The Guide to Capturing a Black Lotus

[Note: Shadow Catalysis has been changed to Memory Catalyst due to a bad translation in the past.]

When Mu Sheng returned, the spots beneath both Phoenix Trees were already full.

Princess Duanyang hugged Lui Fuyi, her black beads staring at him were full of love as she protected him. Upon noticing Mu Sheng arrive, the sleepiness within her eyes immediately transformed into alarm, the words ‘Don’t you dare do anything to my Brother Liu!’ written all over her face.

Mu Sheng was too lazy to bother with her and turned around to walk to the other Phoenix Tree. Below the tree slept a young girl curled up on the ground. The jacket around her had already slid off but she still hadn’t noticed.

With a single, cold glance, he saw Ling Miaomiao’s brows tightly knit. He didn’t know what kind of dream she was having but it was very clear that she wasn’t sleeping so well.

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In the middle of the night, the temperature was very low. It wasn’t suitable for sleeping outdoors at all. Pampered little flowers like her who had never experienced wind or snow, for them to sleep like this would mean that she would very likely become sick later.

Ling Miaomiao … he frowned. He had said not to rush over here too quickly yet she had actually treated his words like air, completely ignoring them.

For a person with a poor sense of direction, how amazing of a miracle was it for her to actually find her way to the correct place through such a long, winding and complicated path.

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Yw Fbldt oyp pvyavzle.

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A strong feeling of finding a comrade arose in his head, a comrade who was as pitiful as he. The frown on his face lightened somewhat, as if somehow in the depths of this quiet night, he could even share the loneliness deep within him with someone else.

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*

“Mother…”

“Stop calling me mother!” A stick slammed into the boy’s thin shoulder blades, leaving a streak of purplish red. “It’s all because of you, it’s all your fault, it was all you! How else would you and I have ended up here in this situation?”

Her eyes were filled with the misty waters of Xizhu lake and her lips coated in rouge were the horizon’s most beautiful afterglow.

It was still her, the same woman whose beauty was unparalleled. However, she was tenaciously staring at him with bitter resentment, “Do you remember where we are going tomorrow?”

Choking back all of his tears back into his throat, he nodded.

“Good child.” She rubbed his head, the hate and rancor within her eyes as sharp as an arrow. “That man is our family’s enemy. Once we kill him and give him no chance to reincarnate, then we will be able to find a path to walk.”

She giggled but then transformed her expression into a heavy one in an instant, immediately starting to cry. She hugged him, her warm tears drilling into his collar, “Xiao Sheng’er, mother didn’t mean to hit you. From the heavens to the earth, there is no one who loves you as much as I do—-”

His black grapes for eyes reflected the light coming from the fire in the courtyard. The pitch black ash of burnt paper-money looked just like butterflies with black wings.

The boy’s black hair neatly fell on his shoulder.

In his eyes, there was only confusion. In the end, they also became covered with a layer of bitter resentment.

That’s right. He would kill him. Once he killed her enemy, whatever she wanted him to do, he would do for her. All of those who made her feel bad, he would make sure to not leave a single one of them off.

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*

He remembered the day they left Wufang Town, it was very cold that day.

Her tears fell like stars falling from the sky. One after another. It rained down just like a fierce rain. Her face was pale and white. Her hand without a single iota of warmth.

His knee was soaked in a water puddle. The woman had long lost unconsciousness and kneeled like a clay figurine in front of him as he stared unblinkingly at her. In his wandering state of mind, he started to count the number of hairs on her eyebrow. One. Two. Three…

She shook all of a sudden. Her lips were so pale it could shock people. He was startled and forgot how many he had already counted.

In this kind of downpour, the guardian lions at the ends of the bridge were all hidden in the mist. The gate creaked open as a sliver of space appeared. The person inside held onto their pomegranate red skirt as they held an umbrella at an slanted angle.

”Lady Rong, kneeling here is useless. I’ve already given you face, but tell me just what kind of esteemed guest you committed an offense against?!”

That sharp gaze fell onto his body, the voice gaining a dripping cold tone of reproach, “I told you long ago. For him to stay is only a disaster yet you didn’t listen…”

She raised her head, letting the rain drops fall directly onto her beautiful forehead. Her skin that was just like white porcelain was washed by the rain, washing away all the rouge and makeup she put up, increasingly revealing just how terrible her countenance looked.

This kind of hollow beauty was just like a feather from the nine heavens, never falling into the mortal world.

