Chapter 479 - 478: Is This the Protagonist’s Halo?

Chapter 479: Chapter 478: Is This the Protagonist’s Halo?

Chapter 478: Is This the Protagonist’s Halo?

Bai Xiaoyao had heard her Senior Brother speak of a great calamity that would befall the Demon Sect, it was not long ago, on the very day the incident occurred at the Wandering Immortal Inn.

Although she now understood that what her senior brother had said back then was not entirely true, when she combined it with his various actions in the royal city, as well as the unspoken tacit understanding between him and their master—the Demon Sect Master—it was clear that at the very least, her senior brother did indeed have an enemy hidden behind the scenes.

Compared to the Netherkin of the Netherkin chaos, that was the true opponent her senior brother was facing.

In fact, the Netherkin chaos hadn’t even been taken seriously by him. From beginning to end, he had never shown any real wariness toward the Netherkin race; rather, he seemed to know them inside and out, producing one piece of top-secret intelligence after another.

As for this true enemy behind the scenes...

’The Buddhist sect...’

Recalling her many conversations with her senior brother over the past month or so, Bai Xiaoyao frowned in thought.

At that moment, however, a sharp sword intent suddenly pressed in front of her.

"The person behind the scenes?"

Hearing that somewhat cold voice, tinged with killing intent, Bai Xiaoyao’s gaze abruptly turned strange.

"Yes. Senior brother once told me that he came to the royal city on our master’s orders in order to sabotage that person’s plans, uncover the enemy’s true face... Resolving this Netherkin chaos may have been nothing more than one move in his game against them..."

As she answered seriously, Bai Xiaoyao looked toward the woman who had just asked the question.

Ling Shuangxue—Peak Master of Frosty Snow Peak of the Sword Sect, and the master of Lu Yuliu.

A full-sized adulterous cat.

If it had been before, she might not have felt much. But now, Bai Xiaoyao could see the problem at a glance.

That ring on her hand—there was no doubt it was yet another ’the one and only’ Star-Moon Jade!

Just how many women had senior brother hooked using this trick?!

Bai Xiaoyao ground her teeth, then forcibly calmed the turmoil in her heart.

Before they figured out senior brother’s situation, it was better not to stir up unnecessary trouble... Moreover, among those present, this woman’s strength was currently the greatest. Many things might still require her assistance.

Originally, when the Empress had merged her three bodies, her strength had also reached the Divine Transformation realm. But as time passed, that state had gradually become unstable, and coupled with the earlier complete depletion of her power, her strength had fallen sharply, she was now far inferior to Ling Shuangxue.

After thinking it through, Bai Xiaoyao instead cast a you’re-so-disappointing look at the silly girl beside her.

Lu Yuliu blinked in confusion.

Weren’t they discussing something serious? Why was she suddenly being stared at?

The Sword Fairy was also deeply worried.

She, too, knew that Luo Wusheng had other enemies.

Her information came from many sources: intelligence she’d heard from Bai Xiaoyao when Luo Wusheng wasn’t around, bits and pieces she’d learned for certain reasons, and her own conjectures formed after several unexpected experiences by that guy’s side.

If it really was a hidden enemy making a move...

Lu Yuliu’s hand subconsciously pressed against the Sword Ancestor wooden sword at her waist.

Then she looked toward her own master, who had surprisingly been the first to raise the question.

Come to think of it, she also felt that her master’s attitude was a bit strange...

Her thoughts couldn’t help drifting back to how she had reunited with her master this time.

At that point, the battle in the sky had not yet ended, but within the royal city the Netherkin had already been completely wiped out... It was her master who had stylishly borrowed the power of the immortal tribulation to deal with the final bear Netherkin.

After that, master and disciple met.

More precisely, she had been shoved out by a certain Demon Sect Holy Maiden who seemed to be in a foul mood for reasons unknown.

Reunited after a long separation, master and disciple looked at one another, yet for a moment, neither knew what to say.

