Chapter 63

Cheng Nuo was overjoyed. He took a deep breath, quickly transferred wood energy, hid his breath in the mountains and forests, and ran forward desperately. When Bai Rui trained them, he was the fifth of the seven people to be found. He had been doing well in hiding.

Only when all his strength was exhausted did he support himself on a tree and stop, gasping for air and looking back. Behind everything was green and there was nothing unusual.

Just when he was a little relieved, a gust of wind suddenly fell from above. He looked up in shock. His shoulder had been caught by two sharp claws. The two claws were sharp and powerful, like the tip of a steel blade sinking deep into his flesh. He grunted lightly in pain, and his whole body was carried into the air against his will.

Bai Mu wore simple white clothes and sat on the back of the magical beast. He said coldly, “I said, don’t play any tricks, it won’t be so simple next time.” He waved his hand and the magical beast continued to move fast.

The blood stained his clothes, and there was also a gust of wind on his face. Cheng Nuo was dizzy with pain and gritted his teeth to endure it. If this magical beast followed him, it would be impossible not to hear such a loud movement… And Bai Rui was so keen but he hadn’t sensed that these two people were following nearby before, so this Bai Mu must have the ability to hide.

He stopped struggling, because the more he struggled, the tighter the monster grasped. He could only keep using wood-based energy to heal on his own, and then he fell asleep unknowingly amid his pain.

When he woke up, he found that he was on the back of the beast again. He barely stopped the blood and bandaged it, then took some dry food from the storage bag without saying a word and ate it. No matter what tricks Bai Mu wanted to play, he had to heal his injury quickly.

Since then, it had been like this for more than ten days. Bai Mu seldom stopped except for his routine bath. On the way, Bai Mu usually sat upright in front, while Cheng Nuo sat facing back. He didn’t want to see Bai Mu, lest he could not help but think of Bai Rui. The two brothers were really a little similar.

Now he didn’t know what was the right thing to do. If Bai Mu used him to coerce Bai Rui into doing something he didn’t want, he’d rather die. He owed Bai Rui too much. However, in any case, he couldn’t give up Liu Guang… Cheng Nuo felt that he was going crazy.

He was upset, but he had nothing to do except to recover from his injuries. He could only look at the close sky with empty eyes. Sometimes when he got irritated, he just quietly plucked the feathers off the magical beast’s back to vent his anger. Over time, its back had bald patches.

The further north it went, the colder it got. According to the speed of this magical beast, Cheng Nuo felt that they were at least thousands of miles away from Liaoji City. There was no winter in Liaoji City, and Cheng Nuo didn’t bring winter clothes with him. He had to put a few pieces of single clothes from his storage bag on his body layer by layer, and he kept circulating elemental energy in his body to resist, but he was still cold and only shivered.

On this day, the magical beast suddenly rushed into a dense fog, and a bone-chilling cold wind and countless fine needle-like ice edges also hit his face, making his face painful. Cheng Nuo subconsciously closed his eyes and leaned over, grasping the feathers of the beast with all his strength, so as not to be blown away boneless by the strong wind.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when the sound of the wind in my ears suddenly stopped and the surrounding area became silent. Cheng Nuo opened his eyes in astonishment and an endless world of ice and snow appeared in front of him.

Countless moving snow-capped mountains quickly passed under him, and the air was crisp and cold. Cheng Nuo hugged his knees and shrunk into a ball, and a thought suddenly appeared in his heart – could it be that this is where Bai Rui grew up? When Bai Rui restrained Bai Zhi, he seemed to say something about letting him go back to Snow City…

He couldn’t help but turn his head and stretch out his neck to look ahead, and vaguely saw a palace carved from ice and snow on the high mountain in front of him. The style was somewhat similar to that of an ancient castle in Western Europe.

The mountain seemed close, but it was actually far away*. In fact, the magical beast flew for another day to reach it. Cheng Nuo huddled up and couldn’t stop rubbing his hands, almost freezing into a statue. He was sure that the temperature here is at least ten degrees below zero!

