How will Dandan fare against the tiger-crocodile?
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Ch. 6.2
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the bunny-eared youth, watching him walk over to the pool of black rotting water within which that extremely dangerous creature was swimming, causing the water to ripple. The youth stopped beside the pool but took no further action.
Spectator A: ‘Why isn’t he moving?’
Spectator B: ‘Maybe he’s getting ready to unleash a powerful move.’
Spectator C: ‘As seeing he’s a spirit beast chosen by the House of Song, he must be pretty powerful. Even though he looks small and scrawny, maybe he excels at something — all in all, can’t judge a book by its cover¹.’
What Dandan was really thinking at this point was: … Ugh, it’s really disgusting.
Before he could prepare himself mentally, bubbles began appearing on the water surface near him.
Huh… Dandan blinked slightly. These bubbles… don’t tell me…
Before he knew it, a purple tentacle covered entirely in suckers suddenly burst out of the water.
‘Uuuuwwaaaahhhh!!’ Dandan screamed in fright before turning and running away.
That tentacle had not the slightest intention of letting him off and gave chase. Two columns of water raised by it splattered several feet away.
Dandan ran round the perimeter of the pool, hollering, ‘Wait! Wait! I’m not ready! You’re breaking the rules, oi!’
Spectator A: ‘… I think I’m watching a staged fight…’
Spectator B: ‘Didn’t the news say Second Master Song had picked a powerful beast?! … What’s so powerful about that?!’
¹ 人不可貌相 rén bù kě mào xiàng. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
Styx was standing behind Song Lin and sighed as he watched the bunny-eared youth fleeing in disorder — what on earth had he been hoping for, seriously… of course there would be no surprises, okay?
Song Lin, sitting with his legs crossed, was watching the proceedings silently. His face was impassive despite the commentary behind him getting louder gradually and even when more and more eyes started to turn to him, his countenance remained unmoved. At this juncture, he felt the seat next to him sink slightly as someone sat down beside him.
‘Second Master Song,’ sounded a very gloomy voice by his ear.
Song Lin spared a glance from the corner of his eye and saw a person in a brown mandarin jacket that was worn exclusively by nobles of the Late Qing dynasty. The mandarin jacket was decorated with gilded white cranes and underneath it was a double-breasted white changshan. The silks and satins were of very good quality and the workmanship was also quite fine.
The corners of Song Lin’s mouth curved up. ‘What poetic mood has Your Highness deigning to come all this way to watch such a vulgar tournament?’
Wanyan Fu had a pair of long, upturned phoenix eyes that became a single line when he smiled, and left one with an unaccountable slight chill. ‘I heard the House of Song has a rule: only spirit beasts that survive the beast colosseum have the right to make a pact with you all. I wanted to see what manner of beast your discerning eye has taken a fancy to, so I made time to come and satisfy my curiosity.’
He fixed his gaze on the youth, propped his chin on one hand and observed leisurely, ‘Doesn’t appear all that special though.’
Song Lin placed a hand on his own knee, tapping his fingers casually as he replied, ‘Quite right, nothing very special. But we won’t know for certain until the end.’
At that moment, there was a loud bang as the tentacle suddenly swatted Dandan, leaving a gigantic hole in the ground as flying sand swirled up, smoke and dust scattering widely. Everyone craned their necks to look but there was already no sign of Dandan anywhere.
‘… Is he dead?’
‘That’s… that’s just pathetic, really.’
‘What a letdown. He’s even weaker than the Snow Lotus leopard the last time.’
Wanyan Fu covered his mouth and nose with his broad sleeves. His icy violet eyes slid to another spot. ‘Well well, he got away.’
Only then did everyone notice the bunny-eared youth dangling almost ten feet up from the enclosing wall. No one knew when he had evaded the danger. There was no foothold at all on the enclosing wall so how he was managing to hold on with his bare hands was also a mystery.
Song Lin gazed at Dandan and laughed. ‘The little thing has sharp claws.’
‘Claws?’ Wanyan Fu looked intently and suddenly discovered the youth’s eyes had turned dark red, a complete change² from earlier. Sharp pointed claws extended from his hands and were firmly thrust into the wall. The wall had been built by laying solid rocks together and not even a drill bit might be able to penetrate it, but he had actually pierced the wall with just his claws? What kind of strength was needed to do that…
² 截然不同 jiérán-bùtóng. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
With his claws embedded in the wall, Dandan panted and told the creature down in the black pool, ‘I’m warning you, I hate sticky, slimy³ things like you the most. We can fight, but don’t touch me, you hear?’
The tiger-crocodile in the deep pool let out a rumbling roar and its purple tentacle moved restlessly to attack the youth on the wall.
Dandan jumped clear of this attack and continued to negotiate, ‘And also, I can’t really swim so I won’t go down. How about you come up? Come up and I’ll let you win one round, how’s that?’
³ 濕答答 shīdādā: soaked; sopping wet. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
Before he could get further than that, another tentacle burst out of the water abruptly, curled around Dandan’s waist and with a whoosh, dragged him down towards the water.
Dandan cried out in alarm, ‘What the deuce, isn’t it supposed to be a snake? This is a damn monster octopus!!! Bi An, you’re going to get me killed!!’
Up on the viewing terrace, Bi An was sweating cold buckets, moistening his lips as he feverishly flipped through ancient records. ‘Oops, I remembered wrongly. The snake’s tail of a tiger-crocodile can split itself into ten tentacles, I forgot to mention it to the brat…’
(Approx. 997 words)
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
All I could think this chapter was IT HAS TENTACLES?!?!!? I would really hate to be Dandan in this situation. But it’s a lot of fun to read about it. Thanks for the translation!
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