RIIDMDR chapter 176

After saying goodbye to Zhuang Si and Zhuang Wu, Nan Xu and Tingchuan began their journey. Taking advantage of the early autumn heat, they planned to head north first.

After the Golden Crow clan of the North was annihilated, chaos lasted for many years. First came the struggle for the position of number one clan in the North. They fought until both sides were heavily wounded. Then, due to a lack of spiritual energy, they fought over territory, plunging the region into unrest. There were countless acts like the Cat Demon Clan selling their daughters for glory.

The Golden Crows used to be strong and protective, allowing the northern demon clans to live in harmony and abundance for many years. However, despite their many strategies, the Golden Crows never considered what would become of the North after they were gone.

Nan Xu last returned to the North more than three thousand years ago. After being away for so long, he didn’t know what the demon realm looked like now.

After leaving Zhuyu Mountain, Nan Xu noticed the climate changing. Demons aren’t very sensitive to temperature, but Nan Xu isn’t a pure demon. Having lived among humans for many years, he subconsciously paid attention to temperature and humidity. This reminded him of the many plants that grew in such environments.

Since they wanted to enjoy the scenery along the way, Nan Xu and Tingchuan weren’t in a rush. They traveled leisurely. Whenever they passed desolate land, Nan Xu rode the serow. When they reached beautiful scenery, he would lead it forward on foot.

After two days, the terrain gradually flattened, and the vegetation became lush. The serow kept staring at the abundant fresh grass and finally refused to walk any farther. It was noon, and a sizeable lake lay not far away. Despite Nan Xu’s sharp eyesight, he could only faintly make out its outline.

The serow munched on grass and drank lake water. Nan Xu felt strangely envious and even had the impulse to chew a few bites of grass himself. Fortunately, he remained clearheaded and resisted the urge to bend over.

The lake’s surface rippled gently in the breeze. Nan Xu looked at the waist-high grass and wildflowers around him. He wondered if they had grown wildly after the return of spiritual energy or if this was simply how the place was.

As he pondered this, Tingchuan, who was sitting next to him, seemed to know what he was thinking. Tingchuan explained, “This is the end of an underground main spiritual vein. The soil here has always been fertile.”

Nan Xu understood. His eyes sparkled as he stared at the lake, thinking about how delicious the fish here must be. After eating dry rations for two days straight, he had yet to use any of the bottle after bottle of seasonings he had brought. Just thinking about it made him restless. He immediately gathered materials, made a simple fishing rod, tore off a piece of flatbread from that morning, put it on the hook, and cast his line into the lake.

The line floated on the water for only a short while before Nan Xu felt a strong pull. He didn’t particularly like fishing. He had only learned a little about it in the human world when he was hungry and would go to the creek outside the village to catch something to eat. Still, he had some experience.

But Nan Xu never expected that his very first cast in the demon realm would catch such a big fish. He wrestled with the fish back and forth for quite a while. When he felt the creature’s strength waning, he seized the moment and pulled it ashore.

The fish weighed around 10 jin¹10 jin = 5 kilograms≈ 11 pounds.. Its back was covered in dark scales, and its belly was silver-white—very beautiful in the sunlight. It seemed to be a high-quality needle fish. Nan Xu was overjoyed—until he took a closer look and froze completely.

“…”

Seriously? You’re a demon. What are you doing pretending to be a fish on my hook?

Nan Xu stared at the fish demon, who was now in the form of a half-grown boy. The demon pulled the hook from his mouth, not caring about his bleeding wound. He stared straight at Nan Xu. “What kind of food was hanging on that hook? Why have I never tasted it before?”

Nan Xu: …

It was his first time fishing in the demon realm, and a fish demon had bumped into his hook. This felt terrible. He had already imagined how wonderful stir-fried fish slices would taste, but then he was told he couldn’t eat it. The frustration was real.

After taking a moment to process his feelings, he looked at the fish demon, who was still staring at him expectantly. Nan Xu took out a palm-sized stuffed flatbread and handed it over gloomily.

