Chapter 264

Xie Bi An left a bag of gold for the peasant woman, told her not to disclose anything, and to take good care of Zheng Nan. When they finished their work, they would come back to fetch him.

The peasant woman was grinning from ear to ear. After thanking them profusely, she carried Zheng Nan and waved his little hand at Xie Bi An, who was reluctant to part with him. She coaxed: "Come and call him master."

Zheng Nan cluelessly squelched his small mouth, and his black eyes were full of innocence and curiosity.

"No need." Xie Bi An looked at Zheng Nan carefully again, left with the phrase "take care", and turned to leave resolutely.

That peasant woman was still coaxing her child. When they were about to step out of the courtyard, Xie Bi An heard a tender "mastaa*".

Xie Bi An was shocked, and there was a sudden surge of sadness. He forced down the impulse to take Zheng Nan away and strode out of the courtyard.

If he could come back alive, he would ......

"Big brother." Fan Wu She followed him throughout the journey. Seeing that Xie Bi An was walking faster and faster, he finally could not help but call out.

Xie Bi An suddenly stopped walking, then spun around and glared at Fan Wu She with his red eyes: "Who let you make your own decisions?!"

Fan Wu She smiled faintly: "I have made my own decisions more than once. It's not worth it for you to be angry at me and even at yourself.”

"Bastard!" Xie Bi An said angrily, "You should have told me earlier. Y-You shouldn't just casually go out and find master’s reincarnated form. Who knows what will happen if you randomly create karma!"

"Don't you think that this is the destined karma? Master raised you to adulthood. Conversely, you raise him now. Isn't this a happy karmic reincarnation for everyone?"

"That’s sophistry. No one knows what kind of cause bears what kind of effect. The future is unknown."

"It is because the future is unknown that you have to do what is right now. Big brother really wanted to see master again, right?"

Xie Bi An said gloomily, "Not in this way."

"Big brother, it's true that I can't bring master back from the dead, but in this life, I will protect you guys well."

Xie Bi An took a deep breath and was silent for a long time before adding, "Is there anyone else who knows about this?”

"No. Don't worry, I have left a spiritual sense on him, so ordinary ghosts and monsters don't dare to come near him. He’s safe here."

"That's good. If we can’t come back, that bag of gold is enough to feed him for the rest of his life."

"We will definitely come back." Fan Wu She said with certainty, "Big brother, when everything is over, we will come and pick him up."

Fan Wu She’s words were a promise that couldn’t be refuted or rejected by Xie Bi An, because it included his master and Fan Wu She. Such a statement was really cunning. If he agreed, it would be like agreeing that the two of them would be "together".

He glanced at Fan Wu She with anger in his eyes, but he couldn’t do anything about it: "Let's pretend this never happened for now. Let's delay any longer and go to Fengdu."

"You can't pretend it didn't happen." Fan Wu She looked towards the wisp of smoke from the kitchen chimney in the distance, "You know someone is waiting for you to pick him up. Now, you have one more reason to be safe."

Xie Bi An took a long breath and nodded solemnly.

---

When the two returned to Mount Luofeng, they first saw a line winding like a snake from the sky. It was the people leaving Fengdu with their families.

"They're fleeing Fengdu......"

The people of Fengdu City had been living in this ghost city for generations because they could coexist peacefully with the dead and did not offend each other. This was a tradition for thousands of years, but Jiang Qu Lian has broken the balance. If not for the difficulty of maintaining a livelihood, no one would be willing to leave the land they depended on for survival. One could imagine how bad the situation was in Fengdu.

The sky above Fengdu City was covered by huge dark clouds, and the dense Yin energy could be felt from miles away. It made people’s hair stand on one end as if there was something real coming head-on with its teeth and claws. As they got closer, they saw that the city was full of lonely souls and wild ghosts. Fengdu City has become a real ghost city.

A mysterious black fog floated in the center of the city, as if there was a bottomless hole inside, connecting to another unimaginable time and space. Xie Bi An guessed at a glance that it was the original Yin Yang Monument----Jiang Qu Lian opened the Yin Yang Monument so that people and ghosts can freely enter and leave the two realms. If the human and ghost realms were no longer separated, wouldn’t Jiuzhou become a hunting ground for evil spirits?!

