Chapter 65. Your eye for disciples is becoming worse and worse

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“Why am I here?”

The emperor spoke in his own voice.

Everyone exhaled.

The emperor’s expression was confused and panicked.

After all, he was only a young man. No matter how high his status was, he had never been through something like this.

The empress dowager said softly: “It’s a long story, but it’s fine if you’re alright. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

The emperor wanted to say something, but then hesitated and only shook his head in the end. He looked around at everybody, his eyes not resting on anyone for too long, including the empress dowager.

The empress dowager was struggling to remain calm. To contain herself, she turned around and asked Changming: “Might Immortal Jiufang do me a favor and see whether the emperor has fully recovered?”

After hearing Kuhe’s words about the emperor’s souls tangled with the Zhaoyue princess’ with no chance of separating them, the empress dowager still had a lingering fear.

Changming came closer to the emperor and stretched out his arm.

“I’ll measure your pulse.”

The emperor was hesitating.

The empress dowager thought that he might be afraid of something going wrong since he did not recognise Changming. Furthermore, the emperor had been unconscious for a long time, and had just seen so many people after coming to his senses. It was natural for him to be suspicious. The empress dowager encouraged him: “This person is Immortal Jiufang. He is the immortal who has found and returned your stolen souls!”

But the emperor said: “I’m not hurt, there is no need to check. I’m tired and can’t recall many things. I want to take a rest.”

Changming suddenly touched his chest. The emperor jumped in fear, dodging Changming’s hand and covering his own chest with his arms. He frowned and shrieked.

“You audacious scoundrel, what are you doing!”

Everyone: …

The empress dowager felt that something was wrong.

How was it a boy’s reaction? Obviously, it was a girl’s.

The empress dowager’s face darkened: “Who on earth are you!”

The emperor: “Naturally, I’m Huangfu Ruiyu.”

It was the emperor’s taboo name.

Taboo name: taboo against voicing the emperor’s name in ancient China

But this name was not a secret. Since the Zhaoyue princess was marrying into the Luo Palace, of course, she knew it as well.

The empress dowager said quietly: “Do you still remember what we talked about when you regained consciousness after falling into water at the age of eight?”

The emperor remained silent for a moment, and then said cautiously: “That I should stop playing around?”

The empress dowager: “You didn’t fall into water in the first place.”

The emperor: …

The empress dowager: “Who on earth are you!”

Kuhe said: “Two souls sharing one body. She must be the Zhaoyue princess right now.”

The empress dowager had already guessed that. She gnashed her teeth, wishing she could tear this woman who had blended into her son’s body into a thousand pieces: “Give me my son!”

While the empress dowager was talking, Xie Chunxi and Yue Chengbo stepped forward, blocking the emperor’s way to the right and to the left in case he should try to escape.

The emperor sobbed and collapsed.

“Ah, I also want to go away! If I could return him, I’d have already done so!”

The demons had taken the Zhaoyue princess under their control before she had even entered Luo.

She could not say when that had happened exactly. She only knew that she had woken up one day and noticed that her body had changed slightly, as if there was a strange voice in her head that spoke to her from time to time, ordering her to do different things.

Little by little, that voice turned into a host from a guest. It took control of her body and forced her to watch the voice become the owner, pushing her into a tight corner.

She could also talk to this voice, and its owner was quite amiable towards her, answering every question she had. He said he had come from the Darkest Abyss, and was attracted to the princess’s body, but had no intention of taking over it. When the whole affair was over, he would, of course, return the body to the princess. The latter did not put up a struggle at all, and let the owner of the voice do as he pleased.

Although Zhaoyue was small, the emperor’s harem was full of intrigues. The princess’s birth mother was a palace maiden. Her origins were humble, so she had suffered a lot of humiliation. Later, when that person came, everything changed, and no one dared bully her again, and the Zhaoyue empress secured her position at court. That person probably wanted to repeat this story, and make the Zhaoyue princess the person in charge, using the mechanism of court intrigues.

“But he seemed to have changed his decision later. When he heard that Luo was going to establish a good relationship with Zhaoyue, he took the initiative to ask our monarch to let me go to Luo.”

The emperor was sniffing, keeping his fingers in a theatrical orchid gesture [1].

The corners of the empress dowager’s eyes twitched, and her clean and proper face turned ashen.

