Chapter 64: Unless a Miracle Occurs!
Using the Zhipianxian as a hub, distance was no longer a barrier, and Zhang Hainan and Luxianbei completed a subtle exchange of glances.
Zhang Hainan, “……What the hell! Why is this girl holding Ling Tai Purification? Did my actions just now get seen by Brother Qing Ji?”
Subway, Elderly Man, Mobile Phone.JPG
Luxianbei, “……What the hell! Isn’t this old man the one selling melons at Xuanwu Plain? How did the Zhipianxian end up in his hands?”
Cowering in the corner, fearing “Gu Qiqi” limited.JPG
In the brief moment of less than a second, the exchange of glances left both shocked and fearful.
“Uh, hello, senior.”
“Mm, you too.”
After the awkward exchange, both of them unconsciously averted their gazes and fell silent again.
————
Luxianbei, “……”
She felt that Fu Xinyi hadn’t followed her advice to find an empty place to dispose of the Zhipianxian properly, but instead reported her directly while holding onto it!
The image of herself as the poster girl of Dachunyang Palace, living on nothing but raw melons every day flashed in her mind, sending a shiver down her spine.
Tsk, I didn’t expect that Fu Xinyi, such a handsome and delicate scholar, would secretly be someone so two-faced.
If this thing is indeed the rumored [Black Emperor], not only do I no longer have a chance to see him perform, but I might even end up being forced to eat melons.
This is going to be trouble!
——————
Zhang Hainan, “……”
The moment he caught sight of this girl, he felt she looked familiar. After a moment of recall, he remembered seeing her on the latest special attention list from the Siye Society.
That list resembled a wanted list but had some differences—a special list with almost all solo Spiritual Ability Users.
They mostly had considerable strength; from a certain perspective, they posed a potential threat to social stability, but there was also no evidence indicating they wanted to or had previously caused Spiritual Energy attacks.
Being capable doesn’t mean they will act, so it was just for special attention, preventing future issues.
At the end of that list, in the ninety-seventh position, Gu Qiqi’s name was prominently displayed.
With Ling Tai Purification in Gu Qiqi’s hands and her ability to create Zhipianxian, it was logical to assume a close relationship with Luxianbei, perhaps similar to how Lu Ming set up that affair for that kid.
If she tells Luxianbei about what she saw through the Zhipianxian, and Luxianbei passes it on to Brother Qing Ji’s remnant soul, my situation will likely become as complicated as when Brother Qing Ji discovered I was secretly looking at the previous headmaster’s diary—it would be extremely difficult.
This is going to be trouble!
————
After pondering for a moment, Zhang Hainan’s demeanor suddenly softened, and with narrowed eyes, he smiled, “Little girl, where is Luxianbei?”
“!!!”
Hearing this, Luxianbei, who hadn’t yet thought of a way to respond to the current situation, shivered slightly, feeling agitated.
What does this old man mean?
Has he seen through my disguise?
Or has he been monitoring me since that time at Xuanwu Plain, knowing everything and now hinting that I should confess and come clean?
After waiting a moment, seeing that Luxianbei remained silent, Zhang Hainan continued, “Gu Qiqi, that’s your name, right? You don’t need to be afraid; I know your relationship with Luxianbei is unusual.”
Luxianbei, “???”
Wait a minute? This doesn’t seem right!
He hasn’t recognized me and thinks I’m Gu Qiqi?
If that’s the case… as Gu Qiqi, what business do I have?
“Luxianbei is not nearby, so you can just talk to me, what you say to me is the same as saying it to him,” Luxianbei said.
“Not nearby?” Zhang Hainan glanced at the broken sword in the girl’s hand and secretly sighed in relief, “If he’s not around, then just don’t tell him anything about me.”
Luxianbei was startled for a moment and nodded slightly, “Mm, I understand.”
Right, I already know!
Although I’m not clear on what it’s useful for… Luxianbei thought.
“By the way, Gu Qiqi,” Zhang Hainan changed the subject, “Meeting me is also a chance; I wonder if you’re interested in joining my Dachunyang Palace?”
