Chapter 34.2: Mountain Village.

Chapter 34 Part 2

The days past by one day at a time. Xi Jia read three or four scripts. In the end, he decided on a script with Chen Tao, and he would be going to film next month. When eating watermelon on this day, Xi Jia hesitated how he should tell Ye Jingzhi that he need to go away. However, he hadn’t spoke yet when he received another WeChat message.

He opened to take a look——

【 Pei Yu: Save 】

Xi Jia lightly laughed. He put his phone on the side table and didn’t look at it again. He raised his head and said to Ye Jingzhi, “Master Ye, I have to go shoot a film next month. En……there’s still probably 20 days. I need to leave G Province and go to C Province to shoot.”

Ye Jingzhi was peeling a mandarin orange. He had just split the mandarin orange in half when he suddenly heard these words. He blankly raised his head and looked at Xi Jia.

Xi Jia said, “This script is pretty good. It’s a modern criminal investigation movie.”

Ye Jingzhi didn’t know what he should say. He mindlessly stuffed the mandarin orange into his mouth and ate it. Xi Jia was still talking about this movie. When he reached the end, he carefully looked at Ye Jingzhi and softly asked, “Master Ye……have you gone to C Province before?”

Ye Jingzhi swiftly returned to his senses. He suddenly realized that while he was in a daze, he had actually ate an entire mandarin orange. He shook his head, and then also nodded, speaking in disorder, “Never gone……No, I have. I went there to ghost hunt before, ghost hunt. Fengdu is east of Q City. The last time I went was four years ago when the Hell Gate of Fengdu opened. Right, I went before.”

Xi Jia didn’t notice that Ye Jingzhi was so anxious that he couldn’t even say anything clearly. He hesitated for a long time and gently asked, “Master Ye, C Province……C Province has a lot of great food. The amount of time it’ll take for me to shoot isn’t every long since I only have a minor role. Next month, do you want to go and have fun with me?”

Ye Jingzhi blanked, “Ah?”

Xi Jia also felt that he was somewhat abrupt, “Nothing, Master Ye, I was only just saying, you don’t have to take it seriously.”

“Going!”

Xi Jia was suddenly startled, and he looked up at Ye Jingzhi. He saw Ye Jingzhi looking at him seriously and exerting himself to say, “Going, I want to go.” As if he felt that he was too eager, Ye Jingzhi racked his brains and hurriedly thought of an explanation, “There….There’s indeed a lot of good things to eat, I want to go eat……”

His heart suddenly became warm, and Xi Jia raised his hand to cover his lips, smiling until his eyes curved.

It was reasonable to say that the days should continue on like this until the two of them needed to go to C Province to shoot a movie plus vacation next month. Until in the early hours on this day, Xi Jia opened WeChat to read “Ghosts Know”’s gossip for today. After he finished reading, he was about to close WeChat when he suddenly saw the message that Charlatan Pei had sent this afternoon.

Xi Jia helplessly smiled and returned a message:【 What, did something happen again? 】

He put his phone down and went to sleep at ease.

By the next day, Xi Jia had already forgot about this message. He and Ye Jingzhi went out to buy groceries and stroll around Poyang County Town. On the third day, they went to the lakeside of Poyang Lake to barbecue and camp out, experiencing the beautiful lake and boundless scenery. On the fourth day, when Xi Jia settled down to play on his phone, he suddenly realized: Wait, Charlatan Pei actually hasn’t replied yet?

His handsome, straight eyebrows slightly wrinkled. Xi Jia sat up on the bed and consecutively sent three messages over.

【 Pei Yu? Why aren’t you replying? Is something the matter? 】

【 Pei Yu? 】

【 Pei Yu, if you see this, please reply. 】

Xi Jia patiently waited for five minutes, but there was still no reply. He immediately got up from the bed and headed over to the other room while calling Pei Yu’s number. However, he hadn’t reached the door when an ice-cold female voice came through on the phone, “The person you are calling is out of the service area…….”

Xi Jia suddenly stopped in his steps.

In the next moment, he opened the door hard and quickly found Ye Jingzhi who was currently in the kitchen washing potatoes.

“Master Ye, is Pei Yu in trouble……” His voice paused, and Xi Jia’s gaze became grave, “Master Ye, it seems like something really happened to Pei Yu!”

Because they were joking around a couple days prior, Xi Jia simply didn’t take this time’s cry for help seriously. Charlatan Pei was really too unreliable. Xi Jia didn’t contact him often, but he also knew that this person’s mouth ran like horse. Of the words that he said, only three out of ten words could be trusted, and that was even including punctuation marks.

Xi Jia carefully read over Pei Yu’s last message that he sent. This message was sent at around 9 at night. There was no other message, only one word——Save.

What did Pei Yu want him to save?

Could it be that he wanted to say “Save me,” but didn’t have the chance to finish typing and sent it out in haste?

