Chapter 81: This Venerable One's Bu'gui!

Meanwhile, in Rufeng Sect's private room on the third floor, Ye Wangxi stood tall and elegant by the intricately carved ornamental wooden railing, eyebrows drawn tightly together and lips pressed into a thin line.

"Ye-gongzi, Elder Xu sent us here for that holy weapon. If you bid on the Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast as well, I'm afraid we won't have enough left..." "It's fine. I'll use my own funds." The attendants saw that Ye Wangxi had already made up his mind, so they exchanged a couple of furtive glances but said nothing else.

The Second Pavilion Master of Xuanyuan Pavilion announced crisply: "The starting bid is ten million gold. Ladies and gentlemen, bidding is now open." "Eleven million." "Twelve million." The commotion rose alongside the soaring price.

"Nineteen million!" "I bid twenty five million!"   With the bid shooting up by six million in one go, quite a number of cultivators sighed and sat down, shaking their heads. At this time, several silver tabs floated down from the second floor booths to the action master. She collected them from the air and nimbly fanned them out in her hand, a price written on each tab.

"The current highest bid." She scanned the tabs, then announced clearly,

"From the Xuan booth, thirty five million."   "Thirty five million?!" The crowd sucked in a cold breath and collectively turned to look at the Xuan booth on the second floor. Lights glowed hazily from behind the gentle drifting of the silver curtains, but there was no way to see just what kind of person was sitting inside.

"You could buy a whole palace on here with that money." "Whose bid was it, a little excessive don't you think..." "To have that kind of money to throw around, gotta be from one of the ten great sects. I wonder which one?" Chu Wanning's eyes were closed. Hearing the price, he asked Mo Ran, "Did you bring enough money?" "Absolutely not!" Meeting Song Qiutong here was the last thing he'd expected to happen, and Mo Ran only snapped out of his shock when he heard Chu Wanning call for him. He asked, alarmed, "What does Shizun mean to do?" "Buy her."

Mo Ran's eyes opened wide as he waved his hands frantically: "No way,

don't do it, this woman will just be a burden, where would we even put her? We'd have to rent an extra horse to travel and book an extra room at night, nope, don't do it."   "Who said anything about bringing her along? I'll just let her go after." Chu Wanning opened his eyes and held out his hand with a straight face, "Money." Mo Ran clutched his money pouch. "I-I don't have any!" "I'll pay you back when we get back." "This money is for the holy weapon!" "Don't you already have Jiangui? What do you need another for? Hand over the money!"   "..." Mo Ran felt a headache coming on; this Song Qiutong... when he'd met her in the past life, she had been a disciple of Rufeng Sect, and he had been razing Rufeng Sect's city to the ground. His heart had clenched at the way she looked a little like Shi Mei, so he'd spared her life. As time went on, she showed herself to be clever and docile, and her temperament was rather similar to Shi Mei's as well, so he eventually made her his empress.

That was one of Mo Ran's biggest regrets.

Chu Wanning and that kind heart of his inside that cold exterior actually wanted to buy her—how could Mo Ran possibly allow that to happen? Don't even mention forty million gold, he wouldn't even take that woman for four coppers.

As a matter of fact, even if they paid him forty million, he still wouldn't take her!

They were stuck in a stalemate when a tab floated down from the third floor.

It was gold.

A buyout tab!

The golden tab indicated the highest bid at Xuanyuan Pavilion—there is no price written, for the tab itself denoted fifty million gold. Once this kind of bid got put down, no one really even had the means to keep bidding anymore, thus "buyout tab." The crowd was dead silent for a second before bursting into an uproar.

"Rufeng Sect!" "Rufeng Sect pulled out the buyout tab!"   Chu Wanning turned away from Mo Ran and his death grip on his money pouch to look outside. They were at just the right angle to see the first room on the third floor. Ye Wangxi didn't care for things like concealment; he had long ago pulled aside the snow moon silk curtains meant for secrecy, and was currently standing by the carved railing with his hands clasped lightly behind his back.

His expression was solemn, handsome face betraying nothing. He glanced down at the ruckus below, seemed somewhat aggravated, and turned to walk back into the private room.

Mo Ran let out a breath and said to Chu Wanning, "Shizun can rest easy. I lived with this Ye-gongzi back at the Peach Blossom Springs, so I'm fairly acquainted with him. He's a good person, he won't do anything cruel to that Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast."   Meanwhile, inside Rufeng Sect's room on the third floor, Ye Wangxi sat down at the table covered with satin cloth intricately embroidered in gold and silver,

and poured himself a cup of fragrant tea. Knocks sounded from the outside when he finished the tea.

