Chapter 37
Chapter Summary: [Jin Ling was taken aback by his reaction and hesitated, unsure what to say, before simply humming incoherently. Lan Sizhui quickly smoothed things over, saying, "Jun..."]
-------------------------------------
Jin Ling was taken aback by his reaction and hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say, before simply humming incoherently. Lan Sizhui quickly smoothed things over, saying, "But perhaps this person isn't a bad person after all."
Jin Ling retorted stubbornly, "Fine. You're all good people. Don't blame me if anyone gets hurt."
Lan Jingyi said angrily, "You..." Before he could finish speaking, his tongue got tied.
Because he suddenly noticed the sword the man was leaning against the table. The black cloth wrapped around the sword had slipped down halfway, revealing the blade.
The sword is crafted with exceptional skill. The scabbard is bronze in color, engraved with openwork frost patterns. The blade, visible through the openwork, shimmers like silver stars, displaying a snowflake-like brilliance, possessing a pure, flawless, and dazzling beauty.
Lan Jingyi's eyes widened, as if he was about to blurt out something. Although Wei Wuxian didn't know what he was going to say, he instinctively didn't want him to alert the enemy. Moreover, since this person had covered his sword with a black cloth, he obviously didn't want anyone to see it. So, he reached out and covered Lan Jingyi's mouth. At the same time, he put his index finger to his lips, signaling the other teenagers, who also looked surprised, to be quiet.
Jin Ling mouthed two words to him, then reached out and wrote two words on the dusty table:
"Frosty Splendor".
...The Frostflower Sword?
Wei Wuxian mouthed the question silently: Xiao Xingchen's Frostflower Sword?
Jin Ling and the others nodded in agreement.
Although these youths had never seen Xiao Xingchen in person, "Shuanghua" was a rare and renowned sword. Not only was its spiritual power immense, but its appearance was also beautiful and unique, having been depicted in countless versions of the Immortal Sword Catalogue, making it unforgettable. Wei Wuxian pondered: If he wore Shuanghua, and was blind…
A boy also thought of this and unconsciously reached out to touch the bandage wrapped around the man's eyes, wanting to remove it and see if the man's eyes were still there. But as soon as his hand touched the bandage, the man's face showed an expression of extreme pain, and he subtly stepped back, seemingly very afraid of having his eyes touched by someone else.
Realizing he had acted inappropriately, the boy quickly withdrew his hand and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."
The man raised his left hand, wearing a thin black glove, intending to cover his eyes but he dared not touch them, for even the slightest touch would be unbearably painful. A thin layer of sweat had already formed on his forehead, and he managed to say, "It's nothing..." His voice trembled slightly.
This behavior almost certainly confirms that this person is Xiao Xingchen, who disappeared after the Chang family case in Liyang.
Upon seeing this, Xiao Xingchen's eyes became even more complicated.
Without meticulous observation and familiarity through daily interactions, how could one impersonate someone so convincingly that even the person impersonating them wouldn't dare say the person in the Heavenly Shadow wasn't themselves?
But even if one wants revenge, why dress up like this?
Wei Wuxian glanced at Xue Yang sideways: "You little rascal, your acting is pretty good."
Xue Yang chuckled: "Yes, even the Yiling Patriarch didn't recognize him."
Wei Wuxian: "Tomorrow I'll go to the Burial Mound and build a stage for you based on all kinds of dead souls."
Xue Yang: ...
Wen Qing glared at Wei Wuxian: "I don't want another drama queen after you."
Xue Yang: ...
Didn't you even ask me if I wanted to go?
Xiao Xingchen, unaware that his identity had been exposed, fumbled for his Shuanghua. Wei Wuxian swiftly pulled up the slipped black cloth. He touched Shuanghua, nodded, and said, "Thank you for saving me. I'll be going now."
Wei Wuxian said, "You've been poisoned by corpse poison. Stay here."
Xiao Xingchen asked, "Is it serious?"
Wei Wuxian said, "It's very serious."
Xiao Xingchen said, "If it's very serious, why keep it? Since there's no cure anyway, we might as well kill a few more walking corpses before it turns into a zombie."
Hearing him disregard life and death, Lan Jingyi's blood boiled, and he said, "Who says there's no cure? You stay! He will heal you!"
Wei Wuxian: "Me? Sorry, are you talking about me?" He was too embarrassed to say it. He was too deeply poisoned and had inhaled too much corpse poison powder. The glutinous rice porridge was no longer effective.
Xiao Xingchen said, "I have already killed a lot of walking corpses in this city. They have been following me, and a new batch will be coming soon. If I stay, you will all be overwhelmed by the horde of corpses sooner or later."
Wei Wuxian asked, "Do you know who turned Yicheng into this?"
Xiao Xingchen shook his head and said, "I don't know. I'm just a wandering Daoist... I wandered here and learned of the strange phenomena, so I entered the city to hunt at night. You haven't yet experienced the sheer number and power of the living corpses and walking corpses in the city. After being killed, they will release corpse poison powder from their bodies, which will poison you upon contact. If you don't kill them, they will pounce on you and bite you, which will also poison you. They are agile and difficult to defend against. They are truly difficult to deal with. I advise you all to leave as soon as possible. Judging from your voices, there are quite a few young masters among you, aren't there?"
The words had barely left his lips when the sinister giggles of the paper doll sisters echoed from outside the door. This time, the laughter was sharper than ever before.
Nie Huaisang shuddered again.
Waaaaah
He's already traumatized by that laughter...
Lan Jingyi curiously moved closer to Lan Sizhui and asked, "If he wasn't poisoned, why does he look so terrifying?"
