Chapter 39

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Chapter 39

He called out like that a few times but received no response.

Bai Tan thought it strange and ordered people to search throughout the ship. After a short while, someone from the second level of the ship screamed out, “Sect Leader, bad news!”

A few people went over to where the scream had come from, they walked up to the second level by stairs. Pushed open the cabin door, and a metallic blood smell hit them in the face, they focused their eyes to look again, there was a person, flesh smudged and blood splattered on the ground. It had a bulky, strong figure, with a felt hat on his head, who else could it be aside from Suo Tu? His abdomen had already been split open and all his organs were missing, his body was almost broken in two. His death appearance looked like he’d been ripped apart alive by some sort of wild beast, it was extremely miserable.

“It was that Gu Ren, that Gu Ren’s been here!” Mi Lansheng spoke shockingly.

Bai Tan’s heart jumped, last night he’d been sleeping just a level below, and yet hadn’t realized anything. There were also many high-skilled fighters on this ship and Suo Tu himself, as a Tan Zhu, his skills weren’t any ordinary either. But that Gu Ren had slipped in like nobody else was here and slaughtered him, ate parts of his dead body, and yet went unnoticed by any other person, truly, quite a frightful thing.

“As expected, the rumors weren’t false. That Gu Ren’s just like a ghost, can come without a shadow and leave without a trace, where no one can even get the chance to guard themselves. Since he came here for Fu Lin, then it must still be hiding nearby, and Fu Lu must’ve also come here.”

Bai Tan spoke, “Thinking of how Gui Yu’er disappeared last night, it couldn’t have been a coincidence, she might’ve seen Fu Lu and chased after. He sure came at the right time, the last time I saw him, the Rengu Nian Beads were hung on Fu Lu’s neck.”

“Sect Leader seems to be pretty interested in Rengu Nian Beads all of a sudden.” Mi Lansheng looked at him with deep intentions, he just didn’t understand, if this little evildoer cared so much about his shizun’s events in the past, then why did he have to kill his own shizun?

“I will have to be upfront first, the Rengu Nian Beads are a sacred treasure of our sect, it shall not be stained by any other’s fingers. Even if Sect Leader Bai were to help me in retrieving the sacred item from Fu Lu, the sacred treasure can only be used by you through borrowing the elder’s help. Do not have the desire of obtaining it whole, or else, even if you were to become the Wu Lin Overlord, it would still be a shame to all other men.”

Bai Tan was provoked by him and snorted coldly, “Who do you think I* am? I* am only interested in the position of Wu Lin Overlord. What a ‘sacred treasure’? Not in my* eyes, it’s just a pile of dog shit.”

“You!” Mi Lansheng glared at him angrily.

“Ai, Sect Leader Bai and Sect Master, you have both gone too far with your words.” The old Sa Man interrupted, “My old self believes that Sect Leader Bai has a very straightforward personality and does look far ahead into the future from a high place, he definitely isn’t someone to go back on his word. My old self wishes that in the future, the Fu Tu Sect and the Mandala Sect can be on good terms for hundreds of years, see each other as allies, and advance forward together.”

“The Senior here definitely knows best.” Bai Tan smiled, though as for how long he could live, he didn’t really care. He just cared about being satisfied enough during his time of living, and not leave any regrets behind. The Rengu Nian Beads could revive someone from the dead, and was an item that many people wished for, but couldn’t get their hands on, but he didn’t want to live again. He raised three fingers. “I, Bai Tan will now vow that I will never even have the thought of wanting the Rengu Nian Beads if I were to break it, then may lighting strike me to the utmost painful death!”

Just as he finished, a thunderous sound seemed to really come from the sky.

Following was a great commotion caused by the wind, dark clouds covered the sky and a violent rainstorm seemed like it was about to start.

The tip of Li Wuzhang’s heart hurt, he clenched his fists tightly.

To be struck by lightning, and die of utmost pain…shidi, do you know what life you still have left for that?

