Chapter 314: Wedding Dress Shion |
"Have you heard of Serenade in G Major? I bet you haven't. You don't strike me as the classical music type. Oh, I'm not insulting you, you know, most people in this world just can't appreciate it..."
"I've heard it."
"Oh? Really? I never would've guessed! Where did you hear it?"
"Arcane Throne."
"Whose composition is that? I'd recommend the Karl Böhm version..."
"Bubbling Octopus."
In the middle of Jiang Si and Su's conversation, alarms blared and red lights flashed everywhere. The entire Chongxu seemed to have descended into hell.
Endless streams of drones descended from the high tower above, a mechanical female voice constantly blaring orders.
But they all exploded and were engulfed in a storm of sword energy.
In this hellscape, corpses, rubble, and shrill alarms were everywhere.
Yet Su and Jiang Si strolled leisurely through the perilous inferno, chatting casually.
"Never heard that name before. Weird. I should know every performer who's ever played Serenade—I've listened to every version. Bubbling Octopus... Bubbling Octopus... Pfft, I can't even search for it. I hate it when you niche-hunting types dig up obscure names from some corner..."
Dense mana sword energy continuously swept through the surroundings, reducing even collapsing skyscrapers to fine dust that blew away.
Let alone any other debris.
Su muttered to herself as she watched Jiang Si's destructive power up close, while occasionally noticing charred hands emerging from the rubble-strewn ruins.
She marveled at the strangeness of human vitality.
Even with destruction on this scale, quite a few people still managed to survive.
Sometimes humans were so fragile a fall could kill them; other times they endured catastrophes that could level heaven and earth.
"Listen, I have to educate you on something."
She spoke as if completely oblivious to the gap between them, declaring loudly amid yet another drone's explosion:
"Pursuing niche interests is actually a very, very mainstream thing to do." Su's tone turned profound. "Don't think that tossing out some obscure name makes you stand out or makes you special. You need to be like me—truly passionate. Listen to every version of Serenade, analyze the emotions and details within it, develop your own insights and preferences..."
But the young man only let out a disdainful cold laugh. "Those who don't even know the hawk and true dragon are nothing but sparrows and stray dogs."
Su La was left blinking in confusion. "What hawk?"
Jiang Si naturally couldn't be bothered to explain.
Obsolete trivia: when searching for "Serenade in G Major" on certain websites, you could see plenty of bullet comments saying "here from Arcane Throne."
Of course, he was one of them.
If not for Arcane Throne, who would bother listening to this kind of piece?
Su's requested serenade gradually reached its finale.
The alarms under the sky also disappeared one after another, and the drones stopped flying up.
Chongxu, which had been in turmoil until now, seemed to finally be submitting to him.
Whether city or beast, it was all the same.
With enough force, anything could be tamed.
There once was a Northern Emperor who became the King of Riders this way.
Jiang Si stretched his body and examined the armor on his arm.
It worked better than he expected.
Since he couldn't transform and was even restricted from using his own mana in this place, Jiang Si simply borrowed the armor to channel emotional energy into polluted magic. Aside from his account balance skyrocketing in debt, there were almost no flaws.
As Jiang Si examined the armor, he casually asked Su why mana usage was restricted in Chongxu.
"Of course! Mana is Chongxu's most important resource. Mana loans are the number one loan here. Mana loans include strong personal emotions—whether crying or laughing—you need to report and pay to use them in Chongxu. And actually using mana? The higher-ups are very strict about that..."
Beside him, Su immediately launched into a torrent of words.
"Like when my mom died—how did she die? I forget. Anyway, my dad was planning to cry back then. He wanted to go through the whole 'crying on the night road' burial process. But when he saw the cost, he just sucked his tears back in. Later he found out crying was expensive but laughing was cheap, so it's popular in Chongxu to send off the dead with smiles. I was still a kid back then, got a minor discount. Only spent six hundred Chongxu coins laughing all the way to bury Mom in the cemetery."
"Why did she have to go in the cemetery?"
"If you dispose of them privately and get caught, the fine is much higher."
"Alright then."
