Jiang Hu’s Road is Curved Chapter 26

On a particular dark and stormy night, above the Supreme Chief of Wu Lin’s grand estate, an uninvited guest comes flying in.

Our Bai Yue Sheng Gu, young lady Pang Wan, strong and unyielding in face of materialistic means[1], has decided that in order to pay Gentleman He five thousand taels of silver, she shall take the risk of sneaking back into Gu Xi Ju’s estate.

She needs to take back her own bag, inside are a number of medicines, and also approximately a thousand taels worth of paper money.

As to whether she should go find Lord Supreme Chief to get her pay for last month back, erm, she still hasn’t decided yet.

Without a sound, she slips into the room and rummages here and there, only to find that practically everything had been left completely untouched, with the exception of the bag that contained her money and clothing that is not in its original spot, disappeared without a trace.

“Confiscating an employee’s a.s.sets is a crime!” Both Pang Wan’s hands tightly clenches into fists, hatefully gritting her teeth.

This world clearly does not have trade unions, and so she decided to fight for her own rights and interests, one flick of her hair, one raising of the chin, her thigh raises and valiantly she heads out.

Before she had reached Gu Xi Ju’s courtyard, from afar, she catches glimpse of many fire torches, mixed in were unclear cries.

Could it be an arson? Pang Wan advances with broadened steps and leaps onto the roof, wanting to get a clearer look.

This one look leaves her stunned.

The servants are carrying what seems to be a number of corpses as they head into the courtyard, all looking solemn, and leading at the front, is the shockingly raggedly clothed, a whole body covered in blood, Bai Xiao Sheng! He staggers along with the support of two people on both sides, the originally handsome scholarly face looking as white as paper, eyes emptily lacking focus, as though his soul and spirit had all been sucked away, a few more steps and he will immediately collapse.

This strange group of people enters Gu Xi Ju’s courtyard, Pang Wan frowns, and silently follows after.

“……didn’t think the opposition would be so formidable, consecutively leaving over ten of our highly skilled experts wounded! If not for Adviser being so quick-witted, I’m afraid we would have been completely annihilated……”

“……that martial arts skill really is vicious! Absorbing the opponents’ inner energy within a moment, leaving not a single breath behind! Never before seen, never before heard of……”

Inside the dimly lit room, the sound of extremely angry condemnation occasionally comes and goes.

Pang Wan turns her ear to the sound and listens in, roughly distinguis.h.i.+ng the presence of Wudang’s Zhang Xiu Zhu, Song Shan’s Ding Huai Li, Heng Shan’s Xu Rong and so on.

Hearing these people discuss the absorbing of inner energy, Pang Wan thinks to herself, could it be the Star Sucking Great Skill has resurfaced in the Jiang Hu? But she only hears Bai Xiao Sheng raising his weak yet resolute voice: “That Bai Yue Sect is exceedingly malicious, to actually foster such a monstrous being that is the Blood Tyrant! Not only sucking people’s inner energy, but also drains dry the opponent’s flesh and blood! Supreme Chief, we must absolutely not allow for that monster to enter the society, if not, Jiang Hu would definitely be met with great chaos!”

(Star Sucking Great Skill or Xī xīng dà fǎ / 吸星大法 – a skill that was introduced in Swordsman/笑傲江湖 which originated from the Sun-Moon Holy Sect/日月神教 – trust me, all these names sounds a whole lot cooler in Chinese, these are just popularised translations of the names around the web)

The very moment the three words of ‘Bai Yue Sect’ sounded, Pang Wan freezes.

——Blood Tyrant? Since when did Bai Yue Sect have someone with such t.i.tle? Anyone can tell from hearing the name alone, he’s a super arch-villain, vulgar.

“Supreme Chief! Bai Xiao Sheng is incompetent, was not able to complete the task, may Supreme Chief set a punishment!”

Only hearing a sound of ‘guang-dang’, it seems like someone dropped to their knees, immediately following was a much louder ‘pu-tong’ sound, and the room instantly sounded successive gasping: “Advisor! Advisor”

Quietly opening a small crack in the room door, Pang Wan’s almond eyes glance over, only seeing Bai Xiao Sheng lying flat on the ground, face turning blue, from the corner of his lip, a steam streams of black blood flows out.

