Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 123: Self-Deception

The explosion felt like it went off inside Fang Xiu’s own organs. His instinct to protect flared uncontrollably in his mind.

It was like a man dying of thirst suddenly seeing a cup of water within reach. For a brief moment, Fang Xiu forgot who he was. His senses failed him, and the world was consumed by the deafening crash of the tomb’s collapse.

Must stop the explosion!

No. I only blew up the newly built section made by the “outsiders”, don’t panic.

Must stop the explosion!

No. I had to lure the intruders together to catch them all at once. Sacrificing the details for the bigger picture.

Must stop the explosion!

No. Letting the explosion happen was part of my plan.

…The path I chose must be the right one.

His mind felt like it was being shredded by the taboo, and Fang Xiu could barely think. But that conviction remained, as natural as breath, etched into his soul like a mark forged by a thousand hammers.

He clutched his stinging arm, grinding his teeth hard. He forced himself to focus, pulling his attention back to the center of the battlefield—

The explosion had startled Mei Lan, making her move a little slower. Cen Ling, on the other hand, displayed astonishing control, already forming a casting gesture.

The moment Mei Lan recognized the spell’s start, she reacted like a startled wildcat, leaping back over ten steps to escape the circle of yellow talismans. Cen Ling fluidly canceled the spell, then flung his hand out to dissipate all the surrounding evil spirits into black smoke.

Although A’Shou wore Fang Xiu’s appearance, she was still bound by her duty to not interfere with the ritual. So she quickly backed off, trying to leave the talisman circle.

With Cen Ling’s attack scattering the spirits, her exit wouldn’t seem suspicious.

But as if someone had read her mind, even more evil spirits surged from the tomb passage behind her, cutting off her retreat. The ground trembled inexplicably, and something sticky and fast-moving was rushing closer in the distance.

Bai Sui had been getting smacked around nonstop and now seeing Mei Lan snatch the Substitution E away made him howl in fury. “Give it back to us, you fuckers!”

He pulled a can of powder from his pocket and flung it at Mei Lan. Cen Ling sighed and began chanting again, raising a glow of green light around them both.

Cheng Songyun hurried forward, trying to block with her shield, but Mei Lan pushed her aside, brushing against a bit of the powder.

The skin that touched the powder immediately began to fester. Countless threadlike white bugs burrowed in and out of her flesh. Mei Lan’s face contorted in pain, but she grit her teeth and clutched her jade pendant, and her wounds slowly began to close again.

Fang Xiu took the chance to glance at the jade pendant.

It looked familiar, as if it was… like a soul-collecting artifact designed to ward off disaster and take the place of the wearer. In critical moments, the owner could store their living soul in it for a sliver of survival.

A cruel but practical object.

Unless the soul within was already depleted or taken by surprise, the pendant’s owner would be extremely hard to kill. It seemed like a cheap imitation of the Underworld’s body-bound spiritual artifacts.

…Well, at least his brain still worked when it came to dealing with intruders.

Fang Xiu shifted slightly closer into Bai Shuangying’s arms. Like A’Shou, his gaze was fixed tightly on Cen Ling.

Cen Ling’s right fingers pressed together, forming a sword of green light. His left hand lifted, casting a spell from thin air.

Mei Lan had just regained her focus when Guan He and Cheng Songyun shouted—sharp stone spikes exploded from the tomb walls beside them, like fangs snapping shut.

Guan He quickly used wall-passing magic, while Cheng Songyun deflected it with her shield. Both were only lightly injured.

Mei Lan wasn’t so lucky. Her concentration slipped, and the Substitution E took a hit. Her right side was gouged open by the spike, leaving a deep, bloody hole.

The jade pendant glowed faintly again, but this time the healing was much slower.

“Serves the saintly bitch right!”

Bai Sui laughed wildly, showing off his own shiny pendant. “If you’re gonna be a traitor, don’t use stuff from our Holy Sect. You want to be a whore and hang a virtuous signboard?”

Cen Ling held Bai Sui down as the two leaned against a tilted pillar, surrounded by layered protection spells keeping the evil spirits at bay.

“To get your hands on the Substitution E, you must have some skill. If you return it, I can let you die a little more comfortably,” Cen Ling said with regret. “We were once family. I don’t want to be cruel.”