To really meet the god’s punishment, to really be shamed by mankind…that person would still not be you.

After ordering people to get rid of Suo Tu’s corpse, Bai Tan turned and walked down the stairs to get to the cabin Fu Lin was in. The ill young male had already been cleaned once and was laying in the bed, he wore his robe, since their figures were about the same, it was about the right fit. His eyelids were closed as his lashes quivered nonstop, his chest heaved oddly violent as if a great, evil beast was nearing him in his dream, terrifying him to the utmost.

Bai Tan saw his appearance and pity actually grew in his heart, he covered him with a convenient blanket.

Even though he’d had the intention of making Fu Lu’s son his hostage, it didn’t mean that he’d had any intention of harming him. More so, he hadn’t wanted to torture him like this, especially not this kind of inhumane thing…

His hand accidentally flitted passed the youth’s skin and felt it was extremely hot, Bai Tan furrowed his brow and checked his forehead. Realizing he really was overheating, he got some of the wine from the wine bottle on the side table and wet a handkerchief, then gently wiped the youth’s boiling, pale white cheeks.

After just a few wipes, he felt that his sleeve was being tugged on, “You…”

The youth’s eyelids trembled and underneath the lashes, revealed the bottom of a pair of blank eyes, his bloodless lips moved, giving a hint of mosquito-like sound, almost drowning in the thunderstorm from outside.

“Stop acting like a cat weeping for a mouse’s death, faking your sympathy.”

Almost as if he was afraid that the other couldn’t hear him, the youth then tried to raise his volume.

“To have someone shame me* like this and now treating me* like this, you think I* would be grateful towards you?”

Bai Tan put away the handkerchief and stood up and turned away, “It wasn’t like I* ordered it to happen.” He stopped for a bit, then continued, “Plus, that person was killed by your Gu Ren, and he was a Tan Zhu of my sect after all. Him making a mistake and your Gu Ren killing him, I’m* not even arguing over that with you, so what else do you want?!”

“Not arguing with me over it…just you remember,” The youth’s voice shook, he coughed lightly a few times and actually laughed, “My Papa adored me a bunch, he will definitely not let you go easily!”

Bai Tan looked at him with squinted eyes and couldn’t help but ask back, “Adore you, yet he made you the Gu Mu?”

The youth finished laughing and used his sleeve to wipe his mouth, “What do you know?! Becoming a Gu Mu, then I am papa’s most powerful weapon, I am his pride and he can’t leave me.”

Bai Tan heard an ambiguous tone that seemed to be woven through the words and couldn’t help but be a bit surprised. He thought, this kind of tone didn’t seem like the casual son relying on their father, instead, it seemed like an abnormal love.

Worried that now Fu Lin was awake, he could call the Gu Ren and Fu Lu over, Bai Tan turned back and pressed his slumber acupoints.

When he walked onto the deck, the rain had stopped, but the sky was still eerie and dark, it seemed like it was night.

A layer of mist had built upon the surface of the pond from who knew when, and veering out far away, there were little sparks of firelight dancing within the mist. More and more appeared, there was a great amount of them and it was obvious that many ships were approaching the shore of the island.

Bai Tan squinted his eyes, did people from other sects also come?

Mi Lansheng walked up to his side, he took out an owl glass from his sleeve and looked at the surface of the water for a while, then his heart sunk, “Sect Leader Bai, it is best that we get on the island first. Your reputation isn’t good and your head is sought as a reward by Fu Lu, many people within Wu Lin see you like a sore thumb, a needle in the flesh. To get on the island and enter the Liudao Lunhui Formation, would actually be safer. After passing the Liudao Lunhui Formation and going into the Cang Long City, the ‘Awakened Ones’ would already be placed there, so those who want to cause you harm, wouldn’t make a move without caution. To fight, they can only step in the arena and do it out in the open. But here, they can group up and attack as allies.”

Bai Tan gave him an ‘oh’ and asked, “What are the ‘Awakened Ones’?”

