IVYSCP - Chapter 36
Chapter 36
An icy fingertip pressed between her brows. Xue Zizai could not move, but she felt no pain. She did not want to cry, yet facing such a horrifying death, she could not stop the fear. Tears rushed forth, blurring her vision.
A flash of red streaked through the corner of her eye. The hand gripping her arm vanished. Xue Zizai's heart lurched and she blinked frantically.
No! Don't!
She could not even open her mouth to scream. She could only watch as her mother, like those others, was mercilessly seized by the head, blood pouring from every orifice, her body collapsing limp to the ground.
Mother... Mother...
Xue Zizai saw her mother lying there, eyes still open in death. The woman's face, always so beautiful, so meticulously cared for, was defiled with blood. She lay soundless on the ground, her eyes still holding Xue Zizai's reflection. From the corner of one bloodstained eye, a single clear tear slid slowly down.
A vicious, hateful gaze turned toward Yu Ting. Xue Zizai wished she could hack her to pieces, flay her alive and devour her raw.
Yu Ting looked at her coldly. Spiritual energy poured in with brutal force.
Xue Zizai's pupils contracted sharply. An unbearable agony erupted from somewhere deep inside her, a searing pain from head to toe, even the strands of her hair stabbing with it. Her expression twisted in anguish, her eyes bloodshot, but the tears had stopped flowing as hard. Red mist veiled her sight. She knew she was bleeding from every orifice now, just like her mother. She would die soon, just like her mother.
Images from the past month began to flash unbidden through her mind. Yu Ting seemed to be extracting her memories.
Until finally, the words Ah Xi had said to her:
"How about you take me as your master, and I'll take you with me."
Xue Zizai felt Yu Ting stop at that exact moment. Then her consciousness sank fully away.
Yu Ting looked down at Xue Zizai collapsed on the ground. A malicious smirk flickered fast in her eyes.
"Let's go. Next house."
The figures standing in the courtyard vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only corpses strewn about and blood pooling everywhere.
The small town slowly fell silent. The smell of blood saturated the air. Even the lingering mist from the rain carried the stench of it.
"Searched them all?" the woman asked softly, standing before a small courtyard.
"All searched. But most could not endure Soul Searching, so the memories are incomplete." Yu Ting stepped forward and presented the Image-Recording Pearl that held the gathered memories.
The woman raised a hand and touched a fingertip to it. In the space of a breath, she absorbed every memory taken from the Soul Searching.
No one knew what she saw, but her breathing grew abruptly heavy. Her knuckles cracked with a sharp sound as her fingers clenched tight.
She snapped her eyes open and projected the scene she had witnessed before them.
Yu Ting lifted her gaze. It showed what had happened after she left. That woman called Ah Xi had suddenly attacked, and together with her wife Pei Si, subdued Liu Qingtang. And Liu Qingtang had transformed on the spot into a wooden carving.
Yu Ting's expression flickered with disbelief. "How is that possible..."
A wooden carving transformed into a person, yet it possessed such power, and carried Demonic Qi besides.
The woman cast a cold glance at her, and Yu Ting immediately fell silent.
The scenes of memory rushed past before them, different people, different times, different places, different perspectives, all centered on the same person.
That one called Ah Xi.
"Clean it all up. We're leaving."
The voice was cold and heavy. Yu Ting understood at once: the woman before her was angry. Very angry.
Streaks of light vanished over the horizon. The small town lay utterly still.
Lin Zhao was in the wooden house wiping the windows when she heard a dull thud from the courtyard, like someone had thrown a heavy object inside.
Broad daylight. Could it be a thief?
Lin Zhao hastily set aside what she was holding and went out. The moment she stepped through the door, the sky was aflame in her eyes. It was as if an immense fireball had swallowed the whole of Linshui Town in an instant, and only this small courtyard remained untouched.
Lin Zhao froze for an instant, then bolted toward the gate.
Mother! Her mother was still at home!
The moment her palm touched the wooden gate, she was repelled. An invisible wall blocked her, keeping her from going out.
"Let me out! I have to find my mother! Let me out now!" Lin Zhao's eyes brimmed with hot tears. She could not open the gate. She whirled around, searching for the courtyard wall, wanting to climb over it.
It was then she saw someone slumped against the courtyard wall, clothes mottled with blood, in an outfit Lin Zhao had seen not long ago.
Fine fabric, gold thread woven into patterns, delicate little silver bells adorning her hair. Only one person in Linshui Town dressed that way.
The Eldest Miss of the Xue Estate, Xue Zizai.
But now Lin Zhao's heart was frantic with desperation. She had no time to worry about anyone else. She rushed to the wall, intending to use the water vat beside it to climb up. When her hands touched the top of the wall, it was just like the gate. Something invisible blocked her. She could not get out.
Standing on the water vat, Lin Zhao looked out. Tears streamed down without stopping. Fire was everywhere. Linshui Town had become a sea of flames. The blaze was so fierce she could not even make out where her own house was.
How could this happen... why did this happen? Why...
The unnatural fire was wrong. Lin Zhao knew it. But she could not understand why Linshui Town would suffer such utter catastrophe. What had they done wrong? They were only living simple lives...
In the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, familiar black bricks and black tiles had become nothing but ash. The great fire had burned everything away. Nothing was left. And it had burned only the town. The mountain forest behind still stood, green and dense as ever.
Lin Zhao's eyes were streaked with red veins. She clenched her hands so hard the flesh of her palms was a bloody mess, her nails digging deep into the skin.
She climbed down. Numbly, she walked to Xue Zizai's side and turned her over, checking for breath.
Still alive.
