Chapter 44

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Chapter 44

The thought struck Bai Tan’s brain like a nail, digging in deeper, one hit at a time, creating numbers of cracks deep in his memory that were already riddled with holes. Many suspicions flew out as if they were a stream of water.

Could it be, that year……the old demon really had ordered Tian Su to save him as a spy at the Yue Yin Palace, but Tian Su betrayed him. Instead of following his old master’s order, he’d used him as a hostage against him?

But why would the old demon value a hostage like him so much, even to go as far as to willingly be injured for him?

When he pushed him down into hell with his own two hands, no matter how much he pleaded, the other hadn’t even shown the slightest hesitation.

A sharp pain sprung from his alluring bone, Bai Tan quickly shook his head, forcing himself not to dig any deeper. About ten steps ahead of him, there was a tall figure that loomed in the darkness that caught his attention at that moment as well. The figure was weird and strange, it seemed to have three heads and six arms, behind its back was a shield-sized ring-shaped object.

Afraid that he’d encountered an “Awakened One”, Bai Tan held tightly onto Shiyue and wanted to escape right away. But then he saw that the weird shadow didn’t move at all, he also didn’t really want to backtrack, so he braved up and stared at it for a while.

The shadow stood still, there were no sounds, nor did it breathe, it was silent and unresponsive.

Bai Tan held his breath, took a few steps forward, after he was able to see the shadow’s blue face and ferocious fangs, it scared him, but it also allowed him to relax. How was this an “Awakened One”? It was just a stone statue of Asura.

Just as he walked past the stone statue, a “kaka” noise suddenly came from behind him. The sound traveled to Bai Tan’s ears, causing him to feel goosebumps on his head, he turned just to see that the stone Asura statue’s face had somehow turned around. The corners of its eyes were curving up and with numerous white teeth, it seemed like it was both happy and angry, its expression was hideous and strange.

Cold rose up from under his feet, he turned his head then instantly used qinggong, after traveling a good distance, he saw another stone statue of Asura, also with its head turned to its back.

……He seemed to have returned to the same place.

Ghost hitting the wall?[1]

Bai Tan’s hair stood on end, he immediately raised the weapon within his hand and struck towards the stone Asura statue, but he only ended up hitting the air. The Asura instantly turned into mist, then immediately appeared behind him again.

“With fear in heart, one will forge the devil’s barrier; with the devil’s barrier, one will forge into Asura.”

The instant that the oddly familiar voice rang out, Bai Tan shuddered.

He turned his head stiffly, and as expected, he saw……himself.

A young male who looked exactly like him stood in front of the stone Asura statue, he stared at him while looking like he was both smiling and yet not. He wore a robe with a silver dragon embroidered on it, in his hand was also a Shiyue, emitting cold light.

It felt like he was literally looking into a mirror, Bai Tan took a step back, “You……”

“I am you, your evil forged into Asura.” ‘Bai Tan’ raised Shiyue, his lips curved up and he had a fierce look in his eyes, “If the evil is not rid of, then you shall stay here forever, and fight with me till death.”

Cold sweat was pouring off of Bai Tan, deep down, he knew he was trapped in an illusion again. The illusion from last time was so peaceful as if it was paradise, that was probably because he was on the Heaven Path, now that he was on the Asura Path, that was why it created such an illusion.

This illusion was formed by his evil, basically, the meaning of devil forged from the heart.

But how should he break through it?

Bai Tan made his decision after considering the method he used last time, he raised Shiyue and struck towards “Bai Tan”, just to see the other moving simultaneously. As the blades clashed, they let out a bright “keng” sound, the sharp wind of the blade shook Bai Tan and flung him a few meters away, slamming him into the stone wall. His chest filled with sharp pains, while his blood energy became chaotic.

He held onto the stone wall, let out a breath before lifting his eyes to look, the other “Bai Tan” was in the same state.

No……he can’t use force, or else he will kill himself.

If he can’t fight, then how about he hide?

As he thought of it, Bai Tan used “Wu Feng Nong Yue” to advance forward, the stone cave seemed like it had no edges as if there was no end. He traveled a long distance and still couldn’t find an exit, the “Bai Tan” behind him was like his shadow, following him without ever falling behind, wherever he went, “Bai Tan” would also go.

