GCCB Chapter 56

“Yinlan, to avoid those demons in case they return to kill us, maybe we should leave quickly?”

“Yes, Princess.”

Thus, Yinlan once again carried Shu Yu – who hadn’t completely recovered from her sickness and felt weak in her arms and legs, but was also pretending to be calm – on his back and left this place. Shu Yu didn’t dare sleep, fearing that if she slept again, she would wake up to Yinlan having carried her into another demonkin’s nest.

Yinlan didn’t seem like such a dummy, how could he not notice that the scene was a little freaky?

Shu Yu sighed. She said to Yinlan, “Someone once taught me that when strangers show you sudden kindness, you must become vigilant. In this kind of wild mountains, that village looked off from the start, the smart thing would’ve been to leave quickly, why should we have continued heading further in?”

Yinlan was silent for a moment, then said, “This subordinate knows his wrongs, please cast your punishment, Princess.”

“Hey, I just want to tell you to be careful the next time you encounter a similar situation.”

Truthfully, Shu Yu couldn’t swallow how this loyal puppy said those words every now and then.

Actually, for the past few days, Shu Yu noticed one thing: This loyal puppy had a direct interest in Situ Jingjing. But probably, given his status as a death servant, it was a tangled mess of wanting to love and not daring to love, so he was extremely conflicted. Shu Yu realized that Yinlan kept staring at her, but once she became aware of it he would always turn away in time, almost making her feel like that complicated gaze on her was her imagination. And, he seemed to subconsciously try to treat her well, but he would quickly realize and stop his actions. He would then also keep his distance from her.

Those small details in how he acted were clear to Shu Yu’s eyes, though her face showed no reaction to it, pretending she didn’t notice.

Otherwise, what would she even do? She wasn’t Situ Jingjing, the party involved in this. However, as a bystander to this she felt awkward witnessing it. This extremely silent and aloof death servant was probably so conflicted he was twisting himself into a tangled rope.

Shu Yu had already decided, once they found the Malice-Suppressing Sect, she would think of a way to enter and become a disciple, then, she would distance herself from Yinlan and let him go free. It was better not to dangle her existence in front of him, that would be too criminal.

Just, where exactly was that whatever Malice-Suppressing Sect? Or even the Spirit Seeing Sect they were currently scouring for?

Shu Yu was set down by Yinlan beneath a tree for a rest. He himself stood five paces away from her like a devoted guard.

Shu Yu asked him, “Yinlan, how much longer until we find the Spirit Seeing Sect?”

“The Spirit Seeing Sect is rumored to be near these mountain ranges, but this Yinlan doesn’t know the specific location.”

Shu Yu was troubled. Would they really have to walk through all these mountains? And what if this sect was hiding behind some formation? Mortals like them couldn’t see those, what to do, it would be too easy to miss them this way.

As she agonized over it, in the corner of her eye, Shu Yu suddenly noticed a shadow passing above them in the sky. If she wasn’t seeing wrong, that was— a person on a hovering sword probably? Shu Yu immediately braced against the tree and stood up, shouting, “There!”

“Just now a person on a sword flew past us. Yinlan, did you see that?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s chase after them!”

“Yes.”

But before Shu Yu could climb up Yinlan’s back again, that figure doubled back and stayed mid-air not far away from the two.

“Huh, why are there two ordinary mortals in this mountain surrounded by evil qi, are the two of you lost? Do you need me to show you the way?” The figure was a youth in blue robes, looking to be perhaps seventeen or eighteen years old, his gaze was clear and his figure radiated justness and righteousness, which gave him a sort of celestial aura.

Shu Yu took a deep breath. She first looked over the cultivator and then, suppressing the delight in her heart, she calmly replied, “Many thanks, but we’re in search of the Spirit Seeing Sect, may I ask if you’re a cultivator from the Spirit Seeing Sect?”

Confronted with Shu Yu’s hopeful gaze, the youth shook his head. “The Spirit Seeing Sect was wiped out a few years ago already, this mountain has long since been taken over by monsters. I came here on the orders of our sect’s eldest martial brother to eliminate the monsters who’ve been getting more and more aggressive. Why do you two seek the Spirit Seeing Sect, if I may ask? If it’s the extermination of common monsters, I can also offer my help.”

