Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 311 The Resurrected

Xue Baoping was not at all reserved when facing Mei Qiulu, and asked Li Wuxiang curiously, "Who?"

“One of them is my apprentice. Her name is Zhao Yu. She is Zhao Qi’s junior sister and a former disciple of Ranshan.” Li Wuxiang took the paper and showed one of the sheets to Xue Baoping.

The little figure on this paper is different from the one he drew before. When he drew it before, he used wet mud from the cave entrance to roughly sketch a human figure. Now, the original mud marks seem to have diffused, transforming into a figure in the style of a light ink wash painting. If one had seen Zhao Yu, they would find that the figure is incredibly lifelike, almost like a silhouette of a real person.

“This is Lou He. According to the normal seniority system, he used to be my grandmaster… Old Zeng should have told you about him.” Li Wuxiang showed another card to Xue Baoping. “Zhao Yu will come with us, but as for Lou He, it’s hard to say.”

"They're...like you? They were flattened?"

Li Wuxiang was amused by her, and Mei Qiulu also said, "They weren't flattened. They were originally dead, but Li Wuxiang used a talisman to trap them inside. I preserved their souls, and now Li Wuxiang wants to turn them back into paper figures so they can cultivate Guangchanzi in the future."

Xue Baoping fell silent.

Li Wuxiang shook the two pieces of paper and injected a little essence into them.

This was the first time he had used paper figures to draw a living person. He was desperate and overjoyed when he succeeded, thinking that the person would remain alive forever. But Sister Mei said that once the magic faded, the paper would turn back into paper. He peered inside and realized that it didn't seem to have anything to do with the magic; it was just that the paper was no longer usable.

Even Senior Sister Mei didn't know that the magic of Ranshan's talismanic arts wasn't the technique itself, but the paper. The talismanic paper that Zhao Kui and Zhao Qi used to perform their magical abilities relied entirely on, and had been enshrined in the Ranshan illusionary realm for over a hundred years.

But he had used all those old papers to refine his internal organs. The two he took out that day were new, both put in by Zhao Kui, and only a few decades old. It was probably because the magical power accumulated on the papers had faded that they turned into talismans again.

This makes things a bit complicated...

He took out two new ones and first tried tapping them on Lou He's talisman paper—the Nascent Soul energy within the two papers merged, and Li Wuxiang felt something being drawn into the new paper. Then a strong force came from his hand, and he immediately released his fingers, took another step in front of Xue Baoping, and saw Lou He fall to the ground with a thud.

Hearing the noise, Xue Baoping tried to peek out, but Mei Qiulu raised a hand that was behind her back, covering Lou He.

Lou He sat on the ground, momentarily dazed, before finally reacting. He immediately grabbed his robe and wrapped it around himself, looking around before his gaze fell on Li Wuxiang: "You're awake!?"

Li Wuxiang sighed inwardly, but smiled on his face: "Mm."

Then she slapped another piece of paper in her hand, and in a flash of white light, it was covered by another outer robe that Mei Qiulu had thrown out—Zhao Yu had also transformed. Mei Qiulu helped her up and only let go of her hand when she came to her senses in a daze.

Zhao Yu, with disheveled hair, turned away to put on her outer robe before turning back to tie her hair up. She spoke only two words more than Lou He: "Master, you're awake!?"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "You're awake."

Then the two of them were both a little stunned—they heard laughter and chatter coming from inside the house, but judging from Mei Qiulu and Li Wuxiang's expressions, they were clearly not very happy.

as well as--

Li Wuxiang stepped aside, making way for Xue Baoping. He said to Zhao Yu, "This is the Xue Baoping I told you about, your Martial Aunt Xue."

Zhao Yu blinked at the treasure bottle, then bowed and said, "Disciple Zhao Yu greets Martial Uncle Xue."

The term "Shishu" (a term of respect for a senior martial arts master) must have sounded strange to Xue Baoping. She stared at Zhao Yu's face for a moment, then realized what was happening when she saw Zhao Yu leaning over and standing there for a short while. She quickly said, "No need, no need, please get up."

"Yes." Zhao Yu straightened up and stood a step away from Li Wuxiang.

Lou He nodded and smiled, "Good, good, Miss Xue is really... Ah, it would be inappropriate for me to praise you two as a perfect match—I see that you also have cultivation, you've already reached the Qi Refining stage. Let me calculate, it's only been a little over half a year, such cultivation level—Miss Xue's good looks are the least important thing."

Xue Baoping smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Senior Brother Lou."

