ITOTIABSAM | The Immortal on Liuyun Mountain | 153
Lies.
In the moment their eyes met, Shen Qingshu was absolutely certain that the boy in front of him was lying to him. However, he had no evidence beyond his intuition to expose the other party.
"He's very dangerous," Shen Qingshu said, each word pronounced deliberately. "If you shelter him, you'll destroy the whole village."
This statement was quite heavy, involving their own safety. The villagers' expressions changed slightly, seemingly recalling Ma Shitou's deceased parents, but out of loyalty, they ultimately refrained from further discussion.
"Can you help me?" Using a combination of coercion and persuasion, seeing the boy beginning to waver, Shen Qingshu softened his expression. "The soul of an important friend of mine is trapped inside that puppet."
Whoosh.
Like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, Ma Shitou's mind suddenly cleared:
He’s lying.
That man with the surname Gu, clearly followed the white-clad gentleman willingly and appeared very close to him, showing no signs of coercion. The white-clad gentleman even fell into a coma for several days and seemed so weak that he could be blown over by the wind at any moment while trying to save Gu, as if he was seriously ill.
That's not how the story goes for scholars abducted by demons.
"Elder, I really don't understand what you're saying." Ma Shitou, who had been clever since childhood, pretended to be scared, taking small steps backward and quietly hiding behind the village chief.
Lin Yao, who had been holding back her words, couldn't bear it any longer. "Fellow Daoist Shen, what are you really looking for all this way? Why bother the child? Just say it, and we'll all help together."
Shen Qingshu was suddenly at a loss for words.
Although the disappearance of Song He had caused a sensation in the cultivation world, if he were to mention him and the Immortal, saying that the latter had already escaped from Liuyun Mountain without any evidence, he would surely be considered a madman.
He needed evidence.
But the only evidence seemed to be under a spell, stubbornly protecting a monster.
Could it be that Xie Ye had already implanted puppet threads in this child, and was now playing with him through the child's mouth and eyes, enjoying Shen Qingshu's embarrassed appearance?
With a direct gaze, Shen Qingshu's eyes searched Ma Shitou's limbs and surroundings back and forth, as if he could see some hidden "spiderwebs" lurking in the air if he focused hard enough.
Before he could find an answer, Lin Yao, who hadn't even waited for a rebuttal, interjected, "My good senior brother, is he really the person you mentioned? He seems quite different from the rumors."
Just a moment ago, her senior brother, fearing she might get into trouble, had intentionally used his spiritual power to write a name on her palm as a reminder. But now, Shen Qingshu, the genius among geniuses, was behaving like this in reality?
Disillusionment.
She had even considered him a role model on her cultivation path.
"Before reaching a hundred years old, he's already experiencing spiritual detachment. Considering Shen Daoist's extraordinary speed of breakthrough, perhaps... it's the Inner Demon," Lin Xuan murmured softly, clutching his duster.
At the moment the last two words were uttered, a cold, blade-like gaze pierced through Lin Xuan.
It was Qin Ji.
Firmly, he grabbed Shen Qingshu's hand, which was about to form a seal, tightly, then awkwardly greeted, "Sorry, he's a bit tired. We'd like to stay overnight to rest. Is that... possible?"
The relieved village chief quickly responded, "Of course, of course, please everyone, come in."
"Stay overnight then," a layer of cold sweat broke out on Lin Yao's back, a breeze passing by making her shiver, but she still insisted stubbornly, "One day in the future, I'll definitely help my senior brother get even with you."
"Alright." Shen Qingshu placated her with a smile, then turned his head, his expression serious.
Each profession has its own specialty. Compared to swordsmanship, Lin Xuan preferred studying Daoist arts. If he wasn't mistaken, the spell that Shen Qingshu's hand was interrupted while casting just now should be related to soul-searching.
With such a domineering effect, even if it originated from orthodox techniques, it was definitely not something an ordinary child could endure.
However, the spiritual detachment stage was an existence that even the entire Qingfeng Sect couldn't resist. He could only pretend not to have noticed anything and wait for the right moment to take the disciples of the sect away.
