I enjoy talking to you about these things, I really like it...
As Yan Huanyue was about to turn into the street where the Xuntianliao was located under the cover of night, she saw several carriages and horses parked under the tall and elaborate archway in front of the street, and people were unloading things from the carriages and carrying them into the street.
She brushed past the people carrying their belongings and saw that the whole street was filled with bedding, and many families were even sleeping on the street, chatting idly together.
It was already late at night, but the whole street was still brightly lit and filled with laughter and cheerful voices.
If one did not know that these people were filled with fear after witnessing the true power of the law today, one might have thought that some grand ceremony was about to take place, drawing everyone's eager anticipation.
Yan Huanyue only took a few steps into the street, and after receiving several unfamiliar gazes, she immediately retreated and jumped into the Xuntianliao from the back street.
Half of the people in the Sky Patrol Hall have disappeared, including Ji Linsong and Ning Wuyang.
The fellow Daoists still in the monastery said that there were more than a dozen people who came to confess or inform on others tonight. The people who were sent to the village to investigate the strange baby had not yet returned, so there were not enough people to deal with the corpse demon. Ji Linsong also took matters into his own hands.
Yan Huanyue asked, "Where should we choose as the final resting place for the deceased?"
The fellow Daoist replied, "Originally, Director Ji planned to hold the grand ceremony in front of the Patrol Hall so that the people would be completely at ease. However, Fellow Daoist Lu's demon immortal said that the Patrol Hall was originally a temporary office borrowed from Tingnan. If a grand ceremony were held there, although it would temporarily demonstrate the righteousness of the matter, it would bring bad luck to the people in the long run. It is feared that this place will become unusable in the future, and this city may be destined to become a desolate city."
"Therefore, it searched all night and recommended a valley called Sanyang Valley, three miles east of the city. It used the starlight of the night to dispel the remaining yin energy. Director Ji led people to see it in person, and it was indeed a bright and clear place that could surely eradicate the yin poison of the corpse demon."
Yan Huanyue asked, "When will the ceremony take place?"
The fellow Daoist said, "That's not accurate. I've only heard that those found tonight will be used for the ceremony at noon tomorrow, but the last batch will be the last to be known."
After confirming the location in more detail, Yan Huanyue ate a couple of things, applied some medicine to the wound on her abdomen, casually ate some pills to suppress the death energy, and then jumped over the back wall of the Patrol Hall.
She planned to take advantage of the moon's shadow to find a corpse demon and investigate it thoroughly.
See if there's anything similar to the Rejuvenation Pearl, then take it to the Three Yang Valley to compare it with other corpse demons.
The materials used to create these corpse demons were perhaps deliberately chosen to be more sinister and evil from the beginning.
She remembered hearing people in that village say that Tingnan would use things from that village. At first, she thought it was something from an infant, but she quickly dismissed that idea.
Now it seems very likely that what Tingnan took from there was Chu Ti Hui.
Those strange infants that are born by absorbing human blood and qi through the placenta will certainly have a completely different vomit when they first cry compared to that of ordinary infants. Naturally, the corpse demons they create will also be different from those created using ordinary old objects.
Ji Linsong and the others must have pried a lot of things out of the "clothes person" who attacked her last night.
Otherwise, why would the corpse demon, which should have been exposed to the elements for three days after being nailed with poisonous nails, start the ritual at noon tomorrow?
As Yan Huanyue was pondering something, she passed by a rooftop when she heard someone shouting in the street, "Lord Clerk! Your Excellency, please wait! Yes, it's you, the one in pink, I want to report someone for secretly raising a corpse demon!"
Perhaps it was the heavy decay in the city that made Yan Huanyue feel dizzy.
Realizing someone was calling him, he turned his sword around, floated back a short distance, and asked, "You want to report someone?"
"Exactly! Exactly!"
The street was very remote, almost at the edge of the city. On the ground was a handsome young man carrying a lantern, looking panicked and bewildered as if he had just encountered a major event.
He said in a panic, "I want to report my neighbor for murder and raising a corpse. Just come with me."
Yan Huanyue said, "Then please lead the way."
She didn't land, but instead flew slowly through the air on her sword, following him. The man would occasionally look back to see if she was keeping up.
When they arrived at a courtyard, he simply pointed to the door of the house and said, "Sir, this is it. I'll be going now. Please don't say that I reported you."
