Chapter 63: Hey hey, you saw it all, right?
In the deep of night, on the back mountain of Dachunyang Palace.
The clear night was wrapped in a thin mist, the moonlight as silver, illuminating every corner. The trees on the mountain cast dark shadows under the moonlight, and the sound of insects in the grass was dense, like falling rain.
Suddenly, the chirping of insects stopped abruptly, and a small white shadow flashed by, crossing through the grass, gliding over the treetops, and drawing ripples across the mirror-like cold pond before finally disappearing into a small mountain adorned with various sized stone caves.
This little paper cicada fairy, uncontrolled by anyone, didn’t know what to do or where to go. It only knew to follow its master’s predetermined instruction and wandered aimlessly forward…
————
Can you explain this? How do you expect me to explain? Luxianbei looked at the serious and somewhat frightening expression of Huasang, and his mind raced as he calculated his response.
This girl was clever as a whip. Sometimes she appeared slow to react, but that was only because she couldn’t be bothered. Now that it involved her precious ruler, the situation was certainly different…
Trying to deceive her with ghostly words probably wouldn’t work. It had already been seen through once on the bus…
If all else fails, I’d have to tell the truth. Hmm… after some rearranging, a slightly embellished “truth”!
Luxianbei thought, her brows furrowing as she coldly snorted, “Hmph! I, Jujuzi, do not need to explain myself to someone of your junior status!”
Since the name had already been said, there was no harm in using it. With a bit of luck, Fu Xinyi might also help corroborate the story!
Luxianbei thought and continued pressing her case, “Are all the disciples of your Dachunyang Palace so disrespectful? Is this how Zhang Hainan teaches you?”
As she spoke, she freely released her spirit energy fluctuation, mixed with a faint power of 【Royal Authority】, pressing toward Huasang.
The frightening spirit energy fluctuation suddenly descended, making Huasang feel as if she had been thrown into a furnace, a burning pain vaguely transmitted through her skin.
This spirit energy fluctuation… A+ grade? Hmm, it must be among the top in that grade!
Though it seemed somewhat blustery, it was still not something I could easily handle…
However, she also mentioned the name of the Elder of the Sect, perhaps they had some old acquaintance? It shouldn’t come to direct confrontation, right? After all, be it fighting or just getting beaten up… it was tiring!
The slight deterrent effect of 【Royal Authority】 led Huasang to incorrectly assess the level of the spirit energy fluctuation from the girl before her, making her involuntarily tense up.
“This… Senior Jujuzi?” Huasang cupped her hands toward Luxianbei, “I’m not questioning you; I’m just asking for your guidance. Whether you choose to say or not is entirely up to you, but I do have my reasons to inquire.”
Though she felt uneasy just thinking about being entangled with someone stronger than herself, and with her big brother recently having an accident with much to deal with afterward.
But aside from the ruler being a treasured item of Dachunyang Palace, saying that it contained a close friend of hers made it impossible to ignore.
Nice wording! Can’t you see that I don’t want to say anything? Luxianbei lamented internally, showing no expression as she replied, “Fine, since you asked, I’ll give Zhang Hainan a bit of face and answer you a few words.”
“Indeed, I do have some connection with your Dachunyang Palace. I was once an apprentice to your previous guest elder, Qing Ji, for many years.”
This was the truth, and even if a spirit ability user or urban legend with “Xiezhi” powers were to check, it would still hold up!
Although being known by the Ancestor might make things explode, if I don’t say it, how would he ever know? Luxianbei thought.
Huasang, “???”
Is that true?
Senior Qing Ji was actually the previous guest elder of Dachunyang Palace?
This girl is his apprentice?
“May I ask, senior, which two characters are Qing Ji?” Huasang probed.
Luxianbei glanced at Huasang and calmly replied, “Rain stops, mist dissipates, and the weather is clear. Qing Ji.”
Hearing the words from the girl before her, a burst of surprise exploded in Huasang’s heart, instantly elevating her trust in the girl by two or three levels.
