Love from the Male Protagonist's Harem

Chu Yao faced the icy arrow without fear, sword in hand, making no attempt to evade!

The next second, the arrow grazed past Chu Yao’s ear.  An agonized scream from behind her followed, the reek of blood and harsh astral wind filling the air!

With terrifying strength, the vicious arrow pierced through the head of an attacker.

As the attacker fell away, Xia Ge’s dark hair and red ribbon fluttered in the wind, her eyes black and still, even as her bowstring quivered.  Chu Yao did not waste time looking over her shoulder.  Gleaming clear and bright, her sword made a great sweep, cleanly   killing a row of enormous bats that’d been flying towards Xia Ge!

Bloody pieces of dismembered bat bodies rained down, but Chu Yao protected the young man Xia Wuyin in her embrace.  While her blue clothes became spotted with bloodstains, Chu Yao whispered.

“Nice arrow.”

Xia Ge, wrapped in Chu Yao’s arms, murmured: “It feels like……I killed someone.”

Feeling the way the boy trembled, Chu Yao sighed: “No.”

Chu Yao stuffed the dead goose into Xia Ge’s hand.  “You hit a wild goose, that’s all.”

A slight pause.

“Nothing more than tonight’s dinner.”

= =

An attack of massive bats would obviously alarm Lingxi’s three peaks.  Collectively deploying disciples, Lingxi Sect quickly suppressed the incursion of vile bat-creatures.

Amongst the bat carcasses Jianfeng disciples found a human corpse shot through the skull with a feathered arrow.

The dead body was that of a young man.  Dressed in black and with a black mask, he looked to have been in his early twenties.  However, the fierce arrow shaft protruding from between his eyebrows had left him with no chance of survival.

“This is a Jianfeng arrow……have you found out who shot it?”

Looking down at the corpse, Chang Lan felt a headache coming on.

The disciple next to Chang Lan answered: “……no.”

Chang Lan rubbed his temples and decided to ask his fellow senior disciples for input: “……what do you think happened, Sister Gu?”

Gu Peijiu stared down at the corpse expressionlessly.

Then she tilted her head and stared off into the distance: “I don’t know.”

Chang Lan: “Brother Baili?”

Crouching down and flipping one of the corpse’s hands over, Baili Qing infused some of his spiritual power to inspect the corpse.  After a short while, Baili answered: “This person was a beast tamer.”

“He would’ve raised a large number of these giant bats for his own use,” Baili Qing muttered to himself, then slowly peeled the mask off the corpse’s face, “But he wasn’t able to feed them enough lingqi, so they turned against him and drove him to Lingxi Mount, where lingqi is abundant.”

Seeing the face of the corpse exposed, Chang Lan’s breath hitched.  Baili Qing had been more mentally prepared, but even he couldn’t help being a little perturbed.

The corpse’s face was covered with protruding blue veins and his cheeks were desiccated, as if he’d been sucked dry by some kind of undead.  All in all, it was a rather terrifying sight.

Chang Lan pondered Baili Qing’s words: “So, Brother Baili means that……this might have nothing to do with the Demon Sect?”

Baili Qing shook his head, covering the face of the corpse again: “I can’t guarantee it, but the Demon Sect generally uses demon puppets……”

Chang Lan: “Still, we can’t rule out the possibility that this person was exploited by the Demon Sect.”

Baili Qing nodded: “It is possible.”

Chang Lan sighed: “First thing we need to do is find the owner of this arrow and ask them what happened, then we can take the appropriate steps.”

Baili Qing: “We haven’t even identified the Demon Sect spies yet.  It can’t be ruled out that the spies might’ve killed this person to silence them.”

Gu Peijiu suddenly interjected: “Perhaps a disciple was simply protecting themselves.”

Chang Lan: “Let’s find the person first.  We can reach our conclusions after that.”

""

= =

A small, isolated cave in Jianfeng-

Chu Yao and Xia Ge squatted outside the cave.  Next to them sat a jar of bamboo leaf-green wine, two persimmons perched atop of it.  The bows and quivers leaned against the cave wall, and not far off babbled a clear mountain stream.

Xia Ge made a makeshift grill: “This is a nice place.”

Chu Yao, beside Xia Ge, plucked the goose silently.

Xia Ge: “Are you angry?”

Finished plucking all the feathers, Chu Yao was about to go clean it by the stream.

Xia Ge: “Ai, wait a minute.”

Chu Yao turned her head, and Xia Ge rubbed her hands before pointing: “……there’s still these two pheasants.”

Two bright, multicolored pheasants lay on the ground, heads bashed in.

Chu Yao: “……”

While she’d been busy plucking the goose, she’d been oblivious to the boy using a stone to kill a couple pheasants.

Walking back, Chu Yao picked up the two pheasants.

Xia Ge: “Ai, give me one.  You pluck one and I’ll pluck the other.”

Chu Yao had no wish to argue.  If Xia Wuyin wanted a pheasant to pluck, Chu Yao would give it to him.

Down by the creek, the two of them plucked pheasants together.

Pinching at brilliant tail feathers, Xia Ge noted: “These feathers are very beautiful.”

Chu Yao still didn’t say a word, her head bowed as she methodically plucked.  Exasperated, Xia Ge rolled her eyes and brushed at Chu Yao’s pale cheek with a long feather.

“Ai.”  Caught off guard by Xia Ge’s tickling, Chu Yao demanded: “What are you doing?”

Xia Ge: “Why aren’t you talking?”

Chu Yao tutted before saying: “Focus on the task at hand.”

Xia Ge: “Do you think I’m stupid?  I can tell the difference between silence due to anger and silence due to focusing on work.”

A pause, and Xia Ge added: “What are you angry about?”

Pulling the last feather from her pheasant, Chu Yao took over Xia Ge’s haphazardly plucked pheasant, whispering: “None of your business.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Xia Ge brushed the feathers off her body and stood up: “I know why you’re angry.”

Chu Yao: “I’m not angry.”

Xia Ge looked at Chu Yao knowingly: “Are you mad that I saved you?”

Chu Yao: “……”