Chapter 6: You Should Leave
Yun Wuxiang strode hurriedly away from that room, stepping into the courtyard where the air circulated freely. His breathing was short and ragged, his brows furrowed tightly, and his face was pale. His fingers gripped the fabric over his chest, knuckles white with tension.
Fragments of terrible memories flashed through his mind: the sticky scent of blood, exposed white bone, irregular chunks of flesh.
Disgusting!
His stomach churned, revolting as if an inflated balloon were pressing upward against his throat.
Yun Wuxiang suppressed the urge to retch and walked over to the magnolia tree, leaning against the trunk as he closed his eyes.
The scent of magnolia flowers brushed against his face with the breeze, diluting the bloody metallic smell lingering in his nasal cavity and allowing him to recover some of his composure.
[Host, are you alright?]
[Mhm.]
After a long while, Yun Wuxiang gave a soft hum of affirmation. There were no bleeding creatures around him anymore, yet the air seemed permanently tainted with a faint scent of blood that refused to dissipate.
Yun Wuxiang frowned as he glanced at his sleeves and began to frantically cast the Cleansing Spell on himself.
[Host, do you really not want to turn on Teenager Health Mode?] System 3339 asked worriedly, witnessing his frantic movements.
The System’s Teenager Health Mode—short for “Mosaic Mode”—would pixelate any scenes related to blood, violence, or sexual content in the Host’s vision.
[No need. I will adapt slowly. I can’t be like this forever.]
As Yun Wuxiang spoke, he continued to cast the Cleansing Spell on himself. The sight made 3339 hesitate, wanting to speak but stopping itself.
If it really doesn’t work, let’s just turn on the mosaic. Host, your condition is a bit serious.
After casting the spell seven or eight times, Yun Wuxiang still didn’t feel clean. He stood up, returned to his room to fetch a change of clothes, left the Daoist temple, and went to a natural hot spring pool.
Only after shedding his outer robes, stepping into the pool wrapped in a bathing robe, and soaking his entire body in the spring water did Yun Wuxiang feel that the bloody scent had finally stayed away from him.
Yun Wuxiang leaned against the stone wall of the hot spring, his gaze resting on his reflection in the water. His long black hair draped down, floating up due to buoyancy as it touched the spring water.
Lifting a strand of wet hair with his slender fingers, Yun Wuxiang stared at it for a moment before asking: [Sanjiu, tell me, do I look like a real ancient person right now?]
[Yes. The Host’s current image is perfectly in line with the character persona. The persona retention rate has exceeded 99% of novice hosts.]
Yun Wuxiang: [What is my current persona retention rate?]
[100%. Absolutely no one suspects your identity.] Although, besides us, the only other person on this island is Song Yilou.
Generally speaking, novice hosts from the modern era easily exposed themselves in the early stages. Their modern aura appearing in a crowd of ancient people was as conspicuous as a domesticated husky standing in a pack of wolves—glaringly out of place.
This was especially true for hosts like Yun Wuxiang, who hadn’t undergone systematic training and were bound halfway due to emergencies.
Yet, since binding with Yun Wuxiang, 3339 had never found any issues in this regard. whether it was demeanor or temperament, Yun Wuxiang was indistinguishable from a true ancient person.
[Host, were you an actor before?]
The Host played the ancient role too well; 3339 was a bit curious about his profession in the modern world.
[Not an actor.] Yun Wuxiang let go of the hair in his hand. He sank a bit lower, submerging everything below his chest in the hot spring water, and spoke slowly: [I resemble an ancient person because of my dad.]
[Huh?]
[He was obsessed with Wuxia novels since he was little. When I was born, he gave me this name, saying it had the air of an expert—sounding like someone who could really fight. He even took me to a master who knew some ancient martial arts to learn for a few years.]
Who would have thought he would actually end up in a novel acting as an Otherworldly Expert?
[Thanks to the name he gave me, every time I entered a new class after moving up a grade, I was the one everyone gawked at during the first roll call.]
