Sorry about the latish posts this week as I’ve been working on a special release for my birthday today!🎊 I’m rather excited this year because it’s also 😍 Xiao Zhan’s 😍 birthday❣️ wriggles with delight
I’ll be releasing a bumper update to celebrate, so enjoy chapters 37 until 40 every double-hour plus the accompanying pic spam of Xiao Zhan because I’m still gaga over him 😝.
Have a great Saturday and without further ado, here’s Ch. 37! 🥳
肖戰 Xiao Zhan as 魏嬰 Wei Ying (魏無羡 Wei Wuxian) in The Untamed. Ep 50, screenshot by 12.
Trouble is brewing at the Song Manor…
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Ch. 37 | The truth
Song Fuyan stood up, his finger still pressing down on the table. His voice was so low it seemed to be coming from the floor. ‘Do you still remember where your little rabbit was caught? Hmm?’
Without waiting for Song Lin to reply, he continued, ‘The answer is plain as day. In all of Ridge City, have you ever seen a second jade rabbit, hmm? Not to mention, he’s a jade rabbit whose calibre is Supreme with spiritual power great enough to damage the Surveying Clock… and he was captured on Dragon Ridge where Yu Huan was killed. Given your intelligence, you won’t need me to spell the rest out by now.’
Song Lin heard him out to the end and remained seated on the chair in silence. After a while, he looked up and asked with a laugh, ‘Brother, what are you saying? How come I don’t understand a single word of what you just said?’
Song Fuyan’s expression changed in an instant as countless notions flashed through his mind and he understood immediately. ‘So I did overlook something in my calculations. Ha, I knew it. How could someone as clever as you not have realised it?’
Song Lin’s expression did not change. His thumb lightly stroked the portrait in his hands but he did not respond.
‘True, if I were you, I would also play dumb all the way. After all, this is the spirit beast that the entire League is out to capture. Playing dumb is the best way to protect him.’
Song Lin put down the portrait. ‘Are you saying that Dandan is Yu Huan’s spirit beast? The legendary jade rabbit of Dragon Ridge? Then that must be a real stroke of luck for me.’
Song Fuyan was stunned for a few moments before sitting back down again, his frown even more pronounced as he asked, ‘So you’re hellbent on opposing the League? Do you know that this portrait should actually have been handed over to Colonel Chen Yang? But Mr Jing took into account the fact that he’s the spirit beast of Second Master Song, found a way around it and had the portrait sent directly to me which is why I’m able to suppress this matter for you for the time being.’
Song Lin stated, ‘Dandan is already my spirit beast and the League no longer has the right to arrest him.’
‘It’s true that he’s your bonded spirit beast but more than that, he’s the bonded spirit beast of the dead Arch-Guardian Yu Huan. The League will not scruple to make an enemy of the House of Song if it means they can capture him.’ Song Fuyan’s face was indescribably sombre as he concluded, ‘Don’t make things difficult for me.’
‘You’re the head of the League. Who would dare arrest him without your permission?’
‘Song Lin…’ Song Fuyan gazed at him and thought to himself: I’ve never wanted to go against you. All I’ve been doing is trying my best to protect you. There are so many influential players in the League, do you really think they’ll listen to me alone? At the end of the day, it’s all about mutual checks and balances.
‘I’ll help cover up this matter for you for now but the League will find out about it sooner or later. You had better behave yourself¹.’ He stood up and was about to leave after saying this when Song Lin suddenly grabbed his wrist and said in a small voice, ‘Brother, thank you.’
Song Fuyan’s heart was slightly touched but he did not say anything in reply.
¹ 好自为之 hǎozìwéizhī. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
Not long after Eldest Master had left, one of the servant girls who had been cleaning the room came running over and handed him a few pages. ‘Second Master, we found these on the bed in your room while dusting. We didn’t know if they were important and didn’t dare throw them away so we came to ask you.’
Song Lin took the papers which were densely covered in characters. He didn’t know what they were and was about to have the papers thrown away when he suddenly glimpsed three characters: The Transmigration Spell.
An old and taboo spell — what was it doing here?
He thus asked, ‘Whose bed did you find this on?’
The servant girl stared for a second. ‘… On Dandan’s bed.’
