Chapter 48: Stalking
In the evening, near the Zhen Ting Hall.
After bathing at Qing Xiazi’s residence, Huasang took off her worn Daoist robe and changed into casual clothes. While scratching her back with a ruler, she walked towards the iron chain bridge, drawing many gazes from passing disciples who couldn’t help but glance back at her.
Those strange looks were filled with confusion, as if they were saying, “Who is this beauty?”
Huasang rarely cleaned herself up this nicely; although her dressing style still seemed casual and relaxed, compared to before, her current appearance was at a point where many disciples couldn’t recognize her.
However, she felt no joy in this and felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, as if she were being observed like an animal in a zoo.
“What did the master say? If you’re going to stalk someone, try to dress like an ordinary person to avoid unnecessary attention…” Huasang mumbled to herself, “but that ended up drawing more attention.”
The older single woman had always regarded her disciples as her own children.
However, that slightly excessive concern, even after more than a decade, still made Huasang feel a bit uneasy.
She didn’t dislike her master, but her master’s behavior always reminded her of her grandmother…
“Speaking of which, could it be that Master didn’t have the excuse of giving me a bath just for fun?”
Just as Huasang was talking to herself, two female disciples from the crowd finally recognized her and approached.
“Senior Huasang? Excuse me, are you Senior Huasang?”
Huasang turned her head to look at the two girls and shrugged, “Yeah, what’s up?”
Hearing this, the two female disciples fidgeted for a moment, then gathered their courage to ask, “Um, we just wanted to ask, how did your skin suddenly improve so much? After all, before…”
“Sorry, sorry senior, I didn’t mean that you weren’t good before… I just wanted to ask for advice.”
Advice? Huasang thought for a moment and shivered slightly.
Recalling the scene where Qing Xiazi had dragged her back to her residence despite her struggles and pleas, forcing her to take a bath, a chill ran down her spine.
That time was like forcibly washing a little dirty cat covered in mud from head to toe, completely ignoring whether the little dirty cat wanted it or not.
“The method is to get my master to give you a bath…” Huasang paused and after a two-second thought felt it necessary to tell them the truth, “if you can handle being scrubbed with a steel wool ball and have your back washed.”
Yes, Qing Xiazi used a steel wool ball to wash that little dirty cat.
The two female disciples, “…”
Seeing the two female disciples stunned in place, Huasang politely cupped her hands, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave first.”
I still need to keep an eye on that kid!
If I delay any longer, I won’t be able to catch up.
To be honest, because of her experience in Huacheng, Huasang had always been interested in Luxianbei. If it weren’t for leaving the range of Zhenwu Mountain, she would have been quite willing to keep an eye on Luxianbei.
Besides, she also needed to find an opportunity to ask that guy if he had seen her senior brother…
I clearly asked senior brother to pick him up, but that old man said senior brother had already gone to Shizhou City. That’s too strange, Huasang thought.
After bidding farewell to the two female disciples, she quickly tucked away the ruler, which revealed the faint lines at her collar, and turned towards the iron chain bridge.
As she was nearing the entrance of the Zhen Ting Hall, she caught sight of the great-headed mountain deity poking out of the water pond from afar, and her eyes brightened, quickening her pace.
Sensing Huasang’s approach, the mountain deity shuddered and quickly dove back into the depths of the pond.
It was terrified of this girl…
Having witnessed Huasang ruthlessly cooking and eating its old friend’s descendants in various ways, it always felt that one day Huasang would turn on it.
————
Dusk had arrived.
As the sky turned from gold to red, slowly hinting purple, the core of the urban legend within Luxianbei began to stir.
He moved forward.
As he passed in front of the main gate of the Zhen Ting Hall, the mountain deity poked its head out of the pond and threw Luxianbei a seductive glance that made his scalp tingle. However, for some reason, after throwing that glance, the deity had no further movements and silently sank into the water.
