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Chapter 1: Half Will Be Yours
>>Part 1<<
Huai Zhen shot out of the room, pouncing over and wrapping herself around Chen Luonian’s neck. She stuck tightly to him while she rubbed her face against her cheek. She giggled cheerfully, “Stinkin’ brat! When did you discover me? Your senses are getting sharper and sharper.”
“First floor.” Chen Luonian picked Huai Zhen up and went to sit down on the sofa. As he gently scratched Huai Zhen’s back with up to down strokes, he asked: “You wanted to hide your monster essence and scare me again?”
Huai Zhen smiled as she sniffed Chen Luonian, then said: “There’s the scent of a woman. You went out to have a love affair?”
“Nonsense,” Chen Luonian cupped Huai Zhen’s face and rubbed her ears for a while, “and even if that’s the case, what’s my love affair have to do with you?”
Huai Zhen couldn’t bear the itch and started laughing. After a short while, she struggled free and approached Chen Luonian’s lips before she said entreatingly: “Open your mouth… relax la——”
Chen Luonian opened his mouth slightly. Huai Zhen moved up and with a forceful suck, condensed Original Chaos Essence trickled out from Chen Luonian’s mouth before flowing into Huai Zhen’s cherry lips.
“Nn——” Huai Zhen’s body turned limp and she hugged Chen Luonian. Her eyes were half closed as unclear sounds of chanting came from her mouth.
“Are you done taking lifeforce*?” Chen Luonian asked jokingly while stroking Huai Zhen’s body.
采補 – literally translates to ‘gathering something in order to fill a vacancy’ and the term means to absorb someone’s vitality or lifeblood to benefit the absorber’s body. This is something fox spirits are said to do in some myths.
“Humph.” Huai Zhen gave a light humph and softly bit Chen Luonian’s earlobe as she said: “How does this count as taking lifeforce? Heartless little guy.”
“Don’t bite!” Chen Luonian’s ear tickled and he dodged to the side as he laughed.
The movements of the two looked quite intimate, almost like a pair of lovers that were deeply in love. In reality, as these three months passed and the influence of Original Chaos Essence gradually increased, in Chen Luonian’s eyes, Huai Zhen’s appearance practically became that of a large talking fox. Even her action of pouncing on him and rubbing her body against his the moment she saw him was nothing more than that of what a large canine or feline species would do when they saw a familiar face. And it was also because of the fact that Chen Luonian took Huai Zhen to be an animal that he, who has always kept a distance from people, would have such intimate contact with her.
The two jokingly bickered for a while, then Chen Luonian stroked Huai Zhen’s back and said, “Does this even count as wearing clothes? You know it’s winter now, right?” Huai Zhen was only wearing a rice-white colored, V-neck wool sweater that drooped down enough to cover her butt. Not even mentioning the fact that a huge part of her chest was exposed, her lower body was even more exposed. Her two jade legs which were wrapped around Chen Luonian were plainly visible. From the looks of it, he was eighty percent certain she wasn’t wearing anything else inside.
“Since it already has no influence on you, I’ll just relax a bit.” Huai Zhen laughed.
“Just don’t get seen by my uncle.” Chen Luonian was in good humor although he was annoyed. He shook his head and said: “I’ve always wanted to ask, you threw so many clothes in my room but why aren’t there any undergarments? Don’t you wear them at all?”
“Why on earth would I wear those for? I hate tight stuff.” Huai Zhen tilted her head, “Other than you, I won’t let anyone else see what’s inside my clothes.”
That did make sense. After thinking about it a little, Chen Luonian suddenly knitted his brows: “You’re always completely naked in front of me. This isn’t good. Lately, I actually don’t feel anything when I look at other women’s curves.”
“That’s not my fault, it’s cause of the Original Chaos Essence.” Huai Zhen humphed, “You’re slowly becoming able to see through outer appearances of others, so the feeling you get when you view the beauty or ugliness of exterior appearances would naturally become weaker. In the future, if you like a girl, the first thing you’ll like is her heart. Only later would you be attracted and aroused by her body.”
From the sound of it, this didn’t seem like a good thing. A pleasure that he once had was now gone, just like that. Today, Ye Weishan was right in front of his eyes, yet he still forgot to take a few more glances. Chen Luonian clicked his tongue, then shook his head and asked: “How long do you plan to stay this time?”
