CH 92.1

Translated by Xiao Wu

Edited by Yuki 

After nightfall, the outside world was plunged into darkness. The candlelight in the room shook, as if it was going to go out in the next moment. Due to the cold, Lu Qingjiu shrank into the blankets, with the rustling of the never-ending snow falling on the ground a constant accompaniment in his ears.

Because he napped for too long in the afternoon, Lu Qingjiu was feeling quite awake now. He sat on the kang, holding a book in his hand, reading it under the dim light.

Both Xiao Hua and Xiao Hei were already asleep, breathing evenly, making the room feel a bit more reassuring.

Lu Qingjiu read till around eleven o’clock before feeling a little tired. Although he didn’t want to sleep yet, he put down the book in his hand and planned to rest his eyes for a while on the bed. With this thought, Lu Qingjiu got up and blew out the candle, then turned around and walked towards the bed. 

He wanted to close the window a little bit so that he could sleep better. Unexpectedly, when Lu Qingjiu had a glance, he was shocked by the sight outside. There were aurora-like cracks in the sky outside. Compared to daytime, these cracks were more eye-catching in the night sky, making it impossible to ignore them.

Through the cracks, mist gushed out and continued to spread towards the surrounding sky. What surprised Lu Qingjiu the most was the beam of light from the crack. The beam of light ended in the forest not far away, lighting the forest up like it was day time.

On the path outside the forest, a group of expressionless humans moved slowly from Shuifu Village towards the bright light. Since they were too far apart, Lu Qingjiu could not see the appearance of those people, but judging from their clothes, these people were likely to be the villagers of Shuifu.

Lu Qingjiu watched those people gradually move away from the village towards the beam of light. They were like moths attracted to the fire, even the roaring wind and snow could not stop them. Step by step, they grew farther and farther away from the home behind them.

“Why did they come out!” Xiao Hua’s shocked voice came from behind. Lu Qingjiu turned his head and found that Xiao Hua had woken up. He was standing by the bed when he saw the scene outside the house and the humans moving towards the beam of light.

“I don’t know.” Lu Qingjiu shook his head.

“Right, it suddenly snowed. What can the villagers of Shuifu Village do?” Xiao Hua jumped onto the table in front of the window. His eyesight was much better than Lu Qingjiu. He was able to see the appearance of those people clearly. “Where are they going?”

Lu Qingjiu said: “Perhaps something is calling them.” 

In the winter of last year, something strange happened in Shuifu Village. Throughout the winter, Lu Qingjiu had almost never seen any of the neighbors he would normally see in his daily life. Although it was possible that the cold caused everyone to not like going out, it’s a bit too much to not see a single person throughout the whole winter. At that time, the speculations which Lu Qingjiu had were all confirmed at this moment.

“Why do I seem to see Li Xiaoyu?” Xiao Hua’s eyes turned round as he said incredulously, “Why did he go out too…”

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Lu Qingjiu: “…”

Xiao Hua: “He also lied to me that he improved in the exam.”

Lu Qingjiu: “…”

Xiao Hua: “Right, human beings are big liars.” 

Lu Qingjiu didn’t know what to say for a while. Recalling the scene of Xiao Hua tutoring Li Xiaoyu every night, he understood Xiao Hua’s mood a little.

Li Xiaoyu was also in the crowd, heading in the direction of the beam of light. The villagers of Shuifu Village were like soulless zombies, walking slowly towards the light one by one. When they reached the beam of light, their body gradually dissipated and merged with the wind and snow.

Lu Qingjiu stretched out his hand and hugged Xiao Hua. He sat by the bed alone and watched quietly.

“I don’t quite understand what’s happening.” Xiao Hua muttered, “I was just a young dangkang when my mother stuffed me into the human world, saying that the human world should be safer.” 

Lu Qingjiu said: “How did you come here?”

Xiao Hua: “There is always a way.”

Lu Qingjiu said: “What if we hadn’t saved you…”

Xiao Hua helplessly said: “In any case, humans have to wait until we grow up before eating us. By the time I grow up, I can run away.” 

When Lu Qingjiu heard these words, he hesitated. In the end, he didn’t tell Xiao Hua the cruel truth – the human world has a kind of food called roast suckling pig.

The villagers were almost all gone. Once the last person disappeared from the mountain road, Lu Qingjiu heard a loud noise. This noise came from the sky and was actually loud enough to shatter the window. Lu Qingjiu and Xiao Hua were caught off guard and were also shocked unconscious. If they weren’t sitting, Lu Qingjiu would have even fallen on the ground.

There was a buzzing sound in his ears as Lu Qingjiu’s vision was spinning, which took him quite some time to recover. By then, five glaring flames appeared on the horizon. No, they weren’t flames. They were actually five dragons with red scales. In the sky behind them, a glaring hole appeared. The irregular shape seemed as if the sky had abruptly been torn.

Lu Qingjiu was still dizzy. He felt an itch in his nose and reached out to rub it before realizing that he had a nosebleed. But now, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t care less about it. He just pulled a piece of tissue and stuffed his nose. With his nose blocked, he continued to look up to the sky. 

Unfortunately, the five dragons from before had disappeared. He could only see five red traces in the layers of black clouds. The snow was still falling, yet the night sky was bright and dazzling.

