The Game with Fairies

“Is there some activity in the city?”

In this city of death, apart from the tens of thousands of resentful spirits that were suppressed, there were only the wandering, muddled, and spiritless remnants.

But at this moment, Zhuli sensed some disturbance in the city.

She rose within the mist and headed straight towards the source of the disturbance.

She saw a towering ghostly figure collapse heavily within the mist.

A young man’s corpse, which should have been dead, now stood on the street—it was he who had felled the ghostly figure.

Zhuli appeared silently and asked with a frown, “Who art thou? Darest thou trespass into this den of dragons and pit of tigers?”

The body of the young man in front of her was clearly that of a powerful person who had returned to life by possessing a corpse with his primordial spirit.

Yet, despite the directionless mist, his primordial spirit had managed to penetrate the fog and reach this city…

A sense of vigilance rose in Zhuli’s heart.

Faced with her sudden appearance, the mysterious visitor showed no surprise, as if he had anticipated her arrival.

He looked at Zhuli calmly and said, “Dragon Deity Fairy, Chaos has arisen, and the city’s resentful spirits are about to lose control. Dragon fairy, are you unaware of the great calamity that looms?”

Even though he was the outsider, he now took it upon himself to question Zhuli.

This caught Zhuli off guard, and she became uncertain.

“…The resentful spirits in the city are about to run amok?”

Why haven’t I noticed, yet this person has foreseen it?

Zhuli was filled with doubt and did not attack immediately.

The words of the mysterious person that followed only increased Zhuli’s unease.

He said that the resentful spirits in the city were about to lose control and would surge into the human world, causing great calamity, and even she would perish in the ensuing chaos of the resentful spirits’ rampage.

Such alarming news, but the stranger spoke with utmost seriousness, and what he described seemed logical.

If the resentful spirits in the city truly lost control and she, being unprepared and the first to be affected, indeed faced a high probability of perishing…

After hesitating for a moment, Zhuli chose to tentatively believe him.

“Very well! I shall trust thee for now.”

“But I shall follow thee and behold all thy doings with mine own eyes…”

Although the stranger was a powerful person, he was after all only a soul possessing a corpse, unable to wield any powerful immortal magic.

She could easily expel his primordial spirit in this mist if she wished.

Therefore, Zhuli decided to trust him for the time being. She wanted to see with her own eyes whether his actions were true or false.

If what he said was false, she could expel him at any moment.

Zhuli prepared for both possibilities.

…However, what the mysterious person did next greatly surprised Zhuli.

He used some unknown method to knock down the lingering powerful remnants in the city and refine them into mysterious orbs of pure essence.

These lingering powerful remnants were not as full of hatred as the resentful spirits underground. As long as they were not provoked, they would stay in place and were almost harmless.

But these remnants, who were demigods in life, still possessed formidable combat power after death.

Some of the stronger ones would even pose a challenge to Zhuli herself.

Yet the mysterious person kept defeating these remnants, refining them into some kind of pure essence orbs.

“…This is the Resentful Spirit Orb,” the mysterious figure said.

“The Resentful Spirit Orb can soothe and purify the resentful spirits in the city. Once the orb is fully collected, it can suppress and purify the resentful spirits within the city, restoring their sanity so they no longer wreak havoc upon the world.”

The mysterious figure’s plan was perfect, but what puzzled Zhulí was the other party’s divine power to refine the remnants of demigods into the orb…

Such a method was truly bizarre and unheard of before.

However, considering that this person could traverse the mist and reach the city amidst the resentful spirits, Zhulí calmed down.

Compared to the act of passing through the mist with the primordial spirit, the method of refining the remnants of demigods into the Resentful Spirit Orb seemed quite ordinary.

Zhulí calmed down and followed the mysterious figure, helping him refine those remnants of demigods in the city.

She was indifferent, gradually accepting the extraordinary nature of the mysterious person.

Until…

“…You are not a fish; from what do you know the joy of fish?”

A hint of surprise flashed in Zhulí’s eyes.

She had never heard such a saying before.

But she saw the mysterious figure laugh and say, “This is a conversation between two philosophers, Zhuangzi and Huizi.”

“Zhuangzi and Huizi were strolling above the Hao River bridge. Zhuangzi said, ‘The fish are out swimming about. That is the ‘Joy of Fish.’.”

“Huizi replied, ‘You are not a fish; from what do you know the joy of fish?’ ”

The mysterious figure laughed as he recounted the story of the two philosophers.

Zhulí had never heard of these philosophers before, but countless years had passed outside the mist, and it was not surprising that great philosophers had emerged.

Zhulí took them to be new philosophers from the outer world, pondered for a moment, and then chuckled lightly.

“…One philosopher transcends the mundane, not confined by material things, while the other seeks truth and argues cunningly. It’s really interesting.”

Sensing her interest in such topics, the mysterious figure continued the conversation with a smile.

As he knocked down and refined the remnants of demigods in the city, he laughed and chatted with Zhulí about philosophers like Zhuangzi, Huizi, Laozi, and Confucius, and their fascinating and wise sayings.

Every sentence he said, every story he told, was thought-provoking and contained philosophy.

Some of the sayings even contained the ultimate truths of the great Dao.

Ordinary people might not perceive the essence of the Dao in those words, but after a bit of contemplation, Zhulí’s eyes revealed a hint of astonishment.

“The valley spirit never dies, it is called the mysterious female…”

“Zhuangzi dreams of being a butterfly…”

“The universe and I came into existence together, and all things and I are one…”

“The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without contention…”

These topics were numerous and chaotic, with philosophical reasoning, the way of the gentleman, and even the ultimate truths of cultivation.

The mysterious figure only touched on each topic lightly, not delving deeply with her.

But even so, Zhulí gained a lot.

For her, while the secrets of cultivation and immortal techniques were valuable, these ultimate truths of the great Dao were equally precious.

Logically, the two were strangers with no prior relationship, yet upon their first meeting, he imparted such precious knowledge to her…

Zhulí sighed inwardly, feeling the weight of this favor.

She wanted to refuse, but after some thought, she chose to silently accept this kindness.

This mysterious person with the ability to project his primordial spirit into the depths of the mist, solely to suppress the resentful spirits in the city, must be a high personage of the righteous path.

Having already accepted this favor, she decided to silently note it down.

When the opportunity arose in the future, she would repay it.

–That was Zhulí’s plan.

But when their conversation suddenly turned to Zhulí’s situation and the mysterious visitor’s awareness of her being trapped in the city, the mysterious person laughed and pointed out a way for her to live.

“I happen to know the whereabouts of the Bingxian Tiger Talisman.”

“As long as we get the Bingxian Tiger Talisman and command the tens of thousands of resentful spirits to follow your orders, you will have a chance to leave this city.”

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