Shen Qingshu also felt like he was going crazy.
In the instant his right hand was pulled up by Qin Ji, he realized what he had almost done. His palm was covered in cold sweat, and in a daze, he felt like he was being slowly consumed, assimilated into a monster like Xie Ye.
"The child doesn't have any puppet threads on him, nor are there any in the village," Qin Ji, unusually serious and without further consolation, said, "Qingshu, you've gone too far."
He could fight against the Immortal for his beloved, but he couldn't bring himself to harm innocent and weak people.
Crack.
In the depths of his consciousness, 1101 heard the familiar sound of shattering again.
0028 in Gu Cong's sea of consciousness remained extremely calm: "So what if the plot has crumbled again? It's okay, it's okay. I just hope someone won't cry after being thrown into the Punishment World."
"I'll take this too." With a wave of his sleeve, Xie Ye conjured a spirit stone and handed it to the shopkeeper.
Gu Cong sighed and placed the neatly packed clothes into his storage bag. "I can't wear so many."
The place they had settled in was called Yunzhou City. Due to its special location, it was a must-pass route for several sects to train and often saw cultivators moving around.
Initially, Gu Cong didn't want to come to such a "dangerous" place, but Xie Ye silenced him with a sentence: "Do we have to hide from Shen Qingshu for the rest of our lives?"
To be honest, in the original work, Xie Ye's death was entirely due to the protagonists' careful planning and unintentional intentions. They engaged in a direct confrontation, and the other side didn't need to hide nor had any chance of losing.
As a result, things turned out the way they were now.
As the storm brewed in the cultivation world, even the mundane world was affected. Coming from the depths of the mountains, and with the original host Song He's waist token unusable, Xie Ye's remarkable concealment techniques came in handy. They used two leaves as guides and smoothly made their way into the city.
"One of the purposes of puppets is for disguise," Xie Ye said confidently as he stepped out of the clothing store. "Moreover, the clothes you wore before, although they were magical artifacts, they were old and belonged to others."
Gu Cong shrugged indifferently. "They've been sitting in my storage bag all along. They're no different from new ones."
With Xie Ye's cleanliness, if any monster dared to strip clothes from a corpse, they wouldn't see the sun the next day.
"Anyway, there are many spiritual veins in Liuyun Mountain," Xie Ye said, pausing his steps and turning his head, his seemingly smiling eyes examining Gu Cong up and down, mimicking his tone, "If they run out, I'll just knock a few pieces off you. It wouldn't make much of a difference."
Gu Cong: Will it hurt a bit to dig out the jade stones embedded in the wood?
"I liked that cuffed sleeve garment just now. I'll change into it when we get back," Gu Cong said tactfully, not arguing further, and bowed slightly. "Thank you, master."
With a slight squint of his phoenix-like eyes, Xie Ye smiled. "Hmm."
That person knows what's good for him.
The inn they stayed in was the most famous in the city. In the lobby, one could often hear the latest gossip, both mundane and from the cultivation world. It happened to allow Gu Cong to roughly understand which stage the plot had reached and what changes had occurred that were not mentioned in the original work.
However, today's topic in the lobby made Gu Cong feel a bit restless.
Because they were talking about Song He.
"Tsk tsk, the Song family is really unlucky. They only had this one child, and not only does he have a congenital wandering soul condition, but he's also gone missing recently. I heard even the ancestors in seclusion have been disturbed by this."
"The ancestors in seclusion? The one at the Nascent Soul stage?"
"Exactly, otherwise the Song family wouldn't be called the Song family, but rather someone from some sect," one person commented.
"But the one who abducted Song He is from Liuyun Mountain. What can a Nascent Soul stage cultivator do?" another person questioned.
"Liuyun Mountain? Whether this kind of rumor is true or false remains to be seen," someone else added.
"The divinations of Elder Xuan Qing can't be false. He passed by the Song family, looked at Song He's soul lamp, and only then cast the divination to determine the whereabouts of the Song family's heir," another chimed in.
