A Seductive Gentleman Chapter 38

Chapter 38: The Nightly Rain Blows North – Part 2

The teacup sitting on top of the table broke into pieces.

Ming ChangYan's face was lowered so his expression couldn't be seen. In brief, it could already be guessed that it was extremely hard to take.

The outer disciple that came to tell the news was shaking in fright, promptly saying, "I only know this much, nothing else."

After he finished, he turned around and disappeared without a trace.

Huai Yu sat down and checked his pulse, "It's not good to get angry in your current condition."

From the beginning to the end, Ming ChangYan was completely silent. Huai Yu changed his posture from checking his pulse to holding his wrist, squeezing it twice.

"It wasn't your fault."

Ming ChangYan stood up, "I'm going back to the inn. I need to ask Ming Yue about it."

He had just merely heard that he was alive when he was beaten to death, yet he still felt an ache at the pit of his stomach. Ming ChangYan saw Zhong YuLou grow up and knew that this person had a simple personality. He hated hardships and pain the most, just a tiny injury would cause him to weep endlessly for half a day. Under that rod, how was he able to endure the omnipresent, blunt pain?

Every step of Ming ChangYan's seemed to use a lot of energy, drawing out every bit of his strength.

Huai Yu chased after him and grabbed Ming ChangYan's arm. Ming ChangYan looked at him, Huai Yu said, "Can you walk by yourself."

Ming ChangYan lowered his voice, "It's alright."

He pursed his lips, seemingly trying to think of some words of comfort but after racking his brains, he couldn't think of a single one that would be pleasant to hear.

After walking for a while, Ming ChangYan suddenly said, "Something's not right."

Huai Yu was watching his every action at all times, fearing that he might lose his mind if he wasn't careful enough. Thus he immediately answered, "What's not right?"

"That person wasn't right!"

Huai Yu glanced at him.

Ming ChangYan said, "Since all the people in the training grounds were killed, then why does he know about all of this?"

He quickly began running towards the inn, "We need to go find Ming Yue, immediately!"

The two didn't dare idle, rushing towards the inn without stopping. Just as they arrived downstairs, from the third floor came the sound of things being overturned and a fight. Ming ChangYan was about to jump when Huai Yu held on to his shoulder. In a short period of time, a figure came flying out from upstairs, precisely Ming Yue.

On Ming Yue's left shoulder was a flesh wound that was currently steadily pouring blood. It seems that the injury that Ming ChangYan had inflicted upon him was torn open during the fight.

He fell back a few steps and turned his head to catch sight of Ming ChangYan.

The two were face to face for a moment, having nothing to say to the other. Suddenly from the third floor came a familiar voice.

"Dshixiong! Long-time no see!"

The person flipped over the window and landed on a row of tiles. They were smiling happily, cutely fiddling with the sword in their hands. They said, "Why are you so surprised? Oh, pardon me, I forgot, I'm supposed to be dead."

The boy on the third floor was precisely 'Zhong YuLou'.

Ming ChangYan paused before instantly reacting. This person was a fake.

Although they had the appearance of Zhong YuLou, their expression and behavior were as different as day and night. Wearing Zhong YuLou's face while conducting grotesque actions truly made a person's hair stand on one end. Ming ChangYan's expression was cold, "Who are you?"

'Zhong YuLou' giggled, "Dshixiong, you're so cold. The person who caused my death is right beside you yet you're not killing him to avenge me. How could you still ask me who I am? Ming Yue, who do you think I am, aren't I the shixiong whom you murdered?"

When Ming Yue heard this, he slightly paused, before he immediately gasped for air, cursing, "You shut up…you shut up!"

Ming ChangYan said, "Was that outer disciple earlier you as well?"

'Zhong YuLou' slightly bent his back and grinned, "You guess."

Huai Yu reached a verdict, "Ugly Guanyin."

Ugly Guanyin laughed, "Hehehehehehe, Dshixiong, I died to miserably! It hurts, why didn't you come save me! You're still alive but I died, I'm so miserable!"

Ming Yue resisted the pain and yelled, "You're saying nonsense! Shut up! Don't say it! Don't say…"

Ugly Guanyin said, "HAHAHAHAHAHA! What? Your Dshixiong is here so you're telling me to shut up? I don't want to."

They were filled with cheerful talk, "Dshixiong, don't you want to know how your little sister fell into Wan QianQiu's grasp?"

Ming Yue's eyes were bloodshot and full of resentment. He picked up his sword and charged towards Ugly Guanyin.

Ugly Guanyin was fighting with him while also dodging, his lips never resting once, "It's only natural that your good shidi took that jade pendant to go find her!"

Ming Yue fiercely pushed the sword towards him, howling, "You're the one who detained my mother and father, if I didn't listen to you, you were going to kill them!"

