Chapter 87 Land Of Wangs

In a desolate land of thorns and white bones, a young man was carrying a young girl on his back.

“Drip, drip——”

The sound of water rang in her ears, Su Su’s head was muddled, and all she could hear was the sound of dripping water. Or was it…… the sound of blood dripping onto white bones?

She vaguely remembered the last sight she’d seen in front of her before she’d fallen unconscious. It wasn’t the kind of scenery the bottom of a steep cliff should have, but rather, a battlefield that had been deserted for many years, densely filled with terrifying monsters.

And those monsters brought back distant memories.

When Su Su was young, Curved Jade had told her a story, “In ancient times, there were no great demons or devils, and the demons weren’t what they are now. The world only had supernatural beings ¹ 精怪 (jīngguài) – Eg: a demon, monster, ghost, spirit, gremlin, etc , and they were divided into four categories, chimei-wangliang ² 魑魅魍魉 ( chīmèi-wǎngliǎng ) – According to the disyllabic rule, the four characters should be divided into two phrases. In fact, “魑魅” (chīmèi) and “魍魉” (wǎngliǎng) should be separated. They respectively correspond to “mountain spirits” and “water monsters”. However, 魑魅 or “mountain spirits” can be further divided into two types: plants and animals. Hence, there are three types of supernatural beings in total. (Source: dictionaries and internet) The author divided 魑魅魍魉 into four categories (this shows that she never did her research), which is wrong. Besides that, you’ll see only two out of four categories being described by the author. .”

“Among them, meis ³ 魅 (mèi) were the most beautiful, and wangs ⁴ 魍 (wǎng) were the most horrifying. These supernatural beings would be densely packed, they had low magic power but held very strong murderous Qi . They dwelled in the shadows and were shunned by all three realms.

Gods were born with lifespans as long as the heavens, but these supernatural beings were different. They fed on turbid Qi , lurked in desolate and abandoned places, and even ate their own kind out of hunger.

Soon, they realized that eating other supernatural beings and fusing their powers together could make them stronger. Gradually, the number of supernatural beings decreased, and many powerful demon kings were produced from these fusions.”

This was the origin of the ancient great demons.

They were different from the later demons that cultivated and could transform, as they were born during the toughest times, and the demon kings who were born this way even had the ability to kill gods.

While explaining this, it saw the little girl’s eyes widen, and she looked nervous. Curved Jade paused for a while and gently patted Su Su’s head.

Don’t be afraid. After the ancient gods faded away, the demon kings born out of chimei-wangliangs also disappeared, it said.

Now, the things that Curved Jade had once described for Su Su overlapped with the sights before her.

How is this possible? Su Su thought to herself, Curved Jade once mentioned that there were no more chimei-wangliangs in this world. How could Tantai Jin and I fall into such a place, and are those beings with wide open bloody mouths ⁵ 血盆大口 (xuèpéndàkǒu) – bloody mouth wide open like a sacrificial bowl (idiom); ferocious mouth of beast of prey; …… wangs?

The ancient wangs were extremely vicious, and couldn’t be completely eliminated. If they were how Curved Jade described, eventually they would devour each other and fuse into great demons, which would make their current situation very dangerous.

Hazily thinking things over, Su Su sensed that someone was carrying her on their back while moving forward. The young man’s back was broad and warm. She knew it was Tantai Jin.

Amidst the endless patter of dripping water, the young man’s scent, like a clean pine tree, was close at hand.

Su Su’s eyelashes trembled, like she was lost in thought. Perhaps she thought that someone as bloody and dirty as him shouldn’t have such an aura.

She was a little angry.

What did he want from her that he’d go to such lengths to plot to kill her and Fuya? And would rather jump down to the Land of Wangs with her than let her go?

Su Su wanted to push him away, but she couldn’t. Her consciousness was hazy, like she was in a fog, and Tantai Jin had become her only support. She hated being in such a situation.

She would never entrust her safety to Tantai Jin again. As Ye Xi Wu, she had already died once, and had learned enough lessons.

After returning to the immortal realm, Su Su had spent many nights thinking back to how she shouldn’t have agreed to Ye Bing Shang’s absurd suggestion back then. Why had she agreed to such a strange thing when the outcome was already predetermined?

In the end, she just ended up in a state of even more embarrassment.

The wangs reached out their claws to them. It was dusky, like the afterglow of sunset, smoke rose everywhere, and all they could see was a desolate land.

Tantai Jin carried Su Su on his back, and after walking for who knows how long, he finally stopped.

He realized that he couldn’t find his way in this place.

After walking for such a long time, there was still no end, and their surroundings were filled with smoke and hideous demons.

When the blood from Tantai Jin’s fingertips dripped onto the demon wangs , they scattered into ashes, the thorns on the ground withered and died, and the vines trying to drill out from the ground also quieted down.

He put Su Su down and sat with her in the midst of the skeletons.

