The Dramatic Changes in the Xu Family (Part Two)
Lin Shi cautiously stepped into the Xu family's gate. She first entered the front hall and courtyard, then quietly walked along the covered walkway to the backyard, the various side rooms, and the small courtyards. She carefully used her longsword to push open all the slightly ajar doors.
But there was nothing. The front hall, the back courtyard, and all the side rooms were empty. The black mist and the smell of blood had vanished. There was no wind, no sound. The usual noisy chirping of cicadas in summer was gone. There were no cicadas in the trees either.
Lin Shi stood in the most spacious part of the garden. She looked around and listened to every subtle sound, but there was nothing.
Lin Shi looked up at the sky and saw a rare clear evening. The sunset began to slowly climb into the sky, spreading to the white clouds and blue sky, then driving them all to the corners, until the entire sky was covered by the magnificent sunset.
Lin Shi withdrew her gaze from the sky and turned back to the courtyard. She looked around again, but still saw nothing.
Lin Shi took a deep breath, smelling the fresh air after the rain, mixed with the earthy scent of soil. She tried closing her eyes and relying entirely on her ears to perceive the sounds around her.
A chill ran down Lin Shi's spine! She sensed something rapidly approaching her. Every cell in her body screamed, "Run! Danger!" But her body froze completely, her legs feeling like lead, unable to move an inch.
Lin Shi opened her eyes instantly, only to see a handsome face, still full of youthful energy, right in front of her. Long, beautiful, almond-shaped eyes with deep brown pupils, and a slightly chubby face, reflected Lin Shi's pale, bluish-white, pretty oval face. Lin Shi's pupils contracted slightly before her eyes returned to their normal, watery state.
"Young Master!" Lin Shi called out. She smelled a pungent, fishy odor emanating from the boy in front of her, instantly filling her beautiful peach blossom eyes with tears. She blinked, then wiped the tears away.
"Young Master, where are the others in the manor? I haven't seen them at all," Lin Shi asked softly. Her eyes sparkled like the starry sky.
"What beautiful eyes!" The boy gazed at Lin Shi's eyes with fascination, but did not answer her question directly. He circled around Lin Shi, then reached out and pulled away the handkerchief covering her mouth and nose, revealing her beautiful face.
"What a beautiful face, what a pity!" the boy continued.
Lin Shi looked at him but didn't speak. She stared at him intently until he had finished admiring her. Lin Shi asked again, "Young Master, where are the others in the manor? Have you seen them?"
"They're right here in this yard!" the boy said with a smile. His smile, though bright and sunny, no longer brought any warmth.
Lin Shi looked at him with some disappointment.
Upon seeing this, the boy paused for a moment, then his lips curved into an even wider smile, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
A moment later, the entire courtyard vanished from Lin Shi's sight as if a mirror had shattered. The stench of blood and corpses rushed into Lin Shi's nose again, making her eyes water even more.
Lin Shi looked again and found the courtyard completely changed. The once clean and tidy cobblestone ground was almost entirely stained with blood. Corpses lay scattered haphazardly before Lin Shi's eyes. The stench wafted even stronger from all directions. Lin Shi's face and lips completely lost their color. She looked at the creature standing before her, bearing the appearance of Xu Xinghao, the young master of the Xu family, pursed her lips, and frowned at it with displeasure.
"You realized at first glance that I wasn't your lover, Xu Xinghao, the young master of the Xu family, right?"
The unknown creature, disguised as Xu Xinghao, the young master of the Xu family, laughed loudly, yet spoke to Lin Shi with unwavering conviction. As it laughed, its face gradually contorted and changed. Its body grew taller and wider, eventually transforming into a tall, long-legged, and stunningly handsome man. Of course, to mistake it for a great beauty, one must first ignore the two miniature heads, no bigger than an average person's fist, perched on its shoulders. Compared to its handsome original face, these miniature heads were so ugly they were almost unbearable to look at a second time. The left miniature head looked as if someone had smashed it flat with a hammer and then twisted it again; the right miniature head resembled a blobfish, or perhaps a disgusting, viscous lump of flesh about to melt.
"Yes," Lin Shi admitted honestly. Her eyes held a look of resignation. "Whether you kill me or torture me, it's not up to me now. Even if I begged you to spare my life, you might not be willing."
"Unfortunately, Xu Xinghao is dead, he died five days ago. You have no chance to rekindle your relationship with him. Hahaha!" The three-headed creature laughed maliciously. He used his long fingers to lift Lin Shi's delicate, white chin.
At this moment, Lin Shi could only move her eyes and mouth; she couldn't move anything else. She could only watch helplessly as disgusting, cold, damp fingers lifted her chin, forcing her to look up and meet the gaze of that unusually handsome, yet strangely sinister, adult male face. The pungent, fishy masculine scent almost hit Lin Shi's face, causing her stomach to churn.
"Our Xu family has no grudge against you, so why did you massacre our Xu Family Village and kill everyone in our village?" Lin Shi asked, staring intently at the handsome head of the three-headed creature.
