Qiu Yutong landed lightly on the ground, staring in disbelief at the broken pieces of the sword, his entire body was stiff, “…”
It broke?
It, it broke just like this?!
Previously, when he was in North Snow City, he frequently exchanged blows with San-Shixiong. San-Shixiong’s extremely delicate and slender flexible sword “Green Mist” didn’t break even after he had stepped on it countless of times!
Eh, but thinking of it, back then he was a cultivator, now with this mortal body… he might have really been able to break the sword.
Under the pouring rain, Lu Xiao stared at the pieces of the sword in a daze. Rainwater dripped down that young, handsome face; it was expressionless, completely blank.
“Your Majesty…” Qiu Yutong unconsciously choked on his saliva and couldn’t think of any comforting words.
After all, he was the one who broke Night Rain.
How could he be so unlucky!
Zhang Defu had also hurried over. He took one glance at the broken sword and his plump face immediately paled. He said, trembling, “Your, Your Majesty.”
Lu Xiao seemed to be unable to hear anything; he stood there blankly for a moment before starting to kneel extremely slowly.
He knelt under the ice-cold rain, carefully and cautiously picking up the two pieces of the broken sword.
“Impossible, impossible…” His hands couldn’t help trembling and he did his utmost to piece the sword back together. But the sword had already broken, how could it join back together?
Lu Xiao knelt under the rain, futilely trying to piece the sword back together for a long time. In the end, he realised that this Night Rain could never be repaired.
Night rain stains (the sky) into heavenly jade*… The heavenly jade had already left along with that person, and Night Rain had finally broken.
[T/N: I originally translated this as Night rain stains (the sky) into heavenly water jade.]
He had nothing left.
“Why, why…” Lu Xiao tightly clutched the two pieces, his entirely drenched figure was trembling. A sorry figure filled with extreme despair was unbearable.
Night Rain’s edge was extremely sharp and had already cut his palm. Thick, warm fresh blood slowly dripped down the blade, mixing with the rainwater to produce a muddy blood colour. But he didn’t seem to notice the pain.
The surroundings were silent except for the sound of rain.
Nobody dared to say a word.
As the main offender, Qiu Yutong felt a little guilty. He hesitated for a moment before advising softly, “Your Majesty, don’t be like this. This sword is a mere low-grade spiritual weapon, in the capital’s Sword Pavilion*, however many swords you want, you can get. A few hundred silver taels will be able to get you one, this is not worth much.”
[T/N: Directly translates to the sword storehouse pavilion, which sounds weird in English so I just named it this way instead.]
“What did you say?” Lu Xiao lifted his head extremely slowly, his bloodshot eyes glared unwaveringly at Qiu Yutong as he enunciated each word clearly.
That terrifying and ice-cold gaze caused Qiu Yutong to break out in goosebumps, unconsciously taking a step back.
“Drag this criminal to the Punishment Bureau to be flogged eighty times,” Lu Xiao said indifferently.
Qiu Yutong, “…”
It was only a worthless sword, was it worth it?!
Also, he didn’t do it on purpose!
“I didn’t do it on purpose…” He wasn’t even able to explain himself when two burly imperial guards walked over, covered his mouth and dragged him away without a trace of politeness.
……
The Punishment Bureau’s torture chambers, it was gloomy, cold and moist.
“Pa——”
Following the crisp sound of the rod, Qiu Yutong couldn’t help trembling.
The old eunuch in charge of supervising dragged out his words, “Thirty-nine——”
Qiu Yutong dispiritedly lay on the punishment table*, wanting to cry but having no tears. When it first started, his back and butt were both on fire, but now, there wasn’t much feeling.
[T/N: The word here is slightly ambiguous, could be table, stage, support etc. Just pick the best one y’all.]
He reckoned that at least a layer of skin had been flogged off.
He was probably the most unlucky and the most undignified shizun under the heavens.
He could hear the soft sounds of blood dripping from the table.
“Pa——” Another one.
“Wu…” Qiu Yutong bit his lower lip tightly, forcing himself to remain conscious. Actually, in regards to his mental state, this flesh wound was not much, but this body was too delicate. If this continued, it might be too much.
Did Lu Xiao want to beat him to death?
