Chapter 92 : The Moon Lady's Lingering Thoughts
Bai Yuyu pressed her hands firmly over her eyes.
In her heart, she secretly complained, I did as you said and closed my eyes, so why are you still trying to scare me?
Don't you know I'm most afraid of ghosts?
Oh, I guess I never mentioned it, but isn't it perfectly normal for a sixteen-year-old beautiful girl to be afraid of ghosts?!
Little Bai had certainly heard of ghosts before. After all, they were real supernatural beings, featured in various strange tales and folk stories. Having been scared by her grandfather many times, she had even developed a bit of curiosity about such creatures.
But when she actually saw them.
Her curiosity vanished instantly.
Well, sorry, I was just joking!
Little Miss Bai was afraid of ghosts, but not of small ghosts weaker than her. She only feared big ghosts she couldn't defeat, and those ugly, terrifying fierce ghosts.
Essentially, she bullied the weak and feared the strong.
And right now, the mysterious fierce ghosts in the secret realm checked all those boxes!
The most terrifying episode!
When Mu Qinglan uttered that deep, breathy phrase, the three fierce ghosts were very, very close to them.
So close that they only needed to reach out with their claws to make the two girls perish.
But they seemed not to see the two at all, drifting past them as if they weren't there.
The three fierce ghosts gathered together, their eerie laughter echoing.
If they had developed intelligence, they could have easily become elders in some soul palace, serving as its face.
Listening to the sounds, Bai Yuyu became nervous, her toes unconsciously curling inside her shoes. She wanted to peek but didn't dare open her eyes, so she could only press her hands tightly against her eyes to ensure that even if she opened them, she wouldn't see anything.
"Look, the ghost is right in front of you now," Mu Qinglan said softly.
Little Bai already had little courage, and now she had even less. She felt a bit aggrieved—why keep scaring her?!
The three fierce ghosts whispered among themselves for a while. Finally, two of them drifted out of the ruins, seemingly chasing after those who had fled earlier, while the remaining ghost lazily floated toward the center of the ruins.
Mu Qinglan kept her eyes closed.
The fierce ghost passed by the two as calmly as if it hadn't seen them at all.
Yes, this was the strategy for dealing with fierce ghosts in the game—exploiting line of sight.
However, it wasn't about exploiting the monster's line of sight, but rather your own.
In the game, the Fragrant Mountain Moonlight Weapon dungeon opened at the end of version 1.0. At that time, because the dog company limited leveling, players were generally only at eighth rank.
If seventh-rank players had to flee in panic from this dungeon, how could eighth-rank players clear it?
Players thought the same.
Was the dog company messing with people's minds? What was the point of releasing a dungeon that couldn't be cleared now? With those fierce ghosts that could easily one-shot players, probably even seventh-rank couldn't get through.
But a few days later, a player posted their completion screenshot on the game forum, instantly igniting discussion.
The person first showed their achievement screenshot.
After receiving a string of "666", "Hacked?", "Aminos", "Dev flying horse" and other praises, the player explained in detail how to deal with the ghosts in this high-difficulty secret realm dungeon.
The post was long, but in short—
As long as you don't see them, they can't see you.
You could even jump around in front of them with your eyes closed without any problem.
This post was so brilliant that players immediately tried it, and were delighted to discover that if they roughly located the monsters' positions, then looked away while blindly casting skills in that direction, the dungeon wasn't that difficult.
It just took time to grind through.
That's why Mu Qinglan told Bai Yuyu to close her eyes.
As for vision? She could vaguely sense the position of shadows around her, and that constantly moving shadow was clearly the fierce ghost.
After confirming it couldn't see her.
Mu Qinglan silently nodded, curled her index finger, and extracted several whip-blades from the shadows, all slashing toward the position of that shadow.
"Sister!"
The fierce ghost screamed in agony as the surrounding fog was blasted away.
Mu Qinglan's lips curled into a smile. While covering Little Bai's eyes, she said, "Children shouldn't look at this, it's only for adults to see."
"What's that supposed to mean," Bai Yuyu muttered, not daring to open her eyes.
Whoosh—
The black whip-blades cut through the air like hissing venomous snakes, the wind shrieking.
In Mu Qinglan's downcast eyes, it was as if an invisible light screen flashed by.
Destiny traits [Crystal Wit], [Shadow Flow], [Shadow Divides Dawn and Dusk]!
Skill [Shadow Mage lv3]!!
The damage of a level 3 skill, coupled with the bonuses from three top-tier destiny traits, was approaching the maximum damage possible at the seventh-rank stage, or even exceeding it!!
Bang!!!
A heavy whip struck the fierce ghost, causing its misty form to surge and making it howl skyward.
But before it could adjust itself,
The second whip struck ferociously!
Bang!
Then came the third whip, the fourth whip...
At some point, the rain-like barrage of whips suddenly halted, and in the air before the whip-blades, there was no longer any trace of the previously mighty fierce ghost.
That fierce ghost had been literally whipped into nothingness by this series of savage shadow whips!
[Ding!]
[You have killed a Specter (Sixth Rank)]
[Gained 92 Experience Points]
Mu Qinglan glanced at the system notification. Hmm, 92 points, quite a bit more than the experience from a fifth-rank in terrible last-hit condition, but considering the dog company's usual behavior, it was normal.
Kill-stealing would add weight to the calculation, but monster experience was distributed based on contribution.
And this monster was almost entirely killed by her efforts from start to finish, with those scattered death warriors only playing a supporting role.
That's why she received so much experience.
"Alright, you can open your eyes now."