Before Qing Ji himself remembered, she had no idea what Qing Ji’s name was; not only did the girl mention his name, but she also clearly explained the origin of the name, indicating a deep relationship with Qing Ji.
So this means, that broken sword in her hand… Huasang looked at the ruler in her hand, then looked at the broken sword in Luxianbei’s hand, furrowing her brows.
At this moment, Luxianbei suddenly spoke, “That’s right, the broken sword in my hand and the ruler in yours were both once held by Qing Ji. The resonance likely stems from this bond.”
Joining the broken sword and the ruler creates the complete Ling Tai Purification, a sword paired with the Ancestor, and it’s reasonable to say that it was something he owned!
After a pause, she shifted her tone, “Hmph, now you understand? It’s not out of Zhang Hainan’s consideration that today I must retrieve my master’s belongings. For now…”
“Take your things and get lost with your big brother!”
“…” Huasang remained silent for a few seconds, bowing to Luxianbei without a word, picking up Wu Yutang’s head, and turning to leave the alley.
Watching her turn to leave, Luxianbei secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her gaze to Fang Ji, who was drowsily still asleep, and froze slightly.
d*mn, how did she leave Fang Girl behind? She’s quite cute, but her presence is so low?
d*mn, how do I handle this? No way I can let Huasang take her away! “Senior Jujuzi” shouldn’t know a stranger is a Spring Advanced Course member.
However, just leaving her in this dark and dingy alley might lead to some indescribable plot!
As Luxianbei was troubled about Fang Ji, Huasang, who had just stepped outside a few paces, began to ponder.
Although her explanation had some minor loopholes and required verification, if most of it were true, it would serve as a reasonable explanation.
With her power, the probability of forcibly grabbing the ruler from me was high, yet she let me leave like this… although this could also be due to fear of the Elder of the Sect.
However, there was still a puzzling matter that couldn’t be clarified; that sense of sensory dissonance, that seeing an illusion, was not something that only began today; it had appeared earlier in Huacheng…
Wait! Huacheng?
Huasang suddenly seemed to understand something, her steps faltering as she turned around, letting out a soft exclamation, “Luxianbei! Senior, you know Luxianbei, right?”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei’s body stiffened, unsure of how to respond.
What the hell?
Even if you could connect “Luxianbei,” you shouldn’t be able to do it this quickly, right?
Are you a Celestial Eye player? Be careful or I’ll kick you out!
Just as Luxianbei was complaining, Huasang continued, “I heard that a senior expert has been beside Luxianbei. You must be him, right?”
This senior often stayed with Luxianbei, bringing them into contact with the broken sword, thus creating some kind of connection.
Then the resonance between the broken sword and the ruler would lead to my sensory dissonance with Luxianbei earlier in Huacheng…
In this case, it would explain why this senior happened to pass by here because Luxianbei was in the Shizhou city area! Hmm, it must all be connected this way, Huasang thought.
Luxianbei, “…”
Although I don’t know who you heard from that I have a senior expert beside me, but…
“Exactly! That’s right!”
“I understand now; thank you for informing me, senior.” Huasang nodded, “Then, I will take my leave.”
After speaking, Huasang turned again to leave the alley, quickening her pace after a short distance, her form flashing several times before vanishing into the night.
Her departing silhouette carried a hint of inexplicable weight and urgency.
Sadness is an emotion that often has strong latency; it might not erupt immediately but will continue to affect a person.
The sudden abnormality of the ruler before had temporarily prevented Huasang from showing sadness over Wu Yutang’s d*ath. Now that the matter was coming to an end, her emotions gradually began to be affected.
She was anxious to return to Dachunyang Palace to tell Qing Xiazi everything that had happened tonight, including her big brother’s last words.
As she watched Huasang walk far away, Luxianbei was just relieved but then turned her gaze back to Fang Ji, contemplating how to deal with her. At that moment, Fang Ji suddenly sensed something, her face turning pale.
“d*mn! Where did Fu Xinyi throw the paper cicada fairy?”
Through the vision transmitted by the paper cicada fairy, she saw an old, grinning face, quite frightening.
————
Moments earlier.