Song Lin then recalled seeing Dandan reading these few pages in the bedroom and Dandan admitting that he had stolen them from Feng Chulian. Song Lin had assumed it was just some silly spell and so had not probed the matter. He had not expected it to be one that would allow Guardians to be reincarnated.
He folded the papers neatly and said, ‘You can go.’
The servant girl, noticing his unhappy expression, bowed and left quickly.
Song Lin then sent for Ah Si and interrogated him in the hall. ‘How did you capture Dandan on Dragon Ridge?’
Having been sent for without any reason, Ah Si was already rather rattled and after he heard this question, stammered his answer, ‘It-it was Uncle’s beast trap which had him clamped. We followed a trail and came upon him.’
‘Dragon Ridge has been deserted for years and beast trappers generally don’t like going there. How did you two end up there?’
‘Un-uncle didn’t want to go at first. That trap had also been laid many years ago. But I was the one who sensed the power of a Supreme-calibre spirit beast on the mountain and I insisted that Uncle go with me to take a look…’ Ah Si shivered inwardly with fear. What’s going on, Second Master? Why are you suddenly so interested in Dandan’s background? Did I do something wrong?
Song Lin was sitting on a broad oxhide chair and there was no trace of warmth in his ice blue eyes as he said, ‘Tell me exactly what happened back then.’
‘… O-… O-okay…!’ Ah Si gulped and continued, ‘We arrived on Dragon Ridge and searched for a long time but we couldn’t find the spirit beast which had been trapped because we kept thinking… a Supreme ought to be a big fellow so we only concentrated on those larger beasts. Finally, we saw that it was a small white rabbit about the size of an adult’s hand. Uncle was especially disappointed and said I must have sensed the wrong thing. After he gave me a scolding, we wanted to leave the mountain but it was…’
He paused for a moment, recalling in detail before resuming. ‘But it was Dandan who insisted on coming with us.’
Song Lin’s eyes widened slightly. ‘You’re saying that Dandan himself offered to go with you?’
‘Yes,’ Ah Si nodded. ‘And he wasn’t in the least bit timid. In the storehouse, he kept asking questions and asked me about what things were like at the Song Manor… oh, that’s right! He also knew Eldest Master’s name.’
‘My father’s name?’
‘Yes, he asked me then: “This Song Manor, is Song Ranxiu still the head of the family?” I found it strange then that this unknown² little spirit beast actually knew Old Master’s name.’
Song Lin stood up, crushing the pages of the ancient spell in his hands before asking two servant girls waiting at one side, ‘Where’s Styx?’
The servants answered, ‘His Excellency Styx is still at Lianxiang Pavilion and should be returning home very soon.’
‘Forget it, we won’t wait for him then. Have the car prepared. We’re going to Crescent Moon Ridge.’
² 名不见经传 míng bújiàn jīngzhuàn. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
The Priest’s Manor, ablaze with lights.
Bi An and a group of young disciples were in the Astrology Hall, listening to their teacher’s lesson. Every disciple was listening with wide-eyed earnestness and if the High Priest so much as glanced their way, it was cause for half a day’s celebration. Bi An however was sitting in the last row at the back, chin resting on his hand, dozing secretly.
‘The three palaces³ are the Ziwei, the Taiwei and the Tanshi…’ Teacher’s voice came and went in an intermittent blur like a lullaby.
Bi An’s thoughts had already drifted into dreamland. In the backyard of the Priest’s Manor, he had already planted a Yuefan flower which was said to bloom only once every century and when it did, would bring one good luck. He was going to take very good care of this flower and pray for Teacher to recover quickly because he didn’t want to disguise himself as Teacher and pray for rain at the Sacrificial Altar ever again.
‘Xiao An.’ Teacher suddenly raised his voice and called Bi An, causing him to start and leap to his feet abruptly.
‘Here!’
‘Tell us something about what a palace is.’ Feng Chulian’s eyes which were as placid as a lake gazed unblinkingly at him, as though he had seen him nodding off.
‘Ahem…’ Bi An rubbed his nose guiltily. ‘A palace is… is…’
‘I just explained what it was. You weren’t listening?’
‘I was! I was! A palace is… has an east and west… something…’ He couldn’t continue and could only cast a pathetic look at his teacher.