Ye Wangxi's voice was gentle and polite: "Come in." "Ye-xianjun, I've brought the Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast for your inspection." "Thank you. You can go." Xuanyuan Pavilion's maid left, and there was nothing but silence in the room for a while. The Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast knelt on the floor, bound hands and feet by spells, panic in her eyes as her whole body trembled, her eyes shaped like peach blossoms red at the edges from crying, looking truly pitiful.

Ye Wangxi glanced at her, not a thread of impropriety in those clear,

principled eyes of his, and lifted a hand to dissipate the spells.

"It's cold on the floor. You must be scared; have a seat and some warm tea."   "..." The Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast was still trembling, beautiful eyes wide and translucent like glass. She stayed where she was, cowering on the floor, too scared to talk, much less move.

Ye Wangxi sighed and gestured for the attendants to bring her a cloak.

"Please don't worry, miss. I didn't buy you for cultivation purposes. Put on the cloak first, then we can talk." "You... you..."   Seeing that she was still not moving, only looking pitifully up, Ye Wangxi shook his head with an exasperated smile and got down on one knee to be eye level with her.

"My name is Ye Wangxi, may I ask your name?"   "This one's name is…...Song." She gave Ye Wangxi a hesitant look through teary eyes, "Song Qiutong…...Thank you, Ye-gongzi."   Downstairs, Mo Ran was deep in thought.

In the past life, Song Qiutong had already been a disciple of Rufeng Sect by the time he'd met her. Ye Wangxi must have saved her from the auction house back then, too.

Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feasts generally weren't treated the same as regular people, but it was a different matter if they're a disciple of a major cultivation sect.

Mo Ran sighed internally. He didn't know Ye Wangxi that well, only that he was an upright, principled person, and had been second only to Chu Wanning in terms of strength back then. Mo Ran had crossed swords with him once while slaughtering the seventy two cities of Rufeng Sect; that fierce, imposing swordsmanship and dignified posture had left a deep impression.

Seventy two cities of Rufeng Sect spread across the land, and Mo Ran had taken them all without the slightest bit of effort. And those lords of the cities, with their run-on titles and widespread tales of might and glory, each and every one of them were as dirt beneath his boot.

Save for this Ye Wangxi, and only this Ye Wangxi—the seven cities under his command had given Mo Ran no end of troubles. Even in the end, when the cities had fallen and that person knelt bloodied in a field of corpses, his eyes were still clear and unrelenting.

The Nangong leaders of the Rufeng Sect had long since fled by then, and countless others were groveling for their lives at Mo Ran's feet.

But Ye Wangxi only knelt there with his eyes closed and brows drawn tightly together, his expression frosty.

Before killing him, Mo Ran had asked, genuinely: "Will you surrender?" "I will not."   Mo Ran had smiled from where he sat on the gilded seat adorned with dragon and phoenix, meant for the master of Rufeng Sect. Beneath dark lashes,

his eyes swept across the throngs of people; ordinary disciples aside, there were six or seven city lords and more than a dozen generals, all of them prostrating on the dusty ground and trembling.

A crow circled in the ashen grey sky above banners the color of blood,

cawing. Mo Ran lifted a nonchalant hand: "Kill them all." Before death, Ye Wangxi had said: "There is not a single man in all the seventy cities of Rufeng."   Blood splattered across the air.

Mo Ran held in his arms his newest acquisition, the beautiful Song Qiutong,

her loveliness unparalleled, delicate body trembling nonstop at the hellish scene before her.

"Don't be afraid, there's a good girl. You'll be staying with this Venerable One from now on." Mo Ran stroked her hair, smiling, "Come, tell me your name again? What did you do at Rufeng Sect? I forgot what you said earlier." "This one's name is... Song Qiutong." Her voice was frightened, "I was... I was Ye Wangxi's... maid..."   Ye Wangxi's maid. That's what she had told Mo Ran back then.

As for how Song Qiutong, a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast, had been allowed into Rufeng Sect, and how she became Ye Wangxi's maid, Mo Ran had no idea.

Until today, at the Xuanyuan Pavilion after rebirth, when he finally realized that it was Ye Wangxi who paid an exorbitant sum to save her from the clutches of danger.

But hardly anyone knew that a large part of the reason why Ye Wangxi was finally defeated by Mo Ran was thanks to information divulged by Song Qiutong.

