Chapter 35. If Yun Weisi knew this, he would have probably been angered half to death

To kill Chen Ting or to return to the town? 

Chen Ting helped them to make the choice. 

As soon as he finished speaking, he retreated, waving his sleeves freely. 

If they were to chase him, they would lose the only chance to save Cong Rong’s eyes. 

Moreover—

A moment before Changming fell, Yun Hai stretched his arms to catch him. 

He pressed on Changming’s acupuncture points to stop him bleeding, and cut off a piece of a sleeve to wrap his mangled palm. 

Yun Hai knew Changming was terribly hurt at this moment. 

“Stand still, I will go kill him first.” 

“There is no time, we should return to the town first and find Cong Rong at the guest house!” 

If they went fast, they would still be able to prevent her tragedy from happening. 

Changming’s expression could still be described as tranquil, but beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead, and his face was cold and ghastly-white. 

Yun Hai said nothing more, held Changming’s waist, and hastened to the city. 

The city gates were closed tightly, but Yun Hai’s qinggong was enough to leap over the low parapet walls with ease.

Qinggong: aka light technique, in this genre, helps to move swiftly, climb vertical surfaces etc.

These parapet walls were like a border. 

Infinite dead silence fell on them as soon as they crossed the walls. 

Yuru Town was so big that it could compare with the flourishing centers of the inland counties. 

But now, even though the darkness had already fallen, the countless families of the town weren’t lighting lamps, and there was nothing but darkness as far as their eyes could see. 

Suddenly, anguished wailing and sounds of a hand-to-hand fight came from a corner, as if someone was struggling desperately in this impenetrable darkness. 

Soon after, the struggles sank into the dense silence. 

“Do you smell…” 

A strange aroma was floating in the air, sweet to the point of being cloying, and making people feel nauseous. 

Before Changming finished his words, he started coughing, even coughing up blood. 

Even through their clothes, Yun Hai could feel that Changming’s skin was burning hot. 

Restless creatures rushed over towards them from every direction in the murk, following the trail of the luscious fresh blood, silently stretching their tentacles to abruptly strike defenseless Changming from the back. 

Yun Hai turned around suddenly! 

The sword rose and fell! 

One of the tentacles that was about to reach the back of Changming’s shoulder was cut off; the sword glow fell, and the creature was split in halves. 

It fell to the ground with a loud crash, but not a drop of blood was splattered.  

With the help of the half-hidden-by-clouds red moon, they could take a few looks on that wizened body. All the flesh and skin around its eyes were already sunken, and the face was covered with cracks, exposing the red subdermal textures; its eyes were facing the night sky, wide open, and had a weird iron-blue color.

The area from this place all the way to the end of the alley was filled with the same-looking living corpses that swarmed forward towards them in large numbers.  

All these people were dressed in usual clothes from Yuru Town, but their expressions and manners were dull and wooden, and their bodies rather resembled sinister demons. Although their footsteps were sluggish, they blocked all the paths for the two of them. 

Yun Hai’s eyes swept across these living corpses, falling on an octagonal tower behind the swarm of the creatures. 

This two-storey building was quite exquisite, and wind bells were hanging down from its upturned eaves, chiming under the night breeze, as if giving a voiceless order for the horde to move. 

A man was standing on the corner of the eaves. His figure was lit from behind, and they couldn’t see his face clearly, only his clothes fluttering in the wind. 

“Situ Wanhuo?” 

Yun Hai heard Changming’s voice nearby. 

He was hesitating, as if asking Yun Hai. 

Situ Wanhuo. 

Yun Hai searched through his memories, and recalled him effortlessly. 

Changming had mentioned that Situ Wanhuo’s cultivation level made him one of the ten strongest cultivators in the world. 

On the days of the massacre in Yuru Town, it was Situ Wanhuo who came first, but the murderer had already escaped. Everyone returned empty-handed, and this massacre in Yuru Town remained a mystery up till now. 

And at this moment, it seemed— 

Yun Hai squinted slightly, looking at Situ Wanhuo. 

At this moment, it seemed that it wasn’t that they didn’t manage to find the murderer, but no one thought that such a dignified and skilled master of cultivation would slaughter a town, turning thousands of unarmed and defenseless common people into living corpses. 

… 

Yun Chang’an’s face was pale, and he was sweating like rain. 

The day was not hot, but his back was already drenched in sweat, and the soaking wet clothes stuck to his skin, making him feel very uncomfortable. 

