Love & Redemption
Chapter 160: Volume 4 The Splintering Dream, - 17 The Truth

Chapter 160: Volume 4 The Splintering Dream, Chapter 17 The Truth

"Ah! You’re awake... no, that’s not right... it turns out Ting Nu brought you back to life!" Tengshe blurted nonsensically, hastily stuffing the pastries in his mouth, turning to leave, and mumbled indistinctly, "I forgot, I thought you were still asleep. Sorry for eating your stuff."

Linglong saw him and couldn’t help but yell, "Who are you?"

Tengshe raised his head proudly and laughed, "Who am I? I am the world-renowned Lord Tengshe! Haven’t you heard of me?"

Linglong looked at him skeptically, from his snow-white hair to his fierce face, the more she looked, the less she considered him a good item, and frowned, "The Shaoyang Sect is not a place for you to trespass! Get out now! Otherwise, I’ll call someone to catch you this instant!"

Tengshe immediately grew annoyed, turning his neck and walking over, pointing viciously at his own face, he said fiercely, "Me, trespass? As if I’d even want to come if begged! It’s that stinky wench who forced me to come, alright? And speaking of which, it’s rare to see someone as ignorant as you, Tengshe, oh Tengshe! You haven’t even heard of me?"

"Who cares if you’re a python or a stinky snake!" Linglong was also riled up, "Get out!"

Tengshe snorted and turned his face to leave. He remembered now! It was her! Seeing her sleeping there that day, looking innocent and cute, he thought she was a good person, but he was grossly mistaken. Oh right, there’s a saying among mortals, what was it?

"Birds of a feather flock together, you are judged by the company you keep. Those who are close to vermilion get stained red, and those who are close to ink get stained black! You are that stinky wench’s sister, no wonder you’re no good either!"

Tengshe, fuming, grabbed the remaining pastries on the altar, stuffed them all into his sleeve, and kicked open the door to leave.

Linglong shouted, "What are you stealing? You’ve got some nerve! Put that back!"

Tengshe, with food stuffed in his arms, had no intention of spitting it out. He pretended not to hear her. But then she suddenly screamed from behind, "Thief! We have a thief! Someone come quick!"

He panicked immediately, it was okay if others came, but if that stinky wench came, he didn’t even want to think about how she might torment him. "Hey! Don’t shout!" Tengshe rushed over and covered her mouth, threatening her fiercely, "If you shout again... I... I will set you on fire!" As he spoke, a small clump of crimson flame the size of a fingertip appeared in his palm, barely enough to light a candle, let alone burn a person—probably just enough to burn a few strands of hair."

Seeing his menacing look, Linglong was so scared that she grabbed his arm and bit down hard. Tengshe yelled in pain, the flame in his palm extinguished in an instant, and he heard her scream again, "Murder! Fire!" causing him to become utterly flustered. With a slap on top of her head, Linglong’s body instantly froze, unable to so much as twitch an eyelid, let alone cry out. Her eyes viciously dug into him as if wishing they could bore holes through him.

Tengshe breathed a sigh of relief, peered outside to check, and thankfully, there was no one around. He retracted his head, closed the window, and said angrily, "All this fuss just because I ate a few of your pastries? Geez! And here I thought that wench and the others had gone to such lengths to bring back some unparalleled beauty, but it turns out to be such a boring piece! Fine, I won’t eat them, I’ll give them back to you!"

He dumped the pastries from his sleeve onto her head in one go, sugar powder covering her face, turning it patchy white and black, looking quite hilarious. Tengshe laughed heartily twice, childishly using his hand to trace a sugary line across her face, while saying maliciously, "You hate snakes, don’t you? Well, watch me draw two snakes on your face, you’ll look ’beautiful’!"