Ugly Guanyin used their sleeve to cover their face and fluttered onto the ground, "You're right, hehehehe, your parent's lives are lives, but your Dshixiong's sister's life isn't a life then!"

Ming Yue's heart trembled, not daring to look towards Ming ChangYan. In a fit of rage, he stood up with his eyes wide in anger and defended, "I didn't want to kill her, it was you! You deceived me!"

Ugly Guanyin suddenly stopped.

"Little Ming Yue ah, little Ming Yue, why don't you take a guess on why I chose you to do all those things? These past two years, you've accomplished every matter beautifully. I like you a lot."

Hearing this, the blood congestion in Ming Yue's eyes flowed even stronger, "….Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

Ugly Guanyin's laugh became more savage. Who would've expected that when they landed on the table, Huai Yu made a move. The table couldn't bear the spiritual energy, immediately splitting into pieces.

Ugly Guanyin's expression changed, their smiling expression completely vanishing, staring face to face with Huai Yu.

"For a long time, I've heard that the distinguished Young Prime Minister was reclusive and paid no attention to the martial circles. I didn't know that he too loves to pry into other people's business."

Huai Yu didn't pay attention to them, reaching out to a neighboring vendor and grabbing a glazed mirror. Ugly Guanyin's pupils shrank, adopting the attitude of running away. Just as expected, Huai Yu slightly exerted some strength in his hand to break the mirror into thousands of sharp blades and wrapped them up in spiritual energy. He was fast, but Huai Yu was faster. Thousands of mirror fragments rushed towards them, recognizing Ugly Guanyin's countless changes making them unable to escape.

As expected, although Ugly Guanyin avoided them at all costs, he was unable to withdraw his body away. Without waiting for Huai Yu to make another move, their entire body was already drenched in blood without a single good piece of flesh on them. It is said that this Ugly Guanyin cherishes their own face, and would prefer to use their own body to take the fragments than damage even a little bit of their face.

Ming ChangYan exclaimed, "Keep them alive!"

Huai Yu nodded his head, but Ugly Guanyin didn't give him the chance to allow him to get close.

They have been in Jianghu for many years, their strange behavior and peevishness were all done to their own tastes. It was difficult to meet someone who could match them, they murdered without blinking an eye, and they rarely suffered losses. Now under the hands of Huai Yu, they couldn't exert their strength and were slowly being compelled to retreat. Their heart felt annoyed, their expression abashed.

Ugly Guanyin kicked the vendor down and stopped Huai Yu for a bit then leaped backward. Yet to their surprise, they suddenly felt a burst of pain from behind. Ming ChangYan unsheathed his sword pointed it towards their face.

This person was being attacked from the front and rear, clenching their teeth, they fought while thinking of a way to escape.

During this matter of life and death, a single drop of rain landed on the ground.

The sky suddenly turned rich and lively as fine rain came drizzling down, looking as paperwhite as snowflakes.

They were circular with four loopholes, just like paper money.

Following closely came mournful and penetrating sounds of a suona* echoing down the street while two rows of paper dolls draped in red and green beat on a gong. The ghostly energy was dense as they all wore smiles and slowly walked towards them.

(TN: Played during festivals and processions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suona)

Ming ChangYan opened his mouth, "Combining a funeral and a wedding with paper dolls raising a coffin and having soldiers opening a path. The King of Hell is making an entrance."

Huai Yu stood in front of him to protect him, "The King of Hell Adorned in a Wedding Dress?"

Ming ChangYan remarked, "Be careful, I've never met them before."

At the ends of the originally empty street came two rows of very strange paper dolls. The first two rows wore red and green, their robes fluttering in the breeze. The four that were lifting the sedan completed the look of a marriage. The other two rows of paper dolls in the back were carrying coffin banners, holding up the tablet of the deceased. The paper money comes one after another, completing the look of a funeral.

Huai Yu suddenly covered up Ming ChangYan's ears, "Don't listen. There's something weird about the music."

Just as expected, after hearing too much of the music, the Ming Yue with somewhat inferior spiritual energy's expression distorted into pain, seemingly suffering a great penalty.

The closer they got, the more complicated the voices around them became. There were howls of grief, calls for help, and wails of a child. Furthermore, there were the amusing giggles of maidens, their laughs flirtatious and feminine, disturbing the human mind.

Along the way, the first two paper dolls in the row suddenly pulled out long blades from their bodies. Huai Yu knitted his brows and lifted his foot to kick at the pits of their stomachs. Except the paper doll didn't fall down but instead charged with their blades.

