Chapter 39: The Pursuit

　　Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor:

　　“Oh, Brother Yuan, Aunt Eleven, you’re here. I didn’t kill him, I merely knocked him out. This is my aunt, Mo Xiangtong, and this is her friend, Jing Lengbei. I was just getting ready to help them escape,” Mo Wuji said without hiding anything.

　　Yuan Zhenyi heaved a sigh of relief, “That’s good. As long as you didn’t kill him, it’s fine. Come, I’ll help you.”

　　Mo Wuji hesitated before saying, “Actually, there’s still something else I want to do before we leave. I want to kill that damned slave trader who sold my aunt…”

　　Mo Xiangtong suddenly sounded out, “Wuji, please call me Xiangtong. I’m younger than you so it makes me feel uncomfortable when you call me your aunt.”

　　Actually, Mo Wuji also felt uncomfortable calling Mo Xiangtong his aunt. Afterall, he was not Mo Xinghe, but a reborned Mo Wuji.

　　Yuan Zhenyi laughed, “You didn’t need to hesitate to tell me. Of course I’ll help you. It will be a bit hard, but Aunt Eleven and I will help you kill him. But don’t underestimate these businessmen, some of them are rich enough to hire guards much stronger than us.”

　　“I will go too,” Ding Bu’Er hurriedly said.

　　Mo Wuji waved his hands and stopped Ding Bu’Er, “Bu’Er, you need to stay here. At least if something bad happens to us, someone knows of this matter. Aunt Eleven, please stay too; having too many people would make things more complicated.”

　　“Wuji is right, the two of us are enough. Bu’Er and Aunt Eleven will stay behind. Even if that businessman has some friends, there still won’t be enough people for me to kill,” Yuan Zhenyi said laughingly.

　　However, Aunt Eleven waved her hand and said, “I won’t stay, I will help bring Xiangtong and Lengbei away. Xiangtong and Lengbei are plain, normal girls. You’ll need someone to take care of them and protect them.”

　　Mo Xiangtong hurriedly interjected, “I lived in the wilderness for two years. I know how to survive and take care of myself.”

　　Aunt Eleven laughed and said, “That may be true, but what will you do if you meet some bandits?”

　　Yuan Zhenyi nodded, “Aunt Eleven is right. With her methods, it would be far too easy for her to destroy a band of bandits.”

　　“Won’t this take away Aunt Eleven’s opportunity to go to the royal capital? How about this, I will take them away,” Mo Wuji said guiltily.

　　Ultimately, Mo Xiangtong was his aunt, he should be the one sending her off. To be honest, he did not actually intend to send them off personally. After all, he could not bear to lose this precious opportunity to go to the royal capital. He did not realise it, but he did not actually treat Mo Xiangtong as his aunt. If it was Yan’Er, he would leave with her regardless of the difficulty.

　　Aunt Eleven laughed, “Wuji, I used to think that Zhenyi was my only true friend who did not feel the need to act chauvinistic in front of me. However, after our drinks last night, I’m glad I met you too…”

　　At this moment, Aunt Eleven suddenly said softly, “How many people in life truly know you… How many friendships actually survive… Isn’t being able to befriend someone like you worth more than this favour of mine? Furthermore, I’m already old and I don’t have spiritual roots. It’s okay if I don’t go to the royal capital. That slave trader can thank his lucky stars; this old lady will no longer be playing with him.”

　　Since Aunt Eleven had already said that much, anything Mo Wuji said would simply be hypocritical. Sometimes, the word ‘friend’ can be as heavy as mountains. If Aunt Eleven ever needed his help in the future, he would not hesitate to help her.

　　He said earnestly, “Aunt Eleven, you, Zhenyi and Bu’Er will always be my best friends.”

　　Mo Wuji had gone through life and death, and he only knew a few true friends.

　　…

　　“Thump!” Jing Lengbei suddenly kneeled down and sobbingly said, “Sir Mo, after you catch that man, please help me find out who destroyed my Jing Clan.”

　　Mo Wuji signalled Mo Xiangtong to pull Jing Lengbei up and said, “You can rest assure that I will definitely do so.”

