GRMFBS CH71

Zhan Yan got out of bed and began packing his suitcase.

He first took out all the snacks, then the change of clothes.

Under the clothes, he saw the wooden box that contained the stone Old Master Luan had given him.

Zhan Yan paused for a moment, then opened the box.

In his dream just now, aside from the three Ghost Kings, another noteworthy name had appeared: Candle Dragon.

The description of the stone had changed:

[This is a stone formed from solidified candle tears, droplets that fell from Candle Dragon’s divine candle. It once carried a trace of Candle Dragon’s mysterious power, but it has now been exhausted.]

So it seemed that the dream he just had might really have been “a drifting fragment in the long river of time.”

That gossip system that had originally shown “Loading……” must have been completed under the influence of Candle Dragon’s power.

But he had gotten this stone yesterday, and last night he hadn’t dreamed. Was the trigger condition because he’d touched the stone while returning with the little white cat?

After finishing his packing, Zhan Yan decided to check the hidden section of the Transcendents’ Forum. Luo Wang had said there was information about Candle Dragon there, but he hadn’t had time to look yet.

In the hidden section, there was only one mission related to Candle Dragon: Search for Candle Dragon’s Residual Shadow.

Beneath the mission was a hazy description of what this “residual shadow” was:

“Time has no end.

Time loops without rest.

The sun rises and falls, the moon rises and falls.

The hour hand returns to its origin, the minute hand and second hand the same.

People are born and die, and after death, new life comes.

The sunset here is the sunrise on the other side of the planet.

Time returns because it is endless.”

The font of this introduction was very peculiar—each stroke looked like a glimpse of a dragon’s body, half-hidden within drifting clouds.

As Zhan Yan read, he seemed to once again see the dragon from his dream, coiling around the world.

The dragon folded itself into a knot, biting its own tail.

Candle Dragon bit off one of its own scales, from which burning blood dripped.

The blood solidified into a candle. The burning candle cast the world into shadow, and that shadow fell into the loop of the knot formed by Candle Dragon’s coiled body.

Candle Dragon’s Shadow.

Zhan Yan snapped back to himself, his whole body tingling, goosebumps rising all over.

He now understood why no one in this world remembered what had happened twenty-six years ago!

That bloody battle had taken place within Candle Dragon’s shadow.

Candle Dragon, whose eyes open for day and close for night, was a divine beast tied to time itself.

Time stretched infinitely forward, yet also looped back upon itself. Like an ouroboros—because time was infinite, it looped; because it looped, it was infinite.

But that did not mean everything would repeat exactly the same… Zhan Yan could not fully comprehend this for now. It was Candle Dragon’s divine power, its mystery.

Twenty-six years ago, Candle Dragon had knotted itself, and from its blood-dripped candlelight, the world’s shadow fell into that looping body.

The Lin Yuan Ghost King had said, “Candle Dragon is returning.” When everything ended, Candle Dragon would undo its knot. Time within the shadow would cycle back to its node, and everything would be restored.

Put more simply, Candle Dragon had “saved” their world like a file in a game.

But not every being could be restored by Candle Dragon’s looping.

Time was like a string, and Candle Dragon had adjusted its frequency.

The beads strung upon it vibrated with the frequency of the string. But the heavier the bead, the harder it was for the vibration to move it.

The overly powerful beings were like those heavy beads. Their time, like their information, was stable and resistant to interference.

And between those who had looped back and those who hadn’t, a scar remained.

That scar was Candle Dragon’s Residual Shadow.

The six tabs on the information disk vanished. The starry sea of information reappeared—gold, purple, blue, green, white—stars of every color shining in their places, forming a radiant river of light.

He saw that dazzling golden star—Candle Dragon.

The truth of the world pulled back a corner of its curtain, granting him a glimpse into the mysteries of time.

Zhan Yan slowly exhaled. The six tabs reappeared, and the one named “Domain” was once again filled with a new star.

Domain. Region. World. He was gradually coming to understand this world.

The mission text carried a strange power—an “imprint passed directly to the heart.” It was also a test. Those qualified to read it would directly gain awareness of Candle Dragon’s Residual Shadow.

Zhan Yan checked the clock. More than two hours had passed. If he kept going, he would never finish.

He logged out of the forum and decided to first complete one of Darkshadow’s healing-type missions, to calm himself down.

That evening, Lao Bao returned, bringing tea and coffee with great enthusiasm.

“How can you eat pastries without tea or coffee?”

Duan Hong tasted a pastry, then asked for more, but didn’t eat them.

Seeing his troubled look, Zhan Yan asked, “Something happened to you?”

Duan Hong stammered: “I-I don’t know how to say it.”

After hesitating for a long while, the others in the dorm pressured him until he finally confessed.

Head bowed, Duan Hong took a deep breath: “A-alright, I’ll say it. Just don’t laugh. You guys might not believe me… but… I saw a ghost.”

The reason he had hesitated was exactly this. Seeing a ghost—what a superstitious phrase. If he hadn’t experienced it himself, he never would have believed it. Now he couldn’t help wanting to confide in someone, but was afraid no one would believe him.

After a while, he slowly raised his head.

Gu Jiancheng still wore the same calm expression, utterly unruffled.

Bao Qingshan looked like he had suddenly realized something.

Zhan Yan was deep in thought.

Duan Hong: Why are you all so calm?

Is seeing a ghost nothing unusual here?

Am I really the only one in this dorm who didn’t believe in ghosts before?

Seeing him stop talking, Zhan Yan urged: “Keep going. How did you see a ghost?”

