The Godlike Jade Rabbit Chapter 71

Sacrifices…

Note: PLEASE DO NOT link any translations on this site to anywhere on Novel Updates, whether it’s the updates list or reading lists.

---

_{© 12 and
theresanother.wordpress.com 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the translation without express and written permission from 12 is strictly prohibited.}

---

 

Ch. 71 | A new team?

 

The glass window of the treatment room had shattered. Song Fuyan immediately went to check on Styx’s safety and after reassuring himself, came back out. He used magic to summon an eagle and flew up to the roof where he asked Bijou and Song Lin, ‘Are you all prepared for that thing?’

Bijou nodded.

‘We’re just waiting for Phantom’s rain.’

Song Fuyan turned and looked at Wanyan Fu.

’Go and protect the others in the house.’

‘Why?’ Wanyan Fu was puzzled. ‘They’re already being protected by The Book of All Things.’

Song Fuyan replied dispassionately, ‘There should always be a contingency plan.’

‘… All right,’ Wanyan Fu answered and headed back into the house.

‘It’s about time we sent them a blizzard,’ Song Lin looked up, whistled and a purple dragon came swooping down. Bijou then leapt onto the dragon’s back.

Dandan couldn’t help looking up at them — a lu-shu plus a flood dragon? It was certainly a novel combination but after a moment’s thought, he immediately knew what they were up to.

Phantom gave a swish of his tail and the next instant, a torrential downpour started. The compass behind Bijou turned and innumerable icicles came shooting out of it, mixing with Phantom’s rain and raining down on the Shuren.

Both Dandan and the Crone sprang to their feet very nimbly and leapt up onto the tree trunk behind them.

The Shuren were much slower to react however and, not being able to escape in time, were frozen by the blizzard. Song Lin took the chance to summon his Xuanli bow and arrow and made an open gesture with his arms which had the weapon instantly replicating itself in the tens of thousands. All the bows then fired simultaneously into the Shuren at his command. The golden arrows were everywhere, each one bringing with it the fury of a gale. There was a bang as the whole courtyard of frozen Shuren instantly splintered into icy shards… As the shards flew everywhere, they landed on the Soul Reviving Fires which were rapidly extinguished.

The Crone, who was watching all of this from the tree, was evidently taken by surprise but she soon recovered her composure and clapped slowly, saying, ‘Very clever of you to have come up with such a method. Indeed, this can completely finish off the Shuren… but, you’ve had your fun and now it’s all over.’

The last few words sounded especially vicious and her voice had just faded away when a woman’s scream suddenly came from the manor. It turned out that there were actually impostors among the refugees from Ridge City. They were standing behind the crowd and after stripping off their disguises, had lunged forward and bit off a woman’s arm.

‘Aaahhh!’

Everyone in the manor began panicking and hurriedly drew their weapons to defend themselves. Some wanted to open the door to escape only to find that the door had been locked at some point.

Seeing this, Bai Yini shouted frantically, ‘Bijou! My mother is in there! Quick, save her!’

Just then, Wanyan Fu stepped forward, holding a jade fan which emitted a beam of light when he snapped it open. He ordered, ’Get behind me, all of you!’

Everyone scrambled to hide behind him and he created a space between the Shuren and the people of Ridge City.

‘What’s that?’ Bi An asked his teacher.

Feng Chulian replied, ‘A magic weapon handed down through generations of the Wanyans — the Burning Jade Fan.’

‘Song Fuyan was right to put me here after all.’

Wanyan Fu flourished the jade fan which emitted aftershocks. Each aftershock was like an invisible sharp blade which instantly sliced open the Shuren. Immediately after this, he waved the fan again in the other direction and a row of windows behind him shattered. He roared, ‘Get out now!’

As if waking from a dream, the crowd began jostling¹ each other to escape through the windows.

_{¹ 爭先恐後. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.}

‘Mother!’ Bai Yini found Madam Bai in the crowd and hugged her, asking, ‘Are you hurt?’

Madam Bai answered, ‘I’m all right.’

The Shuren who had been sliced open began to coalesce and slowly began climbing out.

Wanyan Fu suddenly looked at the Crone and asked angrily, ‘When did these people sneak in?!’

The Crone laughed.

‘Well… you’ll have to ask your beloved bonded spirit beast about that!’

‘What?!’ Wanyan Fu’s eyes bulged and he turned his head abruptly to see Kleidi emerge from the shadows, saying softly, ‘I’m sorry, your Highness.’

‘Kleidi!!’ Wanyan Fu exclaimed disbelievingly. He could hardly believe what he was seeing, nor did he want to.

Head bowed, Kleidi confessed, ‘I was the one who let them in.’

The Crone leapt down from the tree.

‘She was the first from our tribe who came to test the waters at Ridge City. She was our spy from the very beginning.’

‘You think I’ll believe you? She’s my spirit beast! She has nothing to do with ugly things like you!’ Wanyan Fu drew in a deep breath, feeling as though his intense fury was about to overwhelm all reason. He lifted the fan and brought it down in the Crone’s direction.

But the most unexpected thing happened: Kleidi darted in front of the Crone and was sliced in half, her body falling like two clumps of mud onto the floor.

‘…’ Wanyan Fu was breathing harshly and shaking from head to toe. ‘Why did you save her?!’

Kleidi did not answer and merely lay there, gazing blankly up at the sky. A few snowflakes drifted down onto her eyelashes and her lips.

‘Why did you betray me?!’ Unwilling to give up, Wanyan Fu berated her again.

Kleidi murmured, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘What’s the use of saying sorry?! You’re my damn spirit beast! I found you at the seaside and you said you would follow me for the rest of your life!!’

