Chapter 73: Does she know that you are a mortal? ...
"In recent years, the most famous among our Wuchang, besides the two Black and White Wuchang, Fan Wujiu and Xie Bian, is Master Xie." On the Yellow Springs Road, a fairly experienced Wuchang introduced to his colleagues.
"Master Xie? Who is that person? I've never heard of him." The new Wuchang had a pale face and was very interested in everything in the underworld.
"You don't know, he has been the number one performer in our underworld for a long time, and he is notorious for his cruelty. But he is very mysterious. I am already an old man in the underworld, but I don't know the origin of this young Mr. Xie. This time I will take you to meet him and leave an impression on you." Wuchang led the way in front. He stretched his head to look forward, suddenly stopped his new colleague, and made a gesture of "hush".
He sighed and said, "I'm unlucky today. I'll try again another day."
"What's wrong? We've been walking for so long, why don't we go in and take a look and then go back?" The new Wuchang was a little confused.
"Master Xie is asleep." Wu Chang shook his head. "I heard that he was woken up by someone. He got so angry that he started a fight that last night. We shouldn't mess with him. Waking him up will bring bad consequences."
The two ghost messengers disappeared quietly back into the fog.
Xie Wuya hadn't slept in a long time. In fact, he didn't need to sleep. Therefore, he hadn't had a dream in a long time.
Resting meant sitting at his usual desk, resting his forehead with his hand. Closing his eyes was a hollow darkness, and opening them was nothing but a gloomy underworld.
Unexpectedly, for the first time in a long time, the protagonist of my dream was her.
"Thank you Wuya... Thank you Wuya!"
When Xie Wuya woke up from his dream, he sighed softly, feeling melancholy. After a while, he recognized the voice that had woken him, and it belonged to the person in his dream.
He wondered, was this a dream within a dream?
The sound didn't stop, but became more and more real, like the chirping of birds, as if it were right next to his ear. He suddenly opened his eyes, but there was still no one around him, only the red line on his wrist was faintly glowing.
Xie Wuya's lips curled slightly, without any trace of being grumpy after waking up.
"Why?" Chang Xile looked at his unfathomable expression, confused. She waved in front of him, trying to bring this wandering Wuchang back to his senses.
Xie Wuya glanced at her and put Chang Xile's wrist next to her ear. Before she could react, he stared into Chang Xile's eyes, raised his hand to the soul-catching rope on his wrist and called out loudly: "Chang Xile!"
When Wuchang called his name, and at such a high volume at such a close distance, Chang Xile felt a chill all over his body, his face wrinkled into a ball, revealing a look of pain.
It's just noise.
She rubbed her ears to show that she understood, but still muttered softly: "I wasn't that loud just now..."
Xie Wuya smiled, thinking that it was because he was too quiet that it was fatal. He asked, "So, what do you want to see me about?"
Chang Xile was distracted by him. She asked, "If I want to extradite Yang Shu to reincarnation, I'll follow the same procedure as I did last time with Wang Yuejun. But what about these kittens? Are they under Wu Chang's management?"
Xie Wuya glanced at the group of kittens she was talking about. They noticed his unpredictable gaze and shrank closer to the corner.
"Originally, there should have been a dedicated person in charge, but in recent years, we've been short on manpower, so occasionally we take over the souls of these animals," Xie Wuya said. "But recently, there's indeed a new colleague who's in charge of the animals, and you know him."
"I know him?" Chang Xile was puzzled. "Who?" She didn't have many connections in the ghost world.
Xie Wuya snapped his fingers, and after a while, as another gust of wind blew through the curtains, a stunningly beautiful woman appeared by the window.
Her original beauty was a bit aggressive, but as soon as she saw Chang Xile, this aggression disappeared.
"Xi Le!" She ran forward and hugged Chang Xi Le, saying, "I miss you so much..."
"Shanyan?" Chang Xile was stunned. "So the Wuchang that Xiao Xie was talking about is you!"
That time, Xie Wuya said that Dai Shanyan was not suitable for the job of Wuchang, and Chang Xile originally thought that she would still be sent to reincarnation.
Dai Shanyan smiled sheepishly: "I'm not good at dealing with people. I can't bear to take the poor ghost away, and the evil ghosts are cunning. Dealing with small animals is the best. I don't even need to talk."
She walked up to the group of kittens and squatted down. The kittens' souls were not afraid of Dai Shanyan like they were afraid of Xie Wuya, and they approached her tentatively.
"Let me take Xiaojia home, and I'll take Yang Shu with me." Chang Xile said. Everyone present was an acquaintance, so this wasn't an unreasonable request.
Dai Shanyan nodded, still mumbling to herself. After a long moment, she raised her head and said, "Strange, the numbers don't add up."
Chang Xile remembered what Xiao Jia once said, "There is a big creature that wants to eat them all." It seemed that such a terrible thing had already happened.
Dai Shanyan was shaking with anger. You know, if these souls were devoured again, they would be dead in the true sense, and they would no longer exist in the world.
Chang Xile turned to ask Xie Wuya, "You said that everything has its own laws, and all life has its own lifespan. But these souls were eaten by the treacherous fox for no reason. What do you think about that?"
"Is there such a thing?" Xie Wuya, who had been standing somewhat lonely by the side, waiting for them to reminisce, came over upon hearing this. He listened to Chang Xile's brief account of what had happened today, his expression grave. "This is a grave sin, disrupting the order of the Three Realms. How could it have gone unnoticed for so long?"
According to Chang Xile's description, the fox's body was probably destroyed many years ago. It survived by attaching its soul to dead objects, and practiced by devouring the souls of other living beings.
"Then its claim that it is the guardian deity of the family is also false?" Chang Xile asked.
