He drew his sword and pointed it at me.
Chapter Twenty-One
The skeleton was curled up in a square cabinet, crammed into the small space in an extremely twisted arc.
At his feet was a jade plaque with the character "Liu" printed on it.
"It seems the dead person is from the Liu family." Zhou Yulin stared at the skeleton, a strange question suddenly popping into her mind, "Why are his clothes gone, and there's only a pile of bones lying there?"
Jiang Zanghua guessed, pondering, "It's probably because if it was wearing clothes, it wouldn't fit in, so it took them off. So it's very likely that it died in the dead of winter, and the clothes were very thick, so this closet simply couldn't fit them."
"Maybe the murderer was afraid that future generations would be able to identify the victim based on their clothing?" Chen Muyao walked in from the doorway.
“The quality of hairpins and clothing can often indicate a person’s social status and power.” Chen Mu pointed to the skeleton and explained slowly and deliberately, “This skeleton has no clothes, no shoes, and no other decorations. What’s even more interesting is that…”
Chen Mu drew a circle on the white bone's teeth with his hand, "There's a tooth missing here."
Gu Ling asked, puzzled, "What does this mean? Did the deceased fall or get slapped in the face before?"
Zhou Yulin chuckled and hooked her arm around Gu Ling's shoulder. "Gu Ling, they've already asked you to look at your teeth. Don't you think this tooth is any different from other teeth?"
Gu Ling mustered his courage and leaned closer before he could see clearly that there was still half a tooth left, instead of a whole tooth missing. He couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "This...!"
"It's true that teeth can fall out under external force, but it's a whole tooth that falls out, not half a tooth. It's much more difficult to achieve this naturally, so it's most likely done by a person."
Chen Mu shook his head. "That's right. If that's the case, then I'm more inclined to believe that the deceased in front of us was the owner of this place, and that he was a portly man."
Gu Ling was confused again. "Why does it have to be Master Liu? Why can't it be someone from out of town?"
Zhou Yulin hadn't expected Gu Ling's question to be so insightful. However, her thoughts were indeed similar to Chen Muyao's. She said, "Gu Ling, let me ask you a question. As the owner, would you really put the remains of the people you've killed in such an obvious cabinet that anyone could open? You wouldn't."
Zhou Yulin said confidently, "Because this is your home, you would definitely find a place where no one would notice you on a normal day to hide. But if you were an outsider, and you killed the owner in a panic, your subconscious thought would be to hide in the closet so that no one would see you. It's a kind of habitual thinking."
Jiang Zanghua stood to the side, and the more he looked at the two people squatting on the ground examining the remains, the more they seemed to have a romantic connection. He belatedly realized—
Help! Intellectual homosexuality is the real thing, okay?!
You know, I absolutely love the way she explains things!
He resisted the urge to pick up a pen and write ten thousand words, and instead took Gu Ling's hand and whispered, "Don't ask anymore, it will make you look stupid."
Gu Ling: ...I'm just a baby who loves learning.
As Chen Muyao finished speaking, she picked up the jade pendant next to the skeleton, a jade pendant with the character "Liu" printed on it.
The outline of this jade pendant seems familiar; I feel like I've seen it somewhere before.
Chen Muyao recalled the dent on the stone lion that was firmly fixed to the table in the hall. The outline of the jade pendant in front of him roughly matched the one on the stone lion.
When Zhou Yulin saw Chen Muyao pick up the jade pendant, she couldn't help but think to herself, "As expected of someone from the Nine Star Pavilion, her demeanor and posture are impeccable; she doesn't show the slightest fear."
Actually, Zhou Yulin was very afraid of dead people when she was young. At that age, she was required to enter the secret realm and fight with others. At that time, she accidentally hurt a disciple and caused him to be eliminated. For three whole days, she had nightmares.
She grabbed a pillow and ran to her senior brother's place, only to find the empty attic completely deserted. Clutching the pillow, she was nearly scared to tears by the desolation. Just then, she heard the sound of a zither coming from the side hall, and with her last bit of courage, she walked towards it.
As soon as the door was opened, the music stopped abruptly. Looking at the empty side hall, Zhou Yulin's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground against the doorpost, her mind filled with thoughts of demons and monsters leaving. Just then, someone gently touched her head from behind.
"...Senior Brother?"
Turning around, the radiant immortal figure came into view, and Xuan Qingxian chuckled, "Junior Sister, why are you crying like this?"
Zhou Yulin quickly wiped away her tears, her eyes brimming with tears as she clutched her senior brother's snow-white robe, which was scented with the fragrance of pine from the mountains. "Senior brother, why does this zither still make sounds even when no one is playing it? It's so scary, waaaaaah—"
Xuan Qingxian pushed open the door, and his gaze dimmed slightly the moment it fell upon the guqin. He forced a smile, patted Zhou Yulin's head, and asked, "Then what are you doing running to this haunted place of your senior brother so late at night? Hmm?"
Xuan Qingxian's tone was very gentle, and for a moment, Zhou Yulin even forgot that she was crying. She looked away, feeling a little awkward, "I accidentally eliminated my junior brother in the secret realm..."
"It's not your fault."
“It’s fortunate that this time it happened in a secret realm, but what if in the future, I really have to stab my fellow disciples with this sword, or even…” At this point, Zhou Yulin raised her head and looked directly into Xuan Qingxian’s eyes, “What if I hurt my senior brother?”
"So, Junior Sister is afraid of this?"
