Chapter 115

“Let’s go take a look.”

Li Zhuiyuan decided to accept the invitation.

The Three-Name Blood Bowl had been offered, allowing Jade Emptiness Taoist’s formation to be sustained, and the great fish’s scheme had been thwarted.

It could be said that, thanks to their significant head start, their side had secured its position and, like a test, had currently achieved a passing score.

If they retreated now and Li Zhuiyuan repaired the formation, the score could be raised further, potentially aiming for a “good”; if a more potent weakening effect could be added to the original formation, they could even achieve an “excellent.”

However, Li Zhuiyuan was accustomed to getting full marks.

Having come all this way from school, it would be regrettable if he couldn’t kill it directly.

Furthermore, putting himself in the mindset of the “examiner,” if he were to just perfunctorily deal with this wave, there was no guarantee that this place wouldn’t be re-ignited at some point in the future.

Since six university students could come, next time it could be six half-baked Xuanmen practitioners causing trouble with good intentions, or even six evil cultivators deliberately seeking revenge on humanity.

The four left the ancestral hall, walked down, and entered the main village road.

As they approached, the six university students resumed their previous posture, holding lanterns and walking slowly, continuing to lead the way.

Seeing this, Tan Wenbin couldn’t help but sigh, “Ah, these young people nowadays, instead of going to a good university, they insist on coming here to be greeters.”

Runsheng: “Are you talking about yourself?”

Tan Wenbin: “Hey, Runsheng, if I die by the roadside someday, do you think people who see my body will say the same thing about me?”

Runsheng: “No.”

“Is it because I don’t have my student ID?”

“I’ll cremate you by the roadside.”

“At least take my ashes back and hold a vegetarian memorial service for me.”

“That’s something you’ll have to discuss with your family.”

“No, you’d have the nerve to take a red envelope at my funeral? Heh, just wait, if you die before me someday, I’ll personally play the suona at your funeral.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And I’ll snuff out all the burning incense on your altar!”

Runsheng frowned.

Yin Meng: “Alright, whoever dies first, I’ll cook for their family at their funeral.”

Yin Meng’s remark silenced both Tan Wenbin and Runsheng.

Tan Wenbin quickly changed the subject: “Brother Xiaoyuan, I want to say hello to my predecessors and also see which university they’re from.”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded.

Binbin jogged forward, aligning himself with the male student at the very end of the line. Seeing an ID tag on the student’s chest, he leaned in for a closer look:

“Jinling Audit and Exploration Society.

They’re actually our neighbors. No wonder they were arranged to stay at Uncle Xue’s house when they arrived; after all, they’re also university students from Jinling.”

Just as Tan Wenbin pulled his gaze away, he surprisingly found the other student’s eyes slowly turning towards him.

The two suddenly made eye contact.

“Holy crap!”

Tan Wenbin exclaimed.

The student’s eyes, meanwhile, began to move constantly.

Tan Wenbin reached out, placing his hand under the student’s nose, and surprisingly felt an extremely faint breath.

“Good heavens, this one is actually still alive.”

Tan Wenbin immediately went to check the one in front, who was a girl. When Tan Wenbin appeared close to her, not only did her eyeballs move, but her eyes also showed a pleading expression.

“This one’s alive too!”

“And this one!”

“Brother Xiaoyuan, they’re all alive!”

These six university students, four male and two female, still retained their self-awareness but were unable to control their bodies.

The reason for such shock was that they had entered this place last month, and to still be alive now was nothing short of a miracle.

Yin Meng also stepped forward to examine them, finding that all six had distended abdomens. She gently placed her hand on one, feeling something moving inside, and as her palm touched it, the thing inside suddenly became agitated.

“There’s something in their stomachs, possibly a fish. We can’t save them right now, because if we agitate the fish inside, it will cause their immediate death.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Then let them continue leading the way.”

If he could deal with the main body of the great fish, their problems would naturally be resolved.

If he couldn’t resolve it in the end, he would kill them upon leaving.

The young man understood their pleading eyes; they were seeking liberation.

Although the houses on both sides of the village road were decaying and old, their general frameworks remained intact.

However, the doors of all the houses they had passed so far were open, revealing deep interiors.

The “welcoming team” led the four to a house with its door closed. The two students in front reached out and pushed the door open, while the two at the back stood separated at the entrance, holding lanterns.

The scene looked like servants ushering their master home.

Li Zhuiyuan carefully observed the house and found no difference from the other houses in the village, except that its door was initially closed, nor did he see any traces of a formation.

The four entered the door and came into the courtyard.

The four university students who had entered ahead stood at the four corners, holding lanterns, their light barely illuminating the surroundings.

In the center of the courtyard was a huge square table, on which stood three statues. Around the table, on the ground, was a circle of futons, and on each futon sat a skeleton dressed in a Taoist robe.

