TGM Vol.5 Chapter 35 – Juntian Cehai (8)

Wu Zhi Qi seemed a bit confused as well, he stopped his pursuit – in fact, he did not intend to really kill anyone, but was just pretending to scare people. Seeing that blood-red fog stopped at the door frame and neither came in nor faded, as if it were alive. He couldn’t help but push open the window and lift his hand out to tempt it. When his fingers touched the blood-red fog, made a ‘zi’ ^[1] sound, fingertips felt scorched, as if corroded by something.

He turned around thoughtfully and put his finger in his mouth and licked it gently. Zi’Hu hugged his arm, with a fearful expression, whispered, “What is …… that?” He gently pushed her away and said, ” You stay together with Xuanji and the others, don’t come over, its dangerous.” After saying so, suddenly, he said in a loud voice, “I haven’t seen you for a thousand years, your ability to play tricks is still not small! Since you’re here, why don’t you just appear? Because of the blood fog, can you see how many innocent people died?”

Before the words were finished, someone outside the door said annoyed, “Shut up!” Closely followed by a tall figure appearing in the blood-red fog, and walked slowly into the inn.For a time all eyes were on this man – he was wearing bright red armor, tall, long smooth hair, looked heroic. As soon as he entered the Inn, this person did not look at anyone, only pointed a sword at the tip of Wu Zhi Qi’s nose , said, “Wu Zhi Qi! How dare you escape from prison without permission! Why don’t you quickly surrender?!” ^[2] Absolutely powerful, absolutely imposing. But for some inexplicable reason, the people watching have a desire to laugh.

The man saw Wu Zhi Qi picking his nostrils to ignore him, can’t help but be more angry, snapped, “Wu Zhi Qi! I am talking to you!” ^[3]

Zi’hu couldn’t help but giggle, found that the man’s expression turned ugly, quickly covered her mouth and quietly took a few steps back. Wu Zhi Qi rolled his eyes, said, “Please, a thousand years, and you haven’t grown up even a little? This is not a theater, so what are you singing about, Ah?” ^[4]

“Impudent! You want to die!” The man was still shrieking like he was singing, and even Yu Sifeng couldn’t hold it in and laughed quietly. Looking carefully at the man, though tall and heroic, there was an empty space instead of a right arm, and his sleeve was empty. His heart moved, thinking back, when Wu Zhi Qi was drunk he said he killed Xuánwǔ, but also cut the arm of Zhūquè, then, is the red man not someone else, but a god from the Heavenly Realm, the Vermilion Bird? ^[5]

Wu Zhi Qi laughed a few times, arched his hand, in a tone similar to Zhūquè, said “Duh! Lord Immortal! Are you gonna break another arm?”

His attitude was so funny that for a moment everyone in the inn forgot about the danger, but felt that the situation was strange and amusing, and could not help but laugh secretly. Zhūquè’s face alternnated between red and white for a long time, he gnawed his teeth and said, “Are you taking Lao Tzu as a joke?！” This sentence is spoken very normally, even a bit pitiful, it seems that he will only return to normal speech when angry, really a strange person.

Wu Zhi Qi sat down in a chair, continued to pick his nose, vaguely said, “Well, enough nonsense. What are you doing down here? The Emperor told you to take me back? Or take back the God of war?”

Zhūquè coldly said, “No! I have been instructed by Emperor Bai to take the Juntian Cehai back to the Heavenly Realm, and not let it fall into the lower realms again.”

“Oh?” Wu Zhi Qi was a bit surprised and wondered, “Only the Juntian Cehai? Didn’t say anything about the Sea Hook? Emepror Bai is quite generous! Are you really going to give me the Sea Hook?”

“Impudent!” Zhūquè roared again, “You have repeatedly provoked and committed the crime of theft, you should have been sentenced you to death! If it were not for the goodness of Heaven and the Heavenly Emperor’s pity for your loneliness, you would have died ten times over!Actually dare to bargain! Quickly hand over the Juntian Cehai!”

Wu Zhi Qi took off the Juntian Cehai and waved it around with a finger, smiled, “Take it then! If you have the ability to grab it, I’ll even return the Sea Hook to you without saying another word!”

Zhūquè looked slightly moved, seems to be planning to strike, suddenly heard a voice from the back, “Wait! Since it is the Lord Immotal, can I have a few words to ask!” He turned around, saw a man in a green robe with a mask standing there, it is Deputy Palace Master of Li Ze Palace. Zhūquè can not feel the demonic aura on their body, and thought he was a mortal, so he said, “You ask!”

Deputy Palace Master sternly said, “Dare to ask the Immortal-General, but has Li Ze Palace committed any crime against Heaven? Why torture us with such a cruel punishment?！” He pointed to the door, where Li Ze Palace disciples who had escaped but were injured by the blood fog were crying, a few people had half of their body corroded, but had yet to die, just crying miserably.

Zhūquè’s face became very ugly, after a while he only scratched his hair, said chagrined, “This …… did not expect them to suddenly come out…… this, I will……” he can not say a reason, anxious and sweating. He is different from Téngshé, that brutal guy, he is not willing to kill randomly. Just make a little blood fog, create a mysterious atmosphere, shroud the inn in enchantment and cut it off from the outside world, who thought it would end up killing so many people.

