Dinghai Fusheng Records Chapter 37 part1

Their weapons clashed with resounding clangs. The black armoured general showed his left hand — he was actually wielding the other dragon claw as he fought with Xiao Shan. Xiao Shan covered his nose and held his breath, his speed clearly slowing down by a huge margin. He had to withdraw from the fog every once in awhile, yet he would always be able to rush in right when the black armoured general was about to swing its sabre down on Xiang Shu and Chen Xing to parry its blade!

Chen Xing's eyes appeared to be glazed over. At that moment, the Heart Lamp's strength was being injected into Xiang Shu in a constant stream. His meridians were like streams and rivers that flickered with a white light as they slowly converged towards one area, all the way until they met at Xiang Shu's chest.

With an explosive flash, Chen Xing suddenly found himself in the midst of a wilderness. Ah right, these were Xiang Shu's thoughts.

The world was vast, and Xiang Shu knelt in the middle of this vast wilderness. In front of him lay a white cloth, in which a corpse was struggling constantly. He gasped and shivered as he slowly untied the head covering of the cloth that wrapped the corpse — only to see the gray, ferocious face of the living corpse that his father, Shulü Wen, had turned into.

Crows circled in the sky as they looked covetously at the corpse on the ground.

"Xiang Shu!" Chen Xing ran over and shouted, "Wake up! You've been possessed!"

Xiang Shu turned a deaf ear to him. He held a dagger, his hand shivering madly, and struggled to impale his father, who was still struggling around, with the dagger.

The cries of the crows travelled over in waves, becoming louder and louder. Finally, Xiang Shu swung the dagger down forcefully, and just when he was about to dismember his dead father for the sky burial, Chen Xing had lunged at him and hugged him — his right hand firmly grasping the tip of Xiang Shu's dagger!

"Wake up!" Chen Xing shouted.

Xiang Shu raised his head and stared at Chen Xing in disbelief. Fresh blood splattered all over Chen Xing's palm. A sharp pain stung him, but he knew that this was just an illusion. Then Chen Xing put Xiang Shu's head in front of his shoulder, and the dagger in Xiang Shu's hand fell to the ground with a "dang". The intense light from the Heart Lamp burst forth like a sea of light.

In the valley.

The fog gradually receded from the two of them. Crows rushed towards the center, and within an instant, resentment converged towards the black armoured general. With the claw in the general's left hand, he lifted up Xiao Shan on the spot and sent him flying. Xiao Shan slammed into a cliff headfirst, and blood streamed down his head as he fell. Another swing of the sabre — in a moment, it was going to impale through both Xiang Shu and Chen Xing, who were in each other's arms, at the same time.

King Akele woke up.

King Akele let out a mad roar. He picked up the weapon beside him and forcefully rammed it into the black armoured general!

The white light converged once again, and as if with a sudden clap of thunder, they had returned to the prison underneath Xiangyang City. Xiang Shu woke up, opening his eyes slightly. His lips moved, and he seemed as if he wanted to say something. Within the darkness, Chen Xing's whole body was enveloped in a warm light as he looked down at him.

"I know what you're afraid of." Chen Xing gasped.

Xiang Shu said slowly, "I wanted to save my father, but I didn't expect to actually kill him instead. In the end, that was what I had to do, I was also afraid…so I could only…give him…a sky burial…while he was alive…"

Chen Xing stared dazedly at Xiang Shu and replied, "He was already dead then. He had turned into a living corpse, and he wouldn't have recognised who you were anymore."

Xiang Shu, "I…I don't know. Ever since then, I really couldn't, couldn't forget that day…I didn't even dare to let any of my clansman see, how I sat alone in the wilderness, knife after knife, into my father…"

Chen Xing lowered his head, placing his forehead against Xiang Shu's.

"We are but mere lodgers while alive; we only return to our true home in death." Chen Xing murmured, "What you buried was just a layer of skin that was being exploited by someone else. His yin and yang souls had returned to the heavens the moment he died."

"Look, the stars are eternal." Chen Xing looked up. The dark prison transformed into an endless night sky. "Every single one of us is a creature within this river."

Xiang Shu gradually calmed down. He lifted his hand, as if he wanted to touch the elusive, dimly discernible starry river in the night sky. Even within the long night when silence had fallen on all magic, there were still countless stars shining with a dazzling and brilliant radiance.

Chen Xing held Xiang Shu's hand, whispering, "Just like how King Akele came here from thousands of miles away just to find out the truth behind his son's, Youduo's, death… if your father knows, he definitely wouldn't blame you."

Xiang Shu nodded.

"Wake up ba, Protector." Chen Xing hugged Xiang Shu as he knelt on the ground. With both eyes closed, he said in a low voice, "Expel."

Suddenly, blazing white light filled the valley, and like an avalanche, it swept out in all directions!

