Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Seven: Speak Your Wish…
The urban legend-turned Longxiang Army Armor Soldier controlled Shen Baiwei’s limbs while covering her mouth and nose, and simultaneously blindfolded her.
In that moment, her world was engulfed by darkness.
It felt like midnight hours, waking suddenly from a nightmare in a dark room, where the shadows of the nightmare lingered, swirling in her mind. If she listened closely, she could vaguely hear sneaky voices approaching.
In the darkness, countless strange beings seemed to crawl slowly, sticky, restless, and omnipresent…
As if afflicted by a vicious curse, the spirit energy fluctuation mingled with a nauseating stench of decay, coalescing into an unsettling torrent that pulled her forward, farther and farther away from the real world into a distant corner.
In such an environment, Shen Baiwei was initially not the least bit panicked.
From the perspective of spirit patterns authority, she was not afraid of ambushes; the greatest difficulty in facing ambushes—unexpectedness—was nothing in the face of her ability to utilize spirit patterns to ‘rewind’ time by a small segment.
If she couldn’t win, she would just reload the game; this was practically a part of Shen Baiwei’s routine.
However, when she tried to ‘rewind’ time to when she had just pushed open the door to the disaster room, she was astonished to find that a strange power had enveloped her body at some point, restricting her abilities.
Thus, Shen Baiwei suddenly began to panic.
“……”
Why did this happen? Was it because of those black-armored urban legends?
d*mn! Everything was going smoothly, why were there so many urban legends gathering by the bed of the disaster?
This was troublesome… Shen Baiwei thought anxiously, her heart racing like a rapid drumbeat.
Just as she was pondering, a familiar voice sounded in her ear.
“Miss Shen, long time no see. Are you well?”
The disaster woke up? When? Shen Baiwei froze for a moment, and before she could gather her thoughts, the black-armored urban legends controlling her limbs and covering her eyes, mouth, and nose suddenly released their cold grip, and one hand pressed against her back, forcefully pushing her forward.
It was a very powerful push!
Shen Baiwei could sense that if the one being pushed wasn’t an A-Class spiritual ability user like her, but an ordinary girl, her spine might have been shattered on the spot.
They really don’t understand what it means to cherish the vulnerable!
Driven by immense force, Shen Baiwei staggered forward two steps. Once she steadied herself and adjusted her eyes to the darkness, she looked ahead and saw the awakened disaster.
There sat the disaster, who seemed to have awakened sometime without her noticing, wearing a long dress patterned with flame-like golden lines, her legs crossed as she sat by the bed. One hand supported her knee while the back of her hand cradled her enchanting face. Between her flowing crimson hair, her golden eyes flickered with molten brilliance.
Vaguely, there was a sense of overwhelming pressure that made one uncontrollably want to kneel, emanating from that petite body.
If that expressionless face displayed even a hint of a meaningful, unsettling smile, it would perfectly fit the scene of a standard villainess making her entrance.
“I’m a bit curious why you suddenly ran into my room at night. What were you planning to do?” Before Shen Baiwei could gather her thoughts, Luxianbei quietly asked.
Seeing Shen Baiwei’s lips tremble, as if she had formulated a retort, she quickly interrupted, “I advise you to think carefully before speaking! If you still plan to say you’re my fan, I won’t believe you.”
“Even if you really are my fan, pulling this late-night surprise attack is hard for me to accept. I could call the police outside Yumen Pass, do you understand?”
Shen Baiwei, “……”
————
Luxianbei awakened about twenty minutes ago, free from the “past’s influence.”
Twenty minutes ago.
Using the Zhu Yanguai·Spell Solidification Mask and consuming spirit energy to alter her form, Luxianbei successfully disguised herself as Xia Lianqing, sitting alone by the window in Xia Lianqing’s room, gazing out at the night sky that was thousands of years removed from her time.
To better confuse the enemy, earlier, she had Xia Lianqing relay several different versions of her departure from Dai Mu Institute to the enemies through information dealers.
As night fell, five “Xia Lianqings,” including the actual Xia Lianqing, began to leave Dai Mu Institute in accordance with those false intelligence reports.
The first to leave was Long Bang, who was prompted to leave first mainly to strike while the iron was hot, fearing he would have second thoughts at the last minute.
Generally speaking, donning women’s attire, such actions are usually a one-time surge, then fading, and finally exhausting.
