Zhao Xiwen’s hatred for Shi Pengpeng was venomous, his teeth grinding audibly, spittle flying as he raged, “I’ll make you wish you were dead…”
Shi Pengpeng couldn’t help but take a step back, “You’ve already achieved that.”
Zhao Xiwen: “Huh?”
Shi Pengpeng’s face showed disgust, “I’m already feeling like dying from your stench.”
After a pause, she added, “Zhao Jiayao smells just as bad. It must be a family trait.”
“How dare you!” Zhao Xiwen was furious, making a move to grab her throat, “You won’t stop until you see the coffin, will you?”
Shi Pengpeng wasn’t intimidated at all, her hands behind her back quickly forming a spell.
The wooden man nearby, if it had sweat glands, would have been drenched in sweat.
Just then, a muffled thunderclap sounded from the sky, and the wooden man hurriedly said, “Master, the time has come. Be careful not to miss the important matter.”
The night grew darker, the moon hidden behind the clouds.
Zhao Xiwen had to stop his actions, a sinister smile appearing on his face, “Shi Pengpeng, aren’t you curious about where Yan Jing is? Perfect, tonight I’ll use you as a blood sacrifice for the Unwithering Bones, so you can die together with him, a pair of doomed lovers. Guardian Divine Tree-“
The wooden man quickly stepped forward, “Here.”
Zhao Xiwen: “Take her to the altar.”
“Yes,” the wooden man replied, subtly giving Shi Pengpeng a look, “Little mage, our master’s powers are vast. If you don’t want to die too miserably, just follow me quietly.”
Shi Pengpeng finally suppressed her urge to cast the spell, “Alright.”
Seeing her so compliant, Zhao Xiwen narrowed his eyes, mocking, “I thought you were tougher than this. Turns out, you’re just like the rest.”
Shi Pengpeng remained unfazed, “Heh, no rush. I have my own pace. Once I die, I’ll immediately turn into a vengeful ghost and fight you again. Then we’ll both be ghosts, and we’ll see who’s afraid of whom.”
Zhao Xiwen:”…..”
Others:”…..”
Why does she always have so many ideas!
Zhao Xiwen’s decaying face twitched, “You think I’ll give you a chance to become a ghost? I’ll make sure your soul is scattered.”
With a wave of his hand, “Divine Tree, hurry up. And bring the other two as well, for the burial.”
Bai Wanmu and Shan Ren exchanged glances, silently agreeing not to speak, and followed the wooden man with Shi Pengpeng up the stone steps to the lotus stone platform in front of the evil deity statue.
Following Zhao Xiwen’s orders, the wooden man had Bai Wanmu and Shan Ren stand to the side, while Shi Pengpeng was brought alone to the center of the platform, in front of a massive ebony coffin.
The coffin was pitch black, its lid half-closed, with sinister runes carved into grooves on its surface.
At the head of the coffin, a long-burning lamp flickered.
Shi Pengpeng realized something, her heart pounding, though her face remained calm.
She leaned against the coffin, peering over the half- open lid, and there he was the face she had traveled thousands of miles to find.
Yan Jing lay quietly inside the coffin, his nose and mouth covered by a copper coin mask, his eyes closed, the usual sharpness gone.
His brows were slightly furrowed, as if trapped in a nightmare he couldn’t wake from, revealing a vulnerability rarely seen in him.
Zhao Xiwen stood beneath the massive evil deity statue, lighting three long and two short incense sticks.
He then turned and commanded from afar, “Divine Tree, kill her and use her blood to fill the coffin’s runes.”
The wooden man glanced at Zhao Xiwen, then at Shi Pengpeng, and finally thought of the Gu worm in his heart’s blood.
He closed his eyes, silently took a few steps back, and said dryly, “Commander, maybe… you should handle this yourself.”
“Huh?” Zhao Xiwen’s exposed brow furrowed.
“What do you mean?”
The wooden man touched his tattered skin, his face full of misery.
“Ugh, I can’t beat her.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Shi Pengpeng, Bai Wanmu, and Shan Ren simultaneously broke free from the loosely tied ropes around their wrists.
Shi Pengpeng flung a yellow talisman at Zhao Xiwen while kicking open the coffin lid.
She bent down, grabbed Yan Jing, and shook him.
“Brother, wake up! I’m here to save you.”
“Hmm…” Yan Jing’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, letting out a barely audible groan.
His eyes remained closed, and his body was still motionless.
Shi Pengpeng knew he was under a spell, but she didn’t have time to break it for him now.
Zhao Xiwen never expected the wooden spirit to betray him.
