CH 41.1

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

Listening to Bai Yuehu’s words, Lu Qingjiu truly didn’t dare think about what kind of days his family’s fox spirit had lived in the past. And now, he was finally living a life where he could have warm meals, but in order to save his life, he had to once more eat this kind of strange-tasting corpse.

The more Lu Qingjiu thought about it, the more his heart hurt for Bai Yuehu. He quickly comforted Bai Yuehu, saying that after they went back he would make him delicious food, one pot of chili crab and one pot of steamed crab, and he could eat his fill. Only after hearing Lu Qingjiu’s words did Bai Yuehu feel a little better. He got up from the ground and said, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Thus, he took Lu Qingjiu’s hand once more and walked out in the direction from whence they came. As Lu Qingjiu walked, he asked, “You just ate her like that, won’t she be really angry? And… since we were here to eat her, why did we have to knock on the door first?” The main point was that after knocking, she actually let them in. Thinking about it like that, he really did feel a little sorry for the Rain Master’s Concubine.

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Bai Yuehu said, “The one who opened the door for us wasn’t her.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “Then who was it?”

Bai Yuehu said, “The one who made the tomb, of course.” He explained briefly. Only then did Lu Qingjiu understand what was going on with the Rain Master’s Concubine’s tomb.

The Rain Master’s Concubine was unlike her husband, the Rain Master. She was a jingguai, while her husband the Rain Master was a god. If one were to say that the Rain Master’s powers were good, then the Rain Master’s Concubine’s powers were evil. She was proficient in curses and able to communicate with venomous snakes. Even though she represented the power of the sun, her style and method were sinister.

Later on, after her death, it was sunny for a hundred days straight and the masses had no harvests. Seeing this scene, the Rain Master knew that this was a curse formed from the Rain Master’s Concubine’s resentment. In order to alleviate the Rain Master’s Concubine’s resentment, he built this tomb and placed her within to seal her resentment away.

It was just that later on, Pang Ziqi and the rest broke into this tomb, triggered a mechanism in the tomb and were tainted by the Rain Master’s Concubine’s resentment, hanging their lives in the balance.

After hearing this, Lu Qingjiu finally understood, the one who had opened the door for them wasn’t the Rain Master’s Concubine, it was her husband, the Rain Master.

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Upon reaching the entrance to the tomb, they heard the pitter-patter of rain falling outside. Lu Qingjiu had long since made preparations. He pulled out an umbrella from his bag and held it over both of their heads.

After leaving through the stone doors, they walked along the dirt slope, reaching level ground once more. Lu Qingjiu was following behind. When he reached the top, he was given a shock by the person before him. At some unknown time, a man in blue had appeared outside the tomb. On the man’s face was a mask, covering half his face, exposing perfectly formed, beautiful lips. His eyes were a beautiful shade of pale blue, like the colour of lake water, looking quietly at Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu.

The man was holding an umbrella in his hands like them. This umbrella was one Lu Qingjiu had seen before — it was the umbrella of the lady who had been following Pang Ziqi. It seemed that he was the person who had buried the Rain Master’s Concubine and the Rain Master Bai Yuehu had spoken of.

“Long time no see.” The man spoke, his voice clear and pleasant.

“Long time no see,” Bai Yuehu said, “You’re late.” Late meant “your wife’s body is already gone”.

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Djl Tefte jrxfv, “Qtja?”

“Ktf sfjg atja rtf vlfv, P jrxfv Ct-Zlcu lo sbe’v yf kliilcu ab mbwf bnfg jcv tfiq bea ys fjalcu tfg mbgqrf lc bgvfg ab jnblv atfgf yflcu jcs ifoabnfg foofmar, yea Ct-Zlcu rkbgf atja sbe vfolclafis kbeivc’a yf kliilcu ab,” atf Ejlc Zjrafg rjlv, “Dfmjerf la rffwfv ilxf la kbeiv ajraf gfjiis vlrueralcu…”

Bai Yuehu coldly cut him off, “It’s not really disgusting, it’s extremely disgusting.”

“But didn’t you still eat it?” The Rain Master laughed. With his laugh, the rain falling from the sky became even heavier, pelting down onto their umbrellas, making a clear sound.

Lu Qingjiu stood off to the side, listening. He hadn’t expected things to develop like this, he had assumed that, as a family member, the Rain Master would be here to seek revenge. Who knew that he would be smiling like a flower, almost about to send Bai Yuehu a brocade banner of thanks.

Seeing the unfriendly look on Bai Yuehu’s face, the Rain Master knew that this joke had run its course. He said, “Since you made the thousand li trip all the way to Tanggu, I naturally have to show my hospitality as your host…”

Bai Yuehu raised his eyebrows.

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“This way, please,” the Rain Master made an inviting gesture.

Bai Yuehu then casually walked into the rain, Lu Qingjiu’s hand in his.

Seeing the two’s movements, the Rain Master let out a musing expression.

Lu Qingjiu was pulled along by Bai Yuehu’s hand that was holding his. As they walked forwards, the rain became heavier and heavier to the point where he couldn’t quite see his surroundings clearly. But what shocked Lu Qingjiu was, the rain didn’t wet his body. Just as the raindrops were about to hit his clothes, they slid off towards another direction, as if stopped by something.

