Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 128

Semi-Open Instance No. 3. This was the main base of the Peach Blossom Legion. Peach blossoms bloomed all over the mountains and fields. In the central area of the map stood a rather luxurious large palace.

At that moment, seven floors below the palace, unlike the warm embrace of spring outside, the place was covered in frost from the ceiling, walls, to the ground.

At the center of the hall, a bed was piled up with snow and ice.

On the bed lay a man. His skin was frozen to a snow-white, almost transparent hue, with distinctly frozen eyelashes, suggesting he must have been a very handsome man.

He lay there, his eyes tightly closed, with no breath escaping from his mouth or nose, clearly looking as though he had been dead for a long time.

Next to him sat a man and a woman. It was Priest and the Peach Blossom God, Xie Huaying.

Priest was intently staring at a tablet, while Xie Huaying seemed less interested, only occasionally glancing over and then musing, “The territory of instance No. 3 has expanded. It seems Master is recovering well. Despite being dead for so long, his spiritual power has still been well-maintained.”

“So when can you resurrect him?” Priest asked.

“Of course, it’s in the plan. Just in these next few days,” Xie Huaying replied.

“Resurrecting such a powerful person isn’t easy. After resurrecting him this time, you will turn into a peach blossom, and I will have to keep planting you,” Priest said. “I will water you on time.”

“Thank you. Actually, when I think about it… I’m quite content with this,” Xie Huaying said with a smile.

Priest asked her, “Oh? Turning into the nurturing soil for flowers?”

“For me, there is never eternal death,” Xie Huaying stated, her eyes revealing a trace of melancholy. “I will dissipate my spiritual power, vitality, skill points, and even my physical body will undergo actual death in reality. But here, I will turn into a peach blossom. When it blooms again, I can come back to life.”

“I have lived longer than many. I have already lived too long.”

“I’ve always wanted to ask you something.” Priest looked at Xie Huaying and adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Was your name given by Master? He is called Xie Huai, and you are called Xie Huaying. Did he consider you as his daughter?”

“Rather than saying I am his daughter, it’s more accurate to say I am his other life, or… I am a medicine he created for himself. I was created for the purpose of saving him at all costs when he dies. That is the meaning of my existence,” Xie Huaying explained.

“Do you feel wronged?” Priest asked.

“If I only had one life, perhaps I would. But I will never die,” Xie Huaying said, her lips curving into a smile, amused by the thought.

“You’re right. Ha—”Priest laughed. “Each being exists in its own way. It was narrow-minded of me to judge your feelings by conventional wisdom.”

“I know you’re asking because you’re worried I might develop feelings for Master. You think too much, but I don’t mind. Instead, I’m relieved that Master has someone like you to help him.” Xie Huaying shook her head. “Of course, I don’t hold any grudges against Master. I was personally created by him. Although—”

She looked toward the frozen corpse of Xie Huai, and Priest interjected, “You mean to say, although Master actually betrayed his own master, right?”

“The situation is certainly different,” Xie Huaying said. “Master was good to me. But it wasn’t the same with Shao Chuan towards Master. Shao Chuan told Master more than once that he had created a monster. He said he would kill this monster.”

Priest smirked, looking through his glasses at the frozen corpse in front of him. “But I see Shao Chuan didn’t learn his lesson, eh? The Master he created is a monster. Wouldn’t the Bai Zhou he created also be a monster?”

“According to your plan… Bai Zhou’s time is also coming soon, isn’t it?”

At this point, Xie Huaying glanced down at the tablet in Priest’s hands. “The instances that ordinary players participate in are much more interesting than ours. Hmm… A little game of finding the murderer. Quite intriguing. What do you think about the conversation between Yun Xiangrong and Zhou Qian? Have they really fallen out?”

Priest said, “Their pointing out a murderer here has no meaning. Because even if they don’t point out anyone, the village chief wouldn’t let them go. They will fight against the NPCs no matter what, so Yun Xiangrong is just acting. Zhou Qian is actually putting on a show. If Zhou Qian really wants to deal with someone, will he use this trick?”

