Chapter 29: Luxianbei, Use Charm on Her!
In the Jinan Region, where the Dachunyang Palace is located, lies Zhenwu Mountain, also known as Northern Wudang. The mountain has seventy-two peaks, thirty-six cliffs, and twenty-four ravines, with rocky ridges extending for miles, enigmatic and difficult to measure. There are nine palaces and twelve halls on the mountain, with red walls and green tiles, majestic in presence, and countless legends have circulated over the thousands of years.
On this day, in the early morning after the morning class, in front of Wenchang Palace, a woman with a gloomy expression caused the departing disciples to unconsciously quicken their pace as they felt the terrifying low pressure emanating from her.
She wore a blue robe and a lotus crown, with a dot of cinnabar on her brow. Her ethereal demeanor made her face pale, and her figure resembled that of a girl, yet there were a few fine lines at the corners of her eyes that told of the passage of time.
The woman’s name is He Zhuyan, the head of the “Three Capitals Five Lords Eighteen Heads” in the Dachunyang Palace. Every day, she is responsible for supervising the disciples’ morning and evening classes.
If the Dachunyang Palace were compared to a school, she would be the one leading the morning exercises and inspecting the evening study sessions.
Today’s morning class was as usual, but the only thing that displeased He Zhuyan was the unexplained absence of someone.
Standing in front of Wenchang Palace, when she saw a disciple passing by, He Zhuyan furrowed her brow and stopped him, asking, “Zhu Yu, I ask you, did Huasang not come this morning?”
“Uh…” The male disciple named Zhu Yu frowned and nodded, cupping his hands in response, “Hmm, hmm, Master Huasang, after the morning meal, she…”
“Went to the back mountain?” He Zhuyan interjected.
Zhu Yu nodded.
“Hmph! A lazy and unambitious thing!” He Zhuyan snorted coldly, looking towards the back mountain, gritting her teeth as she cursed, “What misfortune for the sect! How could we take in such a miscreant?”
“Every day just knowing how to catch turtles and not doing anything serious! If she had just half the effort of her junior sister Fu Xinyi, I would be grateful to heaven.”
Huasang, as one of the disciples who entered the Dachunyang Palace in the same batch as Fu Xinyi, was once regarded with high expectations due to her aptitude, which was second only to Fu Xinyi and a few others.
However, over the past decade or so, Huasang’s behavior has been in stark contrast to her junior sister Fu Xinyi, which has caused much heartache.
Although the Dachunyang Palace does not discriminate against or abandon any disciple with poor qualifications, one must also exert effort and learn!
…
While the morning class had just concluded at Wenchang Palace, it was quite quiet in front of a pond at the steep cliff of the back mountain.
A girl with a pleasant appearance was lying on an abrupt giant rock, sunbathing while chewing on a grass root, a glass cup filled with licorice and goji berries beside her.
Unlike the serious He Zhuyan, her long hair was tousled, and her pale blue robe was tied with a piece of hemp rope. The collar was slightly open, revealing a hint of her white and delicate skin. Her long and fair legs peeked out from under the robe, crossed comfortably, with a pair of HELLOKITTY plush slippers swaying on her feet.
By the deep pond in front of her stood a black iron ruler, with cotton thread wound around it to resemble a fishing rod; the long line was sunk into the pond, seemingly fishing.
“Buzz—!”
Suddenly, the cotton line tightened, producing a faint sound, as if the iron ruler was being pulled into a bow shape by something caught.
Watching the ripples in the water, the girl let out a silent sigh, looking somewhat troubled, “Oh no, oh no, my junior sister is going to have bad luck today, but…”
“With that senior’s descendant, she shouldn’t d*e, right? Junior sister, you’ve helped your sister fend off trouble again. If you can come back alive, I will definitely repay you well.”
As she spoke, she suddenly attempted a beautiful fish leap!
…Only to fail and flop back down onto the giant rock like a dead fish.
“Ouch~!”
Feeling a pain in her back, the girl grimaced while rubbing her back, using her hands and feet to crawl to the edge of the pond. Just as she grabbed the fishing rod, she heard a stern shout from behind.
“Huasang! Why were you absent from today’s morning class?”
“Ah? Is it Master Dujiang…” The girl glanced at the newcomer, lazily mumbled a reply, showing no intention of running away or explaining, simply sitting there lazily.
Huasang abandoned all thoughts.
Until He Zhuyan walked up to her, she slowly turned around, lying on the ground and sticking her rear up towards He Zhuyan.
“Being absent from the morning class without reason should incur thirty strokes of the ruler; the ruler is over there, Master, feel free to do it…”
Seeing Huasang’s “I’m not afraid of hot water” demeanor, He Zhuyan’s lips twitched slightly as she turned to grab the ruler by the pond, just as she was about to pull it up, she felt an immense force tug on it, rendering it immovable.
The strong force lasted just a moment before the cotton line snapped with a “pop,” and He Zhuyan yanked the ruler out with a whoosh.
Soon, the back mountain of the Dachunyang Palace echoed with a series of half-hearted screams.
