The Godlike Jade Rabbit Chapter 28

Song Lin presses Dandan for answers…

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Ch. 28 | Laid bare

 
The hunting ground was extensive, its lush, verdant woods stretching as far as the eye could see and so thickly forested there seemed to be no end to it. Low-hanging branches tangled together in the gloomy stillness, a hazy fog lay above the canopy while thick mists and clouds covered the scene. It really was a mystical place.

Dandan followed Styx out of the car and saw Song Lin waiting for him under a colossal, spreading tree.

He walked over, asking, ‘I hear you want to put me through training hell?’

Song Lin wagged a finger. ‘Don’t be silly, my dear. How could I be so brutal to my own pet?’

Dandan instantly rolled his eyes at this hypocritical display. ‘Which monster do you intend to release this time? Just so you know, I can’t stand those wet, sticky beings the most.’

There was not much that could be read in Song Lin’s eyes as he gazed steadily at Dandan for a while. ‘Which one?’ Then he laughed softly. ‘The entire place¹ is filled with monsters. Which one do you think we should release?’

Dandan was taken aback. ‘W-what do you mean…’

He looked around, noticing how the shadows seemed to have shadows which were stirring, like menacing predators ready to pounce on their prey.

Don’t tell me… that the whole mountain of monsters is going to attack together? Th-that’s just madness!!!

Styx held a small book and kept referring to it as he read aloud in a serious tone, ‘We’ve placed a jade stone on the peak of this mountain. Bring that jade stone to me before noon and you’ll be considered to have passed. Incidentally, there are more than a thousand wild beasts on the hunting grounds; the beasts haven’t fed for three days and are ravenous.’

Dandan: ‘…’ Hey… are you serious…

He collected himself. ‘Is anyone guarding that jade stone?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who?’

Styx tilted his head and Dandan’s gaze followed in that direction where he saw Song Lin wearing an inscrutable expression as he answered, ‘Me.’

‘…’
Y-you’re asking me to attack my own owner? A spirit beast attacking its own owner was totally unheard of.

Styx closed his little book and fixed his usual codfish eyes on Dandan. ‘Good luck. I’m looking forward to your performance.’

Just as punchable as he was the first time at the beast colosseum where he had introduced the tiger-crocodile to Dandan.

‘… Looking forward, my foot!’ Dandan retorted hotly.

_{¹ 漫山遍野 mànshān-biànyě. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.}

At this point, Song Lin interjected lazily, ‘If memory serves, your auxiliary skill is the binding curse. What about your attacking skill?’

‘Eh?’

‘Every spirit beast has two skills: one type is auxiliary, the other attacking. The other day at the beast colosseum, you were deliberately concealing your abilities and only used the Blood Weapon to behead the tiger-crocodile. When you were facing the Gu Scorpions in the Fascinating Forest, perhaps because of your eagerness to save us, you had to use your auxiliary skill — the Bind curse. I’m very curious: what is this attacking skill that you’re so reluctant to use?’

‘…’ Dandan was too flabbergasted by what he had heard to do anything other than stand there speechlessly for a while.

Song Lin carried on serenely, ‘The Fascinating Forest was such a life-threatening² situation yet you only used your auxiliary skill. Would I be right to assume that your attacking skill is too powerful, so powerful that… it’s instantly recognisable? If you were to use it, your identity would be immediately exposed.’

After hearing this, Dandan hurriedly lowered his eyes. ‘… You’re overreacting.’

‘Am I?’

‘Song Lin, I don’t wish to reveal my past to everyone. Why are you forcing me to as well?’ He frowned and asked vexedly.

‘I’m not asking you to reveal your past to everyone, only to me; you can’t reveal your past even to me?’ Song Lin added softly, ‘Not even I, your pact owner, has the right to know?’

Dandan pulled somewhat irritably at his white ears. ‘… I don’t have any earth-shattering past. You’re overimagining things.’

A light in Song Lin’s eyes died out abruptly. ‘Got it. Maybe to you, I’ll never measure up to your former owner.’

Dandan suffered a shock and looked up suddenly but Song Lin was already holding up a silver coin.

‘The Anywhere Ladder?’

Song Lin tossed the coin into the air which turned into a floating doorway. After tossing out a ‘I’ll be waiting for you at the peak’, he strolled into the doorway, his whole figure veiled in a silver nimbus and almost immediately, disappeared beyond the door.

_{² 生死攸關 shēngsǐ-yōuguān. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.}

At this point, Dandan could well be said to be at his wits’ end and it was because of Song Lin’s last remark.

Why did he suddenly mention my former owner? Could he have already guessed who I am?
Surely not… And… what did he mean by not having the right to know? Why on earth does he mind so much?

