Fantasy Farm

Lu Qingjiu arrived at Bai Yuehu’s room. He didn’t dare to knock on the door, afraid of alerting the monster outside. He quietly pushed open the door, opening it a crack, and looked into the room. The room was empty, and there was no one on the bed. Bai Yuehu was nowhere to be found.

Lu Qingjiu was a little panicked. Looking out the door, he saw that the monster was still standing in their courtyard, but because it was too big, it seemed only it had only been able to stuff in its head. Everything else should still be outside the courtyard. The monster seemed to have moved its gaze over to Jiang Buhuan’s window. Jiang Buhuan’s shrieks were like that of a chicken being strangled, utterly miserable. He seemed to have caught sight of those dark eyes, calling out, “Help, help—— There’s a monster outside my window, someone please come help me——”

As he spoke, he pushed open the door and ran staggeringly out of his room, just in time to spot Lu Qingjiu standing in the corridor. The two people stared at each other for a moment, before Jiang Buhuan said in a trembling voice, “Mis, Mister Lu.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Good evening?” 

Jiang Buhuan, “……There’s a monster outside!”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Ah yeah, I saw it.”

Jiang Buhuan was shaken by Lu Qingjiu’s calm response. That thing outside had already turned his view of the world upside down, even making him wonder if he was having another nightmare. “Aren’t you afraid?”

Lu Qingjiu, “I’m scared, yeah.” Wasn’t this him being worried about his son possibly being in trouble?

Jiang Buhuan, “You call you being like this scared?”

Lu Qingjiu nodded. He said, “Come over here first.”

Jiang Buhuan was just about to try to get up from the ground, but heard a loud noise from outside, the noise like the sound of a building falling. Following that, was a series of low roars.

Through the window, Lu Qingjiu saw that giant monster slowly raise its head to look up at the sky. It seemed as if something in the sky had attracted its attention. 

Because the window was too small, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t get a good look at what that monster looked like, but he vaguely felt as if that monster looked a little like the dragons of legend, but there were still some subtle differences. This made Lu Qingjiu think of that black dragon which had been trapped in the abyss, but he didn’t know if there was any connection between the two.

Just as Lu Qingjiu was puzzling over this, a cloud of black mist rose up next to the giant beast, engulfing its body. Following that, the black fog rose up towards the sky. Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu hurried out the door to check, but found that there was already a cloud of black fog in the sky. Right after that, the two clouds of black fog fused. Accompanied by the sound of biting and tearing, howls, and the roars of a wild beast, the black fog spread everywhere, eventually covering the entire sky. Jiang Buhuan had already been thrown into a stunned gaze by the sight before him. He wasn’t as brave as Lu Qingjiu, so he had to psyche himself up for quite a while before he gathered the courage to walk over to the door. He asked blankly, “It’s raining?”

Oe Hlcuple rjlv, “Sc.”

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Jiang Buhuan had also noticed that something was wrong. He said in a trembling voice, “Why is there such a strong smell of blood?”

Lu Qingjiu didn’t speak. He simply looked up at the sky.

The black fog was the place from whence the blood rain was falling. This blood seemed to be from the shaking giant beast inside the fog. Falling along with the blood rain, were a few hard objects. Lu Qingjiu bent over and picked one up, only to find that the hard objects were actually scales. The scale in his hand was about the size of his palm, and was very hard and sharp. When Lu Qingjiu tightened his grip on the scale slightly, the edges of the scale opened a cut on his palm. Realising something, he cast a worried look into the black fog.

Jiang Buhuan was already tired out from the fear. He sat dazedly on the ground, staring up at the sky with a blank expression on his face. The blood began to rain down harder and harder, eventually becoming a heavy rain of blood, the scent of blood becoming thick enough to choke on. The originally familiar courtyard had become incomparably unfamiliar, as if they’d entered another dimension. 

“What is that?” Jiang Buhuan asked, “Am I dreaming?”

Lu Qingjiu didn’t reply. All his attention was focused on the black fog. More and more scales accumulated on the ground, and the blood formed puddles on the ground. In their ears was the sound of collisions, tearing and chewing, everything equally terrifying.

That night, was terrifyingly long.

The fear had consumed most of Jiang Buhuan’s strength. He actually fell asleep where he was sat on the ground, leaning against the door frame. Lu Qingjiu was looking up the entire night, so by the time light finally started to dawn over the horizon, his neck was stiff. The faint light broke through the thick black fog, like it had broken the boundary of darkness. The rain gradually became lighter, the cries became weak, and the black fog covering the sky began to fade. Lu Qingjiu was finally able to see the dark blue clouds and the bright moon that was about to disappear. 

