Chapter 54 Part 2

Yinyu was slightly startled and silently hid behind Lian Sheng, not really afraid. After all, this many Jiangshi certainly couldn’t trouble Lian Sheng.

Sure enough, with a snap of Lian Sheng’s fingers, all those Jiangshi froze in place, only drool still dripping from their mouths.

Yinyu breathed a long sigh, but seeing the passage so completely blocked that even squeezing through was impossible, she laughed dryly and said, “I can’t be expected to crawl over their heads.”

“If you really had to crawl, it’s doable,” Lian Sheng laughed lightly.

Yinyu immediately pinched the other’s sleeve and said with feigned coyness, “With Boss Yu here, why would I need to crawl? Isn’t that right?”

“You’re afraid of getting Corpse Qi on you,” Lian Sheng bluntly exposed her.

But Yinyu wouldn’t admit it; she insisted, “Not at all. I just want to bask in your glory.”

Lian Sheng didn’t banter with her; just as she had parted the great fire earlier, she easily separated the packed Jiangshi, making them yield a narrow path.

Just as they were about to pass through, a whimper was heard.

The Death Qi here was thick. At first, Yinyu thought it was ghostly evil crying, but when she followed the sound and looked up, she realized someone was clinging to the black iron chandelier.

A living person.

Lian Sheng also looked up, silently staring at the person.

The chandelier was actually a fire pan, where charcoal could be placed in the middle, but the charcoal had burned out long ago.

The person clinging there tremblingly looked down and after a long while said, “I know I was wrong! Please, both of you, let me out! I’ll turn over a new leaf and be a good person. In the next life, I’ll be a beast of burden for you! If I can’t, then in the afterlife, I’ll be a pig for people to slaughter and eat!”

His snot and tears flowed freely as he shouted hoarsely.

Yinyu had earlier suspected that the Altar of the Abandoned Rite included live sacrifices, but hadn’t expected to actually encounter a living person after descending.

And a fresh one, not starved for too long; otherwise, how would he have the strength to speak.

The man wept bitterly: “I beg you reincarnated bodhisattvas to show mercy! I really can’t hold on! My brain must have been kicked into a manure pit by a donkey for me to dare offend you great ones with this worthless life! Now I’ve come to my senses! I kowtow to you! I’ll be a footstool for Master Kang! If the Kang family tells me to go west, even through a sea of fire, I won’t go east!”

Evidently, this person had been thrown in by the Kang family. Indeed, the Kang family had deep ties with the Altar of the Abandoned.

Yinyu looked up at him, gave a soft laugh, and said, “No need to be an ox or pig; we don’t lack those few pounds of meat.”

Hearing this, the man didn’t dare beg further, wailed loudly, even his crying hoarse, abandoning all dignity and begging even louder.

After all, he was a living person, and Lian Sheng’s ears were getting calluses, so she decided to help. But she didn’t gently lower him down; instead, she snapped her fingers, making the fire pan shake violently.

“Stop shaking, stop shaking! Help! Help!” Unable to hold on, the man fell with a thud onto the heads of the Jiangshi.

His eyes wide, he scrambled down on all fours. Looking at his crotch… it was already wet.

Yinyu didn’t want to get close to him, waving her hand in front of her nose and mouth, because the stench of urine on him was stronger than the Ghostly Qi.

“Thank you both! Your great kindness, I will repay someday!” His legs weak, the man made to run out, but before he could take a step, he was called back.

“Hold on,” Yinyu said.

The man burst into despairing tears again: “Miss, I deserve to die, I really do, but I don’t want to die!”

The Jiangshi squeezed on both sides stood motionless like wood carvings, but bared teeth and drooled, their faces all turned toward the weeping man.

“Did the Kang family send you down here? What did you do to be made a sacrifice?” Yinyu asked bluntly.

The man was emaciated, weak all over, looking utterly wretched. He wiped his tears and exclaimed, “You… you’re not from the Kang family? Where did you come from? Could you be Fairy Maidens?”

Yinyu looked at him with a half-smile.

The man trembled, not knowing if from excitement or shock. Frowning tightly, he forced a smile and said frantically, “It… it was the Kang family. I only stole an old woman’s porridge, and the Kang family member distributing the porridge beat me up and sent me here. I got what I deserved, but it’s not a capital crime! This place is terrifying. The Kang family is truly despicable. Please, fairy maidens, have mercy and send me out!”

From this, the man wasn’t much good either.

Yinyu didn’t comment, only finding the matter strange.

The Altar of the Abandoned was clearly set up by Wuxian, but now the Kang family was managing it. It seemed Wuxian was using the Kang family to continually harm people. But did she need so much Yin Energy and so many souls just for cultivation?

“Was it truly the Kang family that sent you in?” Lian Sheng asked coldly.

The man stomped his foot: “Why would I lie to you kind souls? They tied me up sevenfold and sent me in. Though blindfolded, I recognized their voices!”

Lian Sheng pondered, then said lightly, “Fine, come with us.”

The man was on the verge of collapse, trembling: “I… I still can’t go? I’m not lying, my life is given by you two. Can’t I just wait for you outside?”

“No, we’ll naturally send you out later,” Yinyu said, holding the wooden puppet.

The Ear Whisperer God couldn’t stand a grain of sand in its eye and scolded in a childish voice, “Stealing an old person’s porridge! Truly, evil people will be ground down by other evil people!”

