Chapter 50: Water Ghouls Clear the Way
Di Jiufeng liked Ning Guang because no one in this world treated her better than Ning Guang did. It was a quite pragmatic reason, but it was the truth. Ning Guang was too good. Even knowing this was a poison that would eat away at her bones, she was wholeheartedly willing to swallow it down.
After deciding to stay with Ning Guang, she had put separation out of her mind. Even the misty future became clear because of Ning Guang’s arrival. Every minute, every second of her future would contain Ning Guang’s figure. She thought this would be her forever.
She never thought her forever would be so easily shattered.
Her suddenly imminent demise scattered and smashed all of her expectations like flowers in a mirror, the moon on the water.
The cold night wind swept away the last wisp of warmth in her body. Di Jiufeng trembled, a wisp of resentment rising to mix with the reluctance in her heart. Why did everything have to fall through just when she thought her dreams could become reality? She wouldn’t take it! But mixed with that refusal was a wisp of fear.
––If she would definitely die, then what about Ning Guang? She had never doubted Ning Guang’s heart. She knew that if she abandoned Ning Guang, she would definitely go insane. She would walk the road to world destruction, she would be struck down by the Heavenly Way. She would burn to ash, never again get the chance to reincarnate.
After so long, Di Jiufeng would never again consider Ning Guang to be a mere character in a novel, a wooden puppet.
She had already become a real person, the person who occupied her heart, the most important person.
Di Jiufeng could not help but worry about Ning Guang. This worry crushed everything else. She no longer cared about the mission, no longer cared about the Bone-Casting Branch, she no longer even cared about the death creeping towards her by the minute.
Di Jiufeng grabbed Ning Guang’s shoulders. Her fingers were trembling, but she forced a jesting look onto her face.
“Ning Guang, have you ever thought about it? You are the reincarnation of the ancient witch, perhaps you simply cannot die.”
Ning Guang shook her head and said serenely, “Even the ancient witch can die, and I am only her reincarnation. If I do not want to live, who can stop me? A-Feng, what are you saying, do you want to stop me? Stop thinking about it. If there is no you in this world, I would have no reason to live.”
Ning Guang was very obstinate, and Di Jiufeng had no way to explain.
How could she tell Ning Guang that she would have the protection of the Heavenly Way her whole life, and unless she completed the main plotline of world destruction, she could live on forever? She would share her lifespan with the heavens and the earth. As long as the heavens survived, she would live on.
Di Jiufeng was silent for a while, but still could not figure out how to explain. She could only force a smile and say, “Ning Guang, I was just asking, no need to worry. And, I will not really die. You heard what old man Zhang said, the descendant of the king of medicine lives on Gui Hun island. If we can find him, perhaps I can live on.
I will think of a way to stay with you, I will not leave you alone.”
Seeing Ning Guang’s expression grow icier and icier, Di Jiufeng hurriedly embraced her, stroking her hair.
They had not made much noise, but old man Zhang would come out from time to time to check their direction. He walked out from the cabin. Seeing the two at the bow, he was about to greet them when he saw something out of the corner of his eye and cried out in alarm, “My heavens, it’s… it’s the water ghouls clearing the way!” He stared, his eyes round.
Following his gaze, Di Jiufeng discovered that a giant wave had risen at some point on the pitch-black sea.
Two waves like walls of water stood face to face, carving a path into the unknown on the vast ocean.
“What does the water ghouls clearing the way mean?” Di Jiufeng asked, seeing the road of water appear before the bow.
Old man Zhang flashed his teeth. Grabbing the ropes, he hoisted the sails. “The water ghouls clearing the way, little girl, look to the side of this road of water and you’ll understand.”
Di Jiufeng looked over curiously. Other than the road of water, the entire sea was bubbling.
It was like the entire sea was boiling over. Roiling white smoke rose from the water along with the welling bubbles.
Old man Zhang turned the rudder, pointing the bow of the ship towards the road of water. “Water ghouls clearing the way, that means that the ghosts and spirits of this sea have pointed the way forwards for you. If you do not take this path, the only result you’ll get is a wrecked ship and a dead crew.
This was always only a legend, no one had ever seen it happen, and even more did no one know where this path leads. Perhaps it is Gui Hun island, perhaps it is another place, it’s even more likely that you’ll never reach the end and disappear out at sea. We cannot retreat now, we can only continue on. Young misses, sit tight.”
In the instant the bow of the ship sailed into the road of water, it was like a pair of hands had begun to push them.
The battering wind whistled past their ears, sending them far off into the distance in only a moment.
Di Jiufeng thought that this endless water path would keep them for a while, she had even been prepared to drift until death on this road. But before she could finish her thought, in only a moment, they had arrived at an island.
The cultivation world was very large. Di Jiufeng was unfamiliar with all but a couple of places, and Ning Guang was similarly uninformed.
Di Jiufeng thought, then called out the System. “Look at this place, do you know where we are?”
The System ran up onto a nearby large rock with its short little legs. It crossed its arms, emitting a wave of light from its stick hands. The System scanned the island, then compared it to the program’s map of the cultivation world, but the strange thing was, this place was nowhere to be found on the entire map.
“Honorable host, this island does not exist anywhere on the map.”
Di Jiufeng paused, then said, astonished, “There are places even you do not know?”
