LWSL Chapter 120

Big thanks and a shout-out to biki for sending me a laptop so that I can translate LWSL more conveniently!

Tian Yuan Zhai was the biggest medicine shop in Tianxing. Other than exceedingly rare and precious medicinal ingredients, the shop also had all kinds of other medicinal ingredients. On top of that, the medicine shop also sold and bought medicine pills that were refined by physicians. Because of that, there was an endless stream of people coming in and out of the medicine shop.

The moment Wu Qianqing entered the medicine shop, he asked: “Xiao-Ruo, what kind of medicine do you want to buy?”

Wu Ruo said: “Dad, I want to shop around on my own.”

“…” Wu Qianqing felt very sad. His son was already all grown up, hiding everything from him: “Alright then, I’ll just take a look around on the first floor.”

Wu Ruo went straight up to the second floor, and looked for the shopkeeper who was in charge of the second floor’s medicinal ingredients: “Manager, do you buy Spirit Replenishing pills¹补灵丹 (bu ling dan): I’ve translated the name of the pill quite literally here. Explanation on the uses of the pill coming right up in the next paragraph.?”

He had refined Spirit Replenishing pills with the leftover ingredients from the time when he had refined Energy Replenishing pills for Hei Xuanyi. Its main usage was as a pill to replenish spiritual energy for magic practitioners after they had overexerted their spiritual energy. Its efficacy was a lot worse than Energy Replenishing pills. Of course, he would leave the good medicine pills for his own husband’s use.

“We do, would you²公子 (gong zi): the shop manager refers to Wu Ruo as ‘gong zi’ instead of using ‘ni’, which is politer. I’ve translated it as ‘young master’ before and left notes about the differences between gong zi and shao ye previously. For the sake of easier reading, I leave this footnote instead. like to sell Spirit Replenishing pills?” When the shop manager saw that there was business at his doorstep, he replied with a beaming smile: “Over here, we take one Spirit Replenishing pill for ten taels of silver, would you be willing to sell to us?”

Wu Ruo pretended as though he was considering it: “Can’t the price go a little higher?”

“The price that our store offers is already the highest. If you go to other shops, you definitely won’t be able to sell it at this price.” The shop manager saw that he had misgivings and continued: “Young master, we also have a rule at our store. In the future, every time that you come to our store to sell medicine pills, you can also buy other medicinal ingredients at a lower price than other people.”

“Alright, then I’ll sell it to you.” Wu Ruo nodded in agreement and pretended to take bottles of medicine out of his sleeves, although in reality, he was taking the medicine pills out of his void space to hand them over to the shopkeeper: “I have a total of five bottles of Spirit Replenishing pills, every bottle has fifty pills, you can count them.”

After the shopkeeper counted them, he handed the money over to Wu Ruo.

Once Wu Ruo received the money, the corners of his lips bloomed into a matchlessly beautiful smile.

The shop manager and other customers next to him couldn’t help staring foolishly.

Wu Ruo bought one thousand taels worth of medicinal ingredients for refining Blood Replenishing and Energy Replenishing pills. Afterward, he went with Wu Qianqing to the tailor’s and a jewelry store to order the clothes that he wanted. He had spent almost all the money that he had earned before he returned to Hei Manor with Wu Qianqing.

They had just entered the manor when Guan Tong came out of the main hall with brisk steps, asking: “Why did you come back so late? Did you run into some kind of trouble?”

Wu Qianqing explained: “After we sent my dad and the others to the Wu estate, I went shopping with Xiao-Ruo to buy some things, that’s why we came back so late.”

Guan Tong let out a small sigh of relief: “As long as you’re alright. Oh, that’s right, how is dad and mum’s health?”

Wu Qianqing sighed: “Dad was blinded in one eye by the vicious gui. Mum had both her legs chopped off by the vicious gui, so it’s not convenient for her to move around right now.”

Guan Tong fell silent.

If it had been before, she would definitely have gotten Wu Qianqing to bring them over to their residence.

Wu Ruo asked: “Mum, where’s Xuanyi?”

“I heard from Hei Xin that he’s reading in the study.”

