Chapter 47 - Honey Tangerine Flavored Shadow Guard Gong (5)
Translator: KunLin
Editors: Rubhyl, Vez
*Slight NSFW warning
People in C-ranked worlds had a saying which they liked to say: Plans cannot catch up with changes.
The ancient people in D-ranked worlds also had a beloved adage: Man proposes, god disposes
As Gou Liang waited expectantly for the full moon that was to happen in two days, a certain miracle doctor who called himself a Jianghu doctor checked on his face while dropping a bad news: “There is another thing today.”
The old man spoke in an unhurried tone. Pompously, he lifted his head and puffed up his chest at his grandson who was effectively shorter than him and was paralyzed half-way up.
“I have been painstakingly researching for an antidote to relieve your symptoms, and managed to achieve some success just a few days ago. I name the result a Lust Quelling Pill.”
“After this medicine is taken, it can numb a person’s sensation for three hours. During this time, even if someone were to stab you with a knife, you won’t be able to feel the pain. It can help suppress your intense..cough, cough, itchiness when the poison breaks out. It’s just that there’s a downside to this medicine, after repeatedly taking it, it will gradually make someone lose their sense of taste. As for if there are any other side effects, this godly doctor needs to observe the person taking the medicine before any conclusions can be made. Also, this medicine can only get rid of the symptoms, it does not cure the poison. If one day you were to stop taking this medicine, the pain of the poison will still erupt per usual along with the accumulated intensity. At that time, you’ll feel like dying rather than living. Use this medicine for the time being, in a few days time, I will definitely make something even better to counteract the poison!”
Gou Liang grabbed onto the ball of proudness that was asking for praise. He spoke gratefully while shedding tears: “Grandfather, you really are amazing, wise, and talented beyond comparison..an unfathomable expert!”
In the sea of consciousness, thunder struck down from the clear sky. Gou Liang: However, I don’t want it ( >﹏<。。。)..
Compared to Gou Liang’s sulky mood, far away at Tianji Mountain, the main Zhong Clan was also shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.
After a period of silence, the eldest son of the Zhong Clan’s Clan Leader, who was also Zhong Yue’s father, opened his mouth and said: “This matter, keep it from your grandfather for now. Chao’er, you are to immediately head down the mountain and bring Yue’er back!”
However, Zhong Chao hesitated: “But father, grandfather divined that little brother will have such an encounter in his life which is why he permitted him to head down the mountain. Moreover..don’t forget, only by passing this ordeal would we be able to know if little brother has a true heaven-fated body.”
It was like how physicians shouldn’t self-diagnose.
The Zhong Clan was able to divine the fate of everyone under heaven but was unable to clearly divine their own fate or the fates of their close relatives, only being able to receive some vague details. Due to this, as long as the heart had an inkling and the divination supported it, then regardless if it’s good or bad, the elder taught the younger generations to adapt with the circumstances, to flow with fate. This way, they may even be able to gain an opportunity for themselves.
The Zhong Clan’s current head——who was Zhong Yue’s grandfather, divined that this year, Zhong Yue would have a predestined encounter which would decide the fate of his life. Because of this, he allowed the other to head down the mountain. Otherwise, Zhong Yue wouldn’t have been able to get off the mountain unscathed by his own ability when Tianji Mountain was heavily laid with traps.
Everyone in the Zhong Clan held high expectations for Zhong Yue and believed that with his ability, living outside wouldn’t pose a problem, so none of them meddled with Zhong Yue’s life after he left the mountain, fearing that their interference might ruin his opportunity.
But what Father Zhong didn’t expect was, after leaving the mountain for only a few months, his son would actually violate the ancestral teaching and do something so preposterous!
Heaven-fated body?
Seeing how Father Zhong softened towards these words even after Zhong Yue’s offense, Gou Liang pondered to himself, before having the system investigate the entirety of the story.
Zhong Chao continued to say: “Rest assured father, as long as little brother can successfully pass this ordeal and return, even if he made a mistake, grandfather won’t punish him too heavily.”
Father Zhong muttered something to himself before saying: “Fine, however, a person’s heart is unpredictable. He is still too young and is too easily influenced by others. Chao’er, head down the mountain and check up on him. If it is indeed so..you know what to do.”
There was no hesitation this time. Zhong Chao nodded his head in assent.
At the same time, in the capital.
Because of the sudden eradication of the Gao faction, the court was currently unstable, causing the imperial exam to be postponed until the spring of the second year. A large number of scholars had decided to stay in the capital until then.
It was currently winter and it was snowing outside the room, the sky overcast.
In a certain courtyard in the capital, furnaces were kept burning fiercely. The moment one entered the wing, they would be faced head-on with toasty waves of heat, causing a layer of sweat to form on their foreheads immediately. It could be seen that the Master here was extremely afraid of the cold.
