GCCB Chapter 50.1

After he devoured over a hundred lackluster demonkin that dwelled in the bandit lair, Fu Wang’s injuries healed a great deal. Originally, he should’ve gone on to look for more ‘food’ to feed on, but for some incomprehensible reason, he could only feel uneasy, along with some indescribable sense of restlessness.

After only a moment’s consideration, Fu Wang paused in his meal. He palmed a perfectly fine red pouch that he had on his person, but he still felt uneasy, so he disguised himself again and swept towards their home, leaving behind a bandit nest littered full of dull bones.

Upon reaching the entrance, Fu Wang noticed the formation hadn’t been touched, so his expressions eased. He reached out and pushed open the door. The courtyard was very quiet, the newly planted flowers and trees were lush and lively, however, Fu Wang’s face changed.

There was a foreign trace in the yard, and Shu Yu was not here.

And Shu Yu’s sword, the Rainbow Carp, was left alone in their courtyard. Shu Yu adored this sword, she kept it with her even at home, how would she leave it carelessly around?

She was taken by someone. Nothing in their yard was damaged in the slightest, so it was evident she was taken without being given the chance to resist. The trace left behind belonged to a Fox demon, and a particularly powerful one; it was most likely the Second Elder.

From the Twelfth Elder’s words, it could be surmised that very few people knew about the matter of turning Tianfeng Jinyu into a panacea. And to be one of those who knew of it, someone who was so powerful they could overpower Shu Yu and didn’t have to destroy his formation, then it could only be the Second Elder, said to be knowledgeable at formations and whose power was second only to the Grand Elder.

Regardless of whether it was a ploy to lure the tiger from the mountain¹ 调虎离山; trick, deceive, lure or entice an opponent to leave their vantage ground. or cheat under the cover of a diversion, anyhow, Shu Yu must’ve been taken back to the Tianfeng Manor, where the Grand Elder lived. To be able to find Shu Yu so quickly and take her away without attracting attention, it was evident their trails had been tracked closely all along. Since they didn’t make any moves before and are now suddenly taking action, then there was only one possibility—— the day for them to refine the panacea was near.

Fu Wang picked up the Rainbow Carp, his expression was spine chilling, and his eyes – which have always been full of tenderness for Shu Yu – were now writhing and overflowing with blackened and thick devil qi. Right now, he still wasn’t capable of defeating the Grand Elder or the Second Elder, there was no chance of victory in a direct confrontation, thus he could only think of other methods to go about it.

Good thing he had planted a seed within the Twelfth Elder. It will probably prove useful now.

Without thinking too much, Fu Wang immediately packed up all the pills, traps, and formations he had crated, in fact, he packed everything that could prove to be useful, and proceeded towards the Fox Clan without pause. He didn’t have much time, before he arrived at Tianfeng Manor, he needed to raise his cultivation as high as he could. Fu Wang didn’t know the exact time they would start refining Shu Yu into a panacea, but he knew Shu Yu’s life wasn’t in danger just yet.

He had meant to remove all the devil qi within Shu Yu, but then a fleeting notion changed his mind, and he left only a small portion of devil qi within Shu Yu’s body. With that small piece of devil qi within, he could still know more or less of her condition without needing to remain by her side.

He carried a red pouch with him, which had a talisman made from refining Shu Yu’s hair and his devil qi together. If Shu Yu died, then that talisman would burn away. There were no abnormalities with the talisman, which meant Shu Yu was still alive, otherwise, how could Fu Wang be this calm right now?

Whenever he encountered bandits on his path towards the Fox Clan, he didn’t hide his use of devil qi and straight out eroded everything with it, devouring all of the demons within the area. He wouldn’t have dared to act so boldly before, but that was in order not to attract attention, and now wasn’t the time to care about that; he needed to raise his cultivation as much as he could before arriving at the Tianfeng Manor.

The reason why he chose mountain bandits was because they hid in mountains and didn’t often interact with outsiders, even if they disappeared, their absence wouldn’t be noticed quickly nor would they attract much scrutiny from demons. And as for him, he only needed to stay undetected for this period, that would be enough. After he rescued Shu Yu, they would inevitably have to flee their murderous pursuers, and at such a time he didn’t have to care if his identity as a Devil would be discovered or not.

And two, these mountain bandits were mostly ferocious and malicious demons, their flesh and blood were more bountiful and intense than ordinary demons.

