Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 27: The Jiao Leaves

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This was the first time Lin Rufei saw a jiao. 

This creature had been living in the stories and pictures books that Lin Rufei read. However, no matter how vivid the text describes the creature, it could not be compared to the shock of seeing it with his own eyes. The jiao was more than ten feet tall when it stood and it was as tall as the steep canyon cliffs on their sides. Its huge body was covered with dense black scales and these scales seemed to be indestructible as it undulated with the movement of its breath. 

The evil jiao was now lowering its head and looking at the boat which was as small as a mole. Lin Rufei also raised his head and he stared at the eyes that were bigger than lanterns. He noticed that on the left side of the jiao’s head, a horn was missing. It was just as the boatman said, it was injured by the Heavenly Ruler and lost a jiao horn.  

Faced with this behemoth in front of him, Fu Hua and Yu Rui were so nervous that they didn’t dare breathe. They wanted to draw their sword, but they were suppressed by the jiao’s aura and could not move.

The evil jiao was on the seventh level of cultivation, plus it had scales that could not be broken by mortal swords. Even if an eighth-level sword cultivator came, it would probably be a tough battle. Fifth-level cultivators like Fu Hua and Yu Rui probably couldn’t even satisfy it.  

However, Lin Rufei did not feel afraid. He listened to Gu Xuandu’s disgusted words and saw in the jiao’s pair of bright yellow eyes, a feeling of being wronged. So he looked at Gu Xuandu, and asked: “Why are you scolding him?”

Gu Xuandu said: “When did I scold him? Do you not smell it?”

Lin Rufei said, “I do smell it……” 

The evil jiao eats meat, so meat scraps were naturally stuck in the gaps of its teeth. Therefore, the smell was naturally not good. However, since it took the time to aggressively come knocking on their door, and their first thoughts were of disgust, he felt that it was a bit inappropriate.

Gu Xuandu said in disgust: “Did you hear that? He also smelled it.” 

After he said this, the jiao’s wide-open mouth really closed. However, a heavy exhale exited its nostrils, bringing wet wind. Lin Rufei couldn’t dodge in time and a fish directly hit his shoulder. He let out an “ah.” Gu Xuandu, who saw the situation, rolled up his sleeves and pointed at the jiao’s nose. He started to scold viciously: “Bastard! What are you doing, are you looking for a fight?!!!”

Evil jiao: “……”

Lin Rufei rubbed his shoulder and hissed in pain.

Gu Xuandu hurriedly went forward to check. After seeing no serious injury, he let out a breath of relief. And then fiercely glared at the jiao again.  

The evil jiao that was being glared at, actually let out a few grunts. Its tail heavily swayed in the river. It smashed against the steep river bank causing a large area of debris to rumble down. 

“Alright, alright. I know what you’re waiting for.” Gu Xuandu said, “But who would have guessed that so many things would happen. Although we were a little late, didn’t we still come?”

The evil jiao immediately stretched its head closer. Its head was huge as it hung overhead and covered the whole sky. Looking up, one could only see the smooth black scales that were on its head. Lin Rufei wanted to take a few steps back but Gu Xuandu pulled his hand and said: “He’s asking for a title. This title[1], it will be given by you.” 

Lin Rufei was surprised and said, “A title?”

Gu Xuandu nodded his head.

Legend had it that when a jiao became a dragon, it had to pass through the three tribulations of Heaven, Earth, and Man: Heaven was the heavenly thunder tribulation, Earth was the tribulation of water, and Man was the tribulation of a title. Before the jiao turned into a dragon, it needed to find an immortal. The immortal needed to tell the jiao words that would allow it to transform, this would be considered proof of receiving the title. However, if the immortal had bad intentions and said that the jiao looked like a snake, then the jiao’s hundred years of cultivation would be all invalidated and it would turn back to its original form and would have to start over. 

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The jiao that had received a title would go into the water and follow the Summer flood all the way to the sea. When it reached the sea, the jiao would shed its black skin and that would be considered a successful transformation into a dragon. 

It was easy to say but difficult to do. There were only a few jiaos that have successfully transformed into dragons in the past thousand years. The evil jiao in front of him was already six hundred years old, considering its age, it was indeed the time to ask for a title. 

However, Lin Rufei was only a mortal. What’s the use for the jiao to ask him for a title?

Lin Rufei was still thinking when the evil jiao hummed twice and lowered its head. With its smooth and shiny head, it gently touched Lin Rufei. Although it used a gentle force, Lin Rufei had the feeling that he was struck by a carriage. If not for Gu Xuandu holding his hand, he probably would have flown out. 

