Chapter 602: I Call You Senior Sister, and You Actually Have the Nerve to Answer?

Perhaps wielding Huá Sāng to mow down everything in her path had rekindled Lu Yibei’s memories of the Dai Nichi Myo-o Statue. Caught up in the thrill, she somehow found the nerve to charge straight at the enormous construct that had reassembled itself from countless objects.

Yet after only a few steps, she sensed something was wrong.

Her gaze locked on the behemoth not far ahead as she tried to use her premonitory thoughts to predict its next movements. But the ability seemed to have suddenly failed, giving her no information whatsoever.

Lu Yibei had never encountered anything like this. Startled, she stopped in her tracks.

In the past, her premonitory thoughts had successfully predicted the movements of many powerful enemies. They had even worked on catastrophe-class hauntings such as Gou Meng and the Beast of Inheritance.

Sometimes, even after successfully predicting an opponent’s move, her body could not react quickly enough—but at least the prediction itself had always worked!

Before Lu Yibei could work out why the ability had suddenly failed, a terrifying psychic energy fluctuation descended without warning and interrupted her thoughts.

Its power far surpassed that of almost every psychic and haunting she had encountered. Even Gou Meng and Fuyang, beings who could be called deities, seemed somewhat inferior by comparison.

For a brief moment, a deathly silence fell over the surroundings as dense fog materialized from nowhere and swallowed everything.

“BOOM—!”

Dazzling lightning rolled through leaden storm clouds, and thunder resounded across the sky.

Lu Yibei looked up. Thousands upon thousands of armored phantoms had appeared overhead, all murmuring something in unison.

Their murmurs merged into a deafening rumble, like war drums beating for an assault.

Then, as the first clap of thunder faded into the distance, countless bolts suddenly descended from the heavens, spilling branches of destruction across the earth.

In an instant, majestic lightning engulfed the entire lockdown zone, inspiring an almost irresistible urge to bow and kneel.

Standing amid it, Lu Yibei could feel every hair on her body rising under the influence of the electrical arcs racing through the air.

Wherever the glorious lightning passed, the Esoteric Society members and bizarre creatures immobilized by the fog were pierced and torn apart as easily as rotten wood. Their anguished screams rose from every direction, only to be drowned beneath the deafening thunder.

Then…

The heat carried by the lightning set their remains ablaze, reducing them at last to pools of charred sludge.

Silence returned to the lockdown zone. Thick smoke flowed along the devastated streets, carrying a foul, scorched stench.

Only then did Lu Yibei suddenly understand why her premonitory thoughts had failed. None of the targets she had fixed her eyes on had a future anymore, so naturally there had been no next move to predict.

“…”

Every Esoteric Society member and bizarre creature had been slaughtered in mere seconds…

Who was the person attacking from the shadows? Friend or foe?

Damn it. They still hadn’t found a way out of the lockdown zone, and now someone even more powerful had arrived. If this newcomer was an enemy, weren’t they completely screwed?

As Lu Yibei worried, Huá Sāng pulled her ankle free from Lu Yibei’s grasp, straightened up, and calmly dusted off her clothes.

“Rescue finally got here,” Huá Sāng muttered. She turned her head toward Lu Yibei. “Do you have time later? There are a few things I’d like to discuss with you.”

She wanted a proper conversation about the engagement involving Senior Qing Ji’s great-grandson, as well as Lu Yibei’s strange ability to absorb night erosion.

“S-sure, no problem, but…” Lu Yibei frowned. “What rescue are you talking about?”

Huá Sāng glanced up at the storm clouds and lightning still lingering overhead, then looked away with a pout. “One look tells you this is the old Headmaster’s work.”

The old Headmaster? Lu Yibei froze, then came to her senses, her pupils contracting.

Wasn’t the Headmaster of the Great Pure Palace the Dark Emperor? And wasn’t the Dark Emperor Zhang Huainan?

I’m dead, I’m dead! In a certain sense, this ally is even more terrifying than the enemy!

If my identity gets exposed, I might suffer both social and biological death. So…

Lu Yibei made up her mind. If there was any chance to avoid meeting Zhang Huainan face-to-face, she would flee immediately. If she was unlucky enough to be caught, then even if he beat her to death, she could never admit who she was.

————

Outside the lockdown zone, on a narrow street.

Shem was still trying to break through. After seeing the old man stroll casually through the invisible barrier, Shem—who had nearly given up—found his fighting spirit reignited and attacked with renewed determination.

A saying had always circulated within the Miracle Order: a so-called miracle was merely another name for giving everything one had.

He believed the main reason he had failed to break through the invisible barrier was that he had not tried hard enough. He had not yet pushed himself all the way to the final moment when a miracle appeared.

