I Became a Witch in a World Full of Urban Legends

In the land of southern Jin, where the Great Pure Palace stood, there was a place called Zhenwu Mountain. Within the mountain were seventy-two peaks, thirty-six cliffs, and twenty-four ravines; its craggy ridges stretched for a thousand li, mysterious and vast beyond measure. Atop the mountain stood nine palaces and twelve halls, with vermilion walls and emerald tiles, grand and imposing. For thousands of years, countless legends had been passed down here.

On this morning, just after the morning lesson ended, in front of Wenchang Palace, a woman with a gloomy expression stood. The disciples leaving seemed to sense the terrifying pressure emanating from her, and as they passed by, they unconsciously quickened their pace.

She wore blue, a lotus crown on her head, a dot of cinnabar between her brows, her aura ethereal, her face pale and unadorned, her figure that of a girl, yet the corners of her eyes bore a few fine lines left by the years.

Her name was He Zhuyan, one of the “Three Supervisors, Five Masters, and Eighteen Heads” of the Great Pure Palace, serving as a supervisor. The disciples’ morning and evening lessons were under her watchful eye.

If the Great Pure Palace were likened to a school, then she would be the director in charge of leading morning exercises and patrolling evening study sessions every day.

Today’s morning lesson had gone as usual, but what displeased He Zhuyan was that someone had been absent for no reason.

Standing before Wenchang Palace, seeing a disciple pass by, He Zhuyan frowned and stopped him, asking, “Zhuyu, let me ask you, did Huá Sāng not come this morning?”

“Uh…” The male disciple called Zhuyu furrowed his brow, nodded blankly, cupped his hands, and replied, “Mm, mm, Huá Sāng, after breakfast, she just…”

“Went to the back mountain?” He Zhuyan said.

Zhuyu nodded.“Hmph! Worthless thing!” He Zhuyan snorted coldly, glaring toward the back mountain and cursing through gritted teeth, “What misfortune for the sect! How did we end up with such a wayward disciple?”

“All she does is fish for turtles all day, never doing anything proper! If she were half as diligent as Fu Xinyi, I’d thank the heavens.”

Among the disciples who entered the Great Pure Palace the same year as Fu Xinyi, Huá Sāng’s talent was second only to Fu Xinyi and a few others, and she had once been highly regarded.

Yet over the past decade or so, Huá Sāng’s conduct had formed a stark contrast with her junior sister Fu Xinyi, a thought that always left people exasperated.

Granted, the Great Pure Palace never discriminated against or abandoned any disciple with poor talent, but you still had to put in effort and learn!

…

While the morning lesson at Wenchang Palace had just ended and the place was bustling, by the pool at the edge of a steep cliff in the back mountain, it was quiet.

A girl with delicate features held a blade of grass in her mouth, lying on a jutting boulder sunbathing, a glass cup of licorice and goji berries at her side.

Unlike the proper He Zhuyan, her three thousand strands of black hair were messy, her faded blue Daoist robe tied with a hemp rope, the collar slightly open to reveal a hint of snowy white curves. Her long, slender legs stretched out from under the robe, crossed at the knee, with a small lotus foot dangling a Hello Kitty plush slipper, swaying lazily.

Before her, at the edge of the deep pool, a black iron ferule was stuck in the ground, wrapped with cotton thread to make a fishing rod. The long line hung into the pool, as if she were fishing.

“Buzz-!”

Suddenly, the cotton thread went taut, making a faint sound, and the ferule, as if cast from wrought iron, was bent into a bow by whatever was hooked.

Staring at the ripples on the water, the girl sighed silently, looking a bit troubled. “Oh no, oh no, my junior sister is in for big trouble today, but…”

“She’s with that senior’s descendant, so she probably won’t die, right? Junior sister, you’ve helped your big sister dodge trouble again. If you make it back alive, I’ll definitely repay you well.”

As she spoke, she suddenly tried a beautiful kip-up!

…but failed, flopping back onto the boulder like a salted fish.

“Ow~!”

Her back aching, the girl grimaced, rubbing her back as she crawled to the pool’s edge. Just as she grabbed the fishing rod, He Zhuyan’s stern shout came from behind.

“Huá Sāng! Why did you skip morning lesson today?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s you…” The girl glanced at the newcomer, muttering lazily, showing no intention of running or explaining, just sitting there idly.

Huá Sāng gave up thinking.jpg

Not until He Zhuyan walked up to her did she slowly turn around, lying on the ground and sticking her butt out at He Zhuyan.

“Skipping morning lesson without reason, by the rules it’s thirty strokes. The ferule’s over there, go ahead…”

He Zhuyan looked at Huá Sāng’s “dead pig unafraid of boiling water” attitude, her mouth twitching. She grabbed the ferule by the pool, but just as she tried to pull it up, she felt, as if by illusion, a tremendous force pulling back, making it impossible to move.

That force lasted only a moment, then with a snap, the cotton thread broke, and He Zhuyan yanked the ferule free with a swish.

