Chapter 239: Evil Things

“Hey, hey, hey. Little Brother Zheng, Little Brother Zheng, your elder brother was only joking. Just joking.”

Zheng Fan remained unmoved.

Hero Chen drew his sword and placed it against his own neck, looking ready to cut his throat and commit suicide at any moment.

“Little Brother Zheng, this old man still has a supreme treasure on me. Since fate brought us together and you’ve already called me elder brother, then this old brother will give you a meeting gift.”

“Hero Chen, what are you doing? I was only joking with you. Why did you take it seriously?” Zheng Fan said.

“…”

Hero Chen.

Zheng Fan turned toward Yao Zizhan.

Yao Zizhan smiled.

“Little Brother Zheng, you really are down-to-earth.”

“A man is born with the soles of his feet on the ground. Of course he should be down-to-earth. Those people who look as though they don’t partake in the smoke and fire of the mortal world have merely floated too high. Sooner or later, they’ll fall back down.”

“Well said, Little Brother Zheng. It’s a pity there’s no wine here. Otherwise, we ought to drain a great cup together.”

“That’s easy enough.”

Zheng Fan stretched out a hand and shouted toward A’Ming, “Wine!”

A’Ming handed Zheng Fan his waterskin.

Zheng Fan passed it to Yao Zizhan.

“Drink deeply!”

“Ha! Excellent!”

Yao Zizhan struck a heroic pose, took the waterskin without hesitation, tilted his head back, and swallowed a large mouthful.

Then—

“BLAAARGH!”

A’Ming walked over and took the waterskin back.

Looking at Yao Zizhan, who was crouched on the ground vomiting violently, A’Ming frowned slightly.

Zheng Fan waved a hand toward A’Ming.

“Don’t panic. We’ll find a wild-savage settlement along the road later. I’ll let you go hunting again.”

A’Ming nodded.

Only then did he walk back.

Fortunately, not too much of the blood in the waterskin had been wasted. He could continue drinking it.

And at that very moment, Yao Zizhan—the great literary luminary of Qian, a sage in the hearts of scholars beneath Heaven, the dream lover of famous courtesans throughout the realm—was nearly vomiting bile, his face smeared with blood.

Only after a long while did Yao Zizhan recover.

He grabbed a real waterskin and began frantically rinsing his mouth.

“Little Brother Zheng, this old brother nearly lost half his life because of your prank.”

What he had just swallowed had been no wine.

The moment it entered his mouth, it was warm, sticky, and reeking strongly of blood.

“Don’t you Qian people always say we Yan people are barbarians who eat raw flesh and drink blood? Then drinking blood should suit me perfectly, shouldn’t it?”

“Little brother, little brother. What they say is what they say. This old brother has never said anything like that.

“In this old brother’s heart, the people of Yan have always held a special place.

“When I was young, I once traveled through Yan. I even visited Beifeng Commandery and lived in a hut with a northern woman for half a year. To this day, I still haven’t forgotten her.

“So to me, Yan truly has…”

“Let’s get back to the meeting gift.”

Zheng Fan genuinely had no interest in hearing about the romantic adventures of a great literary master.

He also fully believed that when Yao Zizhan was young, he had undoubtedly been a hot commodity among famous courtesans and brothel beauties, much like Liu Yong in another time and place.

“Sigh.”

Yao Zizhan reached into his sleeve and took out a small box.

The box was not large—roughly as wide as the kind of tiny ring box used in later generations, but very thin, so it could be easily tucked into a sleeve pocket.

“What is this?”

Jade?

Too flat and small.

Gold?

What use would such a tiny piece of gold be?

“No hurry. No hurry.”

Yao Zizhan carefully opened the box.

Inside lay something purple.

It looked like a folded piece of paper.

“This is a Talisman of Evil Warding. Master Zang gave it to this old man years ago. It specifically restrains evil entities. Carry this talisman, and wicked spirits will be unable to approach you.”