(* 看山跑死马: this line made no sense to me but looking around on baidu, apparently, it references a saying found in Journey to the West and The Five Younger Gallants. A translation of Journey to the West I found online translated it as ‘’The mountain may be in view, but your horse will collapse before you get there”. I couldn’t find a way to weave something similar to that into the paragraph, so I just left it as its meaning.)

The magical beast retracted its wings and landed. Several guards came up bowed down shouting, “Eldest young master.”

Bai Mu jumped down, turned his face, and glanced at Cheng Nuo coldly and said, “Come down.”

Cheng Nuo jumped down with a shiver. His hands and feet were frozen for a long time, and he almost fell to the ground after stumbling. He quickly stabilized his body, followed Bai Mu without a word, and looked around secretly.

There were very few people on the road, and everyone had solemn and dignified expressions on their faces, which made this ice-like white castle seem lifeless.

Bai Mu finally stopped at a palace and Cheng Nuo shrank his neck and followed him in. The construction of this palace looked very magnificent from the outside, but inside it was cold and simple as a cold kiln. The huge palace was actually empty, and the furniture was very simple.

Cheng Nuo secretly complained in his heart, the appearance seems rich and handsome, but that life may not necessarily be more comfortable than ordinary people’s lives ah!

“You stay at Bai Rui’s residence first.” Bai Mu’s voice said without emotion, “There are still fourteen days left. If he can’t make it, you’ll be fed to the ice snake.” He beckoned and two handsome females dressed as servants appeared from nowhere, and they all walked forward and saluted.

Bai Mu said coldly: “Take care of the young Lord’sguests.”

Cheng Nuo was very surprised. This was actually Bai Rui’s residence? The young Lord refers to… Bai Rui? He wanted to go up and ask a few questions, but Bai Mu had already disappeared. This development was indeed unexpected to him, he thought he would be locked in a cell.

The two females saluted him and reported their names, one named Yu Yue and the other named Su Rong. Their expressions were respectful and solemn.

Cheng Nuo was not polite. This palace was not the slightest bit warmer than the outside, and he was so cold that he could hardly feel his lips! He lips trembled and he said, “I want clothes, hot soup, and it would be better if I could take a hot bath.”

The two quickly retreated and within a moment, the hot soup was delivered first. Yu Yue said, “The water will be ready soon, please wait a moment.”

Now that there was nothing to be afraid of, Cheng Nuo picked up the bowl of soup and drank it. The soup was filled with several expensive spiritual herbs, and after drinking it, a warm feeling slowly steamed from his stomach to his numb limbs, and his blue and white cheeks gained some color.

He followed Yu Yue to the back hall and was really stunned. The bathtub was beautifully built, there were several animal heads spraying hot water inward, in sharp contrast to the cold appearance of the outer hall. It seems that the Bai family’s hobby is bathing…

Yu Yue came over to change his clothes. Cheng Nuo stretched out his hand to block and said, “I’ll be fine myself. Please step back.”

Yu Yue didn’t insist either. He bowed a salute, then stepped back behind the screen and waited.

Cheng Nuo untied his clothes and jumped down. The warm water made him squint comfortably, but the doubts in his heart grew.

What kind of young Lord was Bai Rui? He hadn’t returned for so many years, but the palace was still very clean and seemingly unneglected. But Bai Zhi wanted to kill Bai Rui that time, and Bai Rui obviously changed his name and appearance when he entered Lingyun Pavilion… In any case, Bai Rui chose not to stay here. There must be his own reason.

When he met Bai Rui, he was only about ten years old. According to Liu Guang, Bai Rui had lived in the slums for more than a year. In other words, Bai Rui had already run away from home when he was about eight years old? How on earth did such a young child walk all the way from the snow-capped mountains thousands of miles away to Liaoji City?

Cheng Nuo was so dazed that he seemed to be able to see Bai Rui’s small figure climbing over the mountains back then.

“Excuse me,” Yu Yue said suddenly, “the young Lord, is he okay?”

The tone of his voice rose slightly, obviously a little excited.

