WLWM Finale: That White Lotus Pure and Resplendent as the Moon, Ch. 3

You should read this chapter over at Travis Translations – It’s free and the ad revenue is much better for me!

Since he had a vague consciousness, Chi Tang understood that he was special as a pond. His waters were unnaturally clear. It was even capable of self-cleaning to remove all impurities… So in his little pond, nothing could grow whatsoever.

That wasn’t bad, though.

It was so before he achieved sentience. It will continue to be so after he achieved sentience. With this inability to accommodate anything, even if some bizarrely durable lifeform dare to make a home of him, he would probably put an end to it from the very beginning. He cannot even fathom the idea of any creature sharing his pond self to live. That would definitely have been terrible, a constant eyesore to say the least.

He was a supernatural cultivator. He was to become a being capable of commanding the wind and the rain. He would never allow any random existence in his true body.

Chi Tang, who have barely achieved sentience, practically a young child among supernatural cultivators, and who hasn’t even hit puberty or eighth grade syndrome yet, so thinks in all seriousness——Chi Tang, at this time, didn’t know that soon, he will be giving himself a big slap on the face with later developments.

That’s right. Just a few days after he thought about this, without notice, there was actually a seed that didn’t seem affected by his specialness somehow sprouting in his waters. Its fresh, vivid colours were making his heart swoon.

He couldn’t pluck the life out of the flower. How could he? Impossible. Never. Even if the seedling didn’t even have so much of a stem but only a tiny crispy leaf, so weak that it would probably snap with a simple touch… All the more reason not to lay his hand on it.

Chi Tang could feel a weak cultivable qi presence on the thing. Clearly that was a plant with potential for cultivation. So Chi Tang who didn’t know much better himself with his half-baked conscience at this point decided to manipulate the cultivable qi to carefully surround the little sapling, nurturing it with delicacy… It wasn’t a difficult task by any means, since the little thing was growing in the exact centre of the little pond, where the fundamental cultivation power of his was.

——In some sense, he was rooting himself in the deepest part of his heart and mind.

Chi Tang couldn’t help but think, as expected of a flower I’m nurturing. What a good spot he’s picked for himself. And he, who was usually prideful of the iciness of his waters, for the first time ever, tried to adjust the water temperature to find out the best one to support the fragile sapling’s growth.

Every time he could see how lively the plant was, Chi Tang would feel genuinely happy.

Chi Tang continued to protect and nurture the sapling carefully afterwards. He saw how it developed a bulb, and then blossom with layers upon layers of petals, pure white, flawless, as if glowing, unimaginably beautiful… The little lotus was clearly special. While its growth cycle was really long, needing so many years and years, but once its bulb bloomed, it would remain so forever, never wilting.

He was talented as well. With sufficient cultivable qi supply, it wasn’t long before he achieved cultivation that would put all supernatural cultivators to shame. It took him a far shorter amount of time than Chi Tang to achieve sentience. Soon after Chi Tang’s consciousness have cleared up and completed development, he was followed by the little lotus. So he was no longer limited to shaking his petals or waving his leaves to communicate. Finally, the two of them could engage in conversation.

Chi Tang felt really proud. His little lotus was amazing, much stronger than himself.

Chi Tang always felt he might have been the impatient type. He didn’t like taking things slowly. Perhaps compared to the pond that was forever going to be serene and calm, he was more suited to be a river of onrushing waters. Yet, when he often heard the little white lotus talking gently to him, he also couldn’t help but become gentler and calmer over time. He was developing the serenity expected of a pond.

That was when he was glad he was not a river, or he would surely have had a hard time nurturing the little lotus. Rushes of waters would definitely have harmed his petals. So now this was just right.

Afterwards, their cultivation ranks would stay synchronised forever, except for when Chi Tang chose to first focus all the cultivable qi to allow the little lotus to attain human form first before himself——Because he really wanted to see how he would look that way.

Though at first the little lotus seemed dissatisfied with his form. He would puff up, despising his weak and effeminate appearance. It was certainly not up to his expectation… Still, in Chi Tang’s eyes, the little lotus was the best-looking ever no matter how he actually looked.

The lotus got himself a name as well, Bai Lianhua, and was really happy with it. He felt that it was both representing his true identity and not effeminate like himself at all.

Chi Tang praised him, though that’s expected, really. Then he asked him to give him a name as well, the same type with the wordplay would be best.

So Bai Lianhua blinks and blinks and says, “then what about Chi Tang?” Then he told him which ‘tang’ character it was. It was similar to his own ‘hua’ character, both with an implication of a well-grown log.

So Chi Tang accepted it as is, “I see, that’s very interesting.”

