Chapter 6: Venture Pharmaceuticals (3)
“You would die of course.” The youth sneered: “Don’t tell me I should trust in any low-level agent of Heavens Law that comes knocking on my doorstep?”
Bang! Before he had even finished speaking, he abruptly flew back! Moments ago, his stomach felt as if it had been struck by Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade! Xu Yangyi simply hadn’t waited for him to finish speaking and sent him flying back with a kick! [1]
The youth dared to swear that he heard the sound of his ribs fracturing.
“You…” He looked at Xu Yangyi incredulously. The sharp pain of his chest was like the swelling of a tide. There, a large depression had already sunken in. A footprint could be vaguely seen! He grinded his teeth rigidly, and his voice transformed into a roar in an instant: “You… insignificant human! You maggot that won’t even live for a hundred years! You go so far as to dare violate the Shennong Convention?! I’m the Cao Family’s technology director! You actually…”
Boom! In the next second, Xu Yangyi planted his heel on the back of the other’s head as he smiled, suddenly forcing him down onto the table and causing a loud sound!
The excessive use of strength made the entire table tremble. As if his eyes desired to split open, the youth looked at the other with unparalleled hatred. While he could simply move, he dared not do so. On the contrary… his newborn fear made him begin to faintly shiver from head to toe.
“Recite it with me.” Xu Yangyi calmly played around with the lighter. In the darkness, the light it created at his back made his expression unclear to see, yet the steady sound it carried brought with it icy coldness like that of a knife: “For the construction of favorable societal boundaries and to found a harmonious society.”
“You fucking…”
Bang!
“Argh!”
Xu Yangyi increased the strength of his foot once again. On top of the youth, it was a like a tremendous mountain boulder, making him simply unable to display more anger! Because of the strength exercised just now, the table top was already beginning to split open with a thin wooden crack! The teacup placed on it was faintly trembling!
He would truly die! With this thought, a numbing fear swiftly pervaded the youth’s body from head to toe..
“I’ll recite it! I’ll recite it!” His train of thought was like arcing electricity, yet his brain still hadn’t responded. Already, his body couldn’t help but yell as it teared at his throat: “F-for the construction of favorable societal boundaries and to f-found a harmonious s-society!”
“I like people that cooperate.” Xu Yangyi retracted his foot and laughed: “See, there’s no need, right? You’ve refused the toast but to drink a forfeit.” [2]
The youth grinded his teeth, stood up, and sat down in a seat. He gripped onto a teacup so hard that his hands went white. This man… Since the beginning, Xu Yangyi simply didn’t desire to be “courteous” to him!
That so-called period of time hadn’t exceeded over three seconds! Who would appear and chat with a hunter that had come knocking on their door? At this moment, his demon’s intuition was telling him that the other really wanted to kill him… Truly dared to kill him!
What bullshit convention?! The other side simply didn’t give a rat’s ass! Disregarding Xu Yangyi’s expression that looked serene as lake waters, if you tore away at the seam of his skin, you would discover that he was a genuine demon!
It wasn’t until the youth was kicked into a wall did he discover that Xu Yangyi’s words didn’t match the smile he was wearing on his face! At this moment, the youth really believed it. Truly believed in the nickname The Grinning Reaper!
“You psychopath…” The youth grinded his teeth rigidly and said with an incomparably resentful, humiliating, and hateful voice: “You go so far as to wantonly raise your hand against a demon despite the human-demon convention…”
Xu Yangyi swept his eyes over the other indifferently: “I question, you answer.”
“Age?”
“Eighteen…” The youth glanced at the look on Xu Yangyi’s face, faintly knitted his brows, and immediately said: “That’s the age on my ID! I’m thirty-three!”
“How many hosts have you found?”
“Five! I swear I haven’t killed more people than that!”
Xu Yangyi laughed and raised a brow: “I estimate it to be true, as well. The accuracy of the wind edge aimed at my neck was pretty terrible.”
The youth’s hand on the side of the table made a cracking noise as it clenched.
“Why did you find a host?”
