A Broken Temple, Wind and Rain, and a Beauty

In the seventh year of Jingchun era, wind and rain fell, and leaves turned to mud.

A broken temple, a cluster of bushes. In the rain-soaked bushes, two wild ducks faced each other bill to bill, about to kiss. Even the pouring rain couldn’t dampen their determination to complete the great harmony of duck life!

Just as the two yellow, flat bills were about to touch at zero distance, suddenly—a pair of tangible hands grabbed the throats of these two wild ducks’ fate!!!

“Quack quack—!”

This cry expressed their vow to stick together till death!

This cry conveyed their sorrowful separation forever as heavenly ducks!

“Go kiss somewhere else, don’t block my view!”

Zhu Zhaozhao held one duck in her left hand and another in her right. After separating the two ducks whose necks were intertwined, she casually tossed them aside, patted her small hands, then continued squatting behind the bushes, staring intently at the broken temple not far away.

“Damn it! Finally, I’ve caught you!”

The proud and spoiled girl cursed softly, her eyes seeming to pierce through the wooden door of the broken temple, shooting daggers at whoever was inside.

On the girl’s forehead was a floral ornament shaped like two or three green bamboo leaves. Following down from the center of her brows were a pair of bright, lively apricot-shaped eyes.

Just like her name “^[1]Zhu Zhaozhao means “bright and radiant bamboo,” often symbolizing a clever, elegant, and resilient girl.Zhu Zhaozhao,” the cleverness and alertness in her bright eyes were clearly visible.

Zhu Zhaozhao, soaked by the rain, tiptoed forward and opened a small crack in the wooden door of the broken temple, letting warm light spill out.

The firelight inside the broken temple shone through the crack, casting a glow on Zhu Zhaozhao’s face.

The flickering flame swayed with the wind, lighting the entire broken temple warmly and brightly. The hazy firelight also danced across the face of a handsome young man sitting beside the fire.

One flame, illuminating two people.

The young man was about twenty years old, with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, his eyes seeming to have an unusual color. A tear-shaped mole at the corner of his left eye softened his otherwise somewhat cold appearance, adding a touch of seductive charm.

This young man, dressed in a black martial outfit and bearing an exotic, almost otherworldly look with hints of a foreign ethnicity, was none other than Yi Wulu, the closed-door disciple of Zhan Zhang, the sect leader of Wugou Sect.

Zhu Zhaozhao looked him up and down, feeling unsettled, but finally spotted something at the young man’s waist—the jade bamboo ring that belonged to her brother.

Zhu Zhaozhao’s brother was named Zhu Pangui, who used to send letters every now and then but had vanished without a trace eight years ago. The jade bamboo ring was a jade piece she had given her brother that he never parted with, it was ring-shaped with hanging green silk threads and had the functions of recording both images and sounds.

Having left home at a young age, Zhu Zhaozhao had traveled across thousands of mountains and rivers, all to find her missing brother Zhu Pangui.

Although she did not know why the jade bamboo ring ended up with this young man, as long as she could get it back, she might find clues about her brother’s disappearance.

“At last some gain—my risking life and limb to cross seven mountains and eight rivers was not in vain!”

Zhu Zhaozhao muttered with a hint of anger, rubbing her still sore calves, then suddenly straightened up, cracked her knuckles, and looked fiercely at the black-clothed young man inside the temple.

“Watch me knock you out with one punch, you poker-faced guy!”

However, though brave and proud, Zhu Zhaozhao, who couldn’t even cross the Yalu River, still couldn’t step over the low threshold of the broken temple…

She raised her foot to kick the door but suddenly felt the ground vanish beneath her. “Bang!” The already dilapidated temple door was suddenly flung wide open by an invisible force.

The entire broken temple spun upside down, the bluestone slabs turned into quicksand that swallowed her whole!

Spinning wildly, she crashed into the embrace of sandalwood incense smoke, and when she looked up, she met a pair of exotic, enchanting eyes. As she got closer, the magical device at the young man’s waist instantly glowed with a faint cyan light.

Hmm? It was a little bamboo demon.

