Admit Silent Defeat Without a Choice, Who Made Him Feel Conceited?
A lively Spring Festival followed New Year’s Eve. During this ‘holiday’, it was forbidden to go into seclusion until the festival ended on the fifteenth day of the first month.
Originally, the House of Jade forbade the disciples to visit other disciples’ residences, but the rule was temporarily lifted during the Spring Festival.
Hence, Fan Xi’s almost daily visit at the Lively Spring Garden was to stay with Su Yang and enjoy the snow and flowers, or to pester him to go out of the garden and play.
Su Yang felt that since this man was, after all, the Young Master’s number one lackey, it was not wise to refuse Fan Xi every time. He followed Fan Xi to the open training ground to ‘play’ several times, using his mastery in the Divide Lotus Technique and making people cry out in pain.
Strangely, besides Fan Xi, Xu Yunzhan also invited him for tea or to play chess more frequently. Su Yang ruthlessly turned him down several times, but this didn’t faze Xu Yunzhan. He even brought his own tea leaves and hot water to discuss with Su Yang the differences in various martial arts techniques.
When the fifteenth day of the first month arrived, Su Yang immediately announced his seclusion because he got annoyed with all the random ‘drop ins’ from his fellow disciples, and locked himself in the garden.
Time slipped away quietly and quickly.
The plum tree blossomed and withered in the Lively Spring Garden, the peaches and the pears withered one after another as the lavender lilac bloomed again.
As if summer came earlier this year, a few of the lotus flowers in the small courtyard already started to open. When Su Yang broke through the fifth glacier of the Blooming of the Nine Glacials, it happened to be on his one-year anniversary at the House of Jade.
Only then did he realise he had missed his birthday—if he used the lunar calendar like how the people in this era would, his birthday was six days ago.
According to his original age outside of the script, it was his twenty-second birthday. However, in the script, he was stuck in the body of an eighteen-year-old brat.
Whatever, it wasn’t like celebrating his birthday was important. But what was important was the day he broke through the fifth glacier. Shizun kicked him out of seclusion again with a message from the little, green bird.
And this time, Shizun probably wanted to punish him, a seclusion-aholic who did not interact with other disciples, by including an assignment with her message.
—Starting today, he must go to the open training ground daily and do battle against his martial siblings at least three times a day. Didn’t matter if he wins or loses, he must have completed one hundred battles wholeheartedly before he could go back to seclusion.
Su Yang: “...”
Alright, you are the boss of this place.
So he had no other choice but to begin his time killing at the training ground, challenging anyone he could catch, and trying to complete his annoying assignment as soon as possible.
With the improvement of his combat skills, his opponents gradually changed from disciples of the same generation to his seniors like Mo Shixiong, Li Shijie, or Di Ling Shijie.
Time slowly passed away in a tranquil, but not at all dull, manner in his new martial arts life.
At the end of both summer and autumn, Su Yang broke through the sixth glacier, and he even found a new ancient sword technique manual called Gliding Blossom Art in the Pavilion of Infinite Knowledge, with which, bit by bit, he could fight on equal terms with Li Shijie on the training ground.
The little, green bird brought a letter from the master. The content gave insight on Gu Feidi’s training. Besides studying the Scarlet Feather Phoenix Tree, he was also advancing his Flying Kite Technique by integrating it with his current mental skill.
Gone with winter and in came spring.
Su Yang successfully broke through the eighth glacier. Like Gu Feidi, he also integrated his favourite dance, Drunkard’s Drooping Whip, into his own sword technique, Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash. He then defeated Mo Shixiong at the beginning of the peach blossom season.
Shizun’s letter brought more news regarding Gu Feidi—he completely mastered the Scarlet Feather Phoenix Tree and the Flying Kite Technique. Right now, he was constructing a new martial art technique, Returning of Waterfowl Technique.
It was not until the lotus in the Lively Spring Garden once again spat out its pointed flower buds, that Su Yang noticed that this was his second year in the House of Jade.
—It was in this year’s autumn that the False Tomb of the Sacred Swords plot triggered at the wasteland. He had little time to continue idling at the House of Jade. He must go back to Evil Sect to prepare.
