TFOD Chapter 41

If it were another girl of the same age, she would have screamed on the spot. But A-Qing had been pretending to be blind for so many years, and everyone treated her as if she couldn’t see. They often did many things in front of her without being on guard. She had long witnessed countless ugliness and had cultivated a heart of steel. She didn’t even utter a sound.

Even so, Wei Wuxian still felt a tingling and stiff sensation coming from her legs.

Xiao Xingchen stood among the bodies of the villagers scattered all over the ground. He sheathed his sword and said with a solemn expression, “There isn’t a single survivor in this village? All of them are walking corpses?”

Xue Yang curved his lips into a smile, but the voice coming from his mouth sounded very surprised and puzzled, with a hint of sorrow, “That’s right. Fortunately, your sword can automatically guide you towards corpse energy. Otherwise, with just the two of us, it would be difficult to break out of this encirclement.”

Xiao Xingchen said, “Let’s check the village once more. If there really aren’t any survivors, we should burn all these walking corpses as soon as possible.”

When they had walked away side by side, A-Qing’s legs finally regained their strength. She slipped out from behind the house and walked to the pile of corpses, looking left and right. Wei Wuxian’s gaze also shifted with her.

These villagers were all killed by Xiao Xingchen with a clean and decisive thrust of his sword through the heart. Suddenly, Wei Wuxian noticed a few faces that looked somewhat familiar.

In the previous few memories, these three people had gone out during the day and encountered several idlers sitting at a village intersection playing dice. When they passed that intersection, these idlers glanced up and saw a big blind man, a small blind girl, and a small cripple, and they all burst into laughter, gesturing and pointing. A-Qing spat at them and waved her bamboo stick, while Xiao Xingchen walked past as if he hadn’t heard anything, his expression calm. Xue Yang even smiled. But there was no trace of a smile in his eyes.

A-Qing flipped over several bodies in a row, lifting their eyelids. All of them had white pupils, and some people’s faces were already covered with corpse spots. She breathed a sigh of relief. But Wei Wuxian’s heart sank lower and lower.

Although these people looked very much like walking corpses, they were actually all living people.

They were just living people who had been poisoned by corpse toxins.

Near the mouths and noses of several corpses, Wei Wuxian also saw traces of residual purplish-red powder. Those who were deeply poisoned and had become walking dead were beyond saving, but there were also those who were lightly poisoned and could still be saved. These villagers were the ones who had been poisoned recently. They would show characteristics of corpse transformation and emit corpse energy, but they could still think, speak, and were still living people. As long as they were treated, they could be saved, just like Lan Jingyi and the others at the time. It was absolutely not okay to kill them by mistake, otherwise it would be equivalent to harming living people.

They could have spoken, could have identified themselves, could have cried for help, but the worst thing was that their tongues had all been cut off in advance. The mouths of every corpse were stained with either warm or dried blood.

Although Xiao Xingchen couldn’t see, Shuanghua would guide him towards corpse energy. In addition, these villagers had no tongues and could only make strange howls that were extremely similar to those of walking corpses. Therefore, he had no doubt that he was killing walking corpses.

Insane, killing with a borrowed knife. Returning kindness with enmity, malicious and insidious.

A-Qing, however, did not understand the mysteries within. Her knowledge was very superficial, mostly what she had occasionally heard Xiao Xingchen mention. She murmured, “This bad thing, is he really helping the Taoist priest?”

Wei Wuxian thought, “You must not trust Xue Yang like this!”

Fortunately, A-Qing’s intuition was very sharp. Although with her limited knowledge, she couldn’t identify the subtle clues, her intuition had long ingrained a deep-rooted wariness towards Xue Yang. She instinctively disliked this person and couldn’t trust him. Therefore, whenever Xue Yang went out night-hunting with Xiao Xingchen, she would secretly follow them. Even when they were in the same room, she never let down her guard.

One night, the winter wind howled. The three of them huddled together by the broken stove in the small room to keep warm. Xiao Xingchen was repairing a bamboo basket with a broken corner, A-Qing was wrapped up like a dumpling in the only quilt, snuggling beside him. Xue Yang was propping his chin with one hand, idly doing nothing. Hearing A-Qing constantly nagging Xiao Xingchen to tell a story to coax her, he impatiently said, “Stop making noise. If you make noise again, I’ll tie your tongue in a knot.”

