MOF Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Journey to Wei City, Overnight Stay at the Jianchun Pavilion. A desolate and cold mountain in the painting, bizarre rocks…

The next day, the sky vaguely brightened. When Si Wumian opened the door, he accidentally bumped into A Si, who was about to knock. He was startled and asked, seemingly to no one in particular, “How is there a child here?”

A Si rubbed his bottom, which was a little sore from sitting too hard, and stood up. Seeing Si Wumian, his tone was very impolite, “Why did you bump into me with the door?”

Si Wumian apologized subconsciously, “Sorry, sorry. Eh, that’s not right.” He reacted and asked strangely, “Where did you come from? How did you end up in Cang Ling Du?”

A Si put his hands on his hips, stared at him, looking him up and down as if confirming that he really didn’t recognize him. Then, he grinned, “You don’t know me, but I know you. Before Immortal Lord Fufeng left, he said that if I needed anything, I could just find you.”

“You even know Immortal Lord Fufeng?” Si Wumian looked at him in surprise. Seeing that this child was so bright and spirited, at first glance, he seemed to resemble Immortal Lord Fufeng in some ways.

Could it be… Si Wumian quickly shook his head, dispelling the absurd thought from his mind.

“You,” Si Wumian chose his words carefully, “What is your relationship with Immortal Lord Fufeng?”

A Si smiled brightly, but deliberately didn’t answer him, “I’m hungry, are you going to eat now? Take me with you.”

Si Wumian was about to explain when the door next to him opened, and Mo Wuchou led Mo Linyuan out.

“How is he?” Si Wumian asked with concern.

“He’s fine.” Mo Wuchou smiled, “A Yao was very quiet and didn’t make a fuss sleeping alone.”

“Alone?” Si Wumian asked, “Then what about you?”

Mo Wuchou said, “I slept on another couch.”

Mo Linyuan didn’t want to hear them talking and struggled free from Mo Wuchou to walk forward.

Si Wumian pulled A Si along and followed, saying to him as they walked, “We’re going back to Southern Return now, do you want to go too?”

As soon as A Si heard the words “Southern Return,” he quickly said, “I don’t want to, I don’t want to! Let go of me, I’m not going with you.” He was grabbed by the arm by Si Wumian, and his struggles made him look like a flapping goose.

Si Wumian was worried about letting such a small child walk alone, “Since Immortal Lord Fufeng instructed me, I certainly can’t ignore you.”

Hoisting himself with his own petard, A Si had no choice but to tell the truth, “Alright, alright, I was lying to you. Actually, Immortal Lord Fufeng didn’t ask me to find you, I wanted to come myself.”

Seeing Mo Wuchou chasing after Mo Linyuan further and further away, Si Wumian stopped upon hearing this and stared down at him, “Why did you want to find me?”

“Of course, to play with you.” A Si quickly withdrew his arm, afraid that he would pick him up again.

“Play with me?” Si Wumian sized him up strangely, “Do we know each other?”

A Si made a face at him, “No, we don’t! I’m leaving!” After he finished speaking, he ran toward Mo Wuchou. Si Wumian chased after him, “What’s your name? You’re not very old, so don’t run around, be careful of danger. Where are your parents?”

A Si didn’t answer any of his questions, only waved at him and said loudly, “I’m going to find Xie Ci-gege, I’ll play with you next time.”

Si Wumian watched as a child of no more than six years old disappeared before his eyes in the blink of an eye.

“What was that?” he said in astonishment.

Mo Wuchou naturally didn’t miss this scene. He thought for a moment and replied, “I don’t know, probably some kind of spirit or something.”

This made Si Wumian feel relieved. If it was truly a spirit, it shouldn’t be bullied.

When they left Cang Ling Du, although the sky was already bright, the sunlight wasn’t dazzling. The number of Yin corpses on the suburban roads had decreased a lot during this period, so Si Wumian and the others had a relatively smooth journey.

