Chapter 55: Ten Thousand Souls Lead the Path to the Underworld to Become His Master's Spirit Pets
Lou Yan was shivering as she nestled in Heng Qichun's arms.
That's terrifying.
As soon as they entered the Yi Emperor's Mausoleum, the Qin Mirror in Heng Qichun's hand emitted a buzzing sound, as if recognizing its master, rising from his arms and hovering above the coffin, absorbing all the remaining ghostly energy within.
The few spider demons that had been left behind in the mountains were all attracted by the enormous ghostly aura, and soon vanished into thin air under the light of Qin Jing's mirror.
—The stronger the ghostly aura, the more this mirror can reveal a person's true form; in severe cases, it can even lead to the complete annihilation of one's soul.
From the moment the spider demon died, Lou Yan leaped into Heng Qichun's arms, clutching his master's robe to cover himself completely, ensuring that not a single hair of his was visible in the mirror.
Knowing the wolf cub was scared, Heng Qichun didn't stop him from crawling into his clothes this time. He just held him up with his hand when the wolf's paw was about to step on him.
Lou Yan was completely unaware, hiding in Heng Qichun's arms like a quail.
Even if he is too incompetent to become a great wolf king in the future, he will accept it!
The wolf cub in his arms trembled more and more violently. Heng Qichun had no choice but to patiently stroke the small patch of Lou Yan's neck that was showing.
Then, somewhat awkwardly, he coaxed, "Ah...don't be afraid...I'm here."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lou Yan's trembling actually lessened. After a moment of silence, he tentatively peeked out from Heng Qichun's embrace, his furry head nuzzling against Heng Qichun's chin. His ears, which had been drooping, suddenly perked up after seeing what was in front of him.
In just a few days, the scene inside the tomb of Emperor Yi had changed completely.
The stone sarcophagus still stood in the same place, but the demon that Heng Qichun had taken away from the sarcophagus had disappeared without a trace. Instead, spider silk with a faint blue glow covered the inside of the sarcophagus, completely obscuring the scene inside.
Qin Jing was suspended above the coffin, enveloped by the ghostly aura it attracted, appearing as a mere black shadow from afar.
Heng Qichun spoke amidst this eerie atmosphere: "Although we brought back most of the demons last time, the ghostly energy in the tomb is still growing and has become uncontrollable."
Lou Yan gradually lowered his guard against Qin Jing, grabbed Heng Qichun's collar and poked his head out, his wolf-like eyes fixed intently on the coffin.
Qin Jing greedily absorbed the ghostly energy from above. In at most half an hour... no, at most a quarter of an hour, it would become a ghostly mirror that even divine power could not resist, and at that time it would surely endanger the six realms.
"Awooo?" Lou Yan stretched her neck and howled, asking him.
So what do we do now?
Heng Qichun pursed his lips, his pale face hidden in the darkness of the tomb.
He raised his hand and made a hand seal, directly suppressing the cough that was about to rise in his chest. Looking at the Qin mirror, he said, "The Yi Emperor's Mausoleum is not only the tomb of the Yi Emperor during his lifetime, but also the only road to the underworld. For now, we can only try to see if we can open this door."
He wanted to see the Yi Emperor.
How ridiculous.
Since ancient times, there have been two paths: gods and demons. Heng Qichun, who holds the position of a supreme god, attempted to lower himself to beg the Lord of the Underworld and ask the Yi Emperor, who governs all ghosts, to intervene in Qin Jing's crisis. This is utterly absurd.
Lou Yan thought he was probably crazy.
But he also knew that the Yi Emperor was not the powerful and influential figure he was rumored to be.
In his previous life, the first thing he did after taking control of the Nine Netherworld was to forcibly open this gate with demonic energy, leading tens of thousands of demons into the Netherworld, vowing to meet the arrogant and powerful Netherworld Lord.
It was completely different from what he had imagined.
He was an extremely young man, whose frail and sickly body could not be concealed by a robe as thin as gauze. A slender neck peeked out from the collar, followed by his thin and wiry face.
He only gave Lou Yan one sentence: "I see that the Demon Lord is already showing signs of death."
Lou Yan immediately slaughtered most of his underworld officials, and from his high position crushed the legendary Yi Emperor under his feet, forcing him to obediently tuck his tail between his legs and become a ghost, never to leave the underworld again.
Emperor Yi surprisingly agreed to his request very readily.
Therefore, having been reborn, Lou Yan did not believe that a weak and powerless underworld ruler like him would possess overwhelming power to dispel Qin Jing's might.
He turned his head and bit Heng Qichun's sleeve, making a move to drag his master away from this hellish place.
Heng Qichun frowned slightly, reaching out to press down on the little wolf's bald head to stop him from tearing his clothes apart. "Stop it..."
"Awooo!" Lou Yan cried out.
Who's making a scene!
The demons of this world have their own destinies. Those who coveted the ghostly aura and were harmed by Qin Jing deserved their retribution. How many other demon wolves, like me, were innocently implicated?
Why save them?!
As if sensing the fluctuation in his little apprentice's emotions, Heng Qichun paused his hand on the wolf's head, then moved his fingers back to the back of the wolf's neck.
He habitually grabbed the thickest part of Lou Yan's wolf fur on his neck and forcibly lifted him up to face him.
The tomb was dimly lit, with only layers of dense spider silk shimmering with a faint blue glow.
Lou Yan's first sight was of Heng Qichun's extremely clear and bright eyes. Beneath her thin eyebrows, her willow-leaf eyes were clean and long, with a light-colored light light that always seemed to be covered by a thin mist. When she looked over, it made people's hearts skip a beat.
