Heretic Immortal 3

Chapter 3

Do all people from outside the village speak so strangely?

The young girl didn’t know how to respond. After a moment of silence, she picked up a bowl and, leaning on a bamboo pole, walked out of the house to place the leftover rice from the bowl in a corner of the courtyard.

The chickens, ducks, and geese in the courtyard flapped their wings and flew over to peck at the food.

Better to feed her chickens, ducks, and geese than to listen to the nonsense of the person in the house.

Mo Jiangxue followed her out, surveying the courtyard.

The courtyard was very simple, enclosed only by a bamboo fence. Seven peach trees were planted within, and under the centermost one stood a stone table, upon which some herbs were drying in the sun.

Peach trees had the effect of warding off ghosts and evil spirits. These seven peach trees in the courtyard had been imbued with spiritual energy and planted in the formation of the Big Dipper, giving them an additional healing property.

Mo Jiangxue’s gaze shifted to the young girl in the courtyard.

The girl was about thirteen or fourteen, her clothes old and worn. She had a pair of peach-blossom eyes, clear and pure, filled with a naive innocence untouched by the world. Her eyes were starkly black and white, yet held no glimmer of spirit. Her skin was as white as snow, the makings of a beauty, but it lacked a healthy color, appearing somewhat pale. Compounded by the darkness between her brows, a sign of being haunted by ghostly energy, she looked all the more frail.

At first glance, she was a weak young girl with no spiritual power, yet her forehead was dotted with cinnabar. That touch of crimson between her brows was exceptionally eye-catching.

Cinnabar, also known as “Ghost Immortal Cinnabar,” was used for warding off evil and calming the spirit. It was often used by cultivators to draw talismans. Because its crimson hue seemed both ghostly and immortal, it earned the moniker “Ghost Immortal.”

Ordinary cinnabar could be washed away, but this mark on the girl’s forehead had been enhanced by someone’s spiritual power, permanently staining her skin like a seal of faith.

Mo Jiangxue said to her, “Pack your things. You will leave with me shortly.”

Hearing this, the young girl’s eyes curved into crescents as she said teasingly, “Are you a kidnapper? Trying to scare me with ghost stories so you can abduct me.”

One moment she’s saying the village is full of dead people, the next she’s saying I’m about to die, and now she wants me to go with her…

She was fourteen this year. According to her aunty, she was almost of marriageable age.

Although she was just a blind country girl, and although this person’s voice was very pleasant and didn’t sound like a bad person’s, one couldn’t judge a book by its cover, nor a person by their voice.

She had heard from the villagers that some unscrupulous kidnappers specifically targeted young girls with disabilities to sell to bachelors in remote mountain hollows who couldn’t find wives.

It was better to be cautious.

The person remained silent for a long while before finally speaking, “It is indeed wise to be wary of others. Very well, see for yourself.”

She had been blind for three or four years. How could she possibly see?

Just as she was about to speak, an ice-cold palm covered her eyes.

The chill pierced her to the bone. She subconsciously tried to step back, only to find that her body had lost all sensation and she couldn’t move an inch.

What kind of sorcery is this?

She opened her mouth, but suddenly found that not a single sound could escape her throat!

Panic instantly flared in her heart. Was this person beside her a vicious villain?

The coldness over her eyes abruptly turned to warmth, a gentle, melting warmth. A ray of light tore through the darkness before her, followed by a blinding whiteness that enveloped everything.

The person lowered her hand, and sensation returned to her body. She instinctively raised her own hands to cover her eyes.

Having not seen light for years, the sudden exposure felt like a scorching flame, a mixture of stinging, swelling, and burning sensations. Tears were involuntarily squeezed from her eyes.

She blinked hard several times.

The pain eased by only a fraction, but she couldn’t wait. She opened her eyes, peering through a tiny gap between her fingers at the world outside.

At first, everything was hazy and gray, as if seen through a layer of mist, indistinct. Gradually, like clouds parting to reveal the sun, the mountains and white clouds, every blade of grass and every tree, sharpened from blurry to clear.

