Linglong Town (14)

Zhiyu and Chunying both possess heavenly-level magical instruments, and are extremely familiar with each other's aura.

When Ying Heng couldn't find Sandi in the past, he only needed to let Chunying sense the location of the Rain Sword Spirit, and then he would be able to find Sandi by following the sword spirit's location. Sandi would always carry her sword with her wherever she went.

Zhiyu told her that Yingheng's sword was inside.

In the ghost market, inside the Manxiang Pavilion.

Hua Ling was still smiling, leaning against the door frame and looking at Sandy, his eyes fixed on her, as if he was sure that Sandy would come in.

The ghost market was quiet and deserted. Sandy used her spiritual sense to scan and knew that all the merchants who were there during the day were no longer there.

"Miss Sang, do you dare to come in?"

Hua Ling asked with a smile.

Sandy said calmly, "Since you know my name, you must have set up a trap to lure me in from the beginning. You knew I could tell that it was a fake Spring Shadow Sword, so you used it to lure me in alone and drive Wu Hanshu away."

Hua Ling's lips curled up, "Miss Sang is smart."

Sandy asked, "Where are the people in the ghost market?"

"Of course they all left."

"You, a Manxiang Pavilion, have such great power to clear out the entire ghost market?"

"That won't bother Miss Sang."

Sandy nodded in understanding: "The person behind you is not ordinary. Let me think about it. The ghost market is spread all over the four realms. The identity of the person in power is unknown. There are rumors that it is a sect in the Youyun area. Since it has the ability to make the entire ghost market make way for you, it must be an order from the person in power."

The smile on Hua Ling's lips faded a little.

Sandy looked at her quietly without saying a word.

Hua Ling's emotions subsided quickly, but in the blink of an eye he was back to his smiling face.

"Miss Sang is really smart. I was trying to lure you over here. Aren't you here now?"

"Who gave you the Spring Shadow Sword?"

"If you dare to come in, I will tell you."

Hua Ling turned around and walked inside. Sang Dai glanced at the horizon. It was already a quarter past midnight, and Su Xuan should have arrived at the City Lord's Mansion.

They didn't have time to continue wasting time in Linglong Town. In a few days, Su Xuan would be in estrus, so they had to hurry back to the demon world before then.

Sandy withdrew her gaze, walked up the stairs and headed towards the Manxiang Pavilion.

The Manxiang Pavilion was still the same as when she came during the day. There were thousands of lanterns hanging in the pavilion, and the entire Manxiang Pavilion was bright. It was the only light in the ghost market.

Sang Dai followed behind Hua Ling and could see her skirt clearly. The wide skirt was embroidered with many peony flowers.

Hua Ling took her to the hall.

She stopped and Sandy stopped quietly behind her.

Hua Ling didn't turn around.

There is a hall in the middle of the entire Manxiang Pavilion, and on both sides are surrounding floors. You can see the scene in the hall from any floor. Sandy stood in the hall and could see the attics by looking up.

Hua Ling suddenly spoke: "I have two Spring Shadow Swords in my hand, one real and one fake."

Sandy asked, "Did the same person give it to you?"

Hua Ling denied: "No, the real sword was given to me by one person, and the fake one was given to me by another person."

Sandy frowned slightly. Does this mean that there are two groups of people who want to harm her?

Hua Ling looked up, not knowing what she was looking at. The pearl hairpins hung behind her, and the tassels made a crisp sound as they clashed, echoing in the empty and silent Manxiang Pavilion.

She said, "I got the real Spring Shadow Sword 122 years ago. He gave me the sword and told me to keep it safe until he came to get it. I waited for him for more than 100 years, but he never came here."

One hundred and twenty-two years ago.

Sandy's heart skipped a beat. One hundred and twenty-two years ago, she was exactly ten years old, and that was the year Ying Heng defected.

"He told me that the sword was temporarily in my possession, and if he survived, he would come and take it himself."

Sandy's breathing slowed down, and her grip on the sword tightened. "Why did you agree to this?"

