Chapter 436: Senior Brother, Sign Language
The night was silent, the bright moon flowed with the clouds, flickering.
On a cliff high up in Nameless Valley, Ye Anping stood with his hands behind his back, facing the northern horizon. He calmly watched the spiritual energy glowing on the horizon as it encroached upon the night sky.
It was like an aurora in the desert, illuminating more than half of the starry sky.
If Ye Anping’s guess was correct, below that spiritual light was “Luoxia Mountain”, where Fu Xuan Shangxian and the others were located, six thousand seven hundred li away from the valley he was currently in.
Yet, even from six thousand seven hundred li away, he could still faintly feel the storm caused by the clash of two Void Realm cultivators.
A breeze carrying yellow sand washed over his face, slightly stinging his eyes.
Although Hu Mu’s cultivation was slightly inferior to Gui Muqi’s, as a fox demon, he was naturally able to restrain Gui Muqi’s ghost qi. If they were to fight to the death, it would take at least ten days to half a month.
Ye Anping believed that neither of them were fools and wouldn’t get carried away so easily. They would likely stop fighting after a couple of days out of pride, and he hoped for the situation to resolve itself that way.
However, no matter what, the outcome of the fight between Hu Mu and Gui Muqi was not something he could control.
At least for now, he did not have the ability to fully influence the direct confrontation between two Void Realm cultivators.
“I hope Hu is okay.”
After silently praying for Hu Mu, Ye Anping flew back to the entrance of the cave where the valley was, preparing to check on the injuries of the Xing Tian Division disciples again.
It had already been four days since he and Xiao Yunluo arrived.
Because many of the Xing Tian Division disciples were severely injured and unable to travel long distances under the desert wind and Yang Ling Qi, he had been allowing them to recuperate over the past few days before leading them to Jianmenguan to rendezvous with the other two teams of Xing Tian Division disciples.
As soon as he entered the cave, he saw several Xing Tian Division disciples who had almost recovered, practicing sword arts or reading ancient texts.
Upon seeing Ye Anping’s return, they immediately stopped what they were doing, cupped their fists, and bowed to him, respectfully addressing him as “Young Master Ye”.
Ye Anping disliked flattery and felt quite uncomfortable with such grand gestures. He nodded to them and walked straight towards a stone room specially created in the depths of the cave.
Just as he reached the curtain hanging at the entrance of the stone room, preparing to push aside the two pieces of fabric, he heard the sounds of Feng Yu Die and the others bickering from inside:
“Senior Sister Xiao, let me see your horns~ I’ve never seen them before. One!”
“Peng for a tile, three man. Yes, I want to see too. You’ve got such a big lump wrapped around your head, aren’t you hot? There’s no one else here…”
“Won’t show, four man.”
“Four man hu! Hehehe~ Senior Sister Xiao, you showed Young Master Ye, why won’t you show me? You’re so stingy~”
“…No, no, you can’t hu!! Second, why do you always hu my hand?”
… …
While it was good that Feng Yu Die and Yun Jiujiu had recovered their spirits, the Xing Tian Division disciples outside were recuperating, yet they were playing cards inside…
Ye Anping felt a bit weary. He sighed, then directly lifted the curtain and walked in. He saw Xiao Tian clinging to Xiao Yunluo’s forehead, signaling to Second, while Xiao Yunluo was completely oblivious…
He rolled his eyes at Xiao Tian and walked towards a stone table with a map on it, saying in a low voice,
“Senior Sister Feng, don’t cheat at cards.”
Feng Yu Die’s bristly fur stood on end. Seeing that Ye Anping was back, she pursed her lips with slight embarrassment, rubbed the back of her head, and chuckled, quickly changing the subject:
“Young Master Ye, you’re back~ How is it outside?”
Then, Xiao Yunluo, who had just realized what was happening, grabbed her by the collar and glared with narrowed eyes:
“Second! Are you cheating at cards?!”
Ye Anping sighed again. Ignoring them, he shifted his gaze back to the map in front of him. He used his spiritual energy to lift the ink stone on the table and began drawing the return route on the map.
The Gobi Desert in the Eastern Domain was inhabited by many powerful demonic beasts. He wanted to avoid their territories as much as possible. Although the low-level demonic beasts wouldn’t dare to provoke them with Xiao Yunluo around, it was still best to avoid them. The surviving twenty-seven Xing Tian Division disciples couldn’t afford another accident.
After briefly reviewing the route in his mind, Ye Anping’s gaze returned to the position of the words “Donghuang” on the map.
Considering the time, Gu Mingxin and He Jiming should have also returned to Donghuang by now. If they were faster, they might have already returned to the Eastern Domain.
Ye Anping had been thinking for the past few days about the meaning of Gu Mingxin’s last sentence to Feng Yu Die: “Tell Ye Anping, he owes me your life!!”
He had already asked Xiao Tian about the events.
