Legend Management Bureau Chapter 284

[ … words ]

Du Yu swallowed a few Pills given by the Western Queen Mother, and the pain in his body surprisingly subsided by more than half.

“These Pills are truly miraculous…” Du Yu murmured, looking at his hands and feet, feeling a slight bit of strength returning to them.

“Feeling any better?” the Western Queen Mother asked, a look of worry on her face.

“Much better!”

Du Yu realized that although his limbs still throbbed with pain, he could slowly stand up on his own.

“Goddess, what is the situation now?” Zhi Nv inquired.

“Sigh…” The Western Queen Mother let out a soft breath and said, “Houtu is currently inside this ruined temple. This Queen dares not approach her again; every time we exchange less than three sentences, a fight breaks out…”

“Are you saying Houtu is inside right now?” Jin Jianglang suddenly interjected. “Has she been here the entire time without moving?”

“She hasn’t,” the Western Queen Mother replied. “It has been exactly three days.”

With those words, he took the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors off his back, then pulled several stacks of Talismans from his robes and arranged them on the ground.

“Shiranui Jinjiro…” Zhi Nv called out softly. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“There shouldn’t be a need.” Jin Jianglang shook his head. “With the help of the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors this time, I should be able to handle all the Threads.”

After speaking, Shiranui Jinjiro took a handful of white powder from his robes and muttered an incantation. Within moments, the white powder floated up into the air and vanished.

“This white powder will make the Threads visible.” Jin Jianglang’s expression gradually turned stern. “We caused an influence on Houtu’s past. Now, we must cut these strands of influence before they connect to her present self to ensure history remains unchanged. This way, a contradiction will form between the past and the present, and time will automatically repair all the lingering influence.”

Naturally, everyone understood the reasoning behind this. However, among those present, only Du Yu, the Cankui Brothers, and Zhan Qisheng had ever witnessed Jin Jianglang’s methods firsthand; for everyone else, this was their first time.

It was not long before everyone felt the surrounding air begin to shift.

“They are here!” Jin Jianglang stared cautiously at the sky. “Houtu’s influence has come knocking!”

Although Jin Jianglang said they were here, the group looked up only to find the sky completely empty.

“Where are they?” the crowd asked.

No sooner had the words left their lips than three massive Threads materialized. Each Thread was as thick as a grown man’s arm; even Liu Ling’s Lovesickness from before had only been this large!

“This…!” Jin Jianglang gasped at the sight, nearly dropping the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors from his grasp.

How were these threads!?

They were clearly ropes!

The rest of the group also realized the gravity of the situation and hastily readied their spells.

“Everyone, be careful!” Jin Jianglang shouted. “Under no circumstances should you touch these Threads, or you will be corrupted by the influence!”

With that warning, he immediately began to analyze the three types of Threads before them, which were colored black, purple, and green.

They had to be Suffering, Confusion, and Circumstance.

Now that he had identified their types, he naturally knew how to deal with them!

Jin Jianglang casually scooped up a handful of Talismans, slapped them onto the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors, and leaped into the air, engaging directly in a fierce brawl with the giant Threads.

True to its reputation as a top-tier Magical Treasure, the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors became exceptionally sharp under the empowerment of the Talismans.

In just a single passing exchange, Jin Jianglang sliced right through Suffering.

“Ten Directions Ferry! Ferry all Suffering from the ten directions!”

Jin Jianglang roared, and the black thread of Suffering instantly crumbled into fine dust.

The remaining Confusion and Circumstance seemed startled by the scene, immediately splitting up and sweeping far out to the left and right.

Unable to split his own body, Jin Jianglang could only chase after the closest purple thread, Confusion. He shot toward it while turning his head to yell at the group below, “Help me block the other one!”

Hearing this, Zhan Qisheng furrowed his brows, thrust out his hand, and bellowed, “Retrograde Wind!”

Caught in this powerful counter-current of wind, the rapidly moving green thread of Circumstance was visibly slowed down.

“Slash Confusion! Sever all Confusion!”

Thanks to the precious seconds Zhan Qisheng had bought, Jin Jianglang successfully shattered Confusion. Twisting his body mid-air, he launched himself toward Circumstance.

Watching the scene unfold, Du Yu marveled in his mind.

‘The Golden Flood Dragon Scissors are indeed vastly superior to Jin Jianglang’s Magical Treasure, the Scissor Slash. Even though each of these Threads is as thick as an arm, they yield like soft cotton strands under his blade, severed with effortless ease.’

“Settle Thousand Machines! Settle all Circumstance!”

With a thunderous shout, Circumstance was also blown to smithereens in the sky.

Jin Jianglang descended smoothly to the ground, his breathing steady but deep.

“Good heavens, we’ve actually got a chance!” Du Yu exclaimed. “By the looks of it, there are only four Threads left. It shouldn’t take much longer to completely finish the task.”

“Do not let your guard down,” Jin Jianglang warned, his brows knitted tightly. “The first Threads to arrive are always the weakest. The remaining ones are the true test.”

Just as he said that, two more Threads drifted slowly from the horizon.

But these two Threads were distinctly different from the first three. One was yellow and the other blue, and each was as thick as the trunk of a massive tree, requiring two grown men just to wrap their arms around it.

If the earlier Threads resembled ropes, these two looked like pillars.

“My God!” Du Yu frowned, crying out in alarm. “These two Threads look like they’re way beyond the cutting capacity of those Scissors… Is this really going to work?”

