Chapter 25: Pestilence Taijie
Huacheng hardly ever snowed in the past, and it was only after the first year when nights began to grow long that winter started to become distinct.
Snowflakes gently fell on Mudan Street, ancient alleys crisscrossing, every household’s wooden windows piled with snow, the quiet bluestone road and flowing water creating a poetic scene that belonged to winter.
Bai Kai sat alone in front of the Lu Family Manor, a cigarette pinched between his lips, the charcoal in the stove before him grilling sweet potatoes and small yellow fish, giving off an enticing aroma.
“This d*mn girl, it’s freezing outside, and instead of staying at home, where has she run off to?”
Grilled fish and sweet potatoes were Nanling Yaohua’s favorite foods, and back when they were in the Gobi Desert, food was scarce, and Lu Ming would often bring her these treats, which would make her happy for a long time.
In fact, Nanling Yaohua’s obsession with Huacheng and Lu Xianbei was planted during that time when Lu Ming would always tease her, saying, “I have even more delicious food at home, my son cooks better than I do.”
Today, Bai Kai had finally managed to finish his work for the moment and came here to find Nanling Yaohua, hoping to create a nostalgic atmosphere. However, after waiting for a long time without seeing her, the nostalgic gathering seemed to trend toward isolation.
After taking a puff from his cigarette, Bai Kai extinguished the b*tt and cast a resentful glance at the old manor behind him, mumbling, “It’s a pity; after that, I specifically learned grilling skills from Lu Ming.”
Bai Kai didn’t possess any inherited culinary skills, but he was eager to learn anything that could win a girl’s favor.
However, he learned various skills originally to please one person, only to end up using them on other girls later on.
Thinking of that woman made an unnamed fire rise within Bai Kai.
In the past, when the two of them had just emerged from the Gobi Desert, one was unmatched in spell formulas, and the other was supreme in swordsmanship, traveling together as poetically described, “Silken hair untouched by the sorrows of the world, leaving with a saber and wine.” They were incredibly carefree.
Unfortunately, both ended up falling for women.
Lu Ming claimed he was knocked out and taken away, but Bai Kai didn’t believe it.
With his triple chant skills, even casting a couple of defensive spells on himself wouldn’t lead to being knocked out.
Thus, even now, Bai Kai was uncertain whether Lu Ming had fallen for that madwoman’s trick or if the madwoman had fallen into his brother’s trap. It was possible that both were acting out a charade.
Bai Kai, on the other hand, was played for a fool; the process went roughly like this: a beautiful big sister met a pure little boy, employed slight tactics, and succeeded in a first bl**d, double k*ll, pentakill, and a god-like victory…
However, Bai Kai’s original spirit pattern was pure heroic spirit type, and to advance smoothly, he needed to practice abstinence, but due to a moment of poor judgment, he was forced to change his advancement pathway, becoming a mixed-breed spirit pattern, and his strength decreased significantly.
Originally, he could accept making a few sacrifices for love.
However, he resolutely gave up the stronger advancement pathway and used his spirit patterns to support that woman’s advancement, yet not only did he gain no love in return, but he also ended up deeply in debt from buying various materials.
According to the current saying, Bai Kai was maliciously PUA’d by that woman.
If it weren’t for Lu Ming’s timely rescue, Bai Kai, with his spirit patterns out of control and strength severely damaged, would have been forced to pay his debts with his rear end.
Afterward, Bai Kai even said he would repay his good buddy with his body.
But Lu Ming, without thinking, flatly refused, saying, “Brother, get your pants on! It’s not how it’s done! In this situation, shouldn’t you be working like a donkey?”
Originally, Bai Kai thought he would never see that woman who left without saying goodbye again. Yet recently, she somehow entered the realm and became his superior, sending him into a tailspin.
If he fell into that woman’s hands again, how could he live well? Just thinking about the future days where she would impede him at every turn made Bai Kai’s head ache.
Just like this time when he applied to activate the Huacheng Barrier, he could have submitted an application and resolved it through a simpler method.
But because of that woman’s appearance, he forcibly intercepted Li Xuan and An Qing, who were preparing to submit the application, and within two days, he ran across half of Z Country on foot, visiting four of the five S-level spirit energy users who set up barriers.
He finally obtained a disposable talisman from a certain big shot for activating the barrier.
If I can’t afford to offend her, at least I can avoid her, Bai Kai thought in frustration.
In the midst of his thoughts, he clenched his fists, “Crunch!” He crushed the sweet potato he had just grilled, feeling its scorching heat against his palm.
“Ouch—! Hot, hot!”
Lu Xianbei, carrying baggage, passed in front of the Lu Family Manor and saw Bai Kai in a flurry, splattering the yellow, sticky substance all over the place, leaving him startled.