Mo Linyuan liked to move around during the day and was very restless. If it were normal times, it wouldn’t be impossible for Si Wumian to fly his sword with two people, but now that there was a Mo Linyuan who would move around at any time, something might happen. So, they simply walked slowly. When they encountered Yin corpses on the way, they killed them all.

Liu Weiyuan had returned to the mountain, Si Wumian and others had left Cang Ling Du, and the solitary ghost A Si wanted to find Xie Yiling. As soon as he moved, his feet didn’t touch the ground, and he traveled thousands of miles in an instant, quickly arriving at Ghost City. But when he arrived, A Si didn’t know where to find someone.

And the person he was looking for was currently discussing with Nangong Ci where to go next.

“Shizun, I think we still have to personally go to the Wen Residence for a look.”

Nangong Ci walked beside him, side by side, “Wen Liangchen and the others have suffered a great defeat this time and should be well-behaved for a while. We can take this time to investigate the Wen Residence.”

The fact that Si Wumian was going to take Mo Wuchou and Mo Linyuan away from Cang Ling Du to return to Southern Return was soon heard by Xie Yiling from Nangong Ci. And Nangong Ci had learned it from Nangong Yue.

Before leaving, Nangong Yue specifically came to ask Nangong Ci, “A Ling, is that disciple of yours really carrying a spiritual weapon?”

Although it was an inquiry, Nangong Ci knew that his elder brother and the two headmasters had already sensed the aura of a spiritual weapon on Xie Yiling, and he didn’t want to hide it. He only said without changing his expression, “Spiritual weapons recognize their masters. If there is no authorization from their master, it is difficult to tame them.”

“In other words, the spiritual weapon has recognized him?” Nangong Yue had a hint of surprise on his face, “No wonder.”

“Perhaps, in the dark, there is providence.” Nangong Ci said leisurely, “Even Xie Ci doesn’t know.”

“Doesn’t know?” Nangong Yue frowned, “If that’s the case, is his origin known? Which sect did he previously study under?”

Nangong Ci said, “Unknown origin, unknown past, now a disciple of Fufeng Pavilion.”

After listening to Nangong Ci’s account of these things, Xie Yiling didn’t know whether to be surprised that Si Wumian had brought the Mo brothers back to Southern Return or at the tolerance of Nangong Yue and the other two headmasters towards him.

“It’s just, over?” Xie Yiling said with some emotion, “I thought I would be locked up and interrogated for forty-nine days.”

At the same time, Gu Huanzhi came to look for them early in the morning, seemingly worried that the two would leave without a word.

“What, you’re going back to Wei City?” Xie Yiling couldn’t help saying after hearing Gu Huanzhi’s words, “But Gu Shidi, didn’t you come out to arrest Yan Zhan? Why are you going back?”

“I don’t understand either.” Gu Huanzhi sighed, reluctantly saying, “Father suddenly summoned me back. With Er-ge watching me, I can’t leave.”

“I see.” Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci exchanged glances, “But Shizun and I were just discussing whether to go to the Wen Residence for a look.”

“Didn’t Shen Shixiong and the others arrange for people to go?” Gu Huanzhi said, “If there’s a problem, they shouldn’t hide it.”

Xie Yiling heard the implication in his words, “Gu Shidi wants us to go to Wei City with you?”

His thoughts were seen through, and stared at by Xie Yiling and Nangong Ci, Gu Huanzhi smiled shyly, “Xie Shixiong probably hasn’t been to Wei City, right?”

Wei City? Xie Yiling thought to himself: How could he not have been there? After all, the puppetry and Yin Butterfly techniques he now learned were all because he had visited the Sun and Moon Spirit Platform many years ago and accidentally discovered the “Record of Strange Contracts” while visiting the Treasure Book Building.

Xie Yiling had always had a good memory. After reading the “Record of Strange Contracts” at that time, he returned to Southern Return and transcribed it without missing a word.

Afterwards, he read it every day until he fully understood it, and then he studied on his own late into the night. Thinking about it this way, it was really a bit unethical.

