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~
When he detected the coldness in Gu Feidi’s tone, Su Yang immediately thanked his good fortune.
——Was he boosting Gu Feidi’s good impression of Pu Lingyun or was he boosting Gu Feidi’s resentment of him? Pu Lingyun was Gu Feidi’s xiao shimei and the heroine. And he, the Devil Sect’s Young Saint, was there asking about Pu Lingyun over and over again, what’s up with that?
Can’t blame Gu Feidi for getting furious!
Su Yang denied right away: “No-no, nothing like that.”
After he finished speaking, he tried to change the subject again: “So where is this? How did you get in? You mentioned we couldn’t go back the same way?”
Gu Feidi exhaled angrily with a ‘mmm’ sound, but he still seemed a little displeased.
He quickly recovered his mood and matter-of-factly recounted the incident of the two of them encountering the Eluo Ghost Tent soldiers after falling off the cliff: “Eluo Ghost Tent had someone set a net in the river ahead of time, which clearly shows that they were prepared. Now I suspect that the news of the Dubious Tomb of the Sword Sage was deliberately disseminated by them into the Central Plains martial world circles. I just don’t know… what their ultimate goal is.”
Su Yang appeared confused in the darkness.
This story arc originally belonged to Gu Feidi and Pu Lingyun. He was never involved but he knew that the plot of the Tomb of the Sword Sage in the script wasn’t so bewildering.
What a joke. This plot was set up to cultivate the relationship story between the protagonist and the heroine. It’s so complicated, how do you expect both of them to start getting romantic?
Moreover, the original book ‘Arch-Rivals’ was written by a lady. Su Yang thought that the stories written by the ladies should be no different from the script: free and easy, sweet and intimate, with a villain who would occasionally cause trouble. There was no need to cater for any conspiracies, intrigues or machinations.
But this current situation—was it initiated by some kind of god?
Eluo’s Ghost Tent? In the script, it was basically just background scenery! How did it escalate so suddenly!
Seeing that Su Yang wasn’t responding, Gu Feidi pursed his lips and said in a low voice, “Forget it. You’re seriously injured, better to rest first. When you can move without hurting yourself, we have to consider how we’re going to get out of this place alive.”
Su Yang’s mind was completely overwhelmed and he let out an ‘oh’ as he endured the pain of the wound on his back, crossed his legs and began to meditate. He cleared his mind and manoeuvred his inner strength to heal his injuries.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he might have lost too much blood and was feeling a little drowsy. His head swayed, his body wobbled and finally he flopped clumsily onto Gu Feidi’s shoulders, leaned along and almost fell back into the underground river.
Gu Feidi quickly stabilised him, sighed silently and extended his crossed legs to let Su Yang pillow on them.
Nothing could be done since this platform was too small and he couldn’t move even if he wanted to.
Su Yang murmured in a daze, curled up and actually fell asleep.
However, he didn’t sleep so steadily this time.
It was alright at first. He dreamed that he was fleeing on the Wasteland. Although he was a little nervous, he didn’t feel scared. He subsequently reached the edge of a lake. What he saw was a mountain of corpses and the sea of blood connected to the water of the lake, dyeing it crimson. A corpse crawled out of the bloody water with his thin sword stuck in its chest.
Su Yang was horrified. He stared and realised that the man was actually the disciple of Wujiangmen from earlier who’d attacked Gu Feidi and whom he had subsequently pierced with his sword.
“It hurts…” The man said weakly, “Do you want to try dying like this? Someone stabbing through your heart with a sword…… Yes, someone should stab you with a sword……”
The scene instantly changed after his voice trailed off.
Gu Feidi stood in front of him holding a sword, his whole body was covered in blood and his eyes were red.
Su Yang wanted to escape but couldn’t move. He could only look on as Gu Feidi raised his long sword and aimed at his heart.