Shu Yu’s eyes lit up. She hastily asked, “I’m looking for someone I could ask about the whereabouts of the Malice-Suppressing Sect, do you know of them?

The youth was taken aback. His expression was odd. “Why do you seek the Malice-Suppressing Sect?”

Pausing slightly, Shu Yu replied, “I want to become part of the Malice-Suppressing Sect.”

The youth scratched his head, a somewhat strange expression on his face. “Our Malice-Suppressing Sect only allows nine disciples within one generation. Unfortunately, this generation has already filled its numbers.”

As the two individuals conversed, Yinlan stood to the side like a shadow, his facial expression didn’t so much as twitch, but during a moment where those two weren’t paying attention, there was a flash of white in Yinlan’s palm, as if something had zipped out of it.

On her side, Shu Yu’s eyes widened once she heard the youth’s words. “You are a disciple of the Malice-Suppressing Sect?”

“Yes, I’m the ninth disciple of this generation. Amongst my martial brothers and sisters, I am the youngest.” The youth affirmed guilelessly.

Shu Yu considered him for a moment. Although it was slightly shameless, she still pressed forward with a thick face: “Then, may I ask if you’re looking for a disciple? The kind that can serve tea and cook meals?”

The youth was momentarily stupefied before realizing what she meant, and immediately his face turned red. He wavered unsteadily on the finger-wide blade he stood on as he hastily waved his hands. “No no, I’m still learning myself, I cannot have disciples. And moreover, usually it’s the eldest martial brother who first takes on a disciple, I cannot do that.”

After finishing he saw Shu Yu’s face full of disappointment and felt somewhat remorseful, but in the end, he said nothing. Just as he was hesitating on whether to bid farewell and leave – just in case he couldn’t restrain himself and impulsively took this person back – a white shadow flew across the sky, making a beeline towards him. The youth quickly swished his sleeve and grabbed the white thing. He opened his hand, showing a bird made of folded white paper flapping its wings vividly in his palm.

The bird automatically started unraveling once it came into contact with his hand, revealing ink-colored writing on the paper. After reading it, the youth blinked his eyes, then he turned to the red-clothed Shu Yu with a smile. He asked, “Are you eighteen this year?”

Shu Yu, mental age nearing twenty-two, wearing the shell of an eighteen-year-old Situ Jingjing, said without an iota of conscience nor shame: “Yep.”

The youth smiled even more happily, he straight out maneuvered his flying sword and arrived in front of Shu Yu, saying without pause, “I just received a message from my eldest martial brother, he has finally come out of seclusion, and he’s even obtained guidance from his divination. He says his disciple has finally appeared in the southeast of this mountain range, a young lady of eighteen wearing red robes, and he has asked me to find and escort them back! Look, I’ve been circling this place for so long and I’ve only seen you, an eighteen-year-old young lady wearing red robes, so it is definitely you! It just so happens that you also wish to join the Malice-Suppressing Sect, what a coincidence don’t you think! Since you’re my eldest martial brother’s disciple, then I’ll be your martial uncle from now on! My name is Qing Lang, but you may just call me ninth martial uncle!”

The youth who’s always been the youngest within the sect realized he finally wasn’t the youngest anymore, his brows crinkled with joy, and he reached out to hold Shu Yu’s hands.

He grasped a strong and muscular arm instead.

At the same time, Shu Yu and the youth, Qing Lang, looked at Yinlan who had suddenly appeared between them. They both reacted at the same time: Ah, there was still someone else.

Shu Yu sobered up from the sudden delightful surprise that befell her. She coughed and looked at Yinlan, who still hadn’t said a word. “I’ll be going to the Malice-Suppressing Sect, how about we part ways here?” The earlier their separation the better, lest this guy falls deeper and deeper. She was honestly getting hair-rising goosebumps from the way his gaze sometimes landed on her.

“It’s too coincidental how this individual appeared here. We cannot affirm that he truly is a disciple of the Malice-Suppressing Sect, we cannot simply trust his word alone. The lessons the Princess imparted just now, this Yinlan dares not forget.” Yinlan’s voice was as flat as ever.

