Chapter 244: Starting the Extended Instance Dungeon
The reason why heroes were heroes, were exactly because they only lived in legends. The girl sacrificed her life to seal the Devil, so everyone admired her, respected her, and revered her as their saviour. Because she was already dead, the dead would not be able to argue or fight with the living. No matter how high her prestige was, she could not be considered as a threat.
However, if she was alive, this situation would no longer exist. Her high prestige would definitely influence the other deity sects and threaten those people with high statuses. On the surface, the various sects celebrated her revival, but in their hearts, a faint suspicion grew. If she was revived, then wasn’t there a possibility that the Devil would revive as well?
The various sects feared the Devil Race. After all, in that battle, a large portion of the deity sects and clans suffered huge blows to their foundations, and even given ten thousand years, it was impossible to make a full recovery.
They worried, and they feared. These emotions ran deeper and deeper, and their fear surged every single day. They then pushed the reason for their fear, onto the girl who was revived – Ying Luo. Why did she have to come back to life? Wouldn’t it have been better if she had sealed the Devil for all eternity? Since she had already chosen to die, why did she have to go back on her word and come back to life? As time passed, none remembered that she had once saved this world of theirs. All they wanted was for her to return to those seals, so that they could stop the Devil’s revival.
Thus, in order to save the world, and in order to prevent the Devil’s revival, the various sects collaborated together. Before the girl could even enjoy her new life, they killed her in the name of justice. They, they had even split her soul into five, and resealed them onto the five mystic artifacts. While they were still completely uncertain if the Devil would be resurrected, they killed their former world saviour.
The girl died. She died at the hands of the people she once used her life to protect.
Zhu Yao sensed that surging fury, and she felt an oppressing pain the depths of her heart, for that girl, and for those ignorant practitioners. She had even wanted to rush straight in to stop them. However, there was nothing she could do, as she watched that girl die. She watched as the girl’s soul was torn apart from the formation, and she watched as they were imprisoned into the five mystic artifacts.
The scene in front of her eyes changed, and she had once again returned to that field of flowers.
The young maiden that looked like a vile ghost of hell was still standing amidst the flowers, her entire body was covered in blood. However, Zhu Yao suddenly lost all her fear of her, because this was how the girl looked like right before her death. That bloody scar that cut across her face, was exactly the wound where her soul was sliced apart.
“Why?” She asked, tears in the form of fresh, red blood flowed down from her eyes. “I have never mistreated this world in the slightest, so why did the people of this world have to treat me in such a way?”
Zhu Yao could not answer.
The blood on the girl’s clothes grew even redder, as her entire being sunk into boundless despair. Suddenly, the blood turned into streams of black gaseous bodies, enveloping her entire body like a fog.
Resentment!
So this was the cause behind resentment. Because of such treatment by the people of her world, how could she not hate? How could she not resent?
Zhu Yao felt that she was soon about to sink under that immense sadness and desolateness, and thoughts of despair came up in her mind. As though the entirety of the world had already disappeared far away, her entire being felt like it was falling into an ice cellar, and even her heart was about to freeze, with no ability to escape. Even death itself had turned into a form of desire, as the thought of giving up on everything constantly poured into her mind.
Ting! The clear sound of a bell suddenly rang in her ears.
The scene in front of her changed. Instantly, her surroundings were filled with a familiar darkness, and a QQ chat window immediately popped out. On it, several rows of words appeared in an instant.
Realmspirit: Young maiden, are you alright?
Realmspirit: Wake up, young maiden!
Realmspirit: Don’t scare me, hurry and regain your senses!
Realmspirit: Young maiden!
Realmspirit: Zhu Yao!
Realmspirit: Princess Taiping!1
Realmspirit: Airport!2
“…” The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched, and her face instantly darkened. “You’re an airport, your entire family is an airport.”
Realmspirit: (⊙_⊙)
Realmspirit: Yo, brave young maiden, let’s create a miracle together!
“Create your sister!” Zhu Yao habitually refuted. She then took a deep breath. The despair and desire for death she felt earlier had already receded like the ocean tide, none of their traces could be found. The emotions earlier were most likely the influence of resentment. She turned around and looked at her surroundings. “Did I die again?”
Realmspirit: Nope, young maiden! At the very most, your soul is just experiencing an out-of-body experience.
“Out-of-body experience?” Zhu Yao was stunned. “Then, what about my body?”
Realmspirit: Your body has already been taken over by resentment, and it’s currently in a state of deep slumber.
“You’re saying I can still return?” That was her original avatar, she had feelings for it!
Realmspirit sank into silence. After a while, he typed out a row of words.
Realmspirit: … Unless the resentment in your body is removed, you will be devoured by the resentment if you return now.
“Oh…” Zhu Yao really did not expect that the situation was this serious.
Realmspirit: Hoho, young maiden, your mission this time seems to be too difficult. This work arrangement is my mistake. Why don’t we switch to an easy and comfortable bug for you to fix?
Were there bugs ever that were easy and comfortable to deal with? Zhu Yao gave a scornful look.
