Chapter 30 A Fire Breaks Out of the Blue "Come here, let me hug you."...
When I came out, it was almost dawn; the night had already passed in a flurry.
Lou Yan fell behind Heng Qichun, the Pixiu cub in her arms frequently poking its head out.
"Whoosh!"
Hungry!
Lou Yan pressed his head back down expressionlessly, cold-blooded to the point of being inhuman, "Endure the hunger."
I'm so annoyed right now, I don't have time to care about you.
As he was thinking this in a bad mood, he suddenly saw Heng Qichun stop, turn around and look at him with a helpless expression.
"Come here, I'll hug you."
Lou Yan: "??"
Before Lou Yan could figure out why Heng Qichun suddenly wanted to hug him, the Pixiu in his arms excitedly poked its head out again, used all four limbs to kick against Lou Yan's arm, and successfully jumped into Heng Qichun's embrace.
Heng Qichun gently stroked the little beast's back.
Lou Yan laughed angrily.
He knew it; Heng Qichun couldn't possibly be that kind!
"Master..." Lou Yan stopped speaking as soon as he opened his mouth, watching as Heng Qichun took out a gold ingot from his waist pouch.
He had a vague sense of unease.
Immediately afterwards, Lou Yan saw Heng Qichun feed the gold ingot to the Pixiu.
He clenched his fists tightly, his teeth grinding together, and you could clearly hear the grating sound of his heart aching.
That was his monthly savings that he had painstakingly saved up over several years!
What's even more infuriating is that the little thing actually slowly and methodically chewed on the gold, and even waved to Lou Yan with satisfaction and pride.
Lou Yan: "...I'll make sure you don't overeat!"
Heng Qichun particularly enjoyed the two little ones bickering and fighting. At this moment, he couldn't help but chuckle softly, freeing one hand to pat Lou Yan's head, "I'll return it to you when we get back."
Lou Yan's neck stiffened, and the wolf ears struggled to spread an itch, which he tried to suppress.
"Oh." He grumbled and followed. "So, are we going back to the Eighteen Realms now?"
With the Tan family's grievances resolved and the summer heat in the human realm dissipated, there should be no reason for them to remain in Huatan Town any longer.
Before Heng Qichun could even say anything, the Pixiu cub cried out in terror, and a piece of gold fell to the ground with a "thud".
Lou Yan picked it up, cursing, and was about to look up and yell at him when his gaze fell on a figure in the distance, and he froze.
He gripped Heng Qichun's sleeve tightly in that position, hesitatingly saying, "Master, that is...that is..."
If you keep walking forward, you'll reach that enormous ancient tree.
The branches were jagged, the leaves were almost all gone, and the traces of their previous fight with Xu Shengzi could still be faintly seen on the trunk.
Looking further up, a person was sitting cross-legged on the forked tree trunk, wearing a green robe, lean and experienced, it was none other than Xu Shengzi, whom they had almost forgotten!
Lou Yan immediately stood up and shouted, "Old Taoist priest, what trick are you playing now!"
Xu Shengzi seemed to curl the corner of his mouth slightly, but did not answer him. He simply closed his eyes and waved the whisk in his hand.
"Lou Yan," Heng Qichun's voice came from behind, "Step back."
Lou Yan pursed his lips, clearly unconvinced, but still obediently took a step back. When he looked up again, he heard a distinct sound of footsteps.
There's someone behind the tree.
Lou Yan immediately held his breath, and the next moment, he saw Tan Chengyi emerge from behind the tree with hesitant steps.
After not seeing him for many days, his clothes were tattered and disheveled, his hair was disheveled and tangled, revealing a thin and withered face, completely different from his appearance in the illusion.
He moved closer step by step, revealing his dull and lifeless eyes. The demonic aura on his body had dissipated, but judging from his condition, he was still a puppet controlled by Xu Shengzi.
Lou Yan squinted at him, her gaze moving from his unsteady steps to his weathered face.
He suddenly realized that he had said the wrong thing.
The matter here is over, but the culprit is still standing here alive.
Just then, Xu Shengzi, who was sitting on the tree trunk, suddenly raised his hand, flicked his whisk, and chanted a spell.
"Gold breaks its thread, wood scatters its form, fire burns away the curse, command—break!"
As the dust settled, Tan Chengyi instantly became like several pieces of wood that had lost their restraints, his limbs twisting stiffly before he lost his balance and fell to the ground.
Lou Yan instinctively wanted to go forward to check, but Heng Qichun grabbed his arm with one hand and pulled him back to look. He then saw his master's gaze—wait and see.
All right.
The wolf obediently moved back, secretly gathering a burst of spiritual energy to prevent Tan Chengyi from suddenly attacking.
The sun was rising higher.
A bright red sun hung high in the sky, casting a radiant glow over the quiet alley. The old talisman paper on the eaves and corners rustled softly in the wind, inexplicably making one feel uneasy.
It's as if all of this is far from over.
After a long while, Xu Shengzi finally moved, opened his eyelids, and looked down at Tan Chengyi, who was lying on the ground.
His voice carried an inexplicable weariness. "Village head, look at this. This is the consequence of your ingratitude."
Tan Chengyi's fingertips twitched, and then he struggled to his feet, his limbs swaying and making a "crack" sound as his bones collided with each movement.
