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Chapter 12: The Wind Blows and Chrysanthemum and Balls Go Cold, Nowhere is Good

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What Gu Yunjue saw the moment he opened his eyes was a Cold Fragrant Flower tree that he was unable to see in its entirety. Beneath the parasol-shaped treetop, there were strips of pink flower bud branches fluttering freely into the air. With their arrival, the myriad of flower buds bloomed. The fresh elegant scent of the flowers became more concentrated. A short while later, countless insects, birds, and butterflies began to take off. They hovered within the forest, flying and dancing as they hovered. The entire scene seemed to depict something out of a fantasy.  

The corners of Mu Chen’s mouth rose upwards. He stroked Gu Yunjue’s head and gently said, “They like you, Yun’er. Are you happy?”

Gu Yunjue watched the scene in front of him with amazement. Flowers and plants have spirits and they appeared to be welcoming him. Gu Yunjue knew that the person they were blooming for was the person that their fate was with and also the man who planted them, which was his Master.

Mu Chen believed that Gu Yunjue was a child and that he should like it if other people approved of him. This was why he weaved a dream-like lie together. Gu Yunjue raised his head. He looked at Mu Chen’s gentle face and smiled. “I like it. I like it a lot.” His little Master not only attracted animals near to him, but he also had flowers bloom for him. He wanted to protect his Master well through fortune and disaster because of his Master’s pure-white soul.

Mu Chen’s taut shoulders finally relaxed from Gu Yunjue’s words. He then walked forward and planted the tiny branch that he was holding into the ground.

Gu Yunjue followed behind his Master and crouched by his side. “Does Master like this kind of flower?”

Mu Chen nodded in response. Dan Yanzi, his Master, loved this type of flower. He would feel more at home in places where many of these Cold Fragrant Flowers were planted at. His mood was more peaceful near these flowers. Thus, Mu Chen would plant a branch of these flowers every single day after the ascension of his Master. Some lived while others died. He didn’t insist for them to live and instead, he let nature take its course. If Mu Chen ever felt restless, then he would come to this place to take a look. The matters that Yue Mingze had mentioned earlier undoubtedly made him a little bit unhappy.

Gu Yunjue smiled and he helped Mu Chen pull his sleeves up. He seriously said to Mu Chen, “Your disciple will plant Cold Fragrant Flowers in every place that Master likes, so that they will only bloom for Master.”

After hearing the strong words of his disciple, Mu Chen could feel his heart warming up. The Gu Yunjue currently was cute and warm like a small long furred animal. Mu Chen nodded his head in appreciation and heavily said, “Alright.” He knew that this was something that the average person could not accomplish. This was because this type of flower was unreasonable. Some of these flowers wouldn’t bloom even if a million years had passed. However, since his disciple had said that he would plant these flowers for his Master, then Mu Chen did not want to crack his disciple’s self-confidence.

Gu Yunjue beamed at Mu Chen. His Master would believe in him no matter what he said. The kind of wholehearted trust that Mu Chen put into him completely satisfied Gu Yunjue’s overbearing and flamboyant side.

Mu Chen looked at the satisfied appearance of his little disciple. He sighed inside his heart. It was probably because his disciple’s confidence had suffered many blows in his childhood that he grew up so twisted. A child this age still needed lots of praise.

After Mu Chen had finished planting the branch, he led Gu Yunjue to the depths of the forest. With a wave of his hand, he cut apart the tie that was keeping the boundary closed. A simple wooden cabin suddenly appeared in front of their eyes. The cabin wasn’t very large. It’s dimensions were only a couple square meters. They could see that the person who made the cabin wasn’t very skillful. The pieces of the cabin were scattered here and there. The cabin didn’t even have a window.

“Master, this is…?”

“This was made by your Grandmaster personally before he ascended. He told me that if I missed him one day, then I could come here to meditate.” A flash of remembrance went through Mu Chen’s eyes. However, his mouth said the opposite, “It’s too ugly!”

After pushing aside the wooden door that creaked with a simple touch, they noticed that the interior of the house was clean. It was also exceptionally simple and crude. This was because there was only a single praying mat inside. It looked like Dan Yanzhi really meant for Mu Chen to come and meditate here. There wasn’t even a chair.

With a gentle expression on his face, Mu Chen picked up a praying mat and patted some of the dust off of it. He then placed it back in its original spot before taking out a dust protection bead. He placed that bead on top of the mat.

