Chapter 69 Great Fissure In The Ground (4)

Should he jump down?

He slowly crouched down to touch the edge of the fissure. It was the hard bedrock found below dirt. Coarse, cold and stiff. Strands of cold air turned into white fog floated up from the midst of the fissure into the air.

Cold. It was so cold.

In the current yin-yang fissure within Jingyang Slope, no matter whether or not it be human or demon, they had already all ran away. The ones that didn’t run were all killed by him. Deathly silence surrounded him and he was the only person remaining.

I guess I’ll jump down.

First, he’d save his sister and Miaomiao. Then, after saving them, he could start thinking about settling debts.

Blood still seeped out of the wound on his shoulder, dripping slowly but surely onto the cold, ash-grey rock. He suddenly smiled. His sister had never listened to him but why did Miaomiao have to run in?

Could it be that she didn’t know that Liu Fuyi and her being together was just wishful thinking? That there’d be no way he would be moved….. Since that’s the case, she would also disregard every word of his.

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He nearly instantly broke free from his shackles, flying into the air. As an experienced demon hunter, exhaustion was no stranger and nothing that could stop him. He was ready to do combat again.

Looking down, his expression suddenly changed and he rushed to the edge of the fissure. Almost at the same time, the mountains surrounding Jingyang Slope rumbled. The one closest to him ruptured, sending massive boulders flying in his direction.

“Boom—- rumbleeeeeeeee————–”

The fissure was slowly closing.

The illusion demon hadn’t been wrong. The trees, rivers and mountains of Jingyang Slope were all in the palm of her hand to control. With a wave of her hand, she could call the clouds and with another, she could make it rain. Even if Mu Sheng was able to kill all of the living demons, he had no way to take control, not even escape. Let alone the fact that he was basically a spent arrow already.

Fresh blood converged, ever more so than ever to the point that it was now nearly a rivulet. At first, trapped in his clothes, it only dripped down drop by drop but now had turned into a thin stream. He was tossed onto the ground but he clenched his teeth and climbed back up. A long stretch of blood was dragged out along the ground, the sweet scent enveloping the surrounding air.

The hand he propped against the ground shivered terribly, strenuously supporting his body. His entire body was wet and soaked, just like a drowned victim. He stared at the fissure in despair.

The gap in the earth had long closed up. All that was left, the only vestige left of its existence was a slim crack that resembled a snake. From another view, it looked just like a mocking smile.

Below the fissure was a dark and cold underground palace. The roof of the palace was exorbitantly high. Every few meters along the wall was a depression, and within each of them, was a dark green fire source that maintained its dim lighting.

Ling Miaomiao followed Mu Yao and softly landed on the ground. She ran over with a few steps to her and asked, “Sister Mu, are you alright?”

Mu Yao suddenly turned her head and grabbed her arm with an exceedingly serious expression, “Why are you down here as well?? Do you know just how dangerous it is down here?”

She was rather panicky, several talismans were tightly clenched in her palm while her arms shook. She grabbed tightly onto Ling Miaomiao’s shoulder and calmly said, “I’ll send you back up.”

“No need, I don’t want to go up….” Ling Miaomiao shook her head with all her might.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to stay up above, to insist on coming down…. It was that she really couldn’t withstand the black lotus’s fury at all. Even if he didn’t see her pushing his sister down here, it would still be hard to avoid his anger.

So, she had to run…. In that case, why not just do it cleanly? Just leap down along with Mu Yao. Then, he wouldn’t have anyone to be angry at. In any case, with the system to protect her, she wouldn’t have to fear for her life, at least for the moment.

It’s just that…. She didn’t know what kind of situation he was in up above or whether or not he could be a bit more accommodating, and understand the essence of the words ‘your life is precious!’ that she shouted to him.

Mu Yao was even more worried, “Don’t be willful. This is the domain of the illusion demon. There are mechanisms all over the ground below us. I can’t even guarantee being able to get out of here wholly intact, how could I possibly protect you?”

Miaomiao blinked with her bright, big eyes. She shook her head like a toddler would shake a rattle drum, “I’m really fine, Sister Mu. My…. my luck is good, I won’t die so easily.”

“……….” Mu Yao was annoyed and started pacing about. Then, she turned around again to pat her on the shoulder. Her beautiful and crystal-clear pupils stared into hers with utmost seriousness, “Treat it as if you’re doing me a favor, alright? Ah Sheng is above ground by himself. I’m afraid that he’d do something stupid, can you go and watch him…..”

