Legend Management Bureau Chapter 175

[ … words ]

“Du Yu, what exactly did you give Emperor Medusa?” Dong Qianqiu asked.

“Didn’t you see it?” Du Yu said, perplexed. “It was Xu Xian’s ‘confession’. This way, Bai Suzhen will know that Xu Xian wasn’t the one who saved her at all, and all of this can end.”

“Uh…”

Dong Qianqiu paused. The legend this time was split into three different timelines: Medusa, Shiranui Asuka, and Du Yu. She was afraid she had missed some crucial plot point.

“But why… did Emperor Medusa pull a highly toxic poisonous mushroom out of the Cosmos Bag?”

“What did you say?!” Du Yu was stunned. “A poisonous mushroom?”

“Yeah!” Dong Qianqiu was equally baffled. “Right now, she and Fahai are at each other’s throats. They are about to fight over this poisonous mushroom!”

“Eh?!” Du Yu thought carefully but couldn’t find any clue. “How did a perfectly good letter turn into a poisonous mushroom?”

“Master Jieke!” Xu Xian hurriedly called out when he saw Du Yu running over. “Has the letter been delivered? Can you take me to see Master Fahai now?”

“My head is a bit of a mess right now… don’t bother me for a second…”

Xu Xian instantly revealed a terrified expression. “I say, you aren’t going to go back on your word, are you, monk? I did everything exactly as you asked! It would be completely immoral for you to murder me for my money now…”

Du Yu shot Xu Xian an impatient glare and said, “Why don’t you ‘take a mirror and pee on yourself’? If I really wanted to kill you, would I need to go through all this trouble?”

“Take… take a mirror… and pee on myself?” Xu Xian was startled by Du Yu’s words.

Even though the phrase was completely butchered, Xu Xian immediately understood what he meant.

“Xu Xian, go back to the West Street Inn and wait. I have some business to attend to. Once it’s done, my master and I will come find you.”

Xu Xian could only head toward the West Street Inn half in doubt, while Du Yu turned and sprinted toward the Huichun Clinic. Due to this sudden, unforeseen event, the legend that should have ended was continuing.

He hadn’t run far when he suddenly saw flames light up the distant sky, as if someone had begun a magical battle.

Du Yu immediately channeled the power of Zhongli Chun and sprinted frantically toward the flames.

“Sister Qianqiu, what exactly happened? Why would they fight over a poisonous mushroom?” Du Yu asked Dong Qianqiu as he dashed through the city.

“It is a long story. This might be a specific plot point from the legend—the plague in Hangzhou. I always thought this part was entirely fictional…”

“A plague? What does a poisonous mushroom have to do with a plague?”

“Because this ‘plague’ is actually ‘poisoning’. I just asked Mr. Pu Songling. He said that in many versions of the Legend of the White Snake, the story of this plague is recorded, but the explanations are bizarrely diverse. In some versions, Bai Suzhen is a greedy, malicious snake demon who poisoned the wells so her pharmacy could make money. In other versions, Fahai is the one who poisoned the water to frame Bai Suzhen and justify subduing the snake demon. Of course, there are also versions that claim someone else entirely was the poisoner.”

“Good lord…” Du Yu pondered for a moment. “In short, the situation is extremely critical right now.”

…

Fahai and Bai Suzhen had shouted for the crowd of commoners to retreat. They had already channeled their respective magical powers and clashed.

“Fahai, don’t you even think about harming my husband’s life!” Bai Suzhen formed hand seals and chanted an incantation, conjuring several spheres of water out of thin air.

“When did this poor monk ever harm your husband’s life?! You, on the other hand, must absolutely not harm the people of this city!” Fahai waved his kasaya, and the monk’s robe instantly burst into roaring flames. The tremendous heat instantly vaporized the spheres of water into steam.

Bai Suzhen was alarmed. Fahai clearly practiced fire-attribute cultivation methods, which she should have inherently countered. She hadn’t expected his realm to be so high that he could completely reverse the elemental advantage of the Five Phases, using fire to overcome water.

“White Snake, your magic is no match for mine. Cease your resistance!”

Fahai tossed his kasaya into the air. It instantly transformed into a surging river of flames, its heatwaves roiling.

This river of fire completely encircled Bai Suzhen. The massive heat threatened to evaporate and melt her entirely.

“Peasant Sister!” Standing on the ground, Medusa could no longer stay still upon seeing Bai Suzhen in trouble. Wings sprouted beneath her feet, and she instantly shot into the sky.

“Oh?” Fahai turned his head, only to see a dark green silhouette striking toward him. He unleashed a full-powered palm strike but was shockingly forced back three meters.

“Monk, what are you trying to do? If you want a fight, I will accompany you to the bitter end!”

Medusa shouted coldly. She drew a trident with her right hand and equipped a massive round shield on her left. Lowering her posture like a fierce beast, she raised the trident behind her and roared,

“The power of Sparta!”

The moment her words fell, Medusa’s figure flared with golden light, and a bronze helmet materialized on her head.

Fahai couldn’t help but frown. In the midst of a magical duel, why would someone raise mundane weapons and adopt a martial arts combat stance?

But he knew that Medusa was ultimately a snake demon and could not be taken lightly. He immediately pulled a golden alms bowl from his robes and tossed it into the air. Like a demon-revealing mirror, the golden bowl shot a beam of golden light down from the sky.

But in the next second, Medusa blasted forward like a shooting star, her trident thrusting straight for Fahai’s chest.