Letting her go just like that, I’m still not quite at ease!
Once she joins Dachunyang Palace, she will be my disciple. I can’t let her do anything that betrays her teacher!
Moreover, this Gu Qiqi has good aptitude. If someone can give her the right guidance, she should be able to achieve remarkable accomplishments in the future… Zhang Hainan thought.
“This…” Luxianbei hesitated for a moment, coming back to her senses and hurriedly refused, “Thank you, senior, for your kind intentions, but I already have a master. It’s not appropriate to join Dachunyang Palace.”
Although casually refusing an unknown powerhouse could provoke his anger, which is risky.
But I can’t always hide under Gu Qiqi’s face in Dachunyang Palace, can I?
Capturing her and forcing her into Dachunyang Palace is even more out of the question.
“I see?” Zhang Hainan straightened his posture, stroked his beard slowly, and nodded, looking thoughtful.
That makes sense; having a master is reasonable too.
Otherwise, how could a solo Spiritual Ability User, despite her young age, manage to escape the pursuit of several illegal Spiritual Energy organizations without a master? Her talent would indeed be terrifying.
“Since that’s the case, I won’t force you. I’ll keep this Zhipianxian for you, and when necessary, I can offer some guidance.”
Zhang Hainan smiled as he spoke, appearing friendly and eager for talent, but his expression soon darkened, and the atmosphere shifted.
“Today’s business is just a little secret between us; it’s nothing to be told to others. The one who breaches the agreement will have to swallow a thousand needles!”
Luxianbei, “……”
d*mn! This old man speaks so sweetly, but he just wants to monitor me, right?
With just Zhipianxian, he locked my identity; I can’t dodge!
Under these circumstances, if I contact the Proxy Player Sister, he might discover that too… what am I going to do?
As if sensing her fluctuating thoughts, Zhang Hainan smiled reassuringly.
“Ha ha, Gu Qiqi, don’t worry, I’ve led a righteous life and won’t do anything strange.”
Luxianbei, “……” A melon peddler like you talks about righteousness?
“Later, I will seal this Zhipianxian with a spell formula and store it away; unless you take the initiative to contact me, I won’t casually pry into your life. How does that sound?”
“……” Luxianbei pondered for a few seconds, gritted her teeth, and said, “I don’t believe it unless you put it in writing, uh no, swear! With a spell formula!”
At this point, let it be like this!
A verbal agreement is only believable to a fool; if you want to restrain the actions of a Spiritual Ability User, a vow is more reliable!
After all, if the sky falls, even if we all lie down together, Gu Qiqi’s towering body will hold it up.
Hearing this, Zhang Hainan’s mouth twitched, and after a moment of silence with a dark expression, he solemnly said, “In that case, you must swear not to speak to others about what you saw through Zhipianxian.”
Though he felt that Gu Qiqi was being somewhat insistent, as the esteemed headmaster of Dachunyang Palace, a gentleman should keep his word, so swearing wouldn’t hurt.
Luxianbei pondered for two seconds, her eyes spinning rapidly, then nodded, “Mm, very fair!”
“Good! Then let’s proceed!” Zhang Hainan said, raising his right hand, “Heaven and Earth are my witnesses, I, Zhang Hainan, hereby swear that I will not pry into Gu Qiqi’s life!”
Luxianbei, “???”
Wait a moment? Did I just hear wrong?
He said he was Zhang… right?
For some reason, I suddenly feel a surge of confidence that he will perform!
“What are you dawdling for? It’s your turn!” Zhang Hainan reminded.
“Oh oh!” Coming back to her senses, Luxianbei quickly raised her right hand and mimicking Zhang Hainan’s words said, “Heaven and Earth are my witnesses, I…”
Just halfway through her phrase, she seemed to suddenly remember something and paused for about half a second before continuing, “Hereby swear that Gu Qiqi will not disclose a word of what was seen through Zhipianxian today to anyone!”
Thus, two effective yet “ineffective” vows were established, and the two felt a strange sense of connection in their hearts.
Zhang Hainan sensed that Gu Qiqi would not leak out what was seen through Zhipianxian today and nodded with satisfaction.
