The plane took off.
Because he bought the ticket at the last minute, Chu Banyang couldn’t get a first-class seat. Despite his best efforts to control himself, he was visibly restless.
Ye Feng whispered to Lu Yingjiu, “He’s really a young master who’s used to luxury. We commoners can’t compare.”
“Yeah.” Lu Yingjiu nodded, taking a small snack from Jing Xian.
Just as Ye Feng was about to say something, he suddenly remembered that Lu Yingjiu seemed to have taken Jing Xian’s private jet once.
What does this mean, marrying into a wealthy family?
The more he thought about it, the more it felt wrong. Ye Feng looked around, Chu Banyang who was restless, Lu Yingjiu who had married into a wealthy family, Ye Shou with a poker face, Chen Zheng who was leisurely making tea…
It seemed that he was the poorest, still working hard to pay off his mortgage.
Comparing people can be infuriating.
Ye Feng ate a bite of the airplane meal resentfully.
Three hours later, the plane landed in Shangyang City.
Everyone had booked a hotel near the university town in advance and drove there to check in.
In the evening, Lu Yingjiu opened the suitcase that Jing Xian had brought, looking for a pair of pajamas.
At some point, their pajamas had started to be mixed up – most of the time, Lu Yingjiu was wearing Jing Xian’s, which was loose and oversized.
But as Lu Yingjiu rummaged through the suitcase, something felt off.
Why were all the pajamas buttoned?
He looked up and met Jing Xian’s piercing gaze.
Lu Yingjiu: “…Jing Xian, I swear I won’t unbutton them anymore.”
Jing Xian: “Mm-hmm, go take a shower.” He then pushed Lu Yingjiu into the bathroom.
By the time the two of them had finished their steamy shower, quite some time had passed.
Lu Yingjiu’s face was a bit flushed – of course, the flush wasn’t just because of the steam. He finally managed to put on his pajamas and lie back on the bed, took out a book, and Jing Xian contentedly lay down next to him.
Lu Yingjiu pushed him away, “Don’t come over, it’s too hot to squeeze together after a shower.”
“There’s air conditioning, it’ll cool down in a bit.” Jing Xian didn’t mind, half-hugging him, “What are you reading?”
“Notes left by the aristocratic families.” Lu Yingjiu said, “Zhang Shuwan gave me a lot of notes, I haven’t had time to look at them carefully.” He turned a page, and there were a few hastily drawn patterns on it, which was the “Kan”.
Jing Xian couldn’t understand these, but he still squeezed over to look with him, casually pointing at a page. “Oh, what does this mean? These people write like doctors, no one can understand.”
“…” Lu Yingjiu glanced at him, “This section is saying that the formation requires the sacrifice of the soul, but the soul of a human is far from enough.”
Jing Xian: “…”
Lu Yingjiu knew that he had split his soul and cultivation for the formation.
Every time he brought it up, Jing Xian glossed over it, just saying it didn’t matter, humans and ghosts were different, the soul could be nurtured and the cultivation could be regained. If he asked again, Jing Xian would start to change the subject.
Unexpectedly, Jing Xian just asked casually today, but ran into it himself.
Jing Xian: “…Are you thirsty? I’ll pour you a glass of water.”
Just as he got up, he was pulled back by Lu Yingjiu by the collar, who shouted, “Jing Xian.”
His tone was serious.
Seeing that things were not good, Jing Xian quickly replied, “Even if a ghost’s soul is left with only a little bit, as long as it is not scattered, it can heal. That part of my soul has been nurtured back, and in another five or six years, there will be no problem at all. Since the formation is complete, I don’t need to do anything else. I’m in great health now, jumping around is no problem.”
He was more than just jumping around with no problem, his body was incredibly good, Lu Yingjiu had already experienced it in various ways.
Lu Yingjiu “hm”ed, then said, “I know all this. I just want to ask, did it hurt a lot?”
Jing Xian paused for half a second, “Didn’t hurt.”
“Really?” Lu Yingjiu tilted his head.
“Really.” Under his gaze, Jing Xian answered stiffly.
Lu Yingjiu lightly tapped the notes and said, “Look at this page, it says, ‘There will be great pain, which may lead to fainting or even death.’”
Jing Xian said, “Humans and ghosts are different…”
“The next sentence is ‘humans and ghosts are the same.’” Lu Yingjiu closed the notes, “The evidence is right in front of me, and you’re still lying. You’re quite something, Jing Xian, you’ve grown bold.”
Jing Xian: “…”
It was purely a loss due to ignorance.
Lu Yingjiu smiled and didn’t ask any more questions, leaning over to turn off the light.
The room was pitch black, and he turned to hug Jing Xian.
He hugged him tightly.
As if this could make up for that pain.
Jing Xian was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and silently kissed his forehead.
The next day.
Everyone got up early and rushed to the university town.
It was just during the holiday, so there weren’t many students and teachers.
Lu Yingjiu saw the past in the mirror, had an impression of the location of the formation’s eye, and led them all the way to find it. Unfortunately, the buildings around here were all similar, and even with satellite images, they couldn’t determine the exact location.
