Lu Xiaochan let out a murmur and moved his head slightly.
Then a flash of lightning split the dark night, illuminating the entire room.
As sudden thunder crashed, Shu Wuxi immediately raised his hand to cover Lu Xiaochan’s ears.
Lu Xiaochan’s brows furrowed slightly, and he opened his eyes.
“Did I startle you?” Shu Wuxi asked softly. Compared to the approaching thunder, his voice carried a clear yet moist quality.
Only then did Lu Xiaochan realize that Shu Wuxi’s hand was on his ear. His heart stirred, as if he could no longer hear the thunder outside, only seeing Shu Wuxi’s eyes so close to him.
“No,” Lu Xiaochan said.
Right after, a torrential rain started pouring down, as if someone was emptying water buckets in the night sky.
“How did it suddenly start raining so heavily?”
Lu Xiaochan’s eyes followed Shu Wuxi’s shoulder to look out the window, thinking about whether to close the window, otherwise the rain would splash in.
But he didn’t want to move at all. If he moved, Shu Wuxi’s hand would leave his ear.
When he looked, he was startled.
Outside the window was a large dark mass. Lu Xiaochan couldn’t see the rain or distinguish the night, but he could see the outlines of gathered evil spirits.
Lu Xiaochan’s hand covered Shu Wuxi’s waist, shaking it slightly. “Brother Wuxi… outside…”
As his hand applied pressure, Shu Wuxi’s whole body tensed up, even his previously steady breath suddenly stopped.
Since returning from the Northern Sea, his body temperature had always been lower than normal people’s, but now his body suddenly became hot.
“Xiaochan…”
His lips parted slightly, uttering Lu Xiaochan’s name with a hint of alluring hoarseness.
“Brother Wuxi… there are many evil spirits outside…” Lu Xiaochan said softly.
Another clap of thunder sounded, three times in succession.
Lu Xiaochan was no stranger to thunderstorms, but the scene of torrential rain intertwined with countless evil spirits made him worried, his fingers tightening.
Shu Wuxi’s hand that was originally covering Lu Xiaochan’s ear moved away, sliding down his shoulder and grasping his wrist. Shu Wuxi’s palm was somewhat hot, entirely different from his usual coolness. His fingers interlaced with Lu Xiaochan’s.
Lu Xiaochan thought he was preventing him from touching his waist and was about to withdraw his hand, but Shu Wuxi’s fingers tightened, firmly pressing his hand against his waist.
“It seems a Demon Lord has entered the Meng family, wanting to test our strength,” Shu Wuxi answered.
So that’s what it was.
A Demon Lord would certainly be difficult to deal with, but Ye Linshuang had already rushed to the Meng family.
His cultivation was not below Mo Qianqiu’s, so even if he couldn’t subdue the Demon Lord, he should at least be able to drive it away.
As for this army of low-level evil spirits coming to test their strength, Shu Wuxi could surely subdue them in no time!
Thinking this way, Lu Xiaochan felt there was no big issue. With the rain so heavy, they might as well sleep!
Unexpectedly, panicked voices of servants came from outside.
“Heavens! What’s happening! They’ve returned! Did the Meng family release them?”
Then came the sound of running, and a man’s joyful, tearful shout from the window below. “Ah Chun! Is that Ah Chun? Father has missed you so much!”
In the endless night rain, lights in the street lit up one by one, some opening doors, some raising windows.
Lu Xiaochan heard many footsteps walking on the road outside the window, but these footsteps were floating, like puppets on strings, as if their ankles were about to break.
Though it had become noisy outside, Lu Xiaochan felt uneasy.
A woman in her forties or fifties, holding an oil-paper umbrella, rushed into the rain.
The rain pattered heavily on the oil-paper umbrella, almost unable to withstand it, while on the street were over a dozen young women.
Their eyes were lifeless, with rainwater pouring from their heads into their eyes, yet they showed no reaction at all, only continuing to walk forward until they stopped in front of the inn.
The middle-aged woman threw aside her umbrella and embraced one of the girls wearing coarse cloth clothes.
“Yurong! Mother has missed you so much! You’ve finally returned!”
The girl named Yurong had no reaction at all, but the woman held her tightly, treating her as a precious treasure.