A-Qing ignored him completely and demanded, “Taoist priest, I want to hear a story!”

Xiao Xingchen said, “When I was young, no one told me stories. How am I supposed to tell you one?”

A-Qing kept bothering him, wanting to roll around on the ground. Xiao Xingchen said, “Alright, then I’ll tell you a story about a mountain.”

A-Qing said, “Once upon a time, there was a mountain, and on the mountain there was a temple?”

Xiao Xingchen said, “No, once upon a time, there was an unknown immortal mountain. On the mountain lived an enlightened immortal. The immortal had many disciples, but she did not allow them to go down the mountain.”

Hearing this beginning, Wei Wuxian immediately understood, “Baoshan Sanren.”

A-Qing said, “Why weren’t they allowed to go down the mountain?”

Xiao Xingchen said, “Because the immortal herself didn’t understand the world outside the mountain, so she hid on the mountain. She told her disciples that if they wanted to go down the mountain, then they didn’t have to come back, and they shouldn’t bring the disputes of the outside world back to the mountain.”

A-Qing said, “How could they hold back? There must have been disciples who couldn’t resist sneaking down the mountain to play.”

Xiao Xingchen said, “Yes. The first one to go down the mountain was a very outstanding disciple. When he first went down the mountain, because his skills were high, everyone respected and praised him. He also became a famous figure in the righteous path of the cultivation world. But later, after encountering something, his personality changed drastically and he suddenly turned into a demon who killed without blinking. In the end, he was hacked to death by many knives.”

Baoshan Sanren’s first disciple who “did not die a peaceful death”, Yanling Daoren.

What exactly happened to Wei Wuxian’s senior uncle after he went down the mountain that caused his personality to change so drastically was still a mystery. Perhaps no one would ever know. Xiao Xingchen finished repairing the bamboo basket and touched it. After confirming that it wouldn’t prick anyone, he put it down and continued, “The second disciple was also a very outstanding female disciple.”

Wei Wuxian’s heart warmed.

Cangse Sanren.

A-Qing asked, “Was she pretty?” Xiao Xingchen said, “I don’t know. It’s said that she was very pretty.” A-Qing held her face and said, “Then I know. After she went down the mountain, many people must have liked her and wanted to marry her. Then she must have married a high-ranking official or a clan leader! Hee hee.”

Xiao Xingchen smiled and said, “You guessed wrong. She married a servant of a clan leader, and the two of them eloped together.”

A-Qing said, “I don’t like that. How could an excellent and beautiful immortal fancy a servant? This kind of story is too cliche. It’s just something that those poor and pathetic scholars would fantasize about. Then what happened? What kind of life did they live after they eloped?”

Xiao Xingchen said, “Then they both accidentally lost their lives in a night-hunt.”

A-Qing spat and said, “What kind of story is that! Marrying a servant is one thing, but they also died together! I don’t want to listen anymore!”

Wei Wuxian thought, “Fortunately, Xiao Xingchen didn’t continue to tell her that these two had also given birth to a great demon that everyone was shouting to kill. Otherwise, she might have spat on my head.”

Xiao Xingchen said helplessly, “That’s why I said in the beginning that I’m not good at telling stories.”

A-Qing said, “Then Taoist priest, you must remember your previous night-hunting experiences, right? I love to hear about that! Tell me, what kind of monsters have you fought before?”

Xue Yang, who had been squinting his eyes, pretending to listen, now had a slightly serious expression. His pupils contracted, and he glanced sideways at Xiao Xingchen.

Xiao Xingchen said, “There were too many.”

Xue Yang suddenly said, “Is that so? Then Taoist priest, did you also go night-hunting alone before?”

His lips were slightly upturned, clearly showing a malicious expression, but his voice was full of innocent curiosity. After a pause, Xiao Xingchen smiled slightly and said, “No.”

A-Qing became interested, “Then who else was there?”

This time, Xiao Xingchen paused even longer. After a long while, he said, “A close friend of mine.”

A strange light flashed in Xue Yang’s eyes, and the smile on his lips grew deeper. It seemed that revealing Xiao Xingchen’s scars gave him a great sense of pleasure. A-Qing was genuinely curious, “Taoist priest, what kind of person is your friend? What was he like?”

Xiao Xingchen said calmly, “A righteous gentleman with noble character.”