Ming ChangYan took his sword and stuffed it into Huai Yu's hands, "I reckon that they poured spiritual energy into them, so their stiffness is matchless right now. Hitting it would be useless, it can't die. Us? Not necessarily."

Huai Yu hugged his waist and slightly exerted some force, withdrawing four steps back.

Ming ChangYan faintly narrowed his eyes, stating, "Chop down!"

Huai Yu's eyesight was very good. With Ming ChangYan's reminder, he had a flash of realization and looked towards the backs of the paper dolls. As foreseen, in the air there were thin silk threads, occasionally reflecting a silver light, not something a normal person would see.

Ming ChangYan pried open the arm around his waist, "Taking me with you would drag you down, it's not like I'm unable to defeat a few paper people. This Joyful King of Hell deciding to use needles is like them getting kicked onto a hot grilling iron!"

Huai Yu glanced at him.

Ming ChangYan simply shook him off by force, running towards Ming Yue by himself. His mind was currently full of doubts, continuously being put into confusion, wanting to ask about the situation multiple times.

"I won't die!" shouted Ming ChangYan.

Meanwhile, in the disorder, he ran in the direction of Ming Yue and Ugly Guanyin. The two met by chance in front of Ming Yue and Ugly Guanyin was also disguising themselves as Zhong YuLou to the point of perfection that could've been passed off as genuine, making Ming ChangYan's mind feel disturbed. They laughed out loud, "Dshixiong, you want to protect Ming Yue? He's a traitor, I'm not. Look at who I am, I'm Zhong YuLou, Dshixiong!"

Ming ChangYan couldn't help but feel vexed, taking out three needles from his cuff and threw them in Ugly Guanyin's direction.

Ugly Guanyin dodged sideways, and in this split second, Ming ChangYan reached out and pulled the expressionless Ming Yue next to him.

Ugly Guanyin joyfully grinned, "Ming ChangYan, powerless yet still thinking of helping someone cross a river. So admirable!"

Ming ChangYan didn't feel like talking nonsense with them. Even though he only recovered 10 to 20 percent of his cultivation, he was still able to make a few moves in front of Ugly Guanyin. Except when the two were exchanged moves, there were still paper dolls causing trouble. Ugly Guanyin secretly thought: I came to GuangLing to kill Ming Yue this talkative little boy. If Ming ChangYan wants to stop me, even if I wouldn't be able to kill him immediately, I'm still going to have him suffer some hardships!

Thinking of this, they exerted some more force and began to ceasingly tangle with Ming ChangYan. Ming ChangYan wanted to look at Ugly Guanyin's true appearance, reaching out with his right hand, he grabbed onto the other's shoulder and pulled them forward. Ugly Guanyin saw this as an escape plan, causing Ming ChangYan to only grab onto an outer robe, the body already gone its separate ways. On their waist, there were about a dozen blades.

Ming Yue's pupils contracted, yelling out, "Dshixiong! Blades! Be careful the blades!"

Ming ChangYan was startled, slightly widening his eyes, but already fell short of dodging when Ugly Guanyin threw the blades and cut through the air like hot knives on butter. It created a strong gale and flew towards Ming ChangYan.

Suddenly, something vigorous wrapped itself around Ming ChangYan. The blades that were about to pierce into Ming ChangYan's abdomen landed right into Ming Yue's chest.

The atmosphere froze in an instant.

Ugly Guanyin clicked their tongue, "Little Ming Yue ah little Ming Yue, I like that part of you being able to understand the trend of the situation the most."

Having said this, they used both their hands to apply spiritual energy to them and ferociously pushed that blade deeper into Ming Yue's chest. By the looks of it, it seems that they want to use the same blade to run threw Ming Yue and kill Ming ChangYan.

Ming Yue vomited a mouthful of blood. As the blade passed through his chest and go out through the back, he bit his lip and tolerated the pain, and decided to snap this blade in half. Ming ChangYan hadn't reacted yet when he was suddenly pushed away. Without anything helping him up, Ming Yue staggered. And with a gasp of breath, he kneeled on the ground.

Ming ChangYan was being perpetually shocked and still hadn't fully recovered yet. Ugly GuanYin's blades flew forwards, one by one advanced towards Ming Yue. Ming Yue was unable to budge at the moment and let the other slaughter. His abdomen was repeated stabbed, the blood spraying three feet.

He laboriously looked up, his eyes in sorrowful. He gazed at Ming ChangYan like he was trying his hardest to say something. In the end, the shine in Ming Yue's eyes gave out and his body relaxed, his vitality breaking off and wasn't able to say a single word.

Ugly Guanyin clapped their hands, raising their feet and kicked Ming Yue to the ground. The broken jade in his bosom also scattered across the ground.

"Death is near at hand and you still think about struggling. So talkative, you disappointed me."

