Chapter 38 – Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me

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Chapter 38 – Resurrection¹

Chu Sheng paused then his head shot up to stare at the white light that had started shining just above Chu Shuangtian’s chest. It slowly condensed into a white halo that then rose up and revealed an almost transparent human shape.

Chu Sheng stared raptly at the figure without blinking, his heart wild with joy and hope.

The woman who appeared had elegant and gentle facial features. She looked at Chu Yu with a faint smile at the corners of her lips: “Yu-er, you’ve finally returned. Your mother had been worried to death.”

Chu Yu was also stunned and stared blankly at her before he bowed his head to her subconsciously.

This was the mother of the original Chu Yu and Chu Sheng, the wife of Chu Shuangtian.

Her Nascent Soul had been destroyed so her consciousness should have been extinguished. How could Madam Chu’s spirit be intact?

He pondered over it for a long time until he remembered what Chu Shuangtian had said – “She is in my heart.”

He thought that Chu Shuangtian meant that Madam Chu lived in his heart but now it seems that what he meant was that he had used an unknown technique to shield Madam Chu’s soul, keeping it in his body, continually protecting her.

At this time Chu Sheng had been overwhelmed by all the unexpected events. He was stunned, kneeling on the ground, his head buried in his hands. The joy that he had been feeling cooled after he looked at Chu Shuangtian’s body.

He had killed his father with his own hands.

Madam Chu gently gazed at Chu Yu for a moment longer, then turned her eyes away. She looked down at Chu Shuangtian’s body and sighed silently. A glimmer of pain appeared deep in her eyes but then the ripple of emotion immediately faded away.

“Sheng-Er.”

Chu Sheng, trembling, looked up with his face covered in tears at his mother. His expression was full of pain and guilt: “Mother, I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Chu was silent for a moment then she said: “Stop that, Sheng-Er, wipe away your tears. Your father wouldn’t want to see you like this.

She paused for a while and sighed. “…Chu Shuanghe knew that your father’s weakness was the Chu family, and the Chu family’s weakness was also him. These past few days, whenever he was clear-headed, he discussed it with me…”

“So Sheng-Er, don’t let your father down.”

Chu Sheng silently looked face to face at Madam Chu for a long time before he then lowered his head again. His hair fell in front of his face, hiding his expression. He seemed like he was carved from stone as he knelt silently in front of Chu Shuangtian and Madam Chu.

Chu Yu and Xie Xi glanced at each other then walked slowly up to Chu Sheng. They copied his posture, kneeling in front of Chu Shuangtian’s body. Chu Yu then called in a low voice: “Big brother.”

When he heard the voice of his favorite younger brother, Chu Sheng shifted slightly. Then when he raised his head to look up at Madam Chu, his face was already calm: “Mother, you are very selfish.”

Letting him bear the burden of killing his father, leaving the Chu family to go to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the afterlife,² thereby making him abandon his weak and soft past self, forcing him to grow up.

Even though all these matters were forced by circumstances, this method was really too ruthless.

Chu Yu looked into Chu Sheng’s eyes that were still red. He was still a little worried: “Big brother?”

Chu Sheng turned his head around to face Chu Yu. The corners of his lips turned up slightly and he stretched out his arms to pull Chu Yu into his embrace, trembling as though he was terribly cold.

Lu Qingan stood looking on from one side for a long time before he then he shook his head and turned back to the Jing Hua Sect Palace.

Chu Yu guessed that he was going looking for Shen Nian’s body. He silently hugged Chu Sheng and closed his eyes to examine the faint red light inside his body. His mood was complicated.

After Shen Nian had helped him leave Mausoleum Ruins ahead of time, his spirit had become weak and he had sunk into a deep sleep. Shen Nian’s soul had been drifting around in the Mausoleum Ruins for a long time, therefore it had sustained a lot of damage. Shen Nian did not remember his past but always remembered that there was someone important to him in Tian Yuan Sect. Therefore, he asked about the recent developments regarding the Tian Yuan sect while they were together in the Mausoleum Ruins.

It was too bad that Shen had forgotten this important person’s name and Tian Yuan Sect had also changed a lot in the past hundred years. If not, after ten years of working with him, how would Chu Yu have been so slow that he did not realize that Shen’s important person was his own teacher, Lu Qingan.

