ATAVID CH11: Sticky Rubbing

“Did you hear? Yesterday, by the Qingling Stream in the back mountain, another inner sect disciple’s corpse was found.”
Along the way, the disciples of the Lingxiao Sect gathered in twos and threes, whispering to each other. Their voices were pressed extremely low, but they couldn’t hide the panic in their eyes.

The speaking disciple’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard, the corners of his eyes constantly sweeping his surroundings as if afraid of being targeted by something. “The way he died was truly wicked and creepy.”
“Keep your voice down!” A disciple beside him hurriedly tugged his sleeve, a soft hiss squeezing from his throat. “The sect is still suppressing the news. Making such a big fuss, aren’t you afraid of being punished!”

“It’s already spread!” That disciple shook off the hand, his tone carrying a bit of reckless anxiety.
“How many have died already? Such a bizarre thing, how could it be suppressed? Even if you and I don’t talk about it, others have long chewed it over in private!”

He paused, leaning in a bit closer, his voice pressed even lower. “Did you know that my distant senior brother was on patrol duty last night?”
“He said that the dead disciple looked as if all the spiritual energy in his body had been drained dry. His flesh clung tightly to his bones, his face was as white as a sheet of paper, and his eyes were wide open, looking exactly as if he had been frightened to death by something.”

“His body was also covered with a layer of grey-black miasma, yet surprisingly, not even the slightest wound could be found! It wasn’t until the elder of the Law Enforcement Hall examined him that they discovered his soul was shattered to pieces, leaving him without even a chance for reincarnation!”

“Hiss—” The people listening gasped in cold air.
“Isn’t the Qingling Stream constantly covered by the mountain-protecting grand array? There are disciples guarding the array cores. How could this happen? Could it be that evil spirits from outside the mountain broke in?”

“Who knows?”
The disciple who spoke first shook his head, his eyes full of fear: “I heard the deacon has already sealed off the back mountain and searched for a whole day, but couldn’t find a single clue… That disciple was at the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment, yet he died just like that, not even having the time to call for help. If it were us outer sect disciples, I’m afraid we wouldn’t even leave a corpse behind.”

“It really is bizarre, just like that big fire in the back mountain two years ago. In the end, wasn’t there no follow-up either?”
“Could it be… could it be a ghost coming to claim souls?” A small, thin disciple chimed in timidly, his fingers gripping the hem of his clothes, trembling severely.

“What nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight!” That disciple slapped the head of the one who spoke. “I think you’ve lost your mind! How could there possibly be ghosts in the Lingxiao Sect?”
“But it really is too weird,” the small, thin disciple rubbed his forehead, still anxious.

“Haven’t you noticed? All these dead disciples are the ones who were saved by Junior Brother Wei in the Xuanyin Secret Realm back then! Could it be that Junior Brother Wei died an unjust death back then, and has now turned into a vengeful ghost coming back to claim souls?”

As soon as these words came out, the surrounding whispers abruptly stopped, and the atmosphere under the corridor instantly stagnated.
An indescribable chill crawled up everyone’s spine. No one dared to answer, their faces alternating between pale and green.

Right at this moment, a majestic pressure of the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage suddenly descended, like a thousand-pound boulder pressing down on everyone’s heads, accompanied by an angry, low shout: “What are you talking about?!”
The disciples originally gathered together instantly scattered like birds and beasts, but were locked in place by the pressure.

They had no choice but to kneel on the ground in panic, their heads buried low, their voices trembling: “First Elder, Sword Venerable, we know we are wrong! Please forgive us!”
The First Elder stood beside Wei Lan, his face livid, glaring at these disciples with a feeling of “iron failing to become steel.”

To dare secretly speculate about past sect matters, and even dare to drag Wei Xun into it—they were simply audacious to the extreme.
One must know that ever since Wei Lan came out of seclusion a year ago and learned the news that Wei Xun’s soul lamp had extinguished, he almost suffered qi deviation.
If it weren’t for all the elders desperately trying to dissuade him, this bunch of old bones would probably have all been dragged down with him.
Now, for these disciples to dare gossip in front of him, wasn’t that stabbing a knife right into Wei Lan’s heart?