Mu Chen remembered back then when he was going to Lofty Cloudy Sect for the first time, he was met with an accident along the way. By the time he made it, he had already missed the trial date. The doors to the sect was already closed and he couldn’t even go near them. At that time, he was at an impasse. Fortunately, he met his lost Master at the bottom of the mountain. His Master told him that his face was very inline with Yanyang Palace’s standards. Thus, his Master took him in. He had even chosen him as his Personal Succeeding Disciple. He taught him how to concoct pills. He made medicine for him and took care of him as if he was Mu Chen’s parent. Even before he was about to ascend, he was worried that Mu Chen would be bullied because his cultivation level was too low. Thus, he had refined countless pills for Mu Chen in case of an accident. Mu Chen didn’t know how his old Master was doing in the God Realm. It was because he did not have any future prospects that he was unable to ascend in a hundred years to go find his Master. He lost his life due to misfortune so Mu Chen was unable to go to his old Master to do his filial duty.

“Master.” Mu Chen’s reverie was broken by Gu Yunjue’s call. He lowered his head to see Gu Yunjue unhappily tugging on his sleeve. Mu Chen thought that it was probably because his disciple was tired of standing, so he raised his hands and prepared to carry him.

Mu Chen stooped down to pick Gu Yunjue up. He helplessly looked at his disciple’s short legs. Gu Yunjue ignored Mu Chen’s gaze and pointed at the plank above them. He curiously asked, ‘Master, did you place that bottle there?”

Mu Chen raised his head to discover a cyan jade-colored bottle stuck between the boards above them. Mu Chen’s expression was complicated as he looked at Gu Yunjue in his arms.

Mu Chen hadn’t been able to sense the cyan jade bottle even with his level of cultivation. How was a child like Gu Yunjue able to sense it when he had just started cultivating?

Gu Yunjue smiled at Mu Chen. Gu Yunjue had been probing him to find the bottom line to his Master’s kindness towards him. How would he act towards him if he were to sense all his disciple’s abnormalities one day?

Mu Chen directed his complicated gaze at Gu Yunjue. The atmosphere of the air turned colder and colder. It was cold to the point that Gu Yunjue’s could feel his mood slowly sinking down.

“Your Grandmaster’s IQ… was really like a five year old child at times.” Finally, Mu Chen’s mouth twitched, breaking all of Gu Yunjue’s worries with that line on his face.

Was Master saying that his Grandmaster and Gu Yunjue were the same? That they both had a five year old’s IQ so he was able to easily find where the other had hidden things? Was this despising his IQ or his Grandmaster’s IQ? Although Mu Chen’s reaction satisfied him, Gu Yunjue was angered to the point that he was to laugh from the reasoning. His Master had basically said that they were both stupid, so they both could easily find it. How could Gu Yunjue take this kind of a reason?

Mu Chen looked down at his disciple which he also thought of as similar to his Master for a moment. He then placed the bottle into his storage ring. Mu Chen took two chairs from within the small wooden cabin and sat for a moment on the chairs. He then took Gu Yunjue out of the cave behind the waterfall.

A black-colored furred duck was crouching in a tree. When it noticed Mu Chen leading a child out of the cave, it raised its wings and flapped a few times before quacking twice. With a few bangs, it fell to the ground. It flipped its body and swiftly stood up before shaking the grass off of its body. It coarsely crowed while it cursed and ran with it’s short legs over to them. “This father loves to eat children under the age of ten more than anything!”  

When Gu Yunjue saw the other’s swaying fat butt, he raised an eyebrow. Raising his head, he said to Mu Chen with a sincere expression on his face, “Master, I want to eat roasted duck.”

It was rare that his disciple would take the initiative to say that he wanted to eat something. Mu Chen felt very happy by this. “I will have some people make it for you when we get back.”

The mixed furry duck stopped running when it heard that exchange. It tilted its head and looked at Gu Yunjue.

The only thing that it saw was Gu Yunjue beaming at it before he continued to speak, “ I saw people cook roasted duck before. The process is very complicated. You first cut the duck’s neck and let the blood drain out. After that, you pump in air where you cut the duck’s neck, making sure that the air fills the body. The duck should then look like a ball, white and fat. After using a hook to hang the duck, you pour boiling water over the duck so that the air inside expands. You then use sweetened water and sprinkle that water on the duck twice after it’s been air-dried. Then you stick a wooden stick up its butt. At the place where you cut it, you pour water on it. Then, you place the duck in the hot oven and roast it until its body turns golden-yellow. Once it’s completely done, the flavor of it tastes great.”

