Chapter 56: Black Emperor
A slender figure moved forward, at a steady pace, as if intending to walk straight into the abyss.
“Boom—Boom——!”
In the darkness, heavy, invisible doors trembled as they opened, producing a loud sound, and a cold wind carrying the stench of decay and rot blew from behind the doors, causing a slight sting on the face.
“Boom—!”
As the last great door opened, the person stood still in a space filled with chaos and ignorance, gray mist swirling around, their line of sight confined to a very small range.
Ahead, there seemed to be a huge vortex existing at the ends of the world, roiling like molten gold and silver, emitting a blazing light.
Brilliant light rose from that abyss-like vortex, rippling and illuminating Wang Meili’s face.
Her complexion was somewhat pale, tinged with waxy yellow, as if she were already gravely ill.
This was the core area of the special space, where deceased beings fell from that vortex into endless darkness, returning to the purest spirit energy, and after a long wait, gaining projection to descend within the special space in a new appearance and form.
Eight chains forged from light were distributed according to the positions of the innate Eight Trigrams, resembling eight giant dragons extending from the void, nailed to the edge of the vortex with densely woven incantations, swirling like thousands of silver-winged butterflies.
This was the anchoring that the Siye Association had applied to this special space; it was simple yet effective.
For nearly twenty years, it had effectively fixed the special space within the spatial fissures, preventing a tragedy.
But now, something had gone wrong.
Wang Meili’s gaze swept around before finally settling on the misplaced chain, where she noticed a dark red spot that had appeared on its surface at some unknown time, looking as if it were rusted or moldy.
“Is this the thing causing trouble in the city? But…” Wang Meili muttered to herself.
Nonetheless, since those unknown flesh and bl**d had already affected the misplaced chain, it should have spread to the entire anchoring quickly.
And now… it looked as if some force was preventing that flesh from spreading.
Could it be the people from the Siye Association?
Wang Meili frowned slightly, her figure flashing before disappearing in place.
Everything seemed like a mirage, with exaggerated colors, overlapping shadows, rapidly retreating.
When her vision stabilized, Wang Meili looked up and was taken aback, frowning.
Outside the special space, on the shell resembling golden bubbles, a large amount of dark red flesh was adhered, roiling like a sea of flesh and bl**d.
And at the place where the misplaced chain extended, she saw a large, unfamiliar urban legend.
The creature looked like an ugly monster fish, with a head resembling that of an anglerfish and a long body like a sea snake.
It opened its twisted mouth full of sharp teeth, clutching the chain, its crimson tongue and its dark, liquid-like body tightly coiling around it, emanating a bizarre spirit energy fluctuation from within, causing the rampant flesh to hesitate to approach.
“What a strange urban legend…” Wang Meili murmured.
She usually prided herself on being well-informed, but faced with this creature, she couldn’t discern its type of power for a moment.
It was as if this monster didn’t belong to this world at all.
What puzzled her even more was why this creature would risk being eroded by that dark red flesh to protect the anchoring established by the Siye Association in the special space.
If its efforts hadn’t had some effect, perhaps that flesh would have already eroded three, four, or even more anchoring chains.
“Little guy, are you a friend of Xiao Bei?” Wang Meili asked.
The system, on the brink of collapse, vaguely heard Wang Meili’s voice and struggled to open its eyes to look at her. After a long silence, it weakly said two words, “Once was…”
“Oh…” Wang Meili nodded thoughtfully, “No wonder you would help her, what a good friend!”
Although she couldn’t determine the nature of the system’s powers, through the continuous spirit energy fluctuations emanating from it, she could feel that the system had some obscure yet profound connection with Luxianbei.
System, “……” How could I help her!
It wanted to refute Wang Meili.
It wanted to tell her that its actions were merely out of concern that the Inheritance Beast might completely erode the special space and cause irreversible damage to the real world, but it was too weak to utter a word.
“However, that ‘once was’ makes me a bit curious! Did you have a quarrel?” Wang Meili gently stroked the system while patiently advising, “Since you’re good friends, I hope you can sit down and talk it out. Who knows, you might reconcile?”
System, “……” Don’t joke, I already tried!
“Still not talking!” Wang Meili chuckled bitterly, “Such a stubborn little guy.”
As she stroked the system, she felt a strong hatred and anger emanating from it.
