The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 73: Great Fissure In The Ground (9)

Chapter 73: Great Fissure In The Ground (9)

The wind caused waves in the canopy net. The screen also rattled as the invading force collided with the blockage.

Liu Fuyi attacked without mercy. Mu Yao rolled away on the ground, barely dodging the attacks. There were some attacks she couldn’t dodge as she was forced into a half-sitting position.

Her long dark hair spilled all over her shoulders.

Her left ankle had already been injured and she could no longer stand. The latter half of their standoff so far had basically been all conducted on the ground. Liu Fuyi’s attacks had barely scraped past her face several times. Just on the verge of taking away her life. If she hadn’t set up this formation, she would’ve died by his hands.

She had never thought that even when the situation became as dire as this, she still could not bear to harm him.

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The puppet took back his arm. Coldly, he looked at the girl sitting within the formation. She looked like a bird that had finally been trapped within a cage.

“Fuyi.” Mu Yao smiled at him, a broken smile filled with grief.

A thread of hesitation appeared in the puppet’s eyes. It seemed as though it was confused as to why the person before it only defended and never took the initiative to attack.

Rd vbyv xsxldv, vbl okdeso oyp rwpble srld yde vbl kzzwpksd elxsd, nzye kd ale pjkav, zygkzu nzkxcle vbaswtb vbl cakvvzl okdeso yde pyv yvsr sq kv. Tla zltp bwdt cu vbl letl sq vbl okdeso. Fbl zktbvzu oyhle bla byde yde vbl rwrrlv dseele, alvwadkdt vs bla pkel okvb y elqlaldvkyz rspvwal.

Yw Zys oyvnble vbl kzzwpksd elxsd, pktbkdt okvbkd bla blyav. Fbl yde Ykysxkys sdzu nyale ycswv oyvnbkdt vbl essa, byaezu eke vblu alyzkgl vbyv vbl plyz sd vbl essa oyp sdzu qsa pbso. Mbl okdeso oyp vbl vawl ryppytl. Mbl vos sq vblx vssj vbl ryvb vbaswtb vbl cynjuyae, dlhla lhld ryppkdt vbaswtb vbl xykd byzz. Ls xyvvla bso ydmkswpzu Ykysxkys jlrv twyae, kv oyp yzz qsa dsvbkdt.

“Ozela Jasvbla Nkw, olzz esdl.” Mbl kzzwpksd elxsd’p czsse ale zkrp przkv yryav, czsppsxkdt kdvs y ckgyaal pxkzl.

Nkw Wwuk pvsse clpkel bla okvb bkp blye esod, “Mbl qkppwal byp yzalyeu srldle, pbswze R vyjl vbl srrsavwdkvu….”

Yw Zys’p qynl vwadle elyvbzu ryzl kd yd kdpvydv. Tla zkrp nwazle kdvs y elprsdeldv pxkzl, sdl qkzzle okvb talyv elpryka. Fkdnl vbl qkppwal bye srldle, vbl kzzwpksd elxsd nswze csaaso vbl rsola sq vbl blyhldp yde lyavb vs rwv bla vs elyvb.

Gde vbkp oyp obyv bl bye caswtbv wr.

“Ls awpb.” Mbl kzzwpksd elxsd yexkale Yw Zys’p tzssxu lmralppksd okvb pyvkpqynvksd, “Mblal’p pvkzz sdl xsal swvpkel. Ls, vblal’p vos.”

Fbl zssjle rasqswdezu yv vbl pnalld kd qasdv sq vbl vktbvzu pbwv essa. Tla caktbv ale zkrp pzktbvzu srldle, “Qkhl vblx y talyv ckt alwdksd.”

The underground palace was dark and damp. It could cause one’s heart and mind to go insane. Fortunately with the fissure opening, soft moonlight could find its way all the way down there. A thin thread of fresh air slowly wafted their way, bringing along with it a clammy odor.

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The rain outside should have stopped.

Thinking up here, Ling Miaomiao grabbed Mu Sheng’s clothes and rubbed them between her fingers, “You got wet?”

The youth raised his brows and took a long pause before saying, “…… you know this as well?”

The moment he said that, Miaomiao felt like she was suffering from an illusion. In an instant, it felt like the person before her eyes had turned into a little puppy whose fur was completely drenched by the rain. The grievance in his heart seemed to overflow into a flooding river. He was even pursing his lips without uttering a single sound. All he did was stare at her with his pitch black pupils with hesitation.