By the time Lu Qingan came back, Chu Sheng had calmed down and properly put away Chu Shuangtian’s corpse. Madam Chu also returned to the soul jade that Chu Shuangtian was still wearing.

Lu Qingan should have found Shen Nian’s corpse. Probably due to the influence of Chu Shuanghe’s earlier words, the expression on his face wasn’t very good as he looked down into the water in the lake.

Chu Yu was hesitating about whether to tell Lu Qingan his thoughts when he suddenly realized that the water in lake actually reflected only Lu Qingan’s image.

Xie Xi was also at the edge of the lakeshore but the water did not show his reflection.

A strange expression suddenly appeared on Chu Yu’s face at this unexpected phenomena. He glanced at Xie Xi subconsciously.

…The lake only shows the reflections of the palace and Lu Qingan?

No matter how close two friends were, could brotherly love be so extreme that there was only room for Lu Qingan in his heart?

Shen Nian had someone very important to him who was with the Tian Yuan sect. This person was sure enough extremely important to him.³

****! It seems that he has discovered a very serious and troublesome affair!

Chu Yu’s brow trembled as he looked at Lu Qingan silently. The night sky was vast, the stars were shining brightly. Although Lu Qingan looked cold and his eyes seemed indifferent, it was clear that this was a bleak and desolate silence.

……

Indeed, the teacher and his disciples can be traced to the same origin…

Lu Qingan silently unsheathed Yan Hue and once again thrust the sword into the lake. The reflection of the palace in the lake rippled and the starry sky became distorted. Lu Qingan didn’t need to say anything as they could all guess that this was the exit.

The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Chu Yu walked at Lu Qingan’s heels towards Chu Sheng and patted Chu Sheng on the back.

Although he felt sympathy for Chu Sheng, unfortunately, he was simply a bystander who was incapable of feeling the same emotions that Chu Sheng is going through. After experiencing this trauma, the gentle and pure brocon might be gone forever. Although Madam Chu seemed to have been set at ease and seemed magnanimous, she must not feel that good deep down in her heart. She had nourished her Nascent Soul for a hundred years… how much did it hurt?

It’s really a pity…

Chu Yu sighed and the System suddenly spoke.

“Ding ~ The north wind is blowing ~ the autumn wind is cold ~ the host is asking for help ~ you seem to be distressed ~ I will lend you a hand ~ I, this System, who is the busiest ~ may I ask if the host wants my assistance?”

Chu Yu: “…”

Chu Yu: “…have you got a virus?”

He had been in a slightly melancholic mood which was now suddenly destroyed by the System. Chu Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he inquired: “What do you mean? Chu Shuangtian’s soul has been scattered, can you help me to resurrect him?”

In fact, in the novel, except for the protagonist and the female leads, all the other characters were like NPCs. Therefore, as a System it should be easy for it to make an NPC character respawn, right?

When he thought about it, Chu Yu couldn’t help but look at the novel’s classification: original, BL.⁴

After a moment of silence, Chu Yu was heartbroken: there is no female lead, this story has no female lead, there is no harem, and though it pained him to admit it … he had taken on the role of the female lead.

The System’s tone was cheerful: “According to the rules of the game ~ the direct resurrection of the dead characters is prohibited ~ if the host can help the gong⁵ capture the important fu ben ~ it can activate the resurrection skill ~”

(TN: 副本 – fu ben. This means “copy” but it totally depends on the context. For example, the TV show “Altered Carbon,” which is about transferring a person’s mind and consciousness into different bodies/clones, is titled 副本. This might mean something like being resurrected in a clone but I’m keeping it simple until we find out the exact meaning. 副本 also means an instanced zone in video games, therefore this might mean “respawn point” since the title says “resurrection copy.”)

Important fu ben? What fu ben?

Chu Yu was full of confusion⁶ and tried to poke the System but this time it did not respond. After pondering what it said, he got extremely angry.

****ing System!

Gong? Hmph, your whole family is a gong!

***

They had been in the Jing Hua Sect’s secret space for a day and night but when Chu Yu looked up at the starry night sky after they had exited the portal into the outside world, he almost believed that they had never left.

