Chapter 39: His System Seems to Have Lost Its Mind
Somewhere within the Daoist temple, a man and a bear sat at a table.
“Brother Bear, this dish is too sweet,” Zhao Sihai complained, picking at a serving of vegetables that was cloyingly sugary. It wasn’t the first time he had critiqued the cuisine.
The brown bear twitched its ears, ignoring him as it happily served itself more food.
Zhao Sihai noticed a patch of discolored fur on the bear’s right ear. “Brother Bear, thereās honey stuck to your ear. Shall I clean it off for you?”
The brown bear raised a paw to touch its ear, then brought it to its nose to sniff. Impatiently, it stretched its head forward.
The corner of a long robe stepped into the room. The man and the bear turned their heads in unison.
Upon seeing the visitor, the brown bear stood up and ran over, unleashing a stream of beastly language. Yun Wuxiang listened patiently before nodding. “I understand.”
Zhao Sihai put down his chopsticks and asked, “What did Brother Bear say?”
“Heās pleading for you. Keeping you on the island for a few days seems to have won over my cook.”
Yun Wuxiang observed the man. When they last met, Zhao Sihai had looked like death warmed over. Today, however, he lacked that extreme, crumbling despair heād shown the day his dantian was shattered.
Zhao Sihai was stunned. His mouth opened and closed, a flash of helpless emotion flitting across his face before he shook his head with a light laugh. “Brother Bear is pure and kind; he doesn’t understand the treachery of the human heart. How could he plead for a villain like me? Too foolish.”
As he spoke, a bear paw landed on top of his head. A bloody maw opened right in his face, letting out a resounding roar that left Zhao Sihaiās ears ringing.
“I was wrong. You aren’t foolish; I am.”
The brown bear slapped him on the head, sending him staggering forward a few steps until he fell unsteadily to the ground. The bear then extended a paw to scoop him up, sniffing his nose to ensure he wasn’t dead. The subtle trace of guilt on the bearās face vanished.
Yun Wuxiang said, “Zongzi, you may go rest.”
“Roar.” The bear nodded in a very human-like manner, turning its head to glance at Zhao Sihai before leaving.
Zhao Sihai kept his head lowered, hair falling to obscure his expression.
Only when the sound of the door opening and closing faded did he lift his head, supporting himself against the chair to stand straight. He looked at the other person in the room. “What business does the Temple Master have with a cripple like me?”
Yun Wuxiang didn’t waste words. He acted immediately, drawing a talisman in the air to immobilize the man, and began dismantling the restriction within Zhao Sihai.
The restriction was like an intangible vine of a thousand threads, tightly wound around the victim’s soul. Ordinarily, it remained invisible, but if a keyword was triggered, it would become an instantaneously detonating bombāa shredder with the ‘on’ switch pressedādestroying the victim’s entire soul.
Breaking this restriction required destroying every single branch of it simultaneously. Leaving even a speck behind would damage Zhao Sihaiās sea of consciousness and memories.
Yun Wuxiang had been stuck on the destruction phase before. After his True Qi had traced the entire restriction, he had been too drained to destroy it.
Now, things were different. He had advanced. Breaking the restriction was a matter of minutes.
From Zhao Sihai’s perspective, the only sensation was paināheadaches of every variety. Finally, there was a sharp, intense agony, as if ten thousand firecrackers had exploded in his brain at once, blasting his consciousness into the stratosphere.
Then, he felt a long-lost sense of relief. His soul felt lighter, as if heavy shackles had been removed.
When Zhao Sihai came back to his senses and realized what had happened, he murmured, “It’s gone?”
“The Taifu Qilin is the Son of Luck.”
Zhao Sihai whispered this sentence nervously. After speaking, he heard his own heavy breathing. He was still alive. The restriction was truly gone.
He looked up at the figure in the white crane cloak, surrounded by an ethereal aura. The title he had been holding in his mouth slipped out unconsciously: “Immortal Lord?”
