“Daoist Master?”
Is he really dead? A sense of joy suddenly rose up in the evil spirit’s mind. After confirming that the youth didn’t move again, he swung his body around to dash out of the withered forest.
However, it hadn’t run far when it was abruptly bound by a vast, invisible force. With a clang, the evil spirit was pulled several steps back. When it turned around in horror, it discovered there was a blood-red chain now tied to its ankle. The chain seemed to have solidified from fresh blood, one end connected to it, and the other connected to the youth a distance away.
It tentatively walked out. The farther away it was from this person, the more it felt like its spirit body was being torn apart.1魂體 hún tǐ – (lit. soul body) This term refers to the body or form that a soul inhabits after death. Depending on the context, this can simply translate to ‘soul’ as well. After trying a couple more times, it finally realized that it and the young Daoist priest were bound to each other. For a ghost such as itself, once its newly cultivated spirit body was torn apart, it would never be able to cultivate again, and it was more likely that its soul would fly away and scatter.
Just then, the chill winds at Nanwu Mountain’s heights turned more violent. The evil spirit watched the chill winds stirring high above.
“No way…Is the seal going to close?”
The evil spirit gritted its teeth and finally mustered up the courage to approach the young Daoist priest. When it walked up to the youth’s side, the youth didn’t move a bit. Upon seeing the youth’s broken leg, the evil spirit hesitated. It looked at the chill winds in the distance, and then at the blood blanketing ground.
It couldn’t die here, it had to escape.
“Fortunately, he can still be saved.” The evil spirit breathed a sigh of relief. It floated beside the youth’s broken leg and, very carefully, stroked the youth’s leg with its fingers, as if judging something. When he found where the fracture was, he abruptly gathered strength in his fingers. Then, there was a simple click. The youth couldn’t help but let out a muffled cry amid his deep slumber.
The evil spirit moved with even more care, but he was frightened by the youth’s muffled sounds of pain, and stopped for a few beats. After which, he apologized and started to move his hand again: “Please excuse me, Daoist Master. Your leg must be saved. If dealt with too late, it may truly stay broken.”
The youth’s bent leg was forcibly realigned. After straightening out the leg, the evil spirit picked up a handful of withered branches from nearby, tore a few strips of cloth off the youth, and skilfully fixed the other’s broken leg in place while simply stanching the bleeding.
Once this work was done, he carried the youth onto his back.
The chain tied around the evil spirit’s ankle didn’t cause any backlash. The evil spirit supported the youth on its back with ease. When it was dragging him along earlier, the evil spirit had felt this person to be very light, and now that it was carrying him, it felt like this person was a bit too light.
You’re quite well-dressed, so why don’t you eat and put on some more weight? Do all cultivators love to mind their body shapes so much?2愛塑形修身 – This phrase literally means ‘love slim fit body shaping’ where the term for ‘slim fit’ (修身) also figuratively refers to cultivation of one’s moral character. It’s like saying, ‘Do all cultivators love to cultivate their mind by body shaping like this?’
The evil spirit thought of his son, whom it hadn’t seen in a long time. When it was still a human, its son was a big fat boy, and when he was seven, he was so fat he’d pant while walking. If he was asked to eat less food and exercise, that rascal would act like a spoiled child and fawn over them all day long.
As he recalled this, Zhang Fugui thought about how he hadn’t seen his wife and children in a long time.
Nanwu Mountain was a place where yin flourished and yang declined, and underneath the Nanwu Mountain Gorge’s fissure was a ghost tomb that one might set foot in but never leave.3 In Chapter 1, I had mistranslated a term as ‘Nanwu Valley’ . The correct term is ‘gorge’ as used here, so I’ve changed the term ‘valley’ in Chapter 1.
The evil spirit, that is, Zhang Fugui, fell to his death at the bottom of Nanwu Mountain’s cliff while collecting herbs in his earlier years. Since having cultivated his spirit body, he had thought up every possible way to leave, but there was a special seal along the entirety of Nanwu Mountain’s fissure that suppressed the whole area. He had heard it was left behind by a certain mighty figure. The living who died here were incapable of leaving Nanwu Mountain for their whole lifetimes, and even the fierce evil spirits residing here were unable to shake this.4A fierce evil spirit (兇祟, ferocious evil spirit) is slightly different from what Zhang Fugui is (恶鬼, evil spirit). An evil spirit is a vicious and evil ghost, while ferocious evil spirit refers to a demonic ghost that can bring disaster. Note that this may not be entirely consistent with the novel’s representation of the terms, and is just some general background information.
Zhang Fugui had previously thought he would be a ghost here for the rest of his life.
