Chapter 146 Dry Hotpot (e)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

The Qi Clan’s burial grounds were situated within a valley in the mountains behind the Qi Estate The dead were buried in mounds and surrounded by swaying green bamboo and huge pine trees. It was such a cool and secluded place that mists hung around the place like ghostly curtains.

There was nothing really difficult about burying some bones. [1] Just dig a small hole in the burial grounds, lower the coffin in and bury it. As she and Qi Chuyun dug, Ocean Heart Flames continued to wail over the jade box. Its keening voice floated into the air and blend with the surrounding wind, grief seeped into the hearts of all who heard it.

As they worked on burying Mister Qi, Shiyu told Qi Chuyun in detail how she came to encounter his remnant spirit. Once the final piece of dirt was placed on top of the grave and the tombstone erected, the process of burying Mister Qi could be considered done.

Shiyu and Qi Chuyun looked at each other. Then, in silent accord, they put their hands together and bowed at the newly erected tomb.

Three solemn bows later, Ocean Heart Flame made a sudden squeaking sound. When the girls looked up, they saw Mister Qi’s spirit floating above the grave.

He was as handsome and elegant as he had been when Shiyu first saw him at the bottom of the Eastern Sea. Mister Qi smiled, “Little friend, your word is as good as gold. Thanks to you, I am now back in my homeland. Therefore, please accept my thanks. That I am able to manifest my spirit here is all due to the remnant soul I left in this jade pendant in case such a day should happen.”

He looked towards the fluttering Ocean Heart Flame, “Now that the Spirit Fire has willingly merged with you, I shall gift to you what I have intended to leave for my descendants as compensation for the trouble you’ve gone through.”

Shiyu expressed her gratitude unabashedly, “Thank you. Mister Qi.” What she needed most as a cook is fire. Fire to cook all the Spirit Beast of the world. With Fire Spirit, all Spiritual Beasts could be transformed into Chinese Cuisine [2] under her hands.

Mister Qi turned to Qi Chuyun, “Now that I have given Ocean Heart Flame to this little friend, I can only gift you with her original share.”

It turned out that Mister Qi was already prepared to gift Shiyu with a portion of Ocean Heart Flame’s power.

In the beginning, Qi Chuyun had been too ashamed to even properly face her true Venerable Ancestor. When Mister Qi said this to her, she felt even more ashamed of her own family’s conduct, “Chuyun thanks Venerable Ancestor for Venerable Ancestor’s generosity.”

“In addition, I shall also pass some secret martial arts techniques to you,” he raised a finger to Qi Chuyun’s forehead. “What you do with this knowledge in the future is all up to you.”

[3] Qi Chuyun closed her eyes and shuddered as knowledge of various secret arts was transferred right into her mind. While she was still processing the information, the energy within her body flared and Spiritual energy began to circulate within her meridians.

[4] When she finally opened her eyes she saw Shiyu staring down at her in wonder. There was also a black cat with a rather snooty expression on the side. A glance at the sky showed that some time had already passed and she was now… lying on the floor?

[4] “I… passed out?” she said wonderingly.

[4] “Just a little bit,” said Shiyu cheerfully. “It took me nearly three months to absorb the Fire Spirit’s qi last time, but you did it in less than an hour. As expected of Mister Qi’s descendant!”

[4] “Venerable Ancestor!” Qi Chuyun sat up and looked towards the grave. Mister Qi smiled in their direction as his misty figure began fading away.

A person’s life will eventually come to an end. Whether that end comes in a few decades or several hundred years later is a matter of fate. In the end, everyone’s existence will dissipate into nothingness.

As Mister Qi dissipated, Ocean Heart Flame fluttered anxiously around him as though trying to collect his remnant soul. An eerie wail resounded around them.

However, its efforts were futile. Mister Qi’s soul gradually disappeared without a trace.

Heart constricting, Shiyu came forward to comfort the little flame. However, a sudden powerful gust of wind caused Shiyu’s clothes to tangle around her. Surprised, Shiyu tried to reach for Ocean Heart Flame, but was prevented by the powerful winds.

