Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Xie Lingya remained silent, only smiling at Hai Guanchao.
Hai Guanchao was slightly unnerved by the smile. “You…you should be a little more respectful to your elders.”
While Xie Lingya just said innocently, “Brother, I’m just having a little fun.”
Hai Guanchao hadn’t yet connected Xie Lingya’s smile to his own words, because he genuinely didn’t find them funny. “You’re smiling like you’re possessed. Don’t scare me!”
Xie Lingya stopped teasing him and picked up the weasel, saying, “Look at you, you won’t talk properly. This is a lesson for you. Go back and retire.”
He opened the window a crack and pushed the weasel out.
The weasel glared at them with resignation. After all, cultivation for an inhuman being was incredibly difficult. It had worked so hard to achieve its current state, yet it could only helplessly vanish into the loess and rocks.
Xie Lingya carried the unconscious girl back to the front desk, explaining that upon entering the room, he found her unconscious, likely from overwork.
At this time, the girl also woke up. She was stunned for two seconds, then said in horror: “Weasel! It’s a weasel!”
“What weasel? Xiao Juan, you must be confused.” A colleague touched her face, “You should go to the hospital for a check-up. You fainted for no apparent reason.”
The girl’s memory was a little fuzzy, but she remembered the weasel’s strange, human-like expression before she lost consciousness. She was both shocked and scared, “I, I didn’t… I really saw it…”
“Beautiful girl, are you tired and hallucinating? I didn’t see any weasels,” Xie Lingya consoled her. He then added, “There’s a doctor with us. He took your pulse and said it’s nothing serious, just a little weakness. Maybe that’s why you’re half-dazed. Drink some hot tea or something warm and it’ll make you feel better.”
The girl looked at Xie Lingya bewilderedly and muttered, “I think I was holding someone…”
Xie Lingya blushed, almost unable to contain his anger. Unexpectedly, she still felt a little hazy. He quickly said, “I’m sorry. Maybe you felt it because I carried you down, but I was very honest!”
The girl blushed, embarrassed to bring it up again. With the help of her colleagues, she ate some more food.
Seeing she was fine, Xie Lingya returned. He had assumed the matter was over; the old weasel would have realized the difference in strength and wouldn’t dare cause trouble.
However, Xie Lingya had underestimated the weasel’s stubbornness and vindictiveness.
Two days later, they completed their training and were about to reach the summit. The trainer asked which side of Yuzhu Peak they were climbing, wanting to see them off. Xie Lingya smiled but said nothing. The trainer’s chief called out to him, saying they had their own arrangements.
Before dawn that day, the four of them packed their bags and set off.
Every few hours, they stopped to rest and eat to replenish their energy. Hai Guanchao even massaged Fang Zhe’s legs and feet. It was a testament to Fang Zhe’s endurance; it was something no one could handle. Thinking this, Xie Lingya took out his portable windproof stove and set it on a flat surface, intending to heat something up.
As he was lighting the fire, Xie Lingya heard a faint noise. He looked up, but nothing was there. “Did you hear anything?”
The other three, seated a little further away, Hai Guanchao still massaging Fang Zhe, shook their heads.
Suspicious, Xie Lingya continued to light the fire and retrieved containers and food from his backpack.
Liu Lingtong, for once, showed some temper. “Ah, weasels are so annoying!”
Xie Lingya suddenly realized. Was it really the weasel? That guy is already disabled, how can he still catch up?
Xie Lingya stood up and looked around, but there were rocks everywhere, and he couldn’t make out the weasel. He had no choice but to continue doing his own thing, cooking and sharing it with everyone.
Because he was worried, Xie Lingya kept paying attention to his surroundings. When he heard the sound again, he suddenly looked over and saw a half-grown weasel standing next to the backpack, looking like it wanted to steal something.
Xie Lingya could see that this was definitely not the old weasel they had dealt with before, so it must be its descendant, probably from the same family.
Well, since he couldn’t take revenge himself, he sent the younger generation to follow and make trouble. What if the weasel in this big mountain took away all their food? Xie Lingya took a stone and smashed the weasel away, pulled the backpack back, and hugged Brother Pheasant again.
The others also witnessed this scene. And Hai Guanchao said worriedly, “What if they really cause trouble…”
“So what? I’ll chase them, but I don’t know if I can catch them.” Xie Lingya sat down and said sullenly, “It’s okay. They’ll just follow us.”
At night, the four of them set up two double tents. Xie Lingya sprinkled cinnabar around the tents, drew a talisman on a slate, and stuck it in the soil. Satisfied, he said, “Okay, no need to be afraid when we sleep. If they dare come, I’ll treat you to lightning-struck weasel meat.”
The mountain chill intensified at night. Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan shared a tent and huddled in their sleeping bags. The tent provided a shield, making it much easier. Their backpacks and Pheasant Brother were also nearby.
After a long day of climbing, everyone was exhausted. Xie Lingya thus moved to his face, kissed him, and fell asleep.
In the middle of the night, Xie Lingya suddenly felt a start. As if sensing something, he opened his eyes, only to hear the whistling night wind and the faint sobbing of animals. Yes, it was crying, a thin, faint sound, vaguely human, but definitely not.
Is this ever going to stop? Why are you crying when you can’t get in?
Xie Lingya looked at Shi Changxuan, still sound asleep, and Pheasant Brother, shivering with his head on the ground. He then slipped out, ready to teach the little weasel a lesson.
He opened the tent door and slipped his head out, his scalp suddenly tingling and goosebumps covering his body.