Hua Ling continued, "Many years ago, my husband and I were doing business. Although we were not very rich, we lived much better than ordinary people. In the third year of my marriage, an evil spirit escaped into Linglong Town. At that time, my house was on the path of the evil spirit, and it broke in."

"Almost all 130 people in my family died. My husband protected me and hid in the ancestral temple. He went alone to fight the evil spirit. Later, when the evil spirit was about to kill my husband, he came."

They both knew who this "he" was referring to.

Hua Ling said: "He saved my husband. I have never seen a person's sword move so fast. The evil spirit with Yuanying's cultivation was suppressed by him in less than a quarter of an hour. My husband's life was saved."

Sandy asked, “What happened next?”

"My husband and I were very grateful to him. I told him that if he needed my help in the future, he and I would do our best to help. He just smiled and said nothing. We haven't seen each other for a few years since then."

"Until one hundred and twenty-two years ago, he came to see me." Hua Ling looked back and met Sandy's eyes. "But after not seeing him for a few years, he has changed a lot. At that time, he was covered in blood. He was like a completely different person from the gentle and soft person I first met."

Sandy's breathing became lighter and lighter: "He gave the Spring Shadow Sword to you."

"Yes." Hua Ling nodded with a gentle smile, "It rained heavily that day."

The swordsman in white was covered in blood, with his black hair hanging loosely on his body. His once gentle eyes were dull and lifeless. He walked unsteadily and collapsed at the doorstep of Hua Ling's home.

She followed the sound and was startled to see a bloody man at the door. She called her husband to push aside the man's hair and recognized his face.

After he woke up, he left the Spring Shadow Sword to her. The swordsman lowered his proud head and begged softly: "I would like to ask you two for a favor."

Hua Ling knew how to be grateful, so they naturally agreed to their benefactor's request.

"I want to leave Chunying behind. Please keep it for me. If I can survive, I will come to get Chunying in person. If I don't come within ten years... Chunying, you two can destroy it."

The Spring Shadow Sword was left behind.

One hundred and twenty-two years passed in a flash.

Sandy asked hoarsely, "He didn't come, why didn't you destroy Chunying?"

Hua Ling's eyes were calm, and he said softly: "We once thought about destroying Chun Ying after we knew that he destroyed the Guixu Spiritual Vein."

Sandy closed her eyes and it seemed like she was having trouble breathing.

The Chunying Sword was given to Hualing by Ying Heng himself.

After Ying Heng defected from the Sword Sect, he was hunted down and came to Hua Ling's home with his seriously injured body. It was obvious that Wu Hanshu's home was a little further ahead, but Ying Heng did not leave Chunying in the City Lord's Mansion. He knew that if someone knew that Wu Hanshu and he were old friends, the City Lord's Mansion would also be investigated, so Wu Hanshu's home was not safe.

He could only think of Hua Ling's family, an ordinary small trader. No one knew they knew each other, and no one would find Hua Ling.

Hua Ling said: "When he gave us the Chunying Sword, he told us that if we wanted to destroy the sword, we would follow him. On the third day after he left, news from the Immortal Alliance reached Linglong Town that Yingheng the Immortal was the murderer who destroyed the Guixu Spiritual Vein. My husband and I once thought about destroying Chunying."

"Why not destroy it?"

"Because I don't believe it." Hua Ling shook his head and continued, "I don't believe that Ying Heng Xianjun would be the murderer who destroyed Guixu Lingmai and massacred Cangwu Taoist Temple. I have been in business for many years and I can judge people very well. He has a soft heart and would not do such a thing."

"My husband and I thought about it for a long time. We were worried that if the sword was discovered, it would be implicated by Ying Heng Xian Jun. We wanted to destroy Chun Ying countless times."

Before leaving, Ying Heng looked at them with a guilty look in his eyes and just said, "If you want to destroy this sword, you can."

Hua Ling only understood the meaning of this sentence later.

If they destroyed the Spring Shadow Sword in order to protect themselves, Ying Heng would not blame them.

