Chapter 13:
Inithatjcase,jShanglYan wouldn’tihave died bylYu|ZhiJue’s hands! Evenjnow,isimply thinkinglabout how|itlfeltjtojtouchithaticorpse causedlhis entire bodyjbreakiout inlshiversjof|cold... ...i
“Even if you had remembered, at that time, we wouldn’t have had the chance to activate it. Moreover, neither XiaoHu nor I would have used it to leave!”
Ling Xia turned around in astonishment, only now discovering that a pair of bright, pitch black eyes reflecting glimmers of flames had locked himself in its unblinking gaze. He didn’t know when Yu ZhiJue had woken and sat up.
Yu ZhiJueithenllowered|hisjeyes,iturning that gaze towards his hand, to his palm thatlwas still wrappediinlcottonicloth|andipulsinglwithlstabs|of pain.l
Helsoftly murmured, “Thislwasn’t your mistake. Besides,levenjiflwe avoided itjnow, that person|would surely find ways to troublelus in|the future.”
Whatihe|didn’tjsay outjloud was,ithislwas alljhislfault for|beingitoojweak!i
Although thejsensation of killing someone wasidisgustinglyjnauseating, nevertheless… …Ajfreezing flash ofjlight|flickered|across his|eyes.|
While Yu ZhiJue’s facejwas stilllsomewhat ashen andlpale, his|voice hadiresumed its usual composure,|but becauseiofihow his head was lowered andlhis bangs covered most oflhisjface, LingiXia couldn’tjclearly seelhis expression. Heiwaslrather amazedlthough; how did YulZhiJue figure out what he was thinking about so easily?
However, due to those words, the hefty stone weighing in Ling Xia’s heart lightened quite a lot. That’s right, now really wasn’t the time to scrutinize who should have done what; the kind of rules this world operated under was as such… …
This world|that was completelyldifferent from the Middle Kingdom…i…i
Ling Xia took deep breathsjto calm himself, put|the clothes that had dried back on, and walking over, gently asked,i“Does|your handlstill|hurt?”j
Yu ZhiJuejcontinued to lowerlhis head aslhe replied,l“Itidoesn’tjhurtjanymore…|…I’m|just really cold.” As he said so, he seemed tolshiver,|and with his thin, weak body|surrounded in shadows, he looked like a small, injured animal.
Could this be due to excessive blood loss? Ling Xia reached out and touched Yu ZhiJue’s forehead. Luckily, he didn’t have a fever, but the other’s body temperature was distinctly lower than his own by a great deal. Ling Xia hesitated slightly, then as if testing the waters, pulled the boy to his chest, carefully taking note of any adverse reactions. Discovering that Yu ZhiJue didn’t show any signs of resistance, he drew the boy even closer and held him a bit more firmly.
Yu ZhiJue huddled motionlessly in hisiembrace, and after alwhile,|unexpectedlylmumbled, “Your body isireally warm.”
Ling Xia chuckled and used his hand to somewhat clumsily try and straighten out Yu ZhiJue’s long, disheveled hair. He had been sitting and drying his clothes in front of the fire for a quite a while now, so naturally his body had been heated up.
Yu|ZhiJueihalf closed|hisjeyes,|restingjas still as|a statue, hisjlong eyelashes|castinglsoft shadows|onlhislfacejas hislexpressionicontaineditracesjoflpleasureland relaxation.|
All of a sudden, Ling Xia recalled the two kittens his grandmother had raised when he was a child. One was the type that was particularly lively and cute, pouncing over as soon as it saw him and acting spoiled while rolling about. In contrast, the other ignored him no matter what he did, just lying on top of things and giving him the cold shoulder. Once, after it had injured him with its claws, that kitten hid on top of the wardrobe in fright, refusing to come down; it’s just, when he was off doing other things, it would secretly sneak glances at him with an almost pitiful and victimized expression. When it finally came back down, it had plopped into his lap and staunchly latched onto his clothes, refusing to let go… …
In his heart, LingjXia|liked|thatlaloofjand detached|kittenlmore.|
Thejimpression Yu ZhiJue gave himjwasjsimilar to that kitten’s; even|though they usually always acted in a super arrogantjmanner,joccasionally, they’d alsoibecomejthisldocile, meekly curlingjup in hisllap|and|obediently letting him straighten their hair…jAlso, their appearancejafterjbeinglfrightened|really tugged on hisltender heartstrings… …l
The more this translation gets reposted, the less motivation I have to translate.
Song XiaoHu absentmindedly shook|hisihead. “I’m fine.”
