江湖路弯弯: Jianghu Road is Curved! Chapter 37

_{(translated by anniaxx)}

^{(edited by xia0xiao1mei)}

○ Book of the Fire Phoenix (Part One) ○

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Sang Shang Sheng In Red

Desert sand shining as snow, crooked river curving like a crescent.

Just like how no one has thought that a flower can bloom from the fissure of a rock, no one knows, within the vast desert exists such a beautiful stream.

Pristine and quiet, an emerald river like a jade strip.

Sang Shang Sheng is as usual, lying under the roofing of the boat and basking in the sun.

Now is already late autumn, after a few days it will be winter, there will not be a lot of leisurely days like this anymore.

The leisure did not last long, approaching footsteps suddenly sounds by his ears,  seems like two people in total, one of them is also a master of light body skill.

——I, who have been lonely for so long, am finally going to come in handy?

As he thinks this, he couldn’t help but raising his corners of lips, carelessly pushing up the straw hat onto his head.

“Boatman, we want to cross the river.”

A youth in black with a cold and static expression appears in front of him.

Not far behind him, a young lady with hair combed into double maid buns is running with great effort; probably because she is rushing so hurriedly, she is covered with sweat and running short of breath.

“Now is not the time I work.”

Sang Shang Sheng slovenly throws the youth a glance, not planning to pay attention to him —— this kind of obviously spoiled young master is the most annoying.

“No one is asking for your opinion.”

A strip of blinding white light shines past, a sharp sword rests on his neck, if it moves one centimeter down, it will definitely slice through his throat.

“I only need your boat.”

The youth emotionlessly states this sentence and moves his hands, just about to feed that cold sword into his flesh.

“Senior brother stop!”

A sudden delicate shout prevented Sang Shang Sheng from performing his originally planned moves.

He rolls his eyes, looking with interest at the person who said that.

That young lady is anxiously looking at the youth in black, she is probably still not recovered from the previous scene, her little face is as pale as paper, her chest moving up and down.

“He is really annoying.” The blade freezes in the air, the beautiful face of the youth reveals a trace of displeasure.

The young lady takes a deep breath, slowly coming near the boat.

“Senior brother, could it be that you want me to row the boat?” She lifts her chin toward the youth in black, small shoulders gently shaking, as pitiful as the falling leaves in autumn wind, “I am very tired, you need to let me save some energy.”

The youth in black frowns, but in the end he did take back his sword.

Sang Shang Sheng quietly lies on the original place, as if nothing has happened.

“This boatman, we, senior brother and junior sister, have come a long way, experiencing multiple challenges to get here, may I ask for your grace to take us across this river?”

The young lady squats down, speaking to Sang Shang Sheng politely.

Her appearance is delicate and formal, bright red garment wrapping her exquisite body, like a flower bud embellished with dews, fresh and tender.

——This is more like it! When requesting others, one should at least show the attitude of requesting others.

Sang Shang Sheng turns to her and smiles, lazily saying, “Little lady, where did you come from, where are you going?”

Well, this is a philosophical puzzle that has been a mystery throughout the ages.

“Came from where I came from, going to where I am going.”

The young lady also presses her lips into a sweet smile, two cute dimples appear on her cheeks, she touches her black beautiful hair as she speaks, the silk sleeve slips down her wrist like water, exposing a chunk of jade-white skin.

Sang Shang Sheng’s pupils feel like they are unable to move.

“Continue looking and I shall dig out your eyes.” A chilly voice sounds above his head.

Tch, she is only your junior sister, not your wife, so stingy!

Sang Shang Sheng complains in his heart, his eyesight willfully slips down from the girl’s wrist, suddenly stops at her waist —— there hangs a golden silk pouch.

“Boatman, I have already answered your question, may I ask will you take us across or not?” The young lady seeing him not responding for a long time, her voice irresistibly shows some anxiousness.

“Will do, why won’t I?” Sang Shang Sheng peeps at that silk pouch one more time, then meaningfully curves the corners of his lips, “As long as you give me money.”

…

The silver boat slowly flows through the water, cool breeze on the river comes into the boat.

“This river is so beautiful.” The young lady in red gazes at the shining emerald-like ripples, her face showing instant amazement.

“Of course.” Sang Shang Sheng diligently rows the paddle at the back of the boat, his voice sounds very joyful, “Does lady want to go down and play for a while?”

The young lady has not even replied when that youth in black reaches out his big hands to lift her and places her under the roofing of the boat.

“You dare?” He glares at her, a strong sense of warning exists in his eyes.

The young lady giggles and pats his arm, looking like she is telling him to not to worry.

“Boatman, we do not have any misunderstanding and enmity between us, why would you want to hurt me?” Her crisp voice is as that of a oriole bird, “This river that you guard is clearly a man eating river, if I foolishly jump down, even if I don’t die, I would definitely lose all my bones and skin.”

Upon finishing her words, she picks up half a chunk of rope under her feet and throws it into the river, unevenly emerges it for a little while and takes it out, that initial thick rope of the size of a thumb has already corroded into a thin thin candle string.

Sang Shang Sheng sees this and lightly humphs, not saying a word more.

“A river with no fish, lives thousands of ghosts.” The young lady turns back and beautifully smiles at the youth in black, “Senior brother, isn’t that right?”

The youth does not say anything either, only raising his eyebrows.

No other conversation occurred between the three along the way, they reached the other side of the river very quickly.

“Sorry, the day is already dark, I will need to hurriedly go back, don’t have time to throw the anchor down.”

There is still a distance of several zhang_{(3.33 meters)} to the other side, Sang Shang Sheng stands on the back of the boat, fakely cupping his hands at the two under the roofing.

