Ink Blade Chapter 2 (Part 2)
Translated by Sylver
Edited by kleio
Previous Life 2 (part 2)
Unexpectedly, a pair of soft, boneless arms wrapped around Chu Yan's waist.
"Brother Chu, you are indeed here..."
The soft voice and refreshing fragrance made Chu Yan's restless mood suddenly calm down.
Bai Hua’s one hand held onto Chu Yan's, while the other gently drew the white cloth over Mo Ren's body, covering his bloodless face.
He pursed his pale-red lips, and said softly, "Brother Chu is a nostalgic person, loitering around the past. Hua'er had already predicted that Brother Chu would have a hard time when this person died. Hua'er was worried that Brother Chu would feel uncomfortable, so he came in without permission. Brother Chu shouldn’t blame himself for what happened."
"I’m…..not in the wrong?" Chu Yan looked at Bai Hua and murmured.
Say no, Chu Yan’s heart shouted. I won’t be able to bear such a “mistake”, I’ll go crazy...
"Of course not, how could it be? Brother Chu has already treated him with the utmost benevolence.” Bai Hua replied with a faint smile, looking at Mo Ren with compassion in his eyes.
"Really...really.." Chu Yan repeated hoarsely, and stepped forward to embrace his newly married servant. He sniffed the scent unique to Bai Hua, the scent that had accompanied him silently and tenderly for ten years, and his mind gradually became dazed.
"Hua'er, all these years……fortunately, I’ve had you by my side. For the rest of my life, I will live up to your love."
Chu Yan leaned over and kissed him vigorously. Bai Hua also stretched out his arms and wrapped them around Chu Yan's neck, actively responding to the kiss.
Mo Ren's lifeless body was still lying only a few steps away from them, but no one casted him even a single glance.
A gust of wind blew by, and the only dim light in the room was silently extinguished, darkness descending.
In the dark night, the two still embraced each other, their intertwined tongues making obscene noises.
Chu Yan fluttered his eyes shut and concentrated on feeling Bai Hua's temperature– Bai Hua, this person made him sink, made him oh so intoxicated…
****
Chu Yan was really drunk, drunk in Bai Hua's tender love– senseless, merely floating one moment and sinking the next. He seemed to be in a boundless sea of soft flowers, stretching out for miles on end, the sweet fragrance drifting around leisurely, making him forget his worries, sorrows, problems, and everything that bothered him, allowing him to fall asleep peacefully hazily.
In this way, so intoxicated and drowned in blissful love, a year passed.
But Chu Yan never imagined that what would shake him awake would be the thunderous sound of the gates of Jiuzhong Palace, which had stood tall for a hundred years, collapsing.
What played before his eyes was a tragic scene of several shadow guardians engaged in bloody battles along with the masters of the three halls, each fighting for their measly lives.
Bai Hua’s slender figure stood opposite him, still dressed in white clothes, pristine and devoid of any dust. His smile, as gentle as water, contrasted against his eyes that were full of mockery.
Chu Yan wanted to fight back, but as he tried to activate his power, he realized…….he had no idea when it began decreasing, but his internal strength was only one or two tenths of its original strength, having obviously been eroded away.
The forces besieging the Jiuzhong Palace were unheard of, battling with foreign martial arts. Moreover, they also used a generous variety of strange, unknown poisons. Perhaps Chu Yan had recklessly offended too many people—for Bai Hua’s sake, he realized, much to his dismay—in recent years, and now there wasn’t anyone or any faction willing to lend a helping hand in the entire Jianghu.
In the end, only Chu Yan's personal maid, Qiu Jin, took on the responsibility to protect her master, retreating to Tianlan Mountain.
The two rested in a cold, damp cave. The once prideful, proud and aloof Jiuzhong Palace Master was reduced to a humiliating mess, bruises adorning his body in hues of blue and purple, and blood painting his clothes a deathly crimson. He didn’t feel any better than he looked, either, fatigue and utter exhaustion taking over him. The pursuers would eventually find them any moment, and they would be forced to a dead end.
Only then did Chu Yan utter the first sentence since the fall of Jiuzhong Palace. Avoiding all else, he only asked what had happened to the rest of the people of Jiuzhong Palace.
Qiu Jin had already been poisoned and terribly injured, merely leaning weakly on the cold cave wall. A bitter smile danced at her lips, and when she spoke, her voice came out strained, "Them…none of them escaped."
".....None escaped?" Chu Yan's inky black hair slipped down, scattering on the ground. He stared dazedly into the void, and suddenly asked in a low voice, "Then, what about Ah Ren...?"
Qiu Jin trembled all over, as if struck by lightning. She snapped her face towards Chu Yan in disbelief, looking at him as if she had seen a ghost. Seemingly affected by the tremors of her body, her voice also trembled, "Master, who…are you asking about…?"
Looking at Qiu Jin's expression, Chu Yan struggled in his dull, cloudy mind for a long time before he came to his senses. He slowly let out a shaky breath, slender fingers stroking his forehead wearily.
Right, Mo Ren is long gone. How could he always forget this?
Qiu Jin tensed her body, staring at Chu Yan for a long time. Finally, unable to hold back her surging emotions, she burst into tears. She frantically shook Chu Yan's sleeves, wailing in despair. "Master, please wake up quickly...Please wake up, open your eyes and take a look... Bai Hua is a spy, and the Jiuzhong Palace has fallen. Now, all of us are either dead or have surrendered...There is no safe place for us in Jianghu. Elder brother Mo breathed his last a year ago this very date, and this slave will not be able to accompany the Master for more than a few hours... Master, please wake up quickly..."
Hearing the devastating cries of his faithful maid, Chu Yan's heart chilled inch by inch. There was no longer any escape. It turned out that this would be Chu Yan’s end. He really deserved it.
