Chapter 037

Cheng Hui thought for a moment and then asked, "During that time, did anything else strange happen in the capital? Or...did anyone else die of illness?"

Ye Qi pondered for a moment, his expression solemn. "I've never worked in the capital before, but I remember a friend I was chatting with mentioned something. He said that in a certain year, many high-ranking officials in the capital died of illness. Calculating the time, it seems to match. Could it be..."

Everyone looked at the portraits on the wall at the same time, and suddenly felt a chill.

"Can a painting cause a person to die of illness?" Xin Erniang couldn't help but shiver.

Cheng Hui observed the words carefully and found that each of the portraits was vivid and full of charm and connotation, as if the people on the paper would walk out of them at any time.

"These paintings..." Aqiu also looked at the paintings through Cheng Hui's eyes. With his identity, even though he had not yet mastered the art of soul, he had come into contact with many similar techniques. Therefore, when he looked at these paintings, it was more like looking at the soul of a person.

"Let the big monk try to perform a ritual to liberate the soul." Aqiu said.

"Master Xuan Tan, can you help the deceased souls to be reborn here?" Cheng Hui asked.

Xuan Tan was a little surprised, but did not ask any further questions. He sat down cross-legged on the spot and chanted scriptures for salvation.

Buddhist chants echoed, and soon the paintings in the room changed. The figures in the paintings showed painful expressions, and they struggled, as if trying to escape from the paper.

"What's going on?" Xin Erniang was shocked and almost attacked the paintings in excitement.

"Damn it! Such a cruel method!" Ye Qi was surprised and then furious: "This painter Xie actually forcibly took away the soul! What does he want to do?"

"Are these living souls?" Xin Erniang was shocked. These living souls were the souls forcibly extracted from living people. Even a tiny amount would have a huge impact on ordinary people.

The most obvious thing is that without this life force, people will gradually become weak and unable to resist diseases. Even a simple typhoid fever can take a person's life.

Moreover, living souls are excellent supplements for demons, and certain evil methods can be used to utilize living souls to achieve many incredible effects.

It is said that there was a concubine in the previous dynasty who relied on swallowing living souls to maintain her beauty. Later, she even bewitched the tyrant emperor and used the living souls to strengthen her body and even achieve immortality. It can be said that the concubine absolutely contributed to the fall of the previous dynasty.

Of course, news like this will definitely not be spread out, and the Demon Suppression Department of this dynasty cracks down very severely on such evil things. Anyone involved will have their property confiscated and the family exterminated, and basically no one will be left alive. The purpose is also to prevent similar evil methods from leaking out.

"Wait..." Cheng Hui suddenly thought of something and looked back at the three paintings. "Painter Xie's painting of Meng Lang can be understood as revenge against Meng Lang, but why did he paint his own wife and daughter?"

Everyone thought about it and realized that, yes, Painter Xie must be aware of the consequences of having one's soul taken away. Then why did he kill his own wife and daughter?

These paintings, which contain human souls, have become evil objects, and taking them out will inevitably lead to serious consequences.

Master Xuan Tan's salvation had no other effect besides allowing them to manifest. After all, they were not spirits, but merely a trace of living souls.

In order to prevent these souls from being tortured any further and to prevent anyone from using them to cause trouble, the few of them searched the secret room again. After finding no other paintings, they burned all the paintings.

As soon as they walked out of the secret room, they felt a cold wind blowing.

"Be careful!" Aqiu exclaimed.

Cheng Hui only felt a black shadow flash before his eyes, and a pair of sharp claws reflecting cold light grabbed his hand fiercely.

"What the hell! What the hell is this?" Cheng Hui was shocked and thought, it's over, there will be blood this time.

But unexpectedly, his hand twisted in an almost weird way, a red light flashed at the fingertips, and he slashed fiercely -

“Ouch!”

The black shadow let out a scream and suddenly fled away from Cheng Hui. After running a few steps, its internal organs fell to the ground.

When everyone looked closely, they found that the black shadow was actually a weasel. It fell to the ground, twitched twice, and then died.

"Wow!" Xin Erniang exclaimed, and her eyes changed when she looked at Cheng Hui.

I never knew you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, were so vicious...

Thinking of how she had provoked Cheng Hui before, Xin Erniang couldn't help but shudder.

The way Ye Qi and Xuan Tan looked at Cheng Hui also changed.

Before, they always thought that Cheng Hui was a newcomer to this industry, and even if he had some skills, he probably wouldn't be very strong. But the move he just made was quite extraordinary.

The two of them could also get rid of the weasel, but it would not be as easy as Cheng Hui.

Just when everyone was thinking about underestimating Cheng Hui, they didn't realize that Cheng Hui himself was also confused.

My hands won't obey me anymore, they have their own ideas..._(:з」∠)_

"Aqiu? Is that you?"

"It's me..." Lin Qingqiu was actually also surprised.

Cheng Hui's mouth twitched: "Can you control my body?"

