Ch22 – Sea of Stars

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Translator: transcendentwings

Editor: teaff 

Once the key fragments were mentioned, Xu Xingzhi felt like he had grown another head.

He pointed to himself: “You want to take me with you?”

 

 

Meng Chongguang approached him with eager eyes: “Does Shixiong not want to be with Chongguang?”

Xu Xingzhi was originally the person who created the character Meng Chongguang, but after interacting with him these days, Xu Xingzhi already had a clearer understanding of his conduct. 

—This is a petting donkey, it’s best if you stroke the fur in the right direction, go against the grain even a little, and it may go crazy.

 

Xu Xingzhi was afraid that after he declares “don’t want”, then the other would twist the silver chain around his neck on the spot, and ask him while sobbing why he didn’t want to.

But he really didn’t want to go.
First, he didn’t want to watch powerlessly as Meng Chongguang collected the key fragments.
Second, he was afraid that the variables in the savage wasteland would be too easily subjected to change, and before he could find a way to escape from here, he would already have been martyred.

Xu Xingzhi attempted to refuse: “I would only be a burden.”

 

Meng Chongguang smiled extremely sweetly as he held the front of Xu Xingzhi’s robes with both hands and replied softly: “It’s okay, Chongguang is willing to be held back by Shixiong.”

Xu Xingzhi suffered a blow to the heart and was in a trance for a while.

Although Xu Xingzhi knew that the person before him was a murderous monster, but at this moment, he was just the innocent, perfect, yet coquettish young boy from the original owner’s memories.

 

“Only when Shixiong follows me would I feel at ease.” Meng Chongguang laid down on the edge of the bed, carefully twiddling with Xu Xingzhi’s sash, “Jiu Zhideng’s subordinates already know that Shixiong is here and won’t stop aiming for Shixiong.
He’ll definitely try to kidnap Shixiong, so Shixiong can’t stay here.” 

This reason was quite sufficient and Xu Xingzhi was about to nod his head in agreement when he heard Meng Chongguang continue: “.
.
.
I won’t let Shixiong fall into anyone else’s hands.”

Considering the fact that he will definitely have to leave in the future, Xu Xingzhi tentatively sounded out: “What if I leave ne.”

Meng Chongguang’s face became covered in frost: “Where does Shixiong want to go? To find whom?”

With this unresolved, it will always be an ailment of the heart. 

Xu Xingzhi’s heart froze: “If I wanted to leave, would you kill me?”

After being silent for a long time, Meng Chongguang whispered quietly: “.
.
.
It seems like Shixiong still hasn’t forgiven Chongguang.”

Xu Xingzhi thought, isn’t that a only natural? The original owner suffered from the murder of his master and the pain of having his roots stripped, if he had reconciled with Meng Chongguang after arriving in the wasteland for not even two days, then wouldn’t it be too fake? The original owner wasn’t some sort of Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Xu Xingzhi said: “We won’t discuss this matter for the time being.
Give me your answer.
If I help you escape the wasteland and wish to go to a place where no one can find me, would you send me there?” 

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Meng Chongguang didn’t speak, the sash that was clasped in his palms became somewhat deformed.

Xu Xingzhi continued half-jokingly and half-seriously: “Unwilling? Then at that time, would you kill me or sever my feet?”

 

“I wouldn’t hurt Shixiong.” Meng Chongguang murmured, “.
.
.
I would rather burn myself to death rather than hurt Shixiong in the slightest.”

Xu Xingzhi was speechless. 

What kind of answer was that?

He originally only wanted to take a risk and have Meng Chongguang promise that he would send him back to his original world after leaving the savage wasteland while he would report the locations of the wasteland key fragments in exchange.

However, after mulling it over carefully, Xu Xingzhi found that oil had probably seeped into his brain.

As far as Meng Chongguang’s wolf pup character was concerned, despite obtaining the promise now, when they finally escaped, even if he ended up being packaged up nicely and locked in a small, dark room, Xu Xingzhi still wouldn’t dare to have the slightest hint of a temper. 

The atmosphere condensed for a while.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection.
If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Coafg j wbwfca, We Wlcuhtl rlutfv: “Mbgufa la.”

Ktfrf akb kbgvr “obgufa la” kfgf cba bcis jvvgfrrfv ab Zfcu Jtbcuuejcu, yea jirb obg We Wlcuhtl tlwrfio ab tfjg.

