Chapter 48 Part 2

“So did the High Immortal finish drawing it?” The Young Novice Monk craned his neck to look.

Wu Yinyu shook her head, unwilling to continue drawing. “Can’t draw it well. Forget it, let her grow on her own.”

The Young Novice Monk looked at the exquisitely drawn lotus on the silk. Puzzled, he asked, “This one won’t do either?”

“No.” Wu Yinyu pointed critically. “It lacks vivacity. It doesn’t hold up under close scrutiny.”

The Young Novice Monk felt it was a pity and asked softly, “Then could you give this lotus to me?”

Wu Yinyu casually rolled up the silk and tossed it to the novice. “Give it to Little Enlightenment Ruins. When she wakes up in the future, let her see it too, so my effort isn’t wasted.”

The Young Novice Monk quickly caught it, hugging it joyfully to his chest. “Thank you, High Immortal! I will safeguard it for now. When the Lotus Immortal awakens one day, I will certainly arrange an introduction for you and return this lotus painting to her!”

Wu Yinyu nodded slightly, gazing distantly at a particular lotus in the pool. She reached out and stirred the pool water. “Remember, the things I draw form Illusions of their own. Don’t fix your gaze on them for long, or you’ll inevitably fall into the Lotus Pool Illusion.”

“Understood.” The Young Novice Monk quickly responded.

A voice spoke close to her ear.

“What else do you want to ask it?”

Wu Yinyu abruptly snapped back to reality. She blinked, only to see the wooden puppet almost right in front of her face.

She poked the puppet’s chest with a finger, pushing it away. Her thoughts were a mess. Although she still didn’t understand why she had drawn a body for Lian Sheng, she roughly understood that this scrap of silk cloth had likely been stolen by Wuxian.

The clothes on the puppet were indeed dry. The reason it mistakenly thought it had soaked in a lotus pool for a hundred years was because it was trapped in an Illusion.

The Lotus Pool Illusion… her own thing was also this powerful.

“Nothing more to ask,” Wu Yinyu said.

“Wuxian has already gone to Wisdom Water Red Mountain.” Yu Zezhi took the puppet away from in front of Wu Yinyu.

The Ear Whisperer God’s voice was young, but it spoke like a little old lady, rambling on. “Wisdom Water Red Mountain? I don’t know any Wisdom Water Red Mountain. But her evil deeds are countless! She should be captured and severely punished!”

“Do you know how foul her heart is? She actually lured the main family’s long-lost daughter into the Underworld, causing her to be possessed by a Yin spirit and end up in a state of madness!”

“She showed disrespect to the ancestors, actually inserting incense sticks upside down while cleaning the Spirit Tablets! This incited the ancestors’ fury, bringing misfortune upon the Wu family.”

“Fearing I would spread ominous prophecies, she even captured me!”

“At that time, the Five Gates already harbored great dissatisfaction with her. The various Household Immortals wanted to seize her. Unexpectedly, as a human, she fed on Yin Energy, turning herself into something neither human nor ghost, and even killed the Lu Family’s Household Immortal!”

“Yes, she also attempted to build a ritual platform and raise Plague Ghosts! Her intentions are utterly heinous!”

“Where is that ritual platform? It must be destroyed! Otherwise, the heavens will surely change drastically. Destroy that platform quickly!”

This Ear Whisperer God was terribly noisy. Yu Zezhi hooked a finger, and the scattered stones on the ground floated into the air.

The Ear Whisperer God’s wooden eyes rolled. After a few seconds, it suddenly realized and said, “So the ritual platform is already destroyed! Wonderful!”

Its voice deepened, forcefully adopting the manner of a little elder. “Speaking of which, Wuxian had Servitude Nails on her. Do you know of Servitude Nails? It seems to be something one gets when driven by Demonic Evil.”

Servitude Nails?

Wu Yinyu found these two words somewhat familiar, but she couldn’t figure it out at the moment.

The Ear Whisperer God said, “I observed that everyone in the Five Gates seems to have Servitude Nails. If you ask how I know, it’s of course because I am the Ear Whisperer God, with foreknowledge. Unfortunately, my abilities are ultimately limited. I don’t know why this thing is called ‘Servitude Nail’ or where it comes from.”

“Servitude Nails?” Wu Yinyu’s heart kept pounding. She felt the pain in her hands and feet again. “What are the consequences of having Servitude Nails on you?”

The Ear Whisperer God said coldly, “According to my long observations, once bound by those Servitude Nails, one often feels fatigued, and joints inexplicably ache. Over time, it naturally confuses the mind and damages the spirit consciousness. One either becomes completely manipulated by Evil Entities or turns vicious and brutal, harming people everywhere! Fortunately, their nail marks are still shallow; they should still be salvageable.”

The Five Gates’ hand and foot pain wasn’t from Yin Energy invading their bodies, but from Servitude Nails?

Who placed the Servitude Nails on the Five Gates? What about Wuxian’s? And her own?

Wu Yinyu couldn’t help but rub her wrist bone and looked at Yu Zezhi.

“Servitude Nails are indeed objects of Demonic Evil,” Yu Zezhi said.

Wu Yinyu frowned. “Then how can they be remedied?”

The Ear Whisperer God said awkwardly, “I only possess the ability of precognition. How would I know the solution? However, you two are impressive. With this ritual platform destroyed, there will be no more Plague Ghosts in the future!”

Yu Zezhi’s gaze remained fixed. “To this day, I have only seen one method of breaking them. Otherwise, there is death.”