When the wind finally died down, Shiyu saw that Ocean Heart’s brilliant gold colour had faded a little.

Before her horrified eyes, Ocean Heart Flame’s colour continued to bleed out until it became transparent.

Panicking a little, Shiyu stretched out her hand to touch the flame. It settled on her palm readily enough, but it no longer chirped or bobbed in response to her stroking.

“It has cut away from its own memory,” explained Fat Cat.

A Fire Spirit without its memory is like a newborn.

Shiyu held the transparent little flame close to her heart, her eyes stinging a little.

“This is not bad either,” being with Mister Qi is what gave this little flame its sense of purpose. By cutting away its own memory, it’s as though it had dissipated with Mister Qi’s memory as well. It should be the happiest this way.

After all, a soul that had gone through reincarnation would also be subjected to Old Mother Meng’s Memory Erasing Soup [5]. It had most likely planned this right from the beginning.

Shiyu left the Qi Clan’s burial grounds after incorporating this little flame into her Dantian.

At this point, her mission could be considered over. What happened to the Qi Clan in the future has nothing to do with her.

Wen Heng was waiting for her at the entrance of the burial grounds.

He did not look at all bothered by the long wait. After all, who asked him to have such a troublesome little brother?”

“All done?”

“Yes,”

“Let’s go,”

“En.”

 

After Shiyu left the burial grounds, Qi Chuyun stood still before the grave, lost in thought.

When she finally grew aware of her surroundings, the morning sun was already peeking around the mountains of Wushan. She had thought it through and made a decision.

Things that had lost cannot be recovered, but the future can still be saved. Instead of letting those hopeful parents and guardians know that their precious charges have already left this world, it’s better to continue this cover-up. She would do what her grandfather’s generation had done and hide the truth of Qi Clan’s secret training grounds.

To keep something a secret, the Qi Clan must be strong. As someone who had inherited the secrets and responsibilities of the Qi Clan, she must make sure to protect these secrets as well as the clan. This, she could only guarantee by achieving great power, by reaching the Divine Transformation Stage.

In order to redeem the sins of the Qi Clan, she must become strong.

 

Please read this at kitchennovel dot com ~

 

It only took them a few breaths to reach the Imperial College. The 100,000 miles was traversed in seconds just like that.

When Shiyu thought back to her painful, assassin and tree-filled journey in the past couple of months, it was really too pitiful, ah. Her journey had gone beyond Sleeping Under the Dew and Eat What the Wind Brings, it was downright miserable, ah!

How nice if she could always catch the Wen Heng Taxi [6] every time she has to travel?

The three young’uns at the Imperial College were overjoyed to see Shiyu.

For Shiyu, the sense of homecoming nearly made her burst into tears.

As expected, one’s own nest is still the best!

After welcoming their elder sister and making sure that she was alright, they began to bug her into telling them what happened. Shiyu ‘tsked’ and began her tale.

She stretched the limits of her purple prose and told of how she had been attacked by a baddie who was jealous of her young age and Cultivation Stage. The baddie presumably beat up Shiyu a little too enthusiastically for information before the great and heroic Wen Heng made his grand and heroic entrance. Great and Heroic Wen Heng fell from the sky like the hero he is and proceeded to beat up the bad guys in a grand way and rescued Shiyu in the nick of time.

The three young impressionable kids gasped and made admiring noises in all the right parts and quickly became great fans of their sister’s rescuer.

As Shiyu waxed on and on, Great and Heroic Wen Heng continued to sit on the side with his tea. Perfectly indifferent to the great flattery Shiyu was now pouring over him. It pissed Shiyu so much that she nearly growled.

Oi, brother. You know I’m over exaggerating your actions, so why are you shamelessly sitting there drinking all this up with your cup of tea? How shameless are you?!

However, when she saw how Wen Xian’s hesitant glances turned admiring and slightly worshipful, she could only sigh to herself. Well, at least little brother Wen Xian is no longer alone. Though Wen Heng is a bit of a narcissistic, obsessive person, he’s not too bad overall. He still cares about blood relations.

