Estranged - CH 122

Hua-Shan’s hands kept twisting under her sleeves.

But she did not dare show them and stood as straight as a ramrod.

Her thin clothing was fluttering in the stormy wind with an ethereal lightness, and looked graceful and alluring.

The body Hua-Shan was currently possessing used to be the most popular courtesan of a brothel in Shangzhou. This beauty had just turned eighteen, and she was lithe and charming, but she had caught a serious illness. The fragrance would soon disperse, and the jade was about to shatter, but at that very moment Hua-Shan happened to meet her. Without giving it a second thought, Hua-Shan took over the courtesan’s body. Hua-Shan did not really care whether the beauty could have been cured or not. As a fox spirit, she was not shackled by human mores or morality, so she never considered if things went against what humans called their conscience.

The fragrance would soon disperse, and the jade was about to shatter: death of a beauty

She was very pleased with this body. Wherever she went, countless eyes watched her. Hua-Shan even attracted criminals and the like who harbored evil intentions. She was intensely proud of this because she liked being popular. Good looks were a sharp weapon which fox spirits were able to use most efficiently.

But now she did not think the same way.

She really wished she could go back to the moment before she occupied this body, before she started working together with that person.

“Are you afraid?” she heard a voice say suddenly.

Hua-Shan managed not to gnash her teeth somehow and forced a smile.

“No, it’s just cold… The weather is too cold!”

Even she felt that her words sounded like a lie.

It was indeed bitterly cold, but she was a fox spirit with a high cultivation level, so the chilly wind should not even be able to make her tremble from the cold.

She was subconsciously remorseful and frightened and did not want this person to stand even half a step away from her.

The man chuckled, but his smile was so ice-cold and heartless that Hua-Shan trembled again.

“Young Master…” she stopped for a brief moment, but eventually spoke, “Is there a way to change the plan we’ve discussed? There are many people in Hongluo. As long as you say so, I’ll put the plan into motion immediately. I can guarantee that even chickens and dogs won’t be left undisturbed, and there won’t even be their corpses left behind. There are only a few of us fox spirits here, could you please just let us go?”

Chickens and dogs won’t be left undisturbed: great commotion

“Hua-Shan.”

His tone was warm, as if he was a senior talking to his junior, but Hua-Shan kept quiet after that.

Not too long ago, the fox spirits. who had been driven to desperation, stumbled upon this person. He told them that he could help find convenient human skins for them and even internal alchemy pills that would  boost their cultivations. Even if it would not be enough for them to develop human forms, it would certainly make them a lot stronger, and they would not have to hide themselves in every place they went, eating wind and sleeping under the open sky.

Eating wind and sleeping under the open sky: about harsh conditions

This offer was very tempting, and Hua-Shan had accepted it without a second thought. She had taken several dozen fox spirits to seek shelter with the person they called “young master”. They worked hand-in-hand with nightmare demons according to his plan and ran wild in Hongluo. They only had to hold on until the situation became unmanageable, and then pass the buck to one person. After completing the task, they could walk away victorious with the rest of the alchemy pills and cultivate back at home happily.

Unfortunately, things had started to get out of their control.

Someone was hiding in Hongluo and protecting this small town with a formation. But Hua-Shan knew that for their almighty young master, the person who had set this formation was like a carpenter swinging an ax in the presence of Lu Ban. The reason why the young master did not break this formation was because he intended to use it as bait and lure the people he wanted to apprehend.

A carpenter swinging an ax in the presence of Lu Ban: to teach fish to swim. Lu Ban is the God of Carpentry

Yet their actual target had not shown up, while unforeseen things had started to occur. Two no-name rogue cultivators had destroyed the young master’s formation. They showed up on the scene casually, searched everywhere and rescued the goddamn common people. The young master watched indifferently as the pieces on his chess board fell from their positions and then told Hua-Shan’s people to go there and make things right.

He wanted one fox spirit to sacrifice their life, serving as an offering to the target and luring them out.

This was why Hua-Shan was with the young master here now.

He told Hua-Shan to choose one of the fox spirits and send them to their death.

Hua-Shan did not want to do this. But she also knew that if she refused this request, she would have been the one to die.

This unfathomable man could let her die in a hundred different ways, and each way would have forced her to beg for death.

She regretted the fact that her eyes had been blinded by that promise of easy returns. She had asked a tiger for its skin.

Asked a tiger for its skin: a hopeless cause

All of these fox spirits had been related to her by blood. She did not want to sacrifice anyone.

