Uncanny Immortal 99

Chapter 99

Xie Qingzheng looked at Mo Jiangxue, not responding to Min He’s words.

Mo Jiangxue pressed her pale, thin lips together, stared at Xie Qingzheng without blinking, and also said nothing.

She had survived the attack of the cold poison, and her body was still in an extremely weak state. There was not a trace of blood in her face, and she was so pale she looked sickly. The air of sickness weakened the coldness about her, and her usually clear and cold eyes were now rippling with a faint wave, her gaze shimmering, as if with a twinkling star.

Xie Qingzheng’s heart pounded.

Bewildered, conflicted, and avoidant, after going around in circles, she still chose to face her own feelings.

She knew she shouldn’t like the person before her, but she just did. Even if it was a thousand times wrong, she couldn’t let go…

Compared to a few days ago, her words were now very direct. She didn’t know how much her master could guess.

Mo Jiangxue looked at her for a moment, withdrew her gaze, and said, “You open the door.”

Xie Qingzheng said stubbornly, “But Master, you haven’t answered me yet… before the evil curse is broken, keep me by your side, alright?” Her stubbornness had acted up again, and her tone was one of not giving up until she got an answer.

Mo Jiangxue let out an almost inaudible sigh, reached out to take the white veiled hat at the side and put it on, and nodded in agreement. “Alright.”

If the evil curse on her could really be broken, that would be for the best. She would keep her promise and keep the person before her by her side. If not, then she was sorry. She would never let the person before her see her die with her own eyes.

Xie Qingzheng got a definite answer, and a great weight was lifted from her heart. She couldn’t help but want to smile, but after thinking about it, she held it in.

Her life was important. She couldn’t cry or laugh in this city. Although her master had reinforced the seal yesterday, and she had cried her heart out, and nothing had happened, a night had passed, and the situation might have changed.

Although she had decided not to avoid her master anymore, she still did not expect to get a response from her. She only wanted to save her master’s life, and only wanted her master to keep her by her side before the curse was broken. The rest of the romance was not important.

And the most important thing now was to find the exit of the ghost city.

Mo Jiangxue put on her veiled hat, tidied up her clothes, and looked at Xie Qingzheng. “Aren’t you going to open the door?”

“Disciple will go now.” Xie Qingzheng blew out the ever-bright talisman and opened the door. “Senior Sister Min He.”

“Little Junior Sister.” Min He stood in the courtyard. Seeing Mo Jiangxue follow her out, she quickly and respectfully saluted, “Elder.”

Mo Jiangxue returned the salute with a nod. “I’m much better.”

Hearing her speak with a steady breath, Min He was a little relieved. But seeing her in a white robe, her figure slender, like a hazy cloud in the mountains, as if she would disperse at any moment, a pang of heartache and pity suddenly arose—

Elder Mo’s body seemed to be even weaker…

Before, when she had seen Elder Mo, a sense of awe would always arise in Min He’s heart. She had only felt that Elder Mo’s cultivation was unfathomably profound, and her whole body was filled with a chilling coldness, not like a person of the mortal world, making one not dare to get close easily. Only now did she realize that she would also be injured, would be weak, would be tired, and would have someone she cared about especially. She was no longer a high and mighty deity. She had become more like a person.

She didn’t know if this change was good or bad…

Mo Jiangxue said, “Let’s go. To the main hall in front.”

“Alright.” Min He withdrew her gaze from Mo Jiangxue and led the master and disciple through the back courtyard.

As Mo Jiangxue walked, she asked, “Tell me about the situation here.”

Min He said, “To the Elder, this Guanyin temple has one main hall, two guest rooms, and one scripture-storing pavilion. My junior sisters and I have inspected every corner and have found nothing unusual.”

Mo Jiangxue then asked, “Was there any movement outside last night?”

Xie Qingzheng had cried yesterday.