Directly in front of the table was a skeleton dressed in a yellow Taoist robe, its left hand holding a Bagua mirror and its right hand gripping a peach wood sword.

However, the Bagua mirror was shattered, the peach wood sword broken, and the skeleton itself lay face down on the tabletop, its skull fractured and caved in.

This indicated that when something happened in Zhengmen Village, the villagers had invited Taoist priests to subdue demons, but the result was that the priests themselves were eliminated by the demons.

Li Zhuiyuan walked to the side of the skeleton in the yellow Taoist robe. On the tabletop on either side of it were two paintings.

In the first painting, a woman in a green robe stood by a river, and the faint, elusive figure of a great fish could be seen in the water.

In the second painting, a severely damaged great fish floated down a river, and at the river’s extension, there was the shadow of a village.

In the third painting, a Taoist priest in a yellow robe, leading his disciples, stood at the village entrance. The sign at the entrance read “Zhengmen Village.”

The yellow-robed Taoist priest possessed an ethereal and graceful demeanor, like an immortal. His disciples beside him were all handsome and dashing, like jade trees in the wind.

It seemed this Taoist priest shared the same hobby as himself: he enjoyed recording his demon-slaying experiences through painting.

However, the Taoist priest pursued more detail than he did; Ah Li only painted one ending, whereas the priest seemed to be drawing a series of comic strips.

In the fourth painting, the Taoist priest and his disciples set up an altar. Black mist permeated the area in front, and within it was the figure of a great fish.

There was no fifth painting, or rather, these skeletons in reality were the fifth painting, depicting their end.

Li Zhuiyuan shifted his gaze back to the first painting.

Could the woman in the painting be named Liu?

According to the narrative depicted, the great fish should have been severely wounded by her. Yet, even a heavily injured and mutilated great fish, after drifting here, still caused chaos and bloodshed in this mountain village, and this group of Taoist priests couldn’t suppress it.

The subsequent events not shown in the painting should be that Jade Emptiness Taoist arrived here, sealed the entire Zhengmen Village, and prevented the great fish from wreaking havoc outside.

If the woman in the painting was named Liu, it would explain why this great fish appeared in Ah Li’s dreams.

Because from the great fish’s perspective, the “culprit” for its terrible state wasn’t the yellow-robed Taoist or Jade Emptiness Taoist, but this woman from the Liu family.

Li Zhuiyuan didn’t know if she was a Dragon King of a certain generation of the Liu family. The main reason was that the yellow-robed Taoist hadn’t left any text in the painting, and the artistic style used was one that pursued a sense of artistic conception.

The information that could be gleaned from the figure was simply: a woman and green clothes.

Li Zhuiyuan suspected that this scene was something the yellow-robed Taoist had heard about and then painted from imagination, serving as the prelude to his demon-slaying event.

In that case, she must have been a Dragon King of a certain generation of the Liu family. Because the Taoist priest was a very narcissistic person, for him to personally depict himself merely dealing with an evil entity that had been severely wounded by someone else, and to take pride in it, indicated that the woman’s identity must have been significant and well-known enough.

“This humble Taoist went to help clean up after a Dragon King.” This immediately elevated his standing.

Only…

Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze swept over the four university students standing at the corners. What was the purpose of controlling them and leading him and his companions here?

To deliberately explain the background?

Generally, the purpose of explaining the background is to set the stage.

So, are you planning to meet me next?

Li Zhuiyuan stood on his tiptoes and reached his hand to the back of the yellow-robed Taoist’s skull, sensing the horrific wound.

Runsheng came closer and reached out to touch the Taoist robe.

Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng went to touch the Taoist robes of the priests on the futons.

Li Zhuiyuan knew his companions had misunderstood his intention; he wasn’t trying to touch objects, but merely to confirm the Taoist priest’s fatal wound.

However, he didn’t stop them. If there were indeed any relics that could help future generations better combat evil and uphold justice, or even help him seek revenge, the Taoist priests would likely be willing to bestow them.

As it turned out, Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin found nothing, and only Runsheng found a sutra near the yellow-robed Taoist.

Nearly three hundred years were enough to turn most things into decay.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the sutra; it discussed self-cultivation and had no significant value.

“Brother Runsheng, give me three sticks of incense.”

“Okay.”

Li Zhuiyuan, holding three burning incense sticks, bowed three times in front of the Taoist priests’ skeletons, then placed the incense into the censer.

At this moment, the university students who had been standing at the four corners moved. They picked up their lanterns and walked out of the house.

It felt like a tour guide, taking you to the next attraction after finishing one.

After Li Zhuiyuan and his three companions exited, they followed the six university students, continuing along the village road.

This time, they walked directly to the village entrance. There was a river at the entrance, which had been widened here, and many stone slab paths lined its banks, making it convenient for villagers to wash clothes.

