Two or Three Events in the Last Days 038-1
Chapter 38 Part 1 of 3
In Jing Lin’s eyes, the basic array talisman was simple. Capturing spiritual qi while drawing a talisman posed no difficulty for him at all. For Yan Fei and Yan Lu, however, it was a completely different matter.
Yan Lu ruined more than a dozen sheets of talisman paper before finally producing a completed talisman. Even then, only a tiny amount of spiritual qi had been sealed within its lines—far too little to sustain an array.
Yan Fei performed much better. Although he also wasted quite a few sheets of talisman paper, the finished talisman he eventually produced had faint streams of light flowing through its patterns. It contained enough spiritual qi to activate an array, though it could only maintain it for a short time.
From this, Jing Lin concluded that Yan Lu had no real talent for talisman drawing, just like Zhao Zhiwen. Yan Fei, on the other hand, could continue learning, though his aptitude would probably only carry him through the introductory level.
That said, this only reflected their talent for talisman arts. They could all still cultivate the Lesser Vast Heaven Heart Method. As for how far they could progress, that would depend on their individual aptitude.
After carefully explaining the first level of the Initial Movement chapter of the cultivation method, Jing Lin guided them through circulating it.
When Jing Lin had first practiced the technique himself, it hadn’t taken him long to sense the surrounding qi. The other three, however, made no progress at all from afternoon until evening.
In the end, Jing Lin simply encouraged them not to give up and to keep practicing exactly as he had instructed.
From then on, after finishing their daily combat training, the three of them spent all their remaining free time meditating.
Among them, Yan Fei was the first to sense qi, but even he needed nearly six days. Yan Lu was a little slower, taking just over ten days.
Zhao Zhiwen finally sensed qi after half a month, making him the least talented of the three. Still, he wasn’t discouraged. Simply being able to come into contact with something so extraordinary already satisfied him.
Like Jing Lin, Yan Fei found that after circulating through his body, the qi eventually returned to the point between his eyebrows.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
Yan Lu, however, said she felt all the qi sink directly into her muscles and bones. After only two or three days of cultivation, she could already feel her strength steadily increasing. It resembled the body-tempering stage described in the third section, Returning to Oneness. Still, Yan Lu herself was fundamentally different from ordinary people, so the comparison wasn’t really appropriate.
The biggest surprise to Jing Lin was Zhao Zhiwen.
Just like Yan Lu, the qi that entered Zhao Zhiwen’s body couldn’t be stored. Instead, it disappeared into his muscles and bones. It seemed his future cultivation path would also focus on strengthening his physical body.
No matter what, all four of them had now found a direction in which they could continue growing stronger.
Since most of the vegetables in the village gardens had become nearly inedible, the villagers pulled up their old crops and planted new ones.
By this time, the bokchoy Jing Lin had replanted in his front yard had already matured once again.
This time, he didn’t harvest all of it. Instead, he dismantled the spirit gathering array and let the remaining plants continue growing naturally.
The bokchoy grown inside the array always remained at its most tender and delicious stage. While that made it exceptionally tasty, it also meant he would quickly run out of seeds if he kept harvesting them that way. He wanted the plants to flower and produce seeds instead.
The lettuce in the backyard had grown enormous. Jing Lin could barely wrap both arms around a single head. With more than ten layers of leaves, it looked incredibly lush. Along the way, he’d had to thin out numerous seedlings just to give the remaining plants enough room.
The lettuce and scallions had both reached maturity and stopped growing. The lettuce wasn’t very good. Eaten raw, it was extremely astringent, and even cooked it tasted worse than ordinary lettuce.
That taught Jing Lin that not every vegetable nourished solely by spiritual qi would become as delicious as the bokchoy.
The scallions, however, tasted far better than before. A bowl of noodles cooked with bokchoy, topped with crushed chili seeds and chopped scallions, transformed an otherwise ordinary meal into something exceptional.
Zhao Zhiwen’s family also cleared out their vegetable garden.
The cucumbers, loofah, eggplants, water spinach, and other crops that had become unpleasant to eat were all pulled up and taken away for composting.
Following Jing Lin’s example, they replanted the garden almost entirely with bokchoy and scallions.
Since the pigs on Zhao Zhiwen’s farm enjoyed eating the lettuce Jing Lin had grown, Zhou Yu also planted a patch of lettuce specifically for pig feed.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
The mutated winter gourds and pumpkins finished producing much earlier than usual and had stopped putting out new flower buds.
Zhou Yu enlisted Yan Lu to help harvest all the mature fruit.
Jing Lin gathered the vines from the winter gourds, pumpkins, and loofahs, stripped off the leaves, scraped away the tiny bristles with a knife, and washed them clean.
The result was an incredibly sturdy rope that an ordinary person couldn’t cut through even with all their strength. Its quality surpassed the hemp ropes sold in stores by at least a hundredfold.
“These are great.” Zhao Zhiwen admired the cleaned vines, swinging one through the air by its end.
The whip cracked loudly as it sliced through the air.
“If this hit someone, it’d hurt like crazy. Lu Lu, cut me off a section. I’ll experiment with it and use it as a whip.”
Yan Lu chopped off a length for him. Then she lifted her own giant axe to examine it. Several chips had already appeared along the blade.
Seeing that, Zhao Zhiwen said, “Why don’t you keep a section too?”
Yan Lu shook her head. “No need. I’m already used to using my axe.”
