Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 54: Dajing

The next day, a hungover Lin Rufei woke up with a headache. He had just opened his eyes when he felt a splitting headache. He covered his head in bed and moaned lowly. And for a long time, he was not able to get up.

Gu Xuandu sighed from the side, he said ‘Xiao Jiu Xiao Jiu, if you don’t listen to senior’s words you will suffer.’ However, he still sat next to Lin Rufei and put his head on his lap, gently helping him press and rub his sore temples.

Lin Rufei was drowsy from the pressure and complained in a whisper about how his head hurt so much.

“I said that the wine was strong, you still do not listen.” Gu Xuandu said.

Lin Rufei grunted: “It’s because senior’s wine was too fragrant, I couldn’t resist it.”

Gu Xuandu laughed: “Somehow it’s my fault now.”

His temple was rubbed by Gu Xuandu for a while and it relieved a lot of swelling and pain. Lin Rufei slowly got up from the bed and summoned Fu Hua to say he was hungry.

When Fu Hua noticed that Lin Rufei had not woken up, she was worried. Now, when she heard Lin Rufei’s instruction, she finally let out a sigh of relief. However, she noticed an alcoholic smell in the room had not been dispersed yet and asked why young master was drinking.

Lin Rufei said: “Yesterday I couldn’t sleep, so I drank a little.”

“Then you have to drink less.” Fu Hua was a little worried and nagged: “Young master is still coughing and this wine is hot and dry, so it may suppress the medicine.”

Lin Rufei nodded his head and said he understood. He leaned against the bed listlessly and was starting to regret yesterday’s excess cup. However, on second thought, if Gu Xuandu took out the wine jug again, he would probably beg Gu Xuandu to pour him another half cup.

Humans, ah, are always so contradictory.

Fu Hua brought Lin Rufei food and hangover soup. After watching him eat, she told Yu Rui to bring the boiled medicine.

Lin Rufei looked at the medicine with a frown. However, due to his maids watching him like a hawk, he had no choice. He could only pinch his nose and down the medicine in one go. He whispered under his breath that he didn’t know if this medicine was effective even if he drank it every day. Fu Hua and Yu Rui smiled and didn’t say anything on the side. 

Then after a simple wash and a bit of tidying up, they also intend to leave the Fu Family Village. 

But when they walked to the door with their carriage, they saw Fu Shui with a large number of Fu family members guarding the door. When they saw him, they hurriedly greeted him and called out, “Lin gongzi ……”

Lin Rufei’s impression of this Fu Shui was really not good and he expressionlessly hummed an agreement. 

The weather was hot and he didn’t know how long Fu Shui had been waiting here. His head was covered with exaggerated sweat as he said, “Lin gongzi, have you seen my brother?”

Lin Rufei said, “No.”

“Yesterday he asked me for the sword and I heard from the subordinates that he went to your courtyard.” Fu Shui said, “As a result, I never saw him come out again.”

“He left by sword.” Lin Rufei replied briefly.

“Left? How come he left?” Fu Shui lost his soul, “This, this …… heard that he came back, the family has laid out a banquet and wanted to receive him properly, how come he left.”

“Why did he leave, do you still want to ask me?” Lin Rufei thought it was strange.

Fu Shui let out an embarrassed smile: “Although my brother is angry with me, we are a family after all. If there is something wrong as long as he says it, we can also change.”

Lin Rufei said, “I’m not your brother, why are you talking to me about this?” He was already a little impatient and gave Fu Hua a look. Fu Hua understood tacitly and raised her whip with a crack. 

Who knew that Fu Shui would step forward and stop the carriage with his body. He cried out: “Lin gongzi, please save our Fu family. Without my brother, we really can’t live. For the sake of this family’s elders and children, please tell me where my brother is! Saving a life is more meritorious than building a seven-floor pagoda. Lin gongzi, our Fu family’s dozens of people are begging you!” After saying that, he kneeled down and cried and the old and young behind him also cried. This scene was very spectacular.

Lin Rufei now finally understood why Fu Yu had to leave quietly. If such a big family knew about it, he certainly could not leave.

But Fu Yu was from the Fu family. He(FY) should at least give some face to the family. However, Lin Rufei had no relationship with the Fu family and he also didn’t let Fu Shui push him around. So Fu Shui, who was kowtowing to Lin Rufei with his family, suddenly felt a cold chill coming from the top of his head. When he looked up again, he felt a chill on his head and something rustled onto his shoulder.

