Free Web NovelI never expected she would be such a girl. At the time she used a move called 'Old Tree Roots' followed by a move called 'Poison Dragon Emerging from the Sea', and my whole body flew up—Lu Yibei.
Lu Yibei, who had been kneed in the chest after Ju Meng locked his neck with both hands, lay on the sofa and took nearly half an hour to slowly recover.
"I suspect there's something wrong with the contract we made earlier. You struck so hard, yet you didn't even violate the contract and suffer a backlash. It's just ridiculous."
Ju Meng eyed Lu Yibei askance. Although she felt a bit guilty about acting irrationally and attacking rashly without clarifying the situation, due to face, she had no intention of admitting fault.
"Hmph! When I struck, I had no killing intent and I controlled the angle. It was impossible to injure you, therefore, this doesn't count as violating the contract."
This Miss, a dignified deity, how could I possibly say sorry? How embarrassing would that be!
Ju Meng thought, and secretly glanced at Lu Yibei's stomach.
I was very restrained just now. He should be fine, right? Ju Meng thought. Doesn't this kid want to know about urban legend? Worst case scenario, I'll tell him a bit more and that will compensate him.
Lu Yibei, '...'
He really wanted to yell at Ju Meng, "Does this old man still have any status in this house?"
But soon he felt he was overthinking it. Ever since Ju Meng latched onto him, staying alive at home was his status. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
So, boys really need to learn how to protect themselves. Don't let strange girls move into your home, otherwise, your fate will be the same as mine. Lu Yibei thought.
Lu Yibei had no choice but to steer the conversation back to the bamboo slips. "Forget it, this isn't your fault. Let's continue talking about the bamboo slips, shall we?"
"When you unfurled the bamboo slips just now, their reaction was too strange. You could tell at a glance it wasn't anything good. Let's think of a way to get rid of it. Keeping this kind of thing is just a disaster."
"How about we just set it on fire and burn it directly?"
Although Lu Yibei was very curious about the content on the bamboo slips and the story hidden behind them, he strongly agreed with a sentence from Jiang Li, which was, "The more you know, the more dangerous it is."
How could that be okay if there's danger! Lu Yibei thought. However, if I can't solve the danger, can't I still get rid of the bamboo slips?
Hearing this, Ju Meng rolled her eyes at Lu Yibei and said ill-temperedly, "You like playing with fire that much? Be careful you don't wet the bed when you sleep at night!"
Lu Yibei frowned, looked at Ju Meng with a somewhat disgusted look in his eyes and said, "You just can't let go of these poop, pee, and fart jokes, can you? Since we can't burn it, then tell me how we can get rid of it!"
Ju Meng pursed her lips noncommittally, stared at the bamboo slips and mused for a few seconds before saying, "This thing can't be burned directly, or rather, I don't know of any proper way to deal with it."
Something containing the blood of a corrupted deity is like a source of pollution constantly emitting a virus. A Strange Tale capable of dealing with it would have to be at least a High-Tier Mythical Species, or another Strange Tale with abilities similar to a High-Tier Mythical Species.
However, urban legend capable of dealing with the blood of a corrupted deity are also the type of urban legend most easily affected by it. Dealing with it requires taking on significant risk.
That being the case, the simplest and most effective way to deal with it is to throw it somewhere and leave it alone, letting time digest everything. But no one can say for sure when its lingering poison will completely dissipate.
"How about we find a black plastic bag to put it in, then find a time when no one is around and a place where no one is around, and just throw it away?" Ju Meng said.
Lu Yibei was startled. "Holy crap, you say something like that, don't you feel uneasy about it?"
"It is a bit wrong, but..." Ju Meng paused and said seriously, "It's better for a fellow Taoist to die than for this poor Taoist to die!"
Hearing this, Lu Yibei suddenly felt that Ju Meng's shamelessness and fear of death were quite compatible with his own, and nodded, saying, "What you said makes quite a bit of sense... my foot!"
"Then I can't help it either. Can you bear to see a beautiful girl like me, as lovely as a flower, get contaminated by the blood of a corrupted deity and turn into a monster?" Ju Meng said, and blinked her big eyes flirtatiously at Lu Yibei.
A beautiful girl as lovely as a flower? You didn't say that in the last chapter! Lu Yibei muttered inwardly, looked at the bamboo slips that had fallen to the ground, bent down and picked them up, then turned and looked at Ju Meng.
Seeing this, Ju Meng was slightly startled and shrank back. "What are you doing?"
As if sensing something, Lu Yibei narrowed his eyes and looked at Ju Meng. "You seem very afraid of this thing?"
Ju Meng bit her lip and didn't speak.
"If you don't speak, I'll take it as a default. Since that's the case, I can only, heh heh heh..."
"You, what do you want to do? Don't think you can threaten this Miss with this! Even if I fall, I won't get involved with you!" Ju Meng said in a panic.
"Pah! Watch your mouth! Who the hell wants to get involved with you? I just want you to translate for me what this thing is actually saying!"
Ju Meng, '...' freewebnovёl.ƈom
...
Over an hour later.
Lu Yibei held up the bamboo slips until his arms were a little sore before Ju Meng finished reading the content on the bamboo slips.
