CH 50.2

translator: baumkuchen

It was that night. Yin Xun, who could see everything on the mountain, saw the man lying in a simple tent. He was asleep, his neck twisted into a strange circle. After night fell, a strong wind entered the tent. Yin Xun saw a woman appear above the man. Her body was extremely rotted. It was clearly the female corpse the man had buried on the mountain. The woman kneeled over the man’s chest, reached out her hands, grabbed the man’s head, then began to pull hard. Just like that, the man’s neck was pulled longer and longer, longer and longer…

Upon talking to this point, he heard Bai Yuehu’s voice come from next to him, “Like this?”

Yin Xun turned. He saw Bai Yuehu’s neck had become extremely long, clearly the horrifying appearance of the man in his memories.

“Ah ah ah ah!!” Scared to the point that he started shrieking, Yin Xun stumbled to his feet, wanting to run out, nearly tumbling head over heels over the bed.

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help but laugh. He said, “Yuehu, don’t scare him anymore.”

Only then did Bai Yuehu’s neck return to normal. He blinked, his expression looking very innocent. “I was just joking. He’s a mountain god, why is his courage so small?”

Yin Xun raged, “Who said that mountain gods can’t be cowards! I am who I am, I am fireworks of a different colour!”

Lu Qingjiu, “…” Yeah, you’re a mountain god with a head filled with water.

Yin Xun said, “Lu Qingjiu, manage your family’s fox spirit a little! How can he scare people like this? That man was a shadow on my childhood!”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Alright, alright. What happened in the end?”

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Yin Xun said, “In the end? In the end, that man’s head was pulled off, and then I called the police.” Although even if he called the police, this would remain an unsolved case, but at last, the corpse was successfully found by the police, and claimed by her family. It could be considered a good thing, just that the process was a little frightening.

Yin Xun and Lu Qingjiu, now done with telling their stories, both focused their gazes on Bai Yuehu. It looked to be that Bai Yuehu was the one with the most experience amongst them. The horror story he would be telling would definitely be especially frightening. However, Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun’s stories had actually been a little similar. One of them had lengthened her own body, and the other had lengthened her boyfriend’s neck, it looked like female ghosts all liked long and thin things…

Bai Yuehu said, “Horror stories? I don’t have any horror stories.”

“How can you not?” Lu Qingjiu asked, “You haven’t run into anything particularly frightening?”

Bai Yuehu thought for a moment. “Something particularly frightening… Does not having enough to eat count?”

Lu Qingjiu said, “…”

Bai Yuehu said, “If it doesn’t, then I don’t have anything.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “How about you tell it and we’ll see?”

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When the black fog dissipated, Lu Qingjiu had already arrived at a completely unfamiliar location. It was also night here, but it probably wasn’t Shuifu village, because it was neither snowing, nor was there any trace of accumulated snow. In the sky hung a bright moon. The air was filled with a scent that was hard to describe with words, it was like a combination of a fishy smell and the smell of rotting meat.

Lu Qingjiu was standing in front of a gigantic pit. This pit was very deep, and extremely wide. Looking into it, Lu Qingjiu saw that at the bottom of this giant pit was a layer of black sludge, which was probably the source of the smell of rotting meat. On top of the black sludge, Lu Qingjiu even saw many skeletons. These skeletons looked very strange. They could be said to resemble fish, but were much longer than the usual fish. They were scattered all over, covering the surface of the sludge.

“Where, where is this place?” Yin Xun was a little scared now. He asked, “What’s in the put?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Keep watching.”

As soon as Bai Yuehu’s words fell, a bubbling sound came from the sludge in the huge pit, like that of boiling water. Looking into the pit, Lu Qingjiu unexpectedly saw a huge head emerge from the sludge. That head looked a little like a dragon, but the mud covering it obscured its features. However, the long, long fangs emerging from its bloody mouth, wide open like a sacrificial bowl, told people that it wasn’t something that would be good to provoke.

A monster covered in sludge crawled out of the put. Lu Qingjiu noticed, this monster didn’t have eyes. Or rather, its eyes had already been blinded, leaving only two dark holes.

It, however, seemed to sense Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun’s existence. It swung its tail heavily in their direction. When the heavy tail hit the ground, it shook the surrounding rocks, making them fall, but the stones in the pit were as stable as Mount Tai. If Lu Qingjiu hadn’t guessed wrong, this deep pit was this monster’s cage.

When the monster’s body completely surfaced from the pit, only then could Lu Qingjiu just barely guess at its identity. Its body was long and slender, coiled up in the pit. It was indeed the most standard type of dragon from the ancient legends. But to say it was a dragon, it looked far too miserable, with none of the proud demeanour of those godly dragons. Lu Qingjiu even saw many blood-red wounds on its body. The blood leaking out from those wounds mixed together with the sludge, making the teeth of anyone watching feel a little sore.

