Irl Console - Volume 1 Chapter 37 Onwards

Kurama stirred from her slumber to the sound of maniacal laughter. It was annoying! So uncouth! A lady needs her beauty sleep, you know?! It was that cute little man-cub… Wait… Cute?? No, humph! Annoying! Yes, that’s it… It was that annoying little man-cub.

It was making weird blue and orange circles in the air stacked one above the other. Then, a weird white oval shaped creature with a red eye and black legs appeared in front of the man-cub. The man-cub then lifted it up and dropped it into the lower circle. It immediately reappeared from the underside of the upper circle and fell through the bottom circle again in a loop getting faster and faster. The thing opened up its body before it started making a strange high-pitched scream and rapid loud popping sounds. There were flashes of light accompanied by the smell of smoke. Then, with a gesture, the man-cub moved the upper circle next to the lower one and the white noisy thing went flying into the sky. It then gestured again and the circles disappeared. After a while the screaming and popping grew louder again as the white thing fell back towards the ground. When it landed there was a loud explosion at which point the crazy man-cub began to laugh maniacally again. Just what did I just witness?? Kurama lay on her resting spot with her paws covering her ears as she waited for the man-cub to calm down.

“Oh! Err… Kurama, you’re awake?”

The man-cub gave her a silly smile with a red face. Who the hell could sleep through that?! Kurama tried her best to communicate her annoyance with a sharp glare.

“Sorry… I kinda got a little carried away with my testing and I couldn’t resist…”

Couldn’t resist what?? Don’t just trail off in the middle of talking! Urgh! This cute – no, annoying man-cub was kinder than her previous master but she could feel mental damage piling up. Another harsh look…

“T-Turrets are cool, okay??”

Kurama muzzle-pawed herself. What is it talking about??

“A-Anyway… Since you’re awake now, how about we get going again?”

The man-cub turned to leave and Kurama had no choice but to follow. Why did she ever decide to go with it?

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The forest on the west face of Mt. Ginyan was dense and dangerous. The hunters who entered it either found fortune or death. These hunters were no mere mortals either, the lowest cultivation of those who entered the area was first grade Martial Champion. Rumor had it that there were beasts on the mountain that were in the grand stage of Soul Completion!

At the base of the mountain the elite disciples of the Seven Sword sect had gathered. Over the last couple of years the previously infrequent beastwaves had suddenly become an almost weekly occurrence. The Seven Sword sect viewed themselves as a force of balance and fought to uphold their righteous values even in the chaos of the Jianghu. Whilst some people entered the Jianghu to slaughter, the Seven Sword sect did so in order to protect the innocent. Their mission this time was to investigate the cause of the rising number of beastwaves as the waves of rampaging beasts were beginning to result in greatly increased mortality rates in the surrounding region.

“Senior Brother Li, everyone has gathered outside. We are awaiting your address.”

“Very good.”

A handsome youth with a lithe and athletic figure rose from his meditation. Underneath his dignified features, in the depths of his eyes, a barely contained excitement pulsed. Today would be Li Yuan’s first commanding role. He had climbed to his current status through arduous training and now, finally, he had the opportunity to render some merits for the sect in return for their kindness. He had been only three years old when his parents died at the hands of some bandits and he was only saved by the intervention of a Seven Sword sect disciple. That disciple was now an elder of the sect and Li Yuan only held great admiration and gratitude for her. She treated him like her younger brother and worked hard to gain training resources for him. He simply could never pay back the debt he owed her but he could, at least, demonstrate to the sect that her hard work had not been in vain. He would lead his expedition to cut through the beasts and find out who or what was provoking the maddened beasts of the mountain to rampage!

Li Yuan stepped out of his tent and was greeted by his team. These were his friends and, well, as close to family as an orphan could get. They had trained and fought together for the last eight years with a natural circle of friendly rivalry that allowed them to push each other to greater heights of cultivation. San Ping, Lu Ming, Qian Jun Hui, Hei Fa Lan, Jin Dandan, and Shu Mei ‘er. Together with Li Yuan, they were known as the Seven Stars of Sword Peak. Honestly, everyone except Jin Dandan found the name to be extremely embarrassing!

“Alright! Everyone, I know we’ve all been waiting for this. I received a letter from elder Wuzi earlier. We are cleared to embark on our mission! You all know the plan. As far as I am concerned it is simple. We push towards the Ginyan peak and cut down any beast that blocks our way. We go as far as we can safely handle. If we start to struggle, don’t be afraid to call it out. Our survival is more important than a successful investigation! We can try again as many times as we like if we’re still alive but there’s no coming back from death!”

Li Yuan smiled and looked at the faces of his companions who beamed back at him.

“Let’s do this!”

“”””””””Hou!””””””””

With such a high energy response from his team, it didn’t seem right for Li Yuan to just start walking so he decided to dash off into the trees whilst his team followed. He really regretted that decision but it would seem a little foolish to slow down now… Full speed ahead to victory!

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Ma Sa had finally gotten Kurama to take a bath in the river with him later after he had completed his portal training. He had adjusted his Qi constructs to make them look like the iconic blue and orange portals he knew but that was a purely superfluous cosmetic effect. Over the last few weeks of travel towards Mt. Ginyan he had truly started to master the Divine Gate Transposition Art. It actually had great synergy with his system map function so he could have reached Mt. Ginyan in an instant if he wanted to. Poor Kurama had suffered during his obsession with portal practice and he would have to make it up to her later. There were only so many times he could set up invisible portals and watch her walk into tree trunks and rivers before she stopped finding it funny…

Kurama had fleshed out a lot since they had started their travels and her tails had almost fully grown back. She certainly looked more imposing and majestic than before. She often acted grumpy with Ma Sa but she also was willing to let him get closer and seemed to especially like it when he petted her ears. Ever since she had regained her regal presence they hadn’t encountered a single demonic beast on their journey which was a little boring. Ma Sa decided it was about time they got on to the next phase of their adventure so he consulted his map and built his Qi constructs. The pair walked through the gate and arrived a few hundred meters west of the Ye clan’s encampment. It was time for him to go visit his uncle Ye Zhu!

A short walk later, a calm Ma Sa and somewhat nervous Kurama were being questioned with suspicion at arrow point. Well, it was somewhat to be expected in the Jianghu… Ma Sa reached up and soothed Kurama by petting her ears.

“Greetings. I am Ma Sa. My Bear-uncle, eh, no, er… Uncle Ye Zhu should be aware that I was going to drop by to visit?”

“”””””Pffft!-“”””””

“Brat! Who the hell is your Bear-uncle!? Huh?!”

Ye Zhu, who had appeared like a gust of wind on top of the walls, glared at the snickering guardsmen.

“Hmm… And who’s this fox you have with you?”

“Ah, this is Kurama. I don’t think you’re her type though…”

“”””””Pfffffftt!-“””””””

“…”

Ye Zhu once again silenced the guards with an icy glare.

“It’s not that you’re not handsome in your own way… It’s just foxes and bears shouldn’t-”

“Alright dammit! Shut it ya shitty brat! Hah~ Okay, how ’bout ya come in for some tea and tell me how ya’ve been since I last saw ya? Ya look like ya’ve gotten stronger haha!”

He opened the gate and welcomed Ma Sa and Kurama inside before leading them to his quarters, trying to ignore the unwelcome sounds in the distance behind him.

“”””””Bahahaha!- A fox and a bear shouldn’t!- hahahahaha!!!””””””

‘Grrrrr… Those guys are gonna pay in training tomorrow!’

Ye Zhu gritted his teeth while he walked.