Chapter 45 The Abnormal Sun Has Disappeared
Xiao Jiu picked up Taotie and stared at him with wide eyes: "Doggy, talk!"
The Taotie wagged its tail happily, its fluffy tail swaying behind it: "Hmm! I can talk now."
Perhaps because he had been unable to speak for so long, he was now lying on Xiao Jiu's chest, talking non-stop.
"Xiao Jiu, let me tell you, I know so many delicious foods. When we can go out again, I'll take you to eat them all, and if Xiao Jiu likes any of them, we'll eat them twice!"
"Xiao Jiu, touch my head, the hair on my head is so nice to touch."
"Little Jiu, I like you the most, the most, the most!"
"Little Jiu, Little Jiu—"
Taotie's voice sounds like cotton candy, but his voice is drawn out at the end and rises slightly, making it sound even sweeter and softer.
Fu Yu, standing nearby, was stunned.
Taotie, so this is what kind of personality it has?
He had imagined that a fearsome demon like Taotie would be stern and imposing, capable of killing with a single glance...
Over here, Fu Yu was still feeling disillusioned, while over there, Taotie was already pestering Xiao Jiu to play a game of tossing her high in the air.
"Little Jiu, lift me up! Lift me up! Whoosh—fly!"
Little Jiu happily echoed, "Fly!"
The terrain here is unique, with nets everywhere. No matter how many times you throw them, they won't sink into the ground, and you can also experience the excellent elasticity of the nets.
When Xiao Jiu catches Taotie, she will squeeze the flower net to its limit, and then the two of them will be thrown out together very quickly.
As it flew, the Taotie excitedly shouted, "Hahaha, higher and higher!"
Xiao Jiu is having a blast too.
The two bounced around together, pressing down on a large patch of floral netting until it glowed, as if a luminous velvet carpet had been laid at the bottom of the crack.
Xiao Jiu was playing when she suddenly paused.
"Doggy, meow?"
The two landed on the ground just then, and Taotie was pressed down by the inertia and stuck to Xiao Jiu like a pancake.
He peeled himself off Xiao Jiu and said, "Miao Miao is fine. He was just kicked out. He'll be back in a little while. Don't worry, Xiao Jiu."
Xiao Jiu, holding the Taotie, did a somersault in the air: "Awooo!"
Xiao Jiu was relieved, but Fu Yu was not.
As a demon beast, Fu Yu was very familiar with these powerful demons' concept of time. He tentatively asked Taotie, "What you meant by 'a while'..."
Taotie and Xiao Jiu excitedly shouted together, "Awooo! Fly!"
Fuyu: "What you said..."
Taotie: "Haha! Little Jiu, look! Look!"
Fu Yu: "......"
Fu Yu straightened his back and, for the first time in his life, shouted at the top of his lungs, "How long is 'a while'?"
Taotie: "Soon—in about ten years—"
Hearing Fu Yu's voice soaring higher and higher at the end: "..."
He knew it.
After the game of flying high ended, Fuyu quickly followed up and asked, "What did you mean by 'being kicked out' just now?"
Taotie scratched the fur on the side of its face with its hind leg: "When the ground cracked before, Meow Meow used its own power to help you guys."
Fu Yu suddenly realized: "No wonder Qian Chuan and I both felt a... uh... a pushing force back then."
He spoke haltingly, but Taotie was very direct.
Taotie tapped its large head rhythmically: "Actually, he just kicked you guys."
Fu Yu: "......"
There's no need to be so direct.
Taotie said that Miaomiao was different from the others. She had not signed a contract with Xiao Jiu, so she was still regarded as an outsider by this space.
Taotie's voice was sweet: "But... well..."
Qian Chuan vaguely sensed what Taotie was about to say, so he forcefully interrupted him.
He grabbed Xiao Jiu's wrist, and once she was drawn to his touch, he immediately said, "Xiao Jiu, come with me over there, okay?"
Xiao Jiu was completely unaware that the atmosphere had changed. When Qian Chuan called him, he nodded and said, "Okay."
Taotie remained silent.
Only after Qianchuan and Xiaojiu had walked a distance away did he say to Fuyu, who had stayed behind, "This spatial rift should have been preserved by the system, so the three of us can move around freely, but Miaomiao can't."
Actually, the key to this is not hard to figure out.
Although this is just a spatial rift, even powerful beings like the Taotie Suanni paid a price when crossing its spatial barrier.
Taotie forcibly used external force to break through the spatial passage, injuring itself badly, while Suanni fared slightly better, as it directly sealed itself.
Following this logic, when Xiao Jiu and the system fell in together, one was a zombie without superpowers and the other was a garden system without combat capabilities. There's no reason why they should have been unharmed.
Therefore, the conclusion is not hard to guess.
The system must have done something to stabilize this spatial rift.
