The heavens were extra gloomy today. It was obviously just past noon yet it looked like it was night.
“The weather is about to change,” Qiu Yutong mumbled in Huxin Pavilion as he gazed at the dark sky.
Huxin pavilion’s curtains fluttered as a cold gust of wind brushed past. Upon the surface of Bihe lake, there was only a lone shrivelled up lotus pad, shivering in the winter air.
“Fill it up,” Lu Xiao said indifferently as he placed his wine cup on the stone table.
Qiu Yutong pursed his lips and helplessly poured another cup.
Ever since Sang Lingxi visited Daning palace, Lu Xiao had a gloomy face, as if someone owed him a couple of million silver tales.
For some reason, Lu Xiao’s mood was extremely bad today. During morning court, he directly ordered two magistrates who committed severe crimes to death. After court, he wouldn’t even go to Jingxin Palace’s study room to critique reports, rather he directly went to Bihe lake, which was behind Daning Palace, and gloomily drank wine.
Lu Xiao drained the cup in one gulp and slammed the empty cup on the table again, “Fill it up.”
Qiu Yutong couldn’t help frowning, ”Your Majesty, it isn’t good for your health to keep drinking at this rate.
Lu Xiao glanced coldly at him as he snatched the wine flask for himself, pouring and drinking on his own.
”…….” Qiu Yutong was at a loss for words.
”Boom!!” The dark sky was punctuated with the oppressive sounds of thunder.
Lu Xiao’s hand trembled slightly.
”Clatter!” an exquisite sheep-fat jade wine cup suddenly fell to the ground, smashing onto the hard and cold limestone ground.
Qiu Yutong was slightly stunned, but immediately remembered that Lu Xiao had been scared of thunder since he was small.
Ten years ago, on a blazing afternoon, he brought a young Lu Xiao with him and hurried through the country-side. It started pouring out of nowhere, leaving them with no option but to ask for shelter from some country-side folks. The peasant’s courtyard was very large and they had a lot of houses; Little Lu Xiao and him thus stayed in adjacent bedrooms.
That night, the rain continuously crashed down, the dazzling lightning crossed-crossed one another and thunder sounded one after the other. Qiu Yutong thus closed his eyes and meditated.
”Knock, knock!” It was around midnight when two knocks suddenly came from the bedroom door.
Qiu Yutong opened his eyes, “Who?”
Little Lu Xiao timidly stuck half his head in, his hair was messy, pitch-blck eyes even having a slight sheen of moisture. His voice was soft and sticky,” Shizun?”
“……” Qiu Yutong was completely unable to resist and asked softly “What’s wrong?”
A young Lu Xiao bit his lip and hesitated for a bit before stammering, “Can… can Xiao-er* sleep with Shizun?”
[T/N: He refers to himself in third person to seem more respectful. Can also be to act cute.]
Qiu Yutong was stunned.
At this moment, another thunderclap resounded in the sky!
Little Lu Xiao couldn’t help but tremble.
Qiu Yutong immediately understood; this child was scared of lightning but was too embarrassed to say it. His heart went soft, yet at the same time he felt amused as he patted the spot beside him, “Come here.”
Little Lu Xiao’s eyes slowly lit up, instantly scrambling to climb onto the bed, even dragging a large pillow with his hands.
“You sleep on this side,” Qiu Yutong was scared that the child would roll off the bed so he made him sleep on the inside. He opened the blanket and tucked both of them in before reaching out with a finger and extinguishing the candle on the table.
The room was pitch black, only lit up by the occasional lightning followed by a thunderous rumbling seconds later.
Whenever the thunder sounded, little Lu Xiao would shiver lightly, his small hands clinging onto Qiu Yutong’s inner robes, trying his best to curl into Qiu Yutong’s embrace, ”Shizun…”
Qiu Yutong was also exhausted as he reached out to pat the child’s fragile back, saying lowly, “Be good, no need to be scared anymore, Shizun is here.”
“Okay,” little Luxiao responded softly. Gradually, his trembling stopped and his breathing evened out, finally falling asleep.
From that night onwards, whenever a thunderstorm happened at night, Lu Xiao would run to hide in Qiu Yutong’s blanket all the way until he was about seventeen to eighteen, which made Qiu Yutong happy yet feeling ridiculous. Occasionally, he simply wanted to twist this youngster’s ear and ferociously scold him, “So old and you’re still scared of lightning? Huh? Isn’t this embarrassing?”
…….
”Rumble!!”. Yet another bolt of thunder brought Qiu Yutong’s thoughts back to the present.
