Meeting an old friend (1)
Ye Yingying awoke from a long, hazy state, finding herself in complete darkness. She slowly propped herself up, trying to channel her meager spiritual energy, cautiously groping her surroundings to figure out where she was. Suddenly, she felt a wave of heat rushing towards her from the side, and instinctively reached out to probe the source of the heat.
“That’s an open flame.” A clear, deep voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Ye Yingying’s actions.
Ye Yingying looked in the direction of the sound, but still couldn't see anything. She realized then that this body was blind.
"Thank you for saving me. May I ask who you are?"
"Yun Yanqiu," the man replied. "You collapsed in this forest; do you still remember who you are?"
She remembered perfectly. Yun Yanqiu, the master of the Xuanming Realm, was a low-key and mysterious man who rarely left his home. Ye Yingying knew him because of the Ghost Calculator.
She was originally a puppet servant under the Ghost Calculator, responsible for searching far and wide for treasures to use in weapon crafting. At that time, Ye Yingying made a bet with the Ghost Calculator: if she could retrieve a treasure he specified, he would teach her the art of weapon crafting. The Ghost Calculator smiled disdainfully and immediately ordered her to retrieve the Rakshasa Jade from the hands of Yun Yanqiu, the master of the Profound Brightness Realm.
At that time, she was ignorant and had no idea how valuable the title of the Xuanming Realm Master was. She rushed into the Xuanming Realm with only her recklessness, and was swiftly and decisively defeated by Yun Yanqiu. Only then did she realize the insurmountable gap in strength between herself and this person.
But Ye Yingying was not one to give up easily. She fought and lost repeatedly, but she never gave up. Finally, she took advantage of Yun Yanqiu's moment of carelessness and took away the Rakshasa Jade.
I won't go into the specifics of how she took it. However, one thing is certain: she not only took someone else's treasure but also stood them up. Revealing her true identity now would be extremely unwise.
So, Ye Yingying pretended to be in pain, rubbed her forehead, and shook her head helplessly, saying, "I... I don't remember very well..."
That's true. Ye Yingying had just been resurrected in this body and was indeed completely unaware of what had happened in this body before.
Yun Yanqiu was not surprised after hearing this: "It's not far from Zhi County. Come with me to the county, and we should be able to find some clues."
"Senior, we are merely strangers who met by chance, yet you are willing to lend a helping hand. I am truly grateful." Ye Yingying bowed towards the direction of the voice. "However, I am blind, I'm afraid..."
Upon hearing this, Yun Yanqiu stood up, walked to Ye Yingying, raised his hand and gently touched her brow, sending a wisp of spiritual energy into her forehead: "Now you can sense the spiritual energy around you, come with me."
"Thank you, senior!" Ye Yingying was overjoyed. Under the blessing of Yun Yanqiu's spell, she sensed a huge fluctuation of spiritual energy in front of her, which she assumed was Yun Yanqiu's spiritual energy. So she stretched her unfamiliar body, stood up, and followed Yun Yanqiu's footsteps.
Yun Yanqiu walked ahead silently, his strides large, and Ye Yingying, whose limbs were still uncoordinated, could only barely keep up. After walking for quite a while, Ye Yingying gradually adapted to her current body and began to subtly inquire about information from Yun Yanqiu: "Senior Yun, how did you find me?"
“I was passing by when I saw you lying motionless on the ground in the woods. I went over to check on you and found that you still had a breath left.”
"I'm lying in the woods?" Ye Yingying asked curiously. "Then who attacked me?"
“There is no smell of blood on you.” Yun Yanqiu paused. “Instead, you seem to be asleep, unresponsive to any external stimuli.”
It sounds like an out-of-body experience; no wonder I was able to possess this body. When attacked by the Ghost Calculator, Ye Yingying's physical body was reduced to ashes, and the three layers of Azure Nether True Fire within her body were scattered, leaving only one layer to protect her remaining soul as it drifted in the world. Her own consciousness slumbered in a state of confusion until it finally awoke today.
However, a person cannot intentionally leave their body; it can only be done by using someone else's hand and employing unorthodox methods. If the original owner's departed soul still exists in the world, then this is considered usurping someone else's place, and the original owner's spirit would likely become a vengeful ghost and constantly haunt this person.
Since that's the case, the most important thing right now is to find out where the original owner's soul went. Having sorted out her thoughts, Ye Yingying asked Yun Yanqiu, "Senior Yun, how much longer until we arrive?"
"We've arrived." Yun Yanqiu said succinctly, "It's getting late. Come with me to the inn for the night, and we'll go out to gather information tomorrow."
Ye Yingying nodded in agreement and followed Yun Yanqiu into the city. Zhi County was a small county town in the southwest, rarely visited by cultivators. The town was not large, and through Yun Yanqiu's magic, Ye Yingying could sense scattered fluctuations of spiritual energy, but none were as powerful as Yun Yanqiu's. This reminded Ye Yingying of when she met Yun Yanqiu in her previous life, when his cultivation had already reached the Nascent Soul stage. Her current cultivation level must be much higher than then.
