Chapter 55 On the Way, She Actually Killed the Monster
What are you doing following me here?
"What? Do you own Tai Sui Mountain?"
Xiao Qi glared at Du Yu, said nothing, and turned to walk into the mountains on her own.
But she had just recovered from a serious illness, and the mountain surface was full of potholes. She twisted her ankle, stumbled, and was about to slide down the mountain.
Du Yu grabbed her arm, raised an eyebrow, and said, "See? You would have fallen if I hadn't been there with you."
"I...you..."
Xiao Qi was so angry her face turned red, but since Yu had saved her, she held back and forced out a stiff thank you, "I told you, if you don't want to die, hurry up and get down the mountain! Why did you insist on following me?!"
"Do you know what's in Tai Sui Mountain?"
Du Yu spoke without any hesitation.
"Fine, you insist on getting to the bottom of this before you'll leave, right? Then listen carefully."
Xiao Qi pulled her arm back and rubbed the spot where Du Yu had pinched her in her haste. Her tone was unfriendly, like a strange aunt deliberately trying to scare a child, but unfortunately, it didn't carry any credibility given her face, which was still recovering from a serious illness.
"Deep within Tai Sui Mountain, there are monsters that eat people without blinking an eye! Someone like you could be devoured in one bite by them!"
Du Yu shrugged, as if he wanted to say something, but his gaze fell on a dark shape in the distance, and he changed his words at the last minute: "The monster you're talking about, is that the thing?"
"ah!"
Xiao Qi turned her head, screamed, and grabbed Du Yu's arm with her withered fingers: "Run!"
There was no way to escape. In just a few breaths, the black monster that was just a blur was now clearly visible. Du Yu could even see black slime dripping from its body, and a strong stench was faintly revealed in the fragrance of pine needles.
Du Yu's gaze turned cold. He pushed Xiao Qi behind him with one hand, and with the other hand, a spatial ripple flashed, and a long sword with a dark gold body and a sharp edge appeared out of thin air in his hand.
His spiritual power surged forth, and purple flames burned faintly on the blade. Du Yu suddenly raised his sword, and a "clang" was heard!
The dark golden blade pressed firmly against the monster's chilling fangs.
What kind of monster is this?
Du Yu was so close that the monster's ferocious appearance was clearly reflected in his pupils.
The monster was entirely black, covered in fine, diamond-shaped scales, and stood about three meters tall with an extremely bulky build.
It resembles a thick candle that keeps burning and going out, its entire body made up of ring-shaped tissues that have melted and then solidified. Apart from the long tail trailing behind it and the mouth that splits open at the top, which is over a meter long, there are no other organs to be found on its body.
Among the various types of degenerate beings that Du Yu had seen, this thing was exceptionally ugly.
Du Yu didn't have time to think. He ordered Xiao Qi to step back, raised his arm, and swung several knives in succession.
Although the monster looked like a constantly melting candle, its flesh was incredibly hard. Du Yu felt as if she had struck a solid mountain with those few cuts, leaving her muscles aching.
"it's useless."
Xiao Qi was suddenly pushed aside by Du Yu. She lost her balance and her ankle bent at an odd angle, forming a large bulge in just a few breaths.
She endured the pain, staring at the monster's scales, her pupils dilating, her face filled with despair: "This is the adopted son of the Grand Duke Jupiter, you can't possibly defeat it."
After saying that, she trembled, her eyes reddened, and she gritted her teeth: "It only eats one person at a time. Anyway, I can't run away. You go quickly, just remember to burn some incense for my mother!"
Du Yu ignored her, only luring the monster away from Xiao Qi's direction, twisting his neck, and stretching his body.
Lately, she has been easily defeating her opponents with her purple flames, and it has been a long time since she has had a hand-to-hand battle with a monster.
Although the monster was injured, it was immune to the purple flames clinging to Du Yu's blade. While hand-to-hand combat with a monster wasn't a pleasant memory, Du Yu hadn't experienced it in a long time, and he even felt a pang of nostalgia.
"The adopted son of the Grand Duke Jupiter?"
Du Yu scoffed, his purple eyes burning fiercely: "Ha! Times have changed, there are no more masters!"
"Don't even mention an adopted son; even if the Grand Duke himself came, it wouldn't work!"
Xiaoqi couldn't understand a word of what Du Yu was saying.
Not only did she twist her ankle, but when Du Yu pulled her to the ground, her palms scraped against the gravel, leaving bloody marks.
She paid no attention to the pain in her body. She opened her eyes wide, as if trying to imprint the back of that person who was blocking her way, who was not particularly burly but was surprisingly reassuring, in her mind.
