My Disciple Died Yet Again Chapter 371-380

Chapter371: Two-Person Instance

Zhu Yao returned to investigate the  Extermination Formation, and as her master had said, the place had been cleared up nicely. It was a barren wasteland within a hundred kilometers radius. Forget about Nascent Divided Pearls, even the demonic beasts had disappeared. She even intentionally circled around the area, yet she did not even discover a single one.

“Other formations have been mixed within the Extermination Formation.” Yu Yan solemnly said. “Most likely, one of the formations was used to lure in demonic beasts, and the formation core was on one of their bodies.”

Zhu Yao’s heart turned chilly for a moment. She thought that Mei Xue was like Yi Ling, a white lotus with  excessive hormones. Never did she expect that she was actually a black- hearted lotus. Most likely, she had already planned on using Squad Captain Nangong and Little Teal right from the start.

Though there were many ways to obtain Nascent Divided Pearls, they were all in this dense forest. There were many living creatures in the forest, and they were extremely hard to find. That was why she decided to exterminate all living beings, and after that, finding Nascent Divided Pearls would turn much more convenient.

However, the moment this formation were to active, other than Nascent Divided Pearls, there were still demonic beasts in the dense forest. In order to buy more time to collect the scattered Nascent Divided Pearls, she needed a cannon fodder to help her lure away the demonic beasts. That’s why she chose Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu.

She secretly placed the formation core for the demonic beast luring formation on them, and as long as they split up, the demonic beasts would naturally chase after Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu. All they had to do was return to collect the Nascent Divided Pearls and they would be done with their work. Such convenience.

“Then where are they now?” Zhu Yao’s heart sank. The demonic beasts can’t possibly chase all the way here, right?

“No need to worry.” Yu Yan shook his head. “That demonic beast luring formation must be time-limited. By now, it should be ineffective.”

With a wave of his hand, a dull-coloured formation inscription floated out of the two were meditating.

Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief. Thinking back for a moment, she suddenly felt that Mei Xue was rather terrifying. In order to obtain Nascent Divided Pearls, she would actually slaughter all the living beings within a hundred kilometers radius without batting an eye. She sure was ruthless. Furthermore, the Extermination Formation was just a thousand kilometers away from the divine city. Zhu Yao wondered if there were any unlucky Deities who came walking into the forest and were killed along with all of the living creatures. Let’s not  forget there were definitely several demons, beasts, or spirit among them.

As an honest person with great EQ and IQ, Zhu Yao felt that she definitely had to stay away from this black-hearted lotus in the future. She might one day be conned into her schemes.

Zhu Yao directly told Squad Captain Nangong the truth, and his face instantly blackened. He looked as if he badly wanted to head back immediately and beat up the other side. Little Teal’s leaves even turned black from anger. This seed of vengeance had truly been planted deep.

Though by now, they must have already flown up to the third floor. They did not idle for long. After student Nagong’s injuries were better, they immediately plucked out a few Nascent Divided Pearls and stepped onto the level-raising elevator.

————————————————

Zhu Yao was awakened by the cold. There was cold wind assaulting her, and it was bone-piercing chilly. Startled up, she opened her eyes and what she saw was complete darkness. The entire place was pitch-black. She instinctively reached out for her master beside her, but she grasped empty air instead.

“Master!” Zhu Yao was shocked. She reached out left and right, and only then did she grab onto a gentle hand. She instantly heaved a sigh of relief. Her sight was still covered in darkness. “This is… We’re on the lower third floor?” It’s a little

too dark, isn’t it? Isn’t the exit supposed to be the divine city?

Why isn’t there the slightest bit of divine energy around here?

Zhu Yao casually whipped up a fire art and glanced around. “Where’s Nangong Huang and Little Teal?” Weren’t they  in front of me? How did they disappear? “Master,  you…”  When she turned around, she was stunned. “Yue Ying, why is it you?” She subconsciously swung her hand away and raised up the ember in her hand, beginning her search. “Master, Nangong Huang, Little Teal…”

Yue Ying’s eyes which were dark in the first place, instantly dimmed quite a bit. He slowly tightened his hand, and only after a short while did he retract the hand which she had mistakenly grabbed onto. Moving his lips, he spoke a moment later. “He’s not here… There’s no one else here…”

Zhu Yao’s feet stopped, her eyes instantly sharpened. “Is it your doing?” Bringing her here all alone.

Yue Ying was startled, his eyes instantly widened. His stunned face instantly turned miserably pale as he strongly shook his head. “Big sis Yao…”

“It best not be!” Zhu Yao turned her head around and took a deep breath. Not bothering about him any longer, she immediately flew up and materialized a fire dragon. In an instant, a streak of light cut across the sky.

When she took a closer look below, she realized that this place was a tattered divine city. The entire place was filled with broken walls and collapsed buildings. As Yue Ying had said, other than the two of them, there wasn’t a single other human figure around.

Why was she here? She recalled that she was clearly standing on the elevator to the third floor. When she reached the top, a white light assaulted her. She simply felt a light headache, and immediately after, she found herself here.

Was this truly the lower third floor? Where was her master and the rest? Could it be that the third level had different exits?

The surrounding winds grew stronger, and they were turning colder as well. It was as if they were blowing through the gaps of the bones. The winds were accompanied by strange howls, causing one’s heart to feel chilly.

Zhu Yao decided to first look around and search for other people. She immediately chose a direction and flew towards it. Yue Ying immediately followed after her as well.

However, the further she searched, the darker it became, and the winds were so strong they could blow away a human being. The defensive barriers that Zhu Yao placed down were not very effective either, and she had no choice but to stop. She could not help but feel a little worried. Just what was this hell of a place? She had flown for half a day, but she did not spot a single person. Furthermore, there wasn’t a single hint of divine energy in her surroundings. She couldn’t be trapped here, right?

She took a deep breath and calmed herself. Then, she used all of her strength to release her divine sense to investigate. She realized that in a hundred kilometers radius, the scenery was all the same. A barren wasteland. Forget about Deities, even a small animal or a plant couldn’t be seen. There wasn’t divine energy, nor spiritual energy in the air. Other than the constantly howling winds, there was nothing else around.

Wait a minute!

Her divine sense swept towards a place several dozens of kilometers in front of her. There seemed to be something as huge as a mountain? And why did it feel familiar? Zhu Yao’s heart shook, and she immediately flew in that direction. After closing in, she then discovered that they were actually a huge bones. She wondered what kind of demonic beast they belonged to, as the bones were extremely enormous. At the very least, they could reach up to a height of five or six floors. Strangely, they was actually entirely red and was emitting out flowing light like a gem. Furthermore, they were all ribcages, while some of them were buried in the ground. What was  exposed were sharp and pointy bones that reached out to the sky.

“What are these?” She hadn’t seen any red bones before. Yue Ying took a few steps forward as well, and then, lowering his head, he looked at the strange bones in front of him.

Zhu Yao stared at it for half a day, but she still couldn’t figure out what’s strange about it. Though, the sinister winds in the air grew even stronger. Whatever, let’s first locate master for now.

“I’m leaving.” She called out. Just as she was about to cast an art and fly, her side tightened, and she was pulled back. When she turned back to look, Yue Ying was currently grabbing tightly onto the corner of her robes. Zhu Yao frowned. “Let go!”

“…” Yue Ying did not reply. He simply lowered his head, and held onto the corner of her robes tightly just like in the past.

Fury instantly enveloped Zhu Yao. After not being able to jerk out after a few shakes, she immediately cast an art and sliced off that piece of cloth. “What are you trying to pull?”

He still did not reply as the hand he was holding onto the piece of cloth with, trembled. He took a step forward, as though he was still trying to pull onto her. This action reminded ZHu Yao of his previous actions, and immediately swatted his hand away. Just as she was about to fly up into the air, a very soft voice called out behind her.

“Egg…”

Zhu Yao’s feet stopped. It was as if her heart had been slammed heavily by something, as she hurriedly turned her head around.

Yue Ying who was still a head taller than she was earlier, actually began to slowly shrink. In just a few moments, his height was merely at her waist level, and his clothes had turned tattered and broken as well. The flesh on his face caved in, as though his moisture had all been sucked out in an instant. What remained was a bone-skinny skeleton figure.

This appearance… “Shao Bai.”

The skinny-figured child walked over shakily. Opening wide his branch-like arms, he tightly hugged her waist. A voice that was so coarse which made it unclear, sounded. “Egg… Don’t be afraid! I will protect you, don’t be afraid.”

Zhu Yao was stunned.

Just what was going on?

“Yue Ying! Stop fooling around.” She immediately pulled his hand away. “Just what is going on? Why did you become like that?”

However, he seemed to ignore her. Suddenly, he raised his hand and slit his wrist, the surrounding winds instantly turned wild. Like sharp blades, they came assaulting towards her. Yue Ying used all of his strength to scatter his blood towards the air, angrily shouting. “Go away, don’t you all dare touch her!”

This… This was the same scene she saw in the Nether Abyss back then. He was Shao Bai? “Yue Ying! What’s wrong with you?” Zhu Yao’s mind was in a mush. She turned to look at the red bones. Could those bones be the reason? Could they possibly be capable of confusing the hearts of people? Was all these an illusion? However, Yue Ying’s cultivation was clearly higher than hers. Why was she fine, while he turned out that way?

Zhu Yao hurriedly cast a few dispelling arts, but they were all ineffective.

Yue Ying was still scattering his own blood, constantly slitting his own wrist.

“Are you crazy!?” If he continued to slice his wrist, he would empty all the blood in his body. They were just dark winds, not devillic energy!

Zhu Yao grabbed his hand, stopping him from his self-harm. She turned to look at those red bones, and immediately carried Yue Ying off with her fastest speed.

However, Yue Ying did not recover his reason in the slightest. Instead, he raised his head and looked straight at her. Then, he reached out to hug her neck. Using his pair of withered small hands, he patted slowly on her back.

“Egg, don’t  be  afraid,  don’t  be  afraid…  I  will  protect  you.

Second elder brother will protect you!”

“…” Zhu Yao instantly felt as if her heart had been stabbed a little. A bone-piercing pain welled up, and even her heart began to ache. She could not help but call out. “Second  elder brother…”

The moment her words fell, the surrounding  scenery instantly began to distort, as though something had been triggered. The darkness in the sky disappeared and the surrounding boundless wasteland disappeared without a trace. What replaced it was a huge green plains. The sky was covered by enormous leaves, only small bits of light could seep through the cover. Like a starry sky, the light that landed on her body felt warm and fuzzy.

—— Parasol Tree.

“Little sister, this is for you!” In front of her, Shao Bai’s large face suddenly appeared. He no longer had the look of a child like before, instead, he turned into his previous handsome appearance. He was currently holding onto a bag of something which he stuffed into her hands. She unconsciously opened it up, and they were all melon seeds.

“…”

Chapter372: National Big Giveaway

“What is it? Don’t like them?” Seeing her unmoving, Shao Bai gave an even warmer smile as he reached out to stroke her head. “It’s fine, second elder brother prepared others as well.” As he said that, he pulled out bags and bags of snacks and stuffed them in her hands.

Zhu Yao was a little stunned. She glanced at the various familiar bags in her hands. “Second elder brother…” Just what was going on?

“Hurry and eat them, before your teacher discovers them.” Shao Bai helped combed her hair and gently said. “If he discover them again, he would once more…”

“…”

“What did you get this time?” Before he could finish, a figure dressed in snow-white robes appeared from not far away.

“Master!” As expected, he was here as well. “This place is really strange…” Before she could finish, the person in front of her frowned. With a cold face, he walked over. Then, he turned towards a rock at the side and began his lecture. “Your teacher has told you several times that you’ve already abstained from food. There’s no benefits to your cultivation if you constantly take in mortal food.”

The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. “Master, I’m over here…” Please forgive that rock.

The person in front of her stiffened for a moment, and then he immediately turned around with his usual look. Facing a tree at the side, he continued with his justifications. “I’ve mentioned it to you yesterday, and what did you promise to this teacher? Does that still count?”

Zhu Yao sighed. Left with no choice, she grabbed onto the person in front of her and turned him around. “I’m over here!” This face-blindness that did not discriminate across races could only belong to one person. “… Teacher?” He was the  Far Ancient Highgod? Wasn’t he already…

“What is it? Did you even forget about your teacher?” His frown grew deeper. With a long sigh, he said. “Yu… Yao. Though you’re a Phoenix, you cannot slack on your cultivation.”

“What did you call me?” Zhu Yao was stunned. She had never told her teacher her name, and the only person who could possibly call her Yu Yao was her master! Just what was going on?

“Mn?” He looked at her, confused.

Zhu Yao immediately stepped forward and grabbed his hands. “Who are you?”

Before the person in front of her could speak, Shao Bai next to her stepped forward. Bowing forward, he then courteously said. “Sovereign Yu Yan, please forgive her. These snacks were something I brought over, and it’s not related to her.  You should be aware that Little Seventh is my only sister, so naturally I pamper her a lot more. Please do not blame her because of this.”

Sovereign Yu Yan? Master! He’s really my master, but…

“Nevermind.” Yu Yan’s expression slacked a little. Lowering his head, he glanced at Zhu Yao and habitually stroked  her head. A familiar warmth surfaced in his eyes, and he lightly said. “No more exceptions in the future. Tomorrow…”  He turned his head away a little unnaturally, and then after a moment, he said. “Head up the mountain a little earlier.”

After saying that, his figure flashed.

“Master, wait…” Before Zhu Yao could even react, he had already disappeared. Her mind was growing confused by the moment. Yue Ying, Shao Bai? Master, Teacher? Just what was going on?

“What is it? You’re afraid that he’s angry?” Shao Bai smiled and revealed a pair of relieving eyes. “Don’t worry. You’re already about to get married, so why would he blame you?”