“Aren’t you asking what you already know?” The youth said gloomily: “Demons don’t get older and never age, but our lifespans are the same as those of humans. When we come to realize the gravity of the situation is when we also stop aging. Could you tolerate your neighbor for a few years or over a dozen years that doesn’t age? If we don’t find a host, where would our identification papers come from?”
Finished speaking, he sneered at Xu Yangyi: “Yet isn’t this the doing of you humans? To use the internet, you need identification papers, but who is going to fucking pull it out? You need papers to find a job and to attend school! You even need papers if you want to travel! Consider these things… Taobao! Website registration! You actually need identification to play games! It’s written clearly in the Shennong Convention… Thus, what I am most sick of dealing with is you weak, cunning humans!” [3]
Xu Yangyi didn’t speak, taking a drag of his cigarette and saying expressionlessly: “Qi Condensation… Foundation Establishment… Core Formation, these three great realms… walking step by step, all are struggling with the heavens, but you actually have the gall to go fool around in the human world?”
The youth sighed deeply and looked at Xu Yangyi’s gaze that carried a hint of coldness, his words carrying a bone-ingrained resentment: “You think I want it to be like this? As soon as a spirit vein is found, it’s the government that gets to set up auction first and allows selected people to bid on it. Soon after, the high echelons of Heavens Law start up a project immediately! Have you heard of the Nine National Offices? You haven’t, huh? Everyone knows that there are only eight offices… just to give to Heavens Law in preparation! Where do you think the spirit stones that you use to cultivate to the middle-stage of Qi Condensation come from?”
“Afterwards, with each of those of the great Core Formation realm, the Core Formation humans and the Greater Demons partition it. Hehe… It’s the Digital age now. Those days where if a Greater Demon massacred a city, a factory exploded, or a dam was breached, which could be concealed, are over. The sitting premier dreads having to bear the blame! Who dares lift the cover of the last several thousand years of darkness? Hehe… No one dares!”
The world belonged to humans… Cultivation was to cultivate longer to live longer. Qi Condensation, a 100 years of longevity. Foundation Establishment, 200 years of longevity. Core Formation, 300 years of longevity. As for Nascent Soul that followed… To say the least, Xu Yangyi had never heard of it. The realm had long vanished over a century ago.
Cultivation had three great realms: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation. For the corresponding realms of demons, it was Form Transformation, Firmament Stepping, and Origin Crystallization. As for what came after… no one had witnessed it. Each realm required a staggering accumulation of resources. It didn’t need to be mentioned that spirit stones were the best goods that could be circulated for absorption. [4]
It was because of the government’s support that humanity had enough resources to cultivate. Of course, it was sufficient in relativity to the demons.
As for demons, after triumphing in Form Transformation, their spiritual livelihoods would be easy. They could enter and leave grand mountains and great rivers as they pleased and search for ancestral remnants, obtaining the fortunes of superhumans from long past. With the addition of bloodline inheritance, demons were over a third more powerful than humans within the same realm!
This kind of disparity, especially after a demon cultivator could expel and reabsorb their origin crystal, was even more apparent. As for the primordial beginning of transformation between human form and demon form at will, such a demon was like a Nascent Soul realm human. In the same manner, they had already become nearly extinct long ago.
On one hand, there was victory in the amount of human cultivators; the base number of those with spiritual roots was great. On the other hand, the demons beat out the humans in terms of strength when it came to the abilities of individual soldiers. However, in “life”, the major heart of the issue was that both sides had long ago shared intimate, harmonious relationships with each other. The Greater Demons wanted humanity’s strength to accumulate their own resources, and likewise, humans didn’t want to force the demons too strictly. If a Greater Demon went mad in this kind of peaceful era and wreaked havoc all around, the balance of the game between countries would change.
At the very least, it was like this on the surface.
“Continue.” Xu Yangyi flicked the table: “Sanshui City… How many hunting grounds does it have?”
“Eight.” The youth answered without the least bit hesitation: “The awareness of demon territory is extremely strong. Every demon has cut out their own territory. They wouldn’t let other demons enter their hunting grounds, otherwise, it would be equal to the declaration of a life-or-death struggle. I think… that the Public Security Bureau doesn’t wish to see such a situation, as well. However, in the same vein, it’s not every demon that can cultivate. At the least, it’s only the demons at the initial stages of Form Transformation that establish their own hunting grounds. I guarantee that with myself included, the number of demons at Form Transformation doesn’t exceed eight!”
