Chapter 249: The Celestial Maiden “North”
When the image of Celestial Maiden Ya floated in my mind, it was as if the faces of world-famous paintings had been altered to resemble those of comedic actors, completely transformed. With spirit energy surging into Lu Yibei through her clenched palms, her consciousness entered a state of daze.
It felt like a mere moment, yet at the same time, it stretched on for hundreds of centuries. In this daze, the process of condensation for the spirit seal unfolded, and Lu Yibei sensed that the condensation process was entirely beyond her control.
However, this sudden “loss of control” did not bring about panic or fear; the spirit energy, continuously pouring forth from her palms, radiated an aura reminiscent of the Qingyi Celestial Maiden but was even more grand and intense, providing a sense of peace.
It seemed to softly say, “Leave the rest to me! I will take the final step for you.”
The condensation of the spirit seal had concluded, and the initial form of Celestial Maiden Ya began to operate autonomously. Without Lu Yibei’s guidance and control, it constructed a complex structure that upheld the powers that should have perished in the ebb of time.
During this process, Lu Yibei “heard” a calling.
That deep, thunderous calling was not a language any human could comprehend, much like how humans cannot understand the sounds of wind, the rumblings of the earth, or tsunamis. It was a special resonance that caused her heart, even her soul, to tremble in response.
It was a calling from the Gobi Desert, sandy plains, dried riverbeds, and desolate hills within a radius of thousands of miles, praising the return of their “king”…
Since the disappearance of Celestial Maiden Ya, there had never been a corresponding Cataclysm Grade born on this land for thousands of years. Thus, drought, desolation, and decay had merely been drought, desolation, and decay. But from now on, they would have another “name”—Lu Yibei.
Wherever her powers manifested, it was upon the vast red earth. Standing upon that red earth, she was singular; from today onward, until d*ath would put an end to her!
————~,
“d*mn! This kid really succeeded?”
On the ruined rooftop, Proxy Player Sister witnessed the entire process of Lu Yibei condensing the spirit seal and couldn’t help but let out a light gasp, her hands clenching tightly.
“I can’t accept this…”
She instinctively wanted to say “I can’t accept this,” but before the words left her mouth, the corners of her lips had turned upward.
Not being able to accept didn’t mean she wasn’t genuinely happy for Lu Yibei’s success.
In her view, Lu Yibei’s maneuver had almost zero probability of success; as long as a person or an urban legend existed in the world, any trace of their presence would become resistance to “faking.”
Though this resistance wasn’t insurmountable, Lu Yibei’s resistance was obviously a bit stronger than others. Fortunately, at a critical moment, she had the image from Shen Baiwei’s little notebook, which had already transformed into a “record” through her powers, along with Shen Baiwei’s spirit energy as support.
“This should be fine now, right?” Proxy Player Sister murmured to herself.
She had initially waited for Lu Yibei to fail, so she could appropriately guide her towards a “bright” path, but now, she could relax and focus on her own matters.
With the weak characteristics of “all under heaven is the king’s land” that came with [Royal Authority], she didn’t even need to worry about whether Lu Yibei could dominate those powers of great drought that originated from broad wastelands, existing since ancient times.
“However…” Proxy Player Sister pondered, resting her chin on her hand for a moment, “Should this condensed spirit seal be called the North Spirit Seal? Tsk, it feels like some weird dialect from somewhere.”
————~,
Huacheng.
For Du Sixian, today was still a busy and ordinary evening.
After waking up from her midday nap, she went to the Huacheng Siye Society to handle some tasks assigned to her as a preparatory operative. The urban legends in Huacheng had been quite calm lately, so the tasks she was assigned were simple. If they couldn’t be resolved, they could be postponed until the evening to be dealt with back at the office.
After spending less than an hour completing her work, she took the opportunity to borrow the training grounds of the Huacheng Siye Society to practice the spell formulas she learned from the Witch for three hours.
However, the spell formulas taught by the Witch weren’t very presentable, so she could only use similar internal spell formulas from the Siye Society as substitutes.
By evening, it was time to address the various matters of the Calamity Scare Irresponsible Company. The financial reports had to be reviewed every three days, and the company was doing reasonably well selling spirit energy items on the urban legend bounties website.
She also had to keep an eye on the little urban legends, supervising them to avoid causing trouble. Though most of the time they remained clean in their actions, her dear operative Li Xuan would often catch some clues, keeping an eye on them ahead of time which helped her save a lot of trouble.
In addition, occasional conflicts stemming from differing powers among the little urban legends would also need her mediation…
Recently, she was planning to collaborate with the Urban Legends Chat Group to establish an online agency, selecting a group of little urban legends to become VUPs.
