Chapter 11
I avoided Mo Qing’s eyes for a while, and the silence in the side hall gradually calmed me down. The more I thought about it, the more it did not feel right.
Why did I have to hide?
I, Lu Zhao Yao, lived in such an unbridled way for so many years and had not yet seen a real ghost. Although there are many people in the world who claimed that they had seen ghosts, but they could never produce any evidence. These hard to prove things had always been part of legends. He, Mo Qing, kept staring at me like that because in the daytime, I am one way and in the nighttime, I am another way. So he was just suspicious. As long as I did not admit that I am Lu Zhao Yao, could he really ferret me out?
I revived my morale and planned to verbally cross swords with Mo Qing again for a few rounds. But when I turned my head, I saw that Mo Qing had already stood up. His back faced me, his voice flat and unbroken:
“Tomorrow, you will go to Cang Shu Pavilion in Qian Ren Cliff to find the book.”
After he said this, his figure looked like it was blown away by the wind, and just like that, he left.
My entire morale was thoroughly wiped away. Obviously I got his permission, but it seemed like in this verbal match, my heart felt … Like I lost.
I was a little upset. I went back to Xi Yue Peak and was planning to bully Zhi Yan to vent my anger. In the end, I spent half the day in our room looking for her soul but could not find her anywhere.
It was late at night and I did not know where she went. I left our room and unsuccessfully searched for her around Xi Yue Peak. Immediately I caught a demon cultivator that was passing by. I opened my mouth to ask if he had seen Zhi Yan. Then I remembered that these people could not see her soul, I immediately changed the topic: “The wind is cool, the moon is bright, and the night is perfect. Do you want to burn some ghost money to comfort a lonely soul?”
The demon cultivator’s face dripped with sweat, but he did not dare to offend me. He shuddered and asked: “Burn… Burn for whom?”
I smiled: “Lu Qiong.”
The demon cultivator’s complexion immediately changed and promptly broke free of my hand. He looked around nervously, completely ignored me, and frantically ran away.
What was this, you guys could not burn some ghost money for your sect founder and you became scared like this? I turned around to glare at Wu E Hall high up on the mountain’s peak. I squinted and pondered, well good for Mo Qing. After you snatched my position, you brainwashed the subordinates that was a pretty good move.
I returned to my room, quietly meditated, I reflected about my current chaotic life, how should I deal with it and find a way out. And Zhi Yan did not come back all night, until the morning sun appeared; I was pushed out of her body.
It was true that before I was unfamiliar with it, but now I got used to it. This time, I calmly and immediately floated to one side with my arms crossed and watched Zhi Yan’s soul returned. Unlike the two previous times, she did not appear the same, first she would be confused and then she would panic, but instead…
She immediately panicked to her feet.
“I have to go save him!” She suddenly stood up from the bed and wanted to run outside.
I furrowed my eyebrow and shouted: “Stop.”
Zhi Yan came to a hard stop, turned her head, saw me, and urgently said: “Cang Ling is imprisoned in the dungeon. Your Wan Lu Sect’s dungeon can suck other people’s vitality. Why did you not tell me earlier? ”
I recalled my memories: “I didn’t make that rule, maybe the demon cultivators below acted on their own.” Anyways, the dungeon was a place where captured enemies are imprisoned. Moreover, my Wan Lu Sect had never treated enemies benevolently. Regarding the demon cultivators who wanted to practice their skill, the fastest and most convenient method that everyone knew was to snatch other people’s cultivated power. Then they used other people’s vitality to practice their skill.
Those charged in guarding the entrance and dungeon have weak cultivated power. They could not defeat the enemies outside, so of course, they could not ignore those who were locked away. As a result, inside the dungeon they prepared the spell to absorb other people’s vitality, which was also normal to do.
After careful calculation, Liu Cang Ling was imprisoned for a month or so. His vitality had been absorbed for so long and he still was not dead, that was not an easy feat.
Zhi Yan clenched her teeth and her eyes turned red: “He is going to die. I will quickly cause his death…” She stared at me, “Why did you send him to the dungeon?”
Blamed me?
