Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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“How’s the effect of the magic array?” Xiao Yao leaned against the fence of the small horse farm and asked the old white dog who hadn’t spoken for a long time.
Bai Ju rubbed his eyes and mumbled, “It’s alright, a little better than I expected.”
“Are your eyes uncomfortable?” Xiao Yao turned around and saw Bai Ju rubbing his eyes. He couldn’t help but worry and grabbed his wrist, leaning forward, “Let me see.”
Bai Ju blinked hard and moved his eyeballs: “It’s nothing, just a little swollen and a little dry.”
Xiao Yao frowned. Bai Ju’s eyes were dark and deep, but always clean and bright, like a child’s; now the corners of his eyes were a little red, and you could see that his conjunctiva was slightly congested.
“What’s wrong… Don’t rub them.” Xiao Yao raised his hand and covered Bai Ju’s eyes, channeling cool spiritual energy through his palm to soothe the old white dog. “Are you feeling better?”
Bai Ju smiled and took Xiao Yao’s hand, kneading it gently. “It’s alright, don’t worry; it just took a bit of effort to see through the seal.”
Xiao Yao was somewhat surprised. “Can seals be broken?”
As far as he knew, seals were special. They could only discern the seal’s trajectory and the point of breaking it, but they couldn’t see what was inside without destroying the seal.
Bai Ju put a finger to his lips. “Shh… I’ll tell you one.”
Bai Ju mysteriously switched to telepathy. “I can’t see seals elsewhere, but this is a mountain. With a little effort, I can figure something out.”
“Mountains, mountains. Everything has to follow a pattern here. Therefore, setting up an array on a mountain is much more restrictive than on a plain. Conversely, if you take advantage of the mountain’s terrain, the same array will be much more effective on a mountain than on any flat ground. The same principle applies to seals.” Bai Ju explained, “I’ve been on the island for so many days now, and I have a general understanding of the mountain’s structure. Plus… plus my right eye is a bit special.”
Bai Ju paused here, the smile on his lips fading slightly: “…Sometimes, if the power is too special, it will appear in front of me on its own without me having to put in much effort.”
The swelling magnified in his vision, its presence palpable, stirring the restless remnants within him, as if a delicious feast were laid out before him.
This feeling wasn’t pleasant; in its worst, it could even give Bai Ju the illusion of extreme hunger. However, after over a thousand years of repeated trials, such a reaction now had negligible impact on Old Dog Bai.
Xiao Yao silently squeezed Bai Ju’s hand.
Old Dog Bai’s words were euphemistic, but it was clear that the peculiarity of his right eye lay in its past injury, leaving a scar that stretched from the corner of his eye to his cheek.
The reaction to this special power could only be explained by the fact that the scar contained not just some difficult-to-remove filth, but that this remnant possessed considerable activity and even a sense of self, only temporarily subdued because it couldn’t suppress Bai Ju.
Seeing Xiao Yao’s somewhat somber expression, Bai Ju shook his arm: “Can we not talk about this?”
However, Xiao Yao couldn’t help but glance at Old Dog Bai’s scar a few more times.
At first, he thought the shape of the scar was quite nice, but now that he’d gotten used to it, all that remained was heartache.
Why… why did such a good dog like Bai Ju had to have such a mark on his body, causing him pain and exclusion in the past, making him feel inferior, insecure, and avoid people… where finally, only in the modern world, he got a good deal.
“Brother Bai, it really won’t affect you like before…” Xiao Yao raised his hand, his fingertips gently stroking the corner of Bai Ju’s eye.
Bai Ju tilted his head slightly, rubbing against Xiao Yao’s fingers, and replied, “Yes, it hasn’t reacted for a long time. At most, it hurt a little like when Chu Jiu activated it… but the residue inside did give me some unusual abilities, which I can use.”
His voice lowered, and Bai Ju complained like a child, “But I never wanted it.”
He didn’t want this scar, nor did he want these abilities. If he could, he’d rather nothing had ever happened. Then he could stay on the mountain day after day, listening to prayers, helping those he felt he could— whether it was a dream, a connection, or a few underlings causing trouble…
Bai Ju had no desire to become a god. If he maintained that kind of life, he’d shed his mountain god duties when the divine path declined, running errands and temples, becoming a carefree demon king. He’d travel around from time to time, embracing new things with the times, and then, at some point, settle down in a beautiful place, writing talismans.” He imagined catching ghosts, making a name for himself, and perhaps even encountering a gifted child like Xiao Yao who would come to him seeking apprenticeship, whom he could raise from childhood.
But it was all just a thought.
He didn’t want this thing, but he couldn’t do without it… The indelible demonic remnant brand was imprinted on his body, and if he couldn’t suppress or even integrate it, Bai Ju himself would be the one to suffer. His body was the battlefield; in this battle, there were no deserters, only life and death.
Now that Bai Ju was alive, the remnant was almost completely dead, yet it had become debris on the battlefield, gradually absorbed and encroached upon by Bai Ju, the victor, becoming part of his body. As well as the power of that thing.
From Bai Ju’s few words, Xiao Yao could roughly guess the origin of those things.
Old Dog Bai was injured by a demon, so it was normal for the things remaining on him to react to demons and yin energy. In addition, Old Dog Bai had previously admitted that he was stronger now than when he was a mountain god; it was not difficult to deduce that Old Dog Bai became stronger because he absorbed the power remaining in his wound.
The records of Bai Ju in the sorcerer’s world stopped after his temple collapsed; and were resumed more than 600 years ago when Bai Ju reappeared and saved three children in a flash flood.
