Chapter 5: Guarding and Keeping Watch in the Shadows

【The legend of demons has long existed in Northern Wei, yet to this day, few people have truly seen these so-called demon entities.】

【But now, the martial arts families of the Eight Great Families of Northern Wei have all suffered devastating blows from an unknown entity, and the tragic massacres of their clans are still fresh in memory, forcing them to cast their suspicions upon demons.】

【According to those ancient texts, they have tried, one by one, the methods used against demons over the past thousand years.】

【It is said that demons are very afraid of battle-hardened generals, because the spirit of a general who has fought on the battlefield is extremely Yang, and demons dare not touch them.】

【It is said that demons are very afraid of the imperial nobility, because most of them possess the protection of their ancestors and Heaven and Earth, and demons dare not touch them.】

【It is also said that demons and ghosts are very afraid of the blood of black dogs, because the dog is considered a pioneer among the zodiac signs; it is righteousness, possessing Yin-Yang eyes that connect Heaven and Earth, and can see ghosts... can break through demons.】

【Ghosts, in particular, fear black dogs the most.】

【Because ghosts have souls but no spirits, and this spirit produces water, which is black, they cannot see this so-called black thing!】

【Therefore, to ghosts, a black dog is just two glowing eyes... plus, dog blood is the most pungent, and pungency belongs to the lungs, and the lungs belong to metal; yet the ghost's soul belongs to wood, and metal overcomes wood, so ghosts fear black dog blood the most.】

【In a mountain courtyard bought by a wealthy merchant outside Jingshi, the entire interior and exterior of the house had been covered in black dog blood.】

【Everyone present announced their names to one another, considering it an introduction.】

【"What is this?" Gu Jiangming asked, looking at the item Wang Qinghe handed him.】

【"This is an Amulet," Wang Qinghe said. "I hope you and I can safely survive this tribulation."】

【You and Wang Qinghe have been together day and night for several years; she views you as a confidant and has tested you many times, but you remain unmoved, yet even so, she seems to still harbor unrequited feelings.】

【You took the Amulet that Wang Qinghe had carefully crafted and found a remote room to stay in.】

Jiu Jiu watched the scene, feeling a bit jealous and displeased for some reason.

Clearly, she should be happy that Gu Jiangming received a gift from someone else, but seeing him accept Wang Qinghe's gift, Jiu Jiu could not bring herself to be happy at all.

【The night passed in silence, as if the rumors of demons were just hearsay; upon waking, the various experts in the hall all felt the palpitations of having survived a disaster.】

【But, it was only for one night.】

【Time passed day by day, and on the seventeenth day, the Huo Fist expert Huo Zhen felt that staying like this was not a solution.】

【They also had their own lives and their own businesses; continuing to stay here like this, he felt, was just scaring themselves.】

【He even suspected that the Du Family, Wang Family, and Yue Family were not wiped out by demons, but by some experts of the Demonic Sect practicing evil martial arts.】

Jiu Jiu frowned slightly.

【Huo Zhen had already been affected by Demon Power, and he had fallen into a state of mental confusion.】

As expected.

【A radius of five miles had already been shrouded by an invisible Demon Power; it seemed to be intentionally severing the connection between this place and the outside world.】

The next second, a new message appeared.

【Huo Zhen decided not to waste any more time and wanted to leave this place, go down the mountain, and return home.】

【He left.】

【Three days later, seeing that nothing had happened, another person intended to leave; Li Chaoran, the successor of the Li Family Whip Technique, bid farewell to the group.】

【But only an hour after going down the mountain, Li Chaoran's terrified voice rang out, and everyone rushed to the scene upon hearing the sound.】

【Only to see a faceless, rotting corpse appear in their sight at the foot of the mountain; judging by the blood-stained boots, it was undoubtedly Huo Zhen.】

【And on his body, there were several sword marks and knife wounds; most terrifying of all was his face, which looked as if it had been gnawed away very cleanly by some wild beast, thus forming the eerie scene of a faceless man.】

【In fact, it is difficult for a clean surface and the remnants of gnawing to coexist, but this situation had occurred on Huo Zhen's corpse.】

【An invisible terror appeared in everyone's hearts.】

【"Cannot stay here, cannot stay here, cannot stay here..." Li Chaoran had completely lost the bearing of the Eight Great Families of Northern Wei and the spirit of a martial arts expert; he only wanted to leave this place and run as far away as possible.】

