Immortalis

Corpse Demon Six

Only when he saw Yang Wujian's male form did Zhou Huai sadly realize that it seemed difficult for him to stay angry with someone so exceptionally beautiful.

After all, there was no real difference between Yang Wujian's male and female appearances—the female form simply had more makeup and hairpins, making it appear more delicate and charming, while the male form seemed more carefree and unrestrained.

"What's wrong, young master? So angry you're crying?"

Yang Wujian's usual red robes were already loose-fitting—he had to fold them up when using Bone Shrinking—but now, fully loosened, they still felt too short. As he approached, he realized that compared to the tall and sturdy Zhou Huai, he was still a head shorter and couldn't help sighing: "Seems I can't borrow your clothes after all, young master."

"You..."

Hearing Yang Wujian speak in a male voice for the first time, Zhou Huai finally belatedly realized that he had previously pledged himself to a man and had even felt jealous over Shen Qingshi, who was a woman, because of this man...

Flustered and embarrassed, Zhou Huai said angrily, "Speak! What hardship forced you to deceive me like this?"

"Hardship..."

Yang Wujian thought that if the young master found out he was from Longevity Palace now, he might just stab him with his sword. He smiled bitterly and said, "Being short on money—does that count as hardship?"

Zhou Huai wasn't foolish and immediately understood what he meant. His face flushed with anger: "You... pretended to be a girl just to scam money?"

Yang Wujian said helplessly, "Being short on money—isn't that the greatest hardship in life? Young master, look at all these Golden Rings I wear—I can't pawn them or sell them. To get revenge, I can't even afford food, so I had to find someone to help me. Besides, I really don't deceive people's feelings. Last time, I didn't agree to your proposal because I was afraid you'd fall deeper for me."

Zhou Huai was so furious he could barely speak: "Then what about your relatives? And the one you were engaged to..."

Halfway through his sentence, he noticed the guilt on Yang Wujian's face and immediately understood.

Judging by Yang Wujian's build, he was exactly the same as that Luo Yi!

"You..."

Zhou Huai's head spun with heat, and he couldn't even muster the words to curse.

"It was all to make you give up, young master. I really didn't want to make things difficult for you, Zhou Huai."

Yang Wujian's lies flowed effortlessly: "Those two distant relatives of mine haven't seen much of the world. They helped me act out the scene and even wanted me to cling to you more, but I firmly refused. I know that someday, young master, you'll meet a girl who truly deserves you. I didn't want you to have your heart broken because of me."

By the end, Yang Wujian even managed to sound aggrieved.

With his androgynous face, when he made such a pitiful, girlish expression in person, it didn't feel strange at all.

"Zhou Huai."

At that moment, Shen Qingshi, who had been standing nearby, spoke up: "He has never harmed you. You should know that very well."

"I..."

Zhou Huai hesitated, unsure how to save face. In truth, most of his anger had already subsided when Shen Qingshi hugged him earlier. What remained was mostly suspicion.

In the end, Zhou Huai decided to ask everything clearly at once.

"Did you only deceive me about your gender?"

"Otherwise? Shen Qingshi and I are just two ordinary people who happen to be good-looking. What other secrets could we possibly have?"

"Was the Crescent Moon Blade really your mother's?"

"Who said it can only be passed down to women and not men?"

"Then why... do you seem so distant from your mother? My father caused your mother's death, but you still...""I've already explained this, Young Master. My mother and I weren't close at all—I barely saw her while she was alive. But you, Young Master, are truly my friend. That's why I didn't want to take my anger out on you earlier at White Rainbow Tower. After all, the living matter more, don't they?"

Yang Wujian finished his lengthy explanation in one breath, noticing Zhou Huai's expression had softened considerably. Clearly, the young master was more tender-hearted than he'd originally thought—though in today's martial world, such softness wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"So... should I call you Young Master Yang from now on?"

Zhou Huai eyed Yang Wujian, who stood just slightly shorter than him, with clear discomfort. Remembering how long he'd stayed in Zui Xiang's room earlier, clearly comfortable with both men and women, he snorted coldly: "Seems like you're quite skilled at playing both sides."

"What are you thinking, Young Master? I was just using my charms to investigate the case."

As he spoke, Yang Wujian flipped his hand and produced a medicine bottle—the very one from which Zui Xiang had earlier poured out red pills.

The Longevity Heart Sutra could attack enemies from a distance, so naturally it could also retrieve objects remotely.

Though it was a pity about the pear syrup paste Gu Yun had given him, which he'd used to swap out this bottle.

Yang Wujian smiled: "Even though Zui Xiang kept changing the subject, she has internal energy but no martial skills, meaning her energy was likely given to her by someone else. The only thing in this world capable of that is the Longevity Heart Sutra."

Zhou Huai frowned: "You're saying she knows the White-faced Guest?"

"As the Old Palace Master of Longevity Palace, the White-faced Guest has always been skilled in alchemy. These years he's been hiding in Medicine King Mountain to obtain rare ingredients for his elixirs."

Yang Wujian poured out a pill from the bottle. It carried a faint fishy smell that felt deeply ominous.

"But what the White-faced Guest needs for his elixirs isn't just rare herbs—he also requires Flesh Conduits. I suspect the girls who disappeared from Handkerchief Street six years ago all became Flesh Conduits. As for why he spared Zui Xiang and even gave her his energy, there must be a reason."

