Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 126: Uncle Ji?

The entire awning boat sank to the bottom of the river. Endless currents of water flowed around the vessel, even washing up against the sides, but no water entered the boat.

Ji Yuan’s expression never changed, but inside he was very shocked. To a certain extent, this was no different from how he would feel if the boat were to start flying in the sky.

He watched the small boat glide to-and-fro under the water under the water. Many underwater creatures swam by, and he looked up to see the dim light streaming through the surface of the water above him. Ji Yuan felt an unprecedented sense of novelty.

However, these thoughts merely flashed through his mind. Ji Yuan turned to look at the old man standing at the bow of the boat with some helplessness in his expression.

“Mr. Ying, are you inviting me, or forcibly abducting me…?”¹

Ying Hong laughed. “Haha!

“I apologize, Mr. Ji, but your whereabouts are too erratic. I must treat you to a drink, after all!”

By this point, the Old Dragon Ying Hong felt much more at ease. Being able to tease Ji Yuan in this fashion was also a way for him to vent his frustrations after having spent three years searching for him.

“Please rest assured, Mr. Ji, all those who attend my birthday banquet practice peaceful cultivation, more or less. They will not inconvenience you!”

The old dragon looked at the Green Vine Sword leaning against the canvas-covered section of the boat. Although there was no sword intent or sword energy flowing from it, and it seemed to be just an ordinary weapon, the Old Dragon subconsciously remembered those sword strike marks on Wafeng Mountain.

The awning boat sailed rapidly along the bottom of the Tongtian River. It was naturally quite an eye-catching scene underwater, especially as it grew closer to the Tongtian River Palace. It attracted the attention of many of the patrolling yaksha.

When they saw Old Dragon Ying Hing standing at the bow, no one dared to stop them, let alone ask questions.

The awning boat entered the Tongtian River Palace and moved directly into the main hall of the palace. The Dragon Son Ying Feng and Dragon Daughter Ying Ruoli had already been waiting in front of the main hall.

In truth, as the boat entered the underwater palace, even Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. The main issue was that the demonic spiritual energy was too strong. Fortunately, under the suppression of the dragon energy, the spiritual energy was not too heavy, though it still did not completely disappear.

Seeing the awning boat slowly come to a stop, the two people in front of the main hall hurriedly bowed and greeted them.

“Greetings, Father!”

“Greetings, Father!”

After speaking, Ying Ruoli raised her head with a wry smile.

“Dad, you’re finally back! The situation was really dire!”

“Yes, Dad, if you didn’t come back, we were about to make a fool of ourselves!”

As they spoke, Ying Feng and Ying Ruoli turned their attention to the other person on the boat.

This person wore a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat. Under the raincoat was what seemed to be an ordinary loose white robe. Crucially, there was no divine light manifesting from his body, nor where there any other indications of supernatural energies.

But if something was out of the ordinary in this situation, then that meant that something in their perception was wrong. In any other situation, the man would probably have been treated as an ordinary person. Could that truly be possible in this situation?

‘Is this the friend that Dad said he had to find? ‘

‘Who is this person? ’

While his son and daughter were thinking wildly, the Old Dragon had already leaped off of the bat and entered the water, which seemed to be as clear as air.

Ji Yuan had no choice; he couldn’t stay on the boat forever. He reached out to touch the crystal clear water outside of the boat, took off his straw raincoat and bamboo hat, and stepped off.

The water quality in this underwater palace was obviously quite special. Although Ji Yuan did have a water-repelling ability, it was strange not to feel much resistance when moving through the river. It felt like he was merely walking in the breeze.

The old dragon raised his hand and beckoned the Dragon Son and Dragon Daughter over.

“Mr. Ji, this is my daughter, Ying Ruoli, she is a still a flood dragon destined for the body of a True Dragon, and the true Goddess of Tongtian River. However, her status as a River God is still only auxiliary, she has not fallen behind in the virtuous path of cultivation.”

Ji Yuan had been observing these two people for some time. The woman did look somewhat similar to the statue of the River Goddess in the River God Temple.

“This is my boy Ying Feng, also a flood dragon with the body of a True Dragon.”²

As the Old Dragon was introducing them, Ji Yuan did not say anything, nor make any movements, assuming that he would greet them after he had finished his introductions. However, as soon as the Old Dragon had finished his first two sentences, he directly told his Dragon Son and Daughter:

“Quickly pay your respects to your Uncle Ji!”

Uncle Ji? Ji Yuan, who was now somewhat knowledgeable in the supernatural world, was confused by the Old Dragon once more. As a result, before his eyes, he watched as the Dragon Son and Daughter bowed respectfully to him.

“We greet Uncle Ji!”

Hearing them speak in unison, Ji Yuan broke out in a cold sweat, and quickly bowed in return.

“No need to be polite, no need to be polite. Please just call me Ji Yuan!”

To the side, the Old Dragon laughed again.

“Mr. Ji, this awning boat will be temporarily placed in the palace courtyard, and sent back after the banquet.”

With a wave of the Old Dragon’s hand, the boat sailed to the side by itself. However, bubble around the boat never dissipated; the bedding and other items in the cabin were unstained by water.

Before it could move too far, the Green Vine Sword concealed its spiritual aura and floated up on its own, flying behind Ji Yuan.

The old dragon just glanced at the Green Vine Sword with a smile. The Dragon Son and the Dragon Daughter didn’t notice anything at first. It was only thanks to their father’s subtle hint that they concentrated their attention and discovered that there was a sword floating behind this “Uncle Ji.”

“Mr. Ji, please come with me. As the saying goes, it is better to arrive on time than to arrive early.³ Tonight is the birthday banquet. Last time, I promised to let you drink to your heart’s content. This time, I will not break my promise!”