“And using me as the E’s fuel isn’t cruel?” Mei Lan spat.

Cen Ling looked genuinely surprised, as if she had said something absurd. “To die by one of our Sect’s Immortal E is the highest honor.”

He wasn’t being sarcastic. He even sounded sincere.

Mei Lan licked the blood off her teeth.

“…The Immortal E hasn’t even left the Disaster Relief Tower and it’s already ‘our’ Sect’s Immortal E?” she sneered. “The apocalypse isn’t here yet. The Tower still stands. Celebrating halfway through the game is a terrible habit.”

Bai Sui popped out from behind the pillar and made a face. “Don’t worry about it. Cen Ge divines every day. That thing’s breaking free faster and faster. Everything’s going great!”

“When the Disaster Relief Tower collapses, all the Immortal E inside will be ours! Heh, an arsenal of divine weapons in our hands, and that thing will plunge the human world into chaos—”

“Bai Sui,” Cen Ling said quietly.

“I just can’t stand this ungrateful bitch,” Bai Sui muttered. “She should be glad she ran into us. When the world’s in chaos, she won’t even get to die peacefully.”

Cen Ling smacked the back of his head again. “Don’t call it ‘that thing’. Say the ‘Great God of Calamity’.”

“…Fine.” Bai Sui drooped.

Mei Lan’s face twisted again in a strange mix of laughter and tears. She cast a meaningful glance into the darkness, then clutched her bleeding side and resumed directing the Substitution E and the silken bird to attack on her behalf.

Countless spells struck Cen Ling’s shields in vain, doing little more than raising a few sparks.

Cen Ling looked at her with almost pity in his eyes, slowly raising his hand.

A few steps away—

A’Shou: “?”

A’Shou: “…???”

Wow. Overthrowing the Disaster Relief Tower to snatch the Immortal E’s and unleash a sealed calamity upon the world?

She might not recognize this as a standard technique from the Guishan Sect, but she sure understood the goal. She didn’t know the Underworld term for this kind of nonsense, but in her human days, this was called “treason”.

This was outright rebellion.

But thinking deeper, it made an uncomfortable amount of sense.

The mortal world had been peaceful for a long time. The metaphysics had faded, and those who walked the mortal world mainly defended against evil spirits trying to cross over. Even when disasters struck the Underworld, they were contained with joint efforts to limit the damage.

But the Disaster Relief Tower was different.

If it suddenly collapsed and released the “Great God of Calamity” that had been sealed for centuries, the devastation would be like a dam bursting in the mortal world. And with all those near-divine weapons falling into chaos—and directly into the hands of the Guishan Sect—the consequences were unimaginable.

A’Shou had guarded the Disaster Relief Tower for years, patrolling every day and maintaining the artifacts. She had found nothing unusual. But Cen Ling had summoned the luminous cup right in front of her. She couldn’t deny it now.

If she could figure out what had gone wrong, that would be one thing. If she couldn’t, the situation was terrifying.

A’Shou was so despondent she wanted to die… Ah, no, live. Desperately*.

*Clarity: The joke is she’s already dead… so the opposite would be to live.

She wanted to rush up and beat the answers out of Cen Ling. But she knew he probably had a fallback plan. If he wiped his memory and none of the other believers knew the full picture, she’d lose the trail for good.

So she held back.

But Bai Shuangying didn’t.

Great Lord Bai calmly processed all this and realized something interesting.

When he was first sealed, yin energy flowed into him, effectively imprisoning him. Though furious, he never planned to break free—at most, he was just sulking on a massive scale. Sleep for a thousand years, maybe wake up in a world without humans.

But his plan to escape began when the hunger became unbearable. That was when it turned into a “fight to the death”.

Now, seeing that the Underworld was unaware, yet the Guishan Sect was so certain he, the “Great God of Calamity” would destroy the human world upon release… Well, back then he wouldn’t have cared.

But now? Now he thought it was kind of amusing.

He hated being betrayed by humans a thousand years ago, but if the Guishan Sect was using him like a weapon, was that not just another betrayal?

Better to be tricked by Fang Xiu. At least his human was attractive, flavorful, and inexplicably sticky.

Bai Shuangying’s thoughts shifted. Another series of explosions sounded in the distance.

