Wen Shiqing’s eyes widened in shock.
By the time he regained his composure, his nose was already filled with the cold, sharp scent that belonged to Xie Yuan. Because they were pressed so close, he could even hear the youth’s heartbeat thundering against his chest like a war drum.
Why did Xie Yuan suddenly hug him?
But before he could push the youth away, Xie Yuan voluntarily released him and said, “Master, the mortals in this Donglai City are acting strangely. Do not let them touch you.”
Wen Shiqing paused, following Xie Yuan’s gaze, and indeed noticed that the surrounding townspeople had a peculiar look in their eyes. Though they had been shopping just a moment ago, they would all instantly turn to stare at the four of them in unison. They would walk straight toward them, then, the moment they were noticed, they would quickly avert their faces and continue along their original paths.
They looked exactly like marionettes being controlled by someone else.
Xiao Heng also sensed the anomaly and called out to Wen Shiqing, “Master, the life force of these people is draining downward, connected to the ground. If we force it to be severed, they will likely suffer soul damage and become simple-minded.”
Wen Shiqing focused his spiritual sense into his eyes and peered at the ground. Sure enough, he saw that the earth beneath Donglai City was connected to tens of thousands of the city’s mortals, interwoven with red and black bloodlines that were terrifying to behold.
He lifted his gaze toward the direction where the ominous dark clouds were thickest. “The source is the City Lord’s Manor.”
“Let us go take a look.”
The three nodded.
Wen Shiqing glanced at Xie Yuan, whose expression was normal, thinking that the youth’s hug earlier was likely just to assist him. There was no need to dwell on it.
Little did he know, from an angle he could not see, Xie Yuan was desperately trying to suppress the tremors in his fingers.
From the moment he held Wen Shiqing, only Xie Yuan knew how wonderful it felt, the feeling of the long-empty space in his heart being completely filled by the other man.
How wonderful it was to forcibly pull that vulnerable Master, who had been hurt and weakened by Xiao Heng, into his arms.
To make him see only him, rely only on him, and belong only to him.
“Can you stop smiling so pervertedly!” Xuan Qing could no longer endure it and reminded him in Xie Yuan’s consciousness.
Only then did Xie Yuan compose his expression, turning his gaze toward the City Lord’s Manor, which was draped in deep crimson.
He muttered to himself, “This ghost is not as strong as you, but its resentment is much heavier.”
Thinking of something, he smiled and said, “If I can capture it, I should be able to break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm faster than Xiao Heng.”
“You boy are becoming more and more arrogant.”
Xuan Qing felt a cold sweat. For the past three years, he had witnessed firsthand how desperately Xie Yuan worked at his cultivation. Or rather, Xie Yuan did not seem to value his own life at all.
Behind the Wentian Sect, Xie Yuan would rely on his sheer willpower to withstand inhuman pain, walking right into the center of the battlefield to absorb ghost energy as if he were a whale drinking the sea. Whenever he felt his cultivation base becoming unstable from advancing too quickly, he would head down the mountain to hunt demonic beasts in secret realms, narrowly escaping death time and again just to forge his cultivation into something solid.
What made Xuan Qing feel even more wary was that in just three years, Xie Yuan had learned the ability to extract souls and command ghosts. Standing in pools of blood scattered with the corpses of demonic beasts, Xie Yuan could extract their souls on the spot and refine them into ghosts to serve him. Although it was not a hundred percent successful, it was terrifying enough.
Because this meant that for every demonic beast or person Xie Yuan killed, he could create an equal number of ghost puppets. Once he embarked on a path of slaughter, it was unlikely that anyone in this world would be able to stop him.
“Is someone getting married in this manor?” Shen Huan landed in front of the manor gate. Looking up, she saw the gate wrapped in bright red silk flowers. Looking into the manor, from the entrance to the main hall, everything was filled with festive joy. In this city shrouded in dark clouds, it appeared increasingly eerie.
“Are you the immortals who came to exorcise the ghosts?” Someone walked out from within the gate, but his footsteps were unsteady and his face was pale as paper, showing signs of severe life-force depletion.
“I am Shen Huan of the Lanyin Sect. This is Daoist Wen and his two disciples. We all accepted the ghost-exorcism mission and came here.” Shen Huan stepped forward to ask, “Can you tell us what happened here?”
Upon hearing the title of “Daoist Wen,” the man’s eyes brightened with a glimmer of hope. He fell to his knees with a thud. “I beg you, honorable immortals, please save Donglai City!”
The man was Su Yuan, the eldest son of the current City Lord of Donglai. He said that all the changes occurred during the lunar eclipse one month ago. Under the pitch-black night sky, ominous black-red lights flashed across the ground of Donglai City, and then the entire city was swallowed by black mist emerging from the earth.
At first, their bodies did not suffer any harm, so they only issued low-level ghost-exorcism missions to a few major sects. But that very night, they suddenly discovered that no one could leave the city.
The Su family, where the City Lord resided, was famous in the continent for its unique secret method of raising spirit herbs, and the citizens of Donglai City also made a fortune helping the Su family cultivate these herbs. They traded this wealth for spirit stones, treasures, and cultivation manuals, which resulted in a large number of cultivators being raised in the city. The City Lord, Su Zhi, had even reached the Spirit Transformation Realm.
At first, upon discovering they could not leave the city, he had gathered all the talented individuals in the city to try to break out. But when they neared the city gates, their cultivation bases were suppressed to death, as if squeezed into a sealed jar. Their feet were pinned to the spot, and they could not move a single inch.
As time passed, the Su family began to behave strangely. Su Zhi began for no reason to order his servants to set up the Su Manor for a grand wedding. He would pull Lady Su to dress in luxurious wedding robes and sit in the hall, facing the wide-open door with a mechanical smile, waiting for the arrival of the new couple.
At night, at the east side of Donglai City, a groom riding a tall horse and a bride sitting in a palanquin would appear, walking into the City Lord’s Manor to the sound of piercing suona horns and gongs. Their expressions were wooden, and they did not even seem to know each other. They would take hold of the red hydrangea, bow to each other in marriage, and then vanish together.
As more and more people vanished, everyone in the city was slowly sinking into a state of dementia. Su Yuan had often fallen into this state during this period and could only rely on constantly cutting his arm, using the pain to keep himself clear-headed.
“Dementia?” Shen Huan stood before Su Zhi, looking at the man with the eerie smile, and frowned slightly. “The ghost race has always been skilled in control arts. I shall try to use the sound of my zither to see if it can be neutralized.”
With that, she deftly removed the ancient zither from her back and placed it horizontally before her. Xiao Heng habitually extended his sword sheath, just in time to support the base of the zither for her, making it easier for her to exert force.
Wen Shiqing watched this scene, unable to help but sigh that the two were worthy of being the male and female leads of a novel; their cooperation was truly tacit.
The thought had barely formed when he heard Xie Yuan chuckle softly behind him: “The sword sheath that Master took such pains to craft for Senior Brother’s Jingyun Sword back then has truly been put to good use now.”
“…”