Free Web NovelChapter 227: Chapter 31: Causes and Effects of Bai Wu
"Why do I need to kill him, why does he need to kill me, ah, it’s so good."
Behind him, a bone-chilling coldness emerged, accompanied by a smile that carried a hint of a childlike mischief—the mischievous smile of Purple Orchid.
"Bai Wu, you did not lie. I can only take you to see him, you might be able to survive in his hands. He is the most evil and powerful entity I have ever encountered; however, I cannot take you directly to him. I am here to fulfill my promise, do right."
"I want to kill him!"
In her hand, the Purple Orchid materialized, feeling an electric jolt similar to a summoning from within the long casket, leaving her with a difficult choice of three options.
With a flick of her wrist, a drop of blood appeared, causing Purple Orchid’s eyes to open wide due to the immense pain. "Take me to see him! Take me to see him!"
"Is it correct? His name is Zhong Xu, I have already found your father. I do not intend to change my appearance, there isn’t much time."
Inside the purple room, the little lady’s eyes widened at the sight of this boat ticket.
He took out the boat ticket, having chosen the most effective way to explain his identity under the time pressure—Bai Wu.
"There is a familiar scent on you."
Purple Orchid declared, looking at the ghostly image within the evil white bones.
Purple Orchid Manor, outside the tower.
...
...
—That was just another lie; if they really had encountered that strange creature with the face years ago, there would be no escape. If it was true, there would be no retreat.
This was their longstanding wish, and they had to fulfill it to the bitter end.
The lie had already long become an ephemeral illusion. They did not regret transforming themselves for the evil ones, despite waiting for nineteen years against this retreat.
Suddenly, Bai Wu saw the black horse with the fierce flames rush into the virtual shadow within the blood mist, followed by forty-two cavaliers, as the blood slowly turned scorching hot.
"We need them to build the retreat, let’s see."
Spoke the towering shadow within the blood mist, knowing that his plea for help would be rejected this time.
Bai Wu remained silent, as if having much to say.
That Qingyu Valley person, named Erleipu, had never led people out of the high tower, there was simply no retreat—the fundamental truth Bai Wu was unable to reveal, full of sorrowful questions.
"Have you found the retreat...after nineteen years?"
Bai Wu suddenly fell silent, looking at the blood mist scenery outside the virtual shadow.
"I am waiting for you."
"Are you waiting for me?"
"You have come."
...Lin Haigu would meet himself here again, an event he hadn’t even considered possible, despite all his planning.
In that instant, Bai Wu fully understood; these thoughts quickly formed in his mind within the sea, ready to erupt from his eyes at any moment.
Perhaps it was all a lie—that there had never been a monster with a face who passed by, let alone descended upon the retreat that not even the whispers have reached Lin Haigu’s ears.
The allied army’s sharp and well-trained forces, the grand charge, had already set off, and Lin Haigu had already faced death. The regiment of seven teams, a thousand rows long, had once been through the Fifth Level.
Because of his temporary daze in the changing conversation within the electric chamber, he saw the giant nine-headed snake emerge from within the blood mist at that moment.
Suddenly, Bai Wu felt his own heart beating faster upon seeing the red blood mist.
Food City
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...
"How are you here, big brother?"
Suddenly, a familiar shadow appeared directly in front of his eyes, twisting strangely into the space.
She, forever living, enduring and surviving against the strange anomalies within this lake, had decided to confine herself here forever, never being able to leave this place.
Within this vast domain, with each territory enclosed, followed by the ever-sealing Well...the haunting red solemnity remained forever here.
In this desolate village, she had always been unable to find what she truly desired; she felt as if among these people, there was not one who resembled her grandmother from outside.
Assassin came to this desolate village, bringing with him a bloody red hue, fulfilling the promise he made in the depths of the mountains, falling to a traveler’s death.
All that remained was this crimson red, as if the very existence of something strange and evil still lingered on, something strange and evil that could defeat the corruption in the lake.
She became the village children’s protective deity.
Many curious incidents began to lessen in the village, ever since this little girl arrived.
Sometimes, you could catch a glimpse of her odd eyes, as if they could see through to those globes if stared at long enough. Though her hands were drawing in a huge black balloon of air, her eyes were deeply empty, yet she looked up to the pure sky with no hint of wickedness.
A few streaks of black marked the hem of her long, red dress. This little girl came to the village wearing red, and she had been since that day.
It seemed as if the residents of this village had been reliving the same death over and over for seven hundred years, never ceasing to die within this place, with death and silence pervading the air outside this forsaken village.
The lake ghost stories were the strangest, indeed.
This mountain village has buried countless histories and tales of the strange, nurturing them for hundreds of years, and Jujube Lake was its name.
There was a lake by this deathly desolate village.
A few minutes ago
...
...
He felt as if he were in several worlds at once, a fleeting touch with reality.
This moment when Bai Wu was dissipating, he exerted his strength beyond its limits.
Those who had once come into contact with Bai Wu, even if they were at the brink of death, somehow intersected at that very moment of conscious awareness, despite not having seen Master Liu’s fifth level of evil transformation.
