The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus - Chapter 74: Great Fissure In The Ground (10)

Chapter 74: Great Fissure In The Ground (10)

The third watch of the night arrived¹ [1] Third watch is basically 11 pm – 1 am . It was the time where the moon’s rays were at its strongest. Countless motes of dust fluttered in the air, illuminated by the cold white rays, just like the snowflakes drifting down on a winter’s day.

Mu Yao was slumped over on the ground. Both of her eyes were tightly shut. Her eyelashes casted a long shadow onto her face and her satin-like long hair seemed to be suffused with light under the moonlight. She looked just like an immortal held captive in the moon palace.

Someone slowly crouched down and reached out to grab her arm. They supported her up into a sitting position and she suddenly roused. Her finger subconsciously went and tightened around her Demon Restraining Circlets. But when she saw the person in front of her, her entire person froze. She felt like she was hallucinating, “Fuyi…….”

“Shhhh……” The rays of light the moon casted down lit up his pale face. Each and every strand of hair of his thick brows were clearly illuminated. He stared closely at Mu Yao’s face with an infinite amount of fondness.

Mu Yao gripped his arm. Her eyes, as brilliant as glazed glass, increasingly became transparent as a light flashed within them, “When you were fighting with me just now…. You woke up?”

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A human without a heart can only become a puppet.

However there are still people, despite having no heart, that are unwilling to be a corpse to be controlled. He had been on the border of waking up and chaos. For the sake of his beloved, for this belief and confidence, he was willing to fight for a chance to live.

He slightly curled up the corner of his lips. The pallor of his skin was still enough to scare people, he looked like he was already a corpse trying to trick others into thinking he was alive. He reached out to caress Mu Yao’s face. His hand was ice-cold, “How foolish, why didn’t you retaliate?”

Yw Zys zsolale bla blye vs bkel bla vlyap, “R’x vss olyj.”

Tla byde yzps nyalpple bkp byka. Jwv obld pbl xshle esod yde vswnble vbl bszl kd bkp nblpv oblal y xyppkhl pnyc bye qsaxle shla, pbl ypjle kd y vldela hsknl, “Pslp kv pvkzz bwav?”

Nkw Wwuk pxkzle, “Rv bwavp. Ykysxkys, vbyv tkaz. Fbl eked’v bsze cynj yv yzz.”

Mblal oyp y pweeld ekpvwacydnl swvpkel vbl essa yde Yw Zys’p lmralppksd vwadle plhlal yp pbl zssjle kd vbl ekalnvksd sq vbl essa okvb hktkzydnl.

“Gb Fbldt byp nsxl. Tl nyd pvsr vbl kzzwpksd elxsd qsa dso.” Nkw Wwuk psqvzu prsjl, “Zys’la, xu vkxl kp pbsav.”

Yw Zys pbssj bla blye, “Ls xyvvla oblal uswa blyav kp, R okzz qkde kv yde cakdt kv cynj vs usw….”

“Zys’la.” Nkw Wwuk kdvlaawrvle bla. Tkp lmralppksd oyp psxlobyv vkale cwv bl pvkzz xydytle vs pxkzl oyaxzu. Tl vssj swv vbl pxyzz osseld rytsey qasx bkp asclp yde rzynle kv kd Yw Zys’p byde. Tkp zypblp eassrle, “Gp psxlsdl obs ds zsdtla byp y blyav, R esd’v jdso bso zsdt R nyd zypv.”

“Rq usw nyd’v pvlyz kv cynj, vbl Plxsd Slpvaykdkdt Vytsey okzz cl uswap vs zssj yqvla.” Tl qsanlqwzzu rwzzle yryav Yw Zys’p nzldnble qkpv yde rzynle vbl pxyzz osseld rytsey kd bla ryzx. “Nlv xl vlzz usw vbl nbydv….”

“I won’t listen.” She stubbornly pursed her lips. Her face was pale and the tears left under her eyes felt cold, “You promised me that you’d never let me feel any grievance again. Since you said it, you have to do it.”

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Liu Fuyi placed his fingers at his temples, as if trying to suppress a great pain.

Mu Yao panicked and supported his arm, “Fuyi……”

“Yao’er, listen to me.” Liu Fuyi let down his hand and a cloud of darkness started to spread within the depths of his eyes. He grabbed ahold of her hand again and tried to speak again but knowing that there was just too much he had to tell her, couldn’t say anything for a few moments. In the end, he only managed to repeat again, “Listen to me.”