“No, no, honorable host, this map of mine is very complete. As long as it is a part of the cultivation world, no matter where, no matter how secretive, it will be displayed on this map. If not, that could only mean one thing: this place does not exist in the cultivation world!”
Di Jiufeng said, “If this place does not exist in the cultivation world, then are we in a different world?”
The System shook its head. “Not possible. We cannot go to another world unless honorable host successfully saves all living beings.” Or else, upon leaving this world, your soul would be ripped to pieces.
That last swallowed sentence was spoken directly in Di Jiufeng’s mind.
Ning Guang listened quietly, but did not discover their silent exchange.
Di Jiufeng furrowed her brow and said, “If we have not left this world, and this is not a place which exists in the cultivation world, where could this be? An illusion realm? A mirage?”
No matter where this was, they had no way to find out at the moment. They could only go in and take a look.
They walked up along the rock path. After about a hundred meters, they turned a bend and saw a wide staircase leading upwards. At the top of the staircase, there was a crude wooden archway without a name plaque, without any calligraphy, only a lonely wind chime made of shells. When the sea wind swept by, it would make a slightly muffled chime, making one feel faint in the head.
“This place looks so lonely.”
After climbing up the staircase, they paused by the archway, the dilapidated structure creaking audibly as it shifted. Looking further in, each and every home had their gates shut tight, not a single sign of life.
Di Jiufeng looked away and reached up to touch the archway––
Though the pillars were old and broken-down, they were clean to the touch, without any covering of dust. They were clearly cleaned often. This did not seem like a long-abandoned village, but why was there not a single person around?
“Ning Guang, this…”
Without needing Di Jiufeng to finish, Ning Guang nodded. She closed her eyes, the ghostly energy around her pouring out in all directions.
Ning Guang activated her ghostly cultivation. After a cup of tea’s time, she slowly opened her eyes. “There are people here, but most of them are common people. There is only one medicine cultivator and a ghostly cultivator. They went to the east end, everyone is over there. Let’s go take a look.”
She took Di Jiufeng’s hand and walked half a step in front.
The System’s legs were short, and its legs had to spin like wheels of fire to catch up to the two.
The village was not large, it was not far to the east end. As the three approached, they heard an earth-shaking clamor.
“Burn her! Burn her!”
“It’s all because of this witch, all because of her, that our village had a plague!”
“Burn the witch! Sacrifice her to the heavens! Or else the gods will not forgive our village!”
A furious shought full of righteous indignation accompanied the sound of a staff hitting the ground.
Di Jiufeng started, then was grabbed by Ning Guang as they flew into a nearby tea tree. She activated a concealment spell, hiding their two silhouettes in the lush vegetation.
The tea tree was very tall. Standing at the top, they could take in the whole village below them.
Di Jiufeng looked out through the branches and saw a wooden platform placed in an open space at the east end of the village. On top of the wooden platform was a young woman wearing light green linen robes, tied up on a pillar.
The villagers surrounded the platform, piling up bundles and bundles of firewood all the way to the edge. And then, raising their torches, they spat in fury, “Our village did not mistreat you, we gave you food to eat and a place to live, how could you bear to harm the villagers!”
The young woman shook her head––
She was very pretty, elegant and graceful as an orchid blossom, a benevolent smile on her face. She looked faintly into the eyes of the villagers, only forgiveness and not resentment in her voice. “As I said, I hid not harm anyone, everything that we… no… everything that I did was only to cure the plague. This plague came from the heavens and medicine was ineffective, so I had to use this method.
This method is truly a bit dreadful, but I am not lying to you, it really can cure your disease!”
“Shut your mouth, little witch, you’re on death’s door and you still want to quarrel, do you think we’re idiots? To take killing as saving?!”
The villagers exploded in anger, throwing the leaf scraps and rotten eggs in their hands onto her all at once. The young woman was in a sorry state, filth all over her head and face, but she was not angry at all, only concern and benevolence in her eyes as she looked at the crowd.
“Witch! We will ask you one more time, where is your accomplice? As long as you talk, we will let you off easy, or else, we will burn you alive! You won’t be buried and at rest even after you die!”
Author’s Notes:
Take a guess, where is this~
System: I want long legs! I want to transform into Ultraman, I’ll take my honorable host up into the skies. Of course, none of this is important, the most important thing is I want my Quiet, it’s 2018, I want to find a date~
Notes:
This chapter was translated by Lily.
I… really do not know why the System insists on running around as a stick figure.
Re: ‘ghostly energy’ as you may know, Chinese has two words which can translate to ‘demon’, 鬼 and 魔. 魔 (mo2) usually refers to creatures which were born ‘demonic’ and stay that way, 鬼 (gui3) usually refers to creatures that were once human but turned ‘demonic’ after death, and can also be translated as ‘ghost’. Ning Guang is a 鬼 cultivator, and I previously translated her cultivation method as ‘demonic cultivation’, but after reading ahead a bit I realized that 魔 cultivation will also become relevant. To distinguish the two, I am going to start translating Ning Guang’s cultivation type as ‘ghostly cultivation’ / ‘ghostly energy’, etc., I apologize for any confusion. My bad for not reading far enough ahead, I will fix earlier chapters if I get the time.