He gave it a thought long after the fact and realised that no matter what name Bai Lianhua gave him he would probably have felt it was interesting and he liked it very much, because it’s from Bai Lianhua.

Back then, he really didn’t realise it at all, he was just happy to be able to cultivate together with Bai Lianhua day and night… Then, when suddenly, he finally understood that he had more than the normal amount of affection for Bai Lianhua, and also realised that Bai Lianhua’s attitude towards him didn’t contain romantic connotations at all, it has become an unavoidable hurdle on his mental state hindering his cultivation.

He didn’t want to reveal this at first, turning one person’s trouble into one of both, but…

——Chi Tang, deep in dreamlands, gets woken up by Bai Lianhua’s sudden voice.

His eyes snap open, he is frozen for a moment before realising that in his resting cultivation form, he sunk into the memories of the past again…

Bai Lianhua, just entering the room, says happily, “the system just told me that it has found a good candidate. It will finally start to actually do work as a system.”

Chi Tang is still affected by the memories right now, so he nods without much thought while staring straight at Bai Lianhua.

So Bai Lianhua is the one frozen this time. He recalls one possibility and asks hesitantly, “you… is your inner demon back?”

Chi Tang’s expression loosens as he suddenly chuckles, “no. I just suddenly felt nostalgic and so I was a bit dazed.”

“Don’t worry, it’s a good thing. Look, my mental integrity has increased,” Chi Tang says as he shows Bai Lianhua what he attained during his resting cultivation form.

So Bai Lianhua is relieved, and continues talking about the system.

Speaking of, Bai Lianhua is quite pleased as well.

Before, when he was certain he’ll be together with Chi Tang, the system that was overjoyed as well actually started crying out while laughing. The whole system just looked so pitiful but thought it could somehow use its unseemly laughter to conceal itself and deceive them. It didn’t reveal the problem at first, and it took them quite a long while of convincing before it dejectedly told them.

It turned out it was panicking over its own value of existence now that its mission was complete. Did it even have value continuing to live? Would it get erased or thrown into a bag of storage, never to see the light of day again?

That’s impossible, of course. The system might be unreliable and liked to set him up a lot before, but, he did feel attachment and affection for it. Of course he couldn’t do something like that to it. So after a discussion with Chi Tang, they decided to allow it to continue doing what it did best, to issue missions, but of course they also told it it must never randomly pair people together. It should find people who have unspoken feelings for each other, to fulfil their relationships.

When Bai Lianhua recalls how he got swindled by the system, he’s both amused and worried, “I just hope the system wouldn’t blabber on about ridiculous stuff and set people up unintentionally. Like, when I finished my white lotus missions, it suddenly told me about the damned white moonlight mission and said something like ‘apparently white moonlight suits white lotus the best’ or whatever… Oof, it really leaves one speechless recalling that. What kind of excuse was that, you know?”

Chi Tang agrees without a second thought, “yes. It was wrong. A white lotus is most suited with a pond.”

But before Bai Lianhua could laugh, Chi Tang continues, “one thing was right, though… your really are a piece of unchanging white moonlight in my heart, forevermore.”

The tip of Bai Lianhua’s ears couldn’t help but redden from that sudden confession. If Chi Tang changed at all through all that, it’s that he’s become more and more straightforward with words, like the antagonists… which, was the real him all along.

So Bai Lianhua tries to ignore the seering feeling from his embarrassment, and tries to one-up him in flirtatious remarks, “sure, I’m your white lotus and also your white moonlight… And you’re not only where I settled down, you’re also who I settled down with, we sure are great for each other, no?”

——This really is the best possible ending for them, isn’t it?

Prev | Index

Buy me a coffee?

TL’s notes: Woohoo, it’s ended. So, a recommendation as promised. This is the sci-fi thriller I was so sure I was going to translate. Here it is, 《我當大佬的那些年》(Those Years When I Was a Dalao) (Chinese) (Well, you can find full access somewhere, perhaps, not that I’m encouraging you to, of course).
So, what happened? Well, it’s definitely not boredom that killed it for me. I couldn’t manage to finish it, I guess, from mental exhaustion? It was really, really interesting and exciting for the first hundred chapters, but then when the official Top appeared I started to find myself distracted, so I couldn’t finish it, and so I don’t want to translate what I haven’t finished because that would certainly have impacted my writing.
Anyway, the plot, or like, the first half, is about a guy named Jiang Yiyi who got transmigrated into a game where one small misstep could end up killing him. Watch how he survives and tackles all these dangerous and more dangerous characters. I really think it’s worth a read, but maybe it was burning my brain too much for my tastes. Anyway, new story tomorrow with three chapters as opening as usual.