Running through the Zhen Ting Hall, crossing the iron chain bridge, heading straight towards Xuanwu Flat, Luxianbei desperately tried to suppress his transformation into an urban legend.
Although it was already some distance from Dachunyang Palace, the spirit energy fluctuations emitted by the transformation were hard to capture, but at this moment, he still couldn’t allow himself to transform.
He noticed he was being followed.
And there was more than one person tailing him.
At least three!
Through the recurring premonitions flashing through his mind, he realized that two lines of sight were secretly watching him, and another person had grabbed the paper cicada and was following closely behind him.
d*mn, what are these people watching me, an ordinary Siye Society operative, for?
Could it be that I accidentally let something slip after talking too much with Yi Sihan?
Luxianbei couldn’t think of what about his role as a Siye Society operative in Dachunyang Palace would be worth noting.
At this moment, night had begun to fall, and most of the tourists had left. The scenic area was gradually becoming cold and quiet, with the tired sunlight filtering through the branches of ancient trees, casting mottled shadows on the slightly dilapidated ancient buildings.
A distant flock of birds flew across the sky, leaving behind their mournful cries.
Walking briskly up the long stone steps towards Xuanwu Flat, Luxianbei’s mind raced as he tried to figure out why those guys were tailing him, ultimately deciding he needed to shake them off.
Shaking those guys off isn’t too difficult; he just needs to find a chance to temporarily disappear from their sight to complete the transformation.
After transforming, both his appearance and the aura of spirit energy fluctuations would undergo enormous changes. Coupled with his new abilities to alter his form and coat, they would never recognize him again.
If all else fails, stopping the transformation and going back to the Hongyan Retreat to sleep would also be a good choice.
But the question is, how can he temporarily disappear from their sight?
As Luxianbei pondered, he unwittingly reached the Xuanwu Flat, faintly hearing the sound of three thousand silver threads falling, and his eyes brightened.
Is that a waterfall? Got it!
When the waterfall cascades down, the dissipating, faint but vast spirit energy can somewhat interfere with spiritual perception.
In fact, extreme environments like waterfalls, volcanoes, and deserts can all disrupt spiritual perception to some extent.
This is the greatness of nature, which is difficult to overcome!
He just needed to use the waterfall to momentarily disrupt the tracking gaze, allowing him to complete the transformation.
The only troublesome part would be the metallic box; that feature was too noticeable and hard to hide.
He could only find a place to hide the metallic box after escaping, then just bring along Ling Tai Purification, a few alchemical explosives, a couple of paper cicadas, and a little bit of medicine—just that little bit of stuff!
He was essentially going in light, and the coat might barely fit…
Thinking of this, Luxianbei glanced around and saw no one. Taking a few steps forward, he intended to jump over the railing at the edge of Xuanwu Flat and leap into the rushing waterfall when suddenly someone behind him clapped and cheered.
“Nice jump!”
Hearing the voice, Luxianbei froze, leaning on the railing. Turning his head, he saw an old man and a young man standing near a melon stall, holding two slices of cut watermelon.
When he directed his attention toward them, both men instantly revealed an ambiguous smile.
Luxianbei had seen that kind of smile before—when Water Brother was in the bath with his father, helping the old man scrub his back, praising how smooth his skin was.
In the midst of his daze, the two men gestured at him with an exaggerated expression.
Luxianbei, “???”
Wait, who the hell are you? Where did you pop out from? And… why are you eating my melon?!
Seeing Luxianbei standing still, the young man lowered his voice and asked the middle-aged man beside him, “Elder, why isn’t the Holy Son jumping anymore? Could it be that he feels uneasy because we’re watching him?”
“Nonsense!” the middle-aged man replied in a deep voice, “jumping down from the top of the waterfall without a scratch—what is that? A miracle! If the Holy Son wants to demonstrate a miracle, he must have people seeing it!”
“A miracle without witnesses is no miracle at all. Salih, you’ve only joined the cult not long; there are many things you don’t know.”
