Chapter 493: Dark Emperor

A slender figure walked forward, her steps neither hurried nor slow, as if she intended to walk straight into the abyss.

“Boom–boom–!”

In the darkness, one heavy, invisible door after another trembled open with a thunderous roar. Icy wind, laced with rot and stench, blew from behind the doors, stinging the cheeks.

“Boom–!”

When the last door opened, she stopped in a space shrouded in primordial chaos. Pale gray mist drifted about, confining her vision to a narrow range.

Ahead, a massive vortex, as if at the end of the world, churned like molten gold and silver, radiating scorching light.

Brilliant light rose from the abyss-like vortex, rippling outward, illuminating Wang Meili’s face.

Her complexion was somewhat pale, tinged with a sickly yellow, as if she were gravely ill.

This was the very core of the special space. The souls of the dead fell from that vortex into endless darkness, returning to the purest psychic energy. After a long wait, they would gain a projection, descending into the special space in a new form and visage.

Eight chains forged of light, arranged according to the eight trigrams, stretched from the void like eight giant dragons. They were nailed to the edge of the vortex by countless incantations, swirling and fluttering like thousands of silver-winged butterflies.

This was the anchor The Midnight Watchers Society had once placed on this special space–simple, yet effective.

For nearly twenty years, it had kept the special space fixed within the spatial rift, preventing disaster.

But now, something was wrong.

Wang Meili’s gaze swept around, finally settling on the chain at the Li position. At some point, a patch of dark red spots had appeared on its surface, like rust or mold.

“So the thing causing trouble in the city is this? But…” Wang Meili muttered to herself.

However, since that mysterious flesh had already affected the chain at the Li position, it should have quickly spread to the entire anchor.

Yet now… it seemed as if some power was preventing the flesh from spreading.

Was it someone from The Midnight Watchers Society?

Wang Meili frowned slightly, and in a flash, her figure vanished from the spot.

Everything became like a mirage–colors exaggerated and intense, afterimages overlapping and rapidly receding.

When her vision stabilized, Wang Meili looked up, stunned, and furrowed her brow.

Outside the special space, on the golden, bubble-like shell, a mass of dark red flesh clung and rolled, like a sea of blood and meat.

And where the chain at the Li position extended, she saw a massive, unfamiliar haunting.

The haunting looked like an ugly bizarre fish, with a monkfish-like head and a sea serpent’s long body.

Its twisted, tooth-filled maw bit down on the chain, while its crimson tongue and pitch-black, liquid-like body wrapped tightly around it. A strange psychic energy fluctuation emanated from within and without, keeping the rampant flesh at bay.

“What a strange haunting…” Wang Meili murmured.

She had always considered herself knowledgeable, but faced with this haunting, she couldn’t discern its power.

It was as if this haunting didn’t belong to this world at all.

What puzzled her even more was why this haunting would risk being corroded by the dark red flesh to protect the anchor The Midnight Watchers Society had placed on the special space.

If not for its efforts, the flesh would likely have already corroded three, four, or even more of the anchor chains.

“Little one, are you Xiao Bei’s friend?” Wang Meili asked.

The systems, whose consciousness was on the verge of collapse, vaguely heard Wang Meili’s voice. It forced its eyes open to look at her, remained silent for a long time, then weakly uttered two words, “I was…”

“Oh…” Wang Meili nodded thoughtfully. “No wonder you’re helping her. You really are a good friend!”

Although she couldn’t determine the systems’ power, through the psychic energy fluctuation constantly emanating from it, she could sense a subtle and profound connection between the systems and Lu Yibei.

Systems, “…” Why would I help her!

It wanted to refute Wang Meili.

It wanted to say that it was only doing this out of concern that the Beast of Inheritance would completely corrupt the special space, causing irreversible damage to the real world, but it was too weak to utter a single word.

“But, your ‘I was’ is a bit concerning! Did you have a fight?” Wang Meili gently stroked the systems as she patiently advised, “Since you’re good friends, I hope you can sit down and talk things out. Maybe you’ll reconcile?”

systems, “……” Stop joking, I’ve already tried that!

“Still not talking, huh!” Wang Meili gave a wry smile. “What a stubborn little thing.”

As she gently stroked systems, she could feel a strong sense of hatred and anger emanating from it.