‘But I’m… one of the Shuren after all… I can’t betray my own people…’ She blinked and the snowflakes on her lashes melted and trickled down from the corners of her eyes like tears. ‘It used to snow on Skyless Island just like this. It was so beautiful.’

The Crone looked coldly down at her.

‘You’re not going to put yourself together again?’

‘I won’t be,’ Kleidi said feebly. ‘Besides, I’m too ashamed to face His Highness. His Highness is… very noble, virtuous and handsome. I’ve been with him for more than ten years and he’s treated me very well. I know that he’s fond of wearing his lustrous jade thumb ring and of playing with his fan. He does everything with the elegance of a nobleman. I think I love him, but I know he’ll never forgive me. If only I could be reincarnated — if there is a next life, I don’t want to oppose him. I want to be on his side for as long as I live.’

‘That being the case, go to hell,’ said the Crone unmoved as the Shuren climbing out of the house ruthlessly devoured Kleidi.

Wanyan Fu appeared completely stupefied as he stood where he was dumbly, his shoulders slumping and the fan sliding from his grasp and clattering to the floor.

The Shuren made a threatening leap at him and Dandan hurriedly jumped down from the tree to drag him away.

‘Get a grip, now isn’t the time for grieving.’

‘Give up,’ the Crone leaned on her walking stick and told the crowd opposite her. ‘You think there are only Shuren in the courtyard? You’re wrong: we have the whole of Crescent Moon Ridge surrounded. The Shuren are everywhere², even in places that you can’t see.’

At this moment, if one were gazing over at Crescent Moon Ridge from another peak, then one would see a continuous swarm of black fluid spreading up from the foot of the mountain, like black molten lava which caused the grass and trees to wither.

‘We can’t be counted,’ the Crone said, smiling. ‘We’re fluids, and we’ll devour the whole of Ridge City starting from Crescent Moon Ridge.’

_{² 無處不在. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.}

‘Damn you!’ Dandan let go of Wanyan Fu and rushed over, holding the Nine Star Halberd aloft. All nine stars lit up simultaneously as spiritual energy gathered at the edge of the halberd’s blade before sweeping away all the Shuren in front of it, cleaving a path through the mass of nonentities so quickly that they had no time to react. A series of loud explosions later, like the sound of balloons popping, black fluid splattered everywhere, covering the roof and doors, making for a shocking sight.

Finally, Dandan made a mighty leap at the Crone, bringing the halberd down. She instantly summoned a sword forged out of the Soul Reviving Fire and both weapons closed at lightning speed, their strikes reverberating through the air. The Crone managed to parry Dandan’s weapon but was dealt a blow by a strong spiritual force. She staggered back a few steps in surprise.

‘You’ve matured very fast, you’re even stronger than you were back then on Dragon Ridge.’

Dandan retorted, ‘That’s right, I’ve waited a hundred years to kill you and today is the day I do it!’ He changed directions and swung the halberd upwards and a flash of spiritual power came flying out. The Crone leapt aside swiftly but this burst of power was too formidable, filled as it was with a rancour which swept away all obstacles. She felt pain course through her heart before her entire body exploded.

Her head rolled noisily to a stop at Dandan’s feet. It was the face of a young girl.

Dandan regarded her coldly.

‘This is your true form?’

The Crone’s mouth gasped, ‘Yes.’

‘Then you shouldn’t have any regrets since you can die in your true form.’ Dandan raised the halberd up high.

‘Why?’

‘Why what?’

‘Why are they worthy of your protection?’ The Crone’s gaze was trained on something behind Dandan.

Dandan turned his head only to see the entire population of Ridge City huddling together, looking at him in bewilderment.

‘These fellows…’ the Crone chuckled grimly as her four limbs started to wriggle towards her head like the legs of a spider, ‘will stop at nothing just to get what they want. They think they’re at the top of all things and don’t respect us spirit beasts. To them, we’re just beasts — they employ beast trappers to capture spirit beasts, then throw them into cages and sell them at the Exchange. Is this how we should be treated? We were not born any less worthy than them. The pact between humans and spirit beasts is a lopsided one: why are they allowed to own more than one spirit beast, but spirit beasts can only have one owner? It’s humans… who are the most selfish. Are you going to die for such a selfish group of people? Silly child, spirit beasts don’t have to submit to humans when we ourselves possess the ability to rule the world. Yet throughout the millennia, how many of our tribes have been decimated while these selfish humans have prospered. Why? Is this fair? It’s time for them to go extinct. This world doesn’t need humans, we ourselves will be enough.’

One of the Crone’s arms had already attached itself to her shoulder and she stretched out her hand towards Dandan.

‘Dear child, join me, let’s eliminate that selfish, filthy and ugly tribe. This world should not always be subject to their will.’

Dandan’s head was lowered. His fringe hid his eyes, making it hard to see his expression. The whole courtyard was so quiet that only the sound of snowflakes pattering down on the branches could be heard.

At length he spoke in a low voice. ‘It’s true that there should not only be humans in this world, but this world absolutely cannot do without humans.’ He exhaled slowly, his breath turning white in the air before dispersing. ‘Having lived this long, I know what it’s like to be controlled, held in captivity, abandoned, lied to, mocked at, betrayed… I was insufferably arrogant³ once upon a time and I was also the lowliest of the low once. But the longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve come to understand a truth: how very difficult it is in this bleak world to be able to find someone whom you want to protect.’

_{³ 不可一世. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.}

The Crone’s eyes widened.

‘Want to protect… someone?’

‘That’s right. You’re always asking me what reason I have for protecting Ridge City. To me, as long as there is one person here whom I want to protect, then I’m willing to defend the whole city for his sake.’

---

_{(Approx. 2100 words)}

☆ 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.

©

---

 
 
 

Translated and edited by 12

---

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Browse all chapters| Glossary