After Ye Jingzhi learned about the situation, he immediately went on WeChat to find Tianci-daoren. He sent a message over, but the strange thing was that after ten minutes had past, Tianci-daoren also didn’t reply.

In the Xuanxue world, Ye Jingzhi was considered someone who was cut off from others. Their Wu Xiang Mountain only had him. He didn’t have deep connections with other sects. He had Tianci-daoren’s WeChat because the two of them needed to attend the Celestial Masters Representative Assembly each year. They could be considered to be quite familiar with each other, but he didn’t have Tianci-daoren’s phone number.

Xi Jia said in shock, “Pei Yu’s master also didn’t reply. Could it be that he’s also in trouble?”

Ye Jingzhi’s firmly said, “Tianci-daoren’s magic power is profound, so there shouldn’t be any accidents. If he is also in trouble……then, I’m afraid this matter isn’t that simple.”

Since he couldn’t find Tianci-daoren, Ye Jingzhi thought for a bit and sent a message to a young monk from the Great Wanshou Temple. As said before, Hell King Ye only had three people in the younger generation that could be considered as friends. One was Tian Gong Pavilion’s eldest disciple, Measurement. Another was Zi Wei Xing Hall’s eldest disciple, Nan Yi. And there was another who was a young monk at Great Wanshou Temple, Muyu.

The Great Wanshou Temple was also in the capital. Asking Muyu to find someone was the most convenient.

Muyu replied very quickly: 【 Amitabha, do not worry, Fellow Daoist Ye. Wait for this little monk to find Senior Tianci. 】

A hour later, Muyu sent a message: 【 This poor monk didn’t see Senior Tianci. But hearing from one of their fellow daoists, after Fellow Daoist Pei Yu tricked his junior sister to leave home, Tianci-daoren nearly fainted from anger. Then, he went to cultivate in seclusion. Fellow Daoist Ye, since Senior Tianci is in seclusion, this poor monk is unable to contact him. Do you have an urgent matter? 】

Ye Jingzhi told Muyu about Pei Yu’s message from four days ago.

Seeing this message, Muyu’s expression immediately changed. He hurriedly went to find Pei Yu’s sect again and told them. When those young disciples heard, they quickly contacted Pei Yu and the youngest junior sister. Who would’ve anticipated that both of them couldn’t be contacted.

This time, the young disciples anxiously ran around, “What should we do now? Fellow Daoist Muyu, our master is currently sleeping in seclusion. If he doesn’t come out, no one would be able to get in contact with him. Martial Uncle Wang went to M Country near the ocean for a cultural exchange the day before yesterday and simply can’t come back. Just what do we do?!”

Pei Yu’s sect was called Shuangji Sect.¹ Just hearing this name, one would know that it didn’t have the fate of a protagonist. Shuangji Sect was among the top in the Xuanxue world, but it was more than one step away from the Four Great Sects. It also couldn’t be compared to Wu Xiang Mountain that was peculiar (positive connotation).

If the Xuanxue world was a class in school, the Four Great Sects would be the class monitor, the study administrators, the representatives of each subject, and the top students responsible for maintaining the peace and order of the students. Wu Xiang Mountain was the study god who always tested number one in the whole class and didn’t abide by the rules but studied well. Everyone couldn’t help but admire. Shuangji Sect was among the top 10 in the class, very outstanding but also didn’t really stand out.

Shuangji Sect’s eldest disciple, Pei Yu, was currently 7th place on the Modou Rankings, and couldn’t compare with Nan Yi and Hu Die. Such a large matter had happened, Shuangji Sect’s Tianci-daoren and his junior brother both couldn’t take charge, and the disciples didn’t know what to do.

Because the Shuangji Sect was in disorder at present, the Great Wanshou Temple intervened and took matters into their own hands. They arranged for Shuangji Sect’s disciples to first find the whereabouts of Pei Yu and their youngest junior sister. As for Tianci-daoren, they would invite the seniors of the Xuanxue world and see if they could call Tianci-daoren out from his seclusion.

Meanwhile, Xi Jia and Ye Jingzhi headed towards a certain city in G Province according to Shuangji Sect’s information.

Four days ago, Pei Yu’s youngest junior sister also sent a WeChat to her best friend saying that she and Senior Brother Pei arrived at the train station at a certain city in G Province and was about to transfer to a bus bound for Poyang County. Senior Brother Pei said that there’s a good friend who’s currently near Poyang Lake, and he wanted to see his good friend along the way.

This was the last known information on their geographical location before the two of them disappeared. Xi Jia never imagined that Charlatan Pei planned on seeing him before he disappeared. This made him feel guilty.

Pei Yu thought of him and came to see him, but he didn’t pay any attention to Pei Yu’s message asking for help. Only after four days had past did he notice that something was off. As a friend, he had failed and let Pei Yu down.

