Chapter 39: The Illusory Magic of Nothingness

Su Liyue discreetly observed Mu Wanqing’s sparkling eyes.

‘Given this girl’s aesthetic… she wouldn’t possibly be into the Super Saiyan type, all rippling with muscles, would she?’

Subconsciously, she pictured Ye Xingchen, in his male form, transforming into a brawny muscleman: bronze skin taut with bulging veins, hair dyed a dazzling gold, the ground trembling with every step he took.

“My little Xingxing~” The imagined muscular version of Ye Xingchen suddenly turned, flashing a greasy wink.

“Hiss!!” Su Liyue shivered violently; this wasn’t a Super Saiyan at all, but rather King Kong incarnate! She hastily purged the unsightly image from her mind.

“Yueyue? Why are you suddenly trembling?”

“N-nothing!” Su Liyue waved her hands frantically, her peripheral vision catching a glimpse of Ye Xingchen’s perfectly standard cultivation physique, and quickly changed the subject.

“I mean… uh… the weather is truly lovely today!”

Qizai suddenly conjured a muscular action figure, its sword tassel deliberately dyed gold.

[If Mistress wishes to transform her image…]

“Snap!”

Su Liyue swatted the action figure away.

“Unnecessary!”

She had already found Mu Wanqing’s wild imagination sometimes enough to leave her speechless;

Now with Qizai added to the mix, the two were practically “dual swords united” (TL Note: A Chinese idiom referring to two individuals combining their strengths, often in a humorous or formidable way), their destructive power doubled.

“Oh, right, Yueyue, while we have a moment, why don’t you tell me about the Magic of Nothingness?” Mu Wanqing blinked, her face alight with curiosity.

“Er… hadn’t I explained it before?”

“No, you didn’t! You only said I wasn’t suited to learn it; you never clearly explained what the Magic of Nothingness actually is. Wouldn’t it be incredibly dangerous if I encountered it someday without understanding it?”

“Magic of Nothingness? I’ve never heard of it before. Is it Mistress’s new ability?” Qizai asked, full of curiosity.

Even Jiuwu, the phoenix, flew over, intrigued.

Su Liyue gazed at the three pairs of eyes before her, brimming with eagerness to learn—Mu Wanqing’s innocent charm, Qizai’s lively cunning, and Jiuwu’s majestic curiosity—and suddenly felt a sense of helplessness, as if facing an alliance of curious toddlers.

“Actually…” She carefully chose her words. “The Magic of Nothingness is literally ‘nothing’.”

“Nothing?!” Three voices exclaimed in unison.

“Precisely, it’s the absence of everything.” Su Liyue gestured for Ye Xingchen to extend his hand.

“You see, Xingchen truly has no elemental affinity, does he?”

Ye Xingchen cooperatively spread his palm, which was completely empty. Jiuwu immediately leaned in for a closer look.

“Strange! There isn’t even the most basic elemental fluctuation!”

“Yueyue… your explanation is as good as no explanation at all! Could it be that a zero-attribute triggered some kind of hidden mechanism?” Mu Wanqing inquired.

‘How was she supposed to explain this now…’

Su Liyue pondered inwardly.

‘She couldn’t possibly say that this was merely a spatial power illusion, inspired by the Earth’s “Origami Warriors” comic, could she?’

“Cough, cough, actually… this is a special attribute granted by the familiar contract.”

In a stroke of quick thinking, she subtly had Ye Xingchen, in his male form, conjure a wisp of spatial power with his fingers.

“Transcending the three realms, outside the traditional five-pointed star system…”

“What exactly is it then?” Three pairs of eyes lit up simultaneously.

“Simply put…” A faint glow suddenly appeared on Su Liyue’s fingertip, and a falling leaf nearby vanished without a sound.

“It can ‘eliminate’ other magic. Do you recall Xiao Qicai’s fire dragon?”