They walked down one street after another, past one building after another.
Their appearance was really conspicuous, Ye Shou led a group of muscular old brothers, Chu Banyang leading the way for the suit and leather shoes army, and the rest of the people each holding a thermos cup for tea being led by Chen Zheng.
Different styles, firmly surrounding Lu Yingjiu in the middle.
Passers-by were scared, and they looked at Lu Yingjiu with a bit more awe – in their eyes, Lu Yingjiu was a young boss who kept a low profile, leading a bunch of little brothers out on the street.
Along the way, they attracted the attention of two security guards, who followed them slowly, on alert. The others were fine, but Ye Shou’s group was checked for their ID cards two or three times.
Lu Yingjiu had never been subjected to such gazes, but Jing Xian quite enjoyed it.
Lu Yingjiu glanced at him and whispered, “You’re like a bandit’s wife now.”
“Can be,” Jing Xian was quite happy, “What’s wrong with being a bandit’s wife?”
Lu Yingjiu: “…” He calmly removed Jing Xian’s hand from his waist.
After everyone had lunch and took a short rest, they continued on their journey.
Finally, at three o’clock in the afternoon, they detected a slight fluctuation in the formation. Following it, they found an old teaching building standing next to an artificial lake, with sunlight covering the white walls.
Upon closer inspection, the walls were damaged.
Like… traces of a sharp weapon being scraped across.
Lu Yingjiu squinted his eyes.
If he remembered correctly, the servants climbed from the bottom of the teaching building, along the wall to the rooftop, trying to stop the formation.
“This is the place.” He said.
The university was open, without walls, and this building was semi-abandoned, with more than half of the classrooms unused for many years, and no one was there. This was very convenient, and they all easily got in.
The formation was set up on the rooftop.
When climbing the stairs, Lu Yingjiu gently placed his hand on the wall, feeling the fluctuation of the talismans.
The people of the aristocratic families had made full preparations here.
In every corner of this entire building, there were probably dense talismans.
The rooftop door was a small iron door, and had rusted. Jing Xian went up and pushed the handle, a harsh “creak creak” sound came, it couldn’t be turned at all. Then he touched the door face.
Lu Yingjiu said, “Be gentle.”
As soon as his words fell, the thick iron door flew out completely, mixed with a bunch of broken iron and broken screws, flying a full ten or so meters.
Lu Yingjiu: “…..”
Perhaps for Jing Xian, it was indeed very light.
Stepping onto the rooftop, the wind hit their faces, and the sky was clear and blue.
The rooftop was very large, with half of the fence broken, and the ground was dirty from the wind and rain. There were also many deep scratches left by the servants.
Everyone tacitly separated, and activated paper talismans. The breeze blew away the heavy dust, and soon the patterns of the formation appeared on the ground, faintly visible. When Lu Yingjiu placed his hand on it, the patterns began to glow.
At first, it was just a faint light.
The light grew brighter and brighter, flickering with a golden-white glow, as if it were breathing.
The patterns spread from the rooftop to the entire outer wall, the stairs, and the classrooms were all filled with flickering light.
Lu Yingjiu stepped back a few steps, leaning against the railing to look out, only to see that the light had left this building, and the entire area around the artificial lake was filled with formations, a dazzling circle extending deep into the lake.
“…Peacock.” He said, “The places where the light connects, it looks quite like a peacock.”
No wonder the Chu family wanted to invite the gods here.
Chu Banyang had people disperse in all directions. The others were focused on studying the formation.
Lu Yingjiu took notes, carefully walking around the entire rooftop.
Seeing the formation with his own eyes felt very different from what he saw on paper.
He once again deeply realized how vast, delicate, and perfect “Kan” was, and even external forces could not make the formation ineffective – this left the servants helpless.
No wonder it was the hard work of countless generations, no wonder it was the effort of countless generations.
And…
When Lu Yingjiu reached out and touched the patterns, he felt a pulse like a heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump…
Thump, thump, thump…
Like life.
But when others touched it, there was no such fluctuation, just like a pool of dead water.
Lu Yingjiu had never seen such a special formation – it only responded to him.
He thought again: there is a part of Jing Xian’s soul in here.
This rhythm, is it carrying Jing Xian’s soul, carrying the wishes of countless others, and resonating with him in the dark?
Lu Yingjiu’s heart ached again.
He looked up at Jing Xian next to him, just about to say something, when he saw Jing Xian quickly feed a skull to hairball.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He pulled hairball to his side, not letting Jing Xian get close.
They studied for a full three to four hours without stopping, everyone was extremely cautious.
A drop of cold water fell on Lu Yingjiu’s face.
He instinctively wiped it and looked up. Jing Xian said in his ear, “It’s raining.”
Fine rain threads fell from the sky.
Circles of dampness spread on the ground.
Lu Yingjiu looked around: the gold chain muscular man was fearless, even taking off his shirt and walking in the rain; a few Chu family members neatly took out black umbrellas, elegantly strolling in the rain; Chen Zheng’s group took out thermos cups, drinking tea and warming their hands vigorously, deeply understanding the way of health preservation.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He originally wanted to ask if they should take shelter from the rain, but it seemed completely unnecessary.