The youth in black does not say anything, holds up the young lady and leaps out, steadily landing on the other side, not even touching half a drop of water.

“Sorry to trouble you senior brother.” The young lady stands from his embrace, bitinh her bottom lip in slight embarassment.

——Yo, that youth has pretty good skills, Sang Shang Sheng thinks of this and rubs his chin with interest.

But the one who is more interesting is the young lady in red, no matter how he looks at it, she should be someone with a strong martial art foundation, her light and delicate bone structure is also hard to encounter, how can she not know a single bit of light body skill? Truly a pity.

Shaking his head, he turns the paddle and returns.

When he is in the center of the river, Sang Shang Sheng’s line of sight is attracted to a sudden piece of green at a corner of the roofing.

Who knows when the bottom of his beloved silver boat had a small opening cut through by a sword, the corrosive water is quietly coming into his boat. The opening is not big, but it can guarantee that he cannot return to the other side, only dying in the center of this man eating emerald river.

A shining light sparks in his eyes.

“Youth! You are so cruel hearted!” He throws away the paddle and laughs; his laughter like frightened birds, flying directly into the clouds.

—

After crossing the emerald river, the youth and the young lady slowly walk on the endless gobi. In this vast and boundless scenery, the heaven’s favoured few are merely two tiny ants.

“Cough cough!” The young lady suddenly stops her steps and covers her mouth.

“Is it hurting again?” The youth turns to her, his eyebrows furrowed.

The young lady does not say anything, only takes out a pellet from the silk pouch to eat, then takes down her hand that covered her mouth.

Between her five fingers, streams of bright red liquid vaguely seep out.

“……sooner or later I will kill that brute!” The youth gazes at her pale cheeks, pure darkness settling in his eyes.

The young lady stays silent and avoids eye contact with him.

“Pang Wan! Don’t let yourself down!”

When the youth sees her disheartened look, the knuckles of his tightly-held fists turn white, his anger is on the brink of exploding.

He still remembers when he saw her three months ago——weak and broken, wounds all over her body, a poisonous arrow and a cold knife pierce through her chest, the blade goes in from her front chest and comes out from her backbone, as cold and cruel as a bamboo stick piercing through a piece of meat fragment.

The person who killed her had strong determination, all attacks striking her vital body parts, not leaving any possibilities for her to live on.

She was supposed to have died right there, yet the person who killed her did not expect, her heart is on the opposite side as opposed to other people.

Her gifted body saved her.

“Yes yes, senior brother, don’t worry, I will definitely stab him myself.” The young lady smiles superficially, not showing a sense of ease in her eyes.

“……Father was right, you are too soft-hearted, it is better for you to no longer be the Sheng Gu.” The youth gives her a cold glance, then turns to walk deeper into the gobi.

The young lady bitterly smiles, lifts up her dress and follows him with shaking steps.

He is right, now she already has no rights to be the Sheng Gu of the unorthodox sect, that age of arrogance and fame has already passed in the end.

“Are you sure that the base of the Solitary Palace is here?”

Staring at the far boundless desert, the young lady couldn’t resist asking.

“My information is never wrong.” The youth calmly walks toward the front, seeming to hold great confidence.

“This palace master is so weird, why would he build a palace in this humanless place?” The young lady appears confused.

“You think this is just a normal desert?” Youth sneers, leisurely telling her, “Along the way, that carp’s back mountain, black wind valley, man eating river, which of these places allows for people to safely cross? The palace master truly is highly capable, choosing this heaven-granted mysterious place to live in seclusion, no wonder why no one in Jiang Hu knows of that old monster’s track.”

The young lady did not respond, and only silently follows him in walking forward.

——Old monster? Wasn’t it said that the Solitary Palace Master is a charming man in love with Fairy Sang Chan?

She recalls that long long ago, the time when she listened to Wang Gang’s storytelling in that little town.

At that time, she held so many fantasies for her future, firmly believing that all beautiful men will unconditionally fall in love with her; even after the unbelievable existence of Sang Chan appeared later, she still foolishly thought she is an all-able female lead who can win over all other characters, so there was nothing to worried about.

Yes, nothing to worried about, except for her own life.

The blood-like sun sets below the horizon, half a big and gorgeous fireball, reflecting red on her cheeks.

“Do you detest?”

The quiet youth walking in the front suddenly asks.

The young lady is surprised by his question.

“I do detest.” After a while, she lightly responds.

“So even though you know the great dangers there are here, you still want to follow me?” The youth sounds a laugh, like he is ridiculing her.

“It’s not fun to stay in the mountain anyways.” The young lady gently replies, being very well-behaved.

“If you are willing to listen to me, after I finish this matter, I will help you get revenge.” The voice of the youth is very firm, his steps not faltering.

The young lady sounds an “en”.

Following the last trace of sunlight that buried into the ground, in the dark orchid sky on the east, there hangs a crescent moon.

A majestic high mountain appears in front of their eyes; on the dark black, steep mountain walls, some traces of grandiose palaces are vaguely revealed. Amongst the dense fog, distant lights and bright stars above echo back and forth, almost impossible to tell which light ignited from the horizon. Looking from afar, it is like a famous ink-pouring painting, ornamented with sparkling gold speckles.

That is but the viewable yet unreachable, fantasy-like fairyland.

---

Translator’s Note: A new book of this novel begins and our Pang Wan is back! Fight! Wan Wan! Do not ever let yourself down! Happiness is ahead waiting for you! –Annie^_^*

p.s. So now, who do you think is the male lead? Hahaha~