Title: Did We Agree To Be Arch-Rivals?
Original Title: 说好成为彼此的宿敌呢[穿书]
Author: 轻风白杨 (Qingfeng Baiyang)
Translated by: ~PurpleLy~
Su Yang and his party arrived at the Gobi Grand Oasis in the afternoon two days later.
This oasis was located in a low-lying valley in the Gobi desert, surrounded by a two-foot-high stone bank.
In the middle of the valley was a deep blue lake, twice the size of the pond they had passed by before. It had a long and narrow shape, like a huge willow leaf. The locals called it Willow Leaf Lake. The lakeside vegetation was dense, and filled the entire valley which wasn’t very large but was lush with greenery.
The Willow Leaf Lake Oasis was the largest oasis in the Gobi desert aside from the Devil Sect’s headquarters. As the Devil Sect’s headquarters was hidden by the Devil City, Willow Leaf Lake became the only visible oasis on the map of the Jianghu and of the imperial court; it was also the only place for caravans to traverse through to the Western Regions.
As a result, there were guesthouses and stables here.
There was no one by the lake at this time, but there were four horses tied up in the small mud-walled courtyard hidden by the green trees. It was obvious someone had arrived here early.
Mei Shisan stepped forward and asked, “Young Saint, do you want to explore it?”
Su Yang frowned as he considered that there seemed to be such a storyline in the script at the beginning: “No, let’s head over directly.”
If what he anticipated was right, there would be a few cannon fodders turning up to make provocations in this oasis. Once they’d been beaten to the ground by him, that was when Gu Feidi would appear.
Mm-hm, Gu Feidi to the rescue again.
This script was about fitting the title ‘Arch-Rivals’ and there were many arrangements for him to meet Gu Feidi every time—each time he was responsible for bullying people, Gu Feidi was responsible for saving people. Doesn’t the screenwriter get fed up?
After complaining in his heart, Su Yang rode down the stone bank ramp to the bottom of the valley. He handed his horse over to a flower aide to bring it to drink. He, Mei Shisan, and the others walked into the small, earthen house courtyard.
Two strong-looking men came out of the house, probably after hearing people approaching. Su Yang stepped forward to make his greetings, but when he observed the two of them, he was taken aback, and his expression changed suddenly.
One of them curled his lips in disgust and sneered: “People from Devil Sect dare to covet the Central Plains Sword Sage’s legacy?”
Su Yang raised his eyebrows when he heard this.
This was a typical cannon fodder setting. It seemed that the plot hadn’t collapsed this time. No, it was exactly the same as the lines that provoked him in the script.
His mood brightened, and put on the demeanour of the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, raised the corners of his mouth and gave a wicked smile: “Oh? Since he was the Sword Sage of the Central Plains, how can his legacy be in this Gobi Wasteland, in our sect’s back garden?”
The strong man choked, then lifted his chin and said, “When the Sword Sage entered into the deep Wasteland, he must have encountered some misfortune. Therefore, I am determined to bring his legacy back to the Central Plains!”
Su Yang smiled, pulling out the sword from the waist. He slowly walked over to the two people and asked, “…Is it to bring it back to the Central Plains or to bring it back to your faction and hog for yourselves?”
The two people heard the animosity in Su Yang’s tone. Their eyes narrowed, and they drew their swords.
“Insolent punk! Bullshit!” He angrily said, “This ol’ man is going to eliminate and kill you Devil Sect demons on behalf of the Central Plains today!”
Su Yang shook his wrist and raised his sword. He didn’t use it; instead, he merely urged the internal force to block the sword stroke by the brawny man.
Gold and iron slammed together, but after three or four times, the brawny man’s wrist was twisted by Su Yang’s sword, and he could no longer hold onto his sword under the pain.
He retreated and glanced down in shock to where the sword had clattered to the ground: “Who are you?!”
Su Yang laughed: “Isn’t it a little late to be asking who I am?”
The brawny man winked at his companion when he heard this.
The man immediately yelled something that Su Yang couldn’t understand, and in an instant, eight strong-looking men emerged from the house.
They obviously had the same thoughts as the brawny man and began to swear heatedly when they saw people from the Devil Sect.
All their foul language caused Su Yang’s head to throb, and he was too lazy to speak with them. He rushed forward with a few strikes and personally sent that group of people hurling to the ground.
