Chapter 507: Lu Yibei, get up and customize your face!

The spiritual world of the Beast of Inheritance.

The pale gray sky seemed to be torn apart. Where the sun should have been was a patch of deep, pitch-black darkness, from which endless black flames surged forth, pouring down from the horizon like a raging flood.

In a hazy trance, Lu Yibei’s own body ignited from the inside out, as if she had been shoved alive into a furnace. The flames engulfed her petite figure, burning fiercely, the searing heat boring into her shell, incinerating everything.

Those black flames falling from the sky seemed to carry a strange power, causing the core entity of the haunting within her to temporarily cease functioning, as if it harbored an intense aversion, shrinking away from the flames.

Only Eifrit’s Spirit Pattern, like a beast catching the scent of blood, foolishly pounced forward, opening its gaping maw to devour–only to scald its mouth full of blisters, yelping as it ran “far away,” and that was the end of it.

As the black flames spread to her limbs and bones, she hovered on the brink of collapse.

Her internal organs wailed in agony, as if they might explode at any moment. Even the thoughts that surfaced in her mind were swallowed by the flames, flashing by and then instantly forgotten, as if burned to ashes.

Yet, even in this state, she couldn’t help but have some inexplicable thoughts.

Could it be that I’m already dead? And then, Meow Meow-chan found my corpse…

Last time, when I was missing and presumed dead, she managed to make a memorial tomb out of nothing. Now that she’s actually found my body, won’t she just cremate me on the spot?

I wonder, will she cry this time? Lu Yibei wondered.

But just as she thought she was about to die from her body bursting apart, a premonition flashed through her mind.

[It hugged you]

A pair of cold little hands reached through layers of black flames, grabbed Lu Yibei’s wrist, and with a strong pull, drew her into an embrace. Slender arms held her tightly.

Feeling the sudden hug, Lu Yibei used the last of her strength to lift her eyelids, and saw that face, young and innocent, wreathed in black flames.

In it’s silver-gray eyes, a stubborn light flickered. That small body shielded her from more of the falling black flames.

……

It’s Wang Yingying!

How nice…

Hope that after it regains freedom, it won’t do those terrifying things anymore. Also… memorize more books, study hard, and make progress every day.

Lu Yibei thought, slowly closing her eyes, and everything before her fell into darkness.

——–

In the shattered city.

Nanling Rao Hua, dressed in white, slowly lowered the three-foot blue-steel blade in her hand and looked around, a trace of doubt in her beautiful eyes.

In the past hour or so, she and her sword had set out from Mudan Street, heading toward the faculty compound, and had almost completely wiped out the dark red flesh and haunting-transformed creatures along the several kilometers of the way.

However, just as she was about to reach the faculty compound, all the dark red flesh and haunting-transformed creatures suddenly stopped attacking without warning, as if petrified, frozen in place.

Then, less than three seconds later, the sun in the sky vanished, like a lamp suddenly switched off, and darkness fell in an instant.

Terrifying lightning flashed beneath the slowly lowering dark clouds, as if tearing the sky apart, ripping open a massive hole in the clouds and revealing a patch of darkness.

Nanling Rao Hua gazed up at the black void, instantly on high alert, gripping her long sword tightly, her palm damp with sweat.

She wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but she felt that black void was like a giant eye–deep, cold, utterly devoid of emotion.

As the huge void appeared in the sky, black flames poured down like a torrential rain.

The dark red flesh and wandering haunting-transformed creatures in the city seemed to be ignited by its “gaze,” black flames rising from their bodies as piercing screams erupted one after another.

In a daze, Nanling Rao Hua saw a massive shadow, exuding decay and ominousness, descend from the sky, tracing a hideous outline on the ruined walls of the city.

That twisted, grotesque outline writhed, and countless battered human faces emerged from the flickering black flames, struggling and silently screaming, as if trying to break through the walls.

What is this now? Is it a haunting taking advantage of the chaos in this special space? Nanling Rao Hua frowned.

She hadn’t even figured out the origin of the dark red flesh, and now a new enemy had suddenly appeared, making her mood grow heavy.

But, none of this seemed to be a problem?

No matter what enemy, just face them with the sword!

With this thought, Nanling Rao Hua’s gaze sharpened slightly. She gripped her longsword tightly, about to leap into action, when suddenly a deafening shriek echoed from the sky.

She looked toward the sound and saw a dazzling arc of light breaking through the air, soaring upward like a rainbow piercing the sun, straight toward the pitch-black void in the sky.

