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Mentions of previous scene of sexual assault
The autumn days of the eighth month were still incomparably hot. The fiery red rays of sunlight shot to the grounds. The people’s sweat fell like rain, rolling down from their faces and necks. Now that the thermotoxin had passed, everyone’s health had already recovered, which was why many people had come from afar, flooding into the city. Huangdu City returned to its previously glorious and crowded state.
“Ba Se has entered the city.” When the Miaojiang Wu clan member who had been in charge of monitoring Huangdu City’s main entrances saw Ba Se, they immediately returned to Hei Manor to report this to Nu Mu.
Nu Mu said: “From here on, we’ll leave it to the Gui clanspeople to monitor them.”
The Gui clanspeople could hide themselves, so it would be harder for people to discover them.
Wu Ruo curiously said: “Normally, they should have reached Huangdu City a long time ago. Why has their entry to Huangdu City been delayed till now?”
Nu Mu smiled coldly: “With Ba Se’s lecherous personality, they must have run into a beautiful maiden or young man on their way here. Afterwards, he most likely stopped and fooled around with the person to his fill before leaving. Previously, there was also the matter of the thermotoxin, without waiting for the pandemic to clear up, how could they possibly enter the city?”
Wu Ruo: “…”
At this moment, Wu Xi, who had just returned home from classes at Wu Chenliu’s residence, ran into the room and picked Wu Ruo’s cup up from the table, then gulped the water into her belly.
Wu Ruo raised an eyebrow: “I was drinking from that cup.”
“I don’t mind erge‘s saliva!” Wu Xi used her hand to wipe away the tea from the corners of her lips.
Wu Ruo: “…”
When had his little sister become so boorish?
It must’ve been because she had spent a lot of time with Nu Mu and his companions, so her personality had become more carefree and her bearing had become less like that of a noble, well-bred lady. However, this also didn’t seem like a bad thing. It was much better than her personality from his previous lifetime, where she was easily embarrassed and shy.
Wu Xi put the tea cup down and said: “Before I came back, I heard from my shifu that in a month’s time, it’ll be the ten families’ annual competition. He told me to properly prepare to participate in the competition. Originally, I had intended not to go but he said that as long as members of the ten families are in Huangdu City, no matter if they’re from the direct line or a side branch, and regardless of the level of your skill or whether you have spiritual energy, and even disregarding whether you’ve been expelled from one of the ten families, as long as one was previously from the ten families, everyone must participate.”
Wu Ruo frowned. He had already forgotten that there was such a competition. In his previous lifetime, he had only participated once. However, it was also thanks to his participation in the competition that he gradually began to gain a reputation for himself.
Wu Xi anxiously grabbed Wu Ruo’s arm: “Erge, you don’t have spiritual energy1Reminder: At this point, only a few people know that Wu Ruo has spiritual energy and can cultivate. So far, it should only be Hei Xuanyi, Nu Mu and Guan Tong.. If you participate in the competition, you will definitely be beaten up very badly. I heard that the methods of the people of the ten families are extremely ruthless. After they go up on the competition stage, they will use all kinds of tactics to torture practitioners from families who are against theirs. Erge, I think it’s still better if you leave Huangdu City for a little while first, and wait for the competition to end before you come back.”
Nu Mu glanced at Wu Ruo, then took a sip of water nonchalantly.
With his disciple’s current level of skill, even if he didn’t have spiritual energy, he would be able to control second or third level pracititioners with gu sorcery.
Wu Ruo pulled away from Wu Xi’s hand: “You’re holding onto me too tightly that it hurts.”
“Sorry, erge.” Wu Xi hurriedly took her hand away.
Wu Ruo poured her a glass of water: “Didn’t your master tell you: one month before the competition, the members of the ten major families aren’t allowed to leave Huangdu City to avoid the competition anymore? Otherwise, if they’re caught, they’ll have to suffer punishment from their family clan.”
“He did.” Wu Xi took a gulp to calm herself down: “I just wanted erge to try and see if you can leave.”
Nu Mu laughed heartily: “Xiao-Xi, don’t worry about your erge. Even if he doesn’t have spiritual energy, with his medical skills, he can still deal with low level practitioners. Besides, the ten major families’ competition isn’t a fight to the death. When the time comes, he can go onto the competition stage and just forfeit the match.”
“Oh, right!” Wu Xi smiled happily: “Look at me getting so anxious that I forgot that it was possible to forfeit the match.”
She put down the tea cup: “Erge, I’ll go back to my rooms to rest first, I won’t disturb your conversation with Nu Mu.”
