Chapter 3: Relics of Old Friends
“Shame? How could you think that?” Lu Yibei said in surprise, looking at Fu Xinyi with a strange gaze. “No, isn’t it shameful?” Fu Xinyi frowned, hesitating, “But I always feel…”
“Senior, that’s too small-minded.” Lu Yibei said earnestly. Seeing Fu Xinyi’s gaze drop, he quickly added the latter half of his sentence, “Uh, I mean, your perspective is too narrow.”
“Think about it, you rallied everyone to wear pink bunny ears for what reason? Isn’t it just to help those unfortunate peers who have suffered from corruption?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Fu Xinyi nodded slightly.
“Then why do you want to help them? Isn’t it because they’ve grown bunny ears and are treated as followers of the Pink Fluffy Rabbit, facing prejudice?” Lu Yibei continued.
“If you think wearing pink bunny ears is shameful, then in a sense, don’t you also harbor prejudice against them?”
“Anyway, in my view, this matter is not only not shameful, it’s actually quite cool!”
Even if it is slightly shameful, it doesn’t matter; the one who should feel ashamed is you, Lu Yibei silently added in his heart.
After hearing Lu Yibei’s words, Fu Xinyi narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, her mindset gradually changing.
In silence, her expression shifted from shock to deep contemplation as her brows furrowed for a long time, then finally her eyes sparkled as her fists clenched tightly, determined as if preparing for battle.
Lu Yibei made a very valid point! If I think pink bunny ears are shameful, how can I help those peers? Fu Xinyi thought.
Is there really a person whose expression can change so richly in such a short time? How wonderful, so envious! Lu Yibei thought—
In the back mountain of Dachunyang Palace, in front of Moon Cave.
Zhang Hainan and a middle-aged woman with some wrinkles and a slightly plump figure sat cross-legged on cushions on either side of a stone table, chatting about something.
“Old friend, try this Zhenwu Mist Peak tea. This tea from planting to picking, then to drying and roasting, was all personally done by that Xuanji Zi.” “You know what? That kid has never been serious about spiritual energy cultivation but has quite a bit of skill in things like music, tea arts, and calligraphy.”
As Zhang Hainan spoke, he poured a cup of tea for the middle-aged woman sitting across from him. The tea was clear and bright, a hint of faint golden hue in the verdant green, releasing a refreshing fragrance.
The Wordless Book picked up the teacup, took a sip, first displaying a look of enjoyment, but then her expression suddenly changed, and she spit out a tiny black particle, holding it in her hand for a moment before handing it to Zhang Hainan, asking, “Excuse me, what is this?”
Zhang Hainan leaned closer to examine it and replied with a twitching mouth, “It seems to be night-sand that got mixed in by accident. No worries, it’s not poisonous.” Night-sand, which is bat guano, also known as sky mouse droppings.
In an instant, the delightful fragrance turned into an unpleasant smell.
The Wordless Book’s face turned pale, she took a deep breath, adjusted her breathing, and then threw away the tiny black particle. After wiping her hands on Zhang Hainan’s body, she said calmly, “Let’s skip the tea; we should discuss serious matters first.”
Zhang Hainan nonchalantly poured out a whole pot of tea, nodded, and said, “That works,” as if what had just happened had never taken place.
The Wordless Book looked at Zhang Hainan, furrowed her brows in silence for a few seconds, then took out a wooden bracelet inlaid with glass from her bag, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward him, saying lightly, “This is something left by that priest from the Pasupati Temple. I believe with your abilities, you should be able to discern what happened back then.”
Looking at the bracelet on the table, Zhang Hainan sighed silently, then fell into a long silence.
After learning about the seven areas where the F Codename urban legend might trigger disasters, the most reassuring one for him had been the Pasupati Temple.
After all, the priests in the temple pay a lot of attention to self-cultivation and simplicity, and there was his old friend stationed there. Even when faced with the F Codename urban legend, they should have an advantage in the temple.
However, he had still underestimated the darkness of human nature and the terrifying potential for concentrated disturbance.
