Lanke Chess Edge -
Chapter 82: Slip Away
The Chunmu River stretched about a hundred miles south of Chunhui City. It was a long winding section of river, with hills nestled on both sides. Although this section was not the widest part of the whole river, it was more than 100 zhang wide, and was definitely the deepest part of the Chunmu River. The flow of water was relatively gentle.
Under the labyrinth of aquatic plants and rocks at the bottom of the river, there was something else mysterious. A huge bubble with a dark exterior was attached to the bottom of the river. This bubble was covered in sand, rocks, and aquatic plants, but beneath it was an entire world.
Here, there was a mansion1 even larger in size than the temple outside of Chunhui City.
Although most of the mansion was built with cobblestone, and a part out of huge rocks carved from the mountain, it possessed a unified and majestic aura. Similar to ordinary buildings, it also contained pavilions, towers, large halls, and rooms.
A scaleless white flood dragon rested comfortably in a large soft sandy area in the center of the backyard. Judging from its appearance, aside from the fact that it had no scales, this flood dragon was very close to becoming a true dragon.
If it weren’t for the occasional flick of the white dragon’s beard creating a burst of tiny bubbles, any mortal who could see this mansion with their naked eye would think that there was no water. This showed just how clear the water surrounding this mansion was.
At the entrance to the bubble around the mansion, a crystal plaque with a faint fluorescence was placed horizontally and high up, with the large characters “Chunmu Mansion” written in neat strokes.
An old turtle was swimming towards it, carrying fine wine. The dozen or so jars of wine on its back were bound by water magic such that they would not float away, nor be soaked by the river water.
Just as the old turtle’s four legs landed on the bottom of the river, there was a sharp voice.
“Stop! This is the residence of the River God, you may not trespass!”Two dark shadows gradually emerged, one on the left and one on the right. They were two humanoid monsters with blue faces, sharp teeth and fangs, and long hair floating in the water above their heads.
“My two Yaksha2 Lords, it’s me, the old turtle! It’s me, the old turtle!”
The old turtle hurriedly unloaded the wine on his back and controlled the water to float them in front of him.
“This is the finest wine in all of Dazhen. In addition to Qianrichun, I also have Zujinxiao and Du Kang. They are all good wines. This old turtle was obtained them and specially came to present them to the Lord River God. I hope the Yaksha Lords will report it so that this Old Turtle can meet the Lord River God!”
The old turtle raised his body, cupped his front flippers, and imitated a human bow amid the waves and algae.3
“Old Turtle, you still won’t give up. Lord River God is taking a nap, we dare not disturb him casually!”
“Lord Yaksha, you are a noble man who forgets things easily. Lord River God travels along the river every summer. The summer solstice is approaching, so he must be awake. I beg the Yaksha lords to be flexible. The Lord River God will be happy to drink good wine!”
The old turtle continued bowing and using all of his eloquence, and finally convinced the two Yakshas.
“Alright then, just wait for a bit, I’ll go and report!”
After he spoke, one of the Yakshas disappeared toward the back, moved quickly through the water, and entered the River God’s mansion.
A moment later, the Yaksha arrived at the sandy circle where the white flood dragon lay. The white flood dragon murmured.
“Is that turtle here again?”
The Yaksha hurriedly bowed his head in salute.
“Replying to the Lord, it’s the old turtle, and he brought a lot of fine wine this year, saying it came from all over Dazhen.”
The white flood dragon, who was over twenty feet long, opened his eyelids slightly, revealing the amber light in his eyes.
“I have been drinking his wine for so many years, so I should meet him this year. Go and bring him in!”
“Yes!”
After taking his leave, the Yaksha quickly ran back to the mansion gate.
“The Lord River God has asked you to come in, follow me!”
The old turtle was overjoyed at this news. He dragged the wine along with him as he entered the River God’s mansion, continuously thanking the Yaksha.
Although there were towers and pavilions in this mansion, it was extremely deserted, as if only the old turtle and Yaksha were moving. There were no other fish or shrimp to be seen.
“The Lord’s dragon energy is too strong. He knows that ordinary water creatures would feel very uncomfortable if they stayed here for a long time, so he makes them live outside of the mansion. That’s why this place seems relatively deserted.”
The Yaksha seemed to know what the old turtle was thinking, so he explained it like this.
As they got closer and closer to the sand garden in the backyard, the old turtle also felt more and more pressure. After passing a large gate, he saw a standing screen4 in front of him. When his gaze swept to either side, he could already see the terrifying dragon body. .
“Lord, the black-backed old turtle has arrived. Your subordinates will take their leave!”
Seeing Yaksha salute and back away, the old turtle was startled and hurriedly saluted towards the screen.
“The Black-backed Old Turtle Wu Chong of the Chunmu River pays his respects to the Lord River God!”
“Ah… come over and talk with me!”
The white flood dragon spoke slowly, and the old turtle hurriedly grabbed the wine and climbed around the screen. He froze upon seeing the whole white flood dragon.
“Did you come up with the name Wu Chong yourself?”
The white flood dragon opened his eyes slightly. In the dim light, the old turtle didn’t dare to move.
“Replying to Lord River God, this old turtle gave himself this name.”
The white flood dragon’s head raised slightly, and his mouth opened to reveal the cold edge of his teeth, making the old turtle feel suffocated, as if he were about to be swallowed. Dragons and other related creatures were very likely to do so.
“You, old turtle, although you have been cultivating for a long time with no significant progress, you are proficient in divination. Don’t you know that in terms of essence, I, a flood dragon whose scales have all fallen, am only three three points better than you?”
