Agarwood like Crumbs (沉香如屑) Novel Translations

Chapter 21: Artifacts of the World

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Yan Dan looked to her left – there was the dignified Taoist master eating – and at the right – Qin Qi was eating large pieces of meat and mouthfuls of rice. Diagonally opposite to him, Tang Zhou’s youngest junior brother Gan sat there, looking pitifully at a stewed chicken leg in her bowl. Yan Dan picked up the chicken thigh with chopsticks, looked at him, and asked, “You want this? I’ll give you this.”

The Taoist master coughed, and the little junior brother immediately shuddered, stood up straight, and said loudly, “Thank you, but there’s no need!”

The master smiled with satisfaction.

Yan Dan has not seen Xu’er since the day they were separated, so she asked, “Where did Miss Xu’er go?” 

Liu Weiyang put down his chopsticks and replied kindly, “I don’t know.”

Qin Qi took this opportunity and started to ask questions, “Liu Gongzi, how did you embed the chess piece into the rock? Can you teach me how?”

Liu Weiyang didn’t say a word, but the Taoist priest answered, “You’ll have to spend decades of experience to learn it; can you be that patient?”

Yan Dan bit his chopsticks and thought about how, even if he has 20 years of kung fu, it looks like Liu Weiyang is only in his twenties.

“Master, I heard some rumors that the ancient artifact appeared recently.” Tang Zhou suddenly said.

The Taoist chief said: “There have been more of these rumors in recent years…” He turned to look at Liu Weiyang: “As far as I know, there are four ancient artifacts in total, right?”

Liu Weiyang nodded.

“One of the ancient artifacts is the Seven Luminate Divine Jade, and the other is Chumo. I don’t know about the remaining two.” The Taoist priest glanced at his disciple, “Why are you asking this? These artifacts can’t be touched by mortal hands and even if you find them, you can’t touch them.”

Yan Dan looked at the Taoist priest and said in her heart “the Seven Lights Divine Jade is already in your disciple’s hands, and he wants the rest of the artifacts.” As for the reason, she didn’t know either and is also very curious.

Liu Weiyang said indifferently: “I have read it in ancient books, the Yi people were the ones who had it, but they didn’t know where to learn witchcraft, so they might not know what it does.”

Yan Dan couldn’t help nodding his head. Shen Yijun is from the Yi ethnic group, and she had the Seven Lights Divine Jade at one point. If the Seven Lights Divine Jade was obtained after she left the Yi people, it means that there is probably another artifact among the Yi people; but if the Seven Lights Divine Jade was brought out by her, it means that the Seven Lights Divine Jade is not suitable for the Yi people. That means, in other words, there is a very high possibility there’s a second artifact.

Qin Qi was not interested in the ancient artifacts so she just stared at Liu Weiyang with fiery eyes, “Master Liu, how many years have you practiced kung fu?”

Liu Weiyang thought for a while, then replied slowly, “Fifty or sixty years.”

Yan Dan was dumbfounded: How has he practiced for fifty to sixty years when he doesn’t even have a bald head and wrinkled hands?

She was hit hard and asked in a low voice, “Young Master Liu, you’re guigeng**?”

[Guigeng just means that someone is very old]

Tang Zhou glanced at her sideways and said nothing.

Liu Weiyang looked at her with slight disdain, and with a flick of his slender and powerful fingers, a pair of chopsticks snapped and broke in half.

Yan Dan immediately said: “I just asked casually, you don’t need to tell me, really…”


After nightfall, the mountain became much colder. After listening to Qin Qi’s breathing, Yan Dan rolled out of bed and pushed open the door to go out.

With the crescent moon above her head hanging brightly, Yan Dan circled around the patio and found a rock with sharp edges. She squatted beside it and continued to grind the restriction. She ground it for a while, but then she heard a slight rustling sound not far away so she quickly leaned against the tree shadow and didn’t move. A figure passed in front of her. Through the moonlight, YanDan could tell that the person should be a woman with a beautiful figure and wearing night clothes.

Yan Dan raised her hand to stroke her chin, secretly feeling that this girl’s back looked a bit familiar. She didn’t come into contact with many mortals, and she could even count them with two hands. The woman suddenly stopped after walking a dozen paces, as if waiting for someone. 

Yan Dan took two steps forward slowly, still hiding behind the tree. She suddenly felt her waist turn numb and then she couldn’t move. She felt the cool fingers touch her neck again, and her eyelids started to get heavy.

When she was in a daze, she could only smell a faint smell of agarwood. She tried to stay awake desperately, but it was a losing battle. Right before she completely lost consciousness, she heard a frosty voice saying, “…why kill…” 

YanDan thought resentfully, why is she always so unlucky recently?

When Yan Dan woke up, she found that she was still alive and well without any injuries. She wanted to sit up, but couldn’t move a finger. She wanted to call someone, but she found that her vocal cords were frozen and couldn’t make a sound at all.

