Lanke Chess Edge -
Chapter 120: Meeting the Immortal Again in the Temple
Ji Yuan looked at the group of people dressed in rough clothes, breathing heavily and panicking, and then looked at the seven or eight year old child, who lay pale and unconscious in the arms of one of the women.
In Ji Yuan’s eyes, it didn’t look like he had simply fainted, but rather that he actually lost his soul. However, judging from the fact that his eyelids were twitching and he frowned from time to time, the lost soul was most likely not damaged, and still had a connection to the body.
Although the only time Ji Yuan has ever seen someone lose their soul1 was when he was dealing with the evil snake in the form of a beautiful woman in Shanghegou Village, Suiyuan County. A merchant was so frightened that his soul left his body for a short time. The state of this child’s lost soul seemed to be rather special.
‘Interesting, it seems that it ran out on its own! ’
When Ji Yuan opened supernatural-discerning eyes, he saw no traces of convulsions on the child, nor any residual traces of evil spirits. After careful thought, he speculated that his soul had escaped from the body on its own. After all, he had noticed something special with his child before.
The number of people in their group had been reduced by more than half, and now they were in this perilous state again. He didn’t know what kind of attack they could have encountered.
If they were being chased by thugs, bandits, or wicked people, Ji Yuan felt that, although he could intervene, this was a matter of worldly grievances and hatreds, so it might be more appropriate for him to remain a spectator.
However, rather than being curious about what happened to them, Ji Yuan was more curious about what was so special about this child. Then, he considered what kind of trouble they might cause if they suddenly found him here, so he decided to reveal himself on his own.
“Cough…cough…”
A quiet cough behind two of the group members immediately caused the high-strung group to react in self-defense as a conditioned reflex.“Shiiing-” “Shiiing-” “Shiiing-“
Three people immediately drew their swords.
“Who is it?”
“Who’s there?”
Ji Yuan moved and waved his hands so that they could see him, but he did not stand up, so as not to startle them.2
“I, Ji, really can’t find peace no matter where I hide. This time, it was you who disturbed me. Swords have no eyes to strike,3 so please don’t hurt a good man!”
“It’s you! Were you waiting for us here?”
The man named Mo Tong asked in surprise and caution.
Ji Yuan’s voice was strong and highly recognizable, so he was identified immediately.
Ji Yuan had expected to be asked this question, so he shook his head and smiled.
“Haha, I’m just a passerby. I didn’t want to cause a misunderstanding, so I spoke out to warn you. If I truly had bad intentions, wouldn’t it have been better to remain hidden?”
After saying that, Ji Yuan pointed to the brazier beside him and to the charcoal and firewood in the corner.
“Would you like to light a fire? The autumn rain brings a chill. Be careful not to catch a cold.”
Ji Yuan’s few words were calm, gentle, and polite, as well as being well-reasoned, which allowed the group to let down their guard a little.
The large man Mo Tong hesitated, and then bowed to Ji Yuan with cupped hands in apology.
“We misunderstood you, sir. Please forgive us. However, it is not convenient for us to light a fire at the moment. We may have to leave soon.”
The men put away their weapons and moved a little further away from the door. They walked behind the statue of the Mountain God, diagonally opposite Ji Yuan, and dragged the remaining two cushions over, letting the boy lie on them.
The two women in sturdy clothes took care of the boy, while the others treated their wounds.
“Young Master wasn’t hurt, nor was he hit, so how could he have fainted…? Was he frightened?”
“Sister, don’t worry too much about it. The young master was not injured, he will wake up eventually!”
“How can I not be anxious? He won’t wake no matter how much I call for him. Even pressing his Ren Zhong point4 is useless, as is transferring Qi. How can I not be anxious?”
“Hey, be patient, we can only try to find a doctor later after all this is over!”
That was all Mo Tong could say in response.
One warrior to the side used a strip of bloody cloth torn from his clothes to help Mo Tong bandage the knife wound in his chest. The latter looked in Ji Yuan’s direction, then to the gate of the mountain temple.
“The rain tonight’s helped us a lot. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to lose our pursuers so easily. It’s a pity that more than a dozen of our brothers were lost!”
When Mo Tong said this, he deliberately looked at Ji Yuan, wanting to see how he reacted, but because the shadows were so dark, it was difficult to tell whether Ji Yuan was frightened by his mention of their dead.
Ji Yuan’s attention was primarily fixed on the boy. Looking at the subtle twitching of his eyelids, it seemed that his soul was running around at the moment, and it wasn’t too far from the physical body.
‘It’s strange. Since the soul can move and it’s not far from the body, why doesn’t it come back? ’
Ji Yuan was a little puzzled. It was not enjoyable for the soul to be wandering around outside, and was in fact a very dangerous state. Once it could no longer come back, or lost all contact with the physical body over time, the physical body would either die or become twisted.
‘Is there another reason? ’
With this thought, Ji Yuan decided that it would be better to start a conversation and find an opportunity to ask about it.
“You should all be part of the martial arts world, correct? Our two encounters must have been fated. Could you enlighten me as to what kind of thieves and bandits you have encountered? Just now I heard your conversation, and I believe this child may have contracted an illness that made him lose his soul. The elders in my hometown often spoke of the lost-soul illness!”5
“The lost-soul illness?”
The older woman among them expressed her doubts and looked at Ji Yuan. The workings of this strange illness were not difficult to deduce, from the literal meaning of his words, but it was still somewhat unbelievable.