After all, if they don’t show their face, who knows if they’re the one behind the character or the actual character?
Those little urban legends were often more talented than many people, and they knew how to entertain.
There were many trivial and bothersome tasks, but Du Sixian was always enthusiastic about them.
She liked her job, but occasionally, when she thought of the Witch, she couldn’t help but mutter a few complaints in her heart.
It had been a long time since the Witch came to check on her; when would she come again?
Outside the office door, soft footsteps echoed, followed by a white-clothed urban legend, carrying its own head with both hands, pushing the door open to enter.
“Boss, the little urban legends in the break area are clamoring for the air conditioning…”
“Things like this…” Du Sixian started to say, then paused, confused, “Do they want to turn on the heating this early? Isn’t that inappropriate?”
It was the time of changing weather, and it wasn’t time to turn on the heating yet; wouldn’t that just be wasting money?
Such extravagance was a bad habit that couldn’t be indulged!
“Not heating, but cooling,” the white-clothed urban legend explained. “I don’t know why, but the temperature is exceptionally high today.”
“Boss, don’t you feel the heat?”
“Heat?” Du Sixian tilted her head, glancing at the weather forecast on the bottom right corner of her computer screen.
[43°C, clear skies, relative humidity 17%]
Du Sixian, “…”
She indeed didn’t feel the heat, but as the number one subordinate of “North Goddess,” isn’t bearing high temperatures quite normal?
After a brief silence, as if she thought of something, Du Sixian’s eyes brightened, and she waved her hand, saying, “Then let them turn it on, and set it to maximum. If that’s not enough… no, immediately send someone to buy cold drinks and ice cream for them. If they can’t find any, just go to the Huacheng Grand Hotel to order! I have the dessert chef’s number over there.”
With temperatures hotter than midsummer and relative humidity lower than certain deserts, she instantly realized that this must be Lu Yibei’s powers affecting the earth’s energy in Huacheng.
Although she didn’t know what had happened, it seemed her senior had become even more formidable, which was worth celebrating!
Since it was time to celebrate, what’s the harm in spending a little money?
————~,
In the late hours of the night, at the Huacheng Siye Society.
Li Xuan hurriedly walked toward the surveillance room, his expression serious, while inquiring with An Qing.
“Why did a silver pigeon signal get issued out of nowhere? What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing serious…” An Qing said, holding a freshly lit cigarette, curling his lips, “Just that that guy hiding in the outskirts’ coal mine suddenly surfaced, seemingly trying to escape Huacheng.”
“Outskirts’ coal mine?” Li Xuan frowned slightly.
He had a deep impression of the urban legend mentioned by An Qing; it was one of the few A-Level urban legends from the Calamity Witch organization that did not respond or participate in the struggle during Hundred Demons Walk.
According to the documents left by the seniors of the Huacheng Siye Society, that guy seemed to possess powers that partially derived from the X God, symbolizing hydrocarbon combustion.
From recent reports submitted by the Shancheng Siye Society regarding the incident of the X God’s offspring descending, the operatives at the Siye Association Headquarters deduced that the X God and its offspring had appeared in Huacheng, likely to seek out that entity hidden beneath the mine.
Earlier, the Huacheng Siye Society also received a document from the Headquarters urging them to closely monitor that urban legend’s movements.
“Reason?” Li Xuan asked.
“Geothermal energy,” An Qing slowly exhaled smoke. “Earlier, the Special Action Team detected an astonishing amount of heat surging beneath Huacheng… Speaking of which, didn’t you notice how peculiar it is tonight?”
“Geothermal energy?” Li Xuan was taken aback, gradually widening his eyes. “Could it be Calamity?”
You have to know, back when Calamity completed the Hundred Demons Walk, Huacheng had also prematurely ended its winter, and the temperature began to warm up.
If it was Calamity controlling Huacheng’s earth energy, coupled with changes in its powers, leading to climate anomalies in Huacheng, then the urban legend hidden in the underground mine sensing a threat from Calamity wanting to escape was completely reasonable.
An Qing raised an eyebrow, reminding him, “You dare to directly invoke the name of Calamity?”
“What can’t I call?” Li Xuan shrugged dismissively. “Just a mere king of Huacheng urban legends, I’ll say it; Calamity, despicable and shameless Calamity, repulsive Calamity.”
An Qing silently stared at Li Xuan for a few seconds before shrugging, “Suit yourself, but do you think you can still call her name when something of this magnitude occurs?”