“At this point, it has to work, whether we want it to or not.”

Jin Jianglang gazed up at the sky with a somber expression. With a gentle wave of his hand, the Talismans resting on the ground flew up and latched onto the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors.

“The yellow thread is Resentment, and the blue one is Vicissitude,” he explained rapidly. “Resentment is ferocious, while Vicissitude is cunning. Everyone, be extremely careful. We absolutely cannot let a single Thread get near Houtu.”

At that exact moment, Resentment locked onto the people on the ground. As if forgetting its primary objective entirely, it lunged straight toward Jin Jianglang, howling as it ripped through the air.

“Break the Red Dust! Break all Resentment!”

Jin Jianglang let out a fierce roar, and every Talisman on the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors flared with brilliant spiritual light. Just as he was about to charge forward, the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors in his hands unexpectedly split apart on their own, transforming from a pair of shears into twin single-edged blades that pierced toward Resentment from both the left and the right.

However, Resentment was clearly not to be trifled with. It twisted its massive bulk like a wild flood dragon, constantly colliding and exchanging blows with Jin Jianglang.

Jin Jianglang swung his twin blades repeatedly, yet his furious strikes left nothing more than shallow marks on Resentment’s surface.

“Damn it! It’s much tougher than I imagined!”

A pained expression flashed across Jin Jianglang’s face, but given the circumstances, he had no choice but to relentlessly maintain his assault.

Meanwhile, the blue Vicissitude, which had been observing from the sidelines, stealthily slithered away from the main battlefield. Flying incredibly low to the ground at a bizarre angle, it launched a sneak attack, hurtling directly toward Lady Houtu inside the ruined temple.

Because Vicissitude moved at such a terrifying speed, by the time the group registered its maneuver, it had already reached the entrance of the ruined temple.

Jin Jianglang was completely tied down, and the rest of the group didn’t have nearly enough time to cast their spells.

In the nick of time, a bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down with overwhelming, explosive force, striking squarely onto Vicissitude.

“What exactly do you think you are doing to this Queen’s Houtu?”

The Western Queen Mother glared coldly at the thick pillar hovering before her.

Vicissitude had never anticipated being struck by heavenly lightning. Caught completely off guard, it attempted to retaliate, only to realize that its entire length was scorched black and billowing thick smoke. It was utterly paralyzed.

Not even an Almighty Cultivator of the Immortal Realm could easily withstand such heavenly lightning, so how could a mere strand of Vicissitude possibly resist?

“Big Cat… Thank goodness you’re here…” Du Yu breathed out, a wave of lingering dread washing over him.

“What nonsense are you spouting, you brat? This Queen is the one who asked you to handle this matter; how could I just sit idly by?”

With that said, the Western Queen Mother tilted her head to look up at Resentment, which was still fiercely tangled in combat with Jin Jianglang. Extending a slender finger, she pointed casually. Another explosive thunderclap echoed, and a bolt of lightning viciously smote Resentment.

As the blast struck, Jin Jianglang was astounded to discover that Resentment actually had a thick outer shell. Under the might of the Western Queen Mother’s lightning, the charred husk flaked off, exposing a soft, vulnerable core.

“No wonder I couldn’t cut through you before…”

Jin Jianglang made a prompt decision. He blurred into motion, darting behind Resentment. His twin blades fused back into a single pair of shears, which he drove forward, snipping the massive thread cleanly in half. Without skipping a beat, he dropped down to the ground and swiftly cleaved the paralyzed Vicissitude in two.

By now, Jin Jianglang was visibly showing signs of exhaustion.

“To think that Resentment and Vicissitude were tough to such a terrifying degree… Then the final two Threads…”

“Do not fret, this Queen is here,” the Western Queen Mother snorted coldly. “If I shatter two more Threads, Houtu will be safe, correct?”

“In theory, yes…” Jin Jianglang glanced at the Western Queen Mother, though his expression remained heavy. “However, the two remaining Threads that have yet to appear are Lovesickness and Reluctance. The previous ones were already the size of tree trunks. I cannot even begin to imagine just how immense and durable Lovesickness and Reluctance will be…”

“What is there to fear?” The Western Queen Mother took a step forward, adding, “Even if they turn out to be pillars holding up the heavens, this Queen is fully confident I can strike a world-splitting crack right through them.”

Hearing the Western Queen Mother’s absolute confidence, Jin Jianglang felt somewhat reassured. He hadn’t expected the woman before him to possess such heaven-defying magical power.

“Brother A’xiang, are you holding up alright?” Du Yu asked from the side.

“I’m fine, just feeling a bit uneasy…” Shiranui Jinjiro looked blankly into the distance. “Judging by the current pattern, Lovesickness and Reluctance truly might turn out to be two heaven-supporting giant pillars…”

But at that exact moment, something happened that no one could have ever anticipated.

In the distance, the ground suddenly erupted with brilliant flashes of red and white light. It was clearly the manifestation of Lovesickness and Reluctance, yet the group did not see the so-called heaven-supporting giant pillars.

Instead, a young girl dressed in a vibrant red dress, riding atop a massive white wolf, was slowly walking toward them. From afar, the girl in red could be heard singing a brisk, cheerful tune:

“Red beans grow in the southern lands, how many branches sprout with the coming of spring? I pray you gather them in abundance, for this above all embodies lovesickness…”