Yang Wujian put away the medicine bottle. Earlier, watching from the beam how Zui Xiang treasured this medicine and seemed to need it regularly, he'd guessed it wasn't ordinary tonic—perhaps it was related to Guanri.

Later, they just needed to wait for Zui Xiang to discover the medicine missing to learn its true purpose.

Considering this, Yang Wujian said: "To avoid trouble later, we should leave soon. But since we've confirmed Zui Xiang's connection to the White-faced Guest, we should find a hidden place to stay and continue asking around about rumors of Zui Xiang and the White-faced Fox on this street."

"You mean Zui Xiang is a fox spirit?"

Early the next morning, the three left Handkerchief Street and began making inquiries throughout Yongyi City.

Just as Chu Qiao had said, almost everyone in Yongyi knew about the White-faced Fox, and the rumors varied widely. Some said Zui Xiang had summoned the fox out of jealousy toward Zhu'er's beauty, while others claimed the flesh discovered in Zui Xiang's room was actually Zui Xiang herself, and that the one who later rose to become the top courtesan at Hidden Fragrance Tower was actually the White-faced Fox wearing human skin.

"That fox must have come from the abandoned mine outside the city! After all, someone saw something climbing out of that mine shaft around that time!"The tea stall owner refilled their bowls while speaking with conviction: "Absolutely true. This person is my relative who often travels for business. That night when he was walking outside Yongyi City, somehow he ended up near that mine shaft. Then he saw a dark figure climbing up from below, scaring him half to death."

"Coming up from below?"

To make information gathering easier, Yang Wujian had ultimately resumed her female appearance. Propping her chin, she pretended not to understand: "Could it be someone went down to mine?"

The shopkeeper said: "Young lady, you don't know this - that mine shaft is the Meat Well left by Emperor Beixiang. It's very unlucky. There are rumors that white dogs guard these Meat Wells, but others say the white dogs themselves are monsters living in the wells - the White-faced Foxes. Over all these years, we've only heard of people jumping in when they lost hope, but never heard of anyone coming out from inside."

After the Hero's Tomb incident, Shen Qingshi had already deeply experienced the terror of Meat Wells. He asked further: "Then why do they say Zui Xiang is a transformed fox?"

The tea stall owner looked at him as if it were obvious: "Otherwise how could she suddenly become the top courtesan? They say after the White-faced Fox incident, Zui Xiang stopped aging and could serve multiple men in one night. If she weren't a demon, how could she have such abilities? Not to mention there are rumors that she secretly slips out at night to go to the Meat Well to change into a new skin."

"What?"

Zhou Huai was startled. If Zui Xiang wasn't aging, that could be due to good maintenance. Serving multiple men at night was probably due to internal energy cultivation - none of this was particularly strange.

However, thinking of his past experience of failing to redeem a courtesan's freedom, he wondered: "Aren't these women strictly guarded in their establishments? How could she possibly slip out?"

The tea stall owner lowered his voice: "Isn't that exactly the White-faced Fox's ability? The rumor is that although the White-faced Fox wears human skin, it still needs to return to that mine shaft from time to time. That's why people occasionally see Zui Xiang sneaking out at night..."

By the time they finished gathering information, it was nearly noon. There was still no movement from Handkerchief Street, suggesting Zui Xiang hadn't yet discovered her personal medicine had been swapped.

To sort through the clues, the three found a quiet corner in the city to discuss their next steps.

"So it's connected to the Meat Well again."

Yang Wujian couldn't help but smile bitterly.

The rumors in the city mixed truth with falsehood, but only one thing was consistently mentioned:

The evil spirit that disturbed Handkerchief Street six years ago had climbed out of the Meat Well in the suburbs.

"The White-faced Guest seems very familiar with these Meat Wells."

Even Zhou Huai noticed something wrong now, frowning as he said: "After all, my father moved our establishment to Green Bamboo Town because of him. Why does he frequently appear in towns near these Meat Wells? Could it be that he knows what's beneath the Meat Wells and can go down? Was the person they saw coming out of the Meat Well back then the White-faced Guest?"

Shen Qingshi had said this before.

Yang Wujian thought, Meat Wells were also part of Northern Desert beliefs. Besides herself, all the Longevity Palace elders had Northern Desert bloodlines, so it wasn't strange they knew these secrets.

But the question was, why would he go down into the Meat Wells?

Yang Wujian fell into deep thought. After a long while, she suddenly heard Shen Qingshi say: "Corpses."

"What?"

"Voluntarily deceased corpses."Shen Qingshi said, "Chu Qiao mentioned earlier that the Flower Street is full of trouble, which is why many choose to end their lives in the Meat Well. For the White-faced Guest, would that also count as a voluntary Flesh Conduit?"

Yang Wujian felt a chill in his heart: "Are you saying he went down the well to retrieve corpses for alchemy? But if that's the case, why did he later abduct those girls on Flower Street?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling these Meat Wells hide secrets. In the past, no one could go down, so they assumed the secrets would never see the light."

Shen Qingshi took a deep breath, as if steeling himself for something.

"Except I'm not affected by those illusions. No matter what the rumors say, I can see for myself whether it's true or not."