Chapter 18: CH 18

Chapter 18 – Nine Desires Abyss

At ten, Dugu Zhuo had still been an ignorant child, and didn’t know the reason for many of the things happening around him.

He only remembered that at the time, his mother had been deeply ill, and had not been aware of her surroundings even when she was awake, hazily asking whether that man had abandoned her.

Her mind wasn’t clear, and just before her death, she had clung to Dugu Zhuo’s hand like she was possessed, saying she hated this life she had spent in lonely waiting, and she hated having a child out of marriage. All the suffering in her life had been brought about by that man and that child. In her next life, she never wished to see these two people again.

On her deathbed, she saw Dugu Zhuo as his father, and her hateful eyes and words struck deep into Dugu Zhuo’s heart.

Dugu Zhuo had never resented his mother. He had truly lived the first ten years of his life in hardship, his mother being looked down upon by everyone, spurned by the world for having a child before marriage. She had been driven away from home by her parents and traveled far to this small town. Hard work had bent her back, and in the grips of illness, she was very rarely happy.

Dugu Zhuo only thought that maybe it would’ve been better if he were never born. Maybe everyone around him would be happier, whether it was his mother or Ye Zhou.

“Why do you want to bring the Xuan Sword’s wielder closer to the Nine Desires Abyss?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

The attendant shook his head. “I’m not sure, but we have done as such for thousands of years. But looking at things now, we should’ve killed Dugu Zhuo at the start, and let the Qingtian Sect find a new wielder. He was the one person most unsuited to wielding the divine sword.”

This NPC was suddenly full of life, no longer supplying predetermined answers by rote. Fear filled his expression as he clutched the front of his robes. “We only wanted to push the Xuan Sword’s wielder closer to the Nine Desires Abyss, but we couldn’t have imagined that he’d be so extreme. He destroyed the divine realm and didn’t even spare the Netherworld. He’s a madman!”

Witnessing the attendant’s transformation, Dugu Zhuo knew that he had brought another person into the game, only this time, it was someone he didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?” Dugu Zhuo asked.

“Jiao Yan, the gatekeeper of the Nine Desires Abyss in the Netherworld,” the attendant said.

The Netherworld was the territory of ghosts and demons, governing the cycle of life and death. Normally, it should be an orderly place like the human realm, and even though sometimes wicked ghosts or demons might wreak havoc, the Netherworld would send people to apprehend them.

The Nine Desires Abyss was different, however. It constantly collected the nine desires of the human realm, and the overabundance of malevolent intent could no longer be purified, only sealed. One of the roles of the Xuansu Twin Swords was to suppress the Nine Desires Abyss, preventing its demonic energy from corrupting the Netherworld and turning it into a true demonic realm.

When he had broken the swords, despite his grief, Dugu Zhuo had not forgotten his mission. The collapse of the Pillar of Heaven had released the heavenly fire of the Canglan mountain range, and with the Su Sword, which connected to the divine realm, and the Xuan Sword, which connected to the Nine Desires Abyss, Dugu Zhuo guided the heavenly fire into the Abyss, cleansing its wicked qi completely.

There was no more Nine Desires Abyss, and the remaining wicked qi which spilled out from it was gradually cleansed by the abundant spiritual energy of the human world following the fall of the divine realm.

The human realm had reached a new equilibrium.

It must’ve been an outcome that neither the divine realm nor the Nine Desires Abyss could’ve imagined.

After saying his words, Jiao Yan vanished, once again becoming that unremarkable temple attendant. A knocking sound came from outside the temple hall. “Is anyone there? Can we come in?”

Dugu Zhuo immediately removed the attendant’s outer clothes, placed a binding spell on him, and stuffed him, in his inner robes, behind the temple’s statue of Cheng Huang.

He put on the attendant’s clothes and picked up the broom. The plain gray robe did nothing to conceal his otherworldly demeanor.

A player wouldn’t be able to do anything to an NPC, certainly not take off their clothes, but Dugu Zhuo was able to. When Dugu Zhuo stole the attendant’s clothes, the game froze for a moment.

It passed in a split second, too fast for any of the players to notice, and even the programmer who was always checking the data could not notice a single number change so briefly.

Only the artificial intelligence of Nine Heavens took a glance at Dugu Zhuo’s data, then continued with its garbage collection as if it had noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

“Enter,” Dugu Zhuo said.

The veiled gang finally dared to enter the temple, immediately taking off their conical hats and other cloaking items upon coming inside. Dugu Zhuo could now see their features.

Two of them took off a bracelet and their bodies immediately grew a foot in size. They were over two meters tall, with bulging muscles and two small horns atop their heads. Their fingernails were sharp and their skin was slightly red.

These were low-level demons.

The remaining three people seemed sinister, and after their hats came off, so did two of their shadows, to be thrown in a corner along with the hats. These two players cast no shadows, showing they were ghosts. The last player had a shadow, but his skin was pale and he seemed to be a jiangshi or some such.

“I was suffocating,” one of the demons said. “This shitty game doesn’t give its players any dignity. What kind of demons are weak to sunlight?”

“You may be weak to sunlight, but at least you won’t die in it,” said the first ghost.

The jiangshi looked at Dugu Zhuo, and after freezing for a moment, started furiously patting Ghost Two on the shoulder. “Quick, take a screenshot!”

The jiangshi’s hand passed right through Ghost Two’s body. Below level 20, ghosts didn’t have corporeal bodies, being only phantoms that couldn’t be touched by anyone solid.

