Bai YueSheng leaned back against the edge of the hot spring, looking like a rag doll that had been partly broken from play.
Ah Jiu said seriously. "Qiu ChangFeng is also a devil, can he still suffer a qi deviation?"
{T/N: Please see previous notes, in Chinese qi deviation is written literally as "Go into fire and become a devil"}.
Bai YueSheng stared at him with dead eyes.
Ah Jiu cleared his throat. "Is it not funny?"
Bai YueSheng, "Don't do something you're not good at. This kind of cold joke makes the hair on my skin stand up!"
A real devil is a race. Qi deviation is a cultivation deviation. Of course it's different.
Ah Jiu sighed. "Should we give up the mission then?"
Bai YueSheng's face was without expression. "If we really just give up like this, then when will be the next time we will receive a promotion mission?"
Ah Jiu thought for a long time then said. "It should be after nine more worlds. And each world will have a minimum S rank difficulty mission."
Bai YueSheng: "...."
Ah Jiu sighed again and added, "Of course if in every world you can receive the highest score "sss", then perhaps five more worlds will be enough."
This was absolutely impossible! The only time that Bai YueSheng had received a "ss" grade was a complete mistake and was completely because of little angel Lance.
Bai YueSheng sighed deeply and used his hand to cover his eyes. He asked, "After I become a manager can I really chose of my own will which world I want to transmigrate to?"
Ah Jiu said, "Of course."
Bai YueSheng hesitated, appearing as though he was thinking about something.
After some moments he finally put down his hand and stood up in the world. The water droplets made a path down his body and the red marks upon his skin faded quickly. Bai YueSheng raised his head and his pupils were dark. "No, I can't give up."
Nine worlds was too long. The feeling of being controlled was too terrible. He didn't want to experience it anymore.
He wanted to control his own destiny. That's why he definitely could not give up on this promotion mission.
Ah Jiu knew a lot about him and so he was worried. He said, "If the reason is because you want to return to the first world, there are other methods...." It was not necessary to absolutely be promoted, although it would be more difficult.
Bai YueSheng interrupted his words. "No. I can't go there as a weakling and repeat the same mistakes."
Ah Jiu: "......"
Bai YueSheng adjusted his emotions. "It doesn't matter. It's still not a dead end yet. And also... I also don't want Qiu ChangFeng to die just like that." After all they had known each other for more than 700 years. Although there were some horrible events but there was still some good memories. Actually Bai YueSheng was clear about the fact that back then if he had used his real emotions to love Qiu ChangFeng, then probably he would not have become like this.
Back then Qiu ChangFeng had been brought up as a human scabbard and had suffered greatly. He had become disillusioned with human nature and deeply lacked a sense of security. Bai YueSheng had adopted him but had denied giving him true love. That kind of sensitive person, although he might not say anything on the surface but inside his heart he cared greatly about this.
Especially what happened that time? When Bai YueSheng witnessed Qiu ChangFeng cutting up his master slice by slice, not willing to him die easily, he should have understood. This child was bad to his very bones.
Of course Qiu ChangFeng's master was human scum, treating his disciple as though he was a human scabbard and torturing him every day, making this kind of small child experience the pain of being pierced by a spirit sword every day. His crimes were great and even if he died a hundred times it would not be enough to make up for his evildoing.
So the fact that the Qiu ChangFeng who had been rehabilitated and made strong by Bai YueSheng would come back to seek revenge is also very understandable.
But he shouldn't have used such an inhumane method.
Trapping that devil's spirit and making him feel the pain of his flesh being sliced apart, he wouldn't give him a quick death.
Slicing piece by piece.... It really was a bloody and terrible image.
And at that time... Qiu ChangFeng was only seventeen. He was still a youth that should have been innocent and naive, not understanding anything.
Bai YueSheng was the Grandmaster of the Jiu Xuan Zong. Qiu ChangFeng definitely wasn't able to hide anything from him. He saw it and actually he should have stopped him. He should have at that time untied the knot inside Qiu ChangFeng's heart. Perhaps if he had done that then he wouldn't have become so insane later in life.
However Bai YueSheng had hesitated.
He had a selfish desire.
He didn't want to have the burden of such a deep emotional connection with Qiu ChangFeng.
If he appeared in front of him now {T/N: This is in the past, at the time of him seeing QCF torturing his ex master} then he would see straight into Qiu ChangFeng's soul. He would see the true him, the Qiu ChangFeng that Qiu ChangFeng probably didn't know himself.
