ATAVID CH19.2: Actively feeding blood

One night, Jiang Qunyu was lying prone on the bed, sleeping soundly.

A hand with slender, fair joints suddenly lifted the bed curtains, reached in, and picked Jiang Qunyu up with one hand.

Jiang Qunyu groggily opened his eyes, meeting a pair of eyes as pitch-black as ink, staring unblinkingly at him. He was almost scared into cardiac arrest.

Now that Wei Xun wasn’t planning on killing him, he was planning on scaring him to death, right?!

Suppressing his churning morning temper, Jiang Qunyu cursed viciously: “Fuck you, what the hell do you want to do?”

“Eat it.” Wei Xun suddenly spat out two words coldly and hard.

Eat what? Jiang Qunyu subconsciously thought he was feeding him blood again, opened his mouth, and was about to go meet it.

But a strong premonition of misfortune suddenly swept through his heart. He abruptly opened his eyes wide and was instantly completely awake.

At Wei Xun’s fingertips, he was actually pinching an entirely pitch-black, wriggling Gu worm!

Fuck!

Jiang Qunyu was thoroughly awake.

The next instant, the black mist abruptly dispersed, transforming into the appearance of that handsome youth.

Only, the back collar of his inner garment was still firmly gripped in Wei Xun’s hand.

He raised his eyes slightly and cursed loudly: “Wei Xun, you’re sick! Such an ugly bug! If you want to eat it, eat it yourself!”

Could he please stop coming to torment him!

Seeing him change back into that face of his own, Wei Xun was stunned for a moment, frowned, and a bit of disgust spread in the depths of his eyes.

But he still didn’t toss Jiang Qunyu away.

His pitch-black pupils shifted lightly, and he said faintly: “If you don’t want to eat it, then cut your hand open and let it drill in through your meridians.”

Jiang Qunyu was only wearing a moon-white inner garment, his ink-black hair draped loosely over his shoulders and back.

Hearing this, his hairs stood on end, and his voice went a few pitches higher: “If you treasure that garbage so much, eat a few more of them! Don’t bring them near me!”

“But didn’t you say you wanted me to plant Gu in you?”

Wei Xun suddenly let go, and Jiang Qunyu fell into the soft bedding with a “smack”.

He seemed somewhat puzzled and sighed softly, “I spent a lot of time looking for this Gu.”

Jiang Qunyu hurriedly used both hands and feet to scramble to the foot of the bed, pressing firmly against the bedpost: “Your uncle’s, you have a reading comprehension problem, don’t you?! I thought you had bad intentions and planted Gu in your blood, wanting to kill me to death. I wasn’t asking you to go find Gu to plant in me!”

A bit of obvious disappointment spread in the depths of Wei Xun’s eyes.

With a light twist of his fingertips, that Gu worm instantly turned into flying ash and dissipated.

Only then did he lazily prop up his chin, lean against the edge of the bed, and reply faintly: “Fine.”

Seeing him fall silent, Jiang Qunyu felt even more panicked in his heart.

He always felt he was plotting some bad idea again.

Maybe he even had follow-up moves waiting for him.

The next day, the sky was bright, and the sunlight outside the inn was warm and cozy.

Wei Xun was still sleeping.

Jiang Qunyu hadn’t basked in the sun in human form for a long time.

He sat on the windowsill, his legs dangling in the air.

His gaze fell downstairs, watching two children gathered together, not knowing what they were doing.

The wind brushed past the window lattice, gently stirring his tied-up ink-black hair.

Jiang Qunyu simply jumped downstairs, crouched behind the two kids, and only then discovered they were actually making crickets fight.

As he watched, he suddenly realized that these crickets looked very familiar.

He abruptly realized: last night when Wei Xun picked him up, what Gu worm was in his hand? It was clearly a cricket!

So Wei Xun had never intended to plant Gu in him from start to finish, and was merely scaring him?

Jiang Qunyu was infuriated. He aggressively charged back to the second floor and yanked open the bed curtains.

Wei Xun was woken up by his commotion. When he opened his eyes, coldness still condensed in their depths, glaring at him chillingly.

Jiang Qunyu gritted his teeth in anger: “That Gu worm you had yesterday was a cricket!”

“Mm.” Wei Xun’s long eyelashes drooped slightly. He was truly good-looking; the pale golden light fell all over his brows and eyes, making even the fine peach fuzz on his skin clearly visible.

He looked over calmly, and a malicious smile suddenly hooked at the corners of his lips: “Jiang Qunyu, sometimes scaring you is quite fun.”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

The next instant, Jiang Qunyu struck first, and the two wrestled into a tangled heap again.

