Immortalis

Yin Dwelling Two

"Why exactly do people suspect Chang San the Heroine colluded with Longevity Palace? Surely not just because she eloped with a man?"

As night fell, Zhou Huai followed Yang Wujian and Shen Qingshi outside the city walls, trembling with fear.

Watching the city lights grow increasingly distant, Zhou Huai tightened his grip on his lantern, relying on conversation with Yang Wujian to ease his tension.

Yang Wujian didn't want to frighten him into another episode of his old illness, so he smiled and said, "Yes, but not entirely."

"What do you mean?"

"Knowing full well that Lei Shuang, master of Jade Pavilion, has such a temperament—forbidding women in her sect from marrying, or else feeding their lovers to dogs—Chang Xiuyun still eloped and married. Doesn't that sound like she's lost her mind? If not bewitched by evil cults, why would she commit such a grave transgression?"

"That does make sense when you put it that way, but aside from this, aren't there other reasons?"

"As for other reasons, I think it's because fifteen years ago, Longevity Palace went on a massive kidnapping spree, throwing countless living people into the Alchemy Furnace just to refine a qi-tonifying medicine called Cicada Molt. Jade Pavilion suspects that the missing skin, flesh, tongue, and even internal organs of Chang San the Heroine and her lover were cut out to be used as Flesh Conduits... This matter is known throughout the martial world, young master. Haven't you heard of it?"

"Why would I deliberately seek out such horrifying stories?"

Zhou Huai's expression stiffened, yet he remained puzzled: "But why is that qi-tonifying medicine called Cicada Molt?"

"Indeed, I don't know why it's called that either. After all, what does refining medicine using humans have to do with cicadas?"

Yang Wujian spoke the truth.

Even now, he still didn't understand why the Old Palace Master had suddenly gone so mad, staying in the Alchemy Room all day, muttering about Cicada Molt before the blazing furnace.

Back when he first entered Longevity Palace, Guanri had treated him quite well, even praising him for having naturally soft bones and being excellent material for martial training. Later, it was Guanri who brought back the Crescent Moon Blade and gave it to Gu Yun, saying that since the Crescent Moon Blade had died in the Hero's Tomb without heirs, it was a pity to leave the Seventy-two Golds scattered outside. He suggested that Yang Wujian should inherit it after learning Bone Shrinking.

Yang Wujian sighed: "Didn't I tell you last time? The Longevity Heart Sutra is quite sinister—it allows one to extract internal energy for use, even gifting it to others. But haven't you ever wondered? With ordinary martial arts, internal energy flows through the hundred acupoints and meridians like a pond of circulating living water. However, the Longevity Heart Sutra directly pours out the water. Though its power is a hundredfold greater, internal energy isn't an inexhaustible resource. Using it so extravagantly naturally leads to deficiencies in both internal energy and blood."

Hearing this, Shen Qingshi, who had remained silent, lifted her gaze toward them. Yang Wujian noticed from the corner of his eye and sighed inwardly.

So she still remembered some of it.

"Martial world rumors say the Longevity Heart Sutra has four chapters. Only by cultivating to the fourth chapter can one 'create from nothing and achieve immortality.' However, no one has ever reached the final chapter. If one only practices the first three chapters, internal energy only flows out without replenishing. Thus, anyone who cultivates the Longevity Heart Sutra will suffer from blood deficiency and needs constant replenishment of blood and qi."Yang Wujian sneered mid-sentence, "Who knows what madness seized their sect leader fifteen years ago? Suddenly unsatisfied with ordinary qi-replenishing medicines, they started using living people to refine something called Cicada Molt. How absurd—if eating people could grant immortality, then during famines when starving refugees resorted to cannibalism, wouldn't they have been the first to ascend and achieve eternal life? What kind of logic is that?"

"Miss Yang..."

Zhou Huai, hearing the resentment in her tone, assumed she was thinking of her cousin and didn't know how to comfort her. In the end, he could only take out a piece of mung bean cake from his sleeve and offer it to her.

"Young Master Zhou, when did you buy this?"

Yang Wujian was taken aback.

Zhou Huai, of course, was too embarrassed to explain that since childhood, whenever he was frightened and Zhou Jinglei wasn't around, he had no choice but to eat sweet treats to calm his nerves. That was also why even his outer robe was custom-made—though it looked flamboyant, it was really just designed with extra layers to hold more things.

"We're here."

At that moment, Shen Qingshi suddenly raised his lantern, interrupting the two.

Where the light fell, there stood a solitary courtyard. The surrounding walls were already dilapidated, with many sections completely collapsed, overgrown with wild grass.

"How could anyone choose to get married in a place like this?"

Zhou Huai barely managed to keep his voice from trembling.

After all, along the way they had come, there wasn't a single household in sight. Though it was outside Jingyang City, it was far too remote.

Hearing this, Yang Wujian sighed helplessly, "Young Master Zhou, use your head. If you were Chang Xiuyun, knowing the sect leader would capture your lover and feed him to dogs, would you make a grand spectacle and set up a wedding in the best part of Jingyang City?"

"But what kind of haunted place is this? It's like a mass grave—who could possibly live here?"

Zhou Huai stared at the eerie mansion, not wanting to take a single step inside.

Yang Wujian merely smiled. "That's now. Ten years ago, it might not have been like this. After all, the rumors about this place being haunted didn't start just yesterday. The neighboring households probably moved away long ago."

The three circled the perimeter but found no footprints. Instead, they discovered a stone tablet, likely erected by the Jade Pavilion, with four characters carved by a sword:

"Keep Out, Living."

"Truly Lei Shuang's style—keeping people from disturbing this house, using Chang Xiuyun's tragic death to warn other disciples in the sect that marriage would bring such a fate... As if she isn't afraid Chang Xiuyun might turn into a vengeful spirit and come for her life."

