CHAPTER 540: 538

"You really have a heavy taste! It’s nauseating."

Wanli Fengdao, with his eyes half-closed and a poker face, complained, "Just by opening your mouth, I know—you’re such a boomer."

"Really? I think it’s not too bad," Li Ang waved his hand nonchalantly. "The lethal dose for a real weeaboo should go like this—

PUH HUH HUH.

’You ’lowly creatures’... dare to ’delude’ yourselves?

Look, ’true otaku’ stuff—I bet you don’t understand a thing about it.

(Laughs)

Well, well, well...

But watching your ridiculous attempts to imitate an ’otaku’,

has somehow slightly piqued my interest in ’three-dimensional idiots’."

"Why are you so proficient at this!" Wanli Fengdao complained, feeling a mix of annoyance and tightness in his chest as he watched Li Ang stand on one leg, close one eye, and stretch out his palm to form a 6+1 hand gesture by tucking in his middle and ring fingers. "Imitating it so well only reveals that you’re a true old weeaboo..."

"Of course," Li Ang instantly reverted to his normal posture and said calmly. "Without research, there is no right to speak. As a professional player, it’s a must to delve into various cultures across different times and regions. Don’t be fooled by my current appearance; when I was younger, I was known as the walking encyclopedia of the otaku world."

Aren’t you young now...

Li Ang ignored the pained expression on Wanli Fengdao’s face, shaking his head and sighing as if reminiscing over his lost youth.

"Anyway, we should hurry up and go. Although it’s unlikely for any Transcendents to catch up to us in Lvzhou City right now, this item is quite a hot potato..."

He had personally witnessed the Auspicious Beast convincingly divining fortunes in the Royal Mansion; the origins of this humanoid were definitely not simple.

They retreated promptly. Several players silently left the inn and made their way to the outskirts. There, Li Ang used the skill [Summoning Art · Fearful Warhorse], conjuring a large horse enveloped in cold flames on the spot, and tossed the unconscious Auspicious Beast onto its back.

Liu Wu Dai took a bicycle item out of his inventory, while the other two also produced their own means of transport, heading towards Chenzhou City.

---

The news of the White Lotus Young Master’s demise spread throughout the land in just a few short days.

Even though those who had narrowly escaped with their lives from the Underground Palace were vague in their details, merely giving a rough description of what had happened, the story of Taoist Xi Menzi was particularly legendary. Alone, sword in hand, he had supposedly annihilated the White Lotus Young Master, slain the White Lotus fiends, and arrogantly taken the Auspicious Beast right from under the noses of the Wude Army Guard. This tale was enough to make countless people in the martial community gasp in astonishment.

"Ha, this name ’Xi Menzi’ does stand out. Going by the way it’s named, it must be our Comrade Xiao Li, right?"

In Chenzhou, within a guest room of the governor’s residence, Scholar Zhu, dressed in a long robe, closed the official report in his hand and shook his head with a wry smile.

This world also had its primitive newspapers. Besides the official ones that recorded the Emperor’s edicts and court affairs, there were also private newspapers operated by news merchants, publishing news, including martial world anecdotes.

"It’s definitely him." Chuyin was sitting across the table from Scholar Zhu. She had met Li Ang in a mission before and nodded in agreement. "According to the bureau’s psychological profile of him, he seems to love exploiting information gaps to trick others. But this time, he might have been too flamboyant?"

"More than just a bit." Seated in the corner sipping tea, Shi Qi blew on his cup and said indifferently, "The Guangmu Dharma Protector who lost his son is said to be nearly insane, having beaten quite a few servants in his mansion to death. These days, he’s probably busy assembling troops, ready to search for his son’s killer all over the land. The government agencies aren’t idle either. Portraits of Taoist Xi Menzi are plastered all over the cities and counties in each state. The Wude Army Guard and the Eastern Depot even put out word, offering a reward of one thousand taels of silver for any clues provided."

A thousand taels of silver was enough to make the eyes of desperados in the martial world turn bloodshot with madness. Even ordinary Cultivators couldn’t help looking around, inquiring whether there had been sightings of short-haired Taoists in nearby states and counties.

They didn’t really intend to capture Taoist Xi Menzi. It was no joke; that was a formidable man who single-handedly killed the White Lotus Young Master along with a group of elites without even breaking a sweat. For them, it was enough to earn some money by gathering information and providing intelligence for the Wude Army Guard. If they actually encountered the short-haired Taoist in the wild, they wouldn’t even have time to flee for their lives.

Scholar Zhu frowned and said, "He used a name that even Slaughter Game Players can understand. Although this allows us to know that he did indeed go to Lvzhou and seize the Auspicious Beast, if there are other players from different forces in this layer, this act is akin to letting them know our movements."

"Mm, that’s indeed a possibility." Shi Qi whispered, "Captain Xing thinks very highly of Comrade Xiao Li, believing him to be meticulous, leaving no stone unturned, and planning three steps ahead with every move he makes. Moreover, Chuyin also mentioned previously that the Special Affairs Bureau’s psychological assessment department believes Comrade Xiao Li can be trusted to a certain extent. He dares to act this way, presumably with absolute confidence, not making blind moves."

...I hope so. Scholar Zhu sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly.

One of the major creeds of the Heterodox Academy in the modern era is to unearth mystical inheritances lost in the long river of history and to collect Taoist materials common across different script worlds. As a Disciple of the Heterodox Academy, having entered this ancient fantasy world of legends and strange tales, he needed not only to collect information and use divination to deduce the subsequent development of the King of Shengnan script, but also to integrate a massive amount of tedious data and analyze the value of this world’s mystical system in great detail for the Heterodox Academy. He had barely rested, surviving solely on the standard potions distributed by the Special Affairs Bureau.

Shi Qi said with a hint of pity, "Why don’t you go to sleep first? Chuyin and I are here."

"No need." Scholar Zhu shook his head, rallying his spirits. "There’s still some data I haven’t processed, and Captain Xun... he’s about to return."

Before he had finished speaking, there was a knock on the wooden door of the guest room.

Putting down his teacup, Shi Qi asked, "Who is it?"

"It’s me." A deep and hoarse male voice came from outside.

Shi Qi stood up and approached the door to check. Above the head of the man outside floated the player ID of [Xun Zian].

"It’s Captain Xun." Shi Qi breathed a sigh of relief and, at Scholar Zhu’s gesture, removed the talisman paper stuck to the door.

Xun Zian, with sharp eyebrows, star-like eyes, and an air of integrity, entered the room, nodding to his companions who stood up to greet him. He closed the door, re-affixing the isolating talisman. "I’m back."

"Welcome back." Scholar Zhu smiled. "The items from Fengzhou and Qizhou, did you bring them?"

"Brought them." Xun Zian nodded, taking an item from his backpack and slamming it onto the table with a thump.

They were two bloody demon heads.