Chapter 252: The Soul of God Realm Yumen
After driving away Long Bang, Luxianbei did not help Shen Baiwei change her clothes as she had said.
Although she was temporarily unable to return to her original appearance due to the lingering effects of the human world, she was still clear about the principle of not having inappropriate contact between men and women.
What she was even clearer about was that Shen Baiwei was “self-igniting.” This was not a case of getting possessed but an influence from her. The faint spirit energy fluctuations emitted by those crimson flames clearly originated from the aura of the “North Goddess” spiritual seal.
If not, how could she dare to watch Shen Baiwei burn for more than ten minutes without intervening?
If her dear Time Maiden were to break down, she would be stuck in this cursed place.
The reason Luxianbei drove away Long Bang was primarily to take advantage of Shen Baiwei’s fainting state to tear down the portrait of herself that was in Shen Baiwei’s little notebook and sneak it away without anyone noticing.
Perhaps before the spiritual seal formed, it was just an ordinary portrait, but now, using that portrait as a blueprint while condensing the spiritual seal had replaced the face of Celestial Maiden Ya, turning it into more than just an ordinary portrait; it was now evidence of her “theft” of Celestial Maiden Ya’s authority.
If such a thing accidentally fell into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, like that man, it could potentially become a tool to suppress the North Goddess’s spiritual seal through covert manipulation.
Luxianbei wasn’t distrustful of Shen Baiwei, nor did she worry about her betraying her. After all, they had become life-and-d*ath friends…
But what if Shen Baiwei was bewitched and controlled? Or worse, what if she was killed?
Handing over something that could threaten her to others was still unsettling for Luxianbei, so she could only take action while Shen Baiwei was unconscious.
If Shen Baiwei woke up, judging by her previous behavior of not letting Luxianbei even touch her little notebook, whether she could obtain the portrait smoothly was up in the air.
At that time, she could only faintly knock her out and forcibly take it. What would be the difference from now taking advantage of her while she was in a stupor?
“Where is it? How come it’s not here? That guy wouldn’t have hidden the notebook in some private part, would he? Like, in his pants?”
Luxianbei frowned, muttering quietly as she carefully searched Shen Baiwei. Just then, as if in a hallucination, a murmur began to sound in her ears.
“Everything is a conspiracy… Destruction is imminent…”
The voice was vague, carrying a touch of annoyance and sadness, almost indistinguishable from the demonic whispers portrayed in movies.
Who could withstand this?
Luxianbei, already feeling guilty about stealing, was startled when she suddenly heard someone speaking and quickly exclaimed, “I’m not, I didn’t, I was just helping her change clothes!”
After saying this, she froze in place, waiting for a few seconds, and when no other sounds came, she slowly turned around.
The room was empty, with no one else around. The locked door before she started searching for the notebook showed no signs of having been disturbed. Expanding her spiritual perception, she carefully searched around and only found Shen Baiwei’s spirit energy fluctuations in the room…
But where did that voice come from?
As Luxianbei pondered, that eerie whisper echoed again.
“Everything is a conspiracy… Destruction is imminent…”
This time, the voice seemed clearer. Luxianbei followed the direction from which the sound came and her gaze landed on a window that was slightly ajar.
Could it be outside the window? Luxianbei furrowed her brow slightly, stood up and walked over to the window, leaning against the wall as she cautiously pulled back the curtain and pushed the window open.
As the window was pushed halfway open, a small patch of the God Realm Yumen came into view, and a strange, dangerous feeling suddenly flooded her senses.
A vague, weak sense of presence guided her to raise her head and look up at the sky.
There was no sun or clouds in the sky, only light streaming down from who knows where, illuminating the entire God Realm Yumen as if it were daylight. Aside from that, there were no visible plants, but Luxianbei’s enhanced spiritual perception, thanks to the North Goddess’s spiritual seal, told her that something must exist there.
Within the faint golden light, there was something vast, lacking an actual form, unable to be perceived by any normal means, slowly writhing.
That thing seemed to be one with the God Realm Yumen, harboring some shocking power, as if it were… the soul of God Realm Yumen?
Shouldn’t there be such a thing in a God Realm? Could it be that God Realm Yumen had become sentient? Luxianbei thought uneasily.
That power, seemingly originating from God Realm Yumen, was strong and secretive; she felt that if she had not yet obtained Cataclysmic Grade power, she might not have even sensed its existence. But it was precisely because she had obtained Cataclysmic Grade power that she was now being targeted by that force.
In a daze, Luxianbei sensed that there was something invisible falling from the sky, getting closer, like some large monster stretching out sticky tentacles toward her from the horizon.
An intense discomfort surged, causing her to feel flustered and restless, as if she were holding her breath, unable to breathe easily.
Is it coming?
As that thing approached, Luxianbei instinctively clenched her sweaty fist, secretly preparing to channel the spiritual seal in resistance.
Although she currently held Cataclysmic Grade power, it was clear that the opponent was of the same level, perhaps even slightly stronger. If they truly clashed, the outcome remained uncertain.
Perhaps… only a 40% chance of victory? What’s the difference from certain d*ath? Luxianbei thought.
Just then, that invisible thing suddenly stopped, then seemed to be pulled back by some force, shrinking significantly toward the sky, as if something were tugging at it.
In the next moment, that thing returned completely to the distant sky.
It had not vanished.