He wasn’t heavy-handed either, merely injuring and knocking them out, tying up their hands and gagging their mouths, then leaving them for Mei Shisan to do as he saw fit.
Mei Shisan cupped his fists and nodded, ordering several flower aides to carry away all the men from the door of the house to who-knows-where.
Su Yang entered the house and noticed that there were still a lot of luggage and dry rations left here by the men. He didn’t take them, but put them in the corner of the house to make room for himself and the Devil Sect.
Just then, he detected some unusual sounds. It seemed that some people were cursing, others were begging for mercy. Ultimately, all were cut short, giving way to some strange atmosphere.
Su Yang frowned and was about to reach out for his luggage, when his movement hastily ceased.
He remembered the storyline of the script.
In the script, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint arrived at the Willow Leaf Lake Oasis and was provoked by cannon fodder. He couldn’t restrain his temper and carried out a killing spree.
Right after he’d murdered everyone in the Oasis guesthouse, Gu Feidi arrived. At that time, the shore of Willow Leaf Lake was littered with corpses all over, and blood was seeping into the river. In his fit of anger, Gu Feidi led the troops to fight against the people of the Devil Sect.
It was precisely because of this fight in the Oasis that Gu Feidi had been injured by the Devil Sect. As a consequence, he lost to Su Yang and was knocked off the cliff with Pu Lingyun.
When he recalled this, Su Yang’s face turned pale. He didn’t care about packing any more bags and immediately activated his Prized Flower Steps to rush out of the guesthouse door.
Without much effort, the oasis by Willow Lake had already been reduced to a hellhole.
The strong men were tightly tied to the trees by ropes. None of them were breathing, and each had a fatal wound. Either their heart had been pierced by a sharp weapon, or their throats had been cut. The scene was gruesome. Of the ten people who were still alive and swearing loudly just now, there was only one left. He was the one who’d confronted Su Yang earlier and was barely alive, restrained below Mei Shisan’s sword.
He didn’t beg for mercy, but his eyes were full of anger, so red that they were almost bleeding.
“Damn you Devil Sect…” He hissed with blood in his mouth and cursed, “…Don’t deserve a good death… Trying to be a hero… The prestige of a fart…”
Su Yang took in the scene in front of him. The stench of blood filled his nose and he suddenly felt a little dizzy.
He barely endured the feeling of retching. He closed his eyes and forced himself to speak: “…Shisan, stop!”
Mei Shisan abruptly pulled out the dagger that had just pierced the man’s shoulder, then turned his head and nodded: “Young Saint.”
“You…”
Su Yang’s throat was tight, and he could hardly speak.
It wasn’t until this moment he truly realised the kind of world that was in the book ‘Arch-Rivals’.
Previously, the background of ‘wuxia’ was nothing but a sword-struggling and happy enmity in his impression. Whether it was the bloody portrayal of the script or the scene of corpses in the drama films, it would’ve never triggered such an impact on him that could just about shake his soul.
But now… people have died.
These people would not disappear into nothing as the pages of the book were turned, nor would they resemble the cast performers who could stand up unharmed after the filming was done.
Su Yang only felt that his mind was buzzing, and he couldn’t process anything for a while.
Mei Shisan stepped forward and said, “Young Saint, this subordinate is interrogating him on the whereabouts of the map of the Tomb of the Sword Sage. Please be calm.”
Su Yang turned back, dumbfounded. He opened his mouth again, but he couldn’t weave together any words.
He even forgot how to recite his lines.
The man was still cursing. Even though his breath was failing, he still insisted on spewing out all the unbearable insults and profanities.
At this time, the sound of horses’ hooves could be heard from afar but were fast approaching. They sounded like they were about to reach the stone bank by the valley.
Everyone in the Devil Sect was on the alert and instantly surrounded to protect Su Yang.
Mei Shisan glanced at Su Yang, who was still in a daze, and made a decisive choice. He backhanded the dagger into the heart of the brawny man, who was still swearing!
Su Yang yelled out in shock, “Shisan!!!”
The man’s cursing stopped abruptly, his eyes twitched a few times, and he hung limply from the tree.
Mei Shisan turned around and knelt in front of Su Yang. “If someone comes to save him, it will be a disaster to keep him alive. This subordinate acted without authority. Young Saint, please punish me.”
