The Man in the Coir Raincoat

Their gazes met for a moment amid the billowing dust, and then— Smack! Under Tianyan's frosty glare, Xu Yuan's hand was slapped away abruptly. As expected, he still couldn't fool her. Xu Yuan lowered his eyes and sighed inwardly. His parting words just now had been deliberate, meant to provoke her. Sister? What sister? Unrelated by blood, with bad blood between them, what kind of relationship could there be in addressing each other as sisters? In this extraordinary feudal empire, polygyny—or polyandry—was hardly uncommon. Xu Yuan had anticipated that Tianyan would bristle, flare up in rage, curse him for being shameless, or even hit him. Once her attention was completely diverted to that, he could coax her into a better mood, and making an apology to Su Jinxuan would no longer be a major sticking point. And that was precisely what Xu Yuan wanted to achieve. This conflict between Tianyan and Su Jinxuan was too good an opportunity to break the ice. This apology would carry two layers of meaning. First, it would offer comfort to Su Jinxuan over what had happened; second, it would send a signal. At present, the relationships between Ran Qingmo, Tianyan, and Su Jinxuan were like the petals of a lotus blooming around him at the center. He was the center, yet they did not intersect with one another. Like friends of a friend. Because there was a legitimate justification—an act that had nearly resulted in life or death—making Tianyan apologize would not provoke an extreme reaction from any of them. Yet it would subtly instill an imperceptible sense of urgency among the three women inside the carriage. Because this was a compromise achieved with him as the pivot. Because for the first time, aside from arguing and fighting, a positive connection called reconciliation had formed between two petals of the lotus. No matter the reason, and no matter how small the effect, so long as it was positive, it was enough. The first step is always the hardest; this was the beginning of breaking the ice. Xu Yuan did not think this journey into the Great Desert would be peaceful. With this experience behind them, so long as they weathered a few trials together and forged mutual bonds, turning this "lotus" of disjointed petals into an interconnected five-pointed star, then even if lingering hostility remained, the ice would be thoroughly broken. From there, time and gradual influence could take care of the rest. Unfortunately, the idea was over before it could even begin. Xu Yuan was confident he could deceive many people. Ran Qingmo, Su Jinxuan, even Li Qingyan. But he had no confidence his tricks could fool the girl before him. Even if Tianyan felt a shred of remorse toward Su Jinxuan, apologizing was out of the question. Amid the silence, Xu Yuan was about to say something to lighten the mood when he suddenly heard a voice as faint as a mosquito's hum pass from her red lips down into the carriage below: "Su Jinxuan, what happened earlier was wrong of me. I apologize." "......" A wave of complex emotions welled up in Xu Yuan, making his eyes widen slightly, but then he broke into an amused smile. Because it was sent via voice transmission. Patting the sand and dust from his clothes, Xu Yuan plopped right back down beside Tianyan. Tianyan said nothing, hugging her knees and staring into the distance. The two sat in silence on the carriage roof amid the swirling dust. After who knew how long, Tianyan's slightly mocking voice suddenly drifted into Xu Yuan's ears: "Satisfied now?" Hearing that, Xu Yuan grinned. "Truth be told, I'd rather have seen you apologize to Su Jinxuan in person." "You really are shameless." "How is that shameless? Wouldn't that show more sincerity?" "Do you think I don't know what you're scheming?" "......" A moment of silence. Just as expected. She had seen right through him to his very core. Lowering his gaze with a chuckle, Xu Yuan scooted over toward the girl. Seeing this, Tianyan knit her brows and scooted away to put distance between them. Xu Yuan chuckled under his breath and kept inching closer. Tianyan clenched her small fist slightly, but moved no further. Any farther, and she would tumble off the carriage. She glared at him. "Xu Yuan, are you done?" Xu Yuan answered with utmost righteousness, "Aren't I examining your injuries?" Tianyan raised her willow brows, a look of disdain crossing her exquisite, breathtaking face. She was just about to curse him a bit when her expression abruptly shifted into smug satisfaction. Deliberately raising her voice, she asked: "Being so close to me, aren't you afraid Ran Qingmo will get jealous?" Heh, women. Amused, Xu Yuan had already anticipated the actions of this easily ruffled Saintess. Without hesitation, he said: "My cultivation is too weak; I can't inspect an Origin Realm powerhouse like you from afar. I need a closer look so I can give you the right healing pills." With that, Xu Yuan smoothly pivoted, giving her no chance to retort, and brought the conversation back to serious matters: "Still, with injuries this severe, you must have suffered them after parting ways with Su