The strong guilt made Xi Jia unable to sit back and watch. Not to mention, since Pei Yu went missing right in G Province, he certainly needed to go see the situation. Ye Jingzhi also came with him. In this regard, Master Ye said, “Wu Xiang Mountain has always been in G Province for more than 200 years.”

What he really meant: G Province was under Wu Xiang Mountain’s jurisdiction, and it was under his, Ye Jingzhi’s, jurisdiction. Such a thing happened under his watch, he absolutely couldn’t disregard it.

On that very night, the two of them took the train to a certain city in G Province. However, when they arrived at the train station where people were coming and going, Xi Jia didn’t know how he should continue the search. There were so many people at this train station. Everyday, thousands upon thousands of people were going to and fro from here. Pei Yu came here four days ago. How was it possible to find clues now?

As if he was able to see the anxiousness in Xi Jia’s thoughts, Ye Jingzhi lowly said, “Don’t worry, we should be able to find them.”

When the moon rose to the sky, the people in the train station became fewer and fewer. Ye Jingzhi moved his finger and a yellow paper talisman flew out from his pocket.

The yellow talisman hovered in the air. On its surface, the red cinnabar glowed brilliantly in the moonlight.

Ye Jingzhi tapped on the cinnabar talisman with his finger and closed his eyes to mouth the incantation. All of a sudden, the talisman burst into flames, changing into white smoke. The strange thing was that the white smoke didn’t immediate waft through the air, but softly floated in the air.

“Heavenly spirit, heavenly spirit, Yuluo Daming. Eliminate disorder and resolve problems, Great God Shufu. Sweep, eliminate fiends and evil, guard the primordial qi. Urgently, by order of law!”²

The voice fell, and the white smoke in the air transformed into a small circle. The end of the circle was a wisp of white smoke that slowly lengthened. Finally, there was a white loop at the top of this long white thread. It circled three times in front of Ye Jingzhi before swiftly flying forward.

The white smoke was extremely fast. Xi Jia hadn’t had time to react when Ye Jingzhi pulled his hand and brought him forward. Ye Jingzhi’s pace was also very fast, and Xi Jia simply couldn’t keep up. But the white smoke was evidently floating even faster. Ye Jingzhi’s eyes became stern. He suddenly held Xi Jia’s waist and picked him up.

Xi Jia was stunned, blankly lying in Master Ye’s embrace and allowing him to princess carry him like this.

After picking up Xi Jia, Ye Jingzhi’s speed accelerated again. This time, he steadily caught up with the white smoke. After a moment, Ye Jingzhi’s body stiffened. He slowly looked down and met face to face with Xi Jia.

Xi Jia, “……”

Ye Jingzhi, “…..”

Xi Jia, “……”

Ye Jingzhi, “……”

With a bang, Master Ye’s ears became red as he hastily explained, “I-I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to catch up and lose it!”

Xi Jia’s face was also a bit red. He was already this big, and this was his first time being princess carried. Moreover, it was being princess carried by a man. “No problem. This white smoke is flying a bit too fast. I can’t keep up with it.”

Ye Jingzhi heard this and quickly changed the topic, “The slowest it can fly is 20 meters per second, the fastest is 100 meters.”

Xi Jia also stiffly followed up the change in topic, “No wonder I can’t catch up to it. It’s too fast.”

Ye Jingzhi, “Right.”

Xi Jia, “Right.”

Ye Jingzhi, “……”

Xi Jia, “……”

Translator’s Addition:
C+: ……
Mirror: ……
C+: ……
Mirror: ……
C+: omg I’m being princess carried! By. A. Man. (‘-’*)
Mirror: I’m actually princess carrying my wife! Ahhhhh! (*/ω＼*)

The Author’s small theatre will be in the next part, but there’s an additional note that fits better here.

Additional Author’s comments:
Mirror truly likes C+, and not just because C+ is his future wife.
OMG, you guys actually doubt the sincerity of the pure (slow) Mirror?
Oh right, the majority of the spells in this novel are revised by Author based on some Daoist incantations, and some are direct quotes. Affirming here, a lot isn’t original.

Translator’s Notes:
¹ 双极派 Shuangji Sect – Shuang means double/pair/two, Ji is the same Ji as in Taiji which means pole/extreme/highest point/etc. Together, Shuangji can mean bipolar. ↵
² 天灵天灵，郁罗达明。排纷解难，枢府大神。扫，除凶恶，守卫元真。急急如律令！Heavenly spirit, heavenly spirit, Yuluo Daming. Eliminate disorder and resolve problems, Great God Shufu. Sweep, eliminate fiends and evil, guard the primordial qi. Urgently, by order of law! – This is a direct quote from the 排难解纷咒 Eliminate and Resolve Problems and Disorder Incantation. I gave up comprehending if Yuluo Daming is a name or not…or if Shufu is a name or not…

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