“However, I still want to say one more thing: if Xiao Bei did something wrong, I apologize on her behalf. Although this child has lacked maternal love since childhood, and her personality may indeed be quite peculiar, her nature is actually good.”
System, “……”
Seeing that the system still didn’t speak, Wang Meili opened her mouth, just about to say something when a strange feeling suddenly flashed through her mind.
Though she had yet to see Luxianbei, her intuition told her that Luxianbei was about to arrive.
“Oh no, it seems there’s no chance to continue advising you.” Wang Meili looked at the system and said, “Little guy, you’ve done enough already. Now, take a good rest.”
As soon as her words fell, the bubble-like outer shell of the special space suddenly appeared to bubble up, swelling into a mass, completely enclosing the system…
————
Huacheng, Folk Culture Research Management Bureau, in a small conference room.
Dressed in a deep blue professional outfit, with her long hair neatly tied back, Xing Yuan sat with her legs crossed, looking sternly at the two men in front of her, she said softly, “So you two decided to privately rescue her because you were worried your superior would take extreme measures against the calamity?”
“And you even sent an operative into Qin Nanzhu’s special space, causing one operative to remain unconscious for twenty-four hours?”
“Hey! Yuan’er, it’s not our fault that Gu Xiliu is unconscious!” Bai Kai hurriedly explained, “She fell into a coma because there was a problem with that special space, and her consciousness was impacted.”
Qi Dong shot a glare at Bai Kai, who had a face full of flattery, “Kiss-up deserves a miserable d*ath…”
Xing Yuan glanced at Qi Dong, then turned her gaze back to Bai Kai, “So you still think you are in the right? As a Siye Association operative, when you discovered this threat, shouldn’t you have reported it immediately?”
“If it weren’t for the Black Emperor noticing the loosening of the anchor he left behind and reporting it promptly, I might still be in the dark!”
Tsk! Zhang Hainan old man… Qi Dong silently cursed in his heart.
That’s right, [Black Emperor] is Zhang Hainan. A disaster-class spiritual energy manipulator like him is seldom called by name within the Siye Association; they usually have respective code names to avoid identity exposure and reduce disturbances.
Zhenwu Mountain is known for mastering water techniques, and Zhang Hainan’s spirit patterns are closely related to the legendary Five Qi Celestial Sovereign, who presides over the laws of Ren and Gui, hence the codename [Black Emperor].
“Now that it’s come to this, what do we do?” Bai Kai spread his hands, looking dispirited.
“What else can we do?” Xing Yuan rolled her eyes, “The Black Emperor is already on his way to Huacheng. Once that special space rises, it can only be destroyed.”
“That won’t do!” Bai Kai exclaimed. “Jiang Li and… the calamity are still inside! What if they have a way to stop the bl**d and flesh of the Inheritance Beast, preventing that special space from rising?”
Xing Yuan frowned, gaze steady as she looked into Bai Kai’s eyes, and calmly said, “Although the possibility of that is very small, I think the Black Emperor will find a way to reinforce the anchoring at that time.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Dong’s face revealed an enlightened expression, sarcastically saying, “Oh! Now I understand! Whoever wins, the calamity and the Inheritance Beast will do it, right?”
Xing Yuan nodded indifferently, “If you want to interpret it that way, you can.”
“I’ve said everything I need to say. You two better take care of yourselves. After this matter is over, disciplinary actions will follow.”
“I’ll remind you one last time: you are operatives of the Siye Association, and your primary task is to eliminate the impact of urban legend incidents, understood?!”
“……” Bai Kai furrowed his brow, wanting to say something but hesitating.
“Tsk—!” Qi Dong spat dismissively, turning and leaving the conference room.
————
That night, on the back mountain of Zhenwu Mountain.
A burly old man, with white hair but youthful skin, was bare-chested and vigorously tying up a sleeping girl.
The spell rope, twisted with talisman paper, wrapped around the girl again and again, binding her alive into a human-shaped zongzi.
“Hmm…”
Feeling the uncomfortable tightness on her body, the girl slightly furrowed her brow, let out a soft nasal sound, and slowly opened her eyes.
“……”
Upon seeing the old man who was busy tying her up, the girl was taken aback and leisurely asked, “Chief Priest, what are you doing?”
“Huasang, something big has happened, do you know that?”
“I know!” Huasang nodded, “It’s only three or four in the morning; there are still more than four hours until dawn. It’s incredibly irritating that I woke up.”