Otherwise, the spatial turbulence generated by crossing space would not have spared any "transmigrator," and Xiao Jiu, that little zombie, would have been torn to pieces by the turbulence back then.
Fu Yu thought for a moment, then frowned slightly: "But this kind of thing must be difficult, right?"
Stabilizing the entire spatial rift is hard enough, but to add the ability to allow someone to traverse space unharmed...
This sounds like a fairy tale.
But the system did just that.
Xiao Jiu is doing well now, which is the best proof of this.
Fu Yu tried to guess again: "Then the system often ran out of power before... was it because it protected Xiao Jiu when it transmigrated here?"
Taotie nodded, then added, "But these are all just my guesses."
Although it's just a guess, Taotie is not only the monster that brought about a breakthrough change to this spatial rift, but it also has a wealth of knowledge and experience to back it up.
Therefore, Fu Yu felt that Taotie's guess was not 100% accurate, but it was probably not far off.
The Taotie's voice and manner of speaking made it difficult to remain vigilant and on guard, so after exchanging just a few words, Fu Yu's mood had relaxed considerably.
Once he relaxes, his thoughts begin to wander freely.
So when he thought of a certain point, he casually mentioned: "The system is really amazing. If it were in our worlds, wouldn't it allow all the demon beasts, regardless of their good or evil deeds, to ascend directly?"
The Taotie stopped shaking its head.
He slowly turned his head and looked at Fuyu.
Fuyu realized he had misspoke as soon as he said those words.
When he felt Taotie's gaze fall on him, he panicked so much he almost bit his tongue: "I-I'm sorry, I-I was just talking nonsense..."
Taotie turned its head away, said nothing, and just looked up at the sky, just like Xiao Jiu often did.
Taotie remained silent, and Fuyu dared not initiate a conversation. For a moment, the atmosphere here was so quiet it was uncomfortable.
After this situation lasted for a while, Taotie suddenly said in a light and sweet tone, "The existence of the system is indeed very interesting."
As if his head was itchy, he said, while scratching the fur on the side of his face with his hind legs: "Actually, that's why Meow Meow stayed."
He stopped what he was doing and continued to look up at the sky: "Don't you feel a sense of familiarity with something like a system?"
Fu Yu was initially nervous, but he was stunned when he heard this.
In that instant, another thought popped into his mind.
But now he didn't dare to be as unrestrained as before, and cautiously asked, "You mean...?"
Taotie only hummed a couple of times, without replying.
Fu Yu suddenly felt unsure of what to do with her hands, feeling awkward and embarrassed.
He glanced furtively at the gluttonous beast that was completely ignoring him, and couldn't help but think of Xiao Jiu and Qian Chuan in his mind.
Quite coincidentally, not long after he had this thought of "wanting to see Xiao Jiu in Qianchuan," he heard rustling sounds not far away.
Fu Yu quickly turned around and his eyes lit up instantly.
"Xiao Jiu! Qian Chuan!"
The joy in his words was impossible to hide. Qian Chuan, who was slowly walking over with Xiao Jiu by his hand, couldn't help but look at him curiously after hearing this.
Fu Yu didn't know what to say, so he could only smile awkwardly at Qian Chuan.
Qian Chuan didn't ask any more questions. He walked up to Fu Yu and, using the fluorescent light emitted by the net-like flowers on the ground, made two hand gestures to Fu Yu: "Are you done talking?"
Fu Yu nodded slightly, then raised an eyebrow at Qian Chuan: How is Xiao Jiu?
Qianchuan blinked to indicate that everything was alright, and the two of them let out a soft sigh in unison.
Anyway, it's good that Xiao Jiu didn't hear what they were talking about regarding the system.
While the two of them were secretly exchanging signals, Taotie had already dragged Xiao Jiu back to play the same game of tossing and bouncing things high in the air.
Taking advantage of this moment, Fuyu repeated what Taotie had just told him, and Qianchuan's expression became somewhat solemn after listening to it.
Qianchuan: "...The existence of a system?"
Fu Yu looked at him with a scrunched-up expression: "Did you think of that too?"
The two looked at each other for two seconds, then said in unison, "The Way of Heaven."
Fu Yu took a deep breath and exhaled, "But isn't this... a little too unbelievable?"
That's the Way of Heaven!
It can bring down lightning tribulations to cultivators, and after they cultivate to a certain level, it will help them break through the void and ascend to the upper realm—this is the Heavenly Dao!
This is only a small part of the power of the Heavenly Dao. To be precise, the Heavenly Dao is the true ruler of all cultivation worlds, and it is no exaggeration to say that it can determine the survival of a world.
But when he thought of this, Fuyu's expression changed again.
How come... the more I think about it, the more it sounds like the system's functions?
Fu Yu shook his head, trying to banish the absurd thought from his mind.
Qianchuan clearly didn't intend to continue discussing this topic.