"Tsk, it sounds like you saw it with your own eyes," someone remarked.
"But on the other hand, with all the major sects gathering at the Wuliang Sword Sect, it does seem like something big is happening," another voice said.
"Why would that person from Liuyun Mountain abduct Song He out of the blue?" someone pondered.
"Could it be that person is attracted to Song He's appearance? Wanting to become Dao companions and share longevity?" another speculated.
Gu Cong's chopsticks, holding a piece of food, froze in mid-air.
Despite using concealment techniques and sitting in the farthest corner, listening to a group of people discussing "himself" and even involving Xie Ye was still somewhat embarrassing.
Before he could sneak another glance at Xie Ye's expression, the loudest voice among them abruptly cut in, saying firmly, "Impossible!"
"That heir of the Song family clearly likes Shen Qingshu from the Wuliang Sword Sect," the voice continued decisively.
Gu Cong: Do these cultivators not have any cultivation tasks to do? Why do they linger in the mundane world every day, gossiping about trivial matters?
And they're so accurate with their gossip...
...But he's not Song He.
"This is what I heard from a sister in the Wuliang Sword Sect," two sentences attracted the attention of most people nearby. The handsome young man with the loudest voice raised his chin proudly. "Every time Daoist Shen goes down the mountain for training, he always coincidentally meets Daoist Song and travels together. And every time he comes out of seclusion, Daoist Song always comes to congratulate him."
"Year after year, through wind and rain."
"The most important thing is that everyone in the cultivation world knows about the incident when Daoist Shen fell into Liuyun Mountain as a child and came back alive. In my opinion, the immortal from Liuyun Mountain who abducted Daoist Song is probably related to..."
"Don't say anything rash, don't say anything rash." Suddenly, another voice interrupted the handsome young man's words. It belonged to a disheveled-haired drinker in his thirties.
—Others may not be aware, but he knows some inside information. If Song He's disappearance is really related to Shen Qingshu, wouldn't it be a joke for the Wuliang Sword Sect and the Song family to join forces and rally the cultivation world to attack Liuyun Mountain?
He reached into his sleeve, but the topic was diverted by the drinker. "Back then, the Song family thought Daoist Song was having a wandering soul episode and posted reward posters everywhere. I even peeled off one, but alas, alas, a hundred thousand spirit stones."
A hundred thousand spirit stones was enough to support a small-sized sect.
The attention of the cultivators was indeed diverted, marveling at the Song family's wealth and generosity.
But Gu Cong's back remained tense:
The face on that portrait was completely different from his own.
He had intended to block Xie Ye's line of sight with the motion of getting up to pour tea, but it was too late. The young man's peripheral vision had already caught everything.
Though he barely counted as a top student, Gu Cong's mind actually worked quite fast. In just a moment, he thought of an explanation: he could simply say that his appearance changed because his primordial spirit and puppet were not perfectly aligned.
But his heart, inexplicably, no longer wanted to deceive the other party.
He had long expected that there would be such a day.
But he never thought this day would come so soon.
Thump thump.
His heartbeat pounded like a drum, a rare impulse fiercely battling his rationality, making Gu Cong want to confess everything to the other party, regardless of the consequences.
However, before he could speak, the usually calm young man in white suddenly stood up and, without giving him a chance to refuse, pulled him upstairs to the guest room.
Creak.
The wooden door closed with an ear-piercing sound, enough to wake someone up completely.
Despite the relatively private environment, Gu Cong's inner impulse did not diminish; he mistakenly thought Xie Ye was angry. Leaning against the door with his back, he stopped in his tracks and opened his mouth to speak, "I..."
The next moment, as the puppet strings moved, forcing him to lose his voice, the young man's index finger gently pressed against his lips.
"Shh."
"I know."
I know you're Gu Cong.
So there's no need to say it.
...And definitely no need to suffer punishment for the villain's sake.
Author's Note:
Gu Cong has fallen off the horse completely.
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