Grabbing Yan Baichuan’s arm, Jin You looked down from midair, and only a mass of black energy remained at Chen Zheng’s original position, which was precisely the ghost power absorbed by the official seal previously, condensed on the spot like a huge black ball of yarn.
Jin You could hardly be said to pity Chen Zheng, as after all, quite a few innocent people died tragically at Chen Zheng’s hands, and Chen Zheng’s hands were not as clean as he himself thought.
Yan Baichuan brought Jin You next to Ying Chuang and Lingyun, returning by himself to absorb all the ghost power before his eyes into his own body. After a moment, he felt his own strength, which was barely considered satisfying to him, “Although it is a bit less compared to before, it is barely enough to use.”
Jin You shook his head, looking down to pick up the ghost official seal that fell beside his feet, only to be taken step ahead into someone’s hand, while he himself was protected behind Ying Chuang.
Raising his head in confusion, Jin You discovered that the person who snatched the ghost official seal away was surprisingly Mu Qing, a bit more scrutiny showing in his gaze, “What are you trying to do?”
Mu Qing let out a cold laugh, “What am I trying to do? You should ask what you did! Back when you were in that dog official’s Yamen, why did you kill my two senior brothers!”
Jin You had not expected it would be for this kind of reason, instantly feeling that Mu Qing was somewhat unreasonable, “They were dead long ago, a point you know clearest in your heart.”
Swinging a sword at Jin You in violent rage, Mu Qing had no reason left in his eyes, only madness remaining, “Our sect is small and cannot compare to those large sects, so master brought us fellow brothers up with great difficulty. But first it was that dog official, and then it was you, why must you kill them! Even being a ghost is better than scattering into ash and smoke! It was you who ruined my last hope, so I will make you taste the same pain as well!”
Mu Qing picked up the ghost official seal and raised it high, yet stopped at the instant of falling down, looking in disbelief at the half-section of sword tip emerging out of thin air at his heart, recognizing the owner of that sword, “Wufeng… Sword?”
Yet the newcomer drew out the sword, without the slightest intention to answer, allowing Mu Qing to scatter into ash and smoke, unable to figure out until death why Pei Wuji of the Wufeng Sword would appear here.
Taiji symbol on sleeves and sword without tassel, these were the signature attire of disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion. The Pei Wuji before their eyes was like this as well, a head of ink hair bound up high, the expression on his face cold as midwinter snow, cherishing words like gold to the point that others even found it hard to react all at once to what he was saying.
Jin You let out a sigh silently in his heart, as it seemed the commotion on their side was too large, likely reported back via message by those two disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion, making things troublesome this time.
Yan Baichuan had a headache as well, but seeing an acquaintance made him excited after all, approaching to look at his sword, “Pei Wuji, you don’t even want a sheath for this Wuji of yours?”
Wuji was the name of the Wufeng Sword, chosen by Pei Wuji himself. Diligent progress in sword techniques was not a single day’s work, but even more endless, and Pei Wuji used this to spur himself on.
Of course, most people still felt that this ‘Wuji’ meant number one in sword techniques, and Pei Wuji was too lazy to explain himself, with only those two troublesome people, Yan Baichuan and Jin You, having pestered him to ask, resulting in this uninteresting answer.
“Slow,” after Pei Wuji finished speaking, the tip of his sword pointed at Yan Baichuan, saying expressionlessly, “Compete.”
Before Yan Baichuan could even digest that this “slow” meant disliking his sword-drawing speed for being slow, Pei Wuji’s request for a competition came again.
Here it came again.
Yan Baichuan held his chest and let out two groans, sitting down onto the ground along the momentum, assuming a face of ‘I have a plight’, “Look, I just finished a battle and even got injured, how about next time?” There would never be a next time, for once out of Mount Lanfen he would definitely hide far away.
Pei Wuji did not listen to his nonsense, as the Wuji sword swished twice to stab right over. Yan Baichuan hurriedly dodged in fluster, and before he had time to question, he saw Pei Wuji raise an eyebrow, “Injured?”
The underlying meaning being, dodging so fast despite being injured.
Jin You covered half his face with his hand, saying in a low voice to Yan Baichuan, “Told you earlier, don’t use the same trick a second time.” In the past Yan Baichuan had done this as well, and for the sake of fairness, Pei Wuji actually let him go.
