Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 83: The Heavenly Ruler

As Lin Rufei headed back, he was thinking about how to find Wu Ao along the way. Gu Xuandu did not appear when Lin Rufei met with them, and only when he returned to the house did he reveal himself once again. However, he did not seem to be in good spirits and simply sat on the side, waiting quietly for Lin Rufei. He did not open his mouth to speak.  

Lin Rufei was a little worried about Gu Xuandu: “Senior, exactly what is going on with you and that Wu Ao?”

Gu Xuandu lazily replied: “That’s how it was, didn’t you hear it all?” 

Lin Rufei said, “I heard it, but I think it’s a bit strange. Since you two had a good master-disciple relationship before, I think there should still be some friendship. Even if you guys fell apart later,  why did he have to do things this way?” He looked at Gu Xuandu sadly, “This heart is very important to senior, if we really can’t get it back……”

But Gu Xuandu simply smiled. It seemed that Lin Rufei’s concern was not on his mind as he responded indifferently, “If we can’t get it back, then so be it. With Xiao Jiu by my side, it is enough.” As he said this, he leaned over and placed his chin on Lin Rufei’s shoulder.

Lin Rufei could only let him do as he pleased, but in his heart, he was still calculating on how to find Wu Ao. 

After a few days, Lin Rufei still did not come up with any good ideas. His knowledge of Wu Ao was limited to the Shen family matter and he really could not think of where to find him.

But Lin Rufei did not expect that the person he wanted to find, actually found him on his own accord. Since the sixth day of coming to the witch tribe, there still had been no news of Wu Ao, however, he then suddenly appeared.

It was a cool morning. Lin Rufei had just eaten the breakfast prepared by Fu Hua and was planning to go out to chat with the people of the witch tribe.

Who knew that the moment he went out, he saw a familiar figure standing outside his door. He even thought he was mistaken at first and rubbed his eyes hard to make sure he was not hallucinating. Wu Ao was actually standing at his door, with a pleasing smile on his face, as he called out, “Lin gongzi.”

Lin Rufei looked at him warily, “Wu Ao? Why are you here?” After the initial surprise, Lin Rufei immediately became defensive again. One who was unaccountably solicitous, was hiding evil intentions. The sudden appearance of Wu Ao was definitely not a good thing.

Wu Ao answered, “Lin gongzi, didn’t you want to find me?”

Lin Rufei questioned, “How do you know that? Have you been following me?”

Wu Ao said, “I didn’t follow you, but as long as that thing is in my hand, you will definitely come to me.” He walked up to Lin Rufei and the long black snake coiled on his arm couldn’t stop spitting out its tongue, hissing, as if it was echoing his excited mood. He looked at Lin Rufei greedily and said in a hoarse voice arduously, “It’s windy outside, Lin gongzi, can we go inside for a while.”

Lin Rufei replied, “Alright.”

The two of them entered the house, but Gu Xuandu was nowhere to be seen. He didn’t know if he hated Wu Ao so much to the point that he didn’t even want to see him.

“It’s been a hard journey for Lin gongzi.” Wu Ao pulled out a stiff smile. He doesn’t seem to smile often so when he smiled, it looked like his whole face was slightly distorted. He muttered and repeated the words just now, “It’s really been hard……”

“Where did you put the Heavenly Ruler’s thing?” Lin Rufei did not want to dwell more with him and went straight to the point.

However, who knew that when Wu Ao heard Lin Rufei’s words, he got agitated all of a sudden and yelled angrily, “That Gu Xuandu can’t be considered as the Heavenly Ruler! He is just a deceitful liar, Lin gongzi must not be deceived by him, he……he……”

Lin Rufei frowned: “Even if you have some dissatisfaction with him, he was once your master, you shouldn’t talk about him like this……”

“!!!” Wu Ao jumped up due to his agitation and his face was now scarlet with anger. He seemed to want to swear a series of expletives, but not a single word came out because his mouth was not very ingenious. Lin Rufei looked at him with concern. Just as he felt that he was going to faint from this anger, this Wu Ao spat out a sentence: “Lies……he is not, he is not my master!”

Lin Rufei froze: “Your master is not the Heavenly Ruler?”

“Naturally, it is the Heavenly Ruler.” Wu Ao puffed up his chest and proudly said, “My master is the best person in the world.”

