Free Web NovelThe sharp, piercing sound of metal clashing, mixed with the whooshing of air, echoed in the bar's main hall. The sharp air currents generated by the collisions carved grooves into the walls, stone pillars, tables, and chairs.
Jiang Li was never one to give up easily. Seeing that she was just a step away from killing the Strange Tale, how could she give up so easily?
Since Lu Yibei had no way to deal with the sword, she could only step forward herself.
Relying on her stubborn temper, in just a few seconds, Jiang Li clashed with the troublesome broken sword dozens of times, feeling her tiger's mouth go numb and her wrists ache.
As her Spiritual Energy was consumed, her breathing became more rapid, and she had to temporarily retreat to adjust her state.
After stopping her attack and calming down slightly, Jiang Li realized that Lu Yibei's broken ancient sword was too strange.
Its Spiritual Energy fluctuation was clearly not strong, and there was no one holding the sword, yet it displayed great power and exquisite swordsmanship.
In a trance, Jiang Li even had the illusion of fighting a sword master.
Fortunately, the broken sword was only guarding the Strange Tale and had no killing intent. Otherwise, a sword master plus an A-Level Spiritual Energy fluctuation Strange Tale would make the situation too tricky.
It was definitely not as simple as one plus one equals two.
Jiang Li grumbled inwardly, turned to look at Lu Yibei, and then her eye twitched uncontrollably.
Lu Yibei was playing the suona on the side, twisting her slender waist like a water snake, and her eyebrows seemed to dance with the music.
Although Jiang Li knew that Lu Yibei was playing the suona non-stop to suppress the Strange Tale, her appearance was quite annoying.
Jiang Li suppressed the urge to hit someone and said to Lu Yibei, "What is the origin of your sword? Why can't you even control it yourself?"
Lu Yibei thought for a moment and gave Jiang Li a resolute look.
【Inherited from my Ancestor.】
Jiang Li, "..."
Inherited from her Ancestor?
But the Night Watch's background check showed that her family had been running restaurants for three generations above her, right?
How could such a dangerous Spiritual Energy item be passed down?
Seeing that Lu Yibei also had no solution to the current situation, Jiang Li withdrew her gaze and looked at the Strange Tale, then suddenly stepped forward two steps, sweeping her long saber horizontally, unleashing a brilliant blue arc of light, and the sound of metal clashing suddenly appeared.
"Ding—!"
Listening to the piercing sound, Lu Yibei frowned, racking her brain to recall what Qingji had said, hoping to find a way to control Lingtai Pure Karma.
Just then, the broken sword suddenly hummed, sending out layers of faint golden ripples in the dim environment, followed by Qingji's voice.
"Stop hitting it, stop hitting it!"
Lu Yibei's ancestral broken sword actually had its own consciousness? Jiang Li's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively retreated, putting distance between them.
She had only ever heard of such magical existences with their own consciousness, existing between urban legend and Spiritual Energy items; this was the first time she had seen one with her own eyes.
Just as Jiang Li was slightly stunned, the broken sword hummed again, and Qingji's voice came through.
"Granddaughter-in-law, why are you making things difficult for this little guy? There must be some misunderstanding here."
"..."
Jiang Li looked at Lu Yibei with a surprised expression, tilted her head, and pointed to the tip of her nose.
【Granddaughter-in-law? Is he calling me?】
As soon as she thought of the embarrassing beautiful dream the Strange Tale had woven for her just now, her cheeks became hot again.
Damn it, did Lu Yibei, that scoundrel, say something strange to her ancestral ancient sword? Jiang Li thought.
Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Li expressionlessly, her eyes gradually filled with despair.
【You're thinking too much, he's... calling me.】
Jiang Li, "???"
For a moment, she even suspected that the person playing the suona not far away was not Lu Yibei, but a Miss named Wang Bu Liu Xing with a similar temperament and style to Lu Yibei.
Otherwise, how could someone pull off such a bizarre move as "I am my wife"?
However...
Jiang Li underestimated Lu Yibei's bottom line.
Just as she was looking at Lu Yibei, wanting to speak but hesitating, and then wanting to speak again, a sudden change occurred. An unknown opera appeared, and a bizarre tune echoed.
The Strange Tale, which had been retreating to a corner, suddenly moved. The bones writhed with its body, making "Click" sounds.