He had always held himself in high esteem, but he was blinded by a white flower, and had raised a deceivingly beautiful venomous snake for ten years. The funny thing was, looking back now, he couldn't remember how he fell in love with Bai Hua in the first place.
Chu Yan thoughts drifted towards Mo Ren again. Now there was nothing to doubt. In the end, it was he who was wrong.
"Qiu Jin,” suddenly, Chu Yan didn’t feel like he was in a hurry to escape his haunting emotions. He sighed, "Can you tell this Master about Mo Ren?"
The maid agreed. She already had some words buried in the depths of her heart for so long, and she was unwilling to just bring them into the grave without ever voicing them out loud. She wanted to seek innocence for the former guard who was wronged, and a share of mercy from the belated master.
Chu Yan listened to her ramblings without saying a word, his face expressionless. Only Heavens knew that at that moment, his innards seemed to have been pinched to death, and every inch of him felt so painful that he could hardly breathe.
His awareness only stretched as far as the fact that he had abolished Mo Ren’s dantian with a sword, and his cultivation for twenty years had been destroyed in one fell swoop.
But he didn't know that all of Mo Ren's meridians had been severed by Bai Hua in his own name. Not only would he no longer have even the slightest possibility of practicing martial arts, but he had even become a useless person worse than ordinary people.
He didn't know that Mo Ren was humiliated and tortured by some vulgar servants in the side hall after being expelled, living a life worse than death.
He didn't know that the repeated punishments caused Mo Ren's new wounds to overlap with the old ones, and that the internal organs of his whole body were suffering from agonizing pain almost everywhere.
Qiu Jin said that the last time she secretly visited Mo Ren, he’d had a high fever for a few days, and that his only ragged quilt was deliberately kicked out of bed by a little servant, resulting in him to only curl up into a ball, while his teeth clattered from the chill. He was unconsciously burning up, and muttering ‘water...water…’
But the little servant purposely took the jug of clean water, slowly pouring it all on the ground right in front of his eyes, and said proudly, “If you want to drink water, come and lick it off the ground.”
Mo Ren had no choice but to watch helplessly as every last drop of water fell to the ground, unable to do anything but swallow pitifully in an attempt to moisten his constantly drying throat.
The truth of each sentence was akin to a claw embedded in Chu Yan's heart, slowly extending and unfurling in a slow, torturous pace, forcing him to feel every second of it, every slightest centimeter of his heart tearing open and shredding to pieces. He felt like he was being fried naked in a pan full of boiling hot oil.
He didn't want to believe the scene Qiu Jin described, nor did he dare to imagine it.
When thinking about it, it hurt so much that he wanted to carve out his own heart.
His Ah Ren, his most proud sword, was tortured like this...
But Mo Ren, he never gave up on this ignorant Master until his very last breath.
"These incidents...why didn't you tell this Master earlier?"
Because of the poison, Qiu Jin's lips were gradually turning purple and black, and her voice had become intermittent. "Brother Mo...begged this servant, not to tell...the Master, about his unbearable appearance."
Chu Yan breathed out hoarsely, "...idiot."
Qiu Jin showed a bitter smile, with desolate teardrops hanging on her eyelashes, making them appear so black it contrasted strongly against her pale face. Her voice came out weak and faint, like the faintest last trace of a dying flame, a mere breath away from extinguishing. "This slave is useless... I'm sorry, Brother Mo... and Master...this slave can't do anything...and finally made Master feel so miserable...when this servant finally goes to her grave, Master should scold this servant to death..."
The voice finally faded away, and the maid slowly closed her eyes, breathing her last.
Silence descended in the cave, so quiet it felt suffocating.
Chu Yan reached out to touch his face, only to find that his cheeks were wet with tears. He had no clue when he started crying unconsciously.
After a long time, Chu Yan got up silently, took off his outer robe and covered Qiu Jin's body. He then smiled self-deprecatingly.
If Ah Ren’s spirit is in heaven right now, would he still care about this bastard Master?
The shouts of pursuers were gradually heard from outside the cave.
Chu Yan stood up and straightened his clothes, his eyes swept across the approaching figures indifferently. Among them, Bai Hua smiled brightly but coldly, his brows and eyes glowing with ambition, as if he was still the handsome young man who caught his attention the first time they met.
In the end, Chu Yan only looked up at the sky. It appeared as if it was going to snow. But unfortunately, he couldn't wait.
End it.
Chu Yan suddenly raised his remaining internal strength, and slammed the mountain wall with his palm.
Cracks immediately spread, and a loud bang resounded.
The mud and rock collapsed and fell, and the sweeping darkness quickly drowned out the flickering light outside the cave entrance.
Chu Yan closed his eyes.
He seemed to see carved railings and steps made of jade, bright lamps and scarlet tiles. It was the majestic Jiuzhong Palace that towered into the sky, appearing as safe as ever.
Chu Yan, half asleep and half awake, stumbled forward. In the distance, there was a person dressed in black exuding cold aura, holding a sword and standing in a dimly lit place, with a thin layer of cold frost that had accumulated on his thin shoulders.
He desperately wanted to see the figure in black clearly, see clearly the face he yearned for, but his vision became more and more blurred, like being obscured by a thick fog. The meetings and partings, successes and failures, joys and sorrows of this life all melted away from the side like a fleeting shadow.
In the end, a myriad of hazy white light flooded up one after another. He didn't know if it was snowing, or if the pear blossoms at the foot of the mountain outside the hall were blooming again.
At that moment, when his consciousness completely sank into confusion, Chu Yan thought–
If there is an afterlife,
If only there is an afterlife,
Thousands of miles of wind and clouds, thousands of mountains and rivers. Abandoning the great rivers and mountains of one’s country, I only wish to live up to one person.