He looked down at the shattered remains of the wine cup. Qiu Yutong was amused yet helpless. Lu Xiao was twenty-three this year, having been the emperor for a full five years, both ruthless and decisive when conducting business, was he still scared of lightning?
Lu Xiao slowly opened his eyes, drunkenly staring at the sky densely covered by dark clouds.
”Rumble!!!” another wave of thunder resounded, pressing heavily on people’s thoughts. The thunder was astonishing, so much so that it was even slightly similar to the tribulation thunder from when Qiu Yutong ascended.
Lu Xiao shivered, his face actually looking timid.
His thin lips trembled gently, his voice like a mosquito saying, ”Don’t go…”
As the thunder was very loud, Qiu Yutong couldn’t quite catch what Lu Xiao said, only realising that Lu Xiao seemed drunk.
His heart softened slightly and he gently comforted, “Don’t be afraid, it’s only thunder.”
Just as the words left his mouth, he realised that, with this identity, he was overstepping the boundaries.
Luckily, Lu Xiao was already drunk and didn’t enquire further, merely staring dazedly at the shifting clouds in the horizon, silent for quite a while.
After an unknown amount of time, he finally opened his mouth slowly. It was unknown whether he was answering Qiu Yutong’s previous question or talking to himself, “I was scared of it before, then I wasn’t. Then, I hoped… then, I got scared again.”
He was drunk, his words incoherent. Qiu Yutong felt confused listening to him, “What did you say, Your majesty?”
Lu Xiao ignored him
”I hate him,” Lu Xiao suddenly muttered softly after a while.
These words, Qiu Yutong thought he understood. His heart twisted, both sour and painful, feeling both distressed for his disciple yet choked up in panic.
Lu Xiao hated him.
Qiu Yutong endured for a moment but couldn’t hold it in and finally asked the question that he had been puzzling over for a while, ”Why?”
Lu Xiao didn’t answer. A pair of pitch black eyes stared foolishly into the dark horizon. The slightly upturned corners of his eyes were slightly red, looking both bewildered and sad, similar to his younger self.
Qiu Yutong looked down at him, feeling forlorn and upset yet distressed and soft.
He thought about it, then softly pat Lu Xiao’s shoulder, coaxing softly, “Your Majesty…”
Lu Xiao trembled slightly and suddenly sobered up, then he ruthlessly pushed Qiu Yutong away, sternly saying, “Impudent!”
Qiu Yutong was caught off guard and hit Huxin Pavilion’s pillar with an audible “thump”.
An acute pain came from his back, and he hissed in pain, his vision going dark.
By the time Qiu Yutong came back to himself, Lu XIao had already stood up, staring coldly at Qiu Yutong, looking completely sober.
This… this evil disciple!
Qiu Yutong stared at Lu Xiao and simply wanted to gnash his teeth.
He endured and told himself to forget it at all cost, anyways, he had already decided to confess to his san-shixiong during the lantern festival. Then, they could both return to North Snow City together. Once he recovered his cultivation then he could come back and sort out this evil disciple.
Lu Xiao slowly walked towards him, looking down to stare intently at him, his cold gaze was without a single ounce of emotion as if he were observing an insignificant ant.
Qiu Yutong unconsciously shifted back, but he was blocked by the pillar.
“Prince Jin has taught you so many methods, for you to use every possible means to get close to Us. That day We saw your sword dance in Pure Frosted Jade courtyard. We heard that when you were in the brothel, you were an expert in those seductive sword dances. Later on in Prince Jin’s Manor, you had received teaching from a cultivator of the North Sea Sword Sect… Today, let Us test your swordsmanship.”
”Swordsmanship?” Qiu Yutong stared at the other party. He wouldn’t mention that this evil disciple pushed him after getting drunk, yet his thoughts were all over the place!
”Fetch a sword for him,” Lu Xiao indifferently said.
In an instant, an imperial bodyguard walked into Huxin pavilion, holding a glittering blue steel sword, and presenting Qiu Yutong with it.
“Take the sword,” Luxiao stared at Qiu Yutong and unhurriedly unsheathed Night Rain.
Qiu Yutong was helpless and could only take up the blue steel sword.
Oh… Just let this youngster win by a bit, so that he won’t receive a psychological shadow. But, how to do it without batting an eye*? This was a hard problem.
[T/N: This part I’m slightly iffy about. The raws do state without batting an eye, but I’m not too sure what he means, maybe without making it too obvious?]
The two men quietly stood opposite each other.
Suddenly, another chain of thunder sounded, and with a loud “crash”, a torrential downpour suddenly started, causing thousands of ripples on the lake’s surface.
