More trouble…
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Ch. 14 | Teamwork
Just then there was a sudden rustling noise. It was wave after wave of something crawling on dried leaves, a sound that left their hair standing on end.
Troy cursed, ‘Dammit, not again!’
Dandan rested Song Lin’s new treasure on his shoulder, striking a pose which only he thought was handsome and assured them, ‘Don’t worry, you guys run first, I’ll take care of it.’
And then he turned round to discover that there were scorpions everywhere as far as the eye could see, like a vast army crawling towards them, innumerable eyes blinking away in alternate fashion. It was a sight both spine-chilling and freakish and Dandan’s legs turned to jelly.
He turned his head round shuddering, asking, ‘Erm… how about taking me along with you?’
Troy exclaimed, ‘Didn’t you say you would take care of it?!’
‘There are too many for me to handle…’
‘Then why the deuce did you say you could?!’
‘Cos I thought there was only one…’
Troy struggled to get down from Song Lin’s arms, saying, ‘Better let me do it. I can still hold them off for a while in beast form. Hurry up and get Second Master to the Anywhere Ladder!’
‘Don’t move,’ Song Lin ordered sternly. He looked down frowningly. ‘Forcing a beast transformation in your condition now will kill you. If you don’t want to die, behave yourself and don’t move.’
Dandan saw Song Lin’s firmly protective arms around Troy and stared in some surprise, momentarily forgetting what he was supposed to do. He was confused by his own feelings at this moment. Perplexed by this unprecedented feeling.
Song Lin protecting the little white dog… wasn’t his fault. Song Lin wasn’t at fault for protecting anyone. Why was he so flustered by it?
Just then, a Gu scorpion sprang to its feet, brandishing its wicked pincers as it made a rush for Dandan’s back who just happened to be distracted at that moment.
Song Lin noticed his strange expression right at that crucial instant and suddenly hollered at him, ‘Behind you…’
Only then did Dandan suddenly realise where he was and the scorpion sneaking up on him, but it was too late to dodge and it seemed as though the venomous pincers would pierce his back when Song Lin somehow found the strength to sprint over, grab his collar and fling him aside, then turned and sent the scorpion flying with a kick.
The Gu scorpion was also taken by surprise as it hit the tree hard and fell down heavily. It shook its head bewilderedly: huh?
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
Dandan was also astonished by Song Lin’s turn of speed. Who would have expected Song Lin to have such explosive strength even after being seriously injured? That truly was a Guardian from the leading House of Song for you.
Song Lin was panting as he turned round to face Dandan.
Dandan was just about to thank him when Song Lin roared, ‘What the deuce were you staring at? One more second and you would have died, don’t you know?!’
Dandan gaped, not knowing how to react to this rebuke which had come out of nowhere. It would be years later before he understood that that was Song Lin’s way of expressing his concern, but their danger-filled¹ circumstances then did not allow him the luxury of more thought.
¹ 危機四伏 wēijī-sìfú. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
Their companion’s failure only served to infuriate the rest of the scorpions and they let out a strange chittering while the three rows of eyes on their heads blinked ever more furiously.
Dandan looked at the magic weapon in his hand which was currently radiating a golden light — it was an excellent sword. Yu Huan too had had a similar one last time which also produced golden wind blades. He had shamelessly pestered the High Priest Feng Chulian for that weapon which was named ‘Chuyun Blade’.
Wait, speaking of Yu Huan…
He and Yu Huan had clashed with the Gu scorpion tribe on one occasion. Having recently acquired the Chuyun Blade, Yu Huan was still not very used to it but had insisted on showing off to Dandan. The result was that not a single golden wind blade found its target but did leave all the trees around them tottering unsteadily² and successfully fended off just one scorpion. Unable to stand it, Dandan had transformed into his beast form, used the ‘Bind’ curse to immobilise all the scorpions in his vicinity, then yelled across to Yu Huan, ‘I’ve caught hold of them for you. Aim properly before you start chopping. If you miss any of them, I’ll kill you myself later!’
Yu Huan objected, ‘I can’t do that. You’ll be hit as well.’
‘I’m the magnificent Supreme jade rabbit. What do I have to fear from your lousy sword? Start chopping!’
Yu Huan gave the sword handle a little rub. ‘You’re the one who asked me to do it so don’t blame me if you die.’
And then he brought the blade down with a slashing motion. Wave after wave of innumerable wind blades went flying out and instantly hacked the immobile scorpions to ribbons. Just as the wind blades were about to make contact with Dandan, he was suddenly dragged away by a force. Before he could even begin to make sense of what was happening, he had found himself standing beside Yu Huan, without a scratch on him.
‘How… did you do it?’ Dandan questioned.
Yu Huan pointed at the ground. It turned out that he had already drawn the magic sending circle well before releasing the wind blades, then activated the spell at the last minute, thus having Dandan delivered to his side.
² 東倒西歪 dōngdǎo-xīwāi. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
Having recalled this, Dandan tossed the golden long sword back to Song Lin and said, ‘I have a killer proposition, would you like to hear it?’
Song Lin caught the sword. ‘Let’s hear it.’
‘This bright and shiny weapon of yours is too ostentatious for a low-key person like me, so you can have it back.’
Song Lin glanced at the sword in his hand, then across at the Gu scorpion tribe who were ready to make trouble. ‘What do you have in mind?’
Dandan walked straight towards the Gu scorpions and stopped in front of them. There was a sudden flare of white light from his body.