Hearing this, Xue Yang rolled his eyes dismissively. His lips moved slightly, as if silently cursing a few words, but he deliberately pretended to be puzzled and said, “Then Taoist priest, where is your friend now? Why haven’t I seen him come to find you?”

Wei Wuxian thought, “This is really a poisonous little knife.”

Sure enough, Xiao Xingchen stopped speaking. Although A-Qing didn’t understand the inside story, she seemed to sense something. She held her breath slightly and quietly glared at Xue Yang, her teeth itching slightly, as if she couldn’t wait to bite him. After zoning out for a while, Xiao Xingchen broke the silence and said, “I don’t know where he is at the moment. However, I hope…”

Before he finished speaking, he touched A-Qing’s head and said, “Alright, let’s stop here for tonight. I really am not good at telling stories. It’s too difficult.”

A-Qing obediently said, “Oh, okay!”

Who knew that Xue Yang would suddenly say, “How about I tell one?”

A-Qing, who was just feeling disappointed, immediately said, “Okay, okay, you tell one.”

Xue Yang said leisurely, “Once upon a time, there was a child.”

“This child really liked to eat sweet things, but because he had no parents and no money, he often couldn’t get any. One day, he was sitting in front of some steps as usual, spacing out. Across from the steps was a restaurant. A man was sitting at a table of food inside. He saw the child and waved for him to come over.”

Although the beginning of this story wasn’t anything special, it was at least better than Xiao Xingchen’s old-fashioned one. If A-Qing had a pair of rabbit ears, they would definitely have perked up at this moment.

Xue Yang continued, “This child was muddle-headed and confused. He didn’t know what to do in the first place, so when he saw someone waving at him, he immediately ran over. The man pointed at a plate of pastries on the table and said to him, ‘Do you want to eat this?’

“He definitely wanted to eat it, and nodded frantically. So, this man gave the child a piece of paper and said, ‘If you want to eat, then deliver this to a room in a certain place. Once you deliver it, I’ll give it to you.’

“The child was very happy. He could get a plate of pastries by running an errand, and this plate of pastries was something he had earned himself.

“He didn’t know how to read, so he took the paper and went to deliver it to the specified location. He opened the door, and a burly man came out. The man took the paper, looked at it, and punched the child in the face, making his nose bleed. He grabbed his hair and asked, ‘Who told you to deliver this kind of thing?'”

This child must have been Xue Yang himself.

Wei Wuxian didn’t expect that he would be so shrewd now. When he was little, he was actually so honest and dim-witted. He would do whatever people told him to do. The paper must not have been something good to say. The restaurant man and this burly man must have had some kind of grudge. He himself didn’t dare to curse at him directly, so he got a child off the street to deliver a humiliating message. Such an action could be called despicable.

Xue Yang said, “He was frightened and pointed in a direction. The burly man grabbed his hair and dragged him all the way back to the restaurant. The man was long gone. The leftover pastries on the table were also taken away by the waiter in the restaurant. The burly man was furious and overturned several tables in the restaurant. He cursed and left.

“The child was very anxious. He had run an errand, gotten beaten, and had been dragged by his hair all the way. His scalp was almost ripped off. If he couldn’t eat the pastries, that wouldn’t do. So, with tears in his eyes, he asked the waiter, ‘Where are my pastries? You promised that you would give me pastries!'”

Xue Yang said with a smile, “The waiter had his restaurant smashed up, so he was already furious. He gave the child a few slaps across the face, sending him flying out of the door. His ears were ringing. After walking a distance, guess what? By chance, he met the man who had asked him to deliver the message again.”

At this point, he didn’t continue the story. A-Qing was listening with great focus and urged him, “Then what? What happened?”

Xue Yang said, “What else could happen? He just got slapped and kicked a few more times.”

A-Qing said, “That’s you, right? You love eating sweets. It must be you! How were you like this when you were a child! If it were me, I would spit, spit, spit in his food, tea, and water first, then hit, hit, hit…” She gestured wildly, almost hitting Xiao Xingchen, who was standing beside her. Xiao Xingchen hurriedly said, “Alright, alright, the story is over. Let’s go to sleep.”

A-Qing was tucked into the coffin by him. She was still stomping her feet in anger, “Aiya! Both of your stories really made me angry! One was boring enough to make people die of anger, and the other was annoying enough to make people die of anger! Oh my god, that man who asked people to deliver the message was so annoying! I’m so frustrated!”