There was still a proud stance in the low air above the Sharp Forest, with Assassin’s shadow behind him. That shadow was the inverted image of Liu at dusk.
Peering down at the deep sea from above, he felt as if he were sinking, staring at the black, pitch-like rocks engulfed by the phantom shadow of the Fifth Level ahead of him.
A change had occurred.
... After they regained consciousness, they took off and followed a side path as if awakening from a deep slumber, preparing to continue the cycle of intense encounters.
There’s something odd here. Surely, there must have been a reason for this oddity, but he had encountered these two people for the umpteenth time, and he knew them, no matter how supernatural the big boss might be.
Despite this, he could not abandon certain habits. Somewhere inside, he still retained that youthful vigor, as a certain ancestor once said, "In this world on the brink, one must always watch his step," yet Master Liu and Assassin—without any explanation—remained as they always were.
Why did he call them old acquaintances? Surely it was their first meeting with this fantastical person, yet something was unclear between Master Liu and Assassin.
"Aren’t you guys always running into us without any reason? Is it because you’re definitely bound to us?"
He was completely baffled.
And there they were again, Assassin and Master Liu, appearing beside him after he woke up.
The Marsh, The Tower
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...
Without thinking much, the little girl charged into the phantom image powerfully, a hundred or thousandfold stronger than this enemy before her—she fundamentally did not know.
"Go!"
"I... I need your help... I’ve run into some trouble."
Her joy dissolved instantly like clouds scattering.
Even the arm was utterly shattered. The bone structures of the head had broken so much that they had even crumpled completely, revealing fissures, and even big uncle’s upper body was in tatters. Jiang Yimi observed this immediately.
He had previously sought help, having been beaten into a bloody mess for being a victim... but now he finally ended up like this.
She never had a chance or the time, but he definitely wanted to come to see her. It seemed that the little girl had some misunderstanding about herself, thinking he had some other motive.
... Bai Wu felt a bit remorseful.
Seeing Bai Wu in this state, Jiang Yimi, familiar with the confrontations at the school, looked into the phantom within Bai Wu, and not surprisingly, they were no strangers.
"You really came to see me... you, you, Big Uncle!"
The little black cat was happily meowing, as Jiang Yimi was engrossed in reading a book when Bai Wu appeared beside her.
Chuanbai School
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More and more people were entering this vast gathering space, but it was still not densely packed.
Bai Wu hadn’t thought about this question for a long time, as occasions were becoming rarer.
Why would someone bring themselves here? Who was at the bottom of all this, and what was the reason to have something like this?
Was it because they were imprisoned by someone, pulled by iron chains in a place as void-like as this?
Though he was extremely puzzled, Bai Wu’s heart harbored no fear.
Bai Wu did not dare to delay, as he hastened to dissolve the chains that connected this area.
Suddenly, cracks appeared on the surface!
He even felt a suffocating sensation, as if he was in another world right now, feeling an immense pressure bearing down on him.
He suddenly felt as if his own self had come across a certain inexistence before him, hearing the sound of chains in the void...
It could be something he had never felt before in terms of danger. Bai Wu felt an extreme sense of danger in his heart.
Bai Wu could only maintain the virtual shadows for a minute under normal circumstances, but he was currently unraveling the intangible force, although he felt a vague threat in the darkness that seemed to hold some extreme terror over his body.
At the same time, in some area, Bai Wu, acting as the backup soldier, was expanding his consciousness, Erleipu had just vanished from sight the moment he tried to scatter it, whether he saw anything or not, Erleipu’s situation was the first encounter of its kind.
Without any preparedness in his eyes.
Bai Wu might have even mistaken himself for appearing in the starry void if he had not nearly touched some of those firefly-like creatures.
They could not bring any light with them, only appearing occasionally in this territory, flickering weakly with tiny points of light in the boundless void.
...
...
"But I should make my move, although there are some matters, and I’ve told you long ago. Let’s go,"
For a moment, he read Shen Xiaoyue’s calm demeanor, not quite like the Shen Xiaoyue he knew... Bai Wu birthed a thread of danger in his heart.
"It’s been a very long time since I’ve heard that name,"
Shen Xiaoyue listened to Lin Haigu’s premeditated thoughts with a playful look in her eyes, only raising her eyebrows slightly, showing that she did not respond to his mention of Well.
"I don’t know, Lin Haigu, that’s where you were born... I do want to invite you over there, but,"
Shen Xiaoyue was killing more and more, even killing the insurmountable Chuanbai, who was not the biggest contributor among them.
They had killed four fellow travelers, including Shen Xiaoyue, Assassin, Erleipu, and Chuanbai.
Bai Wu didn’t know that the travelers had already died; he didn’t know it even now.
"Have you heard about this name? It’s been a long time since I’ve heard it, but where are you inviting me to go? What place am I being invited to go to by someone?"
Shen Xiaoyue smiled an enigmatic smile, reacting without surprise to the mention of the three old characters.
Bai Wu, who couldn’t quite calculate the slow crossflow with Shen Xiaoyue, felt pressed for time.
This Shen Xiaoyue with a beauty mark was actually the owner of this museum, standing outside in the void.
