CH 178

Chapter 178 Crystal Pork Shoulder (c)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

Note from Gumihou

There’s a small poll at the end of the chapter regarding double surnames.

So please put in your vote for the most pleasing result~

Fat Cat takes polls seriously

Hearing his old friend’s [1] slightly breathless exclamations, Elder Gu grew curious, “Who is this Old Gu?”

“It’s a senior I happen to know,” he said a little reverently. [2] He had first heard of this mysterious senior from his grandson and the two Elder Liu brothers who came over to Feng City to assist the Feng Clan during the Great Turbulence.

[2] He had only personally met Old Gu once, but the few words he had exchanged with the old man had convinced him of the other man’s power. Though he was already a Divine Transformation Master by then, the pressure he felt from Old Gu was still very powerful.

“Once we return to the Eastern Empire, I shall introduce that great senior’s [2] main disciple to you. As for the great senior himself, whether you can meet him or not depends on fate.”

At Elder Feng’s intriguing words, Elder Gu became even more curious about this ‘great senior’.

Just who is this senior, ah…

To think that there was a man powerful enough to pressure three Divine Transformation Metal Eating Monsters to obey a weaker person like this girl… just how powerful was he?

The few people in the hall made small talks with each other. Since it was close to mid-morning, Madam Shi soon came in with a line of maids bearing breakfast dishes. Neither Elder Feng nor Elder Gu declined the invitation to stay for a meal.

While they were breakfasting, [3] Elder Feng asked, “So, how was your trip to Xuan Chu? That far south, the weather must be warmer?”

[3] “Oh yes, they have a lot of lotus ponds there too,” Shiyu enthusiastically talked about her Xuan Chu trip. When she reached the part about discovering the Spiritual Leopard hidden within Wushan City…

[3] “Impossible!” Elder Gu shouted. “How can a Nascent Formation beast hide with the Ninth Realm without anyone knowing?!”

[3] He clearly did not believe Shiyu.

As for Shiyu, she did not bother about arguing with this elder. [4] Instead, she headed for the nearest large open space in the estate, which happened to be the training grounds, and withdrew the body of the beast.

[3] Elder Gu and Elder Feng approached the large animal.

“It truly is a Nascent Formation Beast!” Elder Gu’s eyes widened with horror. “But, how can this be? We have Enforcers and, and, how could a powerful Spiritual Beast like this reside at the Ninth Realm for decades without being discovered?!”

“Perhaps the smell of blood covered its presence?” suggested Shiyu. “Each year, a hundred virgins are sent to this monster’s cave as a sacrifice.” [5] Shiyu believed that this must be one of the reasons the beast wanted to have so many powerful youngsters each year.

Elder Gu frowned, “Perhaps,”

However, when he noticed the wound on the monster, his heart shook even more.

“A one-shot kill!” he cried out. “Who killed this beast?!”

For someone to kill a Nascent Formation beast like this, they had to have an even higher Cultivation than the beast! However, the Ninth Realm was supposed to be protected by the Dao of Suppression. No matter how high their Cultivation was, the moment they enter the Ninth Realm, their Cultivation will be suppressed.

To kill a Nascent Formation Beast with the one move under the Dao of Suppression at the Ninth Realm [6] the person must fulfil two conditions: First, have a Cultivation level higher than Nascent Formation. Second, the person’s Cultivation must be immune to the Dao of Suppression.

Unless someone is an Enforcer for the Ninth Realm, the second condition is impossible. [6] [6] Nevertheless, even if they had somehow lost track of an Enforcer, for someone’s Cultivation to be higher than Nascent Formation…

Just thinking about it made his heart thumped with fear and excitement. These powerful beings were people he had to look up to, ah.

More importantly, when this girl went to Xuan Chu, such a powerful senior actually went with her… just what is her identity? Also, was this great senior watching them from the void right now?

[7] Considering how all three Divine Transformation Metal Eating Beasts were so obedient around this little girl…

[7] Elder Gu’s heart stuttered.

[7] Thank goodness he did not let Elder Zheng incite him into attacking the Shi Clan without first clarifying things. Otherwise, he would be the one holding the short end of the stick when confronted by such a powerful senior.

Shiyu had no notion about the many thoughts going through Elder Gu’s mind. She was busy trying to think up an explanation for an existence like Wen Heng. In the end, she could only say, “A very powerful person,” before changing the subject.

When the girl began to talk about other things, he understood that this was not a matter she was willing to speak about. Fear and respect held his tongue, but he could not hide his eager attitude towards Shiyu.

Yes, eager.

