Chapter 258: We Are the Real Goods!
“Because I, Fang Ji, am the one chosen by the Hong Bian Holy Monk, the Miracle Saint!”
As she uttered these words, Shen Baiwei’s gaze swept across the startled faces gathered in the Dai Mu Institute hall, and her heart raced a little faster.
To carry someone else’s title and publicly condemn oneself, this should be considered one of the most absurd things she has ever done in her life.
“……”
I shouldn’t have revealed any flaws, right?
Is this method of calamity really reliable?
Will those controlled by the Shaman Queen really jump out?
Shen Baiwei pondered anxiously, her thoughts drifting back to half an hour ago.
————
About half an hour earlier.
After inexplicably exhausting her spirit energy, Shen Baiwei had a long and wonderful dream.
In the dream, she returned to the past, but the malice surrounding her did not follow her back.
She relished in the tranquility and beauty of being treated gently by the entire world, until……
Until her body felt a violent shaking, and she saw calamity appear out of thin air, hearing its voice.
“Get up! Don’t sleep! Time to work! If you don’t get up, I’ll tear your little notebook into paper airplanes!”
The beautiful dream was brief, and as long as her physical state allowed her to awaken, Luxianbei, who possessed the ability to enter dreams, would always find a way to disrupt the lovely dreams.
Awakening from her sweet dream, Shen Baiwei opened her eyes, and before her body could fully adjust to the lingering weakness, she saw the unpleasant deadpan face of calamity, its eyes growing increasingly resentful.
b*stard! Torturing me right after I wake up, huh?
Isn’t there any empathy in being human?
Thinking about how she had cared for it while it was unconscious…
Shen Baiwei secretly criticized, recalling the somewhat extreme methods she had tried to awaken calamity, including but not limited to electric shocks, acupuncture, and ice water baths, and she felt a pang of guilt.
Perhaps, this is karma?
When Luxianbei sneaked back into the Dai Mu Institute, she found that Shen Baiwei had exited the state of spirit energy exhaustion, knowing that Xia Lianqing must have completed the process of infusing her with spirit energy.
The situation was urgent, and a trustworthy and capable helper was needed. Without overthinking, she woke Shen Baiwei.
Since the repair was finished, the tool should fulfill its mission properly.
Having successfully awakened Shen Baiwei, Luxianbei quickly got out of bed and grabbed a piece of white cloth with sketches from a scroll on the wooden table. With a flick of her hand, she revealed the four large characters, still with wet ink, and a depiction of a dark god painting in front of Shen Baiwei.
“Miracle… Cult?”
Looking at the familiar name of the organization, Shen Baiwei was perplexed.
What on earth is calamity doing pulling out a banner saying “Miracle Cult”?
She sensed a strong odor of “trouble”.
“Yes! It’s the Miracle Cult,” Luxianbei said expressionlessly. “From now on, you are Fang Ji, the first Miracle Saint of the Miracle Cult after Hong Bian. When Brother Chen Long arrives later, just perform a skit with him…”
“Wait, stop!” Shen Baiwei, confused, finally interjected, “Fang Ji? Miracle Saint? Skit? What on earth are you talking about?”
“Uh, the backstory is really long to explain!” Luxianbei frowned, “Time is tight; just do as I say. Do you really think I would harm you?”
Shen Baiwei looked at Luxianbei from the corner of her eye, her chin slightly lifted. “Do you think I would let you cut to the chase? Not on your life! I’m not cooperating with you until everything is clear today; I’m not in a hurry!”
How could she not know calamity’s nature?
After so many observations, was it all for nothing?
If a matter, especially an important matter, were left for calamity to summarize, it could definitely omit some key information without affecting the main thread of the event, guiding it in a direction that is definitely beneficial to it.
Moreover, if others say “time is tight,” it might really be tight, but if calamity says so, it generally means that ample preparation time is excluded.
“Alright then!” Luxianbei sighed silently, “This matter must start from the riot that happened in the market near the Dai Mu Institute when I went to investigate, where I found the severely injured Long Bang…”
————
Under the guidance of Mama Li from the Dai Mu Institute, Luxianbei brought Long Bang back to the Longxiang Army camp and found a doctor named Yu Sheng.
