Chapter 541: Thanks to Milimi for the Crown – Meeting Wu Fei Again

With a creak, I pushed open the heavy door. This is an old-fashioned house, yet from the moment I stepped inside, I sharply detected a strange odor emanating from within—a scent formed from the accumulation of corpse odor.

Spiderwebs spread across the eaves; the top of the beams bore a mural I couldn't understand. In contrast, the hall's corner held two ice sculptures resembling human figures.

"It's Pangzi and Han Duo!" My eyes widened enormously; in an instant I recognized them.

I had no time to think much; acting almost on instinct, I subconsciously lunged toward them. At that moment, a heavy breathing sound suddenly rang in my ears—a deep exhalation, accompanied by a fierce strike that split the air.

No time to think, relying on instinct I barely dodged backward; as I steadied my stance, I felt my face turn icy, reached up, and touched some tiny ice shards.

Another ice corpse, having dodged backward and steadied myself, I already noticed someone behind me. This person is the same as the one I bumped into on the back mountain. His whole body is covered with a thin layer of ice, and even his breath carries a chill.

Han Duo's guess was indeed correct—the problem truly lies within this haunted house.

"Come out..." I shouted at the empty house while keeping a wary eye on the ice corpse. This corpse before me is just a corpse; the true mastermind must be someone else.

"I never expected... it would be you!" The moment I said that, a hoarse voice came from upstairs.

A person walked out from the upstairs corridor; when I turned to look at him, I couldn't help but be utterly startled.

"How could it be you?" I stared wide-eyed, unable to believe. The person who emerged was actually my Yinshan sect fellow disciple, Wu Fei.

"These... these things are all your doing, no, it's your aura?" Upon seeing him, I was instantly furious, yet the next moment I was completely dumbfounded.

Wu Fei's body bore both vital and deathly qi, with deathly qi outweighing the vital; his face was covered in black spots—corpse spots, which appear only after death.

Why is his face covered in corpse spots? Why has he become a half-human, half-corpse monster? My mind brims with questions; I recall that in Yichang I had already broken his soul-severing technique, yet when I next saw this fellow disciple, he had already become a half-human, half-corpse.

My first thought was that he was practicing evil arts, using stolen infant souls to prolong his life. I immediately glared at him and shouted: "You..."

"If you want to save your two friends, hand over the Wu Mu Legacy you hold." Wu Fei stared at me, speaking without sorrow or joy.

Those words stunned me; the angry shout I had been about to utter died in my throat. My heart was jolted—what on earth is going on, and how does Wu Fei know about the Wu Mu Legacy?

Now it seems this matter is far from the simple scenario I had imagined earlier!

"How... how do you know about the Wu Mu Legacy? And how did you become like this? Tell me—what is all this, and who are you working for?" I clutched my chest, forcing myself to stay calm.

Wu Fei did not answer me; instead, he slowly closed his eyes. After a moment, he reopened them, though his gaze now held a hint of weariness.

"Don't worry about how I know so much—I have no choice. You only need to know that if you want to save lives, hand over the five Wu Mu Legacy gold plaques you hold." Wu Fei rasped, expressionless.

"Five? I don't have five—I only have three in my hand!"

"No," Wu Fei stated flatly: "Five—you got two from Han Duo, one from Chen Zheng, and two from your master Li Feng."

"My master never gave me any gold plaques, and I don't even know where he is now," I argued with Wu Fei, but he replied firmly: "Who said that? Your master left you a ruler, inside which are two gold plaques."

Wu Fei's words left me utterly stunned—how could he know my master gave me a ruler? Could it truly be as he said, that my master's Ding Lan ruler given to me contains two Wu Mu Legacy plaques?

"Remember, if you want to save them, bring the five gold plaques here by tomorrow. Also, you must not tell Wang Qingsong and Yang Qiye. Otherwise..." Wu Fei's icy eyes locked onto me as he threatened harshly: "Otherwise, I cannot guarantee the safety of your two friends."

Wu Fei's words utterly enraged me, yet in the next instant my anger turned to shock.

"You... you've become an insect-raised corpse?" I pointed at his forehead and shouted in disbelief. At the moment Wu Fei threatened me, his bangs were lifted by the cold breath he exhaled, revealing his forehead—a tiny black dot, unmistakably the sign of an insect-raised corpse.

As I uttered the three words 'insect-raised corpse,' Wu Fei's expression flickered with pain. I suddenly recalled his earlier remark: "I have no choice."

