Honkai Impact: My VR Harem is Real — Chapter 199

Chapter 199: Mount Taixu, Fuyun Temple

“Mother!” The little girl’s voice tore through the heavy silence, as agonizing and desperate as a cuckoo weeping blood.

The bedridden woman’s hand slipped, hanging limply over the edge of the mattress. Rovel’s eyes narrowed. He could clearly see the grotesque, pulsing purple patterns creeping across the woman’s pallid skin.

‘Honkai infection,’he realized with a sinking heart.’So the illness this girl’s mother suffered from was Honkai disease all along.’

Jingwei’s gaze shifted to the weeping child. Her eyes were as calm and fathomless as an ancient, stagnant well. There was no trace of sympathy in her expression—only a chilling, absolute indifference. Slowly, the immortal turned her attention toward Rovel, catching him in the middle of sizing her up.

“Is this your mother?” Jingwei asked, her voice devoid of inflection.

“Hers,” Rovel replied, shaking his head. “I just saved the kid from outside. I brought some herbs along, hoping we could do something for her mother.”

Watching the tiny girl sobbing uncontrollably by the bedside, a heavy pang of sympathy struck Rovel’s chest. She couldn’t have been more than two or three years old. To lose her only family in such a brutal world… how was she supposed to survive now?

Suddenly, the girl whipped her head around. “It’s you! You’re the one who killed my mother!” she screamed, her tear-filled eyes burning with a venomous, unadulterated hatred as she glared at Jingwei.

“She had fallen to Mara,” Jingwei stated coldly, her tone utterly detached. “There is no medicine in this world that could have cured her.”

“I don’t know anything about falling to Mara!” The little girl shook her head violently, her tiny fists trembling. “I only know that you killed her!”

Jingwei’s icy gaze bore into the child, carefully sizing her up. Ignoring the accusation entirely, she asked, “How long has your mother been ill?”

“It has been… over a year,” the little girl stammered, momentarily startled into submission by the sheer, freezing pressure of those eyes.

Without warning, Jingwei stepped forward and hoisted the girl up by the collar. She swiftly rolled up the child’s sleeves, inspecting her small arms and body. Her eyes flickered with a faint trace of calculation. There were absolutely no signs of Honkai erosion on the girl’s skin. To live in such close proximity to a heavily infected patient for over a year meant her natural Honkai resistance was exceptionally high., for a toddler to speak so clearly and possess such sharp cognitive awareness… she was an incredibly rare talent.

Jingwei then turned her piercing gaze back to Rovel. His eyes were clear, sharp, and alert. It was no small feat for an ordinary person to willingly risk their life to save a stranger during a Honkai Beast attack. More, the ambient Honkai radiation in this room was dangerously high due to the mother’s advanced infection, yet Rovel stood there completely unaffected, breathing easily. Such high natural resistance was virtually unheard of among males.

“You two…” Jingwei finally spoke, setting the trembling girl back down on her feet. “From now on, you will follow me.”

The little girl hesitated. She bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, refusing to voice an agreement but lacking the power to refuse. Instead of answering, she silently turned around, picked up a small, rusted hand-shovel from the corner of the room, and walked out to the courtyard to begin digging into the hard earth.

“Let me help you,” Rovel said softly, immediately understanding her silent intention.

“Mm… thank you,” the little girl whispered, looking up at him with deep gratitude in her tear-stained eyes.

As Rovel drove his hands into the dirt to help excavate the grave, his mind began to race with the implications of what he had just witnessed.

‘This girl… she has to be Su Mei, right?’

The very same Su Mei who would eventually become the mastermind behind the assassination of her own master, Jingwei. But the lore had always been murky regarding her true motivations. At least in the Seven Swords storyline he remembered, her reason for orchestrating Jingwei’s death was far more complex than simply avenging her mother. There were layers of deeper, darker meaning involved.

Su Mei was an incredibly complex and dangerous character. Rovel wasn’t entirely sure what exact sequence of events would eventually push her over the edge to commit master-slaying. A chilling thought crossed his mind.

‘Was my saving her today… a deliberate arrangement by the System?’

The two of them worked in heavy silence for quite some time, but given their lack of proper tools, they only managed to carve out a modest, shallow pit.

