At midnight, the bright moon was high in the sky, the gate of Xiongzheng Palace was closed. The floor palace lanterns inside the palace were all lit, illuminating the interior furnishings brightly with the red candlelight.
Ning Qinshui stood at the gate and frowned.
The usher was still the Song Ce whom they met in the daytime. Song Ce explained, “This is General Wang Yangyu’s main hall. Since he perished abruptly three days ago, the hall has been locked. However, late every night, the candles in the hall will burn themselves. Meanwhile, an old voice will come from inside vaguely once in a while.”
Ning Qinshui frowned and asked, “What voice?”
Song Ce replied, “It was too vague to be clearly heard, but according to the palace maids, it was General Wang’s voice.”
Ning Qinshui asked again, “Where is General Wang’s body?”
Song Ce seemed to recall something. Subconsciously, he clenched his fists and sighed, “Burned.”
Ning Qinshui asked in confusion, “So soon? Was he infected with an epidemic?”
Song Ce shook his head with a complicated expression, “His body also burned spontaneously and the fire couldn’t be put out anyway.”
Ning Qinshui was slightly shocked. He stroked his gray and long beard, flicked his rope away and started counting on his fingers at an extremely fast speed.
Song Ce sighed, “If you shrink back from difficulties, we won’t say anything.”
Ning Qinshui paid no heed. He placed his hand on the gate and peeled off the seal. Ning Qinshui pushed open the gate and went inside. His face shone red before the glowing candlelight in the hall.
When he crossed the threshold, a copper coin dropped from his sleeve and happened to land on the threshold.
“Huh, what an insignificant trick! It is deliberately mystifying only.” Ning Qinshui glanced around. As he flicked his robe, most of the candles in the room were put out. He said with a deep voice, “Changjiu, Xiaoling, come with me to subdue the demon.”
The young man and the young girl glanced at the deep and serene hall lit by the twilight candlelight. They were both horrified but they still answered in one voice, “Yes, Master.”
Ning Qinshui slowed down his pace as he talked. He put his hand into his sleeve and then seven items that looked like a beast’s fang were cast out and then floated around his body, as if the protective weapon for him.
Behind him was the girl in a thin robe holding her arms. She peeked at the old man with a slightly annoyed look.
Yet, the handsome young man next to her, who was almost like a moron, just followed the old man with his head lowered, not daring to look around at all.
The old man did not care about the safety of the young man and the young girl behind him. To him, they were only two gifted children he bought from the market. Precious as they were, they were more of a magical weapon. When it was time to use them, he would use them even if he was reluctant.
Ning Qinshui shook out a sheet of talisman instantly, it was burned for no reason. Instead of dropping on the ground, the ash turned into a real and yet illusory yellow bird. After hovering around the hall for a while, the yellow bird screamed. The old man was slightly surprised and then snorted, “Found you!”
As he strode forward, a strong wind swept through the hall. Surprisingly, he leaped tens of meters away and arrived before a God’s statue in the hall as if he shrank the distance of ten thousand miles into one inch.
Ning Qinshui was quite experienced. Without saying anything, he pinched eight yellow talismans with his ten fingers. As he pushed his palms forward, the eight talismans were thrown out. Just like an end-to-end rope, they locked the stone statue firmly. The unextinguished candlelight, just as if feeling something, all flickered. It seemed they were about to shake off the candlewicks and gather together.
“Sir...” A voice suddenly came behind his head.
Ning Qinshui was about to take the opportunity to continue attacking when he suddenly became sluggish and fell into a trance.
“Sir...”
The voice came again, which was cordial. It seemed to be uttered in the face of an old friend in the street.
“Stop messing with my mind!”
Ning Qinshui bit the tip of his tongue lightly, and his eyes were quickly focused again in the soberness caused by the pain.
Somehow, a strapping and armored man stood before him, staring at him with dull eyes in a daze. His face, body and hands were so rotten that even the bones could be seen. The armor was covered with cracks. With his mouth widened, the flesh was seriously eroded. Amidst the bloody flesh, there seemed to be maggots squirming around.
Ning Qinshui did not recognize this man, but his instinct told him that this was the general named Wang Yangyu who died that day!
According to Song Ce’s introduction, Wang Yangyu had cultivated for years. In addition to years’ experience in battling, his martial arts skill was high beyond description. Generally, ghosts could hardly approach him. What kind of power on earth ate him off and made him end up like his?
Ning Qinshui only hesitated for a moment and shockingly, he found that his body was also beginning to stiffen. His already wrinkled fingers were quickly getting cold and pale. He would end up like Wang Yangyu soon!