The azure sky, the deep green grass, the crimson flowers… It was as if a black-and-white ink wash painting had been instantly splashed with vibrant colors. Through the slits of her fingers, she greedily drank in everything she could see. Bewilderment, disbelief, and ecstasy flickered across her face in a chaotic mix of emotions.

Someone beside her asked, “How is it?”

As if waking from a dream, she lowered her hands and followed the voice with her gaze. There, under a peach tree in the courtyard, stood a woman of immortal grace and jade-like beauty.

The woman was dressed in an elegant white robe embroidered with dark red patterns. On her back, she carried a long qin with a black body and red strings. At her waist hung a jade xiao, from which a red tassel dangled. She wore a white veiled hat, the outer rim of which was also adorned with a dark red pattern. Beneath the thin gauze, one could faintly discern dark hair, snowy skin, and a stunningly cold face.

She stood there quietly, like a single, stark winter plum blossom blooming in a world of ice and glazed glass—impossibly beautiful, yet her expression was as frosty as ice, inspiring awe and fear.

The young girl rubbed her eyes, tear tracks still on her face, and murmured, “Are you… a demon? Or an immortal?”

Such beauty did not exist in the mortal realm; she had to be either a demon or an immortal.

Mo Jiangxue gazed at her and said, “Neither demon nor immortal. A humble cultivator of the Xuanmen.”

Her autumn-water eyes were clear, their coldness seeping into one’s bones.

As their eyes met, she remembered calling the other a kidnapper. A flush of heat rose to her face.

Embarrassed, she lowered her head, but couldn’t resist stealing a glance from the corner of her eye. Seeing that Mo Jiangxue was still looking at her with that same indifferent expression, she quickly averted her gaze and looked towards the foot of the mountain.

At the foot of the mountain lay a deathly still village, shrouded in a thick fog, with gusts of gloomy wind. Not a single sign of life could be seen from any of the households. The scene was eerie and grim.

What… what is going on?

Why can’t I see a single person?

Could it be true, what this person said? That this village was full of the dead, and she had been raised by a group of ghosts since she was a child?

The joy of regaining her sight was instantly overwhelmed by a profound terror. She stood stunned for a long moment, then wiped the tears from her face and turned to run down the mountain.

Whether they were human or ghost, she had to go back and see for herself!

“I came here to retrieve a sword. That sword is about to break its seal. It would be best for you not to move about.”

Mo Jiangxue’s voice reached her ears, unhurried, as if she were right behind her.

She turned to look, but saw that the person was still standing under the peach tree, qin on her back, not having moved an inch.

“Why?” she asked.

“There are over a thousand corpses buried in this mountain. Once the seal is broken, those corpses will crawl out from the ground and abduct you to the underworld.”

This person deliberately used the word “abduct,” her tone hinting at a trace of mockery, yet her expression remained perfectly serious and unsmiling.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if this person was genuinely trying to dissuade her or was intentionally teasing her.

She was worried about the people in the village, her heart anxious and urgent. She didn’t know what to do.

Forget it, if I die, I die!

She steeled herself, turned, and continued running down the mountain.

Mo Jiangxue glanced at the young girl but said no more. She flipped the qin into her hands and casually plucked the strings. With two sharp zheng sounds, like pearls falling onto a jade plate, two beams of white light shot from the strings. One rushed into the sky above the courtyard, the other descended upon the village at the foot of the mountain, then transformed into invisible barriers, enveloping the thatched hut and the village.

Black clouds gathered like spilled ink, a sudden downpour imminent. A muffled clap of thunder rolled across the sky.

The Awakening of Insects was a rainy season, and the mountain path was slick and muddy.

She had been blind for two or three years and was not used to her sudden recovery of sight. On her way down the mountain, she stumbled and fell several times.

When she was blind, falling and bumping into things was a common occurrence; her body was often covered in bruises. A few falls now didn’t bother her. She would just get up, spit out the mud in her mouth, and continue running down the mountain.

White mist filled the grass and woods. The further down the mountain she went, the harder it was to see the path.

Along the way, she fell, got up, fell again, and got up again, covering herself in mud.

