The Palaces of the Twelve Sacred Beasts

Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

"Stop!" A weak but firm voice reached the man's ear. He turned around and stared at Gu Ting Yu in shook.

The Soul-slashing Sword began engulfing Ming Lei even more quickly as Gu Ting Yu became more emotional. His blood-stained hands strengthened their grip on the handle of the sword, and he said with a low voice, "To reject a person's existence is one of the worst things, why do you have to do that?" Gu Ting Yu panted intermittently, he tried his best to raise his voice towards Jue, "the Evil Source isn't Huan Sheng… but Huan Sheng definitely exists."

The tall man loosened his grip on Jue's neck, lowering his hand, he smiled ghostly.

"Heh, so where is he now?"

Gu Ting Yu ignored the man. He opened his tired eyelids with all his might, even though his vision was blurry and he knew that there wasn't much time left. He looked into Jue's eyes, and pointing to his own heart, he said, "He is always here, in our hearts, always."

Jue was numb and confused, his body temperature dropping; Huan Sheng's and the Evil Source's image merged together, and he couldn't differentiate between them. In this world, are unseen things non-existent, are the things which don't respond non-existent? Legends, imaginary tales, and a person's heart, the things which did not have a tangible form, do they exist or not…

Someone cut into his confusion. He heard Gu Ting Yu say, "Even if they don't have a tangible form, those emotions exist; if even you reject Huan Sheng's existence, how sad would Huan Sheng be."

Huan Sheng. Huan Sheng.

That person's image kept on resurfacing in his mind—the naïve face Huan Sheng wore when he first hatched out of the cocoon, how he used to look at him with completely trusting eyes, how he would look when his injuries hurt but didn't want Jue to notice, how he drank nectar in secret, and how he bravely stood in front of the human, protecting him…

Jue's unfocused vision started to sharpen; truly, if even he himself didn't believe in Huan Sheng, that would be the thing that Huan Sheng would fear the most. Jue looked back at Gu Ting Yu seriously. The pain radiating from his heart started diffusing to every inch of his body; strangely, there was somehow a warmth in his heart. Jue put his hand on his own chest as he started sobbing soundlessly… So, Huan Sheng really does exist right here.

The cold man, who was standing beside them and monitoring them quietly, stopped smiling; he looked at Gu Ting Yu, suddenly feeling that he might have underestimated this dying human in front of him. However, what he never would have expected was that Jue would get back up to his feet and hug the Evil Source lightly.

Jue said softly at Huan Sheng's ear, "Huan Sheng, I'm sorry."

The man grabbed Jue's neck expressionlessly, strengthening his grip; the sound of a broken bone came out, and Jue collapsed on his side on the floor.

Gu Ting Yu lowered his head in pain. Just before Jue hugged the man, he mouthed voicelessly to tell Gu Ting Yu how to seal the Evil Source up.

——"Destroy the scroll…"

Gu Ting Yu suddenly remembered—he was transported here because he touched an ancient scroll in the museum.

Starting from death, rebirth after demise. Cyclic reincarnation; where it ended, it shall begin once more.

Gu Ting Yu mustered up all his strength to pull out the sword stabbed into his chest. Blood spewed out of his wound. Gu Ting Yu's face was pale; he held onto the handle of the sword tightly, feeling as though his veins were tearing apart; he couldn't help but throw his head back in pain.

"No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The man dashed over frantically, but he just stopped a few steps away from Gu Ting Yu.

"What is this… what is happening?!"

His body suddenly became slow and stiff, it was out of control; the man looked at Gu Ting Yu who was just a little further away, and tears rolled out of his eyes unstoppably.

Gu Ting Yu stared into the man's eyes deeply; through those green eyes he could see another soul, one he was familiar with.

"Goodbye, Huan Sheng."

The huge sword was pulled out in an instant, landing steadily in Gu Ting Yu's palm; the human's body, however, was shaking like a wilted leaf. Gu Ting Yu used up the last bit of his strength to stab the Soul-slashing Sword into the scroll that was completely soaked with his blood.

The sword that had all of Ming Lei's energy broke the Evil Source's spell. In an instant, all the dark souls were gone; the black mist dissipated, wailing.

Gu Ting Yu's vision was blurry; the moment he fell down, scores of memories flew past his mind. Bai Zhi Ao, Xiu Er, Qing Que, Liang Yue, Qian Lu, Zhuo Ying, Nian Xing, Ye Yin Ju, Tong Ying, Mian, Huan Sheng, and Jue…

At this very moment, Gu Ting Yu really didn't want to die… he wanted to stay by their side, forever and ever.

