Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao left the Crown Prince’s Palace with Lan Lang-Lang and Zuo Wu-Ji while talking and laughing. He got home and acted like nothing had ever happened.

Before they parted with each other, Ye Xiao took out a dan bead and gave it to Lan Lang-Lang, “Lang-Lang, take this dan bead. Melt it in warm water and divid the water into three portions. Every morning during sunrise, transfer one portion into a washbowl and use it to wash your head. After three days, your favus will be completely cured.”

“Really?!” Lan Lang-Lang opened his crossed eyes with a face filled with astonishment.

“This is about your personal image which will last your whole life. Do you think I would joke about it?” Ye Xiao frowned.

“Hey, hey, hey… Damn! I am thankful even if it doesn’t work… The favus truly hurts my handsome appearance. You are right. It is a big thing in my life…” Lan Lang-Lang snatched the dan bead in a hurried motion, “I’ll leave you two to talk further. I need to go home now… Hey, hey. I can’t wait to wash my head tomorrow… Hahaha. I will no longer need to bear the favus… just three days…”

He scampered and left.

Zuo Wu-Ji was disdainful, “Even without the favus, he still has an obnoxious look, yet he actually finds himself to be handsome… Eww…” He waved his hand and spoke, “If we have nothing more to talk about, I should go home too. I was thinking about having a drink with you but Lan Lang-Lang’s antics disgust me… Eww… I need to throw up…”

And then he too left.

Ye Xiao watch both of them leave and then his smile vanished. The extreme coldness deep in his eyes was finally let loose. His hands were in his sleeves and they were balled into tight fists.

[The Crown Prince laid his murderous hands on me after all!

How vicious!

What a scheme!]

Ye Xiao operated the East-rising Purple Qi in the darkness. Accompanied with the cool air of the night, he returned to the General’s House.

The steward was concerned as he looked at him. He spoke in a deep voice, “How was it? Did anything happen?”

Ye Xiao hesitated for a while and said, “Nothing. Let’s go inside.”

The steward followed Ye Xiao to his room with an anxious look, “How was it? What do you mean nothing?”

Ye Xiao grinned, “Nothing special. The Crown Prince let his man attack me with 18 strikes of the Melting Bone Palm. That’s all.”

“What? Melting Bone Palm? 18 times?!”

The steward was astonished.

The next moment, a mass of blue mist suddenly surged out from his body. It spread in all directions as if it was about to explode. - Boom! - The walls shook when this sinistre aura completely occupied Ye Xiao’s room, resulting in multiple cracks!

The mist destroyed the wall and it didn’t even stop there. It kept on spreading.

It was like an exploding bomb!

The next moment, the steward turned around and rushed out. His face was twitching. He shouted in fury, “MAR-THAR-FXX-KARRRRR! I will wipe out the Crown Prince’s Palace tonight!”

“Wait, wait, wait…” Ye Xiao was shocked by the drastic reaction of the steward and hurriedly grabbed him, “Uncle Song… Calm down…”

“CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN MY ASS!” Song Jue kept shouting while stomping on the floor, “I have had enough in this fxxking Kingdom of Chen! FUXK THE HEAVEN, FUXK THE HELL! If it wasn’t for the stupid promise made by Brother Ye, how could we possibly stay in this shitty place! FXXK! Now my brother has promised to guard their kingdom for twenty years, yet his only son has actually been struck 18 times of Melting Bone Palm! Fxxk Chen Xuan-Tian and everybody who shares his bloodline…”

Chen Xuan-Tian was the name of the king of the Kingdom of Chen…

Ye Xiao spoke in a hushed tone, “Uncle Song, lower your voice please… Calm down… Don’t be emotional…”

“DON’T BE EMOTIONAL?!” Song Jue stomped his feet and his hair stood on its end, his eyes were bloodshot, “I agreed to be a steward in this house, because I was trying to keep your little shitty ass safe. Now you are standing before me after being hit by 18 strikes of Melting Bone Palm! I, I, I… I am even worse than a stupid tortoise! I, I, I… I am going to slaughter every single man in that bastard’s house. I am going to hang everyone in his clan! Otherwise, people will think that I am a weak douchebag!”

Ye Xiao twitched his mouth.

[He is way, way, way too emotional!

Hang everyone in one’s clan… That certainly sounds like something a king would declare using a royal decree… Now he actually wants to hang everyone in the king’s clan… That really is something incredible…]

“Uncle Song, chill out please. Listen to me. Would you listen to me first?!” Ye Xiao forcefully dragged Song Jue and made him sit within the dilapidated room.

In fact, it was far worse than a dilapidated room; it was completely in ruins.

Due to all this commotion, the blood guards had heard them and all of them rushed over. One meek voice was heard from outside the door, “Is everything ok, Chief? Is something happening to the young master?”

