My Disciple Wants to Tease Me Every Day - Chapter 71

: Father
There was wind in Shen City, but it was a faint breeze created by an array. In this place, it was spring year-round, jade grass reaching off into the horizon, crimson cotton tree flowers burning over the entire mountain, making one feel warm from the heart through the whole body.

But for some reason, Di Jiufeng suddenly shivered.

She saw Ning Guang look up, cold gaze falling on the System. One side of her mouth tilted up in a mocking smile. “What, you’re afraid I won’t be able to complete the mission and you’ll lose your life? You don’t need to be afraid, I will definitely kill everyone in the world! Even if I have to remember either way, it will only be a brief instant, I still have the power to choose how I die.

But if I let them go, I might have to spend my life alone. I will never allow this sort of thing to happen. Even if you stay with me, I will still kill everyone.”

Ning Guang’s fingers slowly caressed Di Jiufeng’s face, selfishness and deep affection tangled together, a beautiful sight that would take one’s breath away.

She was like a flame, a poisonous flame. If you got close, you would be burned to ash, but if you left, you wouldn’t be able to survive.

Di Jiufeng looked at her for a while, then slowly took her hand and sighed. “Don’t you know I’m afraid of death? If you keep on like this, are you not afraid I’ll leave you?”

Ning Guang laughed softly, a light and gentle sound, like the whisper of a lover. “Why would I be afraid? You can’t get away from me. If you insist on getting away from me, than I can only kill you first, then kill myself.”

Ning Guang’s morals had already tilted too far off the track to be recovered. As Di Jiufeng was held by her, she suddenly wondered, why did she like her again?

Was it because she had been so docile before? And she had been so indescribably good to her. Or perhaps this extreme possessiveness made her feel especially secure?

Di Jiufeng spat, “Ning Guang, you’re a cheat! If I knew you were like this, I wonder if I would have ever started liking you!”

Ning Guang was not angry, she only laughed lightly and said, “Before you started liking me, I already had these sorts of tendencies, but you accepted me anyways. A-Feng, admit it, you like me like this, I’m selfish and cruel, but you don’t need to worry that I’ll leave you alone, because before that day could come, we would already have died together.”

Though she was suspicious of what the System had said, Ning Guang tacitly decided not to ask any more.

She held Di Jiufeng tight, the hand on her head fisting in her hair with a bit too much force.

Ning Guang said, “Since you know where my core went, there’s no reason to let him destroy it. A-Feng, let’s set out tomorrow to find that monk, okay?”

“I have no objections, but…” Di Jiufeng stroked Ning Guang’s waist. “This monk moves strangely, even the resentful ghost with me doesn’t know where he went. It only knows that he will purify the ancient witch’s core on the seventh of February, searching blindly will not work. Ning Guang, have you heard of the Soul-Finding Array?”

“Soul-Finding Array?” Ning Guang furrowed her brow.

She had read about this array in a book of essays about talismans and arrays. A forbidden array of the demonic path, it had already been lost for a long time, even the books only had a brief mention of it. Supposedly, this array, relying on the principle that all the myriad things had souls, would bind the soul of the caster and the object of their search, and use this to take them to where they wanted to go.

Ning Guang had heard of this array, but because it was a forbidden array, other than Hui Kong, who had cast this array two hundred years ago, even the method of setting it had been lost.

She did not know why Di Jiufeng had brought this up. “I have heard of it, but the people who know this array have probably all died out.”

Di Jiufeng blinked playfully and said, “What do you mean died out? There’s one right before your eyes.”

Though she was grinning and looked very unserious, Ning Guang knew that she was not lying. Taking Di Jiufeng’s hand, she narrowed her eyes. There was no suspicion in her dark pupils, just an unconcealable worry. “How would you know this array? Not only is it a forbidden array, it’s a demonic array!”

Di Jiufeng smiled and hid behind a lighthearted tone. “I don’t know, but when she transferred her cultivation to me, I remembered this array.”

Di Jiufeng used the word ‘remembered’, not ‘suddenly learned’. This meant that this array was something that had been buried in her memories since long ago.

She had learned this array, but who had taught her? She had been in Zhangjian Sect since youth, how could she have met a demon, and one who knew this sort of forbidden array? Ning Guang couldn’t think of an explanation, she almost told herself it was bestowed by the heavens. But this had to do with Di Jiufeng’s past, she didn’t want to use this sort of preposterous reasoning to gloss over it.

“A-Feng, you said you remembered it. Doesn’t that mean someone taught you this array? Who was it, can you remember?”

Di Jiufeng did not try to hide it from her. She pursed her lips and laughed bitterly, confusion rising in the space between her brows. “I don’t know, but when I remembered this array, some scenes flashed across my mind. It was a man, he taught me the basics of casting arrays, then told me not to be impatient, of course I would learn everything in time…”

Di Jiufeng paused, then looked up at Ning Guang. She seemed to be considering something, and it was a while before she said, “In these memories, I, I think I called him daddy.”

Calling someone daddy was a very unfamiliar thing to Di Jiufeng and to Ning Guang, but unfamiliar didn’t mean that it had never happened.

Di Jiufeng sighed, shook her head, and said, “Forget it, what I can remember is only this bit, I can’t remember anything more. I’ll remember when I should, let’s go collect the materials to cast the array before it’s too late.”