Yang Wujian, remarkably bold, didn't hesitate and pushed open the courtyard gate, stepping inside with Shen Qingshi.

"Miss Yang, Young Master Shen... must you really go in?"

Zhou Huai was still hesitating when, perhaps because Yang Wujian used too much force, one half of the already precarious gate crashed to the ground. Zhou Huai nearly jumped out of his skin and immediately rushed into the courtyard after them.

"Young Master, keep it down. Don't scare the ghosts away."

Unlike the trembling Zhou Huai, Yang Wujian and Shen Qingshi had already explored the front courtyard. Clearly, though remote, the estate was quite spacious—a three-section compound. Upon entering, they first encountered a spirit wall, its brick carvings relatively well-preserved but strangely unsettling.

Instead of the usual cloud patterns or floral motifs, the entire wall featured only a massive square, enclosing a circle that filled its four sides."The sky is round and the earth is square?"

At this moment, Yang Wujian could only think of this one explanation.

"But the round sky and square earth in jade cong have clear distinctions between above and below. What does it mean for the earth to directly envelop the sky? Earth wrapping heaven?"

Driven by fear, Zhou Huai could only follow along with this nonsensical talk.

After examining the screen wall, the three passed through the entrance screen door and entered the first courtyard, discovering the residence was preserved even more intact than they had imagined. Even the wooden covered corridors remained perfectly in place, though numerous paper funeral money and yellow talismans littered the ground.

"Why are there such things here?"

Spotting incense and candles in the corner, Zhou Huai nearly crushed the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand.

Perhaps due to his extreme terror, ever since entering this courtyard he kept hearing faint rustling sounds from the shadows. Yet when he tremblingly raised his lantern to investigate, he could only find empty corners.

"Um, have you heard..."

"There are others here besides us."

Before Zhou Huai could finish, Shen Qingshi suddenly spoke in a hushed tone. As a Zhaoming Guard, her exceptional hearing had already detected the strange movements within this residence. These weren't ordinary footsteps, nor even the light steps of martial artists on rooftops, but rather resembled some kind of insect or beast crawling rapidly across the ground.

"So there really are ghosts."

Yang Wujian also vaguely sensed something following them. Holding his Golden Rings, he smiled imperceptibly. "Let's proceed further inside. If this is their territory, we're already in the tiger's den anyway. We might as well follow this path to the end and uncover their secrets."

Speaking thus, the three passed through the moon gate and found their view suddenly opening up.

Though ten years had passed, the two old locust trees in the courtyard hadn't withered, still stretching their sinister branches under the night sky. It was evident that the estate Chang San the Heroine had acquired was exceptionally spacious, with a vast courtyard. One could imagine how, during their wedding back then, the place must have been decorated with lanterns and streamers everywhere, bustling with extraordinary festivity.

"Young master, I can hear you panting. If you're truly this frightened, stay back. Young Master Shen and I will investigate."

Yang Wujian, fearing Zhou Huai might have another episode at this critical moment, asked him to wait where he was while he and Shen Qingshi began examining the rooms starting from the west wing.

After ten years, the belongings in the residence remained exactly where they were left. Even on the bed, one could see the mandarin duck quilt now rotted to mere shreds.

Shen Qingshi said calmly, "This room..."

"You noticed it too?"

Yang Wujian attempted to wipe the stains off the bronze mirror, but after all these years, the mirror had long become tarnished, only reflecting his blurred face.

Ten years ago, perhaps to avoid suspicion, Chang San the Heroine and her lover hadn't invited any guests for their wedding night. Consequently, on the night of the incident, only the two of them should have been in this vast residence.

Unfortunately, soon after, an uninvited guest arrived.

Yang Wujian sighed. "The young master probably can't bear to hear this, but it's said when the bodies were discovered, they were kneeling in the courtyard outside, facing each other as if exchanging bows. Dressed in wedding attire with bowed heads, Chang San the Heroine even still wearing her bridal veil, initially no one realized their skins had been peeled off."

"More like seeking revenge."Yet even after hearing such a horrifying tale, Shen Qingshi's voice remained as calm as ever: "According to what you said, fifteen years ago when Longevity Palace sought someone to be a Flesh Conduit, they could have simply thrown the entire person in. Why go through such trouble? Moreover, they deliberately arranged the corpses as if intentionally humiliating them."

How could she be so composed?

Yang Wujian's heart skipped a beat, never imagining that Shen Qingshi, having experienced such past events, could now utter the words "Flesh Conduit" so casually.

Just as he intended to probe further, a soft sound of a lantern falling to the ground suddenly came from the courtyard. Shen Qingshi and Yang Wujian, already prepared, rushed out the door in an instant.

"Young Master!"

By the dim light of the fallen lantern, they saw something clad entirely in red bridal attire, even wearing a bridal veil, swiftly crawling across the corridor and out through the moon gate.

"I'll pursue it!"

Shen Qingshi tapped her toes, immediately about to give chase, but unexpectedly, a fierce gust of wind came straight at her!

"Be careful!"

Yang Wujian acted almost without thinking, leaping to intercept the palm strike for Shen Qingshi. Only when he realized the opponent had struck with lethal intent was it too late. Caught off guard, he was forcefully slammed into Shen Qingshi by the palm force, curling up in pain.

"Zhou Huai..."

By the faint candlelight of the lantern, they saw Zhou Huai standing wide-eyed before the moon gate in a strange and contorted posture, at first glance resembling a woman.

"Where is my blade?"

Zhou Huai asked in a soft, delicate voice from the shadows: "Where is my... Crescent Moon Blade?"