Lin Rufei could not help but cover his chest and cough violently. When Gu Xuandu saw this, he grew angry. He lifted his foot and aimed at the jiao’s body. This time, he did not hold back. The jiao’s head was kicked and thrown back violently. It almost brought the little boat down with it. 

“Cough cough cough, cough cough cough!!!” Lin Rufei covered his chest and bent over. He waved his hand at the evil jiao.

The evil jiao’s bright eyes carried a strong sense of confusion as if he did not understand why Lin Rufei reacted in such a way.

“Don’t …… don’t come over ……” Seeing that it intended to bring its head over again, Lin Rufei panicked, “If, If you touch me again, I’m really going to die!” 

Gu Xuandu gritted his teeth. He wanted to rush up and give it two more hits: “Stay away from him. Don’t move your head closer—stop acting spoiled—”

Lin Rufei almost choked: “This is acting spoiled?”

Gu Xuandu: “Mnn.”

Lin Rufei was speechless.

The jiao let out two rumbles from its throat as if it was complaining to itself about something. Then its bright yellow eyes rolled with a hint of cunningness. It spat out its tongue, which was somewhat similar to a snake due to the very obvious fork, and it came straight at Lin Rufei. 

Lin Rufei was frozen in place. He felt his waist being wrapped by the tongue. Gu Xuandu, who was standing at his side, raged: “Remove it—do you not want your other horn anymore—”

However, the evil jiao seized the opportunity to lick Lin Rufei up and down before reluctantly withdrawing its tongue.

Lin Rufei’s body was covered in wet and sticky saliva from its lick. Not to mention the fishy smell, there were even a few fish and shrimp. He was at a loss: “Xuandu…….” He was so shocked that he forgot to add the word “senior.” 

When Gu Xuandu, who was originally in a rage, heard the word “Xuandu,” he suddenly calmed down and said, “What did you call me?” 

Lin Rufei said, “Xuandu ……” He looked down at his hands which were full of mucus and his expression slumped, “I…..”  

Gu Xuandu smiled and said, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just take a shower later.” As he said this, he gave the evil jiao a kick—the jiao that was kicked away tentatively tried to move its head over again.

“Title, what title? How do I give it a title?” Lin Rufei finally came back to his senses. He immediately wanted to send the evil jiao in front of him away so he hastily asked, “If I give it a title, does that mean it will go away?”

Gu Xuandu’s Adam’s apple moved slightly. In the end, he did not dare tell Lin Rufei that this evil jiao also wanted him to help it floss. Fearing that these words would scare Lin Rufei, he muddlely nodded: “Yes, yes, yes. Once you say it, he will go away.”  

Lin Rufei turned his head and said to the evil jiao, who was excited and agitated again: “You are a dragon, you are a dragon, you are a dragon—” He was afraid that the evil jiao could not hear clearly, so he said it three times in a row.

After he finished those three sentences, the evil jiao let out a long whistle and its long body loosened from the little boat that he was entangled with. The black scales on its body began to fall off in large chunks and new scales formed. Although they were still black, they carried a touch of dark gold. 

The body of the evil jiao stirred in the river and it knocked down countless rocks. The river trembled and soared as if something was going to gush out of it.

The boat swayed on the torrent, but it never sank. Only when the black scales of the jiao gradually finished molting, did the river calm down.

In a trance, Lin Rufei felt that this scene was somewhat familiar as if he had seen it somewhere before. 

Gu Xuandu chided: “Stop twisting!”

The evil jiao spewed out a mouthful of water at Gu Xuandu. Gu Xuandu, who had been prepared for it, waved it away with his sword. He said indignantly, “It is indeed my fault for leaving you here for 300 years, but since I have fulfilled my promise, you should also leave this place and stop causing trouble in the river and harming passing merchants!”

The jiao let out a groan.

No one knew what was meant by the groan, but Gu Xuandu looked at Lin Rufei, who was standing beside him, and said indifferently, “I know.”

Only then did the jiao turn around, but its bright yellow eyes still held a strong sense of longing. 

“Go.” Gu Xuandu said in a deep voice, “You can’t stay here anymore!”

The huge body of the evil jiao did not enter the river. It formed into a dark shadow and slowly went in the direction downstream. In a few months, it would be flood season. That would be the best day for the jiao to leave. When it follows the flood into the sea, it would no longer be a jiao. Rather, it would be a sea dragon that could swallow clouds and exhale fog. 

