Chapter 88: Willing to Be a Maid

After Second Sister left, the group boarded the painted pleasure boat once more and began clearing away the locust corpses, preparing to steer it back to Swallow Province City before long.

At that moment, Crimson Snow walked up to Chu Youcai and said, “Young Master Meng has shown me great kindness. By rights, I should repay that debt with all my strength. But my younger sister, Fragrant Jade, is still gravely wounded, and I must care for her for some days. Once she has recovered, Fragrant Jade and I will come to repay your kindness.”

Yet though she spoke thus, there was a faint evasiveness in her gaze, and she did not dare meet Chu Youcai’s eyes directly.

In that instant, Chu Youcai’s heart stirred. Crimson Snow was, after all, a tree spirit. She had been repeatedly hounded by Yan Nantian and Chu Yuwei, and now she had seen with her own eyes how the Willow Deity and the Locust Demon had been treated. Most likely her heart had long since turned cold. Once Fragrant Jade recovered, the two of them would probably withdraw into the deep mountains and live in seclusion.

But there was little he could say. So he merely replied, “Not everyone rejects demons. If ever you encounter hardship, you must come to me. I will certainly do all I can to help.” He had benefited greatly from the Six Jia Divine Formation she had taught him, and he naturally held gratitude in his heart.

Crimson Snow nodded. “Very well.”

Then her form blurred and dissolved into a swirl of white petals, vanishing before everyone’s eyes.

Seeing this, and hearing Chu Youcai explain afterward about Crimson Snow and Fragrant Jade, Yun Cuixian and the others could not help sighing with emotion.

Once aboard the pleasure boat, Chu Youcai saw Shangguan Wanru still lying unconscious upon it. Her face was pale, yet there remained on it a beauty proud even in wind and frost.

He took her pulse and found her breathing steady. It seemed she had merely collapsed from exhaustion, and he let out a quiet breath of relief.

And yet a trace of guilt and worry still rose within him. If only he had possessed enough strength, things would not have come to this.

Just then, Wen Ji approached lightly, made a graceful curtsy to Yun Cuixian, and said, “So this is Miss Yun. I am Wen Ji. I was once lost amid the dust of the mortal world, but Young Master Chu awakened me, and now I have finally repented. If I may remain by Young Master Chu’s side even as a maidservant, my wish will be fulfilled. I hope Miss Yun will grant me this.”

Yun Cuixian was taken aback. She had long heard that Wen Ji sold her art but not her body, and knew her to be refined and pure of spirit; she had admired her from afar. Yet she had never expected that the foremost beauty among the Twelve Beauties of Swallow Province would speak with such sincerity, even expressing her willingness to become a servant girl.

It seemed the rumors outside that Wen Ji had given her heart to Chu Youcai were entirely true.

And when Yun Cuixian had seen earlier how Wen Ji had rushed forward with all her strength to aid Chu Youcai while he slaughtered the locusts, she had already begun to regard her with favor.

But no matter what, for her to suddenly accept Wen Ji just like that was impossible.

So she said, “Miss Wen, why speak so? I had long heard that your bearing was extraordinary, and seeing you today, I find it all too true. I admire you greatly. But you are as though a heavenly immortal descended to earth, while my humble dwelling is crude and simple. I fear it would only dim your radiance.”

Wen Ji listened carefully to every word Yun Cuixian said. When she had heard it through, she did not hesitate, but replied, “To speak plainly, Miss Yun, I am in truth a jade spirit, lingering in the human world and nothing more. The wealth and splendor of this mortal realm have no bearing on me. And I know that my allotted span is almost over. Before long, I fear I will vanish like smoke and ash.”

A thread of sorrow entered her voice.

At those words, everyone’s expression changed in shock. No one had expected the famed Wen Ji to be a jade spirit, much less to speak of it so candidly. It was wholly unforeseen. Even more unexpected was that this jade spirit stood already at the edge of destruction.

Yun Cuixian herself cried out involuntarily.

Then Wen Ji took a gold-and-jade casket from her robe and offered it to Yun Cuixian. “Miss Yun, I owe Young Master Chu a great debt of gratitude. He dispelled the confusion in my heart, and now there is nothing left in this world for me to cling to. But Young Master Chu is now facing peril. In the final days of my life, I wish to help him in whatever way I can.”