Xiao Xingchen said helplessly, “That’s why I said from the start that I’m not good at telling stories.”

A-Qing said, “Then Taoist priest, you must remember your previous night-hunting experiences, right? I love to hear about that! Tell me, what kind of monsters have you fought before?”

Xue Yang, who had been squinting his eyes, pretending to listen, now had a slightly serious expression. His pupils contracted, and he glanced sideways at Xiao Xingchen.

Xiao Xingchen said, “There were too many.”

Xue Yang suddenly said, “Is that so? Then Taoist priest, did you also go night-hunting alone before?”

His lips were slightly upturned, clearly showing a malicious expression, but his voice was full of innocent curiosity. After a pause, Xiao Xingchen smiled slightly and said, “No.”

A-Qing became interested, “Then who else was there?”

This time, Xiao Xingchen paused even longer. After a long while, he said, “A close friend of mine.”

A strange light flashed in Xue Yang’s eyes, and the smile on his lips grew deeper. It seemed that revealing Xiao Xingchen’s scars gave him a great sense of pleasure. A-Qing was genuinely curious, “Taoist priest, what kind of person is your friend? What was he like?”

Xiao Xingchen said calmly, “A righteous gentleman with noble character.”

Hearing this, Xue Yang rolled his eyes dismissively. His lips moved slightly, as if silently cursing a few words, but he deliberately pretended to be puzzled and said, “Then Taoist priest, where is your friend now? Why haven’t I seen him come to find you?”

Wei Wuxian thought, “This is really a poisonous little knife.”

Sure enough, Xiao Xingchen stopped speaking. Although A-Qing didn’t understand the inside story, she seemed to sense something. She held her breath slightly and quietly glared at Xue Yang, her teeth itching slightly, as if she couldn’t wait to bite him. After zoning out for a while, Xiao Xingchen broke the silence and said, “I don’t know where he is at the moment. However, I hope…”

Before he finished speaking, he touched A-Qing’s head and said, “Alright, let’s stop here for tonight. I really am not good at telling stories. It’s too difficult.”

A-Qing obediently said, “Oh, okay!”

Who knew that Xue Yang would suddenly say, “How about I tell one?”

A-Qing, who was just feeling disappointed, immediately said, “Okay, okay, you tell one.”

Xue Yang said leisurely, “Once upon a time, there was a child.”

“This child really liked to eat sweet things, but because he had no parents and no money, he often couldn’t get any. One day, he was sitting in front of some steps as usual, spacing out. Across from the steps was a restaurant. A man was sitting at a table of food inside. He saw the child and waved for him to come over.”

Although the beginning of this story wasn’t anything special, it was at least better than Xiao Xingchen’s old-fashioned one. If A-Qing had a pair of rabbit ears, they would definitely have perked up at this moment.

Xue Yang continued, “This child was muddle-headed and confused. He didn’t know what to do in the first place, so when he saw someone waving at him, he immediately ran over. The man pointed at a plate of pastries on the table and said to him, ‘Do you want to eat this?’

“He definitely wanted to eat it, and nodded frantically. So, this man gave the child a piece of paper and said, ‘If you want to eat, then deliver this to a room in a certain place. Once you deliver it, I’ll give it to you.’

“The child was very happy. He could get a plate of pastries by running an errand, and this plate of pastries was something he had earned himself.

“He didn’t know how to read, so he took the paper and went to deliver it to the specified location. He opened the door, and a burly man came out. The man took the paper, looked at it, and punched the child in the face, making his nose bleed. He grabbed his hair and asked, ‘Who told you to deliver this kind of thing?'”

This child must have been Xue Yang himself.

Wei Wuxian didn’t expect that he would be so shrewd now. When he was little, he was actually so honest and dim-witted. He would do whatever people told him to do. The paper must not have been something good to say. The restaurant man and this burly man must have had some kind of grudge. He himself didn’t dare to curse at him directly, so he got a child off the street to deliver a humiliating message. Such an action could be called despicable.

Xue Yang said, “He was frightened and pointed in a direction. The burly man grabbed his hair and dragged him all the way back to the restaurant. The man was long gone. The leftover pastries on the table were also taken away by the waiter in the restaurant. The burly man was furious and overturned several tables in the restaurant. He cursed and left.

“The child was very anxious. He had run an errand, gotten beaten, and had been dragged by his hair all the way. His scalp was almost ripped off. If he couldn’t eat the pastries, that wouldn’t do. So, with tears in his eyes, he asked the waiter, ‘Where are my pastries? You promised that you would give me pastries!'”

