Chapter 146 Yin-Yang White Bones (Sixteen)
Outside Heguan City.
The fiery red cat-like behemoth opened its mouth wide, stretched out its four legs and strained, pulling a rope through a narrow hole until it finally pulled out a string of dusty, dirty humans.
Utuo licked his paws and breathed a sigh of relief. "What would you have done if I didn't know how to dig?"
"Ptooey, ptooey." Qu Fengyu spat out the dirt in her mouth while helping Wu Hezhi, who was covered by Shen Yuxin's shell, to her feet. Shen Yuxin stared at her resentfully at Wu Hezhi's face. Qu Fengyu rolled her eyes and wiped his face with her sleeve.
Wu Tuo's head ached from watching. He stretched out a furry paw and reached into the hole again, pulling Xuan Zhiyan out. He patted Xuan Zhiyan's face and said, "Zhiyan, snap out of it."
Xuan Zhiyan pinched the black stone that glowed red on its ear, then reached out and grasped its soft paw pads. "...It looks like Wei Feng."
"Owner!?"
"Wei Feng!?"
Several voices rang out simultaneously, all crowding towards him. Wu Tuo excitedly said, "Master is indeed in He Guan City."
"I didn't expect this kid to still be alive." Qu Fengyu was in a good mood.
"It's alright." Wu Hezhi sounded somewhat relieved.
"Didn't you two break up? Why would he contact you again?" Shen Yuxin was surprisingly calm. He had been teaching Xuan Zhiyan very responsibly for the past few years, so he was naturally aware of their grudges. He upheld the fine tradition of protecting his own in the Yanghua Sect and had no good feelings towards Wei Feng, who had harmed his disciple.
Xuan Zhiyan listened to Wei Feng's tearful plea for help through the communication talisman, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes. "He seems to have encountered something very dangerous... otherwise he wouldn't have thought of asking me for help."
Shen Yuxin glared at him with disappointment.
Over the years, Qu Fengyu and Wu Hezhi have also been teaching Xuan Zhiyan, but their views are much more moderate than those of Shen Yuxin, the real master. Wu Hezhi said, "What happened back then was a feud between Jiang Gu and Qi Fengyuan. Since Wei Feng asked you for help, he should still consider you a friend."
Upon hearing this, Xuan Zhiyan clenched his fist.
Although he had wandered from place to place over the years, he had the protection and patient guidance of three elders: Shen Yuxin, Qu Fengyu, and Wu Hezhi. He also had the companionship of his spirit pet, Wutuo. Although he had witnessed the wickedness of people's hearts, he had not personally experienced much hardship. The saddest things were Qi Fengyuan's death and his break with Wei Feng. As he grew older, he gradually understood Wei Feng's predicament and difficulties back then.
But understanding does not mean being able to forgive.
Wu Tuo anxiously circled around him, holding his hand in his mouth, "Zhiyan, Zhiyan, let's hurry and save our master. He must be desperate and at his wit's end, which is why he had no choice but to ask you for help."
Xuan Zhiyan pursed his lips.
Wu Hezhi and Shen Yuxin were clearly about to clash again when Qu Fengyu slapped Xuan Zhiyan on the back of the head and said with a grin, "Let's go. If you're not going to save him, I'd like to go save my cheap nephew."
The other three people and one beast looked at her in surprise upon hearing this.
Qu Fengyu narrowed his eyes and revealed a meaningful smile, "We need to find an opportunity to get official status, otherwise we'll always be mistaken for illegal immigrants. How are we going to enter the border town?"
The others immediately recovered from their surprise, which was clearly in line with Qu Fengyu's nature.
Once the leader spoke, Xuan Zhiyan naturally didn't hesitate any longer. However, after Qu Fengyu demonstrated his ability to locate Wei Feng, he unconsciously flew to the front on his sword.
Qu Fengyu gestured with his chin to Wu Hezhi and Shen Yuxin to look.
Shen Yuxin looked at his good-for-nothing disciple with anger blazing in his eyes, while Wu Hezhi shook his head and smiled.
“If we don’t go to save them, I’m afraid they’ll develop inner demons later,” Qu Fengyu said, arms crossed. “Just like the two of you.”
Shen Yuxin and Wu Hezhi exchanged a glance, then turned their heads away in disgust, as if they had swallowed flies.