“But I still want to say this: if Xiao Bei did something wrong, I’ll apologize on her behalf right here. Although she grew up lacking a mother’s love and might be a bit odd, she’s not a bad kid at heart.”

systems, “……”

Seeing that systems still didn’t speak, Wang Meili opened her mouth, about to say something, when a strange feeling suddenly flashed through her mind.

Even though she hadn’t seen Lu Yibei yet, her intuition told her Lu Yibei was about to arrive.

“Damn, looks like I won’t get a chance to talk you through this.” Wang Meili looked at systems and said, “Little one, you’ve already done enough. For now, just get some rest, okay?”

As her words fell, the bubble-like shell of the special space suddenly swelled up as if bubbling, enveloping systems completely……

——–

Hua City, Folk Culture Administration Bureau, small meeting room.

Xing Yuan, dressed in a deep blue business suit with her long hair neatly tied back, sat with her legs crossed, face dark as she looked at the two men before her and said coolly, “So, just because you were worried the higher-ups might take extreme measures against the Calamity, you decided to rescue her on your own?”

“And you sent an operator into Qi Nanzhu’s special space, causing an operator to be unconscious for twenty-four hours?”

“Hey! Xing Yuan, you can’t blame us for Gu Xiliu’s coma!” Bai Kai hurriedly explained. “She passed out because something went wrong with that special space and her consciousness was impacted.”

Qi Dong shot a sidelong glare at the ingratiating Bai Kai. “Bootlickers never end well…”

Xing Yuan glanced at Qi Dong, then looked back at Bai Kai. “So you think you’re in the right? As an operator of The Midnight Watchers Society, when you discover a threat like this, shouldn’t you report it immediately?”

“If the Dark Emperor hadn’t noticed his anchor loosening and reported in time, I’d probably still be in the dark!”

Tch! That old bastard Zhang Huainan… Qi Dong cursed inwardly.

That’s right, the [Dark Emperor] was Zhang Huainan. Catastrophe-class psychics like him were rarely called by name within The Midnight Watchers Society; they usually had corresponding codenames–one, to avoid identity leaks, and two, to minimize disturbances.

Zhenwu Mountain was always known for its mastery of water arts, and Zhang Huainan’s Spirit Pattern was closely linked to the legendary Five Qi Heavenly Sovereigns who governed the Laws of Water, hence the codename [Dark Emperor].

“Now that things have come to this, what do we do?” Bai Kai spread his hands.

“What else can we do?” Xing Yuan rolled her eyes. “The Dark Emperor is already on his way to Hua City. Once that special space surfaces, we’ll have no choice but to destroy it.”

“No way!” Bai Kai exclaimed. “Operator Jiang Li and… and the Calamity are still inside! What if they have a way to stop the Beast of Inheritance’s flesh and prevent that special space from surfacing?”

Xing Yuan frowned, lifted her gaze to meet Bai Kai’s eyes, and said calmly, “Though the chances are slim, I think the Dark Emperor will try to reinforce the anchor when the time comes.”

Hearing this, Qi Dong’s face showed sudden understanding, and he said sarcastically, “Oh! So it’s whoever wins between the Calamity and the Beast of Inheritance, right?”

Xing Yuan nodded indifferently. “If that’s how you want to see it.”

“I’ve said all I need to say. You two had better behave yourselves. Once this is over, disciplinary action will follow.”

“One last reminder: you are operators of The Midnight Watchers Society. Your primary mission is to eliminate the impact of haunting incidents. Understood?!”

“……” Bai Kai frowned deeply, wanting to say something but stopping.

“Tch—-!” Qi Dong spat disdainfully and turned to leave the meeting room.

——–

That night, the back mountain of Zhenwu Mountain.

A burly old man with white hair and a childlike face, bare-chested, was working hard to tie up a sleeping girl.

The spell rope, twisted with talisman paper, wrapped around the girl again and again, binding her into a tight human cocoon.

“Mm……”

Feeling the extremely uncomfortable tightness on her body, the girl frowned slightly, let out a soft nasal sound, and slowly opened her eyes.

“……”

Seeing the old man busily tying her up, the girl was stunned for a moment, then lazily asked, “Headmaster… what are you doing?”

“Hua Sang, something big has happened, do you know that?”

“I know!” Hua Sang nodded. “It’s only three or four in the morning, still over four hours till dawn, and I’m already awake. It’s so annoying.”

“You wretched disciple! What’s so terrible about missing a lazy morning?” Zhang Huainan huffed and glared, “I’m saying something big happened in Hua City. The anchor I set up before is loosening.”

