Chaotic World Book
Chapter 301 - 294: Return to the Old Haunts

Chapter 301: Chapter 294: Return to the Old Haunts

The sun was setting.

Cui Yuanyong kicked open Zhao Changhe’s room door, "You’ve been resting all day for those damn bird scratches, enough yet? Get up and take a leak!"

The room was empty, all the belongings gone.

"Damn?" Cui Yuanyong was baffled, "Wasn’t he just as weak as a dying dog, and now he leaves without saying goodbye? He knew we’d be looking for him to drink to our victory."

Then he remembered who else had disappeared, "Truly, fucking faithless with the fairer sex. How did I never see this side of him before! If I don’t badmouth you a hundred and eight times in front of Yangyang, my last name isn’t Cui!"

Seething, Cui Yuanyong stomped off to Hero Camp, where they were wildly drinking in utter chaos.

Deep down he knew Zhao Changhe was too worn out and didn’t want to deal with that scene, but damn it, they could have still shared a few drinks privately!

Forget it. Cui Yuanyong grabbed a reveler who was stumbling around, "Motherfucker, I’m not back yet and you’re already drinking?"

The man was inebriated, "The, the battle’s over, who are you? Do you think we actually give a crap about your Cui family..."

"Shit." Cui Yuanyong, too angry for words, couldn’t be bothered to argue and asked, "Where’s Situ Xiao? Don’t tell me he actually went after Xue Canghai?"

Truth be told, despite their verbal disrespect, they did hold Cui Yuanyong in high regard and honestly answered, "Don’t know, heard he ran off outside the city gates."

Run outside for what, to eat dirt?

Confused, Cui Yuanyong rushed to the city walls, and as he looked out into the gloomy skies, he saw Situ Xiao sprawling on the half-sand, half-snow ground, chugging from a liquor gourd.

In the distance, the uncollected corpses, the chaos of blade and spear, scattered arrows, shattered shields, and the circling vultures overhead created an image of desolate, tragic beauty under the setting sun.

Cui Yuanyong shouted, "What the hell are you doing?"

Situ Xiao sang, "Drunk on the battlefield~ Lords laugh not... centuries of war..."

"I swear you just took part in this war to wait for this moment, didn’t you?"

Situ Xiao, bleary with drink, raised his jug, "Brother Cui gets me! Come have a drink!"

"Drink your mom’s... all this is such a bunch of bullshit!" Angrily, Cui Yuanyong turned back towards the city, only to have his ear grabbed by someone.

That was a swift move, so fast he couldn’t dodge!

Who is this master?

Cui Yuanyong whirled around to see his father’s expressionless face: "Return to the shrine hall and be confined for three months. When you learn to speak without swearing, you may leave. Otherwise, your mother will really let you know what a ’mom’ is."

Cui Yuanyong, one of the heroes who had stood firm against the invaders and a newly minted Grandmaster on the Human List, returned home led by the ear by his own father after the victory with no chance for a celebratory drink, awarded three months of confinement, a stack of Holy Sage Books, and a Qinghe Sword which faintly seemed to have a spirit but showed no sign of acknowledgement.

The most tragic part was that the spirit in the Qinghe Sword seemed so elusive, he had no clue if it would ever accept him.

...

Several days later, at Beimang.

The outlaw stronghold was still there, and funnily enough, so were the people.

After Zhao Changhe had left, chopping his way out, the bandits Cui Yuanyong caught and threw into the jail were locked up by the County Magistrate until the winter, when they were released.

After all, under the original Village Chief, they hadn’t really committed any heinous crimes. The idea of execution or exile was too much, and keeping them locked up was just a waste of food. As the winter food supplies grew tight, the County Magistrate couldn’t be bothered to feed the lot and decided to let them go.

Once released, they still loitered around aimlessly, unable to do anything else. Thinking about it, their belongings were still in the stronghold, so the bandits naturally regrouped and returned to their former haunt—it only took a few days.

They checked the numbers among themselves, and aside from the original Village Chief and Vice Chief, not a single one was missing.

None had the will to go home and live a proper life—total reform failure...

Even without lessening their ferocity, the first thing they did upon regathering at the stronghold was to fight for the title of Village Chief. They had been squabbling for days, dividing into factions, and today was the day they had agreed to duel.

The Martial Arts Arena was set for the duel, with a huge pit on the side—a feat once oversaw by the Village Chief’s wife, who had captured the Cui family’s legitimate daughter—known as one of the stronghold’s notable sites.

Two sides were hurling insults at each other around the arena, raring to start the fight, but suddenly, an amazed exclamation came from outside: "Oh~ a contest of martial arts and drinking? Good, good, good! This has got potential, divide into teams—I’ll ante up. Winners get cash, losers drink!"

Everyone in the arena was momentarily stunned by the familiar voice, even the words were hauntingly familiar... as if they had heard the exact same phrase once before...