Qu Fengyu burst into laughter upon seeing this.
——
Inside the cabin of the flying boat.
The phonograph in Wei Feng's earring had long since turned to dust. In fact, to prevent him from putting any more phonographs in, the earring had been filled to the brim with a healing magic circle, leaving no room for anything else.
He looked up at the person sitting on the couch healing his wounds, trying his best to suppress the bewilderment and unease in his heart, and cautiously said, "Master, I was just too frightened to think straight."
In any case, the fact that he is still alive means that Jiang Gu did not really harm him.
However, Jiang Gu did not react.
So Wei Feng mustered up his courage, walked up to him, tugged at his sleeve, and whispered, "Master, don't be angry."
Although he had lost his memories of the past seven years, judging from the battle just now, he was definitely in a precarious situation with his current abilities. It would never be wrong to try to please the other party. However, he couldn't understand why Jiang Gu was so resistant to him contacting Xuan Zhiyan.
Jiang Gu coldly opened his eyes.
Wei Feng smiled at him, "Master, Xuan Zhiyan is my best friend. He will definitely come looking for me if he knows I'm in danger. Is he also on Wangyue Continent? If he's in Pingze, then there's really nothing I can do. Master, could I contact him again to let him know I'm safe?"
“You’ve already broken ties with him.” Jiang Gu pulled out his sleeve and said calmly, “You have no friends, nor do you need any.”
Wei Feng was stunned, then waved his hands repeatedly and laughed, "Impossible. Zhiyan and I grew up together since we were little. We have a life-or-death friendship, closer than blood brothers. I would never break up with him. He is my most important friend and family. If we really broke up, it would definitely be to protect... him."
He noticed that Jiang Gu's expression was growing colder and his voice was gradually weakening. Under Jiang Gu's expressionless gaze, he suddenly felt a little guilty. "Right?"
Jiang Gu let out a cold laugh.
Wei Feng felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively tried to back away, but a powerful spiritual force bound his waist, forcing him to kneel before Jiang Gu's bed. His knees slammed onto the floor with a thud, causing his face to contort in pain.
A long, strong hand gripped his chin, forcing him to tilt his head back. Jiang Gu's cold, sharp eyes stared straight into his, his voice carrying a hint of contempt and mockery, "Is he the most important person to you?"
Wei Feng swallowed nervously, sensing something was wrong, but he didn't know the specific reason. He could only watch him helplessly, reached out and grabbed the edge of the soft couch, ruffling the hem of his robes. He imitated the way the disciples who had made mistakes admitted their wrongdoings in his memory, and said awkwardly but respectfully, "Master, please calm down. I know I was wrong."
She neither smiled sweetly and begged for forgiveness, nor cried in fear, nor did she cling to his waist and try to snuggle into his arms. Instead, she respectfully and distantly admitted her mistake, not daring to get any closer.
Jiang Gu suddenly felt bored, released his grip, and said coldly, "Get out."
Wei Feng hurriedly got up and ran out of the room.
Jiang Gu's divine sense watched him through the doors and windows as he patted his chest with lingering fear, then watched him frown in confusion and move further away from the doorway as if trying to avoid it.
This is the normal attitude of a disciple towards their master in Jiang Gu's impression—respect, fear, and distance.
That's good.
He withdrew his consciousness with little interest and began to concentrate on cultivation.
Outside the door, Wei Feng was peering through the window, scratching his head and looking inside.
"What are you looking at?"
"Look at my master," Wei Feng muttered to himself. "I don't know what I did to make him angry, but he told me to get lost."
"You just leave when I tell you to?"
"Of course not, I'm not leaving. Don't let my master's fierce appearance fool you, I actually think he's a pretty good person. It's just that I'm a coward, and I was terrified because I thought he was really going to possess me." Wei Feng peeked through a crack in the window and muttered, "I've discovered that my master is really handsome, like a god. His hands are especially beautiful too, but he's too strong. Do you think he'll see me kneeling outside? Will he soften and let me in?"
"I don't think so."
Not getting the answer he wanted, Wei Feng turned his head in annoyance, only to meet Jiang Xiangyun's smiling eyes. He was startled and asked, "Who are you?"
