Estranged - Chapter 117

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Sun Wuxia threw his arm in her direction on instinct, releasing his simmering qi—but he only hit thin air!

The person in front of his eyes had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

What had replaced her was an elusive, unceasing whisper.

“Sun-lang, you’re breaking my heart! You obviously like me, so why are you trying to kill me? So you always were nothing but Lord Ye professing love of the dragon! You’re all talk!”

Lord Ye professing love of the dragon: ostensible fondness. Lord Ye used to say he loved everything about dragons, but when one honored him with its presence, Lord Ye was frightened and ran away

“Do you know what happens to those who betray me?”

“They’re set ablaze by ghost fires just like this man. They wail and beg for mercy, but eventually their ashes scatter with the wind, and their sins are washed away.”

Her voice was faint and got louder and softer in turns. No matter how Sun Wuxia tried to shield himself from it, the voice would always find an opportunity to assault him.

Sun Wuxia was too late. The blue demonic flames had already corroded He Bo’s body down to his bones, and only his skeleton was still being propped up amidst the fire.

Sun Wuxia had never expected his shishu who had almost reached the level of a master of cultivation to be defeated by ghost flames so completely that not even his bones would be left.

His shishu’s agonized cry and the woman’s sinister voice had blended together, leaving Sun Wuxia’s thoughts in complete disarray. He pulled out the sword on his back, and the shiny blade slashed forwards haphazardly.

Upon touching the sword glow, the ghost flames scattered aside but quickly gathered again and flew towards Sun Wuxia.

“Evildoers act like deities and play devils! Come out if you dare!” Sun Wuxia shouted.

Act like deities and play devils: mystify deliberately

His voice echoed through the forest.

But only the woman’s unperturbed whisper answered him.

“Indeed, all men are heartless! None of them are worth it, including you, Sun-lang!”

“Since you don’t like me, return what I’ve given you!”

“Sun-lang, look, what is that?” 

Sun Wuxia heard a clanging sound and quickly turned to its source.

The box with food fell to the ground, and something pitch-black rolled out from it.

Where were the pork meatballs braised in soy sauce? It was obvious now that the food had just been silt mixed with leftovers and several black things wrapped into rotten leaves. A foul stench assaulted his nostrils, and Sun Wuxia barely endured an urge to vomit.

He recalled the hot tea he had drunk in the villa earlier and felt a pungent smell rise in his throat. He could only think about how nauseating and rancid what he had drank was.

Behind you!

An alarm bell rang out inside his head. Sun Wuxia did not even have time to turn around, so he quickly stepped forward before brandishing his sword behind his back!

Daoyou Chi’s faint figure was standing amidst the bluish flames as she revealed a captivating smile in Sun Wuxia’s direction. His sword’s glow smashed the figure into pieces, but it quickly reassembled not far away.

“Sun-lang, why did you turn hostile so abruptly?” She said quietly, with a sad and pitiful expression plastered on her face.

In the past, such an expression would have moved Sun Wuxia, but now he was outraged.

Her techniques were crafty, and he could not figure them out with his current level of cultivation. Sun Wuxia could not compete with her at all, so he chose to run away.

But running away was also not easy.

The woman was not in a hurry to kill him and simply played with him as if she were a cat and he were a mouse. She clapped her hands, gave him some time to run away, but then quickly appeared again nearby. She had exhausted Sun Wuxia, yet he was helpless to do anything against her.

The sword in Sun Wuxia’s hands was the most valuable treasure of his sect. His teacher had handed it over to Sun Wuxia when he descended the mountains to gain experience and to present himself well at the Qianlin Assembly. His shishu, He Bo, had followed him in person. With a senior supporting and supervising him, Sun Wuxia was supposed to have no troubles along the way. Who would have expected that his shishu would not ensure his triumph, but would instead perish in a small village like a broken halberd sinking into the sand?

The road under his feet was pitch-black, and a dense fog had enveloped the air of the dark night. He could see virtually nothing.

Sun Wuxia ran forward frantically, staggering along the way. He had not even realized how fast his spiritual powers were draining from him, just like a torrent of water. At first, the ghost fires behind his back did not come near him, but little by little, they were getting bolder and drew closer and closer. Eventually, the ghost fire surrounded him and was no longer dispersed. At times, it even abruptly launched itself at Sun Wuxia, and he barely evaded these attacks. However, after a while, he slipped. The ghost fire almost brushed against his head, but he had no time to avoid it with his spiritual powers.

He had clearly seen his shishu’s demise. Sun Wuxia was terrified, knowing that he could lose his life at any moment.

Suddenly, he was pulled aside by a strong force, which helped him avoid the ghost fires. Someone grabbed him ruthlessly.

“Follow me, now!”

He was familiar with the owner of this voice.

Sun Wuxia could not help raising his head.