And deep within that massive body, something else was stirring, making wet, sticky sounds, as if flesh and blood were sliding within a cavity.
Hearing the sound, Jiang Li suddenly turned her head to look, and her expression instantly became serious.
She saw that on the trunk of the Strange Tale, the bones had begun to emit a faint, eerie glow at some point, like a door being pulled open, retreating to both sides, revealing the figure hidden beneath the bones.
It was a woman, her slender hands and feet embedded in piles of bones, her alluring torso covered with burnt little hands, and her exquisite face painted with a Qingyi facial pattern, giving her a somewhat eerie beauty.
The three thousand strands of black hair behind her head extended outwards, gradually transforming into weightless ethereal substances, merging into the thick smoke, turning into countless pale tentacles.
The moment the woman appeared, the Spiritual Energy fluctuation suddenly intensified, the surrounding scenery instantly inverted and distorted, and streaks of chaotic flowing light scattered in all directions. Amidst those flowing lights, waves of laughter drifted.
That was Spiritual Energy containing "beautiful dreams," almost condensed into substance.
Facing the suddenly transformed Strange Tale, Jiang Li was on high alert, her palms sweating as she held her long saber. Just then, the Strange Tale's crimson lips parted slightly.
"Benefactor? Have you returned?"
As if communicating with someone, the Strange Tale whispered, searching around with a mournful gaze, finally settling on the broken ancient sword, and falling silent.
Seeing this, Jiang Li frowned tightly and turned her head to cast an inquiring look at Lu Yibei.
【You are her benefactor?】
Lu Yibei shook her head like a rattle-drum, quickly denying it.
【You think too highly of me, I thought it was you!】
Jiang Li, "..."
Lu Yibei, "..." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
If neither of us is, then could it be...
After a brief silence, both of them seemed to think of something almost simultaneously and cast their gaze towards the ancient sword suspended before the Strange Tale.
It's it!?
Jiang Li was stunned for a moment and then cast a doubtful look at Lu Yibei again.
Lu Yibei frowned tightly, analyzed calmly, made a quick judgment, nodded, and returned a resolute look to Jiang Li.
【I know where the problem is. Later, you play the erhu to suppress the Strange Tale, and leave the rest to me!】
Looking at Lu Yibei's confident appearance, Jiang Li was silent for two seconds, flipped her wrist, put away her long saber, retreated to the side, picked up the erhu from the ground, closed her eyes to recall the score, adjusted her posture, and played the first note.
Only when the mournful tune poured out from her fingertips did she turn to look at Lu Yibei. This sight almost made her stop playing.
She saw Lu Yibei piecing together several chairs, laying several layers of tablecloths on them, and then lying down with a pillow she didn't know where she got from, closing her eyes.
Jiang Li, "???"
Astonished! What was she doing?
Was the so-called solution to give up resistance, find a comfortable position, lie down, and wait for death?
Based on Jiang Li's understanding of Lu Yibei, she really might do something so exasperating.
Of course, Lu Yibei wasn't lying down waiting for death. After realizing that Lingtai Pure Karma was likely being controlled by Qingji, she wanted to have a friendly chat with him.
And the simplest way she could think of to enter that strange dream was to fall asleep first.
"..."
Of course, if she really encountered a situation she couldn't defeat, couldn't provoke, and couldn't escape from, waiting for death like this wasn't bad either.
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And with erhu accompaniment, it's very good, even saving the money for funeral music.
Lu Yibei thought, collected her thoughts, silently recited the description from within her body, and then emptied her mind and body...
And fell asleep.
————
As countless times before, Lu Yibei felt herself gradually breaking into pieces, spreading out like an invisible gas, sinking continuously amidst meaningless murmurs.
Then suddenly, her back touched the cold, hard ground, and she woke up on that familiar rooftop.
Before she could even open her eyes, her chest suddenly felt cold, followed by heat.
She was dead, but she was happy.
Receiving Qingji's special "welcome gift" confirmed that she had successfully entered the dream.
As if pulled out of a dark mud vortex by an invisible force, Lu Yibei suddenly woke up.
Opening her eyes, she saw a sword coming at her. She spun her feet and twisted her body in an unusual posture, successfully dodging it.
