Ostentatious Zhao Yao Chapter 3

T/N: Hi all, I’m new to translating, so please bear with me and let me know if there is anything I can improve on. The previous chapters have already been translated by other translators (who have since dropped this). See links below.

Prologue to Chapter 2:

Mm, this is a good idea.

I began gearing up, just waiting for this young woman to cease breathing. However, before long, her legs convulsed, then her chest rose and her mouth opened slightly…

Her eyes opened…

Even with such a crash, she didn’t die! I marvel at this. People nowadays, why are your heads so hard?

I averted my eyes disappointedly, losing interest in this mess. But just as I turned, ready to sit back on my gravestone, the now conscious woman gasped twice, screaming “Ghost!”

Huh? Is she calling me?

I turned my head, and stared at her.

Indeed, the pink-clothed lady had eyes as wide as copper bells, staring straight at me. She struggled in the man’s embrace like her life depended on it. “No legs! Ghost! Ghost!”

Ah! She knocked her head, and now she can actually see me! It’s been so long since any living person could see me! Happy, I immediately walked two steps towards her, rus.h.i.+ng at her with a smile, “Yes, yes, I am a ghost.”

“Ah ah ah!” She screamed shrilly again, pus.h.i.+ng away the man and desperately scrambling backwards. “Don’t come over, don’t come over!”

The man was both confused and anxious, and worriedly called out to her, “Zhi Yan! It’s me, what’s wrong?”

I also explained to her, “You don’t have to be afraid of me, it’s not like I’m going to harm you.” I thought for a bit. “That’s not right, I did want to harm you earlier…”

“Ah ah ah!” She kept on screaming non-stop, scrambling backwards until her back rested against my tombstone. She turned her head to look, stilled, and was about to scream again, when the man grabbed her arm. “Zhi Yan! Look at me! I’m here, I’ll bring you back! Don’t be afraid!”

It would have been better if he hadn’t said those words. At his words, she immediately came back to herself. “I’m not going back with you! Scram!”

I interjected from their side, “Yes yes, let him scram, you stay behind and accompany me.”

She screamed shrilly again. “Ah ah! I don’t want to stay behind to accompany you!”

The man was bewildered. “Zhi Yan, just who are you talking to?”

Zhi Yan rebuked him. “Don’t concern yourself with who I’m talking to, I’m not going back with you regardless! I want to go to Chen Ji Shan! I want to cultivate the Demon Path! I…” Without waiting for her to finish, the man carried her into his arms, intent on bringing her onto the horse and taking her away.

She struggled in his embrace, hitting and kicking away. “No! I don’t want to go back with you! Let go of me!”

Her mention of Chen Ji Shan and the Demon Path had just piqued my interest, and now she was being taken away. Seeing her struggle so haphazardly, without a plan, I became anxious. Using my greatest speed, I floated around him, fervently shouting “Hit him!”

Zhi Yan was anxious and fl.u.s.tered, and actually listened to me, raising her hands to pound on his back. But she…this retaliation was practically like a flirtatious play! The man felt neither pain nor itch at her blows, walking even faster away with her on his back.

I shouted again, “Hit his head ah!”

Zhi Yan listened, and slapped the man’s face with a ‘pa’ sound. “I am hitting his head!”

The man’s footsteps hesitated momentarily, and I took the opportunity to close some of the distance between us. “You are not hitting with force ah!”

She slapped the man’s face with another ‘pa’ sound. “I am hitting with force!”

The man’s footsteps ceased completely and I caught up. I saw the gaze he levelled Zhi Yan with; his lips were tightly pressed together, and his eyes held a mix of pain and grief.

Mm, I thought in my heart, this slap must have gone straight to his heart.

But that is none of my business. I only cared that this young woman had failed to render him unconscious, and that he was still going to take her away.

And as expected, the man took another step, obviously so determined to take Zhi Yan away that he disregarded all other matters. Zhi Yan’s shouts were heart-piercing. “I am not going! Let go! b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

Aiya, how troublesome!

This kind of powerfully domineering behaviour is the worst – this lady already said she is not going, yet he grabs her and runs, isn’t this using his superior physical abilities to bully people! I shake out my sleeves, coughed once; then headb.u.t.ted my way into Zhi Yan’s body.

Just with this angrily righteous and reckless push, I only felt my four limbs fill with a warmth and heaviness I haven’t felt for a long time. And at this moment there simply wasn’t time to care about anything else, like a freshly captured carp I immediately struggled out of the man’s embrace.

The man stilled, watching me with a startled expression. “Zhi Yan?”

I remained silent, gathered my wide sleeves which was stained with mud, my gaze stagnant and my hands forming a seal. The man stared at me, and suddenly came back to himself, a sudden suspicion appearing in his demeanor. “You are not Zhi Yan! Who are you!”

Just as he finished speaking, his right hand drew his sword with a crisp and sonorous sound; my gaze s.h.i.+fted to it and I furrowed my brows. It was too chaotic earlier, I didn’t even notice the saber he carried on his body. If this was any other immortal sword, I might not be familiar with it, but the style of this sword I knew very well – the gla.s.s sheath of the sword, its transparency, the white jade handle, and the bronze mirror, no larger than a fingernail, hanging at the edge. The Bai Shui Jian Xin – it was the symbolic saber of the Jian Xin Sect.

This man was actually a disciple of the Jian Xin Sect.