“Goodness! Water Brother, what are you doing? Playing with poop in front of my door in broad daylight? That’s disgusting!”
“…”
Hearing the familiar voice, Bai Kai’s mouth twitched as he hurled the half-eaten sweet potato to the ground.
“It’s sweet potato, sweet potato!”
Bai Kai loudly explained, turning to look at Lu Xianbei, only to realize he was carrying a large bag of luggage, which made him curious, “Xiao Bei, you’re carrying luggage. Are you planning to…?”
As he spoke halfway, he seemed to suddenly remember something, turning to glance back at the Lu Family Manor, “Are you planning to move back in?”
This wouldn’t do!
I know your family’s layout; there’s a restaurant downstairs and just a bed in the attic.
It’s fine for you two father and son to squeeze together, but you can’t sleep squeezed next to Xiao Hua! Even with a marriage contract, that’s still a bit too early, Bai Kai thought in distress.
“Recently, things outside haven’t been peaceful. It’s safer to stay with the Siye Society!” Lu Xianbei said.
With my current situation, the underworld forces wouldn’t go through the risk just for such a small grudge to find the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, right?
Even if they were that bold, there are five main operatives ahead, and if they want to k*ll me, they’d have to step over their corpses first!
But with three doses of the medicine left unconsumed, with this racket, I won’t know when I can make up for the deficiencies, Lu Xianbei thought.
“That makes some sense,” Bai Kai nodded in acknowledgment. “But it’s getting chilly lately. Have you prepared warm clothes? Do you want me to send some over later?”
“And if you’re bored at night, just call me. I can come over to keep you company!”
Seeing Bai Kai’s exaggerated manner, Lu Xianbei felt a tightness in his heart and waved his hands urgently, “No need, no need! I’m not a child anymore; you don’t need to worry about these things.”
At night, inviting a gigolo to play in his room would be hard to explain if someone saw it, just like how Bai Kai would have to explain flinging sweet potatoes in front of his home.
Lu Xianbei thought anxiously, tightening his backpack as he moved forward, “Alright, Water Brother, take your time. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving first.”
“I need to run back soon to bring some toiletries over.”
Before the chaos of the Huacheng Hundred Demons Walk settles down, Lu Xianbei has already prepared for a protracted battle.
Just as he’d taken a few steps, he stopped again, turned, and looked at the sticky sweet potato on the door, his expression flat, “Oh right, Water Brother, make sure to clean up before you leave!”
“I don’t mean anything bad! I trust your character, but that doesn’t mean others do. I still need to come back and open for business later! Also…”
“That stuff on your hands, on your hands… has dried.”
Bai Kai looked down at his yellow, sticky palms and instinctively brought them to his nose to sniff.
Lu Xianbei, “???”
Seeing the growing disdain in Lu Xianbei’s eyes, Bai Kai, “…”
Wait a minute! Why did I smell that?!
I’m innocent!
————
The winter night seemed to arrive even more swiftly than before, as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, Huacheng again draped itself in the veil of night.
In a remote part of Huacheng, a supermarket that had long since closed occasionally saw strange figures flitting about.
After the ceramic factory in Huacheng was ambushed, Mu Se moved her stronghold here.
In the empty underground cold storage, the old lighting fixtures cast a feeble yellow glow, and a strange odor, reminiscent of decaying meat in a confined space, hung in the air. A quaint copper mirror stood in the middle of the vast room.
“Creak—!”
With a light sound that made one’s teeth ache, the heavy door to the cold storage opened, and a red-clothed woman stepped inside, making her way directly to the copper mirror.
She paused before the copper mirror, its smooth surface failing to reflect her figure, showing only a deep darkness.
Amid that deep darkness and swirling shadows, one could vaguely see a twisted, enormous figure, seemingly multiplying and splitting, sitting at the very depths.
Even through the darkness and layers of misty gloom, one could feel the terrifying spirit energy fluctuations and an extremely vigorous life force emanating from it.
Subdued by that powerful spiritual energy, Mu Se respectfully knelt on one knee in front of the copper mirror, a strange and complex mark on her forehead glowing with a scarlet light.
“Following the master’s call, Mu Se is here to pay my respects.”
The vast shadow in the darkness inquired in a stern voice, “How has the task I assigned to you gone? Have you encountered any obstacles?”
“…” Mu Se fell silent for a moment, biting her lip, “Everything is proceeding smoothly.”
“Oh? I heard that someone was causing trouble?”
The massive shadow questioned sternly, the spirit energy fluctuations cascading from the copper mirror screeching, while ice cubes frozen for an unknown period were instantly ground to dust.
“…”
Mu Se didn’t dare to respond; as she heard the inquiry from inside the mirror, she also felt countless eyes on the other side, all focusing their gaze on her. The twisted, bizarre emotions conveyed nearly solidified into palpable negative energy, almost driving her insane.
