**Chapter Sixty-Three: She is Awakening**
Uncertain how long she had sunk in the nightmare, it felt like falling into the gap between reality and darkness, forever unable to find relief.
Then…
Suddenly, the horrifying scenes that had torn Solang Pema’s heart apart dissipated.
Amidst a clamor of voices, he opened his eyes. After taking in the scene before him, he was momentarily stunned, confusion and bewilderment flickering in his eyes.
The sun was setting, the afterglow painted the earth in shades of orange and yellow, giving the city a tint akin to an old yellowed photograph.
In the city, vehicles sped by rapidly, the wheels producing a faint and piercing sound as they scraped against the ground.
Under the overpass, a bustling crossroads—comparable in scale to Tokyo’s Shibuya—was filled with people, yet it was eerily quiet. Everyone seemed to have lost their voices, not a single person spoke; the only sounds that reached his ears were the dense footfalls, faint coughs, and the vibrations of phones on silent mode.
People bowed their heads, standing silently at the bus stop, silently hailing taxis, silently moving forward—a scene both harmonious and bizarre.
Why is it like this? Is this a dream too? Solang Pema frowned.
Rationality told him he was still trapped in that damned dream woven by the witch, but the smell of exhaust fumes, the warm breeze brushing against his face, and the faint warmth emanating from the passerby who brushed past him felt incredibly real.
Filled with doubt, he turned and stopped a passerby moving near him.
“Hey, I mean, this is…”
Before he could finish his sentence, as soon as he saw the passerby’s face, his pupils constricted sharply, and he fell silent.
The passerby’s face was blurred, as if shrouded in thick mist, or like some shapeshifting, indeterminate substance, flickering within a pool of shadow about the size of a face.
Just emerging from a nightmare, Solang Pema was startled by such a sight that he instinctively stepped back from the passerby.
The pushed-back passerby stumbled for a moment before collapsing, knocking over more people, and in an instant, the crowded street resembled a line of falling dominoes.
No dodging, no screams, no curses… Apart from the sounds of bodies colliding and the dull thud of falling, there was no other sound; everyone resembled corpses, allowing their limbs to entwine with others.
Watching this bizarre scene, Solang Pema felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard, turned, and fled.
However…
Just as he turned, a rustling sound came from behind, as if something was crawling on the ground. He paused, stiffly turning back, only to witness a terrifying sight.
Those who had fallen were crawling like some kind of monster, moving quickly on all fours, constantly advancing towards him, the shadows on their faces writhing madly, soon coalescing into a face Solang Pema knew all too well.
Lu Ming, every passerby’s face had morphed into Lu Ming.
Emotions of crying or laughing, anger or sadness appeared on their faces, yet their mouths repeated one phrase.
“Why did you k*ll me?”
“Why did you k*ll me?”
“Why…”
All the murmurs converged, gradually becoming eerie and distorted, buzzing in Solang Pema’s ears.
Some substance darker than darkness oozed from their eyes, ears, mouths, and noses, transforming into amorphous black shadows that enveloped Solang Pema.
The entire city shook violently, buildings twisted and contorted as if melting, as if they were going to devour him.
A sudden, intense feeling of fear surged within Solang Pema, who realized that the terrifying existence he had seen that rainy night was hidden within these “Lu Ming” bodies.
The dreadful sound echoed back to him; the whispering winds, the rumbling thunder, mountains murmuring, and winds howling unendingly.
In the face of the overwhelming resurgence of fear, Solang Pema uncontrollably screamed.
“I didn’t! None of us killed you! We only wanted that thing left by Qin Nanzhu, we had no intention of killing you, I beg you, let me go?!”
“Don’t come closer, please…”
All the “Lu Mings” suddenly shouted in unison, “Who is Qin Nanzhu? What did she leave behind?”
Remembering that object, Solang Pema hesitated for a long while, opened his mouth to say something, but suddenly his body convulsed violently.
In the next moment, the “Lu Ming” in the dream suddenly broke free from Luxianbei’s control, crazily climbing onto Solang Pema, as if not wanting him to speak, powerful hands fiercely grasping his throat.
“Snap—Snap—!”
Accompanied by the sound of breaking bones, the redness filled those unwilling eyes…
————
Solang Pema suddenly died, and Luxianbei didn’t have time to dissolve the dream, to feed him the potion, or to treat him.
But…
Why did the dream suddenly spiral out of control?