If he did it then he needed to be responsible for it. He would need to correct his three views and let him once again experience warmth and return to the right path.
But this was not the same as rehabilitating his body. The effort and sacrifice needed to change someone's spirit was too great.
Bai YueSheng didn't want it. Because he knew he was destined one day to leave. At that time Qiu ChangFeng would think that he had died and would, slowly with the passage of time, forget about him...
But Bai YueSheng wouldn't be able to do that.
He would always remember him. Remember the emotions that he had given out. He would remember everything in this world that he could never return again to, carrying that burden that he could never remove.
Thinking about this kind of future, Bai YueSheng retreated.
He pretended that he hadn't seen anything and let the opportunity to perhaps save Qiu ChangFeng slip away.
Perhaps because of this then afterwards when Qiu ChangFeng did many wrong things, Bai YueSheng had never thought to kill him.
Because he couldn't forget about that day.
Because of his selfishness, he had missed the opportunity to change this man's life.
This kind of feeling was similar to knowing that you could stretch out your hand to save someone who was about to fall off a cliff... but instead you only watched him die.
Selfishness. Cruelty. Cowardice.
Bai YueSheng laughed mockingly at himself. "The fruit of a long-ago mistake. It is right that I should put an end to it."
Ah Jiu was silent for a short while then said softly, "Er...."
Bai YueSheng heard this word and had a bad premonition. "Lord Jiu, don't scare me!"
Ah Jiu: "...."
Bai YueSheng thought, it was impossible for the situation to become any worse than it was currently. Unless....
Ah Jiu: "Qiu ChangFeng has returned to the cultivation world."
Bai YueSheng: "..."
Ah Jiu: "And it's impossible for you to follow him."
Bai YueSheng: "........................................................................."
"Then how the hell am I supposed to complete this stupid mission?? I've done so much emotional preparation and prepared to call myself a human scum, and then you tell me this!"
Ah Jiu: "It really is.... a big problem...."
Bai YueSheng ws so angry he felt like exploding. "If I can't go to the cultivation world how can I save Qiu ChangFeng? Should I scream across the time and space barrier and tell him not to suffer a qi deviation?"
Ah Jiu: "Er...."
Bai YueSheng: "Give me the phone number to call up and sue! This stupid mission has a bug! I'm going to sue them for playing with a transmigrator's emotions!"
Ah Jiu: ".... Headquarters has cut off contact again."
Bai YueSheng: "......."
He said darkly in a threatening tone, "Do you think if I kidnap you to threaten them, it would work....?"
Ah Jiu: "qaq!"
Bai YueSheng" ...." Stop selling meng ah. Keep an eye on your image Lord Jiu!
In the end Ah Jiu was just a string of code from the Time and Space Bureau. If he kidnapped him then probably Bai YueSheng was the only one whose heart would hurt, so this plan obviously wouldn't work (......).
After he was finally able to clarify that Qiu ChangFeng wasn't actually seeking death but only headed towards a qi deviation because of excess heartbreak. At the moment he was still some distance away from death. So this mission didn't need to be completed immediately but could temporarily be placed on hold.
In this time Bai YueSheng only had to find a way to go to the cultivation world and catch him in time.
But this problem... how exactly could he transmigrate to the cultivation world?
Jump off a cliff? Get into a car accident? Develop leukemia? These were all transmigration cliches, was he supposed to try them one by one?
But based on his current body's capabilities he probably wouldn't die even if he jumped off trom the peak of Mount Everest or was hit by an aircraft carrier or lost every single white blood cell from his body! If he couldn't even die then how the hell was he supposed to transmigrate?
So annoying!
Bai YueSheng could only put on his clothes properly and teleport back to the apartment to keep thinking.
Just after he arrived home his mobile phone begun to buzz nonstop. It was probably because the place he had been before was not covered by the Chinese telecommunications network and so his phone had unable to receive signals.
So now that he had returned home it was flooded all at once.
Bai YueSheng looked at it. There were two missing calls from his father and also ten text messages.
What had happened?
Bai YueSheng licked on the first one. It was his father: Are you coming home to eat dinner? Your Auntie Yang is here and made babao rice.
So sweet. So hungry.
The second was from Third Master Jiang: Ah Sheng...
The third one was also from Third Master Jiang: If you are facing some troubles, you definitely need to tell me.