The crowd turned to look where the voice came from—in the flickering firelight, the Village Chief and his wife stood at the edge of the pit, smiling as they watched everyone.

In that instant, memories of the past seemed to snap together in their minds, and without even realizing anything was amiss, they roared with excitement, "If the leader says so, let’s fight, let’s fight! Stop dawdling and embarrassing us in front of the sister-in-law... uh..."

The noise gradually died down, and silence fell.

Then confusion set in.

"Not bad, where did you get those slick torches?" Zhao Changhe asked with a smile.

Someone casually replied, "There’s still a bit left in the stockpile, wasn’t cleared out by the county office."

Zhao Changhe tossed over a piece of gold, "Go buy some in the city. I’ll see you through the winter."

"Long live the boss!" People surged forward in excitement, paying no attention to the two ready to spar on the stage.

No one remembered that it was actually Zhao Changhe who had abandoned them at the beginning.

"We were in that damn prison watching the boss climb the rankings every day!"

"In the prison, when others found out we were with Boss Zhao, oh, those looks."

"We knew from the start that the boss was no ordinary man!"

"Boss, boss, so our Lady of the Village is really Yue Hongling, right?"

Yue Hongling had been standing to the side with a slight smile the whole time until now, when she finally put on a stern face, "Fake."

If it hadn’t been for this bunch of smelly rascals causing a ruckus, her relationship with Zhao Changhe wouldn’t have ended up in such an ambiguous situation, let alone... hmm...

But for some reason, the feeling of shame was not as strong, replaced instead by a stirring inside her caused by the reconnection after such temporal dislocation, as if she were on the verge of enlightenment in the Tao Realm.

It was as if everyone’s journey had been extracted from time for a year, independent of time and space, and upon returning, everything continued without change.

Zhao Changhe was also thinking, was the thing Ying Wu was looking for like this? And if he could find the way home, would it mean continuing from the point where he had chosen to leave? Is that the implication?

Mysterious, and fascinating.

"Alright," Zhao Changhe clapped his hands, "Has my Village Chief’s house been cleaned?"

The two who were prepared to scuffle on the stage looked miserable, sighing, "We just finished cleaning and setting up the brand-new bedding. Not a thing has been disturbed; it was the ownership of this we were fighting over... It seems heaven knew the boss was coming back, driving us to do it. Oh right, previously the Lady had a separate room, which we haven’t had time to tidy up..."

"What do we need another room for?" Zhao Changhe glared, looping his arm around Yue Hongling’s waist, "From now on, there will be only one room!"

"Bang!" The Village Chief was thrown over the shoulder by the fierce Lady of the Village and carried into the mountaintop Village Chief’s house like carrying a bear.

Her cursing voice was faintly carried by the wind and snow, "Think you’ve got what it takes? Today, you’ll find out what it means to be under command!

The bandits of the mountain village looked at each other and then burst into laughter.

The world is truly wonderful.

In the Village Chief’s house, the bedding was fragrant, and the candlelight was warm.

Even the furnishings remained unchanged.

Yue Hongling looked somewhat dazed, and while she held Zhao Changhe, he took the opportunity to break free and embrace her.

"What’s up?" Yue Hongling pouted.

"In my hometown, the Zhao Mansion, it’s common for people to get married outside first, and once they have the time, they come back to have a celebration in front of friends and family. Doesn’t this remind us of that?"

Yue Hongling thought it indeed resembled that situation.

Especially with the brand-new bedding, the pre-lit candles... She’d believe you if you said it was Zhao Changhe who had sneaked back to prepare it beforehand.

But she knew there was no such arrangement; it was just destiny. Zhao Changhe’s whimsical return to the old place had given them a ceremony of sorts.

Yue Hongling felt strange inside.

She was willing to entwine in intimacy in a secluded Secret Realm, willing to travel the world hand in hand, but the idea of experiencing wedding night festivities witnessed by friends and family had never even crossed the knightess’s mind.

It was an entirely different experience compared to the dark, unoccupied Secret Realm.

She looked down slightly, whispering, "What wedding night festivities... my sect doesn’t even know."

Zhao Changhe drew close to her face, kissing her, "Shall we go back some time and make up for it?"

"Dream on," Yue Hongling pushed against his chest, pretending to keep him at bay, "When did I say I wanted to marry you?"

Before she could finish speaking, she was held tight around the waist and carried toward the bed.

Although Yue Hongling talked tough, she didn’t struggle and let herself be placed softly on the bed, saying, "Fine, I’ll help you heal through Dual Cultivation. You’ve come so far with injuries, truly senseless."

She resolved in her heart not to make a sound tonight.

Want to hear a cry from your sister? Go listen to ghosts.

The night deepened, stars hidden behind clouds.

A bird flitted over the rooftop, hearing inside the house the initially suppressed cries of some creature growing louder, until finally, they turned into furious indignation, "Switch positions! I’m taking command now!"