“Back in the day when the former Holy Son hadn’t fallen, in front of the Tokyo Shibuya, New York Times Square, and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower… every time a miracle was shown, it was done under the gaze of thousands of eyes…”
At this point, the middle-aged man’s thoughts briefly wandered to the past, recalling the scene of the former Holy Son performing miracles in the crowd, and he could almost smell the intoxicating fragrance of countless Miracle Flowers blooming among the people, his face unexpectedly flushing with excitement.
Not far away, Luxianbei watched the middle-aged man with a dark, unkempt face, resembling a member of an extreme terrorist organization from Central Asia, sniffing in his direction with an expression of euphoric delight, as if he had taken something wonderful.
d*mn! I can’t tolerate this!
Luxianbei cursed internally and took a few steps closer, pointing at the two men, “Hey, what are you staring at?”
Upon seeing this, the young man whispered to the middle-aged man, “Elder, the Holy Son seems unhappy; should we retreat for now?”
“What do you know?” the middle-aged man reprimanded in a low voice, “Based on my experience, at this moment, I should respond…”
“What are you looking at?!”
Luxianbei stared at the middle-aged man, listening to his exotic dialect and was struck with astonishment.
Are people nowadays this brazen?
Forget it, I can’t afford to mess with them; can I still not avoid them?
d*mn, if it weren’t for today’s unfortunate turn of events, I would teach you a lesson!
As night fell completely, Luxianbei rushed to evade the eyes tracking him, completing the transformation, and didn’t pay too much attention to the two suspicious men. He turned and sprinted down the mountain path of Xuanwu Flat.
Not far below the mountain path of Xuanwu Flat, there was another smaller platform to jump into the waterfall.
In the dark.
Huasang, who had just arrived at Xuanwu Flat, looked at Luxianbei’s departing figure and then at the two tourists, frowning slightly.
Those two seem to know Luxianbei?
What are their backgrounds?
Oh no, that guy got away!
As Luxianbei vanished from her sight, Huasang quickly shook off her doubts and chased after him.
When she crossed Xuanwu Flat and descended the mountain path step by step, she saw Luxianbei’s figure again, just in time to catch him jumping into the waterfall from the lower platform.
It looked like he was participating in a contest to become the Monkey King at the Water Curtain Cave in Huaguo Mountain.
Seeing this, she flashed several times, catching up to the small platform. Leaning against the railing and peering down, she hesitated for a moment before leaping over the railing.
————
On Xuanwu Flat.
Seeing Huasang and Luxianbei pass one after the other.
Two members of the Miracle Cult, Salih and Sheim, fell silent for a moment, exchanging glances before speaking in unison.
“Uh-oh, the Holy Son is being followed!”
Salih was taken aback and asked, “What should we do now?”
“Do I have to say it?” Sheim exclaimed, “Of course, we need to catch up and warn the Holy Son!”
Thus, the two chased after and witnessed Huasang jumping into the waterfall.
“…” Salih and Sheim were momentarily speechless.
After a long while.
Salih quietly asked, “Elder, are we… not jumping?”
Sheim pondered for a couple of seconds, a resolute look flashing in his eyes, and made a decision that went against the fragrance of the Miracle Flower, “Forget it, let’s take the cable car instead.”
The cable car station at the foot of the mountain was not far from the waterfall’s drop point.
“Aren’t we following the Holy Son?” Salih questioned.
“You don’t understand, we can’t steal the Holy Son’s thunder,” Sheim explained.
“Oh…” Salih nodded, seemingly understanding.
————
The moment he jumped off the small platform, the wind howled.
The deafening roar and the thick, suffocating mist of water hit him head-on.
Amidst the rising water mist, Luxianbei spread his arms, feeling the wind stream through his fingers, like an osprey diving towards the water’s surface, soaring between wind and water.
After falling briefly, his gaze caught a small cave behind the waterfall below where he could land. He quickly took out a paper cicada and threw it down, while simultaneously exerting force from his waist, twisting his body to change the direction of his fall.
