Chapter 491: So-called Divine Land

When Lu Yibei proposed to choose the extremely dangerous second option, the PL girl fell silent, her gaze sweeping back and forth over the girl before her, as if she were looking at a stranger.

The Lu Yibei she knew should be the type to say, “If time could be peaceful, I’d just lay low till the end of days!” or “Since the world needs a loser anyway, why can’t it be me?”

Even if the whole world had to die, she’d be the one hiding till the final round.

As the PL girl thought this, she flipped her small hand and, from who knows where, pulled out a microphone, shoving it in Lu Yibei’s face.

“Miss Lu Yibei, may I interview you? Why did you go from being someone extremely timid to a good girl full of responsibility?”

“What kind of mental journey led to such a huge change?”

“Damn! Who the hell is ‘Miss’!” Lu Yibei impatiently pushed away the PL girl’s hand and said in a low voice, “Is there even a ‘why’ for this kind of thing?”

If I do nothing, I’ll end up as someone’s plush ball. The simpler plan means destroying my mom’s relics with my own hands, along with tens of thousands of lives.

Do I have any other choice? Lu Yibei thought.

But you could obviously be a bit more ruthless… The PL girl looked at Lu Yibei with deep meaning, her eyes narrowing slightly.

What exactly changed you?

Was it the karmic ties left by your dad, the subtle influence of those unreliable folks from The Midnight Watchers Society, or your contact with hauntings like Gou Meng and the Void?

Maybe it’s a bit of everything, but the reason doesn’t matter. What’s important is that she’s becoming more and more “unfamiliar,” not more familiar, and that’s a good thing!

The PL girl remembered Lu Yibei once joking that she wanted to “save” the world.

Although Ms. Wang Meili created this special space originally for Lu Yibei to rehearse destroying the world and deceive fate,

That doesn’t stop her from doing the opposite, using this special space to rehearse “saving” it!

Maybe one day in the future, she really can grow from “natural disaster” to the symbol of “ward off disasters” spoken of by the little Hauntings in Hua City.

At this thought, a joyful expression appeared on the PL girl’s face after a long silence, and she let out a hearty sigh.

“Whew—-! Then go all out, Lu Yibei. With me backing you up, even the Jade Emperor himself couldn’t stop you!”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei sneaked a glance at the dark, cloud-filled sky, quietly shifted a little to the side, and only after making sure she wouldn’t be affected if the PL girl got struck by lightning did she ask, “Even if you say that, I still need to know what I should do, right?”

“Just now you only said the second option is very risky and will bring me a lot of trouble, but you didn’t say what I should actually do, did you?”

“First…” The PL girl raised a finger and explained, “Just like the first option, you have to find the core that keeps this special space running…”

Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment and interrupted, “How am I supposed to find it? How would I know where that damn core is?”

When the PL girl mentioned the core that keeps this special space running, Lu Yibei instinctively thought of something like a haunting’s core entity.

Even if the range of this special space is similar to Hua City, it’s still several thousand square kilometers. Trying to find a haunting’s core entity in such a short time is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“It’s easy to find!” The PL girl smiled. “If you’re lucky, she might even come to you on her own. If not, I can send you to her later.”

If I’m lucky, she’ll come to me? Is it even a living creature? Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully. “So what do I do after I find it?”

“After you find it…” The PL girl paused, half-concealing, “She’ll tell you what to do then. I won’t tell you for now.”

After all, for you, it might be a bit cruel. I can’t say it to your face… the PL girl added in her heart.

“So mysterious…” Lu Yibei muttered, then pressed, “And then?”

“Then, you’ll have to face the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance head-on,” the PL girl said solemnly. “I know that when you were in Taoyuan, you encountered the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance at Gou Meng’s place, right?”

“Yeah!” Lu Yibei nodded. “That time, that disgusting lump of flesh even attacked me and tried to copy my power. In the end, I don’t know how, but it self-destructed.”

“But the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance you encountered that time wasn’t even an avatar, just scraps,” the PL girl said. “This time, you’ll be facing flesh that’s absorbed a huge amount of psychic energy and is being manipulated by someone behind the scenes. Do you understand what that means?”

“I get it, I get it!” Lu Yibei nodded repeatedly. “It’s like the difference between farming mobs for XP in PVE and going head-to-head in PVP, right?”

“May I ask, is the opponent I’m facing this time not so strong that I have no chance of fighting back? If that’s the case, maybe we should talk about escape routes instead.”

I’m just a Silver player. I can maybe solo Gold or Platinum, but if it’s a pro-level enemy, it’s better to give up early, Lu Yibei thought.

“It’s not that bad yet.” The PL girl opened her mouth, held back her urge to retort, and said with a pout, “As long as you’re mentally prepared. But after you deal with the flesh of the Beast of Inheritance attached to this special space, the real test is just beginning.”

“If you want to stop this special space from being destroyed, you have to replace its original core, become the new core, and gain complete control over it. Only then can you direct its movements and prevent the real Hua City from being affected.”