“Yurong! The rain is too heavy! Come back home with mother quickly!”
As the woman went to take Yurong’s hand, a flash of lightning revealed several deep cuts on Yurong’s wrist, down to the bone, with no blood seeping out.
The woman looked at Yurong’s expressionless face, shakily raised her hand to Yurong’s nose, and suddenly turned pale.
“Ah—”
The woman’s scream startled the other townspeople who had come looking for their daughters, causing them to examine their daughters’ wrists as well.
Every girl had deep cuts on her wrists. Such wounds without bandaging would surely lead to endless bleeding!
The woman collapsed to the ground, watching as her daughter’s lips slowly curled into a pale, evil smile.
She bent down, her bones making creaking sounds as if about to split open.
“When the Meng family came to take me away before… why didn’t you save me… I was clearly hiding in the rice container, why did you tell the Meng family people where I was?” Yurong tilted her head, looking at her mother.
“I… I had no choice… If I didn’t hand you over, they were going to beat your brother to death… Yurong…”
“Now that the Meng family has cut my wrists and drained my blood… do you feel heartache?”
Yurong’s eyes were covered with a thick layer of dark evil energy, frightening her mother who tried to run away.
Unexpectedly, although Yurong’s wrists were almost severed, she had enough strength to grab her mother’s head, pressing both hands against her cheeks and lifting her up.
A flash of lightning illuminated Yurong’s vicious grin and her mother’s lifted figure on the brick walls, casting shadows like a ferocious demon.
Lu Xiaochan heard everything happening outside clearly.
Indeed, all things in the world come full circle.
The woman looked at Yurong in terror, while other townspeople who had come to find their daughters scattered upon seeing this scene.
“They’re evil spirits! They’ve all been possessed by evil spirits—”
“They’ve come to claim lives! Run quickly!”
The innkeeper was about to pull his daughter Ah Chun into the inn, but when he realized Ah Chun’s eyes were also filled with dark energy, he immediately let go.
Ah Chun also began to smile, saying sweetly. “Father… why are you hiding? You haven’t done anything to wrong me…”
The innkeeper fearfully took two steps back, about to run, but his shoulder was gripped by Ah Chun’s hand.
“You wanted to marry me off to the wealthy Huang family in the city… but I just loved Young Master Chen… Young Master Chen couldn’t afford a dowry, and I insisted on going with him, so you tricked me saying you’d marry me to him properly, but who knew the bridal sedan was actually taken to the Huang family!”
“Ah Chun! Ah Chun! Father… father just wanted you to marry into a good family!”
“A good family? You clearly wanted to open another inn with the Huang family, using me as a gift to them!”
The next moment, Ah Chun’s expression turned as vicious as a vengeful ghost, extending her nearly severed wrist to directly grab the innkeeper’s neck.
Lu Xiaochan understood in his heart that these returned girls, all harboring resentment and unwillingness, were most suitable for evil spirits to possess.
Revenge for grievances, retribution for wrongs – Lu Xiaochan felt like he was watching a grand drama, realizing that human betrayal and disappointment all stemmed from these reasons.
Lu Xiaochan sighed.
“Do you want to go out and meddle in others’ affairs?” Shu Wuxi asked.
He was very close, and as he spoke, his seemingly unhurried breath carried heat, touching Lu Xiaochan’s lips. When Lu Xiaochan opened his mouth, it was as if his tongue was entwined by Shu Wuxi’s breath. His heart tightened, and he instinctively backed away, but was held in place by Shu Wuxi’s hand on his back.
“If it’s others’ affairs, why should I meddle?”
Lu Xiaochan thought for a moment, then added. “Anyway, I know that no matter what happens, you would never abandon me, let alone trade me for anything.”
Shu Wuxi leaned in closer, his lips outlined by a faint, clear spiritual light, like a fine wine waiting for Lu Xiaochan to drink.
A fire seemed to ignite in Lu Xiaochan’s throat. He shifted back again until his back was against the wall.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Shu Wuxi spoke.
His voice was slightly different from usual, though Lu Xiaochan couldn’t pinpoint how. He only knew that his heartstrings were being pulled by the other, making Lu Xiaochan want to reach out and press his heart back in place.