"So most people in Chongxu are expressionless. They could seamlessly play the demonic villain roles in 'Burial of the Hibiscus King'... Have you seen 'Burial of the Hibiscus King'? Everyone's expressionless in there, like they walked straight out of Chongxu."
"You seem pretty expressive to me."
Su La put her hands on her hips and laughed heartily. "As long as you're not afraid of accumulating debt, it doesn't matter."
With that, she pulled up her personal stats panel. Jiang Si watched as her endless mana loan bills cascaded down like a waterfall, slamming straight into his face.
All related to expressions, totaling debts over a hundred million.
"See? This is what I call 'laughing your way to power!'"
She really did laugh pretty powerfully.
No wonder she was so eager to smash Chongxu to pieces.
If he hadn't come, she'd probably be past the execution line, turned into Gundam parts by now.
"Anyway." Su closed her personal interface, tossed her hair, and wearing her thick black boots, hopped and skipped through the ruins glowing red with molten steel and magma, soles constantly smoking.
"Welcome to Chongxu, and thank you for giving Chongxu its freedom."
"When did I say I was giving Chongxu freedom?"
Su rubbed the back of her neck, finally looking confused. "Huh?"
"After smashing a world, you have to establish a new order."
Jiang Si stopped in a plaza of ruins, waving his hand. In the distance, Ruo Yun finally appeared on a far street with a group from Saint Hall. "From now on, in Chongxu, the strong reign supreme. The weak will only be humiliated, exploited, and used. Only the truly strong can be free."
"Starting now, this place is called Night Without Borders Plaza."
As Ruo Yun approached, she took out a standard scanner and swiped it across the forehead of the dumbfounded Su La.
[Magic Power: Four Stages. Potential promising.]
"Trash."
Ruo Yun casually tossed a low-level token to Su. "Start as a menial worker."
Beside them, Hyacinth smiled faintly.
"Welcome to the dark path of cultivating immortality in a criminal underworld."
...
Above the new world, the Chaos Land.
Dragon Lord Shion slowly opened her eyes, her gaze turning cold and sharp.
Now that she had smashed Chongxu and was rebuilding order, it was the perfect time for the Path of Caution. Although she didn't need it herself, Keke, Baihu, and this Su person or whatever urgently needed guidance.
But after Jiang Si inside Chongxu called out for a long time, all she found was a small note on herself.
"Respected Master, after receiving your teachings, Tiyana felt deeply ashamed. Moreover, Tiyana discovered that continuing to communicate with you without being discovered had a probability as low as ninety-eight percent! That is far too dangerous! So, Tiyana will take her leave first, to continue diligently cultivating the Path of Caution. Your disciple is safe. Do not worry..."
Rebellious disciple.
Cultivating caution to this extent—was she even human anymore?
Could this really be called a cultivator?
This was just pure dog behavior, right?
Dragon Lord Shion stood up, and the Fengqin beside her, who had been sneakily rubbing the dragon tail, was terrified!
She thought her offense had been discovered and knelt down, knocking her head on the ground.
Dragon Lord Shion took off her ring and threw it directly over.
Fengqin caught it and immediately started wailing. "Wahhh, I was wrong, don't throw it to me..."
"I need to go down for a bit. You wear it for now. I'll come back and get it later."
Fengqin blinked, then immediately beamed. "Sure, sure, sure."
The main thing was that the new world was now "girl-owned, ninety-nine percent new" in quality.
The prestige was different from before. Fengqin wearing the ring would probably be unconscious half the time, and might even vanish completely if it went on too long.
Of course, she wasn't afraid of dying. She was afraid that if Shion abandoned her and she disappeared, the new world would collapse—what would she do then...
Now that she heard Shion was just going down for a bit, she was naturally happy enough to roll on the floor.
Shion ignored her. Bringing the Little Black Dragon and the Emperor with her, she plunged into Beihai like a falling star!
In the span of a single breath, she teleported to the door of the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling and kicked the door wide open.
"Bingtang! Tiyana has disappeared! Immediately bring her back to—"
Inside the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling, Sonora, who had already had a good portion of her clothes removed, was blushing fiercely, lying on the table. Beside her, Qinghua, Shuangye, and Yumo were all holding her down.
