Legend Management Bureau Chapter 185

[ … words ]

Xu… Xuan?

Dong Qianqiu was stunned. He immediately turned around and asked, “Elder Pu, who is ‘Xu Xuan’?! Shouldn’t it be ‘Xu Xian’?!”

“So that’s how it is…” Pu Songling nodded as if a realization had struck him. “I always had my doubts. In the storybooks before the Qing Dynasty, the protagonist of the Legend of the White Snake was always named ‘Xu Xuan’. However, as the story evolved over generations, the male lead’s name gradually changed. It wasn’t until the Qing Dynasty’s ‘Tale of the Righteous Demon’ was published that the story was permanently recorded under the name ‘Xu Xian’. I only understand today that these were actually two different people. Because later generations confused the facts, an error in the records was made…”

Just as Du Yu had said, as long as one joined the Legend Administration, they could witness stories completely different from recorded history.

Why did everyone differ from the legends?

Because this event happened far too early.

The man who would write that grand love story with Bai Suzhen had not yet appeared.

The one who truly loved the White Snake until old age was not Xu Xian. In many records, this person was named Xu Xuan.

However, those thrilling magical battles all featured Xu Xian. It was unknown who penned that version of the story, leaving the different iterations completely tangled and chaotic.

Some said Fahai was an enlightened high monk, while others called him a wicked villain.

Some said Xiaoqing was a cold and aloof man, while others described Xiaoqing as an adorable green snake.

There were even rumors that Xiaoqing had some unspeakable relationship with Fahai’s disciple, Huijing.

If these different versions were treated as two separate stories, then everything would make perfect sense.

Had they not been to the Legend Administration, who would have ever understood the truth behind all this?

Du Yu slowly revealed himself.

Descending twice in a row had left him somewhat physically drained.

Fortunately, the entire legend had reached its true conclusion.

Letting everything return to the starting point, beginning with the ‘Meeting at the Broken Bridge’. Even if the future magical battles never happened… the legend was already complete, because these deeds would be passed down forever by later generations.

Entering various different legends multiple times had not only helped Du Yu grow tremendously but had also thoroughly broadened the horizons of the many immortals.

After nine hundred years, the many immortals had almost forgotten that the Legend Administration’s importance was irreplaceable. How could such a vital organization be allowed to continue working in the dark and damp Underworld?

Before even returning to the Heavenly Court, many immortals had already submitted memorials to the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West, hoping to restore the Legend Administration to its former glory.

The Jade Emperor didn’t dare interject, but the Queen Mother of the West simply stated that she knew what to do.

“Now that the exchange with the legend operators of various countries has come to a close, you immortals may rest here for a day. Tomorrow, you will follow me back to the Heavenly Court.” The Queen Mother of the West stood up, delivered her piece, and walked straight out of the courtyard.

As soon as she arrived in the courtyard, she found three shivering old men kneeling on the ground.

One was the Old God of Longevity, Nanji Zi, who had appeared in the ‘Legend of the White Snake’.

The one at the front had a large, protruding belly. He wore a bright red long robe and held a jade ruyi scepter.

The other looked exactly like an ancient official.

The three old men buried their heads deeply, not making a single sound.

“Hm? Fu, Lu, and Shou?” The Queen Mother of the West paused. “Why are the three of you here?”

The Three Stars of Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity looked up in confusion before speaking. “Your Highness, didn’t you ask us to come…?”

The Queen Mother of the West finally remembered. Because of the fake spirit mushroom incident earlier, she had Weaver Girl send a voice transmission to these three old fools, telling them to wait for orders in the courtyard of the Legend Administration. However, the recent plot had been so captivating that she had completely forgotten about it.

The ones making her furious right now were no longer the Three Stars, but Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing and the Dragon Kings of the Four Seas.

If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, it would have been hard to imagine that these old fogeys all harbored their own little schemes.

“May we ask why the Queen Mother of the West called us here… exactly?” the Star of Fortune asked with a trembling voice.

The old men had already repeatedly pressed Weaver Girl for information. It seemed the Queen Mother of the West was still angry about that fake spirit mushroom. She had already struck away a thousand years of the God of Longevity’s cultivation with heavenly lightning back then. Who knew how she would unleash her wrath this time?

