Volume 2 – Birth of Heaven’s First Dragon Sacrifice
Chapter G – The idiot turned out to be a profound scholar
Liu Zhenhan wiped the tears off his face with his sleeves, and with slightly teary eyes, he started looking for dry bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest.
He piled up countless withered bamboo shoots on and around the black turtle’s corpse and put it on fire. The huge corpse of the black turtle was immediately wrapped in flames. The burning bamboo shoots were emitting loud sounds while the pa.s.sing wind carried along the fragrance of burnt meat and dark ashes.
There came a loud cry of an osprey bird from the sky which attracted the attention of Liu Zhenhan. He looked up and saw Hailun’s c.r.a.ppy magical bird circling over the bamboo forest.
He felt like something was off and immediately turned back, only to find Hailun standing in front of him.
Her face was covered with bruises and abrasions all over; her hair was a total mess, there were several scratch marks and cuts on her sacrificial robe along with traces of moss and gra.s.s; her delicate and charming appearance urged him to hug her in his arms and he did so immediately.
“How did you get down? You are so reckless! Don’t you know how high the cliff is?” Liu Zhenhan’s face twitched with beads of tears still flowing down his cheeks.
“Li Cha, I heard a loud thundering noise, what happened?” Hailun carefully looked at his face that was covered in tears and stained with grayish-black ash. She was stunned by this unexpected scene and hastily used her soft white hands to clean his face, however, ended up staining his face with blood instead.
“Blood?” Liu Zhenhan quickly gripped her hand and saw traces of vines and thorns sticking out of her palm, “Why did you have to come down? You could have slipped down and fallen to your death, dammit!”
“I was really worried about you.” Hailun pouted then said, “Li Cha, tell me what happened? Why are you crying?”
“d.a.m.n.” Liu Zhenhan again wiped the tears off his face and said, “I have been tricked. Just when I finally managed to make a magical beast pet, it kicked the bucket before I could get a chance to talk to it.”
“It is such a huge model!” Hailun sighed as she looked at the burning corpse of giant black turtle and said: “Unfortunately, it is dead, otherwise, it was certainly a powerful magical beast! I can even vaguely feel a hint of dragon’s aura from its body. I think it comes from a species of Yalong magical beast?”
(TL: Yalong: Asian Dragon)
“Yalong magical beast?” Liu Zhenhan looked at her face and asked in a confused tone.
“Yes, let me explain.” Hailun could not hide the prideful look suddenly appearing on her face: “My mentor, Mr. Cui Beixi is a distinguished Yalong sacred sacrifice of high rank! I can never make a mistake in recognizing the formidable yet familiar aura of a dragon.”
“What do you mean by calling it a model?” Liu Zhenhan asked in a weak voice.
“I mean it is a turtle.” Hailun answered naively with excitement: “Do you know, there is a temple in my hometown that is dedicated to the model race of turtle and is worshiped by Vian Shamans. It is such a pity that your magical pet died, or else if you could bring it back to my hometown then the Vian Shamans would have certainly acknowledged your talent! Your first magical pet was a Yalong magical beast! I still cannot believe this because it basically means that from now on, my dear Li Cha can wear the ritual robe with a Yalong embroidered on it. The aura of dragon that is emanating from this turtle’s body is a proof that my Li Cha is actually a Yalong sacred sacrifice! For your information, there are not more than ten Yalong sacrifices in all of the Beamon temples! Holy Campas!”
“Yalong my a.s.s!” Liu Zhenhan shouted: “My eyes have now almost turned into the Amazon River! And I don’t even know why this is happening to me. Why the h.e.l.l am I sad right now?”
“Do not cry! It’s okay.” Hailun patted his shoulder as if comforting a child, “Listen, a magical pet and its master are connected to each other through the contract that also connects their hearts. When either one of them dies, the other one will certainly burst into tears.”
“I obviously should not have a sense of loss, after all, I just met it a while ago.” Liu Zhenhan said.
“There is no sense in what you are saying! We sacrifices believe that only pure tears can offer the best place to bury the partner’s soul.” Hailun said with a sigh then she began to sing loudly the first half of the Requiem battle song, the final song of peace and salvation for the giant turtle’s soul.
Liu Zhenhan couldn’t stop himself from getting entranced by her loud chanting voice.
The tranquility of the requiem song as if sprinkled a magnificent corona upon the burning corpse of the black turtle. Liu Zhenhan also slowly stopped sobbing.
“*” Liu Zhenhan uttered a swear word but stopped midway, when he saw Hailun’s face stiffening and quickly swallowed back the rest of the words.
“If I knew that singing a requiem can stop the tears, I would have done that long ago.” Liu Zhenhan pulled out a knife and began to peel the half section of the wolf skin. The other half had long been smashed by the giant turtle and was no longer of any use.