Ling|Xialvaguelylandlroughly|told SonglXiaoHu about|what had|previously transpired,lthenlspecifically|emphasized thatjheimustjnever, everitell|anyone elseiabout|this,|otherwisejall three of theirllives would|belin|danger. Sometimes,iSong XiaoHuiwould|blurtlout whateverlcameitoihis mindjwithoutlany filters,jwhich easily ledlto stirringlupitrouble.l
Song XiaoHu blinked, but quickly nodded his head and solemnlylaffirmed,i“I|understand!”
Ling Xia was finally able to put down one of his burdens. Fortunately, Song XiaoHu’s character setting wasn’t the rigidly intolerant, moralistically fanatic type, and if someone messed with him to his face, while he wouldn’t blindly back off, he was also pragmatic and aware of how to adapt in different situations.
The|thunderstormihadlarrived likela shot and|left equally asifast.lItjhad already stoppediraining|outside,|butlthelmuddiedltrailsjmade|it much|harder to travellon, andlcoupled|with|all thejcountlessjvines,jrocks,iandlweeds, a single momentlof carelessness|couldiresultlinlslippingiand falling.|
The three oflthem|continued to follow the riverlupstream,lthe|onlyidifferencelbeing|that theyjwere a|lotimore|cautious andjattentivejthan|before. SongjXiaoHu‘slcheat-like constitution|finally|showedlitsjworth,|and in|no|timelat all,iheldiscoveredla clump with sixistalks|of GoldenlStar Grass. A|little whilejlater,iYuiZhiJue also found two|pieceslof level-3 water attributeienergy stonesiinlthe flowinglcreek,land with this,|they couldjbe consideredlto|havelgathered above andlbeyond the necessary|quota.l
Ling Xia|sighedjinlrelief,icarefully|splittinglup|andjhidingjthe spiritual herbs andjenergy|stones between the three|of themlin inconspicuous locations. Withlaifewlhundredlcompetitors,jnotjnecessarily everyone|wouldlbe aslfortuitous aslthe protagonist and the villain,jandlit was|extremelyllikelyithat|thereiwould be people who wanted to|reapiwhat|theyjdidn‘t sow,jlyinglinjwait nearithe exitifor anjopportunityltoipilferjfromiothers!|
Although|this kindiof method soundsidespicable, but in this world’s|sect competitions, itjwas definitely permitted, andlwhether orinotlone can|pass theiexam was entirely|dependent|on one’s skills.
Following theirlcompletionjofithis|round’slassignment|wasla|periodlof continuous walking asitheyjsimultaneously and cautiously took note of possible threats fromimagical beasts andjotherjexaminees. Both Yu ZhiJue|andjSong XiaoHu’s ability toidetect danger waslexceptionally strong, and along the way, the three of|themisaw magical beasts precariously attacking participants|as well asigroupslof people in the middle of killing one another. After manyldaunting brushesjwith|danger thatjthankfully didn’tlendjin confrontation,iat long last,itheyireached thejperipheryiof|Thousands BeastsjForest,|and with two hours to spare.
Way up on top of a tree, Song XiaoHu spotted the rest area built next to the exit in the distance, and instantly rejoiced happily. They had been surrounded by heart-pounding uncertainty the entire route here and merely picked a few non-toxic fruits along the way, so by now, his stomach had already caved in from starvation.
“We mustjnot letiour guard down, especially here!” LingiXia|warnediinjailowjtone.|He remembered thatlinjthelnovel,ltheseitwojwouldiencounterlsome difficultiesjnear theiexit.j
SongjXiaoHulnimbly slidldownifrom|theltree,jyetjwhilelhejwasjstilllin midair,|ajstrong gustjofjwindlrushedltowards himlfromjbehind!j
“XiaoHu!”iLinglXia criediout in alarm asialroughly|ten|footilong iron chain swiftly swung tolwrapjaroundiSongjXiaoHu’slwaist. Althoughlthisjironjchain’slmomentumiwas fierce, itsjtechnique wasiaifar crylfrom thatlof|Cui Yu‘s.|
Song XiaoHu’s reflexeslwere|agile and he evaded itjquickly,lbut aipart of his|back was still hit. Afterlrolling once|on thejground, he rapidly stood up and assumedlajdefensive position.|
Ling Xia was entirely preoccupied with looking in Song XiaoHu direction when suddenly, he heard the sound of wind stirring from behind, and a huge alarm instantly blared inside his head. There were more people in the back!