Fu Shui shuddered. He reached out and dumbly touched his head. He looked at Lin Rufei who drew his sword and then realized that the hair against his scalp was cut by Lin Rufei. If he went a little lower, he would have mutilated his head.

“The first time is a warning.” Lin Rufei said without mercy, “If you dare to say one more word, the next time it will be your neck that suffers.”

Fu Shui suddenly turned pale and cried out before falling to the ground. When the people behind him saw how unfeeling Lin Rufei was, they all shied away in fear. Lin Rufei’s face did not change and simply waved his hand. When Fu Hua saw the situation, she cracked the whip and the carriage sped away, leaving a bunch of ashen-faced Fu family members.

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Only after the carriage drove out of the Fu family estate did Lin Rufei understand why they had such an attitude towards them. Within a few dozen miles, the original lush green crops had all withered overnight. Without the spirit gathering formation and Fu Yu as the nucleus, these crops could not even last one night. The Fu Family Village once again turned back to the salt-alkaline land where no grass grows, only this time, no one knew how many years later, would a second Fu Yu appear.

No, perhaps never, Lin Rufei thought, not to mention the Fu Family Village, probably in the whole world, they wouldn’t be able to find a few Fu Yu’s. 

She was probably aware that Lin Rufei’s mood was not good so Yu Rui casually talked about the next place they were going to go. She said that the place was very amazing and that the whole country is full of temples. Lin Rufei casually asked: “Temples? They believe in Buddhism?”

“No, they don’t believe in Buddha.” Yu Rui said, “They believe in the Heavenly Ruler.”

The name “Heavenly Ruler” was familiar to all the continents and Lin Rufei had seen many stories about him in books. But most of these stories had a touch of mythology, similar to those about the current cutting the dragon[1] and so on.  It always didn’t feel quite real.

Yu Rui said: “Gongzi should have heard of the name of this country.”

Lin Rufei said, “What is it called?”

Yu Rui said, “Dajing.”

Dajing. Lin Rufei had indeed heard of this country’s name, but he only heard of it and didn’t know it too well. Nowadays, the Yaoguang continent was divided into four countries and although there were some minor frictions, it was said that there had not been any major wars for many years. Most of the people who cultivate immortality would not participate in worldly disputes. After all, they could no longer get much benefits from it.

Compared to money, power, and self-interest, the only way through was the Avenue of Eternal Life. After all, mortals lived only for a few dozen years. No matter how powerful, in the end, they would all have graves. 

Of course, there would be some cultivators who could no longer further their cultivation that were recruited by the country. These cultivators, in times of war, would play an extremely important role, after all, a fifth-level sword cultivator could cut a hundred people with one swing. On the battlefield, they were naturally a powerful weapon to break the enemy.

But these sword cultivators, who were involved in worldly things, usually don’t have very high cultivation. Level five cultivators were already very rare. 

The carriage continued to move forward and the surrounding scenery changed. After leaving the salt-alkaline land of the Fu Family Village, he once again saw the lush plants and crops along the roadside and the houses gradually turned into ordinary brick houses. After traveling on for another ten days, a prosperous city was seen.

Lin Rufei sent a letter to Kunlun along the way, describing in graphic detail what he encountered. But of course, the letter deliberately omitted the dangers he encountered and only said some interesting things. Those on Kunlun also quickly replied to the letter. It was still the same old story that repeatedly urged Lin Rufei to pay attention to safety. That if he encountered someone who he couldn’t fight, to escape first. Lin Rufei chuckled when he read the letter. In his older siblings’ dictionary, there was certainly no such word as “flee,” but when it came to him, they wanted to carve this word onto Lin Rufei’s brain. They were afraid that their younger brother would suffer.

On the first day of entering Dajing, Lin Rufei saw what Yu Rui meant by amazing. Every three steps in this place there was a small temple. Every five steps there was a large temple. There was a temple everywhere related to the Heavenly Ruler. The temples were full of incense and it was evident that the people of the country were indeed worshipping with devotion.

Lin Rufei wondered why the country had such an attitude toward the Heavenly Ruler, so he casually asked a roadside vendor when he was buying something.

When the vendor heard this, he came to life, “Guest, you are a newcomer to Dajing, right?”

Lin Rufei said, “Yes.”

The vendor said, “No wonder. Those that have lived in Dajing for a while, won’t ask this question.” With that, he gesticulated his hands and explained why Dajing had such reverence for the Heavenly Ruler.

