Song Lianzhou couldn’t be bothered to negotiate with him anymore. He directly struck forward with a palm strike and used the momentum to roll to the side. Yuling Chun raised a hand to block it, the amusement in his eyes increasing rather than decreasing: “What a spirited little beauty…”
[Host, this person is also at the late Nascent Soul stage!] The system reported urgently.
“Got it.”
Song Lianzhou looked at Yuling Chun with a gloomy expression. Although their cultivation realms were the same, this was, after all, someone else’s territory, so he didn’t dare lower his guard.
When he cast his spell, his sleeves fluttered, revealing a portion of a mark that had been covered on his wrist today.
Yuling Chun noticed it, the amusement in his eyes fading slightly: “The inner sect entry mark of Huanman Tower… Little beauty, did you come to look for me earlier today?”
Song Lianzhou took half a step back, vigilantly refusing to answer.
“However, this Tower Master has a rule when receiving guests recently: I only guide those who are fated, not single souls. Since the beauty was able to obtain permission, you must have come here together with your cultivation partner, right?”
Song Lianzhou’s expression grew even more guarded. Word by word, in a serious tone, he said, “Yes, I already have someone in my heart.”
“Don’t be so nervous~” Yuling Chun chuckled lightly, “Then we will just have to change from a pair of free and happy souls into a pair of secret lovers sneaking around~”
Song Lianzhou widened his eyes in disbelief: Even at a time like this, this pervert still hadn’t given up on his designs against him!
“My beloved and I are deeply devoted to each other. Does the Tower Master insist on tearing us apart?”
Yuling Chun: “Pfft… Hahahaha!”
As if hearing some earth-shattering joke, Yuling Chun laughed until he doubled over, while Song Lianzhou wore a bewildered expression. “Tearing lovers apart? What a wonderful phrase. Do you know what this Tower Master loves the most? It is precisely tearing couples apart. Otherwise, why do you think this Tower Master only grants audiences to cultivation partners?”
Song Lianzhou vaguely guessed something. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a shadow, causing him to exhale a breath of relief before his heart abruptly leapt back into his throat.
He rubbed his slightly aching temples. While quietly edging toward the shadow, he questioned Yuling Chun, “What did the Tower Master do to them?”
“What could I possibly do? I merely set up a tiny test for them—not difficult at all. Well, perhaps it might be a tiny bit difficult.” Yuling Chun shook his smoking pipe. “However, if they can make it to the end, I will naturally offer my sincere blessings along with a gift. As for those who fail the test, I honestly have no idea what their final ends will be~”
“Little beauty, this Tower Master’s story hasn’t finished yet. Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
Yuling Chun suddenly raised his gaze, the jade smoking pipe in his hand flying out like an unstrung arrow, planting itself straight into the wooden floorboards an inch in front of Song Lianzhou. Song Lianzhou’s movements froze abruptly, as if he had been nailed to the spot.
“And there is another uninvited guest acting so sneakily. Do you want to eavesdrop on this beauty and me?”
Silence hung heavy in the room. A few moments later, a figure slowly stepped out from the shadows—it turned out to be Ye Xisheng, who had arrived goodness knows when.
Song Lianzhou felt like his head was about to explode: Why on earth did someone at the peak Foundation Establishment stage run over here? For Yuling Chun, crushing him to death would be as easy as squashing an ant!
“I was wondering why I couldn’t find you anywhere. So you were invited here as a guest by Tower Master Yu.” Ye Xisheng’s tone was relaxed and leisurely. “It’s getting late. Let’s bid farewell to Tower Master Yu first.”
“Beauty, is this your beloved?” Yuling Chun walked a few steps between the two of them, lazily sizing up Ye Xisheng for a few moments. “He’s not much to look at. Beauty, why don’t you just submit to me instead? Don’t you think this Tower Master is dozens of times better than him?”
Ye Xisheng narrowed his eyes slightly and retorted, “Unfortunately, Senior Brother just happens to prefer my useless type.”
Yuling Chun: ……
Song Lianzhou said, “Tower Master, please refrain from joking. You don’t like me, and I don’t like you either, so where is there any question of submitting or not?”
“I think I’m starting to like you a little bit now.”
Song Lianzhou choked: “……”
“Therefore, this Tower Master finds you rather unpleasing to the eye.” Yuling Chun narrowed his eyes dangerously, looking at Ye Xisheng. “To be able to bypass those outer sentries and lurk into this Tower Master’s room, you certainly possess some skills.”
Song Lianzhou hurriedly blocked in front of Ye Xisheng: “In that case, we will leave right away and no longer stay here to be an eyesore to the Tower Master.”
“You are not an eyesore. With you right here, this Tower Master is more than happy.”
Yuling Chun raised a hand and waved it, stirring up a breeze laden with flower petals and fragrance from his sleeves. The wind scattered toward all the doors and windows in the room, and Song Lianzhou clearly heard the sound of the latches being firmly locked into place.