Lin Rufei looked at Wu Ao incredulously. At this moment, the truth of the matter had been laid out in full in front of him. Although there was an inkling of suspicion before, Lin Rufei felt that his speculation was too absurd and very soon put it behind him. But in front of him was one of the participants in history, and looking at him, it did not look like he was lying. He said that Gu Xuandu was not his master and that his master was the Heavenly Ruler. Then didn’t that mean that Gu Xuandu was not the Heavenly Ruler? Or to put it another way, there was more than one Heavenly Ruler in this world.

After this thought came to my mind, many things that he thought were strange before became clear at this time. Such as why the Heavenly Ruler varied so much amongst different people; why some people say that he was kind-hearted, and others say he was hostile—it turned out that there was more than one Heavenly Ruler; one was Wu Ao’s master and the other was Gu Xuandu.

Lin Rufei was full of incredulity and asked, “Are you saying that there were two Heavenly Rulers in the world?”

“Yes.” Wu Ao did not intend to conceal this matter and replied sorrowfully, “That Gu Xuandu is not worthy of the name Heavenly Ruler. He is just a big liar who uses the Heavenly Ruler name and deceives his master and humiliates his ancestors. The whole world was deceived by him, not knowing that the real Heavenly Ruler had fallen……long ago.” 

This matter sounded too appalling at first and Lin Rufei was also full of shock. He looked at Wu Ao and asked, “Exactly what happened back then?”

Wu Ao said coldly: “What did Gu Xuandu tell you?”

Lin Rufei said, “He didn’t mention much about what happened back then……” Even if Gu Xuandu did say something, he mostly talked about some travelogues and rarely mentioned news about the Heavenly Ruler, so naturally, he wouldn’t tell Lin Rufei how he actually fell. At first, Lin Rufei thought he just did not want to mention the sadness of that year. Now that he thought about it carefully, there were probably some things that weren’t easy to talk about. After all, there was still the matter about there being two Heavenly Rulers, which was too incredible and no one could have imagined it. 

“I can tell you what happened back then if you want.” Wu Ao replied, “But first I have to trouble you, Lin gongzi, to come back to Kunlun with me.”

Lin Rufei asked, “Back to Kunlun for what?”

Wu Ao said, “There are some things that I want Lin gongzi to help with.”

Lin Rufei questioned warily, “Me? What can I do to help you?”

Wu Ao smiled: “Lin gongzi need not be so nervous, I will not harm you. However, this matter, only you can help me……”

Lin Rufei pondered over his proposal for a moment, “If you want my help, then that is possible. Only, you have to hand over the thing you took from Wu Min.” Although Gu Xuandu was not the Heavenly Ruler, Lin Rufei still thought of him in his heart.

But who knew that Wu Ao immediately exploded and almost made a move when he heard that, “Lin gongzi, that Gu Xuandu is really not a good person, why do you still need to think about him? I destroyed that thing of his a long time ago, he will never get it in his entire life!”

Lin Rufei sighed, “Oh, that’s a pity, I may not be able to help with this favor then.” He spread his hands, making a helpless expression.

Wu Ao’s eyes were now bright red with anger as he stared fiercely at Lin Rufei for a moment. Then, hanging his head in defeat, he muttered, “How could this happen? It’s been hundreds of years, how could it still be like this……”

Lin Rufei couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he was not in a hurry so he slowly sipped on his tea. He didn’t know how much Wu Ao had struggled with his heart, but in the end, he clenched his teeth, “Okay. I can give it back to him, but you must immediately depart with me back to Kunlun!”

Lin Rufei nodded, “Yes, as long as you hand over the thing first.”

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Wu Ao gritted his teeth and chanted something. Only, he did it in the local dialect, which Lin Rufei did not quite understand. But he didn’t need to understand, he just needed Wu Ao to hand over Gu Xuandu’s thing.

Before Wu Ao left, he made an agreement with Lin Rufei that he would return in a few days and bring the thing that Lin Rufei wanted. However, he asked that when the time came, for Lin Rufei to leave with him and return to Kunlun.

Lin Rufei agreed.

After Wu Ao left, Lin Rufei called out to Gu Xuandu for quite a while before he finally showed up. But for some reason, his figure was much lighter than usual, like an ink painting that was about to fade. Lin Rufei called out worriedly to his senior and Gu Xuandu only raised his head to look at him. His expression had more than a touch of sadness as he looked at Lin Rufei with a pair of narrow, half-lidded, phoenix eyes: “Xiao Jiu.”

Lin Rufei asked, “Is what Wu Ao said true?” 

“Yes.” Gu Xuandu nodded his head.

Lin Rufei hesitated, “So there really were two Heavenly Rulers in the world? You……are the later one?”

