Chapter 9 (2/2)

The youths were left speechless.

It was no wonder. The Gu Su Lan clan originally emphasized that it was unnecessary to consider the issue of wealth or poverty of families.

Wei Wuxian again continued: “The drifting souls of the deceased on Dafan Mountain, haven’t you seen them? There is an old man with a smashed head; the material of his burial clothes is extremely well made. Wearing that kind of gorgeous funerary garments, it would be impossible for his coffin to be empty. It’s possible there were several things in the coffin buried with him. With the coffin split open by lightning strike, most likely he took advantage of the situation. After that when the people came to collect the bones of the dead they didn’t find the funerary objects. It’s certain everything was taken away by that sluggard; this would be the explanation for his sudden wealth. The sluggard was in a landslide one night then later suddenly he makes his fortune and takes a wife. The course of events that happened the evening of that day is other than what you think.” He continued to explain, ”That night under the torrential rain, he took shelter within the mountain. Where on Dafan Mountain can you find shelter? The celestial maiden shrine. If an ordinary person comes to the shrine, it is required that they do a certain thing.”

Lan Sizhui said: “Make a wish?”

“Correct. For example, for it to give good luck, to send a great fortune, allow them to marry into wealth and so on. The celestial maiden helps him, sends down the lightning, cleaves open the grave, and allows him in the end to see the coffin full of money and valuables. And as his desire is achieved, the cost for this deed is that the celestial maiden descends on his wedding night and absorbs his soul!”

Lan Jingyi: “You're guessing I presume?”

Wei Wuxian: “Yes, a guess. According to this guess, everything has been explained.”

Lan Sizhui: “What’s the explanation for Miss A’Yan?”

Wei Wuxian: “Good question. You should have asked before you came up the mountain. A’Yan had just had her marriage determined that day. For young girls who have just been engaged, they all surely have the same desire.”

Confused, Lan Jingyi asked: “What desire?”

Wei Wuxian said: “Nothing more but, ‘I wish that my husband for this lifetime loves me dearly, and only loves me alone’, and so on.”

The group of youths were ignorant: “Can this kind of wish really come true…”

Wei Wuxian spread his hands saying: “It’s very simple. As long has her husbands ‘this lifetime’ immediately ends, can’t you say that he ‘loved her alone his entire life’?”

Lan Jingyi suddenly saw the light, excitedly saying: “Oh, oh! There, therefore after Miss A’Yan’s engagement, the next day her fiancé right away met with ravenous wolves within the mountain and was  killed, because most likely on the first day Miss A’Yan travelled to the celestial maiden shrine to make a wis.h.!.+”

Wei Wuxian promptly responded: “It’s hard to say if he was actually killed by ravenous wolves or some other thing. A’Yan is in a special position: Why was she the only one to have her soul return? What’s different about her compared to others? Unlike the others, she had a family member lose their soul as well. Or to put it another way, she had a family member who replaced her! The blacksmith Zheng is A’Yan’s father, a father who loved his daughter dearly. After seeing his daughter lose her soul, with medicine having no effect, in a helpless situation, he can only do what?”

Next Lan Sizhui responded quickly: “–He can only pray to heaven. Therefore he also goes to the celestial maiden shrine to make a wish; his wish was ‘I pray that my daughter A’Yan’s soul is returned!”

Wei Wuxian praised: “This is exactly why A’Yan’s soul alone returned; also it is the explanation why the third soul eaten was the blacksmith Zheng. Also, A’Yan’s soul although returned, has suffered some inevitable damage. After her soul returned, she began to involuntarily mimic the celestial maiden idol’s dancing posture and movement, even the smile.”

The commonality of the lost souls of these people is that most likely they have all made wishes to the celestial maiden.

The wish comes true but at the price of their souls.

This honored statue of a celestial maiden originally was just a block of ordinary stone, which by coincidence resembled the image of a person. An unfathomable mystery that received several hundred years of wors.h.i.+p, it now developed magic power.

But it was greedy and never satisfied. It deviated from its mission, and unexpectedly figured out a way it could absorb souls to accelerate the increase of its powers.

By means of using the wish as a type of currency to absorb the soul, it was the equivalent to the person voluntarily dedicating their soul, and thus became a fair deal for both sides. Each receiving the desired object, it seemed to be a reasonable method, thus the fengxie board pointer remained motionless, the Zhao Yin flag called nothing, and the seal breaking swords were all useless. Just because the thing within Dafan Mountain was not at all the fault of a demon or ghost, it was a G.o.d! This was hundreds of years of consecrated incense together with offerings which have brought out a wild deity. To attempt to deal with it using things meant for fiends, ghosts, demons or beasts, was equal to using fire to fan the flames!

Lan Jingyi said loudly: “Hold on! But just now within the shrine, an individual was also had their soul eaten, we didn’t hear him make any wishes!”

Wei Wuxian’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. Stopping his pace he asked: “At the shrine someone’s soul was eaten? Tell me the situation just now; word for word tell me exactly what happened.”

Lan Sizhui clearly and quickly repeated it again. Hearing Jin Lings sentence: “This spirit, if I make a wish, and request that the soul eating thing here within this Dafan mountain promptly appear in front of me, can it accomplish that”, Wei Wuxian said: “Isn’t this also a wish? This is precisely a wis.h.!.+”

The others also agreed with Jin Ling, this was as if they had also made the same wish.

As the soul eating celestial maiden at that time had been in front of them, therefore their wish was already satisfied, accepting, at once demanding the price!

Suddenly, the flower donkey stopped, and ran back the way they came.

Wei Wuxian, caught off guard nearly fell over, dragging the stubborn thing to a stop with the rope. However just then ahead in the shrubbery came a sudden sound, “crunch crunch“, “wheeze, wheeze” of chewing noises.