Xu Yangyi didn’t have any expression whatsoever. He himself was part of Heavens Law. In fact, his understanding of human-demon relations in comparison to Chief Zheng wasn’t much better.
What he genuinely understood was… the most effective and fastest ways to kill demons. No matter if it was a demon, a fae, a ghost, or a devil, he could practically set himself to the task of finding the other’s Achilles’ heel.
Others merely acted to master the surface of the knowledge and nothing more. Slaughter, however, was his true speciality. In light of this aspect, he could even be considered an honest and simple man. At the very least, he was a simple person.
“Have any other demons come recently?” Xu Yangyi asked stonily.
“Of course…” The youth began to laugh cruelly: “I know what you’re looking for… What about it? Heavens Law accepted Sanshui City’s mission, but is unable to find the killer? You… Argh! You… Lighten up a bit! Dammit! Let go of my hand!”
Xu Yangyi’s hand was already gently pressed down against the other’s carotid artery. Merely, he hadn’t glanced at the youth at all, but was rather looking at the indistinct flickering of the cigarette butt in his hand.
“I want an answer.” He smothered the end of his cigarette by pressing it between his fingers: “No bullshit.”
Demons, in the same manner, were a society. He wasn’t of the mood, and the duty as well, to obey the hierarchy of their society. Simple and rough was the style of his investigating conduct. His execution of policy only sought after results.
You’re not going to speak? Sure. I’ll follow orders and change my methods.
“You fucking psychopath…” The youth’s lips shivered. He had truly been frightened. In all these years, he had never met a person of Heavens Law. In the passage of thirty-somewhat years, he had long since never revered humanity’s branch of special forces. Besides, he hadn’t killed that many people at all; he wasn’t a carnivorous demon. Heavens Law also didn’t possess the skill to cast his body out with a gaze.
But tonight… this youth in his early twenties before him made him begin to rethink everything once more.
“I admit defeat today.” Watching the retreating hand, the youth sighed in relief and sneered: “The person you want to find is in an abandoned building in the south of the ninth division in the real estate district. From this day onwards, may our paths never cross again!”
The youth finished saying these words and opened the door with a swoosh. Just as he was leaving, his face suddenly turned ashen, and he turned his head: “You still haven’t asked for my name.”
“Really?” Xu Yangyi looked at the night scenery, lost in thought: “That’s not important at all.”
Bang! The door rang like a trembling mountain. The youth charged outside the door, carrying an unequalled burning fury.
“That whore-raised bastard…” No one had seen it, but as he left the door in a flash, he pursed his lips forcefully and glanced at the door and sneered: “You truly believe Heavens Law is omnipotent? Don’t forget, you’re only a student that still hasn’t even graduated! Hehe… You haven’t thought to why it’s carrying out a wanton slaughter in Sanshui City? Is is that none of the demons care? Is the Shennong Convention truly a joking matter?
“It’s not that they don’t care… It’s that they don’t dare to take control of this matter… There’s not a single demon in Sanshui City that dares to rear their head… Hehehe… I’m really looking forward to it… The scene of it tearing you to pieces…” His body was like an illusion, beginning to drift apart into the air in layers: “... Relax… When the time comes, I’ll ‘help’ your soul pass onto the afterlife…”
[1] Guan Yu is a figure in Chinese history during the three kingdoms era. He is regarded as being the most loyal of bros.
[2] Refused a toast but to drink a forfeit. A colorful chinese idiom meaning that a person refused to do a request, but in the end is forced to that that request and then some.
[3] Taobao: Chinese amazon/ebay I believe
[4] 化形, 天梯, 内丹. These are the three realms described for demons. Respectively, they are Form Transformation, Firmament Stepping, and Origin Crystallization. Of the three, the one I’m most iffy about is Firmament Stepping, since the literal translation is Heavens Stairs/ Sky Ladder. Of the three, the last one, Origin Crystallization is like that of Core Formation except for demons. Like human cultivator cores, demons have a “crystal” as their core. I tried to mirror human cultivation realms in terms of naming for demons.