Shocked and furious, he swung his arm, summoning a foul-smelling gust of wind that swept the yellow talisman aside and rushed toward Shi Pengpeng.
Shi Pengpeng, fully alert, immediately formed a hand seal with one hand while wrapping her other arm around Yan Jing’s waist, lifting him up.
Yan Jing was a full head taller than her and quite heavy.
Fortunately, she was strong enough.
Taking a deep breath, she hoisted him over her shoulder and quickly retreated to the edge of the stone platform, shouting, “Senior Sister, Master, hold him off for now!”
“Amitabha,” Shan Ren charged forward without hesitation.
Bai Wanmu flicked her sleeve, pulling out a short flute used to control Gu worms.
The eerie melody of the flute summoned tiny, almost imperceptible insects that crawled toward the rotting corpse at an incredible speed, silently burrowing into its feet.
Moments later, Bai Wanmu screamed, “Ahhh! This ghost is so toxic! It killed my poisonous Gu worms! Master, be careful!”
“Good, good,” Shan Ren tensed but didn’t retreat.
He continued advancing, his fists moving with fierce momentum.
“Hmph, an overconfident bald monk,” Zhao Xiwen sneered, looking down at Shan Ren, who wasn’t even as tall as his leg.
He didn’t bother dodging and simply raised his massive foot to stomp on Shan Ren.
At that moment, a wave of Buddhist power erupted.
With a loud “bang,” Shan Ren’s Arhat Fist, enhanced with spiritual energy, struck the sole of Zhao Xiwen’s foot.
Caught off guard, Zhao Xiwen staggered from the full force of the blow.
“Ahhh !” Zhao Xiwen roared, retreating several steps in frustration.
He reached behind his back, pressing on his neck, and with a sharp pull, he drew a pitch-black longsword from his spine. “I’ll make you regret this!”
From a distance, Shi Pengpeng heard the sword’s hum and instinctively looked up, shocked.
“The Zigan Sword!”
Earlier, the wooden man had mentioned that the Commander possessed the Zigan Sword, but she hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it was a thing of the past.
After all, it had just appeared at an auction and was bought by Ouyang Jue.
Why was the sword, which should have been far away in Xiluo, now back in Zhao Xiwen’s hands?
There was no time to ponder.
Shi Pengpeng, carrying Yan Jing, leaped off the stone platform and sprinted to the wall.
Just as she set him down and removed the copper coin mask, a sudden gust of eerie wind swept through, nearly blinding her.
“Ha ha ha ha, let me show you the power of Zigan Sword.” Zhao Xiwen raised the Zigan Sword, and the astonishing magical power of the Yin- Yang Sword surged like a tide, instantly plunging the entire mausoleum into an icy abyss.
The bone-chilling cold was sharper than needles, penetrating deep into the flesh and blood.
At the same time, a series of “crackling” sounds, similar to the twisting of joints, echoed around them.
The rows of clay soldiers neatly arranged on both sides of the stone platform began to move.
“All guards, heed my command,” Zhao Xiwen pointed the tip of his sword at Shi Pengpeng.
“Kill without mercy anyone who dares to intrude into the imperial tomb.”
In an instant, dozens of clay soldiers turned in unison, baring their claws and pouncing toward Shi Pengpeng.
“Shitttt!!”
Shi Pengpeng had no choice but to free one hand to lift Yan Jing by the waist again, while the other hand swiftly formed a spell.
One after another, exorcism talismans shot like arrows toward the clay soldiers, embedding themselves into their bodies.
The cinnabar glowed, and the clay soldiers were immediately immobilized.
“Petty tricks,” Zhao Xiwen sneered, swinging the Zigan Sword forcefully.
The talismans instantly self-ignited, turning into ashes.
Shi Pengpeng, carrying the hefty Yan Jing, fought and retreated, momentarily overwhelmed.
She decided to try awakening Yan Jing with genuine emotion, shouting, “Brother, wake up! You’re so heavy!”
“Hmm—” Yan Jing’s breathing noticeably deepened, his mouth slightly opened, and his eyelids twitched, but he still didn’t wake up.
Shi Pengpeng focused her mind to investigate and discovered that a breath of yin energy was blocking his throat, sealing his seven orifices.
As the clay army closed in, she realized that casting spells with one hand was insufficient to hold them back.
With a determined heart, she bit her tongue until it bled, then tilted her head and pressed her lips against Yan Jing’s.
The crimson blood from her tongue seeped into his mouth, staining the corners of his lips.
In the human body, there are three souls and seven spirits.