“Master Jingwei, the monsters in the city have been completely dealt with…” A new voice broke the quiet. Lin Chaoyu stepped into the courtyard, her sword still dripping with dark blood, before her eyes widened at the grim scene. “This is…?”

“She had fallen to Mara,” Jingwei replied faintly, offering no further explanation or comfort.

“I see… so that’s how it is,” Lin Chaoyu murmured, a brief flash of sorrow softening her disciplined features.

Seeing Rovel and the tiny girl struggling with the hard soil, Lin Chaoyu immediately sheathed her sword and stepped forward to assist. With the older disciple’s martial strength added to the effort, a grave large enough to properly accommodate Su Mei’s mother was swiftly completed.

Together, they carefully wrapped the woman’s frail, corrupted body and lowered her into the earth. They worked in solemn silence, covering her with soil bit by bit until a small mound was formed. Large, heavy tears continuously spilled from Su Mei’s eyes, silently soaking into the fresh dirt of her mother’s final resting place.

“Chaoyu, take them. We are leaving,” Jingwei commanded, flicking her long sleeves as she turned her back on the grave.

“Eh?” Lin Chaoyu blinked, clearly caught off guard. She had honestly assumed her master was only waiting here so they could help the poor child bury her mother before moving on. She hadn’t expected Jingwei to take both of these strangers along.

“The two of them are very special,” Jingwei offered as her sole explanation.

To Lin Chaoyu, that explanation was as good as none at all. Special? Special in what way exactly? But knowing her master’s temperament, she swallowed her questions and simply bowed her head in obedience.

“Let’s go. I will take you to Mount Taixu,” Lin Chaoyu said gently, reaching out to take Rovel and Su Mei by the hand.

Su Mei cast one final, lingering look at the fresh mound of earth. Then, without shedding another tear, she gave a firm nod. She knew it was physically impossible for her to survive in this ruined, monster-infested city alone. Even if her only remaining purpose was vengeance, she first needed to survive.

Seeing the two fall into step behind her disciple, Jingwei remained silent. She led the small group away from the ruined settlement and down a deserted, overgrown mountain path.

Stopping in a clearing, Jingwei calmly formed a sword seal with her fingers. The air hummed with raw power as a massive, ethereal broadsword condensed entirely out of brilliant sword qi materialized directly beneath their feet. With a sharp rush of wind, the giant sword soared into the sky, carrying the four of them high above the clouds.

Startled by the sudden loss of gravity, Su Mei gasped and subconsciously squeezed Lin Chaoyu’s hand with all her might.

“Don’t worry, it’s very safe up here,” Lin Chaoyu comforted her with a warm, reassuring smile.

In stark contrast, Rovel wasn’t afraid in the slightest. He stood near the edge of the qi-blade, peering down at the shrinking landscape with wide, curious eyes.

‘Sword flight… this is peak Xianxia romance right here,’he thought, his gamer soul practically vibrating with excitement.’I want to learn this! I definitely need to learn this!’

The flight was swift. Before long, the giant sword descended smoothly, dropping them off at the misty base of a towering, majestic peak. Rovel and Su Mei followed closely behind Lin Chaoyu and Jingwei as they began the long trek up the stone steps of the mountain.

“Chaoyu, get them settled into their quarters,” Jingwei instructed faintly without looking back. “Once they are rested, begin teaching them the Sword Heart Mantra.”

“Isn’t the little girl still far too young for that?” Lin Chaoyu asked, her eyes widening in surprise. Rovel was one thing—he was old enough to comprehend martial arts. But Su Mei looked barely two or three years old. Was she seriously expected to start cultivating the deep Sword Heart Mantra at this age?

“She can speak clearly and is already literate. She is very special,” Jingwei repeated her earlier, cryptic assessment.

Lin Chaoyu was left completely speechless for a moment. Realizing there was no arguing with her master, she simply sighed and nodded her agreement.

The four of them finally crested the summit of Mount Taixu. Breaking through the sea of clouds, an ancient, serene Taoist temple gradually came into view.

Carved into the weathered wooden plaque above the main gates were the characters for its name: Fuyun Temple.