Wu Ruo walked towards the residential quarters and ran into Dandan, Ji Xi, Jiujiu and Jiaojiao, who were coming out of the residential quarters to eat.

“Daddy, daddy!” Dandan took huge steps with his short little legs and threw himself at Wu Ruo’s legs, spreading his two little arms wide for a hug.

Wu Ruo picked Dandan up, looking at the little face that resembled Hei Xuanyi, and couldn’t help but hug him tighter. In his previous lifetime, he had said that he wanted a child who looked exactly like Hei Xuanyi. At that time, Hei Xuanyi had said that they would have one, then had this child been sent here by the Hei Xuanyi of the previous lifetime?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was very likely.

Dandan pouted his little lips: “Daddy, you’re hugging me too tightly; it hurts.”

“I’m sorry.” Wu Ruo loosened his grip, distressed. This was a precious treasure that the Hei Xuanyi of the previous lifetime had gifted him, he definitely had to dote on Dandan properly.

Dandan hugged Wu Ruo’s neck and said, concerned: “Daddy, is your body alright?”

“Hn, I’m doing very well.” When Wu Ruo saw that Dandan was so concerned for him, he was especially happy in his heart. Although this child was a little mischievous, but, once Wu Ruo had a problem, Dandan would be especially worried for him.

Ji Xi sneered: “You fainted with just a little bit of agitation. Your body really is frail.”

Wu Ruo didn’t explain either, letting Dandan down to the ground, taking out the false skin that had fallen from Hei Xuanyi’s face the last time and asked: “Ji Xi, do you know what this translucent liquid is?”

Ji Xi examined the state of the false skin meticulously: “It corrodes?”

“Yes.”

Ji Xi sniffed its scent: “It’s a little smelly. It seems like the saliva of a yao beast.”

When Wu Ruo heard him say this, he realized that it really did seem like the saliva of a yao beast. It was like how Jiaojiao’s saliva was corrosive.

Ji Xi pointed at Jiujiu and Jiaojiao behind him: “You can ask them³Reminder: Jiujiu and Jiaojiao are referred to with the pronouns for non-humans, like animals or inanimate objects. They are considered creatures, rather than humans or human-like entities like the Mo or the Gui, because Yao are usually animals or plants that have cultivated a consciousness for themselves. In a lot of xianxia/xuanhuan, Yao are able to cultivate human forms once they reach high enough levels. I will be using singular they/them pronouns for the Yao unless it’s been otherwise specified.. They should know which beast this saliva belongs to.”

Wu Ruo got Jiujiu and the others to come over to take a look.

Jiujiu sniffed it: “Jiujiu.”

Jiaojiao smelled it:”Ao-ao.”

The corners of Wu Ruo’s eyes creased: “Don’t think that I don’t know you can speak the language of humans.”

No matter what, in his previous lifetime, he had contracted Jiaojiao before. Whether or not Jiaojiao could speak the language of humans, how could he not know? And Jiujiu was more talented than Jiaojiao, they could definitely speak the language of humans.

Jiujiu: “…”

Jiaojiao: “…”

Ji Xi pursed his lips: “Looks like you aren’t that stupid.”

Jiujiu flapped one wing at Jiaojiao: “You know how to speak the language of humans, what are you making ‘ao-ao‘ noises for.”

Jiaojiao was especially aggrieved. Weren’t they just playing along with what Jiujiu had done?

When Wu Ruo heard Jiujiu speaking with a masculine voice, his eyes widened: “You are male?”

Jiujiu was speechless: “Which part of me seems female?”

“You were the one who incubated Dandan, so, I always thought that you were female.”

Jiujiu: “…”

Wu Ruo asked curiously: “If you can speak, then why didn’t you?”

“I’m used to it.”

“… Alright.” Wu Ruo pointed at the translucent liquid on the false skin again: “Do you two know what this is? Is it the spittle of a yao beast?”

Jiujiu said: “It is the spittle of a yao beast. However, there are so many yao beasts in the world. It requires some investigation to determine which yao beast the spittle belongs to.”

“That’s fine. Then I’ll hand this matter over to you. If you can procure some and bring it back, that will be even better.”

Hesitation flashed across Jiujiu’s eyes: “If it were to be investigated, it would definitely require returning to the Yao clan to investigate. I will need to obtain Master’s permission to do so.”

