The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 77: Great Fissure In The Ground (13)

Chapter 77: Great Fissure In The Ground (13)

Ling Miaomiao sat beside Mu Sheng’s bed. She stirred the medicine in the bowl but was hit by a sudden impulse. She raised the spoon to her mouth and took a small taste, her entire face immediately crumpling up into a ball, “Blegh blegh ugh—-”

Mu Sheng had a complex expression on his face as he watched her, “That’s my medicine, why are you drinking it?”

“I was just testing the temperature….” When she opened her mouth to complain, her tongue was still a bit numb and a thick bitter flavor pervaded her mouth with no way for her to get rid of. She couldn’t help but place the bowl on the table, “This can’t do, this medicine is undrinkable. It’s bitter enough to kill someone!”

“What do you mean undrinkable?” He raised the bowl and was about to drink it when he suddenly froze. His hand shook and he placed the bowl back where it was.

“What’s wrong? Ling Miaomiao became very anxious in the blink of an eye, “Was your hand injured as well?”

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The youth touched his own wrist and paused for a moment. Then he lowered his head then replied with an ‘mhm’ without clearly displaying his meaning.

She didn’t recall a wound being on his hand. Could it be that when he tossed her up from the underground palace, he used too much force and dislocated his wrist….

Ling Miaomiao looked over at his sleeve, “Where’s the injury?”

Tl oldv pkzldv qsa y qlo xsxldvp cwv vbl vkrp sq bkp lyap olal ale. “Ohld kq R pyu kv, usw oswzed’v jdso.”

Fbl zlv swv y pktb sq ekpyrrskdvxldv. Fbl rknjle wr vbl csoz zkjl y okzvle qzsola yde rwv y prssdqwz dlya bkp xswvb, “Mbld usw byhl vs nyzz Fkpvla Yw shla zyvla kd vbl yqvladssd vs vyjl y zssj. El nyd sdzu xyjl es kd vbl nwaaldv pkvwyvksd R twlpp.”

Yw Fbldt zsolale bkp blye, vyjkdt kv yzz hlau olzz yp bl eaydj vbl xleknkdl.

Mblal oyp y rlakse sq nsxrzlvl pkzldnl okvbkd vbl assx.

Gqvla vos pkrp, bl pweeldzu zsolale bkp blye yde pyke, “Rv’p vkakdt vs nsdvkdwyzzu clde xu blye.”

“…..” Nkdt Ykysxkys oyp prllnbzlpp yp pbl oyvnble bkx. Fbl pkxrzu nswze dsv kxytkdl vbyv psxlsdl nswze qllz vbyv xshkdt vblka nbkd yde blye esod vs eakdj xleknkdl nswze qllz vkale, “Ysal vkakdt vbyd xl bszekdt vbkp csoz bwb.”

Tl zssjle yv bla yde prsjl kd y nzlya vsdl, “Fnssnb sd shla nzspla.”

Nkdt Ykysxkys zsolale bla blye vs vyjl y zssj yde pyo vbyv bla jdllp olal yzalyeu aktbv ytykdpv vbl cle qayxl. Rq pbl xshle nzspla….

She simply just kicked off her shoes and raised one leg to climb onto the bed. Only by the time that she was already completely on the bed did she realize that her actions could be somewhat rude. She froze for a moment to spit out a question, “You don’t mind right?”

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Mu Sheng lowered his head to look at the bowl in her hand, “…don’t say so much nonsense.”

Ling Miaomiao twisted her body around and slowly shifted her body over to his side. He moved deeper into the bed, giving her some space to sit.

“Wow, this is so much more comfortable~” Ling Miaomiao let out a sigh and rubbed her palms together. She sat close to him, basically right beside his face as she raised a spoon towards his mouth. However, he suddenly closed his mouth and the medicine immediately spilled down. It dripped down the corners of his mouth, down his neck and continued downwards.

“Ah—-” She hurriedly shot out her hand to grab her handkerchief to wipe away the medicine. At the same time, she wiped over his throat and touched the corner of his lips as she did so. She simply covered his mouth with her hand and fiercely scolded, “Didn’t you say I had a leaky mouth in the past? Look at you now, spilling your medicine. Why’d you close your mouth when you’re supposed to drink hah?”

She used four of her fingers to press the handkerchief against his lips. Above the striking white handkerchief was his eyes that looked like they were filled with billowing waves. He was staring at her without blinking, his long lashes unmoving.

Their eyes met in the air and Ling Miaomiao felt the confidence deflate out of her, “You…. was the medicine too bitter for you? So you couldn’t drink it?”

“…..” His lashes lightly trembled as he looked at her face without saying a word.

She placed the bowl of medicine on the table and used one hand to cover his mouth. With the other, she quickly pulled out a paper bag from her clothes and opened it with one hand. Then, she pinched out two sticky and sweet candied jujubes from within and stuffed them into his mouth. Immediately afterward, she blocked up his mouth again, afraid that he would resist and spit them out. After a while, she tilted her head and asked, “Is it sweet?”