However, a few months ago, a fight broke out among the famed fierce evil spirits, Nanwu Mountain’s bigwig ghosts, seemingly over seizing some kind of secret treasure. They fought fiercely and forgoed rest, and it was at this point that Nanwu Mountain’s seal, originally like an iron fortress, weakened. This weakening of sorts continued up until a few days ago, when a crack finally appeared on the seal at Nanwu Mountain’s west face.
A chance to escape Nanwu Mountain had arrived.
Su Yu woke up from the constant shaking. The dull pain in his ocean of consciousness had yet to disappear. Feeling himself lying on a yin-cold body, he opened his eyes slightly, and saw the white ball of light shakily carrying him through the forest.
“Where are you heading?” Su Yu opened his mouth and asked.
Zhang Fugui was panting in exhaustion. He unconsciously replied when he heard the voice, “Of course I’m heading to escape outside. If the seal’s closed later on…Daoist Master!? Daoist Master, you’re awake!”
Su Yu tried to move and found that the pain in his body had lessened considerably, especially in his leg. He could feel the pain in his broken leg bone subsiding, and it felt like it was fixed in place by something. The jolts caused by the shaking didn’t exacerbate the pain of his broken bone.
He looked down and watched the evil spirit. Then abruptly asked, “You did it?”
Zhang Fugui hurriedly nodded.
The person on his back didn’t respond, Zhang Fugui glanced to his side.
The youth’s eyes, in which the golden lines hadn’t fully dissipated, were half shut, and the youth didn’t look like he had noticed his nod.
Is he really blind…?
Su Yu noticed the white qi ball move: “Why aren’t you speaking?”
Zhang Fugui blurted out, “Yes, I did it.”
If the broken leg wasn’t treated, being disabled would’ve been one thing, but if the wound had bled out, it would’ve been fatal. In any case, if he didn’t treat the wound, how would he carry the youth and run away? If the blood continued to flow, it would’ve attracted every wild ghost within a ten li radius.
Zhang Fugui was a traveling doctor before his death. What he couldn’t stand the most were patients who acted recklessly and didn’t listen to a doctor’s advice. If this were one of his previous patients, he would’ve definitely given them a good scolding for committing such a great offense.5大逆不道 – (lit. treason) This can refer to unfilial, rebellious or any other behavior that goes against social norms.
Zhang Fugui’s thoughts were filled with grievances, but he didn’t dare say anything, he was just a yes-man: “Regardless, if you had left the injury alone…you’d have died.”
Su Yu: “Isn’t dying good?”
How can dying be good? It’s very bad!
But in the face of the youth, Zhang Fugui didn’t dare say a word of condemnation.
There’s nothing else to say, just cherish life. Besides, dying would only be more painful.
The conversation between the two stopped, Zhang Fugui didn’t speak, and the person on his back was also silent.
The other party didn’t seem to care where he was going, apart from a few remarks at the start, he didn’t say another sentence afterwards. As though he wasn’t interested in anything. He hadn’t even expressed any thoughts on where they were heading.
The way out of Nanwu Mountain’s seal was just to the west. Zhang Fugui carried the youth on his back for two hours and arrived at the fringes of the withered forest out of breath.
From a distance, he could see the mist further ahead thinning out, and there was a faint breeze pouring in from outside Nanwu Mountain. He was overjoyed, and his steps towards the outside picked up the pace a little anxiously. But when he endured and reached the edge of the withered forest, he suddenly sensed scattered yin grass and broken yin qi all around him.
It was too quiet. Why couldn’t he see a single ghost…
A chill ran through Zhang Fugui’s body. Just as he took a few steps back, a strong wind abruptly came through from the distance. The sweeping and stormy winds whipped up, forcing him to back off even further. He frantically huddled beside a withered tree to resist the gales.6席卷風浪卷得 – The term 風浪 literally means ‘wind wave’ and usually refers to a wind-generated water wave due to a strong wind blowing over a water’s surface.
“What’s going on—” Zhang Fugui was blinded by the wind. A hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder with a death grip. “Dao-Daoist Master?”
The force seemed to be holding him down. Zhang Fugui had originally wanted to escape, but it was as if his legs had frozen. He tilted his head back, only to see that the person on his back wasn’t looking at him. Those bizarre eyes looked straight into the distance—The youth’s eyes were narrowed slightly, and his pupils, as calm as still water, seemed to revolve.
“Don’t move.”
Author’s Postscript:
In the last chapter, I saw a few little friends saying they didn’t understand a few things.
This is actually the story of a full-level boss reincarnating, losing his memory, and leveling up again. His memory will slowly be unlocked in future chapters.