Who allowed him to cause trouble and create a character like Meng Chongguang ne. 

Zfcu Jtbcuuejcu kjr jirb jkjgf atja atlr kjrc’a j nfgs qifjrjca abqlm bo mbcnfgrjalbc, rb tf abbx atf lclaljalnf ab oilq atf qjuf bc atlr lrref jcv wbnfv qjra la.

His fingers cautiously made their way up along the sash, reaching out to hook onto Xu Xingzhi’s pinky, as he pitifully tried to express goodwill.

Meng Chongguang was indeed born with such moving beauty that even god would reward him with sustenance; with a mere look, Xu Xingzhi’s heart softened.

He had reason to believe that Meng Chongguang could make a fortune just begging on the streets relying entirely on that face. 

The stiff atmosphere dissipated a little and Meng Chongguang spoke again: “If Shixiong had enough sleep, then go out with me and get some air ba.”

After removing the chains from Xu Xingzhi, Meng Chongguang led him out of the tower.

Xu Xingzhi, who was absent-minded and conflicted about whether or not he should tell Meng Chongguang where the key fragments were before he left the tower, just peered up with a casual glance and became stunned speechless by the scenery in front of him.

The originally gray sky was full of scattered stars, and starlight stretched across the sky like a sea of light spilling out.
There was a courtyard of quiet and cold, faint smoke and flowing water buried more than half of the nearby hills. 

A resplendent ocean of stars engulfed the cloudy sky in the vicinity.

Xu Xingzhi thought it was a hallucination and only confirmed what he saw wasn’t artificial after blinking forcefully.

 

Xu  Xingzhi was both surprised and happy: “This is?”

Meng Chongguang couldn’t help revealing a small prideful expression: “I made this for Shixiong.” 

Xu Xingzhi: “.
.
.
How did you.
.
.”

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Meng Chongguang replied easily: “The savage wasteland may be barren, but there will always be some spirit stones produced.”

Hearing this, Xu Xingzhi’s expression changed slightly.

Prior to entering the wasteland, Xu Xingzhi had mixed interests.
As a result, he read many heretical books, then after combining it with the original owner’s memories, he knew that spirit stones were necessary for celestial cultivation.
It required the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, a 100-year foundation stone, and the nourishment of pure dew.
Only with the combination of those three could one piece be produced. 

Spirit stones of standard quality were already a dime in a dozen, and a dozen or so were enough to speed up the cultivation process of an ordinary cultivator, not to mention the high-quality spirit stones which were much rarer like precious jade.

The grade of spirit stone is often determined by their brightness.
Only when they are crystal clear, beautiful and without imperfections, could they be labeled as grade A products and as the level of brilliance decreases, so does its value.

In the mortal world, a piece of high-quality spirit stone was enough to become the treasure of an antique shop that would be difficult to exchange even with a thousand taels of gold.
Even so, there were still countless rich people vying for it, trying to absorb the spiritual energy for the sake of longevity.

As a prison for exiles, the savage land has existed for thousands of years, but the light of the sky wasn’t sufficient and it also rained often.
It was difficult to produce good quality spirit stones with just these two conditions alone, let alone the tigers and wolves that were entrenched here and the ghosts and beasts that roamed.
There were also monsters guarding each mountain so none of them could be invaded easily. 

However, Meng Chongguang had used these high quality spirit stones to construct this vast starry sky around the tower.

Meng Chongguang asked fawningly: “Shixiong, do you like it?”

Xu Xingzhi only felt as if the thousands of lights shining on his body were unbearably warm.
What it cast wasn’t only starlight, but also pure spiritual power without impurities.

Perhaps this infinite starlight was naturally able to cause people to conjure up illusions because Xu Xingzhi developed a strange feeling like a smooth current was running through his connected meridians like rolling beads. 

After some time, he came back to his senses and turned to look at Meng Chongguang, who’s eyes were full of anticipation.

Xu Xingzhi stated: “It’s very good, very beautiful.”

Meng Chongguang clenched his fist tightly and raised a hand in an attempt to grab hold of Xu Xingzhi’s hand, but changed his target halfway, and only pinched his sleeve as he swung it back and forth in a coquettish manner: “As long as Shixiong likes it.”

