unedited
Sensing something off, Su Yu made a few more cuts. But just a few breaths later, he noticed that under his fingertips, the wounds slowly healed, and the bleeding stopped as well.
Su Yu then touched his leg bone which had previously been fractured. He forgot that the bone had protruded when it was still broken, now he could only touch intact skin. All the injuries he had suffered in Nanwu Mountain had disappeared, and the cuts had vanished without a trace too, as if he had never been wounded.
The inky beast saw him about to continue testing his face so it rushed to stop him: “Wait! Stop cutting…Don’t human cultivators all care about their skin? You’ve used so much strength I can see bone!”
The scars on Su Yu’s face were in plain sight, but after a while, skin and flesh covered up the facial bones, healing again.
He put down the bloodied stone and suddenly spoke, “The pearl’s effect?”
The inky beast was caught off guard by the question, “How do you know?”
Su Yu thought it made sense. The injuries on his body weren’t healed by the totem, but rather by the ink spirit pearl.
He had been injured before, the totem didn’t have such a potent healing ability. The totem in his dantian could only clamour for him not to die and demand he stay alive, it didn’t possess such miraculous healing. The only thing that could cause the healing was the newly arrived ink spirit pearl in his dantian.
“You swallowed the ink spirit pearl, a spiritual object of the heavens and earth, as well as the core of the mountain stele.” The inky beast lay on its belly and spoke weakly, “Nanwu Mountain’s land is ruined. You swallowed the ink spirit pearl, and your dantian became the place its stele took root in.”
How could any sane person swallow the ink spirit pearl? The ink spirit pearl was a famed mountain stele. In the past, the place the stele was erected was a land abundant in the world’s qi.
Before it was a human, not a spiritual vein of the world. This was the first time since it had become guardian spirit that it witnessed the ink spirit pearl erect a stele within a human.
The inky beast let its tail touch the ground, threw a glance at the totem, and then said: “In other words, unless you die, you will be the ink spirit pearl’s sole host, the new master of the Abyss of All Evil. So long as the ink spirit pearl still has pure qi, it will automatically act to protect its host.”
Protect him? Su Yu covered his abdomen, his expression hard to decipher. Although the Abyss of All Evil had now degenerated to merely the ink spirit pearl, this pearl wouldn’t just provide him with pure qi, but would also heal him.
With these two effects alone, this pearl’s meaning to him wasn’t the same.
After moving through Nanwu Mountain, Su Yu discovered that only when his ocean of consciousness was turbulent would the memories in his mind be stirred more. From falling off the cliff to now, he didn’t know where he came from, nor who sent him to his death.
He disliked this feeling.
The pure qi this pearl provided him was faster than letting the totem in his body slowly absorb the yin qi from the world outside. This pure qi not only suppressed his hunger on occasion, but also stimulated his ocean of consciousness, which could be used to restrain the totem in his body.
It’s a bit troublesome, but also somewhat useful.
“You said it can become a stele. How can it become one?”
The inky beast had been struggling for a while, but this human was indifferent even after all it had said. Now that he was finally interested, it couldn’t help crying out in joy: “You’re interested right!”
Su Yu: “Don’t spout nonsense.”
“The ink spirit pearl is a spiritual object, a relic left over from ancient times. During ancient times, it could be embedded into a stele to become a mountain stele. First, it was erected on a spiritual vein, then, many ghosts offered up sacrifices to it, only then did the stele have spirituality.” The inky beast summed up: “Now that the ink spirit pearl has taken root in your spiritual eyes, the first step has been completed. Now we need…”
“Ghosts from where?” Su Yu asked with a frown.
The inky beast: “…”
Where would they find ghosts in Nanwu Mountain…The seal was broken earlier, and the mountain stele was gone.
Those who could run, ran. Those who didn’t had their souls scattered. There was initially a lot of yin qi left in the mountain, but after being swallowed up by this brat, it was all gone.
“Since the ink spirit pearl now has spirituality, we don’t need to awaken it like in ancient times…The easiest way to erect the stele is to send more yin qi into the ink spirit pearl.” The inky beast cautiously watched Su Yu, a subtle probing in its voice: “You consumed Nanwu Mountain’s yin qi earlier, only then could I concentrate and transform. Now, as long as it’s sent enough yin qi, the ink spirit pearl will be able to grow and erect a stele.”
Su Yu tried it, sending the yin qi in his dantian to the ink spirit pearl. The talented ink spirit pearl swallowed all of it. He attempted it a few more times, and the pearl’s hue seemed to become more solid.
It looks like this inky beast wasn’t lying, this ink spirit pearl can really absorb yin qi to advance.