Chen Xing lay feebly on his side on the ground. Xiang Shu grabbed his heavy sword and placed it on his shoulder, creating an intense, flickering arc of light within this dark night. The black armoured general somersaulted in mid-air, and a group of crows flew over. However, right in the next moment within that fan-shaped white light, the heavy sword miraculously transformed into a giant bow!

Chen Xing, "!!!"

Xiang Shu didn't understand what had just happened either, but he made a prompt decision and pulled the shining bowstring back. Following which, a cluster of white light arrows spilled into the sky; all of the crows in the air were shot by the light arrows, then exploded into black vapour before disappearing.

The giant bow transformed into a heavy sword once again. Xiang Shu held the sword up and pointed it at the black armoured general. Just when he was about to rush forward, that general turned into black fire meteors that flew south and disappeared completely.

Xiang Shu dared not give chase again. He turned around to look at Chen Xing, who was lying on the ground. Chen Xing felt that after mustering all his energy to activate the Heart Lamp just now, his heart throbbed for awhile, and he didn't even dare to breathe too heavily.

"Chen Xing?!" Xiang Shu knelt down on one knee and wanted to pick Chen Xing up, but Chen Xing nodded with much difficulty to signal that he was okay.

"It hurt my souls a bit," Chen Xing gasped for awhile before answering, "I'll be fine after a short rest."

The bitingly cold fog gradually dispersed, yet Xiao Shan let out a huge shout, his whole head covered in blood as he rushed towards them. Xiang Shu held up his sword vigilantly, but Xiao Shan neither paid attention to him nor stopped. He swept by the other two and rushed right into the deepest part of the valley.

Xiang Shu's brows were locked in a deep furrow. Chen Xing was about to ask about what had happened, but Xiang Shu said, "I wanted to lure that monster away at first, but by some chance, I stepped into the valley and unexpectedly discovered King Akele…"

"Get up, go in to take a look." Chen Xing felt like this deep valley contained too many mysteries. "Where's Akeles? Akeles!"

Chen Xing cried out in surprise and dashed to the rock wall, only to see King Akele lying under a piece of rock. The side of his neck was covered in blood — in order to protect the two of them, King Akele had been struck by that black armoured general's sabre, which had sliced through the blood vessels in his neck.

Chen Xing hurriedly tried to stop the bleeding for him, but he was clearly too late. Xiang Shu pressed down on King Akele's wound. Half of King Akele's body was covered in blood. His mouth opened a little, but no sound could be heard.

Xiang Shu looked up at Chen Xing. Chen Xing was beside himself with sorrow as tears streamed down his face. He grit his teeth and shook his head at Xiang Shu — he could no longer be saved.

Xiang Shu could only tighten his grip on King Akele's hand that was covered in fresh blood, yet King Akele smiled with much difficulty. His lips moved a little, and the other two could discern that he was mouthing the words "Nadoro".

— the child that Chen Xing had delivered himself, the child who the Great Chanyu Shulü Kong had named. King Akele nodded.

Chen Xing wiped his tears while Xiang Shu placed his heavy sword aside. He knelt on the ground and said to King Akele in the Xiongnu language, "Rest assured of our tribesmen's safety. King Akele, Guwang will resolve Youduo's pain for you. You have already made amends for your past mistakes. Please return to the heavens and earth with the Dragon God." After speaking, he motioned for Chen Xing to stop crying, making a gesture to get him to wipe away his tears.

So King Akele closed his eyes in peace.

The other two were silent for a long time. Chen Xing let out a prolonged sigh, his bereavement not yet over.

A voice came from deep within the valley that said slowly, "Both of you, please come in. Thank you, Wielder of the Heart Lamp, I'm finally…free, during these last moments."

Chen Xing abruptly looked up. Xiang Shu carried King Akele's corpse as he got up, and the two of them faced the depths of the valley together.

All of the fog dispersed and a small path appeared within the valley shaded by trees. It was lined with black, withered dead trees and dried up rivers, as if it had been haunted by resentment for a long time before turning into a lonely, deathly still valley. Seeing this vestige, during times when spiritual Qi of the heavens and earth was still abundant, it must have been an extremely serene and beautiful paradise.

Chen Xing picked up the dragon claw Cangqiong Yilie on the ground and followed Xiang Shu into the valley, only to see a huge cemetery. However, all of the graves were already empty.

At the place where heavy, withered vines intertwined, high above at the edge of the cemetery was a dried up lake. On the other end of the lake, the voice was heard again saying, "This is the cemetery of the ancient Xiongnus. You can place King Akele here."

Xiang Shu put King Akele's corpse into one of the graves. That voice continued, "Come up now ba, I don't have much time left."

—

One of my favourite Chen Xing lines finally appeared ;-;

"Look, the stars are eternal." Chen Xing looked up. The dark prison transformed into an endless night sky. "Every single one of us is a creature within this river."

2 more days until Tianbao's manhua is released!! Two official character designs that were released recently:

Chapter end