Chapter 490: Like your own shadow

Translated by: La0o9

Proofreader: Arya

Su Xue Er returned to her room.

Taking off her coat, she randomly draped it on the back of a seat.

Sitting down on her spacious desk, she took a careful look at the marble.

This was the first time she had seen the real thing.

To confirm her guess, Su Xue Er waved her hand.

A book flew out from one of the few hundred bookshelves in the large room, landing on the table in front of Su Xue Er.

Compared to the cramped room back when she was a disciple candidate, this space was much more spacious.

But more importantly, Lord Bloodcloak’s personal book collection wasn’t at all lacking compared to the Institute’s own.

There were even a few precious documents here that the library didn’t have.

So Su Xue Er directly asked for a few thousand books from her Guru and put them all neatly in her own room.

Lord Bloodcloak was extremely pleased with how willing she was to learn, so he helped Su Xue Er by turning her room into a small library.

Su Xue Er took up the book in front of her and solemnly began to flip it page through page.

“Found it”

Su Xue Er slowly read the description of a certain wondrous item.

[Crack Bead]

[When hidden underground, it will turn into dirt]

[Usage: When buried underground, within a certain period of time, it will record the conversation of everyone standing above a certain radius]

[Time of use: 1]

[This is an absolute hidden item, capable of avoiding all detection, interfering with many Laws including Fate]

[Only one person may use it, provided they keep whatever learnt from it an absolute secret]

[If the information from the bead is shared to anyone else, the user must atone with their death to appease the anger of the Laws]

Su Xue Er looked at the marble again.

It looked completely normal, like the marbles that children would play with.

But this was actually a valuable rare item.

However, because of its restrictions and how rare it was, most people never even saw one during their lifetime, let alone use one.

That girl must’ve been really lucky to find this.

Su Xue Er thought for a bit.

The girl must have known that during my retaliation, not only did I cause 5 other candidates to be eaten by the spiders, got accepted by Lord Bloodcloak as his student, but even cause Guru Isa to be exiled.

Which means the girl must’ve been really scared.

She must’ve realized that I did something, so she wanted to probe my intentions with this as a security measure.

This was supposed to be given to me as a bargaining chip.

Thinking that, Su Xue Er couldn’t help but feel a bit sorrowful.

Since when did I become someone to be so feared by others?

She looked at the Crack Bead in her hand.

Should I take a look at what’s inside?

Thinking about it briefly, Su Xue Er threw the marble on the floor.

As it fell, the glass marble immediately shattered.

An old, hoarse voice came.

“Bloodcloak shouldn’t have an heir”

As soon Su Xue Er heard these words, she opened her eyes wide.

This was the dean’s voice.

To her ears, this held nothing but the heaviest level of malice.

That girl herself probably didn’t know exactly what she just found out!

Perhaps she thought the top brass of the Institute were briefly discussing Su Xue Er’s growth.

After all, Su Xue Er’s maturity and potential were clear to anyone and everyone.

Another begrudging voice came.

“That girl is the holder of the scepter, furthermore she even has the white cloak, symbolizing the Laws of the world, her growth will be ”

“If the second master of the Blood Sea appears, there will be nothing left for us at the Fog Isle” a third voice.

“Agreed, that’s why we have to kill her before she matures, not allowing Lord Bloodcloak to gain a powerful ally” a fourth voice.

“What should we do?” a fifth voice.

“Let us consider this for a bit…” the dean said.

The people speaking seemed to have left the area.

Su Xue Er silently thought about what she just heard over and over again.

This was the Fog Isle’s internal power struggle.

I thought I would’ve gotten away from such things by leaving the 9 Lords.

But now, it seems as long as there is power to gain, there would always be people aiming for it.

Even if they are powerful existences that stand above all.

Su Xue Er had a realization.

I was wrong.

Power and authority doesn’t avoid anybody, because it wants to hold everyone’s freedom in its grasp.

It lies in wait deep at the bottom of every person.

Just like your own shadow, it’s impossible to escape from it.

Biting her lip, Su Xue Er’s heart tightened.

According to the Laws governing the Crack Bead, I have to keep this information to myself without being able to tell Lord Bloodcloak about it.

Not even through gestures or implication!

Even if I’m always growing stronger, my strength is still nothing before the Gurus.

Ever since I came here, the power shown by the Fog Isle’s Institute kept overturning my understanding of the word ‘Combatant’.

Lord Bloodcloak is only one person.

No matter how powerful he is, against so many other Combatants, there is no way for him to always ensure my own protection.

Once Lord Bloodcloak leaves, they will definitely find a way to secretly kill me.

What should I do?

Su Xue Er forced herself to calm back down.

Calm down!

Calm down!

Su Xue Er, you can definitely think of something.

She silently encouraged herself.

After a bit, she remembered something.

That’s right…

The call of the Bramble Birds!

The Gurus are unable to follow the call to where the Bramble Birds are.

The call of the Bramble Birds can only be answered by young beings like herself.

This was a way to become stronger, and the only way to avoid them.

Su Xue Er couldn’t help clenching her fists.

The danger is still there, but at least there’s a small hope of survival.

She suddenly stood up.