The thought made Mo Ran scowl, the loathing he felt toward Song Qiutong growing even deeper——he must have been out of his mind to think this woman was anything like Shi Mei.

"The last item of this auction is a masterless holy weapon." The Second Pavilion Master's pleasant voice interrupted Mo Ran's thoughts, "Put up for auction on behalf of a third party." There were always some rumors floating around before each auction session as to what kind of precious treasures will be up for sale. Thus, in contrast to the wild reaction to the "Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast" earlier, the gathered crowd of cultivators, although antsy still, actually settled down a bit.

The white jade lotus bloomed once again, and the stone platform rose slowly, carrying a satin case embellished in silver with celestial bodies and elegant landscapes.

The satin case was slim and intricately embroidered, and anyone in the know could tell with a single glance that the fine needlework came from the famed embroidery house of Gusu, XianYun Pavilion. The holy weapon aside, just this case alone was worth hundreds in gold.

"This holy weapon was found at the burial mound on the Jun Mountain. Its former master had passed, and we at Xuanyuan Pavilion have verified that it has yet to take a new master." The Second Pavilion Master paused before continuing, "As everyone knows, a holy weapon's name is engraved on its body.

However, time has worn away the inscription on this holy weapon, and only one character remains discernible—Gui [Return]."   Someone muttered: "Enough prattling, open the box already." "Aiyo, let it be, you'll get used to it, Xuanyuan Pavilion always goes at it like this. Gotta talk it up before showing us the goods." "I guess."   Amused by the chatter, Mo Ran turned toward Chu Wanning to quip about it,

only to see Chu Wanning's face pale as frost, his sword-straight eyebrows tight and strained as slender fingers of cold jade pressed against his temple. Startled,

he hurriedly asked: "Shizun, you okay?" "Suddenly... suddenly don't feel so good." "Don't feel good how? Did you catch another cold?" Mo Ran scooted over and felt his forehead, "Your temperature's fine." "..." Chu Wanning shook his head without saying anything, looking all out of sorts.

Unsure what else to do, Mo Ran offered: "I'll pour you some tea." He filled a cup with steaming tea, paused, then added a bit of the just-purchased Tapir Fragrance Dew.

Sage Hanlin's medicines were renowned the world over, and Chu Wanning indeed seemed better after drinking the tea mixed with Tapir Fragrance Dew,

some color coming back to his face as he turned his attention back to the auction downstairs. Mo Ran tidied up the tea set and poured him another cup.

"Although there is no way to know this holy weapon's full name, since the stars have aligned to bring it back into the world, and its inscription already contains the word gui [return], Xuanyuan Pavilion has named it 'Guilai' [To Return] for the time being."   Someone in the crowd finally lost his patience, yelling: "Pavilion Master,

you've talked it up enough, we're quite built up, open the box and let's have a look at the holy weapon itself already." The Second Pavilion Master smiled: "All things in due time, Xianjun. In accordance with the laws of the cultivation world, when the master of a holy weapon passes, the weapon shall be inherited by his blood heirs. 'Guilai' was found at a burial mound, and we have no way of knowing its original master's identity. However, once the case is opened, all present are welcome to reach out with their spiritual energy and test the weapon; if it resonates with someone, that will mean that the person is of the original master's bloodline, and 'Guilai' will naturally belong to that person, free of charge."

"Hahaha, as if something that coincidental could ever happen."

The gathered cultivators burst into laughter.

"That's right, what are the chances." "Might as well try it tho, can't hurt." The Second Pavilion Master beamed at the crowd and agreed crispy:

"Indeed, it can't hurt to try your luck. Now then, if I can ask for your attention, we will be removing the lid." She snapped her fingers, and a pair of Guyue'ye disciples, both young girls of around fifteen or sixteen, approached from either side. They flew up and landed gracefully on the lotus platform, and placed their slender, jade-like hands on the satin case. Each had an intricate crystal key that they inserted carefully into the keyholes on the case.

There were two clicks, and the case unlocked.

Watching the scene before him, Mo Ran found himself thinking back to when he had acquired Jiangui at Jincheng Lake. It was clearly said then that only "one's most beloved person in the world" could open Ever-Yearning, but for some reason the brocade box had opened in Chu Wanning's hands.

The audience held their breath, countless eyes staring from underneath hooded cloaks at that narrow box. The gold embroidered lid opened slowly as the very air in the room strained with tension like a bow pulled to the limit, and despite the thousands of people present, it was so quiet that even the sound of a single hair falling to the ground could be heard.