Hua Ling thought of something and said with a smile, "Ying Heng Xian Jun is indeed a very good person. My husband and I decided to come to the ghost market to do business. This place is full of good and bad people, which is suitable for hiding our aura. I opened this Man Xiang Pavilion and waited for him for ten years, but he still didn't come."

Sandy's expression was complicated: "...but you didn't destroy the sword."

"I thought about destroying it. The longer this sword is in my hand, the more uneasy I feel. Now everyone in the four realms wants to kill Ying Heng. If the news of Chunying's appearance in Manxiang Pavilion spreads, my husband and I will be destroyed."

"...Then why not destroy it?"

"My husband wouldn't let me." Hua Ling smiled softly, as if she was thinking of her husband. Her eyes were filled with a gentle smile. "My husband said that one should be loyal to the person who entrusted him with the task. If it weren't for Immortal Lord Ying Heng, my husband and I would have died long ago."

“You’ve waited for over a hundred years.”

"Yes, until a while ago, someone came and gave me a fake Spring Shadow Sword and asked me to lure you over here."

Sandy pursed her lips. She could already guess who did it: "Is it the man behind the ghost market?"

Although Hua Ling was smiling, the smile did not reach her eyes: "Miss Sang, do you know why I used the fake spring shadow to lure you here?"

Sandy lowered her head and looked at the smooth blue bricks, her eyes growing a little colder.

“Yes.” Sandy’s voice was calm. “To kill me.”

"Don't you want to know why we want to kill you even though we know you are Immortal Lord Ying Heng's disciple?"

"I know." Sang Dai raised her eyelids slightly and happened to look Hua Ling in the eye. She could naturally sense the strong murderous intent in Manxiang Pavilion. "Because you have no choice. You don't want to kill me, but someone wants you to kill me."

As soon as the words fell, my feet shook violently and a feeling of weightlessness came over me.

The seven-story Manxiang Pavilion sank rapidly. In a blink of an eye, the tall and magnificent Manxiang Pavilion disappeared from the ground and completely disappeared from the ghost market.

Sang Dai didn't move, and Hua Ling kept smiling.

When the loud roar faded away and the Manxiang Pavilion became silent, Sandy turned around and looked outside.

The wooden door blocked her view, but it could not block the murderous intent that penetrated every inch.

Sang Dai drew out the Zhiyu Sword and said in a cold voice: "Manxiang Pavilion is built on the teleportation formation. If I am not mistaken, we are no longer in Linglong Town, right?"

Hua Ling smiled and said, "Miss Sang is smart."

Sandy asked: "My master's spring shadow is in your hands, do those people outside know about it?"

Hua Ling denied: "Of course I don't know, otherwise you wouldn't have given me the fake Chunying and asked me to lead you here."

Sandy asked back: "You told me those things. Now that they know Xiao Chunying is in your hands, aren't you afraid that they will harm you?"

Hua Ling chuckled, her voice vague and trance-like: "Miss Sang, sometimes when we are forced into a desperate situation, we little people will also have great courage to do something."

The tightly closed door of Manxiang Pavilion was suddenly slammed open, and Sandy looked in.

She saw a huge crowd of people, at least three or four thousand people.

The entire Manxiang Pavilion was moved a hundred miles away, and Sandy saw a wilderness filled with people.

Sandy narrowed her eyes slightly and saw their clothes clearly: "Youyun... Shi family?"

She knew where these people came from.

The crowd dispersed, and a small path opened up, at the end of which stood a woman.

She was wearing a pink dress and had beautiful features. Although it was only October, she was wearing a thick skirt and her face looked particularly pale.

Following behind him was a slender young man in red, who had the blood of a divine beast, but he was groveling in front of a human cultivator.

Sandi and Shi Yao haven't seen each other for a long time. The last time they met was during the war, and it has been more than four months now.

The swordsman responded with a cold face. Shi Yao covered her mouth and coughed twice, but still smiled.

"Sister Sang, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

***

The City Lord's Mansion was quiet and silent. The moonlight was very sparse tonight. After Su Xuan and Sang Dai separated, they quickly rushed to the City Lord's Mansion.