The curtain of rain blocked Lu Qingjiu’s vision, making it so that he could only follow after Bai Yuehu until they crossed a certain boundary. The rain, which was originally pouring down in buckets, instantly stopped.

Lu Qingjiu put down his umbrella and saw another world.

A giant river floated in the sky of this world. The river water was a clear sky-blue, like the Rain Master’s eyes. The little fish swimming within the river could also be clearly seen. Those fish were of all colours and as they swam in the river, they seemed to form a gorgeous rainbow. There were also water plants flowing along with the current and round, smooth pebbles in the river. It was as beautiful as a dream.

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Lu Qingjiu was simply stunned. Only when Bai Yuehu lightly tugged at his hand did he come back to himself.

This seemed to be the Rain Master’s world. The entire world was surrounded by water.

The ground was also water, still rippling gently with the breeze. But the water seemed to be separated by something so Lu Qingjiu could walk atop it. He saw several giant dark coloured fish in the water. Those fish were at least 5 metres long. As they moved their entire body as they swam about, they made one feel a slight, inexplicable fear.

“Please.” The Rain Master, who had sat down by a stone platform and bench made a gesture of invitation to the two.

Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu sat down across from the Rain Master.

With a stroke of the Rain Master’s hand, a few exquisite porcelain plates appeared on the stone table, in which there was white fish, looking incredibly delicious. Other than fish, there were also a few things Lu Qingjiu didn’t recognise, looking a little like jelly, appearing as transparent as water.

Lu Qingjiu glanced at Bai Yuehu. Bai Yuehu nodded, indicating that he could eat. He reached out a hand and picked up a pair of chopsticks, then picked up a piece of fish.

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Lu Qingjiu was actually more interested in the jelly, but he still tasted the fish first. The fish tasted incredible in his mouth, the meat was delicate and fatty with a trace of sweetness, entirely without the fishy taste of fish. Utterly delicious.

Lu Qingjiu praised, “Delicious!”

The Rain Master curved his eyes in a smile. “If you like it, then eat more. Ever since Bai Yuehu went to Shuifu, he hasn’t been back here for a long time.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “Did he come here often in the past?”

The Rain Master said, “Wherever there was food was where he’d go. After he was done eating, he’d just leave. Because of this, he even got into a lot of fights with people.”

Bai Yuehu asked, “If you weren’t afraid of being beaten up by me, would you have let me in?”

The Rain Master spread out his hands. “Isn’t this me letting you in?”

Bai Yuehu, “Isn’t it because of that disgusting wife of yours.”

The Rain Master, “…”

Hearing the two’s conversation, Lu Qingjiu had the slight urge to laugh. It seemed like the Rain Master and Bai Yuehu had a good relationship, already previously friends. He swallowed the fish down, then picked up a piece of that transparent jelly and placed it in his mouth. From the looks of it, Lu Qingjiu had thought that it would taste like jelly, but that thing unexpectedly tasted like meat, very chewy, with a delicious flavor. It was a bit like fish, but without the fishiness.

“Really, really delicious,” Lu Qingjiu praised once more.

“It is delicious, isn’t it?” The Rain Master smiled and said, “That thing is called Taisui. If humans eat it, it can extend their lifespan.”

“This is Taisui? But isn’t Taisui fatty?” Lu Qingjiu asked, surprised.

“Those are Taisui that have been polluted by the human world,” The Rain Master said, “Newly birthed Taisui are transparent.”

Lu Qingjiu nodded. He knew what Taisui was, this kind of thing was also called meat Lingzhi mushroom. It was a kind of thing that looked a lot like meat and was said to be made from fungi, but it was actually very different from fungi. Through microscopic analysis, it was discovered that there was egg white that only animals would have inside. Also, if one put Taisui in a wet environment, it would continue to grow, as if it was a living thing. There were a lot of rumours about Taisui amongst the people. Lu Qingjiu had even heard once that Xu Fu going to the East was in order to find Taisui for the first emperor of the Qin dynasty.

Lu Qingjiu ate another piece. He couldn’t help but be bowled over by the flavour, praising it over and over. But Bai Yuehu didn’t seem to be very interested in it. When the Rain Master asked him why he wasn’t eating it with a smile, he didn’t spare any face and said “tired of eating it”.

The Rain Master wasn’t offended after hearing this. He simply encouraged Lu Qingjiu to eat a little more, saying that it was very good for the body.

Lu Qingjiu nodded and thanked him, but as he ate and ate, he started feeling like this thing seemed a little familiar. He paused and thought for a moment, then finally remembered where he had seen it before. His chopsticks stilled. With a disbelieving look on his face, he looked towards Bai Yuehu. “Yuehu…”

Bai Yuehu asked, “En?”

Lu Qingjiu said, “I remember, you seemed to have said that the quality of Yin Xun’s meat was good before…”

Bai Yuehu blinked, his face full of innocence. “I didn’t eat him.”

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Lu Qingjiu said, “I’m not saying that you ate him, I’m saying… Yin Xun’s body shouldn’t be…”

Bai Yuehu said, “It’s exactly this.”