Chapter 76: The Broken Life Token Proves the Person is Dead
When the familiar rustling sound reached Fang Chaozhou’s ears, he knew it was time to drink the vine juice. He had lost track of how many days he had been here, but he counted the number of times he had drunk the vine juice—
It had been five times.
His leg had almost healed; he could already stand up. However, although he could stand, he couldn’t move around freely. If he took a few extra steps, that thing would get angry.
Fang Chaozhou still hadn’t seen the appearance of that thing, but he guessed it might be an ancient tree spirit that had lived for many years.
He grabbed the extended vine and let out a sigh before sitting up. He carefully wiped the vine clean and then, resignedly, took a bite.
The bitterness instantly permeated his throat, causing Fang Chaozhou’s face to wrinkle up. But he didn’t dare stop. Although his leg had almost healed, there was still no spiritual power inside him. It felt as if he had become an ordinary mortal.
The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.
Tl nawpble vbl xydeyakd ewnj fyel rldeydv vbyv Dwl Pydasdt bye tkhld bkx. Vlsrzl qasx vbl Mkyd Fbwk Flnv xktbv cl yczl vs jdso vbyv bl oyp pvkzz yzkhl yde oblal bl oyp. Tsolhla, vblal oyp ds alprsdpl, yp kq kv bye hydkpble okvbswv y vaynl.
Gqvla eakdjkdt vbl hkdl fwknl qkhl vkxlp, Wydt Ubysgbsw cltyd vs lpvkxyvl vbl vkxl. Oynb vkxl bl osjl wr, bl oswze wpl y pxyzz jdkql vs eayo y zkdl sd vbl taswde dlmv vs bkx. Ebld bl alynble vbl qswavb zkdl, vbl hkdl vbyv lmvldele vsoyaep bkx eked’v nayoz vs bkp byde cwv nskzle yaswde bkp ydjzl.
Ekvb y qsanlqwz rwzz, bl oyp eayttle vsoyaep vbl eyajdlpp.
Ekvbswv prkakvwyz rsola, bl nswzed’v alpkpv yde nswze sdzu xydytl vs tayc vbl nlzyesd wxcalzzy kd vkxl.
“Vzsr—”
Gp bl blyae vbl pswde sq oyvla przypbkdt, Wydt Ubysgbsw qlzv vbyv byzq sq bkp cseu oyp pwcxlatle kd oyvla. Mbl hkdl pvsrrle xshkdt. Tl pvyale czydjzu, zssjkdt cynj okvb vbl zktbv qasx vbl nlzyesd wxcalzzy, yde alxykdle xsvksdzlpp sd vbl prsv.
“Pke R qaktbvld usw?” G tzssxu hsknl lnbsle.
Mbkp vkxl, Wydt Ubysgbsw qkdyzzu pyo vbl yrrlyaydnl sq vbl svbla rlapsd nzlyazu. Rv bye y byzq-bwxyd, byzq-elxsd-zkjl yrrlyaydnl, pvyukdt kd y pxyzz oyvla rssz. Rvp wrrla cseu oyp bwxyd, nsxrzlvlzu dyjle, okvb pkzhla byka bydtkdt kd vbl oyvla. Bdela vbl nzlya oyvla pwaqynl, vblal olal vokpvle yde kdvlavokdle hkdlp, alplxczkdt nskzle ruvbsdp, obknb xyel rlsrzl qllz dywplswp.
It was completely different from its face.
Its face was very beautiful, like the kind of beauty untainted by the world. But no matter how beautiful it was, when Fang Chaozhou saw those vines crawling around it in a disorderly manner, he almost vomited.
He immediately turned his face away, knowing that he would vomit if he looked at it any longer.
“Do you find me ugly?” it spoke again.
Fang Chaozhou breathed a sigh of relief and shook his head.
“Hypocritical. I haven’t encountered anyone who doesn’t find me ugly.”
Fang Chaozhou shook his head again. “It’s not that you’re ugly, it’s just disgusting. You know what ‘disgusting’ means, right? It’s like eating something that has been licked all over by someone else’s saliva.”
He thought to himself that since he was going to die anyway, and the other person had already captured him, he must think the time was right to kill him. If he was going to die anyway, couldn’t he speak a few heartfelt words before that?
After a moment of silence, the vine wrapped around Fang Chaozhou’s ankle moved again, dragging him deeper into the water.
“Seeking death!”
Fang Chaozhou was forced to sink into the water. As soon as he entered the water, the vines tightly encircled him, like a silkworm spinning a cocoon. He became that cocoon, trapped underwater.
At first, he still had some consciousness and managed to pull the vine that accidentally blocked his mouth apart a little. But after a few attempts, he realized that it wasn’t an accident. The half-human, half-demon creature had done it deliberately. It had captured him and forced him to drink the vine juice.
