Chapter 176
Chapter 176
By the time Yan Zhengchu finished speaking, cold sweat drenched his back and both his hands were trembling.
Master Tianji, however, made no reply for a long while.
Ren Fengjue was nervous as well. Countless thoughts raced through his mind as he considered how to raise the question, only to hear a sigh.
“You are the child my junior brother tried to save all those years ago, are you not?”
Instead of answering Yan Zhengchu, Master Tianji fixed his gaze on Ren Fengjue and continued, “You will soon turn twenty-one, two years younger than Zhengchu. You are the only son of Marquis Renxuan and my junior brother’s biological nephew. Is that correct?”
Ren Fengjue met his eyes and hurriedly answered with respect, “Yes.”
Master Tianji nodded, then suddenly beckoned to him. “Come closer and give me your hand.”
Though he did not understand why, Ren Fengjue obeyed.
Master Tianji lifted his sleeve, exposing the middle and ring fingers of his right hand, and lightly rested them against the bones of Ren Fengjue’s wrist.
He closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly taking Ren Fengjue’s pulse.
Yan Zhengchu stared intently at his master’s expression, then suddenly gave Ren Fengjue a small, meaningful nod.
After a while, Master Tianji finally released his hand. “Your father should already have told you that you were born missing one of your po souls.”
“With your Seven Po incomplete, your fate is unusual and easily attracts Vengeful Ghosts. That was why those things happened when you were a child.”
Yan Zhengchu could not resist interjecting, “But Master, he clearly has a Pure Yang Body now.”
Master Tianji nodded. “He does.”
“That is because my junior brother Ren Yao used a forbidden art without permission and turned himself into a living corpse to save him. Only then did Ren Fengjue gain a Pure Yang Body impervious to all evil.”
Ren Fengjue had long known that his Little Uncle had ended up this way in order to save him.
Even so, these words left his whole body rigid and cold, his emotions impossible to name.
Yan Zhengchu seized the chance to ask, “What forbidden art was it? Master, do you have any way to break it?”
Master Tianji seemed reluctant to answer. After hesitating, he finally said, “In truth, the forbidden art exchanges one life for another. Once it is used, only one of the two can live.”
Yan Zhengchu’s heart sank, but he stubbornly refused to believe it.
He shook his head. “But Little Martial Uncle’s body clearly shows signs of life. If he is dead, why has no trace of his soul ever been found?”
“Master, I believe you must have a way. There has to be some other reason for this, doesn’t there?”
Master Tianji fell silent once more.
He lowered his eyelids and thought for a moment, then appeared to relent. “Actually, it is not impossible for you to see your martial uncle’s soul.”
Both Yan Zhengchu’s and Ren Fengjue’s eyes lit up at those words, tense yet expectant.
Master Tianji slowly rose to his feet and sighed again.
He paced back and forth several times before them, then turned and said, “The dead cannot return to life. Even if you see him, the living and the dead will remain forever separated. It will all be in vain. You cannot change anything.”
Ren Fengjue understood that too. Yet even if this method led nowhere, he was unwilling to miss the smallest chance.
Yan Zhengchu exchanged a look with him, and each understood the other’s resolve.
Ren Fengjue said, “Master Tianji, if my Little Uncle is dead, his body should be laid to rest and his soul should enter reincarnation. He should not be left as he is now, with neither his fate nor the truth made clear.”
Yan Zhengchu added, “Master, as long as there is the slightest hope, I am willing to try.”
Faced with their unwavering gazes, Master Tianji sighed deeply once more and finally nodded.
“In that case, follow me.”
* * *
There were three rooms in the courtyard where Xia Ximo was staying.
Apart from the room she occupied, the other two were both locked.
Wuyou led her to the door of one of them. “The aura of that soul is coming from in here…”
Peering through the crack in the door, Xia Ximo saw miscellaneous objects piled high inside.
Just as Yan Zhengchu had said, the room was used to store old belongings.
As Wuyou spoke, Wuyou slipped through the gap and used soul power to open the lock.
When the door swung open, a faint trace of yin qi could be seen lingering in the room, but there was no immediate sign of the Yin Soul.
The old objects inside appeared to have been stored there for many years. With no sunlight reaching the room, the air held not only choking dust, but also the heavy odor of mold.
Xia Ximo frowned the moment she stepped inside. She waved away the dust and began searching all around.
But the wisp of yin qi was far too faint. One woman and one spirit searched the room for quite some time without finding any clue.
The smell was so strong that Xia Ximo could not help pushing open a window.
At that moment, a sliver of moonlight shone through.
Wuyou immediately noticed a lozenge-patterned bronze mirror lying quietly on the floor in a corner.
Startled, Wuyou said, “Mogu, the yin qi seems to be coming from that mirror…”
Xia Ximo stepped closer and examined it. Sure enough, a wisp of yin qi covered the mirror’s surface, lending it an eerie air.
Wuyou asked in confusion, “Didn’t that young Daoist say there had never been a female guest on this mountain? But this mirror clearly belongs to a woman.”
Although the reason remained unclear for the moment, one thing was certain:
“There must be something wrong with this mountain!”
Xia Ximo said nothing. She bent down and picked up the mirror, and the wisp of yin qi seemed to take fright and began retreating into it.
Then a hazy figure slowly appeared on the murky surface.
It seemed to be a woman.
Wuyou circled the mirror and studied it carefully before saying, “If I am not mistaken, her soul must have been sealed inside the mirror.”
“Mm.”
Wuyou immediately took up the woman’s cause. “One of the Daoists on this mountain must have done something shameful! Why else would he seal a woman’s soul inside a mirror?”
Xia Ximo did not answer, so Wuyou analyzed the matter alone for a while, then asked, “Mogu, who do you think is the most suspicious? Could it be that fat Daoist who did the cooking?”
“Apart from Yan Zhengchu, he is the only one who looks slightly older.”
“It couldn’t be that Daoist surnamed Yan, could it? But he seems…”
Xia Ximo glanced at Wuyou and finally spoke. “What is there to guess? We will know once we go directly inside.”
“…What?”
Before Wuyou could react, Xia Ximo had already drawn out her soul and vanished into the mirror in the blink of an eye.
She truly never wasted a moment.
“Your body hasn’t fully recovered, and you’re doing this again!”
Wuyou was helpless. With no other choice, Wuyou followed her into the mirror.
The cluttered room fell silent once more.
Before long, however, footsteps sounded outside the door.
A figure appeared at the entrance, paused for a moment, then stepped inside.
He walked slowly to Xia Ximo’s side, suddenly drew a Yellow Talisman from his sleeve, and slapped it directly onto her forehead.
Then he snatched the lozenge-patterned mirror from her hand and pasted a Black Talisman over its surface.
Once he had finished, a smug, sinister smile curved his lips. He quietly turned and left the room, locking the door again behind him.