The fourth was still Jiang Xiao Ming: Don't be polite with me. We can still be.... good brothers.
{T/N: Jiang Xiao Ming or Jiang "Little" Ming is BYS's nickname for Jiang Ming.}
One text message was split into three. It was apparent the sender was conflicted.
Bai YueSheng sighed. This child was too stubborn... it really made one's heart hurt for him.
The fifth one was from Bai YueSheng's colleague. It was Xiao Gao who had won the couples trip to the Maldives: Ah Sheng! Quickly go and look on the forum!
The sixth one through to the tenth one was all from colleagues who were somewhat familiar with him from the school: Teacher Bai, please go and quickly look at the school forum!
Bai YueSheng's heart thumped. The rain of misfortune had been raining upon this apartment non stop, couldn't it take a break for a moment?
He hurried up and logged onto the computer and logged into the school forum. He was immediately frozen with shock by the top threads.
'The politics teacher is beautiful beyond compare, but he is actually gay?'
'Hurry up and click inside, experience what it the textbook phrase 'good looking enough to smash through the heavens' actually means!'
'Good heavens! Princess carry! Is it two gong fighting for one shou, or is it a loving real 3p?'
'The train is already driving, an old driver will show the way, everyone please swipe your card to come aboard, please keep orderly, dududu....'
Bai YueSheng's face was completely back. The number of clicks behind every thread was high enough to shock everyone. This definitely must have long broken the 10,000 popularity limit ba!
This wasn't good. He didn't need to think anymore about how to get to the cultivation world. Did the mission just fail in this ridiculous manner?!
Bai YueSheng really felt like he knew what it meant to feel hopeless.
But then Lord Jiu's words sounded like the rainbow after a storm.
"Relax, the popularity value is very stable. The school forum is not popular outside and even the clicks are mostly repeated. Also Qiu ChangFeng and Lance is the focus of most of the attention, not you."
Bai YueSheng felt as though he had been reborn.
"Really scared baby!"
Ah Jiu said quickly, "I've already blacklisted the forum. As long as it doesn't spread outside then you don't need to worry about your popularity value."
Bai YueSheng nodded. "Also the phones, remember to delete all the photos in the phones."
Ah Jiu agreed. "Understood."
It really was a false scare. Bai YueSheng trusted Ah Jiu to get things done. As long as these things were gotten rid of then his popularity value was very stable and he didn't need to worry about it exploding.
At this time Father Bai called again. Bai YueSheng picked up the phone and said, "I'm almost there. Already on the bus." But actually he hadn't even left the door yet.
He had no choice but to use teleportation once again. Bai YueSheng changed his clothes and use his god perception to find a place where there was no one looking and no cameras, before teleporting there. He turned a few streets and arrived at his family home.
Father Bai and Auntie Yang were already waiting for him. When they saw him they smiled and greeted him.
Bai YueSheng asked casually, "Where's Lance? He hasn't finished work yet?'
Auntie Yang said gently, "He had some urgent matters at work and went on a business trip. He left really quickly and only sent me a text message."
"It's like this ah." Bai YueSheng thought, it really was a business trip. And the destination was pretty far. In another world actually...
After eating, Bai YueSheng hurried back into the city because he still had class the next day. If he stayed in the suburbs then he would need to take the bus during the morning peak hour and would most likely wind up late.
Thinking about this Bai YueSheng thought he may as well teleport home first.
He had only just arrived back when his mobile sounded again. It was Jiang Xiao Ming's call.
Actually Bai YueSheng was really somewhat scared of Jiang Third Master. He always felt like when he appeared then trouble would follow...
But it also felt bad not to take his call. Bai YueSheng swiped the screen and lifted the phone to his ear. "Ah Ming?"
A strange man's voice came from the phone. "Hello, is this Mr. Jiang's friend?"
Had something happened to Jiang Ming? Bai YueSheng frowned and hurried to ask, "Yes. Where is he? Has something happened?"
There was some static coming from the phone. Just barely he could hear Jiang Ming's voice and the man's voice also cut in and out. "He's drunk too much. I want to send him home however he won't agree. Then he dialed your number and then threw the phone away. I thought you were probably his friend, so I...."
Bai YueSheng: "...." Was this selling drunk, Jiang Xiao Ming?
He frowned and said, "Can you tell me where you are? I will go pick him up."
The other person gave an address. Bai YueSheng took a look and wanted to swear. This bear child really showed improvement ah, even going to gay bar to get drunk. Did he want to find a opportunity to lose his virginity?
