Legend Management Bureau Chapter 278

[ … words ]

You Si scoffed coldly, staring at Xing Tian with profound disappointment. “Since your mind is made up,” she said slowly, “then this is goodbye forever.”

With a light wave of her hand, her figure distorted and vanished from the spot, and the massive black veil covering the sky instantly shattered alongside her.

The light of life gradually faded from Xing Tian’s eyes as his severed head plummeted to the ground.

It was as if a pause button had been released; the surrounding crowd began to move again, acting as though nothing had just happened. The Yellow Emperor stared at Xing Tian’s corpse in deep anguish, his eyes swimming with remorse.

He did not care whether he or Xing Tian won or lost, but their battle absolutely should not have ended in such a manner.

“Gou Wu!!!” the Yellow Emperor roared, his gaze locking onto the man scrambling frantically through the tribe.

Drawing upon some unknown wellspring of renewed strength, he commanded the Xuanyuan Sword and charged straight at the culprit.

Before Gou Wu could even react, a streak of golden light pierced clean through his body.

Seeing this unfold, not a single person in the tribe stepped forward to stop him.

This kind of resentment would likely never fade for the rest of his life. After all, a true friend was easy to find, but a worthy rival was incredibly rare.

Gou Wu slowly collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide with absolute terror.

The Seven Holy Heroes finally snapped out of their daze. They felt that something bizarre had just occurred, but none of them could quite put their finger on it.

Seeing the troubled expression on Du Yu’s face, they were left utterly confused.

“Did something just happen?” Jin Jianglang asked.

Du Yu simply shook his head and walked toward Xing Tian’s corpse.

Hovering in the sky, the Yellow Emperor watched the group approach Xing Tian and demanded cautiously, “Who goes there?!”

Du Yu raised his head. “We are of the Jiang Tribe,” he said slowly. “We accompanied Wuming here today to collect his body.”

“The Jiang Tribe?” The Yellow Emperor’s expression shifted as a wave of emotion crossed his face. He slowly descended to the ground and said apologetically, “So the Yan Emperor knows of this?”

“Yes.” Du Yu nodded. He had initially considered hiding the truth, but after observing the Yellow Emperor, he realized the man was no foolish ruler and would naturally understand the political stakes. “Yellow Emperor, the Yan Emperor had no way to stop Wuming. The only thing he could do was sever his ties with the Jiang Tribe.”

“I understand.” The Yellow Emperor nodded. “The grudge between Wuming and myself is purely personal. It should not escalate into a war between our two tribes. The Yan Emperor made the right choice.”

“Yellow Emperor, could I ask you for a favor?” Du Yu requested.

“Speak, brother.”

“Help me bury Wuming’s head.”

“His head?” The Yellow Emperor frowned in confusion. “Why bury only his head?”

“It is difficult to explain right now, but I hope you can leave his body exactly where it is. Please do not move it.”

Though the Yellow Emperor still looked baffled, he nodded. “If this is the Yan Emperor’s will, then I shall agree.”

Du Yu’s expression grew strained. He knew this was not the Yan Emperor’s will at all, but right now, he needed to buy them a sliver of an opportunity—a chance to get Xing Tian back on his feet.

“Regardless, thank you.” Du Yu bowed his head respectfully to the Yellow Emperor before turning to leave.

The Seven Holy Heroes had no idea what was going on, but they hurriedly followed him.

“Senior Du Yu, what is going on?” Shiranui Asuka asked as she jogged to keep up. “Are we just leaving like this? Is Senior Xing Tian not supposed to rise and fight again?”

“He is not going to stand up again,” Du Yu said, his brow deeply furrowed. “We have made a massive mistake!”

Du Yu quickly explained his theory to the group. Upon hearing it, everyone drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

A man who was meant to be so utterly consumed by his lingering obsessions that he would transform into a ghost right on the battlefield… had practically no obsessions left?

Thinking about it, even if a sliver of reluctance remained in his heart, it definitely was not enough to trigger an immediate transformation into a ghost.

This—was a complete dead end.

If Xing Tian had not said his final goodbyes to Houtu, she would have fallen to demonic corruption.

Yet, because he did say goodbye to her, Xing Tian was truly, permanently dead.

From the very beginning, there had been no optimal solution to this dilemma.

“But…” Jin Jianglang murmured, as if catching onto a subtle clue. “Since you asked the Yellow Emperor to preserve Xing Tian’s corpse, you must have a backup plan, right?”

“I do, but I am not entirely sure if it will work.” Du Yu shot a grave look at the others before slowly speaking aloud. “Sister Qianqiu, can you hear me?”

This time, Du Yu did not use Voice Transmission in his mind; instead, he simply spoke out loud.

“I hear you,” Dong Qianqiu replied with a nod.

“I need to ask you something,” Du Yu said.

“Go ahead.”

“How do we get to the Underworld in this era?” Du Yu asked, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully.

“The Underworld?”

“Yes. I believe our only remaining option is to personally track down Xing Tian’s soul and convince him to return to his mortal body. Even if he only stands up for a fleeting second, our legend will be complete.”

“That…” Dong Qianqiu let out a troubled sigh. “Du Yu, it is not that I do not want to help you, but have you forgotten something important?”

“Forgotten what?”