“No-no, don’t!” Su Yang didn’t know where the persistent fear in his heart had come from and subconsciously begged for mercy, “Gu Feidi… Don’t…”
But then, he suddenly recalled that he had to die in the storyline. So he deflected and pleaded, “I’m not afraid of death, really! But I’m afraid of pain… Can you stun me first before you kill me?”
Gu Feidi held his sword facing of him with a vicious expression, his eyes locked tightly on Su Yang.
Strangely he said: “…I won’t kill you.”
Su Yang hastily shook his head: “No-no-no, you have to kill me!”
Gu Feidi stepped forward and stroked Su Yang’s cheeks, his gaze gentle and affectionate, he asked in a soft voice: “Why must I kill you?”
Su Yang was startled by the scene and almost blurted out: Because this was all arranged, the show—
Before he could complete this train of thought, there was a sudden burst of pain from his back, as if someone had slashed him.
He swung his head around just then and saw it was the actress who once played Pu Lingyun. Her eyes were full of jealousy and hatred as she screamed angrily at him: “I’m the heroine! You villain, you actually hijacked my scenes——I’m going to kill you!”
She swung a scimitar at him as she shouted and slashed it towards the top of his head.
Su Yang jerked and woke up in shock.
Gu Feidi withdrew his hands from Su Yang’s cheeks and asked, “Nightmare?”
Su Yang breathed a sigh of relief and said in his heart: Thank goodness it was a dream.
He racked his brain a couple of times, only to realise that he was actually pillowing on Gu Feidi’s lap and sat up with a start.
The pain from his back made him inhale sharply.
Gu Feidi asked again: “You grazed the wound?”
Su Yang grimaced in the darkness and reluctantly replied: “…It’s fine.”
Gu Feidi said, “If you don’t mind, you can tell me about the nightmare.”
Su Yang flashed back to the sea of blood in the dream that seemed so real and the Wujiangmen disciple whose face he couldn’t recall before his death but had left such a deep impression on him.
He smiled bitterly and shook his head: “The first time killing someone, it was a bit…”
Su Yang paused halfway.
He immediately rebounded. He was now bearing the shell of Devil Sect’s Young Saint!
Although this Devil Sect’s Young Saint may not kill people as if they were flies, it shouldn’t look as if it was his first time killing either. He was really confused. He dared to blurt out anything. What if Gu Feidi catches a flaw and discovers that his origins were abnormal? What to do then?
Fortunately, it seemed he was overthinking it this time.
Gu Feidi’s breathing only paused a bit, he chuckled lightly and said, “It was actually… your first time?”
Su Yang: …
Dude, what you just said is a bit ambiguous!
“Actually, it’s nothing.”
Gu Feidi’s voice was gentle and powerful, his tone was soft and soothing.
He said: “The person you killed was probably a spy from Eluo Ghost Tent planted in Wujiangmen. Eluo Ghost Tent has been hostile to the imperial court for a long time. Every few years, they will invade the borders. They’ve probably planted numerous assassins and swordsmen in the Central Plains martial arts circles. Whether it’s a martial artist or an imperial soldier, they’ll employ them as assassins. So… you don’t have to feel troubled.”
Su Yang sighed, hugged his knees and buried his face in his arms.
He thought: Gu Feidi grew up in the martial arts world and he certainly couldn’t understand that killing was a serious matter for a person like him who grew up in peace.
Su Yang honestly didn’t understand. He’d never even dared kill a fish before, so why did he just whip out his brain and send his sword into the heart of a living person?
What was he thinking then?
…No, he didn’t think anything.
Su Yang came to this conclusion after recalling it.
At that time, the other party was about to slash Gu Feidi’s head and he instinctively rose up to meet him. He didn’t have any time to think. All his movements were done by reflex based on the moves he’d practiced over the past two years.
At that moment, a warm hand covered Su Yang’s shoulder.
Gu Feidi patted him lightly on the shoulder and whispered, “It’s alright, don’t be scared, I’ll keep you company.”
Su Yang was taken aback.
He couldn’t control it, his nose started to tingle, his eyes were warming up and tears almost fell.