To Mi Lansheng, it sounded as if he didn’t care about being everyone’s target, it made him curious and want to ask, it was both weird and funny, “The Awakened Ones are basically living buddha. This Cang Long Island was the place where some Tian Zhu monks meditated hundreds of years ago, those monks trained hard and remained pure throughout their whole lives. They never left the island and turned into living buddha with bodies that won’t rot or be destroyed, they still remembered their goal while alive, so they kept protecting the Cang Long City. For anyone who can enter the Sakra God[1] Temple and retrieve a buddha relic from the top of Sakra’s head, then the Awakened Ones would listen to that person’s order, view that person as Sakra and make them the master.”

“So that’s how it is.” Bai Tan touched his chest and thought, could the blood relic that he’d dug out from Wu Yanfu’s heart be the buddha relic he got from the year he’d become the Wu Lin Overlord?

Then didn’t that mean once he entered the Cang Long City, all those Awakened Ones would listen to him?

He rubbed his chin, if it was really that easy, then it would be too boring.

“Seems like Sect Leader Bai already has a plan in mind?” Mi Lansheng couldn’t help but ask.

Bai Tan covered his mouth, just realizing that he’d slipped out the words he’d thought and smiled, “That is natural, my* skills are so high, who wouldn’t be afraid? In Loulan, I fought with Fu Lu, he isn’t my* opponent at all. The position of Wu Lin Overlord is the same as something I* can easily get from my pocket.”

Mi Lansheng heard his egoistic tone and words, his lips twitched and he couldn’t help but also smile. After a few days of interaction, he’d started to feel more and more that this person wasn’t as sinister and malicious of a person he had thought him to be. He was more like a mischievous child, pretending to be a toxic beauty on the outside, but inside was actually pure to the extreme.

He truly…was hard for one to hate.

“Good then, I will congratulate Sect Leader Bai in stepping on the Overlord’s throne in advance.”

“I am grateful for Sect Master Mi’s blessing words.” Bai Tan straightened his back, looked out toward the dots of firelight on the pond surface. At that moment, he really had the feeling of looking at the world with slanted eyes, “Then, shall we get going quickly and get ahead of the game?”

Before the other ships had even come near to the shore, all the people on board the ship had already finished packing and stepped onto the Cang Long Island. Not too long after, a strangely shaped stone forest appeared before them. The stones within the forest that seemed to have been crafted by the hands of spirits were all dozens of zhang tall, hundreds of meters wide, it was like a naturally formed barrier. To look at the stone forest from the outside, it seemed to be plain and simple. But the pathways within the stone forest were extremely complex, many were mirage traps. They were set there by the Tian Zhu monks to test anyone who had the heart to come and train. It was like a maze, because there were six levels, each of them representing six types of reincarnation, so it was also known as the Liudao Lunhui Formation.

The old Sa Man spoke, “Does everyone have a luopan on them?”

One by one, everyone took their luopan out from their belongings, Bai Tan received the one Li Wuzhang passed him and started to mess around with it in his hands. Because he hadn’t left the mountain often, he hadn’t even known how to use a luopan, and it was embarrassing to ask someone at this time. So he just copied how other people held it in their hands and started to observe the luopan.

From inside to out, the luopan had seven layers and thirty-five zodiac signs could be seen. It had the sexagenary cycle[2] and its sixty terms. In the middle of it was a copper fish, and its head and tail were now pointing straight toward North and South.

“The Cang Long City’s direction is where the dragon heart is, which is the heart mansion…the direction of the Shang Star[3].” The old Sa Man pointed to the very outer edge of the luopan, “Once the copper fish’s head points towards the Shang Star, you’re walking in the right direction. Right now, no matter what’s in front, you’ll have to advance forward, do not be bewitched by any illusion.”

Bai Tan remembered those words in his heart, but then, when he looked in the direction of the stone formation, he saw a figure passing by quickly. It disappeared into the stone formation, it seemed like a woman.

