Legend Management Bureau Chapter 266

[ … words ]

Du Yu offered a bitter smile and said, “Boss, I just went out for a quick run. Why are you so worked up?”

“I…” Houtu looked at Du Yu with a complicated expression. “This Old Lady thought you left without saying goodbye… The attack just now was so massive, this Old Lady assumed you were definitely scared… This is the first time this Old Lady has taken in a subordinate, yet I couldn’t even make you stay… I…”

Du Yu nodded slightly. This was all exactly as he had imagined.

“What are you saying, Boss?” Du Yu said with a smile. “If I were going to leave, how could I not tell my own boss? Besides, my clansmen are all here, and they still need your care.”

“This Old Lady… This Old Lady obviously knows that!” Houtu declared, a hint of anger in her voice. “This Old Lady is just tired from putting out fires, so don’t get the wrong idea! You guys aren’t that important to this Old Lady…”

“Yes, yes,” Du Yu agreed soothingly. “Boss, you keep busy for now. I’m going to go check on my people.”

Du Yu knew that this attack was not meant to harm anyone, so the Seven Holy Heroes were definitely uninjured. Right now, he needed to hurry and inform them of his new strategy.

“Du Yu, do you have a plan?” Dong Qianqiu asked.

“Yeah.” Du Yu nodded. “I think I have a way.”

After all, the legend this time was no trivial matter. Severing their romantic ties without affecting the plot in any way seemed as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

If Houtu completely forgot about Xing Tian, it would be impossible for her to become the ruler of the Underworld.

Therefore, this romantic connection had to be severed, yet not severed completely.

She needed to still hold Xing Tian in her heart, but the feeling couldn’t remain so profound thousands of years later.

In that case, there was only one solution.

“Sister Qianqiu, I want Xing Tian and Houtu to have a proper farewell.”

“A farewell?” Dong Qianqiu paused in surprise. “It’s that simple?”

“Exactly,” Du Yu said. “Our intervention must be perfect. Houtu is absolutely terrified of the people around her leaving without a word. She was even like that with me, let alone the Xing Tian she adores. And Xing Tian is a rough and tumble brute who would sacrifice his life for justice; he doesn’t understand these delicate emotions. This is likely the root cause of Houtu’s lingering obsession.”

“Are you saying that the original Xing Tian left Houtu without saying goodbye, and she has been waiting for him ever since?”

“That’s right,” Du Yu replied. “The most tragic part is that even though Xing Tian had clearly been defeated in battle, Houtu was still holding onto the fantasy that he would one day return.”

Dong Qianqiu pondered for a moment. Although she felt it was slightly inappropriate, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong with the idea.

Perhaps a formal goodbye really was all that was needed to ease some of Houtu’s obsession?

It took Du Yu a long time to navigate back to his quarters. Fortunately, the house they were temporarily staying in hadn’t been burned down.

Pushing the door open, Du Yu found that all the Seven Holy Heroes had gathered inside, with the sole exception of Liu Ling.

“What’s going on? Where’s Old Liu?” Du Yu asked, glancing around the room.

“Uh…”

The group looked at each other in dismay for a moment before Jin Jianglang spoke up. “That Liu-san chatted with a tribesman for a bit and discovered the man was actually of the same tribe as ‘Du Kang’, so he was invited over for a drink…”

“Good grief…” Du Yu was stunned. “I reckon there’s no one else but Liu Ling who could run into an acquaintance in a legend from this era…”

“Senior Du Yu, did you manage to gather any information? Who launched this attack?” Shiranui Asuka asked.

“It’s a long story, but thanks to this attack, I’ve come up with an excellent countermeasure,” Du Yu told the group. “Our plan this time finally has a clear direction, and it has become very simple.”

Hearing Du Yu’s words, everyone immediately perked up.

“Tell us the details,” Shiranui Jinjiro said.

“I believe that Houtu’s obsession stems from a departure without a farewell…”

Du Yu slowly explained his thoughts to the group.

It had to be said that while this method sounded a bit absurd, it might actually be perfectly suited to the situation.

“Just a simple farewell?” Shiranui Jinjiro frowned slightly, as if he were deep in thought.

“I think Senior Du Yu makes a lot of sense!” A’xiang nodded in agreement. “Elder Brother, you don’t understand romance. You don’t realize how important a formal farewell is for two people in love!”

Jin Jianglang looked at A’xiang helplessly and asked, “Little Xiang, I might not understand romance, but do you?”

“I…”

Du Yu was once again amused by the siblings, but he quickly reined in his focus and asked, “What about the rest of you? Did you manage to find out anything?”

A Can slowly raised his hand and said, “A Kui and I asked around. It seems ‘Xing Tian’ is a survivor from another tribe whom the Yan Emperor took in, but no one knows exactly which tribe he came from.”

A Kui added, “The forging techniques used for Xing Tian’s weapons are incredibly advanced. No one currently in the Jiang Tribe is capable of replicating them.”

Xiao Nian also raised her hand at this moment and said, “Xie Yujiao and I found out that an internal conflict occurred within the Jiang Tribe many years ago. Zhurong, the son of the Yan Emperor, fought against Gonggong, the Yan Emperor’s grandson, for three days and three nights. In the end, Gonggong was defeated and fled the Jiang Tribe. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day.”