The Jian Xin Sect is one of the ten great celestial sects; at that time when the ten great celestial sects laid an ambush at the Sword Tomb, Jian Xin Sect contributed significantly – out of ten of them, five were of their sect. To kill me, they were willing to go to great lengths.

I narrowed my eyes. The path is narrow for enemies, ah.

The man was also regarding me with a shadowed gaze, and he boomed out “Evil Ent.i.ty from wherever, manifest yourself immediately and I’ll spare you from death!”

I laughed mockingly. What a lack of eyesight; I, Lu Zhao Yao, even if I were to have possessed a pig, I could easily defeat even ten of an ordinary celestial sect disciple like him.

At this moment, too lazy to spend time talking nonsense with him, my figure flashed like a shadow, and in front of his astonished gaze, before he even had time to react, “pa!” my hand chopped at his neck. Lightning and thunder rumbled behind me, a rolling great rain descended around me, and the tall frame of the man collapsed in front of me in an instant. I dusted off my sleeves, my demeanor casual and light.

“Done.”

But at this moment, other than the rumbling of the rain, there was a suspicious silence.

Not hearing any sound of cheers and applause, I turned my head, only to see that the pink-clad lady had turned into a spirit like figure, standing all alone in front of my gravestone. She stared at me, shocked and dazed. “You…you stole my body?”

Aiya, I suddenly realised.

Indeed, that seems to be what happened.

I waved my hands. “Don’t worry, I will return this body to you. Only…” I walked to her side, smilingly staring at her. “Little girl, first answer a few questions of mine.”

She rubbed her hands together, seeming a little overwhelmed. “What questions?”

“Your body is of immortal cultivation, you are obviously a disciple of a righteous sect, yet you just said that you want to go to Chen Ji Shan and cultivate the Demon Path, why is that?”

Zhi Yan fell silent for a while, her almond-shaped eyes fell, and in her gaze there hid a sliver of hatred. “The celestial path is difficult to cultivate, I want to find a faster way. I want to cultivate the Demon path, and take revenge.”

“Yi?” I crossed my arms. “Revenge?”

“The Jian Xin Sect leader Liu Wei murdered my father…” Her fists were clenched tightly, and she gritted her teeth. “I want to make that old man pay for this blood debt with his life.”

I glanced at the unconscious man lying at the side, in a puddle of mud. “He is also of the Jian Xin Sect. How did you two get muddled together in this, I see he is quite fond of you.”

Zhi Yan become sombre. “My father and that old man Liu Wei were best friends. I grew up in Jian Xin Sect. He…is Liu Wei’s youngest son Liu Cang Ling, there was originally a marriage contract between us. Who could have thought… when I decided to cultivate the Demon Path, he chased after me, not allowing me to go to Chen Ji Shan.

I nodded; so this actually turned out to be a story of a b.l.o.o.d.y revenge and a pair of star-crossed lovers. “Then, did you manage to arrive at Chen Ji Shan before he found you?”

Zhi Yan raised her hand to stare at me, a little befuddled. “This is the foot of Chen Ji Shan, did you not know?”

I…really didn’t know!

The wandering spirits and wild ghosts who floated past here have never told me that this is Chen Ji Shan. Chen Ji Shan is a mountain range that covers thousands of li, every mountain peak had a different scenery. Even after living here for a hundred or so years, I had never managed to completely cover every nook and cranny of the place.

That ugly monster actually buried my body in Cheng Ji Shan, he…

He indeed hated me, wanting me to stare at the mountain peaks day and night so he could show off his accomplishments!

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

What a pity that his cunning plan, however carefully calculated, failed to take into account that I hadn’t even recognised that this was Chen Ji Shan! Hn! Dare to fight with me! Not even realising how wide my heart is!

“I just got to Wan Lu Sect, but I hadn’t had the time to enter before Liu Cang Ling caught me…and brought me here.”

You’ve already reached my Wan Lu Sect doors and yet you still got captured by a disciple of the Jian Xin Sect! What were the door guards even doing? That ugly monster still has the cheek to say that he was ruling my Wan Lu Sect well?

I was a little angry at Mo Qing’s lenient and lackl.u.s.tre ruling.

Zhi Yan stared at me where she stood; she had calmed down by now, and she glanced at the gravestone behind her, then at me who was possessing her body, and asked, “What about you? Who are you, why would you be buried here, with a  nameless gravestone?”

“Me ah,” I quirked my lips into a shallow smile. “I am surnamed Lu, named Qiong, known as Zhao Yao, you know, the one who built Chen Ji Shan’s Wan Lu Sect…yes, that one…”

“De….demoness.”

I admired her expression, nodding my head in satisfaction. “Correct, that demoness.”

I saw her swallow her saliva, even though I know that spirits have no saliva. To be regarded with this kind of fearful and respectful gaze from someone else once again, I felt comfortable all over, and the past indignity I had suffered at the Ghost Market was immediately and fiercely expelled.

“No one in the Jianghu could find your body, so you were actually buried here…” Zhi Yan softly said. “Just who was it who buried you here…”

I was about to reply, only to hear sudden footsteps coming from afar, through the sounds of the thundering rain. Zhi Yan’s body had too weak a foundation and couldn’t hear sounds from too far a distance; I easily invoked the Thousand-Li-Hearing technique and pinched my ears, momentarily breaking through the earthly restrictions and picking up the slightest sound from afar.

“Why did you not stop the intruder?”

This cold tone, this deep voice carrying a hint of huskiness- I could immediately recognise it, it was Mo Qing.

I hooked the corner of my lips into a smile. Ah, very good, you came at a very good time!