“That’s right.” The Queen Mother of the West nodded. “Since I called you here, I naturally must give you an explanation.”

The three old immortals sighed helplessly. If they had known the Queen Mother of the West had forgotten about this, they would have slipped away earlier.

They watched as the Queen Mother of the West silently pulled an object from her robes and casually tossed it to the Old God of Longevity.

“Huh?”

Although the God of Longevity caught the item respectfully, he completely failed to understand her intentions. Was this some new form of punishment?

He turned his hand over and looked, only to find a small pink pastry resting in his palm.

“I struck away a thousand years of your cultivation last time. Thinking it over, that was handled poorly. Eat this pastry and be gone.”

The three old men exchanged glances, completely at a loss.

The God of Longevity looked at the delicate pink pastry in his hand, even more bewildered. He sniffed it and only smelled the fragrance of immortal peaches.

Was it poisoned to grant him death?

“Q-Queen Mother of the West… this minor immortal truly does not know, what is this?” the God of Longevity asked.

“This is an ‘Immortal Peach Snow Skin Cake’ that I had Weaver Girl make. It is your reward. It takes seven Peaches of Immortality to make just one of these, and it will guarantee you an extra thousand years of cultivation.”

The three old men were thoroughly confused. Judging by the sound of it… this was actually a reward?

“What, you’re still not leaving?” the Queen Mother of the West asked coldly. “Do I need to personally apologize to the God of Longevity?!”

Hearing this, the Three Stars immediately kowtowed, slowly stood up, and retreated respectfully.

The Queen Mother of the West let out a quiet sigh of relief. Just as she was about to turn and leave, she saw Du Yu standing behind her, leaning against the wall and watching her quietly.

“You brat, why aren’t you making a sound?”

“Hehe, Big Cat, you handled that pretty well.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the Queen Mother of the West said fiercely, furrowing her brows. “As for you, shouldn’t you be resting? You seem to have a lot of free time.”

“Not exactly free… I was going to rest, but I really have some questions I want to discuss with you.”

“Discuss with me?” The Queen Mother of the West walked slowly to Du Yu’s side and asked, “About what?”

“About ‘Saint’.” Du Yu said seriously. “Big Cat, you’ve been in the Immortal Realm for a long time. Do you know who this ‘Saint’ really is?”

The Queen Mother of the West thought for a moment and said, “Brat, to be honest, I don’t have a clue either. Among everyone I know, no one has ever called themselves ‘Saint’.”

Learning that the Queen Mother of the West didn’t know about it either, Du Yu fell visibly silent.

The most worrisome enemies were the unseen ones. At this moment, anyone could be ‘Saint’. After all, this ‘Saint’ knew him incredibly well. They even knew a lot about Shiranui Asuka and Medusa. ‘Saint’ even knew things that Du Yu himself didn’t know.

Just then, Weaver Girl walked over holding an old-fashioned senior citizen cell phone. She said to the Queen Mother of the West, “Your Highness, King Arthur has responded.”

“Oh?” The Queen Mother of the West glanced at Weaver Girl, knowing that the matter with the ‘demons’ finally had an outcome. She asked, “What did he say?”

“King Arthur stated that the bilateral relations between the British Immortal Realm and the Chinese Immortal Realm are at their most critical juncture in history. Therefore, he expresses his deepest regrets for the damages caused this time, strongly condemns the heinous acts committed by the Western demons, and resolutely opposes the act of murdering people in the streets. King Arthur also pointed out…”

“Spare me the nonsense. Just tell me the outcome. Were those demons caught?” the Queen Mother of the West interrupted impatiently, cutting straight to the chase.

“Uh… no.” Weaver Girl shook her head. “King Arthur said that these murderers all possess time magic and are extremely difficult to catch. However, they will make every effort to investigate and say ‘no’ to all unlawful behavior.”

“Sigh…” The Queen Mother of the West exhaled heavily. “I told you we should have called Jesus at the time. Why did we let King Arthur handle it…”

Weaver Girl smiled awkwardly. Du Yu, however, felt it wasn’t a big deal. After all, Chada was able to see his daughter, so this matter had reached the best possible conclusion.

