Summer semester followed immediately after by fall semester trampled all over me :,,) I’m still burned out, but a bout of motivation hit me again…!
Feel free to motivate us in our Discord server~
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TL: Mikan
Editor: Dekopon
Chapter 02: Come, Ge Will Tell You A Story.
Tang You had never played on any of the holographic gaming machines on the market before, but he knew very clearly that present-day technology still hadn’t been able to produce such lifelike sensations, so he listlessly basked in the feeling for a long time.
R-r-real transmigration? How could this sort of thing happen? He still had to send out express deliveries later on in the afternoon, could he still go back? In the case he couldn’t go back, what should he do? Would he be fired? He had only found a job after experiencing many difficulties…… no, wait a minute, if he couldn’t go back, would he have to be a tree for the rest of his life?
He blankly gazed at a small cloud near the horizon, feeling unbearably done for. The tree beside him had to yell out three to four times before he finally heard them and blankly looked over. “……Ah?”
An advantage of having transmigrated into a tree was that the branches, the trunk, and the leaves could all act as eyes. Although you couldn’t move, you could look around in whichever direction you wanted to. Yin Zhan gave him a look. “What are you saying ‘ah?’ for? What did you think about my rendition of that song?”
“……Decent.” Tang You slowly went back to normal. “Right, why did you say ‘here it comes’ just a moment ago, what did you mean by that?”
“Do you even have to ask,” Yin Zhan lazily drawled out, using a ‘don’t even think about keeping me in the dark’ tone to say, “Since early on, I could see that you’ve been walking on the path of cultivation, and that very soon, within the next several days, you’d gain consciousness and speak the human language.”
Tang You was shocked once again. He was at a loss, unsure if this was a backstory given to him by the transmigration machine. He didn’t dare to come clean about the fact that he was a transmigrator, because he wanted to avoid being considered an abnormal existence that had to be eliminated, so he tried to sound him out. “Then…… then, qianbei[1], have you seen if I could cultivate into a human?”
“You could,” Yin Zhan shamelessly encouraged, “As you go deeper down the path of cultivation, naturally your body will change.”
So actually, as it turns out, he could still change back into a human! Tang You relaxed, but immediately afterwards, realized that it wasn’t any use, because from the start, he wasn’t clear on how cultivation worked. After being silent for a few minutes, he very carefully said, “Qianbei……”
“Just call me ge.” Yin Zhan interrupted him. Although he really could be Tang You’s senior, this child was the fated one that the Mirror of Enlightenment had chosen, after all. He wouldn’t take advantage of him.
“Oh, okay,” Tang You readily accepted, and then asked, “Ge, I can finally speak, but I don’t know how I should cultivate into an even better state, do you have any suggestions?”
Yin Zhan said, “It should still be just like before.”
Tang You silently held it in for a while, before finally blurting out, “No need for changes?”
“No need,” Yin Zhan was very spirited, knowing what he wanted to ask, and began to speak nonsense in a dead-serious way, “you just have to take deep breaths ten times and shake out your leaves, during the morning, afternoon, and evening.”
Tang You succeeded in squeezing out more information, and became happy. “Okay!”
Yin Zhan reminded him, “It’s midday now, don’t forget to cultivate.” Tang You hastily responded, “Thank you ge!”
“No problem, no need to be polite with ge.” Right as Yin Zhan finished speaking, he heard the sound of controlled breathing start up by his side. Well, that was easy, he commented in an undertone.
Since they had become trees, he was afraid that they would be trees this whole life, unchangeably. But this guy wanted to become a human, so why didn’t he choose to transmigrate into a human from the start? He was dumbfounded for a while, but decided against broaching the subject. Sensing that Tang You’s “cultivation” was coming to an end, he chatted with him intermittently.
Tang You was curious. “Who did you learn that song of yours from?”
“There were people who traveled by in the past, humming this song. I just learned it in passing.” Yin Zhan asked a question in return, “You were also there at that time, don’t you remember?”
Tang You’s small heart trembled. “I…… I f-forgot.”
