Chapter 280

As I slowly reminisced, my master told me what had happened after he went away.

Since parting at the South Mountain Stone Cottage thirteen years ago, my master wandered to Yunnan, searching for his biological son; over the years, the news he received from QingSongShu showed that his son had been sent here.

According to the news he received, my master came to the home of a family in Yunnan. This family had a ten-year-old child, the same age as his own child. In this farmer's home, there was also placed another door-meter of the Lu Ban ruler.

"I thought I had found my own biological son, but who knew, this was actually a trap. That so-called son was merely a puppet controlled by worms. As I cried and held the sleeping child, a worm bit through my arm and crawled into my body through the wound. And just then, someone I thought could never appear actually showed up before me."

As the worm crawled into my master's body and vied for control of the corpse, a group of mysterious people abruptly appeared around him, twelve in total. The leader of them was someone my master could never have imagined.

"Who is it?" I clenched sweat in my palm, staring intently at my master, feeling the answer was about to surface.

"Hee-heh, isn't it me?" a sharp, strange cry suddenly rang out, but when we followed the sound and looked, we only saw a scene that made our hair stand on end.

Yao Wenju's headless corpse, which had fallen down, eerily stood up—yes, this was utterly unimaginable. After the bone spur was pulled out, Yao Wenju's body collapsed at a visible speed, and his essence blood was drained in that instant.

Yet at that moment, Yao Wenju's collapsed, withered-like body actually swayed and stood up.

"Second junior brother, we haven't seen each other in a long time, I'm really glad—you've finally regained consciousness, no longer needing to be my soul-capturing puppet, hee-heh." The mysterious person's voice was extremely sharp.

My master's complexion suddenly changed; he struggled to rise and charged at the mysterious person: "Yuan Yang, you beast, betraying the sect and committing all evil, today I will enforce heavenly justice."

I wanted to stop my master, but his speed was astonishing; in the span of a breath, he lunged onto Yao Wenju's headless corpse.

"Hee-heh, useless—I've long controlled this corpse with corpse-worms; your attack harms nothing of me. Old fogey, if I were you, I'd better enjoy family bliss in this fleeting moment and settle your affairs." Yuan Yang paid no heed to my master's attack.

"The dead are gone—why do you desecrate him so?" I clenched my fists and shouted at Yuan Yang. Actually, Yuan Yang never died; his so-called death was merely feigned.

"Hee-heh, desecration, junior, you really like to joke—although I also wish I had this obedient son. But such a person is worth less than a puppet to me; planting worms in his body is his honor. He hasn't even had time to feel grateful, so how could he blame me for desecration?" The headless corpse emitted a strange laugh.

"You... you pervert," I fumed, my head practically smoking; yet in the next moment, upon reflection, I sensed something extremely off.

What did he just call Yao Wenju? A son—isn't he Yuan Yang? Why call Yao Wenju a son? My mind churned with doubts, but soon my doubts were interrupted by my master's angry scolding.

"Yuan Yang, hundreds of years have passed—can't you let go of things you can't see or touch? Even if you found Emperor Taizu of Song's treasure, the Zhao clan has been extinct for over a thousand years; how could you still change the world?" Before my master could finish, Yuan Yang cut him off abruptly.

"Who says my Zhao clan has perished? If it weren't for that petty Yue Wumu secretly hoarding the map of the twelve golden plates drawn by Emperor Taizu, how could my Great Song imperial clan have been ravaged by the Jin people due to an empty treasury? Without him, how could my Great Song dynasty have lasted only a measly under three hundred years?" Yuan Yang's sharp voice grew sharper and madder.

