Legend Management Bureau Chapter 285

[ … words ]

“Good heavens, why are there still wandering ghosts roaming around at a time like this?”

Du Yu shot an exasperated look at the girl in the red dress and the white wolf, then ordered, “A Can, A Kui, tell that girl to clear the way. If a fight breaks out later, they will get hurt.”

The Can and Kui brothers nodded, but just as they were about to step forward, Jin Jianglang reached out and stopped them.

“Don’t…!”

“Huh?” A Can paused in surprise. “What is wrong, Brother A’xiang?”

“Do not go near them…” Shiranui Jinjiro’s eyes were filled with sheer terror. “The auras they emit aren’t human! They are ‘Lovesickness’ and ‘Reluctance’!”

“What?!” Du Yu was taken aback, re-evaluating the person and the wolf in the distance. “What is going on? Aren’t ‘Lovesickness’ and ‘Reluctance’ supposed to be Threads? No matter how thick they get, they shouldn’t just transform directly into a person…”

“I cannot figure it out either… I have never seen or heard of anything like this…” Jinjiro muttered. “How could they possibly be a person and a wolf?”

“Nothing is impossible.” Queen Mother of the West slowly walked up and addressed the group. “All things in the world possess a spirit. As long as the opportunity arises and their cultivation is sufficient, anything can take on a human form.”

“To be precise, they should be called ‘Thread Spirits’.” Queen Mother of the West narrowed her eyes. “They are Nature Spirits that have gained sentience. That makes them far more difficult to deal with than the Heaven-Supporting Pillar.”

“Not necessarily.” Zhan Qisheng revealed a trace of coldness. “If they have taken human and beast forms, it means they have weak points and vital spots. That being the case, we can finally make a move.”

“Eh? Old Zhan, what are you doing?” Du Yu blinked in surprise, looking over at Zhan Qisheng.

“Helping out Brother A’xiang, of course. I am going to fight that person and beast,” Zhan Qisheng stated coldly.

“Hey, hey, hey, why are you calling me ‘Brother A’xiang’ too?” Shiranui Jinjiro stared at Zhan Qisheng with a completely baffled expression.

“Brother A’xiang! We are ready too!” The Can and Kui brothers chimed in at this moment. “Since we are all a family now, we definitely cannot let you fight alone!”

“Hey, hold on a second…” Shiranui Jinjiro rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. “Who is this ‘Brother A’xiang’? My name is Jin Jianglang! And furthermore, who is a ‘family’ with you guys?”

At that moment, Queen Mother of the West simply walked straight forward. Without a word, she summoned a bolt of heavenly lightning and brought it crashing down upon the girl and the beast.

“Boom!”

After a deafening explosion, the lightning dissipated.

But when everyone focused their eyes, they found no trace of the person or the beast.

Queen Mother of the West’s expression turned frigid. She immediately snapped her head back, only to discover that the girl in the red dress was already standing right behind her.

“How strange, Little White… this woman can actually see us,” the girl in the red dress said with a smile.

Queen Mother of the West raised her hand again. A second bolt of heavenly lightning was already brewing in the sky.

However, the girl in the red dress simply reached out and lightly brushed the hem of Queen Mother of the West’s clothes.

“Oh no!” Shiranui Jinjiro roared, immediately launching himself forward. All the ‘Cut Lovesickness’ Talismans scattered across the nearby ground flew into the air and adhered themselves to the Golden Flood Dragon Scissors. Emitting a radiant red glow, the Magical Treasure soared toward the girl in the red dress with terrifying momentum. “Get away! You cannot let her touch you!”

What kind of figure was the Queen Mother?

The instant the young girl grazed her clothes, a ring of explosive thunder erupted around the Queen Mother’s entire body like a conditioned reflex. She then jerked back several paces, widening the distance between herself and the girl.

Yet, to her complete surprise, even though she had dodged at the very first possible moment, a strange sensation still crept into her mind.

Countless thoughts of ‘Lovesickness’ swirled within her heart. She suddenly remembered a time before she had taken a human form, when a reckless young man barged into her sleeping quarters and actually had the absolute audacity to stroke the fur on her back.

In all that time, out of everyone she had ever met, he was probably the one person who wasn’t afraid of her in the slightest.

And it was precisely this brazen impudence that left an unusual, lingering feeling in Queen Mother of the West’s heart.

“Big Cat! Big Cat!”

The man had kept repeating those words over and over.

But why… why had that man vanished without a trace for thousands of years?

Jin Jianglang was now locked in combat with the girl. He shouted at the top of his lungs, “Du Yu! Hurry up and wake Queen Mother of the West! Otherwise, she will sink completely into ‘Lovesickness’!”

Du Yu’s eyebrows shot up. Enduring the intense pain wracking his body, he hastily sprinted toward Queen Mother of the West.

“Big Cat! Wake up!” Du Yu bellowed. But Queen Mother of the West stood perfectly still as if she had entered a deep meditative trance, deaf to everything around her.

Du Yu stared in shock. Just how terrifying was this ‘Lovesickness’?

To think that even an Immortal Being of Queen Mother of the West’s caliber could be affected by it!

“Oh?” The girl in the red dress covered her mouth and chuckled softly. “This woman is Queen Mother of the West? She harbors a deep ‘Lovesickness’ in her heart. How truly fascinating! Would you like to guess who the target of her ‘Lovesickness’ is?”

Zhi Nv could no longer bear to listen. She immediately pulled out a flying shuttle, brought her hands together, and launched it at the girl in the red dress. Everywhere the flying shuttle passed, it left a trail of silken threads in its wake.

Giggling, the young girl nimbly wove her way through the flying threads.

Without another word, Zhan Qisheng clenched his fist and roared, “Time Spell! Reversing Flowing Fire!”