A purple figure bends down, checking his breathing from under the nose: “He’s been poisoned.”

The man in purple slowly turns his head, Pang Wan’s heart is struck —— not seen him for a few days, Gu Xi Ju remains extraordinarily graceful, just that his face has gained the additional touch of exhaustion that was never there before.

“Poisoned?! That Blood Tyrant is also capable of utilising poison? Simply abominable to the extreme……”

“Bai Yue scoundrels! Old man, I, shall shed their skin, tear out their tendons, drink their blood……”

All of a sudden, the room turns into a chaotic clamouring.

“Enough!” Only hearing a thunderous shout comes from Gu Xi Ju’s lips, his eyes solemnly circles the room, instantly rendering everyone breathless, not daring to sound the slightest noise.

“Xu Rong!” He instructs the person on his left, “You quickly send for someone to invite Tang Men’s Lady Fei Feng over!”

“Ding Huai Li!” He instructs the person his right, “Take my command token, go to the Medicine King Valley and ask of the Divine Physician to leave the mountain!”

“Lu Kui!” He calls out an unfamiliar name, the one who responded is surprisingly Maid A, her eyes red, “Send Military Advisor back to his room, first use snow ginseng to suppress the poison affect, remember to add a hint of sweet gum resin in the medicine!”

Finally, he turns to the crowd, eyes like blinding stars.

“Any others who have seen the Blood Tyrant, tell me all your recollections of the moves he used and his appearance, one by one!”

With instructions made clear, the originally panicking people seems to have found their backbone, everyone starting to get moving respectively.

Pang Wan looks inside the room, at the one who remains unruffled amongst the chaos and calmly gives out orders, her heart giving rise to hazy complications.

——so this is the Supreme Chief of Wu Lin’s true appearance?

Having to face such unexpected difficulties, having to command like the outstanding heroes in the battlefields, and also having to quickly make the most reasonable and correct judgement, all this really isn’t an easy feat.

She recalls the mission Sect Leader Uncle had placed in her hands —— seize the Jade Dragon Token, overthrow Gu Xi Ju, and take his place.

Ey, looks like stealing the token alone is enough, being the Supreme Chief of Wu Lin, such job that harms both the body and mind, is best left for that workaholic Gu Xi Ju!

Time trickles away, heavy dew deep into the night, inside the mountain estate, peace is gradually restored.

Seeing no one around, Pang Wan stealthily springs towards Bai Xiao Sheng’s room.

——this guys has always been clever and cunning, how could he suddenly have been injured so badly? In the end, her heart just couldn’t withstand it.

Arriving at the rooftop, she quietly removes a tile, falling back into her past offense and starts peeking.

But sees that inside the room, other than the wooden-puppet-like Bai Xiao Sheng who is suffering from loss of blood, there is also another person, he is currently sat behind Bai Xiao Sheng, channelling his inner energy to force out the poison and tend to his injury.

“Come on down.” That person clearly did not raise his head, but throws out those words at her.

Pang Wan freezes, biting onto her bottom lip.

“You really sure you don’t want to take a look at him?” That person has his eyes closed, but from his lips, he murmurs the words, “Wan Wan?”

Pang Wan had no other choice, in the end, her body flutteringly descends —— speaking in terms of martial arts, should she be Su Wu Kong (the monkey king), then that person is the Great Buddha, her every act and every move, he knows just like it’s the back of his hand,  she just has no way nor chance of escaping.

Up until the other person completed a set of inner cultivation, sitting in meditation as he channels the energy through his body and calms the mind, did Pang Wan hesitantly makes her way over.

——exercising the inner energy for healing purposes is every master’s most vulnerable moment, at the same time, it also the moment in which they are most likely to be consumed by their own power[2], plus she needs to try hard not to arouse suspicion.

Watching her faltering steps, Gu Xi Ju gradually smiles, his posture like green mountains formed from the sprinkling of splashed ink (Chinese ink painting technique).

“Where have you ran off to play these days?” He stands against the wind, eyes showing not the slightest hint of scolding, only looking deep and bottomless at one glance.