It was only when her master softly called out, "Yuli," that the girl, like a guilty ostrich trying to bury her head in the sand, shuffled over.

Lu Yuliu had imagined that her master would come.

She just hadn’t expected to meet her like this.

Why would Master help the Immortal Nation deal with the Netherkin race?

Had the Immortal Nation approached her in advance for assistance, or was it...?

At the time, the Sword Fairy was utterly flustered.

Even her words stumbled out unevenly.

"M-Master... y-you... how could you...?"

She wanted to ask clearly what was really going on, yet at the same time she was afraid of hearing some terrifying answer.

However, just then, something at her master’s waist lit up.

It was a Sword Sect sword token, a credential representing missions assigned to Sword Sect members. The tokens came in five grades—white, blue, red, purple, and black. And the one now glowing was the black sword token, issued only when the Sword Sect Master personally designated a mission.

A strand of divine awareness was embedded within it. It activated automatically, forming lines of text.

[Frosty Snow Peak Master Ling Shuangxue, by the sword token order, proceed to the royal city to assist the Immortal Nation in responding to the Netherkin chaos.]

[Note: The Demon Sect is also involved in this operation. If the situation becomes urgent, cooperation with the Demon Sect Holy Saint is permitted.]

[...]

A long stretch of information followed.

Master and disciple both froze in place.

No one noticed that within this memory belonging to Lu Yuliu, a speck of starlight—somehow intruding without knowing how—also paused for a moment, then quietly faded away, seemingly heading elsewhere.

When it disappeared, the memory had not yet ended.

"S-So that’s how it is... Master was acting under a mission..."

The little girl’s voice seemed to relax, letting out a breath.

"..."

The Ling Shuangxue within the memory seemed to want to say something, but just then, an unexpected change occurred in the battle at the horizon, pushing things toward their finale and robbing her of the chance to speak.

...

Now, after hearing Bai Xiaoyao’s words, Ling Shuangxue fell into deep thought.

She, too, had heard her Dao Companion speak of acting under his master’s orders, but he had only mentioned the Netherkin chaos, never saying anything about a hidden enemy behind it.

So that’s why his sword intent always carried a hint of repression, as if he were bearing something heavy...

Her gaze flickered slightly.

To be honest, Ling Shuangxue felt that her current situation was... strange.

And she knew exactly where the problem lay.

After the earlier mishap when she explained matters to her disciple, the justification for her involvement had turned into:

"Arrived on a mission to assist the Immortal Nation, and afterward, due to the disciple’s prior connection with the Demon Sect Holy Saint, assisted—at the disciple’s request—in confirming the condition of the Demon Sect Holy Saint, whom she had only recently met because of this mission..."

No matter how she looked at it, something was off, wasn’t it?

Clearly, she should have been the one with the deepest connection to him considering he’s her Dao Companion, caring about him is only natural, it required no justification at all, why would it take her disciple’s request?

Yet when facing the Demon Sect Holy Maiden and the Empress, Ling Shuangxue felt her "poor communication" ailment flare up again.

She could barely manage more than five words at a time, how was she supposed to correct everyone’s misconceptions like that?

In the end, she could only let her disciple do the introductions. When her disciple asked for help, she had no choice but to nod in reluctant agreement.

Whatever. I’ll explain things clearly later when I’m alone with Yuli when I hand the Soulblade Specter over to her.

That was what Ling Shuangxue thought.

What she didn’t know was that the other two women listening to her disciple’s introduction had very different thoughts of their own.

Bai Xiaoyao had already guessed quite a bit just from seeing the Star-Moon Jade ring. As she listened to her best friend’s introduction, she had to hold back for a long time before suppressing the twitch at the corner of her mouth.

As for the Empress, she already had intelligence regarding the Sword Province Soulblade Specter incident. She immediately recognized the Frosty Snow Peak Master before her as the Sword Sect fairy who had appeared back then in Sword Province. Naturally, she also realized that this person had long been acquainted with a certain Demon Sect Holy Saint...

