Lie Huo Jiao Chou Volume 2 Chapter 28

Warning: Some scenes below are very graphic~

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These words misled Aluojin's entire life.

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　　The memory of the paradise slowly pushed forward.

　　The young prince's injury didn't look good, and he was leaning against the windows to rest when suddenly, from the outside, a strange-looking giant bug flew in and directly landed on his forehead. Soon, there was a sound of laughter that came from a mischievous boy.

　　Sheng Lingyuan, even at the age of ten, was used to fleeing and being in constant fear. Killing and betrayal followed him like a shadow, and thus, the childish heart never had a chance to develop and come out. He didn't mind the kids and their trivial things, but he was too lazy to play along with them. He calmly removed the bug and stretched his head over the windows and released it, then coldly but not fluently used the shaman tribe language to say: "If you continue to mess around, I will tell your father."

　　The hidden laughter disappeared, and before long, Aluojin's head poked out from a tree. He angrily glared at him before leading a group of children down from the tree and took off.

　　Aluojin was filled with curiosity about the newcomer Sheng Lingyuan, and he wanted to play with him, but he wouldn't initiate friendship himself —— he was an only child of the chieftain and was very spoiled, he was surrounded by everyone ever since he was a kid, and all the children in the tribe also followed behind him. In his mind, there was no such concept as "letting go of his ego and initiating the friendship". He thought if he lowered himself enough to walk around under someone's windows, that would already count as giving them some face and dignity. Sheng Lingyuan should have been beyond happy and join them, who knew this person was so senseless.

　　Aluojin was furious, but along with being angry, the feeling of "wanting something you can't have" was also strong, so every day without fail, he would bring a group of children to mess around with Sheng Lingyuan, making the cabin of the Sage chaotic and noisy. The young prince's patience had long been trained, he was neither surprised nor mad and immediately played the big card "I'll tell your dad," and it worked every time.

　　Because of that, the frequency of Aluojin getting hit went off the roof and he one-sidedly had a love-hate relationship with Sheng Lingyuan.

　　When he finally could stand, Sheng Lingyuan was basically able to use the shaman tribe's language to make simple conversations, he was even able to read the texts in the tribe's language.

　　History books had said that Emperor Qi Zheng was 'smart beyond his age' —— this seemed meaningless because emperors which reigned during wartime were like people in 'high-risks-yet-no-insurance' kind of jobs, one who lacked intelligence would not be able to do it —— but textbooks didn't say that this bixia learned through mimic quicker than parrots.

　　At first, Xuan Ji thought that Sheng Lingyuan was merely gifted with an incredible memory that he could remember everything he heard after just once, that it was a talent, there were no tips for it, and he was basically not the same species as those students that studied grammar for ten-or-so years yet could barely speak English. Only now did he realize that this was for survival.

　　During the era of the war of Jiuzhou, no one had the time to spread "Mandarin". Each tribe in every place had a distinctly different language, some were not even in the same language groups. To travel the world during a time like that, one had to quickly learn the language of the locals and adapt to the new environment. This was a skill the young Sheng Lingyuan had to know if he wanted to keep his life.

　　Even then, Sheng Lingyuan struggled quite a bit when he first started reading the shaman tribe's text. This place used a unique local species of leaf as a mean to write on, which, at first glance, looked like Egyptian hieroglyph alphabet with big and small circles and had no correlation with Chinese writing at all. They looked as simple as their houses but were in fact incredibly complicated, and one could see that the alphabet had an ancient origin, cultivated from years and years of culture.

　　The mountain peak also had something that was similar to a modern local library. Inside, there were numerous book collections, even people from outside of the tribe could come in and out as they pleased. Compared to modern times, this ancient culture was very generous and open-minded.

　　Xuan Ji, which only stayed in the memory of Dongchuan no more than several rounds, already thought that his impression of the shaman tribe was flipped upside-down.

　　The shaman tribe was where the parasite butterfly originated from, people in this place also had all types of unimaginable incantations, and with the name of "shaman", the tribe seemed to be weird and ominous. In addition, before he met that Aluojin who kept rambling, in Xuan Ji's imagination, the shaman tribe must not be very different from the "dark wizards" in movies —— everyone would be hidden under layers of clothes just like Arabian women, they would live a nocturnal lifestyle and surrounded a bonfire at night when they had time, talking and stretching out boney hands from their big sleeves in order to vote on who they should curse to death tomorrow.