“Probably the same as last time, three days.” Huai Zhen stretched and sat up, “Once I integrate the amount I drew earlier into my body, I’ll draw one more time then head back up the mountain.”
“En.” Chen Luonian got up as well, “Want to try undoing the vow again?”
“That’s right ah, there’s still this matter!” Huai Zhen bounced up and said: “Hey, I’ve thought of what the issue is.”
“What is it?” Chen Luonian asked.
“Think about it…” Huai Zhen said: “Let’s put aside the ‘until forever’ part for now. Since you were willing to let me take Original Essence and I still wanted to have access to it, in this situation we inherently can’t sincerely want to undo the vow.”
“Oh?” Chen Luonian said: “Then what should we do?”
“We have to override the vow.” Huai Zhen smiled, “We have to make a new contract vow the exceeds the previous one.”
“Override the vow? As in?” Chen Luonian still didn’t quite understand.
“Let me ask you a question first.” Huai Zhen said: “You’re still practicing the dagger, right? When I came last time, I saw large rubber bands and a dagger used for practice.”
Chen Luonian slightly froze, the immediately furrowed his brows, “Stinkin’ fox, you secretly rummaged through my drawer.”
“I just wanted to know your desire ah.” Huai Zhen said, completely not feeling any guilt. “You wouldn’t say when I asked you, so I had no choice but to find out for myself.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter if you know.” Chen Luonian paused for a moment, then said: “Back then, when I went to return the dagger, Yixin shoved an aluminum practice dagger at me. I thought that since it was already a habit, I could just casually practice a little when I had some free time. Now that my mental spirit is getting better and better, it feels really uncomfortable if I don’t move a little everyday… But what does this have to do with the contract vow?”
“Of course it’s related. Follow me,” Huai Zhen mysteriously smiled, then pulled Chen Luonian towards the room.
Chen Luonian entered the room and immediately saw that clothes had been tossed all over the floor once again. He couldn’t help but say: “You’ve made my room into a mess again. And stop bringing new clothes every time you come! I don’t have any space left for them.”
“Alright, alright,” Huai Zhen casually replied with very little sincerity. From the pile of clothes, she found a long bag and took out an article from the bag that was wrapped with strange fur. She unwrapped the fur and took out a mild, gold-colored and sheath-less dagger that was about the length of a small arm and waved it at Chen Luonian, “Look!”
“What’s that?” Chen Luonian asked.
That dagger didn’t have a hand guard. Its entire body was a mild gold color. It was broad, flat and as smooth as a mirror. Like a pond of clear water, chilling light seeped out from it. The identical straight handle had no decorations, nor did it have any scratches or fingerprints. But other than the fact that it had no flaws at all, there was no other special point about it.
“This is a treasure, called the ‘Aurum Dagger’T/N!” Huai Zhen’s eyes turned as she waved the dagger. She then carefully handed it over and said, “This is a godly dagger that can cut through metal without resistance and split through a strand of hair that’s simply blown against it, so be careful not to cut yourself ah.”
“Godly dagger? Isn’t that a little too exaggerated? It looks like a fruit knife.” Chen Luonian took it and weighed it in his hand. Then he said, a little surprised: “It’s pretty heavy. It’s at least two kilograms, why’s it so heavy? Didn’t you want me to use light weapons? And being able to split through a strand of hair that’s simply blown against it isn’t anything that rare. It’s easily achievable with modern day blade manufacturing techniques.”
“With your current strength, half or even an entire kilogram isn’t anything to worry about.” Huai Zhen said: “Anyways, this is a treasure. It’s enough as long as you know that it is.”
Chen Luonian casually picked up a piece of waste paper and used the Aurum Dagger to cut through it. As the dagger streaked across the paper, piece after piece of paper strips fluttered off like snowflakes. As expected, it really was extremely sharp. Looks like even if it wasn’t a godly item, it still was a pretty good weapon. Chen Luonian continued to cut as he said: “Looks like you’ve only explained half of it again. What are you hiding from me?”
“Aiyah!” Huai Zhen laughed mischievously, “I feel like it’s better not to say it, so don’t insist on getting to the heart of the matter, ok?”
Chen Luonian gave a light humph and said, “Alright, then what does this have to do with the contract vow?”