After learning that Ling Shuangxue had come to assist the Immortal Nation, the Empress’s thoughts also drifted a little...

There truly hadn’t been many outside reinforcements in this Netherkin chaos. Counting them up, almost all of them were from Sword Province—nearly twenty Sword Province Nascent Soul cultivators, and this astonishingly powerful Sword Sect Peak Master right in front of her...

All of it stemmed from ties with Luo Wusheng.

Could it be that the fellow’s last trip to Sword Province had been for this very reason...?

Ling Shuangxue naturally couldn’t see through the Empress’s complicated thoughts.

She only felt that the sword token which had appeared earlier was rather troublesome.

She had never accepted any mission to assist the royal city, nor had she received that black sword token from the Sword Sect Lord.

That sword token had come from a woman whose brain was probably a little broken—namely, the one who had inexplicably slowed her journey to the royal city, then rattled off a pile of things she couldn’t understand, and who looked like nothing more than a white-haired little girl.

She looked like a little girl, but since she was at the Divine Transformation realm, her age was likely several generation older than Ling Shuangxue herself.

If Ling Shuangxue hadn’t known what the black sword token represented, she wouldn’t have accepted the item from that person at all.

At the time, she hadn’t paid much attention to the contents of the token. After using Sword Sect secret techniques—upgraded through the Sword Emperor inheritance—to check that there were no lingering techniques on it and that it was just a normal sword token, she had casually hung it at her waist and continued on her way.

She never expected it to cause trouble at that moment...

"Holy crap, old mesugaki, you really did a great job!"

...

A certain Holy Saint’s sliver of spiritual light felt a bit awkward.

He’s too agitated, to the point where he hadn’t managed to hold his tongue.

He had originally planned to find opportunities to say goodbye to everyone one by one. He hadn’t expected things to turn out so abruptly.

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have curiously used the power of the Dao of fate to tug at the master and disciple’s thoughts, rummaging through their memories to find the reason behind the current harmony...

Still, to be honest, his Dao really was quite miraculous. Even as just a sliver of spiritual light, he could still mobilize Dao Rhythm to do something like this... Though without external support, the reason he could peer into memories now was because the destinies of this master–disciple pair were deeply entwined with his own—and because they themselves had begun recalling the specific details.

Alright, that wasn’t important right now.

Watching the four girls all come back to their senses at once, Luo Wusheng—despite being only a sliver of spiritual light—felt his scalp go numb.

"Senior Brother?"

"Pavilion Head?"

"Br-Brother Luo?"

?

Ling Shuangxue, who had also been about to speak instinctively, froze on the spot and looked at her own disciple.

That form of address was wrong, wasn’t it?

Bai Xiaoyao and the Empress both looked over as well. Even the sliver of spiritual light that Luo Wusheng was about to manifest into a starlit form trembled slightly.

Had Little Yuli taken the wrong medicine? Or was she acting up again?

The Sword Fairy’s little face reddened a bit, but she pressed her lips together, putting on an expression as if everything were perfectly natural.

She had her reasons... With her master present, she felt she had to appear closer to that annoying guy.

At the very least, being able to influence her master’s decision to help this time with her own weight; and in the longer run, making certain changes would also become easier...

Luo Wusheng, meanwhile, recalled how he had once tried to coax this girl into calling him "brother"... and had failed back then. Now the little girl had delivered it to him herself.

And this accidental form of address wasn’t a bad thing for Luo Wusheng.

At the very least, no one was paying attention to his earlier slip of the tongue anymore. His main wife, having stalled for a moment, once again lost the chance to speak.

Truly miserable. He’d compensate her with his body after reviving.

Not thinking further, Luo Wusheng’s spiritual light faintly manifested into a starlike figure. With a thought, words simultaneously entered the minds of the four women around him.

