Chapter 74.3
Vol 2, Chapter 74.3: The [Reincarnated type Childhood friend]"s embarkment
TL: flarewk
[Reincarnated type Childhood friend]"s embarkment
The 8th day on the third month of the lunar calendar year, the break of dawn.
I who was tidily outfitted made a final check onto those items carried on me.
All sorts of talismans, buddhist prayer beads, a few pouches of small beans, charm-water, a couple of peaches..........and for precaution"s sake, also bringing along a cross, as well as garlic.
What"s needed to be prepared were already fully prepared.
Because the time was very rushed, the preparations that I"ve made weren"t that adequate..........and I too don"t know if those things were to be sufficient.
Although it may looked to be rather exaggerative, but I must have the worst expectation in mind, and about that point, I must never ever be negligent.
Since it"s the Qing Ming festival today..........one of the three big ghost festivals.
During this day, the doors of h.e.l.l were left wide open without closing up, with ma.s.ses of ghosts freely able to explore the human realm.
Though a huge portion of ghosts during Qing Ming festival were benevolent or house ghosts, along with the festive being slightly more peaceful compared to the other two ghost festivals, the power of ghosts would be exponentially increased for today, and it"s a irrefutable fact that their mood will also turn psychotic as well.
Especially for within this block of city presently, it"s not known on why there would be a ginormous amount of ghostly existences having gathered at here, hence the situation being quite dangerous.
Recently, all those variants of corpse splicing and murdering events occurring were in truth "ghosts causing havoc"..........those evil chaos-intending ghosts, they definitely would take some sort of action today.
However, about what sort of ruckus those ghosts will be creating, it would be out of my reach already, as those were the jobs of the exorcism squad, having completely no relation to me.
I"m only concerned.........if "she" would be enacting any sort of overboard actions.
That young lady, known as Jiang Xue Qing, who"s right by Jun Cheng-dàren"s sides, had a ghostly white complexion, being expressionless and wordless, along with a murderous aura encompa.s.sing around her, with its stench of blood being abnormally thick.
Judging from her appearance as well as the aura that she"s emanating, it"s indisputable that she had already been possessed by a ghost.
Especially that unnatural grayish hair, it"s undoubtedly due to having being possessed by a ghost for a long period of time; a conditional aftereffect resulted from unrestrainedly utilizing the power of ghosts.
When that grayish hair completely turns white, along with her pupils fully becoming scarlet red, plus her entirety emanating out an ominously malevolent aura thereafter, that young lady would have then downright transformed into a true ghost.........
When that time comes, she would definitely lose control, transforming into a ferocious human-eating ghost that completely lacks any form of reason, and would even bring harm to Jun Cheng-dàren.
Plus, the most probable moment of when this sort of transformation would be happening..........was today!
As such, for this period of time, I devoted my entire efforts onto looking for ways to counteract it, searching for solutions against ghosts within my previous reincarnations" memories, cultivating out a few Taoist skills at the very las
t minute, as well as having prepared a few items.........but there"s still the sensation of it still not yet being fully adequate.
The ghost that possessed Jiang Xue Qing was an extremely powerful ent.i.ty, and I"m unable to guarantee that those last minute cultivated skill sets and items would be able to stop her..........
However, I have no choice but to do my best.
As no matter what, I must protect Jun Cheng-dàren.
Even if I"m to throw away this life of mine, I must also ensure onto Jun Cheng-dàren"s safety.
After I"ve once again firmly become resoluted, I set off from home, proceeded to Jun Cheng-daren"s area of residence and quietly waited.
After about half a time period later, Jun Cheng-dàren had a frantic appearance as he pushed open the doors, dashing out.
(TL: one time period = 2 hours; see footnotes)
Setting off at this timing seemed to be a little too late, had the always punctual Jun Cheng-dàren actually waken up late already? Looks like there"s seemingly something happening yesterday which I"m not aware of..........Uuu, although I wanted to always wait by Jun Cheng-dàren"s sides, but recently, in order to cultivate Taoism skills, I definitely would have some oversight in that aspect.........it also couldn"t be helped.
After today, I"ll go investigate about it then.
