Yan Ling became Medicine Sect Madam Wan’s godson in a muddle.
When Medicine Sect made grand preparations with lively arrangements everywhere, Yan Ling thought Medicine Sect had some other joyous occasion. He happily ran around watching the excitement.
Until Lezheng Jiu incredulously lifted his hood to look at him, asking from the heart: “Are you an idiot?”
Yan Ling: “…”
“Isn’t it just nominal?” Yan Ling didn’t understand. “Why make such grand preparations?”
Lezheng Jiu rolled his eyes: “You think it’s nominal, but my mother doesn’t think so.”
After all, Madam Wan’s fondness for Yan Ling was known throughout Medicine Sect. These past days, she’d been constantly finding new ways to make Yan Ling happy. Lezheng Jiu had protested several times but was blocked by her each time.
Yan Ling still didn’t understand. Even on the day of the banquet, he remained confused throughout, inexplicably having an illusion of being in a dream.
Logically speaking, a godparent acknowledgment ceremony wouldn’t be so grand, but Yan Ling’s xiangwen had finally been determined these past days—it was Spirit-grade ‘Idle Listening to Sounds.’ Naturally, Madam Wan wanted all Thirteen States clans to know Yan Ling’s identity, lest some blind fool covet a Spirit-grade xiangwen.
The day of the acknowledgment ceremony.
Yan Ling had been accustomed to running wild across mountains since childhood. Often rolling up his sleeves and pant legs, he could run for most of the day. This was his first time wearing such cumbersome clothing—layer upon layer. It was also the autumn tiger season. Fortunately, his body ran cold; otherwise, anyone else would be sweating profusely from the heat.
Madam Wan finished dressing him. Seeing him so incredibly obedient, she couldn’t help reaching out to pinch his face: “Why are you so well-behaved?”
Yan Ling was always getting his face pinched. He wasn’t angry—instead, he smiled obediently.
If someone at Yan Family Mountain said he was well-behaved, he’d wake up laughing at midnight.
“No need to be too nervous today.” Madam Wan finished arranging his hair, saying gently: “From now on, Medicine Sect is your second home. How could you be constrained in your own home, right?”
Yan Ling nodded.
Madam Wan, seeing him so docile, hesitated for a long while before taking out a small box, saying softly: “Ling’er, do you like this?”
These past days, Madam Wan had given him quite a few spirit artifacts. At one glance at that box, Yan Ling knew it was very valuable. Just as he was about to shake his head and say he didn’t want it, Madam Wan opened the box with a “click,” revealing a semi-circular ear cuff.
Yan Ling looked at Madam Wan blankly.
Madam Wan smiled and picked up the ear cuff, gently fastening it on Yan Ling’s ear. She warmly instructed: “You can’t control ‘Idle Listening to Sounds’ yet. With so many guests today, you might get a headache from the noise. This ear cuff was made by the Fu family of Manting Province—it can temporarily block your xiangwen.”
Now Yan Ling had no reason to refuse. He obediently agreed.
“Here.” Madam Wan held his hand and had him press on a talisman mark on the ear cuff. “If you want unobstructed hearing, just stroke here and you can hear ‘Idle Listening to Sounds.'”
Yan Ling: “Okay, thank you, Madam.”
Madam Wan rubbed his head: “Go play. You don’t need to be present the whole time today. Just go to the main hall at noon to go through the acknowledgment ceremony.”
Hearing he didn’t need to stand around all day, Yan Ling immediately nodded happily. The jade bead on the ear cuff hung gently by his ear, its flowing brilliance making his small face appear even more porcelain-white like jade.
Outside was extremely lively, with guests everywhere. Originally fearless, Yan Ling had never seen such a scene before. After hesitating, he still sneakily ran off through the back door to avoid being caught and questioned about this and that.
He originally wanted to find Lezheng Jiu, but Lezheng Jiu always detested crowded places and had run off to hide somewhere.
Yan Ling went around most of the area without finding anyone, so he could only turn back.
Walking halfway, someone suddenly threw a small pebble at his head.
Though Yan Ling’s ears were covered by the ear cuff blocking ‘Idle Listening to Sounds,’ the vigilance from growing up in the mountains for years remained. Without changing expression, he tilted his head. The pebble “whooshed” past his ear.
“Tsk!” Someone behind him sighed with regret.
Yan Ling turned around, his layered robes swirling like brilliant petals.
Behind him, several half-grown youths of twelve or thirteen strolled over leisurely. The leader played with a few scattered pebbles in his hand, looking at Yan Ling with a half-smile.
“Oh, so this is Medicine Sect Madam Wan’s godson. Hey kid, how old are you? Why are you so short?”