Why Luo, and not You? Because, compared to relying on You, having a good relationship with Luo, a more powerful country, was definitely more profitable for Zhaoyue. The demon inside the Zhaoyue princess had probably been prepared in advance to infiltrate Luo.

When the empress dowager heard that the Zhaoyue monarch wanted to give them the princess, she thought that the small country was eagerly currying favor with them, disregarding You for their sake. Since it demonstrated Luo’s superiority, she could only rejoice.

It seemed like the emperor was trying to take out a handkerchief to wipe off his tears. However, he did not manage to find it even after looking for some time, so he could only wipe his eyes with his sleeve, ruining his image of a thick-browed, brave man with big eyes. Many people could not stand the sight of this, so they averted their gazes.

“What happened next?” the empress dowager’s voice started to quiver. No one knew whether the reason for this was her fear or rage.

“Zhaoyue is a small country forced to exist in a crack between two big dynasties, Luo and You. At the time I volunteered, our monarch was just worried how we should please the Luo dynasty, so, naturally, he was happy,” the emperor mumbled with a guilty conscience, “I… I had no choice as well. I couldn’t control my body at all, and whatever that person wanted to do, I did.”

Kuhe: “What’s his name?”

The emperor: “He told me to call him Han Yin. Han from ‘cold wind’, Yin from ‘life in seclusion’.”

Han from ‘cold wind’: ‘han’ means ‘cold’

Yin from ‘life in seclusion’: ‘yin’ means ‘hidden’

It was not just Kuhe who did not recognise this name—no one else did either.

But, since he was a demon, the fact that no one had ever heard his name was not surprising.

Kuhe asked again: “Why did he want you to come to Luo and marry the emperor?”

The emperor: “He told me that I was predestined to get married to the emperor of Luo, and my life will be better after I come here. At first, I was too naive, and believed without a second thought in everything he said. Sometimes, I would leave the body at night, but if I got too far away, I was dragged back forcibly. When I arrived at the Luo dynasty, during the night I was resting in the official residence in the outskirts, I left my body to take a breath of fresh air. That was when I stumbled upon Huangfu Ruyi. He said he was a soul wandering in a dream. I didn’t believe that he was the emperor of Luo until Huangfu told me a lot about the affairs of the Luo dynasty.”

Very soon, the existence of Huangfu was noticed by the demon, who was occupying the princess’ body. He trapped both souls inside the princess’ body. When the princess entered the banquet that had been arranged for the ambassadors in the palace, the emperor could see the empress dowager through the princess’s eyes, but could not do anything.

At this point, the empress dowager could not hold her tears back anymore: “Ah, my poor son!”

She quickly asked Changming, Kuhe and others to think of a way to help the emperor return to his normal state.

Kuhe and the others frowned silently. But Changming knew that the emperor did not want to go back in the first place. Maybe he even enjoyed his current position. If something happened, the princess could take over the body; when everything was alright, he could come out and laze around. That way, he would not need to hear the empress dowager and ministers talking about boring things, but could still enjoy all the privileges of being an emperor.

The emperor saw the empress dowager choking with tears, and wanted to say something. But he noticed Changming’s half-smiling expression of a person who had already guessed his thoughts, so he retracted his half-stretched hand, turning into a quail.

Turning into a quail: be embarrassed, shying away

Kuhe said: “Right now, Princess Ling Long’s and His Majesty’s souls are intertwined with each other; at the same time, the princess’ body was taken by a demon. Perhaps, it will be hard to resolve their ill-fated relationship for the time being. Please forgive this poor monk’s ignorance, but he’s afraid we’ll have to wait for shixiong to return and take a look.”

Although he was saying these words, in his heart, he was not sure that even his shixiong would be able to help—after all, even shixiong’s shifu did not have a solution. But he was still consoling the empress dowager, giving her hope.

Since Kuhe, a disciple of the formidable Qingyun School, said this, Xie Chunxi and the others were naturally unable to help as well.

The empress dowager wiped her tears away, forcing herself to calm down, and said to the emperor: “Let my son come out and speak. Haven’t his souls returned as well?”

The emperor said awkwardly: “I called for him just now, but he’s still sleeping. He’ll probably come out after dawn. Let’s give days to him, and nights to me, is it fine?”

So during the day, he would be the usual emperor, and at night, he would be the emperor with a male body and a female heart?