She almost forgot about this because she was so overjoyed, but it was a bit suspicious.

And moreover, she had been earnestly imparting a lesson not long ago, and yet she was now smacking her own face, it was slightly painful.

Shu Yu stared at the youthful ninth martial uncle before her, who looked to be very good at being deceived.

He also had an awkward expression on his face and tried very hard to salvage his image, purposely putting on an air of loftiness—— which fell apart within three seconds.

Ninth martial uncle said, “I’m not a liar. Look, I have a token of discipleship from the Malice-Suppressing Sect, there are only nine of these within the entire Malice-Suppressing Sect! It was given to me by my Master! Look!”

Well, alright, this ninth martial uncle was so very young. Were his martial brothers and sisters really okay with letting him go out alone?

Seeing him anxiously fish out an ancient and impressive token and show it to them, Shu Yu was beginning to worry that he would be scammed by someone one day. He was surprisingly sweeter than she was.¹竟然比她还要甜 “Sweet” in this case points to a sweet and nice character. Sometimes, they’re too nice, to a point where it can be called naivety or foolishness.

“Princess, please allow this subordinate to accompany you.” Yinlan said.

Shu Yu looked at the ninth martial uncle. “Can we trouble you?”

“You are companions. If this man feels uneasy, he naturally can come along, but the sect doesn’t allow non-disciples to enter, so he can only send you off at the entrance.” Ninth martial uncle instantly explained to them since his temperament was soft.²脾气软 Soft temperament, also can be described as being very indulgent, forgiving, easy going, gives in easily to requests and stuff.

In the end, the three made their way to the Malice-Suppressing Sect atop his flying sword. It was a good thing that his blade could turn larger and allow space for three people, so there wasn’t any overload to speak of. As for the mission of eliminating monsters that the ninth martial uncle mentioned in the beginning, that had been momentarily put in the back of the enthusiastic ninth martial uncle’s mind.

However, Shu Yu quietly mused, the ones this ninth martial uncle was searching were probably that group who were scared off by her use of Fu Wang’s name… maybe?

On their way, Shu Yu was separated by Yinlan from him, not a single corner of her robes could touch the martial uncle Qing Lang, whose personality was the same as his namesake.³ 晴朗Qing Lang, his name means “sunny” or “bright”. Yinlan was being overprotective, but given that the two of them were going to part ways in a moment, Shu Yu didn’t say anything about it. Rather, it was the ninth martial uncle who didn’t notice anything at all and was excitedly introducing the sect to Shu Yu.

The Malice-Suppressing Sect was indeed a bizarre sect. It was as Qing Lang said before: Every generation only had nine disciples, a generation teaching the next generation, with each generation being led by an eldest martial brother.

As for their Master… Once they were worthy of receiving a token of discipleship, he would leave the Malice-Suppressing Sect and venture amidst normal humans to exterminate monsters. Therefore, most of the time there were only 9 people within the entire Malice-Suppressing Sect.

Qing Lang had six martial brothers and two martial sisters. Those who were not secluding themselves practicing cultivation were carrying out tasks assigned by their eldest martial brother and were outside getting rid of monsters.

Profoundly, Shu Yu learnt just how blindly this ninth martial uncle worshipped his eldest martial brother, two sentences out of three did not leave the subject of his eldest martial brother. In his words, his eldest martial brother was gentle. amiable, righteous, and kind, he knew everything and could do anything, and he was also an unparalleled beauty in the world. Simply put, he was perfect to the point of gary-stue.

However, Shu Yu didn’t believe there was a man in this world who could be gentler and more knowledgeable and more outstanding than Fu Wang.

In the midst of Qing Lang’s prattling, the three arrived sooner than she thought to a valley. It was obviously a dead end, but Qing Lang made a single waving motion and as if peeling away a layer of mist, a huge line in the sky appeared in front of them.

Towering mountains walls on both sides, a narrow path in the center with no end in sight, only a single ray of light spilled onto the path. On the foremost front of the mountain walls, there were three words carved in three large, blood-colored symbols: Malice-Suppressing Sect.