Now Bai Tan was certain that he was trapped by the Asura Path.

He turned his head around, forcing himself to endure the fear as he faced “Bai Tan”, “How will you let me go?”

“Bai Tan” smiled, “Love forges worries, love forges fear……it’s not that I won’t let you go, it’s you who won’t let me go. If you really had no worries or fears, then I would naturally also be gone. You’re so close to dying anyway, yet your sin was so heavy, once dead, you will definitely fall into the Asura Path, soul ripped apart and dispersed, not able to ever be reincarnated again![2]”

Bai Tan was stunned for a bit, then roared angrily, “Shut your mouth! Scram off! I don’t have any worries or fears!”

“If you don’t, then why did your heart forge the devil’s barrier? Why are you falling ill?”

“I’m not!” Bai Tan retorted angrily, he covered his ears and closed his eyes before sitting on the ground with crossed-legs. He quickly thought back to last night when Tian Su read the Sky of Six Desires in the correct order, he’d tried it to get rid of all unnecessary thoughts, focusing to calm down. After going through it for a while, as expected, he heard no movement from around him, and his emotions had also calmed down quite a bit.

Once he opened his eyes again, “Bai Tan” and the stone Asura statue were gone without a trace.

……Seemed like even though Tian Su was hard to see through, he really could be of help to him.

Whatever it seemed like he was gonna have to find him to dual cultivate with in the future.

Bai Tan stood up with that thought in mind, he looked at the little light from far ahead, joy sprouted in him. He raced towards the light source, and it actually led him out of the stone cave, the view before his eyes suddenly turned into a cheerful one.

What appeared before his eyes was a long, narrow and rugged valley, a beam of dawn light shone from the forest above, making the flowing water within the valley shine sparkly as if it had lines of silver drawn on it.

Bai Tan felt thirsty, he sprinted to the waterside and drank until his thirst was quenched. After drinking enough water, he felt all sticky again, remembering that he hadn’t showered in two days. He always liked to be clean, so straight away, he took off his garments, put them on a rock beside the stream, and then jumped naked into waist-deep water to wash.

The stream water was clear, tiny, little, living fishes could be seen through the water. They swam around his legs, peaking Bai Tan’s playfulness and making him catch those fishes with his hands like a naughty cat. His skill of Zhu Tian Hua Mo Zhang was already trained to a very high standard, allowing him to get each one of them without a miss. In just a short while, he’d caught two handfuls, his eyes were squinting from him smiling in happiness.

If someone had seen such a scene, they’d definitely be extremely surprised……

After all, such a thing as a demon sect leader catching fish in a stream to play wasn’t very usual.

That wasn’t even the end of it though, the demon sect leader put his handfuls of little fishes onto a rock beside the stream, he pushed his palms out, and used his hot neili to get as many of them as cooked as he could, then started eating them with a great appetite. Even though there was no salt, the fish was still tasty and crispy. He ate ten of them in one go, filling his stomach up to a round ball, enough that he couldn’t even walk.

After finally satisfying his hunger and thirst, he grabbed his clothing and climbed a nearby tree, and slept.

As for Wu Yanfu, he’d stayed up all night, he fed Si You, who was on the brink of death, the half Rengu Nian Bead he’d stolen. Then also passed his energy to treat him until noon, that was when Si You showed signs of waking up.

Just as he opened his eyes, Si You spat out a mouthful of blood, many of the dense blood veins on his face had faded away, exposing his indigenous, beautiful face. His willow leaf eyes also had a bit of life in them.

Wu Yanfu retracted his hands to stop passing his energy then moved his thin lips, “Si You, how are you feeling?”

“Sect leader……”

Si You was surprised upon hearing him, he wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his lips before turning around to kneel in front of the man.

“This subordinate……thanks the sect leader for bestowing this subordinate a life.”

“You can get up.” Wu Yanfu stood up, “I don’t know how long this half Rengu Nian Bead will be able to extend your life, but over half of your injured meridian have already been healed, wanna spar with me a little to try it?”

“Yes.” Si You nodded his head, then whipped out the eagle head rope around his waist, “Sect leader, please excuse my offense!”