Soon, the back mountain of the Great Pure Palace echoed with perfunctory screams.

“Ah… ah… ow…”

“Wretch, I haven’t even hit you yet! Why are you screaming?”

Huá Sāng grinned awkwardly. “Uh, how about… we start over?”

He Zhuyan, “…”

Tang City University, meeting room in the old College of Liberal Arts building.

Professor Hou ultimately couldn’t answer Lu Yibei’s question. After Gou Meng piped up with the answer in her childish voice, his chest heaved a few times, his eyes rolled back, and he nearly collapsed to the floor.

Professor Ma fed him five or six instant heart-relief pills before he barely managed to recover, and then a few students took him to the hospital.

The research project team really couldn’t afford to lose another person. If anyone else died, people would start thinking the project team was under some “one death per day” curse.

“Both opposing camps can be called rats or brats. Given Xiahou Dun’s image as the fierce ‘Blind General’ in folk tales, I don’t think it’s wrong for Zhou Yu to call Xiahou Dun a one-eyed brat, right? Why did he faint? Is he trying to scam me?”

“Tsk! It’s just that we’re too far from Jiangdong. Otherwise, I could catch a couple of hauntings and ask them. I bet some hauntings have heard it firsthand.”

Looking at Gou Meng on his shoulder, with her innocent and aggrieved expression, muttering softly, Lu Yibei rubbed her head. “I think you did great.”

“Right? I’m clever!” Gou Meng winked and made faces at Lu Yibei, looking just like a child showing off a perfect score to her parents.

He really didn’t know what there was to be so proud of about this… Lu Yibei grumbled inwardly, picked up his phone, and sent a message to Mao Sanyou, telling him that Professor Hou had nearly died, then put his phone away and looked toward Fu Xinyi, who was following the others in examining the artifacts in the meeting room.

She, the suspected insider, was still a not-so-small problem when it came to Gou Meng devouring the haunting sealed inside the artifact.

Gou Meng lay on Lu Yibei’s shoulder, looking at his profile. Sensing the heaviness in his eyes, she tilted her head and asked, “What’s wrong? Is there more trouble?”

Lu Yibei nodded slightly, glanced nonchalantly at Fu Xinyi not far away, and raised his eyebrows. “See that girl over there?”

Gou Meng followed Lu Yibei’s gaze, sized up Fu Xinyi, and said seriously, “Yeah, she looks good, nice figure, wide hips, good for childbearing, and she’s a psychic. Seems like she has some psychic artifact that hides psychic energy fluctuations, can’t tell the level.”

Isn’t your priority for observing people a bit off? Lu Yibei complained inwardly, then lowered his voice to explain to Gou Meng, “She attacked me before. I suspect she’s with the group that ambushed the Midnight Watchers Society members coming to support Tang City. In other words…”

At this, a cold glint flashed in Gou Meng’s eyes. “In other words, she might be with the bastards who tried to assassinate me too?”

“If I eat those pickles in front of her, would it risk exposing my identity and whereabouts?”

Although Gou Meng did have ways to devour the haunting sealed inside without anyone noticing, that only worked on ordinary people.

Just because something is invisible to the naked eye doesn’t mean it can’t be sensed psychically.

Any psychic or haunting with some skill, at such close range, could sense the faint psychic energy fluctuation released during the devouring process.

Lu Yibei nodded. That was exactly what he was worried about.

“That’s easy, just lure her away, right?” Gou Meng shrugged, unconcerned. “You act as the tank to draw aggro, I’ll deal damage from the shadows-division of labor, isn’t that reasonable?”

“Easy for you to say!” Lu Yibei growled. “She’s a person, not an NPC in a game where you just shout ‘Sun thief’ to max out aggro. How am I supposed to lure her away?”

“You can do it.” Gou Meng patted Lu Yibei’s shoulder solemnly. “But it’ll take a little sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice? Are you trying to screw me over again?” Lu Yibei said warily.

“How could I possibly screw you over? I just want you to make reasonable use of your abilities.” Gou Meng said, a meaningful smile appearing on her face.

“Didn’t your Spirit Pattern just mutate and gain a new ability? Don’t you want to try it out?”

Looking at Gou Meng’s sly expression, Lu Yibei suddenly had a bad feeling. He narrowed his eyes and probed, “You mean…?”

Gou Meng nodded, confirming the guess Lu Yibei hadn’t voiced. “That’s right, I want you to charm her!”

Gou Meng had experienced Lu Yibei’s charm ability firsthand. Although it was still rather weak, its grade seemed very high, far beyond those cheap seducers on the market.

Even she, a dignified deity, would feel her mind waver if she stared at Lu Yibei for too long.

A perfectly ordinary little psychic girl-wouldn’t she be utterly swept off her feet?

Lu Yibei rubbed his slightly throbbing brow and said irritably, “You want me, an innocent young man, to use such a sleazy, underhanded trick? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?”

“Not at all, not even a little.” Gou Meng pursed her lips indifferently. “So, go on! Lu Yibei, use charm on her!”

Lu Yibei, “….”