It was because the priests there, who usually suppress desires for “material,” experienced an outburst of desire for “material” engulfed by temptation, which was much stronger than ordinary people!
It was like a can of soda violently shaken, filled with gas—if no external force acts upon it, it might eventually stabilize; but if an external force opens it, the liquid and gas will violently spill out.
Thus, when the F Codename urban legend entered a semi-awakened state, nearing loss of control, the first to fall was unexpectedly the Pasupati Temple, which even became a breeding ground for the offspring of the F Codename urban legend, almost leading to disaster.
In fact, when that distorted and bizarre pale giant beast eventually transformed into countless pink fluffy rabbits, flooding toward the temple, the crisis was temporarily lifted, and the APTYA organization’s reinforcements arrived at the temple to clear the scene. They found that within the entire temple, only fewer than five individuals had not been corrupted—
Zhang Hainan held that bracelet in his hand, slowly closed his eyes, and quietly operated the spirit patterns. Suddenly, a series of tragic images flashed through his mind.
Under the night, a gaunt old man stood at the peak of the Pasupati Temple, looking down at the scene below, which resembled a pale hell, with a heavy sigh.
Countless pale figures flew in from all directions, and he suddenly raised his hand surrounded by golden light, about to strike down a massive palm that wielded the might of the ocean.
However.
At that moment, his gaze swept across the twisted yet familiar faces, all of whom were people he had spent his days with.
Then, the heavy sigh echoed again; the old man slowly lowered his palm, turned around, and in one last effort, struck the temple’s giant bell.
“Dong Dong Dong—!”
The resonant bell echoed, mixed with low murmurs.
“Mokhuloga, this is the Python God, also known as the Earth Dragon, a spirit without feet, acting as the temple god of the world, receiving wine and meat that enters the belly of the python. Destroy vows of evil and flattery, possess much anger and little giving; those greedy for meat and wine shall caution against falling into demons, for many insects shall enter their bodies and feast.”
A huge pale virtual shadow resembling a python or dragon, topped with a huge red tumor, rose from the highest point of the Pasupati Temple amidst a dense vapor, boiling up and swirling seven times in mid-air, then dove toward the earth, drawing a complete circle with its head and tail.
The old man named Yadu ultimately couldn’t bear to deal a fatal blow to his descendants; he could only exhaust his spirit energy to confine that increasingly massive pale giant beast, with the spirit energy fluctuations becoming increasingly intense within a radius of several dozen miles around the Pasupati Temple.
In a sense, that APTYA small team was a wasted sacrifice; even if they had not gone to the Pasupati Temple, that pale giant beast would not have left the vicinity of the temple, spreading disaster farther away.
Upon Zhang Hainan opening his eyes while still tightly gripping that bracelet, it seemed like he was silently bidding farewell to his old friend, remaining silent for a long time. The Wordless Book gently said, “The deceased has passed; please take care.”
As the second-oldest protector within the Siye Society, Zhang Hainan actually had very few friends remaining in this world, making each one seem especially precious, Yadu being one of them.
Similarly, Zhang Hainan was one of the few remaining friends of Yadu. Therefore, after going through the review process, this seemingly inconsequential relic was entrusted to the Wordless Book for delivery to Zhang Hainan.
The Wordless Book felt that such matters must be very sorrowful for Zhang Hainan. Though she didn’t quite understand such feelings, from the data she had collected and recorded, it should be like that.
Zhang Hainan looked at the Wordless Book, smiled wryly, “Haha, forgive me; I’m not that fragile. Speaking of which, I actually admire that Yadu guy for daring to make such a decision.”
Someone like him, a spiritual ability user who has lived for over a hundred years, has probably experienced countless farewells and grown accustomed to it; similar matters are hard to stir up ripples in his heart.
“But…” After a brief silence, Zhang Hainan changed the subject and teased, “If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t sacrifice myself to seal that urban legend; the disciples of our Dachunyang Palace are corrupted, and I would definitely send them back to heaven one by one and clean up the house!”
Perhaps Zhang Hainan silently added a sentence in his heart out of guilt.
He might never know that he originally had a fate similar to that of his old friend.