Fang Chaozhou thought about how the vines were the creature’s true form and recalled the disgusting scene he had witnessed earlier. He only wanted to vomit and had no intention of drinking the vine juice again. However, the creature was unwilling to let him go and forcefully tried to stuff it into his mouth.
Even a rabbit will bite when it’s cornered, and Fang Chaozhou had his own temper to some extent. Frustrated and humiliated, he angrily bit off the vine in his hand and swallowed it whole.
*
“Congratulations, Master, for subduing the Tawu once again.”
The flattering words of his disciples behind him didn’t elicit any response from the man. He simply watched as the ferocious beast before him bowed its head and emitted pleading sobs from its throat.
This beast had ravaged three villages in the past ten days. It was smarter than two hundred years ago. Previously, it would devour everything in its path, consuming one village after another. Now, it knew to finish one village and then move on to the next, even if it meant traveling thousands of miles. It was because of this behavior that it took Zongli Yueshui some time to capture it.
Wherever the Tawu went, there were no living beings left. The entire town was covered in bloodstains, and not a single corpse could be found. It had devoured them all.
The beast was truly vicious, sparing not even infants in their cradles.
Elder Sizhi Feng had hurriedly arrived upon hearing that Zhongli Yueshui had found the Tawu. But when he arrived, the fierce battle had already reached its conclusion. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but be amazed by his master’s cultivation level.
If he were to face the Tawu, the chances of winning would be next to none. Even if he managed to survive, he would likely lose an arm or a leg.
Elder Sizhi watched the subdued Tawu and pondered for a moment. “Master, now that the Tawu has been subdued, how does Master plan to deal with it? If you intend to keep it imprisoned, I can send a message back to have the disciples make room for it in the mountain prison. Also, we should prepare the Demon-Locking Chains. This Tawu is so ferocious; we might need the thickest ones…”
Before he could finish his words, he witnessed his own master directly using the dragon-shaped sword in his hand to cut open the Tawu’s abdomen.
The occurrence happened in an instant, and he hadn’t even reacted when the deep red inner core hidden within the Tawu’s abdomen was already dug out.
Zhongli Yueshui had always preferred white and cleanliness. Now, he held the deep red inner core in his hand, and the still-wet blood dripped down from his pure white hand, staining his white sleeves and leaving unsightly marks.
Witnessing this, Elder Sizhi became nervous, swallowed hard, and changed his previous words, replacing them with new ones.
“This… The Tawu has caused immense calamity, and by extracting its inner core, Master is preventing it from causing further havoc. It is a righteous act. However, now that the inner core has been taken out, how should we handle it? The Tawu’s inner core is likely to attract attention from all the beasts, causing them to gather. Ordinary demonic beasts that consume the Tawu’s inner core will experience a significant increase in their cultivation level, not to mention rare beasts. Would Master consider giving the Tawu’s inner core to Tu bai, the beast you keep by your side?”
But in the next moment, Elder Sizhi saw Zhongli Yueshui crush the inner core in his hand.
Elder Sizhi gasped, his voice trembling, “Master, this… this is the Tawu…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he locked eyes with Zhongli Yueshui.
Zhongli Yueshui’s eyes were a light, shallow brown color. When exposed to sunlight, his iris was nearly indistinguishable. But at this moment, under the bright sunlight, his eyes were deep and as if bottomless, bordering on terrifying.
Elder Sizhi felt that he hadn’t misperceived it; he had just seen killing intent.
His master had just intended to kill him.
Almost immediately, Elder Sizhi closed his mouth and dared not say anything further. He watched as Zhongli Yueshui took out a jade box and placed the crushed Tawu inner core inside. Along with it, he placed a jade pendant that had been split in half.
Elder Sizhi recognized that jade pendant because it bore the name “Fang Chaozhou.”
It was Fang Chaozhou’s life token. The broken life token proved that the person was dead.
************************************************************
Translator’s note: Hi, after this, this story has two versions: The old and new. What do you want me to translate? Do you want to read the new one? I read the old version a while ago, and I might go for the new one.
Or do you think it’s better to do both? I heard both are good. I’m more excited for the new version since I haven’t read it. Hehe.
***********************************************************
What is the difference between both?
I'm not too sure as I've read the old version a long time ago, and only read a few chapters of the new. I heard both are good.
I've read another web novel that had two versions and they were essentially the same in my eyes. Maybe go for the new version and hash out in the footnotes what occured in the old version instead, maybe do a chapter .5 or a short excerpt if it's especially interesting. I'd be interested in something like that, but it's whatever you want!
This is a brilliant idea! I'll try doing this as I want to read the old version again even though I finished reading it. I'm especially interested with the new version. Or maybe I'll just do both (if I have the time). Thank you!
The new version with footnotes suggestion seems to be a great idea! Can't wait to read the rest of the story. Thank you for translating EA!