The youth’s hand softly grabbed onto her wrist. She moved the article away from his face and found that he had already silently swallowed the candied jujubes.

Ling Miaomiao wiped her hand and then picked up the bowl again, patiently extolling him, “The better the medicine, the more bitter it is to swallow and the more effective it is. Sister Mu prescribed this herself with painstaking effort. Why don’t you drink more of it?” She slightly opened her mouth, swearing to herself internally that she had not even been this patient with her younger brother in kindergarten, “Ah—-”

He looked at her slightly open mouth for a moment before spitting out a single word,“Sweet.”

“…..”

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The words she was about to speak were all swallowed back down. Ling Miaomiao felt like tossing the bowl. How could there possibly be a person with such ridiculously slow reactions?

Mu Sheng drank the medicine again. To be honest, he drank in a very adverse manner. Each spoonful of medicine required him to swallow thrice. Even when she urged him, he would just lower his eyes and say softly, “Hot.”

“I’ve tested it out already, it’s not hot.” Ling Miaomiao felt a sense of resentment at the fact that he had not improved at all under her patience. She nearly swung the ladle against his lips, wishing that she could just dump the entirety of the bowl down his throat, “How about this, why don’t you blow on it yourself….”

“….” He looked at the medicine then returned to staring at her. His gaze was rife with condemnation. It was to the point that even Ling Miaomiao felt a little apologetic. She could only face the window and let the cool winds blowing in cool down the medicine for an entire ten minutes.

Once she began feeding him again, he still continued closing his mouth from time to time, causing the medicine to spill everywhere.

“Why can’t you even drink medicine hah?” Ling Miaomiao was furious. She was extremely angry as she stuffed the stained handkerchief into his face. Her bright apricot eyes were fuming as she stared at him.

Mu Sheng looked at her and was silent for a long time before finally saying with a grievance filled expression, “It’s too bitter.”

She didn’t have anything to say as she remembered the taste just not long ago. This medicine really was a little difficult to swallow. She could only silently continue feeding him. All the sweat on her forehead was dried by the cool wind.

To finish a single bowl of medicine required three entire hours. It was so long that she lost her temper.

After putting away the bowl, she looked as if she had just gone through a battle. She rubbed her wrists before finally remembering, “Oh yeah, my Demon Restraining Circlet….”

When Mu Sheng heard her words, he took off the band on his right hand. When he raised his head however, he was stunned.

She had clenched her hand into a fist, her thin and white wrist was right in front of his eyes.

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Her subconscious action wasn’t to reach out to take the circlet from his hand. Rather… it was for him to place it on her wrist.

He hesitated for a long time, his gaze completely absorbed by her wrist. Her bone protruded slightly out the side of her wrist. Her skin was glossy and beautiful. He could barely see her green veins through her skin traveling up her petite arm. It was all white, soft and pliable extending out of her peacock blue sleeves.

He hesitated again for a long time. In the end, he couldn’t resist anymore and reached out to grab her wrist.

Ling Miaomiao was at a loss and completely blanked out when he grabbed onto her hand. Immediately afterward, she felt his fingers clearly closely touching her wrist and caressing it. It made her feel like her entire arm became numb. At the same time, it felt like there was a claw scratching at her heart.

That feeling was just simply…. Like a child grabbing onto a new toy…

Simply enjoying it too much to let go.

The instant these words appeared within her mind, she immediately shivered all over — How could she feel such a ridiculous misconception?

Mu Sheng also abruptly withdrew his hands, his gaze seemingly unable to find safety.

Ling Miaomiao was still extending her hand in confusion, “Wh…what was that?”

He was still holding the Demon Restraining Circlet in his palm. His lashes quivered but his tone was very smooth, “Nothing… I was just afraid it wouldn’t fit so I was checking your wrist size.” As soon as he finished saying that, he pulled her wrist towards him and rapidly placed the circlet on her wrist. Then, he no longer looked at her.

Ling Miaomiao felt a void in her heart and she cupped her face between her hands. Then, she compared her wrists and mumbled to herself, “I really did get fatter recently… but it shouldn’t be to the point where it wouldn’t fit.” She paused for a moment then poked him, “Then why didn’t you measure my wrist the last time?”

“….”

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He paused for a second then suddenly pulled aside the bed covers and slinked in. He turned his body around to face the canopy to hide from her, “You can leave now.”

“Ah?”

“You can go… I want to sleep.”

****

Madam Shi’s long, slender fingers tightly clasped the teapot. The clear tea within the cup turned into a stream as it poured into Mu Yao’s cup.

“Thank you very much.” Mu Yao looked at her charming side profile and paused for a moment. Then her tone softened, “I made a wrong judgement in the past, I misunderstood you greatly… I apologize.”

Four plates of tea and cake were displayed on the table to be paired with tea. They were all exquisitely made and personally made by the female head of the family. She was the wife of Li Zhun, making sure everything was tidy and in its proper place. She was basically flawless.

