Chapter 269: Wisdom Enlightenment, Death and Rebirth
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 269: Wisdom Enlightenment, Death and Rebirth
The night was silent. Though the Fool's Village Secret Realm appeared dreamlike and beautiful, its nights were hushed—an eerie, unsettling quiet.
However, this did not detract from the softness currently in Bai Yu’s arms, as a body leaned back, clinging to her embrace.
The playful antics before sleep had ended with the joke of being used as a bolster. It seemed Bai Yu had finally caught the person she wanted, yet that person still did not truly belong to her.
Bai Yu was currently reflecting on how much longer she could use the "intimacy of besties" as an excuse. Tangled thoughts clashed incessantly within her mind.
Sensibility told her that no matter what she did to Xiao Han, the other wouldn't mind. But reason told her that such a move would be too aggressive.
The path she walked told her she should let things take their natural course—like an ordinary path, an ordinary life. When you meet the one you love, you confess and express that love.
Bai Yu found herself constantly reminiscing about the past, every little detail. Back when Xiao Han was still a boy... when they first met as neighbors, she had been curious about his maturity and silence, which seemed so ill-fitting for his age.
Then came their time together, getting to know one another... Gradually, Bai Yu realized a problem. She didn't seem to have these kinds of emotions and thoughts toward the Xiao Han of back then. So, when exactly did these feelings begin?
After long deliberation, Bai Yu reached a conclusion: it was the first time she saw Xiao Han turn into a girl.
At that time, Xiao Han had held the Mana Source, mouth saying "sorry" while her hands moved without the slightest hesitation. Perhaps the seed had been planted then?
But what truly caused her to become like this was seeing Xiao Han accept her identity as a girl so calmly. By accepting that identity, the person who truly felt the weight lift from their heart wasn't Xiao Han, but Bai Yu herself.
The emotions suppressed for years had fermented the moment that weight dropped. But from then until now, how much time had actually passed?
Was she really someone who had just fallen for a pretty face?
No, no, no. Before that, Bai Yu had been a staunch heterosexual. Until that moment... yes... she should try to accept this.
There are always external forces that prompt a person to change, and she needed to face that fact.
Thinking of this, Bai Yu subconsciously tightened her grip on the body in her arms. She didn't push any further—not because she didn't want to take advantage of the situation, but because she had greater ambitions. She wanted to truly possess the other girl, and then, openly and honorably, take that next step.
For Bai Yu, staying awake for an entire day was no issue. This was the first time she had held Xiao Han so closely. The last time they shared a bed was the night they entered the dormitory, but unfortunately, she hadn't been brave enough and had fled. Even now, thinking back on it, Bai Yu felt a wave of regret.
Just as Bai Yu was about to continue her reminiscing, a strange noise from outside and a cry for help from a Fool's Dream shattered the beauty of the night.
Bai Yu stood up immediately. Unfortunately, the tent wasn't large enough for such sudden movements, and her shift instantly jolted me awake.
"Mm... what's wrong?"
I blinked my sleepy eyes, looking at Sister Bai with some confusion. Weren't you holding me just fine? I already agreed to let you take some liberties, so why are you pulling this in the middle of the night?
"Xiao Han, are you awake? We might be in trouble!" Bai Yu said in a heavy voice.
"Trouble... wait, trouble?" Being a beat slow, I quickly reacted. This was the Fool's Village Secret Realm—how could there be trouble?
Once I snapped to, I also heard the commotion outside. I unzipped the tent and rolled out.
The sky outside was still pitch black. We followed the sound from earlier. Fool's Village wasn't actually that large; we didn't even need our Flying Brooms. After all, a quick dash could practically take you out of the village.
Even though we had lost our spells, with the body strengthening from alchemy items and the Cat-person Transformation spell, we arrived quite quickly.
"What happened?" I asked, approaching a gathered group of Fool's Dreams.
"It's Xiao Han and Bai Yu. You're here."
"It's a Nightmare. A Nightmare attacked the village and struck Yu Xi."
"A Nightmare? Yu Xi?"
After gathering some basic information, I quickly pieced it together. Recalling the intelligence and strategy guides I'd read, Nightmares were the "bad things" that would start attacking the village after outsiders entered. Furthermore, a Fool's Dream tainted by a Nightmare would undergo a drastic personality shift, and there had even been cases of physical mutation. They would frantically destroy the peace and quiet of Fool's Village.
I might have heard the name Yu Xi at the banquet, but I wasn't familiar with her. Regardless, that didn't stop me from checking the situation.
Currently, the Fool's Dream called Yu Xi was lying on the ground. A pitch-black, almost physical substance was constantly billowing out of her like smoke.
