Exploring Yong'an City Part 3

"What did you leave behind? When did you leave it? Do you know something?" Huaiwen asked impatiently.

Xuan Ye didn't answer directly, but instead brought up a new topic: "When A Yan was performing the ritual, did you feel anything different?"

Huaiwen tried hard to recall, and tentatively replied, "It seems like only the sand and gravel in the pit were moving?"

“That’s right.” Xuan Ye sat up. “The more he cast the spell, the deeper he sank. It’s just that because he’s not short, and he kept moving around, he didn’t notice that the sand and gravel had already buried up to his thighs.”

"Could something be buried under the stone tablet?"

"It's hard to say."

Huaiwen thought for a moment and said, "Also... I always feel that the golden armor and jade suit are a bit strange. I think, I think I'd like to go and take a look tonight."

Xuan Ye nodded; he also felt something was strange.

When the moon is high in the sky, it's the perfect time for petty theft.

This was Huaiwen's first time sneaking into someone's house, but she seemed to have a natural sense of familiarity with it. She quickly climbed over the wall and entered the Qian residence. When she turned around to see if Xuan Ye had followed, she found no one behind her. She looked around and found that Xuan Ye was standing on the roof.

Huaiwen then realized that she could fly. She could only smile sheepishly, stick on a "flying" talisman, and fly to Xuan Ye's side.

Xuan Ye crossed his arms in front of his chest and said coldly, "You're so stupid."

Huaiwen pursed her lips and retorted softly, "No, that's not true."

Xuan Ye ignored him and quickly jumped to another rooftop, with Huai Wen naturally following. The Qian family mansion was indeed grand, with many rooftops. After jumping across several rooftops, Xuan Ye finally stopped in one place.

Huaiwen arrived and looked down. The first thing he saw was the glaring red lanterns. A long row of them hung under the high wall. At the end of the red lanterns were two tall and imposing Soul-Devouring Lamps. The house behind them was dimly lit.

Suddenly, there were footsteps. Huaiwen lay down and saw Xuan Ye wave his hand, and they both became invisible. Huaiwen got up again and sighed, "It's so good to have strong magic."

At this moment, twenty people carrying "Huileng" lanterns entered, followed by Master Qian, Madam Qian, and the steward. They reached the door, and the steward waved his hand, causing the lantern-carryers to split into two rows, each standing in front of the Soul-Devouring Lamp by the door. Then, one by one, they placed the wicks from the lanterns into the Soul-Devouring Lamp.

Seeing this, Huaiwen roughly knew what they were up to. They were summoning spirits!

There are many ways to devour souls in the world! But very few succeed, and Huaiwen had never seen the Qian family's soul-summoning technique before. This was perhaps the fundamental reason why the head of the Demon and Human Pavilion wanted the Qian family's "golden armor and jade suit" back then.

"boom--"

The Soul-Eating Lamp has started to burn.

"Master, it's ready."

Master Qian nodded, gesturing to Madam Qian. Then, the two of them stood in front of the Soul-Devouring Lamp, bit their fingers, and dripped their blood into the lamp. Looking at the blazing Soul-Devouring Lamp, they felt as if their bodies were being burned and pierced by pain, and they began to tremble.

The door opened at that moment, and a coffin slowly floated out of the room.

With a "snap," the coffin lid was opened, and a cloud of black mist swirled around it. But soon, this cloud of black mist rushed out and instantly absorbed the essence of the twenty people carrying the "Huileng" lanterns. The steward also fainted. Instantly, the black mist transformed into golden armor and jade clothing!

Huaiwen was stunned! This was no longer just a summoning spell! She watched as the golden-armored figure circled around Master Qian and Madam Qian a few times, and then a faint face suddenly appeared.

The moment their eyes met, Madam Qian burst into tears: "My child..."

But the "golden armor and jade suit" did not sense Madam Qian's sadness. He just played with Madam Qian with amusement, and then made a squeaking sound in her ear, as if he was conveying some message to Madam Qian.

Madam Qian quickly turned pale: "You are my son, you are my son..."