"Stay silent. Don’t make any unnecessary moves, or it’ll draw attention and expose something abnormal."

Although it was only a sliver of spiritual radiance, Luo Wusheng’s thoughts were still perfectly clear.

This fragment of radiance was meant as a kind of backup; now that something had happened to his main body, it was best for this side to avoid being discovered.

Moreover, he couldn’t let these women’s thoughts drift elsewhere... If his appearance caused the topic to shift into dangerous territory, then this place really might explode at any moment.

Sure enough, after hearing his words, the girls—who had just been on the verge of stirring—suppressed all movement and sat back down, their expressions growing solemn.

"What is this... situation of yours? ’Being noticed’... Is someone spying on this place? And your aura—"

The first to speak was the Empress. She discreetly formed a hand seal, and only after a faint layer of profound power spread over the area did she frown and look at the starlike presence before her.

"This is a sliver of spiritual radiance I separated using a special method. It has no aura to speak of. Before the main body reclaims it, it is a completely separate individual, at most, it can only faintly transmit fragments of memories and images."

Listening to this, the Empress felt something stir in her heart... It seemed somewhat similar to her own Empyreal Qi Synthesis: Trinity of Pristine States avatars—just without inheriting strength or cultivation level.

At this moment, Luo Wusheng, surrounded in the center, paused mid-sentence. Looking at the four stunningly beautiful women, his head began to ache.

His original plan for this spiritual light had merely been to come and settle some final matters with his girls. He hadn’t intended to reveal the situation on his main body’s side, because there were still real countermeasures there, there’s no need to make them worry. Besides, the opponent he was about to face this time was essentially the lifelong nemesis of this incarnation. Even he himself didn’t know how many methods that person possessed. As for this side, even with Ling Shuangxue—who had already reached Peak Stage Nascent Soul—their strength still seemed insufficient.

’But now it looks like I have no choice but to say it... So be it. They were basically about to guess it anyway. Even if I don’t say it, they’ll harbor doubts about this farewell.’

Thinking this, the starlike Luo Wusheng let out a sigh.

"I’m not sure whether that person can spy on us, but it’s better to be cautious..."

Before he could finish, a voice cut in.

"Your main body met with an accident?"

Ling Shuangxue looked calmly at the starlight, her grip on the cold, gleaming slender sword tightening slightly.

What she wanted to know most was Luo Wusheng’s current condition.

In truth, the other girls felt the same; they just hadn’t been quick enough to say the line this time.

The Sword Fairy’s heart trembled. Her master suddenly initiating conversation with Luo Wusheng made the psychological shadow she’d gained from receiving the Sword Ancestor’s inheritance flare up for no reason.

Besides, this seemed to be the longest single sentence her master had spoken since they met again this time... It’s seven whole characters!

’It must just be curiosity about the current situation... right?’

The girl herself was already a bit unsettled, so she couldn’t grasp her master’s emotional shifts clearly.

After a brief silence, Luo Wusheng’s voice continued to echo.

"Indeed... just as my junior sister said earlier, my main body— which should have entered a revival state—ran into some trouble. And the one who acted wasn’t the Netherkin race, but the person behind the scenes I was meant to deal with this time after leaving the Three Thousand Demon Domains for the royal city."

The atmosphere grew heavier.

Then, Lu Yuliu, who had been a bit distracted, suddenly blurted out without thinking:

"Huh? You heard what Bai Xiaoyao said... Were you already here back then?"

The atmosphere sank even further.

Thankfully, everyone present was composed and didn’t say anything more. Only Luo Wusheng, who really had been secretly peeking, felt so awkward he wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it.

Bai Xiaoyao ignored the silly girl beside her. After temporarily suppressing the other thoughts that arose whenever she faced her senior brother, she frowned slightly.

"Senior Brother already foresaw this? The enemy is, just as you said before, someone from the Buddhist sect?"

The Buddhist sect...