"I need your help, Shen Xiaoyue,"
He didn’t even intend to recognize the face in front of her. She was quite a charmer, and her voice had not a hint of flirtation. A woman’s voice, impersonal yet with a slightly enticing tone.
"...You do look somewhat familiar,"
Although Bai Wu never imagined he would be picked by someone who was merely an acquaintance on the surface, as he could only embrace the idea of easily hugging the big thighs of the Red Shrine, it was only then that he saw a dazzling figure.
Bai Wu, still slightly stunned because he hadn’t been to this place before, suddenly appeared as if in a certain museum-like space from somewhere unknown.
Outer tower, unknown territory.
...
...
Whatever that call of hatred seeped into his bones, Bai Wu knew clearly as he looked at this person’s smiling face.
"Even though I’m unable to rely on Erleipu’s eyes to see the future death clock—"
Bai Wu didn’t know what would happen when these doors burst open in a flash.
One vortex after another appeared in the battle scene, condensing in mid-air into a massive shadow that seemed to twist and contort space itself into numerous doorways.
All of a sudden, the vast expanse of the battlefield became overwhelmingly crowded, especially within the vast Fifth Level.
The bastions of the Fifth Level, the domain of color...
...
...
By the time Bai Wu said he needed their help at that moment, he had already ventured into the shadowy figures, his curiosity piqued by Bai Wu leading him into the dense forest.
As always, the shield was just as necessary as the sword, disregarding Lin Haigu’s objections, particularly when it was time to protect them.
Directly stepping into the shadowy figures, he did not question anything when he heard about the imminent danger on Level Five, but a series of doubts began to surface in Liu Muyun’s mind.
"I am Bai Wu of Team Liu... I need your help... I’ve encountered danger on Level Five," he exclaimed.
Bai Wu said urgently, overcome with emotion as there was only so little time.
He had brought upon himself all these consequences, living in a world of unlimited possibilities.
He felt dazed at times.
He had somehow become a true hero, that child from seven hundred years ago...
Their conversations emerged not only in Lin Haigu’s memories but also appeared in Bai Wu’s recollections.
"Are you capable of taking on the responsibility to protect them from today onwards, now that I entrust you with this mask?"
"You are already a hero, and in time, when you are equipped to handle any situation that may arise, this journey might seem tedious. You must use both wisdom and bravery to face dire circumstances and fear no evil or desperation," he said.
"Facing danger, you must be even colder and more composed. It is with great regret that I cannot follow you at every single moment. There is still a lot of evil and twisted monsters spreading terror in the city, and there are many weak people waiting for redemption. This world is perishing, bit by bit," he added. freēwebnovel.com
"I am merely a symbol appearing in this city; perhaps my presence could reignite hope in people, or maybe they would lose belief in my absence sooner or later. Every time I am saved by others, it’s not the end. There are still many weak people waiting for redemption, and showing any sign of faith towards others might even be ridiculed later on."
To Nie Zhongshan and Liu Muyun, he was just like a day long gone, his memories in Lin Haigu’s mind as distant as yesterday.
Only then did something immensely meaningful to Lin Haigu occur, he couldn’t understand their long-awaited meeting after seven hundred years, just like Nie Zhongshan and Liu Muyun.
Unexpectedly, he shed tears—just moments earlier he was but a strange masked creature.
... It baffled them even more that Nie Zhongshan and Liu Muyun did not understand why the masked figure in the shadowy figures called himself a masked creature.
"... You are the masked creature... It’s you..."
He fastened the mask onto his own forehead, the masked creature with a warm smile, not forgetting the food city street scene from seven hundred years prior.
He was gradually beginning to forget his own surname because too much time had elapsed... so much time that he no longer even recalled the names of people he once deceived.
He had already forgotten many people, and so much had changed over the long journey through time and space.
Although his face bore nothing but a long, thin scar and one of his ears was slightly askew, he had not aged much.
The boy who used to cry loudly in his youth had already faded away; the Masked Creature took off the mask, and there was no more white bone evil in sight.
One was just passing through the journey, encountering a dying man by chance; the other was the one who handed over the mask to himself seven hundred years ago!
Only two people could call out their own names, only owing to possessing that mask!
Although the Masked Creature was startled by the shattered mask in Bai Wu’s hand, he recognized him despite never having seen Bai Wu in such a state, and Bai Wu’s voice had changed slightly after assuming the evil form.
"Lin... Lin Haigu?" he murmured.
What shook him to the core... was seeing that Masked Creature right before his eyes, perhaps because of Liu Muyun, he was trying to decipher what had unfolded.
In just a blink, Bai Wu realized who this man was—someone with an extraordinary presence, someone who had never seen Liu Muyun before.
With sharp spikes on his elbows, knees, and forehead, they all had an extremely menacing look, with broken bone wings to boot.
Though Lin Haigu didn’t resemble any ordinary white bone evil, their outer profiles looked eerily similar, yet the colossal shadowy figures emerged, and Nie Zhongshan saw a shadowy figure resembling himself grow out of nothingness.
Nie Zhongshan saw his own lengthening shadowy figure that quite resembled Bai Wu—an evil form—in the shadowy figures, as space began to twist and contort itself.