Master Qian spoke with a dark face: "Our Qian family only has one son. Now that we have reached the final moment, we cannot afford any mistakes! You don't want our Qian family to be without an heir either! Only if he lives can we have hope! If you do not make the sacrifice tonight, then when the demons come to take this golden armor tomorrow, it will not only be our son who dies, but also you and me."

Mrs. Qian wept, "But I am his mother!"

"His mother! You are his mother, you should think of him! He wants to live! So we raised him with golden armor and jade clothing for ten years! Ten years! We mustn't ruin things at this final moment!"

Standing on the rooftop, Huaiwen could roughly guess what was going on just by listening to the conversation! She never imagined that Mr. and Mrs. Qian would use a shrewd person to support their son who had been dead for ten years.

The golden armor and jade suit preserved the young master Qian's body from decay and sealed his soul within the armor and jade suit using a soul-summoning technique. And now, this young master Qian is about to devour his mother!

Huaiwen couldn't just stand by and watch! The black aura that had drained people's life force was unexpected, and now it was even going to kill Madam Qian. She couldn't just stand by and do nothing! She looked at Xuan Ye, who turned to meet her gaze and sighed. He knew they were of the same lineage, and they would be the same.

Xuan Ye sighed, "Go."

Having received an affirmative answer, Huaiwen no longer concealed his intentions. With a whoosh, he flew towards the golden-armored figure, who dodged! Master Qian cried out in alarm, "Who goes there!"

The golden-armored figure revealed a ferocious face, enraged, and ignited flames all over his body! He charged wildly, trying to devour Huaiwen, who could only dodge while shouting, "Master Qian, Madam Qian, stop! The dead cannot be brought back to life! The dead are dead!"

Upon hearing these words while standing on the rooftop, Xuan Ye felt his heart turn to ice.

"You understand! Don't force me to take action!" Master Qian shouted. "What are you waiting for! Quickly offer a sacrifice for your son! Otherwise, we'll all die!"

“Don’t give me money, madam! Your life is your own! Even if you sacrifice yourself and die, you won’t see your son again! Don’t be foolish!” Huaiwen retorted.

Madam Qian just kept crying, which only fueled the anger of the man in golden armor. He seemed to have lost patience with playing games with Huaiwen any longer. So, he leaped up between Master Qian and Madam Qian and unleashed a double soul-devouring attack!

Huaiwen was shocked by the scene before her. She immediately took out several white talismans and threw them into the air in a few quick movements, trying to lock the souls of Madam Qian and Master Qian! But her spell was broken!

What's going on?!

Just as Huaiwen was about to turn around, she was suddenly grabbed! Turning her head, she saw that it was Xuan Ye who had grabbed her. He even used the momentum to counterattack in the direction he had attacked Huaiwen. "Bang!" A huge sound rang out, and Huaiwen looked down to see black clouds rising from the deep pit!

Before they could get a good look at the black mist, it slowly disappeared on its own.

Xuan Ye placed Huai Wen on the rooftop and delivered a palm strike, severing the Soul-Devouring Technique of the Golden Armored Jade Warrior! Master Qian and Madam Qian fainted to the ground! Enraged by the failed Soul-Devouring Technique, the Golden Armored Jade Warrior charged towards Huai Wen and Xuan Ye!

Xuan Ye dealt with the golden-armored man with a single move, and he was forced back! The golden-armored man tried a few more moves, but he was easily defeated by Xuan Ye. He seemed to know that he could not win.

So he went back, grabbed Master Qian and Madam Qian, and tried to escape. Xuan Ye saw this and tried to grab them, but was blocked by a black aura. At the same time, Huai Wen was attacked, and Xuan Ye had no choice but to go back to protect Huai Wen. In this way, the man in golden armor and jade clothes escaped.

Xuan Ye frowned, and after a moment, his ears twitched. He said with a solemn expression, "There's something strange about the stone tablet!"

Huaiwen immediately shouted, "Then I'll go after the golden-armored man, you go to the stone tablet!"

