Translator's Note: This is my 2nd Translation starting in September 2020. This series is actually the 2nd part and 2nd BL couple of "The Four Books of Mythology" Trilogy by Er Ya, which had the best hilarious comedy dual from the whole trilogy, however, the first BL couple Situ/XiaoHuang will also make their appearance.
Without saying, this is an English translation of a Boy Love Novel. Only proceed if you're comfortable with such coupling.
~MiniOrchid
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Mu Ling planted a tree that gazed at the sky. Being mischievous, he caught a thief who stole his wood. Mu Ling, as a fifteen to sixteen-year-old teen, bullied a seven to eight-year-old boy relentlessly. He beat him up and let him go, let him steal and caught him again, caught and beat, again and again. The wild child was quite stubborn towards the taunting and eventually was struck by lightning when he came back to steal the wood one day. Mu Ling treated him and saved his life.
After he recovered from his illness, the little boy departed, and shouted to the big tree before he left, "You, with surname Mu, from this day forward, I will be renamed to Qin Wangtian. Just you wait, sooner or later, I will come back to take this wood.”
Ten years later, Mu Ling was a genius doctor, the greatest in the world.
Ten years later, Qin Wangtian was a horse riding thief, the best bandit in the world.
In the early autumn of a certain year, Mu Ling went on a long journey to find Medicinal Wonders of the World to extend his life. Before the journey, he made three commandments with himself.
One, no more meddling!
Two, no more meddling!
Three, no more meddling!
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Being struck by lightning, it wasn’t painful as others imagined. It just left him a little numb in that short moment. But the burns from the flames still hurt after ten years. That moment, when he fell into the fire, when he saw that person’s rare anxious look, he felt euphoria. Then, when the cold healing medicine was applied on his wound, the burning and stinging pain soon disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, ten years had passed. That person should be in his twenties, but he is still a teenager...
"Lao Da! Lao Da, wake up!”
Someone shook him in his sleep. Qin Wangtian opened his eyes and looked at the men standing by the bed. "Are you calling the soul?"
“Lao Da, we have inquired about Yue Zaiting's whereabouts,” one of his men said hurriedly.
"Really?" Qin Wangtian’s spirit lifted. Turning over and sitting up, he asked, "What is that kid doing now?"
“I heard that the old man of Yujia Zhai returned to the heavens a few days ago, he is now the new Master of Yuejia Zhai,” His man replied. "Next month is his inheritance ceremony."
"What!” Qin Wangtian frowned. "So fast?"
"Lao Da," His subordinates looked at Qin Wangtian, "Afterall, they are famous. With Yuejia Zhai's current strength, except for Hei Yun Bao and Qixing Water Village who are powerful… We are but few men and horses, how can we compare?"
"What did you say?" Qin Wangtian's face darkened. He raised his foot and kicked a coffee table next to him. “Do you have the guts to repeat that?”
“Dare not...we dare not…," The subordinate quickly stepped aside.
"I, Qin Wangtian, absolutely will have that brat, Yue Zaiting, pay his debt in blood!" Declaring it coldly, Qin Wangtian stood up and walked out of the room in anger. In the clearing of the back mountain, the surroundings were barren, and here only a tall tree stood in the center of the clearing.
Looking up at the top of the tree soaring into the sky, Qin Wangtian closed his eyes and asked himself, "Qin Wangtian, what do you have to compete with?"
He lifted his foot and kicked the tree hard, "I refuse to let go!"
The tree shook a few times, some leaves fell slowly, were swept up by the mountain wind, and flew into the valley.
************
Mu Ling left Black Cloud Fortress with his luggage. To be precise, he was driven out by the leader Situ.
"What are you doing at home all day? Go find your elixirs so you can live a long life!" Situ kicked Mu Ling out with his baggage. "Don't cause any more trouble here!" After speaking, he cuddled his sweetheart back to the main house.
Mu Ling jumped up and scolded, “Situ, you bastard, why do you care how long I live?!" Before he could finish speaking, he was hit by a box that flew out in front of him—his medicine box.
"Humph," Mu Ling rubbed the bump on his head, opened the bag, and looked at it. Fortunately, this Situ still had a little conscience, so he stuffed him with a lot of money inside. Packing up the bag and carrying the medicine box, Mu Ling wandered on the road, thinking, the goal is to live a long life!