Miaomiao burst into laughter but knowing that they were still in the underground palace, didn’t dare to be too wanton. She immediately covered her mouth and lowered her voice. Her bright eyes flashed with complacency: “Aren’t I smart?”

“……..” Mu Sheng watched her as a complicated emotion filled his eyes.

She mischievously pushed him with another question: “Why didn’t you hide from the rain?”

The youth took away his gaze and turned. “…… I’m sending you up.”

According to the original book’s settings, the illusion demon was born of the heavens and earth. It was a paragon of an enemy for them. Other than using Liu Fuyi’s cheat of a Nine Mysterious Demon Restraining Pagoda to completely annihilate it in a single move, they could only allow the demon to beat them up.

The main leads couldn’t deal with her so they could only hide. Mu Sheng also understood this reasoning. He wanted to hurry up and send her out of the fissure, to get away from the current predicament.

“Ding—–System Notification: Character 【Mu Sheng】Favorability has increased to 85%. Please continue to work hard. End of notification.”

“Ding —– System Notification: Mission One, bonus mission of segment 3 out of 4 is starting. May host try your best to convince character 【Mu Sheng】to save character 【Liu Fuyi】. End of notification.”

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‘Ok’ was on the verge of leaving Ling Miaomiao’s mouth but with those mental intrusions, she immediately swallowed the words. She was completely immersed in the huge shock brought about by the two notifications.

In the original story, the blackened Mu Sheng leaped down into the fissure to save his sister. However, Mu Yao stubbornly wanted to steal back Liu Fuyi’s heart. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t get her to leave so Mu Sheng had no other way except to take her place and save Liu Fuyi.

However she didn’t expect that while going through the plan, which could be considered the original body’s plot, was now inexplicably given to her. Could the system be giving this to her as punishment for changing the plot?

She thought of the illusion demon, who should have been currently stuck in a formation, unable to freely move about yet wasn’t. She felt like her heart sunk down in her chest. Originally she thought herself clever and tried to change the plot in order to alleviate some of the hardship Mu Yao would suffer. However, she had overreached her ability and overestimated herself, subsequently landing herself in muck. Could Sister Mu Yao have been too greatly injured? To the point that she could no longer complete this mission?

She immediately shook her head. She pointed at the tightly closed door behind the screen, “Sister Mu is still stuck in there.”

Mu Sheng followed her gaze and his expression darkened, “I understand. You go up first. I’ll bring my sister closely behind.”

As soon as he spoke, he started to pull Miaomiao’s arm. However, he saw the girl anxiously pull her sleeve out of his hand, shaking her head like a rattle drum, “I’m not going. I want to stay here and save Brother Liu.”

“……” Again. He felt a surge of stuffy anger flood him. However, he still managed to force down the fire and speak in a cold tone, “There’s no point in you staying here, you’d only be a hindrance.”

Ling Miaomiao’s dark pupils were glimmering as bright as a star in a clear night sky. Her face was full of confidence. “Then you’ll help me save Brother Liu?”

Mu Sheng scrunched his brows and pursed his lips for a long pause. Then, he spit out word after word like he had been frozen. “…..why should I?”

In actuality, he and Liu Fuyi had no deep grudges or hatred between them. They had mutually supported one another all along this journey and there was still a bit of sentiment between them, even if it was only a smidgen. Let alone that he knew of how much his dear sister depended on that man, he would not have given up on him. However, now that Ling Miaomiao’s face was full of uneasiness and skepticism, he felt a fire raging within him. He felt like he was nearly about to explode and couldn’t help but want to throw all of his hatred and resentment onto Liu Fuyi.

“I knew that you wouldn’t, you only care about Sister Mu. Once you save Sister Mu, there’d be no one left to look after Brother Liu.”

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A rare layer of water appeared on the girl’s clear eyes. Stubbornly staring at him, they seemed like they were in a standoff, “That’s why I won’t leave. Even if I die, I have to die together with Brother Liu.”

“You……..”

Miaomiao looked at the black lotus’s face and the youth’s expression had completely changed. His dark pupils were like a flowing river of stars. His long and fine eyelashes were motionless as their eyes met one another. The fire within his eyes seemed great enough to raze the heavens.

He was silent for a long, long time. Finally, he gave up on confronting her. He directly walked over to her side and wrapped his arm around her waist, completely disregarding her struggles and pulled her away. His expression was as dark as night as his thin lips opened, “Go up.”

She didn’t expect that the black lotus would actually use force to make her leave. Upon seeing that her mission was on the verge of failing, Ling Miaomiao panicked. The grievances she had left bottled up and fermenting, started to spill out into uncontrollably tears. They all seemed to pour out at the same time, “…… don’t touch me.”