Wu Xi happily ran out of the main hall, hopping and jumping.
Nu Mu said with a smile: “Xiao-Xi’s personality is really lively.”
Wu Ruo smiled.
Lifting up the tea that Wu Xi had just drunk from, he held it in front of his lips to hide the viciousness in the curve of his lips.
This time, he wouldn’t give Ba Se another chance to run away.
Nu Mu looked at Wu Ruo: “Are you still not planning to tell your family members about your spiritual energy?”
Wu Ruo: “…”
At that time, his mum had once reminded him, before he had strengthened himself, he couldn’t tell anyone about the secret techniques in his mind. However, she hadn’t mentioned anything about not telling others about his spiritual energy. Now that the ten major families’ competition had come up, could he use this opportunity to tell his dad and the others that he had spiritual energy?
Now, both his husband and his master already knew about him having spiritual energy. There was no reason that he couldn’t tell his own dad and younger sister. It was just that, in Huangdu City, there were level five practitioners everywhere. Therefore, having fifth level cultivation was still considered very low. It was a pity that due to the thermotoxin incident, the Emperor had already decreed that the Four Clans Festival would temporarily be stopped and had hence forbidden opening the passages to the other three clans. Wu Ruo had also lost the opportunity to go to the Gui clan to absorb others’ spiritual energies.
On top of all of that, should he reveal his possession of spiritual energy in this round of competitions?
Wu Ruo thought about it and still felt that it was better to follow the natural flow of things. If it was time to reveal it, no matter how much he wanted to hide, he still wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore.
“Little Hei is back.” Nu Mu picked up a piece of dimsum on the table and stuffed it into his mouth: “He seems quite busy these days. He goes out early every day and comes back late. Has he run into some kind of trouble?”
Wu Ruo watched Hei Xuanyi and the others, who were entering from the main entrance, and said as he stood up: “Quite a few of the Gui clanspeople under him have died. He thinks it was done by an enemy from his clan, so he went to investigate the matter.”
He walked out of the main hall and went forward to welcome Hei Xuanyi home, then he asked Hei Xuanyi: “Did you figure out who killed your subordinates?”
Hei Xuantang, who was beside them, said: “No, but we can confirm that it was done by someone from our clan. Looks like there’s quite a number of people who snuck out from the clan.”
Wu Ruo asked: “Is it very troublesome?”
Hei Xuantang replied gloomily: “It’s mainly because we’re out in the open, while they’re still hidden in the shadows2To clarify: their enemy knows who they are, but they don’t know who their enemy is. so we’re at more of a disadvantage.”
Hei Xuanyi narrowed his eyes: “They are probably monitoring us from nearby.”
Hei Xuantang said: “Dasao, in the future, when you go out, you must let dage accompany you.”
Wu Ruo frowned: “Will they attack me?”
“Hn, they…”
Without waiting for Hei Xuantang to finish speaking, Hei Xuanyi cut him off: “On my way back, I bought an entry token to the Black Market3黑市 (hei shi): this is also the term to refer to the illegal, underground sort of black market that everyone is familiar with. However, the one in LWSL is just an exclusive trade market without the illegal connotations.. Are you interested in going to the Black Market to take a look?”
Hei Xuantang replied excitedly: “I’m interested!”
Hei Xuanyi shot him a side-eye: “I wasn’t asking you.”
“Dage, you’re biased!”
Wu Ruo looked at Hei Xuantang, then looked at Hei Xuanyi, and he could tell that they were hiding something from him. However, it was probably because they didn’t want him to worry, so he nodded and said: “It’s been a long while since I went out. It’ll be nice to go out and take a walk around, I’ll go and ask my dad and the others if they want to go.”
“I’ll go along as well.” Nu Mu said as he walked out of the main hall: “The Black Market has many things that can’t be bought in Huangdu City, I had better bring more money with me and sell some things along the way as well.”
He turned around and returned to his quarters to pack his bags.
Wu Ruo also went to the residential quarters to look for Wu Qianqing and the others, but only Wu Xi and Dandan were interested in going to the Black Market.
When they returned to the front courtyard, Hei Xin and Hei Gan had already set up an array. Afterwards, once they placed the Black Market’s entry token at the mouth of the array, everyone entered the boundaries of the array and activated it. In the next moment, everyone disappeared into the array.
