Chapter 320: The Evil Corpse Being Reared
After parting ways with Master Jian, he returned from Lingzhou to Qingzhou. Not long after, he encountered an Evil Corpse in the mountains and forests around the main road.
It’s important to know that before the Youxian Assembly, he had traveled around Qingzhou for several months. Although he wasn't intimately familiar with the terrain, he could confirm there were no ruins nearby.
Therefore, this was another Evil Seed not restricted by the distance to ruins.
Just like the Evil Seed that appeared when Yuan Caiwei went missing in New Year, it also resembled the Evil Seeds he encountered in Zhongzhou after exiting the Xianxian Holy Land.
But logically speaking, such Evil Corpses should have been completely eradicated two years ago.
Ji You stepped on and shattered the mountain rock, then raised his sword against the cliff wall, the three-foot-long green blade trembling violently.
However, this wasn’t the main point.
The main point was that this Evil Seed had other differences.
Because as the Evil Seed ran wildly through the mountain stream, a continuous jingling sound kept echoing.
At this moment, a purple lightning bolt suddenly streaked across the gloomy sky during the rainy night.
Amidst the rumbling thunder, the world brightened for a moment, illuminating the Evil Seed running in the mountain stream.
Its wrists and ankles were bound with chains, causing them to clang loudly as they struck against each other while it ran.
The locks on its wrists were forged from a single piece of pure iron, leaving no room for it to bare its fangs and claws, while the locks on its ankles had chains, three feet long, allowing it to take steps.
The other end was weighted with two iron balls, whose gravity dragged and slowed its progress.
In other words, this Evil Seed was being raised by someone. Whether it was when Yuan Caiwei went missing or when he came out of the Xianxian Holy Land, the large-scale rampaging Evil Seeds all had the suspicion of being artificially controlled. In fact, this was also why Ji You believed that the ruins were definitely a disaster, not an Immortal opportunity.
Unfortunately, Evil Seeds themselves are just the remaining husks after the Lasting Peace Race dies; they cannot speak, cannot articulate, and cannot provide any effective information.
But at this moment, the chains on its wrists and ankles were effective information.
Under the falling rain, amidst the rising white mist, Ji You slightly narrowed his eyes and followed the Evil Seed towards the mountain stream.
Rainwater flowed down the hillside, gathering into streams in the low-lying areas, babbling eastward.
As he walked, water splashed continuously.
Gradually, Ji You found himself being led over a low hill, and then into a downhill slope.
At the foot of the low hill, in a secluded valley bottom where the dense forest was lush, he saw a small courtyard. It was not a small courtyard, surrounded by high walls on all sides, with three houses in the middle.
It was hidden and quiet, with no other objects around except for vegetation.
“Would anyone live in a place like this?”
“No village ahead, no inn behind, and only one household…—”
Ji You slowed his steps, looked up from the slope, and saw the Evil Seed rushing towards an open black iron gate in the high wall. At this moment, raindrops falling on the leaves were trembling incessantly, and the lint on his clothes also began to straighten.
Seeing this phenomenon, Ji You held his breath, and his burning Qi permeated his body, amplifying his five senses.
As he listened, the initial sounds were only the continuous falling rain, colliding with the leaves in the forest, producing a rustling sound.
But as his five senses concentrated, a buzzing sound gradually began to appear in his mind. Immediately after, that buzzing sound turned into a series of rising and falling whistles, and the source of those whistles came from that small courtyard.
This was a high-frequency vibration far beyond the Human Race's hearing range, causing the raindrops and lint to resonate.
It seemed this sound was what attracted the Evil Seed back to the small courtyard.
Seeing the Evil Seed running wildly, Ji You restrained his aura, leaped from his previous position, and landed on the opposite slope behind the small courtyard, golden light beginning to flicker in his eyes.
From his previous position, the high walls blocked his view of the courtyard.
Amplifying the five senses is not X-ray vision; otherwise, for a young man, this world would be incredibly harmful to the body.
