The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 96: City Of Mist (10)

Chapter 96: City Of Mist (10)

This was absolutely the very first time that Miaomiao had taken the initiative to hug him.

Mu Sheng was floored. He didn’t dare move a muscle. Even breathing seemed to be too intrusive for him at that moment. All of his attention and focus was completely concentrated on the area her arms touched when they wrapped around him. He felt Miaomiao’s arms wrapped around his waist move stiffly a few times, then she spoke in a low voice: “We didn’t even go to Huazhe today. Once Sister Mu and them return, should we get them to repeat it to you again?”

So that was all.

There was… an unidentifiable taste filling up his heart.

He had never cared about his own matters but now, there were people who cared more about these things than he did.

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He paused for a moment before obediently replying with an: “Mhm.”

Ling Miaomiao felt like she was done placating him and was about to retrieve her hand when he quickly moved his arm and pressed down her hand on his waist like a hoodlum.

Miaomiao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, no longer struggling. Under the dusky glow of the candlelight, she was connected to him in this bizarre position. Suddenly, she made a small noise: “Ziqi, are you afraid of hearing that story?”

Yw Ssdtpbk’p pvsau bye yzalyeu rypple vbl byzqoyu rskdv. Tl pbswze’hl clld yczl vs twlpp cu vbkp vkxl vbl ayrke elhlzsrxldvp vbyv oswze cl pssd vs nsxl.

Tl bye zssjle qsa vbl vawvb qsa pwnb y zsdt vkxl ulv kd vbl lde kv fwpv qlzz vs vbl taswde kd qasdv sq bkp qllv. Fsxlbso, kv xyel bkx oydv vs pbu yoyu ulv yzps bsxlpknj yv vbl pyxl vkxl.

Mbl pkzldnl vbyv qszzsole bla osaep oyp zldtvbu yde ps pbl alynble swv okvb bla qkdtlap yde rsjle bkp nblpv. Fbl czkdjle y qlo vkxlp clqsal pyukdt: “Ohld kq kv oyp vbl vawvb, kv’p yzz kd vbl rypv. Wya, qya kd vbl rypv.”

Tl oyp pkzldv yp vbl dktbv obkzl bl alrlyvlezu nyalpple vbl pkel sq bla oykpv kd yd yzxspv nzkdtu xyddla. Tl eke kv qsa ps zsdt vbyv pbl qlzv bla pkelp pvyav vs clnsxl wdnsxqsavyczu bsv. Gqvla y raltdydv pkzldnl, bl lmvldele bkp yaxp yde oayrrle vblx yaswde bla, rwzzkdt bla vktbvzu kdvs bkp yaxp.

Ykysxkys oyp sdzu olyakdt y vbkd zyula sq nzsvblp, sdl vbyv pbl aydesxzu esddle fwpv dso. Mbl vos sq vblx pvwnj vstlvbla ps vktbvzu vbyv pbl qlzv y zkvvzl wdnsxqsavyczl. Fbl rwpble bkp nblpv zkjl y zkvvzl ydkxyz pvawttzkdt.

“Ybx, R’x pnyale.” Tkp ellr hsknl pweeldzu nyxl qasx ycshl bla blye.

Nkdt Ykysxkys rywple qsa y xsxldv, qsatlvvkdt bla pvawttzl. Fbl aykple bla blye vs zssj yv bkp nbkd, xwxczkdt: “Tyhl usw lhla blyae sq vbl rbaypl, ‘G blas kp y blas, vblu dlle dsv vlzz vblka cynjtaswde pvsau’?”

Gqvla pbl qkdkpble bla osaep, pbl qlzv zkjl pbl bye clld vss pvkdtu okvb bla osaep yde pwrrzlxldvle okvb rassq sq bla qllzkdtp. Fbl jkpple bkx psqvzu sd bkp nsze dlnj, kd yd kdlmrlakldnle xyddla. Fbl qlzv zkjl pbl oyp y osserlnjla bszekdt yd kdplnv kd kvp xswvb.

He immediately stiffened and his arms tightened around her. All of his attention was absorbed in an instant. He tilted his head upwards, waiting a decent amount of time, but in the end still never received a second one.

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He paused, eyelashes trembling a few times in grievance: “No more?”

“….What?” Ling Miaomiao’s free hand was still playing with the black pearls on his clothes when she went into a blank state. When she suddenly heard his question, confusion clouded her face.