After saying that, he picked up the lantern and ran away without looking back.
It's true that those who report others rarely meet.
Yan Huanyue flew around the courtyard on her sword and indeed felt a lingering aura of decay.
She landed by the door and gently knocked on the courtyard gate. The people inside, who had been talking, immediately fell silent upon hearing the knock.
Yan Huanyue knocked on the door again and said, "Tianyan Sect disciples are on patrol. Please open the door and cooperate with the inspection."
The courtyard became even quieter; she could even hear a woman sobbing softly.
She waited a while, then knocked on the door again and said, "This door can't stop me, please open it and cooperate."
A moment later, the door opened.
A gaunt couple, carrying candlesticks, nestled behind the door.
Upon seeing a woman who appeared fair and delicate in the candlelight outside the door, the man's eyes immediately flashed with malice, and he shouted angrily, "What are you doing in the middle of the night! What sect are you, what Sky Patrol Hall? You think you can come and go as you please just because you have some ability? Is there no justice in this world?!"
Such a person knows he has done something wrong, but in order to cover it up, he dares to openly clamor against righteous people, because he knows that righteous people will not really do anything to him.
However, if they encounter evil cultivators or unorthodox practitioners, such people will kneel down faster than anyone else.
Yan Huanyue was too lazy to argue, and simply made a hand seal to greet him, saying, "I've come to investigate the scourge of the corpse demon."
The man became even more arrogant, and in a fit of anger, he stepped over the threshold and shoved her, yelling, "Get out! You whore from who-knows-where, stop insulting me! We don't have anything like that in our house!"
Yan Huanyue gently dodged his push and flew straight through the gap between the two into the inner courtyard.
The courtyard is very small, with only one main room and two side rooms.
As Yan Huanyue followed the decaying air to the west wing, a chilling wind suddenly swept up from behind her.
She slightly turned her head to dodge, and the woman holding the candlestick, who was about to smash it on her head, lost her strength and rushed to the front of the room, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.
Yan Huanyue glanced at the woman who had been flung into the room, then lifted her skirt and slowly walked into the side room.
He gently raised his left hand, and a beam of fire shot from his fingertips, illuminating the empty room.
The woman, lying on the ground, clutching the sharp candlestick, scrambled to her feet and lunged at Yan Huanyue with all her might, shouting fiercely:
"You bunch of people, all you want to do is ruin other people's lives! Look! What kind of corpse demons are here! You're here, and you're not allowed to do this or that, you're always interfering. You're the ones who deserve to die, the ones who deserve to die the most!"
The man outside had already locked the courtyard gate. He pulled out a wooden sword with blood-stained symbols from somewhere and stood by the gate, hacking away at Yan Huanyue.
He exerted all his strength, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
She didn't know where he got that wooden sword, but when he swung it from a distance, several strange sword energies actually rushed towards her.
However, he clearly couldn't see the sword energy he was unleashing. The woman, who was trying to rush at him and kill him with a candlestick, was almost cut in half by his sword energy.
Yan Huanyue kicked the woman away, preventing a bloody scene of husband and wife killing each other. She then made a hand seal and raised her hand, knocking the wooden sword out of his hand and putting it into her treasure pouch.
Upon seeing this, the woman suddenly ran into the courtyard, opened the gate, and shouted into the street:
"A sorcerer from the Heavenly Patrol Hall is killing people! He falsely accused our family of having a corpse demon out of thin air. We didn't see any corpse demon, yet he still burned down our courtyard and killed us to cover it up. Is there anyone who can judge this?"
Those who are evil and heretical are not afraid of this, but righteous people can be drowned by these matters concerning reputation.
If the woman had shouted that a sorcerer had killed someone, then most likely no one would have dared to come out and watch the spectacle. But she was shouting that the sorcerer from the Patrol Hall was a sorcerer.
Although it's only one side of the story, we have to take a look. After all, apart from righteous people, who else with spiritual power would allow them to just watch the show?
Before long, several neighbors who were usually bold arrived, each carrying a large cleaver used for chopping meat in the kitchen, and followed the firelight to the front of the west wing.
Besides the male head of the household, only a young woman in a misty pink dress was standing in the room.
Knowing she was from the Sky Patrol Office, the crowd dared not underestimate her. Someone asked, "Young lady, where is that corpse demon you mentioned?"
