Lanke Chess Edge

Chapter 372: The Calligraphy Somehow Ran Away

Niu Batian was relieved. Although the monster was powerful, it certainly couldn’t cause any trouble in front of Mr. Ji.While Lu Shan Jun was filled with fear, he also realized that his master must not want anything serious to happen to the bull monster. In an instant, he understood that the bull monster had definitely held back because of Luoqing’s capital city.

Upon hearing Ji Yuan’s words, Lu Shan Jun’s monstrous body shrank and transformed into human form. He then bowed deeply in respect.

“I dare not disobey your wishes, sir!”

Niu Batian sat on the ground, panting heavily. Looking at Lu Shan Jun, who had become a meek, small figure at his feet, and said in a low voice to Ji Yuan.

“Mr. Ji, you must have arrived a long time ago. If you had come out earlier, it would have been fine. You made this Old Bull suffer…”

After uttering a complaint, Niu Batian withdrew his demonic body and returned to human form. However, unlike Lu Shan Jun, whose transformed human form included clothes, Niu Batian only had a few tattered rags hanging on his body.

He probably would have acted recklessly with anyone else, but he restrained himself in front of Ji Yuan, covering his private parts with his hand.

Despite losing so much blood, Niu Batian’s injuries should have been quite severe. However, his most serious injuries were actually the scratches on his arms from the beginning, while his back, shoulders, and other areas had many bloody marks where the muscles had come and knit themselves together, and those wounds didn’t seem very big.

Ji Yuan was slightly taken aback at the sight. The injuries was less severe than he had imagined. Hearing Niu Batian’s complaint, he shook his head.

“I did arrive a long time ago, but don’t just say I didn’t stop you. If you had just shut your mouth for a little while, this fight wouldn’t have escalated like this, or it might not have even started. It’ll teach you a good lesson.”

Niu Batian stared wide-eyed at Ji Yuan, then turned to look at Lu Shan Jun, who was still bowing and trembling, barely daring to breathe.

“And him? If it weren’t for my imposing presence, wouldn’t he have immediately attacked?”

Lu Shan Jun dared not get up or turn his head, but upon hearing this, he glanced sideways at Niu Batian, took a deep breath, and still remained silent.

Seeing Lu Shan Jun like this, Niu Batian couldn’t help but mutter:

“He doesn’t even dare to breathe loudly. In the end, it truly does come down to who has the strongest fist.”

Lu Shanjun withdrew his sidelong glance and stopped looking at him.

Yan Fei swiftly came over from a distance, stopping when he drew near. After bowing to Ji Yuan, he immediately went to Niu Batian’s side to check his injuries. He then took off his outer garment and gave it to him.

“Brother Niu, are you alright?”

“What could possibly happen to me? I’m tough as nails. Don’t be fooled by all the blood I’ve lost; my true form is three zhang tall, after all, no smaller than a large ship. And it’s not like I lost some kind of blood essence or true energy; ordinary blood will replenish immediately. Hey brother, give me a hand, I can’t stand up…”

Old Niu wanted to stand up gracefully, but his legs were a little weak.

Hearing this, Yan Fei quickly reached out to help him up. The first thing the Old Bull did after standing up was to use Yan Fei’s clothes to tie a pair of shorts around his lower body.

Ji Yuan sighed and looked at Lu Shan Jun, who remained bowed.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“The master has reprimanded me; I dare not defend myself!”

“Stand up and speak.”

At these words, Lu Shan Jun finally dared to stand up straight and look at Ji Yuan.

“Were you about to kill Niu Batian when you bit him just now?”

Ji Yuan asked this question deliberately. In fact, in his perception, the two monsters had indeed fought fiercely before, but the battle had been evenly matched in the first half, and at most would have resulted in exhaustion and a tense standoff.

However, Lu Shan Jun’s last move gave Ji Yuan the feeling that the tiger spirit had been blinded by rage. He could have stood by and observed the two monsters’ abilities earlier, since after all, such clashes between monsters of extraordinary power and considerable cultivation were rare. Plus, it would have also taught the bull a lesson.