Yin Zhan quite meaningfully repeated, “You forgot, huh……”
Tang You was practically scared to death, for fear of being exposed. His leaves subconsciously pulled back.
“Ah, come to think of it,” Yin Zhan had had enough of teasing him, and threw out a timely excuse so that Tang You wouldn’t be living his life trembling with fear, “After gaining consciousness, sometimes what happens is that the being’s memory becomes fragmented. I’m not blaming you.”
Sure enough, Tang You was duped. You could even hear the relief in his voice. “Hey, now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ve realized that there seems to be a lot of things I don’t remember well.”
“No problem, it’s not like you need to remember any of it immediately.” Yin Zhan continued to chat with him, while making an assessment of him.
Good disposition, somewhat stupid, pure thoughts, easily satisfied.
Others would probably like him?
Unfortunately, he was Yin Zhan’s fated one.
The two of them chatted until night fell. Tang You, bathing in the light from the setting sun, suddenly asked, “Ge, why aren’t you cultivating? Come, let’s take deep breaths together and shake out our leaves.”
“……” Yin Zhan spouted more garbage earnestly, “You should practice. I’m further along in my cultivation, so I primarily need to meditate.”
Tang You revered him very much, and didn’t bother him again.
The curtain of night descended, a crescent moon hanging high in the sky.
Since the two of them were trees now, they wouldn’t feel any repercussions even if they didn’t rest, but some habits were unchangeable. Tang You said goodnight and went to sleep early.
Unlike how he had been in the ghost realm previously, drinking bottles of Tibetan wine from the family storage and sleeping with a full stomach, Yin Zhan hadn’t really slept peacefully in these past few years. He gazed out at the distant, indistinct traces of the mountains, standing tall amongst the boundless dark night, for a good while. Only when the color of the sky brightened did he feel just a little sleepy, and unexpectedly, he managed to dream in his muddleheaded state.
In his dreams stood the familiar Ghost Palace.
The Ghost King’s voice came from above the main hall, imposing and incredibly oppressive.
“Do you plead guilty?”
Utter silence. Below the flickering candle flames, brightening and dimming intermittently, the shadows were stretched and pulled into dismal, indistinct shapes. Yin Zhan knelt at the front of the palace hall, feeling as if his blood was flowing from his forehead down into his eye sockets, dyeing his face entirely scarlet. The changpao he was wearing was a sign of his identity as the Master of the Tenth Palace Hall in the ghost realm, and though it had long since become unbearably dilapidated, his back was kept as tense and ramrod straight as ever. He lifted his gaze and roughly said, “I do.”
Father Yin gave a long sigh and turned his head away.
The Ghost King’s gaze moved to stare down at Yin Zhan. Neither sorrow nor joy could be seen on his face. After a few breaths, he unhurriedly opened his mouth.
“Soul Separation Palace Hall Master Yin Zhan, who cared not for the laws of the ghost realm, who was audacious to a fault, who freely trespassed into the forbidden area, who damaged the reversal array, who murdered the Mirror Guardian Si Nan. Your crimes cannot be forgiven, but in light of the reason behind your actions and your established record of military service in the Path of Dimo[2], you are exempt from lightning tribulation. Your cultivation base will be reduced by half, your mana will be sealed, and you will be consigned to the Nameless Prison and locked up for a hundred years.”
Yin Zhan suddenly woke up, lucid.
It had already been a very long time since he had dreamed, let alone dreamed about things that had already come to pass, the dust long settled. His heart couldn’t help but well up with a trace of familiar self-loathing. He promptly tsked, not very happily.
Tang You coincidentally woke up. “What happened?”
Yin Zhan said at once, “I’ve cultivated into the ninth layer, but it’s been slow and I haven’t been seeing a breakthrough. I’m a little restless.”
Tang You, who had always thought highly of him, consoled, “These sorts of things can’t be rushed, you have to take it easy.”
Yin Zhan: “Mn.”
Tang You couldn’t help but ask, “If you cultivated into a human, what would you want to do?”
