Free Web Novel“Boom!” A muffled sound rang out, like two giant rocks colliding, and a wave of air spread, briefly dispersing the yellow sand that had been swept up by the wind.
Hearing this, Nanling Yaohua’s heart trembled slightly.
Although she had already sensed that the Disaster had no killing intent towards Qingyi, no killing intent did not mean that Qingyi would not be injured because of it. ƒrēewebnovel.com
She looked at Qingyi, and only after seeing the thick armor covering her arms did Nanling Yaohua slightly relax.
The next moment, a brilliant golden light, transparent and bright like Glass, almost solidifying, burst forth from Qingyi’s palm, accompanied by an indistinct chanting sound. Chaotic and disordered golden lines rapidly spread around her, outlining a tree-like totem with flourishing roots.
The God Kingdom Prototype channel opened!
As the tree-like totem formed, a dazzling light erupted from it, engulfing the Disaster’s figure. The light then dissipated, and the Disaster vanished.
Just as the God Kingdom Prototype’s channel opened and swallowed the Disaster, Nanling Yaohua suddenly caught a faint but extremely familiar scent.
Was that... Auntie’s God Kingdom Prototype?
Nanling Yaohua was stunned for a moment, then came back to her senses, her gaze fixed on Qingyi, her eyes trembling slightly with surprise and uncertainty.
In the God Kingdom Prototype, in front of the faculty and staff building where the Lu family lived, and in the small courtyard of Lus Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant on Peony Street where she had lived for a long time, there were two pomegranate trees.
Those two pomegranate trees were over a hundred years old, said to have been planted a century ago by a lovesick man for his wife.
However, perhaps because they were too old, those two pomegranate trees no longer bore fruit, but they would still blossom every year during their flowering period from April to July.
A fiery red expanse, as if the branches had caught fire.
Compared to the almost negligible fragrance of most pomegranate flowers, the flowers of those two pomegranate trees were exceptionally fragrant and rich. Perhaps because they had lived for too long, the years they had experienced, and the people and events they had witnessed, had already settled into the flowers, brewing a unique charm.
Just smelling that floral scent gave one the illusion of having eaten a full bowl of pomegranate seeds.
Of course, that alone would not have made Nanling Yaohua remember it so deeply that merely smelling that faint floral scent would make her think of Wang Meili’s God Kingdom Prototype.
The reason she remembered it so vividly was that, in the God Kingdom Prototype, the day before her college entrance exam, Lu Yibei picked a pomegranate flower and personally tucked it into her hair, then told her, “Do you know what it means in Norse mythology to put a pomegranate flower on someone?”
“What does it mean?”
“It means...” Lu Yibei’s eyes darted around, and she calmly said, “It means wishing a warrior going to battle a safe return. You have to work hard tomorrow. If you really can’t write, just look at your classmate’s paper, otherwise, with your mediocre grades, you won’t be able to get into the same university as me!”
Nanling Yaohua, “...”
The trash talk Lu Yibei said was, of course, not true.
Nanling Yaohua later checked it herself. In Norse mythology, there was indeed a legend related to pomegranate flowers, but in that legend, the husband gave the pomegranate flower to his wife, and even today, Norse brides have the custom of wearing pomegranate flowers.
In her opinion, Lu Yibei must have known that legend to deliberately bring up Norse mythology, so she had always firmly remembered that sentence as Lu Yibei's confession.
Although she was well aware that those were just words Lu Yibei spoke under the influence of the God Kingdom Prototype, and most likely not from the heart, some things, even if they are false, once experienced, cannot be forgotten just by wanting to.
In fact, at this very moment, in Nanling Yaohua’s arms, there was still a withered pomegranate bud, which she had picked when she left Hua City.
When she picked that pomegranate bud, she also hung a wind chime on the branch closest to the Lu Family Old House’s attic window. At that time, what she thought was, Lu Yibei gave her a pomegranate flower, and she returned Lu Yibei a wind chime, so they were even.
Unexpectedly, today, both the wind chime and that familiar pomegranate scent appeared before her.
Lu Yibei probably didn't expect that even though she had completely restrained the Spiritual Energy fluctuations of the God Kingdom Prototype, and the blurry scene within the God Kingdom Prototype that should have appeared when the God Kingdom Prototype channel opened was also well hidden, Nanling Yaohua still detected the existence of the God Kingdom Prototype.
All because of that unforgettable floral scent.
“......”
That floral scent most likely emanated from the God Kingdom Prototype...
