野荷塘

Chapter 78

Ch 78 ~ Side Story: Feng Lai (Beginning)

Editor & Translator: Sonrisa t.n.t

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A loud noise sounded, and the underground rooms suddenly trembled, as if an extremely hot air wave was washed out from the depths. Liu Yu’s figure slanted to the side, therefore, she had to hold onto the wall so as not to fall to the ground. When the tremor subsided, the disciples behind her were all whispering, making a guess at what type of demon beasts the Demon Sovereign made this time, which caused such a big shift at the beginning of its birth. Everyone was deeply worried and gravely disheartened.

Liu Yu glanced at them, but kept silent and moved forward. She pushed open the sturdy wooden door, and the next path was only available to those who had obtained permission to walk on it.

In the passageway, there was a torch burning. Maybe it was probably Liu Yu’s imagination, but she thought that the flame was burning brighter today than before. She walked to the end of the passageway toward the stone door that was tightly closed. Liu Yu raised her hand and lightly knocked on the knocker. In a moment, the stone door collapsed with a loud rumble, and Liu Yu was stunned. A dazzling light in the room shone through the thick dust, so blindingly that Liu Yu could not help but squint her eyes slightly.

“It’s done! Hahaha! It’s finally done! It’s finally done!”

Liu Ming’s hoarse voice carried an almost insane joy, while the silhouette of his back was somewhat terrifying in the blazing light. Liu Yu slowly walked to his side: “Master…” She looked past Liu Ming’s body and saw that the room was in disarray. The pill furnace was toppled over and there were flames burning everywhere. In the firelight, a young child was standing quietly. His eyes were closed as if he was asleep. He looked to be about six or seven years old and was pretty much the same as any other child, but there were just burning flames around him.

Liu Yu was slightly startled: “Master… This is?”

“Feng Lai.” Liu Ming’s eyes contained a burning light. He grinned, “His name is Feng Lai.”

Liu Ming stepped forward, walked through the fire, stopped in front of Feng Lai, and carried him out of the sea of ????fire. Feng Lai was still fast asleep, Liu Ming looked at him with a strange smile: “With him, I can make more demon beasts and I don’t have to worry about not being able to control them. I just need to control this child.”

Such a small child… Was the demon beast that the master used all his strength to refine?

“But he hasn’t awakened yet.” Liu Ming shoved Feng Lai into Liu Yu’s arms, “You take him back to lie down first, while I check if there’s anything wrong.” After saying that, he went back into the still burning room to search for answers.

Liu Yu stared blankly at Liu Ming, then looked at the child in her arms. Finally, she released a sigh and accepted the order.

From underground, she walked out of the stone palace with the child in her arms. Behind her, the disciples were all pointing in her direction, some said that the master was crazy, while others just shook their heads and sighed. Liu Yu ignored it all, she simply took Feng Lai back to her room. Looking at the child’s tender face, Liu Yu also felt that the master was no longer normal. Such a puny child, there was no way that he could control those demon beasts.

When she was just thinking about it, she suddenly saw the child’s eyelids move slightly. Liu Yu moved closer and stared at him distractedly. The child opened his eyes, and her face was clearly reflected in a pair of red pupils.

“Feng Lai?” Liu Yu saw her smile reflected in his pupils in full bloom. The child’s eyes were even clearer than the water in a creek, “My name is Liu Yu.”

Feng Lai blinked at her, as if he did not understand what she was saying. Liu Yu pondered for a while, thinking that since this child was created by the master, he should be like a baby. He did not understand the world at all, so he possibly could not understand her words.

Liu Yu wanted to get up and pour him a cup of tea, but before she could even take a step, one of her sleeves was suddenly held taut. Unprepared, Liu Yu was stunned, then she asked with a smile, “What’s wrong?”

Feng Lai said nothing.

Maybe…It was the fear of being alone. As Liu Yu thought about it, she bent down and picked him up from the bed. Dazedly, Feng Lai allowed her to pick him up and subconsciously wrapped his arms around Liu Yu’s neck. He turned his head and breathed onto Liu Yu’s cheeks.

Liu Yu carried him to the table and sat down. She allowed Feng Lai to sit on her lap. Then she picked up a cup, poured him tea, and brought the cup up to Feng Lai’s mouth: “Want to drink tea?”

The fragrant smell drifted into Feng Lai’s nose. He blinked, and his eyes finally moved away from Liu Yu’s face, landing on the green-colored tea. He opened his mouth and carefully gave it a taste. The taste took him by surprise. His eyes widened and fell on Liu Yu’s face again.

Liu Yu smiled: “Tea.” She taught him, “This is tea (chá).”

“Explode (zhá)?”

“Tea (chá).”

“Wipe (cā)…”

“No, it’s tea (chá).”

“Tea (chá).”

Listening to him saying it right after a while, Liu Yu was also surprised: “You’re so smart.”

“So smart.”

Liu Yu rubbed his head. When they were chatting happily, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a visitor with a gloomy face stepped into the room, almost asking in a questioning tone: “What kind of demon beast has the master refined again?!”

The smile on Liu Yu’s face subsided slightly. She touched Feng Lai’s head and said softly, “Senior Sister.”

Shen Mu Yue said angrily before entering the room: “Doesn’t he know how many people of the Demon Clan have been injured by those monsters before?! Doesn’t he know how many soldiers have died because they went to catch those demon beasts?!” She walked around the screen and saw Liu Yu holding a child with strange-colored eyes in her arms. She was startled, “Whose child is this?”

Liu Yu was silent for a moment, and then sighed: “This is the new demon beast that the master just refined.”

For a moment, Shen Mu Yue was stunned, then suddenly, she became furious: “That’s absurd!” She flicked one of her sleeves, and the strength released from her sleeve shattered the screen. After the noise settled down, the room was extremely quiet. Shen Mu Yue calmly looked at Liu Yu, “You still plan to continue to help him?”