"No! You can't beat him," Xuan Ye advised. "Let's go to the stone tablet first."

Before Huaiwen could answer, Xuan Ye cast a spell on her. Huaiwen instantly felt her magical power increase significantly.

Xuan Ye ordered, "Stay close to me!"

Huaiwen nodded and followed.

When they returned to the stone tablet, the area was different from during the day. Although it was invisible to the naked eye, they could feel the yin energy emanating from the stone tablet, making it impossible for ordinary people to approach. As a result, no one would know what happened around the stone tablet at night.

Fortunately, with Xuan Ye present, this bit of yin wind posed no threat to him. Huai Wen also benefited from Xuan Ye's influence; she now possessed the demonic magic he had infused into her, allowing her to approach the pit's edge. The two reached the pit's edge, where they observed the sand continuously sinking.

A section of the stone tablet was exposed, and by the moonlight, Huaiwen saw symbols on it. She quickly exclaimed, "There's something under the stone tablet! I dug it out and took a look."

Xuan Ye nodded in acquiescence. He was about to begin casting his spell when Huai Wen took the initiative. She conjured a long whip, threw it at the stone tablet, wrapped it around the tablet, and then pulled hard. As a result, she was dragged down by the stone tablet and sank into it.

Fortunately, Xuan Ye reacted quickly and grabbed the whip, pulling Huai Wen and the stone tablet up together with a little force. They thought it was over. But unexpectedly, as the stone tablet was pulled up a few inches, the entire sandpit shook, a loud rumble resounded, and then something shot out from under the stone tablet.

They looked up as the attack came. Huaiwen and Xuanye dodged to the sides, each dealing with the relentless assault. The thing lurked in the dark sky, making it impossible to discern what it was.

Boom— The sky lit up!

It was Xuan Ye's fireball that illuminated the night sky! This time, Huai Wen clearly saw what that thing was—it was a talisman!

So it's a white talisman causing the mischief?

"Get the white talisman down, I want to see what's written on it!" Huaiwen shouted to Xuanye.

Xuan Ye nodded, and with a flick of his finger, the talisman was enveloped in a red shield, while the white talisman did not struggle to break free. After a short while, the white talisman steadily descended in front of Huai Wen.

"What should I write?" Xuan Ye asked.

Huaiwen leaned closer and looked at the white talisman: "There are some ancient symbols on it. I can't quite figure them out right now, let me take another look."

Xuan Ye frowned and moved towards Huai Wen. But before he had taken two steps, he saw the white talisman glowing white inside the red cover, and then it exploded! Xuan Ye didn't have time to save Huai Wen; he used his hand to block the flying sand and stones.

Amidst the billowing sand, Xuan Ye felt no discomfort. He assumed Huai Wen was probably alright as well, so he wasn't too worried. However, he noticeably quickened his pace.

Countless golden rays shot out from the sandstorm, and in an instant, Huaiwen broke free from its encirclement. She flew into the air and swiftly and accurately grabbed the talisman! Huaiwen steadied herself in mid-air, cast a spell to cut her finger, drawing blood. She smeared the blood on the white talisman, and it seemed to be activated, suddenly standing upright in the air.

In an instant, the white talisman multiplied into countless forms, surrounding Huaiwen as if to seal him away.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Xuan Ye directly smashed the white talisman surrounding Huai Wen with a large fireball, and then quickly passed through the broken white talisman to gather the unconscious Huai Wen.

Xuan Ye glanced down at Huai Wen, who was hanging his head, his expression displeased. He then noticed the white talisman rapidly reforming, seemingly without end. Xuan Ye grunted, and instantly, many purplish-red demonic flames appeared around the white talisman.

"Whoosh—" Xuan Ye grabbed Huai Wen and rushed upwards, followed by a huge explosion that resounded through the sky. The white talisman was completely burned, and the stone tablet was also split in two.

Xuan Ye saw that Huai Wen was still not awake, and that the loud noise would definitely attract those so-called immortal cultivators, and encountering them would be a waste of time.

Xuan Ye thought for a moment, and finally left with Huai Wen.