Chapter 199: Say You Like Me, Or Ill Cut You Down

In this life, Chen Changsheng first met this girl over a few copper coins.That day, he failed to get any steamed buns. By dusk, he turned into sand and vanished from the world.

Meanwhile, that girl who traveled everywhere carrying her sword put down roots right here.

Yu Xuan used her little silver to open a tavern. From then on, she never robbed people again.

Three years later, Chen Changsheng returned to this place.

Just as before, he wore ragged clothes and lay by the roadside with a chipped, broken bowl, starting his day of begging.

“What terrible luck last time…”

Chen Changsheng muttered and cursed, then lay down to wait for a kindhearted person.

But he didn’t always meet kind folks.

Sometimes people found a beggar like him amusing. They’d toss him two copper coins. The world loves to see a spectacle. When they feel good, they don’t mind parting with a coin or two.

And Chen Changsheng used that coin or two to fill his belly.

But before Chen Changsheng had even settled down properly…

A figure blocked his view.

Chen Changsheng squinted his eyes. Seeing who it was, he immediately sat up.

“It’s you again!”

Chen Changsheng stared at her, saying, “No money here! If you want my life, go ahead!”

Yu Xuan, carrying her sword, grinned broadly. “Don’t be so scared of me! I’m not here to rob you. I’m here to pay you back.”

As she spoke, she dropped two copper coins into his bowl.

Chen Changsheng stared blankly. Looking at this sword-carrying girl, he had a feeling something wasn’t quite right about her today.

Yu Xuan eyed him as she said, “I say, little beggar, you’ve got hands and feet. Why not find something to do?”

Chen Changsheng would like that, but since he only lived one day from sunrise to sunset, where could he find work?

He simply answered, “If I can earn money lying down, why look for trouble?”

Yu Xuan sighed softly, muttering under her breath, “That’s what you said last time too.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.”

Yu Xuan waved her hand. “My tavern is short-handed. Why not come be a helper? I’ll provide your meals.”

Chen Changsheng stared blankly again. Then, he shook his head, lay back down, and closed his eyes, seemingly not wanting to talk to Yu Xuan.

Yu Xuan asked, “Why lie down?”

Chen Changsheng didn’t even open his eyes. “If Miss has time to kill, go find fun elsewhere. I’m just a beggar, nothing interesting here.”

“I’m serious,” Yu Xuan said.

Chen Changsheng shook his head. “Even if it’s true, I won’t go.”

Seeing his attitude, Yu Xuan frowned. After thinking a moment, she asked, “Do you know who I am?”

Chen Changsheng shook his head. “Who are you?”

“Good that you don’t know.”

Clang!

With the sound of the blade, Yu Xuan drew her sword.

When Chen Changsheng opened his eyes again, the blade rested against his throat.

Chen Changsheng: “…”

Yu Xuan said, “Coming? Or should I cut you down?”

Under her threat, he reluctantly ended his lying-down-money-making days and became a tavern helper.

“From now on, you belong to me. If anyone gives you trouble, tell them my name.”

“Are you very important?”

“No, they’ll beat you worse.”

Chen Changsheng was speechless. Then he asked, “But you still haven’t told me who you are.”

Yu Xuan just smiled. “You’ll find out slowly. The days ahead are long.”

Seeing this, Chen Changsheng didn’t ask any more questions. That day, he worked peacefully as a helper in the tavern.

After today, he figured, there wouldn’t be any “days ahead” for him anyway.

And that sword-carrying girl kept her word, providing him a meal.

It was probably the best meal Chen Changsheng had ever eaten since coming into the world.

As dusk approached, Chen Changsheng went to a quiet place. He watched the last trace of sunset fade, and he too scattered away with the twilight.

He thought he’d never see this walking misfortune again.

Yet, when he woke up three years later, the first thing he saw upon opening his eyes was a girl carrying a sword.

As their eyes met, Chen Changsheng felt utterly absurd.

“You’re so clingy!”

“You’re mine.”

Yu Xuan chuckled, then drew her sword and pressed it against Chen Changsheng’s neck.

“Coming?”

Chen Changsheng sighed and bowed his head once more.

Over several sleeps and several wakings, Chen Changsheng followed Yu Xuan to do many things.

Sometimes he was a helper in the tavern. Sometimes he accompanied her to opera shows. Or she made him work as a storyteller. Other times, she took him to rob robbers.

In a blink, thirty years had passed. Yet Chen Changsheng had only woken up ten times.

The next time he woke, Chen Changsheng looked at the sword-carrying girl before him and asked,

“You’re not a mortal, are you?”

Yu Xuan nodded straight away. “That’s right.”

“You are or you aren’t?”

“Not.”

“Not a mortal?”

“Yes.”

Yu Xuan ate grapes as she smiled. “Want to learn?”

Chen Changsheng blinked. “Learn what?”

“Spells.”

From then on, Chen Changsheng stepped onto the path of cultivation.

Yu Xuan taught him the methods for cultivation practice, guiding him step by step on how to move energy and cast spells.

After that, Chen Changsheng’s waking periods grew longer and longer. From originally living just a single day from sunrise to sunset, he could later live half a month. Everything seemed to be improving.

“I’ll give you something tasty.”

“What tasty thing?”

Yu Xuan pulled out a gourd of elixirs and started chugging the pills right into Chen Changsheng’s mouth.

Chen Changsheng didn’t know what they were, but within just a few days, he leaped from Divine Transformation stage into Great Completion Dongxu stage.

“Why are you so good to me?”

When Chen Changsheng asked this, Yu Xuan only said, “What do you think?”

“Using me as a furnace?”

“No.”

Yu Xuan answered seriously, “I’ve liked you since a very long time ago.”

“Huh?”

Chen Changsheng didn’t know that Yu Xuan’s “very long time ago” reached back thousands of years.

Yu Xuan asked, “Do you like me?”

Hearing this, Chen Changsheng laughed. “Did you forget to take your medicine today?”

Clang!

The Shangqing Sword once more touched his throat.

“Say you like me quickly, or I’ll cut you down.”

In the end, Chen Changsheng said he liked her. Only then did Yu Xuan put down the sword, quite satisfied.

Quickly, over a hundred years passed. Yu Xuan took Chen Changsheng roaming the world. After that first time, Yu Xuan kept asking the “like me” question.

Chen Changsheng always waited until she drew her sword to answer.

Though it lacked sincerity, Yu Xuan was still happy every time.

Chen Changsheng didn’t understand how that made her happy, nor did he believe Yu Xuan truly liked him. He figured she was just amusing herself.

But time waits for no one. Even an immortal cannot escape the cycle of life and death, reincarnation.

The maximum lifespan of a Dongxu Cultivator was just over one thousand years. Yu Xuan had lived one thousand five hundred years. Her time was nearing its end. She could feel she didn’t have long left.

That day, she asked Chen Changsheng once more.

“Do you love me?”

Chen Changsheng froze at her words.

“Didn’t you always ask ‘like’ before?”

“This time is different.”

Chen Changsheng looked at Yu Xuan’s expression. He sensed something different about her today. Her question didn’t seem like a joke.

But today’s Chen Changsheng couldn’t even grasp his own feelings about Yu Xuan.

“It’s fine…”

Yu Xuan forced a smile. “It’s okay if you don’t answer. I’ll ask you next time.”

After saying this, Yu Xuan left.

But that so-called “next time”…

never came.