Yan Huanyue looked up at the roof beam and said, "It's in this room."
The room was completely empty.
The group exchanged glances. This girl was clearly a greenhorn, inexperienced but stubborn, and was determined to deny her mistake.
That's not good behavior.
Seeing that she was young and naive, someone kindly advised her: "Young lady, if you have wronged someone, apologize. Don't try to fool them with something like that. If you want to act tough here, even if you report it to the Imperial Patrol Office, you will probably be punished."
Someone interjected, "Ha, I know some women who become arrogant once they have a little ability. When they make a mistake, they just throw a tantrum like spoiled princesses. Bah! Do you see her even trying to apologize? If she's going to apologize today, she'll have to kneel down!"
A middle-aged man stepped in as a peacemaker, saying, "Er Erzi, that's enough! The more we talk, the more you get worked up. We can't be unreasonable. This young lady came to Tingnan to help us, but she just made a mistake and couldn't save face."
He then turned to Yan Huanyue and said, "Little girl, let me give you some advice. Don't be so hot-tempered. You young people... you need to learn to humble yourselves. Apologize, and we'll try to persuade you. For my sake, I won't let them report you to the Patrol Bureau. You... ah! A ghost!"
Yan Huanyue stood under the west wall, her brows slightly furrowed. She looked at the palm-sized crack she had made in the wall, and following the decaying aura, she made another cut into the wall, prying open the thick layer of adobe bricks.
A bluish-black head immediately drooped down from the wall, its messy black hair mixed with dust tangled on both sides of its head, and its blood-red eyes were full of malice as it stared intently at the "food" scattered on the ground.
This is almost a fully formed corpse demon...
A scream pierced the air from inside the room. The brave ones ran away instantly, while others were so frightened that their legs went weak and they collapsed to the ground, only able to stare wide-eyed and scream at the top of their lungs.
Fearing they would be truly terrified, Yan Huanyue directly tossed a few pills into their mouths, which were filled with screams, to stop their dread.
The middle-aged man who had just been about to reason with Yan Huanyue swallowed the pill and shakily retreated from the room, leaning against the outer wall to berate the couple who had been living there.
"You actually dare to raise this kind of thing! Your son has been dead for two months! Living father! Living mother! You've turned him into this monstrosity, who are you trying to harm! There aren't enough people on this whole street for him to eat!"
The woman immediately retorted, "My son would never eat people. He's perfectly fine. Once he's fully revived, he'll get married and have children. Brother Zhang, didn't you say you'd give your daughter to him? Look, he's already mostly back to life. He'll definitely be a good son-in-law."
Brother Zhang almost choked on his breath. What a good son-in-law! What a good son-in-law! The look in his eyes just now was as if he wanted to tear him apart!
"Keep dreaming! My daughter will never be buried with that ghost!"
Upon hearing this, the woman retorted angrily, "Unwilling? You think you can just say you're unwilling? Does your daughter even deserve to refuse my son? If anything happens to my son, I'll force her into a ghost marriage sooner or later!"
As he spoke, he looked at the source of tonight's chaos and pounced on Yan Huanyue with a ferocious and reckless manner.
Yan Huanyue grabbed her clothes with two fingers and threw her out into the courtyard. She said calmly, "Don't go near him anymore. He's almost been spoiled. The first person he'll eat is you."
She walked to the west corner of the room and bent down to feel the floor tiles.
Unable to find the hidden latch, he simply plunged his five fingers into the crack between the bricks and pried open the bricks with his hands. With a series of cracking sounds, he tore open the foot-thick wooden board beneath the brick layer, and a stench of decay hit him.
Yan Huanyue probed the firelight between her fingers and saw several shriveled corpses with a large number of maggots wriggling in their eye sockets, lips, and skin.
The corpse demon, whose entire body except for its head was still sealed to the wall, smelled the stench, and its previously stagnant crimson eyes suddenly moved.
Yan Huanyue turned around instantly and noticed this subtle change. She immediately kicked the man who had picked up the candlestick and was about to smash her into the cellar, while Shi Jue held the lid tightly.
Below the cellar, desperate screams were mixed with the sounds of uncontrollable, violent vomiting.
Yan Huanyue leaped forward, intending to stab the corpse demon between the eyebrows, but it suddenly dodged her attack.
Though dead, its sharp, long armor continued to grow, instantly tearing through the earthen wall sealing its body and grabbing at her horizontal sword.
