Chapter Sixty-Seven: Daughter-in-law, you’ve come to see me again?
Although two spicy strips did nothing to alleviate the sadness of losing a loved one, Lin Nian still took them and naturally stuffed them into her mouth.
After all, they were free, so why not?
Successfully getting a freebie from Gu Qiqi was something to brag about.
Seeing that Lin Nian had temporarily stopped crying, Luxianbei let out a quiet sigh of relief and said softly, “That’s better! Based on my personal experience, when someone we care about encounters this kind of thing, crying doesn’t help.”
“Tears are just a form of venting; they don’t solve any problems.”
Lin Nian looked at “Gu Qiqi” and asked, “So, what did you… do?”
Of course, just survive! Luxianbei suddenly thought of this and quickly shook her head, dismissing the thought from her mind.
“My situation doesn’t provide much reference for you! After all, you’ll soon find out who the murderer is, and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get your revenge quickly.”
If it becomes necessary to confront the murderer who killed that old man, and if there’s a ten percent chance of winning… Luxianbei added silently in her heart.
Lin Nian was taken aback and frowned, “What do you mean?”
Luxianbei shrugged, “I’m planning to summon souls later; if you’re interested, you can come and watch.”
“…”
Lin Nian stared at “Gu Qiqi,” silent for a few seconds, then suddenly snapped back to her senses, wide-eyed, and asked in disbelief, “You… are willing to help me find the murderer who killed Grandpa Three? And you’re willing to take revenge?”
Why has Gu Qiqi suddenly become so kind-hearted? Is she the witch rumored to be infamous for her urban legends? Could it be that she wants to…
After a moment of thought, Lin Nian somewhat guessed Gu Qiqi’s intention, biting her lip, “If that’s the case, I’m willing to serve you!”
“During your time in Shizhou City, any information you want to know, I will risk my life to help you investigate!”
She initially wanted to say she would offer herself, after all, “Gu Qiqi” is a witch from a legend; even if she truly offered herself, “Gu Qiqi” couldn’t possibly do anything to her, and she wouldn’t have any substantial loss.
However, when the words reached her lips, she couldn’t bring herself to say them, as if some strange force prevented her from uttering that phrase, and she could only change her mind at the last moment.
“No need to risk your life…” Luxianbei said with a smirk, “I just said that; whether I’ll help you is still uncertain!”
What if I can’t beat the mastermind behind the scenes?
“But before that, I think you better deal with that old man’s body; otherwise, this theater might not be able to continue operating unless it turns to doing underworld work, hosting urban legends.”
“Uh…” Lin Nian opened her mouth, then nodded, “That’s true; let’s take Grandpa Three away first.”
“What do you mean by ‘let’s’? What does it have to do with me?” Luxianbei frowned, “I still need to go to Moon Scraping Wind to gather some materials for summoning! You can handle this yourself.”
Lin Nian, “…”
Gu Qiqi is still as disdainful as ever!
————
Chenyi Inn.
This is a small guesthouse located about five kilometers north of the Nightless Street. Due to its remote location and the distance from the street, it has always been quiet and seldom busy.
At 12:17 AM.
A boy looking around seventeen or eighteen years old, with his hair tied up, wearing a short-sleeved Chinese linen shirt, sat behind the reception counter of Chenyi Inn, idly playing with his phone and feeling drowsy.
The air in the inn seemed to become languid and lazy, almost as if it were responding to his continuous yawns.
“Dingling—!” The wind chimes at the entrance suddenly rang as someone pushed the door open.
The boy stared blankly at his phone, not raising his head, and casually said, “Single room 198, triple room 108…”
“From Dachunyang Palace, not staying.”
Hearing this, the boy’s fatigue vanished, and he put down his phone to look outside, where he saw a girl standing at the door.
She was wearing a souvenir T-shirt from Zhenwu Mountain, with the words “Dao Follows Nature” emblazoned on it. Her long black hair casually draped over her shoulders, with a few strands slightly damp with sweat sticking to her fair cheeks.
The visitor was none other than Huasang.
After leaving the dark and damp alley of the Nightless Street, she hurried here without breaking stride.
This was Dachunyang Palace, or rather, one of the contact points for the Siye Society in Shizhou City.
Although there were still many related matters to handle after bringing the remains of her deceased Big Brother back to Dachunyang Palace, it was too late today. The mountain road from Shizhou City to Zhenwu Mountain was long and mostly deserted at night.
Huasang considered that the person who murdered Big Brother would definitely not want his corpse and belongings returned to Dachunyang Palace, leaving clues for investigation. It was very likely they would ambush her on the way, so she chose to come to the contact point.
Contact points typically had three to five disciples stationed and one elder, as well as defensive solidification spell formulas. Those upstarts would likely not dare to make trouble.