To his surprise, daoyou Chi was dragging him forward!

“You…”

Sun Wuxia trembled and almost shook off her hand.

“Don’t move! The spirit used the Art of Fox Enchantment to take on my appearance, I’m the real Chi Bijiang!” The young woman said in a stern voice.

Two people were running wildly through the roaring winds with blue fires pursuing them from behind and evoking utmost terror.

“Sun-lang, the real me is behind your back! Turn around, take a look!”

“Sun-lang, don’t mind her, listen to me, will you?”

The female voice never subsided, disturbing Sun Wuxia’s state of mind endlessly. However, it seemed as if she was afraid of something and did not dare come too close.

“Where are we going?” Sun Wuxia could not help asking.

“Back to Hongluo! These demonic things are afraid of certain things in the town. Furthermore, they can’t stand crowds, and only attack sneakily in the dark of the night.”

The young woman seemed a bit out of breath at that point. She was frighteningly pale because her energy had been depleted.

Sun Wuxia recalled his shishu He Bo’s words. Daoyou Chi was physically weak, but her status was high and special, so he should not provoke her thoughtlessly. Yet he refused to pay attention to his shishu’s words before. Sun Wuxia trusted the fox spirit stubbornly, and his shishu had lost his life trying to help him.

The ghost flames drew closer, howling, and suddenly broke through the barrier created by the woman’s spiritual powers, pressing forward to them!

Sun Wuxia somehow gathered his nonexistent courage and pushed her forward. Resolutely, he slashed his sword back!

“Daoyou Sun!”

It seemed that Chi Bijiang had not anticipated this behavior. The young man was standing in front of her and slashing his sword at the ghost fires. But the blue flames were glowing between the trees vaguely, and they could only see foxes lurking in the grass at times.

Ghosts and fox spirits were running wild in the small town of Hongluo, and were occupying the thick forests surrounding the town. This whole situation was strange and bizarre.

Were these monsters lured here by a human, or was it something else that was drawing them here?

Chi Bijiang had originally been heading to the Qianlin Assembly and just happened to accompany Princess Changning on her way to visit her elders. She had never thought that she would encounter something of this scale in Hongluo.

Sun Wuxia screamed in pain. The ghost flames had touched his arm, and in a flash, most part of his arm was engulfed.

Disregarding the fact that her spiritual powers had almost been depleted, Chi Bijiang folded her fingers and uttered an incantation.

An umbrella appeared, spreading around violet rays of light. It opened with a rustling sound, repelling the ghost fire.

“Hurry up!”

Hearing her voice, Sun Wuxia held his wounded arm and turned around to run, not daring to linger for another second!

The young woman was keeping up with him as they ran. The umbrella was spinning behind their backs, blocking the way of the flames that were desperate to devour the two of them.

They ran madly, almost flying forward like two arrows that had been fired.

But they were not fast enough!

The ghost flames were approaching them quickly in a dazzling blue mass, akin to clear blue lake water, flowing towards them. The flames seemed illusory, and from a distance, made people want to admire them. However, these two people knew for certain that an extremely terrifying calamity was hiding behind the beautiful mask.

Hongluo was close at hand. Hope ignited in their eyes.

Sun Wuxia, having his spiritual powers almost exhausted, stumbled and fell forward. He did not manage to support himself and lost his balance, rolling forward far enough to leave the protective scope of the umbrella.

The ghost flames rushed at him like a swarm of hornets, as happy as peasants seeing rain after a drought.

Sun Wuxia turned around abruptly. He was soaked in sweat, and his expression was distorted with fear!

Chi Bijiang gritted her teeth and folded her hands into a seal. The umbrella quickly swirled towards Sun Wuxia, but she was left defenseless!

…

At the doors of the Huichun Hall of Hongluo.

Head Constable Xing was staring at the two people across the threshold—they were Yun Weisi and Jiufang Changming. He could not let himself lower his guard even a little bit.

He had already labeled the two of them murderers.

Even if they had not killed the victims with their own hands, they were definitely connected to what had been going on.

Head constable Xing squeezed the bell in his hand. His heart was almost on fire as he anticipated the transmitted message to bring over reinforcements.

The fact that the two of them had no intention of leaving only confirmed that they had a strong backer, which made his situation quite delicate.

The sky suddenly got darker.

A sandstorm had rose up, and black smoke had condensed around them. A figure, human in shape, suddenly took form in front of them.

The figure was tightly wrapped in blck clothes.

After some deliberating, the head constable sighed in relief.

“It is them!” He whispered to the person in black, quickly expressing his suspicions about these two people.

Yun Weisi overheard how head constable Xing was addressing the person—

Sir An.

Was there anyone with such a name in the Wanjian Immortal Clan?

No.

Then why did this Sir An have a teleportation tool of the Wanjian Immortal Clan?