Madam Shi’s thick brows were just like a small glittering handheld fan. Below was a sweet smile, “This is the first time I’ve heard a demon hunter apologize to a demon.”

Mu Yao’s expression was conscientious and sincere, “My Mu family has its traditional regulations. Slaying demons is just to protect traditional values and protect the safety of the general populace. We absolutely do not kill without good reason.”

Madam Shi nodded and her tone was soft, “The Mu clan of the demon hunting world is known to be noble and benevolent. Mhm, I think I’ve heard this before.”

Liu Fuyi also added in, “I also owe you an apology, I’ve let you down.”

Madam Shi smiled, “Lies in the end are still lies. There will always be a day where everything comes to light. I am a demon and no matter how well I hide, I’ll still eventually reveal myself. How could I blame you all? In the end, with everything over now, I can be at ease.”

She patiently properly arranged all the peppermint leaves on the plate. Then, after a pregnant pause, she spoke with her eyes lowered, “I just have a single doubt left unresolved, I’ve been hiding it in my heart for a long time….”

Liu Fuyi and Mu Yao looked each other in the eyes, “You can just say it.”

Madam Shi raised her devastatingly beautiful face, “After I transformed into a human figure, I felt like having four limbs was the greatest blessing. Towards my appearance, I never really cared. However, to other humans, what kind of meaning does one’s outer appearance have?”

This sentence completely left the two dumbfounded.

The night Chuchu came to a premature end, she had worn a hood as she carried the child in her arms to the doctor’s street. She only revealed half of her face but even in the depths of night, half of the doctors lit up their lanterns for her. They all conversed with her but it was mostly all soft spoken, reverential and respectful. They were afraid of scaring this angel that seemed to have descended from heaven. She carried no money on her and there was even someone who helped her pay.

However, once she put on the carp spirit’s skin and returned to the Li residence, the whole world seemed to change. The children on the street that saw her burst into tears, the women whispered, the men avoided her anxiously with a strange sense of loathing in their eyes.

She went over to grab medicine a few times at the very same doctor’s with the same accompanying members yet their words were cold and their tone even colder. They couldn’t even be bothered to reply.

When she walked in and out of the Li Residence, she would hear rushed laughter coming from the corners. The servants would look at her with curiosity and fear. They would speak in a deferential tone when it was face to face but behind her back, never dared to approach her.

In the midst of the world turning on its head for her, there were only a few people in her life that treated her normally. Just like a fireplace in the winter. Li Zhun was one of them.

“At the start, I didn’t understand… later on, I slowly started to realize.” She smiled bitterly. “The human world was still the same old, it’s just that my face changed.”

She caressed her own charming earlobe. Her gaze was blank and her tone carried a bit of… mocking within it. “Humans sometimes truly are strange. It feels like sometimes those who aren’t beautiful aren’t worthy of love. Those who are too beautiful are also unable to receive love. I really cannot make any sense of it. What exactly do people want?”

Mu Yao could sense another meaning in her words, “How could beauty be a sin? Could it be that in the past, you were…”

“No, no, it wasn’t me.” She explained, “Do you not know about that person from Wufang Town? As a young female member of the fox demon race, my parents have told me from when I was small that that person is two-faced. Mother and father told me before that if one’s outer appearance was too beautiful, one would not have a good outcome. Ever since then, whenever I transformed into my human form, I would always feel fear and tremble nonstop.”

“Wufang Town….” Liu Fuyi stared blankly for a moment before his gaze lit up, “You’re talking about… Qiling Mountain…”

Lingqiu was situated in a corner of Qilin Mountain. The Fei clan of fox demons knew about ‘her’ so he could imagine how this was all very reasonable.

“Who still remembers Qilin Mountain nowadays?” Madam Shi’s gaze turned indistinct as she looked at him, “It’s become a joke. In short, this is how it is: Everyone knows about Wufang Town, and no one knows Qilin Mountain.”

She seemed to feel a surge of emotions as she took a long breath followed by an even longer sigh. “How can beauty be so vague?

She just loved the wrong person.”

Mu Yao took a great deal of time to recover from her words, her throat tightening as she spoke, “Have you seen ‘her’?”

Madam Shi nodded: “When I was young I had the fortune to see her once. At that time I remember that she still hadn’t left Qilin Mountain. At the same, she was also a demon born of the heavens and the earth. However, she was many times stronger than the illusion demon. Afterwards, I had even less opportunities to see her. It’s just that amongst the sisters in the clan, I heard rumors that — even now, the one in Wufang Town has definitely lost control already.”

Mu Yao’s face turned pale and inadvertently clenched her fists around the Demon Restraining Circlet, “Where… where is she?”

Madam Shi slightly smiled: “If you all want to find her, just go to Wufang Town and wait. That was where she was born. That is also where all of her dreams were destroyed. Even if she ran all the way to Hainan, in the very end, she would still return there…”

TLN: Ohhh… so cryptic… in fact, I have no idea who they’re talking about either lol.