Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other's Arch-Rivals?

62

The autumn wind whistled through the poplar trees standing on either side of the public road.

Golden leaves fluttered down in dense showers from the branches. Just as they were about to touch the ground, they were stirred up from the gusts of hooves of three horses rushing by, billowing them forward before swirling them around.

The setting sunlight gleamed on the fallen leaves, glistening them with golden light.

The three horses were reined in, slowing them down. They headed down the road and into a little town.

The town was rather small, with just two vertical and horizontal streets. There was a two-story courtyard on the side of the street which could be considered as better than its surroundings.

This small courtyard was the only inn in the town. There were a row of shacks outside the door with tables and stools set up beneath them. Many stragglers and martial artists gathered there in twos and threes to chat, brag and play drinking games.

Suddenly seeing the three mounts approach, the boorish men unanimously quieted down and turned their heads to observe the riders discreetly.

Su Yang lifted the veil of the hat, flipped over to dismount and handed the reins to Mei Shisan before walking into the inn beside Gu Feidi.

As usual, he requested an upstairs room and warm water to clean his face. Su Yang took off his hat and collapsed onto the room's couch. He grumbled: "I'm exhausted! How long before we reach Tengyun Pavilion?"

Gu Feidi could not help laughing: "We've only just left the Wasteland. This is the Central Plains border, Tengyun Pavilion is farther in the south."

This time, they had to conceal their identities when they both headed for Tengyun Pavilion from the Wasteland. Not only did they don disguises, but they also left Fei Lian back in the Devil Sect and only rode on regular horses. When there were others around, Gu Feidi and Su Yang would address each other as shixiong and shidi*, so as not to blow their covers.

(*TN: shixiong = senior martial brother, shidi = junior martial brother)

Su Yang seemed to be very pleased with this, so when they were alone, he would also call Gu Feidi "shidi".

"Shidi, I'm so weary, I don't want to go downstairs to eat..." Su Yang said gloomily, "Let Shisan serve us the food upstairs, then we can eat indoors."

Gu Feidi tugged him up from the couch, "Nope, you have to eat downstairs with me. Those stragglers will discuss the recent rumours in the Jianghu. Eavesdropping will also help keep ourselves informed."

Su Yang scowled at Gu Feidi.

Gu Feidi came over, lightly stroked the blueish patch painted at the corner of Su Yang's eye and smiled: "It's not that you're unwilling to go downstairs. You're just shy, right?"

"Oh, even if this young Saint has a birthmark on his face, I'm still a beauty!" said Su Yang, raising his eyebrows.

There wasn't any photography technology in this world. Paintings were abstract and expressive. The appearances of many famous people in the Jianghu were actually passed around by word of mouth. The Devil Sect's Young Saint's red mole at the corner of his eye was his trademark. Su Yang couldn't put this little red mole on display in the Central Plains, so he dyed the corner of his eye to the cheekbones blueish-black using a pigment to give it the impression of a birthmark.

After that, he trimmed his eyebrows and used brown pollen to cast shadows from the bridge of his nose to his jaw. It made his entire disposition completely different.

He had developed his makeup skills during the live broadcast that year. When he initially put on makeup, he shocked both Gu Feidi and Mei Shisan into disbelief.