She believed that even with a chipped blade, very few people could survive a full-force swing from it. One solid blow would be enough to send someone straight to the afterlife.
While the villagers were clearing their gardens, Yan Ruifeng spoke with Liao Shufen and reclaimed the one mu* of vegetable land that her family had been using.
*mu = measurement of land. 1 mu is about 1.5 full-sized basket ball courts, or 0.165 acres.
With Zhao Chenghuai’s help and guidance, they planted new crops there as well.
Jing Lin didn’t set up spirit gathering arrays in either family’s gardens.
He still didn’t know how quickly the villagers’ newly planted vegetables would grow. Even if he blamed any differences on varying degrees of mutation, it would be far too suspicious if only the two families closest to him experienced exceptional growth.
His own garden was surrounded by walls, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone noticing.
After the beginning of autumn, the villagers’ corn was ready for harvest.
Two or Three Events in the Last Days (TELD) is translated by Betwixted Translations. The site you’re reading this chapter on stole our translation.
One afternoon, many of them were busy working in the fields when more than a dozen people suddenly appeared at the entrance to the village.
Young and old alike, they were all gaunt and sallow. Their clothes hung in rags, and several had blood-soaked bandages wrapped around their bodies. The moment they caught sight of the familiar village houses, many of them burst into loud, uncontrollable sobbing.
“Dad! Mom! I’m back!”
“Grandpa! Grandma!”
They shouted as they walked.
Hearing the commotion, Jing Lin emerged from the cornfield and immediately recognized many familiar faces. They were all villagers who had been working away from home.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed. Everyone working in the fields looked up. Many families immediately rushed together, embracing each other and weeping with relief.
“Mom!” Wang Wenjie, who had been helping his grandmother harvest corn, threw down the basket on his back and sprinted toward the crowd.
“Wenjie!” A young woman wrapped her son tightly in her arms as tears streamed down her face.
Hearing her son’s sobs, she had never felt such overwhelming relief. During their desperate journey home, they had escaped danger countless times. Again and again, she had feared that she and her husband would never make it back—that they would never see their son again.
Wang Junda embraced his elderly mother. Even a man as steadfast as he was couldn’t stop tears from pouring down his face. Looking at his wife holding their son, his heart overflowed with gratitude at having regained what he thought he’d lost.
Wang Wenjie cried uncontrollably. No matter how sensible he usually was, he was still only a twelve-year-old boy. He had been terrified he would never see his parents again. Nearly a month’s worth of fear and suppressed emotions exploded all at once. He cried as though he would never stop.
Chen Xuefang’s family was equally overwhelmed with joy. She hugged one of her grandsons while looking at both boys. Every year when they returned home, their little faces had always been round and chubby.
Now both had grown noticeably thin. It broke her heart.
After speaking briefly with her eldest son’s family, she turned to her younger son. She immediately noticed him holding a young woman’s hand.
“Who is this?” She exchanged a glance with her husband.
Both of them knew their younger son had a girlfriend. He had mentioned her over the phone earlier that year.
Still, she wasn’t certain this was the same woman.
Ma Chunjian smiled and introduced, “This is my girlfriend, Sun Lili. I told you about her before.”
Sun Lili looked utterly exhausted. Her face was pale and haggard, though her delicate features were still obvious. The moment she entered the village, the tension she’d been carrying finally disappeared.
She felt so weak she could barely remain standing. Even so, she forced herself to smile. “Hello, Uncle. Hello, Auntie.”
“Good, good.” Chen Xuefang happily took Sun Lili’s hand. The young woman’s arm was frighteningly thin. It was obvious she hadn’t suffered any less than the others during the journey.
“You’re all home now. Let’s go home. As long as you’re home, everything’s fine.” As she spoke, Chen Xuefang couldn’t help wiping away more tears.
But before they had taken more than two steps, Sun Lili suddenly collapsed sideways. Ma Chunjian hurriedly caught his girlfriend.
“She fainted! Hurry, carry her to Shaoqian’s place! This poor girl has suffered so much!”
The scene instantly descended into chaos once again. The families who had only just begun to relax found their hearts tightening all over again.
Some families rejoiced. Others grieved.
One elderly woman searched the returning crowd over and over again. She still couldn’t find her son.
Grabbing hold of a young man who hadn’t yet left, she anxiously asked, “Zhang Kai, where’s my son, Gao Zhuo?”
Zhang Kai’s expression stiffened. After glancing at the elderly woman’s graying hair, he quietly replied, “I’m… not really sure, Aunt Zeng. You should ask someone else.”
With that, he ignored her desperate questions, picked up his belongings, gathered his family, and hurried away.
Aunt Zeng was left standing there, her face deathly pale and completely at a loss.
“Sigh…” Zhao Chenghuai sighed heavily and shook his head.
From Zhang Kai’s expression alone, he knew something had happened to Gao Zhuo.
Words from the Translation Crew
Miiya: Two of two for the week. Chapter 38 is split to 3 parts, sorry for the cliff hanging.
Pinned note: Chapters 38-47 (except 45) are almost 3times in length.
Translator: Miiya
Editor: MushroomKnight73
Proofreader: Yume
Avid BL reader, editor, and translator with 1 story completed (CLWP) and 1 story in progress (TELD). Support this translation with a Ko-fi. Three Ko-fis will add an extra chapter from the stockpile to the next weekly release.