Could it be his Aunt? Bai Tan worried about Gui Yu’er’s safety and immediately chased after.

“Sect Leader!” Li Wuzhang saw him and quickly went to stop him, but Bai Tan’s figure disappeared in an instant. He raced into the stone forest quickly after and in the blink of an eye, the strange stones that had only been dozens of zhang tall all around him before suddenly grew to where they covered the sky and sun, shooting straight up into the clouds. It made one feel extremely small, just as if they were an ant.

Li Wuzhang knew internally, this was the outer layer after entering the stone formation, the first path, the Liudao Lunhui-The Heaven Path.

This path had once been altered by Wu Yanfu, so it was the hardest one to pass.

Li Wuzhang didn’t look up as he walked, only keeping his head down to look at his feet and figure out the way out. He then remembered the daily warning of Wu Yanfu’s- “There are people beyond people, skies beyond skies, do not compete to be higher than the sky, only walk the path below your feet.”

Suddenly, he returned back to the youth from sixteen years ago, bowing before Wu Yanfu’s throne respectfully as he received the Soul Leaving Awl from him. Then he stood up and let the other place the crown of Hu Fa on his head with the other’s own hands.

He remembered when Wu Yanfu looked at him with drooped eyes at that time, smiling slightly, and in those deep and mysterious eyes of his, there was no lack of joy.

“Wuzhang, you’re the most outstanding disciple Shizun’s had in dozens of years, do not disappoint your Shizun in the future.”

The guilt he’d suppressed at the bottom of his heart surged up, layer by layer, Li Wuzhang kneeled down and gave three loud head bows.

“Shizun, because of this disciple’s one wrong thought, I’d harm you to die with regrets. Yet now, still have to rely on the things you taught me yourself to escape from this difficult situation, I’ve truly sinned deeply. This disciple couldn’t break the barrier of emotion and has committed great wrongdoings, yet also doesn’t feel any resentments or regrets. I’ll vow here, I’d rather fall into the reincarnation path of bastards willingly than to ever be reincarnated as a human again after death.”

He finished, then took out “San Du” from his embrace, and put it on the weed-strewn ground. “San Du, take me to him.”

……

Bai Tan lifted his head to look up and furrowed his brows, he remembered when he’d entered, those strange stones hadn’t looked too tall. But who knew that once he entered the stone forest, his surroundings changed to another scene, he was surprised and extremely alarmed on the inside.

He looked at the luopan within his hand and the copper fish spun nonstop, there were no guarantees of where to walk at all. He went around and passed a few more strange stones, then his eyes suddenly saw lights. An enormous Buddha statue appeared in front of Bai Tan’s eyes, the buddha statue was riding on a peacock, he had four heads and the appearance of looking down on everyone, it was obviously Brahma.

Behind the statue of Brahma was a magnificent and astonishing temple, it was seven levels tall with clouds surrounding it.

How was it that on the outside, he couldn’t see this god temple, and nor were the stone walls this tall?

Could this be an illusion?

Bai Tan’s back shivered and he carefully walked up to the side of the statue and reached out to touch it.

The rough, hard texture of the stone felt real.

He stepped on the peacock’s head and leaped onto the statue’s hand, then used the hand to jump once again, landing on the statue’s shoulder. He looked down at the scenario below and yet all he saw was the stone wall, the lake at the oasis’s center couldn’t be seen at all, not even a corner of it. Then he saw that there was a lotus seat below the statue, four of its fingers pointed in four directions and a bulb lit up in his head.

After all, Brahma was a four-faced deity, its four hands pointed North, East, South, and West, and it had never changed since ancient times. He was the deity of guidance within the Devaloka of Buddhism teaching, for it to have been carved here, there must be some needed intentions.

Bai Tan held up the luopan and as expected, the copper fish had calmed down and was pointing at North and South again.

Right now, the spot of the Shang Star was at his Southwest. Bai Tan thought to himself, that was probably the direction of Cang Long City. But, the most important thing just then was to find his Aunt, he couldn’t just let her seek death.