He regretted it for a long time, and finally sighed and said, “Forget it, this is the fault of this Immortal. I apologise to you, when I return to heaven, I will ask Emperor Bai to bless those who died in vain, the next life will be blessed, and you can have peace of mind.”
Zhūquè is one of the most honest Immortals, unlike the fancy-minded Qing Long, or grumpy and brutal Téngshé, he will definitely follow through with what he promised. If he said he would plead guilty and ask for a blessing, then he would definitely do so, this Wu Zhi Qi believed, so he smiled, “Still so honest! Seeing you like this, Lao Tzu can not bear to fight with you! Come on, Juntian Cehai is returned to you!”

He threw the Juntian Cehai high, towards Zhūquè, but a green shadow abruptly caught the Juntian Cehai in the middle. Zhūquè shouted and drew his sword against the man’s neck, when he saw it was the Deputy Palace Master who had asked him a question, he slightly froze, coldly said, “This is a sacred artifact, not to be played with! Return it quickly!”

The Deputy Palace Master clutched the Juntian Cehai in his hand and felt the heat in his palm, endless power flowing through his limbs and bones! he laughed, “Juntian Cehai! It is really Juntian Cehai!” He saw Zhūquè raise his hand to snatch it, kicked his feet, and flew three feet above the ground, laughing, “Lord Immortal! Don’t forget what you promised The Golden-winged clan a thousand years ago! Now is my power not enough to go to the Heavenly Realm?！”

As soon as the voice fell, they heard only a sound of ripping clothes, and all his clothes on his upper body were ripped, and pieces of them fell to the ground, revealing two rows of dark beads under his ribs. He put the Juntian Cehai on his hand, reflexively dodged Zhūquè’s sword, opened his hands slightly, like a pair of open wings, floating far away, followed by a rattling sound as the black beads under the ribs fell to the ground. Xuanji and Yu Sifeng saw this scene, couldn’t help but clasp each other’s hands – they both remembered the painful memories of Fuyu Island two years ago, fortunately, it is in the past.

Zhūquè took two steps, suddenly realised something wrong, stopped and snapped: “You are not mortal! A demon!”

The Deputy Palace Master body is covered in a blazing gold light, power like a surging sea flowing through his meridians. Juntian Cehai on his hand, and behind the six golded wings spread open, two or three feet long, and as they flapped, there were endless screams, whether it is from the Li Ze Palace disciples or those mortals who shrank in the corners and dare not move. The slightest scrape from these wings, would cause the pain of broken hands and feet. The Deputy Palace Master did not care about the miserable cries surrounding him, he was completely immersed in the joy of his flourishing power.

“Lord Immortal! What is a demon, what is a human, what is a God, why is it necessary to distinguish so clearly? As long as one has the ability to serve the Heavenly Realm faithfully, so what if it is a demon? Li Ze Palace…… no! I’ve been waiting for a thousand years! Come on!Quickly lead me to heaven! I am willing to serve the Heavenly Emperor! Conquer demons!”

Zhūquè frowned, “A demon like you who kills innocent people and is completely led by the demonic power, how can you talk about working for the Heavenly Emperor! I repeat, the Juntian Cehai is a sacred artifact! Return it quickly! Otherwise, don’t blame me for not being polite!”

Before the words finished, he felt a hevay pat on his shoulder, he looked back and saw Wu Zhi Qi’s eyes shining brightly, staring at the Deputy Palace Master, “Wu Zhi QI, what ……” before he could shout, Wu Zhi Qi covered his mouth, with a mischievous smile, gently said, “Don’t yell, look who I found! Yuán Lǎng, You’re not dead?”

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[1] : ‘zi’ like a sound effect. Similar to comic book sound effects, ‘fzzt’ or ‘bam’, etc

[2] : 束手就擒 (shù shǒu jiù qín) – hands tied and waiting to be captured

[3] : He’s speaking in a very formal, grandoise way. Unfortunately that doesn’t translate well since English language doesn’t have formal and informal pronouns.
He’s referring to Wu Zhi Qi by the pronoun 你 (nǐ) which is informal ‘you’, as opposed to the courteous 您 (nín) ‘you’.
When referring to himself, he’s using 本 (běn) a very formal way to say ‘I’ or ‘me’. Similar to talking about yourself in the third person, i.e, ‘This person is talking to you!’

[4] : Because he’s talking loudly and formally, Wu Zhi Qi is calling him an Opera singer. Specifically, traditional Chinese Opera, as its singers sing in a higher pitch, as opposed to western Opera Singers that usually use a lower pitch.
examples:
Chinese Opera <– video link to a clip from the opera “Drunken Concubine”
Chinese Opera <– video link to a clip from the opera “Thirteen Masters in Tongzhi and Guangxu Times”
Western Opera <– video link to a clip from the opera “The Magic Flute”
Western Opera <– video link to a clip from the opera “La Traviata”

[5] : The Four Guardians or Th Four Auspicious Beasts
The Four Symbols (Chinese: 四象; pinyin: Sì Xiàng, literally meaning “four images”), are four mythological creatures appearing among the Chinese constellations along the ecliptic, and viewed as the guardians of the four cardinal directions. These four creatures are also referred to by a variety of other names, including “Four Guardians”, “Four Gods”, and “Four Auspicious Beasts”. They are the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise (also called “Black Warrior”) of the North.
Each of the creatures is most closely associated with a cardinal direction and a color, but also additionally represents other aspects, including a season of the year, an emotion, virtue, and one of the Chinese “five elements” (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water).
Each has been given its own individual traits, origin story and a reason for being. Symbolically, and as part of spiritual and religious belief and meaning, these creatures have been culturally important across countries in the East Asian cultural sphere.