He immediately raised his hand to cover his mouth, adjusted his breathing for a while and then forced back the urge to cry.
——As masculine man, his head could be severed and blood could be spilt, but no matter what, he mustn’t shed a tear in front of his arch-rival!
Su Yang had forgotten that Gu Feidi had keen eyesight and sharp hearing. His ears had already taken in his chaotic breathing early on.
Gu Feidi retracted his hand that was on Su Yang’s shoulder, clenched it into a fist and gently placed it against his heart.
Both of them were deep in thought and had ceased speaking.
It was pitch black in the cave and the concept of time became extremely blurred. Both their stomachs were rumbling with hunger. It repeated two or three times. No one knew how long it would be before the wounds on Su Yang’d back showed any signs of healing and scabs.
It was also time to explore deeper into this cave, otherwise, they might starve to death here while waiting for Su Yang to heal.
After all, living in this world was not the same as filming. It was impossible to survive for ten days to half a month in this isolated version of the Tomb of the Sword Sage by just drinking water and still consider falling in love. They must find a way out as soon as possible, even if they couldn’t find the Tomb of the Sword Sage, they need to find a chance of surviving.
The two reentered the water from the rocky shore and swam along the direction of the river.
They’d both gotten along with Di Ling in Lesser Jade House and learned some basic methods of listening to sound out of curiosity. Two of them fumbled along the cave following the echoes of sound.
In wasn’t long before they left the river, touched a dry bank and moved along a very narrow stone crevice that only allowed one person shuffling sideways to pass through. The crack in the stone cave abruptly widened.
After advancing for a while, they ran into a right-angle bend. Once they turned a corner, their field of vision was unexpectedly illuminated by a faint light.
The two looked at each other in surprise and immediately squeezed along the gap in the mountain wall towards the light in front of them.
The further ahead they went, the brighter the light became. Once they stepped out of the crack in the cave, Su Yang raised his head in astonishment and gawked at the hanging dome resembling a church before him.
Here was a long and narrow underground cave similar to a corridor.
The top of the cave was very high, with arches on both sides gradually converging upwards into a narrow but long gap. The gap ran along the dome through the entire cave. Outside the gap, a clear blue sky could be seen in the distance—it completely befitted the term ‘sky gap’.
On the ground close to the cave wall, a small stream gurgled past. It was likely because there were some rays of light during the day and the nourishment of running water, plants tenaciously took root here and there was a vibrant display of vegetation in the cave.
Gu Feidi was speechless for a long time as he stood at the entrance of the cave.
He wasn’t able to suppress the marvel in his eyes after a while and uttered, “…a supernatural workmanship.”
Su Yang thought to himself: This wasn’t a supernatural workmanship, this was a fictional world, so any unreasonable geological structure can easily exist and its prevalence justifiable. Lesser Jade House was the same, the headquarters of the Devil Sect was the same and now the Tomb of the Sword Sage was also the same. He was used to it and wouldn’t be surprised anymore.
Gu Feidi glanced around for a while and instantly smiled, his eyes bright, “There’s something to eat!”
Beside the stream in the cave, there were clusters of delightful greenery, even some beautiful blooming purple flowers.
“These are sand scallions.” Gu Feidi laughed, “I’m happy for them, but I didn’t expect that so many could grow in this cave. We should be able to fill our stomachs.”
Su Yang was amazed: “How are you able to recognise desert plants? Isn’t Tengyun Pavilion in the Central Plains?”
Gu Feidi raised an eyebrow: “Since I have to go to the Wasteland on assignment, I would naturally ask my seniors for advice and do my homework when I get here. But you, who grew up in the Wasteland, doesn’t recognise sand scallions. Aren’t they a staple food?”
Su Yang felt a lump rise in his throat and came up with an excuse after a long while. He tipped his chin up and said arrogantly: “This Young Saint recognises how they look on the dinner table, but not how they look when growing in the ground.”
——In modern society, there are more people like him anyway and he has a deep understanding of this. This argument will definitely stand!