A person hurriedly walked in. He tossed his cloak to the attendant. The snow that had fallen onto his head and was neglected to be brushed aside, was quickly melted by the warmth of the room. The feeling of coldness seeping into his scalp and trickling down his neck made him shiver.
Zhong Yue was wrapped in a fox fur coat and was sitting down in a lazy manner. One hand held a hand heater and was hidden in the fox coat while the other hand was fiddling with an invitation card on the table. He appeared to be in deep thoughts. When Li Yan lifted apart the curtain and walked in, it startled him. Zhong Yue turned around and when he saw that the other was drenched in sweat from the heat of the room, he smiled and said teasingly: “Stop over there and warm yourself by the furnace before coming near me, otherwise you’ll freeze me to death with that body covered in cold air.”
Li Yan: “I reckon in this world you won’t find a second place that’s as warm as it is in here. Are the people of the Zhong Clan all so afraid of the cold?”
Zhong Yue’s smile stiffened, knowing exactly who was the other Zhong Clan person he was referring to. He glared at Li Yan.
The original host was even worse against the cold than Zhong Yue, so much that a specially built heated room was constructed in the manor for the original host to pass the winter in. However, no matter how many years passed, Li Yan couldn’t get used to this sort of temperature and didn’t like the room very much.
Li Yan knew that he had just made a blunder. He changed the conversation: “What are you looking at?”
Zhong Yue felt unhappy in his heart. Originally he didn’t treat the invitation in his hand as a big deal, but now he smiled provokingly and said: “This is a card sent over by his highness King An’s subordinate, inviting me to dine at the finest restaurant in the capital. Well, what do you think, your highness the crown prince, should I accept?”
Every since Zhong Yue entered the imperial palace and met with the Emperor, it was no longer suitable for him to continue living in the East Palace——the Emperor didn’t want the person giving him medicine that could concern his life and death to be too involved with the young and head-strong crown prince.
Since Zhong Yue had already revealed his identity and now he even had the favor of the Emperor, naturally the influential officials of the capital would want to befriend him.
King An was merely one of them, but he was precisely the person Li Yan least wanted to hear about.
“You want to accept his invitation?”
Li Yan furrowed his brows, amidst the abhorring expression in his eyes, there was a trace of panic.
“Why shouldn’t I go?” Zhong Yue insisted on going against him, saying: “The crown prince’s invitation, I always accept every single one of them. If I don’t accept King An’s invitation as well, firstly, it will appear as if the etiquettes taught by the Zhong Clan are lacking, and secondly, if the Emperor knew of the relationship between us, wouldn’t that cause more trouble for you?”
Li Yan was unable to retort.
Gou Liang was spectating with great relish as he watched Zhong Yue court death——an egotistical person like Li Yan, he wouldn’t care if the other was acting this way simply because they were feeling jealous out of love for him. Who knew how panicked he was feeling right now. Unfortunately, although he had taken Zhong Yue as his subordinate, the other had a large temper and came from a deep background. Li Yan was frustrated, but didn’t dare to voice any complaints. He was upset but he still had to keep up a warm and pampering expression to please the other.
At this moment, the system sent him the information regarding the heaven-fated body.
Heaven-fated body, the Zhong Clan determined them as people who were blessed by the heavenly dao. These people would show exceptional aptitude and were suitable to learn the Zhong Clan’s secret technique——Asking Heaven. They were a special bloodline that appeared only among the direct descendants of the Zhong Clan.
The Zhong Clan descendants with this special bloodline were able to sense the profound energy of the heaven and earth at birth. Without needing a tortoise shell, a copper coin, or other special items, they were capable of making divinations through a simple gust of wind or a single blade of grass and the accuracy of their divination would never be below eighty percent. The Zhong Clan had already gone through fifty generations up to now and there had been over a thousand direct descendants but, other than the founder of the clan, there were only records of three other heaven-fated bodies.
And only these three people were able to learn the secret manual ‘Asking Heaven’ that was rumored to uncover secrets of the heaven and earth as well as grant longevity.
But these were not the main points. The most important thing was, the Asking Heaven Seal that automatically went into hiding after the death of the heaven-fated body possessing it, could finally be found. The Zhong Clan would then finally have a true master. In other words, what the Zhong Clan acknowledged wasn’t the person but rather the Asking Heaven Seal. In front of the Asking Heaven Seal, even the Clan Leader had no choice but to obey. Knowing of this, the little abacus in Gou Liang was already ‘papa’ sounding.
Zhong Yue’s great-grandfather who was the previous Zhong Clan head, before he passed, he used the last of his strength to perform a divination: A heaven-fated body would appear among the generation of his great-grandsons.