The time goes back to several hundred years ago when the formation protecting the continent had not yet been laid. The demons of the Bu’e Continent often invaded. The demons were so strong that they tore open the void and opened the entrance right above the land of Dajing. Most of the people in Dajing were ordinary mortals, if they had successfully invaded, then Dajing would have suffered a brutal slaughter. However, for those who have ascended the immortal path, why would they care about the mortals? Mortals were always like ants in the eyes of immortals, not even mentioning those big families. Dajing did everything in their power, but could only invite just slightly more than 100 cultivators from the country. However, with their power, they could not resist the demons. Just when Dajing was in a time of despair, the Heavenly Ruler came with his sword ……

“Legend has it that that Heavenly Ruler was already at the tenth level of cultivation and would have ascended in a few more days. They never thought that he would actually care about such trivial matters.” The vendor said excitedly, as if he was a spectator of that great battle, “When the Heavenly Ruler raged, millions of dead bodies were buried. The sharp sword in his hand alone cut off the heads of millions of demons and finally, he also sealed the opened entrance. Our Dajing had less than 10,000 deaths, which has been a great blessing in misfortune. What happened later on, you should also know. “

Lin Rufei said: “Then the Heavenly Ruler laid down a formation to protect the entire continent?”

“Yes, yes, he was obviously about to leave, but he still cared about the world. Such a person! Really worthy of the name Heavenly Ruler!” The vendor said.

Lin Rufei had actually seen the battle from books, but the description was so exaggerated that he was somewhat unconvinced. After all, to defeat tens of thousands of demons with the power of one man was really unimaginable. Besides, time has passed, and most people who read that history would feel that it was somewhat exaggerated. Lin Rufei was no exception.

But these dense temples and offerings in the territory of Dajing told Lin Rufei that a great battle was indeed true. Otherwise, the people of Dajing would not be so grateful and the incense would not have continued to be burned for a hundred years without stopping.  

After eating the food, Lin Rufei went to the nearby temple and saw a statue belonging to the Heavenly Ruler placed in the temple.

The statue was dressed in red and it stood with a sword. Although it was already quite old, its spiritual elegance was still visible. In front of the statue, there were incense burners and praying mats. All around were incense-bearers who were making offerings making the scene very lively.

Lin Rufei was looking up at the statue but was bumped by a child running around. He did not care and simply raised his hand to support the child, telling him to be more careful. The child glanced at Lin Rufei, answered, and intended to run out, but he just took two steps, when he was grabbed by the collar.

“What are you grabbing me for?!” The child screamed and struggled uncontrollably.

Lin Rufei looked towards the sound, and to his surprise, he saw a familiar face, “Why is Little master here?”

The one who grabbed the child was the monk that Lin Rufei had met by chance on the Xiliang Mountains. The monk was still gentle and kind and smiled, “Probably because I have fate with patron.” 

“Stinky monk, stinky monk—let go of me!” When the child saw that Lin Rufei and the monk knew each other, he struggled even more, and when he saw that the monk had no intention of letting go, he turned his head and tried to bite the monk’s hand. The monk slightly raised his hand and lifted the little thing up by the collar, “Biting is not a good habit.” He looked at Lin Rufei and asked, “Patron take a look, are you missing anything?”

Only then did Lin Rufei suddenly realize. He felt around his bosom and found that his pouch was indeed missing. This child’s technique was really good, he did not feel that he had been stolen from at all.

Seeing that his deed had been discovered, the child could only obediently pull out the pouch. However, he still glared at the monk with hatred and cursed, “You bad monk!”

The monk laughed with a good temper: “You’re the one who stole, how come I’m the bad monk instead.”

The boy said: “He is a noble’s son, it’s not like he would die without a pouch. However, if I don’t steal something, then I will be killed alive!” His sophistry sounded very justified, “You helped him, but it cost me my life. Tell me, are you a bad monk or not?!”

The monk was stunned: “Since you say it like that, it does make some sense.” 

The child said, “Right!”

The monk said seriously: “Then how about this, I will help you kill the person who wants to kill you, then you don’t have to die. What do you think?”

The boy froze at his words, but could not help but shrink his neck. He felt very strange, the monk was obviously speaking softly but how come the words he spoke sounded very creepy and scary? He reluctantly said: “No need for that kind of trouble, just give me some money so that I can go back to turn it in. Troublesome things such as killing ……”

Who knew that the monk would shake his head, sigh, and say, “No trouble, no trouble, killing is much easier than making money.” As he said this, he also pulled out his patched pouch. He shook it in his hand and only three coins fell out of the pouch, nothing else. 