“THUD—!”

With a muffled impact, Shem threw himself into the barrier with all his strength and was sent flying backward yet again. Surprise appeared on his face mid-flight, and his gaze shifted subtly.

When his body struck the invisible barrier just now, he had heard a peal of thunder unlike anything he had heard before.

What had happened inside? His Holiness the Holy Son—she…

Uneasy and uncertain, Shem slowly walked forward and raised a hand toward the invisible barrier.

At that moment, an abrupt change occurred.

For a fleeting instant, Shem heard something shatter beside his ear.

It sounded like a stone hurled from afar smashing through glass.

Cracks tore across the invisible barrier before him, which could be touched but not seen, and dazzling light flared from deep within them.

“Crack—crack—!”

Shattering sounds came one after another. More and more cracks spread across the invisible barrier, growing denser as they crossed and intertwined into a web. Against the dim, indistinct earth before dawn, they outlined a colossal phantom that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.

The top of the invisible barrier broke first. A fissure nearly a hundred meters long opened, and brilliant electricity erupted from the gap.

Then the surrounding space seemed to tremble, releasing a faint, low hum that shook the soul.

And then…

Like an egg crushed underfoot, the invisible barrier exploded.

Countless fragments of “shell,” condensed from pure psychic energy, scattered in every direction like shards of glass. Savage electrical arcs crawled across their surfaces, illuminating them in pale blue.

The delayed howl of displaced air finally erupted. Fierce wind spread outward, racing through halls and alleys and along the deserted streets of Sleepless Street in the early morning.

Electrical arcs dispersed through the air, making every hair in Shem’s bushy beard stand on end. He remained frozen in place, one hand still raised as if touching the barrier, until Salih’s body slammed heavily into the ground with a pained groan and snapped him back to his senses.

“Holy crap, did I just…?”

Shem stared down at his hands in utter disbelief.

He felt that his repeated collisions had been indispensable to the invisible barrier’s destruction.

Like dripping water boring through stone, he had done it. He had created a great miracle!

Salih struggled to his feet and looked at Shem. “Uh, Elder, was this…?”

“That’s right! I did it!” Shem answered without hesitation, straightening his back proudly.

————

Inside a private workshop in Chili Hall at the Great Pure Palace.

Hu Chuan, seated cross-legged on a cushion, suddenly convulsed and snapped his eyes open. He opened his mouth and spat out a mass of pale plasma with a retch, leaving him utterly drained in an instant.

He braced his swaying body with one hand and murmured, “The Dark Emperor… As formidable as expected…”

Hu Chuan had not noticed Zhang Huainan at all when he entered the lockdown zone. Only when Zhang Huainan attacked did Hu Chuan finally sense his presence, but by then it was already too late.

Through the vision he had been using to spy on the lockdown zone, he saw only a majestic figure in a jade crown and black robes, accompanied by a black dragon, slowly rising into the air. Then light erupted and seared his eyes.

That light was a brilliant silver-white, incomparably radiant and majestic.

Even across the vast distance, the power contained within it burned him, churning his internal organs as though they were being crushed to pulp.

“…”

Hu Chuan remained dazed for a moment. When he sensed a surge of jubilation from Zhang Shuo, who had been fashioned into an object inside his body, his pallid face gradually darkened.

“You seem very pleased?” Hu Chuan gently stroked the restless mass of flesh on his chest and sneered. “Heh. Don’t worry. I won’t die. Even if…”

Even the renowned Dark Emperor could never pinpoint me while I remained under that great lord’s protection… Hu Chuan finished inwardly.

He quickly regulated his breathing, rose, and dressed. Leaving the private workshop and Chili Hall, he slipped among the Great Pure Palace disciples heading to their morning lessons and made his way toward Qinghui Hall.

Then…

Accompanied by the distant, ethereal tolling of bells echoing through the mountains, he left the gates of the Great Pure Palace and vanished into the Zhenwu Mountain Scenic Area.

————

Destroying a seal constructed through the power of a Divine Land was not the same as directly destroying the Divine Land itself. Zhang Huainan had expected it to be easy.

But after his first clash of powers with the terrifying haunting hidden behind the Esoteric Society, he discovered just how strange its power truly was.

Zhang Huainan had intended to analyze the opponent’s power and undo the seal by deciphering it. Yet when he actually began dismantling the seal covering the entire residential area, he found that approach impossible. He could only destroy it by force, which demanded considerable effort.

It was ten times more exhausting than pretending to be terrible at chess and playing dirty to distract that hopeless chess player, the Commander of Armaments!

The majestic phantom conjured by the surging Spirit Pattern around him faded, and the almost tangible flames of light dancing in his eyes went out. Zhang Huainan gathered his thoughts and looked toward Lu Yibei and Huá Sāng on the street below.

