Free Web NovelOn the lawn in front of the Tang City Museum, beneath the bronze sculpture of flying birds and auspicious clouds, Mao Sanyou leaned against the sculpture's stone base, gazing at the sky, surrounded by cigarette butts littering the ground.
His mood was complicated at this moment.
On one hand, he deeply trusted the investigation results of Lao Xu, a veteran officer who had served in Tang City for over ten years.
On the other hand, he found it hard to believe that the recent chaos in Tang City was caused by Ju Meng being attacked by an unknown force, leading to uncontrolled Spiritual Energy and subsequent corruption and degradation as she sought revenge.
“Rustle—rustle—!”
Just as Mao Sanyou was lost in thought, the sound of footsteps on the grass reached his ears. He turned around to see Shang Nanxing walking gracefully towards him. She sat down beside him and wiggled two fingers towards him.
“Give me one too?”
Seeing this, Mao Sanyou picked up the cigarette pack by his feet, pulled out a cigarette, handed it to Shang Nanxing, and lit it for her. Watching her exhale smoke, he opened his mouth, about to say something, but Shang Nanxing spoke first.
“After this, the three of us might go our separate ways. I've always had a question I wanted to ask you. I'm afraid if I don't ask now, I won't have another chance,” Shang Nanxing said.
Mao Sanyou was taken aback, then grinned cheekily, “No way, Older sister, are you secretly in love with me?”
“You're overthinking it,” Shang Nanxing rolled her eyes at Mao Sanyou and said calmly, “What I want to ask is, why have you stayed in Tang City all this time? I've always been very curious about this.”
“I'm here to repay a debt of gratitude, Lao Xu is here for his beliefs, what about you?”
Looking at Mao Sanyou's resume, he came from an ordinary family. After the night grew long, he began to show potential in Spiritual Energy. During a urban legend attack, he was discovered by an officer, recruited into the Night Watch, had a Spirit Mark drawn, became a reserve officer, and was finally assigned to Hua City.
His background wasn't special, and his abilities weren't particularly outstanding. He seemed just like the vast majority of ordinary Night Watch officers.
But...
He chose to stay in Tang City, a decision that was truly puzzling.
“Don't you know me? Of course, it's to slack off!” Mao Sanyou replied with a smile.
“Slack off, huh...” Shang Nanxing murmured to herself, took a deep puff of her cigarette, and slowly exhaled a wisp of white smoke towards the lightly snowing sky.
It shouldn't be as simple as just wanting to slack off, right? Why exactly did he stay here? Shang Nanxing wondered.
————
After hunting down the first jar of 'kimchi', Lu Yibei and Ju Meng returned to the Tangcheng Four Seasons Hotel, planning to resume work tomorrow.
A seemingly defenseless young man and a seemingly harmless little girl wandering through a dangerous city late at night were simply too conspicuous.
Instead of aimlessly searching the city for artifacts sealing urban legend, it would be better to follow Professor Ma to the laboratory tomorrow.
The research team has made good progress in recovering artifacts recently, having collected quite a few suspected artifacts awaiting appraisal. With luck, Ju Meng might be able to effortlessly collect several urban legend core entities tomorrow.
————
After sending Ju Meng back to the room Professor Ma had opened for her and setting up Paper Cicada Immortals around her and her own rooms, Lu Yibei returned to her room, lay on the bed, emptied her mind, and sank into a dream.
“Ancestor, what kind of kitchenware was reforged from Lingtai Pure Karma?”
After finding Qingji's figure on the dilapidated and crumbling empty rooftop, Lu Yibei asked this question directly.
Although when Ju Meng recounted her experience of being stabbed by kitchenware for the second time, Lu Yibei's strong urge to laugh constantly stimulated her paralyzed facial muscles, causing her expression management to momentarily go out of control.
But in the end, she still understood Ju Meng's intended meaning through her disjointed words.
Ju Meng suspected that the group who attacked her possessed a fruit knife reforged from fragments of Lingtai Pure Karma.
Qingji turned around, his face full of pleasant surprise, “Could it be you have a clue?”
Upon hearing that his and Lu Yanzhi's token of love had been lost, he was so angry that he wanted Lu Yibei to summon the souls of the three unfilial descendants, Lu Yuebo, Lu Bayi, and Lu Ming, to give them a good beating and then ask them about the whereabouts of the Lingtai Pure Karma fragments.
However, Lu Yibei was worried about her identity being exposed and tactfully refused Qingji's request.
Moreover, the Great Ancestor would definitely blame Grandpa, Grandpa would definitely blame Old Dad, and Old Dad would definitely blame her.
Wouldn't she be the one who suffers in the end?
