Everything happened and ended quickly. When ‘Wu Zhen plucked off Ying’s head, the rain that had been brewing in the sky suddenly poured down in torrents. It was a downpour.
The rain muffled all sounds. ‘Wu Zhen’ held Ying’s head in her hand, his massive, decaying body slumping like a pile of rotten mud in the rain. Having lost its life force, the decaying flesh couldn’t cling to the body. In no time, Ying’s corpse was washed down to a skeleton—the rotting flesh sloughed off like mud from a stone.
‘Wu Zhen’ stood silently in the heavy rain before the strange skeleton. Then, she placed the head on the ground and whispered something. The rain was too loud to hear clearly, and the one meant to hear those words was already dead, so they were destined to remain unknown.
Despite the heavy rain, Mei Zhuyu could still smell the stench of decay. Ying was dead, but Mei Zhuyu’s expression showed no relief. As ‘Wu Zhen’ gazed at the skeleton, Mei Zhuyu coldly stared at her.
‘Wu Zhen’ finally looked away from the bones and turned her gaze to Mei Zhuyu and the peach wood sword he was pointing at her.
“Get out of her body.”
Even though the rain drowned out the sound, ‘Wu Zhen’ could read Mei Zhuyu’s lips. She curved her lips slightly and said, “I helped you after all, little one. Is this how you treat your ancestor who came out to help you with such effort?”
Mei Zhuyu remained unmoved, his peach wood sword still pointed at her, clearly intending to act if she didn’t leave Wu Zhen’s body.
‘Wu Zhen’ sneered, noticing blood still seeping from Mei Zhuyu’s abdominal wound, bright red droplets falling along the hem of his clothes, though he seemed oblivious to it.
An interesting little pup. ‘Wu Zhen’ crossed her arms and laughed loudly, deliberately speaking in an eerie tone, “I’ve been dead for so many years. It’s rare to find such a compatible body to possess. Ah, being alive feels so good. I might as well just keep living in this body.”
Before she finished speaking, ‘Wu Zhen’ looked astonished as Mei Zhuyu suddenly thrust his sword into her forehead. ‘Wu Zhen’s’ body swayed, and a shadow retreated from it, stretching into the shape of a cat in the air.
The cat spoke, its tone both amused and frustrated, “I was just joking. It was hard enough for me to leave half a spirit to possess someone after death. Even if you ignore your ancestor, I’ll dissipate completely in a while anyway. Why be so impatient?”
Mei Zhuyu ignored her words, pressing one hand on Wu Zhen’s pulse to check for any abnormalities and touching her forehead with a finger where a drop of blood had formed. He had forced that person out of Wu Zhen’s celestial court, which would inevitably cause some shock.
Wu Zhen woke up quickly. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw her lord’s rain-soaked face, his brows furrowed tightly, wet black hair clinging to his cheeks, his jaw line sharp as a knife.
Sitting up, Wu Zhen wiped the water from her face and said in disbelief, “Did I just fall for a trick? Someone took over my body?”
She looked somewhat agitated, and Mei Zhuyu had to comfort her, “You inherited the Cat Master’s legacy and have the Cat Master’s spirit pearl in your body. That was the owner of the spirit pearl. You received her legacy and her spirit pearl, so she could easily occupy your body. It wouldn’t work with ordinary people.”
Wu Zhen was about to curse again when she suddenly noticed Mei Zhuyu’s abdominal wound. She hissed and lifted his clothes to take a closer look.
“You’re wounded like this and acting as if nothing’s wrong!” Wu Zhen pushed Mei Zhuyu down and tried to pick him up. Startled, Mei Zhuyu instinctively raised his legs and stood back up. His legs were too long.
Wu Zhen glared at him, “Stay still.”
Mei Zhuyu silently glanced at her belly, “I can walk on my own.”
Wu Zhen: “Fine, fine, you can walk. It’s pouring, let’s find a place to treat your wound.”
Mei Zhuyu: “This area is quite desolate. I saw an inn at the foot of the mountain when I came. Shall we rest there first?”
Wu Zhen: “Anything is fine, as long as you quickly patch up that hole in your belly. Just looking at it makes my stomach hurt.”
As she said this, Mei Zhuyu became worried, and they both anxiously stared at each other’s stomachs.
As they were about to leave, they were called back. The shadowy cat, in the gradually diminishing rain, said, “Are you just leaving like this? What about me?”
Wu Zhen turned to look at her, with a forced smile, “Well, you look like you’re about to dissipate. Don’t bother moving around. Why don’t you stay here and accompany your friend over there for his final journey?”
Mei Zhuyu also glanced at her, saying nothing, just nodding slightly before turning and walking away without looking back.
The cat shadow smiled, walked to the clean-washed skull, and lay down in front of it, its eyes seeming to gaze into the empty eye sockets. After a while, the cat shadow lowered its head, closed its eyes, and slowly, silently dissipated completely. At the same time, the skull rapidly turned to stone and crumbled to ash, leaving only the white skeleton frame in place.
Wu Zhen tightly held Mei Zhuyu’s slightly trembling left hand as they walked together on the rainy mountain path.
