Chapter 42
When Lord Nan Xiang heard the name Qin Mo, he was completely stunned for a moment. A flash of strong hatred crossed his eyes, but it could not hide the dread that also appeared.
It was Qin Mo’s fault. He had both lost most of his cultivation, as well as having his bones and muscles destroyed. How could the Magnificent Leader of the Xuan Ming Sect actually be reduced to that degree because of another?
So, now that evil star was at it again. He actually destroyed the Shang Li Mountain Range and ruined his foundation! Thinking of all that, he could not help shaking from head to toe with hatred, resentment, and some fear. His state of mind was so tangled and complicated that he nearly went mad.
A cold snort echoed, and Lord Nan Xiang suddenly snapped out of it. When he saw the forbidding leader’s look, he immediately reverted to a yes-man.
Qin Mo was dreadful, but compared to the person standing before him, he was not even worth mentioning.
Right up to the present, he did not even know that person’s name, and even his appearance was difficult to distinguish. Lord Nan Xiang’s name was also very private, but when it came to the man before him, he could not even perceive his cultivation level. It was clearly deep and unmeasurable……
He was somewhat apprehensive. Although he did not know how that person was related to Qin Yue, he had demanded him to bring him back to life, so he must have some usefulness. However, that matter had been met with complete failure. In any event, Qin Yue could not longer be revived.
Lord Nan Xiang was very scared. Shang Li had already been destroyed, if he lost the opportunity to restore his cultivation, how could he be any good later on?
He was originally very nervous, but heard the man say, “Since Qin Mo is alive, Qin Yue is worthless.”
Lord Nan Xiang’s heart was tight.
“But after all, you managed to completely fail at this task. In order to make amends, you will have to seek out that thing for me, then I can help you restore your cultivation.”
Lord Nan Xiang was happy at first, but once he saw how things were, he was alarmed within his heart.
The magic artifact that he wanted was actually the Soul Locking Mirror!
Where could he begin? Where should he even search in order to find it?
When he saw the man’s face coloured with distress, the man snorted again and then proceeded to explain, “It is in the Thousand Woods Secret Border, you have three days to go and fetch it.”
Lord Nan Xiang accepted his order and departed. Mo Yan, who was left alone, smiled sinisterly. Lu Jiuyuan that useless guy, didn’t even use that top-notch cultivation furnace, really a delightful surprise.
***
Although Shi Qing had been unable to understand what his fellow host was twisted up by, fortunately he was now an expert with countless tricks for dealing with a psychopath. He ran his hand along his hair, spoke a few good words, and met any demands (with a metaphorical handshake)……After a few cycles, Qin Mo’s frame of mind had somewhat improved.
Shi Qing hurried along the whole journey, and finally got his host to settle into a better mood. However, he did not dare to happily praise the triple-headed gun any further. It seemed to make Qin Mo quite unhappy.
Shi Qing mulled things over. It was probably that the triple-headed gun belonged to the host, yet Shi Qing had always stared at it and coveted it. That made his host dissatisfied?
Consequently, he very consciously ignored the weapon. Although he really wanted to hug it to himself while he slept.
Triple-headed gun: …big pervert!
After leaving the cave, aside from their initial rest, Qin Mo was deliberately moving towards a specific destination.
Qin Mo did not explain, and Shi Qing did not ask. He only concerned himself with time that had elapsed, carefully calculating how long it would take for the system space to open up.
On the one hand, he was worried that they had no place to hide if they were met with danger. On the other hand, he was also looking forward to quickly returning to the system space. There, he could check on how many points he had and see whether it was enough to purchase a body-splitting technique!
For that reason, he monitored the time very seriously.
They had spent around twenty minutes in the cave, one hour and ten minutes running out of it, a half hour rest by the stream, and just now they had been walking for around forty minutes.
All that remained was the last twenty minutes!
Qin Mo also finally brought them to his intended destination.
Shi Qing took a careful look and felt that the location was anything but reassuring.
This place, it certainly did not appear to be any kind of good place…
Darkness lay before them. It was difficult to identify anything, but it seemed to be a forest, if eerie branches that resembled brandished claws came from what could be called trees.
The road was difficult to make out. There were dark green and faint blue shrubs covering the whole are. Those plants were not at all lovely. As soon as a person looked on their strange colouring, they could not help harbouring suspicions over whether they were toxic or not.
