Book 7 Chapter 6

Play the Four-Sided Chorus

"Are you there?"

In a voice that rings in your ears, Bi Ryuyeon tells you that the

I had to give up what I was doing to look at the stars in the sky.

"You did notice."

Bi Ryuyeon smiled slightly and turned around. There was no one in the space he was looking at. However, his gaze crossed the empty space and stared at the back of a tree. From behind a beautiful tree ten zhangs away, a young woman appeared. She was a dazzlingly beautiful woman with hair that melted into the night sky.

With skin like moonlight, and a beauty that could fade the carpet of stars, this was Na Yerin, and her beauty was worthy of the term godlike, noble, and beautiful.

The two of them were alone in the moonlight. The sky glowed in the moonlight, and the forest was pitch black!

The moonlight made her cold beauty stand out even more. Sometimes her appearance was so unreal that it felt like an illusion. An illusion that I couldn't grasp even if I wanted to.

He perched on a thick branch and waited anxiously for her to open her mouth. But alas, she did not whisper the sweet words of love he had hoped for.

"Isn't that too laid back?"

She was alone in the middle of the night, with enemies everywhere, and she was playing the koto……. She had stepped outside to clear her mind for a while, but the sound of the koto had drawn her here. And when she arrived, there was an unexpected person waiting for her.

"Why, is there a law against that?"

"Uh, no. Not necessarily, but is the problem that my son-in-law is too laid-back for a man who is a four-sided, isolationist, besieged by enemies? I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a little more serious."

"Is that so?"

"It's about being able to react like a person stuck on a remote island and not be a nuisance to those around you."

Why am I having a pointless argument with this person at this time of night? She wondered, suddenly.

"Elevation? This is a mountain, not an island."

Bi Ryuyeon catches Na Yerin off guard. She didn't even need to…….

"I've never been there, but isn't an island a piece of land isolated from the continent, surrounded by ocean on all sides?"

In reality, she had never been to an island, even though she had only heard about it. She had never seen the ocean.

"Well, islands aren't necessarily in the ocean, but they are. It was just a metaphor, and I didn't mean anything else by it. It's not very nice of you to take it so literally."

"Did I do something wrong?"

With a puzzled look on her face, Bi Ryuyeon asked. She really didn't know.

"No offense, I just wanted you to change your perception of reality. Wouldn't it be nice to show a little more tension?"

"You mean the one with the crisis…?"

"Well, I guess you could call it that."

Right now, Bi Ryuyeon's mental state and demeanor were almost too relaxed. With enemies on all sides, there was no sign of tension anywhere. Excessive relaxation was just as bad as excessive tension.

It's a normal human reaction to be a little nervous. He was dangerously relaxed. She couldn't help but notice that he looked as if he was hastening his death.

What on earth is he thinking?

'Unable to read…….'

She still couldn't read his mind.

"You're always alone."

These were her honest thoughts as she watched Bi Ryuyeon. It's not that she didn't have any friends, but she felt like she was one step away from them, and yet she wasn't sanctioned. He was only criticized by others……. But where did the fear and reverence for him come from among the cast members? It was a mystery to her.

"That's weird, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not alone, and neither is Sojae."

For a moment, she felt a tingle in her chest. Why, she couldn't tell, why she was stirred by his mere words…….

I looked to the sky, but the moon didn't answer.

It was a night when the moon, unconcerned with the human world, shone brightly, and even the stars were bright as they rose.

The sound of crunching grass and wind rushing through the trees rang in her ears as Na Yerin stepped up to Bi Ryuyeon's side.

She hadn't thought to come down from the branch yet.

"It's a pity there's no music when a good man and a good woman meet! A night sky full of unfathomable stars! Two Cainites meeting under the lonely moonlight! Wouldn't it be golden if there was a song here, don't you think?"

"I respectfully decline."

Na Yerin shook her head.

"Bam! Is that so? It's a shame we can't agree on something like this……."

Bi Ryuyeon's mouth watered. He seemed so easy going.

"It's quiet, isn't it?"

The night in the mountains was quiet with only the sound of grasshoppers.

"I see."

Na Yerin agreed.

"But that's weird, right?"

Bi Ryuyeon shook her head.

"What do you mean?"

"I've heard that when you get pardoned, a song is played… am I wrong?"

What is this man talking about? Na Yerin was momentarily dumbfounded.

"Of course, even if you're surrounded on all sides, there's no way the thatching (楚歌) can't be heard, is there?"

"They don't know romance."