Before Long Bang’s injuries could be fully explained, simply glancing at Long Bang’s external wounds prompted Yu Sheng to let her place him on the bed and began to get busy methodically.
He ordered hot water, removed the tattered armor, and carefully cut apart the bl**d-soaked clothes that clung to the wounds… By the time half of Long Bang’s wounds were treated, Yu Sheng seemed to have suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Luxianbei, who was bored nearby.
“Miss Shen, you must be tired after bringing Lord Long here all the way. Why not take a rest? I will naturally call for you once Lord Long’s wounds are treated.”
“I’m fine, I’m not tired,” Luxianbei said expressionlessly. “You do your thing; I’m just watching, I won’t disturb.”
“But…” Yu Sheng frowned, hesitating several times before he finally spoke, “I’m about to treat the lower half of Lord Long’s wounds.”
“Oh!” Luxianbei nodded, “Then go ahead; why tell me? Do you need help?”
“……” Yu Sheng was momentarily speechless, and after a while, he finally said, “There’s really nothing you can help with, just worried about compromising the lady’s integrity.”
Upon hearing this, Luxianbei realized what Yu Sheng was trying to express, covering her face with her hands as if shy, she turned and ran out of the tent.
Yu Sheng, “……”
She really doesn’t have a ladylike demeanor! Her fingers spread so wide while running, looking back as she runs… this acting is too fake.
Does this girl not understand the difference between men and women at all?
Could it be that she truly is the evil spirit and demoness as rumored?
Thinking of this, Yu Sheng shook his head and turned his gaze back to deal with Long Bang’s wounds.
After leaving the tent, Luxianbei idly wandered around the Longxiang Army camp, waiting for Long Bang’s treatment to complete and his condition to stabilize a bit before leaving.
In fact, on the way to this side, she had roughly sensed Long Bang’s injuries using her spirit perception.
From the perspective of a spirit ability user, Long Bang’s injuries were not life-threatening.
Although Long Bang’s source of spirit energy was somewhat rough, existing somewhere between totem and spirit patterns, making it hard to define, it still provided spirit energy stably enough to keep him alive temporarily. With ample alchemical potions to assist, it was not surprising he could escape with his life.
But from the human perspective, Long Bang’s injuries were extremely severe.
With multiple broken bones and meridians, even if he wouldn’t d*e, he would be left with disabilities that were hard to heal. The internal organs suffering from unclear damage would probably not support much spirit energy operation. Considering returning to the battlefield to fight like before, that was likely impossible.
Simply put, if he wasn’t paralyzed or a vegetable, it would be a miracle!
————
“Stop!” Halfway through, Shen Baiwei couldn’t help but interject, “Long Bang’s situation is enough for now!”
Luxianbei rolled her eyes, “Didn’t you ask me to start from the beginning?”
“Well, you have to first talk about the key things!” Shen Baiwei retorted impatiently. “Weren’t you just very anxious?”
Though she was worried to hear that Long Bang was severely injured in the riot, calamity was speaking in such detail from the beginning, seemingly unable to reach the point of why she needed to impersonate the Miracle Saint, and Shen Baiwei grew increasingly impatient.
“Indeed, it’s urgent…” Luxianbei glanced at the door of the room, noticing no movement outside, a hint of disappointment flashed in her eyes, “But, those idiots seem to be quite slow; it won’t help to be anxious before they come.”
Seeing that Luxianbei redirected the conversation to an unimportant topic, Shen Baiwei gritted her teeth, reminding her, “Talk about the Miracle Saint!”
“Oh oh…” Luxianbei nodded, “I’m getting to that, I’m getting to that!”
————
The rumor that “Shen Baiwei is the drought god and will bring disaster to Yumen Pass” was something Luxianbei heard while wandering around the Longxiang Army camp.
Several bored Longxiang Army armor soldiers gathered in the barracks, discussing news they didn’t know where it came from, showing no intention of avoiding suspicion.
As Luxianbei passed by that barrack, she didn’t intentionally eavesdrop, but those words slipped into her ears.
————
Upon hearing this, Shen Baiwei curiously asked, “What did they say?”