That was just the entrance. If a person looked deep inside, it could actually make even a courageous man experience an intense feeling of vertigo. It was as if they stood before a deep and unmeasurable black vortex. Like a black hole in space, it seemed capable of sucking everything in and crushing it into dust.
Shi Qing looked a little frightened. When they partnered up, he had received the majority of Qin Mo’s memories. Although he was short some of the details, he distinctly recalled the bigger incidents. He truly could not remember that Qin Mo ever came to such a place.
So, why Qin Mo came there and what he planned to do, Shi Qing could not guess.
Still, Shi Qing truly did not want to go in. He was filled with the terror that came with that kind of unknown darkness, making people helpless against the numbness of their scalps and the emptiness in their hearts.
It felt like knowingly standing before the monster’s gaping mouth, and even though he knew he’d be torn apart by its teeth, he still had to take the initiative to send himself over.
It would be strange not to feel terrified.
He shifted backwards in retreat, but that also meant taking a step away from Qin Mo.
Qin Mo looked back at him and whispered, “Come here.”
Shi Qing paused and no longer moved back, but he did not dare to move forward.
Qin Mo frowned, moved towards him, stretched out his long arm. No matter what Shi Qing was thinking, he lifted him into his embrace.
Shi Qing: …It’s truly regretful, for what reason did this grandfather not choose that muscle-man body! I chose this weak chicken that people just want to hold and carry. I’m not a woman! I’ve completely lost all face.
His heart was filled with extreme regret when he saw that Qin Mo strode towards the black hole. He did not even dare to move, let alone struggle to break free from the other’s embrace, hating that he could not fight against that tight hold—even if he exerted all of his strength.
That sort of horrible place, if he was left behind how could he stay alive!
After going in, it seemed to be better. A cold wind simply blew past their ears, the low temperature causing goosebumps to jump up. It also brought a strange whimpering sound with it, made more eerie by the unnatural stars that hung in the sky. The whole thing caused his entire body to feel numb.
Shi Qing did not even dare to breathe too rapidly. It must be a ghost that was waiting for a chance to trick him and steal his soul as soon as he let down his guard. He was so nervous he thought he would die.
He did not know how long they were walking before they emerged from the dark. When he saw a small bright light before them, he was finally able to feel some relief.
He looked at the time, oh boy……twenty minutes had passed, the system space was open!
He was excited, so he hurriedly asked Qin Mo, “System space is open, how about we go in?”
Qin Mo answered, “Wait a second.” Then, he closed his eyes.
Shi Qing was at a total loss[1], he did not know what the other man was up to. However, as long as the system space was opened, he felt more at ease.
About five minutes later, the bright spot suddenly darkened as if it was a light that had been covered. Shi Qing immediately felt tense and alert.
Then, he heard a sharp hiss.
He quickly looked in the direction the sound originated from, and was shocked by the monster that had seemingly materialized.
That…was that…Hydra[2]?
He quickly turned around and looked at Qin Mo. Qin Mo wore his usual expression, as if the giant monster he was looking at face to face could not cause him to experience even a thread of fear.
Yet, soon after, he said to Shi Qing, “Go, back to the system space.”
Shi Qing stared blankly, then immediately following that he opened the space and disappeared into thin air with Qin Mo.
It was best not to stay and face that monster. Who would actually want to play with that massive hydra?
Once they returned to the system space, Shi Qing finally managed to relax. Then he probingly asked “You come here for the Hydra?”
Qin Mo nodded, “Yeah.”
Although he only answered with one word, it was still enough to confirm Qin Mo’s intentions. Shi Qing did not ask again, but instead rushed to the system store full of joy and expectations and began to search through it earnestly.
He currently had 8000 points, allowing him to purchase more and more things. Even so, he still quickly looked for the thing he wanted most.
Sure enough, the thing he wanted—a doppelgänger technique!
Moreover, it also had quite a few categories. There was a temporary doppelgänger scroll. It only lasted for a short time, but the price was relatively inexpensive at a thousand points. Another type that was available was a doppelgänger medicine. It had a similar effect to the scroll, but the duration was longer, up to a full day. The disadvantage was that anyone who used it would be asleep for two days afterwards. The price was also a thousand points.
Both of them were affordable for Shi Qing, but the shortcomings were too obvious. In addition, a thousand points was not a small amount for him, so ultimately the quality-price ratio was not high enough.