“We’ll use this treasure to establish a new vow, this time we’ll do it on the right hand.” Huai Zhen pulled off a strain of hair, then grabbed Chen Luonian’s hand and said: “As long as we make an even bigger contract vow, we can override it and the ring on our left hands will disappear.”
“Oh?” Chen Luonian only half believed it.
“We’re starting. Repeat after me.” Huai Zhen spoke as she bound the strand of hair, “Chen Luonian is willing to allow Huai Zhen to absorb his Original Chaos Essence, Huai Zhen is willing to present the priceless treasure, the Aurum Dagger, to Chen Luonian.”
In any case, it didn’t matter to Chen Luonian so he repeated it once after Huai Zhen. But after the incantation was over, the strand of hair didn’t form into a Blood Ice Ring like last time but turned into smoke and vanished.
“What does this mean?” Chen Luonian asked, puzzled.
“It won’t work.” Huai Zhen’s brows knitted as she spoke, vexed, “Looks like it can’t override it even with this sort of treasure.”
Chen Luonian smiled, “I told you, didn’t I? Being able to split through a strand of hair that’s simply blown against it isn’t anything that rare, how could it compare with ‘until forever’?”
“Tsk, you don’t understand.” Huai Zhen pouted and said with vexation: “I still have to go and rummage through a little. And I can’t even steal something too big since it’ll be troublesome if it gets discovered. How hateful!”
“Where did you steal them from?” Chen Luonian said: “It’s not dangerous, is it?”
Huai Zhen knitted her brows as she contemplated while answering absentmindedly: “The Ao family.”
“Ao family?” Chen Luonian didn’t understand, “Is that some family that collects antiques?”
Huai Zhen rolled her eyes at Chen Luonian, “It’s a family of the dragon race.”
“Eh?” Chen Luonian was shocked.
“You don’t need to worry about it.” Huai Zhen said while deep in thought: “I even stole a little piece of Fortunelux fur to wrap it with. Later, I’ll help you make a sheath for the blade. You have to remember to carry it on you everyday, don’t lose it.”
吉光 – “Fortunelux” Ji guang translates to fortune light. I took the liberty of using the Latin word for light to make it less like I just stuck two words together, which I pretty much did since I couldn’t find an English equivalent. It’s a type of horse with a white body which has designs on it, and a red mane. It’s born in a large pool and is a symbol for good fortune.
“Why do I have to carry it?” Chen Luonian asked, puzzled. “Bringing this around is against the law. What if it gets confiscated?”
“The police probably can’t catch you, right?” Huai Zhen pouted, “If I carry it around and end up in a situation where I need to transform, I’ll end up losing it.”
“Then I’ll put it at home.” Chen Luonian said.
“That won’t do, it’ll be stolen.” Huai Zhen widened her eyes as she said, “Masterless treasures will naturally emit light. If you don’t carry it around it’ll attract other people’s attention.”
“What novel is this storyline from ah?” Chen Luonian humphed, “It doesn’t seem like a gods and demons type of story anymore, now it sounds more like a sword cultivator novel.”
“What I’m saying is real ah!” Huai Zhen glowered, “Some monsters like collecting treasures, they’re born with thief-like eyes. If you leave it alone for three, five days, the treasure light will gradually rush into the sky and it’ll immediately be stolen by them.”
“And you still dare to call other people thief-like? Didn’t you steal it as well? Wouldn’t it be fine if you just brought it back?” Chen Luonian asked with his brows knitted.
“No.” Huai Zhen said, “I still have to find some other treasures. If I add a couple more together, it’ll probably work to override it. You have to remember this is mine ah. I’m just lending it to you for the time being. It’s only yours after the contract vow is established.”
“Isn’t this going to bring me more trouble?” Chen Luonian hated trouble the most and immediately said irritably, “I don’t want it!”
“I have to override that contact vow ah!” Huai Zhen pouted her lips and said with a face full of grievance, “You really want me to die with you? Human life span is so short ah.”
“Alright, alright, how annoying.” Chen Luonian had no choice but to concede after she mentioned it. Furrowing his brows, he said: “If you want me to carry it around I’ll just carry it around, but whether it gets confiscated or not doesn’t have anything to do with me.” He’ll deal with it when the time comes if he gets caught by the police.
“Heehee.” Huai Zhen cheered up. Hugging Chen Luonian’s face, she kissed his cheek.
