“We need to flee now!” Someone held their head.
“Don’t worry, we still have some time.” Cang Xu maintained his calm.
Zi Di subconsciously took a deep breath and her eyes seemed to flicker like gold coins: “Time is limited, not only do we need to leave alive, we need to do our best to acquire the greatest benefits! A reserve medium is in warehouse 12, move it here. Now!”
Everyone immediately acted.
The tower spirit’s reserve medium was a gigantic crystal ball that was many times taller than a person.
The crystal ball was pushed to the crystal pillars, then under Zi Di’s control, the tower spirit began to move.
More than half of the crystal pillars had collapsed already.
The tower spirit was too weak, and it could do nothing to resist as it was moved into the crystal ball.
Zi Di looked at the nearly collapsed and bamboo thin crystal pillars: “Only a third of the memory database has been transported with the tower spirit, one third has collapsed, and one third remains here. A real pity, these things are extremely valuable, however we can’t take them.”
“By researching these, can we learn the truth of Mystifying Monster Island?” Cang Xu asked.
“Certainly” Zi Di immediately moved, her spirit constantly pried into the crystal pillars.
Mystifying Monster Island really was War Merchant’s headquarters. When a small squadron from the Blood Light Punishment Institution suddenly attacked, War Merchant was caught unprepared. After barely sealing the flame dragon king, he finally died by a legendary weapon.
The Blood Light Punishment Institution’s saint levels also all died.
Both sides nearly destroyed each other.
“The third floor’s mysterious treasure is called the Bloodcore. War Merchant used it and the first floor’s Green Jade Golden Coffin to make batches of artificial magic beasts.” Zi Di’s words made the youngster’s heart jump.
The body double youngster was just about to ask Zi Di for his true origin, but after hearing that, he immediately altered his thinking and rapidly asked: “What information do you have on the Bloodcore? How did War Merchant make it? How can it be controlled?”
“I was just investigating that……” Zi Di tightly scowled, her spirit was always focused.
But at that moment, the crystal pillar collapsed in a bang, and turned into white dust that fell to the ground.
Everyone was dumbstruck.
After a few seconds, Zi Di took the lead and reacted first: “Hurry, transport everything that can be moved.”
“Abandon the raw materials that still need to be refined!”
“The alchemy golem components are too heavy; we don’t want them.”
“Does anyone still remember the goods in the plaza? We need those weapons!”
“The Bloodcore and Mermaid Fairy Tale are a must.”
“Don’t forget the boxes of magic scrolls and the tower spirit medium.”
“Hurry hurry hurry, move everything!”
The ghost girl’s high-pitched screeching voice immediately seized leadership from the body double youngster as it commanded with incomparable power.
Everyone rapidly acted.
Most of the treasures were concentrated in one place.
Zong Ge creased his brows: “Hold on, don’t forget about the flame dragon king. After the self-destruct, the alchemy magic formation will also break. If it escapes, we will be at a disadvantage. Even if we have a ship, we can’t escape far.”
Zi Di replied: “The alchemy factory’s self-destruct is extraordinary, not only will it completely destroy Mystifying Monster Island, it will also warp space, cause banishment, and have other effects. In other words, after the explosion, the ruins and slag will be banished to another plane nothing will remain in its original location.”
Zong Ge asked again: “Can the explosion kill the flame king dragon?”
Zi Di pursed her brows and hesitated: “I don’t know, after all I was only at the iron level in life, that’s all.”
“Let me chat with it.” The body double youngster said, “We killed the Sheng Ming priest, and are also holding a noble heir captive. If we can successfully negotiate with it, maybe it can take the guilt off of us. But the prerequisite to this, is we need to part with much of our spoils of war.”
Everyone’s eyes shined equally.
“If our guilt can be removed, that would be for the best.”
“Yes, no one wants to be hunted by the empire.”
“My Lord, I will come with you!”
The body double youngster shook his head: “No, I can move faster by myself. Most of the golems in the magma battlefield were War Merchant’s direct subordinates, without the alchemy factory's authority controlling them, it is very dangerous.”
“Zi Di, I need you to command these artificial magic beasts to fight for time and space so I can converse with the flame dragon king.
“No problem!” Zi Di immediately agreed.
The body double youngster entered the magma battlefield again.
Using the artificial magic beasts to attack the alchemy golems, the youngster hid behind a boulder in a remote corner, then he fished out the second Bloodcore.
This was a significant divine artifact and was naturally in his care.
His heart’s urge to swallow made him instinctively activate the Bloodcore in his heart, emitting red light.
The red light extended to the second Bloodcore, rapidly melting the latter and transforming it into a ball of red light.
After a moment, all of the red light returned.
As the two Bloodcores fused into one entity, the youngster’s Bloodcore faintly grew.
The incomparable desire to swallow that tormented the youngster also vanished completely.