In front of his tent, at least eighty or ninety weasels were squatting densely, their eyes gleaming, and they looked up at him in unison.
Their stares made Xie Lingya extremely uncomfortable. He hadn’t expected there would be more than one weasel following them, but there were so many, and it seemed he had only spotted one.
The weasels couldn’t get close to their tent, so one of them began to cry. Upon seeing Xie Lingya, the sobbing didn’t stop but grew louder. Dozens of voices converged, accumulating until they woke the other three.
The eerie weasel cries frightened Hai Guanchao so much that cold sweats broke out on his back. He didn’t dare leave the tent to look, clinging tightly to Fang Zhe’s arm.
Fang Zhe patted him twice, “It’s okay.”
If he were timid, he wouldn’t be the heir to Lu Bashu, nor would he have been able to play with Xie Lingya since childhood. He and Xie Lingya were both the kind of people who could withstand a scare.
Fang Zhe stood up and looked out, but seeing the weasels swarming outside, their sobs unleashed, a chill ran down his spine.
They were all staring at him.
“You can’t win, so what’s the point of pestering us like this?” The weasels probably figured, “I can’t touch you, so making you unhappy is our own happiness.” They cried even harder, their sobs carried further by the mountain wind, lingering in the night. A normal person would have been frightened to death or piss their pants.
“I’m so sleepy. Don’t tell them,” Xie Lingya gestured to Fang Zhe, and Fang Zhe understood. They all went back into the tent.
Xie Lingya pulled two pairs of earplugs from his bag and handed one to Shi Changxuan. As soon as they put them on, the world fell silent. These high-quality earplugs, along with the eye mask in his backpack, were all prepared for the journey. They’d been on such a bumpy ride, and Xie Lingya had brought them for quality rest. He’d unexpectedly found them useful even in the mountains. Although Brother Pheasant couldn’t wear headphones, Xie Lingya tucked him into his sleeping bag and immediately felt better.
The weasels outside, seeing that Xie Lingya didn’t attack them but silently endured, felt a sense of triumph and barked even louder. They were determined to keep these humans from getting a good night’s rest. It wasn’t until the first rays of sunlight in the morning that the weasels finally shut up, their voices hoarse and satisfied.
….
Xie Lingya slept until he woke naturally and greeted the others. Although the camping conditions weren’t great, compared to the weasels’ previous night’s clamor, he felt relieved.
Xie Lingya took out his noise-canceling earplugs and put them away, thinking to himself, there were so many weasels, he couldn’t kill them all, and if he really killed them, it would only attract more weasels to retaliate. It seemed that he needed to think of a reliable way to get rid of them.
Xie Lingya couldn’t figure out a way at this time. As they climbed higher and higher, the weaker weasels couldn’t bear it and were visibly “falling behind”. From time to time, one of them came out from its hiding place, looked at Xie Lingya faintly for a few times, and turned back to walk down the mountain.
Moreover, as the mountain became steeper and the environment became harsher, there was no grass and no place to hide. These weasels followed behind, not too far away, and those who didn’t know would think they were seeing him off for thousands of miles.
Xie Lingya couldn’t bear the hoarse cries of the exhausted weasels, forced to turn back. He shouted, “Fellow villagers, you should go back! Don’t see us off!”
The others: “…”
The weasels: “…”
Xie Lingya whispered, “I didn’t even dare tell them we were wearing headphones last night, for fear of pissing them off.”
Hai Guanchao looked unbearable. “Come on, I don’t think you’ll care if they keep howling tonight.”
Xie Lingya: “Yeah, yeah.”
By evening, only a dozen weasels remained. They stubbornly followed the four of them, their fatigue occasionally revealing expressions of resentment, a resentment that must have grown as they climbed.
The weasels tried every possible way to make things difficult for them, but in the end, it seemed only they were exhausted.
Xie Lingya tried to find a flatter spot to pitch his tent, but one of them suddenly picked up a rock and threw it at him.
“You’re going to die, fellow villager!” Xie Lingya rushed over a few steps to scare it. The weasel jumped back, then slipped and fell in fright.
Xie Lingya laughed heartily and walked over to scare it again, but he saw a large lake hidden by rocks, down a gentle slope. The water was unpolluted, calm, and a deep blue.
“…It’s quite beautiful.” This mountain lake was extremely beautiful, and the land around it was flat and not soft. Xie Lingya was immediately attracted by it. He didn’t care about the weasel and turned back to call the others over.
“This lake is so beautiful, like a piece of blue ice.” Hai Guanchao also sighed. It was rare to see such a beautiful view in the city.
It was getting dark quickly. Xie Lingya was quite interested and asked everyone to get up early the next morning to watch the sunrise by the lake. Although it wasn’t at the top of the mountain, it must be a different experience.
At night, the weasels huddled together for warmth, staring at them dimly.
As Xie Lingya fed Pheasant Brother, he said, “Fellow villagers, you don’t have much food with you. Better get down the mountain and don’t follow us. Otherwise, even if I figure out how to chase you off, it’ll be just the same, a waste of suffering.”
The weasels glared at him with a shared hatred, determined not to give up until they reached the Yellow River.
Xie Lingya curled his lips in boredom, fed the rooster, and ate his own meal.
As night fell, the wind intensified. Xie Lingya set up his talisman array, crawled into his tent, and put on his headphones. The world was quiet and natural.
He thought of waking up tomorrow to watch the sunrise, feeling truly romantic. He took advantage of the open space for a date, and as he thought about it, he slowly fell asleep.
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