The three-headed creature raised an eyebrow maliciously, curled the corners of its mouth into a smirk, and then said with a contemptuous smile, "Why should I tell you?"
Lin Shi stared intently into the other person's eyes and said calmly, "I want to die knowing why."
Why should I grant your wish?
"Are you afraid I'll seek revenge?"
"Haha, what a joke. How could you possibly have a chance for revenge? You're just a mortal woman with no cultivation whatsoever. I could kill you with a single finger. I'm a cultivator, after all. If it weren't for your pretty face, do you think I'd deign to speak to you?"
What is a cultivator?
"Never heard of cultivators, you bumpkin! Cultivators are cultivators who cultivate immortality, cultivators of the cultivation world." The three-headed creature flew into a rage, its grip on Lin Shi's chin so tight it almost crushed her jawbone.
Lin Shi gasped in pain. Her beautiful face was contorted in agony, which ironically amused the three-headed creature before her.
Lin Shi watched as it laughed even more heartily because of her pain, and stubbornly endured the pain, asking, "Tell me, and I'll know. You're so amazing, how could a country bumpkin like me know about your deeds if you don't reveal your name?"
The three-headed creature laughed upon hearing this, arrogantly raising its chin and saying, "Listen carefully, my name is Long Tian. The one on my left shoulder is my brother, named Long Qin, and the one on my right shoulder is named Long Mian."
Lin Shi praised without reservation, "Your surname sounds quite nice!"
Long Tian proudly raised his head, his nostrils pointing at Lin Shi, and said, "Of course."
Lin Shi glanced at Long Tian cautiously, then asked, "You still haven't said why you wiped out the Xu family village?"
Long Tian sneered and said, "Because Xu Xingran offended me?"
Lin Shi looked puzzled and asked, "Isn't Xu Xingran, the eldest young master of the Xu family, traveling abroad? How did he offend you? Did he steal your woman or your money?"
Long Tian scoffed, "I'm not that vulgar. As an inner disciple of the Seven Peaks Sect, he shamelessly ambushed me and stole my opportunity. I can't swallow this deep-seated hatred without taking revenge. I'm going to wipe out his entire clan and wait for him to return so I can kill him directly."
Lin Shi suppressed the anger welling up inside her and said in a seductive voice, "Every wrong has its source and every debt its debtor. Why don't you go directly to him for revenge instead of targeting his family and clan?"
Upon hearing this, Long Tian burst into curses: "That bastard Xu Xingran is hiding in the Seven Peaks Mountain. If I don't kill his clan, do you think I can just attack his sect?"
Lin Shi blinked, feigning innocence and curiosity, and asked, "You're so powerful, yet you can't defeat his sect? Shouldn't you have used your fists and feet to wipe out his entire sect?"
Long Tian was stunned for a moment, but when he realized what was happening, he was so angry that he jumped up and down, shouting, "...How dare you mock me?"
Lin Shi looked completely innocent and loudly protested, "I didn't! I thought you were very powerful and could rival the young master's sect!"
Long Tian carefully examined Lin Shi's face, finding her expression genuine. Lin Shi was still young, only 13 years old, and although she was incomparably beautiful, her face still held a childlike innocence. Long Tian thought that an ordinary mortal girl wouldn't be so clever as to deliberately provoke him, so he calmed down. He threatened fiercely, "Little girl, if I find out you dare to mock me, I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Lin Shi then rolled her eyes and asked, "So, what do you want to do with me? Kill me now?"
Long Tian rolled his eyes, only sneering repeatedly, and mocked, "You wish! Before I've figured out whether to refine your good looks into a puppet or turn you into a furnace to sell, you're not going to die easily..."
Long Mian, the owner of the miniature head that resembled a blobfish, was thoroughly annoyed by Long Tian's rambling on and on with a mortal woman. He couldn't help but interrupt, "Why waste so much time talking to her? Just search her soul. If she's dead or mentally unstable, then we can consider turning her into a puppet or a furnace. Hurry up and do it!" His voice was hoarse and rough, yet so loud that it echoed throughout the courtyard, the sound waves almost knocking Lin Shi unconscious.
Long Qin, the owner of what looked like a miniature head that had been flattened by a hammer, burst into laughter upon hearing Long Mian's words. His voice, however, was the opposite of Long Mian's—high-pitched and thin, sounding like needles pricking one's ears, causing a dense, stinging pain.
If Lin Shi hadn't been unable to move, she would have covered her head and cried out in pain long ago. Large beads of cold sweat rolled down her beautiful face like raindrops. Her complexion and lips were deathly pale.
Long Tian stopped talking nonsense with Lin Shi. His handsome face turned gloomy, and his appearance instantly became extremely fierce, making his handsome face look like a demon. He was just a head taller than Lin Shi. He raised his right hand, and then his five fingers grew wildly into the shape of a mutated chicken claw, which then covered Lin Shi's head.
"Ahhh!" Lin Shi couldn't help but scream! Her high-pitched scream carried far and wide, scaring the town's residents so much that they hid in corners of their houses or basements, trembling with fear.
