Chapter 10: A Taste for Torment Part 1

◎The Living Yama really does have a taste for torturing birds and beasts!◎

Fu Yuqiu lay comfortably curled in Yun Shou’s palm. That soak in the Sweet Spring had left him so satisfied he could chirp with joy.

Yun Shou, seized by who knew what madness, carried him toward the side hall, scolding him nonstop the entire way.

“You’re a fool, you know that? Is Feng Xingyun your brother? Ha—with a brain like yours, you two can’t possibly be kin. Honestly, are you really the Azure Luan Clan Master’s illegitimate son, like the whole Three Clans says?”

Fu Yuqiu: “……”

Fu Yuqiu had been cursed out of nowhere, and he glared at him furiously.

He still remembered the debt for Yun Shou saving his bird life—but if the scolding kept up, whatever goodwill remained would be worn away to nothing by all these “fool”s.

“Actually, it tracks. An azure luan laying a white sparrow egg is strange.” Yun Shou only convinced himself further as he went. “No wonder the current Azure Luan Clan Master can’t stand you.”

Fu Yuqiu’s brow furrowed tight.

The Azure Luan Clan Master…

In an instant, the wits that had been scrambled by the Sweet Spring’s water snapped sharp.

The Clan Master’s words from memory echoed in his mind.

“Find a chance to place the Linked Azure Water in the Nine Heavens’ Jade Spring.”

Fu Yuqiu: “……”

Oh no. That Sweet Spring—it couldn’t be the… Jade Spring he meant, could it?

Yun Shou was still going. “Next time you see Feng Xingyun, guard that little life of yours. Don’t let him kill you in a fit of humiliated rage.”

Fu Yuqiu had no idea where the Linked Azure Water even was, and he couldn’t be bothered with the Azure Luan Clan’s messy affairs.

Perfect, Fu Yuqiu thought, pushing the Linked Azure Water out of his mind, expressionless. I’ve let you curse at me this long—your life-saving debt is finally paid off.

Yun Shou was about to launch into another lecture when the sparrow curled in his palm suddenly bounced up and clamped his sharp beak viciously onto the tender flesh of Yun Shou’s thumb webbing…

Then he wrenched his head around, twisting that tender bit of flesh a full half-turn.

Yun Shou howled.

An azure dragon in human form had thick, tough hide; a straight peck from Fu Yuqiu’s beak might only have hurt the beak itself. But this vicious “Flesh-Twisting Technique,” targeting one tiny patch of flesh, hurt to the bone.

Even Yun Shou, that evil dragon, couldn’t stand it—he nearly flung the sparrow off.

“Are you looking to die?!” Yun Shou roared. “Believe I’ll swallow you in one bite?!”

Fu Yuqiu only feared the Living Yama. He wasn’t the least bit scared of this all-bark-no-bite dragon, bouncing about in his palm with all the provocation of come on, then—eat me.

Yun Shou: “……”

Yun Shou was all thunder, no rain. Beyond roaring, there was nothing he could do about it.

Through gritted teeth: “Everyone says the Azure Luan Clan is gentle as still water, graceful and docile. How did you turn out so violent and insufferable?”

The words had barely fallen when an earth-shaking dragon’s cry suddenly rang in their ears, and a jet-black dragon crashed down before them, kicking dust straight into their faces.

Yun Gui nearly trampled them both, flinging her tail furiously. “Out of the way!”

With that, she shot back up into the sky in a fury.

Fu Yuqiu: “……”

Yun Shou: “……”

The black dragon wheeled overhead. In midair, a flash of azure shadow, its power vast and surging, exchanged blows with the black dragon in mere moments.

Spiritual power clashed; the void itself split with muffled booms.

Yun Shou stood there woodenly and said coldly, “Is there a single docile, graceful one in your entire Azure Luan Clan?”

Fu Yuqiu looked at him, puzzled.

What’s that supposed to mean?

That woman in azure is Azure Luan Clan too?

He was still wondering when a sharp cry pierced the air, and an azure-plumed luan bird landed atop a dragon-and-phoenix pillar, its long plumes like cloud banks across an azure sky—magnificently beautiful.

The Azure Luan Clan, sure enough.

She gazed down haughtily at the black dragon coiled around the pillar and spoke in human speech. “Fine—you won’t let me see the Immortal Venerable. Then produce the white sparrow.”

Yun Gui, coiled on the dragon-and-phoenix pillar, said coldly, “Qingxi. You overstep.”

“Hah.” Qingxi sneered. “I’ve overstepped more times than I can count. Since when do you need to remind me?”

Nearby, Yun Shou clicked his tongue. “Your dear sister saw you didn’t die, and came to finish the job herself. Tsk tsk. What devoted siblings—enough to move heaven and earth.”

Fu Yuqiu: “……”

He slowly pieced it together.

The Azure Luan Clan Master, Qingxi, and the Junior Venerable were not the same person.

The Junior Venerable was Feng Xingyun—the man who’d had the white sparrow assassinate the Immortal Venerable with the Linked Azure Water.

Fu Yuqiu was still lost in these tangled thoughts when his whole body suddenly jolted, a cold gaze seeming to lock onto him.

He was blearily lifting his head when his body went abruptly weightless, and in his ears came Yun Shou’s strangled: “In the Nine Heavens, no one behaves so wildly—mmph!”

