The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Translated by Ying of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

"Ah…"

Even after Gu Ting Yu had awoken he didn't have any idea of what had happened.

All he could see was darkness. He found himself incapable of moving a muscle in his body; his chest felt as though being continually stabbed with a thousand shards of broken glass. He yearned to scream for help but couldn't make a sound.

However, Gu Ting Yu's mind seemed to be very conscious, his brain whirring at a high speed. He thought back to the time before he had fallen asleep.

Their journey back had not been as smooth as they had anticipated; a volcano had erupted, and their original path had been blocked, so the four of them could only take a road which went around the destruction.

Then, as night fell, at Qing Que's suggestion they prepared to rest. Because of his exhaustion, Gu Ting Yu had fallen asleep, but…

Why couldn't he wake up?

Even if his eyes were closed, Gu Ting Yu could still feel something getting closer to him. Those things carried a sinister rot with them, crisscrossing in the air. Their bodies were intertwining and the moist sounds produced were enough to make anyone's hairs rise on end.

"Don't get any closer!" Gu Ting Yu let out a soundless cry.

It was back. That feeling was back. In the past thirty years, he had only ever felt this unique sense of horror in nightmares!

By the time an icy, tongue-like tentacle had wrapped itself around Gu Ting Yu's calf, a part of his mind had already exploded. His fingertips were quivering in sheer terror; he had nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. He could only wait, as layers of that disgusting and sticky substance covered his body.

Paralyzing fear slowly seeped into his bones.

They slipped into his ears and seemed to wrap around his brain. Gu Ting Yu wanted to scream, but new tentacles forced his lips open and crept down his throat…

His thighs were suddenly pulled apart, Gu Ting Yu couldn't even care about the feeling of shame he felt. He needed to escape. If this continued, he was going to die, he would definitely die… Just as his body relaxed as his mind went into overdrive, suddenly—

"AAH———!"

Two tentacles merged together, fusing to form something that resembled a long and thick stick of flesh, and they forced open the narrow opening, slowly climbing inwards.

…

From the perspective of any other person, Gu Ting Yu had just let out an almost indiscernible 'en' as he continued his deep sleep.

His clothes concealed the intestinal fluids which had leaked out, so no-one could detect the horror that Gu TingYu was suffering.

Of course, this didn't apply to Tong Ying who had been keeping his eyes on Gu Ting Yu the entire time from the shadows. Mian's power stemmed from extremity of terror. When that sense of terror hit its maximum, the feeling of hopelessness could kill someone.

Tong Ying furrowed his brows unconsciously into a frown and slowly walked towards Gu Ting Yu.

Zhuo Yin was the first one to notice Tong Ying, and he faced him with an expression full of warning. "Why are you coming over here?"

Tong Yin gave him a glare and inwardly thought spitefully, What an idiot. He pushed Zhuo Yin aside, saying, "How useless it is for all of you to treat him carefully like something precious, but not realize that he is about to die off."

"What did you say?!" Qing Que's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

Tong Ying walked to Gu Ting Yu's side and said unusually seriously, "Don't you think that he's been sleeping for too long?"

To the side, Nian Xing immediately shook Gu Ting Yu's shoulders. "Xiao Yu, wake up! Xiao Yu?"

But Gu Ting Yu responded as much as a dead body would have, showing no sign of having heard Nian Xing's words.

"Why is it like this? Nothing that could have caused this has happened!" Zhuo Yin grabbed Tong Ying with a hand. "What did you do?!"

"Me?!" Tong Ying's temper also flared; he pointed to a tiny black dot between his brows and roared back, "If it weren't for Ye Yin Ju's curse, do you think I would have let him live until now? I would have killed you all ages ago!"

"Stop arguing!" Qing Que pushed Zhuo Yin to the side, he hurriedly looked to Tong Ying. "I think you know what's happening, you… Please… Save him."

"All of you, scram." Tong Ying squatted down beside Gu Ting Yu, wiping away the cold sweat on his forehead gently, and he couldn't help wondering what the source of this human's terror could be.

No matter what it was, any prey who had caught Mian's eye would find it impossible to wake up by their own power.

The most dreaded nightmares could never end. If that happened, the pain would follow in all shapes and forms, until the prey's demise.

Just as Tong Ying was about to pull Gu Ting Yu out of the nightmare, the man who had been sleeping suddenly exploded with a heart-wrenching scream. The next moment, Tong Ying's eyes went black for an instant as Gu Ting Yu wrapped his arms around him as though his life depended on it.

