My Disciple Wants to Tease Me Every Day - Chapter 45

: Bone-Casting Branch
The malicious energies were strong in the lost treasure lands. If anyone with a skeletal age exceeding one hundred years entered, the malicious energies would corrupt them and produce heart demons.

Di Jiufeng looked young, but she was already a cultivator of skeletal age two hundred years. If she entered the lost treasure lands, she would be plagued by heart demons and struggle to move an inch. Di Jiufeng should not enter, but she really couldn’t help but worry about Ning Guang. So after hearing that there was a Bone-Casting Branch that could change one’s skeletal age, Di Jiufeng decided to go find it without a second thought.

She asked Qing Yu, “Since you know of the Bone-Casting Branch’s existence, do you know where to find it?”

Qing Yu nodded his tender yellow pistils, curled petals clinging tight to Di Jiufeng’s hem, hiding his small body. “I know the Bone-Casting Branch is located on an island called Gui Hun. As for its exact location, we can search after we get to the island. I am a plant yao, I am sensitive to other plants. As long as the Bone-Casting Branch is on the island, I can find it for you.”

As Qing Yu said, their first task was to find a way to get to Gui Hun island.

It was a floating island in the Eastern sea. To get there, one must depart from the Zezhou county of the Eastern region.

Because they had to go to sea, it would be a long journey. So, they did not delay. After a brief rest, they took Shen City to Zezhou.

Unlike the interior, Zezhou was a small seaside village. Upon stepping into the village, a salty and bitter sea wind crept into one’s nose, and the unique scent of the sea permeated every corner of the village. The people walking back and forth were mostly fishermen carrying baskets in their hands, nets on their backs.

In the real world, Di Jiufeng had lived by the sea. Coming to this little village felt a bit like going home.

She grew lively, a smile impossible to hide coloring her brows and the corners of her eyes. “Ning Guang, do you like the sea? Let me tell you, living by the sea is very interesting, you can eat all sorts of seafood and you can go wading on the beach, and using sand mixed with sea water, you can build very pretty little castles…”

Just like a child, impatient to show off the things she loved to the person she liked.

Di Jiufeng chattered on for a while, and when she finished, she looked up at Ning Guang. Her eyes were full of joy, bright pupils as dazzling as the sky filled with the glory of dawn. “Ning Guang, do you like the sea?” She caught Ning Guang’s finger and swung it back and forth, her gaze full of expectation like a child asking for candy.

Ning Guang let a smile slip onto her mouth. Lowering her face, her expression was as gentle as the spring breeze. “If you like it, I like it too. A-Feng, I like everything about you.”

The salty sea breeze swept over from far away, tangling their dark hair together as one.

Under Ning Guang’s gaze, Di Jiufeng felt her heart beat harder and harder, her breath quicken, peach-red creeping up her cheeks. “I also, I also… of course I like you too…” Di Jiufeng muttered quietly, and before she finished, lowered her head, her face red.

Hearing her voice, Ning Guang’s heart itched, but just when she wanted to reach out and hold her, she heard Qing Yu’s weak voice from below.

“There are a lot of people here, you guys, you guys…” Shrinking into himself as much as he could, he hid behind Di Jiufeng’s hem. Qing Yu had not been afraid of Ning Guang, but the ancient witch’s powers had awakened, and as a plant yao born from the essence of nature, the steady flow of demonic energy made him tremble. Yao took physical form by being forged in heavenly lightning, so their sensitivity to the Heavenly Way was a step higher than that of human cultivators.

He was afraid of Ning Guang because before her, even the power of the Heavenly Way would retreat three days’ march.

“Let’s go find a ship. The sooner we find one, the sooner we’ll be able to go find the Bone-Casting Branch.” Qing Yu curled up his stem, handing on to Di Jiufeng’s hem like a decorative ornament.

With his interruption, the flirtatious atmosphere between the two scattered.

Di Jiufeng pulled her hand back and grabbed Ning Guang’s sleeve instead. Though her expression had calmed, the bashful expression still lingered between her brows. “Ning Guang, let’s go check the docks. The sea is hard to navigate, it’s best if we leave early.”

Pulling Ning Guang along, they arrived at the end of the alley to see a wide stretch of golden sand, shimmering under the sunlight. Di Jiufeng stepped in, leaving a trail of small footprints in the soft sand with every step. She walked a few steps, then suddenly pushed Ning Guang to walk in front.

Di Jiufeng held Ning Guang at her waist with both hands and looked down, placing her smaller feet inside her boot prints with every step.

After walking like this for a while, Di Jiufeng smiled.

She carefully looked around, and seeing that there was no one around, suddenly threw herself forward to hug Ning Guang’s waist. “Do you know? This is what they mean by ‘I am within you, you are within me.’” Pressing her face to Ning Guang’s back, she felt her warmth through a thin layer of clothing.

This burning warmth heated her face, once again making her heart pound.

“Ning Guang, soon, soon I will let everyone know that you are the person I love the most.”

