Legend of Fu Yao

The bystanders dispersed cooperatively, while two pairs of hands helped Meng Fuyao up at the same time. One said, “You- sigh!”, while the other commented, “I have only not seen you for half a day, and you already have a new interest – fighting in a brothel.”

Meng Fuyao raised her head and looked at the anxious Yun Hen and Zong Yue who seemed calm but had actually accumulated dust on his clothes. As she laughed mischievously, her big mouth that stretched apart like a bloody gourd looked really unsightly. Looking at her face, Yun Hen’s eyes gleamed and he pointed his sword towards Mist.

Meanwhile, Mist held his chest and looked grudgingly at Meng Fuyao. All of a sudden, with a wave of his sleeve, a plume of thick and slightly smelly smoke rose from the ground.

Everyone immediately retreated, but when the smoke diffused away, Mist was nowhere to be seen. There was only a new pool of blood on the ground.

Onlookers tried to crowd around them again, but Zong Yue grabbed Meng Fuyao and quickly led her away. It was a rare occasion that Zong Yue did not despise how dusty, dirty, sweaty, and bloody she was. Making use of the opportunity, the shameless Meng Fuyao rubbed the dirt on her clothes against Zong Yue to her heart’s content. It was obvious that Zong Yue was desperately trying to tolerate her, but he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Thinking that Zong Yue was finally going to explode, Meng Fuyao instantly shunned away. However, Zong Yue only looked towards a teenage boy who was standing under a roof on the opposite side.

The bright moonlight cast dark and light shadows below the roof, slightly shadowing the boy’s figure, but his beautiful appearance was still distinct. Even though he was a bit short, his body proportions were balanced, and that made him seem more exquisite than dumb. Instead of looking at Meng Fuyao who created an uproar, he stared only at Zong Yue with bright eyes and a mixed expression.

He spoke, “It’s been long since we met, have you been well?”

Immediately, Zong Yue regained his unwelcoming mannerism and replied, “Thanks to you, Sir Yun, I’ve been very well.” He turned around, picked up Meng Fuyao aggressively and reprimanded, “Why are you taking such a long time? Are you not going back to recuperate?”

Meng Fuyao felt a strong sense of injustice…’Please, you are the one who’s taking such a long time, and it was also you who stopped to chat. Pot calling the kettle black, how shameless of you,’ she thought.

‘Eh? Sir Yun of Xuanyuan? Wasn’t he the one who was the first to pass the second round of finals? The one who was said to be Moon Soul’s disciple? What is his relationship with Zong Yue?’

Sensing that the boy was still standing in the same position and silently looking at their departing figures, she wiggled out of Zong Yue’s hold and turned back out of curiosity. Suddenly, she saw a gleam flashing by that boy’s eyes.

Meng Fuyao was stunned.

That was the gleam of a tear.

…

One of the top ten martial arts wielders, Mist, fought with someone in a noisy town in Heaven Demon. Not only were they on par, but Mist was even forced to escape!

This was nothing less than the most shocking news throughout the True Martial Arts Meet, and rumors spread like wildfire all over Pandu City. Participants of the Meet were all trying to find out who that mysterious lad was, but the town was crowded, and the battle happened too quickly, and no one clearly saw Meng Fuyao’s appearance. Everyone had considered the top contestants of the Meet, even Yan Jingchen, but no one thought that it was Meng Fuyao.

Meanwhile, the teenage expert who stirred up the ruckus in Pandu was lying on the bed like a dead dog, shouting in pain as Zong Yue executed his treatment. It was obviously an inner injury, but Zong Yue just had to pick out a cut not much wider than a strand of hair and claim that “proper treatment is needed by taking medicine and pouring ointment on it, and massaging it would be even more effective”. So, the guinea pig proactively offered his assistance and used his paws, which were coated with sugar and fruit juices, to give Meng Fuyao a “massage”.

This successfully elicited a slap from Meng Fuyao, who shouted, “Zong Yue, you’re just in a bad mood, don’t vent your anger on me!”

She had yet to complete her sentence when Zong Yue placed the bowl of medicine down, straightened his back and left. Confused, Meng Fuyao and the guinea pig squatted on the bed and watched him leave with their hands in their mouths.

A few seconds later, Meng Fuyao nudged the guinea pig and asked, “Hey, Rat, did Zong Yue’s Big Aunt ¹ arrive?”

The experienced guinea pig shook his head in disagreement. He personally felt that it was not just the Big Aunt who arrived. There was an 80% chance that all his Aunts arrived at the same time.

As Zong Yue walked out, Yun Hen stepped in. He had been guarding at the entrance and noticed how unusual Zong Yue was, but he was not as curious as Meng Fuyao. Picking up the bowl, he said, “It’s going to become cold if you don’t drink it.”

Depressed, Meng Fuyao could only finish up the medicine in silence. Yun Hen did not even blink while staring at her, and he asked, “In the afternoon, you disappeared after the competition, and it took us so much effort to locate you. We first went to Yan Jingchen’s residence and almost broke into a fight with Prince Heng’s guards. But you suddenly dashed out… what exactly happened?”

Meng Fuyao smiled and simply recounted the story to him. Though her inner energy was blocked by Mist, she was not fully unconscious at that point in time. After Yan Jingchen locked her up in the cellar, she started to stir, probably because the moon was bright that night. She had felt a ball of light emerging within her body, and it slowly surged like a tide, releasing her locked veins one by one. When Mist came in to kill her, she was already near full recovery. Then, Yan Jingchen arrived and gave her some time to completely recuperate and deliver a blow towards Mist.