Moreover, this person…

Yun Weisi squinted.

Is a ghost cultivator.

When the man in black appeared, pitch black feathers swirled around him. His aura was unusual. The black mists had even covered his face under the hood, which made people believe he simply had abundant, surging spiritual powers.

But Yun Weisi knew that that was actually ghost qi.

This person had a profound cultivation base and was obviously one of the most outstanding ghost cultivators. Perhaps he had already reached the master realm.

Had this happened before, he would not have posed a problem for Yun Weisi and Changming. But they had traveled back in time, and their cultivation had plummeted. Now, there was no telling whether they could defeat this cultivator.

“Sirs, please, proceed to the yamen. We should await our town supervisor’s directions!”

Head constable Xing was way more poised in the presence of Sir An and even presented the two of them with an ultimatum. Seeing that they did not intend to give up without a fight, he took out the rope wrapped around his waist.

The black rope rose up in the air and moved towards Yun Weisi, as if it was alive. It quickly tied up his wrists.

Jiufang Changming moved his fingers, and the tip of his sword pointed to the rope. Having received an order, the Changming Sword appeared from its owner’s sea of consciousness. Like clouds and rainbows, it blotted out the sky, it swirled above their heads!

The head constable was startled by the fact that the treasure he valued so highly had been sliced apart by his opponent so easily and did not react immediately. Instead, Sir An joined the fight.

His figure disappeared from his previous position and reappeared behind Yun Weisi’s back in a flash.

The black feathers swirled in the air, and the ghost qi surged, almost enveloping the opponent.

It was the unpredictable and outstanding might of a ghost cultivator in action!

This Sir An was even more crafty and bizarre than the Ghost King Linghu You. Yun Weisi and Jiufang Changming felt weak and in a moment their vision went completely dark.

Head constable Xing took a few stumbling steps back. He raised his hand to disperse the black mist without taking note of his own actions, but soon realized that it was already too late. Not far away from where he stood, Sir An and Yun Weisi were fighting with their spiritual powers.

Only darkness surrounded them.

Darkness: Sir An’s name

People were the only sources of light.

The Changming Sword hovered in the air beside Jiufang Changming, ready to strike.

Sir An turned the palm of his hand upwards, and a black hurricane slowly formed on it. Golden inscriptions were barely discernible inside, which looked exceptionally beautiful yet sinister. Head constable Xing could not help but glance at it for a second, and then, a third time. His mind was confused, and he could lose himself in it any moment. He scratched his palm with his nails, trying to resist it and come back to his senses.

Yun Weisi had no weapon at all, so his only option was to form a seal with his fingers and gather his spiritual powers and use them as a sword. A light suddenly exploded in tens of thousands of rays, and a sword formed above his head.

The whirlpool on Sir An’s palm quickly spread in every direction, aiming to swallow Yun Weisi and Jiufang Changming at once. Yun Weisi took action as well.

“Each matter returns to its origins, while the spiritual soul is always in the heart.”

As these words were said, countless swords appeared at once!

The sky was lit up to the highest clouds, and qi rushed up to the stars.

The light and the darkness intertwined, not yielding to each other. The darkness had enveloped most of the sky, overwhelming Yun Weisi bit by bit. Yun Weisi was not going to run away from this fight, but his opponent undoubtedly had an absolute advantage.

The Changming Sword charged towards Sir An like an arrow, intending to pierce the thick ghost qi around him. However, the sword quickly disappeared in the qi, and the two of them were now fighting in a territory controlled by their enemy.

Their spiritual powers were inferior to sir An’s, so they could not beat back his every attack. On the contrary, the all-pervading ghost qi was looking for a weakness in their defenses and could easily reach them.

Sir An did not mean to kill them. It seemed that he only wanted to bring them to justice. Thus, even though Yun Weisi’s and Changming’s spiritual powers were lacking compared to his, they could still fight.

But a ghost cultivator assisting the supervisors of some town was an abnormal incident. Changming was even considering the possibility that this person was behind the killings in Hongluo.

Strings of golden light that flowed along with the ghost qi finally broke through Yun Weisi’s sword barrier.

The sword barrier, which looked like a waterfall, was now covered with cracks.

The Changming Sword managed to arrive in time to patch up the cracks, but the ghost qi suddenly expanded and burst out, destroying the sword barrier!

The black fog charged at them with enough power to topple mountains and overturn seas. The two of them quickly retreated, but the ghost qi followed them relentlessly.

Before Changming could take action, the icy wind had assaulted him, scratching his arm violently. Blood started oozing from the wound immediately.

It was only a flesh wound, but afterwards—

Countless strings of ghost qi turned into iron chains that flew towards the two of them. The sword light partially deflected the attack, but it could not disperse it completely. Changming had helped Yun Weisi by driving off a sneak attack that had come from behind Yun Weisi, but Changming’s wrist was shackled by a chain made of ghost qi instead. He tried to free his hand, but its grip only strengthened, dragging him towards Sir An against his will.

