Looks like no one is getting out of this unscathed…
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Ch. 53 | A brush with death
Seeing this, the Crone gestured backwards and all that spiritual power began flowing back to her like a gurgling river. Within seconds, she had taken back all of it.
Song Lin, holding Dandan’s shoulders tightly, asked, ‘Can you hear me?’
Dandan’s breathing was raspy and he nodded with difficulty. ‘Yes.’
‘Good, then just take deep breaths now and don’t think about anything else.’
Dandan was clearly in great pain; the feeling of his chest having been ripped open and the incessant bleeding meant that he simply couldn’t control his thoughts but he did his best to answer lightly, ‘… That seems to be a little difficult.’
Song Lin noticed that he was shivering and couldn’t help tightening his hug. ‘Let’s try this then, look at me and don’t think about your injuries.’
For some reason, only Song Lin’s voice could make him feel at ease at this moment. Dandan tipped his head back to look at him. ‘Like this?’
‘Yes, like this, just look at me and don’t think about anything else.’ Song Lin’s heart was aching as he hugged Dandan tightly. ‘I’m here, so don’t be scared.’
Dandan took a breath, feeling a little like crying.
Styx hurried over and placed a hand on Dandan’s chest, warmth radiating from his hand. ‘His wound is too big and deep, I can’t heal it.’ He added with a frown, ‘I can only help stop the bleeding for now.’
‘Okay, help stop the bleeding. He mustn’t lose any more blood.’ Song Lin looked down at Dandan. The wound really was a ghastly sight and even though he had seen so many spirit beasts come and go, he had never seen such a terrible wound before.
The fury in his heart instantly boiled over — since when has it been okay to bully my bonded spirit beast like this?
‘Help hold him.’ He handed Dandan over to Styx before standing up, keeping both of them behind him.
Styx could very clearly sense Song Lin’s fury: it was even more intense than the last time with Chen Yang.
Faced with Song Lin’s oppressive aura, the Crone said unhurriedly, ‘So you’re Dandan’s second owner?’
‘I’m his owner.’ Song Lin found the word ‘second’ particularly grating so he restated the fact.
The Crone looked him up and down and remarked, ‘A man of striking appearance¹ indeed. Apart from anything else, Dandan has always had good taste when it comes to picking his owners.’
At this point, Styx had already stopped the bleeding and Dandan said in a small voice, ‘Thank you, Ol’ Fish Eyes.’
Styx answered coldly, ‘You do nothing but cause trouble for me all day long.’
Dandan quipped, ‘How else would you get to show off all your abilities?’
‘…’ Styx didn’t feel like talking to him any more so he turned to see what was happening with Song Lin.
¹ 一表人才. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
Song Lin was asking darkly, ‘Who did that to Dandan?’
Bai Yini made a fist, her knuckles cracking. ‘Why, you want to even the score for him?’
Song Lin’s eyes travelled over to her. ‘Looks like it was you.’
Bai Yini swallowed hard. ‘Song Lin, I never wanted to fall out with you. Give up this rabbit and our two families can still work together.’
Song Lin said nothing but a golden bow and arrow materialised in his hands.
Bai Yini said through gritted teeth, ‘Xuanli arrows? Song Lin, are you serious?’
‘Which hand did you use?’ asked Song Lin.
‘What?’ Bai Yini didn’t understand at first.
‘Which hand did you use to hurt him?’ Song Lin repeated calmly.
Bai Yini said disbelievingly, ‘Song Lin, have you lost your mind? If you quarrel openly with the House of Bai, the Song clan will never have a day of peace in Ridge City again.’
Song Lin concluded, ‘You won’t say, so that means both hands.’
He had just said that when his Xuanli arrow went swooping over, dazzlingly bright and with deadly intent, igniting sparks along its path and turning the air scorching hot.
‘Bang!’ If Bijou hadn’t pulled Bai Yini out of the way, she would have been ashes already. Bijou landed with Bai Yini in another spot. She raised her hand and saw that there was a laceration on her wrist, the flesh gaping and smoking, looking particularly ugly on that fair smooth skin of hers.
She glared daggers at Song Lin. ‘You actually used a Xuanli arrow on me because of that rabbit?’
Song Lin’s face was an impassive mask as he drew back the bow again. ‘You better move faster this time because if you don’t, you’re going to lose the use of an arm.’