Jinxuan, right?" Turning to serious matters, Tianyan fell silent for a moment. No longer dallying in petty banter, she gave a soft acknowledgment: "Mm... yes." Whether in Su Jinxuan's version or Tianyan's own, she had supposedly only exhausted a massive amount of Source Qi without suffering any bodily harm. Yet when Xu Yuan had inspected her meridians earlier, the sheer gravity of her wounds had shaken him to the core. Xu Yuan furrowed his brow, tapping lightly against his cross-legged knee, his voice chilling slightly: "Who hurt you? Is there another faction in Thousand Thorns Gorge?" Tianyan shook her head and murmured, "Neither. After shaking off Su Jinxuan, Madame Wan still caught up to me." "Madame Wan?" Hearing this, Xu Yuan's heart leaped, his voice quickening: "Even if Madame Wan was weakened from giving birth to the ghost infant, she is still a Saint Tier yin ghost. You faced her alone and managed to escape?" Though he and she had achieved the glorious feat in the Charm God Illusion realm of capturing Semi-Saints and Transcendent Realm experts while only in the Origin Realm, that had been with the aid of the Charm God tree seed—a bewitching soul relic that defied all reason. And the gulf between a Semi-Saint and a true Saint Tier was something Xu Yuan had already experienced firsthand through the Barbarian King. Tianyan hesitated for an instant, then lowered her voice in bewilderment: "I was actually saved by someone." Uncertainty and surprise flickered in Xu Yuan's eyes. Hesitantly, he asked, "Who?" Tianyan pressed her lips together, confusion mirrored in her beautiful eyes: "A middle-aged man wearing a conical bamboo hat and a coir raincoat. He was roughly at the Transcendent Realm, but... I don't know him." *** Monan. Yellow sands swept clean; not a single bird took flight. Beneath the blistering glare of the morning sun, undulating dunes stretched to the horizon. The quiet expanse of the Great Desert seemed devoid of all life, until a palm-sized black scorpion burrowed up from the sand, greedily breathing in the scorching air, bringing a slight stir to the stillness. Yet the very next moment, a tattered cloth-and-straw boot seemed to appear from nowhere and came down directly upon the emerging scorpion's head. Crunch— Its carapace cracked, splashing a bit of black blood across the yellow sand. This was a middle-aged man wearing a conical bamboo hat. The weaves of his coir raincoat were caked with dust, and a beast-hide pack hung from his back, giving him a travel-worn look. Moving his straw boot aside, the man picked up the black scorpion with a rough, callused hand. Looking at the dying creature, the man in the coir raincoat curled his lips slightly: "Heh~ A Sun-Drunk Scorpion. Not bad luck at all." With that, he brushed off the clinging sand without the slightest distaste, pinched off its head and stinger, and tossed the still-twitching scorpion straight into his mouth, chewing with crunching sounds. Swallowing it down completely, the man spat the grit from his mouth onto the sand dune and muttered with mild disgust: "Tastes like fucking shit. Next time I'd better soak it in wine." As he spoke, the man drew a wine jar from the pack on his back, chugged several mouthfuls to wash down the bitterness, and continued his trek toward the depths of the Great Desert. Under the blazing sun, the man in the coir raincoat walked through the boundless desert for a full half-hour before slowly stopping in his tracks. Yet it was not to rest; rather, with a helpless look, he lifted his eyes toward the sky. Beneath the azure expanse, a black-robed figure had appeared at some unknown moment. After a brief locked gaze, the black-robed figure drifted down chuckling before the man in the coir raincoat, reaching out a hand to clap him on the shoulder: "Long time no see. Still at that ascetic walking journey of yours?" The man in the coir raincoat recognized the black-robed figure, but seemed to harbor little affection for him. He slapped the reaching hand away: "Stop planting your fucking marks on me." The black-robed figure took no offense, merely shrugging with a laugh: "You come and go like a ghost. If I don't plant a mark on you, how am I supposed to find you when something comes up?" The man in the coir raincoat pulled down the brim of his conical hat against the glare, his tone growing impatient: "Speak your piece or get lost." Seeing this, the black-robed figure stopped beating around the bush and said crisply, "We found that bug. We need—" "No time. Not going. Fuck off." Having fired off this three-part refusal, the man in the coir raincoat brushed right past the black-robed figure, striding deeper into the Great Desert without looking back. The black-robed figure remained where he stood. After a brief silence, he suddenly turned around and laughed aloud: "This comes from Mu Shanhai. Won't you at least consider it?" The man in the coir raincoat paused slightly in his stride. "Mu Shanhai?" The black-robed figure chuckled: "That's right. Even if you don't give me face, you have to give your old man some face, wouldn't you say? "Am I right... my Eldest Young Master Mu~"