The mole at the corner of the young man’s eye flickered seductively in the firelight, his fingertips entwined with a crimson curse tattoo: “Little bamboo demon, you’ve followed me over seven mountains and eight rivers just to throw yourself into my arms?”

Suddenly, a chill ran down Zhu Zhaozhao’s neck—the curse tattoo was clearly a blood pact of a demon hunter!

She sharply leaned back, and a cold sword blade snapped out from the green hairpin in her hair, just barely pressing against his Adam’s apple: “Give me back the jade bamboo ring!”

“Oh? This is yours? You keep insisting I give it back to you.” Yi Wulu’s warm breath brushed against Zhu Zhaozhao’s ear.

Whether it was the blazing fire raising the temperature or the chill from staying too long outside the temple, Zhu Zhaozhao’s soft pink ears suddenly flushed red. Her earlier arrogant and overbearing aura was instantly snuffed out quite a bit.

“This… this belonged to my broth—!” Zhu Zhaozhao’s words halted mid-sentence, and she suddenly changed course, “This is my husband’s! Of course I have to take it back!”

I can’t reveal my true purpose just yet, she thought.

Yi Wulu raised his brows with hesitation. “Your… husband?”

She looked so young, and yet she was already married?

“That’s right!” After a moment of emotional build-up, Zhu Zhaozhao launched into her performance, tears almost at the ready. “I—I actually came here to search for…”

“To search for my husband!”

Sorry, brother, I’m borrowing your name for a bit!

“Eight years ago, my fiancé mysteriously disappeared!!”

“Recently I heard there were rumors of him in Daoquan Town nearby, so I rushed over immediately.”

“But who would have thought—I haven’t found my fiancé yet, and even had all my travel money stolen by bandits along the way!”

Zhu Zhaozhao rattled on endlessly, while Yi Wulu simply watched in silence, clicking his tongue internally.

Is this bamboo spirit… not quite right in the head?

Still, manners were manners—and smiling is a kind of courtesy. So the very polite Yi Wulu chose to smile.

Watching Zhu Zhaozhao’s clumsy acting, Yi Wulu even kindly played along, “Oh? Searching for your husband across a thousand miles?”

“Ah, yes, yes, exactly!”

“Robbed by mountain bandits?”

“That’s right, that’s right! Just like that!” Seeing how cooperative Yi Wulu was, Zhu Zhaozhao quickly fanned the flames, “And now, caught in a sudden downpour, I happened to take shelter in the same temple as you, young hero!”

“Oh? A stroke of fate, then?”

“Yes! That’s right, pure fate!” Zhu Zhaozhao slapped her thigh and flattered him with a smile.

Yi Wulu was now certain—she was a demon, and not just any demon, but one with a serious problem.

“You really think I’d believe your nonsense?”

Yi Wulu let out a mocking laugh, crouched down, and used one hand—the one that held his whip—to lightly grip Zhu Zhaozhao’s chin. With the other hand, he lifted the jade bamboo ring from his waist and rubbed it between his fingers.

“This Heavenly Master already noticed. From the moment you entered the ruined temple, your eyes have been fixed on the jade bamboo ring at my waist. Talking about some ‘thousand-mile search for your husband’—your real aim probably isn’t finding a husband, but…”

He paused mid-sentence, then shot her a cold glare. “Treasure hunting.”

Zhu Zhaozhao’s intentions had been exposed. Under Yi Wulu’s sharp, venomous gaze, cold sweat broke out across her forehead.

Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself. If I die, I die!

Zhu Zhaozhao suddenly stood up with a jerk and shouted loudly, “Fine! I won’t pretend anymore!”

“That’s right! I do want the jade bamboo ring on your waist. But I am searching for my brother—I mean, my husband—across a thousand miles, that part is true!”

“Oh?” Yi Wulu raised an eyebrow.

He hadn’t expected Zhu Zhaozhao to confess so quickly, nor had he thought that her story about “searching for her fiancé across a thousand miles” wasn’t completely made up.

“I’ll tell you the truth—this jade bamboo ring is something my fiancé always kept on him. Only by finding it can I find him!”

Hearing this, Yi Wulu’s gaze froze for a moment. Then, narrowing his eyes, he questioned Zhu Zhaozhao, half-believing, half-doubting:

“You’re saying this jade bamboo ring was your fiancé’s personal item?”