The rain was getting heavier.
The sky was like ink, the wind blew through the empty classrooms, slamming the doors.
Something was not right.
Lu Yingjiu sensed something and slowly stood up.
Not just him, others also noticed something was wrong.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Thump, thump, thump…
The sound of metal friction approached, accompanied by the sound of walls breaking.
This sound…
This sound was the servants approaching!
The Heavenly Way really noticed their actions!
Lu Yingjiu rushed to the edge of the rooftop in a few steps.
Looking down, the entire outer wall was covered with servants, a dark mass. Their sharp claws and divine weapons deeply embedded in the wall, climbing up at a fast speed, their eyes flashing with mad and greedy light, their steel-like muscles exerting force, in less than half a second, they had climbed the height of three or four floors.
Others also rushed over.
The tide-like servants were more terrifying than ferocious ghosts, seeing them for the first time, anyone would inevitably be shocked.
Someone muttered, “Damn, there are so many of them, they’re like monsters.”
“Is this really the Heavenly Way we believe in…”
In the blink of an eye, Lu Yingjiu’s knife was out of its sheath, brightly cutting through the rain threads.
And Ye Shou also reacted, rushing out and jumping straight off the rooftop!
Li Snake accompanied him, swimming around the outer wall, igniting a raging fire. He made a gesture, and the flames under his feet were almost as solid, allowing him to borrow force and step on. Ye Feng and the remaining Ye family members also followed closely, the fire and the screams of the servants rising together.
In the artificial lake further away, servants also climbed out, wet and looking like water ghosts.
That side was handled by the Chu family.
They neatly put away their black umbrellas, with talisman paper sandwiched between their fingers. The umbrella surface was retracted, but dense blue-green feathers grew out, like a peacock.
When the feathers fell off, they floated in the air, turned into blades and shot out. They grazed the surface of the lake, leaving numerous clear water marks, and then pierced the bodies of the servants.
The Chu family was still as elegant and appropriate as ever, even their fighting style had a bit of flamboyance.
Lu Yingjiu cut down several servants in a row, turned his head to look, and the Chen family was also jumping up and down.
Not only were the servants on the outer wall, but there were also a lot from the corridors.
Chen Zheng had invited the spirit monkey, with a big belly, shuttling between the floors with various difficult movements, climbing the railing with one hand, walking on the eaves, even the most agile gymnast would probably be inferior. Three or four people from the Chen family also spread out, moving like ghosts, smashing the heads of the servants one by one.
This time, the attack was not fierce.
With them guarding like this, and Jing Xian by his side, there were not many servants around Lu Yingjiu.
They couldn’t get close to him.
So Lu Yingjiu slowly stopped his movements and stood in the pouring rain.
There were noises and fighting sounds all around, servants burst out black blood, and sparks flew when weapons rubbed against each other.
The scene was cruel and violent.
Only his side of the world was quiet.
—Many years ago, when those people were protecting him in secret, it must have been like this, right?
“What’s wrong?” Jing Xian asked him, “Why are you making that face?”
“…Nothing.” Lu Yingjiu shook his head, “I just feel that I’m quite lucky.”
The curses are like maggots on bones.
The formation pulsed, carrying countless years and silent blessings. Even today, there were still so many people standing by his side.
The rain was pouring down, the fighting was constant, but his heart was soft.
There was no time for more sentimentality.
Lu Yingjiu drew his blade again and entered the battlefield.
****
Who knew how long after, the rain cleared and the bright sunshine illuminated the puddles.
The bodies and blood of the servants turned into mist and silently dissipated, leaving only the ferocious traces of battle on the ground.
Everyone was soaked through and regrouped on the rooftop.
Chen Zheng was panting, “Xiao Lu, although you gave me preventive shots and told me that the thing is very scary, it’s still a bit beyond imagination.”
“It’s quite difficult to deal with.” Ye Shou also said, “There’s no obvious weakness, if there were more, it wouldn’t be so simple. But it’s just this one thing, fight a little harder, we can beat it.”
Chu Banyang didn’t speak, he seemed to be thinking about the follow-up plan.
They won this round easily.
But afterwards they have to act separately, the attack would definitely be more fierce, that’s another matter.
Just as Lu Yingjiu was about to speak, suddenly a chaotic sound of footsteps came.
“How can there be footsteps?” Ye Feng frowned, “It doesn’t seem like the servants either.”
“It’s people.” Lu Yingjiu said, “A large group of people.”
Ye Feng was even more confused, “How can there be so many people? There was no one on the road just now, did they happen to encounter the servants and come to us for help?”
The footsteps approached the rooftop, they all looked over.
They saw a dozen police officers rush out.
They were holding batons and riot shields, lined up and shouted at them, “Drop your weapons! All squat down! We received a report from the public that there is a large-scale fight here!!”
“Repeat again: drop your weapons! Surrender immediately!!”
Everyone: “…..”
Oops???
Ha?