After reading the bamboo slips, Ju Meng's expression was solemn. She rested her chin in her hand and pondered for a long time, only then organizing her thoughts. She looked at Lu Yibei, her eyes seemingly holding a hint of resentment.
"I've found that some among you humans are truly heartless."
"That's certainly not talking about me," Lu Yibei said, shrugging.
I've always pursued living with a clear conscience and being open and upright. If by chance I feel guilty, I can also convince myself not to feel guilty. Lu Yibei thought.
'...' Ju Meng slightly parted her lips, forcing back the urge to complain about Lu Yibei's shamelessness. She looked at the bamboo slips and began explaining some of the content she saw on them.
"The beginning of this set ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) of bamboo slips is indeed a rambling diary filled with curses, but towards the last third, it's full of substantial information."
"Substantial information? How so?" Lu Yibei asked, puzzled.
"It extensively describes obscure knowledge and mysterious ancient texts. Many of these books are unique copies that have long been extinct in the outside world, or ancient scriptures that people have never heard of. Considering the previous content, these things should all have been given to them by the deity they found."
"After they obtained that knowledge, they indeed mastered many powers that ordinary humans couldn't grasp. This allowed them to live very good lives."
Speaking of this, Ju Meng suddenly thought of her Taoyuan. The events developing up to this point were almost identical to what happened with her and her Taoyuan.
"What's wrong with that? Isn't that quite good?" Lu Yibei asked, puzzled.
"There's a problem, a big problem, because when they found that deity, It was already close to death," Ju Meng said.
Lu Yibei's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. Wasn't whether deities could die the question he had wanted to ask Ju Meng earlier?
Now, he hadn't had time to ask Ju Meng, but Ju Meng had indirectly given a definitive answer.
"This... Deities can still die?"
"Of course they can," Ju Meng said seriously. "Isn't there the saying about the Five Signs of Decay for Celestials and the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations?"
"Holy crap?" Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment. "I thought that was all superstition and nonsense!"
After Lu Yibei finished speaking, he felt something was a bit off again. He had already seen so many urban legend, what superstition was there that he couldn't believe?
Now, even if someone told me he saw the Hundred Flowers Maiden on the street, I would believe it!
Ju Meng pursed her lips. "Of course it's nonsense."
Lu Yibei, '...' Older sister, you're making things very difficult for me!
I finally managed to convince myself to believe.
"Although it's nonsense, there's still a tiny bit of truth to it," Ju Meng explained. "Even deities are essentially urban legend, and they also have the risk of falling. The longer they exist, the higher this risk is."
"The erosion of time is more terrifying than anything else. As far as I know, no Strange Tale has been able to endure for over five thousand years."
'...' Lu Yibei looked at Ju Meng and mused for a few seconds, then asked seriously, "Miss, may I ask your age?"
"Five thousand three hundred and seventeen," Ju Meng said indifferently.
A young girl's age is a taboo that shouldn't be casually asked, but clearly Miss Ju Meng didn't have this concern.
"You..." Lu Yibei hesitated to speak. Did what she wanted to express mean, "Except for me, everyone else here is trash"?
"My situation is quite complicated, so I won't explain it to you," Ju Meng said.
I can't exactly tell him that in these five thousand three hundred and seventeen years, for five thousand years I was a peach tree without formed consciousness, and then for three hundred years I was a simpleton with nascent intelligence, right?
How embarrassing would that be? Maybe he'll treat this Miss like a seventeen-year-old Little Girl. How could that work! It would damage our prestige!
Ju Meng thought, cutting in before Lu Yibei could ask further, she continued, "Come on, I'll continue telling you where the problem lies."
"Mm-hmm." Lu Yibei nodded.
"According to the records on the bamboo slips, the soldiers responsible for finding the deity and the sacrificial boys and girls, after obtaining the deity's knowledge, never returned to their original country, but instead multiplied and thrived in the place where they found the deity."
"Over the long years, they developed a belief in the Serpent God. They believed themselves to be the subjects and descendants of the Great Serpent God. They lived here for generations..."
"Wait a minute!" Lu Yibei heard this and couldn't help but interrupt. "Long years? Aren't these bamboo slips written by one of the soldiers from that group responsible for finding the deity? How would he know what happened later?"
However, Ju Meng's next words left Lu Yibei stunned for a long while.
"Because he didn't die during those long years, and it's even possible he's still not dead now," Ju Meng said.
"Didn't I just say? The deity they found was close to death. When It felt It was close to death, or about to fall, It departed from Mount Kunlun where It had always resided and traveled all the way towards the sea, intending to end Its life there."
"The grace It originally bestowed upon those humans was merely a benevolent act performed incidentally during this journey towards death. It had no intention of staying for long. However, just as It was preparing to set off again, It discovered that It had raised a tiger that would cause trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"If It left, those people's faith would collapse, because the humans who had gained miraculous powers and long lifespans from It would lose everything..." Ju Meng explained.
"So..." Lu Yibei frowned. "Those people found a way to imprison It?"
"That's right!" Ju Meng nodded. As she spoke, she seemed to think of something, and a hint of sadness flashed in her eyes.
If one day I were to fall and wanted to leave, find a place to die peacefully, would the people of Taoyuan send me off with cheers, or imprison me? Ju Meng thought.
