Chapter 12: A Thousand Years of Darkness, the Night of the Seven Stars

“Boom! Boom! Boom!!!”

Clearly, it was flames intertwining with flames, yet amidst the obscured chaos, there erupted a series of loud explosions.

That Bai’er didn’t seem to have any real intention of slashing at the flames; after executing this clever strike, she immediately withdrew, darting around like a spirit cat, rescuing several weak women and children who had fallen in the chaos from being trampled.

When she reappeared, her heroic figure was back beside Zeng Zhuang, the Villager, intending to assist him in evacuating the crowd.

“You… Who are you?”

“Are you the Villager here?”

“Uh.”

Although the noble girl didn’t come off as arrogant or condescending, perhaps it was the subtle air of authority cultivated by her years in a high position, Zeng Zhuang subconsciously bowed his hands in a somewhat awkward gesture, a formality he hadn’t shown to Miss Vilyric, repeatedly saying, “I am Zeng Zhuang, the Villager of this area. May I ask what brings you here, young ladies?”

Confirming his identity, the girl nodded.

“It will soon be midnight; it’s not the time for pleasantries. You must immediately guide the villagers to safety and distribute these talismans, one to each person. If any villager acts strangely or tries to harm someone, stick this talisman directly on their forehead. Understood?”

Seeing the noble girl seemingly conjuring a large stack of white talismans from her sleeve and handing them out neatly, Zeng Zhuang glanced back at the still roaring center of the plaza, appearing somewhat hesitant.

“What exactly are you…?”

“Hurry and do it; this is a critical moment.”

The noble girl gave a signal, and Bai’er immediately understood, stepping forward to wave something in front of Zeng Zhuang, who suddenly looked shocked but then respectfully changed his demeanor.

“Understood! I’ll go at once!”

As the Villager turned to rush towards the chaotic crowd, the noble girl and Bai’er could finally focus on the mass engulfed in golden-red flames.

“Midnight is approaching; the celestial phenomenon of the Seven Stars, which occurs once every thousand years, is about to arrive. I never expected this remote mountain village would become the epicenter of darkness, giving rise to a ‘Demonic Flame King.’ If the Yin-Yang Bureau hadn’t foreseen the change here, the consequences would be unimaginable.”

Seven Stars?

Miss Vilyric, who was eagerly watching the spectacle, was taken aback by these words and instinctively looked up at the sky.

At that moment, she noticed that in the starry night sky, which was supposed to be moonless, seven particularly conspicuous stars had appeared, glowing brightly at about one-quarter the size of the moons accompanying the other continent in the midst of March, slowly circling according to some specific pattern.

What was even more amazing, or perhaps eerie, was…

The colors of these seven stars were all different.

They displayed the seven colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, casting a light that, while not as bright as the full moon, still cloaked the earth beneath in an otherworldly veil.

And under this light…

The ghostly green flames trapped within the golden flames erupted!

“Waaaahhhhh!!!!”

A shrill scream, resembling that of a child crying, ripped from the swirling ghostly flames, which had dispelled the golden flames!

For Miss Vilyric, merely finding it noisy, the two mysterious women only frowned slightly, not reacting too violently…

But the villagers, following Zeng Zhuang’s chaotic evacuation orders, immediately covered their ears in pain as if they had heard some eerie ghostly wail. The white talismans just distributed by the Villager began to emit a faint glow, seemingly providing some sort of protective effect.

However, there were still a dozen villagers further away who hadn’t yet received the talismans, suddenly crying out in agony, and inexplicably bursting into flames of that eerie green fire, on the verge of being completely consumed.

“Go!”

At that critical moment, the noble girl shouted softly, suddenly sweeping her large sleeves and casting over a dozen white talismans, sticking them precisely onto the heads of the villagers engulfed in demonic flames, whom Zeng Zhuang hadn’t reached in time to save.

Like a bucket of cold water poured over the flames, the raging ghostly fire shrank and extinguished in an instant, while the surrounding villagers hurriedly carried away their companions who, despite having no external injuries, had fallen into a faint for unknown reasons, and fled from the center of the battlefield.

“Bai’er!”

“Yes!”

The noble girl raised her hand again, this time throwing three different talismans that flew out with a “whoosh,” two of which adhered to the sword held by Bai’er, endowing it with light and flame. The last one landed on the back of the girl’s hand holding the sword.

As if some power burst forth, Bai’er re-engaged the ghostly green flames, fighting fiercely against them.

Hmm… Looks like I don’t need to worry about this side; they seem quite reliable.

Miss Vilyric shifted her gaze away from the ghostly flames to another direction.

While this sudden appearance of fire and the fighting techniques of those two women were interesting, to be honest, they weren’t sufficient to truly astonish the Priestess; rather, she found herself more intrigued by the so-called phenomenon of the Seven Stars in the sky and the mysterious individual attempting to summon ghostly flames at this moment for a live sacrifice.

It was enough to leave this to those two women; now, time to meet him.

Walking along the village path, illuminated beneath the strangely eerie light of the Seven Stars, the White Robed Girl approached the villagers who had just finished finding a place to take shelter, now gathered together and looking somewhat anxious.

Soon, she identified her target.

The girl stepped up behind him, lifted her cloak, and on tiptoe, patted his tall shoulder, making a sound.

“Hey.”

“Ahhh! Ghost!!!”

Zeng Zhuang exclaimed, startling the other villagers to look at him immediately, even catching the attention of the Villager, Zeng Zhuang, who had been pondering something not far off, as he quickly grabbed several talismans and rushed over, rendering the similarly startled Priestess with a wry smile.

“One minute a fairy, the next a ghost… Aren’t you a bit much?”

“Eh… Huh?”

Realizing it was a somewhat familiar voice, Zeng Zhuang quickly turned around to see the petite figure of the Black-haired Girl, revealing genuine innocence and surprise.

“Fairy-sama? Didn’t the Villager say you left our village for some business? What brings you back now…?”

Suddenly, it seemed he realized something and exclaimed!

“Oh! I understand! You, like those two ladies, are here to exorcise the demons in our village, right?!”

Miss Vilyric couldn’t help but facepalm.

“You really have a thick skin; no wonder you catch attention. In a way, you’re not entirely wrong, though.”

Vilyric turned towards the Villager, who had just run over and wore a surprised yet slightly vigilant expression.

“Vily… Uh, Miss Vilyric, what brings you here too…? ”

“Who is Miss Vilyric… Never mind, never mind; don’t blame me for barging in. Your village is rather special; I trust the Villager has finally noticed this, right?”

“Alright, let’s skip the reunion process and get straight to the protagonist; it’s time for them to meet everyone.”

   

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