Staring at that arc, Nanling Rao Hua was momentarily stunned, her red lips trembling.

With her exceptional eyesight, she saw within that arc a Broken Sword moving at high speed. Trailing behind the Broken Sword was a flowing, ornate blue-green gown, and wrapped in the gown was a mass of flesh-colored something–but definitely not a person.

From afar, it looked like an irregular meatball in a long dress, constantly wriggling.

Nanling Rao Hua: “……” What the hell is that thing? A meat-type slime haunting?

Then, just as she was grumbling inwardly, the meatball made its move.

She saw “it” riding the sword, charging toward the horizon.

Watching the Broken Sword sketching a rapid trajectory in midair, Nanling Rao Hua’s pupils trembled. “That’s the sword move from The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe… Heavenly Symphony?!”

She knew The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe was a true legacy of the Great Pure Palace. Her Martial Uncle Lu also knew it and had once wanted to teach her, knowing the sword moves in detail.

Although, in terms of swordsmanship alone, Martial Uncle Lu was always a notch below Martial Uncle Bai, making her feel that her own family’s sword techniques were probably superior, so she hadn’t followed Martial Uncle Lu’s teachings.

Still, she knew the general sword moves.

Now, she was watching with wide eyes as a monster-like meatball unleashed the strongest sword move from The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe, feeling extremely conflicted.

A strike of [Taihe Gentleman Sword – Heavenly Symphony] swept out, sword energy bursting forth, stirring the winds and clouds, forcibly carving a massive fissure in the pitch-black void of the sky.

The heavens shuddered, a heavy boom spreading through the clouds, as if a deity was beating a giant drum above.

Psychic energy scattered in the air, trembling uneasily.

Before the dazzling sword energy had flown far, a soft murmuring of incantations began to echo in the sky.

“Scorch the firmament, ten directions of rivers and mountains, and the land is parched for thousands of kilometers around, destruction, calamity, burn to ashes…”

“Scorch the firmament, ten directions of rivers and mountains, and the land is parched for thousands of kilometers around…”

“Scorch the firmament…”

Hearing the first half of the incantation drifting on the wind, Nanling Rao Hua’s face showed a hint of surprise.

Is it the Mountain and River Flowing Fire Command? Multiple chanting, forbidden spell formation… What’s this guy’s origin?

Since childhood, her grandfather had often taught her the principle of “biting off more than you can chew,” so in her understanding, a psychic or haunting usually only excelled in one or two areas.

If she compared abilities using the psychic energy fluctuation level standard, scoring each ability of a psychic, even her Martial Uncle Lu only had spell formation at Class S level. Other abilities, like swordsmanship or body technique, were at most Class A-, or even just Class C.

Yeah, Martial Uncle Lu’s body technique was super weak–compared to psychics of the same level, he was a total athletic idiot.

Even so, he was already considered a monster among psychics.

But now, that meatball in the sky, wielding both The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe and multiple chanting forbidden spell formations, had both abilities at Class A level, which was truly shocking.

While Nanling Rao Hua was marveling at the meatball’s performance, several murmured spell formation chants sounded almost simultaneously, as if converging into one. Then a howling gale swept by, carrying the latter half of the incantation to her ears.

“…convey the sword of calamity, the fire of heavenly punishment, Flame Sword Heaven. Burial!”

Hearing this, her pupils contracted slightly.

Not the Mountain and River Flowing Fire Command?!

Flame Sword Heaven. Burial… How come she’d never heard of this spell formation name?

Could it be a variant spell formation? Nanling Rao Hua wondered.

Of course, besides variant spell formations based on existing ones with minor improvements, there’s also the possibility of self-created spell formations, but she hadn’t even considered that direction.

After all, self-creating forbidden spell formations was just too outrageous.

The vast majority of spell formation incantation segments can be traced to prototypes in natural phenomena or legends, then combined in specific ways to resonate and ultimately manifest all sorts of miraculous powers.

After countless years of development, various spell formation systems are already quite mature. Being able to improve on the original is already impressive; self-creating spell formations, especially high-tier ones, is nearly impossible.

It’s like upgrading an existing algorithm versus completely constructing a new, efficient, and practical algorithm–the difference in effort required is enormous.

“……”

But…

Which spell formation was this improved from?

“What do ‘convey the sword of calamity, the fire of heavenly punishment’ symbolize?” Nanling Rao Hua wondered in confusion.

Then…

Before she could search her memories about spell formations for any relevant information, the air suddenly grew scorching hot.