Though he noticed something was off with the vow during “Gu Qiqi’s” swearing, since the vow had been established, he didn’t bother to dwell on these small details.
It was originally just a matter of words; him swearing was primarily to ease “Gu Qiqi’s” lingering doubts and make her feel secure in keeping the secret.
At his age, how could he be so petty as to argue with a young girl about this?
Furthermore, regarding whether a small secret will leak, he could always do some divination later. If “Gu Qiqi” broke her promise… then she would have to know what it feels like to be beaten senseless by a hundred-year-old man.
Anyway, he still had plenty of ways to find Gu Qiqi, which were simpler than spying through Zhipianxian…
Luxianbei sensed that Zhang Hainan would indeed not pry into Gu Qiqi’s life and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness, thank goodness!
I didn’t expect that saying it this way would help me get through it…
Luxianbei suddenly realized halfway through the vow that if she swore under Gu Qiqi’s identity, she would likely fail, but it was too late; she could only adjust her sentence slightly and push through.
But, he must never know that the Gu Qiqi he saw was me in disguise.
Otherwise…
What he vowed to not spy on Gu Qiqi has nothing to do with me, Luxianbei thought.
————
That night, in the Bamboo Slips Illusion.
A large, dark and ugly fish resembling a monkfish floated silently in front of the alchemical platform, silently outputting spiritual energy to a clump of dark red flesh.
As spiritual energy continuously flowed in, that dark red flesh proliferated and differentiated, quickly outlining the shape of a piglet, but the transformation did not stop there; the flesh on the piglet’s back wriggled swiftly, transforming into six pairs of wings, and then…
“Poof!” With a loud bang, the dark red flesh exploded into a mist of bl**d.
“Alas—!” the system sighed, “Another failure, this is too difficult!”
Since bringing back the bl**d of the Inheritance Beast, it had successfully produced many plants and animals adapted to the Bamboo Slips Illusion, but the pig with long chicken wings, which Gu Qiqi strongly requested, had not been successfully created.
After all, manufacturing other plants and animals was, strictly speaking, just copying existing species, merely making slight adjustments according to the Bamboo Slips Illusion’s uniqueness.
However, trying to create a pig with long chicken wings was comparable to producing a completely new species. Even with the bl**d of the Inheritance Beast, without a template, success would require painstaking effort.
“Just indulge her! Wasting so much time on this isn’t worth it, alright?!”
The system scolded itself a few times, sighed silently, took out a small piece of the Inheritance Beast’s bl**d again, and prepared to attempt once more, when it sensed a wave of spiritual energy fluctuations from outside as the Bamboo Slips Illusion tunnel opened, followed closely by hearing Gu Qiqi’s screech akin to slaughtering a pig.
“System, System, come quickly! Something big has happened!”
“Alright, alright, why are you making such a fuss? What’s wrong with you now? Are you being chased again?” The system floated out impatiently.
Although after the recent massacre where many Spiritual Ability Users and urban legends met their end in Qin Nanzhu’s special space, the illicit Spiritual Energy organizations had become less aggressive in their pursuit of Gu Qiqi, they had not completely stopped.
Gu Qiqi would occasionally be ambushed, and the system had long since grown accustomed to it.
After all, it was all voluntary; if they really couldn’t fight back, they could just run, treating it as adding to Gu Qiqi’s practical experience and conveniently gathering materials to cultivate Inheritance Beast bl**d.
Hurriedly running in from outside, Gu Qiqi adjusted her breath slightly upon seeing the system floating toward her and hastily said, “It’s not that someone is chasing me! It’s, it’s…”
“What is it?”
“I completed a task inexplicably, and it’s an epic-level task!” Gu Qiqi said earnestly, “I clearly didn’t do anything! System, are you malfunctioning? But even if you are malfunctioning, you still owe me Jiang Li!”
“You’re the one malfunctioning!” The system scolded, pondering in silence.
Epic-level tasks mostly involve factors other than the destruction of the world; other Cataclysm Grade ones are at least A+ level…
Gu Qiqi had been staying in Huacheng and hadn’t gone anywhere, how could she complete one?