“Master Zang?”

Zheng Fan mulled over the name.

Then he remembered.

“Is he the Qi Refiner who once went to Yanjing and confronted His Majesty directly, threatening to sever Yan’s dragon vein?”

If Yao Zizhan was the leader of the literary world, then Master Zang was practically a “god” in the hearts of Qian’s Qi Refiners.

The Emperor of Qian treated him with the rites due a teacher.

There were even rumors that the current Emperor of Qian had been personally taught breathing and qi-nurturing methods by Master Zang from childhood.

After withdrawing from Qian following the war, Zheng Fan had heard about this matter while staying in Nanwang City.

It was said that Master Zang and Baili Jian had gone to Yanjing together.

Master Zang had threatened to sever Yan’s dragon vein in order to force the Emperor of Yan to cease hostilities.

Who would have expected Emperor Ji Runhao of Yan not to care in the slightest?

In the end, Master Zang actually tried to sever the dragon vein, suffered a terrible backlash, and his life or death remained unknown.

Perhaps hearing the faint mockery in Zheng Fan’s voice, Yao Zizhan shook his head.

“Some things you see are not necessarily true. Yet some things you only hear about are not necessarily entirely false either.”

“Master Yao, I’m not interested in trading riddles with you here.”

“This old man guarantees it with his character. Master Zang personally gave me this talisman years ago.

“I’ve carried it on me ever since.

“Not once have I encountered a fox immortal or ghostly enchantress.”

“That sounds rather regretful?” Zheng Fan said with a smile.

Yao Zizhan nodded.

“It truly is.”

As a scholar and not merely an ordinary scholar, but a scholar among scholars he had long since grown bored of brothel courtesans and rouge-scented beauty.

Once a man became bored with people, he naturally began wanting to try different flavors.

A romantic scholar accompanied by a fox immortal or ghostly enchantress—that was the sort of thing scholars and ordinary working folk alike loved to hear about over tea and after meals.

“I’m saying, there’s no fox immortal or ghost around here for me to test this thing on. Fine, fine. I’ll trust Master Yao’s character.”

Though judging from the fact that you just sold out Helian Xiongbi’s treasure vault to save your own life, you don’t seem to have much character.

But Zheng Fan was merely giving himself a convenient excuse.

He was not some utterly loyal minister of Yan.

So he was not especially sensitive to Yao Zizhan’s guess about the Emperor of Yan, nor did he possess any determination to silence the old man over it.

Besides, the old fellow was actually rather interesting.

“That’s more like it. Keep it safe. That thing is extremely valuable.”

“All right, all right. I understand.”

Zheng Fan reached out and took the little box containing the talisman.

He casually slipped it into an inner pocket of his clothing.

Then Zheng Fan looked toward Hero Chen, preparing to tell him to lower the sword from his neck.

But Yao Zizhan suddenly shouted, “Little Brother Zheng! Little Brother Zheng! It’s smoking!”

Hmm?

Smoking?

Zheng Fan lowered his head.

Smoke was actually seeping from the folds of his clothing.

Thin strands of white smoke curled outward, accompanied by a wave of scorching heat.

“Hiss!”

Zheng Fan immediately reached into his clothes and pulled out the box.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!”

The Demon Child’s scream of resentment exploded from deep within Zheng Fan’s heart.

“Fuck! Son, your father genuinely had no idea this talisman actually worked!”

Zheng Fan immediately threw the box away.

It happened to fly toward A’Ming.

A’Ming was holding his waterskin in his left hand and continuing to drink.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Master tossing something toward him.

He did not even see clearly what it was.

He simply reached out on instinct and caught it.

Then, continued drinking.

A moment later—

“Hm?”

A’Ming frowned and looked down.

His right palm was turning red.

What he held no longer felt like a little box.

It felt like he was gripping a soldering iron with his bare hand.

A’Ming abruptly stood and hurled the object toward Fan Li.