Ji You stood under the gloomy rainy night and looked into the courtyard, seeing one woman and two men standing inside.
The woman, dressed in coarse linen, held a silver whistle in her hand and continuously blew into it.
With a clang.
The Evil Seed followed the whistle and rushed through the gate, its dragging heavy iron balls smashing a deep pit into the compacted earthen wall.
Seeing this, the two men following the woman immediately went after it. The two of them together pulled the iron chains behind it, their muscles tensing as they restrained the Evil Seed, then dragged it to the base of the eastern wall.
At the base of the eastern wall, there were protruding black iron rings on the ground, looking incredibly thick. The Evil Seed that had run back was locked onto one of these iron rings.
And there were three more such iron rings nearby, two of which already had Evil Seeds tied to them, and three iron rings had already broken.
The three people walked over, squatted in front of the Evil Seed, and watched it silently for a long time.
“It broke free again. Who knows where it ran off to this time, Yueniang, if this continues, something will happen.”
“I’ll go to the blacksmith and have a few thicker ones made——”
Seemingly provoked into ferocity by the human presence, the locked Evil Seed began to bare its fangs and claws incessantly, its heavy force causing the iron chains to clang loudly, sparks flying at the interlocking points.
But the woman didn't seem frightened; she merely bit her thin lip as she looked at the Evil Seed.
Just then, she suddenly noticed the two men beside her standing up, and the sound of weapons being drawn instantly rang out.
“Uncle Tan!”
“Dapeng!”
“Haozi!”
“Miss Lingqing!”
......”
As the two men's shouts suddenly ceased, the woman heard a hurried sound of a door opening, and the six people who had traveled with them all rushed out of the house, and she too stood up abruptly.
Turning her head, the woman saw a figure in white robes landing in their courtyard amidst the falling rain, looking at them with sharp eyes.
In fact, upon realizing the courtyard was exposed, the woman's nerves were already taut in the tense atmosphere, but when she saw his young face, her tension immediately eased considerably.
Because she had heard from her companions that cultivation takes time, and young people were unlikely to be very powerful.
They had been avoiding old fellows all along their journey, and had been safe until now.
But soon, a hint of terror rose in the woman’s eyes,
Because she noticed that the rain falling on the man's head barely reached him, turning into puffs of white mist at his shoulders, and at the same time, the ground beneath his feet was gradually becoming dry, standing out remarkably against the surrounding mud.
The others also watched this scene, beginning to tremble all over, their faces turning extremely grim.
“One Profound Connection Realm, three Micro-Illumination Realm, three Condensation Realm——”
“And one who doesn't even have cultivation.”
Amidst the falling rain, a hint of doubt flashed in Ji You's eyes, feeling that this was completely different from what he had imagined.
In his opinion, if someone truly was raising Evil Seeds behind the scenes, they must have some ulterior motive; otherwise, who would raise such a monstrous thing for no reason?
But one Profound Connection Realm with a group of Lower Three Realms, plus a defenseless woman, what ulterior motive could such people have?
As he pondered, Ji You's gaze fell on the woman who was blowing the whistle, and she was also the one among them who had no cultivation.
For some reason, Ji You felt a familiar, very distant familiarity from her face.
After looking for a long time, Ji You's gaze fixed on the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth: “Huang Yueniang of Hongya County, Zhongzhou?”
Her name called out, the woman widened her eyes in disbelief: “Young Master recognizes me—·”
“It really is you——”
“Have we met before?”
“I received your notice in Xianxian Garden.”
A flash of light appeared in Ji You's hand, and a neatly folded cloth scroll appeared.
The scroll unfolded, showing twelve portraits, with their identities and names marked below each, and the inscription at the bottom right corner of the scroll read “Huang Yueniang of Hongya County, Zhongzhou.”
He had received this during the Tiandao Conference.
