Chapter 73
When Cheng Nuo saw Bi Feng on a stone looking at them curiously with its head tilted, he said sadly in his heart: there is a fourth person… He had forgotten about this little thing.
There were torn clothes everywhere; it was so shameful!
Cheng Nuo took a deep breath and squatted down to probe Bai Rui’s pulse and heartbeat, confirming that it had indeed returned to normal, which calmed down his heart. Now that Bai Rui had woken up, it was only more embarra.s.sing. He also felt confused and upset, so he did not call out to Bai Rui, but panicked to find his lost storage bag.
The surrounding dense gra.s.s was full of traces of having been rolled on. Cheng Nuo finally found his storage bag under a patch of gra.s.s, and hurriedly took out some clothes to wear first, and then carefully put one on Bai Rui. Bai Rui seemed to be very tired, sleeping deeply, and letting Cheng Nuo fiddle with him with no traces of waking up at all. Cheng Nuo was temporarily relieved.
Cheng Nuo remembered the mysterious man just now. He pretended to look around calmly and said loudly: “Senior!”
Although it was humiliating, according to what he said just now, this mysterious man seemed to have no malice towards him.
Sure enough, the voice rang again soon, and said with a laugh, “See no evil*. The second half just now, I didn’t see anything.”
(* 非礼勿视: idiom. Meaning, look at nothing that is not consistent with propriety.)
Cheng Nuo was so ashamed by his words. He said, “I shouldn’t have disturbed Senior. I* would like to ask, how to leave this sealed land?”
(* TN: ok so CN refers to this mysterious person as 前辈 [qiánbèi], used to address someone older or with seniority over you, while he refers to himself as 晚辈 [wǎnbèi], which is the opposite of qianbei, used to refer to the younger generation. While I’m familiar with the term qianbei and have seen it left as untranslated, I’m not familiar with the term ‘wanbei’, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it left untranslated, and I’m not sure how to translate it either, because I think referring to oneself as a junior just sounds awkward lol so I just left it as ‘I’, with this TN, so that you know what’s actually going on.)
The mysterious man burst out laughing: “Well, I have been here for six hundred years, do you think I know?”
Cheng Nuo was taken aback, and his heart felt cold. Six hundred years? The lifespan of a cultivator here is at most three to four hundred years! And here was not the cultivation world… Given the name of this place, could it be that this sealed land was created with the purpose of sealing this mysterious person? He was suspicious and suddenly became vigilant.
According to previous film, television and novel experience, what kind of person would be sealed up ah? This place was so evil and dangerous…
The mysterious man was very keen, and immediately laughed: “You’re afraid of me?”
The voice was close to his ears, Cheng Nuo looked around and couldn’t find any trace of this mysterious person, so he smiled and said, “No, I will not disturb Senior’s cultivation.” He took out the empty gourds in his storage bag, prepared to go to the lake to fill it with water, and left with Bai Rui.
Just as his hand was about to touch the lake, he suddenly paused, and he had a faint thought in his heart. Could it be that the mysterious man was in this lake? The water of this lake was beautiful and clear, unusual in the current environment. But since that person had been sealed, he shouldn’t be able to do anything strange, right?
Cheng Nuo looked at the huge snake corpse. He had to hurry up, otherwise he would be in trouble if he encountered an ice snake again. Without further hesitation, he reached out to scoop water.
However just when his hand touched the surface of the lake, a strong force of gravity sucked towards him from the water. He shouted “ah” and fell into the lake involuntarily.
The cold lake water suddenly washed over him. Cheng Nuo waved his limbs in fear, but he dived deeper and deeper. His ears were buzzing, and he couldn’t breathe at all. He quickly held his breath.
“Fool! “The mysterious man said with contempt, “You obviously have a wood ability, but can’t even breathe in the water!”
Cheng Nuo was dumbfounded and opened his mouth to say a few words but could only spit out a string of bubbles. His whole person was suffocating.
Soon, a burst of fresh air blew against his face, and Cheng Nuo finally stopped.
He lowered his head and saw the soil and aquatic plants under his feet, and only then did he understand that he had reached the bottom of the lake.
A huge white altar appeared in front of him, and in the center of the altar, an adult man was sitting there with his legs crossed. Oddly enough, there were no walls in the altar, and the lake, fish, etc., were distributed around as if they were blocked by something, as if there was a completely transparent gla.s.s room.
Cheng Nuo covered his mouth and nose with his hands, and carefully observed the man in front of him, feeling very uneasy. Why was this mysterious man pulling him into the bottom of the lake?
