Chapter Forty-One: This Tree Should Be Cut Down
In the early hours, Tangcheng Antique Street was already asleep, with only Chunfeng Residence brightly lit inside.
Liu Banxian sat upright in the main hall, holding an old bronze compass in one hand while making hand seals with the other, his gaze fixated on the needle of the compass as he muttered incantations.
“Supreme Star of the Stage, change without pause. Exorcise evil and bind spirits, protect life and body. Wisdom clear, mind at peace…”
Earlier at Tangcheng University, he had witnessed the half-human, half-bird distorted urban legend killing two spiritual ability users. After returning to Chunfeng Residence, he found that Jumeng was not there, and trembled in fear in the empty house, afraid that the monster would come to Chunfeng Residence.
So scared!
“Flap flap—!”
The sound of wings flapping suddenly broke the tense silence, jarring Liu Banxian’s nerves. Anxiously following the sound, he saw a black shadow swiftly dart across the courtyard.
At the sight, Liu Banxian’s heartbeat quickened, cold sweat forming on his forehead, and he could no longer recite the exorcism chant, only raising the compass and nervously saying, “Evil spirits, get away! Evil spirits, get away…”
The next moment, the main hall’s window creaked open, and a magpie slipped through the gap, landing steadily, then shining with light to reveal its small form.
“Who are you calling an evil spirit?”
“It’s—it’s you, Lord Jumeng…” Liu Banxian managed to force out a smile, “Have you finished your business?”
“Mm.” Jumeng replied and walked straight to the armchair to sit down, looking at Liu Banxian. Her voice was cold as she asked, “How about you? What’s the situation with that guy?”
When Jumeng asked, the image of the distorted monster flashed again in Liu Banxian’s mind, causing him to shudder slightly. He hurriedly recounted what he had seen to Jumeng with gestures.
“Lord Jumeng, I thought that guy looked like no good, you absolutely must not trust him!”
Jumeng, “…”
Tsk, judging an urban legend by appearance as friend or foe is not advisable!
However…
Jumeng mulled over Liu Banxian’s description of the urban legend he saw, frowning.
Three legs, black feathers, bony tail…
While these features aren’t exclusive to Qunyang, in such a sensitive period, the emergence of a legend bearing all three traits made it hard for her not to associate it with Qunyang.
If I’m not mistaken, Mao Sanyou’s guy must be closely related to Qunyang!
What is his ulterior motive, appearing at such a time?
Jumeng silently pondered, then stood up and casually told Liu Banxian, “If there’s nothing else, you can go rest now.”
After saying that, she turned and walked toward the loft bedroom.
Watching her leave, Liu Banxian seemed to remember something and asked with concern, “Lord Jumeng, did you gain anything following Brother Ma and Little Lu to look for those artifacts sealing the urban legends?”
Upon hearing this, Jumeng paused and turned to reply, “It’s about the same! There’s plenty of time for these things; there’s no need to rush.”
“…”
Plenty of time?
Isn’t it said that in three days, the Tangcheng barrier will be activated?
Saying “plenty of time” at such a moment is no different than a slow s*icide!
Liu Banxian scratched his head in confusion.
As soon as Jumeng stepped on the loft, she paused at the stairs, glancing at Liu Banxian through the gaps and silently sighed.
————
In the deep winter midnight, all was quiet under the lead-gray sky, with the vast canyon in front of Peach Source appearing dull.
“Whoosh—!”
The wind howled.
A figure flew in from the distance, like a bird, spreading its wings to glide alongside the densely forested mountain tops.
Where it passed, the treetops gently swayed, shedding a flurry of white.
Soon, the figure traversed the canyon and silently infiltrated the heart of Peach Source, entering the massive cave where the Fushang Sacred Tree was located.
Deep inside the cave, before a profound water pool, a withered trunk tightly wrapped around by vines was marked with dense script inscriptions, carved sometime in the past.
The slightly golden inscriptions flowed rhythmically with the winds swirling around the giant tree, pulsating like living creatures.
Moldy vines hung down from the giant tree, adorned with numerous egg-shaped cavities that continuously drained the spirit energy from the trapped souls.
Thirsty and greedy.
From far away, a faint breeze disrupted the silence.
Shang Nanxing landed before the giant tree, holding her breath and carefully using her spiritual sense to investigate the surroundings, confirming no ambush before looking up at the egg-shaped cavities hanging from the tree, softly calling, “Yuan Ye? Where are you?”