The pain of soul-searching was more excruciating than having all the bones in her body broken. Lin Shi wailed, only to find that wave after wave of immense pain surged up. Each time she thought it was almost over, a new wave of pain would wash over her. Several times she trembled, wanting to bite her tongue and commit suicide, but she held back. Enduring the immense pain, she could only futilely try to keep her eyes wide open, staring at Long Tian, Long Qin, and Long Mian with hatred, as if trying to memorize their faces into her soul. As the hatred deep within her grew wildly, her memories and past events from childhood flashed through her mind like an animation, and were promptly absorbed by Long Tian, Long Qin, and Long Mian.
The woman's wails and screams continued for a very long time, until almost an hour later, when they finally stopped. Lin Shi was soaked in water, her body drenched in sweat, which formed small puddles around her.
Long Tian searched Lin Shi's soul and was somewhat disappointed to find that she had never seen Xu Xingran, nor did she have any images of him. She only had memories of other people's discussions and comments about Xu Xingran. However, Xu Xingran had been away from home for more than 12 years, and Lin Shi was only 13 years old, so it was reasonable that she had not seen Xu Xingran.
Seeing Lin Shi slumped on the ground, barely alive, Long Tian's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected that a mere 13-year-old mortal girl could endure the agony of soul searching without going mad or dying. A strong will alone couldn't explain this, unless she possessed spiritual roots and cultivation aptitude.
Long Tian squatted down and took Lin Shi's pulse. His spiritual energy entered Lin Shi's body through this, causing her to tremble with fear.
She possessed all five elemental roots, a top-tier aptitude! While marveling at Lin Shi's exceptional talent, Long Tian couldn't help but scrutinize her face again. A beauty comparable to a fairy, born of birth, found in such an obscure village in an unknown town, and in a mere maidservant born into a household! It was both infuriating and laughable!
Long Tian had originally intended to kill Lin Shi outright, but now he had other considerations. The path of cultivation depends on talent, cultivation resources, effort, and opportunity. For ordinary cultivators, advancing one level is almost impossible. However, if two cultivators of the same exceptional talent cultivate together, or if one uses the other as a cultivation vessel to absorb the other's cultivation, they may achieve a rapid increase in cultivation, improving their chances of ascending to the upper realm and eventually to the middle realm.
"We can raise this little girl for now!" Long Tian immediately communicated with Long Qin and Long Mian in his mind. The three of them reached a consensus. However, considering Lin Shi's good aptitude, she might turn the tables on them one day when her cultivation level is high enough, so it was still necessary to take precautions in advance.
Long Tian devised a plan to first refine Lin Shisheng to one-tenth of her potential as a puppet. This way, she would retain her independent consciousness without completely escaping his control. Afterward, he would find suitable cultivation techniques for her to help her quickly improve her cultivation level, and then they could engage in dual cultivation or be used as a cultivation vessel.
Having made his decision, and with no objections from Long Qin and Long Mian, Long Tian's expression softened. He first released the spell binding Lin Shi, pulling her up from the ground, and then used magic to clean her body and clothes. Next, Long Tian used magic to arrange all the corpses in the courtyard on the veranda, intending to dispose of them properly later, lest he anger the little girl and cause her to hold a grudge. The bloodstains and stench in every corner of the courtyard were instantly washed away by Long Tian's cleansing magic. He also added some incense and lit it, making the entire courtyard pleasantly fragrant.
Lin Shi looked at Long Tian doing something illogical with a puzzled expression.
After Long Tian finished doing what he wanted, he restrained Lin Shi's body, preventing her from moving. Like any ordinary man, he pretended to be tender and affectionate, pressing his forehead against Lin Shi's forehead and gently stroking her smooth, fair face.
Lin Shi was so disgusted that she almost vomited, but because she couldn't figure out what Long Tian wanted to do, she just endured it and suppressed her disgust.
The next moment, Long Tian's hand turned into a chicken claw, covering Lin Shi's head completely.
Lin Shi trembled at the sight of Long Tian's actions. Soon, she could only grit her teeth and endure the immense pain that assaulted her soul. This time, the pain felt as if a gravitational force was pulling her soul out of her body, forcing her to scream and wail in agony once more.
"I feel like this time things are really going to get really bad!" Lin Shi wailed and cursed Long Tian loudly. The most vulgar and obscene rural swear words in the world poured out of Lin Shi's mouth, making Long Tian, Long Qin, and Long Mian so angry that they lost their vigilance.
"Bang!" A light sword flying rapidly from a distance pierced through Long Tian's skull and down to his feet. Then, golden-red flames enveloped his entire body, instantly burning him to ashes. He didn't even have time to let out a wail before his soul was completely consumed.
Lin Shi watched helplessly as Long Tian, Long Qin, and Long Mian turned to ashes before her eyes, and then she fell backward. Before losing consciousness, she only vaguely saw many figures dressed in blue and white robes flying towards her, and then she fell into darkness and lost consciousness.
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