Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 336 Crazy
With Tong Ling's death, Xie Qi seemed to catch his breath, but he didn't dare to let it out. He swallowed his anger: "I...I just now, sigh, I didn't see it, I..."

Li Wuxiang waved his hand: "Elder Xie, you don't need to explain. I know it has nothing to do with you."

He strode out the door, and the people at the door immediately dispersed. They not only avoided him, but also Hu Wei, who had brought Tong Ling back.

The young girl had also noticed Li Wuxiang's behavior earlier. After being swept by Li Wuxiang's gaze, she immediately looked to her left and right. However, the senior brothers and sisters on both sides had already moved far away from her, so she could only stand there with her hands hanging down, her fingertips trembling.

Li Wuxiang walked up to Hu Wei and stood down, looking at her. Just as he was about to speak, Xue Baoping also came over and tugged at his sleeve.

Li Wuxiang let out another breath and softened his tone slightly: "Hu Wei, how did you meet her? How did you bring her up the mountain? Tell me again."

Hearing his question, Hu Wei's fingertips trembled, and the trembling spread throughout her body. She looked up at Li Wuxiang, but dared not look into his eyes, only at her chest. She opened her mouth, her lips trembling, but as if she were too scared and flustered, she couldn't even make a sound. Her eyes reddened instantly, and she could only make muffled "ah" sounds like a mute.

Li Wuxiang was in a bad mood. Partly because of what he had discussed with Xue Baoping by the lake. Everyone has a past they don't want to recall, and he hadn't spoken of those things before precisely because he didn't want to. But he knew he would have to tell Xue Baoping these things sooner or later, and since he wanted to today, he did.

But "wanting" doesn't mean "enjoying," and those things made him unhappy.

On the other hand is Xue Baoping, or rather, Tong Xu. Baoping is one of the few kind-hearted people in this world, even wanting to plead for Tong Xu's life. And Tong Xu's response was, "She said she doesn't like the look in your eyes when you speak." Today, it was such a close call… If Xie Qi hadn't given her the gold-washed gauze beforehand, Xue Baoping would have almost been saved.

Li Wuxiang disliked phrases like "touching someone's sore spot," finding them both childish and embarrassing. But now he felt that his sore spot had been touched, which angered him even more than if someone had attacked him.

So, this Hu Wei—he didn't know if she had already been, or had just been, bribed by the Qingpu faction to co-star in this play.

But his anger vanished considerably when he heard her "ah ah" sounds. Her appearance, age, and voice instantly reminded him of Xue Baoping, who was known as "Little Mute" in Jinshui.

He knew he didn't really suspect her, and his questioning was just a precaution. So he took a step back, slowly raised his hand and pressed it down, softening his voice: "Your name is Hu Wei, isn't it?"

Hu Wei nodded vigorously immediately.

"Don't be afraid. I told Elder Xie it had nothing to do with him, and I now feel it has nothing to do with you either. But I need to be careful in my actions, so I need to ask you. Do you understand?"

Hu Wei suddenly coughed, bringing tears to her eyes, but at least she could speak: "I understand...I understand...I understand, I...I..."

Li Wuxiang nodded and turned to Xie Qi: "Elder Xie, she's not easy to talk to right now. Give her paper and pen and tell her to write down what happened in detail. Show it to me when she's done."

Hu Wei breathed a sigh of relief, as did the Shangchi Sect disciples and Xie Qi around her. The alchemy room, though called an alchemy room, was actually a courtyard. Xie Qi quickly pointed to the east wing: "Hey, hey, there's one in there—little girl, come with me quickly, come here."

He quickly grabbed Hu Wei's sleeve and led her to the east wing. He walked very fast, as if afraid that Li Wuxiang would treat her the same way he treated Tong Ling.

As soon as he left, all the disciples of the Shangchi Sect scattered and ran outside the courtyard.

Li Wuxiang pulled Xue Baoping's hand: "Come here, let me take a look."

The two walked to the bamboo grove on the other side of the courtyard. Xue Baoping lifted her robe, revealing her belly to Li Wuxiang. What he saw was actually a thin layer of pale gold gauze, without a single tear or blemish on its surface.

Li Wuxiang touched it and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Xue Baoping smiled and said, "I am a swordswoman."

Li Wuxiang nodded, then paused for a moment: "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well today. I'm anxious."