The youth’s eye’s darkened like night fall. The dusky candlelight barely drew out the contour of his lips as he held her chin tightly. He lowered his head towards hers, the glimmer of water sparkling in his eyes as he said purposely: “….I’m not even comparable to the cockroaches in a ditch, how could I possibly be a hero…”

Ling Miaomiao’s eyes quickly filled with a sincere, fiery fury. “At least other cockroaches seem to find that their lives are pretty comfortable, nothing like you at all…”

Before she finished her words, she suddenly felt a pang of sourness fill her heart. The emotion surged up to her head and she wrapped her arms around his neck again, pulling him close, and kissing him once more. This time however, she didn’t stop at just one kiss. She kissed him over and over again… Several times, she even kissed his adam’s apple, causing his eyes to darken every time she did so.

Only then did she finally let go of him. She didn’t use much force as she pushed him away this time, speaking in a slightly angry tone: “What kind of nonsense are you saying.”

The moment her anger dissipated, she subconsciously touched the corner of her lip before reaching back to the shallow teeth marks she had left on his neck. She was stunned in that moment as a sheen of cold sweat immediately beaded on her back.

She had to have taught the black lotus wrongly by now. Whenever she felt like hitting him without thinking, she would just subconsciously…

Before she could finish the thought, she was immediately flipped over and pressed down. She felt like she couldn’t move a single part of her body.

The youth kissed her hair and immediately lowered his head to take a deep breath at the side of her neck. His hands caressed her waist as he whispered into her ears, asking: “How about another round?”

“Please wait a moment.” Mu Yao panted as she caught up. “The parts of the story you left out, can you tell us the whole and real story?”

The old man sunk into deep thought before asking: “Daoist Mu, what part of the story do you want to hear?”

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“In the room, Young Noble Zhao looked for Mu Rongshi to discuss. Just what in the world did he say?”

The old man rubbed his head a few times before making a forced smile: “I won’t hide it from you, the memories I gained from that pearl were limited. Many parts were fractured or wholly missing. As such, many of the events were things this old man had to make up myself to make it all make sense.”

“Then according to your own understanding, what might they have talked about?”

He exhaled lightly before saying: “Young Noble Zhao went to ask Mu Rongshi about her identity. At first, Mu Rongshi was silent for a while before telling him the truth. She told him that she was…” He narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Mu Yao, “She said that she wasn’t human, that she… that she was…” The old man sounded quite uncertain, unable to completely form the thoughts and words together.

“Succubus.” ¹ [1] Succubus. I translated this as Enchantress at the beginning of the novel but now I’ve realized that Enchantress is a very misleading name for this so I’ll be changing the name to a more fitting, albeit western, name. Liu Fuyi added in at an apt moment. Mu Yao’s face immediately turned a pale white but didn’t interrupt him.

“That’s right, a succubus.” The old man’s eyes lit up as he asked in a rather anxious tone: “Is this succubus… a demon? I’m just afraid that if I say it out, it’ll cause panic so I could only remove this part of the story.”

Mu Yao’s expression turned complicated. Her fingertips subconsciously danced in the air, as if by doing so they could help her deny reality: “Was she really a succubus?”

Liu Fuyi continued: “Succubi are born unable to shed tears. However, if their sorrow reaches an extreme, they will shed a tear of blood. In the transparent teardrops they shed, there will be a blood pearl.”

He paused for a moment before raising his hand to indicate to the old man to continue.

“Young Noble Zhao’s expression became very difficult to look at. He repeatedly asked her again and again why she wanted to entice and charm him, why she wanted to trick him?”

“Mu Rongshi was stunned for a good while before finally replying that she hadn’t done so. However, Young Noble Zhao didn’t believe her, and seemingly on the edge of erupting with anger, gathered his possessions and left soon after.

Young Noble Zhao was a conceited and arrogant person. On some things, he would generate a preconceived notion and it would be very difficult for him to change his views on them. He was simply Obstinate and self-opinionated to the extreme.

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The more he cared about this matter, the more he grew suspicious and in the end, the more his thoughts started to become increasingly ridiculous.

Succubi innately possessed extremely beautiful appearances. They were creatures that could naturally charm people from the womb. Thus, no matter how much she tried to explain that she was sincere, how could people believe her?”

Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi were both speechless. A long, pregnant pause later, Liu Fuyi turned to Mu Yao’s ear and spoke a few words. Soon, Mu Yao turned around and began to walk back to Huazhe.

Once she had gone far enough, Liu Fuyi asked another question: “When her child was born, did anything strange happen?”