Xiao Hua also woke up and asked blankly what had happened.

Lu Qingjiu said: “I saw five dragons…”

“How many?” 

Lu Qingjiu: “Five.”

Xiao Hua was shocked, and then shuddered. He softly explained to Lu Qingjiu that dragons were at the top of the food chain in the other world, and they are also the gods who control the world. Yinglong dragons were yang, while Zhulong dragons were yin; the balance of yin and yang gave birth to all things.

It can be said that only due to him being in the human world, that Xiao Hua could live in peace with the dragon clan. If he was in the other world, he might have become BYH’s food.

Xiao Hua trembled: “Why did five dragons enter the human world…This doesn’t make any sense.” 

Lu Qingjiu frowned. He also knew it was ridiculous, but he had no clue as to what was about to happen.

Afterwards, there was no strange sounds anymore. Apart from the huge hole in the sky and the five burning clouds, everything seemed to only be in Lu Qingjiu’s imagination. He sat next to the window for a while, making sure that there was no movement outside, before he found tape and newspaper to paste onto the glass to prevent the wind coming in through any cracks. He then planned to retreat into his warm bed.

But just when he walked to his bedside, Lu Qingjiu suddenly thought of something; he felt increasingly anxious in his heart. After sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, he still felt uneasy, so he stood up and walked outside the house.

Xiao Hua hurriedly asked, “Where are you going?” 

“I’ll go and have a look at the door.” Lu Qingjiu said.

“What are you going to do at the door?” Xiao Hua didn’t understand, “It’s so cold outside…”

Lu Qingjiu shook his head without explaining further. He didn’t actually have a reason to go out at this moment. He just thought of something terrible and his sixth sense drove him to walk firmly into the yard. The snow in the courtyard was very thick, and it made a crunching noise when he stepped on it.

Lu Qingjiu exhaled against the palm of his hand and then rubbed it vigorously. It was quiet all around, apart from the sound of snow falling. Lu Qingjiu stopped at the gate of the yard. He remembered Bai Yuehu’s instructions before he left. Bai Yuehu had told him not to leave the yard. In that case, if he opened the door and looked at the situation outside, that probably wouldn’t count as leaving the yard. 

Lu Qingjiu held his breath, gently pulled out the door bolt, and pushed open the iron door of the house. With a soft creak, a gap was revealed in the iron gate, allowing Lu Qingjiu to see the situation outside.

There was not much difference between the outside and the courtyard, it was still full of snow, along with the fiery red light from the big hole in the sky illuminating everything. Lu Qingjiu saw the small road in front of his house, the small truck parked on the opposite side of the road, and the tall cypress tree next to the small truck. Everything was as usual, no different from usual.

Lu Qingjiu heaved a sigh of relief, but before his breath fell, he became nervous again, because he noticed that the snow in the corner of his own wall was different from his surroundings. The snow there was a bit higher than other places, so it was easy to miss at first glance, but after careful observation, it seemed that there was something buried there.

Lu Qingjiu thought for a while. Instead of leaving the yard directly, he turned around and took one of the bamboo poles used to make grape racks in the garden. It stretched out from the door and poked at the pile of snow. After sweeping down the snow on the top, the things underneath were exposed. Lu Qingjiu stared at it intently, exhaling a breath of cold air. 

A person was curled up in a ball, buried in the snow. Though the person was wearing black clothes and had his face hidden, Lu Qingjiu clearly remembered that Yin Xun had such a down jacket.

“Fuck.” Unable to resist swearing in a low voice, Lu Qingjiu threw the bamboo pole away, gritted his teeth and went out to carry the person who had fallen in the snow back.

When he saw the villagers walking up the mountain like ghosts just now, Lu Qingjiu had wondered if there would be any problems with Yin Xun’s ancestral hall and felt a little uneasy so he thought it would be better to come out and have a look. If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have known that Yin Xun was actually lying in the snow and actually looked like he had been lying there for a long time.

Lu Qingjiu took a deep breath and stepped out of the yard. As soon as one foot left, he understood why Bai Yuehu had told him not to leave the yard. It was too cold outside, so cold in fact that he wondered if he would freeze instantly from the cold. 

Warm clothes couldn’t do anything in the face of the cold wind. The wind seemed to penetrate the body and reach deep into his bones, making Lu Qingjiu’s teeth chatter. He controlled his body with difficulty and walked towards Yin Xun who was already unconscious. He grabbed one of his hands and began to drag him back.

At this moment, Yin Xun was completely frozen and was dragged by Lu Qingjiu without even changing his posture; staying curled up on the spot.

Lu Qingjiu was struggling. His vision was hampered by wind and snow to the extent his eyes nearly could not be opened. His body was rapidly losing heat. In just a dozen steps, he suffered a great deal.

“Huhu… Huhu…” Finally reaching the door, Lu Qingjiu exhausted all his strength and led Yin Xun into the gate of the yard. 

The moment he entered, both of them fell to the ground, Lu Qingjiu’s face turned blue from the cold, and it took a while before he recovered. He then sat up and immediately closed the door first. Once the door was shut, the temperature in the yard began to rise. Lu Qingjiu felt like he had been revived. The cold yard had now become a warm home in his eyes.