At that moment, the copper mirror suddenly shook, something passing through the surface, radiating waves of ripples, then falling before Mu Se.
“Go, and plant my flesh and bl**d into the land of Huacheng; that will make your actions even smoother.”
It was a strange, dark green mass about the size of a fist, spherical in shape, its surface smooth, with no protruding parts visible, resembling a spore composite of some ancient slime mold, evoking thoughts of something called Taijie.
But upon closer inspection, Mu Se noticed that the thing resembling Taijie was covered with a layer of transparent gelatinous substance.
Beneath the gel, traces of something moving could be faintly seen, and along with that, a thin mist of dark green spread around as it slowly flowed.
“…”
After planting this thing in the land of Huacheng, wouldn’t it cause major problems? Mu Se wondered.
She was suddenly curious about how this mysterious figure, referred to as “Pestilence Taijie” by the black-robed figures, had come into existence as an urban legend.
————
When Mu Se emerged from the cold storage, a black-robed figure hurriedly approached from outside, stopping in front of her and cupping his fists, saying, “Lady Witch, we have new discoveries in the capture operation.”
“New discoveries?” Mu Se frowned slightly, inquiring, “Tell me about it?”
“We’ve discovered a group of urban legends who are also secretly organizing a Hundred Demons Walk and have occupied an area radiating within ten kilometers centered around University City. I suspect…”
“You suspect they are secretly causing destruction?” Mu Se coldly interrupted, casting a glance at the black-robed figure.
“Exactly,” the black-robed figure replied.
But what kind of urban legend could have a Hundred Demons Walk that only spans ten kilometers?
Wouldn’t that be futile?
Mu Se thought darkly, her gaze slightly cold, “Very well, do you have any updates on their movements? If they are indeed the ones causing destruction recently, I will check myself.”
————
After Lu Xianbei tidied up his temporary residence in the makeshift office, the sky was gradually darkening.
In winter, nighttime falls unexpectedly.
To avoid the embarrassing situation of suddenly turning into an urban legend while transporting daily necessities, Lu Xianbei left the Mudan Street area early, returning to the half-finished building in University City, waiting until the sky was completely dark and preventing transformation before heading toward Jingyi Apartment.
As soon as he pulled out his key and opened the door, he was startled into stepping back a pace at the sight before him.
What on earth? What’s going on? When did so many urban legends get into my home?
Looking around, the once spacious apartment was filled with various urban legends—strange hands stretching out from under the sofa, tongues like slugs in the kitchen, moss-covered, graffiti-marked plaster statues… Urban legends of all sorts swarmed the place, with almost every corner occupied.
These urban legends rolled recklessly on the carpet, licking the water dispenser and sink outlets, while a few that resembled human models even tried to assemble the MG red heretical Gundam model he hadn’t gotten around to unboxing yet.
This is absolutely ridiculous!
After blankly staring at the chaotic scene for a few seconds, Lu Xianbei’s emotions erupted.
“Dammit! Someone explain to me what the hell is going on? If not, I’ll turn all of you into core urban legends tonight!”
Originally, the urban legends that had been playfully frolicking around froze for a second at this furious roar, rigidly turning their bodies to look toward the main door. After two awkward seconds of eye contact with Lu Xianbei, they all simultaneously shrieked in terror.
“Help! k*ll the urban legends—!”
“He can see us, that human can see us!”
“Mom, I’m scared!”
“I’m scared too…”
Thus, chaos erupted in the apartment, with countless shadows flying around, and the sounds of overturned furniture echoed endlessly.
Minutes later.
Mafun, False Teeth, Eye, and Sleep Dress all knelt before Lu Xianbei, behind them a dense mass of scrappy urban legends.
After explaining the situation briefly, Mafun’s voice quivered, “Lady Witch, the situation is like this; we thought they were homeless and too pitiful, so we brought them back.”
Lu Xianbei crossed his arms, eyeing Mafun sideways, and after pondering for a moment, frowned, “So these little urban legends were brought back because someone organized a Hundred Demons Walk in secret and destroyed their nesting places?”
“Yes, yes, exactly!” Seeing that the excuse they had concocted was working, Mafun hurriedly affirmed, “We’re just doing a good deed! We hope Lady Witch can forgive us.”
Although what Mafun told Lu Xianbei was fabricated, it was not entirely untrue.
Among these urban legends, aside from 40% that they had captured through the Hundred Demons Walk, another 40% had come to seek refuge due to the repeated assaults from Mu Se’s Hundred Demons Walk, which endangered their existence, and the remaining 20%…
Were urban legends displaced due to the “friendly fire” of the explosion maniac and his will inheritors.