In the face of such an overly calm atmosphere, Duan Hong dazedly continued.

A few days ago, he had gone with a friend to the suburbs to collect specimens. That wild land hadn’t been developed yet. It still had old, abandoned graves overgrown with weeds, graves no longer tended by anyone.

He hadn’t noticed, and accidentally stepped on one.

After that, he was haunted. The ghost said Duan Hong had stepped on its grave and had to provide a full offering as compensation, otherwise it would keep clinging to him.

Duan Hong did as the ghost asked, but yesterday the ghost came back again, saying last time’s offerings were of poor quality, and demanded another. Otherwise, it would continue to pester him.

Duan Hong felt like he was being extorted.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t make another offering, but he was afraid the ghost would cling to him forever, constantly demanding tributes.

Not knowing what to do, he had been researching local temples and shrines the past two days, planning to visit in hopes of finding a reliable master.

Bao Qingshan pounded his chest: “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Duan Hong forced a smile.

Bao Qingshan: “You have to trust me! I’m the guy who guesses multiple-choice answers with over eighty percent accuracy! I’ll go with you next time you make an offering to that ghost!”

Zhan Yan had been listening while also opening his gossip system feed. By now, he had just finished it.

[The wild ghost Quan Liping saw Duan Hong step on an unclaimed grave and decided to extort him for a good meal.]

[Duan Hong provided offerings as requested.]

[But the offerings were stolen by the dog demon Pang Wang.]

[Finding his offerings gone, Quan Liping grew furious and decided to extort again.]

Zhan Yan: …Pfft.

Hearing that Old Bao was willing to accompany him, Duan Hong was very moved.

Zhan Yan: “I’ll go too!”

Since Bao Qingshan was a true cultivator, he’d definitely be able to handle this! Zhan Yan also wanted to see it firsthand—he had never actually witnessed how people dealt with such things.

Besides, he had also brought along the Eight Treasures Vermilion Sand his sister had given him—so he’d be safe!

When Gu Jiancheng heard that Zhan Yan wanted to go, his heart skipped a beat.

Zhan Yan had some unknown extraordinary connections. If he wanted to get involved, it must mean he planned to rely on them—and Gu Jiancheng didn’t know if those connections were safe.

It would be better if Zhan Yan had less exposure to that world. He should handle this instead.

So—

Gu Jiancheng: “I’ll go too.”

Duan Hong was deeply moved.

This was the true spirit of dorm brotherhood!

—The next day, they first went to buy offerings together. Midway, Zhan Yan was once again blocked by the little white cat.

“Meow.”

“You promised me cat food yesterday, remember?”

Zhan Yan looked at him with a complicated expression.

The Wan Yan Ghost King staking him out for cat food. This world was really something else!

He crouched down and tried to negotiate: “Tomorrow, okay? I need to help a classmate with something today.”

The little white cat stared at the food bag he was holding but didn’t move. “Meow.”

“Explain.”

Zhan Yan suddenly had an idea. He tugged Duan Hong, who was carrying even more food, forward.

“This is my roommate. He saw a ghost.”

“That ghost is threatening him to make offerings. If he doesn’t, it will cause trouble.”

“All this food is for that ghost.”

The little white cat circled Duan Hong, sniffing him up and down.

Duan Hong was baffled: “What’s this cat doing?”

Zhan Yan: “Quick! Give it the snacks in your pocket!”

Still confused, Duan Hong pulled out some pastries: “Can cats even eat this?”

The little white cat bit into a cookie, then looked back at Zhan Yan and purred: “Cat food!” Then it bounced into the bushes and left.

Duan Hong was bewildered: “You know this cat?”

“Of course,” Zhan Yan said solemnly, completely making things up. “This cat is really spiritual!”

Duan Hong: “Huh?”

Bao Qingshan: “Huh?”

Gu Jiancheng felt like Zhan Yan was bluffing, but he chose not to expose him.

Zhan Yan: “Haven’t you heard the legend of the fat orange cat at the neighboring Polytechnic University?”

Duan Hong thought for a moment: “I think I’ve heard of it… they say if you pray to that cat before exams, you won’t fail.”

Zhan Yan nodded seriously: “Exactly! This cat is the same!”

Bao Qingshan perked up: “So if I pray to it, I won’t fail either?”

He had skipped quite a few classes this semester. Finals were going to be tough!

Zhan Yan: “Not necessarily. But if you give it offerings, your wishes might come true!”

“Anyway, since you already met a ghost, what’s the harm in praying too?”

Duan Hong agreed. He was now more than ready to believe in the supernatural. And cats didn’t eat much, right? Better to feed the cat than the extorting ghost!

…

The Wan Yan Ghost King swallowed the cookie in one bite, twitching his whiskers in dissatisfaction.

Not as tasty as yesterday’s. But it didn’t matter—this human had promised him cat food!

He had eaten three times with this human before. The first meal of cat food had been pretty good, though a little bland. The second—chicken wings—had been the most delicious! The third was yesterday’s pastries—not as good as chicken wings, but still tasty.

From his rich experience in extortion, following this person promised more good food to come!

The little white cat twitched his nose and sped away like the wind to the outskirts.

There, Quan Liping was sitting on a broken gravestone, shaking his legs and cursing the demon who dared to steal his offerings.

Ha! This time Grandpa was sitting here personally to guard them. Let’s see who dares steal again!

The little white cat’s pupils widened. With one swipe of his paw, he knocked him clean off.

Ha! How dare something of that level eat the same pastries as him!