Who was Qin Nanzhu, and why did her belongings end up with his father?
Luxianbei pondered, dissolving the dream and opening her eyes, only to see Jiang Li standing beside her, a long kn*fe in hand, the chilling blade piercing through Solang Pema’s body.
Luxianbei froze for a moment, raising her head to look at Jiang Li, her eyes dry, filled with a burning rage, her teeth biting her lip as she squeezed out somewhat uncontrollable words, heavy and forceful like stones hitting the ground.
“Why did you k*ll him?! I was just about to find out!”
“d*mn it, I was so close, I™ could’ve known everything!”
“…”
Jiang Li looked at Luxianbei expressionlessly, withdrew the long kn*fe, lightly shaking it to drop the bloodstains.
She understood the pain of once having a happy family only to lose everything, and had once lashed out like a cornered beast; Luxianbei’s reaction was already quite good.
After a moment, once Luxianbei finished speaking and her emotions calmed down somewhat, she stepped forward and, regardless of Luxianbei’s struggles, wrapped her arms around her head tightly.
“It’s okay, it’s all over.”
Jiang Li’s gentle voice resonated in her ear, making Luxianbei shudder slightly, her scorching gaze dimming, a desire to cry surfacing, yet she fought to suppress it.
“Do you think my methods are too cruel to bear and that’s why you acted?” she whispered.
“No,” Jiang Li replied calmly, “You did well, it’s just…”
“It’s just that his spirit patterns have gone out of control, and his body has started to undergo urban legend transformation. If you continued like this, it might become dangerous.”
Operatives of the Siye Society experienced spirit pattern out of control due to negative emotions every year, transforming into terrifying monsters.
Fear was also a negative emotion; it was completely normal for Solang Pema’s spirit patterns to go out of control under such intense fear.
Luxianbei looked at Solang Pema’s corpse and discovered that his skin had inexplicably transformed into a strange grayish color, dotted with star-like lichen, resembling moss on a plateau; bizarrely shaped tumors bulged beneath the skin, resembling unbloomed lotus flowers.
The lichen and tumors spread and grew at a visible pace, but with the loss of spirit energy support, the transformation halted and soon collapsed.
“I’m sorry…” Luxianbei lowered her gaze and whispered, apologizing for her earlier loss of control towards Jiang Li.
Jiang Li glanced down at Luxianbei, pretending to be surprised, “Hmm? You actually apologize to someone?”
“…” Luxianbei fell silent for several seconds, raising her head to meet Jiang Li’s gaze, her expression flat, “What I meant was, I’m sorry, your armor was digging into my face. Could you please move a bit?”
Jiang Li, “…”
After a long pause, Luxianbei softly added, “Thank you.”
“Mm.” Jiang Li nodded slightly.
————
After rummaging through Solang Pema’s belongings, finding a few cores of urban legend entities, some herbs, and a curved dagger, Luxianbei kindly arranged for him a grand cremation service.
Jiang Li quietly observed as Luxianbei used the spell “Corpse Whip,” igniting flames until Solang Pema’s body turned into a mass of black ash, then scattered the ashes to the wind, shaking her head helplessly.
Was it really necessary to do it so thoroughly?
After spreading Solang Pema’s ashes, Luxianbei clapped her hands and walked towards Jiang Li, complaining, “You’re an A+ grade spirit ability user! And this is all that was on him, not even as much as what Hu Yue’s bunch has.”
“Bah! Poor wretch!”
Jiang Li, “…” Perhaps this was just Luxianbei? To move on from her sorrow so quickly and start fixating on these odd matters.
As Jiang Li mused inwardly, Luxianbei suddenly seemed to remember something, her eyes brightening as she looked towards the distant forest, “Speaking of which, when I came here, I spotted a peeping guy over there, accidentally killed him, and need to go handle it.”
Upon hearing Luxianbei’s words, Jiang Li recalled the Solar Eclipse Society emblem on her back, remembering how Beres’s voice had echoed in her ear, causing a sudden agitated sensation. She furrowed her brow slightly and replied casually, “Mm, let’s go take a look together then?”
“That’s fine, but if you find something good, you can’t snatch it from me!” Luxianbei declared, “I solo killed him, so everything belongs to me.”
Luxianbei was very willing to share the things she had with Jiang Li; in these times of wandering, it’s often said, “The one who lends you a hand is a friend; the one who helps you multiple times is a girlfriend.” How could she not win Jiang Li over?