In the afternoon of that day, he awakened from his meditation and felt the abundant internal energy in his meridians, unlike the day prior—unexpectedly, he, without realising it, broke through the Blooming of the Nine Glacials completely. In these short two years, he mastered the mental skill.
He felt a faint chill from his internal energy swimming within his body and thought back to the day at the Mirror Jade Lake. Although he accidentally stole the plot at the Hidden Pearl Pavilion, he also gained the Apparition, which helped him break through the mental skill in such a short time.
It was time for him to graduate from the House of Jade.
He clenched his fists and gave himself a cheer. Time to set forth to the training ground and challenge the one person he hasn't defeated—Di Ling Shijie!
Di Ling slowly raised her head from her newest novel and gazed at him with a pair of lax eyes. She nodded, picked up her feet, and entered the stage.
That night
“Owie! Ouch! That hurts!!”
Su Yang was lying on his stomach on the bed. He waved his hand to slap Fan Xi’s wrist, crying in pain, “Gently! Are you putting medicine on me or trying to kill me?!”
Fan Xi chuckled. “Young Master, your way of thinking always amuses me. It was fine to challenge Ling Shijie, but to specifically request her to not be merciful? Training in the House of Jade for two years, you should have known how powerful she is. Even Wang Ke Shixiong couldn’t defeat her.”
Su Yang gritted his teeth and complained, “She is a BUG!”
“...What weird word are you inventing now?” Fan Xi was confused by the English word, “Ling Shijie was taught by Shizun herself. Rumour has it the year she started training in the Hidden Pearl Pavilion, she was a blind girl that could only distinguish others' position by sound. A few years later, she exited the pavilion and returned to the House of Jade. This itself was a miracle. Have you not paid attention to her amazing achievements in the past two years? Why did you still dare to challenge her without a handicap?”
Su Yang muttered during Fan Xi’s rant, unable to rebuke and could only admit silent defeat.
He pouted, sulking. Who was the one that made him feel conceited?
Fan Xi added, “Now Gu Feidi has the opportunity to train with Shizun in the Hidden Pearl Pavilion. In the future, he will surely soar high to the sky like a kiteWhen you see the word ‘kite’, think of the bird of prey kite, not the toy kite. Same with Flying Kite Technique.
. With the hostility between the two of you, it’s better if you are careful.”
Su Yang curled his lip. “He and I will eventually have a fight, but for you, chasing after Pu Lingyun daily. Are you not afraid of the wrath that the Tengyun Pavilion will bring upon your Qinglian Sect?”
Fan Xi sneered, “How could I not know? Tengyun Pavilion completely disregards my Qinglian Sect. But because of the brutal hopelessness of love, and with no solution in mind, I could only tell myself to just daydream of a future with her. Now I tell myself it’s better to cherish the time we have here, without our ties outside the wall...”
Su Yang sighed and patted Fan Xi on the shoulder, not knowing how to cheer up his friend.
Pu Lingyun as the heroine of Arch-Rivals, her fate was set in stone. She would be married to Gu Feidi. Fan Xi, as a minor supporting role, may only be hurt by his love in the end. If he accidentally let the protagonist learn of his feelings, Gu Feidi might come after his life.
Thinking of that, Su Yang suddenly was at a loss.
In the script, what happened to Fan Xi? He couldn’t remember clearly. He didn’t even know whether Fan Xi was killed or not.
Now being friends for two years, thinking of how many people in the script would die in various conflicts, and thinking how his fellow disciple mates who have been with him for two years will be in the centre of the conflict. He felt…a sense of fear.
He, as the Evil Sect’s Young Master, was bound to die. Then Fan Xi, as his number one lackey, would probably die. In addition, Xu Yunzhan gave up his life protecting Gu Feidi in the final battle to wipe out the Evil Sect. He expected that would be a doom decided by fate for Gu Feidi’s companion detailed in the plot...
These characters, for him, were originally only cold words on paper, and should not affect him emotionally. However, during these two years together, even if not that long, it was enough for them to take up spaces in his heart and evolved from ‘just words’ to their own individual ‘people’.
“Young Master?”
Fan Xi waved his hand in front of his face.
Seeing he got Su Yang’s attention, he beamed. “Are you tired? I finished putting on the medicine. I will take my leave now, please have a good rest.”
