Being caught by a demon felt great. Even in her nightmares, she was tossed around by the fire toad spirit. Although in the dream He Liansheng also cut down the fire toad with his sword, her concealment talisman unfortunately fell off, revealing her demon identity. That demon-hunting bastard then chased after her with his sword.
Xing Shuishui jolted awake, silently chanting: demons and monsters go away, demons and monsters go away.
Li Guanxing called from outside: “What time is it? Why are you still muttering in there!”
Xing Shuishui got up from under the bed and hurriedly opened the door: “Have you eaten? Have you eaten?”
Li Guanxing said with disdain: “Already ate, not everyone’s like you. My sister asked me to call you to go to the Mo mansion together.”
Xing Shuishui was stunned for a moment – it was the family that wanted to extract her demon core, also the family that was wiped out by the fire toad jade carving.
They actually wanted to investigate thoroughly.
Thinking it over, Xing Shuishui realized that for it to alarm Lingshan to this extent, the matter clearly wasn’t as simple as imagined. She didn’t know the full picture, thanks to the Mo family being too ashamed of raising demons to extract cores to ever let the original owner leave the courtyard.
Li Guanxing saw her confused expression and explained impatiently: “Haven’t you heard? Recently many people in this area received jade carvings containing strange demons. Regular people don’t understand these things and accidentally released the demons, directly causing unrest in the whole region.”
Xing Shuishui pretended to understand: “So… you’re saying that ugly beast that almost ate me yesterday was transformed from a jade carving?”
Li Guanxing’s veins popped: “It wasn’t transformed from the jade carving, it was sealed inside the jade carving!”
Explaining so much to a mortal was a waste of time. He glared at Xing Shuishui: “You have three minutes to come out!”
After being ravaged by the fire toad, the Mo mansion had become ruins. If He Liansheng hadn’t set up a seal here yesterday, the residents living nearby would have rushed in to loot during the chaos. As soon as the Lingshan group appeared, onlookers gathered. Though they couldn’t enter, they still couldn’t help peering inside.
“Aiya, who knows what sins they committed, for such a large mansion to have no survivors!”
“Don’t know what happened. These kinds of family massacres aren’t rare lately, hope these Lingshan people can be relied on.”
“What are you saying, if Lingshan can’t be relied on what can be!”
Honestly, Xing Shuishui had zero interest in any of this. Only demon hunters were interested in catching demons – what was she, a demon, doing getting caught up in this excitement?
Seeing Li Guanxing searching very carefully, she kept her hands behind her back and followed behind him acting as supervisor.
“Have you found any clues?”
“This area, I saw Sister Guanyu already searched it.”
“I say you might as well investigate who sent the jade carvings.”
“Why don’t you go ask those demons you guys caught before? Maybe they know something.”
Li Guanxing finally couldn’t take it anymore and pushed her in front of He Liansheng, keeping a straight face: “As you can see. She thinks you can’t handle it alone and wants to help you.”
How despicable! Xing Shuishui glared at him, then turned to He Liansheng wanting to explain.
But He Liansheng spoke viciously: “Say one more word and I’ll throw you out.”
Xing Shuishui: “But… I…”
He Liansheng said coldly: “Don’t think I won’t.”
Li Guanxing slipped away faster than smoke. Xing Shuishui ended up inexplicably staying with He Liansheng. She looked around – there was nothing but collapsed houses and corpses, not even a shadow of another person. If He Liansheng stabbed her to death here, no one would hear her cries for help. What clues could there be?
Xing Shuishui followed him for a few steps in complete silence.
He Liansheng suddenly stopped, and Xing Shuishui almost crashed into him. She looked up and met the young man’s sharp gaze.
“You’re not afraid?” he asked.
The corpses lying across the courtyard had twisted faces and died with their eyes open, as if they might jump up and turn into zombies any second. Xing Shuishui finally realized she had appeared too calm.
“I am afraid.”
She thought carefully: “But you told me not to speak. There must be a reason.”