When he reached the bottom of the mountain, before taking the main road, Mu Ling suddenly stopped. There was a Buddhist Temple nearby. Mu Ling rushed in to worship the Bodhisattva, knelt on the broken mat, and muttered in his mouth, "Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva, you must bless me this time to find the elixir of longevity. Also, I swear, by the way, this...this time during my travels, I will not be nosy or get involved in others' businesses! If I break this oath..." Mu Ling thought about it, gritted his teeth, "If I fail, I can only live to be ninety-nine. Isn't it ruthless?"
Seeing that the Bodhisattva seemed to smile at him, Mu Ling stood up carrying his belongings and asked a little beggar who was sitting next to the Bodhisattva, "Do you know what I was talking about?"
The little beggar shook his head honestly.
Seeing him shaking his head, Mu Ling nodded in satisfaction, reached out, and handed him a piece of paper. "Very good." After speaking, he turned and strolled away happily.
It took a long time for the little beggar to come back to his senses. He picked up the piece of paper and looked at it. He was stunned for an instant - one hundred taels of silver tickets?!
When Mu Ling saw a beggar along the way, he would give him one hundred taels. When he saw a temple, he went in to add incense money. Anyhow, he was wearing the belt of the Black Cloud Fortress. The Second Master had arrived, and he was not afraid of spending money. Mu Ling thought fiercely, Situ, watch me burn your fortune!
After traveling for some time, he finally found an inn. Mu Ling bought a thin horse for a hundred taels of silver. The groom looked at Mu Ling as if he were looking at a fool. Can’t blame the man, why would anyone spend a lot of money to buy a sick horse?
Mu Ling proudly said, “You know nothing. I can tell you that this is a diamond in the rough. He may be sick now, but once I cure it, this horse will be worth ten thousand gold teals!”
Dumbfounded, the groom half-understood Mu Ling’s meaning and watched as he led the frail horse away. Along the trip, Mu Ling didn't ride the horse, instead, he spent money to buy medicine, went up the mountain to collect herbs, and spent about a month to heal him. Not only did the horse get well, but he also got plump and radiant.
"Hmph." Mu Ling nodded triumphantly, swung himself onto the horse, raised his foot, and gently touched the horse's flank. The horse neighed, raised its hooves, and galloped away.
After another month, Mu Ling finally reached the official road, not far ahead was Luo Xia City. By reputation, there was beautiful scenery of the sunset and clear water. Mu Ling decided to do some sightseeing and enjoy the view.
The black horse named Xiao Hei listened very well. He probably knew that Mu Ling was his savior, so he never held him back, but followed him wherever he went.
Swayed to a small tea house next to the official road, Mu Ling got off his horse, took out a water bag to pour some water for the horse, and then asked a Xiao Er to fill it with water and bring two steamed buns.
"Do you have carrot stuffing?" Mu Ling asked.
"Ah...Ke Guan, we only have meat buns," Xiao Er replied.
"Huh..." Mu Ling curled his lips. "No stuffed carrot buns? What about the soybean stuffing?"
Xiao Er shook his head dumbly, and laughed in his head, wondering what was wrong with this customer’s taste buds given he liked such weird things.
Aggrieved, he still bought two plain buns. Mu Ling eats one himself and feeds the other to Xiao Hei. "Xiao Hei, there is no carrot stuffing. Next time we're heading north, I will buy bean buns for you."
Xiao Hei whipped his tail, still eating happily.
While chatting and laughing with Xiao Hei, he heard a crisp laughter from the next table.
Mu Ling turned to look, but only saw a young girl of over ten years smiling at him, "Why do you feed the horse buns?"
Mu Ling blinked, turned his head back and forth to look, and discovering no one else was around, pointed at his nose. "You asking me?"
The girl laughed, "Of course, except for you, who else fed the horse buns?”
"Tsk…,” Mu Ling shook his head disapprovingly. “If a horse eating buns is strange, then tell me, isn’t it strange for horses to eat hay? Isn’t it strange to eat carrots and beans?"
The little girl shook her head, "What's so strange about that?"