Lou He looked to both sides: "So now we are..."

Mei Qiulu looked at Li Wuxiang: "How long can their bodies last this time?"

"It will take about three or four days."

Mei Qiulu nodded: "Junior Brother Lou."

These three words struck Lou He like a thunderbolt, leaving him frozen in place. His mouth agape, it took him three breaths to utter a sound: "Senior...Senior Sister, you...you..."

"Li Wuxiang pleaded for you, and some of his words resonated with me. I was thinking that if you were willing, you could stay here. I've expelled you from the sect, but it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to stay and be a guest of Li Wuxiang's Sword Sect—"

"I do, Senior Sister, I do!"

Mei Qiulu shook her head: "But now it's not up to you whether you want to or not. This talisman you're using can only last for three or four days, but Li Wuxiang is leaving."

Lou He immediately turned to look at Li Wuxiang—the first time Li Wuxiang had seen such an expression on his face. It was pitiful, pleading, begging, and hopeful.

"If it were possible, I would teach you or my senior sister the Ranshan Talisman Technique right now, but it's really not possible—not that I'm unwilling, but that I can't do it." It seems that the divine power of the Ranshan Talisman Paper will gradually fade away once it leaves the Ranshan Illusion, so even if he leaves a stack of them, it will be useless.

Lou He's face instantly turned ashen. Li Wuxiang was moved by his ashen expression—he hadn't begged him to stay or leave.

So he couldn't help but do the math. Lou He knew how to use the Guang Chan Zi technique. Without the Golden Entanglement, if he could slowly refine a human skin from this paper figure's body—including the flesh of the Life-Giving Master—it might take about half a year to complete.

Half a year... half a year is too long for him. Lou He needs to refine his flesh and blood, but he also needs to obtain the magical artifacts of the Thirty-Six Sects to collect his own Yi Hua.

After a while, Lou He sighed: "Well, this is fate, isn't it?"

Xue Baoping leaned close to Li Wuxiang's ear and whispered, "Do you also want Senior Brother Lou to stay?"

Li Wuxiang replied in a low voice, "He thinks it, and so do I, but unfortunately it doesn't work out. Sigh."

"I might have a way," Xue Baoping lowered her voice even further. "Come here and I'll tell you."

Li Wuxiang smiled inwardly, wanting to explain to her that he couldn't keep her, nor could he keep the Ranshan talisman paper. But just as he was about to speak, he realized that Xue Baoping was no longer the naive little girl from Jinshui Town, but a proper cultivator who had practiced the Taiyi Sect's methods. She had seen the world, and what she said shouldn't be just wishful thinking.

He glanced at Xue Baoping and said, "Senior Sister, Senior Brother Lou, please wait a moment."

Then, pulling Xue Baoping along, he walked a dozen steps back and asked, "What's the plan?"

Xue Baoping hesitated for a moment: "Li Wuxiang, you told me before that you don't like asking others to do things they don't like, right?"

"Correct."

"Well... if there's something, like the method I'm about to talk about, that I can't tell you how I know it, would you insist I tell you?"

Li Wuxiang's heart skipped a beat. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Is it related to external evils? You know what external evils are, right?" "I know. Master Zeng has told me a lot about them. The gods and ghosts in Mount Ling, even the true spirits of the thirty-six true immortals, and some others that we may not know about. But my method is not from an external evil sect. You'll understand when you see it."

As Xue Baoping was saying this, Li Wuxiang had already glanced around Mount Ling and didn't see anything strange.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Was it the person who taught you this method who told you not to tell anyone else?"

"Ah."

What will happen if I tell you?

"I won't do anything, it's just... after I tell you, the method won't work anymore, and the people I saved won't be able to live again."

"Was the person who taught you the method male or female? Oh, may I ask that?"

"It should be possible...it's a man."

"Does Old Zeng know about this?"

“I know. I told him it might be because I dreamt of the Great Emperor Taiyi. I’ve tried this method before, and it’s true—I can bring people back to life. But it can only be done on the first and fifteenth of the month, and today is the fifteenth.”

"When did this happen?"

"It was the first day of this month, that night."

"Was it in a dream that I transmitted the Dharma to you, or—"

"It wasn't a dream. No, you can't ask anymore, I'm afraid you'll accidentally let it slip if you ask again." Xue Baoping covered her mouth.

"Okay." Li Wuxiang nodded.

If the truth were revealed, the victim wouldn't be Xue Baoping, but rather the person she had saved. This alone put Li Wuxiang somewhat at ease.