Over a worthless low-grade spiritual sword?
“Pa——Pa——”
One hit after the other landed heavily as if there were no end. Maybe he had lost too much blood, but Qiu Yutong started to feel dizzy…
……
It was unknown how long had passed, a familiar and nostalgic feeling slowly bubbled up. Some kind of weak cool feeling that travelling from the top of his head, at the Baihui acupoint, and entered his body.
This feeling… spiritual energy…
Qiu Yutong suddenly quivered and woke up.
How did he feel spiritual energy?
This body didn’t open any of its meridians?
On a mortal’s body, there were hundreds of acupuncture points, when these points are opened, they will become spiritual points. Spiritual points allowed for the absorption of nature’s spiritual energy, storing it in the dantian’s spiritual sea, changing into one’s own spiritual energy, and then forming a golden core.
This process was called the process of cultivation.
Don’t tell him that this body was actually enlightened on death’s door?
Once Qiu Yutong understood, he couldn’t help but be overjoyed.
He had tried quite a few times beforehand to enlighten this body but was unsuccessful. Yet at this critical moment, he had inadvertently established his spiritual points! As expected, when expecting success is futile, but success comes when it’s unexpected*! He could once again walk on the cultivation road!
[T/N: Direct translations: Putting in effort to grow flowers and it won’t bloom, but unanticipated willows grow to cast shade.]
At this time, the eunuch carrying out the punishment behind him seemed to be afraid of killing him so the hits became lighter and the slight chill from the Baihui acupoint gradually receded; the spiritual point started to seal itself again.
How could this be?!
If the spiritual point was sealed halfway through opening, then it would never be able to be opened again in this life!
Qiu Yutong was suddenly anxious.
He resisted the extreme pain in his back and turned around to look at the eunuch carrying out the punishment, saying hoarsely, “Gongong, could you hit a bit harder? This is merely an itch!”
The robust eunuch carrying out the punishment had never encountered such a situation and was stunned. He stared uncertainly at the old eunuch supervising the punishment.
The supervisor eunuch widened his turbid yellowing eyes, his sharp voice becoming going higher, “There’s actually such an ignorant person! Hit, hit him with all your strength for this eunuch!”
“Many thanks, gonggong!” Qiu Yutong said happily.
“You, you… are actually so arrogant! Hit him! Hit him for me!” The old eunuch pointed a trembling finger at him, so angry his wrinkles were trembling.
……
One hit and Qiu Yutong felt like he was about to be torn apart, there wasn’t a single piece of intact flesh along his entire back and thighs, only fiercely mutilated flesh.
Pain unto pain, yet he was inwardly extremely joyous——he didn’t endure these hits for nothing. The Baihui spiritual point on his forehead had completely broken through.
“Since the flogging is done, asking Young Master Xue Rong to come down,” the old eunuch said peculiarly.
“Wuwuwuwu, Young, Young Master…” Xiao Xizi sobbed spasmodically as he helped Qiu Yutong down the table.
Qiu Yutong clenched his teeth tightly, leaning heavily against Xiao Xizi, wanting to stand up, but his legs could only shiver and his entire body continuously slid down. Blood continuously dripped down his legs.
“Young, Young Master, let’s go back, go back to Feicui courtyard. let’s not stay here, wuwuwu…” Xiao Xizi cried so hard he almost stopped breathing.
The old eunuch smiled coldly, “You want to return just like his? His Majesty stated that after the flogging was done, Young Master Xue Rong was to kneel outside Jingxin Palace and reflect on himself!”
“Young, Young Master is already like this, how, how can he kneel? Wuwuwu…” Xiao Xizi had even cried out snot bubbles.
“It’s fine, don’t cry, it’s just kneeling,” Qiu Yutong didn’t care. Anyways, he had broken through and needed to absorb nature’s spirit energy, which was better outdoors.
Moreover, Zhangmen-shixiong used to punish people to meditate on the precipice of Wenjian cliff at the drop of a hat for three years at a time. Compared to those times, enduring a beating and punished with kneeling were mere trifles.
It’s just that this body was injured too badly, so he really couldn’t stand up. In the end, Qiu Yutong could only lie on Xiao Xizi’s back and let Xiao Xizi carry him to Jingxin Palace’s doors. After that, he knelt on the hard bluestone ground.