“Messing with my mind with the confusing barrier?” He made up his mind and shouted. He was thin but his Taoist robe swelled up like a blast. With his five fingers in the shape of an eagle’s claw, he patted forward. “Evil, enough with the trick!”
Dozens of golden lights burst from between the sleeves of his robe, going forward like arrows.
Wang Yangyu’s body was cracked, from which a painful scream burst out. Short as the scream was, it was like a bird’s warble that appeared abruptly. He fell backward directly.
With a loud bang, Ning Qinshui was startled. Before his eyes were all the broken stones of the statue. There was no General Wang anymore.
He withdrew his hand and believed that he had broken the confusing barrier. However, the young man behind him suddenly screamed.
“Master! Your hands!”
Ning Qinshui glanced at his hands subconsciously. He was severely shocked to find that the thick blood was dripping through the fingers of his hands constantly! He was sure that it was not his blood!
He wanted to take out another magic weapon from his sleeves but he found that his whole body was so stiff that he couldn’t move at all. A chill was rising from behind his back as if a centipede was climbing up along his spine.
A black spot suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. The black spot occupied his pupils and spread rapidly. It seemed that a huge ghost crawled out of the cave at a weirdly fast speed.
When his consciousness was about to be swallowed, Ning Qinshui suddenly became stern. He turned his head with difficulty and glanced at the young man and the young girl behind him.
The young man had never seen such a terrifying appearance on their master and subconsciously took a step back while the young girl directly fell to the ground with limp legs.
With the corners of the old man’s stiff mouth raised, he shouted, “In the name of Celestial Being, I hereby command a deity to come!”
The clothes on the chests of the young man and the young girl were ripped open. The two yellow talismans dragged their body towards the old man.
They were the so-called protective talismans given to them by the old man but now they turned into fatal hooks!
“Xiaoling!” Ning Changjiu yelled hastily, took a step forward with difficulty, and stopped in front of the girl.
Ning Xiaoling wanted to tear off the talisman on her body, but the yellow talisman seemed to have taken root, which only made her feel like tearing her own flesh and blood off.
She was dragged forward suddenly by the talisman and bumped into Ning Changjiu’s back. She subconsciously hugged the young man’s body before her but it didn’t help at all. They were both dragged forward.
Ning Changjiu arrived before the old man first.
Ning Qinshui patted the top of his head relentlessly.
Before he had time to scream in pain, Ning Changjiu’s limbs went limp instantly. He still stood before the young girl and yet, had knelt down feebly. His body was like an opened wine jar, into which amounts of evil Qi flooded.
This was the approach of subduing the demon with human beings adopted by the cultivators in ancient times! It took the old man years to find two suitable “containers”. If it were not an urgent moment, he would definitely not use either of them!
The wisps of evil Qi flooded into Ning Changjiu’s body. As one was weakened, the other one survived. Ning Qinshui got a chance to breathe. He stared at the young girl who was still struggling and then, he was suddenly taken aback.
Ning Xiaoling raised her hand with difficulty, but she was not going to surrender.
Behind her body, an illusory and snow-white shadow faintly appeared--it was a curled-up snow fox.
Yet, the spirit of the snow fox lost a tail. It grimaced at Ning Qinshui but it still didn’t dare to go forward out of fear.
Ning Qinshui asked in surprise, “How dare you! When did you secretly learn the Taoist skill? And you’ve even grown strong enough to foster an innate spirit?”
She had hidden it from him for so long.
Indeed, she was a rarely-seen gifted cultivator, who was much stronger than her stupid senior fellow disciple.
Unfortunately...
She was not as important as his own life.
Ning Qinshui’s hesitation lasted only a blink of an eye. He shouted and urged the yellow talisman. The young girl hummed in pain and bumped away Ning Changjiu’s body. He arrived before her and patted her. The snow fox’s spirit was dispersed after resisting weakly. The young girl fainted instantly.
The two natural “containers” quickly took in all the evil Qi around.
Then, he put his hands deep into the bottom of his sleeve.
It was a pair of purple gold talismans so precious that even his fingers trembled slightly.
However, he was aware that he would die a few years later. Nothing was more important than being immortal. The noble man’s promise to him was a chance for him to become immortal.
Thinking of this, the old man didn’t hesitate anymore. The two talismans were stuck onto their foreheads.
The young man and the young girl had been unconscious. Their skin became almost transparently pale. The blood streaks beneath it appeared so clear that they seemed to break out of the skin. They bulged and struggled, as beautiful and queer as the flowers in hell.
