After Sheng Jun Chapter 70 (Part 2)
Translated by Sylver (ko-fi)
Chapter 70 United by Water (part 2)
After the two finished getting ready, they prepared to go out to find Lord Huan Qi to calculate an auspicious day suitable for forming the contract.
Lord Huan Qi, as one of Jiang Xingzhi's close friends, though usually quite gossipy, had calculation abilities that could be called second to none in the current Three Realms.
Before leaving, Jiang Xingzhi first sent him a message, asking where he was at the moment.
Cheerful background sounds came through the transmission, mixed with the voices of Lin He and Shuang Ling. Lord Huan Qi said, "We're still playing in Penglai."
Jiang Xingzhi cleared his throat, "I have something to ask you."
Lord Huan Qi 's tone immediately became annoying, "Oh? Beg me."
Jiang Xingzhi directly said, "Help me calculate a suitable day for forming a contract."
"......" The other side fell silent.
The next moment, three voices exploded simultaneously, "Form a contract!!!?"
Immediately after, the cheerful background sounds also fell silent. Jiang Xingzhi said quietly, "You could be a bit louder."
The other side immediately became flustered and rustling, as if the three quickly moved to a quiet place.
Soon, Lord Huan Qi's voice came again, "Form a contract??? You really have a new development every day, today talking about forming contracts, tomorrow will you even have children?"
"What are you saying!" Jiang Xingzhi's face reddened, "Isn't it at least ten months."
Zhong Ming heard this and squeezed his hand, "I can try harder."
Lord Huan Qi, "......" Stop it, you won't have children even in a hundred thousand months!
Lin He pointed at his brain toward Lord Huan Qi, then shook his head: Jiang Xingzhi already has some problems here, don't confuse him further.
Lord Huan Qi nodded regretfully, then said to Jiang Xingzhi, "Come to my main peak, we'll head back now."
…..
By the time Jiang Xingzhi and Zhong Ming arrived at Lord Huan Qi's mountain, the latter had already gathered his friends and was waiting there.
Seeing Jiang Xingzhi, all three had expressions of "tsk tsk tsk." Lin He turned to see Zhong Ming wearing the couple's outfit, boldly and tentatively greeted, "Bro, brother-in-law."
Jiang Xingzhi slapped his shoulder, "No manners, call him Father-in-law!"
Lin He: ......What kind of messy title is that!
Zhong Ming skipped over these unimportant details, his heart satisfied by that "in-law" address, becoming much more amiable toward the three of them, "Feel free."
Lin He, who had been intimidated by Zhong Ming's glare before, was suddenly flattered! He looked at Jiang Xingzhi and sighed, "You're really something, composing love poems yesterday, directly getting engaged today."
Speaking of love poems, Lin He made an "eh" sound, "Right, about the love poems you two exchanged yesterday, they've spread throughout the Three Realms today. But Xingzhi, what did yours mean? We couldn't understand it."
Jiang Xingzhi glanced at Zhong Ming, "Those who understand will naturally understand."
Zhong Ming, being glanced at, remembered that love poem with hints that weren't obvious at all. He touched Jiang Xingzhi's arm, secretly transmitting, "The love poem you wrote for 'Bai Mu,' how could I understand it?"
Jiang Xingzhi replied, "I was hinting that I knew, you're just too stupid to understand."
Zhong Ming asked, "Which line?"
"'Xian Ying Jiang Xingzhi' ah."
"???"
The two stared at each other wide-eyed. Jiang Xingzhi reacted, then pulled Zhong Ming's hand over, writing with his finger on the person's palm: Jiang Xing......his finger sliding made Zhong Ming's palm tingle.
Zhong Ming was teased until his heart itched, curving his fingers to catch him, only to be "slapped!" away. Jiang Xingzhi continued writing in his palm until he wrote the last character: Zhi.
(TL: 知 (zhi) = know/to know)
Zhong Ming paused, eyes widening instantly: Who knew it was that "Zhi" character!?
After writing, Jiang Xingzhi was still murmuring quietly, "Look how stupid you are."
"......" Zhong Ming tolerantly and dotingly admitted, "Mm, you're still the smartest."
"Of course~"
The two were making eyes at each other here, while the three opposite couldn't stand it anymore. Lord Huan Qi spoke up, "Jiang Xingzhi, are you still calculating or not? If not, forget it."
Jiang Xingzhi immediately laughed "ke zhi ke zhi," "Are you saying a tongue twister?"
Lord Huan Qi, "......"
How did Xu Jian Sheng Jun endure this person?
****
After a bout of chaos, everyone finally got to the main topic.
Lord Huan Qi needed to cast divination for Jiang Xingzhi and Zhong Ming, so Lin He and Shuang Ling temporarily withdrew.
At the observatory, Lord Huan Qi sat cross-legged, fingers calculating while his eyes were tightly closed, lips moving as he muttered incantations. Jiang Xingzhi watched his appearance and suddenly felt inspired to transmit to Zhong Ming, "This reminds me of the master."
Zhong Ming hummed, "Wu Jie's divinations were indeed accurate."
Not long after, Lord Huan Qi opened his eyes, his face showing some exhaustion. Jiang Xingzhi went over to support him, "How did calculating one divination make you so weak? What did you figure out?"
Lord Huan Qi didn't even have the energy to glare at people. He sat down on a stool, "Your two fate patterns are too hard, especially Xu Jian Sheng Jun......I've been calculating divinations for so long, this is the first time I've been this exhausted."
