The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 325 - 222 Time Mirage

Chapter 325: Chapter 222 Time Mirage

"Daoist Zhou? It’s you again."

The two patrol officers couldn’t help but feel uneasy upon seeing Zhou Yuan. They had dealt with him several times throughout the night.

Zhou Yuan had been busy exorcising demons in the city all night, causing quite a commotion and alerting the Heavenly Patrol multiple times. The two patrol officers were the first to approach Zhou Yuan.

After confirming that Zhou Yuan was an investigator from the Control Bureau and was performing good deeds, the two had stopped troubling him and reported to their superiors, allowing him to continue his work.

But they hadn’t expected that Zhou Yuan would be busy all night, running around slaying demons and causing disturbances. They had killed at least a dozen monsters. The commotion was so loud they had to follow him around to make sure nothing went wrong and risk getting reprimanded.

Finally, at dawn, Zhou Yuan and Ye Wushuang went to get breakfast, and they breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they finally wouldn’t have to clean up after him anymore. But then they turned around and encountered him again...

"I saw some excitement here and came over. You two relax and let me take a look," Zhou Yuan said with a smile as he walked up and examined the two wedding processions.

"Daoist, we are the real ones!" A burly man hurriedly called out to an elderly man in the crowd. "Mr. Zhang, I even treated you to a drink the day before yesterday!"

"Yes, yes, that did happen," Mr. Zhang nodded fervently.

"Mr. Zhang, don’t you remember? Last year, during New Year’s, I visited your home to offer my respects. When it was just the two of us in the courtyard, I accidentally fell!" the burly man from the other wedding procession shouted.

"This..." Mr. Zhang was confused because that had indeed happened, and only the two of them were in the courtyard at that time. There was no way a third person could have known about it.

After hesitating for a long time, he pointed at the burly man and said, "This side might be the real one."

"Mr. Zhang, don’t be fooled by him!" The first burly man to speak became anxious, his face turning red. "Two years ago, you borrowed ten wen from me to buy wine but only paid back five! Only the two of us know about this!"

"This-this-this..." Mr. Zhang stammered, his eyes widening in confusion.

"Ms. Wang, when I was eight, I almost drowned while swimming in the river, and you saved me!"

"Ms. Wang, this year I brought you firecrackers for the New Year!"

"Little Wu, I’m your Uncle Sun!"

"Old Qin, it’s me, Luo Bi!"

The onlookers exchanged bewildered glances, feeling a bit scared. This was too strange. Both sides knew each other’s little secrets!

Could it be that the monsters disguised as humans could read minds?

At this moment, Zhou Yuan raised his hand to signal for silence.

He slowly swept his gaze over the two wedding processions and then cleared his throat, announcing to the crowd, "Both of these wedding processions are actually real."

Wow!

The crowd immediately burst into an uproar. Both the onlookers and the two wedding processions looked bewildered and disbelieving.

Both are real?

How could that be!

"Daoist Zhou, what do you mean?" one of the patrol officers asked, frowning.

[A terrifying entity is awakening. The power it releases has affected the entire Cave Heaven Blessed Land. Going forward, the number of supernatural events involving ’time’ will increase. You are witnessing one right now—this mist is called Temporal Mirage Mist, capable of replaying events that occurred in a specific area within a certain period of time.]

"This is not the work of monsters but an abnormal event involving ’time,’" Zhou Yuan said, pointing to the thick mist lingering on the street. "That mist is something called Temporal Mirage Mist, which can replay events that happened in the area over a specific period of time.

What it is replaying now is the wedding procession that passed through here in the morning. They are actually their real selves, only projected from the past to the present time node."

As Zhou Yuan spoke, he clapped his hands forcefully, creating a powerful gust of wind that dispersed the Temporal Mirage Mist, causing the wedding procession that emerged from the thick fog to immediately turn into shadows and dissipate.

—This Temporal Mirage Mist could not persist for long; otherwise, he would have used a vacuum cleaner to collect it and sell it.

"This is so strange," the crowd marveled in wonder. They had never seen anything like it before. They hadn’t even heard of such a phenomenon.

"Thank you, Daoist Zhou!" The wedding procession quickly expressed their gratitude.

"It was nothing. You all should get going quickly so you don’t miss the auspicious time," Zhou Yuan said with a smile.

