Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 400 - Heavenly Plum Flame Alchemical Canon

“Then who—”

Duan Meilin took a deep breath and answered, “It was his son.”

****

Well, Long Di, Mina and Pebbles didn’t see that one coming.

“They had a son!? Scratch that… their son killed him!? Why!?”

“Your surprise mirrors our own at the time, it’s the case even now. We don’t know what drove their son to do that,” Duan Meilin admitted.

Long Di asked, “Did he kill his mother too?”

Duan Meilin shook her head, “No, he didn’t get the chance. When Lord Peach Blossom Venerate fell, the continent’s experts who were fighting with us to repel the invaders, suddenly turned on Lord Peach Blossom Venerate’s armies. Since we fought the hardest, we were the most exhausted and also suffered the most casualties!”

Venomous rage riddled the tail end of her words and continued onwards into a quasi tirade. “Of course, we didn’t go down without a fight when those traitorous scum shits turned on us!”

Long Di didn’t expect such language to come from someone so graceful looking like Duan Meilin, but he can’t say he didn’t like it.     

She went on, the lining of her words emblazoned with mad rage all the same. “A pound of flesh was torn from the bodies of the continent’s experts. Lady Yin Shuchun descended into a rage and slaughtered the continent’s experts. She, on her own, took down nearly fifty percent of their numbers. However, she was fatally injured during this battle.”

“Then how did he know his wife’s body was missing her?” Long Di asked her. That part didn’t make sense to him.

“I wasn’t finished,” she told him. “In addition, I never said he was dead either.”

They thought back to what she said, and it was true. She never did say that he died from the attack, just that it was fatal.

“She had thought he died, which is why she exploded with all her strength,” Duan Meilin told them. “In truth, she would have died regardless, since she exploded with all her strength, burning her essence blood in the process. When she saw he had a single breath in him, she took his body and fled. I had my army hold back the continent’s aforementioned scum shits whilst I held back their son. I was able to defeat him, but not kill him. By the time, I made it to where she’d fled; I found Lord Peach Blossom Venerate, but not her. Before he died, he told me ‘they’ came for her body!”

“They?” Mina’s eyes narrowed.

“The Nine Yin Cemetary Sect!” Duan Meilin said with venom in her voice.

“Them again!?” This was the second time Long Di heard of that sect.

“You know of them!?” Duan Meilin was surprised that Long Di already knew of this sect.

“My friend Yaomu Shou told me about them,” Long Di told her.

“Yaomu?” Duan Meilin put a hand to her chin as this name sounded familiar to her. “Ah yes, I remember it now. That was the name of one of the generals who stood with us. She was a demon no less, go figure. It was their army that held the dual responsibility of not only fighting but forging new weapons.”

“Forging weapons?” Long Di finally stood up. “Was the name of the sect in the army that forged these weapons called the Hellfire Forge Sect!?”

“Now that you mention it, I believe I’ve heard that name being called in their army more than once,” Duan Meilin told him.

“How powerful were they!? Who betrayed them!? What happened to their forging arts and cultivation technique!?”

Though it didn't show on his face, or the intonations of his voice, Pebbles and Mina could tell that Long Di was excited for this information.

Even Duan Meilin could tell by his raised voice, though it sounded weird with the lack of a change in pitch and all else.

“I'm sorry,” she said, confused about why this would concern him. "I wasn't able to see out the battle by the time I fled to find Lady Yin Shuchun and Lord Peach Blossom Venerate. If they were betrayed, I'm sorry to say that I don't know who did it. That last battle was so chaotic that too many lives were lost. Whole sects that were a part of several armies were wiped out.”

“I see,” Long Di was disappointed that he couldn't find out more. But at least he had something as opposed to nothing.

“What about the son, though?” Long Di asked her.

“He was killed.” Duan Meilin stated coldly.

“By whom?” Long Di wondered what kind of expert could kill someone that not even Duan Meilin could finish off.

“The same people who he sided with,” she told him. “He was killed by the continent's experts.”

Mina was surprised to hear this, “Wait, why—”

“He has his mother's blood. He was part Abyss Ghost, just like her. It doesn't matter how thin the blood is. All who share it must die. His mother had a negligible amount already, and they would never let her off.”

“If he knew this, then why betray his father and mother? It doesn't make sense,” Long Di descended into thought.

“It doesn't matter,” she stated. “What does matter is that the Nine Yin Cemetary Sect stole his wife's corpse. I don't know where they are. I investigated it myself for a bit, but before I could find anything, I was discovered.”

“By who?”