Ling Miaomiao shook her head with even more might, “Sister Mu, I want to save Brother Liu……”

Mu Yao was about to retort but the earth shook and rumbled. The two of them looked up at the same time, only to see the line of sky far above their heads slowly shrink. Even the stars in the sky seemed to turn dim, nearly becoming hidden from sight.

Darkness seemed to set in like a net, fully covering their heads and nearly enveloping their entirety.

“The fissure is about to shut!” Mu Yao’s face turned anxious as she wrapped her arm around Miaomiao’s waist. She clenched her teeth, trying to send her up with as much force as she could muster.

However, she didn’t expect that in that instant, a sharp cold glimmer of light cut through the darkness, straight at the two.

Mu Yao’s eyes grew wide.

An attack that was as damning as this one was very likely to be the first present from the illusion demon. If she had been full-up on treasures and at her strength at peak capacity, she could easily and smoothly deal with this attack. However, in her current situation, she was caught off guard and even had a completely unarmed and defenseless Ling Miaomiao with her. If she were to try to block now, chances are she’d either directly die or survive… but barely….

It was too late.

She abruptly spun her body, trying to exchange positions with Ling Miaomiao. She tried to use her Demon Restraining Circlet to block but she didn’t think that Miaomiao would hug onto her waist with all her might, stubbornly blocking her front. She clenched her teeth and shouted: “Sister Mu, please don’t move—–”

The white streak of light fell down, just like the blade of a guillotine. Fast and fierce. ‘Whoosh’ A gush of watery-blue flame shot out, wrapping up Ling Miaomiao protectively in the blink of an eye. And because she was hugging tightly onto Mu Yao, the two of them were very quickly wrapped up in the blue flame.

White and blue collided midair, causing an ear-piercing screech to fill the air. A massive amount of force vibrated through the air, accompanied by a brilliant glow. The entire place was lit up and soon after, everything calmed down. The underground palace was still the same underground palace. The dark green flames still gloomily lit up the ground. All that was left were some small blue star-like sparks floating about in the air.

After somehow finding a path to survival through disaster, the entire underground palace was left with only the rhythmic gasping of breath of two people. Miaomiao let go of Mu Yao and started to rub her blurry eyes in exhaustion.

A good long pause after, Mu Yao finally asked curiously, “Miaomiao, what was that on your body?”

“Ugh……” Ling Miaomiao entered deep contemplation.

How was she going to explain the protective blue flames of the system to Mu Yao?

Mu Yao didn’t wait for her to reply and bent her waist to pick up something from the ground. Miaomiao saw the cold light the object reflected and realized it seemed rather familiar. It was an autumn scented spice bag with a thin white ribbon tied around the mouth.

She subconsciously reached down to touch the side of her waist, only to feel the rough texture of a roughly broken off segment.

The black lotus had used spells when he tied that spice bag on her waist. No matter where she went, it would automatically fasten itself on her waist. Not only that, it would tie itself into a dead knot. No matter how many times she changed her clothes, it would always reappear. She couldn’t get away from it. She felt that leaving it hanging on her outerwear would be strange so she could only cover it with her jacket, concealing it from view.

But now…. It had broken off so easily. She honestly couldn’t decipher the feeling she felt in her heart.

Mu Yao’s thin fingers rubbed the fabric of the spice bag. After fondling it a few times, her tone turned a little strange, “This… spice bag, where did it come from?”

“I…..” Miaomiao also didn’t know why she was so panicked at that moment as her eyebrows shook terribly, “I picked it up on the road.”

Mu Yao raised her eyes to look into hers. Then, she smoothly untied the white ribbon knot on the mouth of the spice bag and started to pick out the dried flowers within, one by one.

Miaomiao was somewhat shocked as she watched her actions. She was pretty much stupefied as she stood there watching Mu Yao pick out a small folded talisman from within the countless dried petals.

Mu Yao smoothened out the talisman and on the clear yellow paper, was a splotch of red. Her face turned deathly pale in the blink of an eye.

“Sister Mu…… what’s wrong?” Miaomiao very gingerly watched Mu Yao’s expression for any changes, somewhat at a loss. “….. why is there a talisman in this spice bag?”

Mu Yao pinched the talisman with force and showed the complex handwriting upon it. The brush strokes were thin and thick, completely without a sense of uniformity. Some places were bright red and others were turning brown; It had been written using a finger dipped into fresh blood.

She looked at the talisman. Her gaze turned complicated, “Reverse talisman.”

A sudden boom seemed to erupt in Ling Miaomiao’s head. Within the spice bag that the black lotus had forced upon her, was a reverse talisman!?