Min He shook her head. “After we came back last night, there was no unusual movement outside. Oh, that big black dog has been squatting outside. Just before dawn, I asked it, ‘It’s almost light. Aren’t you afraid of the light?’ and only then did it walk away with its tail between its legs. I don’t know where it went.”

Hearing Senior Sister Min He mention that big black dog, Xie Qingzheng remembered how it had been looking at her yesterday, its eyes as if with a thousand words…

It was the first time she had seen such a complicated emotion in a dog’s eyes.

All things have a spirit. That dog had clearly opened its spiritual intelligence. She didn’t know which cultivator’s spiritual pet it was in its past life.

“By the way, there’s also a dry well in this pile of weeds.” Min He pushed aside the weeds. “The well water has already dried up. There are a few white bones at the bottom of the well. I don’t know if they were people who had thrown themselves into the well and died during the chaos of war, or if they were thrown down by someone.”

Xie Qingzheng came to her senses and curiously went over to look.

The bottom of the well was dark and unclear, and a few white bones could be vaguely seen.

Xie Qingzheng said, “I’ll go down and take a look.” She used her lightness skill and floated down gracefully.

With the experience from the Nuwa temple in the maze forest in the Miao region, she subconsciously felt that perhaps the exit of this ghost city would also be in this Guanyin temple.

But she felt around at the bottom of the well and found nothing.

Xie Qingzheng looked at the pile of white bones on the ground. They seemed to be a child’s. She said in her heart, How pitiful. She took out a handkerchief, wrapped them up, and floated up with the pile of white bones, joking, “Let’s bury them in the ground. Maybe this little ghost can give me a dream at night and tell me where the exit of the ghost city is.”

Mo Jiangxue said, “It’s been dead for eighteen years. It probably has already been reincarnated.”

Xie Qingzheng realized, “That’s right. If it has been reincarnated, it would be about my age.”

Although she said so, she still quickly dug a small pit with her Shenshang Sword and buried the white bones.

After burying the pile of withered bones at the bottom of the well, the three of them entered the main hall.

The moment they entered the main hall, they saw Mu Zifu sitting alone on an offering table, playing with her hair out of boredom and looking at Mu Qingdai, who was meditating to heal, from time to time. Seeing Mu Qingdai’s brow slightly furrowed and cold sweat pouring down her forehead, a clean white handkerchief suddenly appeared in Mu Zifu’s hand.

Hearing the movements of the three of them, Mu Qingdai opened her eyes and looked at Mo Jiangxue. Then her gaze swept over Mu Zifu. Seeing Mu Zifu sitting disrespectfully on Guanyin’s offering table, she immediately ordered, “Get down! Who told you to sit up there!”

Mu Zifu jumped down from the offering table and said nonchalantly, “If you sit high, you can see far. You are all healing. I’ll just watch outside for you.”

There were people taking turns to keep watch. How could it be her turn to be on guard?

Mu Qingdai snorted coldly, unwilling to say more to Mu Zifu. This sister of hers was just a person on top of a good-for-nothing. If she didn’t cause trouble, she would be doing her a great favor. To expect this person to do good deeds was like expecting the sun to rise from the west.

Mu Zifu went up and wanted to wipe the cold sweat from Mu Qingdai’s forehead.

Mu Qingdai pushed her away. Mu Zifu persistently went up. “Big Sister, you are injured now. You will catch a cold like this.”

Hearing this, Mu Qingdai still had an impatient look on her face but did not push Mu Zifu away anymore.

The other female cultivators were sitting in a circle, circulating their qi. Hearing the commotion, they all opened their eyes, stood up, and saluted Elder Mo.

Seeing Mu Zifu wiping sweat for Elder Mu, everyone let out a cry in their hearts and thought to themselves: We’ve only ever seen this little terror cause trouble, never seen her be considerate and take care of someone… It seems this vicious dog can only be leashed by Elder Mu…

Mo Jiangxue and Xie Qingzheng, as if they had not seen the interaction between the two sisters, both, by tacit agreement, looked at the two Guanyin statues on the altar.

