sonovelo Chapter 632: Remember to Go Out to Sea
Chapter 632: Remember to Go Out to Sea
Chapter 632: Remember to Go Out to Sea
The sand cave was rather spacious. Inside it, there were piles of shiny, dazzling jewelry, sparkling gems, gold, and silver everywhere forming mountains of treasure. In between the mountains of treasure, there was a smooth jade platform, resembling a bed made of jade.
At this moment, a woman was lying on the jade bed. Her stature resembled a small mountain of flesh. Her smooth round head and body were pressed together. With her neck seemingly absent, she looked like two balls stacked together, much like a large snowman.
The woman was dressed lavishly, adorned head to toe with gold, silver, pearl, and jade jewelry.
Lying there with a pleased expression, she sneered, "Go ahead and leave. But your home is here. A monk can run to a temple, but where could you possibly run to?"
Her conversation partner was a youth standing near the cave's entrance.
He had golden hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a very handsome face. However, half of his body was covered in deep purple scales instead of human skin. This youth was a draconic demonic beast. His cultivation level wasn't high enough for him to make a full transformation into a humanoid form.
An aggrieved look was plastered on the draconic youth's face. "I just wanted to snatch your jade pendant—that's all! Please, I'm begging you. I already promised to compensate you tenfold for the jade pendant. Can you please just leave?"
"You want me to leave?" The woman glared at him. "You don't even have a door for me to step out of."
"What on earth do you want?!" the draconic youth said angrily.
"Since you've abducted me, I've resigned myself to my fate. As the saying goes, ‘If you marry a chicken, you should follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog.'[1]" The woman glanced at the youth. "As a draconic descendant, you're not unworthy of my status as a princess. I'll reluctantly marry you—"
The draconic youth got so enraged that he stomped on the ground and yelled, "Stop deluding yourself!"
Right then, the draconic youth sensed an unfamiliar presence intruding his territory.
The draconic youth spun around swiftly. "Who's there?!"
Chu Liang stood at the entrance, cupping his hands together within his sleeves.
He greeted the draconic youth with a charming smile. "Apologies for the intrusion."
The draconic youth eyed Chu Liang suspiciously. "You're a human?"
"That's right. I'm a disciple of the Mount Shu Sect," Chu Liang replied. "The king of the High Moon Kingdom requested that I rescue the princess, who was abducted by a demonic dragon."
"Rescue her?" The draconic youth raised an eyebrow, looking aggrieved once more. "Shouldn't be rescuing me instead?"
Chu Liang looked at the draconic youth and then at the tyrannical woman lounging on the jade bed.
He asked, "What exactly is going on here?"
"Hmph." The woman jumped down from the bed with two heavy thuds. "This demonic dragon abducted me. Hasn't the news spread already throughout the capital? Before long, the neighboring kingdoms will probably hear about it too. I'm a young lady; this news will ruin my purity. How am I supposed to get married in the future?"[2]
She crossed her arms and glared at the draconic youth. "That's why I'm staying with him no matter what."
"How are you even supposed to get married?" the draconic youth replied. "It's not like this only started being a problem for you today."
He turned his head and tugged on Chu Liang's sleeve, complaining, "I admit I was a bit greedy. I saw her jade pendant and thought it looked beautiful, so I tried to snatch it away. But I never expected her to cling to me and refuse to leave! I'm willing to compensate her tenfold for the jade pendant, yet she still insists on marrying me. Tell me, isn't she just bullying a dragon?"
Chu Liang chuckled, "Haha."
This was indeed a situation he had not expected.
As Chu Liang thought about how he should reply, the princess of the High Moon Kingdom spoke first.
"Young hero of the Mount Shu Sect, since it was my father who sent you here, please return and inform him on my behalf that I left the palace in search of true love, and now I've found it! He does not need to worry about me. I'll go see him in a few days with my husband."
The draconic youth clutched Chu Liang's sleeve. "You can't leave alone! No matter what, you must take her with you! I've never dared to harm any humans all my life, deathly afraid of causing trouble for myself. So, you humans shouldn't harm me either!"
"Hmph." The princess snorted coldly. "You draconic descendants have such long lifespans. Just accompany me for a few decades. Once I die, you can leave. Simple as that."
"Hear that? Is this how humans think?" the draconic youth asked. "Does a monster's youth not count as youth too?"
Chu Liang was speechless. "..."
Then he raised his hands up high, interrupting their argument. "Stop, stop, stop!"
