Chapter 337: 244 Tragic and Beautiful... Love?
Longyuan Province, located in the northwest of Great Xia, is home to a very famous mountain range: the Qilian Mountain Range!
With a little thought, Du Yu matched it up with the map from his previous life.
It’s just that, in his last life, Gansu was long and narrow, while Longyuan Province here is more of a square, quite a bit larger than Gansu.
Around 1 a.m., after a long four-hour flight, Du Yu and the others finally arrived at Longyuan Province’s Golden Autumn City.
As soon as they walked out of the arrival gate, the five-person team was immediately recognized.
A Demon Spirit Soldier jogged over and gave a standard military salute. "Great Xia Bookstore, Ms. Yang Qingqing?"
Years of military service left their mark on Yang Qingqing. She started to raise her right arm out of habit, but forcibly held back the motion of returning the salute.
She was no longer a member of the Demon Spirit Squad—she’d gone from soldier, to teacher, to her current role as head of the Bookstore.
At only 27 years old, Yang Qingqing’s resume was impressively extensive.
"Hello." Yang Qingqing nodded in greeting.
Du Yu’s mind started to wander. From now on, his title wouldn’t be "Ancient Pine Tower Demon Spirit Academy"—it would be "Great Xia Bookstore·Du Yu"?
Sounds pretty badass~
Come to think of it, the Twenty-Ninth Bureau had just been formed; its systems weren’t complete, and the name hadn’t made any waves yet.
In the future, his prefix might be: "Bureau of Spiritual Artifact Culture Research and Management & Protection·Du Yu"?
"Please come with me." The soldier called over his comrades and led Yang Qingqing’s group to a long military transport vehicle.
According to the soldier, it would still be a two-hour drive to Xixia Town, so everyone could get some rest on the road.
Du Yu, though, didn’t feel the slightest bit drowsy. After all, earlier that afternoon, he’d been trapped by the Fire Phoenix Tree, unable to move—sleep was literally all he could do...
Full of energy, Du Yu started working on the little Du Yu inside his Yutang Acupoint. Who knows how long passed before he sensed someone watching him from the side.
He was sitting in the third row of the backseat with Master Qing, so it went without saying where the gaze had come from.
Du Yu immediately opened his eyes and looked at the woman beside him, curiosity on his face. "Master Qing? You should try to get some rest. When we’re almost there, I’ll wake you up."
But Yang Qingqing spoke up: "Have you thought about how to carry out the task? Got any ideas?"
Du Yu felt a bit helpless. Back at home, he hadn’t come up with any great plan either.
He answered quietly, "I hope West Xia’s Flute will see us as special cases.
After all, we both have Spiritual Artifacts. Maybe the Artifact Spirits can show us some respect and let us try communicating."
Based on the info, West Xia’s Flute was stubborn as a mule.
It didn’t communicate with anyone. It just squatted in the park all day, playing for itself and admiring its own music.
Anyone who tried to interact with it—once they got close, they’d fall asleep, and any communication equipment got shattered by the flute’s sound waves.
"We can’t get near it." Yang Qingqing shook her head and asked, "Can your Shadow Gu Tower be summoned out and made extra huge?"
"Master Qing wants to draw West Xia’s Flute’s attention, huh," Du Yu muttered thoughtfully.
If you can’t get close, then attract from afar?
The Shadow Gu Tower had two fighting styles. One: forcibly extract a Demon Soul from a living creature, a seriously overbearing move.
The other way was to imprison the prey inside the Tower, using an Illusion Realm to confuse, trap, and kill the enemy.
This function was even more domineering and could strike the enemy on all fronts!
It attacked the enemy’s body, mind, Demon Breath, Demon Soul—everything.
Back when Du Yu had first signed the contract with the Shadow Gu Tower, Little Fen Yang had acted as the messenger and clearly stated that using this feature was extremely energy-consuming. The Tower needed plenty of rest, best not to activate it rashly.
Your own treasure, you gotta cherish it.
Since getting the Shadow Gu Tower, Du Yu had never used this ability.
"Just a sec, Master Qing." Du Yu whispered, his eyes gradually turning vacant.
Yang Qingqing knew Du Yu was talking to the Shadow Gu Tower, so she didn’t interrupt her disciple.
Half a minute later, Du Yu’s eyes regained their focus: "Yes, it’s possible! But if I use it to trap and kill prey, the Shadow Gu Tower strongly advises against it.
Master Qing, you know the Tower still has the Heaven Returning Wood’s Demon Soul inside. If I’m not careful, things could go wrong fast."
Yang Qingqing nodded. "As long as you can summon it out, that’s enough."
In the front row, Li Mengnan turned around and whispered, "Master Qing."
"Mm?"
Li Mengnan softly said, "I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s right."
"Heh." Yang Qingqing chuckled, looking at the shy girl in front of her. She reached out and brushed aside a strand of hair from the girl’s forehead. "Go ahead."
Such a kind gesture gave Li Mengnan a huge dose of courage.
The girl whispered, "I saw in the files that everyone who hears the flute dreams, but each has a different dream."
Yang Qingqing: "And?"
Du Yu grinned at Li Mengnan. This chick... still thinking about sweet dreams?
Persistent, she was.
Li Mengnan: "Doesn’t that count as a kind of psychic attack?"
Yang Qingqing didn’t comment either way: "Continue."
Li Mengnan knelt up on the seat, hugging the seatback as she spoke: "If it’s a mental-type technique, is it possible to establish a kind of link with it?
Just like our Demon Pet Contracts—both parties’ spirits are connected, and we can sense each other’s intentions."
"Mm." Yang Qingqing nodded. The girl’s idea matched her own.