The child was frightened by the monk’s words and yelled out a sentence: “You are crazy!” He turned around and ran away. His back was really wretched.

Lin Rufei wanted to laugh. He said, ‘such a small child, why are you scaring him?’

But the monk was righteous: “He is reasonable, I am also reasonable, how can you say that I am scaring him?” As a result, just after he said this, Lin Rufei heard a gurgling sound coming from the monk’s body.

Yu Rui could not help but laugh: “Little master, how long have you not eaten?!”

The monk sighed: “I’m embarrassingly short of money, ah.”

Lin Rufei said, “It just so happens that we are also going to eat, so why don’t you join us, little master?”

The monk said, “I don’t want a reward if it is not deserved. How is this appropriate?”

Lin Rufei said, “How can you say that you don’t deserve it? Little master has just helped me find my pouch.”

“You’re right.” The monk nodded, “Then I’ll trouble patron.”

And so a group of people walked outside. Lin Rufei asked the monk for his name. The monk said he was called Xuan Qing, from Nanyin Temple, and was traveling around, and it just so happened that the imperial family of Dajing had encountered something and invited him to help.

“Then Master Xuan Qing is unable to eat meat, right?” When he spoke of eating, Lin Rufei suddenly remembered this.

“Yes.” Xuan Qing said, “Monks are easy to feed. Patron can just buy this monk two steamed buns.”

How was Lin Rufei willing? He heavily dragged Xuan Qing, chose a good restaurant, and deliberately ordered a lot of vegetarian food for him.

Xuan Qing also didn’t know how long he had not eaten. Once the food came up, he immediately stopped talking with Lin Rufei, held the chopsticks, and ate incredibly seriously.  

Lin Rufei had never had a good appetite, so he casually ate a few items, then stopped. He watched with interest as Xuan Qing easily finished a large pot of rice and a few plates of vegetarian dishes. Only then, did he show a satisfied look.

Lin Rufei asked: “Little master, where are you staying for the night?”

Xuan Qing said, “I’ll stay at the temple.” He folded his hands and bowed to Lin Rufei, saying, “I have to thank the Heavenly Ruler, if not for his followers’ extensive temple construction, the monk would have had to use the sky as a blanket and the earth as a mat.”

Lin Rufei laughed, “You believe in the Heavenly Ruler so what are you doing bowing to me. By the way, you said before that the imperial family of Dajing invited you over?”

“Yes.” Xuan Qing said, “Does Lin gongzi also want to go to the imperial family?”

Lin Rufei nodded: “I have an invitation to send over and I happen to be going the same way as you, why don’t Master come and be my companion?”

Xuan Qing pondered for a moment, “Will it cause trouble for patron?”

Lin Rufei said, “What’s the trouble, it’s just along the way.”

Then Xuan Qing agreed.

But even so, when Lin Rufei invited him to stay with him at the same inn, Xuan Qing refused. He said that he could stay at the temple and that he could not bother Lin Rufei too much. Lin Rufei saw him being really stubborn, so he had to give up.

Before Xuan Qing left, the two agreed to leave together tomorrow morning towards Dajing’s Imperial City Dengxiao[2].

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If they took a carriage, there were still about four or five days before arriving at Dengxiao, provided they didn’t encounter any accidents on the way.

Yu Rui was next to Lin Rufei using a silk fan to gently fan him. She smiled and said that this monk was an interesting person.

Lin Rufei glanced at her, and then looked at Fu Hua. He sighed and asked if the Hong Luan Star[3] had decided to land in their family.

Yu Rui glared: “Young master, how can you tease me like that, he is a monk!”

Lin Rufei said seriously: “Does he not look good?”

“Good looking, he is good looking ……” Yu Rui said, biting her lip, “But he’s still a monk.”

Lin Rufei said: “Isn’t there still the option of leaving a monastic order and returning to normal life?” As he said this, he started to laugh first, “Little brat[4], what are you so nervous about, I was just kidding.”

Yu Rui let out a “hmph” and said: “That can’t do. What if I take it seriously and the monk refuses to leave the monastic order, what would you do?”

Lin Rufei patted his chest and said, “It’s okay, I’ll tie the monk and bring him back for you.”

Yu Rui and Fu Hua laughed out loud together. They both knew Lin Rufei was joking and did not take it to heart. But Gu Xuandu, who was next to him, frowned. Lin Rufei entered the room and asked him why he had this expression.

