LFTMPH Chapter 73-A Divine Beauty Part 4

Translated by Snowfall77

Taking a second to glance away from the Yimei, Xia Ge saw a cloaked person in a conical bamboo hat not far off.  They were calmly pulling back the string of a bow, the tip of the arrow pointed at Xia Ge’s head.  A light breeze blew, making the black cloak of the cold and detached person subtly ripple.

……it was them again?!

Suddenly furious, the Yimei erupted with bloody qi, using the arrow-stricken corpse to slash the iron blade at Xia Ge: “You don’t know what’s good for you!”

Xia Ge paid the Yimei no heed, and using {ghost and shadow}, jumped over the head of one of the white-clothed goons, racing towards the most opportune black cave mouth.  The Yimei followed.  And Bairen, not caring a whit about the figure with the bow, had eyes only for Xia Ge the eavesdropper, jeered loudly: “I see you running!  Everyone, this way!”

And the deadly chase was on!

Turning one into hundreds, the red ribbon on Xia Ge’s left hand let stream out numerous strands of itself behind Xia Ge, sweeping the masked pursuers off their feet and tying sturdy knots around their legs——

“What the fuck?  What the hell is this?!”

“I’m bound!”

“Keep pursuing——”

They were answered by a rain of countless sharp arrows!

“Aargh——”

“……”

“Who?!”

Bairen turned his head, innumerable paper blades flying out from his hands, yet the cloaked person with the bow made the slightest movement, completely disappearing in the next second!  Bairen’s paper blades hit empty air.  His pupils retracting, Bairen looked  back in front of him, finding that both the Yimei and the eavesdropping thief had also vanished!

“Motherfucker!”

About to burst with rage, Bairen swore: “Waste, nothing but a bunch of fucking wastes!”

The ‘wastes’ lay on the ground, the red ribbon that’d tied them gone, handily replaced with long arrows that’d taken their lives and left their lungs empty.

Bairen turned to those behind him, the few still left alive, and berated them: “Why are you just stupidly standing there?!  Go after them!!  Go!!  You’ve still got eyeballs, right?!”

But while Bairen was hopping about in anger, the cloaked person already had the Yimei wrapped in red silk.  Finding a secluded place within the cave, the cloaked person let loose the red silk over the Yimei’s mouth.

Although the rest of it remained trussed up, the Yimei immediately began talking: “Heh, who——”

Interrupting, the cloaked person was equanimous: “What is your name?”

Because, even if they weren’t showing it, the Yimei was making the cloaked person particularly uneasy.

“Who are you?  You think I’ll tell you my name just because you ask?  Of course, if you give me your life——”  The Yimei’s hoarse tone turned greedy, “It’s not impossible, oh——”

The cloaked person’s ice-cold reply was pointing the tip of an arrow directly at the Yimei’s ‘heart.’

Losing its arrogance, the Yimei queried: “How do you know where my soul is?!”

“I don’t know.”  The cloaked person’s voice was very cold, “I too want to know why I know.”

Why was this Yimei, from top to bottom, so eerily familiar?  Every single part, every inch, so very, very familiar.

“Tell me your name,” The cloaked person would not be deterred “If you don’t, I will kill you.”

Only now noticing the red silk the cloaked person was carrying, the trembling Yimei shrieked: “It’s actually you——?!”

The arrow tip got closer to the ‘heart,’ however the Yimei kept screeching.  Not with panic, but with icy ridicule: “It’s you, hahaha, it’s you——it’s actually you——hahaha, I’ll tell you my name, I’ll tell who I am, hahaha——”

The cloaked person’s voice did not waver: “What is your name?”

Each word vicious and insidious, the Yimei told.

“My name is {calamity}.”

Gaze cold and unfeeling, the cloaked person let loose their arrow, piercing the Yimei’s ‘heart.’  Falling away in pieces, the Yimei screamed its final words: “You can’t kill me——you can’t kill me, hahaha——”

Looking down at the white fragments on the ground, the cloaked person felt an inexplicable chill come over them.

= =

Meanwhile, Xia Ge had been running through the black cave like a headless fly, rushing and bumping, no knowing where she was going.  Then she turned a corner and right before her stood a masked figure in white!

“Haha, we knew you’d end up here!”  The masked figure laughed, “These caves are all connected, where do you think you can run to?”

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Xia Ge saw another white-clothed masked figure!

Someone in front of her, someone behind her.  Xia Ge’s brow beaded with cold sweat as she eyed her surroundings.  Red carpet on the ground, glimmering formations on the stone walls——

Formation?!

