Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Reincarnation Four [Catching Bugs]

Ming Yue felt Yan Jun's back trembling slightly.

She patted the boy’s back and joked, “Uh-oh, I’ve delayed the class leader.”

“Jumping down must have left you with some psychological scars.”

“My bad, my bad.”

Yan Jun: "......"

Chen Xiu, facing Ming Yue, immediately showed a complex expression.

Junior, you've worked hard.

Ming Yue: "？？？"

Chen Xiu, eager to stir up trouble, smiled mischievously, forming a heart shape with his hands, then “puffed” and threw the heart on the ground, stepping on it forcefully, before pointing at Ming Yue, the "boy-killer."

Ming Yue: "......？？？"

I suspect I'm being pranked.

After they parted, Yan Jun realized that Ming Yue really did look miserable, and his heart tightened. He asked, "Were you hurt in the crack in the ground?"

Ming Yue shook her head. "I'm fine, just some scrapes. I'll put some medicine on it when we get back to school."

"Uh, speaking of that, do I still smell like sewage?"

Before Yan Jun could ask about the strange odor, he said: "......"

Yan Jun replied seriously: "No."

"Good, that's a relief."

Ming Yue was in a good mood. "Haha! I told you!"

"Li Niao Sun tricked me!"

The Presidents: "......"

Several of the Presidents, imitating old farmers, crossed their arms and squatted under the Xuan Yun spell, with their conversation bouncing back and forth.“Chen Xiu, when will you two be done talking?”

“Depends on the mood.”

“Dammit, still depending on the mood? It's almost time. Do you see my dark circles?”

“Xiu Ge, hurry up and break them up.”

“Go away, disturbing people in love deserves to be struck by lightning.”

Luckily, Ming Yue quickly stopped the small talk, ran to the back of the Xuan Yun spell, and reported the situation to the Presidents. Chen Xiu casually assessed her: “Come on, wasn’t the conversation just now fun?”

Ming Yue: “Still, the serious matters are more important.” She then squatted down beside them, causing the President's squatting formation to form an inverted “V”.

Chu Ji from Yu University was the first to ask:

“About the tide of zombies in front of the Northern Yin Imperial Temple.”

“Do you have any insights, Ming Yue?”

In the darkness, amidst the chaotic shouts, Ming Yue observed this fair-skinned President from Yu University—emm, do people from Yu Zhou all have such pale skin? “I don’t have any great insights.”

“I just crawled up from the crack not long ago, thinking that Chen Xiu and the others must be anxious, so I came to report that I’m still alive.”

“I happened to overhear Chen Xiu’s last sentence—asking if we could kill the zombies.”

“I have an idea.”

Chu Ji: “……”

I’m still alive.

I have a way to kill the zombies.

Chu Ji couldn’t figure out which of these two sentences had more impact. He stared at Ming Yue with an expression as if he were looking at a monster. Ming Yue felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Chen Xiu quickly defended her, pulling the little rookie to his side and hushing Chu Ji:

“Get lost! Old cow, go eat your own young grass in your own academy!”

“Do you think our academy’s rookies are someone you can touch?”

Ming Yue was surprised and looked at Chu Ji in disbelief.Qi Renjie: "......"

Qi Renjie gave up, "Damn it, Chen Xiu, let's duel!"

"I didn't say anything just now!"

"Old cow eating tender grass!"

"If you have no shame, I still do!"

The Presidents: "......"

A few of the Presidents burst out laughing. The tide of zombies nearby did not dampen their momentary joy.

Chen Xiu chuckled, "Alright, Ming Yue, speak."

Ming Yue responded with a hum, picking up a wooden stick and drawing deep lines on the ground. "First, I have the first question. Senior Qi Renjie, has there been a lot of thunderstorms in Yu Zhou recently?"

Qi Renjie now looked at this Yang Qi bullet junior with a strange expression, "What do you think?"

"Do you not remember the heavy rain during the mobilization meeting yesterday?"

"The rainy season in Yu Zhou comes earlier than in Jiangnan. This month is precisely when the heavy rains linger."

Ming Yue smiled and drew a horizontal line on the ground with her stick, adding a lightning symbol above it.

"In other words, there should be a lot of cumulonimbus clouds in the upper atmosphere, right?"

Qi Renjie raised an eyebrow, something almost bubbling up in his heart. "That's right."

Ming Yue mentally organized her middle school physics knowledge and spoke slowly, "The amount of positive and negative charges carried by cumulonimbus clouds is not fixed. When there is a large energy fluctuation on the ground, it can trigger heavy rainfall... even lightning, right?"

Qi Renjie: "......"

Qi Renjie stumbled for the first time, thinking to himself that this girl must have grown up eating bear bile every day, daring to say anything: "Y-You mean, you want to use heavenly fire?"