“Whatever, since I have already started fixing it, then I shall fix it till the end!”
Realmspirit: Eh?
He seemed to have been startled for a moment.
Realmspirit: Young maiden, are you still planning to return and deal with resentment? Dear friend, do you need a top-up on your intelligence? One top-up with every five bugs fixed, and you will be charged the moment the top-up is processed. Do you need one?
“Scram!” Zhu Yao rolled her eyes at him. “I simply have a feeling that, I might have found a way to eliminate resentment.”
Realmspirit: (⊙o⊙) (Earlier, she was still utterly abused by resentment, why did she say that she has a way to deal with it now all of a sudden? The resentment couldn’t have burnt away the young maiden’s brain, right?)
“Hey, can you not type out your retorts!?” Do you really think I won’t be able to see them because of those brackets? -Faints!-
Realmspirit: Don’t mind such details! Young maiden, are you certain that you wish to continue fixing this bug?
“That’s right. Regarding the concrete details of eliminating resentment, I’m still not exactly certain. I have to personally verify it myself.” Zhu Yao said with a low voice. “And I need your help.”
Realmspirit: Oh… Come then, young maiden. Don’t take pity on me just because I’m frail, use me however you like!
“…” Would it kill you not to act stupid? Zhu Yao sighed as she ignored his immoral words. She then gave her analysis. “Usually, when fixing a bug in a game, we would point at the original infrastructure and add a patch there. However, if we encounter mistakes that can never be repaired, in other words, a life-threatening mistake, if we want to save it, there is only a single method – delete and recode. Back then, when the resentment entered my divine sense, I saw the cause behind the birth of resentment. I must say, she does indeed have the right to resent. Also, there’s basically no way to remove her resentment. To remove the bell, the one who attached the bell is needed. If we want to solve this problem, we must first begin from the source. So, I wish to go to that world, and find that girl.”
Realmspirit did not reply, as though he was considering her suggestion. After a while, a row of words was displayed.
Realmspirit: You’re planning to remove her resentful heart, and have her put down her hatred towards the people of her world.
“You can put it that way.”
Realmspirit: However, though her soul still resides in the world, the resentment has long left her spiritual body. Now that it has arrived in the Underworld, it might not be influenced by her soul.
“At the very least, we should give it a try.”
Realmspirit: … Fine then, I believe in you. I choose you, Pikachu!
“…” Pika your sister! The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. She suddenly recalled something. “Oh right, what happened to my master? Why is he frequently turning into a child? Is his comatose state also influenced by resentment?”
Realmspirit, That’s not it, young maiden. One must always pay a certain price for defying against the Heavenly Dao.
“What do you mean?” Speak human.
Realmspirit: He forcefully descended upon the Lower Realm with his power as a High Deity, and then forcefully stayed in the Lower Realm, so naturally he would not be tolerated by the Heavenly Dao.
“You’re saying the reason for his comatose state is because of his decision to stay in the Lower Realm.” The depths of Zhu Yao’s heart tightened, and she was instantly filled with guilt. If not because of her, how could her master possibly…
Realmspirit: Haah, young maiden! All this is because of… love. As expected, men and women in love are all blind!
“Scram!” Zhu Yao glared at him, and her heart was instantly filled with anxiety. “Is there a way to deal with this problem? … No! This old lady wants to return!”
Realmspirit: Don’t be anxious, young maiden.
“How can I not be anxious?” That was her man.
Realmspirit: Kuh… I’m saying, the problem has already been settled.
Zhu Yao was stunned. “What do you mean?”
The window flashed, and suddenly a video interface appeared. On the window, the scene right after she fainted was shown. Her master dressed in a white robe was currently sitting next to her, his expression was suffused with a cold aura. Wang Xuzhi was standing at the side, as though he had just woken up, his complexion did not look that good. As for Zi Mo…
Zi Mo was currently stuck in a wall. Looking at the angle and depth he was embedded into it, it was definitely her master who slammed him into it.
Zhu Yao: “…”
“How did my master wake up?”
Realmspirit: Did you forget the pearl River of Forgetfulness gave you? It contains the purest of water from the source of River of Forgetfulness, that had yet to make contact with any souls. It’s capable of cleansing away all objects and beings. That’s why, as long as he carries it on his body, the Heavenly Dao will acknowledge his existence, so he will naturally wake up.
As expected, that pearl was for her master’s use. Zhu Yao turned to glance at her own master, and suddenly felt a little discomfort. Every single time, she had to depart like this without saying goodbye, her heart was tired as well. However, if she did not go, she wouldn’t know which world Realmspirit would reincarnate her into. It would be best if she directly eliminated resentment and then return to her own original avatar.
“Can I send him a message?”
Realmspirit: Young maiden, I’m not a postman!
What a friend you are!
“Whatever, dispatch me for the mission then.”
Realmspirit: Alright, young maiden!
“Can you give me a more reliable avatar this time? Don’t make it as weak as trash, alright?”
