The Sacred Ruins

Chapter 50: Fame Spread Worldwide

Translator: Mike Editor: Chrissy

The bow had a body soaked in a coat of bleakly-colored paint, and there was not much of a luster left to it. It measured one and a half meter in length, and the body of the bow had a rocky texture as well as a rock-like color. It was brown and coarse to the touch. Overall, it was evident that the whole bow was an age-old artefact which had lost its regal bearing to the time that had passed by.

Chu Feng studied the bow for a long while, but his diligent examination yielded nothing in the end.

Yellow Ox was not content with this lack of findings either. The calf instructed Chu Feng to keep on shooting, however, all the arrows had been exhausted and submerged under the rock-strewn surface on the opposite hilltops.

Chu Feng even went up to the blasted hilltop to look for and recycle any of the used arrows that still remained in their integrities; but to his surprise, all the iron arrows had either been snapped or blasted into slices of iron sheets. Nothing was recyclable.

It was conceivable, however, considering the enormity of the force with which the arrows carried. If the boulders that weighed tens of thousands of jin were caused to split and fall apart, there were no way that the arrows could stay intact themselves either.

Yellow Ox moaned and groaned. The calf, again and again, asked Chu Feng to retrieve some more arrows. It wanted to know whether it was possible to acquire the best breathing rhythm through the bow.

Chu Feng was dissatisfied either. There was an itch in his heart that propelled him to strive to acquire the new "thunderous" breathing rhythm.

The man and the ox both moved at great speed, so it wasn’t long before more arrows were fetched from home to the shooting range. Along with the iron arrows, the two also brought two of the buckteeth pulled off from the tyrannosaur’s bloody gums. The teeth looked exactly like a pair of broadswords.

Moments later, electric arcs started flying across the hilltops; deafening thunder started haunting the gorges and the canyons once again. Yellow Ox kept its ear close to the bow’s giant arch, picking up any beating sounds of pulsations as arrows fired off from the bowstring. Chu Feng paid close attention as well. He was not even bothered to aim anymore; arrows started flying in some arbitrary directions.

The two attentively listened to the beast of the bow and meticulously pondered over any sounds that the bow made. Finally, there was a signal!

"Here is the knack of it! Swap iron arrows for teeth arrows!" Yellow Ox asked Chu Feng to forge an arrow out of the beast’s teeth to substitute for the iron ones.

"Is it necessary?" Chu Feng felt like it was a waste. A dragon’s teeth were not something that convenient to acquire.

Yellow Ox solemnly nodded. The calf then explained with a line of words.

The calf believed that a good bow only deserved a good arrow. Only when the match was made would the resonance be triggered and the sound of pulsation be heard; and only then would the arrows shot from the bow deal the highest damage possible.

When the iron arrows were finally swapped out for the teeth ones, the result had sure enough turned out differently. After the sound of a snapping crack, electric arcs began to sparkle, overcoming the overcasting shadow of the luxuriant jungle to bring about a blinding light in place of the oppressive darkness.

Chu Feng and Yellow Ox both paid close attention to the body of the bow. The power of the teeth arrow was totally ignored and disregarded. All the two wanted was the pulsating sound of this legendary bow.

"It’s there! The rhythm!"

Chu Feng was overjoyed, and just like the way he used to spy on Yellow Ox’s breathing rhythm, all the seemingly randomly constructed rhythms were soon engraved on his mind.

Yellow Ox was as well all ears on the pulsating bow.

The two finally withdrew themselves from the bow after a long while.

"Unfortunately!" Yellow Ox wrote.

This particular breathing rhythm had a form that was easy to emulate, but its substance was difficult to get.

"Do it again!" Yellow Ox urged.

In the end, Chu Feng had forged arrows using all parts of the teeth that were available, then shot all the teeth arrows into the air.

At last, they finally had all the pulsating rhythm taped in mind. The rhythm followed a complicated pattern, but it had a certain regularity to it. In the end, the two remembered everything that had echoed in the arch of the bow.

Yellow Ox sighed. Although it was a sizeable achievement, there were still certain regrets left to be unresolved.

"It is regretful alright," Chu Feng agreed.

