Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 107
The Purple Mist Mountain was surrounded by clouds and fog all year round, presenting a picturesque scenery with beautiful waters and clear mountains.
The land here contained powerful spiritual energy. Every tree and plant grown from this land was imbued with rich spiritual essence, making it a true paradise.
The Demon King Son absorbed his mother’s lifelong spiritual power and grew up in this treasured land. By the age of four, he had become a very powerful spirit creature.
At this moment, the Demon King Son faced many puzzles. He didn’t understand why his father lay motionless on the ground, nor why the surrounding trees were falling and the ground cracking. He vaguely felt that his father wouldn’t return, and his home was destroyed.
Driven by instinct, the Demon King Son shed tears. He was only four years old and had been raised by his father as food. He didn’t understand right from wrong, nor did he understand emotions. All he knew was that an intruder had disrupted his and his father’s ritual. He was angry and wanted to kill the intruder.
In his mind, without his father, there was no him. When his father needed him, he should give everything. What was wrong with that?
Before going to sleep, his father said to wait 30 minutes, and then he could enjoy him. If he could serve his father and make him happy, he would be very happy.
But why did the intruder, who destroyed everything, insist that he was doing this for his own good, that he was avenging him? What did he mean by “mother”? What is a “mother”? He only knew his father, his only kin.
And now… what did the intruder mean by saying, “Life is unique, and everyone should live for themselves”?
What was nectar to one was poison to another. The Demon King Son could never understand Zhou Qian’s words.
30 minutes later. The little dragon’s tail swept lightly, moving gracefully as it dodged another powerful attack and prepared for the next one. Suddenly, the Demon King Son’s attack stopped.
The illusion of a crying child disappeared, along with the high-speed movement and deadly palm strike. The Demon King Son stopped attacking Zhou Qian and walked silently to his father, kneeling beside him, shaking him.
“Dad? You should wake up! You said you would wake up after 30 minutes!”
He didn’t know his father was already dead. His father, who wanted him to die willingly, never taught him the meaning of life and death. He only remembered his father saying to wake him after 30 minutes to enjoy a meal.
After shaking his father several times without waking him, the Demon King Son shed a few more tears and then looked dazed. He stood up and walked to a thatched hut nearby, its roof overturned during the fight. The hut was in chaos, with various utensils scattered and covered in ash.
The Demon King Son found a cauldron in the messy hut. He brought it to the platform, set up wood, lit a fire, filled the cauldron with water, and then fetched a sack of medicinal herbs from the hut, adding them to the water.
Finally, he jumped into the cauldron without hesitation. Before closing his eyes, he looked towards his father and said, “Dad, remember to wake up and eat me…”
The bronze cauldron was engraved with mysterious symbols. The moment the water began to boil, the runes on the cauldron emitted a golden glow, while a purple mist rose from the mouth of the cauldron.
The Demon King Son cooked himself, offering all his life energy to the cauldron.
As if responding to some signal, the little dragon in the sky opened its mouth, and the endless purple mist from the cauldron flew into its belly, all of it absorbed by the Taotie Golden Pill.
As the little dragon’s life force increased manifold, Zhou Qian also received a system notification. He had successfully completed the level, with a whopping 40% increase in his combat-related stats. After gently patting the little dragon’s head and commending it as a good boy, Zhou Qian used his mind to command it to descend to the ground.
It was then that he noticed something unusual with the Rib of God—some of the purple mist was seeping out of the little dragon’s mouth and moving towards the bone.
Soon, the Rib of God was surrounded by the purple mist. Following this, a faint white smoke, almost invisible, emerged from the bone.
If Zhou Qian didn’t know it was impossible, he might have thought the Rib of God was on fire. The white smoke collided, intertwined, and merged with the purple mist, forming a faint, light purple smoke.
Eventually, the purple part completely disappeared, leaving only the white smoke, which coalesced into a human shape in front of the bone.
It was as if a soul had taken residence inside the Rib of God, too weak initially to leave its life source. Now, it had absorbed some life force and appeared before everyone.
Zhou Qian, with a serious expression and a furrowed brow, vaguely realizing something, earnestly said to the little dragon, “Longlong, try to emit some more life force for him!”