Xie Huaying: “Is it possible that Zhou Qian really thought she had defected, but just didn’t want to deal with her? As you said, identifying her as the murderer is meaningless. But he still did it, maybe just as a childish way to vent his anger? He seems like someone who enjoys playing around.”

“The Zhou Qian you see is just on the surface. He acts naughty but is smarter and more ruthless than anyone.” Priest said, “I think now, no one understands Zhou Qian better than I do.”

“If Zhou Qian and Yun Xiangrong are both putting on an act… You know she can’t possibly betray Zhou Qian and the others; what’s the point of sending her over?” Xie Huaying asked. “Actually, I think after I demonstrated the resurrection technique, she trusted me. Besides… wait ten or eighteen years, or even a few decades if luck isn’t on our side, and when I have my next life, I really can help her resurrect Gao Shan.”

Priest said, “Yun Xiangrong came to the Peach Blossom Legion to gather intelligence and work with Zhou Qian from the inside to avenge Gao Shan. Knowing her plan, I simply kept her here to use her against Zhou Qian.”

“When she first decided to come, it was probably a decision made on impulse. Gao Shan had just died, and she was eager for revenge and wouldn’t listen to Zhou Qian’s persuasion. But I guess she must have regretted it by now, realizing she was irrational—she doesn’t understand what this game is about, and doesn’t understand the Peach Blossom Legion. How dare she come?”

“The few words she said in the instance was to deceive Situ Qing, but how could she deceive me? How could she truly gain our trust?”

Xie Huaying nodded. “Mm. After she realized, she should have left. She should have gone directly to Zhou Qian. You didn’t stop her. She was free.”

“Of course, she is free, but why didn’t she leave in the end?” Priest said.

Xie Huaying asked, “Yeah, why?”

“Of course, because you played a role,” Priest answered.

Glancing at Xie Huaying, Priest further explained, “‘Girls, they always put love above everything. If she values resurrecting her lover more than the teammates she meets by chance in the instance, it’s very normal. So, when she found out that the Peach Blossom God really has the power to resurrect, from pretending to defect and being a spy, to truly betraying Zhou Qian and becoming one of us, it was only natural—”

“Seeing that we sent you to demonstrate the resurrection technique to her, she guessed we would think this way.”

“So, our sending her to the ‘Red God instance’ in her eyes, is the final test we set for her. As long as she passes the test, she can truly gain my trust, gain the trust of the Peach Blossom Legion.”

Xie Huaying nodded with realization. “Mm. I understand. She thought that by showing her the resurrection technique and sending her to the instance, we were actually trying to win her over. Initially, she thought there was no chance she could earn our trust and was ready to give up.”

“You saw her hesitation and guessed she might no longer want to be a ‘spy’, so you took these next two steps. This way, she felt she had a chance to gain our trust, so she continued being a ‘spy’.”

“Yes.” Priest laughed. “Of course, I can’t appear too calculating in front of her. Otherwise, she might not have been deceived. Including this time in Blue Harbor City, why did the Peach Blossom Legion decide to kill Zhou Qian through a bounty? Isn’t it also to hide our strength, to hide our true purpose?”

Xie Huaying exhaled, then patted her chest. “Fortunately, I’m not your enemy. You are too terrifying. I don’t know how Master managed to win you over in the first place.”

Priest didn’t respond to that.

Xie Huaying then asked him, “So, what is the real purpose behind your move with Yun Xiangrong?”

Upon hearing this, Priest’s eyes behind his glasses seemed profoundly deep. He said, “Zhou Qian’s upbringing has made him trust no one. But he was lucky. The people he met in this game have been good so far. That’s why he temporarily trusts Yun Xiangrong is still on his side.”

“But all this will end soon. How can you completely destroy a person? Of course, by erasing all the trust he has painstakingly picked up. Of course, by… shattering the beliefs he has rebuilt. Then, we can easily defeat him, even win without a fight.”

“So, let’s start with Zhou Qian. Hypnosis and brain control, through experiments on Yin Jiujiu. I’m confident.”

