Fortune favours the brave…
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Ch. 70 | Confessions
‘I…’ Dandan felt indescribably anxious. He licked his lips slightly, feeling the words bubble up on the tip of his tongue, ready to be declared the next second.
It was in that same moment that he suddenly realised a very crucial point — Ye Ziran had been on watch the night before, so wasn’t it Song Lin’s turn to take the night watch today? He ought to be patrolling outside the Priest’s Manor at that very moment, so what on earth was he doing here?
His heart thumping hard, Dandan took an abrupt step back, cursing, ‘Bloody old hag, haven’t you had enough!’
Song Lin stared at him in astonishment but then smiled immediately after that. ‘When did you realise it?’
Watching Song Lin slowly morph into the Crone, Dandan felt as though he were about to have a heart attack. He swore fluently and demanded, ‘Are you mad?! Going around pretending to be other people all day long, don’t you get tired of it?!’
The Crone replied, ‘As long as I wish to, I can be anyone. I can even be… you.’
Dandan frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know very well what I mean,’ the Crone answered significantly.
Dandan recalled the last occasion when she had told him that Yu Huan had been killed by him. He had thought it ludicrous at that time and assumed the old hag had been spouting rubbish but now, seeing Song Lin morph into the Crone before his very eyes, an important lead seemed to race across his mind¹.
¹ 一閃而過. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
‘Everyone found it really strange. How could the invincible Arch-Guardian die just like that?’ the Crone said unhurriedly. ‘You want to know too, don’t you?’
Dandan stared fixedly at her. ‘Tell me, how?’
The Crone lifted a corner of the grey headscarf she was wearing, revealing half her face, smiling slightly as she said, ‘Because he never once thought of being on his guard… would you be on your guard against the one you loved most?’
Dandan listened, his eyes widening slowly as he watched half of the Crone’s face changing…
The Crone’s voice continued volubly, as though she were narrating a story which happened long, long ago.
‘That day, there was a raging fire on Dragon Ridge. The flood dragon had been sent by the Arch-Guardian to summon the rain needed to douse the fire. The taotie and the jade rabbit split up to kill the enemy while our beloved Arch-Guardian stood on the peak, waiting for his last opponent. But the one who finally showed up was the jade rabbit who had turned back halfway.
The Arch-Guardian asked, “Little one, why have you come back?”
The rabbit replied, “My Nine Star Halberd was destroyed by the enemy, can you lend me your Chuyun Sabre?”
His Excellency, the Arch-Guardian, consented readily.
“Take it and be very careful.”
The rabbit accepted the magic weapon, thanked him with a smile and just when the Arch-Guardian had turned away, the rabbit stabbed him in the back.’
Dandan’s breathing was strained by now.
Half of the Crone’s face had become Dandan’s face as she said, ‘That rabbit looked like this. Do you find him familiar?’
Dandan’s eyes reddened. No wonder, no wonder the very last time that he saw Yu Huan, he had been stabbed with the Chuyun Sabre.
Heaven knew what Yu Huan had been feeling when he died. His heart suddenly ached miserably at this thought.
Then the Crone revealed the other side of her face which had completely rotted away. ‘But the Arch-Guardian certainly lived up to his reputation for the spiritual power that he was able to release even in those circumstances was enough to almost kill me. If I hadn’t absorbed two-thirds of your spiritual power, I might not have escaped Dragon Ridge with my life.’
Dandan’s eyes had slowly darkened to blood red and his nails were dug deep into his palms. He asked through clenched teeth, ‘Why did you kill Yu Huan?’
‘As long as Yu Huan was alive, Ridge City would never be mine,’ the Crone stated matter-of-factly. ‘My tribe is waiting for me to save them; they’re running out of time.’
‘Then what about us?’ Dandan demanded fiercely. ‘Who will save us from our fate?’
‘What do you know? I bear the hopes of my people, of the entire Shuren tribe, and my daughter is still waiting for me on Skyless Island!’ The Crone added, ‘Justice will never fail.’
‘You’re wrong, no war is ever just. Your daughter would not want you to save her using such methods either.’
Dandan suddenly raised his hand. The Nine Star Halberd in the treatment room seemed to sense something and began vibrating strongly. In a few seconds, it broke through a window and flew to his waiting hand with a swoosh.
The Crone looked astounded for a moment before chuckling softly. ‘Little rabbit, you had better behave yourself. Everyone is asleep and completely defenceless — if I start a fire now, you won’t be able to save them.’
Dandan tightened his hold on the halberd and assumed a battle-ready stance.
‘Don’t be so stubborn. Styx is still lying in the treatment room, the High Priest is beyond all cure, Bai Yini’s mother is in frail health and the people whom you’ve all saved still haven’t recovered from their injuries…’
‘What do you want?’
‘I want you — to leave with me.’
At this moment, black fluid began welling up from the ground, coalescing into humanoid forms which started to surge towards Dandan.
He took a step back, putting some distance between himself and these Shuren and shouted angrily, ‘What are you up to?’
‘I want to make a pact with you.’
‘Are you mad? A spirit beast can’t have two owners, otherwise its heart will be gnawed away by Heaven’s wrath and it’ll die.’
After hearing this, the Crone laughed suddenly. ‘Whether or not you make a pact with me, you’re still going to suffer Heaven’s wrath. There’s no escape.’
Dandan was startled. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Oh, you mean I didn’t tell you?’ The Crone asked in mock amazement before saying leisurely², ‘Yu Huan has… been reborn indeed, but… it’s not as Song Lin.’