“What’s so hard about that?” Lu Yibei patted her modest chest and said, “Just leave it to me!”

Seeing this, the PL girl gave Lu Yibei a hard smack. “That’s a special space with the embryonic form of a Divine Land. Where do you get your confidence from?”

After saying that, the PL girl looked at her with a worried face, as if to say, “You don’t even understand this much, it’s really worrying. How can I ever feel at ease letting you go out and roam the world in the future?”

She suddenly felt that Lu Yibei wasn’t as timid as before, and maybe that wasn’t entirely a good thing.

In this world full of hauntings, when a reckless person steps in, either they make one wrong move and have no way forward or back, eventually being tormented into madness, or they slip up and the whole village pays the price.

Even if this special space is just the embryonic form of a Divine Land, with a Divine Land of this scale, given Lu Yibei’s current psychic energy level, it would be quite a stretch for her to handle it.

“I just thought saying it like that would make me seem more motivated and imposing, you know?” Lu Yibei rubbed her head and grumbled, “Besides, no one ever told me what a Divine Land even is!”

“How about you give me some time to go back and flip through The Midnight Tome?”

The PL girl rolled her eyes and snapped, “If you can find anything about Divine Lands in that kind of children’s popular science book, I’ll eat my hat!”

“Unless you have the guts to go to the main headquarters of The Midnight Watchers Society and look at the first edition original document of The Midnight Tome.”

But I bet she wouldn’t just let anyone flip through her… the PL girl added silently in her heart.

Not even in The Midnight Tome? Lu Yibei frowned and probed, “So, is a Divine Land some kind of special ability that only catastrophe-class beings can master?”

“Yes, but not exactly.” The PL girl curled her lip. “Generally speaking, anyone with a Divine Land is definitely catastrophe-class, but not all catastrophe-class have a Divine Land.”

“It’s like your old flame, Gou Meng–she doesn’t have a Divine Land. Of course, if she wanted to, she could probably turn all of Taoyuan into her Divine Land with ease…”

“Hey, hey! You can’t just say things like that!” Lu Yibei interrupted, blushing. “My relationship with that pesky little sister is a pure, mutually beneficial one–at most, there’s a bit of friendship. How does that make her my old flame?”

“Give me a break!” The PL girl rolled her eyes. “When you’re with her, haven’t you ever, even for a moment, wanted something more to happen?”

If it were me, as a third-generation mixed-blood haunting, I’d probably already have a kid learning to walk by now, the PL girl thought to herself.

“I…” Lu Yibei hesitated.

To say there was never a moment like that would be a lie.

Although my relationship with Gou Meng is more like that of good bros, if your good bro is a girl who can be cute or mature and is also drop-dead gorgeous, anyone would have their heart race at some point, right?

But a racing heart is still seven or eight Mount Everests away from love! Mistaking impulse for love is just too irresponsible, Lu Yibei thought.

Seeing this, the PL girl waved her hand. “Forget it, you don’t need to explain this to me. Let’s get back to the main topic.”

“Actually, from the literal meaning, Divine Land means the country of a god, and some texts explain it as the place where a god resides.”

“There are related records in many legends. The more grandiose ones are like Nibelungen, the land of the dead in Norse mythology, Atlantis in the Lemurian civilization, Fengdu, the ghost city in Country Z’s myths, and the kamikakushi events in Eastern folklore…”

“Wait!” Lu Yibei interrupted. “The ruins of Atlantis are in the sea, and Fengdu is in Shan City. What do they have to do with Divine Lands?”

The PL girl shot Lu Yibei a look and said impatiently, “If you go to Fengdu in Shan City, can you really see hauntings walking the streets? If you go to Atlantis, can you really see mermaids swimming everywhere?”

“……”

But if I go to a movie streaming site or app, I really can see Spirited Away, Lu Yibei thought sneakily, but didn’t dare say such trash talk in front of the PL girl.

Seeing Lu Yibei stay silent, the PL girl continued, “A real Divine Land is just like this special space–a powerful haunting or psychic, based on their own power, constructs a special space with a large amount of psychic energy and alchemical materials.

Most exist in the real world, some exist within the haunting itself. They have certain rules similar to the real world, but also possess unique rules depending on their master.

Normally, the entrance can’t be found. To enter a Divine Land, you either have to meet specific conditions or get permission from its owner.”

Hearing this, Lu Yibei started to understand what a Divine Land was, and frowned slightly. “So it’s kind of like the domain spaces or inner worlds in novels?”

The PL girl nodded. “Pretty much!”

“Then… what’s the use of this thing? Storing psychic energy? Raising devotees?” Lu Yibei probed.

“Those are just some of the side uses,” the PL girl explained. “The fundamental purpose is to ‘do as you please.'”

“Do as you please?”

“Yeah, do as you please!” The PL girl nodded.

Lu Yibei’s eye twitched, and she said with a deadpan face, “Are you playing idiom chains with me? Can you be serious?”

“It’s really just to do as you please!” The PL girl spread her hands. “If you think of the real world as a public place, then a Divine Land is like your private territory.”