It seems that they had only been inside for a few hours.

Chu Yu looked around. They had come and left and did not seem to have suffered heavy casualties but the event was weighing on everyone’s’ minds. The soul of the Chu family’s lord had flown away and scattered. As for Madam Chu, only a remnant of her soul was left. How long would it take until they would be unable to hide the truth of this matter? Also, Grandfather and grandmother were still in life-and-death closed door cultivation. The Chu family’s strength had been considerably weakened all of a sudden. Therefore, in the next battle, the Demonic Path faction will have the advantage.

They had sent messengers to take the news over to the Chu family but it would take a few days for the family to send back help. Right now, they could only bide their time by sitting and wait for reinforcements before they can stand firm again.

The group of people silently flew back to the cultivator’s camp at Qing Tu. Xie Xi flew not far behind Chu Yu, gazing at him silently with a complicated look in his eyes.

He can protect Chu Yu, but he can’t stop everything that would make Chu Yu sad.

By the time the group had arrived at the camp, the sky had lightened. Chu Yu wanted to return straight to the Chu family camp but hesitated. He whispered a few words to Chu Sheng then walked over to Lu Qingan.

He hesitated for a moment then spoke softly: “Shizun, do you believe that Shen Nian… do you really think that senior’s soul flew away and scattered?”

Lu Qingan looked drawn. His eyes widened slightly and he silently stared intently at Chu Yu.

“When I was in Mausoleum Ruins, I met a soul who claimed to be Shen Nian.” Chu Yu paused. He saw how Lu Qingan’s eyes had blazed and his eyebrows furrowed. “His soul is deeply asleep otherwise… do you want to meet him?”

Lu Qingan’s lips tightened and his face showed both excitement and something that looked like resentment. For a split second, he even gave off a hint of killing intent. Chu Yu couldn’t help but feel anxious and fearful as he wondered if there had been any misunderstandings that happened before. By this point, Lu Qingan was already holding Chu Yu’s hands and had closed his eyes.

Chu Yu let Lu Qingan examine him.

He didn’t know how much time passed before Lu Qingan slowly loosened his grip on Chu Yu’s hands. Lu Qingan’s hands couldn’t seem to help but tremble and the dreadful expression in his eyes was scorching hot: “Give him to me.”

Chu Yu hurriedly closed his eyes and secretly said goodbye to big brother as he slowly removed the damaged soul from his body and gave it over to Lu Qingan.

Looking at the faint red light coming from the weakened soul, Lu Qingan sighed slightly and took it into his hands with the greatest of care. He paused for a moment then put the soul inside his body to allow it to recover its strength.

Chu Yu was very apprehensive. Seeing that Lu Qingan had taken Shen Nian’s soul, he said: “He seems to have lost his memory… he has forgotten a lot of things. When he wakes up, Shizun can tell him about the past.”

Lu Qingan’s fingertips trembled as he gently stroked Bu Heng. He closed his eyes and said: “Some things, may as well be forgotten.”⁷

He nodded to Chu Yu and turned to walk towards the Tian Yuan Sect camp.

… Wait, Shizun! You forgot the protagonist.

Chu Yu opened his mouth to say something but then turned to look at Xie Xi, who was standing to one side with a gloomy and complicated expression. He walked over to Xie Xi. Somehow, he had to try to persuade him to return to the Tian Yuan Sect alone camp but he didn’t know how.

Xie Xi seemed to notice that Chu Yu was at a loss. He suddenly gave a slight smile: “I won’t make Shixiong’s life difficult. If Shixiong at any point feels the pain is going to be difficult to bear, you can call Shidi at any time.”

After he finished speaking, Xie Xi lowered his head, touching his forehead with Chu Yu’s, then he walked off, catching up to Lu Qingan.

When everyone had left, Chu Yu looked at Chu Sheng who had been silent the entire time. Tonight, the one who suffered the most grievous harm was Chu Sheng. The original Chu Yu had been a very cold person. As for him, all he had was a can of useless chicken soup. All he could do was keep Chu Sheng company as he tried to overcome his problems during this difficult time.