“Right.” The Queen Mother of the West suddenly thought of something. She looked at Weaver Girl and said slowly, “Weaver Girl, you have always been exceptionally smart. Du Yu just asked me about ‘Saint’. What are your thoughts on this?”

“‘Saint’?” Weaver Girl frowned and said, “Your Highness, I would not dare to make rash claims about ‘Saint’s’ identity, but I have a feeling this ‘Saint’ is not someone around us.”

“Oh?” Du Yu’s interest was instantly piqued. “Miss Weaver Girl, did you figure something out?”

“I believe those two were completely familiar with everything about the people around you. They must have been fully prepared. It wasn’t that their cultivation was sky-high; they were merely countering your moves as they came. That being said, this ‘Saint’ is likely inextricably linked to the Legend Administration, but they couldn’t be one of He Suoyi’s people.”

“The Legend Administration?” Du Yu was genuinely stumped. “Could there be another traitor in the Legend Administration?! But didn’t you just say… ‘Saint’ isn’t someone around us? Also, why couldn’t they be one of He Suoyi’s people?”

The matter with He Suoyi hadn’t even been resolved yet, and now a second undercover agent had appeared?!

What was this, a movie set for ‘Infernal Affairs’?

“Compared to them, He Suoyi’s methods were incredibly crude. He actually lied and claimed that the Great Emperor of Mount Tai, Dongyue, wanted to rebel. Anyone familiar with legends would know that the Eastern Emperor is the only one in the entire Underworld who would never rebel. Think carefully about the methods of those two; they actually investigated everyone’s information in advance… Furthermore, I feel this isn’t as simple as a ‘traitor’, because those two assassins mentioned something that really caught my attention…” Weaver Girl said slowly, “Du Yu, you’re a smart person. Didn’t you notice it?”

Du Yu nodded slightly and said, “To be honest, something has been bothering me as well…”

The two of them almost simultaneously blurted out a name: “Xingtian.”

Weaver Girl smiled and nodded. “That’s right, those two mentioned the name ‘Xingtian’. You carry the Eight Directions Ghost Record. Many people probably know this, but inside the legend, they actually thought you were going to summon ‘Xingtian’ to possess you. That is simply too bizarre.”

“Exactly,” Du Yu agreed. “I don’t even have anyone named ‘Xingtian’ in my Eight Directions Ghost Record. So why were they so terrified of ‘Xingtian’?”

Du Yu turned his head to ask the Queen Mother of the West, “Xingtian… that name sounds very familiar. I remember he’s an ancient immortal, right?”

The Queen Mother of the West nodded slightly and said, “The ancient God of War under the Flame Emperor, Xingtian.”

Du Yu narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment. Good grief! Not only an ancient immortal but an ancient God of War? Just how terrifyingly powerful must he be?

“Such an incredible figure… how could he possibly enter my Eight Directions Ghost Record? Were those two men stupid…?”

“Du Yu, just because he isn’t in there now, doesn’t mean he won’t be in the future.”

Hearing those words, Du Yu clearly froze for a second.

“This… putting it that way… there’s only one possibility…” Du Yu made a bold guess. “Those two came from the ‘future’! They know what happens ‘later’!”

“I think so too,” Weaver Girl said. “Right now, no matter what you do, you cannot root out a killer from the ‘future’ because that person hasn’t committed the deed yet. That is exactly what makes it so terrifying. Moreover, if they wanted to kill you, it must be because you gave them a ‘reason’ that made them feel they had to kill you. And you probably haven’t even created that ‘reason’ yet.”

Du Yu gulped, his respect for Weaver Girl growing immensely. He had been in the Underworld for quite a while now, and Weaver Girl was likely the smartest person he knew here.

“This feeling is way too uncomfortable…” Du Yu sighed helplessly. “Doesn’t that mean if I want to investigate properly, my only option is to wait for that ‘Saint’ to try and kill me again?”

“Actually… not necessarily.” The Queen Mother of the West suddenly interjected. “Brat, you might not know this, but there is someone who is on extremely good terms with Xingtian. Maybe she can help you.”

Du Yu realized it as well. ‘Xingtian’ was indeed a breakthrough point.

He turned his head, looked at the Queen Mother of the West, and asked, “Who… is on good terms with Xingtian?”

“It is Houtu.”