Styx, holding a pocket watch, helpfully reminded him, ‘You still have two double-hours.’

‘Got it.’ Dandan forced himself to squelch his feelings of unease. He turned and asked Styx, ‘After all this time, you all still don’t trust me, right?’

Styx said, ‘I certainly don’t — your background is too strange. My mission is to protect the House of Song and I will eliminate the slightest threat to them without exception. But I believe Second Master is more concerned about something else.’

‘Something else?… What?’

‘You’ll have to figure that out yourself,’ answered Styx as he turned away and got back into the car.

‘…’ Hey… it’s not fair to leave things half unsaid.

Dandan took a deep breath, looked up at the forested peak and thought: That being the case, I’ll just slay my way to the top and get the answer out of you.

He drew the dark red Blood Weapon out from his chest with a swish. Floating around the blade’s edge were tiny sparks, crackling and popping.

He rolled his neck slightly. Song Lin, since you want to see my true prowess, then don’t blame me for massacring all the wild beasts of your hunting ground.

As a result, only the mournful howls of the beasts could be heard throughout the hunting ground the whole afternoon. This fight could well be described as bloody: instead of a fight, it resembled a one-sided slaughter. Dandan was in a foul mood and needed to let off steam. The wild beasts of the mountain persisted in delivering themselves to his doorstep so he just killed indiscriminately, sparks mingling with flashes of lightning all the way. When he reached the summit, he was covered in blood but not one drop of it was his.

Song Lin was currently relaxing under the shade of a tree. His hands were folded behind his head and his legs were crossed, one foot languidly poised in the air.

Dandan cast the Blood Weapon down, sending it through about one third of the ground; his chest rising and falling rapidly.

Song Lin looked at him. Fresh blood from the wild beasts had splattered across his fair face while his pale pink eyes had darkened to a dark red. For some reason, there was something captivating about this bloodthirsty Dandan. He was like one of those man-eating creatures of the night, sexy and dangerous, completely different from his usual self.

Song Lin consulted his pocket watch. ‘You only took a double-hour, faster than I had anticipated.’

Dandan’s breathing slowly became more regular and his eyes recovered their usual colour, all traces of aggression wiped from them. ‘Song Lin, why are you doing this? Is it really just so you can admire the way I look when I go on the rampage?’

After hearing this, Song Lin got up, walked towards him and came to a stop in front of him. He bent down slightly, making sure their eyes were level with each other. ‘Legend has it that the Supreme Jade Rabbit of Dragon Ridge was an insolent creature who swept aside all rivals in his region. Savage and bloodthirsty, he was said to be capable of exterminating an entire tribe by himself. Later on, he was tamed by an unknown itinerant Guardian who made him his bonded spirit beast. At the Guardians’ Tournament, they defeated their rivals, setting the world on fire³. That itinerant Guardian also became the most powerful Guardian and was hero-worshipped by the masses — he was known as Arch-Guardian Yu Huan.’

His pale blue eyes gazed straight into Dandan’s as he asked, ‘Have you ever heard of this story?’

Dandan’s heart was going pit-a-pat frantically. He swallowed hard and was just about to answer ‘No’ when Song Lin added, ‘If you lie, no roasted lamb legs for a month.’

Dandan: ‘…’ That’s so mean, oi! (╯°□°）╯︵

_{³ 一鳴驚人 yīmíng-jīngrén. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.}

Song Lin suddenly lifted his hands and cradled Dandan’s face in them, his thumbs tenderly brushing away the bloodstains on that fair soft skin. Dandan could feel the affectionate warmth from his fingers lingering on his face.

‘I brought you here because I wanted to see what you used to be like.’

Dandan felt as though something had slammed into his heart. His breathing became more rapid. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just me, not that other person you think I am… Yes, maybe I do resemble a certain legendary spirit beast in some respects, but that doesn’t prove anything… There are too many coincidences in this world…’

Before he could finish talking, Song Lin had caught hold of the back of Dandan’s head and pressed his face into his chest.

Thump, thump, thump!
Whose heart was beating so loudly… it was practically hammering in his ears. Dandan’s whole body stiffened.

Song Lin’s deep voice could be heard above him. ‘It doesn’t matter who your former owner is. He’s already dead. I’m your owner now so stop trying so painfully to conceal yourself. I’ll protect you, no matter what happens.’

Dandan’s eyes widened; he seemed to see a single leaf blown loose by the wind, spinning as it fluttered to the ground.

Thump, thump, thump!
The sound of that pounding heart came again. That was when he realised that this frantically hammering heart was none other than his own.

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_{(Approx. 1701 words)}

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Translated and edited by 12

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