【What humans fear most is always the unknown.】

【"Thump—"】

【He seemed to have hit some kind of wall and was violently bounced back from that area.】

【But Li Chaoran, as if unable to feel pain, charged toward that direction again, and was then bounced back once more.】

【Once, twice, three times.】

【Everyone's heart sank to the bottom.】

【Someone tried to stop Li Chaoran's possessed-like actions, but it was to no avail; they could only watch helplessly as a living person bumped himself to death against a wall that was completely invisible.】

【An expert whose strength was on par with their own had died in such an extremely strange way; the shock this brought was self-evident, and everyone returned to the courtyard on the mountain in silence.】

【The two corpses were carried back together.】

【"This sword wound..." Gu Jiangming said, touching the marks on Huo Zhen's body, somewhat distracted: "It is the Zhetianbir sword move."】

【Hearing this, the others gathered around.】

【Suddenly, one person took off their mask, though their expression was no better; caught up in such eerie events, no one's mood could be good.】

【"Bu Gu of the Six Fan Sect greets you all."】

【He had never spoken here before, and everyone just thought he was an expert from some sect who didn't like to talk, never imagining he was someone from the Northern Wei Imperial Court.】

【"With so many experts gathered here, His Majesty ordered me to keep watch," Bu Gu said with a bitter smile. "I didn't expect to actually run into a surprise."】

【He reached out and skillfully examined the two corpses; as a secret agent in the Six Fan Sect, his experience as a coroner was naturally incomparable.】

【"You are the only son of the Sword God Gu Zhangqing, right?" Bu Gu asked. "I heard the sword wounds on Master Huo's body are moves from your family's ancestral sword art?"】

【"That is indeed the case," you said, and performed that move on the ground of the courtyard.】

【The crowd gathered to look, and it was indeed almost identical to the sword marks on Huo Zhen's corpse.】

【"In this world, how many people know this move of your sword art?" Bu Gu asked instinctively, following his professional habit.】

【You smiled and said: "Which sect's expert do you think could make a sane, living person bump themselves to death?"】

【"And which sect's expert do you think could trap us, making us unable to go down the mountain and leave?"】

【As Gu Jiangming's voice fell, the scene fell into a deathly silence.】

【Indeed.】

【The things they encountered were beyond the understanding of ordinary people; even if the sword marks on the corpses could prove it was the Gu family's Zhetianbir sword technique, so what?】

【After hearing this, Bu Gu also smiled, "Young Hero Gu is right, it was my dullness."】

【He pondered for a moment and said, "Things have reached this point; if you all wish to survive, you can only work together with one heart."】

【"Starting from tonight, everyone must take turns keeping watch to avoid encountering any further unforeseen events."】

【Seeing that the night was already late, Bu Gu spoke up, "Let me be the one to keep watch first tonight."】

【"Everyone must also rest well so that you can conserve your energy to face tomorrow's predicament."】

【However, with such an incident occurring in full view of everyone, in truth, no one had the heart to sleep.】

【You returned to your side room to prepare for rest; for some reason, while everyone else was in a state of panic, you felt an inexplicable sense of peace.】

Jiu Jiu's gaze remained fixed here; she spent almost every night guarding by Gu Jiangming's side.

It was not that she could not take Gu Jiangming away immediately, but she had not yet thought of an excuse to explain her identity.

【In the middle of the night, Wang Qinghe found her way to your room and said timidly, "Jiangming, I am afraid living in the side chamber by myself."】

【Her voice was trembling slightly.】

【"Can I... can I stay with you?"】

【You pondered for a moment and thought... it is indeed difficult for a young woman to fall asleep after encountering such things.】

【"Then you can sleep in my room; I will keep watch for you at the doorway."】

【"It is cold outside, I don't mind if you sleep inside."】

【"But I do." You closed your eyes and lay down on the threshold outside the door.】

Because in this Reincarnation, he had inherited the disposition of Gu Changqing.

Therefore, Gu Jiangming had and could only have one romantic partner; since he had chosen Jiu Jiu as his wife, he could not possibly have a second choice.

Moreover, he had no intention of betraying his wife in this Reincarnation Simulation.

And just at this moment, the scene suddenly shook.

A loud noise appeared in Gu Jiangming's ears.

(End of this chapter)