Today, Jun Cheng-dàren will be attending Ji Lian Bing"s anniversary feast, and I"m not sure of what would be happening when he proceeds there during this very day, hence I must accompany Jun Cheng-dàren throughout his entire journey, with his safety then being guaranteed thereafter.
During this lifetime, Jun Cheng-dàren seemingly also had the appearance of having loveship"s blessing. It wasn"t loveship"s luck however, instead being loveship"s omen.
There"s a lot of young females unknowingly gathered around his sides, each of them being as pretty as flowers, thoroughly captivatingly beautiful.
And that ancient proverb expressed it out well, beauty engenders calamity.........these girls would not be able to bring happiness to Jun Cheng-dàren, merely continually sp.a.w.ning misfortune to him.
Especially for within those girls; most of them were merely pinkish skeletons. After peeling off that layer of "cosmetics", their revealed true appearance would be extremely terrifying, even being comparable to demons as well.
Like that female, her true name being Ji Lian Bing, currently going out with Jun Cheng-dàren, seemingly appearing cheery, but in reality saturated with killing intentions.
That sort of killing intentions, was due to her being unable to obtain onto something that she wants, being unable to have her urges being satisfied, resulting in feelings of dissatisfaction in which she concealed within.
And hence, it"s deducible that perhaps she had wanted to obtain something from Jun Cheng-dàren, and that would be the true motive of her getting close to Jun Cheng-dàren.
It can"t be said to be of love at all, merely only wanting to satisfy her personal urges.
I must think of a way to make Jun Cheng-dàren understand onto this woman"s true appearance. The best outcome would be for them to immediately break up, afterwards never ever being in contact with each other, and that way, I"ll be able to.........um..........
I, I.........this is only a safety consideration for Jun Cheng-dàren, and it"s not because that I want to solely monopolize Jun Cheng-dàren.
Then again, speaking of which, allowing me to stay by Jun Cheng-dàren"s sides was also the best choice. If it"s me, a person who understood him the most to stick close to his sides, not only I"ll be able to closely protect him, but also would have ensued that he"ll be spending his current lifetime in happiness and comfort, and that should be what Jun Cheng-dàren hopes for.
However, there"s also a girl, namely being Lan Hua who was obsessed with Jun Cheng-dàren.........there"s also a sense of danger potentially within her.
Along with a few demonic monsters too having pestered onto Jun Cheng-dàren.........
And also, being a blood-related younger sister, she"s still being too overly attached to her elder brother, and there"s seemingly an inclination of it developing into a forbidden love..........
Thinking about those things which became even more harder and harder for me to manage, I frowned my eyebrows uncontrollably.
It"s really a huge catastrophe for this lifetime.........it"s still not yet the year of maturity, yet already being afflicted with such amounts of karmic conflicts, does it imply that it"s destined for Jun Cheng-dàren to not be ordinary for this lifetime?
(TL: the year of maturity she"s referring to the is traditional ceremonial crowning age, which is 20 y.o)
Hence heavens giving me another chance to meet upon him, allowing me to aid him through these disasters, huh?
.........That"s right, it must be that case.
These things needed to be resolved, but it"s bad to be poorly dealing with all of these at once, hence I must handle them one at a time.
Considering from an urgency standpoint, Jiang Xue Qing would be an immediate calamity.
I"m also not aware of when she would be deciding to manifest, so I must have my wariness be reinvigorated!
After casting the art of concealment onto myself, Jun Cheng-dàren wouldn"t be able to feel onto my presence anymore.
Jun Cheng-dàren didn"t proceed to board the metro or public transport, running towards a direction opposite towards the destination where he should be headed instead.
Where"s he going to?
Given Jun Cheng-dàren"s personality, shouldn"t he not be doing such promise-breaking conducts at all? Mm.........but it"s also fine this way, being able to avoid having any sort of contact with Ji Lian Bing as much as possible.
Eventually, Jun Cheng-dàren went to that park where he often frequented to, circling twice round a dilapidated path afterwards, what"s he doing?
He seemed to be searching for something.........but because it wasn"t that successful, I silently gave off a sympathetic sigh.
Just at this moment, that beggar who was resting on the bench called out Jun Cheng-dàren, afterwards saying that he"s able to bring him towards a place called Black Street.
Black Street, huh.........