Just as he’d had that thought, a shadow flitted past the corner of his eye.

He turned to look and was instantly stunned.

A black-clothed man with a long, slender figure stood in front of the temple door, his back against him as he stood still, with hands behind his back.

It appeared to be…Wu Yanfu.

Bai Tan’s heart skipped crazily and knew that this was definitely an illusion.

But the man turned around at this time and lifted his head to look, it seemed like he smiled at him, “Tan’er, what are you standing up there for? You’re being naughty again. Come down quickly, or else, Shizun will have to come up and catch you.”

Bai Tan closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged, and didn’t pay him any mind, but then heard the sound of the wind rushing up.

“Tan’er.” The man’s low, clear voice rung from a few inches away, as if he was standing right below him.

Bai Tan furrowed his brows and didn’t move at all.

“Tan’er, come and try the epiphyllum your Shizun made. Weird, this year’s wine seems like it is sweeter than every other year, I wonder if it’s because of Tan’er accidentally falling into it last time.”

Bai Tan finally couldn’t help but open his eyes. And he wasn’t on the statue anymore, instead, he was sitting on the eucalyptus flower tree that had been burned to ashes by him. The flowers were blooming, so white that it put snow to shame, they were as beautiful as the stars.

The black-clothed man leaped onto the tree and swept aside a flowering branch in front of him, then lay down on a branch beside him. Holding the wine bottle with one hand as his other hand went behind his head, he smiled lazily, “Tan’er, come here, come to Shizun’s embrace.”

The scenario seemed so real, not a bit of it seemed like an illusion. Bai Tan blinked his eyes and shrunk back, then stood up, because of his lack of conscious, his foot slipped and caused him to fall right onto the male.

His head hit the strong, prominent chest plate as his palm came in contact with the silky cloth, the bewitching, comfortable incense smell entered his nostrils and the other’s slender fingers gently touched his cheek, “Tan’er…”

Aside from the man’s voice, there no other sounds at all, there was no sound of the wind, no sound of birds chirping. Bai Tan knew this was fake and he wanted to escape, but upon meeting the pair of long eyes that had no stars and moon within them, his whole being seemed to have been bewitched and wouldn’t listen. As his body stay stiffened there, his brain started to get fuzzy.

The man tilted his head and took a sip of wine, used his finger to hold onto his chin then lowered his head, the lips that were stained with the smell of wine flit past the root of his ear. He bit down on an epiphyllum flower by his head, then held it in his mouth before putting it in his hair, and chuckled lowly, “The epiphyllum flower is beautiful, the epiphyllum wine is fine, but no matter what, neither of them can compare to you, Tan’er…”

“Tan’er, spend the rest of your life here with Shizun, wouldn’t that be good?”

Bai Tan’s head was spinning now, but just then, his alluring bone twitched a couple of times. In about the time of just one nod, it woke him up suddenly.

He clenched his teeth and summoned Shiyue in one hand, then struck towards the person before his eyes.

In an instant, the figure broke apart as flower petals flew, the illusion was broken.

“Fates start, extinguish, and fall. Flowers bloom, extinguish, and return to the soil[4].”

A low voice rung from behind him and Bai Tan turned around to see a dark-faced monk a in red robe flying towards him.

He was surprised and stepped back to avoid it, but his foot missed so he fell from the statue’s shoulder. Yet the dark-faced monk quickly chased after, and behind it, many abnormally long hands grew, it was as if a spider was abusing him.

Bai Tan turned his body to land and swung his hook, it hit right on the dark-faced monk’s neck. It was like hitting a diamond, a spark formed from the friction, but the dark-faced monk didn’t back off at all, it just kept chasing towards him. The many pairs of hands all performed unique moves, surrounding him with attacks from top and bottom, Bai Tan nullified one attack after another, getting into a tangling match with the monk. He felt as if he was combating with over ten high-skilled practitioners all at the same time, yet none of his moves could hurt the other, it wouldn’t be long before he ran out of energy.