The nine-tailed fox stood on a high place, looking down at the dark and silent City Lord's Mansion.

The silver hair was blown up by the night wind, causing the black robe to rustle.

The guards in the City Lord's Mansion were nothing to him. Su Xuan knew roughly where Wu Hanshu was, so he didn't go anywhere else and headed straight to the southeast.

There was no light in the bamboo forest. Su Xuan teleported all the way there. Outside the stone room at the end of the forest, the formation had already been destroyed by Sang Dai.

Su Xuan didn't need to break the formation and went straight out of the stone chamber.

The stone room was not big. Su Xuan could see everything clearly standing at the door. There were murals hanging on three walls. Apart from the three paintings, there was only one person inside.

He sat on the ground and looked up at the painting. There were more than a dozen wine bottles scattered around him. It seemed that he had been drinking for two days. Su Xuan could feel the drunkenness on him even when he was standing outside.

He did not go in, but waited outside the stone chamber with his hands behind his back.

Su Xuan knew it, and Wu Hanshu had already known that he was coming.

The people in the stone chamber were still drinking. Su Xuan leaned against the stone door and raised his head slightly to look at the three murals.

Except for Wu Hanshu, he had never actually seen the other five people in the painting: Sang Dai's parents, Tan Huai's parents, and Ying Heng. These were people who lived in other people's words.

Su Xuan saw the young man in purple and the woman in green beside him. Sang Dai looked a lot like them, and Ying Heng beside him...

The aura around Sang Dai is very similar to Ying Heng.

"Do you recognize them?"

The man who had been sitting and drinking in the stone chamber for a long time spoke slowly.

Su Xuan replied coldly: "I don't know him."

"Did the woman who came that night know them?"

Su Xuan said: "I know him."

He did remember what happened that night, and remembered that Sandy had come here.

Wu Hanshu was silent for a while, finished the wine in his hand, and placed the bottle on the ground.

He looked at the young man in purple and the woman in green in the painting and chuckled: "She really looks like them..."

"Her eyebrows and eyes resemble Ah Xuan, but her features resemble Bai Yu. Especially because she has Ah Xuan's gentleness and Bai Yu's toughness."

Su Xuan asked calmly: "What is your relationship with the two people in this painting?"

Wu Hanshu opened another bottle of wine and said softly, "We are just ordinary friends."

Su Xuan laughed instead: "Ordinary friends wouldn't worship each other's portraits like this. They dug a stone chamber in the City Lord's Mansion and set up formations around it just to protect a few paintings."

Wu Hanshu did not turn around to look at Su Xuan, and whispered: "Yeah... I don't even dare to tell others that we are friends..."

Su Xuan leaned against the door with his hands clasped around his chest. There were only a few candles lit in the stone room, and the light and shadows were dim.

He was in a hurry to find Sang Dai and didn't want to waste time talking to Wu Hanshu: "Tell me about the disappearance of the independent cultivator in Linglong Town, the identity of the person behind the scenes, and what happened at the Heroes' Gathering that year."

He asked several questions in one breath. Wu Hanshu froze and lowered his head, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Su Xuan waited for nearly a quarter of an hour but he didn't say anything. The little fox frowned and looked a little impatient.

"Wu Hanshu, I don't want to waste time talking to you, you'd better speak honestly."

"What will happen if I don't tell you?"

"I will beat you up."

Among the six people in this painting, Su Xuan respects Immortal Lord Ying Heng because he is Sang Dai's mentor.

Respect Wei Shengxuan and Bai Yuxianjun because they are Sang Dai's parents.

The rest of the people had nothing to do with Sandy, and the little fox himself was not a very polite person.

Wu Hanshu laughed a few times, propped himself up and stood up. Because he drank too much, his steps were a little unsteady, and he turned around staggeringly.

Su Xuan did not change his appearance. He still looked the same as when Wu Hanshu saw him yesterday, except that he had changed his black hair back to his own silver hair.

Wu Hanshu knew Xiao Suxuan's identity from his silver hair.

