Madam Shangguan frowned when she heard the question. "I don't know who they are. I've never seen the person who taught the ancestor the skills. I only know that his cultivation is extremely high and the ancestor is very afraid of him. I did see the woman. She was wearing a purple robe and her face was not very clear. She was holding a child in her arms. She sounded like she was in her fifties, very old."
"Is she an old woman?"
"No." Madam Shangguan shook her head. "That's what's strange. Judging from her appearance, she's very young, only in her early twenties."
This made Fu Changling feel a little strange. Qin Yan subconsciously glanced at him. Seeing Fu Changling's bewildered expression, Qin Yan turned his head and asked, "Anything else?"
“No more.”
Madam Shangguan led them along the long corridor, speaking wearily, "I saw her on my way home. She told me it was going to rain heavily and told me to take a break before returning. I listened to her, and she left. When I got back, the Shangguan household was in turmoil. I heard other people's descriptions and knew it must be this woman."
"Were you responsible for the disappearance of these people in Baishui Town?" Seeing that he could not get any more information out of the question, Qin Yan changed the topic.
"Yes." Madam Shangguan's voice trembled. "We did it. I tried to persuade the master, but he wouldn't listen. He said we'd sacrificed our daughter, so what would these people do? The ancestor will soon reach the Nascent Soul stage. Once he breaks through, he'll reshape his spiritual roots during the heavenly tribulation, and we won't have to do all this anymore."
"In that case," Qin Yan looked at Madam Shangguan, his tone filled with doubt, "What are you regretting?"
"I've seen Yuehua."
Madam Shangguan spoke quickly, "Two years ago, I dreamed of her. She asked me why I didn't save her. The master told me it was just a dream. He said Yuehua had died a long time ago and had gone into reincarnation."
"Then people started dying in the village. I initially thought they were being sent to the ancestor, until last night..."
Madam Shangguan's voice trembled: "Yuemin also died last night."
"You knew from the beginning that it wasn't Master Fu who killed her?"
"I know," Madam Shangguan's breathing became a little irregular. "Last night, Yue Mingsi came to see Master, and I heard them talking. They said Yue Min was dead, and Yue Mingsi wanted to use this to frame Master Fu. If he succeeded, the Yue family would give him 100,000 spirit stones and recommend three disciples above the Qi Refining Stage to join Dao Sect. This way, the future of the Shangguan family's disciples would be assured."
"They also said that Yuemin might have been killed by Yuehua."
As Mrs. Shangguan spoke, tears slowly fell.
"They said Yuehua is not dead, her body is still in the formation, and the ancestor is still waiting for her soul to return to the formation, but her soul is causing chaos everywhere. She killed Yuemin, and later, she will kill everyone in the Shangguan family, including my child and her brother."
"She doesn't have reincarnation... When practicing a formation with humans, how can the death of the person at the center of the formation just end it? She has to stay in that formation for generations, so how can there be reincarnation?!"
Madam Shangguan clutched the lantern tightly, her voice rising. "They traded the life of one of my daughters for the glory of their sect, and now they're going to trade the life of another for a hundred thousand spirit stones and a bright future. Why... why?"
A dark aura emerged from Madam Shangguan's body, and the black mist outside the surrounding barrier seemed to be summoned by something and began to desperately hit the barrier. Shangguan Yuan's mouth was blocked, and he kept "wuuuu" incessantly. Fu Changling pulled the handkerchief blocking Shangguan Yuan's mouth, and Shangguan Yuan shouted, "Run to the rockery ahead! Quickly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the barrier suddenly shattered, and black fog came overwhelming. Qin Yan swung his sword towards the rockery, and cut a path for Fu Changling and Shangguan Yuan in the black fog. At the same time, Fu Changling raised his hand and swung it hard, smashing Shangguan Yuan towards the rockery, and then ran towards the rockery at a rapid speed.
Qin Yan glanced at Madam Shangguan on the corridor and saw that her eyes had turned blood red and black mist was coming out of her body. She was standing on the corridor holding a lantern, completely blending in with the black mist.
Qin Yan no longer hesitated, and with a tap of his toes, he chased after Fu Changling.
