Chapter 546 – Encountering a Player
"Ah, before that, can I talk to my generals first?"
"Generals? Ah, the division leaders. Go ahead."
After getting Miaomiao's permission, Liu Guang closed her eyes and communicated with her bugs.
A minute later, the land trembled. Subterrain bugs came out from their burrows while flying insects gathered in the sky above Xiangyang City.
The sight was creepy and scary. Insects, pests, and creatures of various sizes surrounded Xiangyang City. The massive army turned the sky and the soil black as if Miaomiao's darkness domain had been activated.
"Wow, I'm impressed," Miaomiao wryly smiled while he had goosebumps.
Liu Guang giggled, "I'll show you something more amazing."
"There's more?"
She clapped her hands. Suddenly, every insect vanished into Liu Guang's body as if she were a black hole, sucking all insects into a whirlpool.
Miaomiao dropped his jaw. He knew this skill - It looked similar to something that he had.
When all the last insect had disappeared into her body, she revealed the truth, "I also have a pocket dantian world. It's still an incomplete plane, though. It will take some time for me to develop it into a world like yours."
"!!!"
This girl was not simple! She might even become a heaven-chosen genius in the future, which might be the reason why Devil laid traps for Liu Guang to inherit the Beelzebub Bloodline.
"Ah, I see. You have a high affinity with the Constellation Cultivation Path. After this job, I'll teach you a new cultivation method. You might be able to do something similar to me."
"It feels kinda odd, though. I can live inside your body while I have another world inside me… If one of my bugs can do the same, wouldn't that be funny?"
"…"
Miaomiao didn't want to think about it. If he kept dwelling on this inception logic, it would have destroyed all his brain cells.
Liu Guang led Miaomiao around the continent. She flew further south, heading toward former Huang Hansheng's territory.
The southern territory hid wealthy farmlands, mineral mines, and a clear spring river with abundant Qi. The natural Yin and Yang Qi around here was so thick that it could potentially be a hotspot for travelers and cultivators.
Miaomiao could see the remnants of formation arrays around the deserted cities. He figured that it might be an array to protect commoners from harmful Qi in the air, but they were no longer active since Liu Guang's bugs broke them all.
At the center of the southern land, a collapsed tower continued to emit faint element Qi from its core.
Miaomiao recognized this tower. He turned to Liu Guang, "A pylon tower?! Why is it here? Whose tower is this?"
"Ah, that. This tower has been here before I even took over this region. Oh, the spirit of the tower is still alive. Let me introduce you to him."
Liu Guang approached the tower crystal, which had several cracks on it. When she touched it, the crystal hummed.
BZZZ
A static monitor screen appeared in front of Liu Guang, but Miaomiao could see it. The crystal also spoke.
"Huh?!"
Miaomiao was sure that he didn't mishear or misread it. Two keywords shocked him.
Pangu Online?
Player Liu Guang?
What kind of abomination was this?! Wasn't this game the cause of Player Calamity?
And why was Liu Guang a "Player"!?
"Explain, Guang'er. How did you become a player? Do you know what danger comes along with Player Systems? Mu-Nyang won't leave us alive if he finds out about this!"
Liu Guang broke a sweat. She coughed and patted the crystal again, "Don't worry. This is just a pre-programmed automatic crystal. I touched this thing when I first saw it, and it registered me as [Player]. It also said that the server database couldn't be reached at the moment, and it didn't do anything to me other than nicknaming me as [Player]."
Despite the explanation, Liu Guang wasn't in the clear yet. Miaomiao was worried about something else.
"By chance, do you have any system menu? Can you summon something similar to this screen?"
"No. It only appears when I touch the crystal. I can't summon it elsewhere."
Miaomiao heaved a sigh of relief. At least, Liu Guang wasn't one of the players.
Still, Miaomiao was partly disappointed. If Liu Guang was really a player, she could self-resurrect, respawn, or return to a saved point like one of the players in video games.
Since it was harmless, Miaomiao walked closer to the crystal and touched it.
Unfortunately, it didn't register Miaomiao as a player. It dimmed and stopped functioning.
Again, Miaomiao was disappointed.
"Say, Liu Guang, other than this thing, why have you brought me here?"
Liu Guang pointed toward the crystal. Inside the pylon crystal core, something similar to a soul stone was hidden there.
Miaomiao narrowed his eyes. It looked similar to a 4th-grade soul stone, but it had no Soul Qi or Soul Essence energy aura.
