Free Web NovelDeep in the quiet night, in the back mountains of Da Chunyang Palace.
On a clear night with thin mist, the moonlight was like silver, illuminating everywhere. The mountain forests cast shadows under the moonlight, and the chirping of insects in the grass was as dense as falling rain.
Suddenly, the insect chirping stopped abruptly. Immediately after, a small white shadow flashed past, darting through the grass, skimming over the treetops, creating ripples on the mirror-like Cold Pool, and finally disappearing into the small mountain dotted with caves of various sizes.
This small Paper Cicada Immortal, without anyone controlling it, didn't know what it should do or where it should go. It only knew to move forward blankly, moving forward... according to the Master's predetermined instructions.
----
Explain? How do you expect me to explain this? Lu Yibei looked at Hua Sang, whose expression was so serious it felt somewhat terrifying, her mind racing as she calculated her response plan.
This Miss is extremely clever. Sometimes she might seem slow to react, but that's just because she's too lazy to react. Now that it involves the ruler she keeps close, the situation is definitely different...
Trying to bluff her way through with nonsense probably won't work. She was already seen through once on the bus...
If worst comes to worst, she can only tell the truth, well... a slightly modified "truth" after some arrangement and combination!
As Lu Yibei thought, her willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed, and she let out a cold snort, saying, "Hmph! When I, Jue Jue Zi, do things, why do I need to explain to a junior like you?"
Anyway, since the name is already out there, she might as well use it. If she's lucky, Fu Xinyi might even back her up!
Thinking this, Lu Yibei continued to press the attack, "Are the current disciples of your Da Chunyang Palace all this rude? Is this how Zhang Huainan teaches you?"
As she spoke, she released her Spiritual Energy fluctuations without reservation, carrying the faint power of 【Wang Quan (Royal Authority)】, pressing towards Hua Sang.
The terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuations descended abruptly. Hua Sang instantly felt as if she had been thrown into a furnace, her skin faintly stinging with a burning pain.
These Spiritual Energy fluctuations... A+ level? Hmm, they should be among the top existences within the A+ level!
Although it looks a bit like a bluff, it's not something I can easily deal with...
However, she also mentioned the Sect Leader's name. Perhaps she's an old acquaintance of the Sect Leader? There shouldn't be a need for a direct confrontation, right? After all, whether it's fighting or getting beaten up unilaterally... it's very tiring!
The slight deterrent effect of 【Wang Quan (Royal Authority)】 caused Hua Sang to make an incorrectly high assessment of the young girl's Spiritual Energy fluctuation level, and her emotions involuntarily tensed up a little.
"This... Jue Jue Zi Senior?" Hua Sang cupped her hands towards Lu Yibei, "I am not questioning you, merely asking for guidance. Whether you speak or not is your freedom, but I also have a reason why I must inquire."
Although just thinking about getting entangled with someone stronger than herself made her feel uncomfortable all over, and her Grand Senior Brother had just had an accident, leaving many matters to be handled.
But setting aside the fact that the ruler is a treasure of Da Chunyang Palace, just considering that her friend, who almost became her sworn sister, resides inside, she couldn't simply ignore it.
That sounds nice! Can't you tell I don't want to say anything? Lu Yibei muttered inwardly, saying expressionlessly, "Alright, since you've asked, I'll give Zhang Huainan some face and answer you a few sentences."
"Indeed, I do have some connection with your Da Chunyang Palace. I studied under Qingji, the former guest Elder of your Da Chunyang Palace, for many years, so I can be considered his disciple."
This is the truth. Even if a Psychic or a urban legend possessing the Power of "Xiezhi" were to discern it, it would be the genuine truth!
Although if the Ancestor knew, he might split apart on the spot, but if I don't say anything, how would the old man know? Lu Yibei thought.
Hua Sang, "???"
Is that real or fake?
Qing Ji, was actually the former guest Elder of Da Chunyang Palace?
This young girl is his disciple?
"May I ask, Senior, which two characters make up the Qingji you mentioned?" Hua Sang probed.
Lu Yibei glanced at Hua Sang and said lightly, "The rain stops, the mist disperses, the weather is clear, Qingji."
Hearing the young girl's words, a sense of surprise instantly exploded in Hua Sang's heart, immediately increasing her trust in the girl by two or three levels.
Before Qingji himself recalled, she didn't even know Qingji's name. The young girl not only said Qingji's name but also clearly explained the origin of the name, so she must have a deep connection with Qingji.