Gu Xuandu nodded, “Yes.”

Lin Rufei mulled over this for a moment before carefully saying, “Then the first Heavenly Ruler, how did he fall?” After he asked this, he was afraid that Gu Xuandu would misunderstand his meaning and hastily added, “I believe everything you say.”

But Gu Xuandu simply smiled, “If Xiao Jiu wants to know, I will tell you everything.” After these words left his mouth, his body suddenly shook like water rippling, making Lin Rufei’s heart go on edge as he watched. He was about to go forward to support Gu Xuandu but saw Gu Xuandu waving his hand, indicating that he was not hindered.

“Does Xiao Jiu know how the Yaoguang Continent’s Grand Formation was laid?” Gu Xuandu asked slowly.

Lin Rufei said, “I only know that the formation was laid by the Heavenly Ruler, I don’t know how……it was laid.”

Gu Xuandu smiled bitterly, “Yes, the people in the world only know that the Heavenly Ruler laid the formation to protect Yaoguang for a hundred years. However, they don’t know how difficult it was to lay this formation.” He said weakly, “A formation that wants to protect a continent must have a formation eye that drives the operation of the formation. This formation was extremely large and consumed a lot of spiritual energy and spirit stones were already completely insufficient.”

Lin Rufei’s eyes widened as he remembered Fu Yu of the Fu Family Village and opened his mouth slightly, “Senior means……”

“Yes, the Heavenly Ruler was compassionate at heart and couldn’t stand to see the world suffer.” Gu Xuandu smiled slightly, “Moreover, that year, the demons were planning to attack Yaoguang again. Seeing that the battle was imminent, the Heavenly Ruler knew that he could not wait any longer so he fed the tiger with his body; he gave up his flesh, and became the eye of the Yaoguang Grand Formation.”

Although he had a smile on his face, his eyes were actually crying, “Xiao Jiu, I tried to persuade him for a long, long time, but he refused to listen. I said that I only had him left but he thought I was lying……” 

Lin Rufei looked at Gu Xuandu dumbfoundedly. He knew Gu Xuandu was sad but he didn’t know how to comfort him, so he gently held onto his hand. Gu Xuandu acted fast and quickly wrapped Lin Rufei’s hand fiercely within his palm.

“At that time I was too weak and couldn’t stop him.” Gu Xuandu continued, “I could only watch him go. I only hated myself for being too much of a waste. If I was strong enough, I could also have been the formation eye and he wouldn’t have to do all this.” A tidal wave of intent emerged in his eyes, but it passed instantly and his tone faded again.

Lin Rufei asked, “What happened afterward?”

Gu Xuandu said, “Afterward? Then I became the Heavenly Ruler, which was what he asked me to do. Although I was a little bit fed up with it, I didn’t want to disobey his wishes.” He continued lightly, “But my nature and his were naturally different. When I meet someone I hate, I will not think of ways to get along with that person and will only find them troublesome as I kill them with my sword.” 

He sighed softly, “Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have done that. After all, what I did had to be counted on his head. However, I was young and I didn’t care about that. I loved him to death, and I also hated him to death. He had the world in his heart, but I only had him. Say, how could this be good?”

Although he would still have been able to resist the demon’s invasion, if the Heavenly Ruler had not given up his flesh to lay the formation that year, he didn’t know how many people would die. Several hundred years have passed and the people on the Yaoguang Continent still couldn’t forget the Heavenly Ruler’s name all because of that formation. But no one knew the price the Heavenly Ruler had to pay in order to lay the formation.

Lin Rufei felt a little heartache as he listened. He naturally could hear Gu Xuandu’s affection for the first Heavenly Ruler. He wanted to say something, but for some reason, he also felt a little uncomfortable after seeing Gu Xuandu’s difficult appearance, so he lowered his head and only whispered comfortingly, “Senior don’t be sad.”

“No, I have long since stopped being sad.” Gu Xuandu probably took notice of Lin Rufei’s mood change and smiled again. He held Lin Rufei’s hand, holding it very tightly, “As long as Xiao Jiu is with me, I’m not sad at all.” He said in a warm voice, “Does Xiao Jiu like me?”

Lin Rufei didn’t expect Gu Xuandu to ask suddenly so he was a bit stunned for a while and answered reflexively, “Of course I do.”

“No, what I’m asking is not the kind of like between seniors and juniors.” Gu Xuandu said, “It’s the kind of like between a man and a woman.” He blinked and his black eyes were full of Lin Rufei’s appearance, “Will Xiao Jiu want to kiss me? Will he feel unhappy if I spoke to others? Will……his heart only contain me alone?”