“Get married!?” Just what kind of godly development is this?

“That’s right, isn’t it next month?” Shao Bai gave an even gentler smile. Just as he was about to explain, he suddenly sensed something. He turned around, and with a sunken expression, he sharply called out. “Stop there!” Behind a boulder, a little red figure that was about to leave instantly stiffened. He stopped in his tracks, and turned  his little pitiful face around. “Second elder brother, seventh elder sister.”

“Little Eighth!” Wasn’t he with the Wood Spirit? Why was he here? And he was even his child form.

Shao Bai shook his head as he reached out one of his hands. “Take it out.”

“Second elder brother…” Little Eighth’s voice grew even more pitiful.

“Mn?”

Little Eighth pouted with his lips up high, and then took out a bag of melon seeds from behind him, something that he was about to slip away with. Yet, he still held tightly onto the bag. “I will give it to you, I will give it to you! I will give them all to you! I knew second elder brother will only pamper the ugliest seventh elder sister, and not Little Eighth the slightest bit. Little Eighth’s life is so hard…” “…” Then release your grip on the bag!

“Nonsensical!” Shao Bai knocked heavily onto his little head, and then heartlessly took away the bag of snacks from his hand, which he then passed back to Zhu Yao’s hands.

“Seventh… elder sister…” Little Eighth hurriedly changed his target and looked towards Zhu Yao. He pointed at the other bags that she placed on the boulder. “You already have so many of them, just give Little Eighth one! Though you’re ugly, I won’t despise your melon seeds.”

“…” So I should thank you for not despising my melon seeds, is that it?

“Seventh elder sister…” Seeing that she wasn’t replying, Little Eighth had no choice but to hold her hand and began to shake it in a flighty manner.

Zhu Yao instantly felt something crawling all over her body. This glutton has sacrificed enough morals just for a bag of melon seeds alright. Zhu Yao immediately stuffed the bag in his little hands. “I’m giving it to you!” “Thank you, seventh elder sister!” He voiced out in joy. Carrying the bag, he turned around and quickly ran far away. He even intentionally ran in the opposite direction he came from, afraid that she would mince her words.

“You will spoil him like that.” Shao Bai sighed.

Zhu Yao shook her head. “Little Eighth is still young.”

“He’s a Phoenix, not an emperor.” Shao Bai said  with  a sunken voice. “Men of our Phoenix race should’ve long known to be obedient at his age. How should him being such a glutton be allowed? How can he take up challenges by himself in the future?”

Zhu Yao’s heart sank, and she could not help but recall the moment when Little Eighth was trapped in that spatial dimension. The pool was filled with his fresh blood, and the mountain wall was dyed red. She felt a sharp pain in her heart, and she took a deep breath to toss away these unknown emotions.

She turned around a looked at Shao Bai who had a heavy look on his face. Then, she pointed at the other bags on the boulder and said. “Aren’t you the same towards me?” The snacks were clearly things that he brought for her, right?

“You’re different.” Shao Bai’s expression instantly turned gentle, as water could flow out at any moment. He looked straight into her eyes, and his were reflected with her figure, as though she was the only person remaining between this heaven and earth. Pulling her hand, he placed it on his own cheek and then showed a smile that instantly greyed out the entire sky. “Because you’re my little sister, my only… and most important little sister.”

“……”

“…”

————————————

Dong!

An olden and distant bell ring sounded, and it instantly reverberated across the entire Parasol Tree. Zhu Yao was stunned. Wasn’t this bell…

“It’s the bell of Ancient Hill Sect.” Shao Bai suddenly said.

“Ancient Hill Sect!” How was that possible? How was the world of the God race tied together with Ancient Hill Sect?

“Little sister, let’s take a look?” Shao Bai however looked as usual. “Something must have happened at Yu Luo’s side.”

“What?” Little Radish?

Before she could even reach, Shao Bai had already brought her up into the air and flew towards an enormous Parasol Tree leaf at the top. Several extremely familiar floating mountains suddenly appeared in the sky before her. The Main Mountain at the center was the largest, while the other mountains were surrounding the Main Mountain. There was one single mountain that was floating high up above the various mountains.

That was… Jade Forest Peak. This really was the Ancient Hill Sect! But when did Ancient Hill Sect become neighbours with the divine Parasol Tree of the Phoenix race?

“Master.” The moment they landed, a red-robed female practitioner welcomed them. With a joyous face, she looked at Zhu Yao. “You’re here.”

“Little Radish!?” It really was her. How was this  possible? Was this all an illusion? Zhu Yao instantly pinched her cheeks and then twisted them up and down. They were warm. “Does it hurt?”

“Mush… twrr. (Master)” Little Radish’s face darkened. After enduring for a long while, she pulled down Zhu Yao’s hands. “Should I try pinching master then?” Don’t force me to go against my teacher and disregard my ancestors.

“…” She was the real deal!

Shao Bai faked out a few coughs. “Yu Luo, what happened?”

“Divine honour Shao Bai.” Yu Luo then released Zhu Yao’s hands and bowed in front of Shao Bai. With a frown, she said. “It’s Mu Meiyan. She has once again infiltrated into our sect’s Great Mountain Barrier Formation.”

“Mu Meiyan!” Zhu Yao was stunned. “Wasn’t she dead?”

“How can she possibly die so easily after hooking up with the Devil race?” Little Radish looked at Zhu Yao with puzzled eyes, and then said with a worried expression. “Master, what’s wrong?”

“……”

“…”

“Let’s go take a look for now!” Shao Bai reminded.

With a stomach filled with questions, Zhu Yao arrived in front of the hall of the Main Mountain. As expected, there were several people engaged in battle, and at the very center, concealed within a mass of devillic energy was someone’s face. It was actually Mu Meiyan who had already died in the past! Next to her were also a few familiar figures. After having a better look, they were actually Xiao Yi, Cheng Qingdiao, Wu Hua…

Uh… All of the bugs are actually gathered.

Is this the National Boss Big Giveaway?

There must be something wrong with how I entered the plaza.

“Little Radish…” The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. She nudged Yu Luo next to her. “Why don’t you really try pinching me?” I want to see if I’m really dreaming or not.

“Master?” Little Radish’s expression looked as though she was looking at someone who had no hope left whatsoever. She glanced at Zhu Yao from head to toe several times. Suddenly, as though she had thought of something, she said with an enlightened look. “Oh! I know now. These the  premarital doubts that master had mentioned before, aren’t they? Don’t worry, though Mu Meiyan has hooked up with the Devil race, you’re a Phoenix of the God race. Furthermore, divine honour Shao Bai is here. Nothing will happen to you.” “Premarital?” This was already the second time she heard a relevant term. “What premarital?”

“It can’t be, master!?” Yu Luo was stunned. With a lecturing gaze, she looked at Zhu Yao. “It’s only a few days left till the big day. It’s already too late for you to go back on your words.”

“…” Just what’s with this mess? “Just who is marrying who?”

“Naturally, it’s your and grandmaster’s. Haven’t you two been engaged for several years?” Yu Luo said matter-of-factly. She looked around, and then carefully leaned closer to whisper in her ears. “Grandmaster has already sewn your wedding dress for several months. I had a slight glance of it, and it’s incredibly beautiful!”

“Uh…” Master…

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. Master, the fact that you’re not good at needlework and have instead forced grandmaster to sew your wedding dress for you, are things that I will definitely not speak to others of.” “…” When did I force anyone to do things, hey!? Don’t charge me with a crime so randomly!

But, marrying master… What’s with this slight  excitement that I’m feeling?

“How far are we from the marriage date again?”

“One month.”

“So long…”

Eh! Wait, she was here to investigate just what in the world was going on here. She shouldn’t be enticed by these illusions! Calm down, calm down!

“Little sister.” Shao Bai held Zhu Yao’s hand tightly, and instructed her with a solemn voice. “Wait for second elder brother here, don’t run off.”

After saying that, his figure flashed. Turning into  an enormous red Phoenix, he flew towards the battlefield at the front.

In an instant, monstrous flames began to ignite and burn…

Chapter373: Evolved Heart Demon Tribulation

The final outcome of the huge battle in the sky was naturally a victory towards Shao Bai’s side. All of the enemy bugs had all been captured and locked behind bars.

From that day on, time seemed to flow especially quickly. Using the reason of sending the wedding invitation cards, Shao Bai brought her around every corner of the world, and even to where the Dragon and Qilin races resided. She met many old friends, every single person that she had met ever since she transmigrated. Even though they clearly lived in different worlds, they seemed to have all gathered together here in an instant. Furthermore, the Three Realms were experiencing peace and harmony. Other than the occasional harassments from the Devil race, the life here was considerably calm.

Everything in the world was becoming perfect, as though there was no longer an endless stream of bugs to fix. There was thus no need for her to die and resurrect again. Master, Little Radish, everyone in Ancient Hill Sect, Little Sixth, Little Eighth, all of the people of the Phoenix race, even Little Tyrant, Ye Qingcang, the Little Qings of the dandelion race and Mushmush. All of them had appeared in their best state in this present life of hers. There was no need for her to fuss about anything, and she merely had to peacefully and calmly wait to be married to the person she loved.

Everything was really perfect. So perfect, it felt as if everything that happened in the past had never occurred. However… It was just too perfect.

“Let’s go, little sister.” Shao Bai reached out for her hand. “Your practitioner-pair ceremony is about to begin. Sovereign is waiting for you. Let second elder brother bring you over to the celebratory hall.”

His smile was especially brilliant, and his entire body was emitting out a sunny glow which made people feel warm and fuzzy. It was as if as long as she reached out her hand, she would be able to hold onto the entire world. Zhu Yao however blanked while staring at his slender and long fingers.

“What is it? Are you afraid?” Shao Bai took a step forward and directly held onto her hand. “Don’t be afraid. If he  dares  to bully you, then let your second elder brother know. Second elder brother will always stand by your side and protect you.”

His words were sincere. Though they carried some intentions of teasing behind them, every single word of his was serious and true. It was as if she was looking at the second elder brother that came to fetch her from the bunch of large rocs. “Little sister, let me bring you home.”

Shao Bai pulled her and was planning to walk her out, but Zhu Yao did not budge.

“Little sister?”

She raised her head and stared intensely at Shao Bai’s familiar face, till a slight sense of anxiety that could not be easily detected flashed across his eyes. Only then did she slowly retract her hand.

“Little sister, what’s wrong?” Shao Bai turned around and looked at her with the usual smile, though his eyes were a little anxious.

Zhu Yao took a deep breath. “Shao Bai, thank you! You will always be second elder brother.”

He stiffened for a moment, and then immediately recovered his usual demeanour. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting? I’m naturally your second elder brother. It’s your bid day today, if we don’t head off now, we will miss the auspicious time.” As he said that, he once again reached out his hand to pull her, but Zhu Yao dodged it this time.

“Second elder brother.” Zhu Yao raised her head and looked deep into his eyes. “Actually, I’ve always… I’ve always wanted to tell you something.” She paused for a moment, and then said with emphasis on every word. “Second elder brother, I’m sorry!”

“……”

“…”

“I’m sorry… I’m not a good little sister. I’m sorry… I didn’t save you. I’m sorry… I wasn’t able to find a better path for the God race. I’m sorry… It’s my fault for making you turn towards the side of the Devils. Back then… when I activated the World Crossing Door, I initially wanted to save all of you. However, the outcome of the world crossing… did not seem to be as perfect as I thought it would.”

“You…” “I saw Little Eighth!” He… didn’t have a good time. The others… don’t seem to have a good time either!”

“Little sister…” The smile on his face had stiffened. He finally caught her hand, but his was faintly trembling a little. “You… What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”

“I’m not sure now. Was it right for me to have forcefully sent all of you into the Three Realms?” Zhu Yao took a deep breath and suppressed the sense of fatigue in the depths of her heart. “However… I didn’t have any other choice back then. If I simply let all of you stay in that collapsed world, most likely, none of you will even have the chance to reincarnate. This is simply too unfair for all of you, who have always been suppressed by the Devil race! That’s why… even if I was wrong, I don’t regret my decision!”

“……”

“…”

“But… You’re the only guilt that I have.” A hint of pain surfaced in the depths of her heart. “Sometimes, I wondered if I’ve clearly told you all of the causes and effects, would things be different? That way, he wouldn’t have turned towards the side of the Devils, and maybe… just like Little Eighth, I would have been able to meet him again in another world.”

“… He won’t.” He replied solemnly.

Zhu Yao sighed. “That’s right, he  won’t!  Given  his personality, most likely, he won’t simply stand idly by and watch me die!”

“Little sister…” He stepped forward and grasped her hand tightly, his face was filled with anxiety. “Aren’t things  good right now? Is this really bad? Can’t we stay like this forever?”

“Good!” She nodded heavily. Looking at him for a short moment, she then said. “But it’s just too perfect, to the point where…” Everything is just too unrealistic.

His expression instantly paled.

In the beginning, Zhu Yao thought that this place was just an illusory realm. However, she had tried to use arts to break through it, but they were all ineffective. After that, she then thought that it was some sort of illusion art. However, everyone here was clearly behaving and acting the same way as they were in reality. Finally, she thought that this was her heart demon. However, the so-called heart demon would simply expose all of the perfect things in her heart, and then give her the final fatal blow. However, she had stayed here for so long, yet she didn’t feel the slightest bit of evil intentions. Instead, things were so perfect that one could sink into it, as if this place was trying to keep her here through all means possible. More importantly, she clearly knew what her own heart demon was, and it was far from what she was seeing here. Not to mention, back then, Realmspirit had given her a heart demon barrier.

That was why everything was was unreasonable, except for…

“This place is indeed really great.” Zhu Yao grasped back onto the person in front of her instead. “Unfortunately, everything here isn’t real. I am no longer Little Seventh of the Phoenix clan, and you… are no longer my second elder brother Shao Bai. The past in the past, and it can never return. Don’t you think so… Yue Ying?”

