Chapter Sixty-Six: You’re in Big Trouble!
“I love you!”
A loud shout echoed in the pitch blackness of the dimly lit bar, filled with a pungent smoke.
At that moment, Jiang Li’s vigilant eyes were fixed on the giant urban legend standing in the center of the room. Her hands, holding the erhu, dared not pause for a second. Suddenly, hearing Lu Yi’s pig-like scream, she jumped in surprise.
Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw Lu Yi, who had been slumped in a chair, had somehow woken up. With a sudden leap, he sprang up, landing steadily. In that instant, he activated the movement technique from “Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration” and accelerated like a divine steed.
“Whoosh—!”
In an instant, the wind howled, his silvery long hair unfurling behind him like a flag.
Lu Yi charged toward the broken sword suspended in mid-air. Suddenly beneath the broken sword, he stomped hard on the ground and leaped.
In a moment of weightlessness, using the momentum from his forward thrust, he grasped the hilt of the broken sword and slashed down fiercely at the urban legend ahead, executing a clean and decisive “jumping slash.”
With full momentum, the effect was disappointing; it failed to penetrate the armor.
The serrated edge of the ancient sword grazed the body of the urban legend, creating a spine-chilling sound and sending out sparks, leaving only a shallow white mark behind.
Then Lu Yi began to fall, heading toward the ground, so she bent her torso slightly and drew her legs in to brace for the impending impact.
In the instant of contact with the ground, assisted by spirit energy, her leg muscles adjusted exquisitely. Using the gravitational acceleration from her brief fall and the inertial impact, she exerted force once more.
It was as if a soccer ball had been smashed down from a height, breaking the ground beneath her as she soared back into the air. With the urban legend still unprepared, the broken sword was once again thrust forward!
“I really love you!”
Jiang Li, “…”
Watching Lu Yi’s strange behavior, she felt utterly baffled.
Had she been possessed by something unclean?
How did she suddenly become a warrior of love? Jiang Li thought to herself.
“Benefactor? Why are you…”
In the darkness, the urban legend murmured in confusion. The chaotic light and shadows behind it rippled in layers as the skeletons behind it gradually gathered to protect its torso.
In its eyes, there was no Lu Yi, only the ancient sword left by Qing Ji, accompanying it for a hundred years.
It didn’t even understand why it was being attacked by the ancient sword.
In the brief moment of the urban legend’s dazed confusion, Lu Yi had already landed again, hastily stepping back two paces to gather her strength before leaping up once more. With the broken sword in hand, she thrust it forward without hesitation.
“I™ love you to d*ath!”
With a gritted teeth roar, the broken sword carved an arc before Lu Yi’s chest, sweeping horizontally past the urban legend.
In the darkness, a fine cracking sound erupted, and a crack immediately spread across the urban legend’s chest.
Success! It really worked! Lu Yi felt a surge of joy.
Then let me add some more buffs!
“Wishing you ten consecutive successful draws!”
“May you be safe, and he be impotent, just like a sunny day!”
“Wishing you happiness in life, success in your career, harmony in love, and an early birth of precious children!”
“…”
Initially, Jiang Li was worried as she watched Lu Yi charge at the urban legend as if headed for d*ath. She knew full well that relying on sheer force was unlikely to deal any substantial harm to that urban legend.
However, when she saw Lu Yi break through the urban legend’s protective skeleton, she couldn’t help but let out a silent sigh of relief.
Yet, as Lu Yi continued to roar with every swing of her sword, Jiang Li’s expression gradually became strange.
What kind of style is this?
A New Year’s greeting sword technique?
While Jiang Li grumbled internally, the urban legend’s protective skeleton suddenly crumbled under Lu Yi’s frenzied assault.
In a panic, the urban legend attempted to retreat, its countless pale tentacles waving desperately to drive away the annoying figure in front, but then it felt a warmth in its chest.
A hand plunged into its wound, touching the core of its being.
In the darkness, a hand pierced into the urban legend’s body, and Lu Yi’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Next, the most crucial step!
————
Moments earlier, on the decaying rooftop.
Qing Ji leaned in and whispered the solution to Lu Yi. A look of surprise appeared in her eyes.
