Divine Beast Creator

"The entire village is a fake... why, exactly...?"

Cen Chudie looked unwillingly at Feng Yuan. With a sigh, Feng Yuan gazed at the crowd that was walking up in the night, wearing water shoes and stepping on the soft mud, and said,

"Have you heard of the Ghost Domain Illusion, this ultimate skill?"

"Ghost Domain Illusion... But I haven’t felt the oppressive presence of any Legendary Level Ghost Series Spirit Beasts here. A beast of that level shouldn’t..."

"Besides Legendary Level, lower-level Ghost Series Spirit Beasts can also use up their lives to release this ultimate skill..."

Feng Yuan interrupted Cen Chudie with a hint of helplessness and said, looking up at the village in the night and whispering,

"Is this everything you remember...?"

"Could it be!"

Surprised, Cen Chudie looked at Feng Yuan, connecting the dots that Granny Yuan and Granny Mianlan were friends, then hesitantly said,

"Are you suggesting that Granny Yuan’s Spirit Beast expended its own life to initiate the Ghost Domain Illusion? Why would it do that?"

"Landslide..."

Wen Yanrong grabbed a handful of the soft soil from the ground, sneering and smiling bitterly, not sure if she was laughing at herself. Cen Chudie glanced at the soft soil, then at the jagged mountain behind the village missing a huge chunk, and said with a bitter smile,

"So it was for that reason... So the village is actually gone, isn’t it? To preserve the image of the village in Granny Yuan’s memory, it sacrificed its life to launch the Ghost Domain Illusion... That’s really..."

Feng Yuan looked at Cen Chudie, unsure of what to say, remained silent, and walked back to the village. As the street lamps gradually dimmed and everything around became more illusory, Feng Yuan sighed and said,

"We don’t have much time left..."

"Why do this! Just to preserve one’s beautiful memories, let her own Spirit Beast use up its life for such a thing!"

Cen Chudie yelled out in dissatisfaction toward the front. Feng Yuan turned around and looked at her with pity, saying nothing, while Yang Hongzhi glanced at Najia and hesitatingly said to Cen Chudie,

"Perhaps it wasn’t what she wanted? What if it was her Spirit Beast that insisted on doing this..."

"How could that be! Has her Spirit Beast gone mad?"

"Think about her age..."

Yang Hongzhi sighed, and awakened by his words, the somewhat hysterical Cen Chudie calmed down and after a moment of hesitation said,

"But... wouldn’t this make her sad...?"

"Who’s up ahead!"

The villagers holding torches came from behind and, upon discovering the four people, yelled out anxiously. Feng Yuan turned around and loudly answered,

"Seeing off!"

"Seeing off?"

After hearing Feng Yuan’s explanation, the other side hesitated for a moment. Then, the middle-aged man they had encountered in the morning stepped out of the group with a torch and approached the four. Upon recognizing their faces, he said with resignation,

"You haven’t left yet."

"We just happened upon it, doing a send-off..."

Feng Yuan said expressionlessly, to which the middle-aged man sighed and replied,

"Alright, you know where it is, right? If not, just follow us..."

"I know. Granny is also there."

"Granny?"

"Granny Mianlan. You might know her."

"Her?... I didn’t expect her to come as well..."

"Did you inform her?"

"No, it might be a coincidence... or fate... who knows..."

Perceiving Feng Yuan’s despondent mood, Xiao Ji and Dreaming Dragon Baby behaved themselves atop Feng Yuan, while Big Cat followed closely behind. The middle-aged man, torch in hand, led the way at the forefront of the group, with three people closely behind. The others followed further back, forming what from a distance appeared to be a red Fire Dragon snaking its way from the foot of the mountain up to the small village on the hill.

"Can Granny Yuan bear the loss of that Spirit Beast..."

Cen Chudie said with some concern. The middle-aged man looked at her in surprise, and Feng Yuan shook his head, asking,

"Why do you care about this?"

"I’m worried she can’t handle it! You know, she’s even older than Granny Mianlan, isn’t she? What if she can’t recover from the shock? Especially since she just managed to pull through with the help of the Ghost Domain Illusion..."