Gu Xuandu said: “I’m afraid you won’t be able to beat him, ah.” 

Lin Rufei questioned, “He is that powerful?”

Gu Xuandu said, “Not only him, those from the Nanyin Temple are all monsters. If the current you really fought, you may really not be his opponent.”

Lin Rufei showed a thoughtful look.

After Xuan Qing came out of the restaurant, he slowly walked towards the temple where he was staying. The sky was dark and there were fewer pedestrians on the road. He passed by an alley, but heard a child’s ear-piercing cries and pleads for mercy, interspersed with stern scolding.

Xuan Qing’s footsteps paused for a moment then walked inside the alley.

The alley was dimly lit, with a mess of miscellaneous items, and in the corner, a few children huddled together, being beaten by a few adults holding sticks: “You bunch of trash, is this the harvest today? Put away your little thoughts, don’t you want to live anymore?!” As he said this, he got the stick and was ready to swing down on a child. However, he heard a gentle Amitabha Buddha from behind.

The man turned around and saw a handsome monk with an old robe. His eyes were half-lidded and he said in a gentle voice: “Why are the two patrons bullying a group of children?”

“None of your business, get lost or I’ll beat you up too!” When the man saw that it was just a rather thin-looking monk, his expression became even more vicious. He spat towards the ground and waved the stick in his hand, “Get lost!”

The monk stood unmoving.

“Are you unable to understand the human language!” The man saw that the monk did not move and became more annoyed. He was the leader of the gangsters in this area and had a group of thieves under his control. Most of these thieves were young and unsupported children, such children were the easiest to control.

“Amitabha Buddha.” The monk folded his hands and let out a long sigh, “Making money is indeed not an easy task.”

After he finished, he said to himself, “It’s much easier to kill.” After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the alley.

The group thought that the monk was afraid and was about to laugh at him a few times, but the sound of a sharp weapon cutting through mid-air suddenly rang out next to their ears. Soon it was followed by a cold sensation against their necks and their visions turned upside down.

Dong, Dong, Dong[5]. Behind them came the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground and the panicked screams of the children.

The monk heard it but didn’t turn around. He recited Amitabha Buddha again and frowned sadly as he pinched the pouch he kept in his sleeve and carefully counted the only three coins left in it.

The next day, Lin Rufei met Xuan Qing at the entrance of the inn. He knew that the monk probably had no money to eat so he also specially packed a lot of pastries for him.

Xuan Qing happily took the pastry, opened it, and ate a piece seriously. Just as he showed his satisfaction, he heard someone call him from the side: “Monk!”

Xuan Qing turned around and saw the child who stole Lin Rufei’s pouch yesterday. The child looked at Xuan Qing with his shining eyes, “Monk, can I learn martial arts from you?”

Xuan Qing was stunned and pointed to himself, “Me?”

The boy nodded: “I saw it all last night! I also want to learn how to kill from you!”

Xuanqing said, “What do you want to do when you learn how to kill?”

The child said seriously: “Naturally it is to make money, to earn a lot of money.”

Hearing the word “money,” Xuan Qing’s face was bitter. He waved his hand and said, “No, no, go find someone else.” As he said this, he hurriedly got on the carriage.

He didn’t know if he was just seeing things or not, but Lin Rufei felt some taste of wretchedness from this Xuan Qing’s back.

********

The author has something to say:

Gu Xuandu: How nice would it be if you weren’t drunk.

Lin Rufei: If I weren’t drunk……

Gu Xuandu: ?

Lin Rufei: Then I’m afraid the previous chapter would be locked.

Gu Xuandu: ………..

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[1] I’m not really sure what this story is since I’ve never heard of it. But here is the original sentence, so if any of you know the story please comment uwu :类似什么逆水斩龙之类的 

[2] Dengxiao means Lantern Festival. I originally had it as Lantern Festival until I realized it was the city’s name. 

[3] Hong Luan Star – responsible for marriage and celebrations. In folklore, it is said that if you see this star, you will meet its true destiny. In today’s society, the idiom of Hong Luan Star moving is also used to represent the divination of marriage, which also means the upcoming marriage. 

[4] The phrase here is 小丫头 which can roughly be translated as “little girl” but it is often used for servant girls and can be used as an endearment. In this case, it feels more like an endearment but at the same time, “little girl” just sounds kind of weird so I replaced it with “brat.” 

[5] Onomatopoeia for something falling.