“Sword, come!” Changming said sternly.

The Changming Sword followed his orders, appearing between him and Sir An!

In the same moment, a new power suddenly stormed into their fight, and it was not Yun Weisi!

This person pushed Changming back, taking his place in front of Sir An.

Sir An was surprised. Although he was obviously in a dominant position, he abruptly retreated.

This person had no intention in engaging Sir An in a fight. He pulled at Changming and shouted to Yun Weisi, before turning to leave.

“Follow me!”

The three of them disappeared, but Sir An was not going to pursue them at all. Constable Xing could not help urging him: “Aren’t you going to go after them?”

Sir An answered after a short pause: “It’s already dark. Let’s return first, and discuss this later.”

Constable Xing wanted to add something, but Sir An dissolved into the black fog right in front of him. Dark veined patterns covered the hems of his robe, as it fluttered before constable Xing’s eyes.

When it came to Sir An, Constable Xing only knew that this Sir An was a close subordinate on whom the town supervisor relied heavily. However, beside the fact that Sir An had managed to obtain this prestigious position, Constable Xing knew nothing else about him—neither his past, nor his character. The man acted unpredictably and cunningly and even refused to show his own face. In a way, he was even more suspicious than the two suspects.

Thinking about this, Constable Xing shook his head and laughed bitterly while scattering the crowd of curious bystanders that had gathered around.

“What are you looking at? Go home quickly! It’s getting dark, evil spirits will come out soon!”

The crowd dispersed with clamor, leaving the two corpses on the ground in front of the medicine hall. Constable Xing ordered his subordinates to load the corpses on a cart and move them towards the yamen.

A blood-red strip appeared on the gloomy sky. Constable Xing raised his head to look at it, taking it as a bad omen.

He had no way of knowing how many more misfortunes the small town of Hongluo still had to suffer before everything would be over.

…

When Changming was being pulled forward by that person, he felt a sharp pain again. His spiritual power had almost been depleted by the sudden battle earlier, and the back of his hand was getting scorching hot once more.

The fox poison had flared up.

This poison was very treacherous. It used his moments of weakness or his wounded state to worm deeper into him, impairing his consciousness.

His breathing was becoming more laboured, but he kept suppressing it.

“Clan Master Jiang, don’t run!” Changming called after the man, revealing his identity.

The man stopped his steps and released Changming. He turned around and took off his bamboo hat.

It was indeed Jiang Li.

Yun Weisi had caught up to them by that point and was just in time to support Changming by his waist and helped him to regain his balance.

Jiang Li sighed: “This is the border of Hongluo, we can’t go beyond this point. A protective formation has been set here. If we cross the border, we’ll have to face even more fox spirits and ghosts.”

Yun Weisi said coldly: “Clam Master Jiang walked away with no hesitation after killing a person and passed the buck to us. Now, the water is getting even muddier. Do you think we wouldn’t dare attack you here?”

“It’s not as you think. At first, I thought you were suspicious, so I didn’t trust you. Thus, I tested you. Even the most careful person can slip-up—the shopkeeper was killed by accident. That was my mistake. I won’t spare any effort in exterminating the fox spirits and returning peace to Hongluo. It’s just that this whole story is shrouded in mystery, and I thought that someone could have colluded with the evil spirits to paint the town red with blood.”

The Jiang Li from one hundred years ago was full of mettle and was self-confident about all his decisions. Even though this case worried him, it did not spoil his refined elegance. He stood there looking at Jiufang Changming and Yun Weisi who had come from the future to prevent the destruction of the world, while they also stared at him.

“Can you trust me and help me uncover the mystery behind this?”

Yun Weisi avoided answering his question: “Do you trust us now?”

Jiang Li: “I believe that you came from somewhere else and have nothing to do with what’s going on here. This is enough.”

Yun Weisi: “We’ll listen to your explanation first.”

Jiang Li thought for a while: “Don’t you wonder why I’m acting as a doctor at this medicine hall? Let’s start from there.”

Yun Weisi cast Changming a sideways glance.

“Are you alright?”

With his hand, even through the clothes, Yun Weisi felt that Changming was as hot as boiling water. This made him worry, of course.

“I’m fine,” Changming suppressed the feelings that had been aroused by the fox poison flaring up. His voice was lower than usual, but he maintained a serene expression.

Even though he had lost his memory, he was still the same strong-willed Jiufang Changming from before.

But now he was willing to stand beside Yun Weisi, to show Yun Weisi his weakness—

He was not the heartless man who kept himself away from humans. He was not a man standing aloof on a cloud or who was watching people from high up on a mountain.

[Immortals were heartless, but the hearts of humans were moved by mortal desires.]