From Xiao Tian’s account, Gu Mingxin seemed to be willing to surrender to him, but he had no way of knowing the truth.
In the game, Gu Mingxin, having been raised by Xue E from a young age and instilled with her values, was more normal than other demonic cultivators, but only slightly.
Her adoptive father, Venerable Yama, was a wicked old man to the core. If Xue E taught Gu Mingxin half, then Yama taught her the other half.
It couldn’t be said that Gu Mingxin was a good demonic cultivator just because she disregarded human lives and acted ruthlessly, could it?
She and Feng Yu Die were like yin and yang; they could never get along.
Ye Anping did not trust Gu Mingxin from the bottom of his heart. Even though she had spared Feng Yu Die’s life, he couldn’t bring himself to allow Gu Mingxin to come by his side.
Who knew when Gu Mingxin might sneak up behind him and stab him?
However…
Ye Anping pondered for a moment, then slowly took out Si Xuanji’s bell from his storage bag, focused his gaze on it, and stared at it for a while…
Si Xuanji had also left a bell for Gu Mingxin. Did she intend for her to subdue Gu Mingxin?
Thinking of this, he felt a headache coming on.
By now, the events in Donghuang and the trajectory of Tianshu and Tiansha had completely diverged in a direction he had no clue about.
Henceforth, he would have to plan his every step more cautiously than before.
At this moment, several faces of demonic cultivators from the Eastern Domain appeared in Ye Anping’s mind. His finger traced Gu Mingxin’s trajectory towards the right side of the map, finally landing on the three large characters “Tian Mo Sect”.
— The Grand Elder of the Tian Mo Sect, “He Buqun,” had always wanted to eliminate Gu Mingxin and have his eldest son take the position of Young Master of the Tian Mo Sect. However, he did not directly order her death.
The reason was likely that He Buqun feared that if Gu Mingxin died at the hands of others, it would attract the pursuit of Venerable Yama.
Coincidentally, Gu Mingxin had fallen into his hands three times in a row. He Buqun began to instigate the relationship between “Yama” and He Jiming, eventually intending to use He Jiming’s death to stage a play of sacrificing oneself to save others, thus completely breaking Gu Mingxin’s ties with Yama.
Gu Mingxin might have already realized that He Buqun was manipulating things, but she likely still believed that He Buqun had secretly leaked the information to him, causing her to fall into his hands three times in a row.
Ah, Gu, poor Gu…
Ha, ha, ha…
The sound of mahjong playing in the stone room abruptly stopped. Yun Jiujiu looked at Ye Anping, who was smiling sinisterly at the map, and inexplicably felt a chill, shivering:
“You gloomy quail… what are you doing?”
“En?” Xiao Yunluo followed Yun Jiujiu’s gaze and saw nothing amiss. “Anping probably thought of another good idea.”
“Idea?” Yun Jiujiu glanced over and asked, “I just don’t understand, what do you and Yun Yiyi like about him? The more I look at him, the more sinister he seems, and he’s so thin, not the least bit masculine…”
Hearing this, Xiao Yunluo was startled and couldn’t help but glance at Ye Anping’s pants, blushing:
“Is that so? I think he’s quite masculine…”
?
Seeing Xiao Yunluo’s gaze go astray, Yun Jiujiu rolled her eyes and then looked at Feng Yu Die:
“No quails, what about you? What do you like about him?”
“?” Feng Yu Die looked confused and said softly, “I’m devoted to Junior Sister Pei, but Young Master Ye makes delicious roasted chicken.”
“… …””… …”
“What… it really is delicious,” Feng Yu Die saw the two of them looking at her like she was an idiot, frowned slightly, and quickly shouted, “Young Master Ye! We want roasted chicken!!”
Ye Anping slowly turned his head at the sound. Seeing Feng Yu Die looking at him with a foolish grin, he felt a weariness of being a nanny, but he said nothing. With a blank expression, he walked out.
Speaking of which, he remembered the brocade pouch he had left for Feng Yu Die, which instructed her to kiss him.
Feng Yu Die hadn’t mentioned it to him these past few days, and he hadn’t wanted to bring it up himself.
However, thinking of Feng Yu Die barely surviving a life-and-death situation…
As Ye Anping walked out of the cave, he thought about this matter in his mind, but then he quickly realized, why should he be thinking about Feng Yu Die?
He was almost led astray by the heavenly dao without realizing it.
“Sigh… when I see Junior Sister again, I’ll have her give her a kiss on the cheek, and that will be it.”
Ye Anping arrived outside the cave and set up a campfire by the entrance. He took out a few frozen chickens from his storage bag, skewered them with his spirit sword, and placed them over the fire.
A wisp of smoke rose from the valley, accompanied by the sizzling sound of chicken fat falling into the campfire, spreading a savory aroma.
唳——
Suddenly, a crane’s cry from the sky made him slowly look up. He saw a white-feathered spirit crane flying towards him like a shooting star in the night sky, dropping bombs as it flew.
