Chapter 4.2 - Yaowang Valley (Part 2)

Warning: This work is classified as restricted. Readers under the age of 18 are not allowed to read it.

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“What’s going on?” Yan Buwang reached out his hand to stabilize Rong Jin’s trembling body. He was startled to see that the young man seemed thinner than when they first met.

“Are you poisoned?” Yan Buwang looked at the black blood on the ground. His expression was unhappy. He didn’t have any antidotes with him, and they were a bit far from Shura Valley. They might not reach the healing cultivators of Shura Valley in time, no matter how much skill they had. Rong Jin’s face was deathly pale. Yan Buwang was afraid the young man would die before they reached Shura Valley.

“Send me back to Yaowang Valley…. Please….”

Then Rong Jin seemed to remember Yan Buwang’s killing intent from a moment before, and the light in his eyes faded.

“Well, if it’s too much trouble… Just drop me here or kill me. If it ends like this, it will be easier….”

Rong Jin lowered his eyelids. Tears began to seep from the corners of his eyes. “But can you please take my corpse back to Yaowang Valley and bury me in…” He choked. “… In the small hill beside Taohua Creek. That… was his favorite place to go….”

Rong Jin hardly had the strength to say the last few sentences. His voice was so low, so inaudible that Yan Buwang couldn’t hear him clearly.

“Shut up!” Yan Buwang picked up Rong Jin in one arm and kicked open the door of the room. He estimated the distance. They weren’t too far from Yaowang Valley. He always seemed to be caught off-guard by the young man in his arms. It seemed like he was unprepared every time, helpless to do anything with him.

Yan Buwang gazed deeply at Rong Jin’s pale face, and said in a cold voice, “You’d better pray you reach Yaowang Valley alive. I won’t give you the chance to trick me again and again.”

As a cultivator in Deity Transformation stage, he was incredibly powerful. Yan Buwang activated a flying magical tool, and after a short time, they had almost reached the entrance of Yaowang valley.

Just as they were about to step into Yaowang Valley’s protective spell formation, however, half the sky flashed a fiery red color. A scarlet bolt streaked towards Yan Buwang and landed on the path directly in front of him, blocking the only way into the valley.

Yan Buwang instantly tensed. He stared bitterly at the red clothes and silver hair of the strange young man before him. “Duan Yunxiao, the leader of the Jian Sect? Are you trying to block my way?” he shouted.

Duan Yunxiao had galloped the entire distance and finally caught up with his target. His eyes were red as he looked at his future wife, who was lying in the arms of this evil devil, close to death.

The scarlet in his eyes became even more savage and bloodthirsty. He revealed a maddened, ferocious grin to Yan Buwang. “Prepare to meet death, boy!”

Yan Buwang’s pupils shrank. He had no choice but to let go of Rong Jin. Then he drew his Azure Dragon Sword and met Duan Yunxiao’s murderous attack head on!

—

The formation at the entrance of Yaowang Valley fluctuated for a while, and then an ink-dark figure appeared outside the valley.

The young man dressed in ink-dark robes gazed at the fierce battle ahead of him, then bent down and gently picked up Rong Jin, who was lying on the ground. The young man stepped into the entrance formation and vanished.

The familiar odor of bitter medicine entered Rong Jin’s nose. He opened his eyes and saw Song Ziqian boiling medicine beside him.

“Song… Shidi?” Rong Jin was startled by the hoarseness of his own voice.

“Are you surprised?” Song Ziqian turned around, looked at him coldly, and said, “I told you the price of the Resurrection Gu a long time ago. Your body is already showing signs of entering the five stages of decay, and you were a sickly medicine jar to begin with. I don’t think you’ll survive, Rong Jin. You’ll probably die halfway.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you talk so much.” Rong Jin sighed. Then he looked at Song Ziqian and said, “I understand that no matter what happens, I’ll end up dead. Instead of living like a walking corpse, I’d rather die without regrets. Don’t you think?”

Rong Jin gripped the green jade pendant over his heart and injected it with his inner strength. A faint green glow appeared.

Seeing it, Song Ziqian’s face changed. He grabbed Rong Jin’s wrist with one hand. He’d personally implanted the Resurrection Gu in Rong Jin’s body, and though he thought Rong Jin might be willing to do all this for that person, now that he was really faced with it, there was so much anger inside him that he couldn’t stop from shaking. “Then you’ve… already been with those two people?”

“Yes. I collected Yang qi from two Deity Transformation cultivators. They’re two of the men you told me about, Yan Buwang of Shura Valley and Duan Yunxiao, the sect leader of the Jian Sect.”

