Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 16: Confirmation

That was a normal reaction. To have no reaction at all would have been strange. Zhao Changhe did not dwell on this and smiled gleefully as he clinked wine bowls with Luo Qi. “Drinking wine from huge bowls while eating large pieces of meat. When I read Water Margin as a boy... Eh, anyway, when I was a boy, I dreamed about something like that. I thought it was really awesome and manly. Now, I’ve actually landed up in a bandit nest, eating whatever meat I can find and buying wine by myself to be stingily shared with others. My childhood dreams have really been shattered.”

Luo Qi broke out in laughter. “You have to be the king of your own mountain to achieve that dream of yours, or at least a big leader. But I think you could totally do it.”

“It’ll be a bit difficult. To become a big leader, I’ll need to at least be a formal disciple, right? Right now, there’s no hope of me formally joining the cult. They said I need faith to join, but why hasn’t anyone come to preach to us yet? Instructor Sun doesn’t seem to handle such affairs and the branch master keeps to himself. I have no idea where he is.”

Luo Qi took a sip of his wine and examined Zhao Changhe’s expression. “From your attitude, I gather that you don’t really care?”

“I care just a bit. I want to obtain the Blood God Art, not this Vicious Blood Art. Of course, it would have been better if I was able to join the Four Idols Cult... After all, a certain person that cultivates the Blood God Art was defeated by someone of a lower cultivation.”

Luo Qi burst out laughing.

Zhao Changhe did not say it himself, but Xue Canghai’s defeat at the hands of Yue Hongling had thoroughly destroyed all expectations he had for the Blood God Cult.

Zhao Changhe sipped his wine and said, “Anyway, there’s no need to rush. I’ve only just begun cultivating. Who knows? Maybe the branch master will get fired tomorrow. If Instructor Sun takes his place, then I’ll have a much easier time here. He treats me pretty well.”

“That sounds nice, but do you really think Branch Master Fang is fooling around somewhere? He’s probably preaching in the city...even though I didn’t see any signs of disciples preaching when I entered the city today. I reckon the beginning phases are difficult and they haven’t started yet.”

“That’s not necessarily the case.” Zhao Changhe lowered his voice. “Don’t you feel that this branch is a little...strange?”

Luo Qi felt a chill. He did not want to talk about this. It’d be better if you just concerned yourself with whether I’m a boy or a girl! Since Zhao Changhe had brought this up, however, Luo Qi could only play dumb. “What do you mean?”

“The branch is newly built, but that underground altar has definitely not just been constructed. How much work would it take to build one? It’s obviously been here for a while. The Blood God Cult must have long since discovered that this place holds some secret.”

Luo Qi immediately responded. “Isn’t all of this pretty normal? If there’s a place available, why not use it? Afterward, you can set up a branch and conveniently build a stronghold too. There’s nothing strange about it at all.”

“But what reason do they have for setting up a new branch in the middle of winter?” Zhao Changhe was speechless. “Now we’re suffering because the days are suddenly getting colder and we lack clothing and food. For the cult to set up a new branch this unprepared—did Xue Canghai get screwed in the head because he had his ass handed to him by someone with lower cultivation? Oh wait, no, he hadn’t fought with Yue Hongling at that time yet.”

Luo Qi was at a loss for words.

No. Can you stop bringing up this challenge from someone of a lower cultivation?

“While Yue Hongling was in this area, she heard about the raid on the Luo family by accident and said that Cult Leader Xue was present then. That means that this hidden secret is important enough for the cult leader to personally lead the main force of the Blood God Cult to station themselves here. Afterwards, their mission must have been interrupted because of the incident with Luo Zhenwu. They must not have completed what they set out to do, or maybe they’re halfway done. The cult leader could not stay here long-term, so he left some people here to set up a new branch and continue searching in the winter.”

Luo Qi: “...”

Zhao Changhe finished his wine and slammed the bowl on the table. “I suspect that this matter isn’t really related to the Blood God Cult at all, but the Four Idols Cult instead. Whether I’ll be able to join the Four Idols Cult or obtain the Blood God Art will depend on what I can accomplish here. It’ll be good to be mindful of all this.”

Luo Qi looked at his wine bowl with gloomy eyes before suddenly raising his head and laughing. “Just drink your wine. You’re spoiling the mood with all this talk and repeating the same thing over and over again.”

“Fuck! Come on. Three more bowls!”

“There’s not enough wine in the gourd.”

“We’ll drink what we can. Drinking warm wine in winter really hits the spot!”