Yun Wuxiang’s gaze drifted far away. Scenes from the past awakened from his memory. Recalling his teenage years, the corners of his mouth hooked into a faint, shallow smile.
[My classmates even gave me the nickname ‘Hero Yun’.]
[Wow! So the Host has been a hero since childhood. When a hero grows up, they become an Otherworldly Expert. What a coincidence!] 3339 exclaimed and applauded. It was always a qualified hype-man in daily life.
[It is quite a coincidence.]
Yun Wuxiang tipped his head back, looking at the white clouds in the sky. [I really want to go back.]
[I’m sorry, Host. If not for my insufficient energy preventing me from opening the time transport, you wouldn’t have to wait these ten years,] 3339 said with some guilt.
Under normal circumstances, hosts starting a mission would be directly transported to the appropriate timeline and location. However, Yun Wuxiang’s transmigration was an accident in itself; he had arrived in this world on his own before binding with the System. Sending him back now would consume extra energy.
Mentioning time transport made 3339 think of its deflated wallet, and its sorrow deepened.
[Boohoo, I’m too poor. I must be doing the worst among the batch of Systems born at the same time as me.]
[It’s fine, this isn’t bad either… Hmm?]
Yun Wuxiang suddenly frowned, looking toward the redwood forest surrounding the hot spring. He smelled a very faint scent of blood and the aroma of cooked meat. The smell was weak, yet impossible for Yun Wuxiang to ignore. The nausea and urge to vomit he had just suppressed surged up again.
He held two fingers upright in front of his nose, parted his lips, and spat out a single word: “Seal.”
The steam of the hot spring, the floral scent in the wind, and that odor making him suffer all vanished.
He had sealed his sense of smell.
Then, he raised his eyes to look at the figure appearing on the shore.
“Guanzhu, what a coincidence.” Song Yilou raised his hand, wearing a sunny, bright smile as he greeted the person in the hot spring.
[Why did this guy come here too?] After its initial surprise, 3339’s alarm bells instantly rang.
Two men alone, hot spring, bathing!
This scene is wrong! It’s indecent!
[Host! Leave the hot spring—no, wait, if you go out now, he’ll see everything. Right, splash him with water! Blind him! Then get out!]
Seeing everything wasn’t really a risk since he was wearing a bathing robe, and the actual naked parts were shielded by the System’s mosaic.
However, Yun Wuxiang looked at Song Yilou’s raised hand, thinking of how this person had used that hand to kill a chicken not long ago, and recalling the smell of cooked meat he had just detected.
What Song Yilou had done during the time they were apart went without saying.
This guy just ate a chicken, and now he was here to…
Song Yilou: “You’re here to bathe too?”
Yun Wuxiang raised his hand. His fingertips tapped the pool water, and a wave rose high into the air, crashing down toward Song Yilou—perfectly executing the System’s suggestion.
“Whoa! Guanzhu, what are you doing!” Song Yilou raised his arms to shield his head, jumping to dodge the wave.
When he lowered his arms to look back into the pool, the person in the water was gone. He shifted his gaze around; still no one.
Suddenly, a force came from behind, and Song Yilou was shoved into the water.
A voice came from the shore: ” The scent on you is too heavy. Wash it clean.”
Song Yilou surfaced, wiped the water from his face, and looked toward the bank. Yun Wuxiang, dressed neatly in his robes, looked down at the person in the water, like an immortal on the clouds, unstained by dust, looking down upon a filthy mortal on the ground.
“Next time you eat meat, do not come near me.” With that, he turned and left.
Song Yilou lowered his head to scan his soaked clothes.
A bamboo basket appeared out of thin air, landing on the bank. The sound of the basket dropping caught Song Yilou’s attention. He waded through the water, looked inside, and saw a set of clean, new clothes.
Song Yilou picked up a corner of the fabric. “The Guanzhu isn’t so heartless after all.”
Following the encounter at the hot spring, Song Yilou didn’t see the master of the Daoist temple for several days in a row.