Fu Changling ran very fast and caught up with Shangguan Yuan who was thrown in the air in an instant. When Shangguan Yuan was about to land, he kicked him again and kicked him directly onto the rockery.
The rockery collapsed with a loud bang. Fu Changling grabbed Shangguan Yuan and, without caring about the Fu family rules, he asked anxiously, "Where is the entrance?!"
Shangguan Yuan was stunned. Fu Changling raised his hand and slapped him twice: "Entrance!"
These two slaps woke Shangguan Yuan up. He quickly said, "Your right side is buried by rocks."
Qin Yan had also arrived at this moment. Upon hearing Shangguan Yuan's words, he raised his sword and cleared the area to Fu Changling's right. The black mist, briefly dispersed by Qin Yan, regrouped, this time even more aggressive. Fu Changling knew he was no match for it, so he took advantage of Qin Yan's moment to pounce, opened the basement's lid, and jumped down. Shangguan Yuan was thrown in while he was still in mid-air, and then Qin Yan jumped in, slamming the lid shut just before the black mist could burst into the basement. The only sound that followed was the lid's thumping, a frightening sound.
There was a piece of talisman paper stuck on the lid, swaying with the sound of the collision. Fu Changling quickly pressed down the talisman and raised his hand to write a dozen more to reinforce the lid.
This stabilized the lid a lot, and the three men finally had a chance to breathe. After staring at each other for a moment, Shangguan Yuan suddenly took a few steps back, staring at Fu Changling, swallowed his saliva and said, "Don't kill me, I'm just doing someone else's job."
Seeing his attitude, Fu Changling curled his lips and laughed sarcastically. He used his fan to cut the ropes that bound Shangguan Yuan, stood up, turned around and walked forward, tapping his shoulder with the Qinggu fan and said, "Alright, let's go."
"You can speak."
Qin Yan stood behind him, his voice rather cold. Fu Changling turned around, fanning himself with a touch of caution. He looked at Qin Yan, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Why, am I bothering you?"
Qin Yan didn't say anything. He stared at him. After a long time, he slowly raised the corners of his mouth and laughed sarcastically.
"Good acting."
These words really scared Fu Changling. When had he ever seen Qin Yan like this? Qin Yan was a man who would draw his sword at any moment. His sarcastic words made Fu Changling panic.
He was about to open his mouth to explain when the outer cover was suddenly knocked against him. Shangguan Yuan was so frightened that he quickly stepped forward and said anxiously, "Stop arguing, both of you. Let's go."
"Where is this place?"
Fu Changling's attention was drawn to Shangguan Yuan. He turned to look at him. Shangguan Yuan hurried forward and said hurriedly, "This is the ancestor's secret room. There is a passage leading to the outside. Let's run out and find someone. Go to the Fu family or the Hongmeng Heavenly Palace... There must be someone who can help us!"
Fu Changling and Qin Yan exchanged a glance. Although neither of them said anything, they both understood the other's decision from their eyes. They walked forward together, Shangguan Yuan leading the way. The secret room was full of traps. Although these traps were not a big problem for Fu Changling and Qin Yan, Shangguan Yuan still carefully activated them in front to avoid slowing down the team.
Fu Changling crossed his arms and tapped his shoulders lightly with his fan. After a while, he heard Qin Yan say, "Why did Wushi Luo suddenly become so powerful?"
According to their predictions, Qin Yan's barrier shouldn't have broken so early. Fu Changling didn't expect Qin Yan to ask such a question to someone like him who was in the Foundation Establishment stage. He hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "One possibility is that she ate Yue Mingsi."
After eating a Jindan cultivator, his strength suddenly increased dramatically, which was also the result of these evil tricks.
But she was able to devour a Jindan cultivator so quietly, so the strength of Wushi Luo was indeed beyond their imagination.
Fu Changling's heart sank, but Qin Yan beside him didn't care, as if the strength of Wushi Luo didn't make much difference to him.
He spoke again, but with another question: "Why are you pretending to have lost your temper?"
"Those below the Jindan level in the Fu family are not allowed to make a sound. Isn't this something everyone in Yunze knows?"