In that case, the broken sword in her hand... Hua Sang looked at the ruler in her own hand, then looked at the broken sword in Lu Yibei's hand, and frowned.
At this moment, Lu Yibei suddenly spoke, "That's right, the broken sword in my hand and the ruler in your hand were both once held by Qingji. The resonance that occurred is likely due to this connection."
The broken sword and the ruler combined form the complete Lingtai Pure Karma, which is the Ancestor's accompanying sword. Saying it was something he held makes perfect sense!
After a pause, she changed the subject, "Hmph, do you understand now? If it weren't for giving Zhang Huainan face, I would definitely take back my Master's things today. As for now..."
"Take your things, take your Senior Brother, and scram!"
"..." Hua Sang was silent for a few seconds, cupped her hands towards Lu Yibei without a word, bent down to pick up Wu Yutang's head, and turned to walk out of the alley.
Watching her turn and leave, Lu Yibei secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately after, she turned her head to look at Fang Ji, who was sleeping soundly beside her, and couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.
What the heck, how did she leave Miss Fang behind? She's quite cute, is her presence really that low?
Damn it, how should I handle this now? There's no way to ask Hua Sang to take her! There's no reason for "Jue Jue Zi Senior" to know that a complete stranger is a member of the spring advanced training class.
But if I just leave her in this dark alley, who knows what indescribable plot might unfold!
Just as Lu Yibei was getting a headache over Fang Ji, Hua Sang, who had only walked a few steps out, began to ponder.
Although her explanation had some minor loopholes and many points that needed verification, if most of it was true, it could be considered a reasonable explanation.
With her strength, there was a high probability she could forcibly snatch the ruler from my hand, yet she just let me leave like this... Although this could also be because she is wary of the Sect Leader.
However, there's still one strange thing that can't be explained clearly. That kind of sensory confusion, seeing illusions, didn't just happen for the first time today; it had already occurred back in Hua City...
Wait! Hua City?
Hua Sang seemed to suddenly understand something. Her steps faltered, she abruptly turned back, and let out a light exclamation, "Lu Yibei! Senior, you know Lu Yibei, right?"
Hearing this, Lu Yibei's body stiffened, and for a moment, she didn't know how to respond.
What the heck?
Even if you could connect it to "Lu Yibei", it shouldn't be this fast, right?
Are you a ♦ player with precognition? Be careful, I might kick you out!
Just as Lu Yibei was complaining inwardly, Hua Sang continued, "I heard before that Lu Yibei has an Expert Senior following her. I presume that's you?"
This Senior often stays with Lu Yibei, allowing Lu Yibei to frequently come into contact with the broken sword, thus creating a certain connection.
Afterwards, the broken sword and the ruler resonated, causing sensory confusion between me and Lu Yibei when I was in Hua City...
This way, it makes sense why this Senior happened to pass by here, because Lu Yibei is in the urban area of Shizhou City! Yes, the whole sequence of events should be like this. Hua Sang thought.
Lu Yibei, "..."
Although I don't know who told you that I have an Expert Senior following me, but...
"Exactly, that's right!"
"I understand, thank you for informing me, Senior." Hua Sang nodded, "In that case, I will take my leave first."
After speaking, Hua Sang turned around again and walked out of the alley. After walking a short distance, her steps suddenly accelerated, and her figure flickered several times before disappearing into the night.
In that departing back, there was a hint of inexplicable heaviness and urgency.
Sadness, this emotion, usually has a strong delayed effect. It might not manifest at the time, but it will continue to affect a person.
The sudden abnormality of the ruler earlier temporarily prevented Hua Sang from showing sadness over Wu Yutang's death. Now that the matter was concluded, her emotions gradually began to be affected.
She urgently wanted to rush back to Da Chunyang Palace to tell Qingxia Zi everything she experienced tonight, as well as her Grand Senior Brother's dying words.
Watching Hua Sang walk away, Lu Yibei just let out a sigh of relief. Turning her head to look at Fang Ji, she was calculating how to handle her. Just then, as if she had suddenly sensed something, her face turned pale.
"What the heck! Where did that Fu Xinyi guy throw the Paper Cicada Immortal?"
Through the vision transmitted by the Paper Cicada Immortal, she saw an old face with a strange smile, which was quite terrifying.
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A moment ago.