Ming Yue drew a few oddly shaped figures on the wet ground. They were running beneath the "lightning." She confirmed Qi Renjie’s statement, "That's right."

"Small Yin-Yang balance can be maintained and corrected by human effort, but the large Yin-Yang balance, human power is insufficient. This is without a doubt."

"What is the role of heavenly fire?"

"The purest, most righteous energy between heaven and earth. What can be more destructive to evil than the punishment of thunder?""Once the heavenly fire strikes, it can cleanse all Yin energy."

"It will burn to death all these ground-dwelling zombies in minutes."

Qi Renjie: "..."

Qi Renjie was so stunned he couldn't say a word.

Having been immersed in Fengdu for too long, he hadn’t seen such a fierce demon-slayer in a while.

This... this...

With her, the Spirit-Sealing Department this year would certainly not go unnoticed.

Ming Yue felt a little happy when she saw Qi Renjie remaining silent.

The teacher was right when I was little, Ming Erge thought, if you master science and math, you’ll have nothing to fear in the world.

Long Master President Cao Jinghua also nodded, "Theoretically, it's feasible."

"However, when the heavenly fire strikes, we, the living, will also be in the midst of it—though it’s said that divine punishment does not affect bystanders, it’s still not safe."

"And—" Cao Jinghua glanced at the silent Su Hui and Chen Xiu, deciding to take the lead:

"The essential condition to trigger heavenly fire is just one: an imbalance of Yin and Yang in a confined space, with the Yin energy concentration exceeding the limit, and the environment unable to self-regulate. Only then will the heavenly fire strike."

"Heavenly fire is the most Yang. Where can we gather enough Yin to trigger it?"

Chen Xiu snorted in response, pointing to the land outside the Xuan Yun Charm barrier where lively zombies were jumping around: "Isn't the ground full of it?"

"Still lacking Yin energy?"

Su Hui also spoke up: "I can go borrow the Qiang Ji talisman from Xiangda. They practice puppet techniques, and when there’s insufficient Yin energy, they use the Qiang Ji talisman to gather Yin."

Chen Xiu scoffed: "Puppet techniques?"

"A bunch of people practicing corpse-driving."

Su Hui: "…"

Su Hui warned softly, "Chen Xiu!"Cao Jinghua spread his hands: "…"

"It seems like everyone has already skipped the discussion on the feasibility of this plan and jumped straight into discussing the steps?"

Ming Yue grinned foolishly, glancing around at the other Presidents:

"Anyway, if we keep going like this, we won’t have any points even by 3 AM."

"The organizers are so disgusting, not doing anything. It’s actually kind of nice to disgust them back."

"I think triggering the heavenly fire sounds cool. We’re about to graduate, so why not enjoy it? Anyway, even if I fail the provincial exam this year, the old resources are still good for me."

Cao Jinghua: "…"

Cool? What’s so cool about it?

Long Master Cao Jinghua was left speechless.

So, the group began to make plans.

Ming Yue took full advantage, getting a smashed snow-flavored cake from Chen Xiu. She squatted beside them, nibbling while listening to the seniors discuss the specific steps of implementation.

"We need to form a circle. Forget everything else, if the heavenly fire lands and starts burning aimlessly, that won’t work."

"We can use some techniques to build a ‘Yang energy circle’ here. It’ll signal that this is the boundary."

"Sounds good, we’ll find a few people with strong Yang energy, and they can create the talismans on site."

"Focus, how are we going to gather the Yin energy?"

"Su Hui, go borrow the Qiang Ji talisman. When the time comes, use the North Yin Emperor Temple as the axis and stick a few talismans around. It’d be best to stick them on the statue’s forehead so it blooms all over."

"Chen Xiu, are you dreaming? If the North Yin Emperor’s statue is damaged, you don’t need a demon-slayer to come after you. The Cultural Heritage Bureau of Yuzhou will blow up Jin University and bury you with it. Do you believe that?"

"I understand, a thousand-year-old relic, right?"

"Still not good enough. The Qiang Ji talisman can only gather existing Yin energy; it can't create new Yin."

At this point, everyone paused.Ming Yue crouched closer, licked the cream off her finger, and softly said, "How about... we consider adjusting the current Yin-Yang environment?"

"Meaning... not strengthening the Yin energy, but weakening the Yang energy?"

"If we reduce the Yang energy, wouldn't that, from another angle, be the same as gathering Yin?"

The Presidents: "..."

Chen Xiu frowned, "Finish eating before talking! What are you even doing?!"

Ming Yue meekly responded, "Oh," and Su Hui gently asked, "Do you have any suggestions, Junior?"

Ming Yue: "..."

Ming Erge (Ming Yue's second brother) felt uneasy under the smile of the Emperor University President. "Uh, well, the crack in the ground I climbed up from earlier isn't too far from here—inside, it's pretty clean, no zombies."

