114 – Something Horrible
“… dead!”
A voice rang abruptly and detonated a bomb called “panic”.
The time began to flow again.
At first, the auctioneer clenched his face full of long needles and made an ear-piercing scream, and then screams, curses, weeping, and other sounds filled the space. These emotions mixed together and turned into a powerful torrent that washed away the people’s rationality.
Only Xue Qilin watched the hole in the roof of the single-story building, silent.
Things look to be on fire…
The color of dusk entered the dim single-story building through the hole. It dispelled the deep darkness and burned like flames atop the still flowing blood.
“Young Teacher, what, what’s… going on?”
Looking at the chaos before her eyes, Shui Yun’er forced out an intermittent voice from between her lips, stunned.
“… what else could it be? The ‘rope’ wasn’t thick enough, and so the lass struggle free.”
Xue Qilin replied dully. Although her voice is quiet, but it was still transmitted into Shui Yun’er’s ears despite the messy environment, sounding clear and distinct.
When she heard this, Shui Yun’er asked incredulously: “Young Teacher, are you saying that… the martial demon broke the ‘fetters’ just now?”
Fetters – this refers to the method of closing the qi passageways. Xue Qilin was once a victim of it.
“Um, I underestimated her determination…”
Her tone is weak and unimpressive. The lass who seems to be talking to herself has an emotionless expression on her face.
But ineffable ripples surged in her eyes, proving that her heart is not without fluctuations.
Although things happened in a blink of an eye, and Xue Qilin didn’t see what happened, but she is still able to guess everything based on the current situation.
The martial demon lass who was auctioned as a commodity has disappeared.
With her own strength, she forced out the long needles lodged deeply into her body blocking her qi passageways – the long needles that stabbed the auctioneer in the face, including the eyes, are probably the same needles that were ejected out of the lass’s body by true qi. After breaking free of the fetters and killing the son of a noble family in front of her, the martial demon lass broke the roof of the single-story building and fled.
Xue Qilin who was once treated in the same way by Hua Tianji knows better than anyone else how big the price you have to pay in order to struggle free from those fetters.
It is a price so heavy that she didn’t dare to pay it rashly.
What is the thing… the thing that made the lass be willing to pay such a heavy price?
Is it dignity, chastity, faith?
Or is it just the wish to be free?
Xue Qilin doesn’t know the answer.
The only thing she is certain about is that the lass must be upholding something more precious than life itself.
“… What are you doing? Chase after her!”
A man standing in front of the platform gave orders. He should be the person in charge or the hired thug leader. However, Xue Qilin doesn’t have much interest in him. She only glanced at him for a split second, and then looked away.
“No matter what, don’t let that little bitch alarm Merak Temple, or we’ll have to bear the consequences!”
When the darkness is exposed to the light, it will become an eye-sore, and people will no longer be able to turn a blind eye to it.
Because of this, darkness can only be darkness, always hidden deep in places where the light cannot reach.
The man probably understands this as well, which is why he is so impatient.
After receiving their orders, several strong men in black with blades hanging from the waist left the sing-story building. They are all martial practitioners, all in the Human Realm.
Although she cannot see it, but with her perception ability, Xue Qilin detected several Earth Realm auras outside the single-story building move away urgently. They are probably chasing after the martial demon.
“Young Teacher, I’m afraid it’s not appropriate for us to stay here much longer… it’ll cause trouble.”
Shui Yun’er furrowed her eyebrows, looked around, and then warned worriedly.
Xue Qilin withdrew her gaze.
“Little Yun, you rush back to Merak Temple first.”
“What about you, Young Teacher?”
“I’m going after the martial demon.”
Xue Qilin looked at Shui Yun’er and gazed into the water-blue eyes.
“Little Phecda should be awake. Ask her to come meet me.”
“This… Young Ancestor, do you want to save her?”
Xue Qilin shook her head and said “no”, and then set off. Shui Yun’er followed closely behind.
“Are they worried that she will harm the innocent?”
“No.”
Xue Qilin narrowed her eyes. They are close to the corridor leading to the entryway.
She is staring at several thugs who want to prevent them from leaving with her sharp eye, scaring the other side to back off again and again.
The corridor is dark.
The lass’s shimmering eyes suddenly lit up.
“Something bad is coming.”
“Something bad…?”
Shui Yun’er asked subconsciously, feeling that Xue Qilin’s words are mysterious. She cannot figure out the meaning of the other party’s words.
In the girl’s impression of her teacher, her teacher occasionally says some things that she cannot understand, or it takes her a long time to understand.
Perhaps this is a manifestation of the gap there is between our realms. Shui Yun’er mused.
“I don’t know either. I just have this premonition.”
At this moment, the lass’s shimmering eyes – bathed in the swaying candlelight, her eyes suddenly became abstruse.
“… qi of the five elements is restless.”
What does it mean? A a figurative big question mark popped up on Shui Yun’er’s head.
She was just about to ask, when she suddenly thought of a possibility and turned on her “spirit sense.”
The scene in her eyes changed immediately, and countless water-blue specks of light emerged before her eyes.
That’s water qi.
“The water qi… is uneasy…?”
Shui Yun’er can’t believe what she sees.
The water-colored specks of light swaying left and right seem to be evading something, panicky. She has never seen such a phenomenon before.
“Uneasy…”
Xue Qilin’s eyes are dull.
Then she murmured
“Hmm, maybe it’s really uneasy.”
As if she was infected by the water qi, Shui Yun’er showed a puzzled and uneasy expression.
“Why is this happening?”
“I’m not sure. But…”
Xue Qilin surveyed the sky.
“I just hope that it’s not…”
In the sky, crimson is extending without end.