“Who else? The continent's peak experts. Barring the armies, all the generals were marked for death. We were Lord Peach Blossom Venerate's most trusted confidantes, and Lady Yin Shuchun as well. So we were hunted down. I heard the news and knew they were coming for me, eventually. I expect that they told of our deaths differently to stifle any who would look upon them unfavourably.”

“You're not wrong,” Long Di told her. “We heard you were one of his generals and that you died protecting him or something.”

“Tch!” she snorted. “Sounds about right.”

Long Di put his and Mina's chairs away before he finally stood up and stretched. “So all in all, I find the Nine Yin Cemetary Sect and I find the fair Lady Yin Shuchun.”

“Or her body at the very least,” Duan Meilin nodded.

“Great, now before I go, can you give me back my Shen Ling,” Long Di asked her.

“Shen Ling?” Duan Meilin evinced confusion here.

“Yes, she's been confused for an Abyss Ghost here and there and she wore Blossoming Abyss,” Long Di told her.

“Ah yes, her,” Duan Meilin seemed to know who he was referring to now. “Yes, I can give her to you.”

“Will you?”

“No.”

“I implore you.”

“No.”

“That's kidnapping.”

“I don't care.”

“I'm taking her.”

“Is that so?”

“Yer darn right it is.”

“Okay then.”

Vhwoom!

A devastating killing intent erupted from the Duan Meilin. Gone was her warm and inviting expression.

It was replaced by a cold and merciless impulse of slaughter. It was so palpable that Long Di was sure she meant to kill him and he didn't think he was unrivalled to the point where he could take on a True Star Sage.

Pebbles and Mina were also caught unawares, causing the former to be on guard. He didn't wish to act but he sure as hell wouldn't allow Long Di to get hurt if he had anything to say about it.

“I can't allow you to take her! Leave now and live. Ask for her once more... and die!”

The killing intent increased even further. It was there that Long Di knew, should he ask for Shen Ling, he would die right here.

Long Di gave a side eye to Pebbles and Mina and they both nodded to let him know that whatever he chose, they would go along with.

“Give me my waifu!”

Vhwoosh!

A torrent of purple flames exploded from her and consumed Long Di in an instant!

“Long Di!”

Boom!

Pebbles's aura spiked and a terrifying pressure descended immediately.

“Screw you, old man! I'm gonna kill her!” Pebbles felt the presence of his teacher, but not even he could stop him from acting on this.

“Pebbles stop!”

“Mina step back!” Pebbles would hear no protest on this. He warned the goddess to get back before he well and truly let go of all reservations!

“Pebbles stop.”

“Long Di get back, I'm gonna—hold on. Long Di!?”

Answering Pebble's confusion, the flames receded to show Long Di completely unharmed. The killing intent that was so pervasive before disappeared as well.

“What's going on?” Mina was confused as all hell.

“I needed to make sure you weren't going to leave this little one when things got rough,” she told him.

“You could have asked,” Pebbles's aura settled down, but he still eyed Duan Meilin warily.

“I needed to be sure. I apologise.” She then went ahead and waved her hand, causing the space above her to twist revealing a slumbering figure.

“Ah, it's Shen Ling.” Long Di held his hands out as Shen Ling was lowered into his embrace. She still wore Blossoming Abyss, which caused the fluttering illusion of peach blossoms to appear and disappear in no particular order.

Moreover, her expression and all else were hidden from prying eyes. Even now, Long Di felt that she appeared even more ghostly and ethereal than before.

“Don't betray her,” Duan Meilin told him seriously.

“We don't betray waifus here, we are men of culture.”

“I don't know what that is, but I don't think I want to know,” said Duan Meilin.

“Why is she sleeping?” He asked her.

“She's absorbing some memories. After Lord Venerate Peach Blossom and Lady Yin Shuchun found out about the latter's origins, we found some information about Abyss Ghosts that we believe would be beneficial to one. This little one, I can feel no malice from her. I don't believe she is necessarily dangerous. This information will also allow her to better understand the Abyss Scripture. I'm not sure how she got hold of it, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Thank you,” Long Di bowed though he had Shen Ling in a princess carry.

“You're welcome,” Duan Meilin smiled before an orb of flames covered her hand. It disappeared shortly after to reveal an aged box. It was rectangular and covered in dense markings.

She then gave it to Long Di.

“What this?” Long Di asked. Mina took it in his stead since both his hands were full.

“You can think of it as my inheritance. It's the Heavenly Plum Flame Alchemical Canon.”

Long Di's heart trembled when he heard the name. “Are you trying to tell me that I can use this to—”

“Learn alchemy, yes.”