An old cultivator, wearing a pink robe, sat on the crane’s back, holding a whisk.
Ye Anping used his distant vision spell to see that it was Ye Ao, and his brow furrowed slightly:
“Dad?”
Then, he saw Pei Lianxue standing behind Ye Ao on the crane’s back, waving a hand at him, as if calling “Senior Brother”.
… …
Seeing that Pei Lianxue had three hands, Ye Anping thought for a moment that he was hallucinating. He squeezed his eyes, but only after the crested crane landed did he realize that his junior sister really had three hands.
“Senior Brother!!”
Pei Lianxue slid off the crane’s back in one step, hugged that hand, and ran to him with a dazed expression. She looked towards the cave beside them and asked,
“Senior Brother, why are you here? Aren’t you with Yunluo and the others?”
Ye Anping’s gaze remained fixed on the hand in Pei Lianxue’s possession as he replied,
“I heard that Senior Sister Feng and the others went missing, so Yunluo and I rushed over.”
“I see…” Pei Lianxue nodded. Seeing her senior brother staring at Gu Mingxin’s hand, she quickly smiled and boasted, “Senior Brother, I ran into Gu Mingxin on the way here. I cut it off.”
… …
A gentle breeze brushed Ye Anping’s black hair behind his head. He remained silent for a long time, not reacting. Then, he slowly took the hand, which still seemed to possess a trace of life, and examined it carefully.
Afterward, he looked up and down Pei Lianxue’s clothes, saw a slight sword wound on her face, and quickly asked,
“Junior Sister, are you injured anywhere else besides your face?”
“No…”
“Don’t fight her alone next time. She has that black python by her side, and the Snow Jade Myriad Spirit Sword isn’t in your possession. You wouldn’t have more than a fifty percent chance of winning alone. Don’t think I’ll praise you. I’d rather see you safe than see you cut off her hand.”
Seeing that Ye Anping was angry, Pei Lianxue lowered her head and nodded like a pecking chicken:
“Okay…”
Ye Ao, standing nearby, was stunned to see Pei Lianxue acting so meekly in front of his son. He quickly walked forward and said,
“Ping’er…”
But Ye Anping frowned and glared:
“Dad, what are you doing here?”
“Ah… Daddy was just thinking of coming to help…”
“I asked Brother Liang to come, not you. The affairs of Donghuang are not something you can interfere with. If something were to happen to you, how would I explain it to Mother when I get back?”
Ye Ao was speechless. After witnessing the sword fight between Pei Yatou and that female demonic cultivator earlier, he was also a bit scared. He quickly bowed:
“It was my own decision… I won’t argue. I’ll definitely tell you first next time…”
“Mm…” Ye Anping’s furrowed brow slowly relaxed. “It’s good that you’re alright. Dad, you and Junior Sister are my bottom line. In any battle, no one puts their bottom line at the forefront. Spend your days in retirement at Hundred Lotus Sect, and don’t come tagging along for no reason.”
Ye Ao smiled with a hint of helplessness, cupped his fists, and said,
“Yes, from now on, it’s Young Master Ye of Hundred Lotus Sect who calls the shots.”
… …
Ye Anping suddenly felt a bit awkward. He gently rubbed his junior sister’s face and said,
“Junior Sister, you’re capable, but don’t make Senior Brother worry about you.”
“Mm… But Senior Brother, Young Master Li said before that if Senior Brother encounters something he hasn’t anticipated, Madam should help Senior Brother handle it.” Pei Lianxue puffed out her cheeks slightly. “I won’t do anything I’m not sure of.”
“…Mm.”
Ye Anping was surprised that his junior sister had retorted. He felt quite gratified and said nothing more. He nodded in response, then lowered his head to look at Gu Mingxin’s hand.
Although it was likely unsellable, like Yun Tianchong’s secondary Golden Core, which was a slight pity…
It had other uses.
He remembered that Gu Mingxin’s Blood Fiend Body could reattach a severed hand as long as it wasn’t reduced to minced meat. If Gu Mingxin hadn’t reattached it, it was likely that she had left it intentionally.
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes slightly, turned Gu Mingxin’s hand over, and wrote five words on her palm with his index finger.
— Ye has received it.
Instantly, the cold severed hand seemed to come alive and gripped his index finger in his palm, but with little force.
Ye Ao and Pei Lianxue, standing by, immediately jumped back in fright.
“Ah?!” “Holy crap!”
Ye Anping sighed softly, gently stroked the back of Gu Mingxin’s hand, and it finally released his index finger. It then flexed a few times in Ye Anping’s hand before clenching into a fist and remaining still.
Ye Anping took out a rope and hung Gu Mingxin’s hand from his belt. He then said,
“Dad, Junior Sister, let’s go inside the cave to rest. We can talk about the rest later, no rush… We’ll leave for Jianmenguan after sunrise tomorrow.”
… …