The sound of the talisman paper rustling in the wind was eerily unsettling.
Tan Chengyi stood up, slowly straightening his spine, which was about to be bent, and looked at the mansion in front of him with a panicked expression.
The talismans on the wall rattled in the wind, the lanterns on the eaves were broken and tattered, and the cinnabar wicks swayed gently in the wind. In just one night, it looked like an abandoned house that had been deserted for a long time.
A moment of surprise flashed across Tan Chengyi's face. He hesitated for a moment, then slowly climbed the steps and tentatively pushed open the long-unseen wooden door.
Lou Yan turned to watch him walk towards the ancestral hall, and tugged at Heng Qichun's sleeve with some worry, "Master, Tan Wangshi's body is still there—"
Before he could finish speaking, Tan Chengyi's heart-wrenching screams came from inside.
Heng Qichun remained silent, his clear eyes gazing at the mansion for a long time before letting out a faint sigh. "This is the result that Xu Shengzi has been planning for so long, the result he has been trying to achieve."
Lou Yan didn't understand the meaning of those words at first, and subconsciously turned his head to look. He immediately started stammering, "Master, he...he...he's gone!"
The ancient tree still stood there, towering into the sky, its branches and leaves rustling and falling, leaving only emptiness where the wind passed.
The branches and leaves clustered together, as if Xu Shengzi had never existed.
Heng Qichun squinted at the ancient tree, and suddenly, as if thinking of something, he grabbed Lou Yan's wrist, which was hanging in the air, and pulled his little apprentice away.
"Walk!"
Lou Yan was puzzled, but she still took a step forward following Heng Qichun's force, looking at Heng Qichun with a face full of confusion.
As he turned his head, his sharp eyes widened noticeably, a glint of fire reflected in his dark pupils. "Master—"
He always yells like that when he's in a hurry.
Heng Qichun had no time to respond. He quickly condensed a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips, held the stringless zither in his arm, and the strings rang out. The pale spiritual energy collided head-on with the oncoming firelight.
"Bang!"
The stringless zither kept the flames out, while the Tan family mansion had already been engulfed in flames.
Lou Yan was shielded behind Heng Qichun, and felt the sea of fire in front of him was so hot that it seemed to want to devour him. A layer of hot sweat immediately appeared on his chest and back. He gripped Heng Qichun's sleeves tightly with both hands and gasped for breath.
He gritted his teeth and said, "Xu Shengzi wants us to be buried with the Tan family!"
Heng Qichun remained noncommittal. He handed the frightened Pixiu cub back to Lou Yan, who then stroked the stringless zither inch by inch, releasing a strong lotus fragrance.
Flames soared into the sky, the blazing inferno tonight seemed poised to devour everything. Golden flames surrounded Heng Qichun, who stood there, his face deathly pale, cold sweat soaking his white hair and silently sliding down his cheeks.
The stringless zither seemed to sense its master's unusual behavior and nestled in his arms, emitting a "zhengzheng" sound.
Heng Qichun's magical artifact was connected to his divine essence. If Heng Qichun's body had not been so weak as to be extremely frail, the stringless zither would not have produced such a reaction.
Before the thought had even formed, Lou Yan heard a loud thud—Heng Qichun collapsed in front of him, his face deathly pale!
Lou Yan was startled and instinctively took two steps forward to catch the swaying Heng Qichun in her arms.
The baby Pixiu fell to the ground, pitifully clutching its bottom.
"Master?" Lou Yan shook the person, but received no reply. In a panic, a layer of cold sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.
In the midst of the chaos, someone in the distance suddenly called out to him urgently, "Senior Brother Lou!"
Lou Yan knew it couldn't be Nan Xu returning. Just as he was wondering why the voice sounded so familiar, he looked up and saw the person rushing over in a panic. When he got close, he couldn't stop in time and stumbled and knelt down in front of him.
How could someone be so stupid?
Lou Yan shielded Heng Qichun with one hand and looked down from that position. He saw that the person was wearing the same color school uniform as him and was squatting on the ground carefully rubbing his knee. His almond-shaped eyes were squinting because of the pain, and his fair face was wrinkled.
He was his junior brother, Wei Xiuzhu, who belonged to the same clan but from a different school.
Then there's nothing strange about it.
Lou Yan immediately pictured the boy grinning at him while holding a lizard, and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. "How come it's you?"
"Ugh—" Wei Xiuzhu stood up, rubbing his legs which were sore and numb from squatting, and tried to move them a bit. "It's a long story."
He then looked at the person in Lou Yan's arms, his expression changing drastically, "What happened to the God Lord?!"
Compared to the child, Lou Yan appeared much more composed. He first condensed a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertip and slowly channeled it into Heng Qichun's brow before finally having time to explain to Wei Xiuzhu.
“We were ambushed by a scoundrel. Our master was injured and forced to use his spiritual power several times. He might have suffered a backlash…” Lou Yan frowned.
Wei Xiuzhu's eyes widened immediately as he looked incredulously at Heng Qichun, who was half-collapsed in Lou Yan's arms, his face ashen.
In his memory, he had never seen the deity so weak.
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Author's Note: See you tomorrow! [Sparkling eyes]
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