After pausing, he looked at the Wordless Book and casually asked, “By the way, how’s the situation over at Yumen? You and Huaiyuan Jun’s young friend have been there for a while, right? It seems there was news that you lost contact for a while recently?”
“Don’t worry, the crisis caused by the Miracle Cult has been resolved, and our operatives are currently attempting to repair the damaged solidified spell formulas.” The Wordless Book said calmly, halfway through her speech but then slightly furrowing her brows.
“However, during the repair process, we discovered some anomalous spirit energy fluctuations; the source is yet to be determined. For now, since this spirit energy fluctuation hasn’t affected the repair process, we’ve temporarily set it aside and haven’t conducted further investigations.”
“I believe there may still be something more terrifying hidden in Yumen. That old guy told us was not the whole truth.” Zhang Hainan shook his head, sighing, “Isn’t this normal? That’s the biggest secret of the Yumen Sands Sea Branch; how could they divulge everything to the Siye Society?”
“My Dachunyang Palace’s secrets aren’t fully disclosed to the Siye Society either?”
“Still, we need to be cautious! If there’s a place where my old bones can be useful, don’t hesitate to bring it up.” Old bones? The Wordless Book looked at Zhang Hainan with a strange expression.
Zhang Hainan’s face showed a trace of embarrassment, he turned his lips and said, “I’m just used to interacting with those young ones! Don’t mind it.”
Indeed, although the Wordless Book was not the strongest protector of the Siye Society, she was certainly the oldest protector.
In a certain sense, she was much older than Zhang Hainan.
The Wordless Book rolled her eyes at Zhang Hainan and flatly said, “You don’t have to trouble yourself; you should focus on figuring out how to help those corrupted guys get rid of the bunny ears on their heads!”
As the Wordless Book said, while the turmoil caused by Yangyi had already passed, figuring out how to remove those pink bunny ears grown on those it has corrupted had become a new problem.
“Of course, of course.” Zhang Hainan responded somewhat perfunctorily, and then shifted the topic, saying, “Speaking of the Miracle Cult, I recall that those guys took advantage of the chaos to steal an item left by a former saint of our Dachunyang Palace.”
He was also quite troubled by those pink bunny ears; those things were like a new form of Nightfall Syndrome, which modern medical methods completely couldn’t remove.
He had been in closed-door research for several days but still hadn’t found a popularizable treatment method.
“It should be the remains of the first saint of the Miracle Cult.” The Wordless Book said, “Recently some operatives confirmed that the earlier chaos initiated by the Miracle Cult was indeed caused by those remains.”
After a pause, she added, “However, it seems there have been some problems within the Miracle Cult recently.” Zhang Hainan looked puzzled, “What problems?”
“Just yesterday, the headquarters received a piece of intelligence indicating that the Miracle Cult seems to have split into two factions, and since a week ago, there have already been no fewer than ten small-scale conflicts.” The Wordless Book explained.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hainan nodded thoughtfully, “They’ve turned on each other, which saves us a lot of effort.” “Hmm.” The Wordless Book nodded in agreement.
Recently, the Siye Society had been busy with the aftermath work of the F Codename urban legend besides their main duties.
Although Shizhou City was the area where the corruption from the F Codename urban legend was the most severe within Z Country, there were still a small number of followers of the F Codename urban legend appearing nationwide.
After that night, those active rabbits spread everywhere like a plague, leading to numerous sightings of urban legends.
Although those rabbits did not cause any substantial harm, the impact of the sightings, slight residual spirit energy fluctuations, and the spiritual ability users sporting pink bunny ears still required substantial manpower to handle.
It was during such times that someone would carelessly investigate the reasons behind the Miracle Cult’s internal strife!
Among spiritual ability users, there is a consensus: never attempt to speculate on the behavioral logic of the Miracle Cult.
That group of lunatics even had a case where they believed that if a buttered piece of toast fell, it must have landed butter-side down. Isn’t it a miracle that they split into three factions and fought it out?
“Speaking of which, we’ve been chatting for so long, should I brew you something to drink?”