Bi Ryuyeon didn't hesitate to criticize her opponent.

"It's just common sense."

Her response was cold.

"Well, they don't have any good musicians. They don't know how to play, don't you think?"

"I can't tell."

Na Yerin shook her head.

"So how about this?"

Ryuyeon Bi had one comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Since they won't play thatch over there, shouldn't we play it over here instead?"

When Bi Ryuyeon asked with a serious look in her eyes, Na Yerin was suddenly afraid. She had a strong feeling that he was being sincere. How could this man commit such an outrageous and unorthodox act and not feel anything? He was beyond common sense.

Nightmares were enough for her to have occasionally when she slept. With her eyes open, she had enough sense to politely decline. But Bi Ryuyeon had no intention of giving up.

Bi Ryuyeon placed the rosary on his lap with a flourish. The jet-black color made it hard to tell, but he had come out here with a rosary.

It was too late to stop her; despite her restraint, Bi Ryuyeon's fingers began to run over the strings.

"Tiri-ring!"

"What is this pitch?

Na Yerin did a double take.

The first is because of Bi Ryuyeon's amazing ability to act out the nightmare himself, and the second is because his bell is surprisingly pleasant to hear. As it turns out, the man who was responsible for the sound of the bell earlier was the man right in front of me.

"You could have used it for something other than striking gold, couldn't you?"

She was genuinely impressed, as if she had just made an amazing discovery.

"What does that mean?"

Chen Shi Yi pricked up his ears and asked. The silence of the night had carried the golden yin all the way to the Twins' camp. As Qing Shui had predicted, they were now besieging the Heavenly Guards with a celestial membrane.

"Isn't that the sound of a sumikin?"

Fifty-five, a subordinate who was running an errand next to him, replied.

"Who doesn't know that, I mean, why is it that in a situation like this, you hear golden tones?"

"Sin… I'm sorry."

He had long since learned that the secret to a long life was to apologize and beg for forgiveness whenever he felt offended. He had seen too many of his comrades die in vain for not being quick to apologize.

Hearing this, Qian Shan became very uncomfortable. The music was completely inappropriate for a confrontation.

The desire to hunt down and beat the crap out of whoever had organized this event burned in the pit of his stomach. The melody drifting through the cold night air seemed to be laughing at him. If I catch him, I won't let him off the hook, he vowed to himself.

"How dare they disrespect us when they're all going to die anyway!"

"Puddle!"

In his excitement, he gritted his teeth. His flesh puffed up and bloomed of its own accord. The servant girl in the marketplace could only tremble at the sight of him so full of life.

If it hadn't been for the sudden break in the silence, Chen Xiaolian would have had a seizure. His subordinate Fifteen Horsemen had saved his life today.

Suddenly, the golden notes stopped playing. Na Yerin opened her silently closed eyes and stared at Bi Ryuyeon with eyes as deep as the abyss. Bi Ryuyeon was looking at a different place behind her back.

"Crispy!"

The sound of a branch being stomped on in the middle of nowhere was impossible for Bi Ryuyeon and Na Yerin's ears to miss.

"Who is it?"

The person who appeared from behind the tree in response to Na Yerin's cry was quite unexpected. It was Lee Jin-sul who emerged from behind the beautiful tree.

Bi Ryuyeon glared at the person who had interrupted her magnificent celestial performance. If she were a man, she would have retaliated in the name of the heavens and the moon, but she was a woman.

"What's going on?"

Her face suddenly brightened at Na Yerin's question. Her answer came as a surprise to Na Yerin.

"Hyo, I'm looking for Confucius."

"Weren't you there?"

Lee Jin-sul nodded. Everyone was sitting around discussing what to do next, but only Bi Ryuyeon, Na Yerin, Hyo-ryong, and Cheong-heon were nowhere to be seen, so he went out to find them.

"It's not here, look elsewhere!"

"Yes, sister!"

As Lee Jin-sul scurried away, Bi Ryuyeon looked at Na Yerin with a roguish grin.

"Hmph!"

A smirk tugged at the corners of Bi Ryuyeon's mouth.

"Don't you want to go see something fun?"

"Yes?"

"Because I think something very interesting is about to happen, and if you miss it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."

"No… I'm……."

She tried to refuse, but the man's transparently white hand on hers would not allow it.

"Yuck!"

Unable to resist, unwilling to fight back, she could only follow wherever the evil hand pulled her. For a moment, she couldn't decide if she should shake it off or keep it there. This had never happened to her before in her life.