A Good-for-Nothing

185. The Spectral Market (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

Chen Qianlin’s and Qiu Luo’s eyes went grim, staring at the entrance of the alleyway, and with that they quickly reacted.

“We need to figure out a way to contact Group Leader Li.”

“We can’t, not if we return to the hotel first.”

“No. We cannot just leave He Zheng here.” Jin Qianlai flicked a glance at the inky sky above their heads, where the moon was hiding behind dark clouds. “This is a Lunar Yin Night (In Chinese philosophy and medicine, yin and yang are the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive). As the saying goes, ‘A moonless, windy night is the perfect time for arson attacks and murders.’ This is not a very good omen.”

Jin Qianlai stamped in annoyance. “Damn it. I should’ve brought my Eight Poles Transition Abacus with me.”

Qiu Luo fished a pill out of his pocket and swallowed it, and after that, a hint of life finally returned to his deathly white face. He collected his thoughts and said to his fellow trainees, “Just now that demon didn’t get away unharmed. I wounded it. It wouldn’t be attacking us again anytime soon. I have a sword, which means I’m less vulnerable than you guys are. Go and inform Li Zong.”

While saying this, Qiu Luo conjured a sword, holding its hilt in his hand. They didn’t know whether or not it was just a hallucination, but there seemed to be a crack in the blade of the sword, which hadn’t been there previously. For the first time, Chen Qianlin looked Qiu Luo in the face and with that the expression on his face went solemn.

Qiu Luo, as if sensing Chen Qianlin’s gaze, lifted his eyes to glance at him. Chen Qianlin looked sideways in an effort to conceal the uncertainty in the depths of his eyes. After a few moments’ silence, he said, “This seems to be our only choice. Let’s make it quick.”

They were all fully aware that every passing minute meant an increase in the danger that He Zheng and Qiu Luo who was going to stay here were in, so they didn’t hesitate. After an exchange of glances with the others, Chen Qianlin restrained the anger and resignation in the depths of his eyes and quickly set off to retrace their steps with the others.

They were fairly lucky. Though they’d just been injured by the demon’s mind-control skill, their journey towards the outside was quite smooth, without a second attack. Finally, they made it out of that weird lane and arrived at the main street. Chi Li unhesitatingly took out her cellphone and called Li Zong without further ado.

At the entrance of the alley.

Qiu Luo followed them with his eyes as they left, and then he failed to hold the blood seething in his chest at bay and abruptly spat out another mouthful of blood, supporting himself with his sword, half kneeling on the ground, staring at the entrance to the alley.

All of a sudden, a clap of thunder exploded beside his ear. Face going serious, Qiu Luo focused his attention on that creepy alley, which started twisting violently. He looked up into the sky, which was pitch-black, totally starless and certainly showed no sign of an imminent thunderstorm.

His pale lips, which were stained by crimson blood, slightly parted but eventually clamped together again. A cold murmur issued from his gracefully curved lips. “Someone cast a lightning Fu.”

Qiu Luo lowered his eyes. He remembered that He Zheng was a disciple of the Qingwei Sect, and thunder spells, of all the charms that people of the Qingwei Sect were capable of performing, were the most famous ones, so He Zheng was the only one who could have cast that lightning Fu just now, which was good news as must as it was bad news – He Zheng’s casting a lightning Fu had proved that he was still alive, but it also meant that he had encountered some kind of danger.

Qiu Luo watched the entrance to the alley as it twisted constantly. After the thunder died away, the alley returned to normal. The street lamps were giving off a dim, yellow light, mixing with the light coming from buildings not far away. Qiu Luo closed his eyes and thought for a while and eventually made a decision.

Even in semi-darkness, the gleam of the sword in his hand was still glaring. Qiu Luo concentrated his internal energy on the Lingering Frost Sword and abruptly slashed at the bluestone-flagged alleyway…

In the Phantom Market.

He Zheng was indeed in trouble. The anguished screech let out by the little boy as the lightning Fu hit him was piercing enough to break people’s eardrums. Added to this was the deafening bark of the large dog. He Zheng’s head felt as though it would explode. What with the violent undulation of the sound waves, He Zheng could barely keep his balance. Blood welled up to his throat and he was nearly reduced to spitting it out on the spot.

Fortunately, this time around the lightning spell worked quite well. Although the Shadow Sword wasn’t here to be the vehicle for the enchantment, thunderclouds still turned up, as if paying respects to him. After a number of bolts of lightning struck down, everything around was scorched and blackened. Due to the little boy’s grip on his hand, He Zheng failed to run out of the range of the lightning in time and fallen prey to the last flash of lightning, thrown away and landing mouth first on the ground.

As the third flurry of thunder died away, He Zheng smelled the familiar aroma of roasting meat. Too anxious to flick a backward glance at the little boy to find out what the lightning had done to him, He Zheng scrambled to his feet and immediately attempted to rush off towards the doors of the temple.

However, God had just granted him a stroke of good luck, and there was no way he would do it again for him so soon. When He Zheng tried to run, he found that he couldn’t move his feet as if they were stuck in something.

He Zheng’s calves shuddered. Fearing that something disgusting was holding him back, he looked down and was fairly relieved to see it was not a burnt skeleton but a jet-black shadow, which had wrapped itself several times around his ankles like a length of highly resilient rope.

The sound of teeth grinding came from behind him, which lifted the hair on his scalp. He wondered why he was so unlucky. Could anybody in this world be unluckier than he was?

His neck went rigid.

“He Zheng, look back at me.”

A very familiar voice issued from somewhere behind him. Had the voice not been unduly hoarse and sounded as though it were from something rotten, He Zheng would no doubt have unhesitatingly thrown himself into the embrace of the one behind him.

That person continued trying to use Li Zong’s voice to entice him.

“He Zheng, don’t be afraid. I’m here.”

“Good boy, turn around and look at me.”

He Zheng looked calm, but was inwardly swearing. ‘Go f**k yourself!’ He didn’t dare move, for he felt that the grip of the shadow on his ankles was getting tighter and tighter.

His mind was working really fast as he tried to figure out how to get rid of the monster behind him.

Suddenly, a gleam of sword was seen and with that He Zheng lost his footing, bodily toppling forward. He was just about to land mouth first onto the ground for a second time when someone grabbed the back of his collar. The front of his collar abruptly cut into his throat and he was almost reduced to rolling his eyes upwards in spite of himself. The one behind him, as if having realized that he or she was using more strength than was necessary, hurriedly loosened their grip somewhat, and He Zheng finally managed to regain his footing.

He Zheng subconsciously turned to see who this unexpected savior was, and was stupefied at the sight of Qiu Luo. Before either of them could say anything, He Zheng’s eyes fell on the thing that had just twisted itself around his ankles and all his hair stood on end. It was not a shadow but unmistakably a huge monster that was behind him!