CHAPTER 460: 329 PRISON, DU YU AND GHOST FIREFLY FIRE

Du Yu braved the cold, stepped forward a few paces, and studied it closely.

He tried reaching out his hand towards the torch handle.

As expected, the three rune rings didn’t block Du Yu.

On the contrary, after Du Yu grabbed the torch, the three rune rings expanded their domain, centering on him and shielding his whole body.

"Tsk tsk~" Du Yu couldn’t help but click his tongue in amazement.

It’s just plain awesome!

"Uh." Du Yu was still marveling, when suddenly an icy chill shot through the back of his hand!

The dripping flame fell onto his hand, freezing his right hand into a shiver.

Looks like, I’ll really have to be careful in the future—not let Little You Ying touch regular people.

Even with my Demon Breath Battle Robe, I’m frozen like this. Ordinary folks without battle robes might end up in the hospital with frostbite, right?

By the way, my Demon Breath Battle Robe is still at Demon Tamer·Peak Stage.

After upgrading it to a Great Demon Tamer-level battle robe, if I grab the torch handle again, things should be a lot better?

Du Yu admired it carefully for a long while before he realized something seemed off.

Where’s Little You Ying?

Du Yu knew well enough—the Ghost Firefly’s true form was the torch.

But he’d gotten used to Ghost Firefly’s humanoid silhouette, so he couldn’t help but ask, "Ghost Firefly, where’s your face?"

Honestly, even just opening your eyes is fine.

At least when I talk to you, I know where to look...

However, Du Yu’s call had no effect whatsoever.

The Ancient Ghost Firefly had no eyes.

And no face.

"Change back, return to the Divine Ghost Firefly form." Du Yu gave the signal.

"Whoosh~"

The two rune rings quickly reassembled and transformed again into a little creature.

That looked much more pleasing to the eye.

"Haha." Du Yu hugged the rune doll made of "building blocks" with both hands, patting its little head, "You’re pretty cool, huh!"

"Mm!" Little You Ying nodded seriously, its little rune mouth opening and closing, "Du Yu! Du Yu! Du Yu!"

"Now, let’s learn a new Demon Skill!" Du Yu quickly spoke up, secretly feeling delighted inside.

After advancing to Spirit Level, Little You Ying hadn’t turned all aloof or anything~

Still the same as ever—just like a wild and happy, mischievous brat.

All in all, after the Demon Pets advanced to Spirit Level, none of them drifted away from Du Yu.

Xiaoyan became even more bewitching and charming, and she liked to stick by Du Yu.

Ghost Firefly is still as heartless and overflowing with childlike innocence.

The Desolate Silver Lynx was already a Spirit Level creature, and after she reached General Level, her authority only grew—her presence was now even more imposing.

Indifferent to everything else, but she feels grateful towards Du Yu and is happy to interact with him.

Hmm... This so-called interaction is more like another form of bullying?

Only Bai Yujing had become much quieter, her aura noble and elegant—no longer mischievous or playful, and no longer...

As this flashed through his mind, the smile on Du Yu’s face slowly faded.

He realized what the problem was.

The last time he saw Bai Yujing was at the Mountain Fire Saber.

Back then, Bai Yujing was still normal—willing to interact and say goodbye to Du Yu.

But after all this time, the boy and his pet hadn’t seen each other, and she hadn’t come looking for him.

You know, when Xiaobai was little, even a few days without Du Yu wouldn’t do.

Yet since advancing to Spirit Level, Bai Yujing never pestered Yang Qingqing to insist on finding Du Yu again.

When Du Yu came, she was happy.

When Du Yu left, she cultivated quietly—didn’t fuss or disturb anyone.

This must be a kind of coldness, a sense of distance?

The reliance from before had already faded as her power grew.

Their last meeting was on June 28th, the day Du Yu sent Master Qing to Mountain Fire Saber.

Carefully counting, the boy and the deer hadn’t seen each other in over twenty days.