With a crisp “Poof!”, a raging fire ignited upon the girl’s body. However, in the very next second, she vanished from her spot and materialized directly in front of Zhan Qisheng. Wearing a bright smile, she murmured, “Oh? You also used to possess a profound ‘Lovesickness’. Why has it disappeared now? Did that girl who loved to smile return to your side?”

“Mind your own business!” Zhan Qisheng swiftly retreated several paces, his hands rapidly forming hand seals. “Time Spell! Winter Sun Summer Flower!”

Bizarrely, blooming lotus flowers crusted with ice crystals began to sprout all over the girl’s body. It was a sight absolutely impossible to witness during a normal season.

The moment those lotus blossoms fully unfurled, they suddenly shrank back with a “Swish!” and burrowed directly into the young girl’s flesh, causing a potent wave of wood-attribute Spiritual Energy to violently surge across her body.

For the first time, the young girl frowned slightly. She circulated her True Qi to protect her heart meridian.

Meanwhile, Du Yu was desperately trying to find a way to wake up Queen Mother of the West. No matter how loudly he yelled, she remained completely oblivious.

Left with absolutely no other choice, Du Yu reached out, gently cradled Queen Mother of the West’s face in his hands, and forced her to look at him.

“Big Cat! It is me! Look at me!”

As Queen Mother of the West met his gaze, her eyes immediately rimmed with red. Her already beautiful face was now weeping like a pear blossom bathed in rain.

Her usual haughty, untamed expression had completely vanished, leaving nothing but absolute tenderness in her eyes.

“You’re… back?” Queen Mother of the West mumbled softly.

“Huh?” Du Yu was taken aback. “Big Cat, have you been brainwashed? I never even left.”

“Du Yu! Watch your back!” Zhi Nv suddenly screamed.

Jolted back to reality, Du Yu snapped his head around, only to see that the white wolf had silently appeared out of thin air and was pouncing directly at him.

This white wolf was the physical manifestation of ‘Reluctance’. Du Yu’s initial instinct was to dodge, but then he remembered Queen Mother of the West standing right behind him. If he evaded the attack, she would be plunged into ‘Reluctance’ as well!

With that thought in mind, Du Yu decided to take the blow head-on!

“I have been all alone since I was a child. What can your ‘Reluctance’ possibly do to me?!”

Just as the white wolf’s claws were about to tear into Du Yu, A Can flew in from the side and planted a fierce kick right into the wolf’s flank, sending it flying.

The exact moment the white wolf hit the ground, Xie Yujiao’s hands danced in a flurry of motion. A bizarre Array Formation dropped from the sky, trapping the white wolf within it.

Du Yu’s vision momentarily blurred. Even though the white wolf hadn’t actually clawed him, he had somehow still been affected by it!

Countless images flashed across his mind. There was Heng E fleeing to the moon with tears in her eyes, the painful separation of Zhongli Chun, the memories of Chada, Bai Suzhen, Medusa, and everyone else he had encountered in the Legends… all of the ‘Reluctance’ he had ever witnessed was infinitely magnified in this moment, violently assaulting his mind.

“I’ve clearly met so many people… yet I always remain utterly alone…” Du Yu’s expression crumbled into sorrow, filled with an overwhelming sense of despair. “Why… why am I always so alone…”

“Oh no!” Seeing that Du Yu had also fallen victim to the spell, Xiao Nian panicked. She was burning with anxiety but felt entirely helpless. After all, she was merely a Mortal. How on earth could she help?

“Can someone think of something…?!”

Xiao Nian looked around frantically. Because A Can had kicked the white wolf, his current condition was also highly unstable.

He kept whispering continuously under his breath, “Mom… Mom…”

Meanwhile, A Kui channeled an unknown spell to re-engage the white wolf in battle, and upon seeing this, Liu Ling hurried over to assist.

Unfortunately, the two of them specialized strictly in martial arts and physical combat, rendering them quite ineffective against the white wolf.

Thankfully, Xie Yujiao was nearby, deploying various Array Formations to continuously restrict the white wolf’s movements.

At the same time, Zhi Nv, Zhan Qisheng, and Jin Jianglang were giving it their all as they battled the girl in the red dress, completely unable to spare a moment to help.

Just when Xiao Nian was at her wit’s end, a petite figure wearing wooden clogs went “clack-clack-clack” as she sprinted straight toward Du Yu.

“Hiya! Little Xiang’s wake-up service is here!”

Shiranui Asuka leapt into the air, swung her tiny hand, and dealt Du Yu a vicious slap across the face!

The force of A’xiang’s slap sent Du Yu spinning in a full circle. By the time he turned back around, the look in his eyes had returned to normal.

“Mother of God!” Du Yu clutched his cheek, his face throbbing in excruciating pain. Completely bewildered, he asked, “A’xiang, did you just hit me?”

“No, I didn’t,” Shiranui Asuka shook her head with a look of utter innocence, though her own palm was stinging fiercely from the impact.

“That can’t be right, you didn’t hit me?” Du Yu glanced around. A’xiang was the only person standing beside him, yet his cheek was burning like fire.

“Hey! That doesn’t matter! I just saw that you were about to fall asleep, so I woke you up,” Shiranui Asuka pouted. “If you fall asleep right now, who is going to deal with the situation in front of us? You aren’t seriously expecting me to face those two things by myself, are you?”

Du Yu narrowed his eyes in thought. Although he was in agonizing pain, he was definitely awake!

“A’xiang! Call Sister Qianqiu for help! Tell her to immediately summon the Eight Great Underworld Messengers for backup! I will handle the situation here!”

‘So getting slapped is enough to restore clarity?’

Du Yu turned his head and looked at Queen Mother of the West. A bold idea suddenly formed in his mind…