Translated by: Niladri

Self-edited

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After the Han woman was placed on the bamboo bed in the suspended building*, Lu Heng waved his hand, and the Miao men retreated. This Han woman was worthy of being the one who had enchanted the original owner before. Even though she was sleeping on the bamboo bed with pale face and ashen lips, anyone could tell she was a beauty.

T/N: A portion of a building that is protruding out of the main structure-  supported by pillars or bamboo. The suspended portion can also be above a water body. Google 吊脚楼

Lu Heng went ahead and noticed that although the woman’s dress was a complete mess, there were no visible wounds. He took the pulse of the other person and then pricked her fingertip to let out a drop of blood.

Lu Heng examined the smell of the blood and knew that the woman was poisoned by the ghost face spider. There were  countless precious herbs in the jungle of Miao. There would always be Han people who would arbitrarily move around in the border area. They would hope to find one or two valuable herbs without disturbing Miao people. However, these reckless people often fell victim to the venoms of various types of poisonous insects before they could find the herbs.

This woman was lucky enough to meet their Niu who went out to hunt. Miao people always carried insect repellents and antidotes on their person. Although the antidote wasn’t potent enough to remove the toxicity of ghost faced spiders, they could still preserve one’s life.

Lu Heng must save the woman’s life in front of him. Of course, it’s not because of how beautiful the woman was, since Lu Heng’s appearance was better than that of the other person.

Wait, what the heck am I thinking? Female attire is so dangerous for a man. Lu Heng quickly pulled back his thoughts.

From the previous several missions, Lu Heng had learnt quite a few things. The reason why the client died so heavily* was more or less related to a child of fate. And the key to victory for each task will generally appear around the child of fate.

T/N: Same heavy as series title. Grandly and meaningfully.

Lu Heng took out a small porcelain bottle from the tie dye small cloth bag in his waist, opened the cork, and then put the Gu on the woman’s fingertips. After getting rid of the venom, Lu Heng put another pill into her mouth.

A moment later, the eyelashes of the Han woman on the bamboo bed, fluttered gently twice like a butterly flapping its wings, before finally opening her misty eyes.

“I, where am I?” The woman tried to sit up, but she was unable to do so and lied back.

“Phoenix village in Miao territory.” Lu Heng didn’t help either. After all, men and women should not be unnecessarily close to each other. “Just now, the venom of ghost face spider had almost entered your heart. Now, although the venom has been removed, you still need to rest for a few days before you can completely recover.”

“This girl is named Fang Qingwan, sister, did you save me?” Fang Qingwan saw that she was really unable to get up, so she smiled apologetically.

“No, it’s our Niu who saved you and brought you back to the village.”

“……” Fang Qingwan couldn’t adapt to Miao people’s straightforward way of speaking. “Did you detoxify me?”

Lu Heng nodded, “I simply woke you up because I had something to ask you. What are you doing in  Miao territory? ”

Fang Qingwan saw that the Miao woman in front of her was totally different from the women she saw in the Central Plains. She was extremely beautiful, but her momentum was fiercer than most men.  When these words fell out of her mouth, Fang Qingwan was unable to resist: “I am here to find a certain medicine. I’m a disciple of Taichu sect. Because my senior martial brother suffered internal injury due to a mistake in practising martial arts a few days ago, he has not been able to recover. After that, he had been examined by a miracle doctor. However, the medicine to save him can only be found in the Miao territory. ”

Fang Qingwan raised her eyes and furtively glanced at Lu Heng. Seeing no change in Lu Heng’s expression, she mustered the courage to continue saying, “I am worried about the injury of my senior martial brother, so I broke into the Miao territory without permission. Please forgive me.”

The Taichu sect? Lu Heng had a bad premonition: “what’s your senior martial brother’s name?”

Fang Qingwan thought for a moment, and thought that since senior martial brother was famous all over the world, there was no need to hide- “Duan Feiqing.”

Immediately after she finished speaking, Fang Qingwan felt that she shouldn’t have said it, because the other person frowned as soon as she heard the name, and she was even more frightened by the atmosphere that surrounded her.

Lu Heng couldn’t bother to care about Fang Qingwan’s thoughts. Duan feiqing? A stallion* Brother? Lu Heng’s mood was very complicated. Although he knew that Duan Feiqing was a free-spirited person, him being that kind of stallion was impossible. Just thinking of those seven beauties such as flower beauty and so on, caused his heart to give birth to a kind of subtle uncomfortable feeling.

T/N: Stallion as in a man with multiple simultaneous partners. In original plot, the woman’s master (?) was a man who ended up with 7 beauties.

Lu Heng thought about it, but then smiled gently: “Duan Feiqing and I are old friends. We were supposed to travel to the Central Plains. When you have recovered, I shall go with you to have a look.”

Fang Qingwan was not sure whether to believe the Miao woman. That’s because she thought that the woman’s fierce appearance didn’t seem like wanting to meet an old acquaintance, but rather like a feud. Is this some spurned lover  abandoned by her senior martial brother in Miao territory? Such a ridiculous idea came to her mind.

On Qingyang mountain, Taichu sect.

“Senior martial brother, I have news from younger martial sister.” A young man dressed in a blue and white disciple’s uniform strode forward enthusiastically. It’s just that after Wen Jianfeng saw the person in front of him, he subconsciously lowered his voice and put a stopper in his bubbling excitement. He always felt that while facing this elder martial brother, any trace of impulsiveness would be an insult to this person’s demeanor.