The boy stood behind the reception counter, sizing up Huasang, and noticed the sorrow and faint anger in her eyes.
Then his gaze dropped, and upon noticing what Huasang was holding, he frowned.
In Huasang’s hand was a box tightly wrapped in a black plastic bag, square-shaped, emanating a faint smell of bl**d, looking quite suspicious.
“…”
In silence, the boy stood up, left the reception counter, walked over, and closed the door, then turned to inquire, “You’re from Dachunyang Palace? How do you prove it? And…”
The boy started to speak but pointed at the package in Huasang’s hand, becoming vigilant, “What is that?”
“Proof?” Huasang thought for a moment, looked at the boy, and calmly said, “I didn’t think of coming here when I left; but if you insist on proof…”
After a pause, she reached into her bosom and pulled out a black iron ruler, continuing, “You should recognize this, right?”
Seeing the ruler, the boy was taken aback and exclaimed, “You… are you Sister Huasang?!”
The girl in front of him was completely different from his impression of Huasang.
He naturally recognized the ruler used for sharpening disciples’ hearts at Dachunyang Palace; he had spent a day or two near it, hoping for a stroke of luck. Yet, not only did he fail in sharpening his heart, he didn’t even encounter the rumored residual souls of past sages.
Later, when he heard that Huasang obtained the ruler, he was perplexed for a long time, unable to understand how a particularly lazy disciple like Huasang earned its recognition.
“Mm.” Huasang responded, gently nodding her head.
“So what’s in that package…”
“It’s a head,” Huasang said calmly, “the head of my Big Brother Wu Yutang.”
As she spoke, her eyes became noticeably deeper.
“???” The boy widened his eyes in shock and took a step back, struggling to respond.
A disciple qualified to come to this contact point for training shouldn’t be afraid of a severed head, but hearing that it was Wu Yutang’s head still made his heart tighten.
Wu Yutang, as an A-level spirit ability user, may not have been as dazzling as someone like Fu Xinyi, who bore the title of “genius,” but he was also an outstanding talent among the younger generation of disciples.
The fact that he couldn’t handle it and lost his life in the process showed just how dangerous it was.
Chenyi Inn was just a small contact point, primarily responsible for handling disputes among spirit ability users in Shizhou City to prevent severe incidents.
Could this place really withstand villains capable of killing an A-level spirit ability user?
Tonight, there won’t be a major incident, right? The boy thought anxiously.
Seeing the boy remain silent, Huasang explained, “There was a little accident, and I hurried back to Dachunyang Palace overnight; there might be trouble, so I plan to inform my master and rest for the night.”
She was utterly exhausted, and aside from the few days spent in Huacheng, today she had expended more energy than in the past three months combined.
She even felt a vague sense that she might not be able to hold on any longer.
At such a time, if she encountered an ambush on the way, it was very likely that before they broke her defenses, the spirit patterns within her would run rampant uncontrollably.
“Junior Brother?”
Huasang gently called out, bringing the boy back to his senses. He swallowed hard and spoke up, “Oh, oh! Staying for one night, right? No problem! You can stay in room 306; that room is near the eye of the solidification spell, so it’s relatively safe.”
As he spoke, the boy hurriedly rushed to the reception counter, found the room card labeled 306, and came back, nervously handing it to Huasang with trembling hands.
“Thank you, sorry for the trouble.”
Huasang thanked him, took the room card, and walked upstairs alone.
Watching her leave until her figure disappeared from sight, the boy let out a long breath, just then, a middle-aged man with a goatee walked out from the back courtyard.
“He Zhe, I think I just heard someone come in?”
Hearing this, the boy cupped his hands to the old man, “Yes, Elder, that was Sister Huasang just now.”
“Huasang?” The elder, referred to as Wang Elder, frowned and expressed his displeasure, “What did she come here for?”
Not everyone who knew Huasang’s past chose to show her more care, like her master Qing Xiazi.
In fact, in Dachunyang Palace, at least more than half of the people held a distaste or distant attitude toward Huasang, and this Wang Elder was one of them.
“The situation is like this…”
For two minutes, the boy detailed the events that had transpired.
After listening, Wang Elder pondered for a moment, waved his hand, “Fine, I got it; you continue with your work!”
With that, he quickly walked toward the back courtyard.
————
Moments later.
In a small room beside the back courtyard of Chenyi Inn.
A single bedside lamp is lit, casting dim light in the room.
Wang Elder quietly recited a spell, raised his hand to cast a barrier spell to shield his spirit sense, and approached the bed. He gazed adoringly at a feather duster on the bedside table, his eyes as if lost in infatuation, as though looking at a lover.