Fan Li stretched out a hand.

Compared with his palm, the little box looked about the same proportion as a tennis ball against a tennis racket.

After catching it, Fan Li curiously examined the thing for a moment.

Then—

“Hiss… hot, hot, hot!”

Fan Li flung it away.

Xue San looked puzzled.

“Master has the Demon Child beside him. A’Ming is Blood Clan. It makes sense that they’d be afraid of this thing.

“But why A’Li too?”

The falling box was caught by the Blind Man’s mental power and floated into his hand.

He calmly blew across it.

At the same time, he answered Xue San, “A’Li carries blood from another race. Demon race, barbarian race, something like that. It was part of his setting from very early on.

“It’s simply that A’Li hasn’t recovered enough strength yet for those traits to manifest.”

The “barbarian race” bloodline here was unrelated to the barbarians of this world.

It was closer to the concept of racial bloodlines in video games from later generations.

Still, although those traits had yet to manifest, Fan Li’s bloodline genuinely existed.

It was perfectly normal for the talisman to classify him as an evil entity.

“Oh, so that’s how it is.”

Xue San nodded thoughtfully.

Then he tilted his head toward the Blind Man.

“Blind Man, you seem to have forgotten something.”

“What? I don’t have any strange mixed bloodline.”

“Your fucking character setting is a soul borrowing a corpse to return to life!”

“…”

The Blind Man.

“Hiss!”

The Blind Man’s palm was burned as well.

With no other choice, he threw the box away again.

This time it flew directly toward Xue San.

Xue San was so frightened that he sprang straight up into a tree.

“Fuck you, Blind Man! You screwed up yourself and now you’re trying to drag me down too?”

“You’re only a dwarf.”

“Bullshit! In the earlier chapters I was constantly eating strange game and weird creatures. Heaven knows whether I still count as a pure human at this point!”

The little box finally landed on the ground.

It looked strangely lonely there.

Yao Zizhan, meanwhile, first looked at Zheng Fan.

Then at A’Ming.

Then toward the Blind Man.

Finally, he looked at Xue San, who had been frightened all the way up into the treetop.

He raised a hand and pinched his own cheek hard.

Then he looked at Zheng Fan in confusion.

“Little Brother Zheng… am I dreaming?”

Your entire household every damn one of you is an evil entity?

Heavens.

What kind of group have I gotten myself mixed up with?

Yao Zizhan was beginning to doubt his entire life.

Or perhaps to doubt the world itself.

He had spent his whole life without ever encountering a fox immortal or ghost.

Yet the day he finally decided to give away this talisman, he encountered an entire group of them at once!

“Hero Chen. Tell me I’m dreaming. Or tell me my eyes are playing tricks on me.”

Hero Chen was not particularly surprised.

After all, he had already witnessed the hidden trump card of Cuiliu Fort before.

That formidable expert had clearly died in battle, yet somehow continued existing in another form and had nearly killed Hero Chen.

Hero Chen was an honest man.

He answered directly, “No. You aren’t dreaming. This is real.”

“Bullshit! You brat have even learned to lie inside this old man’s dreams now!”

Zheng Fan stood, preparing to explain the situation to Yao Zizhan.

Who would have expected that movement itself to frighten the old man?

Yao Zizhan immediately sprang backward.

But when he landed, his foot twisted.

Thud!

He crashed to the ground.

Stars burst before his eyes.

His entire body trembled several times.

The fall had clearly hurt badly.

Just as Zheng Fan stepped forward to help him up, Yao Zizhan planted both hands on the ground, pushed himself upright, and raised his head.

Seeing Zheng Fan standing in front of him, he looked puzzled.

“Little Brother Zheng, why did this old brother fall asleep? I was just dreaming that you were…”

Zheng Fan bent at the waist and looked directly at Yao Zizhan.

He had originally been smiling.

Then he suddenly shouted, “GHOST!”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

[End of Chapter 239]