The wind chime being in Qingyi’s hand could be explained with the less credible excuse of “Lu Yibei gave it to her,” but how could Wang Meili’s God Kingdom Prototype be explained? Did Lu Yibei give that too?
Absolutely impossible! Nanling Yaohua thought.
In her understanding, although Lu Yibei's mouth was comparable to a high-speed rail station, and her actions were unreliable, not like a proper person, Lu Yibei would never give away the only relic left by her mother to others.
After eliminating all impossibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
So, Lu Qingyi really was Lu Yibei in disguise?
Nanling Yaohua thought with a complex mood, subconsciously taking a step forward, her thin lips parting, just about to question Qingyi, when at this moment, a strong Spiritual Energy fluctuation suddenly came from Qingyi’s direction, like an out-of-control beast, rudely intruding into her spiritual perception.
The moment that Spiritual Energy fluctuation was encountered, it gave a feeling of hope, like the first warm spring sun dispelling winter, as if any miracle could happen just by basking in it. However, with a little careful sensing, one could immediately discover something abnormal.
That “warm sun” seemed to contain twisted and unpredictable sharp edges, sinister and ominous threats, and anxious and violent emotions...
It was as if cannons were painted with gold dust and adorned with flowers; everything was a deception that disguised cruelty as beauty.
The moment she detected that Spiritual Energy fluctuation, Nanling Yaohua’s heart was startled. She came back to her senses, immediately gripped her long sword, and without hesitation, strode towards Lu Yibei.
However, before she could get close to Lu Yibei, she heard Lu Yibei’s cry.
“Danger! Don’t come over!”
Hearing this, Nanling Yaohua’s steps faltered. After steadying herself, she looked towards Lu Yibei, her pupils trembling violently.
The howling wind raised yellow sand. Lu Yibei stood in the wind, her petite body already covered by armor. Her hands were formed into palms, held before her chest, cradling a cluster of dazzling golden light. She continuously exerted force, convulsing and trembling, as if struggling to bring her palms together.
It looked as if a terrifying force was preventing Lu Yibei from closing the God Kingdom Prototype’s channel, and Lu Yibei was struggling to stop it.
Within that brilliant golden light, something seemed to be crashing around, constantly twisting /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ and deforming, giving rise to arcs of electricity as thick as a child’s arm.
Each arc of electricity contained the Spiritual Energy fluctuation that Nanling Yaohua had just detected, like a deception.
That kind of Spiritual Energy fluctuation collided with Lu Yibei’s own Spiritual Energy fluctuation, immediately stirring up terrifying waves of air. The armguards covering Lu Yibei’s hands vibrated violently amidst the intense collision of the two Spiritual Energy fluctuations, emitting a harsh buzzing sound like sharp blades scraping across steel plates.
Occasionally, electric arcs would fly out in this fierce Spiritual Energy fluctuation collision, sweeping across the ground with destructive power, immediately plowing out a scorched trench. Immediately after, the scorched sand and soil rapidly turned into a metallic texture at a visible speed.
Golden, like gold...
Seeing this, Nanling Yaohua’s expression changed.
That was one of the five holy relics of the Miracle Order?
But didn’t Grandpa say that some of the Miracle Order’s holy relics were controlled by the Night Watch, and some were lost, no longer in the Miracle Order’s hands?
Where did she get it? Nanling Yaohua thought with surprise and uncertainty.
Immediately after, before she could figure out the origin of the holy relic in Lu Yibei’s hand, a loud noise suddenly came from afar, forcibly interrupting her thoughts.
Following the sound, Nanling Yaohua lost herself again.
The swirling tornado columns sweeping across the Gobi Desert, as if summoned by some mysterious force, roared and danced, continuously approaching Lu Yibei’s location.
Wherever they passed, tons of sand and rocks were swept into the sky. The distant sky seemed to be covered by a dark yellow curtain, and then a tremendous roar erupted, breathtaking.
Behind the curtain, dazzling blue and white strong lights continuously fell from mid-air, igniting grand fireworks with terrifying destructive power on the Gobi Desert, creating layer upon layer of huge waves in the rolling sandstorm.
That was the result of the spatial rifts hidden within the tornado columns colliding and strangling each other.
And higher in the sky, a huge shadow appeared, slowly sinking, making the already dim night even deeper.
The sky seemed about to collapse.
All of this was a terrifying sight that Nanling Yaohua, who had lived on this Gobi Desert for over a decade, had never witnessed.
“......”