The First Elder bit the bullet, turned around, and bowed to the white-robed man beside him, his tone carrying a bit of pleading: “Sword Venerable, they are all juniors, speaking carelessly without a filter. It was also an unintentional mistake. I hope you won’t stoop to their level.”

Wei Lan stood beneath the corridor, his moon-white sword robe spotless, and slowly swept his gaze over the disciples kneeling on the ground.
His gaze was as deep as a freezing pool, carrying an un-dissolvable hostility, and he didn’t speak for a long time.
After a long while, he finally said: “Let them all back down.”

“Thank you, Sword Venerable.” Hearing this, the three to five disciples felt as if they had been granted a grand pardon. Not even daring to turn their heads, they hurriedly got up and left.

It wasn’t until they walked far away that the First Elder, still shaken, wiped his sweat: “Sword Venerable, these disciples are truly lacking in discipline normally, which is why they don’t have a filter on their mouths. Later, I will definitely have the Law Enforcement Hall punish them severely.”

“Jinghe.” Wei Lan’s voice sounded faintly, his gaze fixed on the distant plum forest.
Spring had arrived and the plum blossoms had fallen. The branches sparsely held lingering snow, inexplicably giving off a bit of desolate coldness.

He suddenly spoke, every word light, but they smashed heavily into the First Elder’s heart: “Two years ago, did Xun’er truly act willfully, betray the sect, and lose his traces in the secret realm?”

Hearing this, the First Elder was greatly alarmed.
Wei Lan still suspected it in the end.
He couldn’t help but complain about the Fourth Elder. That set of deceitful rhetoric back then was thought up by the Fourth Elder, but in the end, it was he who had to bite the bullet and cover up the lie to Wei Lan.

Steadying his mind, he lowered his eyes and bowed, keeping his tone as calm as possible: “That child Wei Xun was originally aloof and stubborn by nature. The events back then were all learned from the mouths of the disciples who narrowly escaped death in the secret realm. They said that Wei Xun, in order to seize the secret realm’s inheritance, did not hesitate to massacre his fellow disciples, and even used demonic mental cultivation methods, falling into the demonic barrier.”

He paused, suppressed the astringency in his throat, and continued: “Before we even had time to send people to the secret realm to find him, his soul lamp in the ancestral hall extinguished first. I hope the Sword Venerable restrains his grief.”

A very shallow sorrow flashed through the depths of Wei Lan’s eyes, like fallen plum blossoms touching spring water, vanishing without a trace in an instant, leaving only a patch of heavy coldness.
“So be it.” He sighed softly, seeming relieved, yet also regretful. “He and I, in the end, had no fate as father and son. It’s just that today is his birthday, I’ll relight a lamp for him…”

“Dad!”
A crisp youth’s voice came from the side door, followed closely by a figure stepping quickly on the bluestone bricks and plunging straight into Wei Lan’s arms.
The coldness surrounding Wei Lan instantly dissipated, a faint gentleness rippling in his eyes. He raised a hand to rub the top of the youth’s head, saying gently: “Why are you wearing so little? Be careful not to catch a cold.”

The youth was precisely Wei Miao.
He was wrapped in a white fox-fur coat with cloud patterns woven in gold, the fox fur fluffy and lustrous white. The moon-white brocade robe draped outside was embroidered with lotus patterns, and the jade belt tied around his waist hung with a few strands of silver thread tassels that swayed gently with his movements. Even the boot shafts were wrapped in a ring of matching fox fur.

He puffed out his cheeks, his brows and eyes full of innocent naivety: “Mother and Wangshu are both waiting for us to eat, they stewed your favorite snow lotus soup.”
Wei Lan patted his shoulder, “Alright, I’ll go right away.”

The First Elder stood behind them, words stuck on the tip of his tongue, yet unable to voice them.
Relight what kind of lamp?
No one knew anymore.
The Lingxiao Sect’s breathtakingly brilliant young genius, Wei Xun, had long ceased to exist in this world.