Just as his voice dropped, he grabbed tightly onto the bottom rope with one hand and swung it with his neili-filled arm. The rope let out a ferocious eagle cry, it headed towards Wu Yanfu as it started up a strong wind. Wu Yanfu moved to dodge, he used two fingers to pinch the rope’s body, then instantly felt a great amount of neili shocking his mouth numb, enduring it was a bit hard, surprising him a little.

One should know that originally, he’d relied on the gu insects to suck out the neili of the few Yue Yin Palace captives that Bai Tan had caught and then also took in over half of Si You’s neili. With such groundwork done, he’d trained through the first five levels of the Sky of Six Desires alone, and now his neili had strengthened. Even though it still wasn’t as strong as his past self, but it was far beyond Si You, who’d lost over half of his neili. Now that he thought about it, Rengu Nian Beads not only had the power to revive one from the dead, but there were rumors that it was better used to strengthen one’s neili.

“Sect leader……you return the neili to this subordinate?” Si You was extremely shocked, he put away his weapon.

Wu Yanfu kept quiet and didn’t answer, he only reached out a hand to lay on top of Si You’s pulse. He used “Cui Hua Zhe Zhi Shou” to suppress his jingqu point, then sucked the newly added neili into his own body. After only sucking in little under half of the capacity, he felt Si You’s arm stiffen and him holding his breath as if he wasn’t willing to give away any more neili.

He stared at the other, half-squinting his eyes, “Si You?”

“Sect leader!” Si You kneeled down, “This subordinate pleads that the sect leader allows this subordinate to keep the rest of the neili.”

Wu Yanfu showed a smile that almost didn’t look like a smile, he lifted his chin and spoke playfully, “You aren’t willing to give up your neili to me, yet you say you want to be my* Concubine Ming?”

Si You grasped his hand, he spoke with his head lowered, “This subordinate has thought it through after one death. In the end, Concubine Ming is only a cauldron for training, death would be unavoidable. Even if the sect leader remembers this subordinate for now, this subordinate would still be forgotten in the future. This subordinate now only wishes to live, to obey whatever the sect leader wishes, to live my life for the sect leader, loyal and devoted till death.”

….…I want to be by the sect leader’s side, at least, to live longer than that little evildoer.

Si You swallowed the unspoken words, he lifted his head and saw Wu Yanfu looking down at him indifferently, he then also reached out his hand in fear and panic, “If the sect leader insists on taking it, then this subordinate will have no complaints.”

“Alright, you always knew the limits, then I shall leave some for you.” Wu Yanfu retracted his hand, speaking blandly, “Just in time then, I* will use the clone art, while you go help me* search for someone.”

“Who is the one that the sect leader wants?”

“Human skin carver, Yan Ruyu, she is in the Xi Ye Kingdom’s Royal Palace.”

Si You couldn’t help but be joyed, “Sect leader……could it be, you want to go back to your original appearance?”

Once he let those words out, he saw satisfaction rise on Wu Yanfu’s face, who knew what he was thinking, “That’s right. You always knew my* thoughts the best. Go, make it fast.”

Si You held a fist in his other hand, “Yes.”

Bai Tan slept until dusk before waking up.

When he opened his eyes, the glowing beauty of the sunset filled the heavy-twilight-colored sky.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes, gave a big stretch, and wanted to keep lying on the bed, no, lying on the tree, but he heard a sudden noise coming from under the tree.

Bai Tan scrambled up cautiously, staring down the tree only to see a date-red colored horse coming out of the thick forest. It was breathing heavily as it sprinted towards the stream to take a drink, it had a saddle strapped on its back while its hooves were stained with many blood marks. Obviously, it wasn’t a wild horse and its master was also injured.

He was a bit curious and jumped out of the tree, the horse got scared but it didn’t turn around to run. Instead, it looked at him as if he was a human, its eyes held tears, with a hiss, it kneeled down to him with his front legs.

Remembering the scene of the “Yin Jiao” that lamented endlessly after the old demon died, Bai Tan thought about it for a bit. It seemed horses also understood humans, was it pleading for his help? He went up to rub the mane on the horse’s head, the horse turned its head to pull him back by biting on his sleeve, then he found out that there was a brocade pocket on the side of the saddle. Delicate patterns were embroidered on the brocade pocket, it was obvious that it was used by a female, the character “Su” was embroidered on it.

