Chapter 78: The Atmosphere Seems a Bit Off
Under the cover of night, a thin mist drifted through Mudan Street, swirling like silk around the clear waterway.
On the second floor of Mudan Yu Homestay Inn, Du Sixian leaned by the window, frowning as she stared blankly at the waterway.
Earlier, An Qing had told her she was a waste material talent. For a moment, she believed it and was even full of confidence that she could master the spell formula on the parchment in a short time.
However, when she actually began to study, she realized that whether or not she had any talent was still uncertain, but her waste material attribute was indeed overwhelming.
From just after three in the afternoon until around nine at night, over five hours of time passed. Forget about barely scratching the surface; she couldn’t even find where the threshold was.
Spell formulas, like mathematics, do not deceive. If you can’t do it, then you genuinely can’t do it.
Du Sixian’s personality was somewhat stubborn. Just like when she made urban legend videos and searched for “high people,” once she fixed her mind on something, she wouldn’t hesitate to ram her head against a wall until it broke, or until she was knocked out, or carried away.
So…
She practiced the spell formula, pushing herself until her spirit energy was exhausted, and An Qing had to carry her back to her place.
At parting, the hesitant look on An Qing’s face hit her hard.
Perhaps Qing Sister also felt she had misjudged; maybe she was not a genius after all. She must have held back the truth just to avoid hurting her, right?
But I won’t give up just like that! It took me a long time to touch upon the world of urban legends; giving up now feels way too early!
Du Sixian thought to herself and raised her hands again, sneaking in another attempt at the spell formula she saw on the parchment.
“Wilderness, grass and straw, remains of the deceased, fan the wind of the spark, chant thrice, red flame flash!”
As Du Sixian murmured the incantation, she recalled the description of the spirit energy’s operation from the parchment in her mind.
Imagining the dry grass and remains on the wasteland igniting with red flames, she aimed to guide the spirit energy to simulate the form of flames at her fingertips…
In the moment she sketched the shape of the crimson flames in her mind, she suddenly felt something stir within her body, and a faint red glow began to appear at her delicate fingertips.
However, that faint glow lasted less than a second. The crimson flames didn’t have the chance to form at her fingertips before dissipating.
Du Sixian hadn’t yet recovered from her state of depleted spirit energy, and as she forced herself to practice again, a wave of dizziness hit her. She swayed a couple of times, cold sweat trickling down her pale face.
“Ah—!”
After steadying herself, Du Sixian sighed helplessly, closed the window, and lay back on the bed.
She concealed her body in the darkness, letting fatigue and dizziness gnaw at her consciousness, gradually falling into a deep sleep.
Then…
Once again, she fell into that strange dream.
…
A biting cold wind wrapped around slightly choking mist, hitting Du Sixian’s face, causing her to suddenly wake up.
After a brief panic, she looked around at the dilapidated street that seemed to have existed many years after humanity’s disappearance, her eyes gradually turning peculiar.
“Why… am I dreaming this dream again?”
Du Sixian muttered to herself, suddenly recalling something. She bent down to pick up the sand formed from the weathered debris on the ground, gently rubbing it between her fingers.
The sand and stone grazed her delicate palm, a hard and rough texture that felt incredibly real.
Letting go and scattering the sand from her fingers, she searched around for a moment, her gaze landing on a puddle of dirty water accumulating beneath a rusted fire hydrant. Her eyes slightly narrowed as she quickly walked over.
Squatting near the dirty water, Du Sixian frowned slightly, forcibly holding back her nausea as she extended her hand to lightly swipe across the water’s surface.
The nauseating smell of the stagnant water and its thick, greasy texture were as real and horrifying as the hard and rough feel of the sand and stone.
“Just as I thought!” Du Sixian murmured, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly in delight.
In this dream, since the visual, olfactory, and tactile sensations were so real, didn’t that mean I might also be able to practice spell formulas here? Du Sixian thought.
With this in mind, she slowly raised her hands, her lips parting as she attempted to murmur the incantation.
“Wilderness, grass and straw, remains of the deceased, fan the wind of the spark, chant thrice, red flame flash!”
As the incantation concluded, a crimson glow flickered at her fingertips, and with a “pfft!” sound, it dissipated.
However, this time’s failure didn’t bring any feeling of discouragement to Du Sixian; instead, her entire face glowed with joy.
This was merely an attempt, and after trying, she pleasantly discovered that she could indeed practice the spell formula in this incredibly real dream.
In this place, not only were the sights and sounds remarkably real, but even the operation of her spirit energy and the fleeting warmth at her fingertips while trying to cast the spell, felt just like the real world.
Most importantly, it didn’t consume any spirit energy!
“It works, let’s do it again!” Du Sixian shouted to pump herself up and began practicing once more.
“Wilderness, grass and straw, remains of the deceased, fan the wind of the spark, chant thrice, red flame flash!”
“Pfft—!”
“Wilderness, grass and straw, remains of the deceased…”
Du Sixian practiced repeatedly; occasionally, figures from the adjacent streets glanced at her but quickly withdrew their gazes as if deeming her an incomprehensible madwoman.
Everyone here was praying for divine protection.
You™ running over here practicing low-level spell formulas, aren’t you just a madman?
As long as you satisfy the gods, what is there that you can’t have?