“Accompany this Tower Master to sit a little longer.” He straightened his garments, turned, and lazily leaned against a nearby couch, flirtatiously brushing aside a strand of hair. “Didn’t you two come to find me today to ask me questions? Now that this Tower Master is right in front of you, ask whatever you wish.”
“?” Song Lianzhou thought to himself, Why did this guy suddenly turn normal? He still wasn’t quite used to it, so after pondering for a moment, he asked, “Does the Tower Master know anything about the disappearance cases near Qishan?”
“So it’s because of this matter.” Yuling Chun smiled. “I naturally know some interesting things, it just depends on whether you are willing to pay the price to buy the intelligence from me.”
Ye Xisheng asked, “What is it?”
“Any cultivation partners who pass my test only need to pay the lowest intelligence price to obtain the highest-grade intelligence from me.” Yuling Chun didn’t answer directly, instead gesturing toward Song Lianzhou with his jade smoking pipe from afar. “However, for the two of you, I don’t need to set up any tests.”
Song Lianzhou made a reasonable guess: “Could it be that Tower Master Yu is so righteous that you plan to gift us the precious intelligence directly?”
“Beauty, you might as well naively hope that Huanman Tower goes bankrupt tomorrow.”
Song Lianzhou: “……”
“It’s just that your cultivation partner is so mediocre and uninteresting, yet you remain steadfast and loyal to him. You two are definitely true love.”
Ye Xisheng: “……”
“However, I really do like you a bit now.” Yuling Chun’s face was half-submerged in the curling white smoke rising from the incense burner, making him look as bewitching as a spirit from a painting. “Stay by my side, and I will tell you everything you want to know. How about it?”
Ye Xisheng said coldly, “There’s no need. Farewell.”
The fragrant mist throughout the room instantly condensed into shards of ice, and Yuling Chun’s eyes narrowed slightly. “How audacious.”
Within just a few simple words, the two of them seemed to have already gone through a round of confrontation, and a heart-palpitating silence accompanied by an invisible aura of gunpowder permeated the air.
Alarm bells rang wildly in Song Lianzhou’s heart: If this goes on, it won’t do! If Yuling Chun is angered, he might not be able to protect Ye Xisheng from harm!
Seeing that Ye Xisheng was ignoring Yuling Chun’s increasingly dangerous gaze and pulling him toward the exit, Song Lianzhou quickly turned back. “Tower Master, perhaps you could grant me this favor. In the future, whenever you travel outside and encounter any shops belonging to the Song family, all expenses will be completely waived for you.”
He exaggeratedly pretended to accidentally let half of a Song clan token slip from his sleeve, making sure Yuling Chun saw it before putting it away.
Yuling Chun’s gaze indeed turned suspicious. “…… The Song family?”
“When the time comes, the Tower Master can simply drop my name: Song Heshun of the Song collateral branch. If the Tower Master ever travels to Yangzhou, you are also welcome to look for me. I have twelve residences inside Yangzhou City, and I can personally guide the Tower Master through the scenic spots of Yangzhou. Does the Tower Master know about a particularly famous place inside Yangzhou City…?”
Yuling Chun’s expression grew even more puzzled, seeming unable to understand why Song Lianzhou had suddenly started acting as his tour guide.
Song Lianzhou had no choice but to intentionally emphasize his voice: “That place is called Guanshan Pavilion, and the scenery is delightful especially at the hour of Hai, when the stars are at their brightest.”
“Tower Master, you simply must not miss it.”
Ye Xisheng paused, turning his head to gaze deeply at Song Lianzhou. Yuling Chun also suddenly caught on, the amusement in his eyes instantly turning intrigued.
“Fair enough. Since the beauty is treating me with such sincerity, this Tower Master will accept this favor.”
Yuling Chun tapped the table, and someone immediately entered from outside the door, serving two cups of hot tea.
“Two guests, please take a seat.”
Ye Xisheng stood rooted to the spot without moving, leaving Song Lianzhou no choice but to pull him over to sit down.
“Then let’s skip the beating around the bush, Tower Master. Regarding the disappearances at Qishan, what does the Tower Master know?”
Yuling Chun gently swayed his jade smoking pipe, his voice lazy. “You should know that there is a village on Qishan called Fanggu Village. Several thousand years ago, during the Era of Ten Thousand Immortals shortly after the gods cleaved open chaos, the ancestors of Fanggu Village once saved a goddess.”
“Therefore, the goddess bestowed a blessing upon the entire village. Every five hundred years, a holy maiden would appear in the village. The holy maiden would be born from the village’s sacred grounds, and through sacrificial rituals, her divine consciousness would gradually awaken, granting her the remaining purest and most sacred divine power to protect the village with peace, prosperity, and abundance for a century. It is precisely because of this that the village has been able to maintain its isolated state, becoming self-sufficient and continuing to this day.”
Song Lianzhou mused, “So a few days ago, Fanggu Village removed their array formations to hold the sacrificial ritual was that all in preparation for the awakening of this century’s holy maiden?”
“Yes, but not entirely.”