The old turtle groveled, his head pressing his front flippers against the ground, as if it were bowing.
“Lord River God, you know of the suffering of my demon race. I can only watch myself waste the rest of my life. I have no other choice but to ask you to show me a way forward.”5
The white flood dragon watched the old turtle kowtow continuously, but his expression did not change.
“You have helped some mortals achieve prosperity over the years, and you have not hesitated to consult the heavens for this purpose. Has anyone ever repaid you?”
The white flood dragon’s question left the old turtle silent.
“I can help you erect a turtle statue in the temple, and use the power of incense and the people’s wishes to help you transform, but do you know the price of such a transformation…”
As the white flood dragon spoke, he raised his head, looked at the old turtle, and swayed his dragon whiskers.6
A jar of Qianrichun was suspended in the water, and the sealing clay opened automatically. Crystal clear wine flew out and was sucked into the dragon’s mouth.
“The wine is pretty good…”
At this moment, a mysterious yellow aura appeared from the sky above the mansion, like smoke floating in the water. The white flood dragon felt something, and had only just turned his head to look when the aura sank into the dragon’s head, causing him to feel dizzy.
“Oh…”
The water in the sand arena suddenly expanded. The fine sand seemed to have been hit by an explosion, and was blown up in all directions in the transparent currents…
The old tortoise gripped the ground with all four legs, but was still hit by the current and pushed backwards.
The white dragon in front of him was swaying back and forth as if he were drunk.
‘This wine is so strong? ’
As soon as this absurd idea surfaced, the old turtle discarded it.
The turmoil in the mansion ended after about three to five breaths. The white flood dragon was still shaking his head, a little dazed, like a mortal who had gulped down a large bowl of medicinal wine.7
The old turtle had already slid to the corner of the courtyard, trembling with fear and not daring to move.
“Lord, are you alright?”
A Yaksha came running in from outside, sounding extremely startled.
“I don’t know either… I just felt dizzy all of a sudden, like I had gotten a hard hit to the head…”
The white flood dragon shook his head. As the scene gradually became clearer, a strange feeling arose in his mind. He looked at the old turtle and the Yaksha.
“Just wait here, I’ll be back soon!”
After speaking, the white flood dragon moved,8 pushing away the waves and swimming out of his Chunmu Mansion in an instant, turning into a white shadow that swam north.
About a moment later, waves erupted somewhere in the river section near Chunmu Mansion, and the blurry shadow of a dragon, invisible to the naked eye, turned into a stream of light and rose up into the sky.
On a nearby ship, many people watched in amazement at the enormous waves that had inexplicably burst on the river in the distance.
After a while, an old man who looked to be in his fifties, dressed in fine clothing, stepped into the main hall of the River God Temple. His eyes swept over the surrounding stream of pilgrims but found nothing. Finally, he walked up to the large incense burner in front of the statue to investigate. His eyes fixed on a stick of incense in an instant.
This incense had been pushed into a corner by other incense sticks that had been pushed into the burner. It was clear that the incense stick had only burned a small section before going out.
“Benefactor,9 please don’t obstruct other benefactors from offering incense. Benefactor, what are you doing? Beware of the Lord River God’s retribution!!”
The temple keeper had initially been trying to persuade him kindly, but he saw that this rich old man was actually stretching his hand out to the incense burner.
The old man turned a deaf ear to him. However, just as his fingers touched the incense, the stick turned into charred powder and disappeared without a trace. Not even ashes remained.
“Don’t be rude, benefactor, take your hand out immediately! Otherwise…”
At this point, the temple keeper had already come over, but before he could finish his sentence, the old man in front of him grabbed his arm.
“Temple keeper, let me ask you, was there any special person burning incense here just now? What did he look like? When did he leave? Where did he go?”
Slightly excited, the old man’s eyes emanated a captivating aura, which frightened the temple keeper to the point of speechlessness. The surrounding pilgrims also fell silent.
After a long moment, the old man looked dejected, and let go of the temple keeper’s hand.
“How could you possibly know…”
In the distance outside the River God Temple, Ji Yuan was also looking back at that place in horror. When the old dragon had arrived, his aura was almost undisguised, as if proclaiming, “I’m here.”
“Huh… luckily, I left a step earlier…”
Ji Yuan rubbed his chest, took one last look at the River God Temple, and quickly hastened his pace to enter the city.
- 府 (fǔ): seat of government/official residence/mansion/presidential palace. I’m going with “mansion” in this case, no matter how much I want to put “palace” 😦 ↩︎
- Yaksha are a class of nature spirit from Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist texts ↩︎
- T/n: thank you, LKQY, for making me look up “what do you call turtle hands” XD ↩︎
- Folding screen ↩︎
- Implied is that the demonic turtle race has a very slow cultivation, so he’s asking the flood dragon for pointers on how to proceed ↩︎
- Chinese dragons have whiskers around their nostrils and/or beards, meant to symbnolize their interminably long lives. The order of characters in the raws implied that it was the turtle who had the swaying beard, but especially given the proceeding action in the next paragraph I think that was a mistranslation. The manhua does give the turtle a beard too, though. ↩︎
- Before they had painkillers, the solution was basically to get you drunk enough that you wouldn’t register the pain. Hence, the strength of medicinal wine ↩︎
- Lit: danced ↩︎
- 施主 (shīzhǔ): benefactor (term used by a monk to address a layperson) ↩︎
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