"The crack is close to the Earth's core, where Yin energy is dense. There’s also an underground river that can obscure the Yang energy of the living."

"We can hide in there, like dumplings in a pot."

A few of them paused, then suddenly realized!

"Yes! A clever move!"

"Slowly evacuate the people, set up the Yang energy circle to trap the zombies inside, and hide in the crack while waiting for the heavenly fire to pass by. Smart!"

Chen Xiu once again threw cold water on their excitement: "Don't celebrate too early. The environment has some buffering effects. If the Yin-Yang shift isn't drastic or fast enough, the heavenly fire won't come down. And slowly evacuate people? Forget it."

"If we're going to evacuate, it has to be decisive. We need to hide in the crack in a very short time." Chen Xiu signaled to Ming Yue, who nodded and pointed toward the direction she came from, showing him.

Su Hui frowned, "If everyone evacuates, who will set up the Qiang Ji talisman?"

"The zombies follow the Yang energy, so we’ll need to leave some people as bait. If the main group runs, the zombies will definitely follow."

"Our plan is to separate the living from the zombies—under the same environment, the living are Yang and the zombies are Yin. If they mix, Yin-Yang balance won’t be lost."

"If the zombies follow the people, how can we separate them?"

Chen Xiu raised his hand: "Then we can screen people, leave some behind."

"Our Spirit-Sealing Academy is willing to offer ten people. I’ll find a few more students who can write the Tiangang Divine Spell, and we’ll write more talismans to prevent the zombies from following the main group during the retreat—if they dare to run, we’ll use the Tiangang Divine Spell to kill them. Problem solved."Su Hui glanced at him: "Spirit-Sealing Academy has hidden talents, huh, Xiu-ge. Even the Tiangang Divine Spell can be written by people now."

The Tiangang Divine Spell is a high-output attack spell, it's not one of the Eight God Spells, so why act so sour?

Chen Xiu silently thought to himself that Su Hui was cunning, but smiled on the surface: "I can write it too, do you want to see it, Sister Hui?"

Su Hui: "..."

Su Hui sighed: "Alright then, Jin Da will give ten people, and our Di Da will leave eleven, plus we’ll borrow the Qiang Ji talisman."

Chen Xiu: "..."

Chen Xiu chuckled: "Is this a money-grabbing job, President Su Hui? Are you really trying to outnumber us on the headcount?"

Su Hui smiled without speaking.

Then the group made their final decisions, with forty people staying behind, while the rest would prepare and quickly retreat, jumping into the crack along the Wangchuan River, waiting for the heavenly fire to pass, then complete their task and return afterward.

The screening criteria would prioritize individuals with higher Yang energy, and then rankings would be based on their overall performance scores.

The sky was overcast, and the ground was filled with running zombies.

The Presidents sent the plans to the students in their contacts via communicators.

The atmosphere was tense, as if the icy cold water had quickly frozen everyone’s body.

On Chen Xiu's side, he was sorting through the volunteers for the rear guard, while Ming Yue was still rummaging through her pockets, acting strangely. Chen Xiu asked, "What's up? Nervous?"

Ming Yue continued rummaging, "Not nervous."

"Lighting the thunderfire, so thrilling, right?"

"Senior, we’re going to be Franklin now."

Chen Xiu laughed, "Franklin, my foot."

"Do you want to be the rear guard?"

Ming Yue stopped her actions and turned around: "I thought you were going to have me lead the escape. I was ready to convince you to let me stay behind."

Chen Xiu: "Just follow the Wangchuan River to the crack, you said that yourself. What’s there to lead?"

"I’m not a fool who only looks at age and not at ability. Letting you lead would be a waste of talent.""Hehe, thank you for your appreciation, Senior."

Ming Yue finally took out something from her bag. It turned out to be a pile of gauze stained with black blood — it was the remnants of the gauze she had used to wipe her own blood when she broke into the Linked Halls earlier. Luckily, she had kept it; otherwise, the Yang energy from this blood would’ve been wasted.

Chen Xiu found it amusing, but feigned a serious expression, furrowing his brows: "But, you don't know the Tiangang Divine Spell. Maybe it’s better if you lead the way?"

Ming Yue: "…"

Ming Yue refused: "But I can do the Land God and Golden Light God combo punch!"

This time, it was Chen Xiu’s turn to be surprised: "Really?"

"The Land God and Golden Light God are instant spells, they need to be written and used immediately."

"How many hands do you have?"

Ming Yue raised her chin, seriously stating: "I can write with both hands at the same time!"

"I was left-handed when I was little, but I was corrected to use my right hand by the time I was ten."

Chen Xiu: "…"

Chen Xiu gave up, "Ming Yue, may I ask, is there anything you can’t do?"