Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Go to Fengtian for Your Calamity

“Go to Fengtian for your calamity.”1

As Junior Master Fenglin gasped for breath, he thought of his departure from Eternal Life Temple and his master Mo Wen’s words. Everyone in the world were expected to undergo trials and tribulations and he had been indifferent to the idea. As his life looked poised to be delivered into the hands of this girl from a spiritless nation, a single thought flashed into his mind: was this his calamity? It felt like the two of them had been enemies since their first meeting with no hope of salvaging the situation.

“Princess!” Cheng Guan shook Yu Xiaoxiao’s shoulder roughly, but he didn’t even budge it. “Princess, do you want me to beg?” Cheng Guan was so anxious that all the blood had drained from his face.

Yu Xiaoxiao felt that to “beg” was too grating for her ears. She released her hands from Junior Master Fenglin’s throat. When it came to customs of this world, she was still figuring things out, but judging from Cheng Guan’s terrified reaction, perhaps Wen Fenglin really shouldn’t be killed?

Seeing her relax, Cheng Guan exhaled. Beiyuan and the rest also breathed in relief, but still kept a healthy distanc.

“Why do you hate me?” Junior Master Fenglin managed to ask after catching his breath.

Yu Xiaoxiao replied, “Aren’t you at odds with me too?”

“You hate my Eternal Life Temple,” Junior Master Fenglin said.

“I just don’t like liars,” Yu Xiaoxiao explained. “The state preceptor said that killing you would bring the armies of five nations to find trouble at Fengtian?”

Junior Master Fenglin said, “Thus, princess won’t be killing me?”

“Come and bring those armies to me for a look,” Yu Xiaoxiao said expressionlessly. “Actually, it doesn’t matter to me whether you live or die.” She wasn’t that brainless female emperor, so Wen Fenglin was nothing more than a scum male in her eyes. What was there to fret about a man she’d forget at a moment’s notice?

Cheng Guan saw that there was no way to continue the conversation and said to Yu Xiaoxiao, “Princess, let’s go back fist. Have Master Wang Sheng treat the junior master’s injuries.”

Yu Xiaoxiao turned on her heel and stalked off. Why should she stick around if she couldn’t afford to kill Wen Fenglin? Cheng Guan glanced at the high temple monks before chasing after her.

Yu Xiaoxiao descended to the very bottom of the steps before she stopped to look at the unconscious Beiji. Raising a leg, she kicked him clear out of the courtyard. Every follower of Wen Fenglin incensed her, a clear sign of how much malice she bore for Junior Master Fenglin.

“Junior master?” Beiyuan and the rest ran to the bedside once Yu Xiaoxiao and Cheng Guan were gone.

Junior Master Fenglin’s throat was marked with purplish-black fingerprints. It was clear that Princess Linglong had really intended to murder him.

“Junior master, let’s go back to the temple right now!” Beiyuan huffed angrily. “If Fengtian wants to go to ruin, then we’ll fulfill their wish!”

Wang Sheng said no such things, but asked, “Junior master, how do you feel now?”

Junior Master Fenglin shook his head once, his voice soft, weak, and hoarse. “Go take a look at Beiji.”

By the time Wang Sheng left the rooms, it was to see a few Safeguard Temple monks carrying Beiji back from outside the courtyard walls. He checked the monk’s pulse, then examined his misshapen back, and murmured to the Safeguard Temple monks, “Take him back to his room.”

None of the Safeguard Temple monks dared to make a peep as they carried Beiji to the right wing.

“Are Beiji’s injuries severe?” Junior Master Fenglin asked when Wang Sheng returned to his side.

Wang Sheng only shook his head. “I’m afraid that Beiji will be crippled. This monk will go examine him in detail right away.”

Hearing his diagnosis made Junior Master Fenglin exclaim aloud in surprise. Beiyuan and the rest were absolutely furious, but also incredulous. How could a high-level expert like Beiji be crippled after a single kick?

“Regarding junior master’s poison,” Wang Sheng continued, “This monk can create an antidote with difficulty from the ingredients I have on hand. May junior master hold on for one more day.”

“Alright,” Junior Master Fenglin replied. “Go and take a look at Beiji.”

“Then what about Cheng Guan?” Beiyuan demanded. “Are we going to forget about him despite the fact that he plotted to poison the junior master?”

Wang Sheng lowered his head. He was a monk of Eternal Life Temple’s discipline hall, not one of Junior Master Fenglin’s followers. The only reason he accompanied Junior Master Fenglin to Fengtian this time was on Mo Wen’s orders so he could observe whether Cheng Guan was adhering to Eternal Life Temple’s rules. He could obey the junior master when he wanted to kill Cheng Guan, but had no right to speak up or share his views.

Junior Master Fenglin shut his eyes for a while before breaking into soft laughter. “If the princess really wants to kill me, then could you all escort me safely out of Fengtian?”

His question was too provoking and shut up Beiyuan and the rest. After witnessing how Princess Linglong had injured Beiji, none of them dared to claim they were her equal in combat.

Junior Master Fenglin inhaled and ordered, “Go investigate how the soups were switched.”

Wang Sheng finally spoke up. “Could it have been Her Royal Highness?” Logically speaking, only she had the skills.

“A mere verbal statement is no guarantee.”2 Junior Master Fenglin’s consciousness was fading away as he fought to stay away. “Go look into it. If you check the traces, you’ll definitely discover something.”

“Yes,” Beiyuan and the rest demurred.

“Junior master, should we send a letter to the Great Master?” Beiyuan asked.

But Junior Master Fenglin had already shut his eyes to sleep.

Wang Sheng sighed, then stated, “Right now we’re in Fengtian. Do you think that letter will ever make it safely back to temple grounds?”

—

“Deliver a letter to the temple?” Yu Xiaoxiao parroted. Currently, she was talking with Cheng Guan. “State Preceptor, haven’t you ever heard of ‘information screening?’”

“What screen?” Cheng Guan asked.

“Can’t you just kill the messenger?” Yu Xiaxiao said as she sat across from him at a table. Glancing down, she saw no snacks left.

“Amitabha Buddha,” Cheng Guan chanted, then replied, “Princess, we cannot belittle matters of life and death.”

Yu Xiaoxiao blinked and felt that she and Cheng Guan would have trouble agreeing on this point.

“Just then, I heard you say something about being ‘allergic to pot-scrubbing water,’” Cheng Guan got briskly to business. “What is allergic? Why did the princess say that the soup was pot scrubbing water?”

“Urk,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Why does Wen Fenglin want to kill you?”

“Princess, you should answer my question first.”

“When did I say a thing like that?” Her Royal Highness was no good at fibbing, so she could only feign ignorance.

Cheng Guan said, “Princess, you said those words when Beizhou got soup in his eyes.”

Yu Xiaoxiao stared at Cheng Guan. A memory like his really gave her grief.

“Princess?”

“You must have misheard.”

“Princess, did you switch the soup bowls?”

In the apocalypse, sneaking into other people’s houses and stealing their food was a severe crime. Here in this new world, Yu Xiaoxiao still maintained that belief. Thus, she looked expressionlessly at State Preceptor Cheng Guan and declared, “What are you saying? The wind’s too loud, I can’t hear you.”

The “calamity” here refers to the usual trials that Buddhist monks were expected to undergo during the course of their cultivation; think of it as tests for disciples to improve themselves.

空口无凭 kongkou wuping – A fancy way to say “talk is cheap.”