After Shiyu put the Nascent Formation corpse away, [8] she returned to the hall with the two elders to chat a little more. The elders stayed until afternoon and even had lunch at the Shi Estate before leaving to explore the City of Dawn a little more.

No matter what, it had been decades since they last set foot into Dawn City, they were keen to explore the city they had travelled through in their much younger days.

Madam Shi did not stay too long with the esteemed guests, knowing when to make herself scarce when powerful people were talking and taking Xiao Shu with her. As for Shiyu, she did not presume to make this young girl do anything. Don’t look down on Shiyu just because she was younger than Xiao Shu, she personally knew one of these esteemed guests, ah! Therefore, after performing her duties as hostess, Madam Shi retreated to avoid making a nuisance of herself.

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~

After Elder Feng and Elder Gu left the Shi Estate, the two elders strolled aimlessly along the streets for a while. After a bit, Elder Feng smirked, [9] “Why, old friend. If I did not know better, I’d have thought we just ran away from that place!” He laughed, “Don’t tell me you’re afraid?”

Elder Gu flushed, he countered, “Don’t tell me you aren’t?”

“Well, it’s not like I’ve done anything wrong,” Elder Feng’s mood was extraordinarily good. [9] His cheeky little grandson had made a bunch of very reliable friends, how could he not be happy, ah? “Speaking of which, won’t you tell me a little more of that Third Miss you mentioned earlier? [9] Is there something about our Little Shi that prompted you to mistake her for that person?”

[10] He had wanted to ask earlier, but since it involved Shiyu, he thought it would be better to find out the matter outside of her earshot. If it’s something relevant to her, he could inform her later. If it had nothing to do with her, well, then there’s nothing wrong with listening to a bit of gossip, right?

Though it looked like the two elders were chatting over something casually, outsiders who might have overheard them would only hear voices, but not understand what they were speaking about.

At his friend’s inquiry, Elder Gu frowned, “I’m curious as well. Those two girls really looked similar. When I arrived at the Eight Realm, I became part of an organisation called the Enforcers. I believe someone from that organisation will come looking for you soon. Their goal is to defend the safety of the Ninth Realm.

As part of the Organisation, you’ll be given access to all kinds of resources and benefits. The humans at the Eighth Realm all supported each other, mostly because the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. The Enforcers has been around for a thousand years. The majority of the people who reached the Divine Transformation Stage would join the Enforcers.

Naturally, the people within the Organisation were ranked according to their level of strength. At the top of this hierarchy are the eight most powerful elders. One of them is Elder [11] Tan-Tai. He has a very talented granddaughter called Tan-Tai Chu, who broke through Divine Transformation Stage before she was even 17 this year.”

Elder Gu sighed, “Just speaking about this makes me mad. When I was 17, I couldn’t even break through to Core Condensation Stage. Because of this, I had a very strong impression of that girl. The Shiyu girl just now looked exactly like Miss Tantai. At that time, I was still trying to make sense of why would Miss Tan-Tai suddenly appear here…”

[10] “Do they really look alike?” Elder Feng was astonished.

[10] “Very alike, but a glance at her Cultivation level was enough for me to tell that she is not Third Miss. Nevertheless, I must say that for a child Cultivating under the Dao of Suppression, her talent is still very good.”

[10] “Miss Shiyu has always been quite astonishing,” agreed Elder Feng. He paused, “Could they be long lost twins? Or is it all just a coincidence?”

“It’s impossible for them to be twins,” Elder Gu shook his head. “There were many witnesses at Miss Tan-Tai’s birth, there’s not even a rumour of a twin.”

After a while, he paused, and said, “Then again, nothing is permanent under the heavens. There may be secrets we do not have access to yet. In the end, everything came down to strength. One girl has already broken through the Divine Transformation Stage, while the other is still a Core Condensation. Neither could escape being compared to the other.”

[Gumihou: Who is this mysterious Miss Tan-Tai!!?]

Gumihou is keeping track so that you don’t have to ~

<table>凝氣 Condensation Stage Stage 1 化丹 Core Transformation Stage 2 凝丹(46) Core Condensation Stage 3 化神(52)</tbody></table>

<table>Divine Transformation Stage 4 成嬰 Nascent Formation Stage 5 合體 Unification Stage 6 返墟 Revert Decay Stage 7 歸真 Original Purity Stage 8 成仙 Become Immortal Stage 9</tbody></table>

[1] Added Details for Dramatic Effect: The original text was ‘his old friend’s tone’, since we can’t actually hear Elder Feng’s tone, I added a little visual effect for reference. Although, I must confess that I did add a few ‘!’ to Elder Feng’s dialogue that wasn’t noted in the last chapter.