A tall matchless figure lay stretched within the bushes. A ma.s.sive head moved with the person’s belly on the ground. Hearing a strange noise, it suddenly raised its head, coincidentally placing them into its view.

This soul eating celestial maiden’s original features had been indistinct, only a rough eye, nose, ear, and mouth. In one breath it had sucked in countless cultivators souls, then transforming to possess a clear facial appearance. It was the face of a smiling woman, from the corners of its mouth dripped down a lot of blood. Holding a single torn arm, it gorged itself with large bites.

The crowd immediately followed the donkey and reversed back the way they came.

Lan Sizhui collapsed and said: “This isn’t right! Ancestor Yi Ling said, high level eats spirits, low level eats meat!”

Wei Wuxian said helplessly: “What superst.i.tion is that, you’re making a complete muddle everything! Any rule is not set in stone, if you consider a baby, without teeth it can only eat gruel and soup and liquids, once it grows up it’s only natural it also desires to use its teeth to eat meat. Her current magic power has risen; naturally she also wishes to consume tasty things!”

The soul eating celestial maiden stood up from the ground, tall and strong, hands and feet raised in ecstatic chaotic dance, seemingly completely elated and joyful.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed by. Hitting her forehead, the arrowhead pa.s.sed and penetrated through to the back of her head.

Hearing the tw.a.n.g of the bowstring, Wei Wuxian followed the sound to its source. It was Jin Ling standing at a not too distant location on a steep slope. Already the second feathered arrow was on the bow. Pulling the bow string completely back, he let go and again the arrow pierced through the skull through her brain. It was a powerful strength. Unexpectedly the soul eating celestial maiden staggered and fell back a few steps.

Lan Sizui yelled: “Young master Jin! Set off your signal flare!”

Jin Ling turned a deaf ear, his heart and soul intent on seizing this monster. With a steady face, this next time he raised three arrows.

With the shots of the first two arrows, the soul eating celestial maiden did not get angry. Still smiling from ear to ear, she faced Jin Ling’s attack.

Although she simultaneously walked and danced, her speed was still dreadfully fast. In a flash she halved the distance between them.

From the side came out several cultivators, together they came together to fight her, entangling her footsteps.

Jin Ling's arrows. .h.i.t their target, step by step one by one. It seemed he was determined. He intended to use up his arrows, and then once was he was near the soul eating celestial maiden he would fight her directly.

His hands were quite straight and steady, shooting with accuracy, but unfortunately all his immortal school magic tools were useless against this thing!

Jiang Cheng and Lan w.a.n.gji were both waiting in Fujiao town for news, it was unknown when they would detect the changes that had occurred.

To extinguish a fire you must use water, if immortal school magic tools won’t work, then just use evil school ghost techniques!

Wei Wuxian pulled out the sword from Lan Sizhui’s waist. Cutting down a single slender bamboo, his flying hands created a single bamboo flute. Placing the side to his lips, he took a deep long breath.

The sharp sound of the flute was like an arrow, piercing the night sky, rising to the heavens.

This was only as a last resort, he shouldn’t be doing this.

But as matters stood, no matter what is called regardless of who comes, as long as it attacks sufficiently. If the evil energy is sufficient, then it would be sufficient to deal with this soul eating celestial maiden and immediately tear it to shreds!

Lan Sizhui’s entire person was stunned. Lan Jingyi tried to cover his ears and said: “At this time, you would still play this kind of flute! What an extremely unpleasant sound!”

The scene of the soul eating celestial maiden fighting with a crowd of cultivators was already at the point where three or four of their souls had been absorbed. Jin Ling pulled out his sword, he was a distance of less than twenty feet from the soul eating celestial maiden. With heart pounding violent palpitations and hot blood bubbling up to his head he said: “If my sword does not cut off her head, then I will die at this place – – die at once!”

Then at this time, from within the Dafan Mountain woods, came a jingle of clanking sounds.

Clank, clank.

Ringing out sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

In the silence of the mountain woods it resounded.

As if iron chains clashed against each other, or an iron rope trailed on the ground.

More and more near, more and more it echoed.

It was unknown why this sound gave people a kind of extremely uneasy threatening feeling including the soul eating celestial maiden who entirely stopped her dancing. She raised an arm, looking distracted she gazed out towards the direction of the sound coming from the darkness of the abyss.

Wei Wuxian stowed away the flute, and watched from the sidelines with rapt attention.

Although in his heart he had an increasingly ominous premonition, however since he was willing to be summoned by him, in that case at least he was willing also to hear the things he had to say.

The sound suddenly stopped, a silhouette emerged from inside the darkness.

After seeing this figure, seeing this face, the expressions of several cultivators twisted.

Even in the face of their souls being eating at any time by the celestial maiden statue, no one shrunk away, no one showed fear.

However, at this moment their voices cried out. They were incapable of concealing their fear.

“… ‘Ghost General’, it was the ‘Ghost General’, it was Wen Zhu!”

“Ghost general.” This t.i.tle, and Ancestor Yi Ling, were the same. Their infamy spread far and wide was known to everyone, usually both would appear together.

These words merely represent one object.

It was Ancestor Yi Ling Wei Ying’s number one helper, troublemaker, and cohort. Flipping the heavens and earth, long ago ought to have returned to scattered bone dust. The ominous corpse, Wen Zhu!

G.o.ddess of mercy

Dancing celestial maiden

The stuff in feet in the raw is actually written using the measurement ‘zhang’ which is about 3.3 meters or close to ten feet. I just went ahead and converted it for easier reading.

p.s Bask in the glory of chinese fanart!! huaban.com/boards/35509802/  (beware of possible spoilers)

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