Every single person was staring unblinkingly at the ancient blade revealed inside the box, aged by time. Some greedily, some curiously, some appreciatively...

Only Mo Ran's eyes flew wide open the instant he saw the weapon lying in the box, all color draining rapidly from his face.

He had lived two lifetimes, owned two holy weapons, and crossed blades with over a dozen other wielders of holy weapons. He had thought that he wouldn't care for whatever holy weapon the Xuanyuan Pavilion was selling.

But he was wrong.

"Holy weapon Guilai." The Second Pavilion Master's crisp voice shattered the silence, "A long blade, four feet in length, three inches in width.

Scabbardless, with a body of pure black that does not reflect." Mo Ran's fingertips trembled minutely as two words slipped past his lips.

"Bu'gui..."        [No Return] No Return...

Affairs of the past upon vermilion bridge in emerald green;

Another year goes but still you do not return.   —— "Mo Ran, now that you have your own holy weapon, why do you ask me to seal its spiritual cognizance, rather than give it a name?"   "To answer Shizun, this disciple is uncultured, and there's only one chance to name it. I worry that I'll pick a bad name and be stuck with it."   "A-Ran, have you still not decided on a name for your long blade yet? Surely you can't just keep calling it 'blade' this 'blade' that."

"It's fine, it's fine, I'm just taking my time thinking about it. It's a holy weapon,

after all, it deserves a super awesome name, hahaha." Then, Shi Mei had died.

Mo Ran wanted Chu Wanning to release the seal so that he could name his holy weapon "Mingjing." But at that time, Chu Wanning had said that his spiritual energy was still corrupted from the fight against the ghost realm, and he truly did not have the strength to release the sealing spell, so he could only leave it at that.

Later, Mo Ran and Chu Wanning completely severed relations, and Mo Ran was loath to ask him about the unsealing anymore. And so the bloodstained long blade remained nameless through all those years and countless battles. But it no longer mattered; not a soul in the world was unaware of Mo Weiyu and the hellish blade in his hand that fed on blood and hatred.

In the end.

Chu Wanning died as well.

And the name-sealing spell that had been on Mo Ran's blade for more than a decade disappeared with him.

That night, Mo Ran downed copious amounts of pear blossom wine. A bit tipsy, he ran his hand along the ice-cold body of the blade, no longer able to tell if what he felt was ecstasy or sorrow. He flicked it and listened to the reverberations from within like the sound of drums and horns on the battlefield,

like a haitang chilled to the bone. He lay on the roof of Wushan Palace, laughing uncontrollably, from delighted to deranged.

He couldn't remember if he had shed any tears that night, only that, when he woke in the morning, the long blade that had gone nameless for over a decade had been engraved with two clear-cut characters.

"Bu'gui." You will not return.

Ever again.

But why did the weapon that had accompanied him through countless battles in the last lifetime appear in this reborn world, and how did it end up at YuanXuan Pavilion's auction?!

Before Mo Ran could think on it further, all the thousands of cultivators at the auction house released streams of spiritual energies, each rushing to commune with Bu'gui.

Mo Ran: "..." There's no use. Since it was Bu'gui, and since Mo Ran was here, there definitely wouldn't be another person in the world who could command this long blade.

But did its appearance have something to do with that little bastard hiding behind the scenes? If so, then for him to release Bu'gui into the world at this time meant that he knew that Mo Ran and Chu Wanning were trying to track him down, and that his goal wasn't to test for other spiritual essences.

Then what was he trying to do?!

And also, was this Bu'gui real? Or was it merely bait, like those fakes at Jincheng Lake?

Mind filled with questions, Mo Ran reached out with a tendril of his own spiritual energy.

If Bu'gui wasn't a fake, then it will surely resonate with him. The resonance can't be too obvious, to avoid notice, so, just a little bit…...

He had only just released the tiniest thread of spiritual energy when a faint groan came from behind him.

"...Shizun?!"   Mo Ran whipped his head around to find Chu Wanning collapsed at the table, brows locked and lips blue, snow white robes spread out like smoke, his handsome face paler than frost. He had actually passed out, eyes screwed shut like some chronic illness was flaring up.

Mo Ran never would have expected something like this to happen out of the blue; he panicked, pulling back his spiritual energy and running to Chu Wanning's side, cradling him in his arms: "Shizun, what's wrong?!"