If it happened some time before, he would have already started stamping with rage, complaining endlessly, and quickly changed into a new tidy set of clothes. 

But at this moment, he had no time for this. 

A long sword stabbed one of the living corpses, pierced through and slayed others in passing, making them fall from the stairs. 

But that could only give Yun Chang’an and others a short rest, because very soon a new wave of living corpses came up, stepping on others. 

One fell, but the next followed, as if there was no end to them. 

But all these “monsters” were cheerful, lively and vigorous common people just a while ago. 

Yun Chang’an even recognized a couple of familiar faces among them. 

The one who was grabbing the stair railings to catch him was the guest house’s waiter, who served Yun Chang’an a bowl of wonton soup this morning; when he heard that the latter wanted some onion, the waiter ran back to the kitchen to bring it. He even said with a smile, Enjoy your meal, young master. I’m most familiar with Yuru Town, so if you want to go somewhere for a walk, you can find me. 

The one climbing up viciously now was a young woman who had been selling rouge not far from the guest house. When he was quarrelling with Cong Rong, they stood next to her stall, and the woman selling rouge said to them, Young married couples bicker near the head of their bed only to become reconciled near its end. Don’t make the young lady embarrassed in the streets, if there is a problem, discuss it after returning home. At that moment, Yun Chang’an and Cong Rong shouted in one voice, Who are a young married couple! 

Young married couples bicker near the head of their bed only to become reconciled near its end: any couple’s problem can be solved through the bed. 

There was also a guest from the first floor, an attractive, despite her age, woman in worn clothes, who he was staring at in the morning. 

And all these people had turned into terrifying monsters now. They were extraordinarily strong, lost their humanity, and were only interested in alive people. Yun Chang’an saw with his own eyes one person, who missed his chance to escape, surrounded, torn into shreds and eaten by these monsters; in no time, this person came back to life, becoming one of them. 

They could only pant, were not humane, couldn’t speak, had no vital energy or feelings, and were only chasing after blood and flesh restlessly; if they were not monsters, then what were they?

And Yun Chang’an didn’t even understand how the whole thing started. 

As if the dusk was a horn, the moment it sounded, everyone turned into a monster; but why didn’t he become one of them? 

These turmoiled feelings in his mind were like a gunk that blurred his sense of time and his rationality. 

“Quick, we can’t stop them here, let’s go up!” a young woman said, sobbing. 

Nie Emei was a guest sharing the same floor with him. It was said that she was going to participate in the Qianlin Assembly, but her companions, shijies and shimeis, had already turned into monsters, attacking their former fellow disciple. Nie Emei couldn’t bear to make a move against them, and almost became a meal for the monsters herself. 

When it came to fighting against such impervious to sword or spear monsters attacking people as long as their withered bodies were able to move, cultivation was not so helpful. Moreover, some of these monsters were cultivators as well. After they turned into living creatures, their strength was superior to the common people’s, and ordinary weapons were of no use. 

Impervious to sword or spear: fig. emotionless 

When she called after Yun Chang’an, he came to his senses, quickly turned around, and ran up the stairs. 

But he was carrying a person on his back, and his steps became heavy after his energy was depleted. Before he made several steps, he stumbled on the stairs. A hand stretched out from behind, almost grabbing the person on his back to hurt her. 

At the crucial point, Nie Emei had finally chopped off that arm. 

“Faster!” 

She helped Yun Chang’an up, turned around and rushed to the top floor, staggering. 

“Let me down.” 

Cong Rong, who was lying on her back, said calmly. 

Originally, she made no sound, afraid that this would interfere in their fight; but now, she couldn’t hold it anymore. 

“I am a burden. There is no point in carrying me further. You must return to the capital and say to them, say that I died. But don’t tell them that I turned into a monster…” 

Cong Rong swallowed, but her eyes had already turned into two black holes, and tears wouldn’t come out from them. 

She didn’t even dare to open them, keeping her eyes tightly closed. 

“Shut up and hold onto me firmly!” 

Yun Chang’an shouted, running wildly after Nie Emei. 

Everything started with that scream. 

Yun Chang’an was woken from his dream by a scream that came from Cong Rong. 

He was annoyed by Cong Rong, but didn’t wish her death, so he got up immediately, put some clothes on and ran to her room. 

But he didn’t expect he would sink into a nightmare himself. 

