CALID Chapter 21

Rejection

“This deal is quite simple. I will help you fulfil your wishes, and in exchange, you lend me your five senses. Each wish will exchange for the loss of one sense for ten days. After ten days, I will return that sense to you. In other words, you will have many opportunities to make wishes.”

He Simu proposed this method after carefully studying the spells in Ming Pearl, considering it the best outcome.

Naturally, she wanted to use a one-time method, but borrowing one sense for ten days each time was the limit that a mortal body could bear. Any more, and Duan Xu’s body would quickly deteriorate; it would be like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Even with the method she suggested, the more times Duan Xu lent her his five senses, the more severely his own senses would diminish. Otherwise, how could it have taken Ming Pearl three hundred years to find someone like Duan Xu who could withstand this curse?

He Simu succinctly and clearly informed Duan Xu of the dangers, saying, “Let’s make it clear: there are limits to the wishes. They cannot excessively affect the mortal world. For example, you can wish for me to save your life on the battlefield, but you cannot wish for me to help you win the war. Do you understand?”

She was prepared to negotiate with Duan Xu, but after he listened to her words seriously, he innocently gestured between himself and her, “Do we have to talk in this position?”

Duan Xu was still lying on the bed, while He Simu was sitting on his waist, pressing down on his neck. If someone were to push the door open, they would be startled by this strange yet alluring position, then frightened by He Simu’s deathly pale face. Fortunately, He Simu had suppressed her ghostly aura, and her eyes were now black and white, otherwise it would have been a third scare.

He Simu didn’t seem to find anything wrong with it and said casually, “What’s wrong with this position?”

Duan Xu sighed gently. “Your body is heavy, and it’s cold.”

In the cold winter weather, her body was no different from the ice outside, perhaps a bit softer. Having just suffered a lot of blood loss from the injury, he felt cold and shivered under her cold touch.

He Simu glanced at him and gracefully got off him, sitting on the edge of the bed. Where she had just been sitting was all cold to the touch.

Duan Xu sat up, his clothes now a mess from He Simu’s actions, giving him a somewhat debauched look of the Southern capital. He said leisurely, “So, Your Highness Ghost King has no five senses? No taste, smell, vision, hearing, or touch? What about pain, do you not feel that either?”

Of course, she didn’t. Pain existed to make the living avoid the risk of death. For example, when people are burned by fire, they feel pain and avoid it. But for the dead, what use is pain?

In addition, the cotton-wrapped mattress under her hand should be called “soft” in the mouth of the living, but in her hands, it felt no different from tables, chairs, or stools, just a bit easier to deform.

“Obviously, the dead don’t need these things.”

“Such a pity,” Duan Xu lamented.

He Simu comforted him kindly, “There’s nothing to regret; it will be the same for you when you die.”

Duan Xu then changed the subject abruptly and said, “I regret for myself. I’ve been thinking for a while, but I can’t think of any wishes to make. Your Highness Ghost King, I have never made a wish.”

The young man spoke with utmost sincerity, but He Simu couldn’t help but feel that he was talking nonsense.

For hundreds of years, she had bargained using bodies, consumed soul fires, and made numerous deals with living beings, but never had any living person said, “Thank you, I’m living well and can die peacefully, I don’t want anything.” People always have desires in life. It’s true that monks and Taoists who pursue emptiness might have no desires, but Duan Xu showed no signs of emptiness whatsoever.

“If I don’t save you today, you might die at the hands of the Huqi people. The battlefield is a place where nine out of ten die. Are you sure you can survive without my help?”

There was a hint of a smile in Duan Xu’s eyes as he replied subtly, “Regardless, I thank Your Highness Ghost King for your assistance today.”

His “regardless” seemed to imply “even if you don’t save me, I can still escape on my own.” He Simu squinted at him for a moment, then approached him, looking into his bright and deep eyes from a close distance. This time, his eyes finally reflected her pale face.

She chuckled softly, “Young General, you’re still too young. You must understand that fate is unpredictable, making everything bow down, beyond the reach of ordinary human power.”

Duan Xu blinked and repeated, “Fate is unpredictable, making everything bow down.”

Then he smiled brightly, with a hint of disdain and recklessness in his eyes. “But I am also unpredictable.”

I am also unpredictable?

He Simu thought, Fine, this kid is too arrogant, beyond salvation. Whoever wants to educate him can do so, but she wouldn’t be as patient when he truly becomes a wicked ghost one day as she is now.

She waved her sleeves and stood up from the bed, pretending to want to leave without further conversation, but she was stopped. Turning back, she saw Duan Xu holding onto her sleeve. His fair fingers were quite distinct against the rusty-red fabric which appeared black in her eyes. He smiled brightly, “Your Highness Ghost King’s clothes are so splendid, unlike ordinary things.”

This statement once again deviated far from the topic and was quite subtle. Nowadays, the girls in Nandu wore narrow-sleeved shirts and flowing skirts. If He Simu were to walk on the streets of Nandu, this outfit, with its three-layered robe, would look like something just unearthed from an ancient tomb.

He Simu smiled faintly and said, “If Young General is interested, you can dig up a few graves from three hundred years ago. I guarantee you’ll have your fill.”

Duan Xu smiled, but his fingers exerted a bit more force, holding onto her sleeve. No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t stop her with this slight force. Yet, this slight force faintly hinted at a plea for mercy.

He Simu raised an eyebrow, shifting her gaze to his hand. “There are no calluses on your hands, and the wounds are fresh.”