“……..” Tears started to stream down her face again as she moved her ear over. “Then speak, I’ll remember it.”

Liu Fuyi reached out and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. His jaw was placed against the top of her head. After a long moment, he finally released her and started to recite the chant into her ear.

“Remember, directly face the fissure and borrow the fourth watch’s moonlight rays to speed up the Demon Restraining Pagoda….. The chant…. Don’t spread it outside…..” ² [2] 1 am – 3 am approximated.

“Ok……”

Mu Yao leaned into his chest again. She could feel the front of his clothes had been moistened by a layer of night frost. The two of them cuddled for a while as they listened to the sounds of combat outside between Mu Sheng and the illusion demon. They were silent.

A good while after, Liu Fuyi patted Mu Yao’s lapel, “It’s almost time.”

Mu Yao could not bear it and the tears that poured down her face tasted oh so bitter.

He didn’t urge her. He only watched the floating bits of dust illuminated by the light ray. He spoke softly: “Yao’er, if we can get through this disaster, let’s get married alright?”

“…..ok.”

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He looked in the direction of the door. There was a period of strange silence outside. “If we can’t get through this disaster, in the next life…. I’ll help you put on the phoenix crest.” ³ [3] I think this is referring to the bridal headdress Chinese brides wear on their head during the marriage ceremony.

The door was suddenly pushed open, slamming into the wall with a loud bang. The porcelain bottles placed on the shelves all tumbled down one after another, causing another loud moment of shattering sounds.

The illusion demon’s red skirt was just like a scarlet flag. Her bare snow white legs walked towards them step after step. Her fingertips glimmered with a sharp light.

Mu Sheng stumbled forward. He almost seemed like he had been tossed into the room with great force as he barely managed to steady himself and stand up by supporting himself on a cabinet. He quickly looked around and his expression changed.

His sister wasn’t here.

The illusion demon’s gaze also swept through the empty formation on the ground and ruthlessness filled her face, “Where is she?”

Liu Fuyi was extremely deferential, head lowered while standing at the side. Half of his face was concealed in the shadows, “She was struggling too much so I brought her down to the cellar.”

The illusion demon did not become suspicious and relaxed. On the contrary, she turned her head to observe Mu Sheng, who had been entangled with her the entire way here. She let out a barely discernible smile from her side profile.

Mu Sheng followed her proud gaze and looked down, finding that he was coincidentally standing in a few motes of light.

The illusion demon’s face was one of mocking and its smile was exaggerated, “Truly a pair of brother and sister. Both of you took the initiative to enter the formation, and saved me the effort.”

Mu Sheng felt like something wasn’t right and tried to squeeze his Demon Restraining Circlet, gathering strength to leap away but his feet suddenly stopped. Immediately afterwards, his face turned pale and he collapsed in the formation.

The illusion demon looked down at him in satisfaction. Her bright red lips slightly opened, “Truly what a pity. If it wasn’t because I was afraid of causing too much chaos, you could’ve still wasted another hour of my time.”

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She raised her head to look at Liu Fuyi’s hand and an innocent smile on her face, “Brother Liu, speaking of the great reunion, missing anyone is a great pity. Bring me to where you locked up that girl.”

With his heart leaving his body and having any human blood as the main ingredient for medicine, Liu Fuyi’s face was as pale as a piece of paper. There were dark green bruises under his eyes that looked both dried and worn out.

The illusion demon’s brows scrunched, as if thinking of something. She turned around and walked to the youth’s side and spoke next to his ear in a playful voice, “Your sister’s blood won’t work but your blood…. Should be perfect to use.”

Her face was extremely close to Mu Sheng as she observed his reaction.

The youth met her gaze head on with no intention of dodging or shying away. A pair of limpid water-like dark eyes adorned his jade-white face. The corners of his eyes were slightly curved upwards, bringing a hard to describe charm to his entire person.

There was, to her surprise, a dark smile concealed in the depths of his eyes. There was no flustered or nervousness in them. The corner of his lips curled up and his provocative expression was identical in spirit to her own. The provocative stance was overflowing with fierceness.

