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Chapter 29: You Are My Faith (X)
Shang Ke did not intend to play the harp, but from the corner of his eyes, he saw Youri fidgeting with a harp and went over to take a look. He had chosen the musical instrument skill from the System, so everytime, he would be able to choose a different instrument to learn. There were all kinds of instruments in the System, so many, in fact, that he wouldn’t be able to count them all. In theory, as long as he had enough energy for it, he could learn pretty much all the instruments.
At present time, he had previously chosen the piano, flute and violin (chosen after the second world). He still had not had contact with instruments from other worlds. The harp of this world was a bit different from the one in his memory; it was like a bent silver moon, inlaid with three elaborate magic crystals that were bright like stars and stringed with seven golden metallic strands.
To inlay such precious magic crystals in an instrument, probably only those nobility born people like Youri could obtain them.
Shang Ke tried playing a couple tones, and the magic crystals formed a boundary and immediately fluctuated, seemingly giving the music an amplifying effect, passing on the sound farther.
He was a bit interested now, aspects of music started to assemble in his mind. His fingers moved and started to play by improvising.
Melodious and sweet music poured out like running water, gradually turning into the Milky Way, slowly flowing out into the night sky.
Shang Ke did not notice that with his playing, the devil qi that polluted everyone’s body all started to be pulled into his body bit by bit. This was also the reason why everyone had suddenly felt relaxed.
Everyone walked out one by one from the tents, quietly gazing at the man that was concentrated on playing. They carefully listened with all of their attention as their jittery mood gradually eased and what was left behind was only peace.
Shang Ke’s surrounding assembled a large amount of devil qi and converged into a great black whirlpool under the darkening sky. But the music also contained a large amount of faith which tangled with the devil qi. Shang Ke’s place turned into the darkest yet brightest place.
Only with light, can darkness condense.
Only with darkness, can light shine.
“Shang Ke!” Tylor was the first one to notice the abnormality.
He could only see that Shang Ke’s eyes were half closed and his face was completely pale. His lips were a captivating red shade colored like blood as the wispy strands of devil qi slowly twined around his fingertips like ribbons. The music condensed by the power of faith once again shone like stars in the darkness.
The devil qi gradually spread to Shang Ke’s eyes, and like mass of dark flames, it churned. A drop of black tear slid from the corner of his eyes, leaving trails of dark tears on his jade-white face which immediately turned into a mass of black fog and vanished into the starry sky.
He drew darkness into his own body while he left the light for others.
“Shang Ke, stop!” Kaiser shouted once more.
Shang Ke’s body was almost completely covered by the devil qi.
Only now did everyone notice the abnormality, they saw the devil qi around Shang Ke starting to bubble and they all subconsciously took a step back.
“Devil qi invasion!” A person murmured softly, disgust and fear in his eyes.
“Catch him and see if he can still be saved!” Someone else shouted eagerly.
A few quickly went for Shang Ke, but Tylor and Kaiser both stood guard in front of Shang Ke.
“No one can touch him!” Tylor coldly said.
“Your Highness Tylor, he’s already invaded by the devil qi, if we don’t treat him, then he will turn into a devil apostle!”
Kaiser raged, “Even if you all turn into devil apostles, he would not!”
This group of bastards, they don’t even have a clue that they were the ones being invaded by the devil qi and now wanted to harm the one that saved them.
“Kaiser, we know he is your friend, but since he has been invaded by the devil qi, we can’t just ignore it.” Someone else requested, “Can you guys please hurry and move aside? Perhaps he can still be saved.”
“That’s right, you can’t neglect other people’s safety for your friend.” Many people agreed with the person’s words, and echoed it.
“Neglect other people’s safety? Did you guys not notice that you guys were being invaded by the devil qi?” Kaiser couldn’t restrain his towering rage, “If it wasn’t for Shang Ke, the ones that needed treatment would be you guys!”
“What do you mean?” Everyone’s face was doubtful.
“Shang Ke used music to draw the devil qi out from your body into his own body.”
“Ha, are you making a joke?” Most of the people showed that they did not believe it and only scoffed, “Who would help others to absorb the devil qi themselves? Isn’t that just courting death?”
“Kaiser, do you really have to make such an absurd lie to help your friend? Look at the concentration of devil qi on his body, it’s clearly because his willpower is too weak or his faith isn’t firm enough for him to end up like this.”