"Of course." Xie Wuya's eyes were filled with sarcasm. "Is an evil spirit like it worthy of becoming an immortal? Those who cultivate to the Tao must endure the tribulation of thunder. It uses this evil and crooked method of cultivation that harms others and benefits itself. When the thunder strikes, it will surely be struck to pieces by the thunder."
Chang Xile nodded. No wonder the rumbling thunder in the sky had frightened the fox so much. She recalled the giant three-tailed cat Anping had transformed into and asked Xie Wuya if he understood. "I saw Anping's name in the Book of Life and Death the other day. You said he'd traded his life for another's. What's going on?"
"You two are so close, how could you possibly not know this?" Xie Wuya glanced at Chang Xile, somewhat surprised. That fellow named An Ping had risked his life for her twice, and he had assumed the two of them were already inseparable.
"I guess it's a nine-tailed cat that's been cultivated into a human. It takes twenty years to cultivate one tail. Once all nine tails are cultivated, it can become an immortal." When they fought that night, Xie Wuya could see that An Ping's cultivation foundation was very good, but it was superficial, as if he had been seriously injured. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to fight to a draw. "Unfortunately, he lost two tails in a row this year. At his current cultivation method, I don't know how long it will take for him to reach the ninth tail."
Chang Xile was stunned. She asked, "On the day we first met, I clearly didn't die, but I appeared in the underworld. Why is that?"
"I've been working overtime for a long time because of you." Xie Wuya snorted, "I've checked. You were destined to face a great disaster. If you survive it, you will have endless blessings. If you don't, you will die on the spot. That day is the most important day for you. Your soul will go to the underworld. If it is taken away, it means you didn't survive it."
That misfortune probably refers to the time when Chang Xile was challenged by Weatherall. During that time, she was hopelessly unlucky, even ending up in the hospital with food poisoning. Perhaps she was too ill to bear it that day, and Chang Xile pondered, "So..."
"He died for you once." Xie Wuya raised the back of his hand to show Chang Xile the two wounds caused by the cat's scratches, and said, "This is what he did."
Chang Xile was silent for a moment. She asked herself, were the brief ten days she had spent with An Ping really worth him sacrificing decades of cultivation to save her?
It took her a while before she remembered to ask Xie Wuya, "Has your first wound not healed yet?"
Xie Wuya said coldly: "The dead will not recover from their injuries."
"Ah...I'm sorry." Chang Xile hadn't thought of that. Sometimes, she almost completely forgot that Xie Wuya or Dai Shanyan had passed away.
"You have nothing to be sorry about," Xie Wuya said. "That sycophant has violated the rules of the Three Realms of Reincarnation. I will report it to my superiors. You have already made an enemy of him, so you should be careful recently."
"Then I'll take them away first." Dai Shanyan had tied the left foot of each kitten with a soul-catching rope, making them line up in a long line.
Chang Xile was curious and asked, "Did Shanyan's soul-catching rope also come from you?"
"She is officially impermanent, so naturally she has her own share." Xie Wuya felt that she was asking nonsense.
"Officially impermanent?" Chang Xile turned to look at Dai Shanyan, "Aren't you planning on reincarnating again?"
Dai Shanyan smiled and shook her head. She pointed at Xie Wuya and said, "I made a pact with him to serve him for fifty years before reincarnating."
With Chang Xile, it was five hundred souls, with Dai Shanyan, it was fifty years. Perhaps because of Dai Shanyan's family background, she had never learned how to bargain. Chang Xile glanced at Xie Wuya, and the meaning in his expression was clear: profiteer.
Xie Wuya looked at her without saying anything.
"It's okay. Master Xie asked me if I wanted to reincarnate, and I said no." Dai Shanyan smiled, not seeming to feel exploited. "I'll stay in this world for a while longer. When my family is ready, we can go together. Otherwise, it would be difficult for even Master Xie to have his soul stay in the world for so long for no reason."
Chang Xile looked at Xie Wuya again, and this time there was a hint of surprise on his face.
Xie Wuya snorted coldly and said, "Let's go, it's getting late."
Dai Shanyan was not on the same route as them and left midway, leaving Xie Wuya and Chang Xile alone with Yang Shu and Xiao Jia on their journey.
"Why does Shanyan keep calling you Master Xie?" Chang Xile felt uncomfortable listening to it.
"Because there is already a Lord Xie, and I am not as famous as him, I naturally take a step back." Xie Wuya said.
"Can't I just call you by your name?" Chang Xile said, then noticed his expression and came to her senses. "Oh, she doesn't even know your name yet."
"Hmm." Xie Wuya was still thinking about how to bring up the matter of the flatterer to his superiors. He recalled the details Chang Xile had mentioned, and then thought of the Taoist nun she had mentioned. He asked, "How could you encounter a Taoist nun in such a remote place like the foot of Changle Mountain? Is she someone you know?"
Chang Xile nodded and said, "That's my aunt."
Chang Leshan, Chang Le Guan, Taoist nun.
Xie Wuya's expression suddenly became unpredictable. He asked, "Is your aunt always optimistic?"
Chang Xile nodded.
He asked again: "What's her name?"
When it comes to this question, Chang Xile can't be so open-minded. It's not a good sign for an immortal to want to know the name of a living person.
Seeing Chang Xile's hesitation, Xie Wuya sneered, "Is this your attitude towards your teacher?"
Without waiting for Chang Xile to answer, he said, "Her name is Tang You, right?"
Seeing Chang Xile's eyes wide open, "How do you know?" Such doubts were obvious in her expression.
"I know a lot." Xie Wuya put his hands behind his back and suddenly asked, "Does she know that you are a living ghost?"
Although this was a question, Xie Wuya knew the answer was definitely no. Because if Tang You knew, she would never let Chang Xile set foot inside the temple.
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