He pulled the draconic youth aside first and whispered, "How about this? You help me with something, and I'll take her away for you."
"Deal!" The draconic youth nodded repeatedly. "As long as it doesn't involve killing humans, I'm in. I just want a peaceful life. I don't want to stir up any trouble."
"Don't worry. I'm not asking you to do anything dangerous," Chu Liang reassured him. "There will likely be other people coming to find her, so this place isn't safe for you. In a bit, take a few of her belongings and run."
"Where should I run to?"
The princess slowly regained consciousness, and the first thing she said was, "Where's my husband?"
The king was taken aback by the question. "Huh?"
The princess struggled to her feet and declared, "I'm not going back to the palace! I'm going out to find true love!"
"Oh dear, there's no need for that. I will send you to the Mount Shu Sect to become a cultivator. There are plenty of talented and handsome young men there. Won't it be great if we pick someone suitable for you from among them? Let's aim for one of the Four Overlords of Mount Shu. Now, that would be a perfect match."
With some cajoling, the king finally managed to placate the princess.
She pondered for a moment. "I don't need to aim for someone as high as one of the Four Overlords. Someone decent will do..."
The princess glanced up at Chu Liang. "I think he's quite good."
"Cough." Chu Liang quickly cupped his hands together. "Your Majesty, I'll be taking my leave now so that you can have some quality time with your daughter."
The princess got up hurriedly to chase after him. "Heeeeey!!!"
Right then, thunder-like rumbling reverberated outside as a sea of clouds billowed violently in the horizon.
A palace attendant exclaimed, "The airship from the Mount Shu Sect has arrived!"
Chu Liang had just reached the long flight of stairs outside the hall, and he looked up. He was just in time to see the airship approach.
It was a massive crimson airship. Calling it an airship was an understatement though. It was more like an enormous floating palace, complete with pavilions and towers. There were even flying swords rising and falling between them. The airship's shadow covered almost half the capital.
Two people stood side by side on the bow of the airship.
On the left was a slim man in fluttering white robes. He held a white-jade folding fan with an intricate painting of mountains and rivers[4] in one hand. His other hand was behind his back, highlighting the jade belt, a top-tier storage enchanted tool, at his waist. The hair at his temples swayed gently in the wind as a smile graced his face.
On the right was a man who was a bit short and a bit fat, draped in a black cloak woven from the feathers of an onyx bird[5]. He wore a jade hair accessory embedded with a high quality carving of an emblem, Silk Cloud Robes[6], and Wind Riding Shoes.
These two young men might not be conventionally handsome. However, as they stood looking down at the world from such a lofty vantage point, they exuded an overwhelming air of wealth that made them dazzling to behold.
Chu Liang heard the princess, who had chased after him, whisper, "Ah... They're so majestic..."
It wasn't just her; the entire capital buzzed with exclamations of awe.
"That's White Jade Fan and Mountain Tiger, right?"
"They're so rich..."
"They could probably buy the entire capital with the price of that airship alone!"
"Oh, heavens. Are they my two future husbands whom I've never met?"
"Nonsense. They are my fathers!"
"The two of us can each have one of them as our father. We don't need to fight!"
Hearing the chatter around him, Chu Liang was astonished.
No wonder people speak of the Mount Shu Sect with such reverence nowadays. It turned out that the wealth and influence of Red Cotton Peak has increased to such a great extent. Back when I first established Red Cotton Peak, I never went out so ostentatiously.
Moreover, it seems that societal morals have deteriorated in the past six years. When I was the wealthiest man in the Mount Shu Sect, I never encountered this many people eager to call me Father.
Of course, what shocked Chu Liang the most wasn't the Mount Shu Sect's rise in status or the degeneration of societal morals... It was that he knew the two men in question.
Those two imposing figures on the flying ship...
White Jade Fan and Mountain Tiger...?
Aren't they just Lackey A and Lackey B?!
1. It's a saying that means once a woman gets married, she should accompany her husband for the rest of her life, no matter what he does or where he goes. ☜
2. In ancient times, a woman's purity was mostly about her image/reputation. It was a cultural thing that women should remain pure until marriage. If they're not pure, then men (and their families) wouldn't want to marry them. ☜
3. In case anyone forgot about this, Chu Liang's talking about the play/movie etc from real life, but the princess is talking about his berry version of the story. ☜
4. See translator's thoughts for an idea of what this might look like. ☜
5. Onyx is a shade of black. ☜
6. Clothes that are thin and light. ☜