Chapter 6: Venture Pharmaceuticals (3)
“You would die of course.” The youth sneered: “Don’t tell me I should trust in any low-level agent of Heavens Law that comes knocking on my doorstep?”
Bang! Before he had even finished speaking, he abruptly flew back! Moments ago, his stomach felt as if it had been struck by Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade! Xu Yangyi simply hadn’t waited for him to finish speaking and sent him flying back with a kick! [1]
The youth dared to swear that he heard the sound of his ribs fracturing.
“You…” He looked at Xu Yangyi incredulously. The sharp pain of his chest was like the swelling of a tide. There, a large depression had already sunken in. A footprint could be vaguely seen! He grinded his teeth rigidly, and his voice transformed into a roar in an instant: “You… insignificant human! You maggot that won’t even live for a hundred years! You go so far as to dare violate the Shennong Convention?! I’m the Cao Family’s technology director! You actually…”
Boom! In the next second, Xu Yangyi planted his heel on the back of the other’s head as he smiled, suddenly forcing him down onto the table and causing a loud sound!
The excessive use of strength made the entire table tremble. As if his eyes desired to split open, the youth looked at the other with unparalleled hatred. While he could simply move, he dared not do so. On the contrary… his newborn fear made him begin to faintly shiver from head to toe.
“Recite it with me.” Xu Yangyi calmly played around with the lighter. In the darkness, the light it created at his back made his expression unclear to see, yet the steady sound it carried brought with it icy coldness like that of a knife: “For the construction of favorable societal boundaries and to found a harmonious society.”
“You fucking…”
Bang!
“Argh!”
Xu Yangyi increased the strength of his foot once again. On top of the youth, it was a like a tremendous mountain boulder, making him simply unable to display more anger! Because of the strength exercised just now, the table top was already beginning to split open with a thin wooden crack! The teacup placed on it was faintly trembling!
He would truly die! With this thought, a numbing fear swiftly pervaded the youth’s body from head to toe..
“I’ll recite it! I’ll recite it!” His train of thought was like arcing electricity, yet his brain still hadn’t responded. Already, his body couldn’t help but yell as it teared at his throat: “F-for the construction of favorable societal boundaries and to f-found a harmonious s-society!”
“I like people that cooperate.” Xu Yangyi retracted his foot and laughed: “See, there’s no need, right? You’ve refused the toast but to drink a forfeit.” [2]
The youth grinded his teeth, stood up, and sat down in a seat. He gripped onto a teacup so hard that his hands went white. This man… Since the beginning, Xu Yangyi simply didn’t desire to be “courteous” to him!
That so-called period of time hadn’t exceeded over three seconds! Who would appear and chat with a hunter that had come knocking on their door? At this moment, his demon’s intuition was telling him that the other really wanted to kill him… Truly dared to kill him!
What bullshit convention?! The other side simply didn’t give a rat’s ass! Disregarding Xu Yangyi’s expression that looked serene as lake waters, if you tore away at the seam of his skin, you would discover that he was a genuine demon!
It wasn’t until the youth was kicked into a wall did he discover that Xu Yangyi’s words didn’t match the smile he was wearing on his face! At this moment, the youth really believed it. Truly believed in the nickname The Grinning Reaper!
“You psychopath…” The youth grinded his teeth rigidly and said with an incomparably resentful, humiliating, and hateful voice: “You go so far as to wantonly raise your hand against a demon despite the human-demon convention…”
Xu Yangyi swept his eyes over the other indifferently: “I question, you answer.”
“Age?”
“Eighteen…” The youth glanced at the look on Xu Yangyi’s face, faintly knitted his brows, and immediately said: “That’s the age on my ID! I’m thirty-three!”
“How many hosts have you found?”
“Five! I swear I haven’t killed more people than that!”
Xu Yangyi laughed and raised a brow: “I estimate it to be true, as well. The accuracy of the wind edge aimed at my neck was pretty terrible.”
The youth’s hand on the side of the table made a cracking noise as it clenched.
“Why did you find a host?”
