Smoke and Fire [GL] - Chapter 9
Naturally, Luo Yao, having stepped into the teleportation array, was completely oblivious to all this. When she opened her eyes again, she was in a dimly lit nightclub.
The time in the Human Realm was nearly five in the morning. The area was sparsely populated, mostly by men and women who had partied all night, slumped drunkenly in the booths.
Luo Yao scanned the area, confirmed the absence of Yi An and the others, then walked to the tightly shut main door and pushed it open—
A swirling dust storm swept over her.
In just a moment of distraction, she was standing on a low hill blanketed by overwhelming yellow sand. The nightclub was gone, and the door in her hand had completely vanished.
“Luo Yao aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!”
An excited voice, cracking from sheer volume, rushed towards her from a distance. Then, the person slammed into Luo Yao with the impact of constant acceleration, nearly knocking her unconscious.
“Luo Yao, it’s great you’re not dead! Did you take action yet? Did that Demon Lord give you any trouble?!” Yi An pulled Luo Yao around, checking her, and was greatly relieved to find she wasn’t missing any limbs. “You look pretty good, actually. You even got a new dress.”
Luo Yao looked over Yi An’s shoulder, exchanging a glance with Si Yin, who was walking over slowly.
“I didn’t get a chance to act,” she said, her voice sounding natural. “Shang Mian is very suspicious and utterly dominant in the Demonic Realm. A rash move on my part would only alert her.”
This was a fairly reasonable explanation. Si Yin didn’t seem suspicious, only lifting her chin: “What is this?”
“Since we didn’t fully break ties, it’s not strange for her to give me clothes, is it?” Luo Yao countered blandly.
Si Yin glanced at Luo Yao’s earlobe, just as Tan Tan walked up behind her, and ultimately said nothing.
“Excuse me, I think there’s an innocent bystander who got pulled in…” Tan Tan’s voice sounded a bit sluggish. It was then that everyone noticed she was followed by a girl in heavy, smoky nightclub makeup, desperately wiping the sand from her face.
The three Gods instantly exchanged looks.
The main issue was that they had finally dropped the pretense in front of Yi An, but now they had a new person—who couldn’t know their secrets—joining them. Did they have to go back to pretending to be anthropology students again?!
Si Yin looked like she was about to vomit from the effort of maintaining the facade.
The reason: their human forms were all modeled after the Forms of True Gods, and was there ever a God who wasn’t stunning? So the daily life of the three was: being hit on, being hit on, and yes, being hit on.
And with Si Yin, the situation was even more abstract—due to her true form, she was hit on not only by men but also by a large number of female upperclassmen and underclassmen.
So, Si Yin’s face was dark: “This… Sister, who are you, and how did you get in?”
“I have to ask who the f**k you are?!” The girl stretched out a finger, pointing at her with a three-centimeter extension nail. “What kind of messed-up place is this? I opened the door and got a mouth full of sand! My boyfriend is waiting for me!”
“Calm down,” Tan Tan frowned at her. “It wasn’t our decision that you entered this place. We got in accidentally, and this is not the time for infighting.”
“A’Tan is right. The location and time for a Vengeful Obsession Phantasmagoria to appear are random. We all just have bad luck,” Luo Yao added with a smile: “Except for me.”
The nightclub girl looked utterly perplexed: “W-what random nonsense are you talking about! Is this a reality show?”
Si Yin finally snapped.
“Are you reading some kind of unlimited-flow novel?! A reality show? I’m going to sum it up for you: you, do not interrupt, do not ask questions, do not talk nonsense. In short, do not utter a single word, understand?!”
Perhaps her expression looked like she could devour a person, because the girl was visibly startled, shrinking her neck and nodding.
Si Yin took a deep breath, trying her best to speak calmly: “First, this is a Vengeful Obsession Phantasmagoria. The known trigger condition is pushing open a nightclub door from the inside around five in the morning. There is no other setup.”
More question marks floated onto the girl’s face, but she forcibly held back from speaking due to Si Yin’s menacing presence.
Yi An actually wanted to laugh. Not long ago, she too was a mere mortal who hadn’t glimpsed the Heavenly Secret, so she felt a sense of shared misery with this unrelated, delinquent girl.
“Oh,” she asked on the girl’s behalf, “what is a Vengeful Obsession Phantasmagoria?”
Si Yin glared at her fiercely, but Yi An had already realized the true nature of these outwardly fierce Gods and was completely fearless now.
“When a person dies and becomes a ghost, if they have a powerful, unfulfilled wish, it’s called an Obsession,” Si Yin explained with a dark face. “Some Obsessions are so strong that they create a self-contained space around the primary host, which is called the Vengeful Obsession Phantasmagoria.”
“Oh, so how do we get out?”
“A Vengeful Obsession Phantasmagoria cannot be forcefully broken, because these spaces exist outside the Six Paths of Reincarnation,” Luo Yao put a hand on Si Yin’s shoulder, taking over the explanation. “If we tried, it could cause the space to rupture, and we would fall into the Void outside the Six Realms, which is the fate of fallen Gods—similarly, if you die inside the Phantasmagoria, the outcome is the same.”
Yi An hissed: “Cannot be forcefully broken? Then what about non-forceful methods?”
“That’s right. The scene within the Phantasmagoria is closely related to the Obsession itself, usually a quest or task. As long as we complete this task, the Obsession will automatically dissipate,” Luo Yao explained.
“A quest…” Yi An looked around. “There’s only sand here. Where’s the quest??”
“There.”
Si Yin stood on the dune, gazing into the distance, and subtly gestured with a raised chin.
