CHAPTER 473: CHAPTER 473: DEEP NIGHT, SILENT CITY

Yu Sheng led an endlessly energetic puppet, along with a fox with an insatiable appetite and an ever-awake artificial saintess, roaming the great city at the foot of the mountain for an entire day, until the night fell and the lights illuminated.

"So beautiful..."

The little puppet sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, looking up with wide eyes. She saw the lights and illusions between the pavilions and towers lighting up one after another, and huge flower boats adorned with blossoms slowly flying across the sky. Small buildings with carved beams and painted rafters were built on the flower boats, and a river of lights rose from the distant market, flowing through the entire city—such a breathtaking sight, far surpassing the Mo City on Shuji.

Yu Sheng, carrying Erin, sat on a section of guardrail by the side of the road, looking up at the city’s night scenery, gently sighed after a long while, and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Damn impressive."

The little puppet tugged at his hair, "You’re a novelist, and that’s all you have to say after all this?"

"Nonsense, I’m exhausted; I don’t have the energy for literary flair," Yu Sheng rolled his eyes, then raised his head to look at Luna and Hu Li, standing like guardians on either side of him, "You non-humans..."

Erin burst into giggles, almost laughing herself off Yu Sheng’s shoulder.

Yu Sheng couldn’t be bothered with the little thing.

Hu Li thought about it, then sat next to Yu Sheng, reaching out to pound his leg—not much technique, but strong enough that it seemed like she wanted to nail Yu Sheng to the ground... If it were an ordinary person, they’d probably have a comminuted fracture.

Yu Sheng grimaced as he took a few blows, then quickly stopped the silly fox with freakish strength, and seriously thought for a moment, "...Maybe you guys wait here for half an hour, I’ll recharge myself—if I keep this up, I might drop dead in this city before we’re done exploring."

Erin didn’t react immediately, but Hu Li’s ears perked up sharply, looking up dumbfounded at Yu Sheng, "Savior, is your method of ’recharging’ a bit off...?"

Erin finally reacted at this moment, the little puppet looked astonished, "...Are you going to die?"

Yu Sheng thought about it, casually ruffling the puppet’s head, "I’m just joking, you believed that?"

The little puppet was dazed for a couple of seconds as her head was being ruffled, then raised her arms to shield herself from Yu Sheng’s big hand while mumbling, "You’re joking, huh? I saw a flash of misfortune on you and then you took it back... Is that something you can take back?"

Yu Sheng laughed, looking at this little one under the night, adorned with colorful, shiny trinkets.

Be it hairpins or ornaments, or even the glowing jade tokens and beads, even the Omen Wandering Star floating beside her head was strung with several chains of talisman jade, said to be blessed by experts—how she managed to stabilize that ball is anyone’s guess—but this was only part of it, at least half of the odds and ends were stuffed into Hu Li’s tail.

Moreover, Hu Li’s tail was also filled with various snacks, and a set of farm tools Luna had her eye on.

Plus, a packet of seeds bought while purchasing the tools—the vendor swore they were immortal plant seeds harvested from the foot of Qianfeng Ling Mountain, capable of growing seven or eight kinds of spiritual herbs.

...But considering the price converted to Boundary Land’s currency was 9.9 a packet, Yu Sheng didn’t quite buy it.

But it didn’t matter, it was for Luna to play with.

Hu Li sat on the railing, scooting closer, and a bunch of tails lightly wagged happily behind her, playfully tapping Yu Sheng’s back.

Since it was only a gentle unconscious wagging, it didn’t knock the wind out of Yu Sheng.

Suddenly, Luna lifted her head, looking toward the junction of Spirit Mountain and the city.

Amidst the sound of thumping, small points of light suddenly shot up into the sky from that direction.

In the next second, the firework stars exploded, streaming lights scattering.

The flower boats soaring across the sky and the tall buildings in the city dimmed their lights at some point, against the once-again clear night sky, giant fireworks burst like a rich galaxy, illuminating nearly half the city.

The bright fireworks reflected on Luna’s smooth alloy shell, and in Hu Li and Erin’s eyes.

"Ah, damn impressive," the little puppet gazed up at the sky, happily exclaiming.

Yu Sheng glanced at her, "Your vocabulary isn’t much better either, huh?"

No sooner had he spoken than Hu Li chimed in, "That’s different, she was educated in the womb, her kindergarten was correspondence..."

Erin shrieked and leaped off Yu Sheng’s shoulder, "Silly! Fox! I’m gonna take you on—"

Yu Sheng quickly moved aside to prevent the two pre-school dropouts and the correspondence kindergarten graduate from fighting and ruining his college diploma—the Luna from the village chapel stood still, likely busy recording at this time.

"Ah, really nice," Yu Sheng sat on the railing, leaning against a lamp post in the middle of the guardrail, then turned his head, casually speaking to the air beside him, "Right?"

A semi-transparent ghostly image suddenly appeared in the air, resembling Yun Qingzi.

The old man looked bewildered, "...How did you see me? I should have been well-hidden."

