Living Up to You Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 - JOURNEY

Translation Notes: So sorry readers for the super long disappearance! I got caught up in a lot of other stuff and wasn't able to update as usual. I think that was a pretty good cliff-hanger to leave off on though, no? haha, hopefully everyone is done mourning over Da Shixiong. It was really sad for me too when I first got there, was confused and upset XiXI Dongdong killed off my wonderful Da Shixiong, how could she!! Not much new chinese romanizations in this chapter. Just a few reminders: Xiao Hei is Qing Kui's nickname for Little Black aka Blackie aka Little Black Turtle who has been MIA for a while already... Xiao-shimei is just a more enduring way to call a shimei, usually the youngest (therefore 'xiao') of the bunch and therefore the one everyone dotes on.

Ling Xi knelt there alone at the center of the Cloud Pavilion. Her bloodstained white robe had not been changed yet, the blood on her face had not been wiped away either. Her head was lowered, eyes downcast.

Cang Yu stood before the high chair, watching her without saying a word.

Both were silent. It had already been an hour. The sky had brightened faintly. This long night, finally was about to pass. However Cang Jia Shan, it seems was no longer the same Cang Jia Shan from one night ago.

Some more weatheredness seemed to have been added to Cang Yu's visage. His white beard rested quietly on his Dao robe, so softly it seemed to be comforting him.

“Qing Kui said that the eagle that had saved him was your xian spirit?” Cang Yu finally spoke, his words carrying suppressed rage.

“Yes.” Ling Xi nodded.

“According to what Qing Kui said, to this day, it has only grown for no more than sixty years. How did it manage to have a spiritual awakening, furthermore able to shape-shift at will?” Cang Yu's slowly stepped down, stopping before Ling Xi, looking directly at the little black turtle in front of her.

“Maybe... because Qing Kui Shixiong wanted to help me win the Sword Trial, he gave it two hundred years of his cultivation, so it was able to change into an eagle on its own.” Ling Xi didn't dare to hold anything back.

It was apparent that Cang Yu was not satisfied with her answer, “That is all?”

Ling Xi had kept her head low the whole time, after thinking for a brief moment, she finally said, “Usually I would also give it some xian medicines, those should have enhanced the growth of it's spiritual powers.”

The rage on Cang Yu's face had already been exposed, “Then why can I sense Feng Shu's energy on it?”

Once Feng Shu was mentioned, Ling Xi froze. Lifting her head to look up at Cang Yu, she shook her head, “Ling Xi doesn't know, before last night, Da Shixiong did not even know of it's existence...”

“What thing did he give you that you have given it?” Cang Yu pointed at the little black turtle that was on the ground.

Something that Da Shixiong had given her... something that she had given the little black turtle...

Ling Xi responded with realization, “Everyday Da Shixiong would give me some herbal tonic to drink, I would give some to it. Ever since I discovered that it's consciousness had awakened, I... I just...”

Ling Xi's voice got smaller and smaller. Cang Yu shouted out enraged, “What did you just do?”

Ling Xi replied in a delicate voice, “I just... fed the entire bowl of tonic to it.”

* * *

“Everyone sees Da Shixiong as a cold person, shutting himself away from the world. The truth is actually because he was locked away for five hundred years in that place. It wasn't until six hundred years ago during that invasion by the Muo realm, Cang Jia was facing imminent danger, that he was set free... After that, he truly became cold and arrogant.”

Ling Xi became even more sad thinking about the cold expression that he faced people with everyday. it made her heart twist in pain. “Someone as clean as Da Shixiong, how could it be possible that he bloomed forth black snow lotuses!”

“It's like you, a simple and good-hearted girl, how did you manage to make the snow lotuses turn into dust?”

“Second Shixiong...” Ling Xi tightened her arms around his neck, “Is it because I made the snow lotuses turn into dust, so the six realms cannot accept me?”

“Yes, ten thousand years ago when the snow lotuses all turned into dust, the gods perished.”

“How could I possibly have such ability...”

“There will always be some situations which divert from their original paths, even the Lingshu grass doesn't promise to work every time. It's like Da Shixiong, although he bloomed black snow lotuses, but even to this day, he has never done anything remotely evil. I also believe Ah-Chou will also continue to be simple and good-hearted, that you will not do anything to harm the six realms.”

One could already vaguely see the main pavilion on Tian Mai Peak. Once they have gone back and fetched a couple things, Qing Kui would definitely have to bring Ling Xi to the Xu Wang Cliff. After this parting, no one could say when they would be able to see each other again.

After another long stretch of silence, Qing Kui spoke, “Ah-Chou, don't hold any grudge against Cang Hai Shishu or Shifu.”

Ling Xi didn't speak.

“Actually, Shifu originally had five disciples under his door. Three hundred years ago, I also had a xiao-shimei.” Qing Kui's expression was something that was never seen before: soberness. “Xiao-shimei was smart and cute, very gifted too. She would follow me around all day calling out Second-Shixiong. However she was extremely distracted by physical beauty, always striving to become more beautiful. Finally one day, she was bewitched by Muo spirits and fell into the Muo path. Now she spends all her days in the mortal realm snatching and devouring the skins of young girls...”

Ling Xi had never seen Qing Kui like how he is today, serious like this. Every word he said, she carefully listened to.

“That time, I was assigned to expel the Muo influences that had corrupted her heart, take her back to Cang Jia Shan. However, never did I expect that one wrong move...” Qing Kui's face seemed to have gotten slightly pale, the beads of sweat on his forehead seemed to have gotten more dense, “That's why yesterday when I was facing those shidis and shimeis that were possessed by Muo, I could not make myself strike at them. All I could see and feel was her, just before she died she was still tugging onto my sleeve calling me 'Second Shixiong'...”

A wave of cold air coursed through Ling Xi's entire body, chilling her to the point where she could not say a word.

Qing Kui continued, “So it's not that Shifu and Shishu are too cruel, it's Muo influence which is too fearsome. They had no other choice but to take precaution. Ten thousand years ago, the Shen realm fell to ruin. It was all because a single individual of the god's race had fallen into Muo. If the entire race of undying gods could also disappear without a trace due to a single instance of falling into Muo, how much more fragile would that make the Xian realm?”

Ling Xi pressed her lips together, nodding. “En, I won't blame them. It was those Muo... When they attacked the little village we were living in, they snatched Gege away. When they attacked Cang Jia Shan, they snatched Da Shixiong away...”

“Ah-Chou, Second Shixiong's deepest hatred my entire life has been reserved for Muo. I've made it my personal duty to eliminate the Muo race from the face of the earth. Even if no one teaches you in the future, you have to still remember, Xian and Muo stand in opposition. Those Muo, from today onward, when you see one you must kill one!”

The sun had just happened to sink into the clouds. At the end of the Eastern Sea, a round moon was slowly rising.

Ling Xi rested on Qing Kui's back, she could feel every step Qing Kui took from the up and down swaying. Her eyes however remained gazing over the surface of the Eastern Sea. When the clouds dispersed, the moon came out. The stars dazzled in their brightness.

“With the full moon as witness, from this day forward, Ling Xi swears that between herself and the Muo race, there can only exist one under the sky!”

Chapter end