Linglong was so furious she felt like her chest might burst, but she couldn’t move even a finger, trying so hard not to cry. Tengshe, seeing that he had made her cry, felt somewhat awkward, and grumbled, "Pah, useless mortal girl, all you do is cry!" After thinking it over, he still didn’t dare let her move in case she started shouting again, which would be bad luck for him. So, he pushed on her shoulder, and Linglong collapsed accordingly. He haphazardly adjusted the blanket over her and then clapped his hands, saying with a laugh, "You cry over just a little thing. Someone risked their life for you, going on a dangerous mission to bring you back. You should be crying enough tears to fill a sea the way you’re going on."

Seeing that Linglong seemed to be pondering, he added, "I... I’m about to leave. If you promise not to shout, I’ll undo the spell." He touched her face, partially lifting the spell, and then said, "If you promise not to shout, smile twice for me."

Linglong’s lips curved up slightly, indeed she grinned twice. Tengshe laughed and said, "Fair enough, if I lift the spell and you still call out, this time I’ll truly set a fire and burn... um, burn off your hair! You’ll be bald for life!"

What young girl doesn’t care about her beauty? If he had threatened her with something else, she wouldn’t have taken it seriously. But the thought of being burned bald truly frightened her. Tengshe gave another pat on her head, and Linglong let out a soft "ah" and, indeed, didn’t shout anymore, just glared at him dead-eyed.

Tengshe smiled proudly and said, "That’s better. I’m off then."

"Wait!" Linglong suddenly called out to him. Tengshe turned around warily, "What now?"

Linglong hesitated before speaking, "Just now, I heard you say that taking a huge risk, you rescued me... are you saying Xuanji and the others saved me? They... they never told me how they rescued me. You’re with them, right? Can you tell me, please?"

Tengshe was somewhat stunned; in fact, he only roughly understood the situation himself. Xuanji had only given him a general idea, and he wasn’t clear on the specifics of the rescue. But, with his usual arrogance, how could he admit to not knowing? So, clearing his throat, he said, "Well, of course I know. Someone had to act as an undercover to rescue you, ran into the villain’s lair to do it, and then stole your soul back! Simple."

"Undercover?" A bad premonition suddenly surged in Linglong’s heart.

Tengshe nodded, "That’s right. However, it seems that the person who acted as the undercover was also deceived. At first, he thought that by going undercover, he could bring you back, but it turned out that the soul was fake. So the person had to steal it himself! Oh, and it seems in order to gain the villain’s trust, he also killed someone... That person... what was his name? The little wench called him Second Senior Brother, died quite miserably, chopped into pieces..."

"Second Senior Brother?!" Linglong screamed in shock, startling him.

She threw off the blankets with a sweep, leapt off the bed, grabbed his collar, and demanded in a fierce tone, "Who? Who was the undercover? Tell me quickly!"

Tengshe blurted out in haste, "How would I remember a mortal’s name! It’s just that person! The little wench calls him Sixth Brother! Someone was with him, and they almost stabbed Yu Sifeng to death..."

Before he could finish, he felt Linglong go limp as she collapsed, her face pale as death, seemingly fainting from shock. Tengshe quickly pinched her philtrum and patted her face, "Hey? You okay? Don’t scare me! If the little wench finds out, I’ll be..."

Linglong hadn’t heard a word he said after that; shocked and enraged, she had passed out, and now, slowly coming to, she couldn’t help bursting into loud cries. She understood now! Why everyone who visited hesitated to speak, why Zhong Minyan never appeared. She had been so foolish! To think that it was Zhong Minyan who abandoned her! As he was in agony for her, with his heart utterly crushed, there she was, naively lying in bed, shedding petty tears, sighing deeply.

Seeing her crying intensely, Tengshe thought he couldn’t linger in this place. Once she started crying, there might be no end to it, and it was better to make a quick exit.

He walked to the door, ready to open it, when he heard her ask again, "Where... where is he undercover?"

He replied subconsciously, "Buzhou Mountain... that place is not somewhere just anyone can go."

After waiting a moment, and she said nothing more. Tengshe left quickly, fearing she might latch onto him again with more troubles that count not be numbered. (To be continued, for more details, please visit www.qidian.com, more Chapters available, support the author, support genuine reading!)