Her heart pounded in her chest, its strong beat vibrating through Di Jiufeng’s bones, passing into Ning Guang’s heart. She curled her lip into a faint smile, covering her hands and linking their fingers.

“A-Feng, even if you don’t say it, I would still you like me the most.”

In this completely unfamiliar little town, even if the few people passing by gave them strange looks, Di Jiufeng did not think to hide. Perhaps her courage grew because of the unfamiliar place, or she didn’t feel the need to hide because her cultivation was high. But she knew well that even if this was not the case, she would still want to hold Ning Guang.

Maybe the salty sea wind had changed her tastes, or she was feeling dizzy under the warm sun, but in this instant, she shamelessly embraced the one before her.

“Ning Guang, I’m a bit afraid,” Di Jiufeng said lightly.

“What are you afraid of?” Ning Guang replied.

“I don’t know, but I’m afraid, I’m afraid you’ll leave me. Ning Guang, you are too good, the better you are to me, the more afraid I am.” Once cultivation reached a certain stage, one could get premonitions of the future. Though Di Jiufeng was a bit short of that stage, for some reason, ever since that day in the Pure-Heart Precipite, she had always been restless.

She felt terrified, but she did not know where this terror came from.

Hearing her words, Ning Guang paused imperceptibly, a wisp of hesitation flashing across the face she could not see. “A-Feng, how could I leave you, I don’t want to leave you at all… alright, don’t think too much of it, let’s go find a ship.” Taking her hand, she pulled her along.

Perhaps because the sandy ground was soft, Di Jiufeng staggered a step.

Ning Guang was watching her the whole time, and before she could fall forwards, she caught her in her embrace. “A-Feng, are you alright?”

“I’m alright, just a bit dizzy in this heat.” Di Jiufeng’s complexion was good, save for a bit of weariness on her brow. Ning Guang looked at her for a while and did not discover any abnormalities, so she furrowed her brow and said, “If you feel uncomfortable, tell me early on. At worst, we will not go out to sea and we will not go to the lost treasure lands, you are more important than anything, nothing can happen to you.”

Supporting Di Jiufeng’s shoulder with one hand, she walked slowly forwards.

Ning Guang never deigned to gaze at another, so she did not see Qing Yu shake his petals and let out a wisp of smoke.

Because it was around noon, all of the fishermen and pearl divers had gone home to eat. The shore was quiet, only a few scattered people walking around. Ning Guang looked over and only saw a few people unloading cargo in that broad harbor, as well as a sturdy and suntanned boatswain sitting to the side.

Ning Guang supported Di Jiufeng to walk over. Both were heavenly beauties, rarely seen in this little village. Seeing them approach, the people in the harbor inevitably stopped in their work to take a second look.

Seeing their gazes, Ning Guang was very unhappy.

She stepped sideways and twisted her body until Di Jiufeng was entirely hidden within her shadow, and then her furrowed brow finally smoothed out.

“We wish to go to sea, is there any ship which may deliver us for such a journey?” Ning Guang’s voice was quiet and cool, like it was mixed with frost, paring down the heat of noon.

The boatswain shook, a wisp of reverent fear arising in his heart. “The immortals wish to go to sea? If you are not averse, my ship could be used, but if I may ask, where is your destination?”

“Gui Hun island, do you know Gui Hun island?”

The boatswain was quite cordial until he heard that name. He shuddered, a flustered look arising in his eyes. “Gui Hun island? Aiyo, let me tell you, you cannot go to that island!”

Any person who lived on the water knew what sort of place Gui Hun island was.

The mere mention of its name, Gui Hun, ‘returning spirit’, ‘spirit returns to the yellow springs’, for so many years, other than old man Zhang, no other had returned from Gui Hun island alive.

The boatswain shook his head as hard as he could, forgetting even his reverence of Ning Guang in his furious refusal. “I cannot go, I cannot go, that is a one-way journey, I absolutely cannot go! If you insist on going to that island, why don’t you go find old man Zhang from the north of the village? He has gone before, why don’t you go look for him.”

Hurriedly picking up his straw hat, he hurried out of the harbor like he was running away.

Ning Guang did not stop him. Furrowing her brow, she said to Di Jiufeng, “A-Feng, have you heard of Gui Hun island? Why would it make him so afraid?”

Di Jiufeng shook her head and replied, curious, “I have not heard of it, nor do the Shenzhou Records mention this place. But just now, didn’t that boatswain say that old man Zhang from the north of the village has gone to Hui Gun island? We might as well go take a look, maybe he knows something.”

The distance from the beach to the north of the village was not far. They walked for about an incense stick’s time before they arrived.

The further north they went, the stronger the yin energy of the village grew. The dilapidated buildings and alleys looked like they hadn’t seen the sun in decades, the heavy scent of mold hiding even the salty scent of the sea.

Notes:

This chapter was translated by Lily.
归魂 (gui1 hun2), ‘returning spirit’. The ‘yellow springs’ in ‘spirit returns to the yellow springs’ refers to the underworld in Chinese mythology.
An incense stick’s time is about half an hour.