“Cheh, these little sweethearts…!” I said scornfully, “When he wanted to take you away, you vehemently refused. Now he is about to die. In this lifetime, there will be no one who will forcefully take you away again, and you still vehemently refused. So whatever you do, you are already unwilling? So hard to serve. ”
Zhi Yan was still angry and gritted her teeth: “Is that the same? I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I need to save him! ”
“Stop!” I scolded her, “Do you know how to save someone that is imprisoned in the dungeon?”
After I scolded Zhi Yan, this time she calmed down a little. She was silent for a moment, then bowed her head and stepped back two steps before me, she sniffled and asked: “Save how?”
I floated onto the bed: “Stand up straight, wipe away your tears, and then admit two mistakes to me.”
“…” I watched Zhi Yan’s appearance of clenched teeth and her grievances, suddenly I felt the irritation that Mo Qing caused last night dissipated and my mood brightened. Zhi Yan said: “I was wrong… I shouldn’t blame you.”
I nodded: “Yes, anything else?”
“Please… Give me pointers.”
I was extremely pleased, sat cross-legged on the bed: “How did you find the dungeon?”
“After you left yesterday, I tried to float three meters high like you said before and I realized it was true. Then I wanted to try to enter the ground to see its depth. I kept going down… And found the dungeon.”
This time, you completely penetrated Xi Yue Peak.
I lamented that when this girl was persistent, she really could shock someone. Even at night, she entered the ground, used the soul’s maximum floating speed that was similar to a person walking, and floated down into the ground for so long. It really must had been difficult on her.
“Well, if you say it like that, the dungeon that Liu Cang Ling is imprisoned in must be located right below this Xi Yue Peak.” I stroked my chin and contemplated, “Xi Yue Peak is a place of low-level demon cultivators. Even the prison guards are weak. But even so, with your strength, you want to charge in and save him, it is simply impossible. ”
“What about you?” Zhi Yan asked me, “Can you use my body, get in, and save him?”
I glanced at her: “Yes, but we can’t go back to Chen Ji Mountain anymore. The whole plan will be ruin.” The corner of Zhi Yan’s mouth opened, I immediately interrupted her words, “I know, you are willing, but I am not.” Just to save Liu Cang Ling, I would have to leave Chen Ji Mountain and reduce my chances of killing Mo Qing. I could not do that.
“So, there is only one way left now, that is, you must first use your position as the Sect Leader’s disciple, go get some spirit pills and let Liu Cang Ling take them to help retain his life. Then find a way to bribe or intimidate the guards. Say that you want to absorb his vitality alone, so that they stop their spell formation. Wait for Liu Cang Ling’s magic power to recover, and then you create a chance for him to escape on his own.”
After she listened to my words, Zhi Yan’s eyes immediately lit up: “Lu…” At this moment, she probably remembered that I told her, she needed to be careful when talking. So, she did not finish saying my name instead she strongly nodded: “You are a good person!”
I waved my hand at her to quickly go implement the plan.
By twilight, Zhi Yan finally returned. She was delighted to tell me that everything was done. Being the Sect Leader’s disciple was really useful.
That was true, a place like Xi Yue Peak, how many things were there that could not be solve by being the Sect Leader’s disciple. I told Zhi Yan: “Today, I gave you a break, especially allowing you to waste time by saving someone. Starting tomorrow, you will work hard to burn ghost money for me. Also think of ways for other people to burn for me, too.”
Zhi Yan was surprised: “Still burn? Yesterday, I burned so much and it was still not enough? ”
I recounted the shameless rules of the store in the netherworld for her to hear. Zhi Yan stopped listening, opened her eyes wide, and asked me: “As such, you can still receive one hundred coins. They must also be releasing a lot of water by being lenient?”
“Do you believe that tonight I will release water into the dungeon? Guarantee to drown that person.”
Zhi Yan sincerely bowed her head to admit her mistake.
I looked outside at the sky, saw the sun had sunk, impolitely rushed into Zhi Yan’s body, and pushed her soul out. After I took over her body, I kneaded my fist and said: “When you have free time, you must practice to increase your cultivation. Last night, your body was almost sacrificed.”
Zhi Yan frantically asked: “What happened? Sure enough, shouldn’t go and seduce Li Chen Lan, right? Did he hit you?”
