Chapter 2 The Young Man Who Woke Up

At midnight, the bright moon was high in the sky, the gate of Xiongzheng Palace was closed. The floor palace lanterns inside the palace were all lit, illuminating the interior furnishings brightly with the red candlelight.

Ning Qinshui stood at the gate and frowned.

The usher was still the Song Ce whom they met in the daytime. Song Ce explained, “This is General Wang Yangyu’s main hall. Since he perished abruptly three days ago, the hall has been locked. However, late every night, the candles in the hall will burn themselves. Meanwhile, an old voice will come from inside vaguely once in a while.”

Ning Qinshui frowned and asked, “What voice?”

Song Ce replied, “It was too vague to be clearly heard, but according to the palace maids, it was General Wang’s voice.”

Ning Qinshui asked again, “Where is General Wang’s body?”

Song Ce seemed to recall something. Subconsciously, he clenched his fists and sighed, “Burned.”

Ning Qinshui asked in confusion, “So soon? Was he infected with an epidemic?”

Song Ce shook his head with a complicated expression, “His body also burned spontaneously and the fire couldn’t be put out anyway.”

Ning Qinshui was slightly shocked. He stroked his gray and long beard, flicked his rope away and started counting on his fingers at an extremely fast speed.

Song Ce sighed, “If you shrink back from difficulties, we won’t say anything.”

Ning Qinshui paid no heed. He placed his hand on the gate and peeled off the seal. Ning Qinshui pushed open the gate and went inside. His face shone red before the glowing candlelight in the hall.

When he crossed the threshold, a copper coin dropped from his sleeve and happened to land on the threshold.

“Huh, what an insignificant trick! It is deliberately mystifying only.” Ning Qinshui glanced around. As he flicked his robe, most of the candles in the room were put out. He said with a deep voice, “Changjiu, Xiaoling, come with me to subdue the demon.”

The young man and the young girl glanced at the deep and serene hall lit by the twilight candlelight. They were both horrified but they still answered in one voice, “Yes, Master.”

Ning Qinshui slowed down his pace as he talked. He put his hand into his sleeve and then seven items that looked like a beast’s fang were cast out and then floated around his body, as if the protective weapon for him.

Behind him was the girl in a thin robe holding her arms. She peeked at the old man with a slightly annoyed look.

Yet, the handsome young man next to her, who was almost like a moron, just followed the old man with his head lowered, not daring to look around at all.

The old man did not care about the safety of the young man and the young girl behind him. To him, they were only two gifted children he bought from the market. Precious as they were, they were more of a magical weapon. When it was time to use them, he would use them even if he was reluctant.

Ning Qinshui shook out a sheet of talisman instantly, it was burned for no reason. Instead of dropping on the ground, the ash turned into a real and yet illusory yellow bird. After hovering around the hall for a while, the yellow bird screamed. The old man was slightly surprised and then snorted, “Found you!”

As he strode forward, a strong wind swept through the hall. Surprisingly, he leaped tens of meters away and arrived before a God’s statue in the hall as if he shrank the distance of ten thousand miles into one inch.

Ning Qinshui was quite experienced. Without saying anything, he pinched eight yellow talismans with his ten fingers. As he pushed his palms forward, the eight talismans were thrown out. Just like an end-to-end rope, they locked the stone statue firmly. The unextinguished candlelight, just as if feeling something, all flickered. It seemed they were about to shake off the candlewicks and gather together.

“Sir...” A voice suddenly came behind his head.

Ning Qinshui was about to take the opportunity to continue attacking when he suddenly became sluggish and fell into a trance.

“Sir...”

The voice came again, which was cordial. It seemed to be uttered in the face of an old friend in the street.

“Stop messing with my mind!”

Ning Qinshui bit the tip of his tongue lightly, and his eyes were quickly focused again in the soberness caused by the pain.

Somehow, a strapping and armored man stood before him, staring at him with dull eyes in a daze. His face, body and hands were so rotten that even the bones could be seen. The armor was covered with cracks. With his mouth widened, the flesh was seriously eroded. Amidst the bloody flesh, there seemed to be maggots squirming around.

