Editor: Crooked
In the dim lighting, it was almost impossible for either man to see the other’s face. Only at an excessively close range could they make out the other side’s silhouette.
The music changed its rhythm. The beat of the drums pounded under their feet. Men and women leaned in close to one another, twisting their bodies around each other with one moving forwards and the other pushing backwards, like the silk threads connecting two ends of a lotus stem. Their actions of testing the waters hid an unspoken ambiguous passion.
Jiang Luo and the man, on the other hand, were stuck at the periphery of the dance floor.
Although Jiang Luo looked gorgeous when he had his hair down, his appearance was still very heroic. The him now, who had his hair tied into a high ponytail, looked even more dashing and valiant.
No one could ever mistake him for a woman.
Hence it was a little awkward for the two men to enter the dance floor together.
After accepting the invitation, Jiang Luo felt that he had agreed too hastily. Even if Chi You wanted to make a fool of himself, it wasn’t right for him to accompany Chi You while he did so.
He stood still, unperturbed1老神在在 – idiom for being unaffected or unfazed by something, the transliteral words are: old god was there.. The stranger watched Jiang Luo with anxious, unfathomable eyes. Those eyes could arouse feelings of guilt in whomever he stared at. “Sir?”
Jiang Luo, however, wasn’t fazed in the slightest.
The music grew louder and more intense. The stranger’s eyes slid down to Jiang Luo’s right hand. As if he were simply making a compliment, he said, “Your bracelet is very pretty.”
Jiang Luo turned his head to glance at the Yin-Yang Bracelet. The mysterious and beautiful bracelet didn’t react at all. He narrowed his eyes and said, “Yes, I also think it is very pretty.”
The music reached its climax, and after the drop, all the coloured lights shining upon that particular area moved away.
Under the brief moment of darkness, a pale ghost hand suddenly stretched out from behind and pushed Jiang Luo forward. Jiang Luo was caught off guard as he was forced into the middle of the dance floor.
The gloomy man followed closely behind. He grasped him, movements as natural as breathing, and led him into the first step of their dance.
An unfamiliar palm was placed on Jiang Luo’s waist. The elegant scent of cologne seemed to linger around the tip of Jiang Luo’s nose. The gloomy man smiled and said, “Sir is quite enthusiastic.”
In the darkness, Jiang Luo couldn’t see anything. He struggled for a bit. The person before him spoke gently, “Concentrate.”
Jiang Luo coldly scoffed. He was about to break away from hand around his waist when the lights shifted back onto them. Under the flashy colourful lights, the invisible black mist latched onto his wrist from behind. It seemed as if there were thousands of ghost hands in the dark surveilling Jiang Luo. The malicious ghost’s methods were blatant and bold.
The man laughed eccentrically, “Wrong move.”
The ghost hands were icy cold, making his hair stand on end.
Jiang Luo took a deep breath and laughed instead of being angry. He suddenly took a step forward in time with the music and forcefully tugged on the man’s tie, “Sir, you have no manners.”
The man, who had been forced to bend down by the grip of his tie, seemed engrossed as he said, “Oh?”
Jiang Luo studied the silhouette of the man shrouded in the darkness. His hot breath sprayed against the man’s face, “This dance is completely pointless.”
The corners of his lips raised in a provocative smirk.
The black-haired youth’s smile was both seductive and malicious, “You disgust me.”2你让我倒尽了胃口 – transliteral: You make me lose my appetite. Here is also means sexual appetite, as in ‘you turn me off’.
The music’s tempo abruptly quickened.
The stranger chuckled. He clutched onto Jiang Luo’s hand, then quickly and briskly spun Jiang Luo out of his embrace. The next instant, Jiang Luo fell into the thick-callused hands of another person.
This man’s voice was husky. He wore a leather jacket—most likely a rebel-type character3酷哥 – onomatopoeia for cool guy.. “I’m very curious,” he said.
Jiang Luo replied, “Curious about what?”
He took the opportunity to check for a pulse at Mr. Leather Jacket’s wrist. His pulse beat strongly; this person was alive.
A look of contemplation flashed across Jiang Luo’s face. Out of the darkness on his right side, another new hand stretched out and grabbed his arm.
Jiang Luo lifted his head and looked up. The hand holding onto him was slender, young, and had fleshy finger pads—like the hand of a male college student.
