Xie Xu’s gaze fell on the bird lying on the ground.
Through the curtain of rain, he could make out only the blurred outline of its body. It had already breathed its last, but there appeared to be an injury on its abdomen.
Mei Man caught sight of his expression. Just as he was about to step forward for a closer look, she suddenly moved ahead and threw her arms around him.
Xie Xu froze, his attention shifting to her.
“Xie Xu,” Mei Man said, “I almost died in that temple just now.”
Xie Xu stroked her drenched hair, his expression calm. “You didn’t. You’re still alive, while he’s already dead.”
Mei Man’s voice was filled with resentment. “I wasn’t blocking his way, yet he still tried to kill me.”
Xie Xu said nothing. He only held her tighter.
The fine drizzle fell like muddy water, as though it were shaping them into clay figures, drenching them until the two became an inseparable symbiotic whole.
After a while, he said, “I’ve found a way to repair spiritual meridians. It might even be possible to forge a spirit root from nothing.”
Mei Man did not ask what the method was, nor did she care who he intended to use it on. She merely said, “You could just go to Qiu Yingling and ask him for that immortal pill. It would repair your spiritual meridians just the same.”
Xie Xu fell silent for a moment before saying, “Nothing can be obtained for no reason.”
That was true.
Hearing him say this, Mei Man found herself unexpectedly free of the irritation she usually felt. Her heart instinctively twisted itself into a knot, squeezing out astringent bitterness, but after only a brief moment, it settled back into calm.
She did not know why. She simply lowered her head and muttered, “Do as you please.”
Remembering that Yu Guiya was still in the mountain-god temple, Mei Man urged Xie Xu to hurry down the mountain. She herself wrapped the dead bird in a piece of cloth and went to the temple.
Before she had even drawn near, waves of yin energy washed over her, accompanied by the shrieks of resentful spirits.
Xie Xu’s peachwood talisman had suppressed the copper coins just now, opening the formation’s gate for only a short while. It had not completely destroyed the formation.
Afraid that the resentful spirits would invade her, Mei Man did not dare go any closer. She looked toward Yu Guiya, who was standing at the rear entrance, and asked, “Senior Brother Yu, have you still not found the formation core?”
To destroy the formation completely, they first had to find its core.
That required a cultivator to investigate the spiritual energy within it, using divine sense to slowly trace the flow of spiritual power through the formation. The point where that power converged was the formation core.
Once the core was destroyed, the formation itself could be dismantled.
“I found it.” Yu Guiya’s face was deathly pale, entirely devoid of his usual smile.
As a result, his eyes appeared even more sinister.
Mei Man said, “Then why… Also, Senior Brother, Senior Brother Fan has reverted to his true demonic form. We should take his body back in principle, but I thought… there are still traces of your spiritual power on his demonic body.”
She spoke softly and delicately, as though she were considering his interests wholeheartedly.
Yu Guiya came back to himself and looked at the bloodstained cloth in her hands.
His lips pressed into a straight line. Then he strode forward and took it from her.
The cold, heavy bundle sank into his palm, making his hand tremble involuntarily.
Yu Guiya was silent for a long time. He seemed intent on opening the cloth to see for himself, but Mei Man pressed down on the back of his hand.
His mind trembled slightly, and he lifted his eyes to look at her.
Mei Man gave a faint shake of her head. He clenched his teeth, and his eyes—which were already red—began to spill tears once more.
“Junior Sister Mei, I… Do you think I’m disgusting? I…”
“Senior Brother,” Mei Man said, looking at him intently, “this is no different from the demons you’ve exterminated before.”
That single sentence seemed to accept all of his shame and pain.
His tears fell even faster. Then he turned and walked straight into the yin-gathering formation.
Mei Man hurried after him. “Senior Brother Yu, you—”
Yu Guiya stopped and turned his head toward her.
“Junior Sister, just pretend you know nothing about this, and that you never saw him. I was the one who asked you to come up the mountain to gather herbs. We took shelter from the rain in the mountain-god temple, and then I brought you back down.”
