Of terms and conditions…
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Ch. 3.2
It took Dandan some time to recover from his fright after hearing this speech.
Confound it, so it was a trap by you lot?! Oh, and you’re the stupid one, okay! I’m definitely very clever!
Of course, he didn’t dare say all this aloud so he said in the most ingratiating tone he could manage, ‘Second Master, what do you want? Hmm?’
Song Lin rested his chin on one hand while his other hand drummed lightly on the edge of the bed.
At length he said, ‘I’m sure you heard it just now: the Snow Lotus leopard that I selected yesterday has, rather unfortunately, died at the beast colosseum. You want to become my bonded spirit beast, don’t you? Let’s do it this way, if you can survive the beast colosseum, I’ll consider making a pact with you.’
Dandan really felt like dying then… the beast colosseum…
Fool, you really are doing your best to try and get me killed! What difference is there between the beast colosseum and being finished off by Styx outside! Huh?!
He took a deep breath and did his best to explain as calmly as he could, ‘Second Master… look here, sending someone as small as me to the beast colosseum — I wouldn’t even be enough for the other beast to floss with… I think… you had better find another spirit beast…’
Song Lin gazed at him and said with a perfectly straight face¹, ‘Little powder puff, you must believe that your potential is unlimited. How will you know if you don’t try?’
Dandan was so exasperated he almost coughed blood.
When it comes to this, I don’t need to try it to know, okay?! Don’t you feel in the least bit guilty?! Ah?!
After a very long interval, he compromised in a deflated voice, ‘Fine, I’ll go to the beast colosseum but on two conditions.’
Song Lin gave a couple of magnanimous waves. ‘Go ahead.’
‘Firstly, I need food. I haven’t eaten since I entered the manor and I’m weak from hunger. Secondly, you have to let me take a look first at the monster in the beast colosseum and then give me two days to prepare.’
Song Lin nodded. ‘All right. By the way, you eat carrots, right?’
‘Do you mean those orange stick-like things?’ Dandan asked in disgust. ‘No, I don’t eat that stuff. I want meat.’
Song Lin: ‘…’
¹ 一本正經 yīběn-zhèngjīng. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
The next day, Second Master stunned the entire household by having thirteen pounds of whole roasted lamb legs delivered by a horse-drawn cart to the nicest wing of the western quarters.
No one knew what kind of person was in there gnawing on the lamb legs at that very moment.
When Styx arrived, a servant just happened to be on his way in with the last platter of roasted lamb legs so Styx threw him a look and took the platter in himself.
Behind a beautifully painted folding screen was the silhouette of a youth.
Styx had only seen Dandan’s rabbit form up until then so when he went past the folding screen and saw a youth with the ears of a rabbit, his expression relaxed slightly.
To be honest, this youth was… really very pretty. One couldn’t tell by looking at the rabbit so it was a surprise to see such pretty facial features. Even more eye-catching was the pair of long rabbit ears on his head.
Dandan polished off the roasted lamb leg he was holding, gave his mouth a quick wipe and turned round. When he saw Styx, he greeted him with, ‘Oh, it’s you, Ol’ Fish Eyes.’
Styx: ‘…’
Dandan noticed the platter he was carrying and said, ‘Just leave it on the table. I’ll have it later tonight.’
Styx: ‘…’
Had he actually praised the youth for being pretty? He took it back!
Suppressing his indignation, he put the tray down on the table and coldly surveyed the bunny-eared youth who was wearing a white t-shirt under a pair of chequered, khaki-coloured dungarees. The effect was smart and cute with the clothes being of excellent cut — it looked as though Second Master had had the clothes tailored for him. So even though the youth’s mouth was oily from eating, it didn’t detract very much from that ethereally handsome face.
For some reason, the word ‘gigolo’ popped into Styx’s mind. You must have been the one who sweet-talked² Second Master into letting a dubious gigolo like you remain here and leech meals off us.
² 灌迷魂湯 guàn míhúntāng. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
This conviction took root in³ Styx’s mind then. With a heavy frown, he glowered at the youth: I should have guessed earlier you were nothing but trouble; looks like you’ve been lusting after Second Master for some time!
‘What’s your name?’
‘Dandan.’
‘Come with me. Second Master wants me to take you to the beast colosseum to have a look at that evil spirit.’
Dandan burped and said, ‘Okay.’
³ 根深蒂固 gēnshēn-dìgù. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.
Contrary to what he had expected, the beast colosseum turned out to be about six miles away from the city: a wasteland of dead weeds and yellow sand with only a narrow strip of cement for a road. The end of this road led to a massive, circular city wall over three hundred feet high. Access into the city wall was by a long flight of loess steps packed thickly together; only at the top could the steel city gates be seen.
Dandan followed Styx through the city wall gates and discovered that the interior was not dry land. There was a bottomless pit of black spring water in the centre of the colosseum. An extremely powerful spiritual seal lay on the surface of the water.
‘What the…’ said Dandan, stunned. ‘What’s all this?’
‘The evil spirit you’ll be challenging is in there,’ Styx informed him.
‘… It’s a…fish?’
‘Do you want to take a closer look?’
Dandan nodded.
Styx thus held out his hand, palm facing down and muttered an incantation. Dandan then saw the water turn clear gradually where he could faintly make out something swimming inside…
(Approx. 1003 words)
12’s notes:
1st March 2020: Edited paragraphs for clarity.
10th July 2020: Edited footnotes and paragraphs.
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
A t-shirt and dungarees…I have to revise my mental vision. Is there a specific time period this is supposed to be? Dandan is so surprised it’s a fish, I have to wonder what he was picturing. I’m curious if Dandan can deal with the fish with 1/3 of his spiritual power, or he has some other tricks, or is just going to get ridiculously lucky. Thanks for the translation!
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Nope, it’s pretty much a mish-mash of genres and whatever the writer felt like throwing in. 😆 Just take it as the equivalent of fast food — quite enjoyable, but don’t look too closely at how it’s all put together haha!
And welcome to the blog! I’m extremely and pleasantly surprised that this story is getting any new readers and even more so by the comments! Thank you for taking the time to comment! 😄
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I’m always happy to discover fun new novels. I usually check NovelUpdates (your reasons for not being on there make sense) but I luckily found your site when I was scrolling through Twitter. You surely put so much work into translating, so commenting is the least I can do 🙂 If you don’t mind, I’ll recommend your translations whenever I get the chance
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Not at all!! So kind of you and yes, recommendations are super appreciated anytime you feel like it! 💕🥰 At least Twitter is useful sometimes haha! It used to bring in a lot of views but has really dwindled nowadays. Ah well, it is what it is 🤷🏻♀️.
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