Chapter 38: Infiltration and Intrusion
Under the dark night, in front of the dilapidated old building of the College of Arts and Literature.
A strange figure stood quietly in the dim light, tall and robust, covered in pitch-black feathers.
It looked like a gigantic, monstrous bird just hatched from its shell, its entire body drenched in a slick liquid that dripped to the ground with a sticky sound. Three thick human arms emerged from the disarray of sparse feathers, each clutching a severed head devoid of bodies.
On its back, a pair of wings, almost reduced to flesh and bl**d with underdeveloped organs, dragged along the ground, and several hairless, fleshy tails writhed slowly behind it.
The entire figure appeared terrifying, twisted, and bizarre, like a monster composed of the strangely and discordantly stitched bodies of various animals.
A dreadful spirit energy fluctuation emanated from its body, spreading in all directions, as if the space was shattering, sending ripples through the air that reflected dazzling light.
Before it lay two corpses, two charred, rotting, headless bodies.
Even from hundreds of meters away, Liu Banxian could smell that pungent, foul odor, a mix of burnt and rotting flesh, rising like a stench from the abyss.
What on earth is that thing? A monster draped in damp bird feathers or some gigantic bird with three human arms? Liu Banxian thought in terror.
In his mind, various legends about birds flashed by, from the man-eating Roro to the ambiguous Gu Huo bird, and then to the feathered murderer rumored in some parts of America—none of them matched the urban legend he was seeing.
The only somewhat similar figure was the Egyptian mythical creature, Thoth—the bird-headed deity of magic, representing judgment and wisdom. Thoth’s powers were supposed to be just and luminous, but the creature standing in front of the old building of the College of Arts and Literature was hideous, resembling a grotesque, twisted amalgamation.
However, though he couldn’t identify what this urban legend was, Liu Banxian’s decades of experience in the martial world told him it was definitely not a good entity.
While he was contemplating, the bizarre figure suddenly turned its gaze toward him.
Their eyes met, and Liu Banxian’s pupils immediately contracted sharply.
Brilliant light erupted from those deep eyes, like the sun suddenly rising from the night.
In those golden-red eyes, however, there was an icy coldness, devoid of any compassion.
Gazing into its eyes, Liu Banxian felt an inexplicable unrest in his heart, like walking under the scorching summer sun.
A burning sensation radiated from every part of his body, and large patches of burn marks appeared on his skin, as if scorched by the blazing sun.
Just as the pain tormented Liu Banxian’s nerves, he looked back at the strange figure, but it had already vanished.
Gone? Could it be…
Oh no!
Liu Banxian’s heart sank, and he quickly turned to look behind him, only to see the empty rooftop, where the evening wind swirled snowflakes, and his lips twitched.
It’s true; I’ve been reading too many novels and watching too many movies, my nerves have become overly sensitive.
In reality, how is there so much backstabbing?
However, even if it came for me, I wouldn’t be afraid. If I can’t win, can I not withstand a fight?
Liu Banxian self-deprecated for a moment, then waited in place for a while. After confirming that the giant bird-like urban legend had seemingly left, he moved swiftly toward Chunfeng Residence in Antique Street.
That thing looked like a ghost; what were the odds that it truly had good intentions?
I need to hurry and report this situation to Jumeng! Liu Banxian thought.
As he hurried away, not far behind him, a pair of eyes watched his retreating figure from the darkness, sighed quietly, and then silently lit a cigarette.
“It seems like he was scared… I probably won’t be seeing her tonight,” someone muttered in the darkness.
————
On the decaying rooftop, Lu Xibei once again saw the chaotic light orbs in Qing Ji’s hands.
Then…
She was once again sent flying, leaping over the railing, gliding through the air before crashing to the ground, and then coughed up a mouthful of bl**d.
Beneath her delicate, slender arms, it seemed like some creature was desperately writhing, twisting flesh into incomprehensible shapes, bones cracking and snapping as her hands exploded like firecrackers, bursting forth into a cloud of bl**d.
Bright red, prompting Qing Ji to exclaim, “How festive!”
However…
Although Lu Xibei was severely injured, her hands nearly ruined, this time, after forcibly harnessing a trace of the giant from her body to clash with Qing Ji, she did not meet the anticipated demise.
This was an excellent sign!
It meant that, after experiencing hundreds of attempts, setbacks, failures, and retries over the past few days, she had begun to gain a slight control over that life-threatening power inside her.
Though her current level of control was still insufficient to allow her to safely use the giant’s powers outside of the dream without harm, at least she no longer needed to worry about exploding her own body at any moment.
Though the progress was slight, it was still progress!
There’s a saying: everything can be feminine.
If the giant’s powers were likened to a violent beautiful girl, Lu Xibei had successfully conquered twenty percent of her; her relationship had shifted from a likelihood of receiving a brutal beating to a level where they could barely coexist peacefully.
