My Darling Sick Beauty

“Well he better come back earlier, whilst I haven’t got angry yet.”

Jiang Zheliu had already guessed many things.

But he was actually worried, which was in line with what the little devil had also predicted. When would he be able to change his bad habit of worrying about everything, and be able to completely get rid of the mortal net that he was caught in.

He thought that the road to immortality was long; those who were covered in the blood debt1 of others would find it hard to fuse with the Dao2.

As soon as Jiang Zheliu thought about this, he would get a crippling headache. He could not waste his efforts worrying about worldly affairs, as soon as he did, his headache would become more and more serious, as if it was a warning coming from his soul.

But his thoughts were also not something that he could actually control. 

 

After a few days passed, the burns on his fingertips had already recovered. All of the birds in the sky had completely vanished, they had not even heard a single bird call. Ling Xiao Sword stood in its previous spot quiet and alone, the decorative design upon the sword was like an eternal eye, watching over him silently.

A windy and snowy evening, Jiang Zheliu was in the middle of a game of Go with Wang Moxuan. The little mute couldn’t say a word so he was the perfect listener.

“This move was made too quickly, you should think about it more.”

The candle flame lightly flickered, Jiang Zheliu’s voice was clear and calm.

Wang Moxuan raised his gaze and looked at him silently. At that moment, it was still unclear whether Jiang Qianbei was really commenting on the game play or whether he was actually speaking about something else.

“Do you want to take another look?” The other asked him quietly.

Wang Moxuan took another look at the Go board for a while and then shook his head, meaning that he did not want to change any of the moves he had made.
 

He knew that he couldn’t win against Jiang Zheliu, and had discovered that he had already made quite a few mistakes in his game so he did not want to change anything.

The shadows made by the candle light were getting longer, whilst the odour of the slightly bitter medicine began to waft up from downstairs, the sound of the evening wind started to bang against the window, the floating snowflakes began to cover over the plum blossoms as Yu Jinnian came over as usual to take Wang Moxuan home.

He knocked on the bamboo curtain screen and then leant against the door, and continued to babble on: “Qianbei, it’s time to return the little mute to me! He’s been here for a whole day, pffff, you two are going to bore me to death…..”

Wang Moxuan stopped playing, he got up and then gestured to Jiang Zheliu with his hands that he was taking his leave. Then he went downstairs and dragged that jibber jabber mouth of the Divine Sage of Medicine away from the little pinehouse.

Every evening was like this, just like the endgame on the Go board.

Everything was like it was before, it was perhaps even a little too calm. The wind outside had mixed in with some snowflakes, and had already covered the wooden window frame. The little deer was sleeping against the table downstairs, whilst Chang Qian was re-heating the medicine. Trying to keep his eyes open, he accompanied the medicine whilst it cooled, but helplessly let out a yawn.

Time passed by with ease and comfort, if one could live out the rest of their days like this, it could be considered a peaceful death.

Jiang Zheliu was sitting beneath the flame of the candle, and had taken out the ancient text scroll that he had only read half of previously from the bookcase. With the book on his lap, he began to flick through where he had left off, but he had not even found his place when his hand suddenly froze.

From within the ancient text, there was a long and slender fortune stick that fell out.

It must have been that he had got so tired reading last time, he’d put the fortune stick inside to mark his place, and then had completely forgotten about it.

Jiang Zheliu reached out to pick up the fortune stick. His gaze fixed upon the prophecy written upon it and he whispered: “…… life’s dream …… double oath.”

He and the little devil had no former oath between them to think of.

Jiang Zheliu looked at it for a while, and then reached out to massage the spot between his brows. He had not closed his eyes for very long, when he heard the noise of the wooden window in front of him opening from the outside.

…… Huh?

He opened his eyes and saw a woman wearing a mask suddenly appearing in front of the upstairs window. She used her extended bony spur from her claw to open the latch of the window.

Jiang Zheliu watched calmly as she opened the wooden window’s latch, and then watched as she stuck her head into the room, bringing in with it a cold breeze and some flying snowflakes.

“Devil Queen.” Gongyi Yan’s deep blue eyes stared at him, “I’m here to deliver something.”