“Bloodcore……”
There wasn’t time for the body double youngster to examine the Bloodcore’s new changes, because the artificial magic beasts were winning.
The youngster immediately appeared and ran to the edge of the magma.
“Flame dragon king!” He shouted, opening negotiations with the flame dragon king.
The negotiations didn’t go smoothly.
Seeing the youngster return, the flame dragon king immediately realized War Merchant was already dead. Someone as arrogant as it didn’t wish to divide the contribution with these small insects.
From its point of view, this was rational.
War Merchant’s death was caused by the Blood Light Punishment Institution’s squadron. The young knight’s group was simply here by chance, nothing more. If he wasn’t forced by circumstance, the youngster wouldn’t have tried to negotiate with it.
“You dregs don’t have a choice!”
“Do you really think you can negotiate with a king?”
“Hahaha, ridiculous! For what reason? Are you relying on your freedom?”
“Without my help, you will all die! Even if you don’t help me escape, I can still escape this alchemy formation, when that happens, you will face my fury!”
“Now, I order you to open this alchemy formation and grovel for forgiveness. Perhaps if I’m in a good mood, I will spare some of your lives. Hahaha.”
The negotiation with the flame dragon king was an utter failure.
The body double youngster was frustrated and worried.
This was a failure, if the self-destruct didn’t kill the flame dragon king, the latter would definitely demand the exploration team’s lives!
What should be done?
The Bloodcore thirsting impulse came again.
But this thirst wasn’t as strong as the last one.
The youngster’s heart was moved: “Perhaps, the Bloodcore can……”
According to his heart’s intuition, he began to use the Bloodcore.
The red light permeated through the alchemy formation and gradually covered the flame dragon king’s enormous body.
“What are you doing?”
“Hehehe, do you also think you can harm me?!”
“Lowly insect, you cannot imagine harming a grand legend.”
One minute later.
“No, no!”
“You cannot do this to me!”
“You wretched insect……good, good! I admit you are qualified to negotiate with me, we can speak now.”
The youngster was indifferent: “No, negotiations are unnecessary.”
After the red light completely covered the flame dragon king, it quickly melted its body.
The flame dragon king wrathfully roared and endlessly cursed the young knight.
Then, it disappeared.
It had completely transformed into a gigantic ball of red light and a massive pile of carbon ash.
As the carbon ash was quickly engulfed by the magma, the red light flowed back into the youngster’s new Bloodcore.
“I, I can actually use this Bloodcore to kill a legend level existence!” The youngster was endlessly shocked by this result.
Leaving the remaining artificial magic beasts and alchemy golems still fighting, the youngster quickly returned to everyone else.
“Negotiations have failed.” He stated.
This outcome made everyone’s heart drop; however, it wasn’t unexpected.
“Now, we can only hope the self-destruct explosion kills it.”
“At worst, it will be banished to a different plane!”
No one knew the flame dragon king was already dead.
The body double youngster opened his mouth, but in the end his heart sighed, and he didn’t speak of the Bloodcore.
Everyone carried the treasure and squeezed into three underground rail carts.
The rail carts quickly moved, and not long after, they stopped at an underwater dock.
Here, they saw the alchemy ship.
It looked like a gigantic blue-gold fish.
“It is called the Deep Sea Monster Fish!” With her complete authority, Zi Di easily led everyone through the passage and onto the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
Passing by the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s exploration equipment, the youngster had a discovery: “As it turns out, this place is the desert oasis!”
He thought of the fierce battle that happened here, when he used the green lizard eyes to see the fat ball flying fish, he also saw the lake had a terrifying heat source at the bottom.
“So, that heat source was actually the Deep Sea Monster Fish!”
The Deep Sea Monster Fish dived through an underground river and rapidly escaped Mystifying Monster Island.
After getting ten nautical miles away, Mystifying Monster Island self-destructed.
The enormous explosion shook heaven and earth, causing a stream of water to cover the sky.
Space quickly shattered, sea water vanished, innumerable magic beast corpses were destroyed, and all of the island ruins were dragged into a black hole and banished to a different plane.
In the Deep Sea Monster Fish, everyone watched with trepidation.
After space reinstated itself and the seawater became serene, they didn’t see the king flame dragon.
“It seems it either died or was banished!”
“Woohoo! We survived.”
“How wonderful, we succeeded!!”
For a moment, the Deep Sea Monster Fish filled with wild joy.
But the ghost Zi Di was wobbling as she descended to the floor.
“Zi Di, what’s happening to you?” The youngster was incomparably nervous.
“She needs to rest immediately. It is like a tired person needing to sleep. In the end, she is only a newborn ghost, nothing more. Fortunately, she still has her body, it can allow her to recuperate for the time being.” Cang Xu replied.