Lu Xibei firmly believed that soon, she would be able to hold this “beautiful girl” in her arms and coo at her!
At worst, it would be like an old bachelor marrying a beautiful bride—totally worth the effort!
Seeing her injured and down, Qing Ji ceased her assault and approached her, sitting against the wall beside her. “Daughter-in-law, have you encountered something while you’ve been out these past two days?”
“It feels like your control over your own powers has become more proficient…”
During the past few hours of sparring, Qing Ji had clearly sensed that Lu Xibei’s understanding of her spirit energy seemed to have become more thorough than before.
Such progress in just over ten days could only be considered miraculous, and even shocking.
In this world, how could anyone be more gifted than I am? She must have experienced some incredible fortune to reach this level, Qing Ji thought definitively.
Due to excessive bl**d loss, Lu Xibei’s consciousness began to blur as she laboriously lifted her eyelids, weakly and defiantly saying, “What? Are you envious? Trading my life for…”
Seeing chaotic light spheres reappear in Qing Ji’s palm, Lu Xibei’s banter abruptly halted. She then weakly recounted, after embellishing a bit, her encounter with Miss Rabbit’s attack.
Encountering her husband’s arch-enemy, fighting for life, gaining new insights into her powers at the critical moment… The entire process sounded like a reasonable plot straight out of a story.
Moreover, Miss Rabbit had a deep-seated vendetta against “Lu Xibei,” making it impossible to detect a hint of dishonesty.
However…
“Rubbish! Do you think I’ve never been through such things? When I was chased by enemies, you wouldn’t even know where I was! When truly faced with d*ath, one only feels fear and wants to run,” Qing Ji said.
“Unless you have already…”
As he spoke halfway, he then noticed that Lu Xibei had lost her breath, her body gradually turning to black dust, disappearing before his eyes.
“…Unless you’re no longer human, or you’ve lost all desire for this world, no longer fearing d*ath,” Qing Ji murmured, gazing at the spot where Lu Xibei had vanished.
If what her daughter-in-law said was true, then she needed to have a serious conversation with her.
Speaking of which, she really was a woman of deep sentiment and righteousness.
However, she couldn’t let her unworthy great-grandson’s d*ath snuff out this girl’s hope of living! Qing Ji thought.
————
After once more dying in the dream, Lu Xibei’s consciousness dissipated, and then, like hundreds of thousands of rebirths in the dream before, she slowly began to coalesce once again.
During this process of reassembling, she once again had a bizarre dream, reminiscent of the previous ones with “the girl selling alchemical bombs” and “the little mermaid three times.”
Once upon a time, there was a lovely girl whom everyone adored, but her grandmother loved her most. One day, her grandmother gifted her a hooded cloak made of velvet.
The girl loved her grandmother’s gift dearly, wearing it every day, and thus everyone started calling her “Little Red Riding Hood.”
One day, Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother fell ill, and her mother prepared some exquisite food for her to take to her grandmother before dark, hoping that the sickly grandmother would feel better after eating…
…Little Red Riding Hood encountered the big bad wolf, who killed her grandmother and hid in her bed waiting to devour Little Red Riding Hood. This installment of the dream’s story felt quite typical, and appeared somewhat different from the previous two.
What’s going on? Is this a proper Little Red Riding Hood tale hiding some information I don’t know? Lu Xibei pondered.
Just as her confusion deepened, the hunter in the dream killed the wolf preparing to attack and saved Little Red Riding Hood.
Then…
Just when Lu Xibei thought the story had reached its conclusion, she found the dream still continued. After rescuing Little Red Riding Hood, the hunter took her home, and the next day sold her as a child bride to someone thousands of kilometers away, making a hefty profit.
Thus, the sorrow of being forced to guard the mountains shrouded Lu Xibei’s heart.
At the end of the dream, in a cellar, a disheveled woman with a distorted figure held a child wrapped in a red velvet hooded cloak, her murky eyes gazing at the feeble light coming from a vent, mumbling, “Once upon a time, there was a lovely girl whom everyone adored…”
Lu Xibei, “…”
————
“d*mn it! Beast!”
With a low growl, Lu Xibei awoke on the crumbling rooftop. As she opened her eyes, she saw Qing Ji, sitting cross-legged opposite her, looking grim.
She froze momentarily, hurriedly explaining, “Ancestor, listen to me! I wasn’t cursing you just now, I was… uh, it’s complicated to explain. Actually…”
“This isn’t important,” Qing Ji seemed not to care much whom Lu Xibei was cursing, rolling her eyes and interrupting. “I want to talk to you about d*ath.”
“I suddenly thought that this magical place, while allowing you to d*e and be reborn, helps you grasp certain abilities faster through repeated life and d*ath, but this might not be a good thing.”