At the same time, a white horse appeared high on the stone bank. The evening sun revealed that it was carrying a silhouette of a figure on its back.
A man sat upright on the horse in a moon-white outfit and a silk scarf covering his face, revealing only a pair of black eyes that looked like stars. They were hidden in the shadows and not very distinct.
Two horses—one chestnut and one tan—carrying the same masked man and woman appeared beside him, followed by more than a dozen uniformly dressed guards lined up atop the high, rocky bank.
Su Yang stared at these people.
Gu Feidi’s eyes swept across the blood and corpses, then finally fell on Su Yang’s pale face. His eyes were still.
When Xu Yunzhan saw the purgatory-like scene before him and the person who appeared to be completely clean standing in the field, his eyes swiftly narrowed.
He clenched the reins tightly; his knuckles were white. He gritted his teeth and asked in a deep voice, “You… did this?!”
Su Yang’s thoughts swirled, but he didn’t know how he should answer.
He never intended for this hellish scene. Nonetheless, the command to “drag them out and deal with them” was in accordance with the script. Indeed, he had indeed been the one who instructed Mei Shisan.
He’d utterly misinterpreted the Devil Sect flower aides’ threshold and single-handedly caused this irredeemable outcome.
Seeing Su Yang tacitly agree, Xu Yunzhan began to rage: “I really didn’t expect… you would behave like this! I really… I misread you!”
Su Yang twitched the corner of his mouth, gave a chuckle, and finally recalled a few lines: “You Central Plains martial arts view our Devil—Divine Sect like this all the time… don’t you? Where did you get it wrong?”
Xu Yunzhan was so angry when he heard this that he wanted to draw out his sword.
Gu Feidi held his wrist back with one hand.
The atmosphere reeked of blood, and Su Yang became more and more unable to suppress the feelings of nausea.
He gritted his teeth and turned to address Mei Shisan: “It’s… it’s too filthy. I can’t stand it anymore. When night falls, set up camp on the other side of the lake.”
After speaking, he turned around abruptly, covered his mouth, and took to his Prized Flower Steps. With a few leaps, he disappeared into the bushes of the oasis.
Xu Yunzhan fumed: “No Feidi, don’t stop me. I’ll go down there and kill every last one of those Devil Sect demons!”
Gu Feidi said solemnly, “What about him? You’ll kill him too?”
Xu Yunzhan gritted his teeth: “He actually behaved like that, I’ll… How will I… I’ll…”
For a long time, he couldn’t say anything harsh. Xu Yunzhan slammed the heavy sword back into the scabbard and remained on the horse without saying another word.
Gu Feidi glanced down into the valley. He saw the Devil Sect had quickly packed up their things and led the horses away to evacuate from the guesthouse. He then led the group from Tengyun Pavilion into the valley.
He ordered the guards to untie the mens’ corpses from the trees, take them out of the oasis, and find a place to bury them in the Gobi desert. Upon checking the luggage and belongings of those people, he deduced that they were the boorish men from Wujiazhai, Central Plains.
“These years, countless people have died at the hands of the Wujiazhai. They cannot be considered decent folk. Does that make you feel any better?”
Gu Feidi showed evidence to Xu Yunzhan, trying to comfort his best friend: “Besides, having travelled in the Jianghu for so many years, you should know that we… Tengyun Pavilion and Qianfeng Villa are not necessarily… spotlessly clean power influences. Even the imperial court makes use of us. Which one of us has never seen blood?”
“I was also impulsive. Seeing him here in that situation, his whole face filled with innocence, I…”
After speaking halfway, he couldn’t continue. Xu Yunzhan smiled bitterly and said, “I’m obviously older than you, but I still need you to comfort me. The longer I live, the more I regress.”
Gu Feidi glanced at Huo Ying, who was brushing her favourite horse by the stable, and lowered his voice: “When it comes to him, you’ll lose your sense of propriety. It’s understandable.”
After a pause, he asked again. “Now, you… still care about him that way?”
Xu Yunzhan sighed, “Since I’m married, Yingniang is the one I want to love with all my heart. I shouldn’t think about the rest. Moreover, it was just a juvenile fancy, that’s all…”
Gu Feidi was silent for a moment, then raised his hand and patted Xu Yunzhan’s shoulder.
Ya. We don’t need a 2nd ML who’s already married. 😬