Chapter 323 - 285: Shui Yumo’s Answer

Chapter 323: Chapter 285: Shui Yumo’s Answer

"Make the Four Gods bow to you."

"Bow to me? The Four Gods?" Shire’s eyes widened as he stared at the writing on the animal hide. He was completely stunned. "No, Brother Mo, this is taking things a bit too far. I... I’m just a goblin."

He had originally thought Shui Yumo’s answer might be to find the Third Prince, beat him to a pulp, then shove his swollen face into a toilet until he begged for mercy and coughed up the name of the Dark Mage who had cast the Magic. Then, Shire would just have to find that Mage and find a way to kill him. Or maybe Shui Yumo would just give him a location, and he’d only need to go there and kill the guy.

But this answer was completely beyond his expectations. It made him feel like Ben Bo’erba being told, "Go and take out Tang Monk and his disciples." And what’s more, Tang Monk’s group had four members, and there were also Four Gods.

’There must be some mistake,’ he thought. He examined the animal hide from every angle, and even tried to smudge the ink. But the Shui Yumo was like a pattern that had grown into the hide itself; it wouldn’t rub off no matter how hard he tried.

"Wrong, let’s try again." Shire dipped the quill in the ink once more and tried to write on a different part of the hide, but unfortunately, the ink wouldn’t take.

"What’s wrong?" Pazani took a sip of hot tea and looked up at the anxious goblin.

"Can’t I write on this thing again?" Shire asked, pointing at the animal hide.

"Er, you can only write one phrase per hide. Once you achieve your goal, the Shui Yumo will disappear automatically. Only then can you write a new phrase," Pazani explained, nodding as he held his cup.

"Where can I find more hides like this one?" Shire asked at once.

"You don’t have to use the hide of this particular Sea Beast. Any strong, durable leather will work. Regular paper can’t withstand the Magic power of Shui Yumo after just a few uses."

Hearing this, Shire immediately leaped off his chair and scurried over to several large chests in the corner. He began rummaging through them, making a great CLATTERING and CLANGING noise, and soon "dug out" an animal hide from one of them.

"Hide of a Cyan-Eyed Dragon Snake. This should work." Shire returned to the table, excitedly clutching the small piece of hide. It was a scrap left over from when he was preparing materials for Rune Speech, and now it was perfect for this.

However, just as Shire dipped the quill into the Shui Yumo, he froze. He stood there thinking, motionless for a long moment.

"What’s the matter with you?" Pazani reached out, splaying his five fingers so that the webbing between them stretched taut. He waved his hand in front of Shire’s face, trying to gauge his condition.

"I’m fine," Shire said calmly, glancing at Pazani’s large, frog-like hand. "I was just thinking about something."

Then, he lifted the quill and wrote on the hide: "How can I lift the Transformation Curse?"

The ink writhed and shifted like little snakes, quickly forming a new phrase: "Make the Four Gods bow to you."

SLAM! Shire slammed the animal hide down hard on the table. The sound was so sudden it even made the Naga Prince across from him jump. ’What’s with him? He’s more worked up than I was when I saw my own coming-of-age trial,’ Pazani thought.

"This is such bullshit," Shire said bitterly. "I rephrased the question, and you still gave me the same answer. What is this, are you combining like terms?"

"No need to get so worked up," Pazani said, trying to console him. "Shui Yumo doesn’t give answers that are *too* strange. In any case, you just have to do what it says."

"*Too* strange?" Shire shot him a look. "You mean completely nuts, right? What am I supposed to do with an answer like this? Go to the churches of the Four Great Gods in Plantagenet City and smash the statues of the Four Gods? Or travel the continent hunting down every Four Gods Church and burning them to the ground?"

"I’m not part of the Yihe Tuan," he sighed, slumping dejectedly against the back of his chair.

Shire couldn’t understand it. He just wanted to turn back into a human. Sure, an Advanced Transformation Curse was difficult to deal with, but it shouldn’t be on *this* level, right?

After thinking for nearly half a minute, he once again leaped off his chair, pulled a slightly smaller piece of hide from the chest, and returned to the table. He grabbed the quill, dipped it in ink, and wrote on the new hide: "How do I make the Four Gods bow to me?"

The Shui Yumo quickly gave its answer: "Kill the Creator God."

"Hahaha," Shire burst out laughing, though it was a laugh of pure exasperation. "There’s no end to this, is there? Messing with a goblin is just so much fun, right? I just want my old body back, not to become a dead body!"

He snatched up the animal hide and, thoroughly annoyed, whipped it back and forth. But the Shui Yumo ink remained completely unaffected. The four words "Kill the Creator God" were still printed on it, clear as day.

Finally, Shire threw the hide down on the table in defeat.

"Are you... going to try again?" Pazani asked cautiously from across the table. He saw that the goblin had already used three pieces of hide and still wore an expression that said he was ready to declare war on the heavens themselves.

Shire glared angrily at the ceiling for a few seconds before forcing out a few words. "Forget it. I’m running out of hides, and I doubt I’ll get anything different if I keep asking."

"What in the world did you write?" Pazani put down his teacup and leaned forward, trying to see what the goblin had written on the hides.

But Shire immediately gathered up the hides on the table. "I was just asking Shui Yumo how to make sure you fail your coming-of-age trial."

Hearing Shire’s snappish reply, Pazani shrank back. He awkwardly picked up his teacup again, a look on his face that said, ’This has nothing to do with me, I’m just an innocent bystander,’ and silently continued to drink his hot tea.