Chapter 6 Fang Xiyan, can you compensate me some money?

Now it was the scholar's turn to be dumbfounded.

What...what did he just say?

He is Shen Qinggui's Daoist partner! Then what were they doing at the inn earlier, where they acted like strangers should stay away and acquaintances should avoid them?

"A Daoist partner in a dream?" the scholar asked boldly, though he always felt it was unlikely.

"Really." Jiang Yu rolled her eyes speechlessly and pushed him to hurry up and leave. "Don't worry about that, just hurry up and reincarnate!"

"Then...then you two must treat each other with utmost respect, and your children and grandchildren—"

A house full of children and grandchildren!

Shen Jiuxu's footsteps came from behind. Jiang Yu covered the scholar's mouth and whispered, "Nine Netherworld beings, use them for me. Reincarnate your souls and open the talisman gate immediately."

Before the scholar was ready, he was pushed to a familiar place. Meng Po, her eyes white, tremblingly held a bowl of soup. The little devils on both sides reached out and grabbed his sleeves, calling in unison, "Fang Xiyan, come and be reincarnated."

He looked up and saw the judge holding a thick stack of the Book of Life and Death. He gently turned a page and wrote, "Fang Xiyan, died at the age of twenty. He had no evil deeds in his life and was respectful and filial to his parents. He can be reborn as a human being."

Only now did the scholar feel a sense of relief. He glanced back at Jiang Yu and Shen Jiuxu; the two stood side by side, truly resembling a Daoist couple. Jiang Yu waved to him, and the scholar smiled shyly before following the little devil away.

The Netherworld Fire flickered on and off, clusters of it emanating a chilling aura. The judge sensed the terrifying presence and looked up to see that it was indeed that person again.

He subconsciously smiled, looking at Jiang Yu, the guy who made him tremble with fear. Someone seemed quite satisfied with his tact, waving his hand. The judge breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew on his own.

What did he just say?

Shen Jiuxu stared at Jiang Yu's face. When he arrived, he heard the scholar about to say something, but this man pushed him away guiltily. The judge also had a look of a mouse seeing a cat when he saw him.

"You're quite something, Young Master Jiang."

Jiang Yu pretended to be dumbfounded and looked at him instead, "What?"

Shen Jiuxu stood there steadily.

"Qinggui, you say this scholar is truly a hidden master, able to summon the Judge and return directly to the Netherworld, right?" Jiang Yu laughed and joked, "Hehehe."

Jiang Yu knew when to stop and ran away after saying that.

Jingchuan Temple was now a ruin, its white walls and gray tiles reduced to fragments. He sheepishly slipped out and went straight to the inn, only to find that the inn's windows were shattered and the door was lying on the ground.

The waiter was glaring at him, having pulled up a stool and was sitting there, staring angrily at him.

It’s over!

It seems he's going to lose a lot of money this time.

"Young Master Jiang, can you explain how this happened? How could the inn collapse overnight?"

"Um... this... how much will it cost?"

The waiter had never seen such a straightforward and efficient person in all his years. Unexpectedly, he took out an abacus from behind his back, deftly moved the beads with both hands, and after a series of clinking sounds, he smiled, his eyebrows curving, "Three thousand taels of silver."

Jiang Yu felt a pang of heartache.

The waiter watched with bated breath as everyone rejoiced, while Jiang Yu, with his empty purse, looked on with a worried expression.

"Give."

Jiang Yu reluctantly tossed the money pouch to him, then slumped into the chair as if she had lost all her breath, resting her arm on the side of the table, and looked pitifully at Shen Jiuxu who had chased after her.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Jiuxu looked puzzled, walked over and touched his hair, "You look so dejected."

Jiang Yu pressed her face against his hand and rubbed it against it as usual. "Can you give me some money back?"

The person who was just a moment ago was cold and indifferent, but now he was acting coquettishly towards him. In a moment of impulse, Shen Jiuxu was about to stuff the money bag into his hand when he suddenly realized that he was penniless and had nothing at all.

Secretly regretting his actions, Sect Leader Shen vowed to work hard and earn money. Jiang Yu, as if seeing through everything, sighed silently in his heart; he shouldn't have relied on the person in front of him.

Jiming Village.

A woman in a blue floral dress brought water from outside and walked to the stove. The man inside had also woken up early, dressed, tucked the blankets around the sleeping child, and slowly walked out of the room.

"How is Fang Shusheng's mother?" the man asked his wife, who was washing vegetables, while chopping wood. "She's in poor health and quite old. She lives alone at home. As neighbors, we should visit her more often."

"They're doing well. I went to see her yesterday and brought her some freshly pickled vegetables. Both she and her son like them. I just don't know when Xiyan will be back. You know, after studying for so many years, he should be able to pass the imperial examination." The woman guessed. "If you're worried, I'll go check on him again in a bit."

"Yeah, people have been dying a lot these past few days, so it's best to be careful. We can't get out either. Luckily, Xi Yan left early. It would have been a shame if he had been trapped here and missed his exam."

The sky behind the man was still dark. They had gotten up early and could see several blackbirds with their bodies pressed very low, their wings skimming over the branches. In the distance, a faint firelight caught their attention.

"Is Jingchuan Temple on fire?" He stood up and was about to walk in that direction when a flying sword pierced his heart. His once lustrous skin quickly dried up, as if all his life force had been drained, leaving only a skin covering his 206 bones.

He didn't even have time to make a sound.

It wasn't until the rooster crowed and the children inside the house opened the door to go find food as usual that they discovered the two mummified corpses in the yard.

