Chapter 142: Gone Again…
Looking at the Three Feet White Ribbon gliding over the beam, Luxianbei was momentarily stunned before realizing that the woman intended to hang herself.
Her feet, clad in embroidered shoes, gently kicked as the octagonal wooden stool fell to the ground with a thud, and her voluptuous and enchanting figure instantly plunged downwards.
However, just as she began to fall, and before the Three Feet White Ribbon could tighten, a pair of delicate, fair hands suddenly appeared beneath her feet.
Though Luxianbei felt that the life or d*ath of the beautiful woman had nothing to do with her…
As a veteran of being a double agent, she knew very well that if she’s playing both sides, she either has to stab one side to d*ath to satisfy the other, or pit both sides against each other relentlessly, preventing them from realizing what’s happening or giving themselves a chance to retaliate. The most taboo action was to be indecisive like this woman.
If she couldn’t bear to harm others, then she’d be harming herself, and dying wouldn’t be unjust.
However, seeing someone in front of her poised to end their life, Luxianbei instinctively reached out to help.
She wasn’t a saint; she simply couldn’t stand to watch someone end their life in front of her like this.
If one was to d*e, they shouldn’t d*e in front of her.
It would be like seeing someone gamble away their fortune, owing hundreds of thousands in online loans, having their phone blown up daily by debt collectors, and under immense pressure, climbing to the rooftop, ready to end that miserable life…
Some people, upon seeing this, would mock that person; others would feel overwhelmed with compassion and try everything to save them.
But Luxianbei would walk to the rooftop, sit down at a distance from the person, and advise them against doing something foolish in a crowded place—because if they fell and hit an old person or child passing by below, that wouldn’t be good.
Then she’d kindly tell them a secluded spot, one away from the crowd, where they could leave quietly, also giving a heads-up to the Siye Society about the location where the person ended things, just in case that person became an urban legend.
So, Luxianbei’s reaction was simply a matter of character.
In fact, as soon as her palm touched the woman’s feet, she regretted it.
It was akin to an impulse to cut off one’s hand after overspending during a shopping festival.
Why couldn’t she control her hands?
Although she had long sensed that she could touch and influence the “people” and things appearing in this Hook Column, and had even played a series of pranks downstairs just moments ago, she had always been careful not to make physical contact with any “person.”
Heaven knows what kind of change would occur after touching these ghostly things!
Right after that, it felt like a homemade bomb filled with steel nails and blades had exploded in her hand, sending a tearing pain surging from her palm. Luxianbei was only a second slow in retracting her hand, and her palm was already a bloody mess.
Her palm looked as if it had been through a meat grinder, with numerous tiny wounds appearing, bleeding profusely, and at the edges of those wounds, countless chaotic black lines, resembling graffiti, could be faintly seen.
As those lines danced and moved, a shock-like sensation coursed through her, causing her palm and eventually her entire arm to quickly lose feeling.
What on earth were these “lines”? Luxianbei’s pupils quivered slightly.
She had seen these “lines” before.
She had seen them when she first encountered the Proxy Player Sister in her “dream.”
How could she not know what kind of being the Proxy Player Sister was?
While she didn’t yet know what these black lines meant, in that instant of seeing them, Luxianbei realized she might have gotten herself into big trouble.
The Proxy Player Sister, like the Red Bean Pine, was poisonous from head to toe. What good could come from appearing around the Proxy Player Sister?
Lost in thought, the bright sunlight outside abruptly plunged into darkness, as if a light had been turned off.
After a few seconds of waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark, Luxianbei suddenly discovered that the entire room had returned to how it looked when she first entered.
Dark, desolate, with a hint of eeriness…
Then, a premonition suddenly flashed through her mind.
【She is quietly watching you from behind.】
Luxianbei froze for a moment and spun around to see a figure in a crimson long dress standing behind her, seemingly the same beautiful woman she had seen before.
Only now, the woman was no longer beautiful; her face was swollen and pale, her purplish tongue dangling out of her mouth, and her bulging eyeballs seemed about to pop out of her eye sockets, resembling a depiction of a corpse who had hanged herself.
From head to toe, Luxianbei scanned the woman, and as soon as she saw the woman’s feet, she suddenly frowned, her face paling slightly.
One of the embroidered shoes on the woman’s feet was missing, as if it had been torn off by someone…
————
On the other side, within the brick and stone buildings near the center palace of Yumen Pass.
After temporarily reaching a cooperative relationship with Shen Baiwei, Fang Ji had been trying to find the Elders of the Miracle Cult, while also surveying the surrounding terrain to prepare for his ultimate goal—the tomb of Hong Bian Monk.