Upon hearing this, the little dragon immediately tried, but it had been exhausted from helping Zhou Qian evade the Demon King Son’s attacks for 20 minutes and couldn’t afford to expend any more energy.
Nevertheless, it managed to release a bit more life force before sitting down on the ground, its body slowly shrinking back to its original small dragon form.
However, its actions were meaningful. The white smoke absorbed more of the purple mist, taking on a more human-like appearance, and the features of the person in the smoke became clearer.
Zhou Qian, gripping the Rib of God, recognized something in the white smoke and immediately smiled. “Shan Ge, is it you? Did you stay in the Rib of God during ‘Last Wish’? Is my bone spirit actually you?”
Gao Shan faced Zhou Qian, raised his hand as if to say something, but couldn’t make any sound. He then tried to step towards Zhou Qian but disappeared instantly. The white smoke returned to the Rib of God, leaving no trace.
Zhou Qian immediately resolved to further enhance his stats quickly. Perhaps next time, he could actually talk to Gao Shan, maybe even revive him.
Since Gao Shan’s skills were still present, Zhou Qian’s team might still have a very powerful tank.
A short while later, Zhou Qian, holding the little dragon, descended the mountain, waiting at the exit to be transported out of the instance.
During this time, his watch on his left wrist vibrated—it was a summoning request.
[Item Name: Affectionate Call]
[Function: When facing a crisis, this item allows the user to summon a past teammate to assist in clearing the level; the teammate will receive 80% of the experience points.]
[Restrictions: Only usable in solo instances; only applicable to monster-slaying type instances; similar function cards can only be used once every three months.]
[Grade: S, extremely rare]
Zhou Qian was familiar with the function of this item because it was among the many things Bai Zhou had given him, including the [Affectionate Call]. However, when he was playing solo, he couldn’t use this item to summon Bai Zhou, as players of Bai Zhou’s level were completely unable to enter ordinary low-level instances.
Therefore, this item could only summon teammates of the same level, limiting its usefulness and preventing it from being used like a cheat code to summon powerful external support.
Upon seeing the message [Player Wu Ren has sent you a summoning request. Please confirm within one minute whether to accept.], Zhou Qian decided to go. At this time, he was in the process of being transported out of a solo instance and could message other teammates.
He quickly sent a message to Bai Zhou: [Zhou Ge, I can’t come back right now; I need to help a friend. Also, I think I might be able to summon a bone spirit now. Maybe I can revive an old friend. I’m going to try. Wait for me! I’ll be right back!]
……
Blue Harbor City, 2301, near the entrance of Purple Mist Mountain.
Anticipating Zhou Qian’s return, Bai Zhou bought some black tea and his favorite snacks. Just as he returned to the entrance of Purple Mist Mountain, he unexpectedly received a message from Zhou Qian.
Bai Zhou’s gaze lingered on the system panel for three seconds until the text disappeared. Then, he shifted his gaze, took out a portable sofa and a sun umbrella from his bag, and sat down. Since Zhou Qian didn’t mention which instance he was going to, Bai Zhou could only wait there for the time being.
He took out a cup of black tea and took a sip through a straw. Sitting under the sun umbrella, Bai Zhou opened a book to read.
After a while, a “tick” sound echoed as if a droplet of water had fallen in front of him. Bai Zhou shifted his gaze from the book to the ground—
It was a drop of red blood.
Casting a casual glance at it, Bai Zhou returned his attention to the book. His expression was indifferent from beginning to end, merely stating, “When he’s around, don’t appear in this form.”
“White Dragon, oh White Dragon, you are as heartless as your Breaking Dawn.”
A male voice spoke.
A female voice quickly countered him, “That’s not fair to say. He is heartless towards us, but affectionate towards that person!”
Male voice: “Xiao Mo, I think you have a problem.”
Female voice: “You’re the one with a problem! You’re so disgusting. You’re actually a drop of blood!”
Male voice: “You’re the weird one. Aren’t you also blood?”
With some arguing, the drop of blood on the ground began to spread and enlarge, bubbling like red lava, and finally, a person made entirely of red—wearing a red hat, dressed in red clothes, even the face emanating red—rose from it.