Reason kept warning her that, faced with that terrifying monster, let alone the two of them as mortals, even if the so-called immortals came, they probably wouldn't fare well.
Du Yu stood in front of her at this moment, unwilling to run away, which was simply foolish; no one like him could escape.
But perhaps the soft laughter echoing in her ears was too certain, and a faint voice surfaced deep within her heart: What if? With that knife that appeared out of nowhere, what if she really could defeat that monster?
Conflicting thoughts clashed in her mind, and Xiaoqi stood there, momentarily forgetting to run away.
Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped herself, her eyes red-rimmed. She picked up a large stone and struggled to get up to help Du Yu.
But it was too late!
In Du Yu's direction, the monster was forced back by the knife one after another. Its long tail impatiently slammed the ground, leaving behind stone pits. Then, the monster roared and suddenly spewed out a large cloud of dark brown smoke. Its mouth opened to its maximum and it bit at Du Yu!
Du Yu was enveloped in smoke, not knowing what the substance's effect was. She seemed to be frozen in place, unable to move. The liquid dripping from the monster splattered onto her shoes, and Du Yu had no time to dodge!
Xiao Qi was horrified; her heart stopped for several seconds. For a moment, she didn't know whether to keep her eyes open, lest she see the gruesome sight of Du Yu's head and body separated.
But at that moment, a golden light suddenly shone brightly, illuminating the dark mountains for a moment.
"oh?"
The long sword in his hand trembled with excitement. A hint of surprise flashed in Du Yu's eyes. The Bloodthirsty Holy Sword had actually been upgraded at this time?
He was promoted two levels in quick succession? From C to A level directly?
The surprise came too quickly. Du Yu had been feeding the Holy Blade fragments one after another, but the Holy Blade had not changed at all. Unexpectedly, when faced with this so-called "adopted son" of Tai Sui, the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade seemed to be stimulated and suddenly showed its sharpness!
"The upgrade is just right!"
Ignoring the new attributes of the upgraded Holy Blade, Du Yu grinned and poured his spiritual power into the blade as if it were free. Purple flames blazed fiercely, and even though he hadn't entered the Spirit Realm yet, Du Yu's figure was already like a twisted flame that burned everything!
"Take this!"
The most terrifying attacks often occur in the simplest of ways.
The slash that Du Yu unleashed at this moment had no mysterious variations, nor did it have a majestic name. It was simply the culmination of all her insights gained from more than a decade of fighting monsters to the death and countless brushes with life and death!
Purple flames burst forth on the blade, seemingly enraged that the monster dared to offend it; the purple flames were so intense they were almost liquid.
Just one cut!
Despite its incredibly simple appearance, the monster couldn't dodge it and could only fight back by relying on its bare hands! "Sizzle—"
Like a hot knife cutting into butter, the knife sliced straight into the monster's body, splitting it in two along the path of Du Yu's swing.
The monster's bloated body tilted to either side, its cut surfaces perfectly smooth, with thick black liquid constantly seeping out, seemingly trying to mend the broken body. As if provoked, the purple flames suddenly surged onto the two pieces of the monster, crackling and burning.
In just a few breaths, the two monsters were burned down to less than half of their shrunken fleshy spheres.
We won! We actually won!
Xiao Qi was at a loss for words and just stared blankly as the monster turned into rubble that looked no different from ordinary stones.
"Oh, are you dumbfounded?"
After the purple fire burned, the monster completely lost its ability to regenerate.
Du Yu used his knife to pick up the remaining wreckage and weighed it in his hand with dissatisfaction.
That monster was huge, and fighting it wasn't easy. Her arms were still a bit sore, and she only managed to get a dozen or so kilograms of Tai Sui flesh. Fortunately, she was sure she could complete the weekly quest.
[Player has completed the quest. Confirm to submit the quest now?]
[Tip: In addition to the fixed rewards, the game will also distribute extra rewards based on the player's overall performance in the dungeon. Players will have a chance to win a mystery grand prize!]
Du Yu raised his hand and clicked "Don't submit the task for now".
Even disregarding the mysterious grand prize the game claims to offer, Yu wouldn't quit now just because of the hidden information within the dungeons.
This is just a spacetime rift, but whether it's Gu Yinglan, the president of Jinling University, or those so-called immortals wearing blue plaid uniforms and doing strange things, they all make Du Yu very interested in this instance.
Xiaoqi stared blankly for a long time as the monster turned into solidified flesh, as if she had made up her mind.
"If it were you, you might actually be able to do it."
"What should be done?"
Du Yu pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. How come even the NPCs in this game are riddle-solving people?
Xiao Qi paused for a moment, then sorted out her thoughts.
