My Disciple Wants to Tease Me Every Day - Chapter 73

: Ning Guang’s Question.
The wood Ning Guang was holding was the legendary undying Kunlun Immortal Wood, and its rarity was unmatched.

Kunlun Immortal Wood was a treasure which could be used to make a second body. But as time progressed, the method to do so was lost. It couldn’t be used for its full purpose anymore, so it was only of value as a decoration. Though it was very precious, it was of little value to the city lord, so, for his daughter, he did not hesitate to give it to Ning Guang.

This was partially because the city lord didn’t know Ning Guang’s true identity.

If only he knew Ning Guang was the ancient witch, and as the ancient witch’s power had awakened, Ning Guang had also learned some of the witch tribe’s techniques without being taught. One of these was the method to create a second body, one of the most basic of the bunch. If he could create a second body, the city lord would never be willing to give the Kunlun Immortal Wood to her.

After all, creating a second body was similar to the body double array. And, compared to that little thing, creating a second body was a true second life. To put it simply, as long as your second body still existed, even if your original body died, your consciousness could escape. As long as you had enough Kunlun Immortal Wood, you could even, as long as your soul could take it, duplicate yourself indefinitely.

In ancient times, this was not an advanced technique for the witch tribe well-versed in soul magic.

But the witch race was long-gone, and the rare branches of the Kunlun tree were not easy to find. There was only one, which the city lord had acquired by accident in his youth.

Ning Guang knew well how precious a second body was, so she had played a little trick and asked the city lord to find a branch of Kunlun with the excuse of using it to recreate his son-in-law’s body. After all, this was a spiritual object which would not die even after being broken from the trunk, it held plenty of life energy. It was not impossible that it could be used to recreate a body.

The city lord was not suspicious, and Ning Guang was happy to save the effort. In order to prevent any complications, she had started to craft Di Jiufeng’s second body as soon as she acquired the branch of Kunlun.

[T/N: 夜长梦多, lit. “the longer the night, the more numerous the dreams”, means that the longer something takes, the more likely there are to be complications.]

When Di Jiufeng had come outside, Ning Guang was at the final step. She had not carved the face because she didn’t need to. Once she retrieved a wisp of Di Jiufeng’s soul and poured it inside, her features would automatically appear on the second body.

Newly-created second bodies were a bit fragile, but you just needed to nurture them slowly. After some time, they would be identical to the original.

At that time, not to speak of others, even the Heavenly Way wouldn’t be able to determine which was real and which was fake.

“A-Feng, do you remember what that resentful ghost of yours said? It said that you might stay. I’ve thought about it, that probably means that even if you reform me, there is still a possibility you will leave. I know it was not talking about Zhangjian Sect, it’s possible that it’s a place where I cannot follow…”

When this matter had first been brought up, Ning Guang had not asked any other questions. Di Jiufeng thought that she did not care, and was inwardly a bit disappointed, but she was even more relieved to have gotten away without exposing her secret. She didn’t realize that she had thought wrong. Ning Guang had not forgotten, she was waiting for her here the whole time.

Di Jiufeng opened her mouth, but didn’t know what to say.

After all, transmigration was not easy to explain. If she made something up, she was afraid she would let something slip. Di Jiufeng didn’t know how to explain to Ning Guang that the place she might return to was somewhere Ning Guang could never go.

She couldn’t say that, and she didn’t want to either. Ning Guang waited for a while. Unable to get an explanation, she laughed to herself. She pinched Di Jiufeng’s face and smoothed out the crease between her eyebrows with two fingers. “Forget it, if you don’t want to tell me, then don’t, as long as you stay by my side. I don’t care where you came from, just don’t ever leave me.

If we nurture this second body properly, the Heavenly Way will not be able to tell. Wait for me to finish, then keep it by your side and nurture it well. If there really is a day when the Heavenly Way wants to send you away, give the second body to it and stay with me, okay?”

Ning Guang was seeking her opinion, but her hand was squeezing her arm tight, not loosening a bit.

It hurt a bit, but Di Jiufeng didn’t even dare furrow her brow. She took this time to take a breath, and gazed sincerely at Ning Guang to show her conviction. “That would be best, I never wanted to leave you, I was always thinking of ways to stay by your side. Ning Guang, you know I have kept some things from you, but I have no way to explain right now. After all, some things are simply too unbelievable, even I don’t believe them very much.

But there is one thing you don’t need to doubt. I truly truly like you very much, I will do everything I can to stay by your side.”

Ning Guang didn’t need to listen to know what Di Jiufeng was going to say. She was never going to blame her, she was just using her own methods to gain control of the unknown. She pinched Di Jiufeng’s face again and said consolingly, “Don’t worry, I know you have your own troubles. But still keep this second body by your side. Can you give me a wisp of your soul?”

Spreading her hands, Di Jiufeng did not hesitate to draw out a wisp of her soul and give it to her.

Ning Guang took it, settled Di Jiufeng by the bed, then slowly retreated outside. As she crossed the threshold, she was afraid Di Jiufeng would overthink, so she waved the wooden sculpture in her hand and explained, “It’s still missing the last step–fusing it with the wisp of soul. It’s a bit difficult, I have to find a secluded location. I can’t calm down while you are around, I would only want to look at you.”

She showed a rare meaningful smile. Though her dark eyes were calm, they burned inside with twin blazes.

Di Jiufeng understood, and a scarlet blush shot up her face, a fire burning into the heavens, nearly scorching all her brain cells to ash. She said something, or did something, she wasn’t sure, she only knew that when Ning Guang left, she was still half-leaning on the side of the bed.