He would never forget what he saw after kicking the door open. Cong Rong, leaning on the windowsill, turned her head, and he saw empty holes instead of her eyes: her eyes had vanished into thin air. A maiden who was still frolicing during the daytime turned into a blind person with no eyes. 

He really wished he was still in a dream, and someone would wake them up, tell him that everything he saw was only an illusion. 

This guest house was the tallest building inside the city, but it only had four floors. They quickly reached the spacious private room on the top floor, where honored guests used to have meals. Nie Emei was waiting for Yun Chang’an near the doors, and as soon as he stepped in, she closed and locked the door behind him, moving over a table and a screen to block the doors tightly. But she wasn’t sure how long this construction would last as well. 

“Why is it like this, what on earth happened?!” she was like a tightened string, ready to collapse any second. 

Like a tightened string: nervous.

Nie Emei fell to the floor weakly, murmuring the same questions to herself again and again. 

Yun Chang’an released Cong Rong, letting her lean over to a wall to take a rest. 

“Just what happened after all, why did they suddenly become this way, turned into these monsters, why am I still fine?” 

Nie Emei was holding her head with her hands, swaying slowly. 

“I don’t know, I don’t know… Shimei died, I knew I shouldn’t have brought her over, shouldn’t have hankered to have fun, to come here and stay…” 

“Cheer up!” 

Yun Chang’an couldn’t bear to see her like this anymore, so he pulled her arms from her head, and made her raise her head. 

“Think carefully. Last evening, where did you go, what unusual things happened with others!” 

“Nothing. We went on a stroll to the market, everything was normal…” 

Nie Emei was perplexed after a moment. 

“Right. We stumbled on one person who had eaten bad food. He threw up, but his vomit was full of white maggots, it was very disgusting. Shimei asked me to leave this place right away.” 

Maggots? 

Yun Chang’an had an epiphany: “What he ate was a beancurd?” 

Nie Emei: “I didn’t examine carefully.” 

Beancurd was a unique local meal. Many people came to Yuru Town to taste it, and beancurds elsewhere were not alike: they added a special spice grown here. This spice, the Huliang Grass, only grew in the Western Regions, and made the beancurd of Yuru Town so special. 

Yun Chang’an and Cong Rong were used to the capital’s food, and had never tried the food from Yuru Town, including the Huliang Grass. 

“Did you try that beancurd?” 

Nie Emei: “I haven’t, since I’m bigu, so I eat rarely. Shimei tried it, but only a bite.” 

Bigu: to avoid eating food in order to gain immortality. 

Yun Chang’an thought the problem might be in this Huliang Grass, but he couldn’t be sure for now. It was a common spice that had been growing in the region for hundreds and thousands of years, why would it suddenly turn to have a relation to living corpses? If a person who ate it would have problems, why hadn’t it happened before? 

Before he could think carefully, a loud noise came from the doors. 

Bang-bang! 

Bang! 

Something was trying to get inside! 

The people who had just relaxed became nervous again. 

Yun Chang’an and Nie Emei stared at the door tensely. 

It was the best guest house of the town, so the doors were harder than elsewhere. But these hard doors presumably couldn’t stand against a continuous violent attack coming from those things. 

The door and the screen shook slightly, ready to topple any moment now. 

Nie Emei casted a glance at the window. 

The territory around the building was packed with people. It seemed that the monsters could hear their breaths, so they were coming to this place in waves. 

Nie Emei looked at the farthest areas. 

They were in the centre of Yuru Town. If she managed to leave the city, would these creatures chase her? 

It was only that… 

Nie Emei turned her head to look at Yun Chang’an and Cong Rong, a bit hesitant. 

These two were not cultivators, only a bit stronger than common people; but they certainly were useless under an attack like this. Very soon, they would be caught by these monsters and join their ranks. 

She had been cultivating for several years, and spent this time mostly on the mountain with her teachers. Her heart was pure, far from that of skilled masters who regarded a human life as unimportant as a cricket’s or an ant’s, and she couldn’t leave them without feeling uneasy. 

It seemed that Yun Chang’an had noticed her quandary. He gritted his teeth: “Lady Nie, go first. If you meet reinforcements, please ask them to rescue us. You don’t have to be there together with us…” 

Bang-bang-bang! 

The noise came again. 

Yun Chang’an clearly saw the doors quiver, ready to be burst open any time soon. 

“Go, quickly!” 

“I will bring her to a safe place first, and then return after you!” 

Nie Emei made a decision. When she finished talking, she picked up Cong Rong, supporting her. 