After stabilizing herself, Lu Yibei looked ahead at Qingji, who stood holding the sword, and quickly said, "Ancestor, please wait. I have something I don't understand, please enlighten me!"
Qingji prepared to attack, crossed his arms over his chest, holding the sword, and said coldly, "Release!"
"Were you the one controlling the sword just now?"
"Hmm?"
Seeing Qingji's expression change slightly, Lu Yibei gave up imitating his way of speaking and quickly explained, "Uh... I mean, were you controlling the sword?"
"Naturally, it was me." Qingji raised his chin slightly, looking at Lu Yibei sideways, and said, "Do you know why I only suppressed it back then and didn't cut the grass by the roots?"
"Because you couldn't do it anymore," Lu Yibei blurted out.
Qingji had personally told her that at that time, he had more than thirty shrapnel pieces stuck in his body, was severely injured and had not recovered, and could not use his Spiritual Energy, so he had no ability to kill the urban legend.
"Bastard! What do you mean, couldn't do it?" Qingji's mouth twitched, and he said angrily, "If that evil creature was truly heinous and poisoned an area, since I had already suppressed it, couldn't I wait until my strength recovered a bit before going back to kill it?" freёwebnoѵel.com
"Even if I couldn't do it, couldn't my son Yu Bo go? If Yu Bo couldn't go, couldn't Yu Bo's son go? Sons and grandsons, endless, do you understand this principle?"
Now that there's a problem, it's my turn to suffer, right? Lu Yibei thought to himself.
Seeing that Lu Yibei remained silent, Qingji adjusted his breathing and continued, "The reason I didn't further eradicate it after suppressing it was because, during the battle, I discovered that its nature was not bad and there was still hope."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
Qingji turned his back, sighed deeply, and said, "Alas! The origin of evil creatures is nothing more than folk rumors, the grievances of living beings, the obsessions before death, etc. But the birth of this little fellow was just because of some unfulfilled promises."
"Promises?"
"That's right." Qingji looked at Lu Yibei and said, "When it was alive, it wanted to protect those poor children. To give them the confidence to survive in the dark, waterless, and foodless tunnels, it made many promises and wove many beautiful dreams for them, but who knew..."
Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully and interrupted, "It was bombed and buried underneath, right?"
"Exactly." Qingji nodded and said, "After I suppressed it back then, five or six years passed, and my strength recovered by more than half, so I returned, wanting to eradicate it. But when I got there, I saw a scene that surprised me."
"Guess what I saw?"
"Seventeen or eighteen wild ghosts, wearing big red clothes and floral shorts, dancing to Paradise Pure Land hand in hand?" Lu Yibei blurted out.
"Ah?" Qingji was stunned for a moment, his eyes scanning Lu Yibei up and down strangely.
Lu Yibei lightly slapped his own mouth and explained, "Uh... Don't mind me. If you hear me say anything strange in the future, just treat it as garbage, you continue."
Qingji frowned and continued, "When I went there, I found that the village, which had once been abandoned and dilapidated, had gathered more than a dozen families in just five or six years. The wild land, which was originally covered in weeds, had also become fertile fields, and every household was living a prosperous life, which could be called happiness."
"Ah, this... Could it be the influence of that urban legend?" Lu Yibei said in surprise.
"Precisely!" Qingji nodded.
Hearing this, Lu Yibei couldn't help but fall into contemplation and reflection.
He vaguely remembered that when he was young, before the Happiness Community area was developed into commercial housing, the residents living there indeed lived very well.
The crime rate in this area was extremely low, and even theft cases were unheard of. Occasionally, when he saw the residents walking through the old alleys, they always had a smile on their faces, and many of Hua City's top scorers in the college entrance examination also came from here.
The entire street was like an old street that would only appear in sweet youth stories, where all the stories that happened there were warm and beautiful.
In fact, when the first phase of Happiness Community properties began to be sold, they even used the gimmick of "feng shui treasure land" as a marketing tool.
If according to Qingji's statement, there should be the credit of that urban legend' secret protection.
"But..." Lu Yibei said, "Someone told me that none of the urban legend are good."
"Such a thing? Absolutely nonsense! Which bastard said that? Beat that son of a b*tch!" Qingji said angrily.
