Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chapter 59-Lingxi Ancestor Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking,” Xia Ge went on, “Just like where there’s poisonous snakes, there’s plants around to make an antidote, I bet the demon-suppressing Zhen Hun is probably where there are many evil spirits.”

System: [Mmm……]

“Wherever there’s a ton of evil spirits……the mountain will be there?”  Xia Ge was now confusing herself, “Anyways, I think the clothes in the tomb painting, even if they weren’t the Zhen Hun, they’re somehow related.  I feel it.”

System: [……]

Eyeing the useless volumes in front of her, Xia Ge decided to call it quits for the moment.

Leaving Siguo Pavilion, the system spoke tentatively: [About The Clue From The Ancestor’s Tomb……]

Are you just going to drop it?

“Oh, I’m not giving up,” Xia Ge said, “I’ll be able to do more about it once I get my inner disciple jade pendant though.  Cause then I’ll be able to go to the inner disciple library.  It’s a decent-sized library, so hopefully I’ll be able to find more there than I did at Siguo Pavilion.”

Only, it was awfully suspicious.

Xia Ge glanced back at Siguo Pavilion.  Maybe Siguo Pavilion wasn’t the most important library, but not having a record of the Lingxi ancestor’s great deeds……they should be easily found in any Lingxi library……

Since when did sect ancestors try to avoid the public eye?

Forget it.  Xia Ge had another pressing matter to take care of.

Night was falling quickly and Xia Ge headed straight for Jianfeng.

When it came to Shoufeng and Danfeng, Xia Ge was well-acquainted with where all the bird nests, hawthorn trees, and persimmon trees were.  However, for Jianfeng, the only thing Xia Ge knew was where the gate was.

Which was a tad embarrassing.

And, although her gut wound wasn’t currently hurting, it might tear again if Xia Ge tried to use {ghost and shadow}.  Her Jianfeng excursion definitely wasn’t worth dying over.  Therefore her plan was to pass through the gate openly.  Finally, seeing as how she couldn’t find her green ribbon, Xia Ge took some black cord and tied it about her hair.

Jianfeng’s gate was similar to Danfeng’s.  But while Danfeng’s gate was painted a warm red, Jianfeng’s gate was a cold and cheerless blue, its pillars on either side shaped like great swords pointing up the sky.  How very arrogant.  Xia Ge had heard that Jianfeng’s gate hadn’t originally been so aggressive.  It’d been a later Jianfeng senior disciple who’d felt that the gate wasn’t imposing enough and that Jianfeng deserved something more imperious.  That was why the gate had been changed to its current presumptuous appearance.

Where had the overweening confidence come from?

Seeing no Jianfeng disciples guarding the gate, Xia Ge breathed a sigh of relief at not having to deal with any nose-in-the air, ridiculing nastiness.

“Hey, little brother, we meet again.”

Xia Ge had gotten comfortable way too soon.  There came a sudden, heavy clap on her shoulder and a frank greeting.  Startled half out of her wits, Xia Ge looked behind her to find a mature-looking young man.  His face was slightly familiar, although Xia Ge could not remember for the life of her where she’d seen him before.

Noting the blue of his ribbon, Xia Ge immediately swallowed her ‘who the hell are you’ and pasted a bright smile on her face: “Oh, yes, it’s good to see you!  It’s been a while, you’ve gotten even taller!”

She mustn’t be caught as an outer Danfeng disciple and be forced to do hard labor!

“Hahaha, I haven’t seen you for such a long time, but I see you still haven’t grown up!”  More vigorous pats on the shoulder from the Jianfeng disciple, his face full of candid delight——

The strength of his big hand hitting Xia Ge’s body made Xia Ge feel like her abdominal wound was going to split back open any second.

……hold steady.

And just what did this moron mean by saying……Xia Ge still hadn’t grown up?!  What gave him the right to say that?

Trying to tamp down her outrage and humiliation, Xia Ge was about to respond, but the young man beat her to the punch: “I left in such a hurry last time, I didn’t get your name.  Can you tell me now?”

Where the hell had they met before, huh……

Xia Ge exercised tolerance: “……Xia Wuyin.”

“Xia Wuyin?”  The young man stared blankly, as if completely taken aback, “……you’re Xia Wuyin?”

——The boy genius who’d refined the Sanshangjin dan and who was said to be the only Danfeng disciple capable of Diji-level liandan?