Why would a master of such a level come to this nameless little town? Ye Yingying wondered. In her memory, Yun Yanqiu always stayed within the Xuanming Realm and never interacted with the outside world. If there was any reason for him to come out, it was probably... to collect a debt from her. Ye Yingying was certain of this thought and decided to hide her identity and find a way to get away from Yun Yanqiu after resolving her current problem.
Ye Yingying followed Yun Yanqiu to the inn, where the innkeeper was fiddling with an abacus, the beads sliding up and down, making a "click-clack" sound. Seeing a guest arrive, he called for a waiter to greet them.
"Gentlemen, are you here for a meal or to stay the night?" the waiter greeted them warmly.
"Prepare two guest rooms and a pot of tea," Yun Yanqiu instructed, then asked Ye Yingying, "Is there anything else you need?"
Ye Yingying rubbed her rumbling stomach and said to the waiter, "Could you please bring another plate of side dishes and rice?"
"Alright!" the waiter replied and turned to get busy.
Yun Yanqiu led Ye Yingying to a seat, glancing around to find the inn deserted; besides the two of them, there wasn't a single other customer. A moment later, the waiter brought tea and food to the table. Seeing Ye Yingying's listless eyes and her awkwardly fumbling for the bowls and chopsticks, the waiter couldn't help but ask curiously, "Are you two gentlemen here in Zhi County seeking medical treatment?"
"Seeking medical help?"
"Yes, some strange illnesses have been appearing in this county recently. The people who get sick stare blankly ahead, remaining motionless all day, neither eating nor drinking, just sitting there like wooden statues. It's really strange! Even the landlord's mother has contracted this strange illness! The doctors in the county are all helpless against it."
The waiter got more and more excited as he spoke: "Then, out of nowhere, a traveling doctor suddenly appeared, and lo and behold! He cured the old lady of the landlord's house in no time. After she recovered, she could walk, lie down, eat, and sleep, which made the landlord extremely happy. Word spread quickly, and everyone sought his treatment. He was so busy that he simply opened a clinic in the city."
"Is it really that powerful?" Ye Yingying asked doubtfully.
"That's right, and this disease doesn't discriminate against anyone. Men and women, young and old, can all get it if you're not careful one day." The waiter described it in a very vivid way. "Many people are afraid to come to our county after hearing about this strange disease, which makes it harder for the inn to do business."
The waiter shrugged, looking helpless. The manager, who was behind him, heard this and glared at him, scolding, "Don't talk nonsense! The customers are eating, don't say such unlucky things!"
“It’s alright, we really did come here to seek medical help.” Yun Yanqiu suddenly spoke up, then glanced at Ye Yingying and said, “She suffers from an eye disease. I’ve taken her around to seek medical help everywhere, but to no avail. We finally heard that there is a miracle doctor in this county who can treat such difficult and complicated diseases, so we came here to visit him.”
Ye Yingying was taken aback, but she didn't expose him.
The waiter took another closer look at Ye Yingying's eyes, leaned back, frowned with regret, and clicked his tongue, saying, "Oh dear, it's such a pity about your eyes, but perhaps there's still hope if you see the divine doctor."
Ye Yingying smiled slightly and followed up on the topic, asking him, "Where is this miracle doctor's clinic located?"
"It's not far from here, just two streets away, next to the market. There's a huge red lantern hanging at the entrance with the character 'Xue' on it, it's very conspicuous." The waiter pointed out the direction to Yun Yanqiu. "But everyone here is asleep late at night! That clinic only opens during the day, so you two can rest here for the night and go tomorrow."
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper nodded in satisfaction and walked over with a smile, saying, "Gentlemen, there's no need to be anxious. The doctor's medical skills are renowned throughout our county; there's no illness he can't cure!"
Although it was somewhat exaggerated, the waiter nodded in agreement.
This piqued Ye Yingying's curiosity again: "So neither of you contracted this strange disease?"
"Hey, good question! I'm really lucky. I got better in two or three days after getting sick. Our shopkeeper had it too, and he was back to normal in just a few days. We didn't even need to go to the doctor!" The waiter got more and more excited as he spoke. "But it's strange, some people recover from this disease in just a few days, while others don't get better for ten days or half a month. That old lady from the landlord's family is an example. Now she even needs a miracle doctor to come to her house for a consultation."
"You can do that?"
"That's right! So when I first saw that you looked listless and had difficulty moving around, I wondered if you also had this disease."
Ye Yingying chuckled twice in response, and then chatted casually for a few more minutes before making an excuse that she had finished eating and going upstairs with Yun Yanqiu to rest. The sound of their footsteps was extremely clear in the inn. Although the inn was large, it seemed that they were the only two guests, and a strange sense of unease welled up in Ye Yingying's heart.
Upon entering the guest room, Ye Yingying called out to Yun Yanqiu, wanting to ask about what had just happened. Yun Yanqiu clearly also had something to say to her. He strode into the room, closed the door, and affixed a soundproofing sticker to it before speaking, "There's something I need to tell you. I came here to look for the whereabouts of something."
Ye Yingying was slightly taken aback: "What is it that you are looking for, Senior?..."
"Azure Netherfire".
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