Xue Yang said with a smile, “The waiter had his restaurant smashed up, so he was already furious. He gave the child a few slaps across the face, sending him flying out of the door. His ears were ringing. After walking a distance, guess what? By chance, he met the man who had asked him to deliver the message again.”

At this point, he didn’t continue the story. A-Qing was listening with great focus and urged him, “Then what? What happened?”

Xue Yang said, “What else could happen? He just got slapped and kicked a few more times.”

A-Qing said, “That’s you, right? You love eating sweets. It must be you! How were you like this when you were a child! If it were me, I would spit, spit, spit in his food, tea, and water first, then hit, hit, hit…” She gestured wildly, almost hitting Xiao Xingchen, who was standing beside her. Xiao Xingchen hurriedly said, “Alright, alright, the story is over. Let’s go to sleep.”

A-Qing was tucked into the coffin by him. She was still stomping her feet in anger, “Aiya! Both of your stories really made me angry! One was boring enough to make people die of anger, and the other was annoying enough to make people die of anger! Oh my god, that man who asked people to deliver the message was so annoying! I’m so frustrated!”

Xiao Xingchen said helplessly, “That’s why I said from the start that I’m not good at telling stories.”

That night Xue Yang did not go out with Xiao Xingchen. Xiao Xingchen went out alone for a night hunt, A-Qing lay quietly in her coffin, but could not fall asleep with her eyes wide open.

When the sky started to get bright, Xiao Xingchen quietly entered the door.

When he passed by the coffin, he reached his hand inside. A-Qing closed her eyes, pretending to sleep. Once Xiao Xingchen had left the morgue, she opened her eyes. Next to the straw pillow, there was a small candy.

She poked her head out and looked towards the bedroom. Xue Yang was also not asleep. He sat at the table, not knowing what he was thinking about.

A candy lay quietly on the edge of the table.

After that night of sharing stories, Xiao Xingchen gave each of them a candy to eat every day. A-Qing was naturally delighted. Xue Yang, on the other hand, did not express gratitude or refusal. His attitude made A-Qing displeased for several days.

Xiao Xingchen was responsible for the three of their meals and lodging in Yi City. He was blind and could not choose vegetables, and he was too embarrassed to haggle with people. If he encountered kind vendors, it would be fine. However, he encountered those who deliberately cheated him because of his blindness. They would either sell him less than what he paid for, or sell him old vegetables. Xiao Xingchen himself didn’t care much, or rather, he didn’t even notice. However, A-Qing’s heart was filled with anger. She was so angry that she wanted to go grocery shopping with Xiao Xingchen and settle accounts with those unscrupulous vendors. Unfortunately, she could see but couldn’t reveal it, and she also didn’t dare to act unruly or cause a scene in front of Xiao Xingchen. This was when Xue Yang came in handy. With his ruffian nature, sharp eyes, and venomous tongue, whenever he went out to buy something, he would first come up and shamelessly cut the price in half. If the other party agreed, he would take it a step further. If they didn’t agree, he would glare at them with menacing eyes. The vendors would feel that it was good enough if he was willing to pay and that they shouldn’t haggle over the amount. They just wanted him to leave quickly. It could be assumed that when Xue Yang used to run rampant in Kuizhou and Lanling, he probably never paid for anything he wanted. A-Qing felt a sense of relief, and she praised him a few times. Along with that daily delicious candy, for a short period of time, A-Qing and Xue Yang maintained a subtle peace.

However, she could never let go of her wariness towards Xue Yang. This small peace was quickly suppressed by many doubts and criticisms.

One day, A-Qing was pretending to be blind on the street again. She had played this game her entire life and never got tired of it. She was tapping her bamboo stick and walking around when she suddenly heard a voice from behind her, “Little girl, if you can’t see, don’t walk so fast.”

It was the voice of a young man that sounded a bit cold. When A-Qing turned around, she saw a tall Taoist priest in black robes standing a few yards behind her. He had a long sword on his back and a horsetail whisk on his arm. His robes fluttered in the wind and his posture was very upright. He had a kind of aloof and proud aura.

This face was Song Lan’s.

Wei Wuxian thought, “He truly is Xiao Xingchen’s good friend. What is known as a good friend are definitely two people with similar personalities.”