Xu Xingzhi: “.
.
.
Why did you think of doing this?” 

Meng Chongguang stared at Xu Xingzhi, the starlight that fell into his eyes was shimmering and lingering, so beautiful that it stunned him: “Didn’t Shixiong want to see the stars.”

Xu Xingzhi: “.
.
.”

 

It was only now that he remembered that before they discovered Jiu Zhideng’s subordinates spying on them, he had complained to Meng Chongguang that the barren sky was too monotonous with no sun or moon present.

.
.
.
He had only mentioned it thoughtlessly and obtained this starry sky as a result. 

Xu Xingzhi knew in his heart that this starry sky didn’t belong to him and he felt ashamed to have accepted the sentiments it represented, but he really couldn’t hide his appreciation from seeing such a magnificent river of stars.

Furthermore, when he thought of Meng Chongguang, who had done his best to collect the spirit stones from all over, Xu Xingzhi was reminded of a little squirrel who was very pleased with the food that was hoarded bit by bit.

He couldn’t help but chuckle softly: “Why must you act like this? I only mentioned it in passing.”

“I remember all of Shixiong’s words in my heart.” Meng Chongguang patted his chest where his heart was as if he had also recorded Xu Xingzhi’s previous sentence in his heart, “I’ve never forgotten any sentence.” 

Xu Xingzhi had nothing he could say to that and only learned from the original owner in his memories to ruffle his hair: “I’m not worthy of such meticulous attention.”

“You are worth it.”

Meng Chongguang didn’t ponder the overtones in Xu Xingzhi’s words.
He looked at Xu Xingzhi earnestly and declared: “Shixiong, I really want to exchange bodies with you and let Shixiong take a spin in mine.
This way you would be able to see how good you truly are through my eyes.”

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Xu Xingzhi’s heartstrings were moved slightly.
He looked up at the sky and couldn’t help feeling grateful for possessing these fatherly-brotherly affections, but at the same time, he began to develop more doubts in regards to what occurred back then. 

Seeing that Xu Xingzhi was focusing on appreciating the stars while ignoring Meng Chongguang, his original milk puppy seeking recognition and a subsequent reward act, gradually faded and his smile also slowly disappeared: “.
.
. Shixiong, are the stars good-looking?”

Xu Xingzhi: “Lovely.”

Meng Chongguang felt aggrieved: “.
.
. Shixiong, you taught me before that when admiring the view, the scenery isn’t what’s important, but the people who accompanied one to appreciate it that are more important.”

Xu Xingzhi had never seen such a vast collection of starry seas in the real world either, and replied casually: “Oh, is it?” 

Meng Chongguang: “.
.
.”

But when Meng Chongguang brought this up, Xu Xingzhi really was reminded of one thing: “Where are Zhou Beinan and the others? And Zhou Wang, call them all to come out and have a look ba.”

“They’ve already seen enough of it.” Meng Chongguang’s tone of voice was extremely unhappy, “I had them go back to their rooms and enjoy it alone.”

Xu Xingzhi hummed in agreement: “Then that’s fine. A-Wang grew up in the wasteland from a young age, so she probably has never seen such resplendent starlight.” 

Meng Chongguang gritted his teeth secretly, raised his head and looked at this heavenly ocean of stars for a while.
When he spoke again, there was a hint of malice laced within his words: “.
.
. Shixiong, do you want to see even more glorious starlight?”

Xu Xingzhi: “.
.
. En?”

 

Before he came back to his senses, a roar resounded in his ears, creating an incessant noise, like a mountain ghost wailing, and then, Xu Xingzhi watched helplessly as the starry sky of spirit stones that was originally flowing above the river spew out a crimson light like an eruption of volcanic lava.

The starry sky exploded, all of the stars fell, and the spirit stones in the sky turned into countless pieces of flickering gravel and dust, descending one after another, drawing milky-white meteor tail arcs on the curtain of sky streak after streak. 

It wasn’t until the first wave of star dust sprinkled into Xu Xingzhi’s palm that he finally realized what Meng Chongguang had done.

“.
.
.
Meng Chongguang?” Xu Xingzhi exclaimed incredulously, “You blew up all of the spirit stones? Those were spirit stones ah!”

An innocent look spread across Meng Chongguang’s face that was without a hint of malevolence: “I’m aware ah.”