Seeing the serious expression on Yi Wulu’s face, Zhu Zhaozhao knew he was only half convinced. So she immediately affirmed it firmly.

“That’s right. My fiancé disappeared without a trace eight years ago. I came here just to find him. Why else would a little bamboo demon like me barge into the territory of Wugou Sect, a place run by demon hunters?”

Sorry, Brother. I’ll have to borrow your name as my fiancé’s for now. Don’t blame me, Brother, don’t blame me~

While Zhu Zhaozhao was feeling guilty toward her brother, she failed to notice that Yi Wulu’s expression darkened slightly.

“Your fiancé… What’s his name?”

“Zhu Pangui.”

There was no reason to hide it. All bamboo demons shared the surname Zhu, and besides, with his real name, she wasn’t afraid Yi Wulu would try to investigate.

Zhu Pangui. A familiar yet distant name. His old friend.

Yi Wulu rubbed the handle of his whip a few times, as if trying to suppress the unease in his heart.

“And you? What’s your name?”

“Zhu Zhaozhao.”

Zhu Zhaozhao’s open and straightforward demeanor left Yi Wulu feeling unexpectedly off-balance.

Zhu Zhaozhao… That’s right. The inner side of the jade bamboo ring did indeed have the characters “Zhaozhao” engraved on it, and Pangui was also a bamboo demon.

For a moment, Yi Wulu was flooded with thoughts, but he concealed them extremely well.

Without a trace of his earlier teasing, Yi Wulu smoothly shifted his attitude. He now bowed slightly in a polite and respectful manner and extended his left hand toward Zhu Zhaozhao, who was still half sprawled on the ground.

“Miss Zhaozhao, my apologies. I was rude just now.”

Zhu Zhaozhao found his sudden change a bit baffling, but said nothing. She simply tested the waters, placing her hand in Yi Wulu’s, using his strength to slowly get up, then dusted off her skirt, now dirtied with mud.

Once steady, Zhu Zhaozhao circled around Yi Wulu, her gaze sharp and probing like an interrogation: “Stinking Daoist, what’s with the sudden change of heart?”

Can’t give this little bamboo demon too good a face.

“If you’re asking for a beating, just say it.”

Yi Wulu gave her a standard smile—thin-lipped and cold—reverting to his earlier sharp-tongued self.

Although Zhu Zhaozhao was Pangui’s fiancée, that didn’t mean he’d be indulgent toward her. He’d just offer her a bit of protection going forward, that’s all.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Zhaozhao immediately covered her mouth and shut up, taking two steps back.

“You’ll stay with me for now. Once I’ve finished the matter involving the jade bamboo ring, I’ll return it to you.”

“Why does it have to be later? Can’t I use it first?”

“No reason.”

“But how long do I have to wait?!”

“If you can’t wait, then leave.”

“Fine, I’ll wait.” Taking advantage of the moment when Yi Wulu turned his back to add more firewood, Zhu Zhaozhao let her anger rise, swung a fist through the air behind him, pretending to throw a few punches in mock fury. “This young lady has all the time in the world!”

Although Zhu Zhaozhao was clearly dissatisfied, she couldn’t beat this damned Heavenly Master anyway, so she had no choice but to submit under Yi Wulu’s tyrannical oppression.

Besides, she had already been searching for her brother for eight years—what’s a few more days?

“The rain is heavy tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll head for Jingxin Town.” Yi Wulu had noticed Zhu Zhaozhao’s little antics behind his back, but since she was the fiancée of his old friend, he let it slide.

“This young lady is going to Daoquan Town to look for my bro— ahem, I mean, my fiancé.”

“What are you going to Daoquan Town for, stinky Daoist?” Zhu Zhaozhao asked curiously.

“Even food can’t shut your mouth!” Yi Wulu stuffed a roasted sweet potato into Zhu Zhaozhao’s mouth, then patted the dirt off his hands.

“If I hear you call me ‘stinky Daoist’ again, I’ll…”

Yi Wulu glared fiercely at her and threatened, “Weave—you—into—a—bamboo—basket.”