Ning Qinshui did not recognize this man, but his instinct told him that this was the general named Wang Yangyu who died that day!

According to Song Ce’s introduction, Wang Yangyu had cultivated for years. In addition to years’ experience in battling, his martial arts skill was high beyond description. Generally, ghosts could hardly approach him. What kind of power on earth ate him off and made him end up like his?

Ning Qinshui only hesitated for a moment and shockingly, he found that his body was also beginning to stiffen. His already wrinkled fingers were quickly getting cold and pale. He would end up like Wang Yangyu soon!

“Messing with my mind with the confusing barrier?” He made up his mind and shouted. He was thin but his Taoist robe swelled up like a blast. With his five fingers in the shape of an eagle’s claw, he patted forward. “Evil, enough with the trick!”

Dozens of golden lights burst from between the sleeves of his robe, going forward like arrows.

Wang Yangyu’s body was cracked, from which a painful scream burst out. Short as the scream was, it was like a bird’s warble that appeared abruptly. He fell backward directly.

With a loud bang, Ning Qinshui was startled. Before his eyes were all the broken stones of the statue. There was no General Wang anymore.

He withdrew his hand and believed that he had broken the confusing barrier. However, the young man behind him suddenly screamed.

“Master! Your hands!”

Ning Qinshui glanced at his hands subconsciously. He was severely shocked to find that the thick blood was dripping through the fingers of his hands constantly! He was sure that it was not his blood!

He wanted to take out another magic weapon from his sleeves but he found that his whole body was so stiff that he couldn’t move at all. A chill was rising from behind his back as if a centipede was climbing up along his spine.

A black spot suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. The black spot occupied his pupils and spread rapidly. It seemed that a huge ghost crawled out of the cave at a weirdly fast speed.

When his consciousness was about to be swallowed, Ning Qinshui suddenly became stern. He turned his head with difficulty and glanced at the young man and the young girl behind him.

The young man had never seen such a terrifying appearance on their master and subconsciously took a step back while the young girl directly fell to the ground with limp legs.

With the corners of the old man’s stiff mouth raised, he shouted, “In the name of Celestial Being, I hereby command a deity to come!”

The clothes on the chests of the young man and the young girl were ripped open. The two yellow talismans dragged their body towards the old man.

They were the so-called protective talismans given to them by the old man but now they turned into fatal hooks!

“Xiaoling!” Ning Changjiu yelled hastily, took a step forward with difficulty, and stopped in front of the girl.

Ning Xiaoling wanted to tear off the talisman on her body, but the yellow talisman seemed to have taken root, which only made her feel like tearing her own flesh and blood off.

She was dragged forward suddenly by the talisman and bumped into Ning Changjiu’s back. She subconsciously hugged the young man’s body before her but it didn’t help at all. They were both dragged forward.

Ning Changjiu arrived before the old man first.

Ning Qinshui patted the top of his head relentlessly.

Before he had time to scream in pain, Ning Changjiu’s limbs went limp instantly. He still stood before the young girl and yet, had knelt down feebly. His body was like an opened wine jar, into which amounts of evil Qi flooded.

This was the approach of subduing the demon with human beings adopted by the cultivators in ancient times! It took the old man years to find two suitable “containers”. If it were not an urgent moment, he would definitely not use either of them!

The wisps of evil Qi flooded into Ning Changjiu’s body. As one was weakened, the other one survived. Ning Qinshui got a chance to breathe. He stared at the young girl who was still struggling and then, he was suddenly taken aback.

Ning Xiaoling raised her hand with difficulty, but she was not going to surrender.

Behind her body, an illusory and snow-white shadow faintly appeared--it was a curled-up snow fox.

Yet, the spirit of the snow fox lost a tail. It grimaced at Ning Qinshui but it still didn’t dare to go forward out of fear.

Ning Qinshui asked in surprise, “How dare you! When did you secretly learn the Taoist skill? And you’ve even grown strong enough to foster an innate spirit?”

