Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 18: Ji Yuan Is Tired

The group climbed over rocks, crossed the stream, carefully wove in between gravel piles, and sped up after making back to the oft-frequented mountain road.

From time to time, a cool breeze blew down the mountain rode, and the leafy branches swayed overhead. Because of the frequent shadows cast by the trees, the environment seemed even darker.

After having struggled for most of the night and being thoroughly frightened, the five still upright had exhausted a lot of their energy, not to mention the effort of carrying their companions on their backs. However, the lingering tension and fear prevented them from slowing their pace.

On Lu Chengfeng’s back, Mr. Ji’s weight seemed very light, as if he were carrying a woman, but the psychological pressure of carrying him was heavier than if he had been carrying a stone of the same size.

When they passed the outermost hill, arriving at a small stream with large rocks to either side, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. From this hillside, they could vaguely see the outline of Narcissus Town.

“Mr. Ji, how about we take a break here? Junior Sister Luo and the others’ injuries can’t sustain a continuous journey.”

Lu Chengfeng carefully asked the person on his back.

He himself was tired from the night, and it was not easy to carry Ji Yuan on his back. His body was so sore that he could hardly wait to rest for a bit.

“Alright, let’s take a break here.”

Hearing Ji Yuan’s answer, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Mr. Ji saying that it was fine alleviated some of their concerns.

“Everyone, take a rest, and be careful when letting people back down!”

“Okay!”

The five people gently placed their injured down on the ground.

In fact, the injured people couldn’t bear it any longer either. The shaking of each jump would stimulate their wounds and cause them to feel more pain, but they just endured it.

Ji Yuan lay on a sloping boulder and appeared to squint his eyes to rest. In fact, he was carefully observing the wounded people around him.

He suddenly found that, despite it being nighttime, his visibility had not changed. He couldn’t see clearly during the day, but he couldn’t see any less clearly at night. It was very strange; it didn’t seem to be this way before.

“Cough, cough… wow…”

Zhao Long shivered and supported himself against one of the rocks beside the stream, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Zhao Long, are you alright? I’ll bring you some water!”

“No, it’s fine…”

Luo Ningshuang’s breathing was rough, and her fingers trembled slightly as they reached up to touch her left shoulder, where two knife-like tiger claw-marks were clearly visible.

The claw marks on Yan Fei’s body were deeper and heavier than Luo Ningshuang’s. Acupuncture and bandaging barely had stopped the bleeding, but he didn’t dare to move, and her face was pale.

The most seriously injured one was the swordsman Du Heng. His right arm had been twisted back and was now entirely useless. His clothes were soaked in sweat as he endured the pain.

Ji Yuan couldn’t bear to look directly at the young swordsman. This kind of injury might not have been fatal, but for a martial artist it was perhaps worse than dying. After all, this guy was not Yang Guo,¹ he might never be able to wield a sword again for the rest of his life.

Through his blurry vision, Ji Yuan could see him wrap his arms around himself. His face must have been ashen.

“Drink some water, Du Heng.”

Lu Chengfeng handed him a water pouch. The swordsman smiled reluctantly, took the water bag, and gulped it like he was drinking alcohol.

“Hey…”

Ji Yuan sighed softly. These people didn’t have bad hearts.

“Mr. Ji, it is alright if not, but… do you know of any way to help Du Heng?”

Yan Fei knelt on the stone, clenched his fists, and asked Ji Yuan in a low voice, his wounds reopening from his agitation.

Everyone in that moment looked at Ji Yuan, and hope rose in Du Heng’s eyes. They suddenly realized that the beggar in front of them was an expert respected by even the tiger spirit.

‘Damn, what trick, I’m not a doctor! ’

Currently, Ji Yuan was still thinking hard about how to win these people over. If he had saved them but couldn’t come up with a way to heal Du Heng, would he be resented?

“Haha! I had said before, in the temple, that there was a ferocious tiger in the mountains, but some of you scoffed at me!”

After finishing this sentence, Ji Yuan paused for a moment to see that several people were looking a little embarrassed, then continued.