Recovering from her brief daze, Nanling Yaohua looked down at the wind chime ringing loudly on her ankle, then looked at Lu Yibei in the distance, her brows tightly furrowed.
Although Lu Yibei’s face showed no expression, she could tell that Lu Yibei was using almost all her strength at this moment.
Through the gaps in the face mask, one could vaguely see that expressionless face, pale and covered in fine beads of sweat, with veins protruding on her forehead, and blood vessels beneath her skin emitting a golden-red glow due to the high-intensity operation of Spiritual Energy within her body.
She could also tell that Lu Yibei was in a very dangerous situation...
She had personally felt the solidity of Lu Yibei’s armor; it was the hardest Spiritual Energy item she had ever seen.
In her opinion, it even had the probability of withstanding a full-force attack from an A+ class Psychic.
Yet, this hardest Spiritual Energy item was gradually developing glowing cracks under the assault of the chaotic electric arcs constantly shooting out from that brilliant golden light, as if it could shatter at any moment.
At this time, Lu Yibei told her not to approach. Although there was a voice in her heart constantly shouting at her, “Go help her! If you let her continue to act tough like this, her life will be in danger!” However, reason told her that it was best to obediently stay put.
If she impulsively approached Lu Yibei, what could she do?
She could do nothing.
Her Grandpa, the previous head of the Yumen Sand Sea lineage, went missing suddenly due to an accident while working with the Guardian of the Night Watch to repair Yumen Pass.
The incident happened so suddenly that she, the current head, was not prepared and was forced to take over all the affairs of the head.
Through the violently vibrating wind chime, she could determine that Yumen Pass was getting closer and closer...
By the sand and stones turning into gold, she could guess that it was related to the holy relic of the Miracle Order...
Beyond that, she knew nothing more.
She had not undergone the normal succession process for a head, and had not even been trained as a successor since childhood. After taking over as the head of the Yumen Sand Sea lineage, everything had to be done by herself, learning from scratch while handling the affairs of the head, without anyone teaching her.
But even though she had tried very hard to learn, there were still too many things she hadn't had time to learn.
For example, how to suppress the holy relic of the Miracle Order, and how to communicate with Yumen Pass to prevent its descent...
Even if she wanted to help Lu Yibei, she wouldn’t know where to start, and might even distract Lu Yibei, putting her in a more dangerous situation.
At a time like this, doing nothing might be the greatest help to Lu Yibei.
So, Nanling Yaohua stood rooted to the spot, her face full of worry, as if petrified, even her breathing slowed down, but her heart was pounding, just like the constantly vibrating wind chime on her ankle...
————
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Catching a glimpse of Nanling Yaohua stopping, Lu Yibei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately focused on the God Kingdom Prototype, where the okin rod was suddenly restless... No, perhaps it would be more appropriate to say the Miracle Order holy relic?
Lu Yibei thought, her gaze dark as she looked at Fang Ji, who was walking towards her.
When she opened the channel to the God Kingdom Prototype and sensed the Miracle Order holy relic within it suddenly becoming restless, she pondered for a moment and realized she had fallen into Fang Ji's trap.
The moment she was ensnared was probably when she made eye contact with Fang Ji and experienced that inexplicable feeling of comfort.
From that moment on, Fang Ji had transferred a strange power, which would cause the Miracle Order holy relic to become restless, to her body.
Even if she didn't open the channel to the God Kingdom Prototype and send the fake Disaster to meet the Ancestor, she would eventually communicate with the God Kingdom Prototype. Once she did, the Miracle Order's holy relic would sense that strange power and become restless.
It was genuine restlessness; when she communicated with the God Kingdom Prototype just now, she discovered that the "mysterious golden stick-shaped unidentified flying object" was already trending on the God Kingdom Prototype's hot search...
She even suspected that even if she didn't communicate with the God Kingdom Prototype, under the subtle influence of that strange power, the Miracle Order's holy relic would eventually lose control.
There's no such thing as a free lunch, and the same goes for free comfort...
Lu Yibei had initially thought that her inexplicable good luck after encountering Fang Ji was an exception, but she hadn't expected it to be just a trial version of "induced consumption."
It turns out, what's free is often the most expensive.
Now, the bill for that free enjoyment has arrived...
And this bill was a massive sum that even the Spiritual Energy she could supply by utilizing the core of two urban legend, Spirit Marks, and Spirit Seals—far exceeding that of most Psychic and urban legend of the same level—could barely cover.