*

*

Back mountain, Qingling Stream.
The cold, damp mist, wrapped in a faint miasma, tangled between the jagged stone crevices.

“Can you stop eating just anyone’s soul? This one tastes bad, I don’t want it.” Jiang Qunyu frowned in disgust and took two steps back.
Wei Xun turned to look at him expressionlessly. His fingertips pinched a flickering, pale white soul, his tone cold and hard: “I am the one eating, not you.”

But he would secretly bite Wei Xun at night.
So if he ate it, wouldn’t it be the same as him eating it himself?

“This soul is too dirty! Look at him, among his seven emotions and six desires, lust is the strongest. What if you turn into a massive pervert after eating it?”
He leaned in with a serious face, pointing at the soul and spouting nonsense.

Wei Xun sneered lightly. With a slight condensation at his fingertips, he entirely absorbed that wisp of a soul into his body.
Faint black demonic energy tangled around his fingertips, exuding a bit of coldness: “Then I will draw you onto my body and let you suffer along with me.”
Jiang Qunyu: “…”

“You dare! I’ll use the Soul-Binding Thread to trap your soul body, making it so you can never come back!”
“Heh, Jiang Qunyu, look at yourself, do you have that ability?” Wei Xun looked at him from the corner of his eye, a hint of mockery hidden in the depths of his eyes.
“You’re just bullying me because I haven’t found my natal weapon yet. If I didn’t truly dislike using swords, Soul-Devouring would have been mine long ago.”

After saying that, Jiang Qunyu even called out, “Soul-Devouring.”
The next instant, the glowing white long sword appeared out of thin air, landing steadily in his palm.
Jiang Qunyu became smug instantly, raising an eyebrow and waving the blade: “See, I told you so!”

Wei Xun’s face turned livid, his thin lips almost pressing into a straight line. “Soul-Devouring, come back!”
Soul-Devouring hesitated a bit.
Jiang Qunyu had Wei Xun’s scent on him, so Soul-Devouring couldn’t tell them apart either.

Jiang Qunyu comfortingly patted Soul-Devouring’s trembling blade. “Soul-Devouring, be good. I’m much gentler than that lunatic. Following me in the future has better prospects than following your master.”
“If you don’t come back now, you will die along with him,” Wei Xun added.

This time, Soul-Devouring could tell the difference.
It rubbed reluctantly against Jiang Qunyu’s soul body, the blade trembling twice in his palm.
Only then did it carefully transform into a streak of light and drill back into Wei Xun’s body.

“Hmph.” Jiang Qunyu crossed his arms and walked behind Wei Xun, not wanting to say a single word to him.

On the second day after the two small snowmen piled on the windowsill melted, Wei Xun finally brought himself to leave his broken cave dwelling.
Jiang Qunyu was naturally a hundred thousand times willing. If they didn’t go out soon, his entire demon self was going to grow mold.
However, Wei Xun didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the Lingxiao Sect. Instead, he killed several inner sect disciples.

“When exactly can we leave?”
Jiang Qunyu held it in for a while. He had agreed not to talk to Wei Xun, but he still couldn’t hold it back.
He was truly too bored!

Wei Xun turned his head, swept a lukewarm glance at him, and spat out two words: “Tonight.”
“If we don’t leave soon, I’m going to grow grass…”
Jiang Qunyu was still chattering away, but upon hearing these words, he abruptly froze, joy instantly exploding in his eyes.

The next second, he directly transformed back into the round, chubby ball of black mist, fluttering over to the side of Wei Xun’s neck and rubbing against it stickily.
He even smugly rolled around twice, covering his entire body with Wei Xun’s scent.

Hmph, originally he had stubbornly not wanted to rely on Wei Xun’s blood to survive.
But who told this person to always wash himself so fragrantly? The cool, refreshing scent wrapped around his body was comfortable just to smell.
If he didn’t wash himself to smell good, he wouldn’t touch Wei Xun at all.
Moreover, he was Wei Xun’s inner demon; Wei Xun was supposed to raise him anyway.
It was best to raise him to be round and chubby.