"What's that shit?"
'That's quite rude of you to treat me as excrement. If I were in my prime, I would have sliced you a thousand times already.'
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
Miaomiao stepped backward in a panic. This thing talked directly to his mind, and its voice power was so similar to Ancestor Minghe or the boatman.
'I am Susano, a dead man that can't be revived or killed again.'
"Susano… SUSANO-O, the Slayer of Yamato-no-Orochi?!"
'You're quite knowledgeable. Yes, I and my comrades killed Orochi a long time ago.'
This discovery astonished Miaomiao. He turned to Liu Guang.
The latter shrugged, "I didn't even know who this Susa-Susee was. Don't ask me. I found his soul by chance, and I guided you here."
"…"
Miaomiao slowly walked closer to the soul stone. He sat down in front of the crystal, "How did you get stuck here?"
'I wouldn't call it [Stuck]. It's more like I am imprisoned here because I can't be killed or resurrected. It's like I'm cursed.'
"Would you mind telling me what happened to you in the past?"
'Yes, I DO mind. Fuck you and leave me alone. I hate sissies like you the most. I can tell that you're a man in that neutral-gender appearance avatar! I saw so many players role-playing as women before, and I'm sick of it!'
"…"
Indeed, this soul was once a gamer. Miaomiao understood him well.
Still, what was wrong with him? Miaomiao believed that he hadn't done anything wrong.
Since the person was offended by his appearance, Miaomiao decided to shape-shift to his original form.
But then again, Miaomiao had another idea. He transformed into one of the archangels, covering himself in dense gas and a thick cloak. He also didn't forget to release his black aura, which extended from his back like tentacle wings.
With the glowing pair of yellowish eyes and the mist physique, he looked intimidating. Even Liu Guang had goosebumps by just looking into Miaomiao's eyes behind the black mist.
"Is this better?"
'Is that your true form?'
"You can say that."
'I see. That's a lot better. Well, you can get lost now.'
"…"
Miaomiao was speechless. This development was not following the script – Susano was supposed to be asking him for a favor to release him out of that crystal and give him a skill or a supreme technique as a reward like how powerful seniors always did to novel protagonists.
Unfortunately, this ancient relic of the past was uncooperative. He chased Miaomiao away.
"Welp, good luck staying there forever. Oh, I should call Mu-Nyang over since you are related to Pangu Online…"
'WAIT A SEC, DID YOU SAY MU-NYANG?!'
Miaomiao grinned. This stupid soul took the bait.
"Again with the caps. I have people that speak with cap locks. Well, yeah, my name… is MAO MIAOMIAO! I'm the descendant of that Cat Lord, motherfucker!"
Of course, Miaomiao lied. Yet, to add salt to the wound, Miaomiao purposely summoned Meowmeow and put the catopus on top of his head.
"See? He's my bro."
The cat looked around in confusion about why Miaomiao had summoned him. Then, he noticed the crystal, and he screamed.
"It's the PLAYER, MUNYA! HELP!!"
The cat panicked and hid behind Miaomiao even though it was a lot stronger than the latter.
'That catopus… so, you're really a descendant of those blasphemous Cathulhus?!'
"Yeah, so?" Miaomiao scoffed. He wanted to prank on this pretentious gamer, getting back to him for his previous antic before he extorted Susano for supreme techniques of the Primordial Time.
'I see. That's the more reason I shouldn't be helping you! Get lost!'
"…"
That wasn't a part of the plan.
Once again, Miaomiao failed to follow the script and be blessed with plot armor. He wondered if he took a misstep somewhere.
Since Susano could no longer be Miaomiao's friend, the latter took the mindset of a protagonist and treated the soul as a potential enemy.
If he couldn't be his ally, he could only be his enemy. And what happened to a protagonist's enemy?
Death!
Miaomiao grinned as he started searching for Susano's existence karma strings.
However, to his surprise, this gamer had no karma string on him. He was too clean for a person under the sage realm!
For the first time, Miaomiao encountered a non-sage who was immune to his ability.
Since Miaomiao couldn't kill him with his new power, he circulated his Qi and heightened his sword intent, searching for Susano's Point of Death.
Yet, again, it didn't work. Susano had no weakness.
"Wow," Now, Miaomiao was impressed. "You're quite strong."
'Duh! That's right, captain! I was the former number one ranker of Pangu Online. If it weren't for Mu-Nyang, I would have slaughtered the sages and ruled the universe!'