"Daoist Zhou, please accept this red envelope and some wedding candies."

Zhou Yuan waved his hand. "No need for the red envelope, but I’ll take a few more wedding candies."

[Task "Eerie Wedding Escort" completed]

[Task Reward 1: Experience Points*500]

[LV48→LV49!]

[Experience Points: 300/2450]

[Allocatable Attribute Points: 1]

[Grinding tasks all night had leveled him up to 49. With another day’s effort, reaching level 50 was not a problem.]

Beside him, Ye Wushuang remained silent, unable to speak. She had watched Zhou Yuan’s rank gradually rise all night long. He was now on the brink of Divinity Transformation... in modern terms, that was the 5th tier.

How did he improve so much without cultivating?

Was it solely because of fighting monsters? But this... completely defied logic!

·

At noon.

In a tavern, the newly encountered Daoist Zhou had become the topic of conversation among the townspeople.

A tall, thin man took a big gulp of wine and started loudly, "Rumor has it that this Daoist Zhou is a righteous cultivator from outside the domain, not only handsome and elegant, like an Immortal descending, but also knowledgeable with great power.

He slew countless demons and monsters in one night, bringing peace to the people of Chenzhou City.

If all cultivators in the world were like him, there would be far fewer injustices."

A chubby man next to him chimed in, "Not only that, but it is also said that this Daoist Zhou can see into people’s hearts, perceive good and evil, and uncover the hidden secrets within people’s minds.

The head of Tiandu Pavilion in Chenzhou City died this way."

"The head of Tiandu Pavilion is dead?" A patron at a nearby table turned his head in surprise and interjected, "Brother, can you tell us more?"

The chubby man chuckled. "They say that the head of Tiandu Pavilion was merely glanced at by Daoist Zhou on the road, and Daoist Zhou pursued him to his home and killed him directly."

"This... isn’t that just hunting him down?" the patron at the table frowned.

"Exactly, Daoist Zhou’s actions seem... a bit extreme. Just a single glance, and he followed him home to kill him. It’s too..."

"Wait, let me finish."

The chubby man took a sip of wine and continued slowly, "The commotion from that battle was enormous. The Heavenly Patrol was alarmed, and they dispatched many people to the scene. However, their initial target was not the head of Tiandu Pavilion but Daoist Zhou.

After all, the head of Tiandu Pavilion was a prominent figure in Chenzhou City, with ties to many high-ranking officials in the Heavenly Patrol. Moreover, Tiandu Pavilion belonged to the righteous alliance, so their first reaction was to protect the head of Tiandu Pavilion, treating Daoist Zhou as the troublemaker.

But the situation soon reversed. Daoist Zhou smashed the head of Tiandu Pavilion’s residence with one strike, revealing a tunnel leading out of the city. The group followed the tunnel and guess where they ended up?"

"Where did they end up?" The surrounding patrons eagerly asked, pricking up their ears.

The chubby man said dramatically, "They ended up in a cave filled with skeletal remains, corpses drained of blood everywhere, and the scene was horrifying. Several patrol officers vomited on the spot.

At that point, everything became clear. The head of Tiandu Pavilion had been secretly kidnapping people to cultivate forbidden techniques. Many of the city’s missing persons cases were related to him.

Daoist Zhou had sharp eyes and could tell the head of Tiandu Pavilion was evil with just one look, so he went to eliminate him.

Seeing his deeds exposed, the head of Tiandu Pavilion tried to escape with a magical artifact in a panic, only to be smashed into a bloody pulp by Daoist Zhou."

The surrounding crowd gasped in shock. "Is that true? The head of Tiandu Pavilion was an evil cultivator?"

"You can’t judge a book by its cover," the chubby man remarked, shaking his head.

"By the way, I heard that Daoist Zhou is accompanied by a beautiful celestial maiden. Does anyone know who she is?" a patron asked.

"Not sure, but I think they might be Daoist companions."

"I think so too. I saw them coming out of the same room last night..."

Just as the patrons were gossiping, a tall figure in the corner of the tavern abruptly stood up and quickly walked outside.

"Hey, you haven’t finished eating yet... sigh." Jiang Wuming hurriedly pulled out some money and placed it on the table, quickly chasing after her.

He couldn’t help but show a gloating smile. It had been a long time since he saw Chen Guangxi this anxious. Was she afraid of being snatched away?