The black mist ball rubbed more and more clingily.
A small half of the ball embedded itself into the collar at Wei Xun’s neck, like a piece of black cotton refusing to leave. Even the faint demonic energy surrounding Wei Xun was rubbed a bit softer by him.

The cold soul body rubbed against the skin on the side of his neck, the fine, itchy sensation drilling in.
That small patch of flesh and blood actually felt as if it were burning, unusually hot.
A layer of gloom instantly clouded Wei Xun’s brows. His pale knuckles abruptly curled, and he reached out to pick up the black ball clinging to the side of his neck.

Lowering his eyes to stare at it for a few seconds, his voice was as cold as forged ice: “Jiang Qunyu, are you courting death?”
“No.” Jiang Qunyu shook his entire ball. “I’m courting life.”
“Heh.” Wei Xun tugged at him.

Jiang Qunyu was a bit angry and was just about to open his mouth to bite him when a terrified voice suddenly came to his ears.
“J-Junior Brother Wei…”

Jiang Qunyu’s movements paused. He was just about to float out to look when Wei Xun pressed him into his chest, his palm firmly clasping his soul body.
He struggled twice but couldn’t break free, so he had no choice but to cling to Wei Xun’s collar and poke his head out.

Only then did Wei Xun lift his thin eyelids, his face as cold and indifferent as if covered with a layer of frost.
Following his gaze, Jiang Qunyu saw a green-shirted disciple sitting flat on his butt on the damp, cold bluestone ground.
His face was deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost, his body trembling severely.

“Y-You… aren’t you dead?” Baishu’s voice trembled out of tune, even his teeth were chattering. “Are you a human or a ghost?”

Wei Xun didn’t reply. With a condensation in his palm, Soul-Devouring obediently landed in his hand, the glowing white blade gleaming with a cold light.
Holding the sword, he walked step by step towards Baishu. His steps were light and slow, yet they pressed down until the surrounding mist froze.

Baishu’s cultivation was actually not low. He was the Fourth Elder’s direct disciple, and at twenty-seven years of age, he was already at the first layer of the Golden Core stage.
Even among inner sect disciples, he could be considered outstanding.
But perhaps because of a guilty conscience, right now he couldn’t even stand up.
His legs were trembling unsteadily.

He suddenly remembered many years ago when all the disciples entered the Sword Mound to seek swords. All the spiritual swords in the mound resonated for Wei Xun, the sword light so bright it suppressed everyone else until they paled in comparison.
At that time, he could only shrink behind Wei Xun like a dusty grey mouse. Looking at that figure, jealousy surged at the bottom of his heart.

That suffocating suppression had finally dissipated two years ago after Wei Xun’s death. Yet now, with Wei Xun’s appearance, it made a comeback, choking him until he couldn’t breathe.
A trace of jealous hatred flashed through his eyes, but also fear, and his voice trembled.

“Junior Brother, Junior Brother, you cannot kill me! I have the Thousand-Lead Powder planted on me by my master, connected as one with my soul lamp. If you kill me, they will definitely follow the soul lamp, trace the clues, and find you!”
Baishu barely managed to pull an ugly smile, trying to negotiate with Wei Xun.
“These past few days, you’re the one who caused all the commotions in the sect, right? Don’t worry, as long as you’re willing to let me go, I won’t tell anyone, I won’t.”
“If you don’t let me go, I swear, it won’t be long before everyone knows you are here.”

Wei Xun’s outer eye corners drooped, his gaze cold and desolate. Without saying a single word, he raised his hand and brought down the sword.
“Dead men don’t need to talk.”

Baishu broke out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly crushed the life-saving talisman given by the Fourth Elder. A golden light suddenly exploded, barely blocking this strike.
As the golden light dissipated, he staggered back a few steps, crimson blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, and stood up while clutching his aching chest.

Viciousness churned in his eyes, and he hissed: “Are you still holding a grudge over what happened two years ago? But back then, I didn’t do it on purpose!”
“It was Wei Miao, it was Wei Miao who told me that as long as I informed the Sect Leader about your fall into the demonic path, he would give me ten thousand top-grade spiritual stones! It was him. If it wasn’t for him, I absolutely would not have done such a thing! Why don’t you kill him? Why must you insist on killing me?!”