Immediately afterwards, with his toes pushing down hard, he landed perfectly on the paper cicada flapping its little wings.
“Rip!”
With the sound of paper tearing lightly, Luxianbei flipped over using the force and crashed through the waterfall, landing steadily at the entrance of the small cave.
“Whoosh—!”
After completing a series of high-difficulty maneuvers, he let out a long breath, quickly shedding his clothes, preparing to release the suppression on the core of the urban legend, completing the transformation, then change into the coat stored in the metallic box.
As for why the coat was kept in the metallic box instead of worn…
After all, the cute one is an urban legend; what if he was captured for boldly wearing it into Dachunyang Palace?
It took Luxianbei two seconds to take off his shirt, and just as he was about to remove his pants, a shadow suddenly zipped past him.
Thus, Huasang and Luxianbei exchanged glances across the waterfall’s curtain, each with a puzzled expression for about half a second.
Huasang, “?”
What is he doing? Why is he taking off his clothes?
Luxianbei, “?”
Didn’t I just see a girl fly past? Is stalking requiring this level of effort now?
As Luxianbei pondered, the sun completely sank below the horizon, and the atmosphere darkened visibly. The core of the urban legend within him surged uncontrollably.
————
At 5:33:07 PM, the Zhenwu Mountain scenic area was completely covered by the night.
At the mountain’s base, the parking lot next to the ticket sales office lit up. Under the dim lights, a bus slowly pulled out from the parking lot, stopping at the bus stand for its final wait before departure.
On the bus, the driver turned to glance at the empty cabin, lit a cigarette, and stared out the window in a daze.
Again, just like usual, the last bus had exited the scenic area with not a single passenger…
That’s fine; a cigarette, an empty bus, is the freedom a middle-aged man longs for.
As the driver thought this, a soft voice suddenly pierced his ears.
“Master, is this the bus to Shizhou City?”
Following the sound, he saw a girl wearing a red and white color-blocked windbreaker standing at the bus door, her hood draped down, a few strands of pinkish-white hair falling, obscuring her face.
It’s almost summer; why is she wearing something so heavy? The driver frowned and nodded, “Yes, it’s the bus to Shizhou City.”
“Oh.” The girl replied, took out her phone to scan the QR code next to the bus door, paid the fare, boarded the bus, and walked directly to the last row by the window to sit down.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and secretly observed the girl. Just as he was about to start the vehicle, he heard the sound of another phone scanning the QR code.
Turning his head, he saw another girl boarding the bus.
She wore a white T-shirt with the bright red words “Daoist Principles of Nature” printed across the front. The loose shirt hem nearly covered her denim shorts, her long, fair legs showing through, clad in a pair of HELLOKITTY flip-flops, as if she were in another season from the previous girl.
Her waist-length hair was slightly damp, hanging messily behind her, and her bangs were pinned up with a cute butterfly-shaped clip.
A few strands framed her classic, exquisite oval face. With no makeup, her beauty and innocence were not diminished, her eyes resembling autumn water, exuding an irresistible charm.
Is it her? The one who was just stalking me? Upon seeing Huasang, Luxianbei’s heart sank, and then his gaze swept down to her flip-flops, his brow furrowing.
Those slippers look familiar; haven’t I seen them somewhere before?
Huasang stood at the bus door, scanning the cabin but failing to find Luxianbei’s figure. She sighed silently, preparing to get off, when two familiar faces appeared at the bus door.
An old man and a young man—exactly the two tourists she saw earlier at Xuanwu Flat!
It’s them? The two guys who interacted with Luxianbei.
Huasang’s gaze flickered slightly. She chose a nearby seat and sat down inconspicuously.
Is it her? The one following the Holy Son!
As Huasang noticed Salih and Sheim, they also caught sight of her, quietly exchanging glances before sitting down as well.
After waiting for a moment and seeing no one else board, the driver started the vehicle and headed towards Shizhou City.