After a long time, he pulled back his gaze and muttered to himself, “A person like Huasang would be better off gone! Someone who could turn into an urban legend at any moment, remaining in Dachunyang Palace, what does that mean?”
As he spoke, he took out a metal badge inscribed with complex geometric patterns from his bosom and infused it with spirit energy.
Soon, the badge began to tremble.
A voice that was clearly concealed and devoid of any identifying characteristics rang in his ear.
“Elder Wang? Long time no see; I wonder how your time with your feather duster has been?”
“Humph!” Wang Elder snorted coldly, seemingly displeased with the other’s words, and did not respond immediately.
He had been in Dachunyang Palace for over fifty years without any accomplishments, barely attaining an elder position in recent years.
Although he believed he earned his elder position through his qualifications, recognizing his over fifty years of effort, he also understood that this had much to do with the feather duster.
However, he was unwilling to admit it, and even less so to be reminded of it.
“Angry? Hehe, actually, you really don’t need to get worked up. There’s nothing shameful about this; in my opinion, older people who embrace new ideas should be admired.”
“…” Wang Elder opened his mouth and steered the topic back on track, “Huasang came to the contact point with Wu Yutang’s head; what’s going on here? Didn’t you say Wu Yutang would be disposed of without leaving a trace?”
It was pointless to entangle with that guy over such matters.
“Haha! To be candid, a little accident did occur.” The voice from the badge laughed, “But don’t worry, Huasang won’t bring Wu Yutang’s head back to Dachunyang Palace.”
“What do you plan to do?” Wang Elder asked.
“Hehe, this is where I need you to help with a little task.”
“Me?” Wang Elder frowned, then his gaze turned cold, “Killing her isn’t impossible, but…”
“No, no, no!” The voice from the badge interrupted Wang Elder, bluntly addressing his shortcomings, “You misunderstood, I don’t mean for you to k*ll her; you’re simply no match for her. Even if you resort to an ambush, poison, or dirty tricks, she could easily counterattack.”
“You!” Wang Elder’s face flushed, his chest heaving, and his goat-like beard twitched.
Being compared unfavorably to a disciple lower than him, especially to a slacker like Huasang, was an unabashed humiliation.
“Upset again? You see, there’s really no need for that! Everything I said was the truth; in the entire Dachunyang Palace, apart from the Black Emperor, there are very few who can break through Huasang’s defenses, let alone k*ll her.”
“Moreover, if you k*ll her, the spirit patterns within her will lose control without suppression, and that’s no laughing matter.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Elder’s expression softened slightly, and he felt a sense of satisfaction, almost as though he could be compared to other powerful figures besides the Chief Priest.
Huasang? Hmph! She’s just lucky.
The super-spec spirit patterns, the spirit imprint visualization maps personally taught by the Chief Priest, and the weapons left by past sages…
If someone else had the same opportunities she did, they would attain the same or even greater power!
Thinking this, Wang Elder gravely pressed, “So what do you want me to do?”
“Hmm… You should know about that ruler she always carries with her, right? Since she’s staying at Chenyi Inn, it would be helpful for you to replace it and let her experience the favor of that esteemed being!”
“But…” Wang Elder hesitated.
While getting Huasang to join the Secret Society would indeed help ensure she didn’t disclose what she saw tonight, it was a good idea.
But was the weapon left by past sages that easy to replace?
“Rest assured!” As if sensing Wang Elder’s thoughts, the voice from the badge assured him, “That esteemed being can even replicate and modify the mourning Gray Owl Badge; what’s so difficult about a small ruler?”
“Don’t worry! Someone will bring the new ruler to you later.”
————
Meanwhile.
On the other side, in room 308 of Chenyi Inn.
After informing her master about Big Brother’s situation, Huasang lay flat on the bed, clasping the ruler in her hands, resting it on her chest.
Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was steady and even, as if she were asleep.
In the darkness, her body continued to sink, like plunging into a bay of stagnant water, quiet to the point of suffocation.
And then…
A dry, scorching wind different from before swept across her face, and she felt a warm, rough touch beneath her feet. She was momentarily stunned before opening her eyes, her pupils immediately contracting.
She found herself on a dilapidated rooftop, a rust-stained water tank collapsed on the ground. A gentle breeze stirred the debris below, and beneath the pitch-black night sky, dark red mist swirled in the city, presenting a scene of apocalyptic desolation.
Huasang, “…What is this place? Where’s the town? Where’s Senior Qing Ji?”
As Huasang was pondering, a sudden cackling laughter emerged from behind her.
“Daughter-in-law, you’ve come to see me again? Hehe, try my sword!”
In the next moment, Huasang felt a sharp pain in her back and looked down to see a long sword piercing through her chest.
Huasang, “???”
