Chapter 452: Eileen's 'Gain'

Anything connected to Yusheng and the people around him seemed to develop in unexpected directions—Yuanling Zhenren still remembered when Director Baili Qing had mentioned that phrase in their correspondence, and now he clearly had an even deeper understanding of it.

The Omen Wanderstar, which had been suppressed at the bottom of Taixu Lingqu for three thousand years without showing any signs of weakening—whose only weakness was being suppressed by the Taixu land veins—had been shattered into pieces simply by being touched by the half-meter-tall puppet beside Yusheng, leaving only a fist-sized ball floating. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, and someone else had told him this story, his first reaction would have been to kick them down, shove half a catty of Clarity-Bolstering Wisdom Pills into their mouth, and force them to drink two bowls of Calming Decoction, three times a day…

"About this ball…" Yuanling Zhenren blinked as he looked at the grayish-white stone ball floating beside Eileen. He organized his words several times, not knowing how to express his current feelings, and finally forced out, "Let me examine it first."

Yusheng casually grabbed the ball from the air and handed it to Yuanling. "Go ahead and examine it."

When he grabbed the stone ball, Yusheng felt a slight resistance, but it wasn't strong. Probably because Eileen was nearby, the ball behaved "obediently."

Yuanling took the stone ball with an odd expression, formed a hand seal with his other hand and chanted a spell, then summoned an ancient bronze mirror of unknown purpose. He shone it on the ball, studied it for a long time, and called over Yuanhao, who had been watching the excitement. The two of them huddled together, observing and discussing, spouting a bunch of jargon that no one could understand.

And that grayish-white pitted ball, like a miniature planet, was being passed back and forth between the two old men. Apart from occasionally wanting to drift toward Eileen, it offered no resistance—completely docile, especially compared to the terrifying and violent "Omen Wanderstar" from before.

Eileen sat on Yusheng's shoulder, both of them staring wide-eyed at the scene. After a long moment, Yusheng poked Eileen's head with his finger. "Got any thoughts?"

"Thoughts? What thoughts could I have?" Eileen stared blankly. "I don't even know what's going on! Let me say this first—if they want me to compensate later, I really can't afford it… I only get such a small allowance every day…"

"Who's talking about that? I'm talking about the connection between the Omen Wanderstar and you," Yusheng rolled his eyes. "Remember what the Omen Wanderstar said earlier? About the Omen Goddess…"

Eileen's eyes went wide as she stared straight at Yusheng, then she gave an exaggerated shudder. "Ew—don't say such outrageous things!"

Yusheng didn't continue. He just raised a hand and gently patted the little puppet's back.

Eileen pouted, then stared off into the distance, lost in thought.

Not far away, Snake Woman was quietly stretching herself out. Realizing no one was going to hit her, she grew bolder, even moving closer in the direction of Yuanhe Zhenren and sticking her head out. "Old thief."

Yuanhe raised an eyebrow. "If you won't call me 'Zhenren,' at least use my name."

"Yuanhe, you old thief," Snake Woman said brashly, then pointed her tail tip at Yusheng and Eileen's group. "What exactly are these people? Why do you all seem so polite to them? I've never seen you treat anyone this way…"

Yuanhe glanced at the great snake beside him out of the corner of his eye, hesitated for a moment, then casually asked, "Do you know what big events have happened outside?"

"How would I know that! You've locked me in this sunless place where I can't even see whether it's sunny or raining!" Snake Woman glared, and the tiger, leopard, bear, and jackal heads beside her all bared their teeth and hissed at Yuanhe, but quickly drooped again. "All I heard from the disciples who came down to inspect was something about a big incident at the border, then something about a big incident at Taixu Lingqu… but no one wanted to explain the specifics to me."

Yuanhe thought for a moment. "…Have you ever heard of the 'Dim Angel'?"

"What's that? Is it tasty?"

Yuanhe: "…"

"Why'd you stop talking?"

Yuanhe remained silent, but after a few moments, he suddenly seemed to notice something. He turned his head sharply and stared at the great snake demon before him with a strange look.

Snake Woman felt goosebumps all over from his gaze and instinctively coiled up. "You, you want to do what—this young lady warns you, I haven't settled the score for Dog-head yet! Don't you go having any crooked ideas…"

"Snake Woman," Yuanhe frowned. After several long seconds, he said with an especially serious expression, "Have you… noticed you're speaking more coherently?"

Snake Woman: "…Huh?"

At the same time, the other side—the fellow disciples Yuanling and Yuanhao—finally finished examining the stone ball.

The moment they let go, the ball drifted back beside Eileen, continuing to circle the little puppet.

"In terms of aura… it is indeed still the 'Omen Wanderstar,'" Yuanling Zhenren nodded solemnly, meeting Yusheng's curious gaze. "But it seems to have no mental response left, and it no longer has the dangerous, vicious aura from before. Elder Senior Brother and I examined it for a long time and found that, aside from being able to float around, it has no other… 'divine powers.'"