“Permission to do what?” Hei Xuanyi, who was just coming out of the study, happened to hear their discussion.

Wu Ruo said: “I want Jiujiu to go to the Yao clan to investigate the spittle on the false skin, but he⁴Wu Ruo uses the equivalent of he/him pronouns for Jiujiu here, so I’m following his lead. says that he needs to obtain your permission to do so.”

Hei Xuanyi nodded in agreement: “Go quickly, and come back quickly.”

“Jiu—!” Jiujiu excitedly flapped their wings.

Dandan hurriedly tugged on Wu Ruo’s robes: “Daddy, I want to go too.”

“No, you can’t.” Wu Ruo rejected. If he let this child go to the Yao clan as well, it would definitely cause great chaos in the world.

“Daddy.” Dandan looked at Wu Ruo pitifully.

Wu Ruo looked at the little face that resembled Hei Xuanyi, and really didn’t have the heart to reject him, so he ruthlessly turned away and said: “Ask your father.”

Hei Xuanyi immediately said: “No, you can’t.”

Dandan was a little more afraid of Hei Xuanyi, so he didn’t dare to ask a second time.

Wu Ruo picked the child up: “Let’s go and eat.”

Jiujiu flew up into the sky and immediately left Hei Manor, heading towards the Yao clan. After three days, Jiujiu brought a bucket of spittle back to Hei Manor.

“It’s the poisonous liquid of the Spittle Snake.”

Wu Ruo asked: “Are there many Spittle Snakes in the Yao clan?”

“There aren’t many. The entire Spittle Snake clan⁵家族 (jia zu): refers to a clan related by blood. The Yao clan are all considered one clan, because they’re the same kind of ‘creature’, whereas humans are one clan because they’re all humans. However, the word Jiujiu uses here refers to a clan that is biologically related to each other, like how the Wu family is one biologically related clan. only has thirty-two Spittle Snakes. One year ago, humans⁶人族 (ren zu): refers to someone from the ‘human clan’. This is in line with how there is the Gui clan, the Mo clan, and the Yao clan. So the other races refer to humans as the ‘human clan’ as well. For simplicity’s sake, I have opted to just translate it as human/humans without making a distinction from when members of the human clan refer to themselves as the default without specifying that they are the ‘human race/clan’. captured one. Right now, there are only thirty-one left.”

The light in Wu Ruo’s eyes seemed to flicker, and he smiled: “Thank you.”

He took the Spittle Snake’s spittle into the pill refining room, and experimented with it inside for some time. When he emerged, he handed the thing that he had made to Hei Yang: “I’ll have to trouble you to hand this over to Ling Mohan, just say…”

Wu Ruo quietly instructed a few things to him, right by his ear.

Hei Yang nodded in understanding and disappeared right in front of Wu Ruo. Not long after, Hei Yang appeared in front of him again: “Ling Mohan said that he had already followed your instructions and leaked the news of Wu Yuxue being enspelled by gu sorcery to that double-crossing physician. Just this morning, the Wu family invited someone well versed in gu sorcery to cure Wu Yuxue of the enspellment. Right now, she’s already woken up, the wounds that Master had inflicted on her have also been treated…”

Once he said all of this, he was a little confused.

“Furen, I don’t understand. It was Wu Yuxue who angered you to the point of fainting. Why would you reveal the matter of her being enspelled by gu sorcery, so that the Wu family would find someone to cure her?”

For a while, Wu Ruo was silent. Right now, everyone thought that he had fainted because he had been agitated by Wu Yuxue. Even if he really wanted to explain, he really didn’t know the best way to explain it.

“Someone clearly wants to make use of Wu Yuxue to attack us. Even though the Wu family already doesn’t get along with us right now, however, if we let that person sit around and the reap the benefits of the fisherman⁷Referencing the idiom 鹬蚌相争渔翁得利 (yu bang xiang zheng yu weng de li), which literally translates as ‘when the snipe and the clam fight with each other, the fisherman benefits’. It refers to a third party who benefits, when two parties are in dispute with each other., then that’s giving them way too much of an advantage. So, if I don’t do this, then how can I lure out the person who enspelled her? In any case, if Wu Yuxue doesn’t wake up, there are some things that just can’t continue progressing.”