In the back mountain of Dachunyang Palace, among the various sized stone caves, there was an inconspicuous cave known as the Moon-Grasping Cave.
The Moon-Grasping Cave, located near the top of the back mountain, opens northward and is arranged facing north, which is not suitable for ordinary people. However, it is particularly fitting for spirit ability users like Zhang Hainan, who have a close connection with the spirit patterns and the technique of controlling water.
It is said: “As the sun sets, the moon rises, the north belongs to water, nurturing the cool and soft energies. Therefore, sitting north can gather and restore yang energy, achieving the effect of yin and yang generating life, with a long-lasting aura.”
For those with water-based spirit patterns, once their spirit energy fluctuation reaches a certain level, long-term exposure to such an environment can subtly complete their spirit patterns and replenish their aura.
However, for Zhang Hainan, these benefits were no longer of much use; he had mastered over 90% of the powers corresponding to his spirit patterns over a decade ago.
In fact, whether it is spirit ability users drawing spirit patterns or urban legends inheriting certain powers, it is impossible to obtain a power that is 100% complete. There is always some dilution due to individual differences.
To achieve 100% of the power, one would need to take advantage of a conversion opportunity like Jumeng did to gain her unique new powers.
Therefore, having control over more than 90% of high-level urban legend powers is quite terrifying.
This process of completing spirit patterns can be likened to injecting water into a balloon. At Zhang Hainan’s level, trying to add “water” recklessly could easily burst the balloon, causing an immediate explosion and complete loss of control.
Even today, he still chose this cave as his retreat, likely out of habit.
Inside the Moon-Grasping Cave, under a ceiling inscribed with solidified spell formulas driven by moonlight, Zhang Hainan sat in a massage chair, his feet soaking in an electric-heated foot bath, a cigarette in his left hand, and a fidget spinner in his right.
Before him, a long desk held large bottles of cola, craft beer, and pearl milk tea stored in water dispenser buckets, several novels and comics piled together, being pressed down by a SWITCH, short swords, long knives, and a silver handgun loaded with alchemical bullets placed in one corner.
In front of him, five large-screen phones were set up in a fan-like arrangement, each playing esports event replays, the latest popular shows, a variety show featuring a certain popular idol, a live stream of a highly popular virtual idol, and a beautiful female streamer dancing.
His gaze roamed between the five phones, ultimately settling on the long, white legs and the waist twisting vigorously before him, and he smiled knowingly.
Tsk, what an unseemly Chief Priest, how embarrassing!
“I’m not, I didn’t, don’t say such things!”
As if refuting something, Zhang Hainan muttered to himself, quickly pulling his gaze away from the phone screens and quietly sighed.
Although saying such things now carried some hint of evasion, in reality, his usual retreat life was not like this.
At dawn, he would appear for spell training and martial arts, and by midday, read books and play the guqin. At night, he would occasionally check out a mysterious live streaming website, giving pointers about unfortunate individuals involved in urban legend live streaming incidents.
These were his daily routines during seclusion.
And the chaotic things in the Moon-Grasping Cave now were all items his disciple Ling Ji had secretly brought over before he began his retreat today, just for him to experience personally.
Really!
……
After a long time.
Zhang Hainan extinguished the cigarette in his hand, took a few big gulps of craft beer, and gazed slowly at the various items on the table, caressing his beard.
He had always believed that whether a person was hardworking and striving for progress or indulging in pleasure, from a certain perspective, both are following their true nature and were not a problem.
It is said that the matters of March and April will have answers by September and October.
How his disciples choose to conduct themselves is their own choice in life, and they will bear the consequences themselves in the end. A teacher can guide them but does not need to forcefully intervene; such matters are always better resolved through motivation rather than repression.
Whether they want to be the tiger guarding the mountain, the wolf skilled in battle, the fish stirring the waters, or the turtle remaining still, it is fine as long as they don’t become the cow that sulks or the horse that harms the herd.
Even a stirrer can be understood, after all, it is their freedom concerning orientation to X.
Thus, Zhang Hainan was aware that these disordered items might have an impact on his disciples, but he didn’t mind.