“Aren’t you asking what you already know?” The youth said gloomily: “Demons don’t get older and never age, but our lifespans are the same as those of humans. When we come to realize the gravity of the situation is when we also stop aging. Could you tolerate your neighbor for a few years or over a dozen years that doesn’t age? If we don’t find a host, where would our identification papers come from?”
Finished speaking, he sneered at Xu Yangyi: “Yet isn’t this the doing of you humans? To use the internet, you need identification papers, but who is going to fucking pull it out? You need papers to find a job and to attend school! You even need papers if you want to travel! Consider these things… Taobao! Website registration! You actually need identification to play games! It’s written clearly in the Shennong Convention… Thus, what I am most sick of dealing with is you weak, cunning humans!” [3]
Xu Yangyi didn’t speak, taking a drag of his cigarette and saying expressionlessly: “Qi Condensation… Foundation Establishment… Core Formation, these three great realms… walking step by step, all are struggling with the heavens, but you actually have the gall to go fool around in the human world?”
The youth sighed deeply and looked at Xu Yangyi’s gaze that carried a hint of coldness, his words carrying a bone-ingrained resentment: “You think I want it to be like this? As soon as a spirit vein is found, it’s the government that gets to set up auction first and allows selected people to bid on it. Soon after, the high echelons of Heavens Law start up a project immediately! Have you heard of the Nine National Offices? You haven’t, huh? Everyone knows that there are only eight offices… just to give to Heavens Law in preparation! Where do you think the spirit stones that you use to cultivate to the middle-stage of Qi Condensation come from?”
“Afterwards, with each of those of the great Core Formation realm, the Core Formation humans and the Greater Demons partition it. Hehe… It’s the Digital age now. Those days where if a Greater Demon massacred a city, a factory exploded, or a dam was breached, which could be concealed, are over. The sitting premier dreads having to bear the blame! Who dares lift the cover of the last several thousand years of darkness? Hehe… No one dares!”
The world belonged to humans… Cultivation was to cultivate longer to live longer. Qi Condensation, a 100 years of longevity. Foundation Establishment, 200 years of longevity. Core Formation, 300 years of longevity. As for Nascent Soul that followed… To say the least, Xu Yangyi had never heard of it. The realm had long vanished over a century ago.
Cultivation had three great realms: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation. For the corresponding realms of demons, it was Form Transformation, Firmament Stepping, and Origin Crystallization. As for what came after… no one had witnessed it. Each realm required a staggering accumulation of resources. It didn’t need to be mentioned that spirit stones were the best goods that could be circulated for absorption. [4]
It was because of the government’s support that humanity had enough resources to cultivate. Of course, it was sufficient in relativity to the demons.
As for demons, after triumphing in Form Transformation, their spiritual livelihoods would be easy. They could enter and leave grand mountains and great rivers as they pleased and search for ancestral remnants, obtaining the fortunes of superhumans from long past. With the addition of bloodline inheritance, demons were over a third more powerful than humans within the same realm!
This kind of disparity, especially after a demon cultivator could expel and reabsorb their origin crystal, was even more apparent. As for the primordial beginning of transformation between human form and demon form at will, such a demon was like a Nascent Soul realm human. In the same manner, they had already become nearly extinct long ago.
On one hand, there was victory in the amount of human cultivators; the base number of those with spiritual roots was great. On the other hand, the demons beat out the humans in terms of strength when it came to the abilities of individual soldiers. However, in “life”, the major heart of the issue was that both sides had long ago shared intimate, harmonious relationships with each other. The Greater Demons wanted humanity’s strength to accumulate their own resources, and likewise, humans didn’t want to force the demons too strictly. If a Greater Demon went mad in this kind of peaceful era and wreaked havoc all around, the balance of the game between countries would change.
At the very least, it was like this on the surface.
“Continue.” Xu Yangyi flicked the table: “Sanshui City… How many hunting grounds does it have?”
“Eight.” The youth answered without the least bit hesitation: “The awareness of demon territory is extremely strong. Every demon has cut out their own territory. They wouldn’t let other demons enter their hunting grounds, otherwise, it would be equal to the declaration of a life-or-death struggle. I think… that the Public Security Bureau doesn’t wish to see such a situation, as well. However, in the same vein, it’s not every demon that can cultivate. At the least, it’s only the demons at the initial stages of Form Transformation that establish their own hunting grounds. I guarantee that with myself included, the number of demons at Form Transformation doesn’t exceed eight!”