They mournfully cried out and reached out greedily to both of them. Tantai Jin didn’t look at them. Instead, his pitch-black pupils were staring at the young girl in front of him.

The cinnabar dot in between her eyebrows was as striking as fire, while her hair was tied with blue ribbons. Throughout the desolate Land of Wangs , she contained all the brightest colors.

After a long silence, he finally asked, “Who exactly are you?”

Su Su heard his low and husky tone. An icy-cold hand caressed her cheek. His voice seemed to contain a hint of laughter as he hoarsely and mysteriously said, “You’re Ye Xi Wu.”

He sounded so certain that he didn’t actually need her answer. If he’d had any doubts, he wouldn’t have fallen into this awful place with her.

Su Su closed her eyes.

She suddenly felt a little thankful for her current state. She couldn’t move or talk, only needed to close her eyes quietly, and didn’t even need to look at his expression.

For Tantai Jin, five hundred years of time had passed slowly, but for Su Su, everything seemed as if it had happened only yesterday.

She was slowly swept into a cold embrace.

This time, Su Su detected not only the clean and crisp scent of pine trees, but also a hint of blood. He was only able to carry her this far in the Land of Wangs because of his blood-soaked body.

Her eyelashes trembled.

It was incredibly hard to walk in the Land of Wangs , and how much blood could a person have? Tantai Jin was already an arrow at the end of its flight ⁶ 强弩之末 (qiángnǔzhīmò) – an idiom; fig. spent force; dying , and his body temperature was very low.

Tantai Jin hugged Su Su tightly and whispered, “Ye Xi Wu, I hate you so much.”

It’s been five hundred years.

She would never know how long it had been. During the first hundred years, he’d prayed to the gods and immortals that as long as she appeared, he would be twice as good to her.

Later, he continued drifting in the borderless Weeping Ghost River. He began to beg for mercy from the evil spirits, that as long as she was willing to come back, he was willing to do anything.

But a person destined to be the bane of everyone’s existence even the evil spirits and monsters wouldn’t pity, let alone the gods?

The String of Affection that had grown tormented him all day and all night.

In the end, all he could think about was that if he ever saw her again, then they would just go die together.

Bones entangled, flesh and blood fused, and he wouldn’t have to experience something like this again. If he died with her and their souls were scattered together, it could be another kind of ‘being together forever’.

She’d better never appear in his life again, and pray that he wouldn’t resurrect her.

But Tantai Jin never expected to see her again like this.

The Past Mirror would reflect one’s past, not one’s past life. This proved that the young girl in his arms was indeed Ye Xi Wu, and not even just her reincarnation.

How could he not know that everything was strange.

Back when he was still the hostage prince of Zhou Kingdom, that Ye Xi Wu was foolish, unsightly, and easily deceived by him.

But later, after his unsuccessful attempt to kill Ye Xi Wu and carrying her back from the snowfield, she changed. She became strong, smart, and tenacious.

He couldn’t hurt her or kill her. From her hands, he saw the picture scroll of mountains and rivers., and together they walked under the moonlight through that small town. He’d also gained an eye that could shed tears.

Ye Xi Wu couldn’t draw talismans, she could;

Ye Xi Wu was vicious and unreasonable ⁷ 乖戾 (guāilì) – (of personality, speech or behavior) perverse; disagreeable; cantankerous; eccentric , she wasn’t;

She was very cunning, like the wind that passes through one’s fingertips, but her heart was colder than the snow that had fallen during her two winters in the mortal realm.

He’d wondered countless times, back then, if he hadn’t used the puppet spell to control her to kill Xiao Lin, would everything have been different?

Tantai Jin never asked, nor did he bother to explore what kind of soul was in that body. In the past, he didn’t have a String of Affection, so he didn’t care enough to bother.

Later, after gaining the String of Affection, he drifted along in the Weeping Ghost River. Year by year, his hatred for her grew, and he hated her so much that in the end he almost went crazy.

I want to see her…… see her…… see her……

Tantai Jin initially thought that he would drag her into hell with him. But once she was so close, and he saw the young girl’s quiet and pretty face again, surprisingly all that remained in his heart was grievance.

A withered and hideous hand once again reached out from the ground, aiming for Su Su. Tantai Jin grabbed the hand without saying a word. When the wang came into contact with his blood, it disappeared with a miserable scream.

More wangs were peeping at them in the dark, waiting to devour them.

Compared to Tantai Jin, they clearly coveted Su Su in his arms even more. The vines emerged from the ground, stretching towards her.

Tantai Jin’s eyes were gloomy, purple thunder hovering on his hand. He turned his wrist, and the overbearing purple thunder split the vines apart.

*****

At some point, Su Su could no longer hear what Tantai Jin was saying, and the dripping also stopped. She heard fluttering notes of music and the sound of a woman’s laughter.

She was suddenly eager to know, who is it?