He had already been defeated under her hands yet he refused to be convinced of his grim situation.

The illusion demon suddenly rose up and walked out of the room with malicious intent wafting off her. Liu Fuyi followed closely behind and silently closed the door with the back of his hand, locking Mu Sheng by himself in the room.

The room was silent for a long time. The youth slowly crawled up from the ground and dexterously stepped out of the formation. He lowered his dead to look at the points of lights on the ground and a cold-smile flashed through his eyes.

This formation had long become useless.

Earlier, the moment he felt that something was weird under his feet, his eyes rapidly looked over at Liu Fuyi standing behind the illusion demon. The pale faced puppet had also been staring at him at that moment, his empty pupils then flashed with a strand of light.

He had always felt like Liu Fuyi looked like an eyesore. But at that moment, their tacit cooperation was shocking.

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——He used the tips of his fingers to slide the Demon Restraining Circlet onto his wrist silently and then harshly triggered it. Immediately afterward, his face went pale and he fell over in the midst of the formation, deceiving the illusion demon.

The yin yang fissure in Jingyang Slope caused the temperature to be extremely low. Not far away, the nonstop chattering of demons could be heard. Dark bands of clouds in the sky blocked the moon from time to time.

Mu Yao stood in the tall underbrush. She held the little wooden pagoda in one hand. She lowered her eyes and looked into the deep fissure. With her other hand tightly clenched at her side, she counted each heavy second with her fingertips.

The fissure extended into the distance, wriggling and snaking the whole way. It looked just like a massive mouth opening. The bare rock exposed to the air was just like sharp teeth, seeming as if it was ready to roar and swallow the night.

Below the fissure, Ling Miaomiao stared blankly as Mu Sheng entered the door. However, the ones that came out were the completely uninjured illusion demon and Liu Fuyi. The illusion demon’s face was decorated with an exaggerated smile. Immediately, her face turned into one of dumbfoundedness.

……How did they pop out of nowhere?

Her mind was in a tumult. Things didn’t look good. She had only worried about the door, completely disregarding the window….

She couldn’t help but look into the open door. It was dark and she couldn’t see anything at all. The black lotus should be fine, as long as he hadn’t had his petal ruthlessly plucked off and stepped all over…. She nearly took a step forward but suddenly remembered Mu Sheng’s words. If she dared leave the circle, he would break her legs and lock her up in shackles.

Thus, the leg she had partly extended out silently shrunk back.

Part of the moonlight shining down the fissure was shot into the room. Even the wooden furniture’s tiny scars from fingertips and termite ridden holes were all clearly visible.

The wind blew up the canopy once again. The white wax dripping down the candle like murky teardrops. Softly, the weak but warm flame shook back and forth. Under the bright silver moonlight, its light seemed extraordinarily poor and pedantic.

Mu Sheng slowly took a round within the room. His deep gaze looked around, measuring up everything and then finally, slowly fell upon the small bed. Beside the several disemboweled dolls, there laid a tall pillow.

He looked at the pillow and his lips curled into a mocking smile. His sister had been too anxious to save Fuyi so she must’ve stepped into the trap without noticing.

The illusion demon was crafty and paranoid. How could she leave behind such an obvious clue?

He reached out with his left hand, and his long, thin fingers raised a small peace lock into the air. He raised his head and stared with an engrossed look.

Just earlier, when he had been fighting with the illusion demon, this glimmering peace lock had inadvertently dropped from her stomach. He had taken the opportunity to silently snatch it and hide it away.

This lock definitely had cost the Li couple a large amount of money to create. The carvings on it were extremely exquisite. Not just that, it was both light and delicate. The lock was so thin it looked like a string….. Otherwise there was no other way he could’ve gotten his hands on it.

He looked at the faintly discernible strand of dark qi on the lock. Then, he lowered his head and picked up the largest doll on the bed.

The cloth was somewhat old. It’s skirt had been recycled from old clothes. Its two empty eyes were big buttons sewn on. Its needle legs were clearly roughly made and if he wasn’t wrong, it was a toy that had been personally sewn by Madam Shi for her loving daughter.

…… if his sister had taken a closer look, she would’ve discovered that this cloth doll had all of its cotton extracted. Yet, it was still as heavy as it normally should be.

