ATAVID CH33

The lantern shadows in the winding corridor still swayed, and the wind felt colder than before.

When Wei Xun returned to the West Courtyard, the sky had already darkened.

Twilight closed in from all sides, and the distant horizon was veiled in a shallow grayish-blue.

The courtyard was very quiet.

Only that ancient tree rustled in the wind.

Wei Xun pushed the door open and walked into the room.

The room was still the way they had left it. The window was half-open, and the wind blew in, carrying the chill of the courtyard.

On the table sat half a cup of cold tea. The tea had long since gone completely cold, reflecting the last bit of daylight from outside the window.

He walked to the bedside and gently set down the black mist dumpling in his palm.

That ball of black mist landed on the pillow, rolled around, found a comfortable position, and continued to sleep.

Wei Xun stood by the bed, lowering his eyes to watch it for a long time.

The cold, clear moonlight seeped in from outside the window, stretching his shadow very long and casting it onto the wall like a silent sculpture.

He suddenly reached out his hand, his fingertip gently poking that ball of black mist.

Very soft.

The black mist twitched and shifted slightly to the side.

Expressionless, Wei Xun poked it again.

The black mist shifted again.

He poked it again.

The black mist dumpling finally stopped moving, only trembling slightly to express a silent protest.

He retracted his hand and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Outside the window, the last trace of twilight finally sank below the horizon.

Night fell, bringing a faint chill and the indistinct chirping of insects.

Wei Xun just sat there like that, looking at the black mist dumpling by the pillow, utterly motionless.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly spoke.

His voice was very light, as if muttering to himself: “Jiang Qunyu, if you truly died, I would only feel delighted.”

The depths of Wei Xun’s eyes were obscure and profound, and he let out a light scoff in his heart.

He only felt that what Cui Mingjin had said was incredibly laughable.

He merely no longer repelled Jiang Qunyu’s existence.

He merely treated Jiang Qunyu as something to relieve boredom in the long years, something that could temporarily be considered a friend.

Only this, and nothing more.

There was no need to go to such lengths for Jiang Qunyu.

Soul scattered and dispersed?

Even if his soul scattered and dispersed, so what?

It was best if he didn’t leave him.

If he left him, it would merely mean being short of one Jiang Qunyu.

But for thousands of years in the future, on the boundless immortal path, time would be long enough to wear away everything.

The time he spent accompanying Jiang Qunyu was merely a short ten years.

To a cultivator, these ten years were as light as dust, as insignificant as gravel.

With a blow of the wind, they would scatter into the endless years, never to leave half a trace to be found again.

In the end, perhaps even he himself would forget.

Therefore, there was no need.

He wasn’t that stupid.

The cool wind from outside the window blew in, a bit cold.

Wei Xun lowered his eyes, his long, curled eyelashes trembling lightly.

Condensing his divine sense, another cut appeared on his palm.

After feeding blood to Jiang Qunyu, the black mist dumpling transformed into the appearance of a youth.

Wei Xun didn’t mind either.

He lay down beside Jiang Qunyu, closed his eyes, and slept.

The night was as thick as unmelting ink, and the entire City Lord’s Mansion sank into dead silence.

The lanterns in the courtyard had long been extinguished. It was pitch black all around, with only the pale moonlight splashing coldly onto the bluestone slabs.

There were faint, fragmented sounds in the distance, like something crawling on the ground, or like the dripping of water.

Listening closely, however, there was nothing at all, leaving only the empty sound of the wind echoing in the darkness.

A seemingly non-existent sweet, bloody scent drifted in the air, mixed with a faint incense, cloyingly sweet.

In the dead silence of midnight, a knock on the door rang out abruptly—

Thump, thump, thump.

Neither light nor heavy, the rhythm bizarrely regular, like bones knocking against a wooden door.

Jiang Qunyu’s eyes snapped open.

Wei Xun also sat up, looking toward the door with a gloomy and cold expression.

“Why haven’t you swapped back yet?” Waking up and realizing he was still attached to Wei Xun’s body, Jiang Qunyu frowned and looked at Wei Xun.

He laughed coldly, “What, is there still something you want to ask?”

Wei Xun fell silent for a moment.

Jiang Qunyu’s words reminded him of how he had gone to such great lengths tonight, only to be stupid enough to ask just that one single question in the end, making his complexion look increasingly unpleasant.

He drooped his eyes and simply said faintly, “I don’t want to swap.”

Then, he spoke in a calm tone, “Someone is knocking on the door.”