Su Su struggled to stretch out her hand to her——

Tantai Jin looked up and saw, appearing out of nowhere, a konghou ⁸ 箜篌 (kōnghóu) – an ancient plucked stringed instrument; a Chinese harp

Might look like this: emitting a pale blue light in the sky. No one was plucking the harp, but the strings moved by themselves. While he held Su Su in his arms under the sound waves, her face gradually paled.

Tantai Jin suddenly realized that this harp with an awakened spiritual sense was even more powerful than the Past Mirror, and Su Su’s blood had awakened it.

“No! Ye Xi Wu, wake up! Li Su Su, wake up!”

Su Su was unresponsive. Tantai Jin’s gaze sharpened, and he summoned his spiritual sword from his qiankun pouch. The spiritual sword, laced with purple thunder, struck the ice-blue konghou .

The spiritual sword colliding with the konghou only caused it to pause for a moment, before its tone immediately became even more overbearing. Tantai Jin’s spiritual sword shattered and fell to the ground, while the konghou remained undamaged.

Su Su’s body was covered in a layer of frost.

Tantai Jin wanted to destroy the konghou , but unexpectedly the wangs and vines seized this opportunity to frantically pounce on him, instantly wrapping him up tight.

In an instant, the blue light emitting from the konghou shone on Su Su, and she disappeared.

Ferocious thunderbolts split open the vines. Tantai Jin rose into the sky, barely managing to grab the harp that had almost disappeared, “Give her back to me!”

Angry notes came from the konghou .

A blast of sound waves hit Tantai Jin’s chest, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. He raised his pitch-black pupils, allowing the harp strings to cut his fingers. His expression was icy-cold, and his mouth silently recited an immortal technique.

No one can take her away. If you don’t let go, let’s die together then.

The konghou “sensed” that the madman in front of it was actually planning to self-destruct to destroy it, and it trembled with fear.

In the end, it suddenly enlarged and swallowed Tantai Jin into itself too.

Tantai Jin initially wanted to resist, but when he lowered his gaze, he met a pair of clean eyes.

A dot of cinnabar was between her eyebrows, and she was smiling at him.

Tantai Jin’s fingers stopped right by the side of her cheek, and he looked at her in a daze.

The konghou flew in circles and disappeared into the air.

The moment it disappeared, the wangs started to fuse and devour each other, emanating the smell of blood far and wide.

It was like a real purgatory.

*****

At that same moment, Tantai Jin was looking at the owner of those bright eyes.

In front of him was actually a five or six-year-old little loli ⁹ You might be wondering what this modern term is doing here, but this is really from the raw source. It’s slang for ‘cute young girl’. .

She was lying on her stomach by a steaming pool. A piece of broken eggshell was on her head, and she was eyeing him in confusion.

Five of the young man’s fingers curled into a menacing claw right next to her cheek, but she didn’t seem aware of danger. Instead, she held his hand with hers and rubbed her little face against it.

“Hug me!” She said in a childish voice.

Tantai Jin silently looked at the little girl in front of him. Her appearance was young and tender, but he could vaguely see the trace of Li Su Su as an adult.

Surrounded by a Heavenly Pond that was brimming with immortal Qi , the cinnabar between the little girl’s eyebrows was shining, and she was tugging at his fingers clingingly.

Tantai Jin’s menacing fingers relaxed in her palm. A hint of confusion and helplessness grew in his heart. At her urging, he bent down and picked her up from the Heavenly Pond.

“Who are you?” She asked, as she tilted her head while hugging his neck.

Tantai Jin didn’t answer. He had never carried such a small kid before, and his entire body was stiff.

The girl’s soft little face pressed up against his, and she asked him in a youthful voice, “Are you my daddy?”

“No,” he stiffly replied.

Tantai Jin looked at the cyan-blue, glaze-like texture of the eggshell on top of her head. He suddenly realized that, for some unknown reason, in the konghou , Su Su had returned to her childhood.

She was wearing a white magic robe, with bright eyes and white teeth, and even her chubby little feet had a lustrous light. Surrounding them, hundreds of birds were singing, and the sky was filled with iridescent sunlight.

For the first time, Tantai Jin understood what an innately spiritual body really was.

The scene before him was dazzling, incomparably beautiful and completely divine. The little girl in his arms was the most beautiful thing among them.

Completely different from the bane of all things, she had an innately spiritual body.

As for himself, he still carried the devilish breath of the Land of Wangs and dirty blood.

“Who are you then?” the girl asked.

Tantai Jin’s lips were pursed into a line, and he coldly said, “Someone who hates you.”

Her bright eyes were observing him, and after a long while, she laughed smugly, “Nonsense! I can tell, you like me!”

Is it…… that obvious?

Edited by: Gaze

Translator’s Note: Keeping ‘mei’ and ‘wang’ in Pinyin as there are no specific English translation for them and the reason has been stated in the ‘魑魅魍魉 chimei-wangliang’ note above.