Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes

Chapter 47

Getting farther and farther away from Lu Hua Mountain, I finally stopped. I turned around and glared at the deer-horse demon: “Stop! I let you go once and you still dare to come looking for trouble a second time? Do you really want to die?”

The deer-horse demon ignored me. He stomped his hooves and rushed to me while screaming. He came so fast, I barely dodged him. While he was rushing to me, I reached out my hand and grabbed the horns on his head. My feet lifted, my body moved and I sat on his back. I rode on his back, making him extremely dissatisfied. He stomped his hooves in a fury and tried every way to toss me off.

My legs clamped his body tightly. My hands held his horns tightly. While using force, did I feel that the thing on his head was actually made of meat. While squeezing it, it felt soft……

Could it be that just now he wanted to corner me to death with these two meats? I laughed on his back: “Hey, you stupid. Now I don’t even have the heart to beat you anymore.”

Words could be said like that, but what needed to be beaten still had to be beaten.

I only used a hand to firmly pinch his flesh. With a little spell I connected his horns with me. With the other empty hand, I took out a fan. This fan was a thing of humans, but it was very useful in many ways. I hold the fan and slapped the deer-horse demon’s ass.

“A thing with no eyes! Dare to come look for trouble! Last time, I didn’t beat you and it didn’t leave a memory. This time, I’ll see if you don’t remember. Do you still dare to come cause trouble?!”

While I was slapping him, I was also teaching him a lesson.

The deer-horse demon felt pain and screamed more severely. His body was also desperately moving to throw me down. I held onto his horn tightly. The more he struggled the tighter I clenched his horn. Finally……because of my carelessness, I only heard a “pu” sound. The horn that I was grabbing had been pulled out by me. Blood flew out from that hole and splashed all over my face.

Pu……pulled out?

I squeezed the horn and was stunned. The deer-horse demon also didn’t make any movements. He looked at me. I sat on his back for a while. Then I threw the fan and hurriedly stuffed the horn back in the hole.

“Sorry, sorry. I really didn’t have the intention to pull your horn. This was an accident……who told you to keep struggling?”

The blood from his head kept flowing out, making my hands full of blood.

Finally, the deer-horse couldn’t bear the humiliation anymore. He stuck his forepaws upright in the sky. I wasn’t paying attention and slid straightly down from his body. The deer-horse demon turned and bit my arm. His teeth were dull and didn’t bite through the flesh. He shook his head and wanted to tear my arm off.

My heart tightened. I grabbed the horn and knocked on the angle of the hole. The deer horse demon gave two more strokes, couldn’t bear the torture anymore and let go of my arm. He hissed in the sky and went away with an embarrassing defeat. While he went away he sprinkled the ground full of blood rain.

I waved to the oncoming cloud to stand still. I rested for a moment and looked at the meat horn in my hand. In my heart, I was thinking that I could take it back and soak it in wine. I might be able to get a different taste. I hid it in my arm. Then I rolled my sleeves and looked at my injury. I felt it wasn’t a big deal and leisurely went back home.

The closer I was from home, the more my heart felt that it wasn’t right. Although Chu Kong didn’t like to practice cultivation, but he had been forced by me and practiced for a few years. His body had a small amount of immortal energy. Today we run into a stupid demon that came to search for revenge. If he was a bit smarter, he should’ve swallowed Chu Kong first and then come fight me. I could protect him once, but I couldn’t always protect him. If he didn’t even have some self-defense skills, it was given that in the future he would be bullied.

Besides……if he didn’t cultivate into an immortal body, how could I stay with him? Chu Kong being a human, when he goes to the netherworld to reincarnate, he would surely drink the soup of oblivion. At that time, every memory about me would be washed together with his soul. Just thinking about it, I would feel afraid.

Back at home, Chu Kong was still being locked in the enchantment. Seeing that I was back, he immediately stood up. I waved my hand and the enchantment disappeared. Meatball Kong didn’t run in my arms as I imagined. He just stood there blankly and looked at me with big eyes. His expression was startled.

I was at loss for a moment. I looked down at my clothes and instantly understood why Chu Kong was startled. The blood of the deer-horse demon dyed my white cotton clothes in red. My face and head must also be full of blood.