“Wei Xun, you’re fucking sick in the head.” Jiang Qunyu knew he was changing the subject. Only after cursing did he walk down from the bed.

As he walked, he rubbed his somewhat swollen forehead.

He also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He had blacked out—

He had no idea what he said or did after getting drunk.

But the fact that he was able to wake up proved he hadn’t spouted nonsense.

As for why Wei Xun delayed swapping back…

Jiang Qunyu could only attribute it to Wei Xun being sick in the head.

In those cultivation novels, the protagonists always yelled about beating and killing their inner demons.

But when it came to him, not only did Wei Xun not kill him, but he also fed him blood, let him possess his body, and now wasn’t even willing to swap back.

It could only be said that Wei Xun was indeed a villain and not a protagonist, which was why his thought process was completely different from ordinary people.

He seemingly enjoyed staying in soul form while yielding the body to Jiang Qunyu.

Who knew what kind of disorder this was.

Jiang Qunyu curled his lips.

If he were a real inner demon…

Ring.

He reached out his hand, just about to open the door, but his movements abruptly froze in mid-air.

His line of sight slowly moved downward.

Through the crack between the door panel and the ground, icy water stains were seeping in little by little.

On the surface of the water, there also drifted… gently floating and entangling with the water ripples, indescribably gloomy and bizarre.

Jiang Qunyu stiffened all over.

A piercing chill shot straight up from his tailbone to the crown of his head.

“Who are you?” Jiang Qunyu asked.

With a slight shift of his divine sense, the Soul-Devouring Sword landed in the palm of his hand.

He had been careless.

He instinctively thought that the only ones who would knock on their door were Wen Xingyao or the disciples of the Xuanjian Sect.

After all, they were the only ones staying in this West Courtyard.

But what if it was none of them?

Then what was the thing outside the door?

Jiang Qunyu’s breathing became very light.

The aura around him was tense.

Wei Xun also noticed the anomaly. Stepping barefoot on the slightly cold ground, he slowly walked over.

His entire body was heavy with coldness, his brows and eyes covered in an unmelting gloominess.

Jiang Qunyu: “…”

For a moment, he couldn’t quite tell which one was more terrifying: Wei Xun or the thing outside the door.

There was no sound outside the door.

Even the knocking came to an abrupt halt.

Just as Jiang Qunyu thought it was about to leave, suddenly, the ear-piercing and shrill sound of nails scratching the door rang out in the silent night!

“Screeeech—”

Long nails scraped viciously across the wooden door. The sound was sharp and thin, making one’s scalp go numb and blood run cold.

Jiang Qunyu’s face turned deathly pale, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

Seeing this, Wei Xun chuckled softly, originally intending to say something to choke Jiang Qunyu with a couple of sarcastic remarks.

For some reason, Wen Xingyao’s words echoed in his mind.

The smile at the corners of his mouth froze.

He cast a profound, gloomy glance at Jiang Qunyu.

Finally, he turned his head and said in a bizarre tone, “If you’re scared, then don’t look.”

Jiang Qunyu: “?”

Before he could react, Wei Xun had already stepped forward with a cold face, reaching out to directly open the door.

Right at this moment, an urgent and panicked knocking sounded outside the door again.

Accompanied by a familiar crying voice transmitting through the door into the room—it was Wen Xingyao.

He wished he could plaster his entire body against the door, his trembling voice sounding like he was calling back a soul: “Jiang Qunyu, hurry up and open the door! This young master feels like he’s going to die!”

Wei Xun turned his head expressionlessly and told Jiang Qunyu, “Don’t open it. It might be an evil spirit of the city in disguise.”

Then, as he said that, he actually lowered the hand he had originally extended to open the door.

“…” Jiang Qunyu was momentarily speechless, his expression complex: “You dared to open it for that ghost-like thing just now, but now you’re being cautious?”

He couldn’t be bothered to deal with Wei Xun.

He stepped forward and pulled the door open himself.

Outside the door, Wen Xingyao’s face was as pale as paper, and his dark circles were terrifyingly heavy.

His entire body was wrapped in a thin quilt, curled up into a ball, looking exactly like a frightened rabbit. Jiang Qunyu didn’t know if it was his illusion, but he also faintly smelled a trace of cold fragrance.

Upon seeing Jiang Qunyu, Wen Xingyao first looked down at his wrist. Only after seeing the familiar black mole did he speak incoherently: “Jiang Qunyu, I-I discovered some strange things.”

Looking at his traumatized appearance, Jiang Qunyu roughly confirmed that the person in front of him was indeed Wen Xingyao.