A special breathing rhythm like the "thunderous" needed to be handed down from generation to generation exclusively inside the family. It worked in the same way back in the days when he attempted to merely mimic the rhythm at which Yellow Ox breathed. The form was easily acquired, but in the end, the mastery of the breathing rhythm all solely relied on the spiritual impartment passed down by the calf on that very day. Without Yellow Ox, Chu Feng would not have grasped the essentials of the rhythm’s functioning.

The ox and the man both came to a standstill, silently musing over the achievements and the regrets.

Suddenly, a sequence of thunderous rumble resounded from within their bodies. Their torso started quivering, and their skeleton and internal organs all felt like being beaten by a pounding hammer.

Chu Feng was taken aback. Had he not mastered another different breathing rhythm which had allowed his body constitution to greatly evolve, pounding like this would have been enough to cause haemoptysis.

It was the functioning of the "thunderous" breathing rhythm. Its "way of might" was sure enough of matchless potency.

"Puff!"

When Chu Feng exhaled the last breath of air from within his body, his flesh and bones felt as if they had been cleansed by a thunderous storm. Although it felt numb and painful at first, the negative feeling was soon subsidized by profound comfort.

Chu Feng finally realized the uniqueness of this set of breathing rhythms.

The effect was being immediately produced—no wonder it was said to have extreme potency. Chu Feng’s body constitution quickly promoted, making a considerable progress that was speedy as well.

This was only the effect brought about by the form of the breathing rhythms, so the rumble only lasted briefly. What if Chu Feng had mastered the complete set of the breathing rhythm? What would be the effect of that?

Chu Feng’s heart burned with fervent passion; he wanted to acquire the whole set.

Yellow Ox stood there, still and silent. When the thunderous rumble ceased in its body, the calf looked both astonished and regretful; the calf knew that it would never procure the ultimate essence of this breathing rhythm.

"Is there a way to procure the complete set of this breathing rhythm?" Chu Feng looked at Yellow Ox with a passionate look.

Yellow Ox seemed to have no choice but to shake its head. The calf had to admit and wrote, "It’s never going to be procured."

Having seen the pessimistic words laid out by the calf, Chu Feng quickly started to question. "Why can’t we?"

"The rhythm has too grand a back story for us to truly appreciate everything about it," Yellow Ox explained.

The "thunderous" breathing rhythm was the ultimate form of all breathing rhythms. Generally speaking, hardly anyone could even see the form of it, let alone its spiritual essence. It was only a trust in luck that Yellow Ox had decided to probe for the breathing rhythm solely through the bow itself.

The fact that the two had procured hardly anything in the end was already unexpected. In fact, if the bow were to carry the essence of the king of all breathing rhythms, it would not be wandering about destitute at a common people’s residence.

Yellow Ox soon readjusted its mood. It stood upright and patted Chu Feng on his shoulders. The calf tried to give some mollifying remarks about this regrettable experience, then it headed back for the house.

"Has the hill grown shorter than before?" Chu Feng sat there, staring blankly over at the hill on the opposite side of the canyon. The hill was now all barren and naked, and it also grew shorter as well.

Although he was shooting arrows just then, his concentration had all been focusing on the arch of the bow. He was attentively listening to the pulsating sound of the bow along with the calf while ignoring almost everything else.

Chu Feng scurried his way to the barren hillside, noticing that the teeth arrows were sure enough firm and durable. Most of the arrows were still recyclable.

Upon getting home, Chu Feng started forging arrows from the remaining dragon’s teeth. Most of the arrows made, however, only had a head that was made of the teeth. The arrow shaft, on the other hand, was made of other materials.

Only in the end did he commit himself to the making of twelve arrows entirely made of the dragon’s teeth. The making of these ones was sure enough difficult and time-consuming.

It took a craftsman strong like Chu Feng many hours at the cost of several sanding machines before the making of the arrows could be complete, but the teeth were hard and solid to say the least.

After completing the project in hand, Chu Feng cast a glance at Yellow Ox. The calf seemed to have long forgotten about the regret regarding the "thunderous" breathing exercise. At the moment, the calf seemed to have quite a surging spirit. It was looking all jubilant and excited as it poked around on its communicator.

"What are you doing, Yellow Ox? You’re not being a bad boy again, are you?" A casual question was casually asked.

