Chapter 443 Yi Hongfei x Luo Jining 2

Chapter 443: Yi Hongfei x Luo Jining 2

Penglai is surrounded by the sea on three sides, with only its southern side connected to land. It is extremely close to Weihai—a day's journey by sea with favorable winds, or two days by horseback.

Now that the Eastern Wo had occupied Penglai and were locked in a fierce standoff with Yi Hongfei, neither side yielding an inch nor gaining an advantage. But whenever Yi Hongfei recalled how the Eastern Wo had brazenly seized Penglai when he first arrived in Weihai, it still rankled.

"Those bird-brains only know how to pull sneaky little tricks behind people's backs." Once mounted, Yi Hongfei was in no hurry at all. He lazily wrapped an arm around the slender waist of the man in his arms, nudged the horse's belly with his boot, and let it amble along.

Luo Jining put up a token struggle. He had intended to tell Yi Hongfei about the strange things he had witnessed today, but he couldn't stand how smug the man looked. If the troublemakers hadn't been Wo, Luo Jining wasn't sure which one he'd hate more.

"Didn't you get enough to eat? Hurry up and get home," he urged.

The more he urged, the less hurried Yi Hongfei became. "So eager to get home—missing me already? Wanna get cozy?"

Luo Jining had been teased by Yi Hongfei for so many years that he was almost used to it. "Dreaming in broad daylight—you're something else."

Wait a second...

If they went home this early, was this beast going to drag him into bed again?

"Ahem, how about we take a stroll outside the city instead. The autumn breeze is nice this time of year—we could go to the coast and watch the tide." Luo Jining awkwardly changed the subject.

"Nice?" Yi Hongfei rested his chin on Luo Jining's shoulder and neck, his laughter and warm breath slipping into the other man's ear together. "How nice does my husband want it?"

Luo Jining was totally speechless, convinced the guy was beyond saving. "You really should read more books and swap whatever's in that head of yours for some poetry to refine your character."

Yi Hongfei pulled back slightly, looking thoughtful. "My husband wants to study? Say no more."

Luo Jining: "..." You don't understand jack!

In the end, the two never made it to the beach. Yi Hongfei stayed home and had dinner with Luo Jining. But he still had to head back to camp at night—if the enemy made a move, a night raid could easily wreck morale. Even if he wasn't at camp during the day, he had to be there at night to hold things down.

That night, the moon was a round silver platter, its light spilling like water. Pale, hazy light filtered through the paper window and fell across the bed. The young man mumbled something groggy, burrowed deeper into the blankets, and hid his eyes from the moonlight.

He chuckled softly.

A scarred, calloused hand pulled down the bed curtain. The gray fabric blocked the light, and Luo Jining finally settled down a bit.

Yi Hongfei slipped inside the curtain and gently pulled the blanket down from over his head, revealing the young man's handsome, elegant features beneath.

When he slept, he was so peaceful, like a completely different person...

Yi Hongfei's expression went cold. He suddenly reached out and grabbed Luo Jining's exposed neck, and just as the other was half-awake, leaned in and bit down hard on his lip. The taste of blood was both coppery and sweet—a flavor Yi Hongfei knew well.

A furious curse and the slam of the door happened almost at the same time. Luo Jining, still half-asleep, swore a couple of times and passed back out.

Bitten by a dog so many times, he'd gotten used to it whether he liked it or not.

Both men carried the blood-debt of their entire clans, yet Yi Hongfei and Lezheng Qi were two completely different kinds of men. Lezheng Qi was more cautious and compassionate, chaining himself to his dead family—unwilling to forgive others, and even less willing to forgive himself. Even though he'd grown up with the Crown Prince, he still didn't trust him.

Of course, Yi Hongfei wouldn't easily trust the schemes of imperial hearts either. But he was vicious by nature, with a ruthless streak in his bones—more domineering than even someone as powerful as Qin Jiao—and on top of that, over a decade of battlefield experience and the cunning he'd honed outwitting the Nie family.

Yi Hongfei trusted himself and loved being in control. Luo Jining calling him a beast wasn't without reason.

"Speak."

Moonlight slanted down from the eaves. Yi Hongfei's silver armor glinted coldly in the moonlight, his brow sharp as a cliff, casting a harsh shadow that made him look darker and more unreadable than by day.

Liu'er stood before him and reported quietly: "The Xiang family tried to set up a charity school in the city and got surrounded by a bunch of locals. My husband and I were upstairs. He noticed something off about the white cloth those people were wearing, and then they locked eyes on us too. If the yamen officers hadn't shown up, things could've gone south."

Her husband brought Yi Hongfei's horse over and added, "Could it be tied to the Penglai cult?"

The Penglai cult was what they called it. Its followers called it the Penglai Immortal Sect, claiming it could purify the mind, ward off disaster, and even grant immortality. The reason Penglai had so quietly become a stronghold for the Eastern Wo was that the magistrate's mother was a devotee of this cult. And not just her—the entire population of Penglai worshipped the Penglai Immortal Sect.