Xia Ge: “???”

What was going on?  Why were people acting like this?

Seeing Xia Ge’s completely puzzled face, the young man laughed: “Doesn’t matter, you probably don’t remember my name either.  Li Liu, from the village?  Your last pancake?”

“Ohhh.”  Xia Ge finally realized where they’d met before, “I do remember you.”

Li Liu had been the young man who’d tried to pull her to safety when demon puppets had attacked the village.

“You were so fast that night, you left me dumbfounded,” Li Liu smiled, “And you were very heroic too.”

Feeling that Li Liu was a proper neighbor, Xia Ge was suitably humble “You’re too kind, I don’t deserve your praise.”

“You do, but nevermind.  It’s pretty late at night, what are you doing here?”  Li Liu asked.

“Looking for someone,” Xia Ge answered with a smile.

“Looking for someone?”  Li Liu sounded surprised, but quickly added more enthusiastically, “Seeing as I still owe you a pancake, is there anything I can do?  I can help you find your way around, I’m very familiar with Jianfeng!”

I was waiting for you to say that!  Xia Ge assumed an aloofness she didn’t feel: “No need for pancakes, only——does Brother Li know where the new Jianfeng disciples live?”

“Ah, you’ve asked the right person!  I live right over there!”  Li Liu made a vague gesture, “Tell me who you want to talk to, and I promise to help you meet them!”

Overjoyed at having found someone to lead the way, Xia Ge told Li Liu: “I’m looking for Ye Ze, the disciple who switched from Danfeng to Jianfeng just a couple days ago.  Do you know him?”

“……Ye Ze?”  Li Liu’s expression was initially blank surprise, before shifting to something more subtle, “Brother Xia wants to……see him?”

Xia Ge kept the smile on her face.  Based on how he’d acted during the demon puppet attack, she had a favorable impression of Li Liu and he hadn’t done anything to change that yet.  “That’s right.  He used to look after me all the time, so I wanted to pay him a visit.”

After a long, awkward pause, Li Liu finally said: “Alright, please follow me.”

Although she found Li Liu’s attitude a little odd, Xia Ge didn’t pay it much mind.  Instead she surreptitiously took out the black wood box from her ring, held it against her chest and imagined giving it to Ye Ze.  She should also make an appointment with Ye Ze to go drinking as soon she was completely well.

Xia Ge followed Li Liu up the mountain, discovering that Li Liu was very popular with his fellow disciples.  Every Jianfeng disciple they across greeted Li Liu with a smile, and not a single one of them questioned Li Liu about the stranger with him.

Clicking her tongue in astonishment, Xia Ge had to ask Li Liu: “Aren’t you an outer disciple of Jianfeng?”

Haughty Jianfeng disciples being so friendly to someone in outer disciple clothing was a very rare sight.

“Not anymore,” Li Liu laughed, “The results for Jianfeng’s entry tournament posted today and I barely managed to pass!  I just haven’t received my new clothes yet.  By the way, your friend Ye Ze lives in the same area as me.”

“Then I guess this is fate,” Xia Ge blinked.

“Mmm, but……” Li Liu’s tone turned ambiguous, “I haven’t seen Ye Ze greeting or visiting with anyone.”

As expected……Ye Ze’s prickly character remained the same.

“It’s alright,” Xia Ge shook her head, “I’ve just got something to give him and then I’ll go back.”

Li Liu didn’t say much more after that.  After taking a few turns on the path, they came to a cluster of housing built into the mountains, surrounded by virid trees, with people hurrying to and fro.  From there, Li Liu led Xia Ge to a small wooden house, its door tightly shut: “Here it is.”

Xia Ge answered with a smile: “Thank you, Brother Li, for helping me.”

Since it was the home-nest of Jianfeng’s new disciples, many people gaped at Xia Ge, an uninvited guest suddenly showing up at Ye Ze’s door, making Xia Ge feel very uneasy with their curious or calculating expressions.  Li Liu, for his part, having brought Xia Ge to her friend, said his farewell and left.

At Li Liu’s departure, the glances thrown Xia Ge’s way became even more hostile.  Although, whenever Xia Ge met their eyes, those who weren’t yet dressed in inner disciple clothes nonchalantly withdrew their gaze.  That didn’t mean that the malice still couldn’t be felt though, making a person’s body and mind deeply uncomfortable.

Diji-level

Terrestrial or prefecture-level