Chu Sheng kept silent as they returned to the Chu family camp. He passed the news to the Chu family but Chu Yu still couldn’t think of what he could say as they sat down side by side to each other to have a long talk. The tired and sleepy Chu Sheng put a hand up to rub his temples and managed with some effort to smile at Chu Yu. His face was pale and drawn: “Little brother, now it’s only the two of us.”

Madam Chu was already sleeping deep inside the soul jade and no one knew how long it would take before her strength was restored.

The number of the Chu family’s direct descendants was always small and now it was just the two of them.

Chu Sheng said: “I didn’t really think… I could actually use my sword to…”

He covered his face, agonized. “Little brother, that was our father…”

He should be saying something, Madam Chu had encouraged Chu Yu to speak some words of comfort. Chu Yu opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

Chu Sheng didn’t seem to need to wait for him to say something. He just stared at Chu Yu for a while then shook his head. His words were similar to those that Chu Shuangtian had said before: “You haven’t been close to mother and father since childhood… Alright, for tonight it may not be a bad idea for you to just go and rest. I want to be alone.”

Chu Yu could only do as he was told and go back to his room to rest.

Originally he thought that Chu Sheng would need at least a few days of quiet to recover. Unexpectedly, on the second day, Chu Sheng went off as usual to kill demonic cultivators and was able to talk business with the other Chu family members as well as members of the other seven big families, too.

After a few days had passed, Chu Yu realized that something wasn’t right.

There was something wrong with Chu Sheng.

Chu Sheng normally had a warm, sunny disposition and was a person who was always smiling a lot at everyone. He looked like a soft, easygoing person who tried to get along with everyone and not offend anyone while appearing to be truly reliable.

However… last night Chu Sheng heard that when someone from another family had spoken sneeringly about the Chu family, Chu Sheng had immediately taken San Huo and beat that man up.

Previously, this was something that was completely contrary to the brocon’s amiable nature.

In the past, Chu Sheng was a brocon who, for the most part, behaved like an overprotective mother. He only became fierce whenever someone bullied his younger brother but now his brocon attitude had completely changed.

Chu Yu requested to go out with them to kill Demonic Path cultivators. On the way there, he encountered a number of demonic beasts. Among the fight, one of them managed to pounce on the hem of his robes. There and then, Chu Sheng ran over to deal with it in a berserk fashion. It wasn’t enough for him to cut the monster in half with his sword. With San Huo in hand, he found the monsters’ lair and wiped them all out.

This incident left Chu Yu covered in cold sweat and he did not dare to go out again. When he later had tea with Chu Sheng, he accidentally broke the teapot. Obviously, it wouldn’t be likely that he would seriously cut his hand on the broken teapot but the expression on Chu Sheng’s face had immediately become agitated. He issued an order and the next day no porcelain could be found in the Chu family’s camp.

Chu Sheng’s spirit was too tightly wound.

If this continues, sooner or later he will collapse and fall apart.

 

*********

Translator’s Notes:

• Both Patreon https://www.patreon.com/bcnovels and Ko-fi https://ko-fi.com/bcnovels rewards have up to chapter 43 first drafts early access. Thanks to all those who donated to me. I had to pay for the domain name renewal and the web hosting will also have to be paid soon. Patreon has been having some problems with payments this month (start of August) and I have absolutely no idea why. It’s in the news that “payment processing” has hit some sort of snag. There’s nothing we can do but wait it out. Ko-fi should be working  Has anyone had any problems with Patreon???
• Poor Chu Sheng.
• Hmm, Xie Xi still hasn’t done much. His presence in the story has now become so thin that I’m afraid he will become a minor character!
• I was kinda in a rush today so if you spot an error, please do let me know. Last week there were not a lot of comments but I understand… it was very sad!
• I’m glad the System spoke up. It’s been a while since it made me laugh. 🙂

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1. 复活副本 – literally resurrection copy.
2. 净土 – Pure Land, usually refers to Amitabha Buddha’s Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss
3. Yes, it was said twice in the raws.
4. The raw just said * (asterisk) but we all know that the author meant BL, lol.
5. seme
6. full of fog
7. Lu Qingan speaks in a very terse way but to literally translate it would make him sound like Tarzan, lol. Here he just literally says “some things, forget it.”