“But Senior Brother Fan—”
“He wanted to harm someone. What happened to him was merely the consequence of his own actions.”
Yu Guiya turned away and tossed the demonic corpse, wrapped in the cloth, into the center of the formation.
Mei Man vaguely saw countless resentful spirits surge up from beneath the earth. Like waves, they rushed toward the corpse, engulfed it, and gradually dragged it underground.
Before long, the demonic corpse was pulled down completely.
Yu Guiya formed hand seals and channeled his spiritual power toward the formation core he had already located.
Once the core was destroyed, dazzling white spiritual light raced wildly along the formation’s meridians, forming web-like patterns.
In an instant, the resentful spirits drifting through the formation let out shrill, mournful cries before vanishing one after another into the light.
The mountain-god temple returned to silence. Yu Guiya stood silently, staring at the back of the land-god statue.
After a long while, he turned around and said, “Junior Sister Mei, let’s go.”
The two of them made it back to the Heavenly Evolution Immortal Estate before nightfall.
As soon as they returned, Yu Guiya went to the Discipline Hall.
Mei Man did not know exactly what he had said, but the next day, word spread that Fan Zilang, an inner disciple, had attempted to harm someone but had instead met his end in an evil formation.
Yu Guiya had assisted him, but because he had realized his mistake and confessed in time, he had only been sentenced to fifty lashes.
Mei Man had no way of finding out the details.
Yu Guiya was Shen Shushi’s personal disciple. Because of this incident, she did not see Shen Shushi for several days afterward, much less get anything out of him.
But while shopping in the spirit market, she heard several rumors.
Some said that the Fan family had sent people over. Unlike the Chai family, who had quietly taken away the corpse, the Fan family had arrived with overwhelming force and even injured several disciples from the Discipline Hall. The family head had been furious and had nearly killed Yu Guiya. In the end, it was only because Shen Shushi and the sect master appeared together that the matter was brought under control.
Others said that Yu Guiya had been the person Fan Zilang intended to harm. Yu Guiya’s voluntary confession was nothing more than an attempt to seek the sect master’s protection and prevent retaliation from the Fan family.
There were even rumors that the Fan family had stopped pursuing the matter because many cultivators who had once been bullied by Fan Zilang had come forward to testify. Fearing that the matter would be brought before the Immortal Alliance, the Fan family had finally backed down.
…
But there was one rumor Mei Man heard while purchasing an alchemy furnace. Two inner disciples were discussing it nearby.
“I heard Senior Brother Yu has gone mad. He refuses to take his medicine and has injured several people.”
“That’s too absurd. If it were really that serious, how could he still be holding his position as Deputy Captain of the Demon-Slaying Corps? There are too many false rumors going around. It’s best not to spread them recklessly.”
“Why would I be spreading rumors? I know a senior sister from the Medical Valley. She said Senior Brother Yu refuses to take his medicine, claims the medicine has been poisoned, and keeps saying he’s seen ghosts. He’s even making a fuss about wanting to see someone.”
“Who?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“…”
Mei Man had no idea whether the rumor was true. She found out that very day, on her way back, when several cultivators stopped her.
They were all people she had seen at the archery grounds, cultivators who were on good terms with Yu Guiya.
They got straight to the point.
“You’re Junior Sister Mei, right? Senior Brother is begging you—could you go to the Medical Valley and see Guiya? He refuses to let anyone near him now. He doesn’t trust anyone. Whenever they bring him medicine, he insists it’s been poisoned.”
“That’s right. He was struck with the spirit-sealing whip. If this continues, he may not survive. Junior Sister Mei, whenever he’s unconscious, he keeps calling your name. Could you… go and see him?”
As Mei Man listened to their pleas, she nearly failed to keep her expression from darkening. Fortunately, Shen Shushi arrived in time. His face cold, he gave the disciples a sharp reprimand, scolding them until they could no longer lift their heads.
Only then did he turn to Mei Man and ask, “You went to Jiyun Mountain that day too?”
Mei Man lowered her head and said nothing.
The way she sat there in silence looked, in Shen Shushi’s eyes, like the behavior of someone who had suffered a grievance but did not dare speak of it.