It was still a pair of hands of a living person.
The gloomy man was one person; ‘Leather Jacket’ was another person; and now this person as well.
Could an evil ghost who had passed their first seventh become so powerful?
When they were at the university, Chi You could only manipulate the living and dead souls of small birds.
Damn. Why wasn’t there any reaction from the Yin-Yang Bracelet?
The male college student stepped out from the darkness and replaced ‘Leather Jacket’ as Jiang Luo’s new dance partner.
He lowered his head, leaning close to Jiang Luo’s ear. On his refreshing and handsome face a ghostly visage suddenly appeared and instantly became extremely distorted. The ghostly face smiled, but its tone was very cold, “Who could make you feel disgusted?”
Without waiting for Jiang Luo’s answer, he continued to speak with a falsely gentle tone, “I still like it better with your hair down.”
It was unknown whose hand had reached out and pulled away the hair tie in Jiang Luo’s hair. The black hair was released from its restraints and immediately scattered across Jiang Luo’s shoulders.
A mischievous strand of thin hair slowly fell at the tail of Jiang Luo’s eye, highlighting Jiang Luo’s sombre expression.
Jiang Luo pulled out a talisman without hesitation and slapped it onto the chest area of the person before him.
The talisman paper started burning from the bottom, turning into ashes. The ghostly face on the male college student vanished. As if he were a robot whose battery had died, he rigidly stood in place. A different hand, one with thick calluses, reached out. Jiang Luo swiftly turned around; black hair flying up. He smacked the outstretched hand with another talisman.
Jiang Luo threw another onto the gloomy man’s body.
The two talismans burst into flames. The club lights became harshly bright and the music had become a different track.
Jiang Luo examined the three puppets.
The three puppets were quite handsome. Awakening from the trance, their eyes were filled with momentary confusion before naturally dispersing into the crowd, seemingly unaware of their previous abnormalities.
The evil ghost could not only possess others’ bodies, he could also perform his Puppet Soul Refining techniques. This made it virtually impossible for Jiang Luo to guard against.
With quick steps and a calm face, Jiang Luo made his way through the crowd, all the way to the bar counter.
But when he reached there, he saw the group—all drunk—lying on the bar counter. When Ge Zhu—who had been reciting the Tao Te Ching (Taoist scriptures) whilst hugging his beer bottle—saw Jiang Luo approaching, he hiccuped and asked in a slurred tone, “Jiang Luo, where did you go? We couldn’t find you.”
Jiang Luo: “… How did you all get this drunk?”
Ge Zhu could no longer hear him. While hugging the beer bottle and talking to himself, his head suddenly plopped down as he fell asleep on the bar.
Zhuo Zhongqiu had just come in from outside and walked over with a head full of sweat. She sighed with relief when she saw Jiang Luo, “Thank goodness, you’re still standing. This group of trash got drunk after one sip. I have already sent three people off to the nearby hotel by taxi. Jiang Luo, help me carry them out too.”
Jiang Luo: “Sure.”
He helped Ge Zhu up, hooking Ge Zhu’s arm over his shoulders. As he straightened up, he glanced at the bartender.
The bartender smiled politely. “Does this guest require assistance?”
Jiang Luo smiled and said, “Yes. Thank you.”
The bartender came forward to help Jiang Luo. Together, they carried Ge Zhu to the taxi stationed outside the club. Jiang Luo took the opportunity to fish out a talisman and pasted it onto the bartender’s body. Contrary to his expectations, the talisman had no response to the bartender.
Jiang Luo withdrew the paper talisman, feeling that he had been played.
He deliberately revealed flaws while controlling the bartender, but before Jiang Luo could even counterattack, he voluntarily abandoned the bartender as his puppet.
It was as if Chi You was taunting Jiang Luo—he hid in the dark while every person and every animal could become Chi You’s eyes to monitor Jiang Luo.
This thought actually made Jiang Luo quite agitated.
This was because he understood that if he couldn’t find a way to accurately pinpoint Chi You’s puppets, it would be impossible for him to guard against the Puppet Soul Refining Technique even if he wanted to.