He was stunned, and then, the light in his eyes instantly extinguished, turning misty and dull. Something seemed to be slowly collapsing as tears flowed out just like that. The tears fell onto her arm, filled with the pain of heartburn. “Big sis… Yao.” Everything that happened here was not her heart demon, but Yue Ying’s.

The scenery in the surroundings instantly began to distort and change. Ancient Hill Sect disappeared. The Parasol Tree began to collapse, as though it was returning to the day where the world of the God race was being destroyed. The heaven and earth was in chaos, and the place was filled with the cries of the three God races as one enormous figure after another fell from the sky.

A moment later, the ground turned into a barren wasteland. Corpses filled the place, piling up like a mountain. She once again looked at the entirely red bones. She finally figured out that those were actually the bones of a dead Phoenix.

“Yue Ying. You’re Yue Ying.” Zhu Yao looked at the person in front of her who had reverted back to Yue Ying’s appearance. “You’re not Shao Bai, and I’m not Little Seventh either. Do not be trapped in your past life again.”

Yue Ying raised his head, tears were still flowing down his face. However, he suddenly laughed out, his laughter was filled with chilling intent. “Yue Ying? If I’m Yue Ying… Will big sis Yao forgive me? Even if I admit my wrongs, and no longer make big sis angry, will you… believe me again?”

“……”

“…”

“Then I don’t want to be Yue Ying.” He shook his head strongly, as if he had descended in some form of madness. “I don’t want to be abandoned! I’m Shao Bai… I shall be big sis Yao’s second elder brother, alright?”

“…” Zhu Yao was stunned. So this was his heart demon.

Because of her… he even wanted to kill off his own existence?

“Big sis Yao.” He tugged her sleeves a little anxiously. “Look at me, I won’t be Yue Ying anymore. I’m Shao Bai…  Yue  Ying made you angry, Yue Ying had done many bad things. But… Shao Bai will never do it. In the future, I will never make you angry again, so don’t ignore me anymore, alright?”

“Yue Ying…” “I’m really changing now.” His hand was shaking, as if he was grasping onto that final bit of hope. “I didn’t kill Wang Xuzhi. I began to treat the people next to you well. I even protected Sesame when we crossed worlds. In the future… In the future, I will still continue to learn how to become a good person. The things that big sis Yao won’t allow me to do, I won’t do them… I… I won’t even be Yue Ying, alright? In the future, I will be Shao Bai, is that fine?”

Zhu Yao’s hear ached. Letting out a long sigh, she had no choice but to break apart his heart demon.

“However… You’re still Yue Ying, not Shao Bai!”

“……”

“…”

The hint of light in the depths of his eyes finally extinguished entirely.

——————————————— When she opened her eyes again, she saw a familiar white figure carrying an anxious look on his face. “Yu… Yao.”

“Master?” Zhu Yao was a little startled. “What happened to me?”

“There was a heart demon tribulation within the floor-raising light. You sank into your heart demon, and it has been a month since then.” Yu Yan explained.

“A month!” Zhu Yao was stunned. When she recalled about the matters concerning the heart demon, she hurriedly turned her head. “Where’s Yue Ying?”

Yu Yan looked towards the right not far from her. When she turned to look, as expected, she saw Yue Ying whose eyes had already opened. However, he was unmoving, and eyes were staring upwards listlessly, as if he had lost a part of his soul.

Zhu Yao frowned. After hesitating for a moment, she could not help but walk over and sit next to him. Though she did not know how she had entered his heart demon, there were some things that shouldn’t be dragged on. “Yue Ying.”

He did not have any reaction, and simply maintained the same posture.

“I can’t lie to myself, and I can’t lie to you. “… really can’t forgive you.” Zhu Yao sighed heavily. “Everything that you’ve done, I’m really, really angry about them. I really wish that I could give you two big slaps and no longer see you ever again.”

“…” His hands that were by his sides slowly curled into balls.

“However… After calming down and thinking back about it, how can I not have the slightest bit of responsibility in everything that you’ve done?” She looked sternly at his face. “I treated you as my little brother, and I had used up all my power to teach you everything, but you were never able to learn them. Furthermore, you began to stray even further away. At the same time I despaired about you, how can I not be disappointed in myself? When a child isn’t taught properly, it’s not just because he or she is born stupid, but rather, there are some problems with the way education is brought to that child as well.”

Yue Ying was stunned. He finally had some sort of reaction, as he slowly turned his head over.

Zhu Yao then stroked his head and continued.  “But  Yue Ying… When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. I admit that I didn’t teach you well, but everything that you’ve done are indeed unforgivable. Even now, I still can’t find myself to forgive you. Big sis is human, and big sis’s heart is made of flesh as well. It can’t take your constant beatings. When my disappointment for you turned into despair… I no longer had the courage to continue teaching you.”

“……”

“…”

“So Yue Ying… Why don’t you be the one who show me this time?” Zhu Yao retracted her hand, and said with a serious look. “You said that you already know your wrongs, and is changing your ways. You said that you no longer want to be Yue Ying of the past. I don’t have the courage to believe you right now, so why don’t you show it to me? Let me see just how you’ve changed. From today on, I will no longer avoid you, and I won’t ignore your existence. However… You are no longer my little brother either. Let us begin right from the start as strangers. Let us witness just how great you have become. This courage of trust, give it to me.”

“Big… sis… Yao.” His eyes began to grow distant, and were being covered by mist little by little.

Zhu Yao took a deep breath, reached out a hand and said. “Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Zhu Yao.”

Tears instantly flowed, pouring out like flood. He hurriedly stood up and stuffed his head into her embrace, crying out loud. It was as if he was letting out all of the grievances, joy, discomfort and guilt. He was gasping for air as he cried, and the same words were constantly being uttered.

“Big… sis… big… sis…”

Chapter374: Please Speak Politely

Zhu Yao glanced at the dim surroundings. The place that they were currently in was extremely desolate, and sinister winds blew. Various terrifying and strange noises could be heard. Sometimes, they sounded sharp, while sometimes, they sounded low, and one’s skin would crawl just by hearing them. She thought that she had once again returned to the Netherworld.

There was a green barrier surrounding them, and occasionally, there would be hazy shadows bumping into it, emitting out sharp noises.

“Master, this place is… the lower third floor?” The style changed too quickly, didn’t it?

“No.” Yu Yan shook his head, and his expression sank. “Upper first floor.”

“What?” Zhu Yao was stunned for a moment. “Didn’t we just exit the lower second floor?” Why were they in the upper first floor now? There were exactly eight floors between them! “I am uncertain of the cause either.” He frowned. He took out the jade tablet they received from the Amway Hall back then, and the words “Upper First Floor” were indeed written on it. “When we crossed floors back then, all of us fell into our heart demon tribulations. Your master was the first to awaken. Most likely, people who pass the heart demon tribulations would be randomly sent to other floors.”

So they could actually skip levels! Zhu Yao looked around and saw that there were other Deities as well. Some were lying on the ground unmoving, while there were some who had already woken up and were hesitatingly and uneasily looking at those shadows outside. Though, without a single exception, everyone had a layer of translucent barrier surrounding each one of them. The colours, however, were different. Some were red, some were green, and some were yellow. There were still a row of words above each of their heads – Unknown Deity (Level 10).

Level 10! The hell! All of them are high-leveled players.

“Master, they…” Just as Zhu Yao was about to speak up, she raised her head and was stunned. A row of words were floating above her master’s head as well. Yu Yan (Level 10).

Why was she able to see his now!? Was being too levelled the reason why she couldn’t see it back then?

She hurriedly turned to look at Yue Ying. A string of words was also written above his head. Yue Ying (Level ??)

“…” What’s with those two question marks?

“Dongfang girly, you’re awake!” A surprised voice sounded. Nangong Cheng ran over with heavy steps. Next to him was Zhonggu Lu who had already completely recovered his muscular features.

“Hi, Little Huang, Little Teal.” Zhu Yao waved her hand and greeted.

“Little…” The corner of Nangong Cheng’s lips twitched. As though he had accepted his fate, he sighed. “Nevermind, Little Huang it is then! Dongfang girly, you two have taken too long to fight off your heart demon tribulations. It’s been an entire month. You two worried us to death.”

“Hoho, sorry for the trouble.” Zhu Yao smiled. She turned to look at Yue Ying who was obediently sitting at the side, and did not explain much about it either. “Oh right, where did the two of you go?”

Nangong Cheng’s expression turned stern. He took few steps forward and hinted them to sit, before he spoke in a serious tone. “I went to listen in some information. This place is indeed the upper first floor, but it’s different from the upper floors from legends.”

“What’s different?” Zhu Yao asked.

Nangong Cheng and his good homosexual friend Zhonggu Lu exchanged glances, their expressions turned heavy. After a moment, he said. “Everyone believed that the Lightning Divine Tower is split between the lower ten floors and upper ten floors. However, from the situation that I managed to gather, it’s different in actuality. The upper floors do not have ten floors.”

“There aren’t ten floors? What do you mean?”

“People that enter the upper ten floors are not able to return to the lower floors, and they will lose the opportunity to exit the tower as well. This is something that you all are aware of, right?” Zhu Yao nodded.

“Actually, no one knows about the situation in the upper ten floors. The people in the lower ten floors basically aren’t able to find out. Everyone thought that the upper floors would be similar to the lower floors and be split to ten floors. However, in actual fact, there’s only a single floor in the upper layer.”

Zhu Yao and her master were both stunned. After a moment, Yu Yan said. “You’re saying that the God Realm is above this floor?”

“That’s right!” Nangong Cheng nodded. He pointed far towards the horizon in front of him. “Do you see that light?”

After looking closely in the horizon, there was indeed a glowing vertical line that shot straight upwards towards the sky. It was as if it was splitting the sky into two halves. Because it was so faraway, all they could see from here was a thin line.

“That’s the passageway to the God Realm.” He continued. “From here, it’s about several hundred kilometers away. As long as we reach that place, we can head straight towards the God Realm.” “Several hundred kilometers.” Zhu Yao’s heart shook. They were going straight for the peak of the tower over here. “That’s not far either.” If they were to fly on their swords,  they wouldn’t even need an hour.

“It’s not far!” Nangong Cheng’s eyes opened wide, his face looked strange. As though he had thought of something, he turned to look at Yu Yan and said. “Didn’t you tell her?”

Yu Yan shook his head. “Not yet.”

“What do you mean?” What kind of secret are you guys keeping?

“Dongfang girly, haven’t you tried sensing the divine energy in your body?”

“Sensing div… the hell!” Zhu Yao tried sensing, and then she began to feel uncomfortable all over. Her cultivation and divine energy were still present, but… she couldn’t use them!

Nangong Cheng had a bitter look. “From here to where that Light of Guidance is, we aren’t able to use any mystic arts in the area. That’s why… we have no choice but to walk there.”

“…” Are we going back to the stone age now? This entire floor is a mystic arts restricted zone!

No wait!

“If we can’t use mystic arts, then what about these barriers?” She pointed at the green translucent barriers that were surrounding her and the rest of the people.

“Nascent Divided Pearls.” Yu Yan took over. “When we came up, the Nascent Divided Pearls that we gathered before automatically opened up barriers. Every Nascent Divided Pearl can sustain the barrier for about half a day. If the barrier is destroyed…”

Before he could even finish, a scream suddenly sounded from the side. A Level 10 Deity not far away was currently rolling on the ground, covered in fresh blood. Surrounding him were a bunch of shadows, which constantly crashed into him. With every shadow slicing through, a piece of his meat would be torn off. Though he was resisting against them with all his might, he could not block the horde of shadows that could already cover the sky itself.

The blood on-site made it look like a very terrifying zombie film. A living Deity was dismembered right in front of them just like that. Zhu Yao could not help but take a step forward, but was stopped by Yu Yan. “It’s too late!”

Yu Yan then pulled her over, covered her ears with his two hands, and sank her in his embrace. As expected, the noises from over there disappeared a short while later.

Zhu Yao felt that her heart was suffocating.

“Haah… This is already the third one.”  Nangong  Cheng sighed. “The moment the barrier disappears, we will be attacked by the surrounding shadows. We don’t even know what those shadows are. We can only hope that the barrier can block them.”

“How many more Nascent Divided Pearls do we have?” Yu Yan asked.

When they were in the lower third floor back then, in order to prevent the scenario where they had to gather even more quest items, they intentionally gathered a little more.

“About a dozen.” Nangong Cheng said. “When everyone fell into their own heart demons, we had used up more than half of them. The remaining ones can only sustain us for five more days or so. However, from this place to that Light of Guidance, ten days of travel is required.”

“In other words, we will be attacked by those shadows if we simply sit here. However, the moment we get out, if we don’t reach our destination within five days, we will be in danger?”

“Mn!” Nangong Cheng nodded with an anxious look. “I don’t know we should approach this either, and thus wanted to discuss with you people about it.”

Zhu Yao sank into silence for a moment. They were truly caught in a dilemma now. She turned to look at the person at the side who hadn’t spoke all this while. “Yue Ying, what do you think?”

Yue Ying was startled, as though he never thought that Zhu Yao would ask for his opinion and was dumbfounded. Looking at the surrounding eyes that were sweeping towards him, he lowered his head a little anxiously. After a moment, he said. “Head… Heading out, will provide us the opportunity to live. Also, I have a feeling that… there must be a reason behind the appearances of these shadows. If we can figure it out, we might be fine after that.”

“I have the same thoughts as well!” Nangong Cheng happily slapped his thighs and said. “Rather than waiting here for our deaths, why don’t we take a gamble and head out? What do you guys think?”

“I don’t have any objections!” Zhonggu Lu said nonchalantly.

Yu Yan nodded as well.