A person being punished obviously wasn’t allowed to be served so Xiao Xizi had no choice but to leave, weeping endlessly.
Right now it was time for the evening meal, so many eunuchs and palace maids passed by in succession. Some were astonished and whispered in each other’s ears, some sighed and shook their heads slightly. Some of them took joy in other’s misfortune and pointed at him, but these palace servants didn’t dare to stop at Jingxin Palace’s doors for too long so there wasn’t the miserable scene of him being surrounded by gawking bystanders.
The sky gradually darkened and the people lessened.
Qiu Yutong took a deep breath and slowly shut his eyes, starting to absorb nature’s spirit energy.
The mortal world cannot compare to the cultivation realm. The spiritual energy was very sparse, after a full two hours, Qiu Yutong only absorbed a sliver of spiritual energy. He was slightly dismayed but was not discouraged and continued to do his best to absorb spiritual energy.
An unknown amount of time passed and the spiritual energy started to become dense.
Qiu Yutong was puzzled then felt surprised.
He was stunned and suddenly thought of something, opening his eyes and looking up.
Snowflakes covered the sky, just like elegant snow-white feathers, fluttering down from the sky.
This was the first snowfall of the year.
The first snow was the snow that had the densest spiritual energy.
Qiu Yutong looked at the snow-filled sky and exhaled softly, sighing in extreme sorrow.
Recently, his fate was unfavourable. Forget failing his ascension, he had even become his little disciple’s male pet… He had been unlucky for so long, and finally the heavens have opened their eyes. He hadn’t only opened his spiritual point in such a short time, but also welcomed the first snow of the year which was the richest in spiritual energy.
The snow fell heavier.
Gradually, the sky darkened and lanterns were hung onto Jingxin Palace’s doors.
Qiu Yutong looked down, silently absorbing the spiritual energy of the first snow, feeling threads of spiritual energy entering his spiritual point. After cycling the spiritual energy through his body once, it would enter the spiritual sea of his dantian and become his spiritual energy.
The snowflakes were fluttering, falling onto his cheeks and neck, carrying with them a slight chill, but Qiu Yutong wasn’t the least bit bothered.
Suddenly, the snow stopped and a shadow appeared on the snowy ground in front of him.
Qiu Yutong looked up and couldn’t help being shocked.
Liu Bitao carried an umbrella* and was standing in front of him, looking like he was about to cry, “How did this happen? Didn’t His Majesty dote on you very much?”
[T/N: The raws state oil paper umbrella, which is what they used to make umbrellas in ancient china.]
“…” Qiu Yutong simply didn’t know how to answer. He gave a slight cough and explained with difficulty, “Cough cough, in short, I did something wrong. Kneeling is no big deal, it’s what I ought to do. You don’t have to worry about me, step aside.”
Hurry up and move, don’t disturb his absorption of nature’s spiritual energy!
This was the precious first snow that only happened once a year!
Liu Bitao widened his eyes, his gaze as if he were looking at a fool, “Did your brain freeze? Forget losing both your legs, even your life will be gone!”
Qiu Yutong only wanted him to leave quickly, “You mort… cough cough, don’t you have a saying, come thunder or lightning, all are heaven’s grace. Quickly leave, don’t worry about me.”
“You, you!” Liu Bitao hated iron for not becoming steel and stamped his feet. He reached out, wanting to pull him up, “What heaven’s grace, this kind of grace, I don’t want it! Let’s go, we’ll go beg His Majesty. At the most, our heads will roll but at least we don’t have to suffer…”
“Not going!” Qiu Yutong was firmly nailed to the snowy ground, like a heavy weight, not getting up even if he was beaten to death.
While the two of them were arguing, his stomach suddenly felt sluggish. An extremely familiar chilliness gradually seeped out from his dantian as well as his entire body… So cold.
This damned cold poison, why did it flare up at exactly this moment!
“Wu…” Qiu Yutong clenched his teeth and braced himself for a moment before his vision went black and he fainted.
While he was in a daze, the panic-stricken voice of Liu Bitao sounded in his ears, “What’s happening? Xue Rong! Xue Rong! Someone! Someone!”