The result could well be imagined, as Yan Baichuan ran off without a trace, and hearing news of him again was directly the news of his death, so trust between people vanished entirely.
Pei Wuji remained expressionless, saying only two words that made Yan Baichuan change his mind, “Dichen.”
The playful expression on Yan Baichuan froze, changing into seriousness, “How did Dichen end up in your hands? Also what is going on with this Sword-Forgetting Pavilion, that hypocritical old stinkpot of the Shangyuan Sect valued you the most, so how could he let you leave?”
The gaze in Pei Wuji’s eyes dimmed by a few degrees, a bit of disappointment hidden inside his flat tone, “Seized blade.”
With just two short words, Yan Baichuan could think of the frantic look of those people fighting to snatch Dichen after his death. But for even Pei Wuji, a person whose mind was so simple that there was only practicing sword, to reveal a clear look of disappointment on his face, it seemed the things done by that Sect Master of the Shangyuan Sect were not much better either.
After all, even the head disciple ran off with his sword.
Yet speaking of Dichen, Yan Baichuan truly owed Pei Wuji a favor. Pei Wuji would not do things like coercing favors for rewards, at most pestering him to fight in order to refine sword techniques, which was much better than those cultivators, so he naturally would not decline, though not right now, “Consider the matter of Dichen as me owing you a favor, and I promise to compete with you. But the people I brought are all injured, so right now is not a good opportunity. When matters here are settled, wait for me at the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion.”
Pei Wuji looked toward Lingyun, Jin You, and the others on the side, knowing that what Yan Baichuan said this time was the truth, yet was somewhat hesitant, fearing that Yan Baichuan would run off again. After struggling repeatedly, Pei Wuji still nodded in agreement, “It’s a deal.”
“Take care, I won’t see you off.” Yan Baichuan watched Pei Wuji leave, when suddenly he saw his footsteps pause, raising his hand to throw something over, caught subconsciously by him.
Looking at the Sect Master Token in his hand, Yan Baichuan only then remembered those two watch disciples at Mount Huancang, thus accepting this good intention, yet could not refrain from saying a couple of sentences to him, “My my, how embarrassing this is, giving a normal disciple’s token would be enough, yet you even gave a Sect Master Token.”
Pei Wuji turned his head to glance at him, extending his right hand, assuming an aura of ‘if you don’t want it then give it back to me’. Yan Baichuan handed the token to Jin You for him to keep well, while he himself spread his hands shiftlessly.
Not expecting him to return it to begin with, Pei Wuji withdrew his hand, taking a few steps forward and vanishing without a trace.
Whew, now Jin You truly let out a breath of relief. He wondered if this unlucky fellow Yan Baichuan had ruined his luck, as how come the ghosts in this Mount Lanfen one by one all wanted to strike at him. However, because he was a ghost, Yan Baichuan could still use ghost power to heal him, while Lingyun beside them looked truly a bit wretched.
“What did you encounter to be so wretched?” Jin You still believed in Lingyun’s strength, so to make her turn into this wretched appearance, the ghost she encountered should not be weak either.
Yan Baichuan let out a sneer, “Mostly because of mixing in commoners every day, her strength has regressed.”
Lingyun opened her mouth wanting to refute, but also had to admit that she indeed had a little bit of regression, saying slightly guiltily, “A Blood Altar, and I even saved a mortal, that one over there is him. The west side is a drill ground, but to put it nicely, it is actually a hunting ground. The blood evil aura was too heavy, seeming like a place where Chen Zheng cultivated evil aura, so even I had to clean up for a while.”
Ying Chuang also told the few of them about his discovery, “Above the forest are all ghost crows, and I killed their boss, the three-headed crow.”
Only now did Jin You learn that at the top where they could not see, a flock of ghost crows was surprisingly hidden, so it seemed the feeling of being snooped on they felt in the mountain previously should be the ghost crow flock. He did not know what benefits Chen Zheng promised that three-headed crow to make them help monitor from a high place, but none of these mattered anymore.
What was more important right now was how to handle these people and ghosts before them?
The youth saved by Lingyun was easy to talk about, as finding someone to send him home would do, while the troublesome ones were these ghosts. Having Mu Qing as a precedent, Jin You was too lazy to distinguish whether they were filled with hostility toward himself or Yan Baichuan to bide time for revenge, since after all, Yan Baichuan had killed almost all the ghosts on this mountain cleanly.