The wine indeed tasted great, and warmed Luo Qi’s cheeks. They were now rosy and there was an indescribable allure hidden in his eyes now.

Luo Qi had kept his head lowered looking at his bowl until it was empty. He suddenly said, “Changhe, you can’t be too trusting of people in this world. You should keep your analysis to yourself. There’s no need to speak it out loud.”

Zhao Changhe was at a loss. “Why can’t I tell you about it? Of course I wouldn’t tell anyone else about this.”

“Don’t be so easy to trust others, including me.” Luo Qi paused. “And also that Instructor Sun that treats you well.”

“Eh...” Zhao Changhe asked, “Have you had too much to drink?”

Luo Qi laughed and stood up to stretch. He looked like he could not hold his liquor. “Yeah. I can’t hold my drink very well... I’ll go rest on the bed first.”

Zhao Changhe, who was now a bit tipsy, stood up and grabbed Luo Qi’s shoulder. “Senior martial brother, you suck. You’ve only had so little to drink...”

Luo Qi did not react in time and could not dodge away. Zhao Changhe firmly grabbed his shoulders, and in an instant, Luo Qi froze where he stood.

“Tsk. So thin.” Zhao Changhe pinched Luo Qi’s shoulders. “You can only train internal arts with a body like this. If internal force didn’t exist in this world, I could fight ten of you at the same time. Go and sleep, I’ll go train for a bit. I have a feeling that with the wine stimulating my qi and blood, it’ll lead to better results...”

Zhao Changhe’s hand left Luo Qi’s shoulder. He went outside and held his horse stance.

Luo Qi stood where he was in a daze, rigidly turning his head to look at the door.

I was touched just like that?

Is this normal for Zhao Changhe? What man hasn’t wrapped his arms over his brother’s shoulder...

However, Luo Qi felt numb. He was dumbstruck. His head was blank. It was as if there was electricity running through him.

Zhao Changhe may have quickly run out the door to hold his horse stance, but his heart was also filled with regret.

He did it on purpose!

Zhao Changhe had a few drinks and seeing Luo Qi with his rosy cheeks and charming appearance, could not control himself. After all, he was a young and vigorous youth... At the same time, he wanted to confirm something.

The softness of a man’s shoulders was naturally different from that of a woman.

With this, Zhao Changhe could confirm that Luo Qi was a woman.

I originally wanted to have some mischievous fun by seeing how this crossdressing martial brother of mine would react after being manhandled... “Don’t trust anyone. Not even me.” Tch.

Very quickly, Zhao Changhe wanted to slap himself on the face. I didn’t need to do that. What was the point? Nothing could have come out of it. All it did was turn me on to the point where I now have to do the horse stance to hide it.

Why bother?

Furthermore, how am I gonna talk to him later!? I even said that it’d be more convenient if he was a guy, but I still did what I did. So much for confirming...

Zhao Changhe truly wanted to slap himself to death.

Luo Qi looked at Zhao Changhe at a loss; Zhao Changhe trained while at a loss. Both of them were on their own mental journeys. The atmosphere was extremely weird and remained that way for a while until Luo Qi suddenly put on a sweet smile.

Zhao Changhe secretly glanced over out of the corner of his eye. He was dumbfounded and earnestly stared at the sky while holding his horse stance.

However, he saw Luo Qi striding over. She grabbed Zhao Changhe’s shoulders. “Hey.”

Zhao Changhe’s body went stiff. “Yes? What’s up?”

“You aren’t holding your horse stance properly today. You’ll pick up some bad habits practicing like this.” Luo Qi whispered softly in his ear. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of that after just a few drinks? This isn’t good. Do you need me to bring you to some low-grade brothel in the city?”

“Eh... What’s that?” Zhao Changhe’s mouth twitched and he asked with great difficulty, “Don’t you usually avoid touching people? What are you doing with your hands on my shoulders?”

Luo Qi acted like there was nothing wrong. “We weren’t all that familiar before. But now we’re brothers, so isn’t this normal? You can put your hands on me, so why can’t I put my hands on you?”

I see. She still wants to act like a man? And in this forced manner? After being at a loss for half a day, this is her response?

Zhao Changhe did not know if he should have cried or laughed, or how to assess the fact that a beautiful woman had been brought to him just like that. However, he had calmed down considerably.

It looked like there was not anything bad happening... But with Luo Qi leaning against him with her hands grabbing his shoulders and gracefully whispering into his ear... Zhao Changhe realized, in shame, that his horse stance could no longer hide it.