It’s about to be dawn, Lu Qingjiu thought. He looked over at his own courtyard, and saw that the entire courtyard was a mess, with blood everywhere and the ground covered in black scales, as if they were in the Asura realm. But miraculously, out of the entire Shuifu village, only he and Jiang Buhuan had been able to hear that huge ruckus, as if they were the only living beings in the entirety of Shuifu village.

Lu Qingjiu looked down and saw the scale in his palm. That scale was actually really pretty, shining with a jewel-like lustre. Its edges were as sharp as a blade, able to easily slice open fragile human skin. Clearly, the owner of this skale wasn’t some friendly existence.

When Lu Qingjiu looked up again, the black fog in the sky had finally faded, revealing the sky behind it, as well as the rising sun on the horizon. The bloodstains on the ground began to disappear, and the scale debris began to gradually fade, as if everything was returning to normal.

The death match of last night, was nothing more than an absurd dream. 

Lu Qingjiu stood up. He could hear footsteps coming from the entrance to the courtyard. Following that, he saw a familiar figure—— Bai Yuehu had returned.

He was dressed in a black robe, his hair long, his eyelids drooping slightly, and his face frighteningly pale. On his black robe was embroidered a dragon with five claws extended in gold thread. The dragon was vivid and lifelike, as if it was going to jump out of his clothes at any moment.

“Yuehu,” Lu Qingjiu called out his name.

Bai Yuehu raised his head. He said, “Qingjiu.” 

“You’re hurt?!” Lu Qingjiu noticed something, and hurried forward with quick steps. He asked, panicked, “Where are you hurt?” He’d noticed that Bai Yuehu’s robe was still dripping with blood.

“It’s just a small wound, it’s nothing,” Bai Yuehu said.

“Let me see.” However, Lu Qingjiu persisted.

Bai Yuehu frowned slightly, as if a little troubled, but under Lu Qingjiu’s firm attitude, he slowly opened up his robe, revealing his firm chest. Across that chest was a blood red scratch wound spanning Bai Yuehu’s abdomen. That scratch wound was extremely deep, revealing the bone, and it was still slowly dripping with blood. 

Seeing such a terrible wound, Lu Qingjiu instantly panicked. “It’s so serious? Let’s go to the hospital!”

Bai Yuehu said, “It’s fine, it’ll be fine after a few days.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “This is considered fine?”

Bai Yuehu said, “En, my kind has a very strong self-healing ability. Besides, human hospitals are of no use to us.” 

Lu Qingjiu said, “Then what do you need? Is there anything I can help you with?”

Bai Yuehu thought for a moment. “I need food.”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Okay, I’ll get something for you to eat immediately.” He looked worriedly at the wound, his heart still uneasy. In a small voice, he asked, “Do you need to clean the wound?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Okay.” 

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu hurried into the house and got warm water and bandages, as well as a few medical supplies for disinfecting the wound. After returning to the courtyard, he had Bai Yuehu lie down, while he knelt down next to him and carefully helped him clean the wound. This wound had been caused by some wild beast. In it, he even found a piece of a broken nail. As Lu Qingjiu cleaned the wound, his heart ached for his fox spirit who had been bullied.

“How is that thing now, will it come back?” Lu Qingjiu asked.

Bai Yuehu’s eyes were half-closed, his black hair scattered loosely behind him, actually giving his entire person a languid seductiveness. “He might, but his wounds are worse than mine. If he wants to come back, it won’t be that easy for him.”

Lu Qingjiu “oh”-ed. “Then you should rest first, I’ll make you something to eat.” 

Bai Yuehu said, “En…… Wait.”

Lu Qingjiu, “En?”

“What’s in your pocket?” Bai Yuehu suddenly asked.

“A black scale.” Lu Qingjiu pulled it out of his pocket. All the scales in the courtyard had disappeared, and only the scale in his hand still existed. He really looked this scale. After taking it out, he rubbed it a few times, feeling its smoothness. “What’s wrong?” 

Bai Yuehu’s expression was a little unnatural. “What are you keeping that for?”

“Oh, I think it’s really pretty,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Is there a problem? If it’s not okay to keep it, I’ll just toss it.”

Bai Yuehu said, “……It’s not not okay.”

Lu Qingjiu looked at Bai Yuehu, confused. 

Bai Yuehu said, “Nevermind, just keep it.” He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he stayed quiet. As he watched Lu Qingjiu rub the scale, a suspicious blush appeared on his cheeks, but because Lu Qingjiu’s attention was focused on the wound on Bai Yuehu’s chest, he didn’t notice.

“Then I’ll just keep it.” Lu Qingjiu let out a smile. “I’ll go make food now.”

Bai Yuehu nodded, letting Lu Qingjiu leave.