"No mental response?" Eileen's eyes widened in surprise.

Yuanling nodded gravely.

"It feels like it was factory reset…" Yusheng furrowed his brow, his tone thoughtful.

After a moment, he shook his head.

"The key now is how to handle this ball," Yusheng said, his expression turning serious. "It keeps following Eileen."

Yuanling and Yuanhao exchanged a glance.

"We two discussed it just now," Yuanhao cleared his throat twice, breaking the silence. "Since this ball seems to have a connection with Miss Eileen, perhaps you should be the ones to keep an eye on it…"

Yusheng had considered this possibility, but he was still surprised to hear the other party bring it up voluntarily. "Huh? Let us take it away?!"

Eileen couldn't help but speak up too. "Wasn't this thing very dangerous? Won't something go wrong if we take it outside the seal?"

"Actually…" Yuanhao hesitated at this point, then sighed with a wry smile. "The seal is already gone."

Yusheng & Eileen: "…?"

Yuanhao raised a hand, pointing at the Suppression Stone pillars around them, as well as the pile of tangled rune chains entangled in the grayish-white debris.

Only then did Yusheng notice that these items, which had previously been shimmering with a layer of hazy spiritual light, had now become completely still—and apparently had been silent for a while now.

"Just now, when the Omen Wanderstar shattered, the thousand-year seal at the bottom of the Suppression Tower completely failed," the handsome old man spread his hands. "Including the parts that were drawing on the land veins—the Omen Wanderstar has escaped, and rebuilding the seal here will take at least three to five years."

"Back then, many experts and great figures joined forces to suppress the 'Omen Wanderstar' when it first descended, sealing it in the depths of Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain for several years before others had the chance to build this confinement ground around it," Yuanling added. "And now… this fiend has turned into this state. There's no need for so many people to join forces and seal it underground anymore. But now that the seal here has failed, continuing to…"

The old man paused here, his expression subtle as he glanced again at the small ball floating beside Eileen, then continued, "…continuing to imprison it here is meaningless. And to put it elsewhere… Taixu Lingqu doesn't have a second place to seal the Omen Wanderstar. Since it's turned out like this, it's better for the 'Travelers' Society' to take it over. We'll feel more at ease that way."

More at ease, huh…

Yusheng thought it over, quickly understood the other party's meaning, and then set his gaze on Eileen.

The little puppet also realized what was happening. She turned her head to look at the floating Omen Wanderstar (Youth Edition) beside her, and her small face immediately fell. "No way…"

"Just think of it as acquiring a magic artifact," Huli sidled over, a rare expression of enjoying the excitement on her face. "Isn't that how it always goes in the novels, comics, and dramas you read?~~"

Luna suddenly raised her head, as if restarting, and blurted out, "Yeah, right."

Eileen was stunned, and her expression visibly began to waver. "Well, if you put it that way… yeah, I guess?"

Seeing this, Yusheng quickly pressed down on her head and nodded before she could recover. "Then it's settled."

He turned to Yuanling. "By the way, do we need to go through some handover procedures? Since we're taking over such a… special item from you, a formal force like Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain should leave some paperwork, right?"

"That's true," Yuanling felt that made sense and stroked his beard. "But given the special circumstances, the paperwork can be done later. You can take the 'thing' out first."

After a while, once they had again confirmed the state of the Omen Wanderstar (Youth Edition), Yusheng opened a door leading to 66 Plane Tree Road. He left the bottom of the Suppression Tower with Eileen, Huli, and Luna—they still had to go back and check on Zhengzhi, and also observe how that little stone ball would react after leaving the Suppression Tower over there, "outside."

Besides, having been out and about for so long and having just gone through a fierce battle, Yusheng felt he really needed to go back, take a good bath, and get some sleep—even if the sky fell, he'd rest a bit before dealing with it.

The three fellow disciples, Yuanling, Yuanhao, and Yuanhe, along with Xuanche, stayed behind. They still had to inspect the condition of the Suppression Tower and deal with some issues after the seal formation on the land veins there had failed.

The illusory door slowly dissipated in the air.

Yuanhe Zhenren stroked his beard. Only after the door had completely disappeared did he turn and look at his two senior brothers.

"Was taking the 'Omen Wanderstar' out of the Suppression Tower like that really okay? Wasn't that a bit hasty?"

"An extraterrestrial fiend that could devour the land veins, suppressed beneath the Capital Planet for three thousand years. For three thousand years, we had no way to do anything except trap it here," Yuanling shook his head. "Now this is actually a good thing—keeping it with Yusheng is far safer than keeping it in Taixu Lingqu."

"If you put it that way… I suppose so," Yuanhe thought for a moment, then let out a long breath. "After all, he is 'Mr. Yusheng'—even the Dim Angel had to fall by his hands."