Fu Yuqiu spun head over heels and fell straight down, smacking into the ground with a wet thump and bouncing twice.

Before he could recover, a claw came down hard on his head.

Fu Yuqiu: “???”

Fu Yuqiu was dumbfounded. He squirmed, trying to scramble up, but the claw seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, pinning him so his two tender little feet paddled uselessly at the ground, unable to break free.

In his blurred vision he glimpsed a flash of azure—that azure luan.

Qingxi stood imperiously on the sparrow’s head, regarding the two dragons closing in around her with a faint, dangerous smile. “You want to stop me? Do you have the ability?”

Yun Shou barked: “How dare you! Believe I won’t swallow you in one—”

Yun Gui transmitted coldly to him: I hear she marched up Azure Precipice Mountain on the Drifting Path sword in hand yesterday and very nearly butchered Feng Xingyun. Go ahead and swallow her in one bite—if you’re tired of living.

Yun Shou: “……”

Yun Shou’s fighting spirit evaporated on the spot.

Qingxi arched a brow at Yun Gui. “How sensible of you.”

“Clan Master,” Yun Gui said flatly, “a chess piece isn’t worth it.”

“A chess piece?” Qingxi pressed down on the sparrow’s head beneath her foot, haughty. “This piece of trash is barely worth that.”

Fu Yuqiu: “……”

Where had Fu Yuqiu ever endured such humiliation? He nearly burst with rage.

But struggle as he might, his bird head wouldn’t budge a hair’s breadth. He was so furious he nearly chirped out loud.

Nasty woman!

Yun Gui was about to speak when her sharp ears caught soft, measured footsteps.

Her dragon pupils contracted, and with speed unlike anything before, she shot toward the azure luan.

Qingxi arched a brow, wings half-spread—and Yun Gui’s transmission came: Don’t move!

Qingxi sensed no killing intent, and in that instant of distraction, Yun Gui’s hand clamped her throat and slammed her down into the ground.

BOOM—

Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor, racing outward.

Fu Yuqiu finally regained his freedom and scrambled helter-skelter toward Yun Shou.

Yun Shou’s temper was foul, sure, but at least he didn’t step on bird heads.

Watching the white sparrow flee in a panic, Qingxi’s beautiful limpid eyes seemed to freeze over. She glared viciously at Yun Gui.

“You—!”

Yun Gui knelt on one knee at her side, leaning down, long hair spilling forward to hide her expression.

From within came a low voice, nearly grinding through her teeth: “Has no one ever told you—to sheathe your wings when you come to the Nine Heavens?”

Qingxi: “What?”

Yun Gui’s fingers trembled, as if forcing out every word with all her strength: “Your wings… put them… away—if you don’t want to die.”

Qingxi’s brow knitted. Yun Gui seemed to fear something, but Qingxi didn’t dwell on it. Crisp and decisive, she assumed human form and slapped away the hand at her throat.

The Azure Luan Clan Master was indeed devastatingly, gently beautiful—but her bearing was sharp and proudly aloof. She rose with easy grace, brushing her long dark hair back over her shoulder with a flick of her hand.

Yun Gui held her single-kneeling posture and said respectfully, “Greetings, Venerable One.”

Qingxi froze and turned to look.

The Immortal Venerable had arrived at some point, standing on the steps with an amused smile, his white robes pooling over two or three jade steps behind him like the gorgeous plumes of some divine bird.

Yun Shou hurried over, scooped up Fu Yuqiu, and bowed as well.

Qingxi knelt on one knee, sword in hand—a picture of dashing ferocity.

“Qingxi, of the Azure Luan Clan, greets the Venerable One.”

“So you are Qingxi.” The Immortal Venerable smiled. “I have yet to congratulate you on inheriting the Azure Luan Clan Master’s seat.”

“The Venerable One needn’t trouble himself over me.” Qingxi had no patience for pleasantries and spoke plainly. “The Shadow Vine Fruit you seek—I will mobilize my entire clan to retrieve it for you. I ask only one boon in return.”

The Immortal Venerable lifted a hand, and the sparrow in Yun Shou’s palm dropped instantly into his own.

Fu Yuqiu, thoroughly stomped, feathers in complete disarray, shot Qingxi a furious glare and preened himself angrily, beak jabbing.

Dear siblings, was it?

Dear siblings who try to kill each other?!

At the sight of him, Qingxi’s brow knotted tight, her tone growing anxious.

“I beg the Venerable One to grant this.”

The Immortal Venerable looked in high spirits, smiling as he stroked the sparrow. “I entrusted the Shadow Vine Fruit to Xingyun alone to search for. How is it, then, that every member of the Three Clans knows of it now?”

That was a rebuke—accusing Qingxi of deliberately meddling in the Nine Heavens’ affairs.

At those words, Yun Gui’s heart rose into her throat.

But Qingxi was bold. She answered bluntly: “What of it if all know? Doesn’t the Immortal Venerable want results? What does it matter who finds it?”

The Immortal Venerable regarded her steadily, his pressure crushing and heavy.

Yet Qingxi’s slight frame seemed to feel none of it at all, standing firm, expression unchanged.

The Immortal Venerable studied her for a good while—then suddenly burst out laughing.

“You’re interesting,” the Immortal Venerable said. “Had I chosen you as the Azure Luan Junior Venerable back then, I suspect the succession to the seat of Immortal Venerable would be settled by now.”