Cheng Nuo froze and said in a deep voice: “He is fine, but, may I ask, since Bai Rui is the young Lord, why should he wander outside?”

“No comment on that.” Yu Yue’s voice had calmed down, appearing respectful and detached, “but don’t worry, before the young Lord returns, the slave servants will naturally serve the distinguished guest.”

Cheng Nuo grinded his teeth. He, the “distinguished guest”, is also a prisoner with a higher treatment, right?

Somehow, he felt uncomfortable in his heart. These two females were 17 or 18 years old, could it be that they were the ones who served Bai Rui back then?

After soaking for more than half an hour to make sure that the coldness in his body had been eliminated, Cheng Nuo got up and walked out, quickly drying his body with the large bath towel hanging on the screen and began to put on his clothes again.

The tunic was made of high-grade magical beast skin, pure white, with a high collar, but quite thick. The corners of Cheng Nuo’s mouth twitched, and he slowly put it on. He felt that he was really not suitable for this snow-white look, but when he looked at the bronze mirror, it was okay.

Yu Yue took him to the bedchamber outside. Su Rong had apparently refurbished the bedchamber, with some more stylized furniture and a thick quilt on the bed.

Cheng Nuo asked them to retreat and slowly walked towards the window. The outside was an endless white, and the sunlight reflected a little gold, which dazzled people’s eyes, but they didn’t feel the slightest warmth.

He stared blankly for a while. His eyes were sore, so he took his gaze back and observed the bedroom carefully. Suddenly, he felt a little melancholy in his heart. This is the place where Bai Rui once lived…

The whole bedroom was very cold. At night, Cheng Nuo extinguished the lighting device and climbed into bed early.

Although the bedding was very thick, the cold air still came through, freezing him and making him shrink into a ball. However, thinking that Bai Rui had also slept in this bed, his heart was steaming with a strange feeling.

Later, he dreamt of Bai Rui in a daze. Bai Rui once again showed the sad and shocked eyes from that day, and then walked away without looking back. His heart ached and the words “don’t go” choking up his throat almost came out.

But Liu Guang stood by his side, saying in a sad tone, “Cheng Nuo, you only like me, okay?”

If only I could split into two…

He vaguely had this thought, and then found himself really becoming two, one accompanying Liu Guang, and the other going after Bai Rui…

When he woke up from his dream, Cheng Nuo momentarily didn’t know where he was. He looked up blankly at the top of the bed curtain for a long time, revealing a bitter smile. How could people be divided into two ah?

When he noticed the person standing at the head of the bed, he was startled and quickly gathered elemental energy in his eyes. It turned out to be Yu Yue.

Yu Yue turned on the lighting magical device, bowed expressionlessly and said, “Tonight this slave servant will serve the distinguished guest in bed.”

He only wore an inner garment similar to a bathrobe. When he pulled the belt with his hand, he showed his solid chest and slender thighs. Then he knelt on the bed and tilted his hips towards Cheng Nuo’s surprised expression.

Cheng Nuo’s face was full of black lines. Why were men always climbing on his bed in this world ah? Bai Mu’s hospitality was really fucking grand ah!

He quickly sat up and explained as naturally as possible, “No need for you to serve me, back off.”

Yu Yue was obviously not as easy to deal with as Ning Zi. He lowered his head and said in a calm tone: “If the distinguished guest doesn’t do it, I’m afraid that the life of this slave will not be preserved.”

Seeing that he had no intention of getting up, Cheng Nuo had to wrap the quilt around him and said, “then you stay here first and leave early tomorrow morning.”

Yu Yue was stunned and said, “This slave is a virgin and there is a shougongsha in his arm.”

Cheng Nuo almost spit out a mouthful of Dantian blood. He really hadn’t heard that the females in this world still had the shougongsha* theory.

(* 守宫砂: I tried looking around to see if this term had an English equivalent or standardization but apparently it doesn’t… it’s basically a virginity mark used in ancient China.)

He took a deep breath and said helplessly, “I’m a female.” Female, your sister ah!