They walked forwards, stepping on the jade and said, "I helped you settle things with this little ingrate, but, if you want to thank me, there's no need."

At this moment, Huai Yu had already finished settling the business with the paper dolls. Now that Ugly Guanyin didn't have the help of the paper dolls, they didn't dare stay long. They already attained their goal so they cheerfully laughed as they began to escape. Ming ChangYan's voice was hoarse as he said, "Are you courting death."

He picked up the blade that was bent in half by Ming Yue and held it in his palms. Even with the flesh of his palms badly mangled, he continued to approach Ugly Guanyin. Huai Yu took three steps in just two steps, stepping forward to provide assistance. Ugly Guanyin saw they were one up against two and quickly realized that they wouldn't be a match for them. They conjured up a smile and abruptly went to hide behind a vendor's stall. Ming ChangYan chased after them, but unexpectedly they turned around and turned into the form of a maiden. Her eyes and eyebrows were bent, her black hair slightly curly. Innocently, she said, "Brother, do you want to kill me?"

Not only did Ming ChangYan's breathing stop, but even Huai Yu looked distracted.

This young maiden's appearance was beautiful and looked exactly like Ming ChangYan.

At that moment when the two were absent-minded, the young maiden suddenly rushed towards the alley on her right and immediately disappeared without a trace. Huai Yu was the first to respond and chased after them. Taking a turn, he saw that in the alley, Zhu Rong was slowly walking towards them.

Huai Yu coldly glared at him, Zhu Rong replied to him with a smile, "I just heard some abnormal movements from over here, so I came to take a look."

Zhao XiaoLan panted after him, "Zhu-xiong, why are you walking so fast!"

When he saw Huai Yu, he promptly walked across Zhu Rong and outside. The moment he walked outside, he saw the area in complete disorder.

In Huai Yu's heart there was only Ming ChangYan, so after chasing after them for a few steps, he began walking back. At this moment, Ming ChangYan was currently coming to his senses, slowly he walked in front of Ming Yue's corpse.

He just reached his hand out when Huai Yu grabbed it, "Don't touch. Ugly Guanyin's cunningness is matchless, what if they dipped the blades in poison. You touching it would only cause more inconveniences."

Ming ChangYan said, "If the blades had poison on them, then I'm afraid that I would've already toppled over."

Huai Yu just now realized that Ming ChangYan's right hand was severely injured, yet, Ming ChangYan's face showed no unnecessary expression. He was taciturn for a long time, only hearing him faintly let out a sigh.

"I hated him too."

After that came another peal of silence as Ming ChangYan squatted down and pulled out the blades in Ming Yue one by one. He had a myriad of anxiousness, pensively asking himself: How did it turn out this way?

Huai Yu inquired, "What do you want to do now?"

Ming ChangYan faintly said, "Bring him back to his parents to bury."

After he finished arranging Ming Yue's body, white fog suddenly appeared on the streets. Out came a poised, luxurious and extraordinarily temperamental woman.

The author has something to say: Looked at the comments, don't say such words that would get censored! Scary!

Thinking of this, let's say this again, it's because this world is not some turning into an immortal with god magic. So when something is released, it's not going to be retracted. There won't be any resurrection storyline. If they're dead, then they're dead.

Of course, all these convenient actions more or less have somewhat more serious reasons. Later on, you might be able to find out about these reasons, but it's up to everyone whether or not to accept them.

That is to say that it's because of setting up the storyline that everyone has to hold onto their bento boxes*. En, every bento cannot be avoided and they weren't there without a reason. Neither is it a calamity dropped down from Heaven to leave people unprepared, or for the purpose of being tyrannical and conveniently passing along bentos.

(TN: Chinese slag: So when an actor finishes a film, they carry their bento boxes away with them. So an extended meaning is someone is going to die and leave the scene of the play.)

This arc is pretty much finished, the next one I'm going to begin handing out sugar*. I'm more anxious than you guys to want them to begin dating!!

(TN: yeah, cute scenes between the main CP)

PS. There is no secondary CP.

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I'll sacrifice you to the gods.

A quick note from the translator: If you read this whole thing and was confused whenever I referred the Ugly Guanyin that's because the pronouns for males and females in Mandarin all sound the same. So, I just used they and them, sorry if that confuses anyone!

Anyway, I have come to realize that translating chapters has become waaayy easier and faster than when I first started. I was almost surprised by myself by how fast this chapter came out!

Also, I'll begin translating the author's notes from now on (I've just been skipping them in the past) cause I don't know, maybe y'all might enjoy them (ﾟｰﾟ;

If you see any translation errors, please notify me! My contact information will always be there!

I wish you guys a great New Year! Let's hope for good 2020~

Chapter end