Yin Zhan said, “Haven’t figured it out, you?”
Tang You reflected on it a bit. “P……probably, I’d look for a job.”
Yin Zhan’s train of thought slowly shook itself free from bygone emotions, and he asked without much thought, “Oh, what job?”
Tang You didn’t even think. “Sending out express deliveries.”
Yin Zhan: “……”
The two of them chatted once again. Tang You sensed an extra presence in his memories in the form of a cloud of indistinct white fog, and recalled how the manual had written that the hosts of the bodies selected by the machine all wholeheartedly begged for death—the system did not condone bodysnatching—and that you could receive the original body’s memories just by falling asleep.
At that time, he had originally thought of this as a game premise, and didn’t pay it any mind. Only now did he find it important.
The guidelines hadn’t mentioned if they were applicable to different species or not. Although he wasn’t sure if this tree had actually not wanted to live anymore, the memory transfer seemed like it kind of had an effect, now that he was inspecting it. It was just that it wasn’t much help……but this aspect could function properly, confirming that the system hadn’t crashed too terribly. Would the end time he implemented work?
He immediately got upset.
At that moment, the two of them had chatted until the question, how long until you can cultivate into a human? was brought up. Yin Zhan had just finished answering, a few hundred years, when he heard a faintly discernible sigh. Thinking that this guy felt that the given timeframe was too long, he said laughingly, “What are you rushing for, take your time.”
Tang You could only think to himself like this as well, and tamped down those feelings of unease.
The surroundings had no small number of trees, but they were the only ones who could communicate, which meant they were kind of codependent. In the past, Tang You had always been sending out express deliveries, but now that he couldn’t move, he felt totally restless. He searched for something to say even though he didn’t have anything to say. “Ge, you gained consciousness earlier than me, have you ever run into anything interesting?”
“What, are you bored?” Yin Zhan thought to himself that though it was completely incomparable to how he felt when he was imprisoned for a hundred years, being unable to endure loneliness was still normal, so he said, “Come, ge will tell you a story.”
Tang You was revitalized. “Okay!”
Yin Zhan slowly said, “There was once a family with an ancestor who did a great service and obtained the favor of heaven. From then on, all of their descendants could have a blessed marriage……” He obscured the existence of the Mirror of Enlightenment and made up something different, but the general idea of it hadn’t changed.
“One generation after another, all the members of the family lived very well. The household was overjoyed, and success followed their careers. In this generation, one son of the family head stood out from the rest, having been granted the status of general at a very young age. That young general had already reached marriageable age, but because of the chaos of war, it was continuously delayed. It was also at this time that he met someone, and fell in love at first sight.”
Tang You subconsciously asked, “This person was his fated one?”
Yin Zhan languidly laughed, and continued, “The young general was in the prime of his youth, and behaved overbearingly. Once he fell in love, he was determined to get his hands on it. Fortunately, the recipient also liked him, so they got together very quickly, fighting side by side, as inseparable as form and shadow……” He paused for two to three seconds, then said, “Everyone thought that their predestined affinity[3] was ordained by heaven, and even they themselves believed this to be true. Of course, even if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t care, but as it turned out……it really wasn’t true.”
Tang You gave an amazed gasp, ah, “Then what happened afterwards?”
Yin Zhan lazily said, “Afterwards……”
Tang You earnestly listened.
Yin Zhan asked, “Want to know?”
Tang You affirmed, “Mn!”
Yin Zhan said, “Won’t tell you.”
Tang You was dazed. “Why?”
Yin Zhan laughed out loud, laughter that brought with it a tinge of something so vague that it couldn’t be put into words. “Because that’s what this young master wants to do.”
Tang You wanted to scratch his head, but found that he fundamentally didn’t have a way to do so. His disposition had always been soft. If the other person wouldn’t speak, he wouldn’t ask again either.