Late autumn passed, and it was winter again.

Heavy, goose-feather snow fell thickly. The mortal realm was covered in a layer of white frost, a vast expanse of white stretching between heaven and earth.

In the blink of an eye, it was New Year’s Eve.

Inside the mortal city, lanterns and colored banners were hung. Large red lanterns hung under the eaves of every household. On the snow-covered bluestone paths, shallow rut marks left by carriages still remained.

The main street was bustling with extraordinary liveliness.

Street vendors set out various exquisite festive lanterns. Young men wrapped in thick cloaks rode past on horseback. Daughters of official families, carrying paper lanterns and round fans, adorned with pearls and jade hairpins, their clothes fragrant and shadows graceful, with fox fur collars wrapped around their necks and ankles, chatted smilingly with friends about interesting anecdotes from the capital.

Ordinary commoners were also content and happy, either strolling among the lanterns shoulder-to-shoulder with their lovers, or with small children in their arms, smilingly buying street food.

Jiang Qunyu transformed into a black mist ball, obediently lying prone in Wei Xun’s hair.

The youth’s eyesight was already impaired and couldn’t withstand the glaring white snow, so he covered his eyes with a plain white silk ribbon.

A plain white crane cloak covered his body, lined with a green robe inside, the hem gently swaying in the night wind.

The collar and sleeve edges of the crane cloak were embroidered with sparse, dark snow-plum patterns using extremely pale silver thread. A moon-white brocade belt with cloud patterns cinched his waist. His posture was tall and straight like a cold pine standing in the snow, naturally forming an aloof aura amidst the bustling crowd.

He held a green paper lantern in his hand, the bamboo frame supporting cyan bark paper as thin as cicada wings.

As the light shone through from the inside, it was filtered into a pool of cold, slightly chilly emerald green.

It cast a small patch of hazy light around the youth’s feet, intangibly separating him from the bustling crowd around him.

Seeing him carrying the lantern, Jiang Qunyu found it funny.

Wei Xun’s hearing was acute, his voice cold: “What are you laughing at?”

“I’ll laugh if I want to.” Jiang Qunyu was stubborn, but secretly amused in his heart.

Seeing his appearance carrying the green lantern, dressed all in plain white, he looked like a fairy untainted by the mundane world. Yet just last night, they had gotten into a fight because he had draped his leg over his waist again while sleeping. Tsk tsk, what a stark contrast.

Wei Xun threatened him: “Do you want to get on my body?”

Jiang Qunyu could only give two dry laughs.

And couldn’t resist cursing Wei Xun a couple of times in his heart.

When passing a small stall, Jiang Qunyu suddenly rubbed the top of Wei Xun’s hair with his black mist, signaling him to go over.

“What do you want?” Wei Xun asked with lowered eyes, his tone flat, but he also slowed his steps.

Although this psychopath was a bit bad-tempered, he was very generous when it came to paying.

Jiang Qunyu immediately asked him to provide silver taels: “I want that sword tassel.”

Wei Xun walked slowly, his thin lips curling slightly, his tone sarcastic: “You don’t even use a sword, what are you buying a sword tassel for?”

“To tie on Soul-Devouring.” Jiang Qunyu spoke righteously, very unconvinced, “Besides, who says I don’t use a sword?”

“Oh?” Wei Xun raised an eyebrow, his tone chilly, “Weren’t you the one saying a few days ago that you wanted to practice your swordplay diligently? Why haven’t I seen you practice?”

Jiang Qunyu felt a guilty conscience, his gaze subconsciously drifting elsewhere.

Suddenly remembering that Wei Xun’s eyes were covered with white silk and couldn’t see, his spine instantly stiffened again, and he hummed: “What do you know? This is called practicing less but practicing precisely, exerting force accurately!”

“But Soul-Devouring is my sword.” Wei Xun pierced the bubble faintly, not giving him the slightest face.

Jiang Qunyu immediately jumped down from his hair.

The black mist dispersed, transforming into the handsome youth, who raised his voice and called out “Soul-Devouring.”

The next instant, Wei Xun’s divine sense shifted.

If this weren’t the mortal realm, where it was unsuitable to use magical powers, Soul-Devouring would probably have landed directly in the youth’s hand beside him.

Wei Xun’s face instantly sank.

Jiang Qunyu, however, completely didn’t care. Crossing his arms, he walked up to the vendor and earnestly began picking and choosing sword tassels.

In the end, Wei Xun still paid the silver taels and bought that sword tassel.

He wanted to throw that sword tassel away several times.