Yan Huanyue leaped into the air and landed on the roof beam.
The corpse demon seemed not to see her at all, and rushed straight through the earthen wall, flying into the courtyard in the blink of an eye, and grabbing at its mother's head with one claw.
In a flash, Yan Huanyue swung her sword, and a gust of wind shot out, instantly splitting its head open.
"Ah! My son! My son!"
The woman's face was covered in the putrid blood and pus from the corpse demon's head, but she ignored it all and lunged at her son, whose head was parted in the middle and bleeding profusely.
Yan Huanyue vaguely saw a pearl-sized point of light instantly condense between the eyebrows of the heartbroken woman, then fly out from the top of her head in an instant and disappear the moment it left her body.
Could it be that... this intense obsession and reluctance to let go is the true source of the Rejuvenation Pearl?
Parents love their children, they live for them, they die for them, they exhaust their energy for them, and they are invincible for them.
It is difficult for people to be without desires. Desires are the sword of moderation; if one advances, one cuts down demons; if one falls, one cuts down oneself and becomes a demon.
People love their own children, and some people love the children of many others for that, while others would kill others to save their own lives.
Just as the woman's hand was about to touch the corpse demon, the corpse demon with its head split in two suddenly grabbed her throat.
Yan Huanyue quickly sheathed her sword, leaped out of the room, and her fingertips flashed with magic. A beam of crimson light flew from her fingertips, entangled the corpse demon, and dragged it away, binding it tightly.
The woman's neck was bleeding profusely from the corpse demon's claws, yet she still tried to grab the corpse demon's shoes.
Yan Huanyue flew through the air to the edge of the roof, pinned the corpse demon between the tiles, and used her energy to condense a blade into poisonous nails, which she then drove into several large acupoints on the corpse demon's body.
Several wisps of decaying, strange energy swept over Yan Huanyue, and a sharp, throbbing pain shot through her head.
She immediately turned around and jumped off the roof, her face grim as she dragged the woman who kept cursing her into the west wing. She then activated the barrier and stuffed the woman into the cellar.
The few remaining people huddled in the courtyard, staring blankly at her.
Brother Zhang, however, asked in surprise, "What's in that cellar?"
Yan Huanyue stepped out of the room and pressed her hand down. The corpse demon on the roof crashed into the courtyard with a "thud." She said in a deep voice, "A dead person whose blood has been drained."
The few people who remained scattered like shattered jade pieces suddenly smashed on the ground.
Brother Zhang, hiding to the side, swallowed hard. "There used to be a few beggars on the street, no wonder they've disappeared... I never would have guessed, that couple was usually... quite honest..."
As Yan Huanyue dragged the corpse demon past him, she made a hand seal and bowed, saying calmly, "Please wait, everyone. As for the two in the cellar, there's no need to worry about them. Someone will come to deal with them tomorrow."
The group, all impressed by her abilities, looked at her with shining eyes and hurriedly said in unison, "Yes, yes, yes..."
Yan Huanyue dragged the corpse demon to Sanyang Valley, three miles outside the city, overnight.
It was a low valley about the height of a person, where several members of the Sky Patrol were already stationed, piling up firewood and keeping an eye on the corpse demons in the formation.
With Ji Linsong and the others absent, Yan Huanyue first asked someone to send the corpse demon into the formation, and then immediately flew back to the city on her sword to find the family that was keeping her father's corpse at home.
The family hadn't slept all night. They had just been accompanying the people from the patrol station to dig up the father's body and carry it away when guests suddenly arrived.
The guest did not linger, but asked if the person who raised the corpses that day had done anything to them, the living people.
So the family members started talking over each other and told the guest that the gentleman had gently pricked their foreheads with a silver needle that day.
It was as if my proactive attitude that day was entirely forced upon me.
Just as I expected...
The person behind this not only creates corpse demons, but also collects people's obsessions.
Could it be that the obsessions collected by the person behind the scenes are the real Resurrection Pearl?
When Yan Huanyue returned to her room at the Sky Patrol Office, the morning stars were sparse, the moon was pale against the west wall, and the sky had already turned blue.
She returned to her room, changed her wound dressing, quickly washed up, and then collapsed onto the bed, falling into a deep sleep.
She slept soundly, her exhaustion completely relieved. Perhaps she forgot to close the east window, and the chill slowly seeped in.