Min He followed their gaze, looked at the kind-faced Guanyin statues, and her peripheral vision caught sight of the overturned incense burner under the offering table.

She quickly went over to pick it up, took out some Lakawood incense, lit it, covered the incense burner, and put it back on the offering table. Then she put her palms together and bowed to the two Guanyin statues.

Mo Jiangxue wore a white veiled hat, and no one could see her face clearly. But seeing that the little junior sister’s lips were pale, as if she had lost too much blood, they quickly gave her some qi- and blood-replenishing pills.

While she was taking the pills, she saw that the surface of the altar under the lotus seat was engraved with many characters, but they were all strange and bizarre.

A voice in the hall said, “That’s the script of the Wumo Kingdom!”

Xie Qingzheng turned to look and saw a foreign merchant of about forty years old. She asked, “Do you recognize it?”

The foreign merchant with a high nose and deep-set eyes said, “I do, I do. I used to pass by here often when I was doing business in my youth. I’ve seen the script here a lot.”

Xie Qingzheng said, “Then may I ask what it says?”

The merchant said, “It talks about the origin of these two Buddha statues…”

According to this merchant, the faces of these two Buddha statues were carved more than one hundred and twenty years ago, based on the appearance and posture of two women from the Central Plains. The two women were the two empress dowagers of the Central Plains dynasty. At that time, the Yan emperor was young, and the East Palace Empress Dowager and the West Palace Empress Dowager held court from behind a curtain, and together they created a prosperous and peaceful era where the four barbarians submitted and all nations came to court.

Hearing this, Min He said, “I’ve read in a book that that East Palace Empress Dowager was from a military family. One year, the Turks of the north surrounded the capital. She stood on the city wall, drew her bow, and personally commanded the soldiers. In the end, she repelled the Turks and defended the capital. That West Palace Empress Dowager is even more legendary…”

Her junior sisters asked her, “How so?”

Everyone only knew that Elder Mo had released a large amount of spiritual energy last night to reinforce the seal and suppress that mass grave, but they didn’t know if the taboo of not being able to cry or laugh would still be triggered. Their faces were either blank or worried. Min He intentionally talked about some lighthearted topics to ease the heavy atmosphere.

She said, “That West Palace Empress Dowager was originally the descendant of a criminal official, a maid in the inner court. Do you know that back then, it was the father of that East Palace Empress Dowager who led his troops to raid the West Palace Empress Dowager’s home? The two families could be said to have a blood feud.”

A cultivator murmured, “Ah, then did they take revenge on each other?”

Another cultivator said, “Of course not. Otherwise, how could they have ruled the world together? They must have admired each other’s political talents and joined forces to rule.”

Another cultivator said, “Even if they did, the books probably wouldn’t have recorded it.”

Min He said, “Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. Anyway, the books record that that West Palace Empress Dowager, from a maid in the inner court, step by step, rose to the position of empress. In the end, the two empress dowagers, one civil and one military, supported each other and created a prosperous and peaceful era.”

A senior sister said, “I guess the two of them probably felt that—once they had reached that position, compared to the world, the grievances of the previous generation were not so important.”

Hearing this, Xie Qingzheng, for some reason, turned to look at Mu Qingdai.

Coincidentally, Mu Qingdai’s gaze also fell on her.

After a moment of looking at each other, the two of them tacitly looked away.

Xie Qingzheng said, “It’s a pity that after more than a hundred years, the world is in chaos again.”

Min He said, “The rebel army has already conquered the capital last month. I think there will be a change of dynasty soon.”

A cultivator from Yuheng Palace said, “It’s that rebel army of Duke Jing, right? When the world is stable, we won’t have to go out to exorcise evil spirits every day.”

A cultivator from the Kaiyang sect said, “But we are trapped here. We don’t know if we can wait until the day the world is stable.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone fell silent, and the main hall was filled with sighs.