“I am bound to you now, I will never lie to you!” After gaining permission, the inky beast avoided the totem beside it and quietly drew out yin qi from Su Yu’s dantian. “Don’t worry, I know where those fleeing ghosts have gone. We can give chase and take them as ghosts of the Abyss of All Evil—”
Before it finished speaking, there was a rustling from close by, accompanied by faint human voices.
The inky beast went on alert and immediately said, “Some humans are coming.”
The sudden sounds disrupted Su Yu’s thoughts. He looked all around, and a few splendorous lights appeared in his empty and pitch-black vision.
Nanwu Mountain wasn’t safe. The voices came from a distance, and they appeared to be cultivators patrolling the mountain.
Su Yu calmly pushed the withered bones and bloody clothing around him into the pit, stretched out a hand to wipe off the remaining bloodstains on his body, and touched the tattered clothes placed aside.
These clothes likely had remnants of the cultivator’s spiritual energy, they didn’t feel like they were totally worn to the touch.
“It’ll take a while for them to get here, enough time for you to change clothes…” The inky beast paused after speaking, stunned at how Su Yu was putting on his clothes, “How…how do you wear clothes? You don’t know how to wear them?”
Su Yu put his clothes on with difficulty. His movements were unfamiliar—he didn’t even straighten out his belt—and his outer garments hung loose. When he heard the inky beast’s question, his hands paused briefly. The memories in his mind were messy, he knew people needed to wear clothing, and also knew how to put them on, but when he moved to do so, he felt unfamiliar and couldn’t adapt.
This feeling was very strange. It was like he had watched people wear clothes, but had never put clothes on himself.
No matter what, the inky beast knew that if this little human devil was discovered by a powerful cultivator, it would have to bear the consequences too. It instructed in a panic: “Hurry up, put your left hand through! Your left! Why did you put it on your right!”
***
Word that Nanwu Mountain had an ancient seal had spread long ago, and the Qi family had followed the Xuanyu Sect here.
The most satisfying part was that they had pressured the Su family. In recent years, the two great families of the south had been battling one another, and everyone knew of it. Especially after Su Yi joined the Cangxue Sect in the north, the Qi family had been putting pressure on the Su family in the past years, not to mention the secret between the Su and Gu families some time ago. The Qi family was extremely dissatisfied.
But this dissatisfaction changed after the news regarding Nanwu Mountain spread. The ancient seal was first discovered by the Su family, and if they had taken control over the ancient seal first, other forces wouldn’t have much say. However the Su family couldn’t take the seal, and the matter wreaked havoc. The Su family’s misconduct was criticized, the Xuanyu Sect took the chance to interfere, and the rest of the work fell to the Qi family.
Several Qi family cultivators discussed wantonly—
“Did you see, the Su family’s spiritual boat was driven out by the Xuanyu Sect, and I heard senior Tianlu Mountain cultivators have already arrived. You know how the presence of ancient ruins must be reported to Tianlu Mountain, yet since the Su family couldn’t take it for themselves, they even wanted to conceal it. Have they forgotten all about the Far North Demonic Abyss hundreds of years ago? Now that the Su family can’t give a clear explanation, they’re going to be at odds with Tianlu Mountain.”
“What does the Su family matter? They’ve been humbled. The ones who benefit are us, the Qi family. This time our young master will surely suppress the Su family.”
The cultivator speaking looked at their young master, who was slowly walking at the side. He was draped in noble attire, with expensive accessories around his waist and a spirited expression. Just standing there, he was out of place with Nanwu Mountain’s dense forest, ravaged by chill winds. In addition, a demonic beast only reaching an adult’s knee was at his feet. It too wore rich and extravagant attire, and the fur underneath was shiny and white. Its solid body looked a little chubby.
The young master shook the fan inlaid with gold and jade in his hand, and casually threw out a golden spiritual fruit worth a thousand gold. The little demonic beast at his feet jumped up and bit it. Both master and beast dazzled, and the accessories on their trims jingled as they walked.
At that moment, the little demonic beast seemed to notice something. It immediately ran away from the young master to the shrubs nearby, and squeezed through in one go.
The other cultivators hurried to catch up. As soon as they jumped into the thicket, they saw the little demonic beast rush to a withered tree in the distance, baring its teeth and licking at something. The Qi family cultivators, seeing this when they got there, rushed up to get a clear view of the situation. They saw the demonic beast pressing down on a person, its teeth out as it licked at the person nonstop.
“You are…?” The Qi family cultivators couldn’t help but stop. Their eyes paused on the cultivator far away.
The cultivator’s clothes were ragged, with several cuts, and most importantly, they were human.