Shiyu managed to hang out at Villa for close to half a day before Fat Cat urged her to leave for Spiritual Beast Mountain Range. As for how to get there… she decided to check on the Wen Heng Forecast. The man is strong enough to be a force of nature itself, so a Wen Heng Forecast is not unreasonable… [7]

If the Forecast is good, you will be personally escorted by Wen Heng himself for a smooth and comfortable ride. If not, he will toss you into the void, but at least you can be assured that you’ll reach your destination in mostly one piece.

Unfortunately, Shiyu encountered the latter Wen Heng.

After tossing this annoyance called Shiyu into the void, Wen Heng faced Wen Xian with a smile and said, “Now, what was your question again?”

[8] There was a slightly shell-shocked look on his little brother’s pink and cute face. The shell-shocked look was replaced by wariness as his brother looked in the direction where he had opened the void. “Is… will Sister Shi be alright?”

[8] Wen Heng waved a negligent hand, “She’s fine, probably doing whatever she wants to do at Spiritual Beast Mountain Range now. More importantly, you were asking me something?”

There was that attempt at a warm smile again.

Wen Xian eyed his brother suspiciously, “How old are you really, brother? Are you sure you’re only six years older than me?”

Wen Heng looked at this little brother with the uncute attitude and could only sigh. Why did he come down to this wretched place for his younger brother again? This uncute child, did something went wrong when he was sealed?

“I was 10 and you were 4 when we were sealed together. We slept for many years. Later, I broke the seal and woke up before you, so I grew up first.”

“How many years passed since you woke up? Why are we sealed away? What about our parents? Why did they not wake us up? Oh, and where are they now?” a string of questions popped out one after another.

Wen Heng’s good looking brows creased together. He had only answered one questions and five more popped up. Why are little brothers such bothersome creatures?

Also, their parents? He would also like to know where they are, ah.

 

[Gumihou: … what is this sci-fi explanation? Cryo-sleep? Are you in cryo-sleep? What genre of fiction is this?!]

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

 

Condensation Stage	Stage 1
Core Transformation	Stage 2
Core Condensation	Stage 3
Divine Transformation	Stage 4
Nascent Formation	Stage 5*

 

*Previous ‘missing stage’. Now it re-appeared as Stage 5. Eh, whatev…

 

[1] Additional Details for Logistic Purpose: How did you bury Mister Qi?

Patched.

[2] Or Japanese, or Korean, or Western, even Dark Cooking. But hey, who’s keeping track?

[3] Additional Detail for Logistic Purpose: Mister Qi raised his fingers and… disappeared?

At least give some detail on the transfer technique and poor Miss Qi’s reaction for goodness sake! The Union in Support of Minor Characters aka USMiC demands it!

[4] Also, I haven’t forgotten that Shiyu took almost 3 months to process ‘her share’ of Ocean Heart Flame’s power. The lack of transition made it looked as though Mister Qi did not really give much to his Qi Chuyun, but the reality is that Shiyu’s portion is considerable enough to force her to climb 8 levels in one go.

[5] In Chinese myth, it is believed that just before your soul is reincarnated, you’ll be given a bowl of soup that will make you forget your past memories and allow you to start life anew. However, considering the number of transmigration and reincarnation stories floating around, Mother Meng seemed to have gotten very lax…

Also, this part is added by Gumihou.

[6] Wen Heng Taxi is Gumihou’s guilty responsibility. Hahaha. It’s either Wen Heng Taxi or Wen Heng Uber… Taxi is still universal, so Wen Hen Taxi it is.

[7] Let’s have a Wen Heng Forecast while we’re at it.

[8] Additional Details for Prevention of OOC: To make sure everyone stays in character, Gumihou is going to adjust some details and add some purple prose here and there to hint at their feelings. Especially Wen-probably-a-psychopath-but-maybe-just-egoistic-Heng.

 

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