Chapter 515: The Coffin-Pulling Gu (3/10, Autumn Subscription)

Seeing Bai Xiaoya reach out for another Blood Stone to eat, Fang Yue hesitated, then gave her one more, instructing: "Eat slowly! This is the last one, the rest are still useful."

"Oh..."

Bai Xiaoya, who had originally been about to bite down and chew it up like candy, hesitated, and began nibbling in small bites. But at least she was eating, so she calmed down considerably.

Jing Yan and Qing Chen looked at Fang Yue, then at Bai Xiaoya.

"Ye Ge, she this..."

"Not sure. Let's rescue Lord Han first, we'll figure out her situation when we get back."

For now, aside from complaining of hunger and her lost memories, Bai Xiaoya showed no signs of life-threatening danger, so Fang Yue naturally prioritized resolving Lord Han's problem first.

"What do we do next?" Fang Yue looked at Qing Chen.

"Cut off the energy supply, smash the fish tank, and pull Lord Han's head out—that'll do it."

That was simple enough. One punch shattered the fish tank's glass, and pale-green Preservation Water gushed out.

Fang Yue went to fetch Lord Han's head, carefully bringing it out. He called out twice, but got no response.

"Pull it out?" Fang Yue pointed at the black wooden tube on the back of Lord Han's head.

"Wait." Qing Chen parted the hair around the wound on the back of Lord Han's head, observing carefully. Fang Yue glanced over and saw that the back of Lord Han's skull was densely covered with all kinds of patterns, as if some sort of formation seal had been branded onto it.

Seeing Qing Chen withdraw his hand, Fang Yue quickly asked: "What do you think?"

"Can't read it."

"Huh?"

"... I only study the Gu arts. These things are obviously formation seals—I've never researched them." Qing Chen awkwardly scratched his head, then, at the end, couldn't help but flatter: "But Lord Ma Zuo really is erudite and talented, even delving into these areas."

After all, he was a renowned veteran of the Xiantian Realm who'd made his name years ago—besides Martial Techniques, it seemed he had a hand in everything else.

Unlike Fang Yue, who had charged ahead wildly, frantically boosting his strength, but when it came to anything outside the Martial Dao, he was completely in the dark.

That's not right—Lord Han was the same way. Even for a problem like Qi Deviation, he had to travel all the way to Mo Cun to invite An Shenyi to save him.

So... to become a powerhouse, one didn't necessarily need to be skilled in every area. Not understanding formations and the like didn't seem to matter much.

Lord Han had been rescued, but the black wooden tube on the back of his head left them at a loss.

"Let's bring Lord Han back to Qingsi County first. Lord Jun, as an old-school Xiantian Realm martial artist, might have some knowledge of formations and could help."

Fang Yue discussed with the other two, and they made their decision.

Bai Xiaoya, nibbling on her Blood Stone, didn't seem to understand what Fang Yue and the others meant.

"You guys are leaving? Then I'll go back to my room and stay there."

Fang Yue:???

Fang Yue grabbed her: "You're coming with us."

"Huh? But... I'm supposed to wait for Lord Ma Zuo to come back." Bai Xiaoya hesitated.

"Lord Ma Zuo said he'd have me take care of you from now on. Otherwise, where do you think I got the key?"

"Huh?! Lord Ma Zuo—is Lord Ma Zuo abandoning me?"

"... He's going somewhere far away. He'll come back to see you later."

"Oh... okay then! I'll go with you!"

After being sweet-talked by Fang Yue, Bai Xiaoya skipped along happily as she followed him.

Watching this smooth-talking, Jing Yan and the other gave him strange looks—where did this creepy old man abducting little loli come from??

Without overthinking it, they took Lord Han's head and Bai Xiaoya, and Fang Yue's group headed up through the secret room's corridor.

Bai Xiaoya kept looking back every few steps, seeming quite reluctant to leave the cell she'd been staying in.

But once the secret room below was out of sight, her thoughts settled. She curiously examined the stairs, then ran up ahead, dashing to the front of Fang Yue's group.

When they reached Lord Ma Zuo's room and opened the door, Bai Xiaoya darted inside, grabbed a cup, and bit down on it. Her face changed: "That can't be eaten!"

"Huh?"

Bai Xiaoya hesitated, stuck out her little tongue, and licked it: "It has flavor."

"Anyway, you just can't eat it!"

Fang Yue's tone grew stern as he set the cup down.

"Oh..." Bai Xiaoya looked at Fang Yue with a slightly wronged, pitiful, apologetic gaze: "Th-then I'll eat something else."

"Wait, wait, wait! Let's get back to Qingsi County first. Once we're there, you can eat whatever you want!"

"Really?! Then I—I want to eat fish!" Bai Xiaoya pointed at Lord Han and started drooling again.

Fang Yue's face darkened: "Lord Han is a person, not a fish. You can't eat him!"

"Oh..." Bai Xiaoya thought for a moment, then continued pointing at Lord Han: "Then I want to eat a person!"

"You can't eat people! You can't!"

Fang Yue slapped her pointing finger down, and after earnestly explaining and persuading her for quite a while, Bai Xiaoya finally roughly understood that people weren't to be eaten.

Jing Yan and Qing Chen watched, not knowing whether to laugh or cry—was this babysitting?

Bai Xiaoya didn't look young either, around seventeen or eighteen, so why did her mind seem so childlike?

"Ye Ge, be honest with me—is this your kid? Father-daughter team gaming, unbreakable bond?"

"Don't overthink it..."

Fang Yue didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He led the group out of Lord Ma Zuo's room.

Fang Yue froze.

Because outside Lord Ma Zuo's room, at the far end of his line of sight, a bizarre creature—half composed of human bone, half of human flesh and blood, half-human half-bone, with iron chains wrapped around its body—was walking toward them step by step.

It walked very slowly, yet very steadily, like an ascetic monk, leaving a footprint with every step, each stride precisely identical in distance.

And as the half-human half-bone aberration walked toward them step by step, the iron chains bound to its body clanked and clanged, as if dragging something heavy with every step.

Whether it was an illusion or not, Fang Yue felt that the half-human, half-bone aberration's human half-face bore a striking resemblance in appearance to the already-deceased Liao Guanjia.

At this moment… Liao Guanjia was eaten by the aberration, and his face was copied away?

While Fang Yue's heart was filled with doubt, the thing being dragged behind the half-human, half-bone aberration began to gradually emerge from the darkness, revealing its true form.

It was a coffin—a bone coffin far, far larger than the humanoid aberration!

Looking closely, in the middle of the bone coffin was carved a symbol of a full moon at night, surrounded by a group of small dots—whether they were people or something else—maintaining a posture of kneeling worship, as if some kind of ancient religious ritual.

The iron chains wrapped around the 【Coffin-Dragging Aberration】 bound the bone coffin densely, dragging it forward step by step, emitting the rustling sound of bone scraping against the ground.

Rustle! Rustle!

Accompanying the rustling sound, there was also some kind of strange sound.

Fang Yue listened carefully…

Step.

Step step step.

Step step step step step.

That was… relatively faint, yet extremely dense, the sound of footsteps!

Looking doubtfully behind the 【Coffin-Dragging Aberration】, Fang Yue's pupils suddenly contracted.

He saw a dense swarm of aberrations, like devout believers, slowly following behind the 【Coffin-Dragging Aberration】.

(End of this chapter)