Lan Sizhui: ...
Wei Wuxian, who had just been brushed across the ear, rolled his eyes: "Are you stupid? He's got a real talent for acting!"
Xue Yang: ...
I am deeply grateful for Senior Wei's praise...
Lan Jingyi peeked through the crack in the door, then immediately blocked the crack with his body, exclaiming in astonishment, "So many! So many!"
Wei Wuxian asked, "Walking corpses? How many are there?"
Lan Jingyi said, "It's definitely over a hundred. I don't know, but they're everywhere on the street, and there are more and more of them! I think those two paper figures aren't going to hold on much longer!"
If the pair of paper figures guarding the door couldn't hold out, the walking corpses from the entire street outside would flood into the shop. To kill them would result in being poisoned by the corpse poison powder, and the more they fought, the faster the poison would spread; not to kill them would result in being torn apart and killed. Xiao Xingchen, sword in hand, tried to push open the door, probably hoping to hold off the attack with his remaining strength, but a purplish-red aura rose to his cheeks, and he collapsed to the ground. Wei Wuxian said, "Just sit there. It'll be over soon."
He casually slashed his right index finger on Lan Jingyi's sword, and blood dripped down. Lan Jingyi said, "Are you going to use the Eye-Dotting Summoning Technique again? Dot each paper doll's eye socket twice. How much blood will you bleed after that?"
Wei Wuxian asked, "Do you have any blank talismans?"
These young noblemen were still quite young and not yet at the level to draw and use talismans immediately, so they carried pre-drawn talismans with them. Lan Sizhui shook his head and said, "I don't have any." Wei Wuxian said, "Drawn ones are fine too." Lan Sizhui then took out a stack of yellow talismans from his Qiankun bag.
Wei Wuxian took only one, glanced at it briefly, and then, using his right index and middle fingers together, began to draw a vibrant, flowing line from top to bottom on the cinnabar-drawn talisman. The crimson blood and vermilion combined to form a new talisman. He held the newly adorned talisman between his two right fingers, raising it to forehead level. With a flick of his wrist, the yellow talisman and red characters spontaneously combusted in mid-air. Wei Wuxian extended his left hand, catching the ashes that slowly fell after the burning talisman. He closed his fingers, bowed slightly, and as he opened his palm, gently blew the black ash from his palm towards the rows of paper figures, whispering, "Wildfire cannot burn it all; the spring breeze brings it back to life."
Ashes of talisman hit my face.
The Yin Warrior standing at the very front suddenly hoisted the cleaver that had been hanging at his feet onto his shoulder.
Beside him, a paper beauty with high-piled hair and luxurious clothes slowly raised her right hand. Her slender, long fingers moved nimbly, like a languid noblewoman casually admiring her scarlet nails. At her feet stood two figures, a boy and a girl. The boy playfully tugged at the girl's braid, and she stuck out her tongue. A nearly nine-inch-long tongue suddenly emerged from her small mouth, piercing a large hole in the boy's chest like a venomous snake before retracting—a vicious and ruthless act. The boy opened his mouth wide, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth, and bit down on her arm. The two paper children had actually started fighting amongst themselves.
Twenty or thirty paper figures began to sway and tremble one after another, as if stretching their limbs. As they swayed, they whispered to each other, and rustling sounds rose and fell all around. They weren't alive, but they were more like living people.
Wei Wuxian stepped aside, making way for the doorway, and gestured an invitation.
I must say, the movements of these paper figures are... kind of funny?
Swaying
wobbling
Dumb... uh, no, looking at this indescribable face, Dumb can't help but look dumb.
At this moment, Lan Qiren was thinking about another problem.
Besides night hunting, it seems like we should also increase the amount of talismans?
The wooden door swung open again, releasing the pungent, rotten stench of the corpse poison powder. Everyone immediately covered their mouths and raised their sleeves to block it. Yin Lishi roared and charged out first, followed by the remaining paper figures. The wooden door closed again behind the last paper figure. Wei Wuxian asked, "Did no one inhale it?"
Everyone said they had been careful and hadn't noticed. Wei Wuxian then helped Xiao Xingchen up, dragging over a low couch so he wouldn't have to sit on the cold, dusty floor. Xiao Xingchen still gripped his Frostflower Sword tightly, saying, "You know how to use the Eye-Summoning Technique?"
Wei Wuxian said, "I understand it roughly." He couldn't very well say that he was the one who passed on the Eye-Summoning Technique. Xiao Xingchen paused for a moment, then said, "Hmm... It is indeed the best way to kill these walking corpses."
After a pause, he said, "However, practicing this path makes one extremely vulnerable to backlash from the vengeful spirits and malevolent beings under one's command. Even Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch who was the founder of this path, was not immune." Xiao Xingchen said tactfully, "You might as well think more about whether your path is correct in the future."
Established cultivators usually take a clear stance, draw lines, and declare their irreconcilable enmity with a particular person. It's already rare that his junior uncle could offer such gentle advice. Generally, only inexperienced young disciples are more curious or intrigued than disgusted by these unorthodox practices. Except for Jin Ling, whose face remained grim, the other aristocratic disciples crowded around the crack in the door to watch the battle. They clicked their tongues, saying things like, "Ugh...that woman's fingernails are terrifying! One scratch and she'd have five deep furrows." "Why is that little girl's tongue so long and hard? Is she a hanged ghost?" "The man is so strong! He can lift so many walking corpses at once! He's going to throw them to the ground! Look! He's thrown them! They're cracked!"
Elders: ……
Do these kids need a good talking to?
At this point, are people still discussing how fierce the man is and how alluring the woman is?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