Hearing Cang Xu’s words, the youngster relaxed. “Zi Di, rest well. I have so many things I want to say to you.”
“Me too.” The ghost girl caressed the youngster’s face, but she went through him.
She returned to her icy body and sank into hibernation.
Several months later.
On a tranquil sea surface, a strong radiance suddenly flashed.
A massive teleportation spell that covered a diameter of ten meters appeared from nowhere, then disappeared shortly after.
Three human characters floated in the air and looked down on the sea.
They all wore scarlet gowns, iron gloves, iron boots, and iron masks.
On the front and back of the blood red gowns, there were nine white-gold stars.
They came from the Blood Light Punishment Institution!
“Is this the place?” The leader’s life aura was at an awe-inspiring legend level.
“I am certain!” Another character with long black braids said, he emitted a gold level aura, and said with a male voice: “His scent is here, he absolutely came to this place!”
The leader nodded: “Then let me take a glimpse.”
The next moment, he used a divine spell to look back upon time. This divine spell could repeat the sounds and images of the past directly into the leader’s heart.
The leader’s body suddenly shook.
The shaking was keenly observed by the other two, making their hearts amazed. They had never seen their leader lose their self-control in this way.
After a moment, the legend level leader heavily said: “The divine spell was ineffective, some formidable power is thwarting my investigations.”
“I only barely heard some sounds.”
“I heard the frightful shouts of beast groups, the berating of a Sheng Ming priest, a noble surrendering, and a flame dragon king desperately roaring at death’s door.
The two others’ hearts quaked, and they lost their voice.
“What?!”
“My Lord, what is the meaning of this?”
“That’s right, my institution’s missing third squadron died here. The island that was once here——was Mystifying Monster Island! This was once War Merchant’s old nest!!”
Learning this information, the two characters lost their voices again.
“The alchemy grandmaster War Merchant?!”
“Did the fight that erupted here sink Mystifying Monster Island and kill everyone?”
The leader was unsure about this as the divine spell entered its final phase.
With a sinking heart, he continued to listen attentively.
Quickly, he heard the vague and disjointed dialogue of some people.
“We should leave……”
“As for the captain, I can only acknowledge you.”
“No, to be more accurate, all of us acknowledge you, your Lordship.”
“But I am only a beast……”
“No, no one believes that. It was you who led us, and we accept you as our leader. You are a true knight!”
The dialogue was like a dreamy wind and quickly dissipated.
The leader sighed, knowing he couldn’t gain anything else; he stopped the divine spell.
“Some people survived, they might have obtained great spoils and War Merchant’s inheritance!” The leader stated.
“Who were they?” The two promptly asked.
The leader shook his head and said with extreme regret: “I cannot determine that……I can only determine they have already decided their chief, and that their chief has great prestige.”
“If your Lordship cannot determine it, I fear no one else in the empire can investigate any more information.” The two were very frustrated.
The leader coldly snorted: “The darkness will only shroud for a while, in the end, the light will pervade it. These people cannot hide forever, there will inevitably be a day when they are revealed.”
“We will continue our mission, you, return and report this information to the institution.”
“First let's order the arrest of these people!”
“Yes, my Lord. May I ask the code name of the wanted……”
Since they didn’t know the name, they used a code name. War Merchant was one such code name.
The leader thought of one: “Beast Knight.”
End of Book 1
Through the darkness, a monster swims beyond the light
A being unknown to men, beasts, and even gods
A noble and just heart, yet a leader of devils
Exceed the limitations of birth, shatter normality
For fate shall break so dreams can flourish
Author's Note:
Summary of Book 1: I Want to Light a Lantern
I had a tough time when <<Reverend Insanity>> was banned.
I had bad insomnia, bad moods and too much stress during that time. Every day I would bask in the evening sun to increase my melatonin production. Usually, I would move a small bench and sit in front of the window.
<<The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry>>, <<Ordinary World by Lu Yao>>, <<The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini>>, <<The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maugham>> ... These were all books I had reading during this period.
So good to read!
Sometimes I'd close the book and ponder, sometimes I was moved to tears.
One day, I looked up and suddenly realised that my life had been full of sunshine and beauty. The darkness and pain came more from the self-imposed exile of the mind.
It was like when the body-double youngster had the ears of a bat monkey and suddenly heard the sounds of nature and experienced its beauty.
All troubles were no longer troubles.
This experience prompted me to question: What is the value of a literary work?
No one's life can be smooth and easy. Life is not easy, there were many trials and tribulations, many ups and downs. I was fortunate to be able to read these works, which were like a light in the darkness when I was in pain, giving me the strength to break through the barriers of my mind.
When you think about it carefully, it's actually a very romantic thing.
In a time that I do not know, in a place far away from me, there was a person who wove a lantern with his or her own heart and put his or her own soul into it to act as a light. Then cast into the long river of human history, floating on its surface.