“Willpower too weak? Faith not firm?” Kaiser laughed from anger, “Do you think someone who has a weak willpower and faith would be able to play such music filled with the power of faith?”
Everyone paused, the harp’s tune was still playing into their ears, melodious and pure, it was exactly like how Kaiser said, it contained a huge amount of faith.
What… was going on here?
Tylor did not pay attention to everyone else and crouched by Shang Ke’s side, quietly speaking, “Shang Ke, it’s enough. Stop.”
He placed his hand on Shang Ke’s back and immediately felt a bone chilling coldness intruding into his body from his fingertips, causing almost entirely of his arm to go numb.
Only now did Tylor know precisely how much devil qi Shang Ke absorbed for everyone. He had just barely touched him and it turned into an terrifying essence that attacked him.
He was simply unable to imagine just how Shang Ke was able to bear such dense devil qi. Exactly what was the origin of his faith?
“Daddy.” Just at this moment, a young and tender voice interrupted Tylor’s thoughts.
Tylor raised his head and saw Pupu reaching out to touch Shang Ke.
“Wait-” Tylor didn’t even get to finish speaking when Pupu had already grabbed Shang Ke’s sleeve. Soon after, he saw the devil qi in the area she touched suddenly dissipate and quickly retreat. In a very short time, the devil qi on Shang Ke’s body disappeared without a trace and the harp’s sound stopped.
Tylor looked at Pupu, flabbergasted. He knew that this little girl had a very pure power of faith, but he didn’t expect this power to be powerful enough to be able to fight against the humongous amount of devil qi on Shang Ke’s body. He once again looked back at Shang Ke, this pair of father and daughter really is… unbelievable.
With the harp’s melody stopping, the light from the power of faith gradually vanished and the devil qi began to disperse. The people who were endlessly arguing with Kaiser suddenly felt their body go cold, feeling the traces of devil qi that started to invade their body. In a moment, everyone felt as if they fell from a place full of warm sunshine into a cold glacier.
Such a huge difference in such a short time made everyone almost puke out blood.
This time when they looked at Shang Ke, they no longer held any disgust or contempt and their eyes were currently filled with shock and disbelief.
Just now, was this person really helping them absorb the devil qi invading them?
“Shang Ke, how are you?” Tylor supported Shang Ke, his eyes fixed on the weakened man.
“I’m fine.” Shang Ke gave Tylor a rather tired smile and then looked at Pupu and rubbed her head, gently expressing, “Thank you Pupu.”
Pupu completely did not know what he was thanking her for, but being praised, she was very happy. She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.
In fact, Shang Ke did not plan to help everyone absorb the devil qi. But when the music started, he could feel the large amounts of devil qi move toward him and blend into his body. The only thing that could ease the devil qi invasion was the harp’s music. So he could only continue to play, because if he stopped, there was a large chance that he would be thoroughly swallowed by the invading devil qi.
Fortunately Pupu helped sever the devil qi from him just in time, giving him a breather to escape quickly.
So his devil qi absorbing constitution could draw support from another object and become an area skill! He has to say, this pitfall world had danger everywhere. He just wanted to play some music but in the process, almost played himself to death. Shang Ke had enough!
Shang Ke looked at the harp in his hand and decided that he would not touch another instrument before he left this world.
He returned the harp back to Youri, who was using an awed and worshipping gaze to stare at him, “Shang Ke, no, Senior Osari, you must accept my knee (kneel).”
Shang Ke: “……”
Shang Ke took a look around him and discovered that everyone’s gazes were pretty much the same as Youri’s.
Just as everyone was about to come over to ask, he turned to Tylor and said, “Tylor, lend me your shoulder for a moment.”
Less than a second after the moment he said that, he fainted into Tylor’s wide embrace.
Tylor gently held the frail Shang Ke, his gaze gentle but also pained.
“How is he?” Kaiser hurriedly moved closer and asked in concern.
“He’s likely going to be weak again for a long time.” Tylor’s expression dimmed.
Kaiser’s nose felt sour and he scolded in a soft voice, “Idiot!”
“I will take him back to rest and leave the rest to you.” Tylor carried Shang Ke and Pupu together, heading to their tent.
Kaiser watched the man’s leaving figure with a complicated glance.
Through Shang Ke’s music baptism, although everyone still felt a bit unwell, it was not the stifling feeling from before that could choke people.