The three symbols “Malice-Suppressing Sect” were carved very deeply into the mountain. The red dye used on it was of unknown materials, but they were as bright as blood, however it did not emanate any trace of foulness nor malice, there was only a dignified righteousness felt from it, the same that was felt on Qing Lang’s person. At first glance, one would feel the illusion of being cut by a sharp blade and hear the whistling cry of a sword in their ears, which served to clear one’s mind in an instant.

Shu Yu was stunned speechless. But, thinking how Fu Wang could be somewhere in this place, her heartbeat sped up while at the same time aching slightly.

“Princess, please take care.” Yinlan’s voice brought Shu Yu back from her thoughts.

She assumed she would need to convince Yinlan, such as telling him how he didn’t need to shell out his life for anyone else anymore, how he could go live the life he wanted and so on, but Yinlan merely bid her farewell with a prompt sentence. He seemed to be reassured and without hesitation turned away and left.

Shu Yu watched his back disappear slowly without saying a word. She sighed, but also release a breath she was holding. She hoped this loyal puppy would not crave for the drama between the Male Lead and the Female Lead and lose his life in the end.

Ah, love. It was truly so very cruel.

Shu Yu followed Qing Lang into the path. Once they reached the end, she realized they were standing on a cliff. There was a sea of rolling clouds before them, and amidst that sea of clouds there seemed to be the vague silhouette of several floating isles. Shu Yu counted them and indeed, there were nine isles in total.

Qing Lang was the paragon of a nice martial uncle. From left to right, he introduced the nine mini-islands floating amidst the sea of clouds. “That last one over there is eldest martial brother’s Blossom Isle. Unlike us, no one can enter the eldest martial brother’s Blossom Isle without his permission. And since eldest martial brother is often cultivating in seclusion, we martial brothers and sisters seldom see him around, if there’s anything happening he just sends a missive to us, however our eldest martial brother is the most amazing!”

As he chatted, he started singing him endless praise again. Shu Yu really didn’t want to hear him repeat the same praises more than ten times, so she opened her mouth and changed the subject: “Why is it called Blossom Isle?”

“About that, you will know when you arrive~” Qing Lang chuckled. “Come, ninth martial uncle will escort you to Blossom Isle.”

Shu Yu was pulled up onto his flying sword and couldn’t help but pause, startled. This martial uncle Qing lang, when she touched him, she didn’t feel that reassuring and safe feeling? But ever since her second transmigration, whether it was the Grand Advisor, Ye Linhuai, or Yinlan, she would always feel that familiar sense of peace and safety whenever she came in contact with them, she even thought it would happen with anyone, how come she didn’t feel it with this martial uncle?

This confusion came and went in a flash. Perhaps it was because she was too emotionally worked up just now, that’s why she didn’t notice anything; she didn’t have the intention to prove it though. Anyways that feeling was most definitely because of the Female Lead’s body.

By the time they cut through the cloud sea and arrived near the Blossom Isle vaguely glimpsed amidst the clouds, Shu Yu no longer had the mind to focus on that matter.

She stared at the scenery in front of her, completely stunned.

A boundless and endless view of purple-blue flowers blooming everywhere, stretching from the edges of the island to the horizon, almost no other type of plant could be seen on the entire island, everything was completely monopolized by this flower. It was as if the island had truly become constellations of stars in the sky.

—— That was, an entire isle of stardew blossoms.

Chapter Description: Xiao-Yu: Smooth! I’m most definitely an S-Rank in Luck!

Translator’s Note: In a way, Shu Yu is actually one of the luckiest protagonists amidst many, many novels. She’s one of my favorites alongside the other protagonist in the author’s other novel, that one about the grandmaster and the salted fish haha.

• 1
  竟然比她还要甜 “Sweet” in this case points to a sweet and nice character. Sometimes, they’re too nice, to a point where it can be called naivety or foolishness.
• 2
  脾气软 Soft temperament, also can be described as being very indulgent, forgiving, easy going, gives in easily to requests and stuff.
• 3
  晴朗Qing Lang, his name means “sunny” or “bright”.