Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 334 Major Events
"I was living with my uncle and aunt at that time, but I stopped living with them when I was thirteen. How should I put it... living with them meant I had food and drink, I was well-fed and clothed, but it wasn't comfortable. Many little things in life were uncomfortable."

Xue Baoping thought for a moment and said, "Then they treat you quite well."

Li Wuxiang smiled noncommittally: "Maybe. Anyway, I ran away when I was thirteen and lived in another house left by my parents. They came to see me twice and said they would abandon me if I didn't go back. I said it was best if they didn't care about me, and they stopped looking for me."

"Another house? Were your family wealthy before?"

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "I guess so? I had a little money. But back then, all I had was that small house, which wasn't even as big as yours."

"What about the others?"

Li Wuxiang sighed: "Let's not talk about this anymore."

Xue Baoping stopped asking. Actually, she could have listened quietly, but after asking around, besides being curious, she felt that Li Wuxiang didn't seem happy.

In her memory, he was always a very calm person, and nothing would make him particularly panicked, but she didn't know what was wrong with him tonight. She thought about it and felt that it might be because of Tong Xu—the two of them had been talking about whether Tong Xu could be considered a "good person" these past few days. While they were talking about those things, she felt that Li Wuxiang had gradually become a little taciturn, but she thought it was just her imagination.

But now she realizes that's not the case. It seems that the topic of "whether he's a good person" has made him unhappy... Is he really that concerned about whether he was a "good person" in the past?

"Back then, I thought I could support myself by doing odd jobs. But when it came to actually living on my own, I found it a bit difficult... I also had to study, so I didn't have much time. But then I found a solution—do you remember I told you about cakes?"

"Yes, I remember, the kind that's sweet and soft."

“There’s a bakery near where I live. Every night, they pack up any unsold bread, cakes, or other items and put them at the back door. They’re not actually spoiled, just the taste isn’t great. I go to get them every night, and then the next morning I go to the morning market on Hongyang Road to sell them. The people who get up early are mostly old men and women. I sell them for one or two yuan each, and I sell them all by the end of the morning—isn’t that pretty shady?”

Xue Baoping didn't care whether his actions were bad or not; what she cared about was why the food was thrown away even though it wasn't spoiled. She couldn't understand the reasoning behind it at all, but not wanting to interrupt, she remained silent.

"But then they stopped giving them out. Some people took them and ate them, got sick, and went to their shop to make a scene. That day was my birthday—I went to their back door to get them again that night, and someone in their shop told me. After I found out, I was about to leave when that person stopped me and asked if I was hungry."

“I told him I wasn’t hungry, but he still told me to wait a moment and went back to get me a piece of cake. He also told me that from now on they would throw the unsold cakes into the trash can next to them.”

"That day happened to be my birthday. I was feeling really worried, thinking that I would have to find something else to do in the future. I was carrying the cake home when I saw a person lying in the alley."

Li Wuxiang was silent for a moment, as if recalling the scene at that time: "That alley, next to the bar... bar street, people often get drunk and lie on the side of the road... no, not often, but not uncommon either."

"When I saw that person, I noticed she was a young woman, and I thought she might be drunk. But after walking a few steps, I felt something was off. She was wearing sportswear, and she didn't look like she was going to a bar to drink."

"I went back to check on her and found that her mouth was full of white foam. She wasn't actually asleep or dizzy, but she just couldn't move, only her eyes could move. I was about to call the police and get help. But she suddenly grabbed my foot. I could tell she didn't want me to call the police. At that moment, I thought, is this person trying to extort money from me?"

“But then I saw her eyes straining downwards.” Li Wuxiang looked down. “Like this. I thought she wanted me to take something from her pocket, so I squatted down and tried to reach in. I pulled out a small box, opened it, and found three pills inside.”

Xue Baoping nodded and said, "So it seems she's been poisoned. I told you to use the medicine she always carries to detoxify her. This kind of thing must be quite common where you're from, right?"

"Hmm...hmm, it's not uncommon for people to carry medicine with them. I did give her the medicine in the end, and that's why I said I saved her. Later I learned that her name was Wang Wu, and she was a disciple of the sect at the Good Days Labor Dispatch Company I mentioned. The company mainly does labor dispatch—but it only does one thing: help people solve problems, the kind of problems that involve violence, whether it's using violence or defending against violence."