……

In the game.

Nameless Village, in the central square.

Zhou Qian’s hands were bound by a semi-transparent rope, and the more he tried to break free, the tighter the rope bound him. Not only that, but it also grew longer and quickly climbed up Zhou Qian’s shoulders, neck, back, and down to his thighs and ankles, completely binding his body.

This rope must be some kind of magical item, specifically used to deal with people of the Land of Silence bloodline.

Zhou Qian was tightly bound. His face briefly turned pale before getting congested, and his eyes became a little bloodshot and his cheeks flushed. At the same time, his collar was grasped by Ab’s hands, making him look extremely pitiful.

In such a predicament, facing Ab’s fierce gaze, Zhou Qian just smiled and said, “The one who will die isn’t me, but you. I’ve seen your tombstone in the graveyard. Not just yours, but almost the entire village’s. What despicable things did you do to cause the whole village to die?”

“Stop talking nonsense!” Ab extended his hand.

“Where did that statue at the village entrance come from?” Zhou Qian suddenly asked.

“What are you talking about?” Ab asked.

“Haven’t you guys ever seen the future here? Or let me change the question, have you ever seen some hallucinations or something? Like seeing another version of yourself?” Zhou Qian threw several questions in a row.

Ab seemed truly unaware of what Zhou Qian was talking about, giving him a strange look before stopping talking. He continued to hold Zhou Qian’s neck with one hand, while the other hand drew a dagger and stabbed towards his neck.

Suddenly, the sound of a qin string struck up. Invisible sound waves surged out, striking Ab’s wrist hard.

Feeling pain, Ab released the dagger that dropped to the ground. Zhou Qian seized the opportunity to sit down on the ground, kicking the dagger far away with a strong push of his legs.

Temporarily avoiding the killing intent, Zhou Qian did fall a bit painfully. His feet and wrists were bound together, so he had to use both feet to jump up, relying on his waist’s strength to stand up again.

“Hmph, just a dying struggle!” Ab sneered, and his subordinates immediately rushed over with weapons.

In an instant, He Xiaowei and other players were surrounded.

Yin Jiujiu took out the gourd from her waist, drank a few big gulps, and her HP and damage resistance tripled. She was surrounded by a semi-transparent barrier of alcohol vapor, taking the lead in front of everyone to block. “I’ll tank them. You do the damage!”

After saying that, with a single step, countless streams of alcohol vapor burst out from her, attacking the village chief and the seven weapon-wielding subordinates.

In an instant, the village chief, who had just taken out another machete to kill Zhou Qian, and the seven villagers who rushed towards different players were all forced to inhale the alcohol vapor, immediately shifting their aggression towards Yin Jiujiu, forming a circle and attacking her involuntarily!

The weapons, such as knives, spears, swords, and halberds, all stopped half an inch from Yin Jiujiu before hitting her, as if they hit an invisible barrier.

Yin Jiujiu was surrounded by layers of alcohol vapor like a golden bell barrier and could block all killing intent outside.

Taking a deep breath, she shouted to her teammates, “Hurry up! I can’t hold on for too long!”

Seeing this, Qi Liuxing gripped his long sword tightly, looking at Ke Yuxiao beside him.

Ke Yuxiao nodded at him, held the short flute in his hand, flipped it with one hand, and put it to his mouth to play.

Suddenly, the swordsman’s long sword sounded without a scabbard, and a strong sword intent immediately gathered on the blade.

Qi Liuxing leaped into the air, his movements as fast as if he himself had turned into a sword. The sword’s momentum quickly formed, and several sword qi immediately attacked the direction of the eight NPCs.

The fierceness of the sword qi and the strong killing intent contained within, made even Yin Jiujiu, who was facing away from Qi Liuxing, feel a bit fearful. She couldn’t help but shout, “Aim carefully! Don’t hit me!”

As soon as her words fell, Yin Jiujiu saw a star appear above the heads of seven NPCs.

Immediately, each star turned into a sword light, stabbing fiercely at those seven people, causing them to be disarmed and seriously injured on the ground.

