Enemies Chapter 17: “WuQing really likes me?”

Chapter 17: “WuQing really likes me?”

Translated by Jouissance of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

Though Su BeiCi hadn’t been there to personally witness the commotion, he knew what had happened.

The XianLing Sect had changed hands. The sect that his grandfather had given everything to protect had ended up lost when at his hands. Yet, he couldn’t do anything about it. When the TaYue Sect attacked, it was they who had chosen to sacrifice the majority of their disciples, allowing this newcomer to so easily gain their loyalty.

And… most importantly, considering this newcomer’s cultivation level, it would barely take them any effort to break through the barrier protecting the inner peak. It was impossible that the other nine sects would get here in time to aid them. Yet their disciples, from outer disciples to inner disciples, were all enraptured with the newcomers. Compared to them, the TaYue sect’s methods were nothing.

Even if… help did come in time, a Greater Path Golden Core versus a sect, one that was barely hanging on, there was no doubt which side the other nine sects would choose. From inside to outside, they were completely overwhelmed by these two newcomers, unable to raise even a slither of rebellion. They could only wait and watch.

Staring at the jade pendant, Su BeiCi’s brow furrowed. Judging by the spiritual energy that pulsed from this luan and phoenix pendant, this was a high-level defensive artifact. If this newcomer wanted what the TaYue Sect did, then why would he do this? If it were Su BeiCi who wanted to take over a sect, then he definitely wouldn’t leave any chance for the previous leader and would eliminate them and any influence they had remaining.

The Grand Elder’s expression was filled with worry. “A’Ci, could it be that this person truly wants you for your beauty? With Wang ZuoYang gone, now another…”

“No,” Su BeiCi’s voice held no warmth whatsoever, and immediately had everyone else falling silent. “This person is most likely an outsider.” There was a solemnity to his expression that he had never worn before.

“Outsider?” The Grand Elder repeated in confusion.

“Yes, outsider.” Su BeiCi continued, “Ten years ago, when I left the sect to gain experience, I accidentally activated a teleportation array and entered a sealed hidden realm. In the hidden realm, there was a fallen ancient Nascent Soul stage powerhouse’s immortal abode. I found a jade tablet. That was when I found out that what we thought of as the cultivation world, is merely a trial ground for another group of people. These people would come every few hundred years and cause chaos in the lands, stealing our resources to forge their own Paths.”

Su BeiCi’s voice was calm to a shocking point, as if he was talking about something unrelated to them. However, each and every one of his words made tidal waves in the Foundation Establishment stage elders’ hearts.

The Sixth Elder mumbled, “…Then what so we do?” His voice was trembling, his gaze filled with even more worry for Su BeiCi. “That means that this cultivator might just be looking to pla…” play around. Yet he wasn’t able to finish the sentence. However, when he finished speaking, he suddenly realized that the elder that had come in from the great hall wore a strange expression on his face.

Su BeiCi’s beauty had a reputation, and there were always admirers chasing after him, except Su BeiCi only had heart for achieving his Path, never giving his admirers anything, and thus severing their hopes. Many of his admirers were even women.

“No,” a strange emotion flashed in Su BeiCi’s dark eyes. “Don’t overthink it, everyone. If that’s true, then while it might not be a good thing for anyone else, even a very bad thing, it might be a chance for our XianLing Sect to rise up again!” Su BeiCi’s fingers tapped against the jade pendant. “I’ll go and see him now. If it’s a trick or not, we’ll only know if we try him. As for everything else… there’s no need to worry, Shishu.”

This discussion and back and forth journey seemed to take a long time, but in reality, the central area that they had stowed themselves away in and the main peak’s Sect Leader Hall was only half a li away from each other. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator that could use a Flying Artifact, the journey only took ten seconds.

Only half an hour had passed between the Grand Elder leaving and an outer disciple announcing, “Su Shijie has arrived.”

Su BeiCi stepped into the hall, immediately feeling a foreboding, fiery aura washing over him, making him feel as if his very consciousness was burning.

This Golden Core presence was so intense that in his three-hundred years of cultivating, he had never even felt it from his grandfather who had grasped the Late Golden Core stage.

If he raised his head, he could see that there was a young man meditating, cross-legged, on the cultivation stage in the hall. Shockingly, below his body was a sea of flames in which countless damned souls seemed to be screaming in pain. In that moment, Su BeiCi felt as if he had stepped into the underworld, and not the Sect Leader Hall of their XianLing Sect.

As for the form that sat on the cultivation stage, it was the judge known as death, taking a life with every gaze.

The young man had such a powerful presence, and Su BeiCi felt that even the Sect Leader of the number one sect in the cultivation world would feel insignificant, negligible, standing next to him.

But in reality, with the first step inside that he had taken, his gaze was immediately enraptured by the white figure next to the young man. It wasn’t until the aura of hellfire hit him that his gaze shifted to land on the cultivator of hellfire.