The boy looked young, about fifteen or sixteen, with a pale, bloodless face. There were bloodstains on his half-exposed fair skin, as if he had been through a panicked escape. At the moment, he was hastily pushing the demonic beast lying on him away. His wrist was too thin to block it, and he didn’t seem to have any strength. He kept trying his best to raise his hands and stop the demonic beast from approaching.
The Qi family cultivators had never seen this person before. He was a new face. Judging by his clothing, they didn’t see the family crest of another clan, so it seemed he was a rogue cultivator who had strayed into this land.
The beast wanted to keep moving towards the youth. Qi Yan raised his hand to stop the others from approaching the person and called out to the beast: “Little Ginseng, don’t scare people.”
The beast paused. It wanted to go up to the youth again, but had to stop due to its master’s order. Its tail kept swinging and it made a whining sound.
Su Yu heard the sounds around him lessen, and couldn’t resist looking up at the one who spoke. Several radiant hues showed up in his sight, the most brilliant being the one who spoke. He knew from before that these hues were the spiritual energies gathered in the bodies of cultivators. The cultivator referred to as ‘young master’ was the one with the highest cultivation among this group, so what was the short and complex qi beside him…?
“That’s the demonic qi of a demonic beast. This human isn’t simple, the juvenile beast’s bloodline is extremely pure.” The inky beast explained, “One of the abilities of the innate spiritual eyes is to be able to see the spiritual energy of the world, the spiritual energy of cultivators, the demonic qi of demonic beasts, and the yin and ghost qi of fierce evil spirits. You can perceive them all.”
Within the eastern realm’s cultivation world, the cultivation of ‘qi‘ was respected. Cultivators breathed in and absorbed the world’s spiritual energy to reach the realm of Venerables.[mfn]A respected title for highly accomplished cultivators.[/mfn]
Though humans weren’t the only living beings, demonic beasts and ghosts existed as well, all things remain true to their roots, and the cultivations of all beings rely on qi. Humans cultivate spiritual energy, demonic beasts cultivate demonic qi, and ghosts cultivate ghost qi. Each had its own realm. So long as they enter the Dao and are enlightened, they will condense a mass of qi in the body. That is the ‘qi‘ which appears in the sights of the innate spiritual eyes.
Seeing qi allowed him to identify beings, and seeing qi he could also see through illusions.
Even after being approached by the beast out of nowhere, maybe due to seeing the vibrant and diverse qi around him, he couldn’t help but lower his hands.
Seeing that the cultivators didn’t move forward, Su Yu tilted his head slightly to the side and observed them with a speck of doubt, wondering if there was a sword cultivator among them.
“Don’t worry, I cast an illusion on you, they can’t recognise you.”
The inky beast called upon the yin qi in the ink spirit pearl at the last minute and cast an illusion on Su Yu. It had never thought this cultivator couldn’t use even a basic illusion and had to rely on it for help: “The most I can do is cover your face. In their eyes, your appearance is slightly altered, but I can’t cover your eyes and body. You’d better not expose yourself in front of them, and find a way to cover up your past…”
As it spoke, it suddenly saw the Golden Core cultivator throw a golden fruit before the little fat beast, and couldn’t help lick its teeth: “Golden spiritual fruit…This taste, it’s at least a hundred years old…Getting fat from eating so many! Doesn’t it fear choking to death!”
Su Yu ignored the inky beast’s grievances. After making sure his face was covered, he carefully observed the people who had come.
Aside from close contact with souls like Zhang Fugui, this was his first time being so close to a cultivator.
The surroundings fell silent. As Su Yu secretly watched the cultivators, the cultivators of the Qi family also watched him.
Qi Yan dismissed the others and the beast before approaching the youth.
As soon as he neared, the youth backed up a bit, all his movements in avoidance: “Which sect is this fellow Daoist from? I am from the Baihong Qi family in the eastern realm’s south.[mfn]Baihong, 白虹 (lit. white rainbow) – The white halo around the sun and moon, or simply a white light.[/mfn] The Qi family and the Xuanyu Sect have taken over the turmoil in Nanwu Mountain and sealed it. If you’re having any difficulties, you may ask the Qi family for aid.”
For a long while, the youth didn’t reply. Instead, he looked around tentatively.
Qi Yan only then noticed the youth’s eyes. Those eyes were grey and hazy. Even when he was avoiding the beast, there were no ripples in his pupils…Is this a blind person?
Qi Yan was best at reading people’s eyes. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but frown. Usually when other people heard of the Qi family and the Xuanyu Sect, they would more or less be agitated. But the person before him didn’t react, remaining calm upon hearing him mention the Qi family and Xuanyu Sect, he didn’t even show a hint of doubt. He couldn’t help but hesitate and ask: “Fellow Daoist? Do you know of the Qi family?”