Because of this, in this generation, there was a large increase in the birth rate of the Zhong Clan’s direct descendants. However, even so, they still waited for nearly twenty before Zhong Yue was born.
After Zhong Yue was born, he exhibited many signs that matched up with what was written down in the ancient records. Before a heaven-fated body could be confirmed, the person must go through a calamity and be reborn through the flames of adversaries, but with the previous head’s divination in mind, everyone in the Zhong Clan deemed Zhong Yue to be the clan’s sole heir. Whatever good resources they had, they all pushed it towards Zhong Yue for him to enjoy first, loving and cherishing him to no end.
Although Zhong Yue was arrogant, he was also naive. He was raised thinking he was the center of the world.
【The system stroked its chin：Master, according to my experiences from reading novels, the protagonist halo on Zhong Yue’s head is so bright it’s almost blinding! 】
【Gou Liang smiled lightly: Unfortunately, he met me.】
According to the records of the Zhong Clan’s head, a heaven-fated person must experience a life and death crisis.
Only by passing through this trial would the ‘Asking Heaven’ secret manual appear in his sea of consciousness for him to learn, thus confirming his status.
But not everyone was able to pass through their life and death crisis.
Among the three heaven-fated bodies that appeared in the Zhong Clan, one failed to pass their tribulation and died; the second one was unable to gain the approval of the Asking Heaven seal because they relied on the clan’s power to pass through their crisis, ultimately dying from an illness. Only one person managed to obtain the Asking Heaven Seal and learned the secret techniques. This person later on wrote and published a book for the later generations, greatly increasing the strength of the Zhong Clan as a whole.
After Li Yan managed to pacify Zhong Yue, the two of them rolled together in a corner. Gou Liang quirked his lips: I’m afraid Zhong Yue is on the path of following a certain someone’s footsteps.
“Zhong Quan.”
He called out lightly.
The minute he spoke, a figure immediately appeared in front of him out of nowhere.
Gou Liang said: “Go take care of a matter for me..”
Two days later, on the night of the full moon.
Under the expectant gaze of the old man, Gou Liang swallowed the Lust Quelling Pill——
“Eat it assuredly, as long as you don’t die right away after eating it, this old man I have the confidence to bring you back from even the underworld.”
The old man boasted about himself while saying words that would scare little kids. Since the Lust Quelling Pill was about to negate a person’s sensation, naturally it was made with poison and other unusual medicines. The old man said: “The poison in your body is indeed fierce. Later, don’t try to endure the itchiness and other feelings like usual, tell me straightforwardly so I can increase the dose of medicine accordingly.”
“Thank you, grandfather.”
Gou Liang smiled and warmly answered the elder.
The old man observed with shining eyes. Gou Liang didn’t use the shield this time and as expected, the usually hellish itching sensation had weakened a lot. At most, it felt like a slight itch, the kind that could be resolved with a few scratches.
The old man who was extremely satisfied with the result, received another ‘sincere’ praise from Gou Liang.
Zhong Quan, however, didn’t dare to let his guard down. He stayed by Gou Liang’s side until daybreak before finally relaxing somewhat.
【System: This road of seduction seems like a long and arduous one..】
【Gou Liang: What did you say?＾_＾】
【System: Master, fighting! I’m cheering for you oh~ (o* ==)o 】
Compared to the screwy mission progress bar, the matter Gou Liang instructed Zhong Quan to do was carried out smoothly.
Before Zhong Chao arrived at the capital, King An once again sent an invitation to Zhong Yue, but this time not to a restaurant but to a drinking party.
Qin Pavilion, a private brothel where one could lose themselves in fun and music.
Here, no matter your preference, you could find one that suited your taste.
King An naturally didn’t just invite Zhong Yue to watch beauties dance and make music behind the screen. After about half a bottle of wine had been drunk, the group of hedonistic noble sons began to let loose and have fun. A person came to King An’s side and whispered something into his ears.
King An revealed an odd and profound smile. He suddenly became more unrestrained in drinking wine.
Zhong Yue who was sitting beside them caught the keyword ‘his highness’. He couldn’t help but ask: “Your highness King An, what news put you in such a good mood? Why don’t you say it aloud so the joy can be shared?”
King An chuckled and said: “Something indeed made this king delighted. The person I hate most, he’s currently..there.” He pointed towards the room on the right. Moving closer towards Zhong Yue, he said: “Beloved subject, say, why wouldn’t someone love a warm and gentle jade, instead they rather love a man who is cold to them? But that is also good. One day..I’ll rip apart his pretense and reveal his true face to everyone!”
Saying this, he downed another cup of wine.
