Dandan gets registered with the League…
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Ch. 24 | Mr Jīng
The next day, Dandan went with Song Lin to the League. Being Second Master Song’s bonded spirit beast who was about to participate in the Guardians’ Tournament, he had to be registered with the League in line with Ridge City’s rules. This included registering his breed, calibre and spiritual strength.
Dandan was rather baffled. It wasn’t this troublesome when I took part in the Guardians’ Tournament with Yu Huan last time…
The guards at the League ushered them to a room with an oak door which swung open to reveal a pitch-black interior. In the middle of the room stood a wooden table with a kerosene lamp on it.
‘Mr Jing.’ The guard very carefully rapped the door three times.
At this juncture, the shadows beside the table stirred slightly and only then did Dandan realise that there was someone sitting there. It was an old man of about seventy with a wizened head of grey hair, wearing gold-rimmed spectacles, his stooped figure completely¹ concealed by the voluminous black cloak he had on. His eyes were turbid and dim.
‘Sorry to disturb, Mr Jing.’ The guard walked up and respectfully handed him a metal number tablet which had Dandan’s name carved on it. Other than the name column, the rest was blank. ‘This is the last spirit beast to be registered as a participant in the Guardians’ Tournament. Please help to assess its breed.’
‘Oh?’ Mr Jing’s voice was extremely raspy, and as world-weary as a hewn timber log. He stretched out a gnarled hand and beckoned to Dandan, ‘Come here, little fellow.’
Dandan looked at Song Lin who nodded. Dandan thus walked over and stopped in front of the old man.
When the old man saw him, he stared blankly for a moment but the next, those faded grey irises were alight with astonishment and he rose from his chair, caught hold of Dandan’s shoulder and turned him round once.
Dandan: ??? Blimey, don’t get so worked up, Grandpa. If I weren’t certain that we’ve never met, I would think you were almost ready to claim me as kin.
Mr Jing’s hand passed lightly over Dandan’s head in a circular motion and a warm breeze ruffled the ends of his hair. At long last, Mr Jing lowered his hand and sat down again, clutching the number tablet tightly. With a trembling hand he picked up the engraving knife and was just about to start carving but then said aloud, ‘Impossible… how can it be?!’
He kept looking at Dandan as if he were studying some monster. After five minutes had ticked by in this sort of strange atmosphere, the old man finally began carving something in the ‘Classification’ column.
Stroke by stroke, he etched two characters: ‘Jade Rabbit.’
¹ 嚴嚴實實 yányánshíshí. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
‘Take him to the Surveying Spring.’ Mr Jing handed the tablet to the guard.
‘Understood.’ The guard nodded, put the tablet inside his pocket and gestured politely to Song Lin and Dandan. ‘Please come with me.’
Dandan turned and walked out of the gloomy room, feeling like his back was being pricked all over by the old man’s needle-like gaze — it was a really strange feeling.
Mr Jing waited until the door was closed and for the room to be enshrouded in darkness once again before he began trembling and muttering to himself², ‘Appeared… it really has appeared…’
² 喃喃自語 nánnánzìyǔ. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
On the way to the Surveying Spring, Dandan whispered to Song Lin, ‘Who was that grand old man just now?’
Song Lin answered, ‘Mr Jing, the most qualified and experienced spiritual assessor in Ridge City.’
‘… He’s very good?’
‘Let’s put it this way, he’s never been wrong about any spirit beast before. My servant Ah Si, whom you’ve met, was his apprentice. My father also once offered Mr Jing a large sum of money to be the Song Manor’s exclusive spiritual assessor but was turned down.’ Song Lin went on tranquilly, ‘The Surveying Spring that we’re going to was also built by him.’
After Dandan heard this, he felt unaccountably afraid of being exposed: that Ah Si was able to sense that I was a Supreme the very first time he met me on Dragon Ridge which goes to show how good his spiritual appraisal skills are. If the disciple is that good, what more this grand old man?
After Yu Huan’s death, he had gone into hiding on Dragon Ridge. Because Yu Huan’s death had been so sudden, his three spirit beasts had been at the very heart of the aftermath³. If anyone recognised him, it would spell trouble.
Yu Huan’s death had sent shock waves throughout the world of the Guardians. Back then, he had taken part in the Guardians’ Tournament as an itinerant Guardian, winning the title of Arch-Guardian and taking Ridge City by storm. He was all but deified and universally acknowledged to be the most powerful Guardian of all time. Just when everyone believed that his position was unassailable, Yu Huan died in a fire on Dragon Ridge. His three spirit beasts — a jade rabbit, a flood dragon and a taotie — all vanished without a trace one after another.
³ 風口浪尖 fēngkǒu-làngjiān. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
Overnight, the ranking list of the Guardians was turned on its head, alarming Guardians everywhere. The leading Guardians on the list began vying for the position of Arch-Guardian; itinerant Guardians everywhere began appropriating spirit beasts to themselves and also started to challenge those on the ranking list to duels.
The heads of the Five Great Houses, which were in their heyday, had even despatched their most skilful beast trappers to capture Yu Huan’s trio of spirit beasts and for a while, chaos reigned supreme. It was also at this time that Dandan had a chance encounter with Song Lin’s father.
The pity of it all though was that the only recognised Arch-Guardian was the one crowned at the Guardians’ Tournament. Moreover, this tournament could only be held on the day and time as calculated by the High Priest. Any other duels or victories could not be factored into the ranking list and could only be considered chest-thumping by pretenders to the title. After a spell of utter chaos, the farce came to an abrupt end and the position of Arch-Guardian remained vacant as Guardians gradually stopped vying with each other.
The Five Great Houses had come to realise that Ridge City’s Guardians could not remain unregulated for that would lead to nothing but chaos. They thus put together a treaty, drafting the clauses with the government’s cooperation. They invested manpower and money into setting up an army under their command, laying the foundation for the League.
As Feng Chulian used to say afterwards: ‘That fiend Yu Huan, he just had to stir up a hornet’s nest even when he died.’
‘Dandan, over here.’ Song Lin’s deep voice recalled Dandan to the present. By the time he collected his thoughts, he found himself beside a giant pool and before him, a snaking queue of Guardians who had brought their spirit beasts to have their spiritual calibres assessed.
‘Penny for your thoughts?’
‘… N-nothing really…’ Dandan gripped the straps of his dungarees and craned his neck to peer into the depths of the spring. ‘I’ve never seen this spring before… how does it work?’
‘You’ll find out soon.’
‘… I won’t need to jump in, will I? I can’t swim, y’know. What if I drown?’
Song Lin gazed at his fluffy white ears and was silent for a while before suddenly reaching out to fondle his ears once. ‘If that happens, I’ll just give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.’
(Approx. 1253 words)
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