Yun Hen listened in silence and sighed continuously. “You’re injured again, what about the third round?” he asked. Suddenly, he reached out to grab Meng Fuyao’s pulse.

Almost instantly, Meng Fuyao kept her hands and stared vigilantly at him. “What?” she questioned.

Seeing that Yun Hen remained silent, she immediately understood what he wanted to do and exclaimed, “You want to transfer your inner energy to me to last through the third round? You’re mad! If you meet an expert, how are you going to protect yourself?”

“I’ll just withdraw,” replied Yun Hen casually.

“If you withdraw, how are you going to live in Taiyuan?” asked Meng Fuyao as she looked at him. She thought of his manipulative step-father who would not treat him well if he withdrew halfway through the Meet.

She gently sighed and lightly patted Yun Hen. “It’s alright, don’t worry,” she spoke and added, “I might just meet Yan Jingchen. That’ll be just right since he’s injured as well.”

As she fell silent, she thought of how Yan Jingchen slowly caressed her face and neck while she closed her eyes. When she was about to jump up and attack, that pair of hands suddenly reached her wrists and slightly opened the lock of the chain.

At that time… what exactly did he want to do?

Why… did he not remove her clothes first?

Also, did he really, for the sake of improving his skills, do something with that disgusting old man…

Meng Fuyao softly exhaled and covered her eyes with her hands, refusing to think about these. No matter what he wanted to do, be it to release her or sacrifice himself for her, just him asking Mist to capture her was already a sin that she could never forgive.

Love was about compromise, not about force. It was a pity that some people would never understand this rationale.

As she fell into deep thought, her expression became one of displeasure. It was slightly uncomfortable for Yun Hen to watch the usually cheerful Meng Fuyao in such a state. Instinctively, he wanted to switch the topic to something more relaxing, and after some thought, he spoke, “Right, I heard that the referee of the final round has reached the borders of Heaven Demon. The Emperor has sent people to receive the referee but lo and behold, the Ministry of Rites personnel saw a good show…”

“Oh…” Meng Fuyao drawled as she covered her eyes. After a moment of silence, she continued lazily, “What… happened…”

“It’s that Lotus…” said Yun Hen as he turned back.

But Meng Fuyao was already half asleep. Remembering that she had been kidnapped, fought a tough battle with Mist and was injured, he realized that it was a tiring day for her and she would not have the energy to listen to gossip. Smiling, he covered the blanket over her and extinguished the candle.

With that, darkness fell upon the room. However, Yun Hen did not immediately leave, and he stood at his spot. Moonlight shone in from the window, illuminating his expression as he quietly gazed at Meng Fuyao. It was clear, bright, as sparkly as the planets, as cool as jade, and as deep as the sea.

‘Fuyao, the wind that belongs to you will stir one day. Maybe, in the end, I can only become the wings that follow you as you soar, but I’m still very relieved that I’m lucky enough not to be thrown too far away from you,’ he thought.

‘One day, I want to leap far up into the sky, and move along with you.’

During the two days that Meng Fuyao took to recover, she was utterly tortured by Zong Yue. The latter felt that she was an innate rebel, that even after he cautioned her against Yan Jingchen, she still fell for his antics. Served her right for having to participate in the competition with injuries. Hence, while he treated her day and night, he could not stop mocking at her.

Meng Fuyao howled, “I need to fight, don’t you have to at least give me some rest?”

Ignoring her pleas, Zong Yue replied, “Whose inner injury can be treated within two days? Now I can only suppress your injury, and you have to pray that you don’t meet an opponent who has pure Yin inner energy. If not, your injury will be activated, and you might not even pass the third round, much less think of being the champion!”

As he said, his expression was as cold as snow. From the day that he found Meng Fuyao, he had always been behaving this way, causing the guinea pig to be very cautious when he had to break wind, for fear that he would be thrown into the toilet bowl for polluting the air.

Meng Fuyao also did not dare to retort and could only secretly scowl at Sir Yun, whose horoscope was probably a natural enemy of Zong Yue’s. Later, when she met him, she would aggressively beat him up.

Three days later, the third round took place as scheduled. Right from the morning, large crowds had gathered below the stage. People of the Five Regions Continent liked martial arts and wielders had a noble status, so no one wanted to miss out on this grand occasion. When Meng Fuyao reached, she almost could not squeeze in and continuously sighed over why the fools of Heaven Demon did not make use of the opportunity to sell tickets.

According to the rules, everyone would draw slots, which were either red or black. The pair of people with the same number would battle and would be refereed by Zhan Beiheng. Before drawing the slots, Zhan Beiheng announced the change in rules of the last round. The ten finalists would first battle in pairs, and the losers would become the bottom five. As for the top five wielders, whoever felt that they could be the champion could jump on stage and contest the person on it. The last one standing would be the true champion.

After the announcement, there was an uproar amongst the crowd over the unfairness of the rules. The first one who went up would have to face four rounds of strong opponents, and that easily meant defeat.

However, Zhan Beiheng only smiled and signaled for the commotion to cease. He said, “Everyone might feel that it is unjust, but isn’t drawing lots even more unfair? The top ten experts are on different levels in terms of ability. If the sixth in ranking battled the first, he would definitely lose, but if he met the fifth, who would know what the outcome would be? This is an important matter of the top five ranking of the Meet, and one placing above or below could make a lot of difference. Since we rank by ability, then the ablest should emerge champion of the Meet! Not by luck, but by capability!”