…
“Sorry, but not really!” Luxianbei put away his brush and glanced at Jumeng, who was mumbling about wanting a late-night snack. “Didn’t you eat so much earlier? Are you hungry again?”
“Tch!” Jumeng grimaced and pouted, “That little bit wasn’t enough to fill my teeth when I was in Peach Source…”
“Alright, alright, this isn’t Peach Source; this is my home.” Luxianbei interrupted Jumeng. “Just bear with it a bit, okay? If it’s really that bad, I can make something for you later?”
“Tch! Noodles? Can you make longevity noodles?” Jumeng crossed her arms, her expression challenging.
“That’s easy.”
“I meant noodles made with spirit energy turned into water, kneaded into dough. I used to go to Liao Zhai Tavern every couple of weeks to have a bowl; the taste, phew, was simply amazing.”
Luxianbei cast a sideways glance at Jumeng’s reminiscing face and replied unamused, “Then why don’t you go now?”
“You heartless j*rk!” Jumeng pointed at Luxianbei’s nose. “Aren’t I injured because of you? If I go to Liao Zhai Tavern with an injury, I’d probably be devoured by other customers as soon as I step out! This is all your fault.”
“What the hell? What kind of tavern is that?” Luxianbei asked in shock. “Customers eating each other? Isn’t the owner afraid it’ll affect normal business?”
“A tavern exclusive to urban legends. Fighting is prohibited inside the tavern, and once you step outside, they take no responsibility. Isn’t that interesting and thrilling? If you sincerely ask me, I might take you to see it someday.” Jumeng raised an eyebrow at Luxianbei.
Luxianbei, “…” He imagined the scene of a group of urban legends being harmonious inside Liao Zhai Tavern while outside a bunch of demons and malevolent spirits gnawed at each other and the ground was littered with severed limbs. A chill ran down his spine.
“No way! I won’t go to a place like that; even if you begged me, I wouldn’t want to.”
With my middling combat power, going to a place like that would just make me dinner for someone else, Luxianbei thought as he turned to pick up the piece of paper on the table, blowing off the still wet ink. The paper was filled with twisted hieroglyphs, part of the content he copied from the bamboo slips.
Even though he only remembered less than a third of the content from the bamboo slips, if Jumeng could recognize the writing and decipher some of the information, she should be able to analyze something.
“Come take a look; this is what I copied from the bamboo slips. Can you translate it for me? Didn’t you say you understood many languages?”
“You’ve come to the right person.” Jumeng jumped up from the sofa and walked over to Luxianbei.
“I’ve lived for so many years; there isn’t a language I don’t understand. Whether it’s Chinese or English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, or Korean, I can handle them all. So, tell me what language you want me to translate it into? As long as you sincerely ask, sister will help you!”
“Can I just pick whatever?”
“Go ahead!” Jumeng said proudly, almost showing off.
“Then I ask you to help me translate it into C language?” Luxianbei said expressionlessly.
Upon hearing this, Jumeng froze for a moment, and then her face gradually turned red, finally stammering, “Th-That, I can’t do. Pick another, I’ll definitely know that one.”
“Surely you know JAVA, right?”
Jumeng, “…”
She narrowed her eyes and glanced back and forth at Luxianbei.
I see this little brat is trying to pick a fight with me, right?
Should I teach him a lesson to show him who’s the boss?
Seeing that Jumeng’s expression was becoming increasingly unfriendly, Luxianbei cleared his throat and said, “Chinese; you can certainly do that, right?”
Although Jumeng looked like a young girl, Luxianbei thought that after all, she was a several-thousand-year-old old monster. If she got angry, the consequences could be severe.
“Tch, hand it over!”
Jumeng impatiently snatched the paper from Luxianbei’s hands, glanced at it, and then disdainfully spat, “Tch, this is just the writing of that group of barbarians from the south. I can tell at a glance.”
“Impressive!” Luxianbei said expressionlessly, giving her a thumbs-up. “As the old saying goes, ‘a house with an elder is like a treasure.’ This saying really isn’t wrong.”
“And then? What does it say?”
Jumeng rolled her eyes at Luxianbei. “In modern terms, it’s just a diary.”
“A diary?”
“Isn’t it? Look here.” Jumeng pointed at a line of text. “In the month of Mengxia, on the third day, the King of Yu ordered me to lead three hundred soldiers and bring one hundred twenty children to the Mang Mountain to worship the gods. Phew, that’s really not human!”
Luxianbei nodded. “I quite agree with your point; using children for sacrifices, that king clearly isn’t a good person.”
As he spoke, he couldn’t help but criticize the cruelty of feudal monarchism in his heart and praise the socialist law being good.
Jumeng shot him a glare and said, “It’s not me saying it; it’s what he wrote. This line probably means ‘really not human.’”
Luxianbei, “???”
“And here.” Jumeng pointed at another segment of text. “On the sixth day, traveled for eight hundred miles, desolate with no signs of human habitation, the forest is filled with poisonous miasmas, the children cry at night. Can’t sleep; it’s driving me mad!”
Luxianbei, “…”
It’s not that I don’t believe Jumeng, but the content on this bamboo slip has an atmosphere that seems a bit off.
Could such a rant full of swearing really trigger an urban legend event?
Professor Ma must have made a mistake, right?