Jiang Zheliu sighed at the Devil Realm’s lack of etiquette when visiting, and said: “…….. The window is a little narrow, thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s okay.” The female devil reached out to fix the falcon mask on her face, making it completely conceal her facial expression. And then she stuck her head and shoulders through the window and reached out to give a rope chain to Jiang Zheliu.

It looked like it was to be used to replace the one on the resurrection stone. There were many detailed scripts and writings, there was not only devilish script but also demonic script, even the decorative spiritual stones set on it were not the same, as if it had been specially made. The main colour was black, but it was glistening and the style was rather flashy.

“The Devil Lord said,” Gongyi Yan transmitted the message, “after he’s finished up what he needs to do, he will come back to spend time with you in a few days.”

Although that was what came out of her mouth, it did not prevent her from thinking that her Devil Lord was lying. There was no way of fixing a date when inciting a war. There was no way of knowing how long he’d be preoccupied with things.

Just as Jiang Zheliu was about to reach out to take it, the great devil couldn’t resist retracting her hand and staring at his neck: “I’ll help you put it on.”

……… You can still do it stuck in the window like that?

She didn’t wait for him to refuse, and shuffled in a bit more, her slender waist easily passed through, and then she used her hands to successfully undo the clasp around his neck.

Jiang Zheliu was afraid that if he avoided her, he’d make her fall so he didn’t say a word.

This situation proved that the devil race, whether they were male or female, whether their IQ or EQ was high or not, the majority of them were all naive, it was just the way they expressed it was not the same.

Gongyi Yan’s breath was very cold, because she had been guarding outside the whole time. Her body had absorbed all of the snowy wind and coldness of the evening. Being close to her made others feel cold, but as a devil, that unsettled hot-tempered feeling was similar to Wenren Ye.

She helped the Devil Queen change the rope chain, when her fingertips touched the resurrection stone, she suddenly seemed to have felt a crack in the stone, her movements halted and she looked up at Jiang Zheliu.

Jiang Zheliu looked back at her: “What’s the matter?”

Gongyi Yan was silent for a moment and then said: “…… Jiang Xianzun.”

“En.”

“Have you thought about what will happen to our Devil Lord in a hundred years?”

She asked this very calmly, like a pebble that was skimming across the lake’s surface, the waves and splashes made were slight, rippling out layer by layer.

Jiang Zheliu had actually thought about this a lot. He looked deeply at the devil in front of him and then slowly said: “…….. Even the customs of the Devil Realm cannot force the Devil Lord to stay faithful unto death, and remain a solitary soul.”

Gongyi Yan did not reply, but instead moved her fingers that were holding the resurrection stone, pulled over his hand to make him feel the slight crack in the stone.

The power of the stone was not infinite. Just like the lamp that needs oil, and the raging flames that need firewood, but there will be one day that it will stop burning.

Jiang Zheliu stared blankly for a moment.

He had no spiritual energy, even if his half-step golden immortal cultivation realm was still present, he was not as sharp as he was previously. Such a tiny crack, if he had not been shown it, he probably wouldn’t have discovered it for a long time on his own.

The treasure that could make flowers blossom in a ten li radius was also exhaustible. It was replenishing his life using its utmost power, replenishing it day and night.

“Thank you.” Jiang Zheliu took the necklace and put it back on. The cold winter wind that was coming from the outside was making his throat tickle, he wanted to cough but because Gongyi Yan was still there, he tried to resist it, and he said: “It’s me that is hurting him, I will think of a way…….”

“What way?”

Gongyi Yan coldly stared at him.

Although she had asked out loud, it was as if she didn’t actually expect an answer, it was as if the words had been hanging off the corners of her mouth and she had accidentally blurted it out.

Jiang Zheliu looked at her for a short moment and then said: “Make a far-reaching and profound plan for the person I love, and extinguish the flames of war for all the innocent living beings. What do you think?”

Gongyi Yan stared blankly, after a while she finally said quietly: “You already know then.”

“En.” Jiang Zheliu got up, he put the fortune stick back into the ancient text once more, and then gestured for Gongyi Yan to enter. “Close the window.”

It was truly too cold, he couldn’t take it any longer.