I"ve heard some rumors about it, but originally thought that it"s a saying that was inaccurately dissipated through countless recounts already, so it was actually truly existent, hmm?
Plus, looking at Jun Cheng-dàren"s appearance, it seemed like he had previously went into that street.
That beggar led Jun Cheng-dàren into that dilapidated path once more, and at a certain spot afterwards, rudely gave Jun Cheng-dàren a kick, with Jun Cheng-dàren disappearing thereafter..........
I see, so it"s other "small worlds", huh?
No, the rightful term for it in this modern era should be an "inner world".
It"s also being termed as "Secret realms" or "Peace blossom springs" and so on. People from different eras have different way of addressing that sort of places, having specific names for some certain inner worlds.
(TL: Peach blossom spring = ethereal chinese utopia)
Plus, in every inner world, there would be a unique way of going in and out of it, while for this inner world named as "Black Street", it should belong to the most simple invitational category, for as long as one obtains the qualifications to go in and out of it, or if there"s a ushering person who had such qualifications, one would then be able to freely enter or exit.
Though if I knew the point of interconnecting entry, it"s also an option to force an entry inside as well.........however, that way would only make me drain out all of my energies, plus the resulting commotion of it wouldn"t be soft at all.
For precaution"s sake, I had better choose the more reliably a.s.sured method then.
I soundlessly went to right behind that beggar"s back, and used my fingers to poke onto the other party"s shoulders.
"Take me inside."
This beggar seemed to not be a normal person as well.........I had suddenly appeared right behind him, yet he still doesn"t display out a bit of shock to it at all.
The beggar turned around and said to me with raised eyebrows.
"Black Street right now is closed off to bystanders; no entry for those unrelated as well."
"Then why did you bring that boy in just now?"
The beggar scratched his head, unveiling out a troubled expression as he said.
"It"s a commercial secret.........I can"t just reveal out the contents of my a.s.signment anyhow. Also, I"m only just completing my task for money, and I"m not really quite sure on why that boy must be let in earlier as well.........."
"Then you shall let me in too, if not.........I can only "escort you" inside."
I squinted my eyes, glaring at the beggar right in front of me, using my eye expression to express out a "If you don"t bring me in, I"ll chop you up into pieces" sort of threatening information. Although it"s an ability that was being trained out at the very last minute, but for using it against normal people, it"s still way rather adequate for that.
Sometimes, just simply using violence would be able to resolve problems even quicker.........some time ago, Jun Cheng-dàren taught me as such.
"Eeeh, don"t, I"ll bring you in alright?"
"Lead the way."
This beggar was indeed just a hired personnel, and would consider about his safety as a priority.
"Then again, young lady........don"t say that I didn"t warn you, Black Street right now is quite dangerous."
".........Dangerous?"
"That"s right. Recently, the organization is preparing a huge culling enclosure. The time for it is today, and the location.........there"s no need for me to say it already, right."
"A huge culling enclosure.........for ghosts, huh?"
If it"s to be said, those existences that were recently creating havoc would only be those ghostly spirits, and as for the organization, it"s referring to those exorcism squads, huh? Mm.........it didn"t quite seem to be the case.
"Heh, as expected of you, young lady, you aren"t a normal person as well. That"s right, those ghosts have been too arrogant recently, causing a spree of corpse splicing criminal acts.........oho, having created such a huge havoc and still not yet knowing when to retract themselves, the organization thus decided to take action onto suppressing them, and had antic.i.p.ated that for the ghost festival today, those crowd of ghosts would be making their move, hence intentionally shifted away all personnel of Black Street beforehand, in preparation to use the emptied street strategy to thoroughly destroy everything at a single go."
Looks like Black Street would be that organization"s base camp already, plus it too had long antic.i.p.ated onto the movements of those ghosts, thus emptying out the entire Black Street, huh?
An excellent counteracting plan indeed.
"That"s why I advise young lady to not step into this sort of murky waters."
".........Why must you tell me all of these? Aren"t you afraid that these information would be leaked out?"
Being asked by me just like that, the beggar immediately became stunned, thereafter becoming extremely regretful as he said.
"Eeh, I also don"t know either, sigh..........now that I"ve been too much of a blabbermouth this time, I"ll definitely be removed off from the organization..........such a money earning opportunity, where will I get to find such things next time........."