The seven sword lights didn’t disappear but gathered into an even more powerful sword light, all stabbing towards Ab!

“Lord Ab, be careful!”

“My Lord, be careful!”

A few people ran over from a distance, trying to pull Ab away. But the sword light was so tyrannical that it cut across, causing them all to fall to the ground. Unable to get up, they all clutched their chests and vomited blood continuously.

Seeing this, Zhou Qian smiled, looked at his teammates with a somewhat gratified look, and said, “Not bad—”

“Qian’er, be careful!” Suddenly, He Xiaowei shouted out.

But Hidden Blade was obviously faster. A blade light grazed Zhou Qian’s ear, and the sound of three people falling to the ground in shock came from behind him.

Seeing this, He Xiaowei let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Yin Jiujiu with a bit of surprise. Despite being shielded by alcohol vapor, Yin Jiujiu still lost 10% of her health. He Xiaowei then held the seven-stringed qin and plucked the strings. The sound waves carrying healing power instantly sprinkled on the female warrior Yin Jiujiu, almost immediately restoring her to full health.

Considering these people might be birds, the players didn’t use their killing moves.

However, suddenly, Village Chief Ab jumped up, reciting a magic spell out loud.

Instantly, the ropes binding Zhou Qian began to move, tightening around his neck more and more, almost suffocating him!

Seeing this, Qi Liuxing didn’t hesitate for a second. He immediately thrust his sword into the village chief’s back. Ab was killed by a single sword and fell to the ground. Glancing down at Ab’s corpse, Zhou Qian turned to Qi Liuxing thoughtfully. “Xiao Qi, aren’t you afraid—”

Qi Liuxing twisted awkwardly, then just nodded lightly and coldly said, “You’re welcome.”

Zhou Qian smiled at him and asked, “Putting on airs again?”

“No. I just…” Qi Liuxing said, “I wasn’t brave enough to save you without fear of death. I just thought they weren’t birds. Birds are related to the Land of Silence, right? But the Kingdom of Words is their enemy. Besides…”

“Besides, if something were to happen, you could still save me with the Tick Tock Clock.”

After a brief exchange, more people rushed over.

Perhaps the villagers couldn’t directly conclude that the players were the murderers without them making a move before.

But now, displaying such formidable abilities, in the villagers’ eyes, it seemed certain that they were responsible for quietly killing Qi Yunsi, a young man with great potential.

Qi Yunsi and Ab were dead, and the fate of the others injured was still uncertain. All these tragedies were caused by these deserters from the Land of Silence. They weren’t their kind, so their hearts must be different. This was a saying that was indeed true. To prevent being killed, the only option was to strike first!

With this mindset, influenced by the external enemy, the four great families of Sun, Moon, Star, and Cloud had no choice but to unite and attack the people in the square.

Suddenly, the players faced a combined attack from hundreds of people!

A chaotic battle began.

Yin Jiujiu acted again, transforming into a tank by drinking again, barely trying to pull aggro; Ke Yuxiao provided team buffs, mainly supporting Qi Liuxing to enhance his sword’s attack value, but also brought considerable benefits to other attackers; as for offense, they relied on the Hidden Blade, Qi Liuxing, and Yun Xiangrong, with Yun Xiangrong mainly attacking from a distance, and Hidden Blade and Qi Liuxing switching between close and long-range attacks, maximizing the efficiency of the sword coordination in a short time.

He Xiaowei played the healer. He carried Zhou Qian on his back while chasing after teammates everywhere, trying his best to keep everyone’s health at a stable ratio.

While Zhou Qian was being carried around the square by He Xiaowei, he also took the opportunity to give commands—

“Xiao Qi, three o’clock direction, hidden weapon.”

“Hidden Blade, that powerful elder’s right leg seems injured. Focus on his right leg!”

“There’s someone with incredible speed using a bow and arrow. He’s well-hidden. Everyone, be careful.”

It took about ten minutes for the players to kill thirty people.

But this was far from enough, as they were facing hundreds of villagers!