Beside the scattered firewood was the dull axe. The eagle, having returned from hunting, rolled its eyes and two tender red feet onto the axe, rolling forward with a "gurgling" sound, dropping the wild fruit it was carrying in its mouth to the ground.

Jiang Yu stared at the yellow fruit that had rolled to his legs, not recognizing it for a moment. "Out of kindness," he picked it up and handed it to the original owner, asking, "What is this?"

"Hollow fruit." Shen Jiuxu took it with a strange expression, wiped it a few times with a handkerchief, and handed it to someone who seemed detached from worldly affairs, "You can eat it."

Seeing Jiang Yu hesitate, he simply stretched out his hand in front of him, and the cool skin of the hollow fruit touched Jiang Yu's lips, bringing a sweet and sour smell.

Jiang Yu licked the outer skin. He was used to this action; it was exactly the same as it had been in bed before, and he didn't find anything wrong with it.

But Shen Jiuxu was different. As if struck by lightning, he decisively loosened his grip, and the plump, round fruit fell onto Jiang Yu's collar. He stood there dumbfounded like a wooden statue.

This drew strong dissatisfaction from Jiang Yu, whose eyes were filled with suspicion. "What are you doing?"

"you--"

"What were you two doing sneaking around Jingchuan Temple last night?" A guard suddenly walked in from outside, interrupting the two who were locked in a standoff, and shouted sternly, "Someone said they saw you there this morning. Come with us first."

"What do you mean by sneaking around or being underhanded?" Jiang Yu felt that he was being slandered. "We went there openly and honestly."

"What happened?" Shen Jiuxu stepped forward, blocking Jiang Yu's path.

"People have died again at Jingchuan Temple and in the surrounding area."

The guard, looking impatient, pushed aside the waiter at the door, took out a rough hemp rope from his pocket, and tightly bound Shen Jiuxu and Jiang Yu's wrists together. The hollow fruit rolled a few times on Jiang Yu's body and finally fell to the ground.

"Only the two of you have been to Jingchuan Temple. Come with me!"

The guards were walking in a hurry, so Shen Jiuxu and Jiang Yu had to quicken their pace. However, it was difficult to separate their wrists, and the two bumped into each other after walking for a short while.

Jiang Yu touched his forehead with his only remaining free hand. It was smooth as ever, thankfully without a big bump, otherwise how could he face anyone?

"Feel sorry."

"Sorry won't help, why are you so tall?"

Jiang Yu had no intention of complaining. He was almost at the level of Shen Jiuxu's brow bone. He used to do this often when he was in Shen Wuke. He even had to stand on tiptoe if he wanted to kiss Shen Jiuxu's brow.

But Shen Jiuxu could easily lift his chin and touch him at will, which was simply unreasonable. Jiang Yu was already very tall, and the thought made her angry. She pulled her silent "deceased husband" forward.

"What are you two dawdling about?" the guard urged, turning around. "Another family died last night, and you two are the prime suspects."

“Besides that elder, no one else should have died last night. How could other people have died?” Jiang Yu asked. The guard immediately turned around and fiercely gestured for him to be quiet. He then dragged Jiang Yu to Huaiyin Street.

A group of young men dressed in yellow stood there in neat rows, their black, scroll-patterned grass staffs at their waists indicating their identities. The one at the front had a sparrow hairpin in his hair, and Jiang Yu's brows were slightly lowered; he was from Xingchenque.

They are accustomed to using long staffs, which are specially made of Lantian black jade. The staffs used by ordinary disciples are about an arm's length long. The higher the cultivation level, the longer the staff will be, and the more exquisite the patterns on the jade will be.

The group of teenagers in front of them had probably only been practicing for a short time, and they were using the lowest-grade Star Staff. Their foundations were unstable and their cultivation was still shallow. What was Yunshui City doing inviting these people who knew nothing to come here?

"You two, lift your heads."

The man at the front stepped forward, his eyes cold and sharp, staring at Jiang Yu and Shen Jiuxu for a long while. He felt that such appearances couldn't possibly be those of ordinary people the guards had described.

Jiang Yu smiled kindly at him; this man seemed to have some connection with his friend whom he hadn't seen for a hundred or two hundred years.

Although Shen Jiuxu's face was similar to his previous one, there were still some differences. Those disciples were young and had not been in the sect for more than three years. Moreover, he had been staying in Shen Wuke to help him recover from his injuries for the past few years and rarely went out, so they should not have recognized him.

"Where are you from?" Xi Chuang asked sternly, his face serious.

"No guest in the deep."

The once imposing guards suddenly became flustered. A few days ago, the sect leader of Shen Wuke came over, but they were too low-ranking to even meet him. They had only heard that he was very handsome. If this person was also a disciple of Shen Wuke, and they offended him, they would be in deep trouble.

"Are you Shen Wuke's disciple?"

“No, he just lives there.” Jiang Yu thought to himself, he was right, Shen Jiuxu was the sect leader of Shen Wuke, but he wasn’t.

Xi Chuang moved closer, and Jiang Yu openly showed him that his body was extremely weak, which was not a lie. He had nothing to be ashamed of, but Shen Jiuxu was different.

"Is the person next to you also Shen Wuke?"

Jiang Yu held down Shen Jiuxu's wrist and smiled shyly, "I guess so. I'm his master, and I paid a lot of money to have him protect me. After all, being this good-looking is also very dangerous."

A note from the author:

----------------------

Fang Xiyan:

I'm wondering if my ears are broken?

I strongly suspect they're playing a game where you don't know me and I don't know you, but actually I love you terribly and you love me terribly too—two drama queens.

Sure enough, honest people like us, who are oblivious to the world around us and only focused on studying the classics, are still too outdated! [Eye roll]