"Oh, so you know the sages, too. Interesting. But are you sure that you were stronger than the sages?"
'Pfft. Rather than stronger than the sages, I kicked their asses! I forced them out of the universe to the Zenith Heaven Realm. Then, I raided their so-called Heaven with my party members! I shot down Nuwa and Fuxi while I forced Minghe to hide in his Blood River. I confronted Hongjun alone and fought him to a standstill for seven years!'
Miaomiao got what he wanted, information! Several names came out, and one of them surprised Miaomiao.
Hongjun?
Hongjun was a sage?
All along, he was pretending to be a Dao God?
Miaomiao closed his eyes and tried to remember the previous timeline events. It took Miaomiao a few seconds to deduce that Tilted Hongjun might not be the real Hongjun.
Being thankful for the significant intel, Miaomiao slow-clapped and partially mimicked the famous line of Mothman from Shin Megami Tensei Series, "Oh, WOW! hOw iMpReSSiVe! HoW fUcKiNg pROfOUnD! wHaT aN InspIrAtIOnAL! Pretentious little dipshit."
'You… well, fuck it. It was all Mu-Nyang's fault! If he didn't kill my real body, I could have dominated this dimension!'
This confession somewhat confused Miaomiao. How could the almighty sages allow a mortal, a weak-ass gamer, to invade their homeworld? Weren't they omnipotent and omniscient? Why couldn't they discover the player's real bodies and let Mu-Nyang take the credits?
This inspired Miaomiao. There might be ANOTHER dimension that the sages in this universe couldn't reach, but Mu-Nyang could.
Moreover, the modern world that Miaomiao or Devil had come from might not belong in this universe! If so, there might be a place to retreat to if things went south!
Miaomiao had hope. He might be able to flee into that dimension if he couldn't fight the sages using his time and space abilities or karmic power.
But first, he needed to get stronger and locate that place.
Since he had heard what he wanted to hear, Miaomiao walked away from Susano's soul crystal. He looked at Liu Guang, "Let's leave. If this is what you're here for, we're done here."
"Ah, what a pity. I thought we might obtain some supreme technique or something from this soul crystal."
Even Liu Guang had the same idea!
Miaomiao dryly laughed and sent Meowmeow back to his dantian space. Then, he and Liu Guang traveled east to another location.
…
Susano's soul gazed at the departing Miaomiao and Liu Guang. Even without a physical body, he sighed.
"Yeah, you'd better leave. If you inherit my skills, you'll become a [Player] like me. Nothing good will come to you in this godforsaken universe, especially when you're related to Mu-Nyang."
Susano gazed at the daytime sky. Despite the bright light and the thick white cloud, he could see the stars with his sense.
"Sages… Hah! Indeed, how profound. How pretentious. What a bunch of game-addicted jackasses."
Not bothering with the worldly affair, Susano's soul crystal dimmed, and he fell to sleep. Then, the sound in his head woke him up.
Unfortunately, there was no logout button or the [Yes] button to push. Susano could only pick [No].
After all, the gate to the other universe was closed, and his real body was already dead. He was trapped in this game without an avatar for the rest of eternity.
"Haiz. I guess I should think of a way to possess someone… Oh, shit! I should have stolen that idiot's body! DAMMIT, BRAIN! WHY ARE YOU SO DUMB AT THE TIME LIKE THIS!! Come back, you… what's your name again? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
...
Liu Guang and Miaomiao toured the continent, starting from the south to southeast, southeast to east, east to northeast, and northeast toward the north.
She gathered so many armies that she had left behind in each region. From a rough estimation, she had over 20 billion soldiers inside her.
Miaomiao broke a sweat, thinking of the environment in her dantian space. He didn't want to take an adventure in there for sure.
While the two were gathering insect minions in the northern region, the home of the Yuan Clan and the centaurs, they noticed a commotion in the abandoned Yeet City.
A young man was fighting against an insect army, which had been gathering here because of Liu Guang's summon. He left behind a mountain of dead giant cockroaches while he protected a woman in his arm.
Liu Guang's expression turned dark in anger. These giant cockroaches that she had raised were one of her best creations, and they were being slaughtered by one cultivator.
As she was about to descend and kill the cultivator, Miaomiao stopped her.
Miaomiao recognized the face of the mysterious cultivator. He appeared in the third timeline with other hunters alongside Brocell in the protagonist battle.
Zhang He.
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