“Then let us be off! In order to save our Nascent Divided Pearls, it’s best we move together.” Zhu Yao immediately stood up. She turned around and glanced at the person who was still sitting on the ground. “Let’s go, Yue Ying.”

Stunned for a moment, he then hurriedly nodded his head and stood up. In those pair of deep eyes, a slightly different luster shone. ——————————

After speaking their minds, Zhu Yao felt that Yue Ying was slowly becoming different. The eyes he had when looking at others now carried a degree of sincerity. He was no longer someone with bottomless and incomprehensible thoughts, where she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking like before. The reason why he had such deep obsession for her was most likely because of the influence of his memories of his past life as Shao Bai. When she picked him up for the first time back then, he must already possessed a few of his memory fragments, and thus wanted to stick to her no matter what. After that, when he became a Devil, most likely, he had completely remembered it all at that time. However, what struck him the most in his memories, was actually the matter where she forcefully sent him into the World Crossing Door. That was why he was so mindful that she would throw him aside.

And it was exactly because of this, that no matter how much she tried to reason with him, and no matter how much she spoke to him, he basically did not take them to heart at all. He, who turned into a Devil because of his obsession, had always lived in the memories of his past life.

Zhu Yao felt that the current Yue Ying was off to a great start. At the very least, he was willing to present his true self, and was sincerely willing to listen to her words. He was learning to become a good child, and not ignore everything in his surroundings. With how he was able to walk out on his own now, Zhu Yao felt that as long as he interact more with others, everything would be better. After all, be it shutting himself in or his obsession, the root of everything was his lack of interaction with others.

However, interaction seemed to be… a little difficult for Yue Ying.

“I say, Daoist Ximen…” Nangong Cheng said  passionately. “You don’t speak very often, so I never expected that your thoughts would be similar to mine! The more I look at you, the more intimate I feel! Oh right, so your real name is actually Yue Ying!”

“…” Yue Ying was expressionless.

“You guys are really too much, to even go to the extent of using fake names.”

“…” “The three of you are all from Lightning Divine Palace, right? Why do the two of them have ‘Yu’ as their Daoist title, while you’re called Yue Ying?”

“…”

“Dongfang girly calls Daoist Beichen master. Looking at your age, you can’t possibly be Daoist Beichen’s grand disciple, right?”

“…”

“Eh? Daoist Yue, why are you walking so quickly? There’s nothing much going on right now anyway, so why don’t we chat about Dongfang girly?”

“…”

“Oh right! Are you married? Do you have a partner? Mingling with the two of them everyday must be really hard, right? I understand!” “…”

“But don’t you worry, there might be many Goddesses waiting for us in the God Realm, you know! We can’t give up! You think so too, right?”

“…”

“I wonder what Daoist Yue’s preference is? Let me tell you a secret. Even though my true form is a mammal, I like those with wings.”

“…”

“Let me tell you this! Every winged female beast…”

Yue Ying’s feet stopped abruptly. As though he had truly been annoyed by his questions, he sent him a cold glance and in an instant, killing intent filled the surroundings. “Scram!”

“…” Nangong Cheng was stunned. What happened to him now? Zhu Yao had no choice but to smooth things over and nudge the person who was driven crazy by the questions. “Yue Ying, talk nicely.”

Yue Ying’s killing intent sizzled, and he immediately changed to another manner of speaking. “Shut up!”

“You can’t be that fierce. Try again.”

“How do you want to die?”

“… A little more politely.”

“Please go and die!”

“… A little more tactful.”

“You lowly beast, don’t speak to me. Given my  race’s esteemed status and bloodline, I am not someone you can afford to speak to. If you dare to utter even a single word more, if you have two legs, I will break your two legs, and if you have four, I will break all four of them. Do you understand?” Zhu Yao: “…”

Yu Yan: “…”

Little Teal: “…”

Nangong Cheng: “…” His heart suddenly began to ache painfully! Dongfang girly, are you certain you’re not here to make things worse?

Chapter375: This Sure is Fate

Probably because Yue Ying had released the knot in his heart, student Nangong Huang recently seemed to especially like sticking with Yue Ying. Though, he would always be abused by Yue Ying’s words and be shamed for his actions. Furthermore, whenever she wasn’t looking, he would be quietly be beaten up.

Nangong Huang however still continued to press forward and seek abuse. If not because she wasn’t aware how perverse the suppression of a God race’s bloodline was, Zhu Yao would have thought that he was trying to make Yue Ying gay. Though Yue Ying looked like he was becoming more and more irritated, his expressions seemed to have grown livelier, harbouring more human-like characteristics. Seeing that the two of them were tearing each other through their words, Zhu Yao was not in the position to step in either. Because whenever she tried to interrupt, Nangong Huang’s treatment would instead become even more intense. After a long while, she then grew lazy and no longer bothered them. Though, the true homosexual friend of student Nangong grew dissatisfied. Occasionally, he would send her resentful and complaining eyes.

Uh… Student Little Teal, why are you looking at me? This doesn’t concern me at all, flips table! Yue Ying is the one who stepped in between the two of you, and even without him, with how one of you being a flower demon and him being a demonic beast, there’s no future for you two with different races, alright?

Eh, why did she feel something was strange here?

“Have you truly decided to forgive him?” Her hand warmed, as long and slender fingers slowly interlocked with hers.

Turning her head around, Zhu Yao looked at her master and nodded. “Mn. After actually thinking about it, I too hold responsibility for Yue Ying turning out that way. When I picked him up back then, I didn’t know he was Shao Bai. Also, given his identity back then, he would have gotten trouble with Celestial Indus Sect. I thought that by leaving him in Ancient Hill Sect, I would be giving him a home. Also, I believed that with Little Radish’s sincere care, it was the best arrangement for him. I never expected that it instead drove him to becoming a Devil.”

“Life is unpredictable.” Yu Yan solemnly said. “You hold too many mysteries, and your methods have always been extremely dangerous. If you had decided to leave him by your side back then, he might have died long ago. How then could he have the chance to become a Devil?”

“But…” “Yu Yao.” He reached out to hold onto her waist and stroke her head. With a long sigh, he said. “You can’t possibly do everything perfectly. In regards to the things that you do, I believe that even when it comes to your master… you wouldn’t be willing to bring me along, right?”

Zhu Yao stiffened.

“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” Yu Yan continued. “You’re not afraid of your constant deaths and resurrections, but you’re afraid of any harm that comes our way. You’re worried that we might… encounter misfortune, and then unable to resurrect like you, right?”

“Master…”

“Your master doesn’t blame you.” Yu Yan sighed, and then hugged her a little tighter. “You’ve already done really well. With the responsibility of saving lives resting on one’s shoulders, who else would have the confidence of doing better? That’s why even though I’ve always been furious at you acting on your own… I’ve never ever blamed you.”

Zhu Yao  was  silent  as she  tightened  her  arms  around  the person in front of her. Breathing in the slightly cold air emitted from his body, she raised her head a moment later. With a slightly trembling voice, she said. “That’s why, master. Nothing must ever happen to you. Nothing. Otherwise… I don’t know what I will do?”

Yu Yan lowered his head and pecked her forehead. With a gentle voice, he said. “Mn, your master will accompany you always.”

“Hey! That’s enough from the both of you.”  Zhonggu  Lu rolled his eyes with scorn. The two of them suddenly hugged each other while walking. Did they forget that was still a spectator here?

“The both of them are about to fight again. Are you sure you’re not going to stop them?” He pointed at the two people in front.

Zhu Yao turned to look, and saw that Yue Ying’s face had already turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. He was taking steps forward with a furious face. Student Nangong was currently hugging his thigh tightly. As he was dragged on the ground, he cried out. “Don’t! Daoist Yue, why are you  so violent? You must treat me a little gentler, ah… it hurts!” Spectators: “…”

Just how the hell did he spout out such yaoi-like lines? Don’t think because you’re Nangong Huang, you can act so raunchy, hey! Yue Ying is still a child!

“Yue Ying, come back.” Zhu Yao hurriedly waved him over, preventing him from being led astray.

Yue Ying’s irritation instantly dissipated quite a bit as he obediently walked back. Before that, he did not forget to give Nangong Huang on the ground a kick, along with a  chilling glare.

Nangong Huang did not feel hurt or displeased, clearly, he had already gotten used to it. Patting off the dirt on his clothes, he then began to pick up the morals that he dropped on the ground.

“And what happened to the two of you?” Zhu Yao pulled Yue Ying to the back and questioned him sternly.

Yue Ying’s  face  was  still  dark  as  he  desperately  glared  at Nangong Cheng at the side. His eyes were filled with: I will kill you, I will you kill you, I will kill you.

“Dongfang girly, this time it’s not my fault.” Nangong Cheng said with a bitter look. “Daoist Yue wanted to hold onto a Nascent Divided Pearl no matter what and head out alone to scout the way forward. This place is too dangerous, so I decided to stop him.”

“What!?” Zhonggu Lu became anxious when he heard it as well, and he said with a furious look. “That’s simply too preposterous. We have limited amount of Nascent Divided Pearls in the first place. We have only walked for two days, and we don’t have a surplus of them to waste. Rejected!”

Yu Yan slightly frowned as well. Indeed! They were not lost right now either, so there was no need to waste Nascent Divided Pearls to head out for an investigation. Even if Yue Ying was irritated with Nangong Cheng’s pestering, bringing such a request up was indeed too much.

In an instant, everyone faintly carried criticizing eyes.

Yue Ying  did  not  refute  and  simply  lowered  his  head.  His expression was unclear, but he was tightly clenching his hands. The emotions that he had been beginning to gain in these few days, were slowly beginning to turn back into a deathly calm.

Zhu Yao’s heart sank and immediately pulled up Yue Ying’s hands. “Yue Ying, tell us. Just what happened earlier?”

Before he could speak, Zhonggu Lu furiously said. “Didn’t Nangong say it earlier? He wanted to steal…”

“Shut up!” Zhu Yao glared at him. “I’m asking Yue Ying, not you. Why is a single puppy trying to interrupt?”

“Uh…” Why did he feel as though his knee was shot with an arrow?

“Yue Ying, tell me. What happened just now? What were you thinking?” Zhu Yao continued to ask.

Yue Ying stiffened, the hands which were held by hers were trembling a little. After a moment, he slowly raised his head. However, he no longer carried that furious expression. His brows were slightly furrowed, his lips curved downwards, and even his tone changed. “Big sis…”

He lightly called out, as though he was being heavily wronged. She had never seen him like this, and for some reason, her heart began to melt.

“Take your time.”

His expression only maintained for a second, and immediately after, it reverted back to his former blank look. Even his tone had reverted back to being monotonous. “I realized that I can sense the surrounding back figures, and they might not have any influence on me. Also, as we moved forward, the shadows had actually been decreasing. I feel that in two days at the very most, they will completely disappear. I just wanted to ascertain just how far we have to go in order to shake off those shadows, and so I wanted to first head out to investigate.”

“You’re saying that these shadows aren’t found everywhere?” Zhonggu Lu was stunned. “Great! In that case, we can arrive at a safe place before our Nascent Divided Pearls run out.”

“Daoist Yue, why didn’t you say so earlier!” Nangong Cheng came squeezing in. “Since you can sense those shadows, we have some form of hope now.”

Zhu Yao pulled Yue Ying back, and activated her debt-settling mode. “Who was the one that said he was being nonsensical and preposterous earlier?”

The Yellow and Teal group stiffened, and they carried embarrassed faces. “Haah. It’s my fault, I’m sorry, Daoist Yue.” Nangong Cheng was rather magnanimous, as he scratched his head and showed an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry.” Zhonggu Lu immediately followed up. “I was too anxious earlier, and though… Haah, it’s all Little Huang’s fault for speaking nonsense!”

“Eh?” Nangong Cheng was shot twice consecutively. Why was he taking full responsibility for this now? Even for his good homosexual friend, he shouldn’t shoot like that! Also, who’s Little Huang?

Zhu Yao turned to glance at Yue Ying. Seeing that he was carrying his usual expression and cold eyes, looking as if he disliked jokes and conversations, Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief. The current Yue Ying was like a child who was overly sensitive. She was truly afraid that because of this matter, he would lose the courage to interact with others.

However the fact that these terrifying shadows had a limited activity range had ignited the confidence of the squad. Just as Nangong Cheng planned on restarting a discussion how they should move forward from here, a sharp scream suddenly interrupted him.

The noise came from nearby, and it belonged to a woman as well. In these silent and dark space, it was especially horrifying. A bad feeling suddenly surged within Zhu Yao. The  scream came so suddenly, so it definitely was ominous. Just as they were planning to make a detour…

A stream of hurried sprinting noises could be heard from in front of them. In the next moment, a few dishevelled figures was running over to them. There were a total of four people, and they each was running, limping with a messy pace. They seemed to be composed of three men and one woman.

They initially had panicky and fatigued looks, but when they saw Zhu Yao’s group, the instantly came charging over filled with excitement. They stopped outside their barrier and desperately knocked on it. “Save us, save us! I beg you all, save me!”

Only then did Zhu Yao have a good look of their faces. It sure was a coincidence. It was actually Mary Sue Mei Xue who fooled Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu on the second floor. This sure was fate!

“It’s you!” Nangong Cheng naturally recognized her as well, and angrily charged forward.

“You…” Mei Xue was stunned as well, and only then did she recognize Nangong Cheng. In an instant, her face  was  filled with a pleasant surprise. “Daoist Nangong, it’s you!  That’s great! Those shadows are closing in, Daoist Nangong please open the barrier and save us.”

Nangong Cheng coldly laughed. “You lot schemed us before, and we have yet to settle the score for that. Yet you still dare to show your face in front of us!”

