Chapter 4 (2/2)

s.h.i.+ Wuduan feels it is not easy to get this opportunity, so he whole-heartedly wants to show off in front of Bai Li. Just now when the 'San Lian Shu' could not be done, he pretends to brush it off but in the depths of his heart he felt a little disappointed, so he immediately arranges the most advanced star calculation technique of the Mi sect that he knows of 'Jiu Xing Ceng Di s.h.i.+'(*).

(*) lit. formula of the ninth star level

Legend has it this calculation technique has thousands upon thousands of variations, all of them capable of revealing heaven's secrets. Even though in this discipline s.h.i.+ Wuduan can be called an outstanding talent, he is still young and just learns of the technique as well. Right now, in front of the little girl that he likes, he has long thrown away the caution words ”This arrangement is very dangerous, you would be looking directly at the heaven's secrets, under normal circ.u.mstance you cannot use it at will” to the winds.

Bai Li does not understand star calculation technique, but seeing the strange behaviour of that constellation table, and looking up to see that the rain has since eased up and should have stopped already, but the sky is becoming increasingly dark. Thunders rumble across from afar, seemingly carrying a warning from the nine layers of heaven, so he cannot be ignorant of the gravity of this situation.

The jade sparrow flares out its wings and flaps them with all its strength to call s.h.i.+ Wuduan's attention, loud noises screeching from its throat.

Once that fearless, stupid nature of him arises, s.h.i.+ Wuduan has never paid attention to anything else, he seems blind and deaf to the weather-changing thunders outside. The closer he is to calculating the critical point, the more he frowns. He feels like he has never touched on a destiny so complex and tumultuous. Normal mortals only have one destiny star, but somehow Bai Li has two, their orbits tangling in each other, drawing an eerie line in the middle, making him sink deeper into it the more he calculates.

The stars on the constellation tablet swirl at higher and higher speed, the star threads almost wrapping around his entire arm.

Observing that the thunder is sounding more and more aggressive, one lightning strike almost blowing off the entrance, and blinding him in white light, Bai Li does not dare to wait anymore. At this moment, from the fingers from the little, lanky lady such as 'her' grows a metallic glint. With one flip of his hand, in a blink of an eye all the star threads that are as tough as metal immediately are slashed. He throws forward with his whole body to embrace s.h.i.+ Wuduan and roll away.

Right at this instant, a lightning strike shatters Bai Li's boundary and aims accurately at the place by the fire that the two of them have been sitting previously. The star threads on the constellation tablet are all lit up by that lightning; they suddenly withdraw to the tablet, where the stars glow intensely, and for one moment they are on equal footing with that lightning bolt.

Only then does s.h.i.+ Wuduan realizes he messes up, dazedly allowing Bai Li to grab onto his shoulders. Once his eyesight recovers from the glare of the white light, he sees now that the lightning bolt has struck a very long hole into the stone cave, the ground cracking right up to near his ankle, the ground all still shaking.

The star threads on his hand fell down to the ground, dried and without any life force, the calculations on the ground have been wiped more than half away by the wind and rain. The jade sparrow jumps on his shoulders and violently pecks him on the forehead. s.h.i.+ Wuduan uses one hand to cover his forehead, while the other he unconsciously use to pat Bai Li on the back, his mouth saying ”don't be afraid don't be afraid” while the expression on his face still looks dazed, like he has not yet recovered mentally.

Bai Li pushes his hand away, formally kneels down and bows to the northern skies, saying: ”The little one is full of ignorance, has offended heaven, star G.o.ds please quell your anger.”

Then he pushes s.h.i.+ Wuduan's head with force. s.h.i.+ Wuduan yelps 'ow', but he does not dare to resist, so he follows: ”G.o.ds grandpas I'm wrong, please don't strike lightning anymore, you're making my wifey scared ...”

At that, he feels Bai Li's hand behind his head use even more force, pressing down on the head s.h.i.+ Wuduan plans to lift up, so the rest of his sentence is stuck in his throat.

It takes a long while later before the thunders weaken, flatten out, the black clouds also dispersing. Only then does Bai Li breathe a sigh of relief, let s.h.i.+ Wuduan go, glaring at him only to see this little devil fearfully looks up at him with a flattering look. The little bit of anger in his heart that makes Bai Li wants to strangle him suddenly cannot help but fades away in half.

s.h.i.+ Wuduan sees that his expression is not happy, so he embarra.s.sedly moves forward, tugging on Bai Li's sleeves: ”Xiao Li Zi, I'm wrong, don't ignore me ...”

Bai Li coldly side-eyes him, then looks down, his face mad, not wanting to look at him anymore.

”Aiya,” s.h.i.+ Wuduan scratches his head, sighing like an adult, then says: ”When s.h.i.+fu taught me this he also helped me set up a barrier. He told me to use the rare birds he raised in the backyard to practice, but there has never been such a huge commotion. Xiao Li Zi, I saw that the two stars in your fate is so rare, there's even a thread puncturing through the Heaven Gate. Just then I got stuck calculating that part, I had zero ideas on how to solve it. Just when I found out some clues, the thunder already came, it's obviously warning me to not see ...”

Bai Li is startled, lifting his head to look at him. s.h.i.+ Wuduan is frowning, a finger supporting his chin, on this stubborn child's face there is currently an unspeakable sense of formality.

But then, he sees the contemplating s.h.i.+ Wuduan shake his head, then with very open thinking, taps on his own chest and says: ”It's ok, you don't have to be afraid. I'm here, I'll protect you.”

He just finished his sentence when he suddenly turns his head to sneezes really loudly. Somewhat embarra.s.sed, he turns away to wipe his nose, putting effort into making a clown-ish face. He puts up that 'once I'll clean up my snot I'll be a man again' aura and lifts his chin so he can seem a bit taller and broader.

Bai Li sighs, feeling that last bit of anger in his chest all dissipating, and does not know what to do. He inwardly thinks, when can this little idiot grow up?

Pondering, he looks again at that little body of s.h.i.+ Wuduan, seeming to feel some sorrow from this current pleasure.

The sky finally becomes clear again. s.h.i.+ Wuduan then shoulders his luggage, holds the struggling jade sparrow under his arm, and says goodbye to Bai Li who led him to the exit of Cangyun valley. He excitedly skips away among the hoa.r.s.e yelling of the jade sparrow.

Bai Li leans on a stone, staring at the skipping back that refuses to walk like a decent person for a long while, all the way until it can no longer be seen, before turning back into his original male teenage form. He dazedly looks at the golden, glimmering maiden's ribbon on his hand for a while before turning back.

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