His alluring bone had moved just now as well so his body was weaker, in an instant, it could be seen that he was at a disadvantage.

Just as he approached the edge of life, his waist was suddenly seized by something soft and his body was dragged away from the hands surrounding him. He fell into a person’s embrace and it flew towards the temple, landing underneath the statue inside the temple.

The dark-faced monk chased up to the door then instantly turned into a stone statue.

“That’s an ‘Awakened One’, it is already immortal and can’t be beaten, the only thing to do is to hide.”

Bai Tan immediately struggled out of this person’s embrace and backed off a few steps, he turned his head to look, “Why is it you again?”

The white-haired male smiled with squinted eyes, “Ah-Chi felt that master was in trouble, so I came.”

“Two-faced.” Bai Tan spoke out of anger, then continued coldly, “Weren’t you together with Si You? Where is he?”

Wu Yanfu avoided the heavy topic, “For Master to be this mad, could it be that Master had eaten something[5]?”

Bai Tan lifted his hand and wanted to slap him, but his wrist was immediately wrapped by a few ghost veins.

“Master hasn’t drunk blood in many days, is it still bearable?”

“Scram!” Bai Tan struggled to remove his hand as his breathing sped up, he quickly turned his back on him. Without mentioning it, he could still endure, but once mentioned, that addictive feeling of needing to drink blood surged up, just as if it was scratching his organs.

Seeing that Bai Tan intended to leave right after turning, Wu Yanfu pulled up his sleeve and his fingernail slit his palm. Then he hugged the other from behind and covered the mouth of the individual in his embrace. Bai Tan was fed a mouthful of medicinal blood out of nowhere, without any warning, it had already been days since he’d taken in blood. Just like a person who had been abstinent for long being released under one touch, he couldn’t hold it back anymore. He grabbed onto Wu Yanfu’s hand and sucked ferociously, gulping down a few mouthfuls, then his body immediately went soft.

Wu Yanfu sat down against the wall and held tightly onto the soft youth within his embrace, he greedily snuffled in the other’s alluring odor, and couldn’t help but regret a little at peeling away his mask of being a dumb silly yao ren.

At this stage, wanting to be close with this little wolf cub who had sharp claws and showed his fangs at all times, it was truly hard.

But, it was also good to be early, in case he wouldn’t be able to stand the him under that mask.

Tan’er, I wonder, once you get the Rengu Nian Beads and learn from others of what happened that year, what would you do?

Would you shed a tear for Shizun? Would you be willing to return to Shizun’s embrace?

Shizun…truly can barely wait anymore.

Just a little longer, wait for Shizun to put the bridal robe on the Eastern Region Wu Lin Overlord with my own hands.

Proofreader’s Comments: Flips the table…I am so frustrated…where’s my sex dammit?!

Xiao’s Comments: Man, I feel like if I was the author, I would just bullshit my way through the writing so I really appreciates that it seems like she paid attention to details and researched well when she wrote about all these myths, legends, etc. It was super exciting to read about them.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Sakra God (帝释天神) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Aakra_(Buddhism)

[2] sexagenary cycle: cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for reckoning time in China and the rest of the East Asian cultural sphere.” For more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle

Including pictures: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A4%A9%E5%B9%B2%E5%9C%B0%E6%94%AF

[3] Shang Star (商星) – The heart mansion of the twenty-eight mansions of constellations.

Shang Star: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%95%86%E6%98%9F

Heart mansion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_(Chinese_constellation)

[4] This is a quote from a legend about the epiphyllum flower god. This quote can relate to the fact that people use epiphyllum to describe that good things don’t last long. Flower info (scroll down to almost the end for legend): https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%98%99%E8%8A%B1/9779247

[5] Wu Yanfu wasn’t being direct but he’s referring to the “eating vinegar” saying, which means to be jealous.

Chapter 38 Chapter 40

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