Her voice trailed off and Dandan felt his blood run cold as he stood there stiffly and mumbled, ‘What… did you say?’
‘You’re going to die sooner or later so why not join me in destroying this place? The Guardians of Ridge City captured your entire tribe to experiment on them and your father also died because of that. Why do you still insist on protecting them?’
‘…’
In the split second that Dandan was distracted, innumerable Shuren lunged at him but just when they were about to capture him, a row of icicles suddenly landed with sharp thuds in front of Dandan, fencing him off.
² 慢條斯理. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
The Shuren halted in surprise for a second before looking up and seeing a white lu-shu standing on the roof, flawlessly white in the moonlight.
‘Bijou.’ Dandan suddenly realised who it was.
‘Get out of the way!’ Bijou roared and began the spell to freeze time. The first row of Shuren became immobile.
Ye Ziran popped up from nowhere and began firing his two pistols with deadly accuracy, causing each Shuren’s head to explode.
The Shuren, frozen in time, could not regenerate and remained where they were.
The Crone’s expression turned cold and she snarled, ‘Don’t come spoiling things!’ With a wave of her walking stick, a fire dragon instantly materialised from behind her and flew upwards into the sky with a roar, belching out a gigantic fireball.
Liang Luoheng suddenly appeared and blocked the impact of the fireball using a round shield made out of several massive tree branches.
The Shuren behind came swarming over swiftly and actually began swallowing the first row of immobile Shuren, causing their own bodies to become huge and sturdy. They then continued to advance in an unending stream.
Bijou stared, flabbergasted. They actually eat their own?! That’s bloody disgusting.
Dandan gripped the halberd tightly, causing the nine stars on the hilt to emit a red light so dazzling that it blinded the Shuren. He lifted the halberd high above him the next moment, then brought it down with a forceful sweep. The resulting spiritual power from the halberd’s blade blasted the Shuren into smithereens, so that the whole courtyard looked like it had been done in splash-ink.
The shield of tree branches, which Liang Luoheng was standing on, was already on fire and he sounded a warning, ‘I can’t hold it off any more!’
Bai Yini used her Shuiyun Sleeves to catch him, slowly lowering him to the ground. The next moment, the fire dragon opened its mouth wide again, spitting out another fireball which she hurriedly dodged together with Liang Luoheng. All the plants in the courtyard in the fireball’s path were then set ablaze, instantly engulfing the entire Priest’s Manor in a sea of fire.
Bai Yini suddenly turned to look at the manor. ‘Mother!’
‘No harm done.’ The High Priest and Bi An emerged from the manor, holding The Book of All Things which they had used to shield everyone in the house. The inhabitants had been woken up by the commotion and were now coming over to the windows to see what was happening.
The blaze was getting bigger and everyone was finding the scorching heat hard to endure. Just then, a purple flood dragon swooped down from the sky³ with Song Lin standing on its back. He was wielding his long golden sabre which sent innumerable wind blades flying out that sliced and diced the fire dragon with a few whooshing motions.
³ 從天而降. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
‘Song Lin!’ Dandan cried out joyfully.
Song Lin bent down and patted the purple dragon’s head. ‘Know what to do now?’
The dragon roared in answer and winged back towards the clouds even as Song Lin leapt off nimbly and landed beside Dandan, scything through another lot of Shuren in the process.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yeah, I am.’
‘Good, then keep the Crone busy for now while I go help Phantom,’ Song Lin said and turned to leave.
‘Wait!’ Dandan suddenly caught hold of his wrist.
‘What?’ Before Song Lin could even react, Dandan had pulled him in close, stood on tiptoe and given him a peck on the lips, declaring, ‘I like you.’
‘What… did you say?’ Something seemed to leap to life in Song Lin’s eyes.
‘I like you,’ Dandan repeated calmly.
Song Lin was dumbfounded for a very long moment. His Adam’s apple bobbed up, then down before the corners of his mouth curved up and he answered, ‘Okay, got it.’
Feeling that he had expressed all that he wished to say and that the whole matter was over, Dandan gave him a light push. ‘Go on then.’
Song Lin was less satisfied so he pulled Dandan in by the waist and bit him hard on his lip. ‘Wait for me.’
Dandan licked his lip where he could taste a little blood and said angrily, ‘Damn it, that really hurt!’
‘So it ought.’ Song Lin laughed, turned and leapt up to the roof.
(Approx. 1859 words)
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
OH MY GOD.
NO WONDER SONG LIN WAS SO SMOOTH. HE WASN’T EVEN SONG LIN!!!!! OMFG!!! I was completely fooled too!
…Oh… oh no… No wonder Yu Huan died so easily. I just… that’s awful. That’s so awful. Damnit! That god damn awful Crone! Poor Yu Huan! Poor Dandan! That’s just terrible–it doesn’t really matter what her motivations are, she’s an awful person. 8| At least we know a little more why the Crone does the things she does, but she doesn’t have to go around trampling people.
Ugh, don’t listen to her, Dandan! Even if she’s right and Yu Huan was reborn elsewhere, there’s no point in going with the person WHO KILLED YU HUAN IN THE FIRST PLACE. Idk why she thought she’d be able to persuade Dandan.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA DANDAN!!!! YOU SAID IT!!! GOOD JOB! EVEN IF IT WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!! GOOD JOB!!! AND YOU KISSED HIM! WHAT A BOLD RABBIT!
What a rollercoaster of a chapter, haha! Thank you!
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Haha, yes! Had me fooled too and then whoa! Surprise at the end! At last!
The Crone is a few sandwiches short of a picnic by this point, I think. 😂
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