txolops Chapter 29 Forced Summoning
Chapter 29 Forced Summoning
Han Baibai, who was burying her head in her hands and crying, suddenly heard a distant bell sound. The sound seemed to penetrate through layers of space and reach her ears.
She paused for a moment, her crying stopped abruptly, and her little head poked halfway out from under the covers, her wet eyes blinking blankly.
Did I hear that right?
She sniffed, thinking it was the sound of the wind outside, or that she had misheard because she had been crying for so long.
Thinking of this, she buried her head back and continued to sob, her small shoulders trembling as if she wanted to cry out all her grievances.
After a while, the bell rang again, this time clearer, as if echoing right next to your ears.
Han Baibai sat up abruptly, her face flushed red, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. She thought it was her mother making the noise, deliberately trying to stop her from crying.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
She cried out angrily, pounding her little fists on the soft couch beneath her, her voice filled with grievance and anger, "Mother is bad! Mother is awful!"
Standing outside the door, Dong Xuan'er listened to her daughter's heart-wrenching cries, feeling as if her heart was being cut by a dull knife, the pain almost making it hard for her to breathe.
She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug deep into her palms, yet she felt no pain whatsoever.
This can't go on.
Dong Xuan'er made up her mind; she couldn't stand by and watch her daughter's life be ruined because of a pseudo-spiritual root. She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the tears in her eyes, and turned to leave the room.
Outside the door, several maids were waiting with their heads bowed. When they saw Dong Xuan'er come out, they quickly bowed and greeted her.
Dong Xuan'er's face was as pale as paper, but her eyes were unusually cold. She glanced at everyone and said in a low, unyielding voice, "Keep an eye on Miss. Wait until she's asleep before going in. Anyone who dares to disturb her shouldn't blame me for being ruthless."
"Yes!" the crowd answered in unison, their voices carrying a hint of reverence.
Dong Xuan'er said no more. With a thought, a flying sword emitting a faint cold light appeared out of thin air in front of her. She lightly touched the ground with her toes, leaped, and landed steadily on the flying sword.
The flying sword transformed into a streak of light, instantly soaring into the sky and hurtling towards the residence of Ancestor Yunlu.
The night wind howled, ruffling her hair and dispelling the confusion in her eyes.
This was the first time in seven years that she had gone there on her own initiative.
Seven years ago, after learning that Yunlu had killed Han Xiaoliu, she resolutely left Yunlu's residence and gave birth to her daughter alone.
For seven years, she never bowed her head to Ancestor Yunlu, and no matter how difficult the cultivation was, she never thought of relying on his power.
But today, for her daughter, she is willing to put aside all dignity.
She wanted to secure a future for her daughter, even if that future meant sacrificing her freedom.
Dong Xuan'er gazed at the dark night sky ahead, a resolute glint in her eyes.
"Ancestor Yunlu, I, Dong Xuan'er, am begging you."
Not long after Dong Xuan'er's figure disappeared into the night, the suppressed sobbing inside the house abruptly stopped.
Immediately afterwards, an indescribable, strange light suddenly burst forth from the brocade quilt where Han Baibai was hiding!
The light was not the brilliance generated by spiritual power, but an ancient, profound, and seemingly primordial color, as if it had existed since time immemorial. It instantly filled the entire room, blinding the maids guarding the door.
"ah--!"
A maid gasped in surprise and instinctively raised her hand to cover herself.
The light came quickly and went quickly.
In just a breath or two, it vanished without a trace.
Inside, there was a deathly silence.
The aura belonging to Han Baibai also completely disappeared, as if it had never existed.
"Bang!"
The older maid's face turned deathly pale; a sense of foreboding was almost overwhelming her.
She could no longer heed Dong Xuan'er's orders, and she pushed open the door and rushed inside.
"Miss? Miss!"
Her voice echoed in the empty room, but received no response.
On the wooden bed, the brocade quilt was in disarray, yet the bed was empty.
The person has disappeared.
There were no signs of fighting or struggle. Han Baibai disappeared into the heavily guarded room as if a drop of water had merged into the ocean.
"It's over..."
The older maid's legs went weak, and she almost collapsed to the ground. She stared at the empty wooden bed, her face filled with terror and despair.
The young lady has disappeared!
Right under their noses, the young lady disappeared at the Hehuan Sect!
"Quickly! Go and inform the madam!"
She snapped back to her senses and hysterically roared at the stunned maids behind her, her voice sharp and piercing with extreme fear.
"Madam...Madam just left, hurry and go after her!"
The maids then snapped out of their daze and scrambled out of the room, chasing after Dong Xuan'er in the direction she had gone.