Looks like this usually goofy disciple actually had a clever side.
Li Mengnan whispered, "Just my wild guess."
"Not bad." Yang Qingqing gently gestured for her to sit.
Li Mengnan obediently swiveled and took her seat.
In front of Master Qing, this normally wild ’muscle bro big sister’ always acted perfectly demure.
Goes to show—the prettier the girl, the trickier she is~
Du Yu glanced at Master Qing and saw she was deep in thought.
Psychic attack doesn’t necessarily mean psychic communication; those are two different things.
Most Demon Skills in this world were physical manifestations, and spiritual-type abilities were rare.
Rare, but not nonexistent.
So Yang Qingqing drew a clear line between the concepts.
If West Xia’s flute music truly was a form of psychic attack, then at least it proved the flute had that kind of baseline capacity!
Take it a step further: if West Xia’s Flute really could communicate with people in dreams...
Then the biggest issue would be earning its trust.
When the Human Race was under threat, maybe that moment of crisis could turn into a chance for conversation.
No matter what, it was worth a try!
The car fell silent again. The two-hour drive went by fast, and at three in the morning, the military vehicle arrived at the renowned Xixia Town.
Roadblock after roadblock at the city gates showed the area was under total lockdown.
Du Yu was well aware that all kinds of buildings in the town were now empty of civilians. The residents had all been evacuated—it was a "Ghost City" in every sense.
Xixia Town wasn’t very big. The military vehicle hadn’t gone far before Du Yu faintly heard some strange sounds.
In the dead quiet of night, even the faintest flute music stood out.
"What tune is that?" Du Yu closed his eyes, listening intently to the beautiful melody.
"Never heard it." Lin Shiwei frowned, trying at first to identify the piece, but as she listened, her frown softened bit by bit.
Though the vehicle was still far from the source of the flute, Lin Shiwei didn’t feel at all sleepy. Yet, the haunting melody brought her a deep and genuine sense of peace and calm.
It made her feel more and more comfortable, and she started to really enjoy it...
Wait, no!
Lin Shiwei snapped her eyes open and shook her head vigorously.
She’d always thought of herself as a Warrior—there’s no way she’d slack mentally when approaching a battlefield. That was absolutely out of the question!
Wide awake again, Lin Shiwei turned to look at her side.
Sure enough, Li Mengnan’s face was totally enraptured, lost in the sound of the flute.
Lin Shiwei gently patted the girl’s hand. "Mengnan, Mengnan?"
"Hm?" Li Mengnan looked at her third sister, her eyes still a little glazed.
Lin Shiwei raised her right hand in front of Li Mengnan’s face and snapped her fingers. "Snap!"
Li Mengnan blinked, and the dazed look in her eyes gradually cleared up.
"We’re here," said the soldier as the vehicle came to a stop in front of a school gate. It looked like the Demon Spirit Military had commandeered the campus.
"Doo-doo~ doo~" Du Yu hummed softly under his breath, following the flute’s tune until he was humming its melody exactly.
Yang Qingqing: "..."
The senior apprentices had already exited the vehicle, but Du Yu was still lost in the flute music, his "doo-doo" changing into a nasal "hmm-hmm."
Yang Qingqing was still sitting right next to Du Yu. She waited over ten seconds before finally deciding she wasn’t going to indulge him anymore.
She crossed her index and middle fingers, reached out to Du Yu’s forehead, and flicked him. "Smack!"
"Whummm!"
The flick seemed gentle, but Du Yu’s Demon Breath Battle Robe buzzed like crazy!
"Ow!" Du Yu yelped, his hand shooting up to rub his forehead.
Yang Qingqing looked at him, then gave a sideways glance at the car door—her message was obvious.
No matter how small the hint, Du Yu always picked up on it. But this time, he refused to obey the Master!
Du Yu whispered, "Master Qing, did you notice? This piece sounds like it’s about love.
Like it’s telling a sad, tragic love story."
Yang Qingqing’s expression got a bit strange after hearing that from her disciple.
She was sure Du Yu had never been in love. An eighteen-year-old kid—what did he know about romance?
Not that Yang Qingqing herself understood, either.
As for matters of the heart, probably the most experienced in the team was Fu Jianzhou...
Du Yu read the Immortal Master’s face and was immediately unhappy, mumbling, "Just cause I’ve never eaten pork doesn’t mean I’ve never seen a pig run, you know."
Yang Qingqing smirked. "Get out of the car."
"Okay." Du Yu had no choice but to get out.
But no sooner had he stepped off than several soldiers hurried over. "Mr. Du Yu?"
Du Yu wasn’t often called "mister." He nodded, "Hello."
The soldier stepped slightly aside and gestured to the school gate. "The supervisor requests your presence. Please come with us."
Du Yu: "Just me?"
"Yes."
Du Yu was taken aback, turning to the woman who’d just gotten off behind him.
Yang Qingqing’s brows knitted. "Which supervisor wants to see him? We’re a team."
The soldier clearly recognized Yang Qingqing and, clearly carrying out instructions, said, "Mr. Cheng Feng requests you."
Du Yu was stunned. Great Xia Seven Saints·Cheng Feng?
No wonder the senior hadn’t replied to messages—he was here, on the job.
Tsk~ That’s life for someone who’s been demoted, huh? Bureaucracy never ends?
The other Six Saints of Great Xia couldn’t show up easily. Besides, if they kept dealing with mortal affairs, it would mess with their mindset and they’d lose their Stage.
But Cheng Feng was different!
Before you all started worrying about losing your Stage, I already dropped to rock bottom!
Damn~
Du Yu scratched his head. Was Great Xia just milking this sheep for all it was worth...?