Xu Yangyi didn’t have any expression whatsoever. He himself was part of Heavens Law. In fact, his understanding of human-demon relations in comparison to Chief Zheng wasn’t much better.
What he genuinely understood was… the most effective and fastest ways to kill demons. No matter if it was a demon, a fae, a ghost, or a devil, he could practically set himself to the task of finding the other’s Achilles’ heel.
Others merely acted to master the surface of the knowledge and nothing more. Slaughter, however, was his true speciality. In light of this aspect, he could even be considered an honest and simple man. At the very least, he was a simple person.
“Have any other demons come recently?” Xu Yangyi asked stonily.
“Of course…” The youth began to laugh cruelly: “I know what you’re looking for… What about it? Heavens Law accepted Sanshui City’s mission, but is unable to find the killer? You… Argh! You… Lighten up a bit! Dammit! Let go of my hand!”
Xu Yangyi’s hand was already gently pressed down against the other’s carotid artery. Merely, he hadn’t glanced at the youth at all, but was rather looking at the indistinct flickering of the cigarette butt in his hand.
“I want an answer.” He smothered the end of his cigarette by pressing it between his fingers: “No bullshit.”
Demons, in the same manner, were a society. He wasn’t of the mood, and the duty as well, to obey the hierarchy of their society. Simple and rough was the style of his investigating conduct. His execution of policy only sought after results.
You’re not going to speak? Sure. I’ll follow orders and change my methods.
“You fucking psychopath…” The youth’s lips shivered. He had truly been frightened. In all these years, he had never met a person of Heavens Law. In the passage of thirty-somewhat years, he had long since never revered humanity’s branch of special forces. Besides, he hadn’t killed that many people at all; he wasn’t a carnivorous demon. Heavens Law also didn’t possess the skill to cast his body out with a gaze.
But tonight… this youth in his early twenties before him made him begin to rethink everything once more.
“I admit defeat today.” Watching the retreating hand, the youth sighed in relief and sneered: “The person you want to find is in an abandoned building in the south of the ninth division in the real estate district. From this day onwards, may our paths never cross again!”
The youth finished saying these words and opened the door with a swoosh. Just as he was leaving, his face suddenly turned ashen, and he turned his head: “You still haven’t asked for my name.”
“Really?” Xu Yangyi looked at the night scenery, lost in thought: “That’s not important at all.”
Bang! The door rang like a trembling mountain. The youth charged outside the door, carrying an unequalled burning fury.
“That whore-raised bastard…” No one had seen it, but as he left the door in a flash, he pursed his lips forcefully and glanced at the door and sneered: “You truly believe Heavens Law is omnipotent? Don’t forget, you’re only a student that still hasn’t even graduated! Hehe… You haven’t thought to why it’s carrying out a wanton slaughter in Sanshui City? Is is that none of the demons care? Is the Shennong Convention truly a joking matter?
“It’s not that they don’t care… It’s that they don’t dare to take control of this matter… There’s not a single demon in Sanshui City that dares to rear their head… Hehehe… I’m really looking forward to it… The scene of it tearing you to pieces…” His body was like an illusion, beginning to drift apart into the air in layers: “... Relax… When the time comes, I’ll ‘help’ your soul pass onto the afterlife…”
[1] Guan Yu is a figure in Chinese history during the three kingdoms era. He is regarded as being the most loyal of bros.
[2] Refused a toast but to drink a forfeit. A colorful chinese idiom meaning that a person refused to do a request, but in the end is forced to that that request and then some.
[3] Taobao: Chinese amazon/ebay I believe
[4] 化形, 天梯, 内丹. These are the three realms described for demons. Respectively, they are Form Transformation, Firmament Stepping, and Origin Crystallization. Of the three, the one I’m most iffy about is Firmament Stepping, since the literal translation is Heavens Stairs/ Sky Ladder. Of the three, the last one, Origin Crystallization is like that of Core Formation except for demons. Like human cultivator cores, demons have a “crystal” as their core. I tried to mirror human cultivation realms in terms of naming for demons.