His restriction had been placed personally by Kunwu Xianjun. For the person before him to break this seal, there was only one possibility: he, too, was an Immortal Lord.
Yun Wuxiang had scanned Zhao Sihaiās memories while breaking the ban, so he knew what the man had misunderstood.
He had initially been surprised at how easily the Immortal Lord’s restriction could be broken, carefully checking for traps. Later, he realized this was the Mortal Realm, separated from the Immortal Realm by a dimensional barrier.
Once outside the Immortal Realm, the restriction was like an appliance unplugged from the wall. It ran on its own battery, which could last a long timeālonger than Zhao Sihaiās lifespanābut it was still cut off from its source.
If this were the Immortal Realm, he would likely have been discovered the moment he touched it.
While breaking the restriction, he had discovered something else. Yun Wuxiang said to Zhao Sihai, “You have a Body Seizing Seal on you.”
Zhao Sihai was no good person, but the people who sent him down were even worse. If he had succeeded in stealing the protagonist’s luck, the moment he returned to the Immortal Realm, he would have been possessed.
“Body Seizing Seal…” Zhao Sihaiās expression went blank. He repeated the three words softly, dazed.
“Heh.” After a long while, he laughed abruptly. Once, twice, and then it turned into a desolate, sorrowful roar of laughter. “Hahaha! Body Seizing Seal! Bai Lingdang, look at us! fighting and snatching, and what did we get?!”
“Wasting all our schemes, just to make wedding clothes for others!” Every word Zhao Sihai spoke seemed to crush his past self, a bone-deep hatred corroding his soul.
The healed wound at his dantian throbbed as if it had been torn open again.
So what if he knew he had been played? He was a cripple now.
Even if his dantian hadn’t been destroyed, he was no match for an Immortal Lord.
That was an Immortal Lordāan existence blessed by the Heavens with the momentum of a Son of Luck.
How could he take revenge?!
Zhao Sihai swallowed a silent scream. He looked up at the man before him. “Temple Master, are you friend or foe to those three Immortal Lords?”
Yun Wuxiang, listening to the fresh system notification in his mind, answered with a single word: “Foe.”
A light rose in the depths of Zhao Sihaiās resentment-filled eyes. He looked at Yun Wuxiang like a sailor looking at the only lighthouse in a dark night, pinning all his hope and trust upon him.
“That is good.”
Yun Wuxiang: “…”
He didn’t want to talk. Suddenly gaining three Immortal Lords as enemies was a goal too big and too distant. He wanted some peace and quiet.
Leaving Zhao Sihai to Zongzi’s supervision again, Yun Wuxiang sat alone in his room and pulled up the System prompt.
A glittering golden mission box floated before his eyes.
[Please execute the Rogue System, extract the Protagonist Halo stolen by Nanlin Xianjun, Kunwu Xianjun, and Bailing Xianjun, and return it to the World Consciousness.]
It felt like he had picked up a quest to kill the final game boss while still in the starter village.
Yun Wuxiang: [I am just a newly advanced Mystic Immortal.]
A Mystic Immortal fighting three Immortal Lords with Protagonist Halos… seriously?
[I know, Host. This isn’t a mandatory mission; you can do it or not. Our goal is just to gather enough points for the space tunnel. But I really hope you can do this mission, even though it’s unlikely.]
Yun Wuxiang heard obvious regret and sorrow in 3339’s voice.
[This world was infiltrated by a Rogue System many years ago. Only they do dirty things like extracting Protagonist Halos. I’ve already reported it to my superiors. In a while, a High-Level System should arrive with its Big Shot Host to resolve this matter.] 3339’s tone was flat, sounding completely unmotivated.
Yun Wuxiang understood. This mission had little to do with him. Once he saved enough points, he would leave and return to the modern world…
Return?
Go to the modern world, and then what?