"Nonsense—during Emperor Gaozong's reign, corrupt ministers held power, Gaozong was narrow-minded, and Prince Yue precisely for the sake of the Great Song's century-long foundation distributed the twelve golden plates to trusted subordinates before his death, letting Emperor Taizu's treasure be preserved, not falling into villains' hands. Do you think that even if you seized the golden plates, the treasure wouldn't be divided by treacherous ministers? Do you think your foolish ancestors would change their hearts?" My master collapsed to the ground, yet his words showed no weakness; he shouted angrily: "The rise and fall of dynasties, the world's gathering and scattering, from beginning to end, from nothing to something—this is a cycle of reincarnation. Can't you see that?"

"Old thing, are you tired of living?" A sound like insect chirring suddenly rang out, very sharp. This piercing noise made my master howl in pain, as if something were burrowing in and out of his belly.

"The glory of my Zhao clan shall endure forever, never decline; as long as the Zhao clan retains even a trace of bloodline, it must bear the mission of restoring the Great Song imperial clan." Yao Wenju's headless corpse swayed back and forth in the manor, yet the sound emanating from its abdomen sent chills down one's spine.

"You madman..." I supported my master and couldn't help shouting angrily. Yet it seemed worms were surging in his neck; I and Pangzi joined forces to try to dispel the curse, but the poison was too strong—our abilities simply couldn't unravel this strange worm curse.

The words my master left in my ear were only these few unclear words.

"You madman, today if I don't take you down I'm not Wang Weiqiang!" Pangzi wanted to rush forward, but I shouted loudly: "Wait!" and stopped him.

"Speak, what else do you want? The golden plates have already been given to you—what is your purpose?" I coldly stared at him. Han Duo was right; his purpose absolutely wouldn't be this simple, causing QingSongShu and the Seventh Lord to fall unconscious, and the worm that transmitted sound left after slaughtering the Yao family—all this is merely foreshadowing; his true purpose...

As this idea jumped in my mind, I suddenly recalled... Murong Jiaja inside the Chan Yi Hall.

"If you still want to save Yao Yirong and your two uncles, then in three days personally deliver the female ghost in your hand to Guiling Mountain. Otherwise, after three days the soul curse will activate, and all three of them will die." The headless corpse slowly collapsed, leaving only that ethereal voice drifting in the dark ancient manor.

"Their death or life is up to you to choose."

The corpse went limp, the voice vanished, and a fat, plump worm burst from Yao Wenju's chest, instantly turning into a puddle of blood the moment it emerged.

Gazing at the ruined Yao family manor, my heart felt bleak. I silently picked up Yao Wenju's skull and placed it on his broken neck; though his body was as frail as a withered leaf, his image in my innermost heart remains forever towering.

Pangzi tidied up Yao Wenju's body, I embraced Han Duo's icy corpse, left the Yao family manor, and carried them back to the Chan Yi Hall.

Within a day, I continuously lost two friends and a close relative. The anguish gnawed at my heart; I wanted to cry, but I found my tears had already dried. It turns out there is a pain in this world called wanting to cry but being unable to make a sound.

Could it be that I will truly lose everything in the end, destined to live a lonely life? Gazing at Pangzi sitting beside me, a fear rose in my heart—could it be that Pangzi will ultimately leave me as well?

"He is Yuan Yang, so where did Yao Yirong's father go?" Pangzi asked me gloomily: "If Yuan Yang is merely feigning death, then how did Yao Song suddenly become Yuan Yang?"

As we sank into thought, Pangzi also noticed something amiss.

I shook my head and said: "Perhaps before this, we ought to clarify exactly what relationship Murong Jiaja has with him."

Without a moment's hesitation, I walked back to the room, took out the jade pendant containing Murong Jia Jia. Murong Jia Jia's figure slowly appeared, still as beautiful as ever.

But, gazing at her graceful figure, my heart felt a little startled. Why, she who seemed harmless and kind, would actually be the source of this disaster.

"I..." There seemed to be a hint of guilt in Murong Jia Jia's eyes; finally, she still slowly opened her mouth to say: "I, actually, am the Nine Heavens Maiden."

"What?" I and Pangzi were both startled by this news and froze.