Following Long Bang were two Longxiang Army warriors disguised as Xia Lianqing, who agreed to impersonate purely out of Long Bang’s coercion.
When Luxianbei saw Long Bang blackmailing the two soldiers, she couldn’t help but sigh in her heart; forcing someone to do something like this is indeed contagious.
Next was Xia Lianqing herself…
And Luxianbei positioned herself last; based on her guess, when the desperate enemies realized there was more than one “Xia Lianqing” within Yumen Pass, they would likely split up to retaliate against the different “Xia Lianqings.”
At that time, the first and last “Xia Lianqing” would most likely face a fiercer assault than the three in the middle.
Of course, this was merely speculation. To be safe, she had already planned escape routes for each “Xia Lianqing” and arranged two teams of Longxiang Army soldiers for immediate support.
……
“I hope nothing unexpected happens!” Luxianbei murmured as she gazed at the dazzling starlight in the sky.
“If only the Zhu Yanguai·Spell Solidification Mask wouldn’t work on Zhipianxian; otherwise, we could directly send out four paper figures, and there would be no need for this risk.”
She had considered directly replicating Xia Lianqing to create several 1:1 paper Zhipianxians; however, considering that the paper Zhipianxians she crafted herself had an overly avant-garde artistic style, making the first one might have scared off the enemies, so she had no choice but to abandon that plan.
“I really don’t understand; the process of making a paper Zhipianxian isn’t that difficult! Why can’t they learn it?”
Thinking of how she had taught Xia Lianqing and Long Bang to make paper Zhipianxians, their clumsy attempts, unable to make the paper figures move, made Luxianbei feel a headache, instinctively raising her hand to rub her temples.
However, as she lowered her hand and looked out the window again, the brilliant starlight began to rapidly fade in her eyes.
In just a few breaths, the sky was shrouded in gray.
The stars dimmed.
Luxianbei, “……”
No way? Does this mean… that I’m going back?
Why at such a time?
I’ve just finally made up my mind to risk everything to perfect my power, and now it’s telling me to go back without any movement on my powers; isn’t this pulling a fast one? Luxianbei thought.
The next second, the scene before her shattered like a reflection in a broken mirror, splintering apart, then darkness swept in, engulfing her vision.
It was like plunging into a raging dark current, her body spinning continuously, a strong sense of dizziness crashing upon her.
The return came unexpectedly.
When the dizziness faded and her vision broke free from the enveloping darkness, Luxianbei opened her eyes to see a group of urban legends surrounding her, with Xia Lianqing prominently at the front.
However, this time, she seemed to be in a worse state than before.
Covered in bl**d holes, her clothes soaked in bl**d, as if she had been shot through with arrows.
Luxianbei, “……”
————
Luxianbei initially thought that with Xia Lianqing leading a group of transformed Longxiang Army soldiers, they were there to take revenge on her.
After putting in so much effort for the better part of the day, only to find that not only had she failed to help Xia Lianqing escape the fate of being tortured to d*ath, but instead let Xia Lianqing be shot dead by a rain of arrows, it was reasonable for her to harbor resentment.
However, she soon discovered that Xia Lianqing not only made no moves to take revenge but instead approached her, patting her shoulder with bl**d-covered hands, as if to comfort her and encourage her to keep trying.
Then, all the Longxiang Army soldiers knelt in unison once more.
They also understood that relying solely on this frail girl before them to change anything was exceedingly difficult.
“……”, Luxianbei glanced at Xia Lianqing’s distorted face and then at the bloodied hand on her shoulder, slowly pushing her hand away with a silent sigh, “Seeing you like this reassures me; after all, I’ve done my best! But…”
Pausing, Luxianbei turned to the group of Longxiang Army soldiers and frowned, “Even if you do this, I still can’t help it! I have no idea how to…”
Mid-sentence, a memory suddenly surfaced in her mind, recalling the events that occurred before she ‘crossed over’ in her physical body.
Speaking of which, she had felt exhausted right after the pre-examination with Shen Baiwei; after sleeping, she had ended up over there.
Thinking meticulously, there was indeed something off during her questioning of Shen Baiwei! Not only were Shen Baiwei’s actions strange, but she also appeared to be as if her mind had been bewitched, not in a good state.
So, could the trigger for heading over there be related to some action during the pre-examination with Shen Baiwei?