Among the numerous caves of various sizes in the back mountains of Da Chunyang Palace, there is an inconspicuous cave named Lan Yue Cave.
Lan Yue Cave is located near the peak of the back mountain. Its doors and windows face north, creating a south-facing north-opening layout, which is unsuitable for most people but particularly fitting for Psychic like Zhang Huainan, whose Spirit Mark is closely linked to the Five Qi Heavenly Monarch who governs the methods of Ren and Gui.
As the saying goes: "The setting sun has passed, the moon's yin has just begun. The north belongs to water, aiding the flourishing of yin energy. Therefore, sitting facing north can converge and supplement yang energy, achieving the effect of yin and yang mutually generating each other, leading to long and steady breathing."
For those possessing water-element Spirit Marks, after their Spiritual Energy fluctuation level reaches a certain standard, prolonged exposure to this environment has the subtle effect of completing the Spirit Mark and supplementing their breathing.
However, for Zhang Huainan, these effects are no longer of much use. His control over the Power corresponding to his own Spirit Mark had already reached over ninety percent more than ten years ago.
In fact, whether it's a Psychic drawing a Spirit Mark or a urban legend inheriting a certain Power, it's impossible to obtain one hundred percent of the Power. Depending on individual differences, the Power will be diluted to varying degrees.
To obtain one hundred percent of the Power, one must be like Ju Meng, who utilized the opportunity of Power conversion to gain a new Power unique to her.
Therefore, being able to control over ninety percent of a high-level urban legend' Power is already quite terrifying.
If completing the Spirit Mark is compared to filling a balloon with water, at Zhang Huainan's level, trying to add more "water" would risk bursting the balloon with the slightest carelessness, leading to instantaneous explosion and complete loss of control.
To this day, he still chooses this stone cave as his place of seclusion, likely just out of habit.
Inside Lan Yue Cave, under the roof where solidified Spells driven by moonlight are drawn, Zhang Huainan sat on a massage chair, his feet soaking in an electric constant-temperature foot basin, a cigarette held in his left hand, and a fidget spinner in his right.
On the long desk in front of him were large bottles of cola, craft beer, bubble tea served in a water dispenser barrel, several novels and comics stacked together and held down by a Switch, and miscellaneous items like a short sword, a long saber, and a silver pistol loaded with Alchemy bullets placed in a corner of the desk.
Directly in front of him, five large-screen mobile phones were placed on stands, arranged in a fan shape, playing recordings of e-sports events, popular new anime, a variety show featuring a trending idol, a live stream by a highly popular virtual idol, and a hot dance performance by a beautiful streamer, respectively.
His gaze swept back and forth across the five phones, finally lingering on the fair, long legs and the vigorously swaying waist, then he smiled knowingly.
Tsk, what an impious Sect Leader, how embarrassing!
"I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!"
As if refuting something, Zhang Huainan muttered to himself, quickly withdrew his gaze from the phone screen, and sighed silently.
Although saying this now might sound a bit like sophistry, in fact, his usual secluded life is not like this.
At sunrise, he practices martial arts with Spells, and at noon, he reads and plays the zither. At most, after nightfall, he watches a certain mysterious live stream Website and gives pointers via bullet comments to those unlucky individuals caught in live urban legend incidents.
These are his usual daily routines during seclusion.
As for the messy things in Lan Yue Cave right now, they were all secretly sent over by his disciple Ling Jizi before he began his seclusion today, just for him to experience them personally.
Really!
...
After a long while.
Zhang Huainan extinguished the cigarette in his hand, picked up the craft beer, took several large gulps, and then stared at the various items on the table, slowly stroking his beard.
He had always felt that whether a person is diligent and striving or greedy for pleasure, in a sense, both are in line with their true nature and are not major issues.
As the saying goes, if you do things in March and April, you will have the answer in August and September.
Whatever the disciples are willing to do is their choice for their own lives, and they will ultimately bear the consequences themselves. Teachers can guide, but there is no need for forceful interference. This kind of matter is always better to guide than to block.
Whether they want to become tigers that guard the mountain, wolves good at fighting, fish «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» that stir up the water, or turtles that stay still, it's all fine, as long as they don't become oxen that only care about their appearance or horses that harm the herd.
Even a stirring stick can be understood, after all, matters like X orientation are their freedom.
Therefore, Zhang Huainan knew that these messy things might have an impact on his disciples, but he didn't care.