Bijou hurriedly pulled Bai Yini behind him and summoned his compass of ice and snow which fired countless icicles the next moment. Song Lin’s arrow instantly divided itself into thousands, hitting every single icicle and reducing them all to snowflakes. Nor did Song Lin give him the luxury of catching his breath as he fired another Xuanli arrow which streaked straight towards Bijou in a blur. No one was able to see where it was but they all saw a wave of golden light and the next instant, the arrow hit Bijou’s compass. There was a bang and then the compass began fissuring from the middle before actually shattering! Overwhelmed by the arrow’s spiritual power, Bijou’s knees gave out and he knelt on the ground.
Bai Yini looked at Bijou, then at the coldly detached Song Lin and said furiously, ‘You’ve gone too far²! Bijou, transform!’
Bijou let out a loud buck roar as his body began radiating white light and he began to expand slowly.
Dandan shouted anxiously then, ‘Song Lin, don’t let him transform! He can freeze time once he does!’
Song Lin immediately fired off three Xuanli arrows, each golden arrow immediately hitting Bijou’s vulnerable spots and pinning him to the ground. He was halfway through his beast transformation and half an antler remained on his head.
Having timed her moment, Bai Yini extended her sleeves like two long rolls of silk and twined them round Song Lin. He resisted for a few moments, surprised by the iron grip of what was clearly soft silk but the more he struggled, the more they tightened around him.
² 欺人太甚. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
‘The Shuiyun sleeves,’ Styx said in a low voice. ‘That’s a very rare, first-class magic weapon.’
Dandan seemed to have thought of something as he clutched Styx’s arm. ‘Help me up.’
‘You still want to fight in your condition?’
‘Trust me.’
Styx leaned away doubtfully and shook his head, objecting, ‘Something tells me this is a bad idea.’
With Song Lin preoccupied, Bijou took the chance to finish his transformation while at the same time, Dandan let out a furious roar himself. His body instantly swelled up by ten times, his white fur turned into a pointed suit of armour and his fangs gleamed. His powerful aura caused the trees for miles around to shake, the leaves fluttering to the ground with a whoosh, while startled birds flew up from the trees and into the sky.
Before everyone could grasp that he was still able to go into beast mode, he was already bearing down savagely on Bai Yini. Bijou immediately raced over and butted him aside with his antlers. Dandan went sliding a great distance away but he got to his feet almost immediately and launched himself at that giant white deer. Bijou’s eyes widened suddenly — Dandan was too fast, the world turned black before his eyes and the next moment, Dandan’s jaws clamped down on him!
The truth though was that Dandan had bitten into snow.
Yet another double. He gave his head a shake, going ‘pfff pfff pfff’ as he spat out a few bits of ice.
Song Lin turned and snapped at Styx, ‘Why did you let him fight?’
Styx waved his hands, protesting his innocence. ‘I tried to stop him but he wouldn’t listen…’
At this moment, a compass materialised once again above Bijou’s antlers, the needle spun rapidly and a flare of white light shot up into the sky. Song Lin and Styx were blinded by the glare and were about to shield their eyes with their hands but were then unable to move.
Time had stopped for both of them simultaneously, as it had for beast Dandan. Bai Yini let go of Song Lin and huffed out a tiny sigh, tiny beads of sweat dotting her forehead.
Bijou transformed back into his human self and picked up his long silver sword, making a vicious slash at Song Lin but Troy suddenly came flying at him from out of nowhere, seizing the back of Bijou’s hand in one bite. Bijou winced, flung him aside abruptly and with a reverse movement, thrust the long sword into Troy’s heart.
‘Ahhh!’ Troy screamed in pain and collapsed onto the snow-covered ground.
‘Fool,’ Bijou cursed contemptuously as he coldly surveyed the small white dog on the verge of death.
Trying to get back onto that old path at this point is already too late. Troy coughed up blood, jeering at himself mentally. But why couldn’t I help doing it just now? When will I ever have my own owner?
… He felt his strength draining away; his mind was in a whirl, like a sticky mess.
Bijou did not bother with him any more and merely picked up his sword, stabbing Song Lin in the stomach with it. There was a soft ‘shik!’ as the blade sliced through flesh but the agonised scream that reached his ears came from Bai Yini instead.
‘What!!!’ Bijou’s head snapped round only to see Bai Yini standing in the same spot, but with blood spurting from her stomach. ‘What’s going on!!!’ Bijou tossed the sword aside in a panic and rushed over to support her.
Bai Yini wiped away some blood from her stomach with a shaking hand, her eyes widening in consternation as a sudden thought struck her and she said falteringly, ‘Dandan has me bound!’
‘Bound?’