The female devil who was wearing a mask entered and then turned around to close the window. She then watched as Jiang Zheliu, who was dressed in white robes, laid a flat sheet of letter paper on the table and then dipped the brush pen into the black ink.

He wrote two characters, it was the Azure Dragon Zhenjun’s name. This letter was for the Demon Realm.

She sat by his side, watching Jiang Zheliu write out word after word, his calligraphy was graceful and fluid, the style was sharp yet understated, just like him. This seemed to be a letter to mediate with the Demon Realm.

“The four great Immortal Sects of the Cultivation World, aside from the remote Lan Re Temple, are all rotten and declining, it’s unbearable to see. The opportunity has come to clean everything out in one fell swoop, to get rid of all those who have nefarious and unorthodox designs, eliminate the order of the Immortal Sects, reorganise those on top and completely regroup after a major setback.”

“If the devils wish to enter the Cultivation World, they must first vie for the Demon Realm, in order to aid in their efforts. Qing Lin is having trouble ruling alone, she does not dare to fight head on but will also be unwilling to give up any territory. Now if they have indeed come to an impasse at this moment, then it has probably arisen due to this.”

He spoke up to that point and then he covered his mouth and coughed a few times. He had been affected by the cold wind from before and was still feeling a bit unwell.

“I’ve written a letter to my good friend. I’ve asked her to work with Wenren Ye to make it seem that there is a serious internal conflict happening between the two realms. Implicitly attracting all those evil doers in each sect to come forward and attack, falling into a death trap, getting rid of an external threat to appease internal struggles, acting as a rope that pulls out the twisted and mangled roots for the benefit of each sect.” He didn’t stop talking and kept explaining, “The Cultivation World is linked to the Mortal Realm, filled with numerous paradises and oases, with a million wild cultivation areas not even plowed yet. It’s just that these areas won’t be easily given up to the Devil Realm, if you want to kill, you can. But there should not be any uncalled for massacres of innocents.”

“With tens of thousands of soldiers, there must definitely be an end. Otherwise, with Wenren Ye’s innumerable blood debt, it will be difficult to pass his Heavenly Tribulation.”

After Jiang Zheliu finished writing the letter, he sealed it up in an envelope and smoothed it out with his fingers and then added: “The four Immortal Sects each have gate protection barriers, it will be difficult to get through all of them, perhaps it is not possible to do it all at once and the devils must take it slowly.”

Gongyi Yan had been staring blankly the whole time and she finally came back to her senses, and murmured: “We…… we have a way.”

“En.” Jiang Zheliu did not ask for any clarifications. “In the end, I don’t know what the result will be, the common practices of the devils are particular which makes it hard for me to forecast.…….. Can I give you this letter?”

She had no reason to say ‘no’.

Gongyi Yan felt her mind buzzing even when she got a hold of this letter. She wasn’t even able to react for a moment. Was this the right thing to do for the enormous Cultivation World, to cut off a limb in order to get a new lease of life? She also did not react to the fact that Jiang Xianzun had this kind of attitude.

She looked at him through her mask and said: “You…. You want to destroy Ling Xiao Sect as well.”

Getting rid of the obstruction and hindrance of the four great Immortal Sects in order to allow for a new order. Ling Xiao Sect was the leader of the four great Immortal Sects, it was unavoidable.

Jiang Zheliu didn’t reply, after a long time, he finally coughed lightly and then helplessly smiled once.

“Can you not talk about it?”

Gongyi Yan immediately shut up, turned around to open the window and then quickly jumped out and went on her way.

Jiang Zheliu was about to go to close the window when she saw a hand reach from down below and close the window latch with much strenuous effort.

……. She’s definitely a devil alright.

The medicine had been left to cool downstairs for too long, after a while, Chang Qian who had accidentally fallen asleep finally went up to deliver the bowl of medicine whilst rubbing his eyes. He sniffed the air, and noticed that there was a scent of another person.

“Gege?” He gave the bowl to Jiang Zheliu then narrowed his eyes, “did someone come?”

“No.” The one who came wasn’t a person, “did you fall asleep?”

“En.” Chang Qian was a bit embarrassed, he looked at Jiang Zheliu for a while and then couldn’t bear it any longer and asked, “Are you not feeling well?”