Pulling her thoughts back, Lu Yibei nodded at Qingji, “Yes, I recently received news that someone is using a fruit knife with astonishing power. I suspect it might be a fragment of Lingtai Pure Karma, hence my question.”
“Hmm...” Qingji recalled seriously and said, “A Wenwu Knife, a Sang Dagger, a carving knife, and a dining knife used for peeling fruit and cooked meat, which might be the fruit knife you mentioned.”
Could it really be a fragment of Lingtai Pure Karma? Lu Yibei muttered inwardly and pressed on, “Ancestor, what is the other item?”
“A ruler.”
A ruler? Is that considered kitchenware too? Lu Yibei was taken aback, tilted her head, and asked doubtfully, “Ancestor, what is this ruler used for in cooking?”
She had spent her childhood hanging out in Old Dad's kitchen, observing him cook all sorts of dishes.
Although Western cuisine might use items like this for measuring ingredients, Chinese cuisine often relies on feeling and experience. One hundred people cooking the same dish will produce a hundred different tastes, and fifty of those tastes are quite good, so there's no need for a ruler, let alone a disciplinary ruler.
“...” Qingji looked at Lu Yibei, was silent for a few seconds, and pointed expressionlessly at the tip of his nose, “That was what your Great Ancestor Grandma used to 'cook' me and my son Yu Bo.”
After saying that, he paused for a few more seconds, and sighed with melancholy, “Ah—! To think I roamed the martial world for over ten years, drank with the Tianshan Immortal Maiden, bathed with the Miao Jiang Gu Witch, and slept with the Pure Yang Senior Sister, and in the end, I was defeated by a little cook...”
Lu Yibei, “...” She didn't expect the Ancestor to not only have rich life experiences but also such rich romantic experiences. No wonder Great Ancestor Grandma had specially prepared a ruler.
Just as Lu Yibei was secretly picturing Great Ancestor Grandma holding a ruler and 'disciplining' Qingji, Qingji's voice drifted into Lu Yibei's ears unexpectedly.
“Speaking of which, granddaughter-in-law, isn't it time to start practicing?”
Lu Yibei, “???”
As soon as Qingji finished speaking, before Lu Yibei could react, he launched a sneak attack.
Brilliant light bloomed in his palm, carrying a strong wind, and slammed fiercely towards Lu Yibei.
Terrifying power, speeds invisible to the naked eye, and astonishing techniques converged in this strike. In an instant, a loud bang echoed.
Thus, in the loud bang, the Hundred-Armed Giant Power, simulated by the operation of Spiritual Energy, erupted within Lu Yibei's limbs and bones, shattering and crackling.
She exploded, her upper body flying directly out, still trailing half of her internal organs, like some kind of dark, abusive kite...
“Granddaughter-in-law, don't be afraid. By dying repeatedly, you'll be able to control it. I died many times to learn how to control this power! Hahaha!”
Before losing consciousness, Lu Yibei heard Qingji say this to her.
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What Qingji said was true. Before he successfully simulated the operation of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power, he had blown up his own body over a hundred times.
...
Five minutes later.
Lu Yibei opened her eyes again, staring blankly at the sky that looked like it had been dyed with ink, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and lay motionless on the ground like a corpse.
“Rustle—rustle—1” ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Hearing footsteps and seeing Qingji approaching her in her peripheral vision, a gloomy look flashed in her eyes, and she unhesitatingly released the suppression of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power by the Spiritual Energy within her body.
Then...
Just as Qingji walked up excitedly, preparing for a new round of abuse, Lu Yibei's body suddenly exploded with a “Boom!” sound, as if a Corpse Explosion spell had been cast.
The sharp sound of high-frequency air vibrations and the roar like thunder and fire descending from the sky overlapped, indistinguishable from each other. Air currents burst forth from nowhere, shooting out in all directions, transforming into a fierce hurricane.
As if dozens of cannonballs had exploded in front of him, Qingji's vision went black, and he fell to the ground.
Lu Yibei's head, which had killed a thousand enemies at the cost of thirty thousand to herself, was swept up by the air current and floated towards the sky. Looking at the blood-stained rooftop, where the air currents surged like a tsunami, bone and flesh debris splattered, and streams of light shimmered, a line of poetry flashed through her mind.
“East Wind” sets off a thousand trees at night. It blows down even more, stars like rain...
————
5:57 AM.
Lu Yibei bid farewell to Qingji, left the dream, and woke up on the hotel bed. She stared blankly at the ceiling in the darkness for a moment, felt the stickiness of dried sweat on her body, slightly furrowed her brow, and got up to walk towards the bathroom.
“Screech—!”
Accompanied by the slight sound of the faucet turning, hot water quickly flowed over Lu Yibei's skin with a “whoosh,” filling the bathroom with a hazy steam.