She probed in incredulity, “Then….. That blue flame just now……”

“That was its doing just now.” Mu Yao’s face did not look good in the slightest. “This reverse talisman was designed to respond to killing intent, to fight force with force. Once it detects an attack filled with killing intent, it will immediately take effect…. Fighting evil with evil.”

Her face was a web of complexity as she stuffed the talisman back into the spice bag, returning it to Ling Miaomiao. Her fingers shook slightly as she did so, “In normal times, I would immediately destroy it. However, the evil object you picked up somehow turned into a lifesaving talisman in such a turn of events….”

She hesitated for a moment, almost about to speak but then kept silent in the end.

Miaomiao accepted it from her, then slowly stuffed the dried flowers back into the spice bag. Then, once it was all stuffed into a nice ball within and had taken on a round, sack-like appearance, she smoothened out the edges of the bag and used her hand to swing it around as she mumbled to herself, “………but it had been tied nicely to me, how in the world did it fall off.”

“This reverse talisman is already useless. That’s why the spice bag would fall off.” Mu Yao explained, “The illusion demon is not your ordinary demonic creature. She is a spirit naturally born from the earth. She is the core of the countless dead buried here and her attack power is tremendous. It’s very difficult for demon hunters to resist her attacks. Just now, that attack already surpassed the limits of what the talisman could bear. Both sides suffered equally.”

Ling Miaomiao silently stuffed the spice bag and its broken ribbon into her robes. She used her finger to poke at it, as if she was trying to poke Mu Sheng’s plump and smooth forehead.

——Live peacefully alright? In the future.

Just make a normal spice bag that does what it looks like. Just a normal spice bag that smells nice.

The light of dawn was warming and bright. The youth half-leaned against the trunk of a tree. The cold crisp of the early morning roused the youth as the first glimmers of light fell upon his brows.

The chirp of birds gradually became clear. The yin yang fissure slowly turned, changing into a stream of bright light. The earth was split into white and dark, returning to its garish display of colors.

The wounds on his body started to heal, albeit slowly. The blood from his wounds had long stopped flowing and lips were pale and chapped. His head was as heavy as a thousand pounds of gold. He felt extremely dizzy as he shook his head side to side, breathing harshly and letting out several breaths of hot air.

He felt uncomfortably dizzy. And the most likely culprit was a fever.

The last time he got sick, he was still young. Mu Yao had left to gain experience and he had managed to offend Bai Yirong again. He was locked into his room and could only depend on a bucket of cold water to survive on for a week.

Afterwards, his fortitude and ability to endure became extremely strong. Normally, he concealed all of his true feelings and no one else could discover anything strange with him. No one really dared to carefully evaluate him either.

Then, even later, a girl with piercing eyes appeared beside him. She could always just see straight through him with such nonchalance.

She would use her ice-cold hand to touch his forehead. Check if his clothes were thick enough. Ask where the wounds on his wrist came from….. Ask if the river water was cold or not.

He felt flustered and angry.

…… but also a sense of fondness.

His lashes lowered and he touched the crown of his head with his fingers. Slowly, he tied up his disheveled hair, tightly fastening his hair band again.

——Even if it was a shackle in the shape of a hair band, he would still willingly stick his head out and put it on, taking the initiative to enter the cage. He would allow others to use the rains to lead and control him….. Suppress him……

He was a monster, not someone that fit in with others in the world. He had never dared to reveal his true face.

If he could only be accepted in this manner, then this manner would have to do.

Even if this continued for an eternity….. It was fine…..

Several leaves swished and swayed as they fell off the tree. They fell upon his robes and the sun gradually rose in the sky. Step by step, he walked into the creek, using the water to wash away the blood on his hair band. For a while, his body felt cold.

He hesitated for a moment then sunk into the cold water of the creek. His footsteps faltered and stumbled, nearly completely flipping over into the water as he caused countless ripples on the surface.

Strands and threads of red streaked through the flowing water.

Glistening drops of water dripped off the ends of his hair. His brows trembled and he started to shiver uncontrollably within the water.

It was still cold. It was still painful……. He was still not dead, not at the moment, at least.

There was another hand in the water, cutting through the waves and slowly climbing up his chest.

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Authors Note: (T/N: I normally don’t translate these but this one has understandable content lol)

Mu Sheng: I! Want! To! Blacken! Ahhhh——— [Raises hands towards the skies]

Fissure: Click. [Closes up right behind him]

Mu Sheng: ……

Black Lotus losses x1

TLN: Sorry for the late chapter, here it is though 🙂