Not only was he feeling unwell, everything that he had just said, gave him a massive headache that had still not subsided. It was just that his willpower to tolerate pain was very high, so he did not make it obvious on his face. “Just a bit.” He said, “Are you tired? Why don’t you go and sleep.”

Chang Qian was worried and shook his head, he stretched out and touched the other’s forehead. It didn’t feel like Jiang Zheliu had a fever, he let out a sigh of relief and said: “When little uncle comes back and finds out that you’re unwell, he will probably be so worried he won’t be able to sleep again.”

Jiang Zheliu took a sip of the medicine, and then closed his eyes and imagined that scene, he smiled ever so slightly and then said: “Well he better come back earlier, whilst I haven’t got angry yet.”

Chang Qian muttered quietly, not having understood: “Why….. does gege miss him?”

“En.” Jiang Zheliu looked at the lamp, the melted wax ran down the side of the candle, flames filling his eyes. The taste of the medicine dispersed in his mouth, gradually getting more potent and not dissipating.

“The faces of the Earth, see one side and the other disappears3, one should not leave with regrets.”

————

Eternity is challenging aside from in death.

But for the Netherworld death was not the ending but just the beginning.

There were lights lit once more in Tianji Pavilion’s secret room.

Wang Wenyuan was wearing white robes and holding a folding fan as he sat on the side waiting for something. He poured a cup of tea, the tea leaves were floating around in the cup and to the surface, their position unfixed.

He was waiting for someone.

Until the time of the deepest depth of the night came, on the ground of the secret room, a section of river water that was exuding a decaying odour flowed out of nowhere and Zhu Wuxin’s figure was revealed in the water through the spell.

More accurately, it was the figure of “Zhu Wuxin” controlled by He Sorshi.

This corpse had been preserved very well, using the ghost cultivation script that was covering his entire body, He Sorshi was able to use the ghostly possession technique in order to use his body once more. This body had also received some sort of special refinement to get rid of the odour.

Wang Wenyuan got up to pay his respects and greeted: “Ghost Lord He.”

He Sorshi cocked his hand, his neck and shoulder bones made a cracking noise. He stretched out in this youth’s body, and then finally took a step forward and said beside Wang Wenyuan, he narrowed his eyes and asked: “What is it? You need something from me?”

If it wasn’t for the Demon Realm, at this moment, the band of devils would already be beating down the door, how would they have had this opportunity to sit down and discuss.

Wang Wenyuan gently fiddled with the fan in his hand, put on a fake smile and said: “Ghost Lord He can use the possession technique to allow yourself to free part of your primordial spirit from the River of the Dead is partly down to the merits of this junior4. If I hadn’t guided Zhu Wuxin to seek out qianbei in the Netherworld, how could you have reached an agreement?”

“It’s a pity that that plan of yours was useless.” He Sorshi licked his teeth, “Even though Wenren Ye is mad, but as long as Jiang Zheliu is by his side, he is able to control himself….. Those two giant netherworld chains are still intact even after the fight between him and I.”

Wang Wenyuan made a knock with his fan and said: “But if Jiang Zheliu wasn’t present?”

He Sorshi shifted his gaze, his glowing green eyes fixated on him.

“You want me to kill him?”

“Provided that my divinations are correct, he is already nearing his end, however…… he still needs another push.” Wang Wenyuan paused for a moment, “Plus, Wenren Ye has him protected, as soon as he is attacked, Wenren Ye will know so how could this junior ask you to kill him.”

He Sorshi sneered: “What is it then, have you got something big to tell him.”

“Naturally.” Wang Wenyuan smiled, and then fished out the recording sound cicada, and put it in front of He Sorshi on the table, “How could we not let Jiang Xianzun know about Lin Qingxu giving Zhu Wuxin the Five Power Passion Pill?”

The shidi that he loved and protected for a thousand years died under the Ling Xiao Sword, how could there not be an underlying reason?

“Head of the Immortal Sects.” Wang Wenyuan opened his fan, “Isn’t that just the biggest joke.”

He Sorshi stared at him engrossed for a moment, seemingly to not have understood what he meant: “The devils are on the eve of attacking your doors, and you still want to kill him. In terms of reason and sentiment, that doesn’t seem right.”