“But… but we already have nowhere else to go…” She smiled bitterly, raising her head to face the falling raindrops just like she had done countless times before, raising a bamboo ladle of flower infused warm water to bathe, “Xiao Sheng’er is my child, he is my beloved treasure.”

“Sigh.” The person behind the door let out a long sigh. They stared at the hair ends on his shoulder as their gaze turned dark with resentment, “You know the price of using the Broken Moon Scissors to cut his hair, why did you have to destroy your own future…”

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”My life has long been destroyed already.” She stared at the vermillion red courtyard gate. She looked with great intent at every indent and detail at the peeling paint above, “However I cannot let my Xiao Sheng’er become a monster.”

Her hair rolled about, covering half her face. To his amazement he found a pair of maroon pupils within her pitch black eyes.

*

Ling Miaomiao suddenly woke up in a fright. Her coat still smoothly covered her body and the bonfire in front of her eyes still burned ferociously, letting off light crackling noises from time to time.

She stared at the dancing tongue of fire for a very long time before raising her hand to touch her face, feeling how her entire face was covered with cold tears.

Behind the Phoenix Tree, Mu Sheng sat and rested against the trunk of the tree.

For the past few years, he had never truly fallen asleep. Even though he would close his eyes, he would still maintain utmost vigilance at all times. After a short period of rest, he would be able to continue moving onwards.

Strangely though, in this dense forest, all living creatures seemed to be sleeping peacefully. His sister was safe and sound. She was at a place where he could reach just by reaching out. Behind the same tree, the warm glow of the fire shone upon the sleeping figure of Ling Miaomiao groaning and muttering, shrouded in darkness.

Somehow, under the groans and muttering of her dreams, he fell into a dream he hadn’t had for a long, long time…

*

Bright light spilled in from the window, lighting up the dark green canopy above the bed. The canopy was very thin, filtering the sunlight into countless layers of rays. Everything turned warm, cozy and blurry. Four petite little copper bells hung from the four corners of the canopy. As long as the person inside moved a little, they would let out soft but crisp tinkling sounds.

On the bed, a girl laid on her chest. Her bare legs up at a right angle revealed the dainty little toes on her feet. They were sparkling and flawless like jade; Her legs kicked back and forth.

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He walked into the room and the girl didn’t sense it at all. A thin book was placed in front of her and her hands supported her head as she stared at the book, completely riveted. From time to time she would suddenly giggle to herself. In fact, she would giggle so hard that the copper bells would sway and fill up the room with tinkling.

She only noticed him once he walked close to the bed. The young girl only wore a single scarlet red dudou. On her exposed back, the dudou was only tied together by a single thin strand, lightly tied into a knot.

The sight of the single strand of scarlet against her snow-white skin was enough to force people to look. Her hair wasn’t pulled up, falling however it liked onto the bed. From the slightly protruding shoulder blades to the sharp curve of her waist and then to the final hill of her buttocks, it all looked like a perfect painting drawn with a single stroke. Extremely smooth and fluent.

From the backside, he could already somewhat, albeit slowly, make out that it was Ling Miaomiao. A Ling Miaomiao he had never seen before.

However, within the dream he oh-so-naturally walked over to her and picked up the book in front of her eyes, tossing it far away to fall on the ground.

The girl raised her head, her face sulking, “I was reading it, why did you snatch it from me?”

His face pulled extremely close to hers as he innocently laughed, “It’s too dark here, you’ll hurt your eyes.”

“Nonsense.” The girl’s brows squirmed, “Hurry and bring it back to me.”

He still continued to block her sight, continuing to be a great annoyance to her, “I won’t.”

“… hmph.”

She was fuming with her teeth clenched and suddenly moved both her arms, trying to push herself up. However, she didn’t think he would purposely reach out and hook the loose knot on her back, causing her thin piece of clothing to immediately slide off.

She was absolutely frightened and could only leap into his embrace as fast as a thunderbolt to cover up herself, covering the beautiful scenery without a single iota being leaked.

The bells at the corners of the bed tinkled nonstop.

“Why are you so shameless…” She angrily cursed him and very fiercely pinched his waist a few times, then also slapped his back with all her strength.

He didn’t mind her actions at all, his hands very naturally caressing her waist. He pulled her closer to him in a very practiced manner, as if he had done it thousands of times before.