The cliff consisted of steep terrain. Looking out from this position, only the undulating sea of clouds could be seen, as if the Milky Way was rushing forth, surfacing under the light of dawn as layers upon layers of dusted gold. Clearly, it was an extraordinarily striking scene, but perhaps it brought up old memories, because it still felt vast and desolate in Yin Zhan’s eyes.
The entirety of the ghost realm knew that the first love of a Yin family member would be their fated one, that they could all have happy endings, and that the ol’ fifth of the Yin family was the only exception. There were also those who speculated that the situation had deteriorated to this extent, just because them being together went against the Way of Heaven.
The Way of Heaven, so what?
He couldn’t help but laugh coldly.
Tang You was dumbfounded. “Ge?”
“Mn,” Yin Zhan recovered his not very serious tone, “Come, I’ll tell you a different story.”
Tang You wasn’t reassured. “You won’t cut it off halfway again?”
“I won’t.” Yin Zhan guaranteed.
He knew that Tang You wasn’t at fault. On the contrary, he had been dragged into this by the Way of Heaven and was somewhat innocent, so Yin Zhan didn’t feel resentment or loathing towards this child, and only considered him as a younger brother. In those years when he was in the ghost realm quelling unrest far and wide, he had met too many people and seen too many things. At that time, although he was proud and arrogant, because his relationship with his lover followed after him, he could see many pleasures and had much he could talk about.
He asked, “Have you heard of the ghost realm?”
Tang You replied, “Hell?”
Yin Zhan said, “It’s considered to be, but that’s not entirely true either. It’s different from what humanity imagines it to be. Something like the eighteen layers of hell doesn’t exist, but things like red spider lilies, the River of Forgetfulness, and the Stone of Three Lives exist. The location of the Stone of Three Lives is still a very popular tourist attraction, but it only opens up for a tour twice a year, each time only letting in a hundred people……”
As he spoke, they heard a slight sound of movement from the woods. Immediately afterwards, an animal that resembled a wolf but wasn’t one came running out. The two of them simultaneously looked over at it, and they still hadn’t figured out what kind of species it was when they watched it turn in a circle, before it ran to where Yin Zhan was, lifted up its rear leg, and peed, its urine bubbling. Then it waddled away.
Tang You: “……”
Yin Zhan: “………………”
Tang You hastily looked up at the sky, pretending that he hadn’t seen anything at all. Around a minute passed before he quietly asked, “Ge, are you still going to tell the story?”
Yin Zhan swallowed down a mouthful of blood[4] and said, “……Yes, I’m thinking of what I want to say.”
Tang You obediently responded, no pressure.
Yin Zhan just said whatever he pleased for a bit, but sensing that the humidity in the air was becoming heavier, a trace of prickling unease faintly flashed through his mind. This change was too mystifying, such that he couldn’t help but swallow back the rest of what he had to say.
Sure enough, after noon passed, the sky went dark, wild winds erupted, lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and roaring, heavy rain rushed down unendingly, continuing until evening fell. The rainwater converged, rapidly flowing from even higher regions down towards lower locations.
In the darkness, a slight sound echoed—crack—and in no time they were submerged in the midst of the torrential downpour.
Yin Zhan suddenly gazed out towards the woods behind him. Within the stingingly bright flash of lightning, he saw a landslide surging over violently. The two trees beside him were the very first to be swept down, but the roots of one of those trees had long since been entangled with his, and they instantly dragged him along, down towards the overhanging cliff.
There was only one thought in his mind: exactly what kind of world did this guy choose——!
[1] Senior. -qianbei is a term of address or honorific that’s the equivalent of -senpai in Japanese.
[2] Derivative of the Naraka Path in Buddhism. More information here.
[3] Yuanfen is an infamous untranslatable word. More information on its exact definition here.
[4] The blood isn’t meant to be taken literally. To be “coughing up blood” is to feel unbearably strong emotion such that you’re sick to your stomach, similar to how someone might say “this is killing me” when it’s not actually physically killing them. When he’s swallowing down blood here, he’s essentially choking back his strong feelings (presumably of embarrassment, disbelief, indignation, etc.)
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