“In terms of reason, if he is still alive, no one else can lead over the Cultivation World. In terms of sentiment…..” Wang Wenyuan’s eyes darkened, “Ghost Leader He, since you want Wenren Ye to fight you, this is the best opportunity, and this will also dissolve an enormous issue in the Cultivation World, don’t you think?”

“I still think, you……. You have issues.” He Sorshi yawned, and then added lazily, “This is an excuse, you don’t care about the Cultivation World, you only care about self-interest and old grudges, and it’s becoming more and more extreme.”

He controlled Zhu Wuxin’s body to drink a sip of tea, and then sighed with disdain a few times before saying: “Has the poison in your body corroded your brain?”

He was able to see that Wang Wenyuan was still suffering from the effects of the poison of the Cylindrical Heart Powder, and the latter was having some trouble breathing properly.

“Ghost Lord He.” Wang Wenyuan stared at him and said, “Even without self-interest, or grudges, no matter what is done, it can’t be considered extreme.”

He stood up, went across the secret room to light a couple of candles, and then went in front of one of the walls, his gaze fell upon the black cloth that had been concealed by a smokescreen technique.

Behind the black curtain was another room. It was a room with only three walls, the wall facing this side was made by black metal.

Inside there was a Buddhist monk sitting who was wearing white robes.

The white buddhist robes were soaked in blood, his shoulders had been impaled in place with metal hooks obstructing any movement. But his robes were still intact, as if he had not received any other torment. He had his eyes closed and didn’t speak a word.

Wang Wenyuan turned around to face He Sorshi, as if he was considering something whilst he spoke: “And if I gave a Buddhist cultivator’s body to Ghost Lord He to use as a reward how would that sound?”

He Sorshi shifted his gaze and stared at him whilst laughing: “Lan Re Temple’s successor, you’ve seriously got some guts.”

“As is Ghost Lord He.” Wang Wenyuan said, “Even if the Zen Master is fed medicine, he still does not react to the demonic female cultivators, so it’s impossible to use a female cultivator to make him talk, so why not give him to the Ghost Lord.”

He paused here for a moment.

“This way, whether or not the Zen Master gets aroused, he can still be useful to the Ghost Lord.”

The Ghost Lord could possess his body, using simply “useful” as a word had multiple meanings.

“If a ghost cultivator’s primordial spirit is instilled into the body of a buddhist cultivator.” He Sorshi laughed involuntarily, “Lan Re Temple will definitely come for my life.”

He got up, and used Zhu Wuxin’s handsome and youthful face to lean in closer, he raised his hand and a gust of ice-cold ghostly energy entered through the metal bars, lifting up the fabric of the conical bamboo hat covering Ming Jing Zen Master’s face.

In between his eyebrows, he had a bright red mark of Bodhi.

He Sorshi looked at him for a while and then slowly his mouth turned into a sneer, he said cheerfully: “Don’t say anymore, I kind of want to see that bunch of bald donkeys5, it’s just a shame that I’ve lived for too long, they probably don’t recognise me.”

It was as if he was speaking about something quite regrettable, the ghostly energy from his fingers began to corrode the metal bars, he reached in and then melted away the iron hook that was impaled in Ming Jing’s shoulder.

“Little Buddhist Monk.” He laughed, “The Netherworld has a Buddhist Cultivator who says he wants to eliminate all evil spirits in Heaven and on Earth, who is this person to you?”

Translator Note:

Sowwee for the slow update, actually this chapter was long but I pushed through this time!

I’ve been busy at work and I’m changing jobs – starting a new one on Monday. Don’t really know how busy this new job will be but I think whilst I get started, releases will probably be limited to the weekends for a while.

Also hahaha about He Sorshi – I was laughing a lot about this. So yeh – the character 何 hé in Chinese is pronounced more like ‘Her’ and not ‘He’. The last character in his name 似 can be pronounced shì or sì dependent on the meaning and yeh other stuff. I chose shi but actually si is correct but I’m too lazy to change it all or I might do it later I’ll re-edit later. But it made me laugh thinking that people might read He Sorsi as “he saucyyyyy” hahaha which was my initial deciding factor. Ok maybe only I find that funny. Terrible TL humour.