“I encountered the North Mountain Lord.” I faintly replied. I heard Zhi Yan taking deep breaths beside me, then I slowly added, “Li Chen Lan saved me, no, he saved this body.”
Zhi Yen was silent for a moment and said: “I feel… That Li Chen Lan is also a good person.”
I smiled coldly: “Ah, everyone is a good person in your eyes?”
“In fact, during the time when you were no longer in the world, both the celestial and demonic sects changed a lot. Even though Wan Lu Sect’s reputation in the celestial sect was always bad, however, on the way here, I heard the villagers in Shun An Town said that Wan Lu Sect was no longer the same as before. The murderous spell before the mountain was removed and the disciples no longer went down the mountain to harass the people. Every year, when natural disasters occur, they give out porridge to save the people in distress… ”
The more Zhi Yen spoke, the more tightly my fist tightened. Very good, Mo Qing, you have indeed turned my Wan Lu Sect into a shrine.
And you gave porridge to help the people… Even the government did not do as beautifully as you. Did you wanted to become a Buddha! You could directly blast your body, take your flesh, and go give blessings to the people!
“Rumor has it that the demon cultivators who bullied me were punished to the foot of the mountain to farm. They must help the villagers grow food. I feel this punishment is much better than the previous harsh punishment…”
“Better where?” I sullenly refuted her, “You said Li Chen Lan punished them because they bullied you?” I coldly laughed, “Too naive, actually they wanted to deceive their superiors. Li Chen Lan discovered it, so they were punished. Li Chen Lan is too soft and lenient; keeping these people will sooner or later cause a disaster. ”
Zhi Yan was stunned by my appearance.
Of course, since after I died and became a ghost, my murderous and violent aura was not as heavy as when I was alive. My mind was also not as sharp as before but now I could talk freely with Zhi Yan like this. However, Wan Lu Sect by nature is not a calm and tranquil place like her naked eyes had seen in the past few days.
I said: “Do you know how these people got here?” I glanced outside at the demon cultivators, “Some of them are either chased by the enemy or besieged by the celestial sect. They could not go and could not retreat. In the end, they relied on my Wan Lu Sect. The disciples in Wan Lu Sect were all brutal and cruel people who were thrown away.
“When they joined Wan Lu Sect, they all pledged everlasting loyalty to me. I, myself was the Sect Leader, did not pay attention to their mistakes and took them in was kindness, then protected them was righteousness. And I just wanted them to repay me with their loyalty. But if this one thing was impossible to do, they did not know kindness, did not know righteousness, and did not know loyalty. If I saw such a person, I kill. This was to avoid trouble from arising later and also to maintain my own sense of morality.”
I turned my head and glanced at Zhi Yan. I saw that she was completely taken aback and said: “Right now, you feel that Li Chen Lan made them go down the mountain to farm was right. So we will wait and see. He uses such soft policies to deal with these kinds of people. In the end, what will happen to him.”
I left the small room and ignored the enthusiastic greetings from the demon cultivators outside. I gestured with my fingers and in the blink of an eye I stood on Qian Ren Cliff. I announced Lu Zhi Yan’s name to the watchmen guarding Cang Shu Pavilion. They did not interfere and made way for me to enter.
I relied on my memory, went straight up to the third floor, and in the southeast corner on the bookshelf I found a book that recorded mythical creatures and ghosts. I sat cross-legged and browsed the book in my lap. But the book only recorded some accounts about someone at a certain time who saw something happened.
There was no elaborate analysis, let alone anything about the souls trading places day and night and so on.
I turned to the next page and saw an old story that recorded: In a certain year, in a certain village, there was a married woman who had stopped breathing for three days, suddenly sat up in her coffin. Her appearance was no different from when she was alive but her demeanor, voice, and memory were completely different. As if another person had entered the body.
“… This is called, borrowing the body… Returning the soul.” I read out loud.
Suddenly beside me drifted a voice: “Oh, there is something in the world like borrowing a body, returning a soul.”
I turned my head to look, shockingly discovered that I did not know when Mo Qing had appeared. In this moment, he wore a long black gown, leaned slightly against the window, and silently stood there. Behind him the window was open wide, the night sky filled with stars, and it seemed like he was standing in the midst of tens of thousands of stars with his deep eyes staring intently at me.
I was startled and forgot to close the book.
