Chapter 204 Life and Death Without Blame (Part 1)
"Let me introduce you. This is Jin Yingxiu, the acting head of the Burning Platform Hall." Lu Liyu took the initiative to act as the middleman and introduced the people behind Jin Yingxiu, "This is Young Master Jiang Xiangyun."
Jin Yingxiu's eyes sparkled as she looked at Jiang Xiangyun with a smile, "Young Master, I've long admired your name."
"Master of the Golden Palace," Jiang Xiangyun nodded politely.
"We don't deserve the title of Palace Master. The people of the Burning Platform Palace are used to doing whatever they want, and we don't really have a proper Palace Master. The arrival of the Eldest Young Master has come to our rescue." Jin Yingxiu was very good at speaking. Even though Jiang Xiangyun's age was too young for her, she did not show any contempt.
"You're too kind, Palace Master." Jiang Xiangyun smiled slightly. "Li Yu did a lot of work in the process. We're all family, it's what we should do."
Jin Yingxiu's smile almost cracked as she looked at Lu Liyu with a smile.
Lu Liyu's face, hidden behind her messy hair, was a fascinating sight. She gritted her teeth and laughed, "Indeed, we're all family."
The expressions on the faces of everyone present at Wangyue's place looked as if they had swallowed flies. It was already a miracle that cultivators weren't fighting to the death, let alone being a loving family. Could there be anything more outrageous in the world?!
After Lu Liyu introduced everyone, she finally looked at Jiang Gu and said with a forced smile, "You should know each other, so I won't say more."
“I do know him,” Jin Yingxiu said with a smile. “It seems Fellow Daoist Jiang is quite capable, able to detoxify poison placed in the primordial spirit.”
Jiang Gu said calmly, "The person who poisoned you is skilled, so the antidote is naturally easy to administer."
Jin Yingxiu's smile faded.
"Alright, let's hurry into the city. If we stay any longer, we might attract attention." Lu Liyu clapped her hands, trying to smooth things over.
——
The interior of Duyuan City was much colder and more gloomy than the exterior.
There were very few cultivators on the street, and they were all in a hurry. There were more emaciated paper figures than cultivators. Most of them carried heavy storage bags on their backs. Some of the paper figures had skull marks or the words "life and death" branded on their faces, while others had no marks but had four-leaf bamboo marks on their ankles.
The buildings along the street were a gloomy gray, and screams could be heard from them from time to time. However, the people on the street were indifferent. Only the increasingly strong smell of blood in the air indicated what was happening here.
“The paper dolls with skull marks belong to the White Bone Palace, those with the characters for life and death on their faces belong to the Life and Death Pavilion, and the four-leaf bamboo dolls are from the auction house,” Xiao Qingyan explained to Hu Jingchen and the others in a low voice. “These paper dolls are made from souls and primordial spirits, and they still retain their consciousness from their previous lives. They have different personalities, so don’t provoke them unless necessary, especially those from the Life and Death Pavilion. Being brought into the White Bone Palace or the auction house might cost you some money, but if you get taken away by these things from the Life and Death Pavilion, it’s hard to say.”
The cultivators present were very familiar with these matters, but none of them would bother to explain them to others. Only Xiao Qingyan insisted on taking the trouble, probably because he saw that Hu Jingchen was young and had no one to protect him, so he explained a few more words.
Hu Jingchen nodded, "Thank you for your explanation, Fellow Daoist Xiao."
Xiao Qingyan shook her head and then turned to look at Jiang Gu and Wei Feng, who were lagging behind.
Wei Feng drooped his eyelids, showing little interest in the lifeless scenery around him. Considering what happened a thousand years ago, he didn't know how long he had been in the Tower of Life and Death. He could forget what happened a thousand years ago, but his memories of the first two years after he was abducted to Wangyue were incredibly clear.
So you can't blame him for going on a killing spree.
A cool hand suddenly covered the back of his neck. Wei Feng looked up and felt a gentle and mellow spiritual energy slowly covering his entire body, drawing in his restless ghost patterns.
Jiang Gu withdrew his hand. "If you feel uncomfortable, go inside the black jade bracelet."
Wei Feng shook his head and said, "Master, I can just go into your divine artifact whenever I want. Who knows, I might just snatch it away from you one day."
Jiang Gu was silent for a moment, then said, "It's alright."
Wei Feng didn't expect him to say that. He grinned and grabbed the hand that was hanging by his side. "I'm not feeling unwell, Master, don't worry."
He just... had too much fun killing.
——
The third level of the Life and Death Tower is a secret prison.
The enormous divine unicorn dharma form transformed into black mist and swept through the narrow passage. All the cultivators who came to stop it were silently swallowed into the black mist. Blood exploded, and shattered white bones and dripping flesh splattered onto the thick magic array barrier, slowly sliding down stickily, leaving streaks of blood.
Wei Feng controlled his divided spirit to walk unhurriedly behind the Dharma body. His black boots stepped over the muddy flesh beneath his feet, and red ropes wrapped around his fair fingers mercilessly pierced and crushed the primordial spirit that was still trying to escape, satisfying his own appetite.
He stopped in front of the magic circle in the middle of the third level of the prison.
Within the magic circle, the blood-soaked youth slowly raised his head. Half of his face was covered by an ugly, grotesque animal hide, leaving only bones on the other side. In his arms, he tightly clutched a disfigured corpse, infested with flies. The stench emanated from the magic circle, making people dizzy and disoriented.
He looked at the people in front of him, his voice hoarse, "What...what else do you want? My master is already dead."
Wei Feng remained silent for a long time, then said, "Xuan Zhiyan, that is me."
Xuan Zhiyan stared blankly at him with his empty, numb eyes, as if trying to recognize his appearance. He looked at the monster in front of him, which reeked of blood and was surrounded by ghostly patterns, and moved his lips with difficulty, "...Wei Feng?"