"You don't even know who I am, yet you've been talking to me for so long?" Jiang Xiangyun leaned against the window and looked inside with him. "My seventh brother is very hard-hearted. Kneeling outside isn't enough. You have to kowtow as hard as you can, crying as you kowtow. If you kowtow until your head is bleeding, then I guess they'll let you in."
"..." Wei Feng stared at him suspiciously, "Really?"
Jiang Xiangyun curled her lips into a teasing smile and said, "Why don't you try and see?"
"Dream on." Wei Feng sneered.
Seeing that he hadn't fallen for it, Jiang Xiangyun raised an eyebrow. "Do you know where we're going?"
"Yin-Yang Tower," Wei Feng said, "is it to enter some kind of trial realm?"
Jiang Xiangyun stared intently into his eyes, trying to find some flaw in them. "Aren't you afraid?"
"What's there to be afraid of? They're all stronger than me anyway." Wei Feng, with a "what's the use" attitude, said nonchalantly, "Live one day at a time, enjoy life while you can, and if you die, so be it, right?"
"..." Jiang Xiangyun looked at him with a complicated expression.
Has Jiang Gu finally driven this perfectly normal person crazy?
Undeterred, Jiang Xiangyun chatted with him for a long time, but still couldn't dig out any useful information. Although he rarely interacted with Wei Feng, he knew that the other party was no ordinary person who could stay by Jiang Gu's side. However, after talking for a long time, Wei Feng showed a naivety and lack of ambition that was inconsistent with his age, which made Jiang Xiangyun want to slap him on Jiang Gu's behalf.
As Jiang Xiangyun left, he asked uncertainly, "Did you hit your head?"
Wei Feng glanced at him, puzzled, and was about to retaliate when a violent surge of spiritual energy suddenly emanated from the room. His expression instantly changed, and he pushed open the window and jumped inside, shouting, "Master!"
Jiang Xiangyun followed him into the room. "What happened?"
Inside the room, several white bones, still clinging to flesh and blood, coiled within the magic array. A large number of ghostly stones floated around them. A lifelike wooden puppet sat in the center of the array, its face identical to Jiang Gu's. Upon hearing the sound, it opened its eyes at the same time as Jiang Gu on the bed.
The white bones and dark stones connected together, forming a secondary human skeleton, which then slowly merged into the wooden puppet. The puppet's skin gradually became indistinguishable from that of a real person. It slowly rose from the formation and stood up, turning its head indifferently to look at Jiang Xiangyun, "Nothing's wrong."
Jiang Gu, who was on the couch, spoke up: "I only made a puppet substitute."
"So, the young master is used to going through windows." The puppet doppelganger scoffed.
Jiang Gu glanced at Wei Feng and asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Fool." The puppet glanced at him and stood next to Jiang Gu.
Wei Feng looked at Jiang Gu with a confused expression, then at the puppet doppelganger that had the same aura as Jiang Gu. He rubbed his eyes hard and said to Jiang Gu, "Master, is this really just a puppet doppelganger? It can even curse."
"I can also kill." The puppet smirked. "Want to try?"
Wei Feng immediately hid behind Jiang Gu, but then heard Jiang Gu say in a low voice, "I am the puppet."
Wei Feng's scalp tingled instantly, and he jumped off the couch, sweating profusely as he stared at the two identical Jiang Gus.
Jiang Xiangyun, standing beside him, also frowned slightly. Both of these Jiang Gus possessed the aura of puppets and ghost stones, but it was not obvious, and even he could not distinguish between the real and the fake. "Since Seventh Brother let me see them, I must have been involved in it?"
The two Jiang Gus smiled slightly and said in unison, "Of course, Big Brother."
This time, not only Wei Feng, but even Jiang Xiangyun felt a chill run down his spine.
Jiang Gu smiled; it couldn't be anything good.
Wei Feng looked at this and then at that, and suddenly said in a muffled voice, "Master, when you pull the bone out of your body... doesn't it hurt?"
He instinctively reached out and accurately grabbed the real Jiang Gu, placing his palm on the wound on his arm. The surge of heartache and sorrow startled even himself.
Jiang Gu frowned, and the pent-up frustration in his heart suddenly vanished without a trace.
"It doesn't hurt."
He heard his own curt reply.
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