In the courtyard, Mrs. Zhou and the Daoist priest froze in place after hearing Yan Hui's words.
It was quiet for a long time.
In the end, it was the sound of Old Lady Xiao's coughing that snapped Mrs. Zhou back to her senses. She shouted loudly: "Oh Heavens! This hussy dares to say such disrespectful things!" Saying this, she waddled forward two steps. "This old woman is going to teach you a lesson for Grandma Xiao...."
She hadn't finished speaking when Yan Hui coldly laughed. Yan Hui hadn't even moved when she saw Mrs. Zhou suddenly twist her foot. Mrs. Zhou unexpectedly fell down and cried out. It seemed like she sprained her foot. She sat on the ground and hollered, unable to get up.
Yan Hui's brow slightly twitched. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a rock roll off to the side.
Yan Hui originally planned to teach the human trafficker a lesson if she really did run up to take the jade...But to Yan Hui's surprise, a rock starred in the key moment.
Yan Hui turned her gaze toward Tian Yao. He was looking down and supporting the somewhat helpless and at a loss Old Lady Xiao. He really looked like a fool that didn't know anything.
The Daoist priest went to help Mrs. Zhou who was lying on the ground and yelling in pain. This time, Yan Hui kicked a rock and scored a direct hit on his knee. The Daoist priest cried out and fell in a pile with Mrs. Zhou.
Yan Hui was contemptuous toward the two: "Heheh, since Daoist priest is so powerful that you can extend one's life by ten years, then why don't you chant some scripture now? Cure your bones and the shrew's too."
Mrs. Zhou cursed toward the sky.
The Daoist priest actually didn't say a word. He pulled and dragged Mrs. Zhou toward the courtyard exit. He muttered in an undertone: "Let's go. This girl isn't to be trifled with."
Yan Hui watched the two stumble out. She ignored them and scoffed. Yan Hui turned her head, and she saw Tian Yao support the constantly coughing Grandma Xiao out of the courtyard and into her room. He didn't even look at Yan Hui.
From start to end, he didn't have a single reaction. However, Yan Hui saw that the ground where he was standing had some pits where stones used to be.
Yan Hui was actually shocked. She didn't expect the demon to help her in this kind of situation.
When night fell, the two stayed in the same room. Tian Yao sat in the corner to sleep as he had been doing. He didn't bring up the day's events. It was actually Yan Hui, who had been laying on the bed for a while, that couldn't resist asking: "About what happened today, you're actually not an unreasonable demon...even though you put a curse in the mantous."
There was no response coming from Tian Yao in the corner. The room sank into silence.
After getting accustomed to this demon's taciturn personality, Yan Hui paid it no mind. She looked into the pitch-black darkness in front of her and asked: "What tribulation did you pass that made you like this?"
Yan Hui still didn't hear a reply. Right when she thought the rest of the day would pass in silence before she slept, she heard a self-deprecating laugh from over there: "I passed the tribulation, but I didn't pass the heart."
Yet at this time, the sleepy Yan Hui was already deaf to his story-telling mood. She only pulled over the blanket, rolled over, and said: "I asked you a question, so a simple and rough answer is enough. Don't pretend to be so intellectual. The night really makes people be dramatic...."
"...."
Not long afterwards, Yan Hui's steady breath could be heard from the bed.
"Unexpectedly flippant." Tian Yao's voice was picked up by the breeze by the window and dispersed into the quiet night.
A moonbeam passed through the window and fell onto his body. He looked at the bright moonlight and closed his eyes. His mind filled with the sounds of slaughter that played in his head day in, day out, and couldn't be dispersed.
The next day, Yan Hui followed Tiao Yao who was going to the fields to work. She was discussing with him: "Yesterday I was too tired and didn't get the chance to tell you. Let's talk about it today. You go by yourself to work. I'll go investigate the matter about the snake demon. Since I'm not going to run away, you don't have to keep an eye on me. This way might be faster."
She finished talking but hadn't reached their family's plot yet. From far away, she saw there was a person sitting by their field.
White silk clothing. Delicate features. The same dull expression as before.
It was Zhenren Qi Yun.
How did she find this place?
Yan Hui ran over with small steps. She crouched by Zhenren Qi Yun: "How did you get here by all by yourself?" Knowing that Zhenren Qi Yun was different from before made it a lot easier for Yan Hui to talk to her.
"Where's your snake...that's not right, that crippled man? He cares about you so much that he wouldn't have let you go out alone, right?"
Zhenren Qi Yun didn't respond. Yan Hui thought a bit: "Well that's fine. I need to find him, so I'll take you with me. Do you remember the way back?" Yan Hui talked while reaching out to help her up. However, once Yan Hui's hand touched Zhenren Qin Yun's arm, Zhenren Qin Yun acted like she had been struck by lightning. She suddenly grabbed Yan Hui's hand.
Yan Hui froze: "Wha....."
She peered into Zhenren Qi Yun's eyes, and she saw Zhenren Qi Yun staring back wide-eyed. Her eyes were filled with alarm and fear. It was like she had seen something extremely terrible.
When she was small, Yan Hui had more courage than regular people after getting that beaten into her by minor demons. However, after seeing Zhenren Qi Yun's terrified eyes, Yan Hui felt the same chill of fear from her childhood down her back.
She opened her mouth.
Yan Hui saw that Zhenren Qi Yun's slightly pale lips were violently trembling. It was like she wanted to say something, but her jaws were locked tight. They were locked so tight it made her entire body start to shake.
"What's happened to you?"