Mei Xue was stunned as something flashed within her eyes. Immediately after, she recovered herself and tears instantly flowed out. There was no cooldown to her acting skills at all. “Daoist Nangong, could you possibly have a misunderstanding? I can explain! Did something happen after we split up? After we split up, we were really worried of you two as well, and we even returned to search for you two, but… but we simply couldn’t find you. Mei Xue understands that we have let you two down, and in these few days, I have also found it hard to swallow down my food because of that incident. Now that we’re in a crisis, if you don’t let us in, we will immediately lose our lives here.”

From the nonsense that she was spouting, most likely, she was still unaware that they had already figured out the secret behind the Extermination Formation. Nangong Cheng’s face had already turned green from anger, as he turned back to look at the rest.

Zhu Yao shrugged. “This doesn’t concern me. This is your issue, decide on your own.”

After saying that, she pulled her master and Yue Ying. They then took a few steps back and turned around.

She looked as if she did not want to step in at all, but she could not help but speak with a suppressed voice. “Yue Ying, there’s something I want to ask you.”

Chapter376: Don’t Pull Aggro Off Tanks

“Daoist Nangong, are you really willing to stand idly by and watch us die?” Mei Xue was still pleading with tears and cries. She had considerably good looks in the first place, and adding that her cries were accompanied with a degree of gentleness and frailness, a feeling of pity could not help but well up within people’s hearts.

However, Nangong Cheng suffered some losses because of her before. This time, no matter how much sadder she was going to cry, not even the slightest hint of pity would well up within him. “Don’t think I’m unaware that you’ve tempered with the Extermination Formation. Since we’re alive right now, it proves that we’ve long known about the truth. There’s no longer a need for you to act in front of us.”

Mei Xue’s expression stiffened, showing a terrible face that looked as if her secret had been exposed.

Nangong Cheng coldly snorted. No longer having the thought of caring about such lowly people, he called out to the rest to continue on their way. The surrounding sharp screams grew even louder, and ominous winds wildly blew. It was as if something terrifying was hurrying in their direction. The faces in Mei Xue’s group instantly turned miserably pale. She couldn’t be bothered with anything else any longer and immediately block their path. “Daoist Nangong, it’s all my fault back then! That’s right! I made use of you people. But that’s an idea that I came up with alone, and it’s unrelated to the rest. You can watch me die, but please save my three companions.” SHe pointed at the three men next to her. “As long as you’re willing to let them into the barrier and have them stay inside till those crowd of shadows move away, Mei Xue is willing to die to pay for her sins.”

When her words fell, the few men next to her were not the only ones that were stunned, even Zhu Yao herself could not believe her ears. This was illogical! Mary Sue had actually learnt how to sacrifice herself to save others!?

“Mei Xue, you can’t! Even if we die, what regrets would we have?” One of the men in green robes refuted.

“That’s right!” Man Number Two replied as well. “As long as we can be with you, so what if we die right now?”

“Even if we die, we have to die together.” The other man immediately expressed his intentions as well. Everything became sensational in an instant. Mei Xue however heavily shook her head, sprinkling the tears that had yet to dry. The scene could only be described as mournful. “No! I can’t pull you all down. It’s all my fault, so let me bear this burden alone! Daoist Nangong, please save them.”

“…” Nangong Cheng was stunned, and grew a little hesitant in an instant, as though he never expected that Mei Xue would die for the sake of others.

“Mei Xue!” The three men was still planning to  stop  her, when suddenly, Mei Xue forcefully pushed them away. She then pulled out a long sword out of nowhere, and with determined eyes, she looked at Nangong Cheng. “Daoist Nangong, please keep to your words.”

As she said that, she had already pushed her sword towards her neck. Just as the tip of the sword was about to reach  her neck…

“Hey, hey, what are doing!?” The hell, he hadn’t even agreed to it yet! Nangong Cheng was stunned, and out of reflex, he reached out his hand attempting to stop her action. Zhu Yao’s heart sank. “Wait, Nangong Huang!”

Unfortunately, she was a step too late. His hand had already reached out of the barrier, and the barrier opened up right at that moment. Almost at the same time, the plot changed drastically. The three people that Mei Xue pushed away restrained Nangong Cheng in an instant, while the sword that Mei Xue planned on stabbing her own neck with was now held against Nangong Cheng’s neck. The barrier immediately disappeared.

The hell!

“Hahahaha…” Mei Xue who was still incomparably gentle and frail earlier, had already changed her expression. Her laughter was filled with extreme arrogance and impudicity. “I’ve never expected that such a stupid person like you would actually be tricked so easily. You lot deserve to die here.”

“You venomous woman, let go of me.” Nangong Cheng trembled in anger. However, this floor was a divine energy restricted zone in the first place, and with him being restrained by three people, he was basically unable to move at all. “Let go of you? I finally managed to capture you, how could I possibly let go of you so easily?” Mei Xue kicked him, and then looked at the rest. “None of you move, otherwise, I will kill him right here and now!” The sword in her hand moved, instantly drawing out a slit of his blood.

“Nangong!” Zhonggu Lu trembled in fury. “What can  you show by threatening others? If you have the guts, then fight me one-on-one.”

Mei Xue coldly laughed and ignored him.

Zhu Yao frowned and took a step forward. “Mei Xue, just what are you trying to do?”

“What I’m trying to do? What else can I do in this upper floor?” Mei Xue coldly snorted, her face was filled with scorn. She sent a glance to the man at the side, and he immediately received her intentions. He began to search Nangong Cheng’s body, and in a few short moments, he found a bag that was filled with Nascent Divided Pearls.

“He still has five of them.” Mei Xue then nodded satisfyingly. Right from the start, her goal was to steal their Nascent Divided Pearls. Her pleads earlier were all just an act.

As they held onto Nangong Cheng, the four of them retreated to a safe distance, and then she coldly laughed. “Then, I hope you all enjoy your final moments.”

She suddenly moved away her sword and then ruthlessly stabbed Nangong Cheng in the back, piercing straight through his chest. Pulling her sword out, she then pushed him towards them. “Let’s go!” They then turned around and fled towards the front.

“Nangong!” Zhonggu Lu hurriedly caught the injured Nangong Cheng.

Mei Xue and her gang had already disappeared without a trace, but that stab of hers was truly ruthless, as Nangong Cheng’s chest was already completely dyed red. Such injuries wouldn’t amount to anything if things were like before,  but they were unable to use mystic arts here. Even with his divine physique, he wouldn’t be able to hold on if his blood continued to flow like this. Zhu Yao squatted down and cupped his wrist. As expected, his loss of blood was severe.

“Dongfang girly…” Nangong Cheng wished that he could smash his head into the wall right now. “It’s all my fault! I got tricked by that bitch’s scheme again! Even the Nascent Divided Pearls are…”

“Nevermind, what use is there to bring it up now?” Zhu Yao was a little irritated. Nangong Cheng’s earlier action was all pure instinct, who would have thought that Mei Xue was here to steal their Nascent Divided Pearls in the first place? Her stupidity was to blame as well. Mei Xue was a ruthless character in the first place, how could she possibly plead to them? She should have realized it earlier.

Initially, Mei Xue had five men next to her, while there was now only three of them left. Clearly, something must have happened. For a woman who would even use her own people, what else wouldn’t she do?

“Dongfang girly is right, this isn’t the time to pursue responsibility.” Zhonggu Lu was incredibly anxious as well. Seeing blood endlessly flowing out of his chest, even his hands were beginning to tremble. “Let’s think of a way to stop your blood from flowing out for now! If things go on like this, you will be in trouble!”

“There isn’t only one trouble right now!” Yu Yan suddenly spoke out coldly.

With a wave of his hand, his Life Artifact had already appeared in his hand. Raising his head, he looked to the near distance and solemnly said. “They’re here!”

The moment his words fell, a wave of sharp screams rang deep into their ears, and they could not help but feel an immense chill in their hearts. The human-devouring shadows were here.

Zhu Yao immediately pulled out that red “patch” weapon as well. Fortunately, it was her Life Artifact, and was already considered a part of her body, so there was no need for the circulation of divine energy to pull it out. Though, the effects of the sword would be greatly limited, and it could no longer be considered as a divine artifact, but a normal weapon.

“But Nangong, he…” Zhonggu Lu grew even more flustered. Zhu Yao clenched her fists, and then turned to look at the person behind her. “Yue Ying, can you help stop his blood from flowing out?”

Yue Ying did not hesitate and simply stepped forward. With a wave of his sleeves across Nangong Cheng, the blood from his chest immediately stopped flowing.

“This is…” Zhonggu Lu was completely dumbfounded, as he looked at Yue Ying with a face that seemed as if he was looking at a ghost. “You… Could it be that your mystic arts aren’t sealed?”

“There’s no time to explain, those shadows are coming.” Zhu Yao turned towards the front. Holding onto the sword in her hand tightly, she stood next to her master.

Zhonggu Lu understood that this wasn’t the time to ask questions. He stood up and made preparations for battle as well. Even Nangong Cheng took a deep breath and struggled to stand up on his feet.

A moment later. Ding dong. Something fell in front of them, and then it rolled for a short while on the ground before shattering resoundingly. That was actually a completely used up Nascent Divided Pearl. Zhu Yao instantly understood why Mei Xue actually had the time to come up with such a long act even though they were clearly being chased by those shadows.

This Nascent Divided Pearl seemed to have been placed here by them preemptively, in order to block those shadows that were roaming everywhere and buy them time for their act. Zhu Yao and her group had most likely unknowingly walked into this barrier. This Nascent Divided Pearl could not last for long in the first place, and it had already reached its limit.

The instant the Nascent Divided Pearls shattered, immense number of shadows crazily pounced towards them. Piercing screams rang painfully in their ears. The place was filled with flying shadows, and occasionally, those shadows would flash their human faces that grew even more sinister and terrifying as more of them did. Even the shadows that flew past them carried a bone-piercing chill, as though they could injure them with frostbites.

Those shadows seemed to have specific goals in their minds. Some charged towards her master, some charged towards Nangong Cheng, some charged towards Zhonggu Lu, and even more of them charged towards Yue Ying, except her!

“……”

“…”

Zhu Yao was a little dumbfounded. Looking at the waves after waves of shadows, they split towards the people at the side and were completely avoiding her. Not a single one of them turned around and give her a glance. Not a single one!

Just what was going on? Did Realmspirit give her a cheat again? However, ever since she entered the tower, she wasn’t given any sort of preferential treatment. Even her World Favourable Impression passive seemed to have been completely ineffective right from the beginning.

“Master…” She looked at the people next to her with strange eyes.

“Mn?” Yu Yan swung away the several shadows with his sword, and then turned to look at her. Zhu Yao did not have time to explain when the next shadow took the opportunity to attack Yu Yan’s back. “Master, watch out!” Zhu Yao immediately slashed at it and that shadow instantly dissipated, turning into a mass of black smoke. However, the smoke did not scatter off, and instead began to gather together once more. In just a few moments, it once again formed a complete figure, and a human face instantly surfaced. That was a face of an old man. He had a long beard and white hair, looking extremely kind. He even looked a little familiar.

In a blink of an eye, it turned into a sinister look, and with a sharp scream, it came pouncing towards her. Zhu Yao swung her sword and once again scattered it.

As expected, in less than ten minutes, that shadow once again changed back, and Zhu Yao seemed to have accidentally caught its attention. This shadow began to change its target and launch attacks at her.

Zhu Yao was not a physical practitioner. Her sword techniques were not as strong as her divine arts, and could only be considered average. However, it was more than enough to deal with a single one. However, if this went on, nothing would change. These things could reform themselves limitlessly and could not be killed at all. They had to find a plan. Zhu Yao inspected her surroundings, but was shocked by the person behind her.

“Yue Ying!” He was actually staring blankly in the air while standing in the center of a large number of shadows!

Without even thinking, Zhu Yao charged over. With a few slashes, she cut away several shadows that were surrounding Yue Ying, instantly pulling a large number of aggro.

In an instant, large number of shadows came flying towards her.

Uh… She seemed to have become an off-tank.

Chapter377: The Truth Behind the Final Floor

Zhu Yao felt a large wave of cold winds charging towards her, and it was both quick and hurried. She hurriedly swung her sword to deflect them, slashing apart the gathering shadows. However, she was not able to dodge all of them either. After slashing apart the ones at the front, the ones at the back came charging forward as well. The first few swings were still fine, but slowly, her strength began to dwindle. After scattering a few shadows, an ominous wind came charging towards her back. She instinctively shifted to the side, but she was still a step too late. An aching pain spread from her arm as something had pierced into it. It was as if something was trying to slice off a piece of her flesh.

When she turned to look, she saw a shadow was biting deeply into her arm, and her hand was already drenched in fresh blood. That figure merely revealed half of its face, but his appearance could be vaguely seen, and Zhu Yao was stunned after seeing it.

“Big sis!” Yue Ying was startled, hurriedly walking over.

Zhu Yao gritted her teeth as she passed her sword to her other hand and scattered the shadow. However, the bite was so deep, her bones could already be seen. This bite could not be compared to any of the injuries she suffered in the past, but back then, she still had her cultivation no matter how severe her injuries were, so she would have still been able to hold on even if she was bitten. Presently, with how her divine energy was suppressed, this pain clearly hurt even more. She could barely feel her own hand now.

“Big sis!” Yue Ying was a little flustered, as he hurriedly helped stop her blood from flowing out. Something seemed to be burning with his eyes.

“Yu Yao.” Yu Yan’s face clearly looked a little anxious as well, but he was being surrounded by a large number of shadows and could not push his way through.

“I’m fine.” Zhu Yao solemnly said. “Don’t lose focus.” This wasn’t the time to be worried about such things.

Zhu Yao’s right arm was injured, and at this moment, she couldn’t even hold her sword properly. However, she had no choice but to stand up again. The hell, you’re bullying me because I’m not a leftie, right?

