Ah Gu, stop".
The wind caused by the strike just brushed against Duan Yuyang's neck as it flew past.
Duan Yuyang fell from the air, his actions couldn't be called elegant, but they also weren't necessarily embarrassing. At least he didn't do a belly flop.
"What the fuck!" Duan Yuyang sprawled on the ground and pointed at Ling Chigu with a shocked and horrified expression, "What is that? Wha- heavens, it's not alive, is it? Henhen, what are you doing?"
Although there was a hundred meter tall dirt mound blocking Yan Tianhen, the disturbance was enough to alert a cultivator. The moment the grey crane got cut and fell down, Lin Xuanzhi stood up and said, "All of you stay here, I'll go check it out."
Now, Yan Tianhen hadn't even opened his mouth to respond before Lin Xuanzhi appeared by his side.
Lin Xuanzhi's gaze swept across Duan Yuyang's horrified expression, and softly ordered Ling Chigu, "leave."
Ling Chigu remained motionless. His left hand prepared a seal, and his entire body was tensed for a fight.
The sound of footsteps could be heard. Yan Tianhen finally shook off his shock and ordered, "Ah Gu, quickly leave this place, I'll be fine."
Only then did Ling Chigu take action, jumping and flying towards the mountain forests.
Lin Xuanzhi breathed a sigh of relief.
Yan Tianhen breathed a sigh of relief.
Duan Yuyang also inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief - wait a second, Laozi had almost been killed by that thing, why should I be relieved?
The sound of footsteps gradually increased.
Lin Liuchun appeared before the three people with a displeased expression upon his face. "It's the middle of the night, what are you doing? So you think you kids have all grown up now hah?"
Duan Yuyang had never seen Lin Liuchun before, but that didn't mean that he wasn't able to notice the overwhelming pressure that the strong person in front of him exuded.
Duan Yuyang immediately made a well-behaved expression and nodded his head, "This one hasn't seen predecessor for a long time, predecessor looks well and full of spirits!"
Yan Liuchun immediately smiled and said, " Xiao Yuyang is the same as before. Your words are as sweet as honey. Your mother should be able to refine earth-level pills by now, right?"
Duan Yuyang suddenly froze.
He only had one mother who was able to refine medicinal pills, but this mother had never been able to practice at the earth level. Additionally, she had already died long ago!
Lin Xuanzhi could tell that Lin Liuchen's strange amnesia was acting up again. He stepped forward and said, "Fourth Elder, this isn't a good place to talk, let's continue elsewhere."
Lin Liuchen squinted his eyes at the talisman stuck on Yan Tianhen's forehead. He raised his hand and gently tore it off.
Yan Tianhen touched his forehead and said, "Thank you Fourth Elder."
Taking advantage of the fact that Lin Liuchen had already started walking away, Duan Yuyang tugged Lin Xuanzhi's sleeve and asked in a low voice, "What's the situation?"
Lin Xuanzhi tapped his forehead, "His memory is not good, just go with the flow."
Duan Yuyang nodded thoughtfully, "Oh, it turns out he is the Fourth Elder who wanders outside"
Yan Tianhen held the talisman and said, "The Fourth Elder is very handsome, isn't he?"
"He is." Duan Yuyang held his chin and nodded. He clicked his tongue, "He actually tore off this young master's talisman like it was nothing, so I can tell his abilities are not average. Looks like he'll be able to match up to honourable me."
Lin Xuanzhi swept his gaze across Duan Yuyang, "Fourth Elder is a primary level cultivator, what are you thinking?"
Duan Yuyang laughed with a thick face, "It turns out he's very strong ah! Perhaps, in a few years, I will be like him!"
After saying that, Duan Yuyang's smile turned into a bitter laugh.
Seeing this, Lin Xuanzhi understood something.
Yan Tianhen passed the talisman back to Duan Yuyang and asked, "Yuyang Gege, why are you here by yourself? Where is the rest of the Duan family?"
Duan Yuyang casually took the yellow paper, "I really did come by myself. Originally, I had gone to the Lin family to find you, only to learn that you had already left. The Duan family is probably going to leave in a few days. I rented a grey crane for myself to come and find you."
Speaking of the grey crane, Duan Yuyang grimaced, "Damn, that crane was rented! I'm not getting my five gold deposit back."
Yan Tianhen touched his nose with a faint feeling of guilt.
Duan Yuyang remembered, and grabbed the back collar of Yan Tianhen's robe, "Henhen, you still haven't properly explained what that thing was."
Yan Tianhen blinked innocently, "What 'that thing' are you talking about? Yuyang Gege, are you hallucinating?"
Duan Yuyang revealed a rather deep and profound smile.
Lin Xuanzhi couldn't bear to continue watching, and removed Duan Yuyang's hand from Yan Tianhen's collar. He tossed him a look. "We'll explain it later. For now, keep your mouth shut."
Duan Yuyang made a gesture of shutting up.
Once they arrived at the gathering place of the Lin Family juniors, Duan Yuyang received greetings from many people.
Duan Yuyang waved his hand at these people and said with no shame, "Don't be too excited to see this Young Master. Go ahead and continue with what you were doing, go go."
Lin Xuanzhi, "..."
Acting like this was just asking to be beaten up.
Duan Yuyang was infamous for being a vicious tyrant who bullies both men and women and could commit all kinds of atrocities. Therefore, Lin Yurou stared at him with surprise and vigilance. "Young Master of the Duan family, why have you appeared in the Lin family's group?"
Duan Yuyang reached out and slung his arm across Yan Tianhen's shoulders. "I came to look for Henhen, you can rest assured, this young master has absolutely no interest in you."
Lin Yurou was so mad her face turned red. She glared at Duan Yuyang, then picked herself up and entered the horse carriage.
Duan Yuyang clicked his tongue, "Really can't take any teasing, Henhen is more fun to play with after all."
Yan Tianhen nodded his head, "Bullying honest people is the best. "
Duan Yuyang "..."
Lin Liuyan ate a couple pieces of dry rations, then gestured at Lin Xuanzhi. "It's your friend, take care of him yourself. Have you arranged the death knights who will be on look-out duty tonight?"
Lin Xuanzhi said, "That has already been arranged, does Fourth Elder want to hear about it?"
Lin Liuyan, "Too lazy to listen to it, properly entertain the kid."
After Lin Liuyan returned to the carriage, the other disciples filed into their carriages as well, if not, they found a nearby location to meditate.
Speaking of that, most of them had spent the entire day meditating away in the carriage, they were, after all, on the road to the Hundred Families Gathering.
As the Hundred Families Gathering approached, people got more and more anxious.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen retreated to a tree near where Duan Yuyang first appeared. It was close enough to still be under the protection of the death knights, while making sure to avoid the other Lin family members.
Lin Xuanzhi looked at the pale and dusty Duan Yuyang and asked, "Did you let your elders know before coming here?"
Duan Yuyang leaned on the tree and let out a sigh, "They know, my father scolded me for a while, but all he did was scold me. Looks like he's still acting like how a biological father should."
Duan Yuyang chuckled, "I've already had someone investigate the meals that I receive once a day, why don't you guess what the results are?"
Lin Xuanzhi's gaze met Duan Yuyang's, "What is it?"
Duan Yuyang touched his chin and acted like he was guessing, "Apparently a medicinal liquid has been added that uses Breaking Yang grass as an ingredient. Its properties are inconspicuous, no taste and no color, and its effects only become obvious after daily consumption - well, the effect is chronic poisoning."
Yan Tianhen was shocked and almost jumped up, "Chronic poisoning?!"