The old dragon stretched out his hand and led the way to the main hall. The interior of the main hall had already been richly decorated; it looked dazzling, showing the luxury of the Dragon Palace.

Since it had already come to this, there was no point in Ji Yuan feeling helpless, so he could only smile carefreely.

“Mr. Ying, please lead the way!”

He had been pushed into this situation,⁴ and now he could only go along with it…

Not many underwater creatures were qualified to come celebrate the True Dragon’s Thousand-Year Birthday Banquet, but there were nonetheless still quite a few. At least, this main hall of the underwater palace would not be able to accommodate them all. Thus, the banquet involved four large halls, and guests were assigned seats according to their status.

Ji Yuan was not certain about the etiquette for such a scene, but either way, the Old Dragon did not seem to pay any particular attention to any particular part. He, an outsider, was actually arranged to sit to the right of the host’s seat in the main hall.⁵ Next to him, the next row down, was the dragon girl Ying Ruoli, and to the left of the host’s seat was Ying Feng.

Whenever a guest arrived at the banquet, the first thing they did was wish the True Dragon a happy birthday. The second thing they did was stare at Ji Yuan, then go sit down in utter confusion.

So, this was the current situation. It was around the You hour⁶ of the evening when the banquet finally started in the hall where all of the underwater creatures gathered. Most of the attention in the venue was focused on Ji Yuan.

Although the monsters here were all quite accomplished in their cultivation, few could notice Ji Yuan’s Green Vine Sword. In the eyes of these water monsters, Ji Yuan seemed to be no different from an ordinary mortal, aside from his water-repelling technique.

Fortunately, this extremely embarrassing moment only lasted for a short while. When all the guests of the halls had taken their seats, a yaksha outside the main hall raised a stell hammer and rang a bronze gong under the water.

A loud “GONG!” sound spread out in the water in powerful ripples.

“Let the feast begin!”

Before Ji Yuan’s eyes, a very novel scene appeared. Countless underwater creatures swam towards the palace halls, carrying plates of delicious food and pots of fine wine.

A large snakehead fish⁷ swam right past Ji Yuan, carrying four or five dishes on its back. It shook its body and the dishes fell gently onto the table, buoyed by the water.

Interestingly, some dishes were still hot. There seemed to be a thin bubble layer on each dish to prevent the flow of river water from affecting the taste of the food. The chopsticks on the table were also coated in a bubble layer, obviously specially prepared in order to eat this kind of food.

All kinds of large fish including black carp, silver carp, loaches, and snakehead fish shuttled back and forth, occasionally interspersed with a more human-like aquatic creature helping serve the tables, along with a dispatch of yaksha.

The guests guests in the venue were diverse as well. Although the majority in the main hall were human-shaped, there were still traces of horns or scales and claws. There were even many half-monster aquatic creatures in the side halls. It was all simply bizarre.

Plus, because they were all spirits or supernatural bodies, Ji Yuan could see all of them very clearly. This gave him a novel feeling, as if he were in a magical aquarium.

In the end, the Old Dragon was still aware of his position as the birthday host. Not a moment later, he raised his glass to everyone, and the sound of his voice spread throughout the underwater palace like the loud sound of the gong.

“Thank you all for coming to congratulate me on my birthday. We aquatic folk don’t have many opportunities to gather together, so this birthday is also a place for us to catch up. There is no need to be restrained when we all drink from the same porcelain cups. Feel free to chat, move around, form groups of three to five, hahahaha…”

After speaking, the old dragon drained the wine in his glass, and all the guests respectfully followed suit. However, as Ji Yuan sipped his wine, the Old Dragon’s voice rang out in his ears.

“Mr. Ji, drink less; I have some good wine hidden away, we can drink it by ourselves when the banquet is over!”

A little while later, a group of underwater dancers entered. Most were half-human and half-fish, and beautiful girls with partially transformed bodies led the dance. The atmosphere of the banquet became lively, and Ji Yuan finally felt the attention he was receiving wane.

“Uncle Ji, please excuse me, but is the sword behind you an immortal sword?”

The dragon girl Ying Ruoli asked Ji Yuan in a low voice.

Ji Yuan, who was studying the mysterious patterns on his chopsticks, said nothing. Before he opened his mouth, the Green Vine Sword behind him suddenly turned by itself, making the dragon girl feel as if the blade were looking at her.

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T/n:

JY: *cheerfully smiles*

Everyone: Who is this person?? Why is he sitting in the highest seat??? How does he know Ying Hong?? Hello???

JY: I know something’s off, but if I don’t acknowledge it then it’s not my problem

Hi friends! So sorry about the sudden absence, a lot of things got super busy all at once so I wasn’t able to update. I’m also trying to take care of my own self a little bit. ❤ Hopefully I’ll have caught up soon, but for the time being expect spotty updates for at least the next week or so. Sorry about that. Hugs! ~Mango

1. T/n: *pats JY on the back, commiserating* Congratulations, you have officially been adopted by an extrovert, buddy.
2. This was mentioned before, but flood dragons must cultivate to transform into a true dragon. He’s specifying here that his kids have an advantage because they were born from him, a true dragon.
3. Chinese proverb, describing a kind of serendipity of arriving on time
4. 赶鸭子上架 (gǎnyāzishàngjià): lit “to drive a duck onto a perch” (idiom), to push someone way beyond their ability
5. Literally THE most important position, save the host’s seat itself
6. 酉时 (yǒushí): 5-7 PM, per the Shichen periods of telling time
7. The translation was either this cute fish or this honking giant, but I’m pretty sure it’s the latter