Lu Xibei blinked in confusion, “Ancestor, why do you say that?”
Could it be that the ancestor sensed a punishment mechanism for dying here?
For instance, a classic game-setting where you lose a portion of your memory with every d*ath? Lu Xibei thought.
“What I mean is, it may numb you to d*ath, but it also increases the likelihood of encountering real deadly dangers,” Qing Ji explained.
Those who are unafraid of d*ath, facing danger repeatedly, are like walking on a tightrope over a cliff—sooner or later, they will play themselves to d*ath.
“Is that all?” Lu Xibei waved her hand expressionlessly, “You don’t need to worry at all. Every time I d*e here, with each clear experience of the pain of near-d*ath, I will deepen my fear of d*ath.”
“Rest assured! Even if everyone in the world is going to d*e, I will definitely survive until the very last batch!”
The more she understood d*ath, the more she feared it. It seemed Lu Xibei was heading towards another extreme.
Qing Ji, “…”
Though it didn’t sound like one would expect from a man, well…
The granddaughter-in-law was inherently a woman, so this was perfectly fine.
This way, I can confidently train her fiercely without worrying about affecting her mindset. Qing Ji thought.
Lu Xibei secretly observed Qing Ji’s expression, feeling that something about his face seemed off.
Minutes later, as Qing Ji unleashed a chaotic light orb that was several times more aggressive and intricate than before, charging toward Lu Xibei, she suddenly realized.
“Old man! You were hiding your strength? I… ah—!”
————
At 12:30 AM, Tangcheng, Peach Blossom Road.
“Dingling—dingling—!”
Accompanied by the sound of wind chimes, someone stepped out cautiously from Chunfeng Residence, carefully locking the door before turning to walk down the alley.
Under the night, delicate snowflakes slowly drifted down from the sky.
Jumeng’s small figure strolled through the snow, seemingly swept away by the gusty evening wind, creating a scene of pity.
Then, familiar with every surveillance camera in Antique Street, she stepped lightly into a blind spot of one, gave a slight push off the ground, leaped into the air, transforming into a shining, glossy magpie, and flew toward the Tangcheng Four Seasons Hotel.
Just two minutes earlier, the spirit energy thread she had set in room 7017 had been triggered, and Fu Xinyi seemed to have finally left the room, granting her a chance to infiltrate and explore.
————
Since Lu Xibei had fallen unconscious, Fu Xinyi had been by her side without leaving, tending to her wounds.
On one hand, Lu Xibei was her lifesaver, and on the other, she was an elder of her sect, so Fu Xinyi knew she couldn’t be careless, whether using medicine and a spell to expel the lingering spirit energy from the wound, or stitching her up, everything was done with utmost caution.
After tending to Lu Xibei’s injuries, she quietly waited for her condition to stabilize, allowing Fu Xinyi to finally let out a slight sigh of relief, reinforcing the confinement spells in the room, and then leaving to find her junior—Lu Xibei.
The junior had been invited to watch a movie, but due to unexpected events, Fu Xinyi was only now confirming his safety, and it was already quite late.
When she left the room, it was already past midnight. After calling Lu Xibei and getting no response, Fu Xinyi thought nothing of it. She assumed Lu Xibei was merely unwilling to answer due to the fright from earlier in the day or had already gone to sleep, so she decided to climb out of the window on the 7th floor, using her skills to glide across the wall and slip into Lu Xibei’s room on the other side of the corridor—Room 7022.
She only needed to confirm her junior’s condition on the balcony for her peace of mind; she absolutely wouldn’t do anything suspicious! Fu Xinyi thought.
However, as soon as she landed on the balcony of Lu Xibei’s room and peered through the glass, she found the room empty, completely devoid of her adorable junior’s presence.
“Strange, where did he go?” Fu Xinyi mumbled, resting her chin on her hand. “Could it be that he moved out in the middle of the night? But his luggage is still here!”
While speaking, she tiptoed like a thief, approached the balcony door, and pushed it open. Suddenly, a chilling rush hit her, and a strong spirit energy fluctuation surged from behind. Before she could turn, she felt a violent blow to her head.
Her body swayed, and from the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a figure in a white down jacket rising, brandishing a broken sword, seemingly…
Looking very angry? Fu Xinyi thought, and then her vision darkened as she fell to the ground.
The sudden ambush from the jacket wasn’t particularly strong; its spirit energy fluctuation was roughly around C+. However, the broken sword in its hand was particularly strange; just a few powerful blows from the sword seemed to pierce through both her skull and spirit energy protection, shaking Fu Xinyi’s brain.
Unless severely concussed, there would probably be no end to it.
Seeing Fu Xinyi collapse without a sound.
