My Disciple Wants to Tease Me Every Day - Chapter 61

: Guess
The shade pacing back and forth outside the city was a soul. Its features were still distinct, only its body was a bit transparent. It wandered around outside the gates for a while, then suddenly tried to rush inside. But before it could step over the threshold, a bolt of demonic energy shot from the name plaque and sent it flying.

Di Jiufeng and Ning Guang had not stood there for very long, but they had seen this shade try many times already.

Every time it was struck by the demonic energy, its body would fade a bit, but it still refused to give up. Who knew what it was thinking, to disregard even the possibility of its soul being scattered for good.

After they stood and watched for a while, Ning Guang looked away, disinterested. She didn’t have much compassion for others, she wouldn’t feel any empathy upon seeing this soul, she might even just think it stupid. If a soul could maintain its sentience, as long as it continued to cultivate, it would be easier for it to become a ghostly cultivator than a normal person, it could once again form a physical body.

At that time, neither this name plaque or anything else would be able to bar its path.

Ning Guang shook her head and walked off towards the city. But, the moment they passed the soul, Di Jiufeng stopped her.

She must have seen something, and her voice sounded a bit urgent. “Ning Guang, stop, quick.” She quickly and quietly spoke in Ning Guang’s ear, calling up the System at the same time.

Sensing its host’s call, the System had not yet composed itself before it heard Di Jiufeng’s impatient words. “System, look at that embroidered pouch. Isn’t it the same as the Young Mistress’s Embroidered Pouch in the system store?”

Because it had just started up, the System’s computation rate was not yet up to speed, and it stared dumbly for a moment.

It reflexively opened the System store and pulled out that item––––

The Young Mistress’s Embroidered Pouch, 10,000 fortune points. After entering the Demonic Realm main plotline, sale price 5,000 points.

The System looked at it for a while, then scanned the soul’s pouch with an infrared scanner. It furrowed its nonexistent brow and said to Di Jiufeng, “It looks similar, but also a bit different. But, honorable host, the fortune points you have left are just enough to purchase it. After today, the price will increase again.”

Di Jiufeng also took a look, nodded, and said, “It truly is a bit different.”

Compared to the slightly old-fashioned mandarin duck pouch tied on that soul’s waist, the one in the System store was exquisitely-made and brand-new, but for some reason, it was missing some sense of spirit. It was the exact same design of mandarin ducks playing in water, but the other one seemed so lively, the embroidered ducks nearly leaping from the surface.

[T/N: Mandarin ducks are a common metaphor for a happy couple.]

Di Jiufeng looked at it again, and finally decided to buy it while it was on sale.

She placed the mandarin duck embroidered pouch into the System space. As they neared the city gates, she saw that there were more and more people walking back and forth. Her face was thin and she did not like being watched, so she struggled free and jumped down from Ning Guang’s back.

The source of warmth on her back had left. Ning Guang visibly paused and pursed her lips, the corners of her mouth pulling into knife-straight lines. She was very unhappy and only suppressing it by force. She even forced a smile onto her face to keep Di Jiufeng from finding out. Her smile was a bit stiff, worn on her face like a mask.

How could Di Jiufeng not find out?

But she refused to let Ning Guang off easy. She brushed her fingers across her palm from time to time, but always pulled her hand away before she could grab hold of it.

This provocative comfort left Ning Guang helpless. Her mouth curled in a smile, but her hand stopped cooperating with Di Jiufeng’s little game.

After Di Jiufeng had played around for a while, she felt that Ning Guang’s reactions had cooled down a bit. She strode ahead and hugged her arm. “Ning Guang, are you mad?” She sent her a few careful glances. Unable to get Ning Guang’s attention, Di Jiufeng finally had to ask.

She hung her entire weight on Ning Guang’s arm, her face nearly pressed to her chin.

The angle was perfect, and the distance was also perfect.

Ning Guang finally looked at her, and rapidly darted down to kiss her forehead. “I’m not angry, I was waiting for you to come here yourself.” Di Jiufeng finally heard the smile in her voice.

She first got embarrassed, then she realized she had been tricked!

Her little disciple had this sort of trick up her sleeve, full points on flirting skills!

“Do you still see me as your Shifu? Can’t you cooperate a bit?”

Ning Guang smiled, and tugged her arm out of her grip to poke her cheek. “My bad, I promise to cooperate more next time.”

Seeing that Di Jiufeng was trying to coax her, Ning Guang was not angry anymore. She lowered her hand, interlocking her fingers with Di Jiufeng’s inside her sleeve.

Hiding their little secret out in front of everyone felt like sneaking out of class and jumping the wall to play outside. An emotion difficult to describe melted through her heart, nervous yet satisfied.

Di Jiufeng looked down, smiling as she rubbed Ning Guang’s palm with her thumb. Feeling her pause and turn to grab her hand, Di Jiufeng’s whole face went red.

She tilted her head and looked at Ning Guang. The bright sunlight let Ning Guang from behind, painting a gentle loving halo onto her silhouette.

It was like a spark had ignited the fireworks in her heart, bursting in layers after layers, carving a brilliant “everything is peaceful and good” in her heart.

They walked, one in front and one behind, and even the shadows they cast melted together into one. As they crossed the unguarded city gate, they triggered the demonic energy in the name plaque. It attempted to deter them as it was designed, but before it could approach the two, it was startled by the ghostly energy Ning Guang had suddenly manifested and ran away in fear, turning right around and fleeing west before it could reenter the name plaque.