Realmspirit: No problem, young maiden! I hear your call, young maiden.
“Then I’m off.”
Realmspirit: Alright, young maiden! In order to raise your chances of success, I have decided to tune some fine adjustments to the scenario. Good luck, young maiden.
Wait a minute, what did you adjust, hey?
The view in front of her flashed, and a familiar loading bar appeared. The bar moved at lightspeed, and in the next second, Zhu Yao had already sunk into unconsciousness.
She suddenly had a bad feeling, that she was about to get trolled.
When Zhu Yao woke up again, she was on a stone bed. Her entire body was so stiff, it felt like she had been petrified into stone. She spent great effort into sitting up. As she got used to her body, she inspected her surroundings. This was a stone chamber, and it was even sealed tight. Several formations used to concentrate spiritual energy were placed inside, which made the spiritual energy in the air abundant.
She sat for exactly an hour before she managed to smoothen the flow of her meridians, and her stiffened body slowly began to relax as well.
Zhu Yao inhaled some air, wanting to circulate the spiritual energy in her body. However, she realized that her Dantian was completely empty.
The hell, what happened to the promised overpowered avatar? She couldn’t possibly have to start cultivating again from scratch, right?
Wait a minute!
It wasn’t that simple. She calmed her heart down, and immediately went into her inner view. She realized that although her body did not carry spiritual energy, her divine sense was as broad as the ocean. The hell, this divine sense was evidently comparable to a Demigod’s.
Zhu Yao instantly grew a little excited. So it was simply because she did not have sufficient battery charged up. She finally did not have to start cultivating from scratch again.
Thus, she directly guided spiritual energy into her body. In an instant, the spiritual energy guiding formations in the stone chamber began to circulate wildly. Large amount of spiritual energy began to pour into her body, and her surroundings were filled with sparkling streaks of lightning. The chamber looked as though it was attacked by a tornado, and occasionally, flashes of lightning would occasionally appear and make crackling sounds, as they struck the stone walls. It was unclear what materials the stone wall was made of either, as not a single scratch was left on it.
The amount of spiritual energy the formations could gather was extremely limited, and in just a few moments, they had already been completely absorbed. It was simply not enough to restore her cultivation. However, after the formations had stopped, even more spiritual energy came transferring endlessly into her body from underneath the ground.
It seemed like there was even a spiritual pulse hidden under this stone chamber. Zhu Yao instantly felt at ease, as she began to absorb the spiritual energy with a peace of mind.
Exactly ten days passed before her empty Dantian was completely filled with spiritual energy. Her cultivation had also successfully restored to the Demigod Realm.
Zhu Yao casually cast a Dirt Removal Art on herself, and then immediately materialized a water mirror to look at the appearance of her current avatar.
She had no choice. After all, she did not have that much faith in Realmspirit’s character.
The face of a woman surfaced in the water mirror. She looked really stern, and not much beauty could be seen from her entire figure. She could only be considered as average and proper. Her height was so-so, her clothes were so-so, her looks were so-so, and her chest… was so-so as well. She seemed like a female practitioner without any unique traits, and had a face that would be unrecognizable when thrown into a human crowd.
Zhu Yao pouted. Normal it is then. She did not hold much hopes towards her own avatar now, as long as she did not turn into something strange, she was fine with it.
She silently planted a suggestion in her own heart and accepted her new avatar. Keeping the mirror with a wave of her hand, she recalled the mission this time. Firstly, she had to first retrieve the five mystic artifacts and release the soul remnants of the miserable girl. Then, she had to have a good chat with her about life.
Even if she could not eliminate her resentment, at the very least, she could send her into reincarnation.
With her ability as a Demigod, Zhu Yao felt really confident.
After carefully inspecting this stone chamber, she spotted a formation on the right wall. It seemed like that was the exit. Zhu Yao did not hesitate and inserted a strand of spiritual energy into it. With a rumbling sound, the entire right wall slowly split into two and slid open in opposite directions.
Before she could even take a step out, she saw an old man standing outside. With a cultivation level at the early Nascent Soul Realm, he was dressed in a long blue robe and had grown a long white beard down his chin. He held on a whisk in his hands, exuding a very sage-like demeanour.
There was a large bunch of disciples behind him. There were men and women, old and young, and they densely occupied the entire mountain slope where the cave entrance was.
Zhu Yao’s heart trembled. What were these people doing? Fighting a group battle?
Seeing that she had come out, the eyes of the old man with a sage-like demeanour brightened. Taking a step forward, his sage-like demeanour resoundingly snapped as he bowed in front of her. With an imposing aura, he loudly said. “This disciple greets Old Ancestor!”
When his words fell, the disciples behind him all knelt down one after another. Voices that could pierce through the clouds resounded. “Greetings to Old Ancestor!”
“…”
I dare you to stand up and say it again while stroking your beard!
Princess Taiping (太平公主) : literally translated as the Princess of Peace, she was the youngest daughter of Empress Wu Zetian.
The airport here is used to express her flat chest, like the plane runways in airports.