However, he couldn’t figure out how these items could possibly threaten the lives of his disciples without any powers attached.
“Strange, too strange…”
He had performed divinations regarding the Secret Society several times, and the results were all ambiguous items, which was quite odd.
Initially, he suspected that an urban legend had attached its powers or avatar to those items, but after probing those items with spiritual perception, the result was nothing.
If there truly were a kind of power, he would definitely detect some clues.
After all, beings like the Haze God and Pestilence Taijie could attach their powers to a speck of dust or a bacterial cell, without eluding his gaze. Even those nebulous urban legends, he could sense a bit.
However, Zhang Hainan did not let his guard down. Just because he couldn’t detect it doesn’t mean it absolutely doesn’t exist.
Each time he divined, every change in the divination symbol kept conveying dangerous messages to him, revealing an eerie calmness and a heavy sense of d*ath.
Those who drown within can either d*e or be injured, or even end up in a state worse than d*ath.
What’s more, since the night began to lengthen, a myriad of mysterious powers from urban legends have emerged, and it wouldn’t be surprising for one that could attach powers to something even smaller than bacteria to appear.
After all, “millennium bug” can become a legend.
“Speaking of millennium bug…” Zhang Hainan stroked his beard, pondering, as he reached into his pocket for three copper coins, casually divining regarding Luxianbei’s arrival at Dachunyang Palace.
The divination symbol had not changed; just like the last time and the time before that, it remained as the damage hex, representing loss within gain and gain within loss.
“Oh? Then that’s fine.”
The same divination was done once before Luxianbei came to Dachunyang Palace. He conducted another when he asked another guardian of the Siye Society—Wordless Book— to publish a reward task leading Luxianbei into the Secret Society, and he did that again.
The results of the three divination attempts had not changed a bit.
This indicates that such a move wouldn’t exert a significant impact on Luxianbei; perhaps only Dachunyang Palace would see changes, ending up either in a state of disarray or slightly benefiting from it.
Zhang Hainan gazed at the three copper coins on the table, suddenly having a strong thought.
Could it be that the “loss within gain, gain within loss” in the divination symbol originally referred to Luxianbei’s arrival at Dachunyang Palace, awakening the long-dormant Secret Society, causing chaos and thereby revealing the truth?
If that’s the case…
“Hehe, suddenly looking forward to that kid stirring up this stagnant water, making it churn!”
Zhang Hainan had complete confidence in Luxianbei’s ability to cause trouble. They, the Lu family, had the excellent genetic lineage of Qing Ji; every generation carries some degree of a dramatic temperament.
Moreover, Luxianbei bore that kind of destiny…
Don’t mention the Secret Society; across the entire sky, there might be nothing he couldn’t tamper with, right?
Zhang Hainan thought conservatively, when a sudden faint sound from outside the window broke his train of thought.
Looking toward the sound, he saw a white shadow flashing by like a ghost.
Seeing this, he narrowed his brow slightly. After a thought, his figure vanished as if evaporating from the Moon-Grasping Cave.
A second later, when he reappeared inside the Moon-Grasping Cave, he held a small paper cicada fairy.
“Paper cicada fairy? Who made this? Quite cute! But…”
“Hehe, you saw it all, right? Just now, I was smoking, drinking, getting a massage, and watching beautiful women in the Moon-Grasping Cave.”
Although Zhang Hainan did not care for others’ opinions, he preferred that what happened here not be spread, as it would undermine his dignity as Chief Priest.
Luxianbei, “…” Did not see it, completely did not see it; I’ll make it self-destruct now!
“Oh? Want to self-destruct? That won’t do!” Noticing the paper cicada fairy growing warm in his hand, Zhang Hainan exclaimed softly.
After that, with a thought, he activated the spirit patterns, using his powers to envelop the entire paper cicada fairy.
In the next instant, the rapidly heating handprint inside the paper cicada fairy was instantly extinguished.
“Now, let me see who exactly is controlling you!”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei’s heart tightened, and the next moment, she felt a lewd gaze, as if projected from the distant void, locking onto her.
“!!!”