Chu Feng’s words, however, seemed to have alerted the calf. It hid the communicator under the pillow, protecting it from Chu Feng. Obviously, the calf was doing something that prompted it to have a profoundly guilty conscience.

Chu Feng immediately realized that the calf was sure enough not doing any charitable deeds.

"Let me see!" He came to Yellow Ox.

"Moo!" Yellow Ox bellowed. It was its sign of warning.

…

In the county town.

Having eaten his dinner, Zhou Quan felt fairly at ease; the meat of a tyrannosaur was truly a treat to his stomach. It was not only fresh and tasty, but the aftertaste also lingered on. The juice of the meat was abundant and seemed to also have contained some sort of spiritual essence in it.

His family was also profuse in their praise. Every member of his family agreed that the meat was fresh and tasty; they could not have enough of it.

Zhou Quan hummed a little tune as he swaggered back to his room. He felt ever so relaxed and at ease. He found his communicator, then started browsing on the internet.

He was cheerful and relaxed.

"The man on this picture really had a bit of the graceful demeanor of myself, judging only on his silhouette. Who is he though? And why is he on the news? And why does he look like… me?" Zhou Quan saw a color illustration that was attached to a news article. Zhou Quan curled his lips with disapproval and said, "The editor of this news article really has no ideas what true art is, does he? If he were to choose a picture to accompany his article with someone looking so alike to me, why can’t they just come and shoot me for their article?"

Zhou Quan shook his head, turning his nose up at the editor’s choice of picture.

"Wait a minute!"

Zhou Quan cried out in alarm; when he clicked into the article, he was dumbfounded.

"What the f*ck! This… this is me!"

From the choice of clothing to the choice of hairstyle, everything was typical of him. The man of the subject also wore an exaggerated head of a curly sleek-black hair.

Zhou Quan was completely flabbergasted and stupefied. How was he all of a sudden in the news?

He had an ominous presentiment. He skipped the article, then his eyes were right caught by the title of the news.

"Our Beloved Lord of the Memes Reappear in Public Life!" it only took a line of words like this for Zhou Quan to jump to his feet. Then, he had a premonition of something.

"Demon Ox!" Moments later, Zhou Quan cried an unearthly cry in his room. It was a screeching cry of exasperation as well as desperation. It shook every household around in the neighbourhood, and even the dogs from the area started howling and yowling, as if they were responding to his flagrant provocation.

Zhou Quan trembled as he read through the article. Sure enough, this was the doing of Yellow Ox.

The pictures were posted on the same webpage, a platform for sharing the most embarrassing moments of someone else. There were now a few more pictures after the ones that were posted last time. A crowd of online onlookers had gathered around the update and began to poke fun at this latest update.

Moreover, not only had the administrator of the webpage made the pictures be the top stories of the month, he also put a flash next to it. The flash attracted thousands of more meme enthusiasts, making the number of views on the article surge like a mad dog.

He could not even count exactly how many digits there were for the number of views.

The few photos updated today were indeed the ones snapped by Yellow Ox today. The angle at which these photos were taken was both sly and capricious, and nothing could get more embarrassing than that shown in the pictures. The photos were following the same train of style as they were last. Clearly, one could easily tell that all the photos, both old and new, came from the same origin, taken by the same photographer. There were nothing juxtaposing between the new and the old as the new ones had clearly proven to have perfectly supplemented the old ones that had been posted before.

"The memes could not get any spicier than this, my lord. I prostrate myself in worship of your dedication to the world of memes, my dear Yellow Ox!"

"The sleek-back now became poodle hair... Hahaha… the cringe is blinding me!"

"Thank you, Mr. Yellow Ox. All had been added to my humble collection!"

…

It was an uproarious crowd of people, all bowing down and worshipping the uploader of the photos—Mr. Yellow Ox.

"Argh..." Zhou Quan screamed in madness. There was a violent urge inside him propelling him to seek for his revenge on the damnable calf. He wanted to bite it with his own teeth without ever letting go.

The pictures that were uploaded last time had caused a sizeable sensation across the nation. This time, when the new ones were added, some of the mainstream media started reporting on its as if it were a consequential news.

"I will fight you to the bitter end, Yellow Ox!"