This was exactly how one looked after being attacked by a Nightmare. Her body had no external wounds, but barring a miracle, she had likely been sentenced to death.
The intelligence reports also recorded such cases—or rather, they were quite common—but there wasn't a single instance of someone being saved.
This was also a point of confusion for me.
If every time someone entered, a Fool's Dream had to die, why was there such a constant, inexhaustible supply of them in the village?
Moreover, I had observed a phenomenon during the day: the number of small huts woven by the Fool's Dreams far exceeded the number of people actually seen.
At this moment, all the Fool's Dreams just stood there quietly. No one wept for her; they were simply despondent over Yu Xi's condition.
"Everyone, disperse."
A decisive voice rang out. It was Yu Hu, whom we had met before. Perhaps only her words would be heeded by so many Fool's Dreams.
"Guests, I apologize for letting you see such a pathetic side of us. we will handle the matter here, but there is something I wish to confirm once more."
"Is it about helping? I will," I said, turning my gaze toward the unconscious Yu Xi.
"Your decisiveness is admirable. In that case, are you willing to take our blessing and embark on the trial to subjugate the Nightmare?" Yu Hu asked with a solemn expression, her tone carrying a hint of grave ritualism.
Though it felt somewhat out of place with the current atmosphere, I reached out my hand and nodded in agreement.
"I am willing, naturally."
"Me too," Sister Bai added from beside me. After all, based on Yu Hu's words, she was clearly addressing both of us.
"Then, please accept our blessing." As Yu Hu spoke, a light orb floated out from a very precious-looking box she had prepared.
A spellbook.
It was a spellbook. The intelligence reports had mentioned it briefly, but this was a spellbook that, like the meditation arts, could not be taken out of the Fool's Village Secret Realm. However, it was just a basic consumption spellbook for summoning an ordinary weapon; not many people cared much about that.
Its primary function was as a specialized weapon for dealing with Nightmares—much like a "Trusty Village Blade" in a video game.
I accepted the spellbook, which signified my acceptance of the trial.
According to the reports, this spellbook had another curious trait: it would transform into different weapons based on the user's condition. Once it transformed, the change was permanent and irreversible. As for the pattern of the random weapon... there was no pattern.
They were generally categorized into swords, staves, and extremely rare "other" weapons, like shields or whips.
I beckoned with my hand, activating the spellbook. A magic book appeared in my palm.
The book had weight to it, feeling heavy in my hand. At the same time, Sister Bai summoned her weapon—a short-to-medium length magic wand, or a staff, if you preferred.
I lightly flipped through the ancient-looking cover. Touching it felt like touching old, cracked tree bark. The internal pages were thick, but they were blank, recording nothing.
Just as I was wondering how I was supposed to deal with enemies with this book—whether I should hit people with it or other strange ideas—Yu Xi, who had been surrounded by the Fool's Dreams, suddenly scrambled up in a grotesque fashion under the influence of the pitch-black power.
Her originally cute appearance cracked. It was as if her body was undergoing an internal mutation; fleshy sprouts wriggled and extended from the cracks.
The scene took a sudden turn into the macabre. It launched a sneak attack with incredible speed, throwing a punch even before the warning cries of the Fool's Dreams could reach us.
"Watch out!" Bai Yu lunged over, holding both ends of her staff to block the strike.
But with that single hit, Bai Yu instantly vanished.
"Sister Bai! Wait!" My eyes widened in disbelief. Sister Bai was gone?
Suddenly, a surge of rage took over my thoughts. The book in my hand became a terrifying weapon as I slammed it toward the Fool's Dream that had turned into a monster.
At that moment, Yu Hu and the other Fool's Dreams watched as the two vanished. As for the original Yu Xi—the monster—her body could no longer withstand the power. She turned withered and hideous, collapsing to the ground.
"Take her to the Ancestral Land."
Yu Hu spoke as if she had repeated the words ten million times, her eyes filled with nothing but numbness.
"This is the only thing we can do for our guests."
The gathered Fool's Dreams said nothing. They were all silent. It seemed they always displayed an unexpected coldness under specific circumstances.
The loss of a friend, Yu Xi's mutation... not a single Fool's Dream was crying or venting their emotions. Yet, at the banquet earlier, Yu Xi had been happily enjoying food and juice with many of these same friends.
* * *
Meanwhile, I watched as everything around me changed. The place was still Fool's Village, but the environment had become grotesque. Leaves swayed and stretched, the sky spun, trees twisted and wriggled like underwater seaweed, and the distant scenery was blurred and indistinct, like a mosaic.
In an instant, I realized: this was likely a "Dreamscape," not an illusion-type ability.