A-Qing chuckled and said, “A-Qing thanks the Taoist priest!”

Song Lan retracted his horsetail whisk, put it back on his arm, glanced at her and said, “Don’t fool around. This place has heavy yin energy. Don’t linger outside after sunset.”

A-Qing said, “Okay!”

Song Lan nodded and continued walking forward. A-Qing could not resist turning her head to look at him. After walking a distance, she saw him stop a passerby, “Please hold on. May I ask, has anyone nearby seen a blind Taoist priest carrying a sword?”

A-Qing immediately focused on listening carefully. The passerby said, “I’m not too sure. Taoist priest, why don’t you ask around ahead?”

Song Lan said, “Thank you.”

A-Qing tapped her bamboo stick and walked over, “Taoist priest, what are you looking for that Taoist priest for?”

Song Lan turned around abruptly, “You’ve seen him?”

A-Qing said, “I think I have, and I think I haven’t.”

Song Lan said, “How can you have seen him?”

A-Qing said, “You answer a few questions for me, and I might have seen him. Are you that Taoist priest’s friend?”

Song Lan paused, and after a long while, he said, “…Yes.”

Wei Wuxian thought, “Why did he hesitate?”

A-Qing also felt that his answer was forced, and she became suspicious. She asked again, “Do you really know him? How tall is that Taoist priest? Is he beautiful or ugly? What does his sword look like?”

Song Lan immediately said, “His height is similar to mine. His appearance is very good. His sword is inscribed with frost blossoms.”

Seeing that he answered perfectly and did not seem like a bad person, A-Qing said, “I know where he is. Taoist priest, follow me!”

At this time, Song Lan must have been searching for his friend for many years. He was disappointed countless times, so he could not believe that he finally had news of his friend. He tried hard to maintain his composure and said, “…Thank…thank you…”

A-Qing led him near the morgue, but Song Lan stopped in his tracks far away. A-Qing said, “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you going in?”

For some unknown reason, Song Lan’s face was extremely pale. He stared at the door of the morgue as if he couldn’t wait to rush in, but he didn’t dare to. His previous aloof and cold demeanor had long since vanished. Wei Wuxian thought, “Could it be a case of near homecoming jitters?”

Just as he was about to go in, a leisurely figure entered the morgue door ahead of him.

Upon seeing that figure, Song Lan’s face instantly changed from pale to ashen!

A burst of laughter came from inside the morgue. A-Qing hummed, “The annoying ghost is back.”

Song Lan said, “Who is he? Why is he here?”

A-Qing huffed and said, “A bad guy. He doesn’t say his name. Who knows who he is? The Taoist priest saved him. He’s always pestering the Taoist priest. So annoying!”

Song Lan’s face was full of anger and shock, alternating between green and white. After a moment, he said, “Don’t make a sound!”

A-Qing was scared by his expression, and she indeed didn’t make a sound. The two of them silently walked to the outside of the morgue, one standing by the window and one crouching under the window. They could hear Xiao Xingchen say from inside the morgue, “Whose turn is it today?”

The moment he heard that voice, Song Lan’s hand was shaking so much that even A-Qing could see it clearly.

Xue Yang said, “How about we don’t take turns from now on? Let’s change the method.”

Xiao Xingchen said, “It’s your turn, so you have something to say. What method do you want to change to?”

Xue Yang said, “Look, here are two small twigs. If you draw the long one, you don’t have to go, and if you draw the short one, you do. How’s that?”

After a moment of silence, Xue Yang laughed and said, “Yours is short. I won. You go!”

Xiao Xingchen said helplessly, “Alright, I’ll go.”

He seemed to have stood up and was about to walk towards the door. Wei Wuxian thought, “Good, hurry up and come out. It’d be best if Song Lan would grab him and run!”

Who knew that after taking only a few steps, Xue Yang said, “Come back. I’ll go.”

Xiao Xingchen said, “Why are you willing to go again?”

Xue Yang also stood up and said, “Are you stupid? I just tricked you. The one I drew was short, but I had already hidden another longer twig. No matter which one you draw, I can take out an even longer one. I’m just taking advantage of the fact that you can’t see.”

After teasing Xiao Xingchen for a few moments, he leisurely took a basket and went out the door. A-Qing raised her head and looked at Song Lan, who was trembling. She did not understand why he was so angry. Song Lan gestured for her to be quiet. The two of them quietly walked away, and he began to question A-Qing, “When did he save that person, Xing…that Taoist priest?”