Jiang Qunyu got a headache listening to this and couldn’t help but complain.
“Is this dumbass’s brain full of holes? If you didn’t want to do it, couldn’t you have refused? Since you did it, the spiritual stones have probably long been spent. Now you’re pushing the blame away clean, do you have any shame?”

Wei Xun lowered his eyes, his fingertips gently patting the black ball in his arms.
His tone was flat with no fluctuation, yet it carried a bit of comfort: “Be quiet.”
Then he looked up at the ferocious-faced Baishu and said faintly: “I originally did not want to kill you.”

The black mist clinging to the collar paused, its mouth twitching violently.
Only a ghost would believe that.
This person was the most petty-minded. What “did not want to kill”—he clearly just hadn’t thought of it, and who knew Baishu would deliver himself to his door.

“Then let me go!” Baishu shouted loudly.
The surroundings were frighteningly quiet; there wasn’t even the sound of wind blowing through the leaves.
Baishu frantically looked around in a panic. All that entered his eyes were cold, silent bluestones and dead trees. He couldn’t even see the shadow of a half a patrolling disciple.

Why? Why couldn’t he see anyone?
The Sect Leader clearly already sent people to keep watch day and night.

As if seeing through his confusion, Wei Xun kindly explained, like a sigh: “The moment you stepped in, you couldn’t go out anymore. Within my Domain, you cannot see other people, and naturally, other people cannot see you either.”

Baishu froze.
Domain? Wasn’t that a boundary only evil ghosts could open?
His face showed great terror: “You truly became a ghost.”
No wonder the person who lost all his cultivation back then could now pick up a sword again.

“So, can I kill you now?” Wei Xun pulled the corners of his beautiful lips, his dark, heavy eyes staring at him as if looking at a lifeless, dead object.

Evil ghost…
This was an evil ghost…
Wei Xun definitely still blamed them for killing him, hating them for destroying everything he had.
Therefore, his resentment did not dissipate, and that was why he became a ghost.

His master once told them that if they encountered an evil ghost, they must absolutely not let its hand touch them. Otherwise, after entering the Domain, unless they died, it was impossible to ever escape.
But from start to finish, he hadn’t had half a bit of contact with Wei Xun.
Why was he also pulled into this damn Domain?!

He gritted his teeth, his gaze cold and grim.
The only plan now was to fight to the death.
Since begging for mercy was useless, even if he died, he would drag Wei Xun down to be buried with him!

However, before Baishu could make a move, both his feet were suddenly gripped firmly by a cold force.
The touch was sticky and cold, as if stained with slippery blood.
He looked down and saw two livid, bruised hands breaking out from the ground, firmly clasping his ankles.

His calves were instantly covered with densely packed red handprints. Drops of bright red blood seeped from the marks, winding and rolling onto the ground.
“Ahhhh—”
Baishu screamed in terror. His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground again.

The next instant, thousands of livid, bruised hands surged up from the ground, wrapping around his waist, his arms, his neck, dragging him dead toward the underground.
Baishu’s eyes widened, and faint footsteps sounded by his ears.

Wei Xun squatted down beside him, his expression flat and unruffled: “You want to self-destruct your Golden Core?”
A guttural sound came from Baishu’s throat, thick fresh blood gurgling from the corners of his mouth.

He didn’t want to die yet.
He was still waiting for his master to come save him.
He was his master’s most beloved disciple.

But the light in his eyes dimmed inch by inch, even the strength to struggle drained dry by those ghost hands.
In the last split second before his body was completely dragged underground, he exhausted his final bit of strength and looked into Wei Xun’s eyes.

Those usually clear and handsome black eyes… at this moment, one of them was completely flooded with thick black. Not a hint of the whites of the eye could be seen, leaving only endless gloom and cold desolation.

It was this eye.
Baishu was incomparably certain.
This evil ghost was different from other evil ghosts.
His Domain was his eye.

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