Strictly speaking, it couldn’t be considered a person because this body had two heads.
[Blood Demon] was always an object of fear among many players. It was notorious for its eerie appearances and disappearances, and for its ruthlessness in killing without blinking an eye. After every kill, it absorbed all the blood from its victim’s body.
Few had seen its true form and, thus, were unaware of its peculiar appearance.
This male and female duo shared one body; they were conjoined twins since birth. In the real world, no surgeon could separate them, and doctors had predicted they wouldn’t live past the age of nine.
So, they chose to participate in an experiment, entering the game, which has allowed them to survive until now.
Among the two, the male called himself “Xiao Xue1” and the female “Xiao Mo2”. They both had a joking nature.
1Blood. The Xiao is referring to “little”.
2Demon/Devil. The Xiao is referring to “little”.
In serious situations, Xiao Mo was usually more composed and mature, while Xiao Xue tended to be more impulsive. However, they complemented each other well and usually managed to turn perilous situations around.
As for their usual behavior, neither were easy to get along with, and they often bicker. Ever since Hidden Blade met them, he frequently pondered a question—whose opinion should he listen to when they argue?
Both of them unanimously responded, “Of course, listen to me. This body is male/female, so I make the decisions!”
At the moment, as Bai Zhou slightly furrowed his brows and turned the pages of his book more forcefully, the two’s quarrel abruptly ceased. Staring at him for a while, Xiao Mo said, “You haven’t reported back to Master for a long time.”
Xiao Xue pondered for a moment. “Hmm, I’ve realized we don’t need to be so servile to him!”
Xiao Mo added, “Yes, yes, White Dragon is far from his peak now!”
Xiao Xue mused, “I wonder if that Rank S kid knows what White Dragon sacrificed to save him. Such a touching story.”
Bai Zhou ignored them and silently turned to the next page of his book.
Xiao Xue and Xiao Mo said in unison, “Master wants you to return immediately! We’re dying here! Why are you still leisurely reading a book?”
Bai Zhou, without looking up, replied, “I’m waiting for my future Master to level up.”
Xiao Xue and Xiao Mo: “…”
Bai Zhou: “He will also be your future Master.”
At this, Bai Zhou seemed to sense something, abruptly threw the tea in a certain direction, his gaze turning sharp. Soon, a girl with big eyes, riding a turtle, and looking very cute and silly appeared not far away.
“Ah, I stayed hidden a bit longer this time. I’ve improved!” The cute-looking girl, riding a silly-looking turtle, approached the trio very slowly.
She yawned. “Much better than last time. Last time, White Dragon discovered me in a tenth of a second. This time it took half a second!”
Xiao Xue and Xiao Mo: “…”
The silly girl’s code name was [Turtle Fairy].
When Hidden Blade first saw this name, he thought it belonged to a centuries-old person with white hair, a white beard, and wrinkled face.
He never expected the real person behind the code name to be such a young girl*.
*Clarity: The fairy is [xian] (仙) which can also mean an immortal/celestial being, which is why Hidden Blade was thinking it was some immortal hermit-type guy that cultivated for hundreds of years.
Turtle Fairy blinked at Blood Demon and then looked mysteriously at Bai Zhou. “Lord White Dragon, I divined for that kid, oh no, for our future Master, using my turtle shell. He’s entered a very dangerous instance. Do you want to know if he wins or loses? Hehe—”
She paused, squeezing out a very cute smile. “If you want to know, accompany me to see Master. I’ll tell you on the way!”
Bai Zhou looked down and turned to the next page of his book. “He won’t lose.”
“Hahaha…”
Turtle Fairy laughed awkwardly, exchanged a look with Blood Demon, and then tried again. “You have so much confidence in him, his code name is… oh, Nightmare Commander, right?”
“Mm.” Bai Zhou nodded.
“I actually came to Blue Harbor City a long time ago. That day, I followed him for a few steps, and he didn’t notice me. Hehe, it was when you guys came out of the Murder Exhibition Hall, and Nightmare Commander went to the hotel alone.”