By the time she reached the village at the foot of the mountain, her hair and face were caked with dust and dirt, a complete mess. Red scratches marked her neck, and her palms and knees were scraped and bleeding from her falls.

She frowned, enduring the pain, and looked around.

Immersed in the thick fog, there was little difference between being able to see and not. Everything was a vast expanse of white. She could only vaguely make out some broken walls and ruined tiles. Faintly, she heard the sound of human voices, like very soft, low conversations and laughter. But when she tried to listen closely to what was being said, she heard nothing at all.

All around was dead silent. She shivered, bit her lip to steel herself against the fear, and felt her way to a house by the stream.

It was a few wooden huts, long in disrepair, surrounded by a low wooden fence. Inside, the walls were mottled and covered in cobwebs, emitting a damp, musty, unpleasant smell.

She remembered that her aunty lived here.

Her aunty was a very good person and knew many things. She would teach her to read and write, and would make beautiful clothes for her. When she was young, she lived with her aunty and would often hear the creak-creak of the loom as her aunty sat weaving in the house.

Now, standing at the courtyard gate, she wanted to call out for her aunty, but looking at the eerie white fog and smelling the musty, rotting scent, she felt as if her throat was blocked, and all the words were swallowed back down.

She gently pushed open the courtyard gate and tiptoed into the house.

The smell of mildew and rot hit her full in the face. The house was covered in cobwebs, and a thick layer of dust coated the table, the bed, and the floor. In a corner was a pile of rotting mallows—

Those were the ones she had dug up and given to the villagers last month…

What happened? Didn’t they eat any of it?

Passing through this wooden house, to the right and back was her aunty’s bedroom. The wooden door was ajar. She could vaguely hear the creak-creak of the loom, but not a single human voice.

She remembered Mo Jiangxue saying the entire village was full of dead people. Her scalp tingled, and for a moment, she didn’t dare to go over and push the door open to look.

Suddenly, a gloomy wind blew past. With a creak, the wooden door was blown open. A woman with a deathly pale face, dressed in coarse cloth, sat at the loom, completely absorbed in her weaving.

Seeing that familiar face, she instantly cast aside her fear and cried out in joyful surprise, “Aunty!”

She remembered how, when she was young and couldn’t read the words in the book, her aunty would hold her in her lap and read to her, word by word. Later, when she went completely blind, her aunty would sew the characters onto cloth with thick thread, stroke by stroke, so she could learn to read by touching the fabric…

So many years had passed, yet her aunty looked exactly as she remembered, not having aged a day.

Hearing the call, the woman slowly raised her head and looked at her, her movements somewhat stiff.

She ran over quickly, wanting to throw herself into her aunty’s arms as she used to. But just as she reached the doorway, the sight before her made her freeze instantly—

At the foot of the loom, a human skeleton was propped up. The clothes on the skeleton had long since rotted away, its original appearance unrecognizable. A long sword pierced through the skeleton’s left chest, pinning it to the loom.

She quickly halted, not daring to go any closer, and looked up at her aunty.

Her aunty stared straight at her, a stiff, eerie smile on her face. A gaping, bloody hole was visible in her left chest. She moved slowly, stepping out from within it, her words fervent, “Nannan, you’ve come to see me again.”

She lowered her head to look at the skeleton on the ground, its chest pierced by the long sword, then looked up at the bloody hole in her aunty’s chest. As if confirming something, her legs suddenly went weak with fright, and she stumbled backward.

Her aunty slowly approached her, not by walking, but by floating, like a footless soul.

The ground suddenly began to tremble slightly. She became unsteady and, stumbling backward, fell to the ground. Her aunty floated before her, bent down, and reached out a hand.

She closed her eyes, not dodging.

So what if she’s really a ghost? Aunty raised me…

The next moment, a cool fragrance filled her nostrils. Her body felt light, and she found herself lifted into a cold, soft embrace.

A cold wind rushed past her face, her feet dangling in the air.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw churning clouds and rushing mountains—

She was flying in mid-air!

The author has something to say:

Mo Jiangxue: You insisted on seeing for yourself, didn’t you? Fine, I’ll give you a little scare.