Fu Wang no longer hesitated. No matter how ferocious these mountain bandits were, when confronted with a combination of his formations, poisons and corruption, they could only be slaughtered with zero chance to resist. After killing and consuming all he could along the way, Fu Wang’s cultivation skyrocketed, and at the same time his features started becoming ever so slightly sinister. This would happen every time he cultivated through the blood and flesh of other demons; once upon a time, he would still arduously disguise this because of Shu Yu, but now, he didn’t have the energy to care about that.

Within a day, he arrived at where Tianfeng Manor was located. Fu Wang concealed himself and looked for the Twelfth Elder. The Twelfth Elder had previously suffered from his ambush, and although he had fled, at this moment he certainly wouldn’t have dared to return to the Tianfeng Manor and present himself to both the Grand Elder and Second Elder. Because, aside from Fu Wang himself, the Twelfth Elder was simply powerless to expel the devil qi that Fu Wang had left within him. He did not dare to have anyone notice the devil qi within him, thus, he would ultimately have his hands tied.

As expected, Fu Wang soon found the information he needed. The Twelfth Elder was recuperating in his personal manor in between some mountains, not far from the Tianfeng Manor.

Just as Fu Wang was heading to the Twelfth Elder’s palace, Shu Yu was being strangled by a red-eyed Grand Elder who had fallen into madness. She was grabbed in a choking hold and smashed against the solid wall made of white jade and coughed out a splatter of blood.

As for why this was happening, alas, Shu Yu very much wanted to sigh.

Earlier, she struck up a conversation with the beautiful man behind the bars. The beautiful man said he wanted to kill her, and then demolished the formation because of her. Shu Yu didn’t particularly understand his brain circuits² 脑回路brain circuits, slang for way of thinking, can serve to be humorous, incredulous or offensive, in the sense of “bruh wtf you thinking are you stupid”.; if he truly wished to kill her, then he only had to leave the formation alone, then she’d be basically set for death anyways.

Confronted with her grimace, the beautiful man said loftily, “In that case, you would’ve been killed by the Second Elder, not by me.”

Shu Yu didn’t understand his logic, but okay, he was handsome so he could say whatever he wanted to. At the time she had been completely stunned by the beautiful man’s actions and concluded that although he looked dopey and muddle-headed, he was definitely someone who was completely blackened inside out, after all, he unexpectedly still possessed such a terrifying amount of power.

But in the end, as she guardedly waited for a while, she didn’t see him take action. After asking, she then learnt it was because he couldn’t leave his cage. The reason he was able to destroy the formation was because its other half was underneath his feet.

In conclusion, this big bro that seemed ridiculously overpowered was unable to cross his cage to kill her.

In response, Shu Yu’s reaction was: This person most likely has a screw loose in his head.

If you can’t kill me, then why did you even destroy the formation!?

To which the beautiful man’s response was the same: “Devils are to be eradicated by my hand.”

Ah, she had to die by his hand.

Shu Yu didn’t have anything to say about that.

Seeing that there was temporarily no danger and there wasn’t any way to escape, she calmed down after accepting the reality of currently being powerless, so she sat in front of the bars and began speaking with the beautiful man, trying to see if she could pry any useful information out of him. Such as how to escape, such as why the Grand Elder kidnapped her, such as the “her” that the beautiful man kept talking about. Of course, the last question was just an offhanded question, Shu Yu mainly concentrated on the question of how to escape here.

Sadly, she couldn’t get any useful information from the beautiful man’s mouth, because this person was only concerned about matters related to devils and didn’t care about everything else. According to Shu Yu’s numerous years of reading novels, it looked like this beauty truly had a problem in his head, maybe it was because the lack of some pieces of his soul or whatever that made him become so slow and stupid, otherwise that Grand Elder wouldn’t have set up this Soul Imperium Array thing to screw her over.

Shu Yu felt she had found the truth. When she talked with the beautiful man, her words were completely like how one would cajole and trick a child, but unfortunately it was useless. No matter what she said or whatever she asked, the beautiful man would only answer with “Who is the Devil by your side?” or “Besides killing you, I will also kill him.” or things like that, talking like a whole ass murderous serial killer.

Just when Shu Yu wanted to give up, the Grand Elder barged in the secret chamber with the livid expression of someone who’s been cheated, looking the image of the wife who’s come to catch the adultery in action.

She caught Shu Yu in her hand, and then hysterically screamed at the beautiful man behind the bars, “Cang Xiao! When that bitch died and you shattered your spirit to follow behind her, it was me who saved you! I saved you, so you’re mine! I’ve done my utmost best by you all these years, and it didn’t matter that you never paid attention to me, I didn’t care as long as you were by my side. But now, you’ve went as far as to destroy the Soul Imperium Array I set down for you, just for the sake of some stranded soul from who knows where!”

