019
Taoist and Little Fox – 19
At midnight, the devils appeared, causing the entire Capital to appear like a muddy swamp and leaving behind only the howling winds and the densely, dark clouds. Calmed and unhurried, Ling Si sat down on the bed. Su Tang, however, nervously hid behind a cabinet, quietly waiting for the arrival the devils.
There was only one finger worth of sand in the hourgla.s.s, yet the calmness within the room was somewhat strange. The sound of the wind shrouded the sound of the flowing sand and it caused the agitation in Su Tang"s heart to stir.
“Ziiii—” The door was suddenly pushed open and the outside wind was instantly drawn inside, carrying a touch of an eerie and cold air. Su Tang"s heart tighten and he wanted to see through the gap of the cabinet but in the end, could only see a pair of bloodstained shoes.
The two legs walked very slowly, step by step, leaving behind a trail of b.l.o.o.d.y footprints on the ash-colored floor. Su Tang"s heartbeat accelerated, causing him to cling tightly onto the edge of the cabinet. In his heart, he tried to comfort himself: Do not be afraid, do not be afraid. His eyes, however, were unable to look away from those b.l.o.o.d.y stains.
Sun Rouwan"s room was very large. Upon entering the room, there would be a long screen obstructing the way. As that thing walked closer and closer until it reached the screen, Su Tang"s breathing stagnated.
So long as he moved one more step forward, all the spell formations within the room would immediately activate. Su Tang stared attentively at those pair of shoes, unable to tell whether he was nervous or excited. For a moment, time seemed to have stopped before it soon quickly flowed again. While Su Tang was in a daze, the whole room made a loud noise and an unusual white light shone as all the spell formations within the room activated and red ropes that resembled a large net fluttered towards the thing.
“Aoooo—,” came that thing"s high pitched and hoa.r.s.e howls, the vibration almost capable of destroying the eardrums. Su Tang suddenly pushed open the cabinet doors and saw Ling Si kicking the screen open to reveal the body behind it.
“Ahh!” The moment he could see the person clearly, Su Tang could not help but scream. Even Ling Si could not refrain from frowning because the thing actually had Li Ping"s face.
Or, he borrowed the real Li Ping"s body.
Li Ping"s entire body was rotting and covered in blood, apparently having already died for quite some time. However, countless devils occupied his body, supporting his movements. His b.l.o.o.d.y mouth was wide open like a sacrificial bowl as he howled and attempted to tear the red net to pieces.
Ling Si quickly reacted, strongly restraining the shock in his heart. Promptly putting a charm on the other person, he quickly read aloud a mnemonic chant. The spell formation reappeared and the golden light radiated. Soon, thick dark qi spew out, distorting and struggling in the net formed by the red ropes.
“Quickly!” Ling Si hurriedly spoke and Su Tang immediately took out the Demon Subduing Lotus Lantern[1] from before. Finding an opportunity, he pressed it down on top of Li Ping"s head. The lights suddenly ignited and the lotus lantern"s petals grew bigger and bigger, rotating and covering the person that was underneath. The petals then merged and the flame abruptly disappeared after all the evil creatures were collected into the lamp.
The lotus lantern began to incessantly shake, unable to return to its original size. Su Tang, barely able to breath a sigh of relief, had just leaned his body against the side of the window with a soft thump when large black claws suddenly stretched out towards him.
“Ling……” Su Tang was not even able to yell out his name in time when he felt pain at the back of his head. The last thing he saw before losing conscious was a face that was seven to eight points similar to Ling Si.
……
【Wake up! Wake up! Little ancestor, are you okay?!】
The system"s anxious voice resounding, Su Tang finally woke up and discovered that his whole body was all tied up. Behind him was an ice-cold pillar and above his head was the dark and oppressive sky. Looking downward, he found that he had been tied to the top of the Devil Suppression Tower[2]. Below, a raging fire surrounded the base of the tower and tied within the middle of the open fire was the unsightly figure of a dying young girl.
The girl"s wrists were connected together, tied with a red rope that seemed to be suffused with some kind of liquid. Su Tang reluctantly used his demon powers to get a better look and enhanced his vision. Only then could he see that there were small incisions on those pale wrists.
This was a sacrificial offering, using the girl"s blood and soul as the guide and Su Tang"s soul as the offering. As a intrinsic spiritual fox, his soul was purer than an ordinary person. Compared to Sun Rouwan, he was much more suitable to be the sacrifice. If he were to be thrown into the fire, the devils would be able to ama.s.s together and take shape, with the thousands of devils being stirred restlessly into a violent dance. With the Demon King"s seal currently weaken, the devils would be able to rush out of the Devil Suppression Tower and take control the human world!
Just as those excessive thought crossed his mind, Su Tang happened to see Su Qing in her fox form rushing towards him. Previously, afraid that something unexpected might happen, Ling Si had asked her keep watch over the Devil Suppression Tower and it"s surroundings. Seeing now that her little brother has been captured, how can Su Qing not be anxious.
Even though the bright and beautiful hair on her body was burnt, she relentlessly tried to break through the fire, but the surrounding wall of fire was too high and she could not move forward no matter what she tried.