Feng Yuan smiled and shook his head, Wen Yanrong was stroking her chin, deep in thought, while Yang Hongzhi kept comforting Najia. After learning the truth, he too seemed affected by it, appearing a bit downcast.

Arriving at the house, Feng Yuan pushed open the front door. Granny Yuan was sitting inside, looking as if she had been waiting for a long time, and nodded at everyone. Feng Yuan approached the frail little boy and asked,

"Do you regret it?"

The boy smiled and shook his head at Feng Yuan. Granny Mianlan walked over and said to Feng Yuan,

"Thank you for accompanying it on its final journey..."

"Wait... Is he..."

Cen Chudie, pointing at the fragile little boy in surprise, was met with a displeased glance from Granny Mianlan, who said,

"Go stand over there!"

Cen Chudie glanced at the frail little boy and stepped aside. Meanwhile, everyone else entered and crowded the room. The boy, holding Granny Yuan’s hand, walked to the backyard and sat with her on the swing they had been on that afternoon. Feng Yuan, sighing, looked back at Granny Mianlan and then gently began to push the swing.

As the swing moved softly back and forth, a joyful smile spread across the boy’s face. In the crowd standing by, many quietly wiped tears from their eyes. Beneath the clear night sky, moonlight illuminated the boy’s smiling face. After a while, the boy’s figure grew blurry, transforming into an ancient copper lamp flickering with pale blue flame, shining with bright, unstoppable laughter in its luminous eyes.

Gradually, as if getting sleepy, the lamp dimmed as the eyes closed, and the flame dwindled until it disappeared into the moonglow. Feng Yuan caught the fallen lamp, looking at the decayed remnants of the swing on the ground and the withered, cracked tree behind, he sighed deeply.

"How could this be!"

Cen Chudie, covering her mouth in disbelief, had thought the boy sacrificed himself for Granny Yuan’s peace of mind. But, watching Granny Yuan disperse into specks of starlight as the Nether Fire Lamp extinguished, she realized she was wrong.

After the farewell ceremony, Feng Yuan and the rest went to a riverside grave. Granny Mianlan buried the Nether Fire Lamp herself, whispering,

"It did come to see you after all... Even though you always wished for its happiness, without you by its side, it wasn’t joyful..."

On the way back, Cen Chudie still couldn’t believe it, asking,

"Why did it end like this? Granny Yuan must have wished for it to live on well, right...?"

"That’s why it used the Ghost Domain Mirage... Even if it’s hard to accept, at least feeling the presence of a loved one by its side matters..."

"Ji..."

Xiao Ji, perched on Feng Yuan’s head, spread his little wings and clung tightly to Feng Yuan as if he were afraid Feng Yuan would disappear into the night sky like Granny Yuan.

"No wonder Granny Mianlan was never concerned about Granny Yuan... She knew all along Granny Yuan was an illusion, huh, I can’t believe I didn’t see that..."

Recalling how Feng Yuan spent a happy afternoon with the Nether Fire Lamp, and then thinking of what she had done herself, Cen Chudie said self-deprecatingly. Feng Yuan gently stroked Xiao Ji on his head and remarked,

"Your powers of observation are lacking. But then, I didn’t expect it to leave us today either. Granny Mianlan was probably just as surprised, coming to visit and ending up at the farewell..."

Wiping tears from her eyes, Cen Chudie looked at Feng Yuan and said,

"Isn’t that what you said? It’s all fate."

Gazing into the starry sky, Feng Yuan muttered softly,

"Fate, huh..."

"What kind of trick are you playing now? Be careful, or someday..."

After ushering Feng Yuan in from the balcony, Qi Chen couldn’t help but scold him. Having finished his piece, Feng Yuan replied with a grin,

"Some things, well – I’m off to take a shower!"

Qi Chen, shaking his head, looked at the emotionally low Xiao Ji and the clearly heartbroken Najia, scratching his head in confusion, and asked,

"What on earth did that guy do? Why do they all look so sad?"