Ling Shuangxue’s and the Empress’s gazes both darkened at the same time.

"That’s right."

Luo Wusheng gave an affirmative answer, then continued in a tone meant to reassure everyone:

"So in fact, everything up to now has been within my expectations. My main body also has countermeasures in place. If nothing unexpected happens—"

"—And if something unexpected does happen?"

Bai Xiaoyao tapped her fingers on the table expressionlessly.

"I trust Senior Brother’s ability and planning, but this also proves how special the opponent you’re facing is... To take away your main body without leaving a trace and cut off all external information, at the very least, that person was a Divine Transformation realm cultivator, right?"

"And what about your main body’s current state? You should be preparing to revive using that Ancient Phoenix Essence, yes? The way you speak doesn’t sound like a call for help, which means this was originally a method you intended to use to deal with matters before and after revival... Perhaps with some additional arrangements?"

Luo Wusheng’s mind froze.

His junior sister had already said everything, what was left for him to say?

"It seems I wasn’t wrong, then..."

Bai Xiaoyao continued calmly.

"So what exactly is Senior Brother’s current situation? For example, what state is Senior Brother in right now? Confined in some isolated space cut off from the outside? Can Senior Brother explain clearly where he is?"

"Uh... it’s not exactly confinement in an isolated place. It’s just that my main body’s spiritual energy and physical body are gone at the moment, and the items on me are inside a spatial treasure that can’t be opened for now. As for where I’m trapped, it’s not far—right up in the sk—"

Halfway through, Luo Wusheng suddenly came back to his senses.

Damn it, he’d actually been pressured by his junior sister’s presence into blurting everything out...

That effect wasn’t just because of Bai Xiaoyao’s step-by-step questioning. His own guilt played a huge role too. Right now, seeing his junior sister made him more flustered than seeing the master-and-disciple pair sitting together beside him.

At least that situation hadn’t been exposed yet. But this one...

Originally, he’d planned to let time after his revival dull the sensitivity around the Star-Moon Jade issue, then slowly and properly resolve things with this little demoness. Instead, he’d slammed straight into it head-on—just like the sudden reunion of the Sword Sect master and disciple—without the slightest preparation.

Fortunately, the topic was still firmly on serious business. As long as it wasn’t suddenly dragged out into the open, Luo Wusheng felt he could still hold on.

"In the sky?"

Lu Yuliu, who had gone quiet for a while after realizing she’d spoken out of turn, was the first to speak this time—exactly like a student who’d made a mistake in class and, wanting to win back the teacher’s favor, was the first to raise her hand.

She drew the Sword Ancestor’s wooden sword from her waist and casually slashed toward the sky, picking a random direction.

It was such a simple motion, yet it made everyone freeze.

That casual slash was like tearing open a curtain, revealing a transparent space high among the distant clouds.

Inside it was a translucent human figure, lying prone on the clouds and looking down below...

"Huh?"

Lu Yuliu herself was stunned.

She had really just slashed randomly, activating the Sword Ancestor wooden sword’s trait of cutting through all things on a whim. She’d tried it before, so why did it land a critical hit this time?

Even Luo Wusheng’s spiritual light was dumbfounded...

That wasn’t the spot he’d thought was directly overhead—it was offset by quite a distance.

That transparent space was, in fact, nothing more than a tiny speck in the clouds. If everyone present weren’t cultivators, they probably wouldn’t even have noticed the change.

Yet that tiny speck happened to fall exactly along the path of the Sword Fairy’s wooden sword.

...Is this what they call protagonist halo?

<+>

Cultivation Realm:

1, Qi Refining

2, Foundation Establishment

3, Golden Core

4, Nascent Soul

5, Divine Transformation (Formerly Known as Tribulation Crossing)

6, Tribulation Transcendence

7, Land Immortal

Note: Link to the character Illustration:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lkIcPnCxeyuyZA4Kkb621dPC05UvWjhD