Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 147 Living Dead

Nanshan Temple, behind the mountain.

It wasn't until Song Yan and Ju Luyi had been gone for a full half hour that a figure slowly emerged from the woods.

"..."

The person was swaying, with stiff limbs, and staggered as he walked.

He started panting after only taking a few steps.

His face was pale and bloodless, and there was a fatal wound on his chest, the blood of which had already congealed.

He climbed almost on his hands and feet to the place where Song Yan buried the people of Nanshan.

This is not a young face; the once distinct features are now painfully squeezed together.

His expression was one of utter grief, yet not a single tear came out.

He wanted to roar and cry out in anguish, but no sound came out.

He slammed his hands heavily on the ground, gripping the soil so tightly that his knuckles cracked.

After a long while, he raised his head in despair, looked up at the sky, and stared blankly into space.

"..."

If Song Yan were here, he would be extremely surprised.

Because this person was none other than Lu Yuan, the abbot of Nanshan Temple, who had already "died and vanished."

However, at this moment, he looked completely devoid of any signs of life.

His limbs were stiff, his eyes were unfocused, his organs had failed, and naturally there was no pulse.

On the contrary, it resembles a corpse puppet.

How did I die?
forget.

How did I survive?

I've forgotten that too.

There were only faint, indistinct whispers in my ears, but I couldn't make them out clearly.

But he still remembered his disciples, their vibrant faces, waiting for him to return.

But when he returned to the temple, all that remained were corpses scattered on the ground.

Ah Hao, Xiao Lian, Ah Ming...

None of their beloved descendants, the hope of Nanshan Temple, survived.

How could this be?
How could it be like this?!
He wanted to fight those three to the death, but a strange force kept stopping him.

Like a puppet with strings tied to it.

Until Song Yan appeared...

He sat silently before the cenotaph the boy had erected for himself.

Song Yan was right; he couldn't remember who the boy was at all.

After thinking for a long time, with his current wooden mind, he couldn't recall anything at all.

"..."

He didn't know how much time had passed before he struggled to his feet.

He bowed in the direction of Song Yan.

Then, stumbling and staggering, they headed down the mountain and eventually disappeared in the northwest.

……

Wendao Gorge, Danqing Academy.

Due to the popularity of Michiko's former residence, Tansei-in is now overcrowded.

A young girl with a childlike face is fast asleep, lying on a messy ink painting.

The girl's Taoist robe was too loose for her, so she folded the two sleeves together and used them as a pillow.

Standing beside her was another female disciple. If Song Yan were here, he would recognize her as Xiang Zhaoling.

Xiang Zhaoling used a calligraphy brush to write and draw on the girl's face, occasionally covering her mouth and giggling.

"Well……"

The sleeping girl sniffed, feeling a little itchy, "Ah... Ah Qiu!"

"You stinky Ling'er, what are you doing?"

She raised her fair little hand and smeared it all over her face, getting ink stains from the painting all over the sleeves of her Taoist robe, which made Xiang Zhaoling laugh heartily.

"I finally got to sleep for a while... I had a fun dream, and you interrupted it. It's all your fault."

She quickly lay down, taking advantage of the lingering sleepiness.

He was trying to continue the beautiful dream he had just had.

"Senior Sister Zhou, why do you always sleep and sleep and sleep? It's so boring." Xiang Zhaoling sat down next to the girl, rested her chin on her hand, and looked at her sleepy face.

"Don't call me senior sister anymore. Master said that in a few months I might be kicked to the outer sect," the girl said in a daze.

"what?"

Xiang Zhaoling looked surprised and somewhat angry. She grabbed the girl's shoulders and shook her vigorously for a long time.

"Don't you dare fall asleep!"

"I've been practicing for three years and I'm only at the seventh level of Qi Refining. It's all because of you, you sleep all day!"

The girl rubbed her eyes with a pained expression: "I don't want to either, but not getting enough sleep is so uncomfortable."

"And dreaming is quite interesting too. Compared to that, cultivation is really... really..."

"Ha... This is so boring."

"I've always loved sleeping. You know... wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a way to cultivate in dreams!"

The girl's name was Zhou Mengdie, and like Xiang Zhaoling, she was a disciple of Lianyou Peak.

"How could that be..."

Xiang Zhaoling rolled her eyes in anger.

"Don't bother me, let me sleep a little longer... Didn't you come to the Central Plains to find a man? Go ahead, hurry up and find a husband, don't disturb my sweet dreams."

"Hehe, you know what, I once met a cute and interesting senior brother."

"Is...is that so...how can he be so cute and funny..."

Zhou Mengdie was almost asleep again, her speech slurred.

"He's clearly very good at finding the right opportunity to kill and silence witnesses, but he doesn't dare to face me directly; he must be quite shy..."

"what?!"

The girl suddenly sat up from the table, staring at Xiang Zhaoling with her big, watery eyes in disbelief, completely wide awake.

"Kill...kill...murder?"

Xiang Zhaoling smiled and nodded at her.

"What...what's cute about it? Fighting and killing, how is that cute? It's terrifying...Let's go report him to the authorities and have him arrested..."

"Hahaha……"

Xiang Zhaoling was amused by Zhou Mengdie's flustered expression again.

"Senior Sister Zhou, why are you so timid? No matter what path you cultivate, the destination is the same."

"If someone wants to kill you, how can you not kill them? That's just how the world is."

Xiang Zhaoling's sweet smile contrasted sharply with the words she spoke.

"Wow, the world is truly treacherous..."

Zhou Mengdie covered her head with her hands, trembling with fear: "I'm not cultivating immortality anymore, I'm not cultivating immortality anymore. Once my master demotes me to the outer sect, I'll find an excuse to leave the mountain and never come back."

Xiang Zhaoling pouted: "Master loves you the most. I think it's just talk to demote you to the outer sect."

"Really……"

Zhou Mengdie was taken aback, scratched her cheek in a daze, and asked, "But cultivating immortality is so dangerous."

Xiang Zhaoling chuckled, "Oh, it's alright. At worst, you can come back to Southern Xinjiang with me, and I'll protect you."

"In another six months, the Sword Testing Tournament will begin. After it ends, the disciples of the sect can go down the mountain to travel. I'll take you to the Southern Frontier!"

"Okay...okay." Zhou Mengdie was still a little confused: "Do you have a flying artifact?"

"Uh...no."

"Are you confident you can win first place in the next Sword Testing Tournament?"

What are the benefits of getting first place?

"I heard there are powerful pills as rewards, and we can also choose a lot of things. There should be flying artifacts among them, so we won't have to walk there."

"A very powerful pill, what kind of pill is it?"

Xiang Zhaoling didn't concern herself with the flying magical artifacts; instead, she seemed somewhat interested in elixirs.

"I don't know." Zhou Mengdie shook her head.

"No, then where did you learn about these things?"

“I…” Zhou Mengdie’s little finger, which was scratching her cheek, stopped, and she thought for a long time.

"forget."

"It seems like I dreamt about it."

……

……

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(End of this chapter)