[2] Faulty Logic – Elder Feng: ‘At the same time, he already knew that Old Gu was not Shiyu’s real master’. Isn’t this kind of out of the blue in the second paragraph after just saying that Old Gu was a ‘senior you happen to know’?

Like, how did you come to this conclusion?

Seriously?

Don’t pull conclusions like this out of nowhere, please.

I’m deleting this statement and will pretend I never saw it until you’ve come up with a proper reason why Elder Feng ‘already knew Old Gu is not her master’.

Edit: Reader ‘Eh…’ just alerted me onto why the above statement was added. It’s because there’s Shiyu! Shiyu presented herself as Old Gu’s disciple along with Lin Fan to safely hand out the Immortal Jade Petal Lotus.

Unfortunately, the above statement still has no roots. Therefore, will adjust the following paragraph from ‘shall introduce that great senior’s disciple to you‘ to ‘shall introduce that great senior’s [2] main disciple to you‘. Implying that Shiyu was mostly hanging around Old Gu as a disciple but not receiving personal lessons from him.

[3] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Because the revelation of a Nascent Formation beast within the Ninth Realm is kind of a big deal. So it should be more dramatic, yes?

[4] Adjusted Details for Logistic Purpose: In the original text, Shiyu took the leopard out in the backyard. However, the leopard had been described to be as ‘large as half a courtyard’ in Chapter 145. Not sure if it had shrunk or Shiyu has no regard for private properties since she took it out ‘in the backyard/back garden/garden’. Gave the Shi Estate a ‘training ground’, otherwise, the courtyard size animal would have squashed all the plants and decorations in the Shi Estate gardens.

[5] Faulty Logic – Shiyu: If all 100 virgins died every year, surely someone would have noticed after a couple of decades? The beast most likely only ate less than half of the virgins. Also, won’t the smell of blood attracted more attention? What is your brain made of?

Gumihou is just speculating, but clearly, Shiyu’s deduction skill is as excellent as her cooking skillz.

[6] Faulty Logic – Elder Gu: ‘there were only two possibilities, either their Cultivation was higher than the Nascent Formation Beast or their Cultivation was not suppressed by the Law’.

…

Gumi raises her hand, “Aren’t these two statements contradicting each other?”

Also, before dear readers think that this is a typo, the following paragraph is ‘Elder Gu believed that it must be the first possibility’

This cannot be an ‘either/or’ situation, it could only be ‘must fulfil these two condition’ kind of situation.

A Chinese Speaking Technician has to be both Chinese speaking and a qualified technician.

In short, the person who could one shot kill a Nascent Formation Beast must have a) Higher Cultivation AND b) Immune to the Dao of Suppression.

[7] Logical Thought Reasoning – Elder Gu: Give Elder Gu some proper deduction thoughts. Split his thought process to show a more natural flow of thought.

[8] Adjusted Detail for Logistical Purpose: ‘After Shiyu put the corpse away, she accompanied the Elders for lunch’. Uh, not to say you can’t do that, but, didn’t you just had breakfast like half a page ago? Did you chat in the parlour for three to four hours? Did seeing the corpse make you hungry?

[9] Adjusted Detail for Smoother and More Natural Dialogues: Kind of hard to explain, but changed bits of things to make the conversation flow better.

[10] Logical Thought Reasoning – Elder Feng: Help Elder Feng to have a more natural flow of thought re the Third Miss thing.

[11] ‘Tantai’ is a double surname 澹台 – double surname or compound surnames are quite rare and are exceedingly difficult to find nowadays. I personally know one person, a Mr. Situ 司徒 and that’s it. It is said that the longer the surname, the more prestigious their social position.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_compound_surname#:~:text=Double%2Dbarrelled%20name%20(%E9%9B%99%E5%A7%93,into%20two%20single%2Dcharacter%20surnames.

Here’s a very interesting discussion about the possible origin of ‘Tantai’

https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/32661/an-extremely-rare-same-name-used-by-two-people

In the list of 400 most common Chinese surname, Shiyi’s ‘时’ ranked 187

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames

If you click on the link 时 it will bring you to a page explaining the 石 name since both are ‘shi’…

Used ‘Tantai’ instead of ‘Tan-Tai’ since it’s visually nicer looking. Dongfang Zheng will continue to be ‘Dong-Fang Zheng’, or should I change it to ‘Dongfang Zheng’? Personally, I feel that ‘Dong-Fang Zheng’ looks nicer.

Please give a little comment re these double surnames or vote in the poll !

Update: Decide to go with Tan-Tai, to be consistent with Dong-Fang.