He realized then and there why the Grand Elder’s expression was so strange when Sixth Uncle had said what he said. He could barely believe that such an ethereal young man existed. Those brows, those eyes, those beautiful red lips… That hair, that skin, that aura… It was something that would only appear in dreams, but even dreams would only be able to craft a vague silhouette, unable to view the other’s features, unable to touch the other’s robes. The face of an ethereal being wasn’t something that a mere mortal could craft in their mind.

Even he, who only ever had a heart for his cultivation Path, whose heart was as calm as still water, couldn’t help feel the awe that arose when he saw the other. Su BeiCi couldn’t help but think, if it were anyone else, the young man would probably only need to smile to make them give him everything they held dear of their own will.

As for that luan and phoenix pendant, it was clearly nothing more than a joke, but the very thought of that possibility had Su BeiCi’s heart hurting for some reason. He was cultivating the Path of Cleaving Emotions.

Su BeiCi circulated his spiritual energy, tapping into the power that originated from his Path, finally escaping the hellfire. His entire being seemed to become even colder and more merciless.

The Path he wanted to cultivate was the Path of Carefreeness. This Path was extremely difficult to achieve and required first cultivating the Path of Cleaving Emotions, entering a state of true emotional understanding through first severing said emotions and using oneself to break through reality. Only then would he be able to achieve true freedom and carefreeness.

Su BeiCi retracted his gaze, approaching Chu WuQing to greet him respectfully with a bow.

Chu WuQing seemed to have his head lowered, focused on the tea he was drinking, but in reality, the moment Su BeiCi had stepped inside, he had been carefully observing the other and, naturally, didn’t miss the admiration that flashed across the other’s face. Chu WuQing was very confident in how attractive he was to most women. This, even the author had given him absolute acknowledgement in. They had written about how, wherever he went, the admiring gazes of enraptured women would follow.

The moment Su BeiCi bent at the waist, Chu WuQing dashed to Su BeiCi’s side and grasped the other’s wrist, wanting to bring the other into his embrace.

Unfortunately for him, Su BeiCi wasn’t really a soft-bodied woman, plus the two’s cultivation level was too far apart. One was at the Late Foundation Establishment stage while the other was only at Level Ten Qi Condensation stage. The pull not only failed to move Su BeiCi, the force unbalanced Chu WuQing, causing him to stumble into Su BeiCi’s arms.

Chu WuQing’s face unavoidably pressed against Su BeiCi’s chest. This was way too awkward, and too perverted… But why was Su BeiCi’s chest so hard, without a hint of the softness expected from a woman?

However, Chu WuQing didn’t actually know anything about whether a woman’s chest was actually soft or not. In his last life, Chu WuQing had only ever loved DanTai ZiYan. Though the two were engaged since they were children, he cared greatly about respecting each other’s boundaries and their chastity, wanting to leave that beautiful first experience for their wedding night. In reality, however, he had only left everything for the protagonist. Afterwards, Chu WuQing was abandoned by DanTai ZiYan and lost interest in romance, so he was even more clueless about things like that.

So even though he was confused, the thought disappeared quickly. Soon enough, he forcibly suppressed the embarrassment and awkwardness that welled up inside, recalling how the protagonist in the novel had flirted with the female leads and raised his head, saying, ‘Why is Su-jiejie’s ¹ chest flat?’ His eyes swam with deep emotion, and he thought that this made him look devilishly handsome and alluring.

What he didn’t realize was that his ears had gone red from embarrassment, spreading down his neck, and the light in his eyes looked more like tears of pain from the collision.

Su BeiCi felt his heart skip a beat. It wasn’t until the other spoke that he snapped back to reality, noticing that he had reflexively put his arm around the other’s waist. He quickly began to use his core cultivation method, circulating his spiritual energy and slowly freezing his emotions. He tried to think how a normal girl would react to something like this, but in the end, it came out as a cold, “Please don’t joke around with me like that, Chu-gongzi.”

As a lady, being teased like that and not getting embarrassed or angry, but instead coldly telling the one who teased them to not joke around with her. Chu WuQing’s confidence at this endeavour rose, it was just… Chu WuQing turned his head and said to Chu You, “Chu You, leave us for now.”

Though they had barely known each other for a day, Chu WuQing’s stubborn pride and arrogance had already left a deep impression on Chu You. Chu You knew what this Clan Head’s son was really like, but he had never expected that Chu WuQing would ever act so shy. Was it because Su BeiCi was a woman?

Chu You didn’t want to leave, but he had to. He couldn’t disobey Chu WuQing’s orders. Before he left, he gave Su BeiCi a harsh glare in warning. He had a bad feeling about this XianLing Sect’s ex-Patriarch’s granddaughter.

Once Chu You had left, Chu WuQing immediately grabbed Su BeiCi’s hand, and began to lead the other towards his own immortal’s abode. He smiled, telling the other, “Su-jiejie doesn’t need to worry about my identity. All you need to know is that so long as I, Chu WuQing, am here, I won’t let a single person in the cultivation world lay a hand on you or any heathens to set foot in the XianLing Sect.”