Bai Tan’s heart jumped, Su……his aunt’s birth name was Su Guiyu, could it be his aunt?

He immediately jumped on the horse’s back then, just as he grabbed onto the reins, the horse turned around and sprinted like crazy.

They headed north by following the valley path, went up a hill and Bai Tan saw a city surrounded by cloudy mist in the center of the island from far away, the city was built from twisting mountain ridges, in the shape of a dragon.

His eyes brightened, he took out the Luopan to see, expectantly, the needle was pointing towards the Shang Star spot.

This was the competing stage of the Great Assembly of Wu Lin, Cang Long City! He’d actually broken in?

So, it wasn’t that one had to pass the Liudao Lunhui Formation to get into Cang Long City, but that it was inside of the Liudao.

Bai Tan rubbed his hands together in excitement and impatience, but the horse didn’t take him in Cang Long City’s direction, instead, it sprinted straight towards a little forest under the hillside. The leaves within the forest were all vividly red, a thick fog covered the place. A strange fragrance lingered in the air, smelling it would make one’s head dizzy and hurt.

Lest it was a type of poisonous smoke, Bai Tan quickly held his breath, then took the handkerchief he used for wiping sweat to cover his mouth and nose. He pulled on the reigns a little, making the horse slow down a bit. Soon after entering the depths of the forest, he could hear the rowdy noise of people chattering, he also saw firelight from between the tree shadows ahead.

The horse stopped its hooves and huffed out of its nose loudly.

Bai Tan comforted the restless horse to calm it down before dismounting, he walked over without a sound as he peeked through the tree leaves. He saw around ten men sitting around a campfire, having fun chatting. The hair on all of their foreheads was mostly shaved off, exposing their scalps, making a half moon shape. But behind their heads were broom-like high braids, they were dressed very uniquely, with wide shouldered jackets and oddly loose pants. Their feet stepped on wooden sandals[3] and they were equipped with narrow knives that were as long as an arm by their sides, they were just like the Yamato Samurais described in the book.

Had these people of the Yamato Nation also traveled this far to participate in the Great Assembly of Wu Lin?

Suddenly, a man stood up laughing, he said something then walked towards one of the nearby tents. With a scream, a girl was dragged out by the Yamato Samurai and carried to the fireside.

With the fire light’s help, Bai Tan looked closely to see that the girl was in an Uyghur outfit and was still in her early teens. She wasn’t Gui Yu’er, but he couldn’t stand seeing the group of people going up to violate her either.

He didn’t want to go on a murder spree before the Great Assembly of Wu Lin started, which would allow others to criticize him. Bai Tan hid Shiyue in his sleeve, leaned up, and leaped into a tree. He snapped off a few leaves and with few flicks of his fingers, the leaves suddenly turned into sharp arrows. They flew towards the hands that were about to touch the girl, “shua shua”, they cut off all those fingers.

A few of the Yamato Samurais held onto their hands, howling miserably as they rolled around on the floor in pain.

The samurai leader who held onto the girl stood up as he endured the pain. He yelled loudly, pulled out his samurai sword, and pointed it upwards. There he saw a small, delicate individual in white clothing, who had their face covered sitting on a tree branch, a pair of flawless jade feet swung around as he played with the few leaves in his hand without a care as if this was a game.

Bai Tan blew a piece of leaf out of his hand, “If you don’t scram now, your hand used to hold the knife won’t be intact much longer.”

How could the samurai leader give up just like that? He raised his samurai sword, immediately wanting to go up the tree. But the masked individual just shook his feet, causing the two little bells around his slender ankles to shake, a heart-luring bell sound rang in his ears. His eyes suddenly went blurry and he lost consciousness as his body froze in place.

Bai Tan then landed in front of the trembling Uyghur girl, he reached out a hand, “Miss, are you alright?”

His voice was extremely clear, Su Maner immediately calmed down. She opened her eyes wide to observe the white-clothed, masked person in front of her. This person’s eyes were like icy stars, he had an abnormal aura, even though only half of his face was exposed, one could still tell that he was very young. It seemed like he was around her age, and was probably very handsome.