Su Yang said goodbye to Fan Xi and watched him leave. He buried his face in the pillow in frustration.
As expected, he needed to leave here as soon as possible and return to the Evil Sect. He thought: ‘This is the only way to distance myself from others, so as not to disturb them and put me at ease.’
Just now, someone knocked gently at the door.
Su Yang draped his robe over himself and straightened it out. He sat upright and let the visitor in.
Di Ling walked in and said, “You have made great progress in today’s battle. Now you have completed your Blooming of the Nine Glacials mental skill training, you can leave any time as you officially finished your apprenticeship.”
He didn’t expect her to be so straight to the point.
Although he had planned to leave as soon as possible, now, the opportunity was really presented to him, for him to grab anytime. He hesitated in confusion. Anxiety filled his heart.
For this short moment, an idea that he never considered before had appeared—if he could stay in the House of Jade and live in such a simple and safe environment for a lifetime, and ignore the upcoming conflict in the Jianghu. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Although he only came to this world for merely two years, he already established a comfortable space here. In fact, to leave such a life now would take all of his courage.
He stayed silent for a long time, before finally bit his lip and asked, “When can I leave?”
“Any time.” Di Ling answered. “If you want to recuperate here, you should wait for a few days. But I can tell you are eager to leave, I assume it has something to do with your Yantan Divine Sect. If you like, you can leave as early as tomorrow.”
As if he was afraid that he would regret it, he immediately replied, “I will leave tomorrow!”
“Alright.” She nodded.
The next morning, before daybreak. Su Yang packed up his luggage and placed a volume of Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash on his desk, which he wrote himself as a thank you gift for the House of Jade.
After he greeted Di Ling, he prepared to leave the mountain straight from the Lively Spring Garden.
He had no intention of saying goodbye to anyone, because he planned to set the plot back the moment he left the House of Jade, starting with cutting off all contact with everyone here—including Fan Xi.
Fan-Er was just a dispensable lackey, so even if he shifted his part to a petal retainer, it shouldn’t affect the direction of the plot too much. Rather than dragging him down during the extermination of the Evil Sect in the future, it was better to cut their relationship cleanly off as early as possible.
Su Yang walked all the way to the cliff opposite the Tree Stump Platform, thinking, ‘I am an emotionless actor. I am the Evil Sect’s Young Master. I don’t need to have any involvement with these people.’
Repeating this in his head like a broken record, he stepped on the iron chain bridge leading to the platform.
“Su Yang—!”
Suddenly, someone called his name behind him.
He paused. In the end, he sighed and turned back slowly.
Fan Xi and Pu Lingyun came forward side by side.
Fan Xi said with a smile, “Young Master, why are you leaving without saying farewell? Fortunately, Li Shijie reminded us yesterday, otherwise, we wouldn’t have made it.”
Pu Lingyun became more collected after the incident at the Mirror Jade Lake. She stood upright beside Fan Xi and insisted, “In spite of the fact that we came from different backgrounds, we underwent training as peers for a long time. Now you are leaving us, whatever the case, the least we can do is say farewell. See you off with a ‘please take care of yourself’ too.”
Su Yang looked at the two, unable to come up with a reply.
During his time staring, several figures joined from afar.
Chi Tong patted Su Yang on the shoulder and said with a smirk, “Did the little beauty plan to sneak away? Without informing us? Isn’t that a bit too inappropriate?”
Luo Yin followed his master without saying a word. Although he didn’t speak, he looked at Su Yang with a dignified look and nodded to him.
Mo Shixiong and Ling Shijie also came forward slowly, but still staying at a distance. They watched the group with a faint smile on their faces.
This entire event stunned Su Yang. He dizzily said goodbye to everyone, even saying some incoherent words without realising.
Finally, when he was able to step on the iron chain bridge toward the foothills of the House of Jade’s mountain, he only felt that this world seemed more and more unreal.
As he looked back at the distant, solitary mountain that looked to be touching the sky. He made up his mind and turned to leave.
"Wait!"
When he was able to step into the stone forest array, a voice came from behind him. From far away, mixed with rapid breathing.
That person said, "...Su Yang!"
i feel so bad for su yang, he has to pretend to be a cold character when he’s really just a spoiled baby 🙁