“……casually wandering around.” Pang Wan scratches her hair, a little dejected —— it’s not like this, it shouldn’t be like this, they all say enemies meet with exceptionally reddened eyes (in anger), she thought that Gu Xi Ju would at least kick up a huge fuss, spitting out his rage and ferociously glare, but did not ever think, he would still be calm and gentle towards her like he always had been.

Gu Xi Ju nods, seeming to have no intention to pursue the matter.

“During the time you weren’t here, a lot has happened.” He slightly lowers both eyes, softly sounding a sigh.

Pang Wan opens her mouth wanting to ask, but once the words reached her lips, they were swallowed back —— “It has nothing to do with me.” She answers in a haughtily stiff manner.

Gu Xi Ju raises his head to cast her a glance, smiling without a word.

“You’re right, it indeed has nothing to do with you.” He once again sighs, and just quietly sits there, saying no more.

Outside the window, the sky appears to be brightening up soon, in the distance, the shrill sound of crowing can be heard from afar.

“Should you not mind, I can take a look at his injury.”

Pang Wan looks at the man lying on the bed, his face like ashes, revealing two sharp white teeth.

Gu Xi Ju steadily looks at her, a hint of extremely hot glow brus.h.i.+ng past his eyes, disappearing within an instance.

“You’re versed in medicine?” He speaks, voice sounding dull.

Pang Wan shakes her head: “I’m only a little knowledgeable in poison.”

——since Bai Xiao Sheng has been affected by Bai Yue Sect’s poison, then she should be able to tell exactly what poison it is, as to whether she can relieve the poison, they will have to see if this mountain estate is well stocked up on medicinal herbs or not.

Gu Xi Ju thinks for a moment, and finally gets up to give her the seat beside the bed: “Then I shall hand it over to you.”

After checking out Bai Xiao Sheng’s injury, Pang Wan’s face turns heavily solemn.

This kind of peculiar poison, seems to be the “black orchid” she learnt of from her “poison your entire family to death” lessons, this poison is specifically applied to b.l.o.o.d.y wounds, and would cause the victim’s complexion to turn blue then black, in the end, the entire body will fester and die. But right now, Bai Xiao Sheng is not only turning blue in the face, the top of his nose bridge is turning green, and from the corner of his lips there is also an endless stream of black blood flowing out, these symptoms are much more severe than what she has learnt of.

“Is there a cure?” Gu Xi Ju anxiously asks from the side.

“……I cannot be certain.” Pang Wan speaks the truth as it is, “His body may very well contain several different poison, curing him will be an extremely complex process.”

Gu Xi Ju takes a deep deep breath.

“But I have a Powerful Overlord Pill here, it can delay the effect of the poison.” Pang Wan takes out a little pill from her waist and places it in Gu Xi Ju’s hand, lowering both her eyes, “As to whether you wish to feed it him or not, it’s up to you to decide.”

Gu Xi Ju takes the pill, eyes dark and unfathomable as he glances at Pang Wan.

After a moment of silence, he places the pill in Bai Xiao Sheng’s mouth.

Bai Xiao Sheng falls into deep sleep after consuming the Powerful Overlord Pill, his breathing clear and steady.

“Your thinking is much more complicated than before.” Gu Xi Ju quietly watches the person on the bed, and suddenly speaks up.

Pang Wan rubs her nose, and sheepishly laughs.

“Still blaming me?” He adds the question, voice deep, as though speaking to himself.

“Wouldn’t dare to.” Pang Wan smiles —— she is speaking the truth, why should she blame him? He is the Supreme Chief who has to take into account the Supreme Chief position, she can never ever possibly change this, and can only hide far away, maintaining her own moral integrity alone is fine as it is.

Gu Xi Ju slightly furrows his brows, practically undetectable.

“A nation has its laws, a household has its rules, that day I was only acting accordingly to the rules.” He adds, revealing slight exhaustion.

“I didn’t say anything ah.” Pang Wan looks at him in slight surprise, “Why would Lord Supreme Chief explain this?”

This clear distancing and strong sense of being on-guard, finally has the corners of Gu Xi Ju’s lips to lightly curl downwards.

He opens his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but does not say anything in the end.

Pang Wan seeing that Bai Xiao Sheng isn’t showing any adverse reaction, bows towards Gu Xi Ju with clasped hands, about to take her leave just like that.

“Where you going?” Gu Xi Ju asks from behind.