Mu Qinglan tried to remove her hands from Little Bai's face but couldn't. She tried pulling harder, but still couldn't move them.
"..."
She had quite a strong grip, which left Mu Qinglan speechless.
"Has the ghost gone?" Bai Yuyu asked softly.
"No," Mu Qinglan deliberately said.
"Then!" Bai Yuyu was startled, then lowered her voice, like a thief: "Then why are you telling me to open my eyes?"
"Just open them." Mu Qinglan pinched her face firmly, pulling her cheeks outward like stretching dough into a pancake.
Bai Yuyu's eyelashes trembled twice.
But she finally opened her eyes, looking around, and was stunned: "Where's the ghost?"
"Over there." Mu Qinglan raised her chin slightly, her expression proud, like a white swan returning victorious from a fight.
Bai Yuyu looked in that direction.
She frowned.
Rubbed her eyes, looked again, and still saw nothing.
"You're tricking me!" Bai Yuyu was dissatisfied.
"I didn't lie to you," Mu Qinglan shook her head with a faint smile. "The ghost is there, it's just that I destroyed it."
"Destroyed it?" Bai Yuyu unconsciously repeated, her expression dubious.
Mu Qinglan smiled without saying anything, glanced at her, then continued wheeling forward.
Bai Yuyu quickly followed, looking at the corpses around them. Feeling scared and finding it eerie, she actively tried to find a topic to discuss:
"What do you mean by 'destroyed it'?"
"Human bodies return to the earth, spirits return to heaven." Mu Qinglan tilted her head to look at her, as if lecturing a kindergartener, and said with disdain: "Things like ghosts and nature spirits disappear after death, at most leaving behind some treasures. Don't expect corpses."
"So it died?" Bai Yuyu asked.
"Obviously."
"I see..." Little Bai nodded seriously, relieved.
Mu Mu was so reliable. She didn't know how she had killed that ghost, especially when those two seventh-rank experts couldn't do anything about it, let alone herself.
The numerous corpses on the ground were sufficient proof of its strength.
But Mu Mu was a super genius who could break through the Human Gate in half a month, so perhaps this wasn't so surprising... No, wait, it was very strange! How did Mu Mu know the fierce ghost's weakness? And how did she manage to kill it?
Bai Yuyu pondered deeply.
Mu Qinglan glanced at her without any intention of explaining. After a short while, they arrived at the center of the secret realm.
A massive altar built up layer by layer with stone bricks.
"Shall I carry you up?" Bai Yuyu looked at the stone steps.
Mu Qinglan nodded, allowing Little Bai to lift the wheelchair and carry her onto the altar.
The altar was devoid of... ghosts. Most likely they had all been dispatched to hunt down humans in the secret realm. Originally, there should have been a fierce ghost guarding this place, but unexpectedly, it had been quickly dispatched by Mu Qinglan.
In fact, if she hadn't been worried that handling three monsters simultaneously might lead to accidents, she would have even wanted to fight all three!
And now, she could easily steal the home base.
But if this was an altar...
Steal the offerings?
The altar was empty with nothing to pick up. Combined with the collapsed, decrepit stone pillars around, it gave a peculiar sense of long abandonment. Of course, it could also be that the ghosts in the secret realm were confused and not good at maintenance.
? Where's my treasure chest? Mu Qinglan was stunned for a moment.
Walking to the middle, the two discovered that the center of the altar was not empty after all, but had a pole stuck in it, only as tall as Bai Yuyu's thigh.
The pole had a jade-like texture with a semi-transparent feel.
Looking closely, one could see fine engravings on it, intersecting with each other to form several mysterious, complex patterns.
"Hey? This pattern looks similar to the patterns on the stone pillars nearby," Bai Yuyu carefully compared the two and guessed: "Is this the treasure of the secret realm? A stick?"
Bai Yuyu looked toward Mu Qinglan, only to find her calmly staring at her.
With an intense gaze.
"Does Mu Mu want it? I wasn't much help, I won't compete with you for it." Bai Yuyu clearly misunderstood something, shaking her head vigorously.
She did have some interest in this pole, as it seemed quite suitable for her, but she wouldn't bring it up. After all, throughout this secret realm journey, Mu Qinglan had been doing all the work, while she was just tagging along.
Oh no, she had been pushing the wheelchair too.
Hearing this, Mu Qinglan withdrew her gaze and casually said:
"It's of no use to me. You take it, and consider yourself indebted to me."
"Really?" Bai Yuyu's eyes lit up.
She would definitely refuse to just take it, as she wasn't that shameless, but if it meant owing a favor, she felt she could accept that.
"Then shall I pull it out and have a look?"
As Bai Yuyu said this, she reached out her hand to pull the jade pole from the center of the altar, but Mu Qinglan grabbed her hand and shook her head: "Let me try first."
Little Bai was confused, then made a gesture of sudden realization, thinking she understood everything:
"Does Mu Mu want to test her strength?"
"..."
Mu Qinglan's mouth twitched. She placed her right hand on the pole and slowly gripped it.
[Moon-Pounding Jade Pestle]
[Weapon (Gold)]
[Effect: When equipped, slightly increases the power of skills related to "moon," moderately increases "piercing" damage]
[Note: With this pestle, immortals pound out lunar craters]
After seeing the equipment effect, Mu Qinglan didn't immediately withdraw her hand but glanced at the system interface.
As she had expected.
A line of small text had appeared.
[You have gained the status: The Moon Lady's Lingering Thoughts.]
Looking at this status line, Mu Qinglan gave a cold laugh, released the jade pestle, and shook her hand as if trying to get rid of something dirty.
"Heh!"
So this thing was still here.