“Your tears were a way of giving the final farewell to your battle friend. It also washed away the remaining sense of loss from your heart. Now, the Yalong can rest in peace and I am grateful because it turned my dear Li Cha into a brave model warrior before leaving this world.” Hailun kissed both his hands, and then together, they knelt down in front the burning corpse of the black turtle. This was the proper etiquette to bid a respectable farewell to a fallen fighter.
“I wonder if there really was a connection between me and that big turtle.” Liu Zhenhan muttered in a low voice.
Suddenly, the island was greeted by a heavy rain, as if the heaven itself was moved by this scene. The burning fire was gradually extinguished by the rain.
Liu Zhenhan hurried to wrap the feather robe over Hailun’s body, then raised his head to look at the sky.
“See, Li Cha, even the war-G.o.d Campas is moved by the connection that was established between you and your magical pet!” Hailun grabbed the feather robe tightly and turned her head excitedly to see his reaction.
Liu Zhenhan curled his lips.
“You know what? Your appearance when you burst into tears actually looked very cute.” Hailun suddenly caressed his face and looked at his face with a gentle look in her eyes.
“Don’t! Don’t you tempt me again like this…..I seriously fear this side of yours.” Liu Zhenhan said while feeling unable to control himself. After spending so much time with Hailun, he knew that his coconut sh.e.l.l underpants wouldn’t last long if things continued like this.
“If I die in the future, would you cry?” Hailun’s profound stare as if penetrated into his soul as she asked this question.
“Bulls.h.i.t! You shouldn’t say such things!” Liu Zhenhan replied in a serious tone and frankly made his point clear.
This time, Hailun was not annoyed by the use of foul language. She smiled sweetly in response and didn’t pursue the topic any further as hinted by Liu Zhenhan.
“Hailun, come look at this.” Liu Zhenhan led her behind the turtle’s corpse that was still enveloped in a layer of smoke and ashes. Then he pointed at the character printed on the turtle’s sh.e.l.l.
“The sacred sacrifices are supposed to have profound wisdom, right? Take a look at this. Do you understand what it says?” Liu Zhenhan asked.
Hailun’s eyebrows tightened as she carefully looked at the text. However, after a long pause, she shook her head with regret.
“I’m sorry, my dear Li Cha but I am not familiar with this kind of writing, but I am sure that the race that can invent such complex characters is certainly outstanding with high intelligence.”
“Didn’t you tell me earlier that you know several languages?” Liu Zhenhan raised his eyebrows and asked.
“Fox people are required to handle economic management of Beamon Kingdom and they start learning since childhood. Our clansmen are supposed to by heart most languages that are spoken on Qin Continent. Although I am just a young fox girl from a countryside clan but already know the widely spoken beast language, also spoken by the human race, called Qike Latin. I also learned the language spoken by human desert bandits at the age of 13 when I was wandering the wilderness with my teacher, training to become a sacred sacrifice and received the ‘wisdom initiation’ from him. That is how I got to learn a lot of languages that were part of the bundle of wisdom I obtained from him. It took only 6 months to learn the widely spoken language in the big Seoul city. Now, I also understand the basics of dragon language and parts of spirit language as well.” Hailun answered in detail then looked at him and felt something strange.
“The ‘wisdom initiation’ feature of the psychic battle song allows the teacher to transmit a great deal of his knowledge and language over to the apprentice.” Hailun added to her explanation.
“I get it so now tell me one thing very clearly. On this continent, are there any words or languages that you do not understand?” Liu Zhenhan did not lose heart and asked.
“Yes, of course, the indigenous dialects of all races are as many as the stars in the sky, vast and diverse. Also, I have been unable to learn all the words and languages which originate from the Far East Silk Continent. In fact, even in our own Great Danube Wilderness, the ancestors have left behind war monuments from 10,000 years ago and the scriptures found over those monuments are something even the most knowledgeable Vian Shamans cannot interpret, let alone a young apprentice like me.” Hailun said honestly.
“You see, I…….actually understand the text that is inscribed on the sh.e.l.l.” Liu Zhenhan smiled wryly and said.
“Holy Campas!” Hailun covered her mouth as her beautiful eyes opened wide in disbelief.
“I am not lying, I really mean it.” Liu Zhenhan took a deep breath and said.
Context: The version of the psychic battle song that deals with wisdom initiation can be used only once in a lifetime by a qualified sacred sacrifice to pa.s.s their wisdom over to their immediate apprentice. This is the main reason why there are so few sacred sacrifices in the Beamon Kingdom. After all, the naturally occurring sacrifices who do not have the luxury of receiving the wisdom of an experienced sacred sacrifice must spend more time on studying and practicing and figuring out stuff on their own. This causes a significant gap between them and the apprentice sacrifices.