“Are you suggesting that she has already…” Once the words escaped his mouth, Li Xuan’s complexion suddenly changed to an ashen tone.
Seeing this, An Qing patted his shoulder and kindly offered him a cigarette.
————~,
In Shancheng, inside the parking lot of CHARMCLUB.
Zhang Yu squatted on the ground, staring at the “Titan” motorcycle he had bought for a hefty price, lost in thought.
Just as CHARMCLUB had wrapped up, he rushed down to the underground parking lot, ready to ride his beloved motorcycle home for some rest. In a moment of urgency, he activated his powers, and then…
The motorcycle exploded into flames, witnessed by several CHARMCLUB employees.
Not only did it start spitting fire, but both wheels were also engulfed in flames.
It was just like some sort of ghost rider, prompting several employees to exclaim, “Boss is awesome!” until Zhang Yu screeched and fell off the bike, rolling on the ground.
“…”
This must be the “welfare” that Lady Lan Yi granted to her subordinates, right?
How long has it been since they parted ways? She had actually advanced again…
It seems she is indeed someone worth following.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, quietly pulling out a cell phone from his jacket pocket and dialing a garbled number.
“Hello? Yes, it’s because of that incident last time. I wanted to say, I’m sorry; I can’t assist you in investigating Lady Lan Yi anymore.”
Although Lady Lan Yi had helped protect the city he wished to safeguard during the chaos created by the offspring of the Haze God and even saved his life, he felt grateful. However, prior to this, when the Elders’ Council of the Solar Eclipse Society approached him to help investigate Lan Yi, he still chose to delay.
In his view, offending the Elders’ Council for Lan Yi and losing his life was not worth it at all.
As a subordinate, while he couldn’t do anything harmful to his master’s interests, preserving himself within reasonable bounds was still acceptable.
But now…
He suddenly felt that Lady Lan Yi might be worth following with his life.
“Why do you ask?” Zhang Yu smirked, “Because I’m a member of the Lan Yi Party!”
With that, he forcefully hung up the phone.
————~,
In the God Realm Prototype.
It was early morning. Qing Ji finished feeding Wang Ying breakfast and was preparing to help her dress to take her to kindergarten.
However, when he came out of the bedroom holding a down coat, Wang Ying’s little head began to shake violently, like a rattle drum.
“Not wearing it, not wearing it!”
“This child!” Qing Ji rolled his eyes, “Why are you suddenly throwing a tantrum? Is it because of yesterday’s punishment?”
“It’s not, it’s not!” Wang Ying pouted, “Because it’s going to be hot today, extremely hot!”
“Hot?”
“Mmhm!” Wang Ying nodded earnestly, “Because of Master Little North!”
Because of that brat? Qing Ji froze for a moment, then seemed to sense something and turned to look outside the window.
Outside, the sun had risen from beneath the horizon, casting down golden light.
That sunlight wasn’t too intense, but being bathed in it brought forth an inexplicable heat.
Sensing that heat that contained some terrifying power, two words flashed through Qing Ji’s mind—Calamity.
Was that the power of Cataclysm that brat spoke of?
The thing he had missed out on…
Huh, it’s nothing much! Qing Ji thought.
————~,
Deep within the Lime Men, in a dark and narrow little warehouse.
“Hey, hey! It’s just a loss, no need to cry, right?” Hunqiu Luxuming said, extending a spirit energy-consolidated arm from his round body to pat the man’s shoulder.
“I’m not crying…” the man replied with a deadpan expression.
“But…” Hunqiu Luxuming said, “Your face looks worse than crying!”
“You don’t understand; I’m just sad for Lu Yibei. She rejected a correct path,” the man said.
“Is that so?” Hunqiu Luxuming shrugged, “I think the path Little North is taking is the correct one right now.”
The man shook his head and silently sighed, “I hope when she has to bear the corresponding cost for her misjudgments, you can still say that.”
Upon hearing this, Hunqiu Luxuming fell silent for a long while until the man got up to leave. He finally called out to the man’s back, “Hey! I remember we just made a bet, right? You lost the bet; you don’t plan to go back on your word, do you?”
The man stopped, glanced back at Luxuming, and calmly said, “Rest assured, Mr. Yunshen Machine, I won’t go back on my word. When you need to leave this place, I will return. However… when that time comes, please keep your promise and return within three days.”
“Tsk!” Hunqiu Luxuming spat, “Can’t you show a bit more trust? I’m just a ball now; even if I cheat you, you would still find a way to catch me within three days, right?”
The man said nothing more and simply turned to leave.
With a light sound of “bang,” the door closed, and the little warehouse fell back into darkness…