"These things are hard to talk about over there, they can't be brought to light. Wang Wu was in big trouble that night. If she hadn't met me, she might have died, or suffered something worse than death."

Xue Baoping nodded: "After that, did she take you as her disciple? Was she taking care of you?"

Li Wuxiang laughed: "Didn't I say before that she's not a good person? Actually, that's being polite. You should say she's a bad person. A really bad one. She kills, steals, and silences people—someone like her wouldn't feel sad if she killed a child on the street. She might just be in a bad mood."

Xue Baoping let out a soft "ah".

"However, apart from a very small number of people who are purely devoid of emotion, or are born bad like Wang Wu, as long as she is still mentally sharp and knows what is right and wrong, even if she doesn't really care, she will subconsciously feel a little guilty."

"This kind of thing can manifest in many other forms... Some people compensate for this guilt in other ways, while others go to extremes to make themselves feel less anxious. Wang Wu was actually the latter, but she met me at that time."

Xue Baoping's lips moved slightly, and Li Wuxiang knew what she was going to say, so he smiled and said, "It's not the method I used to deal with Zhao Qi. I learned those things from others later. I later learned that when Wang Wu came to her senses, she wanted to silence me. But she's like a cat; she likes to play around before killing her prey. She was playing around at the time, very politely asking me who I was, who my family was, and what I did. She was playing, also checking for any potential problems, and trying to make it seem more natural."

“So she didn’t realize that I was actually having a pretty bad time—my situation was much better than yours before, but it was considered pretty bad in our area.” Li Wuxiang thought for a moment, “I later realized that it might be because she was feeling weak and unwell at the time. Physical condition can affect mental state. Some people feel unwell and weak, and they feel weak in their mind as well. They might mistake this weakness for something else.”

“Wang Wu must have thought that was the case. She felt sorry for me and let me go. But that night, when she felt better, she regretted it and went to my house to look for me. She found me celebrating my birthday. She planned to do it the next day, but when she saw me picking up bottles on the roadside the next day, she inexplicably gave me five yuan.”

“Some things can easily become habits. Psychology affects behavior, and behavior affects psychology. She needed a way to vent or compensate. At that time, I was like a stray dog. You don’t need to give me delicacies or large sums of money; just give me some leftovers, and the dog will wag its tail. She would come to see me from time to time, sometimes giving me five yuan, sometimes ten yuan, sometimes half a cup of milk tea, or her leftovers.” “Actually, I wasn’t that desperate, but I felt good. Mainly because there was someone who would come to see me often, without nagging me about how much she had sacrificed to raise me. Wang Wu didn’t talk much. Once, when I got beaten up, she even broke the arm of the kid who hit me. At that time, I didn’t know what she did; I just thought she was a cool and sassy older sister, and sometimes I even thought of her as my mother.”

"Gradually, I started skipping classes. At first, it was to play video games with her—just for fun. Later, when she stopped coming to see me, I skipped classes too. Eventually, I stopped studying altogether, and now I only have an elementary school education." Li Wuxiang paused for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at Xue Baoping. "Can you imagine what I looked like with pink, yellow, and blue hair?"

Xue Baoping was stunned for a long while: "...Huh?"

“I was completely different back then. I’m not talking about my hair, I’m talking about my personality. I was an angry kid back then, very awkward, or as Li Si would say, a stupid idiot—did I mention Li Si to you?”

Xue Baoping shook her head.

"That was several years later. I learned many of the methods I used to deal with Zhao Qi from him, but he wasn't exactly a normal person either." Li Wuxiang chuckled as he said this—Xue Baoping thought his chuckle at this moment was genuinely happy.

“What he said actually makes sense, otherwise I wouldn’t have entered the industry. Wang Wu brought me into the industry because they were actually quite short of people. It’s not easy to find someone like me who is bold, smart, and has a clean background. Wang Wu brought me into the industry for no other reason than to get a referral fee—and that’s how I found out what she actually did.”