As she called, the decayed vines made a rustling motion, and then one of the egg-shaped cavities shimmered with faint light. In a thick sound, it opened a crack, and an aged face, riddled with furrows, struggled to emerge.
“Hu—hu—!”
Yuan Ye took several deep breaths, slowly opened his eyes to look at Shang Nanxing, and smiled meaningfully, “You’re here? How’s it going?”
“Everything’s going well. Old Xu has finished preparations; the city barrier just needs another two or three days of spirit energy to activate. I’ll go help, and it might be quicker,” Shang Nanxing stated.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Ye nodded thoughtfully.
“And you?” Shang Nanxing looked up to scan the giant tree, asking, “How are your preparations coming along?”
“Hmph, hmph!” Yuan Ye snorted twice, “Everything is going smoothly; that Crow Slave fool has no clue about the anomalies.”
Every time he thought about how the Crow Slave truly believed he had found the rare method to revive his master, coming daily to pray methodically and diligently drawing spirit patterns, Yuan Ye couldn’t help but chuckle.
I wonder how he’ll feel when he realizes that all his efforts are merely sewing clothes for others.
“We’ve come this far; even if he notices, it doesn’t matter…” Shang Nanxing pouted, then shifted the topic, “By the way, what’s the success rate this time?”
“At least eighty percent,” Yuan Ye replied honestly, a hint of ruthless glint flashing in his eyes as he spoke.
“Eighty percent, huh?” Shang Nanxing nodded, murmuring, “That’s good, that’s good…”
While speaking, she looked up at the decayed, twisted dual-trunk tree, squinting her eyes and gazing deeply before softly saying, “It’s been too long; this tree… should have been cut down long ago.”
————
In Room 7017 of the Tangcheng Four Seasons Hotel.
“Stinky sister, you’re really ruthless…” Luxianbei muttered to herself, her gaze slightly vacant.
After Jumeng left, she could no longer hold on, her body softening as she collapsed onto the bed, carefully extracting a portion of spirit energy that suppressed the Hundred-Armed Giant Power to digest Miss Rabbit’s moon-shadow fire within her.
While the wounds on her back had nearly healed, due to the properties carried by the core power of her witch-type urban legend, coupled with Fu Xinyi’s careful maintenance, the moon-shadow fire had not fully dissipated. It still writhed beneath the wounds, ready to tear through her flesh at any moment.
In fact, the destructive power of the moon-shadow fire on the body was far less than that of the Hundred-Armed Giant Power, yet the pain it brought was by no means weaker.
The difference between the two was like acute myocardial infarction versus chronic gingivitis; one collapses and kills instantly while the other doesn’t cause d*ath but subjects one to long-term, ongoing minor pain.
As the spirit energy from the witch-type slowly eroded the moon-shadow fire in her body, extracting the energy and transforming impurities into disaster water to be expelled, an odd sensation of itchiness that made her hair tingle kept gnawing at Luxianbei’s nerves. After more than half an hour, she finally began to recover.
Suppressing the moon-shadow fire within her, Luxianbei hastily got up to find a tea cup, attempting to collect the scattered disaster water.
With a price per gram comparable to gold, one would need several mines at home to dare waste it so freely!
Since Luxianbei began to complete the core of her urban legend body, every required material was either outrageously priced or nonexistent, and purchasing them relied almost entirely on selling disaster water, with excess still used to create alchemical bombs, making life quite tight.
Each time she waited for the disaster water to produce, her feelings resembled an office worker waiting for a paycheck or a child waiting for pocket money—endless anticipation.
After collecting the scattered disaster water, Luxianbei looked at the shallow pool in the teacup, frowning, “Why is there only this little? Not nearly enough!”
If she weren’t worried about being hacked by Miss Rabbit and didn’t fear pain, she would have gone to find Miss Rabbit, asking her to hit her with ten more axes.
Setting the teacup of disaster water on the table, Luxianbei returned to the bed, lay down in boredom, staring at the ceiling with a focused gaze, lost in thought.
Based on the power Stinky Sister displayed earlier and her response to my questioning, she must be hiding something regarding the assassination.
Why is she hiding it? If her strength were sufficient, she should have quickly controlled the situation in Tangcheng to prevent the Siye Society from activating the city barrier!
Moreover, when she searched for the artifacts sealing the urban legends, her dilly-dallying made it seem like her mind was completely not on the matter, as if she truly wished to be blasted by the city barrier.
“This matter is suspicious; I need to clarify what Stinky Sister is truly planning,” Luxianbei murmured.