“Oh? You little brat. You still think you can run?”

Seeing Lu Yibei sneak toward the edge of the residential area, he raised an eyebrow. With a tap of his toe against the ground, his figure flashed and vanished.

————

When thunder once more resounded across the sky, Lu Yibei looked up and saw light flooding the air above the residential area.

Lightning pierced the invisible barrier like countless spears. It was as though heaven and sea had exchanged places, with raging waves rolling across the sky in thunderous roars.

For a moment, space itself seemed to convulse and struggle desperately.

Then…

A tear opened in the “sky.” Faint morning light pierced the darkness that had covered the residential area all night and spilled onto the ground. Sadly, the people who had once lived here would never see that ray of sunlight again.

Lu Yibei froze for a moment, then snapped back to her senses and immediately headed toward the edge of the residential area.

The seal was finally gone. If she didn’t leave now, when would she?

Miss Fang… Uh, she’d come back and look for her once things had calmed down!

Her luck was off the charts, anyway. Nothing too serious could happen to her, Lu Yibei thought.

Just then, air screamed overhead, and a slightly stooped old man dropped from the sky to block her path.

In an instant, a terrifying psychic energy fluctuation locked onto Lu Yibei. Her body stiffened as though the qi within her, her organs, and even every drop of water in her body had been seized by that fluctuation and brought to a standstill.

So this is the strongest psychic in The Midnight Watchers Society—the Dark Emperor himself?

He’s absurdly powerful! Lu Yibei thought anxiously.

She did not want to admit it, but beneath the inexplicable sense of danger brought by that psychic energy fluctuation, she truly was afraid.

Her body went rigid, trembling uncontrollably.

Zhang Huainan slowly turned around and ambled toward her. He stopped directly before Lu Yibei and extended a hand.

After recognizing Zhang Huainan and seeing him reach toward Lu Yibei, Huá Sāng’s heart tightened. She hurried forward and stepped between them.

“Don’t! Old man, don’t do anything reckless. She isn’t an enemy!”

Zhang Huainan glanced at Huá Sāng and replied unhurriedly, “I know. She’s Gu Qianqian—and my senior sister, as it happens.”

“Isn’t that right, Senior Sister?”

As he spoke, his gaze passed over Huá Sāng and settled on Lu Yibei, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.

That single “Senior Sister” made Lu Yibei’s heart shudder. Her face instantly turned exceedingly ugly, but she still answered, “Uh, r-right! Long time no see, Junior Brother. Have you been keeping well lately? I’m telling you, once people get older, they need to take care of themselves. Go to bed early, get up early, exercise more, that sort of thing.”

It’s only “Senior Sister.” If he dares call me that, I dare answer!

As long as he doesn’t attack me…

Zhang Huainan knew Lu Yibei was shameless, but he had never imagined her skin could be this thick.

You’ve got guts, brat!

I call you Senior Sister, and you actually have the nerve to answer?

His face darkened as he asked Lu Yibei, “I heard earlier that that brat Lu Yibei was trapped in here as well, which was why I rushed over to help. As you know, Senior Sister, that brat is Senior Brother Qing Ji’s descendant. How could I stand by and do nothing?”

“But when I arrived, he was nowhere to be seen… You’re very close to him, Senior Sister, so you must know where he is. Don’t lie to me. I’ll be angry.”

Damn it! This rotten old man sounds like he’s threatening me… Lu Yibei fell silent for two seconds, then bit the bullet and replied expressionlessly, “Exactly! I’d like to know where he went too. I actually came here looking for him, but I never found him. Maybe the intelligence was wrong?”

“Oh, right. I just remembered—Junior Brother, do you still enjoy those amusing little trinkets like you used to? Someone gave me one recently, but I don’t particularly care for it. Would you like me to pass it on to you?”

If you’re going to threaten me, then I’ll just have to threaten you back.

Yet while Lu Yibei and Zhang Huainan traded veiled barbs, Huá Sāng stood beside them with her thoughts in utter chaos.

Wait. The old Headmaster just said Lu Yibei was Senior Qing Ji’s descendant…

And Senior Qing Ji’s descendant was also the fiancé she’d never met…

Then didn’t that mean Lu Yibei was…?

The moment Huá Sāng recalled all the wild conclusions she had drawn earlier, as well as what she had said in front of Qing Ji, a blush spread across her cheeks. She wanted nothing more than to find a turtle shell and crawl inside.

Thus, while Lu Yibei and Zhang Huainan used each other’s socially ruinous secrets to trade hints and threats, Huá Sāng—the bystander—was the first to die of embarrassment.