“The era you are currently in… does not have an Underworld,” Dong Qianqiu murmured. “The Underworld was created by Lady Houtu. Right now, what lies beneath the earth is nothing but an empty void. In this time period, aside from the few whose soul scattered and spirit dispersed, all the deceased ghosts wander the mortal realm. That is why there are so many ghost legends from the Primordial Era.”

Du Yu felt his very last shred of hope shatter to pieces.

If that was the case, where in the world were they supposed to find Xing Tian’s soul?

Who knew if it had simply dissipated on the spot or drifted away into the wind?

Countless ideas flashed through Du Yu’s mind. He even considered using a puppeteer approach, attaching invisible threads to Xing Tian’s corpse to manipulate his movements.

But in the end, he shot every single one down.

Even if they could control Xing Tian’s corpse and make it move again… what about the Giant Axe? Where would the devastating power come from?

What they needed was not a reanimated zombie. They needed the real Xing Tian—the formidable War God Xing Tian, fully capable of swinging his Giant Axe and slaughtering his enemies once more.

For the very first time, the group saw a look of absolute, soul-crushing despair on Du Yu’s face.

He was completely out of ideas. A long silence passed before Du Yu finally spoke in a hollow voice.

“Everyone, as much as I hate to admit it, I have to call it. This mission is a complete fail—”

Before the word “failure” could fully leave his lips, Shiranui Asuka slowly raised her hand. “Senior Du Yu, I think I have an idea…”

“Huh?”

Du Yu froze. The last time Shiranui Asuka had said that, she had solved a massive crisis for them. Because of that, Du Yu found himself actually believing in her.

“A’xiang, what is your plan?”

“Senior Du Yu, did you forget? I know the Spirit Channeling Technique.” Shiranui Asuka offered a sheepish smile. “I am not the greatest at it, but tracking down a single soul should not be too hard.”

Du Yu’s eyes went as wide as saucers.

The Spirit Channeling Technique?!

Of course!

A’xiang herself had admitted that she mostly specialized in Fusang’s Onmyodo. Her true calling was never as a Time Master, but as an Onmyoji!

“You… you can really find Xing Tian’s soul?” Du Yu asked, his voice trembling in sheer disbelief.

Shiranui Asuka lowered her head and began earnestly digging through her little backpack. A moment later, she pulled out a thick stack of paper talismans.

Written on the paper in traditional characters was ‘Other Shore Talisman.’

“Check this out!” Shiranui Asuka flashed a mischievous grin. “I have the good stuff right here!”

“What are those?” Du Yu asked curiously.

“They are called ‘Other Shore Talismans’! Senior Du Yu, can you not read?”

Du Yu was nearly driven mad by the girl. “I know they are Other Shore Talismans! I am asking what they actually do!”

“Oh, hehe.” Shiranui Asuka eagerly handed a talisman to each person. “If you stick an ‘Other Shore Talisman’ onto your body, you will be able to see those from the ‘Other Shore.’ It essentially grants you ‘Yin-Yang eyes’.”

“So you mean…” Du Yu carefully inspected the talisman in his hand. “If we stick these on, we will be able to see ghosts?”

“Exactly!” Shiranui Asuka proclaimed. “But there are a few important rules I need to tell you first!”

“There are rules for using this stuff?” Du Yu asked skeptically.

“Yes.” Shiranui Asuka adopted a serious expression, lecturing them like a strict teacher. “First, even with the ‘Other Shore Talisman’ applied, we will only be able to ‘see’ the ghosts. We will not be able to speak with them. The sounds of the two realms cannot cross over to one another.”

“How does that make any sense?” Du Yu frowned. “If we can see them, should we not theoretically be able to talk to them?”

“This is why you are such a dummy.” Shiranui Asuka shook her head with a theatrical sigh. “If people could hear the voices of the dead all the time, would the mortal realm not feel completely haunted twenty-four-seven?”

“Uh…” Du Yu had not expected A’xiang to explain it like that, but somehow, her bizarre logic actually made perfect sense.

“Second rule,” Shiranui Asuka continued, “even if you can see a ghost, you must absolutely pretend that you cannot.”

“And why is that?”

“Senior Du Yu!” A’xiang stamped her foot in frustration. “Why do you always have to ask so many questions?”

“My bad… I really do not know the first thing about the Spirit Channeling Technique.”

“To be honest, I am not entirely sure why we cannot stare at them either. It is just what my clan elders taught me. They said that if you make eye contact and stare at a ghost, it will cling onto you, and you will have to undergo a full ‘exorcism’ to get rid of it. You guys do not want to get haunted, do you?”

“We are in a critical crisis right now. Who cares about getting haunted?” Du Yu urged. “Just tell us what we need to do when we find Xing Tian.”

“Once you spot him, you have to let me know immediately! Then I will set up a spirit channeling array. Inside the array, we will actually be able to talk to him!”

“Great! Then let’s cut the chatter and get moving. Everyone, slap on your talismans and spread out to search. Whoever finds Xing Tian first must use Voice Transmission to inform Sister Qianqiu immediately. She will coordinate and gather us together.”

With the plan finalized, everyone grabbed a talisman and slapped it onto their bodies.

The instant the talismans made contact, a wave of icy coolness washed over their eyes, as if a mystical spell had just woven itself into their vision.

Du Yu slowly blinked his eyes open. The others beside him did the same.

They raised their heads and scanned their surroundings.

However, what greeted their newfound sight was a scene of absolute, unadulterated horror.