Meeting an old friend (4)
Inside the inn, Ye Yingying was immersed in her cultivation, oblivious to the passing of days and nights. When she felt her cultivation progressing, she slowly came to her senses, sensing the increase in her spiritual energy. At this rate, she would advance to a minor realm in just a few days. Ye Yingying was quite satisfied with her current cultivation progress. She got up and stretched her somewhat stiff body when she suddenly heard a rapid knocking at the door. In the stillness of the night, the knocking sounded particularly abrupt.
Ye Yingying asked loudly, "What is it?"
After an eerie silence, a soft cough came from outside the door, and someone said, "Miss, I'm here to protect you. Please open the door."
Helper? Ye Yingying asked suspiciously, "Was it a helper sent by Senior Zhao?"
"Cough cough, that's right." The person outside the door seemed to be injured, and their breathing was somewhat unsteady.
Hearing his answer, Ye Yingying already knew the answer in her heart. She chuckled and said sarcastically to the door, "Come on, you don't even know his last name. Stop pretending, you quack."
Outside the city.
Gu Wusi was quite disappointed with the scene in the city. This greedy fellow would rather scurry around the city like a rat than come to her for fire in exchange. Fortunately, she had used a little trick to put the entire city into a deep sleep in order to minimize the situation.
"He's just a frog in a well, so arrogant and boring." Gu Wusi waved his hand and beckoned to the figure in the shadows. "Keep an eye on Xue Jian. Make your move as soon as he's alone."
Xue Jian, who was in the inn, was furious because Ye Yingying had exposed his disguise. He gritted his teeth and said, "You thief who stole other people's bodies, don't think I don't know. If the righteous sect finds out, you will die too!"
"Miracle doctor, why waste your breath? You're going to die soon anyway, so you might as well say less and save your energy to wait for death," Ye Yingying joked.
"Hmph, I'll drag you down with me even if I die." Xue Jian's face was contorted with rage. "Don't think I can't do anything to you just because you're hiding in the formation!"
"Oh?" Ye Yingying crossed her arms and said provocatively with interest, "I want to see how you're going to drag me down with you."
As soon as she finished speaking, an unseasonably cold aura swept over her, enveloping Ye Yingying tightly. Ye Yingying was startled, feeling a huge energy sweep over her body, attempting to take over her.
Ye Yingying gritted her teeth and quickly circulated her spiritual power in an attempt to fight against this force, but it was so fierce that it forced Ye Yingying to retreat step by step. She was exhausted and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
At that moment, the dormant Azure Nether True Fire within his body suddenly stirred, the azure flames like a greedy glutton, tirelessly devouring the foreign energy. In just an instant, the previously ferocious energy was completely dissolved by the Azure Nether True Fire within his body.
Ye Yingying was taken aback. She examined the flame enveloping her dantian and found that it seemed to be a whole size larger than before, and the flame was also brighter and clearer. So that's it—the second layer of flame has returned!
Xue Guan, who was outside the door, had been keeping watch over the movements inside after releasing the flame. Since obtaining this flame, his cultivation speed had advanced by leaps and bounds. Although he had not been able to control the flame, he had already figured out its patterns. This flickering flame was restless, as if searching for a home. It would always intrude into people's bodies without permission, burning their souls. Once it felt uncomfortable, it would fly out of the body on its own and continue to wander.
Xue Jian went to great lengths to trap it inside the meticulously crafted cage lantern. It was also with this flame that he was able to swindle and deceive people in this remote border town, providing cover for his cultivation.
Everything had been going smoothly. The location was remote, rarely visited by outsiders, let alone powerful cultivators. That man surnamed Gu provided him with a great deal of intelligence, giving his puppet-making endeavors a significant boost. He also took in two maids, subtly using them as test subjects to gradually crack the puppet-making method. Everything was developing in his favor, until that brat discovered his secret and even dared to use it to blackmail him…
The thought of someone who should have been dead reappearing in front of her filled Xue Jian with rage. Ignoring who the person in that body was, she yelled at the door, "You wretched girl! You ungrateful bastard! If I hadn't taken you in, you would have been eaten alive by wild dogs. You ungrateful thing!"
After cursing, he let out a sinister laugh: "If I can kill you once, I can kill you a second time. If I don't survive today, neither will you! You dare to call someone to kill me? You bastard, you think you're worthy?!"
Excessive blood loss had already left Xue Jian's mind confused and muddled, but his emotions were unusually agitated. Although he was slumped on the ground, he was still clinging to life with every last breath. His eyes were fixed on Ye Yingying's door, waiting for the flames to burn her soul to ashes, leaving only a dull, lifeless shell, just like the maid he had framed in the past.
The thought of her soul being burned away filled his eyes with a triumphant madness, and he couldn't help but grin a ferocious smile, waiting for the moment the flames would fly out to declare his victory.
One, two, three… fifteen, sixteen, time ticked by, but the scene before him remained unchanged. Xue Jian's eyes shifted from madness to confusion, his smile freezing on his lips, and he stood frozen in place. The situation wasn't what he expected. What had happened inside? He wanted to approach and investigate, but his body was too weak to support him. A deep unease welled up within him. The next second, the door was pushed open, and the figure that stepped out instantly filled Xue Jian with despair.
"This is impossible?!" Xue Jian demanded frantically, "What kind of sorcery did you use? How could that ball of flame be under your control?!"
