Chapter 29: 29 Cursing in Every Direction

You fought with him here for half an hour—over one hundred Spirit Crystals?

Mingzhu sat on the floor and took a few moments to untangle his chaotic thoughts.

Shen Hongchuan stared at the blazing lotus-shaped Red Lotus Mark blooming on the back of his left hand and asked quietly, “Does it hurt?”

Mingzhu drew the hand into his wide sleeve and shook his head. “I don’t know what pain is.”

Shen Hongchuan was struck speechless.

Mingzhu staggered to his feet with Shen Hongchuan’s help, the Jade Token clenched tight in his hand. “Let’s go. In three days, to the Moon-Plundering Tower.”

Shen Hongchuan froze. “What?”

Mingzhu flicked the token in his hand, and a line of vigorous, dragon-and-phoenix script appeared in midair: Three days hence, Moon-Plundering Tower, Shuoyu City. What Mingzhao seeks: Xichu.

“Mingzhao has spent all these years searching for a way to bring the dead back to life. A while ago, a Secret Realm opened, and in the scramble he failed to seize the Spirit-Suppressing Lamp and was forced to withdraw.” Mingzhu gave a scornful laugh. “The Spirit-Suppressing Lamp—as if a petty creature like him could ever claim it?”

Shen Hongchuan said, “Then what does that have to do with Xichu?”

Mingzhu shook his head. “I don’t know either. But he never does anything without purpose. Perhaps Xichu carries something worth his rushing all the way from Jianglou to Shuoyu overnight. If so, then this Xichu’s identity must be far from ordinary. I want to go to the Moon-Plundering Tower in three days.”

Shen Hongchuan always granted Mingzhu’s every request, but this time a flicker of difficulty crossed his face. “Senior Brother, do you know what kind of place the Moon-Plundering Tower is?”

Mingzhu asked, puzzled, “A place… to eat?”

Shen Hongchuan coughed dryly. “Well… I suppose so…”

On someone else’s turf, Shen Hongchuan couldn’t well explain, so he led Mingzhu out of the side chamber.

Wenfeng was still in her earlier pose, reading with an air of otherworldly serenity. At the sound of their footsteps, she said without lifting her head, “Crushed-amethyst jade pearl curtain. Two thousand Spirit Crystals.”

Shen Hongchuan: “…”

By the time Shen Hongchuan had swallowed his pride and paid for the damages, and was leading the bewildered Mingzhu downstairs, the great hall below was in an uproar. A crowd had gathered around the source of the commotion as if watching a spectacle, pointing and chattering nonstop.

Shen Hongchuan disliked noise, and Mingzhu was somewhat distracted by the token in his hand, so the two of them, of one mind, skirted around the crowd and were about to head out the door when a familiar voice suddenly rang out from within, striking straight into Shen Hongchuan’s ears.

“I’ve said it a hundred times—we didn’t touch it! You shattered that Jade Token yourself. Can you not understand human speech? Biting people everywhere like a rabid dog. There’s something wrong with you.”

Shen Hongchuan: “…”

Expressionless, Shen Hongchuan kept pushing Mingzhu toward the exit, when the dazed Mingzhu suddenly snapped back to his senses. “Ah—I think I just heard Little Nine’s voice?”

Shen Hongchuan feigned calm. “No, you misheard.”

Another voice came from the crowd. “Whose dog got off its leash and is barking and biting people all over the place? Were you raised without a shred of upbringing?!”

Mingzhu said, “That’s Little Nine.”

Shen Hongchuan: “…”

Miscalculated.

Mingzhu immediately made to dash into the crowd, and Shen Hongchuan had no choice but to follow.

After much squeezing, the two finally pushed through to the center, and before they’d even found their footing, they saw Lu Qingkong and Zhou Fuxue standing cold-faced in the middle, facing several men in indigo robes clustered around an opulently dressed Young Master—apparently the young master of some house. A Wind-Listening Tower employee stood to one side, sweating profusely as he tried to mediate.