At first, she had been deceived by these hands, thinking he was a well-behaved scholar.

“Oh…” Duan Xu’s gaze fell on his own hands, and he said lightly, “I used to have calluses and scars, but they were removed with medicine later on. The visible marks are all gone.”

“When was that?”

“Fourteen years old,” Duan Xu replied smoothly and naturally. However, he was so adept at being mysterious that even this seemingly sincere conversation left He Simu unsure of its authenticity.

He held onto her sleeve and said, “Your Highness Ghost King, aren’t you curious about many things that have happened recently? What’s the deal with Han Lingqiu, and who exactly is the traitor?”

He Simu looked at him for a while, showing a false smile. She simply shook off his hand and sat on his bed. Kicking off her shoes, she slid into his bed and pulled his blanket halfway over, lying down beside him.

Now it was Duan Xu’s turn to stare at her in astonishment. He Simu reached up, untied her headband, and with a snap of her fingers, the headband turned into green smoke and disappeared, letting her ink-black hair cascade freely. Her pale skin, like snow covering crimson plum blossoms, was strikingly captivating.

“Young General didn’t want me to leave, did you? Then I’ll stay and listen carefully. Coincidentally, I’m also quite interested.” He Simu pointed to the bed beneath her, “I’ll sleep here tonight.”

Duan Xu was unusually stunned, his eyes flickering slightly. A typical respectable person, especially one who had studied the Confucian classics, would usually say something about propriety and virtue in such a situation.

But Duan Xu was obviously not a typical respectable person. He sighed helplessly, “Then I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“Speak up, what’s the deal with Han Lingqiu?” He Simu didn’t care if he couldn’t sleep.

“Han Lingqiu hasn’t shown his true strength. I watched him spar in the training ground before. Perhaps out of gratitude for Wu Shengliu’s favour, or for some other reason, he deliberately concealed his skills and repeatedly lost to Wu Shengliu. His reaction to drawing his sword and pointing it at my neck today was much faster than his performance in the training ground. Do you know about the secret organization called Tianzhixiao under the Danzhi royal court?”

“I don’t usually care about the chaotic affairs of the mortal world. But since it’s confidential, how do you know about it?” He Simu said casually, “What’s your relationship with the Danzhi royal court?”

Duan Xu smiled and didn’t answer He Simu’s question directly. Instead, he continued, “Tianzhixiao has always been mysterious, specializing in training loyal and steadfast assassins for the Danzhi royal court. These assassins often exhaust their full potential and are very formidable, and only one person is trained each year. I guess Han Lingqiu was one of Tianzhixiao’s members before he lost his memory.”

Guess? He’s being too modest. He Simu thought to herself that this wasn’t something one could casually guess. She had followed Duan Xu and Han Lingqiu and listened to their conversation all the way. Duan Xu probably had met Han Lingqiu before and was quite familiar with him.

“So what? Do you think he hasn’t really lost his memory? Do you suspect he’s the traitor?”

Logically speaking, picking her up in Shuozhou, the grain warehouse fire, the grain robbery, each incident had some connection to Han Lingqiu. His identity as a Danzhi person and the situation of him claiming amnesia were both suspicious.

During the grain robbery, the Huqi people wanted to keep both Duan Xu and Han Lingqiu alive. Duan Xu being the commander was understandable, but why would the Huqi want to capture Han Lingqiu, an unknown junior officer from Danzhi?

If Han Lingqiu is a spy, then Huqi people’s command not to harm him also has an explanation.

Duan Xu furrowed his brows, his hands interlocked, casually intertwining his fingers before loosening them: “It’s still not certain now, but it should be determined soon. His Royal Highness Ghost King must have some interesting drama to watch.”

He Simu thought to himself, this is really just a bunch of meaningless words.

Duan Xu sighed decisively, ending the topic, and boldly took off his outer garments, leaving only his undershirt. Then he lifted the covers and lay on the bed. He glanced at He Simu for a moment and said, “Do you want to share half of the pillow?”

He Simu rested her head on his arm and said lightly, “At midnight, with a wicked ghost lying on your bed, aren’t you afraid? I am a man-eater, you know.”

“In battling for land, corpses fill the fields; in battling for cities, corpses fill the cities. This is what it means to rule over land and eat human flesh. From this perspective, we could be considered colleagues,” Duan Xu said with a smile.

“In battling for land, corpses fill the fields; in battling for cities, corpses fill the cities. This is what it means to rule over land and eat human flesh.”

Duan Xu was quite proficient in the Four Books and Five Classics, showing that he must have passed the imperial examinations. However, although Master Mengzi didn’t like war, he wouldn’t equate generals with wicked ghosts either.

However, in this world, with birth, old age, sickness, and death, with the rise and fall of wars, which one doesn’t consume countless lives? Perhaps compared to that, the idea of wicked ghosts eating people seems insignificant.

He Simu looked at Duan Xu slowly closing his eyes, his slightly pale face under the dim candlelight due to blood loss and exhaustion, his breathing steady, gently blowing the scattered hair on his face.

She reached out her fingers to place them under his nose, but felt nothing.

The sensation of warm breath that was rumoured to brush against her hand, there was nothing.

She could see the wind between heaven and earth, able to predict the smallest changes in weather, but she could not feel. Even so, Duan Xu wasn’t awakened by her actions, sleeping soundly. He Simu whispered softly, “Not a single true word, this little fox.”