"Are you thinking about Sister Xiaobai?" Ghost Firefly cuddled in Du Yu’s arms, looking up curiously with its lantern-like eyes.

"Yeah." Du Yu nodded slightly, admitting it gladly. "How about we go see her in a few days, okay?"

"Yay!"

With a cheer, Ghost Firefly jumped up at once.

Actually, "jumped" isn’t really the word—it was more like flying.

Compared to the Ghostly Firefly Doll, the Divine Ghost Firefly is entirely suspended in midair.

The rune rings swirling around its body no longer form steps for the Divine Ghost Firefly to stand on.

"Come on, let’s learn the Spirit Level Demon Skill!" Du Yu collected himself. "Ghostly Firefly Rune·Prison!"

At Heavenly Level, Ghost Firefly could learn the Demon Skill: Ghost Fire Talisman·Guard.

A cluster of strange runes could expand and transform into sturdy shields.

At Spirit Level, though, the Divine Ghost Firefly’s skill becomes: Ghostly Firefly Rune·Prison.

But this "prison" isn’t a traditional jail—it’s more like a means of suppression.

A few short minutes later, Du Yu clenched his fists and shouted loudly, "Yes, just like that!"

"Du Yu! Du Yu! Du Yu!" Divine Ghost Firefly floated up and down.

On the distant sandy ground, a giant rune about four meters long, four meters wide, and two meters thick was forming!

"Don’t celebrate yet—let’s solidify the results from our cultivation." Du Yu called out loudly. "Come on, one more time."

"Wuya~!"

The Divine Ghost Firefly let out a weird cry, all its runes lighting up suddenly. One rune from its swirling rings shot out quickly.

The "α" grew in size as it streaked into the sky.

It fell from above, slamming down into the courtyard, smashing a hypothetical enemy beneath and crushing endless sand and gravel.

Xuan Platinum·Ghostly Firefly Rune·Prison!

The creature trapped under the rune seems to have no way up to the sky, but there is still a door down to the earth.

This is also one weakness of this Demon Skill—it’s easy to exploit.

For example, Miss Xiang Ying’s Demon Pet·Desolate Shadow Wolf—it can Earth Escape at will.

If caught under this rune, the Desolate Shadow Wolf can simply go underground and escape from the prison with ease.

Or take Senior Brother Fu’s Demon Pet·Pear Blossom Fox—Hua Mantang can shatter itself into pear blossom petals and slip out easily too.

But this shortcoming of "Ghostly Firefly Rune·Prison" will be remedied as the skill’s quality improves.

At higher quality, when the rune presses down on the enemy, it stimulates endless Demon Breath, infiltrating the enemy’s body.

Physically, the rune crushes and imprisons the enemy’s flesh.

Magically, the rune makes the enemy’s Demon Breath chaotic, preventing them from using Demon Skills or shifting their form, ultimately resulting in perfect imprisonment.

Of course, that’s all for later.

The road must be walked step by step.

Under Du Yu’s guidance, the master and pet tirelessly slammed runes downward, making a complete mess of Firethorn Courtyard.

Hmm... Doesn’t matter.

After Du Yu leaves, Brother Tree will clean up by himself~

"If only you could just slam down a ’prison’ character directly, that’d be perfect." Du Yu muttered, his head full of fantasies of a giant "prison" falling from the sky.

Feels like... that would be especially epic?

"Hmm?" Divine Ghost Firefly paused.

The giant rune in the distance quickly reeled in, shrinking as it went. By the time it rejoined the rune ring, it was back to being a little "biscuit."

From the eight strange runes forming the ring, another "ω" shot out.

The next instant, Du Yu’s eyes widened ever so slightly.

High in the air, the special symbol grew larger again—and changed shape?

This is... could this be the character for "prison"?

Du Yu was shocked!

Only, Little You Ying wasn’t very skilled yet—she could speak Great Xia Language, but couldn’t write it.