Would the emperor be able to show favor to his concubines and carry on the ancestral line?

The empress dowager said angrily: “Since when are you in charge!”

The emperor replied innocently: “You can’t be in charge either!”

The empress dowager’s vision went dark, and she fainted from anger.

Seeing that the two of them would not come to an agreement any time soon, Changming had already turned away.

Yun Hai was looking at the sky.

The scarlet clouds above their heads had started to disperse, but a long red trace was still stretched far to the east, as if someone had cut through the clouds with a knife, leaving a wound.

Unexpectedly, from day to night, this matter had taken a whole day.

Changming called Song Nanyan over.

“What’s on the eastern side?”

Song Nanyan said: “Ah, there’s the eastern market. The eastern and the western markets of the Luo Capital are bustling with merchants.”

Of course, Changming was not trying to ask about the eastern market.

“What’s farther to the east?”

“The market ends,” Song Nanyan first answered, and only after that started to think, “Are you asking about what lies to the east of the Luo Capital? There’s an imperial mausoleum, also called the Eastern Tomb.”

The Eastern Tomb…

There was a high slope in the outskirts, right beneath the trace of blood in the sky.

Changming was doubtful. Maybe, they should wait for Xu Jingxian to return, and only then solve this mystery.

Song Nanyan had noticed Yun Hai a long time ago, but had not had an opportunity to ask till this moment.

This person appeared silently, and had defeated the princess together with Changming, accomplishing something Kuhe, Xie Chunxi and the others failed to do. Obviously, his strength was greater than Kuhe’s and the others’.

Since his level of cultivation was so high, he could not be a fameless person.

Song Nanyan was standing alone above thousands, but he was used to being smooth and slick in establishing social relations, and was able to adapt to the circumstances. While Changming was questioning others, he used this chance to ask: “Teacher, how should I address this immortal who came with you?”

First, Yun Hai had killed Xiao Cangfeng; then, he had hurried to the Celestial Library Pagoda, and after that assisted Changming in defeating Han Yin. Even if he had two consciousnesses inside his body, Yun Weisi’s and Yun Hai’s, his spiritual power and physical strength had almost been depleted. His face seemed tired, his expression sickly, and he did not want to talk at all. He was sitting on the only intact chair in a bad position, and resembled the owner of the Imperial City more than the empress dowager or the emperor.

Everything was in chaos. The empress dowager was distressed about the princess’ souls inside the emperor’s body, and Kuhe and the others were trying to get information out of Feng Suhuai and Lu Zhiyuan. Perhaps, even if Yun Hai had sat on the imperial throne, no one would have bothered to correct his mistake.

Hearing Song Nanyan’s words, Yun Hai opened his eyes, threw him a look. Then, Yun Hai lowered his head again, ignoring Song Nanyan and resting with his eyes closed.

“You want him to remain by the emperor’s side and guard the Imperial City?”

Changming saw through Song Nanyan’s plan at a glance.

This time, their opponent was unprecedentedly powerful, which made Song Nanyan realise that Kuhe, Xie Chunxi and the others, whom he had considered to be almost immortal fairies, were still not omnipotent in front of demons, even though they possessed the abilities of masters. Of course, there were other masters in the world, but a distant water cannot quench the fire nearby. Song Nayan wanted this master to stay here, so he approached Yun Hai with that thought.

Hearing Changming’s words, he smiled embarrassedly: “If the Immortal is willing, I’ll discuss it with the empress dowager right now and ask this Immortal to become the emperor’s advisor. We’ll establish a temple for the immortal in the center of the capital, and this glorious sect will get the praise it deserves.”

Yun Hai answered lazily, without even opening his eyes: “I’m the first disciple your master has accepted. Your eye for disciples is becoming worse and worse over time. Is it that any kitten or dog was allowed to enter your sect after I was accepted?”

Any kitten or dog: Tom, Dick, and Harry

The first line was his answer to Song Nanyan, while the latter, naturally, was directed to Changming.

The author has something to say:

A small scene unrelated to the main story:

Changming: Come here, introduce yourself to Little Song.

Yun Hai: … (disdainful, feels too lazy to open his mouth)

Changming: (to Song Nanyan) He’s Yun Dahai, my fifth disciple, your shidi.

Yun Hai: ???

Tn:

[1] Orchide gesture: hand gesture in traditional dances.