The mysterious man looked like he was twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old with handsome facial features and open eyes, but his eyes were a very pure blue. His extremely long black hair was scattered all over the place, and his clothes were worn out. While he was looking, the man was clearing observing him thoughtfully as well.
Cheng Nuo was completely unable to speak, because the moment he opened his mouth, water would enter his mouth.
The mysterious man gently waved his little finger, and a huge air bubble emerged from his hand, which slowly moved over to wrap Cheng Nuo’s head inside it. Cheng Nuo froze for a moment, then realized that he could breathe.
“Senior,” he pretended to salute naturally. “May I ask, why did Senior lead me here?”
The mysterious man tapped his forehead with his fingers, and said with a smile: “Naturally, I am bored and wanted you to accompany me to talk. I see fish and gra.s.s every day here. The last time I saw people was more than a hundred years ago. A junior of the Bai family was punished by the family and was thrown here. Unfortunately, he was very useless and was quickly eaten by an ice snake. Well, there was also someone who broke in more than two hundred years ago…”
Cheng Nuo listened intently with bated breath at first, but the mysterious man was talking about trivial things, rambling, and showed no sign of stopping at all. His face was full of black lines. It seemed that this mysterious man had probably been bored out of his mind for a long time, right? But it’s no wonder, if he had been trapped for so many years, he was afraid he would have gone crazy a long time ago.
He thought of Bai Rui on the sh.o.r.e, and had to interrupt the mysterious man, bite the bullet and say, “Senior, my companion is still unconscious on the sh.o.r.e, isn’t there any danger?”
The mysterious man smiled and said, “He is a purebred ancient BingLi species, and beasts generally do not dare to approach. Mn, good boy, what’s your name? How could the Bai family be willing to throw such a precious bloodline here?”
No wonder the monsters encountered before didn’t approach them…
Although he knew that the mysterious man was very old, Cheng Nuo still felt very weird being called “good boy” by such a young face. He bowed respectfully: “My name is Cheng Nuo, and I study under Qinghua Sect of Liaoji City. My companion’s name is Bai Rui, and we accidentally fell in.”
The mysterious man gave him a narrow look, smiled and said, “I’m afraid it’s not a companion but a partner*, right? I have heard of the city of Liaji City. Qinghua Sect? Is there such a sect?”
(* 伴侣: I believe in English people may refer to their significant other/someone they are in a relationship with as their ‘partner’? 伴侣 kinda also implies that sort of ‘partner’.)
Cheng Nuo’s face turned hot when he said this, but after chatting for a while, his vigilance against the mysterious man relaxed a little bit. He said respectfully: “Qinghua Sect is just a small sect, it is not surprising that Senior has never heard of it. ”
The mysterious person’s body tilted sideways and lay on the ground, laughing: “You don’t have to call senior this, senior that. My name is Tao Mo, just call me by my name.”
Cheng Nuo silently recited it in his heart and determined that he had indeed never heard of this name. He was worried about Bai Rui, so he said, “Senior Tao, when will Bai Rui wake up?”
Tao Mo closed his eyes, as if he was asleep, and actually ignored him completely.
Cheng Nuo was speechless, then he bowed and said: “I’ll leave first.”
He tried to move his hands, and his body really floated. The big oxygen bubble on his head was very strong and would not break. Cheng Nuo was overjoyed and doggy paddled upstream. But when he finally saw the surface and wanted to float up, his body began to fall rapidly again.
Seeing the sleeping Tao Mo again, Cheng Nuo held his breath and said, “What is the meaning of this, Senior Tao?”
Tao Mo slowly opened his eyes and smiled: “You are a child with a good temper, but you are not obedient.”
Cheng Nuo was taken aback, and carefully recalled the conversation just now, and suddenly his head was full of black lines. Did Tao Mo think calling him senior meant he was calling him old? He didn’t need to bow anymore, and said with a smile: “It’s my fault, Tao Mo.”
Tao Mo then nodded in satisfaction and said, “There’s a good boy. Well, did you bring any wine?”
Cheng Nuo touched the storage bag and said: “No, but there is some dry food. Do you want to eat?”
Tao Mo shook his head and sighed: “Look, you’re an adult. How come you didn’t even bring wine? You’re really a fool ah, fool!”
Cheng Nuo smiled and listened to his ramblings, feeling more and more strange in his heart. This Tao Mo obviously had a somewhat childish temper, what heinous crime had he committed to be sealed here?