But fingers are unequal in length—Hua-Shan had favorites and those she treated coldly.

Fingers are unequal in length: people are different

She thought of A-Rong.

This child was the weakest of them and the least remarkable. When they were eating, she always finished the last. Even though she was not unintelligent, her luck had run its course here.

And as luck would have it, not only was A-Rong unskilled, but she was even compassionate, which was uncharacteristic of her fox clan. When she was choosing a human body, she went for a recently deceased beggar, so her appearance exacerbated her already poor position. Fox spirits, who valued looks a lot, resented her for that.

A-Rong it is, then.

Hua-Shan exhaled a breath slowly.

She was no longer that tormented by her conscience after making this decision, but she had some lingering fear left. She was afraid that one sacrifice would not be enough to satisfy this man. Would she have to continue to give up on her kin as soon as something did not go according to his plans? Her credibility in the eyes of her clan would plummet if that happened.

“Young Master, after this is over…”

“After this is over, I’ll give you what’s left of the alchemy pills. You’re free to distribute it as you wish. We’ve worked well together. I don’t need you to use your last ounce of strength for me, and after this, you can take your kindred and leave. The sky is high, and the seas are vast.”

The sky is high, and the seas are vast: I think it means “go wherever you want” in the context

He seemed to have guessed what she was worried about, judging by how naturally he picked up where she had left off.

Alright, then it’s decided. A-Rong, sacrifice yourself for the sake of your kind. Hua-Shan said silently. She had seen this person defeat a nightmare demon with his bare hands, so she had no resolve to resist at all.

She took a jade flute out of her belt and played a song that only her clan could hear.

Hua-Shan played it so that only A-Rong could hear the sound.

A-Rong thought that all of them had been called by Hua-Shan, but in reality she was going to her death alone.

Half of the song had been played, but A-Rong still had not appeared. Hua-Shan even started to suspect that the girl could have overheard her dialogue with the young master and now did not dare show her face. But, after giving it more thought, Hua-Shan decided that this was highly unlikely. Although A-Rong was quick-witted, she was not that worthless.

Just as she thought of this, a thin figure appeared on the other side of the wide street. It was moving slowly, as if it could not beat the wind and snow that was about to blow her away. Step by step, she approached Hua-Shan.

A-Rong was walking and speaking to Changming in a low voice at the same time.

“Sir, you’re a senior to our clan. Sister Hua-Shan would certainly be glad to meet you, so why are you hiding yourself from her eyes?”

She could not see Changming, but his voice reached her ears.

“The person standing next to sister Hua-Shan is that young master, right?”

“Yes,” A-Rong was surprised, “Wasn’t the entire clan summoned? Why was I the only one to come?”

Changming squinted, watching the man near Hua-Shan carefully.

He was wrapped in black clothes from head to toe, so Changming could not see his face. The man resembled that Sir An who was with head constable Xing, but Changming was not quite sure.

Even if their guess had been completely correct, and Sir An was actually Jiang Li’s dashixiong from the past, Yao Wangnian—did that mean that he was behind all the murders in Hongluo?

“I can’t come closer. Even if I stay invisible, they’ll be able to sense my aura. Go first. After that young master leaves, I’ll reappear and talk to her.” Changming said to A-Rong.

A-Rong did not think too much about this decision. Talented people had their own etiquette and rules about interactions. Perhaps, Sir Zhou did not want to get involved in this case, and just wanted to help the other fox spirits a bit. A-Rong felt that meeting him was a great boon to her.

She walked up to Hua-Shan and the young master and greeted them.

“Young Master, Sister Hua-Shan. Is there something you wanted me to do?”

But sister Hua-Shan did not answer her, and turned her head to the man instead: “Young Master, take a look, is she alright?”

Alright? In what way?

Before A-Rong could comprehend the hidden meaning, she heard the young master hum in agreement. Without saying anything, Hua-Shan stretched out her hand. Her fingers moved as fast as lightning as she reached towards the top of A-Rong’s head.

A-Rong turned pale with fright. Everything was happening too fast for her to avoid the attack, so she could only wait for her death to come.

Jiufang Changming, who was hiding in the dark nearby, was facing a choice.

Should he strike or not?

If he did not step in, A-Rong would die.

If he did not, he would have to fight against not only Hua-Shan, but also that young master. This person’s cultivation could not be measured. If that really was Yao Wangnian, with his current cultivation, Changming would probably lose.

More importantly, showing himself ahead of time was beating the grass to alert the snake!