She had hidden it from him for so long.

Indeed, she was a rarely-seen gifted cultivator, who was much stronger than her stupid senior fellow disciple.

Unfortunately...

She was not as important as his own life.

Ning Qinshui’s hesitation lasted only a blink of an eye. He shouted and urged the yellow talisman. The young girl hummed in pain and bumped away Ning Changjiu’s body. He arrived before her and patted her. The snow fox’s spirit was dispersed after resisting weakly. The young girl fainted instantly.

The two natural “containers” quickly took in all the evil Qi around.

Then, he put his hands deep into the bottom of his sleeve.

It was a pair of purple gold talismans so precious that even his fingers trembled slightly.

However, he was aware that he would die a few years later. Nothing was more important than being immortal. The noble man’s promise to him was a chance for him to become immortal.

Thinking of this, the old man didn’t hesitate anymore. The two talismans were stuck onto their foreheads.

The young man and the young girl had been unconscious. Their skin became almost transparently pale. The blood streaks beneath it appeared so clear that they seemed to break out of the skin. They bulged and struggled, as beautiful and queer as the flowers in hell.

Now that the talismans were stuck on them, their body was also gradually soothed.

Things had come to a close.

Ning Qinshui wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath. He beckoned to the people outside the door, gesturing for them to come in.

Seeing that everything quieted down in the hall, Song Ce was also relieved. He strode into the hall with the several people at the door. He made an obeisance with cupped hands and wanted to speak when he was suddenly taken aback.

Seeing that they didn’t dare to approach him, Ning Qinshui thought that they were frightened by the bodies of the young man and the young girl. He waved his hand with a grin, saying, “It’s okay. They are only in a state of suspended animation. They will be revived when I take the evil out of them.”

In fact, it was only his perfunctory statement. He knew better than anyone that they had no chance of surviving at all.

“Sir...”

With widened eyes, Song Ce raised his hand and pointed at his body. Even his voice was somewhat trembling.

Ning Qinshui was slightly startled. Meanwhile, the extinguished candles were suddenly lit one by one, which startled Ning Qinshui. He suddenly felt pain in his chest so he put his hand on it.

Only then did he realize that his chest was full of blood. From the mutilated blood and flesh came a bloody hand unwrapped by flesh and skin, just like a worm crawling out. Ning Qinshui had no time to react at all. Instantly, his hand was gripped by the bloody hand and then dragged into the body.

It was like a demon broke out of its nest and intended to swallow this body as its food!

“Help me!” Ning Qinshui screamed in a grimace. He raised his head, but everyone just backed away!

Likewise, his face was also badly mutilated, which was awfully deformed. His face could hardly be recognized anymore.

That was the face of Wang Yangyu!

Here came the sound of bone fracturing. The old Taoist priest’s robe was torn off. His body had completely collapsed before he could cry out.

“Sparrow Ghost! It’s Sparrow Ghost!”

Someone in the crowd screamed in exclamation. No one hesitated anymore. They just all fled out of the hall.

The deformed old Taoist priest rose like a zombie. Instead of chasing those people, he stared at the unconscious young man and young girl. He seemed to see savory food in the world and then gave a greedy smile.

He slowly crawled over.

He put his fingers on the girl’s pale doll-like face and gently stroked the soft curve of her cheek. Then he grabbed her neck and wanted to rip off her Taoist skirt violently.

This was the evil intention drawn from the heart of the old Taoist priest.

With such a young and beautiful little girl by his side, how could he not harbor any ill intention? He just suppressed his intention deep inside his heart and appeared to be a decent Taoist priest for the greater interest.

Now all his evil thoughts just showed themselves.

Ning Xiaoling was too weak to resist now.

It was dark all around and the candles were flickering wildly.

In the hall where light flickered, the young man’s body was hidden in the shadow of the old Taoist priest.

Unknowingly, when the sound of the skirt torn off came, the young man who should have been unconscious opened his eyes.