Feng Chulian’s gaze swept over the first row and fell on a disciple who was itching to answer⁴.
‘You try.’
The little disciple immediately stood up straight and answered in a resounding voice, ‘Is flanked by rows of stars in the east and west which surround the left and right in a wall-like shape, thus it is called “a palace”.’
Feng Chulian nodded and said, ‘Sit down.’
Bi An heard this and was about to sit down only to have Feng Chulian unexpectedly bark at him, ‘Who said you could sit down?’
He froze and didn’t dare move.
The other disciples all covered their mouths and snickered. To be honest, the High Priest normally spoilt Bi An too much which did leave them rather green-eyed. Today he was getting a rare scolding and they couldn’t help indulging in a bit of Schadenfreude.
Bi An scratched his head in some embarrassment as Feng Chulian rose and said, ‘Continue with your study of astrology, all of you. Xiao An, come with me.’
The disciples all lowered their heads obediently and began studying.
⁴ 跃跃欲试 yuèyuè-yùshì. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.
He walked to a dark shadowy corner of the corridor, Bi An following behind like a little grey wolf. The night shrouded his figure so it was a little blurred.
‘Teacher, I was wrong. I won’t fall asleep again during lessons,’ Bi An owned up to his mistake. Seeing that his teacher was ignoring him, he boldly tugged at a corner of his robe. ‘Teacher…’
Feng Chulian turned and was met by a pair of black eyes, blinking like a fawn. ‘Forget it,’ the High Priest massaged his temples tiredly. He really was unable to bring himself to scold Xiao An when he looked at him like that. He also felt that something was not quite right about that.
The little wolf beamed at having been forgiven and only lacked a tail to wag. ‘Teacher, I would like to go down and see Dandan when I’m free.’
‘What for?’
‘He seemed to have been injured at the Guardians’ Tournament the last time.’
‘Song Lin will have a way of ensuring he recovers from that kind of superficial injury.’
‘No, I mean after the match when he was keeping the Qingling Sword back into his body. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, as though it was his… heart which was in pain.’
‘Mm, I noticed that too.’
‘Teacher, do you know why?’
Feng Chulian gazed out at the courtyard and the flowers which were hidden by the night, then said slowly, ‘There are two possibilities. One is that his body is supporting too many weapons.’
‘Too many weapons?’
‘Every spirit beast will have three abilities after gaining an owner. One is an auxiliary skill which can either be bestowed by an owner or cultivated using one’s innate gifts. Another is an attacking ability which must be bestowed by an owner. The last is the Blood Weapon but this is rarely bestowed by Guardians for once a Guardian’s own blood flows in the veins of a spirit beast, then an enemy can track a Guardian through his spirit beast, which is akin to having an Achilles’ heel. Dandan currently has two weapons bestowed by Yu Huan and now Song Lin has bestowed another two so perhaps they’ve exceeded what his body can bear.’
‘So he has four weapons and an innate ability inside his body?’ Bi An was astounded.
One feared that this Dandan was defying the natural order of things.
(Approx. 2097 words)
12’s notes:
³ Most likely a reference to 宮垣 gōngyuán in Ziwei Doushu (a form of astrology). A ‘palace’ corresponds to an aspect of an individual’s life.
☆ Please show moral support by reading the original and free translations from hiding in plain sight. © 12 and theresanother.wordpress.com 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the above material without express and written permission from 12 is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to 12 and theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Example here.
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thank you very much for the release
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Thank you very much, Stumblmer 💛! Happy reading!
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AAA THANKS FOR ALL THE POSTS!! ALSO HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you had a really good one! ❤
Song Lin protecting Dandan and Song Fuyan protecting Song Lin. I love it. Such good brothers! ;O; ;O; ;O;!!
You can really feel the circle closing in on Dandan though. Things are coming to a head and I have this sinking feeling it’s not going to turn out super well for him… On top of that is the multiple spirit weapons causing some sort of backlash. DANDAN, WHY YOU GOTTA MAKE TROUBLE FOR YOURSELF.
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I did, shadowgrid, thank you very much! Been stuffing my face over the weekend haha!
Hehe, it never rains but pours so Dandan is going to have his fair share of trouble from now on…
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