Gritting his teeth in vexation, the beggar scratched his head, having an appearance of being in frustration, eventually screaming out "Ahh, I don"t care anymore!" afterwards, then saying to me with a face of seriousness.
"I"m not sure of what"s happening as well, maybe it"s because that I"ve owed you in my previous lifetime! Anyway, I don"t wish to see young lady being hurt! Black Street right now is too dangerous already, so hurry up and leave!"
This person..........also once had fate crossing paths with me, huh?
"..........Since that"s the case, then I"m even more motivated to go in."
"Why?!"
The beggar........no, the haggard uncle had a nonplussed look.
"Because that person whom you let in just earlier is the most important person to me."
"Eehh.........that"s........."
The haggard uncle revealed out expression of apologeticness, but I didn"t blame him, for he only carried out his own responsibility to the best of what he can.........it"ll be fine for me to just carry out my own responsibility to the best of what I can too.
"Thank you for your kind intentions, but, please allow me to go in."
I made a bow towards that haggard uncle, and pleaded with him as such.
"Sigh.........I get it! You must absolutely be careful!"
The haggard uncle patted my shoulders, and said with an expression of concern.
With such a pat, the qualifications to enter Black Street was given to me as such, and I didn"t waste my time any longer, immediately weaving through the gap, and just at that instant when I"m almost completely right through, I turned around and gave a smile towards that haggard uncle, saying.
"Perhaps.........it may be that you really owed me during your previous lifetime, heh heh."
"Eh?"
Arriving at the other side..........as expected, just as what that haggard uncle had said, there"s not a single person on the streets.
Jun Cheng-dàren, please remain calm, for I"ll rush towards your sides right now..........
I will make you leave this dangerous place in safety!
-ch 74.3 end
(3531 words to tl)
TL: If you found the terminology a little bizarre in this chapter, it"s because Yu Hui was speaking in a traditional manner, the ones reminiscent of those characters in usual xianxia/xuanhuan novels. It took me slightly longer because I had to make sure the words she uses was different from the normal ones coming out from others.
I also am sorry (0.01%) for the delayed releases, I"m having too much fun replaying monster hunter! ahahaahaa!
P/N: the "you" she addressed the MC with, it"s with the polite form (您), rather than the nonchalant casual form we all commonly use
Footnotes:
8th day on the third month of the lunar calendar year (农历三月初八) = I"m not too sure with the lunar new year calendar, so maybe I should ask my mom for details about it?(since she always go to temple to pray and so on) ~.~.
Anyway, there"s one aspect I do understand, as since the lunar calendar year starts in feb (CNY), the third month onwards would be april (which is the month of the qing ming festival, aka tombstone sweeping festival).
I still can"t figure out though, I thought qing ming 2017 starts on the 5th, so why was it the 8th instead in here? -ded from overthinking-
Charm-water (符水) = water that was "mixed" with the blessing effects of taoist/buddhist handwritten charms within (I"ve seen temples burning those and submerging em into water), giving them special properties.....
Murderous aura encompa.s.sing her (杀孽缠身) = Could be a reference to a CN comic - aka 杀孽缠身 or PERISH CRIME LOLI........a loli murderer
Time period (时辰) = A little hard to comprehend, but in traditional china, they don"t count time by hours; they do so by periods. So in a day, there will be 12 units of time periods. Each period is 2 hours.
Loveship (桃花运) = luck for a person"s love life. It"s said that there would be 3 peak periods of it for every person in their entire life.
Pinkish skeletons (粉红骷髅) = used to describe women being beautiful on the exterior, but within the inside, the words extremely horrifying could be used to describe em.
Like maybe you married a superbly hot model. But the expenses needed to "maintain" her by your side is extremely high, causing you anguish (or pleasure, to some people don"t regret throwing around their money or life in order to stay attached to such a beauty >_>)
Glossary:
-dàren (大人) = used to address someone very respectfully, like that person is the "master" of whom you serve. I guess the most accurate english term for it would be "Lord" already :3, while the most accurate jp representation would be "-sama".
Yes, you must remember this honorific, as I predict that Yu Hui will be using it very, very, very often throughout the series. (Esp in vol 3 where the focus is heavy on her)
It"s just my preference, but I dislike using "Lord"........