Chapter 181: Untitled
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
ng Fuyao found this sentence odd, yet was unable to retort. Looking into Zhangsun Wuji’s eyes, she could see so sort of emotions in them, yet she could not decipher if it was anger. Regardless, she knew it was not appropriate, and from her experience, as long as Zhangsun Wuji felt that it was not appropriate, she could not say otherwise. With much resentnt, she said, “Drink then.”
She handed over the bowl of soup lazily to Zhangsun Wuji, but he was not going to let her off so easily. “Here? In soone else’s house?”
‘Goodness, this young master is certainly a handful to wait upon. Also, what is with that sour sll emitting off you? How stingy!’
Gloomily, she grabbed the soup and followed behind him. He strolled leisurely around the garden, where mimosa silk tree flowers blood joyfully. The pale pink of the flowers resembled the attractive lips of a young lady, fanning out into rows of red.
Zhangsun Wuji walked towards a white stone table and sat down. “This place is beautiful, scenic, where everything is clear and pure.”
ng Fuyao rolled her eyes. ‘Is he insinuating that her being with Yun Hen in a room is ‘dirty’? Geez, what a tight-arsed man.’
Resting his chin on his hand, Zhangsun Wuji comnted, “Is my lady planning for to drink the soup with my eyes?”
This poor, tornted servant could only bitterly serve up the soup in a bowl. She shoved the bowl in front of him, spilling it on the table. With a laugh, he looked into the bowl and comnted, “This amount included everyone but yourself?”
ng Fuyao snapped back. “I am just a poor, suffering cook whose life is to serve my masters their soup!”
He laughed and slowly scooped up the soup. “I did not an to disturb the two of you.”
Her heart sunk a little, yet she still comnted, “Then why don’t you generously say ‘please continue, I did not see anything’ and just leave?”
Zhangsun Wuji ignored this thick-skinned ruffian and continued, “Because… I received news on Feng Jingfan’s death.”
“Ah!” She sat there, with her mouth agape.
He chuckled and sent a mouthful of soup into her mouth. “Here, to the most honorable chef.”
ng Fuyao swallowed it in the most inelegant way she possibly could, ignoring his gentleness. Then, she anxiously grabbed onto his sleeve, asking, “Dead? Killed… really? Is… it a lie?”
“According to the news, they t with the bandits fighting for territory in the borders of Tiansha. Feng Jingfan was accidentally killed in that exchange.” Zhangsun Wuji slowly sipped his soup as he contemplated.
“What about Fourth Prince Feng?”
“Escaped in shock and got separated with his sister. He went back to search for her corpse only to find a shoe of hers.”
ng Fuyao frowned. Then, she realized that Zhangsun Wuji’s tone was unusual. “Are you saying that there was no corpse?”
“Yes.” Zhangsun Wuji tapped his finger on the table and looked towards the north. “Variables appeared. Feng Jingfan’s assassination was planned by my subordinates. They are professional assassins and have never failed missions of such nature. Yet, this ti, a strange phenonon has appeared.
“Mn?”
“They lost a portion of their mories.”
“Ah?”
Zhang Wuji turned to look at her. “Their mories were from where they masqueraded as bandits and intentionally included Feng Jingfan in the conflict. They rembered everything clearly until the point where she was shot. However, when she fell down the cliff, everyone’s mory blurry. More so, a majority of the people did not even realize that their mories had been tampered with. Their mories jumped from when Feng Jingfan fell off the cliff to where they ca back to report to their accomplishnt. In their eyes, this was a normal, successful assassination.”
“Then how did you realize sothing was abnormal?”
“The leader of the invisible guards. He participated personally as he was worried. He has followed for the longest, picking up so stuff, and he felt that sothing was wrong. He has a habit of checking the ti frequently, and I had especially given him a golden pocket watch from the western region. After checking the ti, he realized that there were 25 minutes where they had no mory of any actions.”
He looked towards Qiongcang, the stars reflected in his dark eyes. In his gaze, a form of uncertainty and weariness lingered as he rembered soone who was present at the last round of the competition that day. Slowly, he muttered, “Perhaps, soone I really hate finally appeared…”
ng Fuyao turned around and curiously asked, “You have soone you hate? I never thought that you could have such normal human emotions.”
“When you have learned to love, you will learn to hate. And I am glad I have learned.” Zhangsun Wuji smiled lightly as he stared at her lovingly.
Embarrassed, ng Fuyao could not help but turn away. But at that mont, she suddenly recalled sothing. “I rember you practice a form of art that can remove one’s mories and control them. Could it be…”
Zhangsun Wuji smiled gently. “Fuyao, sotis you are indeed intelligent.”