But it really hurts! She was basically using her own flesh and body to block attacks.

Most likely because of the stimulation from her blood, those shadows grew even wilder. Their terrifying screams grew sharper, causing one’s skin to crawl. They seemed to be waiting for something, as they circled around their surroundings. Then, they once again attacked her from her back.

Zhu Yao had no choice but to shift to the side and hold up her sword again. With this action of hers, her blood began to pour out once more. Just as she was about to be submerged by an overwhelming amount of shadows, Yue Ying suddenly grabbed onto her hand, and his eyes instantly turned crimson red.

“Scram!”

In an instant, a dark aura that was even thicker that the shadows’ was emitted out from his body, instantly devouring those shadows. The shadows revealed flustered looks, and the situation instantly flipped around. The shadows that were still anxiously targeting them before were now fleeing in all directions.

In just a few seconds, the area suddenly quietened down. There was no longer any shadows in the air, but they were replaced by a devillic aura that was even colder and more terrifying than those shadows. Yue Ying was enveloped within the devillic aura, and what remained was a pair of crimson-red eyes filled with anger. The light coming from his eyes were enough to send cold shivers down everyone’s spines.

Zhu Yao instantly calmed down and grabbed him with her other hand, desperately ignoring the devillic aura that was making her tremble. With a solemn voice, she said. “Yue Ying, I’m fine now! Everyone is fine now.”

Only then did the anger in his eyes slowly extinguish, reverting back to their former clarity. The surrounding devillic aura then slowly began to return into his body as well, till they completely disappear. He lowered his head and looked at her hand which was dripping with blood. “Big sis…”

“I’m fine.” Zhu Yao smiled at him. “Thank you.” She never expected that even though these shadows were fierce, they could not match against devillic aura. It was no wonder Yue Ying was unmoving earlier. It wasn’t because he was in a daze, rather, the shadows must have realized the aura emitted from his body and did not dare to approach him. “Devillic aura!” Zhonggu Lu looked over with a stunned expression. “Could… Could you actually be…”

Even Nangong Cheng’s face changed as well.

Zhu Yao sighed. It seemed like they couldn’t hide it  any longer. “That’s right, Yue Ying is of the Devil race. The shadows earlier were chased away by him as well. What are you two planning to do?”

Zhonggu Lu and Nangong Cheng were stunned for a moment.

“No wonder… No wonder he’s the only one who can still use mystic arts.” Zhonggu Lu muttered. They were unable to circulate divine energy, but devillic energy was not restricted.

Nangong Cheng looked at Zhu Yao, and finally let out a sigh. “So that’s the case. Da… Daoist Yue, thank you very much. With that many shadows, I thought we were dead for sure!”

“Isn’t your stupidity at fault here? Otherwise, why would we have encountered so much trouble?” Zhonggu Lu retorted. “The hell, can you blame me for that? It’s because that Mei Xue is too treacherous, alright?”

Zhonggu Lu immediately rolled his eyes.

It seemed like they were intentionally ignoring the fact that Yue Ying was a Devil. After all, everyone had come a long way together, and it would be best that a conflict wouldn’t occur.

Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief, when a her right hand was suddenly held by someone. She could not help but let out a cold gasp. “Szz…”

“Don’t move.” A certain master glared at her unhappily, as he began to roll a white cloth around her injured arm.

“I’m fine, master. The blood has already stopped flowing. It will be fine in about an hour.” After all, she still had a divine physique, such injuries would heal really quickly.

His eyes narrowed. “Mn?” “Uh… Wrap it, wrap it then!” Wuuuu, master is angry at me again.

————————————————

They did not stay around, instead, they took the opportunity when the shadows were scattered and hurriedly pressed forward towards their goal. Initially, they thought that they would at least encounter another two or three waves. Strangely however, they had rushed for two days straight, but not a single shadow came attacked them again.

Even if there were occasional misty shadows floating past, they completely ignored Zhu Yao’s group and simply floated away after swaying about a few times. Zhu Yao thought that this was due to fear of Yue Ying’s devillic energy, or there was simply too little shadows in their present surroundings. However, Yue Ying had clearly retracted his devillic energy and was not leaking out even the littlest bit. Furthermore, the sharp and terrifying screams in the air did not lessen that  much either.

Zhu Yao’s heart began to sink, as the guess she had continued to grow clearer. On the third day, they finally walked out of the sinister and terrifying territory, and they instantly saw the light in front of them. It was as if they had suddenly walked out of the darkness and into the light, as the sinister air was completely swept away, and what replaced it was a lush green forest.

“Great, we finally got out.” Nangong Cheng said with joy. “We no longer have to be harrassed by those shadows. We’re safe now.”

“That might not be the case!” Zhu Yao clenched her fists, her worry grew heavier.

Nangong Cheng was stunned as he turned to look at her. “Dongfang girly, just relax. Look at this place, it’s completely bright. Those shadows definitely won’t come here. As long as we cross this forest, we will be able to reach the light that guides us to the realm of Gods. We are no longer in any sort of danger.”

Zhu Yao turned to look at the darkness behind her, and then once again glanced at the greenery before them, frowning. “Do you guys know… what those shadows are?”

Nangong Cheng was startled. “What else can they be?” “Sinister and ominous, undestroyable, being able to resurrect indefinitely, and carrying such immense hatred. With such characteristics, I can only think of a single thing.”

Yu Yan frowned and coldly said. “Resentment!”

The group was stunned. Zhonggu Lu stepped forward. “How is that possible? Isn’t resentment something that only exists in the Netherworld? Why would it appear in the Lightning Divine Tower? And on the final floor on the road to ascending into Gods nonetheless!”

“I’ve once visited the River of Forgetfulness in the Netherworld.” To be exact, she met the River of Forgetfulness himself. “The River of Forgetfulness is the only thing that bridges the Three Realms, and it flows throughout every corner of the Three Realms, guiding those depressed souls back to the Netherworld and sending them to their reincarnations. Since the River of Forgetfulness can be found in all of the Three Thousand Worlds, then it can naturally be found in the Divine Realm as well.”

Nangong Cheng grew even more confused. “What does these shadows have to do with the River of Forgetfulness?” “All of the resentment of the Netherworld is being concealed in the depths of the River of Forgetfulness.” Yu Yan continued with a solemn voice.

“You’re saying, the River of Forgetfulness  brought resentment into the Lightning Divine Tower?” Zhonggu Lu frowned. “However, even if those shadows are resentment, since we’re already here, they wouldn’t chase after us, right? Furthermore, after those resentment were chased away by Daoist Yue, they no longer appeared again. What does this have to do with the danger that you speak of?”

“Have neither of you felt anything strange about those shadows?”

The group exchanged glances, and even Yu Yan was confused as well.

“Master, I want to ask you something. In the Lower Realm, have you met someone that looks exactly the same as Sect Master Zi Mo?”

Yu Yan was stunned for a moment. As someone who was face- blind, Zi Mo’s face was one of few that he remembered. After pondering deeply for a while, as though he had thought of something, he solemnly said. “There was a heretic practitioner who deeply specialized in the arts of transformation, and he was even capable of changing his aura. He once turned into Zi Mo’s appearance and infiltrated my Ancient Hill Sect. He was then exposed by me.”

“After that?”

“Naturally, he was killed.”

“Did master personally do it?”

“Mn.”

“As expected!” Zhu Yao sighed, and instantly a sense of powerlessness overwhelmed her.

“Dongfang girly, just what are you trying to get with those words of yours?” Nangong Cheng anxiously asked.

Zhu Yao turned to look at the four of them. “Did you all notice the appearances of the shadows formed by resentment?”

The group: “…”

“I saw them…” Zhu Yao solemnly said. “I saw a shadow that looked exactly the same as Zi Mo. That shadow was attacking my master. I even saw…” She turned to look at Yue Ying. “Xu Nuoyan! And he was attacking Yue Ying.”

Her master and Yue Ying instantly widened their eyes. As though they had realized something, their faces  instantly turned complicated.

“Just what do you mean?” Nangong Cheng was anxious. “And who is this Xu Nuoyan?”

“It doesn’t matter who he is.” Zhu Yao shook her head. “The important thing is, who they were killed by!”

Zhonggu Lu’s expression changed. “You… You’re saying, those resentment are formed by the people that we’ve once killed? And that is why they were desperately attacking us?” “I wasn’t certain in the beginning. However, have you all thought about why no other shadows attacked us again after those resentment were chased away by the devillic aura back then?” Zhu Yao analysed. “Because the other resentment aren’t looking for us! They would only look for their creditors.”

This was also why at the very beginning, those resentment only attacked the four of them and completely avoided her. Because she had never taken a single human life, so naturally, there did not exist any so-called resentment seeking her for revenge. After that, she took the initiative to attack them, and only then were they lured over.

“Why would the River of Forgetfulness simply send these resentment into the Lightning Divine Tower? Also, after being filled by resentment for so many years, why hasn’t there been any signs of the Lightning Divine Tower collapsing?” Zhu Yao’s expression grew heavier. “If my guess is correct, the final test of this Lightning Divine Tower is actually a tribulation, a tribulation of karma! From the many deeds that we’d planted back then, we will receive the corresponding karma.  Most likely, from everything that a practitioner has done in the past, everything would be returned on this very floor.”

“If that’s the case… Do you guys still feel that the place before us is really safe?” “…” Everyone’s faces instantly paled.

Chapter378: The Fate of the Scheming Mary Sue

Among the people who could ascend and become Deities, which one of them would have clean hands? Especially in the case of such an environment where the strong would feast on the weak. Usually, the higher one stood, the more debts of blood he would hold, not to mention there were a Demonic Immortal and a Devil among them. Which one of them hadn’t climbed up through a bloody slaughter?

“Dongfang girly, it might not be as bad as you say?” Nangong Cheng waved his hands without a mind and smiled. Just that that smile of his was clearly a little forced. “Look, we’re already out of the territory. Even if those resentment originated from our killings back then, there shouldn’t be anything else, right?”

“I don’t know either. If this floor is truly a tribuluation of karma, then how could killings be the only deeds that we’d planted?” Zhu Yao shook her head. “In any case, being cautious isn’t wrong. After all, the road to the Light of Guidance is still long!”

The group sternly nodded. Compared to the lax and joy earlier, they were now more vigilant and serious instead, as every single one of them pressed forward with a hundred and twenty percent focus.

Yue Ying was their main battle force. As of now, he was the only one remaining who had the human GPS function, and so he took the initiative to walk at the front. Zhu Yao and her master was following behind, and they were responsible of inspecting the surrounding situation. Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu on the other hand were at the back.

After maintaining their current formation well, the group finally walked into the large green forest. The forest wasn’t actually really dense. Compared to the forests in the Three Thousand Worlds that were filled with spiritual and divine energy, this place was clearly a little dull, as though  there wasn’t any sign of life. The ground was filled with broken branches and dead leaves. Even the leaves on the trees had withered, and were at the verge of falling off.

They did not walk for too long when Yue Ying suddenly stopped. With a frown, he looked forward.

“What is it?” Zhu Yao asked.

He pointed to the front. “There seems to be something in front?”

The hell, so quick!

Their hearts suddenly tensed up, and after hearing carefully, the sounds of battle could be heard. They had initially planned on making a detour, but that place was somewhere they had to pass through no matter what. In order to prevent any incidents, they could not help but be more cautious of their surroundings.

The closer they approached, the louder the battle noises became. They had just walked a few meters when a large green field appeared before their eyes. A flustered voice crying for help could be heard.

“Save me. Hurry… Hurry and save me. Hurry and save me!!”

This voice…

They then got a closer look. Yo, it sure is a small world. Isn’t the three men and one woman over there Mei Xue and her gang? Zhu Yao wondered if it was retribution, as they had once again encountered trouble. A flower with the combined height of two people appeared on the field of grass. It had body dyed in bloody red, and its six wide-spread petals were as large as bathtubs. At the very center of the flower was actually a large bloody mouth, and sharp teeth were grown all around it. There were even thorny vines baring their teeth and dancing about in the air, their looks were especially terrifying.

Mei Xue and another man was being bitten by that flower, and half of their bodies were already in its mouth. The other two men were currently grabbing onto their hands, wanting to pull them out with all their might. Mei Xue had a fatigued look, and was already crying out from fear. Her hair was dishevelled and even her face was crumpled up. She was really crying now, losing all of the beauty of a pear blossom in tears. She was howling like a pig that was about to be slaughtered.

“Hurry, hurry and pull me out… Save me, hurry  and  save me!” As she waved about her hands, she hissed with her exhausted voice, crying out to the two men outside. The lower half of her body was already flowing out blood from the flower’s bite, and it was surging out even more than a woman’s auntie.

The two men outside grabbed onto each one of her arms and were using all of their strength to pull her out of the flower’s mouth. However, because they could not use their divine energy, they did not dare to go too close either. Furthermore, that flower was twice the size of an average person in the first place, so though they did not let go, their efforts were not very evident. She was already beginning to slowly slide into the flower’s innards.

The man that was similarly in the flower’s mouth saw that this wasn’t going to work out. Letting go of his hands, he then dragged Mei Xue’s waist in the opposite direction. “Mei Xue, save me after you’ve safely left!” With a strong lift, he immediately threw her out.

The power of three people were clearly effective. Seeing that she had escaped the flower’s mouth, the man joyfully reached out his hand, wanting to seek help. However, that flower seemed to be unwilling to see its prey escaping just like that. Its large mouth once again widened, and it then pounced forward.

It was unknown if she had done it with intention, but the moment Mei Xue got out, she suddenly sent a kick to the back, instantly kicking the man that was seeking their help into the flower’s innards. That gigantic flower retreated a few meters because of the rebound as well, though it seemed to have swallowed the man whole. This scene happened so quickly. The man that dragged Mei Xue out did not even have the opportunity to be surprised when he disappeared into the gigantic flower’s mouth. Mei Xue and the other two men on the other hand took this chance to escape the flower’s active range. Their faces were miserably pale, and they looked as if they had been utterly frightened.