But for some reason, the moment it dived into the water, it suddenly remembered hundreds of years ago, the young immortal who picked his teeth with the blade of his sword donning an expression of disgust.

The sound of the waves remained the same. The jiao could no longer be seen and the boat fell back onto the river—following the flow of the river downstream. 

The unconscious Jiang Chaoer slowly sat up and saw the expressionless Lin Rufei standing at the bow of the boat. Only, compared to before he fell unconscious, the noble gongzi in front of him seemed to be in a difficult situation. His body was wet and the two maids were frowning as they used sword Qi to help him clean the stains on his clothes. However, the stains seemed to be a bit special, no matter how much they tried, the stains remained.

Finally, the gongzi gave up. He let out a long sigh. Rubbing his sore shoulders he said that they didn’t need to wipe anymore. When he saw Jiang Chaoer wake up, he asked him how long it would take to arrive at the dock downstream.

Jiang Chaoer vaguely remembered that before he fell unconscious, he saw a giant jiao head. However, now, the surrounding was empty and he only saw cliffs. There wasn’t a trace of the jiao; it was as if the horrible sight he saw was just a nightmare. 

“About half an hour.” Jiang Chaoer said, “After crossing the water beach in front of us, we will soon reach the dock in the north of Xinzhou.”

Lin Rufei was relieved. Looking at the sticky liquid all over his body, he couldn’t regain his spirit for a long time. 

Gu Xuandu said this was also considered dragon saliva. It was difficult to remove with sword Qi, but it could easily be cleaned with water.

Lin Rufei sat with his head hanging over the side of the boat. In his heart, he was hoping to get to the dock soon, otherwise, he felt he was going to stink for a long time.

Jiang Chaoer lifted the oar again. While controlling the direction of the boat, he cautiously asked about what had happened.

Lin Rufei thought about it and said that he had persuaded the jiao in the river to leave. It would no longer stir up trouble here again. 

Jiang Chaoer’s eyes widened, seemingly in disbelief: You persuaded it to leave, and it left?” 

Lin Rufei said, “It left.”

Jiang Chaoer said, “Did it really leave?”

Lin Rufei nodded his head.

Jiang Chaoer wanted to ask a lot of things, but because there were too many words, they piled up in his throat and he couldn’t spit out a word for a long time. Lin Rufei leaned against the mast listlessly. Because of the sticky liquid on his body, he felt that even the scenery on both sides of the shore was not so attractive.

Fu Hua and Yu Rui sat in the cabin with blank expressions. The two of them had witnessed everything that happened on the boat, but they didn’t understand what Lin Rufei had actually said to make the jiao leave easily. They obviously grew up with him, but because of a cherry blossom tree, there was a sudden influx of many imperceptible secrets.

Yu Rui didn’t know, but Fu Hua could vaguely feel that their gongzi’s body had already touched the heavenly path. It wasn’t something that fifth-level cultivators like them could pry. So from the beginning to the end, she did not speak out to ask. 

The boat reached the riverbank and the scenery on both sides opened up. It was no longer steep cliff walls, but a smooth river surface. After passing the most treacherous section, the plains of Xinzhou were reached. The plain was vast and wide and a large ship could be seen in the distance slowly moving on it. The lights on board were bright and the enchanting accents of the opera singers could be faintly heard.

Jiang Chaoer’s boat finally stopped at the pier. Lin Rufei stepped onto the smooth riverbank and said goodbye to this teenage ferryman.

“Gongzi, is the evil jiao in the river really gone?” Jiang Chaoer once again asked in a whisper.

“It’s gone.” Lin Rufei said.

“That’s great.” Jiang Chaoer grabbed the gourd and took two gulps. He muttered, “That’s really great ……”

“Go on.” Lin Rufei said, “There’s no need to be in such a hurry when you head back. Have a safe trip.”

“Thank you, gongzi.” Jiang Chaoer showed his usual smile. He nodded to Lin Rufei, paddled the boat, and turned around. He left the pier while sounding the horn happily.

The young man’s back was still a bit frail, but only the boat passengers who took his boat know that this little ferryman was very powerful.

Lin Rufei, with his body covered in slimy saliva, went to the nearest inn at the pier. He asked for hot water, intending to take a good bath.