Xie Yiling’s face was slightly hot, and he subconsciously avoided Gu Huanzhi’s gaze, “Shizun, since Gu Shidi is so enthusiastically inviting us, wouldn’t it be chilling his heart if we refused? Why don’t we go to Wei City and take a look?”

Nangong Ci naturally had no objection. He looked back at Xie Yiling, and both saw three words in each other’s eyes – something’s wrong!

Gu Huanzhi told Gu Ziyan in advance that he was going to Wei City with Xie Yiling and the others, and only then did he gain his freedom.

Coincidentally, the three planned to fly on their swords after leaving the Ghost City gate. As a result, as they passed through the street, they happened to see A Si, who was staring longingly at a steamed bun stall, wishing he could drool three thousand feet.

A Si stared at the freshly steamed buns, and in the corner of his eye, he saw someone taking out money to buy a bag. He stared intently, his gaze still fixed on the steamer. Until the bag of steamed buns was held by someone and waved in front of him as if to show off.

A Si’s little face drooped down, and he glared fiercely at the person. After seeing who it was, his expression suddenly changed from gloomy to clear, the speed of the change was astonishing.

“Xie Ci-gege!”

Xie Yiling shook the steamed bun and turned it around his face, “Why did you run here?”

A Si’s round face followed the movement of the steamed bun, looking like duckweed spinning in the water. The more Xie Yiling looked at it, the more he wanted to laugh, and before he could stop himself from laughing out loud, he pressed down on A Si’s head.

“Alright, stop spinning.” Xie Yiling handed him the steamed bun, “I bought it for you.”

“Xie Ci-gege, I knew you were the best to me!” A Si swallowed two steamed buns in a row, chewed them sloppily a couple of times, and swallowed them.

“Cough,” Xie Yiling pointed to Nangong Ci, “This is the one who paid for it, I just contributed some effort.”

A Si paused, covered his ears, and continued to eat.

After finishing the steamed buns, A Si heard that they were going to Wei City, and he tugged at Xie Yiling’s sleeve, refusing to let go, “Take me with you! Xie Ci-gege, I want to go play too!”

Suddenly, A Si felt a gust of wind under his feet. He looked down, then looked up, and found that Nangong Ci had actually picked him up directly.

“What are you doing, let go of me!”

Nangong Ci held him a little further away with a calm expression, “If you want to go with us, don’t make trouble.”

“Who’s making trouble?” A Si retorted unconvinced, “I’m not making trouble, let me down!”

As soon as the words fell, Nangong Ci let go of his hand. A Si barely managed to stand still and quickly hid behind Xie Yiling.

Now that Xie Yiling’s spiritual power had recovered and Nangong Ci’s injuries had healed, the group flew on their swords and arrived at Wei City before sunset.

Wei City has a renowned restaurant, famous in the six capitals, called Jianchun Pavilion. The reason for its fame is that a mysterious painter once stayed at this restaurant for a period of time. During that time, the painter didn’t leave his room for ten consecutive days. The waiter would put the food at the door every day, knock lightly three times, and then leave.

On the morning of the eleventh day, the waiter estimated the time to collect the tray and found that the food hadn’t been touched. He knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered, so he boldly pushed open the door and walked in, only to find that it was empty.

The painter had already left at some point, leaving only a two-meter-long painting on the table.

In the painting, a desolate and cold mountain, bizarre rocks, withered trees without branches, and cold water passing over a bridge. Every stroke can be called the work of gods. Even more bizarre and strange was the white bones piled up in a disorderly manner all over the mountain.

One skeleton pressed against another, one row stepping on another, the momentum was like rising. However, the overall tone of the painting was gray and dark, extremely gloomy. The waiter was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he scrambled out. This commotion alarmed the owner of the restaurant, who went upstairs to check. Who knew that the owner, upon seeing this painting, loved it very much. He even specially invited a famous painter to make a copy, and hung one in every room.

From then on, the restaurant’s business gradually became more prosperous, and many guests who liked painting heard that the restaurant had a rare and mysterious painting left by a painter and came specifically to view it. The reputation of Jianchun Pavilion became increasingly famous and spread from then on.