I sighed and was about to open my mouth to say that Chu Kong should not be worried. Suddenly,  golden light flashed across my mind. My heart tightened. Well…..although deceiving children was bad, but it was all for his good.

I covered the arm that was bitten by the deer-horse demon. I groaned. My legs went soft and my whole body fell onto the ground. I closed my eyes and moaned in pain.

It was quiet for a while. I heard Chu Kong’s footsteps rush to me in panic.

“Xiao……Xiao Xiang?”

I struggled to open my eyes, breathed for a moment and then called out: “Ah! I! The wound really hurts!”

If this was the Chu Kong from the past, he would slap me twice and let me get up myself. But meatball Kong was different. My whole body covered in blood was enough to scare him to death.

He held out his hand. They trembled and wanted to touch me, but didn’t dare to touch. With a pale face and a voice full of panic, he asked: “Where does it hurt? Xiao Xiang, where does it hurt?”

My heart went soft and I felt that this was a little shameful. But since the play had already begun, I needed to do it well.

I coughed twice and made my voice hoarse: “I didn’t think that the demon was so powerful. I’ve underestimated him.”

I pulled up my sleeves and showed him the bite wound.

The deer horse demon hasn’t transform into a full demon yet. The demon’s aura on his body was muddy and turbid. The aura remaining on my wound was also the same. A dark mist wrapped around my arm. It looked scary, but if you looked at it with a clear mind, you’ll be able to clean it.

Meatball Kong saw my wound and his face turned paler. I grabbed his hand and said: “Chu Kong, Xiao Xiang is useless. In the past, I didn’t practice cultivation properly. This time……I’m afraid that I need to give my life…..”

“You won’t.”

Chu Kong shook his head.

“Xiao Xiang is very powerful……will not……”

His tears fell down. He stared at me unblinking as if, if he blinked I would be gone.

“Even if I’m gone, you need to live on happily. Chu Kong, goodbye.”

I closed my eyes. Hey……this seemed to be a little overboard.

Chu Kong’s voice was really small: “Xiao……Xiao Xiang?”

I took a deep breath and opened my eyes. I grabbed Chu Kong’s hand and said weakly: “There’s still a way to save me, but…..forget it, forget it.”

I was waiting for Chu Kong to give me a determination. But it was silent for a long while and he didn’t say anything. I curiously looked at him. I saw that his eyes are surprisingly bright and staring at me. My heart felt a little afraid. Could it be that this child saw that I was lying to him?

But after a while, meatball Kong came over and hugged my neck. He patted my back. With an adult tone he comforted me: “Xiao Xiang, don’t be afraid. Chu Kong will always stay with you. Don’t be afraid.” (Awww, this cute pie)

But obviously, he was so afraid that he was trembling.

I sighed and didn’t bother to pretend to be weak anymore. I said: “Xiao Xiang won’t die so easily. If every month someone uses immortal energy to drive away the demon’s aura on my arm, Xiao Xiang won’t die.”

Chu Kong let go of me: “Every month drive the demon’s aura away? Can, can Chu Kong do it now?”

“You can.”

With my other hand, I touched his head.

“It’s just that now you won’t drive it away cleanly.”

“I’ll practice cultivation really hard,” he swore loudly after getting my answer. “In the future, I’ll surely practice cultivation!”

At this point his eyes were finally red. Big tears fell down.

“In the future, Chu Kong won’t be lazy anymore. I want to practice cultivation really hard to protect Xiao Xiang. Never again……never again letting Xiao Xiang getting hurt! Woo wa!”

This strange kid, he actually cried after knowing that I could be saved.

I didn’t know what meatball Kong was thinking at that moment when he saw me close my eyes. But after that time, he really practiced cultivation very hard. He was never lazy again. I thus realized one truth: Children and men……needed to be taught.

Time passed really fast in the human realm. In a blink of the eye, Chu Kong was eighteen years old.

Chu Kong with three immortal souls and seven mortal souls after years of practice is no different from an ordinary human. He practiced cultivation faster and faster. After day in and day out of learning about cultivation, he became increasingly interested in cultivating. He wanted to learn more and more.

Gradually, I had nothing more to teach him.

Chu Kong would often travel outside. But regardless where he went, every month on the fifteen, he would surely return to Lu Hua mountain to disperse the “demon’s aura” on my arm. This was an agreement he had set since he was a child.

