Legend Management Bureau Chapter 288

[ … words ]

“You rotten young kid!”

Western Queen Mother and Goddess Houtu stepped forward simultaneously to support Du Yu. He did not seem to have any serious injuries, but his expression was thoroughly unsettling.

Goddess Houtu reached out to check Du Yu’s pulse, and her brow immediately furrowed. “His heart meridian is in complete chaos… What happened to this young kid?”

“Goddess Houtu…” Shiranui Asuka, having witnessed the entire progression of the legend, spoke up with a face full of concern. “Senior Du Yu absorbed Xing Tian into his body, but he is incapable of controlling his power… After a grueling night of fierce battle, he ended up like this…”

“Xing Tian?” Goddess Houtu paused in surprise. “Is he the ‘Nameless One’ from back then?”

“Yes, yes!” Shiranui Asuka jumped up and exclaimed. “That giant Nameless One!”

Immediately after she spoke, she realized it might have been inappropriate. After all, Goddess Houtu and Xing Tian shared a romantic history. Was it really okay to bring up his name so bluntly?

“This Old Lady nearly forgot about him… That old geezer actually showed up again?” Goddess Houtu scratched her head, seemingly unbothered by the mention of Xing Tian. “Are you saying that Xing Tian is currently residing within Du Yu’s Eight Directions Ghost Record? Absolute nonsense…”

The group hesitated to speak. If it had not been for the sake of saving Goddess Houtu, why else would Du Yu have taken such a massive risk?

“Let’s not dwell on this. This Old Lady will take Du Yu to the Mountain of No Return to heal first,” Goddess Houtu declared as she hoisted Du Yu into her arms. Just as she was about to add something, she suddenly frowned.

“How strange…”

“What is it?” Western Queen Mother asked.

“Little Yao, don’t you find the aura emanating from Du Yu rather strange?” Goddess Houtu asked her companion.

“Well, of course,” Western Queen Mother replied. “Du Yu is merely a mortal, yet he carries the pure immortal essence of Xing Tian within his body. How could it not be strange?”

“No… I do not mean that…” Goddess Houtu reexamined Du Yu closely and muttered, “The ‘Primordial’ aura on him is simply too dense…”

“A ‘Primordial’ aura?” Western Queen Mother blinked in realization. “Now that you mention it… indeed…”

However, upon a second thought, she quickly dismissed it. “It is likely just because Du Yu has just returned from a primordial legend…”

Yet, Goddess Houtu’s expression cooled as she retorted, “But these juniors beside him also returned from a primordial legend, didn’t they? Not a single one of them has an aura as potent as his…”

As the two spoke, they noticed the Primordial aura radiating from Du Yu growing even thicker.

His entire being exuded an overwhelming scent of ancient times, making him seem as though he had just stepped straight out of a mural painted tens of thousands of years ago.

“The situation is quite terrible. This Old Lady will take him away immediately,” Goddess Houtu stated.

Western Queen Mother nodded in agreement, saying, “I will first find a way to seal those two Super-A class legends at the Legend Management Bureau, and then I will meet you right away.”

Upon concluding their exchange, the two Heavenly Venerable class immortal beings vanished from the spot in an instant.

They left behind the Seven Holy Heroes and the Eight Great Underworld Messengers, all standing around with bewildered expressions.

“W-What about us?” Xie Bi’an stammered. “I dragged my severely injured body all the way here to provide backup… Why aren’t two Heavenly Venerables fussing over me…”

“Stop being foolish and let’s go,” Fan Wujiu remarked coldly, turning on his heel and walking away.

Under Zhi Nv’s leadership, the Seven Holy Heroes hurried back to the Legend Management Bureau to see if their assistance was required.

…

Du Yu opened his eyes, and upon seeing the scenery before him, he let out a soft sigh.

“Damn it, this is endless.”

The sight greeting him was exactly what he had expected.

A dark tunnel, leading to a heavy Stone Door.

“Can someone tell me what the hell this place is? Summoning me here over and over again, what exactly is the point?”

Du Yu was growing visibly irritated. In the past, he could always conjure up a solution for whatever obstacles he faced. After all, he usually had a clear mission objective. But this recurring tunnel and Stone Door completely eluded his understanding.

If someone was truly dragging him here by force, why wouldn’t they explain their motives, let alone show themselves?

What did they actually want?

Du Yu vaguely recalled seeing this door open before. Whatever lay inside had frightened him out of his wits, but unfortunately, he had forgotten absolutely everything the moment he left. Since he had been pulled back in once again, he swore to uncover who was messing with him, no matter what it took.

With that resolve, he stepped forward once more.

When faced with the unknown, human nature naturally transitions from curiosity to terror, and eventually, from terror to anger.

The continuous attempts to startle him over and over no longer felt terrifying; instead, it simply pissed him off.

A decaying stench permeated the air, smelling as if it had been sealed away for millennia and was only now being breathed in by a living creature for the very first time. Fortunately, Du Yu adapted quickly. This was his third visit, making him something of a regular.

Arriving at the threshold, he noticed the same semi-circular scuff mark etched into the ground—half outside the door, half inside.

Like an old acquaintance, Du Yu rapped his knuckles against the stone surface and declared, “I don’t care who you are. If you have something to say, spit it out plainly. Stop summoning me over and over again. Everyone has a limit to their patience, and I am no exception.”

Unlike the previous encounter, his knocking was met with absolute silence. He could not tell if his words had piqued the entity’s interest or if the entity simply had not expected him to arrive.