He organized his thoughts and started a new conversation.
“Xiao Jiu and I just walked around and took a quick look. This is a place similar to a rift valley. Apart from the net-like flowers on the ground and the sides of the cliff, there shouldn’t be anything else here.”
He lowered his voice: "I tried with blood, but it didn't work. It'll probably be a bit troublesome to leave here."
Among the non-humans who fell into the rift valley, Xiao Jiu was only strong, while Fu Yu had no skills that he could actively use.
Taotie is still a "fetus" and its specific abilities are unclear. The only thing that can be of use to him right now is the warehouse that is bound to him.
Qianchuan is the only one among them who has spiritual power within him and can use it freely.
The problem is that, unlike humans, demonic beasts don't have cultivation techniques or formulas.
The Daoist arts emphasize balance. Demon cultivators are already physically strong and generally possess bloodline inheritance. If they could also learn cultivation techniques and refine spells under these circumstances, wouldn't the cultivation world be thrown into chaos?
Therefore, it is simply impossible for Qianchuan to use a hand seal or some kind of levitation technique like a human cultivator to get them out.
At first, Qianchuan wanted to try to use his abilities to create more soil, just like building mud steps at the bottom of the valley so that they could leave safely.
However, Qianchuan's talent "Water Control Ability" is a weakened version, requiring water as a medium to activate. Since there was no water here, Qianchuan used his own blood to test it out while he was scouting the surrounding environment earlier.
Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Fu Yu couldn't help but sigh, "Oh dear, what should I do..."
The system's current state is unknown, and the Suanni has been expelled from this place. Coupled with what Taotie said earlier, everything confirms that the current situation is indeed very bad.
Just as Fu Yu was frowning in distress, Xiao Jiu also came over carrying Taotie.
Upon asking, it turned out that Taotie had gotten tired of playing that bouncing game.
Taotie lay sprawled in Xiao Jiu's arms, its two paws gripping Xiao Jiu's shoulders, its chin resting on its paws as it began to doze off.
Normally, Taotie is the one who organizes the gatherings; if he doesn't speak up, Xiao Jiu won't actively seek out entertainment.
And Fuyu and Qianchuan are even more so.
Qianchuan isn't really a child, and although Fuyu is the youngest, he's quiet and can even stay by himself for a whole day without saying a word.
For a moment, there was not a sound in the entire rift valley.
After half an hour of silence, Qianchuan took the initiative and said, "Let's think about how to get out of here."
Fortunately, Taotie can now speak, and Qianchuan can communicate with him without any problems.
At first, Qian Chuan thought that he might be able to use the excellent elasticity of the net to return to the ground, but after carefully observing Xiao Jiu and Taotie's play and asking Taotie, he realized that this idea was simply impossible to realize.
Simply put, the bounce wasn't high enough.
Qianchuan: "Is there anything usable in the warehouse?"
Taotie: "No."
Qianchuan: "How about this...?"
Taotie: "Mmm, I'm listening."
The two of them discussed ways to break the deadlock, while Fuyu listened with a worried expression. As a result, no one noticed that Xiao Jiu simply found a spot further away and sat quietly.
He hugged his knees, staring blankly up at the sky.
After the fluorescent blue light on the reticulate flower disappeared, the rift valley was plunged into complete darkness.
Even though the zombies couldn't see anything in this environment, Xiao Jiu stubbornly stared at that point in the air, not even blinking.
Xiao Jiu stared at it for a long time.
At one point, he unconsciously uttered, "System..."
Xiao Jiu said "system" very softly, so much so that even Fu Yu, who has excellent hearing, didn't notice it.
However, the moment he uttered those words, a sudden change occurred.
Just like a wave crashing across the sea, all the white flowers around Xiao Jiu's location lit up.
Taotie Qianchuan and his men immediately assumed a fighting stance.
After noticing that Xiao Jiu was far away from them, Taotie immediately leaped up and pounced straight towards Xiao Jiu.
His long, fluffy fur was blown backward by the wind, revealing his unusually large mouth.
The mouth looked like someone had carelessly slashed a ball with a knife; the cuts were crooked and looked rather horrifying.
However, when he was still some distance away from Xiao Jiu, a strange voice suddenly sounded in his mind: [Host?]
Taotie was taken aback.
Startled, he lost his balance and fell straight down from the air, landing on the flower net with a splatter sound, like a plush toy that makes a sound when squeezed.
Taotie immediately tried to stand up, but the elasticity of the net was excellent.
then......
"Pat pat pat pat".
The Taotie was repeatedly bounced and made a sound several times before it finally landed steadily.
He quickly scrambled to his feet, his four short, thick legs flailing, and when he looked up, he saw Qian Chuan and Fu Yu staring blankly at him.
He turned his head again and saw on the other side, Xiao Jiu's eyes were wide open, and her dark pupils looked like they were filled with starlight against the backdrop of the fluorescent flower sea.