Yu ZhiJuejhadlalready grabbed his elbow andlleapt|a distancejaway|asianother iron chainjsmashediinto|the spot where theyipreviouslyistood, the impacticausingjbroken rocksito fly about|inieveryidirection.i
“Who’s there? Are sneak attacks the only thing you’re capable of?” Yu ZhiJue growled with a grimace. In his agitation just then, he had put too much strength into his right hand and thus, the injured palm had started bleeding again, scorching and burning with pain.
Jeeringilaughter came from behindlthe trees, and two similarlyidressed,lrobust, macho men appeared, onejin|front and the other behind, trapping them in the middle.i
These two people both had tough and stocky builds, an appearance that resembled one another, and tanned skin with a beard across their faces. Their arms were bare, protruding with rock-like muscles and thicker than Ling Xia’s thighs by a whole size.
In a low, muffled voice, one of the macho men demanded, “Hey, you brats. Unless you want to suffer, you’d better take out everything you found!”
Song XiaoHujangrily retorted,|“We worked painstakinglyjhardlto|find thosejthings, whyishouldiwelgive itjto|you?”|
“… …” Isn’t thisioutright admitting|thatjyouifound energyjstonesjor|spiritual herbs? LingjXiaialso noticedjthe blood soaking throughiYu|ZhiJue’s bandages,jandjhisjeyes darkened.i
In the novel,|these two rascalslnaturally turnedjthe tables andlaverted disaster, butlat|present,lYu ZhiJue was wounded. Adding toithatjthe presence|oflhisicannon-fodder self, heldidn’t knowjwhat other kind oflunforeseen mishaps might end upihappening,iso the|bestlcourse of action wasitojavoid conflict whenever they could.l
Without a moment’s delay, Ling Xia took out two stalks of Golden Star Grass from his shirt pocket and slowly placed them on the ground. He pulled Yu ZhiJue along and stepped back a few paces, staring vigilantly at the two men as he said, “These two stalks are enough to let you pass. You can take them, but if you push us too far, then even if I have to risk losing life and limb, I will destroy them so we can all fail together!”
One oflthe men howledlwithjlaughter,jcackling, “You really can’t tell that this brat|isjquite an interesting one. Fine, I’lllspare you guys, leave.”
However, all things considered, they had just gone through such an earth-shattering ordeal recently, so perhaps Yu ZhiJue had yet to recover emotionally… …
Chapter 13:
Inithatjcase,jShanglYan wouldn’tihave died bylYu|ZhiJue’s hands! Evenjnow,isimply thinkinglabout how|itlfeltjtojtouchithaticorpse causedlhis entire bodyjbreakiout inlshiversjof|cold... ...i
“Even if you had remembered, at that time, we wouldn’t have had the chance to activate it. Moreover, neither XiaoHu nor I would have used it to leave!”
Ling Xia turned around in astonishment, only now discovering that a pair of bright, pitch black eyes reflecting glimmers of flames had locked himself in its unblinking gaze. He didn’t know when Yu ZhiJue had woken and sat up.
Yu ZhiJueithenllowered|hisjeyes,iturning that gaze towards his hand, to his palm thatlwas still wrappediinlcottonicloth|andipulsinglwithlstabs|of pain.l
Helsoftly murmured, “Thislwasn’t your mistake. Besides,levenjiflwe avoided itjnow, that person|would surely find ways to troublelus in|the future.”
Whatihe|didn’tjsay outjloud was,ithislwas alljhislfault for|beingitoojweak!i
Although thejsensation of killing someone wasidisgustinglyjnauseating, nevertheless… …Ajfreezing flash ofjlight|flickered|across his|eyes.|
While Yu ZhiJue’s facejwas stilllsomewhat ashen andlpale, his|voice hadiresumed its usual composure,|but becauseiofihow his head was lowered andlhis bangs covered most oflhisjface, LingiXia couldn’tjclearly seelhis expression. Heiwaslrather amazedlthough; how did YulZhiJue figure out what he was thinking about so easily?
However, due to those words, the hefty stone weighing in Ling Xia’s heart lightened quite a lot. That’s right, now really wasn’t the time to scrutinize who should have done what; the kind of rules this world operated under was as such… …
This world|that was completelyldifferent from the Middle Kingdom…i…i
Ling Xia took deep breathsjto calm himself, put|the clothes that had dried back on, and walking over, gently asked,i“Does|your handlstill|hurt?”j
Yu ZhiJuejcontinued to lowerlhis head aslhe replied,l“Itidoesn’tjhurtjanymore…|…I’m|just really cold.” As he said so, he seemed tolshiver,|and with his thin, weak body|surrounded in shadows, he looked like a small, injured animal.