Mu Wanqing’s eyes widened abruptly, her pupils contracting slightly.

“So that giant dragon that suddenly disappeared back then…”

“Precisely.” Su Liyue’s lips curved into a mysterious smile. She then struck an exaggeratedly handsome pose, her sleeves fluttering as if caught by an unseen breeze.

“This is the true essence of the ‘Magic of Nothingness’,” she enunciated slowly, drawing out her words.

“To turn existence into nothingness, and nothingness into existence! If one can comprehend the principles of Yin and Yang, heaven and earth shall lie within their grasp!”

“Although I don’t understand it at all, it sounds incredibly powerful!” Mu Wanqing felt a surge of excitement from the sheer grandeur of the statement. Jiuwu and Qizai simultaneously tilted their heads, their eyes filled with confusion.

“Do you know about Origami Warriors?” Su Liyue suddenly tore a sheet of paper from a notebook. “Watch closely.”

Her fingers moved deftly, quickly folding an origami crane.

The moment the crane took shape, she swiftly unfolded it, transforming it back into a blank sheet of paper.

“This is the essence of the ‘Magic of Nothingness’.” Su Liyue waved the blank paper in her hand. “To turn existing magic into non-existence.”

Qizai suddenly interjected, “Like how Mistress made Yaochi Saintess’s sword qi suddenly vanish back then?!”

“Precisely!” Ye Xingchen interjected at the opportune moment, lightly tapping his finger, and Qizai’s sword aura instantly disappeared without a trace. “This is ‘turning existence into nothingness’.”

Mu Wanqing mused, “What about ‘turning nothingness into existence’?”

Su Liyue smiled mysteriously, then suddenly tossed the blank paper into the air. As it fell, the paper transformed into a real white dove, flapping its wings as it flew away.

“Wow!” Mu Wanqing and Jiuwu exclaimed simultaneously.

“Actually, it’s all a trick of illusion,” Su Liyue confessed in a whisper.

“The true ‘Magic of Nothingness’ is achieved through spatial transference. By moving an opponent’s magic to another space, it appears as if it has vanished.”

Qizai suddenly trembled with excitement. “Isn’t that Mistress’s Law of Space?!”

“Shh—” Ye Xingchen and Su Liyue simultaneously raised a finger to their lips.

Mu Wanqing’s eyes, however, suddenly lit up.

“I understand now! It’s like pouring water into another invisible cup! So, Yueyue, when you said ‘nothing at all’ before, you actually meant turning ‘something’ into ‘invisibility’!”

Su Liyue nodded in relief. “Qingqing, you finally…”

“But!” Mu Wanqing suddenly raised her voice, cutting her off, a glint of cunning flashing in her eyes. “What does this have to do with Ye Xingchen’s special attribute? Could it be that… you two share the same ‘invisible magic cup’?”

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…” Ye Xingchen coughed awkwardly.

‘Why did this inexplicable metaphor sound so suggestive?’

‘If he were to truly explain, the so-called “Magic of Nothingness” was nothing more than Ye Xingchen’s spatial power at play.’

‘Su Liyue was simply leveraging his abilities to put on a dazzling illusion.’

Ye Xingchen took a deep breath, forcing himself to speak calmly.

“Actually… Su Liyue is trying to say that all things in the world follow the principle of Yin and Yang co-existence.” He feigned profundity, holding up a single finger.

“Behind what is seen, there must be what is unseen; ‘existence’ arises from ‘nothingness’, and ‘nothingness’ also arises from ‘existence’. It’s like the cycle of life, ever recurring…”

“So, the ‘Magic of Nothingness’ is essentially… uh…” His voice trailed off. “It’s a state that is rarely encountered and cannot be sought; you’ll understand it naturally once you’ve achieved enlightenment…”

He couldn’t bluff any further. Ye Xingchen simultaneously wailed inwardly.

‘After all this circling, wasn’t he just dressing up spatial power in a new disguise?’