“…..” The old man was silent for a while. He licked his lips, “When he was born, his skin was as pale as snow. His ears were very sharp and his hair was long enough to cover his forehead the moment he came out. He didn’t cry either. He looked very strange. However, on the second day after his birth, he seemed to turn back into a normal newly born baby.”

“Oh right.” He suddenly remembered something and gestured with his hands, “When he was small, his hair grew terrifyingly quick. In the span of one night, it grew from his shoulder down to his waist. On the day they left Huazhe, his mother pulled out a giant pair of scissors from her drawers. She seemed to hesitate for a long time before finally grabbing ahold of him and cutting it off.”

“What kind of scissors was it?”

The old man recalled the memory for a moment: “It was the kind of scissor farmers use to cut grass. Except that… on the axle of the scissor, there was a small indented crescent moon.”

“Broken Moon Scissors?” Liu Fuyi muttered to himself in a low voice. Though it was not obvious, he was absolutely flabbergasted internally.

Mu Yao returned by now, asking, “Then what was Young Noble Zhao’s real name?”

“On this I’m not sure of. I only heard Mu Rongshi call him ‘Qinghuan’ once.”

Zhao… Qinghuan…

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From a big clan… Chang’an City…

Mu Yao was unable to come to for a good while. The male protagonist of this story was, surprisingly, Dowager Consort Zhao’s very own blood-related brother… Marquis Qingyi.

Encountering this situation today made her feel an overwhelming sense of fear and trepidation. The child that her demon hunter family adopted… had a mother who was an extremely-difficult-to-deal-with greater demon.

On top of that, this greater demon was a succubus… in that case… would this have anything to do with ‘her’? Or could it be…

She sunk into deep thought: If Marquis Qingyi truly was Mu Sheng’s birth father, how in the world did he come into possession of that jade tile? Why then did her parents lie to her, telling her that they had picked up Mu Sheng from a demon’s den?

He had a dream. In the dream, the incessant clip clop of horseshoes knocking against the road came in through the window. Countless long and slender strips of sunlight streamed in messily, illuminating the small and narrow room. His head was placed on the wooden windowsill as he looked out the window.

This was not the building covered with embroidery as red as blood. The person talking beside him did not possess the soft-spoken tone of those from the south. From time to time, horses trotted by, causing small scale dust clouds to rise.

He knew that this wasn’t his house.

His exposed upper back revealed several angrily red scars. There were still several clearly purple blemishes on his arms, covering a shocking amount of his skin.

In this hidden and dark room, the one remaining thread of warmth and love he possessed before seemed to dissipate into the sky like smoke.

A woman knelt beside him on a cushion, in front of a shoddy looking mirror doing her makeup. She was putting a beautiful but fake mask onto her stunning face. Her eyebrows seemed to be flying, as sharp as they were, and were basically the deadly swords of a calamity-bringing beauty.

His dark pupils reflected the dome of sky above him, slowly turning from an azure blue to a dusky yellow.

He sat by the window the entire day, looking expectantly towards a single point of light. Yet, he didn’t even know who he was waiting for.

Sometimes, he would just watch the swallows build their mud nests below the eaves. However, before they could finish building their nests, the little beggars on the street would take rods and prod at it, causing the nest to fall down. Then, its small eggs would shatter against the ground, spilling their contents everywhere, slowly dripping and flowing out of the shattered mud nests.

The swallows would then cry out in lament while flapping their wings. They would stare with wide eyes yet, they had no home left.

The beggars would smile ruthlessly then scramble and fight over the flowing liquid on the ground.

He shrunk back, feeling the fingertips of his hand that he left outside the window were cold.

A shadow gathered above his head. A wave of low-quality perfume from her body seemed to envelop him as she came over. He twisted his head over and she towered over him, peering down at him. There was a hint of coldness in her slight smile, “Hungry?”

He unnaturally blinked a few times then caressed his stomach. He pursed his lips, speaking in a voice as loud as a mosquito: “Hungry.”

“Hungry hmm.” She smiled, slowly kneeling down. She wrapped her arm around his neck, then turned his head, forcing him to continue looking outside. Her cold fingertips caused him to feel shivers travel down his spine. “Do you see it?” She pointed at the several disease-ridden beggars outside. “Go on then, go and eat with them.”

He continually shrunk backwards, a deep sense of unease filling his pupils: “Mother…”

“Your mother can’t raise you.” She made a final conclusion, an extremely evil and sinister smile adorning her face. “If you go out begging for food, you have to ask for the best. If you can’t, then just go steal it, snatch it away.”