“Hey, it’s a pity, but I’m not skilled in medical treatment. I even want to seek medical treatment for my own eyes. How could I heal others? However, there are many amazing doctors and experts in this world. Perhaps there is still hope for recovery.”

Du Heng held the stump of his right arm with his left hand, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain, sweat dripping down his chin.

“Mr. Ji, I, Du Heng, am not an ungrateful person. Your precious advice saved our lives once before, which is already a great kindness. These bitter consequences… we deserve them!”

The others said nothing at his words. Ji Yuan looked at the swordsman in surprise.

Perhaps out of fear of driving him deeper into despair, there was a moment of silence. Ji Yuan suddenly decided to add something profound.

“If you can survive this hardship, your future will be limitless!”

Du Heng and the rest of the warriors looked at Ji Yuan again, only to find that he had closed his eyes to rest, and didn’t say another word.

From Ji Yuan’s perspective, nonchalantly pretending to sleep after showing off a little bit was really exciting!

Lu Chengfeng hesitated for a while, then looked at Ji Yuan and asked another question.

“Mr. Ji, shouldn’t we explain the truth to the people at the foot of the mountain…? After all, this white tiger skin is not something we obtained from hunting tigers…”

The tiger spirit had given them a rare white tiger skin that seemed to have been freshly skinned, and also told them that they could just claim to have successfully slain the tigers. But looking at their group’s miserable state, it was a little difficult and shameful to claim.

Ji Yuan was shocked at his words.

‘Damn telling the truth. What if someone else is brave enough to go hunt a monster? If they succeeded, that would be fine, but if they failed, wouldn’t Lu Shan Jun come back to settle the score? ’

Ji Yuan solemnly sat up from the stone, eyes half-open.

“‘There once was a tiger demon named Lu Shan Jun who lived on Niu Kui Mountain, and looked forward to eating people every night. Given the chance, he would choose to act with malice…’²

Lu Shan Jun said that after going down the mountain, the young warriors could inform the people that the man-eating tiger in the mountains has been subdued. It is not a lie, and the resolution of this matter can be partly attributed to you, so there is no shame in telling people that you have slain the man-eating tiger.”

“But this is all because of Mr. Ji, you…”

Before Lu Chengfeng could finish his sentence, Ji Yuan held up a hand to stop him.

“Don’t mention my affairs in front of outsiders. And, to be honest, how many people in this world would dare to go into the mountains with such passion like you, young heroes?”

Ji Yuan spoke half-heartedly, but his words made the frustrated hearts of several of the young warriors feel warm.

Knowing what Lu Chengfeng wanted to say, Ji Yuan simply lay down, closed his eyes, and pretended to rest, ignoring it.

‘Mind your own business!’³

Ji Yuan wanted to shout: have peace of mind, and go be tiger-fighting heroes on your own!

In the end, no one mentioned it again. After all, they had all longed to be recognized. After having paid such a high price, if they were still ridiculed, their feelings might be crushed.

Ji Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. He really felt like he was Yan Xishan,⁴ constantly walking on eggshells in challenging situations,⁵ which was really tiring. Fortunately, his eloquent enough, otherwise fortunately, he was just barely able to get by with a certain population, otherwise he might have died.

If he ever got a chance to go back and find a transmigration novel where the main character was comfortable, he would follow the internet cable to find the author and bash their head in!⁶

1. Referencing Yang Guo from the wuxia novel The Return of the Condor Heroes. In the story, Yang Guo’s arm was cut off, but he learned one-armed martial arts from a divine Condor, saved many people, and became renowned as the Condor Hero. ↩︎
2. JY is telling the story of how LS used to act – the next paragraph is saying that the character described above no longer exists, because LS has changed. Effectively, they have “hunted and slayed” the idea of this evil man-eating tiger. ↩︎
3. 就你丫的事多! Lit: “You have so many other things to do!” ↩︎
4. Yan Xishan. Interesting guy. Prominent Chinese warlord in the 20th century. ↩︎
5. Lit: “dance on eggs” ↩︎
6. Lit: “blow their head off,” VERY strong language ↩︎