Xue Baoping raised her hands, cupped his face, and touched it. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him for a while.

Li Wuxiang felt the restlessness in his heart gradually subside, so he patted her back, put his arm around her waist, and turned around to look at the room in the east wing.

Xie Qi was a very meticulous person. He led Hu Wei into the house and opened the window. The table in the room was placed by the window, and after he turned on the lamp, Li Wuxiang, with his sharp eyesight, could clearly see Hu Wei sitting at the table and the paper and pen in front of her.

Xie Qi comforted Hu Wei for a few more minutes inside the house, and Hu Wei started to cry. Then Xie Qi went out of the house, closed the door, and stood guard at the door. Hu Wei, still crying, picked up a pen and began to write.

Hu Wei's hands trembled, and so did her pen. This fair-skinned young girl wrote as if she were going mad, her handwriting crooked and haphazard.

“Watch how she writes,” Li Wuxiang said in the darkness. “You see, she doesn’t just pick up a pen and start writing; she writes while thinking.”

Xue Baoping squinted, trying to see clearly, but couldn't. She asked, "Then...she..."

"That's a good thing. If she had been lying before, a liar would have made up a story beforehand, trying to make every detail flawless, so her writing would have been smoother than it is now."

Xue Baoping let out a soft sigh: "Did you ask her to write it down so that she could calm down?"

"A little. More importantly, I'll be asking her questions about what she's written later. She's so scared, her mind won't be clear. But if she can answer all my questions—"

Li Wuxiang shook his head.

The two looked at each other for a while longer, and then Xue Baoping asked, "Why did Tong Xu do that?"

Li Wuxiang understood that she wasn't asking Tong Xu "why send someone to kill her," but rather "why send a disciple," especially one whose cultivation level wasn't high. If it had been a Golden Core cultivator who had attacked, she probably wouldn't have survived.

“I don’t understand either. That person acted too hastily. They could have waited. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll go to Qingpu Mountain tomorrow to ask her in person and see if she has any last words.”

"...Could this be what she intended? She might be setting a trap in Qingpu Mountain."

Li Wuxiang snorted, "Whatever." Xue Baoping didn't speak, but she grasped his hand: "You weren't finished just now. You said the last thing you remembered was a door. What happened to that?"

After a while, Li Wuxiang said, "That mentally ill Li Si brought me here. I think so. I don't remember very clearly."

Did you used to like eating seafood?

"Ok?"

"You said you'd get me seafood for Chinese New Year this year."

"Oh, it's alright. Actually, I don't have any particular favorite foods, but I don't really dislike any either. So I guess I like everything."

“You… um, I think the Taoist robes of the Shangchi Sect are quite nice. This shouldn’t be considered a Taoist robe, right? It should be more like an inner lining of armor. Why don’t you try on their Taoist robes? They would definitely look better.”

“Okay, let’s try it out tomorrow. It’s getting cold, and I see that Li Yin and Xie Qi are both wearing thick satin.”

"Oh, by the way, today I—"

Li Wuxiang turned to look at her and sighed, "Alright, I'm not so angry anymore. I won't go to see Tong Xu tomorrow. Let's stick to what we agreed before and do things slowly, one step at a time."

"Ah."

Li Wuxiang squeezed her hand and smiled again: "You're really emotionally stable. Alright, she's almost finished writing, I'll go ask her."

By the time Li Wuxiang entered the room, Hu Wei's emotions had stabilized. She was still afraid, but she was no longer trembling. Seeing Li Wuxiang enter, she immediately stood up from her chair, looking flustered: "Master Li, I haven't finished writing yet, I..."

Li Wuxiang waved his hand: "I'll just take a look."

He picked up the paper on the table and saw that the handwriting on it initially seemed like madness, but gradually became neater. He had already heard Hu Wei recount the events in the alchemy room, so comparing it with the writing on the paper, he didn't find anything amiss. After reading it, he picked out a few questions to ask—as he expected, Hu Wei herself didn't remember writing some of them, which made her even more frightened by his questions.

By this time, Li Wuxiang was certain that the little girl was truly unlucky. She had risked her life to rescue someone from the foot of the mountain, only to end up getting herself into all sorts of trouble.

