Zanxing (Retranslated)

Chapter 170 - The Withered Tree Blooms (1)

The wind blew, and in the air, only the low sobs of Douniang could be heard.

The Mirage Woman’s fingernails lightly scratched the gem embedded in her snake staff, producing a piercing scraping sound.

“There’s some backbone in you,” she remarked with a mocking smile after a moment of silence. “In that case, just die here.” As soon as she finished speaking, the snake staff in her hand suddenly expanded. A giant serpent coiled and violently lunged at everyone present.

All of their spiritual artifacts had turned to sand, and their spiritual energy had completely vanished. The giant serpent opened its mouth wide in the air. Zanxing took a step back, only to find that behind her, an unknown dune had formed. Before she could react, she felt a weight on her body. The giant serpent had coiled around her, like a writhing quagmire, binding her tightly. A suffocating feeling surged from her chest.

Looking around, it was the same for everyone. Deprived of their spiritual energy, they were no different from ordinary people. Gu Baiying, who had the highest cultivation level, was completely powerless due to his damaged spiritual veins. Even without encountering the Mirage Woman, his body wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

“Martial Uncle!” Men Dong’s panicked voice suddenly rang out, “This female demon, this female demon is absorbing your spiritual energy!”

Zanxing suddenly lifted her eyes.

Their spiritual energy hadn’t truly disappeared; it was just restricted by the rules, unable to be used. And this female demon’s snake staff seemed to have the ability to absorb others’ spiritual energy. Seeing the serpent coiled around her growing larger and larger, Zanxing felt she would suffocate at any moment.

“Brother Mu…” Zanxing turned her head with difficulty to look at Mu Cengxiao beside her, “Think of something quickly!”

Mu Cengxiao, also immobilized by the giant serpent, was somewhat confused by her words: “…What should I do?”

“Your sword… cough, cough, cough—”

“It’s not… the same as yours… all turned to sand…” As she finished speaking, the giant serpent around Mu Cengxiao suddenly tightened. His face turned pale, and he fell silent.

Could he be dead? Zanxing was startled.

In “At the Summit of the Nine Heavens,” there was no plot involving Wufan City. But Mu Cengxiao was the protagonist, and as far as Zanxing knew, protagonists didn’t die halfway through the story. This was why she had remained so calm until now.

But now, Mu Cengxiao’s face was turning blue and purple from being strangled, and he looked like he was on the brink of death. How could he possibly survive this? Was their entire group going to be trapped in this illusion without gaining anything?

This was too frustrating!

Perhaps it was because of the Xiao Yuan Pearl, or maybe because Zanxing’s spiritual energy was the weakest among the group, the Mirage Woman’s snake staff had the least effect on her. She could still think clearly. Meanwhile, her senior brothers and sisters were entangled by the snake staff, seemingly unconscious and barely breathing.

Things couldn’t go on like this. Were they really going to die here?

At that moment, she suddenly noticed Gu Baiying’s headband.

The bright red Zhuyan in the boy’s hair was like a red plum blossom on snowy ground. Gu Baiying had once taken off this headband and handed it to Zanxing, suggesting she leave first. Zanxing had refused, losing her chance to escape.

In fact, when cultivators encounter opponents stronger than themselves, escaping is not the only option.

In the secret realm of Li’er Country, Fairy Qinghua had passed on her legacy to Zanxing. Although the techniques and mental skills were numerous and difficult to understand, Zanxing vaguely remembered one method. If a disciple encountered danger and couldn’t escape, and the opponent’s cultivation was much higher, they could burn their own spiritual energy to temporarily increase their cultivation for a fight.

Burning one’s spiritual energy was akin to burning one’s lifespan. The lost energy will not return, but the benefit is a rapid increase in cultivation, providing the ability to fight the opponent.

Now she was here, constrained by the rules of the illusion, her spiritual energy completely vanished. However, she still had the Xiao Yuan Pearl.

That all-powerful Xiao Yuan Pearl, it pulsed faintly in her heart. Zanxing could even sense its desire and tremor.

She could burn the spiritual energy within the Xiao Yuan Pearl.

But…

Her palm began to throb with pain. She didn’t need to think to know that the flower-shaped red mark was reminding her.

If she stepped forward, the plot would inevitably change. Stealing Mu Cengxiao’s fate and limelight would surely bring punishment from the “Heavenly Dao.” Just like the Xiao Yuan Pearl turned from a treasure into a cursed object, just like how she accidentally joined the Taiyan Sect and got deeper and deeper into trouble.

The Mirage Woman’s wanton laughter echoed in the desolate desert, and the surrounding companions had fallen silent.

Zanxing’s gaze darkened.

Breaking the “Heavenly Dao” would indeed bring new punishments, but not breaking it would mean losing her life right now.

Since that’s the case, she might as well go all out and take a chance now.