He Liansheng: “These people all died violent deaths and haven’t passed their seventh day. Plus the demon aura in the mansion hasn’t dispersed. If living people’s vital energy is too strong it could easily disturb the corpses.”
Oh, that did seem to be the case.
She nodded and said: “Then you should also speak less, I’m scared of corpses coming back to life. I’ve been afraid of ghosts since I was little.”
He Liansheng gave a cold laugh. Xing Shuishui almost forgot this guy was a spiritual cultivator who could conceal his vital energy to avoid detection. What’s so great about being a spiritual cultivator anyway?
He Liansheng walked into the inner courtyard where there was a huge pit – this was where the fire toad spirit had emerged. He raised his hand and jade carving fragments flew up from the bottom, assembling into their original form.
Found it? Then what? Xing Shuishui didn’t believe the jade carving could still speak.
They were bound to come up empty-handed.
But very quickly, she couldn’t laugh anymore.
He Liansheng made a hand seal and a mirror appeared out of thin air in his hand.
The mirror’s surface was bright, as if it could contain thousands of mountains and waters, all things in the world. The back was ancient and exquisite, with lifelike three-legged golden crow patterns that were unforgettable at first glance, emanating treasure light.
This was — the Float Spirit Mirror.
How did Lingshan’s sacred object end up so easily in his hands?
He Liansheng drew his sword and cut his finger.
Not good, he was going to use this damned mirror to see what had happened with the jade carving before!
Xing Shuishui’s face changed.
If he saw it, wouldn’t her identity be directly exposed?!
Without thinking she collapsed onto He Liansheng. He was fully focused on the Float Spirit Mirror and completely unprepared for her move. The blood drop fell diagonally past the mirror’s edge onto the ground. The patterns on the Float Spirit Mirror disappeared, its treasure light completely gone, as if it was just an ordinary ancient mirror.
The Float Spirit Mirror could only be used once every three months, and the timing was as fleeting as an epiphemeral flower. If you missed the chance to use it, it would vanish in a flash just like now.
He Liansheng violently pushed her away and raged: “Xing Shuishui, you’re seeking death.”
Xing Shuishui fell to the ground using her hands to prop herself up, her knees aching. The young man drew his sword and held it at her throat, his gaze ice-cold. Xing Shuishui truly felt his killing intent.
The young woman raised her pale face: “I’m sorry, my stomach hurts.”
“It really hurts.”
She clutched her stomach. Her dress folds were crumpled like crushed paper.
“I grew up without parents, eating from different families. Most of the time I had no food to eat, I would pick up other people’s leftovers to eat, so I often get stomach aches.”
He Liansheng showed no emotion. Xing Shuishui suddenly grabbed his sword blade and said softly: “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to. Don’t be angry.”
Her wrists were slender, and dust covered her chin, cheeks and dress hem. He Liansheng’s sword-holding hand paused.
The cold sword tip pressed against the young woman’s chin, tracing the thin lines of her jaw to neck.
That irritating feeling came again.
Li Guanyu heard the commotion and hurried over. Seeing this scene, she angrily raised her sword sheath to block: “He Lian, what are you doing! When did your master teach you to point swords at mortals! Don’t be so unreasonable!”
Xing Shuishui rejoiced inside – a savior had come.
He Liansheng’s face was dark: “Get lost if you don’t want to die!”
Li Guanxing had just entered the courtyard when he saw his sister being held at sword point by He Liansheng. He also drew his sword, frowning: “The Float Spirit Mirror? How is it in your hands.”
Watching the Float Spirit Mirror slowly dissipate in mid-air, he was shocked: “Are you crazy? You wanted to use the Float Spirit Mirror for such a trivial matter! Do you know the sacred object of Lingshan can only be used three times!”
He Liansheng easily knocked aside the siblings’ swords and sneered: “Which dog eyes of yours saw me use it?”
Xing Shuishui said: “Stop fighting. It’s all my fault.”
She consciously stretched out her neck: “If killing me would make you happy, then do it.”
