Chapter 133: Awakening the Pretender
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Audacious spirit of evil! This is the capital of Northern Zhao, yet you dare not retreat?”
“Once the National Advisor arrives, you shall be scattered into nothingness! Leave at once!” The trembling voices of the young men belied their attempts to sound fierce as they quaked with fear.
Terrifying.
Wherever he went, every vengeful spirit fled or groveled, unable to stand in his presence.
They cowered, shivering, avoiding his gaze. Just moments earlier, a malicious spirit had unintentionally obstructed his path, only to be obliterated with a mere wave of his hand.
What was he?
“Return… to your soul…”
His voice, ethereal and disembodied, murmured this phrase over and over.
“Return… to your soul…”
“Do not come any closer! Ahead lies the Imperial Palace of Northern Zhao, and you shall not pass!” Lu Yan Shu stood firm, the golden light around him brighter than all others combined. He refused to retreat even a step.
“Return… to your soul…” The man in dark robes moved forward as if the world itself held no meaning to him.
Noticing the resistance ahead, he raised his gaze toward Lu Yan Shu.
Lu Yan Shu’s heart clenched painfully. With just one look, blood tears seeped from his eyes.
No mortal could gaze upon him.
What in the world was this being?
Lu Yan Shu held his ground, even as he heard the endless thuds of people collapsing behind him. His vision blurred as his strength waned.
“Brother…” He thought he heard his sister’s voice.
As he fell, he seemed to hallucinate her silhouette.
The Fourth Prince had long since fainted on the ground.
Lu Chao Chao approached and touched her brother’s nose. His breathing was unstable, his spirit uneasy.
This was no ordinary collision.
A god?
Was he… a god?
Lu Chao Chao was perplexed. How could a god wander the three realms like a malevolent spirit, bringing harm to mortals?
He seemed soulless, roaming aimlessly, softly calling to a blade of grass, a tree, as he moved past.
“Return… to your soul…”
His silver hair billowed, and his robes rippled as he pressed onward, his eyes devoid of focus or direction.
“What… are you looking for?”
“Hey! Hey!” Lu Chao Chao shouted, leaping to catch his attention, but he paid her no mind.
Recalling the Fourth Prince’s words, she was struck with alarm. Could he have been searching for something all this time?
Centuries ago? Millennia ago?
His existence was recorded in fragments from both the distant and near past.
He had always been searching.
“Is he a god?” Lu Chao Chao trailed behind him, wary of his potential harm to others. He did not respond.
“Which god are you?”
“I know all the gods!”
“You…” Lu Chao Chao hesitated.
This didn’t seem to be a god’s true form. Could it be the obsession of some deity?
But could such a strong obsession truly endure for millennia, unchanging and ceaselessly seeking?
“Return… to your soul…” The malevolent figure wandered through the city, aimless and lost.
He entered the palace and then left. He roamed every street, questioning every person, every tree, every flower, every breeze.
Lu Chao Chao followed closely, watching as he paused in front of the gates of Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor, momentarily dazed.
“Are you… looking for the heroine?” Lu Chao Chao pouted, puffing up her cheeks.
She followed him into the manor.
“Heh, scumbag dad’s face is all swollen now…” she muttered, gleefully watching Lu Yuan Ze’s misfortunes.
The old madam was still praying to her doll-like figurine, unaware she had collapsed in the Buddha hall.
“You’re not even sincere when praying to Buddha…” she remarked. The statue had been swapped with a doll, yet no one noticed.
She spotted Su Zhi Qing, clutching a baby’s garment as she cried herself into unconsciousness.
The dark figure continued on, finally halting in the room where Lu Chao Chao once lived.
“Hmph! Sleeping in my room!” Lu Chao Chao placed her hands on her hips in defiance.
Inside lay the one-year-old Lu Jing Huai, whose face was twisted with resentment, clearly unsettled even in sleep.
The figure stood silently for a long time.
“Are you looking for Lu Jing Yao?” Lu Chao Chao asked softly, indifferent to whether he would reply.
He glanced at the child once and left without looking back.
Lu Chao Chao scratched her head in frustration, only to grow more astonished.
This time, he paused before the gates of the Lu Family residence.
Her expression turned serious as she immediately stepped in front of him.
“You’re not allowed in!” Her face turned red with determination.
“This is my home. No way!”
“You’re an obsession turned demonic. I won’t hurt you, but leave now!”
“Or else, I’ll be really fierce!” Her childish voice tried to sound intimidating.
But he remained unresponsive.
Growing anxious, Lu Chao Chao flicked her fingers, unleashing a surge of spiritual energy that churned the heavens.
Though she had been reborn, such reckless use of spiritual energy triggered suppression from the heavens. She remained oblivious to how the figure stiffened at the sensation of her power.
He slowly lifted his head, gazing at Lu Chao Chao.
In his empty eyes, a flicker of a soul seemed to ignite.
“Tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll help you find it,” she offered, her chatter relentless.
“But you can’t enter my home!”
“If you don’t listen, I’ll hit you!”
“You’ve turned demonic with obsession. You need to disperse… How long have you been searching?”
One thousand years? No response.
Two thousand years? Still nothing.
Three thousand years?
Four—”
Before she could finish, he nodded slightly.
“Three thousand years?” Lu Chao Chao gawked in shock.
Had he truly searched every year, every day, every moment for so long?
Scratching her head, she wondered aloud, “Which god could hold onto such an obsession and turn into a demon?”
“The soul… has returned…”
She seemed to hear a long sigh, as though it came from the boundless sky. Yet it might not have been his voice.
She looked up again, only to find him gone.
A rooster crowed, heralding dawn as the first rays of sunlight touched the earth.
Countless spirits, caught unprepared, screamed in agony under the sun’s purifying light. Their forms sizzled into smoke, vanishing without a trace.
Lu Chao Chao scratched her head.
“Who was that, really?”
The gods she had once known were now worshipped widely, but that was long ago.
“If I find out who it is, I’ll skin them alive!” she muttered, her face twisted in determination.
The sun bathed the city in light, breaking its eerie silence.
The Fourth Prince, rubbing his head, staggered back to the manor. “I fainted yesterday too? Why does my head hurt so much?”
Lu Chao Chao?
[Uh… I knocked you out! But I can’t say that!]
“Hurry, hurry! Mother Xu is waking up,” she said, clutching her bottom.
No matter how powerful I am, what good is it?
Mother’s feather duster hurts like the dickens!
Dashing back to her room, Lu Chao Chao threw off her shoes, leapt onto her bed, and pulled up the covers, pretending to be sound asleep.
Ever since Lu Chao Chao’s recent brushes with danger, Madam Xu had forbidden her from leaving the house alone. Now, Madam Xu stood at her bedside, rubbing her temples.
Noticing the mud on her shoes, she raised an eyebrow.
“I heard that when someone is truly asleep, their hands float in the air,” Madam Xu remarked casually.
Under Deng Zhi’s stunned gaze…
Lu Chao Chao slowly raised her hands straight above her head.
Lol cant fool a mama