Quickly stashing her sickle in her silver ring, Xia Ge jumped up and resolutely stomped her foot on a formation!

Hadn’t a cave formation had a teleportation effect earlier?!

Maybe that was why there was the prohibition of ‘don’t step on the formations?!’

But……apparently it needed spiritual power to work!

“Haha, what is this fool doing?”

""

“Idiot, did you really all you had to do was step on it?  Hahaha, too stupid——”

“Gotcha!”

A long sword ruthlessly slashing at her, Xia Ge gritted her teeth and dodged.  The black string holding her hair back getting cut away, Xia Ge’s soft black hair fanned out.  Xia Ge didn’t care about that though, instead hastily making the motions of Dan Jue with her hands.  She’d only just entered Danfeng’s inner gate, the most relevant experience she had with using spiritual power was when she’d blown up that entry examination furnace!

And before getting herself encircled and killed, working at top speed, Xia Ge managed to complete the series of movements!

The next instant violent lingqi coalesced, and the formation Xia Ge had her foot on blazed bright with silvery light, dazing her pursuers.  By the time they recovered their senses, Xia Ge had already long disappeared.

“Fuck!”

“Where does that formation go to?!”

“That lingqi——could actually activate the formations?!  That’s a Diji level formation!!”

“You still have to ask where it goes?!  It goes to where the goods are kept!!  The auction isn’t finished, we can’t let this bastard ruin it!!”

“Keep pursuing!!”

Overhead the skies marked the passing time—

About to fall flat on her face, Xia Ge used {ghost and shadow} to flip midair, sticking a more dignified landing.  Taking a deep breath, she smoothed her black hair back as she took a look at her new surroundings.

She was in a long, empty corridor with snow-white walls.  Although there were very, very red, wooden doors in the walls.  Xia Ge approached some, listening carefully, but all she heard was silence.  The winding corridor went on forever, as one by one, Xia Ge walked down it, trying each door, and finding them all tightly locked.

So by the time Xia Ge made it to what seemed like the last door, she was startled to find that it was……cracked open?

Xia Ge was staring blankly when an urgent voice shook her out of her reverie.  “This is where they would’ve arrived from the formation.  Quickly search!”

“Honestly!  The audacity, daring to come here!  If one item goes missing from the auction, I’ll teach that bastard what ‘the point of no return’ means!”

“Keep your voice down!  The auction is still going on in front……”

Footsteps pounded down the corridor, and without any hesitation Xia Ge went through the open red door, closing it behind her!

Only to be practically blinded!

Blinded by brightness!

On the walls hung clothes of almost every color.  Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.  Some were sequined, some not.  And there were piles of hats and shoes.  They were small-sized though, like for an adolescent.

For a second, Xia Ge wondered if she’d happened upon an ancient children’s clothing store.

A heavy, unknown fragrance filling the air, Xia Ge couldn’t stop sneezing.  Between the blinding colors and the sneezing, it took Xia Ge a few minutes to register that there an exquisite bedframe inlaid with ivory, pretty curtains hanging off of it, and then a dressing table beside it.

Hold on!

Considering the clothes, the dressing table, the bed……Xia Ge had a guess……

“If one item goes missing from the auction……”

“……the divine beauty?”

Outside the door, Xia Ge’s pursuers were still rushing around: “No!  That bastard can’t escape!  The storehouses?”

“Open every door and search!”

Was this the room of the ‘divine beauty?!’

And if it was, exactly where was the supposed beauty?

The voices out in the corridor were getting closer and closer.  Xia Ge ground her teeth.  She was running out of time!!

Starting up {ghost and shadow} again, Xia Ge tore some clothes off the wall, got behind the bed’s curtains, wildly threw her mask, outer clothes, and cloak into the silver ring, and began putting on the new outfit.

Holding an ochre-red dress with wide sleeves, Xia Ge threw it on over her head.  Although the ‘divine beauty’ was supposed to be young, Xia Ge found the outfit also suited her quite well, the red ribbon around her left hand matching the dress.  Outside, her pursuers were as bustling as ever, making their way door to door.  Xia Ge’s heart pounded, hearing them, and she ran barefoot to the dressing table.  Hurriedly grabbing rouge, lipstick, and other powders, Xia Ge took them back to behind the bed’s curtains and started applying the makeup.

有去无回 [yǒu qù wú huí]

Once one left home, he had little chance of returning; cross the Rubicon; would never come out alive

-gone forever

-go and never come back