Chapter 726 - Strange Person
Edited by Ea
Ling Chigu didn’t think much of it. “I’ve already died, and my souls and spirits have scattered. Originally, I should’ve returned to nothingness, and after eons, perhaps my soul would be fortunate enough to gather back together by chance, and I’d be able to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. But you forcefully dragged me back. How can it be so easy to resurrect from the dead? I’m just a living dead now. In terms of Dao attainments, I can barely be called a ghost cultivator.”
Feng Jingyu was stunned. “Ghost cultivator?”
Ling Chigu said, “I cultivated the physical body before, but now I cultivate the soul. As long as my soul does not disperse, my body will not decay. Plus, there’s nothing bad about being a ghost cultivator. After all, I can now separate my soul from my body.”
Feng Jingyu’s eyes suddenly turned red, and he didn’t even have the energy to stay angry at Ling Chigu anymore. He said in a daze, “How can you not live? Your souls and spirits have clearly been gathered again, and I’ve tried all the methods that can possibly bring you back…”
Ling Chigu saw that he was sad, so he softened his voice, “It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself, baby. Your husband’s heart hurts.”
…Feng Jingyu was still in the mood of grief, but he smiled angrily at Ling Chigu’s words. He hit Ling Chigu on the shoulder with his fist. “Get lost! Don’t pretend to be obedient even after taking advantage of me. Whose husband are you?”
Ling Chigu held his fist, and then smiled. “We’ve been in bed already, but now my darling doesn’t admit it? You were the one who clearly wanted me to be your husband back then, but now that I’ve died, you won’t admit it anymore? Are you going to find someone else to sleep with you?”
At this point, Ling Chigu pretended to sigh sadly. “I thought you would observe widowhood for me…”
“f.u.c.k off!” Feng Jingyu finally couldn’t stand it anymore. He puffed out his feathers and slapped Ling Chigu’s face.
When Ling Chigu first rushed to Mt. Wutong single-handedly with snow-colored clothes and broke into the Western Palace to ask him for medicine, his high-spirited appearance made Feng Jingyu fall in love at first sight. When he left, he was unable to forget him. He couldn’t wait to press him down as the West Queen and lock him in his lair. That way, no one else would be able to look at him.
At that time, Ling Chigu also had scruples about the n.o.ble ident.i.ty of the Western Phoenix Monarch Feng Jingyu, and maintained this image of a high, cold, and courteous temperament in front of him.
Who would have thought that ever since they rolled the sheets under Feng Jingyu’s scheming, Ling Chigu became very different from before. But even so, the most Ling Chigu ever did was to remove his pretense of politeness and look coldly at him, so his temperament didn’t change to such an unimaginable degree.
Feng Jingyu was very unused to Ling Chigu’s new personality for a moment. He stared suspiciously at Ling Chigu, who was rubbing his face, and asked, “Don’t tell me your soul still isn’t complete, so your brain isn’t working too well? You weren’t like this before.”
“Then what was I like?” Ling Chigu asked.
Feng Jingyu didn’t even have to think about it. He imitated the cold and disgusted tone Ling Chigu once used, “Feng Jingyu, do you have any shame at all? Stay away from this General k2014; get lost!”
Ling Chigu: “k2026;.”
Feng Jingyu shrugged and said, “Like that.”
Ling Chigu rubbed Feng Jingyu’s head. “I was wrong in the past and trampled on your kind feelings. At that time, I thought you were just playing with me, so lard blindfolded my heart and I thought that everything you did was wrong. Nowk2026; I won’t ever treat you like that again. In the future, if you say east, I will never dare to go west, and if you say move once, I will never dare to move twice.”
Feng Jingyu cursed, “You’re shameless!”
Then he said naturally, “Of course. I saved your life, so you’re mine. Although you have become a ghost cultivator now and can’t be counted as a whole person, you can still move around and cultivate. This is a blessing that you’ve gained after eight lifetimes of virtue. You should cherish me.”
Ling Chigu smiled softly.
What he liked was Feng Jingyu’s frankness and self-confidence; he never put on an act and said words he didn’t mean.
Ling Chigu said, “If I can’t do it, I’ll give you this life as compensation.”
“I don’t want your life.” Feng Jingyu said, “I want you to stay away from Yan Huaizhen.”
When Yan Huaizhen was mentioned, Ling Chigu clearly saw that the corners of Feng Jingyu’s lips had dropped a little.
This wasn’t Feng Jingyu’s fault. It was entirely Ling Chigu’s fault that he had been so blind back then, to actually regard Yan Huaizhen as a treasure to be cherished. He was so obsessed with Yan Huaizhen that he even threw away his life for him. Not only did his actions cost him his own life and Feng Jingyu’s cultivation, but he even dragged down the entire Ling family to the underworld. Even though he wouldn’t settle this debt right now, in the future, he will surely settle all this, one debt at a time.
But now, Ling Chigu needed to give a clear explanation about why he angered Feng Jingyu to the point of vomiting blood but then urged him to leave quickly immediately afterwards.
Ling Chigu said, “Yan Huaizhen did indeed keep a trace of my soul consciousness. He placed a forbidden spell on that soul consciousness, which made me obey him. The more I killed for him and stained my hands with blood, the more my compa.s.sion would weaken, until eventually, I would become nothing more than a sharp blade for him to wield. But no one knew the fact that Yan Huaizhen’s spell has no effect on the dead.”
Yan Huaizhen thought that he had deeply branded his mark on Ling Chigu’s soul consciousness, and even had someone give Ling Chigu the Synchronized Heart Gu. Thus, Yan Huaizhen believed that even when Ling Chigu returned from the dead with all his memories, he would still be willing to become Yan Huaizhen’s dog and recognize him as his only master.