Xiao Jiu: "System!!"
Xiao Jiu's shout was particularly loud, and it echoed after it was shouted out.
Strangely enough, the echoes also resounded simultaneously in the minds of Taotie, Qianchuan, and Fuyu.
[Where did all these flowers come from? Where is this place? Hey, where's that cheeky cat?]
The three little ones immediately covered their heads.
They could hear the pronunciation of every word in the system, but the sound was extremely strange. It was not only multi-layered but also had different timbres. It sounded like there were men and women, old and young, and it was incredibly chaotic.
What's worse, the surprised tone in the voice made my head buzz when it rang in my mind.
Fu Yu, who is quite sensitive to sound, couldn't take it anymore and quickly said, "System, system, it seems like your voice is appearing in our heads."
The system remained silent.
No one knew exactly what it was doing, but when it spoke again, the voices in everyone's heads were much clearer and softer.
[Is this okay? What's the situation now?]
Upon hearing this, Fuyu looked left and right.
Taotie snuggled back into Xiao Jiu's arms, lying on its back and letting Xiao Jiu rub its belly. It seemed it had no intention of speaking up, while Qian Chuan just looked over with a smile, his eyes full of encouragement.
Fu Yu paused, then whispered, "Then...then shall I explain?"
[Okay, please speak slowly and in detail.]
Fu Yu first took a deep breath, and then recounted in detail how the ground suddenly cracked after the system went into standby for upgrades, how they fell into the crack, and what they did inside.
After listening, the system remained silent for a long while.
Fu Yu received no response for a long time, and looked anxiously at Qian Chuan.
Qian Chuan asked directly, "System, system?"
The system finally spoke: [You mean, the host and the Taotie's aura have disappeared?]
Its voice was very clear at the moment, so Fuyu immediately heard the imminent storm brewing within it.
Fu Yu immediately straightened his back: "Yes."
His response was entirely subconscious, so he quickly added, "But I must have been mistaken; I was too nervous at the time... Oh, and Xiao Jiu said he saw—"
Just then, a voice rang out behind Fuyu, interrupting him.
"System! Look! A dog!"
The system's voice switched instantly, becoming extremely soft: [Hmm? What's wrong with the dog?]
Upon hearing its words, Xiao Jiu raised the Taotie high.
His left hand, of normal length, supported the Taotie's buttocks, while his right hand, which was shorter than normal, supported the Taotie's head, making the Taotie appear as if it had a brain hemorrhage.
Xiao Jiu was extremely excited: "The dog can talk!"
Judging from his eagerness, if the system had a physical form, he might have stuffed the Taotie into its arms right now.
Taotie readily agreed, saying, "I can talk now."
While it was saying these words, its much thicker hind legs struggled to kick twice in the air, barely managing to maintain its balance.
System: [Wow, host is awesome!]
There was no surprise in its voice at all; in fact, it was almost cracking.
It briefly scanned the Taotie's condition and continued in that light, airy tone: "[Host, the dog's hatching rate is currently around 70%. If it eats some more of its special food, it should reach 100% soon.]"
Xiao Jiu: "Yay!"
Taotie: "Yes."
In the past, Xiao Jiu would definitely have asked about the grain by now.
This time, however, he simply craned his neck, as if trying to get closer to the system, and asked, "System, hello?"
The system was silent for a second, and when it spoke again, its voice was full of gentleness.
I'm fine, don't worry.
Seeing Xiao Jiu's still serious face, the system seemed to sigh, and remarked with some joy: [The host has grown up...]
This time it said seriously: "[Host, do you still remember the stone we separated earlier?]"
Xiao Jiu nodded: "Xiao Jiu, remember."
System: [I used to deal with it while I was sleeping, and now I've successfully eaten it. From now on, I can do things with fewer points!]
Hearing the system's excited and smug tone, Xiao Jiu exclaimed, "Wow!"
Just as the zombie and the system were having a good time, Fu Yu suddenly interrupted.
"Little Nine..."
Fuyu rarely speaks up, let alone interrupts others, so everyone quieted down and looked at him.
Being stared at by several eyes at the same time, Fu Yu suddenly became a little nervous.
"I... I want to say, the sun doesn't seem to have come out."
His words made everyone suddenly look up at the sky.
The ground suddenly cracked in the middle of the night, and then there was the escape and the chaos that followed. Several hours have passed, so it should be dawn by now.
But above their heads, all that remained was darkness.
In the silence, the fluorescent lights on the ground and cliff face seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness.
As they approached, the fluorescent blue substance on the star-shaped petals gradually dissipated, disappearing much faster than when Xiao Jiu and the others had just fallen.
In just a few seconds, the entire space was plunged into complete darkness.
The giant sun phantom that used to appear precisely on time every day has disappeared.
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