However, Luxianbei worried that if she gave her belongings to Jiang Li, she might turn around and submit them as criminal evidence to the Siye Society.
Letting the Siye Society take advantage, that was something she couldn’t endure!
Jiang Li rolled her eyes at Luxianbei, expressionless, “Whatever belongs to you is yours.”
————
When Luxianbei and Jiang Li reached the forest and found Beres’s corpse, they discovered that his body had already become unrecognizable.
The corpse was highly decomposed, looking like it had died a long time ago, now a mass of dark red flesh exuding a foul odor.
The stench was akin to a body soaking in water, enough to drive anyone away.
Jiang Li stared quietly at the highly decomposed body for a while, unable to identify any traits related to Beres, then shook her head helplessly, casting a sideways glance at Luxianbei, “Is this the guy you said you accidentally killed? He’s all rotted like this…”
“Did you k*ll him half a month ago?”
“This, I…” Luxianbei examined the corpse, frowning, “This is freshly killed; as for why he ended up like this… Perhaps he has some special constitution like ‘mud won’t stick to the wall’?”
Jiang Li, “…”
Certain urban legends indeed had the characteristic of rapidly decomposing after d*ath, but…
Where on earth could that guy be?
As Jiang Li pondered, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from far away, the ground shaking violently, the magnitude comparable to the crash of the city barrier.
Emerald-green flames erupted from the core area of Peach Source, spreading as if a gigantic tree emanating from earth was extending its branches, smoke curling up to the sky.
In the next moment, Luxianbei’s phone vibrated. Checking her phone, she saw a message from Xing Yuan.
【The west has fallen, a force of eighty to one hundred is approaching Peach Source.】
After reading the message, Luxianbei’s expression darkened.
The assault on the city barrier had concluded, entering the cooldown phase; as Jumeng said, the real threat was coming.
————
Meanwhile, deep within Peach Source.
Mountains crumbled, the cave where the Fushang Sacred Tree originally grew fell into the depths, the rocks scorched by flames glinting like crystals.
After the collapse of the mountain created a pit, it was pitch black within; sharp columnar crystals jutted from the walls like fangs, and at the bottom of the pit, Jumeng’s urban legend entity core had already shattered, leaving only a spiral of crimson light swirling within her nearly empty shell of a body.
She was impaled by a slender crystal, suspended as if skewered by a long spear, her arms dangling helplessly.
She was walking towards d*ath, the trees were walking towards d*ath, the earth was walking towards d*ath, but something was emerging from that d*ath.
In a hazy, trance-like state, a gentle voice sounded in Jumeng’s ear, like a girl gathering ferns humming ancient songs in the forest, distant and unclear.
However, when she strained her last bit of strength to listen, she found no echo lingering in her ear.
Was this failure? But that was understandable, Jumeng thought sadly.
As that creature possessing Qunyang’s power broke free from its binding, she felt she had already failed.
To k*ll that guy, she had to rely on the power of the city barrier, but if she couldn’t bind him along with the Fushang Sacred Tree, the city’s barrier power couldn’t be fully realized.
Thus, to keep that guy there, Jumeng detonated her urban legend entity core.
The old urban legend entity core had died, while the new one had yet to coalesce.
Such heavy damage was hard for even Jumeng to bear, let alone with the remaining power of the city barrier incessantly destroying her body.
As her consciousness gradually shattered, Jumeng’s vision began to fill with a series of strange and colorful illusions.
Countless bubbles swirled around her, streams of spirit energy outlining an indescribably magnificent canvas, and then her sight plunged into chaos, reminiscent of what she had seen at her birth.
“…Full hall of beauties, suddenly my eyes only meet with you.”
In her daze, she heard a whisper again, this time not by her ear but as if it emanated from within her, echoing like the tides, bringing about a sense of tranquility.
This is… the description of the Lesser Fate’s power?
But why? Jumeng wondered, unable to comprehend what was happening, she followed the low chant that resonated within her, and began to recite.
“Entering without speech, departing without farewell, riding the return wind, carrying the cloud flag…”
“Entering without speech, departing without farewell, riding the return wind, carrying the cloud flag…”
“…..”
As she recited each word, it felt as if something was stitching together deep within her soul, lifting her consciousness higher.
For a moment, Jumeng thought she was waking up…
