Chapter 34: Growing Old and Returning Together
It was now midnight, and Luoxing City was completely silent.
Looking at the familiar houses and rice paddies, Qi Xiao was filled with emotion. He was back in Luoxing City again. But last time, he had been here with a troop of men on official business, and this time, he was here with his wifey on a date.
In his past life, the world he lived in was full of noise even in the middle of the night, Qi Xiao thought. Department stores stayed open, bars were lively and bustling, and cars drove on the roads. It was never quiet. He himself would often stay up late, playing games, writing novels, and writing smut… no, I mean, arthouse films. But after transmigrating to ancient times, he found that most people would extinguish their lights and rest on time. By midnight, the entire city would be dead silent.
Qi Xiao helped Fu Yunzhi off the horse. Holding the reins in one hand and Fu Yunzhi’s hand in the other, he said, “Most of the inns are probably closed at this hour. Why don’t we go out into the wild and find a nice, clean place with a good view to rest?”
Fu Yunzhi nodded.
Qi Xiao led him to the rice paddies at the edge of the city. Beside the paddies was a towering tree. It was the century-old tree of Luoxing City, and the people believed it brought them good luck.
He spread his cloak under the tree, patted it for Fu Yunzhi to sit down, and then went to gather firewood.
“Yunzhi, do you know the story of this tree?”
Fu Yunzhi sat on the cloak, leaning against the tree trunk. “I read about it in a book before. This tree is called ‘Gazing at the Immortal.’ Legend has it that a man once saved a woman from a tiger’s mouth near here, and the woman later married him out of gratitude. After they were married, they lived a harmonious and happy life.”
While lighting the fire, Qi Xiao continued the story, “But unfortunately, later on, the heavenly court sent celestial soldiers to take the woman away. It turned out she was a celestial fairy who had secretly come down to the mortal world to play. The two were separated by a whole heaven and could never see each other again. The man was heartbroken and, after he died, he transformed into a tree, growing taller and taller, perhaps hoping that one day he would grow tall enough to see the heavenly court and his wife.”
Fu Yunzhi shook his head. “That’s nonsense. This story was probably just made up by people.”
After lighting the fire, Qi Xiao sat down beside him and smiled. “Maybe it was made up, but isn’t it a beautiful and tragic story?”
Fu Yunzhi lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, he said softly, “If I die in the future and go to the underworld, will you also transform into a tree, with your roots growing down to the realm of the dead?”
“…”
Suppressing the sourness in his heart, Qi Xiao smiled. “This Gu poison isn’t completely incurable. Cult Leader Mu is also trying to find a way. Maybe there will be a turn for the better?”
“Will you? Will you transform into a tree?”
Fu Yunzhi stared at him intently.
“…”
After a long time, Qi Xiao reached out and pulled him into his arms. “I won’t transform into a tree. What’s the use of that? I’ll go to the underworld to find you.”
Fu Yunzhi leaned against his shoulder, thinking, Of course.
“Qi Xiao,” he said, “don’t come looking for me after I die. I won’t pay you any mind even if you do. If you do something foolish, I will ignore you for lifetimes to come, and I will hate you and resent you for lifetimes to come. Find someone to spend the rest of your life with, and be a great general who goes down in history alongside the Emperor.”
In the future, Rong Feijun’s name will surely be in the history books, he thought, a king who unified the world, a benevolent and wise ruler. And Qi Xiao’s name will appear beside his, a valiant and loyal great general.
But my name will not be beside theirs.
Qi Xiao closed his eyes, as if suppressing something. “The Emperor will have a good person to accompany him in the future. But if you’re gone, what rest of my life is there to speak of? Yunzhi, rather than leaving me alone in this world, why don’t we go together, hand in hand? Let me take the master Gu, and we…”
Before he could finish, Fu Yunzhi cut him off forcefully. “You are absolutely not allowed to take the Gu. That is my bottom line! Qi Xiao, I’m begging you, don’t do it.”
Qi Xiao held him, feeling the warmth of the person in his arms, thinking, If I take the master Gu, Fu Yunzhi won’t necessarily find out.
Rather than one dying early and the other living a long life, separated by life and death, it would be better for both of us to live on borrowed time for a while longer and then go to the west together. Fu Yunzhi was a selfish person, but so was he.
“Alright, let’s not talk about these sad things,” Qi Xiao smiled. “Look at the stars in the sky. The most beautiful starry sky in all of Langxuan is right here.”
“Luoxing City, falling stars…” Fu Yunzhi leaned against him, watching the twinkling stars. They were truly beautiful. The bright, shining stars not only adorned the monotonous night sky but also made the entire city much brighter.
“My Gu was implanted when I went with my older brother to the southwest to fight the Miao rebels.” After a pause, he continued, “At that time, the Miao princess took a liking to me and wanted to marry me. She said that if I was willing to marry her, she would reveal the Miao people’s defensive layout and battle strategies to us. For the sake of the greater good, I pretended to agree.”