“I… I’m afraid you’ll fall off the bed…”
As soon as he finished speaking, Shu Wuxi’s arm wrapped around him, pulling Lu Xiaochan back, his nose nearly bumping into Shu Wuxi’s chin.
“Didn’t you think Ye Linshuang’s sword was beautiful?” As Shu Wuxi spoke, his breath brushed over Lu Xiaochan’s eyelashes, as if fingertips were lifting them. Lu Xiaochan shifted slightly.
“Hmm?” Shu Wuxi’s voice lowered even more.
“…It was… just curiosity…”
Lu Xiaochan felt hot. The places where Shu Wuxi held him were damp with sweat, and the hair on his forehead was also wet, sticking to his skin.
“You always like new and curious things,” Shu Wuxi said.
Lu Xiaochan wanted to say something but felt unable to speak.
“I… I don’t like the Linshuang Sword itself. It’s just that its spiritual energy is cool and clear, somewhat similar to yours, so I couldn’t help but look at it more.”
“If it’s because the spiritual energy is similar to mine, then you should just look at me.” Shu Wuxi’s nose tip touched Lu Xiaochan’s forehead, seemingly not minding the thin layer of sweat there.
At this time, the young women possessed by evil spirits were causing great panic in the town.
Yurong’s mother was struggling, violently thrown to the ground by Yurong, unable to even crawl, begging painfully for mercy.
“Yurong! Yurong! Mother has wronged you! Please forgive mother!”
Yurong still approached with a smile, stepping on her mother’s shoulder.
“Back then, if it was brother hiding in the rice container… if they threatened to beat me to death… would you have handed over brother?”
“Yurong, mother was wrong… after you were taken away… mother thought of you every day…”
The innkeeper was also being choked by Ah Chun, struggling desperately.
In the dark, rainy night, the townspeople’s panic and despair at being unable to leave this place were fueled by these young women’s demonic and frenzied actions. Numerous evil spirits shamelessly absorbed their fear, the tangled cloud mass growing thicker, oppressively covering the sky.
Apart from the rain, gradually not even a sliver of light could penetrate.
“It seems this can no longer be considered others’ affairs now,” Shu Wuxi said softly.
“What?”
“That mass of evil clouds is coming for us.”
Shu Wuxi unhurriedly got up, and Lu Xiaochan followed suit. Shu Wuxi was about to stand, but unexpectedly sat back down, causing Lu Xiaochan, who was preparing to get off the bed, to suddenly fall onto his back.
Lu Xiaochan hurriedly tried to move away, but Shu Wuxi turned back to pat his head, saying, “It’s here.”
“What’s here?”
“The evil cloud.”
That thick mass of clouds, carrying sounds of ghostly wails and wolf howls, swirled down, seeming to fill the entire world. It engulfed everyone on the streets, poured into the hearts of all the townspeople, flowed through the inn’s main door, and spread in through the windows.
Except for the spiritual energy around Shu Wuxi, these evil clouds formed countless struggling human faces, surging up and down, screaming and wailing.
Lu Xiaochan had no doubt that if one were to be engulfed by them, they would likely be destroyed completely.
Shu Wuxi’s surrounding spiritual energy released outwards. Lu Xiaochan closed his eyes, feeling that pure spirit refined over a thousand years.
The mass of evil spirits was instantly crushed. Just moments ago it had been vast and overwhelming, but now it quickly retreated outside the inn, lingering like thick ink, not daring to approach but unwilling to leave.
Lu Xiaochan took a breath. Earlier they had been unwilling to meddle in others’ affairs, but now those affairs had come directly to them! They had no choice but to deal with it!
“Xiaochan, do you like qilins?” Shu Wuxi asked.
“Qilins? I… I’ve never seen one, so I don’t know if I like them or not.”
“That’s good. For you, things you haven’t seen are interesting. Although you don’t have a suitable sword yet, you will in the future. Why don’t you watch now how my inner true spirit moves, how to activate a sword array, and how to create a qilin by borrowing the great power?”
“What?”
Borrow the great power? Create a qilin?
Lu Xiaochan looked down and saw Shu Wuxi’s dantian boiling with activity, his inner true qi circulating and dispersing, penetrating the dense evil clouds with an imposing aura.
Far away at the peak of the Wuyi Jingtian, a sharp blade embedded in the Sword-Releasing Stone hummed and trembled. A sword array scattered and disappeared into the clouds.