Now that things had escalated to that point, those who needed to learn their lesson had learned it, and those who needed to understand that there were always stronger opponents understood. Ji Yuan couldn’t sit still any longer and immediately appeared to stop them.

“To answer you, sir, that is not the case. This bull is extraordinary. Although I have injured him many times before, I never actually damaged his essence, nor could I make him submit. I tried every means to break his demonic body and spiritual energy, so I had no choice but to resort to trickery. I intended to try and bite him with my mouth and use my fangs to break his spiritual body!”

Lu Shan Jun spoke respectfully and clearly, and even added another couple sentences after he finished speaking:

“I saw him gore me with his horns and change his movements to redirect away from Luoqing’s capital. If he hadn’t said before that he was a monster who didn’t care how many people he ate, I wouldn’t have made a move!”

The Old Bull could sit still while listening to the first part, but when he heard the second part, his temper flared up immediately.

“Bullshit! When did this Old Bull ever say that it didn’t matter how many people I ate? Whoever says that is a bast… uh…”

The Old Bull suddenly stopped cursing, as if pulling himself back from the brink. He then remembered when Lu Shan Jun’s attitude had changed.

“Uh… this Old Bull… I think… I really did say something similar…”

“Hmph!”

Lu Shan Jun snorted, but knowing he had made a mistake, he didn’t say much, and glanced at Yan Fei.

Although this bull was sharp-tongued, it was not evil in nature. Previously, Lu Shan Jun believed that Yan Fei and the old bull were colluding with each other, but now that the situation had changed, Lu Shan Jun thought more highly of him.

Ji Yuan then looked at Yan Fei and asked.

“Why didn’t you take out the Sword Intent Inscription?”

Ji Yuan’s original intention in leaving the Sword Intent Inscription was not to exonerate Yan Fei, but bringing it up in the situation just now would have surely had an effect on Lu Shan Jun. Unexpectedly, Yan Fei didn’t mention it at all, from beginning to end.

Yan Fei was taken aback by the question, and Niu Batian and Lu Shan Jun focused their attention on him. Lu Shan Jun was particularly surprised.

‘The Sword Intent Inscription is in his possession?’

From Lu Shan Jun’s perspective, his connection to his master began out side the Mountain God Temple, but that was far from being a master-disciple bond. The “Sword Intent Inscription” had played an indispensable role in his current achievements.

Yan Fei didn’t explain further, leaving with a simple, “Mr. Ji, please wait a moment,” before hurrying back to the small mansion. He searched for a while in the ruins of his bedroom, found a scroll of paper in the collapsed cabinet, and then rushed back.

Ji Yuan glanced at the ghosts and gods on the wall of Luoqing’s capital city hwo still did not dare to make a move, gave a slight bow in their direction, and then led Lu Shan Jun and Niu Batian towards the small mansion, where they ran into Yan Fei rushing back towards them.

“Mr. Ji, please take a look!”

Yan Fei stopped and slowly unfurled the scroll in front of Ji Yuan.

“Huh!?”

Ji Yuan was slightly startled, and Lu Shan Jun also frowned. Only Niu Batian and Yan Fei, who already knew the situation, remained relatively calm.

This paper was definitely the Sword Intent Inscription from before, but what was strange was that there wasn’t a single word on the slightly yellowed paper; it was just blank.

Ji Yuan reached out and took the scroll of calligraphy and examined it carefully. He confirmed that this was definitely not some book written in Heavenly Script; besides, books in Heavenly Script wouldn’t show up as blank for him.

“Where are the words?”

Yan Fei answered respectfully.

“To answer you, sir, you left your spiritual knowledge and divine intent in the scroll, which I experienced several times. About half a year later, I had a dream in which the words on the scroll flew out of the paper and escaped. When I woke up the next day, I found that there were no more words on the scroll. Even Brother Niu couldn’t explain why. Since then, the scroll has been sealed away…”

After explaining the changes in the Sword Intent Inscription, Yan Fei continued.