“WHY! Why do you turn a blind eye to me, no matter what I say, you never respond to me, so why are you paying attention to this little harlot? Are you taken onto her? No no no, you are too besotted with that bitch, how could you move on to another? Then it must’ve been this little harlot who is bewitching you! I will kill her!” The Grand Elder, seeing Shu Yu talking with the beautiful man, looked like she had suffered a severe stroke and was close to going insane.

Shu Yu was forced to listen in. Good gods, this Grand Elder was really part of a tragic and sadistic romance plotline, did you hear her say how she had locked this person here for so many years and how the beauty didn’t even talk with her for all that time? They were such an… indescribable pair compromised of a lovesick woman and a spiteful man³痴女怨男, the genderswapped version of痴男怨女, which is often used for “lovesick man and resentful woman”, and in general, they describe a man and a woman who, in their own ways, are very deeply in love but cannot reach their desired “happy ending” due to REASONS. For example, a scenario this could apply is those otome games, the male love interest is the lovesick man, and the resentful woman is his villainess fiancée; both are stupid in love but their love targets don’t reciprocate or there’s obstacles in their love, and both sides are either super stupid or super pissed and vengeful.. Wait, that wasn’t right, this oddball and the insane Grand Elder weren’t even a pair.

The expression the Grand Elder wore while looking at the beautiful man was just short of writing “you ungrateful cheater” on her face, however, her eyes were still full of profound yearning for a love that could never be hers.

As for the beautiful man, apologies, but he was still an aloft blossom of the high mountains⁴ 高岭之花, blossom/flower of a high mountain, used to describe a person who are often cold, cool, aloft, and seem so perfect they seem unattainable, and waaaay out of your reach., sitting there immovable as a mountain, disregarding the Grand Elder’s voice as clouds drifting along the sky. He wouldn’t even blink at some breeze blowing by. He utterly and completely ignored the Grand Elder.

It was only when Grand Elder screeched about killing Shu Yu for a second time, that the beautiful man suddenly tossed their way, “She is mine.”

Shu Yu knew that he meant he was to kill her with his own hands, but alas, the Grand Elder didn’t. Thus, after hearing this, she bared her teeth, her expression seeming to be crying and laughing at the same time as she mumbled, “The first time you’ve opened your mouth to speak to me after so many years, and it’s to say such a thing.”

Her tone changed, becoming cruel. “Since it’s like this, all the more reason for me to kill her! I will not only kill her, but I will also have her die in immeasurable agony and suffering!”

Shu Yu slammed into a wall and fell on a corner. She felt particularly terrible as she watched the Grand Elder march towards her with a ferocious expression.

That man over there, if you can’t speak nice could you please shut up? Look at how you’ve triggered her, you’re fine, but I’m the one who’s suffering the consequences!

Shu Yu really felt like she was being screwed over. If they’re quarreling, why the hell bring in an innocent person like her into the fray?

Shu Yu didn’t wait for death either. With a flick of her wrist, she materialized a sword. This sword wasn’t as good as her usual sword, but it wasn’t time to bother about the details. She lunged directly at the Grand Elder. The Grand Elder sidestepped her, and Shu Yu took this chance to drop in a corner, her back to the wall and facing the Grand Elder and scattered the early-prepared variety of poisons towards the Grand Elder.

They didn’t even get near the Grand Elder before being flicked away. Shu Yu proceeded to switch on some small mechanisms; they were all made by Fu Wang for her to play with, she didn’t know how to use the more complicated ones, and she didn’t have them with her either. However, there were quite a lot of these small things, it was still good using them to buy time. It was thanks to the Grand Elder and the Second Elder not even deeming her worth their gaze – not even taking away her dimensional pouch – that let her have such an opportunity.

But the Grand Elder wasn’t the Grand Elder for nothing. Even in such a state, Shu Yu was still driven into scampering in a mess and quickly using what inventory she had. She looked like she planned on not killing her peacefully, so Shu Yu could only secretly wince and struggle.

When she was slammed into the steel bars by the Grand Elder, Shu Yu suddenly felt a presence behind her through the bars.

It was, of course, no one else but the beautiful man.

His hand, pale as white jade, was placed on her neck. It looked like he was prepared to fulfill his previous promises of killing her.