Without Lingtai Pure Karma's protection, she would probably have turned into a statue by now.
A 24k pure gold statue!
Like some life-sized collector's figurine...
However, in truth, it was no different from a statue now. Lu Yibei could feel that as long as she slightly relaxed her control over the God Kingdom Prototype and her Spiritual Energy input, the Miracle Order's holy relic would immediately break free from her control.
“......”
She shouldn't have put the okin rod in the God Kingdom Prototype just for a bit of gold.
Is that kind of thing meant to be placed haphazardly? Now look, a huge problem has arisen. Penny wise, pound foolish!
She should have handed it over to the Night Watch earlier. Maybe she could have even gotten a banner saying "Thank you, Agent Lu Yibei, for the okin rod" to hang in the office... Lu Yibei thought.
As she pondered, Fang Ji arrived beside her.
————
More than ten minutes had passed since Fang Ji struggled out of the wind-eroded mound.
During these ten minutes, he was struck by violent golden arcs, his right hand turned to gold, he was flung by passing tornado columns, and his shoulder was pierced by streams of light generated by colliding spatial fissures...
He was injured again and again by various "accidents," yet he never stopped moving closer to Lu Yibei.
Finally, when he shakily crossed the long hundred meters and stopped beside Lu Yibei, his entire body was battered, covered in blood.
But a smile appeared on his face.
His handsome face, stained with blood, looked somewhat sinister when he smiled.
With just one glance, Lu Yibei quickly closed her eyes.
Fang Ji had already tricked her once when they made eye contact; she would definitely not fall in the same place twice.
"Do you know that smiling so brightly at someone with a poker face is a very impolite thing to do?" Lu Yibei squeezed out the words through clenched teeth, her eyes tightly shut. "Do you also know that if my hands weren't occupied right now, I would definitely give you a good beating?"
"Beat me?" Fang Ji pouted, "I thought you'd want to kill me, after all, I'm the mastermind who abducted your little girlfriend."
"What was her name again? Jiang Li, right?"
"It really was you..." Lu Yibei said.
When she saw Dai Lin and Fang Ji together, she had vaguely suspected this.
"And I've always considered you a friend!"
Hearing Lu Yibei indirectly admit that she came to the Gobi Desert for her "little girlfriend," Nanling Yaohua, who was in the distance, trembled. Her breathing, which she had been trying to control, instantly became heavy.
She was inexplicably caught in the crossfire.
Fang Ji was stunned for a moment after hearing Lu Yibei's words. The smile on his face froze, and after a few seconds of contemplation, he sighed silently and said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you. Just consider this a task I had to complete, okay?"
He truly hadn't expected the Disaster to treat him as a friend.
"A task?" Lu Yibei said, "Are you short on money? Or were you coerced? You should have said so earlier, I could have helped you. You didn't have to cause all this trouble!"
"To tell you the truth, I have a wide network. People like Black Emperor, Lord Bing, Boss Hu of Liao Zhai Tavern, the Master of Eight Hundred Li Peach Garden... As long as I give the word, they'll be in front of me in minutes, ready to follow my command."
Her hands were gradually losing sensation, and the Spiritual Energy in her body flowed slowly like mercury. Lu Yibei felt like she was about to give out, as if even with Lingtai Pure Karma resisting, her body was gradually turning into gold, so her words suddenly became more frequent.
Now she couldn't care less; she could only list all the Calamity-level names she knew, just in case some powerful figure sensed it and came to rescue her.
However, she didn't get a rescue from a powerful figure; instead, she got Fang Ji's ruthless revelation.
"Don't waste your energy. Yumen Pass is about to descend. They won't be able to sense anything amidst such strong Spiritual Energy fluctuations." Fang Ji said softly, "Also, whether you genuinely want to help me or not, I am very grateful to you."
"But if I had asked you earlier to hand over that holy relic to me, would you have given it to me?"
"Of course not," Lu Yibei answered without hesitation.
She knew that dreadful thing was very dangerous and couldn't be given to anyone casually.
Moreover, before this, the okin rod was her private money printer. If someone wanted to take it, that would be robbing her of her wealth, an unforgivable grudge!
"Heh..." Fang Ji chuckled dryly. "So, if you really want to help, give up control of the holy relic, okay? I really don't want to hurt you."
"..." Lu Yibei opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but as soon as her lips parted, she realized she couldn't speak, and even breathing became difficult.
It was as if... a piece of gold larger than a fist was stuck in her throat.