The fish demon accepted it, took a bite, and his eyes brightened again. “Which tree grows this fruit?”

The fish demon seemed simple and pure, without much scheming. Nan Xu felt much better and replied, “It’s a long story. It needs to be cooked. It doesn’t grow on trees.”

The fish demon looked disappointed and chewed more slowly.

Nan Xu watched him for a moment, puzzled, and asked, “Is this lake your family’s territory?”

The fish demon nodded. “Yes.”

“Then didn’t your clan tell you not to bite hooks? Why didn’t they stop you?” Nan Xu asked.

The fish demon tilted his head at Nan Xu and continued eating. “I don’t have a clan.”

Nan Xu was surprised. Such a large lake—could only this demon live here?

The stuffed flatbread wasn’t big, and it was delicious. Even eating slowly, it didn’t last long. After licking his fingers, the fish demon said, “My clan died during the territorial battles. The plains around here used to belong to us. Later, many demon clans came to seize it. They all died fighting. Only I was left. Since they didn’t need to live in the lake, and I wasn’t very capable, they didn’t bother driving me away.”

Nan Xu hadn’t expected this. Taking pity on the fish demon, he took out another flatbread and handed it over. The fish demon grabbed it hurriedly and, while eating, mumbled, “Did you come here to seize territory, too?”

Nan Xu shook his head. “I’m just passing through.”

The fish demon let out an “Oh,” sounding somewhat regretful.

“You haven’t heard of Zhuyu Mountain?” Nan Xu couldn’t help but feel curious. The demon realm must have been quite commotion lately. How come this fish demon still seems to be living in an era of thin spiritual energy?

“Of course I’ve heard of it. It’s a mountain that appeared out of thin air many years ago and is filled with countless formations, big and small. I heard it’s very dangerous, and most demons don’t dare set foot there. It’s a pity I can’t go take a look. This stretch of grassland has changed hands between four or five demon clans over the past hundred years, but none of them have allowed me to set foot on it. I’m tired of eating the fish, shrimp, and water grass from the lake. The last time I came ashore secretly, trying to find some pheasants or wild rabbits, they caught me and beat me up.” The fish demon was still somewhat indignant when he spoke of this.

When Nan Xu heard this, he felt even more sympathy. He rummaged through his bag for quite a while and handed over the last two pieces of flatbread.

From what the fish demon said, it was clear that he had no idea about the changes that Zhuyu Mountain underwent after Nan Xu arrived. But, thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising. Being trapped in a lake with his freedom restricted for so long was why he didn’t know anything about the outside world.

“Then you also don’t know about the demon clans gathering at Zhuyu Mountain a few days ago to deal with a disaster?” Nan Xu asked.

The fish demon paused, and something flashed across his eyes. He blinked, his long, thick lashes hiding his emotions. “I don’t know. I heard some noises, but I didn’t know what they were doing.”

Hearing this, Nan Xu suddenly lost all desire to continue the conversation. He shouldn’t have expected anything from a fish demon who lived in isolation with no support. Being muddle-headed and barely surviving wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Nan Xu stopped speaking. After the fish demon finished eating one of the flatbreads, he looked at Nan Xu twice, stuffed the other one into his waistband, and leapt into the air, plunging back into the lake.

Since Nan Xu didn’t intend to continue the conversation, he wasn’t bothered by the fish demon’s abrupt departure. He picked up the fishing rod, preparing to fish again, only to realize that he had given away all of his flatbread—there was no more dry food to use as bait. Not wanting to bother digging for worms, he simply packed away the fishing line and prepared to continue his journey with the well-fed serow.

As he looked around for the serow, he heard an unusual sound from the water. He turned his head and saw the fish demon—who had just left without saying goodbye—floating up from the surface with a 7- or 8-jin²7 jin ≈ 3.5 kg / 8 jin ≈ 4 kg carp in his arms. The carp struggled violently, slapping its tail loudly against the surface. The fish demon tossed the carp onto the shore, said a word of thanks, and turned back into his original form. He dived into the depths.

