Master of Kaidan -
Chapter 247 The Essence of Hundred Tales
Chapter 247: Chapter 247 The Essence of Hundred Tales
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Infinite City, East Mountain District, inside Old Li’s temporary residence, Feng Xue and Old Li looked at each other in silence for a long time before Feng Xue finally couldn’t bear the awkwardness of two men staring at each other. He reached into the bag, took out a bottle containing seawater and the Coral Staff, handed it to him and said,
"Do you think this thing can sell?"
"What thing... damn!" Old Li looked at the contents of the bottle and let out a loud curse before sighing,
"Looks like the Sea Bishop really did get killed by you!"
"Just say what you mean. Did I disrupt your plan, or will I be hunted by the Hundred Tales next?" Feng Xue looked at Old Li’s expression of wanting to speak but hesitating, and raised an eyebrow.
"No, to be precise, with his death, things have become much easier for me. As for being hunted... don’t worry, it shouldn’t be an issue for a while." Old Li shook his head, but Feng Xue seemed somewhat surprised and asked,
"Are you sure? That Sea Bishop was at least a officer, right? Or are individuals like that all over the Hundred Tales?"
"It’s not that exaggerated!" Old Li rolled his eyes at the suggestion and then explained,
"It’s precisely because of manpower shortages that they won’t come after you!
"Every midsummer, around June, the Hundred Tales organize a nationwide large-scale festival in the Eastern Country, called the ’Mid-Summer Night Festival.’ Through a ritual referred to as ’Hundred Tales,’ they can skip the performance stage, directly obtaining Kaidan entries, which is where their organization’s name comes from.
"But this ritual, while creating Kaidans, also generates a lot of residual cognition, creating an environment where an ancestral Kaidan is very likely to awaken.
"So, from July onwards, the Hundred Tales primarily focus on dealing with these ancestral Kaidans, killing the powerful ones and having their members try to absorb the weaker ones.
"This process generally lasts three months, but this year they need to allocate some manpower to suppress organizations attempting to collaborate with residents of the real world. They also need to send people to the real world to close the gates, and coupled with those resurrected ancestral Kaidans, they likely don’t have the bandwidth to pursue you."
At this point, Old Li’s tone became serious as he laid down the glass bottle with the Coral Staff and earnestly warned,
"If this year you can truly obtain the Residence Right in the Babylon Tower, then everything will be fine. But if you can’t, my advice to you is to find a landlord who rents portals and hide in another world for a few years before the challenge ends. Otherwise, once they have the time, whether you’re in Infinite City or the real world, escaping their hunt will be impossible."
"Is it that mystical?" Feng Xue frowned, his tone laced with skepticism, but Old Li just shook his head and asked,
"Do you know about the ’Item’?"
Without waiting for Feng Xue to answer this question, he went on to explain,
"It’s the legendary weird demon capable of making prophecies at the cost of death. In the Hundred Tales, there is indeed such a Kaidan, and it has already devoured an ancestral Kaidan."
"You mean... this thing can make unlimited prophecies?" Feng Xue was chilled to the bone upon hearing this, and Old Li nodded,
"Yes, although restricted by its power, it dies every time it makes a prophecy. Nonetheless, because it’s inherently weak enough, it resurfaces almost every year at the Mid-Summer Night Festival, and its ability’s radiation range covers both the real world and Infinite City."
"Gulp..." Feng Xue swallowed softly, finally realizing the pesky nature of the Hundred Tales, whose settings often transcended reality. Having just let his enemy experience this firsthand, he clearly didn’t intend to try the authority of this law for himself.
Old Li ignored Feng Xue’s reaction and continued,
"Don’t think the Current World Rules are absolute. There are countless abilities and illusions capable of prohibiting teleportation. Take the Hundred Tales for instance; there’s the Fox Possession, which can possess a target to disrupt the Kaidan Fire, the Chasing Monk, which can ’descend’ alongside you, and the One-Eyed Monk, which can render you unable to do anything but attack it when it insults you (typically with words like ’shut up’ or ’get lost’)... and that’s just the Kaidans. The number of phantasms with similar functions is innumerable."
"..." On hearing this, Feng Xue’s expression also grew heavy but soon shifted to a look of confusion—
"If this Item is so powerful, why doesn’t the Hundred Tales use it to capture rebel organizations? I heard the human resistance in the Eastern Country is quite intense."
Recalling the situation of various nations’ Kaidan countermeasure organizations that he had heard about from Chen Xiyao, Feng Xue couldn’t help but ask out loud. Old Li responded with a slightly peculiar smile,
"Because it’s not cost-effective! The Item’s prophecy ability comes with the cost of death, and it must be for ’possible’ events, meaning it can’t magically cause tens of thousands to appear in an ambush or wipe out a whole organization from thin air. Using its once-a-year prophecy chance to catch a few ordinary people is simply not worth it. Of course, individuals like you, armed with an instant-death weapon and harboring a grudge against the Hundred Tales, naturally can’t be evaluated with conventional reasoning."
"So I should feel honored?" Feng Xue rolled his eyes, already calculating in his mind. The Kaidan of Kung Fu in Yan Country had already gotten on the right track and wasn’t likely to progress further shortly, so exploring a new world for developing brand-new Kaidans didn’t seem all that hard to accept?
"No, if I were the Hundred Tales, able to contend with a Kaidan that can take a year to materialize, two years to assimilate, and potentially gain Residence Right in three years, then I really should be the one feeling honored."
Old Li’s words were so sincere that Feng Xue nearly bought into it.
Now that the conversation had reached this point, Old Li thought it was about time to wrap up. Picking up the Coral Staff from the table, he said,
"You’re not short of Tower Coins, so what kind of item are you looking to exchange it for?"
"Armor, preferably lightweight, and if it has instant death resistance, that would be ideal." Feng Xue replied almost without thinking. It’s undeniable that the encounter with the Sea Bishop, who he had shot dead with two bullets, had left him with a lingering psychological shadow.
"Don’t even think about immediate death resistance. Anyone who has such an artifact clutches it as a treasured possession. Never mind, I’ll first take a look around for you and get in touch if anything suitable comes up."
After saying this, Old Li handed the glass bottle with the Coral Staff back to Feng Xue and then proceeded to head toward the door.
Watching the carefree way he moved, Feng Xue was dazed for a few moments before calling out to him just as he was about to exit,
"Hey, this is your home!"
"Damn! You’re driving me crazy!" Old Li cursed, awkwardly switching the subject,
"Take these two months to thoroughly digest the Kaidan, and avoid going out if you can. Although the Hundred Tales won’t go out of their way to find you now, if you run into them, they won’t mind dealing with you first!"
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