Now that the talismans were stuck on them, their body was also gradually soothed.
Things had come to a close.
Ning Qinshui wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath. He beckoned to the people outside the door, gesturing for them to come in.
Seeing that everything quieted down in the hall, Song Ce was also relieved. He strode into the hall with the several people at the door. He made an obeisance with cupped hands and wanted to speak when he was suddenly taken aback.
Seeing that they didn’t dare to approach him, Ning Qinshui thought that they were frightened by the bodies of the young man and the young girl. He waved his hand with a grin, saying, “It’s okay. They are only in a state of suspended animation. They will be revived when I take the evil out of them.”
In fact, it was only his perfunctory statement. He knew better than anyone that they had no chance of surviving at all.
“Sir...”
With widened eyes, Song Ce raised his hand and pointed at his body. Even his voice was somewhat trembling.
Ning Qinshui was slightly startled. Meanwhile, the extinguished candles were suddenly lit one by one, which startled Ning Qinshui. He suddenly felt pain in his chest so he put his hand on it.
Only then did he realize that his chest was full of blood. From the mutilated blood and flesh came a bloody hand unwrapped by flesh and skin, just like a worm crawling out. Ning Qinshui had no time to react at all. Instantly, his hand was gripped by the bloody hand and then dragged into the body.
It was like a demon broke out of its nest and intended to swallow this body as its food!
“Help me!” Ning Qinshui screamed in a grimace. He raised his head, but everyone just backed away!
Likewise, his face was also badly mutilated, which was awfully deformed. His face could hardly be recognized anymore.
That was the face of Wang Yangyu!
Here came the sound of bone fracturing. The old Taoist priest’s robe was torn off. His body had completely collapsed before he could cry out.
“Sparrow Ghost! It’s Sparrow Ghost!”
Someone in the crowd screamed in exclamation. No one hesitated anymore. They just all fled out of the hall.
The deformed old Taoist priest rose like a zombie. Instead of chasing those people, he stared at the unconscious young man and young girl. He seemed to see savory food in the world and then gave a greedy smile.
He slowly crawled over.
He put his fingers on the girl’s pale doll-like face and gently stroked the soft curve of her cheek. Then he grabbed her neck and wanted to rip off her Taoist skirt violently.
This was the evil intention drawn from the heart of the old Taoist priest.
With such a young and beautiful little girl by his side, how could he not harbor any ill intention? He just suppressed his intention deep inside his heart and appeared to be a decent Taoist priest for the greater interest.
Now all his evil thoughts just showed themselves.
Ning Xiaoling was too weak to resist now.
It was dark all around and the candles were flickering wildly.
In the hall where light flickered, the young man’s body was hidden in the shadow of the old Taoist priest.
Unknowingly, when the sound of the skirt torn off came, the young man who should have been unconscious opened his eyes.
His eyes were crystal and extremely light.They looked like the mists at both ends of the fall and also the drifting sparks on a midwinter night.He looked sideways and frowned when he looked at the crazy walking corpse and the unconscious girl.Then he stretched out his finger and pointed at the fierce walking corpse with uncertainty.The candlelight gradually faded away, and the hall was silent.After a while, the young man stood up. Looking at the rotten flesh torn apart on the ground, he made his judgment, “So weak.”Then he looked at the dying girl and frowned. Memories just flashed through his mind. He only felt some pain in his head and seemed to be watching a difficult puzzle. Then he raised his index finger and pointed amidst her eyebrows.That finger was still a bit bloody and dirty, but it didn’t tremble at all....The autumn breeze approached; the moon ro
It was a quiet night. The light was slightly bright. Ning Changjiu stared at her blankly and his faint eyes appeared nearly transparent.He had a moment of confusion.Very quickly, he restored himself to peace, just like the twinkling flame between the sleeves of the blue shirt, which appeared and vanished in an instant.“Have a good rest and don’t think too much,” he said. “I am your fellow disciple, always and forever.”Ning Xiaoling looked at him in fear.Ning Changjiu looked at her face. The girl moved backward subconsciously and touched the wall. Instantly, she shivered.In a chaotic mind, Ning Changjiu turned around and left. The light went out then. Ning Xiaoling curled up in the corner and looked at the dark ahead of her in horror. She seemed to have run out of her courage. She slumped on the bed, holding her face in her hands. Tears overflowed between her pale and dry fingers.Bang.