He frowned slightly. “You may tell me everything.”
“Yes, I did go to Jiyun Mountain,” Mei Man said. “Senior Brother Yu said that a secret realm had opened at the foot of the mountain and that some spirit medicines had fallen out. He invited me to go collect them.”
Shen Shushi’s expression darkened further. “Guiya has already told me that Fan Zilang was the one who tricked you into going to Jiyun Mountain that day. Where did you go?”
Mei Man answered truthfully, “To the Mountain God Temple. It was raining very heavily at the time, so we went there to take shelter.”
“What did you see in the temple?”
“There was some fog inside.”
“Fog?”
Mei Man nodded. “It was gray and very strange. It even made noises, like a ghost.”
Shen Shushi’s expression grew even more solemn.
The disciples standing behind him exchanged glances, fear faintly visible in their eyes.
They had heard early on that Fan Zilang had harmed someone, but they had not known the details. Judging by what she was saying now, he had actually set up a Yin-gathering formation. To use such an evil formation to harm someone—how vicious could he be?
Shen Shushi asked, “What happened after that?”
“After that, Senior Brother Yu said we should go down the mountain, but I never expected Senior Brother Fan to—”
“No need to mention that vile wretch again!” Shen Shushi closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then he looked up and said, “You probably don’t know this, but Fan Zilang is Guiya’s cousin. Ever since Guiya entered the sect, Fan Zilang has deliberately ordered him around. He has behaved utterly recklessly, with no sense of propriety! I have seen it all, but I knew Guiya was indecisive by nature. Some difficulties had to be experienced personally before he could truly learn his lesson. I never expected that you would nearly be dragged into it as well. If I had known…”
Mei Man lowered her head and said nothing.
“I will demand an explanation from the Fan family for this matter. As for Guiya…” Shen Shushi paused. “He has been punished and is probably still frightened, which has left his mind somewhat muddled. If you don’t want to see him, then don’t. Don’t indulge him and let him think he can behave outrageously without consequence.”
Mei Man, however, said, “Regardless, Senior Brother Yu did save me. Perhaps he wants to see me because he is worried about me.”
Hearing this, Shen Shushi felt both guilty and gratified.
Mei Man accompanied him to Medicine Valley.
But as soon as they arrived, a medical cultivator came to summon Shen Shushi, saying that there was an urgent matter requiring his attention.
Only Mei Man and a senior brother from the valley remained in the medicine hut.
Yu Guiya’s condition was even worse than she had imagined. He lay unconscious on the bed, and in the short span of two or three days, he had grown noticeably thinner. His face was pale, and whenever he occasionally opened his dazed eyes, they were filled with blood-red veins.
“The Fan family’s people injured him, and he refuses to take any medicine,” the disciple from Medicine Valley said softly. “He claims the medicine is poisoned and that someone is trying to harm him. On the previous two occasions, Immortal Lord Shen had to restrain him with spiritual techniques and personally use healing arts to treat his injuries. But he still has wounds inflicted by the Spirit-Sealing Whip. Once that whip strikes, it seals the spiritual power throughout the victim’s body, leaving him no different from an ordinary mortal. Those injuries won’t heal easily.”
Just then, several medical cultivators hurried past the entrance of the medicine hut. They looked extremely anxious, and all of them were muttering curses under their breath.
Mei Man was used to the medical cultivators being calm and composed, so she was stunned. “What happened?”
“Oh, they must be going to Senior Brother Qiu’s place. Two groups have already gone over there. This time, they’re probably accompanying Immortal Lord Shen.” The medical cultivator rubbed his head.
“Which Senior Brother Qiu?”
“Senior Brother Qiu Heyang.” The medical cultivator looked genuinely exasperated. He sighed. “Apparently, he was practicing some kind of memory-loss talisman and ended up using it on himself. Now he doesn’t recognize anyone, and he refuses to let anyone treat him.”
Mei Man fell silent.
“…”
Could it have been because she had asked him last time whether he had a talisman that could make someone lose their memory?