"It's no use now..." Lin Qingqiu tried to control Cheng Hui's body again, but Cheng Hui didn't respond at all.

Cheng Hui breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't completely trust A Qiu... but he couldn't beat him or drive him away, so this was the only way.

But if Aqiu can control his body, then it will be a big trouble. The world of cultivation has never lacked various means of taking over other people's bodies.

Although we don’t know why Aqiu can control his body, it is obvious that such a method cannot be used at any time, so there is no need to worry for the time being, or there is no point in worrying.

Sighing silently, Cheng Hui felt that he was too miserable after traveling through time... He died at the beginning of the main world, and then he was resurrected from the dead. He was finally noticed by a beautiful woman, but he forgot what she looked like before he even had the chance to say a word to her.

I encountered a golden finger that allowed me to travel through time twice, and there was also an amnesiac soul in my head. Amnesia would be fine, but I actually have a way to control my own body. This is really...

Lucky E is just like this, right?

"Let's talk about this later. Let's see what's going on with that weasel first." Lin Qingqiu instinctively felt something was wrong and immediately interrupted Cheng Hui's thoughts.

Sure enough, Cheng Hui had no time to think about those things after being interrupted by him. He was also very curious about why the weasel attacked him.

Ye Qi and Master Xuan Tan were already checking the weasel's body.

The weasel died a miserable death. Its entire abdomen was cut open by Cheng Hui's fingers, and its internal organs fell to the ground.

It has to be said that this weasel has some skills. Its fur is almost invulnerable to swords and guns, which is why Cheng Hui's move is so powerful.

After the two of them checked, they both felt that the appearance of the weasel was very suspicious.

Among the four of them, Cheng Hui and Xin Erniang's cultivation was not high - at least before Cheng Hui was exposed, the two were about the same.

When they came out just now, Ye Qi was in the lead and Cheng Hui was the third. The weasel was able to hide from Ye Qi's detection, and it was obvious that he had a talent in this area. Then why didn't he sneak attack Xin Erniang, who came out second, but chose Cheng Hui?

You know, no matter how great its talent is, the longer it hides, the easier it will be to be discovered. There must be some special reason why it chose Cheng Hui as its target.

Everyone looked him up and down, and soon focused their attention on Cheng Hui's hands.

"Its target is these three paintings?"

Everyone had a clear understanding in their hearts.

"It seems that these three paintings are very important items. Please be sure to protect them well, Mr. Cheng."

As soon as Master Xuan Tan finished speaking, he saw Cheng Hui had already handed a painting to him.

Master Xuan Tan: ...? ? ?

Cheng Hui chuckled, "Master, I'm not strong enough. I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do it. Besides... it's really not safe to have all three paintings on me. Why don't we each have one? That way, even if something unexpected happens, we won't be completely helpless."

Ye Qi and Xuan Tan looked at each other and felt that what Cheng Hui said made sense.

Xin Erniang puffed up her cheeks unhappily, but she also knew that she was the weakest among them. She couldn't even beat the weasel just now. If she really let him take the flower, that would be a trap for him.

The three of them each took a painting, and Cheng Hui took the one that belonged to Miss Xie.

The reason he took this pair was because Aqiu reminded him.

Judging from what happened before, Painter Xie and his wife may not be as loving as the old housekeeper recorded. Apart from anything else, just looking at the paintings Painter Xie painted, it is clear that there must be something going on.

Xie Ying is the dream lover. Madam Xie appears and disappears inexplicably. There are problems with both of them. What about Miss Xie who also has her portrait painted?

Is she really as pure and innocent as she appeared in that previous memory?

It’s hard to say whether others believe it or not, but Aqiu doesn’t believe it anyway.

In other words, apart from Cheng Hui, Lin Qingqiu has never trusted anyone, including the three people who traveled with Cheng Hui.

Just when everyone was discussing where to investigate next, a large number of wandering ghosts and monsters suddenly appeared around.

Most of these ghosts and monsters are not very powerful, but there are a lot of them, and they are all covered in blood. You can tell at a glance that they cultivate by killing people.

If it was a one-on-one fight, these evil creatures would be no match for anyone present, but their numbers were simply too great.

Ye Qi knew something was wrong as soon as he saw it, and shouted, "Go!" Then he led everyone to retreat while fighting.

Relying on his own strength, Cheng Hui was able to deal with one or two, but as the saying goes, there were too many evil creatures, and the quantitative change led to the qualitative change, and soon several people were injured.

The long sword in Ye Qi's hand flew around, and several ghosts were destroyed with every strike, but then more ghosts rushed up.

Master Xuan Tan held Buddhist beads in his hands to protect everyone. If it weren't for his magic circle that could resist some of the ghosts, several people would have been overwhelmed by the ghosts by now.

Seeing that the Buddhist beads in Master Xuan Tan's hand gradually became dim, Ye Qi suddenly screamed and was knocked away.

Immediately, Cheng Hui felt a strong pressure suddenly coming down. He felt as if he had been hit hard and spat out a mouthful of blood.

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