A-Qing stood up and, with her bamboo pole, she walked toward him. Yet, when she was halfway there, Xue Yang started to look at her in an eerie way, his smile unchanged. Without making a sound, he pulled a sharp-edged sword out of his sleeve.
It was Jiangzai.
He pointed the tip of the sword toward A-Qing. If she walked just a few more steps forward, she’d be impaled by the sword. However, if A-Qing hesitated for the slightest moment, the fact that she wasn’t actually blind would be revealed!
Sharing the same senses as A-Qing, Wei WuXian also felt the pins and needles pricking his scalp. Despite this, the young maiden bravely searched her way forward in a calm, ordinary manner. When the tip of the sword was half an inch away from her stomach, Xue Yang took it away and put it back into his sleeve. Exchanging it with two pieces of candy, he gave one to A-Qing and tossed the other one into his own mouth.
He asked, “A-Qing, where’s that daozhang of yours gone to in the middle of the night?”
A-Qing licked and munched on the candy, “I think he went hunting.”
Xue Yang tittered, “Hunting? More like night-hunting.”
A-Qing, “Oh really? The two are pretty much the same. What’s the difference? It’s just helping other people fight ghosts and beasts without receiving any money.”
Wei WuXian was truly amazed by how clever she was.
It wasn’t that A-Qing couldn’t remember what Xiao XingChen said to her. In fact, she remembered it better than anyone. She said “night-hunt” wrong on purpose. Since Xue Yang corrected her, in a way, he confirmed that he was also a cultivator. Xue Yang’s test failed and was instead tested by her. The maiden was only so young, yet she already had such tactics.
Although Xue Yang looked scornful, his voice sounded confused, “He’s blind already. How can he night-hunt?”
A-Qing raged, “You’re at it again. What’s wrong with being blind? Even if Daozhang’s blind, he’s still really cool. His sword’s like whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. One word: fast.” As she was prancing around, Xue Yang suddenly asked, “You can’t see, so how do you know his sword is fast?”
The opponent was quick, but her defense was quicker. A-Qing replied in an outraged voice, “It’s fast because I say so. Daozhang’s sword must be fast! It’s true that I can’t see, but can’t I listen? Just what are you trying to say? Do you discriminate against blind people like us?” She behaved exactly like a naive girl who was bragging about the person she admired. It sounded as natural as can be.
Now that she passed all three of his tests, Xue Yang’s expression finally relaxed. It was likely that he finally believed that A-Qing was indeed blind.
However, A-Qing, on the other hand, grew extremely wary toward Xue Yang. The next day, Xiao XingChen found some wood, straw, and tiles for repairing the roof. As soon as he came inside, A-Qing secretly dragged him out again, whispering on about how this person was suspicious and that he definitely wasn’t a good person, judging from him hiding secrets even though they were both cultivators. Unfortunately, she thought that the broken little finger was a trivial matter, so she didn’t mention the most fatal characteristic. Xiao XingChen went about comforting her, “You’ve already eaten his candy, so you should stop chasing him away. Of course he’ll go after his wounds have healed. Nobody would be willing to stay with us inside this coffin home.”
This was indeed the truth. There was only a single bed inside such a shack. It was lucky for them that there was no wind or rain, or else the roof would’ve created a great problem. Nobody would want to live here. Just as A-Qing was about to continue her complaint of Xue Yang, the certain someone’s voice came from behind them, “Are you talking about me?”
To A-Qing’s surprise, he got off the bed again. However, she wasn’t afraid of being found out at all, “We’re talking about you? Don’t flatter yourself!” Picking up her bamboo pole, she went inside, sneaked behind the window, and continued to eavesdrop.
Outside of the coffin home, Xiao XingChen turned to Xue Yang, “Your wounds haven’t healed yet, and you’re walking around already. Are you sure you’ll fine?”
Xue Yang, “It’ll heal faster if I walk around. And it’s not that both of my legs are broken or anything. I’m used to injuries like these. I grew up beaten by others.”
Xiao XingChen seemed as though he didn’t know what to say in response, whether he should comfort him or take it as a joke. After a pause, he replied, “Oh…”
Xue Yang continued, “Daozhang, are the things that you brought here gonna be for repairing the roof?”
Xiao XingChen, “Yes. I’ll most likely stay here for a temporary while. The broken roof won’t be beneficial to A-Qing or to your injuries.”
Xue Yang, “Should I help?”
Xiao XingChen thanked him, “I’ll be fine.”
Xue Yang, “Daozhang, do you know how to do it?”
Xiao XingChen laughed and shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I really haven’t tried to do such a thing before.”
And so, the two of them started to repair the roof together. One of them worked, the other one gave directions. Xue Yang was quite eloquent with words and was especially good at making witty remarks. His humor was accompanied by a presumptuous tone common to street markets. In the past, Xiao XingChen most likely had very rare contact with this type of people. Easily amused, he’d start laughing after just a few sentences. Hearing how cheerful their conversations were, A-Qing moved her lips in silence. After careful scrutiny, it seemed to have sounded like “let me kill you damn thing”.
Wei WuXian felt the same as A-Qing.
Xue Yang’s severe injuries that had almost taken his life were partly due to Xiao XingChen. The two had a relationship of absolute hatred. In his heart, he was probably hoping for Xiao XingChen to die in the most gruesome way possible, yet he could still converse with him in such a lighthearted manner. If the one hiding behind the window right now was Wei WuXian himself, he would’ve killed Xue Yang regardless of the consequences to avoid later trouble. However, it wasn’t his own body. And, even if A-Qing wanted to, she wasn’t capable of killing him.
After about a month, under Xiao XingChen’s meticulous care, Xue Yang’s wounds had mostly healed. Aside from how he limped slightly when he walked, nothing else posed any inconvenience. Despite this, he still hadn’t mentioned anything about leaving. He continued to live in this crammed coffin home with the two others. Wei WuXian had no idea what he was scheming of.
Today, after putting A-Qing to sleep, Xiao XingChen was about to leave and night-hunt again when Xue Yang’s voice suddenly came, “Daozhang, why don’t you take me with you tonight?”
His throat injury should’ve healed already as well. However, he purposely avoided using his original voice and disguised it in another tone. Xiao XingChen laughed, “Of course not. If you talk, I start laughing, and if I laugh, my sword won’t be steady anymore.”
Xue Yang replied in a piteous way, “Then I won’t talk. I’ll carry your sword and help you. Please don’t give me the cold shoulder.”
He had always been a master at behaving as though he was a spoiled child. When talking to people older than him, he sounded like a younger brother. And, since Xiao XingChen had probably cared for his shidi and shimei when he was a disciple of BaoShan SanRen, he naturally saw Xue Yang as junior to him. Xue Yang was a cultivator as well, so Xiao XingChen gladly agreed to the request. Wei WuXian thought, Xue Yang definitely won’t be so nice that he wants to help Xiao XingChen night-hunt. If A-Qing doesn’t go, she’ll miss something important for sure.