“I’m affected by the fragrant poison, I don’t have any strength right now.” Su Maner shook her head as she spoke weakly.

Bai Tan’s brows furrowed in annoyance, yet he still bent down and carried the person, he leaped onto the horse’s back, asking, “Where are you from?”

Su Maner leaned into his embrace, only to feel that there was an indescribably alluring smell coming from all over his body. She was stunned for a while before returning to her senses. With a tap on the horse’s head, the horse took the two towards the east side of the forest quickly.

The sky darkened, looking over at the few tents built on the hill in front of them, a few figures moved around the campfire. Bai Tan slowed down cautiously, but the Uyghur girl called out loudly just then. Immediately, three to five people came up, they were all Uyghur people who wore headscarves and high boots.

The person in the lead had an old and thin figure, both his beard and hair were grizzled, yet he walked very fast. He came to the front of the two in the blink of an eye. Hearing the girl calling out “dad” from his embrace, Bai Tan held onto her and jumped off the horse. He walked up to him and pushed the person into his hands then turned to leave but his hand was caught.

That person’s hand strength was extremely considerable, almost like an eagle’s claws. Bai Tan was shocked, he turned back around.

That person asked, “Who are you? Why are you together with my daughter?”

“Dad, I got lost in the forest earlier and met a group of east travelers, he was the one who saved me.” Su Maner secretly peeked at Bai Tan. Under the night color, the young male’s side profile was very attractive, her heart jumped, and she spoke boldly, “Nice Gege[4], you saved me, I like you.”

Bai Tan was shocked, he’d heard that Uyghur females were expressive and passionate, so it really was true.

The Uyghur man was stunned upon hearing this, then he started laughing in a bright voice, “So it was my daughter’s savior, I thank you very much! Why doesn’t the savior stay here and rest for the night? We just killed a deer, got a bunch of meat and fine wine. If you want to show off some kicks on the Great Assembly of Wu Lin, you gotta first fill that stomach in order to have the strength!”

Bai Tan heard, then was a bit tempted, he thought it would be fine to rest for a while, so he agreed without holding back.

There was no need for him to keep up his sect leader attitude when sitting in front of the campfire with a few strangers, Bai Tan actually felt like something heavy had been lifted off of him, his whole body relaxed. He used a small knife to cut off a piece of deer meat and send it to his mouth, then realized something was wrong.

Su Maner laughed with a “pfft” sound, “Nice Gege, so you cover your face even when you’re eating?”

Bai Tan bit his lip awkwardly, then took off the handkerchief.

Instantly, the firelight seemed to have been dimmed by the young male’s face. Su Maner’s eyes suddenly widened. She looked at him in awe, not realizing the suspicious look that suddenly appeared on the man next to her.

He scanned Bai Tan’s face a few times, then his eyes quickly darkened.

Translator: Crispyfry

Proofreader: Grumpykit

QC: Xiao

Xiao’s Comments: Oh Oh…

Translator: Crispyfry

Proofreader: Grumpykit

QC: Xiao

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Ghost hitting the wall (鬼打墙) – A term used to describe people walking in the same circle over and over again, lost and unable to find an exit, sometimes due to supernatural beliefs (hence the ‘ghost’ in the term)

[2] Wanna note: In the last sentence of the paragraph, he never clearly used the word “you” in Chinese, but it could be taken that he’s speaking to the actual Bai Tan as an individual instead of being like “we’re the same person, we have the same fate”, but it probably could be that too.

[3] Wooden sandals (木屐) – Image: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=3840B42D96A0B2B8ED689811E8EB46A7600A1ED6&thid=OIP.04aJFQOcYZMGZ6iVHvY-bQHaF6&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fugc.qpic.cn%2Fbaikepic%2F41275%2Fcut-20140509111245-1372493094.jpg%2F0&exph=287&expw=359&q=%e6%9c%a8%e5%b1%90&selectedindex=0&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2,6

[4] Gege (哥哥) – Elder brother, can be used as a respectable or intimate title to address an older male, so doesn’t always have to be a blood relationship or sibling by law title.

Chapter 43 Chapter 45

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