Lu Xianbei, “…”
While they were indeed somewhat pitiful, that didn’t mean they could be taken home!
Look at what they’ve done to the place!
Cleaning up would take at least one or two days…
Today, Lu Xianbei finally understood why his father had such a sour face when he invited friends from the old neighborhood home to play when he was a child.
Moreover, this was way more serious than bringing friends home!
There were no family members here; how would he explain the noisy commotion?
If their neighbors found out there was noise and human models and plaster statues walking around in his house, they might not d*e of fright but would definitely call the police, leading to troubles with the Siye Society, Lu Xianbei thought.
Seeing that Lu Xianbei hadn’t spoken for a long time, “What are you talking about? I can tell this woman has no compassion!”
“Since it has come to this, it’s probably all over for us; we might as well go against her! Let’s band together; we might have a chance to fight…”
Before Eye could finish rallying the gang, it felt a chill down its back and, twisting its body, turned its pupils backward, only to see a jagged short sword resting against its back.
“Who told you I have no compassion?” Lu Xianbei held a sword against Eye’s back with one hand, while his other finger poked it repeatedly, “It’s just that you bringing them back and messing up my home is particularly frustrating, you know?”
“And you guys!” Lu Xianbei said, pointing his sword at the few sneaky model-assembling human model urban legends, growling, “I’m lecturing here! Can you take this seriously?”
As soon as Lu Xianbei finished speaking, a few human model urban legends exchanged glances, as if they had reached some decision, and nodded in agreement before “thudding” to the ground, playing dead.
“…”
I’ve never seen such half-hearted acting… Lu Xianbei thought as he continued, “In any case, none of you are staying in my place. I’ll find you somewhere to go!”
After all, they were too pitiful, and while Mafun was explaining, the urban legends continuously interjected and added details, almost surpassing the sad storytelling of cut-and-dry redemption variety shows.
“Lady Witch is wise! Blessings abound for eternity, establishing territories, and unifying the world!”
“Shut up, you want to d*e?” Lu Xianbei glared at the cheering Mafun, saying, “Every inch of land belongs to the nation and the people; Z Country has its own circumstances!”
“Yes, yes, Lady Witch is right!” Mafun hurriedly agreed, “But could you tell us in advance where we’re headed next?”
“Um…” Lu Xianbei rested his chin thoughtfully for two seconds, then said, “Go to the underground garage of Happy Neighborhood, find an urban legend dressed in blue opera attire, and she will take care of you.”
He had already inquired from Meng Meng where she usually hid.
The cellar of the old theater was hidden somewhere deeper underground than the Happy Neighborhood’s garage, and Meng Meng usually hid there.
As for whether these little urban legends would be able to stand Meng Meng’s singing, which resembled a pig being slaughtered and had a certain hallucinogenic effect, that was beyond his concern.
When the mention of Happy Neighborhood was brought up, many urban legends exhibited fear; they knew that a terrifying urban legend existed in that community.
“Witch, Lady Witch, may I ask what your relationship with the urban legend in Happy Neighborhood is? We’re a bit scared.” A childish voice inquired.
Lu Xianbei turned toward the direction of the voice and saw an urban legend composed of a plastic Meiyangyang head and a David plaster statue, making his eyes twitch as he silently covered his own eyes.
“She is my kin… you all can go without worry! There won’t be any problems. I have other matters to attend to, so I won’t see you off.”
With that said, Lu Xianbei stood up and quickly walked toward the bathroom to collect toiletries. Just as he turned, the little urban legends in the living room began to whisper to each other.
“I didn’t expect Lady Witch to be so powerful! Even the urban legend from Happy Neighborhood is her kin; you don’t know, I was kicked out of there by that terrifying creature.”
“You’re only aware of the surface; the strength required to defeat an urban legend and to tame one are worlds apart. It’s said that to forcibly take an urban legend as kin, your strength must surpass its tenfold, or even more!”
“So… doesn’t that make Lady Witch the most powerful and frightening urban legend in Huacheng?”
“…”
Anyone hearing praise about themselves would feel good, and Lu Xianbei was no exception. However, as he listened, he began to feel something was off.
“You guys think, does Lady Witch like muscular guys? I’ve heard that witches tend to like muscular men.” A childish voice inquired.
“Very possibly!”
“And one more question, why did Lady Witch turn into a boy?”
“Maybe for some special preference?”
“…”
Lu Xianbei, “…”
d*mn! You guys really are urban legends; your minds can’t grasp earthly concepts!
He thought angrily, reaching for the toothbrush on the sink, only to grab a sticky mass and, turning to look, realized some urban legend had laid several eggs on his toothbrush.
“…”
I should just go buy a new set of toiletries from the convenience store. Lu Xianbei thought.