His tone was grave, and A-Qing understood that this was no small matter. Her response was also serious, “It’s been a while since he was saved. It’s been almost a few years.”

Song Lan said, “That Taoist priest doesn’t know who this person is?”

A-Qing said, “He doesn’t know.”

Song Lan said, “What has this person been doing by that Taoist priest’s side?”

A-Qing said, “He plays with words, bullies me, and scares me. Oh…and he goes night-hunting with the Taoist priest!”

Song Lan’s eyebrows furrowed. He also felt that Xue Yang wouldn’t be so kind, “Night-hunting? What does he hunt? Do you know?”

A-Qing didn’t dare to be careless. She thought for a moment and said, “For a while, they often hunted walking corpses. Now they hunt some evil spirits or strange beasts.”

Song Lan carefully questioned her. He always felt that something was not right, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He asked, “Are that Taoist priest and him close?”

Although she was very reluctant to admit it, A-Qing still explained, “I feel that the Taoist priest is not very happy alone…it’s not easy to find a companion…so, it seems that he likes listening to that bad guy’s witty remarks…”

Song Lan’s face was clouded over, a mixture of anger and pain. Amidst the chaos, there was only one clear message:

Xiao Xingchen must never know about this!

He said, “Don’t tell that Taoist priest any extra things.”

Having said that, he turned his face and chased after the direction that Xue Yang had left. A-Qing said, “Taoist priest, are you going to beat up that bad thing?”

Song Lan had already chased a long distance. Wei Wuxian thought, “It’s more than just beating him up. He’s going to slice Xue Yang alive!”

Xue Yang was carrying a vegetable basket when he went out. A-Qing knew which road he would take to buy vegetables. She took a shortcut through a forest and ran as fast as the wind. Her chest was thumping. After chasing for a while, she finally saw Xue Yang’s figure ahead. He was carrying a basket in one hand. The basket was filled with green vegetables, carrots, steamed buns, etc. He was yawning lazily as he walked. He looked as if he had returned from buying vegetables.

A-Qing was skilled at hiding and eavesdropping. She furtively crouched in the bushes next to the forest, moving with him. Suddenly, Song Lan’s cold voice came from ahead, “Xue Yang.”

It was like being doused with a basin of cold water or being woken up by a slap across the face. Xue Yang’s expression immediately turned extremely ugly.

Song Lan turned out from behind a tree. His long sword was already drawn and held in his hand. The tip of the sword was pointing diagonally at the ground.

Xue Yang feigned surprise, “Oh dear, isn’t this Taoist priest Song? What a rare guest. Are you here to freeload?”

Song Lan thrust his sword forward. Xue Yang flicked the disaster sword from his sleeve to block the attack and retreated a few steps. He placed the vegetable basket next to a tree and said, “Stinky Taoist priest, I took a whim to go out and buy vegetables, and you had to come and ruin the mood!”

Song Lan was filled with fury. Each attack was meant to kill. He shouted in a low voice, “What kind of ghostly trick are you playing! What do you want after getting close to Xiao Xingchen for so long?!”

Xue Yang smiled and said, “So that’s why Taoist priest Song kept something in reserve. So you wanted to ask that.”

Song Lan shouted angrily, “Speak! You scum, would you be so kind as to help him go night hunting?!”

The sword qi grazed his face, leaving a wound. Xue Yang was not startled and said, “So Taoist priest Song understands me this well!”

One was from the orthodox Taoist school and one was a wild card from murder and arson. Song Lan’s swordsmanship was clearly better than Xue Yang’s. With one strike, he pierced Xue Yang’s arm, “Speak!”

If this matter had not made him uneasy and he needed to find out the truth, he probably would not have pierced his arm but rather his neck. Xue Yang didn’t change his expression despite being stabbed. He said, “You really want to hear it? I’m afraid you’ll go crazy. There are some things that are better left unknown.”

Song Lan said coldly, “Xue Yang, I have limited patience with you!”

With a “clang,” Xue Yang blocked the sword that was coming toward his eye. He said, “Alright, this is what you forced me to say. Do you know what your good friend, your close confidant, has done? He killed many walking corpses. He killed demons and eliminated evil, asking for nothing in return. How touching. Although he dug his eyes out for you and became blind, luckily Shuanghua automatically guides