　　It was a complete opposite. In Sheng Lingyuan's memory, Dongchuan wasn't even a bit obscure. The attitude of people in this place were even refreshing and open, everyone was lazy, the owners let herds of cows and goats out then fell asleep half-way through and let them go wherever, because no matter what, after a couple of days, there would be a fellow tribe member who picked up the herds for them. Five or six-year-old children already started learning how to read and write, the entire tribe was literate. After dark, when they had nothing to do, all families went to the plaza on the top of the mountain to entertain themselves, even the chieftain and the sage were also there. Everyone sat together regardless of hierarchy as they sang and danced, retold old stories, chatted leisurely, and even discussed ages-old philosophy endlessly.

　　"I feel like this place's progressive culture can be on a par with Athens," Xuan Ji asked, "Why did they call themselves 'shaman tribe'? That sounds weirdly scary."

　　"Because in their writings, they called themselves 'people who live in the middle of the hillside forest," Sheng Lingyuan said, "The term 'shaman tribe' is the way people from the outside called them, does it sound scary? Then maybe, when they referred to the people here that way, they themselves feel fearful."

　　Xuan Ji followed the young Sheng Lingyuan around the shaman tribe, watching him living like he was on a vacation. Every day was used to relax, read, discuss ideas with the Sage, or help to pick up some herbs. The only concerning issue was he was being annoyed by the son of the chieftain. He, at first, thought the situation would change to be very bloody and violent, who knew they just kept walking around the miscellaneous daily life. Sheng Lingyuan in the memory was still a ten-year-old boy, without any one bit of desire to grow up.

　　"Hold up, bixia," Xuan Ji said, "Earlier, you said that if there was something you couldn't let go of, you would be trapped around in that memory. Right now, does it mean that we are getting trapped here?"

　　Sheng Lingyuan took one look at him, looking cold and apathetic like this had nothing to do with him.

　　Xuan Ji realized, the more this person felt unstable, the more distant his attitude was, as if the one who was getting trapped in his beautiful childhood years and not wanting to wake up wasn't actually him.

　　Deep inside, he was also fragile, and he also lied to himself.

　　Suddenly, Xuan Ji felt that Emperor Qi Zheng who was hailed on a pedestal was also human. The vulnerability of a strong person and the bravery of a weak one was similarly heart-touching, Xuan Ji couldn't help but feel his heart soften and tried to use a gentler tone to speak: "But we still need to think of a way to get out, right, you see..."

　　Not waiting for him to finish, Sheng Lingyuan coldly nodded: "Yes, that makes sense."

　　Xuan Ji: "..."

　　All his prepared speech to console and advise were blocked.

　　"Avoiding the stressful things and finding relaxing ones are human nature, I'm not an exception," Sheng Lingyuan thought about it then calmly said, "How about this, if there's something you want to know, just ask, I will see if I can remember something from your question and escape from these trivial times."

　　"Bixia," Xuan Ji said seriously, "If it was something that could entrap you, it must not be trivial. It's not wrong to admit no matter how much you can't let go of it."

　　Sheng Lingyuan first scowled then reluctantly smiled, feeling like the little demon Xuan Ji was so sensitive it became bothersome: "Then what do you want?"

　　Xuan Ji: "..."

　　Okay, to be able to deal with these kinds of things so logically, even tearing his weakness apart to be investigated, Sheng Lingyuan didn't feel like human anymore.

　　Right after that, without waiting for him to respond, the scenery around them started to shake and collapse. Not even needing Xuan Ji to answer his question, Sheng Lingyuan already did the terrific thing of adjusting his own feelings.

　　The quiet scene of the shaman tribe in front of them suddenly got shattered into thousands of pieces, just like a broken flower vase.

　　They fell into a shard of darkness. Xuan Ji didn't even have time to stand straight yet when he saw the chieftain's house backdoor making a creaking noise, and a small Aluojin, carrying a bag in his chest, got out and immediately went down the mountain. He looked miserable, the palm of his left hand was swelling pink. Obviously, it was because of something again. He must've been told off by the 'tattletale' and left home now that he couldn't hold it anymore.

　　"What happened this time?"

　　"He stole the Sage's 'terror incantation' and placed it under my pillow," Sheng Lingyuan said, "The terror incantation can trigger the deepest fear in a human's mind. It's a good thing because that deepest fear is just fabricated, and as long as one is able to see through it, it won't matter. It was originally used by the Sage himself to cultivate, and there was no problem. Later on, I usually carried it around as well. It was just that at the time, the chieftain and the Sage felt that I was young and treated me very carefully, they worried that I would be scared. After the chieftain knew, he was so furious and hit Aluojin in front of everyone. How could he endure such humiliation, so he immediately ran when the night came."

　　Xuan Ji heard a small sound on his side and turned around, and he saw the teenager Sheng Lingyuan slipping down a big tree. He looked at the figure of Aluojin and hesitated for a moment, but he followed him in the end.