But in the blink of an eye, when summer arrived the next year, Jiang Qunyu found it hot and was too lazy to walk.

So he always transformed into the black mist ball and curled up on the Soul-Devouring sword. When he was extremely bored, he would even grab that sword tassel and swing back and forth, pretending to hang himself.

Seeing him shift the black mist ball and swing around on that sword tassel, Wei Xun couldn’t resist mocking: “With your appearance, even if you really hanged yourself, others wouldn’t be able to find where your neck is.”

Jiang·Black Mist Ball·Qunyu: Thank you, I feel deeply offended.

All in all, that sword tassel was ultimately tied firmly to the hilt of the Soul-Devouring sword, never to be taken down again.

Later, Jiang Qunyu found it too quiet, so he found a delicate silver bell and tied it next to the sword tassel.

When the wind blew, it jingled crisply.

Soul-Devouring, a fierce sword, didn’t look fierce in the slightest anymore.

The Twentieth Year of Xiping.

It had already been ten years since the Lingxiao Sect disciple Wei Xun perished.

The Lingxiao Sect Sword Venerable, Wei Lan, entered closed-door cultivation once again, desiring to break through the Void Refinement stage to reach the Body Integration stage.

Once the news came out, the cultivation world was in an uproar.

The world all said that if Wei Lan could break through his realm this time, there would be no one in the world who could contend with him, making him the number one person in the cultivation world.

This year, Jiang Qunyu still hadn’t found his own natal weapon.

Seven years of time in the mortal realm had flashed by. He and Wei Xun were still the same old way: getting into big fights over a single disagreement, bickering endlessly without cease.

Jiang Qunyu didn’t know what Wei Xun was doing in the mortal realm, but he seemed to be looking for something.

He couldn’t be bothered to ask, living a leisurely life every day. When he got bored, he would flip through some mortal storybooks or find a few blind minor demons to fight with to relieve his boredom.

Buye Fang (Sleepless Quarter) was a neutral trading city built by the imperial capital’s chamber of commerce in the mortal realm.

Here, the lights burned brightly all night long. The auction houses and exchanges never rested. Whether it was secret cultivation news or anecdotes about ghosts and gods, as long as one was willing to pay the price, anything could be inquired about.

In a corner of the quarter, a dandy young master lifted the bead curtain of a booth.

Lowering his eyes to look at the green-robed young man standing in the main hall at the center of the auction house, he fanned his folding fan as he walked, smiling and asking: “Mister, are there truly immortals in this East Mirror Lake City?”

Hearing this, the young man smiled mildly. His gaze fell on the dandy young master, bearing an underlying meaning: “Young Master Wen, if you wish to know the specific information about East Mirror Lake City, I’m afraid it will require this amount.”

Saying that, he raised his hand and made a “five” gesture.

The young master’s fan-waving paused, and he raised an eyebrow: “It still requires five thousand silver taels?”

The young man slowly shook his head, the smile on his lips unchanged, but his tone carried an unquestionable certainty: “Fifty thousand gold taels.”

As soon as the words fell, everyone on the floor turned pale with shock, and whispers instantly rose and fell in succession.

“Fifty thousand gold taels?! I see this Buye Fang is truly opening a lion’s mouth (asking an exorbitant price)!”

“But didn’t that East Mirror Lake City suddenly disappear over twenty years ago? An entire city, an entire area just gone. I heard that immortals enlightened them, and additionally, that place is a blessed treasure land. Even ordinary mortals can step onto the immortal path.”

“Even if those immortals only have Foundation Establishment cultivation, they can live for at least five hundred years, right? If fifty thousand gold taels can buy living four hundred years longer, it’s not a loss…”

“Shh—you absolutely must not say these words. Do you know that because of this rumor, countless people went looking for East Mirror Lake City, but in the end, not a single one came back alive; they all died. That place is a ghost city. Rather than spending fifty thousand gold taels in exchange for news of an eerie ghost city, it’s better to use this gold to buy some medicinal pills. Those pills also have life-prolonging effects. Why put the cart before the horse?”

“What you say is right.”

“…”

Amidst a burst of whispers, the young master gritted his teeth: “Fifty thousand taels it is, I’ll buy it!”

At the same time, in the adjacent booth.

Seeing Wei Xun stand up, Jiang Qunyu hurriedly transformed into a ball of black mist, lay prone on Wei Xun’s shoulder, and asked: “We’re leaving just like this?”

“Mm.” Wei Xun’s voice paused slightly, and he said faintly, “We are going to East Mirror Lake City.”

Jiang Qunyu asked: “Then why didn’t you buy that information just now?”

