Black Myth: Starting from the Destined One-Chapter 26 - Talent Competition

“Us? What do you mean by that?”

Li Ping’an was on the verge of exploding, his eyes bloodshot, veins throbbing, and his body beginning to shake uncontrollably.

Third-in-command Blind Man, though visually impaired, could feel the immense rage about to erupt from Li Ping’an and hurriedly explained:

“Gang Leader, the antidote is a man. If someone poisoned by Lewdness Indecent Immovable does not engage in that sort of conduct with a man during the onset of the drug, your master probably can’t withstand the intense potency. She could experience qi deviation and meridian reversal, and might even end up paralyzed…”

“Hahahaha, what’s the panic for? Aren’t we here for you? Come on, beauty!”

Second-in-command, filled with brazen lust and eager to get intimate with Zixia, failed to notice the anger radiating from Li Ping’an and actually tried to reach out and embrace her.

“Dare to touch my woman? Go to hell!”

Unable to contain his fury any longer, Li Ping’an kicked Second-in-command in the stomach, sending him flying three meters away, then he carried Zixia to her room.

“Second-in-command, just you wait! See how I deal with you tomorrow! Third-in-command, have your men keep a watch on Cen Zhen and Cen Changqing. Don’t let them escape, or it’s on you!”

“Damn it, hogging all to himself again!”

The resentful Second-in-command was helped up by Third-in-command and others:

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“Fuming with anger and can’t have Zixia, why not take Cen Zhen and Cen Changqing’s wife and daughter then? Let’s go!”

…

Back in Zixia’s room, Li Ping’an carefully placed her on the bed and secured the door shut. Then, he started to apologize repeatedly to the unconscious Zixia:

“Master, I’m so sorry. Who could have thought these bandits would be so shameless! They are nothing but a bunch of despicable scoundrels, and I was still one step too late…”

As Li Ping’an apologized, he recalled the night at the desolate mountain ruined temple when Zixia stripped off her clothes and seduced him wearing only a bellyband.

“Master, I…”

Li Ping’an licked his lips, rubbing his hands together as he moved closer to Zixia. The more he looked at her lying there quietly, the more he liked it. While he verbally expressed his apologies, his body was outright honest, helplessly kissing her without resistance.

That kiss was unintentional, but Li Ping’an felt his entire body ignite. Having never touched a woman before, in this moment, he realized how sweet a woman’s lips could be.

Body scent, lip scent, tongue scent, different kinds of sweetness, each with their own myriad flavors. Truly, it was an aftertaste that lingered on and on.

At this moment, alone with a woman, flint and tinder, in one room. After that involuntary kiss, his hands uncontrollably started to undress Zixia.

“No!”

With a smack, Li Ping’an slapped himself, shaking his head frantically as he talked to himself:

“Even though I, Li Ping’an, am lustful, vile, sleazy, and shameless, I am also a budding flower who has received nine years of compulsory education. I must not take advantage of someone in a vulnerable state; otherwise, what difference would there be between me and those bandits!”

After these days of brief interaction, Li Ping’an had indeed grown fond of his master, who appeared cold and prideful on the outside but was fiery and kind-hearted on the inside. However, he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of the person he liked while they were unconscious.

If he did, it would be a matter of character!

One’s personality might display qualities of lustfulness, vileness, sleaziness, and shamelessness, but one’s character should have a limit!

That was Li Ping’an’s principle and bottom line in life and conduct!

After a fierce struggle in his heart, reason finally triumphed over his bodily desires, and he prepared to pour a cup of hot tea for Zixia, hoping she would wake up soon and figure out a way to expel the ‘Indecent Immovable’ poison.

But just as he turned around to pour the hot tea for Zixia, he felt a soft object against his back, followed by a soft, hot body enveloping him.

“Hmm?”

As he turned, he saw Zixia, with eyes like seductive silk and cheeks flushed like peach blossoms, sending him coquettish glances, flirting, and vying for his affection.

“Master… you’ve woken up…”

“Shh!”

Zixia grabbed Li Ping’an’s shoulders, turned him around, placed her finger on his lips—an image of shy beauty and coquettish charm, she couldn’t wait to say:

“Don’t talk, just hold me tight!”

“Master… you’ve been poisoned by ‘Lewdness Indecent Immovable’… maybe we should find an antidote first… and then… in the future… we can talk…”

Before Li Ping’an could finish speaking, Zixia tackled him down so they collapsed together, not for anything else but to recite poems and appreciate the moonlight.

The bright moon shone down, fireflies flew from all around, and butterflies danced, back and forth. That night was like a dream, unreal yet lifelike, as Li Ping’an and Zixia seemed to be in a dream, becoming poets from dynasties past, reciting verses leaning on the railing near the window, competing in their literary talents.

As the saying goes, dressed in coarse linen clothes all our life, with poetry and books inside, one shines with culture. Without a drop of ink in one’s belly, how dare one engage in the exchange of poetry?

Zixia was not lacking in talent, reciting the verses of the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu:

Never swept for guests—the flower path today, for the first time, is opened for you.

Li Ping’an, full of knowledge, recited from Tao Yuanming, the pastoral poet of the Jin Dynasty, from ‘Record of the Peach Blossom Spring’:

Along the stream, I forgot the distance of the road traveled.

Suddenly, I came upon a forest of peach blossoms, spanning both banks for several hundred steps, without a single other tree. The grass was fresh and beautiful, petals fell like rain.

Seeing this, the fisherman was curious, and went forward to reach the end of the forest…

Such a contest of poetry, comparable to the lunar critiques of the Three Kingdoms period, Li Ping’an’s talent was abundant, Zixia was erudite and well-rounded in the classics; their poetic proficiency matched equally. They felt as if they had met too late, calling each other kindred spirits, akin to forming a bond like Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya. They didn’t know how many times the earth’s vastness and flowing waters accumulated; it was like Bo Ya meeting Ziqi, Liu Bei swearing brotherhood.

It was only when the two were wearied, no longer reciting poetry or competing, that they finally rested.

Late into the night, the moonlight thick, in the room of Cen Zhen and Cen Changqing.

Surprisingly, Cen Zhen and Cen Changqing didn’t sleep with their wives but instead stayed with Protector Wang.

“Master, the Gang Leader of the Axe Guild, Supreme Treasure, who is also that Li Ping’an, and his master seemed to have grown suspicious of us. They kept glancing at us deliberately and inadvertently during breakfast…”

Protector Wang knelt in front of Cen Zhen and Cen Changqing, expressing his concerns.