An unknown bug was crawling majestically over her arm. There were also barbs on the bug’s legs, and when she crawled over her wrists that were exposed outside her sleeves, she couldn’t help but want to scream.

She had previously asked Tang Zhou if there were many birds, beasts, insects, and snakes on the mountain, but she didn’t expect it would be this bad…

There was a sudden cold on her neck, and the feeling of slowly wriggling and rubbing small scales gave her goosebumps. She saw a thin, colorful snake with a triangular head crouching by her neck, slowly raising her body, opening its mouth wide to reveal two large fangs.

Yan Dan’s eyes were still sore, but she didn’t even dare to blink. The snake is still waiting for an opportunity. If she closed her eyes, it would bite her immediately. YanDan’s no different from mortals now, and if she is bitten, she will definitely die on the spot.

The snake stood upright, twisting slowly under the moon, the tip of its tongue was twitching, and it kept making hissing noises. Yan Dan finally couldn’t help closing her sore eyes, only to hear a whistle and a cold sword light brushed from the tip of her nose, chopping the poisonous snake into pieces. 

Yan Dan’s eyes widened, and she watched Tang Zhou walk up to her in shock, but the sword back into the scabbard, and then helped her sit up. Seeing that she didn’t speak, Tang Zhou asked, “You’re dumb enough to get your acupuncture point tapped?” Yan Dan blinked and looked at him. Tang Zhou immediately untied her numb acupoint and asked, “What happened?”

Yan Dan said quietly, “You almost cut my nose just now…”

Tang Zhou rolled his eyes, “I’ve always been accurate in my shots.”

“I remember it felt like I was numb in my waist and then I couldn’t move.” Yan Dan thought back, “But I only know the approximate location.”

She raised her sleeves and wiped her neck, showing a disgusting expression, “I have never had a snake crawl on me before.” 

When she said this, she naturally attributed everything to Tang Zhoum “All It’s you! I was chased away by mortals, and then I was worried that your master could see through my identity. Now even better, even a snake crawled on my head!”

Yan Dan took a breath and looked at him resentfully: “Since I met you, I’ve been in bad luck all the time. Let alone in this life, even in the next life, I don’t want to see you again!”

Tang Zhou slowly raised his hand, pressed it on her wrist, and said in a low voice, “Why do you hate me so much…” He gently squeezed her wrist and after a flash of light, the restraint suddenly split in two and fell to the ground.

Yan Dan looked at her empty wrist, still in disbelief.

“If you want to leave now, no one can stop you.”

When Yan Dan heard these words, she was stunned for a moment and remained motionless.

Tang Zhou turned around, took a few steps away, and looked back at her in the darkness, “Maybe when I find those four artifacts, we can see each other again” before walking away briskly.

She stood there, hesitated for a while, but couldn’t help but ask: “Why do you want to find those ancient artifacts? Your master told you: these immortal artifacts aren’t something that mortal flesh and blood can touch.”

Tang Zhou smiled slightly: “I always have a dream. In my dream, I was in a completely unfamiliar place, where there was nothing but white fog. I wanted to chase the person in front of me, but she was slowly disappearing in the sea of ​​clouds. I kept running, and every time I was about to catch up, that person would suddenly disappear. I heard a voice telling me that if I want to know why, I must get one of the Four Ancient Artifacts.”

“The divine weapon you are looking for isn’t the Seven Luminaries Jade, right?”

“That artifact is called Dizhi.”

Yan Dan sighed: “As far as I know, the Four Ancient Artifacts were preserved after the creation of the world by the Pangu clan, and belonged to Emperor Jiuchen. Later, in the battle between heaven and demons, they were all left in the mortal world. You have now found the Seven Jade, but you may not be able to find the second one in your entire life.”

“…I don’t know. I just feel vaguely that this person is very important to me. You said before that the memory of the previous life will be sealed up. I think this is a memory from a long time ago. I only remember that person’s back.” Tang Zhou’s eyes were gentle, and he said softly, “I just want to see her again. Then, in the future, I’ll remember more of her, not just of her back.”

Yan Dan only felt that his heart was full of enthusiasm, and she didn’t even think before replying, “In this case, I will accompany you to find Dizhi. In fact, I have nothing special to do, and I know more than you, so maybe I can help!”

Tang Zhou smiled, “Thank you.” 

Then he turned and left.

After Yan Dan said that, the rare sense of justice that burned from head to toe disappeared, and she can only squat on the ground listlessly, holding her head and muttering to herself: “How could I say such a thing? AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhI’m such an idiot! Why would I…”

Yan Dan returned to the room in a low mood, Qin Qi still slept soundly, but YanDan tossed and turned and couldn’t fall asleep. She thought of Palace Lord Shenxiao for a while, guessed who the somewhat familiar back she had seen before, and thought about the identity of the mysterious person who tapped her acupuncture point. When she opened her eyes, the sky was already bright.

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