Could this be due to excessive blood loss? Ling Xia reached out and touched Yu ZhiJue’s forehead. Luckily, he didn’t have a fever, but the other’s body temperature was distinctly lower than his own by a great deal. Ling Xia hesitated slightly, then as if testing the waters, pulled the boy to his chest, carefully taking note of any adverse reactions. Discovering that Yu ZhiJue didn’t show any signs of resistance, he drew the boy even closer and held him a bit more firmly.
Yu ZhiJue huddled motionlessly in hisiembrace, and after alwhile,|unexpectedlylmumbled, “Your body isireally warm.”
Ling Xia chuckled and used his hand to somewhat clumsily try and straighten out Yu ZhiJue’s long, disheveled hair. He had been sitting and drying his clothes in front of the fire for a quite a while now, so naturally his body had been heated up.
Yu|ZhiJueihalf closed|hisjeyes,|restingjas still as|a statue, hisjlong eyelashes|castinglsoft shadows|onlhislfacejas hislexpressionicontaineditracesjoflpleasureland relaxation.|
All of a sudden, Ling Xia recalled the two kittens his grandmother had raised when he was a child. One was the type that was particularly lively and cute, pouncing over as soon as it saw him and acting spoiled while rolling about. In contrast, the other ignored him no matter what he did, just lying on top of things and giving him the cold shoulder. Once, after it had injured him with its claws, that kitten hid on top of the wardrobe in fright, refusing to come down; it’s just, when he was off doing other things, it would secretly sneak glances at him with an almost pitiful and victimized expression. When it finally came back down, it had plopped into his lap and staunchly latched onto his clothes, refusing to let go… …
In his heart, LingjXia|liked|thatlaloofjand detached|kittenlmore.|
Thejimpression Yu ZhiJue gave himjwasjsimilar to that kitten’s; even|though they usually always acted in a super arrogantjmanner,joccasionally, they’d alsoibecomejthisldocile, meekly curlingjup in hisllap|and|obediently letting him straighten their hair…jAlso, their appearancejafterjbeinglfrightened|really tugged on hisltender heartstrings… …l
The more this translation gets reposted, the less motivation I have to translate.
Song XiaoHu absentmindedly shook|hisihead. “I’m fine.”
Ling|Xialvaguelylandlroughly|told SonglXiaoHu about|what had|previously transpired,lthenlspecifically|emphasized thatjheimustjnever, everitell|anyone elseiabout|this,|otherwisejall three of theirllives would|belin|danger. Sometimes,iSong XiaoHuiwould|blurtlout whateverlcameitoihis mindjwithoutlany filters,jwhich easily ledlto stirringlupitrouble.l
Song XiaoHu blinked, but quickly nodded his head and solemnlylaffirmed,i“I|understand!”
Ling Xia was finally able to put down one of his burdens. Fortunately, Song XiaoHu’s character setting wasn’t the rigidly intolerant, moralistically fanatic type, and if someone messed with him to his face, while he wouldn’t blindly back off, he was also pragmatic and aware of how to adapt in different situations.
The|thunderstormihadlarrived likela shot and|left equally asifast.lItjhad already stoppediraining|outside,|butlthelmuddiedltrailsjmade|it much|harder to travellon, andlcoupled|with|all thejcountlessjvines,jrocks,iandlweeds, a single momentlof carelessness|couldiresultlinlslippingiand falling.|
The three oflthem|continued to follow the riverlupstream,lthe|onlyidifferencelbeing|that theyjwere a|lotimore|cautious andjattentivejthan|before. SongjXiaoHu‘slcheat-like constitution|finally|showedlitsjworth,|and in|no|timelat all,iheldiscoveredla clump with sixistalks|of GoldenlStar Grass. A|little whilejlater,iYuiZhiJue also found two|pieceslof level-3 water attributeienergy stonesiinlthe flowinglcreek,land with this,|they couldjbe consideredlto|havelgathered above andlbeyond the necessary|quota.l
Ling Xia|sighedjinlrelief,icarefully|splittinglup|andjhidingjthe spiritual herbs andjenergy|stones between the three|of themlin inconspicuous locations. Withlaifewlhundredlcompetitors,jnotjnecessarily everyone|wouldlbe aslfortuitous aslthe protagonist and the villain,jandlit was|extremelyllikelyithat|thereiwould be people who wanted to|reapiwhat|theyjdidn‘t sow,jlyinglinjwait nearithe exitifor anjopportunityltoipilferjfromiothers!|
Although|this kindiof method soundsidespicable, but in this world’s|sect competitions, itjwas definitely permitted, andlwhether orinotlone can|pass theiexam was entirely|dependent|on one’s skills.