A small measure of relief settled in her heart. Lin Zhao sat down beside her, wrapped her arms around her knees, curled herself into a ball, and muffled her sobs.
Only her and Xue Zizai now. Just her and Xue Zizai left.
Lin Zhao turned her head to look at the one courtyard left perfectly intact. If she had not come today to clean Ah Xi's courtyard, would she have died in that fire too?
Ah Xi had saved her. Yet she thought she would rather have died in the flames.
As she cried, Lin Zhao felt something pressing against her chest. She pulled it out. It was the medicinal pill Ah Xi had given her before leaving. Knowing how precious it was, she had kept it on her person the whole time, never taking it herself, saving it to give to her mother.
Seeing the pill bottle, she thought of her mother again.
A fire that huge... how much it must have hurt when it reached her.
Tears surged up again. No matter how Lin Zhao wiped, she could not get them clean. At last she cried out openly, wailing aloud.
The sound of weeping reached Xue Zizai's ears. Her brows faintly moved. The hand at her side abruptly seized the fabric of Lin Zhao's clothes.
Xue Zizai was crying too. Tears mixed with blood trailed down her face, but she had still not regained consciousness.
Lin Zhao looked at Xue Zizai, then at the pill in her hand. Still crying, she poured the pill into Xue Zizai's mouth.
The pill melted the instant it entered her mouth. No need to worry about forcing it down.
Xue Zizai's pallid face gradually flushed red, and then she violently coughed up a mouthful of blood. Startled, Lin Zhao hastily patted her face. "Xue Zizai! Xue Zizai! How are you!"
Xue Zizai kept vomiting blood, her expression contorted in agony. Her whole face turned a reddish purple, as if she could not breathe.
Lin Zhao looked at the pill in her hand, grief overwhelming her. She knelt and pleaded, "Xue Zizai, don't die. We're the only ones left. Xue Zizai, you can't die. You're not allowed to die!"
Xue Zizai thought she had already died. Only death could be this painful, every bone in her body as if smashed to pieces, her flesh as if flayed living from her bones, even her very soul wrenching and pulling with agony.
She had never in her life endured such pain. The pain made her want to come back to life.
A scorching fire blazed through her body. Wherever it moved, it hurt. Xue Zizai could not catch it. She could only endure it as it burned.
At last, the fire stopped in her lower abdomen, as if settling there.
Then Xue Zizai heard someone crying beside her. Crying terribly harshly.
She could not open her eyes, yet it felt very familiar.
Piaomiao Sect, Water Cloud Dwelling.
Lu Yao delivered the freshly brewed medicine to the two seniors, her eyes stealing sneaky glances at them.
Pei Si lifted the bowl and took a sip. She paused. Her eyes lifted to Ling Qingyue.
Ling Qingyue, completely unaware that both of them were now looking at her, also lifted her bowl and took a large gulp.
Then she went rigid.
Lu Yao's eyes turned to one of deep respect.
Ling Qingyue nearly spat it out. But in front of Pei Si, she still had some desire to save face.
Eyes squeezed shut, she swallowed. When she spoke again, her voice had changed. "Lu Yao, you burned this medicine."
Lu Yao shook her head and explained, "Little Medical Immortal's herb packets are always like that. Usually she makes them into pills, though, so that's why I asked earlier if you two had offended her."
Ling Qingyue caught on at once. "Oh! She's getting back at us!"
She looked at Pei Si and affirmed what Pei Si had said before. "You were right. She's unbelievably petty."
Pei Si smiled soundlessly, then finished her bowl.
Ling Qingyue's brow creased as she watched, and then she slid her own bowl over.
Pei Si pushed it back with a single finger. "Your own medicine. Drink it yourself."
Ling Qingyue's courage for that was much diminished this time. Each time she only took the tiniest sip, and then her expression would twitch.
Pei Si pursed her lips into a smile. As Ling Qingyue alternated between tiny sip and tiny sip, Pei Si's expression suddenly tightened.
Ling Qingyue noticed. "What is it?" she asked.
"Something's happened in Linshui Town." Pei Si extended her hand. With a slight lift of two fingers, a Formation shimmered faintly into view.
Shocked, Ling Qingyue said, "Don't tell me there are still Rotting Corpses!"
Lu Yao quickly shook her head. "No. Our Sect Leader checked. There are no more Rotting Corpses on that mountain."
Pei Si looked at her. "Did your Sect Leader leave anyone behind in Linshui Town?"
If mortals had merely entered the courtyard, the Formation would not alert her. But the defensive Formation she had left behind had been pushed to full operation. Whatever trouble had struck Linshui Town was likely no small matter.
Lu Yao still shook her head. "No."
Pei Si withdrew her hand and sent a message to Nie Wenxiao via Jade Token.
"Send a few disciples to Linshui Town. When they pass through the Heavenly Gate, ask who has been down to the Mortal Realm recently."
The reply came swiftly.
"Understood."
"Trouble the moment we leave." Ling Qingyue frowned, confused. "We took the Rotting Corpses, we took Liu Qingtang. Even if someone meant to cause problems, they should go to the Immortal Alliance or here to Piaomiao Sect. What would it mean to go back to Linshui Town? Could there still be something we didn't find?"
Pei Si gently shook her head.
If she had not used Emotion Transference, she might have been able to link with the Formation and pass directly to Linshui Town.
"We'll wait and see."
Ling Qingyue rested her chin on her hand, still pondering.
Pei Si glanced at her, then lowered her eyes to the half-finished bowl of medicine left untouched on the table.
Her fingertip lightly tapped the tabletop.
Ling Qingyue looked at her, thinking she was about to say something.
Pei Si's eyes pointed at the medicine bowl. "Drink up."
Ling Qingyue: "..."
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