The little monsters in the Imperial Mausoleum had no sense of crisis. After living in the underground palace for several days, they became quite stuffy. In addition, the imagined danger didn"t come, so they all moved back on to the ground and continued to spend their days noisily.When Xin Mei returned to the Imperial Mausoleum, it was close to dusk, and from a distance, she saw smoke rising from the chimney of the kitchen. Presumably, Silan was heating steamed buns and pastries for everyone. Tao Guoguo and his brother"s frolicking voice were indistinct and occasionally mingled with the roar of Zhao Guanrenrespectful term of address for a man in the Song Dynasty¹—no matter how chaotic the outside world was, the Imperial Mausoleum was always the same.
“Lu Qianqiao, do you want to go and have a look?”Xin Mei looked back and smilingly asked.
This General darent.i.tle of respect toward superiors² usually did everything quite straightforward. That was, until he met her, then he became this sticky. At first, he said that he would take her to the edge of the cliff, and when he tried to walk away, he came back and simply carried her onto Lie Yun Hua and said that he would send her for another five liancient measure of length, approx. 500 m³. After walking for five liancient measure of length, approx. 500 m³, then he said he would send her for another five liancient measure of length, approx. 500 m³. In the end, he personally send her to the Imperial Mausoleum.Lu Qianqiao shook his head. “No need. I"ll watch as you go.“
Although they were happy to meet each other, nevertheless, they were afraid that they didn"t have much time left.Xin Mei put away Qiu Yue, walked down a few steps downhill, and then turned back. Lu Qianqiao still stood quietly on the hillside, as dusk spread its glow on his clothes and hair.
She waved and shouted, “When you come back next month, I"ll make you General tofu!”He nodded as he watched her happily run down the hillside and rush like a streak of smokevery quickly⁴ into the tomb pa.s.sage. Not long after, Silan cried out in alarm, Zhao Guanrenrespectful term of address for a man in the Song Dynasty¹ gave out a loud shout, and finally they turned into bursts of laughter, as it rippled in the smoke from the chimney.
General tofu…he bowed his head and couldn"t help laughing. He led Lie Yun Hua back along the road where they just came. When he saw Lie Yun Hua had a look of reluctant to part, he asked in a low voice, “...loathe to part with Qiu Yue?”As a matter of fact, ever since Lie Yun Hua was exchanged as a pledge of his love to Xin Mei, its temperament had changed greatly. In the past, it always believed in its n.o.ble blood so its ignored everyone except him, not to mention Qiu Yue, which in its eyes was an ugly and useless slovenly pelican. He didn"t know what kind of stimulation did Xin Mei have given it. After she married in, it absolutely stuck to Qiu Yue like glue and lacquerChinese idiom : be inseparable⁵. All day long, it would look at the other party with its eyes full of respect and adoration. It only hated that the other party didn"t have a horse a.s.s. Otherwise, its flattering breath could be sprayed on it.
“We"ll see them again next month.”
Lu Qianqiao patted Lie Yun Hua"s sad head and leapt onto its back. One man and a horse disappeared out of the Mist Formation like a light smoke.It was getting dark, and everything around was silent. The wind blew the dark clouds over the moon. Soon, light snow began to fall. Snowflakes drifted in from the flimsy window which made Xin Xiong sneezed because of the cold. He could not help but ask the unreliable man in front of him, “That…have we reach my son-in-law"s mansion yet?”
Two days ago, this frivolous young man suddenly came from the sky to send a few boxes of steamed buns, saying that it was Xin Mei who had asked him to bring them for him. It was New Year"s day just recently. Xinxie Manor had no business to do, and his disciples were gradually able to do the work on their own. Xin Xiong suddenly had this idea to visit his daughter and son-in-law. This young man said that he was Lu Qianqiao"s subordinate and could help lead the way for him. So they made an appointment to meet at the gate of Xinxie Manor during the day. As soon as he went out, he was shocked to see the young man"s gorgeous golden vehicle.Raising birds of paradise just to pull a cart was wasting natural resources recklesslyChinese idiom :not to know how to use things sparingly⁶! Xin Xiong, a professional, was deeply saddened by this kind of behaviour.