The Black Market was built between realms and was located at the center of the paths between all four clans. Only those who purchased a Black Market entry token could activate the array and then be transported into the Black Market. The Black Market was separated into four different zones, which were the human, Yao, Gui and Mo clans. However, humans who entered could only linger within the human clan’s zone and were unable to cross boundaries to other zones to sell items. The paths between the four clans would only open up when the Black Market’s proprietor declared that the four clans could intermingle. However, an opportunity like that was very rare and would only occur maybe once a year, or perhaps once every two years.
When Wu Ruo and the others arrived at the Black Market, Hei Gan went to a stall selling weimao4帷帽 (wei mao): this is a kind of straw, woven hat with a veil attached all around the brim of it. The main purpose of wei mao is to conceal the identity of the wearer. For reference: here. Also, wei mao are not gendered, and the length of the veil can vary. at the the main entrance of the Black Market first and bought weimao for everyone to put on, so that it would cover their faces. Even Dandan also had a small little hat. After they entered the Black Market, they were greeted by a main street full of people wearing weimao.
Wu Xi asked curiously: “Why is everyone wearing weimao?”
Hei Xuantang explained: “This is a rule that the Black Market’s proprietor set to avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble. For example, even if two enemies pass by each other, because they were wearing weimao, so they wouldn’t recognize each other. In this way, they wouldn’t start a fight.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
Nu Mu said: “I’ll go look around by myself and see if anyone wants any of my wares.”
Hei Xuanyi nodded slightly: “Weishi51pm to 2:59pm.. We’ll meet at the main entrance.”
“Father, I want to eat that huge bing6饼 (bing): a bing is a flat, fried piece of dough. It can have filling in it, or it can be plain. It’s often translated as a ‘pancake’ but bing are normally savoury, whereas pancakes are commonly sweet although savoury versions do exist.…!” Dandan pointed excitedly at a stall next to them.
Hei Xuantang pinched Dandan’s little nose good-naturedly: “You always want to eat no matter where you go.”
Wu Xi saw that the huge bing looked extremely mouthwatering, and was also especially tempted to eat it: “I want to eat it too.”
Wu Ruo said: “Then let’s buy some.”
Hei Xin took out some money and paid the stall owner, buying two huge bing.
After the stall owner received the money, they fried a fresh batch of piping hot bing for them.
Wu Ruo, Hei Xuanyi and the others waited to a side and took the chance to look around them to see if there was anything they wanted to buy. Suddenly, someone crashed into Wu Ruo. If it wasn’t for Hei Xuanyi supporting him, he definitely would’ve crashed to the ground.
The person who had crashed into Wu Ruo was a man7To clarify: people’s genders were assumed from the style of robes they wore and the way they styled their hair. Depending on the dynasty’s fashion, a person’s gender couldn’t always easily be clocked just from the silhouette of their robes (A.K.A obvious breasts or curves, or a flat chest). This is why Wu Ruo automatically assumes he bumped into a man, and which is also why it wasn’t obvious on sight a couple of chapters back when they ran into beggar Wu Yuxue.. He hurriedly apologized: “Sorry, I didn’t notice that there was someone standing there. Are you alright?”
Wu Ruo felt that the person’s voice was a little familiar, so he didn’t speak up and only waved his hand to gesture that he was fine.
That person seemed to have urgent matters, looking back and forth between Wu Ruo and someone up ahead: “Sorry, I still have something else important.”
He hastily turned around and left, and it was in that moment, the black veil of his weimao lifted up, and Wu Ruo saw the other person’s face from that gap.
Wu Xia8If anyone needs a refresher on who this person is, you can refer back to Chapter 89 for the relevant information.?
Wu Ruo was stunned into a daze.
Ever since that incident with Ba Se, he had never run into this person.
What was he doing here? And who was he looking for here?
“Erge, I feel like I’ve heard that person’s voice before.” Wu Xi said as she ate the piping hot and huge bing.
“Hn. It does sound quite familiar.” Wu Ruo didn’t want Wu Xi to remember that dirty scene, so he didn’t mention that that person was Wu Xia.
“Erge, this huge bing is really, really delicious! Do you want a bite?”
Wu Ruo rejected her: “It’s not convenient to eat while wearing a weimao. You can enjoy it yourself.”
“Alright!”
Closely after, there was a disturbance at a building not too far away. It seemed as though there were people fighting, and the sounds of arguing were extremely intense. Everyone was afraid of getting dragged into the mess and ran far away, one after the other.
Wu Ruo saw that the sounds of fighting seemed to be coming from the direction that Wu Xia had left in, so he couldn’t help dragging Hei Xuanyi over to take a closer look.
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