The Young Master’s face was powdered white, exquisitely handsome. Though he seemed arrogant and domineering, he’d probably been raised with decent manners—he didn’t even know how to curse properly, and had instead been on the receiving end of Lu Qingkong’s acid-tongued mockery until he looked about ready to cry.

Where Lu Qingkong got the confidence to accuse others of bad breeding with that venomous mouth of his, no one could say. Seeing the little Young Master about to cry from frustration, he was in his element, rambling on and on: “You couldn’t even hold onto your own Jade Token, and now you’re pinning it on others? What, if you trip on the street, will you just grab the nearest passerby and demand compensation? Are all you Shuoyu City people this shameless and overbearing? I’ve truly learned something today.”

The onlookers: “…”

The shameless, overbearing one… seems to be you, doesn’t it?

The little Young Master: “You—you—you—you!”

Lu Qingkong’s eyes lifted lazily. “Me, me, me—what about me? Speak properly. In actual words.”

The little Young Master: “…”

Shen Hongchuan: “…”

This disgraceful, cursed menace!

Mingzhu, oblivious to the situation, hurried forward. “Little Nine—ah, Jiu, Jiu, hold on a moment. What happened? Why is everyone fighting?”

Lu Qingkong was eccentric by nature, and his tongue was especially venomous—it was only because he was usually stuck on Rizhao Mountain, unable to unleash his full power on his senior and junior brothers, that this outing had finally given him an outlet. He had rattled on nonstop for half an hour without repeating a single insult.

Zhou Fuxue stood by in sheer awe.

Lu Qingkong crossed his arms and sneered. “We were buying a Jade Token for Little Shishu when this person suddenly grabbed me, accused me of shattering his token, and demanded I pay for it.”

Zhou Fuxue leaned in and murmured to Mingzhu, “Over this, Ninth Senior Brother has been arguing with them for half an hour.”

Mingzhu was instantly filled with profound respect.

Lu Qingkong had never been one to back down. Wrongfully accused while simply walking down the road, he naturally refused to concede. The little Young Master had initially demanded compensation outright, imperiously, threatening to have his guards teach them a lesson if they refused.

Lu Qingkong had only just reached Foundation Establishment, yet he remained utterly unfazed, cursing in every direction, until a helpless Zhou Fuxue had no choice but to step in and rough up the guards.

With a muscleman at his back, Lu Qingkong grew only more emboldened, trading insults with the little Young Master… well, delivering a one-sided verbal thrashing for half an hour.

Whether the little Young Master was missing a screw or what, unable to win a fight and unable to win an argument, perhaps hoping to salvage some pride, he stubbornly stood his ground against Lu Qingkong for a full half hour, eyes red-rimmed, lips bitten bloody.

The little Young Master: “You—you—you—you…”

Lu Qingkong turned away. “My what? Didn’t I tell you to speak properly? Or can you not understand human speech either?”

The little Young Master: “I—I—I—I…”

Lu Qingkong: “Are you a stutterer?”

The little Young Master: “…” About to cry from rage.

Mingzhu: “…”

Mingzhu coughed lightly and gave the little Young Master a slight bow, smiling. “Truly sorry. My junior brother has a foul temper. We’ve caused you trouble, Your Excellency. How many Spirit Crystals was your token? I’ll pay for it.”

Lu Qingkong frowned. “Senior Brother, stay out of this. I can handle it.”

Mingzhu kicked him.

The little Young Master had endured half an hour of abuse—if Lu Qingkong hadn’t been so relentlessly aggressive, he wouldn’t have refused to concede in front of the man, and his tears would have burst forth long ago. But the moment Mingzhu’s gentle-as-a-spring-breeze attitude appeared, he suddenly couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into loud sobs.

Mingzhu: “…”

The little Young Master looked about Zhou Fuxue’s age, still a half-grown youth, and the sudden outpouring of tears streaming down his face made him look pitiful beyond words.

Mingzhu immediately felt like he’d committed some sin. He shot a venomous glare at the chief culprit, then gingerly stepped forward and patted the youth’s head lightly, saying gently, “I’m sorry, don’t cry. Big Brother will buy you candy, all right?”