It was still there, just drawn away by something far more terrifying.
And that force originated from underground in the God Realm Yumen…
Luxianbei lowered her gaze, focusing on the street outside Dai Mu Institute, staring intently as if trying to see through the ground to the depths below.
However, she could vaguely sense that something existed down there but could not discern exactly what it was.
Her spiritual perception seemed blocked by some force, only able to probe about ten meters underground before unable to delve further.
But even if she couldn’t get deeper, she could ascertain that, in addition to that thing in the sky, there was also a big fellow underground!
“…”
What is this?
Leveling up, the new user protection period has passed, and the brutal game rules have been unreservedly presented before her?
This cursed place can’t let people off the hook? I just recently leveled up, can’t they assign a few puny ones for me to comfortably get used to? Luxianbei thought resentfully, glancing over at the sleeping Shen Baiwei.
After a moment of contemplation, she decided to set aside the matter of finding the portrait and first check on Shen Baiwei’s condition.
Although it was not that she couldn’t battle those two terrifying beings, only by successfully activating the Time Maiden could she have an escape route for when the battle became daunting…
This was far more important than rushing back to resolve the forty-eight-hour deadline left by the Wordless Book.
After all, that deadline had long surpassed a hundred days; it was useless to hurry.
————
Luxianbei’s spiritual patterns and physical condition were evident with just a sweep of her enhanced perception as the spiritual seal condensed and solidified.
Weak body, stable but sluggish spiritual patterns—these were clear symptoms of severe energy depletion.
Extremely serious energy depletion!
If it were to be compared to a flame, it was merely a faint spark remaining.
It was as if she had encountered some urban legend that drained spirit energy, completely emptying her body!
But… this shouldn’t have much to do with me, right? It’s mostly her own fault for messing things up! Luxianbei pouted, her thoughts shifting as she employed her dream abilities.
Checking Shen Baiwei’s mental state.GIF
Hearing Long Bang say she had been in a deep sleep for a hundred days, she was worried about any issues with Shen Baiwei’s mental state during this time. After all, prior to her deep sleep, that aggressive, troubling serpent closely associated with her spiritual patterns was already driving her insane.
The Shaman Queen and Hong Bian, hidden within the city, had brought great pressure to Luxianbei, making her anxious for Shen Baiwei to wake up.
At such a time, if the Time Maiden were to be ruined by that serpent, and an accident occurred, it would truly be like a cucumber falling into a cesspool—not dead but still finished.
“How strange! Where is that serpent?”
After the inspection, Luxianbei emitted a sound of surprise.
Shen Baiwei’s dream was dull, yet comforting.
In the dream, she sat in a sunlit hospital room, leaning on the hospital bed, holding her little notebook, watching the golden ginkgo tree outside as she scribbled and drew. The sound of the pen gliding across the paper echoed in the empty hospital room.
As for the previously twisted and bizarre laboratory, Shen Baiwei’s zombie-like figure wandering the long, dark corridors, and that gruesome serpent formed from “Shen Baiwei’s” corpse… all those terrifying images had vanished without a trace, leaving not a single mark.
It was as if those cold, bizarre, and discomforting things had completely lost their connection to Shen Baiwei.
Upon reopening her eyes and glancing at the sleeping Shen Baiwei, Luxianbei nodded in satisfaction, “The patient’s mental state has improved quite a bit! Thanks to my miraculous medical skills… isn’t it only fair I get a banner for this?”
Since it was all Northbei’s credit…
Once the Time Maiden wakes up, I’ll have to extort her a good amount!
————
After carefully checking Shen Baiwei’s condition, Luxianbei felt a slight relief.
No injuries, stable spiritual patterns, good mental state, just energy depletion… at this point, the Time Maiden was like a brand-new electronic device that hadn’t had the chance to recharge. She just needed to be placed somewhere to recharge for a while and could reboot.
For an A-Class Spiritual Ability User with normal spiritual patterns, this process wouldn’t take too long.
If someone else cast a spell to assist, she could recover to a satisfactory level in about three or four hours. Luxianbei had some experience in this regard.
Although in general cases, there was also the option of injecting energy into Shen Baiwei to force her to wake up, that was typical, and Luxianbei was not suited for it.
The successful condensation of the North Goddess’s spiritual seal had made all the spirit energy within her body carry a “drought” effect. This was not merely aimed at moisture but was a “drought” of all kinds, including spirit energy!
In other words, indiscriminately injecting spirit energy into Shen Baiwei could even exacerbate her energy depletion.
This was like forcefully charging with an incompatible charger; how could that be good?
What if it exploded?
She even needed to be cautious when casting spells to restore Shen Baiwei’s spirit energy; one mistake and the “blue recovery buff” might become a “burn blue debuff” under the influence of the North Goddess’s power.
Having just successfully condensed her spiritual seal, Luxianbei did not have enough confidence to control that power freely to ensure her spells would not be affected by the North Goddess’s abilities.
“…”
With that, if she wanted Shen Baiwei to wake up sooner, she would have to find other Spiritual Ability Users for help.
For instance, that punk Long Bang or Xia Lianqing?
As Luxianbei was thinking, a knock on the door suddenly sounded.
“Miss Shen? Miss Shen, are you in there? I don’t know what’s going on today, but the weather is particularly hot, so I made some mung bean soup to bring to you.”
The person speaking outside the door was none other than Xia Lianqing…
