Chapter 501 - 251: "Nascent Soul

Chapter 501: Chapter 251: "Nascent Soul

"He has already found two ’Human Pillars’ to fill the ’deficiency’ from twenty years ago?"

"And if he succeeds, all the distortions will be set right?"

"Meow!"

Just then, the Orange Cat looked toward the inn and meowed.

For the first time since learning [Foreign Language], Zheng Xiu couldn’t translate the Orange Cat’s meow.

"If Bai Qiuyue is one of his people, how could she not know what Zhu is planning? Would someone really risk their life for another person while remaining completely in the dark?"

At that, Jun Buxiao casually raised a hand and smiled. "That depends on how much they’re paid."

"I wasn’t asking you." Zheng Xiu took out his little book and, with a flurry of strokes, added a full five-stroke tally mark next to Jun Buxiao’s name. He put the Red King’s Little Account Book away in a flash and addressed the group in a grave voice:

"Ye. You, the performer. I don’t care how you do it—use your Shadow Puppetry to control them or your Melody to hypnotize them—but get them out of Lu Town in the shortest time possible. The farther, the better! Under no circumstances can they come near here."

"Yin Qingqing, you’re a Mystic, so it’s not safe for you here! Get outside the walls of Lu Town immediately and keep your distance. But don’t go too far. Keep an eye on communications from the Eternal World Painting and be ready for my command at any moment."

The only reason Zheng Xiu could remain in Lu Town was because of the [Time Demon Post Station].

First, thanks to his [Prisoner] Path advancing after his experience in the Cannibal Painting Ghost Realm, his [Divine Travel] Ability had been greatly enhanced, significantly expanding his range of movement around the Post Station.

Second, the [Time Demon Post Station]’s [Physique] was "A Winding Path Leads to Seclusion." As the name suggested, the [Time Demon Post Station] itself was long and narrow. Zheng Xiu had experienced it firsthand—it was indeed very long and narrow, capable of extending to a considerable depth.

The inn was only a few miles from the city wall, so it wasn’t a major issue. If Zheng Xiu felt the first sign of separating from the Post Station, he could use the Eternal World Painting to have Yin Qingqing adjust her position at any time, ensuring a close connection between his Incarnation and the Post Station was always maintained.

Faced with Zheng Xiu’s commands, Yin Qingqing, Ye, and Jun Buxiao had no questions, nodding in agreement.

Jun Buxiao was no longer joking around. At this critical moment, he finally displayed the reliability expected of one of the Dawn Department’s seven.

"Leave it to me."

Jun Buxiao took out a pair of scissors, his voice cold as he accepted the task.

"What about us?"

Xi’er pointed to herself.

"Hold on tight!"

Zheng Xiu slapped his chest. He was holding nothing back now. A piercing shriek tore through the night sky as a bizarre sigil—the fusion of the Caged Sparrow and the Dan Demon—emerged from his chest, spreading across his entire body like black, vascular markings.

The Caged Sparrow left a trail of inky light as it shot high into the air, then dove back down to land on Zheng Xiu’s head and merge with him.

Black markings now covered his fair face, a ghastly white bone mask concealed one side of it, and fangs sprouted from his lips. One of his shoulder blades bulged and, with a wet POP, a single wing shimmering with inky, flowing light unfurled from Zheng Xiu’s back.

As Ye, Jun Buxiao, and Yin Qingqing stared in varying degrees of shock, Zheng Xiu grabbed Xi’er and Situ Yong, one in each hand, and shot into the sky, flying straight for the inn.

"Young Master!" Ye shouted to the night sky. "Take care of Snake for me!" Her expression was fraught with worry; she had lost contact with Snake a short while ago.

The three left behind were lost in their own thoughts.

They never would have imagined it. The Young Master of the Zheng Family—the boy who called himself the Red King’s nephew, who seemed unremarkable aside from being handsome, generous, and possessing enough Innate Divine Power to shatter a tree with one punch—was actually an Innate Mystic who could assume such a demonic form.

"Time to get to work!"

After a moment of silence, Jun Buxiao let out a cackle and gleefully brandished his large scissors. Behind him, his shadow twisted unnaturally. It split from one into two, from two into four, and from four into sixteen. The shadows multiplied, creeping along the corners of walls, through cracks in the stone, into attics, and through the night, stealthily climbing up behind every person in the city.

Ye leaped into the air, glanced at Jun Buxiao, and began to jump nimbly from eave to eave. She held a reed leaf to her lips, and a melodious tune, like the sound of a babbling brook, radiated outward from her.

Following Zheng Xiu’s orders, Yin Qingqing silently turned and walked toward the city outskirts.

Each of them had their mission. Under Zheng Xiu’s command, the clean-up crew sprang into action.

「In the night sky.」

In his single-winged Caged Sparrow form, Zheng Xiu streaked toward the inn.

The streak of inky light split the night sky in two.

The scene below was a blur in the eyes of the three as they sped through the air.

On the chaotic streets below, the two Miracle Techniques—Ye’s reed leaf flute and Jun Buxiao’s Shadow Puppetry—were taking effect. The townspeople, who had at first stood motionless on the streets with dazed, vacant eyes, now began to move like puppets, walking briskly toward the edge of town.

"Quick, look! It’s those widows!"

Xi’er, dangling helplessly from Zheng Xiu’s one-handed grip like an eagle clutching a chick, didn’t even have time to protest the posture before her attention was completely captured by the bizarre sight on the streets below.

Xi’er had just recently accompanied the Elder Divine Doctor on his rounds to bring comfort to the widows, so she recognized them well. One by one, the heavily pregnant women jogged toward the city’s edge under the influence of the Miracle Techniques. As they ran, their faces twisted into grimaces, and their lower bodies became stained black with foul blood.

SPLAT!

A lump of writhing flesh fell from beneath a skirt, hitting the ground with a soft, wet sound.

SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT!

More and more lumps of flesh fell from the widows. Those writhing masses were no babies! It was just as Situ Yong had said: after praying to the Wutong God, what they carried inside them were nothing but unviable Lonely Yin Embryos.

Now, triggered by some unknown cause, the Lonely Yin Embryos within the widows were falling out as lumps of flesh, left to writhe alone on the now-empty streets.