As if this demon hunter would really dare harm an ordinary person. Well, only a fool would put trust in such an unpredictable person. So she gripped Qiutong tightly in her sleeve, ready for emergencies.
But just then many wild cats appeared on the roof, arching their backs with bloodshot eyes, surrounding them. As if controlled by someone, strange cries gradually emerged from their throats. The corpses on the ground suddenly began to convulse.
Not good, the corpses were being disturbed!
He Liansheng’s eyes narrowed as he turned to stab his sword into a walking corpse, true fire immediately enveloping it. Xing Shuishui broke out in cold sweat – why were there suddenly so many wild cats? It was as if they were deliberately trying to obstruct these Lingshan people.
More importantly, only these cultivators could conceal their vital energy – she couldn’t. Now she was just a walking target!
More and more walking corpses twisted their bodies and lunged at them, their eye sockets black, all four limbs bloody. Li Guanyu held talismans between her fingers, chanting incantations while throwing them to burn several walking corpses: “He Lian, leave the back to me and Guanxing, you just focus on what’s in front.”
Seeing this situation, Xing Shuishui secretly thought that staying near Li Guanyu should be safest right now. That He Liansheng already disliked her, getting too close to him would probably result in being thrown out as zombie food.
She immediately flashed to Li Guanyu’s vicinity and said fearfully: “Sister Guanyu be careful, there’s a corpse sneaking up on your southeast!”
Li Guanyu immediately threw out a bunch of corpse-suppressing talismans.
“Thank you for the warning, miss.”
Before Xing Shuishui could smile, she was roughly pulled to He Liansheng’s side. She looked up in shock – the young man’s gaze was ice-cold, his vermillion hair tie blocking her view.
His tone was also fierce: “Don’t move around.”
The walking corpses that had been concentrated near Li Guanyu instantly ran over here. Xing Shuishui wanted to cry – was there no humanity left? She was really being used as live bait by this demon-hunting bastard.
Wherever she was taken, the walking corpses followed. If it weren’t for being pulled by He Liansheng, she would have run faster than anyone. Right now Xing Shuishui was grinding her teeth in hatred.
The pressure on Li Guanyu’s side decreased. She immediately flew onto the roof to use magic to disperse the wild cats, turning back to shout: “He Lian!”
He Liansheng made a hand seal and an array rose from beneath his feet. The walking corpses fell to the ground with thuds. The whole courtyard was in such disarray that you couldn’t tell which was a door and which was a window.
Li Guanxing said with a sour face: “Someone deliberately disturbed the corpses to force us to use fire to burn this place, to destroy evidence. Otherwise just dealing with these trifling matters wouldn’t have us so constrained – might as well burn it all. Too shameless!”
Xing Shuishui thought, this was beyond shameless. Normal disturbed corpses didn’t move this fast. Those wild cats had clearly been magically treated beforehand, specifically to force them to use true fire from talismans.
Li Guanyu asked He Liansheng: “He Lian, did you see anything with the Float Spirit Mirror earlier?”
“I didn’t use it.”
He Liansheng said while coldly staring at Xing Shuishui, finally willing to let go.
Xing Shuishui felt chills down her spine and continued clutching her stomach as she crouched down: “My stomach really hurts. Those corpses just now were so scary.”
Li Guanxing walked to where the most walking corpses had fallen and stretched out his finger. Using some kind of magic, two red rubies flew up from underground. He said: “They probably just didn’t want us to find this. The array’s focal points.”
If Xing Shuishui remembered correctly, these were the fire toad’s eyes from the jade carving.
Li Guanyu said: “Since the spirit was sealed inside, whether human or demon they would leave traces of their aura. They must have been afraid we’d follow the traces to find them.”
She formed an array with both hands and put the fire toad jade carving’s eyes inside. White light covered them as Li Guanyu closed her eyes, but quickly frowned.
“Strange, can’t find it. How could that be?”
Xing Shuishui said: “Could it be that person already realized they were exposed, so used magic to hide?”
He Liansheng’s voice haunted like a ghost: “Is your stomach not hurting anymore?”
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