Seeing that these people didn’t make any other moves, the youth took half a step back.
Qi Yan frowned. Spotting the youth’s strange behaviour, he asked again: “Fellow Daoist, do you remember who you are?”
The youth shook his head.
The other Qi family cultivators looked at each other in bewilderment when they saw this.
This person was blind, and didn’t even know who he was…?
They were many cultivators with whom contact had been lost within Nanwu Mountain. The Qi family cultivators patrolled the mountain for this reason. They had saved many cultivators in the day, but the situation of the person before them was still the most challenging they had ever seen. Catching a signal from the Qi family’s young master, a medical cultivator among the Qi family cultivators took a few steps forward to the youth’s side.
As the person came close, the youth involuntarily retreated. As soon as the medical cultivator stepped up and touched the other, the youth raised his hand and waved them off.
Seeing the youth raise his hands to resist, the medical cultivator hurriedly said, “Don’t be anxious fellow Daoist, I’m a medical cultivator. I’ll help you check on your injuries.”
Su Yu didn’t know what would happen if he left Nanwu Mountain. He didn’t even know where this place was.
Originally, there was Zhang Fugui who could show him the way. The inky beast in his dantian that had stayed in Nanwu Mountain for thousands of years, so it was probably useless. The inky beast had also said that Nanwu Mountain’s yin qi was emptied. Since the ink spirit pearl could absorb yin qi, he had to find a place with more abundant yin qi…There were many cultivators outside, and the cultivators before him who had entered the mountain were his only way out.
Thinking of this, he relaxed his body a little.
Holding the youth’s wrist, the medical cultivator breathed a sigh of relief, but the more he explored, the more his brows furrowed, and it took some time before he spoke.
“His pulse is extremely weak, as if something sinister has invaded his body, and his breathing is disordered. I can’t detect any spiritual energy at all…Many cultivators rescued not long ago were affected by Nanwu Mountain’s yin qi. They were trapped in phantasms and couldn’t differentiate reality and illusion. Some are even yet to regain consciousness…” The medical cultivator carefully considered and said, “His memory is unclear and his eyes can’t see. His condition is even more serious. I’m not capable enough, so I’m afraid I’ll have to ask the other seniors to check his condition.”
Qi Yan stared at Su Yu thoughtfully for a while. The youth didn’t react at all, and he was still a little stressed when another person touched him.
He ordered. “Take him back. Wait for the elders on patrol in the mountain to return, then let them take another look.”
Two cultivators came up to support Su Yu and walked him forward.
“You’re pretending well.” The inky beast was very nervous moments ago, afraid Su Yu would throw someone flying with one hand, he praised, “The young master of the Qi family is at least a cultivator at the peak of Golden Core. You can actually hide it from him.”
There was nothing left in the mountain. If he wanted to make the pearl in his body grow, the fastest way was to get close to cultivators.
Cultivators killed demons and eliminated evil…they knew where he could find what he needed.
In order to keep him steady, the two Qi family cultivators supported Su Yu’s arms, one on each side, and spoke comforting words as they supported him.
Su Yu didn’t respond. He lowered his eyes slightly, and could feel the residual warmth from the people supporting his arms.
It was alright when Zhang Fugui carried him, his touch was equally cold, but when touched by people, he felt a sort of avoidance from the bottom of his heart. Maybe he had to continue pretending, but he had already shaken off the hands of the two people.
…It was as if a long time ago, he was also held hostage and supported. He had a kind of disgust that he couldn’t resist when at the mercy of others.
While Su Yu was distracted, the mottled and mixed yin qi in his dantian slowly moved. In a place no one could see, a whirlwind appeared around the ink spirit pearl that had been fed. It quietly absorbed the yin qi around the dantian into it. The pearl darkened, and the shadow of a stele faintly appeared.
The inky beast lay in the dantian, its tail swaying.
This brat, he hasn’t realized how huge a treasure he got?
The spiritual eyes totem, special blood, and the Abyss of All Evil.
…This is the young lord of all ghosts.
alverose: Unfortunately, I’ll be dropping this series and taking a break from translating. As a reader myself, I’m truly sorry to say I’ll to be dropping this novel so early into the story, but for now I’ve come to realize I don’t have the work-life balance to keep up posting chapters weekly. If I do get time in the future, I might pick this novel back up again—but that likely won’t happen in the short-term. Nevertheless I’d like to say thank you to everyone who read up till here, I hope you all enjoyed reading these first 17 chapters!
Oh, thank you for translating this far. It’s understandable considering how esoteric this novel is and how many notes you have to add that it’s difficult to manage while maintaining work/life balance.
Thank you for the hard work you’ve put in so far.