Although, he and I both knew that there simply wasn’t any demon’s aura.

Seeing Chu Kong grew up, I’m naturally happy. My only worry was that he still hadn’t cultivated into an immortal.

In the summer of this year, the tiger demon Da Hua took a fancy on a scholar in town. She took him back to be her husband. The wedding day was set in the night of mid- autumn festival. I as a fairy of course didn’t allow such thing as forcing someone to be your husband. But when I went to Da Hua’s territory a few times to take a look, I saw that the scholar was only half-heartedly trying to leave. I let them continue their bad fate.

Chu Kong as someone who was cultivating into an immortal, naturally, wouldn’t tolerate something like forcing someone to be your husband. But I didn’t know what kind of ideological pollution he received all this years down the mountain. He insisted on taking the scholar back to town. In the end, he had fallen out with his childhood playmate Da Hua a few times.

Mid-autumn festival eve. Chu Kong went to “save” that scholar once again. I followed him and brought him back. I taught him a lesson: “That scholar also likes Da Hua. Why do keep messing them up?”

I glanced at him: “Can it be that you also fancy that scholar?”

Chu Kong pouted: “Xiao Xiang, what are you thinking? Humans and demons go different paths. How can they be together?”

I wondered: “Why can’t they be together? When Yue Lao pulls a string, no matter what kinds of thing, they still can be together.”

Chu Kong hesitated and sighed: “Are all the immortals in heaven strange like Xiao Xiang? Head full of messy things.”

I turned and walked away. I didn’t even bother to turn my head back.

“The one who is strange now is you. The one whose head is full of messy things is also you. Can outsiders control such a thing as fate?”

Chu Kong behind me was silent for a while: “Then…..Xiao Xiang’s fate, can I control (care about) it?”

My footsteps paused. I turned and looked at him. I saw that in his dark eyes, there was a star gleaming brightly and moving. My heart skipped a beat. My cheeks turned slightly hot.

“What?”

Chu Kong suddenly turned around and quickly shook his head: “Nothing, nothing. Today I should drive the demon’s aura for Xiao Xiang. Let’s go back quickly.”

This midnight, because of Chu Kong’s unknown words, I couldn’t sleep. I stumbled and crawled out of bed to urinate. I just sat when I felt two night winds came in the house. I raised my head and looked up. Chu Kong climbed on the window and quietly looked at me with a serious face.

I scratched my head and blurted out: “Did you wet your bed again?”

Chu Kong continued to stare at me. I recovered my mind. The Chu Kong now wasn’t the child Chu Kong whose mind was crippled anymore.

He was silent for half an incense stick and suddenly said: “I dreamed of Xiao Xiang closing your eyes……in the snow.”

He looked down at his hands.

“It felt real and didn’t seem like a dream. I was scared and couldn’t sleep anymore. So, I came to see you.”

I understood the meaning of his words. I was instantly more awake: “You……”

“Regardless of how much cultivation I’ve learned, I’m still like when I was a child. Still relying on Xiao Xiang. Really useless…….”

And I no longer focused on these things. With some urgency I interrupted him: “What did you dream of? When did you dream it? Is there still other things?”

Chu Kong raised his head and looked at me for a while. In his eyes, he hid something I didn’t understand. He shook his head: “No, I just dreamed of this.”

He was slowly beginning to remember!

I was extremely pleased. If I found the last mortal soul, if he could cultivate into an immortal, maybe Chu Kong could find all the memories back!

I said: “Chu Kong, in the future if you have some other business, you don’t need to come back on the fifteenth.”

I sternly said: “You should now concentrate on the critical moment of cultivation. To see if you can cultivate into an immortal is dependent on the foundation that you laid all these years. If you have a chance outside, don’t give it up for me. You should have known a long time ago that there’s nothing here.”

Chu Kong stiffened. He froze for a long time before he weakly responded with an “mm” sound.

Comment:

I think Chu Kong is unhappy, because he knows that Xiao Xiang approached him not because of him but because of some other reasons. Maybe he also knows that the one Xiao Xiang likes isn’t him, but that other him. Is he jealous of himself? I like both Chu Kongs. Hope none will disappear when the other appear.