Could it really be… No, d*mn it, I almost got dragged down by that fool Gu Qiqi.
Thinking about it, the system quietly opened the task list formed by its powers. Upon seeing the latest completed item, it was slightly stunned.
【Refuse to join Dachunyang Palace (Completed √)】
“What the hell! Gu Qiqi, when did you have contact with someone from Dachunyang Palace?”
“Um…” Gu Qiqi thought seriously for a moment, shook her head and said, “I’ve never… oh! Right, could it have been that Taoist trying to sell me ‘Xiantian Gong’ a few days ago?”
“I really wanted to buy it at the time, but he wanted 1,500 grams of gold, and I only had 52.8 grams on me; when I tried to bargain, he spat at me.”
“Are you stupid? That was clearly a scammer!”
“Eh? Is it fake?” Gu Qiqi pouted, “But I’ve seen it; it was published by ZG Social Science Press!”
“Who in the hell publishes ‘Xiantian Gong’ with ZG Social Science Press? Even if it’s real, ‘Xiantian Gong’ is the genuine article; Dachunyang Palace is Zhengyi!” the system retorted.
“Forget it, you should go rest; let me have some peace.”
“What about my reward?” Gu Qiqi pressed.
【Ding dong——! Congratulations to the host for completing an epic-level task, earning reward: McD’s Happy Family Bucket X10, Roasted Pig Trotters X20】
To prevent Gu Qiqi from continuing to pester, the system generously gave her what she wanted; ever since getting the bl**d of the Inheritance Beast and having enough food supplies, it became lavish with its resources. After a bit more development, it could even “boost” Gu Qiqi directly like those systems in novels!
Though, that was merely swapping “drug delivery” for another guise, it managed to perfectly circumvent Gu Qiqi’s dislike of taking medicine.
“Yay!” Gu Qiqi cheered, grabbed five roasted pig trotters, and happily ran off.
Watching Gu Qiqi walk away, the system silently sighed.
This is troubling; at this rate, when will she become a Cataclysm Grade?
Perhaps I was wrong to plan her advancement path from the start. I shouldn’t have let her attempt to develop in the direction of “Shen Nong,” which requires great wisdom to acquire power.
With her aptitude, advancing in the direction of the “God of Blind Ignorance” could allow her to soar to great heights.
Having complained about Gu Qiqi, the system’s thoughts returned to the incomprehensible epic-level task it had just completed, and its mood gradually grew heavy.
I remember, recently, Calamity seems to have gone to Dachunyang Palace, right?
Could it be her?
First, it was Pestilence Taijie, then it was Desecration, and now it’s Yangyi… what is Calamity trying to do?
After a bit of thought, the system calmly analyzed and boldly hypothesized, ultimately drawing no conclusions, yet feeling quite happy.
Even though it couldn’t understand why Calamity was frequently getting involved with other world-destroying factors this time, it knew Calamity is in for a rough time!
In Gu Qiqi’s task list, there will be an entry of [Refuse to join Dachunyang Palace] precisely because it foresaw what would soon occur in Dachunyang Palace.
In fact, it had previously attempted to have the host join Dachunyang Palace, their back against a mountain for better cultivation, but the end result was that one morning, upon waking, the vast majority of Dachunyang Palace disciples, including the host, had become followers of Yangyi, transformed into bizarre beings that were half-human and half-object.
Everything unfolded quietly, with no apparent warning before the incident, as if wild grass had grown crazily in the drizzle.
“That guy can’t possibly think that by narrowly defeating the manifestations of Desecration and Pestilence, he could do whatever he wanted now, right?”
In the system’s view now, Calamity wouldn’t fall against Yangyi, but it also certainly had no chance of winning!
The previous Pestilence and Inheritance Beast, the former was just a manifestation and not the main body, while the latter was similar to her, a low-energy threshold, newly born with a high growth ceiling.
But Yangyi is different; its powers have been complete since it awoke. The only thing it lacked to reach peak power was the accumulation of spiritual energy, which could be solved by having enough followers.