Ning Guang stopped her and said, “Don’t worry, we can just go to the city lord. Write a list of the more difficult-to-find materials and some useless rare objects mixed together and give it to Qing Yu, have her find the city lord. The rest we can find ourselves, it will keep us from being found out.”

Ning Guang had been very thoughtful, Di Jiufeng had no complaints.

She thought about the materials needed to cast the array, wrote a complete list for Ning Guang, then picked some of the more difficult-to-find materials and wrote a list mixed with some other rare objects.

She did not go herself, but stuffed the paper into Ning Guang’s hands before darting into the room.

Ning Guang gave her a look and chased after her for a few steps, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Di Jiufeng turned around, her cheeks puffed up in a pout. “You won’t even help me deliver a piece of paper? You don’t listen to me anymore, no wonder people say being a wife is worse than being a concubine, being a concubine is worse than being a homewrecker. I’d be better off staying just your Shifu.”

Ning Guang didn’t know where she had gotten these strange ideas from. She couldn’t resist shaking her head, poking her face, and saying, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to go out on a stroll with me. I heard that the demon realm has a lot of good food, things that the cultivation world doesn’t have. Since you are half-demon, you should be able to eat them, do you want to go?”

“Yes yes yes.”

“Then wait for me to get back.” Ning Guang turned to place a kiss on her eyelids, then strode off towards Qing Yu’s room.

Di Jiufeng’s face went red, but she did not pause before chasing to Ning Guang’s side. “Let’s go together. After we deliver the list, we can go out.” She crossed her arms, hugging Ning Guang’s arm.

Hugged by her, Ning Guang got a bit annoyed. She stopped and raised her chin meaningfully, looking down at Di Jiufeng from above. “A-Feng, am I not as important as food?”

Di Jiufeng blinked. She wanted to say yes, but she didn’t dare, because she already knew what the outcome would be if she did.

Pushing a smile even more obsequious than the System’s on her face, she jumped up and hung off of Ning Guang’s body. “No, how is that possible? Of course you’re the most important, things are just a bit more meaningful when there’s something to eat.”

Ning Guang knew this was a bold-faced lie, but she still took advantage of the chance to throw her on her back. “Now I know why that resentful ghost of yours is so strange.”

[T/N: The Chinese idiom for a blatant lie is 睁着眼睛说瞎话, which literally translates to “saying blind words with your eyes wide open”.]

“Why?” Di Jiufeng’s face was full of curiosity.

“Because staying with you, black… no, crimson is the one near cinnabar, it’s just like you.”

[T/N: Ning Guang starts saying the idiom 近墨者黑, “the one who is close to ink is black” and switches to 近朱者赤, “the one near cinnabar is red”. Both mean that one is influenced by close association, though the former has more of a connotation of corruption.]

Ning Guang stuffed the paper into Qing Yu’s hands, told her a few things to look out for, then was hurried outside by Di Jiufeng. Compared to the quiet nights of the human world, the demon realm was like a nightless city.

After they left the city lord’s residence, they saw peach-red lanterns fixed in midair by spells, charming red light spilling from the sky, casting the wide alleys in a hazy glow. When Ning Guang was first walked outside by Di Jiufeng, Di Jiufeng was a bit embarrassed, but seeing that there were many pairs of lovers in the alleys even more blatant than them, her face wasn’t red anymore and she wasn’t breathing quickly. She easily wound herself around Ning Guang, letting her lead their stroll.

The demon realm’s things were not all scary.

There were even some foods that looked appalling, but were especially tasty. Ning Guang was afraid to let her eat too much, and dragged her away after they browsed a few stalls.

Di Jiufeng was still a bit reluctant, looking back three times every step, and she accidentally ran into a girl.

“Ah, my apologies, I wasn’t looking where I was going…”

“There’s no harm, you didn’t crash into me very hard.”

It was a very familiar voice. Di Jiufeng turned and saw that the person she had run into was the city lord’s daughter.

“Miss Di and Miss Ning Guang, why did you come out alone?”

Di Jiufeng waved and said, “We just came out to look around, there was no need to bring anyone. But you, didn’t Qing Yu tell you to rest and not catch a chill?”

The eldest young mistress bowed. Her complexion looked much better than before, but she was still pale, with no red in her cheeks. “Many thanks for your concern. I came out with a protective spiritual device, and someone set a barrier for me, it’s no risk. When Lin-ge cultivates a body, I figure he will go to Duotian City sooner or later. I was worried, so I wanted to make him a protective perfume sachet.

You may not know that our demon realm has a type of tree covered in twining vines which secretes silk once every hundred years. If you make a perfume sachet with its silk thread mixed with your heart’s blood, it can block a disaster for your beloved.”

“And afterwards? What will happen to the person who blocked the disaster?” Di Jiufeng asked in curiosity.

The city lord’s daughter replied, “Not much, they will just be bedridden for several days. But a person can only make this sort of perfume sachet twice, and it won’t work every time. I came out today to buy silk thread, but unfortunately there was none, and it won’t be restocked for a while.” The young mistress sighed, her head lowered, showing her pale and slender neck.

Unfortunately, Di Jiufeng didn’t have the heart to appreciate the sight, as she was busy calling the System in her head.

Author’s Note:

Di Jiufeng: I have an old embroidered pouch, I have old silk thread, it’s time to bargain.
Ning Guang: *unwilling to speak* I pity myself so much, not even as important as food, I need my Shifu to kiss me, hug me, lift me up high
Notes:

This chapter was translated by Lily.