Fahai’s expression shifted in alarm. He chanted a quick mantra, and the kasaya enveloping Bai Suzhen in the distance instantly flew back, tightly shielding him.

Medusa viciously stabbed her trident into Fahai’s kasaya, but she couldn’t move him a single inch.

Her expression shifted. She retracted the trident and raised her shield.

“The power of War!”

The round shield expanded in size. Using the entire shield as a weapon, Medusa rammed directly into him.

Fahai had never seen such a spell before. The kasaya was a soft object, after all; it could not withstand this broad-faced, forceful collision, and he was forced back several steps in succession.

Medusa frowned slightly. “Monk, aren’t you specifically assigned to fight me? Why is your strength not as powerful as I imagined? How am I supposed to grow at this rate?”

Although Fahai didn’t quite understand her words, he roughly grasped that this snake demon was provoking him. He immediately declared, “Snake demon! Do not be so arrogant. If I were not afraid of harming the innocent commoners, I would definitely subdue you right here!”

Upon hearing this, Medusa nodded. “You really were hiding your strength. Excellent! Then I can fight with all my might for the sake of glory!”

With that, she tightened her grip on the trident. Her entire body began to glow with a deep azure light as she roared, “The power of the Ocean!”

A massive whirlpool gradually surfaced beside her. Fahai’s expression turned frigid at the sight. This snake demon’s cultivation was terrifyingly high. Was she actually a water-attribute cultivator as well?

Wouldn’t that perfectly counter him?

But before Fahai could think of a countermeasure, a monstrous illusion faintly materialized behind the snake demon.

It was an entirely crimson canine, incomprehensibly gigantic, sporting three heads.

Medusa sneered. “Cerberus! The power of Fire!”

Three streams of scorching flames instantly blasted from behind Medusa, spiraling along the sides of the massive whirlpool as they hurtled toward Fahai.

Fahai looked baffled. How could a single person simultaneously cultivate both water-attribute and fire-attribute magic, and wield them both with such tremendous power?

He shifted his figure and hurriedly flew into the sky. If he didn’t distance himself, he would have no way to withstand such a devastating spell. But the moment Fahai looked up, he realized the sky had become covered in dark clouds.

“The power of Thunder!”

An explosive bolt of lightning crashed down. Fahai hastily recalled his golden alms bowl and thrust it upward to meet the lightning strike. With a deafening boom, the golden bowl was blasted to pieces by the heavenly thunder.

Fahai’s body was sent flying a vast distance away before he could use all his strength to halt his momentum.

Medusa clenched her fist and bellowed, “The power of the Earth!”

Fahai felt his body instantly become as heavy as millions of kilograms, and he smashed directly into the ground.

Just as Medusa was about to call down another bolt of lightning to finish Fahai off completely, Bai Suzhen suddenly flew over and stopped her.

“Sister, you mustn’t!”

Medusa frowned and looked back at Bai Suzhen.

“Why are you stopping me?”

“It is enough to teach him a lesson. We cannot take human lives!” Bai Suzhen said.

“I do not understand. Since it is a battle of this scale, it must end with the death of one side.” Medusa showed absolutely no intention of letting Fahai go. “If we suddenly stop fighting now, who won, and who lost?”

“Sister!” Bai Suzhen shook her head. “We aren’t trying to determine a victor against him. We merely wish to prove our innocence.”

Fahai originally thought he wouldn’t be able to hold out, but then he saw Bai Suzhen suddenly appear. Their preceding conversation naturally drifted into Fahai’s ears.

‘Prove their innocence?’

If these two snake demons had truly poisoned the water, why would they need to prove their innocence?

Bai Suzhen slowly stepped forward and spoke to Fahai. “Old monk, you have wronged me and insulted me today, but I do not care. I only want you to know that if my sister and I join forces, we absolutely have the certainty to kill you. However, we will not do so. After all, you are not a man of great evil. I only hope that you will stop pestering my husband and me.”

Fahai naturally wasn’t stupid. The words Bai Suzhen spoke absolutely did not sound like those of the true poisoner. But the poisoned water had indeed flowed out from this pharmacy. How could that be explained?

If he really fought the two of them to the death here, only to discover later that there was more to the story, what then?

“White Snake, did you truly not poison the water?” Fahai asked.

“Old monk, if I wanted to poison the water, why would I poison my own well and leave behind evidence?”

Fahai couldn’t help but frown. “Whether you believe it or not, this poor monk did not poison the water either.”

Both of them simultaneously revealed expressions of confusion.

“Old monk, you claim you didn’t poison the water, yet someone saw your disciple frantically entering the pharmacy’s backyard. How do you explain that?”

“To tell you the truth, this poor monk has not seen Huijing for a whole day and night. However, Huijing is pure of heart and entirely devoted to goodness. It is absolutely impossible for him to do something like poisoning the water.”

The more they talked, the more bewildered they became. Medusa, standing to the side, couldn’t listen to it anymore.

If they kept chatting like this and laid everything out in the open, wouldn’t the case be solved?

The one who poisoned the well definitely wasn’t Du Yu; it was her!

“Peasant Sister, let’s put the poisoning aside for now. Have you forgotten Xu Xian?” Medusa said. “What is your ultimate goal?”

Only then did Bai Suzhen suddenly remember. “Right! Old monk, even if you weren’t the one who poisoned the water, why did you send me a poisonous mushroom and tell me it was ‘Xu Xian’s future’?”

Fahai showed a face full of confusion upon hearing this. “White Snake, this poor monk is a monk, not a fortune-teller. How would I know anything about Xu Xian’s future?”