Xie Bi An's face was ghastly pale. Thinking how painful it would be for Zhong Kui to see this scene, his heart also seized up fiercely.

The two of them went straight into the city. Jiang Qu Lian must be waiting for them.

When they saw the two, all the ghosts consciously avoided them. Putting their past lives’ identities aside, they were still the Impermanence Immortals with soul weapons in their hands.

The two of them came to the Yin Yang Monument, Xie Bi An looked at the dense fog in front of them, and really wanted to split the chaos with a sword, so that the two realms would return to their former balance and peace.

The sound of chuckles came from the dense fog, and a scarlet figure flashed quietly. Jiang Qu Lian's sinister and beautiful phoenix eyes swept over: "What, just the two of you?"

"Who else do you want to see?" Fan Wu She said coldly, "Lan Chui Han?"

At the mention of this name, Jiang Qu Lian slightly narrowed his eyes, and his tone unwittingly raised, "Him? He’s probably crippled."

Xie Bi An said coldly, "Jiang Qu Lian, you've already got the Book of Life and Death and the Golden Trunk Jade Policy, what do you want to do now?"

Jiang Qu Lian laughed and said, "You’re asking the obvious. I've been planning this for so long and I'm about to succeed, but I still need Official Lord Cui to help me. Unfortunately, he's not very cooperative."

"What have you done to Official Lord Cui?"

"I have always treated Official Lord Cui with courtesy, so I won't do anything to him." Jiang Qu Lian said in a cold voice, "However, if he delays my business, I won't let him off."

"Official Lord Cui won’t help you. Even if you scatter his soul, he won’t help the enemy."

"Yeah. Official Lord Cui is firm and unyielding. I really can't do anything to him, but he is the one who is most familiar with the Book of Life and Death in the world. Only he knows how to combine the Jade Policy with the Book of Life and Death, and only he knows how to use the Judge’s Brush. So, he must be made to obey." Jiang Qu Lian played with his long hair with his coarse ghost claw, which was totally different from his pale but gorgeous face, "So I thought, there is one thing that can make him obey."

Fan Wu She sneered, "You want me to use the Heavenly Secret Talisman to manipulate Cui Jue."

"Hehe. After all, ghost immortals are also ghosts."

"You're a ghost too." Fan Wu She’s pupils were deep, and his restless spiritual pressure was like the turbulent sea. No one knew what kind of waves were brewing under the repressed water surface.

"......" Jiang Qu Lian's smile disappeared. He clenched his ghost claw in the air several times, "Yeah, but you want to use the Heavenly Secret Talisman against me? I'm curious, will you manipulate me first, or will the Heavenly Secret Talisman manipulate you first?"

"No need to be curious. You will taste it soon."

Jiang Qu Lian snorted coldly, "Unfortunately, I still have hostages that your big brother cares about in my hand. You guys still have to listen to me."

"Dream on!" Xie Bi An said angrily.

"I never dream at all. I once had a dream, but I was doomed eternally......" Jiang Qu Lian said coolly, "After that, being reborn in the Hungry Ghost Path was a nightmare. Why should I dream?”

"You must have done some outrageous acts to be reborn in the Hungry Ghost Path. You deserved it.”

"I deserved it?" Jiang Qu Lian's expression was hideous, "Then why can a perfidious person be reborn as a human being?"

Xie Bi An said sternly, "This is your past life grudge with Lan Chui Han. You two can end it by yourselves. Why do you want to bring such disaster to the human and ghost realms?"

"Because the existence of the Six Paths of Reincarnation is the dictatorship and control of the three realms by the gods. Why can't we be immortal and are unworthy of associating with the gods unless we are born in the Heaven Path?!” Jiang Qu Lian bared his teeth, “I refuse to accept it. I want to break it.”

 

 ----

PS: SQC is still taking a break :3

 

mastaa*[师呼]---is also “master” [师父 shifu], but Zheng Nan’s pronunciation is still not fluent due to young age, so he called 师呼 shihu instead. I create mastaa on my own HAHAHAHA DED

 

Edited on 19 July 21 (Emzie)

 

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