Wei Feng raised his hand, his sharp nails brutally tearing apart the magic array in front of him. The intense pain from the backlash of the array caused his separated primordial spirit to begin to dissipate again. However, his strength did not diminish at all. One of his arms was crushed by the array, but new ghost patterns quickly filled in.
In Xuan Zhiyan's eyes, what was in front of him was just a humanoid figure formed from ghost patterns, but he seemed to see Wei Feng's furious and irritable face. He opened his mouth, but could not utter a word.
Wei Feng forcefully tore open the formation, but did not rush forward. He only asked, "Can you still get up?"
Xuan Zhiyan shook his head. "The leg bone has been removed."
Wei Feng's breath hitched. He took two steps forward and looked down at the rotting corpse he was holding. "Who is this?"
Xuan Zhiyan raised his hand and tidied the hair of the corpse. "My master... Shen Yuxin."
Wei Feng rummaged through the pieces of corpse he had swallowed for a while, then pulled out a storage bag and handed it to him, saying, "Put it in here."
Xuan Zhiyan looked up at him, then reached out and took it. "Thank you."
Xuan Zhiyan solemnly placed the storage bag containing Shen Yuxin's body into his arms, and then saw Wei Feng squat down with his back to him, "Get on, I'll carry you."
Xuan Zhiyan didn't move. "You can put me in the storage bag too."
“That’s all,” Wei Feng said.
After an awkward silence, Xuan Zhiyan finally moved slowly. He dragged his legs, which had lost their support, with some difficulty and lay down on the back of the humanoid ghost pattern.
Wei Feng stood up with his back to him, put away the Dharma Image, and walked out.
“Elder Yu was taken away by the paper dolls at the auction house three days ago.” Xuan Zhiyan remained silent for a long time before speaking again.
Wei Feng didn't speak.
Xuan Zhiyan said in a dry voice, "I'm sorry to have troubled you. You don't have to get involved in this mess."
“I’ve been here for two years, and I’ve seen all the ways they torture people.” Wei Feng ignored his apology and continued, “If she can get into the auction house and still have a chance to live, we will find her.”
Xuan Zhiyan clenched his fists tightly, suppressing the emotions in his voice, "I didn't expect you to come."
"I lost my memory and used the Tongyin Fu, and you came to save me." Wei Feng said calmly, "I owe you a favor, and now I'm repaying it."
The breathing of the person behind him became extremely suppressed. Wei Feng strode forward. This fragment of his spirit was disintegrating more and more severely. Without the Black Jade Bracelet and the Netherworld Bone, he could only force himself to turn into mist and hide with Xuan Zhiyan in a certain magic array in the next level of the secret prison.
"Are you alright?" Xuan Zhiyan was put down by him, and he supported his arm, which was almost completely trembling.
Wei Feng shook his head and scoffed, "It's just that you've swallowed too many primordial spirits. I'll rest for a while and refine them. Don't worry, I'll definitely be able to get you out of here."
Xuan Zhiyan couldn't help but say, "Stop showing off. Your primordial spirit is clearly about to dissipate."
"Don't worry, it won't dissipate. This is just a split soul, like the one outside the Boundary Village. My main body is protected by a divine artifact," Wei Feng said nonchalantly.
Xuan Zhiyan then fell silent.
Seeing his silence, Wei Feng couldn't help but ask, "Shen Yuxin... how did he die?"
Xuan Zhiyan's eyes suddenly reddened, blazing with intense hatred and anger. He gritted his teeth and said, "Those beasts from the Life and Death Tower! My master was at odds with Wu Hezhi before he died, and they deliberately tortured him on Wu Hezhi's orders... because he and Wu Hezhi had swapped souls, so they..."
Xuan Zhiyan gritted his teeth, “They forcibly peeled and shattered his primordial spirit, dissected his primordial core, over and over again… Later, they wanted my primordial spirit to be refined and fused with the primordial spirit of the spirit beast, but my master desperately stopped them, saying he was willing to take my place… He was tortured until his primordial spirit was completely destroyed.”
"And what about your face?" Wei Feng asked again.
“Some people… are utterly disgusting. They coveted my face and wanted to use it as a furnace for cultivation. My master destroyed my face first and planted animal hide on it. This half didn’t fuse well and rotted away.” Xuan Zhiyan said with self-deprecation, “That’s how I escaped this calamity.”
Wei Feng suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "Once your primordial spirit recovers, your face will also recover. I will help you find a way to treat your legs."
Xuan Zhiyan raised his eyes and said, "You've already done me a great favor by coming to save me. There's no need for you to go to such trouble."
“Between you and me—” Wei Feng choked on his own words, scratching his hair in frustration, “I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for Wu Tuo. He almost broke his legs trying to find me because of you. I’m his master, I can’t let him down.”
Xuan Zhiyan looked at him, clearly not believing his ridiculous reasoning.
Wei Feng was annoyed by his gaze. "Xuan Zhiyan, are you even a man?!"
Caught off guard by his shout, Xuan Zhiyan frowned and said, "How am I not?"
"If you're a man, stop talking about gratitude and affection. Get well soon, avenge your master, and find Qu Fengyu." Wei Feng punched his shoulder in annoyance.
Xuan Zhiyan was almost knocked unconscious by his punch, and he gritted his teeth while clutching his shoulder, saying, "My shoulder is injured."
"Oh." Wei Feng awkwardly withdrew his hand. "Sorry."
Xuan Zhiyan chuckled.
Wei Feng's tense back suddenly relaxed, and he laughed along with him, "Your face is really ugly."
"Look in the mirror before you say that."
"I call this majestic."
"ha."
"..."
"...Thanks."
"polite."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