It was getting late, and Yi Hongfei needed to leave. He took the reins from his shadow guard and swung onto the horse in one fluid motion, the movement impossibly sharp and practiced. "Let them have their moment of glory—and now they actually dare to extend their claws into my territory?"

Yi Hongfei gave a light tug on the reins and issued one final order before leaving: "Find a way to leak what I found in my study to Ningning. Assign more men to protect him in secret—don't even let him go to the latrine alone."

"Yes!"

—

"On the eastern sea, Penglai's immortal mountain stands, immortals ferry the world past confusion's gates. Sacred flower and sacred water relieve all woes—join our immortal sect and ascend to the skies!"

Luo Jining pinched the handkerchief in his hand. On it was embroidered a sixteen-petaled chrysanthemum in white thread—the craftsmanship was mediocre, but the fabric was fine Luo cloth.

Liu'er and Xiao Qi had brought him to a seaside village outside the city. Xiao Qi poked her head out to look for a moment and asked, "Husband, what are they doing?"

People from neighboring villages had also come to watch the commotion. The three of them, dressed in plain coarse clothing, blended in without standing out.

The dilapidated earth god shrine at the village entrance had been completely renovated. No longer enshrining the stout, humble Earth God, it now housed a white chrysanthemum.

Incense burned thick in the burner. Several large iron cauldrons sat out front, and over twenty cultists in white robes with sixteen-petaled chrysanthemums embroidered on their hems were stirring the contents with large iron ladles. White steam rose in wisps, carrying a strange, sweet fragrance.

Villagers with "protective charms" embroidered on their clothing lined up with bowls in hand, chanting the Penglai Immortal Sect's sacred hymn without pause, their eyes burning with fervor.

Luo Jining frowned. "This is what they're pulling?" He patted Xiao Qi's head. "They're handing out their so-called miracle water that cures everything."

What do ordinary people want most?

Money.

What do they hope for most?

To live a long life.

Someone offers free treatment without asking for money—would you want to try?

Scams work by first exploiting people's greed for small bargains and their curiosity, little by little reeling you into the trap.

Luo Jining was a materialist—he wouldn't believe in any immortal sect no matter what. But he'd heard plenty of these tricks before, and that gave him more sense than these illiterate commoners.

"What miracle water is so amazing it can cure every ailment without even targeting the pathogen? Ha?" Luo Jining laughed at the absurdity. He instructed the beautiful, long-legged woman of the house, "Liu'er, go queue up over there..."

Liu'er nodded, tucked the protective charm into her hem like the villagers did, and took her place at the very end of the line.

"Miracle water's wonderful—drink it and your back stops aching, your legs stop feeling weak..." In the crowd of onlookers, an old man with mud on his trouser legs—clearly just arrived from the fields—wiped sweat from his brow with his sleeve while watching the people receiving holy water with envy.

"Old uncle, have you tried it?" The Penglai Immortal Sect had only recently started making trouble in Weihai, and many people still didn't know what they were up to—they'd just gathered out of curiosity because of the crowd.

"Sure have! Yesterday they came to our village and handed out holy water. After I drank it, all my ailments cleared right up. My soul, before I knew it, floated up to the heavens—hey! I even saw the Queen Mother of the West. She invited me to eat immortal peaches!" The old man began describing his experience with the holy water, each detail more outlandish than the last, drawing a large crowd of fascinated listeners who occasionally gasped in wonder.

Meanwhile, the "holy water" at the earth god shrine continued to be distributed in orderly fashion, when suddenly a commotion erupted in the crowd. A man in coarse clothing burst through, pleading: "Immortal masters, immortal masters! Give me another bowl, just one more! My mother's illness has flared up again!"

"Those whose hearts are not sincere shall not be ferried across by the immortals." The lead Penglai Immortal Sect devotee spoke with solemn gravity and authority.

The man dropped to his knees with a thud, his forehead striking the dirt as rough gravel left a pattern of bloody punctures across his scalp. "I am sincere! More sincere than anyone! Last time I drank the holy water, my mother recovered for three days—three whole days she could get out of bed and walk! I beg the immortal master to grant one more bowl, to let my mother live a while longer!"

The Penglai Immortal Sect devotee merely repeated the same phrase: "Those whose hearts are not sincere shall not be ferried across by the immortals."

They didn't have to say a word—believing villagers stepped up on their own. An elderly woman with white hair had once sought the holy water, and after drinking it, her chronic illnesses vanished, and she felt like she was walking on air. Having lived to such an old age, she'd only ever heard of immortals from old folks' tales pulling off something like that, and from then on, she believed deeply in the Penglai Immortal Sect. "Kid, you're a good son, but the immortal master said only those with sincere hearts may drink the holy water. Your mother is tormented by illness—there's a demon in her heart. Tell her to just devote herself to the immortals, and they'll carry her over."