There’s no time to wait, I have to prepare and leave right away.

Get away from this place.

Another side.

The endless darkness of space.

A ship was passing through countless worlds, following the flow of the space vortex.

In a total of 5 days, it had passed through 280 million World Layers to reach this destination.

The ship slowly stopped.

From moments unknown, light had already appeared on one side of the ship.

Gu Qing Shan and the old man both looked over.

The light was coming from a factory-like old building.

There was nothing but endless void around, but the factory-like building just floated in the darkness.

The building looked like it had been through countless years, with numerous papers adverts and graffiti stuck to its dusty wall.

Perhaps to not be hidden away by the graffiti, every paper advert had a spell casted on it.

Within the darkness of space, the adverts were glowing brightly like neon lights, while a bit shady, they couldn’t be any easier to read.

At this point, Gu Qing Shan had already learnt a lot of languages, so he tried reading one of them.

[Barry is an idiot lecher, Angel Port – Irene]

This was the most eye-catching advert.

Gu Qing Shan raised his brows in surprise before continuing to look downwards.

[Boss Barry, we really are no match for you, but please at least pay the gambling money you owe, Silver Whale Casino – Bouncer Zhao]

[Barry, when you come to my shop, don’t faint a stomach ache or roll on the ground pretending to have food poisoning, I swear you’re never going to get a free meal, Gourmet soup kitchen – Chef Cheng]

[If you want boxing then we can do boxing, but please stop using dirty moves ok? -Anonymous]

[Pay us back! – the children of Oriental Kindergarten]

It seems this is the Justice Iron Fist Club.

Gu Qing Shan felt his eyes twitching.

I really have to think of a way to stay back? At a place like this?

While he was busy thinking, the sound of cheering came from inside the club.

“He’s down!”

“Beat him up!”

An excited male voice overpowered the rest as he shouted: “As your referee, I have to remind you. This is the best chance to hit him! Beat him! Beat him up good! Look, his legs are open, kick him in the groin!”

A chilling cry of pain reverberated.

Followed by countless gasps.

“…” Gu Qing Shan.

“…” the old man.

“Ah, yes, this is Barry’s blasted voice alright”

The old man unnaturally cracked his neck and said.

He tried his best to smile, telling Gu Qing Shan: “We’ve arrived at the Justice Iron Fist Club, we look forward to seeing you use our Spire Keeper Association’s services again”

Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist: “Thank you for your care on the way, farewell”

He lightly leapt and flew down from the ship.

The old man smiled and waved to him.

A second later, the old man turned around and loudly shouted to the young man piloting the ship.

“Start the ship now!!!”

The young man was shocked and quickly went back to work.

The Spire Keeper Association’s ship whizzed away like the wind, disappearing without a trace.

“Why do I feel like they were running away…”

Seeing the ship disappearing into the void of space, Gu Qing Shan muttered.

Fine, there’s already no going back.

Gu Qing Shan helplessly turned around as he headed towards the gate of the club.

At this time, a countdown had begun on the War God UI.

[59:59]

[59:58]

[59:57]

It was counting the time he had left.

Gu Qing Shan only had 1 hour in this world.

Within this hour, I have to find a way to remain here, completing the Destiny Quest and find out the secret that the War God UI promised.

If he can’t, the System will give him a new title: [He who botched Fate]

Since the System said I definitely won’t like to have this title, I had better take its words as truth and do this to the best of my abilities.

Gu Qing Shan walked quickly.

A few minutes later, he stood at the door of the club.

Gu Qing Shan observed it briefly.

This Super Dimensional world doesn’t seem to be very big, it only consisted of the club and the small patches of land around the club.

A girl wearing a cat ear headband was standing guard at the door.

She was squatting on a chair, concentrating on writing something.

“If you want to fight, come back tomorrow, we’re about to close for the day”

Before Gu Qing Shan even opened his mouth, the girl had already told him.

“How much for the entry fee?” Gu Qing Shan stopped and asked.

“Big bro said no charge”

The girl answered without looking up.

She was still busy writing nonstop

On the table, aside from a few other pencils, a rubber and a notebook, there was also a thin magazine.

The cover of the magazine was circled using a bright red marker.

Gu Qing Shan took a glance to see what was written.

[The Spire Keeper Association had officially announced: The Bramble Birds have begun their call!]

This was a language created and used by the Spire Keeper Association for the last 8 billion years.

Bramble Bird?

What’s that?

After taking a glance, Gu Qing Shan stopped.

His attention was drawn to the girl who seemed to be writing a manuscript.

Behind the girl, a long tail stood upright.

The tail occasionally waved a bit, following her thoughts.

Is that a real tail?

Gu Qing Shan wondered.

He then noticed the cat ear headband the girl was wearing also twitched a few times.

“It’s over” the girl announced.

Following that, a male voice came from inside the club.

“Today’s match is over, I welcome you all to return next time!”

“Justice! Iron Fist! We always welcome your presence!”

Gu Qing Shan looked back at the girl in surprise.

She really did notice what happened in the club.

So the ears on her head weren’t just an accessory, they are actual ears!

The tail… the ears…

She’s a real catgirl?