Meanwhile, Bingtang's hand was pressed against Sonora's chest, faint mana rippling, as if she was exploring something. When Shion burst in,
the previously lively, giggling atmosphere froze. Everyone dumbly turned their heads to look at their Sect Master.
Then, as if electrocuted, they all pulled their hands back at once.
It looked exactly like children caught misbehaving when Dad wasn't home...
And Bingtang, who had been joining in the fun as both mother and child, slowly withdrew her hand, acting as if nothing had happened as she looked at her Sect Master. "Why are you back so soon? Didn't you say developing the frontier would take some time?"
"The time flow is different up there." Shion gave a brief explanation before looking at Sonora, who was clutching her shirt, face red, biting her lip, and staring at her with tearful eyes.
Something definitely seemed off.
So she asked, "What were you all doing?"
"Exploring the physical structure of vampires." Bingtang sat down gracefully and picked up her teacup.
The other disciples all nodded in agreement.
"And what did you discover?"
"Just as the Sect Master predicted, the so-called vampires are fake." Bingtang's expression turned serious, as if she had just completed some major research. "Their physical structure is that of ordinary humans. There's no bloodthirsty trait, and their blood isn't special. Only the heart is unique—it's missing core blood, which has certain characteristics."
Shion nodded, not suspicious at all.
Sonora opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but finally fell silent. She just whimpered pitifully, "Lord Shion... I'm unclean now..."
"Then go take a bath if you're unclean."
Hearing Shion's response, Sonora nearly fainted on the spot.
Having been humiliated by the Azure Cloud Sect's true-transmission disciples, poked and prodded all over, was already miserable enough. She'd been silently complaining that Jiang Si had taken her heart blood and vanished, completely failing to protect her.
Now, seeing Shion, she had hoped to act spoiled in front of her idol. But with one sentence, her dreams were shattered.
Heartbreak.
The poor girl could only turn her head, seeking comfort from her fellow captive, the Twins.
But she found the Twins lying on Bingtang's lap, a blissful smile on their face as if they were melting, happily munching on snacks Bingtang was feeding them.
They looked like a child acting spoiled with their mom at home.
Sonora's heart was shaken to its core.
This was a traitor!
Jialan, what the hell are you doing! Don't you know there's a mole living right in your house?!
And a mole who was this close to Winter, no less! No wonder your operations were a complete mess, wiped out by the Azure Cloud Sect and the Disaster Control Bureau...
But honestly, she didn't really care that much.
After all, the Witch Association's members in the new world dying had nothing to do with her. Seeing the Twins find happiness just made her a little sour.
What mattered was her own happiness. That scumbag who had taken her entire life—he was just gone like that.
Now she was the real abandoned child of the world...
Seeing Sonora curl up on the table and start crying, Shion glanced at Bingtang. "You made her cry."
"Gee, I think it was the Sect Master's fault."
"Impossible."
"Then she must be homesick. Just send her back to Chongxu."
"Makes sense."
After a brief exchange, Bingtang continued, "Who were you looking for when you came in?"
Shion finally remembered her purpose. Her tail slammed against the ground hard, nearly punching a hole in the floor of the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling. "Tiyana! Bring her back and send her to Chongxu!"
Saint Hall had tickets to Chongxu, and naturally, the Azure Cloud Sect did too.
The difference was that the Azure Cloud Sect's were free.
Bingtang had already been planning to send some true-transmission disciples up there anyway. It's just that Tiyana was personally requested by the Sect Master.
"I'm going to give her personal training myself!"
Hearing that the Sect Master was going to personally train someone, several true-transmission disciples showed expressions of schadenfreude.
She really pissed off the Sect Master, meow. She's in for it, meow.
She's definitely going to get beaten until she wets herself...
"Also, select more disciples. Chongxu is being rebuilt, and Saint Hall has already established a branch sect. Azure Cloud cannot fall behind."
Bingtang's expression turned serious, and she immediately agreed. "Yes, I'll send Thousand-Pinweed there. She and Jiegeng have been doing a good job with their Harry Potter branch sect lately."
"Jiegeng?"