Bathing in the hot water, Lu Yibei closed her eyes, carefully recalling the fluctuations of Spiritual Energy and the operation of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power each time she was successfully ambushed by the Ancestor or self-destructed to take the Ancestor down with her. At the same time, she constantly savored the words Qingji had just said to her in her mind.
“Don't learn from me, or rather, don't just blindly learn from me, it's useless,” Qingji warned when he discovered Lu Yibei imitating his method of operating Spiritual Energy to manifest the Hundred-Armed Giant Power.
“Think about it carefully, when you were learning the Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration from me, besides the foundation I helped you lay, did I teach you anything else about swordsmanship?”
Very little, most of it I figured out myself, especially the life-saving techniques and movement skills... Lu Yibei thought.
Although Qingji's swordsmanship was exquisite and unparalleled, Lu Yibei always felt a sense of awkwardness and discomfort while remembering his movements. She would then subconsciously adjust to the state that felt most comfortable for her to perform.
“Everyone's arm length, stride length, height and weight, and even Spiritual Energy fluctuations have subtle differences. Others' experiences are, after all, others'. They can be used for reference, but they cannot be copied directly.”
“What you need to solve now is the trouble within your body. If you can't figure out the control method on your own, even if you temporarily master it, it will bury hidden dangers unknowingly.”
My own method...
But what are the characteristics of my Spiritual Energy fluctuations? Lu Yibei wondered.
She really wanted to shout, “Ancestor, I've comprehended it!”
Then return to the dream and give the old man a good 'filial' treatment.
But reality slapped her hard and told her, “You little beast, what have you comprehended!”
Although Lu Yibei was already very familiar with the characteristics of the Mythical Seed's Spiritual Energy fluctuations after one completion, and had even developed various uses for her innate abilities.
But now that the Mythical Seed core entity had fallen silent, she suddenly realized that she knew very little about the Witch Seed's Spiritual Energy fluctuations.
Without a thorough understanding of the Witch Seed's Spiritual Energy fluctuation characteristics, she temporarily couldn't simulate the operation of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power using this Spiritual Energy fluctuation, and thus couldn't safely bring the Hundred-Armed Giant Power within her body out.
While contemplating, Lu Yibei's consciousness suddenly became hazy, feeling just like when she was by Lianzi Lake before, vaguely dreaming of the “little girl selling Alchemy Dirty Bombs.”
She dreamed that the most beautiful little princess living at the bottom of the sea was allowed to ascend to the surface to see the world on her fifteenth birthday.
As soon as she reached the surface, the little mermaid saw a young, handsome man fall from a shipwreck into the water during a storm, about to die. She bravely saved the prince's life, but because she didn't belong on land, she had to ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) leave.
From then on, the young man's face often appeared in the little mermaid's mind. She would often secretly float to the surface, following the fleet to peek at the young man standing on the deck keeping watch. She felt she had fallen in love with him.
Finally, she made up her mind and went to the terrifying sea witch, exchanging her most precious beautiful voice for a potion to become human.
The night before taking the potion, the little mermaid floated to the surface again to secretly watch the young man.
The young man discovered the little mermaid's presence and said excitedly, “Is that you?”
He actually recognized me? The little mermaid was flustered and shyly nodded.
And then she was...
Captured by the young man named Zheng He and made into 'Mermaid Done Three Ways'.
Seriously, of all people to fall for, why fall for the famous Eunuch San Bao? In her daze, Lu Yibei complained inwardly.
————
In a bone-chilling cold, Lu Yibei suddenly woke up with a start, abruptly opening her eyes, only to find that the hot water from the showerhead had frozen into ice at some point.
The moment she opened her eyes, a sharp icicle grazed the tip of her nose and fell, flying past her abdomen and 'unmentionable parts' before shattering into ice shards on the bathroom floor.
Seize the opportunity, for it may not come again. (This is a play on words with 'chicken', referring to a certain part of the body).
Startled, Lu Yibei jumped back violently, staring at the icicles hanging from the showerhead, and gasped.
“Hiss—! That was close!”
What the heck? What's going on? Is this the characteristic of the Witch Seed's Spiritual Energy fluctuations?
But is it about cutting off someone's retreat, ruining someone's childhood, or something else entirely?
This might require further research to find out... Lu Yibei thought, her thoughts gradually turning dark as she considered suitable experimental subjects.
For example... catch two readers to try?
“Haha, that's too chuunibyou. I'm not a novel protagonist, where would I find readers?” Lu Yibei muttered to herself about the strange idea that popped into her head, then locked her target onto Ju Meng's 'kimchi'.
Before the Smelly Girl devours them, let me experiment first, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Lu Yibei thought.