“This, is this a dragon?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

Bai Yuehu said, “A dragon?” He glanced at the monster. “It can’t be considered one, I guess? He already isn’t worthy of being a dragon anymore.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Did he do something wrong to be trapped in this place?”

Bai Yuehu nodded.

It was hard for Lu Qingjiu to imagine what kind of thing a dragon could do to be locked up in a place like this. To him, a normal human being, dragons were sacred figures, the totems of the Chinese nation, and a kind of belief. They should be proud and beautiful beings. Even though the monster before him was in an extremely sorry state, Lu Qingjiu could still sense some of the power belonging to a top predator and the beauty it must have had from a few small details.

“What did he do wrong?” Yin Xun asked, his voice weak, “And dragons… Didn’t they go extinct a long time ago?”

Bai Yuehu said, “He did something irreparable.” He then asked indifferently, “Extinct? Who told you that dragons had gone extinct?”

Yin Xun said, “My inherited memories.”

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Bai Yuehu said, “Then you can update your memories now.”

Yin Xun’s face was full of helplessness.

This was the thing that Bai Yuehu felt was the most frightening. Unlike Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun, his fear, came from the sorry state of his peer.

The monster in the pit opened its mouth, wanting to roar, but what came out was a hoarse bellow. Hearing this sound, only then did Lu Qingjiu realise, the dragon in the pit, seemed to have had its vocal chords severed.

What kind of wrong had it committed, for it to be sentenced to suffer this kind of torment? Looking at the scene before him, Lu Qingjiu felt a little cold.

“He can’t die, but he’s not allowed to live, either,” Bai Yuehu said, “With no food, he’s starving, so he can only eat himself.” He turned to look at Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun, and said, “To me, this is the most terrifying thing in this world.”

As if agreeing with his words, the giant dragon that had already turned into a monster in the pit let out another hoarse howl, like it was crying blood, making one’s hair stand on end from hearing it.

“Let’s go.” Looking at this scene, Yin Xun felt truly unwell. In his inherited memories, dragons shouldn’t have this kind of sorry appearance as the one before his eyes. As he looked at that monster, pity and regret rose up in his heart. “I don’t want to see anymore.”

Bai Yuehu said, “Then let’s go back.”

Hence, black fog rose up once more around them. After the black fog dissipated, they had returned to their warm home. A silent atmosphere filled the air around the three. Bai Yuehu looked at Lu Qingjiu, the emotion in his dark eyes unclear. Just as Lu Qingjiu thought that he was going to say something deep, he heard this line from Bai Yuehu, “So, I won today’s horror story telling competition, right?”

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

Yin Xun, “…”

Bai Yuehu said, “What are you two looking at me like that for?”

Yin Xun said in a trembling voice, “Of… of course you won.” Their stories weren’t on the same level of horror as the thing Bai Yuehu had had them personally face.

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Bai Yuehu said, “Oh, then is there a prize?” When he said prize, his gaze fell on Lu Qingjiu, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Lu Qingjiu, “…” If this was before, he probably would feel like this expression of Bai Yuehu’s was very cute, but when he had been bitten by him, he’d finally clearly realised, this gaze of Bai Yuehu was simply like he was looking at a delicious pork shoulder. And the current him was now politely asking the pork shoulder if he could take another bite.

The delicious pork shoulder that was Lu Qingjiu mercilessly shot down Bai Yuehu’s idea. “No.”

Bai Yuehu let out a sigh, extremely disappointed.

Yin Xun was still immersed in the scene from just now, unable to extricate himself, and hence  hadn’t noticed the undercurrent running between Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu. He said, “It’s late, so I’ll go home first. Sleep earlier, you two.”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “Are you okay?”

Yin Xun said, “I’m okay.” He scratched his head. “I just feel like that dragon was a little pitiful.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Yeah, but that’s dragonkind’s business…” They were just outsiders, it wouldn’t be good for them to butt in.

Bai Yuehu was unexpectedly utterly unmoved in the face of his fellow’s misery, too lazy to even speak a word of comfort.

Yin Xun left, dazed and in low spirits. Seeing him like this, Lu Qingjiu became a little worried. He didn’t know why Yin Xun would care so much about that dragon, however, the him who had seen that scene, had also been affected.

“That… what wrong did that dragon commit?” After Yin Xun left, Lu Qingjiu asked Bai Yuehu this question once more.

Bai Yuehu looked at Lu Qingjiu. He blinked. “You really want to know?”

Lu Qingjiu, “En.”

Bai Yuehu said, “I’ll tell you later.”

Lu Qingjiu, “…” Why did he feel like Bai Yuehu’s expression looked a little… strange?