But in fact, the spell was useless to the dead and had already failed. Only the soul consciousness returned to Ling Chigu’s body, so that the entirety of his soul returned to the body unharmed.
Feng Jingyu felt a little sad when Ling Chigu nonchalantly said that he was dead now. But it’s no use crying over spilt milk. They were already extremely lucky that Ling Chigu could still cultivate his soul as a ghost cultivator.
Feng Jingyu: “Why don’t you tie him up and kill him while he’s got his guard down around you?”
“There’s a strange person by his side.” Ling Chigu frowned and said, “His name is Tu Feng, and Yan Huaizhen seemed to have a close-knit lover relations.h.i.+p with him, but he almost never appears in front of people.”
Feng Jingyu thought about this person. “No impression.”
Ling Chigu went on to say, “That person appeared at Yan Huaizhen’s side when you and I fell into the Five Continents and Yan Huaizhen fled in a panic. According to Yan Huaizhen, Tu Feng actually has a powerful family backing him. Most of his troops today are Tu Feng’s or were found by Tu Feng for him.”
Feng Jingyu mused, “If Tu Feng really had such ability, then he would indeed be incredible.”
When Yan Huaizhen’s troops were defeated, his entire army collapsed, and he fled in a panic. His troops were scattered and beaten badly, and even the Ling family army was defeated.
Anyone would think that Yan Huaizhen would never be able to make a comeback after this. Even if he was lucky enough to escape his pursuers and survive, with his cultivation and talent, as well as Yan Zizhang’s suppression, it would take at least a hundred years before he could make a comeback.
But now, when King Zhen’s army was rebuilt, the number of troops he currently held actually surpa.s.sed the size of his previous army, and even the troops seemed to be much stronger than before. Yan Zizhang sent people to scout Yan Huaizhen’s base several times, but no one returned. If Northern Liang City was not attacked by evil creatures, it would be like an iron wall, which would be really tough.
The speed of this resurgence really surprised Feng Jingyu. He was still wondering what method Yan Huaizhen used, but he didn’t expect a high-ranking person to help Yan Huaizhen.
However, Ling Chigu shook his head with a serious look. “His ability really is great. Not even I can see the depth of his cultivation. The reason why I specifically mentioned him is because I suspect he has something to do with evil Qi cultivators.”
Feng Jingyu was startled. “Evil Qi cultivators? How do you know?”
Ling Chigu didn’t actually have a clear and definite impression of Evil Qi Cultivators, but at least he heard Feng Jingyu mentioned that the purple and black Qi in Heaven’s Wail was evil Qi, which was formed by the filth of heaven and earth. Everywhere it went, the vegetation withered and wreckage littered the ground.
“I once personally witnessed him turn into a ma.s.s of purplish-black Qi, and he also transformed the evil Qi rising up from the ground into humanoid soldiers,” Ling Chigu said.
“These days, I also took the opportunity to investigate the soldiers around Yan Huaizhen. I found that at least half of them seemed normal, but in fact, there was no living aura on them. The army Tu Feng gave to Yan Huaizhen was a group of ghost soldiers.”
Ling Chigu explained, “If their souls were complete, or if they were controlled by evil gu techniques, it would be extremely difficult for the living to find traces of the dead people blending into the crowd. It’s especially true when some of the dead don’t even realize they had already died. They have memories of their lives and have normal speech and behavior. But at critical moments, the gu inside their bodies would control their brains and actions, making them commit crazy things.”
But for a dead person, it was extremely simple for Ling Chigu to sense his own kind.
Feng Jingyu gasped and turned slightly pale. He grabbed Ling Chigu’s hand. “We must tell Ah Hen about this at once.”
Ling Chigu said, “I really want to tell them, but I’ll tell you now. After that, you can tell them.”
Feng Jingyu frowned. “You’re still planning to stay here? If Tu Feng really can control corpses, his cultivation is definitely not low. You’re in great danger here.”
Ling Chigu said, “Tu Feng hides his secrets very deeply, and he’s constantly on his guard for anyone who might see through his secrets. It’s still fine if I continue to stay by Yan Huaizhen’s side while feigning ignorance, but if I leave suddenly, Tu Feng will actually be more suspicious. What’s more… How can I get the tiger cub without venturing into the tiger’s den?”
Feng Jingyu was still worried, but his heart was distracted and his thoughts were in turmoil. For a moment, he couldn’t understand the severity of these things. He could only say, “I’ll find a time to discuss this with You Ming, Zhonghua, and the others.”
Ling Chigu said, “Okay.”
Yan Zhonghua and Yan Huaizhen were originally biological brothers of the same mother. However, due to the large age difference between them, and Yan Zhonghua studying abroad when Yan Huaizhen was young, the relations.h.i.+p between them was not very close, but after all, they still had a close blood relations.h.i.+p.
When Yan Huaizhen saw Yan Zhonghua, he was genuinely happy. At least, Yan Zhonghua treated others magnanimously and never wanted to kill Yan Huaizhen. Just this fact alone made him hundreds of times better than Yan Zizhang.
Yan Zhonghua never beat around the bush. After sitting down for a short while, he started talking about Heaven’s Wail and the rise of evil Qi cultivators, and indirectly expressed his hope that Yan Huaizhen would put aside the dispute over the imperial position for the time being, and first form an alliance with them to resist the common enemy, thus eliminating the biggest hidden danger of evil Qi cultivators.
Yan Huaizhen only smiled when he heard the speech. He neither agreed nor refused. Then he clapped his hands and summoned the singers and dancers to come and entertain, but halfway through, Yan Zhonghua drove them away with his words without giving any face.