By now Yun Cuixian was deeply moved. At that moment, she too thought of the grave danger surrounding Chu Youcai. A great calamity lay ahead, and overcoming Chu Yuwei would be exceedingly difficult. If they could gain even a little more strength, that would be for the best.

Besides, Wen Ji was so gentle and pleasing in temperament that Yun Cuixian had already begun to like her.

So she nodded and said, “If Miss Wen does not disdain my poor dwelling, then we shall gladly welcome you to stay for a long while, and receive you as an honored guest. But this meeting gift is truly unnecessary.”

Wen Ji shook her head and said resolutely, “These are mere worldly trifles. They are of no use to me. I only hope Miss Yun will accept them.”

Yun Cuixian let out a soft sigh and finally took the casket. The moment it touched her hands, she felt how heavy it was. When she opened it, she saw at once several dozen silver notes, each worth ten thousand taels, along with many rare pearls and jewels. She could not help but start in alarm and said, “Miss Wen, this is far too precious…”

Wen Ji answered earnestly, “Miss Yun, I do not have many days left in the human world. These things are of no use to me at all. If they can be of help to Young Master Chu, then my wish is fulfilled. Please accept them, no matter what.”

Yun Cuixian herself had been born into immense wealth and rank, and had seen treasures even finer than these. She quickly recovered her composure and thought that if such things could help her lord husband, if they could spare him some burden and worry, then that was what mattered most now.

So she nodded and accepted the gold-and-jade casket, then had Juxue put it away at one side. She was already thinking that they ought to purchase a more spacious residence, so that Hongyu and Wen Ji alike might live there in peace. She immediately brought the matter up with Hongyu and Juxue.

Hongyu had, over the past days, caught several little ghosts and brought them back, turning their room into utter disorder, often disturbing Juxue in the middle of the night. She had felt ashamed of it already, and when she heard this proposal, she agreed at once with repeated enthusiasm.

So she and Yun Cuixian began discussing which nearby house would be best to buy, while Juxue offered several suggestions. Yun Cuixian also asked Wen Ji whether she needed anything, and Wen Ji, blushing slightly, named a few feminine necessities, all of which Juxue carefully noted down one by one.

Seeing everyone in such cheerful harmony, Chu Youcai could not help relaxing a little.

Then he recalled the Willow Deity’s inheritance, and his heart stirred. He called Wen Ji over and quietly told her of it.

At this, Wen Ji’s face lit up with delight. If she could cultivate demonic arts, what would mere thunder and lightning amount to?

But as Chu Youcai silently recited the methods of marrow-cleansing and bone-refining, Wen Ji’s expression gradually changed.

She shook her head and said, “Young Master Chu, in my present state, even the sound of thunder passing overhead is enough to scatter my soul. If my body were placed directly into an alchemical furnace to be tempered, I fear that before even a quarter of an hour had passed, I would have been reduced to ashes.”

Chu Youcai started inwardly at once. He remembered too that when the Willow Deity had spoken of this body-forging method, it had done so with grave caution, using one particular phrase: act according to one’s strength.

This demonic art could not be cultivated by just any demon. Only those with powerful constitutions could endure it.

And if Wen Ji were to cultivate it, her physical state would first need to be improved. That, however, was no task to be accomplished in a day or two.

In the end, Chu Youcai could only abandon the idea, and with the boat he returned to Swallow Province.

After bidding farewell to the Prefect of Swallow Province, they returned to their residence. The first thing they did was carry Shangguan Wanru into a room and summon a physician.

After examining her, the physician confirmed that she was unharmed, saying she had merely fainted and would awaken by nightfall. Only then did everyone set their minds at ease. Yun Cuixian and Juxue then went to the estate brokers of Swallow Province to see what houses might be available for purchase. Wen Ji, having been overly taxed in mind and body earlier, rested in another room, while Hongyu continued in the courtyard, wielding her whip and relentlessly training her arts.

After finishing his breathing exercises in the courtyard, Chu Youcai thought of the eleven years of lifespan he still possessed, and his mind stirred. He sent his consciousness into the inner world of the Crocodile-Dragon Mountain-and-River Pearl.

He wanted to see whether a new trial space might appear there, and whether he might obtain some divine object like Blood Fox Fur once again.

But when he entered the inner world and saw the scene before him, he could not help freezing in astonishment.