　　Having said that, he looked at Mo Xiangtong and asked, “Do you know the origins of the new Northern Qin Prefecture Lord from the Ju Clan?”

　　“After Ju Xufeng got assassinated, Ju Xuhuo took over. His sister, Ju Caiyun, was the Cheng Yu State Lord Situ Qian’s favourite concubine. But I heard that Situ Qian has a new favourite concubine and Ju Caiyin has gone out of favour…”

　　Mo Xiangtong only said a few sentences, but Mo Wuji completely understood the gist of the entire issue. No wonder the Mo Clan lost the Northern Qin Prefecture throne. Situ Qian that old fox, I will deal with you someday.

　　At the same time, Mo Wuji understood why he was lucky enough to escape Situ Qian’s chopping knife. It was probably because Ju Caiyun had gone out of favour. Since she had gone out of favour, Situ Qian naturally wouldn’t care about the issues regarding the Northern Qin Prefecture. By the time the new Prefecture Lord Ju Xuhuo heard about Mo Wuji, it was already too late. Mo Wuji was sure that if he had stayed in Rao Zhou for a little longer, he would have met with disaster.

　　But then, who was the one who wanted to poison him?

　　“Let’s hurry before we miss the opportunity,” Mo Wuji put those thoughts aside and said. He knew that Tuo Baqi had sent people to kill that obese salesman. It’s best if Zhenyi and him could be the lucky third party. [1]

　　…

　　Even though it was already dusk, the seaside was still bustling and full of life. Mo Wuji, Yuan Zhenyi, Aunt Eleven, Jing Lengbei and Mo Xiangtong each held a horse and walked within the crowd. No one even cared about them.

　　“Just right, that guy’s leaving. Wow, he actually has quite a few guards,” Yuan Zhenyi looked at a faraway horse carriage and laughed.

　　After the horse carriage left the crowd of people, Yuan Zhenyi immediately said, “Come, let’s catch up to them.”

　　Mo Wuji stopped Yuan Zhenyi, “Zhenyi, wait. Tuo Baqi already sent men to follow him. We just need to wait and be the lucky third party.”

　　“Ha Ha…” Yuan Zhenyu laughed. “That guy is really looking for death. He is so bold to leave this safe place just because he thinks that he has enough guards. He’s simply looking forward to his next life.”

　　Mo Wuji laughed coldly, “He’s not looking forward to his next life; he’s just looking forward to earn a bit of money. In two days, the ship for the Spring Immortal’s Conference will arrive. He wants to seize these two days to sell more female slaves. I’m sure, if nothing happens to him, he will be back tomorrow. This is what a greedy man would do.”

　　If this obese salesman was contented with the money he made, and only left

　　after the ship has sailed off, he would continue living his fat, hedonistic life. Even if Mo Wuji wanted to kill him, he would not waste his chance to go to the royal capital just to do that.

　　Sure enough, it did not take long before Mo Wuji saw Jia Jing bring two men to follow the obese salesman.

　　“We can go now,” Mo Wuji said after confirming that there was no one else.

　　…

　　After two hours, Yuan Zhenyi suddenly did a hand gesture, stopping the five’s advance, “Something’s happening in front. Quickly gag your horses and walk carefully.”

　　Mo Wuji used his ears and listened hard. Only with great effort, did he manage to heard the sound of people fighting. He could not help but have a newfound admiration for Yuan Zhenyi.

　　“Wuji, we’re in a windy place, and you’ve never cultivated before. You wouldn’t be able to hear anything. It’s okay to just follow Zhenyi,” Seeing Mo Wuji concentrating his ears, Aunt Eleven laughed and said.

　　Mo Wuji knew that Aunt Eleven was not lying. The reason why he could hear the fighting was because he had already opened a meridian.

　　[1] The original Chinese text is: 做渔翁. It is an adaptation of the idiom, 鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利. So… the stork and the clam fight, and they both end up getting heavily injured. Ultimately, it was a third party, the fisherman (渔翁) who gained from their fight.