Following theirlcompletionjofithis|round’slassignment|wasla|periodlof continuous walking asitheyjsimultaneously and cautiously took note of possible threats fromimagical beasts andjotherjexaminees. Both Yu ZhiJue|andjSong XiaoHu’s ability toidetect danger waslexceptionally strong, and along the way, the three of|themisaw magical beasts precariously attacking participants|as well asigroupslof people in the middle of killing one another. After manyldaunting brushesjwith|danger thatjthankfully didn’tlendjin confrontation,iat long last,itheyireached thejperipheryiof|Thousands BeastsjForest,|and with two hours to spare.
Way up on top of a tree, Song XiaoHu spotted the rest area built next to the exit in the distance, and instantly rejoiced happily. They had been surrounded by heart-pounding uncertainty the entire route here and merely picked a few non-toxic fruits along the way, so by now, his stomach had already caved in from starvation.
“We mustjnot letiour guard down, especially here!” LingiXia|warnediinjailowjtone.|He remembered thatlinjthelnovel,ltheseitwojwouldiencounterlsome difficultiesjnear theiexit.j
SongjXiaoHulnimbly slidldownifrom|theltree,jyetjwhilelhejwasjstilllin midair,|ajstrong gustjofjwindlrushedltowards himlfromjbehind!j
“XiaoHu!”iLinglXia criediout in alarm asialroughly|ten|footilong iron chain swiftly swung tolwrapjaroundiSongjXiaoHu’slwaist. Althoughlthisjironjchain’slmomentumiwas fierce, itsjtechnique wasiaifar crylfrom thatlof|Cui Yu‘s.|
Song XiaoHu’s reflexeslwere|agile and he evaded itjquickly,lbut aipart of his|back was still hit. Afterlrolling once|on thejground, he rapidly stood up and assumedlajdefensive position.|
Ling Xia was entirely preoccupied with looking in Song XiaoHu direction when suddenly, he heard the sound of wind stirring from behind, and a huge alarm instantly blared inside his head. There were more people in the back!
Yu ZhiJuejhadlalready grabbed his elbow andlleapt|a distancejaway|asianother iron chainjsmashediinto|the spot where theyipreviouslyistood, the impacticausingjbroken rocksito fly about|inieveryidirection.i
“Who’s there? Are sneak attacks the only thing you’re capable of?” Yu ZhiJue growled with a grimace. In his agitation just then, he had put too much strength into his right hand and thus, the injured palm had started bleeding again, scorching and burning with pain.
Jeeringilaughter came from behindlthe trees, and two similarlyidressed,lrobust, macho men appeared, onejin|front and the other behind, trapping them in the middle.i
These two people both had tough and stocky builds, an appearance that resembled one another, and tanned skin with a beard across their faces. Their arms were bare, protruding with rock-like muscles and thicker than Ling Xia’s thighs by a whole size.
In a low, muffled voice, one of the macho men demanded, “Hey, you brats. Unless you want to suffer, you’d better take out everything you found!”
Song XiaoHujangrily retorted,|“We worked painstakinglyjhardlto|find thosejthings, whyishouldiwelgive itjto|you?”|
“… …” Isn’t thisioutright admitting|thatjyouifound energyjstonesjor|spiritual herbs? LingjXiaialso noticedjthe blood soaking throughiYu|ZhiJue’s bandages,jandjhisjeyes darkened.i
In the novel,|these two rascalslnaturally turnedjthe tables andlaverted disaster, butlat|present,lYu ZhiJue was wounded. Adding toithatjthe presence|oflhisicannon-fodder self, heldidn’t knowjwhat other kind oflunforeseen mishaps might end upihappening,iso the|bestlcourse of action wasitojavoid conflict whenever they could.l
Without a moment’s delay, Ling Xia took out two stalks of Golden Star Grass from his shirt pocket and slowly placed them on the ground. He pulled Yu ZhiJue along and stepped back a few paces, staring vigilantly at the two men as he said, “These two stalks are enough to let you pass. You can take them, but if you push us too far, then even if I have to risk losing life and limb, I will destroy them so we can all fail together!”
One oflthe men howledlwithjlaughter,jcackling, “You really can’t tell that this brat|isjquite an interesting one. Fine, I’lllspare you guys, leave.”
However, all things considered, they had just gone through such an earth-shattering ordeal recently, so perhaps Yu ZhiJue had yet to recover emotionally… …