At that time, after the finals ended, Ji You won five consecutive matches and claimed the top spot in the Profound Connection Realm.
The Lu family sisters hosted a celebration for him at a restaurant. That night, after dinner, he and Yuan Caiwei returned together. On the way, he had encountered a woman with a mole below the right corner of her mouth, who hurriedly handed him a paper scroll.
He had received many letters seeking Dao Companions at the time, and thinking this one was the same, he hadn't paid it any mind.
But it wasn't until the next day, on his way to the Xianxian Holy Land, that he discovered it was a missing person's notice.
Cao Jinsong told him that during the Tiandao Conference, many outsiders claimed their family members were lost and came to inquire if anyone had seen them, and this Huang Yueniang was one of them.
She was looking for a man named Li Ruilin from the Li Sect, and she was Li Ruilin's concubine kept outside the family.
Huang Yueniang came from the countryside and had no cultivation, so even though Li Ruilin was just an insignificant junior from a branch family, she still couldn't qualify as his concubine.
In fact, Huang Yueniang no longer remembered Ji You, because she had given notices to many people at the time.
However, although she didn't recognize the person, she was very familiar with her own notice.
Huang Yueniang was stunned for a long time, her eyes blinking involuntarily: “It’s been two years, hasn’t it? Why does Young Master still carry it with him——”
Ji You looked at her quietly: “This thing doesn’t take up space, so I thought if I could meet the people on it later, I would help you inform them that you are looking for them.”
Hearing this, Huang Yueniang was somewhat surprised.
She had been searching for her husband for two years, issuing countless notices, most of which were glanced at and then discarded.
She would pick them up, dust them off, and then ask the next person, but this was the first time she had heard such a reply.
“Thank you for your Young Master’s righteousness—”
“No need for thanks. Tell me, you’ve clearly been looking for someone all this time, so why are you now raising Evil Corpses here?”
Huang Yueniang was silent for a long time, then turned to look at the Evil Corpse that had just been locked up: “To answer Young Master, I have found my husband…—”
Ji You turned to look at the constantly struggling Evil Corpse, his pupils gradually contracting: “You mean, this is the Li Ruilin you’re looking for?”
“Yueniang!”
The two men standing nearby shouted sharply, their eyes full of warning.
Ji You looked at them, following the sound: “If I wanted to make a move, no one in this courtyard would be alive today, including those Evil Seeds.”
Their eyes instantly froze, and they shakily gripped the iron knives in their hands.
At this moment, Huang Yuenian looked at the old man standing in front of the house, and after seeing his consenting gaze, she nodded: “Young Master’s guess is correct. This is my husband, he has just changed his appearance, but no matter how much he changes, I can still recognize him.”
“What about the other two?”
The old man in front of the house spoke softly: “One is my son.”
“The other is a family member of a fellow traveler.”
Ji You stared at the old man for a long time: “And who are you?”
The old man bowed forward at this moment: “This old man is Tan Hui, the Head of the Tan Family. The mountain forest is rainy, please come into the house, Young Master, so we can talk in detail.”
After a moment of silence, Ji You put away his long sword and, stepping through the falling rain, ascended the wet steps, walking into the house under everyone’s gaze.
The young people living with Huang Yuenian looked at the old man at this moment: “Uncle Tan, we’ve kept it a secret for so long, we can’t just expose it like this. Let’s all go together…”
“You can’t win.”
“Why?”
“Ji You of Tianshu Academy.”
Below the wooden steps, in the light rain, the young men and women looked at the figure entering the house, a hint of realization appearing in their eyes. For years, they had been searching for their lost family members, inquiring about many things, and naturally, they had heard many rumors.
They knew that Tianshu Academy had a rural self-cultivator named Ji You, who established a Sect, massacred Immortal Villas, reduced taxes, and later, with his Profound Connection Realm cultivation, suppressed all cultivators in the realm to take the top spot and enter Xianxian Holy Land.