“Well?” Duan Feiqing turned around and nodded a little, “Our junior martial sister seems to be safe.”

“I just received a letter from flying pigeon saying that junior  martial sister has entered the border of Qingyang County and should be able to return to the sect in two days. But the messenger said that the junior martial sister was not alone. There was a Miao woman accompanying her. It seems that junior martial sister was calling her ‘Gouma’*…”

T/N: In case anyone forgot, Gouma was LH’s original body’s name

This disciple named Sang Jing* unexpectedly, before he could finish speaking, saw a scene that almost made him drop his jaw. The eldest senior martial brother of their school, Duan Feiqing, who was always gentle and polite, whose actions didn’t have the tiniest flaw, suddenly stumbled over the grass on the ground.

T/N: I am assuming there are at least 2 disciples in the room with DF

“What did you say?”

“Junior sister has arrived…”

“Not that, the last sentence.”

Senior martial brother even rudely interrupted his words.  Sang Jing always used to think that even if the world collapsed, something like this would never happen. He was so frightened that he could only act instinctively: “junior martial sister called her ‘Gouma’.”

When Sang  Jing came back to his senses, the other person was nowhere to be seen.

Qingyang County.

Two beautiful women were walking in the street in their horses, but one of them was dressed as a Miao person, and carried herself with great momentum. Passers-by all knew that it wasn’t a good idea to offend a Miao woman. Even if the two women were attractive, no one dared to look at them for long.

“Sister Gouma, we can get to the foot of Qingyang mountain in less than a day after we leave Qingyang County. It’s just that it’s getting late. Shall we find an inn in the county for a rest? ” Fang Qingwan turned to ask for Lu Heng’s opinion.

Lu Heng nodded. Before listening to Fang Qingwan’s description, he knew that Duan Feiqing’s internal injury should be related to the cultivation of the <<mind Sutra of demons>>. He guessed that some side effect may have broken out. It’s not too urgent and there’s no need to travel day and night.

They settled down in the biggest inn in the county and asked for two rooms to freshen up. Lu Heng and Fang Qingwan ordered several dishes downstairs. They were going to take a rest after having dinner.

The dishes had just been served when Fang Qingwan saw a familiar cloud patterns on white background robe appear in front of the inn door. She was very happy and stood up. Unexpectedly, her eldest senior martial brother rushed to the other person at the table as if he hadn’t seen her.

Lu Heng sat with his back to the door. Fang Qingwan suddenly stood up before he could notice him and shouted at the door, “senior martial brother!”

Duan Feiqing?

Lu Heng had barely stood up and turned around, he saw that the man had come to him, as if he wanted to embrace him, but he just gazed at him and stopped one foot away.

“My dear Heng.” Thousands of words galloped across his mind, but finally coalesced into a few words. Duan Feiqing’s face broke into a smile, “you have come.”

Lu Heng also replied with a smile: “well, I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

Then they went silent at the same time.

“Senior martial brother, are you really old friends with sister Gouma?” Fang Qingwan’s voice broke the strange atmosphere.

“Junior martial sister.” Duan Feiqing seemed to realize that another person was there, and nodded towards Fang Qingwan.

Although Duan Feiqing have been wishing to speak with Lu Heng for several years, with this Fang Qingwan beside them, it was not a good time to talk.

Fang Qingwan has always had some admiration for this gentle senior martial brother. Towards her beloved, the woman always subconsciously paid attention to everything of the other person and always found something that others didn’t notice. Fang Qingwan has long realized that her senior martial brother always treated people with politeness and courtesy. No one could find anything wrong while interacting with him. Its just that, this senior martial brother always had a gentle smile like spring breeze, but he had set up a boundary* around himself. No one could enter that boundary.

T/N: Boundary as in around his heart. Not meant literally.

Fang Qingwan had always thought so. She didn’t think there’s anything wrong with this. An excellent and impeccable person like the senior martial brother will probably make anyone feel distant. Until she saw the following scene.

“Ah Heng, try this.” Duan Feiqing scooped a portion of a dish in his chopsticks and put it into Lu Heng’s bowl. “You like spicy food. This must suit your taste.”

Senior martial brother is so clean. He would never offer dishes for others.

“Ah Heng, this bamboo leaf green wine is strong. You are picky about drinks but just try it.” Duan Feiqing passed the flask into Lu Heng’s hand.

Senior martial brother has a good etiquette. He would never say an extra word while eating.

“Ah Heng, you have worked hard travelling all this way.” Duan Feiqing arranged Lu Heng’s hair behind his ears.

Senior martial brother strictly abides by the distance between men and women and never gets too close to women.

Fang Qingwan finally finished her dinner, which tasted bitter in her mouth. Later, Duan Feiqing asked for a room, and the three settled down in the inn.

Lu Heng sat in the room for a moment. Looking back on Duan Feiqing, he still felt something amiss.  According to Duan Feiqing’s personality, even if they haven’t seen each other for a long time, he will not be so straightforward in front of others. It seems that the <<mind Sutra of demons>> had some influence on him that day.

Thinking of this, Lu Heng could no longer sit still. He got up and opened the door to find Duan Feiqing next door.

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