“Not much,” Luxianbei shrugged, “Just kept saying something about a demoness, calamity is coming, the people are suffering, and only miracles can save them.”
“Besides that, it was said that a power resembling the embryonic form of the Miracle Cult appeared within the God Realm Yumen, preparing to denounce and encircle Shen Baiwei…”
“Wait!” Shen Baiwei raised her hand to stop Luxianbei, her face darkening, “This Shen Baiwei probably isn’t referring to me, right?”
b*stard! Doing such things while using someone else’s name. Don’t you even know what you’ve done?
“Does it matter?” Luxianbei replied expressionlessly, spreading her hands, “Shen Baiwei is just a code name; it can be you or me. After all, we are both in the same boat, and if one person gets in trouble, the whole family suffers!”
Shen Baiwei, “……”
Your name is just a code name!
Who is it that seems to have no name of their own, always flaunting someone else’s identity and scamming everywhere?
“Alright, let’s not talk about this…” Shen Baiwei took a few deep breaths, suppressing her anger, and pressed on, “Then what happened next? Aren’t you going to clarify?”
“Clarify? For what?” Luxianbei responded without emotion, “Not only do I not intend to clarify, but I also found someone to create several other versions of the rumors… uh, stories, and I’m helping to spread them around!”
“Let’s be honest, those guys’ setups are terrible. It’s like saying that young men are afraid of Shen Baiwei absorbing their Yang energy—what do those naive women and kids have to fear? They probably fear more about the urban legends of being disfigured or having their candy stolen, right?”
“Those guys haven’t even maximized the awareness of threats and oppression caused by Shen Baiwei based on different groups and needs… my rating is garbage!”
Besides, I didn’t really create anything; I just synthesized the rumors related to “calamity,” “Gu Qiqi,” and “Wang Buliu” that I heard from others, slightly localized it. Luxianbei thought.
“？？？” Shen Baiwei’s eyes widened, her voice rising, “Oh wow! So it’s not your name, and you can just mess things up at will, huh?”
Seeing this, Luxianbei hurried over, gently covering her mouth and making a shushing gesture.
“Shh! Lower your voice, be careful of the walls having ears!”
“Tch! You come to me with this talk, and you didn’t set up any soundproof spell?” Shen Baiwei dismissed.
“I did set up dozens of minor soundproof spells…” Luxianbei admitted, “But what if? After all, there are two terrifying entities within the God Realm Yumen that cannot be measured by normal standards.”
“Terrifying entities?” Shen Baiwei tilted her head.
“Yeah.” Luxianbei nodded, her tone suddenly serious, “After all this you still haven’t caught on? Everything will happen within the God Realm Yumen, probably because the Shaman King has been sealed but not completely.”
“How to put it? He may not be able to burn the land as the rumors once suggested, but his limited power can still influence the gods within the God Realm Yumen.”
Hearing this, Shen Baiwei recalled the terrifying scenes of the God Realm Yumen a thousand years later, her heart subtly began to speculate, and she couldn’t help but frown.
Seeing her silent, Luxianbei continued, “After hearing those discussions from the Longxiang Army soldiers, I wandered around the city, and guess what? I found out from the city’s populace that the source of those messages is a group of guys claiming to possess miracle powers!”
Shen Baiwei nodded thoughtfully.
As for how calamity got the intel from the populace, she knew without asking; it definitely wasn’t anything aboveboard.
“Seems like the matter will soon be clear?” Luxianbei concluded, “The Hong Bian Monk is the one who truly wields miracle power. The sealed Shaman King’s most effective way to invade Yumen Pass is to undermine the authority of Hong Bian that has already integrated with the God Realm Yumen.”
Having just witnessed thousands of times the process of Celestial Maiden Ya’s power falling, Luxianbei easily guessed the Shaman King’s intention upon understanding what was happening in the city.
“Covertly inciting the public to surround Shen Baiwei is just a good opportunity. Even if there were no Shen Baiwei, eventually, there would be Xia Baiwei, Lu Baiwei, Jiang Baiwei…”
“Similar to how urban legends transform over time, subsequently impacting the power of urban legend, right?” Shen Baiwei frowned, “As long as there’s enough time…”
“Exactly!” Luxianbei gave a thumbs up, confirming, “What’s more, if handled properly, it might even connect a portion of the miracle’s authority with his own power covertly.”