“Guanzhu? Guanzhu, Guanzhu… Hmm, not here either.”
After touring the entire temple and failing to orchestrate a “chance encounter,” Song Yilou leaned idly against a pillar, twirling a stalk of foxtail grass in his hand.
“Where on earth did the Guanzhu go?”
Song Yilou looked toward the rear of the Daoist temple. He had searched the whole island; only that place remained.
Should I go in now?
If I’m discovered, the Guanzhu will be angry, won’t he?
“With the Guanzhu absent, it’s so boring.”
“I guess I’d better go find him.”
…
The brush tip, dipped in cinnabar, danced across the talisman paper, outlining mystical, arcane patterns.
With the final stroke completed, Yun Wuxiang put down the brush, picked up the talisman paper, and practicedly placed it to his right. The small stack of papers on the table grew slightly thicker.
Yun Wuxiang looked at the stack of talismans, now a finger’s width thick, with a great sense of accomplishment.
After triggering those bad memories that day, Yun Wuxiang felt his state of mind become unstable, so he had entered the Library Pavilion to draw Heart-Clearing Talismans. After several days, he had finally stabilized his mind.
The stack of Heart-Clearing Talismans on the table was the fruit of his labor these past few days.
He hadn’t gone out for days. He wondered what Song Yilou was doing.
Should I go out and check?
Forget it. If I run into him eating meat again, I’m the one who’ll be disgusted.
Draw another talisman.
Yun Wuxiang was repeating this same internal monologue, arranging the paper and lifting the brush. Just as it hovered in mid-air, he suddenly stopped. His ears twitched slightly as he looked toward the door.
He seemed to faintly hear some small movements.
Listening carefully, he confirmed there really was a sound.
Did a rat get into the Library Pavilion?
Yun Wuxiang followed the sound. After turning a few corners, he found a giant “rat” surnamed Song.
The giant rat even greeted him with excitement: “Guanzhu! I finally found you!”
Yun Wuxiang: “…How did you get in here?”
“I just walked in naturally,” Song Yilou said with a look of innocence and confusion, as if he had truly just stumbled in while looking for someone.
Yun Wuxiang cast a suspicious glance, which bounced harmlessly off that thick-skinned smiling face.
[Sanjiu, he didn’t just pass through the World Consciousness’s barrier, he also passed through the barrier I set up outside the Library Pavilion. Is this normal?]
[It’s not normal. This person has issues. Host, stay away from him!]
System 3339’s dislike for Song Yilou had now gone beyond just novel tropes; it had thoroughly added this man to its danger list.
This guy was truly a bit uncanny.
Yun Wuxiang’s gaze landed on the dark brown book in Song Yilou’s hand, his tone turning slightly cool. “How much did you read?”
Song Yilou held up the book. “Guanzhu means this? I haven’t had time to look at it yet.”
Yun Wuxiang: “Put it back.”
Song Yilou flashed a bright, spring-like smile, his tone cheerful: “I won’t!”
As he spoke, he shook the manual in his hand. “This is a cultivation manual, right? This book has no restrictions on cultivation aptitude.”
Yun Wuxiang raised his hand, and the manual in Song Yilou’s grasp automatically flew into his palm.
“If you haven’t had time to look at it, how do you know this manual has no aptitude requirements?”
If you’re going to lie, at least put some effort into it.
[Host, the World Consciousness is awake!]
[Plot deviation corrected. Protagonist meeting node achieved. Mission progress bar unlocked.]
[The island’s outer barrier will open a temporary entry/exit point in fifteen minutes. Please hurry and clear out the surplus personnel on the island.]
3339 was overjoyed. Hahahaha, the ominous guy is finally leaving!
A string of system notifications interrupted Yun Wuxiang’s thoughts and changed the decision he was about to make.
Yun Wuxiang spoke indifferently: “You should leave.”
Song Yilou: ?
So sudden?
That’s not right. Your expression just now didn’t look like you were going to kick me out.
My performance hasn’t even officially started yet. Don’t you want to look at the contents of that manual before deciding?
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