“Then what’s the difference between the area occupied by the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts?” Lu Yibei asked in confusion.

“Of course there’s a difference. The area occupied by the Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts, although it’s the King of Hauntings’ private territory, isn’t it open to the public?” the PL girl explained.

“For example, if you own a farm, would you streak naked across the open grass with no cover, letting passersby see all your secrets without reservation?”

“If your skin is thick enough, it’s not impossible…” Lu Yibei mumbled softly.

The PL girl shrugged. “Some catastrophe-class psychics and hauntings think the same way, so they don’t bother to construct their own Divine Land.”

Just like the Beast of Inheritance, which belongs to the ‘shameless’ type–after all, its intelligence isn’t high enough yet to even know how to hide its secrets.

And Plague Taisui is the same. It doesn’t intend to hide its secrets at all. When it lacks resources or psychic energy supply, it just grabs them from elsewhere.

“That’s probably because they’re strong enough, their fists hard enough, so everyone who sees them ‘streaking’ gets beaten to death, right?” Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully.

“Exactly. Gou Meng is that type. If anyone gets tired of living and dares to peek into her power in Taoyuan, she wouldn’t even need to do it herself–the devotees and familiars of Gou Meng in Taoyuan could bury them alive with sheer numbers.”

“But you can’t! You can’t just not hide your secrets, and you don’t have such a broad base of followers. You’d better honestly accept the inheritance left by Ms. Wang Meili!”

The PL girl continued, “And once you have a Divine Land, it’s like having a relatively sealed house where you set some of the rules. You can do whatever you want inside.”

“Uh…” Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, then asked weakly, “Anything at all? Like dragging someone in and beating them up?”

The PL girl nodded affirmatively. “You can!”

“Dig a hole in the floor and make a swimming pool?”

“You can!”

“The downstairs neighbor won’t complain?”

At that, the PL girl narrowed her eyes slightly, her tone unsettling. “If the neighbor has a problem, just smash the floor, go to the neighbor’s place, and take them out, right?”

“Then, not only will no one complain, but the neighbor’s place will be yours too.”

Hiss! Is this woman really so ruthless? Lu Yibei complained inwardly, then asked weakly, “Doing that… wouldn’t it be a crime? Wouldn’t I get arrested?”

“Arrested by whom? The Midnight Watchers Society?” the PL girl retorted. “Now that’s a hassle! After all, in the eyes of the Midnight Watchers Society, a Divine Land is like an illegal building–if they can demolish it, they will; if they can’t, they’ll seal it off.”

Just like this special space constructed by Ms. Wang Meili–the Midnight Watchers Society couldn’t clear it out for now, so they ‘sealed’ it… the PL girl thought to herself.

“But as long as they don’t find out, it’s fine!”

“Also, if you’re confident enough in your own strength, you can even drag the Midnight Watchers Society members who come looking for trouble into your Divine Land and beat them up!”

As she spoke, the PL girl swung her fist in the air with force.

So you can really do whatever you want… Lu Yibei was a little tempted, her eyes shining. “Then after I take control of this special space, won’t I be invincible among my peers?”

If the psychic energy fluctuation is also Class A, and I drag my enemy into my own home, who could be my match?

Lu Yibei was just getting excited when the PL girl mercilessly poured cold water on her.

“Bro, please wake up. Reality isn’t an RPG game. It’s not just about high level, good gear, and strong stats–you won’t necessarily beat your opponent!”

“It’s like a kid, if the conditions are right, can kill a well-trained adult. I’ve seen cases where a Class B, relying on the uniqueness of their power or with the help of a psychic artifact, managed to kill a catastrophe-class.”

Of course, if the gap is even bigger, like between a newborn baby and an adult, then it’s much harder… the PL girl added silently in her heart.

“Besides, whether you can even withstand the Divine Land prototype left by Ms. Wang Meili is still uncertain! If you’re not careful, Meow Meow-chan will have to release a new Widow skin for you.”

“Wait a minute!” Lu Yibei’s expression changed, exclaiming, “There’s actually a risk to my life?”

“So, do you really think Meow Meow-chan would release a Widow skin?” the PL girl said seriously, trying to make Lu Yibei ignore this very important issue.

Lu Yibei’s face darkened, glaring at her and shouting, “Stop changing the subject!”

“Well… haha!” The PL girl gave a couple of dry laughs, scratched her cheek awkwardly, raised two fingers and gestured, her face full of guilt. “Maybe just a little bit? But risk and reward go hand in hand!”

Lu Yibei held her forehead. “Or… maybe I should just forget it? Is there, like, a third option for us?”

I’m just a beat-up old van, and you insist on installing a Concorde engine in me. Wouldn’t I just turn into a flying coffin and disintegrate on the spot?

No, no, I can’t do this!

“There isn’t.” The PL girl said seriously.

Once you chose the second option, there was no third.

You finally took the initiative to man up for once, how could I let you back out halfway?!

No way!

Lu Yibei, “……”