Turning a blind eye to Zhong Yue whose complexion suddenly changed, King An continued to say: “Besides, a person’s heart, it’s really laughable. When the person is yours, you don’t cherish him, now that the person is missing, unknown if dead or alive, he can’t get him out of his mind. Since he couldn’t get the original one, he racked his brain to get a replacement. Wouldn’t you say this sort of person is utter trash? Hmph, what right does he have to compete with this king?!”
After saying this, he no longer brought up this depressing subject. He called out to his guests to drink up.
However, Zhong Yue couldn’t sit still. He hastily made an excuse saying his alcohol tolerance was lacking before bidding goodbye. King An was displeased but couldn’t force him to stay. Other guests were calling him to drink with them so he could only have someone send the other off.
Zhong Yue lost the person sending him off and pushed open the door to a room according to the direction King An had pointed towards. He stormed in and saw a figure working hard, the back view strikingly reassembled Li Yan. The person underneath him called out ‘your highness’ in an unhappy voice.
Rage burned away Zhong Yue’s rationality. He rushed forwards and tore the two people apart. However, just as he was about to let loose his temper, he discovered that this person wasn’t Li Yan at all!
This was a trap!
This thought just came to Zhong Yue when the other person dragged him firmly into his arms.
“Where did this charming sir come from, do you also want to play with this young master?”
The pimple-faced man said this and moved to rip open his clothes, causing Zhong Yue to be enraged. He slapped his hands away: “What great courage you have, do you know who I am?!”
Having been hit, the man angrily slapped Zhong Yue across the face. The resounding and crisp sound from the slap scared the original male courtesan into trembling. “Then do you know who I am?! You dare treat me like this!”
Saying this, he dismissed the original male courtesan and flipped Zhong Yue onto the bed.
Zhong Yue wanted to retaliate only to find that he was slowly losing his strength. His body softened and became hot. He suddenly had the frightening realization that he had been poisoned..
The man thrust his fingers deep within, he was experienced and when his fingers slipped right through, he slapped Zhong Yue again, scolding him: “Fuck, who knows how many men have screwed you and you still have the face to act like a virgin in front of me!”
Saying this, he entered mercilessly.
Zhong Yue let out a miserable cry——
Outside the room, everyone was merry and music filled the air. The elegant sounds of guqin sounded intermittently, but the scenes inside the private rooms were extremely decadent.
In the private room, King An had drank too much. He complained to the hedonistic noble sons that the crown prince was wicked and deceitful, causing the group to break out in sweat. They tactfully had King An’s people to take their master home.
King An mumbed that he wanted to drink more. He was covered in the stench of alcohol as he was helped onto the carriage.
When the carriage departed, where was there a hint of intoxication to be seen on King An’s face? He nervously looked at Niu Bi, his aide who had come to his side not long ago but had achieved many meritorious results, and asked: “Sir, this plan, how certain are you that it’ll work?”
Niu Bi replied calmly, “Rest assured, your highness. When has this subordinate disappointed you before?”
King An felt that the other was right and smiled while saying: “In another hour, the rooster will cry. It is about time for that diligent imperial brother of mine to rise from bed.”
It turned out an hour was superfluous. Not even half an hour passed and Li Yan who had just gotten out of bed rushed to Qin Pavillion.
When Li Yan broke through the door and entered, Zhong Yue had already submitted to the man above him, his legs tightly wrapped around the other——his expression was many times more lewd than the shy and reserved appearance he had when they did it!
The blood vessels in his eyes popped. Although he knew this was because the incense lit in Qin Pavilion had an aphrodisiac effect, this scene lodged a knife into his self-esteem as a man.historical
He walked forward with a sword in hand, wanting to teach the wild man a lesson, but it turned out that this person wasn’t just any small character. Although his conduct was terrible, he came from a strong background, he was the second son of General Zhen Guo’s first wife!
His arrival did not stop the two people who were still immersed in lust.
Li Yan stared at the object that was moving in and out of Zhong Yue’s body, his eyes red, hating that he couldn’t cut it off and feed it to the dogs. Ultimately, he could only toss the sword aside and knock the both of them unconscious.
Li Yan reached out, wanting to lift up Zhong Yu whose entire body was wet and sticky, but in the end he still felt repulsed and only used a blanket to cover him. He walked out and had his bodyguard send Zhong Yue back instead.
“Master, the matter has been done.”
Zhong Quan reported.
Gou Liang naturally knew this already, he watched it with his own eyes when that splendid play acted itself out.
“Well done.”
Gou Liang smiled faintly, “Didn’t Zhong Yue want to throw me into a brothel to be used by everyone? How you treat others is how you will be treated in return. My gift to him, I’m sure he’ll like it.”