His face was very red, and his eyes were a little unclear. After seeing Su Xuan, he raised his eyebrows and chuckled: "Why did Lord Demon King come to my place?"

He burped, and Su Xuan immediately took a few steps back, frowning with a look of disgust.

Wu Hanshu covered his mouth: "Sorry, I drank too much..."

Su Xuan became more and more impatient: "Wu Hanshu, are you going to tell me or not?"

Wu Han smiled casually, "You are the Demon King... The person who came that night must be Sword Sect Sang Dai. Now everyone in the four realms knows that the Demon King Su Xuan married Sword Sect Sang Dai. The two Heaven-level spiritual root awakeners became a Taoist couple."

Su Xuan didn't say anything, not denying was his tacit attitude.

Wu Hanshu looked a little dazed, and his voice was much softer: "Sang Dai...she is the disciple of Immortal Lord Ying Heng. Ying Heng never accepts disciples. She looks so much like A Xuan and Bai Yu, so she...she is really the child of A Xuan and Bai Yu..."

Ying Heng never accepted apprentices, but he took the initiative to accept Sang Dai. A man who had not even established a family took a three-year-old baby as his apprentice and raised her by hand.

Wu Hanshu covered his eyes and laughed muffledly: "So they have a blood relationship... I didn't know it all along. I was there during the battle, but I also left Sandy behind... I thought she was just a disciple of the Sword Sect..."

"I didn't know. I really didn't know that she was Axuan and Baiyu's child... If I knew, how could I have abandoned her..."

Su Xuan asked back: "Do you regret it? Do you feel guilty?"

Wu Hanshu murmured: "I regret it... I'm sorry for her... She is Axuan and Bai Yu's child, how could I abandon her like everyone else..."

Su Xuan sneered, thinking that this person was just pretending to be so. He didn't want to waste any more words, so he said in a cold voice, "She is here to investigate what happened back then. If you feel guilty, tell me everything. If you don't, I will tear down the City Lord's Mansion and beat you until you tell me."

Wu Han sighed, "The Demon King is just like your reputation outside, with a bad temper and loves to fight."

Su Xuan looked very impatient. Before coming, Sang Dai had told him not to mind her. Wu Hanshu was a good friend of Ying Heng and her parents, but Sang Dai had nothing to do with him. If she kept silent, she could use some tricks.

Seeing that the karma fire of a certain fox was burning out, Wu Hanshu laughed loudly, picked up a jar of unopened wine on the ground and handed it to Su Xuan.

"My Lord Demon King, why don't you have a few drinks and sit down and have a good chat?"

Su Xuan didn't even look at the bottle of wine he handed over: "No need, I don't drink."

This was of course a lie, and even Wu Hanshu didn't believe it.

He crossed his legs and sat on the ground again, uncorking the wine by himself: "What do you want to ask? Where should I start? Are you talking about our acquaintance at the gathering of heroes, or my progress in cultivation, or the disappearance of the wandering cultivator in Linglong Village?"

Su Xuan said coldly: "From the beginning to the end, tell me everything word for word."

Wu Hanshu held the wine bottle, his eyes blurry: "...You are here, where is Sandy?"

Without waiting for Su Xuan's answer, he smiled and said, "I am really talking nonsense. If you came here, Sandy would definitely go to check the Chunying Sword... But the Chunying Sword is fake, so where is the real Chunying? Who put the fake sword here..."

Su Xuan finally understood one thing: "Don't you know the person behind Xiaochun Shadow Sword?"

"I don't know more than you do." Wu Hanshu raised his eyes and looked at him. The two of them sat and stood. "I just found out that the Spring Shadow Sword was in the ghost market. I went there and found out it was fake. I don't know the real Spring Shadow Sword."

Su Xuan frowned.

If Wu Hanshu cooperated with the man in black, but he didn't know about Xiao Chunying... then the Chunying Sword was not placed there by the person behind the scenes, which means there is a second team that wants to lure Sang Dai to the ghost market.

Could it be that...

The little fox's face suddenly turned gloomy.