Those were eyes filled with compassion for all living beings.
Lou Yan finally remembered his master's words of wisdom: "Evil spirits are also among the common people."
Heng Qichun was still unaware of why the little wolf had suddenly froze. He gently stroked the fur on the back of the wolf's neck, his cool fingertips touching the skin on Lou Yan's neck, only to be met with a warm sensation.
He coaxed Lou Yan with a smile, "Don't you want to become human anymore, little wolf?"
Lou Yan had long since succumbed to his compassionate gaze.
He twitched his nose, letting the scattered ghostly energy rush in, and after a long while, he let out a muffled groan from his throat.
"Awoo~"
I was thinking about it.
Just as all demons strive to cultivate themselves into humans, no demon in the world wants to remain an animal for life, and Lou Yan is no exception.
But before Heng Qichun asked him that question, he had already silently accepted the fact that he would be a wolf for the rest of his life. It was nothing more than returning to the days more than two hundred years ago and becoming his master's spirit pet.
It's still better than the ending of my previous life.
Heng Qichun had no idea what he was thinking. He just chuckled and rubbed Lou Yan's head again, letting the little wolf, full of emotion, crawl back into his arms.
In the cold and gloomy weather, he felt surprisingly at ease because of the warm thing on his chest.
Heng Qichun supported Lou Yan's body with one hand to prevent the cub from moving around and stepping on him.
He raised his eyes and looked at the Qin Mirror, which was filled with ghostly energy, and slowly raised his hands to form a hand seal.
Her delicate fingers formed a lotus mudra, the color drained from the corners of her lips, and she slowly uttered a chant.
"The Yellow Springs surge backward, and the Yin Imperial Cave opens."
"Ten thousand souls guide the way, to open the netherworld!"
Lou Yan's claws hooked onto a small piece of fabric inside Heng Qichun's clothes. In his nervousness, he managed to pull out a thread from the fabric, which twisted into a messy ball in his claws—the clothes were doomed. The tangled thread resembled a person's chaotic thoughts.
For the first time in two lifetimes, Lou Yan felt Heng Qichun's spiritual power fluctuating so wildly.
In my memory, even when Heng Qichun dispersed his cultivation on his deathbed in his previous life, his spiritual power was still like the ever-flowing spring in Shenxiao Palace, gentle and slow-flowing, though it was about to dry up, it was ancient and long-lasting, always exuding a faint lotus fragrance.
At this moment, forced to cower in Heng Qichun's arms because of his wolf form, he could clearly hear his master's rapid heartbeat.
"Thump."
One sound after another, close to his earlobe, crashed in like muffled thunder.
Lou Yan knew something was wrong, so she immediately held her breath, closed her eyes, and tried to sniff the outside world.
The ghostly aura that rushed into his nostrils was even stronger than before, and it was interspersed with the demonic aura from before. Unfortunately, he had no spiritual power at the moment and could not smell the scent more clearly.
Lou Yan couldn't resist trying to squeeze out to see, so she craned her neck and let out a long howl: "Awooo!"
Master!
Heng Qichun did not answer, but pressed down on his head with one hand from the outside, preventing him from peeking out.
Lou Yan couldn't see what was happening outside, but she clearly heard a muffled cough coming from Heng Qichun.
The tremor in his chest made him shudder even through the skin. He scratched wildly with his front paws, tearing a gap in Heng Qichun's shirt and vaguely seeing the outside world through the gap.
All I felt was a dazzling white light.
The Qin Mirror of Glazed Glass exploded with a burst of sharp light from the thick demonic aura, turning the scorpions and rats crawling in the tomb to ashes. The screams of the demons mingled with Heng Qichun's muffled coughs, creating a scene of unbearable tragedy.
As an even stronger light shone down, Lou Yan felt a sudden lightness in her body and almost fell out of Heng Qichun's arms.
In his panic, he grabbed at Heng Qichun's chest, his sharp fingernails scratching the flesh and drawing blood. Then he realized that Heng Qichun was half-lying on the ground.
It seems that he forcibly opened the gate of hell with divine power, causing the ghostly energy to be scattered and escaped by the impact of the divine power, which was then absorbed by Qin Jing and is now suffering a backlash.
As Lou Yan felt Heng Qichun supporting his body with one hand while he got up from the ground, a bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart.
Heng Qichun was never one to give in easily. For the sake of his unwritten principles, he might do something even bolder.
no!
Lou Yan desperately tried to stop Heng Qichun, but Heng Qichun was still able to free up one hand to hold him down in this situation. Lou Yan was furious and fiercely turned his head to bite Heng Qichun's chest.
The taste was sweet and metallic, and a patch of blood instantly seeped onto the slightly red spot.
Heng Qichun groaned, his body buckling in pain, his whole body trembling violently.
Lou Yan licked his teeth and was taken aback when he noticed Heng Qichun's reaction.
Does it hurt that much?
I didn't see him react this much when I scratched him with my paws.
The environment was too dark, and even with the sharp eyes of a wolf, it was difficult to see exactly where he had bitten. Before he could figure it out, he felt a tightness on the back of his neck as Heng Qichun pulled him out of his arms.
The blinding white light was too glaring, and Lou Yan instinctively squinted, seeing his master grit his teeth and speak.
"You little brat..."
This was the first time Lou Yan had heard Heng Qichun curse him like this in both his past and present lives.
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Author's Note: Quiz with prize: Where exactly did the wolf bite Master?!
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