His hand and the hand of the person in his dreams met together, falling onto warm skin. His hand followed along the curve of her waist, caressing all along the way just like a curious child with a new toy, unable to stop themself from touching it all over. His heart was somewhat misty as he thought to himself: So the most slim and tender stroke of ink would taste like this. ² [2] So after consulting the resident chinese expert, luna, I have learned that this is probably referring to how when painters paint women, they have to be extremely careful to portray the exquisite, slender, delicate… nature of a woman. As Mu Sheng has never touched a woman before… This seems rather fitting, all he knows are the paintings he’s seen. ANOTHER interpretation from grandmaster Soli (in charge of the manga) has said that it could also be that Mu Sheng’s touch is mimicking a brush.

Mu Sheng suddenly shot up, cheeks burning red. Even the ends of his ears had turned red. However, the confusion within his eyes gradually turned into a burning fury strong enough to overturn the heavens.

Why her?! Why was it her!?

No matter how much his brain racked itself and spun for answers, the only line left in his head was such.

That gentle and languid dreamland was just like a fairyland within a sea of poppy flowers. It tricked the miserable and lonely wanderers into sinking deep within. It was a kind of tranquility he had never experienced in his life.

He had never dreamed of his sister but somehow he had let her into his dreams.

Sister… was an absolute dead end. From head till her toes, his sister was someone who could not be blasphemed nor profaned. At the same time, she could not be touched. As the thought repeatedly tossed and turned in his head, he only felt like she only grew further and further, turning somewhat unfamiliar.

It felt like to him that within this lack of feminine intimacy, the only one who could get angry and smile at him, the only one who he could become close with and who could fall together with him was the one who had rolled about within the mortal world, Ling Miaomiao.

He was as rigid as a robot as he turned around to look. Ling Miaomiao was still as before, steadily sleeping atop the bed of fallen leaves. The outer coat covering her had slipped off the side once again. Dew had moistened the thin silk coat, causing her fair white shoulder to become slightly visible.

He helped her pull her coat back over her fully. He stood in that position like a rigid rod, hand clenched into fists.

He thought to himself that he must’ve still been affected by the aphrodisiac fragrance, that’s why such a thing would happen to him.

He started trodding towards the thick forest. The dead leaves beneath his feet cracked and crumbled in a quiet tone as he walked all the way to the small creek. The gurgle of water as it rushed towards the stone in the creek started to fill up his ears.

He stepped directly into the creek. His face didn’t change at all as he sat down, half of his body submerged within the ice-cold creek water.

*

The second time Ling Miaomiao woke up was because she was woken by the cold. The sky was still as dark as ink. Getting used to the eternal night within the illusion words took a lot of effort, especially when the temperature dropped down a cliff during sleep. It was both cold and wet, enough to cause one to feel as if the cold had penetrated all the way into one’s bones.

”System Notification: Bonus Reward [Memory Catalyst] has been used. Please continue working hard. End of notification.”

Memory Catalyst?

Miaomiao’s head was cloudy and she skewed her head to the side as she pondered for a long time before realizing, maybe that dream she just had was because of the Memory Catalyst?

The misty drizzle in the dream covered the entire city in a white fog that stubbornly resisted dispersing. Upon closing her eyes, the intense sorrow would rush up into her heart.

Good, she finally understood the black lotus better. If it was used then that’s that.

Her heart turned especially soft during this night as she withdrew her hand to pinch the stack of talismans within her sleeve. She felt at ease and certain of her plan. The next time she met the water ghosts, she would definitely take the initiative and destroy that toy before Mu Sheng could.

Now, she probably knew even more than the water ghosts. In addition, she would never want the black lotus to exchange his sweet blood for it.

On the other side, Princess Duanyang had barely held on for most of the night and finally could take it no further, falling asleep right on the ground and entering a dream of her own. Her hand was still placed on Liu Fuyi’s body, still maintaining her posture of holding onto a toy. She completely did not notice that right beside her, the darkness slowly condensed into a complete human figure. There was an evil grin on its face as it passed by the soundly sleeping Mu Yao and headed for Ling Miaomiao.

Miaomiao only felt the area in front of her turn dark and when she turned her head to look, she saw a pitch black shadowy figure staring at her with its eyes.

Ling Miaomiao: “…………….”

This person didn’t attack her, nor did it talk to her. All it did was dumbly stand there for a moment before immediately turning around to walk into the dense forest.

“System Notification: Mission 1 Update: Mission 2/4 is about to begin. Host, may you please prepare yourself.” ³ [3] This line was killing us lol. At the time of writing this, we’re still not 100% sure this is what it’s supposed to mean. These system notifications sure are confusing man. As far as I can understand, this notif is telling her that the major plot turning point for the second quarter of her progress is about to begin. Something like that.