The little Young Master: “Waaah!”

Mingzhu: “There, there, no more crying…”

Watching Mingzhu console the very person who’d tried to extort money from him, Lu Qingkong felt rather displeased. Shen Hongchuan leaned in close and asked quietly, “Exactly how much did he want you to pay him, that you could curse someone into this state?”

With so many people around, whether to avoid exposing his identity or out of embarrassment, Shen Hongchuan clapped the mask Mingzhu had removed earlier back onto his own face.

Lu Qingkong was still fuming. “He wanted a hundred Spirit Crystals. Little Shishu only gave us two hundred for this whole trip. If we hand it all over to him, how are we supposed to get home?”

Shen Hongchuan: “…”

Shen Hongchuan was truly flabbergasted. “You fought with him here for half an hour—over one hundred Spirit Crystals?”

Lu Qingkong stomped hard on his foot. “Shut up!”

Shen Hongchuan—the very man who had once tossed away a hundred thousand Spirit Crystals like spare change for a single Jade Token—regarded Lu Qingkong’s white-faced fury and fell silent for a long time, unable to tell whether he was stunned by Lu Qingkong’s tenacity or by poverty itself.

Whether through the power of that face or sheer luck, Mingzhu spent a good while coaxing and finally got the little Young Master to stop crying. The youth now tugged hiccupping at Mingzhu’s sleeve, choking out, “I—I didn’t lie. Really, it was… he bumped into me…”

Lu Qingkong flared up at once. “You still dare talk? You think I wouldn’t feel it if I bumped into someone? Stop spouting nonsense and slander!”

The little Young Master shrank behind Mingzhu, sniffling, and pointed at the string of miscellaneous iron objects at Lu Qingkong’s waist. “It—it was when you turned around, that… that iron ball flew out and h-hit my jade.”

Mingzhu followed the pointing finger and looked.

Lu Qingkong: “…”

Shen Hongchuan truly couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He stepped forward, tossed a pouch of Spirit Crystals into the arms of the guard behind the little Young Master, and said flatly, “Our junior brother was in the wrong here. I beg you all, for the sake of his being an idiot, not to take it further. This is one thousand Spirit Crystals, as an apology.”

Lu Qingkong: “…Shen—mmph!”

Zhou Fuxue lunged forward and clapped a hand over his mouth.

The little Young Master was still sniffling softly. He wasn’t looking at anyone else, but instead, cheeks faintly red, stealing glances at Mingzhu’s criminally gorgeous face, he said in a small voice, “Then… then for Big Brother’s sake, I won’t… won’t press the matter.”

Mingzhu immediately broke into a soft smile.

The little Young Master tugged lightly at his sleeve, seeming shy, his voice buzzing like a mosquito’s: “I… my name is Qinghe… what’s Big Brother’s… your name?”

“My name is Mingzhu.”

Qinghe glanced up at Mingzhu, then instantly lowered his head again, still whispering like a mosquito: “Big Brother Ming…”

In all his years on Rizhao Mountain, his junior brothers had only ever boldly called him by name or properly addressed him as Senior Brother—even his own little sister, Ming Fuhua, would only stiffly call him “Brother.” He had lived all these years and never once been called Big Brother in such a soft, sweet voice. His restless heart nearly leapt out of his chest.

Mingzhu beamed. “Say it again.”

Qinghe blushed, but obediently complied. “Big Brother Ming.”

Mingzhu was thoroughly satisfied.

Just then, one of the guards behind them reminded, “Young Master, it’s noon. If you don’t return soon, the Lord will be angry.”

Qinghe started, then flustered and mumbled, “Right, right—I have to buy a Jade Token for Xichu, buy the Jade Token.”

Mingzhu blinked. “Xichu?”

Qinghe instantly clapped a hand over his mouth and shook his head furiously.

Shen Hongchuan, standing nearby, seemed to realize something. “You’re the son of Nan Yue of the Moon-Plundering Tower—Nan Qinghe?”

Mingzhu looked up, stunned.