Yuling Chun smiled with bewitching allure. “In reality, the blessing originally bestowed by the goddess failed during the previous five hundred years. The previous holy maiden should have been the last one to inherit the remaining divine power, and the lineage has been severed ever since.”
“So, what on earth is the thing that the village is currently staging grand sacrifices to summon?”
Song Lianzhou walked out of Huanman Tower alongside Ye Xisheng, feeling that his mind was still somewhat sluggish.
Fanggu Village was no longer just suspicious it was downright terrifying. No one knew what kind of conspiracy was currently brewing within that mysterious village shrouded in mist.
By this time, it was approaching the hour of Chou. The lights on the streets were all extinguished, and the surroundings were desolate and silent, with the pitch-black night sky pressing heavily down upon people’s hearts.
Song Lianzhou suddenly felt someone squeeze the palm of his hand, and then Ye Xisheng’s voice rang out from above his head: “Right in front of me just now, what kind of riddles was Senior Brother exchanging with that Yuling Chun?”
Song Lianzhou was startled, and awkwardly asked, “You heard it?”
“I’m not a fool. ‘Twelve days later, at Guanshan Pavilion in Yangzhou, we shall meet at the hour of Hai.’ Is that what Senior Brother meant?” Ye Xisheng looked straight ahead, his tone devoid of much fluctuation. “Senior Brother is truly thoughtful; you even arranged the time and location.”
“I was just fooling him.” Song Lianzhou was between laughter and tears. “There is no Guanshan Pavilion in Yangzhou City, and there is no one named Song Heshun in the Song family. It’s just that my cousin from a collateral branch keeps a pet dog named Heshun.”
Ye Xisheng didn’t speak, though the tense lines of his jaw looked slightly softer.
“Besides, whether he can find me or not is one thing; even if he really discovers that I am actually Song Lianzhou, it doesn’t matter. Our cultivation realms are the same, and outside of Huanman Tower, I won’t lose if I go up against him.”
“It’s you I’m worried about.” Song Lianzhou patted Ye Xisheng’s arm. “What did you run over here for? I would have been fine on my own, but with you here, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”
“Since I came, I naturally had a way to get Senior Brother out completely unscathed.”
Obviously disbelieving him, Song Lianzhou patted his arm again. “Nonsense. You are at Foundation Establishment and he is at Nascent Soul. There are two whole major realms between you. Even if heavenly gods descended to earth, you couldn’t possibly beat him.”
Ye Xisheng: ……
For the first time, Ye Xisheng experienced what it felt like to have words stuck in one’s throat and be unable to clear one’s name, leaving him no choice but to say, “Senior Brother is right.”
“You are not allowed to pull stunts like that next time, understand?”
“I’ll listen to Senior Brother in everything.”
“Right, how did you find out I was missing today? And how did you sneak into Yuling Chun’s room without a sound?”
He hadn’t really noticed when Ye Xisheng had arrived. By the time he realized it, Ye Xisheng had apparently been lurking there for a while.
“Those people dismantled the barrier rather hurriedly. I heard a commotion next door, and when I went out to check, Senior Brother, you had already been abducted.” Ye Xisheng said, “Oh right, those people even smashed Senior Brother’s room. Yuling Chun should rightfully pay for the damages.”
“True, we should have asked him for some compensation before leaving.”
“Then I followed the tracking mark I had previously placed on Senior Brother and used some illusion arrays to bypass the sentries outside.” Ye Xisheng looked somewhat helpless. “So I really did have a way to bring us out safely. Senior Brother, please don’t doubt me…”
Song Lianzhou eyed him suspiciously, then heard the system muttering: [No wonder. The male lead in the later stages is also well-versed in Qimen Dunjia and spatial array techniques; he often pulls off miraculous maneuvers at critical moments. So he was trained from childhood.]
“When did you put a mark on me?” Song Lianzhou asked again.
Ye Xisheng’s divine sense could cover the entire city of Qishan, allowing him to see where Song Lianzhou was at a glance. Therefore, he casually bluffed, “I have a magical treasure that can track you by following the sinking water incense lingering on Senior Brother.”
“So that’s how it was.” Knowing that Ye Xisheng didn’t want to elaborate, Song Lianzhou stopped asking.
As they spoke, the two had already arrived outside their inn. Raising his head, Song Lianzhou saw a massive hole torn into his room, with cold wind whistling and howling inside. “…… Ah this.”
“It seems it’s no longer habitable.” Following his gaze upward, Ye Xisheng turned his head with a slight smile. “Would Senior Brother mind squeezing into my room for the night?”
“Would that be too much of a bother?” After thinking it over, Song Lianzhou still wanted to refuse. “It’s fine, I can just set up a barrier and tough it out for the night.”
“What is Senior Brother saying? We certainly cannot just tough it out.”
Before he could react, his arm was lightly pulled, and in the next instant, Song Lianzhou’s entire body tumbled into a gentle embrace. Ye Xisheng wrapped his arms around half of his body to shield him from the wind, letting out a muffled chuckle. “We still have to investigate the case tomorrow. Senior Brother needs to get a good night’s sleep and preserve your energy.”