“That’s right, people with the lost-soul illness experience these exact symptoms. No matter what you do, you can’t wake them up; they are unconscious all day long, and there is no cure.”
“So what should we do now?”
Out of concern, Mo Tong also subconsciously asked a question.
“In my hometown, if someone has lost their soul, their family members will either go to familiar places to the patient to call back his soul, or they will go pray to the Land God. If there is no Land God Temple, they will go pray to the City God, and beg the gods to help find the patient’s soul.”
What Ji Yuan counseled were all folk remedies actually used by ordinary people, and they were considered to be effective, provided that there were no special factors keeping the soul away.
After hearing this, the group looked at each other and remained silent for a while.
“Of course, praying to mountain gods might also be useful. The land gods, mountain gods, and other earthly gods are the most skilled in this area within their own jurisdictions.”
Ji Yuan’s words no longer sounded like those of an ordinary gentleman or village elder, but these warriors did not notice the difference.
At his words, the several people in the group subconsciously turned to look at the statue in the temple. At night, the statue looked rather eerie.
The heavy rain outside continued pouring down, and silence fell on the mountain temple.
Mo Tong was about to say something when he saw the gentleman in the corner suddenly stand up and gesture to stop him, as if he had known he was about to speak.
Ji Yuan took a breath and sniffed. He frowned and turned to look at the unconscious boy over to the side.
“It does not look like this is an ordinary matter, so we had best take care of it!”
Ji Yuan’s whisper was barely inaudible, and the people in the group couldn’t even determine what he had mumbled. But before they could ask, they saw him walk a few step forwards in front of the altar before the statue, and requested in a calm and righteous voice.
“Protect your young master, I’ll go meet those things outside!”
As soon as Ji Yuan finished his words, the gate of the mountain temple opened with a “bang!” and was slammed aside by the wind and rain. The rain blew in and passed by Ji Yuan. The group inside the temple could not see clearly in the dim light, but those outside could see the whole scene.
There were three people in the rain outside, all dressed in martial arts attire, carrying swords and sabers. They looked like real people, but Ji Yuan knew that although these three were human beings, they were not purely “humans.”
“Sir, this matter has nothing to do with you. Hurry up and escape. There are four of them in total, and each of them is highly skilled in martial arts. We have lost many brothers. Sir, don’t do anything stupid!”
Mo Tong and a few warriors around him stood up at once and drew their weapons one after another.
However, Mo Tong and others were surprised: the three people outside didn’t rush in immediately, and they even gave off the faint sense of vigilance in the dim light.
“Highly skilled in martial arts? Hahaha…”
Ji Yuan laughed and nodded.
“Yes, as far as martial artists are concerned, they are indeed highly skilled…”
Ji Yuan opened his eyes a little wider, half to ascertain the truth, and half with genuine emotion, and continued:
“I have seen many humans, monsters, ghosts, and gods, but this demon is a really rare sight. It uses the bodies of several mortal warriors as shells, and aims to seize a child. It’s quite interesting!”
His words left all the warriors in the mountain temple bewildered, and they felt that this situation was a little strange.
“Hahaha… Today has been an unusual day. We actually ran into a cultivator in this poor and barren land. I advise you, Sir, not to wade into these muddy waters, otherwise we shall have to exchange one of our shells for the body of a cultivator!”
Ji Yuan stood in front of the mountain temple. There was no visible power or divine light on his body, but the rain seemed to avoid him. The three people outside could barely determine his location.
There were many kinds of demons: there were inner demons, which grew and bred in the heart; invisible and external demons that caused disasters; and creatures who deviated from the fundamentals of cultivation and fell into demonic or evil practices. The term “possessed by a demon” was used by ordinary people to describe a crazy obsession, but in fact, most true demons were often extremely evil, and rarely obsessive or crazy.
“There are four of you in total, so the remaining one has probably gone after that child’s soul, correct? And you are here to take his body?”
The warriors in the temple couldn’t see it, but in Ji Yuan’s eyes, the faces of the three monsters outside the temple were already emitting a black aura. Even though they couldn’t determine how skilled Ji Yuan was, they were still going to give it a try.
“Even if you save the boy’s body, his soul will already have been captured by us. Why don’t you…”
“That’s not necessarily true!”
Ji Yuan interrupted with a clear and bright laugh. If this was the situation, then it was totally justifiable to try out his new trick!
With an Edict at the tip of his tongue, his spiritual energy changing in accordance with his will, Ji Yuan gently raised his right foot and stomped on the ground. A strange ripple spread out from his foot like an illusion.
“I require an audience with the God of Jiaoye Mountain!”
As if in response to the sound, a gust of wind and mist appeared, swirling and rising from the ground inside the temple…
The pupils of the three demons outside shrank drastically in an instant.
“A God! Run…!”
T/n: JY: “I’m just a boring old cultivator~”
Also JY: does the Cupid Shuffle and summons a God
- 失魂 (shīhún): to panic OR 失 (shī): lose 魂 (hún): soul, 症 (zhèng): illness. It fits because you “lose your soul” when you panic or are too scared
- 惊弓之鸟 (jīnggōngzhīniǎo): a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow (idiom), someone who startles easily
- Similar to saying “death is blind,” essentially “don’t strike me down before looking”
- Ren Zhong (人中), also known as Shui Gou (水溝), or Du 26, is the main acupuncture point for restoring consciousness
- T/n: for clarity’s sake, JY is half-lying; there is no such thing as the “lost-soul illness” but the child truly has lost his soul. He just can’t come up with another way to share the information without revealing more about himself.
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