Remembering their faces, he couldn't stop the tears falling from his eyes.

In his half-conscious state, he heard a man's voice; that voice sounded like he had thousand years' worth of hatred locked up. The man said quietly, "God… I destroyed your vessel, and you shred my soul, my soul could never be completed. I hanged onto life miserably… but I can't die, I can never die. I will continue to engulf all of the world's darkness, because I was made to fill out its emptiness. You are the one who made me this way, you are so kind—but only towards me, you are cruel.

After that you were freed from justice and your responsibilities as a god, and I can't accept that… how could I accept that…

My soul was almost completely scattered when the Soul-slashing Sword was holding you at the Clocktower of Reincarnation; at that time, I saw you cry. Why did you cry… tell me, was it for fate? For the living creatures dwelling in this world? Or perhaps… for me?

I really wanted to know what a god's tears taste like."

"Ah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Blinding light burst out of the man's body; the light grew stronger and stronger, as if it was going to engulf the man. The scroll also started burning with gold light, shooting rays through darkness and up the sky. The bodies of the twelve Sacred Beasts started to burn up in flames as well.

However, Gu Ting Yu could no longer see what happened after that; he slowly fell down in front of the Clocktower. He used his own life to seal the Evil Source away, just like the God did a thousand years ago.

The ghostly Yuan Ming flowers wilted. The clock stopped. Blood was splashed everywhere on the bare and gloomy land; the God disappeared, and even the tear God left behind at the end had vanished.

It was as if the world has been reseted.

*

*

Buzz… Buzz…

What a familiar sound.

Something continued to ring; though it was rhythmic, it made him feel anxious.

Buzz… Buzz…

Because of that thing being a nuisance, Gu Ting Yu turned on his side and sat up tiredly.

Suddenly feeling dizzy, he opened his eyes wide; his surroundings was dim, and only a few lights on the wall were turned on.

Gu Ting Yu was in a daze for a few seconds, but he suddenly realized something; he looked at the ancient words and drawings hanging on the wall in confusion… This place, this was the history museum he was at that night when he got transported to another world.

Gu Ting Yu suddenly remembered something, he jumped up in search of that ancient scroll, pants echoed the long hallway, he found that the place where the scroll was stored originally, was now empty.

What is happening here? Could it be that all of those experiences were merely dreams?!

Sniffle… Gu Ting Yu squatted on the ground, disheartened. He had no idea where they were, he also didn't know what the meaning of his existence was, being in this world all alone.

Buzz… Buzz… After quieting down for a while, his phone rang once again.

Gu Ting Yu's face was pale and numb, but he picked up his phone and answered, "Hello?"

"Dr. Gu! There's a huge problem here, if you don't come quickly, they are going to start wreaking havoc in the hospital!!" The voice of an on-duty nurse came from the other end of the phone.

"What did you say?"

"Dr. Gu? What's the matter? I'm talking about the weird people who were asking for you, I told you that in the last phone call—they said they must meet you, and they are still fussing over that. But the weirdest thing was that they came out of your office, even though it was surely locked! I have no idea how they got in."

"Ah…" Gu Ting Yu reacted unenthusiastically, "Maybe tomorrow, I'm really tired today."

"I also asked them to come in tomorrow, but they refused! Dr. Gu, I'm begging you, just their outfits and make-up alone are scaring the hell out of me, they all dyed their hair like crazy, almost like a rainbow, some of their hair are also long." She paused for a while, then continued, "Well, they all look very handsome, but their gazes looked like they could kill."

Gu Ting Yu felt like his head was numb; he slowly stood up and leaned on the wall, "Can you tell me how many there are?"

"Okay, umm… Let me see, one~two~three… oh, this one with white hair is so cute, he's so my type…"

"Excuse me, nurse!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. There are exactly twelve of them."

Beep… Beep…

"Hello? Dr. Gu? ? Did he hang up again…?"

The security guard of the museum had never been shocked so much before in his life; just when he was about to lock the door, a man came running out of the museum, screaming, "Wait!!" The man ran out of the door, making the newspaper in the guard's hands scatter and flutter in the sky.

At that moment, everyone on the street was staring at the man who ran down the evening street; his face had the biggest smile anyone had ever seen, and his eyes were glistening with tears.

The sun began setting, and its orange light was slowly covered up by a thin veil. Some tales ended, but some were about to begin.

There were things that seemed intangible and unreal, but as long as one could trust that they existed, then the world was certainly a much kinder place.