“Wherever I go is home.” Pang Wan turns her head to the side and pulls a silly face at him —— of course this isn’t the case, this is only words of evasion.

“……stay here for now, help me look after Military Advisor.” Gu Xi Ju closes both eyes, a layer of weariness covering his cheeks, “I need someone knowledgeable in poison to stay here.”

Pang Wan directly shakes her head: “I really cannot cure his poison, inviting Tang Men’s Lady Fei Feng is the right way to go.” Who knows? This poison might not even be able to cured by the head of Tang Men! If so, they can only trouble the one from Medicine King Valley to leave the mountain.

Gu Xi Ju’s lips once again curves downwards.

“You leaving like this, do not even want your own belongings?” He opens his eyes, looking at her with extreme tenderness.

——belongings!

Only then did Pang Wan recall her real purpose for sneaking into the mountain estate deep within the night, and quickly extends one hand out to him: “Where have you hidden my belongings?” She still has one thousand taels worth of paper money there!

Gu Xi Ju is not in a hurry to speak, and could only stare straight at her, eyes clear like water.

“Quickly give me it ah! I’m in desperate need for money!” Pang Wan felt a chill run up her spine from his stare, her voice unconsciously rising a few points.

“You’re short of money?” Gu Xi Ju speaks up in asking, tone sounding rather concerned, “Why are you suddenly short of money?”

“This has nothing to do with you!” Pang Wan does not wish to waste her breath on him, directly extending her hand before his chest, “Are you going to give it or not?!” Her eyes narrows, expression looking exceptionally aggressive.

Gu Xi Ju upon seeing her bear her fangs and claws, sighs, and smiles.

“Wan Wan, since you are unwilling to be my maid, then I will offer money to have you look after Bai Xiao Sheng, how is that?” He looks at her, those bottomless eyes flas.h.i.+ng a gentle light, “I will give you lots and lots of money, is ten thousand taels enough? Or do you want twenty thousand taels?”

That figure that dissolved amongst the mountain mist, just like the vast sky that holds infinite attraction, hazily floats up.

Pang Wan feels all the hair on her body start to stand, “Are you plotting something ah?” She glares.

——twenty thousand taels of silver, this is an amount two hundred ordinary households can only save up by not eating and drinking for ten years! How did it suddenly become a piece of meat bun hanging down from the heavens?

“……I want to save Bai Xiao Sheng’s life.”

The distant sun slowly rises, glowing red reflected across the mountain valley, its heat warming the clouds, only Gu Xi Ju’s face alone is practically a transparent ice cold white.

“I want him to live.” He looks at her, tender and firm, “Nothing more.”

Pang Wan feels a certain part of her heart suddenly soften.

——this person ah, said to be the youngest Supreme Chief of Wu Lin, his body bears many many heavy burdens, even though the most precious spot in his heart has already been given to Fairy Sang Chan, that does not mean, he would not hold back in the slightest when it comes to ignoring others. At the very least, at the very least he really does care for his companions, is that not right?

“Five thousand taels.”

And so Pang Wan hears her own voice.

“You need only give five thousand taels, and I will agree to stay behind.”

[1] To be unyielding in face of materialistic means is bù wéi wǔ dǒu mǐ zhé yāo / 不为五斗米折腰 which literally means to not bow down for five buckets of rice. In the Jin Dynasty, five buckets of rice makes up the magistrates’ salaries, this is also later referred to as a meagre salary. The line itself is used to refer to a man of character, someone who does not bow down to superiors just for a meagre pay.

[2] The original text for consumed by their own power is zǒu huǒ rù mó / 走火入魔 which could also translate to being possessed by one’s inner demon, the term is often used in wuxia when characters overdoes themselves when cultivating their inner energy or when one wrong move is made when channeling their inner energy, be it when healing others or when cultivating their own martial arts. But when martial artist do enter such state they tend to lose control over their own mind and the inner energy running through their body.

So…who was asking for Gu Xi Ju??? Hahaha.

The plot is slowly unravelling the more serious things to come now, and of course there’s Nan Yi coming back next chapter with some shocking news.

Again, I apologise for the lack of replies as well as this update being a little late, but after this week all should be good again! Also, welcome back to Annie! And thank you for coming back in time to prevent this weeks update from being too late haha