Hei Yang hummed quietly in understanding: “Furen means that the person who enspelled Wu Yuxue was the one who cured her?”

“That’s right. When the person who enspelled her sees that their previous methods didn’t work, they would definitely think of another way to get close to the Wu family to go against us. In a while, go and investigate this person. Other than saying these things, did Ling Mohan say anything else?”

“Ling Mohan also said that in the past two days, Wu Chenzi has weakened a lot. In order to cure the Gaoling City Wu family members, he has really expended quite a fair bit of energy. It’s a pity that the Gaoling City Wu family members are overly greedy. There are some famous and expensive medicinal ingredients that aren’t of use at all, but they still wanted Wu Chenzi to procure those for them. On top of that, if their health today isn’t as good as it was yesterday, the Gaoling City Wu family members would make a huge fuss. The reason why they dare to be so bold is entirely because furen has the imperial edict in hand. Ling Mohan even sent someone to supervise Wu Chenzi; if Wu Chenzi snobs the Gaoling City Wu family members even in the slightest, Ling Mohan will report it to the Emperor. Currently, Wu Chenzi has used up a lot of the Wu family’s expensive medicinal ingredients and medicine pills. The Huangdu City Wu family has begun to complain to Wu Chenzi.”

Wu Ruo’s lips curled: “Ling Mohan must be very happy, isn’t he?”

“Hn. When I went to see him, he kept smiling like an idiot.”

Wu Ruo laughed lightly: “It’s just a small matter, and it makes him that happy? He’s too easily satisfied. Alright, firstly, go and find out who was the one who used the gu sorcery. Then investigate Wu Chenzi’s personal bodyguard with the surname Yao as well.”

In his previous lifetime, it was this person with the surname Yao who used a Buddhist magical equipment to capture him, which forced him to be separated from Hei Xuanyi.

“Yes, sir.” Hei Yang disappeared from where he stood.

At this moment, the bodyguard standing guard by the main gates entered and said: “Furen, there are two people claiming to be the shopkeepers of the tailor’s store and the jewelry store at the entrance looking for you. They said the things you have requested have all been completed.”

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• 1
  补灵丹 (bu ling dan): I’ve translated the name of the pill quite literally here. Explanation on the uses of the pill coming right up in the next paragraph.
• 2
  公子 (gong zi): the shop manager refers to Wu Ruo as ‘gong zi’ instead of using ‘ni’, which is politer. I’ve translated it as ‘young master’ before and left notes about the differences between gong zi and shao ye previously. For the sake of easier reading, I leave this footnote instead.
• 3
  Reminder: Jiujiu and Jiaojiao are referred to with the pronouns for non-humans, like animals or inanimate objects. They are considered creatures, rather than humans or human-like entities like the Mo or the Gui, because Yao are usually animals or plants that have cultivated a consciousness for themselves. In a lot of xianxia/xuanhuan, Yao are able to cultivate human forms once they reach high enough levels. I will be using singular they/them pronouns for the Yao unless it’s been otherwise specified.
• 4
  Wu Ruo uses the equivalent of he/him pronouns for Jiujiu here, so I’m following his lead.
• 5
  家族 (jia zu): refers to a clan related by blood. The Yao clan are all considered one clan, because they’re the same kind of ‘creature’, whereas humans are one clan because they’re all humans. However, the word Jiujiu uses here refers to a clan that is biologically related to each other, like how the Wu family is one biologically related clan.
• 6
  人族 (ren zu): refers to someone from the ‘human clan’. This is in line with how there is the Gui clan, the Mo clan, and the Yao clan. So the other races refer to humans as the ‘human clan’ as well. For simplicity’s sake, I have opted to just translate it as human/humans without making a distinction from when members of the human clan refer to themselves as the default without specifying that they are the ‘human race/clan’.
• 7
  Referencing the idiom 鹬蚌相争渔翁得利 (yu bang xiang zheng yu weng de li), which literally translates as ‘when the snipe and the clam fight with each other, the fisherman benefits’. It refers to a third party who benefits, when two parties are in dispute with each other.