Chapter 20: Exposing the Strange Affair and Devising a Plan

The cat stared at Lingxiang for a moment, then sauntered toward the City Lord's wife. Once near the couch, it leaped onto her, turned around, curled up, and began to purr before long.

"She found this cat herself shortly after marrying into the family. It truly astonished me at the time. My wife says it is called Ajin, a Spirit Cat from her home, and she always brings it wherever she goes. Now, it is as if it truly possesses sentience; every day, it spends time accompanying her just like this," the City Lord explained, having noticed the doubt in Lingxiang's heart.

Oh? She found it herself after she was married? That is interesting.

Lingxiang glanced at Maidong, who immediately understood.

That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Everyone in the City Lord Mansion had fallen asleep, and even the City Lord, who accompanied his wife every day, had been persuaded by Lingxiang and her companion to return to his room.

Just as the third watch drum sounded outside, a shadow crept stealthily into the City Lord's wife's room. A moment later, a figure stood before her bed.

The person watched the wife for a long time, then took an object from their mouth with a finger, and with a flash of clear light, sent it into her mouth.

"No wonder the wife has been bedridden for so long yet shows no signs of decline; it turns out she is being nourished by cultivation."

Lingxiang stepped out from behind the door, startling the person, who hurriedly tried to flee through the window, but was caught off guard by Maidong's Flying Leaf Palm from outside, which knocked him back into the room.

"Tsk, why hit so hard? What if you knock him silly?"

"Oops, I forgot in the heat of the moment." Maidong scratched his head with a giggle.

The person sat up from the floor; he was dressed in black, with fair skin and a guarded expression.

His eyes were—

Crimson gold!

"How did you know it was me?!"

"Blame it on you being a tomcat; you don't know how to adapt," Maidong laughed. The man in black looked bewildered.

"Setting aside how long you followed your mistress before she married, it has been fifteen or sixteen years since the City Lord and his wife wed. You were brought from her maiden home; what cat could live that long?" Lingxiang explained.

"Even if you truly lived that long, you wouldn't be as agile as you are; you should have been decrepit by now," Maidong added.

Indeed, this person was none other than Ajin.

"My kind does not understand the time of the human race..." Ajin said as he stood up. He was eight feet tall, lean, and had delicate features.

"No wonder you look so 'cat-pretty'; I never knew a cat could be this good-looking!" Lingxiang exclaimed.

Maidong rolled his eyes at her and climbed into the room through the window.

"Now, tell us, who exactly are you?"

"The City Lord's wife's maiden name is Qiao; I am the Cat Spirit of the Qiao Family."

"A Spirit Beast? Then that means you are a consecrated guardian! You count as a divine race!" Maidong said in surprise.

"I am merely a low-level divine race, and I am not a consecrated guardian, but a Spirit Keeper."

"Hmm... then you are a type of divine messenger. Your cultivation should be at the level of a Divine Envoy, with the power to protect. How could you let the wife suffer like this?" Lingxiang asked, puzzled. "Could it be that there are enemies?"

Ajin lowered his head and was silent for a while, then sat on the footstool and said, "The Qiao Family met with disaster over a decade ago; the entire clan was slaughtered. The wife was spared only because she had already married the City Lord, who was a prince at the time. However, she was left with deep sorrow, leading to a grave illness. City Lord Zhao loved his wife deeply, so he abandoned his claim to the throne to live in seclusion with her. It would be correct to say there are enemies."

Hearing this, Lingxiang and Maidong looked grave; they had not expected the wife to have suffered such a fate...

"But this incident was not the work of enemies; there is another reason..." Ajin continued.

"Not the work of enemies?"

"It is a Yellow Immortal."

A Yellow Immortal? Isn't that the sort of scoundrel? How could the City Lord's wife provoke such a base creature?

The so-called Yellow Immortal is a yellow-skinned weasel, commonly known as a weasel. People in the fields often call them 'Great Immortal Yellow,' claiming they can eliminate pests for agriculture. In some places, people even build small shrines and earthen temples for them, worshipping them as local deities of the fields, and over time, they truly gained a bit of divinity.

But they are, after all, spirits and monsters; even with cultivation, their nature is hard to change.

Yet, as a field deity, why would it use such methods against Qiaoshi Furen?

"This brings us to this residence," Ajin sighed, explaining to Lingxiang and Maidong.

Guyang City is naturally rich in Spirit Qi, and this residence is built exactly where the Spirit Qi converges. The weasel, having eaten people's offerings for a long time, saw its cultivation grow and became dissatisfied with that meager incense and Spirit Qi. Perhaps it took a liking to the Spirit Gathering nature of the City Lord Mansion and moved its whole family in.

One day, while Qiaoshi Furen was enjoying the garden, she happened to startle a young weasel. The butler set a trap, caught the little thing, and slaughtered it. This infuriated the old weasel, who blamed everything on Qiaoshi Furen. That day, right under Ajin's nose, it bewitched her soul.

Ajin investigated for several days and finally found the old weasel's lair, going to demand it lift the witchcraft. Unexpectedly, the old creature not only refused but fought him.

The old weasel had been worshipped by mortals and possessed some evil Witchcraft; Ajin was truly no match for it, and after several fights, he returned defeated each time.

Since he could not win, and Qiaoshi Furen could not continue like this, he had no choice but to use his own cultivation every night to nourish her soul and body.

"That butler is truly foolish!" Maidong lamented. "Creatures like weasels value their companions; he killed the old weasel's offspring, so he poked a hornet's nest. In my opinion, this is not easy to handle."

"No wonder the City Lord and his wife look so young, and even the servants and maids are so fair and delicate; it turns out they are living in such a good place," Lingxiang said, rather thoughtlessly.

Hearing this, Maidong gave Lingxiang a hard glare: "We are talking about serious business; can't you be more professional?"

"This is the serious business. The weasel's witchcraft has lasted so long for only two reasons: either it is nourished by this Spirit Qi, its cultivation has greatly increased, and it is using a Soul Snatching Technique; or this Spirit Qi allows it to replenish its Spirit Power, so it takes advantage of people's lack of vigilance to use that Soul Bewitching Technique every day, preventing Qiaoshi Furen from waking. Regardless of which it is, it is related to this Spirit Qi and is a very troublesome matter."

Hearing Lingxiang's deduction, Maidong and Ajin could not help but frown. It was true: if it were the first possibility, to save the City Lord's wife, one would have to defeat the old weasel to break the Soul Snatching Technique. But since it could use such a technique, its cultivation must have reached a certain realm, and with evil Witchcraft at its disposal, the three of them combined would certainly be no match. But if it were the second possibility, the Soul Bewitching Technique would be easier to break, yet one could not withstand the old creature coming to harass them every day; there is always a thief to guard against, but no way to guard against a thief every single day.

Neither option was easy to handle!

"Why not try to break the Soul Bewitching Technique for the wife first? If it works, we can discuss the rest later," Lingxiang proposed.

In her view, the second possibility was more likely. Weasels are the most vengeful; if you provoke them, they will never let a family have peace. The fact that it only manifested on Qiaoshi Furen suggests its cultivation is not yet very stable.

There was no other way now, so Ajin thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.