Nan Xu looked at the carp flopping on the grass, then at the lake. He thought that, in the end, he would still get to eat fish that day.

He quickly built a small fire, roasted the cleaned carp, and shared it with Tingchuan. After eating their fill and putting out the fire, they continued on their way.

After traveling for half a day, Nan Xu finally said to Tingchuan, “We’ve walked for so long, and there are no more demon clan traps on this plain. Why did that fish demon say he was trapped in the lake?”

Nan Xu had held back the entire way without mentioning this topic. Tingchuan thought he didn’t want to discuss it anymore. Hearing him ask now surprised Tingchuan, but he also felt it made sense. “You actually already guessed, didn’t you?”

Nan Xu had a general idea, but he didn’t want to think in that direction.

The entire clan of the fish demon had perished in earlier territorial disputes. Having witnessed it with his own eyes, he drew a boundary around himself. No matter how many demon clans occupied the land afterward, he felt none of it had anything to do with him. For safety, he stayed by the lake, living day after day.

Even though he didn’t know much about the demon realm, Nan Xu’s letter had been delivered to every demon clan back then. He couldn’t possibly be unaware. But with only himself left in his clan, whether clinging to the hope of preserving their bloodline or secretly hoping for the demon realm’s demise, he had become a demon who shrank back and pretended not to see.

“Actually, what he did isn’t wrong,” Nan Xu said.

Tingchuan didn’t respond.

After that, they passed through several territories—the Mouse-Rabbit Clan, the Lynx Clan, the Clouded Leopard Clan, and so on. Most of the clan leaders had met Nan Xu before and were very enthusiastic. Nan Xu didn’t stay long—after resting briefly in each clan, he continued north. Seven or eight days later, they reached a large river. Unlike the human world, there was no huge bridge over the surging waters. Nan Xu looked at his feet, then at the serow he was leading, and fell silent.

He didn’t want to abandon his faithful companion, yet he didn’t want to cross the river with the serow either. Just imagining that scene was unbearable.

His expression was too obvious; Tingchuan couldn’t help but laugh. Nan Xu couldn’t stand it when others were happy while he was depressed. A flash of inspiration appeared in his mind, and he came up with a pretty good idea.

On a simple wooden frame, the serow was tied up tightly. Nan Xu and Tingchuan lifted one side each and used spiritual power to walk across the water to the other side.

Once they untied the serow, its usually stubborn legs trembled and gave out—it couldn’t stand at all. Tingchuan stood beside it, his face dark and devoid of laughter. Nan Xu looked at the simple wooden rack and recalled seeing him and Tingchuan carry the serow. He laughed uncontrollably on the ground.

Sure enough, smiles might not be contagious, but they definitely transferred.

A dozen or so days later, Nan Xu, Tingchuan, and the now much more obedient serow finally reached the true northern border. As they passed by the Tiger Demon Clan and the Cat Demon Clan, Nan Xu received invitations, probably to let bygones be bygones, but he and Tingchuan declined them all. It wasn’t that they couldn’t let go of past unpleasantness. They simply couldn’t hide their eagerness to see the former territory of the Golden Crow.

The spacious courtyard was empty and silent, its sturdy walls marked by the passage of time. Yet, standing there, they felt a strange sense of solemnity. Nan Xu didn’t have time to look around—his eyes were already drawn to the stretch of green before him.

He remembered the last time he came when a sandstorm raged and he could barely move in the dust-filled hurricane. He had heard that planting trees could stop the sandstorms. So, foolishly, he and Yunyi braved the storm to plant trees. They even used the precious water from the deep pool to water them, which earned Yunyi a good beating.

Standing before the densely packed shrubs, Nan Xu could only feel wistful about the past. Fortunately, the endless greenery truly blocked the sand and wind, protecting the Golden Crow’s buildings instead of letting them be buried, which gave Nan Xu some comfort.

• 1
  10 jin = 5 kilograms≈ 11 pounds.
• 2
  7 jin ≈ 3.5 kg / 8 jin ≈ 4 kg