The six university students walked to the side of a stone slab path, splitting into two groups and standing opposite each other.

“Plop…”

From beneath the water, a figure emerged and climbed onto the stone slab.

It was an old man, half covered in fish scales and half transparent.

He wasn’t a living person, yet he wasn’t exactly a departed spirit either.

When he appeared, Li Zhuiyuan instinctively looked up, sensing a resonance between the old man and the formation here.

All things are divided into Yin and Yang, and the core of a formation can also be divided in this way.

However, most formations do not have this configuration; only someone with extremely profound knowledge of formations could set up such a one.

The old man stood by the river and bowed, saying, “This humble Taoist, Jade Emptiness Taoist, greets you all.”

Runsheng, Tan Wenbin, and Yin Meng were all startled. They remembered that Jade Emptiness Taoist’s skull had been on the stone table at the entrance, and his skeleton inside the table, so how could he be here now?

But Li Zhuiyuan could confirm that the person was indeed Jade Emptiness Taoist.

His physical body at the entrance served as the Yang core of the formation, while his soul within the formation served as the Yin core.

The old man then asked, “May I ask who you all are?”

“Cough… cough…”

Tan Wenbin cleared his throat, about to make a grand introduction, but Li Zhuiyuan spoke first:

“Body recovery agents, based at Huangshan Wharf.”

Tan Wenbin immediately nodded, and Runsheng and Yin Meng followed suit.

At the same time, Tan Wenbin’s hand went to his Seven-Star Hook, Runsheng gripped his Yellow River Shovel, and Yin Meng clutched her Demon-Expelling Whip.

Since Brother Xiaoyuan hadn’t performed the Qin-Liu family’s greeting nor revealed his true identity, all three were ready.

As a team, such unspoken understanding was a given.

Jade Emptiness Taoist asked, “If I’m not mistaken, were you the ones who helped this humble Taoist reactivate this sealing formation?”

“That’s right, it was us.”

“This humble Taoist thanks you all for your assistance!”

“You’re too kind, Master Taoist, this is what we should do. Your efforts and those of your three generations of disciples are truly admirable.”

“For us cultivators of the Tao, defending the righteous path and protecting humanity is simply our duty.”

Jade Emptiness Taoist waved his hand. Although half his face was covered in fish scales, a clear and upright aura still emanated from his brows.

Just then, a whirlpool appeared in the water behind them. Immediately after, a gigantic fish, covered in festering sores, leaped out and hurled itself directly at Jade Emptiness Taoist.

Jade Emptiness Taoist retreated, evading the great fish’s attack.

The great fish persevered, twisting its body again and lunging at Jade Emptiness Taoist.

Jade Emptiness Taoist dodged again, causing the great fish to miss once more.

The great fish began to thrash wildly, its body twisting, sweeping sideways once again.

Jade Emptiness Taoist continued to retreat, not engaging in direct confrontation.

After three consecutive attacks yielded no results, the great fish seemed to be utterly enraged. It raised its head, leaped high, traced an arc in the air, and then crashed back into the water, sending up a large splash.

This wasn’t an attack; it was more like a pure tantrum.

Back in the water, its reddish fish eyes rolled, staring intently at Li Zhuiyuan, letting out a hiss.

Tan Wenbin, Runsheng, and Yin Meng all looked at Li Zhuiyuan, but he gave no order to attack, simply standing there and watching.

Jade Emptiness Taoist pointed at the great fish and said, “This demonic creature has been suppressed for so many years, yet its ferocity remains unchanged. Fortunately, this humble Taoist has long understood its temperament.”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “You are right, Master Taoist. A demonic creature is a demonic creature after all, with only that much intelligence.”

“It’s just a pity that this humble Taoist’s soul has also been polluted by it day and night, turning into this appearance. It truly is… a humiliating ordeal.”

“Master Taoist, your sacrifice is immense, and we admire it.”

“However, although its ferocity persists, eight or nine tenths of this demonic creature’s life force have been worn away by the years.

This humble Taoist has a plan that will not only completely eliminate this demonic creature, preventing future complications, but also help this humble Taoist find release sooner.

I wonder if you young friends would be willing to lend this humble Taoist a hand?”

“Naturally, we are not willing.”

“This humble Taoist’s plan is… hm?”

My schedule has been forcefully adjusted back, but on the first day, I was completely spiritless and in a daze. I had originally said yesterday that I would write more today, but I have to break that promise.

Sometimes, when I’m not in good form, I write a bit less and just manage to get by. However, since I’ve made a promise, I will definitely remember to make up for what’s owed.

Yesterday, I owed 2,000 characters, and today I owe 6,000 characters.

Tomorrow, I’ll write 18,000 characters to conclude this part of the story.