With that thought, Luxianbei’s gaze drifted towards the direction of Shen Baiwei’s room, her eyes narrowing.
She felt it was necessary to capture Shen Baiwei for further questioning.
With her extraordinary memory, she was confident she could exactly recreate the previous process down to the finest detail.
After reproducing it, even if she couldn’t return there, at least she could eliminate one interference option, right? Luxianbei nodded thoughtfully, looking at the Longxiang Army soldiers and said seriously, “I might know how to get to your era, but I may need your help.”
As the words fell, all the Longxiang Army soldiers raised their heads, clasping their fists toward Luxianbei, as if saying “We are at your disposal.”
“Then, you first sneak into the next room and bring that short-haired girl over, remember to make no noise, and don’t give her a chance to react. Move directly from behind her, in pairs, controlling her hands and feet, and covering her mouth and nose…” Luxianbei instructed.
She wasn’t afraid of Huaiyuan Jun noticing the presence of these urban legends; that guy wouldn’t wake up until dawn once he hit the bed. Her main concern was if Shen Baiwei started causing a scene, it might attract Nanling Yaohua, which would be problematic.
After a pause, Luxianbei suddenly had a flash of inspiration, “By the way, has anyone among you killed livestock?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, two Longxiang Army soldiers slowly raised their hands.
“This will be easy!” Luxianbei pointed at two stout figures, “You can ask them how they hold the livestock when killing them and just follow that.”
Before the Longxiang Army soldiers could take action, there suddenly came a faint, soft sound of footsteps from the hallway.
Luxianbei froze for a moment and quickly turned back to lie down on the bed.
A few seconds later, the door of the room was pushed open, revealing a short-haired girl, her face pale, frozen at the doorway.
Luxianbei, “……”
She hadn’t expected Shen Baiwei to walk right into the net; it was as if someone addicted to gaming was being handed the mouse.
But since she was already here, she shouldn’t leave!
So, lying on the bed, Luxianbei whispered in a very low voice, “That’s her, go!” The transformed Longxiang Army soldiers quickly approached the girl standing at the doorway and reached out their malicious hands, pulling her into the “abyss”…
————
Shen Baiwei held her neck as if ready to face her demise at any moment, her eyes wide open, staring at Luxianbei. After holding back for a while, she finally gritted her teeth and spat out a sentence, “Disaster, being caught by you is due to my lack of skill, but you won’t get any information from me!”
“I won’t say a word; your charms are useless against me!”
Though she said this, inside, she was already shouting like a masochist, urging, “Charm me! Hurry and charm me! Charm me fiercely, don’t hold back!”
Unexpectedly captured by the disaster and having her abilities inexplicably restricted, Shen Baiwei had completely pinned her hopes of escaping on triggering the charm-related “anchor.”
But the disaster would surely be unwilling to directly use her charm ability.
So, she had no choice but to resort to provocation.
“Oh? So charm doesn’t work on you? I’m a bit skeptical about that,” Luxianbei tilted her head, lost in brief contemplation.
Seeing this, Shen Baiwei’s heart leaped with joy.
What? Do you feel provoked? Then hurry and charm me! Shen Baiwei thought excitedly.
But however… girl, the light in your eyes is so perverse it’s about to sh**t out! Luxianbei assessed Shen Baiwei, her expression unchanged, “Since that’s the case, then I won’t charm you.”
Shen Baiwei, “???”
Before her mind could fully process the confusion, Luxianbei called out softly, “Come, pry her mouth open for me; let’s feed Miss Shen some poison!”
As the words fell, a swarm of Longxiang Army soldiers rushed in, pinning Shen Baiwei to the ground like livestock, and then two hands reached for the corners of her mouth.
“Ughhhh!”
A dense sound of terrified sobs spread across the room.
Yet, before the Longxiang Army soldiers could pry open Shen Baiwei’s mouth, an unexpected situation occurred.
Outside the window, the gloomy sky suddenly began to stir, the shadows surging, violent waves crashing into each other, erupting in a thunderous roar.
Accompanied by the roaring, a brilliant white light shot up from the city, then exploded in the sky.
Thus, the Yumen Pass, which had been shrouded in darkness for countless ages, was instantly enveloped in a sacred, purifying light.
Amid that intense light, it felt as if a hallucination appeared, and a whisper seemingly from a distant time echoed in her ears.
It said, “Speak your wish…”