The Great Monk sat by the window. His left hand which was wearing a black silk glove, stroked his right arm from time to time. His right arm was a little strange, as it was horizontal like a piece of wood, and could not move. He smiled gently at Xin Xiong and rea.s.sured, “Boss Xin, don"t worry, we will be there soon.”The long vehicle landed slowly and finally stopped at a place with thick mist and snow. The Great Monk kindly pointed in a certain direction, “Boss Xin just go inside. I reckon that your daughter will find you after a while.”
Xin Xiong looked blankly at the dark vast stretch of land in a deep of winter outside, then looked back at him, “You, you"re not going to send me in?”He was also the leader of a village at any rate. He could see that the thick mist outside was obviously caused by some kind of a formation and did not belong to natural weather. If there was no one to lead him, he couldn"t walk out for ten or eight years.
The Great Monk gently pulled him out of the car, gave him a polite push, and smiled, “I really like to send you to your house, Old Man, but for one thing, I can"t break the mist, and for another…if you don"t walk away right now, it will be very dangerous.”Dangerous?
Before he could ask, he heard a loud ‘bang" and the long vehicle a few steps behind him was smashed into slag in the blink of an eye. Xin Xiong opened his big mouth in horror. Suddenly he felt that his arm was caught by someone. Followed closely by his whole body flew towards the thick mist like mounting the clouds and ride the mistChinese idiom :to speed across the sky⁷. His son-in-law"s voice faintly sounded in his ear, “Go in first!”His feet involuntarily fell to the ground and rushed forward a few steps along the other side"s road. When he stood and looked back, he couldn"t see even half a figure of human except for the thick mist!
The Great Monk looked at the long vehicle , which had become a piece of debris, without changing colourChinese idiom : remain calm⁸, and murmured, “What an amazing skill…”However, there was a curse of the Fox Clan attached to the long vehicle. It was incompatible as fire and water two things diametrically opposed to each other⁹ as it was also impervious to sword or spearChinese idiom : untouchable¹⁰. The only one who could rip open the vehicle and smashed it to pieces was the War Demon Clan.
Then came the neighing of a horse. A fiery steed came against the wind and went straight towards the birds of paradise that were flapping their wings as they cried, which led to a number of red and gold light entangled in the sky. It was estimated that they would not be able to return for a while.The Great Monk smiled wryly, “You know I will come so you keep a watch outside the Imperial Mausoleum?”
No one answered him. The black whip was invisible in the misty snowy night. In a split second, the roll of whip reached before his eyes. He closed his eyes, shook his long sleeves, then sat down cross-legged. In the next moment, a layer of golden light enveloped him, but the long whip still curled around his body. He couldn"t pull it out nor could he tugged at it. The whip gradually tightened around his body. The Great Monk looked pale and reluctantly smiled, “General, I have properly delivered your father-in-law to the Imperial Mausoleum.”
It was clearly with his good intention did he returned the hostages.There was still no answer coming from Lu Qianqiao, while the whip continued to tighten. It was estimated that even a stone could be crushed by this whip.
The Great Monk"s expression showed that he was a little painful.He raised his head and said something to the War Demon who was in the deep darkness in front of him. In the next moment, the layer of golden light around his body turned into foam and the whip quivered. His body became like tofu, as it twisted into flecks, and fell onto the snow field with blood spread over.
After a long time, Liu Qianqiao finally walked out from inside the forest and walked to the front of the shapeless body. He squatted down for a moment, then tilted his head to the Mist Formation for a moment. He resolutely got up and disappeared into the formation.At that time, Xin Xiong, who was stranded in the Mist Formation confusingly, was swearing loudly. He had originally come to see his daughter and son-in-law with full joy. Now, he didn"t see any people, and he was trapped in this terrible place, while suffering from hunger and cold.