The records of that year were not clear. But the appearance of a demon capable of injuring Bai Ju in such a way must be no small matter. It was likely someone deliberately obscured to hide the history of Bai Ju’s injury. Considering the time Bai Ju was “missing,” many events were vaguely recorded, and there might be a connection between them.
Xiao Yao rubbed his temples.
It was normal for records to be missing or incomplete, given that it happened fourteen or five thousand years ago; he hadn’t thought much of it when he first saw the files. Now, however, it was strange that while many major events were recorded with vague dates, the disappearance of a minor mountain god was mentioned— that was odd in itself.
…This information is too much.
Xiao Yao pursed his lips, wanting to say a few comforting words to Old Dog Bai, but he wasn’t in the mood for it— what he knew now, if any powerful figure in the sorcerer world knew, would have a negative impact on Bai Ju.
He admitted he was biased towards Old Dog Bai, almost instinctively believing this history had no effect on Bai Ju now; but he also had to admit that a demon who might have participated in all the turmoil of an era, while now bearing the mark of a demon and still alive, was a glaring warning sign to the sorcerer world.
The danger level that Old Dog Bai had painstakingly lowered would instantly be raised to its peak.
He had to think of a way… Tampering with historical records was impossible, but at least until someone else discovered it, he had to stabilize Bai Ju’s position.
Bai Ju remained silent for a moment, cautiously glancing at Xiao Yao before setting out to conceal the array on the cliff face.
He could guess what Xiao Yao was thinking. His little boyfriend wasn’t stupid; the clues he had gradually revealed over the past few days were enough for Xiao Yao to deduce his situation. A bittersweet feeling welled up inside him; Bai Ju knew that Xiao Yao’s reaction stemmed entirely from his concern for him.
His little boyfriend was so good. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and Bai Ju restrained himself, closing his eyes and trying to focus his attention on the array.
The array that Qu Lang and Ling Yun spent most of the day setting up was a suppression and tracking array modified by Ji Yun. Embedded in the cliff face, spiritual energy communicated with the entire mountain range and the outside environment through cinnabar. Borrowing the power of the mountain, it was activated when the intensity of a certain unstable force reached a critical point, suppressing the designated target within the array and leaving dozens of tracking marks. There were commonly used ones, unorthodox ones, and even combinations of them. Even if you were to decipher them all, it would be very difficult. The time it bought was more than enough for Xiao Yao and the others to take action and leave even more stubborn tracking marks.
The array was very effective, but its weakness was also obvious. The array’s fluctuations, which relied on the power of the mountain, were too great. You could tell there was a trap from a great distance. The target wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t just walk into a trap… Unfortunately, no one had the ability to conceal the array’s fluctuations yet, which meant that Ji Yun’s modified array hadn’t been put into use, and the research results had been gathering dust in a corner.
Fortunately, Old Dog Bai had the ability, so Xiao Yao and Qu Lang decided to use this design during their meeting. Now that Bai Ju had checked the formation, he was being used as an auxiliary tool for the special operations team to help them conceal it.
This was his old profession as the Mountain God. When they discussed it, Ji Yun brought up this possibility based on Old Dog Bai’s status as the Mountain God, not because the Special Operations Bureau had more information.
As the fluctuations of the formation gradually disappeared beneath the stone wall, the forty-nine cinnabar talismans also gradually disappeared from the cliff face, as if they were seeping in bit by bit, stubbornly pressed into the mountain.
By the time Bai Ju finished, Xiao Yao had almost finished organizing his thoughts. He thought for a moment and decided not to go back to Haiyin Castle with Bai Ju to meet the others. Instead, he found a secluded pavilion with Bai Ju and held a short meeting.
Old Dog Bai’s situation was too unique. Xiao Yao was fine before because he didn’t know Bai Ju’s predicament, but now that he roughly understood, he couldn’t let Bai Ju keep everything from him anymore; at least he needed to have a sense of Old Dog Bai’s current strength.
Bai Ju sat obediently in the chair, his hands resting on his knees. Faced with Xiao Yao’s question, he could only answer guiltily and honestly, “Not by much…”
“Just… about ten times stronger than when I was a mountain god…”
Xiao Yao: “…”
Xiao Yao stared at Old Dog Bai, his heart aching almost unbearably. Ten times stronger? That meant the power that demon had left in Old Dog Bai’s body was ten times stronger than Old Dog Bai was back then? How did he suppress it? How much torment did he have to endure?
Seeing Xiao Yao’s pale face and inexplicable expression, Bai Ju became nervous and quickly moved closer, tentatively tugging at his sleeve: “Yao Yao…”
Xiao Yao didn’t move, only blinking his dry eyes, his voice hoarse: “…Ten times?”
Bai Ju panicked a little; his already not-so-bright mind becoming a bit confused in this situation: “I… I don’t know exactly how many times…I only know that I can use that much, and there’s a portion of power I don’t want to use left, I can’t estimate it…”
His vision blurred for a moment, then cleared again.
His tear ducts seemed to suddenly open, large tears overflowing his eyes without warning, then rolling down instantly.
On Xiao Yao’s pale face, two tear tracks reflected a faint light.
He gripped Bai Ju’s hand tightly, the veins on the back of his hand taut, the force so great that his whole body trembled slightly.
“…Brother Bai,” her voice trembled with tears, almost a whisper, “What should I do? It hurts so much…”
The author has something to say:
Sorry, the author is crying first qq
Old Bai has suffered a lot, and now Yao Yao cares for him.
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