Otherwise, how to help her? Luxianbei added silently in her mind.
Although now her ally mark with Jumeng had been shattered by the destructive power of the Hundred-Armed Giant’s punch.
But a mark is just a mark; a contract is a contract. Even without the mark, she still genuinely acknowledged her contract with Jumeng from the bottom of her heart.
If Jumeng genuinely needed help, even if she did not speak up, Luxianbei would quietly assist her.
Of course, on the condition that it doesn’t threaten her personal safety…
Moreover, this is no longer just her business; among those who assassinated her was Solang Pema, maybe even more involved in attacking her father. She couldn’t let them off easily! Luxianbei thought fiercely, her eyes shadowed with gloom.
“But in this ghost place of Tangcheng, I’m not familiar at all; how can I investigate…? Tomorrow, I’ll go probe Mao Sanyou; for now, I can only ask the Urban Legends Chat Group for information.”
The Void and its followers, born of online legends, received massive amounts of information from various channels daily. If she wanted to investigate anything, they were the best tools!
With that in mind, Luxianbei stood up, prepared to leave Room 7017 to return to her own room. At that moment, her eyes swept across the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the corner, momentarily stunned, her brows furrowing.
The mirror reflected her image, completely exposed, with only her torso and private parts wrapped in bandages, her alluring curves on full display, adding a unique flavor.
d*mn, so lewd! What the hell is Fu Xinyi doing?
How did she end up like this? Was it on purpose?
This is like being n*ked; how am I supposed to go out?
Luxianbei thought, summoning her coat through the follower mark.
No response.
“d*mn it, where did the coat run off to?”
Especially at this time…
Had I known, I wouldn’t have let it take valuable items back to the room first.
Grumbling, her gaze slowly shifted to the qipao Jumeng had taken off, sinking into thought.
————
Ultimately, Luxianbei couldn’t convince herself to endure the shame of putting on Jumeng’s qipao.
If Stinky Sister finds out, I can never wash away the stigma of being a pervert in this lifetime.
When Luxianbei rolled in from the balcony wrapped in a comforter, she instantly saw a girl on the chair, wrapped like an alien mummy by her coat.
Upon sight, Luxianbei froze for a moment, then quickly sensed the coat’s feelings through the follower mark: a sense of guilt for not being able to respond to the summons in time, and excitement as it had caught a “thief”.
“Sorry, Lady Witch, but we are watching the house properly! Isn’t that impressive?”
(๑･∀･๑)*
“A thief? Where did a thief come from?” Luxianbei looked at the girl bound to the chair, frowning, “Can you uncover her face for me to see?”
At her words, the coat rustled and loosened the fabric that covered Fu Xinyi’s face, revealing her features.
“Hiss—!”
Seeing the obvious lump on her head and the bl**d trickling down her forehead, Luxianbei was taken aback, quickly inhaling sharply. She carefully leaned forward to check Fu Xinyi’s breath, confirming she was still breathing before slightly relaxing.
“Look at what you did to her! If she didn’t d*e, she’s pretty resistant!”
Upon hearing this, the coat affectionately rubbed against Luxianbei.
Didn’t she know? Who told her to be sneaky!
~(´•︵•`)~
“Hey—!” Luxianbei sighed, half annoyed and half doting, rubbing the coat, “When she wakes up later, don’t move around; I’ll handle it.”
Looking at Fu Xinyi, Luxianbei felt a mix of helplessness and regret, like a cat she raised accidentally biting someone.
However, she couldn’t expect a coat to communicate and confirm identities before springing into action, could she?
Putting aside whether it could learn Mandarin, just imagining a coat talking was quite bizarre.
Forget it; no one died, and Fu Xinyi didn’t rummage through things to uncover my identity, so it could be accepted with some reluctance.
Luxianbei thought, stepping closer, summoning a trace of weak spirit energy to point at Fu Xinyi’s brow.
“Mm~!”
Accompanied by a muffled groan, Fu Xinyi woke up, and as soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Luxianbei leaning over her, saying, “You’re awake? You’ve now been transformed into a magical girl robot; quickly go complete your mission to save the world!”
“?!”
Fu Xinyi’s pupils constricted, her eyes widening, and then a wave of intense dizziness hit her, causing her to uncontrollably retch.
Luxianbei, “…”
This…
Seems like she’s pretty badly injured? I wouldn’t know a healing spell either! It’s better to send her to the hospital right away.