Lin Rufei’s cheeks suddenly reddened, and after a long time, he finally pursed his lips and gave a hum of agreement.

Gu Xuandu curved his eyes and smiled lightly. He pulled Lin Rufei’s hand up and pressed it to his chest, “Me too, I also really like Xiao Jiu.”

Logically speaking, Gu Xuandu didn’t have a physical body. However, the back of Lin Rufei’s hand unexpectedly felt the strength of a heartbeat thumping. Gu Xuandu’s heart was not calm like his appearance, instead, it was rapidly beating, as if it was about to pop out of his chest cavity. Lin Rufei was a bit embarrassed by his action and turned his head, revealing bright red ears as he whispered: “Senior’s heartbeat is so fast. “

“To tell you the truth.” Gu Xuandu righteously said, “The first time I saw Xiao Jiu, this heartbeat was even faster. I just didn’t feel like it was appropriate to tell Xiao Jiu, afraid that Xiao Jiu would take me as a strange lecher.” 

Lin Rufei laughed in disbelief: “Why would I……”

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Gu Xuandu asked, “What about Xiao Jiu?” 

Lin Rufei: “Hmm?”

Gu Xuandu said, “When Xiao Jiu sees me, will his heart also beat fast?”

Lin Rufei was at a loss for words because of Gu Xuandu’s bluntness. However, Gu Xuandu didn’t give him a hard time. He smiled and pinched Lin Rufei’s reddened earlobe with his finger and then let him go. 

Lin Rufei also talked about the matter regarding Wu Ao. He said that Wu Ao had came over and he made sure that the thing was in his hands. Once he(LRF) got the thing, he would then go back to Kunlun. When Lin Rufei said this, he did not tell Gu Xuandu all about his transactions he had with Wu Ao. He had a feeling in his heart that the heart in Wu Ao’s hand might be with him at all times, and because of this, it would have a certain suppressive effect on Gu Xuandu. Therefore, Gu Xuandu could not show himself in the presence of Wu Ao as he did on the Xiliang Mountains. If this was the case, Gu Xuandu may not know the content of the conversation between him and Wu Ao.

Although he didn’t know why Wu Ao asked him to follow him back to Kunlun, he believed that there must be something going on. Gu Xuandu and Wu Ao’s relationship was so bad so he certainly would come out to stop him. Lin Rufei didn’t want to let Gu Xuandu lose his most important heart because of him.

As Lin Rufei expected, after listening, Gu Xuandu did not know the content of their conversation and only knew that Wu Ao had come to visit. However, he still repeatedly urged Lin Rufei not to listen to Wu Ao, saying that Wu Ao was a madman and did things all out of order without regard to the consequences and that his temperament was even worse than his. 

Lin Rufei cried and laughed: “Senior also knows that your temperament is bad?”

Gu Xuandu did not avoid this and simply said frankly: “With people, some self-awareness is a good thing.”

Lin Rufei muttered, “A temperament that can be worse than senior’s, how scary must that be?”

“Just look at what he has done.” Gu Xuandu said, “Shen Wucui did not provoke him yet he went up and stabbed him with a sword. Look what happened, he almost killed the person. Tsk. He wasn’t even born good-looking, no wonder the Heavenly Ruler did not like him.”

With his narrow-minded look, it did make some people want to laugh. Lin Rufei did not hold back, and a smile surfaced upon his lips, “Then what was senior and the Heavenly Ruler’s relationship that year?”

“It was a…… master-disciple relationship.” Gu Xuandu replied, “I am the eldest disciple of the Heavenly Ruler.”

Lin Rufei froze and immediately remembered Wu Min and Wu Yin’s situation. In the few days that he had stayed in the witch tribe, he could see the two of them being very, very sweet to each other every single day. At first, it was a little uncomfortable, but then later on, he also frankly accepted it. Although Wu Yin looked amiable, he was actually really possessive. Even when other people took a few more glances at Wu Min, he would be unhappy. Fortunately, Wu Min also did not like to go out so the two were also quite suitable for each other.

Gu Xuandu and his master probably also experienced such a thing, making Lin Rufei’s heart feel sour: “So that’s how it is.”

“He is good-tempered, but the disciples he took in were getting stranger by the by. I entered around the same time as Wu Ao; he was accepted three days after me.” Gu Xuandu then started talking about that year and coldly continued, “It’s also thanks to his luck. If some more days had passed, then the Heavenly Ruler would only have me as his only disciple…..”  