The day he emerged from Xianxian Holy Land, they were nearby and had seen Dao swords fall and mountains collapse.
They later heard that he had cut off Spirit Stone transport on a snowy day, diverting it to disaster relief provisions, forcing countless Sects to collect from the border themselves...
At this moment, Ji You had already entered the house.
The house was larger than he imagined, with an overall wooden structure, and the ground floor was elevated by wooden pillars, suspended on a sheltered mountainside.
Although nine people had just left, there were still two elderly women and four children sitting in the house.
As for the furnishings inside, besides the bedding spread on the floor and wooden cabinets for storage, there were mostly medicine pots, three of which were still on fires, with bubbling steam filling the entire house with a strong medicinal smell.
While he was observing, Tan Hui, Huang Yuenian, and the other seven also returned to the house, then all bowed to the ground.
“Young Master, can you keep our secret?”
“Do you know that Evil Seeds devour living people? They are to be killed immediately, yet you are raising them?”
Huang Yuenian immediately shook her head in a panic: “We have never let them out to cause harm, but they are family after all, how can we bear to see them slaughtered?”
Ji You’s brow gradually furrowed: “Where exactly did you find them, and why did they become like this?”
“This…”
“Speak honestly, and you might still have a chance.”
Ji You was particularly sensitive to the matter of Evil Seeds. Seeing their hesitation, his Killing Intent instantly flared.
A heavy surge of Qi pressed down like a mountain, causing the medicine pots on the fire to clatter and making everyone present feel suffocated.
“To answer Young Master, the three of them were found by us in two mountain caves.”
The highest cultivation here belonged to Tan Hui, a Profound Connection Realm cultivator, but even he, after enduring for a few breaths, was already sweating profusely and could only speak through gritted teeth.
To be honest, he was actually somewhat fortunate, because the one who came was not another Immortal, but Ji You.
Although outside, people said that Ji You of Tianshu Academy acted eccentrically, disregarded rules, and was reckless, no one had ever said he had a poor character. In fact, to a certain extent, he was more like a benevolent person who tolerated flaws.
Upon hearing Tan Hui’s answer, Ji You’s eyebrows couldn’t help but raise slightly.
“Mountain caves?”
“That’s right, mountain caves where countless Evil Corpses are hidden. One is in Zhongzhou, and one is in Qingzhou. We pursued the trail and were almost surrounded and killed by Evil Seeds, barely escaping after enduring countless difficulties and dangers.”
Ji You showed a hint of confusion after listening: “You were just looking for family members, why did you end up finding Evil Seeds?”
Tan Hui swallowed: “This matter must start with the Bu family incident.”
“You’ve also been to the Bu family?”
“We haven’t been to the Bu family, only to a branch of the Bu family’s winery. After the Tiandao Conference, all our clues were cut off. Only one person found by a fellow traveler had attended a wine tasting at the Bu family winery branch and then disappeared. So we decided to follow this clue to search.”
Tan Hui took a breath and continued: “Later, perseverance paid off. We finally found a clue in one of their businesses, which was an account book of the Bu family business’s wine transportation.”
Ji You was somewhat puzzled: “How would wine transportation be related to Evil Seeds?”
“We didn’t think there was a connection at first; we just wanted to find the person who disappeared at the Bu family wine tasting. Later, Ah Jun went through the account book and said there was a problem, and that’s when we realized that this branch of the Bu family had extensively transported wine to a small county town called Longan City.”
The man holding the knife next to him spoke: “Longan City is my hometown. We’ve never had the Bu family’s Spirit Wine there, and the quantity was so large it could supply a hundred Longan Cities. I had a premonition then that what they were transporting was definitely not wine.”
Tan Hui nodded: “We went to Longan City along the road, following the recorded transportation route, and finally found batches of Evil Seeds in a canyon west of Longan City, almost dying inside.”
Huang Yuenian looked up after hearing this and softly opened her mouth: “My Li Lang was in that corpse cave—”
Ji You turned to look at Tan Hui: “What about your grandson?”