Lu Xiaochan’s eyes widened. He had never seen such a magnificent sight before — Shu Wuxi’s spiritual energy touched the thunderbolts in the sky, and the thunderbolts fell straight down, transforming into a giant qilin. With tremendous force, it charged into Peng City, forming a massive sword array in the night sky.
In his ears was the vast echo of the true spirit’s imposing pressure. The mass of evil clouds was thus mightily absorbed into this sword array.
Within the sword array, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The evil spirits cried out and struggled. The thunder once again condensed into the form of a qilin, roaring and swallowing the evil clouds that had previously enveloped all of Peng City.
As the sword array continuously contracted, the murky night rain became clear. The wind blowing in seemed much lighter, carrying the moist scent of grass and trees.
The eaves and corners of Peng City’s buildings, the shadows of trees and railings, were gradually illuminated by the soft moonlight. The outlines of living beings became clearer and clearer in Lu Xiaochan’s eyes.
Those young women who had been possessed by evil spirits all fell to the ground simultaneously.
Yurong looked at her mother, who was unable to get up nearby, and called out shakily. “Mother…”
The woman looked into her daughter’s eyes, suddenly realizing something. She crawled over, pressing her hand on her daughter’s wrist that could no longer bleed, and said tearfully. “My daughter has returned… Don’t hate me anymore… Yurong, don’t hate me…”
Yurong exhaled her last breath and slowly closed her eyes.
On the other side, the innkeeper held his daughter Ah Chun, crying bitterly. “Father just wanted us all to have a good life… Father was wrong… Father was wrong… Don’t hate father… Come back, you can marry whoever you want…”
Lu Xiaochan lowered his head and said. “Parents’ kindness in giving birth and raising us is great. How could children truly hate their parents to death because of their choices… It was just provoked and distorted.”
At this moment, Ye Linshuang arrived on his sword at the Meng family residence on Pengyuan Mountain. When the mighty thunder entered Peng City, he let out an exclamation of amazement.
Meng Ningsheng and the second junior brother following behind him were so surprised they couldn’t close their mouths.
They had never seen such a magnificent sword formation in their lives. In an instant, it purified this demonic cloud that was like a realm of hell.
“What… what was that… sword formation?” Meng Ningsheng stupidly asked.
Ye Linshuang gazed in the direction of Shu Wuxi, slightly nodding to show respect, “That was the Sky-Piercing Sword Formation.”
“Sky… Sky-Piercing…” The second junior brother of the Meng family still hadn’t come to his senses.
Meng Ningsheng vaguely guessed that such a powerful sword formation was probably related to those two people in the inn.
“The power borrowed just now… could it be the thunder within the clouds?”
“Yes,” Ye Linshuang answered.
“Then… who triggered that sword formation?”
Meng Ningsheng knew that even if he were to die at this moment after seeing this formation, it would have been worth it.
Ye Linshuang turned around and said softly. “The myriad phenomena of the world, without a gap under heaven. Truly worthy of being called the supreme sword of the mortal realm.”
“What?”
The thunderous roars earlier had prevented Meng Ningsheng from hearing clearly.
Ye Linshuang looked at the Meng residence, shrouded in a mass of dark energy, and said, “Let’s go. I’ll meet with Meng Yuandao and see what kind of evil spirit is coercing him.”
The rain gradually lessened and stopped.
Dawn broke on the horizon, and the entire Peng City gradually brightened, but within this brightness, there was only coldness and an indescribable desolation and pain.
Shu Wuxi turned around and looked at Lu Xiaochan, who was still savoring that sword formation.
“Did you comprehend how the sword formation just now was triggered and how it borrowed the energy of heaven and earth?”
Lu Xiaochan blinked, but what he thought in his mind was that although the Linshuang Sword was elegant and graceful, forming arrays and refining evil spirits silently, Shu Wuxi’s sword energy echoed, and the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed to be at his command.
Previously, he thought Ye Linshuang and Shu Wuxi were both otherworldly people, but now he saw they were somewhat different.
He tugged at his mouth, squinting his eyes and smiled. “I’m naturally slow-witted. Just now, I was very seriously and very hard trying to comprehend this and that… In the end, I found that I was just comprehending you back and forth. Hehe.”