Yan Hui was apprehensive. She felt like Zhenren Qi Yun seemed to really to be under some demonic influence.
"Go..." Zhenren Qi Yun finally got her jaw loosened. With great effort, she squeezed out a phrase: "Go back." When she said this, she grasped Yan Hui's hand even tighter. It was so tight that Yan Hui thought Zhenren Qi Yun wanted to break every single one of her fingers.
And aside from the pain, Yan Hui felt an eerie chill coming from Zhenren Qi Yun's hand. It was slowly eroding away at the back of her hand...
The other hand suddenly tightened. Someone pulled Yan Hui back. As Yan Hui was stumbling backwards almost to the point of falling, she was able to throw off Zhenren Qi Yun's tight grip on her hand.
Zhenren Qi Yun's body also twisted from this force and fell down into the field.
Then she was like a lifeless puppet, completely motionless.
Yan Hui didn't look back to see who pulled her free. She only blankly stared at Zhenren Qi Yun. It was a long time before she returned to her sense. She clutched her hand. On the top of her hand, frost that formed from the chill was slowly melting.
Yan Hui knew what magic this was...
Tian Yao released her arm and stepped in front of her. It was only after a while that he bent down to help Zhenren Qi Yun out of the field.
In that moment, Zhenren Qi Yun's eyes were tightly closed. She was in a stupor and completely unaware. Every exhale was cold; in the air, it curled into mist and slowly drifted away. It was clear that Zhenren Qi Yun's body was chilled.
Yan Hui knew what magic would make a person become like this.
It was the Hoarfrost Technique. In this entire world, there was only one person up till now who could hurt Zhenren Qi Yun with this skill: her former shifu, Ling Xiao. She was afraid there was no one else with the skill level.
Thinking of this, Yan Hui's face turned unsightly.
Following this thread of thought, the timeline was right, too. Although the celestial meeting that started three months ago at Chen Xing Mountain was nearing its end, it wasn't entirely over. Every single head cultivator would stay until the last day.
Yet Zhenren Qi Yun had left early. Immediately afterwards, she vanished. Immediately afterwards, everyone looked for a trace of her but didn't find anything...
The day before yesterday when Yan Hui saw her, she thought Zhenren Qi Yun had been hurt by a demon; that was how she got to this point.
But now, looking at her appearance...
Yan Hui involuntarily gripped the broken jade around her neck.
Even though she told herself tens of thousands of times that she wasn't one of Chen Xing Mountain's people anymore, wasn't a disciple of Ling Xiao, she couldn't help paying attention to matters concerning him and Chen Xing Mountain. It was because she had been living there for so many years.
Those unconscious observations practically became an instinctive part of her life.
"It's the Hoarfrost Technique." Tian Yao said. "But I hear Chen Xing Mountian's Daoist priest, Ling Xiao, had mastered this skill." He moved his eyes and looked indifferently at Yan Hui.
"It's not my shifu..." Yan Hui spoke, then was silent for a moment. "It couldn't have been Ling Xiao," she said. "A few years ago after Honorable Xian Qing Guang went into seclusion, Ling Xiao became the head of Chen Xing Mountain. The sect matters, large and small, all had his input. There was no one in Chen Xing Mountain who didn't agree that he would be the next Honorable Xian. The cultivator assembly from a few months ago was presided over by him. Every cultivator had been invited by him. He had so much prestige. At this time, Ling Xiao doesn't have a reason to attack his fellow cultivator, Zhenren Qi Yun."
"Also, although he's indifferent towards people, he...wouldn't hurt people like this. In short, there is definitely a misunderstanding." Finishing, Yan Hui knew.
"It wasn't him."
Tian Yao saw Yan Hui like this and didn't say any more.
While the two people were silent, they suddenly heard a rasping sound within the ground coming from afar and rapidly getting closer.
Yan Hui raised her head and looked eye to eye with Tian Yao. The two didn't speak, it was like they understood each other. Tiao Yao suddenly pushed the unconscious Zhenren Qi Yun toward Yan Hui. Yan Hui caught her with both hands and fell backwards. Tian Yao pushed them further back. When the two people had been pushed back less than a third of a meter, a rumbling sound was heard. A forked and thick snake tail suddenly pushed out from the ground.
If the two people hadn't dodged in time, they probably would have been pushed flying toward the sky.
The snake tail writhed in the air, sending dirt flying.
Yan Hui was lying on the ground and holding Zhenren Qi Yun. She hadn't crawled up yet. She heard a foul-mouthed woman's voice from far away : "Who's throwing dirt in the middle of the day?! Who's the dead person digging a hole!"
It was Mrs. Zhou in another plot.
While confronting the snake demon, Yan Hui, almost subconsciously, shouted: "Get down!"
However these words were yelled too late. Mrs. Zhou had already stood up.
She saw, just in time, a snake body as thick as a water barrel coming out of the ground. The snake head rose up and then looked down. It just so happened to stop right in front of Mrs. Zhou. It tasted the air by Mrs. Zhou's ear. A fishy breath followed, practically messing up her grizzled hair.
"De....." Mrs. Zhou's mouth gaped open. She rapidly gasped. "De, De....." She hadn't finished speaking when her eyes rolled upwards. He rigid body fell backwards. Her legs twitched twice and then were completely still.
There was no time to check if Mrs. Zhou was dead or not when the snake's head turned. It stared at Yan Hui.
Yan Hui immediately held Zhenren Qi Yun in front of her chest like a shield: "She's still alive! Stay calm! Don't get mad! Whatever you have to say, don't be rash!"