When the hot water was brought into the room, Lin Rufei couldn’t wait to strip naked and get into the bathtub. Feeling the hot water diffuse over his shoulders, he let out a comfortable sigh. As he was taking a bath, Gu Xuandu was watching from the side. Lin Rufei thought that since they were both men, there was nothing inappropriate, so he did not drive Gu Xuandu out. However, Gu Xuandu looked a little uncomfortable and did not look at him at all. Rather, he sat by the window as if he was looking at the scenery outside.

Lin Rufei looked at Gu Xuandu. He felt that he was about to catch a cold so his voice was softer than usual. He gently said, “Senior?”

Gu Xuandu: “Hmm?”

Lin Rufei said, “What are you looking at?”

Gu Xuandu said, “Just looking outside.”

Lin Rufei said suspiciously, “The window is not even open, how can you look outside.”

Gu Xuandu was silent for a moment before he calmly said, “It’s windy outside. If I open the window, you’ll catch a cold. I can see even through the window.”

Lin Rufei: “Really?”

Gu Xuandu said, “Really.”

Lin Rufei really believed it. He lifted up the hot water and slowly wiped off the mucus on his body, only to find an exaggerated bruise on his shoulder. After carefully thinking about it, it was probably from the fish that the jiao spewed out. At that time it felt quite painful, he did not expect it to be really quite serious. His skin was born pale and it was easy to leave marks. Just a causal bump would leave a bruise that wouldn’t disappear for a long time. This time there was a big bruise on the shoulder. Fortunately, it was not seen by the two maids, otherwise, with their stubborn brain, they would have carried their sword to find that jiao and fight it to death.

As he was thinking about this, Gu Xuandu’s muffled voice came from behind him, “Why is it so green?”

“It’s probably from that time when the fish struck me.” Lin Rufei replied, “It doesn’t hurt that much, it just looks exaggerated.”

“It doesn’t hurt?” Gu Xuandu obviously did not believe it.

“It doesn’t hurt …… hiss …… senior, don’t poke it, ah.” Lin Rufei shivered as he was poked by Gu Xuandu.

Gu Xuandu gritted his teeth, “Do you still wanna say it doesn’t hurt?”

“It really doesn’t hurt much.” Lin Rufei said quickly, “Don’t …… just don’t touch it.”

Gu Xuandu cursed, “That stupid bastard really deserves a beating—”

Lin Rufei thought that the jiao was quite silly.

The jiao saliva on his body was finally cleaned off under the washing of the water and Lin Rufei felt a little exhausted. After he came out of the bath, he changed into pajamas and fell on the soft bed. He didn’t even have time to dry his hair as he drifted off to sleep. Probably because of the pain in his shoulder, when he fell asleep, he was slightly frowning.

Gu Xuandu sat beside him. He looked at Lin Rufei’s sleeping face with a meaningful expression.

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The jiao has received his proof. It followed the Canglan River all the way down. It swam through Xinzhou towards a more distant place. It was currently celebrating in happiness at its own transformation when it suddenly felt something fiercely stop its swimming figure.

It was currently the early morning. The sun rose slowly from the horizontal line, sprinkling golden light on the water. The view was extremely beautiful since the sparkling water seemed to be dusted with a thin layer of golden sand. The mist rose up and added a bit of haziness to it. But such beautiful scenery, the jiao was not interested in enjoying. It suddenly tensed up and the breath it exhaled was also much thicker.

Sure enough, in less than a breath’s time, the water surface floated with a flash of red. Such a soft color was mixed with a violent sword intent.

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The jiao’s face panicked. It tried to dive down but it was too late. The person on the water had drawn their sword and the sword fiercely swung down. The majestic sword intent went directly through the lake water, straight towards the jiao.

The jiao knew that it could not hide, so it simply did not hide. Standing in place, its mouth issued a low dragon roar. This dragon roar contained some feeling of being wrong: why is this happening again—I didn’t do anything—why do you bully the dragon like this? 

The man who wielded the sword sneered: “The fish you spat out almost broke his shoulder.”

The jiao was dumbfounded.

He continued: “The bruise on his shoulder has darkened a lot. Also, the lick you gave.” As he said this, he became angry again. He gritted his teeth and swung down a second time, “If he catches a cold—”

The jiao stood dumbfounded in the water. It felt that something was teetering off of its head. When it bent down, it realized that its remaining horn was once again cut off. It fell straight into the bottom of the lake. The jiao let out a miserable cry of sorrow——although this horn didn’t have any use, it still showed its prestige. There was already only one left, now it had none. Once it becomes a dragon, once it becomes a dragon—

“So what if you turn into a dragon?” The man with the sword smiled gently, but unfortunately, the words that came out made the poor jiao shrink its neck, “Ah, that’s right. A dragon horn is worth more than the horn of a jiao. It is a great tonic, and can be used in medicine.”