At this voice, the man froze, his eyeballs shifting slightly, his gaze stopping on Yinyu’s arms.

Yinyu expressionlessly pinched the wooden puppet’s two lips together and asked, “Coming or not?”

The Ear Whisperer God, as if using ventriloquism, said, “They should hang up all these disrespectful things and air them out for ten or eight days.”

How could the man dare disobey? He tiptoed after them; better to follow the living than be trapped among the corpses.

After passing through the Jiangshi crowd, they found there was another narrow door. That door couldn’t stop Lian Sheng; it was easily broken open, like mere decoration.

“Tell us about the Kang family,” Lian Sheng suddenly said.

The man shook like a sieve; if not leaning on the wall, he couldn’t take a step. Stammering, he said, “The Kang family is the richest household in Dark Snow Heaven, with a huge mansion. The people inside don’t worry about food or clothing; they’re practically half the rulers of Dark Snow Heaven.”

“So powerful?” Yinyu looked back.

The man dared not meet her eyes, nor look at the wooden puppet in her arms. Nodding repeatedly, he said, “Indeed, they even guard the city gate. Coming in and out of Dark Snow Heaven depends on their will; they’re absolute local tyrants!”

“You hold quite a grudge against them,” Yinyu smiled.

The man shrank back and shook his head: “I wouldn’t dare! Anyone who offends them gets thrown into the Altar of the Abandoned!”

“Then do you know what relationship the Kang family has with the person who set up the Altar of the Abandoned?” Yinyu had wanted to ask this long ago, and Lian Sheng surely wanted to hear it too.

“According to the older generation, it’s those immortal cultivators backing the Kang family. Otherwise, how would they have so many powerful talismans!” the man said in a displeased tone.

Yinyu nodded slightly. This explained why the Kang family used talismans without sparing any; they were likely given by others.

Inside and outside the door were completely different. The outside seemed finely carved and constructed, while the inside was very rough.

The stone walls bore obvious chisel marks, uneven all around, like a passage hastily dug by tomb robbers.

“Really a tomb?” Yinyu was surprised, momentarily unable to figure out for whom this tomb was built.

This wasn’t some noble’s territory, and it was Dark Snow Heaven, a poor and harsh land. Even if choosing an auspicious site for burial, it shouldn’t be this place.

“We’ll know once we enter,” Lian Sheng said, striding in directly, pinching two fingers together, and a blue flame rose in her palm.

As Yinyu walked, she supported herself on the wall; under her palm, the stone was dry and rough, scratching her hand. But in an instant, she seemed to touch something smooth.

Not soft and round, still a bit rough, but slipperier than the nearby rocks, with a slight greasy feel.

Yinyu suddenly stopped, groping along the stone wall, trying to find what she had inadvertently touched.

Lian Sheng also stopped and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Boss Yu, lend me some light.” Yinyu pressed her face almost against the stone wall; she couldn’t smell anything, so she had to rely on sight.

Lian Sheng extended her hand; the blue flame in her palm wasn’t very bright, but sufficient.

A small patch of crimson Red Jade was revealed on the stone wall, unfortunately the light was dim, so it was hard to tell how pure the red was.

The feel was oddly familiar; Yinyu’s heart raced. As she rubbed it further, a thought sprouted:

Could this be the Red Jade used to carve the Lotus Pattern Jade Pendant?

The swaying red jade in her dream and the scene of it shattering into bloom reappeared before her eyes.

Yinyu withdrew her hand, pretending nonchalance, and said, “If we could mine all the jade in this wall, we’d make a fortune.”

Lian Sheng responded with a casual “Mm.”

Yinyu looked at Lian Sheng’s waist; it was empty, making her chest feel tight.

The man following behind, though afraid, drooled like the Jiangshi outside upon hearing there was jade in the wall.

Watching the two continue forward, he secretly picked up a rock and knocked it against the wall a few times, thinking that even some crumbs would be a gain.

Hearing the knocking, Yinyu turned around: “What are you doing?”

The man hurriedly threw the stone away, forcing a smile: “I… I was just trying to see if this wall was carved out.”

Yinyu gave a drawn-out “Oh,” and said, “Stop trying. Stick close, or if the Jiangshi behind us surge forward, you’ll be the first to die.”

The man rushed forward several steps, not daring to fall behind.

“Stay farther away from me,” Yinyu said, covering her nose.

The man had no choice but to maintain a tiny distance, neither too close nor too far.

The deeper they went, the heavier the Yin Energy, yet there was no chirping of Jiangshi, but an eerie silence.

Yinyu’s heart hung in suspense; she reached out and pinched Lian Sheng’s sleeve, tugged and said, “Boss Yu, there’s something strange here.”

Lian Sheng responded with a calm “Mm,” still walking unhurriedly.

The man behind was scared yet curious, and couldn’t help asking, “Are you two… here to perform exorcism?”

Before Yinyu and Lian Sheng could answer, the Ear Whisperer God snorted and said impatiently, “Specifically to exorcise Malevolent Ghosts like you.”

The crisp voice echoed in the cave, and the man’s vision went black, nearly fainting.

The further they went, the brighter the path ahead, still descending, as if leading to the underground.

Passing through this rough-hewn narrow passage, the view suddenly opened up, illuminated by ghostly fire.

Inside, it was excavated to over ten zhang high, with a stone statue standing silently.

Yinyu had seen it before—it was Wuxian’s statue.