Wei Xun chuckled lightly, his tone carrying sarcasm: “Did you think everyone is as stupid as you, spending that much money to buy that information? Jiang Qunyu, don’t forget, the one paying the silver is me, not you.”

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

The young master in the adjacent booth: “…………”

He was so angry he was at a loss for words. The servant who usually accompanied him had already gone down to trade with Buye Fang, so right now he was the only person in the booth.

Amidst his fury, he gritted his teeth, got up, walked over, and was about to lift the booth’s bead curtain.

“Which bastard dares to call this young master stupid?!”

But when the bead curtain was lifted, the booth had long been emptied of people, leaving only a wisp of faint cold fragrance.

About a month passed.

In the middle of the night, the moon was hidden and the stars had sunk.

There was only a bright full moon hanging in the sky at the edge of the horizon, its cold moonlight pouring down.

Wei Xun, carrying the green paper lantern, was walking on a desolate path when his footsteps suddenly halted.

Jiang Qunyu was originally stepping on Wei Xun’s shadow. Seeing him stop, he poked his head out from behind him to look: “What’s wrong?”

The words had just left his mouth when they stuck in his throat, swallowing the second half of the sentence back down.

Hundreds of meters away in mid-air, a gloomy green lantern was actually floating.

Within the lantern’s shadow, the silhouette of the lantern bearer could be vaguely seen, floating and hovering in place, indescribably eerie.

Jiang Qunyu’s scalp went numb: “Is that thing up ahead a human or a ghost?”

Wei Xun’s pitch-black pupils shifted slowly. He hooked his lips, his intonation bizarre: “Go up and take a look, then we’ll know.”

Saying that, he lowered his long eyelashes, raised his foot, and continued walking forward.

Jiang Qunyu originally wanted to obediently turn back into his dumpling form, but if he turned back into a dumpling, Wei Xun would definitely mock him.

Gritting his teeth, he could only bite the bullet and follow behind, inching forward step by step, his calves trembling.

Seeing him dawdling, Wei Xun didn’t rush him either.

He simply turned around and waited for him.

Right at this moment, that lantern bearer suddenly bowed deeply in their direction.

Jiang Qunyu: “!”

“Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck!”

Jiang Qunyu’s heart pounded wildly, as if it would jump out of his throat in the next second, feeling as if he had suddenly stumbled into a midnight thriller channel.

His face was deathly pale. Moving the same arm and leg on the same side (in uncoordinated panic), he lunged to Wei Xun’s side, pressing himself dead against Wei Xun’s arm.

Wei Xun shot him a rather bizarre look and didn’t speak.

Jiang Qunyu gave two dry laughs, leaned in close to his ear, and muttered softly: “J-Just now that person, seemed to have bowed to us…”

Hearing this, Wei Xun turned his head to look at that lantern bearer.

Hundreds of meters away, it could be clearly seen that it was a woman. A sinister, eerie smile hung on her face, but her features were blurry and unclear.

Her wide, plain-colored sleeves fluttered in the night wind. That gloomy green lantern emitted a cold light, actually looking as if she were guarding the spot, waiting for someone to return home.

Jiang Qunyu kept his eyes closed, muttering incessantly: “Prosperity, Democracy, Harmony…” (Core Socialist Values chanted like a mantra).

Hearing his incessant muttering, Wei Xun couldn’t resist a cold sneer: “Jiang Qunyu, don’t tell me you’re chanting an exorcism spell.”

Jiang Qunyu abruptly opened his eyes, his face full of shock: “How did you know?”

Wei Xun glared at him like he was an idiot, his tone chilly: “If this spell truly worked, the first ghost to be exorcised would be me.”

After he finished speaking, he turned back around and continued walking forward again.

How could Jiang Qunyu dare to act tough anymore? He hurriedly quickened his pace to keep up, sticking tightly to his side.

Being stubborn, he said: “Even if it doesn’t work, figuring it for some psychological comfort is fine, right.”

Wei Xun couldn’t be bothered with him.

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

The two walked for a long time again, yet that lantern bearer was still suspended hundreds of meters away.

It was as if she had never moved half an inch from her position, constantly maintaining her distance from them.

Jiang Qunyu was deep in thought.

But Wei Xun’s eyes were already full of impatience. He raised his hand and summoned a cluster of gloomy blue flames.

The flames danced in the night wind, carrying a ruthless, vicious hostility, and rolled straight toward that lantern bearer.

Right at this moment, an extremely miserable and shrill scream abruptly tore through the night sky, sharp and terrifying.

In the dead-silent, desolate wilderness, hearing it made one’s scalp go numb.

Support me on Ko-fi