Before Song Jue could answer, Ye Xiao hurriedly spoke, “No. It’s fine. I am all right. Go to bed, all of you. I need to have a private conversation with uncle Song. Heh heh heh heh…”

The walls of his room had fallen, yet he said that everything was fine…

The blood guards were hesitant and unwilling to leave.

Ye Xiao dragged Song Jue and walked out the door to pacify them in person, and then they went to Song Jue’s room.

They had just left Ye Xiao’s room and then, - BOOM -, the whole room collapsed upon itself…

The blast nearly knocked down Ye Xiao. He hastened his steps.

Song Jue looked back and his face was still expressionless.

It suddenly reminded Ye Xiao of a doggerel and he nearly started to laugh out loud.

He then murmured, “The first time Uncle Song looks back, his ugly face breaks down a building in his sight; the second time Uncle Song looks back, his ugly face cracks the mountain and makes the river reverse its flow; the third time Uncle Song looks back, his ugly face brings forth darkness that causes even ghosts to feel petrified; the fourth time…”(宋大爷一回头，吓倒身后一座楼；宋大爷二回头，山崩地裂水倒流；宋大爷三回头，日月无光鬼神愁；宋大爷四回头……)

Song Jue said angrily, “Stop. Three times is enough. Those are good lines. When I return to… Hmm. I will use it as my chant… Hmm... Wait, no! It is not a good time for that. I have to send a message to your father right now and tell him to come back quickly. Only when he comes back, will there be a chance to cure the wounds inflicted by the Melting Bone Palm. I hope there is still time. There must be!”

Ye Xiao twitched his mouth a little bit. He had found Uncle Song to be cute; now he confirmed that he was indeed very cute.

He realized that his father’s capability was really strong. A man who could cure the wound caused by Melting Bone Palm must have a cultivation capability that was at least better than Guan Zheng-Wen.

When they entered Song Jue’s room, Ye Xiao told him the truth at once, “Listen, Uncle Song. My father doesn’t need to know. The Melting Bone Palm doesn’t work on me. Not at all!”

Song Jue frowned and spoke in a worried tone, “Xiao-Er, it is not something to be joking about. Do you even know what Melting Bone Palm is? It is an extreme nasty martial art… It uses the complete yin power to hurt people. Who ever has been hit by it, unless he knows that he has been hit, he has no way of realizing that he is affected. By the time he gets to know of it, 70 percent of his bones must have already melted away. By then, there is no way for him to get cured. If you don’t get the wound cured as soon as possible, I am afraid something really bad is going to happen to you… What people always say about people becoming a heap of minced meat… That is a saying created by the Melting Bone Palm.”

“I know. I really do.” Ye Xiao spoke calmly, “Uncle Song, to be honest, today, at the Crown Prince’s Palace, I thought about killing him or just refuse negotiating with him and running away. They wouldn’t dare to hurt me forcibly… But I gave up both thoughts.”

“Our strength in the capital is limited. We can’t be reckless, really.” Ye Xiao paced slowly to the window, “So, even if I can’t bear it any more and want to make some trouble, I will need to do it discretely. Since we are facing the royal power, even if we are very proud of our clan, we won’t have a good chance to win.”

“There are so many men in our house. They could have died because of my reckless actions!” Ye Xiao smiled blandly, “I can’t risk all of your lives just for venting my anger.”

“So I could only think of something else.”

Song Jue was expressionless and silent. His lips were trembling. Obviously, he was still extremely emotional, but he was trying his hardest to calm down.

“So, when I found out about their plan, I knew that they were really on to me this time, but they were fearful. So they tried to use something ‘imperceptible’ to take my life. There were only a few ways to do so.” Ye Xiao raised six of his fingers, “They are Melting Bone Palm, Soft Cloud Fist, Yin Wind Martial Art, Qiong-Hua Ice Mist, Shade Finger Point and… Fatality Martial Art.”

“In the whole world, there are only these martial arts that can take my life and remain unnoticeable, soundlessly and slow…” Ye Xiao smiled.

Song Jue was astonished and didn’t find any words to say.

Because only four of those six martial arts were known to him.

Song Jue believed that in the Land of Han-Yang, even in the world above it, there were only a handful of people that knew more than he did!

Yet Ye Xiao was actually very familiar with them and just listed these six martial arts loud and clear.

“Hmm. Qiong-Hua Ice Mist and Fatality Martial Art, what are they?” Song Jue frowned, “You have been staying in the house all the time. Even if you did save an old man and he taught you something, he couldn’t have taught you more than just a few moves. How do you know so much about martial arts? You actually know some secret martial arts that even I don’t know!”

…

1st guaranteed chapter of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Arch, Alpha