She opened her eyes to a vast expanse of white, as if she were buried in snow, with a familiar, cool fragrance mingling with the scent of snow.
She smiled and asked, "Xuanzhi?"
Soon, a pair of icy hands brushed away the snow from her face, and those jade-like fingertips gently brushed away the snow that clung to her face, then quickly and neatly withdrew them.
Snowflakes were falling heavily, and there was no one around. Pei Xuanzhi, dressed in only a thin garment, knelt beside her, his hands tucked into his sleeves, gazing into the distance.
He was already sensitive to the cold, and now his face was as pale as a piece of porcelain in the cold night.
Lying in the snow, Yan Huanyue asked, "Why don't you put on a cloak?"
Snowflakes fell on Pei Xuanzhi's fine, long eyelashes. He tilted his head slightly and lowered his eyes, and the snowflakes drifted off his long eyelashes.
Perhaps it was the fierce north wind that made his voice sound faint, but he looked at her and said calmly, "The clothes are too heavy, I can't hold them up."
She tried to get up, but couldn't move. She asked anxiously, "Xuanzhi, what's wrong? Why are we here?"
Pei Xuanzhi asked with a smile, "How did you know it was me when you were buried in the snow?"
Yan Huanyue said, "I know exactly what to do. I'll ask you questions, and you'll answer them. Can we please stop with this nonsense..."
"cannot."
The wind whipped the snow, making his dark hair flutter and his robes billow.
He, however, was completely absorbed in watching the snowflakes, like goose feathers, fall on her face amidst the mournful wind and snow.
A smile played on his pale lips. "I enjoy talking about these things with you, I really enjoy it..."
He hadn't originally intended to make her aware of it, but he couldn't resist.
He could keep her from noticing his presence, but he still deliberately didn't control the allure of the fragrance.
He thought, they were husband and wife, and regardless of whether it was intentional or not, he absolutely couldn't refuse to see her if she called him...
When Yan Huanyue woke up, there was a strong wind and heavy rain outside the window, and moisture seeped in from time to time, making the room feel chilly. No wonder she dreamed of a snowy day.
However, after sleeping, she felt refreshed and her injuries were no longer noticeable.
She just remembered her dream; she dreamt of him as soon as the weather turned cold. It seemed those few bouts of colds had really scared her...
On this return journey, I must find a cold-repelling pearl to make a gift for him.
However, she had no time to rest. After waking up, she quickly tidied herself up, ate something, and went out to tell Ji Linsong where the couple from last night was, and also handed him the wooden sword.
Ji Linsong also didn't sleep all night. Yan Huanyue asked him again, "Will we be holding a grand sacrificial ceremony today?"
Ji Linsong neither explicitly stated nor invited her to participate in the ceremony.
Yan Huanyue didn't ask any more questions and went straight to patrol the Tianliao, intending to go and take a look before noon.
As she passed by the alley behind the Xuntianliao (a type of shrine), she hadn't walked far when she encountered the young man who had come to her to report her the night before. He was sitting behind a small stall on the street, drawing pictures on lantern paper.
Yan Huanyue paused for a moment, and the man also raised his head.
Their eyes met in an instant, and the man hurriedly put down his work and said, "It is Lord Sili."
Yan Huanyue smiled and said, "I am neither an official nor a high-ranking person. I am just a disciple of a sect who is passing by. You have done a good job in reporting this last night. You can go to the Xuntian Hall to collect your reward."
The man waved his hand, "That's not what I'm talking about."
Yan Huanyue greeted him and prepared to leave, but the man surnamed Meng said again, "My surname is Meng, and my given name is Yao. If I encounter such injustices in the future, may I still report them to the magistrate?"
Yan Huanyue quietly observed him, then nodded and said, "Of course."
Meng Yao was overjoyed. After she walked away, he sat down behind the stall, picked up his pen, and with a solemn expression, added a stroke to the "Fishing Picture" on the lantern.
When fishing, you have to cast bait.
Just as Master Hui said, it's not that they acted unjustly, it's just that the couple last night was unlucky.
Why is it that the young master is fond of this woman surnamed Yan?
In order to lure her, we have to pick someone to sacrifice to.
If she can be delivered to the young master unharmed in a short time, it's better than killing her. But if we alert him, then we'll have no choice but to kill her. It's just bad luck for her...
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