Zhou Yulin didn't dare tell Xuan Qingxian about her nightmare, she just nodded, her face showing undisguised fear.
Xuan Qingxian's deep gaze blended seamlessly with the darkness of the night, revealing no extra emotions. However, when Zhou Yulin looked up again, he returned to normal, his voice as gentle as ever. At the time, Zhou Yulin did not understand the extra emotions, but she did not understand them until later.
It is a sense of helplessness and compromise that those in positions of power have towards the world, or perhaps it is a person's acceptance and resignation to the vicissitudes of fate.
"Zhou Yulin".
He had never called her name so seriously before.
“Draw your sword and point it at me.”
He taught Zhou Yulin to draw her sword and point it at his chest.
"Then face your fears, junior sister. Running away is never the best solution. There will always be things you have to face alone. If that day ever comes, it will be because our positions will be at odds."
At this point, his smile widened. He leaned down and looked directly at his ten-year-old junior sister. "Don't be soft-hearted. Maybe you can kill your senior brother." He used the word "kill," not "defeat."
Could it be that he already foresaw back then that he would later become a demon?
Zhou Yulin felt a chill run down her spine when she thought about this.
If his senior brother could foresee his own fate, then was his death also part of his calculations? From Jiang Zanghua, Zhou Yulin learned about the recent situation of the Xuanling Sect.
After her death, the sect leader of Xuanling Sect sent people to escort his eldest brother, Xuan Qingxian, to the dungeon. However, Xuan Qingxian injured the escorting disciple and escaped, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
Many people were saddened by Zhou Yulin's death, and the master was absent-minded every day. It was also around that time that Xu Zuiyue began to receive attention.
I heard that a disciple surnamed Zong from the Xuanling Sect was injured and escaped while escorting Xuan Qingxian. He specifically requested to go and find Xuan Qingxian, but the sect leader refused.
The sect leader of the Xuanling Sect has recently encountered problems with his cultivation of magical power. It's pitiful that his eldest disciple has fallen into demonic possession, his second disciple has gone missing, his fourth disciple was stabbed to death by his eldest disciple, and his only remaining disciple has no desire to inherit his mantle.
On the contrary, he was quite interested in Buddhist magic.
Zhou Yulin only wanted to say one thing: her third senior brother's rebellious phase lasted longer than her life.
The third senior brother's name is Lingxing. He is indifferent to fame and fortune and is not interested in anything. If you say he is cold-hearted, he is not as cold-hearted as the eldest senior brother. He is only focused on cultivation. If you say he is noisy, he is not as lively as the second senior brother who is always busy paying attention to gossip.
He was a very easygoing person. He was raised by his master as a son from a young age, and the only requirement he had was that he not die.
Zhou Yulin was born with five spiritual roots. She broke through to the Golden Core stage before the age of sixteen. Her eldest brother broke through to the Golden Core stage at the age of eighteen, her second brother broke through to the Golden Core stage at the age of nineteen, and her third brother, it is said, finally broke through to the Golden Core stage with great difficulty the year after her death.
Zhou Yulin understood her third senior brother's reluctance to inherit the throne, so after her second senior brother disappeared and her eldest senior brother fell into demonic possession, she cultivated desperately, hoping to shoulder a responsibility as soon as possible. But everything...
Zhou Yulin could only sigh at the unpredictability of life.
"Ms. Zhou, don't fall behind," Gu Ling reminded her. "Young Master is going to put the jade over the stone lion."
Coming to her senses, Zhou Yulin nodded in agreement and followed the three of them. "You call her 'Beauty'?" It was Chen Muyao's voice, his tone quite playful.
Gu Ling, a seasoned connoisseur of good looks, nodded and praised her unequivocally, "She's beautiful, so naturally she should be called a beauty."
Chen Mu curled his lips into a sneer and said sarcastically, "All show and no substance." In other words, this was the only thing Zhou Yulin had to offer.
"Young Master Chen is too kind."
Zhou Yulin retorted indifferently, "At least I won't be called a gigolo when I walk down the street."
Chen Mu chuckled and ignored him.
As he expected, the jade fit perfectly into the recess. Once the jade closed, a light array appeared before everyone's eyes, which was extremely familiar to Zhou Yulin and Jiang Zanghua.
Zhou Yulin was stunned. How could there be a teleportation array here?
Before they could stop them, the group vanished into the depths of the desolate forest. Meanwhile, on the other side, atop the Yin-Yang Spirit Platform stood an elderly woman with white hair. She wore a dark purple robe with slits up to her thighs, waved a peach wood staff in her hand, and muttered some ancient incantation.
"Grandma, will praying to Heaven for a man really work?"
Having watched the old woman dance for three days and three nights straight, Yu Tao'er, with dark circles under her eyes, sincerely asked, "How about we go to the Hehuan Sect instead..."
With a loud bang, something actually fell squarely into the center of the magic circle. "Heaven has granted our request! Thank you, Heaven, for your blessing! Thank you, Heaven, for your blessing!" Seeing the old woman's ecstatic expression, Yu Tao'er curiously stepped forward to take a look. Wow! It really was a handsome man full of masculine energy.
However, Yu Tao'er shook her head regretfully and sighed, saying that she should cherish the fact that she was still full of vitality now. The old woman had not eaten meat for ten years, and she might not be alive and kicking again in half a quarter of an hour.
The lucky person who fell was none other than Jiang Zanghua. Even while unconscious, he didn't forget to clutch the script to his chest.
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