Upon hearing the jiangshi’s voice, everyone’s attention turned toward Dugu Zhuo, and they all took a breath.

Holding the broom with an indifferent expression, Dugu Zhuo said, “What business do these young heroes have?”

“We’re here to take a screen— er, no, we’re here to do the main questline. How come you look completely different from last night?” said Demon Two.

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“One form can have many expressions,” Dugu Zhuo said calmly.

“It’s day now, isn’t it?” said Ghost One. “It’s not strange that the NPC would be different. Plus, we’re doing the main questline now, so maybe we get special treatment.” He rubbed his hands.

None of them doubted Dugu Zhuo was an NPC, saying, “We’ve already suffused Widow Yang’s tofu with yin energy. What’s the next task?”

So they hadn’t gone to buy tofu, but to place yin energy within it.

If an ordinary person ate that tofu filled with yin energy, their body would be weakened and they would become bedridden with serious illness. He didn’t know what the demons were scheming.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t resent these players. He knew that they didn’t know why they were doing these things, only following the game’s prompts. He could still cause these players some trouble, though.

“Now that you’ve infused yin energy into the tofu, the bailiffs may investigate. Go to the yamen[1] to cause trouble, so they don’t ruin the Netherworld’s grand plan,” Dugu Zhuo said.

When he had seen the bailiffs at the shop yesterday, their levels had been at least 25, so if a few players caused trouble at the yamen, they would die without even understanding why.

“Okay,” the team responded, but none of them left, only gathering around Dugu Zhuo and circling him.

“His eyelashes are so long,” said the jiangshi. “Is he an eyelash god?”

Ghost One said, “The proportions of his facial features are flawless. Look at the straight bridge of his nose, his lips at just the right thickness, the perfect corners of his eyes. His teeth are straight and even, his jawline is impeccable… his forehead, the bridge of his nose, and his jaw perfectly align to the golden ratio. His eyebrows look this good without even being sculpted, and his eyes—”

“Alright!” said Ghost Two. “What are you, a plastic surgeon? Your analysis is going way too deep!”

“How much work did the company put into his model?” said Demon One. “All his movements look so natural. I can almost see all the nights of sleepless work.”

“That’s too harsh,” Demon Two said. “I don’t even feel like taking a screenshot now.”

The group surrounded Dugu Zhuo, chattering while snapping pictures, and even unable to hold back from wanting to touch Dugu Zhuo’s face.

“Young heroes, watch your manners under the eyes of Cheng Huang,” Dugu Zhuo said coldly.

“Oh, what if we don’t?” said Ghost One, grabbing for Dugu Zhuo’s arm, trying to take advantage of his own incorporeality.

“Lowly ghost, watch yourself!” Dugu Zhuo said.

He mentally recited a command of the Five Phases Swordplay, causing the broom in his hand to instantly split apart, each straw of it becoming a sharp blade that flew toward the five players, impaling them all in a flurry.

After killing all the players, Dugu Zhuo received another system notification that he had gained five Righteousness Points for eliminating evil beings, as well as enough experience to bring him to level 13. He chose not to level up, as he didn’t want to surpass Ye Zhou.

At the same time, he received a message of “Ding! You’ve created a sword style. A blank jade slip has been sent to your storage item. Please name your sword style and record it according to system guidelines, then submit it for approval. After approval, your sword style can be given to other players in a transaction.”

It seemed he could really create a technique by using his own swordplay to kill players.

Dugu Zhuo didn’t immediately record the Five Phases Swordplay. With a sweep of his hand, he pushed the corpses of the five players out of the temple and closed the door, then dragged the temple attendant out from behind the divine statue.

He replaced the attendant’s clothes, released his binding, and silently left the temple from the back door.

After leaping over the wall around the temple, he received a notification that “the beggar boss wants you to catch chickens”. These NPCs really knew how to torment players.

Ye Zhou immediately grabbed Dugu Zhuo upon seeing him and dragged him to a hiding place some distance away, before saying out of breath, “You’re finally back. I was worried you’d got caught.”

“Everything’s fine,” Dugu Zhuo said. “I have the information.”

Before Dugu Zhuo could say it, Ye Zhou covered his mouth. “Wait until we meet up with Aotian and the others. They’re working hard on the tasks, so we can’t leave them out.”

“Okay,” Dugu Zhuo said lightly. His lips unintentionally brushed against Ye Zhou’s palm as he spoke.

Ye Zhou, having been disappointed that he couldn’t feel the night breeze last night, had set his pain and tactile sensitivity to 50% when logging on today, so he felt Dugu Zhuo’s lips against his palm.

It was far lighter than it should’ve been, but it still sent Ye Zhou’s heart racing.

He withdrew his hand as if he hadn’t felt anything, and after reuniting with Qingyue and contacting Aotian, they finally met up near Granny Wang’s chicken coop.

“Are these chickens or sparrows?” Aotian said, fuming and pointing to a chicken sitting on the roof.

He turned to Black Cat. “And you! Aren’t you the most nimble? Since you’re a cat, don’t you know how to catch chickens?”

“I’m a cat, not a hawk!” Black Cat replied.

As they quarreled while covered in chicken feathers, Dugu Zhuo’s group caught up. Dugu Zhuo leapt lightly onto the roof, caught two chickens, and tossed them to Ye Zhou.

His movements were graceful, and he quickly captured ten chickens, two for each member of the party. He paid Granny Wang for them in silver, finally completing this chain of missions.

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