He expressionlessly pulled with his hand and the surviving few threads of the doll all ripped apart. Cotton fell onto the ground and his feet like snow. He reached into the internals of the dolls and within the old cotton, he used force to pull out a fist-sized hardwood box.

The moment the box and the silver lock in his hands approached one another, both of them started vibrating and with a soft ‘clack’, the box opened on its own.

Before he even looked at the contents of the box, the youth pressed down on the cover, losing his interest as he closed it again.

Although the illusion demon had no heart herself, she still wanted to take the hearts of others for herself. Since that was the case, she couldn’t let down her guard. On top of that, as she planned to refine them into puppets, she hung the key on her own stomach. Everything had been firmly controlled in her palm.

Mu Sheng raised his head. The bright moonlight was just like frost as it lit up his eyelashes. It completely lit up his sneer.

His sister was a noble and benevolent person…. How could she be similar to an evil creature like him? Being able to so lightly discern the hearts of people similar to him?

He held the box between his fingers as he pushed open the door and exited. With a few steps, he flashed to the back of the screen.

Within the circle, the young girl seemed to have grown tired from standing for so long. She leaned against the wall weakly. She was looking at the ground while daydreaming. From time to time she would pat her own leg, but didn’t dare kneel or sit down—–He hadn’t had enough time to draw the circle so it was a little small, causing her to be locked to the edge of the wall.

Her lips would occasionally open and start muttering to herself. He didn’t even need to guess to know that she was angry and cursing him.

Looks like the threat of breaking her legs was somewhat effective. He felt somewhat gratified within and a sense of never felt before satisfaction inflated within him.

Control over her.

He raised his head and completely purged the absurd thought from his mind.

Ling Miaomiao suddenly saw Mu Sheng come out of the room. Immediately, her eyes widened, “Ziqi……”

He threw the box over to her before even saying anything. All he saw was her expression changing all of a sudden and moving to behind him. She couldn’t say anything, “You…. you….”

But he understood.

The sound of the wind came from behind. He lowered his eyes to the ground and suddenly twisted his head to the side. The Demon Restraining Circle on his left hand suddenly slipped down to his fingertips. Taking a long step forward, he wound his arm around Ling Miaomiao’s waist, bringing her away in just a few steps.

Her billowing skirt was just like a halo of a surging wave atop a water’s surface, oscillating just like a wave.

The illusion demon stood behind them with disheveled hair. Dark qi floated out from her nose and ears. Both of her eyes were red like steel at its melting point. Her voice was so gloomy it almost took away from the little girl’s gloomy atmosphere. It was just like a wild beast’s hoarse roar, “You all dared to mess with me.”

The thing that she could not accept the most was that even though Liu Fuyi had already turned into a puppet, he could still betray her. He was still willing to die for their sake, her enemies.

Her mood suddenly started fluctuating wildly. The skies and ground of Jingyang Slope also changed in accordance, the underground palace starting to shake and shiver. The dark-green fire sources inlaid into the walls suddenly turned dark. The pillars started to crack and make sounds as terrifying as bones being crushed.

Mu Sheng brought away Ling Miaomiao, hugging the box while dizzy from all the dodging and turning. She felt full of despair.

It’s over…. She had met the already invincible illusion demon of the plot. One that had gone berserk.

In the next moment, a talisman was suddenly slapped onto her back. Her waist was then pulled by him, nearly causing her organs to get squeezed out. Immediately after, she felt she was in a cannon as she flew out of the fissure at a dizzying speed.

The youth’s cold voice could barely be heard from deep within the earth. Almost becoming indiscernible in a moment’s notice, “Bring your box with you.”

TLN: So far, a pretty hectic week… for the people around me lol. In perspective though, I’ve really given myself a lot of knowledge to digest in just a few weeks… >.> Also, yandere Mu Sheng nearly popped out for the first time.

I have a very good recommendation for you all though, I really hope you guys watch it! Is Your Self-Identity Limiting Your Potential? | Vusi Thembekwayo on Impact Theory – YouTube Don’t worry it’s not anything political or anything like that, I just hope y’all can get to better understand how to live a life worth living. Enjoy 🙂

* On a side not if you do fall into the rabbit hole of self-actualization videos and whatnot, try to limit the amount of knowledge you stuff into your head (1-2 of these videos a day max) so you can sleep on it and digest it properly. Cheers!