Lu Yibei, "..." It's not Bei Bei's business, Bei Bei doesn't know, it was the "granddaughter-in-law" you miscalled just now who said it.
Qingji glanced at the silent Lu Yibei and said, "It is suppressed by the hilt of the Lingtai Pure Karma sword. It's impossible for it to be hiding something and planning something else, so I think there is still hope for it."
"Furthermore, since ancient times, there has been the custom of worshipping deities, praying for protection, and gaining good harvests and abundance every year. Many deities were originally evil creatures, are they all fake?"
"In my humble opinion, whether it's an evil creature or a deity is just a matter of a single thought. If I let it go, and if it can transform into a deity and bless an area, it can also be considered a good deed for accumulating blessings and virtues for future generations."
"Ah? Then... uh, why is my husband so unlucky?" Lu Yibei said blankly.
Qingji looked at Lu Yibei with a serious expression without saying a word, his deep eyes seeming to say, "I'm giving you a look, figure it out yourself."
Lu Yibei, "..." I understand, you've done more immoral things, right?
After a moment of thought, Lu Yibei steered the topic back from the question of why she was so unlucky, "But, Ancestor, the situation is different now!"
"That urban legend, I'm afraid something has gone seriously wrong, it has started killing people..."
Lu Yibei described the detailed situation of Happiness Community to Qingji, his expression changed, and then after a long silence, he muttered to himself, "With the hilt of the Lingtai Pure Karma sword suppressing it, how could this happen? Unless someone..."
Halfway through his sentence, Qingji's face darkened, he looked up at Lu Yibei, his gaze like a torch, as if looking at an unworthy descendant, the veins on the hand holding the sword bulged, and the wind and clouds surged around him, Spiritual Energy contained but not released, yet his aura was astonishing.
Seeing that the Ancestor was about to clean house, Lu Yibei was startled and quickly explained, "No, I didn't pull out the sword, someone else did. I just got it back not long ago."
"Wait, there's a problem! Could it be..."
Lu Yibei suddenly thought of the bizarre statue she had seen in the Red Mountain Villa and Li Tanghan's home, the statue symbolizing that defiled, impure, and extremely twisted urban legend.
And the hilt of the Lingtai Pure Karma sword was in Li Tanghan's house, and Qin Dalin also said that the person who pulled out the sword was found through Li Tanghan's father's connections. Perhaps there was some subtle connection between them.
Qingji saw Lu Yibei in deep thought for a long time, as if he had grasped something crucial, and after a moment of contemplation, he walked forward and squeezed her shoulder forcefully.
"Granddaughter-in-law, it seems you have a clue about the person who is causing trouble, but now is not the time to think about these things. The most important thing at the moment is to solve the problem at hand."
Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment and said weakly, "How to solve it? I can't beat that guy! To be honest, if I hadn't brought my friends, I would have wanted to run away just now."
"I didn't tell you to kill it, if you kill it, that's when the big problems will arise..." Qingji said.
"Killing the urban legend will cause big problems?"
"Isn't that so?" Qingji retorted, "According to what you said, if you kill it, the beautiful dreams that countless people have because of it will wake up. How many people can bear the pain of a shattered dream?"
"But that's..." Lu Yibei opened his mouth, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Qingji.
"Fake, right?" Qingji smiled silently, "Silly child, if a beautiful dream can last a lifetime, what's the difference between real and fake?"
"..."
That's right, fake shoes can still be worn, and fake textbooks can still get high scores... Lu Yibei thought to himself, looking at Qingji with a serious expression and saying, "I understand, then what should I do?"
Qingji shrugged, unconcerned, and said, "Love it! That's what I did back then."
What kind of cheesy plot is this! Are the male leads from over a hundred years ago all this greasy? Lu Yibei looked at Qingji with horror, his eyes scanning him up and down as if he had eaten a lump of lard and felt nauseous, "You... loved it?"
I thought you didn't kill it because you were doing a good ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) deed, but it turns out you were coveting its body? Lu Yibei thought to himself.
"Love!" Qingji said with firm eyes.
"..." Lu Yibei rested his chin on his hand and pondered for two seconds, then said seriously, "Does my great-grandmother know about this?"
What should I do if I accidentally discover my great-grandfather's affair? It's urgent.
Qingji, "..."
Although this love is not that love, Yanzhi really doesn't know.