Bai YueSheng hailed a taxi and gave the address. Because this part of the city was very infamous so the taxi driver took a few extra looks at him.
Around twenty minutes later he arrived at his destination. Bai YueSheng got out of the car and dialed Jiang Ming's phone number. The other person picked up quickly and told him where they were and so Bai YueSheng hurried over.
They had already left the bar and were in the parking lot outside. Jiang Ming was extremely drunk, even his hair was sweaty. It was unknown how he got like this but he held onto a handsome and tall man who was dressed very finely. The car behind him also was very expensive and he wore a pair of glasses. The appearance was very elite.
Bai YueSheng hurried over and when the man saw him he visibly looked taken aback.
Bai YueSheng didn't pay much mind and took over Jiang Ming. "Sorry to trouble you today. I will send him home."
Jiang Ming was emboldened by the alcohol. He thought he was dreaming and grinned at Bai YueSheng. "Ah Sheng, I missed you so much. It's your fault because you're so beautiful, so..."
He didn't get to finish before he tripped on something and almost fell over.
Bai YueSheng did it deliberately. Based on his strength he could carry ten Jiang Xiao Ming's but he didn't want him to carry on saying nonsense.
However the mystery man thought that Bai YueSheng couldn't support him any longer so he said, "Why don't I send you guys home?"
Bai YueSheng didn't want to cause any trouble so he rejected it. "Don't worry I've already called his family. Soon there should be someone coming to pick us up."
The man was very calm. "Then I'll just accompany you to wait."
He did it out of goodwill. This kind of place was a little bit notorious. And these two people, one had an appearance that was too eye-catching and the other one was too drunk. What if they ran into some trouble?
Bai YueSheng was touched. "Thank you."
Of course he hadn't called the Jiang family but it didn't matter. This kind of small matter Ah Jiu would help him handle it. He only needed to wait a little while and the Jiang family driver would definitely arrive before too long.
However Jiang Xiao Ming didn't want to stay still. His heart was filled with bitterness and even drinking didn't seem to help. As soon as he saw Bai YueSheng he felt wronged and without knowing quite what to say, he started to cry.
Bai YueSheng felt quite troubled. Before the people he had met were all the kind that could drink a thousand cups and their faces wouldn't change. So he completely didn't know how to take care of drunkard like this.
Jiang Xiao Ming was usually very obedient but when he got drunk why did he become so difficult? He cried and laughed and after awhile he suddenly stood up straight and ran over to the mystery man's side and said to Bai YueSheng. "Ah Sheng! I have a boyfriend now. Isn't he beautiful!"
Bai YueSheng: "...."
He looked sideways at the 186cm tall man who had just been called "beautiful" and guessed he probably had a strong desire to hit someone.
Jiang Ming was still showing off. "What's your name again? Is it Su Yan or Qin Yan? Ah, I remember it's Bai Yan!"
Bai Yan my ass ah. Why don't you just call him Bai YanSong ah!
The man laughed. "Qin Yan."
Bai YueSheng could only exchange names with him out of politeness. "Bai YueSheng."
As soon as he heard the surname, Qin Yan understood but he didn't say anything. He only smiled.
Bai YueSheng felt like this person's EQ was definitely not low. Jiang Ming was probably in trouble...
Just as he was thinking about this, Third Master Jiang suddenly started to go crazy. He threw himself on Bai YueSheng and hugged him tightly. "Ah Sheng! I'm so unhappy. Clearly you liked me so why...."
Talking about this again! Bai YueSheng held him helplessly and said soothingly, "You're drunk. Wait..."
"I'm not drunk!" Jiang Ming's eyes were red. "I know you've had your soul snatched away by those bastards...."
He hadn't finished when Bai YueSheng's heart gave an almighty leap.
This familiar feeling... the familiar formula and tension in the air... made him want to kneel down.
Because both Jiang Ming and Qin Yan were facing Bai YueSheng so they didn't see the person materialize out of the air behind them.
He wore a long black windbreaker and his short hair was cut cleanly and neatly. His incomparably handsome face had no expression at all.
Ah Jiu: "world Sheng, your family's Gong Yi is also here."
{T/N: "world" is written in english so not exactly sure what it means. Next chapter BYS also calls Ah Jiu "world Jiu" so.... And also our last ML makes his appearance!}
DON'T FORGET TO COMMENT AND VOTE!~