The two men who went to save them had terrible expressions, clearly, they saw the earlier scene with their very own eyes. However, under Mei Xue’s cries, the two decided to ignore it and began to console her instead.

“Mei Xue, we’re fine now, we’re fine now? Don’t be afraid.”

“But big brother Ye Yu…”

“He died to save you, and he definitely did it out of his own free will as well.”

“That’s right, he won’t blame you. He will definitely be able to pass away peacefully knowing that you’re safe.”

“He died for a purpose, and with that, he died with honour!” The surrounding five spectators instantly carried darkened expressions, feeling as though they had swallowed crap.

“The hell. I’m sorry, I need to puke a little.” Zhonggu Lu turned around and retched.

“I’ve never seen something so disgusting, and such a disgusting Deity practitioner.” Nangong Cheng could not help but retort as well. “Dongfang girly, are all you Deities like this? Fortunately, I’m a Demonic Immortal.”

The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. “This is my first time seeing such an incredible Deity practitioner, alright?” Please apologize to all of the Deity practitioners in the world, hey!

“It’s you people!” Mei Xue was stunned, a hint of fluster flashed across her face.

“We meet again.” Nangong Cheng coldly snorted. “Is this what’s known as retribution for one’s actions? Mei Xue,  it’s time we settle our past debts.”

The other  two  men’s  expression  changed  as  well,  as  they wielded their weapons one after another and looked at their with alert expressions.

“If you want to harm Mei Xue, you should first ask the sword in my hand.”

“Hmph, you group of losers still dare to spout such presumptuous words. Mei Xue, don’t need to be afraid, we definitely won’t allow them to touch you the slightest bit.”

The two of them had determined looks as they firmly protected Mei Xue between them, who had a frail and fearful look on her face. However, the two of them understood that in term of numbers, they were basically not their match. They had no choice but to guard Mei Xue at the center and began to retreat.

Unfortunately, before Nangong Cheng could even make a move, with a sudden swoosh, two enormous vines suddenly pierced out from beneath the three’s feet, reaching up to a height of two meters. The vines twirled at the top and then suddenly split open. Instantly, two blood-coloured man-eater flowers, that looked exactly the same as the one before, bloomed. They then pounced towards the three of them. Just as the three of them were once again about to enter the flowers’ mouth, Mei Xue who was standing in the center and was nearest to the flowers, suddenly screamed.

“Ah!~!!” She pushed out her two hands at the same time, successfully pushing the two into the incoming  flowers’ mouths, while she herself had rolled out of the range of the two flowers.

Before the two men could even react, while their pledge was still echoing in their ears, they were personally pushed into the gates of hell by their beloved. They did not even have the time to question her, as they disappeared within the enormous flowers with faces of utter disbelief and shock.

Zhu Yao wondered if they could still truly say that they died for a purpose, and hence died with honour!

Mei Xue did not even turn to look at the two of them. After crawling up, she instead ran towards the direction of Zhu Yao’s group, as though she had discovered the danger of the grass plains and was trying to escape. Unfortunately, she was still too slow.

 A few red vines charged out from the ground, instantly wrapping around Mei Xue’s body and trapping her where she stood. The bloody red thorns on the vines stabbed directly into her flesh, punching several holes in her body.

Her face instantly paled, her eyes were filled with fear. She struggled wildly, wanting to crawl towards them. “Save me… Please, save me… Save me…”

Zhu Yao frowned and turned her head away. Yue Ying and Yu Yan did not have any reaction, while Zhonggu Lu simply rolled his eyes. Nangong Cheng even spat heavily in her direction.

If she hadn’t schemed against them time and time again to steal their Nascent Divided Pearls, they might have pitied her a little. But now… even if there was something wrong with their brains, they wouldn’t lend a helping hand, especially after seeing her unhesitantly pushing out even her own male companions. Calling her snake-hearted would even make snakes look bad!

Mei Xue did not struggle for too long. The vines wrapping around her body continued to increase, and fresh blood poured out from the holes in her body, which were then absorbed cleanly by those green vines. Mei Xue’s initial world-class appearance began to age at an astonishing speed, and in just a few moments, she had already turned into a white-haired old lady. Her body was also drying up at a speed visible to the naked eyes. As though the nourishment from her body was being absorbed, the vines began to turn greener and were even glowing with a faint glistening light.

Red flower buds began to pop out from the vines, and they crawled across the entire vines. They watched as the buds grew even larger, to the size of a fist. With a slight twirl, blood- coloured flowers that looked like red gems instantly bloomed. However, those flowers were different from the man-eater flowers from before, and only had five petals. Yet they looked as if they were formed out of crystals.

“Lasting Flowers!” Zhonggu Lu suddenly widened his eyes, his face instantly changed. “The pollens of these flowers carry a dangerous poison. Breathing it in would damage one’s primordial spirit and cause one to suffocate.”

When Zhu Yao heard this, she immediately held her nose and mouth. The rest did the same as well.

As expected, the sharp flower petals let out a bright flash of red light, and after a few crisp crackling noises, they began to explode and instantly turned into red powder. The powder filled the entire sky, and then they sprinkled down onto the ground. Under the light from the sun, it was as if red stars were raining down.

Fifteen minutes later, those red powder finally sank into the grass field and disappeared without a trace. Mei Xue whose appearance could no longer be discerned had already been completely absorbed into the Lasting Flowers’ vines. Suddenly, with a loud boom, the Lasting Flowers and the other gigantic red flowers began to sink back into the earth. Even the holes that they appeared from had disappeared without a trace.

The area in front of them turned into a flat and quiet field of grass, as if the earlier catastrophe had never happened.

Chapter379: Realizing an Incredible Secret

When it came to Mei Xue’s retribution, Zhu Yao was still sighing at how things turned out in the beginning. Out of rationality, she still silently lit a row of candles for Mei Xue in her heart. However, immediately after, she could no longer rationalize her thoughts.

She suddenly recalled. Momma’s egg! How are we going to pass this grass field!? In other words, they were going to encounter those strange flowers beneath the earth as well. Recalling that enormous flower which didn’t even burp after swallowing one of them whole, she could not help but tremble. She wondered if it was too late for them to make a retreat?

“The strange flowers and plants underneath the earth are definitely not limited to just that breed earlier.” Zhonggu Lu’s expression was especially terrible to look at. “Also, I can sense that these flowers most likely possess sentience.”

“Sentience.” Zhu Yao was stunned. “You’re saying those earlier were all flower spirits?”

Zhonggu Lu nodded, a hint of doubt surfaced on his expression once more. “I’m a Plant Immortal, so I can naturally sense them. However, those flower spirits are a little different from flower spirits that cultivate normally. They seemed to be even more… violent than the rest.”

The rest were all stunned for a moment. Spirits that were formed by plants usually had gentler and warmer personalities. After all, plants were creatures that were the hardest to develop sentience with. Also, compared to human practitioners and demonic beasts, they needed an extremely long time to grow, and they were not able to even move in their preliminary stages. That was why they would not develop any impatience, let alone violence.

“Take that Lasting Flower for example. Formerly, it’s a Resident Flower. Only after developing sentience would it mutate into a Lasting Flower.” Zhonggu Lu explained. “Also, it’s extremely hard for such flowers to grow, and so it’s extremely rare for one to cultivate into a spirit.”

Zhu Yao’s heart sank. Suddenly, she thought of something. “Then what are those three man-eater flowers called? Do you know what effects they have on practitioners?”

Zhonggu Lu’s expression changed, and he lamented in dissatisfaction. “You Deity practitioners are really… Why  do you all first think of their effects when spiritual herbs are brought up?”

“Don’t care about that right now, just tell me.”

“The other breed must be the Heavenly Immortal Herb.” Zhonggu Lu pouted, but he still answered. “Though, the Heavenly Immortal Herbs are usually spiritual herbs that would only grow up to a few inches tall. I wonder why they could become so big. As for what effects they have on practitioners, I don’t know either. I’ve never eaten them anyway.”

“Resident Flowers can be used to refine the Immortal Pellet.” Yu Yan suddenly said. “This pellet can resurrect a dead person and allow his or her bones and flesh to regrow. As long as his soul does not dissipate, no matter how severe his injuries are, they can all be restored in just a single incense worth of time.”

The hell, it’s that overpowered?

“As for the Heavenly Immortal Herbs, it can be used to refine Realm Crossing Pellets. Taking one will enable a practitioner’s cultivation to immediately improve by a large realm.” “A large realm!” Zhu Yao was stunned. “In other words, in the Lower Realm, if our initial cultivation is at the Nascent Soul stage, eating it will allow one to immediately become a Demigod? And if one is a Demigod, then he or she can immediately ascend?”

“It’s the same in the Divine Realm as well.” He added. “This is a divine herb in the first place.”

“……”

“…”

Yu Yan frowned. “Though, the recipes for these two pellets have long disappeared. I’ve never heard of someone capable of refining it in the Divine Realm, let alone the Lower Realm.”

Was this Mei Xue’s cheat? She could refine Realm Crossing Pellets and immediately raise her level. This cheat was much more incredible than hers. It was no wonder her level was 1 while the others were all at level 2 when they first met in the second floor. Most likely, her cultivation had all come from eating pellets and medicine. Her foundation was not stable, and coincidentally, Lightning Divine Tower forbid dru- ah pui, forbid taking herbs?”

“Dongfang girly, have you thought of something?” Nangong Cheng took a step forward and said. “Share it with us so that we can come up with plans together.”

Zhu Yao felt like crying. “I just thought that, if this floor is truly the tribulation of karma, then all of the plants here are most likely materialized by the pellets that we’ve eaten before.”

“It… It can’t be!” Nangong Cheng was a little anxious. Who wouldn’t eat pellets or medicine all their path of cultivation? Even Zhonggu Lu, a Flower Deity, had swallowed high-ranking spiritual herbs in order to raise his cultivation as well. “Aren’t spiritual herbs supposed to be sentienceless? Also, when we gather them, we’ve never met any resistance either.”

“You already mentioned that they’re spiritual  herbs.”  Zhu Yao rolled her eyes. “That proves that they must contain spiritual and divine energies. Where do they come from? Do you think they would enter these herbs by themselves?”

“……” “…”

“People with divine or spiritual energies in their bodies can be considered practitioners. Then, plants with divine or spiritual energies, can also be considered as sentient spirits. Though, the differences would simply lie in how long it has been since they blossom.” The same logic applied to how demonic beasts would have higher level of intelligence as their ranks increased. “Also, all pellets and medicines possess their own pellet poison, and this applies to divine herbs as well. Theoretically speaking, the bodies of spiritual herbs contain the purest divine or spiritual energies, so they should be able to take in energy just like spirit stones. Then why would they contain poison? And where does the poison come from? Could the so-called pellet poison is actually the final retribution by those herbs that had just awoken their sentience but has no means to fight back?”

The group was instantly silent.

“Dongfang girly, from how you’re putting it, I’m starting to feel anxious!” Nangong Cheng’s face instantly drooped down. He glanced at the field of grass before them, and then silently took a step back.

“There’s no need to worry.” Yu Yan said with a calm look, as he stroked his disciple’s head. “If this grass field is truly testing one’s karma with spiritual herbs, then we master and disciple have never eaten a single medicinal pellet. I believe passing this stage wouldn’t be hard.”

“Oh right!” Zhu Yao said with a  enlightened  expression. “Then why are we being afraid!?”

“I’ve never eaten one either!” Yue Ying immediately raised his hand and expressed himself.

“Good job.” Zhu Yao stroked his head.

Her beating little heart instantly calmed down. She felt rather domineering all of a sudden.

Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu: “…”

We ate them before, hey! Where’s the promised love between teammates? Don’t speak as if you three are the only ones here, hey! “Dongfang girly…” Nangong Cheng pitifully tugged Zhu Yao’s sleeves, and his hand was instantly shoved away by Yue Ying with a scornful look. My big sis’s sleeves is mine! “What about us? What should we do?”

Zhu Yao was stunned, and only then did she regain her senses. “Oh right! I forgot you guys were still here.”

“……”

“…”

From Mei Xue’s situation earlier, those spiritual herbs seemed to appear based on the amount of aggro accumulated. The more one ate, the more frequent they would appear. “Come, tell us what medicine and pellets you two have eaten. How many flowers have you all destroyed? Just how many youthful spiritual plants have you all harmed altogether?”

“Uh…” Why did he feel as if he was a greedy beast  now? “Not… Not… Not that much?” What’s with this sense of shame I’m feeling all of a sudden? “I’m a Demonic Immortal. You should be aware that demonic beasts don’t know how to refine medicine at all in the Lower Realm. When we encounter spiritual herbs, I would usually swallow them whole.”

“The hell, you actually swallow them alive!” Before Zhu Yao could even speak, Zhonggu Lu had already retorted. “You’re so murderous and violent! You’re actually a beast like that!”

“Tch, you sound as if you haven’t swallowed one before.” Nangong Cheng glared at his good homosexual buddy. “When you first materialized into a human form back then, didn’t you destroy an entire mountain peak worth of spiritual herbs?”

“That was subjugation based on my beauty!” Zhonggu Lu praised himself as he stroked his cheeks with his muscular arms. “That was a battle concerning us Flower Deities,  you don’t understand!”

“That battle was a little too intense, don’t you think? After all, you did swallow the flowers, their leaves, and even their roots. More importantly, you didn’t distinguish them by gender, and took them all in. You’re too much.”

“We Flower Deities don’t distinguish ourselves based on gender in the first place! We can be either a man or a woman!” “May I ask just how are you a woman with that body of yours?” This daddy here has never seen such a muscular lady before, alright?