“Hold me tight!” 

She still hadn’t mastered the Art of Sword Control, but her qinggong was naturally lighter than a common one. Holding Cong Rong, she jumped off from the window, gracefully landed on the head of a living corpse, jumping to the next one before the first could attack them, and headed to a roof not far away. 

Seeing them disappear into the distance, Yun Chang’an let out a relaxed sigh. A loud bang from the behind made him turn around subconsciously. 

The doors were broken! 

“Wait for me right here, don’t move, I will return as soon as I rescue him!” 

Nie Emei released Cong Rong on a relatively high roof, and urged her. 

Cong Rong nodded nervously, grabbing a corner of her garment, barely holding her terror. 

Her world had already turned dark, never to become colorful again. But Yun Chang’an and Nie Emei still refused to abandon her, so she didn’t want to get them into trouble. 

“Go faster!” 

She heard Nie Emei leaving her, and also heard the creatures swarming under the roof, surrounding the building from all directions; she could even hear how they tried to climb up the walls outside the building, using their hands and legs, and climbing up to the beams inside, grabbing columns. She heard pieces of roof tiles broken along the ridge of the roof. 

Their heavy breaths were coming closer. 

Cong Rong couldn’t help but shiver. 

She even wanted to give up on her life. But she didn’t want to die like this, to become a monster that feeds on flesh and blood and has no consciousness. It was more dreadful than death. 

Suddenly! 

A sword pierced the air, and the monster in front of Cong Rong rolled down the roof. 

Right after that, she was raised to her feet, and once again raised into the air. This time, it even seemed that she was on a bird’s back. They were flying towards a watchtower on the southeastern side. 

“It is me.” 

Cong Rong heard Changming’s voice. Although sounded weak and tired, it was surely his voice. 

The feeling of meeting a long-lost familiar person and injustice at the same time welled up in her heart, and Cong Rong started to cry. 

“Cong Rong!” 

Nie Emei returned with Yun Chang’an, and they dispersed the crowd of monsters under the roof together; but only more rushed to this place. Nie Emei’s reaction was a little too slow, and she didn’t manage to evade them. A hand grabbed her shoulder, and sharp nails almost pierced her clothes, skin and flesh. 

My life is over! 

She knew that the moment her skin was scratched, she would also turn into a terrifying monster, just like her shimei. 

Nie Emei couldn’t feel more depressed and tormented. 

But the expected pain didn’t come. 

Changming arrived just in time to cut off the hand, making it fall to the ground. Changming threw Nie Emei on another roof, falling into the ring of encirclement of these monsters. 

Upon seeing this, Yun Chang’an and Nie Emei wanted to help him, but Changming stopped them. 

“Don’t come here!” 

Yun Chang’an saw that Changming’s sword seemed to contain some sort of demonic powers, and the monsters didn’t dare to come close. As soon as the sword came into contact with their bodies, they were burned by its black qi, turning into ashes. Even though these creatures had lost their humanity, they still had a sense of danger. 

Nie Emei saw Changming’s unparalleled strength, and couldn’t help but jump from the rooftop to stand near him back-to-back to help him get rid of the obstacles that limited his movements. 

“You…” 

They were standing close, and she could feel his strange body temperature through their clothes. 

“Are you alright!” 

Changming didn’t answer. 

His physical and spiritual strength were at their limit, and he could only concentrate on the situation in front of his eyes. His swords flew by, and the monsters’ heads fell to the ground one by one. 

Wave after wave, he was toppling the mountains and overturning the seas, as if harvesting rice straw. But such apparent superiority wouldn’t be good for his body.

Toppling the mountains and overturning the seas: overwhelming or sweeping. 

The black qi of his sword was abundant, and became even more dense. As if it was conscious, it supported his wrist, as if helping an arrow at the end of its flight. 

An arrow at the end of its flight: exhausted strength. 

“This sword?” 

Nie Emei paid special attention to it, and she couldn’t resist asking: “Is it demonic?” 

“This sword is connected with my soul, we share the same fate,” Changming said indifferently. 

“May I ask its name?” 

Nie Emei had seen many spiritual weapons, and the most famous one was the Honghu Sword that belonged to her shizu; it was also the treasure of their Zhenling Clan. 

The Honghu Sword hummed clearly only when in her shizu’s hands, acknowledging its master. 

But the Honghu Sword could not be compared to the one she saw now at all, just like a small hill could not be compared to the Sacred Mountain Wan. 

