M1zushi: guess who forgot to schedule the chapters and whose internet went down for 8 hours??? here’s today’s chapter :’)
Editor: Cloud Chip Cake
“‘He looked average, brown hair, green eyes, a few freckles. He had a very plain appearance and was actually tall but always walked hunched. He smiled at everyone, and when he smiled, he seemed quite handsome.’ That’s what your grandmother said.”
“At the time, your aunt, Wu Rao, had gone to the cliffside village behind the mountain to mediate a conflict. Their village chief had just died in battle, and their successor wanted to turn the entire village into a place for refining Spiritual Gu. The cliffside village and our village had close ties in the past, with intermarriages and all. Your aunt didn’t want to see them take the wrong path.”
Mother Wu closed her eyes, sinking into her memories. “Back then, your grandmother temporarily took charge of the village and encountered that foreigner. You know, our village had secluded itself in the depths of the mountains for many years, unlike those commercialized Miao villages outside. We were very closed-off and unwelcoming to outsiders. But the supernatural revival happened too quickly and violently, and with the mountains isolating us from the world, those in the village wanted to know what had happened in the outside world, so they invited him in.”
“He could speak a few sentences in Chinese, and when in a hurry, he’d speak some incomprehensible bird language, waving his hands and feet. The people in the village didn’t understand, and when communication got difficult, he would just laugh, give foreign candies to the kids and help the villagers kill some ghosts and monsters. He could wield a white light that had a strong impact on ghosts, but he was actually very timid and scared of ghosts.”
“Once, with his help, the village resisted an onslaught of ghosts. The village held a bonfire party to celebrate, singing praises to the hero, but he was nowhere to be found. Your grandmother personally went to look for him and finally discovered him hiding behind a stilted building in the village, squatting there while wiping his tears.”
Mother Wu made a cold snort and continued in a faint tone, “Miao men are all heroes. When had your grandmother ever seen a man cry? She only heard him say things like, ‘The world is coming to an end’ and ‘Satan’s hell must be filled up’. In the end, the man begged your grandmother to help persuade Wu Rao, hoping she could leave the mountains because the real solution to the problem was outside the mountains.”
“Your grandmother was quite fond of him, although she never told me. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have agreed to help that man.” Mother Wu muttered to herself, “But if your grandmother had known at that time that he wanted to take Wu Rao to her death, she would have never agreed.”
Wu Rong asked, “To her death?”
“Yes, to her death.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Mother Wu’s attitude was very indifferent, her lips downturned with a hint of mockery. “To fill up the Great Tiankeng, of course, was sending her to her death.”
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Mother Wu’s eyes revealed a hint of disgust. “He begged Wu Rao to leave the mountains, completely lacking dignity, like a dog. Your Aunt naturally refused. At that time, the villages in the mountains relied solely on her. If she left, those villains who used people to refine Gu would immediately swallow up the villages. Besides, the Zhong Gu jewelry was on her, and if Wu Rao left, the Wu family’s heritage would be cut off.”
“But these thoughts only persisted until your aunt fell in love with that devilish foreigner. He was really appealing towards the Wu family, both your grandmother and aunt liked him a lot. Your grandmother eavesdropped on their conversation and went to find that man, wanting to sacrifice herself so that her sister could live. Perhaps at that time, she wanted to go with this man, even if it meant facing death, without fear.”
“But she was rejected by that man. He firmly believed that only Wu Rao was the person mentioned in the prophecy. In the end, Wu Rao was moved by his words, but she had to achieve two things before leaving the mountains.”
“The first was to find a way to suppress the spiritual Gu, preventing the Evil Miao from continuing to develop. The second was to hand over the Zhong Gu and the jewelry set to your grandmother, allowing her to pass on the bloodline of the Wu family. Only by accomplishing these two things would she leave with that man.”
Mother Wu looked at Wu Rong. From the beginning of the story until now, Wu Rong had been silent, just listening quietly. Regardless of what she said, Wu Rong’s expression remained unchanged. Mother Wu knew that Wu Rong had always been indifferent to everything since he was a child, not paying attention to anything. Still, if someone intruded into his gang’s territory and acted recklessly, she would never forget his cruelty when beating the other party till their heads were bloody.
Wu Rong’s father died early, and she single-handedly ran the funeral shop, so she didn’t have much time to focus on her child. She was the one responsible for him growing up like this.
But now, Mother Wu felt like Wu Rong’s temperament was pretty good. He had companions and a lover, which was enough in this crisis-ridden world. The past had passed, and now Wu Rong represented the future of the Wu family. Seeing the look in Wu Rong’s eyes as he looked over, the resentment and grievances of the previous generation in Mother Wu’s heart seemed to have faded a bit.
Those who died were already gone, and those who were still alive were trapped in the past. Her mother spent her whole life in the Miao village, never taking a step out of the village gate. Even when she found an outsider and eloped, rebelliously refusing to inherit the Zhong Gu, she wasn’t expelled from the Wu family.
Wu Rong’s grandmother grew old, Wu Rao had died, and those of the past were gone. Time was ruthless, like a surging river that never returned. Wu Rong had grown up so much now. Mother Wu thought she had long forgotten what happened in the past. If he hadn’t found the hairpin, she wouldn’t have remembered.