They also gradually became aware just what kind of burden Shang Ke had dealt with, absorbing the huge amount of devil qi. An average person would feel incomparable suffering with only a bit of devil qi invading their body, but he alone bore with several people’s devil qi. This kind of perseverance and courage really made people admire him.
And they were criticizing him before for having weak willpower and small faith. But now that they properly thought about it, the ones that were truly weak were them. They feared the devil qi and did everything in their abilities to hide their weak point. Meanwhile, Shang Ke let them see a whole new way to fight—using their own body as a battlefield and to use their own willpower as a weapon to courageously advance and fight the devil qi.
They only knew how to strictly protect their heart, they had never thought about fighting directly head on before.
However, just how many people in this world could rely only on their willpower and win against the demons in their heart? Perhaps only those with a generous heart and firm faith could accomplish this.
Everyone looked towards the tent Shang Ke was resting in; they were overwhelmed by emotions for a moment, and could hardly hold themselves together.
After experiencing this event, Shang Ke pretty much became the most important and prized one to protect in the group. Because of him, the journey into the abyss of the marsh became much more relaxed, at least no one needed to worry about being invaded by the devil qi and going crazy from it.
But as they got closer and closer to the interior, the devil qi also became stronger. Everyone saw large numbers of dead bodies, and not long after, they had also met the misfortune of getting lost.
After they wandered around in the depths for four to five days, they finally met another group.
But the situation of this group was not very good. They had around thirty people and their expressions were all dispirited. They were also all injured. When they saw Shang Ke’s group, they were on the edge of directly going for the kill.
Compared to this group, Tylor’s group of people were completely different in their mental state. Although they were also a bit tired, they were not in much dread or nervous wrecks.
Shang Ke looked at them one by one, most of the people in the group were already invaded by the devil qi. There were a couple among them that had already turned into low level apostles.
Just while he was observing this group of people, he suddenly heard someone shout in alarm, “It’s a King level apostle! There’s a King level apostle in their group!”
Shang Ke followed the voice and noticed that the speaker’s finger was pointing at him.
Uh, he’s been found out?
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First in line for camping
Choo choo. .moving castle coming through. All aboard. Get your rooms nice and early; we’re moving to the next chapter!
I’m here! Hope I’m early enough. Is there a way to make reservations? ?
Translator-san, thank you for sharing with us. I’m having a lot of fun following this story.?
Yes! Count me in! I hope I’m not too late!
*Gate crashes the party at the castle!*
Usually what’s the longest gap between each posting?
About 5 to 7 days gap from my observation of prev novels at most.
But for this novel, I would say 3 days at most, because snowy-sama is very generous, always gives us the dose when we need it.
I think she’ll prepare a valentine’s suprise for avid campers, won’t you Snowy-sama? xD
Consider me already doing it lol…. because I’m busy that day I think ?
Oh yes! XD
THANK YOU SO MUCH GODDESS SNOWY!!??
Third in line~~~
I can’t believe it!! when i refreshed the page i stared blankly for a minute my mind did receive the information being sent to it!! but right now i’m full of happiness!! Thank you snowyy!! And can i reserve a room in the moving castle please??
I am late…Pheeww..still made it! Camping~~Camping~~
Count me in too!
>_< hyaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
*make noise while waiting
Camping! There’s space in the castle for me?
I think the most tragic character isn’t the protagonist but the male lead. Leaving is easier than being left when you’re in love. 🙁 You have to deal with the pain and sorrow of your beloved while also losing the source of love. And every lifetime, he loses his lover… Poor boy. I hope it doesn’t affect him too badly in the long run.
True. Being left behind leaves a deep impression on one psych… Poor ML keeps going through the death of his beloved and MC leaves in such tragic ways too.. ? this is like “that” particular FoD arc being repeated over and over again T_T
“That” arc in FOD destroyed the readers leaving a hollow shell behind…
???????
Poor Protagnist! He will never have his love returned and this is the first time I sympathize with a Protagnist.
Poor ML, he always watches MC die and gets heartache everytime, MC you better fix that!
Poor MC he’ll never have a good end, well until ML arrives, I hope ML can save you.
This novel is just cute, funny, and sad in a bundle.
Yeah poor ML. I can see him turning into a yandere with all the times the MC leaves him. Just that first arc alone- Ouch! ?
I enjoyed that arc because of its bitter sweetness. You know what’s coming so you enjoy the moments they have even more. ?