It was just that he couldn't understand how these things could threaten the lives of his disciples when there was no Power attached to them.
"Strange, too strange..."
He cast hexagrams several times regarding the Secret Society, and the results always pointed to these items of unknown significance, which was very strange.
At first, he also suspected that some urban legend had attached its own Power or a clone to those items. However, after using his spiritual sense to probe the items, he found nothing.
If some kind of Power truly existed, he would definitely be able to find some clues.
After all, methods like those of Maitian God and Plague Tai Sui, who can attach their Power to a grain of dust or inside a bacterial cell, cannot escape his eyes. He can even sense the ethereal internet urban legend to some extent.
However, Zhang Huainan didn't become complacent because of this. Not being able to detect something doesn't mean it absolutely doesn't exist.
Every time he cast a hexagram, each step of the hexagram's change process continuously conveyed information about danger to him, revealing an eerie tranquility and heavy death energy.
Those who sink into it will either die or be injured, or even fall into a state worse than death.
What's more, since the night began to lengthen, various urban legend with mysterious and unpredictable Powers have emerged one after another. It is also normal for urban legend to appear that can attach their Power to things smaller than bacteria.
After all, even the "Millennium Bug" can become a urban legend.
"Speaking of the Millennium Bug..." Zhang Huainan stroked his beard, saying thoughtfully, and reached into his In arms to take out three copper coins. Regarding Lu Yibei's arrival at Da Chunyang Palace, he cast a hexagram as a matter of course.
The hexagram remained unchanged, the same as the last time and the time before that. It was still the Loss hexagram, an image of benefit within loss and loss within benefit.
"Oh? That's good then."
He had performed the same divination once before Lu Yibei came to Da Chunyang Palace. He performed it again when he entrusted another Guardian of the Night Watch, Nameless Book, to find Void and issue a bounty mission, guiding Lu Yibei to infiltrate the Secret Society.
The results of the three divinations did not change in the slightest.
This indicates that such actions will not have a significant impact on Lu Yibei. Perhaps only Da Chunyang Palace will be changed, and the final outcome will either be a complete collapse or a result where minor loss leads to benefit.
Zhang Huainan gazed at the three copper coins on the table, and a strong thought suddenly arose in his mind.
Could it be that the "benefit within loss and loss within benefit" in the hexagram originally referred to Lu Yibei's arrival at Da Chunyang Palace, causing the long-dormant Secret Society to surface, creating chaos, and thus revealing their tracks?
If that were the case...
"Heh heh, I'm suddenly looking forward to that kid stirring up this stagnant water and making it churn." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Zhang Huainan was very confident in Lu Yibei's ability to cause trouble. Their old Lu family has excellent genetic traits from Qingji, and every generation is more or less prone to being troublemakers.
What's more, Lu Yibei is also burdened with that kind of fate...
Not to mention the Secret Society, looking across the entire sky, there's probably nothing she can't mess up, right?
Zhang Huainan thought conservatively, when suddenly a series of faint noises came from outside the window, entering his ears and interrupting his thoughts.
Following the sound, he saw a white figure, like a ghost, flash past.
Seeing this, he furrowed his brow slightly. With a thought, his figure vanished as if evaporated, disappearing from Lan Yue Cave.
One second later, when he reappeared in Lan Yue Cave, he held a small Paper Cicada Immortal in his hand.
"Paper Cicada Immortal? Who made it? It's quite cute! But..."
"Heh heh, you saw it all, didn't you? The matter of me smoking, drinking, getting a massage, and watching beauties in Lan Yue Cave just now."
Although Zhang Huainan didn't care about other people's opinions, it was best if the matters here weren't spread, as it would damage his dignity as the Sect Leader.
Lu Yibei, "..." Didn't see, completely didn't see. I'll make it self-destruct right now!
"Oh? Want to self-destruct? That won't do!" Noticing that the Paper Cicada Immortal in his hand was starting to heat up, Zhang Huainan exclaimed softly.
After speaking, with a thought, he activated his Spirit Mark and used his Power to completely envelop the Paper Cicada Immortal.
The next moment, inside the Paper Cicada Immortal, the rapidly heating palm print on the Alchemy Dirty Bomb instantly extinguished.
"Now, let this old man see who is controlling you!"
Hearing this, Lu Yibei's heart tightened. The next moment, she felt a perverted gaze, as if projected from the distant Void, locking onto her.