Several heads instantly crowded next to her. Sure enough, partially obscured by the yellow sand, a large, vermilion manor stood quietly, looking very ancient and traditional.
“Holy cow, I swear there was nothing there just now!” The nightclub girl was terrified. Choosing between the occasionally manic Yi An and the violently inclined Si Yin, she chose nothing, slipping and hiding behind Luo Yao.
Luo Yao patted the puffy sleeve of the girl’s cheap dress, her voice soothing: “Phantasmagorias cannot be explained by reality. This is likely urging us on. Let’s go.”
The Shen Residence
The group began to move across the vast yellow sand.
Luo Yao initially intended to take the rear, but Si Yin casually trailed behind her, clearly signaling she had something to say.
Truthfully, Luo Yao didn’t think her lie could fool everyone. Si Yin might be short-tempered, but she was very perceptive.
So, resigned, she opened the conversation: “Ask away.”
“?” Si Yin gave her a strange look. “I just wanted to talk to you about the Phantasmagoria. Why are you acting like you’re under interrogation?”
Luo Yao: “…Oh.”
“I wanted to say that Obsessions of this high a level are probably rare in the mortal world. If I recall correctly, this is likely a repeat offender,” Si Yin lowered her voice.
Luo Yao frowned: “In that case, has no one ever been able to solve it?”
“Mhm. You haven’t been in the Heavenly Realm lately, so you wouldn’t know. Several Gods in charge of the Human Realm have been driven crazy, constantly threatening to jump off the Glass Terrace…”
Si Yin suddenly realized what she was saying and immediately stopped herself. “Anyway, if a normal Obsession can’t be solved, it usually dissipates on its own after a few hundred years. But this one is different. Every time it appears, it’s a TPK (Total Party Kill), and it never dissipates. No God in the Heavenly Realm dares to touch it.”
“Got it,” Luo Yao said gravely. “You don’t dare either, so you dragged me in to get wiped out together.”
Si Yin instantly looked wronged: “Damn it, I have to explain this! That was entirely because that little dear Yi An was so worried you had died in the Demonic Realm after hearing your story that she insisted on calling you to confirm, which led to this catastrophe.”
Luo Yao smiled without speaking. The next second, Yi An’s roar came from ahead: “Do you think I’m deaf, you Si?! You’re the little dear! You’re the big dear—”
“Alright, stop. You are both dear.”
Luo Yao expertly played the mediator.
Yi An stomped back, grumbling. Si Yin snorted and turned her head away, leaving an angry back.
“…”
This scene was so familiar that Luo Yao silently chuckled, thinking that some people really never change, even after thousands of years.
So, she cleared her throat and began to soothe the other party: “Our little Si is actually quite wonderful, don’t you think? You’ve learned to only argue and not fight.”
Si Yin seemed to stiffen, but her basic Divine composure held up. She merely cleared her throat, lowering her voice: “I told you not to call me ‘Little Si’ in the Human Realm.”
“Oh,” Luo Yao completely disregarded her cold persona, smiling sweetly: “But you smiled.”
“I did not!!”
“You did.”
“I really did not!!!”
“You really did.”
Si Yin looked like she was about to go crazy. She massaged her high ponytail: “Can we please get back to business, huh?”
Luo Yao, having successfully smoothed things over: “Mhm, go on.”
“What’s your take on this opening scene?” Si Yin gestured to the vast yellow sand.
“Ah, I was just about to say,” Luo Yao’s smile faded as she gazed at the dim horizon. “Phantasmagoria settings are usually a reflection of the Obsession’s inner state. The main scene is only that manor. The surroundings are entirely yellow sand, representing desolation and death. Either the other areas are simply unimportant, or the host doesn’t know what’s outside the manor and can only fill the space with their inner emotions.”
As she spoke, the group arrived directly in front of the manor.
It was clearly an ancient structure, with a small stream flowing in front of the main gate. The courtyard walls were an immaculate vermilion, the gate was tightly shut, and two large red lanterns hung high over the door curtain, flanking the central plaque:
【Shen Residence】
Undoubtedly, this Shen Residence was a very luxurious home even in ancient times. Every detail suggested the owner’s extraordinary status and wealth.
“Uh, are we supposed to go inside here?? It feels like the setting for a Chinese horror movie…” The nightclub girl rubbed her arms.
It turned out her premonition was correct—two seconds later, the main gate of the Shen Residence silently swung open. Two women dressed as servants emerged, carrying a wooden bucket stained with red liquid.
Luo Yao instantly felt a heavy surge of Yin energy. Judging by the solemn expressions of Si Yin and Tan Tan, they had noticed it, too.
The two servants’ faces were indistinct, like paper figures, and their movements were stiff. They slowly walked to the stream in front of the main gate. The contents of the wooden bucket actually let out one or two faint cries.
But they acted as if they didn’t hear it. With a flip of the bucket, the small, bl00d-covered life was instantly swept away by the swift current.
“…!”
Yi An, having learned her lesson from Yunshan Village, quickly covered her mouth. She managed not to scream, although she looked like she was about to vomit.
The women, having just extinguished an infant’s life, picked up the empty wooden bucket and walked across the stream, their stiff posture making them approach the group.
Seeing this, Si Yin and Tan Tan instinctively moved a step in front of Luo Yao, a subconscious reaction, placing themselves between Luo Yao and the two women.
But the two women merely stopped slowly in front of the group, simultaneously bowing in salute, their movements uncannily synchronized.
A voice emanated from their featureless faces:
“Are you the experts invited to banish the evil spirit? The Master has been waiting for a long time. Please come in.”