Zhou Quan rummaged around among the latest news on the internet, noticing that many media sources had attached great importance to these updated photos of his.

Zhou Quan rung up Yellow Ox, but he was met with a cold welcome. The call was hung up straight away.

Yellow Ox’s disregard for him exacerbated Zhou Quan’s fierce fury. Zhou Quan chose to send texts to let out his anger. The messages were peppered with foul language that was aimed to give a calf a dressing down.

"F*ck you, Yellow Ox! How am I going to face the others from now on?" Zhou Quan called Yellow Ox to account.

At last, Yellow Ox replied. It was a line of text as well. It read, "Fame spread worldwide."

"Spread my as*!" Zhou Quan was exasperated.

Certainly, because of Yellow Ox’s practical joke, Zhou Quan had been crowned with a fame that rendered him recognizable across the globe; however, this was not the kind of fame he had ever wished to be crowned with. Zhou Quan flew into a fury, and in the process, the rage had prompted the flames inside him to come out of his nostrils and his mouth.

The flames startled Zhou Quan. He hurriedly bolted out of his house into a vacant field outside the town. Then, in rage and fury, he started wailing like ghosts and howling like wolves. Soon later, the entire field was reduced to ashes by the flames that projected out of his wailing mouth.

"Argh…"

…

At Qingyang Village

Chu Feng had learned about the situation. He was speechless. He knew that Yellow Ox must have been doing something uncharitable, and sure enough, it did!

Yellow Ox, on the other hand, was calm and collected. The calf sluggishly dragged its hooves along the screen of the communicator, browsing through the comment section and taking joy in all the praises it had received with a big smile on the face.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Someone was knocking at the yard gate.

"Chu Feng! Open the door! You said you’re sending me the food you owed me today? Where are they?" Someone was shouting at the door.

"Who is that?" Chu Feng was dumbstruck as his brain went blank for a second.

"I’m the roast mutton boy!" Through the door came the resentful voice of the young man at the skewer stall. He knocked at the door with a few more bangs.

The calm and collected calf heard these words and immediately lost all its cool. The calf jumped to its hooves at once while its nostrils fumed with white mists of air. The calf could not sit through this with equanimity. It was the man who gave it the night of insufferable skirmishes in the stomach, so how could it resist the urge to fight with the damnable vendor to a bitter end?

Chu Feng hurriedly flung himself to tackle down the raging calf. He tried to appease the calf with consoling words, "Easy. Chill. Calm down!"

"Calm down my as*!" Yellow Ox flew into a rage. How could it stay calm after knowing the culprit behind its gut-wrenching night was right by the door? With its matchless strength, the calf was on the verge of breaking loose from Chu Feng’s pulling hands.

Chu Feng used all his might and exhausted all his words before he could finally dissuade the calf from rushing outside.

Yellow Ox moaned and groaned with anger. It sat in the corner of the room, turning its head away from Chu Feng.

Chu Feng hacked off a few jin of the dinosaur’s meat with his black dagger before he brought it to the young man waiting at the door, anticipating for his pay check. He told him that the house had exhausted all grain reserves recently, so the meat was in place of the grain instead.

The young man was still rather discontent as he looked quite suspicious as well. He asked, "The meat you’ve got here hasn’t gone bad, has it? My tummy won’t have any funny feelings after eating it, will it?"

In the room, Yellow Ox heard the young man’s interrogation. The calf flew into a rage as soon as it heard him, making a dash for the outside again.

"Go!" Chu Feng shoved the young man out. With a bang, he slammed shut the door.

Chu Feng had to appease the calf again after he returned to the house.

"Don’t cause troubles now. We’ll have to get up early tomorrow to contend for that magical fruit tomorrow morning, remember? Stay calm… for now!"

Outside the door, the young man refused to leave.

"Hey, Chu Feng! Are you sure your meat is okay? No diarrhea after eating it, yeah?" The young man still could not feel at ease. It stood near the yard wall as he yelled into the yard again.

"Moo…" Yellow Ox had truly been provoked. It kicked its hooves and rushed to the yard.

"What is that sound?" the young man asked.

"Go! Just f*cking go!" Chu Feng shouted as he exerted all his strength to press down the mad cow.