The scene shifts, and Han Baibai appears in the character creation space, her buttocks sticking out and her head buried in her hands, sobbing.
A beam of light swept across her body, and a card fell into her body from the air.
"Ding! Newcomer Han Baibai meets the player requirements. Character card generated. Welcome to the dream world! Have a pleasant adventure!"
The sound disappeared, and Han Baibai stopped crying. She looked up in confusion and found herself in a wooden attic.
The attic was furnished with great elegance. Against the wall stood a carved mahogany canopy bed, and on the table beside the bed was a luminous pearl that emitted a soft glow. In the corner stood an antique screen, exuding an indescribable tranquility and mystery.
Realizing she wasn't at home, she sat up and looked out the window.
The scenery outside the window had completely changed. In the distance, clouds and mist swirled, and the mountains were high and the forests were green. This was clearly not the effeminate place that was the Hehuan Sect.
Oh no, where have they put me?
Han Baibai took a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Who is it? Take it back to me right now!"
"My mother is Dong Xuan'er of the Hehuan Sect, and my maternal grandfather is the Yunlu Ancestor of the Hehuan Sect. You'd better send me back quickly, or you'll be dead when they come!" She put her hands on her hips, raised her chin high, and looked arrogantly like a fox borrowing the tiger's power.
"Is anyone there?! Say something! If you don't speak, I'm going to cry, and I can cry really hard!"
After saying those words, Han Baibai was actually quite uneasy.
As she shouted, she secretly observed her surroundings, wondering: Who on earth dared to kidnap me? If no one pays attention to me, will I really never be able to go back? Will my mother and grandfather really be able to find me?
What if this is a place where you can't call for help anywhere? Oh dear, I should have studied magic properly beforehand. Now all I can do is scare people?
A moment later, a door was opened, revealing a puzzled little head.
Upon seeing this, Han Baibai's eyes darted around, and she immediately suppressed her previous shrewishness, tiptoed out of the room, and curiously looked around the courtyard.
Suddenly, the medicinal herbs planted in the yard caught her eye.
"This one? Is it a White Crane Fungus? Why is it different from the one I grow at home? It seems to have more spiritual energy..." Han Baibai's eyes lit up instantly, as if she had seen a rare treasure, and she immediately realized that this was a good thing.
"Hmph, you locked me up here, I'll dig up all your medicinal herbs." Han Baibai's lips curled into a wicked smile as he chuckled and took out a small shovel from his pouch, starting to dig at the roots of the herbs.
Oh no, it broke through.
A herb had its roots broken when she dug it up. She wrinkled her nose, shrugged nonchalantly, and said, "It's okay, there are plenty more. Let's dig up the next one."
She dug and dug and dug! She dug and dug and dug in the little garden!
The little girl became happier and happier as she dug. Her originally tense face was now beaming with joy, her eyes narrowed into crescent moons, and she didn't even bother to wipe the fine beads of sweat on her forehead.
As she added one medicinal herb after another to her collection, her purse grew increasingly bulging, and her smile became even brighter. She even went so far as to hum an off-key tune, as if the little girl who had been crying her eyes out just moments before was not her at all.
Just as Han Baibai was humming a little tune and working on a rather old "purple monkey flower," the originally sunny courtyard suddenly darkened.
A tooth-grinding sound shattered the silence.
Those weren't normal footsteps; they sounded more like some hard object striking the bluestone slabs repeatedly with heavy, dull "thud, thud, thud" sounds.
With each step, the ground seemed to tremble slightly. The rhythm was slow and stiff, yet it carried a suffocating sense of oppression, like a countdown to death.
Han Baibai's humming stopped abruptly. She subconsciously turned around and saw a figure slowly emerging from the shadows of the corridor.
As he approached, the surrounding air seemed to freeze instantly, the temperature plummeted, and even the flowers and plants in the yard seemed to be frozen, exuding an aura of decay and decay.
The "thump, thump" sound grew closer and closer, each thump feeling like a footstep on one's heart, sending chills down one's spine and making one instinctively want to escape this ever-encroaching crisis.
The shovel in Han Baibai's hand fell to the ground with a "clatter." Before she could turn around and run away, a cold, piercing hand reached out like an iron clamp and accurately grabbed the back of her neck, her fate sealed.
"Wow!"
Han Baibai felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, and instantly her feet left the ground, dangling in mid-air like a chick being lifted up.
She frantically waved her short limbs, still clutching the small shovel she hadn't had time to put away, and the bulging purse full of medicinal herbs rattled as she shook it.
The newcomer's sinister voice rang in her ears, chilling and filled with murderous intent: "Who are you? How did you get here?"