The three souls are Tai Guang, Shuang Ling, and You Jing; the seven spirits are Shi Gou, Fu Shi, Que Yin, Tun Zei, Fei Du, Chu Hui, and Chou Fei.
The blood from the tongue connects to the pericardium meridian, where the soul Tai Guang and the spirit Fei Du reside.
When they interact, they generate true yang energy, hence it is also called True Yang Blood, which can ward off evil and suppress yin.
“Command!”
As the spell was cast, the true yang energy surged, instantly breaking through the yin energy blocking Yan Jing’s throat.
“Cough, cough!”
His eyes suddenly opened, and without hesitation, he pressed the watch on his wrist.
The Qi Lin Talisman activated, and the malevolent spell that had ensnared him finally dissipated completely.
There was still a faint taste of blood in his mouth.
Although he had been ensnared, his consciousness had remained clear.
Yan Jing looked at the girl holding him, feeling a mix of warmth and restlessness in his heart.
He couldn’t tell if it was because of the True Yang Blood or because of her…
His Adam’s apple bobbed as he hesitated, “Pengpeng…”
“Great, my Snow White, you’re finally awake.” Shi Pengpeng let out a sigh of relief.
Yan Jing paused, “…Snow White?”
“Lying in a coffin with a poisoned apple in your mouth, calling you Snow White Prince isn’t too much, is it?” Shi Pengpeng released her hold on him, feeling a great burden lifted, and even had the leisure to joke, “Or do you want to be the princess?”
Yan Jing:”…..”
What was he even expecting?
Yan Jing closed his eyes briefly, “No need, Prince is fine.”
“Alright, Prince Brother, can you protect yourself now?” Shi Pengpeng asked.
Yan Jing looked up and saw a mountain filled with vibrant, yet eerie, paper palaces.
Beneath the colorful decorations, countless clay figures waved their stiff limbs, roaring as they surged toward them.
In the past, these things would have been enough to make him die a hundred times over.
His heart was pounding wildly, and his nerves were stretched to the limit.
His breathing became unconsciously rapid, and he wished he could faint again.
“Brother?” Shi Pengpeng noticed his mood and felt a bit helpless for a moment.
Yan Jing’s issues had been there since childhood, and she had always known about them.
The ” Unwithering Bone” attracted too many malevolent spirits and ghosts, and it didn’t wait for him to grow up enough to handle them.
And the time they met was too late.
If they had known each other earlier, with Shi Pengpeng’s family background, she might have been able to help him overcome some of his psychological shadows.
Unfortunately, during the summer they lived together, Yan Jing had already grown into a young master who was used to wrapping himself in a cold demeanor, with a stubborn and foul temper.
Because he was too afraid of dark entities, he was still not proficient in magic, and he loved to attract and provoke ghosts.
He often carried an aura of malevolence, which made Shi Pengpeng quite disdainful of him.
The two of them would often argue and get into fights over the slightest disagreement.
Shi Pengpeng was also in her adolescence at that time, at the peak of her youthful arrogance, and she wasn’t about to tolerate his temper.
Although she didn’t deliberately scare him, she never avoided him when catching or beating ghosts, successfully creating even greater psychological shadows for him.
There was even one time when Shi Pengpeng wanted to catch a major ghost causing trouble, and Yan Jing disagreed.
They argued fiercely, and in a fit of anger, Shi Pengpeng went into the mountains alone in the middle of the night.
Somehow, Yan Jing also ended up going into the mountains to look for her.
That night was thrilling, and they only returned home as the sky was about to lighten.
It was also that time when Old Master Yan felt that things had gotten out of hand and threatened to arrange a childhood marriage for them.
And Yan Jing was clearly genuinely scared that time, and he never dared to argue with her again after that.
Now, the bullet from many years ago had hit right between the eyes.
Shi Pengpeng thought that if she had known back then that she would one day have to protect him, she would have taken better care of his mental health.
“Brother, why don’t you just stand behind me…”
“No need.” Yan Jing took a deep breath, took off his watch, opened a specially designed cover on the back of the watch face, and took out a neatly folded talisman from inside.
The talisman had obviously been used for a long time and looked a bit faded.
He tightly held the talisman in his hand and looked straight at her, “I’m not afraid.”
Shi Pengpeng suddenly remembered the scene at the Zhao family’s ancestral grave and asked, “Is this the Lin Talisman you’ve always carried with you?”
“Yes.” Yan Jing nodded and suddenly smiled, “This is also the one you drew for me when we were kids.”
Shi Pengpeng:”???”