Jiang Luo turned around and went back inside to help Zhuo Zhongqiu bring the other two drunkards out. The taxi could only sit four people, so Zhuo Zhongqiu said, “I will text you the hotel’s address. You can take them there first.”
Jiang Luo shook his head. No matter how handsome she was, Zhuo Zhongqiu was still a woman. “I’ll catch another car and follow you there.”
“That’s also fine,” Zhuo Zhongqiu said, “I’ll ask the driver to go slower.”
She got into the car. After a while, the taxi slowly departed.
Jiang Luo stood by the side of the road waiting for another taxi. It was a dark night; the weather had become slightly cooler. A light drizzle fell from the sky, taking the initiative
to fall upon Jiang Luo’s eyelashes.
Jiang Luo’s eyes fluttered. The light rain fell onto the ground, staining it with little black dots before quickly disappearing without a trace.
A black umbrella suddenly appeared over Jiang Luo’s head, shielding him from the misty light rain.
Jiang Luo turned his head slightly and looked to the side. The image of a pale face was etched into his eyes.
Dressed in a refined suit, the corners of his lips carried a genial smile, while his five fingers were wrapped around the umbrella handle. The man’s face carried a peculiar sense of deathly beauty and a vaguely contradictory air of madness. The corners of his lips lifted higher, as if he were very pleased, yet it appeared exceedingly cold. Like humming a little tune, he said, “Good evening.”
Evil things will linger.4阴魂不散 – Idiom meaning that the bad person or influence has been removed but the sequelae of their actions or intentions continue to remain and wreak havoc.
Jiang Luo instantly pulled out a talisman and flung it over. The ghostly figure dispersed, and the black umbrella disappeared.
A taxi pulled over in front of Jiang Luo.
Jiang Luo got into the car expressionlessly. His eyelids rose as he looked up at the rearview mirror. “Follow that taxi in front.”
The driver stepped on the accelerator.
Jiang Luo’s right eyelid jumped a few times. His arm rested upon the car’s window sill as he reached out to support his forehead, feeling helpless. He sighed.
“I say,” the corner of his right eye, which had not been covered by his palm, raised up. His gorgeous eyes, which glanced towards the driver, were intertwined with provocation and ridicule. “Chi You, you’re really that idle?”
When he finally arrived at his room and was able to rest, an hour had already passed.
Jiang Luo had completely used up six talismans before he was able to get to the hotel successfully. Sweat clung to his clothes and hair. There was also the smell of alcohol leftover from moving those drunkards into their rooms.
Jiang Luo locked the door and pasted a talisman upon it. Then, he went back into the room to take a shower.
When he came out, the cool air from the air conditioner made him shiver. Jiang Luo wiped his hair (with a towel) while plugging in the hair dryer beside the bed to blow-dry it.
Amidst the loud whir (of the blow dryer), there was a knock on the door.
The talisman paper on the door lit up a bit, alerting Jiang Luo that one outside was not human.
Jiang Luo yawned and continued to blow-dry his hair, completely unimpressed.
Half a minute later, there was another knock on the door.
The talisman instantly went up in flames. After that, there were no more sounds outside.
A total of seven talismans have now been completely used up.
Jiang Luo looked at the time. Goodness gracious, it was just past twelve o’clock midnight.
The hair dryer continued to whir for five to six minutes. Jiang Luo blew his hair until it was half-dried then stopped. Physically, he was a little tired, but mentally he was still quite energetic. He knew that Chi You wasn’t ready to give up yet. There was still a big battle waiting to be fought.
Taking advantage of the brief moment of tranquillity, Jiang Luo raised up his right hand to examine the Yin-Yang Bracelet.
He muttered to himself, “Could it be that you’re a fake?”
Why did it feel like you were completely useless?
Sure enough, there was no pie that would suddenly fall from the sky.
As Jiang Luo felt a momentary sense of helplessness, another knock sounded on the door.
Jiang Luo’s eyebrow twitched. He rolled over and got off the bed, then put on his slippers and walked all the way to the suite door to open it. However, there was no one standing outside the door. The empty hotel corridor was completely bare, not even a mosquito was in sight.
He closed the door and turned around with a sullen expression.
He abruptly crashed into someone’s embrace.
Chi You stepped forward. The darkness on his body seemed like it belonged in hell’s abyss. It smothered all the lights, isolating the space.