The Jiuling Tower was as tall as a hill, with thousands of stone steps winding upwards. At the top of it, a copper statue of a colossal bird flying could be vaguely seen.That was the place where the imperial family of the state of Zhao held the memorial ceremony as well as the shrine for the annual great sacrifice to heaven.The bottom of the Jiuling Tower was surrounded by eight huge copper furnaces, one of which had already got flames in it. The turbulent flames were spurting heat waves with sparks scattered around.Even if Ning Qinshui’s corpse was covered with a sheet of white cloth, the rotten flesh and decayed bones could still be seen.Song Ce glanced at the young man and the young girl behind him. The young girl frowned, which indicated that she must feel extremely painful; the young man who dared to talk wildly just now must drop the absurd thought when he saw the scene.However, after carefully observing Nin
“Her Highness?”After a short silence, a hubbub of voices arose.“When did she come back?”“How can I know it? Not a clue at all!”“Can’t believe...she is still alive.”Song Ce heaved a sigh with his hands in his sleeves constantly trembling. His fear and anxiety couldn’t be concealed anymore.Ning Xiaoling was stunned for a while and then suddenly said, “Could it be her?”Ning Changjiu asked, “Who?”Ning Xiaoling immediately explained, “According to the legend, in the imperial palace, when it comes to ‘Highness’, everyone will not think of the crown prince, a prince or princess but...the foster daughter of a goddess.”Ning Changjiu became even more puzzled. “A foster daughter?”Ning Xiaoling nodded. “Legend has it that more than ten years ago, on the way back from the war, the late emperor met a fairy-like woman on the tower. He took this woman back to t
“Your master is quite famous in the state of Zhao. I thought that his intervention this time could put an end to the matter, but it turned out to end like this.”Zhao Shisong led the way ahead and said with pity.“But you don’t have to be afraid. Maybe it is because my mansion is too cold and my wife is too weak that she has got sick. Her situation may not be that critical.”Ning Changjiu nodded and said, “Master was devoted to Taoism all his life and eventually died for it. In a sense, he ended his life well.”Zhao Shisong never expected this young man to be so philosophical. He laughed and commended, “If things go well in the future, I think you can outdo your master.”Ning Changjiu said, “Thank you.”Ning Xiaoling walked silently with her head lowered.Zhao Shisong took a look at her and only thought that this little girl was pretty and lovely, except for some coldness between her eyebrows.
“Three years ago, that was the great sacrifice rite of the state of Zhao held every ten years...”Within the South Continent, there were dozens of states of different sizes. Clashes broke out once in a while. However, not any state was strong enough to monopolize the South Continent.The state of Zhao was much weaker than the state of Rong and the state of Jin but it was not weak anyway.According to the legend, a century ago, gods cultivated the virgin land and helped the state of Zhao establish the capital in the wild mountainous areas. Afterward, the mountains became the natural barrier. Later, the legends of immortals building the cottages and cultivating were created and spread, which kind of supported the development of the state of Zhao.Three years ago, envoys of all the other states came to attend the great sacrifice rite. At that time, it was not peaceful in the South Continent. The state of Rong and the state of Jin were
Ning Xiaoling opened her eyes when the black shadow flashed across the grilled wooden gate.“Who is that!”A chill ran through her hands and feet. She shouted and instantly got sober.There was a dead silence.Yet, it was such a short instant that even Ning Xiaoling hadn’t finished breathing in and out once. In the darkness on the right side, the extremely low humming sound of the sword arose immediately with the latent killing intent.The breaking sound of the porcelain bottles came clearly.A long sword was stabbed from the wooden shelf on the right side with sheer coldness towards her neck.It was an extremely dangerous attack, like a poisonous snake that jumped up under the grass, extremely swift and gravely fatal.However, intuitively, Ning Xiaoling had noticed the coming attack and leaned backward before the porcelain bottle was broken. When the intent of the sword sprang ac
Ning Changjiu said, “A person, a familiar person. I have an inkling that he is in the imperial city. I feel that as long as I meet him, a lot of puzzles in my mind will be solved then.”Ning Xiaoling became more and more confused as she listened. Then she asked, “What puzzles...do you have?”Ning Changjiu said, “Who am I?”Ning Xiaoling felt cold and still smiled with an unchanged countenance, “Changjiu, don’t scare me... By the way, who are you looking for?”Ning Changjiu said uncertainly, “It may be a junior brother disciple or a cute junior sister disciple like you. Anyway, he is in this imperial city now. I can’t locate where he is but I can vaguely feel it.”Ning Xiaoling puckered her lips. “Oh, you want to find a junior sister disciple.”Ning Changjiu smiled, rubbed her head and said, “Have a good rest. Your innate spirit has been broken again, which needs to rest in recuperation.”Ning