The Wordless Book glanced at Zhang Hainan. “Thank you, but no need, I usually prefer light flavors.” “Tea bags! Instant tea bags!” Zhang Hainan stressed awkwardly—
Half an hour later.
“Master Uncle, Master Uncle, are you there?”
Zhang Hainan had just sent off the Wordless Book and returned to Moon Cave when he heard Bi Xuzi’s voice from outside.
“Come in!” Zhang Hainan called gently, and soon saw Bi Xuzi hurriedly walking in from outside the cave, stopping at the entrance and bowing respectfully.
Zhang Hainan assessed Bi Xuzi and spoke in a deep voice, “What’s with all the shouting? How many times have I told you? As a mentor, you must be stable!”
“Master Uncle, you are right.” Bi Xuzi bowed again. Zhang Hainan waved his hand and asked, “Speak, what’s the matter?”
Bi Xuzi cupped his hands and said, “Master Uncle, it’s about that Lu Yibei.” “What about him?” Zhang Hainan asked, expression unchanging.
In fact, as Qing Ji’s descendant, he wouldn’t find it strange for Lu Yibei to do anything; if it were truly a big deal, he would have noticed it by now.
Not noticing means the problem isn’t too severe.
“He…” Bi Xuzi opened his mouth, showing an expression like he had choked on the juice from fresh fish canned food, his face contorting, “I have already received reports from over thirty disciples about him; they really can’t stand it anymore. They wrote a joint letter to me, asking me to have him come down the mountain.”
“Considering his relationship with you, the disciples specifically came to ask for your instructions.”
Bi Xuzi had long noticed the close relationship between Zhang Hainan and Lu Yibei; otherwise, Zhang Hainan would not exhibit unusual behavior every time Lu Yibei was mentioned.
Zhang Hainan’s corner of the mouth twitched, lowering his voice and asking, “What has he done?”
Hearing this, Bi Xuzi immediately began to list Lu Yibei’s offenses in detail. “In recent days, to avoid being disturbed by the morning bell, that kid almost every day at dawn goes outside the door of the disciple responsible for ringing the bell and plays the suona.”
“I don’t know how he found out about the bell-ringing disciple’s rotation schedule. In any case, over the past week, the morning bell has never rung on time. Many disciples have slept until noon, and the attendance for morning classes has been below fifty percent. Even Sister He is about to be driven crazy from losing control of her spirit patterns!”
“Six days ago, he killed Zhang Lingfeng, the disciple of Brother Xuanji, who raised a golden pheasant for over ten years, and made it into a pot of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and used the pot that was stolen from Chi Li Hall!”
“Four days ago, he sneaked into the Qing Nang Herb Cottage’s medicinal garden and dug up ginseng, angelica, and other herbs carefully cultivated by disciple Wang Meng. When he was caught by the patrolling disciple, he used some sort of illusion spell to make them fall into a state of confusion, and up till now, those two disciples still…”
Seeing Bi Xuzi suddenly pause, looking like he wanted to say more, Zhang Hainan pressed further, “And then what?” “Those two disciples still think they are magical girls,” Bi Xuzi said.
Zhang Hainan, “”
Magical girls, isn’t that still okay? At least they still fall within the realm of being human.
With that kid’s strange methods, it’s already impressive that he hasn’t made them believe they’re red electric dragons.
Before I arrived, those two disciples were still clamoring to move to Qiaoyuan Courtyard to live there, it’s really…
Bi Xuzi’s words trailed off into a heavy sigh.
“Moving to Qiaoyuan Courtyard?” Zhang Hainan realized something was amiss, “Male disciples?” “Yes, I didn’t mention it to you?” Bi Xuzi said blankly.
Zhang Hainan pondered for two seconds, his expression complicated as he asked, “That kid hasn’t done a single proper thing in these past few days?” “None!” After finishing, Bi Xuzi recalled for a moment and became even more definite, saying, “Mm, absolutely none!”
Fooling around with the boys and girls, disrupting the discipline of Dachunyang Palace, he really is committing all sorts of atrocities; where would there be any proper business in that?
Zhang Hainan, “”
Goodness, he’s carrying on the family ‘tradition’!
