‘What are your feelings towards Second Master?’
I had a good laugh at some of the lines in this chapter 😆.
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Ch. 36 | Unravelling
In the end, Dandan and Troy transformed into their human selves and were led inside. The bathrobes provided at the hot springs were very big and the facilities were excellent, with heaped fruit platters and drinks available everywhere.
Styx stood ramrod-stiff in a corner, fully dressed and not a stitch out of place, impassively watching the two of them swimming about freely.
‘Ol’ Fish Eyes, you’re not coming in?’ Dandan smacked the water. ‘The temperature’s just nice.’
Styx slitted a look over and said, ‘Not interested.’
Troy swam over and leaned against the side. ‘Your Excellency Styx, you’ve had a busy day too. Why not join us for a soak and have a rest?’
Styx coldly refused to, saying, ‘I won’t do such a meaningless and dangerous thing.’
‘Dangerous?? How is this dangerous?’
‘If I remove my clothes and Second Master should encounter danger, I won’t be able to rush over in time.’
Dandan laughed. ‘Why do you always have this bee in your bonnet that someone is out to harm your master?’
‘Protecting Second Master is the mission that Eldest Master entrusted to me.’
Dandan’s curiosity was instantly aroused and he asked, ‘Oh, so obedient… what kind of relationship do you and Eldest Master have?’
The corners of Styx’s mouth twisted. ‘What business is it of yours?’
‘Heh heh… nothing much, but I just feel that you’re always mentioning Eldest Master.’
‘I do not.’
Troy piped up softly, ‘I’ve heard it more than ten times.’
Styx’s expression was starting to darken… As expected, he wasn’t able to handle these two little beasts by himself.
‘Speaking of which, you’re also a Guardian, aren’t you? Why don’t you take in a spirit beast?’
‘My mission is only to protect Second Master. I don’t need a spirit beast.’ Styx looked unemotionally at Dandan.
‘What kind of spirit beast do you like? I have many buddies. Want me to find you one?’
‘No need!’
‘No need to be shy. I’m pretty strong and my buddies aren’t weak either. I guarantee you’ll be satisfied,’ Dandan offered with the air of a brothel madam hawking her girls.
Styx rubbed his temples hard and said, ‘I’ll wait for you outside.’ Then he turned and walked out.
Troy gazed after Styx’s departing back and observed, ‘He really is an enigmatic person.’ Then he amended it, saying, ‘Actually, other than not being too approachable, His Excellency Styx really can do everything under the sun.’
Dandan nodded in agreement. ‘He can keep house, treat injuries, has a lot of spiritual power, and takes care of everything in the Song Manor.’
‘I heard the servant girls saying that when Eldest Master sometimes comes back for meals and doesn’t like the food, he’ll even cook what Eldest Master likes.’
Dandan: ‘Terrible, he has such slavish° tendencies. I just wonder how Eldest Master trained him to be so submissive°.’
Troy hesitated. ‘I think, maybe his feelings for Eldest Master are very much like my feelings for Second Master. Just a kind of intense desire to follow him closely.’
‘Follow closely?’
‘Yes. It’s a feeling, sort of like a cross between adoration and gratitude.’
Dandan glanced at him. ‘The reason you want to follow Song Lin is because he once saved your White Hound tribe in the Fascinating Forest?’
‘Yes,’ Troy nodded and then asked, ‘What about you?’
‘Eh? Me… me what?’
‘What are your feelings towards Second Master?’
‘Don’t have any.’
‘Impossible. I still remember the scene when you rushed to the Fascinating Forest to save Second Master. You were burning with impatience¹, as though you were rushing to save your father.’
‘…’ Dandan’s mind went blank for a few seconds before he covered his face. ‘All right, that’s enough.’
‘Although we’re spirit beasts, our feelings for our owners are actually very straightforward, so you’ve always known how you feel about Second Master, haven’t you?’
‘This… let me put it this way, when I was still with my former owner, my feelings for him were very straightforward. I saw him as my comrade, as my family, I was willing to die for him. But when it comes to Song Lin…’
‘When it comes to Second Master?’
‘It’s different somehow,’ mused Dandan, chin propped on one hand.