But in the Grand Elder’s eyes, this situation turned into that of the beautiful man checking on Shu Yu’s injuries. The beauty that she herself couldn’t touch was taking the initiative to touch another woman. The Grand Elder’s eyes turned bloodshot at once, her whole body was alit within foxfire, the appearance that had become youthful after consuming medicine and pills began slowly reverting to her old visage, but this time, she didn’t pay mind to it. She only looked at Shu Yu, full of unbearable loathing. “How dare you touch Cang Xiao!”

Shu Yu: Who is touching who!? Don’t talk bullshit with your eyes wide open, alright!?

Seeing her circumstances, Shu Yu was so battered by these two psychopaths that she didn’t have the energy to groan. However, the Grand Elder did a good thing this time, she happened to throw Shu Yu to the side just when that beautiful man was about to personally fulfill his promise.

The beautiful was displeased, and told the Grand Elder, “Begone, do not stand in my way.”

“You’re protecting her?! Fine! FINE!” It was unknown what the Grand Elder cooked in her head, as she straight out coughed a mouthful of blood. Calling her deranged would be an appropriate way of describing her.

Shu Yu: I’m stunned speechless by this developement as well. But please do carefully start killing off each other.

This instant, the Second Elder briskly walked in with a dark face. He said, “Mother, the Twelfth Elder has led people to invade Soaring Night Pavilion.”⁵飞宵殿 Soaring Night Pavilion. There’s no reference for this, but just wanted to point out that this pavilion was most likely named after Cang Xiao, since “Night” is the same letter as the xiao in his name, which is another note for the Grand Elder’s obsession with him.

The Grand Elder ignored him. She smiled coldly as she held a silver nail and stabbed it into Shu Yu. Shu Yu was already littered in heavy and light wounds, and she tried to dodge it, but it was clear that the Grand Elder was serious this time and was uninterested in playing with her. Her spiritual energy grabbed her, trapped her, and that silver nail sank into Shu Yu’s heart.

Shu Yu was sure she was dead, after all, such a long nail struck down and completely entered the heart, not even a tip could be seen, she would definitely die without the chance to even leave her last words. But she was mistaken, because aside from the pain in her heart, she simply didn’t feel anything else.

No, there was also a very complicated feeling, as if her thoughts were being swallowed one by one by the cold metal of the silver nail. Shu Yu’s hand reached out to touch the nail in her heart, but she was repelled by an invisible force. And when the thought of pulling the silver nail from her heart crossed her mind, her entire person began spasming.

Through a blurry vision, Shu Yu could hear the Grand Elder laughing at the beautiful man behind the bars, saying, “Cang Xiao, didn’t you care about her? Since you’re unwilling to use her soul as your nourishment, then I shall have her very soul shatter and disappear. That Soul Devouring Nail shall cleanly consume her soul little by little. Remember, you can only be mine, even if you don’t love me, you cannot love anyone else, I’ll kill whoever you care about! Just there and watch, watch as this little harlot’s very essence turns to dust!”

She spoke with a voice full of malice, then she instructed the Second Elder standing quietly to the side, “Let us go and meet Twelfth.”

“Yes.”

A hint of a smile flickered on the Second Elder’s lips as he glanced at Shu Yu, who was limp on the ground, and then he followed the Grand Elder and left.

.

Translator’s Note: This chapter got quite long, literally almost the size of two chapters (not counting T/N) in one. As this chapter was getting quite long, I decided to split it into two.  Chapter description will be on the end of second part of ch.50. The second part is uploaded at the same day as this! Enjoy and Happy Christmas!!! 😀

• 1
  调虎离山; trick, deceive, lure or entice an opponent to leave their vantage ground.
• 2
  脑回路brain circuits, slang for way of thinking, can serve to be humorous, incredulous or offensive, in the sense of “bruh wtf you thinking are you stupid”.
• 3
  痴女怨男, the genderswapped version of痴男怨女, which is often used for “lovesick man and resentful woman”, and in general, they describe a man and a woman who, in their own ways, are very deeply in love but cannot reach their desired “happy ending” due to REASONS. For example, a scenario this could apply is those otome games, the male love interest is the lovesick man, and the resentful woman is his villainess fiancée; both are stupid in love but their love targets don’t reciprocate or there’s obstacles in their love, and both sides are either super stupid or super pissed and vengeful.
• 4
  高岭之花, blossom/flower of a high mountain, used to describe a person who are often cold, cool, aloft, and seem so perfect they seem unattainable, and waaaay out of your reach.
• 5
  飞宵殿 Soaring Night Pavilion. There’s no reference for this, but just wanted to point out that this pavilion was most likely named after Cang Xiao, since “Night” is the same letter as the xiao in his name, which is another note for the Grand Elder’s obsession with him.