Having frequently practiced the Witch Meditation Method, I was all too familiar with the nature of dreams.
And when I saw Sister Bai truly standing there, I finally understood.
When we first arrived at the Fool's Village Secret Realm, my Spirit Vision couldn't see anything clearly, yet everything was physically real. There was no overlapping space here; rather, this place was a superposition of reality and dreams!
This was even more extreme than the environment in the Witch Academy's meditation rooms. They say the meditation rooms only have a connection to the dream realm, but this place was a crude, brute-force overlap!
"Sister Bai, are you okay?" I hurried to her side. The monster from before was nowhere to be seen.
"I'm fine... we might be in trouble. According to the intel and guides, we've hit the worst-case scenario. The Nightmare-tainted Fool's Dream has pulled us into her domain."
"Dreamscape... this is a dream," I corrected.
"Dream... fine. Regardless, Xiao Han, be careful." Bai Yu held her staff, her mental focus sharper than ever. She didn't want to argue about "domain" versus "dream" right now; she knew they were in deep trouble.
I tried to use the Witch Meditation Method, but it didn't seem to help with cultivating mental power. However, I noticed that the spellbook, which had reconstructed into a primary meditation art, seemed to have some strange effects.
"Mm."
As I nodded, a wail echoed through the world, and a mass of indistinct, monstrous form approached from the distance.
As it drew closer, I realized it wasn't that I couldn't see it clearly, but that it had no physical form.
"Ugly! Sorrowful... I hate myself!"
"Kill me! Destroy my consciousness!"
"I don't want to have this cognition anymore..."
The figure constantly emitted voices that were nearly unrecognizable, struggling even as it launched attacks at us.
Bai Yu and I only had our weapons—a staff and a book—to resist the onslaught.
I understood what it was saying. It was constantly venting, seemingly disgusted and repulsed by its own current state.
Honestly, if it hated itself that much, it could just commit suicide. Suicide solves 100% of the problems it was facing, rather than trying to murder us.
If this continued, it couldn't really hurt us, but our stamina wasn't infinite.
However, just as we were struggling to resist, the creature let out a wail—a sharp, explosive sound that was half-laugh, half-cry. It stopped entangling with us and sped off in a certain direction.
Sister Bai and I locked eyes and knew exactly what to do. Chase it!
Even if Sister Bai wanted to prioritize safety, I would have chosen to follow and investigate. Such a sudden, abnormal shift meant something had happened.
Following it, we arrived at a part of Fool's Village we hadn't visited. The terrain here was complex; if one wasn't careful, they would miss the many underground hollows.
My first thought was naturally the "Ancestral Land" mentioned in the reports.
As we moved through a narrow passage, the view suddenly opened up.
It was a massive underground space. The ceiling seemed to have natural openings, allowing an unknown glow to filter through the cavern onto a vast space in the center.
There sat a giant stone, translucent with a deep blue luster. However, it was currently covered in moss and vines. Beneath it grew a dense, skin-crawling thicket of plants—huge leaves and many massive... flower buds.
"Those are flower elves... beings born from the blossoms of plants. But... they don't look like the ones in the illustrations I know. They might be a rare subspecies," Bai Yu whispered beside me.
And there, I finally saw the formless monster that had attacked us. It was currently coiling around the giant stone, which was surrounded by the flowers like stars around a moon.
We didn't move. We simply watched everything unfold.
The monster-like black form was slowly merging into the crystalline stone, while the pitch-black "bad stuff" was being filtered out bit by bit.
The process lasted a long time, until a pure, newborn-like "soul body" slowly gathered, wisps of it flowing into a mature flower bud.
"The Fool's Dream race... is born like this? They are essentially... what?"
"Flower elves."
Bai Yu and I stepped forward. Everything happening was so sacred, as if a consciousness was interfering with my thoughts, telling my subconscious not to disrupt the "ritual of life's birth."
And now, that feeling vanished.
Another sensation urged us forward to welcome the birth of a new life.
The flower bud was "gestating." The growth was visible to the naked eye, happening at a speed I could hardly imagine.
The bud slowly unfurled—the first petal, the second... it bloomed before us like a work of art, as if performing its rebirth for our sake.
Immediately, a possibility struck me. Could this also be a form of revelation?
But... what was it revealing?
If this was the birthplace of the Fool's Dream race, then it certainly earned the title of "Ancestral Land."
What came next?
As if possessed, I reached out my hand. At that moment, the bud fully bloomed. A very delicate little darling was curled up, born upon the stamen in this manner.
Petals wove her clothes; leaves served as her adornments.
Like a final blessing from the bud, at the moment it withered, a streak of light fell upon her.