A third of the mountain-shaped structure of the tomb collapsed, burying the entire path where the Guishan Sect stored their tools and supplies.

Fang Xiu wasn’t idle either.

He clutched Bai Shuangying’s arm, letting out a low hum. As the roar drew closer, A’Shou turned and saw the Six Ghost Remnants Immortal crash through the ruins and land right in the middle of the battlefield.

Maybe the explosion had destroyed the statue that held it, setting it free. But how was the timing this perfect? Was it a deliberate “accident”?

Worst of all, why was it charging straight at her? …Could Fang Xiu really be powerful enough to control a ghost immortal using taboo power?

Amazingly, A’Shou held herself together.

Cen Ling had just raised his hand to finish off Mei Lan when he noticed the ghost immortal’s arrival. His expression changed immediately.

“It really exploded.” He clenched his teeth.

Bai Sui was uneasy. “Cen Ge?”

“Hong Shuangxi” just had a sour face, showing no real emotion. They had assumed the explosions were tricks. After all, the Grave-Sealing E would never allow major damage to the tomb.

But this ghost had broken out and was crawling at Fang Xiu’s feet in submission. Cen Ling couldn’t make sense of it.

Mei Lan laughed so hard she teared up. “So, now you get it. Congratulations.”

The Prince of the Guishan Sect’s was finally experiencing Fang Xiu’s inexplicable yet precise way of doing things.

…No wonder the Grave-Sealing E called this “ordinary person” stronger than Cen Ling.

Mei Lan’s eyes lit up. Her silken bird dove again, even though she knew it was still futile.

“He wants to protect the Guishan Sect’s sanctuary. I want to protect the grand tomb. We share the same goal. He can be used.”

Fang Xiu muttered with his eyes half-closed.

“Next, he’ll abandon low-value targets and try to end the ritual and restore order.”

“…In conclusion, I am protecting this place.”

And sure enough, Cen Ling stopped wasting time on Mei Lan.

He decisively triggered the Samadhi True Fire he had prepared earlier, burning the ghost immortal into shrieking agony.

While Mei Lan’s group was still disoriented, he cast the Wind-Draining spell. Air currents shifted violently, suffocating everyone while the flames spread.

Cen Ling quickly locked onto the retreating “Fang Xiu” and pulled out a strange jade ruyi scepter. It radiated chilling power and was clearly another Immortal E.

A’Shou stared at the item, mentally stabbing Cen Ling thousands of times. But she couldn’t make a move, so she forced a smile and backed away.

Fang Xiu muttered, “I only wanted to force that ghost immortal to act as my substitute and bodyguard. That helps protect this place. Cen Ling mistaking identities is his own stupidity.”

“The other three intruders are severely injured and no longer a threat. Even if anyone attacks again, it will be infighting. This is ideal.”

“…In conclusion, I am protecting this place.”

Bai Shuangying remained silent.

When Fang Xiu was clear-headed, he had carefully arranged the explosion order. Now, despite remembering nothing, everything was proceeding smoothly.

The Six-Ghost Remnants Immortal screamed amid the fire, its flesh giving off a strange, scorched stench. In the glow of the flames, Fang Xiu slowly opened his eyes and pointed toward Cen Ling.

“Since he mistook my identity, it means this intruder is not useful. He is highly capable and destroyed my tomb with fire. The harm outweighs the benefit. He must be eliminated first.”

“I can easily lure the bomber into taking him out first. Let them fight each other. Yes, that spot should be next.”

The firelight gleamed on his bloodstained funeral clothes. The characters carved into his skin blazed red.

Bai Shuangying looked toward where he pointed.

With Fang Xiu directing the evil spirits and A’Shou “cooperating” to herd the others, Cen Ling’s group had been maneuvered into a dangerously delicate spot.

Bai Shuangying didn’t understand physics, but he did understand the principles of stone and structure. If that key support point was destroyed, the tomb would collapse by eighty percent in an instant.

“I am protecting this place.”

Fang Xiu looked up at him and murmured like in a dream.

“Do it.”

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The author has something to say:

Guishan Sect: Once we release the Great God of Calamity, all of you are finished!

Meanwhile, the Great God of Calamity be like:

wuwu, I don’t want to break up with my human.jpg

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