Yan Ling: “…”
Yan Ling had originally planned to reason with them calmly, but who would have thought the very first sentence would deliver a massive mental attack? He was immediately so angry steam nearly came out of his head.
He’d been pinching his nose every day drinking those awful medicinal cuisines just to nourish his body and try to grow taller. Why did everyone who saw him now have to mock him for being short?!
Is this Central State’s special way of greeting people?
Yan Ling glared at him fiercely: “You’re the short one. Have you stopped growing already? How pitiful—you’ll only be this tall from now on. Unlike me, I can still shoot up and grow into a tall bamboo pole.”
The person across from him: “…”
The half-grown youth in the lead sneered coldly, saying in a mocking tone: “A country bumpkin who grew up in some poor backwater dares speak to me so arrogantly? Do you know who my father is?”
“Ask your mother.” Yan Ling glared at him. “If you don’t even know, how would I be clear about it?”
The youth: “…”
This group were clan disciples from the Qu family. The Qu family controlled Xiezhi Sect—they’d never been shown such disrespect before. Immediately furious, they rushed forward, shouting angrily: “Who gave you the guts to speak to me like this?! You’re just a bastard living under someone else’s roof. Did your parents not want you anymore, so you acknowledged a godmother at Medicine Sect?”
That short sentence directly insulted both families. Yan Ling’s eyes reddened with anger. Unable to maintain rationality, he immediately pounced forward, grabbing the Qu family youth’s neck and using the momentum to pin him down, baring his teeth viciously: “You foul thing without a mouth—I’ll slaughter you!”
Now those arrogant Qu family people couldn’t tolerate it anymore. They all rushed forward to beat him up.
Yan Ling’s new clothes were all dirtied, but like a little firecracker that ignited at the slightest spark, he fought one against many with fierce momentum without suffering any losses.
But ultimately two fists couldn’t match four hands. Just as someone’s punch hit his shoulder and he staggered back several steps, sitting down hard on the pebble path, a grinning voice finally came from behind.
“Really lively here.”
Yan Ling’s palms were scraped raw by the stones. Forcibly holding back tears, he turned to look.
Xi Jue didn’t know when he’d arrived. He was sitting on a tree root protruding from the ground of a towering tree nearby, smiling as he watched. His warm yellow robes looked like they belonged to someone wealthy and privileged. He held a few crushed stones in his hand, casually playing with them. His eyes were full of mirth, as if very satisfied with this good show.
Yan Ling said confused: “Gege?”
Xi Jue scoffed at him: “What gege? Who’s your gege? Exactly how many good geges do you have?”
Yan Ling frowned and climbed up. He didn’t expect Xi Jue to help him either. Carelessly dusting off his body, he was about to go fight again with a stern face—he had to make this foul-mouthed person apologize.
Xi Jue, seeing him angry like a boiling kettle with steam bubbling from his head, couldn’t hold back a “pfft” laugh: “I never knew you could actually fight.”
Yan Ling ignored him.
If anyone’s parents were insulted and they could still maintain rationality without fighting—that would make them a useless stuffed bun!
The Qu family youth had been beaten quite badly. Covering his face, he looked coldly at Xi Jue, his eyes carrying some wariness: “Xi Jue, I’m teaching a blind country bumpkin a lesson. Don’t interfere.”
Xi Jue slapped his knee laughing: “Teaching a lesson? How come I see the country bumpkin teaching you a lesson?”
“You!”
The Qu family of this generation were probably uniformly stupid in one lineage. Humiliated into anger, he said: “Either way, mind your own business. I’m going to beat this brat until he kneels on the ground and calls me ancestor!”
Yan Ling’s obedience had always been reserved for kind unfamiliar elders. Having held back for so long at Medicine Sect, he snorted coldly: “See who calls who ancestor? Come on—a bunch of twenty-year-olds who stopped growing ganging up on me, a child not yet ten. Let’s see who looks good then?”
Those Qu family youths were half-dead with anger: “You’re the twenty-year-old! We’re only twelve!”
“Oh sorry.” Yan Ling rarely lost in verbal fights. Moreover, this person had insulted his parents and Madam Wan—he didn’t plan to show any mercy at all. He said coldly: “You all look so old, I thought you were already over twenty.”
Everyone: “…”
Xi Jue watched Yan Ling dumbstruck, fearfully touching his chest. Thinking—how is this mouth so formidable, cursing people invisibly? Fortunately, he hadn’t offended this shorty before.
The Qu family people were so angry their voices nearly broke: “Bastard! Beat him!”
The group was so angry their eyes reddened. They surged forward in a mass to beat him up.
Yan Ling’s ear cuff had been knocked half off during the earlier struggle. This group of youths’ voices full of malice were piercingly unbearable. If he hadn’t put the ear cuff back on in time, he probably would have vomited from discomfort.