"Is that right?" Mu Ling grinned, "You can eat rice straw, you can eat rice, if you can eat rice, then you can eat steamed buns. You’re still eating rice, right?"
The little girl "chuckled" and leaned forward and back. She then pulled a slightly darker-skinned woman in her twenties next to her and said, "Sister, this person is really funny."
The woman seemed to be worried, nodded absentmindedly, and without looking at Mu Ling, she paid for the meal and took her sister into the carriage hurriedly. Several coachmen drove the carriage forward.
Mu Ling fed Xiao Hei and himself and climbed on his horse. Just about to leave, he heard Xiao Er ask him from behind, "Master, are you going to enter Luo Xia City?"
Mu Ling glanced back at him and nodded. "Yeah."
"Then I advise you to change the road." Xiao Er said. "The official road is not safe in this area."
"The official road is not safe?" Mu Ling blinked. "What else is the official road called? Surely, you should change the name to Bandit Road.”
Xiao Er jumped in surprise, “Master, don’t talk nonsense. A bunch of bandits have recently arrived in that area. Powerful ones.”
“Bandits?” Mu Ling was curious. "It's the thief who takes the mountain to be the king?"
"That's right." Xiao Er nodded. "I believe you are a fragile and weak scholar. You should take a detour and go elsewhere. Although it's a bit far away, it's safe."
Mu Ling listened and nodded slightly. He asked, "What about the carriages of the two girls just now?"
"Oh..." Xiao Er shook his head. "Those two girls, I have already told them, but they seem to have something important. Afraid of delays, so they insist on going that way."
"Oh, yes, then, my business is actually quite important, right?" As he said it, Mu Ling patted Xiao Hei's neck. “Otherwise, Xiao Hei, you choose, where to go?"
Xiao Hei looked around, raised his hoof, and walked on the official road.
Mu Ling hugged Xiao Hei's neck and rubbed him. "Xiao Hei, why do you choose the official road? If we encounter a bandit later, you have to protect me!"
Seeing one man and one horse walking away, Xiao Er turned around to look at the shopkeeper. "Boss, why does that little brother suddenly become insane?"
"What do you know." The shopkeeper smiled, "Perhaps this person is probably a real person not yet revealed!"
"A real person not revealed…,” Xiao Er looked up at the shopkeeper with admiration. “Boss is really knowledgeable."
The shopkeeper was proud, not paying attention that other tables had already broken into laughter.
Mu Ling continued to ride forward on horseback. After riding for a while, he frowned slightly when there was a faint smell of blood ahead of him. Mu Ling flicked the rein lightly and signaled Xiao Hei to go faster. Turning a corner, he saw that the carriage had turned over on the side of the road, and the little girl who was chatting with him was sitting on the ground, sobbing and crying, with blood on her arms and two slaughtered men on the ground - the coachmen.
Mu Ling quickly got off the horse and walked up to ask, "Little girl, are you okay?"
The trembling little girl raised her face to see, when she found that it was Mu Ling, she cried more fiercely.
Mu Ling took the medicine box and treated the wound on the little girl. Fortunately, she didn't hurt her muscles and bones. So he asked, "What's your name, what's the matter?"
The little girl sniffed and said, "My name is Ling Dang. Just now, there was a group of bad guys. My sister was taken away by them."
Mu Ling looked at the sky and touched his chin. "Could it be that I was not pious enough when I worshiped God? Why did I encounter such a meddling business?"
"Guài Shū Shu, you can save my sister." Ling Dang reached out her hand. Pulling on the hem of Mu Ling's clothes, she looked up at him pitifully.
Mu Ling hesitated, even though this time when leaving home he had sworn he would not get involved ... what should he do? Looking down again, he saw tears streaming out of the little girl's big eyes.
Mu Ling smacked his forehead. Forget it, live to ninety-nine, and asked her, "Where did the bandits that kidnapped your sister run to?"
Xiao Ling Dang pointed at the mountain to the South. “There.”
Mu Ling called Xiao Hei over, helped Xiao Ling Dang on his horse, took the rein up, and headed towards the mountain.
It was getting late at this time, the color of the sky was getting darker. Mu Ling complained as he rode, "My sunset is shining over clear water..." Soon, the two of them went halfway up the mountain and saw a ruined temple in front of them. The temple door was hidden and bolted. Several tall horses stood outside.