Mu Chen could feel pain in his heart when he heard Gu Yunjue describe the process. He did not feel the pain over the duck’s death, but it was actually because of his little disciple. His little disciple was so young. Had he been sent to the kitchen to do odd jobs because he hadn’t been favored? Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so familiar with the cooking process. A scene of Gu Yunjue wearing course clothes made from hemp while rising a knife to kill chickens and fishes crossed Mu Chen’s mind. When the cold winter had come, Gu Yunjue’s small hand must have been frozen purple. If he didn’t do well, then he was unable to eat. Mu Chen was reminded of the nobleman who stayed clear of the kitchen.^[1] Mu Chen angrily thought that when he met Gu Yunjue’s dad in the future, he would viciously beat him up so that he would regret what he had done!

Mu Chen felt distressed as he picked Gu Yunjue up again and patted his back. He coaxed Gu Yunjue by saying, “We’ll do it the way you want it and make a whole table of duck. You can eat whatever way you want to!”

Gu Yunjue beamed as he held onto Mu Chen’s neck. He rubbed against him and pointed a finger at the fat duck that was running over. He serenely said, “That one’s really fat.”

The mixed furry duck felt as if he was in danger at that moment. Its heart turned cold. A murderous feeling hovered around the bird. The bird could especially feel it near it’s behind. A cold feeling went up its spine to the top of its head, causing the three pieces of golden fur to stand up on end. A cold wind blew and the bird’s chrysanthemum and balls went cold. Nowhere was good!  

After sensing that there was something fishy about Gu Yunjue, the mixed furry duck immediately turned on its tail and ran. The bird thought to itself as it ran, This was a demon! He must be a demon! Mu Chen was blind! Where had he gotten this child from?

Watching as the other ran far away, Gu Yunjue narrowed his eyes slightly. The three-legged crow had a pair of eyes that could completely see through someone’s soul. If it came near to him, it was likely that it would be able to detect that he was an adult man. The other bird should have already detected his abnormality. When he had some time again, he should make sure to stop by again.

When they arrived at Yanyang Palace, Jing Ming who had been beaten up by his brother was digging at the floor while crouched in a corner. The picture book that he had brought had been taken away by Jing Ting and it was turned to rubbish. Jing Ming was very dejected by this. Mu Chen watched as the half-grown white dog was unhappily crouching in the corner. Even his tail wasn’t wagging like normal.

“Jing Ming, come here.”

Jing Ming dispiritedly hung his head as he walked over. His footsteps were particularly slow as he made his way over.

Mu Chen expressionlessly rubbed Jing Ming’s head. With a cold face, he praised him. “You are more intelligent than Jing Ting.”

Jing Ming raised his head before he blinked, “Ao…. Palace Master! I just knew that you had good eyes!” In that moment, he was full of energy and his butt also shook.

Gu Yunjue held his laughter in. Whenever his little Master told lies, his appearance looked too adorable.

After Mu Chen had appeased the dispirited puppy, he called Gu Yunjue over to play with Jing Ming. He also ordered for the evening dinner to be duck. In fact, he had ordered a full table of duck.

Jing Ming happily and energetically led Gu Yunjue out, leaving Mu Chen behind within the boundary that he had set up. Mu Chen planned to check what Dan Yanzhi had left behind for him. The bottle was made of the most common porcelain. However, Mu Chen knew from the moment that he held it that it wasn’t a pill inside the bottle. He poured the item out of the bottle and discovered an ownerless storage ring.

What did the ring that Dan Yanzhi left back at that place hold?

Author’s Comment: Doing a small show of not bearing responsibility.

Gu Yunjue: “I will plant Cold Fragrant Flowers for you everywhere you go. I will only let them bloom for you. I will also support you in the most lavish palace. I will love you dearly as if you were a Princess.”

Mu Chen asked the people beside him: “What do you guys call him?”

A maid: “Little Palace Master (Little Princess).”

A dao child: “Little Palace Master (Little Princess).”

Jing Ming: “Our family’s Little Palace Master (Little Princess).”

Mu Chen→_→: ”Little Princess.”

Gu Yunjue: Go Die…. ^[2]

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Footnotes:

[1]The whole sentence is talking about a nobleman who has seen a living animal and can’t bear to see it die. Thus, he keeps it away from the kitchen. It’s the excuse/mentality where you are unable to kill someone but you don’t mind them dying.

[2]The author used the characters, 狗带 (Gou dai), meaning ‘dog and band’. It sounds like ‘go die’ in English. Also, earlier in the story, it was mentioned that Princess and Palace Master sound the same but used different characters. They are saying Palace Master, but in parentheses, it shows how it actually sounds.

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