After witnessing Du Yu defeat Tai Sui's adopted son, a small but still firm flame of hope ignited in her heart, and she was no longer the same person who had given up on herself.
“In Redwood Village, dying is a difficult thing, but also a very simple thing.”
Du Yu was surprised that Xiao Qi's first words were this: "What do you mean?"
Xiaoqi's gaze was downcast:
"Thirty years ago, one of the Grand Duke Jupiter's clones landed here. His adopted sons are everywhere, eating anyone they see, and many villages have been wiped out. Our village is far away, but many people went into the mountains and never came back."
"Five days later, these so-called immortals also entered the deep mountains."
"According to Grandma, after the immortals entered the mountain, for seven whole days, terrible screams echoed deep within Tai Sui Mountain, and no one dared to go and investigate."
"Until a group of immortals dressed in black and blue emerged from Tai Sui Mountain and arrived at Redwood Village. They told everyone that the Tai Sui Lord had made an agreement with them and would no longer harm anyone."
"Moreover, we can go to Tai Sui Mountain to worship Tai Sui every year. Although the Tai Sui meat we dig up is only 90% of the whole thing, it is more valuable than gold. Even a tiny bit of scraps that slips through the cactus is enough to make us rich for a whole year."
"It seems that worshipping Tai Sui is a good thing for you?"
"No!"
Xiaoqi's words became heated, "This is a scam, it's all fake, fake, it's all fake!"
"We're not going to dig up the Tai Sui at all—immortals eat the flesh of the Tai Sui, and the Tai Sui eats human flesh, including our flesh!"
Xiao Qi's eyes were filled with sorrow. "At first, everyone was very scared, and not many people went to worship Tai Sui. The immortals didn't seem to care either."
"But a few years later, the people who worshipped Tai Sui returned unharmed and even reaped enormous benefits. The villagers couldn't sit still any longer."
"Decades passed like this. Even those who did not meet the requirements wanted to come and worship Tai Sui."
"So much so that they all forgot that, starting from some point, less than half of the people would return after worshipping Tai Sui and going down the mountain, and there was even a time when only three people returned."
"The others seemed to have forgotten, and the following year they went to worship Tai Sui again like crazy."
"...That's how my father died, just like my mother."
"Since that's the case..."
Du asked, puzzled, "Why didn't you stop your mother from worshipping Tai Sui?"
"It can't be stopped."
A weariness beyond her years appeared in Xiaoqi's eyes:
“Almost everyone in the village has eaten the flesh of the Tai Sui the moment they were born. Those who have eaten the flesh of the Tai Sui can never leave the village. When it is time to worship the Tai Sui, even a lame person will use all their strength to climb the mountain.”
"Then what you just did..."
Du Yu suddenly remembered that Xiao Qi had just eaten a piece of Tai Sui meat while everyone was watching.
"Yes, that's right. I can't run away either."
Xiao Qi gave a bitter laugh and stared intently at Du Yu.
“But you are different. I can sense that you are the only person besides the village chief who has never eaten the flesh of the Tai Sui.”
"Even the village chief hasn't eaten it?" Du Yu asked, somewhat surprised.
“Of course,” Xiao Qi seemed somewhat puzzled by Du Yu’s surprise.
"Even if you love eating mutton, you can't kill the lead sheep. Otherwise, who will manage the flock?"
It seemed that recounting these events had stirred up the gloom in her heart again. The initial excitement in Xiao Qi's eyes gradually faded, and she looked at Du Yu:
"You can still leave now. Only one monster will appear in a region in a short period of time."
"Walk?"
Du Yu chuckled. "Before you ask me to do something, shouldn't you tell me what you're planning to do?"
"I……"
Xiaoqi didn't hesitate for long this time. She looked down at the old but well-made cloth shoes on her feet.
“I heard it from my mother-in-law. She was the last person in the village to live to be ninety. She said there is a lamp deep in Tai Sui Mountain. The souls of all those who have eaten Tai Sui will return there. My father and mother are there too.”
"Do you want to see them one more time?" Du Yu asked, feeling exasperated.
"right."
Xiao Qi looked calmly at Du Yu, "Then I'm going to smash that lamp."
After she finished speaking, she was prepared to be ridiculed.
If it weren't for Du Yu, she would have already died at the hands of that monster. Now she still dares to shamelessly say that she wants to smash that lamp. Everyone would laugh at her for overestimating her abilities, but Du Yu didn't.
This strange but powerful person stared at her quietly for a moment, then slung the back of his knife over his shoulder, put his arm around her shoulder, and gave her a sly smile: "What a coincidence, we're going the same way."
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Author's note: While writing about Tai Sui Shan today, all I could think about was Bai Sui Shan... It's so catchy! orz
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