For a moment, Wu Yinyu felt extremely dizzy, and her body was sinking downwards. She belatedly realized the Prayer Wheel in her backpack had become heavy again.

She unzipped her bag and reached for the Prayer Wheel, her palm immediately chilled by the cold touch.

The Prayer Wheel had become as heavy as a thousand pounds; one hand could barely hold it.

Wu Yinyu painstakingly held it, thinking she was hallucinating. Looking again, thick Ink Qi was indeed seeping from the gaps in the Prayer Wheel.

That dense black smoke, like rivers flowing to the sea, continuously surged into her palm. She wanted to let go, but her hands were tightly bound to the Prayer Wheel, unable to move at all.

“Boss Yu?” Wu Yinyu tried to release it, but she couldn’t shake it off at all!

Yu Zezhi looked over in shock. She saw several reversed scripture verses fly out from the Prayer Wheel. The Ink Qi inside also surged up violently, forcefully shattering the scriptures.

“The Prayer Wheel is about to be destroyed.” Her expression was complex and hard to read. In the end, she flicked a beam of golden light, forcing the scriptures to shatter even more thoroughly.

The moment the scriptures were pulverized, the Ink Qi actually pushed the Prayer Wheel to spin forward one rotation. Originally, it couldn’t… spin at all.

After just one slight rotation, the black gems on the cylinder body all shattered. The cylinder and handle disintegrated, turning into fine powder that scattered in the wind.

“Just watch,” Yu Zezhi said, her expression indifferent, seeming exceptionally solitary.

Amidst the debris, a painting scroll suddenly unfurled. The scroll was filled with portraits of various people, each with a different expression—some terrified, some bewildered.

But without exception, their attire was quite modern!

“It’s them,” Wu Yinyu suddenly understood. In a blink, she found Lu Yiqi and Feng Qingshuang.

Those two were painted in the center, maintaining the postures they had when they disappeared in the Surveillance Footage.

These people were either from the Five Gates, afflicted with Servitude Nails, or those who narrowly escaped harm in the previous disaster. Their Life Energy hadn’t yet dissipated, making the entire painting shimmer with spiritual light and brim with life.

As expected, the Ink Qi didn’t harm people; it was clearly saving them.

The Ink Qi was carrying out the intent Wu Yinyu had previously held. This was precisely why she had come here.

Thinking back to the Ink Qi that had infiltrated the Wu Family Shrine, Wu Yinyu laughed inwardly. That thing had perhaps followed the residual aura of Yu Zezhi on the hemp rope.

Back at Wisdom Water Red Mountain, she had clung to Yu Zezhi day and night. The Ink Qi, inheriting her will, naturally picked up this habit as well.

Yu Zezhi looked at her, waves rippling in her eyes. Even her breath seemed to quicken, like a mountain spring after the snow melts, becoming more turbulent.

“You… accept it,” she said.

Some Ink Qi coiled around Wu Yinyu’s arm. As if guided, she raised her arm and swept it across the painting.

Wherever her palm passed, the figures disappeared one by one. Finally, the painting was empty, becoming pure and spotless.

Ding-a-ling.

Several pitch-black Servitude Nails fell to the ground. The moment they touched the earth, those nails, like the ginseng fruit on TV, abruptly vanished.

Wu Yinyu thought these Servitude Nails must have originally been on Lu Yiqi and the others.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and a muffled clap of thunder exploded.

Yu Zezhi suddenly looked up, her expression turning profound. “Heavenly Tribulation.”

Wu Yinyu instinctively clutched the painting scroll floating before her eyes to her chest. She guessed this Heavenly Thunder was likely because her true body had appeared in the world, but she feigned ignorance and asked, “Who is it going to strike?”

With a thunderous crack, a bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds, illuminating the Overgrown Mountain as if it had been thrust into daylight.

Wu Yinyu’s vision went white. Faintly, she saw Yu Zezhi catch the descending electric light with one arm.

Yu Zezhi looked up at the sky, her right arm stretched high. As her five fingers closed, she actually gripped the electric light in her hand. Her face was illuminated pale, her lips slightly pursed, seeming to handle it with ease.

But Wu Yinyu saw clearly: the hand Yu Zezhi used to catch the lightning was charred black. Half of her body still resembled a Celestial Immortal, but the other half was like an Asura.

Wu Yinyu’s breath caught, her pupils trembling at the sight.

Yet Yu Zezhi said calmly, “A physical body from a Small World is indeed not very durable.”

Wu Yinyu took the willow wood puppet from Yu Zezhi’s arms. She touched Yu Zezhi’s half-charred face, where blackened bone was visible. Instead of fear, the corner of her mouth actually curved up, her heart beating faster than ever before.

Her attraction had never been based on physical appearance alone.

However, she withdrew her hand quickly, not lingering a second more.

With curved eyes, she said gently, “Boss Yu, could you take me and the wooden puppet back to Wisdom Water Red Mountain? This puppet certainly wants to recount Wuxian’s crimes.”

“Yes, of course I do!” The Ear Whisperer God said indignantly, “Wuxian must be severely punished!”

Yu Zezhi crushed the electric light in her hand and lowered her now numb arm. “Close your eyes first.”

Wu Yinyu obediently closed her eyes and pinched the corner of the other’s clothes, as if preventing any chance of her going back on her word. She even thanked her in advance: “Many thanks, Boss Yu.”

“You’re too polite.” Yu Zezhi gave a faint, cold laugh. “How do you plan to thank me this time? Still offering to be my beast of burden?”