The light of the setting sun partly hidden behind Merak Mountain is burning everything.
“… something horrible.”
*
With a slender shadow cast by the twilight following closely behind her, Xue Qilin is flying through the gaps between houses.
After parting ways with Shui Yun’er, she began searching for the martial demon lass’s whereabouts.
Probably because she erased her aura in order to escape her pursuers, the martial demon lass’s aura is very faint. Even though she is a Heaven Realm master and has a strong perception ability, but Xue Qilin spent a lot of effort to finally be able to detect the aura that almost melts into the air.
“… over there?”
The lass turned in the air and changed direction.
The aura gradually became stronger.
She is rapidly getting closer to the martial demon.
The aura of the martial demon isn’t moving, but it is getting weaker.
She either found out that someone is onto her and is suppressing her aura with increased strength, or…
The second possibility made Xue Qilin speed up her pace. She turned into a white stream of light and rushed towards the aura.
“… honey, look here!”
Coming from the distance, an immature voice is resounding in the sky.
Who taught her this form of address? Xue Qilin’s eyes jerked, and she looked in the direction of the voice.
A white colossus entered her eyes.
It has a white snake-like, slender body covered with scales glittering with incredible light under the dim sunlight, a fierce crocodile head with a pair of long whiskers, and a pair of antlers glowing dimly on the head.
It’s a white dragon [1].
The creature only recorded in legends is flying in the sky above Luotian Town and approaching Xue Qilin rapidly.
“I’m here!”
Looking at the white dragon who came to her side and winked at her – no, it should be said Phecda, Xue Qilin couldn’t help but sigh.
“What’s with that appearance… Also, who taught you to call me honey?”
Finished speaking, she knocked the dragon head beside her.
“Ordinary people cannot see me, so it doesn’t matter what I look like…” The white dragon showed an aggrieved expression, “To call the one’s you like honey – I saw it in the novels in Older Sister Qi’s room!”
What novels is Little Seven reading? Xue Qilin rolled her eyes.
“Okay. Now hurry up and turn back.”
The average person cannot perceive spiritual qi, and thus naturally cannot see the white dragon composed of spiritual qi.
That being said, there is no shortage of martial practitioners in Luotian Town.
Among these people, those who reached the Human Realm or higher can see the white dragon.
As evidence, Xue Qilin saw several Merak Temple disciples stare blankly this way with shocked expressions. She even heard someone shout “where did that monster come from”.
“How boring.”
The white dragon pursed its mouth strangely and released dazzling white light from all over its body.
Then as if sand blow away by the wind, the snake-like body turned into countless specs of light floating in the air.
“Is this all right?”
The lass emerged within the specs of light.
She looks only about 10 years old. Her skin is fair and rosy. She looks cute and lovely, and there is a slight shadow of Xue Qilin in her facial features.
The long hair with a faint gold gloss is combed into a bun hanging from the right side of the head, the level bangs and hair on the temples hanging naturally decorate the small, steamed bun-like round face. The big, limpid eyes are of a dark green color. At first glance, they look like two jade beads.
“Mhm, this looks much better!”
Xue Qilin raised the corners of her mouth and pinched Phecda’s chubby cheeks.
The tactile sensation is quite comfortable, but it lacks the proper warmth.
Phecda is still an incomplete item spirit. Although she has a human form at this moment, but it is formed from spiritual qi thanks to a spell, and enclosed within is the sword Phecda is staying in. It is not a true physical body.
Incidentally, Xue Qilin has separated Phecda from Phecda sword and put her into Empyrean Universe. In other words, Phecda’s current body is no longer Phecda sword, but the sword of Merak Temple’s Young Ancestor.
Of course this transfer is not without cost.
Phecda lost most of the spirit and all the spiritual qi she amassed over the years, leaving only the consciousness still intact.
“Stop it! It hurts.”
Angry, Phecda turned her head briskly and got free from Xue Qilin’s hands.
“How cold… I’m your Master.”
“You’re not permitted to pinch them! What if they become rounder?”
“Is a round face not pretty?”
“I like Older Sister Qi’s face, I want to grow up to look like that!”
Phecda’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“Yo yo yo, you speak like you can grow up.”
The shape of tool spirit is fixed and will not change with the passage of time – Phecda who is an incomplete spirit is no exception.
“Boo… it’s your fault that I look so tiny!”
“What do you mean by tiny?” Xue Qilin snorted twice, “I call it petite and exquisite.”
Phecda pouted, feeling wronged.
“Boo hoo… I should be with Shui Yun’er…”
As the saying goes, ‘dogs’ mirror their owners.
The appearance and shape of a tool spirit all depend on the features of the person who nourishes the spirit with spiritual qi.
Since Phecda’s spirit is now being nourished by Xue Qilin’s spiritual qi, it is not at all surprising that she looks like Xue Qilin.
“… We’re here.”
The smile on Xue Qilin’s face vanished suddenly, and she stopped quarreling with Phecda.
After she left this sentence, she slowed down and finally landed in front of a dark alley.
“Why are we here?”
Curious, Phecda stuck her head into the alley and looked at the situation inside, her eyes blinking.
“It seems that someone is there! I can smell blood.”
“… Let’s go!”
The big white sleeves hidden under the black robe fluttered in the air, and Xue Qilin merged into the darkness of the alley.
“Wait for me!”
Phecda exclaimed and quickly caught up with the back that was about to disappear.
[1] – white dragon (白色的龙) mentioned in this chapter is a white colored dragon, not to be confused with Qi Qiqi’s martial demon cat called White Dragon (白板). 白板 is actually a Mahjong tile, and it roughly means “white board”. 白板 is translated as White Dragon on Wikipedia and other sites, hence this is what I called the martial demon cat.