The fog was thick and viscous. The dark mist slowly covered Jiang Luo, adhering to the shape of his body. In the end, it wrapped itself over Jiang Luo’s tippy-toes and the very last strand of his hair.
Jiang Luo was submerged in the pure black mist. Within it, a pale, blue-tinted hand that teasingly lifted a strand of his hair.
“I didn’t think you’d want to see me so badly on my first seventh.” The hand indolently fiddled with Jiang Luo’s hair. It gradually slid down the side of Jiang Luo’s cheek, before roughly pinching Jiang Luo’s beautifully shaped chin.
The voice cheerfully asked, “Happy?”
Although Chi You was smiling, Jiang Luo could feel that he was clearly pissed off.
After all, the mist behind him had already twisted into a ghastly, horrifically ferocious shape.
It had only been a few days since they had last met. Unlike the weak mist that appeared at Hotel 129, this time, Chi You even had a faint human form.
Jiang Luo was forced to lift his chin. This posture made him feel very uncomfortable.
The more he didn’t like it, the better Chi You’s mood became.
“Seven talismans were used against me. This feeling really makes a person uncomfortable,” Chi You’s laughter became increasingly chilly. “You really baffle me, Jiang tong xue,” he drawled, “Teacher never knew that you had this kind of talent.”
The strands of Jiang Luo’s hair splayed all across his shoulders, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
“However, your talismans have all been used up,” Chi You said regretfully. The hand pinching Jiang Luo’s chin grew stronger. An eerie chill rushed up Jiang Luo’s spine, “Teacher will start your lessons now.”
“First rule—you must honour your teacher and respect his teachings.”
The black mist wrapped around Jiang Luo’s shoulder. Bones went ‘pop’. Jiang Luo’s arm dangled weakly beside him.
It was dislocated.
The black mist travelled down his arm and encircled itself around both of Jiang Luo’s delicate ankles.
The feeling of his arm being dislocated was very painful. It hurt so much that Jiang Luo’s face had turned pale and was completely covered in cold sweat.
But compared to suffering eighteen deaths at the hands of Chi You, this pain was nothing.
Jiang Luo suddenly smiled. The light within his eyes seemed to hide a fiery, boiling spirit. He said softly, “Teacher, you’re right.”
The dark mist that was about to break Jiang Luo’s ankles paused. Feeling slightly doubtful, Chi You languidly said, “Hmm?”
Jiang Luo gently raised the arm that was still intact and placed it on the shoulder of the humanoid mist, “As a student, one must respect their teachers.”
Behind the misty figure, Jiang Luo’s hand that was placed on Chi You’s back suddenly spread out, revealing a thick stack of yellow talismans.
The yellow talismans were fanned out like poker cards. At first glance, there appeared to be dozens of them. Jiang Luo smirked and said, “Tonight I’ll kill you just once. One time that’ll last for a night.5今晚我只杀你一次，一次折磨你一夜 – this is literally what it says, the editor and I have racked our brains to come up with this, but if anyone has a better translation/explanation for what Jiang Luo is saying, it’ll be much appreciated~ Isn’t this honouring Teacher and respecting his teachings?”
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The author has something to say:
Shou while smirking: Satisfied?
ps: The Gong and Shou’s teacher-student relationship is not the regular teacher-student relationship. Gong is a teaching assistant, and now he’s already no longer a teacher (because he kicked the bucket6因为嗝屁了 – the raws said ‘he went pft’ so I changed it to he kicked the bucket). The Gong and Shou are both adults.
6 thoughts on “Chapter 12 – Chi You’s First Seventh Day (Part 3)”
Bro the tension between Jiang Luo and Chi You is just *chef’s kiss*
THANKS FOR THE CHAPTERRRRR
Thank you sm for the chapter. I freaking love them
Thank you so much for translating! <3
Thank you for the update! Love their “ chemistry “
Their dinamic is quite hypnotising
Here’s my take on 今晚我只杀你一次，一次折磨你一夜:
‘Tonight I’ll kill you once; one torment for one night.’
I basically interpreted this as Jiang Luo telling Chi You that he’ll kill him once in exchange for one death (the 18 from Chi You), and each ‘death’ is worth a night, i.e., he’ll kill Chi You 18 times on 18 different nights.
Hope this works.