A person who was lucky enough to see such this light, whether he or she was in the upstream, downstream or midstream of life, whether it was in the midst of a stormy sea or a beautiful landscape. This light would touch his or her heart and make him or her feel its beauty. Perhaps love, or the pursuit of a dream, or the contemplation of life, or the search for truth.
Man is alone, man's life span is limited, man is small, and the whole of humanity is actually very fragile, and we have been living on the humble abode that is the Earth. A single virus has the potential to disintegrate the entire human society. Ethnicity, culture, and geography keep people apart from each other, even in today’s time where the internet is so advanced. Such lights, however, can cross these barriers.
Those who make these lights; across ethnicities, religion, geography, and the boundaries of time; tell others this: I have lived, I have thought this way, I have been moved this way. This is my light, and I especially hope that I can use this small light to bring as much help as possible to others. Even if it’s just a touch, it would be the greatest satisfaction in my life.
Perhaps this is where the value of literature comes into play.
In fact, I felt this way when I was writing <<Reverend Insanity>>. The most fun I had interacting with readers was not when they said they felt good about which chapter they had read, or when they discussed the design of Gu worms. Rather, I remember a student saying that he wanted to learn from Fang Yuan about his spirit of never giving up, and he drew strength from <<Reverend Insanity>> to do well in his final exams. He had a troubled family and divorced parents, he used to feel terrible about life, but he found new hope in Fang Yuan's perseverance.
The old ancestors had a phrase that was exquisitely coined—it is called ‘see the wise and think of their virtues(见贤思齐)’.
These past experiences of literary creations and life experiences triggered my urge to write <<Infinite Bloodcore>>.
Rather than writing a book, I wanted to light a lantern.
Even if the light of this lantern is extremely weak, I want to try my best to help some friends who may be experiencing a moment of darkness and pain like I did. To bring them some strength.
What I want is to recall the cries of the body-double youngster when our lives are in trouble, when we are misunderstood, reviled, disgusted, when we are deceived by life, when we are tormented by our dreams, or even when we make mistakes that we can hardly forgive ourselves for—
“I am not Zhen Jin.”
“I am also not a genius.”
“My body does not have a noble bloodline.”
“I am not a templar knight.”
…
“My original memory was cleared away, and now, I only have the shattered memories of another person.”
“Everyone knows their name.”
“I am inferior to you, because I never knew my own name.”
…
“We were born mediocre.”
“We were rejected and loathed.”
“We were betrayed by a close relative.”
“We cannot always get impartial treatment.”
“We are also guilty, and incapable of forgiving ourselves."
“We were spurred, banished, wanted, and ridiculed by others. So what?”
“Should we not think about it?”
“Should we not do something about it?”
“Reality has already made us suffer, and it is unbearable to have a terrible life. We only want to become better and do better.”
…
No matter what, we should always pursue the beauty of life.
The sun has always been there.
Isn’t it just a matter of if we look up or not?
This creative idea began to germinate during the later stages of <<Reverend Insanity>>, and the writing of <<The Legends of Ren Zu>> brought me a lot of enlightenment in the midst of my life. It was clearly realised when <<Reverend Insanity>> was banned. By the time <<Infinite Bloodcore>> came out, it was time for my formal attempt and growth.
Only like so can we live life to the fullest.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope I have inspired you.
August 30, 2020.
At long last, the end of book 1, completely translated on 4/4/21. On that day, privileged chapters for
Reverend Insanity
hit the infamous chapter 2334, bringing an abrupt end to the story. Based on my original schedule, I was supposed to finish on 4/27/21, one year after I started. But I decided to push myself and finish on the day
Reverend Insanity
ended. One could call it poetic that as one book comes to an end, another one is just beginning.
Of course the most pressing question around is when will I start book 2?
To be frank, I won't be starting book 2 until the following requirements are fulfilled.
1. Zhen Ren must complete his editing of book 1 and I must finish translating the changes he has made.
2. Zhen Ren must finish writing and editing book 2. I will not start translating it until it happens because I don't want a repeat of the nonsense I am facing currently.
3. I must obtain a fully edited copy of book 2.
Book 1 has gone through many changes, to the point where although I know most of the plot beats of book 1 are accurate, some of the characterization and world building might have shifted dramatically. Therefore, I will be spending a lot of time editing my way through after Zhen Ren finishes.
Infinite Bloodcore isn't a in a traditional sense, it's more like early access writing where readers pay to watch how Zhen Ren writes a book if he isn't forced to release daily chapters.
Well, even though I'm not the greatest translator ever, I put in the effort. When you compare my work to 's translation of this book, you can really see the difference.
Those fucking names holy shit.
But for now, this is the end of releases for the forseeable future. In the meantime, I will be translating a book called
Motherland
, written by Zhi Bai.