Ling Si still had yet to arrive, probably not even aware of what had happened to him. Su Tang"s heart tighten, eventually shedding tears. Towards Su Qing, he silently mouthed, “Save— other— person—”
He would not die. He would be infinitely resurrected. But Su Qing and the others were different. They could be injured, and could even……
The sound of the midnight bell rang, interrupting Su Tang"s emotional train of thought. The chains on his body suddenly loosened and before he could even realize it, the main devil had appeared and grabbed him.
With a hoa.r.s.e voice, the devil began to laugh. His face was similar to that of Ling Si but he exposed a deep expression of resentment. He smiled with the corner of his mouth splitting open to reveal teeth dripping with blood. Then, the hand that held him loosen and Su Tang, like a tossed stone, was discarded, thrown straight down towards the bottom of the tower.
Is this the end? Su Tang could not help but be afraid and closed his eyes. The flames were getting closer and closer and the heat was getting higher and higher. Su Tang felt that soon he would be burnt to death.
“Su Tang!” Ling Si shouted loudly and caught him. His whole body radiated golden light like an celestial being and on his forehead, golden demon patterns appeared while on his back were giant wings. Ten thousand demons surrender, the Demon King"s power has awakened!
From the heavens to the earth, the light penetrated everywhere, desiring to turn all the devils to ashes. Ling Si shifted his eyes, feeling the strong demon power overflowing inside his meridians. With a big wave of his hand, the wind swelled and suppressed the raging wall of fire around the Devil Suppressing Tower, extinguishing it.
Upon seeing this, the Devil snarled and immediately rushed over. The countless other devils that had escaped from the tower swarmed upward, becoming countless black and withered hands that tried to imitate Ling Si"s hand wave from before. Ling Si, however, did not even bother to look their way but rather directly caught the Devil in front of him by the throat.
“d.a.m.n you.” Its voice was cold and its eyes stared fixedly at the other person"s face. It did not even have the chance to to gasp for breath. It forced out a choked sound but only the sound of something snapping could be heard. Together, the countless devils howled in grief, their energy used up before finally becoming harmless black gas.
In an instant, the countless devils grand dreams of spring and autumn[3] were shattered, leaving behind only a final angry roar that combines with the cry of nearby animals.
The dark clouds in the sky immediately dissipated, the strong wind quickly coming to a stop. The night sky opened to reveal many stars, its faint and soft light shining down at the earth with a silvery white sheen. Suddenly, the Devil Suppressing Tower lit up with thousand of lights like a sparkling gla.s.s lighthouse. It was unusually dazzling.
Su Tang stupidly looked at everything that changed. After having narrowly escaped death, the palpitation of his heart had not yet stop. He turned to look at Ling Si but the other person merely smiled, looking the same as before and not the least bit injured.
“Wu……” Unable to bear it, Su Tang finally cried. Like a child, he tightly held onto Ling Si"s waist. The other person still had his familiar scent. He had been so close to never being able to smell this scent again.
“Don"t be afraid. Everything is fine.” Ling Si patted Su Tang"s head. He lifted up Su Tang"s small face and used his fingers to wipe the golden peas[4]. Su Tang, however, continued to cry. Unable to wipe it as more tears flowed down his cheeks, Ling Si lowered his head, using his lips in place of his fingers.
“Don"t lick it. It"s salty……” Su Tang hurriedly reached out his hands to wipe at his tears but they were instead grabbed by Ling Si and placed on his heart.
“But I think it"s very sweet,” Ling Si said to Su Tang.
“Where is it sweet……” Su Tang could not help but blushed.
“Everywhere is sweet.” Ling Si leaned in close enough to kiss and smiled. “Oh no, this big Demon King is hungry, want to eat a little fox.”
Translator"s Note:
Hero saves the beauty! So Cliche. lol The devils plot just ended like that. So anti-climatic. Well the author did say that this story was just a ball of fluffy and sugary candy and that to write/read a brainless and sweet quick transmigration like this, have to immediately adjust one"s way of thinking!
Footnotes:
1. Demon Subduing Lotus Lantern // 伏妖莲灯 // Fú yāo lián dēng – reference to chapter 10, previous translator translated this as a ‘lotus like talisman"; I don"t know if its correct or not but I"m going to say its an actual lamp, some kind of Taoist magical tool/treasure/object that is use to subdue or scare away evil. Its apparently small but grows as it sucks in demons/devils.
2. Devil Suppression Tower // 镇魔塔 // Zhèn mó tǎ – obvious a place to seal demons/devils. Simple. What"s strange though is that in the earlier chapters(actually just in chapter 1 only) the author used Demon Lock Tower(锁妖塔//Suǒyāo tǎ). Im going to go on a limb and guess that the author made a name change but just didn"t fix it because Suoyao Ta was never mentioned again after chapter one.
3. grand dreams of spring and autumn // 春秋大梦 // chūnqiū dà mèng – idiom, grand dreams; unrealistic ideas
4. golden peas // 金豆豆 // jīn dòu dòu – or golden beans, same thing; describing precious tears. They say a girl"s tears are precious like gold, so you shouldn"t cry so much.