Following the image in Du Yu’s head, Divine Ghost Firefly gave her version of a block character, but clearly, it was the wrong one.

The roof radical of "prison" was missing its dot, turning it bald.

The "cow" at the bottom turned into "dry."

The strange character suddenly formed and fell from the sky.

"Rumble rumble!"

"Du Yu!" Divine Ghost Firefly spun around to look at Du Yu, eyes full of excitement, waiting for a compliment from her master.

Du Yu stared blankly at Divine Ghost Firefly: "Your symbols can change shape?"

"Hehe~" Divine Ghost Firefly zipped Left, zipped Right, pulling a proud little face.

Du Yu was sure that ordinary Divine Ghost Fireflies didn’t have this ability!

So, it’s a specialty of the Ancient Ghost Firefly?

Du Yu grabbed a Firethorn Branch: "Harden."

The Firethorn Tree took a moment, then made its branch stiff and strong.

"Come here, Ghost Firefly—this is how you write the character." Du Yu used the branch to write Chinese characters on the ground.

Divine Ghost Firefly’s lantern eyes blinked rapidly, clearly trying very hard to remember.

She held her little hands out in front.

A symbol left the rune ring and floated to her palm, shifting its shape again and again.

A few seconds later, the "prison" character took shape.

"Awesome!" Du Yu couldn’t help but give a heartfelt thumbs-up!

"Du Yu! Name!" Divine Ghost Firefly poked at the runes swirling around herself, instantly transforming them all into the character for "prison."

It was just so cool!

Du Yu hesitated for a moment but didn’t spoil her fun.

According to Divine Ghost Firefly’s intent, he wrote his own name on the ground.

Du Yu also realized his own name would soon be turned into a rune ring~

Du was easy enough, but that Yu—Divine Ghost Firefly stared at it for ages.

After all, Lady Divine Ghost Firefly never went to school, has no basic literacy, so it’s understandable...

"Whoosh~"

Very suddenly, all the flame runes on Divine Ghost Firefly’s body crackled furiously.

Du Yu shielded his face with his hand, stepping back several times in a row.

Then Du Yu was thoroughly dumbfounded!

You know, the Divine Ghost Firefly is entirely made up of rune blocks, each 4cm long, 4cm wide, 2cm thick.

That’s why Du Yu called her "building blocks."

These blocks came in all kinds of strange shapes.

But right now, every single block had become the characters "Du" and "Yu"!

Divine Ghost Firefly had actually built her body out of her master’s name!

Du Yu was utterly dazzled!

If this were a match-3 game, Divine Ghost Firefly would’ve been cleared out a long time ago~

Du Yu walked up, hugged Divine Ghost Firefly: "Well done! But don’t do that again next time."

"Hmm?" Divine Ghost Firefly looked a little confused.

Du Yu grinned awkwardly.

If you had smashed down just a "Du" or tossed out a "Yu," that would be one thing.

But your whole body of block letters is my name—I wouldn’t even dare call you out to fight!

If we win, that’d look way too cocky!

Like we’re announcing the king’s mighty name.

But at least if we win, we still have some pride.

If we lose, though...

Man, I’d just die of embarrassment!

"Come on, I’ll teach you how to write your own name." Du Yu used the Firethorn Branch to write on the ground:

Ghost Firefly Fire.

Divine Ghost Firefly watched for a long time, then slowly, some of the "Du" and "Yu" rune blocks changed to "Ghost," "Firefly," and "Fire."

Du Yu laughed, "Just write your name—erase mine, okay?"

"No!" Divine Ghost Firefly leapt into the air, uncharacteristically refusing her master’s order.

With her lantern eyes gazing at Du Yu, wisps of green fire flickering, she said, "We—together!"

Du Yu opened his mouth, but the words caught in his throat.

"Heh." He shook his head and smiled, not sure whether to feel helpless or lucky.

All right then,

Let’s... do it together.