Chapter 140 Plum Wine (e)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

“Miss Qi, as you should know from my accent, I am not a Xuan Chu native. I come from the Eastern Empire, have you heard of this place? It’s more than 100,000 miles north of Xuan Chu,” began Shiyu.

Qi Chuyun frowned. She had heard about this country, but, “Surely you did not bring me out here to tell me this?”

“Of course not. The reason why I travelled 100,000 miles from Eastern Empire is due to a promise.” [1] [1] “A promise?” for some reason, dread formed at the bottom of Qi Chuyun’s stomach.

“That’s right, I promised a certain gentleman that I would send his bones back to his hometown to be buried.”

Qi Chuyun sat up straighter, “Who is this gentleman?”

Shiyu stared at her in silence. “You should know why I ran off without a word. If you know this, then you should also know that what I am about to reveal will subvert the knowledge you have about your family. Your entire clan could be destroyed due to this piece of news.” She paused, then said, “Do you want me to continue?”

“Can it truly be that serious?” Qi Chuyun’s voice was sceptical, but her slumped shoulders already betrayed her true feelings.

“You can choose to believe or not. I have already told you what the consequences of knowing would be. If you do not wish to know, I will leave right away. If you wish to know, I will tell you and leave immediately after.”

“Well, speak then,” Qi Chuyun said almost mechanically.

“Very well,” Shiyu breathed in deeply and said, “the person who entrusted this task to me is-”

“Stop!” Qi Chuyun suddenly held up her hand. She was breathing erratically, “I- I suddenly remember I have something to do. Let’s continue our chat later.”

Shiyu was stunned, but managed to say, “Alright.”

“If you would hand the bones over to me, perhaps I could… assist you?”

“No need, it’s been many years now. A few more years should make no difference,” Shiyu rejected her offer.

Qi Chuyun pursed her lips and stared at Shiyu for a long time. Finally, she got up and left.

Shiyu took a sip of her tea. It was slightly sour.

Both of them are intelligent people. Each knew how to weigh the pros and cons of their actions before making the best choice for themselves and the people around them.

Shiyu did consider handing over Mister Qi’s remains to a member of the Qi Clan and be done with the matter, but… From the conversation just now, she could tell there was something wrong within the Qi Clan.

Qi Chuyun must have known something fishy was going on, but her tone and the way she speaks revealed very little.

If Mister Qi knew that his family had degenerated to this kind of internal chaos, what would he think?

Shiyu reached out and stroke the golden flame pattern on her forearm and said seriously, “I have arrived, but I’m too weak to keep my promise to Mister Qi. Therefore, I shall swear a blood oath to you. I swear upon my blood, that I will one day step into Wushan and somehow kill that monster and offer its blood as a sacrifice to Mister Qi.”

As soon as she had spoken, Shiyu felt something locked in place on her forehead.

This blood oath. If she could not fulfil it, she would one day be destroyed by it.

Ocean Heart Flame had not expected Shiyu to swear a blood oath. The flame pattern, which had been scorchingly hot just now, gradually cooled to normal temperature. Though their combined strength could not win against the enemy, they could always make a comeback one day.

Shiyu was about to leave when she saw Qi Chuyun came rushing back.

“Come back to the Qi Estate with me,” she urged. “Some things should be said directly to my grandfather, the Patriarch.”

 

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In the end, Shiyu still refused to set foot into the Qi Estate. Instead, they compromised. With Shiyu promising to stay at the tavern and wait for Qi Chuyun to invite Qi Patriarch over.

The plum tree in the backyard was still blooming. Brilliant red petals fell from time to time. Shiyu guessed that the tea must have been made from the plums of this tree.

Since it looked like she has the time, Shiyu stroke a fingertip against the trunk of the tree and infused some Spiritual power into it. The plum tree suddenly burst into flowers. Like a speed up video, the flowers rapidly bloomed, withered, replaced by leaves and then suddenly, it was laden with plump green fruits.