To make matters worse, suddenly, a bizarre incident occurred: among these thirty people, some started to rise from the dead, climbing up from the ground—Village Chief Ab was among them!

Carried by He Xiaowei, Zhou Qian quickly surveyed the situation as they passed by—27 of the resurrected people in total, with 3 not resurrected, all from the Cloud family.

Could it be…

In a flash, Zhou Qian realized something and immediately shouted, “Everyone, change the strategy. Don’t waste mana on killing them anymore, prioritize retreating and escape towards the entrance of the village, to the statue with three heads.”

He Xiaowei dodged a flying knife and counterattacked the attacker with a wave of sound from his qin. Then he asked Zhou Qian, “Why? What’s happening?”

“History cannot be changed,” Zhou Qian said. “If we don’t come here, the Cloud family would still lose the handkerchief toss this year, and then someone in their family would die.”

“30 people have been resurrected, but three from the Cloud family are exceptions. These three who haven’t been resurrected were now just killed by us. But in the history that had happened, they were supposed to be killed by the Red God, as they were the night watchers in the normal timeline!”

“That means…” In a flash, He Xiaowei thought of something but couldn’t fully grasp it.

Zhou Qian continued, “That means, out of the hundreds we killed, at most 32 will truly die. This is because, in ‘history’ this year, they were eaten by the Red God, which is the limit of people the Red God can kill annually.”

“But all the others will keep dying and resurrecting until they reach the year they are supposed to die. In short, those who shouldn’t die tonight will keep being resurrected infinitely, but our mana is limited. When the time comes—”

His gaze drifted to the suddenly appearing Temple of Prayers not far away, and his eyes turned exceptionally cold as he thought of the now-missing face of Innkeeper Tartar.

“Don’t wait for the real boss to show up when we’re out of mana, or we’ll just be sitting ducks.”

No sooner had Zhou Qian finished speaking than he was violently thrown out.

It was He Xiaowei, who, caught off guard, was hit by an arrow in the knee and fell to the ground. The distant archer who successfully ambushed moved on to the next target; meanwhile, three villagers using close-range attacks approached and subdued He Xiaowei, causing his qin to fall heavily to the ground, producing a sudden cacophony of noise.

Just as Zhou Qian fell, he was quickly lifted up again.

Looking up, Zhou Qian saw a person with a bloodied face from a forehead wound—remarkably, it was the resurrected Ab.

Ab, looking coldly at Zhou Qian, recited that ancient spell again.

Instantly, Zhou Qian felt the restlessness in the Rib of God in his bag.

It was Gao Shan sensing his danger, eager to come to his aid.

“No, you’re still supposed to be mad at me. The gamblers are watching,” Zhou Qian stopped him with his mind.

He couldn’t hear Gao Shan’s voice but felt the Rib of God become more agitated.

It was probably Gao Shan expressing disapproval—What are you doing? Your face is turning purple. You’re about to be strangled to death by the increasingly tight rope, and you’re still worried about acting? You want me to save you! Life is much more important than putting on a show for gamblers!

Zhou Qian ignored the Rib of God and looked fearlessly at Ab in front of him.

He was already feeling suffocated.

It was the sensation of carbon monoxide poisoning. His health was dropping below 10%.

He saw a world of dazzling colors, entering a realm of illusion and reality…

He couldn’t differentiate between reality and illusion, and then a dragon appeared before him.

Zhou Qian smiled.

At the critical moment, a sharp blade light descended from the sky.

In the next instant, Ab’s body was split into two halves.

Someone, bathed in blood, took the suffocating Zhou Qian into their arms. With a slight movement of the blade light, the ropes that countless teammates couldn’t untie for Zhou Qian were turned into dust by the invincible blade.

“I knew you would come.”

In the night, Zhou Qian spoke softly.

Leaning on Bai Zhou’s shoulder, his eyes still carried a bit of the dizziness from suffocation.

Raising his hand, he touched the ghost mask on Bai Zhou’s face and said, “Zhou Ge, this doesn’t suit you. It covers your beautiful eyes.”

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