“Sir!” Tan Ziruo supported her elder brother, flying fast underfoot, bringing two disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion behind her, who were precisely Chengfeng and Chengguang.
“Thank you, sir, for saving our lives, my brother and I will never forget it!” As Tan Ziruo spoke, she was about to bring her brother to kneel down and kowtow, but was stopped by Yan Baichuan, “Don’t kneel to me, I didn’t come specially to save people to save ghosts either. What is going on with him?”
Looking at her ignorant and bewildered elder brother, Tan Ziruo felt sour in her heart, “I have been weak and sickly since childhood, and my soul is weaker than ordinary people, so for my sake, my brother voluntarily let the seal that should have been stamped on my back be stamped on him, turning into this.”
So that was how it was. Yan Baichuan took out that official seal of Xing County that previously held Chen Xian’s life, tossing it to Chengfeng on the side, “Little brother over there, do a favor? The male ghost over there has never done evil, so trouble you to take this official seal and stamp the back of his head.”
Chengfeng caught the official seal and examined it carefully, an expression of admiration showing on his face, “Lustrous, square, and upright, with spiritual light faintly flashing inside the seal, this is a top-grade magical artifact, so thinking about it, it can surely resolve the wickedness of the ghost official seal!”
Chengguang looked at Yan Baichuan with some suspicion, “Would you be so kind-hearted as to give us a magical artifact?”
Yan Baichuan signaled Jin You, and Jin You took out the Sect Master Token to play with, fanning while teasing Chengguang, “Doesn’t matter, your Sect Master also gave good things. Look, the Sect Master Token, now it should let us pass through Mount Huancang, right?”
Chengguang’s eyes turned straight as he looked, subconsciously wanting to blurt out ‘impossible’, but was held back by Chengfeng, who shook his head, “The Sect Master has instructions, so disciples of the Sword-Forgetting Pavilion shall naturally obey orders. Chengguang, go inspect the situation over there, and I will help lift the influence of the ghost official seal for this one.”
Chengguang walked reluctantly toward those ghosts rescued from the dungeon by Jin You, taking one step and turning three times, looking with longing at the token in Jin You’s hand, muttering under his breath, “Who on earth are these people, how could the Sect Master give the token to people who look so unreliable.”
Dammit, he was so envious!
Yan Baichuan, Jin You, and the others were glad to have someone clean up the mess, and right now were also rushing to rest and mend a bit. The group changed their previous cautious demeanor when entering the mountain, leaving the mountain forest in a manner that could be called leisurely.
Ying Chuang supported Lingyun to walk in front, Lingyun saying something to him, her eyes floating toward Yan Baichuan and Jin You from time to time while speaking, still having a beat-worthy appearance of not learning her lesson despite being injured. Unfortunately, what Ying Chuang answered her with was only bewildered eyes as always, still making eyes at a blind person.
Yan Baichuan and Lingyun fell two steps behind, the two chatting as they walked. Speaking of Chen Zheng, Jin You felt he was abominable while also finding him a bit pitiable, “The spiritual energy contained in that Magistrate of Xing County official seal is enough to prove he was indeed an honest, upright, and good official in life, but unfortunately his luck was bad, and human hearts are not what they used to be.”
Yet Yan Baichuan suddenly said a sentence, “Was his luck truly bad?”
Feeling somewhat confused in his heart, Jin You tilted his head to look at him, hearing him continue to say, “What good does hiding that letter do for the advisor? At worst, after Chen Zheng left, another county magistrate would come up. If Chen Zheng got promoted, with his character, as long as he made no big mistakes, in the future he would surely think of these old people in Xing County who shared hardships together, maybe even looking out for each other in officialdom later. For the advisor to dare do this, he must have been instructed by someone behind the scenes.”
Jin You nodded, as what Yan Baichuan said also made sense, but then it was even stranger, “Then who instructed it?”
Yan Baichuan remembered Tan Ziruo’s words, roughly guessing who it was, “That female ghost said someone presented that ghost official seal when Chen Zheng was disappointed. Normally Chen Zheng would surely not accept it, but if it was when he first lost his only son and had no hope of promotion, then that would be hard to say. Even Chen Xian’s hand might not necessarily be an accident, not harming human life, yet able to destroy the mind in one strike, such methods.”
Jin You’s heart sank, also guessing that person behind the scenes.
Yan’e.