Fu Changling glanced at him lazily, but Qin Yan was not satisfied with the answer.
"There is a forbidden spell."
"right."
"Why didn't you?"
"I figured it out."
Fu Changling spread his hands and said, "I'm a genius, I was able to break the forbidden spell early on. Is that strange?"
"You have just established your foundation."
Qin Yan reminded him, and Fu Changling choked up. He suddenly felt that Yun Yu's idea was a good one. So he sighed, pushed his hair back from his chest, and said with emotion: "Fellow Daoist Qin, I won't hide it from you. In fact, although I am only at the Foundation Establishment stage, I am very smart. It's just that my status is special. I am an illegitimate child. You know, illegitimate children have a hard life. I have to be careful of my stepmother and my younger brother, so that they won't be jealous of my talent. Fellow Daoist Qin, such a complicated family relationship, someone like you will probably not understand."
Qin Yan was silent for a while. Fu Changling thought for a moment and then said indirectly, "Come to think of it, you're the weird one. My Fu family has nothing to do with your Hongmeng Palace. Why are you so kind to save someone?"
"I'm not saving you," Qin Yan said calmly. Fu Changling pricked up his ears when he heard him confront the question directly. Then he heard Qin Yan say, "I'm saving myself."
"Save yourself?" Fu Changling was a little puzzled. "Save what self?"
Qin Yan fell silent. Fu Changling knew that he was a taciturn person. If he didn't want to talk, no one could make him speak. Just like when the Immortal Alliance wanted him to reveal more information, he refused. Even if his soul was searched, he could still self-destruct his sea of consciousness.
Qin Yan didn't say anything, and Fu Changling didn't say much either. In fact, he was a talkative person. If it were someone else, he would have probably been chattering non-stop a long time ago.
But this is Qin Yan.
Qin Yan, who killed his entire family back then.
Fu Changling was thinking about the past, secretly glancing at the person next to him out of the corner of his eye.
Seventeen-year-old Qin Yan seemed much gentler than he remembered.
In his previous life, the first time they met up close was when he was twenty years old, at the Fu family.
It was a rainy day with a cold wind. The corpses of all the members of the Fu family fell beside him. Qin Yan walked towards him slowly. The corners of his white gown were stained with mud. His pale face looked morbidly thin. He looked at him quietly. From his eyes to his sword, there was a creeping coldness.
At that time, Fu Changling felt that Qin Yan was cold.
At least, there is no human warmth.
He couldn't help but ask him, "Qin Yan, are you acting like this now, worthy of your master and your sect?"
Qin Yan was speechless. He looked at him quietly, with no sadness or joy in his blood-red eyes. After a moment, he half-knelt down, took out a jade pendant from his waist, and placed it in his palm.
The jade pendant was an old piece of jade that had been rubbed for a long time. It felt smooth and lustrous, but its color had long since faded.
He said: "Fu Changling, a man like jade, will only know his true nature after experiencing the pain of life and death."
Fu Changling didn't understand what was said. He was breathing softly, and the jade pendant in his sight was stained with blood. It lay in the palm of his hand, without any temperature.
At that moment, Qin Yan pierced his chest with his sword. The sword was steady and cold, just like him, in his past and present lives, he seemed to have no emotions at all.
He was ruthless when he killed him, and he was also ruthless when he destroyed himself later.
Fu Changling's heart trembled slightly. He didn't dare to think too much, so he curled up the corners of his mouth, lowered his eyes, and put the fan to his lips to cover up the shock in his emotions.
In the current situation, these emotions are inappropriate. If your mind is disturbed, you will easily lose your rationality.
It may not be a problem for others, but after these few decades of blood and gore, Fu Changling has clearly understood that if a person loses his sense of proportion, it is like hanging his life on the edge of a cliff, and life or death depends entirely on luck.
Seventeen-year-old Fu Changling might still put his life in the hands of others.
But he is no longer seventeen years old now.
The author has something to say:
【Small Theater】
Shangguan Yuan: Even if I am a villain, you can't kick me around like a ball.
Fu Changling: I can’t carry it anymore. Let me send you back to your wife.
Shangguan Yuan: Do you think my feet will feel better if I hug myself tighter?
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