However, he still instinctively glanced at the ground. Only when he saw the clear shadow beneath Wen Xingyao’s feet did he step aside: “Come in and talk first.”

Wen Xingyao looked as if he had been granted amnesty, his footsteps unsteady as he stepped inside.

Seeing that he had been badly frightened, Jiang Qunyu turned around and poured him a cup of hot tea.

To the side, Wei Xun let out a cold sneer, his tone merciless: “Stupid and cowardly.”

“Shut up.” Jiang Qunyu glared at him in annoyance. “If you really don’t want to listen, just go back to sleep. It’s not like anyone is forcing you to stand here.”

Wei Xun stopped talking then.

But he didn’t leave either; he just stood by the table.

With lowered eyes, he stared coldly at the two of them, the air pressure around his body terrifyingly low.

Jiang Qunyu ignored his gaze and asked, “Did you hear any sounds outside?”

“No, I ran over here all by myself.” Wen Xingyao shook his head blankly, looking around with lingering fear. “Did something come by just now?”

Jiang Qunyu nodded slightly: “Before you, something else knocked on the door.”

Hearing this, Wen Xingyao’s legs went soft, and he almost fainted again.

Seeing him so frightened, Jiang Qunyu, who was clearly a bit scared himself, suddenly found that trace of fear completely swept away.

He even comforted him with a bit of schadenfreude: “It’s fine. Almost running into it isn’t the same as actually running into it.”

Wen Xingyao: “…”

He curled his lips and said, “Jiang Qunyu, you’ve been staying with Brother Wei for too long. Sometimes the way you talk is pretty annoying too.”

Jiang Qunyu: “?”

Wei Xun, however, chuckled softly, the corners of his lips curving up as he maliciously provoked, “Look, you treat him as a friend, but he says you don’t speak nicely.”

Speechless, Jiang Qunyu used his divine sense to say, “Between you and me, who acts more like an inner demon?”

After saying that, he gave Wen Xingyao a fake smile: “I can say even uglier things. Do you want to hear?”

Terrified, Wen Xingyao hurriedly shook his head.

Only then did Jiang Qunyu drop the joke, frowning with a serious expression: “Getting down to business, what exactly did you discover?”

“Do you remember the day we first entered the City Lord’s Mansion?”

Jiang Qunyu nodded: “I remember.”

“When we were in the winding corridor at the time, didn’t we run into quite a few maidservants?”

Wen Xingyao instinctively lowered his voice, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. His voice carried a bit of tension: “It’s probably because this young master has been a dandy since childhood and always goes to the pleasure houses to drink with my fair-weather friends.”

As he spoke, he even coyly emphasized, “Of course, even though this young master goes often, this young master only goes to watch the fun. I’m still an innocent virgin man.”

Jiang Qunyu’s mouth twitched: “…Thank you, there’s really no need to specifically clarify that.”

“You don’t understand, this concerns this young master’s innocence.” Wen Xingyao huffed, then continued, “Anyway, I’ve seen a lot of people, so I can practically remember women’s faces with a single glance.”

“But the strange thing lies here.”

He paused, fear surfacing in his eyes: “That day I saw a round-faced maidservant; the back of her neck had a rose-red birthmark. There was also another one whose pinky finger was naturally bent much more severely than an ordinary person’s.”

Jiang Qunyu listened quietly.

“But today, the maidservant who took me to the latrine also had a bent pinky finger, but she didn’t have the face I saw that day. At the time, I just thought it was a coincidence.”

“But later at the banquet, the maidservant who poured wine for me also had that exact same birthmark appear on the back of her neck, yet her appearance wasn’t that of the round-faced maidservant.”

The more Wen Xingyao spoke, the more scared he became, and the gaze he directed at Jiang Qunyu trembled:

“Tell me, isn’t it weird? There were clearly four people; how come the two maidservants today both bore the marks of those two people from yesterday?”

“At the time I only felt something was off, but I couldn’t figure out the reason right away.”

“But tonight I was truly terrified and couldn’t sleep, and only then did I suddenly realize where the strange part was.”

As his words fell, the room fell into dead silence.

The candlelight flickered faintly at the corner of the table, stretching the two people’s shadows into distorted and elongated shapes.

Jiang Qunyu had already furrowed his brows, a terrifying guess floating up in his heart.

At the same time, Wen Xingyao said, “The strange point is that the faces of the few maidservants I met today all had the appearances of those few maidservants from yesterday. Yet, on a single face, the traces of several people could be seen.”

“It’s exactly as if every single one of their faces had been shattered by someone, and forcefully pieced back together again.”