Tao Mo waved his hand unhappily and said, “Remember to come and talk to me tomorrow.”
Cheng Nuo smiled and said, “Okay.”
As he was about to leave, Tao Mo suddenly stopped him again: “By the way, well, when the Bingli ancient race are fifteen years old, their estrus lasts for a period of time. After this period of time, they will be able to control their transformation, and their power will be several times stronger than before.”
Cheng Nuo said stiffly: “… For a period of time… How long is that?”
“One month or half a month? I don’t remember very clearly.” Tao Mo said with a smile. “It’s about once a day, and they will be asleep the rest of the time. Be careful.”
Cheng Nuo was almost in tears. He thought of Liu Guang, and his heart was even tighter. f.u.c.k, Liu Guang won’t also have this troublesome estrus period, right? He hurriedly asked, “What about other kinds of ancient races? For example, for the fire system, will there be this stage?”
Tao Mo was taken aback, took a closer look at him again, and said, “Do you know other ancient races? What is it like?”
Cheng Nuo didn’t know what it would look like when Liu Guang completely transformed, so he described the situation of the Liu Guang’s transformation a few years ago. Tao Mo pondered: “According to what you said, he is most likely a descendant of Ming Yan, the holy beast of the fire system. This kind of ancient bloodline, I actually met one in my early years. I had a fight with him, uh-huh, and almost lost.”
Cheng Nuo said hurriedly: “Then when he’s fifteen years old…”
Tao Mo said carelessly: “Naturally.”
“…” Cheng Nuo was suddenly dumbfounded. He couldn’t escape now. Liu Guang’s consciousness will be chaotic when the time comes. He wouldn’t do excessive things with anyone casually, right?
Tao Mo looked at his nervous appearance. He held his chin and glanced at him, “Is he also your little lover? Tsk tsk, these females nowadays, so promiscuous.”
Cheng Nuo was speechless by him and said, “Then I’ll leave first.”
He swam up dejectedly, his heart in turmoil. He was annoyed to the core at the thought of what Liu Guang might be doing with what people. However, Bai Rui seemed to retain a trace of sanity when he transformed, and he could sense danger…
After swimming out of the lake, Cheng Nuo put himself back together briefly, and returned with Bai Rui on his back. Now that he knew that Bai Rui would continue with that estrus period bulls.h.i.t for a while, he definitely couldn’t stay around here and let Tao Mo watch the scene.
There was no way to tell the direction here. Cheng Nuo walked for a while and had to admit that he could no longer find his way back to the cave. However, he knew that the beasts did not dare to provoke Bai Rui, so he carried Bai Rui on his back and occupied another beast’s cave, a little closer to the lake.
Intuitively, since this sealed land started with Tao Mo, then to leave here, one must also start with Tao Mo.
In the process of searching for water, Cheng Nuo expended a lot of energy. He set up the new residence, laid next to the unconscious Bai Rui and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning when he felt something wet and rough licking his face, Cheng Nuo opened his eyes in a daze and saw the beast standing above him, a pair of golden vertical pupils looking at him with antic.i.p.ation, his lower body rubbing against his own body.
He was about to burst into tears. f.u.c.k, he’s in heat early in the morning ah?
There was no other way, Cheng Nuo had to work hard and start to serve him. Bai Rui had better not remember when he woke up, or he will really have no face…
The beast seemed to retain the memory of yesterday. When his hand approached, he rolled and lay down, cooperating with his movements, his beautiful golden eyes constantly half-narrowed staring at him.
Cheng Nuo was embarra.s.sed by “it” and cursed angrily: “Rascal!”
He did not know whether the beast understood or not, but he just licked his face gently with his tongue, as if to please.
Bai Rui certainly would not make this kind of action…
Cheng Nuo didn’t dare to a.s.sociate this beast with Bai Rui. If Bai Rui lay in front of him and looked at him like this… He felt extremely embarra.s.sed just by imagining it.
Sure enough, this time it was the same as yesterday, the beast reverted to human form as soon as he finished, then lay down.
Cheng Nuo was angry and indignant. Bai Rui broke another piece of clothing! There were only two or three pieces of clothes left in the storage bag. If this continued, the two of them would only be able to wear tree bark as clothes in the future! He simply did not dress Bai Rui. He was embarra.s.sed to look at Bai Rui’s body, even though they were both men… Eventually, Cheng Nuo covered the naked Bai Rui with a thin quilt.