“You ungrateful disciple! What’s so big about not being able to sleep in?” Zhang Hainan scolded, puffing out his cheeks. “I’m talking about something big happening in Huacheng! The anchor I set up before has loosened.”
“Oh, and then?”
“Then… you know I can’t go to that place!” Zhang Hainan said with a pained expression, “I’ve calculated it; that man is in Huacheng! So I can only let you go in my place.”
“Oh, okay.” Huasang nodded.
Looking at her nonchalant demeanor, Zhang Hainan frowned and shook the spell rope in his hand, asking, “Aren’t you going to resist at all since I’m sending you to take the hit?”
“Too lazy to resist,” Huasang answered without hesitation.
“Then won’t you even ask why I’m tying you up?”
“Don’t care to ask.”
“I was planning to use a flying sword to launch you over…”
“I have a question.” Huasang glanced at the spell rope on her body, frowning, “When I get there, who will untie me?”
“Your senior brother, Li Xuan!” Zhang Hainan said in a deep voice.
Though he knew Huasang had the means to untie those ropes, he also understood that if he asked her why she didn’t undo it herself, she would definitely respond, “Too lazy to untie!”
If he didn’t arrange for someone to help her untie beforehand, even if the flying sword dropped her at the center of Huacheng’s plaza, she probably wouldn’t move until she starved to d*ath.
Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Huasang’s face, “That’s great; I can just sleep a bit more.”
“Are you not afraid something will go wrong?” Zhang Hainan said angrily.
“……”
Huasang opened her mouth, about to speak, but Zhang Hainan, seeing the hint from her lips, cut her off, saying, “Too lazy to be scared, right?”
“Mm, mm.” Huasang nodded, responding perfunctorily.
If in the future, there would always be someone like the Chief Priest who could articulate my feelings and speak for me, that would be fantastic, Huasang thought.
“Hmph! Ungrateful disciple, truly an ungrateful disciple, driving me mad!” Zhang Hainan scolded harshly, tightening the spell rope.
Although it was a tradition of Dachunyang Palace to tease disciples and apprentices, if the disciple didn’t resist at all, what’s the point?
After all these years, only Huasang showed no sign of resistance while facing Zhang Hainan’s “torture,” which greatly irritated Zhang Hainan.
It was precisely because of this that he had unknowingly exposed more than eighty percent of his abilities to her while she repeatedly came to the back mountain to fish.
Although Huasang had always been too lazy to learn the “true teachings” of the Chief Priest…
It was precisely because she didn’t want to learn and was too lazy to learn that she made rapid progress, reaching a level where she could immediately understand and practice skills.
As the saying goes, “The highest goodness is like water; water benefits all things without contention.”
Only by not contending can one comprehend the mystical principles of Dachunyang Palace’s water techniques.
……
In just a few moments, the spell rope had been completely wound around Huasang’s body.
Zhang Hainan darkly glared at the “human-shaped zongzi” before him, casually waved his hand, and the bottomless pool nearby suddenly began to boil.
“Boom——!”
Accompanied by a loud bang, tons of water surged up like a dragon sucking water, wrapping around Huasang’s body and transforming into a giant water sword, bursting through the sky.
Under the night sky, the blue flowing light streaked across, resembling a brilliant meteor.
And then…
As Huasang concentrated her thoughts, the water sword beneath her “upgraded” into a three-meter by three-meter big bed, complete with soft “water bed” bedding.
Zhang Hainan, “……”
Watching the water sword transform into a water bed amidst the flowing light, his mouth twitched intensely.
————
Late at night, in Huacheng, a sports car sped down the road leading to a high-end residential area in the suburbs.
Suddenly, the phone rang. Li Xuan slowed down the car, took out his phone to glance at it, and suddenly showed a look of delight, eagerly answering the call.
“Master, you finally called me! Have you forgiven me?”
“No, let me tell you something. Later, you untie Huasang for me. That’s it, bye!” The heavy voice on the other end simply instructed before quickly hanging up.
It was as if trying to avoid some plague god.
Li Xuan, “???” Untie Huasang? What does that mean?
Just as he was puzzled, the water vapor outside suddenly thickened, and then, a blue light pierced the night.
Li Xuan looked in the direction of the light and saw a huge “water bed” falling from the sky, heading straight for him.
“……”
Oh no, it’s game over; my car is going to turn into a water bubble!
That thought flashed through Li Xuan’s mind, and the next moment, he was swept into the surging water flow.