Turtle Fairy said, “At that time, I used [Mind Reading] to take a look—”
Before the naive girl could finish speaking, she was suddenly met with Bai Zhou’s abruptly cold gaze.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately looked at Xue Mo for help, then hurriedly said, “Hey, my mind reading skill is not entirely active—it’s a passive skill. I’m forced to hear the thoughts of lower-level players, and actually, I find it very noisy every day! Cough cough…”
“White Dragon, do you know, he thinks you don’t understand his heart, don’t understand what is… love!”
Xiao Xue and Xiao Mo immediately began an exchange of glances.
“Turtle Meimei* has been getting bolder lately. Have you noticed?”
*Little Sister (妹妹) When used with a name, it often conveys a sense of affection and endearment, generally towards a girl who is younger than you.
“Actually, Turtle Meimei is our team’s pet. Mind reading, fortune-telling—how amazing. A prophetic master we must protect!”
In an instant, however, Turtle Fairy’s demeanor changed as if she was possessed.
Initially, she was sitting sideways on a turtle’s back in a white dress, with big eyes and a tilted head, while speaking. This was her most genuine and adorable appearance, seeming naive and cute.
But then she suddenly stood up, almost floating above the turtle’s back in a drifting pose. Her facial expression became very serious, as if she had suddenly matured several years.
She stared straight at Bai Zhou and said something she herself hadn’t anticipated—
“Have you ever thought that the emotions between you two are not equal?”
“You can give him everything. But for him, even if he heard of your death, he would indeed be sad, but he could still peacefully get through these seven years.”
“These seven years he has been doing very well, so, actually, with or without you, for him, it doesn’t matter.”
“He would leave you behind any time for his friends. He has many important things to do every day. You are never the only one in his heart.”
“Maybe he does like you, and you are indeed different from others. But this difference is limited, and the extent of your importance to him is also limited.”
“Essentially, you are no different from his other friends.”
“From seven to seventeen years old, you’ve only known each other for ten years. Excluding those childish years, how many years of true affection are left between you?”
“But you’ve been apart for seven years.”
“Bai Zhou, have you ever thought that, to him, you’re not that important. If it weren’t for the time you spent with him in your youth, perhaps he would see you no differently from others.”
“He thinks you don’t understand his heart, don’t understand emotions. But in reality, it’s he who doesn’t understand.”
“I’m saying this just to remind you, about our battle in the future…”
……
After hearing these words, Xue Mo didn’t dare to look at Bai Zhou’s face. She only saw the swirl of her red rob and Turtle Fairy’s forehead being struck, knocking her out. She fell motionlessly back onto the turtle’s back.
When Turtle Fairy woke up, Bai Zhou was already gone.
Only Xue Mo was in front of her.
Turtle Fairy, realizing something from Xue Mo’s expression, annoyingly slapped her own head. “Did I enter… divinity state again? Did I babble things I shouldn’t have?”
Without Xue Mo saying much, Turtle Fairy had guessed everything.
“It’s over. Oh no, I didn’t mean it!”
“What about Master’s task? He asked the three of us to make sure Bai Zhou meets him.”
Xue Mo sighed. “What do you think he said before he left?”
Turtle Fairy blinked twice and asked, “What did he say?”
Xue Mo: “He said he wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye again. He will accompany Zhou Qian to finish this instance. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
……
Zhou Qian was completely unaware of what happened outside the instance.
He arrived at a vast stretch of open land, with a few scattered houses behind and a huge stone pot in front.
Next to the stone pot, stood a man holding a giant spoon.
He was badly wounded, almost unrecognizable.
With great difficulty, Zhou Qian recognized him as Wu Ren.
Wu Ren’s small eyes were completely buried in the mud and sand, almost completely invisible.
He squeezed out a smile at Zhou Qian, uglier than crying. “I almost thought you were going to refuse me.”
“You’re lucky. I just finished an instance, or else I couldn’t have made it.” Zhou Qian sized him up. “What’s going on with you?”
[Player Zhou Qian enters the instance: Magic Crucible.]
[I will give you a crucible. If you throw the bodies of your fallen men into it today, they will be resurrected unharmed tomorrow*.]
*See author’s note.
[Use this crucible to win our war!]
The author has something to say:
The part is adapted from <Mabinogion>.
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Kinky Translations 
thanks for the chapter
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