“Don’t lick! Next week is final exams, I’m going to go clasp Buddha’s feet*.” Chen Luonian pushed Huai Zhen aside and headed towards his desk while saying: “You go cultivate by yourself.”
It’s a figurative saying, the rest of the implied saying is that you didn’t burn incense and went directly to clasp Buddha’s feet when you went to pray. Its figurative meaning is that you only profess devotion when trouble hits. For Chen Luonian, he’s basically going to cram cause he didn’t study… Yet again, I looked up the definition before realizing that it was later explained…
Huai Zhen jumped onto Chen Luonian’s back and wrapped her legs around Chen Luonian’s waist as she asked with a smile: “What do you mean by clasp Buddha’s feet? Celestial legs are right here, why don’t you hug them?”
“Stop messing around and move your fox legs.” Chen Luonian said: “That sentence means I’m going to study.”
Huai Zhen laughed behind him, “Wait a little, I still have something I want to ask.”
“What ah?” Chen Luonian asked.
“After that, you didn’t continue to mingle with the members of the martial dao schools, right?” Huai Zhen asked.
What happened today probably doesn’t count, right? Chen Luonian said: “I didn’t ah.”
“Then that’s good.” Huai Zhen said: “If they keep messing around like this, they might all die. Staying farther away from them is safer. It was the right choice for you to not join back then.”
“What do you mean?” Chen Luonian asked, taken aback. Even though Chen Luonian’s personality was indifferent, he still had a favorable impression towards Lai Yixin, Ye Weishan and the rest.
“For humans and monsters to be enemies isn’t some big problem. Since low level monsters want to swallow human spirits to cultivate, humans resistance is a matter of course.” Huai Zhen jumped off Chen Luonian’s back and wound to his front as she continued: “But last month when I went to the Ao family home, I discovered that there was a group of people along the shore of the North Sea that were being rather strange. They looked like they were there to test out some magic. I went over to eavesdrop for a while and it turns out that a large group of martial dao school members were planning to unite and mess with the path between the mortal and immortal worlds… This is messing around and defying the natural order. At that time, they’ll probably all die. That’s why, you should stay far away from them. Otherwise, when the time comes I’d have to go save you.”
Chen Luonian suddenly recalled what the Bai Sect Leader, Bai Xuanlan said and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do they have no hope at all?”
“No hope.” Huai Zhen shook her head.
Then won’t Wu Peirui be dragged into it as well? And what should Ye Weishan and the others do? Chen Luonian’s brows knitted somewhat in distress.
“There more oh.” Huai Zhen said, “With them messing around like this, the Original Chaos Essence of this world will quickly become agitated… If there’s bad luck, there’ll be stronger monsters appearing in groups. At that time, remember to hide far away if you don’t have anything to do.”
“How strong?” Chen Luonian asked.
“Their strength won’t be definite, it depends on how they mess around.” Huai Zhen said.
“Would humans be able to deal with them?” Chen Luonian asked.
“Don’t know, it’ll depend on how much they mess around.” Huai Zhen shrugged as she walked away. Lying down on the bed, she said: “In any case, you should just duck far away. Whether other people live or die has nothing to do with us.”
“That’s true…” Other than the special situations in which the blood rushes to his brain, Chen Luonian didn’t even care that much about his own life so naturally, he wouldn’t have the type of personality that worried about others. He sighed before throwing this matter out of his mind and shook his head, “Then let’s just deal with it if the time comes.”
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by Sigil
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
T/N – Aurum is Latin and = gold. The reason I resorted to Latin is because this is like Chen Luonian’s badass weapon, but it was just going to be called Gold Dagger? However, the raws didn’t leave me much to work with. This is a completely original name that the author came up with, and the characters that make up the name is ‘gold’ ‘sharp’ ‘dagger’. Sharp Gold Dagger? Gold Keen Dagger? …Q-Q
Mmm, I think I’ll be changing the term ‘Original Chaos Essence’ back to Original Chaos Essence… what would suck is if later in the story, more is revealed around phoenix powers and it’s not chaos… Urgh, oh well, I’ll deal with it again then. I’ll be changing to Original Chaos Essence~ The other terms like dao xi and qi xi don’t have enough of a separate meaning for me to make up an English equivalent, so I’ll be leaving them as is. Whatever the pinyin I started with for monster essence, I’ll be keeping monster essence as monster essence now~ Sorry ‘bout the confusion.