‘He must have done it just now…’
Bijou suddenly recalled the moment after Dandan’s transformation when he had launched himself at Bai Yini — was that when he did it?
Bai Yini held out one of her Shuiyun sleeves only to see a near-transparent string tied to it. She smiled grimly. ‘To think he was actually able to weave his spiritual power so swiftly and then bind my Shuiyun sleeve…’
‘I’ll go kill Dandan right now.’
‘No, he must have bound himself as well, if you hurt him, I’ll be injured too!’ Bai Yini grimaced as she pressed down on her wound and said painfully, ‘Can’t believe he actually thought of such a way…’
Bijou glanced over at them. ‘That grey-haired fellow has healing powers. I’ll unfreeze time and get him to help you.’
Bai Yini’s lashes quivered as she said, ‘They’re dying to³ kill me now. Why would they help me?’
³ 恨不得. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.
At this moment, the Crone who had been standing on the sidelines suddenly picked up the sword from the ground and tried to stab Song Lin with it.
Bijou instantly kicked the sword away, shouting furiously, ‘Are you mad? She’ll die!’
The Crone seemed to find this funny. ‘Oh? What business is it of mine whether she lives or dies?’
Enraged, Bijou snapped his fingers and unfroze time. Blood spurted from the spot where Song Lin had been stabbed and Styx hastened over to help him stop the bleeding.
Dandan, who had expended too much of his spiritual power on transforming into a beast and using the Bind spell, turned back into his human self and collapsed to the ground.
Bijou lifted Bai Yini into his arms. ‘The Crone is so cruel and unjust, we won’t ally ourselves with her any more. I’m taking you home.’ He then sprang up and disappeared into the forest.
The Crone gave a strange cackle as she began walking towards Dandan. ‘It’s been so many years, but you still can’t escape my clutches!’
Troy somehow found the strength to yank the Qingling pendant from his neck and throw it to Dandan, calling, ‘Use this!’
Dandan struggled to his feet and caught the pendant which instantly transmuted into the Qingling Sword. He grasped the hilt with both his hands and with the last vestige of his strength, stabbed the Crone with the sword.
Song Lin and Styx heard the commotion and turned round sharply to look, only to see Dandan panting heavily as he knelt over the Crone’s body — the Qingling Sword had pierced right through her and was buried in the ground. But the Crone’s physical body had vanished, leaving only a heap of tattered clothes from which a pool of sticky black liquid was slowly spreading out.
Dandan turned his head and gasped out exhaustedly, ‘She got away.’
Then he blacked out completely.
(Approx. 2136 words)
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
Ughhh, Dandan ;O; Song Lin going “just look at me” kind of shot me through my heart. A part of me is going “seriously, they’re just letting Song Lin and Styx do what they want after having muscled through, okay”, but the more important part of me is going “YES THIS IS THE QUALITY CONTENT I WANT” so. Yeah. 8);
Not quite sure what Bai Yini is thinking, seeing as she still wants Song Lin to just go away and let them do what they want to Dandan. I guess a lot of other spirit owners think of their spirit beasts as disposable, but I’m sure it’s quite obvious Song Lin isn’t the same.
KICK THEIR ASSES SONG LIN!!!
!!!!!!!! KICK THEIR ASSES DANDAN!!!
Though ngl, I also want him to just… recover.. ;O;
And that time stop cheat is SO CHEAP.
TROY. I just… why at this time, you dumb dog.
Urghhh, all of this going on makes my head spin. I’m sure Bijou and Bai Yini knew how awful the Crone was, but they were like ladeda until Bai Yini nearly dies. Uh huh. And now they’ve pranced off to who knows where. I really hope nobody forgives them. And OF COURSE the Crone slithers away.
I can’t decide how I feel about Troy. He was SO DUMB it was unbelievable. I almost get why he did what he did, but at the same time, how could helping the Crone help him? It just doesn’t make all that much sense, which is why he is SUCH A DUMB DOG. Good thing he’s cute. 8|
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Everybody is too polite to interrupt their moment hahaha!
Bai Yini actually had her reasons for helping the Crone who is good at ferreting out all these people who have some weakness or other and using them. And since the Five Great Houses don’t like each other, it’s pretty easy to drive a wedge in between them.
She’s annoyingly hard to kill. 😠
Troy just couldn’t be bad enough or good enough. 🤨 Sigh He was effective enough for the Crone’s purposes though.
I do like Song Lin’s little exchange with Bai Yini about who hurt Dandan though hehe.
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