‘You’re not willing to die for him?’
‘No, no, no, nothing to do with that.’
‘So what’s different about it?’
‘Sometimes I find myself thinking that it would be nice if I’m the only one he has a pact with.’
‘Huh? Isn’t that the same as a man having only one wife? That’s not realistic. To augment their power, most Guardians will take in three to five bonded spirit beasts. I’ve never heard of any Guardian keeping only one spirit beast throughout his lifetime. Take the legendary Arch-Guardian, Yu Huan. He was so powerful, you would think he wouldn’t need to become more powerful, right? But still he took in three spirit beasts.’
Troy finally concluded, ‘All Guardians are the same: the more spirit beasts they have, the better.’ His tone was much the same as if he had said, ‘All men are the same: jerks.’
¹ 心急如焚 xīnjí-rúfén. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
‘I understand,’ Dandan nodded. ‘Yu Huan was really quite unfaithful.’
‘Huh? You sound as if you knew the Arch-Guardian Yu Huan quite well.’
‘Quite.’
‘… Then you’re really something,’ Troy thought Dandan was just bragging.
Dandan said rather vexedly, ‘I don’t care if other Guardians have three to five spirit beasts but Song Lin… if he ever takes in another spirit beast some day, I’ll feel like killing that fellow.’
Troy’s hairs stood on end. ‘Good thing he didn’t make a pact with me.’
‘How would you describe such feelings as mine?’
‘Hmm…’ Troy lowered his head while pondering. Once, in the Fascinating Forest, after finding out that Pa had an affair outside, Ma took her tribe sisters along with her to kill that other dog. Wasn’t that similar to Dandan’s situation?
He thus looked up again and earnestly offered his conclusion, ‘Perhaps it’s… what they call possessiveness.’
‘…. What?!’ Dandan gesticulated wildly after hearing this. ‘You’re kidding me! Why would I feel possessive towards a fellow like him?!’
‘You’re getting a bit too worked up…’
‘Worked up?? Am I worked up?? Do I look worked up??!!’
The corners of Troy’s mouth twisted: yes, you do, very…
Just then, he noticed the green pendant around Dandan’s neck and said, ‘That’s a really nice necklace. I’ve never seen it on you before.’
‘Oh, this is Song Lin’s Qingling Sword. He helped me to keep it in the form of a pendant to lessen the burden on my body.’
Dandan reached up to touch the jade pendant which had a light lustre. He suddenly thought of Yu Huan’s pair of jade green eyes… it was a similar shade of green. It looked as though there were similarities between Yu Huan in his previous life and his current reincarnation.
‘Tsk, tsk, a token of his affection,’ Troy said teasingly.
‘…’ Dandan stared at him speechlessly before asking, ‘Tell me honestly, have you been reading any strange books lately?’
Troy shook his head. ‘I really haven’t read any of the books the servant girls collect, I swear.’
‘…’
‘But I really envy you. How I wish I could have an owner who would bestow a weapon on me as well.’
‘There will be,’ said Dandan. ‘You’re the last surviving member of the White Hound tribe. There’ll be tons of Guardians who’ll want to obtain you. You just have to wait.’
‘Mm.’
When Song Lin returned to the manor, he found that Song Fuyan had already returned.
His brother always wore expensive black Western suits with the trousers ironed to a crisp, so he looked as though he had been sculpted into his suits. No matter the occasion, he always had a strictly businesslike air which never relaxed in the slightest.
Their eyes and eyebrows had been very similar in their childhood and many relatives used to mistake them. As they grew up, they looked less and less alike with Song Fuyan becoming a taciturn figure who inspired awe by upholding justice² while Song Lin developed more as a rather shrewd, polished young master. As a result, even from a distance, people could tell them apart just from their auras alone.
At this moment, Song Fuyan was instructing the servant girls to clean up something.
‘Brother,’ Song Lin called.
Song Fuyan turned his head round and merely looked at him but did not answer. His expression was not too happy.
It was rare for Eldest Master to return home for a meal so everyone was very excited and had been preparing for dinner since the morning. Ever since Old Master had passed away and Eldest Master had been made the head of the League, he was so busy he rarely returned home.