The young man’s fingers were long and slender, his skin soft and thin. With their hands entangled, he could practically feel the blood pulsing through the veins under that tender skin with a unique rhythm. It formed into a razor sharp blade, attempting to break through the defense of Su BeiCi’s Path, but his defense managed to quickly regenerate after breaking after each attack, preventing the attacks from advancing further.

That was, until, the young man curled his fingers just slightly, drawing circles on Su BeiCi’s palm and sending tingles through his body. The young man’s voice sounded beside his ear, as if the soft breaths coming from his lips were brushing against his earlobe. “Su-jiejie, calling me Chu-gongzi is too distant. In the future, I’ll call you A’Ci. You can just call me WuQing, hm?” There was the hint of a laugh in his voice.

Su BeiCi unconsciously raised his head, immediately sending his gaze colliding with Chu WuQing’s own glistening gaze. It seemed to encompass infinite emotion, filled with Su BeiCi’s reflection. His aura was that of an untouchable, ethereal immortal, yet in that moment he was even more tempting and sensual than a succubus.

Seeing how Su BeiCi seemed to lose himself, his cold aura dispersing, Chu WuQing’s hand followed Su BeiCi’s arm up from his palm, slowly sliding over Su BeiCi’s skin, stopping at the elbow, a place that was both suggestive, yet also wouldn’t cross any boundaries.

Chu WuQing wanted to kiss Su BeiCi’s eyelid, to try and snap the other out of their stupor, but he wasn’t tall enough, so he made a beckoning motion with his hand, summoning the luan and phoenix pendant in Su BeiCi’s storage bag.

Chu WuQing raised the pendant and kissed it lightly.

Su BeiCi couldn’t help but follow Chu WuQing’s movements, watching as the young man’s red lips pressed against the white jade. His lips seemed to part slightly, the white jade just barely pressing in between them, but soon enough being pushed out once more.

The young man raised his eyebrows, his gaze falling on the other’s face, neck, chest then waist before he smiled, “Why doesn’t A’Ci wear the pendant I’ve gifted?”

The defense created by his Path shattered.

Su BeiCi’s eyes darkened. He didn’t understand why an outsider like Chu WuQing would play around with him like this… or rather, her? At the thought of the word ‘her,’ a bitter feeling welled up in Su BeiCi’s chest. He had come to test whether or not Chu WuQing was an outsider like those he had read about on the jade records.

He wanted to take off the jade pendant at his waist, but his hands felt like lead was weighing them down. He couldn’t do anything but let the young man lead him away. This wasn’t a good feeling. He circulated his qi even faster using his core cultivation method, causing his entire aura to freeze again, as if he didn’t want to look at the other and hoped that the other would back down.

After all, this young man was clearly someone who was used to being admired by everyone, spoiled by everyone, how would he be able to take someone else treating him so coldly?

The colder Su BeiCi acted, the more confident Chu WuQing was of his success. He held Su BeiCi’s hand, leading him all the way to a desk beside the wall and pushed Su beiCi down to sit on the wooden chair.

Though he was confident in his chances, the fact that Su BeiCi was so much taller than him had still given him quite a blow. With Su BeiCi sitting and him standing, it made Chu WuQing feel much better.

If Su BeiCi refused to speak, then he’d do the speaking. Chu WuQing waved his hand and countless divine fruits and high-quality wines appeared on the table, all of them able to help one’s cultivation grow. They were extremely rare in the lower realm and only those who held power in the strongest sects would usually have access to them.

Chu WuQing stretched out his arms, pressing his hands against the wall past Su BeiCi and trapping the other. He bowed his head to gaze at Su BeiCi. 

“A’Ci… A’Ci…” Each time the other’s name passed his lips, it seemed to reverberate through the air, dominating, just like him, suddenly appearing and chasing off the TaYue Sect, not giving anyone a chance to refuse him.

Due to his movements before, Chu WuQing’s robes had come a little loose already. With him raising his arms, it tugged the collar of his robes, causing his originally tightly cinched robes to fall open slightly, revealing the collarbone underneath and a hint of white flesh.

Chu WuQing’s voice splashed into Su BeiCi’s consciousness. Even though he knew that Chu WuQing was only playing around with him, and even thought that he was a she… The defense Su BeiCi had erected with his Path had completely collapsed. It was as if something in his heart had broken through layers of chains, growing out frantically.

Su BeiCi’s cold, untouchable aura vanished. He unexpectedly raised his arms, surprising Chu WuQing as he hugged the other’s neck. His eyes were dark as he asked, “WuQing really likes me?”

This was exactly what Chu WuQing was waiting for. However, when Su BeiCi’s arms came into contact with the skin on his neck, a strange sense of foreboding welled up in Chu WuQing’s heart, as if something dangerous was about to happen. Instincts like these were something that most cultivators would have, but right now, Chu WuQing didn’t look into it.

Su BeiCi asked again, “WuQing really likes me?”

Recalling Chu You’s Golden Core stage strength and how he was waiting just outside the hall, Chu WuQing was certain that he would be protected and there was no danger to his life. Compared to taking revenge on Lin Yi, what was a little bit of danger? 

Chu WuQing thus replied, “I fell in love with A’Ci at first sight.”