He lambasted, “That brat, I knew he was not a good person! Making the bird of paradise to pull the vehicle and has the look of a villain!“He was swearing in gusto, when he arm was being pulled again. He wanted to scream, but it got stuck in his throat. He could only feel that his body began to soar again. Snowflakes and mist hit him in the face, made him in a daze. But it was only for a moment, when it suddenly opened up to a wide panoramafig. everything becomes clear at once¹¹ before his own eyes, as snow covered and vast tomb pa.s.sage appeared.
“Go straight ahead.”The man who was pulling him whispered. Why did his voice sound like his son-in-law?
Xin Xiong turned around in surprise. There was nothing there except snowflakes twirling around in the air. The man who sounded like his son-in-law had disappeared.It was a long night, and the snow was getting heavier and heavier. Soon the sad bodies of the Great Monk was buried under the snow. Unknowingly, after a long time, faint sounds of someone walking on the snow could be heard, as two dark figure hurriedly went straight to the body. They startled when they caught sight of the blood spread all over the ground, and then they crouched down. One of them whispered, “Great Monk, he"s gone.”
After a while, a frivolous voice whispered, though it still sounded a little timid, “…really gone?”The two men nodded hard.
The body buried by the snow suddenly shuddered, then it changed into several pieces of rubble with sc.r.a.ping sounds. Under the stone was a hole that he had dug. The Great Monk was squatting in the hole, sighing, “I almost died…fortunately, since I am a fox, I can make a hole…”He was so glad that he was a fox, not a white rabbit or a gray wolf. Otherwise, his would lose his life here today.
“You have done cursing Li Chaoyang, and yet, you still afraid of the General? He hasn"t become a perfect war demon, has he?“The Great Monk shook his head as his heart still fluttered with fearChinese idiom : have a lingering fear¹², “For Li Chaoyang, I have to attack her when it was least expectedChinese idiom : to catch somebody off guard¹³. My trump card can only be used once. If I use it for the second time, it will not work since the enemy has already prepared himself.“
That General seemed like a wood, so he didn"t expect that he would be able to harm him. He thought it would be the same as dealing with Li Chaoyang. However, the General never showed himself in front of him. The General just hid in the wood and threw his whip around. Even if he could cast spells around his own body, there was no way for him to watch out for the General at the same time. .“What"s next? According to the Elders, they intend to continue to use this trump card of yours to go against the War Demon Clan. Are you going back to take this orders?“
The Great Monk sneered, “My trump card can only be used once, and I will be a fool if I use it once more. So, I"m not going.““In that case, what are you going to do? You can"t appear in front of the war demons, or you will be hunted. Why did you have to do something troublesome by sending the man to the Imperial Mausoleum?“
He thought about it for a moment, then looked up at the dark sky, and suddenly smiled, “If I didn"t send him over, how could I meet with the war demon General alone…we should go further south—sooner or later the Elders will be forced to move the clan there. I"ll settle down there first.““…are you planning to run for your life first alone?”
“To flee for life on my own or something equal is extremely scandalous. I am just a good man who loves peace and detest conflict. To provoke the war ghost this time is bound to give no good results. I am waiting for the time where the Elders will wet their pantsChinese idiom : terror-stricken¹⁴ and complain tearfully at me. By the way, I have been admired for my foresight.“Anyway, he had advised them many times before, however, the Elders ignored the advice as if they were air and then forced him to deal with Li Chaoyang. So, he obediently came here to deal with it. Normally, ordinary people would die if they were hit by the curse, but whether the perfect war demon was really dead, and whether this kind of behavior would provoke the War Demon Clan to cause greater slaughter of his clan, he was too lazy to care.
“…as a matter of fact, you precisely thinking of saving yourself first, aren"t you?”“Do you think I"m that kind of person?”
The Great Monk jumped up from the hole, patted his clothes with devotion to righteousness that inspires reverenceChinese idiom : heroically)¹⁵ and walked away without saying anything—He better ran for his life.
Noob Translator"s Musing This is the first last four chapters before this story end.
:: :: ::