At the same time, my mind conjured the mysterious black-robed figure I had seen at Chen Zheng's ancestral home—enigmatic, with uncanny power. The black-robed person excels at using insects, and Wu Fei has now become an insect-raised corpse; could there be a connection between them?

This question is not the time to be answered; at least, given Wu Fei's stubbornness, he will certainly not tell me.

After a moment, I calmed my chest's agitation, fixed my gaze on Wu Fei, and said: "I know you won't tell me, but I hope you, considering we are fellow Yinshan disciples, will treat my friends well. Tomorrow I will deliver the gold plaques on time."

I glanced at the two ice sculptures in the corner; worried, I reluctantly left the haunted house. Perhaps I should fight Wu Fei, hoping to defeat him and rescue Han Duo and Pangzi.

But after realizing Wu Fei was an insect-raised corpse, I completely abandoned that idea. Wu Fei isn't frightening, yet the black-robed person lurking in the shadows harbors too many unknowns; if I act, I don't know whether I'll implicate Han Duo and Pangzi in harm.

After leaving the haunted house, I immediately ran to the street, went to a phone booth, and dialed Chen Zheng's number. As soon as the call connected, I shouted at Chen Zheng: "Brother Zheng, you must deliver your gold plaque to me before tonight—whether you smash or snatch it, be sure to take it from the safe and give it to me."

I didn't explain much, only telling Chen Zheng this was a matter of life and death. The key to his safe is in my hand, but a round trip to Aomen in one day simply isn't enough time. I can only urge Chen Zheng to find any way to get the gold plaque into my hands.

I hailed a taxi that took me back to Chan Yi Hall. I first pulled from the cabinet the copper ruler my master had left me. Upon close inspection, I indeed found a seam in the middle of the ruler; I poked a small knife into the two gaps and pried it open. With a clang, two square gold plaques fell from the ruler's interior, each bearing an ancient seal script character.

At that moment my hands and feet turned icy, as if struck by electricity; past events slowly replayed in my mind. Back in Aomen, QingSongShu had told me not to interfere in this matter, his face showing that strange expression.

When Elder Yang Qiye saw the ice corpse, his face revealed solemnity and worry. Now, the copper ruler my master left me actually contains two Wu Mu Legacy gold plaques.

This means... the matter of the Wu Mu Legacy is known to Elder Yang Qiye, QingSongShu, and my missing master; only I and Pangzi, the junior disciples, have been kept in the dark.

My heart was in turmoil, unable to settle for a long time. I sat dazed in Chan Yi Hall for most of the night, yet could not calm my confused mind.

QingSongShu and Elder Yang Qiye had still not appeared; I worried about Pangzi and Han Duo in the haunted house, my anxiety growing. The next morning, the dust‑covered Chen Zheng and Fan Wuchang arrived at Chan Yi Hall.

The gate of Chan Yi Hall stood open; Chen Zheng and Fan Wuchang saw me at the entrance and entered without hesitation.

"Hai Sheng, why are you so urgent about this gold plaque—what happened?" Chen Zheng asked anxiously as soon as he entered the room, with Fan Wuchang and several trained aides following closely.

"Well, Pangzi and a friend of mine have been seized by a Yinshan sect fellow disciple, who wants the Wu Mu Legacy." I took the box from Chen Zheng's hand, pulled out the gold plaque, and placed it together with the others I already had.

"Could it be related to that mysterious black‑robed person?" Chen Zheng's keen intuition matched my suspicion.

I nodded, then shook my head: "It's still too early to draw conclusions; all I can do for now is send over the gold plaques I hold and see what happens."

Chen Zheng pondered a moment, then got straight to the point: "What can I and Ah Chang do to help?"

I shook my head: "Useless—this is a war among Daoists; even if you went, you couldn't help much."

"Tch, don't look down on us low‑life gangsters. What's a Daoist? Even a badass Daoist is still a person and still fears bullets," Fan Wuchang said, puffing on a cigarette, unconvinced: "Besides, don't forget I still have this in my hand."

He drew a military dagger from his pocket; seeing it, my eyes lit up instantly.

Exactly—he has this lethal weapon, and Chen Zheng is still an internal martial arts master who has cultivated his force. Others might not be able to help much, but he and Chen Zheng together might.

Furthermore, Fan Wuchang makes a good point: we are merely mortals; even high‑level spellcasters fear gunfire. Perhaps esoteric arts and corpse control cannot be blocked by bullets, but a corpse‑controlling spellcaster **cannot be as insensate as a corpse.