Looking up at the sky, she saw surging waves of energy churning, a torrent like fresh blood gushing from behind that mass of flesh, violently devouring the psychic energy dissipating in the air.

Light flared.

In an instant, nine giant flaming swords appeared out of thin air, unfolding behind that mass of flesh, as if some alien wings had suddenly spread open.

That thing actually cast nine spell formations at the same time?! Nanling Rao Hua thought in shock and uncertainty.

However, what she didn’t know was that this single strike would cost Lu Yibei about four or five months’ worth of power leveling fees from her lifespan…

“Get lost, damn it!”

Faintly, Nanling Rao Hua heard a delicate shout.

The next moment, a roaring sound erupted, and the nine giant flaming swords, carrying terrifying blazing light, shot into the sky, violently pouring into the rift torn open in the pitch-black void.

Black and crimson flames collided, stirring up a mighty tide atop the clouds.

Amid the continuous rumbling and explosions, fierce tongues of fire spread wildly among the dark clouds, making it look as if the sky itself was about to collapse.

Immediately after, following a brief silence, the sky really did “collapse”!

From the torn clouds, burning flames kept pouring out, raining down onto the ground.

In an instant, the entire city was shrouded in a crimson downpour.

Then…

Like the sky clearing after rain, the dark clouds scattered, the pitch-black void vanished, and that mass of flesh, which had displayed such terrifying power, wrapped in black flames, fell toward the ground like a meteor.

Seeing this, Nanling Rao Hua’s eyes narrowed slightly. With a thought, she dashed toward the direction where the mass of flesh was falling.

——–

“Lu Yibei, Lu Yibei, wake up, stop sleeping, it’s over!”

“Lu Yibei?!”

“Lu Yibei, get up and customize your character!”

In a daze, hearing someone tell her to customize her character, Lu Yibei’s eyelids twitched, and she woke up.

Now that you mention it, I’m not sleepy anymore!

She abruptly opened her eyes and saw the small park, now reduced to a patch of land less than two meters in diameter, and the still-burning black flames all around.

Her gaze shifted slightly, and she saw Wang Yingying, charred all over, lying beside her, unmoving as if dead.

Seeing the Beast of Inheritance, whose fate was uncertain, Lu Yibei snapped back to her senses, her brows furrowing tightly. “Did it… die?”

“Are you stupid?” The PL girl’s voice sounded mercilessly in Lu Yibei’s ear. “You’re still in its spiritual world! How could it die? At most, it’s half-dead!”

“…” Lu Yibei pondered for a few seconds, then asked, “How did this happen?”

“Tsk, someone went all out!” the PL girl said. “The Eclipse Society used a Black Sun Fire Seed. They originally wanted to destroy the Beast of Inheritance, but this guy foolishly used its own body at the critical moment to block most of the black fire for you.”

“But, with me here, I barely managed to hold it off and put out the fire.”

“Black Sun Fire Seed?” Lu Yibei tilted her head.

“Didn’t I mention it before?” the PL girl explained. “The Eclipse Society believes in a certain deity, suspected to be fictional, who wields primordial power. But they don’t pray for Its descent, only seek Its existence, hoping for Its recognition.”

“The Fire of the Black Sun is the mark of the Eclipse Society president’s initial recognition. He then used the Fire of the Black Sun to create many Black Sun Fire Seeds and bestowed them upon his trusted followers.”

“Simply put, it’s a one-time nuke the Eclipse Society president gives his subordinates–super powerful!”

“How powerful?” Lu Yibei asked instinctively.

“Bigger than Gu Qianqian’s chest fat.”

“…”

What the hell?

That’s at most a 36… pfft! Almost got led astray by her.

Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, then pressed on, “So Wang Yingying now…”

“Don’t worry! It won’t die, but as for when it’ll wake up, who knows.” The PL girl said, “But now’s not the time to worry about that. You need to quickly reconstruct your body and take control of the special space as soon as possible.”

“After the Black Sun Fire Seed’s invasion, The Midnight Watchers Society’s anchor has already failed.”

“Also… please pay the power leveling fee for this time.”

Lu Yibei, “???”

What the heck, I was only out for a little while, and there’s a fee? Isn’t this forced consumption? Careful or I’ll report you to the Consumer Association!

Meanwhile, Hua City Folk Culture Administration Bureau, Office No. 2.

In the corridor, Li Xuan carried a lunchbox, quickly walking to stop in front of his office door. He lifted the lunchbox to take a look, a trace of disgust showing between his brows.