"Hmm? She was dragged along to help not long ago. Ah, don't worry, Sect Master. She didn't join the Harry Potter branch sect. She just went to help."
Qinghua quickly added, "That's right, that's right. Jiegeng is firmly following the Sect Master. She's got fierce spirit in her heart and righteous indignation. She fought off Thousand-Pinweed's demonic sweet talk with ancestral profanity! She hasn't lost the Azure Cloud ambition! Please rest assured, Sect Master!"
Only then did Shion breathe a sigh of relief.
With the arrangements made, she planned to return to the Chaos Land quickly, to keep Fengqin from running off with her ring.
But then Bingtang spoke up again. "Don't forget about the best man thing."
Shion had just nodded when Yumo immediately raised her hand. "Me too! My uncle is getting married... I'm going to be a bridesmaid..."
Sonora immediately asked, "Your uncle is asking an elementary school student to be his bridesmaid? Aren't you afraid people will laugh at him?"
Yumo shrank down.
Qinghua also raised her hand. "Me me me too..."
"'Me me me' what? You want to show up at a wedding looking like a joke? Who would be blind enough to invite you?"
Several true-transmission disciples immediately glared coldly at Sonora, who was going full force.
The bat girl, having given up all pretense, stiffened her neck and said defiantly, "I've only got this one lousy life. Do what you want."
Bingtang smiled gently beside her. "It's fine. I'll invite everyone along when the time comes. It'll be more lively."
Yumo hung her head, listlessly letting out an "oh."
She could only go as a spectator anyway, so she wasn't interested. Yumo wanted to wear a wedding dress too...
"Speaking of which, is the Sect Master very busy over in Chongxu?"
"Not really."
"Mm. Then... do you want to go pick out some clothes together?" Bingtang stroked the head of the Twins, who had already fallen asleep. She had seen how hard the little one had been working lately. Now that she had time, she naturally wanted to double the compensation.
But as she stroked, her mind had already left the Twins. She stared at Shion with blazing eyes.
"Wedding dresses. That kind of thing."
The entire Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling went silent.
At these words, not only the true-transmission disciples but even Sonora's eyes lit up.
However, Shion instinctively began to shake her head.
So Bingtang said again, "After all, it's the divorce ceremony you wanted. You should at least pick a suitable one. Otherwise, it might seem too casual."
Shion's tail, which had been gently swaying, suddenly tied itself into a butterfly knot in the air. After a moment of deep thought, she finally nodded. "Alright."
Not only the true-transmission disciples of the Illusory Moon Cavern Dwelling.
But the Emperor and Little Black Dragon, who had taken up residence in the Dragon Palace, immediately stirred into action!
"Wait, wait! How can you agree to something so dangerous!"
"Yes," the Emperor, rare as it was, agreed with the Little Black Dragon for once. "Isn't it too soon?"
"What about Mom Lu Ya! Your first time should be with Mom Lu Ya! You're already married, but you don't have wedding photos! Mom Lu Ya is missing a perfect wedding!"
"We should find Lu Ya first, right? There should be information about her in Chongxu..."
"Exactly, Dad! Aren't we supposed to be looking for Lu Ya?!"
Inside Chongxu.
Jiang Si rubbed his temples.
He could ignore the Little Black Dragon's words, but the Emperor's opinion carried weight after all.
In front of the ancient sect gate that Saint Hall had rebuilt from the ruins, a long line had already formed on Night Without Borders Plaza. A large number of Chongxu locals had been rounded up, with some even voluntarily surrendering. They all waited for aptitude tests and job assignments.
Jiang Si sat on a high platform beside the gate, looking down at the line of Chongxu residents.
Among them, of course, was Su La, who had just been captured.
"I have something I want to ask you all."
Jiang Si's voice echoed across the plaza. Everyone looked up, their eyes filled with respect and fear as they gazed at the Saint Hall Master.
"Does anyone here know the name Lu Ya?"
An eerie atmosphere began to spread among the Chongxu crowd.
Jiang Si watched as their expressions slowly twisted, becoming horrifying!
[Warning! Warning! You have violated a taboo! Do not speak that name directly! Data deleted!]
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