‘Is he… turning into a beast?!’ exclaimed Troy.
Just then, there was a boom as Dandan swelled swiftly in an instant, becoming a colossal white beast that was fully nine feet tall.
Song Lin and Troy: ‘You’re even more ostentatious than the weapon!!!’
Unlike his original form of a soft, fluffy rabbit, Dandan’s bestial form was a savage sight with two sharp lightning bolt-shaped ears, a mouth full of gleaming fangs and blood-red pupils that were fixed on the Gu scorpions. From the depths of his throat issued a hoarse roar that only savage beasts possessed.
Besides spiritual assessors, spirit beasts were also able to faintly sense another beast’s spiritual power. When a spirit beast transformed into its bestial form, its spiritual calibre would be even more apparent and a weaker beast would feel the full force of a higher-ranked beast’s spiritual power.
Dandan’s bestial transformation had forced the scorpions back a step and even Troy, huddling in Song Lin’s arms, was gasping for breath under the overwhelming weight of Dandan’s spiritual power. He gazed in terror at the savage white beast and wondered: what kind of terrible spiritual power is this…
Just as everyone was holding their breath to see what would happen next, Dandan gave a roar of rage: an ear-piercing wave of sound that had Troy wanting to cover his ears only to discover that he couldn’t move. It wasn’t just him; even the Gu scorpion tribe which dotted the plains and hills were immobile — this… could it be…
He had only ever heard the tribe elders speak of it: the ‘Bind’ curse that only a Supreme could wield…
At this point, Song Lin seemed to realise something and suddenly waved his magic weapon rapidly, sending rows of golden blades flying out like grinders where they shredded the Gu scorpions.
Dandan cursed inwardly: Blast it! I haven’t even had time to draw the magic sending circle!!! This is a disaster!!!
The next instant, he was yanked backwards by a great force that left him dizzy and which dumped him beside Song Lin.
‘You…?’ He lowered his head abruptly, looking at Song Lin’s back, only to see he still had two fingers held to his lips — that was the pose held during incantation. This sending spell had been incanted by Song Lin? Dandan’s pupils dilated and his mouth opened. He mumbled, ‘Yu Huan?’ But in his savage beast form, the only sound that came out was guttural and indistinct.
Song Lin turned his head round. ‘What did you say?’
‘…’ Having realised his own momentary lapse, Dandan shook his head hurriedly.
At this point, he realised that a sending circle was drawn below Song Lin’s feet and asked, ‘How did you… know how to draw my magic sending circle?’ He spoke very slowly, doing his best to enunciate every word clearly.
When Song Lin had understood him, he replied, ‘Wasn’t this the same thing which delivered you to where Troy and I were? We were recovering under a tree when you suddenly appeared and this drawing was underneath your feet. I just recalled its general appearance and drew it from memory.’
Damn…
A photographic memory, huh — impressive.
But then there was no time for further chit-chat as the scorpions kept surging towards them in unending waves like a plague of locusts.
Troy cried, ‘We’ll never be able to beat them all at this rate!’
That’s true… Dandan frowned. Even if the Bind curse and wind blades working together can exterminate them, there are just too many of them; we kill one lot, another lot appears. If we keep wasting time like this, Troy and Song Lin won’t be able to last much longer!
He suddenly leapt over Song Lin, keeping them behind him, facing the Gu scorpions in a silent standoff.
Troy gazed at his back — what was he up to?
Surprisingly, the new wave of scorpions did not attack but merely stayed where they were, as if in dread of something.
Troy listened intently for a while and realised that they were speaking in beast language. Because they were speaking in low tones, he couldn’t hear them very well and could only make out a few words here and there.
Suddenly, Dandan let out another rage-filled roar which shook every single leaf in the forest.
The Gu scorpions did not move.
Troy looked at Dandan as though he had lost his mind. Is this fellow trying to frighten the scorpions into retreating? It’s impossible! Even if there is a big difference in spiritual levels, the scorpions have the upper hand in terms of sheer numbers and can’t be frightened off.
A moment later, Dandan roared again and the scorpions moved a step.
By the third roar, the scorpions were clearly beginning to move, not to attack, rather, they were retreating! They retreated unanimously³ at a speed which raised a cloud of dust before disappearing from sight.
After ascertaining that they wouldn’t return, all the power seemed to have been sucked out of Dandan; he transformed into his human form and sat down limply on the ground.
³ 不約而同 bùyuē’értóng. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
‘… How did you do it?’ There were no words to adequately describe the astonishment Troy was feeling and the only thought he had was: I can’t believe it.
Song Lin was also clearly in disbelief that the Gu scorpions had been frightened away just like that and asked thoughtfully, ‘What were you saying to them in beast language?’
‘I was just having a heart-to-heart chat with them,’ Dandan said, scratching the back of his head. ‘Laying out the facts and reasoning with them, letting them know how things stand. I told them, my old man always taught me that fighting is bad for neighbourly harmony and is bad for the body and heart…’
‘Enough,’ Song Lin rubbed his temples, saying, ‘Shut up.’
(Approx. 2028 words)
12’s notes:
24/9/2019: Substituted the word ‘magic’ for ‘rare’.
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
I really wonder what Dandan’s “handsome” pose looks like. It takes him entire years to understand Song Lin was worried about him? I’m really curious what Dandan said to the scorpions. Thanks for the translation!
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Haha, he has outsized confidence in his own looks 🤣! He is very dense, as you’ll see…
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