But she stubbornly maintained her Spiritual Energy input to the God Kingdom Prototype until Fang Ji gently placed a hand on her shoulder, leaned close to her ear, and whispered softly.
"Don't worry, your little girlfriend is very safe, and she's not even on this Gobi Desert..."
Upon hearing this, Lu Yibei's mind wavered.
Not on this Gobi Desert? Then where? When she investigated before, wasn't it found that Dai Lin bought a lot of Alchemy potions needed for crossing the desert? Was that just a smokescreen?
"...She's in Xiangshawan of the Kubuqi Desert."
To affect Lu Yibei's mind, Fang Ji deliberately slowed his speech, giving Lu Yibei ample time to ponder for a moment before continuing, "The Kubuqi Desert is in Inner Mongolia."
"Alright, now I've told you her exact location. Don't you want to go rescue her immediately?"
After speaking, Fang Ji waited for a moment. Seeing Lu Yibei unmoved, he frowned and continued, "Are you angry because I lied to you? Alright, I promise you, if I can come out of Yumen Pass alive, I will come to you to apologize with thorns on my back..."
"Give up, Disaster. This matter has nothing to do with you. Go do what you should do, for something unrelated to yourself..."
"Shut... shut..." Lu Yibei glared at Fang Ji, making disjointed sounds, then squeezed out a burst of strength from somewhere. Her upper and lower jaws suddenly exerted force simultaneously, accompanied by a metallic grinding sound, and she finally managed to utter a complete sentence.
"Shut up, you stinky little brother! Now that I know the Leader is safe, I'm even more determined to meddle in this mess!"
Upon hearing this, Fang Ji was stunned for a moment, then came back to his senses, and displeasure appeared on his face. The hand resting on Lu Yibei's shoulder gradually increased its pressure until his fingertips dug into Lu Yibei's flesh.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't want to do this..." he said, slowly exhaling a turbid breath, then quietly chanted a description of authority.
"The soul originating in the phantom, Its existence is the proof of a miracle.
It brought gold, covering the earth.
It brought the sword, ending war.
Cattle and sheep fill the land, food is inexhaustible, and sweet wine flows like a river..."
As the chants, like a song, echoed, Lu Yibei felt the restlessness of the Miracle Order holy relic in the God Kingdom Prototype suddenly intensify by several levels.
If it was a runaway wild horse before, now it was a runaway Sleipnir, almost immediately breaking free from her control.
The moment the Miracle Order holy relic broke free from her control, she felt as if a heavy hammer had suddenly struck her chest. Her bones shattered, her internal organs ruptured, and golden blood gushed uncontrollably from her mouth, accompanying her body as it flew backward like a broken kite, arcing through the air.
In a daze, she heard Fang Ji shout loudly, his clear voice carrying far, seemingly engulfing the entire Gobi Desert.
"Welcome, Holy Child! Elders, please bring forth the holy relic!"
She saw Nanling Yaohua, her face filled with panic, rushing towards them, her long sword unleashing sword energy that flew towards Fang Ji.
Although Lu Yibei had told her to stay put, and despite Lu Yibei and Fang Ji's initially friendly conversation, seeing Lu Yibei injured, she couldn't help but move.
However, before it could even get close to Fang Ji, the sword energy turned into gold and fell to the ground. Then, even the long sword itself was affected by the strange power emanating from the holy relic, gradually turning golden.
Lu Yibei also saw the huge shadow in the sky finally descend, revealing its true appearance.
Massive amounts of yellow sand, like a breaching flood, poured from the sky to the ground. The earth trembled, emitting a terrifying roar.
The yellow sand seemed to boil, with dark yellow sand pillars constantly rising, falling, then rising again... just like millions of hands reaching out from underground, scrambling to grasp everything on the ground and in the sky.
Immediately after, amidst violent tremors, countless buildings overturned and emerged from the gradually accumulating mountains of yellow sand, revealing towering, sinister city walls, with massive solidified Spells cast in bronze covering the walls...
Countless electric lights, imbued with terrifying Spiritual Energy, burst forth like blooming flowers, then spread out, flowing like water across the wall surfaces.
Upon those city walls, countless unsettling dark figures roamed back and forth, leaving trails of eerie green. The metal frames of the huge ballistas in the arrow towers were long rusted, but the solidified Spells engraved upon them had not dissipated, intricately interwoven, outlining semi-illusory, semi-real crossbow shapes...
Finally, her gaze fixed on the massive city gate.
Two large characters were written on it in a flamboyant style—"Yumen Pass."