Tan Hui pursed his dry lips: “In another place in the account book where large quantities of wine were supplied, there was also a mountain cave full of Evil Seeds nearby. That place was later found by the Immortal Supervisor, and all the Evil Seeds inside were completely slaughtered.”
“Are you saying that the Bu family was not transporting wine, but transporting Evil Seeds in all directions? And your family members happened to be among them?”
“We dare not speak presumptuously, but it is indeed as Young Master said.”
“What happened next?”
“After that, Qingzhou became completely chaotic. We saw countless Immortals enter the Dongping Mountain Range, not knowing what they were looking for, and we shouldn’t have stayed outside, so we brought them and hid here.”
Ji You looked at them, his heart sinking.
After Bu Qirong died, the Immortal Sect almost dug up Qingzhou to find the secrets on their bodies, but the result was nothing.
He didn’t know if they had found these things, or if the account books were already normal when they went to investigate.
Tan Hui saw that he didn’t speak and thought he had doubts, so he spoke again: “For more than half a year, Evil Seeds appeared everywhere in Qingyun World.
We later compared maps, and three places highly overlapped with places the Bu family’s caravan frequently visited, and there was also the whistle in Yue Niang’s hand.”
Huang Yuenian took out a whistle from her sleeve: “This was found in the stone cave where Li Lang was discovered. Every time it’s blown, no matter how far away they are, they will react. We discussed it later and felt that this should have been used for transporting Evil Seeds.”
Ah Jun next to her spoke at this moment: “Young Master Ji, we really didn’t let them harm anyone; we just wanted to find them…”
“What about the others?”
“Who is Young Master asking about?”
“The other missing people.”
Ji You came back to his senses and unfolded the missing person poster in his hand.
He now really wanted to know where these people went, and why they suddenly turned into Evil Seeds.
Seeing Ji You point to each one, Tan Hui and Huang Yuenian began to continuously narrate.
Among these missing persons, some were Sect disciples, some were pure Mortals, and some were Immortal Villa disciples whose cultivation was not profound.
They had all disappeared gradually.
Their missing persons team originally had over thirty people, but gradually only they remained.
After all, the missing people were gone, but the living still had to continue living.
When their family members who had turned into Evil Seeds were found, they confined them here, arranging for people to guard them while also decocting medicine.
That’s right, they treated this as an illness, attempting to cure those who had turned into Evil Seeds.
However, they had tried for a long time, but it never showed any effect.
Before Ji You arrived, Li Ruilin had already broken free and escaped twice.
Before his evil transformation, he was a decent cultivator, so he was even harder to control after the transformation. If it weren’t for that silver whistle, they might have been discovered long ago.
Hearing this, Ji You fell into silence.
The matter of the ruins had always had many questionable points in his mind, especially the group of people who had transported infants out of Qi Ridge back then. Qingwa had seen them with his own eyes, but those people had disappeared without a trace after the Zheng Family Old Ancestor died.
Later, after the Bu family was exposed due to Dou Yuankong, Ji You thought that group of people were Bu family members.
But the problem was, this speculation was very far-fetched.
The Zheng Family was a thousand-year Sect, while the Bu family, which made a living by brewing wine, was only a branch of a hundred-year Sect.
Even if the Zheng Family had accomplices, they shouldn’t have made such a choice. Until this moment, hearing Tan Hui’s speculation, Ji You felt that some things seemed to fit together.
If the Bu family was just the smallest link, playing only the role of handling Evil Corpses for others, then it made sense.
Because only a small-scale business like the Bu family, with its transportation business, would be suitable for such a role.
But this also meant that the ones who transported the infants back then were someone else, and they hadn’t ceased their activities as Ji You had thought; on the contrary, they had been continuously active.
These people who turned into Evil Seeds might also have come from their hands, just like those people imprisoned under the Zheng Family’s old residence.
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