The man's pant cuffs were worn threadbare, and his knuckles were swollen and gnarled—clearly a farmer who'd done hard labor for years. He had no money to treat his mother's illness and had pinned his hopes on the free holy water. Now that he saw he couldn't get any, his mind was spinning. Hearing the old woman's words, he latched onto it like a lifeline. "Really? Will immortals really carry my mother over?"

"You idiot, once your mother dies, they can just say the immortals took her." Luo Jining finally couldn't hold back a cold laugh.

The villagers watching already thought this so-called Immortal Sect was a bit too good to be true, half-believing, half-doubting. But they all laughed at what Luo Jining said. Right? Once you're dead, who knows if you went to hell or heaven?

"Kid, you shouldn't talk like that." The white-haired old woman was still polite, but the sect's loyal followers had already surrounded Luo Jining, eyes blazing with anger.

"Insult the Immortal Sect and you deserve to die!"

They were Weihai locals, and the Penglai Immortal Sect had only been in Weihai for a few days, yet these people's mindless devotion didn't look like they'd just met the sect. Luo Jining recalled Yi Hongfei saying that Penglai had fallen just like this, and figured Eastern Japanese might be sneaking into Weihai too.

"Who dares lay a hand on our man!"

Xiao Qi stood in front of Luo Jining, sword drawn, and a quick flash of the blade sent many of the gawkers scattering. Luo Jining chased down one of the peddlers selling mountain goods and bought two gray wild rabbits off him.

Seeing that Liu'er had already gotten a bowl of holy water, he curled his lips into a smile and said, "No need to get mad at what I said. Since this holy water's so miraculous, let's just see what it does to these rabbits, right?"

Liu'er got it right away, grabbed a rabbit, and started pouring the holy water down its throat.

Luo Jining reminded him, "Half is enough."

A human dose was way too much for a rabbit—even less would've done it—but right now, the more they poured, the better the show.

After Liu'er fed the rabbit the concoction, Xiao Qi, with his baby face, swung his sword and severed one of the rabbit's hind legs, blood gushing from the wound. The villagers, used to slaughtering chickens and pigs, saw nothing unusual. Liu'er and Xiao Qi, trained in martial arts, remained expressionless. Only Luo Jining twitched at the corner of his eye.

The rabbit with the severed leg was set on the ground. At first, it lay limp and weak, but after three breaths, it suddenly stood up on its three remaining legs. Not only did it stand, but it also ran forward as if nothing had happened, blood splattering along the way from its wounded leg—a truly eerie sight.

Seeing this, the immortal master of the Penglai Immortal Sect shouted, "Holy flower and holy water relieve peril; join our Immortal Sect and ascend to heaven together!"

The devoted villagers fell to their knees instantly, eyes burning with fervor. "Holy flower and holy water relieve peril; join our Immortal Sect and ascend to heaven together!"

Luo Jining crouched down to look at the rabbit. It ran more and more frantically, seemingly without direction, circling within a confined space. Its three legs propelled it faster than an ordinary wild hare, blood droplets trailing in a broken red line. As it passed near the ash pile before the earth temple, it suddenly seemed to expend all its strength—its body stiffened and toppled over, its three-lipped mouth twitching upward into a bizarre curve, as if it were smiling.

"Good grief, 'Laughing Half-Step to Madness'?" Luo Jining clicked his tongue.

"See that? This holy water is just a painkiller—it numbs the body's pain, but doesn't cure the injury. Once the effect wears off, the pain will come back." Luo Jining stood up, his gaze sweeping over the villagers still kneeling and murmuring prayers. "After you drank the holy water, didn't the pain come back after a few days, even worse than before?"

The man begging for holy water was the first to react, his eyes still somewhat dazed. "But the immortal master said it's because our hearts aren't sincere, so the immortals only watch over us for three days. If we sincerely join the Holy Sect, we can live long lives."

"Long lives?" Luo Jining scoffed, taking the now-stiff rabbit from Liu'er's hands and lifting it by the ears for all to see. "Look at this rabbit—it drank the holy water, felt no pain from its severed leg, and ran faster than anyone. But is it truly healed?"

The eerie curve at the rabbit's mouth hadn't faded, looking especially chilling in the sunlight. Some in the crowd stepped back, whispering among themselves.

"I heard from Er Gou's mother that her mother-in-law died smiling after drinking the holy water, and they said she was taken up to heaven by immortals. Could it be... she was poisoned to death?"

"Sinister, too sinister..."

"But they don't want money—what could they want from us poor farmers?"

"True."

"I'll trust the immortal master anyway. He cured my wife, and the clinic doctor would've charged three hundred wen for that!"

Not charging money was the key point—because it was free, it seemed all the more credible.

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