“Ah, so… Ancestor, after all that rambling, you just wanted me to take it as a dependent? You could have just told me that directly!”
Upon hearing that the urban legend dwelling in Happy Neighborhood had once been Qing Ji’s dependent, and now she was supposed to take that urban legend as a dependent, Lu Yi’s feelings were somewhat complicated.
Although she didn’t know the principle behind a spirit ability user taking an urban legend as a dependent, it felt strange—like suddenly discovering a family heirloom of a fairy maid.
“Oh? So in your time, this method of subduing evil spirits was called a dependent?” Qing Ji nodded, “To become a dependent, there must be a connection… well, I suppose it’s somewhat fitting.”
“By the way, who came up with this saying?”
As she spoke, a hint of admiration flickered in Qing Ji’s eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Anyway, your kind of ‘love’ seems much more reliable. Lu Yi added silently in her heart.
“Regardless of who coined the term, it’s not what matters; what’s important is how can I manage it! That’s an A-grade urban legend.”
Lu Yi shook her head vigorously.
“You want me to take it as a dependent? It’s no different from offering my head! Too dangerous, I won’t do it! What if I fail and end up controlled by it?”
Qing Ji calmly patted Lu Yi’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, with me here, love boldly!”
“Are you saying you’ll help me with safety measures?” Lu Yi squinted, sizing up Qing Ji and waiting for his response.
If hunting urban legends could be turned from a horror game into a Pokémon collecting game, that would be quite nice, Lu Yi thought.
Qing Ji slightly nodded, “Exactly!”
After weighing Qing Ji’s strength and various vulnerabilities, Lu Yi compromised, “But I’m afraid I can’t achieve the kind of state you mentioned!”
She wasn’t like Qing Ji, who had traversed mountains and rivers and seen the complexities of life. Besides Lu Yan Zhi, everything else that she cared about was the vast earth and all living beings.
She had no idea how to control a sword with a loving heart to enhance the power of Ling Tai Purification; even a small love she was clueless about, she had never been in love.
“That’s indeed a problem…” Qing Ji thought seriously for a moment, “If all else fails, you can just shout it out. The effect might be slightly worse, but it’ll work.”
“Really?”
“When have I ever lied to you?”
The ancestor surely wouldn’t joke about my life safety, this can be done… Lu Yi nodded with internal doubts, “So, can I go?”
“Go ahead, go!” Qing Ji waved his hand, revealing a caring smile typical of an elder. “Remember to come back to practice swordsmanship after it’s done.”
Just the thought of that practice process, which was more fittingly described as torture rather than “training,” made Lu Yi feel a wave of pain, as if she had been jabbed into a hornet’s nest.
“No, Ancestor, today…”
Qing Ji glared, coldly scolding, “You lazy bum! One day of practice equals one day’s effectiveness; one day without practice is ten days of emptiness. Don’t even think about slacking off!”
“Don’t worry, today I’ll give you some new tricks, it won’t be boring.”
Lu Yi, “…”
What does that mean? Is she going to make my d*ath method more diverse?
————
Briefly recalling her earlier conversation with Qing Ji, Lu Yi regained her focus and softly called out, “Ancestor, it’s your turn!”
“…”
After waiting for a moment, Qing Ji made no response.
“Ancestor? Hey! Are you there?”
“…”
In the silence, no one responded, only the sound of the individuals hanging from the urban legend’s tentacles occasionally chuckling.
What’s going on? This isn’t what we agreed upon!
d*mn! If I believe in his nonsense again, I’ll be his grandchild!
Lu Yi harshly cursed in her heart, preparing to pull her hand back and escape, when suddenly a terrifying oppressive force surged from her arm.
The urban legend tightened the wound, like a hydraulic clamp, locking her arm tightly.
“Crack—crack—!”
Accompanied by the sound of joints deforming, the urban legend’s neck bent in an inhuman manner, its enormous face painted in greenish makeup silently leaned next to Lu Yi.
A pair of eyeless pupils, as deep as two pieces of black glass, trembled slightly as they examined her, and its pale lips parted slightly, emitting a dizzying sound filled with stink, as if revealing countless charred little hands slowly writhing within the gaps.