“Are you going to speak or not?” Du Yu shouted in frustration. “If you genuinely have nothing to say, please be so kind as to send me back. And next time you want to drag me here, I’d appreciate it if you asked for my consent first!”

Silence.

The space behind the door remained dead silent.

“Is nobody home?” Du Yu scoffed. “You called me over while nobody’s home? Do you have any manners?”

“Clack.”

The massive Stone Door trembled slightly, kicking up a cloud of stagnant dust into the air.

Du Yu knew instantly. The door was about to open.

Despite his aggressive posturing just moments prior, the sight of the shifting stone made him unconsciously take a step back and squeeze his eyes shut.

After all, whatever resided behind those doors was still entirely unknown to him, and the unknown leaves far too much room for a paranoid imagination.

The door steadily ascended, and the heavy grinding noise of stone sliding against stone abruptly ceased.

He waited in the silence for a long time, but heard absolutely nothing.

Only then did he slowly pry his eyes open.

The moment he looked, all those terrifying suppressed memories came flooding back.

The last time he witnessed such a bizarre anomaly, he had jolted awake in a panic. This time, however, his psychological endurance seemed to have fortified; he felt no signs of waking up from the trance.

Behind the Stone Door was a rather cramped chamber, small enough to take in with a single glance.

In the direct center sat a stone stool, and perched upon that stool was a “person”.

To be precise, it was an entity that merely resembled a “person”.

Its figure was emaciated, and its hair was unfathomably long. Thick mats of dark hair cascaded down from its body and carpeted the floor. Within this confined chamber, the entire ground was completely obscured by the sheer volume of its hair. Just laying eyes upon the horrific scene was enough to send violent shivers down anyone’s spine.

Its limbs were even more horrifying. The nails on both its hands and feet stretched out for dozens of meters. These grotesque, overgrown nails coiled haphazardly upon themselves like mangled measuring tapes. Had he not seen it with his own two eyes, Du Yu would never have believed something so alien could grow from a human body.

He then shifted his gaze to the surrounding walls. The stone was utterly ravaged by deep gouges and dried bloodstains, with splintered fragments of broken nails still lodged tight within several of the deepest scratches.

It painted a grim picture. This “person” had been imprisoned here, succumbing to violent fits of despair, struggling, and fighting desperately against its confinement, but had never once managed to escape.

Du Yu swallowed hard. The arrogant bravado he wielded earlier vanished into thin air. He wanted to speak, yet had absolutely no idea where to begin.

Right at that moment, the “person” shifted!

It silently lifted its head and locked its gaze upon Du Yu. Its stare pierced right through the dense curtain of hair hanging vertically over its face. Since its features were entirely concealed by the tangled locks, Du Yu could not even begin to discern what it looked like.

“Uh…” Du Yu froze, an ominous premonition clutching his chest. He quickly tried to defuse the tension. “Oh! Looks like this stone room is already occupied. My sincere apologies… I’ll just go find another one…”

Upon hearing Du Yu’s absurd excuse, the entity slowly lowered its head once more.

This reaction left Du Yu in a rather awkward and passive position.

“If you’re going to ignore me, I’m really leaving, okay? Wait, no… You keep forcefully dragging me over here, time and time again. Don’t you have anything to say to me?” Du Yu probed.

The person shook its head.

“I understand,” Du Yu nodded. “You want out, don’t you? Someone locked you away in here, so you want to escape. Did you seek me out… so I could rescue you?”

He waited a moment. Seeing no reaction, Du Yu continued, “I don’t know how, but I stumbled in and accidentally opened the door for you. If you want to leave, just go. I promise I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone, and there’s no need to thank me.”

Out of common courtesy, he backed away to clear a path toward the exit. Yet, the entity in front of him remained completely unresponsive.

After an agonizing stretch of silence, the entity finally squeezed out a raspy sentence: “I… cannot leave.”

Du Yu furrowed his brow the moment the voice hit his ears. It sounded exactly like two chunks of rotting wood scraping against one another—utterly horrific and grating to the bone.

“Cannot leave?” Du Yu pondered the notion for a second. “Have you been sitting for too long? Are your legs asleep?”

“Du Yu, I am going to give you a piece of advice,” the entity rasped with its hideous, gravelly voice.

“Oh, I’m all ears.” Du Yu suddenly paused, a flash of realization hitting him. “Wait a minute, how do you know my name is Du Yu?”

The person ignored the question, talking right over him instead. “You must remember, these two ‘Super-A class’ legends possess enough power to entirely shatter every single thing you hold dear.”

Du Yu’s brow furrowed tightly. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Bear in mind, you absolutely must not enter those two legends, and never, ever return here. Do this while there is still time… while you still have a choice…”

Du Yu found the warning remarkably familiar. Why did every single person insist on acting like a seasoned veteran trying to dictate his choices?

He Suoyi did it, the Tianzhu monk Wa Rang did it, Saint did it, and now, this rotting husk of a person sitting in front of him was doing the exact same thing.

“I still do not understand. What do you mean by ‘never return here’?” Du Yu challenged. “You say that as if I came here of my own free will. Weren’t you the one who forcibly dragged me over?”

The entity suddenly snapped its head up again, exposing a single, bloodshot eye through the thick veil of long hair. It trembled slightly, its emotions seemingly escalating into wild agitation.

“How could I possibly summon you here?! You shouldn’t have come… You should never have come!!”