Wei WuXian, “It’s very amusing. But, believe me, my words are as much a trifle as my moves are, which means not at all.”
“…” Lan WangJi muttered to himself, “Why am I sitting here having such a useless conversation with you?”
Somehow, Wei WuXian had moved beside him again and sat down, speaking without a care for the consequences, “Because there’s no other choice. We’re the only two unfortunate souls left here, aren’t we? If you don’t have useless conversations with me, then who will you have them with?”
Lan WangJi glanced at him, who seemed to forget all past pain as soon as the wounds had healed. Just as Wei WuXian was about to give him a large grin, he suddenly saw Lan WangJi lower his head.
Wei WuXian wailed, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh stop!!! Stop stop stop!!!!!!”
Lan WangJi was buried into the crescent of his elbow, biting firmly into his arm. Hearing Wei WuXian, not only did he not stop, his teeth sunk deeper inside.
Wei WuXian, “Are you gonna stop?!?! I’ll kick you if you don’t! Don’t think that I won’t kick you just because you’re injured!!!!!!”
Wei WuXian, “Stop biting! Stop biting! I’ll go away! I’ll go away!!! I’ll go away, I’ll go away if you stop, I’ll go away!!!!!!”
Wei WuXian, “Lan Zhan you’re mad today!!!!!! You’re a dog!!! You’re a dog!!!!!!!! Stop biting!!!!”
When Lan WangJi had finally finished his fit and felt satisfied, Wei WuXian sprang up and scrambled to the other side of the cave, “Don’t come over!”
Lan WangJi straightened his back slowly. Fixing his hair and his clothes, he spoke nothing, eyes looking down calmly. It was as if the certain someone who shoved and shouted and sunk his teeth into other people’s flesh had nothing to do with him. Wei WuXian glanced at the bite marks on his arm and squatted down, still shaken. Curled up in the corner, he continued to poke at the flames, not at all comprehending the situation, How could Lan Zhan do this? Even though he saved me, you can say that I saved him as well, didn’t I? It’s not that I want him to thank me or anything, but why is it that we still can’t be friends, even after so much has happened? Don’t tell me that… that I’m really as annoying as Jiang Cheng makes it to be?!
Just as he was doubting himself, Lan WangJi spoke up, “Thanks.”
Wei WuXian thought that he heard wrong. He looked at Lan WangJi, who was also looking at him. In all seriousness, he repeated himself, “Thanks.”
Seeing how he lowered his head slightly, Wei WuXian was scared that he might worship him by kneeling. He quickly darted to the side, “There’s no need, there’s no need. There’s a problem with me that I’m unable to stand it when others thank me, especially when people like you thank me so seriously. It’s so creepy that I’m even getting goosebumps. Kneeling worship, of course, is even more so unnecessary.”
Lan WangJi replied with indifference, “You are thinking too much. Even if I wanted to worship you, I would not be able to move.”
It seemed that he was finally back to normal, and he even thanked Wei WuXian two times. Wei WuXian was so delighted that he couldn’t help but want to move over again. He was the type of person who loved to be shoulder-to-shoulder with others, but the slight pain from the bite marks on his arm reminded him that Lan Zhan had just thrown a fit a moment ago, and maybe he’d be at it again just a moment later.
He gained control over himself at once and stared at the black ceiling of the cave, speaking in a straight voice, “Now that Jiang Cheng and the others escaped, it’d take them one or two days to go down the mountain. After they get down, they’d definitely return to wherever they live instead of reporting to the Wen Sect. But since their swords were taken, I don’t know how long it’d take for them to find help. I’d say that we’ll probably have to stay here underground for quite a while. We’d need to search for ways to solve a few issues.”
After a pause, he continued, “The good thing is that the monster stays in the pool and doesn’t chase after us. But the bad thing is also that it doesn’t come out. With it guarding the hole under the pool, we won’t be able to get out either.”
Lan WangJi, “It is perhaps not a monster. What does it look like, to you?”
Wei WuXian, “A tortoise!”
Lan WangJi, “There is one divine creature that takes on such a form.”
Wei WuXian, “The divine beast Xuanwu?”
The Xuanwu, also called the Nether Xuanwu, was a combination of turtle and snake. It was a water deity that dwelled in the North Sea. Since the Nether was also in the North, the creature was known as the God of the Northern Sky.
Lan WangJi nodded. Wei WuXian flashed his teeth, “How can a divine beast look like thiiis? It’s got a mouthful of fangs and eats human flesh. It seems a bit too different from the legends.”
Lan WangJi, “Of course it is not a the proper Divine Xuanwu. Rather, it is a semi-completed result of failing to rise to divinity and being transformed into a yao. In other words, it is a deformed Divine Xuanwu.”
Wei WuXian, “Deformed?”
Lan WangJi, “I have read of it in an ancient text. Four hundred years ago, a ‘fake Xuanwu’ appeared and rampaged amid Qishan. It was large in size and consumed live humans. One cultivator named it the ‘Xuanwu of Slaughter’.”
Wei WuXian, “The creature that Wen Chao led us to hunt is a four-hundred-years-old beast—the Xuanwu of Slaughter?”
Lan WangJi, “Its size appears larger than what is recorded in the text, but it should be the one.”
Wei WuXian, “It’s been four hundred years already, so of course it has grown. Hadn’t the Xuanwu of Slaughter been killed back then?”
Lan WangJi, “No. A few cultivators had joined alliance and prepared to kill it, but on one winter day that year, there happened to be heavy snowfall, and the weather was unusually cold. Then, the Xuanwu of Slaughter disappeared and was never seen again.”
Wei WuXian, “It was hibernating.”
Translator’s Notes
All past pain as soon as the wounds had healed: This is a proverb that describes how quickly one forgets the past consequences that their actions had led to.
Xuanwu: In Chinese folklore, the xuanwu is a legendary black tortoise and one of the four deities that govern the sky.
Chapter 55 Courage—Part Five
*Warning: this chapter may cause discomfort to certain people, especially those who are eating.
After a pause, Wei WuXian added, “But even if it was hibernating, it didn’t need to sleep for four-hundred-years, did it? You said that the Xuanwu of Slaughter eats live humans—just how many has it eaten?”
Lan WangJi, “The book records that back then, whenever it appeared, the number of humans consumed ranged from hundreds to entire villages and cities. From the handful of times when it rampaged, it consumed at least five thousand alive.”
Wei WuXian, “Oh, so it overate.”
The beast seemed to enjoy taking the entire person into its shell, perhaps fond of hoarding humans to savor them slowly. It was possible that four hundred years ago it hoarded too much food into its shell at once, and even now it hadn’t digested everything.