I avoided Mo Qing's eyes for a while, and the silence in the side hall calmed me down. I thought about it and felt that something was not right.
What am I hiding from?
I have swaggered around for so many years and have never seen a real ghost. Even if someone claims to have seen one, they can't produce evidence. These virtual and real things have always been legendary. Mo Qing staring at me was just a little suspicious of me during the day and at night. As long as I don't admit that I am Lu Zhaoyao, can he really catch me?
I regained my confidence and planned to confront Mo Qing again, but as soon as I turned my face, I saw Mo Qing already standing up, his back to me, with a calm and unperturbed voice:
"Tomorrow, go to the Thousand Blade Cliff Treasure Pavilion and find the book yourself."
After saying this, his figure seemed to be scattered by a gust of wind and left just like that.
My confidence was completely crushed. Although I had obtained the permission I wanted, I always felt like I had... lost in this conversation.
I was a little unhappy. I returned to the Xiyue Peak, intending to bully Zhiyan and vent my anger, but after searching the room for a while, I couldn’t find Zhiyan's soul.
I didn't know where she had gone in the evening. I left the room, searched on the Xiyue Peak, and then caught a passing demonic cultivator. I wanted to ask him if he had seen Zhiyan, but suddenly realized that these people couldn't see her, so I changed the topic on the spot: "The wind is clear and the moon is bright, it's a good night, do you want to burn some paper money to comfort the lonely?"
The demonic cultivator sweated a lot, but didn't dare to offend me, just tremblingly asked, "Burn... burn for whom?"
I smiled, "Lu Qiong."
The demonic cultivator's expression changed immediately, and he quickly broke free from me, looked around in panic, didn't say a word to me, and ran away in a panic.
What's the matter, are you afraid of burning paper money for your Mountainer? I turned and looked at the Wuyi Hall on the main peak, squinting, thinking, well done, Mo Qing, the indoctrination work after seizing power is also well done.
I returned to my room, meditated quietly, pondering the current chaos in my life, how to deal with it, and find a way out. Zhiyan didn't come back all night. It wasn't until the early morning that I was suddenly struck out of her body.
As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. This time I immediately floated calmly to the side, crossed my arms, and saw Zhiyan return to her body. She didn't panic after being confused, as she had before, instead...
She panicked directly.
"I have to go save him!" She suddenly stood up from the bed and was about to run outside.
I frowned and called out, "Stop."
Zhiyan barely stopped and turned around, seeing me, she urged, "Cang Ling is imprisoned in the dungeon, your Wanluo Gate's dungeon sucks away people's vitality. Why didn't you tell me earlier!"
I recalled, "I did not make this rule, I think the demonic cultivators below did it themselves." Anyway, the dungeon is a place where enemies are captured and jailed, and Wanluo Gate has never been merciful to its enemies. The demonic cultivators train, and one well-known shortcut is to seize others' techniques and use others' life energy to train.
Those responsible for guarding, keeping watch, and with relatively weak cultivation base, are unable to defeat the external enemies, and those kept imprisoned here naturally won't be let off. So it's not surprising that they would set up a life force-absorbing formation in the dungeon.
Calculating carefully, Liang Cangling has been trapped inside for about a month, continuously having his life force drained, and yet he has managed to hold on without dying, which is quite remarkable.
Zhiyan gritted her teeth, with a slight hint of redness in her eyes, "He's almost dead, and it's all my fault..." She glared at me, "Why did you have to send him to the dungeon?"
Blame me?
"Tsk, you lovebirds!" I sneered, "When someone wants to take you away, you refuse a hundred times, now that someone is dying, you'll never be forced to leave in this lifetime, and you refuse a hundred times. What is it that you're willing to do? Such a hassle to deal with."
Zhiyan, still angry, gritted her teeth, "Is that the same thing! I won't talk to you, I'm going to rescue him!"
"Hold on!" I scolded her again, "Do you know how to rescue someone imprisoned in a dungeon?"
Zhiyan seemed to have calmed down a bit after being scolded by me. She was silent for a moment, then took a few steps back in front of me, sniffed, and asked me, "How do I do it?"
I slouched back on the bed, "Stand still, wipe away your tears for me, then apologize to me a couple of times."
I looked at Zhiyan's aggrieved look biting her lip. In an instant, the feeling of grievance from being provoked by Mo Qing yesterday faded away, and she said, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't blame you."
I nodded, "Good, what else?"
"Beg for... guidance."
Satisfied, I sat cross-legged, "How did you find the dungeon?"
"After you left yesterday, I tried what you said about not being able to float more than three zhang high, and found it to be true. I wanted to see how far I could go underground, and then I went down... and found the dungeon."
You drilled straight through a Xiyue Peak.
I marveled at the determination of this girl. Even with her cultivation base, once she became persistent, she moved at the speed of a soul, even at night. After floating down for so long, it really was difficult for her.
"Well, it seems that the place where Liang Cangling is imprisoned is likely underneath Xiyue Peak," I mused, "Xiyue Peak is the place where low-level sorcerers reside, and the guards in the dungeon below are also weak. But even so, with your level of power, it's almost impossible to break in and take him away."
"What about you?" Zhiyan asked, "Can you use my body to go in and take him away?"
I glanced at her, "I can, but then we won't be able to return to Chenji Mountain. The plan will be completely shattered." Zhiyan's lips twitched, and I cut her off before she could speak, "I know you're willing, but I'm not." To save Liang Cangling, I won't leave Chenji Mountain and miss so many chances to kill Mo Qing.