And considering its rate of corrupting Spiritual Ability Users and urban legends, it would take only about half a month for the area around Dachunyang Palace to completely fall.
Could Calamity possibly stop Yangyi from awakening?
That’s impossible! Zhang Hainan couldn’t accomplish it, so how could she at her current level?
Unless a miracle occurs! The system thought decisively.
“EMMM, shouldn’t I now start considering the next steps after Calamity takes a heavy hit from Yangyi?”
“If that’s the case… uh, wouldn’t that be a bit cruel? Then let it be like this… hehehe…”
As it thought, the system’s laughter gradually turned strange.
————
After sensing Zhang Hainan’s probing gaze had disappeared, Luxianbei waited in place for a moment, confirming that his lecherous stare had not reappeared. Then she loudly began to exclaim bizarre things in a strange tone, finally sharing some of Zhang Hainan’s youthful embarrassing stories as a friendly risk.
Of course, all of it revolved around the term “old man.”
First, if found out this way, there’d still be room for rebuttal.
Second, having witnessed Zhang Hainan’s strength, she suspected that merely mentioning his name would trigger his response.
After the testing, finding that nothing ultimately occurred, she finally sighed in relief and looked at Fang Ji, who lay incapacitated on the ground, contemplating how to deal with him, when her phone suddenly vibrated twice.
Pulling out her phone and unlocking the screen, she saw a message from Lin Nian sent through Zhi Fubao.
Lin Nian: “I found the information you wanted; four years ago, Hu Chuan’s forged identity was Gu He.”
Gu He, huh? Luxianbei noted this name and then waited a moment. Seeing that Lin Nian hadn’t sent the remaining information, she couldn’t help but frown.
Gu Qiqi: “What else? I gave so much reward; don’t tell me you only found one name!”
Lin Nian: “So much? You™ still have the nerve to say that? Hu Chuan is clearly not a high-level Spiritual Ability User; that reward isn’t even enough to cover a fraction!”
Luxianbei, “……”
Hiss, how did this girl turn into a furious old brother once she got online? She really has the style of my years as a keyboard warrior!
But what does it mean that Hu Chuan is a high-level Spiritual Ability User? Does that mean his spiritual energy fluctuation level has already reached A-grade?
However, Zhang Shuo is an A+ grade Spiritual Ability User; while that is very strong, cultivating an A-grade Spiritual Ability User is time-consuming and labor-intensive—not to mention it might not even succeed, he has no reason to do this!
Luxianbei thought, typing out a message.
Gu Qiqi: “He’s a high-level Spiritual Ability User? Where did you get that information?”
However, when she clicked send, she immediately received a “send failure” notification.
Staring at her phone, she froze for a few seconds, suddenly realizing that Lin Nian might have blacklisted and blocked her.
“Hiss hey~! This girl! I’ve always been the one to block others; it’s the first time I’ve been blocked by someone else, so brave of you! Just wait and see if I create trouble for you or not!”
Luxianbei muttered to herself, just as she was about to call her online accomplice for help in emptying Lin Nian’s account and locating her position, two shadows suddenly “whoosh!” down from the sky, appearing right in front of her, startling her.
Upon closer inspection, her brows twitched slightly.
It was none other than the two guys who had sent her threatening letters before; who else could they be?
Luxianbei, “……”
I actively avoided you guys, and you still came to me?
Looking for a beating, huh? Then don’t blame me for being merciless as Gu Qiqi!
As Luxianbei thought this, she tightened her grip on Ling Tai Purification, silently mobilizing her spirit energy, but the next scene that unfolded before her left her frozen in place.
With two “thuds!” of muffled sounds, Sheim and Salih knelt on one knee one after another, clasping their fists and raising them above their heads, proclaiming in unison, “We greet the Miracle Saint!”
Luxianbei, “???”
What the hell! Miracle Saint? Where? Are they talking about Fang Ji?
In a panic, she glanced around, then looked back at the two men in front of her, frowning.
Seeing their eyes fixed on her with unwavering intensity, it was as if they were saying, “Stop looking, we’re talking about you!”
Luxianbei, “……”
Are they… referring to me? What is going on? Am I losing my mind?