That junior sister of his, Huá Sāng, was truly bizarre. She could even eat such dark cuisine as bitter melon juice stir-fried chicken breast mince with black rice mixed in orange juice.

Just now at the restaurant, when he ordered, the waiter was stunned. He had to repeat the order three times before it was finally placed.

And Huá Sāng had only one reason for ordering such a meal–mixing all the nutritious food together and eating it at once was more convenient.

If the restaurant staff hadn’t firmly refused Li Xuan’s further request to mash up the ingredients, according to Huá Sāng’s idea, this mixed rice should have been a paste.

Creak–!

Li Xuan, full of resentment, pushed open the office door and was slightly taken aback to see the empty office.

“Strange, where did she go?”

After searching the office repeatedly, Li Xuan confirmed that Huá Sāng, who had been lying there for ages like a corpse at a wake, was gone.

————

Hua City, Ban Shan Primary School.

Huá Sāng stood under the sprawling old banyan tree, so large it took several people to encircle it, her eyes drooping as she stared at the old teaching building ahead, brows tightly knit.

With waves of twisting light and shadow, all sorts of broken buildings of different styles kept sprouting from the outer wall of the teaching building like bamboo shoots after rain.

“Tsk, what a hassle! Why is the anchor suddenly about to be completely destroyed?”

Huá Sāng scratched her back with the ferule tucked behind her collar, muttering, “The Headmaster really is so sly. What does he mean by ‘something might happen’?”

“He clearly knew something would definitely happen, that’s why he sent me here, right?”

As her words fell, she sprang into action.

She circled the dilapidated teaching building once, finally stopping under the old banyan tree in front of the entrance. From her wide sleeve, she pulled out a shiny black tortoise shell and a small knife, and began carving slowly on the shell.

[Water emerges from the Zhen Palace, both gentle and firm, tortoise and snake form the altar, eternally guarding the rivers and mountains.]

After carving a string of small characters, she squatted down, used the ferule to dig a hole, tossed the tortoise shell in, covered it with soil, then stood up and stomped on it twice.

After this series of actions, she looked as if she had exhausted a great deal of energy–her face turned slightly pale, and beads of sweat gathered densely on her forehead.

It seemed she hadn’t done much, but she had done all she could.

Huá Sāng raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, looked up at the lush canopy above, and muttered, “This should do, right?”

This was, after all, the shell of the most formidable turtle I’ve fished up in years… Huá Sāng added silently in her heart.

The next moment, the psychic energy fluctuation drifting in the air suddenly shook violently.

The earth quaked and mountains swayed.

With the intense tremor, a bottomless fissure spread along the roots of the old banyan tree, tracing a perfectly round circle in a single breath, enclosing the tree.

Boom–boom–!

A thunderous roar erupted, as if thunder rolled across the sky, or as if mighty rivers surged with a deafening crash.

With the rumble, the entire Ban Shan Primary School’s ground trembled and undulated. Beneath the earth, surging psychic energy fluctuation burst forth in waves, stirring up undercurrents, outlining intricate incantations, then gradually sinking, sinking… until they touched the verge of that soon-to-be-out-of-control special space.

Soon, the tremors ceased, leaving only the distant, dreamlike sound of tides.

Immediately after, Huá Sāng seemed to collapse from exhaustion, her body going limp as she fell to the ground.

She lay in the weeds, blankly watching the old banyan’s branches swaying in the wind, listening to the faint sound of tides from underground, and let out a long breath.

“After I get back, I must make the Headmaster persuade Shifu to let me go down the mountain for training again this year, so I can at least make up for the effort I put in helping him…”

At the Great Pure Palace, Huá Sāng had already been forbidden from going down the mountain for training a year ago.

The reason was simple: others went down the mountain to train, but she went down to slack off.

Training outside was great–no morning or evening classes, no need to practice martial arts.

Others would head straight for the target Shifu assigned, but she would head straight for the nearest resort, rent a room, and stay for twenty-nine days. Only on the last day of training would she take action, spending twenty-three hours and fifty-nine minutes to find the target, then two minutes to defeat it.

What’s procrastination? This is called not living up to her abilities–training failed!

Thus, twice a year, each time for a month, all became her wonderful leisure time.

But as the saying goes, walk by the river often enough and your shoes will get wet. After a few times, Huá Sāng’s little scheme was finally discovered by her Shifu, and her right to go down the mountain for training was revoked.

However, if the Headmaster steps in to ask, she should be able to take another long vacation… Wait, isn’t it called going down the mountain for training? Huá Sāng thought.