“I was eighteen when I started out. At first, I was just helping out and thought it was cool. Gradually, I felt something was wrong, but by then I was already stuck. My values ​​weren’t fully formed back then, so I could only comfort myself that it wasn’t a big deal and that maybe I could still act according to my conscience. But the saying ‘in the world, you’re not always in control’ is true, and your bottom line is gradually broken. By the time I realized things were really going wrong, I slowly became numb.”

"So, is that what I wanted? If I were talking about someone else, I would say no. What do kids know? A sapling hasn't even grown yet, and someone has already shaped it with aluminum wire. It's hard for it to grow straight on its own. But if I were talking about myself, I think I guess so. People can only be responsible for their own actions, not for society. Some people are lucky and won't encounter this path, while others are unlucky and will. But whose fate is it? In fact, it's still your own."

Li Wuxiang could offer many reasons, many of which Xue Baoping had never heard before, so she didn't know how to comfort him. She could only remain silent with him for a while, then flip the fish over: "So you agreed to let me persuade Tong Xu because of this? You think she's not inherently bad and want to give her a chance?"

Li Wuxiang nodded: "It's similar to what happened to Wang Wu back then. There are quite a few people like Tong Xu, and I haven't given many of them a chance. But a few days ago, I was under less pressure, the situation wasn't tense, and there was still a slight need, so I thought I could give it a try."

"Then... is Wang Wu still alive now?"

“She died a long time ago.” Li Wuxiang shook his head. “She died two years after I entered the business. At that time, I was thinking about avenging her. After a few years, when I found out how she died, I stopped thinking about it—in short, she died a just death.”

"Then... how did you get to the Central Plains?"

"I do not know either."

"Huh? You don't know?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember is a door—"

Li Wuxiang suddenly stopped talking, sensing someone approaching. After a while, footsteps came from afar, then stopped, and a disciple of the Shangchi Sect spoke from a dozen paces away: "Sword Immortal?"

Li Wuxiang turned to look at the person in the darkness: "Yes, I'm here."

"Sword Immortal, the Sect Master sent me to inform you that a disciple from the Qingpu Sect has come to the mountain. The person said she has something important to report to you, Sword Immortal. The Sect Master asked her, but she refused to say, saying that she could only speak to you, Sword Immortal. The Sect Master is still healing her injuries, so he sent me to invite you to come over."

Li Wuxiang and Xue Baoping exchanged a glance—a disciple of the Qingpu Sect? Something big? What big thing? Surely it's not that Tong Xu is dead?

Li Wuxiang stood up: "Alright, take me there."

When Xie Qi saw this Qingpu Sect disciple, he was indeed healing her injuries. Judging from her appearance, she was probably in her early twenties, and her behavior, expressions, and movements also suggested that she was indeed in her early twenties.

The treatment was being conducted in the alchemy room of the Shangchi Sect, a room filled with the stench of blood. The person was severely injured, with several wounds on her back, and was coughing up blood, appearing close to unconsciousness. Xie Qi, the most skilled physician on Mount Dapan, was also elderly, so there was no need for excessive secrecy. At this moment, the back of her clothing had been cut open, and medicine was being applied.

Hearing Li Wuxiang open the door, Xie Qi turned to look at him, then immediately turned back to the woman and said, "The sword immortal you've been looking for has arrived. Sigh, what important matter do you have to say? Speak quickly, or you'll fall asleep as soon as the medicine takes effect."

Hearing his words, the woman lying on the bed with her back to Li Wuxiang struggled to turn her face—she had lost too much blood, and her thin lips had turned white. Perhaps because of the pain, her cheeks were covered with fine beads of sweat, so loose strands of hair clung to the corners of her mouth and cheeks, making her look very pitiful.

Her eyes seemed unfocused, her expression was dazed, and she almost murmured, "Sword Immortal...are you a Sword Immortal?"

"I am Li Wuxiang. Junior sister, what important matter do you have to say? You can tell me now."

“I…our sect leader…the sect leader of the Qingpu Sect…there’s a monster on our mountain, that monster eats people, and claims to be from the Blood God Cult—”

Before she could finish speaking, her head drooped and she actually fell asleep.

Li Wuxiang and Xie Qi looked at each other in bewilderment—this was a major event?
(End of this chapter)