Gui Nian’an, being older, was Big Flower Pancake. Fu Aoqing, younger, was Little Flower Stamp.
Remembering Lin Fangfei made Fu Aoqing recall her too. “What about Fangfei?”
“Dead.” Gui Nian’an’s gaze turned cold again, her resentment impossible to hide. “Demonic cultivation isn’t that easy. She hesitated while trying to devour others’ lives and got backlashed. She died in the second year at the Heavenly Feast Sect.”
Her voice was flat, without much apparent grief.
Fu Aoqing still sensed their hardships and suffering. She apologized instinctively. “I’m sorry.”
Thinking of how she had lounged lazily in the Imperial Serenity Sect while Gui Nian’an endured suffering filled her with guilt.
Gui Nianqin patted Fu Aoqing’s head. “Aoqing, this isn’t your fault. If you hadn’t brought people back today, we might still be trapped in the array. You saved us.”
Gui Nian’an didn’t comfort Fu Aoqing like Gui Nianqin did. She pursed her lips slightly. “If you feel guilty, then stay in the village.”
Liu Huairou shook her head, not quite agreeing. “Nian’an.”
Gui Nian’an didn’t change her mind. She gazed at the weeping crowd, feeling their envious glances drifting toward her from time to time. “Everyone needs some emotional support too.”
The elderly woman from the beginning spoke up too. She still held the eight-year-old child’s corpse in her arms. “Little Aoqing, Third Great-Aunt begs you to stay.”
All the children in the village were dead. Now only Gui Nian’an and Fu Aoqing remained alive.
Looking at them was like looking at their own children.
Many in the village were related by blood or marriage. Fu Aoqing staying would indeed make some more willing to live on.
They had finally escaped the array and could live normal lives. Dying just like that would be too tragic. The Heavenly Feast Sect had treated them as meals on a plate, as tools for sect prosperity. Now that the Heavenly Feast Sect was destroyed and they were alive, that was the best revenge.
They not only had to live—they had to live well.
Fu Aoqing gave a bitter smile. “Third Great-Aunt, I’m actually about to die too. My spirit root is insufficient, and my lifespan is nearly exhausted.”
“You…” Gui Nian’an clearly hadn’t considered this. She froze in place, intense reluctance surging in her heart.
Gui Nianqin looked at her palm. “Aoqing, I can probably extend your lifespan for you.”
Gui Nianqin’s words made many realize something. Her power had kept so many in the village alive to this day without cultivation, their appearances unchanged. Naturally, she could help Fu Aoqing too—as long as she nourished her slowly with spiritual power, not only would Fu Aoqing’s lifespan increase, but her spirit root would likely improve as well.
Shen Yanting’s worry about Fu Aoqing dying probably wouldn’t happen now.
As long as they dealt with that Otherworld Soul, Fu Aoqing could survive in Mistlongevity Village.
Gui Nianqin alone was more useful than ten spirit arrays. Hua Jinshi had room to shine again. He spoke up once more. “You should thank me! Thank me!”
“Thank you!” Gui Nian’an sneered. She walked up to Hua Jinshi, looked at his swollen face, drew her knife, and in an instant, chopped off both his hands. “These were the hands that refined my grandmother into a human talisman!”
Mistlongevity Village now had only Gui Nian’an’s family left intact and reunited.
They seemed like the only ones with a happy ending, but in fact, they had suffered the most torment.
Among the tragedies of Mistlongevity Village, the one who suffered the most was Gui Nianqin, who had been forcibly turned into a human talisman. Whether it was the refining process or the subsequent forced labor of nurturing spirits for the Heavenly Feast Sect, it was all torment for Gui Nianqin. Others could worry only about their own small families, but Gui Nianqin had to care for everyone, even those she cherished the most. Next was Gui Nian’an, who had survived in the Heavenly Feast Sect without submitting. Her tragedy was similar to Gui Nianqin’s; she worried about every person in the village and could only watch helplessly in the end as those children betrayed the village, powerless to stop it, while enduring constant bullying from He Yongda as his punching bag.
The grandmother and granddaughter no longer looked quite human. One was an indestructible human talisman, the other a corpse refiner shrouded in corpse qi, nearly a living corpse.
Hua Jinshi was still here, deluded into expecting their gratitude.
He still did not believe he had done anything wrong.
Gui Nianqin snatched the knife from Gui Nian’an’s hand and slashed viciously at his back, tearing off a strip of skin along the blade. Hua Jinshi screamed, “Wu Qingshu, look how vicious these people are. Your Cloud Smoke Sect claims to be an upright orthodox sect—aren’t you going to do something about this?”
“Vicious?” Gui Nianqin laughed as if she had heard the greatest joke and tore off another strip of skin from him. “Have you forgotten? You peeled my skin off just like this back then. I’ve only taken two small pieces from you, and you call me vicious? What does that make you?”
Hua Jinshi had no spiritual power to resist and could only glare hatefully at Gui Nianqin. “I did that to make you indestructible. You…”
Liu Huairou still held the spirit knife that Si Xianling had given her. Before Hua Jinshi could try to plead for thanks again, she slashed a chunk of flesh from his arm.
The pain choked off his voice. Hua Jinshi could no longer scream.
Bo Xuenong watched the scene coldly when she suddenly heard a voice in her mind identical to Hua Jinshi’s.