Mu Ling asked Bell, "Are these the horses?"
Xiao Ling Dang tilted her head to look and nodded. "Those bad guys were indeed riding horses."
"Then it should be here." Mu Ling nodded, jumped off the horse, lifted the hem of his clothes, rushed over and kicked the gate of the ruined temple, and shouted, "Ah, ha! Bandit! Come, take your fate!"
But looking at it again, there were five people sitting in a circle in the open space in the middle of the temple. Four of them were opening their mouths and looking at Mu Ling with a frightened expression. The one lying on the mat napping, just lifted his eyelids when Mu Ling rushed in.
"Uh…," Mu Ling looked left and right. This group of people looked like ordinary passers-by. Most likely not the bandits. Realizing his mistake, Mu Ling froze in place, while everyone kept staring.
Finally, Xiao Ling Dang ran in, and when she saw the scene in front of them, she grabbed the hem of Mu Ling's sleeves. "Uncle, this was a mistake, it’s not them."
“Indeed…,” Mu Ling stood still, even more embarrassed.
"The Mountain Bandits should be on the opposite mountain," said the young man who was lying down, as he got up lazily.
Mu Ling glanced at him and saw that although the young man was not very old, he was very tall. His skin was healthy, wheat-colored, and a little dark. It proved that he was a person who traveled frequently. He was wearing a large black cloak. His black hair was cut very short, erected like needles, with a long braid behind his back that gave an impression of his rebellious nature.
Looking at his face again, Mu Ling shook his head slightly. The boy had a very handsome and tough face, except that there was a shallow scar on the left half of his face, almost splitting the entire face. The skin color on both sides of the scar was different, which proved that it was caused by a burn, but was cured very well. So even though it was a yin and yang face, the facial expressions and movements were not affected. The scar wound down into the large collar of the cloak, but one could tell the injury was severe. Those eyes were amber, a little fierce, with a touch of wildness. Mu Ling couldn't help thinking of a Wolf’s eyes.
The man reached out and picked up a handful of black ancient coins beside him, stood up with his hands on the handle of his blade, and asked, "Why are you looking for bandits?"
"A passerby has been kidnapped," Mu Ling reacted. “It's the child's sister."
The man nodded and said, "Let me help you. You, a weak scholar with a child, what can you do?"
Mu Ling blinked a few times, the young man was quite enthusiastic in assisting, but there was something strange about his wounds. One person suddenly popped out in his mind. With some trepidation, Mu Ling asked, "Well then, what’s your name?"
The Teenager gave Mu Ling a glance and smiled warmly, "Qin Wangtian."
....Mu Ling was stunned. He turned to the little girl, "Well, Xiao Ling Dang, these are heroes who are willing to help you, and I can't help you anyway. The green hills will not change to the green water, we will meet again someday.”
After he finished talking, he wanted to run, but was caught by Ling Dang, “No, you have to come, I’m scared...”
Mu Ling cried repeatedly, sure enough, he shouldn’t throw his life away for others. Now he’s not only losing a year of his life but has also encountered an old enemy with unfinished businesses! Being dragged by Ling Dang behind Qin Wangtian, Mu Ling prayed silently, "God, don't let him recognize me."
Qin Wangtian walked in front, seeing Mu Ling still chattering away, he thought it was an amusing sight. His appearance was really unexpected….as it turned out, there is a God.
Lǎo Dà - 老大 - Boss
Jiào Hún - 叫魂 - Calling the Soul (Waking the Dead)
Hei Yun Bao - Black Cloud Fortress
Xiao Er - 小二 - Waiter(Little Two)
Kè Guān - 客官 - Customer
Zhēn Rén Bù Lòu Xiàn - 真人不露馅, Real Person Not Reveal (Means a person with a hidden talent. or a talented person in disguise)
Líng Dāng - 铃铛, Bells, Xiao Ling Dang - Little Bells
Guài shūshu - 怪叔叔, Weird Uncle
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the story and the characters. The original Author was ErYa, who published the novel in Chinese on jjwxc (purchased raw for translation purpose). Unless otherwise indicated, all material on these pages is copyrighted. Please do not repost!