"So your only option now is to use your identity as the disciple of the sect leader to get some elixirs for Liang Cangling, keep him alive, and then find a way to buy off or threaten the guards in the dungeon, claiming that you want to absorb Liang Cangling's power for yourself, in order to remove their formation. Once Liang Cangling's strength has recovered, you can give him the chance to escape on his own."
After listening to my words, Zhiyan's eyes immediately lit up, "Route..." At this point, she seemed to finally remember my earlier warning to be careful with her words. She didn't finish saying my name, just nodded vigorously, "You are a good person!"
I waved her away and told her to get on with it.
By evening, Zhiyan finally returned after being busy. She joyfully informed me that everything had been arranged, and indeed, the identity of the sect leader's disciple was very useful.
Of course, in a place like Xiyue Peak, there's not much that can't be solved with the status of the sect leader's disciple. I told Zhiyan, "Consider today your day off. You can waste time rescuing people, but starting tomorrow, you must burn paper for me during the day, and find a way to enlist others to help."
Zhiyan was bewildered, "Still burn paper? Wasn't the stuff from yesterday enough?"
I told her the rules of the underworld money shop, and after hearing it, Zhiyan asked me blankly, "So, you can actually get a hundred coins this way, they must have put in a lot of fake coins, right?"
"Do you believe that I'll go to the prison tonight and manipulate the records, I assure you I will let that person inside be carried away by the water."
Zhiyan admitted her mistake with her head bowed.
I looked outside and saw that the sun had completely set. Without hesitation, I bumped into Zhiyan's body, pulling her soul out and regaining control of her body. I clenched my fist and said, "You really should spend more time improving your practice. I almost lost your body last night."
Zhiyan was startled, "What happened? Did you try to seduce Li Chenlan again? Did he hit you?"
"I met the Northern Mountain Lord," I paused slightly, and then heard Zhiyan's sharp intake of breath. Then I slowly continued, "Li Chenlan saved me – no, saved this body."
Zhiyan fell silent for a moment and said, "I think... Li Chenlan might actually be a good person."
I sneered, "Well, it's quite easy to be a good person in your eyes."
"In fact, during the time you were not in the mortal realm, there have been many changes in the immortal and demonic paths. Even though the Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect has always had a bad reputation in the immortal realm, on my way here, I heard the town folks of Shun'an Town at the foot of the mountain say that the Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect is now different from before. They have dismantled the killing formation in front of the mountain, no longer disturb the residents, and even provide porridge during times of disaster..."
As Zhiyan spoke, I clenched my fists tighter. Moqing, you've practically turned my Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect into a temple.
You even provide porridge for the people... You're doing a better job than the officials. Are you trying to become a Buddha? You might as well blow yourself up and use your flesh and blood to save the world!
"I heard that those demonic cultivators who bullied me some time ago have been sent down the mountain to farm, helping the villagers to grow crops. I think this method is much better than the previous cruel punishments..."
"What's good about it?" I frowned at her, "You think Li Chenlan punished them just because they bullied you?" I sneered, "Naive. They wanted to cover up their misdeeds, but Li Chenlan found out. He punished them out of leniency. Keeping these people will be a disaster sooner or later."
Zhiyan seemed shocked by my words.
It's true, ever since I died and became a ghost, the murderous aura on my body has not been as heavy as when I was alive, and my temperament is not as sharp as before. I have never spoken to Zhiyan like this before. But the Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect is not as calm and peaceful as she has seen in the past few days.
"Do you know where these people come from?" I glanced at the demonic cultivators outside, "They have been chased by enemies or besieged by the immortal sects, with nowhere to go, and finally sought refuge in my Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect. Those I've taken in at the Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect are all extremely wicked and have been abandoned by society or persecuted."
"When they joined the Ten Thousand Slaughter Sect, they all made a vow of eternal loyalty to me. As the sect leader, taking them in at the risk of the world is my grace, sheltering them is my duty, and all I ask for in return is their loyalty. If they can't even do that, they are ungrateful, disloyal, and unworthy people, and my stance on seeing people like that is to kill them. This is to avoid trouble and uphold my own righteousness."
I turned to look at Zhiyan, who was completely stunned, and said, "Now that you think Li Chenlan sending them down the mountain to farm is a good thing, let's wait and see. Let's see how using a policy of clemency on these people will end up."
I left the small house and ignored the warm greetings of the demonic cultivators outside. I recited a spell and in the blink of an eye, I landed on the Qianren Cliff. I reported Zhiyan's name to the guards at the library, and they didn't stop me, so I was allowed in.
I went straight to the third floor based on my memory and found the book that recorded supernatural phenomena on the southeast shelf. I sat cross-legged and flipped through the book, but it mainly contained records of people encountering strange things at specific times in specific places.
There were no detailed analyses or any research on soul day and night alternation.
I flipped to the last page of the book and found a story that recounted a woman in a certain village who, three days after her death, suddenly sat up from her coffin, looking exactly the same as she did when alive, but with a completely different demeanor, tone, and memory, as if another person had suddenly taken over her body.
"...A Taoist called this 'borrowing a corpse... returning the soul.'" I read aloud.
Unexpectedly, a voice came from beside me, "Oh, there really is such a thing as borrowing a corpse and returning the soul in this world."
I turned my head and was surprised to find that Moqing, dressed in a black robe, had come here at some point. He was leaning against the window, silently standing there. Behind him, the window was wide open with the night sky filled with stars, as if he was standing amidst a thousand starlights, his deep eyes fixed on me.
I was dumbfounded for a moment and forgot to close the book.