Thinking of this, Zanxing closed her eyes, and from the warm pearl on her chest, a sudden burst of white light erupted. This white light was different from before; it was no longer scorching but instead flowed gently like a stream, slowly passing through her heart.

The Mirage Woman sensed something amiss. Looking at Zanxing, her gaze changed, and she murmured, “You really are strange.” She reached out a hand towards Zanxing.

Zanxing frowned, and the next moment, her hand was suddenly grasped. She looked down in surprise to see the braided little girl, Douniang, holding her hand and looking up at her.

From her palm came a clammy, sweaty sensation. In a blur, everything around her vanished. She saw her own feet, the soles of her cloth shoes worn through, her feet tanned dark by the sun. Sand roughened her mouth.

Around her was a barren desert, not a single blade of grass in sight. Zanxing looked at her hands—small, with braids hanging down her chest. She had become Xu Douniang.

Zanxing—or rather Xu Douniang—walked slowly through the desert. She seemed to have been walking for a long, long time, so long that she couldn’t remember the days anymore, so long that her bundle no longer contained food or water. She kept walking because she wanted to go home.

She didn’t know when she had come to this desert, nor how long it would take to leave. She felt hungry, her mouth dry. At night, she would hide behind dunes to sleep, and as soon as daylight broke, she would set off again with her bundle.

Like an animal lost in the desert.

She kept walking and walking, until another dusk came. She was hungry and thirsty, lying in her clothes behind a dune, watching countless stars appear in the darkening sky. The endless, lonely, and barren desert held the liveliest Milky Way in the world. She closed her eyes, vaguely hearing a gentle woman’s voice by her ear. The voice asked, “What do you want most?”

What did she want most?

Xu Douniang thought. She wanted to go back many years, before she was sold to a wealthy household as a maid, when her father hadn’t yet become addicted to gambling, and her mother was still alive. On summer days like these, after playing shuttlecock in the yard, she would step into the small house covered in sweat. Her father would wipe her sweat with one hand and offer her a bowl of chilled sour plum soup with the other. The sour plum soup was both sour and sweet. She would drink it in one go, leaving her tongue sweet. Her father would lift her from the ground and hold her high.

The voice by her ear grew even softer. It said, “Sleep, sleep, and everything will be fine when you wake up.”

Xu Douniang fell asleep with ease.

The first ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell on the girl’s face, soft and warm. She opened her eyes to see Xu Fu sitting beside her, looking at her kindly. She widened her eyes in disbelief, and her father patted her head, smiling, “Our Douniang has grown so big.”

Xu Douniang stared at the person before her, tears streaming down her face.

Her father held her hand and led her toward a city in the desert. That city was warm and prosperous, with friendly people—a green oasis in the wasteland. They settled there, built a house, and made a home.

It was as wonderful as a dream.

The present world was stable, and time was serene, exactly as she had imagined.

But, but…

Did she really not know it was a dream?

She had been away from home for so long, Xu Fu had aged. How could he still look young? He always made her shuttlecocks, but she was no longer the little girl who played with them.

The incongruities, the discrepancies in her life, were like grains of sand in her shoes, constantly and sharply reminding her of the real and the illusory. She ignored all the clues and signs.

The illusion was a beautiful dream woven by the great demon. Some people were lost in it, never finding their way back; others were consciously sinking into it.

By a small stream behind the sand dune, which had long since dried up, the traces of dryness marked the ground, reminding travelers that a spring once flowed here.

The girl lying against the sand dune never woke up again.

Zanxing suddenly opened her eyes.

Her Panhua Staff had somehow returned to her hand, the sand had all disappeared, and her touch met hard stone walls.

The illusion was broken.

The Mirage Woman’s face changed drastically, and she shrieked, “This is impossible—”

Zanxing looked at the little girl beside her with a complex expression and sighed, “So, you knew all along.”

Xu Douniang had known all along.

She knew it was fake; she knew everything was just a dream. She knew that a desolate desert couldn’t have an oasis, that her father, thousands of miles away, couldn’t suddenly appear by her side. She knew Xu Fu was fake, Wufan City was fake, and all the warmth between father and daughter was fake.

She had lost herself in the desert before seeing her father, and she would never find her way home, even in death.

Reality was cruel, while dreams were beautiful.

So, even though she realized everything was fake, Xu Douniang willingly lived in the woven illusion.

Until she met Tian Fangfang.

“I don’t want to hurt Brother Tian.” Xu Douniang smiled bitterly at Zanxing, her body gradually turning to mist. “Since everything started because of me, it should end with me.”

“Bitch,” the Mirage Woman burst into a rage, “You deceived me—” She swung her staff at Xu Douniang, but it was blocked by an unexpected intervention.

Zanxing’s broken Panhua Staff stood in her way.

“Now it’s my turn,” she said.