“All things have spirits, things that belong to the Wu family will eventually return to the hands of the Wu family.”
Mother Wu suddenly remembered when she was young, and Grandmother Wu was still young, holding her in front of the village, looking into the distance eastward, as if waiting for someone to return. Until the year before she rebelled and left the Miao village, Grandmother Wu still waited at the village entrance every sixth day of the month, from daytime to dusk.
“What happened afterwards?”
Mother Wu was silent for a long time before Wu Rong took the initiative to ask.
“Later, your aunt, Wu Rao, was severely injured from the ghost tide and couldn’t move. That man stayed to take care of her for a few days and eventually decided to return alone. But after he left, the people in the village discovered that he had stolen your Aunt’s necklace.”
Some emotions, once they break out, would turn into a vast dullness when one tries to revive them. When Mother Wu spoke about this matter, she no longer held an emotional tone, her words seemed dry, as if she was narrating a poorly written and common story. This story was told to her by her mother, with numerous personal emotions added. Perhaps it was this simple description that could restore the truth of the past.
“Maybe he just wanted to keep a memento, who knows.” Mother Wu said indifferently, “This jewelry set is a sacred item of the Wu Family, as precious as the Zhong Gu. To retrieve that necklace, Wu Rao chased after him.”
Then she never came back.
Wu Rao didn’t come back. But the foreigner did return a month later. He came to deliver the Zhong Gu and a peculiar kind of seal. It was said to shatter Spiritual Gu, specifically targeting the Evil Miao people, preventing them from further development. No one knows what he did, but Grandmother Wu and those in the village eventually let him go, accepting the fact that Wu Rao would go to seal the Great Tiankeng.
With this seal, Grandmother Wu had time to merge with the Zhong Gu, becoming the new clan leader, leading the village in repelling the Evil Miao people and driving them into the Ghost Territory. But good times don’t last. This seal later failed. The village faced an counterattack from the Evil Miao that was even more intense, teetering on the brink of collapse several times, until those from the Public Security Bureau somehow came to the mountains, helping to save the village and repel the Evil Miao people.
They also brought a small urn.
Of course, there were no ashes inside. There was only a handkerchief embroidered by Grandmother Wu, to bless her sister’s safety.
This was a memento left by a hero before their departure.
‘He promised to protect you with his life and will do his best to send you home.’
Mother Wu still remembered that when she was a child, on the sixth day of a certain month, her mother left after coaxing her to sleep, but Mother Wu didn’t fall asleep. She mischievously followed her mother to an old stilted building. She saw her mother, who had always been dignified and strong, guarding the entire Miao village like a towering tree, giving up her usual composure, crying out in pain like an injured she-wolf.
“He didn’t fulfill it, he didn’t fulfill anything. He’s a hateful liar, a thief! He took you away, sister, my sister.”
“I have lost you forever…”
After Wu Rong heard the whole story, he had some guesses about the identity of the person who put the hairpin beneath the school, but wasn’t fully sure yet. Mother Wu, who was in a rare good mood that day, told him everything she knew about the jewelry’s usage—she didn’t know much because Grandma Wu had long believed that this jewelry, along with Wu Rao, were all buried in the Great Tiankeng, so this sensitive topic was never mentioned again.
But digging out the Swallowtail Butterfly Stone to feed the Zhong Gu was definitely the most wasteful and extravagant behavior. When assembled with its other parts, this jewelry set possessed powerful abilities, capable of communicating with heaven and earth, transforming ordinary Gu into Gu kings. Although Wu Rong only had one hairpin in his hands right now, the bloodline of the Wu family would still allow it to exert its full power.
With the hairpin, the Black Rock Wolf Spider, which had accumulated enough energy, molted again. Golden patterns appeared on its originally pure black shell, making it look more majestic and domineering. The Qingling Gu, who had recently molted, molted again. Its originally huge snake body did not change in size, but the color of its emerald-green scales became deeper, like the color of leaves deep inside the rainforest, lush and vibrant.
In addition, the jewelry also balanced Yin and Yang. The Zhengyang fire within Wu Rong’s body harmonized even more with his own Yin Qi, making him feel harmonious, the Qi complemented each other as if they were a family. With the blood contract, Wu Rong’s enhanced abilities were also reflected in Huang Mao, Bai Gu and Su Xiaomi.
Just as everyone’s strength was increasing, and they were preparing for the upcoming battle, Master Ling Yun, with messy hair and wrinkled robes, dark circles around his eyes and blood dripping from the corners of his mouth, looking like a madman with no composure at all, hurriedly found Wu Rong.
“King, I’ve divined where Chunyangzi’s remaining soul is!”
Author’s note:
Chunyangzi: There’s only one truth!
Unexpected family history
I like this bit of background on Wu Rong’s family, it makes it feel as if the protagonist is not so untethered after all.
Thanks for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
Andddddd here comes the reveal!!! God d@mn that backstory, Leo you son of a roach you didn’t fulfill sh!t and even sacrificed her to the great Tiankeng?!! Good thing you also died there! Accompany her soul to the end of h*ll and back!!!