“The calligraphy has been ripped off, and its spirit has vanished. Even if I had retrieved it in my haste before the mansion was destroyed, it would still have been just an ordinary roll of old paper. How could the Lord Lu possibly have known that it was a gift from you, sir…”

To guard against the tiger spirit coming to their door, the Old Bull had naturally considered displaying the objects Mr. Ji had left behind, and had also discussed it with Yan Fei. After the writing disappeared, the Old Bull gave up on that idea, so his reluctance to use it this time could only indicate that they thought it would be of no use.

After Yan Fei finished speaking, he handed the scroll to Ji Yuan with both hands.

Ji Yuan initially wanted to mention that the three words “Sword Intent Inscripiton” alone might have been enough to make Lu Shan Jun back down, but then he remembered that Yan Fei did not know that the “Sword Intent Inscription” had originally been a gift to him from Lu Shan Jun. He could only swallow his words and focus his attention on the scroll in his hand.

Ji Yuan looked at the yellowed paper in his hand. He realized that the paper wasn’t nearly so dark back when there had been words on it, but now it had a weathered, aged feel, likely related to the loss of the writing.

“The Heavenly Script is already mysterious enough, but I never expected that some written characters would move on their own?”

Ji Yuan’s only reference was Yan Fei’s talk of dreams. Although he knew Yan Fei wouldn’t lie to him, he still didn’t believe that the words would move on their own. At this moment, he grabbed the scroll of paper and did some quick divination calculations with his fingers. Surprisingly, he actually sensed some distant connection, but it was vague.

‘If Taoist Qingsong were here, he might be able to divine something.’

In terms of divination skills, while Taoist Qingsong might not be comparable to many highly skilled cultivators, but he was very adept at calculating things within his capabilities.1

At this point, how could Lu Shan Jun not understand the situation? He cupped his hands in greeting to Yan Fei and Niu Batian.

“So you had this planned all along, sir. I’m sorry to have offended you!”

Niu Batian grunted and was about to speak when Ji Yuan spoke up.

“That’s not true. Yan Fei’s fate is still up to you, Lu Shan Jun. If he is upright and honest, he won’t need my help. If he is dishonest and wicked, why should I help him? What do you think, Shanjun?”

“What you say is absolutely right, sir!”

Niu Batian pursed his lips, but ultimately didn’t make a fuss. He knew that now that things were out in the open, and with Mr. Ji also present, Yan Fei wouldn’t die today.

If this immortal stood next to him and said “I won’t interfere,” did that mean that he truly wouldn’t interfere? Of course not.

Lu Shan Jun looked at the Old Bull and suddenly asked a question.

“Your demonic body is indeed quite something; it didn’t even shatter just now.”

The Old Bull had regained much of his strength by now, and he grinned.

“Haha, I’m still a long way off! Hiss…wait a minute, that battle just now…”

Ji Yuan’s lips curled up slightly, and Lu Shan Jun finally smiled as well.

“You’ve come to your senses? Heh, in terms of sheer cultivation, I am no match for you. But after my transformation, I was granted a supernatural power that I named ‘Will-Suppression.’2 It’s somewhat similar to Dragon Aura and might, but it’s even more unique. You fell into my trap at the very beginning of our battle, wasting a lot of energy in the wrong direction. Didn’t you always feel uneasy? Didn’t you always feel terrified?”

“You son of a bitch…!”

Old Niu was somewhat angry, but he couldn’t bring himself to hit him.

T/n: here’s some lovely nightmare fuel for you. An immortal tiger monster with a distorted human face and the ability to inflict psychic dread, and steal your soul and subjugate it for the rest of your unlife. Oh, and he can also transform into an ordinary person whenever he wants. Man LSJ is so broken and I love it

T/n: and often things that he that are technically on the border of his capabilities 慑 (shè): to fear/to intimidate, 心 (xīn): heart/mind. Other potential translations that I considered including were “Psychic Dread,” “Mental Intimidation,” “Heart-Crushing,” and “Fear Domination.” I ultimately chose the one that was most thematic but I really really wanted to show off these absolutely terrifying-sounding translations ????