Lin Rufei laughed, “How could that be? Wasn’t the Heavenly Ruler good-tempered?”

“Tell me about it.” Gu Xuandu looked at Lin Rufei and sighed, “It’s just that his temper was too good, which made people worry a lot.”

Lin Rufei rubbed his nose and thought that he(LRF) also seemed to have a pretty good temper.

Gu Xuandu continued, “I’m smarter than that guy Wu Ao, so that guy was always jealous. However, the jealousy can’t be helped, after all, the Heavenly Ruler simply just liked me more.” He said this with a smile and his words were full of provocation, “It’ll be better if he was angered to death.” 

This naughty child-like tone made the smile on Lin Rufei’s face intensify and he coaxed, “Senior is really great.”

Gu Xuandu said, “That’s for sure.”

Lin Rufei voiced, “After I have recovered senior’s heart, then senior can come back to Kunlun with me.”

Gu Xuandu looked at Lin Rufei.

Lin Rufei was a little embarrassed, but he still gathered enough courage to say what was on his mind, “My brothers and sister are so doting on me, so I don’t think they would mind if the person I found was a man.”

Gu Xuandu replied in a warm voice, “Okay, as Xiao Jiu wishes.”

Lin Rufei smiled brightly.

The two of them then talked for a long time. And only until it was dark did Lin Rufei head to bed in order to rest. Gu Xuandu lay behind him this time with Lin Rufei’s back against his chest. This was the first time they were so close to each other. Lin Rufei sniffed the light cherry blossom fragrance between Gu Xuandu’s hair and fell into a deep slumber.

Originally, Lin Rufei thought that it would take a few days for Wu Ao to pick up that thing, but who knew that the very next day, he saw Wu Ao’s figure standing outside the window. He was looking at Lin Rufei through the window but did not have the intention to wake Lin Rufei up. His appearance, however, ended up being a shock to Lin Rufei.

“You’re here?” Lin Rufei sat up from the bed. As expected, he really didn’t see Gu Xuandu’s figure anywhere in the room. He rubbed his eyes and muttered, “How long have you been here, why didn’t you wake me up?”

Wu Ao said, “Lin gongzi can sleep if he wants to, I’m not in a hurry.” He smiled.

Lin Rufei sighed, “Don’t. If other people see you at my door, then the situation wouldn’t be good. The thing I asked for yesterday, did you bring it?” 

“Yes.” Wu Ao took out a small wooden box from his bosom. Judging from the size of the box, it should be Gu Xuandu’s heart.

Lin Rufei reached out to take it, but Wu Ao retracted his hand and retracted the wooden box. Lin Rufei looked at him suspiciously, however, Wu Ao stated cautiously, “Lin gongzi can take this thing, but you need to go back to Kunlun with me first. Once we return, I will give the thing to you.”

Lin Rufei said strangely, “But that’s not what you said at the beginning.”

“I regret it.” Wu Ao was really frank.

Lin Rufei frowned: “It’s not a good habit to go back on your words.”

“I didn’t want to either.” Wu Ao sighed, “After all, if that guy Gu Xuandu came back early, it would add a lot of trouble for me.” He seemed to feel that his tone of voice was a bit heavy, so an obviously pleasing smile once again surfaced on his face. He looked at Lin Rufei and whispered, “Lin gongzi, don’t blame me. Once you get to Kunlun, you’ll know what’s going on.”

Lin Rufei, “……You really can’t give me the thing first? What if once we get to Kunlun, you still refuse to fulfill your promise?”

“Isn’t Kunlun Lin gongzi’s home?” Wu Ao laughed, “When we get to Lin gongzi’s territory, why would Lin gongzi still be afraid that I won’t keep my promise.”

Lin Rufei frowned, “It’s impossible to tell.”

Wu Ao sighed, “If you still don’t believe me, I can sign a contract with you. The contract was made with spiritual power as a medium so no one will dare break it.”

Lin Rufei thought about it and replied, “Alright then.”

Only then did the two of them agree.

Wu Ao was somewhat happy though. After muttering to Lin Rufei that they needed to leave early, he turned around and left. Lin Rufei watched his figure and felt a bit complicated in his heart. He knew that there must be a reason why Wu Ao needed him to go back to Kunlun. However, Wu Ao had Gu Xuandu’s heart in his hand, so he could only make a deal with him.

As for what was waiting for him on Kunlun, he could only adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation.