Chapter 450: Ill Omen |
When the disciple finished his report, Immortal Yuan He’s eyes went wide. “What?!”
Meanwhile, Yu Sheng was still trying to figure out what a “one-strand monster” was. It took him a full two seconds to connect it to the lunatic snake in his head.
The disciple hurried through the details of what was happening beneath the Demon Suppression Tower, but halfway through, Yuan Ling was already pushing himself up. “Omen Wandering Star suddenly went berserk? Let’s go—now!”
As soon as he spoke, he seemed to remember Yu Sheng was still here. He turned and gave a quick cupped-fist salute. “Ahem. There’s been an incident in the Demon Suppression Tower. I need to take a look. It’s really—”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll go with you.” Yu Sheng waved him off before he could finish. “I’ve got a few things I want to ask that ‘Omen Wandering Star’ too.”
Yuan Ling nodded and raised his hand to form a seal, preparing to ride the clouds.
Before his hand even reached his shoulder, Yu Sheng casually pulled open a door. On the other side was the Demon Suppression Tower.
“…Right. I forgot you can do that.” Yuan Ling froze for a beat, then clapped his hands. “Good. Faster. Let’s go!”
At the bottom of the tower was a vast underground cavern, linked straight to the gushing springs of the earth veins. Shimmering streams of light ran through the air. The crimson glow of magma below and the dim, ghostly radiance rising with the flowing veins bled into each other. Above the enormous platform at the center, unstable lightning still crawled and hissed, though the demon-suppressing pillars around it had fallen quiet again.
The moment they arrived, Yu Sheng felt faint sparks prickling through the air. He turned his head and saw Foxy looking ridiculously fluffy—her ears and tail puffed from static. She dragged her tail forward and rubbed it between her hands until it crackled.
The tiny sparks lit up her glittering eyes. Delighted, she brushed her tail against Yu Sheng’s arm. “Benefactor! Static!”
Yu Sheng jolted and stumbled back. “Stop, stop, stop! Stay away from me. Go stand with Luna.”
Luna tilted her head, confused.
“You’re a metal shell,” Yu Sheng said offhandedly. “You’re grounded.”
Luna nodded solemnly. “Mm. Right.”
Foxy sheepishly pulled her tail back. Then she let one tail droop to the ground like a makeshift grounding wire and sniffed. “What’s that smell?”
“Burnt,” Yu Sheng sighed, pointing toward the platform’s edge.
A massive snake lay stiff and unconscious between two demon-suppressing pillars. Several tower-guard disciples stood nearby, tense and uneasy. It was Serpent Princess, knocked out by lightning. Even now, occasional arcs flickered between her heads. Her body twitched now and then, and her scorched black scales gave off a roasted-meat stench.
Luckily, she was a great demon. Even after getting struck this badly, she’d only passed out.
Immortal Yuan He walked over with a complicated expression. He motioned for the disciples to step back, then crouched to check Serpent Princess’s condition. After a moment, he let out a breath. “It’s fine. Surface injuries. A few bolts hit her heads, so she blacked out.”
Irene sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder. “Which head?”
“The human head,” Immortal Yuan He said casually. “That’s the one she mostly uses to think… though her thinking is usually a mess.”
The instant he finished, Serpent Princess twitched as if she’d heard him. With a shaky breath, she forced her eyes open. “Yuan He, you old bastard… you fucking…”
Immortal Yuan He immediately took two steps back. Yuan Ling gritted his teeth and stepped forward instead. “Serpent Princess, what exactly happened?”
“What happened—and you scruffy old Daoists still have the nerve to ask?!” Serpent Princess’s human face glared, but her body remained locked stiff from spasms. Her voice sounded like she might actually cry. “You fuckers fed that ball shit. The moment it eats, it freaks out. When it freaks out, lightning hits me. When lightning hits me, I start cursing. When I curse, it curses me. When it curses me, I end up eating shit. When it eats shit, it freaks out. When it freaks out—”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Yuan Ling cut her off fast. “I understand. You don’t need to describe it in this much detail.”
Irene poked Yu Sheng’s head. “Hey, Yu Sheng. This girl talks even rougher than I do.”
Yu Sheng opened his mouth, but whatever he wanted to say got stuck. He had a whole stomachful of complaints and not a single one came out—though at least he’d basically figured out what was going on.
Just then, Yuan Hao’s gaze shifted to the enormous stone sphere at the platform’s center.
“‘Omen Wandering Star’ has been well-behaved for years,” Yuan Hao said, frowning. “Why did it suddenly become restless today?” He glanced at the snake. “Serpent Princess—before it went mad, what did it say? Any strange signs these past few days?”
“It was muttering weird crap. How would I know?” Serpent Princess snapped—then she spotted Yuan Hao pulling a spirit brick from his sleeve and instantly demonstrated the legendary flexibility of her species. “I-I just heard it saying these last few days that the Grand Void Spiritual Axis was going to face a catastrophic disaster. Then just now it suddenly snapped and said something like, ill omen was gone, impossible, blah blah, and also… oh, and it said something about ‘only the ill omen goddess is qualified,’ and it said it was abandoned. I seriously don’t get it!”
Yu Sheng, listening from the side, muttered without thinking, “A catastrophic disaster… ill omen goddess?”
He looked up and met Yuan Ling’s grave gaze.
“Omen Wandering Star has some ability to predict disasters,” Yuan Ling said in a low voice. “That ‘catastrophic disaster’ isn’t hard to connect—it’s most likely the Yanxing Entity disaster. But… I don’t know what ‘ill omen goddess’ means. I’ve never heard it mention that title before.”
Yu Sheng looked to Yuan Hao, but the old immortal shook his head as well. “Never heard of it.”
“Doesn’t sound like anything good,” Irene grumbled from Yu Sheng’s shoulder, wobbling as she spoke. “And it calls itself a ‘goddess’? Definitely an evil god.”
“Stop moving,” Yu Sheng said, steadying her with a hand. “If you wobble any more, you’re going to fall.”
His eyes stayed on Yuan Ling, thoughtful. “Forget the ‘ill omen goddess’ name for now. The real question is… Omen Wandering Star is a ball. It can have ‘faith’?”
“…That is suspicious,” Yuan Ling murmured. He walked toward the platform’s center and looked up at the bound “stone sphere.”
The grotesque-faced sphere was chained tight to the ground, as if it had gone dormant after the backlash of the demon-subduing formation. Red scorch marks marred its gray-white shell where immortal thunder had struck.
As Yuan Ling approached, it didn’t react at all.
Yu Sheng carried Irene closer and stared up at it too.
Irene rubbed her chin for a long moment, then blurted, “I can’t even picture what a ‘goddess’ looks like from a ball’s point of view. Could it also be a ball?”
“Maybe it’s pink,” Foxy offered solemnly, wandering over.
“I like black,” Irene declared, hands on her hips. “Black feels mysterious!”
Yu Sheng didn’t join the pointless debate. After a brief silence, he stepped forward and raised his hand.
Irene jolted. “Ah! Yu Sheng, what are you doing?!”
“Just doing what I always do,” Yu Sheng said without looking back.
A black shadow flashed—fast as lightning—and a blade came down.
Yu Sheng froze, turning his head as the “saintess miss” beside him elegantly retracted her fingertip blades. “…I didn’t even say anything yet.”
Luna spoke slowly. “The knight must be in sync with the liege.”
Yu Sheng wanted to tell her that wasn’t how “in sync” worked, but he saw the cut on his hand was already healing. He swallowed his words, pressed his palm against Omen Wandering Star’s shell, and focused on guiding his blood—letting it seep in, trying to force a connection.
To be honest, he had no idea whether this would work. Omen Wandering Star was beyond creepy—not human, not an entity, and definitely not an angel. Who knew what smearing blood on it would do?
But Yu Sheng had one admirable quality: when he decided to try something, he didn’t overthink it. Frankly, the only reason he wasn’t scraping bits off to taste for salt was because it looked like rock.
Before now, Omen Wandering Star had been active and obviously uncooperative, so he hadn’t dared. Now it was knocked out, and he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
His blood was absorbed almost instantly.
Yu Sheng’s expression flickered. He blinked.
It was absurdly fast—so fast he barely had time to register it. It didn’t feel like his blood was “infiltrating” the monster at all. It felt like the thing was actively drinking it.
“…What the hell,” Irene muttered, startled. “Don’t first-time targets usually seep in slowly?”
Yu Sheng frowned. After a brief hesitation, he pressed his palm to the shell again and closed his eyes.
He didn’t feel a connection form. Instead, he saw a murky curtain.
Countless layers of gauzy veil overlapped—near, yet unreachable; far, yet somehow right before his eyes. Deep behind them, something enormous moved slowly. In the distance, terrifying phantoms dragged long limbs through the edges of chaos, stirring it like water.
He reached forward—
And Irene’s voice yanked him back to reality.
“You called me for what?” the little doll on his shoulder demanded, staring at him with crimson eyes.
Yu Sheng blinked. “…Huh?”
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