After receiving Spiritual powers, the tree looked even healthier than before. Shiyu began to collect the plums, putting them into her space as she thought of Qing Chen. That sweet tooth maniac would probably love Plum Wine.

She was in the middle of collecting plums when she heard movements from the front of the tavern. Shiyu stood by the tree, watching as a tall older looking man came into the yard, Qi Chuyun a couple of steps behind him.

There was no need for excessive greetings. The old man said, “Qi Chuyun informed me that you have some critical news that could drastically impact our Qi Clan,”

“You wish to hear it?” Shiyu sat down.

“Speak,” the Qi Patriarch waved a hand, creating a Spiritual Barrier to prevented sound from leaving the area.

“The reason why I came here is because I have an encounter with a remnant soul of a person. He calls himself Qi and told me that he hailed from Xuan Chu. He left the Ninth Realm 300 years ago, but was later chased back down by a Spiritual Beast. He was seriously wounded and dying when he came back to the Ninth Realm and crashed into the Eastern Sea. I came across his soul and promised to bring his bones back to be buried in his ancestral grounds.

When I arrived, however. I learned that there was only one Qi Clan in the whole of Xuan Chu. Moreover, this same Qi Clan also has an ancestor who left for the Ninth Realm 300 years ago. However, the remnant soul who entrusted his bones to me died 80 years ago.”

[1] Shiyu’s eyes were limpid as she continued, “I ask you, who is the person sitting above Qi Clan’s family hall?”

Patriarch Qi looked taken aback, “Is what you say true?”

“You may believe it, if you wish,” said Shiyu.

“May I see the remains?” Patriarch Qi sounded very eager.

“As Mister Qi’s descendant, of course,” Shiyu’s sleeves flicked, and a skeleton appeared before them.

As soon as the skeleton appeared, Patriarch Qi and Qi Chuyun were shaken. Blood called to blood and there was no way that this could be fake. The pendant on Qi Chuyun’s chest heated up and raced towards the bones.

“So, it is true…” Qi Patriarch’s voice trembled [2] as he called out a jade box and put the bones into it.

Shiyu could tell he was very affected by the sight of the remains. Well, it can’t be a good feeling to know that you’ve been worshipping the wrong ancestor all this while…

Then, as soon as the box shut, Patriarch Qi’s hand flashed towards Shiyu.

Shiyu’s eyes shrank, but, after dealing with many ambushes and assassinations through her journey, her body reacted instantly. Chasing Clouds and Moon activated without her consciousness and she flashed away from this unprovoked attack. The ground, the buildings behind her, the trees were rendered into powder.

Why would Patriarch Qi want to kill her?

The killing intent was too real, Shiyu did not bother with talk and quickly fled. Qi Chuyun finally recovered from her shock and threw herself at her grandfather. “Grandpa, what are you doing?! This skeleton obviously belongs to our Venerable Ancestor! Are you- are you really planning to repay kindness with evil?!”

“You let go,” said Patriarch Qi calmly. “We cannot let her live.”

“Why!?”

However, Patriarch Qi ignored her and gave orders for people to chase the girl down.

Seeing that she could not reason with him, Qi Chuyun ran out of the backyard.

“Fetch the eldest miss and send her home,” ordered Patriarch Qi. “The rest of you chase down that girl. Anyone who brings her head to me will be granted a stewardship position.”

Under such great reward, great effort is exerted.

After giving out these instructions, Patriarch Qi felt that he had been away from the stage too long. It was time to return to the city square.

 

[Gumihou: … what? What, what, what, what, what!?]

Gumihou is keeping track so that you don’t have to ~

 

Condensation Stage	Stage 1
Core Transformation	Stage 2
Core Condensation	Stage 3
Divine Transformation	Stage 4
Nascent Formation	Stage 5*

 

*Previous ‘missing stage’. Now it re-appeared as Stage 5. Eh, whatev…

[1] Paragraph Splitting for Dramatic Purpose: Gumihou is dragging things out for dramaaaa….

[2] Add Details for Dramatic Effect: Patriarch Qi’s sudden about-face must be highlighted with extra drama!

 

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