Finally, he saw a cultivation manual with a technique that could be learned and then upgraded. The first stage allowed the user to separate into two people. With each level that was achieved, the practitioner could separate into more bodies.
The thing that Shi Qing cared about the most was that the manual included a set of harmonizing breath techniques with specialized compatibility with body splitting. The process of splitting one’s body could bring suffering, but the breathing technique was capable of strengthening and improving the body to solve that issue.
Shi Qing carefully read through the introduction, and the more he read the more excited he was about it. He only hated that he could not purchase it immediately as he once again looked at the price……and immediately wilted.
It actually cost 20,000 points!
Very expensive! He only had 8,000 at the moment, so far away…
His host was able to get such an awesome amount of points. If they just did ordinary tasks where the points were amassed slowly, how many years would that take?
He was not fond of the idea of such hard work.
Compared to Shi Qing, who was at a loss, Qin Mo did not have such complicated concerns. First, he browsed all the different goods. He skipped the cultivation manuals, passed over the weapons and equipment, and paid more attention to the high-tech products, easily buying a few things. All his remaining points were spent on strengthening his body.
After, he looked over at Shi Qing and said, “Start the next mission.”
Shi Qing immediately answered in the affirmative, “Okay!” In order to acquire the doppelgänger technique, he should take on more missions in order to get more points!
He opened the next task, and when he saw the background information on the next world, Shi Qing was pleased to see that it was a topic in which he was experienced and knowledgeable.
It was truly a wonderful world…beyond his expectations.
It was not like the beastman world that had toppled his three worldviews and where men loved other men. Rather, the people in it were quite magical.
Shi Qing had read about the storage space power in novels before, but how could it be that every person in this world had their own exclusive space?
Were these gold fingers just lying around on the street? Could they still be called gold fingers?
Shi Qing quickly skimmed through and felt that the world grew more and more interesting.
Everyone in this world had their own exclusive space, but the space was completely random. Once they reach 11 years of age, their space opened and it was eligible to evaluated. At that time, they are able to determine the characteristics and aptitude of the space.
For example, some people have spaces suitable for growing vegetables, while there are others that are more suitable for growing fruit trees. Some spaces are like an abundant spring all year round, while others have only scorching summer days for years on end.
Not only that, but some spaces naturally produced different ores that could be excavated and collected…
There are good and bad spaces, so that means that there are many unfortunate people with trash spaces.
For example, some spaces are only the size of the palm of a hand. Nothing can be stored or live inside such a tiny space…there are also spaces full of yellow sand that cannot be cultivated, so no food can be collected. They can’t even store things in those types of spaces for worries that they would become filthy. There are even some spaces filled with only seawater, or comprised of a pile of bubbles, rainbows as far as the eyes can see, or entirely filled with clouds……
Even though they are useless, at least they are nice-looking. Some spaces are filled with a terrible stench, mud, or even a wide expanse of swampland…there have even been oversized trash piles.
Shi Qing nearly laughed out loud, but Qin Mo’s line of sight had landed on the words at the bottom.
“For this mission, you may choose to temporarily seal the host’s memory. Doing this will trigger ten times the point reward upon completion.”
Hi everyone! It has been (quite) a while. If you don’t read my novel PUP, you would have missed out on the fact that I was recently afflicted with pleurisy, not to mention how pregnant I am these days, so this chapter (as well as everything in my life) had to take the back seat for a while. I’m feeling better, but very tired. FYI – baby is due in May.
I’m really excited for this next arc, it’s so unique and interesting. I plan to start up with chapter 43 of this novel before I go back to PUP. Which has less than 20 chapters left!!
Thank you for your patience! Also, please share an opinion if you’d like. Do you prefer exclusive space, or dimension? The literal translation is space, but I was tossing both around as possibilities.
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- This was originally an idiom meaning at a loss, ‘like a three-meter high monk, you can’t rub his head’. I usually leave idioms as they are because they often make sense without an explanation, but this one is obviously too culturally specific (for me anyways). It’s kinda fun though so I’m putting it down here.
- Hydra – in this case it is referring specifically to a nine headed serpent. Often this is the type of creature that, if you cut off one head, several will grow to replace it. Not sure if this one is like that. Anyways, google 九头蛇 if you want to see images. As well as the hydra logo from Marvel.