The jiao didn’t know if it was just his mind playing tricks, but when the words “great tonic” were spoken, the man on the water seemed to pause for a moment as if he was seriously thinking about something…….

“Maybe it can supplement his body?” The quiet murmurs were still heard by the jiao.

Hearing this the jiao did not dare say anything else to him. It turned and immediately scampered away, leaving a fierce splash of water. It was a good thing that the man with a sword did not continue to chase, he simply sighed and shook his head: “But it does not seem to be of much use to his congenital deficiency.”

In that case, let’s forget it.

The man with the sword sighed and touched his buzzing short sword again, saying, “No rush, no rush. There are still plenty of days ahead.” Good things come in small packages, it’s better to take your time.

Lin Rufei slept for a long time. He hadn’t stayed up[2] in a while, and with those accidents yesterday, his body couldn’t hold up anymore. Although he slept for a long time, his dreams continued. In a moment he’ll dream that he was still on the boat, and the next he’ll dream that the jiao came over to give him a few more licks. 

This uncouth jiao. It had a stinky mouth. This smell bothered him the whole night and he almost vomited. He washed for a long time before finally becoming clean. However, when he laid on the bed, he felt like he could still smell the smell. 

Lin Rufei frowned. He tossed and turned on the soft bed—muttering—until a pair of cold hands touched his forehead.

Someone beside him seemed to be whispering: “Not good, it’s feverish.”

Lin Rufei wanted to open his eyes, but he felt as if his eyelids were firmly stuck, and he could not open them. After struggling for a long time, he finally opened them a little bit and he vaguely saw Gu Xuandu, who was dressed in red.

“Senior.” Lin Rufei called out in a daze.

“You have a fever.” Gu Xuandu said, “I’ll go and think of a way to get your maids.”

Lin Rufei listlessly hummed softly in agreement. He watched as Gu Xuandu left. Before leaving, he also heard him say angrily: “I really shouldn’t have let it run away like that. It should have at least left some blood…..” 

Bleeding? Who was bleeding? Lin Rufei was dizzy, and could not understand what Gu Xuandu was talking about.

(t/n: so the reason LRF said bleeding is because in Chinese the character for “leave” sounds the same as the characters in bleeding. So when GXD said to leave some blood, LRF heard “leave blood” which basically sounds like “bleeding”)

Not a moment later, Fu Hua and Yu Rui rushed into the room. When they saw his burning red face, they hastily took out the medicine and fed it to him.

He had to drink medicine again. Lin Rufei smelled the bitter smell of Chinese medicine and wrinkled his face.

When Fu Hua saw this, she quickly instructed Yu Rui to go to the street to buy some appetizing snacks such as plums, and also to buy a few bowls of light porridge and small dishes back.

After drinking the medicine, Lin Rufei felt tired and drifted off to sleep. Once he slept, it was for the whole day. It wasn’t until the next night when he finally woke up with no strength.  

When he opened his eyes, he saw Gu Xuandu sitting by the window.

The rain that had been falling for a few days finally stopped. A bright colorful haze spread throughout the sky making the clouds dazzle, it was like an immortal realm. Gu Xuandu turned around and gave him a light smile: “You’re awake?”

“I’m awake.” Lin Rufei said.

“If you are awake, get up and eat something.” Gu Xuandu said, “I brought you some medicine to nourish your body.” He said and pulled out a small doll, that was wearing a bib and was screaming, out of nowhere. He roughly threw it onto the wooden table in front of him.

Lin Rufei looked at the little doll’s round eyes: “Eating people can also supplement the body? Where did you snatch this little doll from?”

Gu Xuandu calmly said: “No worries, I gave birth to it. It’s edible.” 

Lin Rufei: “Huh???” I didn’t see you for one day and you already have a child?? Even if you did give birth to it, you can’t just casually eat it, right?!  

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The author has something to say:  

Lin Rufei: When did you have a child?

Gu Xuandu: Isn’t your Lin family the most particular about getting married because of an unplanned pregnancy? [3]

Lin Rufei: ………….

Gu Xuandu: I made do with what I had, and barely gave birth to one. 

Lin Rufei: ? ? ? ?