After a long while, a cultivator from Yuheng Palace murmured, “Our palace master will definitely send someone to save us.”

Another person from Yuheng Palace said, “But the palace master is dealing with the matter at the old site of the Yaoguang sect. Many people have died there too.”

The few trembling merchants in the hall said, “We don’t have much dry food and water. If we are trapped here all the time and have no food, we will also starve to death…”

These who could go out to exorcise evil spirits were all cultivators who had achieved Bigu. These merchants were all still mortals.

Mu Zifu said, “What are you all shouting for? What’s there to worry about? If you few are hungry, you can just cut a piece of your own thigh and roast it. We have fire here. We can lend you some fire.”

Seeing her cold ridicule, the merchants immediately closed their mouths and did not dare to complain anymore.

Mu Zifu continued, “What, you don’t dare to eat human flesh? That taste, tsk, tsk, tsk, it’s so delicious when you’re hungry.”

Except for Mo Jiangxue and Xie Qingzheng, everyone else in the hall looked at Mu Qingdai, wanting to see how she would teach her a lesson.

Mu Qingdai knew that she had always been unrestrained in her speech and wanted to reprimand her, but seeing the blame in everyone’s eyes, she was displeased. She changed the subject and said coolly, “So what if she said a few words? Will a piece of flesh fall off? She hasn’t really eaten human flesh either.”

Everyone looked away awkwardly.

Xie Qingzheng thought to herself, As expected. She had seen Elder Mu’s domineering and protective nature since she was a child. This person, even if she knew she was in the wrong, would still twist logic to protect her own people in front of outsiders.

Mo Jiangxue rubbed her brow.

She disliked crowds and noise. She said coolly, “I’m going to the street to take a look. None of you are to follow.”

Xie Qingzheng looked at her and hesitated to speak.

She looked at Xie Qingzheng and said, “You can come.”

Xie Qingzheng’s heart filled with joy, and she quickly followed.

Everyone watched as the master and disciple walked out of the Guanyin temple. Before long, they saw the master and disciple come back with a big black dog.

Xie Qingzheng pointed at the big black dog behind her and said, “This dog is a dog’s soul. I fed it some of my blood, and it can enter this temple. My master said that this dog must know something. You all think of a way to get some information out of it.”

Everyone stared at the dog, and the dog also stared at everyone. They stared at each other, and the dog wagged its tail and let out a “woof.”

It was easy to get information and data from the ghosts and monsters summoned by a soul-summoning, but humans and dogs could not speak the same language, unless it was a cultivator with profound cultivation who could, with the help of the sound of a qin or some other medium, communicate with a spiritual pet.

Everyone looked at Mo Jiangxue.

Mo Jiangxue coughed and said, “I can’t use my spiritual energy for the time being.”

That’s right. Elder Mo was weak at the moment, and everyone was unwilling to let her take any more risks, so they turned their gazes to Elder Mu.

Mu Qingdai pondered for a moment and had Min He take out the Yaoguang Bell.

“The Yaoguang Bell can control a person’s possession. Which of you will possess it and see if you can find any information from its spiritual sense?”

All the senior and junior sisters’ eyes widened. They looked at each other. Although the dog was cute, they would usually joke with each other and say things like, “If I lie, I’m a little dog,” “a good dog doesn’t block the way,” “a dog can’t change its ways,” and “dog-shit.”

If anyone really possessed a little dog, that would be a joke for a lifetime!

Min He held the Yaoguang Bell and coaxed, “My good junior sisters, if a person has the courage to be a dog, they will succeed in whatever they do.”

All the female cultivators glared at Min He, their faces clearly saying, “I don’t believe you.”

Min He’s gaze swept over the junior sisters and finally landed on Xie Qingzheng.

Xie Qingzheng looked at Senior Sister Min He and shook her head like a rattle-drum.

She would not be fooled by such an unreliable thing.

Author’s Note:

Ahhh, my little red flower can’t be broken!!!