Even if he wasn’t the original owner, Xu Xingzhi felt the urge to rap him on his forehead to teach him how to be a decent person: “Are you a prodigal son!” 

Meng Chongguang was unmoved and became even more arrogant.
With another light hook of his fingertips, another piece of the starry sky shattered like fireworks and the stars rained down again in pieces.
When it was about to hit the ground, the slightly bigger spirit stone fragments ignited into a scorching garnet red as it fell and finally struck the white stones in the clear stream, disappearing with a hiss.

Meng Chongguang turned his head to look at Xu Xingzhi and expressed seriously: “I don’t like  it when Shixiong stares at something for too long.”

Xu Xingzhi: “.
.
.”

Meng Chongguang’s gaze was so sincere and adorable that there was a strange sense of credibility even if he voiced more absurd words: “.
.
. Shixiong only needs to look at me forever and ever.” 

Xu Xingzhi was speechless for a while and could only sigh: “.
.
.
What a waste.”

.
.
.
In this world, that was equivalent to throwing tens of thousands of taels of gold away all for nothing in return.

Meng Chongguang smiled: “If Shixiong still wants to see the stars, I’ll just go up there and arrange it again.”

Xu Xingzhi immediately dissuaded: “It’s okay, don’t, no need.
What if you blow them up again ne.” 

“Shixiong has no need to worry about this.” Meng Chongguang remarked, “If Shixiong wants to watch the fireworks a few times, I will let Shixiong admire it a few times.
As long as it’s something Shixiong wants, Chongguang will find it for you no matter what.”

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.
.
.
This statement truly wasn’t just empty words.

The furnishings in Xu Xingzhi’s room naturally couldn’t be readily found in the savage wasteland, especially that large carved wooden bed.
The carved patterns on the sides must’ve been carved by someone personally stroke after stroke.

In the original owner’s memories, other than the original owner, the only person who had slept in that bed was Meng Chongguang. 

And such a degree of restoration only proved that Meng Chongguang studied the bed thousands of times when the original owner was unaware, even the direction of the inclination of the carved lotus stamens weren’t too far deviated from the original.

.
.
.
Xu Xingzhi suddenly really envied the original owner of this body.

 

In order to distract himself from this strange emotion, he looked up at the sky again.

The invaluable spirit stones were still descending one by one and the extremely pure spiritual power that was diffused, flowed down, covering the tower completely from top to bottom, seeping into Xu Xingzhi’s four limbs and bones.
Even the folded fan in his left hand was wrapped in a thin layer of warm light. 

After an unknown period of time, the residual brilliance of the spirit stones disappeared from the air, only leaving behind the hazy mermaid bead-like cold moon to glow with warmth.

Xu Xingzhi only felt the pain in his flesh ease slightly when the starlight dissipated completely.

Then he got back down to business with Meng Chongguang: “When shall we make our move?”

Until now, he had no idea how long he had been sleeping in the room. 

Quite a lot of time must’ve passed since Jiu Zhideng’s spies were caught, if they still didn’t leave, then they would probably run into the pursuers sent by Jiu Zhideng and end up engaged in a melee.

Meng Chongguang was aware of Xu Xingzhi’s worries and took the initiative to grasp his hand: “It’s fine, as long as Shixiong has enough sleep.
If anyone dares to come, I’ll just.
.
.”

Meng Chongguang suddenly trailed off in the middle of his sentence as a look of surprise descended upon his face.

His fingers just so happened to rest upon a major meridian at Xu Xingzhi’s wrist and could no longer shift it away. 

After a brief moment, Meng Chongguang glanced up in astonishment: “.
.
. Shixiong?”

“What is it?” Xu Xingzhi detected the strangeness in Meng Chongguang’s voice, “What happened?”

Meng Chongguang gripped his wrist even more tightly until Xu Xingzhi sucked in a breath of cold air from the force: “Shixiong, are you hiding something from me?”

The author has something to say: 

Chongguang: detonating spirit stones for Shixiong, feels wonderful da.

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Stargazing, concealment, meteor shower.

The translator has something to say: it’s like Meng Chongguang is acting like a peacock towards his crush while the crush harbors feelings of a father (as his creator) and a brother (as his shixiong) 

The editor has something to say:  Meng Chongguang is so romantic, taking his Shixiong to see the stars and a meteor shower too!