No wonder Madam Wan gave him the ear cuff.
Yan Ling never admitted defeat. Just as he was about to muster his strength to fight, he heard Xi Jue say lazily: “Whoever dares touch him—I won’t be polite.”
Just one light and airy sentence, and those Qu family people instantly froze.
“Xi Jue! You have a relationship with him?”
“No.” Xi Jue blinked innocently. “I just can’t stand seeing the many bully the few.”
The leader had been beaten badly by Yan Ling and was determined to take revenge. He took a deep breath, making the others retreat. He said coldly: “I’ll beat him alone—then it won’t count as many bullying few.”
“What to do then?” Xi Jue said again. “I also can’t stand seeing a twenty-year-old adult bully a nine-year-old shorty.”
The twenty-year-old adult: “…”
“Xi Jue!” The Qu family youth finally couldn’t hold back, raging: “Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because of your chicken rib Spirit-grade xiangwen! It’s just a teleportation xiangwen—do you really think it can lead your Xi family to climb to high positions?”
Xi Jue’s eyes imperceptibly changed.
“Chicken rib?”
“Isn’t it? Now the Thirteen States all have teleportation arrays that go hundreds of li. What can yours even do?”
Xi Jue’s eyes looked at him coldly, making that little coward shiver all over. But he still forcibly maintained composure, confronting him.
“Come here.” Xi Jue beckoned to the teeth-baring Yan Ling, his voice calm as still water.
Yan Ling glared at him: “I won’t.”
Xi Jue’s pupils flashed gold briefly. Yan Ling only felt a gust of wind by his ear. Blinking and opening his eyes again, he was already standing behind Xi Jue, surrounded by warm yellow.
Yan Ling frowned: “What for?”
Xi Jue gripped the crushed stones in his hand, golden pupils full of ice. But his expression was faintly smiling. On his childish face, a rare trace of wicked evil surfaced.
“What can it do?” Xi Jue said flatly. “You try and see.”
His five fingers moved slightly, then quickly opened like a blooming lotus. The crushed stones in his palm had somehow silently disappeared.
The next instant, the lead Qu family person’s eyes suddenly bulged in fury. Incredulous, he clutched his throat. His entire face turned an abnormal deep purple-red as if suffocating. Mouth gaping wide, he spat out countless fine stone fragments mixed with blood from the crushed stones tearing his throat.
Everyone was immediately shocked.
Xi Jue blocked Yan Ling from seeing. Seeing him curiously crane his neck at the sounds, Xi Jue slapped a hand over his eyes and turned him around, saying coldly: “Turn around. Don’t look.”
Yan Ling: “But…”
Xi Jue: “Want a beating?”
Yan Ling could only purse his lips and turn around, covering his eyes to not look.
Only then did Xi Jue slowly walk forward step by step under the terrified gazes of the Qu family people, raising his hand to grab the lead youth’s long hair, forcing him to lift his head.
“Tasty?” Xi Jue had been spoiled rotten by Madam Zong since childhood. He never felt such bloody revenge was wrong. He smiled with curved eyes, lowering his voice: “I can also use my ‘chicken rib’ xiangwen ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ to transfer these crushed stone fragments into your inner organs or heart. Want to try?”
His windpipe torn, unable to even speak, the youth stared wide-eyed in terror, continuously spitting debris mixed with fresh blood and stones, tears and snot streaming as he desperately shook his head.
“So obedient.” Xi Jue smiled as he patted his face. “I wouldn’t use this xiangwen just for teleportation. Guess what—if I wanted the position of Xiezhi Sect Master or the Thirteen States’ Supreme Lord, would everyone hand it over with both hands?”
Tears streamed desperately from the youth’s eyes. He only knew to shake his head.
Xi Jue finally tired of his miserable state. Clicking his tongue, he stood up, saying lazily: “If there’s a next time and I hear words like ‘country bumpkin’ or ‘bastard’ again, you can forget about keeping that mouth—let’s go.”
Everyone woke as from a dream. Hurriedly dragging the person continuously vomiting blood, they ran away.
Having dealt with the Qu family people, after Xi Jue’s hot-blooded impulse faded, he saw Yan Ling still obediently covering his eyes with his back turned. Immediately vexed, he tugged his own hair hard.
How did he help this shorty again?!
Does this child know how to bewitch people?!
Too malicious!
Xi Jue walked forward with a stern face: “Shorty.”
Yan Ling was still covering his eyes with his small chubby hands. Hearing this, he opened a gap between two fingers, sneakily peeking out: “Gege, can—can I look now?”
Xi Jue: “…”
Damn it, too cute… no, too good at bewitching!
**
T/N: brother-con xi jue XD
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152