“Me?”
“Your eyes, your eyebrows, your shoulders, your waist!”
If Shu Wuxi asked further, Lu Xiaochan could shamelessly start listing eighteen body parts.
“You’re never serious.”
This lowered voice, heard in Lu Xiaochan’s ears, seemed to carry a faint hint of laughter, elusive yet tempting to touch.
The death of these dozen or so young women had aroused the anger of the city’s residents.
A dozen lives were not a dozen livestock, but living, breathing people! Not to mention they had families, parents, people who cared about them.
These dozen young women had lost their lives, and the other girls who were taken away were either dead or close to death.
Rather than dragging on like this, it would be better to just end it quickly.
Since they had death marks anyway, they might as well storm Pengyuan Mountain’s Meng family, to see the people if alive, or the bodies if dead!
Lu Xiaochan heard hundreds of Peng City residents, grabbing whatever weapons they could find, heading towards Pengyuan Mountain.
He shook his head. “If they had known it would come to this, why didn’t they unite and resist when the Meng family disciples came to snatch their daughters? Why wait until it’s almost beyond saving…”
At this moment, Shu Wuxi was lifting Lu Xiaochan’s leg, putting on his shoes for him.
“Brother Wuxi, are we about to set off and leave?”
“No, we’re going to the Meng family.”
“Eh? To the Meng family?”
“Since the evil spirit came for us, if we don’t deal with it now and intimidate other evil beings, they will continue to harass us.”
“Oh, intimidation! So it’s like killing a chicken to scare the monkeys!”
After witnessing the Sky-Piercing Sword Formation earlier, Lu Xiaochan was extremely curious about Shu Wuxi’s abilities.
When he dealt with the evil god in He Family Village, he used the Moon-Breaking Formation. At that time, Lu Xiaochan couldn’t see, so he didn’t know what it looked like.
This time, the Sky-Piercing Formation almost shook Lu Xiaochan’s soul out of his body. He was very much looking forward to seeing how Shu Wuxi would act next time.
“Killing a chicken to scare the monkeys?” Shu Wuxi’s voice carried a slight confusion.
Lu Xiaochan almost forgot that Shu Wuxi spoke very literally, so he had to say to him. “It means to punish one as a warning to others!”
“Mm.”
Lu Xiaochan thought for a moment, then leaned closer to Shu Wuxi and asked, “Then, Brother Wuxi, do you know what ‘a pig’s nose with a green onion pretending to be garlic’ means?”
“Why would a green onion be stuck in a pig’s nose?”
Lu Xiaochan laughed heartily. He didn’t explain, but continued to ask. “Then have you heard of ‘a crow landing on a pig’s back’?”
“No.”
“A crow landing on a pig’s back — seeing others’ blackness, but not one’s own!”
“And, and! Taking off pants to fart — doing something unnecessary!”
Shu Wuxi pulled Lu Xiaochan up from the couch and said. “Let’s go to the Meng family.”
They left the guest room. The inn was already empty; presumably, the innkeeper had taken the staff to seek justice at the Meng family.
Lushu, who had been drowsy, immediately perked up upon seeing Shu Wuxi.
Lu Xiaochan, now experienced in mounting Lushu, grabbed its fur and pushed hard against its belly with his feet, leaping up in one go. Shu Wuxi sat behind Lu Xiaochan as they left the inn.
By this time, Ye Linshuang had already arrived at the main gate of the Meng family with Meng Ningsheng.
As Meng Ningsheng’s second junior brother went to knock on the door, it creaked open with just a touch of his finger.
Ye Linshuang’s expression turned cold. It was known that the Meng family was the only Taoist sect in Peng City, with great wealth and influence.
But now, the main courtyard of the Meng family was desolate, without a single green leaf in sight, devoid of life.
Meng Ningsheng looked at Ye Linshuang and said in a low voice. “Sword Master Ye… look at our Pengyuan Mountain sect, it’s almost completely drained of spiritual energy…”
Ye Linshuang’s face remained expressionless as he raised his foot and stepped inside.
As soon as his foot touched the ground of the Meng family, he felt countless evil thoughts swirling beneath, as if whispering, clinging to his ankles, attempting to absorb his pure spiritual energy.