Within the sound of the boundless rain, a gloomy sword tip was instantly in front of Qiu Yutong, moving like a water snake underwater. Ruthless!
Qiu Yutong’s spirit was aroused, good swordsmanship!
Looks like in these few years, Lu Xiao had maintained his sword training every morning; he had improved a lot.
In the time he was thinking, he brandished the sword. The edge of the dazzling blue steel sword swiped across Night Rain’s sword edge, and swiped across it!
This move “Inclined Willow Flight*”, comes from《Four Forms of Floating Willows》, which was created by a female powerhouse of North Snow City, who had died hundreds of years ago.
[T/N: Directly translates to Willow Cotton Inclined Flight.]
《Four Forms of Floating Willows》was split into four forms, “To wind, glue, hook, and to pick.” “Liuxu Xiefei” was the fourth form’s, “to pick”, fifth move. Once this move was made, the opponent had to immediately let go of the sword or his four fingers would be cleanly sliced off!
Qiu Yutong using this 《Four Forms of Floating Willows》to exchange blows with Lu Xiao, was naturally after careful consideration. He didn’t want to let Lu Xiao find out it was him, so he couldn’t let him see the 《Nine Questions Sword Techniques》, and North Snow City’s other swordplays, Lu Xiao had more or less seen all of them.
However, this《Four Forms of Floating Willows》, Qiu Yutong disliked that it was overly treacherous and soft, it was extremely unconstrained* and he had never tried it before. But this current body was extremely delicate so this sword technique was very suitable.
[T/N: The raws is 失之疏朗洒脱, which I couldn’t really understand so if anyone had a better TL, do let me know!]
Qiu Yutong brandished his sword and he actually had a sudden comprehension. As expected, the sword technique shouldn’t be blamed, there are only unsuitable people.
The tip of the dazzling blue steel sword slid across Night Rain’s sword body and he watched as Lu Xiao’s fingers were about to be sliced off!
“Treacherous scheme!” Lu Xiao coldly snorted and fiercely twisted Night Rain, using the third form of the 《Nine Questions Sword Techniques》, “Asking Wind Form’s” ninth move, “Wind Circles, Lightning Pulls”, and effortlessly escaped.
Qiu Yutong inwardly sighed. This body was completely lacking in spiritual energy and couldn’t keep up with the speed, if not, Lu Xiao wouldn’t be able to use that move at all. He immediately secretly laughed; he was merely accompanying Lu Xiao for a few blows, did he really want to take off his (LX) fingers? That was simply preposterous.
Qiu Yutong was currently absent-minded, Lu Xiao flipped his sword around and slashed horizontally! As imposing as a dragon!
This was “Cutting the North Sea” from the 《Nine Questions Sword Techniques》!
This “Cutting the North Sea” was improvised by Qiu Yutong when he had watched the ebb and flow of the tides in the old days, and had come to a realisation. The name “Cutting the North Sea” was very disrespectful to the North Sea Sword Sect, and he was even firmly reprimanded by Zhangmen-shixiong. Qiu Yutong normally refrained from using it. Right now, Lu Xiao obviously used it in response to the North Sea Sword Sect backing Prince Jin!
Qiu Yutong came back to his senses and immediately pretended to randomly ward off the attack, his movements looking flustered, as if he were utterly defeated.
Lu Xiao’s offense was very intense and Qiu Yutong also wanted to let him win without a trace. After a moment, he was forced out of Huxin Pavilion step by step, and exchanged blows along the corridor above the lake.
It was pouring and immediately, the two of them were drenched.
Lu Xiao gave a clear whistle and Night Rain unexpectedly flew horizontally over, even the rainwater was cut!*
[T/N: Again, hard to TL this part but I did my best. Raws were: 夜雨横掠而至，连雨水也为之横流.]
The winding corridor was extremely narrow yet behind him was the endless lake. Qiu Yutong was forced into a corner and could only lean back slightly, avoiding the tip of Night Rain and at the same time, he used the tip of his foot to lightly tap onto the corridor’s banister and his entire person rose from the ground, as light as a feather, then landed upon Night Rain’s body!
He stood upon the sword with a single foot. Under the rain, his white robes were in disarray and he was completely drenched from head to toe. His pitch-black hair was messily hanging down. He cut an extremely sorry figure yet at the same time, his attitude was very handsome and clever, as if it were some kind of beautiful and charming sword dance, filled with an indescribable ambiguous meaning.
Night Rain trembled then broke with a loud “crack”.
The author has something to say:
Qiuqiu: “!!!”
Lu Xiao: “…”
Zhang-gonggong (stamping his feet): “It’s over.”