【Hiss! Whose body is this? Such abundant spiritual power, such strong spirit root—how did it get beaten like this? This damned mortal dares to cut flesh from a divine transformation realm cultivator? A death-wishing fool… This body’s cultivation has been sealed by someone; I can’t resist… No, I need to switch bodies.】
Bo Xuenong’s eyes lit up. She traced the voice and looked toward Hua Jinshi.
Even in his severely injured state, Hua Jinshi had been targeted by an otherworld soul. This otherworld soul seemed able only to sense the spiritual power and spirit root of its host body—it could not perceive the host’s circumstances or physical condition. Could she then first cripple a few people with good spirit roots and high cultivation, leave them alive as bait without killing them, and wait for otherworld souls to possess them before finishing them off?
Bo Xuenong instantly thought it was a great idea. Before she could check on Feng Jin, Feng Jin’s voice transmission arrived. “Eldest Senior Sister, shouldn’t we exchange for soul-devouring gu to kill their souls? Otherwise, once their bodies die, their souls will escape.”
Bo Xuenong was just about to exchange for soul-devouring gu when she remembered to ask Feng Jin, “Would it be cheaper if you exchanged?”
“Disposable consumable items cost the same points, but permanent props are half price for me.”
Soul-devouring gu were disposable consumables.
Bo Xuenong hesitated no longer and immediately exchanged for two soul-devouring gu. She walked up to Sect Master Wu Liangyi and Hua Jinshi, punched them in the abdomen, and took the opportunity to release the soul-devouring gu onto their bodies.
She had just thought to exchange one for Fu Aoqing as well when she suddenly realized that soul-devouring gu could not select specific souls.
…
Bo Xuenong fell silent for a moment, then immediately asked the System for a solution.
【System: Soul-targeting soul-devouring gu available for two thousand points each.】
Bo Xuenong looked at her remaining eleven hundred points and subconsciously glanced at Feng Jin. Feng Jin had clearly heard the prompt sound too. She hesitated and reached out toward Wu Qingshu, gritted her teeth, and suddenly made up her mind. She hugged Wu Qingshu’s arm and leaned in proactively.
Wu Qingshu was very indulgent toward children. She reached out and patted Feng Jin’s cheek, not pulling away.
While hugging Wu Qingshu’s arm, Feng Jin pointed at Wu Qingshu’s other free arm, gesturing for Bo Xuenong to hug it too.
Bo Xuenong did not understand, but… Fu Aoqing had been inside the array controlled by Gui Nianqin earlier, so the otherworld soul had had no chance to target Fu Aoqing’s soul. Now that they had left the array, that soul might have already learned the soul searching technique and could strike at any moment.
If they did not deal with that soul quickly, the one to be possessed would be Fu Aoqing.
Bo Xuenong thought for a moment, then retreated to a more concealed spot and brought out Shen Yanting again.
She looked pleadingly at the porcelain doll and opened her mouth. “Master, could you touch my face?”
Shen Yanting was momentarily dazed.
Seeing that Shen Yanting did not understand, Bo Xuenong pinched her voice to sound more pitiful. “Master.”
Shen Yanting reached out and touched Bo Xuenong’s face. Bo Xuenong rubbed gently against the palm holding the porcelain doll.
Her points increased by twenty.
Bo Xuenong did not want to farm points from Shen Yanting, but the situation was urgent, and she really did not want to get that close to anyone else besides Shen Yanting. Just imagining Wu Qingshu’s hand landing on her face, pinching and squeezing, filled her with dread.
If Shen Yanting found out that she had not earned enough points and caused Fu Aoqing to be possessed by someone else, she might get angry at Bo Xuenong.
She had to save Fu Aoqing.
Because Shen Yanting wanted Fu Aoqing alive.
Touching the face earned points too slowly. It felt like touching places she would not normally touch would earn more.
Bo Xuenong stretched her neck upward. “Master, could you touch my neck?”
Shen Yanting was puzzled but still touched the red cloth.
Bo Xuenong tore off the red cloth, pressing her smooth, pale neck against Shen Yanting’s hand and rubbing hard.
The porcelain doll’s hand was small, its fingertips slightly hard, but on her neck, it tickled.
Bo Xuenong scratched her neck instinctively.
Her points increased by thirty.
Bo Xuenong pointed at her ear next. “Master, could you touch my ear?”
Her human ears lacked the soft fuzz of furry ones; they were smooth and sleek without a trace of down. Shen Yanting’s fingertip had just approached when she pulled back, but Bo Xuenong chased upward, letting her feel the soft delicacy of the earlobe.
Shen Yanting shyly lowered her gaze. She pointed toward Fu Aoqing. “Xuenong, we should head back over there.”
Her finger had just extended when it was suddenly enveloped in warm breath.
Bo Xuenong had brought her lips to within a hair’s breadth of that finger.
Bo Xuenong looked at Shen Yanting pitifully, full of pleading. “Master, could you touch my lips?”
It was too close.
Her fingertip would brush Bo Xuenong’s lips with the slightest tremble forward.
Shen Yanting did not dare move. But when she had silenced Bo Xuenong before, she had sealed her lips with a fingertip. Not touching now would seem guilty. Afraid her thoughts would be exposed, she still reached out to touch. She had meant only to tap quickly and withdraw, but when Bo Xuenong saw her move forward, she leaned in too.
The fingertip slid along the lower lip into her mouth, brushing the warm tip of her tongue.