"It's just returning it to its rightful owner." Although Ye Yingying couldn't see Xue Jian's face, she still looked at him based on the sound. "I have to thank you, Doctor! I didn't expect to get it so quickly."
As she spoke, Ye Yingying raised her hand, preparing to retaliate in kind. But before she could activate her flames, several sharp sword energies pierced through the wind, striking Xue Guan's body directly. Xue Guan had no time to dodge and collapsed to the ground, dying with his eyes wide open.
"Why did you come out?" A cold male voice suddenly rang out.
Upon hearing this, Ye Yingying immediately put down her hand that was about to light the fire, and pretended to be completely unaware, saying, "This person said that he was a helper that you called, so I opened the door to let him in."
"...This isn't a helper, it's that demonic cultivator," Yun Yanqiu sighed.
"What?! Then, I almost..." Ye Yingying continued to feign surprise, and even patted her chest as if she had just escaped a disaster. "Oh my god, if senior hadn't arrived in time, I don't even want to think what would have happened to me."
"It's alright, the demonic cultivator is dead."
Yun Yanqiu's gaze fell on the empty cage beside the demonic cultivator, and she couldn't help but frown and ask, "Do you have... never mind, it's nothing."
He was about to ask Ye Yingying if she had seen a ball of blue-green flame, but then he remembered that she couldn't see anything, so asking would be pointless.
Ye Yingying secretly rejoiced that she had escaped another disaster.
"So, senior, where are we now...?"
"I still have some things to take care of here. You should go back to your room and rest."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ye Yingying wanted to take the opportunity to find out what was happening outside. "Well, I've been sitting in the room with nothing to do, and I'm getting really bored..."
Yun Yanqiu pondered for a moment and said, "Then you guard the outside for me. I need to set up a formation."
"What kind of formation are you setting up, senior?" Ye Yingying asked curiously.
"...Soul-Searching Array".
Good heavens! Ye Yingying was shocked. They were going to search the quack doctor's memories before he died! No way, if Yun Yanqiu saw her coming out of the room looking so arrogant, he would definitely arrest her and interrogate her too.
The Soul Searching Array is a formation that allows one to peek into the past of a corpse. However, the memories that can be glimpsed do not appear in a fixed chronological order. Therefore, in order to find a specific memory, one must continuously maintain the operation of the array and peek into more content in the hope of finding the fragment one wants. The Soul Searching Array is destined to consume a large amount of spiritual power from the person who sets it up.
For the one who sets up the formation, this formation is a bottomless pit in terms of spiritual energy consumption; no one can guarantee whether the memory will be found first or the spiritual energy will be exhausted first. Ordinary cultivators would never use this formation unless they had absolutely no other choice.
Yun Yanqiu possessed profound spiritual power, and Ye Yingying dared not gamble on whether he would find the information he wanted from the Soul Searching Array first, or whether the Soul Searching Array would exhaust his spiritual power first.
She had intended to interfere, but Yun Yanqiu acted swiftly. Before she could do anything, Yun Yanqiu took out his magical artifacts and began setting up the array. After Yun Yanqiu had fixed the positions of the talismans and the medium, he sat cross-legged, ready to activate the array. Suddenly, a loud bang came from not far away. Yun Yanqiu hesitated for a moment, but still got up to check the situation. When he reached the steps leading up and down the stairs, he found Ye Yingying sitting on the steps, clutching her head and wailing.
"Are you alright?" Yun Yanqiu looked down at Ye Yingying.
"My head, my head hurts so much..." Ye Yingying said weakly.
It was painful, but it was all Ye Yingying's own doing. After much thought, she could only use her blindness as an excuse to make some noise. So she groped her way to a seat on the stairs and slammed her head directly into the handrail. However, she had overestimated her body's resilience; her frail frame couldn't withstand such a blow, and the single impact made her scream in pain. Fortunately, the commotion was loud enough to attract Yun Yanqiu's attention.
Ye Yingying calmed herself down and slowly opened her mouth to say, "I... I heard some noise downstairs, and I panicked..."
Downstairs? Yun Yanqiu looked at the empty house.
"You misheard me. Sit down and rest. Don't get up yet." Yun Yanqiu turned and walked back.
Upon seeing this, Ye Yingying hurriedly shouted, "Senior! Don't go!"
"..." Yun Yanqiu paused for a moment, then patiently turned back to look at her. "What's wrong?"
"Um, could you carry me upstairs for a bit? My whole body aches, and I want to lie down and rest in bed..." Actually, only her forehead hurt, but that didn't stop her from making an excuse.
Ye Yingying was met with silence, clearly indicating that Yun Yanqiu was not very willing to help.
So Ye Yingying started playing the victim again: "Senior, after that bump, I suddenly remembered that I was picked up by that quack doctor and taken to his clinic. He wanted to turn me into a puppet, and if I refused, he would kill me to silence me! I finally managed to escape outside the city, thinking I could escape his clutches, but who knew that later..." Ye Yingying beat her chest and stamped her feet, trying to show a pitiful and miserable appearance to gain Yun Yanqiu's sympathy.
But Yun Yanqiu was more concerned about the whereabouts of the Azure Nether True Fire than anything else. He sighed helplessly, "The demonic cultivator is dead, and you have avenged your great enemy. Don't think too much about it."
As Yun Yanqiu turned to walk back, Ye Yingying anxiously raised her hand, trying to physically delay him. But before she could even touch the hem of Yun Yanqiu's robe, a cheerful shout came from the inn's entrance: "Senior Yun! I'm here!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