“You still dare to speak of it!? Your race allows you to choose a gender when taking up a human form in the first place.  I already told you to become a female beastie, yet you chose to become male! Now that things turn out this way,  you’re blaming me for it!?” Who doesn’t know how to argue and fight back, huh?

“Isn’t it all because you said you can choose your gender when you’re taking up a human form too? Otherwise, do you think things would have turned out this way?”

“You’re clearly the one at fault!”

“It’s you!”

“It’s you!”

The group of three spectators: “…” They seemed to have found out something incredible. ——————————————

The two’s argument on heartlessness, shamelessness, and nonsense lasted for exactly two hours, and Zhu Yao lost interest after watching for fifteen minutes. With her master and Yue Ying, they inspected the strange grass field before them.

The matter of throwing aside Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu had never crossed her mind. After all, this tribulation of karma was just a guess she made. Though theoretically speaking, their family… ah pui! She, her master and Yue Ying had never eaten any pellets, but that did not mean they had never harmed any flowers or herbs. At the very least, she had caused the deaths of many cactuses in the modern era. If this grass field even took that into consideration, they she would be stabbed to death!

So they still had to look at this from a long-term perspective. However, they walked around the sides a few times, but they did not discover any loopholes. They couldn’t make a detour around either. She immediately squatted next to it and silently dug a hole in the grass field with the size of a face, wanting to find out just what was being hidden underneath. However, it was all but a fruitless effort, as there was nothing to be found. Could these mutated flowers and plants simply like to play tricks? Why not dig a tunnel through then? “There must be something unique hidden in this grass field.” Yu Yan squatted down and held up his disciple’s hands which was still trying to dig even deeper. Then, he filled the hole back. “It seems it will only activate once we truly take a step into it.”

“…” So you’re saying tunnels are useless?

“Most likely, the things that appear after entering it, are different from person to person.” Yu Yan continued.

“Different from person to person…” Zhu Yao was stunned. “You’re saying there’s a formation underneath.”

“To be capable of enveloping such a large grass field, materialize so many strange plants and flowers, and not to mention targeting different people with different plants, I’m afraid it’s not something formations are able to do.”

“Then…”

“Laws.” Yu Yan solemnly said. “Only the laws of the heaven and earth can see through a person’s everything. And only laws can materialize those unreasonable creatures.” “Laws of the heaven and earth…” Zhu Yao suddenly thought

of Realmspirit. These so-called laws are made by that bastard, aren’t they? Why do I suddenly feel like I’m about to  get trolled?

“In any case, we can only figure out the situation by entering it.” Yu Yan reached out his hand and held hers, tightening his grip. “This might be a hard battle. Are you prepared?”

Zhu Yao nodded heavily. “Mn.” Since they were already here, they had to reach the goal no matter what.

She took a deep breath and held tightly onto her master. Just as she was about to step into the grass field, she suddenly thought of something. She turned to look at the male and male (female and female) leads that were still acting out their drama, and the corner of her lips twitched. She then spoke to the person that had long been waiting next to her.

“Yue Ying, bring them over as well.”

Yue Ying’s eyes shone and happily raised his leg. With a kick, he sent the two people that were still in a heated argument into the field.

Chapter380: I Want to Eat Your Brains

Zhu Yao and gang had yet to reach the position where Mei Xue disappeared at, when the ground suddenly began to undergo a change. She instantly went on high alert. Her master had mentioned that the laws of the heaven and earth were present in this field, so she wondered just what was about to happen. The ground shook as if an earthquake was occurring, but the source of the quake was not beneath their feet, but the ground that was a hundred meters in front of them. There were things popping out of the ground one after another, and they continued to grow up to two meters in height. At the top, large yellow flowers began to bloom, and on their stems were four pieces of crisp green leaves. The leaves looked like little hands as they swayed about.

Eh? Why do I feel as though they look a little like sunflowers?

They don’t look as if they have killing instincts at all.

A moment later, the rows of sunflowers began to sway to the left and right, as though they were dancing. At the center of the flowers, pairs of cartoon-like eyes appeared, and they were blinking in their group’s direction.

The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. These rows of flowers are so far away, are we about to play Plants vs Zombies here? Just as she was in doubt, the ground suddenly shook once more. Less than a meter away from those rows of sunflowers, a plant once again popped out. Its entire body was jade-green in colour, and four gigantic leaves grew out of its stem. At its very top however was a bottle cap-like cylindrical shape, and floating behind it was a strip of foolish hair.

The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched, and two words flashed in her mind – Pea Shooter.

“Why haven’t I seen these two divine herbs before!” Zhonggu Lu had a stunned look. “I wonder just what’s going to happen next?”

“Hoho… They might start shooting peas at us.”

“What?” Before Zhonggu Lu could ask further, that Pea Shooter aimed at them and shot out an enormous green ball, which charged straights towards them.

Zhu Yao: “…”

We’re really playing Plants VS Zombies here, hey!? So those rows of sunflowers at the back are used to gather light? Since the plants are out, does that mean we’re the zombies? Realmspirit, get out here! I guarantee I won’t beat you to death!

“Hurry and dodge!” Zhu Yao shouted out, and everyone hurriedly scattered in all directions. With a swoosh, that enormous green pea smashed onto the ground, and then it exploded with a loud boom. In an instant, a large crater of about four meters deep appeared on the ground.

Zhu Yao felt uncomfortable all over now. That’s not a pea, but a bomb, isn’t it!? This mutation is simply too terrifying. As a zombie, I express my dissatisfaction!

“It’s coming again!” Nangong Cheng shouted.

Suddenly, the ground shook a few times once more, and next to the Pea Shooter, four similar plants appeared one after another. Like the sunflowers behind, they lined up in a row and were even arranged rather neatly.

The moment the new Pea Shooters appeared, they immediately began a new wave of bomb attacks. Five peas shot out at the same time, erupting the earth. The five of them dodged with a great difficulty. Out of accident, Zhu Yao’s feet slipped, and she had almost fell head-first into one of the craters.

Momma’s egg! I feel like eating brains now.

Zhu Yao tightened her grip on her sword and shouted loudly. “First destroy the sunflowers that are gathering sunlight.”

The four were stunned.

“Which are sunflowers?”

“What’s gathering sunlight?”

The hell! I forgot they’re all teammates with zero experience!

She thus corrected herself. “Those rows of  yellow  flowers  at the back are giving the plants sunli…  they  are  the  formation cores providing divine energy to the plants. If we destroy the formation cores, there  won’t  be  anymore  appearances  of plants.” Everyone instantly understood, and they charged towards the sunflowers with determined looks. However, the number of Pea Shooters continued to grow, and they were already nearing the number of sunflowers behind them. Everyone dodged the smashing peas in whichever direction they could, and basically did not make much progress in their advance. Furthermore, in front of the Pea Shooters, other breeds began to appear as well.

That brownish oval-shaped creature with a suffering expression is a Wall-nut, isn’t it!?

The ice-blue one that looks similar to the Pea Shooters, with a few more stupid hair on the back on its head, is a Snow Pea, right!?

And that one which is dyed entirely in purple with a wide- open mouth that’s prepared to bite people at any moment, is a Chomper, right!?

Just how deeply in love are these plants towards the game!?

They are cosplaying with all their hearts right now, hey!

“Dongfang girly.” Nangong Cheng suddenly ran towards her while dodging three peas along the way. “I think…” Before he could even finish, Zhu Yao was shocked. “Watch out for that Squash!” That’s an ultimate weapon that can squash anything, hey!

That green round-shaped plant had already stood up, and at this critical moment, Nangong Cheng’s good homosexual buddy Zhonggu Lu threw his meteor hammer towards him, smacking him out of the Squash’s attack radius. The Squash missed, and simply created a hole as large as a water well when it landed.

“Aiya!” Nangong Cheng cried out. “My buttocks!”

Zhonggu Lu was ruthless with that throw. His  meteor hammer was filled with sharp teeth, and not only did it pushed him away, it even stabbed deeply into a certain unspeakable part of his lower body. More importantly, it seemed like… it couldn’t be pulled out.

Nangong Cheng cried out in pain. He turned back several times to pull out the impure meteor hammer, but he basically couldn’t put any strength into it, and was unable to pull it out.

“Owww~~~~~ It hurts!” The echo of his cry reverberated a thousand times, hitting all the notes in his vocal range…

Zhu Yao: “…”

Yu Yan: “…”

Yue Ying: “…”

Zhu Yao’s face darkened as she silently turned her head away. She definitely did not know people who did such shameless play!

She really wanted to type out: If you’re below 18 years of age, please watch with parental guidance… scratch that, they can’t watch as well!

Nangong Cheng’s sinful howl continued for half an incense worth of time, while he still dodged the peas that were coming from all directions. His soul-trembling voice had even shaken the plants on the other side. Finally, student Zhonggu Lu directly put in some strength to pull the chains of his meteor hammer, pulling it out on Nangong Cheng’s behalf. That’s right, the meteor hammer was connected by chains. Don’t ask her why it took Zhonggu Lu half an incense worth of time to be reminded of that fact, she wanted to know as well!

When Nangong Cheng dragged his feet towards a distance of about five meters away from her, his lower body was already joyfully bleeding out a bucket full of uncles.

“Yue Ying.” Stop the blood.

Who would have thought that Yue Ying would reject her request for the first time. “His wound is over there. I won’t stop it.”

“Uh…” She had no choice but to pat on his shoulders. “Ahem! Little Huang, don’t be sad. Such days will come once every month, just get used to it!” Mn, the amount is rather huge. Should I recommend him to use sanitary pads?

“……”

“…” “Oh right, what did you want to say earlier?” Serious matters, serious matters! They’re still pushing the tower and clearing the instance!

As Nangong Cheng leapt about to dodge the peas and spread off his uncles, he loudly replied. “We can’t go on like this. Those strange plants will only increase. Brother Zhonggu Lu and I shall act as diversions to attract those plants’ attention. You three take the opportunity to charge in and destroy the formation cores.”

Zhu Yao pondered for a moment. Indeed! According to the game mechanics, the longer the gameplay, the harder it would become for the zombies. They had to take the initiative to charge in and eat their brains.

“Alright!” She nodded heavily. “The two of you, be careful. Stay further away from those green Squash and purple man- eating flowers. Also, if a red plant appears, run as fast as you can.” She was really afraid that a Strawberry Bomb or a Habenero would appear.

“Mn!” Nangong Cheng nodded. Then, he turned towards his good homosexual buddy Zhonggu Lu and ran over. The two of them exchanged glances, and then used their present strongest killing move at the same time – throwing their weapons!

Zhonggu Lu was using his meteor hammer. After spinning it twice, he threw it like a boomerang. Nangong Cheng’s weapon on the other hand was a violent spiked mace, and likewise, he threw it out. Two heavy class weapons flew towards the center, sweeping open a path and successfully striking the Pea Shooter at the very center.

With a crackling noise, that plant which was even taller than an average human was split into half, falling onto the ground. The ground which it was growing on once again shook, as it sank down as though it was being reclaimed.

“Master, Yue Ying!” Zhu Yao shouted as she directly charged towards the breach in the center. Using the strength she gained from experiencing the high school examinations, she sprinted wildly for over a hundred meters. Yue Ying and Yu Yan followed after as well. Clearly, the men’s PE scores were much better, and they were in front of Zhu Yao in just a few moments. With one hand grabbing onto each of theirs, they began to push forward.

The other Pea Shooters noticed what was happening on that side as well. With a few poofing sounds, a few peas came flying in their direction. The weapons that Nangong Cheng and Zhonggu Lu threw were coincidentally making a turn back, dutifully protecting them. They first acted like boomerangs and struck down the peas that were pursuing them, causing them to explode in mid-air.

Because the two of them were large targets, they could attract the Pea Shooters’ firepower better. That was why the two good homosexual buddies moved together.

Zhu Yao and her group on the other hand successfully infiltrated through the breach as well. However, the breach once again shook. It seemed like the replacement Pea Shooter was about to arrive.

“Hurry and destroy those sunflowers!” Zhu Yao said. Yue Ying and Yu Yan were already taking the two sides and hacking at the blinking sunflowers. Just as she had expected, those sunflowers did not have any combat power at all. With just a light swing, her master was able to slice down one of them.

Zhu Yao also ran towards the sunflower in the center, and with her sword raised, she forcefully swung it down. That sunflower however was different from the rest, as it suddenly bent down towards her. With its two gigantic leaves spread open, they reached out towards her. The moment she approached, the leaves actually gently wrapped around her, making a hugging action.

A clear and crisp sound rang in her ears. “Chi…”

Zhu Yao was stunned, but she could no longer stop the swing of her sword. The red blade directly slid through the sunflower’s stem, cutting it off. She raised her head in shock, only to see that sunflower blink at her one last time, before falling onto the ground. The two leaves that wrapped around her also slid down her arms as well. Those leaves were initially barbed, but some reason, they were suddenly retracted and she was not injured the slightest bit.

Her heart was in sudden turmoil. She once again looked at that sunflower. It was already beginning to turn yellow, yet it still desperately stretched out a half-yellow leaf. The leaf wrapped around her ankle, and it let out a crackling sound.

“Lo… rd.”

In the next moment, that sunflower had already been returned to the ground. Zhu Yao was stunned. Just what was going on? This sunflower did not look like it was trying to harm her at all. Yet the Pea Shooters on the other side were shooting those cannon shells so vigorously.

“Yu Yao!” Yu Yan charged over from the side, hugging his stupid disciple and then rolled onto the ground.

A loud explosion could be heard behind them, as a pea bomb exploded at the place where she was standing just earlier.

Yu Yan held her up. “Do not be distracted.”

“Mn.”

Zhu Yao nodded. This was not the time to think about such matters. Let’s first eat their “brains” and end this game!