Cautiously avoiding the hidden fluctuations of spirit energy in the darkness, like a nocturnal creature, he swiftly passed through crumbling and dilapidated buildings, soon spotting a structure that was distinctly different from the earthen houses and brick courtyards he had seen.
From a distance, it resembled a temple, with red walls and blue tiles, and the already decaying wooden eaves towering mysteriously high, seemingly aiming to evoke a sense of reverence.
However, the outer walls of this building were carved with fierce tigers, hunting dogs, bulls, elephants, and other animals that people were familiar with, yet seldom regarded as divine offerings.
But what drew more attention was that the temple was shrouded in a faint, pure white glow, as if moonlight were spilling from the heavens on a clear night, exuding an air of sacred solemnity.
Such a building, placed elsewhere, would surely lead people to suspect that a deity was truly resting within.
However, situated in Yumen Pass, a place saturated with pain and despair, seemingly frozen in the moment of dying, unwilling to perish yet unable to live, it just felt eerily out of place.
That sensation was like a pearl held in the mouth of a thousand-year-old corpse, meant to prevent decay; even if it gleamed brilliantly, most would have no desire to touch it.
However…
Fang Ji and Shen Baiwei were clearly not part of that majority.
From the subtle expressions on their faces, it was evident that they were currently exceptionally excited.
Like grave robbers who had discovered pearls in the mouths of ancient corpses, rubbing their hands together in joy.
Shen Baiwei immediately recognized the source of the carvings on the building’s outer wall and quietly reminded Fang Ji, “The reliefs on the outer wall seem to show the style of Zoroastrianism…”
This was almost a blatant hint.
She was signaling to Fang Ji that this structure had a close connection with the Miracle Cult, and it was even possible that the tomb of Hong Bian Monk was hidden within.
“Hmm!” Fang Ji nodded, fixated on the building ahead. His gaze flickered as if he could see many things that Shen Baiwei couldn’t.
Over a dozen minutes prior, he had sensed that the Miracle Flower he “borrowed” from Luxianbei had returned to him.
In that instant, the rich fragrance of the Miracle Flower enveloped his body, as if a key quietly turned inside him, unlocking layers of shackles. The dormant power surged forth suddenly.
As the Miracle Flower left his body, the debuffs of halved physical strength, weakness, and sluggish spirit energy operation instantly dissipated, as if his limbs were slaves that had long been shackled, finally gaining freedom, letting out joyous cheers, as if welcoming a rebirth.
At that moment, Fang Ji knew that “miracle” was about to descend upon him.
And now, just as he expected, after seemingly aimlessly exploring for a few minutes, he felt as though mysteriously guided by some unseen force, arriving before this temple.
In his sight, the illusory, vibrantly colored flowers emitting dazzling golden light covered the entire building, and the faint calls carried on the wind were all telling him that he had reached his destination.
“…”
The tomb of the First Generation Miracle Saint likely lay within this temple; the aura it exuded matched that of the golden figure in Qiuchun Town.
Now, he just needed to join a few Elders and acquire the sacred relics in their possession to complete the final ritual.
Once that fellow awakens, everything can come to an end, Fang Ji thought.
Just as he secretly calculated how to awaken the First Generation Miracle Saint, allowing the light of miracles to envelop the people within Yumen Pass, Shen Baiwei suddenly turned her head sharply to the distance, the excitement that had originally lit up her face vanishing, replaced by a grave expression.
She looked at Fang Ji, opened her mouth to say something, but before she could get the words out, her body seized up violently as if struck by lightning.
Noticing Shen Baiwei’s abnormality, Fang Ji withdrew his gaze from the building and caught her, frowning as he asked, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“…” Shen Baiwei’s lips opened and closed several times before she finally managed to squeeze out a broken sentence, “Someone has touched the past…”
Fang Ji, “???”
What the hell? What does that mean? Touching the past… How is that related to your sudden ailment?
Just as he was baffled by Shen Baiwei’s words, even more astonishing circumstances unfolded.
Out of the corner of his eye, the vast Miracle Flowers covering the temple abruptly vanished, and the faint calls he had heard fell into silence.
That feeling was as if his Miracle Flowers had returned to the hands of calamity.
Gone again…
Before Fang Ji could recover from the sorrow of the lost Miracle Flowers, a heavy sound of footsteps resounded from afar.
Following the sound, two figures draped in tattered black armor were swiftly approaching from the distance.
These were indeed the urban legends formed from the soldiers of the Nanling County King…