　　Xuan Ji: "You..."

　　"Yes, I didn't sleep that night," Sheng Lingyuan said freely, "No matter how good the terror incantation was, but it was a strong medicine after all. After getting exposed to it for the first time, I was scared and didn't dare to close my eyes that night."

　　The shaman tribe wasn't completely isolated from the outside world. On a regular basis, there would be people who dressed up as ordinary people and left home to exchange goods. While Aluojin had never gone toward that route, but he obviously knew the way. On one hand, he cried, and on the other, he slipped through the barrier the shaman tribe created at the foot of the mountain and ran out.

　　He thought the outside was wide and spacious, if not, then why was a kid from the outside world so treasured?

　　He didn't expect that right after leaving the shaman tribe, he immediately tasted what was called "harsh reality."

　　The shaman tribe didn't get involved with the world's problems, but they had mysterious and powerful incantations. The humans feared them and the demons also feared them, so even though they knew Sheng Lingyuan was hidden away in the mountain with the shaman tribe, they didn't dare to act. Aluojin running away from home was truly giving his own head into these people's hands, as soon as he got out, he was immediately bagged and taken away.

　　The demons had been at their wit's end for several months. Suddenly, they got Aluojin, they felt like they were supported by gods and quickly prepared to bring him to the shaman tribe to settle negotiations. They would like to see whether they would choose their own brat or the child that had fallen out of power. On the same night, they hung Aluojin in a steel cage, and in front of him, they ate freely to celebrate —— of course, what they ate were humans.

　　Blood was mixed into the wine and the soup was marinated with an infant's bones. Infants in troubled times were rare, and because the adults were still struggling to survive, in order to protect such a small life, who knew how many people had worked hard for it, so they were especially fresh and delicious, and one could see how they would have looked when they were still alive.

　　The main dish was a living young girl, washed clean inside and out, directly cutting down meat from her. Her blood-curdling screams and fear were the rice of the dish. When they couldn't finish the meal, her life was suspended through a demonic technique, and her endless torment seemed to have no beginning nor end. After the merriment, all that was left of the girl's thighs were bones, but she was still alive, and her face was pale beyond measure.

　　The girl who was eaten alive went crazy, and so did Aluojin.

　　Xuan Ji who was watching coldly felt his entire body went numb. Behind his back, his wings couldn't help but flutter opened, but the wings which carried fire were pressed back by a cold hand.

　　"Things are like this since the beginning of time," Sheng Lingyuan coldly said, "If the situation were reversed, the human race wouldn't have been merciful either. This debt that lasted for thousands of years is not related to you, descendants."

　　Aluojin and the girl were thrown into a wooden hut together. Her eyes were empty as they stared unblinkingly at him. She laughed all night, and Aluojin cried for her all night. The crying was so much that the demon guard got annoyed and wanted to kick him. Not waiting for the demon to act, a long sword came from behind and went through his neck in one strike.

　　The demon went down without a sound, and the terrified Aluojin saw the skinny 'tattletale'.

　　The 'tattletale' wiped the blood on his face, smoothly caught the demon body and pulled him to the side, like he had been through this situation thousands of times.

　　His long sword had a demon suppression incantation written on it, and he cut Aluojin's cage like cutting food. One hand pulled him out and gave him an incantation vase: "Let's go."

　　Aluojin dejectedly ran out a couple steps then realized Sheng Lingyuan didn't catch up. When he worriedly turned around, he saw Sheng Lingyuan stretching his hand to cover the girl's eyes, leaning down and softly saying something by her ears, before releasing her with one stab.

　　The demonic technique that was keeping her alive was broken by the sword, the girl was finally released from her human life that was already becoming a quagmire. If there was a next life, she probably wouldn't even want to be reincarnated.

　　The young Sheng Lingyuan released the girl's body and held Aluojin: "What are you dazing out for?"

　　Aluojin was pulled by him, his tears came down non-stop no matter how much he had wiped them. Then, from him came a soft pleading voice as he was still trying to suppress the hiccups: "I... I want to give her some clothes... gege, can I give her some clothes..."

　　This was the first time Aluojin used something other than "hey," "boring brat," or "tattletale" to call him.

　　Sheng Lingyuan didn't release his hold and didn't turn back to look at him. He only lowly spoke something to him in the tribe language.

　　Xuan Ji asked quietly: "What did you tell him?"

　　"I said, 'One day, I will close the eyes of those who died from injustice, and bury all the bodies left abandoned'."

　　These words misled Aluojin's entire life.

　　The shaman tribe taught: Don't ever leave Dongchuan.

　　But the young chieftain's heart had already been directed into this vast but heinous world.

Chapter end