“You… Rong Jin, you’re so good!” Song Ziqian stared viciously at Rong Jin. “Didn’t I tell you that even if you humiliate yourself by lying under the bodies of those men, even if you collect all the Yang qi required by the Resurrection Gu, if you want to activate the gu, you still have to sacrifice the vitality of your five elements—which is to say…”

Unlike Rong Jin, Song Ziqian had no faith in human hearts. He’d seen too much during his travels over the years, too many dirty betrayals because of self-interest and greed. He no longer believed there was anything pure in the world.

But Rong Jin, the always gentle and smiling Rong Jin…!

The day that man was resurrected would be the day of Rong Jin’s death. Even so, Rong Jin refused to give up.

“Do you love him that much?” Song Ziqian ignored the sting in his heart and gave Rong Jin a mocking smile. Maybe a pure human heart really existed, but this world wouldn’t allow it to exist for very long.

Rong Jin didn’t reply directly to Song Ziqian’s question. “I know what you told me. But… How can I turn back from the only chance to bring him back to life, no matter how tiny that chance is? Shidi, don’t be angry with me. Although the process is… too humiliating, I’m willing to do it all.

“As long as he can come back, as long as he can live well.”

“As long as he lives well?” Song Ziqian had always been as cold as ice, but now he spoke angrily. “Rong Jin, even if Shen Yuzhi comes back to life, he can’t respond to your feelings. As for you, after absorbing enough Yang qi and being forced to give your life essence to the Resurrection Gu, it’s likely that little by little, you’ll bleed out. And the whole time, the Resurrection Gu will be a fire that consumes your meridians and five internal organs! You’ll be in agony to the point of death! In the end, the gu will suck you dry. And Shen Yuzhi, the man you gave everything to protect, won’t even understand what you’ve done for him!”

Rong Jin was trembling slightly, but his eyes remained firm. “You don’t have to persuade me anymore. I owe my life and my name to Shixiong. My only lifelong wish is to watch over and follow him. Song Ziqian, someday you’ll have someone you love, and you’ll understand. If I could die for Shixiong a thousand or ten thousand times, I’d do it.”

“What don’t I understand?” Song Ziqian’s eyes were bloodshot. “If I knew my beloved would calmly give his life for someone else, I never would have let him set one foot outside Yaowang Valley.”

“What… did you say?” Startled, Rong Jin looked up at Song Ziqian’s unhappy expression. He was suddenly at a loss for words.

He never knew Song Ziqian had those kinds of feelings for him. Maybe it was simply because he never paid attention to anyone but Shen Yuzhi.

“Rong Jin… The only person you’ve ever looked at is Shen Yuzhi. Now he’s dead, and you’re still the same.” Song Ziqian took Rong Jin into his arms. He was choking on his words. “You’ve always been pure and clean. How could you bear to let those beasts treat you like this? I thought you’d back down. I thought that after you returned, you’d eventually come to recognize me…. But now… Rong Jin, you’re not going to stop nurturing the Resurrection Gu, are you?”

Rong Jin could only say helplessly, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize….” Song Ziqian hugged Rong Jin’s shoulder, then tightened his arms a little more forcefully, as if he never wanted to separate from him. “The Resurrection Gu requires Yang qi from four sources. You’ve already obtained energy from the Shura Valley and the central mainland’s Sword Sect. That leaves Xingtian Valley and Yaowang Valley… And right now, the strongest remaining cultivator in Yaowang Valley is me.”

Song Ziqian felt the body of the person in his arms begin to stiffen. He leaned closer to Rong Jin’s ear, exhaling his warm breath against Rong Jin’s earlobe and neck as if he was about to kiss this person indulgently. But when he spoke, his tone was icy:

“Since you want to revive him so much, I’ll fulfill your wish.”

TL Notes:

might not have time to help – 远水解不了近渴 – Distant water cannot quench present thirst; Slowness can not meet hasty demand; The aid is too slow in coming to be of any help

medicine jar – 药罐子 – a pot for decocting herbal medicine, a chronic invalid

Transliterated names, places, and titles—new in this chapter:

Taohua Creek – 桃花溪 – Peach Blossom Creek

shidi – 师弟 – junior fellow apprentice (of the same master) / younger or junior male schoolmate

Shen Yuzhi – 沈聿之

Xingtian Valley – 刑天谷地 – Xingtian (“Punishing Heaven”) is a Chinese deity who fought the Yellow Emperor, not giving up even after he was decapitated. He symbolizes indomitable spirit (Wikipedia)

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