“Oh, and then?”

“And then… you know, I can’t go to that place!” Zhang Huainan pulled a long face, “I’ve already calculated it, that man is in Hua City! So, I can only send you in my place.”

“Oh, okay.” Huá Sāng nodded.

Seeing her with that look of a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, Zhang Huainan frowned, shook the spell rope in his hand, and asked, “I’m sending you to take the fall for me, and you’re not even going to resist?”

“Too lazy to resist,” Huá Sāng replied without hesitation.

“Then aren’t you going to ask why I’m tying you up?”

“Too lazy to ask.”

“I’m planning to use a flying sword to launch you over…”

“I have a question.” Huá Sāng glanced at the spell rope on her, frowned, and said, “When I get there, who will untie me?”

“Your senior brother, Li Xuan!” Zhang Huainan said in a deep voice.

Although he knew Huá Sāng had plenty of ways to undo these spell ropes herself, he also knew that if he asked her why not do it herself, she’d definitely answer, “Too lazy!”

If he didn’t arrange for someone to untie her in advance, even if the flying sword landed her in the center square of Hua City, she probably wouldn’t move a muscle before starving to death.

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Huá Sāng’s face, “That’s perfect, I can sleep a bit more.”

“You’re not afraid something might go wrong?” Zhang Huainan said angrily.

……

Huá Sāng opened her mouth, about to speak, but Zhang Huainan saw through her lips and cut her off, “Too lazy to be afraid, right?”

“Mm, mm.” Huá Sāng nodded, perfunctorily responding twice.

If in the future, there was always someone like the Headmaster who understood my intentions and could speak for me, that would be wonderful, Huá Sāng thought.

“Hmph! Wretched disciple, truly wretched, you infuriate me!” Zhang Huainan cursed fiercely, yanking the spell rope tight in his hands.

Though tormenting junior brothers, sisters, and even disciples and grand-disciples was a traditional skill of the Great Pure Palace, if the grand-disciple didn’t resist at all, what was the point?

All these years, only Huá Sāng, when facing Zhang Huainan’s “torment,” showed not a single sign of resistance, which greatly annoyed Zhang Huainan.

It was precisely because of this that, whenever Huá Sāng came to the back mountain to fish for soft-shelled turtles, Zhang Huainan, without realizing it, exposed over eighty percent of his skills to her.

Though when facing the Headmaster’s “true teachings,” Huá Sāng was always too lazy to learn, yet…

It was exactly because she didn’t want to learn, was too lazy to learn, that she progressed rapidly, almost to the point of understanding at a glance and mastering with a single practice.

As the saying goes, “The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things and does not compete.”

Only by not competing can one comprehend the water arts of the Great Pure Palace.

……

After a few breaths, the ten-meter-long spell rope was completely wound around Huá Sāng.

Zhang Huainan looked darkly at the human cocoon before him, and with a casual wave of his hand, the bottomless pool beside him began to boil.

“Boom—-!”

With a thunderous roar, tons of water surged up like a dragon drinking, soared into the sky, wrapped around Huá Sāng’s body, and transformed into a giant water sword that shot through the air.

Under the night sky, blue light streaked across, like a dazzling meteor.

Then…

With a thought from Huá Sāng, the water sword beneath her “upgraded” into a three-meter-by-three-meter bed, complete with a soft “waterbed” set.

Zhang Huainan, “……”

Watching the water sword in the stream of light turn into a waterbed, his mouth twitched violently.

——–

Late at night, in Hua City, a sports car sped along the highway toward a high-end residential area on the outskirts.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Li Xuan slowed the car, took out his phone for a look, and his face lit up with joy as he eagerly answered.

“Shifu, you finally called me. Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?”

“No, just telling you something. In a bit, untie your junior sister Huá Sāng. That’s all, bye!” On the other end, a dull voice gave a simple instruction and quickly hung up.

As if avoiding some Plague God.

Li Xuan, “???” Untie junior sister Huá Sāng? What does that mean?

Just as he was puzzled, the moisture outside the window suddenly thickened, and then a blue light sliced through the night.

Li Xuan followed the source of the light and saw a huge “waterbed” descending from the sky, heading straight for him.

“……”

Oh no, my beloved car is about to become a waterlogged wreck!

That thought flashed through Li Xuan’s mind, and the next moment, he was swept up in the surging torrent.