An invisible spirit energy fluctuation, carrying a bone-chilling coldness, brushed lightly across Lu Yi’s body like malicious arms.
In an instant, her hairs stood on end, and beads of sweat trickled down her temples.
This is bad!
“Hey, I can explain, actually…”
“Roar—!”
The urban legend suddenly burst into a low growl, and the waving tentacles behind it transformed from the ethereal into the solid, crashing down on Lu Yi like a torrential downpour.
The intense pain hit her suddenly, and Lu Yi felt as if all her bones were about to disintegrate. This wasn’t a sensation she could have experienced just a few hundred times before, it was so painful that she might faint on the spot.
What on earth is the ancestor doing?
Everything was fine just a moment ago; why did he suddenly disconnect?
If all else fails… I’ll just have to do it like before with Du Sixian… Lu Yi thought.
Just then, a faint ghostly gray line seeped out of the urban legend’s body, flowing into Lu Yi through her arm.
————
Meanwhile, in the decaying and decrepit city.
Qing Ji, holding Ling Tai Purification, stood atop the highest building in the city, quietly waiting. As soon as Lu Yi called for him, he would use the sword in his hand as a medium to transmit spirit energy and lend her support.
However.
At the moment Lu Yi touched the core of the urban legend’s being, just before she could call out, something unexpected happened.
“Roar—!”
As if some wicked song resonated above the clouds, a sudden mournful howl broke out, and the flood of spirit energy surged down from above.
The air was filled with the sound of crystalline shattering.
In the sky, the piled clouds were being eroded by that wave of spirit energy, gradually shifting from a light gray to an overwhelming dark mass, pressing down like heavy marble and making it hard to breathe.
That spirit energy wave brought an assault, as if alive with a viral activity, and it continued to spread downwards.
Soon, the war-torn city ruins were shrouded in smog.
The air was filled with a choking smell, and Qing Ji’s brows furrowed tightly. That odor resembled the stench of burning waste and the smoke of battle, along with unfamiliar poisonous gases he had never encountered.
As the haze spread, everything became mournful and eerie. Invisible phantoms roamed in the dense fog as a non-human, sharp screech echoed from above.
Something was enraged and roaring. In the ruins of the city, indistinct human figures trembled, hastily fleeing into the shadows.
It seemed the apocalypse was about to arrive again; everything was rapidly transforming into a nightmare.
Suddenly, an unreal long howl reverberated from the clouds, and the world came to a standstill.
As that distant howl drew near, a tear was suddenly ripped in the mist beyond.
Above the shattered sky, the ominous dark clouds resembled a surging sea, momentarily stirring up turbulent waves.
The next moment, a “tsunami” occurred.
As if gravity had reversed, the clouds suddenly crashed down to the ground, revealing a distorted massive entity, its back adorned with a pair of wings formed from swirling smoke, rushing towards Qing Ji.
Amidst the rolling smoke, various mutated structures briefly formed. Perhaps grotesque arms, claws, or tentacles, or even mouth-like gashes.
On the tall building, Qing Ji stood amidst the swirling, contaminated spirit energy hurricane, his long hair billowing, clothes fluttering, and his expression remained unyielding.
“Though I don’t know what you are, but…”
As he spoke, he pointed his three-foot green blade skyward, “That little one did something wrong. Is it you causing trouble?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the spirit energy fluctuations beside Qing Ji suddenly intensified.
A ton of air mixed with the haze began swirling with the spirit energy, crashing against his body and erupting in a sound akin to steel grinding.
“Hmph—!” Qing Ji snorted coldly, and a pattern of innate eight trigrams instantly unfolded behind him, then he swung his sword with all his might at the urban legend hurtling towards him.
“Taihe Gentleman Sword · Zixiao Yan!”
With the shout, the innate eight trigrams behind Qing Ji shone brightly.
In an instant, radiant lightning split from the dazzling blade, scattering destructive branches in all directions like a soaring dragon.
The lightning was as solid as reality; wherever it passed, the dense fog was effortlessly pierced through, peeling away from the massive urban legend’s body and transforming into clusters of putrid bl**d splashes.