Di Jiufeng didn’t know what she was thinking about, her expression was a bit dazzled.

The clear moonlight spilled through the curtain, making everything seem hazy and unreal.

Di Jiufeng was silent for a long time, before she finally sighed and turned to sit on the side of the bed.

She seemed gloomy and depressed. Seeing her face, the System couldn’t help but give her some words of comfort. “Honorable host, if you are so unhappy, why don’t you confess to the ancient witch? At worst, just tell her the truth, you’ve said this much already, a bit more won’t matter. Don’t tell her you transmigrated into a novel, just say you’re from a parallel world, what about it?”

Di Jiufeng did not respond. She thought for a long time, then said, “It’s not that I won’t tell her, but right now, even I am not sure what is going on. Don’t you think it’s strange? Why would the direction of the plot change? It’s not that the author didn’t write it, she has, but it’s turning onto a different road.”

The System said, confused, “Is there something wrong with that? You are an outsider, it ought to be expected that you can change the plot.”

Di Jiufeng shook her head and laughed. She didn’t mind that it was being slow, and explained patiently, “To the characters in the novel, the author’s words are equivalent to fate granted by the Heavenly Way, this is the fixed, unchangeable reality. I am a cannon fodder, the descriptions of me are few, so I can freely develop.

But Ning Guang? She is the protagonist, her fate should not change. Or else, what about the written text? Will it change as she does?

Don’t nod so quickly.”

Seeing the System’s virtual image nod so quickly its head nearly fell off, Di Jiufeng sighed helplessly. “Let me finish.”

“Suppose Ning Guang’s main plotline can change, and the written words can also change. Have you thought about the people who have read this novel in reality? What has the power to change countless people’s memories?”

“But… we are clearly in a novel…” Though the System thought that Di Jiufeng had a point, it had brought her into this world itself. If this place wasn’t a novel, what was it? This was truly too unbelievable, the System didn’t have enough processing power.

“Then I have to ask you, where did you first take me from? Where is my original body?”

This was a very simple question, but the System couldn’t answer. It thought for a long time, racking its brains, looking over and over, pulling out every single memory storage, but it could not remember the events of that day. Where had it selected Di Jiufeng from? It was like it had never chosen at all; it had been attached to Di Jiufeng as soon as it opened its eyes.

“I, I, I, it seems I just appeared at your side. I don’t remember where your original body is, I don’t remember how I chose you, I only know that my memory storage was set that way!”

Di Jiufeng’s words made the System feel the terror of the unknown. It suddenly thought of that piece of the program it couldn’t crack.

What was in there? What were it and Di Jiufeng? Were they really transmigration System and host? That is to say, was all of this fake, was there a secret behind everything?

“Honorable host, what do we do?” The System was panicking a bit, and it fell crying to the ground.

Di Jiufeng was not as useless as it. She laughed lightly and said, “I don’t mean anything by it, I just think there’s no need to tell Ning Guang the things even I can’t make sense of. Actually, it doesn’t matter where this is, just know that you can’t leave me, and I have to stay with Ning Guang. It’s that simple, you don’t need to overcomplicate it.”

“T-that’s true.” The System blinked, pulling in the tears that still hadn’t started flowing. “That sounds right, whether or not you transmigrated into a novel doesn’t really matter. Either way, if you don’t prevent the ancient witch from destroying the world, whether the outcome is the collapse of the world inside the novel or a heavenly calamity helping the enemy, there doesn’t seem to be much difference.”

“En, so don’t cry, go look for your little jiejie.”

By the time she coaxed away the System, dawn was starting to break over the horizon. Di Jiufeng tried, but was unable to smooth the tangled mess in her mind, so she decided to put things aside and set the Soul-Finding Array with the materials Ning Guang had given her.

Because it was a forbidden array, it was not easy to set. Di Jiufeng worked for a long time, and finally finished setting up the Soul-Finding Array when it was almost evening. Waves of demonic energy had already started to rise, it seemed like it had worked. Di Jiufeng looked at it, and was just about to call Ning Guang when she saw her appear as if summoned by her thoughts.

Di Jiufeng immediately broke into a smile and jogged to her side. “You came! Just in time, I was just about to go get you.”

Ning Guang may have spent all night working on the wooden carving, her expression was a bit hazy, and she took a long time before nodding and saying, “En, I was delayed by some things.”

“What was it? The second body? Is it complete?” Di Jiufeng reached out to touch her qiankun pouch, but for some reason, the Ning Guang who always indulged her caught her hand.

Ning Guang’s expression was very open, but the more open she seemed, the more Di Jiufeng felt it strange. “The second body is not yet complete, I will give it to you after another few days. Be good, I want to give you a surprise, don’t look at it now.”

Di Jiufeng still smiled, like she had not noticed Ning Guang’s evasion. “What surprise, I already saw it yesterday. Don’t tell me you carved me too ugly and don’t want to take it out.”

As she joked, she poured spiritual energy into her wrist.

Ning Guang didn’t notice at first and almost let her escape, but right after, Ning Guang used her ghostly cultivation. She didn’t use much force, but her hand was like an iron hoop, and Di Jiufeng couldn’t move an inch. “A-Feng…”

Ning Guang was very clearly refusing her. Though her gaze was still excessively gentle, it seemed a bit more probing than before.

There was something she wanted to ask her, but she was afraid to speak. Di Jiufeng noticed at once. She pursed her lips and did not dally before asking outright, “If you have something you want to ask, then go ahead and say.”

Notes:

This chapter was translated by Lily.