“And then, evolve into what the Miracle Cult believes in a thousand years later?” Shen Baiwei probed.
When she first infiltrated the Miracle Cult, she was curious where those guys caught that odious habit, and now the root of the problem seemed to have been found…
If the so-called “miracle” was eroded by the Shaman King’s power, it’s no wonder the Miracle Cult acted like a bunch of berserkers.
“I understand the reasoning, but what does this have to do with ruining my reputation?”
“This…” A fleeting embarrassment flashed across Luxianbei’s eyes, then she cleared her throat and said, “Ahem! How can this ruin your reputation? This is clearly about correcting the reputation of miracles!”
“How to put it? You know what black fans are, right? The type many celebrities have! Those currently spreading rumors in the name of miracles are, from a certain perspective, the head of black fans. To counter their defamation, you must become a bigger black fan leader than them!”
“Becoming a black fan leader not only stops the Shaman King from eroding miracles but also halts the rumors. Once Shen Baiwei becomes Shen Baiwei’s largest black fan head, directing public opinion wherever you want will naturally be your decision! As long as the method is proper, those black fans following the trend might even develop feelings while blackening!”
With a stroke of luck, you might even sweetly pluck a little miracle wool from the Hong Bian Monk… Luxianbei secretly added in her heart.
“Although, but…” Shen Baiwei pondered over Luxianbei’s words, frowning, “Isn’t it enough just to secretly spread the rumors? Why impersonate Fang Ji? And holding that kind of…”
She pointed to the white cloth banner in Luxianbei’s hand, “What the hell is that? Rainbow excrement?”
“It’s clearly the Miracle Flower! How do you have no artistic appreciation at all?” Luxianbei confidently retorted, then shifted the topic, “Spreading rumors alone isn’t enough; their numbers far exceed ours!”
“The current problem is that, besides a few affected individuals who have already been controlled, there are many more black fan heads hiding among the populace of Yumen Pass, and going one by one to check them would probably be too late; we can only let them jump out themselves.”
“That’s why you need to impersonate the Miracle Saint to complete it. It’s like you disguising as a masked superhero, walking through the night to rid evil for the people, gradually accumulating fame. At this point, a b*stard suddenly jumps out and claims it’s all his doing, then enjoys the glory that should have been yours, gets the girl you like, and earns the money you want but are too shy to take; can you tolerate that?”
Most likely, she wouldn’t be able to. The key is that those guys aren’t entirely the same as superheroes who originally fought for fame and profit; failing to complete the tasks given by the Shaman King could be a matter of life and d*ath. Shen Baiwei thought, subconsciously asking, “And then?”
“Then?” Luxianbei narrowed her eyes, darkly saying, “As long as the fake can eliminate all the real ones, then it will be the only real one!”
“No, be more confident; we are already the real goods!”
“Then why don’t you go yourself?” Shen Baiwei scrutinized Luxianbei. “Doing this kind of thing, you’d be much better at it than I am!”
“Because I need to resolve some concerns first!” Luxianbei explained, “Firstly, you’ve been with the Miracle Cult, so you understand what the real Miracle Cult is better than I do and how to proceed. Secondly, I could go, but if I do, that would mean you will have to step forward and negotiate with the Hong Bian Monk.”
Shen Baiwei, “……” Me? Negotiating with Hong Bian, who has already integrated into the God Realm and possibly lacks autonomy? I’d probably d*e!
Seeing Shen Baiwei silent, Luxianbei shrugged, “I suspect those guys will likely jump out using some means to prove the legitimacy of the miracles they possess…”
“They’re probably ordinary people or low-level spirit ability users, and the source of the power behind their displays must naturally be the Shaman King. If, at the crucial moment, we cut off their source of power, rendering their means ineffective…”
“Little cutie, can you guess what will happen?”
Shen Baiwei, “……”
Luxianbei’s tone sent a chill down her spine, and in a daze, she felt as if calamity was in a rampaging state.