The human in his arms didn't—couldn't—stop trembling. Tears as cold as ice were running down his face to roll down Tong Ying's neck. That crying was the type that could rip out one's organs and tear them apart, that sort of hopelessness… It could move the most stubborn, unfeeling hearts.

"Aaaah————Aaaah————!"

Gu Ting Yu had never cried so sorrowfully in his life. Of course, he had never anticipated that the day would come when he would lose control of his feelings to this extent.

Tong Ying kept his back straight and seemed frozen to the spot, his posture as stiff as a board.

He remained like that until Zhuo Yin came forward with his face turning green and wrenched Gu Ting Yu out of his arms. Tong Ying kept his original pose, unmoving.

In this world, there was a creature who fed on fear.

Legend says that he was trapped in the fogs hanging above the deep sea and that vessels which travelled near that area were sure to be drawn there before sleeping forever under the sea.

Many hated it, many feared it, wanting it to stay hidden in the depths of the ocean.

And yet, where this creature came from or why it was trapped under the sea, no one wanted to know.

Hey.

Humans, did you know that the me who leeches off terror actually walks side by side with it?

Why was I born like this?

They're scared of me, but I'm even more scared of myself.

When I lowered my head and saw my features mirrored in the sea water, I wanted nothing more than to just die in that instant.

Did you hear me speak—you felt me, didn't you?

To face the indestructible, unending terror, you tell me, just what should I do?

You tell me, tell me…

"What the hell was that?" Qing Que asked Tong Ying softly as he held Gu Ting Yu tightly; Gu Ting Yu still hadn't stopped trembling but wasn't making a sound.

"…Ah?" Tong Ying had been watching Gu Ting Yu the whole time and seemed to have started spacing out. "What did you say?"

"Hey! You can't use those hungry eyes to look at our Xiao Yu!" Nian Xing glared at Tong Ying with an unhappy look in his eyes, his hands on his hips.

"Ahem." Tong Ying awkwardly diverted his line of vision and retorted, "Tch… Who's looking…"

"I'm asking you, what's happening to Ting Yu and what made this happen?"

Tong Ying sighed. "It isn't surprising that you don't know about it; when the Evil Source rescued that monster, he put it straight into the main palace. It is a puppet that only listens to the Evil Source."

"Puppet?"

"Correct. You won't find anything more fitting to label it, because that thing doesn't even have its own awareness."

"Why?"

"Ay~ That's a long story; basically, it sealed its own awareness away. However, even though it doesn't possess a conscious mind and can't think, its power is huge. Even if I were to stand beside it, I wouldn't be able to stop shaking—in short, it's something ominous."

"Then what to do when it comes again?"

"This is where it gets tricky," Tong Ying looked downwards, "if we were attacked from the outside, then Mian's powers would enable it to spread terror from the inside. When a person falls asleep or is extremely tired, it can squeeze into that person's awareness and easily kill the subject without sound or movement."

Qing Que unconsciously tightened his hold around Gu Ting Yu, saying, "If it's like that, then isn't trying to defend against it going to have a reverse effect?"

Tong Ying scratched his hair, "Aren't I in the middle of thinking up a solution!" As he complained, his eyes slowly drifted back towards Gu Ting Yu.

Author's note:

Hey readers, the novel has been on hiatus for quite a long time now and indeed, my attitude towards writing has changed a lot since I first began. Seeing all of your reviews, I am very grateful, I would feel like "there's so many people supporting me, just where did I go right". I have a qq group, but I haven't been on it for a long time, sometimes I'm afraid that the people in the group will leave and at other times I feel that if they left it would be better since it would give me a reason to give up.

En, to be honest I don't need too many compliments but I once saw one message on the group once and I still remember it to this day, the person said "I only hope that Mo Gu (Mushroom) is happy, in that instant I felt that everything that I'd done was worth it.

We live in a world in which it is easy to make impulsive decisions and easy to get lonely, even a little bit of satisfaction can make one satisfied. Reading novels would also make my heart feel as though it has been filled to the brim and I want my novels to give your heart a bit of a jerk too. A little joy from reading.

To all of you, I know that you are always supporting me even if you don't review or vote.

I just know.

(I just remembered to mention that lately I've always been updating in doubles, so don't miss any chapters)

——Author