Really? Jiang Xingzhi thought: Didn't Wu Jie always calculate divinations for them quite easily? He seemed to speak off the cuff, making him almost think the other was making things up.
But the exhaustion on Lord Huan Qi's face didn't seem fake, so Jiang Xingzhi sheepishly apologized, "I misunderstood you."
Lord Huan Qi waved his hand, "I can only estimate a rough date. To determine a precise date, the pressure is still too great. Moreover, it's such a joyous occasion for you two - what if I calculate wrong?"
Jiang Xingzhi said, "In the Three Realms, you're the best at calculation, if not you then who?" He encouraged, "Try harder once more!"
Hearing "try harder once more," Lord Huan Qi immediately thought of the moronic flirting he'd heard in the transmission earlier. His overdrawn brain immediately hurt even more. After thinking, he said, "Actually there's one person much better than me."
Two heads leaned in together, "Who?"
"My master."
"You have a master?" Jiang Xingzhi was amazed, "We've known each other so long, how come I've never seen him."
"You might not believe this, but I've never seen my master's true face either. When I was very young, I learned various divination arts from my master, always separated by a curtain. The voice from behind the curtain was distant and ethereal, impossible to make out the real voice."
"So mysterious, where would we go to request this?"
"I once heard my master mention his origins." Lord Huan Qi had recovered by now, so he stood up and turned to look west, "The legendary place where no one has set foot for hundreds of years, the dwelling of the gods------"
"Kunlun."
…..
Thousands of li high in the sky, two figures rapidly flew toward the west of Jiuzhou.
The fierce wind made their clothes flutter loudly. Jiang Xingzhi sighed, "Actually when I first returned, I wanted to go see Kunlun. But after thinking about it, I wanted to go with you."
It's just that someone had been persistently clinging to that transparent skin.
Zhong Ming heard the subtext in his words, moving closer guiltily, "It's not too late now."
Jiang Xingzhi magnanimously stopped dwelling on it, and the two accelerated toward Kunlun's direction.
Unlike a thousand years ago, according to their knowledge: the current Kunlun was a sacred place in Jiuzhou, the legendary "Capital Under the Emperor, dwelling of a hundred gods." It was said that hundreds of years ago, someone had tried to violate Kunlun, only to be repelled by the mountain protection array set up by Kunlun's master. Since then, the formation had operated day and night, protecting Kunlun like an iron wall.
Therefore, no one had set foot in this sacred place since, nor had anyone seen Kunlun's true face, much less known who exactly dwelt within Kunlun.
When Jiang Xingzhi heard this legend before, he only thought the violators had angered the upper god, so the upper god decreed that mortals could no longer set foot there.
Reflecting on it now: the mountain protection array he had set up back then......seemed to indeed only have an activation setting, forgetting to set the deactivation.
So it was his oversight~ Jiang Xingzhi felt slightly ashamed.
He wondered what Kunlun would look like after a thousand years.
Before long, the two arrived at the border of western Jiuzhou. In the distance, they could see immortal clouds curling and golden light shimmering. Behind the sea of clouds, mountain peaks were faintly visible - that was Kunlun.
"We're almost there." Jiang Xingzhi's heart was excited.
Zhong Ming turned to look at him, reaching out to grasp his wrist, "Let's go, let's go home."
Two figures charged straight through that sea of immortal clouds.
The familiar restriction was triggered, the mountain protection array recognized the master's identity, and the prohibition that had been closed for hundreds of years opened to the world for the first time.
Breaking through clouds and arrays, Jiang Xingzhi and Zhong Ming landed on the mountain peak.
The surrounding environment was vastly different from when they left------the small courtyard where they once lived had been renovated into a golden great hall, and the "sleeping palace" that Zhu Yan had jokingly mentioned was also situated behind the great hall.
The mountain forest outside the hall was lush and verdant, with rich spiritual power enveloping the entire mountain peak.
Jiang Xingzhi suddenly felt a strange sense of fulfillment in his heart, as if all the causes he had casually planted a thousand years ago had today borne perfect fruit.
He stood on the mountain peak for a long time without coming back to his senses, while Zhong Ming didn't disturb him with words.
After a moment, Jiang Xingzhi reluctantly withdrew his gaze and called to Zhong Ming, "Let's go, let's handle business first." After all, they were home now, and there would be plenty of time to reminisce about every blade of grass and tree here later.
Zhong Ming said "alright."
Without saying where to go, the two simultaneously and tacitly walked down the mountain steps. When they reached halfway up the mountain, they stopped in front of a shimmering light curtain, beside which was an exquisite wishing pool.
Behind the light curtain was the place they had visited daily.
The two looked at each other, then stepped through the light curtain------the familiar small courtyard came into view, seemingly no different from before.
Only the wooden house had been enlarged somewhat, with the door removed entirely, leaving only layers of gauze curtains hanging in the house, blocking the view from outside.
Jiang Xingzhi was just stepping up the steps in front of the house when he saw subtle movement from behind the layers of curtains, then a figure walked into the curtained area.
He stopped.
The gentle mountain wind surged from behind into the house, making thousands of gauze curtains flutter. That slender figure stood sideways, outer robes like swirling clouds and drifting mist, like willow catkins in the wind.
A voice filled with laughter rang out, "I have been waiting for old friends for a long time."