It's a way to bring someone who has just died back to life... This seems to involve the authority of human destiny.

It's a man, not in a dream, but in the real world... It seems like someone who is spreading the Dharma has taken over another person's body.

Xue Baoping told Zeng Jianqiu that it was Taiyi, and Li Wuxiang thought that she might have accidentally hit the mark.

However, it should have been Taiyi, not Li Ye. Fifteen days ago, Li Ye was forever left in the past.

Li Wuxiang didn't know what Donghuang Taiyi was planning, or why he wasn't coming to him directly but instead seeking out Xue Baoping. But compared to other great emperors and true immortals in the world, Donghuang Taiyi was probably the least dangerous to him.

"You used this method and you're fine?"

"Yeah, nothing's wrong. Actually, it's a bit like your Ranshan talisman..."

Li Wuxiang hesitated for a moment: "Okay. But you can't say it's your method. You have to say it's mine."

“Okay, that’s what I was actually thinking too. Let’s talk about what talismans I brought you, okay? Treasures I found on the road? No… Master Zeng has been with me the whole way, so it’s not okay to ask him, then…”

Li Wuxiang laughed: "No need. If you tell me not to ask, I won't. If I tell Senior Sister Mei not to ask, she won't either—is this method troublesome?"

"It's no trouble at all, I'll just draw it."

"Okay, tell me what else you need to do."

Li Wuxiang and she walked back together and saw Lou He talking to Mei Qiulu. Both of them had a sigh on their faces, and Lou He looked like he was about to cry, but unfortunately the paper figure couldn't cry.

“Senior Brother Lou, you don’t need to come with me. And Zhao Yu—” Li Wuxiang nodded to her as well, “I have a way to bring you two back to life.”

Lou He suddenly turned his face: "You really mean it!?"

Mei Qiulu was taken aback, then frowned: "Li Wuxiang, are you going to use the luck of humanity? Are you going to invite Taiyi?"

"Senior sister, I didn't know about this method before, I just found out. I don't know if it uses human fortune, so I wanted to show it to you. Don't ask me how I got it, I can't tell you."

Mei Qiulu glanced thoughtfully at Xue Baoping—of the five, only Li Wuxiang noticed that she had also quickly moved towards Lingshan, just like he had done earlier.

So he felt relieved—Senior Sister Mei knew what he meant. He wanted to use it in front of Mei Qiulu; if even this divine lord couldn't see anything amiss, then he could truly feel at ease.

"Alright, Li Wuxiang, you give it a try. How?"

"First, we need to seal their souls on this paper."

Mei Qiulu glanced at Lou He, who immediately shouted, "Senior Sister, come on!"

Mei Qiulu raised her hand and made a slight grabbing motion, and Lou He immediately transformed into a talisman that floated to the ground. She then looked at Zhao Yu. Zhao Yu looked slightly frightened, but bit her lip and nodded. Mei Qiulu grabbed again, and only two pieces of paper remained on the ground.

Li Wuxiang picked up the paper, walked to Xue Baoping, turned his back to Mei Qiulu, and moved his lips: "All done."

Xue Baoping had already taken out a piece of charcoal from her bosom, and, crouching down, quickly traced the original marks on the paper again. Her movements were swift, and the marks were faint. She then tossed the talisman a step away. Li Wuxiang watched her every move, expanding his divine sense to a large area around them and even extending into Mount Ling, waiting for her to begin the incantation.

Bao Ping said the secret incantation was recited in her mind, which sounded very similar to when she had invoked external evil spirits. If it really did summon something, then she and Sister Mei—

—But living, breathing people just appeared.

Two living, breathing people, with flesh and blood, even dressed, appeared on the grass—while Li Wulian hadn't even finished processing his own thoughts!

He was stunned. He saw that Lou He and Zhao Yu were also sitting on the ground, looking dazed, their faces contorted, as if they had been paper dolls for some time and didn't know how to use their flesh and blood bodies anymore.

He noticed nothing! There wasn't the slightest change in the surrounding spiritual energy, especially not in the Spirit Mountain!

Li Wuxiang immediately turned to look at Mei Qiulu and saw that she was also a little dazed, but after a moment of dazedness, she fixed her gaze on him.

Mei Qiulu's questioning gaze sent a chill down Li Wuxiang's spine. It wasn't a question born of ignorance, but rather a question arising from having perceived something, and then questioning that very thing.

Moreover, if he wasn't mistaken—Senior Sister Mei seemed to think that what she had discovered was related to her!

(End of this chapter)