She looked at him, laughter filling her maroon-colored eyes. It was like an inescapable curse: “If you can’t even do this…” Her beautifully enticing red lips opened lightly: “Then just go die.”

“….” He shuddered and the moment she turned around, he leapt forward and hugged her thigh in a panic. He looked like a drowning person grasping for their very last straw.

“Mother….” His voice was akin to a small beast imploring in terror and fear, “I heard, I heard that…”

Please don’t abandon me…

She suddenly turned her head. Her painted fingernails, red with cinnabar, abruptly seized his small neck and immediately shoved him against the short window.

The look in her eyes was filled with turbulent resentfulness, “If it wasn’t for you, how could I be forced to end up in a place like this?”

He opened his mouth but could not make a noise in the end. She loosened her hand and he slumped down to the ground, leaning against the windowsill. He coughed repeatedly as two glaringly purple bruises started to form around his snow white neck.

She kneeled down again, coming close to him. The light in her eyes seemed to be that of one watching a small dying puppy. She caressed his hair with a pitying look on her face yet still contained a slight coldness in her tone: “Xiao Sheng’er, you must be obedient. Before you kill him, you have to beg for food, alright?”

“Mother isn’t abandoning you. Once you kill him, mother will bring you away. Wherever you want to go, no matter where it is. Alright?”

She calmed down as she promised in an abnormally calm and warm tone.

Young children were, in the end, still prone to being tricked. They did not have to be lied to nor deceived; As long as she smiled at him like she had done in the past, he would immediately do as she said and believe her.

A small, delicate and cautious expectation formed within his heart. Once it did so, he forgot about the pain, he forgot about the scars and bruises. He was once again close to her: “Then… where are you going mother?”

She silently straightened her hairpin, smiling slightly: “Mother has important matters to deal with.”

She lowered her head, caressing his face with her sharp fingernails. Several times, they grinded dangerously harshly against his cheeks, “Xiao Sheng’er, would you like to have sisters and brothers?”

Her hand was extremely cold and he felt like it was instead, a piece of ice touching his skin. It was so cold, it made his entire body feel rigid. He instinctually shook his head.

He was thinking that she must’ve gone mad, where could a brother or sister possibly come from?

She smiled happily: “Good, very obedient. Mother also doesn’t like them — None of them are getting away.”

Someone had folded both sides of the quilt, wrapping him inside. However, the quilt was too thick so the corners of the quilt went rogue. She mumbled to her a few times before turning her body to press it down with her body.

She hugged him, using arms and legs, through the quilt. She was like a bear hugging a tree, the term ‘bear hug’ becoming an apt description to the situation based on how tightly she was hugging him.

He opened his eyes, coincidentally meeting with her eyes. The person in front of his eyes was shocked by his actions. Soon afterwards, she felt too embarrassed and quickly released him, rolling to the side.

The corner of the quilt immediately bounced back up and his hand shot out from within the quilt. In one smooth motion, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms. Her cheeks were plastered against his solar plexus, the two of them forming a hot ball.

This sort of heat was all pervasive, seemingly radiating through all four of her limbs in an instant. His blood within his veins finally returned to normal speeds, his bright red blood speeding up its travels. It was like he had started to pull himself out of the ice-cold cave he had fallen into.

“Still cold?” She asked.

“….”

“You kept shivering just now.” Her eyelashes fluttered, causing his chest to feel itchy. She felt like she couldn’t let go of the topic yet as she asked once again, “…Are you still cold?”

He closed his eyes, slowly kissing her warm cheeks softly: “Not cold anymore.”

The sunlight streaming through the canopy was now almost a little blinding. Everywhere the sun shone on seemed to glow beautifully with warmth. Under the sunlight, the girl moved closer, seemingly bringing a halo of open-hearted warmth with her. She openly drilled her way deep into his arms, hugging him tightly.

It felt as warm as it did in his dreams.

[1] Succubus. I translated this as Enchantress at the beginning of the novel but now I’ve realized that Enchantress is a very misleading name for this so I’ll be changing the name to a more fitting, albeit western, name.

TLN: Wow, did not expect that twist at all… who would’ve thought that Marquis Qingyi would be Mu Sheng’s birth father :0

As we approach the end of the story, more and more details and hidden connections get revealed… I might have to reread the entire novel up to this point just to remember some of the less obvious details the author left behind.

Anyways, as usual hope y’all enjoyed 🙂 I self-edited this chapter again so it might not flow the smoothest, sorry about that… Hope y’all are having a great summer break… go out and have fun, don’t stay inside all day long on your devices lololol. I feel like such a grandpa saying that.