It was terrible there. If someone caused him trouble, he couldn’t just kill them. Heād have to wrangle for ages, fight a lawsuit to send them to prison, and most likely, they wouldn’t get the death penalty. Years later, theyād come out and continue jumping around in front of him.
The goal he had been steadfast about suddenly wavered for a moment.
The light in Yun Wuxiang’s eyes flickered. An incredibly strong thought screamed incessantly in his heart: “Go home!” “I want to go home!” “I must go home!”
This thought wasn’t his.
Yun Wuxiang quickly shut his eyes, suppressing the chaotic thoughts and diverting his attention elsewhere.
[Can that Big Shot Host of yours do me a favor and clean up Song Yilou’s fragments? That way, I can leave with peace of mind.]
He hadn’t gathered enough Energy Points yet; returning to the modern world could wait.
The clusters of Song Yilou had to be dealt with before he left. He couldn’t leave peacefully if even half a fragment of Song Yilou’s remnant soul remained.
Yun Wuxiang seemed to have found a reason he had to stay, soothing the obsession belonging to Yun Xinyang deep in his heart.
From this moment on, his killing intent was no longer pure.
[That depends on whether the person coming is easy to talk to. Usually, the Big Shots who handle these things have quite the personality.] 3339 wasn’t sure who would come to assist.
[It’s a pity the World Consciousness is in a hurry. Otherwise, if the Host cultivated for a while longer, we might actually be able to complete the mission. Thatās a Golden Mission! I’ve been doing missions for so many years and this is the first time I’ve seen one.] 3339 looked at the mission bar, weeping tears of desire.
If the Host were truly just an ordinary university student, it wouldn’t have had such thoughts. The Host’s safety came firstāgather enough points and go home.
Although Yun Wuxiang had just advanced to Mystic Immortal, 3339 firmly believed that given enough time, its Host could definitely take out the Immortal Lords, complete the mission, and win the Golden Treasure Chest!
[Sigh, what is sadder than something being out of reach? Itās being born at the wrong time and brushing past it!]
[Host, did you see that Golden Mission? It’s so beautiful; every character radiates the charm of money.]
[Gold is such a magnificent color. We are the initiators of this mission! Just give us a little more time, and we could complete it! World Consciousness, what are you rushing for? Youāve been hoodwinked for so many years; does a little longer matter?]
[Host, can you breakthrough to Immortal Lord overnight? Letās kill our way up to the Immortal Realm and snatch the mission before the reinforcements arrive!]
Yun Wuxiang: “…” His System seemed to have lost its mind.
[Sanjiu, calm down.]
[Boohoo, sorry, Host. But my Host triggered a Golden Mission, yet we can’t complete it…]
[Waaah! How is this different from winning a lottery of tens of millions but not being able to claim it, forced to give it to someone else?!]
3339 got sadder the more it spoke. For the first time in its impoverished system life, it saw the hope of sudden wealth, only to have to hand it over!
Yun Wuxiang didn’t know how to comfort people, nor Systems, but he knew how to divert trouble: [How about you go chat with the World Consciousness and see if it has any thoughts of changing its mind?]
[Makes sense, I’m going!]
Go, go, come back later.
Once the System left, Yun Wuxiangās ears felt much clearer… or not.
He took out the copper mirror that had been constantly making noise from his sleeve.
“Temple Master, you and the Immortal Lords are enemies? What grudge do you have? I can help you kill them all, you know.”
Yun Wuxiang inexplicably wanted to laugh. A ghost trapped in a copper mirror by him, who had only just passed his inner demon tribulation like himselfāat most a Mystic Immortalāspoke of killing Immortal Lords as easily as killing chickens. And surprisingly, he felt this guy could actually do it.
If there were things Song Yilou could do, why couldn’t he? No matter how hard an Immortal Lord was to kill, could they be more troublesome than Song Yilouās infinite resurrection armor?
He suddenly understood 3339ās sorrow a bit. Maintaining the plot wasn’t nearly as satisfying as killing Immortal Lords!
That Golden Mission looked very valuable indeed.
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