This demonic energy came without a sound and left without a trace, even the demonic cultivators milling back and forth did not sense a thing.

But Di Jiufeng had seen it. Not only had she seen, she had even used the demonic energy inside her to stop it.

A plump bat was wrapped in this clump of black fog. It had a rather decorative pair of little fangs and two tiny horns. The little bat trembled in Di Jiufengs hands, flailing its two disproportional wings, unable to hide its rear if it wanted to hide its head. It wavered nervously for a while, finally deciding to cover half with each.

A round little eye peaked out from between its wings. Seeing that Ning Guang was looking at it, it let out a terrified squeak.

Frightened, it tried to pull its wings higher, but its body was too plump, and this sort of difficult movement was absolutely impossible. It could only wail in resignation and spread its wings, preparing to play dead.

After the idiot bat went through the whole process of playing dead, it finally discovered that there was another person holding it. No, no, no, it’s not entirely correct to say there was a “person”. The little bat sneakily opened one eye and quickly scanned Di Jiufeng, finally confirming that this person seemed to be cut from the same cloth as the one it had seen many years ago.

[T/N: 异曲同工, “different tunes played with equal skill”]

Its master had been on good terms with that person. Did that mean that its master and this person were good friends as well?

As a simple-minded surveillance bat, the few brain cells it had could only come to this conclusion. Since they were friends, then she definitely wouldn’t hurt it. Its waist stopped hurting and its body stopped shaking. Kicking its legs and flapping its wings, it stretched as much as a bat could.

[T/N: Yes the brain cells thing is a pretty literal translation.]

It thought there was no danger to itself, so it dropped its incomplete act of playing dead. It rolled up onto its feet and met eyes with Di Jiufeng.

“Squeak.” The little bat wanted to ask her whether they were going to meet its master.

But Di Jiufeng did not understand bat speak. Because it was raising its little chin, she guessed what it was trying to say – it was threatening her.

If the little bat knew what she was thinking, it would feel very aggrieved. In fact, it didn’t want to raise its head, it didn’t like looking at people this way, but it had to raise its head, because its neck was piled full of fat, pushing on its chin, raising its neck into an arc.

Di Jiufeng didn’t know what it was thinking. She turned and said to Ning Guang, “I suspect this is a creature used for surveillance. It may have discovered our identities and wants to report to its master. Ning Guang, do you think I should squish it flat or put it in Shen City?”

When the little bat heard this, it shivered violently.

It didn’t know why things would turn out this way, but fearing it would be unable to preserve its life, it spread its wings and tried to fly.

But before it could get away, it was enveloped by a cloud of ghostly energy. “Let me hold on to it. If you kill it, perhaps its master would know, but leaving it in Shen City is not safe. If it managed to escape, Shen City would be exposed. Leave it to me.” As she said this, she stored the little bat wrapped in her ghostly energy.

The ghostly form spiritual body came with a little storage space, it could even hold living creatures. The only drawback was that if any creature stayed inside for too long, it would become a walking corpse–– its consciousness would be gone, but its body would live on forever.

Sui Ying had high cultivation, so she had not yet suffered any of the effects, still jumping about and yelling, but it was hard to say for this little bat.

Stupid and fat, with low cultivation too. But as a surveillance bat, it definitely knew a lot of things. Ning Guang considered, then created a protective shield out of ghostly energy before tossing it into the storage space.

The little bat only wanted to invite them to its master’s home, but had suffered such preposterous treatment. It felt very aggrieved, but no one would care either way.

After handling the little bat, Ning Guang continued on, tugging Di Jiufeng along with her. To the side, that soul started another round of attempts. Without the bat blocking its way, the soul very easily walked inside. Ning Guang gave it a look, but did not block it, instead pulling Di Jiufeng over to the nearest fruit vendor’s stand.

Fruits shaped like human skulls or infants were stacked in a row, sprinkled with blood-colored liquid.

Ning Guang wasn’t much affected, but she was afraid Di Jiufeng would be scared, so she dragged her behind herself. “Uncle, do you know which way it is to the city lord’s residence?”

The fruit vendor looked up at her. He didn’t look much different from an ordinary person, but when he opened his mouth, all the teeth inside were black. “Oh, are you here to try your luck as well? Recently there have been too many jianghu fraudsters, so the city lord set up a competition. It’s held once every day, and only the winners can attempt to treat his daughter, it’s right up there, yes, the most crowded spot.”

Whether or not they were fraudsters, the fruit vendor didn’t much care to know. As soon as he showed them the way, he started hawking his fruits to Ning Guang.

Ning Guang didn’t respond, only giving him a word of thanks before heading towards the densest part of the crowd, holding tight to Di Jiufeng’s shoulder.

“A-Feng, there’s a competition, did you hear?”

Di Jiufeng furrowed her brow, vexed, and said, “I heard.”

Two people with absolutely no medical knowledge, attempting to compete with others in medical skill. And not only did they have to compete, they also had to win, what an absolute fantasy. Rather than wasting their time like this, they might as well break into the city lord’s residence and sell their talents by force.

Di Jiufeng considered it, but no matter what, they had no chance of succeeding. Her steps slowed, unwilling to even look.

Notes:

This chapter was translated by Lily.