Pobre Tylor, já posso prever seu futuro trágico onde seu amante morre como um mártir. * lançando o cubo pra cima, e com um giro uma tenda tecnológica do futuro aparece cheia de empregados com orelhas de gato*. que comece o acampamento, e a agonia de esperar o próximo cap. =D
E a história do assassino que virou jogador de VR? Tem alguma previsão de capitulo novo?
It’s nice how our MC and ML are camping too. *sets up tent, campfire and tea . lights calming incense and patently waits for this chapter to be updated.* Time to earnestly refresh this page repeatedly.
*try to squeeze between the campers to set a camp as well*
Maybe I should also join the f5 army? mmmmm…
Guys we should jusy build a castle in this chapter!
????????????????
Who wants to join? Camping with tents is so tiring! We have wifi (of course!), food, fluffy blankets (always), and anything else you want to bring?
We probably have like 3 or 4 castle built in this novel ???
Thank you for the delicious chapter, Snowy-sama! May you continue to have mercy on us! ?♂️?♂️?♂️?♂️
You guys gonna be moving castles a lot today lol
Snowy-sama! Σ(゜ロ゜;)
Yo-You-! DOUBLE CHAPTERS YAAAAAY!!!!
Imma move my castle then! Thank you Snowy-sama!!! Thank you! ????
Three more to go today… full sprint ahead to get done of this arc
Thank you for the future chapters!
?♂️?♂️?♂️ I’ll be preparing for the tsunami of sadness in the upcoming chapters, just going to stock up on tissues and sweets.
Uh they found out
Oh well lol
Kyaa~!!! Thank you very much Snowy-sama~!!!!!
Isn’t there no problem with them finding out? MC’s excuse is that he’s been absorbing the devil qi- though the new guys don’t know that so probably a fight is still gonna break out. I wonder if the MC is going to end up meeting some senpai who know the original bodies infamous identity? Wah~ I cant wait to read more!
Thank you for the wonderful new chapter Snowy-sama! I was really excited to see the new chapter this morning and I’m really looking forward to the rest of this arc 😉
Please make sure you still get enough sleep though you seem to work very late…
Rhavaniel
Busted?
THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!
Oooohhh an update ? thank you
In the paragraph starting with “Tylor looked at Pupu, flabbergasted” the part with ‘father and son’ should probably be changed to ‘father and daughter.’ Thank you for the chapter, Snowy!
Oops, thanks for the catch
Haha, about a fourth of the pleasure is to read the comments!
So funny, isn’t it one moving castle and not many that are later abandoned?
I would like it if we have on magic castle that can teleport and we all get our own rooms that we get to keep and can decorate as we want.
Of course we can’t forget to have a common area with a kitchen filled with junk food and sugary thing to help us get through the wait and the tear jerking chapter. Then we would have a liberal with only bl novels and bl manga and a living room with a big tv where we together can watch bl movies and series. We should also have an alter to the bl God and maybe a bl holiday to celebrate it.
We can’t forget wifi, hm, have I forgotten something? Do you guys have something to add?
Thanks for the holly scripture! ♥️?
I agree~!
Can we have bathrooms too~?
He, meant to reply here but accidentally commented on the chapter.. ?
Ehm, well just look below. ⬇️
Oh, yes, bathrooms!
How could I forget, hm, maybe we also should have a hot spring and traditional Chinese clothing, I have always thought that they both look nicer and most feel better to wear compeard to western clothes like jeans.
But maybe we should just have pajamas on all the time, kinda like a never ending sleepover!
Haa, the castle is turning into my happy place, I’m going to go there every time I miss bl and are waiting for chapter!
Yes!!! Comfy pajamas forever!
Thank you !!!!!!
[…]this pair of father and son (–daughter) really are… unbelievable.
XXX
Ufuf the climax had come
Thanks for the chapter, Snowy! ❄️( ‘﹃’⑉)♡
Oh dear…
Ah! Oh some face slapping to do, or rather bluffing? 😂
Thanks for the chapter ♡´･ᴗ･`♡
so who’s the ml??? I honestly want Kaiser
Hmmm i’m curious what will happen to Pupu when Shang Ke died. Does she love Shang ke to the point it can turn her into king level apostle ? Fufufu
Ml is clearly love shangke so i won’t surprised if he become apostle or smth, but at the same time curious how this arc will end for ml :))
Thank you for translating this! Really love the story! 💖
Okay. Mystery of where the harp came from has been solved😂