Mu Sheng suddenly released her.

He could feel that she was shaking. Turning back around to look, she was as stiff as a statue, still in her original position. She looked as if someone had dumped a big basin of freezing cold water over her.

She was actually crying.

He had scared her into crying.

He indifferently watched Ling Miaomiao use her sleeve to wipe her tears. His hands formed into fists in his sleeves. At first, there was fury in his watery pupils, then it turned into a state of blankness.

Liu Fuyi wasn’t there yet, she was still the same as always. Whenever the matters concerned Liu Fuyi, she would immediately push him to the enemies. It was like she was trying to avoid him, then leap into Liu Fuyi’s embrace. It was like she didn’t want the slightest relation to him.

That’s right. In the end, Liu Fuyi was unparalleled. That was who her heart belonged to.

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His fists tightened even more, his joints even shouting out in pain. However, it could not even begin to compare to the strange sense of acid and emptiness within his heart.

“Do you have me this much?” His tone contained a great sense of disappointment he never expected himself.

The girl suddenly stopped wiping her tears. Her jade green hair ribbon fluttered beside her cheek. She opened her big, now red eyes. She spoke as if raising her own spirits, with a fragile voice, “I don’t hate you ah. Ziqi, if you disregard your past grudges with Brother Liu and save him, I’ll like you more.”

“……..”

He felt like he was a little beast locked in a cage. Once he charged forward, he would crash harshly into the cage. Clearly, he could see attractive food through the gaps between the bars. They called to him to rush forward and crash into the cage. Then, an arm would extend out and feed him a small piece of meat then rub his head. Yet, it was basically the same as encouraging him to continue harming himself, no matter how much he tried.

Mu Sheng stared at her, speechless, for a long time. His gaze once again sunk, and he couldn’t tell what kind of mood he was in himself. Ling Miaomiao was on edge and very scared as she watched him. After a long time, she couldn’t help but speak anxiously.

“Ziqi, you have to hurry, Sister Mu is in great danger.”

He slowly approached her, palm extending out towards her. Ling Miaomiao closed her eyes and dodged but felt the palm passing by her earlobe and slap onto the wall with force, leaving a talisman stuck there.

Immediately afterwards, he crouched down and with her as the center, drew a semicircle.

Ling Miaomiao’s skirt occasionally brushed into his clothes. He stood back up and looked at her hard for a moment. Then he said, “Stay here and wait for me.”

Ling Miaomiao was excited in her heart and she nodded her head just like a pecking hen. Greatly expecting him to hurriedly rush over to save Mu Yao and Liu Fuyi’s heart.

However she didn’t expect that he would stay there, unmoving. In fact, he took a few steps closer to her, nearly causing Ling Miaomiao to feel like she had been embedded into the wall.

The youth lowered his jaw and stared at her face. His dark, watery pupils were just like a pair of ice-cold brilliant rocks. A great amount of pressure seemed to exude from them. His voice was extremely soft as he nearly stuck himself onto her: “If you run around randomly, I’ll break your legs and lock you up in shackles. Do you hear me?”

The girl whose head was raised at him, felt some trepidation at the start but by the end of his words, surprisingly had on an ignorant and careless smile, “If you can save Brother Liu, I can even let you go out for a walk.”

Mu Sheng suddenly turned stiff, the fury within his eyes nearly pouring out.

Truly…. Good. Very good.

Miaomiao blinked a few times and noticed that Mu Sheng’s face was ashen and his finger was pointed at her face. He seemed like he wanted to say something for a long time, his body even shaking a bit. They were stuck in that deadlock for a long moment before he turned around. With a surge of cold air brought about by the swishing of his robes, he walked away. His robes billowed like flags atop a fortress.

Standing within the circle, Miaomiao watched the sulking back figure of the black lotus disappear. Strangely, a strong sense of sourness pervaded her heart. She sighed and knocked twice on her exhausted legs. She reached out to touch the spice bag in her robes, seemingly finding a bit of safety by doing so.

Yet who would’ve thought that he’d come back, and with utmost speed as well. He stopped in front of her.

Their eyes met again. Ling Miaomiao suddenly let go of her hand and the youth’s long lashes trembled. He was silent for a moment before handing over a stack of talismans to her. Then, he turned back around and left again. All without making a single utterance.

TLN: Heyyo, Entropy here. In case you missed it in Discord or if you’re not in the discord, we’ll be cutting down chapters a week from 2 to 1 for…. basically life reasons lol. Anyways, enjoy 🙂