The next moment, the jacket lunged toward her, transforming into a restraining garment wrapping around the dazed Fu Xinyi, then morphing into a blindfold and mask, “Zhi-lu” locking her eyes and mouth shut.
The thief has captured her; when will the witch return? The coat thought.
(。•ˇ‸•。)
————
The sky was overcast, gray-black clouds rolling across, like a tide surging forth, churning white waves as they fell.
Golden essences, undetectable by the n*ked eye or even by most spirit users and urban legends, came rising from the vast land, soaring upwards, and gathering into the body of a magpie.
Considering that there might be a terrifying opponent in that room besides Lu Xibei, Jumeng called upon the earthy essence of Tangcheng.
If a conflict truly occurred, she could only use her fists to let them know who the real boss of this land was!
The magpie soared through the sky, its black wings cutting through the falling delicate snowflakes. Beneath the dark heavens, in the city shrouded in shadows, lights flickered, resembling the reflection of a starry sky.
Jumeng had seen this nighttime scene many times before, yet still found it beautiful. Rather than worrying about Lu Xibei’s situation, she might as well find a place, like sitting atop the Tangcheng TV tower, sipping wine in the snow, and quietly enjoying the view.
The few kilometers from Antique Street to the Tangcheng Four Seasons Hotel passed in an instant.
Soon, Jumeng landed on the balcony railing of room 7017, where the balcony door was locked, and the curtains drawn tight, obscuring her view of the inside.
Extending her spirit perception, aided by the connection established with Qing Feng earlier, she surveyed the room’s conditions, confirming that the source of the evil spirit energy hadn’t sensed her arrival before lightly leaping down from the railing.
With a swirl of green light enveloping the petite body of the magpie, accompanied by a few falling black feathers, an exquisite woman silently landed on the balcony.
With her tall stature, slightly green-tinged long hair, and peacock green qipao embroidered with peach blossoms, contrasted by a snowy white fur collar, her skirt flowed down to reveal perfect leg curves. The stunning yet unpretentious figure stood quietly in the snowstorm, akin to a delicate peach blossom.
“Zhi—hu—!”
Jumeng pulled her slender pipe from her waist, took a puff, squinting her eyes as she slowly exhaled smoke towards the balcony door ahead. Accompanied by the white smoke swirling, the door lock trembled slightly before “clicking!” open a crack.
Seeing this, she gracefully walked forward and pushed the door open.
In the next moment, a strange, alluring fragrance wafted over.
It was a sweet, bl**d-like scent mingled with floral undertones that penetrated her nostrils, instantly flooding her mind with images that quickened her pulse.
A hint of a mysterious scent, conjuring thoughts of a woman arousing passion.
Jumeng felt slightly dazed, even experiencing a faint physical response. Hastily, she urged her spirit energy to defend against the strange power contained in that fragrance.
What kind of alluring temptress is this? Are seductive drugs being used as air fresheners?
If she were truly inside, this Lu Xibei would likely be lost; she’d surely be tainted.
With his instinct for self-preservation, he would yield his honor, virtue, and even his morning exercises to stay alive without needing coercion from such a seductress, right?
Jumeng mused while her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. She then spotted the girl lying on the bed.
The dimly lit bedroom felt cozy from the heating, and the girl lay deeply asleep beneath the white blanket, her covers tangled. Her slender arms and the bandages wrapped around her elegant waist were exposed, with silver long hair spread out behind her.
Setting aside the poor sleeping posture, the scene before her was undoubtedly enchanting; the girl lay soundly asleep, illuminated by the faint light filtering through the window, her skin glowing like jade, emanating an alluring aura, perhaps due to the slightly bloodstained bandages, exuding a hint of morbid beauty.
Amidst the blend of strange aromas and the faint, sinister spirit energy seeping from the walls, she looked like a Venus lying in the flowers of sin, sleeping her way to d*ath.
Jumeng’s gaze swept over her slightly deformed breast due to the bandages, rolling her eyes as she couldn’t help but mutter quietly, “Disgusting!”
Right after, as if recalling something, she leaned closer, seriously examining the girl’s face, her brow furrowing.
This face seems somewhat familiar…
There’s an inexplicable sense of familiarity…
Jumeng furrowed her brow, toying with her pipe, contemplating for a while until her eyes widened suddenly.
Wait, wait!
She looks a lot like the enemy whose portrait she and Lin Yiqi sketched from memory! Although she looked a bit older, they are both witch kin—could they be the same person?
Plus, Lu Xibei is from Huacheng, and that witch’s activities also occur around Huacheng; could they… Jumeng thought.
At this moment, the girl on the bed suddenly let out a gentle hum, her eyelids fluttering slightly. In the darkness, she slowly opened her eyes…
In the dark, two pairs of beautiful eyes met quietly, and the atmosphere became eerily tense.
Jumeng, “…”
Lu Xibei, “???”