Liu Yu was silent.

When Shen Mu Yue did not hear an answer, her face turned ashen and she slammed the door on her way out.

The shards of the screen were all over the place, Liu Yu just sat there, a little out of strength, feeling unspeakably oppressive inside her heart. Actually… She did not even question her master at that time. Still, the number of demon beasts was beyond their control nowadays. Instead of trying to destroy the demon beasts in other ways, it was better to follow along with the master’s plan by creating a more powerful demon beast and having him control them…

Before she was able to completely think about the troubling matters in her heart, Liu Yu suddenly felt warmth on her eyebrows. Feng Lai’s small fingers gently landed on her frown, he rubbed it for a bit and flattened those wrinkles.

For a moment, Liu Yu was stunned, but then she smiled: “I’m alright.” She held Feng Lai’s hand and thought helplessly, the master made such a child like this… How could she be at ease letting this child deal with so many demon beasts?

Feng Lai seemed to like Liu Yu very much. He was always sticking close to her side and refusing to come down. When Liu Ming saw that, he simply handed Feng Lai over to Liu Yu to look after, while he threw himself into the busy process of refining demon beasts. Liu Ming had never explained to Liu Yu how she should educate Feng Lai, nor did he mention how he should be raised, as if the master just wanted someone to feed Feng Lai and let him live. If she thought about it carefully, the only thing that was explained to her was to let Feng Lai have more contact with demon beasts.

However, for a child who did not understand anything, how could Liu Yu feel at ease when he would be alone with demon beasts?

She always had him by her side. Feng Lai was smart and sensible. He was able to learn everything quickly. Therefore, within ten days, he was able to enter and leave the alchemy room with Liu Yu. Occasionally, he would even help her out. However, even with Feng Lai’s help, Liu Yu was still very busy. Additionally, she had to take care of Feng Lai’s daily needs and meals. In the past fortnight, she had become quite haggard.

In court, the criticisms about the demon beasts were on the rise. The elders invited Liu Ming and his disciples to the Discussion Hall to discuss the demon beasts. Before leaving, Liu Yu arranged all of Feng Lai’s meals and then, she hurriedly left.

No one thought that this meeting would be discussed for three days straight. The elders wanted to convince Liu Ming to give up on the demon beasts, but Liu Ming refused to take a step back and they remained deadlocked for three days. In the end, Liu Ming flicked his sleeves and walked away after saying this: “The matter of me using the demon beasts to attack the Heaven Realm has been decided, anyone who opposes can leave.”

The elders had no choice but to end the meeting.

It was only then that Liu Yu was able to leave the Discussion Hall. When she returned to her room, she did not see Feng Lai. So as soon as she asked someone, she found out that he had been in the alchemy room for three days and three nights. Liu Yu went looking for him. When she pushed open the door and entered the room, she saw Feng Lai reach out his hand to take something out of the still burning furnace. Liu Yu was so frightened that she hurriedly pulled him back by his waist and dragged him out without waiting for an explanation. Feng Lai immediately exclaimed: “Wait a minute! Liu Yu, wait! I almost have it!”

Feng Lai’s strength was stronger, so Liu Yu could not overpower him. When he took out the item, his dirty face was full of smiles. However, Liu Yu just simply lifted up his sleeve, pressed down on his arm, and gave it a thorough once-over. After she was sure that he was not burned, she was relieved. Once her heart was at ease, her anger rose uncontrollably. Her expression became severe and she shouted: “You don’t want this arm anymore! Give me a knife, I will chop it off!” Her words were intense, it was evident that she became very worried.

Feng Lai was startled by her scolding. When he was just about to show the item in his hand to Liu Yu, he took his hand back silently. From the side of the pill furnace, he obediently pulled out a knife. He handed it to Liu Yu and then stretched out his arm.

Liu Yu was stunned and stared at Feng Lai: “Do you think I wouldn’t dare to chop off your arm? Are you forcing me?”

“Since you want to chop it off, I’ll let you chop it off.” His eyes did not evade her eyes, as if he was saying, I would give you whatever you want.

As Liu Yu looked at him, her heart suddenly felt something. She stood in front of Feng Lai for a long time, then finally, she grabbed the knife in his hand and threw it off to the side. She made a stance to slap him hard on the head, but in the end, the force of the slap was unbelievably light. As Feng Lai looked at her quietly, he saw a helpless smile on her face: “Stinky boy.”

When Feng Lai allowed Liu Yu’s hand to randomly rub his head, he did not know that the look in his eyes became mottled like broken rays of light due to her touches.

Suddenly, Liu Yu’s hand stopped and with it, she made some gestures for a moment: “Are you growing too fast?” she asked, “Why do you suddenly feel so much taller?”

Feng Lai did not answer this question, and just handed the item in his hand to Liu Yu: “Medicine pill.” He said, “It should be able to relieve fatigue.”

After three days of fiddling with this, the item that he reached his hand in to get out of the fire was this? Liu Yu took the medicine pill, put it under the tip of her nose, and sniffed it lightly. She sighed: “This… Is poisonous…”

For a moment, Feng Lai was stunned, as if all his strength had been immediately drained in an instant. Liu Yu looked at his expression, she then smiled and immediately swallowed the medicine pill. Feng Lai was startled and stretched out his hand to stop her, but Liu Yu had already swallowed it. His heart tightened: “Liu Yu!”

“I’m okay, it’s alright.” Liu Yu smiled, “Although it’s a little toxic, it’s still very effective in dispelling fatigue. Thank you, Feng Lai.”

Feng Lai stared dazedly at her. Today, he understood two emotions, one was loss and the other was heartbreak, or maybe it should be called heartfelt.