“Ah… ah… oh no…”
“You little brat, I haven’t even hit you yet! What’s your name?”
Huasang awkwardly smiled, “Uh, Master, how about we start over?”
He Zhuyan, “…”
————
At Tangcheng University, in the meeting room of the College of Arts and Literature, Professor Hou was unable to answer Luxianbei’s question. After Jumeng innocently provided the answer, he gasped a few times, rolled his eyes, and almost collapsed.
Professor Ma fed him five or six of his fast-acting heart-saving pills before he barely recovered, and then he was sent to the hospital by several students.
The research group could not afford any more deaths; if another one were to d*e, they would be cursed as having a “one d*ath per day” in the project.
“Both sides can be called vermin or children, and considering the image of Xiahou Dun circulating among the public, saying that Zhou Yu calls Xiahou Dun ‘one-eyed brat’ isn’t wrong, is it? How did he faint? Is he trying to extort me?”
“Tsk! If only we weren’t so far from Jiangdong, or I could grab a few urban legends to ask; I suspect there are urban legends that have heard it firsthand.”
Seeing Jumeng on his shoulder looking innocent and aggrieved as she muttered, Luxianbei rubbed her head, “I think what you said is quite good.”
I was going to tell him that Zhou Yu called Xiahou Dun “Don’t touch my line!” If I really said that, I might end up sending him away directly, Luxianbei thought slyly.
“Right? I’m clever!” Jumeng squinted at Luxianbei, looking like a child who had scored full marks, seeking praise from her parents.
I don’t see what’s so proud about this… Luxianbei internally scoffed, took out his phone, and sent Mao Sanyou a message, informing him about Professor Hou nearly dying, then put away his phone and looked towards the meeting room, where Fu Xinyi was earnestly appraising artifacts with everyone.
This suspected insider posed a considerable trouble concerning Jumeng’s consumption of the mysteries sealed within the artifacts.
Jumeng leaned against Luxianbei’s shoulder, looking at his profile. Noticing the seriousness in his eyes, she tilted her head and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there more trouble?”
Luxianbei nodded slightly, subtly glancing at Fu Xinyi not far away, raising an eyebrow, “Do you see that girl over there?”
Jumeng followed Luxianbei’s gaze, assessing Fu Xinyi, and replied seriously, “Hmm, she looks good, with a nice figure, a plump rear end for breeding, and she’s also a Spiritual Ability User. It seems she has a spirit energy item that conceals some kind of hidden spirit energy fluctuation; I can’t tell the level.”
Is your priority in observing people a bit skewed? Luxianbei thought to himself, lowering his voice to explain to Jumeng, “She attacked me before, and I suspect she’s in cahoots with the group attempting to assassinate the Siye Society members coming to aid Tangcheng, meaning…”
Upon hearing this, Jumeng’s eyes flashed with a hint of coldness, “So, she might be part of the group that tried to k*ll me as well?”
“If I eat that kimchi in front of her, is there a risk of exposing my identity and whereabouts?”
Even though Jumeng indeed had a way to devour urban legends sealed within, that only applied to ordinary people.
Just because something is invisible to the n*ked eye doesn’t mean it can’t be sensed by spiritual perception.
Any moderately capable spiritual ability user or urban legend could sense the faint spirit energy fluctuation that emanated during the devouring process from such close distance.
Luxianbei nodded; this was what he was worried about.
“This is easy; you can just lure her away!” Jumeng shrugged casually, “You can act as the tank, while I output from the shadows; teamwork isn’t that unreasonable, is it?”
“You make it sound so easy!” Luxianbei hissed, “She’s a person, not an NPC in a game that you can just shout ‘Sun Zhai’ to draw aggro; how am I supposed to lure her away?”
“You can do it.” Jumeng patted Luxianbei’s shoulder, speaking earnestly, “But it requires a little sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? Are you trying to harm me?” Luxianbei said, alert.
“How could I harm you? I’m just letting you make reasonable use of your abilities.” Jumeng said, revealing a meaningful smile.
“Didn’t your spirit patterns just undergo a mutation and gain a new ability? Don’t you want to give it a try?”
Seeing Jumeng’s sly expression, Luxianbei suddenly felt an ominous premonition, squinting his eyes as he probed, “You mean…?”
Jumeng nodded, confirming Luxianbei’s unspoken guess, “That’s right; I want you to charm her!”
Jumeng had personally experienced Luxianbei’s charm ability; although it was still relatively weak, it seemed to be of a very high grade, far superior to the gaudy and cheap tricks commonly found on the market.
Even she, a dignified deity, would feel her heart waver after staring too long at Luxianbei.
How could a plain-looking spiritual ability user little girl not be completely dazzled?
Luxianbei rubbed his slightly throbbing temples, exasperated, “You want me, a pure and innocent young man, to use such despicable tactics to sell my appearance; don’t you have any shame?”
“Not at all, completely not.” Jumeng shrugged indifferently, “So, go ahead! Luxianbei, use charm on her!”
Luxianbei, “…”