“I didn’t expect this,” Mei Zhuyu suddenly said in the silence. Ying had been the existence he most despised and hated, tormenting him for several years after his parent’s death. When he came this time, he thought it would be very difficult to completely kill Ying, but he hadn’t expected things to end so suddenly. Instead of feeling relieved, he felt an indescribable bewilderment and sigh.
Wu Zhen, seeing through his thoughts, said, “My lord didn’t expect a sudden helper to appear and take care of the villain?” She smiled, “This isn’t a story. Did you think we had to fight back and forth across heaven and earth, then kill the villain with our last breath for it to be a normal development?”
Mei Zhuyu was left speechless, her laughter dispelling the sigh in his heart. He could only look at her without a word.
Wu Zhen squeezed his fingers hard, almost gritting her teeth, “You’ve been so seriously wounded, it’s worthy of such a dramatic ending.”
However, Mei Zhuyu said, “It’s just a wound on the abdomen, not a major injury. Once it’s treated and bandaged, it’ll be fine. There’s no need to worry.”
But this man who had confidently said there was no need to worry suddenly fainted without reason half an hour later, and Wu Zhen couldn’t wake him up no matter what she tried. Wu Zhen instinctively knew it was because of the wound on his abdomen; this injury wasn’t as simple as it looked.
With no other choice, Wu Zhen had to take him back to Changxi Temple again.
Not counting the previous misunderstanding, this was Wu Zhen’s first official visit, although she was bringing an unconscious Mei Zhuyu back. She was still given a grand reception, unlike last time. It had been many years since a disciple’s wife had visited the Daoist Changxi Temple, how rare!
A large group of Daoist priests, all wearing Daoist robes with their hair in Daoist knots, stood in several rows from tall to short, varying in age and expression, each politely bowing to her. If her lord wasn’t inexplicably unconscious right now, Wu Zhen would have chatted more with these Daoist priests of all sizes.
Mei Zhuyu was examined for a while by Master Siqing and several senior disciples. Wu Zhen was called over, and an old man with a white beard, who was one of Mei Zhuyu’s senior disciples, explained to her, “Our little junior brother has been infected by evil energy, which has confused his mind. He can’t wake up for now.”
Wu Zhen thought to herself, that monster was indeed vicious, leaving such a trap. It must have been the bone spike that was the problem. Her face showed little anger, appearing quite calm, but she had already decided to revisit the monster’s place in a couple of days to smash his remaining bones and grind them to ash.
“Don’t worry, although our little junior brother is young, his cultivation is not inferior to us senior brothers. He has been strong-minded since childhood and will surely overcome this crisis and dispel the evil energy soon,” the white-bearded senior brother comforted her kindly.
Though he said this, Wu Zhen wasn’t a naive girl who would believe everything she was told. She knew the situation wasn’t as simple as the white-bearded senior brother described, but rather quite thorny. This evil energy infection in her lord wasn’t an ordinary case; the longer it dragged on, the worse it would become. If he didn’t wake up in three days, he might never wake up again.
Master Siqing let his disciples do all the talking, maintaining the image of an inscrutable master on the side. He was waiting for his disciple’s wife to ask him how to wake his disciple quickly. After waiting for a while without Wu Zhen speaking up, he couldn’t help but cough and say solemnly, “If you want Guyu to wake up sooner, I have a method.”
This Master Siqing, who had assumed the air of an elder, indeed proposed a method, “His mind has been confused by the evil energy entering his brain. We just need to wake him up.” Master Siqing made it sound simple, but doing it was naturally not as easy as he said. He wanted to bring Wu Zhen into Mei Zhuyu’s celestial court to help dispel the evil energy.
“Earlier, you were able to swap bodies, which shows that you two are of one mind and trust each other deeply. This is extremely rare. If not for this, I wouldn’t dare to let you rashly attempt this extraordinary method,” Master Siqing now carried himself with the image of a steady elder. If it weren’t for seeing his rough, bandit-like demeanor last time, Wu Zhen would have doubted whether this was the real Master Siqing.
“Are you willing to help disciple Guyu?”
Wu Zhen naturally agreed. After she agreed, Master Siqing spent half a day preparing things before saying they were ready.
By now, Mei Zhuyu had been unconscious for over a day. His sleeping expression was peaceful, looking like he was just normally asleep rather than bewitched by something.
Master Siqing set up an incense burner and other items in front of the bed, wearing a grey-blue Daoist robe and holding a red wooden sword as he began to dance. Wu Zhen found it somewhat familiar, recalling seeing a group of elderly people dancing similarly in the nearby town markets, with young men and women singing beside them. The local customs here were different from Chang’an; everyone loved song and dance, and the nearby towns were full of singing and dancing during festivals big and small. Wu Zhen had encountered this twice in the short time she’d been here.
Wu Zhen watched Master Siqing dance with a knowing look, thinking to herself that this Daoist master was probably a star at song and dance gatherings. She then closed her eyes, deciding it was better not to watch. To be honest, the dance was too unsightly.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back in Chang’an, not the present-day Chang’an, but Chang’an from about twenty years ago.