“Oh?” Du Yu raised an eyebrow. The information they gathered roughly matched what he had heard today. It seemed this was indeed the truth.

Xie Yujiao then spoke up slowly, “I also asked around about the recent ‘attacks.’ It seems they were all carried out by the Yellow Emperor. The Jiang Tribe is full of complaints about this, but when asked if they want to fight back, very few are actually willing to go to war.”

Upon hearing Xie Yujiao speak, Du Yu’s expression suddenly changed. He stared at her for a moment before saying, “A’jiao, come outside with me for a second.”

Xie Yujiao didn’t know what this was about, but seeing Du Yu’s serious expression, she stood up and followed him out the door.

“What’s wrong, Du Yu?” Xie Yujiao asked.

“A’jiao, I have something I need to ask you,” Du Yu said. “Do you have any idea about the ‘You Si’ that Xing Tian mentioned earlier?”

Xie Yujiao furrowed her brow slightly. “You mean the name he called out when he mistook me for someone else?”

“Yes.” Du Yu nodded. “Your constitution is far more unique than any of ours, so I wanted to ask if you’ve ever truly been known as ‘You Si’?”

“How is that possible?” Xie Yujiao looked at Du Yu with a hint of suspicion. “I told you before, I never lose my memories when I reincarnate. If I was ever called ‘You Si’, I would definitely remember it.”

“No.” Du Yu shook his head and said, “You’re overlooking one detail. This is the Primordial Era, and the first time we met was already during the ‘Investiture of the Gods’ period of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. I was thinking…”

Seeing Du Yu’s conflicted expression, Xie Yujiao grew a bit anxious. “If you have something to say, just say it straight. Don’t hide things from me.”

Du Yu nodded, organizing his thoughts before speaking. “A’jiao, I was thinking about when you said our first meeting took place during your ‘first life.’ But that might be incorrect. Perhaps right now… I mean, in this very era, there is also a version of you who has been traversing the Reincarnation Cycle.”

Xie Yujiao was clearly stunned by Du Yu’s words. She opened her mouth to argue, only to realize she didn’t have a solid counterargument.

“Are you saying… the ‘Investiture of the Gods’ period wasn’t my first life? The real ‘me’ actually already existed in this era…”

“It’s just my guess.” Du Yu offered a dry chuckle and said, “I just feel that as a cultivator, Xing Tian wouldn’t mistakenly identify someone for no reason—unless those two people shared a remarkably similar aura.”

“But that doesn’t make sense either…” Xie Yujiao said, completely baffled. “If I really have existed since the Primordial Era, why wouldn’t I have any memories of it?”

Du Yu thought about it for a moment before saying, “I have the same question… Perhaps… you once drank a bowl of Meng Po Soup?”

“That…” Xie Yujiao was left speechless by the question. After all, no one would be able to remember whether they had drank Meng Po Soup or not.

“If there’s a chance, I’d like to figure out your true identity while we’re here.”

“Figure out my identity…?” Xie Yujiao didn’t understand what Du Yu meant. “Do you still not trust me?”

“It’s not that.” Du Yu shook his head. “Don’t you want to know who you really are and why you’re here?”

Xie Yujiao fell into deep thought after hearing that.

She had never actually considered this question before.

He was right. Who was she, really? And why was she constantly stuck in the Reincarnation Cycle in this state?

“If we miss out on this chance, we might never get another one.” Du Yu gazed into the distance and said, “The ‘You Si’ that Xing Tian knows is highly likely to be the current you. It seems I’ll have to find an opportunity to ask him about it again.”

While the two were chatting, a sudden commotion broke out on the streets.

“Quick, go check it out! Yi Di has met his match!”

“I heard someone is having a drinking contest with Yi Di and actually got him drunk!”

Hearing the tribesmen say this, Du Yu instantly inhaled a sharp breath of cold air.

There actually was someone by his side who could drink a primordial master of wine under the table!

It wasn’t that Liu Ling couldn’t drink here, but anything he did at this moment could potentially forge new Legends. They had to be extremely careful.

“Crap!”

Du Yu told Xie Yujiao to go back and warn the others to act according to the situation, then sprinted toward the chaotic crowd.

As he ran, he prayed silently, ‘Please don’t let this Yi Di be anyone important.’

“Sister Qianqiu… who is that Yi Di?” Du Yu asked.

“Hold on, let me ask Elder Pu.” Dong Qianqiu remained silent for a moment before replying with a slightly troubled tone. “Du Yu, according to Elder Pu, both Yi Di and Du Kang are credited as the creators of ‘wine’. There are two versions of the Legends—one says Du Kang Brews Wine, and the other says Yidi Brews Wine.”

“Well, this is a real problem…”

It wasn’t long before Du Yu arrived at a bustling thatched hut. Pushing through the crowd of spectating tribesmen, Du Yu discovered two drunkards sitting by the doorway.

One was Liu Ling, wearing a cold sneer on his face, while the other was a wobbly old man.

“How about it?!” Liu Ling yelled coldly. “Old man, do you yield? I’ve drank my way across the north, south, east, and west, yet no one has ever managed to keep me drunk for even half a day!”