"Nonsense, you made me spit blood, and you think you can escape my perception?" Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow, speaking nonchalantly, "Weren’t you going to say you couldn’t come out?"

Yun Qingzi chuckled awkwardly, "Originally I thought so, but I couldn’t help myself and split off a divine thought to take a look at what the Taixu Spirit Hub would be like a thousand years later—my Primordial Spirit body still remains in the valley."

"That’s quite alright." Yu Sheng smiled and nodded.

Then Yun Qingzi gradually faded away, likely going to wander somewhere else.

Yu Sheng got up from the railing, stretched his arms and took a deep breath, turning his head to look at the fox and the puppet who were still playing—mostly Erin being on the losing end, her small arms and legs unable to contend with the Nine-Tailed Fox without using the power of "black spider silk": "Alright, alright, stop fooling around. Still going to visit the night market?"

"Not going, not going," Erin immediately darted out from Hu Li’s tail formation upon hearing and swiftly climbed onto Yu Sheng’s shoulder, "I’m tired!"

...

Erin indeed seemed tired—though the principle was unclear, the little figure who appeared to have infinite energy during the day was almost instantly exhausted and wobbly upon arriving home, the puppet body that ostensibly didn’t need rest showed genuine fatigue, she didn’t even need Yu Sheng’s urging this time, she quickly climbed into the box in the corner of the master bedroom alongside several other bodies, promptly falling into a deep sleep.

Of course, this time she still left a body sleeping on the bed—as a very determined declaration of her "territorial rights" in the bedroom.

The Omen Wandering Star was tossed onto the nightstand once again, cushioned with a leather ring to prevent it from rolling around.

Yu Sheng, on the other hand, didn’t sleep.

After confirming the little puppet was asleep, he quietly left the bedroom, heading alone to the empty room at the end of the corridor on the second floor.

The empty room remained in its usual "normal state," the old wallpaper seemingly covered with dirty shadows under the night, a solitary mirror hung where Erin’s oil painting once was, reflecting the dim scene within the room.

Yu Sheng moved a chair from outside, sitting in the center of the room, then casually took out that piece of fabric fragment.

The fabric with unknown craftsmanship and material, edges adorned with mysterious intricate patterns, the torn edges irregular, seemingly still leaving a hint of... coldness.

Yu Sheng silently fondled the piece in the empty room, falling into contemplation.

The Omen Banner Fragment.

Despite many mysteries remaining, at least now he finally knew what this thing was.

Black Star, the bizarre "space" like the mirror’s other side deep within Black Star, figures wandering within the peculiar space, holding the Omen Banner, claiming to be the "Envoy" named "Kongdaman"...

All sorts of tangled matters knotted into a mess in his mind, until very gentle footsteps sounded from behind, interrupting those somewhat headache-inducing thoughts.

Yu Sheng turned around, seeing a pair of bright, golden-red eyes staring at him in the dimness, along with two large furry ears twitching.

"You didn’t sleep either?" Yu Sheng casually said, reaching out to stroke Hu Li’s tail.

The demon fox girl squatted beside him, nuzzling his arm with her head, then looked up, curiously at the fabric piece in Yu Sheng’s hand.

"So this thing is the Omen Banner Fragment." She mumbled.

Yu Sheng raised his eyebrows, "Weren’t you busy researching those Enlightenment Talismans with Erin when I was chatting with Yuan Hao?"

"My ears are very keen," Hu Li triumphantly squinted her eyes, her furry ears flexibly turning in the air, even facing different directions, "and I can listen in two directions simultaneously!"

Yu Sheng: "...Alright, reasonable enough. So you heard everything, huh? All that talk with Yuan Hao..."

"Yes, heard it all," Hu Li nodded, "Black Star, the Envoy, Kongdaman, and all that. Luna probably heard it too—her sensors are very sensitive."

Yu Sheng’s eye twitched slightly: "Yet you were quite calm all day, playing around with Erin; I thought you were just focused on eating and nothing else."

Hu Li didn’t speak, just stared intently at the "Omen Banner Fragment" for a long while before speaking softly, "Savior, Erin might not be the Alice Puppet."

Yu Sheng remained silent.

"Erin cares a lot about this," Hu Li continued, simultaneously fetching a piece of cake from her tail, breaking it in half, giving half to Yu Sheng, while she nibbled on the other half, "I also saw her staring at the Omen Wandering Star for a few minutes this morning... Do you think she’s starting to doubt herself too?"

"...Well, she’s not truly clueless," Yu Sheng sighed but quickly rubbed his chin, "alright, maybe she’s a little clueless, but not that much. But you, who knew you actually care about her—aren’t you two always fighting?"

"That’s because she provoked first!" Hu Li puffed her cheeks, "She even called me silly—I’m way smarter than her!"

Yu Sheng didn’t respond, just struggled to hold back laughter, then couldn’t help chuckling after a few seconds, reaching over to rub the fluff behind the demon fox girl’s ears.

"No worries, don’t think too much, I’ll figure out what’s going on with that Black Star and the ’omen,’ as for you guys—eat when hungry, sleep when tired, the sky’s not going to fall."