He put the paper down: "Alright, don't be afraid. I'm sorry, someone died on the mountain, and it was the Qingpu Sect who did it. I had to ask you a few more questions. You're a good person, and what you did was a good deed..."

He patted himself down, but found nothing. He was quite poor now, because Xue Baoping needed a great many elixirs and materials to practice the Lesser Tribulation Sword Scripture, and he had used almost everything of decent quality. As for things like the Life-Preserving Pill, which others would consider valuable, Li Wuxiang didn't think so. Since he didn't think so, he didn't want to use such things to appease Hu Wei.

"Come to the alchemy room tomorrow, I'll get you something to make up for it."

Hu Wei was stunned for a moment, seemingly still not understanding whether Li Wuxiang was serious or being sarcastic, and could only timidly say, "No need, Master."

"Doing good deeds shouldn't go unrewarded," Li Wuxiang smiled at her. "Go back now, I'll definitely come tomorrow."

Not long ago he was throwing a tantrum, but now he's smiling gently. She didn't know what others would think, but in Hu Wei's eyes, he was definitely "unpredictable." Hu Wei didn't dare refuse any longer, nodded, and took a step to the side, looking at his chest. Seeing that he didn't react, she took another step and quickly ran out.

……

Hu Wei is considered a newly initiated disciple, having only been at Dapan Mountain for a little over four years. However, the Shangchi Sect is, after all, a three-thousand-year-old institution, and can be considered a large and powerful family. Therefore, even a disciple like her who has just established her foundation has her own room.

She was still trembling slightly as she walked towards her residence, and the trembling gradually subsided once she could no longer see the lights in the alchemy room.

A major incident occurred on the mountain a few days ago, and today the Qingpu faction came to assassinate again. Even those who are not good at reading the air can understand that these days are a turbulent time on the mountain. Therefore, the nights have become very quiet. Everyone has returned to their rooms, either meditating or chatting quietly with their friends in twos and threes.

When Hu Wei returned to the gate of her residence, she saw that some windows in the row houses still had candles lit. But as soon as she pushed open the half-closed gate, all the candles went out one after another, as if someone had blew on them.

She took out the brass key from her belt, opened her room door with trembling hands, went inside, closed the door, and then sat down against the door, letting out a long sigh.

She didn't rush to light the candle, but sat on the ground in the darkness. After another dozen or so breaths, she slowly stood up, using the door panel as a support.

The small room was roughly divided in two. One half was filled with a wooden bed, big enough for two people to lie down. It was against a wall made of wooden planks, and next to the bed was a dark red wooden chest with copper-plated edges.

The other half contained a small table and a small stool, placed against the window like the east wing of the alchemy room. On the west wall was a niche containing two statues, one large and one small: one of the Eastern Emperor Taiyi, and the other of the founder of the Shangchi School.

Hu Wei stood in the darkness, carefully examined all the items, and slowly walked to the small table.

The table had drawers. Hu Wei first tried to pry them open, but they wouldn't budge, so she pulled them out. Inside the drawers were writing brushes, ink, paper, and an inkstone, as well as a small box about the size of her palm. She picked up the box, shook it, and then opened it, finding inside were small, yellowish-brown cubes. Hu Wei smelled them, then picked up one and gently licked it with the tip of her tongue—it was sweet.

She thought for a moment and remembered—it was candy.

She put one in her mouth, and the next moment she couldn't help but chew it up. So she took another one, but still couldn't resist chewing it up. Then she simply opened her mouth and poured all the candies from the box into it. That would be sweet enough. She sucked on them with her mouth closed and her cheeks puffed out, and continued to walk to the foot of the bed to open the wooden box.

The wooden box contained changes of clothes, shoes, socks, jewelry, and the like. Because it hadn't been taken out for so long, it had a slight musty smell. She thought for a moment, then found a thick hemp rope in the corner of the box, tied both ends to the copper hooks embedded in the east and west walls, and draped the clothes over them one by one.

This was as if a curtain had been hung in the room, dividing the small house into an inner and outer room. Hu Wei walked from the inner room to the outer room, and then from the outer room to the inner room, wearing a garment that was neither too long nor too short. She moved back and forth between the two rooms, letting the soft fabric caress her cheeks and making her hair look messy.

She played like that for a while before suddenly throwing herself onto the bed and crunching away at the candy in her mouth.

(End of this chapter)