² 大義凜然 dàyì-lǐnrán. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
Tonight’s dinner was a very quiet affair.
Song Lin and his brother rarely conversed when dining, both only concentrated on eating quietly. Song Lin actually would have liked to talk more with his brother but as Song Fuyan’s expression was still cold, he didn’t know how to inaugurate the conversation. After repressing his feelings for a very long time, he finally asked, ‘You were asking the servant girls to do some cleaning just now?’
Song Fuyan lowered his chopsticks and looked at him, his expression clearly saying: You saw it for yourself just now, didn’t you?
After a pause, he answered anyway. ‘Your convalescence was quite long and the ventilation in the room quite poor so I had them clean it up and give the place an airing.’
‘Oh.’ Song Lin lowered his head and shovelled two mouthfuls of rice into his mouth.
Song Fuyan’s gaze rested on the faint scar on Song Lin’s neck. This had been inflicted during the Guardians’ Tournament. The scar left by a Vampire Beast would never fade and when he saw this scar, he frowned and put down his bowl, asking, ‘Why didn’t you dodge back then?’
‘Mm?’ Song Lin looked up and saw him looking at his neck so he reached out and touched the scar. ‘Oh, everything happened too quickly back then, I couldn’t dodge in time.’
Song Fuyan’s expression was a little strange as he pointed out, ‘You could have used the wind blade to block it.’
‘I had already kept the wind blade and there was no time to release it again.’ His tone was very casual and it was hard to tell whether it was true or not.
Song Fuyan interrupted him in glacial tones. ‘It was for that rabbit’s sake, right?’
Song Lin’s movements halted for a moment and then he laughed immediately. ‘What nonsense are you talking about, Brother?’
‘I told you long ago that he’s very dangerous.’
‘I’ll let you in on something, Brother. Some time ago, I went to the Fascinating Forest to acquire a magic weapon and it happened to coincide with the first day of the fifth month. I lost all my spiritual power and was surrounded by Gu scorpions. If he hadn’t rushed there in time to save me, I would have died.’
Song Fuyan said scornfully, ‘Are you an eight-year-old still? Just because he saved you, you treat him sincerely? In this world, the only thing binding human relations together is benefit, not these false displays of friendship.’
He drew out a portrait from his sleeve and slapped it down hard on the table. ‘Take a good look at this. Mr Jing gave it to me.’
Song Lin held up the portrait doubtfully which depicted a bunny-eared youth who looked uncannily like Dandan. ‘This is…?’
‘Yu Huan’s era ended a very long time ago, but there’s always someone who’s lived long enough and would have seen them.’
Song Lin’s eyes widened for a second.
‘Mr Jing drew this portrait. But he wasn’t drawing Dandan… rather, it was Yu Huan’s bonded spirit beast.’
(Approx. 1973 words)
12’s notes:
° Censored in the original so I had to fill in the blanks myself.
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
HA, some of these lines are gold. Troy and Dandan are the best. :’) I really love friendship in novels. This one in particular I like how there’s secondary characters and they’re important, but they don’t detract at all from the fact that this is Dandan and Song Lin’s story.
!!!!!! Dandan admitting how Song Lin is different from Yu Huan! PROGRESS. His little talk with Troy was so cute! You’ll have someone too someday, Troy!!!
It’s interesting how Song Fuyan’s character is usually the ML in these types of novels (strong, head of group, kind of cold), while Song Lin is definitely second son. XD BOND YOU TWO. BROTHERLY BONDING IS GREAT.
I’M SCREAMING THOUGH. IS THE JIG UP. IS IT OFFICIALLY UP? I CAN SMELL THE ANGST ALREADY.
Thank you for the translation!
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Yeah, I think the secondary characters do help the plot to develop. The cast is going to get bigger and it’s not easy to write a meaningful role for everyone while still keeping the focus on Dandan and Song Lin.
I thought Song Lin was quite cold already but his brother is really stern heh.
Hehe, almost there, Song Lin doesn’t have a choice now that his brother knows… Not sure how you and other readers will feel but I really enjoyed the build-up in this chapter and the next few to come. 😁
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