She paused, and then said, “Zhangsun Wuji, I have never been one to inquire deeply into things that people do not tell . That’s why I have never asked about your birth and the peculiar things about you all this while. But do you really intend to not tell anything if I do not ask?”
Zhangsun Wuji placed his bowl down and sat down beside her. He held her hand in his palm as their knees touched and gently said, “Fuyao, I have already told you what I should, but for the things that I did not, it is because knowing them will do you more harm than good.”
A quiet sigh escaped his lips. “I think it would be better for to make a trip to Fu Mountain…”
“No need!”
From afar, a woman’s voice could be heard. The voice seed to ring right beside their ears, yet at the sa ti, it seed to have co from the other end of the word. The voice sounded…”empty”, with the intonation of every word the sa.
Zhangsun Wuji’s gaze changed ever so slightly, and he pushed ng Fuyao away. He then placed his hand on the white stone table.
What followed was a crack appearing on the white table.
The crack ca, without a notice or sound. Initially, it was like a light slit across the table. But gradually, the crack deepened, and like a blade, made its way towards the direction of Zhangsun Wuji, inching closer to the eight treasure lotus soup.
The woman’s satirical laughter resounded in the air. It was a peal of laughter voided of any joy, yet, the voice was now more alluring than before. “Senior Brother, you certainly are enjoying yourself. I have co from afar, are you not going to treat to a bowl?”
Zhangsun Wuji tapped his finger on the table. That crack that was continuously expanding stopped right beside the bowl. He lifted one of his eyebrows and comnted, “Tai Yan, you’ve never been one to snack.”
“An occasional snacking is surely fine. Just look at this lotus soup, what kind of exceptional, sacred soup this must be for the Senior Brother who has distanced himself from the worldly affairs and emotions to enjoy this soup being fed to him as he overlooks the beautiful scenery?”
In her andering, the crack once again extended.
With his finger, Zhangsun Wuji smoothened over the crack and in an unperturbed tone, said, “rely a commoner’s taste. It definitely is not sothing that you will take a fancy of, lest it taints your sophisticated palate.”
“Would I be any more sophisticated than Senior Brother? That genius that even I have to look up to?” Her tone was filled with unmistakable scorn, removing any bit of allure she had and replacing it with mockery. “So, you can drink it but I can’t?”
In her very last word, her voice cracked as it turned into a high-pitched shriek that reverberated, splitting open the bowl.
The bowl broke apart, yet, not a single drop of soup spilled out. Zhangsun Wuji had lifted his hand the mont Tai Yan raised her voice and swiftly gathered the soup, even maintaining its original shape without spilling a single drop.
Zhangsun Wuji stared at the soup, with a hint of weariness in his eyes. He fixed his cold gaze at the corner of the roof and said, “You can have it. Not only this but whatever I can get, you can get too. I told this to our teachers years ago. So, right now, you may leave.”
“Why should I leave?” Following Zhangsun Wuji’s gaze, a tiny figure appeared at the corner of the roof. A ball of light-pink blending with the moon, looking so soft and fluffy. It also resembled a ball of mimosa silk tree flowers, causing a mismatch between the alluring, mature and cynical voice that they had heard. But there was absolutely no doubt that the voice belonged to her as she shouted, “Zhangsun Wuji. I hate when you do this. I told you I don’t want you to let , and you do not have the right to let !”
Just as she finished her sentence, with a ‘bam’, the stone table instantly shattered into pieces. The fragnts danced in the air, initially slowly, then with a flash, they gathered together, forming a long snake heading straight for Zhangsun Wuji’s forehead.
Zhangsun Wuji placed his hand in front of ng Fuyao to prevent her from being injured by the fragnts. Then, he stretched out his fingers and slashed, silently cutting the “stone snake” into two.
But that “stone snake” divided into another section and reassembled itself swiftly. Suddenly, it transford into a stone fan, and as the woman flicked her wrist, the fan swung back and forth, attacking Zhangsun Wuji.
Zhangsun Wuji waved one of his hands, and the bowl of soup beca strings of pearls flying in the air. Those “pearls” beca a strand of mala beads at the tip of his finger. The pearls knocked against the fan and shattered into dust.
“Since you want it so much, I’ll let you try,” he said coldly.
Tai Yan snorted. With a command of a finger, those white stone fragnts imdiately realigned themselves, transforming into multiple things; a butterfly, the clouds, the storm and the legendary dragon that resided in the deep sea.
Regardless of angle, aggression or size, Zhangsun Wuji was able to counter them all with a bit of soup. Unlike Tai Yan, he did not conjure up an array of forms but instead used the beads of soup in a different formation to defend.
Reviews
All reviews (0)