It’s Shi Yao.

He should have guessed that it was Shi Yao who used the Spring Shadow Sword to lead Sandy to Manxiang Pavilion.

Rumor has it that the person in charge of the Ghost Market is a family in the Youyun area, and Madam Shi's family is the largest family in the Youyun area. The Shi family is very powerful and secretive. Therefore, even though Madam Shi was clearly involved in the sacrifice of disciples and the Immortal Alliance has already convicted her, the Shi family was still able to protect Madam Shi. I don't know how many spirit stones they secretly stuffed into the hands of certain elders of the Immortal Alliance.

Su Xuan subconsciously wanted to find Sang Dai, but just as he turned around, Wu Hanshu suddenly spoke and stopped him.

"My Lord Demon King, even if there is an ambush in the Ghost Market, your wife can still handle it for a while, but I may not be able to say what I want to say later."

Su Xuan suddenly turned around and looked back.

Black blood oozed from the corners of Wu Hanshu's lips, and black lines gradually crept up from his neck.

His vitality was rapidly draining away, but he was still smiling: "Demon King, do you know what the Four Sufferings are?"

"The four sufferings are poisonous and will lead to ruin and destruction."

"The Four Bitter Poisons can kill all of us except Sandei."

***

Huiqing Mountain is a hundred miles away from Linglongyuan. The mountain is not high, but the terrain is dangerous.

Ying Heng rolled down the mountain road again. Thorns pierced his legs and blood stained his white clothes. He felt no pain and didn't notice anything.

Chunying told him that there was a vine on his left hand side and he could climb up by pulling the vine.

Ying Heng climbed up with difficulty, groping for the branch he used to explore the way.

The swordsman in white was now in a disheveled state, not even close to his former neatness.

He talked with Chunying in the sea of ​​consciousness.

At first, Chunying was just showing the way. She didn't say much, just like Zhiyu.

Until Ying Heng fell into the ravine again. If a mortal fell like this, he would have died long ago. However, Ying Heng was a person with awakened spiritual roots of heaven. Even if he had no spiritual roots, he had undergone heavenly thunder body training and his physique was incomparable to that of ordinary people.

This time there was no place to climb around, and Ying Heng fell down several times when he climbed up.

He felt a little exhausted, so he sat on a boulder to gather his strength.

Chunying Sword suddenly spoke: "Master."

Ying Heng responded blankly: "Chun Ying, is there any road around?"

Chunying did not answer him.

It seemed to sense something and remained silent for a long time.

Ying Heng knew Chunying very well, and seemed to be thinking of something else. His hands on his knees clenched unconsciously.

"Harukage...what did you feel?"

Ying Heng could hear nothing. The sound of the wind, the chirping of cicadas, and the rustling of leaves were all just endless vanity and silence to him.

He can only communicate with the outside world through the sea of ​​consciousness.

The sword spirit in the sea of ​​consciousness told him: "Daidai is here."

Ying Heng was very confused at first.

His voice was hoarse: "...What did you say?"

"Daidai is here. I sensed the Zhiyu Sword. The sword spirit of Zhiyu is trying to contact me, but I am now trapped in the barrier and I cannot contact it."

Chunying can only use the master-servant contract with Yingheng to contact him thousands of miles away, but she cannot communicate with Zhiyu, with whom she has no contractual relationship.

It can receive Zhiyu's message, but cannot respond to it.

Ying Heng asked in a trembling voice: "Daidai...where did Daidai go?"

"We are now in Youyun City. Dai Dai was... surrounded and killed."

Ying Heng suddenly stood up and climbed up regardless of anything.

He seemed to have suddenly gained a lot more strength. He grabbed the rocks beside him and climbed up with all his strength.

I fell down several times and finally climbed up with great difficulty.

Ying Heng stood up and hurried down the mountain.

He couldn't see anything and could only rely on Chunying's guidance.

Chunying said: "Daidai is here to look for me."

Ying Heng's breath trembled: "I'll go find you."

"I'm going to look for Dede."

"Chun Ying, I'm coming to find you"