“One day, the princess sent a letter to the military camp with a secret code that only we could understand, asking me to meet her privately at a certain place. She said she wanted to marry me by worshiping the sacred tree and would also give me the intelligence Langxuan needed. I didn’t trust her, so I had my brother and a troop of men follow me in secret.”
“And the princess was indeed not sincere. She also brought a troop of men to capture me, both to marry me and to use me as a hostage. So, the two sides started fighting. That was our first time fighting the Miao people head-on. We were not only defeated miserably by their Gu poison and medicinal powders, which we had never seen before, but even…”
Even Fu Yunfei lost his life. After that battle, the only survivor was Fu Yunzhi.
Qi Xiao kissed his forehead. “It wasn’t your fault. Swords have no eyes on the battlefield, and besides, the Miao people used special combat methods.”
“My brother was a great general. How could he be killed by Gu poison?” Fu Yunzhi said. “At that time, the two sides were fighting fiercely, and I, who knew no martial arts, was a living target. My brother died protecting me. But even so, I was still implanted with the Flower Moon Gu. The princess was the one who did it, but she was killed in a later battle. But even if she were still alive, I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her.”
“In the month after I returned to the capital, I dreamed of my brother and the scene from that day every night… He hugged me from behind, took a poisoned arrow in his back, and facing the swarming Miao people, he pushed me to his lieutenant and then was cut down by them, one slash after another, without any strength to fight back…”
Qi Xiao gently patted his back, offering silent comfort.
“Qi Xiao, my brother died because of me. If you also… I… I would go mad. My life is not your life.”
Qi Xiao sighed. “Your life is not my life, but your heart is my heart. Don’t talk about who dies for whom. We are already one. There is no you or me.”
“But you can’t…”
“Alright, alright, I promise you, I won’t take the Gu.” Qi Xiao sighed silently in his heart, feeling lost for a moment.
But he truly didn’t want to lose Fu Yunzhi.
The two of them held each other tightly and fell asleep. The silent night, the most beautiful starry sky, a gentle breeze, and flickering fireflies. The scenery was beautiful, and the person was good. The two of them only wished that this moment could last forever. If they could live to be a hundred, growing old together, how wonderful that would be.
In the vast desert, any powerful human seemed as insignificant as an ant. The Shahan people were a formidable tribe, but they were never arrogant in the face of the desert and had always revered it. Even Wulanbaer would not underestimate its power.
The whistling sound grew more and more distinct, and the wind grew stronger, blowing Rong Feijun’s headscarf off. He held it down and, seeing the sand beneath his feet rolling and forming wave-like patterns in the wind, he asked, “A sandstorm?”
Wulanbaer nodded and then shouted loudly, “Prepare! A sandstorm is coming!”
Everyone immediately had their horses stop and sit down, and they wrapped their faces well.
“This sandstorm won’t last long, and it’s not very severe,” Wulanbaer said. “We just have to endure it, and it will pass.”
It was Rong Feijun’s first time in the desert and his first time seeing a sandstorm. The sky was a chaotic mess, as if covered by a thick cloth. The fierce wind whipped up sand and pebbles, and sand dunes several feet high rolled towards them, one after another.
The wind, carrying fine sand, beat against everyone. They all gripped their saddles tightly. Rong Feijun squinted his eyes, unable to see his surroundings clearly at all.
After the rumbling sound dissipated, there was only the whistling of the wind and sand. Now, not only could they not see clearly, but their ears were also ringing. Most of them had covered their entire faces with their headscarves. Otherwise, it would be too unbearable. But the skin exposed to the air was still stung by the knife-like wind.
No one dared to open their mouths, because it felt like sand would drill into every orifice of their bodies.
The wind raged. Rong Feijun felt a little dizzy, and the pain in his arm gradually spread to his whole body. But this pain was not a heart-wrenching pain, but a tingling, itching pain that was very uncomfortable.
Dizzy, nauseous, and in pain, Rong Feijun frowned and leaned over his horse, his hands clenched into tight fists. In the sandstorm, everyone’s vision was poor, so he wasn’t afraid of anyone seeing his weak state.
However, what he didn’t expect was that Wulanbaer, because he was well aware of the poison in his body, had been watching him closely. Wulanbaer was born in the desert and had lived with it since he was a child, even trying to conquer it, so he was not as unaccustomed to it as the people of Langxuan.
Wulanbaer came up behind him and sat on the same horse.
Rong Feijun felt something behind him, blocking the wind and sand, and then a cloak was draped over him. The cloak was very large, covering his entire body and slightly muffling the whistling sound. His vision instantly plunged into darkness, but without the assault of the wind and sand, he felt much better.
The cloak covering him was furry. He recognized it as Wulanbaer’s tiger skin… outer robe?
He had been wondering why the cloak was so large. It turned out to be Wulanbaer’s outer robe!
If he gave his outer robe to me, isn’t his own upper body exposed to the fierce wind and sand?
Rong Feijun reached out to take off the robe, but someone pressed down on his hand, stopping him.
“Keep it on.”
In the wind, someone said.