However, the urban legend’s spirit energy seemed inexhaustible. The haze quickly gathered around it, continuously birthing new bizarre limbs, some shifting in muted colors, dancing before Qing Ji in a blink.
Then, the innate eight trigrams behind him illuminated again, and he swung out a second sword.
“Taihe Gentleman Sword · Jun Tian Zou!”
With the swing of the sword, celestial winds swept by. A distant and ancient resonant sound seemed to come from a palace in a faraway time, and bright light radiated from Qing Ji’s front, sending a white rainbow soaring into the sky.
Like a divine blade of heavenly retribution, it stirred the winds and clouds, tearing apart, shattering, and evaporating, causing countless bizarre limbs solidified by the haze to disintegrate.
With a single strike, the urban legend in the sky was pushed back a thousand feet, nearly retreating to the dome above, leaving only a mass of dark clouds lingering near the sky’s rift, from which countless eyes glared down.
At that moment, a low whisper suddenly floated from the distance.
“There are people from Zhongshan. There is a woman in blue, and wherever she goes, there is great drought…”
“Traveling north of Chishui, climbing Kunlun to gaze south, the river is graceful, the waters bloom brilliantly…”
Immediately following, the remaining haze was also torn apart.
A beam of blazing light surged out of nowhere, igniting everything it touched within the violent wave of spirit energy. That mass of fog transformed into a magnificent crystal bathed in radiant flames, as if branded onto the dome.
Seeing this, Qing Ji’s body went limp, collapsing to the ground.
————
Inside the bar.
“There are people from Zhongshan. There is a woman in blue, and wherever she goes, there is great drought…”
Lu Yi constantly recited the description in her heart, her body temperature rising to a terrifying degree; the coat wrapping around her had long since vanished, leaving only the swirling smoke that concealed her unspoken secrets.
Even the spell formula Jiang Li cast to help her defend against the urban legend’s tentacle attack began to crumble under the extreme heat.
In the darkness, beneath Lu Yi’s skin, magma-like light flowed slowly through her veins, gradually converging at her fingertips and pouring into the urban legend’s body.
Shortly after, on the surface of the urban legend, it looked as if something had ignited, suddenly shooting up a flame of golden red, swiftly spreading. A fire-like mark, etched with complex patterns, quickly took form.
As the flame began to outline the mark, Jiang Li realized Lu Yi was trying to convert the urban legend into a dependent, her lips parted slightly, ultimately abandoning the idea of interrupting Lu Yi.
In the absence of alternatives, becoming Lu Yi’s dependant was surely better than being an uncontrollable urban legend, Jiang Li thought.
However, just as the mark of dependency was completed, a mass of haze suddenly dissipated from the urban legend’s body, gathering in the air to form a grotesque cloud pattern exuding a foul odor.
Jiang Li’s heart sank as she stared at that cloud pattern, her pupils violently contracting.
This is bad!
How could this urban legend be connected to the Haze God?
As Jiang Li remained uncertain, Lu Yi had already completed the imprint of dependency. The grotesque cloud pattern shattered with a bang as the flame-like markings flashed past the urban legend’s skull, gradually settling down.
Lu Yi fell like a puddle of mud to the ground, seemingly exhausted.
Seeing this, Jiang Li hesitated for a moment, approached cautiously, examined Lu Yi closely, and silently sighed as she gently brushed away the bl**d beads seeping from her features.
Moments later, when she looked up to search for the urban legend, she found it had long since disappeared, leaving her unsure if it had concealed itself again at Lu Yi’s command, as not even a trace of spirit energy could be found.
————
Uncertain how long had passed, Lu Yi slowly regained consciousness, the pain throughout her body making her involuntarily gasp in shock.
“Hiss—!”
As she opened her eyes, she saw Jiang Li’s expressionless face calmly delivering a shocking message.
“You’re done; you’re in big trouble! Don’t mention that you know me when you go out from now on.”
“Ah?”
Jiang Li rolled her eyes and explained, “You took away the dependent of the urban legend ranked ninth on the Siye Society’s wanted list. Just pray it doesn’t find you!”
Lu Yi, “…”