“The Sifei Sword.” 

“Sifei?” 

Sifei: lit. four ‘no’s. 

Nie Emei thought that this name sounded a bit odd but familiar, as if she had heard about it before. 

“No to Daoism, no to Buddhism, no to Confucianism, no to Demonic ways.” 

Changming said these words in a low voice, beheading another enemy nimbly. 

He also didn’t expect that Yun Hai would just hand him the Sifei Sword to defend himself. 

Changming came to the Nine Layers of the Abyss to find his Sifei Sword to regain his cultivation, and now he achieved his goal due to an unexpected turn of events. 

If Yun Weisi knew this, he would have probably been angered half to death. 

The Sifei Sword was forged by his own hands. Now, almost half of his cultivation was gone; even if the Zhiyu Nianyue cultivation scripture helped him advance by leaps and bounds, it would be hard for him to regain the level of those years quickly. And the Sifei Sword not only didn’t rebel against its former master because of his limited powers, but even gently soothed the cracks and wounds in his cultivation, as if it was a loving animal that had been looked after by someone else for many years, but now met its master after a long separation and still recognised him. The Sifei Sword was joyfully quivering in Changming’s hands. 

The roof tiles had already been mostly destroyed by the living corpses that tried to climb up, and the roof under their feet could crumble any moment. Yun Chang’an grabbed Cong Rong and jumped down to Changming, tightly embracing her and helping the others to catch fish that escaped the net. 

He was swinging his sword unceasingly, but his thoughts were wandering far away, and he wasn’t sure whether they would survive the night. 

Another loud noise came from the side. 

Yun Chang’an and Nie Emei looked in this direction, and saw two people fighting fiercely in the air in the distance. They were leaping from roof to roof easily, approaching them; very soon, they got very close. 

Siti Wanhuo was a cultivator whose reputation matched reality. After all, he was one of the ten grandmasters. Unlike Yun Hai, Changming, Chen Ting and others, who were “foreign intruders”, he belonged to that time. But, surprisingly, he didn’t gain the upper hand in his fight with Yun Hai. The latter was holding the Chunzhao Sword that used to follow Changming through fire and water in the past, and later fell into Yun Weisi’s hands. Days and nights, it was saturated with his oppressive spiritual powers, and even managed to hold Situ Wanhuo back for a while. 

“Catch it!” 

When they got closer, Yun Hai suddenly threw something at Changming. 

Changming caught it. 

It was a glass pearl that was smaller than his palm, round and smooth, emitting rays. 

Yun Hai didn’t recognise it, so he threw it to Changming. 

Changming looked at the purple pearl, and his heart skipped a beat. 

“A Gathering Souls Pearl?” 

When Situ Wanhuo heard these words, his expression changed. He stopped his movements halfway and reached towards Changming! 

How would Yun Hai give him such an opportunity? The Chunzhao Sword blocked his way. 

“I know what you are planning.” 

Changming said, suddenly throwing the Gathering Souls Pearl to the ground ruthlessly! 

It happened too fast for Situ Wanhuo to react in time. 

The glass pearl was shuttered, and the purple qi flew away; thousands of the souls of the deceased scattered around, and thousands of ghosts wailed in one voice! 

In a flash, as if all the monsters received an order, they stopped moving, staring fixedly on the countless purple rays of the scattering gathered souls. 

The purple qi fled in all directions, floating and dancing above the heads of the living corpses, and finally faded away, gradually rising to the sky, and disappearing like mist and smoke. 

The monsters no longer attacked Changming and the others. One by one, they fell to the ground, closing their eyes at last. 

This time, they were really gone, their souls finally finding peace. 

“You actually broke the Gathering Souls Pearl!” 

Situ Wanhuo was boiling with rage, wishing he could tear Changming to pieces! 

He grabbed Yun Hai’s Chunzhao Sword directly, hit him with one hand, and appeared in front of Changming, grabbing him by his neck. 

In the blink of an eye, he could effortlessly break Changming’s neck bone into pieces, and it was hard to rescue him in time! 

The author has something to say: 

A small theatre unrelated to the main text: 

Yun Weisi: The Sifei Sword? 

Changming: Here, with me. 

Yun Weisi: ? 

Changming: You gave it to me yourself. 

Yun Weisi: ?? 

Changming: I was surprised as well. 

Tn: 

Wind bells on the upturned eaves:

https://kknews.cc/zh-cn/culture/vvgkqzq.html